The Israeli Ministry of Defense and the Trump administration have launched formal talks on a “new security cooperation framework” to replace the current U.S.-Israel memorandum of understanding on military aid upon its expiration in 2028, the ministry said in a statement on Friday. 

The Israeli team will be led by Defense Ministry Director-General Amir Baram and Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter, while the U.S. team will be led by State Department counselor Daniel Holler and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee.

As the Trump administration prepares to submit a proposed civil nuclear pact with Saudi Arabia to Congress, U.S. lawmakers are raising concerns about the potential agreement while nonproliferation experts and former Trump administration officials are sounding the alarm, warning that the pact abandons traditional safeguards and could ignite a nuclear arms race in the Middle East.

Last month, the Trump administration proposed the pact to assist Saudi Arabia with its development of civilian nuclear power, following indications last year that it would pursue such an agreement to strengthen bilateral diplomatic ties. Experts say the White House is looking to construct and operate a uranium enrichment plant within Saudi Arabia, safeguarding the facility through a bilateral framework.

The House rejected a war powers resolution by Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) on Thursday that aimed to block U.S. support for Israeli operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon, after House Democratic leaders publicly came out against the effort.

But the Democratic leaders said they would support a future effort by Tlaib along similar lines that will include carveouts for other U.S. operations inside Lebanon, indicating that Tlaib’s next effort is likely to pick up greater Democratic support.

The House Armed Services Committee blocked an amendment that sought to strip a relatively routine provision on U.S.-Israel cooperation out of the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act by a bipartisan voice vote.

Leaders of the committee on both sides of the aisle spoke out against the amendment, led by Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), saying that critics of the provision — who have claimed it would fuse the U.S. and Israeli militaries or subvert U.S. sovereignty — were misrepresenting the legislation.

Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee proposed providing $315 million for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program in 2027, a slight increase from 2026 funding levels but far below the $1 billion that supporters of the program in the House and Jewish and other faith communities have called for.

The 2026 funding bill contains $300 million for the program, a marginal increase from 2025 levels. But the program has been subject to significant procedural delays — funding from the 2025 tranche has still not yet been disbursed, and the timeline for 2026 applications remains uncertain.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) on Thursday called out recent AIPAC and crypto-linked spending in the crowded Democratic House primary in Maryland to replace retiring Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), accusing “outside groups” of “trying to buy this congressional seat.”

“I think voters need to be aware that these outside groups do not have the voters’ interests at heart,” he said during a press conference.

Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Cory Booker (D-NJ) and James Lankford (R-OK) are set to introduce a bill on Thursday directing the Pentagon to develop a coordinated air- and missile-defense acquisition strategy with Israel, Abraham Accords members and other Middle East allies.

The Optimizing Acquisition Strategies for Integrated Security (OASIS) in the Middle East Act, which expands on existing legislative and administrative efforts to establish a coordinated air and missile defense system throughout the Middle East to protect the U.S. and its partners, would aim to ensure that the necessary resources are in place to protect the U.S. and its allies in future conflicts, sponsors said.

Israel and Lebanon agreed on Wednesday to extend their ceasefire — which in practice has been tenuous — on the condition that Hezbollah disarms and withdraws from Israel’s northern border, and to jointly establish “pilot zones” where the Lebanese Armed Forces “will take exclusive control of the territory.”

The parties, together with the U.S., announced the developments in a joint statement at the conclusion of the second and final day of the fourth round of peace talks between Israeli and Lebanese officials at the State Department. 

Some lawmakers are warning that the past terrorist ties of Adam Hamawy, the Democratic nominee in New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District expected to be elected to the House in November, could pose a national security risk and that he should be barred from serving on sensitive committees working on national security issues.

Hamawy was an associate of convicted terrorist mastermind Omar Abdel-Rahman, known as the Blind Sheikh, and testified in Abdel-Rahman’s defense when he was on trial for his involvement in a series of terrorist attacks in New York City. Hamawy also volunteered for the Benevolence International Foundation, a charity operating in Bosnia that was later shuttered as an al-Qaida front.

Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-IN) introduced a resolution on Wednesday endorsing and praising Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s call to wind down U.S. aid to Israel over the next decade, the latest twist in the rapidly evolving U.S. conversation over the future of the U.S.-Israel relationship and U.S. aid to Israel.

Few Republicans, at this point, have publicly endorsed Netanyahu’s effort, which comes amid talks between the U.S. and Israel over the next memorandum of understanding on military aid. Top U.S. officials have confirmed in recent days that ending U.S. aid to Israel is part of those discussions. Future American aid is largely expected to pivot toward a model based on trade, partnership and joint development.

The State Department’s top legal advisor on Wednesday drew a direct connection from the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993 — which sought to bring peace between the Israelis and Palestinians — to the global rise in Islamist terrorism, in remarks delivered at an event in Washington marking the anniversary of the deadly 1994 terror attacks on the AMIA Jewish Center in Buenos Aires. The suicide bombing, orchestrated by Hezbollah, killed 85 people and injured more than 300 others one year after the signing of the Oslo Accords at the White House. 

Diplomats, survivors of the attack, Jewish community members and State Department officials gathered on Wednesday at the U.S. Institute of Peace to commemorate the July 18 attacks, where U.S. and Argentine officials vowed to work together to fight Islamist terrorism. Reed Rubinstein, the State Department legal advisor, used his remarks to herald President Donald Trump’s efforts to fight terrorism, which he described as a course correction from decades of failed leadership. 

The House passed a war powers resolution on Wednesday that would halt U.S. military operations against Iran, after House Republicans postponed an expected vote on the resolution for more than a week, in an ultimately futile effort to stave off defeat.

The resolution passed 215-208, with four Republicans breaking ranks to vote for the resolution, and all present Democrats remaining united on the issue for the first time since the war began. Six Republicans and one Democrat were absent for the vote — so the resolution likely still would have passed even with full attendance.

The NYPD arrested an NYU student Wednesday for raising a flag that displayed swastikas and a Star of David atop a university building last month. 

The perpetrator was a fourth-year NYU student at the time of the incident and has not yet received a diploma, a university spokesperson told Jewish Insider on Wednesday. The New York Times reported that the man is named Alexander Stepnowsky, a music technology student. 

Despite President Donald Trump’s public acknowledgement of a confrontational phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding Israeli operations in Lebanon, Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday largely defended Israel’s attacks against the Lebanese terrorist group.

He said that Hezbollah reached out to the U.S. government through the Lebanese authorities approximately two weeks ago and said that it would stop launching missiles into Israeli territory if Israel did not attack Beirut. But Rubio said that Hezbollah went back on that agreement and launched rockets at Israel within hours.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that he wants to start the process of winding down U.S. aid to Israel in the final two years of the Trump administration, as both countries work on a new memorandum of understanding.

Netanyahu made the comments in an interview with CNBC’s Sara Eisen after being asked about his political future and when Israel would be ready for new leadership. The prime minister responded by noting that while the Israeli people could decide at “any time” to remove him from power, he is currently focused on achieving four objectives: “finish[ing] the security envelope that we have to make vis-à-vis Iran and its proxies”; securing more investments globally to expand Israel’s AI and tech sectors; normalizing relations with several countries in the Middle East; and ending Israel’s reliance on U.S. aid. 

Sens. John Fetterman (D-PA) and Dave McCormick (R-PA) said on Tuesday that they believe antisemitism is worse on the left than on the right, arguing that the electoral success of far-left candidates with antisemitic records in Democratic primaries distinguished the left from the right, as similarly controversial candidates have struggled in GOP primary contests.

The Pennsylvania senators spoke to Jewish Insider on the sidelines of the American Jewish Committee’s Global Forum, where they headlined the closing plenary alongside AJC CEO Ted Deutch with a discussion on promoting bipartisanship amid expanding domestic political divisions. 

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) said on Tuesday that he is growing increasingly concerned that President Donald Trump may agree to a deal with Iran that does not ensure the retrieval of Tehran’s stockpile of enriched uranium or that the regime will never acquire a nuclear weapon.

Fetterman, who has become the most hawkish Democrat in Congress on Iran and the sole member of his party to vote against every Iran war powers resolution in recent months, spoke with Jewish Insider in Washington about the possible outcomes of the ongoing peace talks. The Pennsylvania senator acknowledged that he and Trump had taken political heat from their respective parties over their stances on the conflict, but argued that solving the Iranian nuclear issue would be legacy-defining for the president. 

The leadership of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, whose members constitute nearly 45% of the House Democratic caucus, is encouraging members to vote for a war powers resolution led by Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) which aims to prevent any U.S. cooperation with or assistance for the Israeli operations in Lebanon, Jewish Insider has learned.

Tlaib is expected to force a vote on the resolution this week. The backing of the CPC leadership does not guarantee support from all 95 of the caucus’ members, but indicates that Tlaib’s resolution could pick up substantial support among congressional Democrats.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) declined to fully back Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) on Tuesday, when asked at a press conference about her run in Florida’s 20th  Congressional District, which has historically been represented by a Black lawmaker.

“Everybody has a right to run where they see fit,” Jeffries said. “They’ve got to go make their case to the people that they hope to represent moving forward, and that’s what I’ve communicated directly to Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz.”

Senate Democrats sounded wary of Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner after the latest revelations that he had engaged in sexual conversations with numerous women while married, but most aren’t calling for him to leave the race, or throwing their support behind Gov. Janet Mills, who still remains on the primary ballot even after suspending her campaign.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who recruited Mills to run for the seat to challenge Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) but got behind Platner after Mills dropped out, met with Platner in Washington on Tuesday and repeatedly offered a terse response when asked about Platner at a press conference, offering neither effusive support for nor criticism of the presumptive Democratic nominee.

In one of its largest independent expenditures of the campaign cycle, the super PAC affiliated with AIPAC spent nearly $1.2 million this weekend to help boost Adrian Boafo, a Maryland state delegate running in a packed Democratic primary to succeed longtime Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD).

While the super PAC, United Democracy Project, has invested heavily in several House primaries this year, its latest salvo is particularly notable because AIPAC has frequently avoided engaging openly in contested races — instead using several cutouts — as a growing number of Democratic candidates have disavowed accepting funds from the pro-Israel group.

Senate Republicans on Tuesday expressed skepticism about President Donald Trump’s decision to name Bill Pulte, a lawyer and Trump ally who has been working on housing policy issues and has no known intelligence or national security background, as acting director of national intelligence.

Pulte will take over the agency, which coordinates efforts across the intelligence community, after DNI Tulsi Gabbard resigns later this month. Trump had originally announced that Gabbard’s current chief deputy, Aaron Lukas, a career intelligence official, would be assuming the acting role, but pivoted without explanation.

Colorado’s elected officials remained largely silent after the University of Colorado Boulder chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine posted a statement supporting the perpetrator of a deadly antisemitic firebombing on the attack’s one-year anniversary.

“Today, Boulder Students for Justice in Palestine publishes this statement in support of Mohamed’s decisive act of resistance against a genocidal global order,” Boulder SJP — which is an unsanctioned campus group — wrote Monday in a since-deleted Instagram post. “We stand with him.” 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed that, as part of negotiations over the next U.S.-Israel memorandum of understanding covering military aid, the U.S. and Israel have been discussing an Israeli proposal to wind down U.S. military aid to Israel.

“What Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu and the Israelis have told us is they would like to set up a scenario where they wean off U.S. assistance the way they did with foreign aid a decade and a half ago,” Rubio said at a House Appropriations Committee hearing on Tuesday, referring to non-military, economic aid, which was phased out in 2007. “They’d like to go from the numbers they’re getting now to slowly less every year, until the number hits zero.”

Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) revealed on Tuesday that senior Emirati leaders expressed concern to him about rising antisemitism in the United States during his trip to the United Arab Emirates last week.

Gottheimer made the comments while appearing alongside Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) at the American Jewish Committee’s Global Forum in Washington, where the two delivered remarks to the crowd about their work combating antisemitism.

Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon said on Tuesday that the Trump administration will continue its legal battles against Harvard University and UCLA, accusing both institutions of continuing to neglect the civil rights of Jewish students and faculty.

Dhillon made the comments while appearing at the American Jewish Committee’s Global Forum in Washington, where she  condemned what she described as “egregious examples of antisemitism that have transpired here at home on American soil” since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel as “devastating and antithetical to our values as a nation.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday that the U.S. is not offering Iran any sanctions relief in exchange for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, and that sanctions relief would only be on the table if the Islamic Republic made concessions related to its nuclear program.

The secretary of state described the diplomatic talks as two-phased: The current phase is focused on getting Iran to agree to reopen the strait and to commit to enter further negotiations on disposing its highly enriched uranium and on “severe and long-term limitations and/or cancelation of enrichment.” In exchange, the U.S. would lift its blockade of Iranian ports.

The Trump administration on Monday sent a fresh slate of diplomatic nominations to the Senate for approval. But noticeably absent was a full-throated push to fill critical vacancies across the Middle East and North Africa, even as the Iran conflict has increased the need for coordination and dialogue in the region.

The newest list of nominees included only two names for the MENA region: Donald Blome, tapped to serve as assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs — a role that acts as the principal advisor on U.S. foreign policy across the region — and Nick Oberheiden, nominated to be U.S. ambassador to Egypt.

A relatively routine provision that aims to facilitate expanded U.S. cooperation with Israel in the House’s draft of the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act has fueled outrage from the far left and far right, with some prominent figures making inaccurate claims that the provision would subjugate the U.S. military to Israel or otherwise compromise U.S. sovereignty.

The turmoil appears to have begun with an article published in the isolationist Quincy Institute’s Responsible Statecraft journal that claimed the legislation “would all but fuse the two countries’ armed forces together.”

One of Israel’s most urgent emerging security threats is not a sophisticated missile or advanced weapons system, but a small, cheap drone that can be bought online and easily assembled.

Hezbollah’s use of first-person view drones (FPVs) — a battlefield tactic widely utilized in the Russia-Ukraine war and now adopted by the Iran-backed terror group — has caused Israeli casualties, threatens civilians and exposed vulnerabilities in Israel’s air-defense systems, including the Iron Dome.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro defended Israel’s standing as a Jewish state, telling CNN in an interview that  the country faces a level of scrutiny and attack over its religious character not applied to the Muslim states throughout the region.

“For those who do not want there to be a Jewish state, oftentimes they will predicate their views on this notion that being grounded in a religion and being a democracy can’t coexist. I think it’s important to point out the hypocrisy of that view,” Shapiro said in an interview with CNN that aired on Monday. “When there are 46 majority Muslim nations, 23 of which have Islam as their official religion, either because of statute or their constitution, and only one has Judaism as their official religion, and yet we’re focused just on the Jewish state.”

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s favored candidate to topple Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) has a history of extremist sentiments — with commentary assailing Israel, interracial relationships, “white liberals” and the U.S. flag and military.

Inflammatory posts by Darializa Avila Chevalier, that have received coverage in the New York Post, Politico, and AM New York, include: lambasting Black and Arab men for “fetishizing ugly colonizer women,” boasting of wiping her hand on the American flag, attacking former President Joe Biden as a “rapist,” declaring “f*** [Vice President] Kamala Harris,” demanding “No more police at all ever,” asserting Mayor Bill de Blasio “hates Black people” and is “a piece of shit” and calling American military veterans “child murderers” guilty of “war crimes.” 

Israel was on the menu — in more ways than one — in former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander’s televised clash with Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) Monday night as Lander seeks to oust the incumbent congressman in this month’s Democratic primary.

The Jewish state was the centerpiece over which the two congressional contenders clashed for much of the hour-long debate on Spectrum News NY1, as Lander ripped Goldman’s support for former President Joe Biden’s policy toward the conflict in Gaza, touted his own pledge to deny further military aid to Israel and voiced sympathy for the successful push to ban Israeli products from the Park Slope Food Coop, though the self-described progressive Zionist maintained he still opposed the effort. So intensely did the two chew over the issue that Goldman at one point burst out, “Israel is not the most important issue in this district!”

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said on X that the next U.S. memorandum of understanding with Israel will end U.S. aid to Israel in favor of prioritizing trade.

“Israel receives $3.8 billion but spends far more than that buying US military goods. US also receives intel, tech innovations so that ROI is many times more,” Huckabee said on his personal account on X, responding to former National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent, who had argued in an interview that U.S. aid to Israel does not confer benefits to America. “New MOU w/ Israel ends aid & will be based on trade.”

President Donald Trump announced on Monday that Israel would not carry out strikes against Hezbollah in Beirut in exchange for the terror group halting its persistent attacks on northern Israel and IDF soldiers, cutting off imminent Israeli plans to expand its operations against Hezbollah in the Lebanese capital.

Trump made the announcement in a post on Truth Social where he touted successful phone calls earlier Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and “highly placed representatives” representing Hezbollah. In a subsequent post, he added that he had asked Netanyahu “not to go into a major raid of Beirut” and Netanyahu “turned his Troops around.” Hezbollah likewise “agreed to stop shooting at Israel, and its soldiers.” 

An emotional memorial ceremony at the Israeli Embassy in Washington on Monday marking the one-year anniversary of the murders of Israeli Embassy staffers Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky was filled with many tears, some anger and even a few laughs.

Milgrim’s father, Robert, told an assembled crowd of dignitaries, Jewish leaders and D.C. staffers that he was saddened not only by the death of his daughter but by the ways in which her death exemplifies the challenges facing every Jewish community.

Michael Makovsky, the president and CEO of the hawkish Jewish Institute for National Security of America, criticized the Trump administration’s recent handling of the U.S. war in Iran, expressing concern about the possibility of a broader peace deal that does not address key issues.

“The U.S. has lost the plot on Iran,” Makovsky told Jewish Insider on Friday. “After significant military achievements, declaring the ceasefire was a huge mistake, and there was too much hype about what pressure a blockade alone would achieve. The net result has reduced U.S. leverage, and the perception that America is vulnerable if gasoline nears $5 per gallon.”

Republican Jewish Coalition CEO Matt Brooks celebrated his group’s role in ousting Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) in his primary election earlier this month at the organization’s sold-out “America 250” themed gala Sunday night, held at Chelsea Piers in Manhattan.

Stating that RJC spent more than $5 million to unseat Massie, Brooks told attendees to loud applause, “Let me say clearly tonight, it was a fight worth having and a victory worth celebrating.” 

Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) visited the United Arab Emirates in his capacity as a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence last week, meeting with National Security Advisor Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

The trip included discussions on the war in Iran, regional security, artificial intelligence, energy security and rising antisemitism.

A recently launched super PAC positioning itself as a progressive counterweight to AIPAC’s involvement in Democratic primary elections has accepted financial contributions from a number of individuals who have also donated to Republicans, campaign filings show.

The financial support for American Priorities PAC, created in February, has come even as AIPAC and its super PAC have faced backlash from critics on the left who accuse it of meddling in Democratic primaries as a sort of front group for GOP-funded attacks against anti-Israel candidates in safely blue districts.

As an estimated 50,000 New Yorkers stretched along Fifth Avenue waving Israeli and American flags and Hebrew music echoed through the streets, this year’s annual “Israel Day on Fifth” parade carried a palpable sense of relief. For the first time since the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks, attendees could swap out their hostage pins and “Bring Them Home Now” signs for simple flags — marking the first parade since the attacks in which all hostages held by Hamas have been released and Israel’s war in Gaza has ended. 

Yet, the festivities unfolded against a remarkable backdrop: For the first time in more than six decades, the city’s mayor was notably absent from the bipartisan tradition. 

Theo Baker describes himself as “an accidental journalist.” But at just 21, his writing has already sent shockwaves through the academic world. 

As a freshman at Stanford University in 2022, he exposed then-President Marc Tessier-Lavigne’s decades-long pattern of manipulated data and research in scientific papers he co-authored or supervised, ultimately leading to his resignation. Baker, the son of New York Times reporter Peter Baker and New Yorker columnist Susan Glasser, became the youngest recipient of the George Polk Award for his reporting on Tessier-Lavigne. 

Several of Adam Hamawy’s opponents in the Democratic primary in New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District are challenging the candidate to explain his ties to Omar Abdel-Rahman, the convicted terrorist known as the Blind Sheikh, as well as his service with a charity later shuttered as a front for al-Qaida years after he volunteered. 

Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) is now also joining them in seeking more clarity on the first-time congressional candidate’s background. 

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee urged America to “be doing more” to combat foreign influence in schools, which he identified as a key factor in the declining support for Israel among younger evangelical Americans.

While evangelicals have historically been some of Israel’s strongest allies, support among the youngest Americans is becoming “more divided” than in previous generations, Huckabee, who is an evangelical Christian, told Jewish Insider in a wide-ranging interview on Thursday.  

A week after describing J Street as “a cancer within the Jewish community” for calling for the United States to restrict aid to Israel, Yechiel Leiter, Israel’s envoy to Washington, doubled down on his critique of the organization, stating that the liberal advocacy group’s recent actions are “decidedly not pro-Israel.”

The remarks came during Leiter’s broader address on Thursday at the Re-Charging Reform Judaism conference on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, during which he argued to the audience of over 300 Reform rabbis, lay leaders and teachers that American Jews need to respond to rising anti-Zionism and post-Oct. 7 hostility toward Israel with a stronger, more unapologetic form of Zionism and Jewish solidarity. 

State Sen. Mallory McMorrow offered a straightforward answer when asked at a debate on Thursday, alongside the other two Democrats vying for an open Senate seat in Michigan, whether there is an antisemitism problem in the Democratic Party.

“There is,” said McMorrow. She told the story of an attendee at last month’s Democratic Party convention in Detroit who yelled an antisemitic slur at her Jewish husband, in front of their young daughter. 

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani will break with 61 years of tradition by skipping this year’s “Israel Day on Fifth” parade, but his police chief will serve as a grand marshal — and the two pledged a “comprehensive security plan” to protect the festivities taking place on Sunday.

At a press conference at One Police Plaza on Thursday, the mayor affirmed his longstanding vow to boycott the event, which every Gracie Mansion occupant since Mayor Robert Wagner has attended, starting in 1965. But he promised this would not compromise police protection, and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch will be up at the front of the procession as honorary grand marshal.

Reps. Marlin Stutzman (R-IN) and Abe Hamadeh (R-AZ), two strong supporters of Israel, made another trip to the country this week, during which they met separately with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar. 

The lawmakers visited with Netanyahu at his office in Jerusalem, the PMO confirmed. 

Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), a Jewish Democrat who is among the most vocal supporters of Israel in Congress, announced on Thursday that he would seek reelection in a new South Florida House district recently drawn to favor Republicans, after his own was largely erased, setting the stage for what is expected to be a costly and competitive race.

“The American people are struggling to afford a regular way of life. Many barely have enough money for their bills and feel squeezed by rising costs,” Moskowitz said in a statement. “We must work together to bring back the American dream for the middle class in America. I have never hesitated to work with anyone across the aisle if I think it’ll improve the lives of my constituents.”

Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN), a moderate Democrat running for Minnesota’s open Senate seat, said on Wednesday that she would not seek the support of the state Democratic Party at its convention being held this weekend — effectively ceding that endorsement to Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, her left-wing opponent.

Craig, who will still run in the Aug. 11 primary, said “the DFL endorsement process just doesn’t reflect the full scope of the party that we are and the purple state that we have become,” referring to the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, Minnesota’s Democratic affiliate, which was already expected to back Flanagan.

House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) political spokesperson denied on Wednesday allegations that Johnson was involved in boosting Maureen Galindo, an antisemitic Democratic candidate in Texas’ 35th Congressional District.

The spokesperson said that Johnson had no involvement in the district’s Democratic primary, which Galindo lost on Tuesday.

Michael Blake, the anti-Israel candidate challenging Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) in a Democratic primary in the Bronx, accepted an endorsement on Wednesday from a small progressive group that, in its announcement, attacked Torres for his relationship with “Jewish donors.”

The group, Progressive Voters Network, also maintains an active endorsement of Maureen Galindo, the antisemitic Texas Democratic primary candidate who faced condemnation from across the party and was repudiated even by other far-left groups.

President Donald Trump signaled on Wednesday that he may not agree to a deal to end the war with Iran if Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other countries in the region do not join the Abraham Accords, arguing that the Gulf nations “owe that to us.”

The president made the comments while taking questions from reporters during a Cabinet meeting at the White House, where he was asked if he would accept a peace agreement with Iran that did not address uranium enrichment. Trump responded that he would agree to a deal that allows for continued negotiations on some issues, though he repeatedly said he would not allow for “a crummy agreement.” 

Sarah Rogers, the under secretary of state for public diplomacy, maintained that the Trump administration’s commitment to free speech, including for extreme views, does not take away from its opposition to antisemitism, telling Jewish Insider in a wide-ranging interview that “the Nazis may have the right to post, but also the Nazis are bad and sick and stupid.” 

The senior U.S. diplomat acknowledged the tension between allowing hateful views on social platforms and concerns about rising rates of antisemitism globally, though she maintained that the path to successfully responding to Jew hatred requires support for free speech protections, and said that she looks forward to visiting Israel in the future. 

CUNY School of Law once again featured anti-Israel activity at its commencement ceremony on Thursday, allowing antagonistic student activity during its graduation events for the fourth straight year. 

Over a dozen new graduates unfurled Palestinian flags and signs while on stage at the United Palace Theatre receiving their diplomas to applause and cheering. 

Qatar has spent more than $65 million to influence U.S. education over the past 17 years through Qatar Foundation International, with efforts targeting all levels of education including K-12, universities, teacher training programs and national education networks, according to a new report from the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy.

ISGAP, in its report, called for a federal investigation of Qatar’s influence efforts targeting American education — and some lawmakers on Capitol Hill appear eager to join those inquiries.

Adam Hamawy’s past relationship with terrorist mastermind Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman has loomed over his rapid rise in the race to succeed retiring Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ). 

Their relationship spanned a 1991 road trip the two took together to Detroit, Hamawy’s service as the sheikh’s translator for a press conference in which Abdel-Rahman denied any role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and Hamawy’s testimony on the sheikh’s behalf at his 1995 trial, where the Islamist leader was convicted of plotting to carry out a campaign of terrorist attacks in New York City.

There are only three citywide elected offices in Los Angeles, and one might expect that in this deep blue city, all three of them — the mayor, the city attorney and the controller — would be Democrats. 

But Kenneth Mejia, the incumbent controller who is running for reelection in next week’s primary, bolted from the Democratic Party in early 2024 to protest American support for Israel after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks and the ensuing war in Gaza. 

Abdul El-Sayed, the far-left Democratic candidate for Michigan’s Senate seat, said at an event with Jewish supporters last week that he struggles to answer questions about whether he believes Israel has a right to exist as a Jewish state.

At his “Jews for Abdul” event last week in Pontiac, Mich., a recording of which was obtained by Jewish Insider, El-Sayed, in response to a question from an audience member about him sidestepping inquiries about Israel’s right to exist, said, “I often struggle with the question that people ask in this particular scenario, because what they now ask is, ‘Do you believe in the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish state,’ which, to me, forces the question of a definition of what a Jewish state means.”

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore slammed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a recent interview with Politico, arguing that the Israeli premier has committed war crimes and that his actions make American Jews less safe. 

Moore, a Democrat with close ties to Maryland’s Jewish community, reiterated his support for Israel’s existence. But he strongly criticized Netanyahu’s leadership.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro warned of the dangers of efforts within the Democratic Party to single out AIPAC, telling Politico in a new interview that painting the pro-Israel group as “toxic” could be seen as silencing Jewish voices in the American political system.

“I think it’s been used cynically by some to try and silence certain voices, to try and say that certain people participating in politics shouldn’t count, or should be viewed in a toxic way,” Shapiro said in the interview, which was released on Tuesday. 

The final version of the New York state “buffer zone” legislation passed by the state Legislature on Tuesday makes it a Class B misdemeanor — one of the lowest levels of criminal offense — to “knowingly” infringe on the right of access or egress to a religious institution, or to cause those entering or exiting to fear for their safety from a distance of less than 50 feet.

The language is less punitive than the legislation that Gov. Kathy Hochul initially endorsed, which would have made it a low-level felony for demonstrators to obstruct doorways and driveways at houses of worship. But the 50-foot enforcement zone in the final draft is twice as large as the one described in the earlier versions of the bill, and would apply to sidewalks as well as private parking lots and other entry points.

Republicans in both chambers of Congress are urging the Trump administration to move to permanently dismantle the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, with a new letter from House Republicans calling for a reworking of Palestinian refugee programs in the region.

In a letter sent to President Donald Trump on Tuesday, more than 90 House Republicans, led by Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), called for a “broader view of the agency’s operations — not only in Gaza, but across the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria” and for the administration to ensure that the U.S. does not “continue to rely on failed systems that have further entrenched the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) said on Monday that Maine Democrat Graham Platner’s tattoo of a Nazi Totenkopf was “disqualifying,” weeks after Gov. Janet Mills’ departed from the Democratic primary race, leaving Platner as the party’s presumptive nominee challenging Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME). 

“I find that tattoo and his commentary about it to be personally disqualifying,” Auchincloss told CNN. “I hope Maine voters agree with me. I think it would be a mistake for the Democratic Party to think that Graham Platner’s brand of the Democratic Party is what wins us durable majorities throughout this country.”

Reps. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) and Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) expressed concerns about Chris Rabb’s Democratic congressional primary victory in Philadelphia this week, which is likely to send the Pennsylvania state legislator to Washington next year in a deep-blue district.

They expressed particular concern about a post shared on Rabb’s Instagram account that described the Bondi Beach Hanukkah terror attack in Sydney as a false flag operation, which Rabb’s campaign has attributed to an unnamed former staffer and disavowed. 

The U.S. is nearing a deal with Iran to end the war, President Donald Trump announced on Saturday, though the precise parameters of the agreement remained unclear.

After holding a call with officials from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, Pakistan, Jordan, Bahrain and Egypt, as well as a separate discussion with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump said on Truth Social on Saturday afternoon that an agreement has “been largely negotiated” with “final aspects and details … currently being discussed.” 

Hawkish Senate Republicans expressed outrage on Saturday over the reported terms of a U.S. ceasefire deal with Iran, calling the agreement a defeat for the U.S. filled with major concessions to the Iranian regime.

“I am deeply concerned about what we are hearing about an Iran ‘deal,’ being pushed by some voices in the administration,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said on Saturday.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee announced plans for a last-minute spending campaign against Maureen Galindo, an antisemitic Texas Democratic candidate who garnered condemnation this week for comments calling to imprison and castrate Zionists.

Texas’s primary is set for Tuesday and Galindo’s antisemitic activity is not new, but the race has garnered significant national attention in the past week after a local reporter shared her comments about internment camps for Zionists.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) announced Friday that she plans to run in Florida’s 20th Congressional District, which has been represented by a Black lawmaker for more than three decades, after her current district was redrawn by Florida Republicans in an effort to secure more seats in the House.

The decision will pit her against scandal-plagued former Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL), who is running again for the seat despite recently resigning ahead of an anticipated expulsion effort, progressive activist Elijah Manley and others running primary challenges against Cherfilus-McCormick.

The highest-paid staffer on Washington, D.C., mayoral candidate Janeese Lewis George’s campaign has a social media history showing deep-seated hostility toward Israel and adherence to far left views on the Middle East, according to a review of the staffer’s public posts.

Makia Green, Lewis George’s political director, posts frequently on Instagram, often a mix of photos or videos of herself alongside TikTok videos that she downloads and shares to her own profile. Green is a local activist who founded a nonprofit called Harriet’s Wildest Dreams that advocates for prison abolition. 

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is resigning effective June 30, citing her husband’s recently diagnosed “extremely rare form of bone cancer,” she wrote in a resignation letter.

“Unfortunately, I must submit my resignation, effective June 30, 2026,” she wrote in her letter, which was first reported by Fox News Digital. “My husband, Abraham, has recently been diagnosed with an extremely rare form of bone cancer.”

House Republicans postponed a vote on a war powers resolution on Iran, which was expected to pass given a series of GOP absences and Rep. Jared Golden’s (D-ME) anticipated flip to support the effort.

The vote now will not take place at least until the beginning of June, after the House’s weeklong Memorial Day recess, but Republicans can’t put the vote off indefinitely given House rules.

Sens. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) and James Lankford (R-OK) wrote to Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin on Thursday urging him to take action to move forward stalled Nonprofit Security Grant Program funding, an issue both lawmakers raised with Mullin during his confirmation hearing.

“Over the past decade, the NSGP program has enabled institutions to strengthen their security and harden the exteriors of their buildings. But the program is also plagued with restrictions and delays that have limited its effectiveness. We would like to take you up on your offer [to] discuss potential improvements to the NSGP program over the long term,” the two senators wrote. “Before we meet, there are several steps that you can take immediately to assist the nonprofits that rely on this program.”

More than 2,000 New Jersey rabbis and lay leaders signed a petition to New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill and state lawmakers urging them to take prompt action to implement the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism in the state.

Legislation on the issue picked up broad support in the New Jersey Statehouse last year, but was ultimately halted by then-Gov. Phil Murphy and other state Democratic leaders over concerns that the bill — while enjoying support from a majority of assemblymembers — would require some Republican support to pass, and that voting for the measure could fuel progressive primary challenges to some Democratic members.

The Wexner Foundation told alumni on Thursday that it will spin off its flagship leadership programs into an independent nonprofit, marking a major development within the Jewish philanthropic landscape that comes as the foundation’s benefactor, Les Wexner, continues to face pushback for his past ties to financier Jeffrey Epstein. 

Wexner, the founder of the commerce empire L Brands, became one of the Jewish community’s best-known philanthropists over the past four decades as he developed and funded a range of programs to support emerging professional and lay leaders in the Jewish philanthropic world. 

Critics of Qatari funding of American universities are watching Northwestern University’s incoming president to see how he handles the school’s upcoming contract renewal for its satellite campus in Doha, Qatar’s capital.

Northwestern’s contract to operate its campus in Qatar (NU-Q) is set to expire at the end of the 2027–2028 academic year. In an interview published May 11 with The Daily Northwestern, the university’s student newspaper, interim President Henry Bienen said the NU-Q review process is “ongoing” and would be left up to the university’s new leadership. 

Former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander — favored to defeat Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) in next month’s Democratic primary — broadened his already sweeping criticism of Israel in a speech to a Queens mosque earlier this month, suggesting the country’s actions against Hezbollah in Lebanon could constitute genocide.

As shown in a video of May 15 services posted to the Al-Khoei Islamic Center’s YouTube page, Lander told worshippers that he is “a very proud Jewish New Yorker,” quoted a Quranic verse on unity and recalled his cross-endorsement in the 2025 election with now-New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

Former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Herzog said on Thursday that he does not view J Street, the progressive Israel advocacy group, as a pro-Israel organization, weighing in on the escalating war between his successor, Ambassador Yechiel Leiter, and J Street.

Leiter said earlier this week that he views J Street as a “cancer within the Jewish community,” citing its calls for restricting arms sales and U.S. aid to Israel, and calling group “two-faced” for purporting to be pro-Israel. J Street’s president, Jeremy Ben-Ami, has also accused Israel of genocide.

A new series of Emerson College polls of three closely watched New York Democratic congressional primaries shows a strong left-wing, anti-establishment sentiment coursing through the party. 

The polls, commissioned by WPIX-TV, find that a sitting congressman, party-backed borough president and experienced state assemblyman championed by local political leaders are either trailing or barely leading their insurgent challengers.

Divides are emerging on aid to Israel among the Democratic candidates in the primary race in New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District as one candidate, businessman Brian Varela, picks up a series of endorsements from anti-Israel groups.

“If we’re going to provide aid to other countries, I don’t think it’s enough to just follow U.S. law and international law. I would actually support providing additional conditions to make sure that we can further American interests and to make sure that the countries that we are helping are living in alignment with our values,” Varela said in response to a question about conditioning aid to Israel at a debate in the district last week.

The Barack Obama Presidential Center, slated to open in Chicago in mid-June, will feature an exhibit highlighting the former president’s “patient and principled diplomacy” and “strategic engagement with adversaries” in the lead-up to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, asserting that he prevented Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. 

The claims emerge amid a tenuous ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran as the parties have repeatedly rejected the other’s proposals to end the war. Iran and its proxies in the region have attacked Israel and its neighbors with thousands of ballistic missiles and drones since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attacks. 

Track AIPAC, the social media account that has gained a growing audience among anti-Israel activists in recent years, found itself in an embarrassing position this week when a candidate it had championed for Congress faced bipartisan backlash over extreme antisemitic comments calling to imprison and castrate “American Zionists,” whom she accused of pedophilia.

In a lengthy statement posted to X on Tuesday, the account said it was “aware of incendiary statements and troubling behavior” by Maureen Galindo, a San Antonio activist competing for an open swing seat in Texas next week against a pro-Israel Democrat whom national party leaders view as their best chance to flip the newly drawn House district in the general election.

Michigan’s statewide election for two seats on the University of Michigan Board of Regents — the body that governs the state’s flagship university — has become a surprisingly contentious race in a swing state full of high-profile match-ups.

After Amir Makled, a trial attorney with a history of antisemitic and pro-Hezbollah social media posts, unseated incumbent Regent Jordan Acker at the Democratic Party nominating convention last month, the two Republican candidates running for the board see an opening to pitch themselves to Democrats and Independents. 

Speaking at a House Education & Workforce subcommittee hearing on Wednesday, a doctor accused his union of engaging in systemic discrimination against Jewish and Israeli health providers, supporting terrorist sympathizers and making “its obsession with a single geopolitical conflict a defining future of its identity” — all while he’ll be forced by federal law to fund it.

Dr. Jacob Agronin, a cardiology fellow at a major medical institution in Philadelphia, testified alongside several other experts on antisemitism at a hearing focused on anti-Jewish hate in the medical field — which both Jewish medical providers and patients report as a growing problem since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel.

A group of Jewish parents from across Pennsylvania arrived at a virtual meeting with Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA) with a plea: take note of antisemitism happening not just on college campuses but also in K-12 schools, and do something about it. 

The Tuesday evening conversation, organized by the North American Values Institute, brought together four parents who, since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza, have devoted their attention to antisemitism in their kids’ public schools. 

Sarah Rogers, the under secretary of state for public diplomacy, refuted accusations that the Trump administration has been ineffective in combating the spread of misinformation and hateful content on social media, arguing that free speech protections and efforts to combat disinformation are not mutually exclusive. 

Rogers made the comments while appearing at the Hudson Institute on Tuesday for a discussion on how the United States can modernize its public diplomacy strategy to advance American interests in a complex geopolitical environment without curtailing free speech. 

Washington, D.C. mayoral candidate Janeese Lewis George raised eyebrows among Jewish Washingtonians earlier this year for answering in the affirmative to a Democratic Socialists of America candidate questionnaire that asked her to pledge to reject the “Zionist lobby.” 

Now, in a new voter guide from the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington that featured answers from the candidates on a series of questions, Lewis George pledged that if elected, she would not seek to exclude anyone based on their political beliefs.

Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) said on Wednesday that they would seek to expel Maureen Galindo, a Democrat running for Congress in Texas who has expressed extreme antisemitic views, if she is elected.

Their comments mark an escalation among Democrats condemning Galindo since comments by the House candidate, in which she called for the interment and castration of Zionists, gained widespread attention.

Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) said Wednesday that he plans to call on the Senate to pass the SACRED Act, legislation imposing restrictions on protests around synagogues and other religious institutions, by unanimous consent.

The effort could be derailed by opposition from any one lawmaker, but highlights the momentum and desire by some on Capitol Hill to pass “buffer zone” legislation or other measures to combat antisemitism, which Congress has struggled to do on several occasions since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel and the ensuing spike of antisemitism.

New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin will back fresh legislation to compel the NYPD to establish formal protocols for deploying buffer zones around schools during protests — a push Menin said will sail through the council with more than enough votes to beat any effort from Mayor Zohran Mamdani to block it.

The move comes a month after Mamdani exercised his veto power — for the first and only time to date — in order to stop a similar bill from becoming law, even as he allowed another measure to establish police policy for buffer zones around houses of worship to go into effect. 

The Jewish Democratic Council of America announced a dual endorsement on Wednesday of Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow in Michigan’s three-way Senate Democratic primary, saying “there are two candidates who stand with our community on issues of importance to Jewish voters, and there is one who does not.”

“It is because of this stark contrast of the views and values of Haley Stevens and Mallory McMorrow, compared to those of Abdul El-Sayed,” a vocal critic of Israel who has captured the enthusiasm of the far left, “that we are taking the distinct opportunity to endorse two candidates,” Halie Soifer, JDCA’s CEO, said in a statement.

Former Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), who represented the Boston area in Congress for more than three decades and was the first openly gay member of Congress, died on Tuesday. He was 86. 

Known as a liberal firebrand, Frank’s most high-profile act in politics was drafting the legislation that tightened financial regulations in response to the 2008 financial crisis, a bill known as the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. He also was widely considered a pioneer for the LGBTQ community after coming out publicly as gay in 1987. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, along with other Israeli officials, issued a sharp condemnation of far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir after he released a video showing himself taunting detained flotilla activists. 

Ben-Gvir posted the video, filmed at Ashdod Port, to social media on Wednesday, where he can be seen mocking dozens of international activists captured from a Gaza-bound aid flotilla. In the footage, the blindfolded activists are shown kneeling on the ground with their hands cuffed behind their backs. Waving a large Israeli flag over the handcuffed activists, Ben-Gvir shouts in Hebrew, “Welcome to Israel, we are the masters.”

The Justice Department announced on Tuesday that Leo Terrell, senior counsel to the assistant attorney general for civil rights and chair of the Department of Justice’s antisemitism task force, will oversee the creation of the DOJ’s Antisemitism Advisory Committee. As part of the role, Terrell will embark on a 15-city nationwide tour to connect with local faith leaders and law enforcement officials about combating antisemitism. 

The department described the panel in a press release on Tuesday as “a new advisory body” that will recommend strategies to the attorney general and other department leadership “on coordinated, timely, and effective responses to antisemitism.” 

On Tuesday, a gilded ballroom inside a Washington hotel served as a soapbox for more than a dozen Democrats — many with national ambitions — to pitch their vision for America to a room full of liberal donors, staffers and funders. 

The setting was the Center for American Progress’ IDEAS Conference, a convening put on by the Democratic think tank that pledged to bring together “the broad center-left’s leading thinkers and doers” to offer ideas on a range of policy topics.

While some geopolitical relationships have been tested by the Iran war, others have been strengthened: Emerging alignments between Israel, the United Arab Emirates and India are creating new opportunities for cooperation among three countries increasingly bound by shared defense and economic interests, experts said.

During the war, Israel provided the UAE with an Iron Dome defense battery and IDF operators to help protect the Gulf nation from Iranian attacks, officials have confirmed. But India also moved to support the Emiratis, establishing an air bridge to allow the country to import and export goods amid disruptions caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, according to Hussain Abdul-Hussain, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. 

A House Education & Workforce subcommittee is set to hear testimony on Wednesday on the rising problem of antisemitism in the healthcare space, with a particular focus on the role of healthcare workers’ unions in fueling animus in the field.

Deena Margolies, an attorney at the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, who is set to testify before the subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions, said that Brandeis has seen a significant increase in complaints of antisemitism in healthcare spaces from doctors, medical students, residents, interns, nurses and other staff, as well as in medical school classrooms and psychology and social work spaces.

A newly launched super PAC with ties to Republicans has spent nearly half a million dollars to help boost a Democrat running for a competitive open House seat in Texas who is facing growing bipartisan furor over a series of virulently antisemitic social media remarks.

Lead Left PAC, the GOP-linked group, has been aggressively promoting Maureen Galindo, a fringe San Antonio activist who finished first in the primary and has said that Jews “own Hollywood” and “worship the synagogue of Satan.” Last week, she said that, if elected, she would turn a local immigration detention center “into a prison for American Zionists and former ICE officers for human trafficking,” while adding, “It will also be a castration processing center for pedophiles which will probably be most of the Zionists.”

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) joined with Democrats to vote for a procedural motion advancing legislation that would end U.S. military operations against Iran, allowing the war powers resolution to move forward on Democrats’ eighth such attempt since the war began.

Cassidy joined three other Republicans — Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Rand Paul (R-KY) — in voting for the procedural motion, which was approved by a 50-47 vote. Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) voted against the motion.

Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and James Lankford (R-OK) on Tuesday introduced the Jewish American Security Act, a broad new effort by the lawmakers, who co-chair the Senate antisemitism task force, to address antisemitism across multiple sectors of American society. 

Similar legislation is also expected to be introduced in the House.

A new study from the Tel Aviv University-affiliated Institute of National Security Studies warns that American Jews’ ties with Israel have weakened in recent years, and Israeli leaders do not seem to care enough about how these shifting attitudes might affect Israel’s national security. 

If Israel ignores the growing distance with the American Jewish community, the country could face long-term consequences, authors Ted Sasson and Avishay Ben Sasson-Gordis argue. 

President Donald Trump endorsed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s primary challenge against Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) on Tuesday, dealing a significant blow to Cornyn’s bid for a fifth term.

Trump announced the Paxton endorsement in a post on Truth Social a week before the runoff election, writing that while Cornyn “is a good man,” the senator was insufficiently “supportive of me when times were tough.” He pointed to Cornyn’s late backing of his presidential bids and his aversion to terminating the filibuster in the Senate in order to pass the president’s Save America Act. 

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called on U.S. allies on Tuesday to “step up” and join Washington in taking aggressive economic action against Iran and its broader terrorism financing networks.

Speaking at the No Money for Terror Conference in Paris, Bessent said that while the U.S. is “hardly alone in facing the scourge of terrorism,” international partners have failed to do enough to target the covert financial architectures that sustain Iran, transnational criminal organizations and regional proxies.