The House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday advanced, with bipartisan support, legislation that would impose new sanctions on individuals and entities involved in Iran’s oil trade and hostage-taking and those involved in Houthi piracy.

At the same time, the House Homeland Security Committee advanced bipartisan bills aimed at countering authoritarian regimes targeting dissidents in the United States and monitoring terrorist threats in Syria.

Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) said on Wednesday that he was “deeply concerned” about the sudden firings of multiple senior National Security Council staffers and the director of the National Security Agency. 

Warner made the comments during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on the confirmations of several Trump administration nominees before pressing Joe Kent, the nominee to be director of the National Counterterrorism Center, for answers on Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s knowledge of the firings. 

Joe Kent, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be director of the National Counterterrorism Center, emphasized the importance of accurate intelligence in preventing a repeat of “the past 20-plus years of endless wars” during his confirmation hearing on Wednesday.

Kent, who has called for the U.S. to pull back from the Middle East as part of his  broader isolationist foreign policy views, told members of the Senate Intelligence Committee that he views this moment in history as a “very critical time for us to continue the fight against terrorism,” which he described as “the fight of my lifetime and the fight of my generation.”

The federal agency responsible for approving immigration applications will begin screening applicants’ social media accounts for evidence of antisemitic activity, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on Wednesday, the latest action from the Trump administration directed at foreigners deemed to be antisemitic or pro-Hamas.

“Sec. [Kristi] Noem has made it clear that anyone who thinks they can come to America and hide behind the First Amendment to advocate for antisemitic violence and terrorism — think again. You are not welcome here,” Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement, referring to the Homeland Security secretary.

The Senate voted 53-46 on Wednesday to confirm former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee as U.S. ambassador to Israel, with only Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) breaking ranks to support him.

“He’ll have all the votes that he needs,” Fetterman told Jewish Insider last month of his plans to vote for Huckabee. “He’s been in public life for a while. Our politics are definitely different, but he’s deeply devoted to Israel, as I am, so I can’t imagine voting against him.”

Georgetown University Student Association bypassed its standard protocols to bring forth a referendum on university divestment from companies and academic institutions with ties to Israel — deciding to hold the vote over the Passover holiday. 

Sixteen of the 28 members of the GUSA voted in favor of a resolution to put the divestment question before the undergraduate student body April 14-16. The initial vote, held earlier this week, was done in secret and without the approval of the senate’s Policy and Advocacy Committee — breaking from typical procedure, the university’s student newspaper, The Hoya, reported. The referendum will require at least 25% turnout and a simple majority of voters in favor to pass.

AIPAC launched an 11-state ad blitz on Wednesday focused on the 15 senators who voted last week in favor of resolutions led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) to block $8.8 billion in U.S. arms sales to Israel.

AIPAC spokesperson Marshall Wittmann described the campaign as a six-figure ad buy, airing on television and social media.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee postponed a Wednesday meeting in which the committee was expected to vote on the Antisemitism Awareness Act and another piece of antisemitism legislation.

A notice about the delay issued by the committee did not include a new date for the vote, and cited lawmaker attendance issues as the reason for delaying the meeting.