Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) is asking for answers from Lufthansa over a recent incident in which Haredi Jewish passengers were not allowed to board a flight in Germany.

Menendez sent a letter, a copy of which was obtained by Jewish Insider, to the airline’s CEO, Carston Spohr, over an incident that took place last month at the Frankfurt Airport. A large group of Haredi Jews was denied boarding on a Lufthansa flight to Hungary after several members of the group violated the airline’s COVID-19 protocols on an earlier flight by not wearing masks.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez (D-NJ) stressed at a dinner on Tuesday evening the need for a new Iran strategy and an end to negotiations with Iran in Vienna. “It is time to tell the Europeans, who[m] we have shown good faith with, that we were willing to enter into what was hopefully a stronger and longer deal, that the Iranians are not there,” the senator said in front of 150 attendees at the AIPAC New Jersey Spring Leadership Dinner. 

The remarks come on the heels of reports that Iran has enriched sufficient amounts of uranium to develop a nuclear weapon and echoed Menendez’s previous remarks about the talks, including during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing last week featuring testimony from U.S. Special Envoy for Iran Rob Malley.

The political action committee of Democratic Majority for Israel will announce seven new House endorsements on Wednesday, according to a spokesperson.

The new slate of candidates includes several incumbents competing in relatively safe Democratic districts in California, such as Reps. Pete Aguilar (D-CA), Ted Lieu (D-CA), Mike Levin (D-CA) and Adam Schiff (D-CA), the powerful chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. Both Levin and Schiff are Jewish.

Some people call South Florida the “Sixth Borough.” At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, an exodus from New York to the Sunshine State was national news, with emigres ranging from investment bankers to crypto entrepreneurs to ocean enthusiasts. 

For those in South Florida’s Jewish community, the arrival of newcomers from New York was nothing new — even if the scale, in such a short time frame, was markedly larger. But as South Florida’s Orthodox community has ballooned, locals have acknowledged that the area’s educational institutions are not yet a match for the scale and breadth on offer in New York and New Jersey. 

Like most candidates in Arizona’s Republican Senate primary, Jim Lamon has emphasized his commitment to a number of standard-issue conservative policy objectives, including border security, “election integrity” and countering China.

When it comes to Middle East foreign policy matters, the solar executive and Army veteran also generally aligns with his main GOP rivals in the Aug. 2 primary, chief among them Mark Brnovich, Arizona’s term-limited attorney general, and Blake Masters, the venture capitalist and Peter Thiel protégé.

In the latest installment of a series exploring new and upcoming books, the team at Jewish Insider previews top titles coming out this summer:

The Latecomer: A Novel, by Jean Hanff Korelitz (May 31): In her latest novel, Korelitz conjures up the world of the fictitious Oppenheimer family — parents Salo and Johanna, and triplets Harrison, Lewyn and Sally — and upends their world when Johanna decides to have a fourth child as her first three leave for college.

Christian communities in the Middle East remain at risk of persecution, warned Robert Nicholson, executive director of the Philos Project, a Christian advocacy group focused on advancing pluralism in the Middle East. Appearing on Jewish Insider’s “Limited Liability Podcast,” Nicholson said that despite “a lot of advocacy for these communities over the last few years, especially since ISIS, [there has been] unfortunately very little in terms of impact.”

As Sudan’s relations with Israel remain in limbo following a military coup in the East African nation last year, the State Department is urging Israel not to proceed with normalization until a civilian-led government is restored in Sudan.

“We strongly encourage the State of Israel to join us and the broader international community in vocally pressing for Sudan’s military leaders to cede power to a credible, civilian-led transitional government,” a State Department spokesperson told Jewish Insider.