Rep. Andy Levin (D-MI), who has criticized AIPAC for backing Republicans who voted against certifying the results of the 2020 election, has himself accepted $55,550 in donations from corporate PACs and interest groups that, according to watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), have also contributed to Republicans who voted against certifying the 2020 election results.

Between when he filed for reelection in January of 2021 and the end of that year, Levin took donations from corporate PACs representing Boeing, Raytheon, General Motors, Ford, General Dynamics, Aflac, Comcast, AT&T, Liberty Mutual Insurance, Blue Cross Blue Shield and the American Crystal Sugar Company (a sugar production cooperative) totaling $34,500. Each has also donated to Republicans who refused to certify President Joe Biden’s election.

Former Anti-Defamation League National Director Abe Foxman endorsed Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) in her primary race against Rep. Andy Levin (D-MI) in a Detroit News op-ed published Tuesday morning, accusing Levin in an interview with Jewish Insider of being weak on Israel and antisemitism.

Foxman told JI on Monday night that he rarely takes such a public stance in primary races, but intervened because he feels that Levin “leaves a lot to be desired” on the U.S.-Israel relationship and antisemitism and “the country will be looking at this race.”

On election night in November 2000, as the outcome of the neck-and-neck vote remained elusive, speechwriter Jeff Nussbaum had drafted three possible speeches for his boss, Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore. One was for a Gore victory, another was for a Gore defeat and a third was for a scenario in which Gore won the electoral vote but lost the popular vote. 

Gore didn’t deliver any of them. Instead, he won the popular vote but lost the electoral count to George W. Bush — a shocking result that was affirmed in a controversial Supreme Court decision weeks later. Nussbaum’s speeches, which would have ushered in an alternate ending, were lost to history.

The Nita M. Lowey Middle East Partnership for Peace Act (MEPPA), with its strong bipartisan support in Congress and focus on people-to-people relations, signifies a clear shift in U.S. policy in dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, one of the newly appointed members of the board that advises the fund told Jewish Insider in an interview last week.

Heather Johnston, who was visiting Israel in her role as founder and executive director of the U.S. Israel Education Association, an organization that fosters communication between American and Israeli leaders, said the strength of the $250 million aid package is that it circumvents the Palestinian Authority and goes directly to the nonprofit organizations that are facilitating on-the-ground grassroots programs.

The U.S. has “really one true ally” in the Middle East, Republican congressional candidate Wesley Hunt, a combat veteran who served three tours in the region said on Friday. “And it’s Israel.”

“We’re friendly with everyone — I get it, I understand that — but that Judeo background that this country was founded upon is the only one in that region,” Hunt, who served a combat tour in Iraq and two tours in Saudi Arabia, said during a virtual event on AIPAC’s app on Friday. “And we have enemies, actually all over that region, particularly Iran. And let’s be honest, most of the 9/11 attackers were born in Saudi Arabia. Osama bin Laden was from Riyadh. And so I learned a lot about what our interests need to be and who we need to be in the business of supporting for the future, because that’s our one true ally in the region.”

Former President Barack Obama’s controversial decision to abstain from vetoing an anti-Israel resolution in the United Nations in December 2016 is considered by many to be the lowest point in Israel-U.S. relations in recent years.

Now, a tell-all book by Danny Danon, Israel’s then-ambassador to the world body goes behind the scenes, revealing how, during the fraught days leading up to the vote for Resolution 2334, which condemned Israeli settlements in “Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem,” American diplomats pressured other countries to back the motion and President-elect Donald Trump, who would assume office the following month, took his first steps to support Israel since winning the election.

In the summer of 2017, Republicans’ desire to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act died in a dramatic fashion when Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) signaled his “no” vote with a thumbs down on the Senate floor. 

What led the independent-minded Republican to buck his Republican colleagues? At least in part, it was the analysis from the Congressional Budget Office that found that 23 million Americans would lose health insurance if the plan passed. When that CBO report was released, Democrats reacted with fury and mounted a months-long grassroots campaign to defeat the effort. It worked. 

LOS ANGELES — Gideon Friedmann, the acting chief scientist at Israel’s Ministry of Energy detailed on Wednesday how the country plans to transition to renewable energy and urged private investors to fund research in the field. Government support is important, said Friedmann, but investors will need to more forcefully enter the market if countries hope to work toward net-zero emissions.

“The private sector is not doing very well, because everyone here wants to get their return, and [a] high return. And it’s not easy to get a high return on infrastructure,” or a quick return, Friedmann told attendees at a panel at the Milken Institute Global Conference. According to Friedmann, it takes up to 15 years to build a power line, for instance, so any kind of fast returns would be impossible.