Gary Schaer, a Democratic state assemblyman in New Jersey, said on Tuesday that he would propose legislation allowing the state to reschedule its June 3 primary election next year to avoid a conflict with the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, when observant Jews are unable to vote.

“I am deeply concerned with the New Jersey primary election day interference with Shavuot,” he said in a statement first shared with Jewish Insider. “The inability to vote in-person will disenfranchise many observant Jews exercising their constitutional right to vote. As a member of the Democratic Party, which claims to protect democracy, it is hypocritical and reprehensible to acknowledge such suppression and not address this issue.”

As lawmakers work to finalize a stopgap spending package before a funding deadline later this month, a group of House Republicans is urging congressional leaders to ensure that U.S. funding to U.N. Relief and Works Agency remains banned in the upcoming bill and that the U.S. works to begin to dismantle the agency.

Lawmakers have blocked funding to UNRWA in several recent spending bills, following the revelation that some of its employees were involved in the Oct. 7 attacks. Subsequent revelations have tied other staffers to terrorist organizations as well. Republicans have made UNRWA funding a red line in those debates, while a growing number of Democrats have pushed for the funding to be restored.

Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL), an outspoken supporter of Israel and one of the most ardent opponents of a two-state solution in the House, is set to become the next chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee following a surprise vote on Monday by House Republican leadership.

Mast’s upset victory, which now must be ratified by the GOP conference, marks a clear shift from the tenure of outgoing Chairman Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) — a more moderate and internationalist dealmaker — to a firebrand conservative. 

Elliott Abrams, the former U.S. special representative for Iran during the first Trump administration, said he doesn’t expect much U.S. involvement in Syria following the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime, but that the newly volatile situation creates both new opportunities and perils in the region.

Abrams said during a Monday webinar with the Jewish Institute for National Security of America that he doesn’t expect the Trump administration to invest much diplomatic energy or capital into the situation in Syria, but argued that it’s “critical from the American national security point of view,” that a post-Assad Syria not become a terrorist state, an Iranian proxy or a conduit for supplies from Iran to Hezbollah in Lebanon.

President-elect Donald Trump announced on Monday that he’s selecting Harmeet Dhillon, a legal advisor to his 2020 campaign who worked to challenge the election results and a Republican Party official, to lead the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division.

Dhillon and her firm have advocated an aggressive legal approach to antisemitism on college campuses, targeting both universities and protesters, but she also opposes the Antisemitism Awareness Act.

Numerous Democratic and Republican senators linked the surprise fall of Bashar Al-Assad’s regime in Syria to Israel’s recent actions against Hezbollah and other Iranian proxies in recent months.

The senators that Jewish Insider interviewed also largely urged a cautious approach toward U.S. involvement in the chaotic and still-emerging new Syria, warning that the country’s new governance structure, system and ideology remain unclear at this point, though many emphasized the need for some level of continued U.S. engagement. 

The fall of the Assad regime in Syria could spark further tensions in the already strained relationship between the U.S. and Turkey, which have repeatedly found themselves at loggerheads in Syria. Lawmakers expressed concerns on Monday about the potential for expanded Turkish attacks on U.S.-backed forces.

Turkey and Turkish-backed forces have repeatedly clashed with and attacked U.S.-backed forces in the country, including Kurdish fighters, whom the Turkish government has described as terrorists. Turkey also backs Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the rebel group and U.S.-designated terrorist organization that ousted the Assad government. The instability could create an opportunity for Ankara to expand its influence inside Syria.

Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be director of national intelligence, began meeting with senators on Monday, kicking off what could be a challenging confirmation process over her foreign policy positions. 

Gabbard’s first meetings come days after the fall of the Assad regime in Syria. Gabbard’s 2017 visit to Syria as a member of Congress and subsequent support for then-Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been seen as a major stumbling block to her confirmation.