Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), the top Republican on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, issued a new call for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) to hold a hearing addressing antisemitism on college campuses, following the resignation on Wednesday of Columbia University President Minouche Shafik.

Cassidy said in a statement provided exclusively to Jewish Insider that Sanders, who chairs the committee, “has refused to hold a hearing to address the antisemitism against Jewish students.” The Republican senator has been urging Sanders to hold a hearing on the matter since late last year. “In the last ten months since October 7, we’ve seen antisemitic demonstrations take over college campuses,” the statement reads. 

“The Columbia president clearly mishandled the protests and the threats to Jewish students. The outrage over antisemitism in higher education is not going away. Jewish students coming back to campus this fall need assurance that their schools and the Department of Education will protect them from attacks and discrimination,” Cassidy said of Shafik, arguing that the problem of campus antisemitism goes beyond her tenure as president of Columbia.

“I urge HELP Democrats to reconsider their opposition to holding a hearing to ensure schools and the Biden-Harris administration uphold their legal responsibility to maintain a safe learning environment for all students,” he continued. “The time for accountability is now.” 

Cassidy told JI in November that Sanders had declined to call a hearing on campus antisemitism, so he instead organized a bipartisan roundtable on the issue, which the HELP chairman did not attend. 

Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), who has been pushing for a HELP hearing alongside Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV), told JI in May that Sanders told him that he planned to hold a hearing on antisemitism and Islamophobia, but such a hearing hasn’t materialized. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) accused Republicans during the November roundtable of ignoring the difficulties being faced by Muslim and Arab students.

“I’m hearing about the 400% increase in antisemitism since Oct. 7 on my [state’s] campuses,” Kaine said at the time. “But I’m also hearing from students who are Arab American or Muslim American or Palestinian American or who express any support for Palestinians — that they’re being targeted too… They’re afraid for their safety, they’re afraid for their livelihood and we’re not including them in this discussion.”

Sanders hasn’t responded to questions about his plans on the subject, and the three senators told JI that they have not received any updates on announcing or scheduling a hearing. 

Asked by JI in May about organizing such a hearing, Sanders replied that, “The issue of bigotry on campus is something that we are concerned about” before abruptly entering a senators-only elevator. 

Columbia University President Minouche Shafik announced her resignation on Wednesday, days before the start of the school year — and months after the end of a chaotic school year that saw her testify before Congress about antisemitism and navigate the unruly fallout of the first anti-Israel encampment in the nation. 

Dr. Katrina Armstrong, CEO of Columbia’s Irving Medical Center, will serve as interim president, a university spokesperson confirmed to Jewish Insider. A source familiar said Armstrong has already been in touch with Hillel leadership at Columbia. 

News of Shafik’s resignation was first reported by the Washington Free Beacon’s Eliana Johnson. Shafik is the fourth Ivy League president to step down in the last year amid rising anti-Israel activism on campuses, following the University of Pennsylvania’s Elizabeth Magill, Harvard’s Claudine Gay and Cornell University’s Martha Pollack.

“I have had the honor and privilege to lead this incredible institution, and I believe that — working together — we have made progress in a number of important areas,” Shafik, who only started in the role in July 2023, wrote in an email to the Columbia community. 

“However, it has also been a period of turmoil where it has been difficult to overcome divergent views across our community. This period has taken a considerable toll on my family, as it has for others in our community. Over the summer, I have been able to reflect and have decided that my moving on at this point would best enable Columbia to traverse the challenges ahead,” she wrote.

Following the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, Columbia, like other American universities, saw an uptick in antisemitism and targeting of Zionist students. But in an April hearing before the House Education and the Workforce Committee, Shafik avoided the kind of viral moment that dogged her colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

But when she went back to Manhattan, she faced the first anti-Israel encampment at an American university. Her decision to call in the police to break up the demonstration set off a wave of anger among many students and faculty members on campus and sparked dozens of other solidarity encampments at other universities. 

From there, her leadership was under a microscope. Following a number of antisemitic incidents related to the encampment, several members of Congress from both parties went to Columbia to speak to Jewish students and show solidarity.

In a statement, the Anti-Defamation League said it is “saddened that the leadership of another flagship university has crumbled under the weight of antisemitism on its campus,” calling on the school to move quickly to fill the leadership vacancy before the fall semester.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), in a statement first shared with JI, cheered Shafik’s decision to step aside: “As a result of President Shafik’s refusal to protect Jewish students and maintain order on campus, Columbia University became the epicenter for virulent antisemitism that has plagued many American university campuses since Hamas’ barbaric attack on Israel last fall.” 

“I stood in President Shafik’s office in April and told her to resign, and while it is long overdue, we welcome today’s news. Jewish students at Columbia beginning this school year should breathe a sigh of relief…We hope that President Shafik’s resignation serves as an example to university administrators across the country that tolerating or protecting antisemites is unacceptable and will have consequences,” Johnson added.

Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), the chair of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, said that, under Shafik’s leadership “a disturbing wave of antisemitic harassment, discrimination, and disorder engulfed Columbia university’s campus” and students were allowed to break the law with impunity.

“Columbia’s next leader must take bold action to address the pervasive antisemitism, support for terrorism, and contempt for the university’s rules that have been allowed to flourish on its campus,” Foxx continued, 

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), a prominent member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, crowed, “THREE DOWN, so many to go,” adding that her “failed presidency was untenable and that it was only a matter of time before her forced resignation.”

She added, “We will continue to demand moral clarity, condemnation of antisemitism, protection of Jewish students and faculty, and stronger leadership from American higher education institutions.”

Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) told JI that the resignation was “long overdue.”

“I have been calling for President Shafik to be ousted or resign ever since her abysmal failure to condemn Columbia’s antisemitic outbursts or ensure the safety of Jewish students on her campus,” Lawler said. “Let this be a lesson to all who waver in the face of evil.”

Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) said that “when President Shafik failed to enforce the code of conduct and protect Jewish students just trying to walk to class safely, she failed at her job and allowed a hostile, antisemitic environment to escalate.”

He asserted that similar treatment of any other minority group would have been quickly stopped by school administrators and that signs reading “go back to Poland” displayed just outside Columbia’s gates when he visited the campus have stuck with him.

Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) called Columbia “ground zero for campus antisemitism in NYC,” urging the new leadership to “summon the moral clarity and the moral courage to confront the deep rot of antisemitism at Columbia’s core.”

But Columbia’s problems didn’t stop with the encampment. In late April, student protesters occupied a campus administrative building, leading to hundreds of arrests by police. (The charges have since been dropped against most student protesters.) 

Two days later, President Joe Biden condemned unlawful protests at U.S. universities. “Destroying property is not a peaceful protest. It’s against the law. Vandalism, trespassing, breaking windows, shutting down campuses, forcing the cancellation of classes and graduation — none of this is a peaceful protest,” he said in a White House address in May. “It’s against the law.”

In May, the faculty of arts and sciences — which was mostly supportive of the anti-Israel encampment — approved a vote of no confidence in Shafik. 

Columbia made news earlier this month when three deans who had been placed on leave over exchanging antisemitic text messages resigned. 

And as recently as this week, lawmakers demanded that the school reimburse the New York Police Department for costs incurred in clearing the encampment on the Columbia campus.

Brian Cohen, executive director of Columbia/Barnard Hillel, declined to comment on Shafik’s departure but praised Armstrong’s appointment as interim president. 

“I think very highly of Dr. Armstrong and I know many colleagues feel the same way,” Cohen told JI. “She is a strong leader — when there were issues that needed to be addressed at the Medical Center, Dr. Armstrong was quick to respond and to address the issues.”

Jewish Insider Congressional correspondent Emily Jacobs contributed to this report.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) will publish a book next February detailing his experience as the nation’s highest-ranking Jewish leader to issue what he describes as a “warning” about the rise of antisemitism in America.

Antisemitism in America: A Warning will be released on Feb. 18, the book’s publisher, Grand Central Publishing, a division of Hachette Book Group, announced on Wednesday. It will draw on Schumer’s life story, tracing back to his youth in Brooklyn in the 1960s and Harvard University in the 1970s through his decades in politics, to explain “his generation’s Jewish experience.”

“For the first time in generations, antisemitism has become a daily reality in America, and it’s getting worse. Jewish synagogues and their congregants are targeted and sometimes killed by extremists, Jewish students are harassed and attacked on campus, conspiracy theories about Jews have gone mainstream on social media, and debates over Israel have veered into dangerous territory,” a press release on the book reads. 

In it, Schumer “tackles the historical, political, cultural, and international forces that have led to the alarming rise of antisemitism in America in the 21st Century.”

“Schumer takes readers on a personal journey of how Jewish Americans like him have come to understand their history, their place in America — and why they worry about the future of Jewish life in America. This book is a warning, informed by the lessons of history and Schumer’s experience, about what can happen when the world’s oldest hatred is allowed to rise unchecked,” the release continued.

News of the book was first reported by the Associated Press.

The New York Democrat, 73, said in a statement that, “At its core, my book is a warning. If America fails to understand the context and history of antisemitism, if America’s darker impulses ultimately overwhelm its better angels, an age-old truth will prove true once again: that antisemitism inevitably leads to violence against Jews and a rise in bigotry in our society at large. Jewish Americans never thought it could happen here in America. Now, for the first time, they’re worried it could.”

“As the Irish writer Conor Cruise O’Brien once said, ‘antisemitism is a light sleeper,’” he added.

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) claimed victory on Tuesday in a primary rematch with Don Samuels, a former Minneapolis councilman who had almost unseated her in 2022.

Omar, an outspoken Israel critic, prevailed by a much wider margin than last cycle, when Samuels came within two points of pulling off a surprise upset. This time, she won by a 13-point margin, 56-43%, all but inevitably securing a fourth term in Congress.

Her victory follows two recent primaries in which fellow Squad members — Reps. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) and Cori Bush (D-MO) — were defeated by challengers backed by pro-Israel groups including AIPAC and Democratic Majority for Israel. 

But Omar’s race drew no such outside engagement as pro-Israel groups determined the race wasn’t winnable and chose to keep their distance, even as Samuels, a pro-Israel Democrat, had insisted they were missing out on a key opportunity.

The progressive incumbent was better prepared to defend her seat this cycle, after Samuels’ campaign caught her by surprise in 2022. She far outraised him and spent heavily on advertising, in contrast with the previous cycle, when she did not seriously invest in her campaign.

Omar also fended off two lesser-known challengers in the Minneapolis primary on Tuesday.

Despite a double-digit win over Samuels, Omar’s vote share was hardly a commanding total for an incumbent lawmaker, suggesting that she could be vulnerable to future challenges.

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his vice presidential nominee, Nicole Shanahan, are set to participate in a campaign event on Wednesday moderated by self-described journalist Ian Carroll, who has, in recent months, promoted antisemitic conspiracy theories.

As recently as July 24, Carroll posted on X that “our country is controlled by an international criminal organization that grew out of the Jewish mob and now hides in modern Zionism behind cries of ‘antisemitism.’ But make no mistake, it is an international organized crime syndicate and it has complete control over Washington.”

Carroll has also claimed on multiple occasions that Israel has manipulated Holocaust history for its own benefit.

On March 4, he said that the Holocaust had happened but “Israel certainly did their best to embellish and inflame the history books telling of the tale ever since.” He further suggested that Holocaust denial had been invented by Israel to “discredit people that start asking too many questions.”

On Feb. 11, he claimed that the Holocaust “has certainly been milked for all its worth by modern Zionist interests,” adding that neither the Allies nor the Nazis were “good guys” in World War II, which he said had been “orchestrated by massive banking powers.”

The virtual Kennedy campaign event, advertised on Kennedy’s campaign website, is set to discuss artificial intelligence. Pia Malaney, the associate research director of the Institute for New Economic Thinking, will also be a panelist. Kennedy’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

Carroll told JI he is not being paid by the campaign to moderate the event and does not have any other connections to the campaign. He said that moderating the event “does not mean in any way that I agree with everyone on the panel, or that the panelists agree with me. This is the fundamental nature of debate and discussion.”

Carroll has also claimed that “Israel did 9/11” and that the modern Democratic Party is “run by CIA and Mossad” and suggested Jews control the media.

In May, Carroll shared a self-produced two-and-a-half-hour video titled “Evidence of a Zionist Mafia – How Israel controls the US and global politics,” with a graphic featuring a Star of David over the U.S. Capitol building, alongside pictures of three former U.S. presidents, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, convicted pedophile and financier Jeffrey Epstein and former Epstein client Les Wexner.

Carroll said in an exchange about that video that he had used “Zionist mafia” as a stand-in for “Jewish cabal.”

And he has engaged with claims that Shanahan, Kennedy’s running mate, may be involved in this supposed Jewish conspiracy. He suggested that it was suspicious that she’d been married to three Jewish men and said he’d be looking further into the issue, though he said that more “mundane explanations” were more probable. Shanahan has previously appeared on Carroll’s podcast.

Kennedy has personally expressed strong support for Israel on the campaign trail, including repeatedly rejecting calls for a cease-fire.

Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign named Ilan Goldenberg, a Middle East policy expert who served in a key role in 2013 Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, as its Jewish outreach director. JTA first reported the hire on Monday. 

Goldenberg joined the Biden administration in 2021 at the Department of Defense, before moving to Harris’ team as a Middle East advisor in 2023. In April, he transitioned to the White House National Security Council.

“He was the vice president’s top staff on Middle East issues on October 7, so I think she probably knows him very well and trusts his judgment and his expertise on Israel issues, which are obviously very important to the Jewish community,” said Michael Koplow, chief policy officer at Israel Policy Forum. 

Koplow authored a 2020 report with Goldenberg calling for a “new U.S. policy toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict” focused on promoting “freedom, security and prosperity for all people living between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River” — language that has become a key part of President Joe Biden’s approach to the region.

The pick reflects the significance that Israel is expected to play in this fall’s election. It’s unusual for a campaign’s top Jewish outreach official to come from a foreign policy background, rather than from the political world. Aaron Keyak, Biden’s 2020 Jewish outreach director, had experience working on campaigns, as did Sarah Bard, who held the role for Hillary Clinton in 2016. During the 2020 Democratic primary, Goldenberg advised Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) on Middle East issues. 

“He’s not just a political or campaign hire. He’s an experienced foreign policy expert who has worked directly with the vice president on Middle East policy, which says a lot about how they view the scope and importance of this role,” said Halie Soifer, CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America.

A campaign aide told JI that Goldenberg will also advise Harris on policy, and that he will be “the campaign’s main liaison with Jewish community leaders and stakeholders and advise the campaign on issues related to the U.S.-Israel relationship, the war in Gaza and the broader Middle East.” Dean Lieberman, Harris’ deputy national security advisor, will continue to handle Jewish engagement from her official office. 

Goldenberg, who was born in Israel, is known in Washington as a strong advocate of the two-state solution and a supporter of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, alongside Harris’ national security advisor Phil Gordon, with whom Goldenberg has worked closely. At the start of the Biden administration in 2021, Goldenberg argued for the U.S. to rejoin the 2015 deal before negotiating a “longer and stronger” deal with Iran. 

His selection earned praise from progressives and some centrist Democrats, but quickly sparked criticism from more hawkish circles.

“Ilan Goldenberg is one of the most respected, thoughtful people in Washington working with the Jewish community and on Israel-Palestine,” J Street president Jeremy Ben-Ami told Jewish Insider. “What a great pick by the Harris-Walz campaign for this sensitive assignment.” 

Conservatives criticized Harris for the pick, attacking Goldenberg for his work on the National Security Council as a proponent of Biden’s sanctions on violent Israeli settlers in the West Bank, according to a report published in Tablet this weekend. 

Daniel Silverberg, a former longtime foreign policy advisor to Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), argued that “criticism of Ilan, in my view, stems from long-standing grudges against the Obama Iran deal,” he told JI. “Besides that, Ilan and Phil Gordon are mainstream Democratic foreign policy hands with a deep appreciation of the U.S.-Israel relationship.” (Silverberg has worked with Goldenberg in the past.)

In the Obama administration, Goldenberg served as chief of staff to Martin Indyk, who was the special envoy for Middle East peace. It was the last time a serious diplomatic effort was underway to reach a two-state solution. Before that, he served as a staff member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, advising both former Sens. John Kerry (D-MA) and Bob Menedez (D-NJ). 

“He obviously takes Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy very seriously,” said Koplow. “To the extent that that makes people on the right uncomfortable — ultimately, the Israelis and Palestinians are absolutely going to have to negotiate for some sort of political resolution. And I think that’s pretty mainstream positioning within the Democratic Party.”

Harris has taken a different rhetorical approach to Israel and the war in Gaza than Biden, offering more sympathetic words to the Palestinian victims in Gaza and extending an olive branch to some anti-Israel protesters who threatened to sit out the election if Biden were the nominee. On policy, her positions have not diverged from Biden’s; after meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in July, she reiterated her “unwavering commitment” to Israel while calling for all parties to finally reach a hostage and ceasefire agreement. 

Goldenberg lacks experience on other issues that Harris will need to cultivate to connect with Jewish voters, like antisemitism. In July, after pro-Hamas protesters vandalized Union Station, Harris called them “abhorrent” and said “antisemitism, hate and violence of any kind have no place in our nation.” 

Still, Harris has not spoken at length about antisemitism or started concerted outreach to the Jewish community since becoming the Democratic nominee in July.  

“I want to see more proactive outreach from her, and I think with Ilan in place, that’s going to happen,” said Silverberg. “He’s going to help organize the voices of people who care about this issue, who get it and that jive with, I think, Harris’ world view.”

Orlando Sonza, the Republican nominee against Rep. Greg Landsman (D-OH), running in a battleground district, accepted and promoted an endorsement from a prolific antisemite and Holocaust denier.

Sonza, a military veteran and West Point graduate, accountant and former prosecutor, promoted on his website and social media an endorsement from Kiumars Kiani, a Cincinnati man with a long record of blatant antisemitic activity, including Holocaust denial. Landsman, Sonza’s opponent, is Jewish. The campaign pulled down and rejected the endorsement when contacted by Jewish Insider.

Kiani, also known as Dr. Q, ran in the district in 2016, 2018 and 2020 as an independent write-in candidate, collecting less than a dozen votes in 2020. 

Sonza’s congressional campaign website’s endorsements page listed Kiani as a “community leader & grassroots activist,” one of 35 named on the page. The Sonza campaign’s X account also posted that list of endorsements, including Kiani, in July 2023. The endorsements page on Sonza’s website states he is “proud of the long list of elected officials, grassroots activists, and community leaders who have endorsed his candidacy.”

During his 2016 congressional run, Kiani’s campaign ran a blatantly antisemitic radio ad claiming that Jewish bankers were propping up Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign through control of the media and voting systems.

“The international bankers around Goldman Sachs and the Fed are the organized, worldwide, Christ-hating, America-hating Jewish shadow government behind communism and the New World Order,” the ad declares. “These Jewish bankers rig key elections through their control of all five big TV networks which are issuing the false polls and their control of the 3 big mega election vendors.”

The ad ends, “paid for by Dr. Kiumars Kiani for Congress 2016.”

A Sonza campaign spokesperson said the campaign was not previously aware of Kiani’s activities.

“Upon learning of Kiani’s anti-Semitic comments, we reject Kiumars Kiani’s endorsement entirely,” a Sonza campaign spokesperson said. “Anti-Semitism has no place in our country, in our campaign, and in our politics.”

The campaign spokesperson said the campaign received and publicized Kiani’s endorsement “solely based on [the] criteria” that he was and remains a Republican Party precinct executive. The spokesperson said that Kiani has not been involved with the campaign or campaign activities in any capacity “other than being listed with other Precinct Executives.”

Kiani did not respond to a request for comment to a phone number listed on his now-defunct campaign website.

Jim Condit Jr., Kiani’s self-identified campaign manager, has his own long history of antisemitism and Holocaust denial. He asked supporters for help to run the ad on higher-profile radio shows. Condit appears to be the narrator of Kiani’s ad.

Condit’s website explains that he used Kiani’s campaign to force radio stations to run the ads under a U.S. law requiring broadcast stations to allow federal election candidates access to advertising time.

Kiani’s very active social media pages are also replete with antisemitic imagery and posts, and other conspiracy theory-laden content, including in the months before Sonza advertised his endorsement. His Instagram account includes multiple incidents of Holocaust denial as well as the “Happy Merchant” cartoon and claims that Jews are “satanists.” His X page features other antisemitic conspiracy theories.

And just days before Sonza advertised his endorsement, Kiani reposted a post on X praising the Nazis.

Kiani’s 2016 campaign also sponsored a radio show, “Target Freedom USA,” hosted by Condit, on which Kiani appeared as a co-host on several occasions, according to the show’s website. 

One episode co-hosted by Kiani was titled “the Jewish lobby & shadow government”; the episode description accuses Israel of carrying out the 9/11 attacks and the USS Liberty bombing. Another episode featured neo-Nazi leader Matthew Heimbach as a guest.

Kiani has engaged in a variety of other baseless conspiracy theories as well, including in 2020 accusing Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, of being “a piece of crap old child molester.”

Since the endorsement, Kiani’s posts have continued in the same tenor — a frequent stream of antisemitic invective amid other bizarre content, including further Holocaust denial, conspiracy theories about Jewish control and claims that Jews orchestrated the attempted  assassination of former President Donald Trump.

Kiani also shared quotes from white nationalist leader Nick Fuentes and Adolf Hitler and posts including a code for “Heil Hitler.”

Kiani describes himself as an immigrant and activist from Iran who moved to the U.S. in the early 2000s following persecution by the Iranian regime and an alleged poisoning attempt. 

He has claimed repeatedly that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was created by the CIA and Israeli Mossad.

Kiani purports to hold a doctorate from the University of Hertfordshire, and has an IMDB page that describes him as a documentary producer, though a LinkedIn page in his name describes him as an insurance broker for an India-based company that does not appear to sell insurance.