Seven Republican senators are seeking to codify import-labeling rules implemented by the Trump administration on products produced in West Bank settlements, Jewish Insider has learned.

In November 2020, the Trump administration changed U.S. policy to allow goods produced in some Israeli settlements in the West Bank to be labeled as “Made in Israel.” Under the policy, products created in Palestinian Authority-controlled areas of the West Bank were labeled as products of the West Bank, and those produced in the Gaza Strip were marked as such.

Previous U.S. policy from 1995 labeled all goods produced in the territory as “Made in West Bank.” A Biden administration memo on resetting ties with the Palestinian Authority reportedly recommended rolling back Trump administration’s policy change.

The new GOP bill, the “Anti-BDS Labeling Act,” would codify the policy change into federal law, blocking any administration from changing it by executive action. The bill, introduced on Tuesday night, is sponsored by Sens. Tom Cotton (R-AR), Rick Scott (R-FL), John Boozman (R-AR), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Bill Hagerty (R-TN) and Ted Cruz (R-TX).

“Left-wing activists abuse county-of-origin labels in order to stigmatize products made in Israel,” Cotton said in a statement to JI. “Our bill will defend the integrity of the Jewish State by ensuring that Israeli products may proudly bear the label ‘Made in Israel.’”

Supporters of this legislation, like David Milstein, the special assistant to former U.S. ambassador to Israel David Freidman, say that the policy reaffirms the reality on the ground in Israel.

“Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle should strongly support Senator Cotton’s important legislation,” Milstein told JI. “The Biden Administration would have absolutely no legitimate or factual basis to reverse the Trump administration’s decision that was consistent with long-standing U.S. policy and practice along with prior diplomatic agreements and the reality on the ground.”

Proponents of the Trump administration policy point to the European Union as an example of how certain labeling requirements can undermine Israel and support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement. The EU requires that products coming from Israeli settlements be clearly labeled as such, rather than just as “made in Israel.”

“Reversing the labeling requirements would… only be politicized, anti-Israel and wrongly facilitate BDS against Israel and Israeli-controlled territories just like the EU has been doing with its pejorative labeling requirements,” Milstein added.

Rubio, Cotton and Cruz all lobbied the Trump administration in favor of the policy in 2019, prior to its enactment.

“Your administration should continue its string of pro-Israel policy changes by undoing these misguided Clinton-era guidelines, thereby allowing Israeli goods produced in Judea and Samaria to be labeled as ‘Made in Israel’,” they wrote in a November 2020 letter to then-President Donald Trump. “This decision would be yet another achievement by your administration that would support Israel and would push back against anti-Semitism and the BDS movement.”

Israel critics in Congress, like Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) have expressed support for reversing the Trump administration’s labeling rules. Several left-wing Jewish organizations, including J Street and Americans for Peace Now, have also urged the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees import labeling, to repeal the policy. 

“We believe the General Notice is inconsistent with current US policy on the status of the occupied territories, requires inaccurate and misleading labelling on the origin of products, and is harmful to essential interests of Israelis and Palestinians alike,” they wrote in a February letter to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

In some ways, the special election next Tuesday in Ohio’s deep-red 15th Congressional District has come to be viewed as an early test of former President Donald Trump’s prevailing influence within the GOP.

The crowded Republican primary in the suburbs of southern Columbus is pitting a Trump-backed former energy lobbyist, Mike Carey, against Jeff LaRe, a state legislator endorsed by the moderate former incumbent, Rep. Steve Stivers (R-OH), who vacated his seat in mid-May to lead the Ohio Chamber of Commerce.

Media reports are billing the race as a matchup between the Trump-aligned faction of the GOP and its establishment wing — one that could have implications in the 2022 midterms as the former president, who has yet to announce whether he will run again for a second term, prepares to seek vengeance against the handful of House Republicans who voted to impeach him last February after the violent Capitol riot.

The Trump wing so far appears to have the edge, even as the former president suffered a stinging rebuke last night in Texas’s 6th Congressional District runoff. Susan Wright, a Republican primary candidate vying to succeed her late husband with an endorsement from Trump, was defeated by state Rep. Jake Ellzey in a matchup that had also been characterized as a barometer of the former president’s political clout. 

The 15th district race represents the next case study. Carey, a 50-year-old former executive at American Consolidated Natural Resources, has raked in more than $460,000 since May, outraising every candidate in the field, according to filings from the Federal Election Commission. Meanwhile, a June poll commissioned by Carey’s campaign put him well ahead of his opponents even with just 20% of the vote — a number that jumped to 52% when voters were informed of Trump’s endorsement.

“Donald Trump is the Republican Party in the 15th Congressional District,” Carey boasted in a recent interview with Jewish Insider, “and anybody who thinks otherwise is just — they’re not talking to the voters that I’m talking to.”

LaRe, who placed second in Carey’s poll — the only publicly available survey on the race — made sure to note that he agreed with Trump’s policies in an interview with JI earlier this month, mindful not to alienate supporters of the former president who are likely to turn out on Election Day. But the 45-year-old state lawmaker, a former deputy sheriff and a longtime security industry executive at the Whitestone Group, was eager to emphasize that he is running his own race.

“I’m certainly honored to have the endorsement and support of Steve Stivers, but at the end of the day, I’m Jeff LaRe,” said the congressional hopeful, whose candidacy has been buoyed by hundreds of thousands of dollars left over from Stivers’s campaign warchest. LaRe has otherwise raised approximately $240,000 through mid-July. “There are real people in this race, and I think that’s what it comes down to, is getting my message out, letting people know who I am and what I stand for,” he told JI. “I mean, there’s only one Steve Stivers and there’s only one Donald Trump.”

Still, Trump seems to exert more sway over GOP voters in the district. Experts who spoke with JI agree that Carey is operating at an advantage as he heads into the final stretch, despite his status as a first-time congressional candidate with low name recognition. But with 11 Republicans angling for the seat, the primary —  whose victor will be all but assured safe passage in the general election — has nevertheless proven difficult to forecast.

“It’s an odd contest to have to try to handicap,” said Paul Beck, a professor emeritus of political science at The Ohio State University, who believes that Carey and LaRe are leading the pack. But the primary may be more competitive than is immediately apparent, he adds, because of the wide assortment of candidates, none of whom are particularly well-known, all jockeying for support during an off-cycle special election in the dog days of summer — when turnout is expected to be significantly lower than usual.

The race hasn’t predictably unfolded along intraparty lines, either, suggesting that the Republican voting share could be parceled out among several candidates, with whomever prevails earning only a small plurality in the winner-take-all primary. Notably, some prominent out-of-state Republicans wading into the open-seat contest have clearly indicated that they won’t be falling in line behind Carey, who appears to have earned his high-profile endorsement thanks in part to a relationship with Corey Lewandowski, a former Trump campaign manager.

While Carey earned the backing of Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), an ardent Trump supporter, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is endorsing Ron Hood, a former Ohio state representative. The Kentucky senator’s father, former Texas congressman and prominent libertarian Ron Paul, endorsed Hood in 2010 when he ran for a House seat in Ohio’s 18th district.

Having pulled in just $156,000, Hood’s campaign is being aggressively promoted by outside spending from a political action committee affiliated with Rand Paul. The libertarian Protect Freedom PAC has put up a staggering $640,000 in support of Hood, and on Monday, FEC filings revealed that the Conservative Outsider PAC — which has previously received funding from Protect Freedom — spent nearly $220,000 on negative TV ads targeting Carey.

Further unsettling the race, Debbie Meadows — the conservative activist who is married to Trump’s former White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows — has thrown her weight behind Ruth Edmonds, a Black minister and former Columbus NAACP president. 

Though Edmonds has only raised $162,000, she expressed confidence about her prospects in a recent statement to JI. “I am humbled from the outpouring of support from the thousands of like-minded Patriots who want to end the Left’s lie on race and send someone to Washington who [can] effectively challenge and defeat AOC and Nancy Pelosi,” she said, using a popular shorthand for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).

The conflicting endorsements — and significant overlapping expenditures — seem to have caused tension within Trump’s ranks. Right Women PAC, which is founded by Meadows and has supported such Trumpian provocateurs as Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), seems to have recently scrubbed its social media accounts of pro-Edmonds content, though an endorsement remains on its website. (Right Women PAC did not respond to a request for comment regarding the discrepancy.)

Still other candidates have complicated the dynamics of the jam-packed race, threatening to peel support from Trump’s pick. Bob Peterson, an Ohio state senator who has raised an impressive $455,000, closely trailing Carey, while personally loaning his campaign an extra $100,000, picked up an endorsement from Ohio Right to Life, an anti-abortion advocacy group in Columbus. The seal of approval is likely to be meaningful among evangelical voters in the district. 

And state Sen. Stephanie Kunze has earned backing from the Franklin County Republican Party — suggesting that party leaders are divided at the local level, even as both Stivers and Trump have made their preferences known.

Trump, who remains popular in Ohio, seems at least partially invested in ensuring voters are aware of his endorsement in the special election. He invited Carey to address the crowd at a late-June rally in the Buckeye State — albeit outside of the district — and earlier this month spoke at a telephone town hall hosted by Carey, who, for his part, is playing up support from the former president on his campaign website and in advertising.

On Tuesday, Trump released a statement regarding his endorsement. “Numerous candidates in the Great State of Ohio, running in Congressional District 15, are saying that I am supporting them, when in actuality, I don’t know them, and don’t even know who they are,” the former president said. “But I do know who Mike Carey is—I know a lot about him, and it is all good. Mike Carey is the only one who has my Endorsement and he’s the one I feel will do the best job for Ohio, and for the United States. Please vote for Mike Carey next Tuesday, and let there be no further doubt who I have Endorsed!”

In conversation with JI, the Trump-backed Republican said he is looking favorably at his odds. “If I had to have one endorsement in this race, definitely President Trump’s endorsement is the best,” Carey posited, while emphasizing that the former president’s nod isn’t a license for complacency.

“The president called me last night, and he said, ‘Mike, you gotta run like you’re one point down,’ and I said, ‘Mr. President, I’m running like I’m 10 points down,’” Carey elaborated. “This is a special election and it’s about voter turnout and it’s about people coming to the polls. You know, most people on the 3rd of August aren’t really thinking of an election. So you really gotta just motivate the people.”

The Ohio-born former coal lobbyist, whom Politico once described as “a one-man wrecking ball for Democrats who have strayed too far green for voters’ liking,” said he decided to run for office out of a conviction that his policy experience and negotiating skills would be better wielded within the halls of Congress. “The one thing I’ve seen over the last few years is that Republicans in many cases seem to have lost their way,” he told JI. “I think that’s partially because you have career politicians that continually seek to go to elected office.”

Casting himself as a fiscal conservative, Carey harkened back to the Contract with America, the legislative agenda put forth by the GOP in the 1994 midterms. “We simply laid out these are the things that we as Republicans will do if you give us control of the House,” he recalled. “I would advocate that we need to do that again. I support a balanced budget amendment. I think it’s very important. I think we wouldn’t have the issues that we have today if the Senate had approved the balanced budget that the House passed back in 1995.”

“People are tired of looking at the crisis that we have at the border, not only the humanitarian crisis but the drug crisis that we’re seeing coming into this country,” Carey added, rattling off a list of issues he said voters have brought up on the trail. “I think people are a little bit fed up of what they’re seeing from the liberals in Congress, with the new Green Deal and the bloated infrastructure package that is just completely all out of sorts.”

LaRe hewed to similar talking points in the interview with JI, though he was quick to position himself first and foremost as a public safety advocate given his career in private security contracting. “When I look at what’s going on not only here in Ohio but across our country, it’s concerning,” he said, “and it really comes down to safety for me.”

“When people are destructive and violent, we all suffer as a community, and this mindset of defunding the police is the exact opposite approach of what we need right now,” LaRe said, adding: “When we want to talk about police reform, there’s certainly areas for improvement, but my concern is that we’re not going to be able to attract the men and women that we want in that profession unless we give them the support that they so desperately need right now.”

The two candidates, who refrained from directly criticizing one another, both cast themselves as outsiders in no way representative of the much-maligned “career politician.” They also both extolled Trump’s “America first” agenda while warning of the dangers of critical race theory, which has become something of right-wing boogeyman in recent months.

“Critical race theory being taught in our schools is a big issue, and certainly, I think, this whole cancel culture that you’re seeing just across the country,” said Carey. “The whole decision by Ben & Jerry’s to stop selling ice cream in the West Bank — that is just insane. This anti-Israel decision just sets a very dangerous standard,” he added. “I want to make sure that nobody eats Ben & Jerry’s ice cream anywhere near me.”

Carey expressed an affinity for Israel that he credits in large part to his experience growing up in a Catholic and Jewish home during the first 10 years of his childhood, while also attending Jewish day school. “I learned to respect the Jewish culture and the religion, and I think that’s why you’re going to find that I am so committed to these Israeli issues and committed to Israel, because it was one of the founding building blocks of my life,” he said. “These are very personal issues.”

“With this rise of antisemitism and the ridiculous boycotting,” he added, “the prime minister and Israel need our support now more than ever.”

The GOP contender vowed to build on the Trump administration’s Middle East foreign policy agenda, which included moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, exiting the Iran nuclear deal and brokering the Abraham Accords between Israel and a number of Arab nations. He argued that voters in the 15th district would be hard-pressed to find “any better friend to Israel than me,” notwithstanding an admission that he has never visited the Jewish state. “I think people need to understand that if you want a fighter who’s going to go to D.C. and advocate on the issues of Israel,” he said, “I’m the best candidate suited in this race to do that.”

LaRe, for his part, also touted his support for Israel, despite being significantly less boastful than his opponent, calling for an expansion of the Abraham Accords while denouncing Iran. “The Biden administration and Nancy Pelosi, the fact that they would even consider trusting Iran is absolutely absurd,” he charged. “We’ve got to do everything we possibly can to make sure that they don’t have nuclear capabilities.”

“You’ll hear people say, you know, we’re not the world’s police, but we need to support Israel and their fight against terrorism,” he said, arguing that international conflicts can have ripple effects on the domestic front. “In my position as an executive in the security industry, oftentimes we work with the Jewish community because the things that happen in Israel or overseas,” he added, “affect the Jewish community right here at home.”

The Jewish community in the district, which makes up a population of 4,500, according to a definitive 2014 survey, doesn’t appear to be rallying behind one particular candidate — underscoring the primary’s somewhat fractured state. Still, observers say this dynamic exists because most of the viable contenders in the expansive field have all earned positive reviews from Jewish activists.

Brad Kastan, a Jewish leader and pro-Israel advocate in Columbus, is familiar with the candidates’ outreach and backgrounds as they pertain to the Jewish community. Kunze and Peterson, he noted, have both traveled to Israel “and been very helpful to the central Ohio Jewish community on many fronts.” Edmonds “has gone out of her way to reach out to the community,” he added, noting that she recently attended Shabbat services at a Columbus synagogue. “Nearly all of the candidates have met with AIPAC staff and lay leaders and have very strong pro-Israel views,” said Kastan, a co-chair of the Jewish Community Relations Committee in Columbus.

“It’s a bumper crop of great candidates who know our community issues and have worked with our community’s leaders,” said Howie Beigelman, the executive director of the nonprofit Ohio Jewish Communities, which represents the state’s eight Jewish federations. 

Unlike the upcoming Democratic primary in Ohio’s 11th congressional district, where the sizable Jewish community is coalescing behind one candidate who has emerged as the clear pro-Israel favorite, Jewish voters to the south largely aren’t choosing sides. Justin Shaw, the director of Jewish community relations at the nonprofit organization JewishColumbus, said he has heard of a number of Jewish Republicans who are donating to more than one candidate. 

“Wherever we land, we’re going to be in a good position from a Jewish community perspective,” he told JI.

Whether the winner will be Carey, LaRe or another candidate altogether may point to the direction of the Republican Party in future elections, as Trump’s will is put to the test. But because of the mitigating circumstances of the somewhat low-profile race, experts advised against overinterpretation. 

“There might be some tea leaves, but I would be a bit cautious in reading too much into the results,” Nathaniel Swigger, an associate professor of political science at The Ohio State University at Newark, told JI. “If one of the candidates wins in a landslide that might tell us something,” he added, “but anything short of that really could just indicate a bunch of statistical noise.”

The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP) fulfilled less than half of the applications it received for 2021 grants, a FEMA spokesperson told Jewish Insider. 

In total, nonprofits submitted 3,361 applications requesting nearly $400 million in NSGP funds, far outstripping the $180 million appropriated by Congress for the 2021 fiscal year. Of those, 1,532 applications were approved.

The shortfall in the program, which provides federal grants for nonprofits and houses of worship to upgrade their security, comes despite a doubling in funding the 2021 program, from $90 million in 2020. Advocates for the program inside and outside Congress told JI that the data demonstrates the need for increased funding for 2022. 

Anti-Defamation League National Security Director Ryan Greer suggested in an interview with JI that closer to 80% or 90% of applicants to a security grant program should receive funding, rather than what he called the “astonishingly low” 46% that were funded this year.

This year’s shortfall is “a fantastic illustration of the real need and how we are not meeting it,” added Rabbi Moshe Hauer, executive vice president of the Orthodox Union.

The acceptance rate, Hauer emphasized, “isn’t because 50% are worthy and the others aren’t worthy. It reflects the funds which the federal government is making available.”

It is unclear if the situation will improve next year.

The House Appropriations Committee decided last month not to provide additional NSGP funding for 2022, holding the funding level at $180 million despite a spike in antisemitic, anti-Asian and other hate crimes and domestic extremism this year. 

Program advocates on and off Capitol Hill largely support increasing the funding to $360 million for 2022, which Greer and Hauer argued is an appropriate target based on this year’s hate crimes data.

Greer told JI that there has historically been a “mismatch of the rise of the threat versus the rise in security funding, in that they are wildly disproportionate.” He estimated that the 3,361 applications were likely “a drop in the bucket,” placing the number of organizations that could have applied at around 7,000.

Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ), along with Rep. John Katko (R-NY), led approximately a third of House members in a letter in May urging appropriators to double 2022 funding to $360 million.

“That FEMA received this many requests for NSGP grants demonstrates in the clearest possible terms why I called for the program’s funding to be doubled,” Pascrell said of the application data in a statement to JI. “Drastic NSGP increases are absolutely essential to giving Americans peace of mind and keeping them safe from the rising tide of violence… We have successfully expanded available funding in recent years and increased demand shows we need even more growth. I will keep fighting for more resources and will not shrink from the challenge in front of us.”

During a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing on Tuesday, Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) expressed support for increased NSGP funding and questioned Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on why his department had not requested specific funding for NSGP in its 2022 budget proposal. Mayorkas responded that NSGP is “so important” and said he’d work with Rosen on the issue.

Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), another prominent voice supporting the NSGP program, said the government must also work to increase awareness about the program.

“There is a high demand for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program in a handful of states, however most states are not using their full allocation,” Portman said in a statement. “While this leads to states like Ohio being able to receive double its initial allocation, it is clear we must redouble our efforts to increase awareness of this program so that more states, faith-based institutions, and nonprofit organizations tap into this important resource.”

Greer — noting that requests for grants are expected to grow again next year due to both growing threats as well as efforts to increase awareness of the program among potential applicants — said that the ADL is hopeful that the Senate “will rectify the House’s mistake.”

“We think it should just keep going up until the need is met,” Greer continued.

While advocates are hopeful that efforts to stem threats will help reduce the overall need for NSGP grants, Hauer said Congress should “hope for the best and prepare for the worst” by continuing to increase funding.

Eric Fingerhut, president and CEO of the Jewish Federations of North America, agreed that this year’s funding shortfall highlights the need for further NSGP increases.

“Last year, fewer than half of the eligible applicants for these funds were able to be approved, leaving many nonprofit institutions without adequate protection,” Fingerhut told JI. “This is why Jewish Federations are joining with lawmakers in both Houses of Congress to request that the NSGP be doubled again, to $360 million, in the upcoming fiscal year.”

Rabbi Abba Cohen, vice president of government affairs for Agudath Israel of America, echoed Fingerhut’s sentiments.

“When the award amount is so significantly lower than the award amount requested, it testifies that the need is so much greater and compelling in a more dangerous Jewish community,” Cohen said. “The bottom line is clear: At a time of rising antisemitism and hate crimes we need more assistance in addressing our community’s greater vulnerability.”

Greer said he is “cautiously optimistic — emphasis on caution” that the Senate will support increasing NSGP funding in its own budget proposal, highlighting Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) past support for funding increases. But he also noted there was also strong support in the House for a funding increase, where no increase materialized. 

So far, Senate appropriators have not signaled what funding level they plan to back. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), who leads the Senate Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Hauer told JI, “There is a real chance — we’re not going to stop trying.”

Congressional Republicans are pushing to reform or cut funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) — the U.N. agency tasked with providing aid to Palestinians — after the Biden administration restored funding cut by former President Donald Trump to the often-criticized body.

The UNRWA Accountability and Transparency Act, which has 12 sponsors in the Senate and 28 in the House and was introduced Tuesday, would freeze aid to UNRWA entirely unless the secretary of state certifies to Congress every 180 days that the organization meets a series of criteria. They includeconfirmation that no UNRWA employees are members of or affiliated with terror organizations; that no UNRWA resources are being used by terror groups; and that the U.N. agency’s schools do not provide educational materials containing anti-American, anti-Israel or antisemitic content.

As it stands, UNRWA would likely fail to meet at least some of the proposed criteria. During the May conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, a Hamas tunnel shaft was found under an UNRWA school in Gaza City. In January, the head of the agency admitted that UNRWA had distributed anti-Israel education content. U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield also noted in a recent congressional hearing that UNRWA does not have direct control over many of its educational materials.

The Senate bill was introduced by Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID).

“When UNRWA was created, its specific purpose was to provide relief for refugees of the 1948 Arab-Israeli Conflict. More than 70 years later, the organization has employed individuals affiliated with Hamas, a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization (FTO), and its schools have been used to promote anti-Semitism and store Hamas weapons,” Risch said in a statement. “It is unacceptable that U.S. taxpayer dollars are being used to fund this agency, which is why I’ve introduced legislation to cease U.S. contributions to UNRWA unless the administration can certify without a doubt that the agency has no affiliation with U.S. designation FTOs and does not support antisemitic rhetoric.”

Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) is leading the House companion bill.

“Because of this, UNRWA is an obstacle to peace whose flawed mandate perpetuates the Palestinian ‘refugee crisis’ by using a nonsensical definition of a refugee,” Roy said in a statement. “If we truly desire peace, we must chart a new course that phases out UNRWA.” 

Writer and journalist Avital Chizhik-Goldschmidt joined “Limited Liability Podcast” co-hosts Richard Goldberg and Jarrod Bernstein to discuss the latest controversies — including Ben & Jerry’s and the new Netflix show “My Unorthodox Life” — plus her own life as a journalist and a rabbi’s wife, bridging the secular-religious “chasm,” as she calls it, and the politics of kosher certifications.

On the rise of outrage culture: “I don’t know if you saw that meme — you know, that popular meme with the guy walking with the girl and he’s turning around, look at another girl. So that literally is what it’s like. We’re jumping from one to the other….A lot of this is a product of what Twitter has done to our brains, where we’re sort of addicted to the adrenaline, that outrage, and the way that the algorithm rewards it. You know, that’s really what it’s sort of, I think, sparked in us. As a journalist, I find it very disturbing, and partly because I feel that I have been complicit in this as a media person. My job is to actually contribute to that. It’s a very uncomfortable place to be in and I think, simply, in the Jewish community we have let it go really far… I’ve definitely seen that in the wider Orthodox community this past year, where people were sort of pushed to their limits due to the pandemic, due to the heated political climate. And it has really caused strife in families and communities. I say this is a rabbi’s wife who has gotten people, even before pandemic, we had people telling us after a beautiful catered Shabbat dinner in the synagogue, they would walk out and they would say, ‘Thank you so much, Rabbi, but next time never seat us next to people the other side of the political aisle.’ I literally had that happen several times. I think that social media outrage has contributed to it.”

Sped-up outrage cycles: “I think it’s immediate and also, it’s all consuming. It follows you wherever you go. It’s in a device that is glued to your hand and glued to your eyes. There’s no way of escaping unless you’re someone who has an incredible amount of discipline and does not exist online. You’re seeing this constantly. You’re bombarded by it. And not only that, I think you’re constantly pushed to have a take on something, to have an opinion, to make a statement. I sometimes have people reach out to me [and] say, ‘You know, I noticed that you didn’t post something about x outrage du jour?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m not a politician. I don’t see myself as that sort of a public figure. I’m not going to respond to absolutely everything that the Jewish world or the larger world is losing its mind over.’ But social media has convinced us of — what a writer at The New Yorker recently called this ‘main character energy’ — where we are all main characters in this big narrative, and we all have to have our takes, we all have to have our positions.”

Secular/Orthodox Chasm: “I will say this as an Orthodox Jew who has spent some years in secular, liberal Jewish media: I felt there was just this huge chasm between us, and our Jewish experiences and what sort of defined our Judaism. For me, my Judaism is not defined by bagels and lox. And it’s not about summer camp.  It’s my own. It’s my entirety of my life, every single day, when I wake up in the morning, and I say a blessing. It’s when I go to sleep, and I say Shemah, with my kids. It’s my entire day in between. I think that’s true for most Orthodox Jews. It’s a constant way of life. And, and there’s unfortunately, a lot of misunderstanding for both sides… As an Orthodox Jew, I feel that it is my responsibility to be able to try to bridge that gap as much as possible. I tried to do that, in my journalism, and in my very tiny, individual way, sort of tell stories of real Orthodox Jews who struggle with different aspects of their lives, but are choosing this way of life. And there are clear reasons for why they choose this code of values.

On living as an outspoken writer: “It’s very uncomfortable, because there’s always attacks on both sides. I think, from within the religious community, of course, I’m too out there; I’m too feminist; I talk too much about issues. And from a secular standpoint, there’s this constant, ‘Well, why are you still religious? You’re still doing that long sleeve thing?’ You know, I get that all the time from people.. This is a really big statement, but I think the vast majority [of the Orthodox community is] living those tensions in some way or another. Not necessarily gender, but with the tensions of modernity and tradition. And you see that in all aspects of life.  And we don’t normalize that enough. So when you were that one person talking about it, people sort of look at you in shock.”

Payment processing giant PayPal announced today that it is partnering with the Anti-Defamation League on a project to examine how extremists and hate groups use financial platforms to fund criminal activity and root out bad actors, Jewish Insider has learned. The data gathered will be shared with others in the financial industry as well as lawmakers, law enforcement and other civil rights groups.

ADL’s Center on Extremism will lead the program aimed at “uncovering and disrupting the financial pipelines that support extremist and hate movements,” according to a joint ADL/PayPal statement. The initiative will focus on white supremacists, anti-government organizations and those propagating and profiting from antisemitism, Islamophobia, racism, and anti-immigrant, anti-Black, anti-Hispanic and anti-Asian hate.

“By identifying partners across sectors with common goals and complementary resources, we can make an even greater impact than any of us could do on our own,” Aaron Karczmer, PayPal’s chief risk officer and executive vice president of risk and platforms, said in a statement. “We are excited to partner with the ADL, other non-profits and law enforcement in our fight against hate in all its forms.”

ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt characterized this as a new breakthrough in corporate social responsibility efforts.

“All of us, including in the private sector, have a critical role to play in fighting the spread of extremism and hate. With this new initiative, we’re setting a new standard for companies to bring their expertise to critical social issues,” Greenblatt said in a statement. “We have a unique opportunity to further understand how hate spreads and develop key insights that will inform the efforts of the financial industry, law enforcement, and our communities in mitigating extremist threats.”

The new initiative — which comes amid a nationwide spike in antisemitic and anti-Asian hate crimes and as the Biden administration steps up its efforts to combat domestic extremism — also already has backing from influential figures within government.

“I applaud PayPal and the Anti-Defamation League for joining forces to combat hate and extremist movements who seek to utilize financial platforms to bankroll their criminal activities and profit from the spread of racism and bigotry,” outgoing Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. said in a statement. “My Office stands ready to assist financial institutions and businesses of all kinds in this urgent fight to stop hate and protect members of historically marginalized communities.”

Jordan’s relations with Israel have improved since the new Israeli coalition government took office, Jordanian King Abdullah II told members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee in a meeting last Thursday.

Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA), a longtime member of the House committee, recounted the committee’s conversation with Abdullah in an interview on Friday with Jewish Insider.

“He was quite favorable to the new government,” which is made up of an ideologically diverse coalition led by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, Sherman said. “In general, the theme was that he was able to work things out with the new government better than he had in the prior two years under what turned out to be the last two years of the Netanyahu administration.”

Sherman said he questioned Abdullah about the U.S.’s efforts to extradite Ahlam Tamimi — a Jordanian national convicted by an Israeli court in the 2001 bombing of a Sbarro pizza shop in Jerusalem that killed 15 people, including two Americans, who was released in a 2011 prisoner swap — but said the king “didn’t give a substantive response.”

Although Israel was a prime topic of conversation — including tensions in Jerusalem and Jordan’s water dispute with Israel — Sherman emphasized that “[Jordan’s] relationship with Israel is just one of the things that the king and his government have to deal with,” and the committee’s meeting addressed other issues including Lebanon, Syria and Iraq.

Sherman said Abdullah expressed support for the Iraqi government, which faces threats from Iranian-backed militias.

“It went well,” Sherman said of the meeting overall. “I’ve been in so many meetings with King Abdullah. [I] kind of regard him as an old friend.”

The California congressman emphasized that Jordan maintains broad bipartisan support in Washington.

“One comment I made is that support for King Abdullah and Jordan is like the last bipartisan thing in Washington. I mean — make a list of everything that has more bipartisan support than support for Jordan. I wish support for Israel were quite at that high a level,” Sherman said. “Part of that is derivative — a lot of the support for Jordan comes from those who support Israel. But then King Abdullah is able to pick up a little bit of support from people who are not always supportive of the U.S.-Israel alliance.”

Sherman noted that Abdullah’s son, the 27-year-old Crown Prince Hussein bin Abdullah, was present in the meeting — as he was in all of the king’s meetings on Capitol Hill last week — although he was not an active participant in the discussions.

The crown prince “is clearly being educated at a young age,” Sherman said. “Perhaps only in a monarchical system does anyone as young as the crown prince sit in on such a meeting… It’s a different system. And it doesn’t always work well, but it’s working well for Jordan right now.”

Sherman added that the lawmakers did not discuss the “disagreements and unpleasantness among the powers that be in Amman from a couple months ago” — referring to a wave of high-profile arrests following an attempted coup in April, including of Prince Hamzah, the brother of King Abdullah, and several of Hamzah’s associates.

With just over one week remaining until the closely watched special election in Ohio’s 11th Congressional District, prominent Democratic lawmakers are descending on the Cleveland area as the race that has come to represent a high-stakes showdown between moderates and progressives enters the final stretch.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) visited the district on Saturday, drumming up support for Nina Turner, a former Ohio state senator and staunch progressive who had been leading the Democratic primary field in recent months. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), for whom Turner worked as a 2020 presidential campaign surrogate, is expected to make an appearance next weekend.

So, too, is Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC), the powerful House majority whip who will be campaigning for Shontel Brown, a Democratic Party establishment favorite and a Cuyahoga County party chair, before voters head to the polls on August 3. The South Carolina congressman, 81, endorsed Brown in late June, upping the ante of an election that is largely split along generational as well as ideological lines.

Brown had been trailing Turner before Clyburn backed her. “When I first got the frantic call, they told me she was polling at about 15, 20%,” the South Carolina congressman said in an interview with Jewish Insider on Friday. “If it means anything,” he recalled concluding, “it means I need to up my involvement, and so I think that’s why I did.”

Since then, Brown has been gaining momentum, with additional support from outside independent expenditures as well new endorsements from pro-Israel Democrats in Congress. Earlier this month, the influential political arm of the Congressional Black Caucus threw its support behind Brown, who, like Turner, is Black. 

“I was pleased that they did,” Clyburn, who is a member of the CBC, remarked, while adding that he had no involvement in the endorsement process because he does not sit on the PAC’s board. “I didn’t play a role in it.”

Either way, Clyburn’s high-profile endorsement seems to have opened up a plausible path to victory for his preferred candidate in the final weeks of the race. A mid-July survey commissioned by Democratic Majority for Israel, which is backing Brown, put the Democratic congressional hopeful at 36% among likely voters, just five points behind Turner. An independent poll from early July, conducted by TargetPoint Consulting, had both candidates tied at 33%.

Clyburn, who is credited with clinching the nomination for President Joe Biden in last year’s presidential primaries, expressed optimism that his endorsement of Brown would have a similar impact. “I hope so,” he told JI. “I also hope that people know that she is a good person who would make a great congressperson.”

“I’ve always found her very pleasant to work with,” said Clyburn, adding that he had campaigned with Brown in previous races. “I’ve been involved with her for some time now,” he noted. “This is not my first involvement.”

The 15-term representative, who has locked horns with the far left over issues like defunding the police and Medicare for All, rejected calls that he stay out of the open-seat race to succeed former Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-OH), now secretary of housing and urban development in the Biden administration.

“I saw something the other day from one of Ms. Turner’s supporters saying I need to stay out of their district,” Clyburn told JI, referring to comments made by Juanita Brent, an Ohio state representative who is supporting Turner. “But the same person welcomed Bernie Sanders into the district. I want her to explain to me why — what’s the difference — why I cannot be — this Black guy who’s been coming in and out of that district for 25 or 30 years — since Arnold Pinkney ran Carl Stokes’s campaign?”

“She says to me I should stay out of the district and then she welcomes Bernie Sanders into the district,” Clyburn repeated. “Somebody’s got to explain that to me.”

Brent and the Turner campaign did not respond to requests for comment.

While Clyburn has emphasized that he simply favors Brown over Turner, other dynamics also appear to be at play as the race has taken something of a nasty turn in recent weeks. Last month, Turner appeared at a town hall at which the rapper Killer Mike described Clyburn as “stupid” for endorsing Biden last cycle.

“I think it’s incredibly stupid to not cut a deal before you get someone elected president and the only thing you get is a federal holiday and nothing tangible out of it,” the rapper said, referring to the newly adopted Juneteenth holiday.“You can talk about it,” Turner said, nodding in agreement.

Clyburn stepped into the race shortly after the event. “They called me dumb,” he said, taking the insult in stride. “I smiled and said, well, I was called dumb or stupid.”

Still, he couldn’t help offering his own sharply worded retort in the interview with JI. “I understand that Nina said, when I endorsed Joe Biden, she said I was going to be made to pay for that,” Clyburn said. “I’d like to know how I’m going to get paid.”

“I don’t know why it’s necessary for all this acrimony to exist,” Clyburn said. “Just be who you are and let other people do what they want to do. I just think it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to make these kinds of inflammatory statements. I don’t do it.”

Clyburn demurred, however, when asked whether he envisioned collaborating with Turner if she wins the election. “That would be up to her,” he said. “I work very well with Bernie Sanders. I endorsed Joe Biden, and it didn’t stop me from working with Bernie Sanders. I do.”

The majority-Black 11th district is home to a sizable Jewish community, support from which has been building for Brown. The first-time congressional candidate is actively engaged in Jewish outreach, and has earned support from groups like the Jewish Democratic Council of America, Pro-Israel America and DMFI. 

Brown’s views on Israel align with the mainstream Democratic wing of the party, while Turner argues in favor of conditioning aid to the Jewish state. 

Clyburn said the candidates’ contrasting foreign policy approaches also factored into his endorsement. “I think Shontel would be a moderating voice,” the congressman said, in House disputes over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which have become increasingly contentious following May’s violent conflict in Gaza. 

“My view when it comes to foreign aid is that no two requests are the same,” he said, “and I think that all requests ought to be based upon existing relationships as well as future consideration for whatever the relationship might be.”

“I think that this country and its allies have got to really be very, very careful in its national and international relationships,” Clyburn said. “This so-called rightward movement that seemed to be taking hold in this country is not limited to this country. We see this stuff popping up all around the world, and so the interest that we have in maintaining the forward movement in this country toward a more perfect union and in Israel to a peaceful and secure existence in the Middle East — these are interests that ought to be complementing each other and ought not to be competing against each other.”

“It’s important for us to make sure that we maintain those relationships politically and personally,” he added.

Clyburn characterized himself as a Truman Democrat. “It was Truman that recognized Israel, and he did so against some pretty forceful advice, just like he integrated the armed services against some pretty forceful advice,” he said.

“I grew up in a Christian parsonage, and my father was a fundamentalist minister,” Clyburn said. “I tell people all the time, my dad preached as much, let’s say as often, from the Old Testament as he did from the New Testament, and I grew up with a healthy respect for the Jewish faith.”

The congressman had yet to see a finalized campaign schedule when he spoke with JI. But he said his plans for the upcoming weekend in Cleveland include meeting with faith leaders as well as Black fraternities and sororities in the district. He was also tailoring his schedule, he said, to accommodate Jewish community members and Seventh-day Adventists who observe the Sabbath on Saturdays.

“I’m very sensitive about that,” he noted.