A year and a half after CNN announced its plans to launch a network hub in Qatar, the media company is deepening its ties to the Gulf state with a Middle East speaker series in the capital of Doha that is slated for late October.

CNN said this week it was kicking off its inaugural “Global Perspectives” event in Doha on Oct. 29 with a newly unveiled lineup featuring government officials, business leaders and cultural figures, among others.

Rep. Brad Knott (R-NC), the lead House Republican sponsor of the Right to Worship Act, a federal buffer zone bill to protect religious institutions from disruptive and threatening protests, said on Wednesday that the bill aims to give targeted worshipers a recourse particularly where prosecutors fail to step in or take action.

Knott, a former federal prosecutor, said in an interview with Jewish Insider that he got involved with the effort because of a spate of incidents targeting houses of worship of various religions around the country. “There’s really no secret that places of worship, especially traditional faith, have come under attack,” Knott said, pointing to incidents targeting Catholic, Christian and Jewish institutions.

The University of Texas’ College Democrats chapter invited antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker to speak on campus at the end of the month, sparking outrage from Jewish leaders and students on campus and generating a potential political firestorm in a red state hosting consequential elections in November’s midterms. 

The event, hosted by the University Democrats, a decades-old student Democratic party political organization, is scheduled to be held on Sept. 30, amid the final stretch of Texas’ highly competitive Senate race between Republican Ken Paxton and Democrat James Talarico and a competitive gubernatorial contest between GOP Gov. Greg Abbott and Democrat Gina Hinojosa.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch revealed plans on Wednesday to step up security measures at the 9/11 memorial on Friday and around Jewish institutions that evening and on Saturday for Rosh Hashanah — asserting that the department is unaware of any impending threat, but acknowledging a dangerous environment amid rising antisemitism and the conflict with Iran.

The mayor and police chief appeared together at City Hall to discuss measures to ensure safety around both observances, including “heightened” local and federal security and restricted street and transit access around Ground Zero during the 25th anniversary ceremony for the victims of the attack during the day. In the evening, they said Jewish New Yorkers can expect police deployment to synagogues, yeshivas and other communal spaces, to deter any person hoping to replicate the acts of violence and vandalism inflicted in recent months.

Former Secretary of State Tony Blinken categorically denied a report in Haaretz that he delayed an offer from Hamas immediately after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel to free civilian hostages taken by the terrorist group.

In an article published Tuesday alleging that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ignored warnings from the United Arab Emirates about the attacks, Haaretz reported that Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani had called Blinken on Oct. 7, conveying a message from Hamas offering the unconditional release of hostages under 18 and over 50 years old from Gaza, which he said Israel had refused.

A new poll of Jewish American voters commissioned by the nonpartisan Jewish Voters Resource Center found that Vice President JD Vance is viewed negatively by more than 80% of Jewish voters, including a sizable number of Jewish Republicans. 

The poll finds Vance’s favorability rating at only 14% among Jewish voters overall, with 82% viewing him unfavorably. Only 61% of Jewish Republicans view Vance favorably, compared to the 89% of those who view President Donald Trump favorably, and the 93% of Jewish Republicans who hold a favorable view of Secretary of State Marco Rubio. 

Tuesday night’s Democratic primaries in New Hampshire delivered mixed results for candidates who made attacks on Israel a centerpiece of their closing arguments.

Rep. Chris Pappas (D-NH) trounced progressive activist Karishma Manzur by nearly a 2-to-1 margin (65%-33%) in the Senate primary, after Manzur attacked Pappas for his stance on Israel and called him a “shill for AIPAC” as a central message of her campaign.

As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu heads toward what could be one of the most consequential elections of his career next month, a new book is offering an unusually candid look at the decision-making that will define how history — and Israeli voters — judge him. 

In the War Room: The Inside Story of Israel’s Fight Against Hamas and the Iranian Axis, by Jerusalem Post military correspondent Yonah Jeremy Bob and Wall Street Journal editorial writer Elliot Kaufman, draws on two years of interviews with Israel’s political, military and intelligence leadership to reconstruct the internal battles that shaped the war — battles that often pitted Netanyahu against his own defense establishment.