Thirteen Senate Republicans introduced a bill on Wednesday seeking to block the Biden administration from withdrawing sanctions that prohibit nuclear cooperation with Iran.

According to a statement from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), the administration notified Congress last month that it would provide a waiver for international cooperation, including between Iran and Russia on seven non-military nuclear activities, and said these projects would be valued at $10 billion.

Knesset Member Nir Barkat, who has aspirations of succeeding former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the leader of Israel’s Likud party, said on Wednesday in Washington, D.C. that he believes Israel should be taking a more defined stance in support of Ukraine and decried the current coalition government’s efforts to act as a mediator between Moscow and Kyiv.

“I said from day one we should have taken sides with the United States and the Western world and be very, very clear which side we’re on,” Barkat told Jewish Insider earlier this week, during his fourth visit to Washington in eight months. “We belong to the Western world and if it was up to me, I would not play that mid[dle]-role, but take a side.”

In the 18 months since the Abraham Accords were signed, people-to-people cultural exchanges and business ties have flourished between Israel and the United Arab Emirates. Now, new defense cooperation appears to be emerging between Israel and Bahrain. 

During a recent visit to Washington, Bahraini Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa promoted “a new security architecture for our region that will help guarantee the security of the region as a whole,” Bahraini Ambassador to the U.S. Abdulla Bin Rashid Al Khalifa told Jewish Insider.

Michael Gerald, a Westchester County pastor and corrections official who recently launched a primary challenge against freshman Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), told Jewish Insider on Wednesday that he is suspending his campaign just weeks after entering the race.

“I was spoiling for a good fight,” Gerald, 54, said in a brief phone conversation outlining his reasons for dropping out of the Democratic primary in New York’s redrawn 16th Congressional District. “I think I just ran out of runway.”

A day after all 25 Jewish House Democrats issued a statement condemning Amnesty International USA Director Paul O’Brien’s comments on American Jews and Israel, eleven of those members wrote to the organization’s international chief on Tuesday expressing concern that O’Brien’s full comments were “even more troubling” than the remarks initially reported by Jewish Insider.

In an event last week, O’Brien claimed that American Jews do not support Israel’s existence as a Jewish state — a statement that the original group of legislators described as “alarming” and “antisemitic.” 

Amid Dr. Mehmet Oz’s abrupt transition from talk show host to Pennsylvania Senate candidate, his GOP primary opponents have tried to paint him as out of his depth and insufficiently loyal to the party. Recently resurfaced clips from “The Dr. Oz Show,” in which the former cardiothoracic surgeon expressed support for the Affordable Care Act and hosted a prominent transgender guest, have drawn controversy from conservatives. 

Oz has generally avoided taking positions on geopolitical and foreign policy issues on his TV show. But on Israel, it appears the candidate is taking a strongly pro-Israel stance that places him in line with other congressional Republicans, according to a policy memo obtained by Jewish Insider. 

Outgoing U.S. Central Command Commander Gen. Kenneth McKenzie said on Tuesday that he would “fully support” a nuclear deal with Iran, acknowledging that in a new agreement, the Biden administration would provide the Iranian regime with more money that could be used to finance Tehran’s malign activities in the region.

“I’m not an economist, I’m not familiar with the economic impacts of that deal. I would say this: from where I sit, the number one objective that I’ve been given is we don’t want Iran to have a nuclear weapon,” the top U.S. military official in the Middle East told the Senate Armed Services Committee. “And it would seem to me that approaching that through a diplomatic solution would be the best way to get to that end. I recognize there are second-order effects that might proceed from that in terms of sanctions relief and I acknowledge that.”

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides expressed concern on Tuesday that the timing of Ramadan, Passover and Easter — which will all be observed the same week next month  — could produce a “flashpoint” at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

Speaking at an Americans for Peace Now event, moderated by APN President and CEO Hadar Susskind and American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, Nides, who assumed the posting in December, said that he had communicated his concerns to the State Department, and had discussed the issue with Israeli, Egyptian and Jordanian officials.