Andy Shallal, the founder and CEO of the restaurant and bookstore chain Busboys and Poets, has spent two decades building the Washington-area chain into a hub for progressive politics and anti-Israel advocacy. 

Now, that activism is literally on the menu.

The chain’s newest drink is a $14 cocktail called “Free Palestine,” which is made of Tito’s vodka and watermelon, and was offered for free earlier this month to the first 100 customers who filmed and posted a promotional video of themselves saying the slogan. 

The drink launch follows a series of events that the restaurant has hosted featuring speakers hostile to Israel, even as Shallal says he has spent decades promoting dialogue between Arabs and Jews. The restaurant’s 2024 Palestine Week event series featured Linda Sarsour, a controversial Palestinian activist with a history of antisemitic and anti-Israel stances. 

Busboys and Poets operates eight locations throughout the Washington metropolitan area. Its 14th Street location has a mural painted on the wall showing a group of left-wing leaders and activists sitting at a table together; one of the legs of the table has the words “Long Live the Intifada” painted on top of it, and another says “From the River to the Sea, free Palestine.”

Jewish patrons say the new drink signals the latest shift that makes them feel unwelcome in the restaurant. The slogan “Free Palestine” carries particular weight in the Washington area, where federal prosecutors allege the man accused of killing Israeli Embassy staffers Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim outside the Capital Jewish Museum in May 2025 shouted the phrase after the shooting. 

“That is not simply putting a political message on a menu,” Jacob Silver, a local political commentator writing for a Montgomery County Republican club blog, wrote. “It is a script. It is a social-media campaign. And in Washington, of all places, Busboys and Poets should understand why some Jewish customers are going to find it deeply offensive.”

Shallal, the Iraqi American owner, defended the “Free Palestine” cocktail in a Facebook post, publishing a letter from a longtime customer who asked him to remove the drink and said she would stop dining there. 

The customer wrote that she associates the slogan with violence and efforts to destroy Israel, said she sees rising harassment of Jews as tied to the “Free Palestine” movement and called the “discrimination against a minority” inconsistent with the inclusive values she believed the restaurant intends to represent. 

In his reply, Shallal said the name was meant as a gesture of solidarity with Palestinians, comparing it to the Black Lives Matter movement and arguing that highlighting one group’s suffering does not diminish another’s. He said he did not intend to alienate neighbors and pointed to his history of Arab-Jewish dialogue work, including co-founding the Peace Cafe with a Jewish colleague.

Shallal also described being treated in a demeaning way at checkpoints and at the airport during two trips to Israel and the West Bank, saying he was pulled aside and had his camera confiscated. 

He did not specifically address the customer’s request to remove the drink from the menu.

Senators returning to Washington on Monday offered mixed responses to the recent Houthi offensive inside Yemen and Saudi Arabia, with some Republicans telling Jewish Insider that the Iran-backed terror group’s moves warranted a response, while some Democrats framed the Houthi attacks as further fallout from the U.S. war against Iran.

The Iran-backed Yemeni terrorist group seized control of key port cities along the Red Sea coast, near the vital Bab el-Mandeb Strait, as well as Perim Island inside the waterway and the Hanish archipelago to the north. Drones fired from Iraq also struck and disabled a critical Saudi oil pipeline that the country had been using to bypass the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. has thus far declined to intervene.

Republicans who spoke to Jewish Insider said they had not been fully briefed on the situation since returning to Washington on Monday after being away for the Senate’s extended August recess. Still, they said a forceful response from the Saudis was warranted. 

“Everybody ought to work together to destroy the Houthis,” Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) said. “It’s not just the Trump administration, the Saudis have resources. They need to use all their resources to destroy them. You can’t play games here. You’ve got to destroy them.”

Asked if the U.S. should take action against the terror organization, Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) said, “I think we need to do just what we’re doing right now. We need to crank the sanctions up as high as we can and continue the blockade. The Saudis can do something. They have an army. They have weapons.” 

“If I were the Saudis, I’d hit them back,” the Louisiana senator added. 

Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) told JI that he did not know “what the administration’s plans are” as far as how the U.S. will approach the Houthis after this latest series of attacks, though he emphasized that it was imperative to find a resolution that “contained” the Houthis as quickly as possible.

“Look, it’s a very dangerous neighborhood down there right now. The Houthis have been causing some real problems, not just for Saudi Arabia but for trade throughout the rest of the world,” Rounds said. “The sooner we get that resolved down there and get them contained once again, the better off we’re all going to be.”

“There needs to be a response to any adverse action that they take, in my view — and an amplified response,” Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) told JI.

Democrats generally framed the Houthi offensive as an extension and expansion of the Iran war.

“This war is metastasizing out of control,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said, referring to the conflict with Iran. “Whatever support for it there may have been when it was confined to a certain geographic area, it was done without a strategic plan, without realistic objectives, without a clear understanding of the enemy, and now it is metastasizing with the costs potentially looming larger than ever.”

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) suggested that the Houthis would likely de-escalate if the U.S. de-escalated, similar to how the group wound down attacks on Red Sea shipping during ceasefires in Gaza.

“It is a very predictable consequence of the Iran war, which we never should have gone into,” Kaine said. “The ties between the Iranians and the Houthis are very well-known. When the pace of U.S. activity in the region abates, the Houthis tend to abate. … They’ve been threatening to do this, and so the right thing to do is to find a ceasefire and stop the war in Iran.”

LAS VEGAS — In November 2025, Itay Chen’s remains were returned to his family, more than two years after he was killed in his tank during the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel, during which terrorists took Chen’s remains to Gaza. Chen was the last American held hostage by the terrorist group to be released.

His father, Ruby Chen, spent those two years flying to Washington and around the world advocating for his son’s freedom. But even though his son has been laid to rest, Chen’s fight isn’t over. Now, he’s working to ensure that the American victims of Oct. 7 are remembered, that his son’s “sacrifice was not in vain” and to ensure that other families don’t have to go through the same pain, Chen told Jewish Insider on the sidelines of the Republican Jewish Coalition conference last week in Las Vegas.

Chen said that he sees his continuing advocacy, through meetings with lawmakers, administration officials and others, as part of his “rehabilitation” to help him cope with the loss of his son. “At least that’s what helps me get out of bed,” Chen said.

Chen is working to elevate the memory of the 46 American citizens killed on and after Oct. 7 while being held by Hamas — emphasizing that many in the American public at large and even the Jewish community are ill-aware of them — pushing for a State Department-backed memorial event in Washington next month alongside other families of the bereaved.

He said he’s in touch with senior members of the administration about the memorial event, who have been supportive, and he’s “positively optimistic” that it will come to fruition.

On Capitol Hill, Chen is pushing for an investigative committee to probe the Oct. 7 attacks, with a focus on the American casualties and how Hamas’ preparations went unnoticed — particularly in light of the Israeli government’s failure to launch its own investigation.

He said that the pre-midterm election season is a difficult time for such conversations, but that there are lawmakers on both sides of the aisle willing to consider the prospect. “I think that people recognize that we deserve some basic answers,” Chen said.

Such a committee, he added, could also help provide ongoing support and monitoring for the families of the bereaved, in the same way that Congress did for the families of victims of the 9/11 attacks.

Chen is pushing for further sanctions on Hamas, Iran and its proxies by both the U.S. and European countries, offering strong criticism for what he said was the Biden administration’s failure to adequately utilize sanctions, as well as difficulties in bringing European allies along, particularly as a result of EU bureaucracy and opposition from some EU member states.

Chen highlighted Turkey’s role as a financial hub for Hamas and other Iranian proxies. “For the love of God, I do not understand why the president, [who] is so close to Turkey and [its president, Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan, is not demanding” that terrorist-linked bank accounts in Turkey are not shut down, Chen said.

“There are always other interests that are on the table, and things get compromised,” he continued. “It’s unfortunate, but that is the case.”

Chen also is pursuing civil penalties against individuals who have backed and facilitated Hamas’ activities in U.S. courts, with open suits against Palestinian American businessman Bashar Masri, accused of working with Hamas, and the cryptocurrency platform Binance, whose CEO was pardoned by President Donald Trump for other crimes last year.

He urged the Department of Justice to take a more active role and provide evidence that can bolster those cases, explaining that then-Attorney General Pam Bondi had seemed supportive at the start of the administration and launched an interagency task force focused on Oct. 7, but that there have yet to be any results from that task force.

Additionally, Chen is pushing to resume normalization efforts between Israel and its Arab neighbors, arguing that Trump “could definitely realign the Middle East for decades ahead” given his singular “political capital” in the region.

Chen offered praise for the U.S. negotiating team, including White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. Chen said that he first connected with Kushner in January 2024, a year before Trump took office, when Kushner began to educate him on Middle East political dynamics.

He said his family and Witkoff had connected over Witkoff’s loss of his own son. In their first conversation, they explained to Witkoff that, while he was able to visit his son’s grave, the Chens had nowhere they could go to honor Itay as long as he remained in Gaza.

Though he offered criticisms of the Biden administration and its handling of Middle East policy in general, Chen said that he and the other hostage families built a “unique relationship” with senior administration officials including former National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and CIA Director Bill Burns, who he said they could trust to be honest and comprehensive with them.

That relationship continued with Trump administration officials once they took office.

Meanwhile, Chen was deeply critical of the Israeli government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and said the other hostage families often struggled to get straight answers from Israeli leaders.

He blasted former Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, who spoke at the RJC conference hours before Chen sat down with JI. 

“I did not hear an individual that showed any type of remorse or accountability, but actually he looked at it as a win by stating, ‘Oh, we had all the hostages out,’” Chen said of Dermer’s remarks. “You don’t get points when 45 hostages were killed in captivity.”

He accused Dermer and other Israeli officials of trying to hide their own missteps, and emphasized that Dermer “has no accountability and no responsibility” and “was never elected by anyone,” yet rose to a top position in the Israeli government with significant influence over the U.S.-Israel relationship.

Dermer’s appearance came around the two-year anniversary of the day that Hamas executed six hostages in a tunnel in Rafah, including American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, and Chen criticized him for not making any mention of that grim milestone.

Chen argued that it would be a positive step for Israel to elect a new leader in its upcoming elections, to provide an opportunity for “unity” and a “new chapter,” arguing that Netanyahu should step aside as Prime Minister Golda Meir did after the Yom Kippur War.

“After Oct. 7, the thing that was most needed for the people of Israel was a leader that could provide unity,” he said. “It’s very unfortunate because Netanyahu is a very unique individual that has done a lot of great things, but he is not capable of uniting the people and the polarization in the State of Israel is no less than it was before Oct. 7.”

He said that Meir, in her time, “understood that she couldn’t be part of the solution going forward. That the new chapter that needed to begin … so she stepped down and allowed the next generation of leaders to come about. I think that’s what the majority of the people in Israel wish to see as well.”

Chen characterized Netanyahu as “incapable” of thinking or planning in the long-term, something that is necessary at the current “inflection point” in the Middle East.

“The president has done a fabulous job in creating that political capital,” Chen said. “The opponents of the State of Israel and the United States [are] at the weakest level. Now is the time to cement that with a political structure that would enable a new chapter to begin for Israel and its neighbors, but also for the benefit of the United States and its economy. “

Chen urged the U.S. administration to “place its bets” and prepare for a scenario in which a new government is elected in Israel, arguing that that could provide an opening for normalization and progress in regional integration.

“I hope that there are some good people in the White House that are thinking about that scenario,” he said.

President Donald Trump met with several Hasidic rabbis at the White House on Thursday ahead of Rosh Hashanah, a gathering his office called the first of its kind in nearly 50 years.

The rabbis, many of whom were pictured in photos that circulated on social media ahead of the meeting flying to Washington on private jets, hailed from a range of leading Hasidic communities in New York — including the two rival Satmar sects in Brooklyn and Kiryas Joel; the Bobov sect in Brooklyn; the Vizhnitz sect in Monsey; and the Skver sect in New Square. 

The 85-year-old Skver rebbe, David Twersky, whose endorsements in congressional races have long been highly coveted, sent one of his sons to the meeting in his place. Rabbi Malkiel Kotler, dean of Beth Medrash Govoha in Lakewood, N.J., the largest yeshiva in the United States, also joined.

The meeting, according to sources, was attended by Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and key outside advisor, who is Jewish; Vice President JD Vance; and Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), who is among the most vulnerable House Republicans running this cycle. The congressman — whose district includes the Hasidic village of New Square — has depended on the politically powerful Skver endorsement in past races.

Vance paid a visit to the Roosevelt Room during the gathering, according to two sources familiar with the matter granted anonymity because they had not been authorized to discuss the private reception. He joked to the attendees that the “Hasidim are the only ones who have larger families than him,” the sources told Jewish Insider afterward. 

A spokesperson for Vance, who welcomed his fourth child in July, did not dispute that account but told JI it might have been “a joke one of the rabbis made to” the vice president.

Beforehand, sources familiar with the meeting framed it as a chance for Trump to convey Rosh Hashanah greetings ahead of the Jewish new year marking the beginning of the High Holy Days next week — in a demonstration of mutual respect for a community whose rank and file have shown strong support for his campaigns.

But some more substantive issues were also raised, according to the sources, including topics like “large families” as well as housing concerns, prison reform and “expanding earned income tax credits” for those with more than three children.

One source who attended the meeting also said that Trump, for his part, talked “about pardoning Jewish prisoners” including Sholom Rubashkin — the kosher meatpacking executive convicted of financial fraud in 2009. His 27-year prison sentence was commuted by Trump in 2017.

The president also spoke privately with Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum, the Satmar leader in Kiryas Joel, another person informed of their exclusive discussion told JI.

A White House official told JI the president and top administration officials “met with the leading Hasidic Rabbis in the United States,” saying it was the first of such gatherings “at the White House since 1979.”

The Hasidic leaders “thanked the president for all he had done in combatting antisemitism, advocating for school choice with the middle-class tax credit and for fighting for peoples of faith,” the White House official added. 

In recognition of Rosh Hashanah, the delegation of rabbis “said blessings to the president, and thanked the entire administration for all they had done for all Americans,” according to the official.

The meeting had faced some resistance from a few far-right Trump allies over its inclusion of the Satmar community, an anti-Zionist Hasidic sect that believes only the messiah is supposed to bring about a Jewish state. 

But the Trump administration indicated that it was unmoved by such protestations, proceeding with the scheduled meeting on Thursday.

Broadly speaking, the rabbis who joined the meeting “focused on issues important to the community,” one source said of the visit. “It mostly went as planned.”

For 40 Jewish graduate students gathered on Capitol Hill on Monday, the trip to Washington was not simply an exercise in advocacy. Many arrived carrying stories from campuses where they had felt increasingly isolated, targeted or ignored — and left with a desire to do something about it.

The students gathered for the Jewish Grad Organization’s Partners Summit, sponsored by Adam Miller and Family, and met with congressional offices throughout the day to advocate for the Jewish American Security Act, a bipartisan bill designed to strengthen security on university campuses, among other efforts to combat antisemitism across American society. They also discussed campus codes of conduct and equal protection, and shared their personal experiences with antisemitism.

For Rachel Applefield, the stakes of the legislation were deeply personal.

Applefield, a second-year student at Indiana University Maurer School of Law and president of the school’s Jewish Law Student Association, grew up in West Bloomfield, Mich. She is a member of Temple Israel, where an attacker drove a truck into the synagogue’s early childhood center in March. That attack underscored for her the vital need for robust Jewish security—and reinforced her belief that college campuses require similar resources to protect students.

“It’s been very, very difficult and very personal,” Applefield told Jewish Insider. “I’m sure it’s personal for everyone, but it’s very personal for me, this Jewish American Security Act.”

Applefield said the security resources at Temple Israel helped prevent the attack from becoming deadly.

“My temple is so blessed and lucky to have had all of the resources to prevent anything bad from happening,” she said. “Obviously, it was an awful event, what happened, but what went right went right. Like, everything that was supposed to correctly happen happened.”

“All of the security that was in place really saved lives,” she continued, “and you don’t see that level of security, those resources, on college campuses.”

Applefield shared her experience during meetings with staff for House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL), as well as with Rep. Gabe Amo (D-RI).

She said her meeting with Amo was particularly meaningful because her rabbi had met the lawmaker following the Temple Israel attack. Applefield noted that the connection helped make the conversation feel less like a routine congressional meeting and more like an opportunity to have someone in Washington understand what she had been through.

“My rabbi actually came down to D.C. a few months ago, right after the incident at our temple happened, and she met with him, so he knew exactly what I was talking about, and he was very empathetic, and I really connected with him,” she said. “I felt like I could tell he really cared.”

Applefield’s experiences with campus antisemitism have extended beyond concerns about physical security. She was president of Indiana University’s Hillel during the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks and later wrote an article for the Herald-Times about antisemitism and pro-Hamas graffiti on campus. A professor responded by publishing a piece attacking her.

“He called me heartless and just really took my name and made a story out of something I didn’t really talk about,” she said. “It’s just very scary, that power dynamic. Just knowing that a professor would do that to a student is just — it’s so inappropriate and scary.”

Applefield said she had entered law school unsure whether she would find much of a Jewish community. However, she said the summit gave her and the other students a national network of peers and leadership training. More importantly, Applefield said, it offered a form of support that she said students do not always receive from their universities.

“Just knowing that there’s that external support that we might not be getting from the university, knowing that this kind of organization exists is just so important,” she said. 

Cassandra White, a third-year law student at Suffolk University Law School in Boston, came to Washington with a similar personal experience of antisemitism in an academic setting.

During her second year of law school, while serving as president of her school’s Jewish Law Students Association, White encountered what she described as antisemitic tropes in a legal writing final that she said was worth roughly 60% to 70% of her grade. One of the exam questions, she said, centered on a Jewish woman confiding in her rabbi about a money embezzlement scheme, with characters given names such as David and Rachel.

“It’s not this crazy encampment story where somebody gets physically assaulted or anything along those lines,” White told JI. “But it just shows that antisemitism really can be quite subtle and can also present itself in the content that we’re receiving as students in the graduate and in the undergraduate level as well.”

White said that while the incident was not as obvious as others that made headlines in the aftermath of Oct. 7, it was precisely what made it significant to her: antisemitism could be embedded in an ordinary academic exercise.

“Jews and stereotypically Jewish names and money embezzlement … it was very insensitive, and a lot of first-year students, Jewish students, were quite put off by that,” White said.

She turned to JGO, which connected her with an attorney who helped her navigate how to respond. The group also helped bring the Anti-Defamation League to campus for a training meant to prevent similar incidents.

“I actually went to JGO for assistance, and they put me in contact with an attorney,” White said. “She walked me through the entire process, and they actually ended up having the ADL come do a training at my school in order to mitigate this sort of thing happening again.”

“For any other minority group, this would not be considered acceptable,” she continued. “So why are Jews the exception?”

That question followed White to Capitol Hill, where she joined Applefield – her roommate for the overnight program – and the other Jewish graduate students in urging lawmakers to take campus antisemitism more seriously. Over the course of the day, she met with staff from the offices of Reps. Laura Friedman (D-CA), John McGuire (R-VA) and Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR).

“Overall, I would say my experience was absolutely incredible,” she said. “It was sort of like a roundtable discussion where all of the students shared their experiences, and we advocated in favor of them co-signing the Jewish American Security Act, drawing off of our own personal anecdotes and stories, experiencing antisemitism on campus or online.”

White said the meetings “felt extremely successful,” with aides engaging substantively with the students’ concerns.

“I do think it was very impactful,” she said. “The staff were actively taking notes, and it was also a great experience for us. I think as graduate students, I’ve never really been in that sort of advocacy position, you know, on Capitol Hill, talking to representatives and their staff. So I really enjoyed it a lot. I would definitely do it again.”

The program on Capitol Hill culminated in a congressional dinner, hosted by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), where Rep. Greg Landsman (D-OH) spoke candidly to the students about navigating antisemitism and the broader turbulence of the moment.

Landsman told the group that the frustration, isolation and anger many of them feel is not only real – but reasonable.

“This is a hard time. There’s no question that this is a very difficult time,” he said. “So it’s understandable if you’re frustrated or you feel isolated or you get angry. It’s all understandable considering how hard it is. It’s not you — it’s the moment.”

But he urged them not to assume they are facing it alone.

“You’re not alone,” Landsman said. “There’s this huge community that you’re a part of, and that is a really important thing you’ve just got to remember, because it feels so isolating.”

Landsman also pushed back against the notion that “everyone” on campus opposes pro-Israel or visibly Jewish students, arguing that the loudest voices often distort reality.

“There are a lot more folks out there that are curious but don’t want to get in the middle of all this because it seems so complicated and awful,” he said. “They’re curious, and it’s worth having those conversations and reaching out. It feels like everyone is against us because the folks who are so loud are very much in our faces. But they still represent a very small number of your classmates.”

To illustrate his personal connection to the challenges students face, Landsman described an incident in which his son, who is a freshman in high school, was recently confronted by a peer for his father’s political positions, pro-Israel advocacy, and being Jewish.

“He’s a freshman, and he went to the high school football game on Friday night, and a girl came up to him and got in his face about me and Israel and being Jewish, it was actually quite excessive,” Landsman said. “And I felt bad for him because he didn’t ask for this. I certainly stepped out for some leadership role — he didn’t. He wasn’t feeling bad about it, you know, it was more just that this is part of life now.”

What struck him, he told the students, was how his son chose to respond.

“I asked him how he handled it,” Landsman recalled. “He said, ‘I was very kind, very nice. I told her, “That’s not true,” [in response to her claims about Israel] and then I helped her.’ He was very generous with her.”

“There is something very Jewish about responding with kindness and generosity,” he continued. “We don’t use the word ‘grace,’ but that is a word in the religious community — to give that kind of kindness. In the end, it’ll make you feel better, and it’s just a better strategy.”

That sense of isolation from peers extends beyond campus life. Asked how Jewish Americans who feel alienated from the Democratic Party should navigate a growing sense of political homelessness, Landsman offered a direct answer: “Stay” in the party.

“There are a set of values that made you believe that you were a Democrat. Those values still exist. Don’t let anyone take that away from you,” Landsman said. “Just because somebody else showed up doesn’t mean you have to leave. If that’s where you’re supposed to be, don’t leave. Stay.”

Landsman cautioned the students that campus antisemitism “isn’t going to get solved overnight.”

“You’re in this for the long haul,” he said. “Do as much as you can, but don’t beat yourself up or expect things that no one person can do. We’re all doing our best, and we make as much progress as we can every day.”

For the students, the summit offered a chance to turn painful and often isolating experiences on their campuses into conversations with lawmakers — while also connecting them with other young Jewish leaders confronting many of the same issues. 

White said the experience may also have reshaped what she plans to do after law school. 

“I had never ever considered lobbying as a potential career path until yesterday,” White said. “I absolutely adored the advocacy program that we did with the representatives on Capitol Hill, it just spoke to me. I felt really in my element. I enjoyed it so deeply, and it was so satisfying to be able to speak my truth.”

“So it definitely has changed my potential career track, if you can believe it,” she continued. “I’m still going to graduate from law school, don’t worry … But I am genuinely and very strongly considering potentially lobbying as a post-law school career after yesterday because of just how enjoyable it was.”

Meanwhile, Applefield said she left the summit feeling more hopeful because of the support she received from Jewish peers and members of Congress and their staff. She said the meetings made her feel the issue was finally on the radar in Washington.

“I definitely have hope, just from feeling so supported throughout the two days, knowing that this is on the minds of congressmen, especially the speaker of the House,” Applefield said. 

“I was very upset to hear what everyone was going through, because we’ve all experienced it, you know,” she continued. “But I do feel empowered in a way — how JGO brought us all together, gave us this training, gave us the opportunity to share our stories — and I really do hope that with the past few days we can continue the conversation.”

For years, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) has been viewed by his Jewish constituents as an ally in fighting antisemitism and as generally supportive of Israel, despite his deep disagreements with the Netanyahu government and current U.S. policy in the Middle East. 

The congressman has maintained a good relationship with many of the Jewish constituents in his suburban Washington district with the largest share of Jewish voters in Maryland, even as he’s backed numerous measures restricting U.S. aid to Israel, which has drawn backlash from prominent Jewish community figures.

But a recent broadside against the Trump administration’s investigations into antisemitism, in which Raskin cited whistleblower reports to describe the investigations into Harvard, Brown and Columbia universities as fabricated and predetermined, is generating new tensions with some community members.

Raskin also spent Wednesday on the campaign trail boosting Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, whose virulent anti-Israel views and associations with an antisemitic streamer have made him persona non grata throughout much of Michigan’s Jewish community.

Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt, the CEO of the Zionist Rabbinic Coalition who leads a synagogue in Raskin’s district, said that the letter from Raskin regarding his investigation into the campus antisemitism efforts was “disappointing” in light of the extent of intimidation targeting Jewish students on campus. Weinblatt said he saw the administration’s policies as a good-faith effort to support Jewish students and disrupt those who have isolated and harassed them.

He said he’s concerned that Raskin’s letter could undermine both the federal tools to protect students as well as lead some people to believe that the problem of campus antisemitism was overstated.

“We have an administration that wants to try to do something, to help protect and defend Jewish students, to help to make them feel safer and more secure,” Weinblatt said. “It would be unfortunate and tragic to be limiting their ability to be able to do that.”

He said that, if Raskin believes — as he said he does — that campus antisemitism is a serious problem to be addressed, he should articulate how that should be done in lieu of the Trump administration-led probes.

“Congressman Raskin has a history of being committed to pursuing issues related to justice and fairness, and so I think it’s unfortunate that he — as a member of Congress who is identifiably Jewish — is taking this action, because I think many Jews are concerned about the environment on college campuses and would look to our Jewish members of Congress to help,” Weinblatt continued.

But, he acknowledged, any action should be taken in a way that is legal, appropriate and measured, and should be done in accordance with the applicable laws.

Some federal courts have also raised objections to the administration’s efforts, finding that the  funding cuts targeting Harvard were unconstitutional and that the administration had overstated its case against the university.

In a lengthy statement to Jewish Insider, Raskin emphasized that antisemitism on campus is a real problem that schools must address. But he said that the government levying unjustified penalties helps no one.

“Universities have a duty, under federal law, to prevent and address harassment and discrimination on their campuses and they should be held to account if and when they fail to do so,” Raskin said. “But when the government ignores the actual facts found by its investigators and resorts instead to levying major financial penalties on our universities despite the facts and the law, everyone loses, especially the actual victims of antisemitism and racism.”

He said that the government cannot legally penalize chosen targets without or in spite of an investigation “no matter how just may be its stated cause.”

“Throughout history, Jews have often suffered as the designated scapegoats of these perverted forms of justice,” he continued.

The Washington Jewish Week called Raskin’s efforts wrongheaded, arguing in an editorial published Thursday that the congressman is “making a mistake” by focusing on re-investigating the investigations, rather than trying to address the antisemitism itself.

“Raskin instead describes the administration’s investigations as ‘fake,’ a ‘pre-baked frame-up operation’ and a ‘sham,’” the editorial continues. “Those are sweeping conclusions to announce before conducting an investigation supposedly intended to determine what happened.  … The House Judiciary Committee should be strengthening [the civil rights investigatory] system, not conducting another round of political theater about who weaponized government first.”

The editorial argues that Raskin should be putting his energy toward “showing America how to address [campus antisemitism] properly.”

Raskin previously criticized the administration’s efforts to shutter parts of the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, a move he said endangered efforts to fight antisemitism, among other forms of discrimination.

Raskin, citing the whistleblower testimony, said in his statement to JI that the administration had “used fabricated and disproven claims of antisemitic discrimination as a cudgel, even in cases where the targeted school’s own Jewish students, faculty, and rabbis applauded and praised the university’s positive and proactive responses to incidents of antisemitism or intolerance” and “ignored Jewish voices and the on-the-ground facts found by investigators.”

He said that in doing so, the administration, rather than his probe, undermined legitimate efforts to combat antisemitism and sent a public message that the problem of campus antisemitism is not a real one.

“If we lose public confidence in the integrity of government investigations and the government’s respect for the facts, we will lose the effectiveness of our anti-discrimination laws,” Raskin said. “This is why everyone, but especially the actual victims of antisemitism and racism, have every reason to stand by the rule of law and the central importance it places on actual facts rather than allegations and suppositions.”

Ron Halber, the CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, took a more sympathetic view of Raskin’s efforts, even while underscoring that colleges and universities have failed to protect Jewish and pro-Israel students and that he’s glad that they are being investigated and held accountable.

But he also expressed concerns about some of the penalties the Trump administration imposed, particularly stripping funding from the schools, and said that if Raskin has evidence that the cases were pre-determined, those issues should be investigated.

“If there are cases where nothing was found and the universities were punished, first of all, it’s illegal, it’s unethical and Jews do not want antisemitism being used as a weapon to further other political goals. 
We want open, objective investigations,” Halber said. “If a university did not act properly and protect their Jewish students, we want them to be held accountable and punished accordingly.”

He said that if some of the investigations do prove to have been faulty, that would also cast doubt on other investigations that may have found more credible evidence. “It doesn’t help us get to the bottom of [the campus anti-Israel protests and administration responses] if the investigations themselves are flawed.”

Kenneth Marcus, the CEO of the Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, which has represented Jewish students in legal action against various colleges and universities, dismissed the Raskin letter as the result of a disgruntled former Department of Justice employee, who filed a whistleblower complaint because she did not align with the administration’s efforts to combat antisemitism.

“It is no secret that the career ranks of the Justice Department contains some long-time employees who do not share the current administration’s values or priorities. The federal government has a legal obligation to enforce Title VI to protect Jewish students as vigorously as it does with other groups,” Marcus said. “After years of paying insufficient attention to anti-Semitism, it is a welcome relief that the Justice Department has finally made it a priority.” 

He argued that the administration’s investigations were evidently necessary, as well as overdue.

“No one can deny the seriousness of the problem at institutions like Harvard and Columbia. The question isn’t so much why this administration has responded forcefully to the problem at these campuses but rather why wasn’t it done sooner,” Marcus continued.

On the campaign trail with El-Sayed this week, Raskin was also asked — as a widely regarded figure among liberal Jews — about his pitch to Jewish Democrats concerned about El-Sayed. He emphasized in response that Democrats’ efforts must be focused on defeating President Donald Trump and GOP candidates for Congress. 

Raskin visited Ann Arbor on Wednesday to campaign for El-Sayed, also joining Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI). Many prominent Jewish Democrats in the state say they’re agonizing over the general election, torn between their party loyalty and their concerns about El-Sayed and his allies. 

“The Democratic Party is a very big tent,” Raskin said. “It’s a very big tent because there are a lot of people in it, and they’re just like — you know, any big family Thanksgiving dinner, there can be arguments and people jostling, and there’s unruliness. But fundamentally, we all believe in democracy, in freedom, and the progress and prosperity of our people.”

He said that the election is a “referendum about the future: Will we have democracy or will we have autocracy? This is our chance to cut this reign of lawlessness and terror in half in this election.”

Raskin also praised El-Sayed’s career in public health and said that he would be critical to making health care more affordable in the Senate, but didn’t directly address the concerns that members of the Jewish community have raised about the nominee.

He also did not address a question from JI about influencer Hasan Piker — whom various other leading Democrats have condemned this week — and his ties to El-Sayed.

Sen. Darline Graham’s (R-SC) stumbling performance at the final GOP primary debate on Tuesday has prompted questions among Republicans in Washington about her prospects in next week’s runoff against Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC).

Graham’s debate performance has been widely panned for her response to a question about Taiwan and the South China Sea, during which she admitted that she is “not that informed on national security.” The moment prompted national Republican operatives to question her qualifications to replace her late brother, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and led to an avalanche of attacks from critics about her lack of policy experience. 

Senior Republicans who have been involved in the race privately described Graham’s foreign policy flub as a pivotal moment that could cost her the nomination. 

“It was always going to be a lot harder than she was told when she got into this, but I thought she could win before the debate. Now, I think she’s done for,” a senior GOP campaign official involved with the race told JI. “This loss is going to be an unfortunate embarrassment, and the way this played out could be somewhat of a stain on Lindsey’s legacy even though he had nothing to do with it.”

A spokesperson for Graham’s campaign declined to comment about her debate performance.  Graham defended her answer while speaking to reporters in the spin room following the debate, arguing that, “The people of South Carolina, they’re worried about their pocketbooks more than they’re worried about the South China Sea, quite honestly.”

Veteran Republican strategists who have been involved in high-profile Senate races called Graham’s performance one of those rare moments that could change the trajectory of the race.

“The debate seems fairly consequential for a number of reasons,” Colin Reed, a founding partner of South & Hill Strategies and a GOP campaign veteran, told Jewish Insider. “To me, it seems like a fairly seismic moment in an otherwise sleepy race.”

Reed predicted that Graham’s inability to sound articulate on foreign policy — all but taking a pass on a consequential national security question — was likely to have an impact on the outcome of the race because of the importance of national security issues to South Carolina’s “heavy military presence and large veteran community.”

He added that her comments are already drawing comparisons to “the towering figure her brother was on the matter of foreign affairs” and the fact that the U.S. “happens to be engaged in multiple conflicts, or at least one conflict overseas with Iran, right now.”

“This is a late-summer primary and runoff, and only the most engaged audiences turn out,” Reed said. “Those types of audiences are the ones who were likely paying attention or discussing the debate.”

He argued that Graham’s lack of political experience makes her a “blank canvas” to voters and that, combined with the special election to replace her late brother on the ballot as the GOP nominee being truncated despite Republican primary voters being “wary of coronations,” the South Carolina senator had already been in a vulnerable political position prior to the debate.

Should Graham lose to Norman, it would mark the first time this cycle that a GOP candidate endorsed by President Donald Trump in a Senate race has lost their primary contest. 

The president will hold a campaign rally for Graham in Myrtle Beach on Friday, even as he has scaled back his campaign appearances in recent months. Republicans in Washington expressed skepticism that the rally would significantly alter the outcome of this race, with two sources predicting that most of the attendees were only going to see the president speak. (For his part, Lindsey Graham was frequently booed and heckled when appearing at Trump rallies through the years.) 

Norman said in a statement following the debate that South Carolina deserves to have a senator with “know-how” on foreign policy matters.

“Whether it’s spy balloons flying overhead or buying up land near South Carolina military bases, China continues to prove that it is a threat to the United States,” the House lawmaker told Politico.

Republican senators were told that Graham was not interested in seeking a full term when she agreed to the appointment in the immediate aftermath of her brother’s unexpected death last month. Graham said in a pre-debate interview on Monday that she “didn’t even realize I’d be asked to fill the seat temporarily” and did not accept the appointment last month with the idea of running for a full term. She instead credited the president with convincing her to run during an Oval Office meeting in her first week as senator.

Graham’s surprise decision to run, which two sources told JI came at the urging of Trump and several of Lindsey Graham’s campaign consultants, was met with apprehension in Washington. GOP circles. After Graham launched her campaign, Republican senators and strategists skeptical of her chances of winning began quietly voicing concern to one another about her lack of voting record or political background, the fact that she lacked a policy platform and the optics of sending a grieving sister out on the campaign trail. They also took note of how competitively Norman, Graham’s opponent in next week’s runoff election, was polling in the race.

One senior Senate GOP operative put it bluntly: “If we’re going to do a coronation, we need to be able to do a coronation. If we can’t get our s**t together, then we shouldn’t keep trying.”

Graham was cautioned by several Republicans, including two senators, that she would be setting herself up for a contentious election fight if she got in the race, according to two sources familiar with the matter. She was told by several of her brother’s campaign consultants, however, that while the contest would be challenging, she was likely to win with the president’s endorsement. 

Graham prevailed in the first round of the primary election earlier this month, but only tallied 33% of the vote, far short of the majority necessary to avoid a runoff. She got a campaign boost after winning the endorsement of one leading rival, Rep. Russell Fry (R-SC), but her debate stumble only underscored her biggest vulnerability: lack of experience. 

“The debate was challenging to watch. Her performance was very bad. We all empathize with her because of the circumstances she’s under, but that makes it all the more disturbing that folks who claim to love Lindsey would get in her ear and tell her she should run,” the Senate Republican campaign source said.

The winner of the Republican runoff next Tuesday will face Democrat Annie Andrews in the November election. Andrews, a pediatrician, is a decided underdog running in a solidly Republican state, but has been a strong fundraiser, bringing in over $10 million during the campaign cycle.

Talks to reopen the Strait of Hormuz appear unlikely to produce an agreement, analysts told Jewish Insider this week, with little sign that Washington and Tehran can bridge their competing demands over the waterway. The Trump administration is more likely to pursue continued economic pressure than return to military confrontation, the experts suggested — but that strategy may not be enough to force Tehran to back down.

Reports indicate that an agreement between Iran and Oman on managing traffic through the strait is imminent, but a final deal has failed to materialize despite days of negotiations. Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, insisted on Tuesday that any agreement reached between the two countries is separate from Tehran’s broader closure of the waterway, which will only be lifted once the U.S. accedes to Tehran’s demands, including full compensation for its war costs.

Trump has also applied conditions of his own, stating the U.S. would also seek compensation from Iran for the current conflict as well as previous ones. Experts maintained to JI that a broader agreement between Washington and Tehran over the strait appears increasingly unlikely, with both sides seeking to preserve the leverage they have gained.

“Iran is unlikely to give up control of the strait anytime soon, having spent years threatening to choke the waterway and finally proving it can with relatively few cheap missiles and drones,” Ari Cicurel, associate director of foreign policy at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, told JI. “The mere threat of attacks remains Iran’s best leverage after a war that gutted its economy, which is why its demands for reopening [the strait] center on Washington lifting the blockade and pulling back forces, the two things that give the United States its own leverage, leaving the two sides’ positions increasingly incompatible.”

Steven Cook, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said his “sense is that we are going to have a long and drawn-out contest of wills over the strait.” 

“The president has toggled between threatening force, using force and negotiating. He seems to like the idea of economic pressure, but of course there is no way of knowing that the resulting economic pain will dislodge the regime,” he continued.

Michael Koplow, chief policy officer at the Israel Policy Forum, similarly noted the Trump administration is more likely to continue pursuing economic pressure than return to military hostilities, citing American munitions shortages, the war’s unpopularity with the public and Congress and the approaching midterm elections.

“Given the extreme unlikelihood of any successful negotiation between the U.S. and Iran, the two plausible scenarios are either a continuation of the status quo, or Trump using an Iran-Oman agreement on Hormuz to declare victory and extricate himself from the situation altogether,” Koplow said. “Trump’s preferred option is economic pressure … The economy has priced in the Hormuz closure, so if the U.S. keeps up economic pressure without returning to war, Trump can at least count on no drastic changes on inflation or public opinion, even if neither improves before the election.”

Elliott Abrams, who served as Iran envoy in the first Trump administration, said Washington has caused “great economic damage” to Iran by maintaining its blockade on oil exports, something he called “the right policy now.” He noted that Iran’s inflation rate “is just under 90 percent and it loses hundreds of millions of dollars a day in oil revenue.”

Cicurel cautioned, however, that economic pressure may not be enough to force Tehran to surrender its leverage over the strait, pointing to the Iranian regime’s history of passing along economic hardships to the country’s citizens while continuing to direct resources toward its military. He suggested Washington could instead seek to weaken Iran’s control over the strait by establishing “protected windows of time” for commercial vessels to transit and offering financial backing to shipping companies and insurers.

“The Iranian regime has long shown it can absorb immense economic pressure at the expense of the Iranian people while funneling resources into the military programs that have now handed it this leverage,” Cicurel said. “Neither economic pressure nor the limited tit-for-tat strikes over the past few weeks have changed Tehran’s calculus on leverage it waited years to gain.”

Additionally, Abrams indicated that the decision may not be entirely up to Trump should Tehran grow impatient under increased economic pressure. 

“The problem for Trump is that Iran may decide not to allow him to sit and wait. It is a vicious and brutal tyranny, but the rulers know that they risk another uprising as the economy worsens. That may lead them to attack Gulf Arab states, Israel and U.S. bases again,” Abrams said. “At some point Trump will have to hit back. The decision to return to war is really in the Ayatollah’s hands right now.”

Cook also noted that the economic pressure strategy “has costs for Americans too.”

“So far, prices at the pump have generally been manageable, but that cannot go on forever,” Cook said. “Americans have also been helped by the fact that experts undercounted how much oil is in storage around the globe. That’s a good problem to have, but it doesn’t change the fact that less oil (and other products like fertilizers and aluminum) is flowing through the strait. At some point, the laws of economics are going to catch up with us.”

At last year’s grand opening for Oro Nami, a kosher sushi spot in Washington, the restaurant’s splashy aesthetic — red velvet booths, multicolor clocks projected on the ceiling, dark walls, a light-up floor — did not exactly align with the clientele: Capitol Hill staffers, new Trump administration appointees, K Street lobbyists and a handful of Orthodox rabbis.

But even if Oro Nami’s atmosphere felt slightly out of place in Washington’s quiet West End neighborhood, where the city’s small Orthodox community is centered, that incongruity was no match for the excitement among observant Jews living in the nation’s capital. For years, people had been clamoring for more kosher dining options in the city, and in particular one that would be open past 8 p.m. Oro Nami seemed like the answer. 

That is, until it shut down in May, after less than a year in business. 

Now Char Bar, the meat restaurant in the West End that has been serving observant Democratic and Republican officials — and their friends and colleagues — for years, is once again the only sit-down kosher restaurant with a liquor menu. Nearly all of the area’s kosher restaurants are located in Maryland suburbs like Silver Spring and Rockville, where the bulk of the region’s Orthodox community lives. In a city that thrives on power lunches, kosher-keeping Jews have only one option. 

The closure of yet another kosher restaurant in the District has reignited one of Jewish Washingtonians’ favorite conversation topics: Why aren’t there more kosher restaurants in a city as important as the nation’s capital?

People with knowledge of the restaurant business say that the answer is straightforward, if unsatisfying: economics. The Washington metro area has more than 300,000 Jews, according to a community-wide study completed in 2017. Just 5% of them are Orthodox, and most of the Orthodox Jews live in Maryland.

“Kashrut in general in D.C. I think is tricky, because from a real estate perspective, everything is priced like a normal restaurant,” said Rabbi Charlie Schwartz, the director of Lehrhaus, a kosher restaurant in Boston that plans to expand to Washington. “It’s assuming that you’ll do a high volume of business on Fridays and Saturdays, and for larger restaurant spaces that you’ll have pretty high alcohol sales, and kosher restaurants just don’t operate that way.”

“There isn’t a concentrated district [in D.C.] where all the Orthodox Jews work. There isn’t a district where everybody is going to particular museums. Even the museums and the things that tourists do are spread out,” said Dani Klein, who runs the popular blog “YeahThatsKosher.”

In 2024, Lehrhaus announced to great fanfare that it planned to open in Washington, its second city, in 2025. But the restaurant, which bills itself as a “Jewish tavern and house of learning,” has not even broken ground on a location in D.C. yet. (“We’re 100% in on D.C,” Schwartz promised. “We’re not dismayed in any way.”)

Dani Klein, who runs the popular blog “YeahThatsKosher,” said that the layout of the city doesn’t help.

“There isn’t a concentrated district [in D.C.] where all the Orthodox Jews work. There isn’t a district where everybody is going to particular museums. Even the museums and the things that tourists do are spread out,” said Klein. He compared it to Midtown Manhattan, where he works in corporate marketing. Due to its proximity to major tourist attractions such as Times Square, Broadway and Central Park, along with scores of office towers, the neighborhood has a wealth of kosher options, though he noted several restaurants have closed recently.

He described Chicago as a more apt parallel to D.C., although Washington actually has more kosher options downtown. 

“As you go further north [in Chicago], outside of downtown, and you start going to where the Jewish community lives, then you get massive pockets of kosher,” said Klein. Washington’s kosher restaurants are mostly in the suburbs, too. 

Char Bar’s owner, Michael Chelst, does not primarily earn a living from running a kosher restaurant. He also works in the mortgage business, and he recently took over operating Moti’s Market, the kosher grocery store in Rockville. 

“I call us a ‘likely for profit’ business. We’re not a nonprofit,” Chelst told Jewish Insider recently. “I get frustrated when people go, ‘Oh, why don’t you do more of this and that.’ I’m like, ‘Listen, we’re just trying to keep it open and keep it going for our community and for the people there.’” Still, the vast majority of Char Bar’s customers are tourists, according to Chelst. 

Despite the addition of Oro Nami last year, 2025 was Char Bar’s highest-revenue year since it opened in 2014. (Chelst previously ran a different kosher spot, Eli’s, in the same location.) Chelst said he thinks Washington would benefit from a dairy restaurant, even if it competes with Char Bar.

“I’m sure that would hurt our business, but I wouldn’t be upset if one opened, because that would be good for the community,” said Chelst. 

People know there’s an appetite for more options, even if the money isn’t quite there to support them. 

“I get a call, I’d say, every other month or so from someone who’s very interested in starting up any of a range of Kosher cuisine enterprises here,” said Rabbi Levi Shemtov, executive vice president of American Friends of Lubavitch (Chabad). “I know of a few currently still considering doing so. They’re watching downtown business lunch traffic, and when that picks up, I think you’ll see another one or two actually get established.”

Other options have opened and closed over the years. Jack Abramoff, the Republican lobbyist who went to prison on corruption charges, ran a kosher deli for a period in the early 2000s. An upscale kosher French restaurant called L’Etoile closed in 2002 after three years. The local Israeli chain Shouk closed last year, in part due to boycotts by anti-Israel activists. In earlier eras, when the local Jewish community was actually centered in the District and not the suburbs, kosher options were not so hard to come by; following the Civil War, six kosher restaurants were operating in D.C.

“I urge the relatively new kosher-keeping residents of Washington, D.C., to understand the privilege that they have to live in this time,” said Aaron Keyak, a Democratic consultant who moved to Washington nearly 20 years ago. “And with the advent of all these food delivery apps, you can reach into the suburbs and get everything from kosher Chinese to pizza.”

But despite the kvetching from locals, Washington’s kosher restaurant scene has not actually been stagnant in recent years. Oh Mama Grill, a casual Israeli-style falafel and shawarma restaurant, opened in Adams Morgan in 2022 and is still operating. During the academic year, anyone — whether affiliated with George Washington University or not — can visit Zingers, a kosher restaurant in the GW Hillel that opened in 2023 and is operated by the university’s dining operation, as part of the school’s pledge to provide kosher options for Jewish students. Zingers serves sandwiches and bowls alongside what it deems “the best chicken sandwich in Foggy Bottom.” At $12, the sandwich can compete with non-kosher options. 

“People eat there because the food is good,” said GW Hillel’s executive director, Daniel Novick. “A lot of non-Jewish students are eating there.”

There are even now kosher deli sandwiches available for purchase in the cafeteria at Longworth, one of the congressional office buildings. 

Other kosher options in the city include Pow Pow, a vegan Asian restaurant with two locations in the city, and Baked By Yael, a bakery across from the zoo in Woodley Park that sells pastries, challah, bagels and cake pops. They are certified by a kashrut agency operated by local Modern Orthodox rabbis — so while some strictly religious Jews may not eat there, the creation of DC Kosher to give the seal of approval to local plant-based restaurants was a boon to most of the city’s observant Jews.

“I urge the relatively new kosher-keeping residents of Washington, D.C., to understand the privilege that they have to live in this time,” said Aaron Keyak, a Democratic consultant who moved to Washington nearly 20 years ago. “And with the advent of all these food delivery apps, you can reach into the suburbs and get everything from kosher Chinese to pizza.”

“People are always kvetching about why there aren’t more establishments,” said Rabbi Levi Shemtov, executive vice president of American Friends of Lubavitch (Chabad). “But once they open, the proprietors feel that the community doesn’t show enough support.” 

D.C. is a foodie city, at least for the non-kosher keepers. Two Washington restaurants appeared on The New York Times’ vaunted “50 Best Restaurants” list last year. Don’t expect to find kosher restaurants on the list — but that doesn’t mean the city’s kosher food scene is a lost cause.

Shemtov, one of the best-known Orthodox rabbis in Washington, had a blunt message to Jewish Washingtonians about the local food scene.

“People are always kvetching about why there aren’t more establishments,” said Shemtov. “But once they open, the proprietors feel that the community doesn’t show enough support.” 

It was like the now-famous Barack Obama line from the 2016 Democratic National Convention, when he urged Democrats to vote in that year’s elections. Don’t boo. Vote.

Shemtov’s message is similar. Don’t kvetch. Eat. 

Good Monday morning.

In today’s Daily Kickoff, we look at the split between Washington and Jerusalem over the White House’s 15-point plan to disarm Hamas, and spotlight the House and Senate primaries in Minnesota that are testing the power of the state’s far-left activists. We look at the congressional primary taking shape in Hartford, Conn., where Rep. John Larson aims to hold his seat against a challenger calling for generational change, and report on the American Psychological Association’s decision to table a vote to recognize a Jewish group within the organization. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Will Scharf, Noach Hacker and Dario Amodei.

We also have a new on-demand Live Briefing that you can access throughout the day via our new app (on Apple and Android) and on our website.

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

What We’re Watching

• Todd Blanche will be sworn in as attorney general this afternoon, following last week’s 50-49 Senate vote to confirm him.
• We’re keeping an eye on the talks between Iran and Oman to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, after the weekend yielded little progress toward reopening the waterway. President Donald Trump told Axios on Sunday that, despite Iran issuing new demands to the U.S. in order to reopen the strait, Washington is “only semi-negotiating with them” and is “low-keying it,” relying on Tehran’s economic crisis to bring it to an agreement.
• In Tehran, Mohsen Rezaei, the newly tapped head of the Islamic Republic’s national security body who led the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps during the 1980s and ’90s, issued new demands, including the end of efforts to target Iranian proxies in the region and the cessation of U.S. threats to Iran. 

What You Should Know

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S mELISSA WEISS

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said Jerusalem “does not accept the 15-point document” agreed to last month by the U.S.-led Board of Peace and Hamas that would see the eventual disarmament of the terror group and withdrawal of the IDF from the Gaza Strip — a rare public break with the White House, which has touted the plan since it was announced.

In comments to his Cabinet on Sunday, Netanyahu said Israel “would not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is disarmed.”

The White House and Jerusalem have largely been in lockstep on issues related to Gaza. The rupture over Hamas’ disarmament is one of the more significant policy breaks between President Donald Trump and Netanyahu.

Jonathan Conricus, a former IDF spokesperson who is now a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told JI that the mediating countries benefit from Hamas’ continued rule in the Gaza Strip and have no urgency to press for the terror group’s disarmament. 

That lack of seriousness, he added, makes it unlikely that Hamas will take the necessary steps to disarm. “It’s all a show, it’s a charade, a spectacle,” Conricus said. “The only way that Hamas really ceases to control the Gaza Strip is if all of their weapons are handed in — not stored, not temporarily safeguarded somewhere else, but actually handed in, and if that is verified. As long as we won’t see that happening, I don’t think that Israel is going to agree with any charade.”

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

GOPHER BROKE

The latest Senate showdown between the center and the left set in Minnesota

In an echo of Michigan’s bruising Democratic Senate primary last week, the bitter Democratic primary for an open Senate seat in battleground Minnesota this week is pitting a moderate House member with a long-standing pro-Israel record, Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN), against an outspoken progressive, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, whose attack lines have frequently centered on AIPAC, which spent over $30 million in its unsuccessful effort to help Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) in Michigan, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.

Neck-and-neck: Recent independent surveys have shown a statistical dead heat in the final weeks of the primary, with each candidate garnering around 40% of the vote. The candidates’ equivocations over AIPAC and individual ties to the group have also emerged as fault lines in recent weeks, complicating the ideological divisions that have shaped other primaries in which Israel and Middle East policy have featured prominently. In a reflection of the extent to which AIPAC is now viewed as a liability in Democratic primaries, Craig has distanced herself from the group, which has not officially made an endorsement in the race even as its donor network has contributed to her campaign. 

Read the full story here.

SHARE

Share options

• 
  Facebook
• 
  Telegram
• 
  LinkedIn
• 
  WhatsApp
• 
  Reddit

Add JewishInsider on Google

ISRAEL ANGLE

Democratic primary for Craig’s House seat in Minnesota showcases Israel divide within party

The three major Democratic candidates vying to replace Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN) are charting distinct lanes on Israel policy but only one of them, at a recent debate, offered support for Israel. The front-runner, former state Sen. Matt Little, is the Democrat positioning himself as most hostile to Israel in the race, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

The split: At a July 19 debate, Little called not only for the U.S. to stop sending military aid to Israel but also to impose an arms embargo “on the sale of all weapons to Israel,” preventing Israel from buying U.S. military systems — its primary source of armaments — with its own funds. He said he would have voted for the amendment, sponsored by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY)  to cut all U.S. aid to Israel and would have offered it himself if he had the opportunity. State Sen. Matt Klein, running as a moderate and seen as most closely aligned with Craig’s own record, was the only one of the three candidates who did not express support for the Massie amendment at the debate. State Rep. Kaela Berg charted out something of a middle position, criticizing but supporting the Massie amendment and calling for a complete halt to U.S. taxpayer funding to Israel.

Read the full story here.

SHARE

Share options

• 
  Facebook
• 
  Telegram
• 
  LinkedIn
• 
  WhatsApp
• 
  Reddit

Add JewishInsider on Google

CONNECTICUT COMPETITION

Longtime Connecticut congressman faces primary challenger making generational case for change

Longtime Rep. John Larson (D-CT) is facing a serious challenge to his political survival from former Hartford, Conn., Mayor Luke Bronin, the latest in a wave of challengers to make the argument for generational change in the House of Representatives. Larson, 78, has held his House seat since 1999, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

Divide: Larson was among the House Democrats who voted last month against an amendment to cut off all U.S. aid to Israel, and is endorsed by AIPAC. At the same time, he’s been critical of the human rights situation in Gaza and opposed the Iran war. The district is home to the largest concentration of Jews in the state, largely in the Hartford area. Bronin, 47, criticized Larson for his vote, adding that if elected, he would not support any further offensive aid to Israel, though he said he supports defensive systems that protect civilians such as the Iron Dome.

Read the full story here.

SHARE

Share options

• 
  Facebook
• 
  Telegram
• 
  LinkedIn
• 
  WhatsApp
• 
  Reddit

Add JewishInsider on Google

TALKING TURKEY

New defense pact between Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan concerns U.S. national security experts

A coalition of Sunni regional powers signed a historic joint defense pact on Friday, but national security experts expressed deep unease over the arrangement, arguing that it reflects U.S. shortcomings in the Middle East while raising serious questions about its practical military feasibility, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports. The agreement, dubbed the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, was signed in the Saudi holy city of Mecca by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. 

Raising concerns: Edmund Fitton-Brown, a former British diplomat and senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, emphasized that the pact poses strategic complications for both Jerusalem and Washington, while raising alarms for regional actors. “For Israel, it is further confirmation of Turkish ambitions, which are explicitly directed against Israeli interests,” Fitton-Brown said. “For the U.S., it is questioning how reliable or permanent it is viewed as a player in the region. Stirring up a hornet’s nest in the Gulf and then appearing unsure about an endgame, or even clear red lines, has left American allies uncertain about the future and willing to hedge their bets.”

Read the full story here.

SHARE

Share options

• 
  Facebook
• 
  Telegram
• 
  LinkedIn
• 
  WhatsApp
• 
  Reddit

Add JewishInsider on Google

TRANSITIONS

Trump taps Will Scharf as White House counsel

President Donald Trump announced on Sunday that White House Staff Secretary Will Scharf will replace David Warrington as White House counsel effective Sept. 1, Jewish Insider’s Melissa Weiss reports.

Trump’s announcement: In a Truth Social post, Trump praised Scharf, whom he said has done “an amazing job” as staff secretary, as “Tough, Strong, and Smart! He also loves our Country, and respects the Law.” Scharf, who is Jewish, has served as White House staff secretary, a lower-profile role that includes managing the paper flow to the president, since early 2025. At the time of his appointment to the position, Trump described Scharf as “a highly skilled attorney who will be a crucial part of my White House team.”

Read the full story here.

SHARE

Share options

• 
  Facebook
• 
  Telegram
• 
  LinkedIn
• 
  WhatsApp
• 
  Reddit

Add JewishInsider on Google

IN LIMBO

American Psychological Association postpones vote recognizing Jewish representation

The American Psychological Association delayed its vote on Friday to recognize the Association of Jewish Psychologists within its organization, marking the second time this year the organization has postponed the decision to recognize Jewish representation in the organization, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports. 

State of play: The APA has six official ethnic associations, representing Arab Americans, Black psychologists and Asian Americans, among other minority groups. Proponents of the proposed Jewish group within the APA argue that Jewish psychologists deserve to be included as well, especially given the rise of antisemitism within the organization. On Friday, the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Medical Association condemned APA’s decision to postpone the vote again.

Read the full story here.

SHARE

Share options

• 
  Facebook
• 
  Telegram
• 
  LinkedIn
• 
  WhatsApp
• 
  Reddit

Add JewishInsider on Google

Worthy Reads

The Takeover of the Democratic Party: In The Free Press, Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) warns of the Democratic Socialists of America’s “hijacking” of the Democratic Party, and the refusal by many colleagues to stand up against the group’s growing influence. “What’s most worrisome is not just the ignorance underlying so much of the heated, abusive, and violent anti-Jewish sentiment. It’s also the cowardly amplification and kowtowing by the political class. As a Democratic member of Congress, I can attest that for a growing number of my colleagues, being anti-Israel has now become a nonnegotiable moral litmus test.” [FreePress]

Pat’s Politics: Politico’s Jason Beeferman spotlights Rep. Pat Ryan (D-NY), a West Point graduate and former Army intelligence officer who has shifted leftward as the party has moved in the same direction. “Former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, a Mamdani ally who trounced Goldman by harnessing voters’ anger with Israel’s war in Gaza, was invited to be one of Ryan’s five featured speakers at his campaign kickoff rally last month. ‘I’ve known Pat for 10 years, and I hate to say this,’ said one Democratic official, granted anonymity to speak candidly about their colleague. ‘But I couldn’t tell you a single thing that he genuinely, sincerely cares about or believes in, other than advancing his own political career.’” [Politico]

Failing Grade: The Washington Post’s Megan McArdle reflects on the American Association of University Professors’s decision last month to endorse Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed in the state’s Democratic Senate primary. “Frankly, I’m not sure the AAUP’s endorsement even mattered. But to the extent it did, the net effect was probably a small boost for Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers. The endorsement of El-Sayed will also send a message about the AAUP to legislators in other redder states, where races are often decided in the Republican primary and El-Sayed’s flavor of politics is poison.” [WashPost]

Find more Worthy Reads in our Live Briefing via our new app (on Apple and Android) and website.

Word on the Street

Sens. James Lankford (R-OK) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) introduced the “Lebanon Sanctions, Stabilization and Support Act,” which sanctions those involved in supporting Hezbollah, provides funding for state-run infrastructure and civil services and expands aid to the Lebanese Armed Forces and Internal Security Forces, conditioned on progress in countering Hezbollah…

The Senate on Friday passed a bill championed by the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) to sanction Russia and extend existing sanctions on Iran by an 86-11 vote, with a handful of mostly Democratic lawmakers objecting over new tariff powers granted in the bill…

Rep. Ed Case (D-HI), one of the most moderate Democrats in Congress, easily fended off a primary challenge from state Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole, who had argued during the campaign that the state’s 1st District was in need of generational change…

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Israel was “not aligned with U.S. national security objectives,” noting, “I want there to be a strong U.S.-Israel relationship. I support Israel. I cannot support this government’s actions”…

James Talarico, the Democratic Senate nominee in Texas, said he would not vote to send further military aid to an Israeli government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and that aid beyond that should be conditioned on Israeli policies in Gaza and the West Bank, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…

Haverford College settled a lawsuit filed by a handful of students and the group Jews for Haverford over administrators’ handling of antisemitism on the Pennsylvania liberal arts campus…

The Information profiles Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, diving into his unorthodox leadership style and his tendency to rely on a small inner circle while ignoring outside advice — as the company approaches its IPO. Also detailed: Amodei’s South Florida meeting with Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, who had become friends with Amodei’s wife, Camilla Clark, about potential Anthropic funding (Kushner passed).…

Chabad of the Upper East Side and Park East Synagogue announced a new partnership that will see Chabad clergy, including longtime Rabbi Ben-Tzion Krasnianski, join the leadership of Park East alongside Rabbi Arthur Schneier…

The New Yorker reviews Wendy Wasserstein’s “An American Daughter,” a revival of which is now in previews at the Pershing Square Signature Center…

The Associated Press spotlights the Jews of Cochin, India, as the last remaining members of the community — the majority of which moved to Israel in the 20th century — work to preserve remnants of the past…

The Israeli government signed off on the redirection of approximately $333 million to the Ministry of Defense — including some $283 million from the Ministry of Economy — for urgent needs; the funds had originally been earmarked for Intel’s since-frozen expansion in Kiryat Gat…

The New York Times does a deep dive into Israeli and U.S. efforts to target Hezbollah’s funding sources and financial lifelines…

The Houthis claimed responsibility for an attack on Saudi Arabia’s Aramco refinery amid increasing tensions between the Iran-backed group in Yemen and Riyadh; the Saudi Energy Ministry confirmed a fire at the site but did not say what caused it…

Apollo Global Management in recent months appointed partner Reed Rayman to lead its AI sector and develop relationships to help the firm land more large AI infrastructure financings, The Information reports…

The founders of Israeli AI startup Decart are in advanced talks to sell the company to a major international technology company for approximately $6 billion-$7 billion, Calcalist reports…

Noach Hacker is joining the Israel Democracy Institute as vice president of policy…

Bill Goichberg, the founder of the Continental Chess Association who grew the field of competitive chess, died at 83…

Pic of the Day

In the season finale of Larry David’s “Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness,” former President Barack Obama joins David for a sketch about the infamous tan suit that stirred controversy during a 2014 press conference. Watch the seven-minute clip of David and Obama here.

Birthdays

Former director of the Jewish Museum of Vienna, she was a founder of the German-language magazine Nu devoted to Jewish politics and culture, Danielle Spera (middle) turns 69…

CEO at Royal Health Services in Beverly Hills, Calif., Robert N. Feldman… Professor emeritus of biochemistry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Shimon Schuldiner turns 80… NYC-based real estate developer, he is the founder and principal of Clipper Equity, David Bistricer turns 77… Former governor of the South African Reserve Bank, the first woman to hold that position, Gill Marcus turns 77… Conservative rabbi who served as executive director of the Interfaith Alliance, Rabbi Jack Moline turns 74… Retired co-leader of the securities litigation practice at Weil, Gotshal & Manges, he is the co-president of NYC’s Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, Joseph S. Allerhand… Certified registered nurse anesthetist for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Edward Salkind… Author, media consultant and former film critic for The New York Post and The New York Daily News, Jami Bernard turns 70…  Former member of the California state Senate, Steven Mitchell Glazer turns 69… Sephardi chief rabbi of Israel and Rishon LeZion since 2024, Rabbi David Yosef turns 69… Former member of the U.S. House of Representatives (D-MI), now a distinguished senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, Andy Levin turns 66… Professor of physics and astronomy at Tel Aviv University, Yaron Oz turns 62… Tech entrepreneur, he served as a Washington state senator until 2023, Reuven Michael Carlyle turns 61… Former member of the Florida state Senate, he authored a book about his time as one of the first employees of Yahoo, Jeremy Ring turns 56… Deputy attorney general of Israel, Sharon Afek turns 56… Regional chief technology officer in the South Texas office of Technologent, Jason P. Reyes… Senior director of development for the NYC-based Tikvah Fund, Eytan Sosnovich… Marketing and editorial consultant, Sophie Vershbow… SVP of commodities compliance at Citibank, Jacob Cohen…

After a career in the foreign service, where officers are obliged to keep their political views to themselves and promote the positions of the current U.S. administration, some retiring diplomats have a hard time getting used to speaking their minds, particularly when the press is involved.

Ludo Hood is not one of those people.

The 53-year-old retired from the U.S. Foreign Service last week after two decades of service, a career that took him to Kuwait, Bahrain, France and Qatar. Most recently, he served as a senior advisor to Keith Kellogg, President Donald Trump’s former special envoy for Ukraine, and before that as a close advisor to Deborah Lipstadt, the former U.S. special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism — two roles that put him in the crossfire of some of the biggest political debates in Washington. 

Hood, who is preparing to take on a role at a think tank, sat down with Jewish Insider this week to reflect on a career representing the U.S. that included stints working on Iran policy during negotiations for the 2015 nuclear deal, relations with Gulf states during the fraught Arab Spring and antisemitism policy in the tense aftermath of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks in 2023. 

Through all those foreign postings and geopolitical flashpoints, one of the most “alarming and shocking” moments of Hood’s time as a foreign service officer came within the halls of Foggy Bottom — when, in the months after Oct. 7, the State Department hosted listening sessions for staffers to express anti-Israel views and bash the policies espoused by the federal government.

“It was the only time in my career where active dissent against the elected president’s overall policy and strategic direction was allowed to be aired in the open, and was actually in many ways encouraged,” Hood told JI. 

The gatherings were hosted by then-Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, and they came as some rank-and-file diplomats, plus many political appointees from the Biden administration, voiced dissent against President Joe Biden’s support for Israel. 

“In terms of being politically correct, you had to give a lot of deference to a heavy anti-Israel point of view, which maybe is fine in the context of a social studies program at a university,” Hood said. “But it’s the State Department. We are national security professionals who are supposed to be implementing the policy of the duly elected president.” 

Hood compared that moment to the sentiment among some foreign service officers who have struggled to represent the U.S. under Trump. Hood acknowledged that some diplomats do not agree with Trump’s approach to foreign policy, but said that they should not express that view publicly as part of their job — and that Trump would not stand for so much public expression of dissent.

“There was and perhaps remains opposition to the way that Trump does and says certain things in the State Department,” said Hood. “The difference here is the Trump people, either under [former Secretary of State Mike] Pompeo or now, would never tolerate unprofessional behavior, and it is unprofessional.”

“Obviously, you’re allowed to have your own personal points of view,” Hood continued. “But if you’re going to sign up to do this work, you ought to be reasonable.” 

That doesn’t mean he always agreed with the positions that he was meant to promote as a diplomat. During the Biden administration, Hood took issue with the White House’s policy that nearly anytime antisemitism was mentioned, it had to be coupled with a mention of Islamophobia, a policy that Hood called “illogical and irrational.” (Lipstadt, his former boss, has called for antisemitism and Islamophobia to be discussed as distinct forms of hate.)

“It was official policy at the Biden White House in terms of how they named task forces and so forth,” said Hood. “We had to accept the horrendously problematic addition of ‘counter-Islamophobia efforts’ into what we were doing or what we were commemorating. I say ‘horrendously problematic’ because it undermines the fight against Muslim hatred or other forms of religious hatred to start conflating them for politicized reasons that have nothing to do with the actual strategies needed to curb that kind of discrimination.”

Even before Oct. 7, Hood said, getting certain State Department diplomats to include antisemitism in meetings with foreign leaders could be challenging. 

“It could be painfully difficult to say and do certain things because of an institutional reluctance to highlight antisemitism,” Hood said, particularly in Europe.

When Trump was inaugurated early last year, Hood transitioned to the Ukraine file, the first time in his career when his portfolio did not include the Middle East. 

He was more sympathetic to the plight of Ukraine than many members of the incoming Trump administration, which he said was more amenable to appeasing Russian President Vladimir Putin and less interested in continuing to spend billions on Ukraine’s defense. Kellogg, the Ukraine envoy, was also more supportive of Kyiv than Trump, leading to some of his portfolio being taken over by White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff. Kellogg ultimately stepped down in January.

“It was frustrating to see how that played out, partly because the guy is a decent, honorable man who probably could have been treated better by some people operating in the White House and elsewhere,” said Hood. “Perhaps more relevantly, more substantively, I think Kellogg had a view on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which, from where I stood, reflected reality and reflected how we should be approaching the conflict.” 

On the other side of the Ukraine issue was the increasingly influential isolationist right. Hood called the ongoing intra-Republican feud about foreign policy “a profoundly important debate,” even as he came down hard against the isolationist wing.

“I think there’s very easy arguments to be had to push back on isolationism and restrainers,” said Hood. “I think those of us who want an assertive America aren’t asking for forever wars, aren’t asking to invade in the name of democracy. I think there are ways of putting America first on the global stage without deploying what has now become known as neocon objectives, basically democracy promotion.”

It’s fair to say Hood is aligned with the more traditional, interventionist wing of the Republican Party; he recently joined the Hudson Institute, a pro-Israel think tank closely aligned with several former top Bush administration officials. He said that over his two decades in diplomacy, his central views about the world and foreign policy have not changed. But he said he has come to hold a more realpolitik view of the world that is less Pollyannaish about democracy as a strategic objective. 

“I think maybe democracy promotion, or even having a heavy focus on human rights, is probably at best naive, if not a lost cause, in some parts of the world,” said Hood. “We shouldn’t necessarily allow those issues to always get in the way of a bilateral strategic partnership that is broadly speaking good for stability and prosperity for that country or for that region.”

Hood is leaving the foreign service at a time when the institution’s future is in question. More than 1,300 State Department staffers — including many foreign service officers — were laid off last summer. The American Foreign Service Association, the union representing foreign service officers, called it “a catastrophic blow to our national interests.” 

Hood called Trump’s “top-down approach,” where he leans heavily on personal advisors like Witkoff and Jared Kushner, “understandable in some respects.” He is not instinctually opposed to the cuts and thinks some were necessary. 

“We needed a lot of disruption in the national security establishment. There’s still so much bloat to be cut,” said Hood. But, speaking diplomatically, Hood tentatively suggested that Trump might actually does have something to gain from the bureaucrats in Foggy Bottom and America’s embassies around the world. 

“What you don’t have now is bottom-up information and recommendations being aired, discussed, debated,” said Hood. “Sometimes there are real questions about implementation and messaging.”

Next stop:  the well-trodden Washington path of helping public officials hone their messages. In other words: a think tank.

Good Wednesday morning,

In today’s Daily Kickoff, we report on yesterday’s funeral for Sen. Lindsey Graham in Washington and cover the Oval Office meeting between President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. We spotlight the get-out-the-vote campaign for Haley Stevens led by concerned Jewish Detroiters and the United Democracy Project’s new ad targeting her Michigan Senate primary challenger, Abdul El-Sayed. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Rep. Jake Auchincloss, Sen. Richard Blumenthal and Charles Asher Small.

We also have a new on-demand Live Briefing that you can access throughout the day via our new app (on Apple and Android) and on our website.

Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by Israel Editor Tamara Zieve and U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik, with an assist from Marc Rod. Have a tip? Email us here.

What We’re Watching

• U.S. Central Command and the Saudi Arabian Armed Forces conducted joint strikes in eastern Iraq early Wednesday against Iranian proxies whom the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had “directed to attack U.S. forces and Saudi energy infrastructure,” CENTCOM said, adding that the militaries struck multiple logistics and weapons sites in response to more than 30 IRGC-directed drone attacks in the past 72 hours.
• The strikes came after CENTCOM said on Tuesday evening that it had intercepted multiple ballistic missiles fired by the IRGC in an “attempted surprise attack” on U.S. forces in the Middle East, marking a rupture in the pause in hostilities between the U.S. and Iran that had been in place since last week. The Jordanian military also announced that it had intercepted five missiles launched from Iran overnight.
• The Senate is expected to vote on another war powers resolution this afternoon seeking an end to U.S. military operations in Iran.
• Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-SC) funeral continues today in South Carolina, where he will receive a public procession at the Statehouse in Columbia and a private burial.

What You Should Know

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MARC ROD

A who’s who of international leaders, Cabinet members, senators and ambassadors gathered on Tuesday at the National Cathedral and on Capitol Hill for a somber and emotional tribute to the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), a giant both in Washington and on the world stage.

Graham distinguished himself over his career as one of the most important foreign policy voices in the Republican Party and a global statesman, evident in the fact that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sat just seats away from one another at the afternoon memorial service, representing two of the countries that Graham championed during his time in office. 

In one sign of how appreciated Graham’s pro-Israel leadership was to so many in the Jewish community, a number of attendees were seen wearing kippot at the National Cathedral service. Among the notable guests at the service were: philanthropist Miriam Adelson; Israel’s former Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer; Israeli opposition leader and Netanyahu rival Yair Lapid; Republican Jewish Coalition CEO Matt Brooks; Axios reporter Barak Ravid; and the parents of slain American Israeli hostage Omer Neutra.

Fox News host Sean Hannity gave special attention to Graham’s dedication to Israel in his eulogy, offering effusive praise to Netanyahu and the importance of the U.S.-Israel relationship.

“Lindsey would have been blown away that you took this long journey with your beautiful bride to be here today. He loved you. He loved the state of Israel, he loved the people of Israel,” Hannity told Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, from the lectern. “Under your leadership, Israel has been one of America’s most consistent and loyal allies. He was never shy to say it, to the day he passed. Just as President Trump has been Israel’s strongest friend in the history of the White House … Lindsey was that friend to Israel in the United States Senate.”

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

FRIENDLY FACE

Netanyahu hails ‘best conversation’ with Trump after Oval Office meeting

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed his sit-down with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on Tuesday as “one of the best conversations I’ve ever had with a president of the United States, our friend Donald Trump.” The Israeli prime minister called the meeting “excellent,” Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports. 

What he said: “When I say excellent, I don’t mean it lightly,” he added, speaking in a video statement after the summit. It was “a conversation with full partnership, mutual support, with understanding on the shared goal that Iran will not have nuclear weapons and also other goals,” he said. Caroline Glick, Netanyahu’s international affairs advisor, told JI the meeting was “extremely positive” and pushed back against reports of a rift between Jerusalem and Washington.

Read the full story here.

Yes, but: Earlier Tuesday, Trump expressed discontent with Netanyahu’s reported forthcoming warnings regarding Iranian nuclear activity at Pickaxe Mountain, dismissing the issue as “not a big problem” in a sharp public split hours ahead of their Oval Office meeting.

SHARE

Share options

• 
  Facebook
• 
  Telegram
• 
  LinkedIn
• 
  WhatsApp
• 
  Reddit

Add JewishInsider on Google

shul politics

‘These are not ordinary times’: Inside Jewish Detroit’s get-out-the-vote campaign for Haley Stevens

Several large Detroit-area synagogues emailed their congregants earlier this summer to urge them to vote in Michigan’s Aug. 4 primary — what seemed at first to be a somewhat bland call to make their voices heard and exercise their civic duty. Then, as primary day drew closer, the messages took on a sharper edge from the usual staid, nonpartisan rhetoric that houses of worship might have sent in the past ahead of major elections, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports. 

Unprecedented advocacy: “While we aren’t going to tell you who to vote for and we have never sent a message like this in our congregation’s history, these are no ordinary times,” the leaders of Temple Israel, the Reform synagogue in West Bloomfield that was the site of a violent antisemitic attack in March, wrote in an email last month. Leading rabbis across the state are urging their congregants to vote for Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) — even if they’re not saying so explicitly. Her opponent, Abdul El-Sayed, who has made attacking AIPAC a central tenet of his campaign, has refused to say whether he believes in Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state. 

Read the full story here.

SHARE

Share options

• 
  Facebook
• 
  Telegram
• 
  LinkedIn
• 
  WhatsApp
• 
  Reddit

Add JewishInsider on Google

PAST IS PRESENT

UDP hits El-Sayed for ‘uncommitted’ support in new ad

United Democracy Project, the AIPAC-affiliated super PAC, is running a new ad targeting Abdul El-Sayed, a far-left Democrat in Michigan’s closely contested Senate primary, over his past support of the “uncommitted” movement and his criticisms of popular Democratic leaders — a messaging strategy the group has used as an effective attack line against anti-Israel opponents in previous election cycles, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.

Ad attack: The 30-second TV spot, released on Tuesday in advance of the Aug. 4 contest, cites comments in which El-Sayed had criticized Barack and Michelle Obama while accusing El-Sayed of “helping Trump win” the election in 2024 because of his promotion of the “uncommitted” effort that urged Democratic primary voters to leave their ballots blank as a protest against former President Joe Biden’s support for Israel amid the war in Gaza.

Read the full story here.

Survey says: A new poll shows Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) leading former GOP Rep. Mike Rogers by two points if she proceeds to the general election — with her opponent, Abdul El-Sayed, trailing Rogers by seven points, JI’s Gabby Deutch reports.

SHARE

Share options

• 
  Facebook
• 
  Telegram
• 
  LinkedIn
• 
  WhatsApp
• 
  Reddit

Add JewishInsider on Google

AID ARGUMENTS

Auchincloss faces skeptical reception from Jewish voters upset over his vote to cut off Israel funding

Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) appeared before a packed house of more than 700 Jewish constituents at a major Conservative synagogue in the heart of his Boston-area district on Monday evening, facing a barrage of questions from skeptical attendees over his vote to cut U.S. military aid to Israel, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

In the room: Auchincloss appeared in conversation with Jeremy Burton, the CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston, at Temple Emanuel in Newton, Mass., before taking around two dozen questions from the audience. Attendees said that most of the crowd was not supportive of Auchincloss’ vote and was not persuaded by his explanation, but most of those who spoke to JI came away expecting that he’ll maintain significant Jewish community support and appreciation of his engagement.

Read the full story here.

SHARE

Share options

• 
  Facebook
• 
  Telegram
• 
  LinkedIn
• 
  WhatsApp
• 
  Reddit

Add JewishInsider on Google

ON THE HILL

Senate rolls Iran sanctions extension into Russia sanctions bill

The Senate on Tuesday advanced a major Russia sanctions package, negotiated and championed by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) before his death, to which lawmakers added a provision extending long-standing sanctions on Iran, currently set to expire at the end of the year, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. The bill advanced by an 86-12 procedural vote.

Last-minute edit: The addition of the five-year extension of the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996 to the package is a relatively minor change to the hard-fought bill, which will extend a key piece of the U.S. economic pressure campaign on Iran and address President Donald Trump’s late-stage demands that threatened to upend a bipartisan agreement. Asked Tuesday about the decision to add the Iran sanctions provisions, its lead Democratic sponsor, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), told JI, “[Sen.] Darline Graham [R-SC] asked us — asked me — to do it. And by the way, that Iran provision was in the bill as originally written, so restoring it was a pretty simple yes.”

Read the full story here.

SHARE

Share options

• 
  Facebook
• 
  Telegram
• 
  LinkedIn
• 
  WhatsApp
• 
  Reddit

Add JewishInsider on Google

GLOBAL ANTISEMITISM

Germany worst for antisemitic incidents per Jewish resident, report finds

Germany remained the country with the most antisemitic incidents relative to its Jewish population in 2025, among Diaspora countries with major Jewish populations, according to a new report from leading Jewish groups released on Wednesday. According to the report, nearly 70 antisemitic incidents per 1,000 Jewish residents were recorded in Germany in 2025, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.

J7 report: Not since the terror attack on a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, more than 30 years ago has the Jewish Diaspora experienced as deadly a year as 2025. Worldwide, 20 people were killed last year in four antisemitic attacks across three continents — all in “J7” countries, the seven countries with the largest Jewish Diaspora populations. The data comes from the second annual Report on Antisemitism by the J7. 

Read the full story here.

SHARE

Share options

• 
  Facebook
• 
  Telegram
• 
  LinkedIn
• 
  WhatsApp
• 
  Reddit

Add JewishInsider on Google

Worthy Reads

Graham’s Send-Off: The Atlantic‘s Mark Leibovich chronicles Lindsey Graham’s elaborate Washington send-off, showing how the senator’s genius for ingratiating himself with the powerful — President Donald Trump above all — carried through to the very end. “Trump acknowledged that he and Graham ‘did not exactly get off to the best of starts.’ Eventually, though, they would forge an important, if volatile, partnership. The president recounted an especially rough patch during the 2016 presidential campaign when Graham called Trump a ‘jackass’ and Trump responded by sharing Graham’s private cellphone number at a rally in South Carolina. For old times’ sake, Trump recited the number in his speech today: ‘202-228-0292, if anybody wants to give it a shot.’ He added that Graham had the last laugh, ‘because while I blew up his phone for one day, we became great friends, and Lindsey did not stop calling me for the next 10 years.’” [Atlantic]

Diplomacy by Misdirection: In The Wall Street Journal, Walter Russell Mead argues that President Donald Trump and Tehran have both utilized deliberate misdirection as part of their strategy in the on-again, off-again U.S.-Iran conflict. “Observers have long noted the fog of war, in which the chaos of conflict makes it difficult to determine exactly what is going on. In 2026 we are seeing something different: the slop of war, in which decoy diplomacy combines with military head-fakes to obscure the actual state of play. … If the war has brought Mr. Trump some unpleasant surprises, it has also demonstrated his resourcefulness. … Iran may be a hedgehog, but Donald Trump is a fox, and he’s unlikely to give up until he’s tried every trick in the book.” [WSJ]

The Other Nuke Deal: Eric Edelman, former under secretary of defense for policy, writes for the Jewish Institute for National Security of America that the emerging U.S.-Saudi civilian nuclear cooperation deal invokes a significant threat of nuclear proliferation. “While details remain scarce, there is good reason to be concerned that the deal would not only be a departure from longtime U.S. policy but also have the potential to upend the traditional U.S. strategic objective of attempting to slow, halt, and reverse the adoption of nuclear weapons. The U.S. might inadvertently make itself into a handmaiden for a nuclear proliferation cascade that would break a nonproliferation regime that is already under enormous stress from a range of geopolitical forces.” [JINSA]

Threats from Within: The New York Times’ Bret Stephens warns defenders of Israel not to downplay the threat that Israeli settler violence in the West Bank poses to both Israeli and Palestinian interests. “There is an immediate danger in that the spiraling West Bank violence could easily produce a third intifada that an exhausted Israel can ill afford militarily or diplomatically, to say nothing of the human cost in both Israeli and Palestinian lives. There’s a still greater long-term risk that the Netanyahu government’s excuse making for Jewish lawlessness and terrorism leads to what the scholar and diplomat Michael Oren, in a prescient Commentary essay from 2009, called ‘the hemorrhaging of sovereignty.’” [NYTimes]

A larger selection of Worthy Reads is available in our Live Briefing.

Word on the Street

In an interview on Fox News’ “Hannity,” on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he will attend the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September, despite New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s threats — which he has since acknowledged he cannot act on — to arrest him. “I’m going to New York. I’m going to speak the truth in front of this hate-spewing elected official who’s pitting one group of New Yorkers against the others. He’s turning them against New York Jews”…

Asked by Sean Hannity what he would do if forced to make an emergency landing in a country that would enforce the International Criminal Court warrant against him, Netanyahu replied that he “has special forces around” who could “get a new task”…

Despite both being in Washington on Tuesday, Netanyahu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky did not hold an official meeting, though the two leaders were spotted speaking in person for the first time in several years at the National Cathedral ahead of the funeral proceedings. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha also spoke by phone, where Sa’ar invited Sybiha to visit Israel…

Sybiha also called his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi, for a “frank conversation,” Sybiha said on X on Tuesday, where he told Araghchi that Iran should refrain from any “escalatory steps” in regards to Ukraine’s recent strike on a cargo vessel carrying military supplies between Iran and Russia…

European allies are resisting U.S. efforts to create a joint patrol for the Strait of Hormuz until an enduring ceasefire with Iran is in place, Politico reports…

Iran rejected an Omani proposal whereby ships crossing the Strait of Hormuz would be split through both countries’ territorial waters, and instead proposed a deal that would see the routes stay largely in Iranian waters, Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said on state television on Tuesday…

Iran is set to receive an initial delivery of Chinese-made shoulder-fired air-defense missile launchers in the coming weeks, Reuters reports, citing sources familiar with the $60 million to $70 million purchase of between 300 and 400 systems…

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz told Israel’s Channel 14 on Tuesday that Jerusalem “very much want[s] to strike Iran’s energy targets,” but Washington “is not approving it at the moment because of the concern that Iran would attack neighboring countries, causing a global oil crisis”…

The Times of London reports on the efforts by the CIA and Mossad to track down Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen since February…

The Financial Times examines the UAE’s attempts to quietly restart diplomatic and economic relations with Iran even as Tehran has continued to fire on other Gulf states and Abu Dhabi maintains its ties with Jerusalem and Washington…

CENTCOM announced on Tuesday that it signed an agreement with the UAE to establish the first bilateral task force focused on developing military artificial intelligence. The group, named Task Force Talon Synapse, will formally launch in the coming weeks and will be based in Abu Dhabi, with around 20 American and Emirati personnel with expertise in AI, data and cybersecurity…

In the Washington Examiner, Mozah Alkindi, a self-described Emirati Muslim, calls out Mamdani’s rhetoric on Israel amid growing antisemitism in New York City. “Disagreement is normal. Opinions, preferences, and even biases are part of any society. What is not normal is allowing those differences to become a reason to hate or dehumanize people who think differently”…

Jay Clayton was confirmed by the Senate on Tuesday evening on a party line vote as director of national intelligence…

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, called on Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who has been hospitalized for over a month, to “directly and verbally address the people of Kentucky and provide proof of your capacity to serve, or resign”…

A man armed with a hammer entered the premises of the Lev Leviev School in Queens on Tuesday where a Jewish day camp was operating and shoved a child into a fence before being subdued by camp personnel. Queens Shmira, a local public safety organization, told JI’s Haley Cohen and Will Bredderman that the incident was not a hate crime but was rather perpetrated by an “emotionally disturbed individual.” The NYPD took a person of interest into custody and the child was treated for a laceration on site before being transported to a hospital…

eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross interviews Charles Asher Small, the founder and director of the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy, who has long been raising the alarm about Qatar, seeing it as an unabashed enemy of the West and responsible for much of the antisemitism that has been unleashed post-Oct. 7, 2023…

The New York Times Magazine chronicles the internal upheaval at the Heritage Foundation under President Kevin Roberts after he defended Tucker Carlson for hosting white-nationalist influencer Nick Fuentes — an event that triggered an exodus of the organization’s traditional conservative staff and brought in new hires who have reportedly accelerated Heritage’s turn against its old pro-Israel, free-market consensus…

Executives at former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s data and media conglomerate, Bloomberg LP, are reportedly in preliminary talks about potentially taking the company public…

CBS News announced that New York Times columnist Ross Douthat will join the network as a correspondent on “60 Minutes,” and Sebastian Junger, Gianna Toboni and Trevor Phillips will join as contributors…

Israeli cybersecurity firm Cyera signed a letter of intent to acquire Israeli cybersecurity startup Oasis Security for $1 billion…

Casey Wasserman confirmed on Tuesday that he sold his stake in his namesake management company, now called The Team, to Providence Equity Partners, which has held a majority stake since 2022…

Pic of the Day

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke at a memorial dinner at the Four Seasons hotel in Washington on Monday night, held in honor of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC). The event was attended by family and friends of Graham, administration officials and members of Congress.

“America has lost a great patriot. Israel has lost one of its greatest friends and supporters. And I have lost a dear friend,” Netanyahu said. “Lindsey was wholeheartedly committed to the security of the United States, the security of Israel and the unrelenting fight against antisemitism. I will miss him greatly, and all of us will miss him greatly.”

During the event, Netanyahu was photographed in conversation with Lindsey Graham’s sister, Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC), as well as Steven Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff for policy, and Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE).

Birthdays

Actor and comedian, best known for his voice work in animation and video games, Richard Steven Horvitz turns 60…

Shoe designer, entrepreneur and founder of an eponymous shoe company, Stuart A. Weitzman turns 85… Chairman of BOK Financial Corporation in Tulsa, Okla., George Bruce Kaiser turns 84… Denver-based attorney, film producer and author of both fiction and nonfiction, Kenneth Eichner turns 72… Israeli electrical engineer and inventor, he is best known as the inventor of the USB memory stick, Dov Moran turns 71… Freelance writer and editor, Carol Eisenberg… Attorney general of Israel from 2016 to 2022, Avichai Mandelblit turns 63… Global economics reporter for The New York Times, Peter S. Goodman turns 60… Co-president of private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, and co-chairman and governor of the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets, Richard J. Schnall turns 57… Twin brothers, Los Angeles-based philanthropists and businessmen, Shlomo Yehuda Rechnitz and Yisroel Zev Rechnitz turn 55… Actor, filmmaker and musician, he is best known for his role in the CBS sitcom “How I Met Your Mother,” Joshua Radnor turns 52… MS NOW anchor, Peter Alexander turns 50… VP of community engagement at BBYO, Jayme David… Director of the Straus Center at Yeshiva University, he is also the rabbi of NYC’s Congregation Shearith Israel (The Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue), Rabbi Meir Yaakov Soloveichik turns 49… Data and investigative journalist at the Associated Press, Aaron Kessler… Former member of the Canadian Parliament, David de Burgh Graham turns 45… Iraq war veteran, political and communications strategist, she is now a visiting fellow at George Mason University’s National Security Institute, Allison Jaslow… Rabbi, writer, educator and physician assistant, Rabbi Levi Welton… White House principal deputy communications director during the Biden administration, Herbie Ziskend… EVP in the Los Angeles office of Edelman, Jason Levin… Israeli actor, model and television presenter, Maya Wertheimer turns 36… Policy advisor to Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), Daniel Ryan Vinik… Tony Award-winning actor, Ari’el Stachel turns 35… Uriel Wassner… Broadcaster for the Windy City Bulls, Sam Brief… Quarterback for the NFL’s Washington Commanders, Sam Hartman turns 27… 

A who’s who of international leaders, Cabinet members, senators and ambassadors gathered on Tuesday at the National Cathedral and on Capitol Hill for a somber and emotional tribute to the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), a giant both in Washington and on the world stage.

Graham distinguished himself over his career as one of the most important foreign policy voices in the Republican Party and a global statesman, evident in the fact that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sat just seats away from one another at the afternoon memorial service, representing two of the countries that Graham championed during his time in office.

In one sign of how appreciated Graham’s pro-Israel leadership was to so many in the Jewish community, a number of attendees were seen wearing kippot at the National Cathedral service. Among the notable guests at the service were: philanthropist Miriam Adelson; Israel’s former Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer; Israeli opposition leader and Netanyahu rival Yair Lapid; Axios reporter Barak Ravid; and the parents of slain American Israeli hostage Omer Neutra.

Fox News host Sean Hannity gave special attention to Graham’s dedication to Israel in his eulogy, offering effusive praise to Netanyahu and the importance of the U.S.-Israel relationship.

“Lindsey would have been blown away that you took this long journey with your beautiful bride to be here today. He loved you. He loved the state of Israel, he loved the people of Israel,” Hannity told Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, from the lectern. “Under your leadership, Israel has been one of America’s most consistent and loyal allies. He was never shy to say it, to the day he passed. Just as President Trump has been Israel’s strongest friend in the history of the White House … Lindsey was that friend to Israel in the United States Senate.”

Sean Hannity speaks about Netanyahu and Israel at Sen. Lindsey Graham's funeral.

"He loved you. He loved the state of Israel. He loved the people of Israel." pic.twitter.com/pOdBZdHRNp

— Jewish Insider (@jewishinsider) July 28, 2026

Acknowledging Graham’s role as one of the GOP’s most prominent voices on foreign policy, President Donald Trump said in his own eulogy that Graham “was extremely hawkish” and “never saw a war that he didn’t like” but said Graham pursued those policies “for the good of our country.”

Graham had been one of the most influential voices in Trump’s ear in support of confronting Iran’s malign activity in the Middle East — and urging the president to more actively confront Russian aggression against Ukraine.

This week could mark a major turning point for the senator’s legacy: the Senate voted overwhelmingly yesterday evening to open debate on the Russia (and, at the last minute, Iran) sanctions bill that Graham spent his final months negotiating. And Trump’s meeting Tuesday with Netanyahu, where the two were expected to discuss next steps in Iran, could shape the future of the war.

Graham was one of a rare breed of Republicans who managed to remain a fervent advocate for U.S. involvement abroad while also keeping in Trump’s good graces and maintaining his influence with the president.

But there’s no clear successor to replace Graham’s hawkish voice in Trump’s inner circle, an absence that could tangibly impact the direction of U.S. foreign policy in the coming weeks and months, including the direction of the Iran war.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will fly to Washington on Monday, where he will meet with President Donald Trump and attend the funeral of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), his office announced on Friday. 

Slated for Tuesday, the Oval Office meeting — Trump and Netanyahu’s first in-person sitdown since the start of the Iran war in late February — comes amid escalating U.S.-Iran hostilities and heightened Israeli readiness for potential strikes from Tehran. 

Trump told Axios on Thursday that he’s considering restarting major combat operations in Iran — including strikes larger than those carried out by the U.S. and Israel against Iran before the ceasefire began in early April. 

Netanyahu said that “Israel lost one of its greatest friends” after Graham died suddenly on July 11. The South Carolina senator’s funeral is scheduled for Tuesday at the National Cathedral in Washington.  

In recent weeks, following the collapse of the memorandum of understanding between Washington and Tehran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, Iran has fired dozens of times on Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

At the same time, it has sustained fire from the U.S., whose military bases across the region have been targeted by the Islamic Republic, with several service members killed. And all the while, Tehran has targeted commercial ships transiting through the strait.

But as focus on the conflict with Iran has shifted from addressing the Islamic Republic’s nuclear ambitions to the Strait of Hormuz, Israel has stayed out of the fighting — despite Iranian threats earlier this month to target the Jewish state if the U.S. attacks did not cease.

There is no upside for Israel to reenter the fight, especially when the issue of the Strait of Hormuz falls outside of the objectives set by Israel at the start of the war earlier this year. (This, despite the widespread sentiment among Israelis that this year’s war did not improve Israel’s security situation, according to polling last month from the Israel Democracy Institute.)

Key among the goals laid out by Israel was degrading Iran’s ballistic missile program and setting back elements of its nuclear program. Reopening Hormuz is an American objective, not an Israeli one. With Israel having made the calculus that the most immediate Iranian threats have been blunted — at least in the short term — the current mission has become an American one.

“Israel’s best move is to not move — yet,” Mark Dubowitz, the CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Jewish Insider this morning. “Washington does the striking. Israel keeps its fire and its threats in reserve, waiting for one of two triggers: a U.S. request to join, or an Iranian regime foolish enough to hit Israel and invite the reprisal that has been promised.”

Despite Iran’s threats to target Israel, such a move would likely be a strategic misstep for the Islamic Republic. Iran’s blockade of the strait and its attacks on Arab and Gulf states are an attempt to reassert its dominance over the region and demonstrate its ability to impact the global energy market. Tehran also appears to be betting that sustained attacks across the region will push Arab states to pressure the U.S. to accept an agreement to reopen the strait, handing the Islamic Republic a win.

In that sense, Tehran is calibrating its escalation according to the expected retaliation, knowing that Arab states are, unlike Israel, hesitant to respond with military action.

One week ago, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking in Dimona, drew a line in the sand. “I have one message for Iran’s leaders: Do not count on there being calm if you attack us,” Netanyahu said. “Do not expect a repeat of what happened before, because there will be no repeat. The previous response was powerful enough, but any further attempt to harm us will be met with a different response — far more powerful.”

Thus far, the Arab states have shown little indication that they intend to escalate to match Iran’s attacks, and will not retaliate with a proportional response (or even a disproportionate response). But with the intermittent fire, Iran keeps the region on edge and Hormuz closed for business.

The question many Israelis are asking is how much longer the domestic quiet will continue. But unless Iran directly strikes Israel or acts in a way that compromises Jerusalem’s interests, there is little appetite in Israel to transform what has become a U.S. effort to reopen shipping routes into another round of intensive fighting between Iran and Israel. For now, Israel’s restraint is less about hesitation, and more of a calculation that deterrence, rather than direct military engagement, will serve Jerusalem’s interests in the long term.

As the Trump administration moves to end the diplomatic isolation of Syria, dismantling decades of U.S. sanctions in the process, lawmakers are offering mixed assessments of whether Washington should have conditioned that relief on steps toward normalizing relations with Israel.

Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) told Jewish Insider the Trump administration “should be urging” Damascus to improve economic and political relations with Jerusalem in exchange for sanctions relief, “but I would say that you’ve got to have a consistent standard.”

Sherman noted he would “like to see Syria move in that direction,” toward joining the Abraham Accords, “even if they can’t join the accords yet.” However, he cautioned that the administration’s leverage depends on what Damascus is seeking, drawing a distinction between whether Syria is asking for direct U.S. aid or “if they’re simply asking for the same normal treatment” that the U.S. provides to other sovereign nations.

“We need to do everything we can to see Syria succeed and write a new chapter, and our support needs to come with expectations and accountability,” Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL) told JI. “The United States has an opportunity to work to bring Syrians and Israelis together to an agreement that will not just improve the lives of people living on each side of the border, but help pave the path towards better stability throughout the region.”

Congress and the Treasury Department lifted the U.S.’ longstanding sanctions on Syria unconditionally in June 2025.

Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) agreed that the Trump administration should be pursuing normalization as part of its efforts with Damascus, but said the current focus on prioritizing stability is a “worthwhile objective” and “positive” effort. 

“I think a stable, democratic [Syria] may be too much of a hope, but a stable and non-terrorist-supporting Syria is important to the Middle East and to the United States of America and to some type of global stability,” Hoyer said to JI. “Efforts to normalize the government are positive and part of that will ultimately involve normalizing relations between their neighbor Israel and themselves, and I think that will be determined by [Syria’s] performance.”

Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX), meanwhile, deferred to the White House’s diplomatic strategy. “I would let the administration do the negotiations as it relates to Syria. I’m not part of those discussions, but Trump is trying to make the world a safer and a better place for everybody, and so if he can find a way to cut some deals, I support it.”

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) told JI he would like to see relations between Syria and Israel improve, but did not push back on the White House lifting sanctions before that progress was made. 

“No, I just think it’s something we look at. It’s always going to be a variable, but words are cheap, actions are where we got to see it,” Burchett said. “I haven’t trusted Syria as far as I can throw them, so we’ll just see what happens. I’d prefer they normalize relations with Israel, but I mean that fight has been going on since before the time of Christ. I don’t know that we’re going to solve it by signing a piece of paper.” 

Foreign policy experts told JI that normalization between Israel and Syria remains stalled by highly complex territorial and political issues, making it unrealistic to leverage relief on such progress. 

“Normalization between Israel and Syria is not remotely close and shouldn’t even be on anyone’s radar,” said Michael Koplow, chief policy officer at the Israel Policy Forum. “Expecting any imminent normalization between Syria and Israel given decades of enmity, an ongoing IDF presence in southern Syria and severe disagreements over Syrian policy toward its Druze and Kurdish minorities is not realistic.”

Koplow explained that the administration is focused on “taking advantage of the end of the Assad regime” to give the nascent government “a chance to succeed,” while pulling Damascus toward Washington and away from hostile regional actors.

“U.S. policy towards Syria should not be judged on whether it is going to normalize with Israel, but over other more pressing and imminent concerns that impact U.S. priorities,” Koplow said.

John Hannah, a senior fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, agreed that normalization with Israel “hasn’t been on the agenda.”

“In Syria’s eyes, and certainly in the eyes of [Syrian President Ahmad al-]Sharaa and the ex-jihadists who came to power with him, normalization without recovering the Golan Heights is an absolute non-starter and would be widely viewed as abject and unacceptable surrender and capitulation,” Hannah said. “Of course, it goes without saying that any discussion about withdrawing from the Golan is equally anathema in Israel. So I just don’t see normalization as being in the cards right now.” 

Israel formally annexed the Golan Heights in 1981, after capturing the territory from Syria in the 1967 War. The IDF has held additional territory in southern Syria as a security zone since the collapse of the Assad regime.

President Donald Trump reportedly asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this month to pull back IDF troops from Syria.

Still, Hannah noted that al-Sharaa has shown “no interest whatsoever in fighting with Israel” since rising to power and has taken positive steps toward Jerusalem. 

“On the contrary, for most of 2025 [al-Sharaa] was practically begging Israel to resurrect, update and strengthen the Israel-Syria disengagement agreement of 1974,” Hannah said. “Indeed, for the first time in 25 years, al-Sharaa, the former Al-Qaida leader, authorized direct Israel-Syria negotiations under U.S. auspices to reach a new security agreement.”

Hannah suggested the U.S. still has an opportunity to “play some hardball” and use rolling back Syria’s State Sponsor of Terrorism designation as leverage. Trump formally initiated the process to lift the designation, which has been applied to Syria since 1979, earlier this month.

The White House could press “for an expansion of security, economic and social relations with Israel,” Hannah said. “That’s separate from a demand for full normalization, which I just don’t see as realistic under present circumstances.”

Al-Sharaa has worked to earn the overtures from Washington by cooperating with U.S. priorities, Hannah argued. 

“He ensured Iran and Hezbollah’s eviction from Syria and has systematically fought their efforts to maintain Iran’s land bridge to Lebanon, engaging in several firefights with Hezbollah units trying to smuggle weapons across the border,” Hannah said. “He directed his security forces to work closely with CENTCOM in combating ISIS, cooperated with the U.N. to come clean on Assad’s chemical weapons program and constrained the ability of Palestinian terrorist groups to operate from Syrian soil.”

Despite these positive security developments, analysts warn that serious issues remain about al-Sharaa’s governance.

“There should be concerns about ongoing extremism within the ranks of Syrian leadership and the military, and the al-Sharaa government’s ties to Turkey and to what extent Syria is going to trade Iranian domination for Turkish domination,” Koplow said. 

Hannah raised similar alarms regarding the internal makeup of the transitional government and its growing reliance on neighboring powers.

“There is definitely a legitimate question of whether Trump surrendered America’s overwhelming economic leverage too cheaply by not demanding even more from Sharaa,” Hannah said. “For example, by requiring the decommissioning of radical jihadist groups that he incorporated wholesale into his new army, holding to account those forces in his service that committed massacres against Alawites and Druze civilians in 2025 and guaranteeing full rights and protections to Syria’s disparate religious and ethnic minorities, including the Kurds who fought alongside the U.S. against ISIS for more than a decade.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-SC) sudden death last weekend is complicating an already difficult dynamic between Senate Republicans and President Donald Trump, as legislators try to muster enough support in the caucus to pass the president’s key legislative priorities. 

Graham’s committee chairmanships, vast donor network and his close relationship with Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio made him a critical leader in Washington whose presence helped move forward multiple bipartisan efforts, especially on foreign policy. He became one of the most geopolitically connected members of Congress, with world leaders and captains of industry on speed dial.

“It’s impossible to fill that void, number one, so I’ll just take that off the table,” Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, told Jewish Insider at a press conference at NRSC headquarters on Capitol Hill on Wednesday. 

Scott, who represented South Carolina alongside Graham for 13 years, said he has spoken with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) about the challenges Graham’s death creates for the party and detailed several areas where Senate GOP leadership is hoping some of their members will attempt to step in on the late senator’s behalf.

The first of those “three layers,” Scott said, is “the foreign policy front.” The second was Graham’s “budgetary responsibilities” as chair of the Senate Budget Committee. The third area, he said, was “bridging the gap between the two sides of the aisle.”

“Those are the three areas that I know that we’ve been consciously considering,” Scott said. “I have spoken to Leader Thune as well. I think those are three big areas that we’d love to see, probably, a couple people step into.”

On the foreign policy front, Scott noted, “There’s no doubt that when you’re looking at leaders around the world who disagree vehemently with each other, the one guy you might be willing to sit at the table with was Lindsey Graham. He just did a really good job.”

“Frankly, you go to the Middle East and without any question, I’m not sure that there was a bigger, more enthusiastic supporter of the president’s actions in Iran — I happen to be one of them as well — than Lindsey Graham,” Scott said. “[Israeli Prime Minister] Bibi [Netanyahu] calling him at lunch was kind of fun to watch. I’m a big fan of Bibi myself, and just knowing the relationship that they had when I spoke with Bibi myself years ago, I would say without question, Lindsey Graham’s name always came up. You know why? Because, frankly, he took the time to make the trip there.”

“Whether it’s the European front, the Middle East, or frankly, his enthusiasm around Venezuela, he was always in the midst when it came to solving problems around the world because he believed in peace through strength,” he continued. “It was not just a tagline. It was not just a philosophy. It was embedded in his DNA.”

Scott said Republicans will need to focus on “finding someone who has that passion” that Graham applied to his foreign policy dealings. Graham spearheaded the passage of the second Trump administration’s two reconciliation packages — the One Big Beautiful Bill last July, which made the tax cuts implemented in the first Trump administration permanent and enacted a wide range of spending cuts, and the Secure America Act in June to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

“We are living in polarizing times politically. Lindsey Graham was not completely aware of that. He thought you could still find common ground to get something done,” Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) said. “He turned out to be right. Being able to have [Sen. Richard] Blumenthal (D-CT) knocking on the door for Russian sanctions is only possible because Lindsey Graham spends so much time talking to people that vehemently disagree with him on 85% or 90% of topics. Find that one, you march together.”

As to the budget reconciliation process, Scott said, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) would step in as budget chair. “Big shoes to fill,” Scott added. 

Scott touted his late colleague’s ability to reach across the aisle and argued that “bridging that gap is going to be really important.” 

“We are living in polarizing times politically. Lindsey Graham was not completely aware of that. He thought you could still find common ground to get something done. He turned out to be right. Being able to have [Sen. Richard] Blumenthal (D-CT) knocking on the door for Russian sanctions is only possible because Lindsey Graham spends so much time talking to people that vehemently disagree with him on 85% or 90% of topics. Find that one, you march together.”

As one of the few lawmakers capable of closing the gap between Senate Republicans and the president, Graham became somewhat of a mediator. 

“Lindsey left an indelible mark on the Senate, on the nation and on the hearts of his colleagues,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) told JI. “At times when senators were at each other’s throats, were angry, Lindsey could cut the tension with a self-deprecating quip that brought everything to a stop and brought people back together again.”

Leading Democrats also paid tribute to Graham’s legislative acumen. “Lindsey was part of every important policy issue and an indispensable player in every Senate ‘gang.’ He was a fierce Republican partisan one day and a key bipartisan ally the next,” Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) said of Graham after his death was announced.

“I don’t know who can play this role going forward. I just don’t see it,” Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) told JI on Sunday of Graham. “He’s just not replaceable. There’s not going to be anyone like him again.”

Graham was involved in every successful bipartisan piece of legislation that Trump has signed into law thus far in his second term. During the Biden administration, Graham was one of the 19 Republican senators who crossed party lines to support the bipartisan infrastructure bill, and his decision to come out against the bipartisan immigration reform deal organized by Sens. James Lankford (R-OK), Chris Murphy (D-CT) and former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) has been described as the final death knell that sealed the legislation’s fate.

Graham was also the Republican in Trump’s orbit to whom Senate Democrats would go when trying to settle a legislative dispute or join forces on an issue of bipartisan concern. 

“I don’t know who can play this role going forward. I just don’t see it,” Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) told JI on Sunday of Graham. “He’s just not replaceable. There’s not going to be anyone like him again.”

Graham’s passing puts the longtime legislative and geopolitical priorities he fought for in jeopardy. 

The South Carolina Republican spent the last five years lobbying Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to bring Riyadh into the Abraham Accords. Graham tried to secure an agreement on several occasions under Trump and former President Joe Biden, and said repeatedly that he was on the verge of reaching a deal that would see Saudi Arabia normalize relations with Israel in exchange for Israel recognizing a Palestinian state. 

After Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel, Graham maintained that Iran ordered the attacks to upend his Saudi-Israeli normalization efforts. 

Graham was one of the most outspoken and effective Republican advocates in Congress for increasing military funding. Prior to his death, he had been lobbying the president to get behind the Russia sanctions bill he co-sponsored with Blumenthal, and expressed optimism in his final phone call with Morgan Ortagus, the former deputy presidential envoy for Middle East peace in the second Trump administration, that Trump was coming around to the idea.

Trump said on Tuesday that he was considering supporting the bill, which he has long hesitated to get behind, “in honor of Lindsey.”

“This was his thing, he wanted this more than any other thing. You know how he felt,” Trump said from the White House. “There’s a good chance that it gets done. But they’d like to add Iran. And they’d like to add Hezbollah to it. That’s what I’m hearing.”

Ortagus told JI, “There was not a fight on domestic or foreign affairs that he didn’t want to jump into. If he believed in an issue and believed that a particular policy was the right thing, he really didn’t care about the politics.”

In the span of five days, one of Washington’s most vocal champions of the U.S. relationship with Israel died, while two prospective 2028 Democratic presidential contenders traveled to the Jewish state to define their approaches to the country. Though a coincidence of timing, those events, when taken together, underscored something much more significant: the passing of one generation of American politics vis-a-vis Israel and the opening contest over what will succeed it.

The events of the last week have distilled concerns that have repeatedly emerged at Jewish and Israeli gatherings, over Shabbat meals and in breakfast meetings: As the far left gains traction within the Democratic Party, and as the isolationist right increasingly finds support among Republicans, what does that mean for American Jews and U.S. support for Israel?

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who died suddenly on Saturday, represented a generation of politicians — across the political spectrum — for whom support for Israel was tied to deep, long-standing relationships with the Jewish state’s leaders, the belief in the country’s strategic positioning as a key ally and the ability of Israel’s friends in Washington to challenge Jerusalem without imperiling the relationship. 

His death sent shockwaves across the Jewish community at a time when U.S. support for Israel — including among Republicans — is on the decline.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), speaking to JI earlier this week, described Graham as “a passionate and formidable defender of Israel” and noted that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “trusted Lindsey and listened to him.” 

Cruz pointed out that “Lindsey would sometimes tell his friends messages they didn’t want to hear. Lindsey was not one to just blow smoke. He would tell people exactly what he thought, but that made him an incredibly effective advocate for Israel.”

Days before Graham died, former U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel was in Israel, where he delivered a speech — his own version of tough talk to Israelis — at Tel Aviv University on the future of the U.S.-Israel relationship. Speaking to reporters ahead of his speech, Emanuel, who served as White House chief of staff from 2009-2010, said that declining U.S. support for Israel “is not a Democratic Party problem. This is an American problem, and a generational problem.”

Emanuel pointed to an Associated Press/NORC Research poll released last week that showed declining support for Israel across both parties in the wake of the war in Gaza — though the erosion was considerably more pronounced among Democrats. The survey, which was conducted last month, also found that 3 in 10 Americans — including 2 in 10 Republicans under the age of 45 — believe Israel committed genocide in Gaza.

Meanwhile, a new survey from the Pew Research Center released on Friday found Israel underwater with young Americans across the political spectrum. Just 12% of Democrats between the ages of 18-29 have a favorable view of Israel, the survey found. Among young Republicans, that number is higher — but not by much. Twenty-eight percent of Republicans ages 18-29 had a favorable view of Israel. Contrast that with the 75% of Republicans (and 47% of Democrats) above the age of 65 who have favorable views of Israel.

Views of Israelis themselves are only somewhat less negative, with 33% of those surveyed between the ages of 18-29 having a favorable view of the people of Israel — not the government. Among young Republicans, that figure is 42% — something that should trigger flashing warning lights among those who have long relied on the support of an aging generation of politicians and voters who share Graham’s pro-Israel disposition. 

While the shift among Republicans is happening at a slower rate, movement in the GOP regarding Israel is apparent as the party’s “restrainers,” led by Vice President JD Vance, gain traction among young conservatives. As if to underscore the changing party dynamics, Politico yesterday reported on concerns among Republican Jewish donors over Vance’s approach to the Jewish state, citing his tough rhetoric toward Israeli leaders and support for diplomacy with Iran. 

Separate from Emanuel’s trip, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) also traveled to Israel last week, gaining attention for an incident in the West Bank in which local security forces stopped Khanna, who was accompanied by two aides and an activist with Breaking the Silence, after the congressman entered what had been until recently a closed military zone. He has since called for Israel to investigate the incident, even as Israeli officials denied elements of the congressman’s account. Khanna has not provided any evidence to back up his claim of being detained by settlers.

Speaking to The New York Times after he returned to the U.S., Khanna said, “Free advice to the Israelis: It’s not a good idea to detain long-shot presidential candidates. Not how you’re going to build good will with the next American president, whoever that is.” 

In his public comments and meetings, Emanuel conveyed a desire to halt the growing daylight between future generations of Israelis and Americans. Khanna, who a decade ago was a staunch supporter of close ties with Jerusalem, has adopted a different political calculation, leaning into the growing anti-Israel sentiment in his party as a launching pad for a national campaign. 

It’s no coincidence that two 2028 hopefuls chose to soft-launch their campaigns in Israel, conveying caution rather than camaraderie. It’s a sharp pivot from 18 years ago, when Barack Obama and John McCain — then their parties’ respective presidential nominees — each visited Israel in the run-up to the election, meeting with Israeli leaders and expressing support with the Israeli people.

If candidates used to travel to Israel to reassure both their constituencies and the Israeli populace of the strength of the U.S.-Israel relationship, the candidates traveling to Israel in 2026 are doing so to define themselves, and in the process treating the Jewish state as a test of political identity. 

The sort of stalwart support of generations past is rapidly eroding, leaving pro-Israel Americans on both sides of the aisle battling strong headwinds as those who represent the future of their parties shift their approaches to the Jewish state. With Graham’s death, one chapter in U.S.-Israel relations has closed. Now, Emanuel and Khanna are jockeying to write the next.

Iran netted nearly $5 billion in the 22 days after Washington and Tehran signed their memorandum of understanding on June 17, according to a new report from the Jewish Institute for National Security of America.

The findings come as President Donald Trump announced on Monday that the U.S. would reimpose its naval blockade on Iranian ports effective July 14 at 4 p.m. ET, with an added 20% U.S. toll on all shipping through the strait. 

The U.S. had lifted the blockade last month upon the signing of the MOU with Iran, at which time the Trump administration also issued a waiver that allowed the sale of Iranian oil. That waiver was revoked last week in response to Iranian attacks on shipping vessels in the strait, but the damage, JINSA says, was already done.

The JINSA report, published on July 8, found that once the initial maritime blockade was lifted mid-June, the Iranian regime “rushed to export its oil at the first opportunity.” Shipping data analyzed in the report indicates that Iran exported 50 million barrels of crude within the first two weeks after the blockade was lifted. By early July, total exports under the temporary truce topped 55 million barrels, netting the regime more than $4.5 billion.

Before the conflict, Iran typically exported between 47 million and 50 million barrels in a single month, averaging roughly $3.05 billion in revenue, according to the report. Because the U.S. waiver allowed Iran to sell its crude at standard market prices rather than the heavily discounted rates it usually relied on to bypass international sanctions, the regime pulled in 47% more cash in the 22 days following the MOU than it normally did in an entire month before the war.

Tehran has simultaneously maintained a tight grip on the Strait of Hormuz that has severely constrained broader global shipping, in what the report describes as a “bad omen for the future of maritime security in the Middle East — and U.S. deterrence of Iran.” 

Daily global transit through the Strait of Hormuz fell from 15 million barrels of crude oil per day before the war to 4.8 million barrels per day during the first week after the MOU was reached — less than a third of normal volumes. By contrast, Iran managed to export 5 million barrels of its own crude oil per day during that same week. 

Beyond standard oil sales, the report notes that Iran maintained an aggressive financial squeeze on foreign vessels transiting the region. Citing Israeli media reports, the report said Iranian authorities blocked commercial oil tankers from passing through the Strait of Hormuz unless they paid a transit fee of up to $2 million per vessel. 

Tracking data from the shipping analytics firm Kpler suggests that these unauthorized checkpoints generated roughly $300 million in extra revenue for Tehran, directly violating the agreement’s terms guaranteeing free passage for international trade.

President Donald Trump declared on Monday that the U.S. will take control of the Strait of Hormuz and said Washington will institute a 20% fee on all cargo passing through the waterway “for any and all costs necessary to do the job of providing safety and security to this very volatile section of the World.”

“The Hormuz Strait is OPEN, and will remain OPEN, with or without Iran,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “The U.S.A. will be, from this point forward, known as ‘THE GUARDIAN OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT,’ but as such, and as a matter of FAIRNESS, will be reimbursed, at the rate of 20% on all cargo shipped.”

Trump’s comments came after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced on Sunday that the strait was considered closed until further notice. 

Trump also said he is reinstating the U.S. blockade on Iran, which had been lifted as part of the memorandum of understanding signed between the two countries last month. The blockade will once again prevent “Iran’s ships or customers from entering or leaving,” he said. “All other countries will have fair and open use of the Strait.”

Earlier on Monday, Trump said during a “Fox & Friends” interview that “we’re going to keep the strait, and we’ll probably run it.” 

Trump has declared the MOU, which said Iran would oversee arrangements for ships transiting the key waterway, as finished.

“We had a deal. It was a done deal, and then they broke it. They always break it,” Trump said of Iran on Monday, declaring his intent to “hit them very hard.” The U.S. struck Iranian targets near the strait on Sunday night after Iran hit a Cyprus-flagged container ship, prompting Iran to fire barrages of drones and missiles at Qatar, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. 

Iran has attacked several commercial tankers this month for traversing the strait through “unauthorized routes.”

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps said that normal shipping traffic can only resume if the U.S. ends its military involvement in the strait entirely, according to Iranian state media. 

As President Donald Trump returned to Washington on the first Sunday of the new year, he was joined by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who had traveled to the president’s Mar-a-Lago estate a day earlier to be with Trump after he ordered the operation that deposed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

Graham, 71, had been encouraging Trump since returning to office last January to take a more aggressive posture toward the Maduro regime, and vigorously defended the president’s decision to launch a series of strikes targeting Venezuelan boats that the Trump administration alleged were carrying drugs meant to reach U.S. soil. By late October, he was calling on Maduro to flee Venezuela and cede power as tensions between Trump and the dictator escalated. 

During an impromptu press conference aboard Air Force One, Trump and Graham defended the merits of the operation and predicted that the Cuban regime was likely to fall as a result of the mission. The South Carolina senator, one of the most hawkish Republican lawmakers on foreign policy, grinned as he heralded the mission as a success.

“When I was on Air Force One with the president flying back and we did that news conference, if you thought I was smiling big on the outside, you have no idea how much I was smiling on the inside,” Graham told Jewish Insider in an interview shortly after arriving in Washington with the president. “This is the best time in my political life because I’ve aligned myself with the strongest president in modern times. We’re getting results that are making this world safer and America more prosperous.”

By that time, more than 10 years after rejecting Trump’s candidacy and decrying him as a “race-baiting, xenophobic bigot” whose rhetoric would “kill my party,” Graham had become one of the president’s closest allies in the Senate and a close confidante on foreign policy matters.

“This is what happens when you stay in his orbit, realizing there’s far more good than bad and understanding that this man has magic that nobody on the planet has,” the South Carolina senator told JI. “It’s not so much that I’m on a roll. It’s the fact that talking with President Trump, he is embracing policies that he calls common sense, and the small part I play on the end of this, I’m so proud of.”

Following Graham’s sudden passing this weekend, Trump somberly reflected on the loss of his friend, political confidante and golfing partner, praising the late senator for his political acumen and his patriotism in a pair of media interviews and two social media posts.

“He’s a tough one to lose. He was great. He was unique in every way, actually,” Trump told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday morning of Graham. “He was really a worker. … He was a great politician, actually.”

“He was such an advocate if he wanted to get something. He had a unique ability, he was able to deal with Democrats. If I had a problem, a real problem, I wouldn’t often ask, but if I had a problem with a Democrat, he could work it out,” he continued. “There was nobody like him. He loved being a politician, and he was going to win his election [in November for a fifth Senate term]. … He just had it made.” 

Graham passed away on Saturday evening after returning from a congressional delegation that included stops in Kyiv, Ukraine, and Ankara, Turkey, for last week’s NATO summit.

The South Carolina senator arrived to his Capitol Hill townhome late Saturday afternoon and began making phone calls to Republican political allies in the early evening about legislative business, developments in the Middle East and to share details of his recent trip, according to two sources with direct knowledge. 

One of those calls was to the president. Another was to Morgan Ortagus, the former deputy presidential envoy for Middle East peace in the second Trump administration and one of Graham’s closest confidantes in Washington. The president said that Graham mentioned being “tired” during their conversation, but noted that “he was fine” and expressed shock at his sudden passing. Ortagus told JI on Sunday afternoon that Graham was upbeat during their final conversation, expressing optimism that Trump was coming around on supporting his Russia sanctions bill and with resuming military operations in Iran. 

“Nobody was expecting this. That’s for sure. Not even Lindsey was, or he wouldn’t have been running for another term,” Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND), who has had close relationships with both Graham and Trump, said of the senator’s sudden passing. “When a person cuts as wide a swath as Lindsey cuts, it is shocking. It will take some time to process the reality of it. It should really hit on Monday when we show up for work.”

It came as a shock to Trump, Ortagus and everyone else in Graham’s orbit when his office announced his passing in the early hours of Sunday morning, which the Washington D.C. medical examiner’s office, in a preliminary autopsy report, attributed to aortic dissection caused by arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

“He was extremely jazzed up in our last conversation. He had just gotten off the phone with the president, and he was super excited about the Russia sanctions bill and the president deciding to go back into Iran,” Ortagus told JI. “He could not have been happier when I spoke to him last night. He was in the best mood and in a great place. He spoke about how he felt like he was doing consequential work.”

“Nobody was expecting this. That’s for sure. Not even Lindsey was, or he wouldn’t have been running for another term,” Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND), who has had close relationships with both Graham and Trump, said of the senator’s sudden passing. “When a person cuts as wide a swath as Lindsey cuts, it is shocking. It will take some time to process the reality of it. It should really hit on Monday when we show up for work.”

Asked about his phone call with Graham during his “Meet the Press” appearance — on which Graham had been scheduled to appear — Trump said, “I just can’t believe it. He was like a member of the family to me. It’s very tough, actually. It’s amazing.”

Trump and Graham formed an unlikely relationship over the course of the first Trump administration, finding common ground with the establishment of the Abraham Accords and the confirmation of the president’s Supreme Court nominees. 

Graham briefly broke with Trump in the immediate aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, condemning the attack and recognizing Biden’s 2020 victory. But within months, Graham was regularly visiting Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., and publicly urging his party to rally around the president’s bid for a second term in 2024. 

“He genuinely had a fantastic relationship with President Trump. They really actually liked each other a lot. I think Trump was his best friend in many ways,” Ortagus said. “He loved the president. It was genuine. They were incredibly good friends.”

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Graham got to know each other as members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and on the presidential campaign trail in 2016. The two developed a close working relationship in the last decade, finding common ground on economic and foreign policy issues that pitted them against the expanding populist wing of the GOP. 

Speaking to JI on Sunday, Cruz said that Graham and Trump “became close friends. Lindsey would call the president early in the morning, late at night and at every hour in between. And the president listened to him. He didn’t always agree, but he trusted him and he knew that Lindsey was speaking from the heart.”

“[Senate Majority Leader] John Thune (R-SD) is going to miss him terribly. Donald Trump is going to miss him terribly,” Cramer told JI. “It confounds them, MAGA world. They love Donald Trump and can’t stand Lindsey Graham, so they’re befuddled by the relationship.”

Cramer noted that Trump has developed political alliances with several former critics, the most notable example being Vice President JD Vance, who was similarly disapproving of the president during the 2016 election. Like Graham, the vice president became an avid defender of Trump during the president’s first term. 

While both men found their way into the president’s orbit, they remained on opposing sides of the conservative movement, with Vance becoming one of the leading GOP voices wary of U.S. military engagement abroad and Graham emerging as a leading force behind the effort to maintain an engaged foreign policy. 

“With Lindsey, he was talented,” Cramer said. “He was bright and he knew things that a lot of people don’t know. He had a historical perspective a lot of people don’t have. He had a Rolodex that’s probably in several languages, and he called you from all kinds of time zones. You never knew where he was when he called.”

Despite having those conservative detractors, following his death, Graham was lauded for his humor, his friendship and his public and private support for Trump by those in the president’s orbit — including Vance and other prominent Trump administration officials who were not often ideologically aligned with the late senator.

“Early in my Senate tenure, I remember getting into a shouting match with Lindsey about a Ukraine funding bill at lunch and then learning the very next day that he was pushing rail legislation I really cared about behind the scenes,” Vance wrote on X. “That was Lindsey Graham. He fought like hell for the things he believed in, and he was just as willing to go to bat for you when it counted.”

“Lindsey had the best sense of humor in the Senate. He loved the game of politics. He was constantly asking which races were up and down, and how he could help,” the vice president continued. “As he liked to say, ‘I don’t care if you’re an isolationist or a religious fanatic, so long as you have an R next to your name, I want you to win.’ We certainly had our disagreements. But I couldn’t help but like him. A one of a kind figure in our politics.”

Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff for policy and a longtime Trump advisor, described Graham as a cherished ally to the president in implementing the administration’s policy goals and spoke of telling the late senator “what his friendship meant to me and to us all.”

“I cannot describe to you how much joy President Trump’s leadership and friendship brought to Lindsey,” Miller wrote on X. “Meetings with Graham at the White House were filled with camaraderie, kinship and uproarious laughter.”

“The fact that Lindsey started out as a political opponent only to become one the President’s most steadfast and faithful supporters underscores that Lindsey believed emphatically in the voice of the people,” he explained. 

Miller described Graham as “a senator’s senator” and praised his ability to “move a room,” calling it “a glorious thing to witness.”

Sander Gerber, the CEO of Hudson Bay Capital and the architect of the Taylor Force Act, the passage of which Graham championed, told JI, “Lindsey was a maverick. He didn’t care about convention. He cared about doing what was right. When Lindsey set his mind to something, he was going to deliver on it, and he had a keen sense of the politics to be successful at that. He should be remembered as one of the greatest champions for Israel among members of Congress.”

“As heartbreaking as his sudden passing is, I hope it will bring some measure of comfort to those who cherished him to know just how much he was living his dream every day,” Miller said. “Very rarely in life do you get to be exactly where you want to be, when you want to be there, with who you want to be with, doing precisely what you want to do — that was every moment for Lindsey.”

Many of those who spoke about Graham after his passing described the South Carolina Republican, who spent more than two decades in the Senate, as a professional at navigating choppy political waters 

“He wasn’t just a good talker, he had depth,” Cramer said. “He knew what the hell he was talking about. He had interesting insights.”

Sander Gerber, the CEO of Hudson Bay Capital and the architect of the Taylor Force Act, the passage of which Graham championed, told JI, “Lindsey was a maverick. He didn’t care about convention. He cared about doing what was right. When Lindsey set his mind to something, he was going to deliver on it, and he had a keen sense of the politics to be successful at that. He should be remembered as one of the greatest champions for Israel among members of Congress.”

“In order to get things done in Congress, to actually make a difference, you need to have the relationships,” Gerber said. “Lindsey was able to cultivate those relationships, and that’s what enabled him to get things done. There are 100 senators, but he was able to get his voice to stand out and to drive policy forward.”

Republicans and Democrats alike predicted Graham would be remembered as a legendary American political figure known for his ability to take political risks and find common ground in unexpected places. 

“There was not a fight on domestic or foreign affairs that he didn’t want to jump into,” Ortagus said of Graham. “If he believed in an issue and believed that a particular policy was the right thing, he really didn’t care about the politics. Ultimately, he wouldn’t change what he believed was right based on politics, and that’s in very short supply politically right now.”

Ret. Gen. David Petraeus, the former director of the CIA and head of U.S. Central Command, told JI that Graham’s legacy would be “that of someone who was fiercely committed to the enduring principles, values and freedoms that we cherish, and who had the political skills and determination to see what he supported promoted by legislation, policies and strategies.”

“Sen. Graham’s dedication to the state of Israel and to the Jewish people was deeply sincere. We talked about it all the time. I went to Israel with him many times,” said Morgan Ortagus, the former deputy presidential envoy for Middle East peace in the second Trump administration and one of Graham’s closest confidantes in Washington. “He was a Southern Baptist and believed in the importance of the Jewish state to his core, and was willing to defend it.”

“I think he would be pleased to hear me say that he was not just adept, but was diabolically creative when necessary to achieve the outcomes to which he was committed,” Petraeus said.

Many of Graham’s allies said they expect his longstanding support for Israel and his commitment to aiding Ukraine in Russia’s war against it to be signature pieces of his foreign policy legacy.

“Sen. Graham’s dedication to the state of Israel and to the Jewish people was deeply sincere. We talked about it all the time. I went to Israel with him many times,” Ortagus said. “He was a Southern Baptist and believed in the importance of the Jewish state to his core, and was willing to defend it.”

“We talked a lot in the past year about the rise of antisemitism and anti-Zionism in both parties. He was very close to my daughter and she called him ‘Uncle Lindsey,’” she continued. “I would always remind him that I have a Jewish daughter and that throughout our history, the Jewish people have always thought we were safe until we weren’t.”

Ortagus said she and Graham “agreed that we have to fight antisemitism back in our party, that it can’t be allowed to fester. He would always talk about how important it was. He had deeply held personal beliefs on what America’s relationship with Israel should be. There was nothing cynical or craven about it.”

Cruz described Graham as “a passionate and formidable defender of Israel” and noted that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “trusted Lindsey and listened to him.”

“Lindsey loved the nation of Israel. He loved the people of Israel, and he believed ferociously in defending and strengthening America’s friendship and alliance with Israel,” the Texas senator said of his late colleague. “Now, Lindsey would sometimes tell his friends messages they didn’t want to hear. Lindsey was not one to just blow smoke. He would tell people exactly what he thought, but that made him an incredibly effective advocate for Israel.”

“Lindsey understood that standing with Israel is overwhelmingly in America’s national security interests,” he continued. “He and I collaborated very closely on articulating why standing with Israel makes America safer, that the enemies of Israel, whether Hamas or Hezbollah or Iran, are the enemies of America as well.”

Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) credited Graham with doing “a masterful job of pulling” senators from across the ideological spectrum “in the same direction” in the immediate aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel, swiftly organizing a bipartisan congressional delegation alongside former Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) to Israel, Saudi Arabia and Egypt as he sought to salvage his longstanding efforts to achieve Saudi-Israeli normalization. 

“It was an incredible trip, and all of us said it was just one of the most consequential, constructive trips we’d ever been on,” Coons told JI. “[Sen.] Katie Britt (R-AL) came on the trip. It was one of her first trips as a senator, I think. Think about the range of members who we had. We had [Sens.] Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Dan Sullivan (R-AK) in the same meeting.”

“Even though it was two weeks after Oct. 7 and it was in the middle of that shock, he knew what he was doing,” Coons continued. “He was building a coalition of supporters for the deal that he was hoping he could pull off.”

Coons was one of several people to point to Graham’s well-documented friendships with the late Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT), known as the Senate’s “three amigos,” as an important part of his legacy. 

“I think he continued McCain’s legacy of fighting for freedom, and he never gave up on the possibility of ending the Arab-Israeli conflict,” Coons said. “That was his prize.”

“He was not afraid to be critical and he was never uncritical of friends. He believed that friends owe it to each other to try to enable them to do better,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said. “He had a vision, which was in effect the normalization of relationships throughout the Middle East, an extension of the Abraham Accords. He pursued it relentlessly.”

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), who maintains a similarly bipartisan reputation in Congress, worked with Graham frequently on foreign policy matters. Blumenthal began traveling abroad with Graham in 2012, two years after being elected to the Senate. Their first trip together was a congressional delegation to the Middle East organized by McCain. The two traveled repeatedly to Ukraine and its European neighbors since Russia’s invasion, and to the Middle East since Oct. 7. 

“He loved the Jewish people and he loved the Jewish state, which was so striking to me when I first traveled with him and John McCain to Israel,” Blumenthal told JI. “He and McCain loved the faith of the Jewish people, which of course is so much a part of life in Israel, but Sen. Graham also loved Israel’s ingenuity and inventiveness and the prowess and scrappiness of its military.”

“He was not afraid to be critical and he was never uncritical of friends. He believed that friends owe it to each other to try to enable them to do better,” he continued. “He had a vision, which was in effect the normalization of relationships throughout the Middle East, an extension of the Abraham Accords. He pursued it relentlessly.”

On the Taylor Force Act, Gerber noted that he convinced Graham to push for the Palestinian Authority to end its controversial payment program to Palestinian terrorists and their families, also known as “pay-for-slay,” after showing the senator video footage of the Palestinian Authority celebrating the terrorist who murdered Taylor Force, a U.S. army veteran killed by a Palestinian while visiting Israel in 2016.

“I’d shown this to many other senators, but no one was as upset as Lindsey. I remember him shaking when he saw the footage,” Gerber said. “Originally, I just wanted to educate Congress about what was going on, so I was trying to meet with as many members as I could to let them know the Palestinian Authority had this institutional infrastructure in place.”

Leading Jewish and pro-Israel organizations praised Graham in statements on his passing as a champion for the Jewish state and in the fight to combat rising antisemitism. 

“For more than two decades in the United States Senate, his voice was a constant reminder that a strong Israel is firmly in America’s national security interest, and his commitment to these principles never wavered,” AIPAC said. “His many visits to Israel and his love for the Israeli people reflected not just a policy position, but a deep personal connection to the Jewish state and its citizens.”

The American Jewish Committee described the late senator as “a powerful advocate for many of the issues AJC champions, including American global leadership, Israel’s security, a robust North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and Ukraine’s defensive fight against Russian aggression.”

AIPAC called Graham “a great friend and true champion of the U.S.-Israel relationship.”

“For more than two decades in the United States Senate, his voice was a constant reminder that a strong Israel is firmly in America’s national security interest, and his commitment to these principles never wavered,” the organization said. “His many visits to Israel and his love for the Israeli people reflected not just a policy position, but a deep personal connection to the Jewish state and its citizens.”

The Republican Jewish Coalition released a statement from Matt Brooks, the organization’s CEO, and former Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN), the organization’s national chairman, describing the late senator as “a dear friend” to both men personally and the organization as a whole. 

“On a personal level, Lindsey was a man of deep loyalty, humor, and heart. He treated everyone, ally or adversary, with warmth and respect, and he built friendships across the aisle that many said were impossible in today’s Washington,” the statement read. 

The GOP senator’s slow embrace of Trump earned him criticism from constituents and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. As a former conservative House lawmaker who had fought the rise of the Tea Party movement in the early 2010s, Graham had built a reputation as a defense hawk with a penchant for bipartisanship when Trump was first elected in 2016. 

Some Democrats were angered by his political pivot, especially during and after the first Trump administration, but Graham maintained strong relationships with his Democratic colleagues and continued working with them frequently on efforts to support Ukraine and other areas of agreement. 

“He deeply, genuinely loved the Senate. He tried really hard to do positive things for the institution at the same time that he was a fierce partisan,” Coons said of Graham. “Our fight over Kavanaugh was one of the worst I’ve ever had.”

Another of those Democrats is Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), who became close with Graham in the two-and-a-half years since the Oct. 7 attacks. Graham and Fetterman, whose decision to vocally support Israel amid declining support in the Democratic Party prompted his relationship with the progressive left to collapse, frequently engaged on foreign policy matters, especially related to developments in the Middle East. 

Fetterman described Graham to JI as “warm, friendly and thoughtful” and called his passing “a tragedy.” 

“Israel lost a huge champion with Lindsey Graham,” the Pennsylvania senator said. 

Libertarian and isolationist Republicans, meanwhile, grew frustrated that such a hawkish voice was being consulted so closely on foreign policy matters in an America First administration. 

“There should be a law that Lindsey Graham can only enter the White House every other week, and that he’s only to meet with under mid-level people, not the president. No more golf outings,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), a foe of Graham’s in the Senate Republican Conference who opposed the president’s actions in Venezuela, told reporters in January. 

Across the political spectrum, those who knew Graham described him as an irreplaceable fixture in the Senate and predicted that his loss would cause many voids in the upper chamber, where the late senator was supposed to take over as the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee next year.

“He links so many things and so many people that without him, there’s a missing link in a lot of relationships between Middle Eastern countries between members of the Senate, between Budget Committee members and leadership, between the Republicans and Democrats,” Cramer said of Graham’s expansive presence in the Senate. “We’ll find out the consequences of losing him in time like this soon, but it’ll be hard to navigate to be sure.”

“I don’t know who can play this role going forward. I just don’t see it,” Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) said. “He’s just not replaceable. There’s not going to be anyone like him again.”

Cruz told JI that, “nobody will fill that void” left by Graham’s absence, citing the respective impacts of McCain and the late Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) to the upper chamber. 

“When John McCain passed away, that was a void that was never filled. When Orrin Hatch, another longtime legend of the Senate, passed away, that was a void that was never filled,” Cruz said. “Nobody will fill Lindsey’s shoes. Others will step up and lead in different ways, but Lindsey left an indelible mark on the Senate, on the nation and on the hearts of his colleagues.”

“I don’t know who can play this role going forward. I just don’t see it,” Coons said. “He’s just not replaceable. There’s not going to be anyone like him again.”

The director general of Israel’s Ministry of Defense, Maj. Gen. (res.) Amir Baram, urged Israelis on Wednesday to understand Washington’s perspective as the U.S. and Israel negotiate the next memorandum of understanding, cautioning against judging American policy through a purely “provincial lens.”

“What some in Israel perceive as weakness or folly, an apparent disregard for every warning sign on the ground, is viewed in Washington as cold, calculated and clear-eyed risk management in an era of shifting global attention,” he said at the annual Herzliya Conference at Reichman University. 

The divergence between the two allies, he concluded, is not a misunderstanding of the fundamental threat, but rather a byproduct of different national security priorities.

“For us, Iran is an existential threat; for the United States, it is a chronic regional challenge, while China and the Indo-Pacific theater remain the core concern,” Baram said. “We think Tehran, they think Taiwan.”

“At the same time, based on my deep familiarity with the range of views within the American system, if there is one thing Americans hate more than this war that has dragged on for them, it is losing a campaign they have already won,” he added of the conflict with Iran.

Ultimately, Baram asserted that as Washington increasingly operates under an “America First” framework, the historic bilateral relationship must pivot toward concrete, mutually beneficial strategic dividends.

“Our partnership cannot rest on shared values alone. It must also rest on hard interests: a strong, independent, and proactive Israel that stabilizes the Middle East is the very asset that allows the United States to redirect resources toward Asia,” Baram stated. “This is the foundation of the next memorandum of understanding on security cooperation now being formulated. The agreement will need to generate security, economic, and strategic benefits for both countries for years to come.”

The director general also noted that he understands the differing strategic realities in Washington, including a growing American desire to avoid prolonged Middle East entanglements while prioritizing competing global theaters.

“From the Pentagon’s perspective, with American munitions stretched between supporting current wars and preparing for a potential confrontation in the Taiwan Strait, a prolonged war in the Middle East runs counter to America’s global posture,” Baram observed.

Baram emphasized that the war with Iran has fundamentally transformed Jerusalem’s strategic military calculus, warning that an escalating Iranian threat necessitates a sweeping, expanded regional security alliance.

“The war has sharpened, for every actor in the region, the price of Iran’s military buildup,” Baram said. “It has created a shared interest in forging a broader alliance, from India through the UAE to Greece and Cyprus. Israel’s strengths in technology, proven operational experience, and defense innovation, combined with the Gulf’s financial power, could enable a new security-economic front.”

Baram said that building these alternative multilateral partnerships is “not a substitute” for Israel’s bedrock security relationship with the United States. Rather, he argued, the strategy allows Israel to “broaden its room to maneuver and its standing on the international stage, and allow us to diversify our strategic footing.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled to Washington in early February 2025 with a pitch for President Donald Trump: to join Israel in a future campaign to bomb Iran’s nuclear sites. Trump did not agree at the time, though he eventually came around to the idea.

Two powerful White House figures were particularly skeptical of Netanyahu’s message. 

The first was Vice President JD Vance, who has been calibrating a more isolationist worldview for years. The second, according to a new book by New York Times journalists Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, was White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. 

Their new book, Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump, paints a picture of Wiles as a savvy operator with sharp political instincts who, on Middle East policy matters, routinely aligned with Vance in urging Trump to reconsider major foreign policy interventions. 

After that first meeting between Trump and Netanyahu, Wiles and Vance were both skeptical of Israel’s efforts to persuade the president. They feared that any involvement from the U.S. military could “spiral into an Israeli regime-change war,” according to Swan and Haberman. 

Throughout the first months of Trump’s second term, Wiles and Vance both worried that former Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL), Trump’s pick to be national security advisor, was “too hawkish” and “too sympathetic to the Israeli line,” according to the book. 

Soon, after an embarrassing public scandal in which Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg was added to a group chat with Waltz, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other top national security officials prior to U.S. strikes on Yemen last year, Waltz was removed from that position and nominated to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. 

When Trump convened his Cabinet in early 2026 to consider whether to attack Iran again, after joining Israel in striking Iranian nuclear sites in June 2025, Wiles was once more concerned about the U.S. entering a new global conflict. She worried about “being dragged into another Middle East war,” Haberman and Swan write. Political concerns were top of mind for her — a war in Iran might lead to higher gas prices, which she feared could cost Republicans in the midterm elections this year. 

Ultimately, though, Wiles got on board with the Iran war. 

Wiles, Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump’s other top foreign policy advisors convened in the Situation Room in late February to discuss the matter.

Vance, who was known to oppose the war, spoke first. He told the president that he thought the operation was a bad idea, but he would support Trump.

Wiles was up next. She told Trump that she was on board if Trump felt the operation would protect America’s national security. 

24 hours later, Trump authorized the strikes on Iran. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the ambassadors of Israel and Lebanon signed a framework agreement in Washington on Friday aimed at scaling back Israel’s military presence in Lebanon, where the IDF has established a presence for the last three months as part of its campaign against Hezbollah.  

Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter and Lebanese Ambassador to the U.S. Nada Hamadeh Moawad announced the deal at a press conference with Rubio, following four days of negotiations in Washington during the fifth round of direct talks between Jerusalem and Beirut. 

Under the deal, Israel will withdraw from two “pilot zones,” one north of the Litani river and one in southern Lebanon, and transfer administration of the areas to the Lebanese Armed Forces. 

The preliminary deal between Israel, Lebanon and the U.S. is aimed at enabling a broader agreement in the future, a senior Israeli official told CNN.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the framework agreement as a “major blow to Iran,” emphasizing in a video statement that Israeli forces will maintain their presence in Israel’s security zone in southern Lebanon until Hezbollah is disarmed. 

“Iran is trying to force us into a withdrawal from southern Lebanon by force. In effect, Israel, Lebanon and the United States are telling them: this is none of your business,” Netanyahu said. 

Today is “the beginning of the beginning,” Rubio said at the signing ceremony. “There’s a lot of work ahead. We don’t, in any way, underestimate the difficulty of the task ahead. But we understand the importance of it, how vital it is. And we are honored to play a part in bringing this together.”

Moawad said at the signing that the agreement would be the “first step on the road to restoring Lebanese sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

The announcement comes after months of negotiations and on the heels of the Trump administration signing a memorandum of understanding with Iran and launching a deconfliction mechanism to end the fighting in Lebanon without Israel’s participation.

Lawmakers and Middle East analysts are expressing support for Washington’s reported agreement to help Oman strengthen its maritime intelligence and monitoring of transit through the Strait of Hormuz, saying the move could help secure free access to the critical waterway and deter Iranian influence.

Intelligence Online reported that Oman requested U.S. assistance to strengthen its maritime intelligence and provide surveillance on the Strait of Hormuz to protect shipping during the current ceasefire. The Pentagon received the request last month from the Royal Navy of Oman, sources told the outlet, and Washington has agreed to fulfill it by sending a defense contractor to address the immediate surveillance needs.

Throughout the conflict between the U.S. and Iran, Oman has stated it is maintaining its traditional position of neutrality. However, Washington has heavily criticized Muscat for its ongoing backchannel diplomacy with Tehran, calling on the Gulf nation to sever ties and pick a side. 

U.S. officials have also chided Oman for refusing to directly condemn Tehran for drone attacks on regional infrastructure in the Gulf, and the Trump administration previously threatened military action if Muscat cooperated with Iran to impose fees or controls on shipping in the strait. Oman hosted Iranian officials to discuss the “administration” of the strait as recently as Tuesday.

Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) expressed support for the agreement, assessing that U.S.-Omani cooperation in the strait advances Washington’s interests.

“That would help America,” Kennedy told Jewish Insider. “Therefore, I’m for it. I think it’s great.”

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said that while he did not have independent knowledge of the specifics, he believed closer cooperation is a welcome step.

“Any action that can ensure the strait remains open certainly ought to be welcome,” Blumenthal said. “If the United States can really use Oman’s help, or any other of the Gulf nations, it would be welcome.”

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN), however, struck a more skeptical tone.

“Trust but verify,” Burchett said. “I have a hard time trusting anybody in the Middle East right now, so that’s all I can say.”

When asked whether the joint monitoring arrangement could successfully deter Iranian influence or keep the crucial passageway toll-free, Burchett remarked: “I would be wishful for that.”

“The lines change and they get blurred so fast over there,” Burchett added. “I think there’s a new sense of collaboration over there, because a lot of Muslim-leaning countries supported us in our efforts in Iran, so I think they’re sick of the fighting too.”

Analysts said the arrangement is not unusual given the decades-long U.S.-Oman intelligence partnership, but argued it could help repair the countries’ ties, which were strained during the conflict with Iran.

“It’s perfectly in keeping with the Trump administration’s cognitive dissonance to criticize and cooperate with Oman in the same breath,” Jonathan Ruhe, a director of foreign policy at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, said. “Oman hasn’t been America’s closest Gulf partner, but it long depended on the United States to defend Hormuz against Iran.”

Simon Henderson, a senior fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, argued that “any policy which helps maintain and improve the ties [between the U.S. and Oman] deserves encouragement.”

“The U.S. needs Oman as an ally if it is to make sure that Iran does not dominate the Strait of Hormuz,” Henderson said. “It will be interesting to see whether the current tension is reparable. Oman is very sensitive to U.S. criticism and may well judge that the future represents a different relationship and direction.”

Edmund Fitton-Brown, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, noted that the arrangement yields intelligence benefits for Washington.

“The U.S. will expect to receive all of the intel generated by the Omani navy on the strait,” Fitton-Brown said. “It also keeps Oman, along with Qatar and Pakistan, as a mediator in future conflicts. Above all, the U.S. ability to manage future negotiations and crises in the strait will be enhanced, and it is likely to be able to dictate what stance Oman adopts in such negotiations and crises.”

Fitton-Brown added that while Oman has tried to behave neutrally, its core relationship of trust remains with the U.S. This assistance gives Muscat “reassurance that the U.S. still has confidence in it as an ally masquerading as neutral.”

“[Oman] was worried during the U.S.-Iran conflict that it might be forced to make an overt choice between the U.S. and GCC, which would have antagonized Iran,” Fitton-Brown noted. “Now Oman expects that it will be able to continue its cordial relations with Iran, and continue to host the Houthis, without angering the U.S.”

Ruhe added that the U.S. may be eager to assist due to the Trump administration’s focus on “anything that restores oil flowing from the Gulf and reverses the war’s economic costs here at home.”

Furthermore, analysts emphasized that enhanced surveillance capabilities allow Oman to safeguard its own sovereignty against Iran’s aspirations in the strait.

“Oman probably seeks to ensure that it is at least an equal partner with Iran in arrangements over the passage through the strait,” Henderson said.

Fitton-Brown agreed, noting that the Omanis are “trying to understand the future status of the strait and need all the help they can get.”

“The focus is the Strait of Hormuz, which is likely because of Iranian assertiveness in the strait which infringes upon Omani national security,” Fitton-Brown said. “The Omani navy does not lack capability but is looking for enhancement, particularly in the fields of real-time surveillance and fusion of data from different forms of intelligence collection, including open source. The requirement will be for a training program, which can be provided by a U.S. contractor with an intelligence background.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Voters in Washington, D.C., appeared poised to select Councilmember Janeese Lewis George to be their Democratic nominee for mayor, all but guaranteeing that she will be elected in November to replace Mayor Muriel Bowser, who is not seeking another term after 12 years in office. The race has not been called, but Lewis George leads by more than 15,000 votes with 64% of the votes counted.

Lewis George, a 38-year-old member of the Democratic Socialists of America, ran a campaign powered by local labor unions that was focused on cost-of-living issues and countering President Donald Trump. She is on track to defeat Kenyan McDuffie, a former councilmember who ran on a more pragmatic platform that eschewed DSA’s brand of radical politics. 

The candidates’ views on Israel did not define the race, but they were a throughline in the background. Lewis George filled out a DSA endorsement questionnaire early in the campaign in which she pledged to avoid engaging with “the Israeli government or Zionist lobby groups.” Later, she promised to stand firm in fighting antisemitism while also supporting Palestinian human rights. McDuffie tried to use the comments to appeal to anti-DSA voters and Jewish Washingtonians. 

Lewis George will represent a shift from Bowser, a moderate Democrat who in 2019 led a trade mission to Israel and who regularly addressed the annual AIPAC policy conference in Washington before AIPAC canceled the event after 2020. 

Elsewhere in Washington, Councilmember Robert White was elected in the Democratic primary to serve as Washington’s delegate to Congress, a nonvoting role. He’ll succeed Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, who is retiring after 35 years. 

Aparna Raj, a DSA-backed candidate for D.C. Council, appeared likely to win the Democratic primary for Ward 1, a district that includes the neighborhoods of Adams Morgan and Columbia Heights. She told the D.C. Jewish Community Relations Council in a voter guide released last month that she “will not work with AIPAC or organizations whose mission is to lobby for pro-Israel policies.” 

Meanwhile, it was a short night in Georgia, where Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) quickly claimed victory over former college football coach Derek Dooley in a Senate primary runoff. Collins picked up a last-minute endorsement from President Donald Trump, while Dooley’s backing by Gov. Brian Kemp wasn’t enough to push him to victory.

Collins ultimately finished the race around 10 points ahead of Dooley, a similar margin as in the primary election earlier this year. Dooley dominated in Atlanta and Athens, Ga., home of the University of Georgia, while Collins led around the rest of the state.

Dooley was widely seen as the more moderate and more electable of the two Republicans, as compared to Collins, who has been trailed by a series of scandals. Republicans may struggle to reclaim the seat from Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) with Collins as their standard-bearer in the race.

The race may also present a difficult choice for Jewish voters in the state, many of whom have been frustrated by Ossoff’s leftward turn on Israel issues and repeated votes to block arms sales. Some Jewish Ossoff donors sought, earlier in the cycle, to recruit Kemp to run for the seat.

But Collins might not be a palatable alternative for some Jewish voters, having endorsed a post by an antisemitic X account attacking a reporter for being Jewish. His current chief of staff was also recently revealed to be part of a group chat with several white nationalists, where he discussed his efforts to use his congressional influence to free a Holocaust denying far-right activist from prison. He also opposed the Antisemitism Awareness Act.

Many prominent Jewish conservatives supported Dooley in the primary, but could line up behind Collins for the general, given his consistently pro-Israel voting record in the House.

Already, some commentators are discussing the possibility that a decisive victory by Ossoff in the critical swing state could massively boost the rising Democratic star’s chances in the 2028 presidential primary, should he decide to throw his hat in the ring.

Today’s mayoral primary in Washington, D.C., has not gotten the same kind of frenzied national attention that accompanied recent mayoral contests in New York City, which pitted Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist, against a centrist Democrat, and in Los Angeles, where Republican Spencer Pratt made an insurgent bid against Mayor Karen Bass and Nithya Raman, a Democrat Socialists of America-affiliated councilmember.

Still, there are some similar dynamics in the race in Washington, where DSA member Janeese Lewis George, a District councilmember, faces Kenyan McDuffie, a former councilmember running a more moderate campaign. And, like in New York, divisions over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have surfaced in a way that would once have been unexpected in a municipal election, at least before the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks in Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza. 

Early this year, Lewis George sparked concern among some Jewish Washingtonians when she said in a DSA questionnaire that she would not attend events that “promot[e] Zionism” and that she would avoid engaging with “the Israeli government or Zionist lobby groups.” 

She has since done a degree of damage control — meeting privately with rabbis and pledging at a Jewish candidate forum last month not to exclude people “based on your opinions or feelings on matters here and across the world,” even as she avoided answering a question asking her to clarify her views on Zionism. In March, she said it is not a conflict to support “Palestinian human rights” and to “stand firm in my commitment against antisemitism.” 

McDuffie saw an opening with the DSA endorsement kerfuffle, particularly when talking to Jewish voters, a constituency he has sought to engage. He told Jewish Insider in April that he would not seek the endorsement of DSA or any organization “that requires some sort of divisive pledge to exclude people that are a part of the fabric of the community.” And he has opted not to weigh in on questions about Israel at all, saying it is not the role of a mayor to conduct foreign policy. 

But zoom out, and the candidates’ approaches to Israel and Jewish communal issues were not front and center in the closing days of this race. The campaign has otherwise zeroed in on cost-of-living concerns and a dispute over who will better be able to counter President Donald Trump. 

Last week, Trump waded into the race for the first time when a reporter asked what he thought of a socialist candidate running a “Zohran Mamdani campaign,” referring to the mayor of New York. “I wouldn’t like it,” he said. “Maybe we’d take back Washington and run it on the federal basis. We won’t put up with it.” 

In deep-blue Washington, the threat from Trump has united both McDuffie and Lewis George in doubling down on their opposition to the president and his threat to meddle in local politics, a sensitive topic for the District, which was not allowed by Congress to elect its own government until 1973. 

McDuffie told CNN that the best way to counter Trump is not to give him what he wants (namely, Lewis George): “If you believe Donald Trump is a threat to D.C.’s local autonomy, then the last thing we should do is elect someone whose agenda would make it easier for him to justify federal intervention.”

Lewis George called Trump’s comments “an attack on democracy itself.”

“The people of D.C. elect their mayor, and they want someone who’s going to stand up to Donald Trump,” she said in a recent campaign video. 

Polling in the race has been scarce. A Washington Post poll conducted in late May found Lewis George leading McDuffie by 11 points, with a quarter of voters still undecided. Today’s election is the first open mayoral race since Mayor Muriel Bowser, who is backing McDuffie, was elected 12 years ago. Whoever wins will usher in a new political era for the nation’s capital.

Top Trump administration officials shared new details on Monday about the memorandum of understanding reached by the U.S. and Iran over the weekend, arguing that the new agreement is substantially better than the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and could pave the way for a new relationship between Washington and Tehran.

During an interview with CNBC, Vice President JD Vance said he expects the Strait of Hormuz to be opened immediately “in a toll-free way for the long term.” Vance indicated that he has observed more traffic flow in the strait following the announcement of the deal, but that the way in which the strait fully opens will be determined in technical negotiations. 

“What this agreement does is say to the Iranians that ‘You don’t have access to the money to rebuild that nuclear program, but if you’re willing to give up that program long-term, if you’re willing to accept the inspections and verification regime that’s necessary to give us the confidence you’re never going to have a nuclear weapon, then we want you to be a prosperous country, and we will re-invite you into the community of nations,’” Vance said.

Vance said that Iran has agreed to never develop or procure a nuclear weapon and that the U.S. will ensure its stockpile of enriched material is destroyed, adding that technical talks will determine if U.S. ground troops will observe or play an active role in destroying it. He also argued that the latest MOU differs from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action signed under former President Barack Obama in 2015.

The vice president has stated that Iran’s nuclear program and capacity to enrich uranium have both been devastated by the U.S. and Israeli military campaign. 

“We have comprehensively destroyed their nuclear program, and this agreement is about ensuring that they don’t rebuild it,” Vance said. “The JCPOA was mainly about bribing them to stop the construction or to cease a nuclear program that was already in progress. It’s a very different background, a very different sort of leverage, and I think really a different outcome for the American people.”

Vance also dismissed reports that Iran would receive billions of dollars without the funding being conditioned on the completion of certain steps, a clarification he made during an interview with CBS. 

“When people say that billions of dollars of assets will be released, that’s not true,” Vance said. “What is true is that [there will be] a much better and much more prosperous future if they [Iran] meet the obligations they make in this agreement … that’s one of the things we’re going to work out in the technical talks that will follow the official signing on Friday.”

Vance stressed that the Iranians would attain frozen or other monetary assets only upon meeting verifiable benchmarks. He confirmed that Iran could receive $300 billion in reconstruction funding, as well as $24 billion in frozen assets, but emphasized that the funding would be conditioned on Tehran meeting its obligations.

“It’s set up in such a way where we’re going to have to attach their commitments to deliverables that then are met with economic benefits for the Iranian people,” Vance said on CNN. “On the other hand, if they [Iran] try to rebuild it [their nuclear program] they’re never going to get the financial resources that they would need to rebuild.” 

The vice president said that the U.S. has not expended “a single dollar of sanctions relief or unfrozen assets,” stating that reports otherwise are likely from hardliners “within the Iranian system…in an effort to sell it to certain domestic populations.” 

However, Vance said the U.S. is “open to a lot of things that are on the table.”

“That $24 billion just doesn’t appear anywhere in any of the texts that we’ve talked about with the Iranians,” Vance said. “What we have said is that we’re willing to talk about unfreezing assets, but a much, much bigger deal is un-sanctioning their economy, so long as they make the long-term commitments on the nuclear program.”

When asked whether the agreement would require Iran to halt support for U.S.-designated terrorist groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis, Vance indicated that it would, although the specific wording in the agreement appeared to be vague.

“What paragraph one of the agreement says is effectively that Iran commits itself, just as the United States commits itself, to regional peace and stability and part of that is that the Iranians have to stop funding violent terrorist organizations,” Vance said. “They know that we don’t want them to fund terrorist organizations..and be a source of instability in the region.”

The vice president touted the “level of direct connection” established through the latest negotiations, noting that “the people at the highest levels of the United States government are talking to the people at the highest levels of the Iranian government.”

“This is a very interesting thing about these negotiations, is you see people, both the hardliners, but also the more political people, saying, ‘Our relationship with the United States over the past 47 years has been a mistake. Let’s turn over a new leaf,’” he added.

A senior administration official told reporters on Monday that an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon would not be part of the deal, despite Iranian officials’ insistence that it would be included.

The senior administration official confirmed that nuclear discussions would likely occur first and said the agreement “contemplates” the reduction of U.S. military forces in the region “upon the agreement of a final deal.” However, the official noted that Iran will need to “make some concessions and give up some of their activities and some of their nuclear program.”

A senior U.S. official called out “hardliners on both sides,” saying that they are rooting against “compromise” and “making a lot of noise.”

“There’s a lot of misinformation out there,” the official said. “I think that in any field that I’ve been involved in, I would say nobody roots for the referee. There’s not really a constituency for compromise. So what you’re seeing now is that the hardliners on both sides…we have certain people in the American system who say there’s no deal you could ever do with Iran ever, are obviously making a lot of noise.”

While the full details of the MOU have yet to be released, President Donald Trump indicated on Monday that he expects the document to be made public “sometime after Friday.” 

“I want it to be released because it is a really powerful document,” Trump told reporters during a bilateral meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron on the sidelines of the G7 summit in France. “It is not like the Obama documents.”

However, Trump warned that should the deal fall apart, tensions between the U.S. and Iran could return to “where we started.”

“We have done a great job and hopefully it is going to be a good relationship, and we are going to get along,” Trump said. “If we don’t, we go back to where we started, but I don’t think that is necessary.”

Former George W. Bush administration official Joel Scanlon was announced on Monday as the new president and CEO of the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington. 

The outgoing CEO, John P. Walters, also came out of the Bush administration, where he served as director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. The institute is closely associated with the Republican Party’s hawkish, more interventionist wing, and its slate of experts is considered strongly pro-Israel.

After the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks in Israel, Walters released a statement saying that Hudson “will always stand on the side of Israel.” Hudson has since doubled down on its support for the U.S.-Israel alliance, even as some GOP-aligned groups — such as the Heritage Foundation, one of the most influential conservative think tanks — have recently taken a more isolationist approach to foreign policy.

At the end of the Bush administration, Scanlon served as director of the White House Office of Strategic Initiatives. Scanlon joined Hudson in 2014, moving through several senior roles, including his current position as executive vice president. He will start as president and CEO in January.

Good Monday morning.

In today’s Daily Kickoff, we look at how the ceasefire agreement between the U.S. and Iran announced yesterday is playing in Washington and Jerusalem, and report on how officials in World Cup host cities are addressing security concerns around the Iranian national team’s U.S. matches. We profile former White House official Hagar Hajjar Chemali as she launches the Lebanon-Israel Peace Alliance, and spotlight the GOP Senate runoff taking place tomorrow in Georgia. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Tony Blair, Sen. Mitch McConnell and Brig. Gen. Hisam Ibrahim.

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

What We’re Watching

• President Donald Trump is traveling to France today for the G7 after attending last night’s UFC fights at the White House as part of the U.S.’ America 250 celebrations. On the South Lawn last night, the president was seen kibbitzing with a number of high-profile names in business and entertainment, including David Ellison and Mark Zuckerberg. Read more here.
• Former Vice President Mike Pence will speak at a members-only event at the National Press Club tonight as part of the NPC Headliners series.
• In Israel, Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi is meeting with senior Israeli officials today. Abdullahi arrived in Israel yesterday after several days in the United Arab Emirates.
• Sens. Rick Scott (R-FL) and Ashley Moody (R-FL) are slated to host a press conference in St. Petersburg, Fla., alongside the Justice Department’s Leo Terrell opposing the use of taxpayer dollars for two upcoming Kanye West concerts slated to take place in Tampa later this month.
• In New York, Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) and former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander will face off tonight in a PIX11 televised debate.
• The Jewish Council on Public Affairs’ two-day national summit concludes today in New York.
• Elsewhere in New York, Join Israel is hosting a fundraiser at Midtown Manhattan’s Jerry Orbach theater featuring a bevy of Broadway stars, including a performance by Tovah Feldshuh. Proceeds from the event will benefit at-risk children in Israel.

What You Should Know

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S s

A year and a day after Israeli fighter jets first opened fire above Iran, setting off a year of intermittent fighting and numerous failed negotiations, President Donald Trump announced on Sunday that an agreement with Iran to end the war had been reached. A signing ceremony set for later this week in Switzerland — which is expected to be attended by Vice President JD Vance — will kick off a 60-day negotiation period to address Iran’s nuclear program and U.S. sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

For Americans, the deal closes a chapter that saw high gas and food prices as well as schisms in the GOP as the party’s wings fought over how the war should be fought and ended. Among Democrats, legislators and activists from the party’s progressive wing — from Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) to the National Iranian American Council’s Trita Parsi (who additionally gloated, “Netanyahu failed!”) — praised the deal.

But Israel was not part of the negotiations, nor did it have final say in what was in the agreement inked between Washington and Tehran. As the Is were dotted and Ts were crossed on the agreement, tensions between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — already on display following Israel’s threatened escalation last week in Beirut, followed by an actual escalation on Sunday when Israel struck Beirut’s Dahiyeh neighborhood — deepened.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said on X on Sunday that he was “somewhat concerned” that Iran’s account of the U.S.-Iran ceasefire deal diverges sharply from what the U.S. negotiators are claiming, and demanded Vice President JD Vance personally present the deal to Congress. More below.

The vice president, who two months ago traveled to Pakistan for high-level negotiations with Iranian officials, has increasingly become the public face of the Iran talks. In an interview last week that aired yesterday on “CBS Sunday Morning,” Vance said he believed “that we are in a position to get a deal that is good for the United States economically and that really does deal with the Iranian nuclear program” in the long term.

For Vance, the success or failure of the deal, and of the negotiations to follow, could become one of the defining political issues of his rumored 2028 presidential bid — one in which he will likely find himself up against Secretary of State Marco Rubio in what could be a bruising primary.

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

FINE PRINT

Graham demands administration present the Iran deal to Congress

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said on Sunday he is “somewhat concerned” that Iran’s account of the U.S.-Iran ceasefire deal diverges sharply from what the U.S. negotiators are claiming, and demanded Vice President JD Vance personally present the deal to Congress, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

Notable quotable: “I am somewhat concerned that Iran’s view of the agreement seems different than what the American negotiating team is claiming,” Graham said on X. “I look forward to reviewing the final product and I believe it is imperative that the architect of the deal, Vice President Vance and his negotiating partners, be part of the process in presenting the final deal to Congress.”

Read the full story here.

SHARE

Share options

• 
  Facebook
• 
  Telegram
• 
  LinkedIn
• 
  WhatsApp
• 
  Reddit

Add JewishInsider on Google

EYE ON THE BALL

Iran’s World Cup appearance puts security officials on alert

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

Measures taken: The team is not allowed to stay on U.S. soil overnight; it relocated its training camp from Tucson, Ariz., to Tijuana, Mexico, and will return to Mexico after the final whistle of each of its matches. The host cities are already on alert: Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson, a Democrat, said she was briefed on a “credible threat” to the city during the World Cup, which so alarmed her that she decided to turn on CCTV cameras around the soccer stadium for the duration of the games, counter to her longstanding opposition to the surveillance system.

Read the full story here.

SHARE

Share options

• 
  Facebook
• 
  Telegram
• 
  LinkedIn
• 
  WhatsApp
• 
  Reddit

Add JewishInsider on Google

PITCH PERFECT

A Lebanese Zionist’s long-shot bid to reshape the Middle East

Hagar Hajjar Chemali, a self-described “Lebanese Zionist” who is half Jewish and half Christian, is betting that a historic opening can help break through the distrust that has long defined relations between Lebanon and Israel. The former Bush and Obama administration official recently launched the Lebanon-Israel Peace Alliance, an unofficial effort to support the first direct talks between Lebanese and Israeli officials since 1983, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports. 

Unique ability: “It’s about the art of the possible. Lebanese-Israeli peace is not particularly easy to achieve,” said Daniel Glaser, a former assistant Treasury secretary for terrorist financing and financial crimes. He hired Chemali for her first job at the Treasury Department. “What’s going to get it done is the ability to understand what’s possible, and how to get to that possible within the U.S. system, within Israel and the Israeli system, within Lebanon and the infinitely complicated Lebanese system. There’s not a lot of people that have the ability to do that more than Hagar.” 

Read the full story here.

SHARE

Share options

• 
  Facebook
• 
  Telegram
• 
  LinkedIn
• 
  WhatsApp
• 
  Reddit

Add JewishInsider on Google

PEACH STATE RACE

Rep. Mike Collins favored in Georgia runoff against Kemp-backed Derek Dooley

Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA), who has repeatedly faced controversy during his time in the House, appears favored to win the Republican Senate primary runoff in Georgia against Derek Dooley, a former college football coach backed by popular moderate GOP Gov. Brian Kemp, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

State of play: Collins led Dooley 41-30% in the May 19 Republican primary, with Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA) coming in at 25%. The runoff is Tuesday, with the winner to face Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) in November. President Donald Trump endorsed Collins — generally seen as the more MAGA-aligned candidate — late on Saturday, while Kemp — who national Republicans initially sought to recruit for the race — has been aggressively campaigning around the Peach State in support of Dooley. 

Read the full story here.

SHARE

Share options

• 
  Facebook
• 
  Telegram
• 
  LinkedIn
• 
  WhatsApp
• 
  Reddit

Add JewishInsider on Google

SHOW OF SUPPORT

Bernie Sanders to appear with Mamdani’s N.Y. congressional slate

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is set to join a rally in New York City on Thursday with Mayor Zohran Mamdani and a trio of candidates he is backing in closely watched New York City House races, The New York Times reports. The event, which will be held five days before the June 23 primary at the Kings Theatre in Brooklyn, will lend a jolt of momentum to Mamdani’s preferred slate of far-left congressional candidates — including democratic socialists Claire Valdez and Darializa Avila Chevalier, and Brad Lander, a former New York City comptroller who also ran for mayor last election cycle, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.

Zoom out: The senator’s decision to appear at the rally next week is notable in part because he will be aiding Mamdani in his efforts to unseat two Democratic incumbents, Reps. Dan Goldman (D-NY) and Adriano Espaillat (D-NY), who have drawn backlash from the left over their support for Israel and ties to the pro-Israel group AIPAC, a chief source of criticism in the races.

Read the full story here.

SHARE

Share options

• 
  Facebook
• 
  Telegram
• 
  LinkedIn
• 
  WhatsApp
• 
  Reddit

Add JewishInsider on Google

TAX CONSEQUENCES

Treasury guidance offers boost to Jewish groups preparing for new education tax credit

Jewish advocacy groups are celebrating a new set of wonky tax guidelines released last week by the Treasury Department that offer clarity into a new federal education tax credit that they hope will help more Jewish families access day school education, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.

Sneak peek: Education-focused nonprofits have been awaiting guidance from the federal government about the program, which provides a dollar-for-dollar federal tax credit for people who donate up to $1,700 to organizations that fund certain approved education expenses, like private school tuition and tutoring costs. Last week, Kevin Salinger, the Treasury Department’s deputy assistant secretary for tax policy, did a whirlwind tour of virtual briefings with nonprofits to preview the forthcoming new guidance.

Read the full story here.

SHARE

Share options

• 
  Facebook
• 
  Telegram
• 
  LinkedIn
• 
  WhatsApp
• 
  Reddit

Add JewishInsider on Google

Worthy Reads

Losing Battle: The Atlantic’s Tom Nichols posits that the U.S. has lost the war with Iran following President Donald Trump’s announcement that an agreement between the countries had been reached. “But even before we have the details, it is clear that Trump has failed to achieve every one of the goals he put forward for this war of choice, and now he is determined to sign, seal, and deliver America’s capitulation as quickly as possible. … Indeed, the United States has perhaps done worse than gaining nothing. Iran, while temporarily weakened, is now an even more powerful political actor: The regime in Tehran stood up to a massive U.S. onslaught, survived, and then inflicted pain on various states in the Gulf as punishment for going along with Trump’s war.” [TheAtlantic]

Power Broker: The Wall Street Journal’s Benoit Faucon and Summer Said spotlight Ahmad Vahidi, the commander in chief of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, who has played a key role in U.S.-Iran talks. “For months, Vahidi, an enigmatic commander whose predecessor was killed on the first day of the war, has tussled with more public-facing, political figures in the Iranian leadership. Each time, he has come out on top. Vahidi’s position at the top of the regime’s most powerful armed force means his perspective is now shaping Iran’s stance in negotiations to end the war, say mediators involved in the talks. His forces are in charge of imposing Iran’s stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, the regime’s strongest card in negotiations.” [WSJ]

Life of Service: In Sapir, Anne Neuberger, who served as deputy national security advisor for cyber in the Biden administration, calls for the Jewish community to prioritize public service, calling it a “religious imperative” in addition to a civic necessity. “My commitment  —  and that of many of my colleagues  —  to public service was rooted in the spiritual idea that each person has a divine mission that requires channeling her personal gifts toward the public good. For me, that was in the realm of security, but there are so many aspects of public service that have nothing to do with security: law, accounting, engineering, economics, you name it. … The American Jewish community should encourage our children to see a badge, a security clearance, or a civil service ID as a form of kiddush Hashem, a sanctification of God’s name.” [Sapir]

The Art of Erasure: The New York Times’ Sharon Waxman interviews Israeli artists about the challenges they face as anti-Israel sentiment balloons across the arts, largely sidelining Israeli creatives regardless of their political beliefs. “The five I met at the hotel have concluded they can no longer have a good-faith discussion with the outside world since they believe their own survival is at stake. Their reactions struck me as a kind of emotional armor against the judgment of the West. ‘After Oct. 7, you realize you have no one else to trust. We are on our own,’ said the songwriter Aya Korem. … Ms. Korem noted how nearly everyone in Israeli society has been affected by the war. ‘You become humble in front of that and you remember what is important. Your art is the continuation of that. And our moral obligation is to that humility, and to the stories of people who paid actual prices.’” [NYTimes]

Word on the Street

Former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair, who sits on the Board of Peace‘s executive board, is set to take on a larger role in the organization, overseeing postwar management in the Gaza Strip…

A spokesperson for Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said the Kentucky senator was hospitalized on Sunday and is receiving “excellent care”…

The head of the Florida Republican Party said it had rescinded an invitation to far-right gubernatorial candidate James Fishback for the party’s upcoming Sunshine State Showdown as well as “all other official gubernatorial primary activities,” adding, “Racism and antisemitism have no place in our Party”…

Abdul El-Sayed, the far-left Democratic Senate candidate in Michigan, suggested at an event on Friday that the Trump administration had indicted a group of anti-Israel demonstrators at the University of Michigan for their beliefs, rather than their actions, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…

The heir to the Lion Raisins brand was arrested by police in Pacific Palisades, Calif., and charged with making criminal threats to a neighbor who is a rabbi; video shared by the New York Post and its local affiliate appear to show Bruce Lion shouting antisemitic slurs from a balcony that overlooked the rabbi’s property, interrupting gatherings…

Four British activists associated with the Palestine Action group were sentenced to prison terms between four and eight years for their participation in a 2024 raid at an Elbit Systems compound in Bristol that caused more than £1 million in damage at the Israeli defense firm’s facility… 

Fifteen people were arrested amid protests outside a synagogue in the Edgware neighborhood of London that was hosting an Israeli real estate event; more than 1,000 people were estimated to have taken part in the protest and counter-demonstration…

In The Wall Street Journal, Phelim McAleer, who with his wife Ann wrote a play about the survivors of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks, reflects on antisemitism in his native Ireland ahead of “Bloomsday,” an unofficial holiday celebrating author James Joyce’s Ulysses and its main character, a Jewish man named Leopold Bloom…

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz named Brig. Gen. Hisam Ibrahim to serve as the next IDF military secretary; Ibrahim, currently the head of the IDF’s Civil Administration, is one of the most senior Druze officers in the army…

Film critic Gene Shalit, a fixture on NBC’s “Today” show for more than 40 years, died at 100…

Pic of the Day

Israeli President Isaac Herzog met with Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi after the African leader arrived in Israel on Sunday. Abdullahi’s visit comes six months after Israel recognized Hargeisa’s sovereignty, becoming the first country to officially do so.

Birthdays

Chief political correspondent for CNN, born Dana Ruth Schwartz, Dana Bash turns 55…  

Former president of the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Phoenix, Stuart C. Turgel… Former president of the National Rifle Association, Sandra S. (Sandy) Froman turns 77… Ethicist and professor at the University of Chicago Divinity School, Laurie Zoloth turns 76… Internationally recognized authority on Yiddish folk and theater music, Zalmen Mlotek turns 75… Entrepreneur, currently living in Estonia, he rebuilt a synagogue and a community center in Estonia, Alexander Bronstein turns 72… President and CEO of the PR firm Edelman, founded by his father Daniel Edelman in 1952, Richard Winston Edelman turns 72… Chief rabbi of Poland, Rabbi Michael Schudrich turns 71… Israeli Druze politician who served as a member of the Knesset for Likud, Fateen Mulla turns 66… Novelist, screenwriter, teacher and freelance journalist, Jill Eisenstadt turns 63… First woman certified by the NFLPA as a player agent, she is now general counsel for USA Football, Ellen Marsha Zavian turns 63… Director at Citrin Cooperman Advisors, Reuben Rutman… Los Angeles-based attorney, Daniel Brett Lacesa… Former regional director of the ADL based in Los Angeles, now managing member of Abrams Advisors, Jeffrey I. Abrams… Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, now deputy publisher of The Athletic and Wirecutter at The New York Times Company, Clifford J. Levy turns 59… Retired news anchor for Israel Public Broadcasting, she is married to Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, Geula Even Sa’ar turns 54… Former head speechwriter for First Lady Michelle Obama, she is the author of 2025’s As A Jew: Reclaiming Our Story From Those Who Blame, Shame, and Try to Erase Us, Sarah Hurwitz… Ethiopian-born Israeli marathoner, he represented Israel at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Zohar Zimro turns 49… Co-anchor of a CNN global news show, Bianna Golodryga turns 48…  Former chief of staff to Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), Adam Jentleson turns 45… Co-founder of Evergreen Strategy Group, he is a former director of speechwriting for Hillary Clinton and was also the principal collaborator on memoirs published by HRC, Daniel Baum Schwerin… Director of corporate communications and public affairs at Google, Rebecca Michelle Ginsberg Rutkoff… Chief advancement officer at Birthright Israel Foundation, Jaclyn “Jackie” Saxe Soleimani… Senior recruiter at The Carlyle Group, Victoria Edelman Klapper … PBS News correspondent Ali S. Weinberg Rogin… Associate at Affinity Partners, Elli Sweet… Jimmy Ritter… Joel Winton…

Middle East experts warned on Monday that the Trump administration’s attempts to prevent Israel’s military retaliation against Iran and its pursuit of a swift diplomatic breakthrough with Tehran are exposing a fundamental breakdown in strategic alignment between Washington and Jerusalem. This dynamic is actively undermining American leverage and hardening Tehran’s resolve both at the negotiating table and on the battlefield, the analysts argued.

Following an exchange of airstrikes on Sunday and Monday between Israel and Iran, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu abided by a request from President Donald Trump to pause further strikes on Iranian territory. Jerusalem made clear, however, that it will proceed with operations against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon. 

Analysts argued that Trump’s recent moves to restrain Israel are backfiring by degrading U.S. deterrence, emboldening Iran and showcasing the fundamentally diverging interests between Washington and Jerusalem regarding the ultimate outcome of the war.

Speaking at a webinar hosted by the hawkish Jewish Institute for National Security of America, Amb. Eric Edelman, a distinguished fellow at JINSA and former White House official, said that the president’s behavior makes the U.S. appear “desperate for a deal.”

“The president has, over the course of several weeks, basically signaled to the Iranians in multiple ways that he is very reluctant to return to kinetic military activity,” Edelman said. “I think that just continues this pattern of suggesting to the Iranians that he really is very anxious for a deal, and I think that’s actually undercutting his leverage with them because it only leads them [Iran] to harden their positions and makes it harder, not easier, to get a deal.”

Edelman added that Iran has actively sought to “take advantage” of this perceived diplomatic anxiety, taking a “much more forward position defending their proxies in Lebanon than they did earlier when Israel was reducing Hezbollah very significantly.”

Ari Cicurel, an assistant director of foreign policy at JINSA, agreed that the administration’s apparent urgency to reach a deal removes vital military deterrence to back up U.S. diplomacy.

“The president has signaled that he is highly prioritizing reaching some deal, and is willing to restrain Israel in order to do that,” Cicurel told Jewish Insider. “That’s a dangerous scenario, in terms of Iran’s potential for aggression, as well as undermines his own ability to reach that deal, because without the credible threat of a military option, Iran is unlikely to make any concessions that would lead to any semblance of a good deal.”

Cicurel noted that restraining Israel at this juncture is particularly “dangerous” given what is at stake regarding the “potential for resumption of major combat operations.” He cautioned that the moves by the Trump administration represent “another example of tensions between U.S. and Israeli leaders undermining deterrence,” giving Tehran a distinct operational gap to exploit.

Robert Satloff, executive director of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said the recent escalation was similar to April 2024, during which former President Joe Biden “urged Israel to ‘take the win’ of defending against Iranian missiles and not to retaliate.”

“In this instance, as then, Israel politely declined U.S. preferences and responded to the Iranian attack with a carefully calibrated retaliatory strike that quickly led to de-escalation,” he said.

The friction underscores a broadening rift in the wartime goals of the two close partners, experts said. While the White House remains intensely focused on domestic economic issues and regional stability, Jerusalem views the conflict as a historic window to permanently dismantle Iran’s ballistic missile capabilities and regional proxy architecture.

“At this point in the war, Trump and Netanyahu have different interests at play,” Rachel Brandenburg, a senior policy analyst at Israel Policy Forum, told JI. “Trump’s priority is to re-open the Strait of Hormuz to stabilize global energy markets and bring down the price of fuel, and Netanyahu wants to continue degrading Iran’s ballistic missile arsenal and nuclear program.”

Trump, she said, “promised Israel a level of victory over Iran that is far from what has transpired. Trump seems to want the war to end so he can move on, and Netanyahu would prefer the opportunity to finish the job Israel and the U.S. started on Feb. 28.” She added, “Both have election politics in mind, with Israeli elections on the horizon for [the fall] and U.S. midterm elections in November. At the moment the war isn’t helping either of them.”

Brandenburg noted that Trump has aimed to restrain Netanyahu “for some time” across both the Iran and Lebanon fronts, but emphasized that an independent Israeli strike after Iran’s ballistic missile attacks on Israel on Sunday remained necessary, despite Washington’s public calls for a pause. “It would have been too much for Israel to sit tight without responding after Iran targeted Israel directly. Whether Iran continues to strike Israel in retaliation for Israeli strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon may have more bearing on what the next phase of the war looks like than Trump,” she said.

A central point of contention has emerged over the linkage of fighting with Hezbollah in Lebanon to the broader ceasefire with Iran. Experts warn that Washington has mistakenly tolerated an Iranian strategy designed to shield its primary proxy by tying the fighting in Lebanon directly to the broader U.S.-Iran diplomatic track, even as Trump told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday that he is “not demanding” Lebanon be part of a deal with Iran despite saying Tehran “would like to see it.” 

“Clearly before the attacks, Iran had been seeking to tie the Israel-Hezbollah exchange of fire against one another, as well as the diplomacy between them, with the diplomacy and ceasefire in Iran,” Cicurel noted. “In President Trump seeking to restrain Israel after Iran has attacked it, it unfortunately encourages Iran to continue that linkage and further encourages Iranian aggression.”

Satloff said that the latest round of fighting “was won by those who oppose Iran’s protection-racket scheme to bring Lebanon into its security orbit and under the umbrella of broader U.S.-Iran negotiations.”

“What is different between this round and April 2024 is that Iran has no conceivable legitimate justification to take any action against Israel,” Satloff said. “Iran is trying to claim that Israel’s action against other nationals in another country — Hezbollah in Lebanon — legitimizes its action. This is totally unacceptable and cannot be tolerated.”

Edelman similarly noted that despite Israel’s extensive work to combat the network of Iranian-backed proxies surrounding the country, the administration’s pursuit of a swift ceasefire risks breathing new life into a severely weakened Iranian strategy.

“The Iranian strategy of creating a ring of fire around Israel is in shards,” Edelman said. “And I think as the ceasefire went on, as the Iranians perceived the president’s desire for an agreement, they came to believe that they might be able to rescue something.”

However, Edelman noted that the recent spike in violence does not signal that diplomacy is collapsing, explaining that all sides maintain incentives to pursue a deal.

“I don’t think it’s a signal that negotiations are over,” Edelman observed. He pointed out that “the Iranians actually kind of called a halt to this” round of exchanges to limit the blowback.

Edelman said that with the interior minister of Pakistan currently in Tehran, backchannel diplomatic contacts are actively continuing. He also said that “the Iranians are particularly anxious to get access to frozen funds,” but added that it is “a particular sore point” for Trump.

“I believe he [Trump] wants to try to persuade the American public that whatever deal this ends up being is going to be measurably better than the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action that President Obama agreed to in 2015,” Edelman said. “In my view that’s going to be a pretty tall order, but not giving the Iranians access to money before they perform whatever obligations they undertake as part of this deal will be a key part of that.”

The Congressional Dads Caucus is hosting children’s influencer Rachel Griffin-Accurso, better known as Ms. Rachel, as a featured guest at a reception in Washington on Tuesday, according to an invitation obtained by Jewish Insider. Griffin-Accurso has faced scrutiny and criticism over antisemitic activity and for hosting a pro-Hamas Palestinian journalist on her social media accounts.

Griffin-Accurso is one of 10 “special guests,” including “leaders, advocates, creators, entertainers, and changemakers who are helping redefine fatherhood and caregiving in America,” at the Tuesday reception. 

The reception is co-hosted by the Dads Caucus, founded by Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA), to advocate for policies including childcare affordability and accessibility, paid family leave and the child tax credit, ahead of the group’s Dad Ambassador Awards. The event is co-hosted by Equimundo, which describes itself as a nonprofit focused on promoting gender equality and preventing violence.

Gomez, whose office sent the invitation email to staffers for other Dads Caucus members, did not respond to a request for comment.

Griffin-Accurso faced criticism in early 2026 for liking an Instagram comment reading “Free america from the Jews.” She later apologized and said that the “like” was accidental. But she also engaged with conspiracy theories framing the incident as a set-up.

Griffin-Accurso responded, “ooooooooooohhhhh,” to a comment from an anti-Israel account about the incident asserting, “Spoiler alert: They left the comment themselves.”

She also came under fire for featuring Palestinian journalist Motaz Azaiza in a video on her Instagram account. Azaiza defended the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel, and posted a message on Telegram praising Hamas terrorists. He also compared Israeli Cabinet leaders to Adolf Hitler.

Rep. Greg Landsman (D-OH) told JI that inviting Griffin-Accurso to the event was a “bad decision” and he did not plan to attend. Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) also does not plan to attend.

Several other outspoken Jewish and pro-Israel members of the nearly 50-member caucus — which includes prominent moderates like Reps. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) and Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) — did not respond to requests or declined to comment on the invitation.

Caucus membership can often be a largely symbolic gesture and most members of the group would not necessarily have been involved in planning the event or been aware of the guest list.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

An emotional memorial ceremony at the Israeli Embassy in Washington on Monday marking the one-year anniversary of the murders of Israeli Embassy staffers Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky was filled with many tears, some anger and even a few laughs.

Milgrim’s father, Robert, told an assembled crowd of dignitaries, Jewish leaders and D.C. staffers that he was saddened not only by the death of his daughter but by the ways in which her death exemplifies the challenges facing every Jewish community.

“I’m sad, not only because of the tragic loss of our daughter, but I’m sad due to the state of affairs in which Jews live today,” Robert Milgrim said. “We now live in a world where every Jewish institution needs to be protected by an armed guard wearing a bulletproof vest.”

He said that, in the wake of Milgrim’s death, “we have learned the true meaning of what it is to be a Jew, and even though we are scattered across many lands, we are all part of the same family. This family has provided us with the support, with the support that we need now, and for that I say, thank you to everyone here.”

He said that those gathered should honor Milgrim’s work by “doubling down on full, unapologetic bridge-building.”

Milgrim’s mother, Nancy, recounted her daughter’s upbringing as a member of a small Jewish community in Kansas and her growing love for Israel through multiple visits to the country.

“Sarah believed in the work she was doing at the embassy. She believed in bringing peace to the land she loved, and most of all, she loved Yaron,” Nancy Milgrim said. She added that, in spite of the tragedy, she has learned so much about her daughter and connected with those in her life in a way she might not otherwise have the opportunity to.

“Out of this tragic loss, old friendships were renewed and new friendships have been born. Seeds have been planted for many ways to honor Sarah’s memory and continue the work she was doing,” she continued.

Lischinsky’s father, Daniel, thanked the Israeli Embassy for the opportunities it gave the couple “to develop, to show their abilities, to bring them to life. Thank you to each one of you, the friends of them, for your friendship for them, loving them.”

He also thanked Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter for preserving their memory, keeping a photo of the couple in a prominent spot in his office visible in weekly videos he makes.

“We are going through difficult times in Israel and difficult times around the world, and it’s so important, like Bob and Nancy said, to be together, to be a community,” Daniel Lischinsky said. “We feel your support, we feel your love.”

Two friends and colleagues of the couple, Catherine Szkop and Abbie Talmoud, who were present the night of the shooting and narrowly escaped being killed themselves, also addressed the gathered audience.

Szkop was visibly angry during portions of her remarks discussing the “human safari that unfolded” on the sidewalk of the Capital Jewish Museum. She emphasized that it could have happened to anyone present.

“Every single person in this room should think of themselves as passing through this horrific attack. Indeed, it could have happened to you. It could have been your parents, your children, your spouse, your siblings, your grandparents and your friends mourning your death,” she said. “Instead, it was Sarah and Yaron, and it could have very well been Abbie and me too.”

Szkop said that she refuses to “diminish the human nature of those who actively choose to commit these acts of violence” by calling them “idiots, animals or monsters,” which “gives them an excuse or perhaps, even more troubling, the permission to pursue such heinous acts.”

“From the back of Yad Vashem, at the end of the museum, you can see the cemetery where Yaron is buried, while simultaneously hearing from the tour guide how we have moved beyond the times of the Holocaust and the murderous antisemitism of the Nazis and their collaborators,” she continued. “I urge you to reflect on that. Are we really so sure?”

Talmoud offered some moments of levity, describing the start of Milgrim and Lischinsky’s relationship when they first met on the National Mall during the March for Israel in November 2023 and how Lischinsky maneuvered to get Milgrim’s number to send a photo of them together at the rally. She spoke of their lives together, including their shared love of Milgrim’s dog, Annie, and their first Valentine’s Day as a couple.

“Anti-Zionism denies the Jewish people’s right to exist in their homeland. It is antisemitism, and because of anti-Zionism, my friends were murdered on the streets of Washington, D.C., in the name of Palestine,” Talmoud said. “Society has deemed this acceptable and moral. We must change that.”

Leo Terrell, a senior Department of Justice official focused on antisemitism, also broke down in tears when discussing the shooting. He invited his chief of staff, Sarah Goldman, to join him on stage, who was also in tears.

“This memorial has a personal impact on me, because my chief of staff and I were at the crime scene, where we witnessed the aftermath of this murder,” Terrell said. “We are now more committed than ever to fight antisemitism. To the family members: I will never say no to you. Ever.”

Terrell, who said he’s grown close with Lischinsky’s parents in the past year, tightly embraced the parents of both former embassy staffers.

Noa Ginosar, minister counselor for Middle Eastern Affairs at the embassy and Lischinsky’s former supervisor, said that she’s struggled most in moments where she can “so clearly imagine the questions [Yaron] would be asking, and the excitement he would feel as he would try to make sense of it all, and where it could lead.”

“There are still moments when I want his advice, moments when I walk into the office and instinctively expect him to walk through the door, moments when I find myself wanting to sit down with him and talk through a complicated development in the Middle East, or hear about a hidden corner of Washington that only he seemed to know about,” she continued.

Sawsan Natour-Hassan, the minister for public diplomacy and Milgrim’s former supervisor, said that she is still grappling with the loss of the couple, and said she went back to her last WhatsApp messages with Milgrim.

“You were always one step ahead. You had a rare ability to deal with the most complex and difficult challenges, yet still make room for kindness, optimism, and soft diplomacy,” Natour-Hassan said of Milgrim. “More than anything, you gave people hope that tomorrow could be a better day. You were a bright spot in Israel’s darkest and most desolate things.”

Their final message, Natour-Hassan said, was a photo of Milgrim smiling at the AJC event, between Szkop and Talmoud.

Natour-Hassan, who is Druze, also compared Milgrim to another Sarah, a “revered female figure, a righteous Sarah who stands as a symbol of wisdom, faith, peacemaking and resilience” in the Druze religion.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Minister of Foreign Affairs Gideon Sa’ar both addressed the gathering in prerecorded remarks. 

“In the way of blind hatred, they were not targeted as Sarah and Yaron,” Herzog said. “They were reduced to blank symbols, guilty by association, stripped of their individuality and humanity because of their connection to Israel and the Jewish people. Such is the nature of hatred, such is the culture of glorifying death, destruction, and antisemitism towards Israel.”

He called on everyone to follow their legacy of “peace, dialogue and humanity.”

Ahead of the American Jewish Committee’s annual Global Forum conference, which begins in Washington on Sunday, the group’s CEO, Ted Deutch, is reflecting on a significantly transformed landscape — in which, he said, antisemitism has become mainstream in politics and circles of power in alarming ways that seemed to leave the longtime former congressman stunned.

But he also said that AJC has been working on a comprehensive new plan to address the changing manifestations of antisemitism in the current social environment, which it plans to unveil at next week’s conference.

“Antisemitism is unfortunately no longer just on the fringes, but it’s become instrumentalized, it’s become institutionalized in so many ways and amplified in mainstream politics and media and online and at international institutions,” Deutch said during an interview with Jewish Insider in AJC’s Washington offices on Thursday. “The threat of antisemitism has evolved, and I think our response has to evolve as well.”

The former Democratic congressman expressed a sense of frustration and astonishment with the spread and proliferation of antisemitism in recent years, particularly its mainstreaming in political circles and discourse.

“What is astounding to me is the cavalier way in which so many public voices so freely spread dangerous lies about Israel and the Jewish people,” Deutch said.

Deutch said he’s been reflecting on a speech he made on the House floor in 2019 condemning then-newly elected Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) for employing antisemitic tropes. 

He said it was “frustrating” at the time to have to explain to colleagues the history of antisemitism “and why the Jewish community gets to define what they feel threatened by, why others don’t get to impose that on us, and why the use of those tropes over millennia have led to the Jews being attacked and chased out of countries and put in ghettos and the attempted annihilation of the Jewish people.”

Seven years later, Deutch said, “serious political figures” across multiple states in both parties are employing those same antisemitic tropes and worse — spreading conspiracy theories about antisemitic attacks, employing dual loyalty tropes, calling support for a Jewish state inconsistent with American values, sporting a Nazi tattoo, justifying an attack on a synagogue preschool or openly espousing antisemitism — and have constructed a narrative that these are all simply criticism of Israel.

He said that the discourse in mainstream circles has gone well beyond critique of the Israeli government, crossing over into “opposition to the very existence of Israel.”

Deutch said that social media algorithms have played a significant role in mainstreaming hatred, but elected officials are responsible for their own rhetoric and decisions, and have a responsibility to reject antisemitic tropes, rather than playing into them. He pointed to the killings of two Israeli Embassy staffers outside an AJC event in Washington, D.C., a year ago as a consequence of such rhetoric.

“People in public life have a responsibility to understand that the language that they use has real world implications,” Deutch said. “When everyone defaults to accusations of genocide against Israel, that becomes just a political talking point to them. But to people who hear this over and over, and then decide that they’re going to go shoot at and … kill people at Jewish events — they need to think about it in those terms.”

Political leaders, he continued, have a responsibility to create and enforce guardrails for their coalitions as well. He said leaders tolerating antisemitism in the interest of a political “big tent” is unacceptable.

“Whoever is creating the big tent has to be clear about views that are acceptable within the tent, and those that are outside the tent,” Deutch said. “This is not about policy differences. … For thousands of years, we’ve seen what happens when you allow antisemitic tropes to just become part of accepted conversation. We need leaders to speak out against that.”

Those who are only willing to call out antisemitism among their political enemies are “trying to use Jewish fear for political gain,” he added.

Jewish members of Congress, he added, now face legitimate threats to their lives far more frequently than they did when he was in office. “That doesn’t come in the form of some criticism of Israel. These are violent threats against Jews.”

In recent months, calls to end U.S. financial aid to Israel for missile-defense systems have rapidly become mainstream, particularly among Democrats. Deutch argued that that stance reflects a fundamental “hatred of Israel for, sadly, a growing number of elected officials,” emphasizing that the Iron Dome system saves the lives of thousands of Israelis and Palestinians.

He also highlighted the “litmus tests” that political leaders are facing, offering as an example the attacks this week on Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) and calls to exile him from the Democratic Party over Auchincloss’ criticism of Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner’s now-covered tattoo of a Nazi Totenkopf.

“We need a strong democracy where no one is shunned because they have the belief that they should be able to live their lives freely, safely, that they can support the State of Israel without being shunned by others in politics,” Deutch said.

Deutch noted that this year’s Global Forum coincides with both the 120th anniversary of AJC but also the 250th anniversary of the United States. AJC, he said, was founded to pressure the U.S. government to address attacks on Jews in the Eastern European pogroms, and these landmark anniversaries come at a new time of crisis for the Jewish people.

He teased plans for an announcement at the AJC conference of a “significant new initiative” to combat antisemitism that “recognizes the moment we’re in and how antisemitism has evolved,” which has come about as a result of meetings with leaders across various sectors of society in the past year to understand and address antisemitism.

“It’s going to talk about all of the ways that antisemitism manifests itself today, and the institutions that are providing cover for it, the way that politics and politicians have in some cases not only referred to it, utilized it, but leaned into it in ways that are extremely dangerous,” Deutch explained. “More than anything, we’re going to be making the point that security alone isn’t enough, that we have to address the culture and the ideology that are driving antisemitism today.”

Deutch praised legislation by Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Mike Lawler (R-NY) condemning antisemitic social media influencers on the fringes of both parties as simple and common sense — and lamented that the resolution hasn’t received stronger support. He also praised Sens. James Lankford (R-OK) and Jacky Rosen (D-NV) for their new wide-reaching legislation to help protect the Jewish community.

Looking toward the war in Iran, Deutch said that there should be several key red-lines for U.S. negotiators, who are reportedly close to finalizing a deal with Tehran: no enrichment of uranium, no nuclear weapons, an end to Iranian support for regional terrorism, human rights for the Iranian people and no sanctions relief as long as Iran continues its ballistic missile program.

He said that the administration should not accede to an “agreement by Iran to enter into negotiations” that the regime can then drag on for months and years. Until the next steps are clear, he said, it’s too early to render a verdict on the war and its results.

“Just because there has been this sharp partisan divide over this war doesn’t mean that we should then let Iran off the hook for all of the ways that it has destabilized the region and put so many people, millions of people, at risk,” Deutch continued. “There’s no one who could think that a good outcome here is to simply accept the fact that they’re going to advance their ballistic missile program without any repercussions.”

He said that discussions of congressional war powers were appropriate, but “what’s been missing” from conversations about the war “has been the longstanding bipartisan acknowledgement that we have to stand together” against Iran’s destabilizing activities and violations of its own citizens’ human rights.

In addition to the new plan for addressing antisemitism, Deutch said the Global Forum will focus on education and what the higher education system in the United States should look like, emphasizing that the treatment and silencing of Jewish Americans on campus undermines “the very essence of education in America,” and creates dangerous downstream effects in the next generation of leaders.

He said that, in recognition of the United States’ 250th anniversary, the forum will also highlight the role and contributions of Jewish Americans across the country’s history, and reflect on the future of America and the Jewish people’s place in it.

The Global Forum is set to include representatives from more than 70 countries, a sign that the Jewish community “is not going to withdraw, that the Jewish community is going to stand up and proudly be who we are,” Deutch said.

Anticipated speakers include Sens. John Fetterman (D-PA) and Dave McCormick (R-PA), Vanderbilt University Chancellor Daniel Diermeier, the parents of murdered Israeli Embassy staffers Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, former Israeli hostages Keith and Aviva Siegel, ambassadors from the European Union and Argentina and Jewish leaders and experts from around the country and around the world. 

In addition to the new plan for combating antisemitism, AJC will announce a program to provide more opportunities for leaders to visit both Israel and the UAE together, to understand the promise of a more integrated region, Deutch said.

Deutch also emphasized that the Jewish community can’t allow itself to be defined by antisemitism, highlighting plans for new leadership development programs to build and bring together the next generation of Jewish leaders from around the world.

And the group will announce plans to help build upon the relationships between Latin American countries and Israel, ahead of a summit that is set to bring Jewish leaders from across the region together in Costa Rica later in the year.

A week after describing J Street as “a cancer within the Jewish community” for calling for the United States to restrict aid to Israel, Yechiel Leiter, Israel’s envoy to Washington, doubled down on his critique of the organization, stating that the liberal advocacy group’s recent actions are “decidedly not pro-Israel.”

The remarks came during Leiter’s broader address on Thursday at the Re-Charging Reform Judaism conference on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, during which he argued to the audience of over 300 Reform rabbis, lay leaders and teachers that American Jews need to respond to rising anti-Zionism and post-Oct. 7 hostility toward Israel with a stronger, more unapologetic form of Zionism and Jewish solidarity. 

“J Street does incalculable amount of damage to the interests of Israel,” Israeli Amb. Yechiel Leiter said at the Re-Charging Reform Judaism conference, expanding on his previous critique of the liberal advocacy group.”

Watch more of what he said below or read our full story: https://ji.news/55×33

— Jewish Insider (@jewishinsider) May 27, 2026

While Leiter expanded on his critique of J Street, receiving applause and a standing ovation at the end of his speech, his remarks were more measured than in previous appearances, focusing on what he described as the group’s role in supporting arms embargoes and amplifying accusations against Israel, rather than attacking the organization wholesale. His past comments — including describing J Street as “duplicitous” and “two-faced” — drew ire from many progressive Jews.

“I believe the tent, as we call it, should be wide and as inclusive as possible, but it cannot be inclusive to those who are contributing to the efforts of those seeking to collapse the tent. J Street does incalculable amount of damage to the interests of Israel,” he said. 

He continued, arguing that support for arms embargoes against Israel “endanger Israel” and  that “supporting such embargoes is not pro-Israel,” He also denounced the organization’s call for Leiter to investigate the allegations of sexual abuse of Palestinians outlined in a controversial opinion piece by New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof earlier this month. 

“It is certainly not pro-Israel to push the canards peddled by Nick Kristof in The New York Times. Jewish dogs don’t commit rape. That was the last straw for me….It’s perfectly fine to have a different vision than the majority of Israelis as to what that peace should look like… but it’s unethical to undermine Israel’s democratically elected government. Friends, please understand, I did not call out J Street because I disagree with their vision of Israel. I call them out because their actions are endangering Israel,” he said.  

Leiter also said that senators he meets with on Capitol Hill have accused Israel of “genocide and starvation” and said lawmakers cite J Street as a source for those claims.

“Ask anyone in the know in Washington who is lobbying alongside [Sen.] Bernie Sanders [I-VT], who is responsible for 40 of 47 Democratic senators voting in favor of the arms embargo in Israel,” Leiter said. “They will tell you J Street.”

Reps. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) and Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) expressed concerns about Chris Rabb’s Democratic congressional primary victory in Philadelphia this week, which is likely to send the Pennsylvania state legislator to Washington next year in a deep-blue district.

They expressed particular concern about a post shared on Rabb’s Instagram account that described the Bondi Beach Hanukkah terror attack in Sydney as a false flag operation, which Rabb’s campaign has attributed to an unnamed former staffer and disavowed. 

In a new statement to Jewish Insider, Rabb pushed back, emphasizing his connections to the Jewish community and explaining that the post was shared by a former contractor with whom the campaign had cut ties, without his approval.

Moskowitz noted that mass shootings are a particularly personal topic for him given that he graduated from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the site of one of the largest school shootings in U.S. history.

“I had a shooting at my high school, 14 kids were killed, three adults. [Former Rep.] Marjorie Taylor Greene called that a false flag event. To see someone on my side of the aisle see a mass shooting and call it a false flag is obviously tremendously disappointing,” Moskowitz told JI on Thursday.

He said that such rhetoric also feeds into a cycle of escalation that leads to comments like those from antisemitic Texas Democratic congressional candidate Maureen Galindo, who called for imprisoning and castrating Zionists.

“How did we get here?” Moskowitz asked. “It’s because of statements like [Rabb] said, and statements that many other people say, and the stuff that goes online. It’s the constant escalatory behavior.” 

Gottheimer said he was “deeply concerned about the things [Rabb] has said and shared” as well as “who he campaigned with,” naming Hasan Piker, the far-left streamer who has repeatedly espoused antisemitic sentiments and support for terrorism in particular.

“Whether that was some sort of campaign gimmick or his deeply felt beliefs — we’ll see,” Gottheimer said.

Rabb pushed back hard in a lengthy statement to JI, again denying any knowledge of the Bondi Beach post.

“The Bondi Beach Instagram story was reposted to my account without my knowledge or consent by a vendor with whom my campaign has severed ties. Accusations to the contrary are extraordinarily troubling because they misrepresent my deep and enduring commitment to combatting antisemitism and standing with the Jewish community here in Philadelphia and around the world. There is no place for such destructive and shameful hate,” Rabb said. “I have never and would never support any such heinous conspiracy theories.”

Rabb also emphasized longtime connections to the Jewish community — growing up in a Black and Jewish neighborhood and working with Jewish communities during his time in office to fight white Christian nationalism and bigotry, and noted the longtime alliance between the Black and Jewish communities to fight racism.

“These accusations ignore my life-long connection to the Jewish community amid multi-generationial ties to Jewish friends and neighbors borne of shared struggle and resistance to systems of harm,” Rabb continued. “I am proud that Philadelphia’s Jewish community was at the heart of my campaign – including many volunteers and staff, all the way up to our campaign manager. In Congress, I will do everything in my power to prevent violence against Jewish folks — or any other people — because I firmly believe in protecting and supporting the safety and equality of all.”

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), who endorsed Rabb, defended him.

“I was concerned about [the Bondi Beach post], but they said it was someone on the staff and he disowned it immediately. He disavowed it,” Raskin said. “I spent some time with him, and he’s a very smart and thoughtful and decent guy.”

Good Thursday morning.

In today’s Daily Kickoff, we look at the diverging opinions in Jerusalem and Washington on restarting the war with Iran, and report on how the Obama Presidential Library is framing the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. We report on the criticism faced by Track AIPAC over its since-revoked endorsement of a Democratic congressional candidate in Texas who suggested imprisoning “American Zionists” in ICE facilities, and cover yesterday’s Capitol Hill hearing on antisemitism in the healthcare field. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Sarah Rogers, Michael Bay and Shay Shwartz.

Ed note: In observance of Shavuot and Memorial Day, the next Daily Kickoff will arrive on Tuesday, May 26. Check out JewishInsider.com for breaking news over the long weekend. Chag sameach!

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

• Today is the one-year anniversary of the terror attack at the Capital Jewish Museum in which two Israeli Embassy staffers were killed outside of an American Jewish Committee event taking place inside the venue. In marking the day, the museum announced that it will be open to the public today “as a space of reflection and remembrance.”
• The House of Representatives is expected to hold a vote on an Iran war powers resolution today, after House GOP leadership postponed the vote, which was to take place yesterday, over Republican attendance issues.
• The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington is holding candidate forums today with D.C. mayoral candidates Kenyan McDuffie and Janeese Lewis George.

What You Should Know

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MELISSA WEISS

In Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, Netanya and Beersheva, the conversations are the same: When will the war with Iran resume? What contingency plans are in place? Do we need to temporarily rent an apartment with a shelter?

All over Israel, there is a looming feeling that the next round of fighting is just around the corner. The Israel Democracy Institute’s latest polling, conducted earlier this month, found that 62% of Israelis think that the war’s renewal is likely.

But in the U.S., a resumption of war appears increasingly unlikely. With gas prices rising and the midterms approaching, the White House has little appetite for prolonged conflict. A New York Times/Siena poll released earlier this week found that nearly two-thirds of Americans think that going to war against Iran in the first place was a bad idea. Though fresh off a series of primary and state-level wins, President Donald Trump appears cognizant of the uphill battle that comes with resuming an unpopular war, even as he told reporters earlier this week he didn’t factor “Americans’ financial situation” in his approach to the war.

There is also a question of funding. Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK), the chair of the House Appropriations Committee, said this week that the Pentagon would “probably” be out of money to fund the Iran war by August.

Those are key factors that have not penetrated the discourse in Israel. Across the U.S., gas prices are sky high. The midterms are less than six months away. And on Capitol Hill, even some of the president’s staunchest backers are signaling opposition to a resumption of the war.

“Generally speaking, Israelis are not really attuned to internal politics in the U.S. that could be affecting President Trump’s decisions,” Tamar Hermann, director of IDI’s Viterbi Center for Public Opinion, told Jewish Insider this morning. “Recent coverage in the Israeli media has tended to obscure the domestic political constraints Trump faces, creating the impression that he is operating without meaningful checks and is effectively able to do as he pleases.”

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

LIBRARY LOOK

Obama presidential center touts Iran nuclear deal as key part of former president’s legacy

The Barack Obama Presidential Center, slated to open in Chicago in mid-June, will feature an exhibit highlighting the former president’s “patient and principled diplomacy” and “strategic engagement with adversaries” in the lead-up to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, asserting that he prevented Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.

What it says: “Through diplomacy, the US forged a new treaty with Russia to reduce both countries’ nuclear stockpiles,” the exhibit reads, according to images obtained during the museum’s soft launch reviewed by JI. “The Obama administration prevented Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.” A dedication ceremony for the Obama Presidential Center is scheduled for June 18 followed by its opening to the public the next day.

Read the full story here.

Bonus: The Wall Street Journal does a deep dive into “how Iran got to the nuclear threshold on the watch of three U.S. presidents,” noting that the Obama administration’s 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action “delayed but didn’t shut the door on Iran’s potential pathway to a bomb.”

SHARE

Share options

• 
  Facebook
• 
  Telegram
• 
  LinkedIn
• 
  WhatsApp
• 
  Reddit

Add JewishInsider on Google

FACING THE HEAT

Track AIPAC under fire as Democrats condemn its extremist Texas pick

Track AIPAC, the social media account that has gained a growing audience among anti-Israel activists in recent years, found itself in an embarrassing position this week when a candidate it had championed for Congress faced bipartisan backlash over extreme antisemitic comments calling to imprison and castrate “American Zionists,” whom she accused of pedophilia, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports. The account said on Tuesday it was “immediately revoking” its endorsement of Maureen Galindo, a San Antonio activist competing for an open swing seat in Texas next week.

Yes, but: The point at which Track AIPAC finally chose to draw a line over Galindo’s rhetoric underscored how the account’s ostensibly narrow focus on opposition to what it calls the “Israel lobby” has often obscured an indulgence of extreme views and positions. Brian Romick, the president of DMFI PAC, which is backing Galindo’s runoff opponent, Johnny Garcia, argued that “Track AIPAC embodies the very-online activist fringe: large social-media following, minimal real-world influence, and a political strategy based on vibes.”

Read the full story here.Dems denounce: Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) said on Wednesday that they would seek to expel Galindo if she is elected — forcing daily votes if necessary. Their comments mark an escalation among Democrats condemning Galindo since her comment gained widespread attention, JI’s Marc Rod reports.

SHARE

Share options

• 
  Facebook
• 
  Telegram
• 
  LinkedIn
• 
  WhatsApp
• 
  Reddit

Add JewishInsider on Google

SPLITSCREEN

JDCA backs both McMorrow and Stevens in Michigan Senate race

The Jewish Democratic Council of America announced a dual endorsement on Wednesday of Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow in Michigan’s three-way Senate Democratic primary, saying “there are two candidates who stand with our community on issues of importance to Jewish voters, and there is one who does not,” Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.

Reasoning: “It is because of this stark contrast of the views and values of Haley Stevens and Mallory McMorrow, compared to those of Abdul El-Sayed,” a vocal critic of Israel who has captured the enthusiasm of the far left, “that we are taking the distinct opportunity to endorse two candidates,” Halie Soifer, JDCA’s CEO, said in a statement.

Read the full story here.

Michigan matchup: In Michigan’s statewide election for two seats on the University of Michigan Board of Regents, Republican nominees Lena Epstein and Michael Schostak, who both identify as Jewish, told JI’s Gabby Deutch they’re campaigning on fighting antisemitism at the school.

SHARE

Share options

• 
  Facebook
• 
  Telegram
• 
  LinkedIn
• 
  WhatsApp
• 
  Reddit

Add JewishInsider on Google

ON THE HILL

House hearing spotlights antisemitism from healthcare unions

Speaking at a House Education & Workforce subcommittee hearing on Wednesday, a doctor accused his union of engaging in systemic discrimination against Jewish and Israeli health providers, supporting terrorist sympathizers and making “its obsession with a single geopolitical conflict a defining future of its identity” — all while he’ll be forced by federal law to fund it, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

Healthcare havoc: Jacob Agronin, a cardiology fellow at a major medical institution in Philadelphia, testified alongside several other experts on antisemitism at a hearing focused on anti-Jewish hate in the medical field — which both Jewish medical providers and patients report as a growing problem since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel. The hearing focused in particular on the role of healthcare worker unions, like the Committee of Interns and Residents, of which Agronin is set to be a member, in spreading antisemitism and their failures to stand up for Jewish union members.

Read the full story here.

Parents’ night: A group of Jewish parents from across Pennsylvania arrived at a virtual meeting with Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA) with a plea: take note of antisemitism happening not just on college campuses but also in K-12 schools, and do something about it, JI’s Gabby Deutch reports.

SHARE

Share options

• 
  Facebook
• 
  Telegram
• 
  LinkedIn
• 
  WhatsApp
• 
  Reddit

Add JewishInsider on Google

BUFFER BATTLE

NYC Council speaker preps new school ‘buffer bill’ to beat Mamdani veto

New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin will back fresh legislation to compel the NYPD to establish formal protocols for deploying buffer zones around schools during protests — a push Menin said will sail through the council with more than enough votes to beat any effort from Mayor Zohran Mamdani to block it, Jewish Insider’s Will Bredderman reports.

Bridging the gap: The move comes a month after Mamdani exercised his veto power in order to stop a similar bill from becoming law, citing concerns from unions that the blocked measure could interfere with their demonstrations around college facilities, even though the proposal contained an explicit labor carveout. In a press conference on Wednesday, Menin characterized this as a misunderstanding — one the new legislation will rectify by applying exclusively to early childhood education facilities and “most K-12 schools.”

Read the full story here.

Moreno moves: Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) said Wednesday that he plans to call on the Senate to pass the SACRED Act, legislation imposing restrictions on protests around synagogues and other religious institutions, by unanimous consent, JI’s Marc Rod reports.

SHARE

Share options

• 
  Facebook
• 
  Telegram
• 
  LinkedIn
• 
  WhatsApp
• 
  Reddit

Add JewishInsider on Google

IN MEMORIAM

Barney Frank, trailblazing Jewish congressman, dies at 86

Known as a liberal firebrand, Frank’s most high-profile act in politics was drafting the legislation that tightened financial regulations in response to the 2008 financial crisis, a bill known as the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.

Paving the way: Frank was widely considered a pioneer for the LGBTQ community after coming out publicly as gay in 1987. Frank grew up in a working-class Jewish family in Bayonne, N.J. His sister, Ann Lewis, also worked in politics, holding senior roles in the Clinton administration and later on Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. Frank said he was drawn to public service early, feeling in some way that he was an outsider who could challenge how things were done. “I’m a left-handed gay Jew,” Frank said. “I’ve never felt, automatically, a member of any majority.”

Read the full obituary here.

SHARE

Share options

• 
  Facebook
• 
  Telegram
• 
  LinkedIn
• 
  WhatsApp
• 
  Reddit

Add JewishInsider on Google

Worthy Reads

American Jews Under Siege: In The Atlantic, Israel Policy Forum co-founder Michael Sonnenfeldt considers the “untenable position” that many American Jews find themselves in amid rising domestic antisemitism alongside decreasing support among Americans for Israel. “Anti-Semitism is rising sharply in the United States at the same time that traditional alliances with progressive organizations are weakening, political identities are being reshuffled, and emotional ties to Israel are strained by policies that clash with deeply held democratic and ethical commitments. The simultaneity of these pressures — political, moral, and psychological — is what makes the present moment feel so destabilizing.” [TheAtlantic]

Middle Man: In The Wall Street Journal, Sadanand Dhume questions Pakistan’s ability to operate as a fair intermediary as it seeks to play a central role in U.S.-Iran talks. “Pakistan has attributes that make it a useful intermediary, but America shouldn’t forget that when it comes to Iran, Pakistan’s interests aren’t the same as those of the U.S. On the face of it, Pakistan might seem like an odd choice for mediator. During the war in Afghanistan, Pakistan was widely castigated for playing a ‘double game,’ accepting U.S. aid to fight terrorism while at the same time secretly aiding and abetting the Afghan Taliban.” [WSJ]

A Convert’s Burden: In Moment Magazine, JoJo Kalin, a convert to Judaism who organized the event at the Capital Jewish Museum in which two Israeli Embassy staffers were killed, reflects on her faith as she considers her interaction with the suspected assailant, to whom she offered water after the attack. “There is a version of the future in which my future children would not have to carry this particular kind of fear. I am aware of that. And I am choosing this one anyway. I choose it because what they would inherit is not only fear. It is also peoplehood, memory and a stubborn, enduring joy. … I still think about that glass of water, about the instinct to give it, about the fact that I did not hesitate. I don’t know what it means, fully. I’m not sure it resolves into something clean or instructive. But I know this: That moment belongs to my humanity, not to his violence.” [Moment]

Word on the Street

Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs talks to Leo Terrell, the senior counsel to the assistant attorney general for civil rights and chair of the Department of Justice’s antisemitism task force, about the creation of the DOJ’s Antisemitism Advisory Committee, which Terrell will oversee…

The Justice Department announced its indictment against a New Jersey man charged with making interstate threats to a Jewish institution in New York…

Sarah Rogers, the under secretary of state for public diplomacy, refuted accusations that the Trump administration has been ineffective in combating the spread of misinformation and hateful content on social media, arguing that free speech protections and efforts to combat disinformation are not mutually exclusive, in comments at the Hudson Institute on Tuesday, JI’s Emily Jacobs reports… 

Reps. Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) and Steve Cohen (D-TN) introduced a resolution honoring the 130th anniversary of the Jewish War Veterans organization…

During a House hearing on Wednesday, Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) engaged in a heated back-and-forth with a witness, Carol Swain, an author and commentator, as Swain repeatedly dodged his question about whether neo-Nazis are a supremacist group. Two other witnesses answered the question with a simple “yes”…

Director Michael Bay is working with Universal Pictures to develop a feature-length film about the rescue of two American pilots who were shot down in Iran last month; the film will be based off an upcoming book on the event by Mitchell Zuckoff…

TechCrunch profiles Ocean founder Shay Shwartz, whose email security platform protects against AI-powered attacks and recently exited stealth mode with $28 million in a funding round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners that included an investment from Wiz’s Assaf Rappaport…

eJewishPhilanthropy’s Jay Deitcher looks at how Jewish groups are approaching the use of AI for Torah study…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, along with other Israeli officials, issued a sharp condemnation of far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir after he released a video showing himself taunting detained flotilla activists, JI’s Matthew Shea reports…

Israeli prosecutors filed charges against a Jewish man accused of taking part in at least three attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank since February, including an April attack in which a poultry farm employee was hospitalized and remains in a coma…

The Wall Street Journal looks at Israeli efforts to track down all terrorists who took part in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks…

The U.S. is pressuring Palestinian officials to drop an effort by the Palestinian Authority’s representative at the U.N. to seek the vice presidency of the U.N. General Assembly, warning that the State Department could revoke the visas of the Palestinian delegation should the bid proceed…

The Associated Press profiles Iranian Brig. Gen. Ahmad Vahidi, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, describing the senior military official as a “longtime veteran of the ruling system” involved with the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Argentina, who is believed to be one of few Iranian officials in contact with Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei…

The New York Times spotlights the “intelligence fraternity” of former and current IRGC officials, including many with links to the country’s new supreme leader, positing that the group’s “shared backgrounds, careers and ideological outlook” are “one reason the war has neither collapsed the government nor paralyzed it”…

Wine of the Week

JI wine columnist Yitz Applbaum reviews the Warneke Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and the Gen VIII 2019 Cabernet:

After a 250th National Shabbat celebration at the White House, where candles were lit in the Indian Treaty Room, we walked over to nearby Decatur House, the historic 1818 mansion on Lafayette Square, for a meaningful and memorable Shabbat dinner. Kiddush was made over a cup recovered from one of the communities destroyed on Oct. 7, and each guest was given a challah cover embroidered with the presidential seal. For such a special and historic moment, my dear friend Pauly treated me to two of the finest and most important kosher wines from the Herzog family: The Warneke Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and the Gen VIII 2019 Cabernet. These wines perfectly matched the severity and grandeur of the dinner.

The 2023 Warneke Valley is a cab of remarkable poise, carrying a subtle maturity that belies its youth. The opening is pure silk, the mid-palate carries the traditional Herzog vanilla and the finish lingers with notes of parve dark chocolate. The Gen VIII, by contrast, is bold and brash, fruit-forward, with rough-and-tumble tannins that would not let me sleep at night. It has long been one of my favorites, but this vintage will surely overtake its predecessors as one of the greatest ever made. To drink them side by side was a true privilege. Not an inexpensive luxury, but one I would gladly forgo most other pleasures to repeat. Enjoy both alongside a juicy steak, and lay a few bottles down for a future milestone worth celebrating.

Pic of the Day

Former Pittsburgh police officer Daniel Mead, who was injured while responding to the October 2018 Tree of Life shooting, on Wednesday received the Justice Department’s Hometown Hero Award.

Birthdays

Actor, artist and playwright, Lisa Edelstein turns 60… 

Former U.S. senator from Minnesota, he was previously a comedian, actor and writer, Al Franken turns 75… VP of the Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities, Ralph Lewin turns 73… Guitarist and composer, Marc Ribot turns 72… EVP of American Friends of Bar-Ilan University, Ron Solomon… Chief rabbi of Mitzpe Yericho (a yishuv located in the Judean desert) and dean of Hara’ayon Hayehudi yeshiva in Jerusalem, Rabbi Yehuda Kroizer turns 71… CEO of the Boston-based hedge fund Baupost Group, he is co-founder of Times of Israel, Seth Klarman turns 69… Northern California-based comedian, he celebrated his bar mitzvah at 52 in Israel, Josh Kornbluth turns 67… New York Times contributing Opinion writer, Jeffrey Toobin turns 66… Founder and publisher of City & State NY, Thomas Allon turns 64… Director of antisemitism education and associate director of the Israel Action Program, both at Hillel International, Tina Malka… Former head of Dewey Square’s sports business practice, now a freelance writer, Frederic J. Frommer… Author and journalist, she was a reporter with The New York Times for eight years, Amy Waldman turns 57… U.S. cyclist at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, she is now the executive director of the New England Mountain Bike Association, Nicole Freedman turns 54… President and CEO of the Michigan-based William Davidson Foundation, Darin McKeever… University chaplain for NYU and executive director of NYU’s Bronfman Center for Jewish Life, Rabbi Yehuda Sarna turns 48… Founder of Agora Global Advisory, Brandon Pollak… EVP and chief legal officer at Sinclair Inc., David Gibber… Professor of computer science at the University of Texas at Austin, Scott Joel Aaronson turns 45… President of Mo Digital, Mosheh Oinounou… Los Angeles-born, raised in Israel, international fashion model for Versace, Sharon Ganish turns 43… CEO of CreoStrat, Steve Miller… Windsurfer who represented Israel in the Olympics, she is now an energy management program manager at SolarEdge, Maayan Davidovich turns 38… Player on the USC team that won the 2016 NCAA National Soccer Championship, she is now an associate in the L.A. office of Foley & Lardner, Savannah Levin turns 31… Comedian, actor and writer, known for starring in the HBO Max series “Hacks,” Hannah Marie Einbinder turns 31… COO at the Yael Foundation, Naomi Kovitz… 

On Tuesday, a gilded ballroom inside a Washington hotel served as a soapbox for more than a dozen Democrats — many with national ambitions — to pitch their vision for America to a room full of liberal donors, staffers and funders. 

The setting was the Center for American Progress’ IDEAS Conference, a convening put on by the Democratic think tank that pledged to bring together “the broad center-left’s leading thinkers and doers” to offer ideas on a range of policy topics.

American foreign policy was, naturally, one of those topics. In the two sessions on national security, each of which devoted significant discussion to the Middle East, one topic was notably absent: Israel. 

Democratic support for Israel has shifted dramatically since the Oct. 7 attacks and the resulting war in Gaza. Over the last few months, particularly since the war in Iran began, that policy shift has quickly solidified. Forty out of 47 Senate Democrats voted last month to block some arms sales to Israel, and the progressive Israel advocacy group J Street has urged Democrats to move toward ending all U.S. aid to Israel. 

Democrats’ attitude toward the U.S.-Israel relationship is in flux, and is almost certain to be a major point of contention in the 2028 primary campaign. But if CAP’s conference is any indication, many mainstream Democrats — the ones who are not pushing firebrand far-left views on Israel — would rather avoid the topic if they are not forced to discuss it. 

Certainly, it made clear that they no longer see Israel as the kind of ally that will earn applause in the same way that Taiwan and Ukraine garner cheers from rank-and-file Democrats.

Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) kicked off the gathering with an address billed as “National Security Ideas for the Future.” He cited his own experiences as a member of the Marine Corps who served in Iraq, arguing that the war in Iran is misguided and harming Americans. 

”I’m here today because right now our country is in danger. Will this president continue to drag America into another endless Middle East war?” Gallego said. “This is a war that wasn’t planned, wasn’t authorized and is not making us safer. [Donald] Trump got his war, and working families got stuck with the bill every day.”

Gallego made clear that his opposition to the Iran war does not mean he thinks America should step off the world stage. The U.S., he argued, should still come to the defense of Taiwan and Ukraine.

“I see on Twitter all the time, ‘Well, if you’re against the war in Iran, why do you support the war in Ukraine?’” Gallego said. “Let me be clear: The Ukrainian people are fighting for their independence, and it’s in our strategic interest to make sure that they win, that Europe wins and that we all win and defeat Russia.”

He extended the argument to Taiwan, calling for Washington to continue arms sales to the country and to help it grow its self-defense capabilities.

“We have allies that have fought with us and will continue to fight with us, but not if we abandon Taiwan, Ukraine and NATO,” said Gallego. He did not mention Israel in his speech.

Later in the day, a conversation on the future of American policy featured Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ), former Secretary of State Tony Blinken and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield. Like Gallego, they slammed Trump’s campaign against Iran as illegal.

“This is not a situation where we should normalize the idea that a president can start a war on their own, and then it’s up to Congress later to disapprove of it, right?” said Kim. “Just from the outset, this is wrong. This is an illegal, unconstitutional war.”

The only mention of Israel in their 30-minute conversation was a brief aside from Blinken, as part of a broader point he was making about Iranian missile attacks on the United Arab Emirates. All three speakers doubled down on U.S. support for Ukraine and for Taiwan, particularly in the face of Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping last week.

At the end of the day, CAP President Neera Tanden said she hopes attendees walk away with a sense of where the Democratic Party is going. “To win the future we have to tell people where to go, what the path is, what the path is forward,” Tanden said. 

Other speakers included California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). 

The open race for mayor of Washington, D.C., has been largely uneventful ahead of next month’s primary — so much so that the first TV ads run by the leading candidates, Kenyan McDuffie and Janeese Lewis George, sound nearly identical. Both candidates tout affordability and safety on the campaign trail, with promises to build more housing and stand up against President Donald Trump. 

But if elected, Lewis George’s victory would mark a significant shift away from the centrist brand of politics espoused by outgoing Mayor Muriel Bowser over the last 12 years, and would instead hand a major win to Washington’s Democratic Socialists of America chapter, of which Lewis George has been a member for years. 

Lewis George has faced criticism throughout the campaign from some in the Jewish community for comments she made on a DSA endorsement questionnaire pledging to boycott events that “promote Zionism” and criticizing Jewish activists’ approach to combating antisemitism. Ron Halber, CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, on Tuesday called DSA an “evil” organization that seeks “to make being Jewish unacceptable in polite society.” 

DSA has activated its small but growing membership to knock on doors for Lewis George, a member of the D.C. Council, tapping into a grassroots energy that they hope translates into success at the ballot box. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), one of two DSA members currently serving in Congress, attended a recent DC DSA rally alongside Lewis George. 

DSA’s Metro DC chapter is relatively small. Yet its current roster of roughly 3,400 members represents a massive increase from its pre-2016 nadir of just 200 members — and mirrors DSA’s growing clout nationally. 

“For most of the ‘80s and ‘90s and 2000s, DSA was a small organization with maybe 5,000 or 8,000 people at the most. I would say the average age was probably over 60, maybe higher than that,” said Peter Dreier, an emeritus professor of politics at Occidental College in Los Angeles. “Then Bernie [Sanders] ran for president in 2016 and started talking about democratic socialism in a way that made sense to, particularly, a lot of young people, and he kind of opened the door to people to be in DSA.” 

Overall, DSA is still a small organization on the fringes of Democratic politics. Even the highest membership counts — adding up DSA’s local chapters — don’t top 100,000. But the unexpected popularity of Sanders’ 2016 presidential run sparked a resurgence of interest in democratic socialism not seen in generations, and that has continued well past his two campaigns. A 2025 Gallup poll found that 42% of Democrats have a positive image of capitalism, down from 54% a decade ago, while 66% have a positive view of socialism.  

“If [young people] don’t remember the Cold War, then what do they think when they hear the word socialism? There’s still a battle over that, but they’re more likely to think, ‘Oh, countries that have more equality, or students that get free or almost free higher education, everybody has access to healthcare,’” said Dreier. 

“We are going to raise money and develop a plan over the course of the next few months to try to make them toxic, to make it unacceptable for major figures in the party or anybody actually running for office to be affiliated with the DSA, the way it should be unacceptable to be affiliated with [neo-Nazi influencer] Nick Fuentes if you’re running as Republican,” Third Way’s senior vice president for public affairs, Matt Bennett, said. 

The key question now facing capital-D Democrats — one they sound unsure of how to answer, or perhaps unwilling — is how to handle an insurgent faction that has galvanized people over its straightforward messaging on corporations (bad), taxing the rich (good) and Medicare for All (necessary), while at the same time promoting far-left positions like prison and police abolition that are nowhere near the Democratic mainstream. The group has long promoted the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, as well as calling for an arms embargo on Israel, and its members passed a resolution last year affirming their commitment to anti-Zionism. On Oct. 7, 2023, DSA released a statement holding Israel accountable for the Hamas attacks and calling on members to take to the streets to protest U.S. support for Israel. 

The centrist Democratic group Third Way plans to launch a major PR campaign against DSA in the coming months, one of the group’s executives told JI, arguing that its far-left positions and incendiary brand of politics will be harmful for the party’s electoral prospects. 

“We are going to raise money and develop a plan over the course of the next few months to try to make them toxic, to make it unacceptable for major figures in the party or anybody actually running for office to be affiliated with the DSA, the way it should be unacceptable to be affiliated with [neo-Nazi influencer] Nick Fuentes if you’re running as Republican,” Third Way’s senior vice president for public affairs, Matt Bennett, said. 

In the decade since Sanders’ 2016 campaign, DSA has had an outsized impact on national politics. The 2018 congressional victory of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), a DSA member, raised the group’s profile. A steady stream of more than 200 DSA-aligned candidates have been elected to state and local offices since, culminating with the election of DSA member Zohran Mamdani as mayor of New York City last year. 

“To the degree that people need to pay attention to DSA, it’s because they built this kind of political machine,” said Micah Sifry, a journalist focused on left-wing political organizing. “In a time when people are, for the most part, not very organized, the ability of any small group, relatively speaking, to punch above its weight grows.” 

Perhaps unsurprisingly, New York has the largest bench of DSA-affiliated state lawmakers. The group has slowly but steadily been gaining electoral power in state and local offices in some unexpected places, too, like Minnesota, Colorado, Delaware and Wisconsin. The group’s largest foothold is in city council races, where a small but committed cadre of volunteers can swing elections in low-turnout races. 

National Democratic leaders are divided about how to treat the small but vocal socialist minority in the party. 

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) declined to support Mamdani in the primary election but ultimately endorsed him ahead of the general election last year. Weeks later, Jeffries voted in favor of a Republican-led resolution condemning socialism. He has been skeptical of the left-wing ideology throughout his political career: “There will never be a moment where I bend the knee to hard-left democratic socialism,” he said in 2021. A spokesperson for Jeffries declined to comment this week when asked if he believes Democrats should be welcoming socialists into the party. 

Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin has been more open-minded about socialists. Asked by Fox News last year whether progressives like Mamdani and Ocasio-Cortez make his job harder, he said no. 

“The party is a big tent. But just like we have to believe it’s a big tent, the DSA also has to believe it’s a big tent, and I’m not sure they do,” Brian Romick, CEO of Democratic Majority for Israel, said. “Democratic leaders want to win elections, and that means a big tent, and that means that Democratic base voters and pro-Israel voters and moderate people who maybe voted for [Donald] Trump sometimes because they’re concerned about prices have to be in the tent.” 

“I don’t think they make it difficult at all,” Martin said in August 2025. “The difference between the Democratic Party and the Republican Party is that we’re a big tent. We have lots of people in that tent from all of the different ideological wings, from conservative Democrats, to centrists, to progressives, to these new leftists.” A DNC spokesperson did not respond to multiple requests for comment this week.

Brian Romick, CEO of Democratic Majority for Israel, told Jewish Insider this week that he is concerned about the inroads DSA is making in the party. He agreed with Martin that the Democratic Party should be a big tent, but noted that DSA members — who are at times intent on putting litmus tests even on would-be allies — don’t extend the same understanding to more moderate members of the party.

“The party is a big tent. But just like we have to believe it’s a big tent, the DSA also has to believe it’s a big tent, and I’m not sure they do,” Romick said. “Democratic leaders want to win elections, and that means a big tent, and that means that Democratic base voters and pro-Israel voters and moderate people who maybe voted for [Donald] Trump sometimes because they’re concerned about prices have to be in the tent.” 

The questionnaire Lewis George filled out in Washington to earn DSA’s endorsement reveals how important hard-line opposition to Israel is to the organization, which requires even candidates for local offices with no connection to foreign policy to all but disavow the Jewish state. Most voters who support DSA-aligned candidates likely are not drawn to them because of their views on the Middle East; Mamdani’s message was first and foremost about affordability. But DSA’s growing reach among Democrats gave a foothold to anti-Israel views that may have once been rare, though global attention on the war in Gaza also contributed to shifting Democratic orthodoxy on the conflict. (Other far-left groups like Justice Democrats have played a role, too.)

Zach Shartiag, a Jewish Democratic campaign operative from Chicago, told JI that Democrats he has talked to who support DSA candidates generally do not do so because of DSA’s stance on Israel, even if the activists are themselves critical of Israel.   

“People might be very anti-Israel now, but at the same time, it’s like, what does that have to do with local politics?” said Shartiag, who is currently working on a congressional campaign in Hawaii. “I’ve talked to a lot of people, just in general, normal humans, and it’s like, ‘Yeah, I might be against what Israel’s doing, but what does that have to do with the local and the city and the state?’” 

The full picture of DSA’s influence in the party will not be known until all the votes are tallied at the end of this year’s midterm elections. A number of DSA-affiliated candidates are gaining ground in congressional primaries, such as Pennsylvania state Rep. Chris Rabb, who has garnered progressive endorsements in a Philadelphia-area open seat, and New York state Assemblymember Claire Valdez, who has Mamdani’s backing for her congressional campaign. 

Still, the election outcomes in states across the country this year will present only a partial picture of where the Democratic Party is moving. In the same year that Mamdani won in New York City, for instance, Democratic moderates Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill won gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey, respectively. 

The only certainty, then, is that the battle between centrists and socialists will continue into 2028. 

“I think you’re going to have a real mixed verdict, with us yelling about our side and the left yelling about their side,” Third Way’s Bennett acknowledged. “So what that means is, unsurprisingly, we’re going to go into the presidential primary season with the two camps demanding that they are right.” 

Washington, D.C., will be buzzing with events on Friday evening bringing in Shabbat 250, a national Sabbath marking the 250th birthday of the United States. 

Several Jewish organizations have been planning celebratory gatherings, both in Washington and across the country, to commemorate Shabbat 250 since President Donald Trump encouraged Jewish Americans to observe Shabbat this weekend in his Jewish American Heritage Month proclamation. 

The proclamation marked the first time a U.S. president had called for a national Shabbat, prompting some Jewish leaders to rush to organize events.

“There will be a number of events taking place around town for Shabbat 250,” Rabbi Levi Shemtov, the executive vice president of American Friends of Lubavitch (Chabad), told Jewish Insider. “In observance of the Sabbath, I’ll need to walk everywhere, so I hope to make it to as many gatherings as possible.”

Shemtov said the message he’s taken from his conversations with fellow Jewish leaders going into this weekend is one of gratitude toward the president for including the national Sabbath in his JAHM proclamation and of hope that the venture would prompt more Jewish Americans to keep Shabbat.

“I’m obviously delighted by the president’s call to observe Shabbat, because this reinforces Jewish identity with Jewish observance and tradition. I hope those who don’t yet observe Shabbat will choose to do so, and those who already observe will choose to share with a friend who doesn’t yet know about this beautiful cornerstone of our heritage,” Shemtov said. “I would imagine that those Jewish people who were in America 250 years ago could not have imagined our good fortunes today and must be kvelling.”

“Some Jewish leaders have said that much like Shabbat gives us a break from the week for renewal and recalibration, their hope is that this Shabbat will be a moment of reprieve from partisan political battles for even just one day,” he continued.

The most difficult ticket to snag is the White House’s official Shabbat 250 reception, which is slated to take place at 6 p.m. ET in the Indian Treaty Room. While Trump and Vice President JD Vance are not expected to be in attendance, Trump administration staffers have been invited to and are expected at the gathering. 

Several invite-only dinners are taking place around D.C. after the White House event concludes and before sundown on Saturday. Details for many events are being kept under wraps due to security concerns.

One of those receptions is being co-sponsored by the American Association of Jewish Lawyers & Jurists and the Combat Antisemitism Movement. The gathering, titled, “Shabbat 250 Dinner: A Celebration of the President’s National Sabbath,” will feature a “family style” Sabbath meal and an afterparty dubbed “Farbrengen 250,” according to an invitation obtained by JI.

An event organizer described the gathering to JI in a statement as an “off-the-record dinner” bringing together “Jewish members of the administration, Capitol Hill staff, media and policy professionals in celebration of the president’s National Sabbath.” The organizer told JI that guests will receive “the usual kippot and benchers” and copies of Charlie Kirk’s book on Shabbat. The wine served at the event will be donated by Psagot Winery, the Israeli vineyard located in the West Bank.

“We were incredibly moved by President Trump’s call for a national Sabbath as part of the USA250 commemorations,” Arie Lipnick, advisory board chairman of the Combat Antisemitism Movement, told JI in a statement. “In that spirit, CAM is excited to help bring together more than a hundred Jewish members of the administration, Hill staff, media and policy professionals in celebration of America and Shabbat.”

When a group of Jewish Democratic activists and donors convened in Washington this week for the annual leadership summit of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, the message seemed to be one of defiance: defiance against President Donald Trump, to be sure, but also a defiant attitude pushing back against some of the recent shifts within the party. 

JDCA’s primary objective is to elect Democrats. But as more Democrats have taken positions critical of or outright hostile to Israel, JDCA’s top activists made clear this week that another major concern is making sure pro-Israel Jews continue to be welcome in the party. 

“We are fighting to ensure that the views and values of Jewish Americans continue to find their political home in the Democratic Party in Michigan and beyond, and we have work to do,” Halie Soifer, the group’s CEO, said on Tuesday night. She noted that the JDCA hopes to help defeat Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, a far-left candidate who appears to be rising in the polls. 

“It’s clear there’s one candidate whose views are antithetical to ours, and we want to ensure he’s defeated,” said Soifer, though she did not name El-Sayed directly. JDCA has not endorsed either of his opponents, state Sen. Mallory McMorrow or Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI). 

“We at JDCA only support Democrats, but we do not support them all,” Soifer told the summit. “We understand it’s not just about electing Democrats. It’s about electing Democrats who align with us, and this includes efforts to ensure that candidates who have espoused anti-Israel and/or antisemitic views are defeated before November.” 

Over the two-day gathering, a parade of high-profile speakers from Democratic leadership — Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), along with Reps. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Steny Hoyer (D-MD), respectively the former House speaker and majority leader — addressed the convening. Their appearances seemed designed to affirm that Democrats remain pro-Israel and committed to fighting antisemitism. 

“We have to decisively confront antisemitism from wherever it comes from,” said Jeffries. “I will always hold firm in my support for the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state and eternal homeland for the Jewish people.” 

Schumer did not specifically discuss Israel but raised concerns about the increasing use of the word “Zionist” as a slur. 

“I’ve long said we must fight antisemitism wherever and whenever it appears, even if it’s in our own party. I’ll continue to do so,” said Schumer. “Today, antisemitism takes all different forms: Holocaust denialism, conspiratorial delusions of Jewish or Zionist control of the world, replacing the word ‘Jewish’ with the word ‘Zionist’ to demonize Jewish communities.”

The outgoing Democratic leaders were not as sanguine, instead offering a note of caution about how the dynamic towards Israel has shifted within the Democratic Party. 

“Always, but right now, we really have to work together to make sure that support for Israel is, without question, bipartisan,” Pelosi said. “It doesn’t mean we don’t have our differences of opinion … but it should not weaken the fact that we have bipartisan support. That has always been the tradition, and we must make sure we get through this place where we are, where there may be some doubt in people’s minds as to whether that is a value.” 

Pelosi is retiring at the end of this year, as is Hoyer, who was even more blunt: “How many of you have been anxious yourselves about rhetoric heard from some Democratic officials and candidates? We ought to be,” he said. 

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) said he hoped to prove that Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) does not speak for the party on matters related to Israel, though he noted with worry that Sanders’ attitude — one that is deeply critical of Israel — appears to be on the rise.

“It’s clearer and clearer to me that there is real alarm about a fundamental break between Democrats as a party and Israel as a nation, and I’m going to do everything I can to resist and oppose that break, while criticizing [Benjamin] Netanyahu and his values and decisions,” said Coons. “I’m trying to be an effective and engaged voice with a perspective that you just heard and not have Bernie Sanders be the only senator whose perspective and attitude is heard across the country.” 

Forty Senate Democrats voted last month for a Sanders-authored resolution attempting to block some arms sales to Israel, a record high. Coons said he knows those senators still support Israel’s right to exist, but cautioned that being too critical of Netanyahu can give cover to people who are actually anti-Israel. 

“I strongly support Israel’s right to exist, its right to be a Jewish homeland and a democracy, and its value to the American people as a partner and ally,” said Coons. “I think we are at risk of some of my colleagues, in trying to send a message to Netanyahu or in opposition to his policies and stances, to be misunderstood as abandoning that commitment.” 

Coons said that on the campaign trail, and on recent trips around the country, he hears “profound concern about where’s the Democratic Party going on Israel.” Some Jewish politicians who addressed the JDCA summit expressed a deeper sense of unease and discomfort about their Jewish identity, against the backdrop of rising antisemitism. 

Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), who spoke at a cocktail reception Tuesday evening, talked about how challenging it is to be a Jewish elected official in the current environment.

“It has become deeply, deeply complicated to be a Jew in America,” said Slotkin. “There’s not a single day that goes by for myself representing the state of Michigan that I am not feeling torn.” 

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey delivered a jolt of energy to the room with an impassioned speech about his community’s support for immigrants in the face of ICE enforcement activity, which resulted in the killing of two American citizens by ICE agents in his city in January. When a JDCA member asked him for advice on how to respond to others in the Democratic Party who have made anti-Zionism a political litmus test, he expressed concern. 

“It has been deeply concerning for me personally, as a proud Jew,” Frey said. “I am a great supporter of the endurance of our American Republic, a big believer that America should continue to exist, and an adamant opponent of Donald Trump. The same thing can apply to Israel.”

Ultimately, though, the gathering was a political pep rally — a chance for Democratic activists and donors to hear from politicians at all levels of government and gin up excitement ahead of this year’s midterm elections. Everyone who addressed the gathering all but guaranteed that Democrats would take back control of the House and Senate. 

The conversations seemed meant to ressure Jewish Democrats about both the party’s fortunes for November and its treatment of pro-Israel Jews. One JDCA activist described the group’s work as “grasstops,” which was demonstrated by the appearances from top party leaders. 

But the anti-Israel sentiment that has steadily grown within the party over the past three years is not coming from party leaders; it is driven by far-left activists. Whether JDCA has a plan to counter that grassroots energy remains to be seen — and the answer will only come at the ballot box later this year. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Asked at the Politico Security Summit in Washington on Tuesday 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,” she added.

Slotkin acknowledged it “used to be easier” to say that she considers herself a Zionist. “I come from a state that has a huge Arab and Muslim population, a very large Jewish population. There’s not been a single issue that I’ve seen that’s been more emotional than this one because so many people have family members who are caught in the middle of this conflict.” 

“As someone who served three tours in Iraq,” she continued, “I do have concerns with the way the Israelis are organizing military policy right now, certainly in Gaza but also other places.”

“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,’ including synagogues I’m very close to and spent my life growing up in,” Slotkin said, referring to the March car-ramming and shooting attack on Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Mich. 

Slotkin called the attack “particularly personal” in an interview with Jewish Insider shortly after.

She continued on Tuesday, “That’s collective punishment that we wouldn’t allow when we’re talking about African Americans or talking about Italian Americans and so we shouldn’t allow it for Jewish Americans, either.”

Writer and researcher Hussain Abdul-Hussain has an unusual story: A Shia Muslim raised in Iraq and Lebanon and taught to hate Israel and the West, he is now a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies living in Washington, and the author of a book called The Arab Case for Israel. 

It was his years in Lebanon that gave him unique insight into the country’s political workings, which now play a major role in its tenuous ceasefire with Israel.

“Lebanon was a thriving state when the Arabs were fighting Israel state-to-state, when it was a symmetric military-to-military war,” Abdul-Hussain told Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov and Misgav Institute for National Security and Zionist Strategy Executive Director Asher Fredman on the “Misgav Mideast Horizons” podcast this week. 

“What happened is that, after 1967, when the Arab armies were defeated, the Arabs switched from military-to-military to asymmetric war, with armed factions like Hamas, or the PLO before Hamas, or Hezbollah [against Israel],” he said. “They decided when to fight, how to fight, where to launch attacks, and these were in Jordan and Lebanon. … Jordan decided [to say] ‘We are a state and we will not allow these armed factions to run our affairs’ … They ejected them in 1970. Lebanon, unfortunately, came under enormous pressure from all kinds of Arab capitals. … Everyone forced Lebanon to accept [PLO leader Yasser] Arafat and his armed factions to operate out of Lebanon and launch attacks on Israel.”

“Since then, the Lebanese state has not been able to restore its sovereignty to pre-1969 days,” Abdul-Hussain argued. “After Israel ejected Arafat in 1982, Hezbollah inherited the mantle. … We have an issue of chronic weakness of the Lebanese state facing armed factions.”

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun is “probably the only elected Lebanese official to state on the record that Hezbollah is treasonous and wages war on behalf of Iran,” Abdul-Hussain said. In addition, there were reports as talks began last month that Aoun would be willing to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

However, Aoun said more recently that Lebanon would not be able to negotiate with Israel until its fight against Hezbollah ended.

“Hezbollah and Iran don’t want any kind of direct talks with Israel,” Abdul-Hussain pointed out.

Egypt and Saudi Arabia, he noted, have also been advising the Lebanese government not to negotiate normalization, a topic that was one of Israel’s conditions for entering the talks.

Riyadh’s motivation, according to Abdul-Hussain, is for Arab states to line up behind the Gulf state and wait for it to make peace with Israel — a move that Saudi Arabia has conditioned on the creation of a pathway to Palestinian statehood.

“This is leverage for the Saudis; it’s not in the interest of Lebanon,” Abdul-Hussain said. “These are factors that come in so the Lebanese state remains weak and unable to take on Hezbollah.”

Abdul-Hussain credited the Trump administration for “giving Lebanon more attention than any administration since the early days of Ronald Reagan. … I’m happy that someone sees Lebanon as it is, not as we imagine it to be or just dismiss it and say ‘This is too complicated for us and we’re not going to go into it.’”

That attention is “a golden opportunity … to help disarm Hezbollah and live at peace with Israel, Syria, Turkey, Iran, everybody else,” he said. “If the Lebanese don’t grasp it, I’m not sure there will be another opportunity in the coming future.” 

Abdul-Hussain said that Aoun’s recent message that he will not shake hands with Netanyahu at the outset of negotiations does not diminish the major step he took toward peace talks with Israel.

“For a Lebanese president to say that we are parting ways with the Arab League and Saudi Arabia and that we are ready to shake hands with the Israeli prime minister if there is an agreement – that is huge,” he said.

As for France, which has often intervened on matters related to Lebanon, but is not involved in the talks with Israel, Abdul-Hussain said, “France has not paid a penny to Lebanon in a long time … but for some reason they keep sitting at the table deciding Lebanon’s fate. My guess is that they enjoy the spotlight.”

The French and the Saudis try to intervene in Lebanon “for their own ego,” Abdul-Hussain argued, but France is “more dangerous,” because it “tries to curry favor with Iran by taking Hezbollah’s side in Lebanon. The French would tell the Iranians, ‘Listen, we will not go against Hezbollah … [or] whatever Hezbollah policy. But keep in mind that when the time comes and there are no sanctions and you need to give contracts away, the French took your side. The French do this all the time. They did it with Saddam Hussein.”

A more recent example Abdul-Hussain cited was when the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain brought a draft resolution to the U.N. Security Council stating that the Strait of Hormuz is an international waterway and countries should be able to use military force to open it; “The French took the side of the Chinese, Russians and Iran” against it, he said.

“Why would France do that?” he said. “OK, you don’t like Trump, you don’t want to open your airspace to Trump. But if you are about international law, this is as [legitimate] as it can get. So what do the French do? They hedge against the West. … and this is what they’re doing in Lebanon.” 

Abdul-Hussain said he was “thrilled” to hear Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter say that he “would like to keep the French as far away as possible from pretty much everything, but particularly when it comes to peace negotiations.”

Abdul-Hussain’s book, The Arab Case for Israel, was published in February and features not only his arguments in favor of supporting Israel, but how he came to hold such views after receiving an anti-Israel education.

“My dad is from Iraq, from Baghdad, and my mom is from Baalbek in Lebanon,” Abdul-Hussain recounted this week. “I grew up in both countries. After second or third grade, we left Iraq permanently, during the war with Iran. … Of course, the 1980s in Lebanon is when Israel invaded [Lebanon] and when Hezbollah was being put together, and the days of the civil war.” 

Abdul-Hussain recalled growing up in Iraq “shouting slogans against Khomeini and against Israel, and then … [in] Lebanon shouting pro-Khomeini slogans against Saddam Hussein, but still against Israel.” 

He attended the American University in Beirut, where he was exposed to less conservative Muslim ideas of “all kinds, Marxist, socialist, anarchist, you name it” but still anti-Israel.

Abdul-Hussain became a reporter at the now-defunct Daily Star, a leading English-language newspaper in Lebanon, rising to the position of managing editor. 

When Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon in 2000, Abdul-Hussain was covering the events and drove to the border.

“At the time, the border was just a flimsy barbed wire. You could see Israelis on the other side, and I stood there and I watched Israeli families in Metula and all these towns … mothers driving their children to school, men working the fields, some guy driving a tractor. This was the first time that I saw Israelis as humans … as people like us, and this made me so curious,” he recalled.

Abdul-Hussain was able to pick up Israeli radio stations from Lebanon, and began to learn Hebrew in that way, because “If you lived in Lebanon, you had no access to anything Israeli. The only access you had is anti-Israel books by Edward Said, [Norman] Finkelstein, [Noam] Chomsky. You can buy Mein Kampf anywhere.” 

Listening to Israeli radio, Abdul-Hussain found that “These guys are not really obsessed with killing all the Arabs and taking all the land and establishing Greater Israel from the Nile to the Euphrates and all the conspiracy theories that I had learned.”

In 2004, he moved to Washington to work for the newly-founded Al Hurra, the U.S.-backed Arabic language news channel meant to support the spread of democracy in the Middle East, and has lived in the U.S. ever since.

“After I came to the U.S., I had unlimited access to everything Hebrew and Jewish and Israeli and I understood this is a totally different story from the one I was taught,” he said.

Abdul-Hussain makes the case that “Whatever happened in the past, whatever injustice has befallen the Arabs and the Palestinians, moving on and seeing Israel as an asset is much more in the Arab interest than trying to wind the clock back to a time when Israel didn’t exist.” 

“I show the numbers, the receipts as we say here in Washington,” he added. “Look at the Abraham Accords countries and their trade and economy. Look at the cold peace with Egypt and Jordan and their trade and economy, which is much less than the Abraham Accords countries. Then, look at Lebanon and Syria, who are still at war and miserably behind the others.”

Abdul-Hussain pointed at a trend by which “The more peaceful you get with your surroundings, the better your economy thrives and blooms. This is the idea of the book.”

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.”

A gunman who attacked the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington on Saturday night appears to have been acting alone, but is not currently cooperating with authorities, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Sunday morning. 

President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance, FBI Director Kash Patel, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and other Cabinet officials were rushed out of the Washington Hilton ballroom, where Trump was attending the WHCD for his first time as president, after shots were fired around 8:40 p.m. on Saturday.

The gunman had rushed a security checkpoint one floor above the ballroom armed with a shotgun, handgun and multiple knives and was tackled by law enforcement, D.C. police chief Jeffery Carroll said at a press briefing hours after the incident. 

Trump released images and security camera video of the moment on Truth Social, where the attacker is seen running past security, who react quickly. He did not reach the ballroom.

The gunman was arrested and taken to a local hospital, though officials say he was not shot during the altercation. One Secret Service officer was shot but was saved by his bulletproof vest, Trump said, and no other injuries were reported.

The suspect has not been named publicly but anonymous law enforcement officials identified him to The New York Times as 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen of Torrance, Calif. Federal authorities swarmed his home in the Los Angeles area hours after the attack. A LinkedIn account appearing to be connected to Allen indicates he was a video game developer and a part-time teacher.

Blanche said the gunman took a train from Los Angeles to Chicago and from Chicago to Washington where he checked into the Hilton as a guest a day or two before the event. It appears from the initial investigation that the suspect “set out to target folks that work in the administration, likely including the president,” Blanche added. 

An apparent manifesto by the shooter sent to his family members and obtained by CBS News said he was targeting administration officials, “prioritized from highest-ranking to lowest,” because he didn’t want their “crimes” to “coat [his] hands.” He said he would not target “Mr. Patel” — referring to the FBI director — Secret Service, Capitol Police or National Guard troops. “In order to minimize casualties, I will also be using buckshot rather than slugs (less penetration through walls),” he added.

He further criticized what he called the lack of security at the hotel and apologized to his parents “for saying I had an interview without specifying it was for ‘Most Wanted,’” as well as to his colleagues and students for saying he had a personal emergency.

Jeanine Pirro, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said Sunday that the suspect was being charged with using a firearm during a crime of violence and with assault of a federal officer, among other charges, and would be arraigned on Monday.

Trump, speaking from the White House briefing room shortly after the incident, praised law enforcement and members of the media for their response — a change in the president’s usual acrimonious tone with the press. He insisted that the WHCD be rescheduled shortly, and further used the incident to justify the construction of his White House ballroom.

A who’s who of the leading names in media, tech and global and domestic politics are flocking to the nation’s capital for the scores of exclusive parties surrounding the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner this Saturday — where President Donald Trump will make his first-ever appearance as president and deliver a roast of the political press corps. 

The correspondents’ dinner, and the parties thrown in its honor, have always generated enough fanfare to maintain its status as the biggest weekend of the social calendar in Washington. This year, however, is being treated inside the Beltway as the most high-profile WHCD weekend in at least a decade, the result of Trump’s decision to participate in this year’s dinner after boycotting it for his entire presidency.

In addition to Trump’s roast, guests will be entertained by Oz Pearlman, a famed mentalist known for his mind-reading tricks. Pearlman, who is Jewish and was born in Israel, marks a shift from the traditional entertainment choice at the dinner, which is usually a monologue delivered by a comedian. Those comedians’ jokes about Trump were a factor in why the president has skipped previous dinners, and the White House Correspondents’ Association canceled its planned entertainer last year over backlash to her past comments.

The dinner could make for some awkward moments: one of the WHCA’s award winners this year is a team from The Wall Street Journal, for reporting on Trump’s ties to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein — an article that led Trump to sue the Journal. And that’s not to mention Trump’s routine hostility toward and criticisms of the media more broadly. It is unclear if the president will be present for the award ceremony.

Celebrities have historically flocked to Washington for WHCD weekend, though the number of famous names willing to appear for the dinner or other events dwindled during the first Trump administration. That trend began to reverse during the Biden administration, though it picked up again last year when Trump returned to office. 

Nicki Minaj, the rap superstar who has become an advocate for the Trump administration, will be attending the dinner as a guest of the Washington Times. No other media organizations have announced celebrity guests for their respective tables at the dinner. 

Regardless of a diminished turnout of famous faces, this weekend will be jam-packed with nonstop events, and it has already begun.

Trump’s announcement in early March that he would attend Saturday’s dinner — leading many senior administration officials to also make plans to attend the festivities and Donald Trump Jr. to organize an ultra-exclusive event at his Executive Branch Club in Georgetown on Friday night — prompted an avalanche of interest from major companies, U.S. officials, foreign diplomats and dignitaries, top corporate powerbrokers and domestic political firms. 

Boeing, Meta and Amazon swiftly organized intimate, invite-only gatherings for this weekend or became lead sponsors for events being hosted by D.C.-area embassies, media outlets, political operatives and high-profile consulting groups. Foreign ambassadors stationed in the U.S. and others looking to connect with the president’s circle or the broader Washington political orbit began calling in favors to get on the guest lists for all of the weekend’s events, making invitations all-the-more difficult to secure for those who have attended in the last decade. 

The parties start early on Friday with Axios Live’s annual WHCD weekend kickoff brunch at 9:00 a.m., followed by MS NOW’s brunch at 11:00 a.m. and Punchbowl News’ WHCD weekend kickoff gathering the publication’s townhouse in Capitol Hill at noon. 

Meghan McCain’s “Renegade Women’s Cocktail Party” at The Graham in Georgetown starts at 4 p.m. while YouTube’s official WHCD party at Floreria Atlantico in Georgetown and the Motion Picture Association’s reception at the Downtown headquarters begin at 5:30.

Later that night, Semafor is hosting a “house party” at the private residence of its founder, Justin B. Smith, starting at 8 p.m.; Creative Artists Agency’s annual Friday evening party, sponsored by Vanity Fair, will take place this year at 7:30 p.m. at the Belgian ambassador’s residence near Georgetown; and United Talent Agency will host their annual “Celebration of American Journalists” at 9:00 p.m. at Osteria Mozza in Georgetown.

The Qataris are once again hosting a Friday evening correspondents bash with Washingtonian magazine, which starts at 8 p.m. at the Georgetown Four Seasons, which Qatari Ambassador Meshal Al Thani is slated to attend. At 7 p.m., doors will open for the Daily Mail’s party with Brunswick Review Business Magazine at the British ambassador’s residence.

Saturday’s festivities start at 11 a.m. with the annual White House Correspondents’ garden brunch, hosted by Tammy Haddad at the Beall-Washington House in Georgetown. Ahead of the dinner, Puck is hosting a “penthouse pre-party” on the rooftop of The Hepburn, located next to the Washington Hilton. At the Hilton, where the dinner is taking place, The Wall Street Journal and ABC News have their respective annual pre-dinner receptions at 5:30 p.m. The Washington Post has a cocktail reception at the Hilton starting at 6 p.m., the same time that Politico’s pre-dinner event with CBS News — featuring new CBS News honcho Bari Weiss — takes place just down the hall. 

Alongside the dinner, Substack is hosting its “New Media Party” at 8 p.m. at the Renwick Gallery, located blocks from the White House; afterward, MS NOW and NBC News have dueling parties starting at 11:30 p.m., with the former hosting theirs at Dupont Underground in Dupont Circle and the latter hosting theirs at the French ambassador’s residence in Kalorama. Time’s WHCD afterparty at the Swiss ambassador’s residence in Woodley Park begins at 11 p.m.

On Sunday, NOTUS and Politico are hosting a brunch at the home of Robert Allbritton starting at 11:00 a.m., and CNN’s “WHCD Weekend Finale” brunch reception starts at 12:30 p.m.