The parties concluded all-day talks on Thursday with no further developments and plan to reconvene on Friday
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U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio (2nd-R), accompanied by U.S. State Department Counselor Michael Needham (C), and U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa (R), speaks as they begin working-level peace talks with Lebanese Ambassador to the U.S. Nada Hamadeh Moawad and Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter at the U.S. State Department on April 14, 2026 in Washington, DC.
Add JewishInsider on GoogleSenior 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.
Plus, Vance vouches for Susan Collins
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A large plume of smoke rises over Tehran after explosions were reported in the city during the night on March 28, 2026 in Tehran, Iran.
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During their meeting today in Beijing, President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed the issue of Iran, where the Chinese leader “did offer, he said, ‘if I can be of any help at all I would like to be of help,’” Trump recalled to Fox News’ Sean Hannity. “Anybody that buys that much oil has obviously got some kind of a relationship with them,” Trump added.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told NBC News about the discussion that the “Chinese side is not in favor of militarizing the Strait of Hormuz and they’re not in favor of a tolling system,” which are positions the Trump administration shares…
At a meeting of foreign ministers of the BRICS bloc in India today, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused the UAE of “direct involvement” in military operations against Iran; Araghchi later met on the sidelines with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov…
CENTCOM Commander Adm. Brad Cooper testified at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing that the U.S. and Israeli campaign against Iran has severely degraded its capabilities across a variety of fronts, to the extent that it will take years to reconstitute, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Cooper said that 90% of Iran’s defense industrial base has been destroyed and that support to key Iranian proxies Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis has been “completely cut off.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, meanwhile, said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that the U.S. believes Iran has run out of storage capacity for its crude oil and will need to cut off oil production, a key marker that may put more pressure on the regime to agree to a deal…
Saudi Arabia has begun to consider promoting a nonaggression pact between Middle East countries and Iran once the war ends, according to the Financial Times, fearing that the conflict will leave Iran weaker but more hardline and conflict-prone. Several European countries are reportedly supporting the effort…
The House unanimously passed a resolution yesterday evening recognizing Jewish American Heritage Month and calling on elected officials to combat antisemitism…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said they will initiate a defamation lawsuit against The New York Times over Nicholas Kristof’s column earlier this week alleging widespread Israeli sexual violence against Palestinian prisoners, which critics said used dubious sourcing and elevated conspiracy theories…
The Times looks under the hood of the campaign of Jack Schlossberg, running in New York’s 12th District Democratic primary, which sources described as “so erratic and plagued by turnover that it raises questions about how he might handle himself as a member of Congress”…
Vice President JD Vance, speaking at a rally in Maine, praised Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) — despite her strained relationship with the president — as she heads to a competitive general election against presumptive Democratic nominee Graham Platner.
“Sometimes I get frustrated with Susan Collins, I almost wish that she was more partisan,” Vance said. “But the thing I love about Susan is she is independent, because Maine is an independent state. And frankly, if she was as partisan as I sometimes wish that she was, she would not be a good fit for the people of Maine”…
The United Federation of Teachers endorsed Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) in his competitive primary race against former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander next month; Goldman has been racking up labor support ahead of the June 23 primary against the progressive Lander, who is endorsed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani…
Tune Inn, the D.C. bar where William Paul, son of Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), accosted Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) with an antisemitic rant, announced that the younger Paul would be barred from the establishment going forward. The elder Paul hasn’t made any statement on the confrontation…
A flag with two swastikas and a Star of David was flown atop a building at New York University during a popular graduation event yesterday, reportedly appearing on top of the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development, named for Jewish benefactors Michael and Judy Steinhardt. The flag was quickly removed and police say an investigation is underway…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
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Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for a look at the emerging bloc of Sunni countries uniting against Israel’s allies, potentially complicating the Jewish state’s regional strategy.
The White House will host a reception with Jewish leaders tomorrow evening to kick off Shabbat 250, an initiative announced by President Donald Trump in his proclamation marking Jewish American Heritage Month where he encouraged Jewish Americans to “observe a national Sabbath” to celebrate the approaching Semiquincentennial of the United States.
Several Jewish organizations and institutions will also be marking the day with special events, including a Shabbat 250 dinner being held in Washington by the Combat Antisemitism Movement and American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists.
New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch will speak at Friday evening Shabbat services at Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan.
The Lennart Meri Conference, an annual foreign policy and security summit in Estonia, begins tomorrow. Speakers include several foreign leaders, former Israeli National Security Advisor Eyal Hulata and Israeli Russian researcher and former hostage Elizabeth Tsurkov.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is kicking off an international tour tomorrow with a visit to the UAE, later heading to several European countries.
We’ll be back with the Daily Overtime on Monday. Shabbat Shalom!
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives for a press conference in Jerusalem on March 19, 2026.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced that he secretly traveled to the UAE during the war with Iran and met with President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, leading to a “historic breakthrough in relations” between the two countries.
The UAE, however, called the prime minister’s report “baseless” and denied the meeting occurred, saying in a statement that its relations with Israel “are public … and are not based on secrecy or hidden arrangements.”
But Netanyahu’s not the only one to make an under-the-radar visit: Mossad chief David Barnea also reportedly traveled to Abu Dhabi twice during the war, sources told The Wall Street Journal…
Netanyahu’s governing coalition submitted a bill today to dissolve the Knesset and trigger early elections, which is expected to receive a vote next week. If the measure passes, elections would have to be held within five months, though it’s possible they could happen in early September, so as not to coincide with the High Holy Days and the anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks.
The move appears to be an attempt to thwart the opposition, which submitted similar bills yesterday after Degel HaTorah, part of the ultra-Orthodox coalition party United Torah Judaism, said it would support such efforts due to the coalition’s failure to pass a law exempting yeshiva students from military service…
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) became the latest of a small number of Senate Republicans to break ranks and vote today with the majority of Democrats in favor of an effort to force an end to the war in Iran, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
She joined her colleagues Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Rand Paul (R-KY) in supporting the war powers resolution, but the effort still fell short of a majority of the Senate — or of the 60-vote threshold needed for passage — with a final vote of 50-49…
Paul’s son,William Paul, drunkenly accosted Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) yesterday, telling Lawler in front of a NOTUS reporter that, if anti-Israel Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) is to lose his reelection race, it will be because of “your people” and “you Jews,” going on to accuse Jews of being “anti-American” and prioritizing Israeli interests. Lawler, who is not Jewish, reportedly defended his support for Israel and told Paul he was being antisemitic.
Paul apologized in a post on X today, claiming he “had too much to drink and said some things that don’t represent who I really am”…
The Board of Peace is considering implementing its governance and reconstruction efforts solely in the parts of Gaza not under Hamas control, Axios reports, a contingency option written into the Gaza peace plan in case the terror group refused to disarm…
In an unlikely pairing, New York state Assemblymember Micah Lasher has enlisted Fight Agency, a top progressive consulting firm, to cut ads for his campaign for the 12th Congressional District, JI’s Matthew Kassel reports.
The firm — which was co-founded by Morris Katz, who rose to prominence as an advisor for New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s campaign — prides itself on elevating left-wing, anti-establishment candidates, including current clients and Senate hopefuls Graham Platner in Maine and Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan. Lasher, meanwhile, has called himself a “proud Zionist Jew” and has close connections to the state’s Democratic establishment…
A new nonprofit aiming to counter Mamdani has already raised over $1 million, according to its co-founder Phil Singer, who also worked on a super PAC for former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the mayoral race. NYC Common Sense intends to run ads and issue policy papers about Mamdani’s policies with which it disagrees and file lawsuits as needed…
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) called for an increase in funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program to $1 billion, JI’s Gabby Deutch reports from the Jewish Democratic Council of America’s leadership summit in Washington.
Noting that the Pentagon now estimates the cost of the Iran war at $29 billion, Jeffries asked, “How is it possible that we can’t spend at least 500 million [on NSGP]? I think the number should be even higher. Why wouldn’t we spend a billion dollars to make sure that the communities that we care about across this country are safe?”…
In a speech to parliament, King Charles III laid out his legislative priorities, including several aimed at combating the recent spate of violent attacks on the British Jewish community. One would permit the government to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps as a terrorist organization and create a new penalty for those who attack synagogues on behalf of foreign actors like Iran, with a potential of up to 14 years in prison…
Open Society Foundations, founded by left-wing philanthropist George Soros and run by his son Alex, announced it will provide $30 million to organizations combating antisemitism and Islamophobia over the next three years.
In a video statement, Alex Soros spoke of the personal nature of the investment, mentioning his father, who is a Holocaust survivor, and his wife, who is Muslim. OSF President Binaifer Nowrojee further cited the “deep injustices occurring in the Middle East,” which she said are “fueling indiscriminate prejudice, dehumanization, and violence directed against both Muslims and Jews”…
The Senate confirmed Kevin Warsh to be chairman of the Federal Reserve this afternoon on a largely party-line vote, with only Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) crossing the aisle to support the nominee, who is also the son-in-law of philanthropist Ronald Lauder. It’s the narrowest margin of approval for any Fed chair since the position became Senate confirmed in 1977…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
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President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will hold bilateral talks in Beijing.
Back in Washington, Israel and Lebanon will hold their third round of ambassador-level talks — which will reportedly include military representatives for the first time — to continue discussions on a peace deal framework and efforts to disarm Hezbollah.
CENTCOM Commander Adm. Brad Cooper and AFRICOM Commander Gen. Dagvin Anderson will appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee for a hearing on the posture of their respective areas of command.
The congressional Abraham Accords Caucus will hold an event on the implications of the tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, including Reps. Craig Goldman (R-TX) and Brad Schneider (D-IL) and the Middle East Institute’s Ambassador Yael Lempert and Karen Young.
The Israeli American Council will host a gala in New York City, featuring a keynote speech from former CENTCOM Commander Erik Kurilla with special guests Miriam Adelson and former Mossad Deputy Director Henrike Weissberg. The event will honor Yakir Gabay, a member of the Gaza Board of Peace’s executive board, and his wife, Elena.
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While emerging technologies will be a major topic of conversation during the three-day trip, most eyes — and markets — are on the tenuous ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran
ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images
US President Donald Trump (L) and China's President Xi Jinping arrive for talks at the Gimhae Air Base, located next to the Gimhae International Airport in Busan on October 30, 2025.
There will be a number of items on the agenda when the two most powerful men in the world — President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping — meet in Beijing tomorrow, chief among them tech and AI. The president is bringing with him a roster of top business leaders, including Elon Musk, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, Apple’s Tim Cook, Goldman Sachs’ David Solomon, Meta’s Dina Powell McCormick, BlackRock’s Larry Fink and Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman.
And while emerging technologies will be a major topic of conversation during the three-day trip, most eyes — and markets — are on the tenuous ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran.
“We have a lot of things to discuss,” Trump told reporters before departing for China. “I wouldn’t say Iran is one of them, to be honest with you, because we have Iran very much under control.” Nonetheless, the president said, “We’re going to have a long talk about [Iran]. I think he’s been relatively good, to be honest with you.”
Beijing has, after all, been playing a major role in the U.S.-Iran conflict — even if it has done so from the margins: serving as the largest importer of oil from the Islamic Republic in violation of U.S. sanctions, meeting with top Iranian officials (including last week’s sit-down between Xi and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi) and transferring weapons to Iran through third countries.
Indeed, the summit, delayed from earlier this year due to the war, comes amid reports of a U.S. intelligence assessment that Iran has restored access to 30 of its nearly three dozen missile sites, and days after Washington rejected an Iranian response to a U.S. proposal that fell short of the Trump administration’s demands.
China’s interest isn’t purely power-driven: it’s also economic. Being able to purchase Iranian oil at steeply discounted prices — owing to Tehran’s global economic isolation — has meant that China has not felt the same financial pressures as the West.
Trump, who has spent much of his second term welcoming leaders to Washington, will be on Xi’s home turf, face-to-face with a leader who is opting not to use his leverage to push Iran into making concessions. The longer the uncertainty continues, the more restless even the president’s most fervent supporters will get — especially with the midterms approaching.
That dynamic is already beginning to play out on Capitol Hill. Yesterday, JI reported on divisions among Republican senators over whether the U.S. should reengage militarily with Iran, while last week, Rep. Tom Barrett (R-MI), who is facing a tough reelection battle in his swing district, became the first GOP lawmaker to introduce an authorization for use of military force in Iran.
All of that is good for Xi, and gives him little incentive to use China’s economic and diplomatic leverage over the Islamic Republic, which while knocked down a few pegs, has managed to maintain control despite the severe blows it has been dealt.
The Iranian regime has been able to survive in large part because it knows how to play the long game: to drag out negotiations, give breadcrumbs instead of the whole loaf and wreak just enough havoc to serve as a disruptor without prompting massive retaliation. It has enough to survive, for now.
Xi finds himself in a similar dynamic: unbound by pending elections, unaffected by rising energy costs and distanced from military action in the Middle East, Beijing is — unlike Trump — does not need a quick resolution to the conflict.
Plus, El-Sayed's physician creds called into question
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An attendee wears a jacket at an Iowa caucus watch party organized by Metro D.C. Democratic Socialists of America, on February 3, 2020 in Washington, DC.
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UJA-Federation of New York has tapped longtime Jewish educator Michael Kay as its next CEO, the country’s largest Jewish federation shared exclusively with Nira Dayanim for Jewish Insider, marking a generational change that signals the growing importance of day schools on the Jewish communal agenda.
Kay, 46, currently serves as head of school at The Leffell School in Westchester County, N.Y., and will step into his new role on Oct. 5, succeeding Eric Goldstein, 66, a former Wall Street lawyer who will step down after 12 years in the role…
President Donald Trump continued to hedge today on resuming military action in Iran while keeping open diplomatic options: “We’re either going to make a deal or they’re going to be decimated,” he said of Iran while departing for his state visit to China. “So one way or the other, we win.”
Earlier in the day, Trump told the “Sid & Friends in the Morning” radio show that he’s anticipating Iran’s economic collapse due to the U.S. blockade of its ports. “It’s just a question of time, we don’t have to rush anything,” the president said…
Kuwait accused Iran of attempting to invade its Bubiyan Island today, claiming six members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps attacked soldiers on the strategic piece of Kuwaiti territory where the Gulf state, with assistance from China, is building a large port…
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) expressed frustration with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing as they declined to comment on a report that Pakistan harbored Iranian military aircraft from U.S. strikes.
Asked, if the report were to be accurate, if the U.S. should reconsider Pakistan’s role as mediator between the U.S. and Iran, Hegseth and Caine said they “didn’t want to get in the middle of ongoing negotiations.” Graham replied, “Well I do! I want to get in the middle of these negotiations. I don’t trust Pakistan as far as I can throw them … No wonder this damn thing is going nowhere”…
Jay Hurst, the Pentagon’s comptroller, testified that the cost of the war has risen to $29 billion — up from the $25 billion figure the Pentagon cited just two weeks ago…
Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem wrote in a letter to terror group operatives that a deal between the U.S. and Iran is “the strongest card” for “stopping [Israel’s] aggression” in Lebanon, while slamming the Lebanese government for engaging in direct talks with Jerusalem, the third round of which are slated to take place this week in Washington…
Asked at the Politico Security Summit in Washington if she still calls herself a Zionist, Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) said, “I believe in a Jewish State of Israel, yes. And that to me isn’t a radical thing to say and I always have. I can say that in the same breath that I criticize the military policy of Bibi Netanyahu.”
Slotkin said that “as someone who served three tours in Iraq” she has “concerns with the way the Israelis are organizing military policy right now. … What I can’t accept, though, is collective punishment that comes from saying, ‘well, I don’t like Bibi Netanyahu’s military policy so Jews in America’s synagogues should be attacked,’” she continued…
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) told the Washington Examiner he’s open to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposal to wind down U.S. aid to Israel over the next decade: The proposal “has been sort of a given, I think, in our foreign aid budget” for “a long time,” he said, “but if that’s how the Israeli leader feels about it — feels like they’re able to deal with their national security threats with their own resources — then I guess I would listen to what he has to say”…
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Sen. Lindsey Graham said that he ‘wouldn’t be surprised’ if the report was true and it may require a ‘complete reevaluation’ of the country’s mediator role
Jacquelyn Martin - Pool/Getty Images
Vice President JD Vance arrives for talks with Iranian officials on April 11, 2026 in Islamabad, Pakistan.
Senators on both sides of the aisle on Monday expressed concerns about a report by CBS News that Pakistan had sheltered multiple Iranian military aircraft at an air force base in the country since shortly after the U.S.-Iran ceasefire in April, raising questions about the country’s neutrality as a meditator.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said the U.S. may need to reassess whether Pakistan, which helped broker the recent U.S.-Iran ceasefire deal, can continue to serve as a mediator between the warring parties.
“If this reporting is accurate, it would require a complete reevaluation of the role Pakistan is playing as mediator between Iran, the United States and other parties,” Graham said on X. “Given some of the prior statements by Pakistani defense officials towards Israel, I would not be shocked if this were true.”
Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told Jewish Insider that the report is “not good news,” adding, “I don’t think there will be any more negotiations taking place in Pakistan.”
Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) said he’d seen the CBS report and suggested it raised questions about Pakistan’s neutrality.
“Does that make you neutral? Not as neutral as we would like,” Kelly said. “I do think there needs to be somebody, some country in the middle, that has a stake in this.”
Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC) said that the report raises concerns for him about Pakistan’s neutrality as an arbiter in the talks as well.
The report comes as Pakistan is making moves to assert itself as a regional leader, signing a defense pact with Saudi Arabia and working toward one with Qatar, as well as building ties with Egypt and Turkey.
Islamabad also worked to support Iran’s economy during the war, despite U.S. sanctions and financial pressure.
Pakistan’s role as a mediator raised some questions on Capitol Hill, but other lawmakers have viewed Islamabad as a potentially productive partner — at a time when few other mediators were available.
Plus, Jew hatred pushes Pa. justice out of Dem Party
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President Donald Trump speaks during a maternal healthcare event in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Monday, May 11, 2026.
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President Donald Trump sounded a pessimistic note today about the state of the ceasefire with Iran, telling reporters in the Oval Office it’s “unbelievably weak” and on “massive life support” while calling Iran’s proposal to end the war, which he rejected yesterday, a “piece of garbage.”
The president was set to meet this afternoon with his national security team to discuss next steps with Iran, including a potential return to military action and resumption of Project Freedom in the Strait of Hormuz, according to Axios.
A number of hawkish Republican lawmakers are encouraging the president to resume military operations, including Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI)…
The UAE has secretly carried out military attacks on Iran during the course of the war, The Wall Street Journal reports, after being on the receiving end of the majority of Iran’s ballistic missile and drone attacks. Abu Dhabi’s targets have included an Iranian oil refinery, struck in early April as Trump was announcing the ceasefire…
Graham called for a potential “complete reevaluation” of Pakistan’s role as mediator between the U.S. and Iran following a CBS News report that Islamabad had permitted Iran to shelter some of its military aircraft from U.S. strikes in Iran. “Given some of the prior statements by Pakistani defense officials towards Israel, I would not be shocked if this were true,” Graham said…
Democratic Majority for Israel PAC is mounting a six-figure mail campaign to boost Bexar County sheriff’s deputy Johnny Garcia in his Democratic primary runoff against activist and conspiracy theorist Maureen Galindo. The campaign is slated to start tomorrow, exactly two weeks from primary day in Texas’ newly redrawn 35th Congressional District…
Axios spotlights the increasingly heated primary between Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Navy veteran Ed Gallrein, who is backed by Trump. The race, scheduled for May 19, has already seen $25.6 million in outside spending — including an ad from a pro-Massie group featuring antisemitic tropes targeting Jewish GOP donor Paul Singer — making it the most expensive U.S. House primary in history…
The New York Times highlights Nebraska’s contentious Senate race, where several candidates have been accused of acting as “plants” intending to siphon votes for the other party (and one candidate isn’t intending to run for Senate at all), as Democrats largely line up behind independent Dan Osborn, realizing their party brand has been tainted in the Midwest…
A new poll by New Jersey congressional candidate Adam Hamawy, who has made criticism of Israel a centerpiece of his campaign, found him leading the crowded Democratic primary field for the 12th District with 19% of likely voters, up from a March poll by his campaign that found him winning just 5%. His surge coincided with a spending blitz by the anti-Israel super PAC American Priorities, which poured $1 million into pro-Hamawy ads in the district…
New York state Assemblymember Alex Bores released his first ad of the Democratic primary for New York’s 12th Congressional District, highlighting his advocacy for AI regulation and involvement in workers’ rights as positioning him to take on Trump. Rep. Pat Ryan (D-NY), citing Bores’ AI focus, endorsed the former Palantir employee today…
Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice David Wecht announced today that he is changing his party registration from Democrat to independent, citing increasing antisemitism in the Democratic Party. In his statement, Wecht said Democrats have changed since he served as vice chair of the state party 25 years ago: “Nazi tattoos, jihadist chants, intimidation and attacks at synagogues, and other hateful anti-Jewish invective and actions are minimized, ignored, and even coddled,” he said.
“Acquiescence to Jew-hatred is now disturbingly common among activists, leaders and even many elected officials in the Democratic Party. I can no longer abide this. So, I won’t,” he wrote…
Israeli Diaspora Minister Amichai Chickli prohibited anti-Israel influencer Tyler Oliveira from entering the country as he landed in Ben Gurion Airport today; Chikli told right-wing influencer Laura Loomer that Israel “has strong immigration policies, and if you come to Israel with the intent on inciting violence and hatred against Jewish people, you will not be allowed entry into our country.”
Oliveira has recently released videos purporting to expose welfare fraud among ultra-Orthodox communities in Kiryas Joel, N.Y., and Lakewood, N.J., widely denounced as antisemitic, which he discussed at length on Tucker Carlson’s podcast last week while again invoking antisemitic conspiracy theories…
Trump tapped Kari Lake, former far-right Arizona gubernatorial candidate and short-lived head of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, as ambassador to Jamaica, seen as a step down for the one-time close Trump ally. He also named far-right Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano as ambassador to Slovakia…
Trump has invited several business leaders to join him on his trip later this week to China, including Elon Musk, outgoing Apple CEO Tim Cook, BlackRock’s Larry Fink, Meta’s Dina Powell McCormick, Goldman Sachs’ David Solomon, Citi’s Jane Fraser and Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman, among others…
⏩ 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 the race to succeed Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), where state Sen. Scott Wiener is testing whether progressive Jews can still win among the Democratic left.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine will testify before the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee as well as the Senate Appropriations Committee for Pentagon budget hearings. Later, FBI Director Kash Patel is also scheduled to appear before Senate Appropriations for a separate budget hearing.
Politico will host its Security Summit in Washington — speakers at the confab will include exiled Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi; former Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas; Sens. Deb Fischer (R-NE) and Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) and Reps. Adam Smith (D-WA), Jim Himes (D-CT) and Mike Turner (R-OH).
Elsewhere in Washington, the Anti-Defamation League will hold a reception to celebrate Jewish American Heritage Month.
In New York, the funeral for longtime ADL head and storied Jewish leader Abe Foxman, who died on Sunday at 86, will be held at Park Avenue Synagogue.
Democratic primary candidates for New York’s 12th Congressional District including Bores, George Conway and Micah Lasher will take part in a forum at West Side Institutional Synagogue moderated by JI Editor-in-Chief Josh Kraushaar.
Across the river, Democratic candidates seeking to unseat Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-NJ) in New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District — including Rebecca Bennett, Michael Roth, Tina Shah and Brian Varela — will participate in a debate moderated by the New Jersey Globe.
Israeli singer Noam Bettan will represent the Jewish state in Vienna for the first semifinal of the international singing competition Eurovision; Israel’s participation in the contest has been marked by protests and boycotts of several European countries, as well as accusations of Israel’s meddling in voting processes that have been dismissed by Eurovision organizers.
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The players also toured the National Museum of African American History as part of the D.C. visit
RACE TO WATCH
In America’s largest Jewish district, Democratic candidates split over Israel, antisemitic protests
As Alex Bores and Jack Schlossberg woo the left, Micah Lasher emerges as favorite among Jewish voters
‘I would say the ceasefire is on massive life support,’ the president said on Monday after rejecting Iran’s latest proposal
Aaron Schwartz/Sipa/Bloomberg via Getty Images
President Donald Trump speaks during a maternal healthcare event in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Monday, May 11, 2026.
President Donald Trump said on Monday that the U.S. ceasefire in Iran is “unbelievably weak” and on “massive life support” after rejecting the regime’s latest proposal to end the war.
Trump made the comments while speaking to reporters from the Oval Office on Monday during an event on expanding maternal healthcare access. Asked about the status of the ongoing ceasefire, Trump described it as being at its “weakest” point and criticized the last offer sent by the Iranians in ongoing peace talks as “a piece of garbage.”
“It is unbelievably weak, I would say. I would call it the weakest right now,” Trump said of the ceasefire. “After reading that piece of garbage they sent us, I didn’t even finish reading it. I said, ‘I’m not gonna waste my time reading it.’ I would say it’s one of the weakest, right now. … I would say the ceasefire is on massive life support, where the doctors walks in and says, ‘Sir, your loved one has approximately a one percent chance of living.’”
The comments come ahead of the president’s reported Monday afternoon meeting with his national security team, including Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff.
The group is set to discuss next steps in Iran, according to Axios, including a potential return to military action and possibly resuming Project Freedom, the operation aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz to commercial traffic, after Trump suspended it last week.
Several Republican lawmakers have begun to urge the president to return to military operations, including Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS), who told Trump on X that he’s “been generously patient with the murderous Iranian Islamist regime” but it’s time to “get back to business” and “restart Project Freedom.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said on Sunday it’s “time to consider changing course” from the diplomatic route. “Project Freedom Plus sounds pretty good right now,” he added, referencing a plan by Trump to involve other countries in the mission to open the strait. Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI) said bluntly in response to a post from the White House, “Start bombing again. It is the only thing they understand.”
Trump also said on Monday that he was “disappointed” with Kurdish leaders in Iraq for not following through with supporting an armed offensive against the Iranian regime, accusing them of not providing arms to the Iranian people in an effort to spark a popular uprising.
The Iranian people, Trump said, “have no weapons, they have no guns. We thought the Kurds were going to give them weapons, but the Kurds disappointed us. The Kurds take, take, take, and they have a great reputation in Congress. Congress says: ‘Oh, they fight so hard.’ They fight hard when they get paid. So I’m very disappointed in the Kurds.”
“I said it wasn’t going to work,” he continued, referencing reported U.S. and Israeli efforts to convince Kurdish leaders to launch a ground invasion of Iran. “I said they’ll never get there and I was right. I like to be right, in this case [it’s] too bad, but we sent some guns with ammunition and they were supposed to be delivered, but they kept it. I said they’re gonna keep it, but what do I know?”
Kurdish leaders have denied U.S. claims that they held on to weapons that American forces provided to them to pass along to the Iranian people, or that they received any arms from the U.S. in the first place.
Plus, Colorado firebomber gets life in prison
Mark Makela/Getty Images
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) addresses the press on Nov. 6, 2022, in Washington Crossing, Pa.
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Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have lifted restrictions on the U.S.’ use of their military bases and airspace after a series of tense calls between President Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The administration is now seeking to restart Project Freedom and assist commercial ships in transiting the Strait of Hormuz, an effort Trump said he paused on Tuesday at the request of Pakistan “and other countries.” The renewed effort could begin as soon as this week…
Meanwhile, Iranian state media reported several explosions along the country’s coast in recent hours; an American official told Axios and Fox News that the U.S. attacked Iranian targets in the area, but claimed it did not constitute a return to war…
Rep. Tom Barrett (R-MI), who represents a Lansing-based swing district, introduced today the first authorization for use of military force (AUMF) that would limit the length and scope of U.S. military operations in Iran, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. A group of Senate Republicans is working on a similar effort, amid concerns that the war could be a political liability for the GOP in the midterm elections.
Barrett claimed that U.S. operations in Iran “are ongoing,” despite the administration’s notification to Congress that they had concluded as of May 1; the proposed authorization would expire on July 30 and would ban “sustained ground combat operations,” seizing or holding any territory and “nation-building” operations in Iran…
The Trump administration issued sanctions against actors involved in exploiting Iraq’s oil sector to fund Iranian terror activities, including Iraqi Deputy Minister of Oil Ali Maarij Al-Bahadly…
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) and her presumptive opponent, Democrat Graham Platner, released their first ads of the general election Senate race since Gov. Janet Mills dropped her Democratic primary bid.
Collins’ ad highlights her work in restoring a Maine infrastructure project without addressing Platner, while Platner’s ad slams Collins for “selling us out” to the “Epstein class” and for supporting the Iran war (Collins is one of the only Republicans who has supported a war powers resolution to end U.S. operations in Iran)…
Our Revolution, an advocacy group spun off of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) 2016 presidential campaign, today endorsed New York state Assemblymember Alex Bores in the competitive Democratic primary for the state’s 12th Congressional District, JI’s Will Bredderman reports.
Following Sanders, Our Revolution has aligned with student anti-Israel protesters and advocated against military aid to the Jewish state. Its endorsement of Bores emphasized the former Palantir employee’s signature issue — regulating artificial intelligence — and didn’t mention Israel policy…
A new Emerson College poll of likely Democratic primary voters in Massachusetts found Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) leading his challenger, Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA), 37-32%, ahead of the Sept. 1 primary. Nearly 30% of respondents, however, are still undecided if they want to support their incumbent senator or Moulton, 32 years Markey’s junior, who is positioning himself as a generational change.
Markey has been hostile to Israel and Jewish communal measures in Congress, particularly in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza; Moulton had been known as more moderate, but shifted to the left on Israel issues after announcing his Senate run, including denouncing his previous affiliation with AIPAC…
State Department officials confirmed to several outlets that Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter and Lebanese Ambassador to the U.S. Nada Hamadeh are expected to hold talks in Washington next Thursday and Friday to discuss the ongoing ceasefire, even as Israel and Hezbollah continued trading fire this week…
The federal Board of Immigration Appeals reopened deportation proceedings against Columbia University protest leader Mohsen Mahdawi, after a judge dropped the case in February. The Department of Homeland Security has characterized Mahdawi, who has not been charged with a crime, as a “ringleader” in anti-Israel protests at Columbia and claimed he admitted to being involved in and supporting terrorist violence…
Mohamed Soliman, the man accused of firebombing an Israeli hostage awareness march in Boulder, Colo., last June, was sentenced to life in prison today after pleading guilty to all 101 charges filed against him, including one count of murder for an 82-year-old victim who died of her wounds…
Religious leaders gathered at the White House this afternoon for an event marking the National Day of Prayer, including Rabbi Levi Shemtov, executive vice president of American Friends of Lubavitch (Chabad); Nathan Diament, executive director of the Orthodox Union Advocacy Center; and Rabbi A.D. Motzen, national director of government affairs at Agudath Israel. Environmental Protection Agency Secretary Lee Zeldin, who is Jewish, was among those who delivered remarks…
The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law sent a letter to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche yesterday requesting that the Justice Department launch an investigation into whether Georgetown University must register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, following a Washington Free Beacon report that the university agreed to consult the Qatari government on speakers and themes for its Islamophobia initiative, for which Qatar provided a grant…
The Israeli Health Ministry said there are currently no hantavirus patients in Israel, Hebrew media reported. One individual reportedly returned to Israel with a strain of hantavirus from Eastern Europe last year, but that strain, passed from rodents to humans, is a “different virus altogether” from the strain that spreads between humans that has been identified on a cruise ship en route to Spain, an infectious disease expert told The Times of Israel…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye out in eJewishPhilanthropy for an interview with Rabbi Mike Uram, incoming chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary.
The Capital Jewish Museum in Washington is hosting an after-hours party this evening to celebrate Jewish American Heritage Month.
UJA-Federation of New York will host a Shabbat dinner tomorrow for young Wall Street professionals.
The Altneu Synagogue in New York City will host its second annual gala on Sunday, including a performance and awards show.
We’ll be back in your inbox with the Daily Overtime on Monday. Shabbat Shalom!
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DOHA DYNAMICS
Iran’s attacks on Qatar could prompt regional realignment, experts say
They said, however, it’s unlikely the rift with Tehran will engender any goodwill towards Israel
PROTEST POLITICS
New York Democrats condemn Park East demonstrators’ rhetoric as Mamdani doubles down
The mayor again condemned the Israeli real estate event while the governor, attorney general and council speaker ripped protesters’ extremist behavior
Gulf allies were surprised by the U.S. effort to help stranded ships leave the Strait of Hormuz, and Riyadh barred U.S. military aircraft from taking off from Prince Sultan Airbase or flying over the country, according to NBC
Amirhossein KHORGOOEI / ISNA / AFP via Getty Images
Vessels are pictured anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas in southern Iran on May 5, 2026.
The U.S. halted its short-lived effort to help stranded ships leave the Strait of Hormuz after Riyadh denied it the use of Saudi bases or airspace, NBC reported.
President Donald Trump announced he was pausing the effort, called “Project Freedom,” on Tuesday, one day after it began, writing on Truth Social that the reversal came “based on the request of Pakistan and other countries … to see whether or not the agreement [with Iran] can be finalized and signed.”
Amid the U.S. move to aid ships that had been stuck in the Strait of Hormuz for weeks, Iran launched missiles at the United Arab Emirates.
According to NBC, Gulf allies were surprised by Project Freedom, and Riyadh took the step of barring U.S. military aircraft from taking off from Prince Sultan Airbase or flying over the country.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman reportedly did not change his position after a call with Trump, forcing the U.S. to pause the endeavor.
Qatar and Oman were also surprised by the announcement regarding the Strait of Hormuz, NBC reported. Trump spoke with the emir of Qatar after launching Project Freedom.
The White House said in a statement that “regional allies were notified in advance.”
Plus, mohel madness continues in Belgium
Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post via Getty Images
A sign for Georgetown Law School, in front of the McDonough building in Washington, DC.
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Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
President Donald Trump continues to send mixed signals about the direction of the Iran war, writing this morning on Truth Social that, “assuming Iran agrees to give what has been agreed to,” he will end the war as well as the blockade of Iranian ports. If Tehran does not agree (to what has apparently already been agreed to), “the bombing starts” at a “much higher level and intensity than it was before”…
Iran has struck over 200 U.S. military structures or pieces of equipment across the Middle East since the war began, according to a Washington Post analysis, including hangars, barracks, fuel depots, aircraft and radar, communications and air defense equipment…
White House official Seb Gorka announced while unveiling Trump’s U.S. counterterrorism strategy today that U.S. officials will meet with representatives from several foreign governments this week to ask for assistance in combating terrorism emanating from Iran and elsewhere, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports.
The strategy highlights the Muslim Brotherhood as “the root of all modern Islamist terrorism” and says the U.S. will turn increased attention to Africa, as “straggler” ISIS terrorists from Syria and Iran migrate there in search of “ungoverned space” to take over…
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he held “a constructive meeting” in Beijing with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, where Wang affirmed “Iran’s right to uphold national sovereignty and national dignity”…
The Board of Peace, whose leaders met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem yesterday, will not expect Israel to abide by the terms of the Gaza ceasefire if Hamas does not disarm, according to a document sent by Board of Peace head Nickolay Mladenov and advisor Aryeh Lightstone to the Palestinian technocratic committee governing Gaza, The Times of Israel reports.
“Failure by Hamas to accept the framework within a reasonable timeframe … shall render such commitments null and void,” the officials wrote, saying Israel will not be expected to refrain from military action or ensure humanitarian aid reaches the enclave…
Lebanese media reported the third round of Lebanon-Israel ambassador-level talks will take place in Washington next week.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, meanwhile, called talk of a meeting directly between him and Netanyahu “premature,” despite Trump’s repeated claims that he was inviting the two leaders to the White House. “Lebanon is not seeking normalization with Israel, but rather peace,” Salam told reporters…
Belgium has indicted three mohels, Jewish religious authorities who conduct ritual circumcision, on criminal charges, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar announced. The men were initially arrested in a raid last year for practicing medicine without a license, sparking outcry from the Jewish community.
Sa’ar called the move a “scarlet letter on Belgian society” and said the country has joined a “short and short and shameful list … of countries that use criminal law to prosecute Jews for practicing Judaism.” U.S. Ambassador to Belgium Bill White, who has also been outspoken on the issue, called it a “shameful stain on Belgium” that “is wrong and won’t be tolerated” by the U.S…
Israel will provide jet fuel to Germany, the Israeli energy ministry said, after Germany requested assistance in addressing its fuel shortage due to disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz…
Former Northwestern University President Morton Schapiro withdrew as Georgetown University Law Center’s commencement speaker after learning that several students had raised objections to his selection — due to pro-Israel opinion articles the Jewish academic had authored after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, JI’s Haley Cohen reports.
The school replaced Schapiro with David Cole, a professor who criticized congressional hearings on campus antisemitism as a form of “McCarthyism” aimed at chilling free speech and defended “antisemitic advocacy” as a First Amendment right…
Meanwhile, Rutgers University’s School of Engineering has canceled a commencement speech by alum and entrepreneur Rami Elghandour after students raised concerns about his social media activity, which is dedicated overwhelmingly to criticism of Israel.
Elghandour — who was an executive producer of the film “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” about a young Palestinian girl who died during the Israel-Hamas war — has consistently accused Israel of genocide, apartheid and police brutality and torture of Palestinians, and repeatedly praised the professor who made an unsanctioned jab at Israel at the University of Michigan’s recent commencement ceremony…
Rep. Mike Lawler’s (R-NY) political consulting firm was paid more than $72,000 by advocacy and political groups he controlled, Politico reports, in a scheme that watchdogs say is not illegal but raises conflict of interest concerns.
And a hacker stole over $3,000 of campaign funds from Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ)…
Ted Turner, the founder of CNN who pioneered the 24-hour news cycle, died at 87…
⏩ 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 how New York Democrats are responding to yesterday’s threatening protest outside an Israeli real estate event at Park East Synagogue in Manhattan.
President Donald Trump will host Brazilian President Lula da Silva at the White House for talks on economic and security issues, despite Trump’s at-times acrimonious relationship with the left-wing South American leader.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican following weeks of escalating attacks by Trump on the pontiff, including on Monday when Trump told Hugh Hewitt that the pope is “endangering a lot of Catholics” by being critical of the Iran war. Rubio is also set to meet on Friday with Italian officials including Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, whom Trump has also clashed with since the beginning of the war.
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy will hold the keynote dinner of its annual Founders Conference — this year’s being focused on the Iran war — in Washington.
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FRONT LINES
Jewish leaders warn of new front in anti-Israel campus activity: targeting Hillels
Efforts to delegitimize Hillels tell Jewish students ‘that their identity is suspect and that their safety and belonging is up to the vote of their fellow students,’ AJC’s Laura Shaw Frank said
2025 also marked the first time American Jews were killed in antisemitic attacks on U.S. soil since 2019
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Students participate in a protest outside of the Columbia University campus on November 15, 2023 in New York City.
The number of antisemitic incidents in the U.S. plummeted by a third last year, led by a steep drop on college campuses, but assaults with a deadly weapon spiked dramatically, according to the Anti-Defamation League’s 2025 audit released on Wednesday.
The ADL tallied 6,274 incidents of antisemitic assault, harassment and vandalism across the country in 2025, an average of 17 incidents per day. While representing a 33% decrease from 2024, this total remains significantly higher than levels before the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks in Israel, making 2025 the third-highest year for antisemitic incidents since ADL began tracking the data in 1979.
2025 also saw the first time American Jews were murdered in antisemitic attacks on U.S. soil since 2019. Two Israeli Embassy staffers were killed last May outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington. One month later, a victim died from injuries sustained in a firebombing attack in Boulder, Colo., at a walk in support of the Israeli hostages.
According to the audit, there were 203 incidents categorized as assault, a 4% rise from 2024. Incidents of assault involving a deadly weapon increased from 23 in 2024 to 32 in 2025, and at least 300 people were victimized by incidents of assault.
Forty-five percent of all incidents (2,847 incidents) were related to Israel or Zionism, a decline from 58% in 2024. There was also a nearly 50% drop in white supremacist propaganda distribution.
Antisemitic incidents at public K-12 schools remained nearly stable from 2024 (860) to 2025 (825). Most of the reported incidents in schools involved interpersonal behavior between classmates, such as antisemitic harassment or students vandalizing classrooms with swastikas, rather than organized group activity.
Meanwhile, incidents on university campuses saw the steepest decline of any location, a trend the ADL attributes to proactive measures by college administrators. In 2025, ADL recorded 583 antisemitic incidents on college campuses, a 66% drop from 2024 (1,694 incidents).
The states with the highest levels of incidents were New York (1,160), California (817) and New Jersey (687).
The ADL maintained that it did not conflate general criticism of Israel or anti-Israel activism with antisemitism in its methodology. It defined harassment, vandalism and assault as incidents reported to ADL by victims, law enforcement, the media and partner organizations.
“Our 2025 Audit, which shows it was one of the most violent years for American Jews on record, is a reminder of how dramatically the threat landscape has shifted. Numbers that would have shocked us five years ago are now our floor,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement. “People are being murdered because of antisemitism on American soil, and thousands more are threatened.”
Plus, Adam Hamawy defends terror ties
Selçuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images
Anti-Israel demonstrators gather at 'No Settlers on Stolen Land' protest against a Nefesh b'Nefesh event at the Park East Synagogue in Manhattan in November 2025.
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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth insisted at a press conference this morning that the ceasefire with Iran is not over, despite repeated violations by both sides in recent days. “Ultimately, this is a separate and distinct project,” Hegseth said of the new U.S. mission to escort commercial shipping vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, “and we expected there would be some churn at the beginning.”
Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine said similarly that even though Iran has fired on commercial vessels nine times, seized two container ships and attacked U.S. forces more than 10 times since the ceasefire began, that is all “below the threshold of restarting major combat operations”…
Can there be a ceasefire without a war? Secretary of State Marco Rubio claimed at his own press conference in the afternoon that Operation Epic Fury, as the Iran war was called, is finished, and the U.S. has moved onto Project Freedom in the strait, only hitting Iranian targets in response to attacks from Tehran.
President Donald Trump similarly downplayed the war effort, calling it a “skirmish” and telling reporters in the Oval Office that Iran still “wants to make a deal.” Meanwhile, Iran shot ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones at the UAE for the second day in a row, the Emirati Defense Ministry said…
A majority of Israelis believe that ending the war with Iran under the current conditions would undermine the country’s security, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports: 64% of Jewish Israelis said ending the war in its current state is “only slightly or not at all aligned” with Israel’s security interests, in a new poll by the Israel Democracy Institute. Nearly half of Arab Israelis (48.5%) said the same…
Incoming Israeli Air Force chief Maj. Gen. Omer Tischler, who assumed his role today, said at his handover ceremony that the IAF is “closely monitoring what is happening in Iran, and are prepared to take the entire Air Force eastward, if we are required to do so”…
Thirty House Democrats sent a letter to the Trump administration urging it to publicly acknowledge Israel’s nuclear weapons program, which neither Israeli nor U.S. officials have ever confirmed publicly.
The lawmakers, led by Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX), a vocal Israel critic, said the threat of nuclear warfare has escalated amid the Iran war: “The risks of miscalculation, escalation, and nuclear use in this environment are not theoretical,” they wrote. “Congress has a constitutional responsibility to be fully informed about the nuclear balance in the Middle East, the risk of escalation by any party to this conflict, and the administration’s planning and contingencies for such scenarios”…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Board of Peace head Nickolay Mladenov in Jerusalem today, along with U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, Board of Peace advisor Aryeh Lightstone, Netanyahu advisors Caroline Glick and Ophir Falk, venture capitalist Michael Eisenberg and tech entrepreneur Liran Tancman.
Mladenov said in a statement that the discussion was “positive and substantive” and the parties “reaffirmed our commitment to the full implementation” of the 20-point Gaza peace plan…
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, convening an emergency summit with Jewish, business, education and government leaders at 10 Downing St., called for a whole-of-society approach to combating antisemitism as the country’s Jewish community has been repeatedly targeted by violent attacks.
Starmer said officials are investigating whether Iran is behind the recent events, announced universities will be required to produce reports on antisemitism on campus and called for the government’s Arts Council to “claw back” funding from organizations that engage in antisemitism…
Tonight, the radical PAL-Awda group is planning a protest outside Park East Synagogue in Manhattan to disrupt a reported Israeli real estate event — Jewish New Yorkers will be watching to see how the protest is handled by city leaders as opposed to the group’s last demonstration outside the same synagogue in November, when protesters harassed attendees and chanted “death to the IDF” and “globalize the intifada.”
Similar to his stance on November’s protest, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s spokesperson told far-left Drop Site News the mayor is “deeply opposed” to the real estate event, which he said is promoting settlements that are “illegal under international law and deeply tied to the ongoing displacement of Palestinians.” Still, Mamdani’s administration said it has “also been clear that we are committed to ensuring safe entry and exit from any house of worship.”
Assemblymember Micah Lasher, who is running for New York’s 12th Congressional District, condemned the planned protest, saying its purpose is “to create fear in the hearts of Jewish New Yorkers,” while expressing optimism that the NYPD will “make sure that a protest does not turn into a gauntlet of hate through which Jews must pass”…
New Jersey congressional candidate Adam Hamawy, a trauma surgeon who has made criticism of Israel central to his campaign, defended his yearslong relationship with the “Blind Sheikh,” who was convicted of terrorism for his role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing: Hamawy’s campaign told Politico that reporting on the candidate’s testimony in defense of Omar Abdel-Rahman at his trial are “guilt-by-association attacks on Muslim and Arab candidates”…
A new poll of the Texas GOP Senate runoff from the University of Houston’s Hobby School of Public Affairs found the race neck-and-neck just three weeks from Election Day: Attorney General Ken Paxton polled with a three-point lead over incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), with 7% of likely runoff voters still undecided…
The Washingtonian released its list of Washington’s 500 most influential people of 2026, including: AIPAC’s Elliot Brandt, J Street’s Jeremy Ben-Ami, the Hudson Institute’s Michael Doran, the Center for International Policy’s Matt Duss, the Anti-Defamation League’s Aykan Erdemir, the Washington Post’s David Ignatius, Qatar lobbyist Jim Moran, the Quincy Institute’s Trita Parsi, the American Jewish Committee’s Julie Fishman Rayman, the Washington Institute’s Dennis Ross, New Jewish Narrative’s Hadar Susskind and SKDK’s Jill Zuckman…
⏩ 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 the latest front in the campus anti-Israel movement: student activists targeting Hillel, the world’s largest Jewish campus organization.
The Manhattan Institute will host its Alexander Hamilton Award Dinner, honoring former Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE), who is suffering from terminal pancreatic cancer, and Jeff Yass, founding partner of Susquehanna International Group.
The Stephen Wise Free Synagogue will host a Democratic candidate forum for New York’s 12th Congressional District featuring Alex Bores, Micah Lasher, Jack Schlossberg and George Conway.
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Hegseth said the numerous recent violations were expected as the U.S. launched its mission to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth calls on reporters during a press briefing at the Pentagon on May 05, 2026 in Arlington, Virginia.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday that the ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran was still in effect, despite numerous ceasefire violations by both sides in recent days.
“No, the ceasefire is not over,” Hegseth said during a press briefing at the Pentagon alongside Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine. “Ultimately, this is a separate and distinct project,” Hegseth said of the new U.S. mission to escort commercial shipping vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, “and we expected there would be some churn at the beginning, which happened, and we said we would defend and defend aggressively, and we absolutely have.”
“Iran knows that, and ultimately, the president is going to make a decision whether anything were to escalate into a violation of a ceasefire. But certainly, we would urge Iran to be prudent in the actions that they take, to keep that underneath this threshold,” the defense secretary continued.
President Donald Trump announced on Sunday that U.S. forces would ensure the Strait of Hormuz is reopened to commercial traffic by escorting vessels and deflecting missile and drone attacks from Iran. Referring to the operation as “Project Freedom,” Trump warned on Monday that Iran would be “blown off the face of the earth” if the regime attempted to interfere.
Hegseth continued, “This is about the straits. This is about freedom of navigation. This is about international waterways. This is about free flow of commerce, all the things that happened before and that only Iran is contesting. So right now, the ceasefire certainly holds, but we’re going to be watching very, very closely.”
Caine said similarly that even though Iran has fired on commercial vessels nine times, seized two container ships and attacked U.S. forces more than 10 times since the ceasefire began, that is all “below the threshold of restarting major combat operations.”
Hegseth was pressed by reporters whether Trump was considering seeking congressional authorization to continue military operations in Iran, as many lawmakers believe the president has run out the 60-day clock for a war launched without congressional approval.
“Our view is … that ultimately, with the ceasefire, the [60-day] clock stops. If it were to restart, that would be the president’s decision. That option is always there, and Iran knows that, and that’s why their choices on freedom are important,” Hegseth said. “The president retains the opportunity and the capabilities — more capabilities than we have at the start of this — to restart major combat operations if necessary.”
Asked about alleged assertions by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Mossad Director David Barnea that Israel would not abide by or participate in the ceasefires in Iran or Lebanon, Hegseth rejected claims that Israel was forcing the American president’s hand.
“I will say those questions are based on the false premise that somehow President Trump is being pulled in by Prime Minister Netanyahu to any of these actions,” Hegseth told reporters. “President Trump has led at every step of this based on his view of American interests and America First, and we’re grateful that Israelis have been very capable partners at many steps of this.”
“They may have some objectives at times that are slightly different than ours, but there’s only one hand on the wheel ultimately directing this, whether it’s Project Freedom or previously Operation Epic Fury, and it’s President Trump,’ he continued. “So we’re grateful for their input, their insights, the existential nature of the threat they face from an Iranian bomb, the capabilities that they can bring to that, but ultimately the coordination will happen with the leadership of President Trump.”
Monday’s Iranian missile fire came amid ramped-up rhetoric from both Tehran and Washington over the closure of the Strait of Hormuz
ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images
US President Donald Trump (L) and China's President Xi Jinping arrive for talks at the Gimhae Air Base, located next to the Gimhae International Airport in Busan on October 30, 2025.
The tenuous ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran came close to collapsing overnight after the Islamic Republic fired 15 missiles and four drones at the United Arab Emirates. The question now is whether hostilities will resume in the coming days — just before next week’s major summit between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, slated to take place in Beijing.
Monday’s Iranian missile fire came amid ramped-up rhetoric from both Tehran and Washington over the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, and as the U.S. launched “Project Freedom” to assist vessels attempting to transit through the waterway. One of the drones fired yesterday by Iran hit the UAE’s Fujairah Oil Industry Zone, sparking a fire that injured three Indian workers.
Iran’s attack on the UAE was widely condemned, with Saudi, Qatari, British and Indian officials denouncing the renewed strikes.
CENTCOM head Adm. Brad Cooper touted the initial success of the Project Freedom naval effort, which on its first day protected two U.S.-flagged ships traveling through the strait. It’s unclear the degree to which the endeavor will help with the resumption of normal activities in the waterway, which normally sees some 120 vessels passing through each day.
Later Monday, two U.S. naval ships came under heavy fire from Iran as they navigated through the passage. Iran claimed to have hit a warship, which CENTCOM denied. Trump told Fox News’ Trey Yingst that Iran would be “wipe[d] off the face of the earth” if it targeted ships being escorted through the strait. The Wall Street Journal reported that the president “for days has toggled between two competing impulses: severely punishing Iran for failing to abandon its nuclear work, and avoiding a significant escalation that could draw the U.S. deeper into a Middle East conflict.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, for his part, criticized Project Freedom — which he referred to as “Project Deadlock” — claiming that Pakistan-brokered talks between Washington and Tehran “are making progress” and warning that the U.S. and the UAE “should be wary of being dragged back into quagmire by ill-wishers.”
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the strikes on the UAE — albeit without mentioning Iran. “It is absolutely essential that the ceasefire be upheld and respected,” Sharif posted on X, “to allow necessary diplomatic space for dialogue leading to enduring peace and stability in the region.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to address the situation with Iran when he speaks to reporters from the White House briefing room at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, the first press briefing since White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt went on maternity leave.
Later this week, Rubio is set to head to the Vatican to meet with Pope Leo XIV amid tensions between the Holy See and the Trump administration over the pontiff’s comments on the war in Iran. It’s unclear if the trip will still happen if the situation in the Gulf further devolves.
The bigger question is what will happen next week, when Trump is slated to meet with China’s Xi Jinping in Beijing — a summit already delayed once due to the war. Over the weekend, Beijing told Chinese firms to ignore U.S. sanctions on five Iran-linked oil refiners in the country.Beijing has attempted to play both sides of the conflict, encouraging Iran to pursue diplomacy while also providing the Islamic Republic with commercial support for use in the event of a resumption of hostilities. Should the summit take place, all eyes will be on Xi to see if he attempts to play Trump, as well.
In an interview with Jewish Insider, Emanuel outlines his views amid changing winds in a Democratic Party increasingly antagonistic to the pro-Israel perspective that had long been central to his identity
Jewish Federations of North America
Rahm Emanuel speaks at the Jewish Federations of North America's 2025 General Assembly opening plenary on Nov. 16, 2025.
Last November, Rahm Emanuel, the tough-talking Democratic operative and prospective presidential candidate, took the stage of the Jewish Federations of North America’s annual conference in Washington to deliver a blunt word of warning about Israel’s declining reputation in the United States and around the globe.
“I don’t mean to be the party pooper, but look, this is not going to be helpful if we’re not going to be honest with each other,” he said on an opening panel, urging the crowd to reckon with a marked downturn in support for the Jewish state over its war in Gaza, particularly among younger voters. “Israel is extremely unpopular.”
Emanuel, a veteran Jewish politician and party official who had recently concluded a tour as U.S. ambassador to Japan in the Biden administration, acknowledged his message might not ingratiate him to the thousands of Jewish communal leaders in the audience who were no doubt deeply familiar with the issue he was highlighting.
“This may be the last time I’m asked to speak to you. I get it,” he said with a hint of indifference. “But we have to be honest about the task we have” for those “who believe that there is something special” to the U.S.-Israel relationship. “We have our work cut out, and it’s not here to get applause,” he told the crowd.
In hindsight, Emanuel’s frankly worded comments marked something of a turning point in his approach to Israel and the Jewish community, foreshadowing more recent remarks in which he has voiced harsh criticism of the country’s military tactics in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attacks and championed new policy proposals against American military aid to Israel.
Yet even as he builds a profile as a potential candidate willing to tell the Democratic Party hard truths and challenge orthodoxy on a range of issues from trans rights to child social media bans to age limits for politicians, Emanuel, 66, was reticent in exploring his views on Israel in more depth during an interview with Jewish Insider, which he had resisted for nearly a month.
“What I said couldn’t have been clearer,” he told JI last Thursday, referring to his recent comments on “Real Time With Bill Maher” calling for an end to U.S. military aid to Israel that raised eyebrows in the Jewish community. “There will no longer be U.S. taxpayer subsidies for the purchase of U.S. military equipment. Israel will be like every other ally. They can buy what they want, and they have to live within the restrictions.”
“You can decide to slice it, dice it, but that’s what it is,” he said.
While U.S. military funding to Israel has increasingly faced pushback in the Democratic Party, particularly on the far left, Emanuel’s argument that Israel no longer needs the sort of special treatment that he helped promote in the Obama White House has been striking to watch precisely because he has long been a staunch defender of the Jewish state and its founding ideals.
Emanuel, whose middle name is Israel and who speaks fluent Hebrew, holds a uniquely personal connection to the Jewish state. His late father, an Israeli immigrant born in Jerusalem, served in the Irgun, the Zionist paramilitary force that fought for Israeli independence. As a child, he spent summers in Israel and later volunteered as a civilian assistant to the Israel Defense Forces during the Gulf War. His son celebrated his bar mitzvah in Israel.
Emanuel, a moderate former congressman and mayor of Chicago, pointed out in the interview that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had himself proposed winding down U.S. military aid over the next 10 years, saying in January that the country had “come of age” and “developed incredible capacity” to continue on its own.
Emanuel, however, said that he would instead suspend the assistance “immediately,” characterizing his position as “part of an overall policy” tied to Israel’s strategically secure position in the region as well as its political isolation on the world stage — both of which he argued have never been greater than now.
“If you or anybody thinks you’re going to continue the American taxpayers paying for this, good luck passing that in the U.S. Congress. You’re asking a president of the United States to spend X amount of political capital to do something that even Israel’s own prime minister acknowledged isn’t going to happen,” he said, referring to continued U.S. military aid.
The Jewish state “has made a decision to only lean on its defense and not lean on its diplomatic front,” he told JI, adding that Netanyahu had chosen to “walk away” from pursuing a two-state solution, support for which has declined in Israel since the Oct. 7 attacks and ensuing war in Gaza.
In his view, the U.S. should continue to stand with Israel only if its efforts in the region help contribute to peace. “Every risk you will take, the State of Israel takes, for peace, then America will stand by you,” he said. “We understand there’s risks. We have stood by Israel through thick and thin.”
“But,” he said, “when one friend in that relationship abandoned something that’s contrary to our interests and contrary, in my view, also to Israel’s interests,” it is reasonable, he suggested, to rethink that alliance.
“There will no longer be U.S. taxpayer subsidies for the purchase of U.S. military equipment. Israel will be like every other ally. They can buy what they want, and they have to live within the restrictions,” Emanuel said of his vision of the future of military aid to Israel.
His comments indicate that he is now embracing a fundamental reassessment of the U.S.-Israel alliance, abandoning even the pretense of tough love that once characterized his approach, among other moderate voices in the Democratic Party.
For example, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a centrist Jewish Democrat who is also weighing a presidential campaign in 2028, recently reiterated his support for continued U.S. aid to Israel but said that it should be seen as “leverage” to exert pressure over the country’s use of American-made weapons.
“Rahm’s move tells you a lot about the politics of the Democratic Party on Israel now. And that is a sign of how Israel’s image has changed in the country,” said Dennis Ross, a former U.S. diplomat and Middle East negotiator who overlapped with Emanuel in the Obama administration.
Despite his strong attachment to Israel, Emanuel is reckoning with a changing party no longer broadly sympathetic to the pro-Israel perspective that had long been central to his political identity, even as he has tussled with Israeli leadership during his time as a public figure.
Last Friday, for example, Emanuel signaled he would back Graham Platner, the far-left Senate candidate in Maine now poised to become the Democratic nominee, even as the Marine veteran has called to block U.S. military aid to Israel while facing controversy over a Nazi tattoo he recently covered up.
“Whether it’s people chanting ‘Jews will not replace us’” in Charlottesville, “or somebody bombing Gov. Shapiro’s home, or somebody painting Nazi insignia on my fence, or the candidate saying ‘I did not know that was a Nazi’” insignia on his chest, “we’re going to have to confront this,” Emanuel told JI the day before announcing his support for Platner, while touting his record of fighting antisemitism.
“I’ve dealt with it when I ran for Congress,” he said on the phone from Chicago, noting that he was outside an Anne Frank exhibition opening in his home city. “And I’ve also been upfront when I think a decision is going to lead to the strategic and diplomatic isolation of, not only the State of Israel, but, more importantly, the Jewish people.”
Still, Emanuel seemed reluctant and even somewhat frustrated to answer further questions seeking clarity on the implications of his new approach to Israel and how he arrived at his position. He refused to confirm explicitly, for example, if he would back defensive aid for Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system, which has recently emerged as a subject of intense debate in some corners of the Democratic Party.
It is a significant contrast with where Emanuel stood during his time as Obama’s chief of staff. In the White House from 2009-2010, Emanuel was one of Obama’s top consiglieres on policies relating to Israel. He was involved in initial funding to boost Israel’s Iron Dome system, an effort that culminated in a 10-year memorandum of understanding between the two countries that provides $3.8 billion in annual aid through 2028, which the White House touted, at the time, as “the largest single pledge of military assistance in U.S. history.”
In 2009, Emanuel shared more reassuring words in his address to the JFNA’s annual gathering, praising Netanyahu while citing his own familial ties to Israel as well as what he had called the “privileged point of view” from understanding the Jewish state’s “value as a homeland.”
“Those who have questioned” whether the Obama administration’s opposition to Israeli settlement building in the West Bank and outreach to the Arab world “implies diminished support for Israel, that is not the intent,” he said, filling in for his boss. “It is not the case and it never will be. The truth is the opposite. Only through dialogue will Israel achieve the peace it seeks.”
Emanuel now takes a more jaundiced view of Israeli diplomacy, fueling his calls for an end to U.S. aid. “Under Prime Minister Netanyahu, in the last three years, you’ve lost Europe, you’ve lost the American public, and you picked up Somaliland,” he scoffed to JI, referring to Israel’s decision to formally recognize the secessionist region in the Horn of Africa last year. “As my grandmother would say, ‘Such a deal.’ That is your only diplomatic achievement.”
Julie Fishman Rayman, senior vice president of policy and political affairs at the American Jewish Committee, called Emanuel’s views “disappointing and worrying,” arguing that U.S. security assistance to Israel “is not just vital to deterring further attacks and ensuring the survival of the state of Israel, but is integrally tied to safeguarding American interests in the region.”
Emanuel argued that his position on U.S. aid is a logical extension of sentiments he had conveyed in 2009 while in the Obama administration, when he repeatedly clashed with Netanyahu over settlement expansion in the West Bank, which the White House cautioned would jeopardize prospects for achieving a two-state solution.
“I went straight to the prime minister to his face and said, ‘What you’re doing is going to lead to the great isolation of Israel,’” Emanuel recalled, noting, as he often does, that Netanyahu called him a “self-hating Jew,” underscoring the highly personal tenor of their long-testy relationship. “Look, I have a longstanding relationship,” he explained. “I’m honest about it.”
But even as he argues that Israel is today “a different country from a sense of wealth and capacity,” he has strained to harmonize the motives now animating his current approach. He has dismissed speculation over the sincerity of his stance and whether it is rooted in a good-faith view of Israel’s economic standing or if it is instead a more cynical political calculation tailored to a rising anti-Israel faction in the Democratic Party.
Though in contrast with high-profile voices on the far left, Emanuel has shied away from charged rhetoric about genocide in Gaza, saying it is a legal question, as well accusations that Israel had tricked President Donald Trump into war with Iran, which he says ignores U.S. agency in the conflict. He has said it is a “mistake” to restrict arms sales to Israel, suggesting that he is not aligned with related resolutions that were introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) last month and notably drew backing from most Senate Democrats.
Emanuel’s allies said in recent interviews that they were not surprised with his approach, saying that he has been building to this moment for some time. “Do I agree with him? Not necessarily,” former Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY), who served with Emanuel in Congress, told JI. “But this is not a breakthrough position. He’s expressed those concerns for years.”
David Axelrod, a former chief strategist to Obama, likewise agreed in a text message to JI that “Rahm’s basic concerns about where Bibi is leading are not new,” using Netanyahu’s nickname. “Rahm, like a lot of us, has always believed a two-state solution was the only road to peace and Bibi has been deeply, irretrievably opposed and actively hostile to the notion.”
“You ask these questions like somehow I’ve changed. The prime minister used to articulate a two-state solution. He was for it. He’s the one that’s changed,” Emanuel said of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
One prominent Jewish Democrat, who asked to remain anonymous to discuss a charged issue, called Emanuel’s stance a practical response that “takes the wind out of the sails of the far left and the far right,” which have politicized funding for Israel. “As long as we’re giving aid to Israel, Americans will feel like they have a say in Israeli policy and how that investment is managed.”
But if that is Emanuel’s aim, he has not made it clear. In conversation with JI, he was hesitant to clarify his own positions when pressed. Asked if he would back Iron Dome funding, he said he had been “part of the financing” for a “joint project” that he called “key for Israel’s security” when it was first developed with the United States.
He declined to elaborate further about such aid. “U.S. taxpayers should not be in the position of subsidizing a country,” he reiterated. “You know my history with the Iron Dome,” he said. “I’m done. I’ve answered it.”
Though some allies of Emanuel are willing to indulge his views more favorably than other 2028 prospects with thinner resumes related to Middle East policy, a range of Jewish and pro-Israel organizations are now pushing back on his recent turn against U.S. military aid.
“It’s in America’s interests to keep our word and help a democratic partner shield innocent civilians from missiles,” Deryn Sousa, a spokesperson for AIPAC, told JI, referring to the Iron Dome. “Reneging on the Obama administration’s signed agreement with our closest ally in the Middle East would send a devastating message to our allies, empower our enemies and do nothing to advance peace.”
Brian Romick, president of Democratic Majority for Israel, said that “Israel’s situation is not comparable to our other close allies.”
“Unlike Japan, South Korea and Germany, Israel does not have permanent U.S. troops on the ground,” he told JI recently. “It’s also surrounded by enemies who actively want to wipe it off the face of the earth. U.S. security assistance reflects that reality and the significant strategic benefits the aid provides.”
Michael Makovsky, president and CEO of the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, told JI in a recent interview that he disagreed with Emanuel, even as he acknowledged the sentiment as a “legitimate view.” Still, he added that it is “in the U.S. interest” to continue providing military aid to Israel, “which anyway all goes to buying U.S. weaponry.”
Even some pro-Israel Democrats sympathetic to Emanuel and his perspective said his comments on military aid raise more questions than they answer. One influential Jewish Democrat who has long been acquainted with Emanuel, speaking on the condition of anonymity to address a sensitive topic, expressed concerns that ending aid to Israel could stoke further calls from the far left to condition military funding or block future weapons sales outright.
For his part, Emanuel avoided commenting on the question of Israel’s qualitative military edge, which the U.S. is legally obligated to ensure but allies say could suffer without military aid. “I feel like we’re taking the same question from 50 angles,” Emanuel told JI. “I want Israel to fight for peace the way it’s proven that it’s fought in the last three years. That’s what’s missing,” he said last week.
“You ask these questions like somehow I’ve changed,” Emanuel said earlier in the call. “The prime minister used to articulate a two-state solution. He was for it. He’s the one that’s changed.”
U.N. Ambassador Mike Waltz told JI, ‘once we've cut off any other path’ for the terror group, ‘I think they have no other choice’
Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Mike Waltz, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, April 15, 2026.
LOS ANGELES — While the world’s attention has been fixed on Iran, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz and a team of American bureaucrats have spent the last few months quietly working to turn President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace into a fully functioning entity.
The fledgling international organization — billed by some as an alternative to the U.N., although Waltz insists there is room for both — has the astronomically large task of governing and rebuilding Gaza. Waltz is bullish on the possibility that the morass of Gaza can be worked out peacefully, with enough buy-in from countries who are willing to finance the creation of a new governing and police structure in Gaza.
“The contributions keep coming in for both the international stabilization force and the new police force. That training is standing up in both Egypt and Jordan. It’s going to take time, but all of those pieces are moving forward,” Waltz told Jewish Insider during an interview on Monday at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles.
One lingering challenge to Waltz’s premise of a peaceful Gaza is Hamas’ grip on power, which remains a huge variable in a plan that is largely contingent upon the U.S. and Israel’s defeat of Hamas. The terror group still controls large swathes of Gaza, even if not all of it. It will be loath to hand over that power willingly. Waltz swore that Hamas “will never again rule Gaza,” whether as a result of “diplomatic action or military action.”
“I wouldn’t expect a terrorist organization like them to just roll over and hand over everybody, but once we’ve cut off any other path for them, then I think they have no other choice,” said Waltz.
Hamas, he argued, will not put down its arms unless compelled to do so. If Hamas feels squeezed enough — if the U.S. has enough leverage — then the group will have no choice but to give in, according to Waltz.
“At the end of the day, Hamas has a choice to make. Those negotiations are going on as we speak. [Nickolay] Mladenov laid out a demilitarization plan, a plan to decommission their weapons,” Waltz said, referring to the Bulgarian diplomat who heads the Board of Peace. “I’m going to remain optimistic, as horrific an organization that Hamas is.”
The deck is now stacked against Hamas, Waltz argued. He pointed to the Gulf states and Arab nations that are members of the Board of Peace — places like Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — to signal that Hamas is deeply isolated.
“They really have no option,” said Waltz. “They’re either going to do this the easy way or the hard way. And let’s all pray they do it the easy way.”
Still, he acknowledged that the group’s hold on power remains strong.
“I think they’re [Hamas] unfortunately still exerting control over portions, but we’ve also seen pushback from local tribes, local families,” Waltz said of Hamas. He noted that the Board of Peace-affiliated National Committee for the Administration of Gaza has plans to take over government services. But that will be only in the parts of Gaza not controlled by Hamas.
Plus, NYC Jews ring alarm bells after vandalism
Amirhossein KHORGOOEI / ISNA / AFP via Getty Images
Vessels are pictured anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas in southern Iran on May 5, 2026.
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📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
The ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran appears to be on its last legs: Iran opened fire on U.S. warships and commercial vessels today, CENTCOM head Adm. Brad Cooper said, and shot several missiles and drones at the UAE for the first time since early April — some missiles were reportedly intercepted by the Iron Dome system Israel deployed to the country at the beginning of the war, while one drone sparked a fire at the Fujairah oil complex.
The UAE also condemned an Iranian drone attack on an oil tanker affiliated with the state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company in the Strait of Hormuz, calling it an “act of piracy”…
Signaling a possible return to hostilities, President Donald Trump told Fox News Iran will be “blown off the face of the earth” if it fires on ships being escorted through the strait by the U.S. as part of “Project Freedom” (which he said on Truth Social this afternoon has already happened).
CENTCOM, meanwhile, announced it had assisted two U.S.-flagged merchant ships in successfully transiting the Strait of Hormuz as of this morning…
Trump’s allies largely continue to stand behind the war effort: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) called for “big, strong and short” strikes on Iran in defense of the UAE, while Pershing Square CEO Bill Ackman called the war “a very good one” that will resolve shortly with “a resolution that is going to be very, very favorable.”
Asked about the impact on investing in the region, Ackman told CNBC the Middle East “has been reset in a very positive way,” with an expansion of the Abraham Accords and a “peace dividend” likely to come…
A small group of Senate Republicans are working on an Authorization for the Use of Military Force to receive a vote in Congress if military operations in Iran do pick back up, Semafor reports, as many lawmakers agree that Trump has run out the 60-day clock for a war launched without congressional approval (some Republicans believe the clock has been paused during the ceasefire). The AUMF would “likely limit ground troops and provide for a finite period of conflict,” according to the outlet…
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee added eight more candidates to its “Red to Blue” program, a move that could offer additional resources to the campaigns, including several in competitive Democratic primaries, as the party seeks to shore up its strongest candidates and flip the House amid a poor national environment for Republicans.
The new recruits include union leader Bob Brooks in Pennsylvania’s 7th District as well as Bexar County sheriff’s deputy Johnny Garcia in Texas’ 35th — Garcia is facing Maureen Galindo, who has espoused a range of antisemitic conspiracy theories, in a runoff later this month…
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) endorsed Rep. Al Green (D-TX) in his runoff later this month against Rep. Christian Menefee (D-TX), Green announced today. Jewish leaders have been optimistic about unseating Green in the member-on-member race — a consequence of Texas’ redistricting process — as Green has grown increasingly hostile to Israel in the wake of the Oct. 7 attacks.
The reported endorsement marks an improvement in the lawmakers’ relationship: Green and Pelosi had clashed during her time as House speaker over Green’s effort to impeach Trump…
Members of the Democratic National Committee are considering ways to limit Chair Ken Martin’s influence, The Bulwark reports, after his appearance on the “Pod Save America” podcast last week where he defended his decision not to release the “autopsy” report of the 2024 election and as members worry the organization is struggling to remain relevant and fiscally sound…
Politico details the Republican campaign to persuade Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) to switch party affiliations and help keep Democrats from retaking the Senate in the midterm elections — despite Fetterman’s insistence that he will never renounce the Democratic Party…
Multiple Jewish homes, a synagogue and a Jewish center in Queens — which contains a preschool — were vandalized with swastikas and other antisemitic graffiti overnight, leaving Jewish residents questioning their safety amid a spate of antisemitic incidents, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports. The NYPD is searching for at least four individuals responsible for the vandalism, according to New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin.
“I have a Jewish community that is seriously questioning whether it is still welcome in this city,” said Democratic state Assemblymember Sam Berger. Mark Treyger, CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, said, “This is not normal and we need city leaders to act now”…
New York magazine spotlights the race for New York’s 12th District and the personas of its four front-runners — social media guru Jack Schlossberg, establishment operative Micah Lasher, AI critic Alex Bores and reformed Republican George Conway — as each seeks to represent one of the wealthiest, oldest, most educated and most densely populated congressional districts in the country…
⏩ 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 comments from U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz on Iran and the Board of Peace, as JI’s Gabby Deutch spoke with him on the sidelines of the Milken Conference in Los Angeles.
Trump announced Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine will hold a press briefing in the morning, amid cracks in the ceasefire with Iran.
The James W. Foley Legacy Foundation, which advocates for American hostages and journalists abroad, will honor Bar Ben Yaakov and Matan Sivek of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum as well as Qatari minister Mohammed Al-Khulaifi at its annual Freedom Award gala at the National Press Club in Washington, hosted by CBS’ Margaret Brennan.
The Manhattan Jewish Historical Initiative will induct honorees into its Jewish Hall of Fame in a ceremony at Bryant Park: Inductees include Ari Ackerman, philanthropist and co-owner of the Miami Marlins; New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin; singer-songwriter Melissa Manchester; and Ariel Zwang, CEO of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.
CNN will hold a primary debate for California’s crowded gubernatorial race including Republicans Chad Bianco and Steve Hilton and Democrats Xavier Becerra, Matt Mahan, Katie Porter, Tom Steyer and Antonio Villaraigosa.
Vice President JD Vance is expected to appear at a campaign event for Rep. Zach Nunn (R-IA) in Iowa after several postponements — the event, which had been dubbed “Top Nunn” in reference to the “Top Gun” movies, had originally been scheduled for mid-March but drew criticism when several servicemembers from Nunn’s district were killed in the U.S. war with Iran.
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OPEC headquarters in Vienna
Lawmakers said that the United Arab Emirates’ decision to withdraw from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries could yield positive economic benefits for the U.S. and is a sign that the regional alignment of the Gulf countries is shifting.
Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) told Jewish Insider that the recent move shows “the continued fragmentation of the Gulf Cooperation Council and of the relations between our Gulf partners as Saudi and the Emirates are pursuing different security paths.”
“I think it is a reminder that the Gulf is under enormous pressure because Iranian attacks have knocked out a fair amount of oil and gas production capability,” Coons said. “The closure of the Strait of Hormuz continues to threaten the stability of their economies, and some of the underlying tensions between our allies and partners in the region are becoming more evident.”
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) told JI he was “trying to understand” what the move would mean, noting that if the UAE “wouldn’t be limited in terms of what they can produce into the world’s oil supply,” it would be a positive development.
“That would probably be a good thing in terms of increasing the supply and hopefully bringing down prices,” Cornyn said. “I think all they [OPEC countries] care about is themselves. As long as they can make money, they’ll do it. And they’re a cartel. We call them a cartel for a reason, but I think right now, more supply would be good and hopefully bring down gas prices.”
OPEC, which coordinates production policies among major oil producers to influence global supply and prices, is de facto led by Saudi Arabia with members including Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Venezuela and Algeria.
Cornyn added that he believes Iran has, through the course of the war, “done an amazing thing, which is to unify a bunch of countries in the Gulf that used to try to fight each other.”
“I’m hopeful after the Strait of Hormuz is open — which I think President [Donald] Trump should not stop until that happens — that we’ll hopefully see an increased normalization of relationships between Saudi Arabia and Israel,” Cornyn said. “And it looks to me like it could end up being a really positive thing in the long run.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) also said that Abu Dhabi’s departure from OPEC “may signal that the cohesion of OPEC is splintering and its power may be lessening … and there may be a freer market ahead.”
Experts said that the UAE has considered making such a move in the past, but it was the ongoing war with Iran that accelerated Abu Dhabi’s decision to break from the bloc and chart a more independent path.
Analysts also conveyed that the shift reflects both long-standing economic frustrations within OPEC and a broader geopolitical recalibration following the conflict — one that is likely to strengthen the UAE’s ties with the United States and Israel while widening its divide with Saudi Arabia.
“The political and economic predicates for this move have been building for a while, and events of the last two months accelerated the decision,” said Jonathan Ruhe, a fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America.
Ruhe noted that the UAE had long been constrained by OPEC production quotas, often “bearing the brunt” of cuts while other members failed to comply.
“All of this foregone revenue could have been spent on further diversifying the Emirati economy and pursuing ambitions to be a world leader in AI and other technologies,” Ruhe said, adding that tensions were compounded by political strains with Saudi Arabia over regional issues including conflicts in Yemen, Sudan and Israel.
“The UAE’s spare production capacity is at an even greater premium now, and it can bypass the Strait of Hormuz with some of these seaborne exports. And with no production cap, it can invest more in additional Hormuz bypass routes,” he added.
While those pressures have existed for years, experts said the Iran war proved to be a turning point. Hussain Abdul-Hussain, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said the UAE was “dismayed” by the lack of response from regional organizations during the conflict, particularly after Iranian strikes on Gulf energy infrastructure.
“The UAE was expecting at least some sort of move by OPEC to denounce all the strikes against energy facilities from a fellow OPEC member [Iran], and this didn’t happen,” Abdul-Hussain said, with a similar dynamic occurring in the Arab League.
Experts said the fallout from the war is also expected to bring the UAE closer to Washington and Jerusalem. Abdul-Hussain pointed to reports that Israel deployed an Iron Dome battery to the UAE during the conflict — a potential sign that the nations could share increased goodwill moving forward.
“The UAE has been adamant on saying that they will not forget those who took their side in the war, and they will not forget those who didn’t take their side,” Abdul-Hussain said. “On Israel, I think [their ties] … will grow much, much stronger moving forward.”
Beyond shifting regional ties, Abdul-Hussain said the move is likely to be welcomed by Washington, noting that in “the United States, regardless of who’s in the White House, we don’t like OPEC.”
“We call them an oil cartel,” he added. “They try to regulate oil prices and not always in our favor. So we’ll be happy to see the market play its role without having someone putting their thumb on the scale.”
Abdul-Hussain also noted that Saudi Arabia was “always trying to control the price of the market.” He said that the UAE’s decision “undermines the positions of both Saudi Arabia and Iran.”
“Before the war with Iran broke out, a schism had shown between the Saudis and the Emiratis,” Abdul-Hussain said. “Some thought that the war would bring them closer together, but I think the war didn’t, because you could see that the posture during the war and after the war was completely opposite.”
Kristin Diwan, a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute, echoed that “differences over strategy confronting Iran is driving the Gulf states in different directions.” She added that the UAE is willing to chart its own path, free from deference to Saudi Arabia. “I expect this will extend to other Arab and Islamic multilateral organizations as well.”
Steven Cook, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said that Abu Dhabi’s decision is a reflection of a broader regional realignment underway in which there will be “roughly two different blocs.” He noted in a statement that one such bloc might consist of “Israel, UAE, Bahrain, Kenya, Greece, Cyprus, Ethiopia, Somaliland, maybe Lebanon and Egypt,” with another consisting of “Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.”
“You have discussions among the Turks, Saudis, Egyptians and Pakistanis for a security pact. This is a long-held dream among Turkish Islamists and the others seem interested. On the other hand, the Emiratis, Israel and the rest are drawing closer to each other,” Cook said. “This does not bode well for regional integration that the Saudis, Americans, Israelis and others have been seeking, but CENTCOM will hold the GCC Plus and Israel together on security issues so it won’t be a total split,” Cook said.
‘Don’t trust, but verify,’ Sen. Blumenthal said of Washington’s discussions with Islamabad
Jacquelyn Martin - Pool/Getty Images
Vice President JD Vance arrives for talks with Iranian officials on April 11, 2026 in Islamabad, Pakistan.
Lawmakers are expressing skepticism over Pakistan’s expanding role in the Middle East, cautiously welcoming its involvement in U.S.-Iran negotiations while questioning its defense aspirations in the region and whether it can truly serve as an impartial intermediary — even as the Trump administration increasingly engages with the country.
Pakistan has taken on a more prominent role in Middle East geopolitics in recent months, deepening defense ties with Gulf states — including signing a mutual defense agreement with Saudi Arabia in September 2025 and nearing a potential security pact with Qatar — while also positioning itself as a key intermediary between Washington and Tehran.
Islamabad’s involvement in the negotiations has helped facilitate a ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran, even as Pakistan has taken steps to support Iran’s economy, including opening transit routes that allow it to import goods amid the conflict.
President Donald Trump has spokenly highly of Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and maintains close ties with army chief Asim Munir, who nominated Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize for brokering a ceasefire between India and Pakistan in May 2025. Munir has since been invited to a private White House lunch and later to the Oval Office alongside Sharif — part of a longstanding pattern of close ties between U.S. presidents and Pakistani military leadership.
However, Islamabad’s posture toward Israel has not been as warm: Israel and Pakistan do not share diplomatic relations and Pakistan continues to strongly back the Palestinian cause. Islamabad has also refused to recognize or allow its citizens to travel to Israel. In a since-deleted tweet earlier this month, Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Asif called Israel “a curse for humanity” and a “cancerous state.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said that despite Pakistan’s complicated track record, the U.S. should “welcome” any “constructive role” it is willing to play — while remaining vigilant.
“I think the approach has to be: don’t trust, but verify,” Blumenthal told Jewish Insider. “[Pakistan] has certainly been a somewhat ambiguous force in many ways. They’ve been disruptive to some relationships. They’re a nuclear-armed power, but they are definitely a force, and if they can play a constructive role here we should welcome it. It doesn’t mean that we have to accept their word on everything they do or say.”
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) struck a similarly cautious tone, questioning whether any actor in the region can be considered a truly neutral mediator.
“I’m not sure if anybody over there is an honest broker, to tell you the truth,” Burchett said. “They’ll all side with the winner, and that’ll be us when it’s all over, because they need those American dollars.”
Burchett warned that Pakistan’s growing engagement with Washington “could” strain U.S. ties with India.
“India has been a strong ally of ours, so I think we need to be very careful about that,” he said. “But I think Trump understands that, and he’s going to keep that in mind. Him and [Indian Prime Minister Narendra] Modi are fairly close.”
Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) was more critical, arguing that Pakistan’s role stems from its close ties to Iran — a dynamic he said raises concerns.
“[Pakistan has] good relations with Iran, which doesn’t speak well of them,” Sherman said. “I mean, I don’t have any friends of mine who engage in terrorism. So, you make peace with your enemies, not with your friends, so certainly we would like to have more support from Pakistan than we have.”
Sherman also warned that deepening U.S.-Pakistan ties could have consequences for Washington’s relationship with New Delhi.
“If we grow our ties with Pakistan to the point that we’re not calling upon them to clamp down on [hostility toward Israel] and other terrorist groups, then it would [hurt the U.S.-India relationship],” he said. “If it goes to the point that we [the U.S.] forget that there are terrorist groups that are finding haven in Pakistan and that Pakistan should be doing more to clamp down on them, then I will be upset and Modi will be upset.”
He further expressed concern over Pakistan’s expanding defense relationships in the region, cautioning that “you certainly don’t want Pakistan sharing nuclear weapons technology with Saudi Arabia or anyone else.”
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), meanwhile, suggested the U.S. may not have a choice as it faces limited options in choosing a mediator. “I don’t think we have a lot of alternatives,” he said. “I don’t think we’re in a position to be too picky in terms of interlocutors. I hope it works.”
Foreign policy experts have also expressed caution over Pakistan’s expanded role and the Trump administration’s apparent friendliness with Islamabad.
“The Trump administration’s Pakistan policy suffers from deep historical amnesia,” said Sadanand Dhume, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and columnist for The Wall Street Journal. “It appears as though the U.S. has decided to completely ignore decades of painfully learned lessons about Pakistan’s propensity to host anti-American and anti-Israeli terrorists. The Trump administration also risks upturning a robust U.S.-India relationship built over decades by Republican and Democrat administrations alike.”
“Pakistan is one of the world’s most strident critics of Israel,” Dhume added. “Pakistan’s obsessive hatred of the Jewish state masks the Islamic nation’s profound failures, including an inability, so far, to allow democracy to take root and a moribund economy that makes Pakistan one of the poorest countries in south Asia.”
He added that Islamabad’s broadening defense ties are in part due to a growing “insecurity following Israeli strikes on Qatar, and a widespread perception that the Pakistani Air Force performed credibly in a four-day-conflict with India in May 2025.”
Edmund Fitton-Brown, a former British diplomat and senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, noted that Pakistan’s emerging defense alignment in the region is based on its “historically close relationship with all the Arabian Peninsula countries because of geographical proximity, religious compatibility and the complementarity of small, wealthy countries with labor shortages and a populous poorer country that exports labor.”
Fitton-Brown said that “Qatar is especially attractive to religiously conservative Pakistani expats.” He added that the current conflict between the U.S. and Iran has “driven [Gulf Cooperation Council] countries closer to each other” and that Qatar has sought to bring “Saudi Arabia into a Sunni Islamist axis with Turkey and Pakistan.”
Blaise Misztal, vice president of the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, said that the Iran war has underscored certain Gulf states’ vulnerability to conflict despite U.S. security guarantees, presenting a need to seek multiple defense agreements.
He noted that prior to the Iran war, “reports suggested an even bigger agreement lashing Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey all together into a defense pact.”
“The fact that the idea appears to have been revived should be a warning to Washington that all the gains that it had made in demonstrating American strength and resolve and convincing Gulf countries that only the United States can provide for their security are already beginning to evaporate as the region contends with the possibility of Trump cutting a deal that leaves the Iranian regime in place and in control of the Strait of Hormuz,” Misztal said.
Trump said Hezbollah’s refusals to disarm and cease attacks on Israel and its forces were main topics during the talks, and noted that he would not prevent the Israelis from responding if hit by Hezbollah
Brendan SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images
(L-R) US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, Israeli Ambassador to US Yechiel Leiter, US Vice President JD Vance, US President Donald Trump, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Lebanese Ambassador to the US Nada Hamadeh Moawad and US Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa listen to questions from the media during a meeting with Lebanese Ambassador to the US and Israeli Ambassador to the US, at the White House in Washington, DC on April 23, 2026.
President Donald Trump convened senior U.S., Israeli and Lebanese officials at the White House on Thursday for the second round of Israeli-Lebanese peace talks, during which the parties agreed to a three-week extension of the ongoing ceasefire.
The talks were originally slated to be led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the State Department, but the president had the summit moved to the Oval Office in order to participate and lead the negotiations. Trump and Rubio were joined at the meeting by Vice President JD Vance, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter, U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa and Lebanese Ambassador to the U.S. Nada Hamadah Mouwad. U.S. State Department Counselor Michael Needham was also in the room.
Trump announced the ceasefire extension in a post on his Truth Social platform at the conclusion of the talks. “The Meeting went very well! The United States is going to work with Lebanon in order to help it protect itself from Hezbollah,” Trump wrote on the platform. “I look forward in the near future to hosting the Prime Minister of Israel, Bibi Netanyahu, and the President of Lebanon, Joseph Aoun. It was a Great Honor to be a participant at this very Historic Meeting!”
Speaking afterward to press alongside Vance, Rubio and the four ambassadors, the president expressed his hope that Israeli and Lebanese leaders would meet during the ceasefire, ideally at the White House.
Vance and Rubio both credited Trump as the catalyst for securing the ceasefire extension at the meeting, with each asserting that the president’s direct participation pushed all sides to want to leave with deliverables. “The president wanted to be personally involved, and I’m glad he was because it made it possible to get this extension,” Rubio said.
Trump said that Hezbollah’s refusals to disarm and cease attacks on Israel and its forces were main topics during the talks, and noted that he would not prevent the Israelis from responding if hit by Hezbollah. Still, he said, Israel’s overall approach to the war against Hezbollah would shift to a more “surgical” approach.
“Israel is going to have to defend itself if they’re shot at, and they will. I would never say that they can’t,” Trump said. “It’d be nice if they wouldn’t have to bother with that, but if something happens, they’re going to have to defend themselves, as you know, but they’re going to do it carefully and they’re going to be surgical as opposed to beyond surgical. There’s a lot they can do, but Israel is going to have to defend itself.”
Despite the ceasefire announcement, Israel and Hezbollah have continued to exchange fire in both southern Lebanon and northern Israel, with Hezbollah taking credit for an attack on Shtula, a border community in northern Israel as officials gathered at the White House for peace talks. On Friday morning, the IDF said that in response to those rockets, it struck Hezbollah military structures used to plan and carry out terror attacks in the areas of Kherbet Selem and Touline in southern Lebanon.
Leiter praised the Trump administration’s efforts to reach a diplomatic solution and improve relations between Israel and Lebanon, though he noted that such a goal could not be achieved without making the defeat of Hezbollah a core focus.
“To put the emphasis repeatedly in our talks on Israeli withdrawal is to fall into the trap, once again, of putting the emphasis in the wrong place. If we continue down that path, we are doomed to failure, and failure, friends, is not an option,” Leiter said. “If, on the other hand, we put the focus on the root problem, Hezbollah and its murderous intentions with regard to Israel, I have no doubt that we will succeed in eliminating the Hezbollah menace and achieving peace between our two countries.”
The president insisted the Iranian leaders would need to cut off its funding for Hezbollah to secure a peace deal to end the U.S. war in Iran, responding affirmatively when asked if that was “a must” for him.
Trump also said he would “make sure” that Lebanese laws criminalizing official communications with Israel were “ended very quickly,” criticizing the policy as “crazy.”
“I think we’ll have to end that. That’s something we’re gonna have to end,” Trump told reporters after being asked about the laws. “That’s a good start. It’s a crime to talk with Israel? Well, I’m pretty sure that that will be ended very quickly, OK? I’ll make sure of that. And I know Lebanon doesn’t want that. We’ll end it. Will you work on that please, everybody? That’s crazy.”
Rubio touted the ceasefire extension in Lebanon as a win for all parties involved, arguing that the pause in fighting “gives everybody time to continue to work on what’s going to be a permanent peace between two countries who want to be at peace.” Still, he warned that Hezbollah remained a significant barrier to achieving that aim.
Israel and Lebanon, Rubio argued, “are victimized by the same terrorist organization, a terrorist organization that no doubt has victimized Israel, but has also victimized the people of Lebanon. The people of Lebanon deserve to live in a country that’s peaceful and prosperous. They have an opportunity to do that. They have a history of that, and what’s standing in the way is a terrorist organization that operates within their national territory. That threat needs to be eliminated.”
The two voted for the first time last week in favor of blocking some U.S. arms sales to Israel
Brandon Bell/Getty Images
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) speaks with reporters after closing remarks during the fifth hearing on the January 6th investigation in the Cannon House Office Building on June 23, 2022, in Washington, D.C.
Sens. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Mark Kelly (D-AZ), who both voted for the first time last week in favor of blocking some U.S. arms sales to Israel, said that their future positions on such votes would be made on a case-by-case basis, determined by the specific sales in question and the circumstances surrounding the votes.
The two were somewhat surprising votes in favor of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) effort to block U.S. arms sales, having generally maintained pro-Israel records while in Congress.
“I was, and am, strongly opposed to the war in Iran, and I couldn’t justify voting against our own supplemental funding bills, which I plan to, and supporting funding for the same war in a JRD,” Schiff told Jewish Insider, referring to the Joint Resolutions of Disapproval to block specific arms sales to Israel. “I’ll evaluate each circumstance as they come.”
Kelly disputed the notion that his vote had flipped, saying, “I make these decisions based on what is the current situation, and what is the vote on — I don’t make these [decisions] in a vacuum.”
“This isn’t ‘yes’ or ‘no’ in any given moment, I’m always going to be looking out for Israel,” Kelly said. “And I think Israel is weaker, and the Israeli people are at further risk because of the current prime minister of Israel. He’s made a lot of mistakes, and he’s not operating in accordance with our values — but nor is our president. So I’ll look at every one of these [votes] based on what it is and what the current situation is.”
Asked whether his calculus would change if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were to lose the next election, he said that the decision is up to the Israeli people, “but I do not think Netanyahu has done Israel as a nation any favors.”
Plus, Dems concerned over fraying Israel-Europe ties
Daniel Torok/The White House via Getty Images
President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio (R) sit in the Situation Room as they monitor the mission that took out three Iranian nuclear enrichment sites, at the White House on June 21, 2025 in Washington, DC.
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. 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
President Donald Trump announced this afternoon, with the status of negotiations with Iran up in the air and the expiration of the ceasefire quickly approaching, that he is indefinitely extending the ceasefire at the request of Pakistani negotiators (despite having said, as recently as this morning, that he was not inclined to do so).
“Based on the fact that the Government of Iran is seriously fractured … we have been asked to hold our Attack … until such time as their leaders and representatives can come up with a unified proposal,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “I have therefore directed our Military to continue the Blockade and, in all other respects, remain ready and able, and will therefore extend the Ceasefire until such time as their proposal is submitted, and discussions are concluded, one way or the other”…
Talks were meant to begin shortly in Islamabad, but Vice President JD Vance’s trip was reportedly put on hold and he remains in Washington. Vance, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were all spotted arriving at the White House for meetings this afternoon.
Iran also had not committed to sending its own delegation — Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused the U.S. of violating the ceasefire through its blockade of Iranian ports and seizure of an Iranian-flagged cargo ship, calling it an “act of war. … Iran knows how to neutralize restrictions, how to defend its interests, and how to resist bullying,” he wrote…
U.S. forces boarded an oil tanker in the Indian Ocean that had been sanctioned for working with Iran which defense officials said was currently carrying Iranian oil, in a further escalation of the U.S. campaign against Tehran-aligned assets and actors outside of the Middle East.
The Treasury Department also announced sanctions on 14 individuals and entities in Iran, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates for “their involvement in procuring or transporting weapons or weapons components on behalf of the Iranian regime”…
Six weeks after he was announced as Iran’s new supreme leader after the assassination of his father, Mojtaba Khamenei has still not been seen in public, raising speculation he is incapacitated from injuries sustained in a U.S.-Israeli airstrike or has been smuggled abroad…
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch (R-ID) endorsed Sen. Roger Wicker’s (R-MS) view that the U.S. should reconsider its funding for the Lebanese Armed Forces in light of its continued inaction to disarm Hezbollah, in addition to the Lebanese government’s failure to “follow through on long-promised economic reform. The era of complacency & unconditional bailouts must come to end,” Risch said…
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) clarified that his post calling it “awesome” that several Iranian oil tankers had bypassed the U.S. blockade — reporting that has been disputed as Iranian propaganda — was written as sarcasm. “[O]bviously Trump’s bungled mismanagement of this war is not ‘awesome.’ As I have said a million times here, it’s a disaster and he should end the war immediately,” Murphy wrote on X…
Democratic lawmakers are expressing concern over Israel’s fracturing relationship with key European allies, while experts say the shifting dynamics could carry longer-term economic and political risks for Jerusalem, even if Israel weathers threats to unwind largely symbolic defense agreements, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports.
Among other recent moves, Spain and Ireland led a push today to suspend the EU’s association agreement with Israel. The initiative stalled as member states remained divided on the issue; still, Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) called the developments “deeply alarming.”
“NATO allies like Spain, France and Italy are turning their backs on Israel, a key democratic partner that is actively fighting on the front lines against Iran,” Gottheimer said. “Singling out Israel represents a double standard”…
The arsonist who pleaded guilty to attacking a North London synagogue on Saturday night was released on bail by the Westminster Magistrates’ Court today, JI’s Haley Cohen reports. The 17-year-old boy who threw a bottle containing accelerant through the window of Kenton United Synagogue must live and sleep at his home address and not enter any synagogue, the judge said. It was the third such attack on a Jewish institution in London within a week…
Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL) resigned from Congress this afternoon, half an hour before her House Ethics Committee sanctions hearing was due to begin. Having lost jurisdiction in the matter, the committee canceled the hearing…
The Board of Peace is reportedly in discussion with the UAE-owned DP World logistics company about managing supply chains and humanitarian aid in Gaza, including potentially building a new port and developing a free-trade zone, according to Financial Times, as part of the Trump administration’s vision of privatizing much of Gaza’s services and infrastructure…
⏩ 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 how Jewish Democrats in Michigan are making sense of their place in the party in the wake of a state convention where pro-Israel voices were shouted down and a pro-Hezbollah candidate won the party’s nomination for a statewide race.
The House Financial Services Committee will hold a hearing evaluating the effectiveness of U.S. sanctions.
A vote on the fifth Iran war powers resolution in the Senate, expected today, has been pushed to tomorrow.
92NY will host a discussion on the future of New York’s Jewish community with New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin, Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal and New York City Comptroller Mark Levine.
The New York City Council’s Task Force to Combat Antisemitism will hold its first hearing. The task force was established by Menin in January, shortly after her election, to make recommendations and work towards her five-point plan to combat antisemitism.
Robert Kraft’s Blue Square Alliance Against Hate will host a unity dinner in partnership with the NFL, Hillel International, United Negro College Fund and the Pittsburgh Steelers for Black and Jewish college students from the Pittsburgh area. The event will include a fireside chat featuring Kraft, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Charlie Batch.
Washington, D.C., mayoral candidate Kenyan McDuffie will hold a meet-and-greet with young Jewish professionals.
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) will speak in conversation at Yeshiva University with its president, Rabbi Ari Berman, about her new book, Poisoned Ivies: The Inside Account of the Academic and Moral Rot at America’s Elite Universities.
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A spokesperson for Murphy said the senator's social media post was 'sarcasm'
Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Fair Share America
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) speaks at the U.S. Capitol on April 10, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) on Monday appeared to cheer on the reported evasion by more than two dozen Iranian ships of the U.S. maritime blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
The Connecticut Democrat, one of the most vocal critics of Israel in the Senate, responded on X with a one-word comment — “awesome” — to an unconfirmed report that at least 26 vessels belonging to the shadow fleet, which is overseen by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, had bypassed the blockade.
A spokesperson for Murphy clarified to Jewish Insider, “The tweet was sarcasm. Chris obviously thinks it’s terrible that Donald Trump continues to mishandle every aspect of a war he started but clearly has no strategy to end.”
Over the weekend, Murphy appeared at the Alex Soros-backed Global Progressive Summit in Barcelona, where he claimed that the U.S. was “in the middle of” a “totalitarian takeover.”
This post was updated at 9:25 a.m. ET on 4/21/2026 to add comment from Murphy’s office.
Two new polls suggest that the Jewish state still can rely on a sizable, if largely Republican, constituency of support
Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images
President Donald Trump, right, and Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, during a news conference in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Monday, Sept. 29, 2025.
Amid the downbeat assessment of Israel’s political standing in the U.S., two new polls that came out last week suggest that the Jewish state still can rely on a sizable, if largely Republican, constituency of support.
The biggest takeaway from these two new polls — one commissioned by NBC News and one conducted by the respected GOP firm Echelon Insights — is that Israel has become a partisan issue, with Democrats turning decidedly against the Jewish state while Republicans have become strongly supportive.
All told, the polls show the public evenly divided over Israel, with the splits largely along party, ideological and generational lines. The results indicate President Donald Trump’s embrace of the Jewish state has caused Democrats to take an instinctively more negative view — in a continuation of how politics has generally operated in the Trump era.
Echelon Insights, which surveyed 1,022 respondents from March 12-16, found 44% of respondents held a favorable view of Israel, while 38% held an unfavorable view. While Israel’s plus-6 net favorability score is nothing to write home about, the results are noticeably better than a recent Pew Research Center poll that drew outsized attention for finding Israel’s net favorability rating at a dismal minus-23 (37/60%).
The Echelon poll found support was highest for Israel among the most conservative voters, with 72% of “very conservative” voters viewing the Jewish state favorably, while 61% of “somewhat conservative” respondents said the same. Moderates broke evenly, with 40% viewing Israel favorably and 39% unfavorably.
But among “somewhat liberal” respondents, support for Israel dropped noticeably, with just 31% viewing the Jewish state favorably and 55% unfavorably. And among the “very liberal” voters, only 14% viewed Israel favorably and 70% unfavorably — a worse favorability rating than Iran and China.
The Echelon survey found the same general splits within both parties: Republicans under 50 were significantly less supportive of Israel than their older counterparts, with 44% viewing it favorably and 33% unfavorably. By contrast, 78% of Republicans over 50 gave Israel positive marks.
Similarly, there was a sizable minority of Democrats over 50 (33%) who viewed Israel favorably, compared to the smaller share of under-50 Democrats (17%) who said the same.
The NBC poll, conducted by SurveyMonkey between March 30-April 13, framed its question about Israel in a different way, asking respondents whether they were more sympathetic to Israelis or Palestinians. The poll found an even 50-50% split on the question.
The groups that were most sympathetic to Palestinians were Democrats (75% viewed Palestinians more favorably, 25% Israelis) and Gen Zers (74%/26%).
J Street’s Ilan Goldenberg said the surge in far-left calls to cut off missile-defense aid ‘stirred up the conversation a little more’ but says the group was moving that way regardless
Saeed Qaq/Anadolu via Getty Images
Rockets fired from Gaza are neutralized in the air by Israel's 'Iron Dome' air defense system on the fourth day of the clashes in the city of Ashkelon, Israel on October 10, 2023.
In recent years, as the progressive Israel advocacy group J Street joined left-wing calls to place restrictions on U.S. military aid to Israel, support for funding Israel’s Iron Dome missile-defense system remained a sacred cow for the group — the final aspect of the old-school U.S.-Israel defense relationship that, even for most progressives, was unaffected by the broader Democratic shift away from unconditional support for Israel.
That consensus has shattered in recent weeks. Instead of steering the conversation among Democrats, where J Street maintains a solid base of support, the organization found itself playing catch-up to the progressive lawmakers it supports after several of them announced in early April that they think the U.S. should no longer fund Iron Dome batteries.
J Street released a statement on April 13 calling for the U.S. to cease funding Iron Dome batteries, arguing that Israel — a wealthy nation with a substantial defense budget — should pay for its own missile-defense systems. The announcement marked a significant policy shift for J Street, which has long stated that a congressional candidate’s support for U.S. financial backing of the Iron Dome system is one of its most important endorsement criteria.
J Street’s leaders have insisted that they reached this conclusion independently, and not as a result of shifting political winds. But in a conversation on Monday, J Street’s chief policy officer, Ilan Goldenberg, acknowledged that progressives’ rapid shift on the issue factored into J Street’s announcement, even as the group insists it was moving in that direction anyway.
“It stirred up the conversation a little more, but that memo was already written,” Goldenberg told Jewish Insider. “It’s not like this came out of nowhere. It was part of a track record of things we were doing. AOC kind of spurred up the conversation further.”
Goldenberg was referring to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) telling the Democratic Socialists of America’s New York chapter that she opposes “any spending on arms for Israel, including so-called defensive capabilities,” as she also called for an arms embargo on the country. Several progressive lawmakers followed, including Reps. Ro Khanna (D-CA), Jim McGovern (D-MA), Jared Huffman (D-CA) and Mark Pocan (D-WI), all of whom were endorsed by J Street and voted for Iron Dome funding in 2021. Ocasio-Cortez, who is not a J Street endorsee, voted “present” on that 2021 legislation but signed onto a 2024 statement with several other progressive lawmakers saying they “support strengthening the Iron Dome and other defense systems,” even as they opposed offensive weapons sales to Israel.
“It’s been a combination of knowing this is coming, thinking through the substance of it ourselves and seeing the politics shift on it altogether that brought us to this point of making a decision about a week and a half ago to move in this direction,” Goldenberg said.
Alan Solomont, a former U.S. ambassador to Spain and the past board chair of J Street, said the decision was something J Street was heading towards on its own. Since the beginning of this year, the group has begun calling for an end to U.S. military aid to Israel, saying that Israel can afford to buy its own weapons systems, though it had not specifically made that argument for the Iron Dome until last week.
“We’re not following anyone else’s political lead. I think that, yes, we have been thinking about how we treat our military assistance in light of the policies of the current [Israeli] government, and we’ve been thinking about that for some time,” Solomont told JI last week. “Why people continue to support a government that is undermining Israel’s future is still sort of a puzzle to me.”
J Street’s leaders insist they are merely following the lead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said in an interview with The Economist in January that Israel is seeking to end U.S. financial assistance in the next decade. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), a staunch Israel ally and a foreign policy hawk, then said he would accelerate that process, but he softened that position after a meeting with Netanyahu.
“Israel’s in a position now where it can pay for its weapons itself as a country that is as wealthy and powerful and successful as it is,” said Goldenberg, who served as Jewish outreach director on former Vice President Kamala Harris’ 2024 presidential campaign. “I think it got accelerated when Bibi and Lindsey Graham came out early this year.”
Still, Netanyahu’s call to phase out U.S. military aid has not yet resulted in any major policy shifts just yet, as the Memorandum of Understanding that provides Israel with its current $3.8 billion in annual military aid runs through 2028. Goldenberg said J Street wants to see the financial assistance “phased out in a responsible, rapid manner,” which he noted is “different than saying ‘cut it all off tomorrow.’” When asked whether J Street would support another Iron Dome missile-defense package if it were introduced at present, he suggested the organization would not.
“I would say that probably we support that not being in the supplemental,” Goldenberg said.
At the same time that J Street and many progressive lawmakers are calling for an end to U.S. financial assistance for the Iron Dome, other far-left candidates don’t think Israel should have access to Iron Dome batteries at all, even if paid for with its own funds.
Abdul El-Sayed, a candidate for Senate in Michigan, has said the U.S. should not sell any weapons to Israel. DSA and other far-left groups argue that Israel’s access to strong missile-defense systems like the Iron Dome allow it to perpetuate bombing campaigns in Gaza and Lebanon because Israeli civilians are protected, and therefore the Iron Dome is responsible for bloodshed in the region. J Street argues that its position is holding the line against that more extreme view.
“I think that is a position that we need to guard against. We need to recognize Israel’s legitimate security needs,” Solomont said. “We should certainly be concerned about Israel’s security, and work with Israel as an ally around its security. Our commitment to Iron Dome is simply that we think that Israel, with an economy and per capita GDP that is higher than other allies — we’re just following Netanyahu’s lead to say that Israel can pay for these things itself.”
Plus, Israel-Lebanon talks to continue Thursday
Edna Leshowitz/Getty Images
Jack Schlossberg, grandson of former President John. F Kennedy who is currently running for Congress, on Jan. 12, 2026 in New York City.
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📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
Iranian officials have signaled they will attend talks with the U.S. in Islamabad, Pakistan, this week, with Vice President JD Vance, White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner expected to depart for the meeting tomorrow (despite President Donald Trump’s claim that they were already in transit this morning).
Negotiators are up against a running clock, as Trump said today that his two-week ceasefire with Iran will end “Wednesday evening Washington time” and it’s “highly unlikely that I’d extend it” if no deal is reached…
In a series of heated social media posts, Trump again denied that Israel dragged the U.S. into war with Iran: “[T]he results of Oct. 7th, added to my lifelong opinion that IRAN CAN NEVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON,” were his motivation, he wrote on Truth Social.
Trump also boasted that the deal under negotiation will be “far better” than the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. “If a Deal happens under ‘TRUMP,’ it will guarantee Peace, Security, and Safety, not only for Israel and the Middle East, but for Europe, America, and everywhere else,” he wrote. Lashing out at the media, Trump insisted, “I’m winning a War, BY A LOT, things are going very well,” claiming the U.S. blockade, “which we will not take off until there is a ‘DEAL,’ is absolutely destroying Iran”…
The State Department confirmed that the U.S. will host the second round of ambassador-level talks between Israel and Lebanon on Thursday, as the 10-day ceasefire between the two countries that began last Thursday, after the first round of talks, continues to hold…
Republican operatives and strategists are growing increasingly concerned that the GOP may lose the Senate in the midterm elections, several told Politico, as rising gas prices and unease around the war with Iran create a poor national environment for Trump’s party.
The New York Times’ Nate Cohn argues that Democrats have a “realistic chance” to flip the four seats they need to win back the chamber because “they’ve recruited unusually strong candidates in three states that supported Mr. Trump three times: North Carolina, Ohio and Alaska.”
“In all three states, the Democrats’ likely nominees are popular recent statewide office holders. They either won their last campaign or were highly competitive in losing re-election under less favorable political conditions. So far, the polls show those Democrats running well ahead of what one might otherwise expect,” Cohn writes…
Kennedy scion Jack Schlossberg’s shifting views on Israel policy and decision to skip two upcoming Jewish community candidate forums are raising eyebrows in New York’s heavily Jewish 12th Congressional District, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.
During a candidate forum at 92NY last week, for example, Schlossberg rejected continued U.S. funding for offensive weapons to Israel amid the war in Iran — even as he emphasized support for boosting the Iron Dome missile-defense system, which he described as a “critical” technology…
Minnesota’s Democratic Party is poised to endorse progressive Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan for U.S. Senate at its convention next month, Flanagan’s campaign said, after the lieutenant governor secured support from over 90% of Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party local conventions held statewide. The party endorsement, however, will not determine the nominee, as Democratic voters are set to choose their candidate in the Aug. 11 primary election.
The campaign of Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN), Flanagan’s primary opponent and the favorite of pro-Israel activists, called on the DFL last week to launch a formal investigation into a series of alleged instances of antisemitic activity among its delegates. One instance at a local convention last month reportedly saw an unnamed delegate argue that “we should nuke” Israel…
The Wall Street Journal reports on the growing feud between Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, which “spilled out into public view on Thursday, when Driscoll described to lawmakers his fondness for the Army’s former top general, Randy George, whom Hegseth fired as the service’s chief of staff on April 2 while Driscoll was on vacation”…
A Washington Post investigation found that, since January 2025, neo-Nazi influencer Nick Fuentes has made nearly $900,000 through paid messages on his livestreams from roughly 11,000 fans. His top 500 donors are responsible for almost half of that amount…
The UAE has asked the U.S. to consider offering it financial assistance amid the war with Iran, as the Gulf country has borne the brunt of Iran’s drone and missile strikes, taking a heavy toll on its oil, economic and tourism industries. Emirati officials raised the idea of a currency-swap line, which would allow Abu Dhabi inexpensive access to U.S. dollars…
European officials hosted two meetings on Gaza reconstruction today — one gathering, led by EU representative Kaja Kallas and Norway, centered on coordinating aid with the U.S.-led Board of Peace, where White House advisor Josh Gruenbaum requested international assistance in rebuilding the enclave. The other forum, led by Kallas and Belgium, focused on a two-state solution and was attended by Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa…
In response to Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar’s condemnation of an IDF soldier found to have desecrated a statue of Jesus in southern Lebanon, Radosław Sikorski, Poland’s deputy prime minister and foreign affairs minister, accused the IDF of committing war crimes.
“Lessons should also be drawn regarding the way they are being trained,” Sikorski wrote on X. “IDF soldiers themselves admit to war crimes. They killed not only civilian Palestinians but even their own hostages”…
Incoming Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar affirmed that his country is bound by rules of the International Criminal Court to arrest those sought under its warrants, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; Magyar said he intends to prevent Hungary from leaving the ICC, a move his predecessor, Prime Minister Viktor Orban, had initiated.
Responding to questions about Netanyahu’s claim that Magyar had invited him to the country for a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the Hungarian Uprising, Magyar responded, “Every leader is welcome to attend this important commemoration,” but “we have a legal obligation to enforce the court’s rulings, and I’m sure [Netanyahu] knows this”…
Apple CEO Tim Cook announced this afternoon that he will step down from the helm of the tech giant and become its executive chairman in September. Succeeding Cook is John Ternus, head of the company’s hardware engineering…
⏩ 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 Rachel Goldberg-Polin on the release of her book, When We See You Again, which debuts tomorrow.
The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs will hold a nomination hearing for Kevin Warsh, son-in-law of Jewish philanthropist Ronald Lauder, to be chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve. Democrats intend to press Warsh on his personal fortune, which he has only partially disclosed thus far.
The House Ethics Committee will hold a public hearing to determine whether to apply sanctions to Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL), after finding last month that she had committed serious ethics violations and campaign finance misconduct.
The U.S. Helsinki Commission will hold a hearing on Iran’s support for Russia amid its war with Ukraine.
The Senate Foreign Relation Committee’s subcommittee on Africa will hold a hearing on U.S. approaches to counterterrorism on the continent.
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MICHIGAN MOMENT
Michigan Dems nominate lawyer who praised Hezbollah for UMich regent over Jewish incumbent
Platner, in Reddit post on Hamas terrorist attack: ‘From a strictly professional standpoint, this was a damn fine looking and successful raid against a superior opponent’
The Michigan Senate candidate also said in the CNN interview that he supports Chris Van Hollen as Senate Democratic leader over Chuck Schumer
Evan Cobb for The Washington Post via Getty Images
Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed speaks with customers and barbers at Blazin Wade Cuts in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026.
Far-left Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed said in an interview with CNN that aired Sunday that he believes the Israeli government is just as evil as Hamas.
Responding to a question from CNN anchor Manu Raju on that issue, El-Sayed answered in the affirmative, adding, “Killing tens of thousands of people makes you pretty damn evil. It’s not, ‘How evil is this one versus that one?’ Hamas — evil. Israeli government — evil. We can say both,” he said.
He also said that he believes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal and responsible for a genocide.
El-Sayed also defended his decision to campaign with far-left streamer Hasan Piker, brushing off criticisms of Piker as “cancel culture.”
“My understanding of America is, it’s a place where we have freedom of speech. My understanding of America is, it’s a place where we’re willing to have conversations with folks with whom we disagree,” El-Sayed said. “I went on ‘Fox and Friends’ this morning. Is it un-American to go and speak on ‘Fox and Friends’? Or are we drawing certain kinds of lines? And it’s that penchant for cancel culture that I think people hate about Democrats.”
He said that Piker is “having a conversation with a number of folks who feel locked out.”
El-Sayed also said that Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) should replace Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) as the Democratic leader in the Senate, due to Schumer’s continued support for U.S. aid to Israel. Van Hollen is among the most vocal critics of Israel in the Senate.
Michigan has been a closely watched bellwether of the direction of the Democratic Party, and El-Sayed’s candidacy — defined by his virulent anti-Israel rhetoric — will test how hostile Democratic partisans have become toward Israel.
At the state’s Democratic nominating convention on Sunday, which all three Senate candidates attended, Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) was booed by a contingent of left-wing activists hostile to her longstanding support for Israel.
Also receiving heckles from a loud contingent of Democratic delegates: a speaker supporting Jordan Acker, who is seeking reelection to the University of Michigan Board of Regents. Acker has been targeted by the university’s anti-Israel activists, facing harassment and vandalism of his home that Michigan leaders have called plainly antisemitic.
Former Vice President Kamala Harris spoke at a party event the day prior to the convention, where she said President Donald Trump “got pulled into” the war in Iran by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, adding that the war “has always been [Trump’s] feeble attempt to distract from the Epstein files.”
Attendees included Sen. Chris Murphy, Israeli lawmaker Ahmed Tibi, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Brazilian President Lula de Silva
Elisa Schu/picture alliance via Getty Images
Alex Soros speaks during the presentation of the European Civil Rights Prize for Sinti and Roma on Oct, 23 2025.
A range of Israel critics, from Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) to Israeli lawmaker Ahmed Tibi, were among those gathered in Barcelona, Spain, over the weekend for the inaugural Global Progressive Summit, backed by left-wing philanthropist Alex Soros.
The conference brought together representatives from over 40 countries, offering, according to its website, “a necessary alternative to conservative and far-right forces.” Among its goals, the site says, is “to make progressive solutions visible and credible, proving they are the key to humanity’s prosperity.”
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, an outspoken critic of Israel who called on Saturday to downgrade EU-Israel relations, hosted the two-day conference, whose American attendees also included Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, with Soros.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sent video messages.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, whose government petitioned the International Criminal Court to prosecute Israeli leaders, Brazilian President Lula de Silva and U.K. Justice Secretary David Lammy were also in attendance.
Tibi is one of the Knesset’s veteran Arab lawmakers and a former advisor to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Other prominent attendees included former Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh; Neera Tanden, CEO of the Center for American Progress; and Owen Jones, a writer and former advisor to former U.K. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who was stripped of his leadership position and ultimately booted from the party over his antisemitic views.
Bringing some ideological diversity to the attendee lineup were Clinton, who has been broadly supportive of Israel in recent years; Tanden, a longtime Clinton confidante; and Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, a supporter of Israel and chairman of the Albanian Socialist Party. (Clinton’s longtime aide Huma Abedin is married to Alex Soros.)
Murphy said in his remarks that Trump “is out to end our democracy. We are not on the verge of a totalitarian takeover, we are in the middle of it.”
Lula called on U.N. Security Council members to “fulfill their obligation and guarantee peace,” and “stop this madness of war, because the world cannot bear anymore wars.”
Sánchez spoke about “attacks against the multilateral system, the repeated attempts to undermine international law and the dangerous normalization of the use of force,” an apparent reference to the recent war in Iran.
”They know their vision of how the world should be ordered is falling apart due to the tariffs and wars,” he added.
Soros, one of the progressive movement’s most influential donors and son of billionaire philanthropist George Soros, has also been outspoken against the war in Iran, praising Spain for refusing to allow the U.S. to use bases on its soil and reprimanding other European countries for not doing the same.
Trump has criticized Sánchez for Spain’s recalcitrance regarding the Iran war, including on Saturday, writing on Truth Social: “Has anyone looked at how badly the country of Spain is doing. Their financial numbers, despite contributing almost nothing to NATO and their military defense, are absolutely horrendous. Sad to watch!”
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar responded to Sánchez’s call to downgrade relations between the EU and Israel, writing on X that Jerusalem “will not accept a hypocritical lecture from someone who has relationships with totalitarian regimes that violate human rights, such as [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan’s Turkey and [Nicolas] Maduro’s Venezuela, a government that receives thanks from Iran’s brutal regime and terrorist organizations and has dedicated itself to spreading antisemitism.”
The swing-district Republican is the first GOP lawmaker other than isolationist Thomas Massie to support constraining the administration’s military operations in Iran
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) talks with a reporter in the U.S. Capitol's Statuary Hall on Friday, March 27, 2026.
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), a moderate Republican and co-chair of the House Problem Solvers Caucus, introduced a war powers resolution on Thursday that aims to enforce the deadlines for the war in Iran laid out in the 1973 War Powers Act.
Fitzpatrick is the first Republican — other than isolationist Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) — to introduce legislation that would constrain the administration’s ability to act in Iran. The move is a signal that GOP support for the effort could begin to erode if the administration disregards legal limitations on the length of its operation in Iran.
The War Powers Act limits any military operation initiated unilaterally by the executive branch to 60 days, with an additional 30-day drawdown period, unless the operations are subsequently authorized by Congress. The 60-day period will expire at the end of April.
“The War Powers Act of 1973 is the law of the land,” Fitzpatrick said. “This consistent standard must be applied to all past, current, and future administrations when it comes to military hostilities abroad. … This is the law that has applied to past administrations, and it is the law that will apply to current and future administrations. This is the law and, until it is changed, it will be consistently applied and consistently enforced across all administrations and all conflicts.”
Other Republicans, including moderates, have also indicated that they would be uncomfortable with or unable to support any military operations in Iran past the 60-day deadline without additional congressional authorization — though some have said they would support such an authorization.
Yet, others have argued that the limitations in the War Powers Act are not legally binding and say Republicans on the Hill will disregard them.
Running in a highly competitive district, Fitzpatrick’s move could also be a sign of discomfort with the continued war effort among swing-district Republicans ahead of the midterm elections.
While Democrat Analilia Mejia comfortably won the special election to succeed Mikie Sherrill, Jewish voters swung to the right
Heather Khalifa/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Analilia Mejia, US Democratic House candidate for New Jersey, speaks to members of the media outside of the Montclair Municipal Building on the first day of early voting in Montclair, New Jersey, US, on Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026.
Rep.-elect Analilia Mejia (D-NJ) cruised to victory in last Thursday’s special election for New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District, but the results showed notable defections among Jewish Democrats — an early warning sign for both the left-wing Mejia and her party.
Mejia ran significantly behind other recent Democratic candidates in two municipalities that have traditionally strongly favored Democrats — Livingston Township and Millburn Township — both areas with significant Jewish populations. In Millburn, Mejia lagged 22 percentage points behind former Vice President Kamala Harris’ performance in the 2024 presidential election, and 17 percentage points behind Harris in Livingston.
Dan Cassino, the director of the Fairleigh Dickinson University Poll, said that, given that Livingston favored Democrats by 34 percentage points but Mejia won it by just two, “you could count [that] as a 32-point underperformance.”
Joe Hathaway, the GOP nominee against Mejia, worked during his campaign to attract Jewish voters, casting himself as a moderate centrist and Mejia as an antisemitic extremist.
Jeff Grayzel, the deputy mayor of Morris Township who ran in the Democratic primary against Mejia, said that the special election presented an “actual Sophie’s choice” for Jewish Democrats.
“Some Jews surely voted for her because of their anger with President [Donald] Trump. But many Jewish Democrats I spoke to refused to support Mejia because of her genocide position,” Grayzel, who had hoped to rally support from Jewish voters across the district in the primary, said. Mejia accused the Jewish state of genocide shortly after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel.
“So some Jewish Democrats voted for Hathaway, which was evidenced by the result in Livingston, and others simply stayed home,” Grayzel continued. “We will see from voter turnout data how many Jews actually sat out this election. Unfortunately, our voice is our vote, and declining to vote will only hurt the Jewish community in the long run.”
Jason Shames, the CEO of the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey, said “it’s disappointing to see someone representing New Jersey or any district in America who not only doesn’t fight antisemitism but seemingly aligns with those who delegitimize Israel. Her comments on Israel’s self defense to the horrific terror attack by Palestinians [are] alarming and should not be dismissed.”
Cassino said that while Mejia outperformed other Democrats who have run in this district, she “did slightly worse than we would have expected from a generic Democrat in the special election,” given that the environment strongly favored Democrats.
Cassino said that it’s a “reasonable hypothesis” that attacks on Mejia’s stance on Middle East policy drove Democrats in Millburn and Livingston to vote for Hathaway.
“I would be really cautious, though, about saying that her stance on Palestine, or any other issue, cost her any particular number of votes, because all of these numbers are conditional on turnout,” he added, noting that all of the voters who turned out for Mejia might not have turned out for a different Democratic candidate.
Cassino said that strategists are likely to read the results to mean that attacks on Mejia’s stance on Israel were effective.
“Maybe the most important thing here is that strategists — Democrats and Republicans alike — are going to look at these results and conclude that the attacks on Mejia worked, and ramp them up in November,” he added. “They’re also likely to try and use them against any candidate where they might plausibly stick. So, I hope voters liked those ads, because they’re going to be seeing a lot more of them.”
Micah Rasmussen, the director of the Rebovich Institute of New Jersey Politics at Rider University, said that the apparent protest votes in the Jewish community “could … matter in a different election,” but this time, “Mejia picked up other votes in their place.”
“A lot is being made about these 900 or so votes, and I want to be balanced about how I see them. Yes, they were certainly noticeable. Yes, you can never take any voting bloc for granted,” Rasmussen added. “But electoral coalitions do shift. What can’t be denied is that Mejia’s current margin of 19.5 percent is larger than any other candidate for federal or statewide office since [former Rep.] Rodney Frelinghuysen’s (D-NJ) 25.2 percent win over Mark Dunec in 2014.”
‘The guy that’s going to win the primary in Maine has a Nazi tattoo on his chest and now that’s no problem for a lot of voters. … That’s crazy,’ Fetterman told CNN
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) is seen after the Senate luncheons in the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, April 14, 2026.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) said on Friday that the Democratic Party “absolutely” has an issue with rising antisemitism, calling out the party’s embrace of candidates including Graham Platner in Maine and Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan while criticizing the recent progressive push to cut off defensive aid to Israel.
The Pennsylvania senator made the comments after being asked on CNN’s “The Arena with Kasie Hunt” if he believed the Democratic Party has a problem with antisemitism. Fetterman argued that the growing support for both candidates in their respective primaries was indicative of a tolerance for antisemitism within the party.
He pointed to Platner surviving the controversy surrounding his Nazi tattoo and Jewish Insider’s reporting in recent days that the first-time candidate repeatedly praised Hamas’ tactics in a 2014 Reddit forum that shared video of the terrorist group killing several Israeli soldiers.
“I mean, the guy that’s going to win the primary in Maine has a Nazi tattoo on his chest and now that’s no problem for a lot of voters,” Fetterman said. “I don’t know why. That’s crazy. And now, I mean, we know he knows, he knew what that was. I mean, if you’re back over 12, 13 years, cheering about the death of Israeli soldiers, I mean, you clearly have a serious issue, and the left has a serious issue with antisemitism.”
“It was just released that he was praising and celebrating a video online where Hamas was beating and torturing Israeli soldiers to death,” Fetterman said, referring to Platner.
Fetterman also made note of El-Sayed’s lead in one recent primary poll despite his decision to campaign alongside antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker.
“The guy in Michigan, he’s leading now in that race, as my party becomes more and more hostile to Israel,” Fetterman said. “They’re just palling around someone like Hasan Piker, you know the guy that, absolutely, I mean, he absolutely is proud to cheer for Hamas, loves Hamas.”
“The Democrats are proud to stand with him and campaign with him,” he added. “Go ahead, try to win Pennsylvania and campaign around Hasan Piker, or saying, ‘Yeah, America deserved 9/11’ or ‘Hamas is 1,000% better than Israel’ or ‘I don’t care about the rapes and for all this other things.’ We have a serious problem with my party.”
Fetterman, one of most vocal pro-Israel Democrats in the Senate, told Hunt that Israel is “becoming more and more toxic for a Democrat to support,” pointing out that “80% of Democrats view Israel in a negative way.” He specifically condemned the uptick in progressive and far-left voices coming out against continued defensive aid to Israel.
“You have people like [Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez] voting against Iron Dome, the technology that prevents tens and tens of [thousands] of Israeli deaths from the rockets that those cowards fire at civilians,” he said.
Fetterman went on to criticize members of his party for opposing the war in Iran, saying that there were other Democrats who felt the same as him in supporting the effort but were not speaking out because doing so would be “politically toxic.”
“Every single Democrat has already been on record saying, ‘We can‘t ever allow Iran to acquire a nuclear bomb,’” Fetterman said, specifically naming former Vice President Kamala Harris and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and “everyone that’s run for president” who said “we can’t ever allow that to happen.”
“Then, [President Donald] Trump happened to do something about that to prevent that. That’s why I support that,” he continued. “I’m not the only Democrat who supports this, but I’m the only Democrat that’s willing to stand up and say it’s the right thing because I know how politically toxic it is as a Democrat to support this.”
Fetterman surmised that he is the “only Democrat … perhaps left in the entire Congress” who will say publicly that recent U.S. military action in Iran “was necessary” because doing so “contradicts every single thing that every Democrat has said” about how “we can’t ever allow Iran to acquire a nuclear bomb.”
Fetterman went on to criticize the Democratic lawmakers who voted for the recent war powers resolutions in the House and Senate, arguing that their opposition to the war has been “celebrated” by Iranian leadership and calling their response to the conflict “absurd.”
“Iran has celebrated this,” Fetterman said of the broad Democratic opposition. “A lot of people in my party and a lot of people in the media has turned Iran into the underdog. They’re like Rudy” — making a reference to the 1993 sports movie — “and putting them up on their shoulders and cheering for Iran at this point.”
Asked to respond to Sen. Elissa Slotkin’s (D-MI) statement that “being pro-Israel today is not about simply supporting the political or military agenda of Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu, just like being pro-American should not be equated with loyalty to President Trump,” Fetterman argued that her comments on her votes for Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) measures on Thursday blocking military sales to Israel were similarly “absurd.”
“She’s a Democratic senator. Why aren’t you criticizing Iran? Why aren’t you criticizing Hamas or Hezbollah or these other kinds of forces? If you have to pick a side here, criticize that. So that’s where we are as a Democratic Party, and you’re going to vote against the kinds of critical aid that Israel requires and needs in order to beat back and destroy an organization like Hezbollah. Like I said, if you have to pick a side in a war, and clearly we have a side, I’m proud to stand on the side of Israel and America.”
Pressed on if he was still committed to being a Democrat given that his comments marked his harshest criticism yet of his party, Fetterman responded affirmatively.
“Well, of course. Yeah, I am absolutely committed to [remaining a] Democrat, absolutely,” Fetterman said. “I vote 91, 92 percent the Democratic line, but I am the only Democrat now that’s proud to consistently stand with Israel, and I’m going to do that, and that’s been very damaging with my standing as a Democrat.”
“If it’s what’s necessary, I’ll be the last Democrat standing with Israel through this,” he later added.
Fetterman also predicted that the war in Iran would not go on much longer, noting that “things kind of continue to wind down,” and said it’s “important to support” the U.S. securing an outcome in which Iranian leadership “surrenders.”
“I think these are very positive developments,” he said of Israel and the U.S. targeting Iran and their leading proxies.
“I think it seems like it’s going to wind down,” Fetterman said. “And we’re heading to a strong end at this point.”
The president also denied reports that the U.S. is willing to exchange funds for Iran’s enriched uranium
SAUL LOEB / AFP via Getty Images
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine speaks as a map of the Strait of Hormuz is displayed during a press briefing at the Pentagon in Washington, DC, on April 16, 2026.
As the first day of the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire held strong, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi declared the Strait of Hormuz “completely open” for the duration of the 10-day pause in hostilities.
President Donald Trump affirmed the strait is “ready for business and full passage” in a Truth Social post, but said the U.S.’ naval blockade “will remain in full force and effect as it pertains to Iran, only, until such time as our transaction with Iran is 100% complete.”
“This process should go very quickly in that most of the points are already negotiated,” he added, as Trump has indicated U.S. and Iranian negotiators may meet again in Islamabad, Pakistan, over the weekend.
“Iran, with the help of the U.S.A., has removed, or is removing, all sea mines” from the strait, Trump said in another post. “Iran has agreed to never close the Strait of Hormuz again. It will no longer be used as a weapon against the World!” he added later.
Trump seemingly denied an Axios report that the U.S. is prepared to offer Iran the release of $20 billion in frozen funds in exchange for Iran relinquishing its highly enriched uranium, which Trump often refers to as “nuclear dust.”
“The U.S.A. will get all Nuclear ‘Dust,’ created by our great B2 Bombers,” he wrote, but “no money will exchange hands in any way, shape, or form.”
“This deal is in no way subject to Lebanon, either,” he added. “The USA will, separately, work with Lebanon, and deal with the Hezboolah [sic] situation in an appropriate manner. Israel will not be bombing Lebanon any longer. They are PROHIBITED from doing so by the U.S.A. Enough is enough!!!” Trump said.
The ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, which began at 5 p.m. ET on Thursday, has held as of Friday morning. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video statement that, at Trump’s request, Israel will “provide an opportunity to advance an integrated diplomatic and military solution with the Lebanese government.”
Israel has destroyed 90% of Hezbollah’s missile and rocket stockpiles, Netanyahu said in the statement — which was made prior to Trump declaring that Israel is “prohibited” from striking Lebanon — “but I say honestly, we have not finished the job. There are things we plan to do regarding the remaining rocket threat and the drone threat, which I will not detail here.”
And, Netanyahu added, “we have an additional goal, and that is the dismantling of Hezbollah. Therefore, I tell you again in all honesty: This will not be achieved tomorrow. It requires sustained effort, patience and endurance, and it requires wise navigation of the diplomatic field.”
“For the first time in 43 years, representatives of the State of Israel are speaking directly with representatives of Lebanon. The road to peace is still long, but we have begun it. One of our hands holds a weapon; our other hand is extended in peace,” the prime minister said.
In conversation with The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg, Kurtzer said the Jewish community is caught between the illiberalism of the left and the illiberalism of the right
Shalom Hartman Institute
Yehuda Kurtzer
Amid a surge in antisemitism across the political spectrum, many American Jews have described feeling a growing sense of isolation. But for Yehuda Kurtzer, president of the Shalom Hartman Institute, being “politically homeless” is not a crisis to be solved, but rather a position to be embraced.
“I don’t think some measure of political homelessness is a fundamentally bad thing,” Kurtzer said on Thursday while speaking alongside Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington. “I think Americans have become hyper-partisan in ways that reflect that partisan political identity has become part of our identities in ways that are not healthy for Americans.”
Kurtzer and Goldberg sat in conversation at an event focused on American Jewry ahead of the upcoming 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States.
Kurtzer argued that hyper-partisanship is particularly dangerous for the Jewish community, noting that Jews “believe in the notion that we are tethered to other people regardless of what they believe.” He said American Jews “should take that same ethos and apply it to what it means to be an American as well.”
“Choosing a side has never worked for Jews because when you get out of the hall to power, you will be identified as the exemplar of that political attitude that can now be destroyed,” Kurtzer said.
“Now we’re stuck as an American Jewish community between an illiberal argument on the right, which is currently in power, and an illiberalism of the left,” Kurtzer continued. “We don’t have a choice as American Jews but to fight for the very liberal framework that resists the authoritarianism of the right and resists the authoritarianism of the left and insists that this is the only way we can make it work for ourselves.”
This tension is especially acute on university campuses, Kurtzer said, where he believes “progressivism” has played “a major role in shutting down the pluralistic discourse that a university campus is supposed to inhabit.”
“I think there’s an immense amount of shame that travels for American Jews, especially for young people, about association with Israel,” Kurtzer said. “At a moment like this, it’s very hard to get past that shame with even rational arguments.”
However, Kurtzer suggested that young Jews may be uniquely positioned to model a “healthy political alternative” by demonstrating how to navigate complex discourse. He noted that since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks, many Jews feel “a greater sense of attachment to the Jewish community and Jewish lives and even the State of Israel.”
He argued that American Jews must “find a way to articulate the thickness of our relationship to Israel and the Jewish people that is not perpetually under the test of what the Israeli government does today and tomorrow.”
Kurtzer also warned that the American Jewish community has grown too “comfortable” being part of the daily fabric of American life.
“Jews wrote the soundtrack to American patriotism. We engaged in that project,” he said. “The thing that I think the American Jewish community has let go of is that we became comfortable saying, ‘We’re now insiders to that project. We no longer need to be active creators of the American story.’ We just get to kind of sit on our laurels.”
While Kurtzer called for further engagement from the Jewish community in American life and political processes, he explained that the strength of the community also lies in its willingness to remain distinct.
“It’s OK and probably important for Judaism to maintain some dimension of counter-culturalism,” Kurtzer said. “Some dimension of insisting that in a radical technological world, anti-technological behaviors like turning off your phone for 25 hours a week are actually good.”
Plus, Elise Stefanik on her new book and next moves
Alex Wong/Getty Images
Committee members wait for the beginning of a meeting of the Democratic National Committee’s Rules and Bylaw Committee in Washington, DC
Good Friday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we report on the social media activity of the incoming head of progressive campus advocacy group More Perfect University, who liked and shared content justifying Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, and talk to Rep. Elise Stefanik about her new book on higher education and post-Congress plans. We cover yesterday’s inaugural Brandeis Center conference on antisemitism at Harvard University, and have the scoop on a push by Senate lawmakersfor $750 million in security grant funding for next fiscal year. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Stephen Feinberg, Rom Braslavski and Matan Grinberg.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by JI Executive Editor Melissa Weiss, with assists from Danielle Cohen-Kanik and Marc Rod. Have a tip? Email us here.
For less-distracted reading over the weekend, browse this week’s edition of The Weekly Print, a curated print-friendly PDF featuring a selection of recent Jewish Insider and eJewishPhilanthropy stories, including: ‘I dig it’: Graham Platner praised Hamas tactics in 2014 graphic video of killings of Israeli soldiers; From trauma to table: An Israeli duo uses food therapy and song to foster connection; and Former Rep. Eliot Engel, Foreign Affairs Committee chair and stalwart supporter of Israel, dies at 79. Print the latest edition here.
What We’re Watching
- The next round of U.S.-Iran talks could take place as soon as this weekend, President Donald Trump told reporters on Thursday, adding that “Iran wants to make a deal, and we’re dealing very nicely with them.” The president suggested earlier in the day that he could travel to Islamabad, Pakistan, for a signing ceremony if an agreement with Tehran is reached.
- We’re keeping an eye on the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon that went into effect last evening. More below on the ceasefire and the Trump administration’s efforts to convene a summit with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun.
- U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron are co-chairing a virtual meeting today aimed at developing a postwar plan to deploy a multinational force to ensure secure transit through the Strait of Hormuz once the U.S. blockade of the waterway lifts.
- The Michigan Democratic Party is holding its endorsement convention on Sunday, where the party will nominate a number of candidates, including its choices for the University of Michigan’s Board of Regents. Read our recent reporting on the regent race, in which Dearborn lawyer Amir Makled is seeking to unseat Jordan Acker, who is Jewish, over his support for Israel.
- On Sunday night, Rachel Goldberg-Polin will be interviewed by Anderson Cooper on CBS’s “60 Minutes” ahead of the release on Tuesday of her new book, When We See You Again, about grieving the death of her son, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, in Hamas captivity.
- Elsewhere on Sunday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is slated to campaign with Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner, who earlier this week was revealed to have praised a deadly 2014 Hamas attack on an Israeli military base.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MARC ROD
The Democratic shift on Israel policy was on full, dramatic display on the Senate floor on Wednesday night as 40 of 47 Senate Democrats voted for at least one of two resolutions to block U.S. shipments of bulldozers and bombs to Israel.
The votes left many pro-Israel Democrats shocked and disillusioned — exemplified in the muted statements, if any, on the vote from key pro-Israel groups — and is being seen by some as the marker of a new era of Democratic policy on Israel, in which critics of Israel are firmly in the party mainstream.
“It’s yet another data point that the bipartisan consensus [in support of Israel] is, at least at the moment, no longer,” a former Biden administration official told Jewish Insider on Thursday. “Democrats think it’s politically advantageous to take these votes that would have been completely out-of-bounds just two-and-a-half years ago. … It’s deeply concerning if you care about the relationship, if you care about the security of [Israel]. But that’s the state of play at the moment, I think until or unless there’s an event that changes the trajectory.”
Abe Foxman, the former head of the Anti-Defamation League, said the vote highlights the “progressive socialist wing” of the Democratic Party’s increasing takeover. “This is a calamity for the Democratic Party, if it will not be contained and stopped,” Foxman told JI. “What’s also disturbing to me is that this litmus test is being first administered to every Jewish candidate.”
He added that the votes send a terrible message to U.S. allies beyond Israel that the U.S. can’t be relied upon.
SCOOP
Leader of More Perfect University liked posts justifying Oct. 7 terror attacks
Elise Joshi, a Gen Z activist and influencer who is taking the helm of a newly launched progressive campus advocacy group affiliated with the prominent left-wing media organization More Perfect Union, liked social media posts justifying the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, and expressed similar sentiments in at least one now-deleted X comment, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.
Social media history: In one since-removed X comment from Oct. 7, 2023, for instance, Joshi suggested the Hamas attacks that killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages were an act of justified resistance linked to a broader movement including violent efforts to oppose slavery, apartheid and colonialism. Joshi, who at the time was a recent graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, where she emerged as an outspoken youth activist with a sizable following on TikTok, also liked some comments posted on the day of the attack that expressed similar views, other screenshots show — including by one user who had asked, “What did y’all think decolonization meant? Vibes? Papers? Essays? Losers.”
partner posts
Mamdani dodges continued questions about wife’s extreme social media history
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani refused to speak directly to his wife’s inflammatory social media history, a day after First Lady Rama Duwaji indicated in an interview she regrets posting a racial slur online while in high school, but stopped short of apologizing for much more recent activity signaling support for Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks, Jewish Insider’s Will Bredderman reports.
Playing defense: Mamdani refused to directly answer the question when pressed in person on Thursday, preferring instead to praise Duwaji personally. “You know, she shared some of her reflections in this interview. I won’t add much to them,” the mayor said following an unrelated City Hall press conference. “What I will say, however, is that she is someone of incredible integrity, she is someone I am lucky to be able to call my wife and that I am proud of her each and every day.”
CAMPUS SCRUTINY
Trump official defends controversial antisemitism probe of University of Pennsylvania
The Trump administration official leading a controversial probe into antisemitism at the University of Pennsylvania told Jewish leaders and legal experts on Thursday that compiling a list of Jewish faculty with their detailed personal information was necessary to identify and protect victims, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports from the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law’s inaugural conference on antisemitism and civil rights law, held at Harvard University. Last month, a federal judge ordered Penn to comply with a subpoena from the Trump administration requesting detailed information about Jewish university affiliates as part of the EEOC’s ongoing investigation into Penn’s handling of antisemitism.
Collecting names: “There is no other way to protect victims of harassment or discrimination unless you collect information about them,” Andrea Lucas, chair of the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, said. “The EEOC’s long-standing practice is to collect personal information because we want to make sure that there is not any clear monitoring of your email systems … that when you speak to a government agency you feel completely not pressured.”
BOOKSHELF
Elise Stefanik showcases her fight against campus antisemitism in new book ‘Poisoned Ivies’
As she prepares to leave Congress next year, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) is out with a new book on campus antisemitism, Poisoned Ivies: The Inside Account of the Academic and Moral Rot at America’s Elite Universities, recounting her work in the fight that made her a household name in the American Jewish community and beyond, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. “We’re putting this [book] out in the world and helping set the tone for the type of leadership we need in New York and, frankly, across the country,” Stefanik told JI.
What she said: More than two years after the first House hearing with college presidents on campus antisemitism, Stefanik offered a mixed readout on how she sees the state of American higher education in an interview with JI this week, while praising the ongoing work of the Trump administration on the issue. She also largely dismissed the idea that antisemitism on the right is, or could become, a significant problem within the GOP, arguing that GOP voters reject it in a way that Democrats haven’t. And though she passed on a 2026 gubernatorial run, Stefanik seems to have longer-term plans in New York politics.
WAR UPDATE
Trump announces 10-day Israel-Lebanon ceasefire
President Donald Trump announced a 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon on Thursday, after holding separate calls with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier in the day, Jewish Insider’s Danielle Cohen-Kanik reports.
Peace push: “These two Leaders have agreed that in order to achieve PEACE between their Countries, they will formally begin a 10 Day CEASEFIRE,” the president wrote on Truth Social. Trump added in a second post that he will be inviting Aoun and Netanyahu to the White House for “meaningful talks.” Netanyahu said in a statement that he had agreed to the ceasefire “to try and advance the agreement we began discussing during the meeting of ambassadors in Washington” on Tuesday, which were the highest-level discussions between Jerusalem and Beirut in over 30 years.
Bonus: Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea talks to former U.S. officials, including former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro and former Iran envoy Elliott Abrams, about Hamas’ rejection of the U.S.-led Board of Peace’s disarmament framework and failure to comply with key demilitarization deadlines.
SCOOP
Senate lawmakers push for $750 million in security grant funding for 2027
Saying that funding to protect synagogues and other religious-based nonprofits “has not kept pace to meet the moment,” 41 senators — almost exclusively Democrats — wrote to leaders of the Senate Appropriations Committee urging members to provide $750 million in funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program in 2027, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Increasing need: Last year, 33 senators requested $500 million for the program, a record-high request at the time. This year’s request represents a new high-water mark, both in terms of the funding requested and the number of lawmakers who signed the bipartisan letter in support. “The threat of violence is unfortunately increasing at places of worship across our country at alarming rates,” the lawmakers wrote, citing “an increase in hoax bomb threats and attacks against houses of worship that are intended to interrupt services and intimidate worshippers” in recent years, as well as “an increase in antisemitic incidents across the country following the October 7th attack on Israel.”
Worthy Reads
Let’s Do the Time Warp Again: The Atlantic’s David Brooks opines that modernism has unintentionally caused a “reversion to authoritarian strongmen,” rather than a move toward liberal democracy and expanded personal choice. “Maybe you’ve seen photos of Tehran in the 1970s, just before the Islamic Revolution: images of young women going to work in miniskirts, of couples making out in parks while wearing bell-bottoms, of people at pools in bikinis. It looks like Paris or Milan or Los Angeles. But in 1979 the revolution happened, and now Tehran looks like something from an earlier century. Sometimes I think that our whole world has become kind of like that — going backwards in time. The religious movements thriving in today’s secularized age are the traditionalist ones that dissent from large parts of contemporary culture — not only the Shiite Islam of post-revolution Iran, but Orthodox Judaism and conservative Catholicism.” [TheAtlantic]
Raw Deal: In The Washington Post, RedBird Capital partner Hamid Biglari, who left Iran in 1976, suggests that the Trump administration is making three rectifiable errors in its approach to talks with Iran: negotiating with the wrong representative, ignoring the Iranian public and misgauging Iran’s strategy of slow-walking conflict resolution. “Require a single reconciled text — English and Persian — before any point is treated as agreed upon. Embed automatic escalation triggers in the ceasefire agreement itself, removing the deliberation window that managed irresolution depends on. And make the Iranian population a formal variable: Tie sanctions relief to measurable civilian benchmarks, including restored internet access and a moratorium on political executions. And have reconstruction funds monitored by international bodies rather than IRGC-controlled banks.” [WashPost]
Kennedy Center Calamity: In The Atlantic, Josef Palermo, who until last month served as the Kennedy Center’s first curator of visual arts, reflects on the decisions made by the Trump administration and Ric Grenell, the center’s former acting director, to reform and restructure the institution, including doing away with its Israel Lounge. “Speaking at the opening reception [of an Oct. 7 commemoration event last fall], Grenell warned the mostly Jewish audience that unless donors came forward to sponsor the space and pay for renovation costs, the lounge would be given away to a new donor. ‘It certainly would be a shame if we lost this room to a corporation or an individual and it was no longer the [Israeli] lounge,’ he said. Such a strong-armed fundraising pitch, at an event commemorating a pogrom, struck many of us in the room as inappropriate. I was mortified.”[TheAtlantic]
Not Doing Israel’s Bidding: The Jerusalem Journal’s Avi Mayer posits that claims that Israel pulled the U.S. into war with Iran are factually inaccurate and play into antisemitic tropes. “The reality is that President Trump’s decision to launch the military campaign in Iran was driven by far more than any single ally’s wishes, and claiming otherwise betrays, at best, a lack of familiarity with either the facts or how consequential decisions are made by American presidents. … To focus on Israel’s role while ignoring all other factors and considerations is to ascribe to the Jewish state outsized, almost mystical influence over American policy — a modern echo of dark tropes from bygone eras.” [JerusalemJournal]
Word on the Street
Progressive organizer Analilia Mejia, an outspoken critic of Israel, easily defeated Republican Joe Hathaway in the special election in New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District on Thursday. With most of the vote counted, Mejia is leading Hathaway by 20 points (60-40%), a sizable margin that’s larger than Kamala Harris’ eight-point win in 2024 and Joe Biden’s 17-point win in 2020. But heavily Jewish precincts in Livingston and Millburn swung dramatically to Hathaway, an indication Mejia’s anti-Israel politics led to a Jewish voter backlash…
President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post that he had initially tapped Joe Kent, the former head of the National Counterterrorism Center who resigned last month over the Iran war, to the position because he was “feeling sorry” for Kent, a failed two-time congressional candidate whose first wife had died in a 2019 Islamic State attack in Syria…
Trump is set to renominate Cameron Hamilton to serve as head of FEMA, a year after Hamilton was ousted from the role amid clashes with then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Corey Lewandowski, who served as a top advisor to Noem…
Trump announced the nomination of Dr. Erica Schwartz to be the next head of the Centers for Disease Control…
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned on Thursday that U.S. forces are “maximally postured” to resume military operations in Iran, and specifically target energy infrastructure, should the country’s current leaders not agree to a negotiated settlement to end the war, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports…
The New York Times looks at Vice President JD Vance’s efforts to build up donor support — including from Paul Singer and Dr. Miriam Adelson — ahead of a likely 2028 presidential run, as he serves as finance chair of the Republican National Committee — the first sitting vice president in the role…
The Wall Street Journal profiles Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg, the former head of private-equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, as he works to shore up congressional support for the Trump administration’s proposed $1.5 trillion military budget…
The House narrowly voted to block a Democratic resolution to force an end to the war in Iran by a vote of 214-213-1, with all but one of the four Democrats who opposed a similar effort in March changing their votes to support it on Thursday, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…
The Atlantic’s Jonathan Chait argues that the only way the Democratic establishment can defend itself against the extremist Hasan Piker wing of the partyis to end American financial support for Israel; “If a Democratic president is going to succeed Donald Trump, not only must he or she emerge from a primary electorate that is likely to be highly skeptical of Israel, but the candidate must also win over a November electorate that is highly skeptical of foreign aid of any kind,” Chait writes…
The Wall Street Journal spotlights Factory co-founder and CEO Matan Grinberg, whose AI coding startup is in talks to raise $150 million in a funding round led by Khosla Ventures with backing from Sequoia Capital, Insight Partners and Blackstone…
Empire State Realty Trust Chairman and CEO Anthony Malkin met on Thursday in Doha with Sheikh Bandar bin Mohammed bin Saoud Al-Thani, the governor of Qatar Central Bank…
Patrick Drahi’s Sotheby’s made $53 million in pretax profits in 2025, after two years of losses, amid growth in the art market…
The Wall Street Journal looks at the new private schools being established in South Florida by business, tech and real estate titans, including Jeff Greene, Stephen Ross and Adam Neumann, as the area’s existing private schools struggle to meet growing demand…
Playbill announced the 2027 premiere of “Unorthodox,” a musical co-written by Benj Pasek, Shaina Taub and Joshua Harmon, which will debut in Boston next spring; the show follows the trajectories of a 17-year-old Haredi girl in Brooklyn and her grandmother 60 years earlier at approximately the same age…
A senior official in the U.K.’s Foreign Office resigned amid an investigation that found that the government allowed Peter Mandelson to serve as U.K. ambassador to the U.S. despite having failed the vetting process; a government spokesperson said this week that Prime Minister Keir Starmer was unaware recommendations against Mandelson by the U.K.’s security vetting team had been overruled…
Israel’s “Uvda” news program shared never-released footage of residents of Kibbutz Kfar Aza reuniting in the immediate aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks…
The Palestinian Authority extradited to France a man accused of coordinating a deadly 1982 terror attack on a Jewish restaurant in Paris’ Le Marais district; Hicham Harb was one of four individuals sought in the aftermath of the attack, in which six people were killed…
Israeli Ambassador to France Joshua Zarka reportedly met this week with Marine Le Pen, the leader of the far-right National Rally party…
CNN spotlights Iranian cyberattacks on the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, which skyrocketed following the onset of the war in February…
Former longtime New York City Councilmember Carol Greitzer, who spent her years in office working to protect Greenwich Village from gentrification and development, died at 101…
Wine of the Week
JI wine columnist Yitz Applbaum reviews the La Citadelle de Diamant Marius:
“To experience this mind-boggling Israeli wine, one whose roots run deep in French winemaking tradition, I traveled to Heckfield Place in Hook, England: a 5-star hotel, owned by my dear friend Dr. Gerold. The hotel is a world leader in farm-to-table dining, and its freshness and vitality mirrored the wine perfectly.
“La Citadelle de Diamant Marius is a blend of cabernet, merlot and shiraz, with grapes sourced from Moshav Nov, an angelic moshav in the Golan Heights. The opening bruises the palate with powerful tannins, a sign this wine has a long road ahead. The mid-palate reveals the deep earthiness of a true Bordeaux blend, and the finish is as elegant as the packaging is beautiful. It pairs brilliantly with grilled ChalkStream trout and has at least another seven years of life ahead of it.”
Pic of the Day
Former Israeli hostage Rom Braslavski (right), with Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion, took part in the annual International Jerusalem Winner Marathon in the Israeli capital this morning. Braslavski, who was freed from Hamas captivity in October, kicked off the marathon’s 10K race.
Birthdays
Former college basketball coach for 34 years, he is now an ESPN analyst, Seth Greenberg turns 70 on Saturday…
FRIDAY: Short story writer, novelist and essayist, Cynthia Ozick turns 98… Retired Los Angeles cardiologist and active Yiddish enthusiast, Dr. Martin Bobrowsky turns 86… NYU professor and noted legal scholar, he spent 38 years on the faculty of University of Chicago Law School, Richard Allen Epstein turns 83… Affiliate of Tel Aviv law firm Guy, Bachar & Co., Barry Schreiber… Official historian for Major League Baseball since 2011, he was born in a DP camp in Germany following WWII, John Abraham Thorn turns 79… Talk radio host best known for his work on NYC’s sports radio station WFAN, his nickname is “The Schmoozer,” Steve Somers turns 79… Rebbe and leader of the Pupa Hasidic group, Rabbi Yaakov Yechezkiya Greenwald turns 78… CEO of B’nai B’rith International, retiring at the end of June, Daniel S. Mariaschin turns 77… Dean of Beth Medrash Govoha in Lakewood, N.J., one of the largest yeshivas in the world with more than 9,000 students, Rabbi Aryeh Malkiel Kotler turns 75… French businessman, based in Geneva, he and his brother own the House of Chanel perfume company as well as holdings in vineyards and a thoroughbred horse racing stable, Gérard Wertheimer turns 75… Former member of the Rhode Island Senate, Joshua Miller turns 72… Elizabeth H. Scheuer… Israeli journalist for the daily Yedioth Ahronoth, Ben-Dror Yemini turns 72… Rabbi emerita, after 39 years, of Beth Hillel Temple in Kenosha, Wis., her brother is the former U.S. senator from Wisconsin, Russ Feingold, Dena Feingold… Co-founder and former CEO, now board member, of United Talent Agency (UTA), Jeremy Zimmer turns 68… Actress, screenwriter and film director, Daphna Kastner turns 65… Winner of two Super Bowl rings during his career with the San Francisco 49ers, he is now a physician and an inductee in the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, Dr. John E. Frank turns 64… Director of Rutgers University Press since 2016, following 15 years at Temple University Press, Micah Kleit turns 56… Professor of politics at NYU and longtime co-author of “The Monkey Cage,” a politics and policy blog at The Washington Post, Joshua A. Tucker turns 55… Congressional editor for The New York Times, she is also a political analyst for CNN, Julie Hirschfeld Davis turns 51… Member of the Alaska Legislature, first in the Assembly and then in the state Senate, Jesse Kiehl turns 50… Israeli actor, musician, director and television presenter, Ido Mosseri turns 48… Executive director at Morgan Stanley, Nadya Belenkiy… Deputy editor-in-chief at Semafor, Shelly Banjo… Southern California-based regional director at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Ora Miriam “Miri” Katz Belsky… Press secretary for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Angelo Roefaro… Wikipedia editor since 2004, having made at least one edit to one-third of all English Wikipedia articles, Steven Pruitt turns 42… Senior communications manager at the Center for Responsible Lending, Matt Kravitz… Partner at Bully Pulpit Interactive, Alex Kellner… Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter, Avriel “Avi” Benjamin Kaplan turns 37… Former deputy national security advisor for strategic communications and speechwriting for then-VPOTUS Kamala Harris, Dean Lieberman… Member of the Baltimore City Council, Isaac “Yitzy” Schleifer turns 37… Deputy general counsel at the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Brian T. Earll turns 34… Offensive lineman for the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers for seven seasons, he retired in 2022 and is now pursuing a doctorate in psychology, Alexander “Ali” Marpet turns 33… Associate at Covington & Burling, Ahuva Neuberger…
SATURDAY: Chief rabbi of the Old City of Jerusalem until 2008, Rabbi Avigdor Nebenzahl turns 91… Senior counsel in the intellectual property law firm of Adwar Ivko, Philip Furgang turns 89… Former executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union for 23 years until 2001, Ira Saul Glasser turns 88… Biochemist, geneticist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1985, Joseph Leonard Goldstein turns 86… Partner and managing director of fundraising consulting firm Mirsky, Jaffe & Associates, Michael Jaffe turns 86… English barrister and arbitrator, his clients have included the British chief rabbi in a case which held that the rulings of the beit nin were not subject to judicial review, Michael Jacob Beloff turns 84… Corporate turnaround expert and mergers & acquisitions specialist, Jerry W. Levin turns 82… Los Angeles resident, Saul Bernstein… Former member of the Vermont state Senate and co-founder of Jogbra, the original sports bra, Hinda Miller turns 76… Former mayor of Phoenix for eight years after two terms on the Phoenix City Council, Phil Gordon turns 75… Composer, pianist and musicologist, Robert M. Greenberg turns 72… Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and director of the Northeastern University School of Journalism, Jonathan Kaufman turns 70… Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of four acclaimed books, Susan Faludi turns 67… Community leader in Detroit and former president of AIPAC, David Victor… Editor of Commentary magazine, John Mordecai Podhoretz turns 65… President and dean of Ohr Torah Stone institutions in Israel since 2018, prior to making aliyah he was a VP at Yeshiva University and rabbi of the Boca Raton (Fla.) Synagogue, Rabbi Dr. Kenneth R. Brander turns 64… VP and deputy general counsel at Scholastic Inc, he is a past president of Beth El Synagogue Center in New Rochelle, N.Y., Mark Seidenfeld… Executive director of the American Zionist Movement, Herbert Block… Emmy Award-winning actress known for her work on daytime television, Tamara Braun turns 55… Film director and producer associated with the horror genre, Eli Roth turns 54… Chabad rabbi, founder and executive director of the Aspen Chabad Jewish Community Center, Mendel Mintz turns 51… Poet, critic, translator and professor, Ilya Kaminsky turns 49… Under secretary of homeland security for strategy, policy and plans during most of the Biden administration, now partner at Ropes & Gray, Robert P. Silvers turns 46… VP for political campaigns and strategy for AIPAC’s Florida region, Evan Philipson… Dov Maimon…SUNDAY: A co-founder of Judea Reform Congregation, in Durham, N.C., Nancy Jean Warner Laszlo turns 90… Jocelyn’s father, Robert Brotman turns 89… Legal scholar and public intellectual, now a visiting professor at Cardozo School of Law, Stanley Fish turns 88… Prominent Israeli criminal defense attorney who also served as the attorney general of Israel, Yehuda Weinstein turns 82… Rebbi of the Vizhnitz Hasidic dynasty based in Bnei Brak, Israel, Rabbi Yisroel Hager turns 81… Head of strategic human resources at Elliott Investment Management, prominent philanthropist on the board of The Paul E. Singer Foundation, Tikvah Fund, Jewish Food Society and Startup Nation Central, Terry Kassel… Comedian, actress and mental health campaigner in the U.K., Ruby Wax turns 73… Investor and hedge fund manager, Jacob Ezra Merkin turns 73… VP of GEM Commercial Flooring Company in Kansas, Gloria Elyachar… Angel investment fund manager, he won three Super Bowls during his 12-year NFL career, Harris Barton turns 62… Law professor at Arizona State University and senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Orde Félix Kittrie turns 62… Historian, author, screenwriter, political commentator and senior lecturer at the Hebrew University, Gadi Taub turns 61… Board chair of Prizmah: Center for Jewish Day Schools, Laurie Hasten… Israeli entrepreneur best known as the founder and former CEO of Better Place, an electric car company that raised $850 million yet was liquidated in a 2013 bankruptcy, Shai Agassi turns 58… Attorney general of Michigan, Dana Nessel turns 57… French stand-up comedian and actor, during 2019 he starred in “Huge in France,” an American comedy series on Netflix, Gad Elmaleh turns 55… Author of five books and a frequent columnist in The New Yorker, Rivka Galchen turns 50… Veteran journalist, Gil Hoffman turns 49… Award-winning film, television and theater actor, his official bar mitzvah was in 2015 at age 37, James Franco turns 48… Toronto-based entrepreneur, philanthropist, CEO and co-founder of Klick Health (a digital marketing firm in the medical field), Leerom Segal turns 47… Actress, author and fashion entrepreneur, she co-founded Fabletics (a fitness brand and membership program), Kate Hudson turns 47… Chief development officer at NYC’s Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, Brian Tregerman… Rabbi, philosopher, poet, coach and entrepreneur, he writes a weekly Torah commentary on Substack, Zohar Atkins turns 38… Senior program officer at Schusterman Family Philanthropies, Seffi Kogen… Jake Gerber…
Elise Joshi, tapped to lead the left-wing counterpart to Turning Point USA, compared Hamas terrorism to slavery abolition
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Three people with backpacks on sidewalk in front of the campus administrative building on sunny day moving away.
The leader of a newly launched progressive campus advocacy group affiliated with More Perfect Union, a prominent left-wing media organization, liked social media posts justifying the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, and expressed similar sentiments in at least one now-deleted X comment.
Elise Joshi, a Gen Z activist and influencer, is taking the helm of a new campus organization, More Perfect University, that is casting itself as a populist left rival to Turning Point USA, the right-wing advocacy group that has played a key role in pulling younger voters to President Donald Trump and promoting conservative values at colleges and universities across the country.
More Perfect University, which was announced on Wednesday, is the creation of More Perfect Union, founded in 2021 by Faiz Shakir, a senior advisor to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). In a splashy video, Joshi said the new group will extend More Perfect Union’s “fight to campuses,” vowing to equip students “with the tools to unrig our broken economic system” and stressing the “responsibility to speak truth to power falls on us.”
But while Shakir has long been known as a vocal critic of Israel, his own record of commentary on such issues does not appear to have gone as far as Joshi, whose past social media activity has notably sought to excuse the violence perpetrated by Hamas.
In one since-removed X comment from Oct. 7, 2023, for instance, Joshi suggested the Hamas attacks that killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages were an act of justified resistance linked to a broader movement including violent efforts to oppose slavery, apartheid and colonialism.
“It seems a lot of people forgot how slavery abolition, South Africa’s apartheid, and every independence movement against colonization was achieved,” Joshi wrote in the post, a screenshot of which was reviewed by Jewish Insider.
Joshi, who at the time was a recent graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, where she emerged as an outspoken youth activist with a sizable following on TikTok, also liked some comments posted on the day of the attack that expressed similar views, other screenshots show — including by one user who had asked, “What did y’all think decolonization meant? Vibes? Papers? Essays? Losers.”
In another post liked by Joshi, a user wrote, “Folks start really fighting back and all of a sudden everyone is a pacifist. Real revolution and decolonization is not fun. It is painful and violent.”
It is unclear when Joshi’s post alluding to the Hamas attacks was deleted. She did not respond to a request for comment from JI about her social media activity.
Elsewhere, Joshi, a former executive director of Gen-Z for Change, has summarized her negative views on Israel, reflective of the waning support for the Jewish state seen among younger voters on both sides of the aisle.
“A Jewish state in Palestine requires and has always required the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians so a Jewish majority is possible,” she wrote last June. “It requires a siege on Gaza and apartheid in the West Bank to prevent 5 million+ Palestinians from having equal rights.”
In a follow-up post to X, Joshi added that “Israel’s existence requires the subjugation of the indigenous Palestinian people who have inhabited that land for thousands of years.”
“The status quo is violent, from routine bombing to home demolition. To start and end with condemning Hamas only fuels the widely recognized apartheid state,” she said just two days after the Oct. 7 attacks.
Joshi, who has proudly identified on social media as an “anti-Israel activist,” has not indicated how More Perfect University will approach questions about the Middle East on college campuses, where protests and related forms of student activism have grown quieter in recent months, even amid ongoing war with Iran.
“My top issues are climate and unions, but I see the genocide in Gaza (not ‘conflict in the Middle East’) as a moral issue that’s fundamental to being human,” she said in a May 2024 post, commenting on polling results suggesting the war in Gaza and accompanying campus demonstrations did not rank among the most important concerns of college students.
“GENOCIDE IS NOT RANK-ABLE,” she argued.
More Perfect Union did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday.
In a sign of the coalition she is seeking to build as the new leader of More Perfect University, Joshi shared a complimentary social media post from Hasan Piker, a controversial far-left Twitch streamer who has drawn criticism for frequently using antisemitic rhetoric and doubling down on his support for Hamas over Israel.
“Incredibly stoked for this!” Piker enthused in an X post on Wednesday about More Perfect University, which Joshi amplified on her social media accounts.
Former ADL chief Abe Foxman: 'This is a calamity for the Democratic Party, if it will not be contained and stopped'
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
(L-R) Senate Democratic leadership, Sens. Brian Schatz (D-HI), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin (D-IL), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Mark Warner (D-VA), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), and Chris Murphy (D-CT), pose for a group photo in the U.S. Capitol on December 3, 2024 in Washington, DC.
The Democratic shift on Israel policy was on full, dramatic display on the Senate floor on Wednesday night as 40 of 47 Senate Democrats voted for at least one of two resolutions to block U.S. shipments of bulldozers and bombs to Israel.
The votes left many pro-Israel Democrats shocked and disillusioned — exemplified in the muted statements, if any, on the vote from key pro-Israel groups — and is being seen by some as the marker of a new era of Democratic policy on Israel, in which critics of Israel are firmly in the party mainstream.
“It’s yet another data point that the bipartisan consensus [in support of Israel] is, at least at the moment, no longer,” a former Biden administration official told Jewish Insider on Thursday. “Democrats think it’s politically advantageous to take these votes that would have been completely out-of-bounds just two-and-a-half years ago. … It’s deeply concerning if you care about the relationship, if you care about the security of [Israel]. But that’s the state of play at the moment, I think until or unless there’s an event that changes the trajectory.”
Abe Foxman, the former head of the Anti-Defamation League, said the vote highlights the “progressive socialist wing” of the Democratic Party’s increasing takeover. “This is a calamity for the Democratic Party, if it will not be contained and stopped,” Foxman told JI. “What’s also disturbing to me is that this litmus test is being first administered to every Jewish candidate.”
He added that the votes send a terrible message to U.S. allies beyond Israel that the U.S. can’t be relied upon.
Pro-Israel Democrats who spoke to JI said the votes came about as a combination of several factors: They served as a proxy for the war in Iran that nearly all Democrats oppose, but also were a signal of opposition to Israel’s operations in Lebanon, settler attacks and settlement expansion in the West Bank, the war in Gaza and — to a substantial degree — the Democratic enmity that has been growing for years toward Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his government and his alignment with President Donald Trump and Republicans.
And lawmakers are also responding to the growing progressive pressure, fueled by two years of imagery from the war in Gaza, amplified by social media platforms that boosted antisemitic content, that has changed the politics around Israel in a “really dramatic way” in the Democratic Party, the former Biden administration official said.
“Those [resolutions], at this moment in time, were just a proxy for real discomfort with the direction of the Trump-Netanyahu relationship in this war, which is not the right reason to vote for these,” another former Biden administration official told JI. “I understand the [vote to block] bulldozers at this moment in time. [Withholding] the munitions — I think it’s really, really troubling.”
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), an early supporter of efforts to block weapons sales to Israel, said that the growing opposition can’t be blamed solely on Netanyahu. “I also think it’s watching how the weapons are used,” Kaine told reporters. “I think the observation of how the weapons are used is probably a little bit more the reason that the vote total is going up than a feeling about the domestic politics of Israel.”
Some pro-Israel Democrats say that the impact and meaning of the votes shouldn’t be overstated, and that there remains a sizable pro-Israel Democratic contingent, even including some of the lawmakers who voted for the resolutions on Wednesday.
“There were pro-Israel senators, and senators who are close partners and allies of the Jewish community, on both sides of this vote last night,” Halie Soifer, the CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, said. “This didn’t occur in a vacuum, and it’s not necessarily driven by anti-Israel, and certainly not antisemitic, views. It also doesn’t necessarily represent a wholesale shift in the Democratic Party. It’s a snapshot of where we are in this moment as it relates to these particular arms sales and this particular Israeli government and its policies. But I have no doubt that there’s the chance that that will change in the future.”
Soifer said that she and JDCA didn’t support the resolutions, but emphasized that some of the Democrats who voted for the resolutions said in their statements that they remain strong supporters of Israel. And she said JDCA doesn’t view the votes as “inherently anti-Israel” or necessarily an expression of alignment with the far left.
She called the vote on the bulldozers, which received 40 supporters, a particularly potent “symbolic message” — many Democrats associate the machines with the destruction of Palestinian homes and expansion of settlements in the West Bank. But she said it was something of an “anomaly” as compared to previous efforts to block systems such as bomb guidance kits.
“It’s a challenging time where both things are true at once: You do have an increased number of Democrats who are supporting these [resolutions], and you also still continue to have a majority of Democrats who support the U.S.-Israel security relationship,” Soifer said.
A common refrain in conversations with those in the Democratic pro-Israel world after the votes — and even before then — was that the end of Netanyahu’s premiership would provide a critical opening and opportunity to start rebuilding support for Israel among Democrats.
Kaine said that a change in the Israeli government would lead lawmakers to step back and analyze the potential implications, but said it wouldn’t necessarily bring sweeping changes. “I don’t think the 40 [Democrats voting for the resolutions] is baked in, I also don’t think it will immediately change.”
But a Netanyahu defeat in this year’s Israeli elections is far from a sure thing. So what happens if Netanyahu wins again? “I think it will be very difficult for Democrats to hold any center on support for Israel,” one former Biden administration official said.
The other former Biden administration official said that the intense anti-Israel pressure on Democrats would likely fade if Middle East policy issues are out of the headlines on a day-to-day basis. They further argued that the 2028 primaries will be an “inflection point,” on both sides of the aisle.
And they said that the Jewish community, particularly the non-Orthodox community, needs to be more organized and active locally and on a grassroots level in advocating for their representatives to be supportive of the U.S.-Israel relationship.
Foxman said he hopes to see more Democratic lawmakers — naming Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) specifically — standing up directly to the anti-Israel wing of the party, just as Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has spoken out against antisemitism on the right.
With opposition to weapons systems for Israel apparently firmly within the mainstream, we wrote earlier this week about the emerging progressive push to cut off U.S. support for Israel’s missile-defense systems as well.
Asked whether he takes a similar view, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), the lead driver of the Senate votes, did not directly respond. “Let’s take one thing at a time. Right now, I think we made progress yesterday,” he told JI.
Kaine took a firmer stance in support of missile-defense aid, calling those who want to cut it off “a tiny minority,” especially in the Senate. He noted that no Democrats have offered similar resolutions to block defensive systems, and that other weapons sales to Israel have gone entirely unchallenged — though he acknowledged that the distinction between offensive and defensive weapons can be fuzzy at times.
One of the former Biden administration officials warned that opposing missile-defense support is a “totally unproductive, terrible” policy — not just for Israel, but also sending a message to allies around the world that the U.S. can’t be relied upon to follow through for its partners.
EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas: ‘At some point, either the government will know information related to individuals’ religion, or we will not be able to enforce the laws on their behalf’
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EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas and Brandeis Center founder Kenneth Marcus speak at the inaugural conference on antisemitism and civil rights law at Harvard University on April 16, 2026.
The Trump administration official leading a controversial probe into antisemitism at the University of Pennsylvania told Jewish leaders and legal experts on Thursday that compiling a list of Jewish faculty with their detailed personal information was necessary to identify and protect victims.
“There is no other way to protect victims of harassment or discrimination unless you collect information about them,” Andrea Lucas, chair of the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, said at the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law’s inaugural conference on antisemitism and civil rights law, held at Harvard University.
“We never collect information to contact someone on their work system,” she said. “The EEOC’s long-standing practice is to collect personal information because we want to make sure that there is not any clear monitoring of your email systems … that when you speak to a government agency you feel completely not pressured.”
Last month, a federal judge ordered Penn to comply with a subpoena from the Trump administration requesting detailed information about Jewish university affiliates as part of the EEOC’s ongoing investigation into Penn’s handling of antisemitism. The subpoena had requested the school turn over lists of Jewish employees and members of Jewish organizations — including their identifying details and phone numbers — which the school called “extraordinary and unconstitutional.” Critics on campus have likened the move to Nazi-era methods of collecting information about Jews.
During a fireside chat with Kenneth Marcus, founder of the Brandeis Center and former assistant secretary of education for civil rights under the first Trump administration, Lucas noted she was speaking generally and not about the Penn case specifically, as litigation is ongoing.
“At some point, either the government will know information related to individuals’ religion, or we will not be able to enforce the laws on their behalf,” continued Lucas, who is not Jewish but emphasized a personal interest in religious liberty as “a core thing the EEOC needs to be focusing on.”
“I understand the sensitivities around this issue … but fundamentally the Jewish community does have to decide: do you want to have civil rights enforcement in this space? If you do, there is no other way we can get money for victims.”
Experts told Jewish Insider in January that a more typical investigation might involve agency officials interviewing people who issued complaints directly with the agency, then visiting the campus and publicizing their investigation, calling the EEOC’s methods in the Penn case “incredibly unusual, if not completely unprecedented.”
Lucas asserted that the same standard applied for helping members of any race, religion or gender. None of the event’s speakers publicly disagreed with Lucas’ statements.
The daylong conference was born out of last year’s settlement between the Brandeis Center and Harvard over a Title VI lawsuit, and was framed around this year’s U.S. Semiquincentennial.
It opened with an address from Marcus and a benediction from Harvard Chabad’s Rabbi Hirschy Zarchi. Attendees included Harvard community members, Jewish activists, lawyers and scholars.
The plenary session, “Towards a Jewish Civil Rights Movement,” moderated by Marcus, featured William Daroff, CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations; Elan Carr, CEO of Israeli-American Council and former special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism; and Miriam Elman, executive director of the Academic Engagement Network.
Carr called the battle against antisemitism “a war for the soul of America and the soul of civilization,” and advocated for a shift in classroom curriculums and federal funding.
“Jew-hatred is history’s greatest barometer of human ruin and suffering. We are fighting for the future of our country and American values. So we need to get serious about teaching American values … we can’t safeguard this republic unless we teach American kids what this republic is, why it was founded, what our values are and constitutional structures are,” he said. “This is a national crisis with national implications. The federal government needs to say ‘no money goes anywhere to any educational institution unless there’s Western values, American civics, basic principles of the United States as part of the curriculum.’”
After the session, Daroff told JI that “today’s conference brought a united American Jewish community together, aligned in action. We are not standing back. We are organizing, building and acting together with shared purpose and resolve.”
The conference also featured a panel titled “Defining Anti-Semitism at America’s 250th: New Challenges for a New Century.” Speakers debated the importance of pushing states to codify the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism, as many mainstream Jewish groups are using resources to do. Critics of IHRA say the definition chills political speech and criticism of Israel.
Nathan Diament, executive director for the Orthodox Union Advocacy Center, said that IHRA is not only important for combating campus antisemitism — as several of the speakers emphasized — but also regarding legislation in Washington.
At the same time, “in the political arena, vagueness around questions [of what is antisemitism] is unhelpful. The most important currency in politics is votes. Advocates and voters need to be able to say with clarity to politicians [what they will and will not support]. This is the most important need for the definition of antisemitism, to draw a line as clearly as we can and make clear to politicians that if they cross this line, there will be consequences,” said Diament.
“Even as the OU has, and continues to, support legislation to codify the IHRA definition, I don’t think at this stage in the game that’s the most important way to further the definition and to use our political capital,” he continued. “We don’t need Congress’ approval of how we want to define antisemitism. We don’t need them to codify it and we don’t need them to give us permission to use it to hold members of Congress and other politicians accountable. We can use the IHRA definition because we say that’s the definition.”
Alyza Lewin, president of U.S. affairs for the Combat Antisemitism Movement and former president of the Brandeis Center, pushed back by highlighting how the law enforcement trainings she provides varies based on local adoption of the IHRA definition. She noted a stark difference between training in states where it is codified, such as Georgia, and those where it is not, such as New York.
Law enforcement in Georgia “has a very concrete reason now to understand and use” the training, said Lewin. “In New York, especially after [Mayor Zohran Mamdani] reversed the executive order on IHRA, I can try to explain it to them but it’s just a nice thing I teach them. They are under no obligation to actually engage with it and utilize it. So I do think on a state by state level, it does make a difference whether or not a state has adopted the IHRA definition.”
In a separate panel, moderated by Anat Alon-Beck, a visiting professor at Harvard Law School, speakers explored new avenues for litigation against antisemitism.
“Nearly two years after the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, the Jewish community still lacks unified messaging, coordinated toolkits and a clear strategy. At a time when antisemitic actors are highly organized and aligned, our disunity is a serious vulnerability,” Alon-Beck told JI following her session. “We need to come together — with clarity, courage and coordination — because the stakes could not be higher.”
According to the Brandeis Center, this conference was the first in an annual three-part series.
Charles Dabda, a third-year student at Touro Law Center and law clerk with National Jewish Advocacy Center, told JI he was leaving the conference with a clear sense that “antisemitism is rising in real time with real consequences across campuses, professional spaces and beyond. At the Brandeis Center, and NJAC, our commitment remains resolute and steadfast; we will confront antisemitism wherever it manifests — through advocacy, and, when necessary, the courtroom.”
The 41 signatories to the letter — including three Republicans and 38 Democrats — mark the highest number of lawmakers to make such a request
Emily Elconin/Getty Images
Law enforcement respond near Temple Israel following reports of an active shooter on March 12, 2026 in West Bloomfield, Mich.
Saying that funding to protect synagogues and other religious-based nonprofits “has not kept pace to meet the moment,” 41 senators — almost entirely Democrats — wrote to leaders of the Senate Appropriations Committee urging members to provide $750 million in funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program in 2027.
That figure amounts to a substantial increase in funding over current levels, as well as over Senate lawmakers’ request from last year.
The program was funded in 2025 at $274.5 million, which has not yet been disbursed, and the still-stalled 2026 Homeland Security funding bill includes $300 million for the program. Yet, in 2024, the program fulfilled just 43% of requests, even with additional funding provided through a national security supplemental bill that year. Jewish and interfaith groups, as well as House lawmakers, have been pushing for up to $1 billion for the program.
Last year, 33 senators requested $500 million for the program, a record-high request at the time. This year’s request represents a new high-water mark, both in terms of the funding requested and the number of lawmakers who signed the bipartisan letter in support.
“The threat of violence is unfortunately increasing at places of worship across our country at alarming rates. In the past few years, there has been an increase in hoax bomb threats and attacks against houses of worship that are intended to interrupt services and intimidate worshippers. In particular, there has been an increase in antisemitic incidents across the country following the October 7th attack on Israel,” the senators wrote. “Nationwide, there have been countless acts of violence against religious communities.”
The lawmakers also urged the Appropriations Committee to “maintain separate line-items for this program,” amid reports that the administration has been pushing to convert Federal Emergency Management Agency grant programs, under which NSGP falls, into a broad state-by-state block grant.
The administration also called for cuts to non-emergency FEMA grants, a category that includes NSGP, without making any specific line-item request for the NSGP.
“[F]unding has not kept pace to meet the moment,” the lawmakers added, highlighting a litany of attacks on religious institutions and the funding shortages in 2024.
The letter was led by Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), James Lankford (R-OK), Gary Peters (D-MI) and Jacky Rosen (D-NV). Only two Republicans other than Lankford joined the effort: Sens. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) and Josh Hawley (R-MO).
“As we continue to work with Congress to secure Jewish communities, the bipartisan consensus in the Senate around $750 million for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program is a monumental step toward our community’s $1 billion goal,” Eric Fingerhut, the CEO of the Jewish Federations of North America, said. “At a time of rising antisemitism and an escalating security crisis facing vulnerable communities across the country, demand continues to far outpace available funding.”
Fingerhut said that JFNA plans to bring Jewish activists from across the country to lobby Congress on the issue next month “and urge them to act with urgency and resolve to ensure at-risk institutions have the resources they need before the next incident, not after.”
Lauren Wolman, the Anti-Defamation League’s senior director of government relations and strategy, said, “At a time of sustained and evolving threats, this program remains a critical lifeline for houses of worship and nonprofit institutions working to protect their communities. Demand continues to far outpace available resources, and we urge Congress to ensure funding levels reflect the reality on the ground.”
Nathan Diament, the executive director of the Orthodox Union Advocacy Center, said, “The need for increased NSGP funding remains critical. We are thankful to the large bipartisan group of Senators who signed onto this letter.”
“OU Advocacy will keep pressing on all fronts to deliver the funding our Shuls and schools need to stay safe,” Diament continued.
The terror group has reportedly rejected a Board of Peace proposal to disarm
Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP via Getty Images
Mourners react at a funeral in Gaza City's Shujaiya neighbourhood on March 28, 2026.
As Hamas reportedly continues to reject the U.S.-led Board of Peace’s disarmament framework and fails to comply with key demilitarization deadlines, the future of the fragile Gaza peace process remains uncertain.
Disarming Hamas is a central pillar of President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace initiative, which secured the release of the remaining Israeli hostages and included a partial Israeli military withdrawal from eastern Gaza. Its second phase has hinged on Hamas laying down its arms — a step that is expected to pave the way for further IDF withdrawal from the enclave and a transition to governance by the 15-member National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, led by Ali Shaath and operating under the Board of Peace.
Last month, Nickolay Mladenov, the Board of Peace’s high representative for Gaza, presented a framework for demilitarization and set a deadline for the end of last week for Hamas to disarm. Reports indicate the group rejected the proposal, accusing Mladenov of bias toward Israel and blaming Jerusalem for not completely fulfilling its obligations under the first phase of the plan.
U.S. and Hamas negotiators held the first direct talks between the parties since the announcement of the Gaza ceasefire in October 2025 on Tuesday night, CNN reported. Senior U.S. advisor Aryeh Lightstone and Mladenov met with Khalil al-Hayaa, a chief Hamas negotiator, in Cairo, where Mladenov communicated that Hamas must accept the terms of the demilitarization agreement “or face a return to war.”
Former White House officials are split over the path forward and whether the Trump administration should escalate pressure on Hamas or stay the course.
Dan Shapiro, who served as U.S. ambassador to Israel under President Barack Obama and was appointed by then-President Joe Biden in 2021 to serve as special liaison to Israel on Iran, said Hamas is unlikely to disarm voluntarily, arguing the group would only do so “under duress.” One potential avenue, he said, would be renewed Israeli military action, though he emphasized that such a move would be both costly and unlikely.
“[Israeli military action] would come at an enormous price in civilian casualties, given Hamas’ embedded position within Gaza’s population,” Shapiro said, adding that it is “highly unlikely the Trump administration would lend its support to such an operation” and that it would deal “further blows to Israel’s international support.”
Instead, Shapiro pointed to regional pressure as a more viable path, particularly from Qatar and Turkey, which he said have previously used their leverage to influence Hamas.
“The other source of pressure on Hamas would be the threat of Qatar and Turkey to withdraw their political, financial and hosting support of the organization,” Shapiro said. “They were the parties who used their unique leverage with Hamas after the Israeli strike in Doha to convince Hamas to release all hostages. Trump should engage their leaders, as he did in that period, to convince them to use their leverage again, this time to pressure Hamas to disarm.”
However, Shapiro cautioned that the war in Iran has diverted U.S. attention and “may have reduced Trump’s ability to influence key regional leaders, like [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan and the emir of Qatar, to take this necessary action on Hamas disarmament.”
Elliott Abrams, a former Iran envoy under the first Trump administration, similarly noted that Hamas “hasn’t changed its spots.” He said that Hamas leaders “obviously think a disarmed Hamas is a dying Hamas; without ‘armed struggle’ they believe they will disappear and become just another political party.”
“What Mladenov and the U.S. government need to figure out is what happens to the Board of Peace and to U.S. policy if Hamas won’t disarm,” Abrams said. “I think the answer is to prevent any arms and money from being smuggled into the half of Gaza that Hamas still controls, and to develop the half of Gaza under Israeli control.”
“No one seems to want to invade and conquer western Gaza, including the IDF,” Abrams added. “Perhaps over time, Gazans will begin migrating to the parts of Gaza where life can be lived without Hamas.”
Meanwhile, Alexander Gray, former chief of staff to the National Security Council during Trump’s first term, offered a more supportive view of the administration’s current strategy, calling it “realistic.”
“While we must continue to work with Israel to ensure Hamas is unable to wage war against our partners and allies and terrorize the region, we must also be realistic about the nature of the organization and its leadership,” Gray said. “The administration’s vision for a prosperous Gaza and secure Israel must continue apace, while appropriate and realistic steps are taken to prevent Hamas from acting true to its charter and perpetrating further death and destruction.”
The New York Republican talked to JI about her leading role holding university presidents accountable
Kent Nishimura/Getty Images
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on her nomination to be Ambassador to the United Nations on Capitol Hill on January 21, 2025 in Washington, D.C.
On Capitol Hill, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) has long been a vocal advocate for combating antisemitism and active on Middle East security issues. But it was her questioning at a December 2023 hearing that made her a household name in the American Jewish community and beyond, and drew her into the center of the unfolding fight on campus antisemitism.
“Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate [your school’s] code of conduct or rules regarding bullying and harassment?” Stefanik asked the presidents of Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Their equivocal responses, as disruptive and at times threatening anti-Israel protests were sweeping universities across the country, were a major factor in the resignations of two of those presidents and a slew of further hearings that put college presidents in the hot seat.
Now, as she prepares to leave Congress next year, Stefanik is out with a new book on campus antisemitism, Poisoned Ivies: The Inside Account of the Academic and Moral Rot at America’s Elite Universities.
More than two years after that first hearing — and after a tumultuous political period in which she saw her nomination as ambassador to the United Nations withdrawn before launching a short-lived New York gubernatorial campaign — Stefanik offered a mixed readout on how she sees the state of American higher education in an interview with Jewish Insider this week.
“In the year after the hearing, we saw that the universities failed to fix themselves and continued to dig deeper and deeper, and it was going to take significant administrative and legislative and frankly, appropriations action of withholding of funds, to force them to really reckon with what the American people saw loudly and clearly in that hearing, [which] is that there are deep-seated issues in higher education,” Stefanik said.
She said that there have also, however, been leadership changes at many of the universities that were probed by the House Committee on Education & the Workforce, in part because of those hearings, as well as overhauls such as the elimination of diversity, equity and inclusion programs at some schools.
“The other piece, I would say, is you’re seeing parents and students vote with their wallets and their feet,” such as the rising application and matriculation rates to schools like Vanderbilt University, which Stefanik has highlighted as having handled the post-Oct. 7, 2023, environment effectively.
The New York congresswoman argued that the hearings played a major factor in the reform efforts that followed. She also said that the Trump administration, even before it took office, has been sharply focused on the issue of campus antisemitism, coordinating closely with her office to help shape the administration’s lawsuits and executive orders on the issue.
Asked about anti-Israel and antisemitic voices in the Republican Party such as commentators Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens, Stefanik largely dismissed the idea that antisemitism was, or could become, a significant problem within the GOP.
“The difference between [New York City Mayor Zohran] Mamdani and those podcasters is Mamdani is elected to the most important city in the world as mayor, and those other names are not elected, and I think are often overstated [in] their influence,” Stefanik said. “They would not be elected to local office, to state office, to congressional office. That’s why I think it’s very important for actual elected officials, actual leaders, to speak out on issues of importance.”
She praised Trump for calling out Carlson and Owens and making clear that they don’t represent him or his voters, and argued that similar voices represent just a small fringe of Republican members in Congress.
Pressed on the fact that such voices represented a similarly small fringe of the Democratic Party in Congress a decade ago, Stefanik insisted that Republican voters would not embrace such voices.
“The Democrat[ic] Party — it’s a full blown takeover of Hasan Piker, of these voices that The New York Times is now embracing, and ‘Pod Save America’ is now embracing,” Stefanik said. “That is not the case on the Republican side. And as a candidate who actually has stood in front of the voters for the past decade-plus — yes, those voices can say what they want, you actually represent the people that elect you, and that’s not what voters in my district [want].”
Despite the relatively small share of Jewish voters in her district, Stefanik said that her work on campus antisemitism still receives some of the strongest praise from constituents.
Though the administration’s initial blitz of action on campus antisemitism has faded from the headlines, Stefanik said its efforts to address issues in higher education are ongoing, and that the issue also remains top-of-mind for the country at large.
“It’s not just about antisemitism,” she added. “This is broader higher education reform. … That was the canary in the coal mine issue that brought up so many broader issues that were wrong with higher education.”
In Congress, she said that more legislation should be brought to the floor on campus antisemitism, adding that she’s also hoping to work on reining in funding to colleges, cracking down on tax advantages and loopholes that benefit colleges and further limiting foreign funding and foreign student populations at U.S. institutions in her remaining months on the Hill.
She pointed to Qatar as one driver of antisemitism on campuses, and said that the U.S. should make clear to Doha that, if it wants to remain a military partner with the U.S., it “can’t foment and fund this anti-Americanism on college campuses, full stop.”
Stefanik isn’t yet sharing her next steps, but said she wrote her new book in part to serve as a historical record of antisemitism on college campuses, so that “mainstream media” can’t “brush this chapter under the rug.” She said she intends to continue shining a light on the issue.
Though she ultimately passed on a gubernatorial run, Stefanik seems to have longer-term plans in New York politics, and said that Republicans will be in a stronger position to win in the state in the coming years.
Regarding her decision to drop out of the governor’s race, Stefanik argued that the political environment is not currently ripe for a GOP victory, that Republicans need more time to build their statewide infrastructure and that Mamdani’s policies will grow more unpopular in the next few years.
“I think the Democrat Party is going to be increasingly taken over [by Mamdani-aligned socialists],” Stefanik said. “That, long-term, is where Republicans can win back those independents and traditional Democrats.”
Stefanik drew a direct line between the anti-Israel encampment at Columbia University and Mamdani’s election — both because Mamdani’s father is “very much part of this antisemitic petri dish” at Columbia and because “the same people that were organizing the pro-Hamas encampment at Columbia directly were boots on the ground for [his] campaign.”
She called herself “the leader” among state Republicans in pushing back against “socialist and Democrat single-party rule of New York State,” and highlighted that she has her own statewide political apparatus — separate from the statewide GOP, which she said lacks infrastructure.
“There is going to be a long road in rebuilding that infrastructure to save the state,” she said.
She also said she wanted to spend more time with her four-year-old son at this stage of his life.
“My voice is not going anywhere. If anything, it’s more. I mean, we’re putting this [book] out in the world and helping set the tone for the type of leadership we need in New York and, frankly, across the country,” Stefanik said.
Plus, Vance courts pro-Israel donors ahead of 2028
Adri Salido/Getty Images
The Lebanese capital is seen from a viewpoint after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon that would commence at midnight local time on April 16, 2026 in Beirut, Lebanon.
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. 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
President Donald Trump announced the start of a 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon to begin at 5 p.m. ET today, after he held phone calls with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier in the day.
Trump added that he will be inviting Aoun and Netanyahu to the White House for “meaningful talks,” later telling reporters such a meeting could happen in the “next week or two.”
The text of the agreement released by the State Department indicates the ceasefire is a “gesture of goodwill” on Israel’s part “intended to enable good-faith negotiations” toward a permanent agreement. The temporary pause in hostilities could be extended if Lebanon “effectively demonstrates its ability to assert its sovereignty” and prevent Hezbollah from carrying out attacks against Israel…
Trump again indicated further talks with Iran could take place this weekend and said the two sides are “very close to making a deal,” telling reporters this afternoon that Iran has already agreed to “give us back the nuclear dust,” referring to its highly enriched uranium.
Hours earlier, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth warned at a press briefing that U.S. forces are “maximally postured” to return to military operations against Iran if negotiations are unsuccessful, and will look to attack “infrastructure, power and energy”…
The House narrowly voted to block a Democratic resolution to force an end to the war in Iran by a vote of 214-213-1, with all but one of the four Democrats who opposed a similar effort in March changing their votes to support today’s measure, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Reps. Greg Landsman (D-OH), Juan Vargas (D-CA) and Henry Cuellar (D-TX), who voted last month against a similar resolution, flipped their votes to support the war powers effort. But Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME), who is retiring at the end of his term, voted no again. On the Republican side, Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH), who voted for the war powers resolution last time, switched his vote to “present.” Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) was the only Republican who voted for the resolution…
Vice President JD Vance, the first vice president to serve simultaneously as finance chair of his party, is building donor relationships that may prove useful should he choose to run for president in 2028, The New York Times reports, including attempting to woo some pro-Israel donors who have otherwise been wary of his ties to far-right commentator Tucker Carlson.
Among others, Vance has developed relationships with Jewish philanthropists Miriam Adelson, whom he spent New Years Eve with at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, and Paul Singer; has appeared as the guest of honor at a dinner hosted by Palantir and 8VC co-founder Joe Lonsdale; and has been featured at a Republican National Committee event hosted by tech executive Keith Rabois, who is married to Under Secretary of State Jacob Helberg…
With less than six weeks to go until the Texas primary runoff election, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) is defending his seat against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton with a significantly larger war chest: As the first quarter of 2026 closed, Cornyn had more than $8 million in cash on hand (including a small donation from former President George W. Bush), while Paxton had $2.6 million in the bank. Whoever clinches the GOP nomination will face state Sen. James Talarico, who has nearly $10 million on hand…
Josef Palermo, who was the first curator of visual arts and special programming at the Kennedy Center until his dismissal last month, recounts his experience as Trump and the center’s then-President Richard Grenell initiated an overhaul of the building, a process Palermo describes as “cronyism, incompetence, and a series of bizarre moves.”
Palermo recounts an exhibition he organized commemorating the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks in the building’s Israeli Lounge: “Speaking at the opening reception, Grenell warned the mostly Jewish audience that unless donors came forward to sponsor the space and pay for renovation costs, the lounge would be given away to a new donor. … Such a strong-armed fundraising pitch, at an event commemorating a pogrom, struck many of us in the room as inappropriate. I was mortified”…
Asked for his perspective on antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker’s reach on his platform, Twitch CEO Daniel Clancy said at the Semafor World Economy summit in Washington today that “one of the challenges is when you’re livestreaming you say a lot … you might say a lot of things that are over the top. … If you violate [community guidelines] then we take enforcement actions and we suspend you — it’s designed not to kick you off forever.”
“Whenever Hasan has stepped over the line, we’ve taken action … Folks will get worked up from both the right and the left on this because we have also conservative people that are saying certain things that some people don’t like. … In general, we think it is important for us to allow people to express themselves,” Clancy said…
⏩ 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 temperature check on support for Israel within the Democratic Party, in light of 85% of Democratic senators voting in favor of a Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT)-led measure to block military sales to the Jewish state.
France and the U.K. will co-host a conference tomorrow focused on restoring freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, with leaders from several European, Asian and Gulf countries participating via video.
Michigan’s Democratic Party will hold its endorsement convention on Sunday, where party activists will nominate their two preferred candidates for the University of Michigan’s Board of Regents. The election has reignited the campus’ debate over Israel, as candidate and anti-Israel activist Amir Makled seeks to unseat Jewish regent Jordan Acker, who became the target of antisemitic vandalism and harassment in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks. (The SEIU labor union recently pulled its endorsement of Makled over his past support of Hezbollah.)
National party leaders including former Vice President Kamala Harris and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) will appear at events in Detroit ahead of the convention.
We’ll be back in your inbox with the Daily Overtime on Monday. Shabbat Shalom!
Stories You May Have Missed
CAPITAL CONTEST
D.C. mayoral candidate Kenyan McDuffie courts Jewish voters as DSA-endorsed rival Lewis George faces communal backlash
‘I didn’t seek, nor would I accept, the endorsement of Democratic Socialists of America,’ McDuffie told JI in an interview
SCOOP
‘I dig it’: Graham Platner praised Hamas tactics in 2014 graphic video of killings of Israeli soldiers
Platner, in Reddit post on Hamas terrorist attack: ‘From a strictly professional standpoint, this was a damn fine looking and successful raid against a superior opponent’
The mayor sidestepped inquiries about whether Rama Duwaji regrets liking and sharing posts supportive of terrorism
David Dee Delgado/Getty Images
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his wife Rama Duwaji smile as confetti falls after his ceremonial inauguration as mayor at City Hall on Jan. 1, 2026 in New York, NY.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani refused to speak directly to his wife’s inflammatory social media history, a day after First Lady Rama Duwaji indicated in an interview she regrets posting a racial slur online while in high school, but stopped short of apologizing for much more recent activity signaling support for Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks.
The democratic socialist mayor initially dismissed JI’s reporting by asserting his wife was a “private person.” But on Wednesday, Duwaji made the latest in a string of media appearances, discussing her art career with the online cultural outlet Hyperallergic.
In the discussion, Duwaji appeared to address revelations by The Washington Free Beacon that she had used the N-word on Tumblr as an adolescent — but not the conservative outlet’s reporting of posts she shared celebrating Palestinian terrorist figures, or of JI’s earlier discovery that she had liked posts that applauded and defended the 2023 Hamas assault on Israel.
“I felt a lot of shame being confronted with language I used that is so harmful to others; being 15 doesn’t excuse it,” Duwaji told Hyperallergic’s editor-in-chief. “I’ve read and seen a lot of what others have had to say in response, and I understand the hurt I caused and am truly sorry.”
Hyperallergic did not follow up on this point, and the mayor’s office declined to answer a New York Times query on Wednesday on whether she felt remorse over her more recent political posts.
Mamdani refused to directly answer the question when pressed in person on Thursday, preferring instead to praise Duwaji personally.
“You know, she shared some of her reflections in this interview. I won’t add much to them,” the mayor said following an unrelated City Hall press conference. “What I will say, however, is that she is someone of incredible integrity, she is someone I am lucky to be able to call my wife and that I am proud of her each and every day.”
All but one of the four Democrats who had opposed the previous war powers effort flipped their votes in support
Graeme Sloan/Sipa via AP
The U.S. Capitol Building at sunset in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, March 6, 2021.
The House narrowly voted to block a Democratic resolution to force an end to the war in Iran by a vote of 214-213-1, with all but one of the four Democrats who opposed a similar effort in March changing their votes to support it on Thursday.
Rep. Greg Meeks (D-NY), the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, had held off on calling a vote on the resolution in hopes that he would be able to win over enough Democratic holdouts and Republican defectors to pass the legislation.
Reps. Greg Landsman (D-OH), Juan Vargas (D-CA) and Henry Cuellar (D-TX), who voted last month against a similar resolution, flipped their votes to support the war powers effort. But Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME), who is retiring at the end of his term, voted no again.
On the Republican side, Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH), who voted for the war powers resolution last time, switched his vote to “present.” Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) was the only Republican who voted for the resolution.
A small number of Republicans who have expressed skepticism about the war effort and could have been potential swing votes, including Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) and Nancy Mace (R-SC), did not vote.
Golden said in a statement that the war powers resolution would “weaken our hand” in negotiations with Iran.
“I believe we must maintain a strong negotiation position over Iran’s nuclear program, freedom of movement in the international waters at the Strait of Hormuz, and how to achieve a durable peace between our two nations,” Golden said in a statement.
The president did not say how Hezbollah, which said it would not abide by any negotiated agreement, factors into the pause in hostilities
Marwan Naamani/picture alliance via Getty Images
Smoke of billows from Beirut's southern suburb, a stronghold of pro-Iranian Hezbollah, after a wave of simultaneous airstrikes by Israel.
President Donald Trump announced a 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon to begin at 5 p.m. ET on Thursday, after holding separate calls with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier in the day.
“These two Leaders have agreed that in order to achieve PEACE between their Countries, they will formally begin a 10 Day CEASEFIRE,” the president wrote on Truth Social. He said he had directed Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, “to work with Israel and Lebanon to achieve a Lasting PEACE.”
Netanyahu quickly convened his Security Cabinet to discuss the ceasefire as Trump announced it, according to Israeli reports, angering ministers who were informed through the media without having held a vote on it.
Trump added in a second post that he will be inviting Aoun and Netanyahu to the White House for “meaningful talks.”
Netanyahu said in a statement that he had agreed to the ceasefire “to try and advance the agreement we began discussing during the meeting of ambassadors in Washington” on Tuesday, which were the highest-level discussions between Jerusalem and Beirut in over 30 years.
He said that Hezbollah had demanded Israel withdraw from all of Lebanese territory and wanted a ceasefire based on the “quiet for quiet” model, neither of which Israel agreed to. Instead, Netanyahu said the IDF will remain in Lebanon throughout the ceasefire in a “reinforced security buffer zone” of 10 km, broader than the five outposts the IDF maintained in Lebanon during the last ceasefire in November 2024.
“That is where we are and we are not leaving. This allows us, first and foremost, to block the danger of an invasion into our communities, and secondly, it allows us to prevent direct anti-tank fire into the communities,” the prime minister said.
In his posts, Trump did not reference Hezbollah, which had said prior to talks that it would not abide by any negotiated agreement though the text of the agreement released by the State Department said the Lebanese government will “take meaningful steps to prevent Hezbollah and all other rogue non-state armed groups in the territory of Lebanon from carrying out any attacks, operations, or hostile activities against Israeli targets.”
The agreement is a “gesture of goodwill” on Israel’s part “intended to enable good-faith negotiations” toward a permanent agreement, the text states, which “may be extended by mutual agreement” if Lebanon “effectively demonstrates its ability to assert its sovereignty” and prevents Hezbollah from attacking Israel.
The Lebanese government has agreed several times before, including in its November 2024 ceasefire agreement with Israel, to disarm Hezbollah so that it could no longer threaten or strike Israel, but Hezbollah maintains military capabilities and has continued to fire rockets and drones into the country.
A poll by the Israel Democracy Institute from late last week found 80% of Jewish Israelis think Israel should continue its military operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon, even if it causes friction with the U.S.
Plus, when Graham Platner praised Hamas
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) speaks in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on April 03, 2024 in Washington.
👋 Good Thursday morning!
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we have the scoop on Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner’s praise for a violent 2014 Hamas attack on an Israeli military base, and report on last night’s failedSenate votes on weapons sales restrictions to Israel, which garnered the support of most Senate Democrats. We cover Meta’s defense of its content moderation policies following an Anti-Defamation League report that found that the platform failed to remove the vast majority of reported extremist and hateful content, and look at how Israel is preparing for a potential future Houthi ground assault. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Ken Marcus, Avi Issacharoff and Matt Brooks.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by JI Executive Editor Melissa Weiss and Israel Editor Tamara Zieve, with assists from Danielle Cohen-Kanik and Marc Rod. Have a tip? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
- President Donald Trump suggested yesterday that a call between Israeli and Lebanese leaders could take place today, following a State Department summit on Tuesday between the ambassadors from the two countries. Israeli Science and Technology Minister Gila Gamliel, a member of Israel’s security cabinet, said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun were slated to speak, while a Lebanese government official told Reuters earlier today that Beirut was “not aware” of any upcoming contact with Israeli officials.
- Pakistani army chief Asim Munir is in Tehran today for meetings with senior Iranian officials aimed at convening a second round of U.S.-Iran talks in Islamabad. Yesterday, Munir met with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. The meetings come as Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif conducts a multicountry trip through the weekend, traveling to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey. In Jeddah yesterday, Sharif met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
- Voters in New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District are heading to the polls today for the election to succeed now-Gov. Mikie Sherrill. Progressive organizer Analilia Mejia, who since the primary has gotten the backing of top Garden State Democrats, is the favorite to win in the blue district against Republican Joe Hathaway.
- The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is holding a confirmation hearing for several positions: NTIA Deputy Administrator Adam Cassady to be ambassador at large for cyberspace and digital policy, attorney Todd Steggerda to be U.S. representative to the U.N. in Geneva and the State Department’s Preston Wells Griffith III to be U.S. representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
- The House Appropriations Committee is holding a series of budget hearings over the course of the day. Committee members will hear this afternoon from Karen Evans, the acting administrator of FEMA, which administers the Nonprofit Security Grant Program.
- Harvard University is hosting a landmark public conference on antisemitism and civil rights today, one of the terms of a legal settlement between the school and the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law. More below.
- The Shalom Hartman Institute’s Yehuda Kurtzer and The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg will sit in conversation at an event this evening at the Capital Jewish Museum focused on “Jewish America at 250” ahead of the U.S. Semiquincentennial.
- Semafor’s World Economy summit in Washington continues today. Speakers today include Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, Sens. James Lankford (R-OK), Mark Warner (D-VA), Steve Daines (R-MT), Todd Young (R-IN) and Susan Collins (R-ME), Steve Bannon, former Biden administration official Amos Hochstein and former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S JOSH KRAUSHAAR
There’s been a lot of debate lately over whether President Donald Trump is losing some of his grip on the Republican Party, amid growing economic concerns and the ongoing military operations in Iran.
While the media coverage has been amplifying any sign of intraparty discontent — to the point that former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) is getting strange new respect from some Democrats and mainstream press — polls continue to show Trump with widespread backing from within his own party, and especially within the MAGA faction of the GOP.
Ultimately, election results are the best reality check. And you couldn’t draw up a better test on the degree of Trump’s impact on the Republican Party than examining the results from four states holding highly consequential primaries next month that will be a benchmark of the president’s power.
Key races in Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana and Texas will speak volumes about the president’s ability to shape the GOP agenda for the remainder of his second term — and most consequentially, whether he will be able to maintain a unified front with his party on continuing to pursue military action against Iran.
The biggest intraparty showdown, especially when it comes to foreign policy, is the May 19 primary between Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and military veteran Ed Gallrein. Massie, one of the few anti-Israel Republicans in Congress, is being opposed by Trump but also has a solid base of grassroots support in the northern Kentucky district, which has thus far supported his anti-establishment brand of politics. But Gallrein has proven to be a credible challenger, raising millions and giving Massie the biggest political test of his career.
Trump has spent some valuable political capital to boost Gallrein, including appearing at a recent rally in Massie’s district to promote his challenger. He’s been joined by the Republican Jewish Coalition, which has poured $3.5 million into the race, airing five ads underscoring Massie’s record of breaking with Trump. (Further drawing Trump’s ire: Massie also joined with Democrats in championing the release of the Epstein files.)
It’s never easy to beat a sitting incumbent, but Trump also has an imposing record of winning primaries in which he chooses to engage. If Massie pulls out a victory despite breaking so flagrantly with Trump on a number of key issues, it will be a sign of the president’s diminished political clout.
SCOOP
‘I dig it’: Graham Platner praised Hamas tactics in 2014 graphic video of killings of Israeli soldiers
Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner repeatedly praised the tactics used by Hamas terrorists in comments made about a graphic video of a Hamas raid into Israel in 2014, in which terrorists killed at least five Israeli soldiers, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
What he said: “Looks like an all around well executed and successful small unit raid to me,” Platner wrote in 2014 on the Reddit forum r/CombatFootage, a discussion board for footage and photographs of past and current armed conflicts. “Pragmatically I have little problem with killing an enemy combatant who you attempt to capture but for whatever reason cannot. From a strictly professional standpoint, this was a damn fine looking and successful raid against a superior opponent, I dig it,” he added, in response to another user.
FEELING THE BERN
Following Bernie Sanders’ lead, 40 Senate Democrats vote against arms sales to Israel
Most of the Democrats in the Senate — 40 in total, including some traditionally pro-Israel lawmakers — voted on Wednesday evening for a measure led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) that aimed to block sales of bulldozers to Israel, with 36 of them also voting to advance a second Sanders-backed resolution to block sales of thousands of 1,000-pound bombs, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Newcomers: After having opposed previous similar efforts, Sens. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Gary Peters (D-MI), Mark Warner (D-VA), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Alex Padilla (D-CA) and Maggie Hassan (D-NH) all flipped and voted in favor of Sanders’ latest resolutions. Warner and Peters, along with Sens. Jack Reed (D-RI) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), voted to advance the resolution to block the bulldozer sale but against advancing the one on bombs.
Also on the Hill: An effort by Senate Democrats to force an end to the war in Iran was again blocked by Republicans on Wednesday, the fourth such failed attempt mounted by Senate Democrats since the war began in late February.
META-MORPHISIS
Meta defends content moderation policies, touts usage of AI to track Holocaust denial
Amid accusations that Meta’s moderation policies enable antisemitic content to circulate on its platforms, a Meta leader on Tuesday highlighted efforts to combat online Jew-hatred, including restrictions on Holocaust denial, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
Pushing back: “We remove Holocaust distortion and denial, not because it’s false, which it is, but because it’s antisemitic. It is hate speech against Jewish people, so we’ve drawn a clear line against it,” said Ben Good, director of content policy at Meta, the parent company of Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp. Good spoke at “Hack the Hate NYC 2026,” an event at the Yeshiva University Museum in Manhattan spotlighting Israeli tech experts and Jewish leaders working to combat digital antisemitism. But even as Meta has made strides in addressing Holocaust denial, the Anti-Defamation League released a new report on Tuesday, just hours before the event, revealing that Instagram failed to remove 93% of reported extremist and hateful content, tying the trend directly to Meta’s efforts to roll back content moderation last year.
CAPITAL CONTEST
D.C. mayoral candidate Kenyan McDuffie courts Jewish voters as DSA-endorsed rival Lewis George faces communal backlash
As voters in Washington, D.C., get ready to elect their first new mayor in more than a decade, the two leading candidates — former colleagues on the Council of the District of Columbia — are proposing drastically different visions for the city’s future: political moderation or democratic socialism. In an interview with Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutchthis week at his campaign headquarters in Northeast Washington, former Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie drew a direct contrast between his campaign and that of his Democratic Socialists of America-endorsed rival, Janeese Lewis George.
DSA direction: “I didn’t seek, nor would I accept, the endorsement of Democratic Socialists of America, or any organization, for that matter, that requires some sort of divisive pledge to exclude people that are a part of the fabric of the community of the District of Columbia,” McDuffie said. He was referring to a DSA endorsement questionnaire that asked candidates not to engage with “the Israeli government or Zionist lobby groups.” Lewis George, a longtime DSA member, vowed not to attend events that promote Zionism when she filled out the questionnaire, which earned her the DSA endorsement.
CONTINGENCY PLANS
Iran’s ‘Houthi card’: Israel prepares for possibility of ground assault if war resumes
Like a desperate poker player holding an ace in the hole, Iran has a “strategic reserve” if the ceasefire in the war with Israel and the U.S. collapses and fighting resumes: the Houthis, the Tehran-backed Yemeni terrorist group. How Iran plays the Houthi card has been the subject of concern in Israel, with analysts telling Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov that everything from a ground invasion from the east — with echoes of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, rampage in southern Israel — to making good on the threat to block the Bab el-Mandeb Strait to further choke off international shipping remains in play.
Seeking revenge: Yoni Ben-Menachem, a senior Middle East analyst at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, told JI that the Houthis planned “to take revenge and bring back their honor” since Israel killed much of their leadership in August 2025. “They see that Israel’s air defenses are strong, and it’s hard for them to reach military achievements with missiles and drones. They want to surprise Israel, so they are looking at ways to do it on the ground,” he said.
Cautious optimism: The first round of direct talks between Israel and Lebanon has been received positively by diplomats, pro-Israel lawmakers and experts, who see it as a sign of Hezbollah’s waning influence in Lebanon. But despite the optimism surrounding the discussions, experts caution that disarming the terrorist group remains a daunting obstacle that stands in the way of any meaningful change, JI’s Matthew Shea reports.
CAMPUS CONVERSATION
Brandeis Center convenes inaugural conference on antisemitism at Harvard
A Jewish legal group will convene its inaugural conference on antisemitism and civil rights law at Harvard University on Thursday, an event that was born out of last year’s settlement of a Title VI lawsuit against the school and framed around the upcoming 250th anniversary of the United States, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
On the agenda: “We’re very excited to have a mix of federal, high-level leadership, prominent scholars, Jewish communal leaders, high-powered litigators and experts in the field,” Ken Marcus, founder and chairman of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, the group hosting the conference, told JI. The daylong event is slated to open with an address from Marcus and benediction from Rabbi Hirschy Zarchi, who leads Harvard Chabad. Held as America prepares to celebrate its 250th anniversary this summer, Marcus said the headline session will focus “on how we define antisemitism as lawyers and professionals, and why a proper definition of antisemitism matters for America at this point in time.”
Cambridge chatter: Federal prosecutors filed a 160-page brief calling on a circuit court to reinstate the Trump administration’s multibillion-dollar freeze on Harvard’s research funding.
Worthy Reads
The Problem with Piker: The Free Press’ Peter Savodnik looks at Democrats’ continued embrace of Hasan Piker, despite the far-left streamer’s extensive history of praising terrorists and antisemitic and anti-American rhetoric. “The truth is they’re afraid of challenging Piker because they don’t want to alienate his next-gen Bernie Bro audience — a fear that is greatly exacerbated by their hand-wringing about not being on ‘the right side of history,’ down with the kids. … There’s a deeper problem here, one that is more cognitive, even spiritual: Too few Democrats can see that Piker is obviously, deeply wrong, that he lacks imagination, that he’s ignorant, that he camouflages his ignorance with just enough lingo to make his highly unoriginal neo-Marxist riffs and rants sound incisive.” [FreePress]
The Future of Warfare: In The Wall Street Journal, former CIA Director David Petraeus posits that despite the U.S.’ military successes in Iran, the war in Ukraine is more instructive as to the future of warfare. “War is increasingly defined by unmanned systems, artificial intelligence and mass precision. The Gulf offers useful insights, but Ukraine is the more demanding laboratory. There, the true challenges of unmanned systems at scale and the rapid emergence of autonomous capabilities are already on display. … The Gulf conflict demonstrates what American forces can achieve from a position of strength. Ukraine has shown what war looks like from a more vulnerable position, when that strength is contested at scale.” [WSJ]
Word on the Street
At Semafor’s World Economy summit in Washington on Wednesday, Chuck Robbins, CEO of the tech giant Cisco, spoke about his decision a decade ago to acquire Leaba Semiconductor, an Israeli company, before it had even developed a product, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports…
UAE Minister of State for International Cooperation Reem Al Hashimy, speaking at the confab, called for the Strait of Hormuz to be an international passageway that is not under the control of any one country…
Also speaking at the summit yesterday, “CBS Evening News” anchor Tony Dokoupil, speaking to David Rubenstein, talked about documentarian Ken Burns‘ July 4 tradition of reading the Declaration of Independence out loud with his family, calling it “a Seder for America”…
A second U.S.-sanctioned supertanker entered the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz, despite the U.S.’ maritime blockade of the waterway…
The Wall Street Journal looks at how growing economic distress in Iran could push Tehran back to negotiations with the U.S. as it seeks much-needed sanctions relief…
Seb Gorka, a deputy assistant to President Donald Trump, is reportedly looking to be named the head of the National Counterterrorism Center, following Joe Kent’s resignation last month…
The Financial Times spotlights Paolo Zampolli, a close personal friend of President Donald Trump and the U.S. special representative for global partnerships, as he conducts multibillion-dollar deals on behalf of the White House…
The Wall Street Journal reports on the hurdles facing Kevin Warsh ahead of his confirmation hearing to be the next chair of the Federal Reserve…
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), appearing on “Pod Save America,” praised former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) — once a vocal Omar foe who called for the congresswoman’s deportation while they were both in the House — and far-right influencer Candace Owens over the pair’s break with Trump, JI’s Marc Rod reports…
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul issued a challenge Wednesday to those seeking to challenge her plan to penalize protesters who get too close to religious institutions — “Bring it on.” Announcing new state programs to provide support and security for organizations deemed “vulnerable to hate crimes,” the governor, a Democrat, took questions regarding her proposal to bar demonstrations of more than two people from occurring within 25 feet of a house of worship, JI’s Will Bredderman reports…
Rama Duwaji, the wife of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, apologized for using racist language in social media posts as a teenager, but fell short of addressing more recent comments in which she suggested that Tel Aviv “shouldn’t exist in the first place,” and celebrated “freedom fighters of Palestine”…
A new report from Yale University’s Committee on Trust in Higher Education found that universities themselves cultivated significant public distrust of higher education, citing soaring tuition costs, unclear admissions processes and the uneven applications of standards and rules…
Kent Syverud, who earlier this year had been tapped as the next chancellor of the University of Michigan, announced that he has been diagnosed with brain cancer and will not assume the position in Ann Arbor; the school’s Board of Regents said it will begin a new search process in the coming days…
Duke University suspended its Students for Justice in Palestine chapter on Tuesday, one month after students began submitting complaints about an antisemitic Instagram post from the group, which depicted the U.S. and Israel as pigs frothing at the mouth, JI’s Haley Cohen reports…
Hebrew Union College President Andrew Rehfeld told eJewishPhilanthropy’s Jay Deitcher that the school was “deeply disappointed” by a decision by the Ohio Attorney General’s office to file a lawsuit to block the institution’s plans to shutter its Cincinnati rabbinical programs…
Apple TV released the trailer for the upcoming Israeli thriller series “Unconditional,” which stars Liraz Chamami and Talia Lynne Ronn as a mother-daughter pair stranded in Russia and at the mercy of Moscow crime rings following Ronn’s character’s arrest on drug-smuggling charges…
“Fauda” co-creator Avi Issacharoff shared a sneak peek of the show’s upcoming fifth season, which takes place in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks…
Police in the U.K. arrested two people following an attempted arson attack at a synagogue in North London…
U.K. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch called for the deportation of foreigners who engage in antisemitism…
Immanuel College, one of London’s only private Jewish secondary schools, is set to close at the end of this year, citing financial challenges…
Kanye West postponed an upcoming show in Marseille, France, after government officials, as well as the mayor of Marseille, suggested the rapper would not be welcome in the country; the decision comes days after U.K. authorities revoked West’s visa ahead of a summer festival he was set to headline in the country…
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed into law legislation levying criminal penalties — including fines and prison sentences — against individuals convicted of antisemitic offenses…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hungary Prime Minister-elect Peter Magyar spoke by phone on Wednesday, with a readout from the Prime Minister’s Office saying that the incoming Hungarian leader invited Netanyahu to the country for the 70-year commemoration of the Hungarian Uprising…
LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil denied reports that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund was planning to pull its financial support for the league, weeks before its first scheduled U.S. tournament of the season, slated to take place next month at Trump National Golf Club in Virginia…
Front Office Sports reports that a multiyear deal between Michael Rubin‘s Fanatics and Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority is on the verge of collapse…
Republican Jewish Coalition CEO Matt Brooks is joining Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck as a senior strategic advisor; Brooks will continue in his position at the RJC, in addition to his role leading the Jewish Policy Center…
Israel Malachi was named the new director general of Israel’s Finance Ministry after serving for nearly four years as the ministry’s deputy director general…
Amy Marks is joining JCC Association of North America as the organization’s chief advancement officer…
Former “All Things Considered” host Ari Shapiro is joining CNN as a contributor, where he’ll co-host a new podcast focused on digital trends with his former NPR colleague Audie Cornish…
Author and TV producer Barbara Gordon, whose memoir about her addiction to Valium and mental health challenges became a bestseller, died at 90…
Pic of the Day
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey (center right), cut the ribbon at the official launch on Wednesday of ARC Landing Boston, a joint initiative between Healey’s administration and Israel’s Sheba Medical Center. Joining Healey for the ribbon-cutting were New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, Sheba Director General Yitshak Kreiss and ARC Innovation Founder and Director Eyal Zimlichman.
Birthdays
Emmy- and Tony Award-winning actress and movie producer, Ellen Barkin turns 72…
CEO and president of American Express in the 1990s, he now serves on many corporate and charitable boards, Harvey Golub turns 87… Chasidic singer, known by his stage name Mordechai Ben David or MBD, Mordechai Werdyger turns 75… Olympic track-and-field athlete, and survivor of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre, Esther Roth-Shachamorov turns 74… Cofounder of Jordan Company LP, a New York private equity firm, David Wayne Zalaznick turns 72… Physician and venture capitalist focused on biotechnology and life-sciences industries, Lindsay Rosenwald turns 71… Professor of politics and international affairs at Princeton University, Aaron Louis Friedberg, Ph.D. turns 70… Filmmaker, he directed the 2011 documentary “Paul Williams Still Alive” and the 1997 slapstick comedy “Vegas Vacation” starring Chevy Chase, Stephen Kessler turns 66… Former dean of Harvard’s Kennedy School and former director of the Congressional Budget Office, Douglas Elmendorf turns 64… Former secretary of state of the United States under the Biden administration, Antony John “Tony” Blinken turns 64… Emmy Award-winning television producer and writer, he co-created and produced “Will & Grace” and “Boston Common,” David Sanford Kohan turns 62… Long Island native, he is a Los Angeles pharmacist, Jeffrey D. Marcus… U.S. ambassador to Egypt during the Trump 45 administration, Jonathan Raphael Cohen turns 62… Former mayor of Hoboken, N.J., Dawn Zimmer turns 58… Israel’s former ambassador to the U.S. and minister of strategic affairs, Ron Dermer turns 55… Canada’s minister of the environment, climate change and nature, Julie Dabrusin turns 55… Celebrity plastic surgeon, he is active on social media as “Dr. Miami” and has been on reality TV about his practice, Michael Salzhauer, M.D. turns 54… Board member of Jewish Community High School of the Bay in San Francisco, Ellen K. Finestone… Founder and president of Glass Ceiling Strategies, she is also a managing director for communications at Climate Power, Alex Glass… Founder of Jewish Fashion Council and journalist at Fabologie, Adi Heyman… Former pitcher in the Washington Nationals organization, he played for Team Israel in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, Richard Sidney Bleier turns 39… Attorney who has served as a law clerk to three Maryland judges, now a VP at JPMorgan Chase, Geoffrey S. Middleberg… Lead product manager at Anthropic, Uriel Kejsefman… Singer, pianist and composer, he is best known as half of the folk-rock duo the Portnoy Brothers, Mendy Portnoy turns 34… Climate and energy transition investor, he was a White House staffer in 2017, Matthew Saunders… Senior client strategy and success manager at Grow Progress, Adam Gotbaum… First baseman and free agent, he played for Team Israel in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, Matthew Jared “Mash” Mervis turns 28… Josh Goldstein… Sarah Wolfson…
You couldn’t draw up a better test on the degree of Trump’s impact on the Republican Party than examining the results from four states holding highly consequential primaries next month that will be a benchmark of the president’s power
Win McNamee/Getty Images
President Donald Trump walks toward reporters before answering questions prior to boarding Air Force One on April 10, 2026 at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland.
There’s been a lot of debate lately over whether President Donald Trump is losing some of his grip on the Republican Party, amid growing economic concerns and the ongoing military operations in Iran.
While the media coverage has been amplifying any sign of intraparty discontent — to the point that former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) is getting strange new respect from some Democrats and mainstream press alike — polls continue to show Trump with widespread backing from within his own party, and especially within the MAGA faction of the GOP.
Ultimately, election results are the best reality check. And you couldn’t draw up a better test on the degree of Trump’s impact on the Republican Party than examining the results from four states holding highly consequential primaries next month that will be a benchmark of the president’s power.
Key races in Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana and Texas will speak volumes about the president’s ability to shape the GOP agenda for the remainder of his second term — and most consequentially, whether he will be able to maintain a unified front with his party on continuing to pursue military action against Iran.
The biggest intraparty showdown, especially when it comes to foreign policy, is the May 19 primary between Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and military veteran Ed Gallrein. Massie, one of the few anti-Israel Republicans in Congress, is being opposed by Trump but also has a solid base of grassroots support in the northern Kentucky district, which has thus far supported his anti-establishment brand of politics. But Gallrein has proven to be a credible challenger, raising millions and giving Massie the biggest political test of his career.
Trump has spent some valuable political capital to boost Gallrein, including appearing at a recent rally in Massie’s district to promote his challenger. He’s been joined by the Republican Jewish Coalition, which has poured $3.5 million into the race, airing five ads underscoring Massie’s record of breaking with Trump. (Further drawing Trump’s ire: Massie also joined with Democrats in championing the release of the Epstein files.)
It’s never easy to beat a sitting incumbent, but Trump also has an imposing record of winning primaries in which he chooses to engage. If Massie pulls out a victory despite breaking so flagrantly with Trump on a number of key issues, it will be a sign of the president’s diminished political clout.
Another high-profile race where Trump’s engagement in a primary hasn’t yet been definitive: Sen. Bill Cassidy’s (R-LA) uphill fight to win renomination against Trump-endorsed Rep. Julia Letlow (R-LA) and state Treasurer John Fleming. The primary will be held on May 16, with the top two finishers heading to a runoff if no one wins a majority of the vote.
Cassidy, largely because of his vote to impeach Trump in 2021, has long faced challenges with the GOP base. Trump, looking to secure Cassidy’s defeat, backed Letlow earlier this year in hopes she’d consolidate the MAGA vote. But Trump’s endorsement hasn’t translated into a groundswell for Letlow, and the presence of Fleming, a former right-wing congressman, has complicated the political math in the primary.
Cassidy looks like a long shot even if he heads to a runoff, and Letlow holds a narrow lead in the limited public polling of the race. But there’s a chance that Fleming could sneak past Letlow on the primary ballot and face Cassidy in a runoff, blocking Trump’s candidate from the race. If that happened, it would be another sign that Trump’s endorsement doesn’t carry the same weight as it once did.
The first Trump test of the month (May 5) will be in Indiana, where the president is trying to punish certain Republican state legislators for not backing a redistricting plan, championed by the White House, which would have allowed the GOP to gain an additional seat.
Finally, it’s the spring race where Trump has remained on the sidelines that may be a signal of his limited political powers. After Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) finished ahead of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the state’s primary last month, reports indicated the president was close to endorsing Cornyn for reelection, in an effort to prevent an expensive and competitive general election against Democrat James Talarico.
But amid furious pushback from right-wing activists and polls suggesting that a Trump endorsement wouldn’t have moved the needle that much, the president has not gotten involved in the race. That alone speaks volumes about the limited level of the president’s political capital.
Trump boasts a near-perfect record in GOP primaries throughout his decade-long political career, with the most prominent setbacks being in Georgia (working against Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in 2022). So if the president’s chosen candidates end up falling short in these key contests, it will be a sign that Republicans may already be preparing for the post-Trump era.
The offending post featured two pigs labeled ‘U.S. Imperialism’ and ‘Zionism’
Lance King/Getty Images
A general view of the Duke University Chapel on the campus of Duke University on November 23, 2025 in Durham, North Carolina.
Duke University suspended its Students for Justice in Palestine chapter on Tuesday, one month after students began submitting complaints about an antisemitic Instagram post from the group, which depicted the U.S. and Israel as two pigs frothing at the mouth.
The post, which has since been removed from Duke SJP’s Instagram page, was advertising a March 19 general meeting of the group, an on-campus discussion about “Iran, Zionism and US imperialism.”
The flyer featured an illustration by artist Emory Douglas originally published in the newspaper The Black Panther in 1970, depicting the snarling two pigs holding the torch of liberty and the Star of David, labeled “U.S. Imperialism” and “Zionism.”
According to The Duke Chronicle, the university’s student newspaper, 10 students filed complaints with Duke’s Office of Institutional Equity after the flyer was published on March 13. Citing the complaints and previous conduct issues, Duke Student Affairs suspended the group and froze its funding, according to the Chronicle.
Noah Hamid, a sophomore political science major, commended the suspension, telling Jewish Insider that “part of the reason I chose Duke is that the administration has done a good job of protecting students on both sides.”
Duke’s SJP chapter has been “less aggressive” than chapters on other elite campuses, said Hamid, who serves as a community impact fellow for the Israel on Campus Coalition.
Still, the group has been behind several disruptive incidents on campus since the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks in Israel. Demonstrators from Duke SJP disrupted a November 2024 on campus event featuring former Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, accussing him of supporting illegal occupation and genocide, leading to an investigation by Duke into violations of its Pickets, Protests, and Demonstrations policy.
“A decision like [the SJP suspension] is not made relative to a single action but reflects a broader pattern of behavior that SJP has exhibited,” continued Hamid. “This is the right decision and the timeline [it took for administration] to make the decision is also a sign of it being fair. This isn’t a rash response. It’s them responding appropriately to reactions from the community.”
Duke University did not respond to a request for comment from JI asking how long the suspension is expected to last.
Meta’s director of content policy spoke at a ‘Hack the Hate’ tech conference as the ADL released a report documenting antisemitism spreading unchecked on its platform Instagram
Shahar Azran/WJC
Ben Good, Meta's director of content policy, speaks at the 2026 Hack the Hate summit in Manhattan.
Amid accusations that Meta’s moderation policies enable antisemitic content to circulate on its platforms, a Meta leader on Tuesday highlighted efforts to combat online Jew-hatred, including restrictions on Holocaust denial.
“We remove Holocaust distortion and denial, not because it’s false, which it is, but because it’s antisemitic. It is hate speech against Jewish people, so we’ve drawn a clear line against it,” said Ben Good, director of content policy at Meta, the parent company of Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp.
Good spoke at “Hack the Hate NYC 2026,” an event at the Yeshiva University Museum in Manhattan spotlighting Israeli tech experts and Jewish leaders working to combat digital antisemitism.
Good, who leads Meta’s team that writes content policies — the rules for what can be posted to the platforms — spoke during a fireside chat with Yfat Barak-Cheney, executive director of the Institute for Technology and Human Rights at the World Jewish Congress.
“Those are policies that govern the global speech of 3 billion people, so we take the responsibility extremely seriously. We want to make sure people can express themselves maximally but we also have to keep our community safe,” said Good.
The event was held as Jewish communities in Israel and around the world marked Yom HaShoah. Barak-Cheney noted that it took four years of advocacy from groups like WJC for Meta to recognize Holocaust denial as antisemitism. In October 2020, the company updated its policies to explicitly prohibit content that denies, distorts or minimizes the Holocaust.
Even after that recognition, she said, the situation remains “especially alarming because it’s not just that we see a larger quantity of AI-generated material, but the quality is different, it’s getting better.”
“Holocaust denial is looking very realistic,” she said. “There’s fabricated quotes. I am worried that we’re losing our grip on the reality of the Holocaust. Does Meta see this as alarming from the inside as it is from our point of view?”
“I have seen new trends putting words in people’s mouths that were not said, having prominent Nazis say things that aren’t true. Those violate our policies. It’s hate speech and we remove it,” said Good. “The same goes for a lot of other conspiracy theories that are misinformation but really are about dehumanizing Jewish people. The most prominent one being the centuries-old tropes that Jewish people control the media or government. We know that underlies dangerous acts so we remove it.”
Good said that Meta, which uses AI-generated content moderation, has “tremendous potential to advance AI systems in dealing with what we call ‘integrity work’ in social media.”
He said that “traditional machine learning,” utilized about two years ago, required being fed “a ton of data, some content that violates [Meta policies], some that doesn’t and they begin to understand [and match] patterns.”
Modern LLMs are able to analyze context on their own, said Good, allowing for more accurate reasoning.
“That is extremely important in an area such as Holocaust denial because it’s very coded and can often be long-form speeches and text which can be hard to understand even for a human,” said Good. “The LLMs are really good at understanding coded language and context.”
But even as Meta has made strides in addressing Holocaust denial, the Anti-Defamation League released a new report on Wednesday revealing that Instagram failed to remove 93% of reported extremist and hateful content, tying the trend directly to Meta’s efforts to roll back content moderation last year.
A spokesperson for Meta told Jewish Insider after the report was released that “over two-thirds of the accounts and posts flagged by the ADL were removed prior to the publication of this report, while some did not violate our policies.” ADL told JI it gave Meta a two-week window from reporting the content to getting a response from the platform.
The January 2025 rollback of content moderation included ending the platform’s third-party fact-checking program and replacing it with a system modeled after the community notes feature on Elon Musk’s X.
At the time, some Jewish leaders expressed concern that the move would “open the floodgates to content” that could target Jewish communities and individuals, and called the decision a “step back” in the fight against rising antisemitism. Meta had said the relaxed guidelines aim to “allow more speech by lifting restrictions on some topics that are part of mainstream discourse.”
“The name of the game isn’t just relying on the magic of AI and setting it loose on our platform,” said Good. “Instead, we have to be extremely positive that it understands our written policies and will apply and enforce them. We don’t want to leave the guesswork to the technology. We will always be reporting our enforcement metrics. But this is a chance to bring contextual understanding to content moderation.”
Barak-Cheney asked Good what guardrails Meta, which produces its own AI system called Llama, has in place to stop its LLMs from generating content that might be antisemitic.
“We do train the models on our safety standards,” said Good. “The unique challenge with generative AI is that it’s interactive and adaptable. When we train the models to prevent harm, we’ve learned it’s not so much the ‘what’ but the ‘why.’ It’s not so much telling the model that it can or can’t say this, it’s explaining to the model why we have certain rules, prohibitions and standards and reasoning with it so it can extrapolate that reasoning into situations.”
“This can mean a number of things, but an old-school way of doing it would be to say ‘here are 500 words we consider slurs, don’t say them.’ A more dynamic rule might be ‘this is what a slur is, this is why we consider a word a slur and these are the circumstances in which you can say it,’ and let the model reason through various situations,” explained Good.
He added that “there’s no limit” to how much help antisemitism watchdogs can provide to Meta.
“To be clear, we understand that generally it’s our job to understand how problems manifest and address them, but when people who are on the ground in a given space give us reports and intel it allows us to validate our own research in a way that helps us make decisions better. The policy shouldn’t be a bunch of people in Silicon Valley deciding things. They should be decided collaboratively,” Good said.
The event, attended by some 150 Jewish leaders and innovators, opened with remarks from Rabbi Ari Berman, president of Yeshiva University. It was organized by Generative AI for Good and the 8200 Alumni Association, which preserves the legacy of IDF Unit 8200, in partnership with the Israeli Ministry for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism, Gesher Israel, Maccabee Ventures, President Isaac Herzog’s Voice of the People Initiative, the World Jewish Congress’ TecHRI and Yeshiva University’s Sy Syms School of Business.
Attendees are expected to include Harvard community members, Jewish activists, lawyers and scholars
Cassandra Klos/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The Widener Library on the Harvard Campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US, on Wednesday, June 4, 2025.
A Jewish legal group will convene its inaugural conference on antisemitism and civil rights law at Harvard University on Thursday, an event that was born out of last year’s settlement of a Title VI lawsuit against the school and framed around the upcoming 250th anniversary of the United States.
“We’re very excited to have a mix of federal, high-level leadership, prominent scholars, Jewish communal leaders, high-powered litigators and experts in the field,” Ken Marcus, founder and chairman of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, the group hosting the conference, told Jewish Insider.
The day-long event is slated to open with an address from Marcus and benediction from Rabbi Hirschy Zarchi, who leads Harvard Chabad.
Held as America prepares to celebrate its 250th anniversary this summer, Marcus said the headline session will focus “on how we define antisemitism as lawyers and professionals, and why a proper definition of antisemitism matters for America at this point in time.” The panelists will include Andrea Martin, co-chair of the Center for Jewish Legal Studies; Nathan Diament, executive director for the Orthodox Union Advocacy Center; Alyza Lewin, president of U.S. affairs for Combat Antisemitism Movement; and Julie Paris, Mid-Atlantic regional director of StandWithUs.
The plenary session, “Towards a Jewish Civil Rights Movement,” moderated by Marcus, will feature William Daroff, CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations; Elan Carr, CEO of Israeli-American Council and former special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism; and Miriam Elman, executive director of the Academic Engagement Network.
A separate panel, moderated by Anat Alon-Beck, a visiting professor at Harvard Law School, will explore new avenues for litigation against antisemitism.
Attendees are expected to include Harvard community members, Jewish activists, lawyers and scholars, according to Marcus, who served as assistant secretary of education for civil rights in President Donald Trump’s first administration.
In January 2025, the Brandeis Center settled its lawsuit with Harvard, which alleged that since the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks in Israel, students and faculty on campus called for violence against Jews and celebrated Hamas’ terrorism as the university ignored harassment — including a physical assault — of Jewish students.
Under the terms of the resolution, Harvard agreed to host Brandeis Center events, implement the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism, invest additional academic resources to study antisemitism and establish another partnership with a university in Israel, in addition to programs the university currently has in place with Israeli universities.
The conference comes as Harvard remains entrenched in legal battles with the Trump administration, which it has sued to recover billions in funding that was frozen over the government’s allegations that the school has not adequately addressed antisemitism. A federal judge ruled last September that the government violated Harvard’s First Amendment rights and federal law when it froze nearly $2 billion in federal grants. The Trump administration filed an appeal in December 2025, which is ongoing.
Last month, the clash escalated when the Trump administration filed a new lawsuit against the university, claiming that its leadership violated the civil rights of Jewish students by failing to address ongoing antisemitism that has roiled the campus since Oct. 7.
The conference is also held against the backdrop of a newly released report by Harvard’s official Jewish alumni group finding that Jewish enrollment at the Boston school has fallen to roughly 7% — its lowest level since the pre-World War II era.
Marcus said the Brandeis Center has been in “continuing engagement with Harvard University over both the challenges that we still see there and the efforts that they’re undertaking to address them.”
“This conference is a part of that process and we hope it can be used to take the problems that they have had at Harvard and to turn them into something positive, not just for Harvard University and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, but for the country as a whole,” continued Marcus.
“We see this as the first of a series of conferences that we will have at Harvard University and may consider hosting them in other locations as well,” he said.
Any potential agreements between Jerusalem, Beirut and Washington will ultimately hinge on whether Hezbollah can be fully disarmed
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio (2nd-R), accompanied by U.S. State Department Counselor Michael Needham (C), and U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa (R), speaks as they begin working-level peace talks with Lebanese Ambassador to the U.S. Nada Hamadeh Moawad and Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter at the U.S. State Department on April 14, 2026 in Washington, DC.
The first round of direct talks between Israel and Lebanon has been received positively by diplomats, pro-Israel lawmakers and experts, who see it as a sign of Hezbollah’s waning influence in Lebanon. But despite the optimism surrounding the discussions, experts caution that disarming the terrorist group remains a daunting obstacle that stands in the way of any meaningful change — one that would require a significant shift from the Lebanese government and its armed forces.
On Tuesday, Israeli and Lebanese leadership convened at the State Department in Washington for the highest-level direct discussions in more than 30 years, aiming to outline a framework for “lasting peace” and a “permanent end” to Hezbollah’s influence, according to Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) told Jewish Insider that “it is great” that talks are taking place, expressing hope that “the Lebanese government, the United States and the Israeli government make a deal, and collectively, they push Hezbollah out.”
“That way the Lebanese people can be freed from the Iranian extremism that they have in their country,” Moskowitz said. “The Lebanese people are being held captive by the Iranian government because of Hezbollah. It’s obviously good for the United States, it’s good for Israel, but more importantly, I think it’s good for the people of Lebanon. I think disarming Hezbollah is obviously key to all this.”
Moskowitz added that while the Lebanese government appears to want to disarm Hezbollah, “they probably need help.”
“It’s not going to happen overnight, but I think it’s historic, and this is what the entire region wants,” he said. “This is what the Gulf states want. Everybody wants to come out of the extremism and the terrorism that Iran is trying to spread in the region.”
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) similarly told JI that Hezbollah disarmament is an important factor in talks.
“Why would you have talks if they [Hezbollah] are not going to disarm?” Scott said. “I’m not the prime minister of Israel but my condition would be that Hezbollah has got to disarm.”
Scott dismissed the notion that the Lebanese government and the Lebanese Armed Forces have not done enough to disarm the group, stating that the main problem is “not caused by Lebanon or by the military of Lebanon, it’s caused by Hezbollah.”
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) said that disarming Hezbollah should be a “red line” for Israel in talks. He added that Israel “needs a buffer zone so Hezbollah can’t continue to rain down terror on Israelis.”
“Hezbollah has historically been the best trained, best equipped opponents to Israel,” Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) said. “Israel’s done a great job with them over the last two years, but they’re hardcore fervent believers in destroying Israel.”
Experts similarly described the talks as a meaningful development. John Hannah, a senior fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, called the discussions an “important breakthrough” and a sign of Hezbollah’s diminishing influence.
“Everyone should welcome the opening of a direct political dialogue between Israel and Lebanon,” Hannah said. “The fact that [the talks are] occurring at all is an important sign of Hezbollah’s declining hegemony over the Lebanese state.”
Robert Satloff, executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, described the talks as a “win-win-win” in a social media post, adding that Hezbollah emerged as a “big loser.”
“Today is a day to celebrate — we all saw a glimpse of what is possible after so much violence and conflict,” Satloff wrote on Tuesday. “That is a very good thing.”
Still, experts say disarming Hezbollah, which parties agree is necessary for any lasting piece, remains highly difficult and uncertain.
Even before Tuesday’s opening round of discussions, Hezbollah senior member Wafiq Safa said Hezbollah is “not bound” by any deals reached between Israel, Lebanon and the United States.
“It’s hard to be an optimist when it comes to the core question of Hezbollah’s disarmament,” Hannah said. “Even after all that’s been done over the past few years to weaken the group and its Iranian sponsors — including the loss of its legitimacy in the eyes of a majority of Lebanese — it’s not at all apparent that the raw balance of forces inside Lebanon has shifted sufficiently to favor Hezbollah’s near-term demise.”
Hannah described disarming Hezbollah as “worth trying,” but ultimately a “long shot.”
“Since the war against Iran broke out on Feb. 28, Hezbollah has shown through its sustained attacks on Israel that, while much diminished, its forces retain far more significant capabilities than many believed,” he said. “And in the wake of its battle against Israel, Hezbollah is making clear that if push comes to shove, it’s prepared to burn down the state before surrendering its weapons.”
Blaise Misztal, JINSA’s vice president for policy, said the task cannot be accomplished through Israeli military action alone and will ultimately depend on whether Lebanon and the LAF are willing to act.
“[Disarming Hezbollah] can only be fully done by a strong and committed Lebanese government,” Misztal said. “Israel can secure southern Lebanon with ground operations and strike Hezbollah sites in Beirut or the Bekaa Valley, but that will merely distance and degrade the threat, never fully remove it.”
“The question is whether the Lebanese government is, or can be convinced to be, strong and committed enough to take on the task of asserting its control over its own territory,” he added. “Thus far, it has failed to demonstrate either the political will or military capability to do so.”
Hannah similarly noted that “Israel is rightly unwilling to pay the necessary cost in blood, treasure and diplomatic opprobrium” required to fully dismantle Hezbollah, leaving the responsibility to Lebanon and its armed forces.
“The factor that has truly held Lebanon back from disarming Hezbollah has been Hezbollah’s retention of, as far as we can tell, overwhelming support among Lebanese Shiites,” David Daoud, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said. “Having retained that popular support, it can deter the government from pursuing forcible disarmament by dangling the threat of civil war.”
But experts weren’t optimistic that the Lebanese government and LAF are capable — or willing — to take on that role. Hannah said Lebanon’s military “doesn’t appear to have the stomach to truly confront Hezbollah and dismantle the group’s armed wing,” noting that it has already “failed” to disarm the group in southern Lebanon, “much less the rest of the country.”
“It seems even less likely than before the Iran war that the LAF would now be willing to take on the risk of massively confronting Hezbollah,” he said, “in spite of the misery Hezbollah’s unilateral decision to enter the conflict on Iran’s behalf is now inflicting on the rest of Lebanon.”
David Daoud, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, also said Beirut “ultimately holds the key” to resolving the issue of Hezbollah’s disarmament. He said that while Lebanon has taken “immense and commendable” steps in “proscribing Hezbollah’s military activities,” the country’s “unwillingness to act against Hezbollah has been missing from the equation” and has “allowed the group to regenerate in the past.”
He added that Hezbollah still “retains enough military strength to make disarmament daunting” for Lebanese forces and the LAF, and that the group continues to wield significant political power.
“The factor that has truly held Lebanon back from disarming Hezbollah has been Hezbollah’s retention of, as far as we can tell, overwhelming support among Lebanese Shiites,” Daoud said. “Having retained that popular support, it can deter the government from pursuing forcible disarmament by dangling the threat of civil war.”
Daoud also raised concerns about Lebanon’s intentions in negotiations, arguing that Beirut may not truly be seeking meaningful change.
“A good test will be the extent to which the LAF fulfills the Lebanese government’s order from early April to put all of Beirut under its full control,” John Hannah, a senior fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, said. “Will the LAF truly confront and disarm Hezbollah in the capital or simply repeat the phony disarmament it claimed to have completed in the south?”
“Lebanon is seeking to use the negotiations to return to the status quo, and is willing to ‘pay the price’ of a joint photograph with an Israeli ambassador to achieve that objective,” he said. “This is because the situation in Lebanon is indeed dire — economic collapse compounded by war, the direct impact of the war itself and the emergence of sectarian tensions that could boil over into full-on conflict.”
If those dynamics remain unchanged, he warned that Hezbollah could indefinitely delay disarmament and eventually rebuild its strength.
“A good test will be the extent to which the LAF fulfills the Lebanese government’s order from early April to put all of Beirut under its full control,” Hannah said. “Will the LAF truly confront and disarm Hezbollah in the capital or simply repeat the phony disarmament it claimed to have completed in the south?”
Satloff said the challenge will ultimately require translating diplomacy into “practical steps,” including a shift in how the Lebanese military approaches disarmament.
“While some of this can happen in the negotiating room when the parties meet again, nothing can substitute for strong measures by the Lebanese state to isolate, weaken, delegitimize and disarm Hezbollah while promoting the idea of peace,” he said.
He suggested that turning Beirut into a “true weapons-free zone” is necessary “but not sufficient,” pointing to additional steps such as removing Hezbollah officials from government, expelling Iranian operatives from the country and shutting down the group’s financial and institutional networks.
'You never know how important a decision is when you make it, and if you have conviction, and your team has conviction ... you just gotta stay with it,' Chuck Robbins said at Semafor World Economy summit
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Chairman and CEO of Cisco Chuck Robbins speaks at the Semafor World Economy 2026 summit on April 15, 2026 in Washington, DC.
At the Semafor World Economy summit in Washington on Wednesday, Chuck Robbins, CEO of the tech giant Cisco, spoke about his decision a decade ago to acquire Leaba Semiconductor, an Israeli company, before it had even developed a product.
“Now we’re underpinning the GPU training models and running the enterprise AI stacks. And it turns out, it’s been brilliant,” Robbins said.
“You never know how important a decision is when you make it, and if you have conviction, and your team has conviction, even with something we have invested in for probably five years before we begin to see any ROI, you just gotta stay with it,” Robbins added.
‘I didn't seek, nor would I accept, the endorsement of Democratic Socialists of America,’ McDuffie told JI in an interview
Craig Hudson for The Washington Post via Getty Images
Council member Kenyan R. McDuffie (I-At Large) is seen before Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) testifies to the DC City Council outlining the Fiscal Year 2025 Budget in Washington, D.C., on April 03, 2024.
As Washington, D.C., voters get ready to elect their first new mayor in more than a decade, the two leading candidates — former colleagues on the Council of the District of Columbia — are proposing drastically different visions for the city’s future: political moderation or democratic socialism.
In an interview with Jewish Insider this week at his campaign headquarters in Northeast Washington, former Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie drew a direct contrast between his campaign and that of his Democratic Socialists of America-endorsed rival, Janeese Lewis George.
“I didn’t seek, nor would I accept, the endorsement of Democratic Socialists of America, or any organization, for that matter, that requires some sort of divisive pledge to exclude people that are a part of the fabric of the community of the District of Columbia,” McDuffie said.
He was referring to a DSA endorsement questionnaire that asked candidates not to engage with “the Israeli government or Zionist lobby groups.” Lewis George, a longtime DSA member, vowed not to attend events that promote Zionism when she filled out the questionnaire, which earned her the DSA endorsement.
Lewis George’s responses sparked concern among many in the Jewish community, and she apologized in a closed-door meeting with rabbis in March. But she has not offered any public remorse.
“I think it’s important for elected officials to have the courage to say in public things that they say in private,” McDuffie said. “Any message that depends on taking a pledge to exclude entire communities as a condition of a political endorsement is extraordinarily divisive and disturbing.”
Amid the controversy surrounding her DSA questionnaire and the meeting with rabbis, Lewis George released a statement last month pledging to stand firm in both her opposition to antisemitism and her support for “Palestinian human rights.” McDuffie told JI that he did not see the mayoral race as a place to litigate debates about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“I think a mayor’s responsibility is to look out for all of its residents, particularly our most vulnerable residents,” said McDuffie. “At a time where the Jewish community is seeing rising antisemitism worldwide, and even the District of Columbia, it’s important that they understand that their elected officials are going to use every tool possible to protect them.”
“I didn’t bring those issues into this race. My opponent did it when she sought the endorsement of Democratic Socialists of America,” McDuffie said. “I’m not running for Congress. I’m not engaging in the crafting of foreign policy. I’m running for mayor of Washington, D.C., the most beautifully diverse city in America, and I’m running to fight and deliver for all D.C.”
McDuffie is actively courting votes in the Jewish community. He will appear next week at a meet-and-greet with Jewish young professionals in the District.
“I think a mayor’s responsibility is to look out for all of its residents, particularly our most vulnerable residents,” said McDuffie. “At a time where the Jewish community is seeing rising antisemitism worldwide, and even the District of Columbia, it’s important that they understand that their elected officials are going to use every tool possible to protect them.”
McDuffie pledged to speak out against antisemitic violence and rhetoric so that the District’s Jewish residents “understand that they have a mayor and elected leadership who’s going to strongly oppose those kinds of activities and threats and do everything humanly possible to protect them.” He called the city’s nonprofit security grant program, which provides funding to several local synagogues to pay for security expenses, a “nonnegotiable,” even if the city faces other budget challenges.
Born and raised in Northeast Washington, McDuffie entered politics circuitously. He worked as a mail carrier for the USPS before ultimately going to college and law school, in a career pivot he said was inspired by witnessing the death of two friends to the crack cocaine epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s. He spent a few years as a prosecutor, in Maryland and at the Justice Department, before running for Council in 2013. McDuffie represented Ward 5, which includes the neighborhoods Bloomingdale, Eckington, Brookland and Fort Totten, until being elected to a citywide at-large position in 2022 where he served until January.
His message now is about affordability, a buzzword brought into style last year by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a DSA member like Lewis George. The way to make the city more affordable, according to McDuffie, is “economic growth with guardrails” — a contrast to the sweeping changes promised by Lewis George, the viability of which McDuffie has questioned.
“They want experience. They want vision. They want bold. They want change. What they don’t want is more empty promises,” said McDuffie. “What they don’t want is rhetoric that isn’t supported by an actual plan. What they don’t want is somebody who engages with organizations seeking to divide residents, and what we think we have as an advantage is both a vision that is about building a big tent and inviting people in and a record.”
“We’re the nation’s capital. We can walk and chew gum,” McDuffie said. “I think that’s important for people to understand, that we can have innovative, transformational policies at the same time that we’re delivering core services on time and within a budget that doesn’t default to raising taxes on hard-working residents.”
McDuffie seemed to recognize that pushing a vision of pragmatism may not be as seductive as promises powered by major spending increases. For instance, both Lewis George and McDuffie want to build new housing in the city, but Lewis George has promised to build 72,000 new units compared to 12,000 suggested by McDuffie, The Washington Post reported. But McDuffie argued that voters want honesty.
“They want experience. They want vision. They want bold. They want change. What they don’t want is more empty promises,” said McDuffie. “What they don’t want is rhetoric that isn’t supported by an actual plan. What they don’t want is somebody who engages with organizations seeking to divide residents, and what we think we have as an advantage is both a vision that is about building a big tent and inviting people in and a record.”
Though McDuffie and Lewis George are widely viewed as the frontrunners in the race, they are not the only candidates running in the Democratic primary which, in deep blue Washington, will almost certainly decide the eventual victor. Other candidates in the June 16 primary include real estate developer Gary Goodweather and former Councilmember Vincent Orange.
Forty Senate Democrats voted to block sales of bulldozers to Israel, while 36 voted to block the sales of 1,000-pound bombs
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(L-R) Senate Democratic leadership, Sens. Brian Schatz (D-HI), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin (D-IL), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Mark Warner (D-VA), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), and Chris Murphy (D-CT), pose for a group photo in the U.S. Capitol on December 3, 2024 in Washington, DC.
Most of the Democrats in the Senate — 40 in total, including some traditionally pro-Israel lawmakers — voted on Wednesday evening for a measure led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) that aimed to block sales of bulldozers to Israel, with 36 of them also voting to advance a second Sanders-backed resolution to block sales of thousands of 1,000-pound bombs.
The votes are a striking statement of the extent to which anti-Israel sentiment has become mainstream in the Democratic Party. Just seven members of the Democratic caucus voted against both measures.
Twenty-seven Democrats supported at least one of two similar measures in July 2025, which was a record at that time.
After having opposed previous similar efforts, Sens. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Gary Peters (D-MI), Mark Warner (D-VA), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Alex Padilla (D-CA) and Maggie Hassan (D-NH) all flipped and voted in favor of Sanders’ latest resolutions.
Warner and Peters, along with Sens. Jack Reed (D-RI) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), voted to advance the resolution to block the bulldozer sale but against advancing the one on bombs.
Sens. Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Angus King (I-ME), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM), Ed Markey (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Patty Murray (D-WA), Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Tina Smith (D-MN), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Peter Welch (D-VT), all of whom had supported at least one past effort to block arms sales, voted for both measures on Wednesday.
Every Senate Democrat rumored to have presidential ambitions voted to block both arms sales.
Kelly, a moderate Democrat and potential presidential candidate, insisted in a Senate floor speech that he “cannot and will not abandon Israel,” which is “one of our closest partners. They have a right to defend themselves, and I will always support Israel’s right to exist as a successful and prosperous nation.”
But, he said, “Supporting a partner doesn’t mean that we don’t ask tough questions. It doesn’t mean that we always agree. Our support for our allies must always be about what makes us stronger and safer, and we can look at what’s happening in the region right now and understand that this is not business as usual, and it is not making us safer,” referring to the war in Iran, Israel’s war against Hezbollah in Lebanon and violence in the West Bank.
He said that the weapons sales will not “bring us closer to peace and security,” but that he remains “confident” that Israel has the ability to protect its people and that “we’ll be able to do so in the future with our partnership and I will always support that.”
Schiff, who is Jewish and generally a reliable supporter of Israel, and Padilla released a joint statement saying that they voted for the resolutions “to oppose the U.S. sale of specific weapons and equipment to Israel which might be used in Iran or to facilitate further settlement activity, which we believe undermine Israel’s long-term security and our own.”
“We strongly support Israel’s right to defend itself and the right of the people of Israel to live in peace and prosperity in a Jewish state,” they said. “We oppose actions that further deepen the United States in an unauthorized conflict in Iran — one with no clear strategy, no legal authority, and no defined end.”
They said they also intend to oppose any supplemental funding for the war.
Slotkin said she would “continue to assess U.S.-funded offensive weapons to Israel on a case-by-case basis” but would continue to support missile-defense systems. She said that she had “struggled with these [measures] as much as any vote since I joined Congress.”
“My entire life, I have been — and continue to be — a strong supporter of a Jewish and democratic State of Israel,” she said. “The people of Israel, like all people throughout the region, deserve long-term security and peace. But being pro-Israel today is not about simply supporting the political or military agenda of Prime Minister Netanyahu, just like being pro-American should not be equated with loyalty to President Trump.”
Slotkin said she is also “deeply skeptical” of providing additional funding for the war in Iran.
Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, told Jewish Insider in a statement that he did not want to provide equipment to enable displacements of Palestinians in the West Bank or “escalatory military actions in southern Lebanon,” which he called contrary to both Israel and the United States’ interests.
“The United States can and must hold two truths at once: we can stand firmly with Israel’s security while also speaking out against actions that jeopardize peace and stability in the region,” Warner said. “Israel has an unequivocal right to defend itself, but it does not have the right to unilaterally displace Palestinians in the West Bank and torpedo any chance of ever achieving a two-state solution.”
“The United States should ensure that Israel has the tools it needs to protect its people and deter its adversaries while opposing transfers of equipment that are used to demolish homes, expand settlements, and further entrench a reality that weakens the already fragile prospects for a durable peace,” he continued.
Sanders, who has called for the U.S. to “end US military aid to the extremist Netanyahu government,” had described these votes as a referendum on the war in Iran, as well as Israel’s attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon and violence by settlers and Israeli military forces in the West Bank.
J Street, the progressive Israel advocacy group that last week called for the U.S. to end financial support for Israel’s missile-defense systems after the current U.S.-Israel memorandum of understanding expires in 2028, supported the Sanders-led resolutions.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), John Fetterman (D-PA) and Chris Coons (D-DE) were the only Democrats to oppose both resolutions.
Gillibrand, who this week introduced a war powers resolution to halt the war in Iran, told JI on Wednesday morning that she sees the resolutions on weapons sales to Israel and the resolutions on the Iran war “very differently.”
“I oppose the war in Iran, but I do not believe we should leave an ally [Israel] who is being attacked without support,” Gillibrand said during a press conference.
AIPAC said in a statement, “We appreciate the senators who opposed these misguided and dangerous resolutions. Letting our democratic ally buy American-made equipment to protect its families from Iran and terrorist groups is clearly in America’s national interest. Congress must continue to stand with Israel as it confronts multiple ongoing threats.”
Platner, in Reddit post on Hamas terrorist attack: ‘From a strictly professional standpoint, this was a damn fine looking and successful raid against a superior opponent’
Sophie Park/Getty Images
Senate candidate from Maine Graham Platner speaks at a town hall at the Leavitt Theater on October 22, 2025 in Ogunquit, Maine.
Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner repeatedly praised the tactics used by Hamas terrorists in comments made about a graphic video of a Hamas raid into Israel in 2014, in which terrorists killed at least five Israeli soldiers.
In archived posts from his now-deleted Reddit profile under the username “P-Hustle,” Platner commented on a video post titled “Helmet Footage from Hamas cross-border raid,” which showed the attack on multiple Israeli soldiers.
The original video, also now deleted but still archived, was posted by a YouTube channel called Sabah on July 29, 2014, with the description, “Secret footage shows the storming of a settlement by the Qassam Brigades and the killing of 10 soldiers.” The description and comments in the Reddit thread appear to match a raid by Hamas’ Al-Qassam Brigades on a military base near Kibbutz Nahal Oz the day prior.
According to a text description of the video and the raid shared online, the video includes footage of the shootings of several Israeli soldiers, at least one of whom is screaming as the terrorists attempt to kidnap him.
“Looks like an all around well executed and successful small unit raid to me,” Platner wrote in 2014 on the Reddit forum r/CombatFootage, a discussion board for footage and photographs of past and current armed conflicts.
Responding to another user who criticized the “execution” of the Israeli soldiers and emphasized that the attack would lead to heavy reprisals in Gaza, Platner said he was not interested in discussing the geopolitical or strategic implications, but suggested Hamas’ tactics and actions were reasonable.
“As for your aversion to ‘execution’, a small unit raid tends to be used to inflict casualties and take prisoners in a short period of time,” Platner wrote. “Pragmatically I have little problem with killing an enemy combatant who you attempt to capture but for whatever reason cannot. From a strictly professional standpoint, this was a damn fine looking and successful raid against a superior opponent, I dig it.”
He acknowledged, in response to another user, that the terrorists’ actions were brutal and that the terrorists should have shot one of the soldiers instead of beating him to death.
Responding to another user who disputed Platner’s characterization of the Hamas attack as a “raid” and said that the attack was “not resistance its just drawing blood to score imaginative points in the war,” Platner suggested the Hamas terrorists were preferable to those who attacked U.S. forces in Iraq.
“It was Iraq, and those guys were in civilian clothing with silenced weapons. This videos shows a unit of men in full uniform assaulting uniformed military personnel of an enemy their organization is currently engaged in military operations with. There is no comparing the two,” Platner wrote. “Generally you try to catch the enemy off guard, and kill them with the least resistance. This looks like a pretty audacious plan that worked, and I’ll certainly give credit where credit is due, no matter who they are fighting for.”
Platner’s campaign did not return a request for comment.
Platner has come under fire by Gov. Janet Mills, who is his main competitor in the Democratic primary, and by Republicans for other past Reddit posts under the “P-Hustle” username which have disparaged a wide range of groups and included various offensive comments.
He also has faced scrutiny for his criticism of Israel and a tattoo on his chest of an apparent Nazi symbol.
Plus, Senate Dems dominate 2026 fundraising
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) speaks at a press conference on committee assignments for the 118th U.S. Congress, at the U.S. Capitol Building on January 25, 2023, in Washington, D.C.
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. 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
A war powers resolution brought by Senate Democrats to force an end to the war in Iran was blocked by Republicans yet again this afternoon, the fourth failed attempt mounted by Senate Democrats since the war began in late February, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Nevertheless, top Senate Democrats have said they intend to continue forcing such votes weekly (they have nine more resolutions already filed) in the hopes that more Republicans will change their votes as the war drags on…
Texas state Sen. James Talarico announced he raised $27 million in the first quarter of 2026 in his run for U.S. Senate, a massive haul that his campaign claimed is the largest amount ever raised by a Senate candidate in the first quarter of an election year. Democrats hope the funds will put Texas in play as Talarico seeks to challenge either Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) or Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who are still locked in their own hotly contested primary.
The top Senate fundraisers behind Talarico this quarter were also Democrats: Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) brought in $14 million — breaking the record for first-quarter fundraising in Georgia — former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper raised $13.8 million and former Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) raised $12.5 million…
Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-NJ) said he raised $1.1 million in this year’s first quarter, bringing his total to $4.4 million raised — more than any other House incumbent or candidate in New Jersey this cycle, according to the New Jersey Globe — as he defends his swing seat from several well-funded Democratic challengers.
But even as he’s pulled in plenty of support, Kean has missed a month’s worth of votes on Capitol Hill due to an unspecified medical issue, with his staff declining to say when he will return…
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) in an interview on the “Pod Save America” podcast praised former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) — once a vocal Omar foe who called for the congresswoman’s deportation while they were both in the House — and far-right influencer Candace Owens over the pair’s break with President Donald Trump, JI’s Marc Rod reports.
“I believe the thing that has been very fascinating, especially about Marjorie and Candace, is that … they’re saying, ‘This action is wrong,’ right? They’re saying, ‘I am done with you.’ We should give them credit for that, the fact that they’ve had this wake-up call to finally seeing this con man, this corrupt, chaotic man for what he is,” Omar said…
Sebastian Gorka, the White House senior director for counterterrorism and a deputy assistant to the president, is reportedly angling for the position of director of the National Counterterrorism Center, which was recently vacated by Joe Kent amid Kent’s opposition to the Iran war. Gorka has been a staunch defender of Trump and backed his war with Iran, as well as repeatedly praised Israel amid its war in Gaza…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with Péter Magyar, the presumptive next prime minister of Hungary, for the first time today, calling the conversation “warm” and saying that Magyar indicated he will continue the close relationship the countries enjoyed under his predecessor, outgoing Prime Minister Viktor Orbán…
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul defended her proposal to bar demonstrations of more than two people from occurring within 25 feet of a house of worship today, JI’s Will Bredderman reports, legislation that has drawn legal scrutiny over its creation of a new felony offense for violators.
“I believe I have the right to protect people’s constitutional right to free exercise of religion,” Hochul told reporters when asked if she had concerns that the legislation might provoke challenges on First Amendment grounds. “So if that means we test it in court, bring it on”…
After holding its final public hearing earlier this week, the White House Religious Liberty Commission is now preparing a set of recommendations to be presented to the president next month. Ambiguity and confusion about the commission’s mandate has left commissioners unsure if they’ll continue to meet — their first year on the panel was marred by the firing of one commissioner over her disruption of a hearing on antisemitism…
Progressive media organization More Perfect Union is launching More Perfect University, an effort aimed at college students to act as an alternative to the conservative Turning Point USA, with a focus on urging young people to share left-wing political and economic messaging through social media. Faiz Shakir, the head of More Perfect Union who is also chief political advisor to Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) campaign, said he hopes to jump-start “an economic populist movement for the next generation”…
Duke University’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter has been suspended as a student group and had its funding frozen after it posted virulently antisemitic imagery depicting Israel and the U.S. as pigs frothing at the mouth on its Instagram page, prompting student complaints to campus administration…
University of Michigan President-elect Kent Syverud announced today he has been diagnosed with brain cancer and will no longer assume the presidency, leaving the future of the school’s leadership in question. Jewish leaders had praised Syverud’s appointment as a positive development for UM, which had seen rampant anti-Israel activity in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks…
⏩ 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 preview of a first-of-its-kind antisemitism conference taking place tomorrow at Harvard, created as an outcome of last year’s settlement of a Title VI lawsuit against the school.
New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District will hold its special election for the remainder of Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s congressional term, where progressive Analilia Mejia is expected to prevail against Republican Joe Hathaway.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will hold nomination hearings for John Breslow to be U.S. ambassador to Cyprus, Todd Steggerda to be U.S. representative to the U.N. in Geneva and Preston Wells to be U.S. representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency, among others.
The Shalom Hartman Institute will host a discussion at the Capitol Jewish Museum in Washington with Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, on American Jewry ahead of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States.
The House Appropriations Committee will hold a budget hearing on the Department of Homeland Security, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which oversees the Nonprofit Security Grant Program.
Stories You May Have Missed
SCOOP
Zohran Mamdani’s video chief lauded Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar
The Oct. 7 mastermind died in ‘heroic’ style, according to Donald Borenstein, director of video for the Mamdani campaign and City Hall
DEM DIVIDES
Inside the DNC working group at the center of Democrats’ Israel fight
The question facing the Middle East working group’s members is whether they will actually be able to agree on anything — or if the group is simply a way to push the issue off until 2028
Even after their fourth failed attempt, Democrats say they intend to continue forcing such votes weekly
Kevin Carter/Getty Images
The U.S. Capitol Building is seen at sunset on May 31, 2025 in Washington, DC.
An effort by Senate Democrats to force an end to the war in Iran was again blocked by Republicans on Wednesday, the fourth such failed attempt mounted by Senate Democrats since the war began in late February.
The measure failed by a vote of 52-47, with all Democrats except Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) voting for a procedural motion on the war powers resolution, and all Republicans except Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) voting against it. Sen. Jim Justice (R-WV) was not present for the vote.
Nevertheless, Democrats intend to continue their efforts. They have nine such resolutions that have been filed, and top Senate Democrats said this week they intend to continue forcing such votes weekly, in the hopes that more Republicans will change their votes as the war drags on.
Some Republicans have begun to express hesitation about the war, and top members of the caucus have said they hope it comes to an end soon. But thus far most have not been willing to openly break with President Donald Trump on the effort.
Separately, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) plans to call up a vote later on Wednesday on a pair of measures to block sales of bombs and bulldozers to Israel, which Sanders has also framed as referenda on the war in Iran. Twenty-seven Democrats have previously voted for such resolutions, and supporters of the effort expect that number to increase this time.
But at least one lawmaker, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), who introduced a war powers resolution on Iran this week, for future consideration, said that she views the two issues differently.
“I think of them very differently,” Gillibrand told Jewish Insider during a virtual press conference on Wednesday. “I oppose the war in Iran, but I do not believe we should leave an ally who is being attacked without support,” she said, referring to Israel.
The Houthis have spoken openly about their plans to initiate an invasion akin to Oct. 7 through Jordan and Syria
Mohammed HUWAIS / AFP via Getty Images
Supporters of the Iran-backed Houthi movement brandish their weapons as they rally in solidarity with Iran and Lebanon in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on April 10, 2026.
Like a desperate poker player holding an ace in the hole, Iran has a “strategic reserve” if the ceasefire in the war with Israel and the U.S. collapses and fighting resumes: the Houthis, the Tehran-backed Yemeni terrorist group.
How Iran plays the Houthi card has been the subject of concern in Israel, with analysts telling Jewish Insider that everything from a ground invasion from the east — with echoes of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, rampage in southern Israel — to making good on the threat to block the Bab el-Mandeb Strait to further choke off international shipping remains in play.
Yoni Ben-Menachem, a senior Middle East analyst at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, told JI that the Houthis planned “to take revenge and bring back their honor” since Israel killed much of their leadership in August 2025.
“They see that Israel’s air defenses are strong, and it’s hard for them to reach military achievements with missiles and drones. They want to surprise Israel, so they are looking at ways to do it on the ground,” he said.
One scenario that Israel has actively prepared for, even before this year’s war with Iran, is a Houthi ground invasion via Syria and Jordan.
The IDF said in September that it has intelligence indicating that the Houthis initiated a training course named “Al Aqsa Flood,” as Hamas called the Oct. 7 attacks. The group planned to take advantage of the instability in Syria and political weaknesses in Jordan to invade Israel from the east, deploying tens of thousands of terrorists on a killing spree, heading toward Jerusalem. In January, the IDF’s Central Command led a training exercise, together with Israeli Border Patrol and police, on how to counter such a scenario.
In addition, the IDF has continued the construction of a security fence along the border with Jordan.
Yossi Mansharof, a lecturer at Haifa University, told JI that the Houthis speak openly about a possible land invasion in their media channels: “They say they intend to invade and … reach Dimona [in southern Israel], conquer [Israeli] towns.”
Mansharof said that while an invasion via the Red Sea and Eilat, at Israel’s southern tip, would be closer to the Houthis’ home base, such a move is “unrealistic; they would have to go undetected by the IDF.”
However, he said, the 186-mile border between Israel and Jordan is particularly porous, and if Hamas could break through the Gaza fence, as it did on Oct. 7, the Houthis may be able to do the same in Jordan. In addition, Iran has long worked to gain a foothold in Jordan.
“Iran is a shared enemy” of Israel and Jordan, Mansharof said. “Iran violates Jordanian sovereignty, and some of the missiles shot at Israel land in their territory. … Iran wants to establish terrorist infrastructure [in Jordan], and King Abdullah has said in Davos and in media interviews that he is concerned about Iran.”
In addition, Mansharof said, the Shi’a militias in Iraq, which shares a border with Jordan, have close ties with the Houthis.
A Houthi attack could also be part of an Iran-led multi-front assault on Israel, which Iranian officials — including a top advisor to Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s parliamentary speaker and leader of negotiations with the U.S. — have spoken about for years, Mansharof said.
“They want to advance a mutli-front attack on Israel from all of the axis of resistance arenas,” Mansharof said. “They want to end the story, not just have more rounds of fighting [with Israel]. … A Houthi invasion can be part of that.”
Ben-Menachem argued that a more realistic scenario in the near term is that the Houthis would help the Iranians by blockading Bab el-Mandab, a strait passing from the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea, to cut off global shipping at a second point while the Strait of Hormuz, which is under Iranian control, remains closed. Saudi Arabia is reportedly especially concerned about this possibility, as the Gulf state uses the waterway to move much of its oil.
The Iranians have been saving the Houthis as their “strategic reserve” in case of renewed fighting with the U.S., Ben-Menachem said, and should the Yemeni terrorists join the war, “their target will be first the U.S. and then Israel.”
“The Iranians see that the most effective move is to pressure the U.S. and harm the world economy,” he said.
Still, Mansharof said, Israel “should not wait for the Houthis to take initiative. Israel needs to choose the timing [for military action], because at some point, the war with the Houthis will resume. … Israel needs to build advanced intelligence capabilities and cooperate with the Americans to create a jumping-off point. … It’s a just war of defense for Israel.”
Jerusalem’s recognition of Somaliland in December could provide Israel with a physical base for such an attack and would “break the supply chain of Iranian aid to the Houthis” from Somalia, which is just across the Gulf of Aden from Yemen, Mansharof noted.
Ben-Menachem said Israel’s announcement last year that it had discovered the Houthis’ plan served to undermine it.
“Israel must repeatedly warn them and say they know what they’re planning. We shouldn’t take it off the agenda, talking about it is part of the deterrence … [The Houthis’] success depends on the element of surprise. If we show that they can’t surprise us, it will lower their motivation,” he said.
The New York governor defended her plan to establish a felony penalty for protesters who come within 25 feet of a religious institution
Will Waldron/Albany Times Union via Getty Images
Gov. Kathy Hold takes questions following a roundtable with local government leaders on housing development on Monday, March 23, 2026, at the Capitol in Albany, N.Y.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul issued a challenge Wednesday to those seeking to challenge her plan to penalize protesters who get too close to religious institutions — “Bring it on.”
Announcing new state programs to provide support and security for organizations deemed “vulnerable to hate crimes,” the governor, a Democrat, took questions regarding her proposal to bar demonstrations of more than two people from occurring within 25 feet of a house of worship. Violators would potentially face felony charges.
“I believe I have the right to protect people’s constitutional right to free exercise of religion,” Hochul told reporters when asked if she had concerns whether the legislation might provoke challenges on First Amendment grounds. “So if that means we test it in court, bring it on.”
Hochul’s bill, currently under consideration in the state Legislature, differs significantly from “buffer zone” legislation recently passed in the New York City Council: The municipal measure does not include new criminal penalties, but simply compels the NYPD to establish a written policy for securing access and egress for worshippers during protests. It originally suggested that police might keep rallies up to 100 feet from doorways and driveways at religious facilities, but Council Speaker Julie Menin’s team removed such language following consultations with attorneys and local law enforcement.
Observers consider the draft statute in Albany much stronger, and passing it has become a priority for leading Jewish organizations, after pro-Hamas demonstrators massed outside synagogues in Queens and Manhattan in recent months. Civil liberties groups have complained the law would restrict free speech. One reporter asked why the bill did not establish an even larger protest-free zone.
“I think 25 feet is reasonable,” Hochul said at the event.
The Supreme Court has in the past approved of limited restrictions on rallies so long as the rules are narrowly tailored and do not discriminate based on the content of demonstrators’ speech. But it also has struck down buffer-zone laws applying to abortion clinics for failing to meet those standards.
Omar is finding common cause with Greene over their anti-Israel views, even though the Republican wanted her deported from the country
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) speaks at a press conference on committee assignments for the 118th U.S. Congress, at the U.S. Capitol Building on January 25, 2023, in Washington, D.C.
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) in an interview on the “Pod Save America” podcast praised former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) — once a vocal Omar foe who called for the congresswoman’s deportation while they were both in the House — and far-right influencer Candace Owens over the pair’s break with President Donald Trump.
All three have faced repeated accusations of antisemitism. Owens, in particular, has become a propagator of rampant and often bizarre conspiracy theories, including becoming one of the most prominent antisemitic voices on the right. Greene and Owens have broken with Trump over his continued support for Israel and the war in Iran, among other issues.
“I think as Americans, it is really important for us to work together for the preservation of everything that is good in our country, and to support leaders that we can trust to safeguard what is good of our country,” Omar said, in response to a clip of Greene disavowing Trump on conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ podcast. “And I believe the thing that has been very fascinating, especially about Marjorie and Candace, is that they are not just coming out — like the other ones that you’d mentioned — where they’re saying, ‘This action is wrong,’ right? They’re saying, ‘I am done with you.’”
“We should give them credit for that, the fact that they’ve had this wake up call to finally seeing this con man, this corrupt, chaotic man for what he is,” Omar continued. “I think is an important thing for us to put our arms around and say, ‘Yes, and now let’s figure out, how do we save our country from the disaster that this man is creating?’”
While Omar is not the first Democrat to praise Greene or to suggest that Democrats should be partnering with her, her comments are particularly notable in light of the enmity between the two women while they served in the House together.
Greene, in 2024, sought to censure Omar for allegedly working as a foreign agent on behalf of Somalia, in what Greene described as “treasonous tendencies” in violation of Omar’s oath of office.
“I would love to have her expelled. I’d love to have her deported,” Greene said at the time. “Unfortunately, I don’t think we have the votes to do that.”
Asked about the past opposition that she faced from Greene and others, Omar brushed it off as a product of their “brainwashed” cult-like devotion to Trump and his movement.
“I’m glad, as my fellow Americans, that they understand that, that they want us to chart a new chapter in America,” Omar continued.
Omar said she had approached Greene on the House floor before Greene resigned from Congress to thank her for her advocacy against Israel and opposition to U.S. support for Israel.
Plus, Mamdani's video editor heaped praise on Sinwar
Jim Watson - Pool/Getty Images
U.S. Vice President JD Vance gives remarks following a roundtable discussion with local leaders and community members amid a surge of federal immigration authorities in the area, at Royalston Square on January 22, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
👋 Good Wednesday morning!
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we report on Vice President JD Vance telling an anti-Israel protester to blame former President Joe Biden for the situation in Gaza, which Vance called an “absolute catastrophe,” and have the scoop on social media posts from a staffer in New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s office that praised slain Hamas head Yahya Sinwar. We do a deep dive into the Democratic National Committee’s Middle East working group following a failed effort to push through anti-Israel and anti-AIPAC resolutions at the DNC’s latest meeting, and report on a Yale Youth Poll that found younger voters hold decidedly more antisemitic beliefs than older generations. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Stephen Schwarzman, Joshua Feltman and Zach and Max Bruch.
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
- Talks between the U.S. and Iran could resume in the coming days, President Donald Trump said yesterday. The president’s comments come as the Pentagon prepares to deploy some 10,000 additional troops to the region by the end of the month amid the U.S.’ maritime blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
- The Senate is slated to vote this afternoon on a war powers resolution, as well as on legislation banning arms sales to Israel put forward by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).
- Elsewhere in Washington, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz and Jeff Bartos, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. for management and reform, are slated to testify today before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on U.S. priorities at the United Nations.
- Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt and Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch will hold a town hall tonight at Stephen Wise Free Synagogue to discuss antisemitism in New York City.
- In Massachusetts, Gov. Maura Healey will join representatives from Israel’s Sheba Medical Center to launch the new ARC Health Tech Accelerator in Downtown Boston.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MELISSA WEISS
A popular “domino effect” meme circulates online every few months, linking slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar’s decision to launch the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks — the smallest domino — to a series of major geopolitical shifts across the Middle East. While both simplified and exaggerated, the meme underscores the dramatic reshaping of Middle Eastern power dynamics.
The next domino may be the decades-long fraught relationship between Israel and Lebanon, as Iran’s ironclad grip over the region loosens and its most powerful proxy, Hezbollah, finds itself increasingly weakened and marginalized in Lebanon, where it has for decades played a key role in the country’s politics and military.
Those current geopolitical conditions — Iran at its weakest point in decades, successive levels of Hezbollah leadership removed from power through Israeli military actions, the degradation of Hamas and a new government in Syria that has separated itself from Tehran — laid the groundwork for yesterday’s State Department summit, convened by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, between Israel and Lebanon.
The State Department meeting between the ambassadors from Lebanon and Israel took place as the U.S. navigates stalled talks and a tenuous ceasefire with Iran — which was initially on unstable ground as Iran demanded that Israel cease its targeting of Hezbollah as part of the ceasefire.
A senior Israeli official told Jewish Insider on Wednesday that Iran’s effort to link the two conflicts was “a strategic trap with long-term ramifications.”
“There was real pressure to link the Lebanon front to the Iran ceasefire,” the official said. If President Donald Trump had acquiesced to the Iranian demand to link the two conflicts, the official continued, “We would not be on the path to peace that we’re on now. Keeping the arenas separate ultimately means that the fate of Lebanon is no longer dictated by Iran.”
DIRECTING FIRE
Vance to anti-Israel activist: ‘If you want to complain about what happened in Gaza, why don’t you complain about Joe Biden?’
Heckled over Gaza at a Turning Point USA event on Tuesday evening, Vice President JD Vance claimed that “the humanitarian situation in Gaza was an absolute catastrophe” when President Donald Trump returned to office last January and criticized the Biden administration’s handling of the conflict, though he did not defend Israel against the attack, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports.
What he said: An attendee at the event at the University of Georgia repeatedly shouted that the Trump administration was supporting “genocide” in Gaza by backing Israel’s war against Hamas. “You know who’s the person who got a peace agreement in Gaza? Donald J. Trump,” Vance told the heckler. “So if you want to complain about what happened in Gaza, why don’t you complain about Joe Biden and the last administration? We’re the administration that solved that problem.”
SCOOP
Zohran Mamdani’s video chief lauded Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar
The architect of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s viral video campaign paid homage to the mastermind of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks in a series of tweets uncovered by Jewish Insider’s Will Bredderman — posts in which the operative asserted that late Hamas military leader Yahya Sinwar “gave his entire life until the end fighting for his people’s liberation.”
Career development: Records show Donald Borenstein got paid more than $90,000 last year by the Mamdani campaign for his services as director of video — a role in which, according to his LinkedIn, he served as “primary cinematographer” for the social media imagery that propelled the democratic socialist lawmaker into Gracie Mansion. Borenstein’s Instagram indicates he has since assumed the title of “creative director” at City Hall, and he has been credited for official videos promoting the mayor and his agenda. Borenstein was also featured in a recent comedy sketch starring Mamdani and his top staffers that was shared on the official NYC Mayor’s Office YouTube channel.
DEM DIVIDES
Inside the DNC working group at the center of Democrats’ Israel fight
At last week’s Democratic National Committee meeting in New Orleans, two resolutions concerning Israel were tabled, and punted to a working group tasked with building consensus among Democrats on Middle East-related issues. At a time when Democrats appear deeply divided about how to address the U.S.-Israel relationship and Middle East policy more broadly, that’s a tall order. Never mind that the members of the working group include both strongly pro-Israel and staunchly anti-Israel voices, all tasked with working to further a message that will resonate with as many party members as possible, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
Working group worries: The question facing the group’s members is whether they will actually be able to agree on anything — or if the group is simply a way to push the issue off until 2028, when the party platform is again up for debate. It would not be the first bureaucratic Band-Aid applied to paper over an increasingly fraught political debate. “We are working within the framework of the Democratic platform as it is now, so anything which attempts to radically rewrite where the party has been is not something that I personally feel is appropriate,” said Andrew Lachman, a member of the working group who was previously the president of California Jewish Democrats.
MODERATION MESS
Instagram fails to remove nearly all reported extremist content after Meta moderation rollback, ADL study finds
A new report reveals that Instagram failed to remove 93% of reported extremist and hateful content, tying the trend directly to Meta’s efforts to roll back content moderation last year. The changes lifted some speech restrictions, allowing incendiary content to remain on the platform, fueling what the Anti-Defamation League report calls a surge of antisemitism, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
Fuentes fallout: The ADL report, released on Wednesday, identified 105 accounts affiliated with white supremacist Nick Fuentes’ “groyper” network, with more than 1.4 million combined followers. Those accounts frequently posted antisemitic conspiracy theories, Holocaust denial and pro-Hitler content. The report highlights that in May 2025, shortly after the rollback, Fuentes noted that his content continues to spread on Instagram despite him personally having been banned since 2021, writing on Telegram that Instagram “relaxed its content moderation” and had “stopped taking my clips down.”
KIDS ARE NOT ALRIGHT
New Yale Youth Poll finds younger voters hold decidedly more antisemitic beliefs
Younger voters are significantly more likely to hold antisemitic beliefs and critical views of Israel compared to older generations, according to a new survey. The Yale Youth Poll, an undergraduate-led research group based at Yale University, polled over 3,400 American voters, more than half of whom were under 35, between March 9-23, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
Generation gap: Respondents were presented with paraphrased statements on Israel from several prominent figures across the political spectrum. Among all voters, 35% agreed with the statement “America should end the slavish surrender to Israel, its wars, and its demands for foreign aid,” which is paraphrased from comments neo-Nazi podcaster Nick Fuentes made in a video. But among the youngest respondents, agreement rose to 55% of voters ages 18-22 and to 52% among those 23-29.
Campus climate: A new study on campus discrimination highlights that at least a third of Jewish, Muslim, Black and Asian students have encountered hate and hostility at their universities.
WAR WEARY
Several top Senate Republicans, including John Thune, express hope Iran war winds down
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said Tuesday that he’s hopeful that the war in Iran is close to winding down, in advance of a deadline that could require congressional action for the war to continue, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. Under the War Powers Act, unilateral military action undertaken by the president without congressional authority is limited to 60 days — with a 30-day extension for draw-down purposes.
What he said: Pressed on whether Republicans would be open to voting to continue the war if it extends beyond 90 days, Thune suggested that wouldn’t be necessary. “At this point, most of us, I believe, feel pretty good about what the American military has achieved there in terms of its objectives,” Thune said. “It’s a hypothetical down the road. … I think the administration has a clear objective, a clear plan, and if they can execute on it, hopefully that question won’t be a necessary one that we’ll have to answer.”
Meeks’ move: Rep. Greg Meeks (D-NY) said he’s aiming to call up a war powers resolution this week to force an end to the war in Iran, but that he’s still working to lock down the support of a few wavering Democratic and Republican lawmakers whose support will be necessary to pass the legislation.
Worthy Reads
Same as the Old Boss: The Wall Street Journal’s Margherita Stancati, Benoit Faucon and Henna Moussavi look at the maximalist, hard-line positions of the new upper echelon of Iranian leadership, overseen by Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei. “[The supreme leader] relies on a network of trusted allies that analysts call the Habib Circle. Its members include many veterans of the war with Iraq who served in the Revolutionary Guard’s Habib Battalion, renowned for attracting radicals and named after a seventh-century figure in Shia Islam revered for sacrificing his life in battle. Its recruits included Khamenei himself, who was a teenager when he enlisted toward the end of the war. … The new leadership has proved resilient and adaptable, emerging from the first five weeks of the war with its command and control intact. Their hard-line approach is evident in their appointments.” [WSJ]
Best Chance for Beirut: The Washington Post’s Carine Hajjar posits that the Lebanese government is in a position to take decisive action against both Iran and its Hezbollah proxy. “With the leadership of Hezbollah’s Iranian sponsors in disarray, Lebanon may never get a better chance to reclaim its sovereignty. … Even if the Lebanese are frustrated with Israel striking their country, ‘there’s a reason why these Israeli rockets are falling on us,’ Makram Rabah, an assistant history professor at the American University of Beirut, told me. The Israelis have been clear with the Lebanese: They won’t accept an armed Hezbollah, and if Beirut won’t act, they will.” [WashPost]
The Piker Problem: In his Substack “Identity Crisis,” Shalom Hartman Institute President Yehuda Kurtzer weighs in on the recent decision by The New York Times’ Ezra Klein to platform far-left streamer Hasan Piker. “Liberals must not decide that they need the ugliest forms of illiberalism in order to try to restore our fragile and collapsing liberal order. This was true when it involved defending a US senator hoping to impose martial law on American cities, and it is true now when it involves the demagogue-ing of our public square and the soft-pedaling of antisemitism. On both sides, violence is the tool of authoritarianism, and the enemy of the liberal project. Piker’s very project involves the delegitimating of the very liberal order by whose rules Klein is playing.” [IdentityCrisis]
Word on the Street
France and the U.K. are drafting a postwar plan that would free up shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and would include mine-clearing technology and military escorts through the waterway; the plan, which European officials will meet to discuss later this week, would require the approval of Iran and likely exclude the U.S….
Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman met this week in New York with Qatari Finance Minister Ali bin Ahmed Al Kuwari…
The Financial Times reports that Iran clandestinely acquired China’s TEE-01B spy satellite, which it used to target U.S. bases during the recent war…
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and 50 House Democrats introduced a bill to create a commission to assess President Donald Trump’s potential removal from office under the 25th Amendment, a move prompted in part by the Iran war. Efforts to remove Trump under the provision are almost certainly doomed to fail…
Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS) urged the administration not to renew oil sanctions waivers on Russia and Iran; “Iran continues to reap significant revenue due to its current waiver, providing financial relief to an adversary we are actively fighting. Any additional waivers for Russia or Iran would be against our national interests,” Moran said…
Citing an “unprecedented and escalating threat environment facing religious communities and institutions” across the country, a coalition of Jewish groups, joined by organizations representing a range of other faiths, is urging Senate and House leaders to significantly expand funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program to “up to $1 billion,” Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…
The Wall Street Journal looks at recent clashes between President Donald Trump and Pope Leo XIV, suggesting that the pontiff “has been building broad support within the global church for his course, which combines advocacy for peace and dialogue with a stronger emphasis on traditional Catholic doctrines”…
The Michigan arm of the powerful SEIU labor union announced on Tuesday that it had rescinded its endorsement of Amir Makled, an attorney running for the University of Michigan board of regents, in light of Makled’s deleted social media posts praising the terrorist group Hezbollah, JI’s Gabby Deutch reports…
Law firm Kirkland & Ellis has reportedly offered a three-year, $80 million package to Joshua Feltman, the chair of Wachtell Lipton’s corporate restructuring and finance department…
Portland Trail Blazers guard Deni Avdija hit the game-winning three-point shot to lead Portland over the Phoenix Suns in the NBA’s play-in game and into the NBA playoffs; the Israeli NBA star scored 41 points, and tallied 12 assists and 7 rebounds…
The Harvard Crimson reports that Harvard has yet to release a report on antisemitism that was mandated by its January 2025 settlement with the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law…
The University of Pennsylvania requested a stay of a judge’s order requiring the school to turn over names of Jewish employees of the school to the Trump administration’s Equal Employment Opportunity Commission…
The New York Times spotlights the growing interest from private equity firms in local bagel shops that can be developed and scaled…
MyPrize co-founders and brothers Zach and Max Bruch made a $360,000 donation to establish an endowment for Olami Manhattan to support the group’s efforts to bring young Jewish adults to visit Auschwitz and Birkenau, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Jay Deitcher reports…
Axel Springer received approval from U.K. Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy to purchase The Telegraph, clearing a major hurdle in the German company’s £575m effort to acquire the British publication…
Days after U.K. authorities revoked Kanye West’s permission to enter the country for a now-canceled music festival over his past antisemitic remarks, French authorities are weighing a similar ban on the artist, who is set to perform in Marseille in June…
Dublin Mayor Ray McAdam apologized to the city’s Jewish community for a series of administrative and procedural errors around a failed effort to rename the city’s Herzog Park, which was named after former Israeli President Chaim Herzog, the father of President Isaac Herzog, who was born in Belfast and raised in Dublin…
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced that the country would suspend the automatic renewal of its defense cooperation agreement with Israel, prompting President Donald Trump to rail against Meloni, who has thus far been an ally of his, telling an Italian outlet he’s “shocked by her. I thought she was brave, but I was wrong. … It’s her who’s unacceptable, because she doesn’t care if Iran has a nuclear weapon and would blow up Italy in two minutes if it had the chance”…
Italian entrepreneur Adriano Goldschmied, who developed dozens of brands of denim jeans, died at 82…
Pic of the Day
Congressional leaders, newly appointed U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Board Chair Jeff Miller, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and others spoke alongside Holocaust survivors on Capitol Hill on Tuesday at the U.S.’ annual commemoration of Yom HaShoah, JI’s Marc Rod reports.
Birthdays
Retired U.S. astronaut and a veteran of five space shuttle missions, Marsha Sue Ivins turns 75…
Psychiatrist, entrepreneur, movie producer and philanthropist, Dr. Henry George Jarecki turns 93… Former 15-term member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California, Howard Lawrence Berman turns 85… Duke University professor, physician, biochemist and Nobel Prize laureate in 2012, Robert Lefkowitz turns 83… Retired U.S. Army chaplain who attained the rank of lieutenant colonel, Rabbi Alan Sherman… Professor of German and comparative literature at New York University, Avital Ronell turns 74… Israeli Breslov rabbi and founder of Chut Shel Chessed Institutions, Shalom Arush turns 74… Former city controller of Philadelphia for 12 years, following 16 years as a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, Alan Butkovitz turns 74… CEO of DMB Strategic, David Brand… Founder and director of the graduate school in the decorative arts at Bard College in Dutchess County, N.Y., Susan Weber turns 71… Deputy counsel at the NYS Department of Taxation and Finance, Deborah R. Liebman… Former executive director at American Press Institute, he is the author of 10 books, including three novels, Tom Rosenstiel turns 70… Born in NYC, now living in Jerusalem, he is the rebbe of the Boyan Hasidic dynasty (a position he assumed in 1984 when he was 25), Rabbi Nachum Dov Brayer turns 67… Former deputy secretary of the Treasury during the Obama administration following four years as a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, Sarah Bloom Raskin turns 65… Winner of 12 Olympic medals at five different Olympic Games, Dara Grace Torres turns 59… Managing partner, CEO and chief investment officer of Hudson Bay Capital Management, Sander R. Gerber… CEO of the New Israel Fund since 2009 on sabbatical this year, prior to that he was the executive director of the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, Daniel Sokatch turns 58… Cheryl Myra Cohn… Senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and founder of the Truman National Security Project, Rachel Kleinfeld, Ph.D…. Head coach of the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos basketball program, Joe Pasternack turns 49… Senior political correspondent at The Hill, Amie Parnes turns 49… CEO of the American Fintech Council, Y. Phillip Goldfeder turns 45… Actor, comedian, writer, producer and director, Seth Rogen turns 44… CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, Mark Treyger turns 44… Co-founder and co-CEO of theSkimm, Carly Zakin… Research manager at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, David May… Director of grants and operations at the Foundation for Middle East Peace, Kristin McCarthy… Founder and CEO of Neue Urban, Zach Ehrlich… Social entrepreneur, environmental activist and human rights activist, Erin Schrode… Israeli singer, songwriter, rapper and record producer, Jasmin Moallem turns 31… Moshe Lehrer…
The Oct. 7 mastermind died in ‘heroic’ style, according to Donald Borenstein, director of video for the Mamdani campaign and City Hall
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is seen in a supporters mobile phone at his election night watch party on November 4, 2025 in New York City.
The architect of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s viral video campaign paid homage to the mastermind of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks in a series of tweets uncovered by Jewish Insider — posts in which the operative asserted that late Hamas military leader Yahya Sinwar “gave his entire life until the end fighting for his people’s liberation.”
Records show Donald Borenstein got paid more than $90,000 last year by the Mamdani campaign for his services as director of video — a role in which, according to his LinkedIn, he served as “primary cinematographer” for the social media imagery that propelled the democratic socialist legislator into Gracie Mansion.
Borenstein’s Instagram indicates he has since assumed the title of “creative director” at City Hall, and he has been credited for official videos promoting the mayor and his agenda. Borenstein was also featured in a recent comedy sketch starring Mamdani and his top staffers that was shared on the official NYC Mayor’s Office YouTube channel.
Yet despite receiving attention from The New York Times and New York Post as a member of Mamdani’s inner circle, Borenstein’s profile online has largely escaped notice so far.
Archives of his X account show that in 2024, a day after Sinwar was killed by the IDF, Borenstein described imagery of his death, captured in Israeli drone footage, as “absolutely overflowing with symbolism.”
“[I]nsanely funny that israelis are so genocidally up their own ass that they have basically hand-delivered one of the most heroic possible images they could here lmao,” Borenstein wrote from his X handle @boringstein on Oct. 17, 2024, and just a few months before Borenstein began working for Mamdani’s campaign.
Borenstein appears to have deleted this tweet, and all others referenced in this story, at some later point, though archived images remain accessible.
Federal Election Commission filings show that a few months before the posts, Borenstein wrapped up work for another politician highly critical of Israel: then-Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), who was serving out the last few months of his term after he lost his reelection to a primary challenge from Rep. George Latimer (D-NY).
The cinematographer further mocked the Israeli decision to release the video of Sinwar sitting on a couch and tossing a stick at the drone moments before he was killed.
“‘[S]urely this man who gave his entire life until the end fighting for his people’s liberation with no proxy will look bad when we show footage of his last stand,’” Borenstein wrote sarcastically, concluding a third post with the phrase “From the river to the sea,” often understood as calling for the annihilation of the entirety of Israel between the Jordan and the Mediterranean, and three Palestinian flag emojis.
When one reply compared the terrorist with Tom Hanks’ character in the movie “Saving Private Ryan,” the cinematographer responded with enthusiasm.
“[I]n earnest!!! you could not direct this better lol,” Borenstein replied. “[I] am honestly so deeply moved.”
In another since-deleted tweet, Borenstein wrote that “the fascist state of Israel will fall in our lifetimes.”
Neither the video producer nor the Mamdani team responded to questions about the tweets.
Borenstein is one of several figures instrumental in Mamdani’s rise whose social media accounts feature explicit support for Sinwar and the terrorist organization he led, even though the mayor has condemned terrorism personally.
In February, JI reported that the co-founder of the independent “Hot Girls for Zohran” social media and canvassing campaign had also shared multiple pro-Hamas posts. In March, JI reported that Mamdani’s wife Rama Duwaji — whom The Cut described as a “de facto adviser” to the mayor’s campaign — had liked posts on Instagram celebrating the Oct. 7 attacks.
Of 150 reported accounts and 103 reported posts linked to white supremacist networks, designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations and vendors selling Nazi merchandise, Instagram removed only 11 accounts and 8 posts
Ismail Kaplan/Anadolu via Getty Images
Instagram logo displayed on a mobile phone screen in front of a computer screen displaying Meta logo in Ankara, Turkiye, on April 10, 2026.
A new report reveals that Instagram failed to remove 93% of reported extremist and hateful content, tying the trend directly to Meta’s efforts to roll back content moderation last year. The changes lifted some speech restrictions, allowing incendiary content to remain on the platform, fueling what the Anti-Defamation League report calls a surge of antisemitism.
The ADL report, “How Meta’s Content Moderation Changes Risk Turning Instagram into a Hub for Hate,” released on Wednesday, identified 105 accounts affiliated with white supremacist Nick Fuentes’ “groyper” network, with more than 1.4 million combined followers. Those accounts frequently posted antisemitic conspiracy theories, Holocaust denial and pro-Hitler content.
The report highlights that in May 2025, shortly after the rollback, Fuentes noted that his content continues to spread on Instagram despite him personally having been banned since 2021, writing on Telegram that Instagram “relaxed its content moderation” and had “stopped taking my clips down.”
Oren Segal, ADL’s senior vice president for counter-extremism and intelligence, said that the proliferation of antisemitism on Instagram is a direct outcome of the changes in policy at Meta, its parent company.The rollback included ending the platform’s third-party fact-checking program and replacing it with a system modeled after the community notes feature on Elon Musk’s X.
At the time, some Jewish leaders expressed concern that the move would “open the floodgates to content” that could target Jewish communities and individuals, and called the decision a “step back” in the fight against rising antisemitism.
Meta had said the relaxed guidelines aim to “allow more speech by lifting restrictions on some topics that are part of mainstream discourse.” Meta, also the owner of Facebook and WhatsApp, simultaneously said that it planned to crack down on “high severity violations,” such as pro-terrorism content. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg cited the results of the 2024 U.S. presidential election as the underlying decision to move to a “community note” model, calling it a “cultural tipping point towards, once again, prioritizing speech.” Zuckerberg said that third-party moderators were “too politically biased” and it was “time to get back to our roots around free expression.”
“When a platform used by 80 percent of American adults under 30 allows pro-Hitler content to rack up millions of views, Holocaust denial to spread unchecked and terrorist organizations to fundraise openly, we’re not talking about a policy disagreement,” said Segal. “We’re talking about a public safety crisis. Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged Meta would ‘catch less bad stuff’ after the rollback. Our research proves he was right, and the consequences are deeply concerning.”
Furthermore, the study found more than 340,000 followers across accounts directly or indirectly linked to U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations, including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. It also identified more than 3.2 million views on content from a single extremist merchandise vendor selling apparel with Nazi symbols including Sonnenrads, Totenkopfs and SS bolts.
The ADL Center on Extremism researchers conducted testing between January and February 2026, by reporting 253 pieces of violative content through Instagram’s standard user reporting system. Of 150 reported accounts and 103 reported posts linked to white supremacist networks, designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations and vendors selling Nazi merchandise, Instagram removed 11 accounts and 8 posts. In 20 cases, Instagram explicitly stated it lacked the bandwidth to review the reports, according to the ADL.
According to Meta’s Community Standards, the company does not allow “organizations or individuals that proclaim a violent mission or are engaged in violence to have a presence on our platforms.” The company asserts that it removes any glorification or support of designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations, Specially Designated Global Terrorists, and any groups that organize or advocate for violence against civilians, including Taliban, ISIS and Al-Qaida.
Despite this official policy, ADL researchers found many active accounts that praise these groups, identifying at least 23 accounts that spread Islamic State and Al-Qaida propaganda. The accounts often post an image or video that glorifies organizations that meet Meta’s terrorism definition with caption text that is unrelated to the subject matter — like a synopsis of the movie “Home Alone” or gardening advice — potentially in an effort to evade detection.
A spokesperson for Meta told Jewish Insider after the report was released that “over two-thirds of the accounts and posts flagged by the ADL were removed prior to the publication of this report, while some did not violate our policies.” ADL told JI its figures were based on a two-week window from submitting a report to getting a response from the platform.
The 14-page report was released shortly before an upcoming Meta shareholder vote, scheduled for the end of May.
Last month, an AI-generated Instagram account called “Rabbi Goldman,” which featured a fake Orthodox rabbi spreading antisemitic conspiracies to its more than 1.4 million followers, was taken offline following major backlash from Jewish groups and one Democratic lawmaker — yet several similar, hate-peddling accounts have emerged with little to no public action from Meta.
This report was updated on April 15 to include a statement from Meta.
The current geopolitical conditions laid the groundwork for yesterday’s State Department summit
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio (2nd-R), accompanied by U.S. State Department Counselor Michael Needham (C), and U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa (R), speaks as they begin working-level peace talks with Lebanese Ambassador to the U.S. Nada Hamadeh Moawad and Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter at the U.S. State Department on April 14, 2026 in Washington, DC.
A popular “domino effect” meme circulates online every few months, linking slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar’s decision to launch the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks — the smallest domino — to a series of major geopolitical shifts across the Middle East. While both simplified and exaggerated, the meme underscores the dramatic reshaping of Middle Eastern power dynamics.
The next domino may be the decades-long fraught relationship between Israel and Lebanon, as Iran’s ironclad grip over the region loosens and its most powerful proxy, Hezbollah, finds itself increasingly weakened and marginalized in Lebanon, where it has for decades played a key role in the country’s politics and military.
Those current geopolitical conditions — Iran at its weakest point in decades, successive levels of Hezbollah leadership removed from power through Israeli military actions, the degradation of Hamas and a new government in Syria that has separated itself from Tehran — laid the groundwork for yesterday’s State Department summit, convened by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, between Israel and Lebanon.
The State Department meeting between the ambassadors from Lebanon and Israel took place as the U.S. navigates stalled talks and a tenuous ceasefire with Iran — which was initially on unstable ground as Iran demanded that Israel cease its targeting of Hezbollah as part of the ceasefire.
A senior Israeli official told Jewish Insider on Wednesday that Iran’s effort to link the two conflicts was “a strategic trap with long-term ramifications.”
“There was real pressure to link the Lebanon front to the Iran ceasefire,” the official said. If President Donald Trump had acquiesced to the Iranian demand to link the two conflicts, the official continued, “We would not be on the path to peace that we’re on now. Keeping the arenas separate ultimately means that the fate of Lebanon is no longer dictated by Iran.”
Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett — now mounting a comeback bid ahead of elections later this year — has often used the “Octopus Doctrine” to describe a security approach to tackling Iran’s decades-long control over the region. Cut off the head of the octopus — Tehran — and the tentacles will be easier to tackle, the logic goes.
Israel, having severed the metaphorical octopus’ head on the opening day of the recent war with Iran, is now continuing its work to degrade and dismantle Iranian proxies — a process that began two and a half years ago, triggered by the Oct. 7 attacks.
“One of the most significant developments in the Middle East since Oct. 7 has been the steady dismantling of that axis — separating arenas that sought to bind their fates together,” the senior Israeli official said.
The talks are not without risk. Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam called off a planned trip to the U.S. over the weekend out of concerns of potential domestic unrest — amid the still very real risk that Hezbollah, albeit weakened, could attempt a power grab in his absence. Recall that in 2005, former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri was killed in a car bombing, with a Hezbollah operative convicted by a U.N. tribunal in absentia for the assassination.
The talks were hailed by Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter, who said that the parties “discovered today that we’re on the same side of the equation” and “are both united in liberating Lebanon from an occupation power dominated by Iran called Hezbollah.”
Rubio delivered a measured assessment of the goals of yesterday’s talks: “This is about bringing a permanent end to 20 or 30 years of Hezbollah’s influence in this part of the world,” he said at a roundtable ahead of the meeting. “This will take time, but we believe it is worth this endeavor.”
Beirut has in recent years — and with varying degrees of seriousness and success — worked to disentangle itself from Iran and Hezbollah. Now, the U.S.-Israeli military pressure on Iran, combined with the Trump administration’s zest for dealmaking and the degradation of Hezbollah, could create the right environment to bring peace to the Mediterranean Riviera.
The organizations cited the ‘unprecedented and escalating threat environment’ facing religious communities
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Members of Hatzalah of Michigan, a Jewish volunteer emergency medical service survey the area near Temple Israel following reports of an active shooter on March 12, 2026 in West Bloomfield, Michigan.
Citing an “unprecedented and escalating threat environment facing religious communities and institutions” across the country, a coalition of Jewish groups, joined by organizations representing a range of other faiths, is urging Senate and House leaders to significantly expand funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program.
“We write as a broad coalition of faith-based and cultural organizations to express our deep concern about the unprecedented and escalating threat environment facing religious communities and institutions across the United States. This threat is not abstract; it is very real and felt by the communities we represent on a daily basis,” the groups wrote in a letter, led by the American Jewish Committee, to the top leaders of each chamber.
They said that faith-based institutions “should be able to solely focus on serving and strengthening their communities, but in this heightened threat environment, they instead must also worry about the next attack and whether they have the resources to stay safe,” and that members of targeted religious communities are forced to “weigh the risk of violence against the act of worship.”
The letter urges Congress to provide “up to $1 billion” for the NSGP — a significant expansion of funding from its 2025 funding level of $274.5 million, and the proposed 2026 funding level of $300 million.
“Previous funding has not kept pace with demand,” the groups wrote. “More must be done to bolster this program; therefore, we encourage you to engage with communities in your district and to encourage the same of your respective caucuses. We have no doubt you’ll hear about the fear and threats our communities are facing at this moment, and therefore, we urge you to allocate appropriate resources to address this threat.”
The religious organizations also urged swift passage of the long-gestating Pray Safe Act, which would create a centralized federal clearinghouse to provide security guidance to religious institutions, including training resources and information about available grant opportunities.
Additional Jewish organizational signatories included the Anti-Defamation League, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Hillel International, the JCC Association of North America, the Jewish Federations of North America, the Rabbinical Assembly, the Union for Reform Judaism, the Orthodox Union and the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.
They were joined by groups representing the Muslim, Lutheran, Greek Orthodox, Hindu, Evangelical, Seventh-day Adventist, Sikh and Catholic communities.
Majority Leader Thune said about a congressional vote to extend the war, ‘hopefully that question won't be a necessary one that we’ll have to answer’
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Sen. Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) calls on reporters at the U.S. Capitol on January 14, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said Tuesday that he’s hopeful that the war in Iran is close to winding down, in advance of a deadline that could require congressional action for the war to continue.
Under the War Powers Act, unilateral military action undertaken by the president without congressional authority is limited to 60 days — with a 30-day extension for draw-down purposes.
Thune emphasized that the administration’s current goal is to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and that Senate Republicans support efforts to isolate the Iranian regime and their economy.
“We get the strait open again — and that’s sort of their last resort. The military effort here has been extraordinarily successful. This is sort of the last dying gasp of this regime, is to try and shut down the strait,” Thune said in a press conference after a GOP conference meeting. “The administration is making an effort to ensure that it’s open, that there’ll be traffic in and out there. And hopefully that will be successful and we can begin to see this thing wind down.”
Pressed on whether Republicans would be open to voting to continue the war if it extends beyond 90 days, Thune suggested that wouldn’t be necessary.
“At this point, most of us, I believe, feel pretty good about what the American military has achieved there in terms of its objectives,” Thune said. “It’s a hypothetical down the road. … I think the administration has a clear objective, a clear plan, and if they can execute on it, hopefully that question won’t be a necessary one that we’ll have to answer.”
Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) said that it’s “not quite time” yet for a full Senate discussion on the war, but said that he does want to see the administration more fully lay out its strategy and plan as the war continues and approaches the 60-day deadline at the end of April.
“We do expect that the administration will be laying out their plan for after the end of seven, eight, nine weeks,” Rounds said. “We have to know what the next steps are, and that’s part of our due diligence that we have to do.”
Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) said that Republicans did not discuss the possibility of an authorization for the war during their meeting.
Other Republicans have argued that the provision of the War Powers Act that sets out the 60-day deadline, is not enforceable and that Republicans on Capitol Hill are not paying attention to it.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said that the U.S. should “finish the job” rather than extending a ceasefire agreement with Iran if the regime is not willing to agree to U.S. demands, including a permanent end to nuclear enrichment, surrendering all of its already enriched uranium, fully reopening the strait and abandoning its ballistic missile program and support for terrorism.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said that Senate Democrats plan to bring forward another war powers resolution to stop the war on Wednesday, and will continue to force votes on similar resolutions weekly until the war ends. For now, most Republicans seem likely to continue to vote against the legislation.
Senate Republicans also indicated that they’re not likely to attempt to include supplemental funding for the Iran war in an upcoming partisan budget reconciliation package, which is focused on border security and immigration funding currently being blocked by Democrats.
Thune, who has said he wants an “anorexic-like” reconciliation package, again indicated on Tuesday at a press conference after a Senate Republican lunch meeting that the package will be tightly “focused” to fund immigration enforcement.
“I think we’re going to do a very skinny reconciliation,” Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), the chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said when asked about Republicans’ discussions on Iran during the conference meeting.
Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) said that he has not heard anything about either the timing or the size of the supplemental request the administration plans to submit. Initial reports indicated that the Pentagon wanted to ask for $200 billion, but more recent reports have indicated that the final request will be lower.
Republicans have discussed advancing another reconciliation package before the end of the year, though some members of the conference, like Kennedy, have openly expressed skepticism that such an effort would be possible.
At this point, given the strong and widespread opposition among Democrats to the war in Iran, it’s unclear whether a funding package for the war would be able to clear the 60-vote filibuster threshold necessary for passage in the Senate.
Howard Lutnick: ‘We are here because the victims of the Holocaust can continue to remind us that apathy must be overcome by meaning, neglect supplanted by remembrance and indifference surmounted by love’
Courtesy Lois Frankel
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, congressional leaders, newly appointed U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Board Chair Jeff Miller and others spoke alongside Holocaust survivors on Capitol Hill on Tuesday at the U.S.’ annual commemoration of Yom HaShoah.
At the event, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and other lawmakers presented a congressional gold medal — Congress’ highest honor — to the family of Benjamin Ferencz, the youngest of the U.S. prosecutors at the Nuremberg trials. Ferencz’s daughter, accepting the award, echoed her father’s motto — ”law, not war” — also imprinted on the medal itself.
In his remarks, Lutnick said that “President [Donald] Trump has shown through action, not just words but bold action, that he is the greatest friend of the Jewish people,” pointing the president’s work to free the hostages who were still in captivity in Gaza on Yom HaShoah last year.
Lutnick also recounted his visit last year to Poland, where he commemorated the liberation of Auschwitz and Birkenau, an experience that “left an indelible impression on my wife and me.” He drew a line from those atrocities to the 9/11 attacks, in which Lutnick, the former CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, lost friends, family and many of his colleagues.
“Both groups of the fallen are made up of common heroes whose memory on earth will be lost if not for the determined effort by organizations like the Holocaust Memorial Museum to keep their legacy alive and ensure that the refrain ‘Never Again’ echoes for generations to come,” Lutnick continued. “We are here because the victims of the Holocaust can continue to remind us that apathy must be overcome by meaning, neglect supplanted by remembrance and indifference surmounted by love.”
Miller, a lobbyist who was recently appointed to replace former Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat as the Museum’s board chair, described Holocaust remembrance and the mission of the museum as a critical duty.
“The fight against antisemitism and Holocaust denial is one of the defining moral challenges of our time,” Miller said. “For as long as the museum stands, as long as the truth of the Holocaust is taught, and as long as the people of conscience refuse to surrender to hatred, the [forces] of antisemitism, will find that they have not awakened our fear, but our unbreakable will and our determination to never, ever surrender in the fight against evil.”
Miller also acknowledged the rampant and growing modern problem of antisemitism. He warned that Holocaust denialism has been spreading, particularly online, that antisemitism has returned “not quietly, but openly,” with Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attacks serving as a “brutal reminder of what happens when hatred of Jews is allowed to go unchecked,” and Jews facing attacks and feeling afraid globally.
He said that he’s seen his own daughters face antisemitism on their college campuses, a challenge that “demands leadership, moral clarity and action.”
Then-Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s warning at the end of World War II that some would eventually try to deny the Holocaust, “has become reality,” Miller said.
“The Holocaust demonstrates that hate began with the Jews but did not end with the Jews. That lesson cannot be more urgent today, and that is why the work of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum matters so deeply,” Miller said. “Antisemitism has once again shown its face in our time with shocking boldness. Let the world hear this clearly: We will confront it. We will expose it, and we will defeat it, because the promise of Never Again is not negotiable.”
Miller offered particular thanks to Trump, calling him the greatest friend of the Jewish people and Israel, saying that the Jewish people “owe President Trump a lifetime of gratitude” for his efforts to free the hostages in Gaza and push back against antisemitism on college campuses and elsewhere.
But he also said that the challenge of antisemitism goes beyond any institution, individual or administration, and is instead a question of “the responsibilities of free people in every generation,” emphasizing that the Holocaust began with “lies, with propaganda, with conspiracy theories.”
Johnson highlighted modern manifestations of antisemitism particularly on college campuses and in support for the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel.
“Today, the work is even more important than ever, not only because those who personally witnessed this tragedy grow fewer in number each year, but because denying and distorting the truth of the Holocaust has become something, once again, that is tolerated and in some cases, even defended,” Johnson said. “On college campuses, leaders of once respectable institutions have excused hateful ideas as ‘context.’ The flags of radical Islamic terrorist groups have become commonplace on campus quadrangles, and safe spaces are reserved not for the Jewish students threatened by physical violence on those campuses, but for those who chant ‘From the river to the sea’ and ‘Long live Hamas.’”
He said that these “dangerous ideologies” have “dangerous consequences.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) emphasized that neutrality and silence are not options in the face of antisemitism.
“It’s important that we continue to take a side,” Jeffries said. “We have no other moral choice, because we know the violent and deadly history and reality of antisemitism. Jewish life has included, for thousands of years, pain, pogroms, persecution, prejudice, expulsions, the terrorist attack on Oct. 7 and the Holocaust. Never again must always mean never again.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) highlighted the need to call out antisemitism wherever it arises.
“We must continue to keep our eyes open today, at a time when antisemitism sadly runs rampant around the world once again,” Schumer said. “The responsibility falls on all of us. We must remember how the Holocaust happened, how too many stood silent in the face of evil, and how the death of democracy in Europe enabled the death of 6 million Jews. The poisons of fascism and antisemitism come from the same vial.”
Other lawmakers who spoke included Reps. Lois Frankel (D-FL) and Joe Wilson (R-SC) and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), who led the legislation awarding Ferencz with the gold medal. Sarah Bloomfield, the director of the USHMM, delivered remarks on behalf of Ferencz’s son, and several Holocaust survivors shared their stories as well.
Speaking at a Turning Point USA event, Vance said ‘the humanitarian situation in Gaza was an absolute catastrophe’ when Trump entered office last January
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Vice President JD Vance (R) speaks with Turning Point USA spokesperson Andrew Kolvet during a Turning Point USA event at Akins Ford Arena at the Classic Center on April 14, 2026 in Athens, Georgia.
Heckled over Gaza at a Turning Point USA event on Tuesday evening, Vice President JD Vance claimed that “the humanitarian situation in Gaza was an absolute catastrophe” when Trump returned to office last January and criticized the Biden administration’s handling of the conflict, though he did not defend Israel against the attack.
An attendee at the event at the University of Georgia repeatedly shouted that the Trump administration was supporting “genocide” in Gaza by backing Israel’s war against Hamas.
“You know who’s the person who got a peace agreement in Gaza? Donald J. Trump,” Vance told the heckler. “So if you want to complain about what happened in Gaza, why don’t you complain about Joe Biden and the last administration? We’re the administration that solved that problem.”
“Right now, you see more humanitarian aid coming into Gaza than … any time in the past five years because we have taken that situation seriously,” he continued. “That’s one of the things I’m proud of about our administration, whether it’s there or Thailand and Cambodia, we have consistently tried as much as we can to solve these problems.”
Vance also revealed at the event that Theo Von was one of his favorite podcasters and recommended young people listen to his show — despite the influencer’s record of anti-Israel and antisemitic comments.
Vance made the comments after being asked by a child in the audience during a question and answer period who he looked up to in the conservative movement when he was growing up and which current “influencers” he’d recommend young people listen to.
The vice president responded by pointing to James Dobson, the founder of Focus on the Family, an Evangelical organization aimed at promoting traditional conservative family policies, as an early influence in his life, and encouraged young people to listen to Von, himself and the current hosts of the Charlie Kirk Podcast.
Von has made a series of antisemitic and anti-Israel statements in recent years on his and other podcasts. He claimed to Joe Rogan in a November 2024 appearance on his podcast that Jews control liberal media and “hate White guys.” He referred to neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes as “f***ing brave” during a January episode of his podcast alongside anti-Israel comedian Dave Smith, and warned Israel not to kill him while saying he was “not suicidal” last October amid reports about concerns for his mental health.
Vance has appeared on Von’s podcast before, sitting down for an interview last June where he defended Israel’s handling of the war in Gaza after Von described it as a “genocide.” Trump also appeared on Von’s podcast in August 2024, during his presidential campaign. In May last year, the White House took Von to speak to U.S. troops at a military base in Qatar, ahead of Trump’s address.
The vice president emphasized his support at another point during the event for continuing to engage with Iranian leadership to reach a negotiated settlement to end the fighting and reshape the two countries’ relationship, and said he was going to keep working toward that outcome. Vance said while detailing the status of negotiations between Washington and Tehran that the U.S. has not agreed to a diplomatic settlement to end the conflict because President Donald Trump “really wants a deal where Iran doesn’t have a nuclear weapon.”
“Fundamentally, the president set a policy: Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, and right now we are negotiating to make sure that very thing happens,” Vance said.
Trump, Vance argued, “doesn’t want to make … a small deal. He wants to make the grand bargain. And what he’s basically offering to Iran is very simple, and frankly, it’s something that no president, I think, has had the ability to offer. He said that, ‘if you’re willing to act like a normal country, we are willing to treat you economically like a normal country.’”
The comments came following reports that U.S. negotiators asked Iran to agree to not enrich uranium for 20 years as part of a peace deal, which Trump told the New York Post on Tuesday he was displeased about.
“I’ve been saying they can’t have nuclear weapons, so I don’t like the 20 years,” Trump told the outlet.
Vance described the president’s offer to improve the U.S.-Iran relationship in exchange for the regime committing to abandoning its efforts to obtain nuclear weapons as a “Trumpian grand bargain” that he was “going to keep on negotiating” toward.
“What’s interesting about this is that we have this ceasefire that’s in place, I think it’s six or seven days old right now. The ceasefire is holding,” Vance said. “And that’s one of the reasons why I’d say, in Pakistan, we made a ton of progress,” he added, referring to his direct talks with Iranian leadership over the weekend.
“The United States had never had meetings at that level with the Iranian government in 49 years, like it’s a meeting that had never before happened, not Democrat, not Republican,” he continued.
Tuesday’s event was originally supposed to feature a conversation between the vice president and Erika Kirk, the widow of Turning Point founder Charlie Kirk and his successor as TPUSA’s CEO. Kirk pulled out of appearing at the event late Tuesday after her security team advised her against appearing due to “very serious threats.” Since her husband’s assassination last September, Kirk has been targeted by far-right conspiracy theorists, led by Candace Owens, claiming that she was involved in the assassination of her husband.
Vance condemned those criticizing Kirk but did not call out Owens or others by name, telling the crowd, “Everybody is attacking her over everything, and they’re lying about her, and it’s one of the most disgraceful things that I’ve ever seen in public life, and I’ve seen a lot of crazy stuff in my life.”
Meeks said he will likely bring up a war powers resolution for a vote this week, and is waiting to see if several of his colleagues will flip their votes in favor
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY)
