A CNN anchor shut down comments made by Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who alleged in an interview on Thursday that Israel has “connections” to “deep pockets” that “control media.”

Qureshi made the claims to CNN anchor Bianna Golodryga, who responded, “I would call that an antisemitic remark.” Qureshi initially brushed off Golodryga’s comments, saying, “The point is they have a lot of influence and they get a lot of coverage.”

Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI), a left-wing Democrat who has frequently been vocally critical of Israel, argued on Wednesday that Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system should remove the need for it to launch its own strikes in response to terrorist rocket attacks, as it largely prevents rockets from striking Israel.

“I’ve always supported the Iron Dome. Because the idea is when a missile comes in, if you take it out, no one’s been killed on either side, and there’s de-escalation,” Pocan, who organized an hour of speeches on the House floor criticizing Israel last week, told reporters. “If you use it for that purpose, then you still send 20 times the number of missiles back, that’s not the intention.”

Days after issuing a bipartisan statement calling on Israel and Hamas to reach a cease-fire “quickly,” Sen. Todd Young (R-IN) backed away from his initial position on Wednesday, calling for Israel to take out Hamas’ infrastructure.

“Senator Young shares his colleagues’ concerns about a premature cease-fire or one that occurs on Hamas’ terms,” a Young spokesperson explained to Jewish Insider. “Hamas’ infrastructure and tunnel network in Gaza is far deeper and more sophisticated than many previously understood… As such, it is clear that Israel needs more time to deal with the threat it is facing. The only way to create an enduring cease-fire is to deal with the threat they are facing and reestablish deterrence by taking out Hamas’ terror infrastructure.”

As arguments rage on Capitol Hill over the ongoing violence in Israel and Gaza — with lawmakers divided over issues including arms sales to Israel and calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas — activists with NORPAC, a bipartisan pro-Israel political group which has been meeting with lawmakers and staffers in recent weeks, have met with approximately 400 members of Congress or their staffers, including more than 80 Senate offices.

The activists — more than 500 in total — were lobbying on four issues: supporting military aid to Israel, a stronger and more comprehensive deal with Iran, a bill supporting the normalization agreements between Israel and Arab states and legislation cracking down on extremist content in Palestinian educational materials distributed by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.

Jonathan Ames, the novelist and TV writer, is best known for “Bored to Death,” his short-lived HBO series that ran from 2009 to 2011 before it was cancelled after three seasons. The noirish comedy tells the story of a floundering Brooklyn novelist — also named Jonathan Ames — who becomes an unlicensed private investigator after placing an ad on Craigslist. 

But for Ames, who has long been a devoted reader of hardboiled crime fiction, the series may have been something of a diversion. In his latest work, A Man Named Doll — recently published by Mulholland Books — he has produced the real thing.

A new resolution introduced in the Illinois General Assembly on Wednesday calls on the board of trustees of the University of Illinois to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism. The proposed non-binding resolution comes more than a year after a federal civil rights complaint was filed with the U.S. Department of Education accusing the university’s Urbana-Champaign campus of not doing enough to combat increasing antisemitism on campus. 

“The fact is, we have seen no resolution, nor has the university taken steps to address the concerns of the students,” House Minority Leader Jim Durkin, who introduced the resolution, told Jewish Insider. “To see this happen and to drag on — to me, it’s unacceptable. And so this resolution, I hope, puts the university on notice that we’re watching, and we want you to resolve this in the appropriate way.”

Opposing groups of House Democrats leveled both direct and indirect attacks against each other on the House floor on Thursday evening in speeches that addressed the ongoing conflict in Israel and the Gaza Strip. The speeches marked the latest and most direct clash among Democrats this week on Israel as violence in the region flared.

A group of nine pro-Israel Democrats — Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Elaine Luria (D-VA), Brad Schneider (D-IL), Brad Sherman (D-CA), Ted Deutch (D-FL), Kathy Manning (D-NC), Jim Costa (D-CA) and Lois Frankel (D-FL) — delivered one-minute speeches calling out rocket attacks on Israel, defending U.S. security aid to the Jewish state and criticizing those who have critiqued Israel’s response to the rocket attacks.

The leading Democratic candidates now competing in Ohio’s 11th-district special election, Nina Turner and Shontel Brown, are divided on several fundamental issues, Israel chief among them. Turner, a progressive stalwart backed by Justice Democrats, supports conditioning aid to the Jewish state, whereas Brown, a moderate with close ties to establishment Democrats, holds more mainstream pro-Israel views.

Further underscoring that contrast, both candidates offered sharply divergent statements this week as violence escalated between Israel and Hamas. “In times like these the United States must stand firmly behind our close ally Israel,” Brown said in comments to Jewish Insider on Wednesday, while urging “all sides, regardless of fault, to exercise restraint and de-escalate the crisis.”