Maryland state Del. Adrian Boafo prevailed on Tuesday in the crowded Democratic primary to replace retiring Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), who endorsed him, marking a legacy-burnishing victory for the veteran congressman and his pro-Israel allies.

The Associated Press called the race after Boafo had secured 32% of the vote with about one-half of ballots counted Tuesday night. His nearest competitor, businesswoman Quincy Bareebe, lagged well behind with 19% of the vote. 

The Blue Square Alliance Against Hate announced on Tuesday the formation of its inaugural advisory board to help guide the organization. 

The five board members of the organization, founded by New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, includes former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan; Dentons CEO Kate Barton; Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff; and Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav. 

The Trump administration is planning to ask Congress to approve an $80 billion request for additional funding to replenish stockpiles and otherwise pay for the war in Iran, according to several reports.

That request comes on top of a push for a $1.15 trillion regular defense budget for 2027 as well as another $350 billion for the Pentagon that the administration wants Congress to pass through a partisan reconciliation process — a $1.5 trillion request in total that Republican lawmakers have criticized and some key Senate Republicans have described as unrealistic.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) reiterated her criticism of Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner and accused him and his supporters of antisemitism at an Orthodox Union event on Tuesday.

Speaking at the OU luncheon, Collins called out Platner for his Nazi tattoo, pointing to accounts by former romantic partners that he had described it as a Nazi symbol despite later denying that he knew what it was. She said that even though he covered up the tattoo on the campaign trail, “the stain remains.”

Former Secretary of State Tony Blinken offered support for Rep. Ro Khanna’s (D-CA) stance on the Iran war and the U.S. deal with Iran in a post on X on Tuesday.

Blinken praised the “wise words from my friend [Khanna],” reposting a Fox News op-ed by the congressman making the case that “stopping the Iran war is good. But Trump’s deal is worse than the JCPOA.”

A manifesto allegedly left by the gunman behind Monday’s rampage in Côte-des-Neiges, a heavily Jewish neighborhood in Montreal, repeatedly targeted Jews and Zionists, specifically identifying “influential Zionists” among his intended victims, according to a copy of the document published by Rebel News.

A Jewish civilian, a police officer and the suspect were killed in the attack, while one other police officer was seriously injured but is in stable condition. On Tuesday, Quebec authorities identified the alleged suspect as Seth Hatfield, a 25-year-old man from Alberta. Police have not yet released a motive for the attack. 

The Senate voted on Tuesday to pass a House-passed war powers resolution directing the administration to withdraw U.S. forces from Iran — a congressional rebuke of the administration over the war in Iran — though legally its effects are likely to be largely symbolic.

The resolution passed by a 50-48 vote, with Republican Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Susan Collins (R-ME) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) again voting in favor and Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) voting against it. Ultimately, GOP absences enabled the resolution to go forward.

Former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander has bear-hugged Mayor Zohran Mamdani as he seeks to unseat Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) — but got a primary day cold shoulder from New York City First Lady Rama Duwaji.

The left-wing illustrator posted an Instagram story Tuesday flashing an “I Voted” sticker and encouraging her followers to support the two congressional candidates endorsed by both her husband and the Democratic Socialists of America: Assemblymember Claire Valdez and doctoral student Darializa Avila Chevalier. 

As the details around the memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran emerge, Vice President JD Vance, who has been deputized with leading the effort, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, ostensibly the Trump administration’s top diplomat, have offered different messaging around the issue of Lebanon and Hezbollah being subsumed into discussions with Tehran.

After the U.S. and Iran agreed to create a “deconfliction cell” for military operations in Lebanon — a mechanism that, notably, does not include Israel — Vance said on Monday that the U.S. will be counting on Iran to “rein in” its proxy Hezbollah, without referencing Tehran’s material support for the terror group. 

Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter criticized the Trump administration on Tuesday for agreeing to establish a “deconfliction cell” to end military operations in Lebanon without Israel’s involvement as part of the ongoing peace talks with Iran, the first public statement from Jerusalem denouncing the move.

Leiter released a pair of statements in English and Hebrew at the start of the fifth round of multi-day diplomatic talks at the U.S. State Department between Israel and Lebanon, in which he warned that both parties were “heading towards a train wreck.”

President Donald Trump grew so frustrated with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during last September’s negotiations over a U.S.-brokered deal to end the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, that Trump cursed and yelled at Netanyahu in a phone call days before the agreement was announced publicly, according to a new book.

“Everybody’s sick of you, Bibi,” Trump said in a phone call with Netanyahu, Jared Kushner and White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, according to a book published on Tuesday by New York Times journalists Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan chronicling the first year of Trump’s second term. “All the Jews are sick of you. Even the two Jews on this call are sick of you.” 

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s slate of Israel-critical House candidates has received national media attention for months — but his intervention in a state-level race in Manhattan could also reverberate through the city’s Jewish community and beyond.

The mayor has interceded in a handful of state legislative races this cycle, but perhaps none so contentious as the race for the 69th Assembly District, which covers much of the Upper West Side of Manhattan as well as the Morningside Heights area adjacent to Columbia University. 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said that Israel’s right to self defense must be protected in U.S. talks with Iran, after administration officials publicly urged Israel to cease operations against Hezbollah as part of the recent memorandum of understanding — even though Israel, Hezbollah and Lebanon are not parties to that agreement.

Hezbollah has continued to attack Israel, killing Israeli soldiers last week.

Ambassador Yehuda Kaploun, the Trump administration’s special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, said on Monday that his office, under President Donald Trump, had been given a broader remit across the federal government, including assisting in the recent arrest and indictment of an alleged mastermind of attacks on Jewish communities in Europe and the U.S.

Kaploun said at an Orthodox Union conference that his office had worked with the Department of Justice, FBI, intelligence community and the White House to help bring to justice Mohammed Al-Saadi, an Iranian Iraqi Kata-ib Hizballah operative allegedly involved in more than two dozen attacks and attempted attacks across Europe and the U.S. 

The White House’s rapid response social media account on Monday criticized media coverage of Vice President JD Vance’s participation in U.S. peace talks with Iran in Switzerland — and pointed to Al Jazeera’s reporting as evidence. 

The rapid response team, a part of the White House’s communications office that defends the Trump administration’s record through social media, criticized media outlets on X that reported on Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi declining to participate in a photo op with Vance, and Qatari officials not shaking Vance’s hand when photos were taken, as intentional digs at the United States. 

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) accused Maine Democratic Senate nominee Graham Platner of antisemitism and defended her support for Israel in a Fox News interview on Monday.

“I remain a very strong supporter of Israel, the one democracy in the Middle East, our true ally in the Middle East,” Collins said when asked about increasing hostility to Israel and AIPAC among the American public. She attributed such trends to “rising antisemitism in our country that Graham Platner certainly is part of, and has been since his high school days. That’s been a consistent theme throughout his entire life.”

The Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division is investigating a Brooklyn cafe after it banned Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) from its store, posting discriminatory messages online that accused the congressman of enabling genocide and tying him to AIPAC. 

“Federal law prohibits public accommodations such as coffee shops from discriminating against patrons based on their race, religion, or national origin. These actions are not only reprehensible, they’re potentially illegal. The Civil Rights Division has opened an investigation, and will bring an enforcement action if warranted,” Harmeet Dhillon, the DOJ’s assistant attorney general for civil rights, said. 

Former White House officials and Middle East experts are expressing concern over the Trump administration’s move to lift sanctions on Iranian oil sales through August, warning that Tehran will gain significant revenue it could use for malign activities before it demonstrates concrete progress on its diplomatic commitments.

On Monday, the U.S. Treasury Department issued a temporary 60-day license authorizing the production, delivery and sale of Iranian oil, lifting decades-old sanctions. The move was made in response to Tehran’s agreement to open the Strait of Hormuz and allow international nuclear inspectors into the country following weekend talks in Switzerland, according to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, a claim which Iranian officials have denied.

Three people were killed in a shooting attack in Côte-des-Neiges, a heavily Jewish neighborhood in Montreal, Canada. A civilian, a police officer and the suspect were confirmed dead by Montreal police, while one other police officer was seriously injured but in stable condition.

Police urged residents to shelter in place, lock their doors and avoid the area as they responded to the incident and searched the area for additional suspects. In a press conference, Fady Dagher, Montreal’s police chief, said that the motive was still under investigation. He said they had determined there had only been one suspect who shot at them and he had been neutralized.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani doubled down on his rhetorical assault on AIPAC on Monday, after Jewish groups over the weekend criticized his comments about the pro-Israel organization at a Thursday rally last week that they argued evoked classic antisemitic tropes.

Mamdani defended naming AIPAC among the “monsters who move dark money,” maintaining that he was quoting 20th century Marxist philosopher Antonio Gramsci’s comment about living in a “time of monsters.” But the phrase is a notorious and widely known misquote of Gramsci’s, though the mayor evinced no awareness of the inaccuracy — and backed up his argument with statistics from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry alleging the death of more than 1,000 Palestinians at the hands of the IDF since the ceasefire last fall.

Three men killed in a small plane crash in Bowie, Md., on Saturday night have been identified as Israeli citizens.

Yoav Bomrind, 26, David Rabinovitz, 19, and Elad Neidik, 20, boarded a single-engine Piper Cherokee plane in Ocean City, N.J., and were headed to the Montgomery County Airpark in Gaithersburg, just outside of Washington, D.C. The plane, which was reportedly operated by a Montgomery County-based flight school, crashed shortly before midnight in a heavily wooded area, just feet from a residential neighborhood in Bowie, The Baltimore Banner reported. 

Vice President JD Vance on Monday backed Iran’s participation in bringing about the end of Israel and Hezbollah’s military conflict, calling the terror group’s ongoing strikes and Israel’s response “a chicken and egg problem.” 

Vance said at a press conference in Switzerland that the U.S. will be counting on Iran to “rein in” Hezbollah, after the U.S. and Iran agreed to create a “deconfliction cell” for military operations in Lebanon during negotiations on Sunday. The statement announcing the mechanism, released by mediating countries Pakistan and Qatar, did not reference Israel.

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) announced last week that he had been endorsed by the anti-Israel group TrackAIPAC, which has faced widespread accusations of antisemitism, after he became the first politician or candidate to sign a new “pledge” promulgated by the group.

TrackAIPAC has garnered ongoing accusations of antisemitism for its targeting of individual Jewish donors with, in some cases, distant or long-ago ties to pro-Israel organizations, fueling accusations that the group aims to broadly stigmatize Jewish political participation. Its inconsistent methodology and practices for determining which politicians it labels as “pro-Israel” have also generated criticism. 

Alan Greenspan — the influential economist who led the Federal Reserve across four presidencies and whose track record guiding economic growth earned him status as an economic “maestro” — died on Monday at age 100.

Greenspan chaired the Federal Reserve from 1987 to 2006, serving under Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

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. 

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) defended the Trump administration’s diplomatic discussions with Iran on Sunday, but predicted that negotiations with the Islamic Republic will likely fail, and threatened that the U.S. will take over the Strait of Hormuz if no agreement is reached.

“Let’s try a diplomatic solution. I think it’s going to fail,” Graham said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday regarding a negotiated agreement with Tehran. 

Israelis overwhelmingly believe Iran won the war against the U.S. and Israel and view its conclusion negatively, a new survey by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has found. 

Over 9 in 10 respondents (92%), surveyed between June 17-20, said Tehran emerged as the victor, according to The Times of Israel, and nearly 70% said President Donald Trump’s management of the war classifies as “failed” or “poor.” 

Vice President JD Vance warned pro-Israel advocates against seeing Israel and the U.S. as always aligned and cautioned against conflating criticism of the Israeli government with antisemitism, saying that “if everything is Jew hatred, then nothing is Jew hatred.”

In an episode of Christian conservative commentator Allie Beth Stuckey’s podcast podcast released on Friday, Vance said that “pro-Israel people in the United States make two critical mistakes. One … is not delineating between America’s interests and Israeli interests, because they’re not always the same.”

Vice President JD Vance, leading the American delegation in diplomatic negotiations this weekend with Iran in Switzerland, told reporters on Sunday that “the United States is willing to fundamentally transform our relationship with [Iran]” if the Islamic Republic’s leadership is willing to give up nuclear weapons and end its backing of terrorist proxies. 

“If your leadership is willing to give up being a driver of regional instability, if they are willing to give up nuclear weapons ambitions in the long term, then the United States is willing to fundamentally transform our relationship with that country,” Vance said at a news briefing, according to The New York Times. 

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), a leading critic of Israel in the Senate, publicly confirmed for the first time this week, after visits to key primary states, that he is considering a 2028 presidential bid — and argued that criticism of Israel should be a key litmus test for the emerging field.

Van Hollen has become an increasingly outspoken and virulent voice against Israel in the Senate  and taken trips to states that will play a pivotal role in the 2028 presidential primary, fueling speculation that he is scoping out a presidential run. 

The battle for three Democratic congressional primaries in New York City has been defined by a conflict more than 5,000 miles away, with candidates spending the final days before Tuesday’s primary echoing the fiercely anti-Israel rhetoric that helped elevate Mayor Zohran Mamdani to power.

All three of the mayor’s favored contenders for the House — former City Comptroller Brad Lander, Assemblymember Claire Valdez and doctoral student Darializa Avila Chevalier —  underscored their criticism of Israel and its U.S. supporters as early voting began in the contested districts. 

Delegates at the United Auto Workers convention in Detroit voted on Thursday to divest from Israel Bonds, citing the war in Gaza. 

One of the largest unions in the country, the UAW previously held an estimated $400,000 to $700,000 in Israeli bonds and securities, according to the Detroit Free Press. It has not been disclosed how much money the divestment will affect or how many members voted to pass the resolution. 

Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Mike Lawler (R-NY) have been circulating a resolution among lawmakers condemning Hezbollah for its “repeated violations of ceasefire agreements” through its attacks against Israel and calling for the terrorist group to be disarmed, Jewish Insider has learned.

The resolution calls on the Lebanese government and the Lebanese Armed Forces to “ensure Lebanese Hezbollah immediately ceases all attacks and disarms in accordance with the ceasefire” that the U.S. brokered between Israel and Lebanon as the Lebanese terror group continues to threaten the deal. 

Jewish Republican donors and activists are voicing their strong disappointment with President Donald Trump’s newly announced memorandum of understanding with Iran, which has been met with criticism from GOP lawmakers as well as influential hawkish conservatives.

Trump has fiercely defended the deal to end the war with Iran, the text of which was released Wednesday, claiming it is superior to the nuclear agreement with Tehran that was reached by former President Barack Obama in 2015.

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

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

J Street is slated to host a virtual briefing for congressional staff on the Trump administration’s memorandum of understanding with Iran featuring former Biden administration special envoy for Iran Rob Malley, who was suspended from his State Department role amid an investigation over his handling of classified materials.

The event, scheduled for next Tuesday, will feature Malley alongside Kelsey Davenport, director for nonproliferation policy at the Arms Control Association. It’s being co-organized by the Center for International Policy and Win Without War.

The Department of Energy is leaning on Israel’s offshore gas resources and cybersecurity prowess to help an emerging Eastern Mediterranean energy alliance, with officials telling Jewish Insider that Israeli participation uniquely “strengthens” the newly formed coalition.

Earlier this month, the U.S., Cyprus, Greece and Israel formalized the partnership, announcing the establishment of the Eastern Mediterranean Energy Center (EMEC) on the campus of Rice University in Houston. Energy Secretary Chris Wright signed a declaration of intent alongside Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter, Cypriot Energy Minister Michael Damianos and Greek Environment and Energy Minister Stavros Papastavrou. 

Senate Republicans continued on Thursday to air concerns about the U.S. memorandum of understanding with Iran, in some cases fueled further by Vice President JD Vance’s comments dismissing the effectiveness of U.S. sanctions and lambasting Israeli government officials who have objected to the deal.

Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) — the chairman of the Senate Committee on Armed Services — issued a statement ripping into the agreement, saying he’s “concerned [it] negotiates away the victories of Operation Epic Fury in ways that are completely out of step with the president’s goals.” Wicker had for days told reporters he was “withholding comment” on the MOU.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama on Thursday blamed Iran for what he described as “ruthless” cyberattacks, warning that Tehran has sowed unrest and amplified false information about environmental protests over a new luxury development project in the country from President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner. 

Kushner’s investment firm has moved forward with a luxury project in Albania that includes a coastal development in the Narta Lagoon area — a wildlife reserve — and a smaller resort on the nearby uninhabited island of Sazan. The project has yet to be approved and has not obtained building permits, but has drawn fierce backlash and sparked daily protests from thousands of demonstrators outside Rama’s office due to environmental concerns. 

As Vice President JD Vance takes on the role of chief defender of the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding and forthcoming talks, he has begun to sound a lot like someone whom the Trump administration has lately spent a lot of time attacking: former President Barack Obama.

Vance and President Donald Trump have both, in recent days, made clear that they view the MOU — which is set to deliver sanctions relief to Iran as nuclear negotiations get underway — as fundamentally different from, and better than, the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the nuclear deal signed by Obama. But as the White House faces criticism from hawkish members of the Republican Party, the language Vance is using to defend the burgeoning deal closely resembles the arguments made by Obama 11 years ago.

Vice President JD Vance on Thursday issued a scathing public rebuke of Israeli officials who have criticized President Donald Trump for approving the memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran, cautioning Israeli skeptics of the deal against “attacking the only powerful ally” it has left and urging them to “wake up and smell the reality of the situation that country is in.”

Vance made the comments as part of his final answer at a White House press briefing regarding the MOU, directing his ire at members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Cabinet who have criticized the deal or the president himself. The vice president said he was angered by the harsh commentary, which he credited Netanyahu for not participating in.

American Priorities, a new super PAC created as a progressive counterweight to pro-Israel spending in Democratic primaries, has drawn scrutiny in recent weeks for accepting contributions from donors who have given to Republicans — even as its allies on the far left have accused AIPAC, a chief rival, of serving as a Trojan horse to advance GOP-linked interests in safe blue districts.

Meanwhile, filings show that the anti-Israel group has received $250,000 from a tech executive whose firm is developing AI data centers in New York State. That money has boosted two democratic socialist House candidates in New York City who oppose efforts to expand data centers.

Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) said on Wednesday that Iran has to be “able to defend themselves,” suggesting the U.S. would “never” get a full surrender from Tehran.

The Kansas Republican was responding to a question from CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, who asked Marshall if he was OK with Tehran having missiles.

Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman and JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon were among the high-profile invitees at a dinner in France on Wednesday during which President Donald Trump signed the memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran.

After Trump signed the agreement at the dinner, hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron at the Palace of Versailles, Schwarzman was seen applauding in video footage of the event. Dimon, who was sitting two seats down from Macron — who was beside Trump — appeared to film the moment on his phone. Afterward, Macron shook hands with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump, saying, “Great job, bravo!”

A new bill introduced by the House Abraham Accords Caucus instructs the administration to work to expand the Abraham Accords to include nations in Central Asia and the South Caucasus.

The bill is supported by a bipartisan group of 26 lawmakers, including the co-chairs of the caucus, Reps. Craig Goldman (R-TX), Ann Wagner (R-MO), Brad Schneider (D-IL) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL). It follows an announcement earlier this year that Kazakhstan, which has for decades maintained relations with Israel, would be joining the Abraham Accords.

Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) grilled Trump administration nominee Charlton Allen on Wednesday at a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing about a seemingly antisemitic cover and article published by a student newspaper while Allen was overseeing the publication as a college student.

Allen, the nominee to be the general counsel of the Federal Labor Relations Authority, which oversees federal workers’ labor issues, was the publisher of the Carolina Review when he was a student at the University of North Carolina.

As the U.S. approaches its 250th anniversary, American Jewish leaders have signed an open letter expressing gratitude to a nation “unlike so many others through Jewish history [that] did not merely tolerate Jewish life, but made possible its flourishing,” while also highlighting Jewish contributions to the country’s founding.

“From the earliest days of the American experiment, Jews were drawn to the promise of a nation founded not on bloodline, monarchy, or established religion, but on liberty, covenant, and the dignity of the individual,” the letter reads. “Having known the weight of persecution and exclusion, Jews recognized in America’s founding ideals something rare in human history: the possibility of belonging without surrendering our identity.” 

Israeli national security expert Dan Schueftan said on Monday that President Donald Trump’s memorandum of understanding with Iran “proves nobody in the Western world is willing to fight. If we need to get permission from countries like Iran in order to use international waterways then we are in very deep trouble.” 

The one exception, according to Schueftan, is Israel, which he called the “only one power in the Middle East that can contain the radicals … the only real power in this region that is committed to fighting the radicals and will fight the radicals.”  

Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro criticized Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday, arguing that Vance’s support for the memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran suggested that he was not serving President Donald Trump well. 

Shapiro made the comments, which mark his most direct criticism to date of Vance’s approach to Iran, to Fox News’ “The Story with Martha MacCallum”while offering a harsh assessment of the MOU in the hours after the Trump administration released the text of the agreement. He described the deal as “a disaster” and called out the vice president for his role in leading this particular diplomatic effort.

Abetting two recently established PACs spending millions to defeat two of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s candidates for Congress is a veteran politician who sought Gracie Mansion last year — former City Comptroller Scott Stringer, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the committees and their activities.

Stringer declined to comment on the record for this story. But Jewish Insider first reported in March that the Upper West Side Democrat was a key force behind a political committee, Next NYC PAC, committed to defeating the Democratic Socialists of America’s candidates for Assembly and state Senate.

Some Senate Republicans are breaking with President Donald Trump over his handling of Iran, pushing back on the memorandum of understanding’s significant financial relief to the regime and Trump’s comments on Wednesday that he is willing to accept an Iranian ballistic missile program and some level of nuclear enrichment.

“Reagan is rolling over in his grave,” retiring Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) said on X. “Iran’s nuclear ambitions were not curbed, and they have learned that threatening the Strait of Hormuz works and will undoubtedly leverage it in the future. Now, Iran gets to build brand-new infrastructure under this deal.”

The Trump administration on Wednesday shared with journalists the official text of the memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran to establish a ceasefire with Iran, permanently end Israel’s war against Hezbollah in Lebanon, reopen the Strait of Hormuz while ending the U.S. naval blockade and kickstart a 60-day negotiation period on the future of Iran’s nuclear program and the possibility of lifting U.S. sanctions on Tehran.

The 14-point agreement was read aloud by a senior administration official on a call with reporters. The White House did not provide a written copy of the agreement after the readout. 

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are expressing frustration that President Donald Trump directed Jay Clayton, his nominee to be director of national intelligence, not to appear at a scheduled confirmation hearing on Wednesday afternoon, upending plans for the Senate to quickly confirm Clayton and renew lapsed federal surveillance authorities.

“It’s regrettable that the president has directed Jay Clayton not to appear at his confirmation hearing today,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said on X, announcing the hearing was postponed after initially indicating he planned for it to continue despite Trump’s objections. “Mr. Clayton is a patriot and a highly qualified nominee, as the president has said repeatedly. While today’s hearing is now unfortunately postponed, I look forward to proceeding with his confirmation in the near future.”

President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that the U.S. would not forbid Iran from possessing ballistic missiles, downplaying the threat despite it being a key war aim in the onset of the conflict. Speaking at the G7 summit in France, the president asserted that the majority of Iran’s missile capabilities have been destroyed and that he could not enforce the provision since other countries also “have some.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio asserted in March that a key U.S. aim in the war would be “the destruction of Iran’s ballistic missile capabilities and their ability to manufacture them.”

President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the agreement reached between the U.S. and Iran earlier this week to end the conflict has not been finalized, warning that the U.S. would “go right back to dropping bombs” if he is dissatisfied with the final deal or if Iran fails to “behave.”

“No, it’s not final. It’s a memorandum of understanding, and if I don’t like it, we’ll go back to shooting at them, dropping bombs on their head,” Trump said during a bilateral meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Évian-les-Bains, France. “If I don’t like it, if they don’t behave, we’ll go right back to dropping bombs right smack in the middle of their head, because they have misbehaved for 47 years.”

President Donald Trump upended an expedited effort to confirm Jay Clayton as director of national intelligence before the end of the week with a Wednesday morning Truth Social post announcing that he was “cancelling” Clayton’s planned confirmation hearing later that afternoon — but Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), the Intelligence Committee chairman, insisted the hearing would go on as scheduled unless Clayton fails to appear.

Though Trump doesn’t have the ability to unilaterally cancel a Senate hearing, he could instruct Clayton not to appear as scheduled. Senate lawmakers were rushing to confirm Clayton before the end of the week to prevent federal housing chief Bill Pulte from serving as acting DNI, a choice lawmakers on both sides of the aisle view as problematic and unqualified for the role.

Republican senators said on Tuesday that they’re skeptical that Iran will hold to any commitments it has made or may make in negotiations with the U.S., and urged the administration to release the terms of the memorandum of understanding announced on Sunday.

The administration has not yet communicated any specific plans to brief Congress on the deal.

Former Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer is launching the Dermer Consulting Group (DCG), a Jerusalem-based strategic advisory firm focusing on the U.S., Israel and the Middle East, Jewish Insider has learned.

Dermer, who has long been a part of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s inner circle, officially departed the Israeli government in November, after twice extending his tenure. He returned earlier this year for what one official in the Prime Minister’s Office described as “reserve duty” amid the renewed fighting between Israel and Iran that began in late February.

The Senate’s version of the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act proposes sweeping new conditions on U.S. support for the Lebanese Armed Forces. The proposed restrictions come after top Senate lawmakers publicly expressed frustration in recent months with the LAF’s failure to take concrete steps to fully disarm Hezbollah, and argued that the U.S. should not provide unconditional funding for the LAF.

Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), the chair of the Armed Services Committee, which produces the NDAA, said in late April that “Congress should not support the LAF unless it acts to disarm Hezbollah completely — and immediately.”

Senators and Middle East policy experts expressed skepticism regarding President Donald Trump’s suggestion on Tuesday that Syria, rather than Israel, should handle the task of combating Hezbollah in Lebanon, following the president’s strident criticism of Israel’s attacks on the Iranian-backed terrorist group.

Trump said on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Évian-les-Bains. France, that Israel’s operations in Lebanon had moved too slowly and had been “vicious.” “I suggested to Israel to let Syria take care of Hezbollah, because to be honest with you, I think they do a better job of doing it,” Trump said.

More than 50 leading litigators and legal experts were set to gather at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington on Wednesday to address the legal challenges of defending Jewish students and employees amid the historic surge in antisemitism following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks and the ensuing war in Gaza. 

Hosted by the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, which has filed numerous cases on behalf of Jewish students since the Oct. 7 attacks, the National Legal Strategy Summit features speakers including Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant U.S. attorney general for civil rights; Jeffrey Morrison, the deputy assistant U.S. attorney general; U.S. District Judge Roy Altman; and Noah Pollak, a senior advisor at the Department of Education. 

The Trump administration announced on Tuesday that it will transfer many of the responsibilities of the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights, the division that investigates civil rights violations at American schools and universities, to the Justice Department. 

The move marks a major step in the White House’s efforts to dismantle the Education Department and significantly reduce or distribute its work. The policy was first discussed in the Heritage Foundation’s controversial Project 2025 blueprint for the Trump administration, which was released in April 2023 during the run-up to the 2024 presidential election.

Alma Hernandez, a Jewish Democrat and Arizona representative now running for an open state Senate seat in Tucson, is raising alarms about rhetoric from her primary opponent that she and other Jewish leaders claim has crossed a line into antisemitism — with no pushback from local elected officials.

Hernandez, who is term-limited in Arizona’s House, has long been an outspoken supporter of Israel and identifies as a “proud Zionist,” fueling tensions with some Democratic colleagues, particularly on the left. 

As the U.S. and Iran prepare to formally sign an agreement ending the recent fighting between the two countries, President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he was hopeful that a full deal would come soon because, he asserted, U.S.-Iranian ties had improved.

“Iran wants to get it done. They have to get back to business, and the relationship is now normalized,” Trump said during a meeting with United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in France. 

Despite having previously approved a similar motion, the Senate on Tuesday narrowly defeated a procedural vote on a war powers resolution to prevent further military action against Iran, as the administration moves forward in negotiations with Tehran.

The same four Senate Republicans — Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Rand Paul (R-KY) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) — voted to advance the resolution, but absences favored Republicans this time, defeating the resolution 48-47.

The FBI announced on Tuesday that it had disrupted a sophisticated attack targeting the UFC fight on the White House lawn on Sunday, with Fox News reporting that one suspect allegedly told investigators that the attack was targeting “capitalist elites,” “billionaires” and politicians who received donations from AIPAC.

FBI Director Kash Patel said on X that multiple individuals outside the D.C. area were in custody in connection with the attack in what he said was a multi-state operation. Fox News reported that five arrests had been made and 23 people were identified as being involved.

Israeli journalist Amir Tibon was awarded the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature on Tuesday for The Gates of Gaza: A Story of Betrayal, Survival, and Hope in Israel’s Borderlands, his harrowing account of survival on Oct. 7. 

The Gates of Gaza is Tibon’s first-person account of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks and Israel’s Gaza policies as a resident of the border’s region. On the day of the attack, he, along with his wife and their two young daughters, spent 10 hours hiding in the safe room of their home in Kibbutz Nahal Oz, less than a mile from Gaza, as terrorists rampaged through the community. 

President Donald Trump expressed disappointment on Tuesday with Israel’s recent military actions in response to Hezbollah, criticizing a strike on a Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut as “vicious” and suggesting that Israel step back and let Syria handle the fight against the Iranian-backed terror group.

Speaking with the Qatari emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on the sidelines of the G7 summit in France, Trump criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of Israel’s northern front, suggesting that the IDF’s response was unnecessary and disproportionate.

Israel again took center stage on Monday night in a debate between former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander and Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) — with the incumbent congressman trying to prove his progressive bona fides by criticizing AIPAC, despite the group’s support for his campaigns.

Both candidates, each a self-identified “progressive Zionist,” inveighed in the televised face-off on PIX11 against Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza, although Goldman declined to join Lander in calling the military actions a “genocide.” But the embattled Goldman, trailing in all available polls, also criticized AIPAC, despite acknowledging he has received the group’s endorsement.

With the Democratic primary in New York’s 17th Congressional District coming down to a two-person race between veteran and former national security official Cait Conley and Rockland County Legislator Beth Davidson, an alleged Republican-linked group is spending big in an effort to block Conley from the nomination.

The district, currently represented by Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), has one of the largest Jewish populations in the country and could be one of the Democrats’ best pickup opportunities come November. The primary is set for June 23.

Ivanka Trump on Friday announced a collaboration between Meta and the Blinded Veterans Association that aims to donate Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses to all legally blind American veterans, which the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs estimates number roughly 130,000. The event was co-hosted by Meta and UFC. 

Speaking at a Freedom 250 reception at Ned’s Club Washington, Trump said Meta will “give every blind veteran in America a free pair of glasses as just a small way to say thank you for your service.”

Some Republican senators said that the administration does not need to submit the recently signed 60-day memorandum of understanding with Iran to Congress for review and a potential vote under the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act, potentially sidestepping the first major opportunity for Congress to weigh in on the agreement.

Under INARA, the administration is required to promptly submit any deal with Iran relating to its nuclear program to Congress for review, with an opportunity for Congress to vote to reject the deal. But the administration may attempt to avoid that step, at least until a broader agreement is reached during the 60-day negotiating period — if one comes about.

With scant details provided by the Trump administration about the contours of the peace deal with Iran, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said on Monday afternoon that he doesn’t yet know enough about the administration’s deal with Iran to determine whether it is a good deal that will prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

“I don’t know enough about it to say,” Thune told reporters. “I think the issues are going to be compliance, and how you can enforce that, and what are the financial incentives that the Iranians have from our country, and what are they conditioned upon.”

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. 

As details begin to emerge about the Trump administration’s agreement with Iran to end the war and lift the U.S. blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, some mainstream Jewish organizations are treating the deal as a preliminary step — focusing on the 60-day negotiating period ahead, while others are expressing skepticism about the contours of the agreement.

AIPAC, in a statement that came late Monday afternoon after many other organizations had already spoken out, framed the current MOU as a preliminary step, focusing more on the upcoming negotiations, while emphasizing the need for more details about how the current deal affects Israel.

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.

Dozens of big names in entertainment, sports and politics attended President Donald Trump’s “UFC Freedom 250” event held on the South Lawn of the White House, coinciding with the president’s 80th birthday.

David Ellison attended the match, just days after the administration signed off on a merger that will see Ellisons’ Paramount Skydance acquire Warner Bros. Discovery. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was spotted saying hello to the president, who with his wife was seated in a ring-side box. Ari Emanuel, the executive chairman of TKO Group — and brother of likely 2028 presidential candidate Rahm Emanuel — was also photographed greeting the president.

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. 

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. 

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

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

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.

Collins led Dooley 41-30 in the May 19 Republican primary, with Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA) coming in at 25%. The runoff will take place on Tuesday, with the winner to face Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) in November.

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.

Iranian state media has claimed that the memorandum of understanding with the United States requires the release of all sanctions on Iran, a $300 billion reconstruction plan financed by the United States and its allies and the release of nearly $30 billion in blocked Iranian funds, and excludes any negotiation of Iran’s missile program or support for terrorism.

The United States and Iran have secured a ceasefire agreement, President Donald Trump announced on Sunday. The deal is slated to immediately freeze regional military actions, and will lift the U.S. naval blockade and restore commercial shipping through the critical Strait of Hormuz after a formal signing ceremony set for Friday in Switzerland.

“The Deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran is now complete,” Trump posted on Truth Social on Sunday. “I hereby fully authorize the toll free opening of the Strait of Hormuz, and, simultaneously herewith, authorize the immediate removal of the United States Naval blockade.” He later clarified the Strait would open after the deal was officially signed on Friday.

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.

The eight defendants, including a former staffer on El-Sayed’s campaign, who were indicted Friday have been accused of a campaign of intimidation against university officials they saw as pro-Israel and vandalism of local Jewish organizations.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is set to join a rally in New York City next Thursday with Mayor Zohran Mamdani and a trio of candidates he is backing in closely watched 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.

Despite initially conflicting claims emerging from the White House and Iranian state media about the contents and timing of a memorandum of understanding between the parties, there were indications on Friday that the gaps between the two sides could be closing. 

Prime Minister of Pakistan Shehbaz Sharif confirmed that a “final and agreed version of the peace agreement has been achieved,” while Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on X that the memorandum of understanding “has never been closer,” a screenshot of which President Donald Trump reposted directly onto Truth Social.

The far left is gaining traction in its electoral battle against the mainstream pro-Israel political community, notching a recent string of victories in high-profile Democratic primaries as it now finds itself on stronger financial footing compared to past campaign cycles.

Thanks in part to a range of new super PACs created to counter AIPAC’s political spending, the far left has elevated several anti-Israel Democrats in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and California to the nomination in key congressional primaries, with its sights set on closely contested upcoming matchups in New York City and Michigan.

In some cases, the anti-Israel left — buoyed by public opinion that has swung against the Jewish state in the wake of the war in Gaza — has been at parity or outspending pro-Israel groups, marking a significant change.

Morgan Ortagus, the former deputy presidential envoy for Middle East peace, suggested on Thursday that normalizing relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel was not a top priority for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, citing security concerns and his focus on ensuring he becomes king.

Ortagus made the comments while participating in an event at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies with Hussain Abdul-Hussain, a research fellow at FDD, discussing his book, The Arab Case for Israel: And Other Essays from a Distant Conflict, for which Ortagus wrote the forward.

Real estate attorney Martin Edelman, a key advisor to the ruling family of the United Arab Emirates, was awarded the country’s Order of the Union, the second-highest civilian honor, on Thursday by UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

WAM, the Gulf state’s official news agency, reported that the honor bestowed on Edelman, who has long served as a senior advisor to the UAE’s ruling family, came “in recognition of his role in advancing the UAE’s global strategic partnerships and supporting its economic development vision.”

Efforts to eliminate annual time changes and make daylight saving time permanent are picking up momentum in Congress with strong backing from President Donald Trump — a proposal long opposed by the Orthodox Jewish community.

Orthodox groups say that changing to permanent daylight saving time would have a significant impact on daily Jewish morning prayers, which must be conducted during daylight and would happen well into the workday in certain times of the year, and also raise safety concerns for children commuting to school in the dark. 

Experts said on Wednesday that the Trump administration has failed to adequately tap into pro-Western sentiment among the Iranian public following the regime’s violent crackdown on nationwide protests earlier this year, arguing that the White House is missing a key opportunity to cultivate internal pressure within Iran.

Robert Satloff, executive director of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, argued that the Trump administration should expand U.S. broadcasting into Iran, improve internet access for Iranians and ease pathways for dissidents seeking refuge in the U.S. to “lay the groundwork for the day when it becomes a much more real possibility to have this sort of regime change.” Satloff outlined his proposals during a Wednesday town hall hosted by Iran International, a U.K.-based Persian-language news network. “None of [the Iranian people] are being invested in in any significant way by the Trump administration,” he said.

Some pro-Israel members of the United Teachers Los Angeles House of Representatives are condemning the union for bypassing its own policies to expel a Jewish teacher and Zionist activist. 

During a June 3 meeting held on Zoom, the union’s House of Representatives — the highest voting body in the union — voted to expel Amy Leserman, who retired as a Los Angeles public school teacher last year and now works at a local Jewish day school. 

Josh Gruenbaum, a former private equity investor who joined the Trump administration last year to lead the Federal Acquisition Service and has recently been detailed to the White House, has departed the federal government, a source with knowledge of the move told Jewish Insider. 

Gruenbaum will continue serving as a senior advisor to the Board of Peace — a role he has held since earlier this year, with a focus on Gaza — in an unpaid capacity. He is set to join an investment firm. Gruenbaum declined to comment. 

One of the eight anti-Israel activists indicted on Wednesday over allegedly threatening University of Michigan officials seen as pro-Israel and vandalizing local Jewish organizations was on the staff of far-left U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed as recently as April.

The federal indictment lists Mariam Odeh, 24, of Dearborn, Mich., as one of the defendants who allegedly carried out a series of coordinated actions targeting university leaders or organizations with connections to Israel following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attacks. 

President Donald Trump named Jay Clayton, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, as his nominee to replace Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence, after a two-week furor over his plans to name federal housing chief Bill Pulte to the role in an acting capacity.

But the nomination likely comes too late to prevent a lapse on Friday of federal foreign surveillance authorities under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which Democrats have refused to reauthorize in protest of the Pulte pick.

J Street, the progressive Israel advocacy group, is for now withholding an endorsement of Graham Platner, the scandal-plagued Democratic Senate nominee in Maine, underscoring the extent to which even some left-wing Jewish activists appear skeptical of his insurgent campaign.

A spokesperson for J Street told Jewish Insider on Wednesday that the group did not “have anything to share at this time” about a Platner endorsement but would provide more information “if that changes.”

President Donald Trump said on Thursday that negotiations with Iran had reached a breakthrough and that he expected there to be a signing, possibly in Europe, in the coming days. With the diplomatic developments, Trump said he would cancel planned strikes against Iran, and call off an operation to take control of Kharg Island.

“Based on the fact that discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran have been brought to the highest level of Iranian leadership and approved, I have, as President of the United States of America, cancelled the scheduled strikes and bombings against Iran this evening,” Trump posted on Truth Social.