President Donald Trump’s full budget request to Congress on Friday recommended Congress hold the Nonprofit Security Grant Program at its current level of $274.5 million, in spite of chronic funding shortages and pressure from both lawmakers and the Jewish community for substantially increased funding at a time of rising antisemitism.

In 2024, at that funding level, and with an additional $180 million available from the national security supplemental bill last year, just 43% of funding requests were fulfilled. Supporters of the program in the House and Senate have urged Appropriations Committee leaders and the administration to allocate $500 million for the program, while Jewish groups asked for $1 billion in the wake of the murder of two Israeli Embassy employees at the Capital Jewish Museum.

Former National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan praised President Donald Trump for his strategy of engagement with Iran on their nuclear weapons program and predicted that the Trump administration would reach a deal that “is going to look and feel pretty similar to the” 2015 nuclear deal reached by former President Barack Obama.

Sullivan made the comments on the Unholy Podcast, hosted by Channel 12 anchor Yonit Levi and The Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland, when asked how he views Trump’s embrace of diplomacy with Iran after withdrawing from the Obama-era deal in his first term. Sullivan, who helped negotiate the 2015 agreement before serving as former President Joe Biden’s national security advisor, noted that Trump referred to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action as “the worst deal in human history.”

In response to the shooting that killed two Israeli Embassy staffers outside the Capital Jewish Museum last week, a bipartisan group of 46 House members wrote to President Donald Trump on Friday urging him to support expanded funding for key security programs in his full budget request to Congress, expected as soon as Friday afternoon.

While presidential budget requests are non-binding and are frequently modified by Congress, Trump’s requests are likely to be influential in the GOP-controlled Congress. And the appeals made by the lawmakers, in some cases, constitute calls for Trump to walk back funding cuts he proposed in the high-level budget toplines — known as a “skinny budget” — he submitted to Congress earlier this month.

Leon Goldenberg, a prominent Orthodox Jewish leader in Brooklyn, is endorsing former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo for New York City mayor, he confirmed exclusively to Jewish Insider on Friday.

“I am fully endorsing Gov. Cuomo,” Goldenberg said. “I think he’s the best candidate by far. He’s accomplished for the city and the state. We need somebody who’s going to get things accomplished and who’s going to fight antisemitism as a major issue.”

A group of 22 left-wing House Democrats introduced legislation pushing for a series of sweeping and unprecedented new restrictions on U.S. aid to Israel, requiring specific authorizations from Congress for each transfer of numerous key weapons and guarantees from Israel about their use.

The legislation would prohibit the administration from transferring or selling a series of arms to Israel including several types of bombs, bomb guidance kits and tank and artillery ammunition without the passage of a distinct law from Congress authorizing the individual transfer.

For Rep. Greg Landsman (D-OH), the murder of two Israeli Embassy employees outside the Capital Jewish Museum last week brought to life fears he has harbored for months, amid rising extremism in anti-Israel demonstrations.

The Jewish Ohio congressman told Jewish Insider in an interview on Wednesday that days before the shooting, while attending a public event in downtown Cincinnati, he had a “really vivid image of being shot in the back of the head. What I saw was myself laying on the ground in the way in which you would be if you had been shot in the head … I wasn’t alive, I was dead.”

Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), returning from a trip to Israel, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, characterized leaders in the region as being open to the Trump administration’s efforts to reach a new nuclear deal with Iran, but also suggested that they are skeptical that Iran will actually agree to a deal that dismantles its nuclear program.

“I think folks are realistic about the prospects of Iran coming to an agreement, but still want to give the process a chance and try to avoid a conflict if possible,” Lawler told Jewish Insider on Thursday. “But ultimately, you know, I think everybody is very clear about the fact that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.”

Following her return to Israel, Mia Schem — who was kidnapped from the Nova music festival in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and spent 55 days in Hamas captivity — famously had the phrase “We will dance again” tattooed on her arm. 

On Thursday night, approximately 800 New Yorkers joined Schem in dancing again at the sold-out inaugural Tribe of Nova Foundation benefit held at Sony Hall, a concert venue in Times Square. The event was held with the goal of raising at least $1 million to aid families of victims and survivors of Nova, where 411 festivalgoers, mostly young people, were killed and 44 were taken hostage. 

President Donald Trump announced his intention to nominate far-right commentator Paul Ingrassia to head the agency tasked with rooting out corruption and protecting whistleblowers in the federal government. 

Ingrassia, 29, currently serves as the White House liaison for the Department of Homeland Security. He briefly served as the White House liaison to the Department of Justice early in Trump’s second term, but was reassigned after clashing with the DOJ’s chief of staff after urging the president to hire only individuals who exhibited what Ingrassia called “exceptional loyalty,” according to ABC News. 

WASHINGTON — As visitors entered the Capital Jewish Museum on Thursday morning, open for the first time after an antisemitic attack killed two Israeli Embassy staffers steps from its doors last week, they walked past a makeshift memorial to Sarah Lynn Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky before security guards wanded them down and checked their bags. 

The museum might be reopening, but its staff — and the broader Washington Jewish community — now feel a heaviness that did not exist last week, when the museum was on the cusp of unveiling a major new exhibit about LGBTQ Jews ahead of the World Pride Festival next month. The presence of police officers and heightened security precautions in the newly reopened space were stark reminders of the violence perpetrated by a radicalized gunman who said he killed the two young people “for Gaza.” 

Concerned with a “persistent and pernicious pattern of antisemitism” at the American Psychological Association, the preeminent professional organization for American psychologists, Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) is urging the body’s leadership to investigate antisemitism within its ranks and better respond to the concerns of Jewish members.

“I have spoken directly with whistleblowers — many of them longtime APA members — who accuse the organization of enabling a hostile environment,” Torres wrote in a letter, obtained by Jewish Insider, that he sent to the APA’s president and president-elect on Wednesday. “These incidents collectively suggest that the APA has not only been dismissive of the legitimate grievances of Jewish psychologists but also permissive of content that traffics in malicious falsehoods against Zionism, Israel, and the Jewish community.”

In a letter to President Donald Trump, a bipartisan group of House members renewed calls for a deal to release all of the remaining hostages held in Gaza, including the bodies of four Americans believed to be deceased, urging him to capitalize on potential momentum from the release of Israeli American hostage Edan Alexander earlier this month.

Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said on Wednesday that the administration would soon put forward a “new term sheet” for a potential ceasefire, expressing confidence about reaching a long-elusive deal.

A federal judge in New Jersey issued an order on Wednesday ruling that the Trump administration’s monthslong effort to deport Columbia University protest leader Mahmoud Khalil was likely unconstitutional — but that his failure to disclose his affiliations with anti-Israel groups raises concerns. 

Judge Michael Farbiarz said in his opinion that the court found that Khalil is unlikely to succeed in his challenge against the claim that he failed to disclose crucial information in his green card application, including former employment by UNRWA and his membership in the campus group Columbia University Apartheid Divest, which has been banned from Instagram for promoting anti-Israel violence.  

A group of 41 pro-Israel House Democrats released a statement on Wednesday praising the resumption of humanitarian aid to Gaza as helping to refocus international attention on releasing the hostages and calling for a comprehensive plan for postwar Gaza.

The statement, first shared with Jewish Insider, argues that the renewed delivery of aid, which began on Monday, was “essential to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, so that the primary focus of the international community can return to releasing the hostages that remain in captivity.”

A bipartisan group of 33 senators — mostly Democrats — sent a letter last week urging Senate Appropriations Committee leaders to provide $500 million for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program in 2026, matching the record-high request from a group of House members earlier this month.

The letter was sent the day following the murder of two Israeli Embassy employees outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, an attack that led a coalition of Jewish groups to call for increasing funding for the program, which provides synagogues and nonprofits with grants to improve their security, to $1 billion. The funding request in the Senate letter likely would have been finalized prior to the attack.

President Donald Trump confirmed reports that he warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a phone call last week not to proceed with plans to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities while the U.S. and Iran continue negotiations, saying that he told the Israeli leader a strike “is not appropriate right now.” 

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday, the president responded to a question about the validity of the report by saying, “I’d like to be honest. Yes, I did.”

With Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), the former Auburn University head football coach, announcing on Tuesday that he’ll forgo a second term in the Senate to instead run for governor of Alabama, chatter is emerging that another Auburn University coach, Bruce Pearl, might follow in Tuberville’s footsteps and make a bid for his Senate seat.

Semafor reported on Tuesday that Pearl’s name is being floated for the seat, but it’s not clear that he is interested. Pearl is Jewish and has become politically active on issues related to Israel and Middle East policy and antisemitism — delivering a keynote address just last week on Capitol Hill at a breakfast celebrating Jewish American Heritage Month.

Vice President JD Vance visited the Israeli Embassy in Washington on Tuesday to pay his respects following last Wednesday’s killing of two staffers outside the Capital Jewish Museum in the nation’s capital. 

Vance was seen in photos posted on X by Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter signing a condolence book at the embassy honoring the memories of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, the two staffers killed in the May 21 attack following a museum event for young diplomats and Jewish professionals hosted by the American Jewish Committee.

The Lillian and Albert Small Capital Jewish Museum in Washington will reopen on Thursday, eight days after the fatal shooting of two Israeli Embassy staff members outside of the museum. 

The building’s reopening will feature a program to honor the memories of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, who were killed on May 21 while leaving an event at the museum for young diplomats and Jewish professionals hosted by the American Jewish Committee.

With the Middle East in flux from Gaza to Lebanon, Syria and Iran, any week in the last 600 days would have been a busy one in Jerusalem. Still, Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA) arrived in Israel on Monday at a particularly significant moment, with nuclear talks with Iran reaching a critical juncture and the U.S. and Israel moving forward with a plan to distribute humanitarian aid in Gaza.

Israel is one stop in McCormick’s first trip abroad after becoming chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near East, South Asia, Central Asia, and Counterterrorism earlier this year. 

Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) introduced bipartisan legislation last week aimed at eliminating loopholes used by museums and other stakeholders to continue possessing Nazi-looted artwork that Jewish families have been trying to recover.

Introduced on Thursday, the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery (HEAR) Act would expand on Cornyn’s 2016 legislation of the same name, which was passed at the time by unanimous consent, by ending the Dec. 31, 2026, sunset date on the original bill and strengthen the existing procedural protections to ensure that victims’ claims are not dismissed due to non-merit-based factors such as time constraints. 

“The artwork wrongfully ripped from Jewish hands during the Holocaust bears witness to a chapter in history when evil persisted and the worst of humanity was on full display. I’m proud to introduce this legislation to support the Jewish people and Holocaust survivors by helping them recover art confiscated by the Nazis that they are rightfully owed and give them the justice and restitution they deserve,” Cornyn said in a statement. 

The murder of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim is a reminder “of the dreams that terrorism seeks to destroy every single day,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on Monday, standing alongside Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar at a memorial event held in Jerusalem for the young Israeli Embassy staffers who were killed last week in a terror attack outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington.

“Today, we stand together with profound grief, and our hearts are heavy with the loss of these two radiant souls that we will no longer have with us,” Noem said. “In this moment of sorrow, we also ask that you would gather with us to honor their light and the unbreakable spirit of the Israeli and the American people,” Noem continued. 

Yaron Lischinsky was laid to rest on Sunday in Beit Zayit, a moshav outside of Jerusalem, after he was killed alongside his partner, Sarah Lynn Milgrim, by a shooter who shouted “Free Palestine” at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington on Wednesday.

Hundreds attended the funeral, according to sources present. The funeral was closed to the media at the family’s request. Among those who attended were Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel and Lischinsky’s direct superior at the embassy, Minister-Counselor for Middle East Affairs Noa Ginosar, who accompanied his body to Israel.

One of Hamas’ top three sources of funding is the U.K., where it is a banned terrorist organization, an investigation from Israel’s Channel 12 found. That funding includes 25% of Hamas’ donors from non-state actors, as well as tens of millions of dollars from the government of the U.K. to a UNICEF program whose beneficiaries are determined by Hamas.

The U.K., France and Canada threatened Israel last week with “concrete actions” if it does not lift restrictions on humanitarian aid and work with United Nations agencies to distribute it.

The top National Security Council officials overseeing the Middle East and Israel and Iran portfolios — seen as pro-Israel voices in the administration — were among the dozens of officials dismissed in a widespread purge of the NSC on Friday, two sources familiar with the situation told Jewish Insider.

Eric Trager, who was the senior director for the Middle East and North Africa — the lead official on the Middle East — and Merav Ceren, the director for Israel and Iran, were both Trump administration political appointees but were pushed out in what one official called a purge of “the Deep State” inside the NSC.

Following the murder of two Israeli Embassy employees outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ), a New Jersey gubernatorial candidate, wrote to federal leaders to call for further action to protect the Jewish community and raised concerns about growing trends of antisemitic violence across the country.

Sherrill wrote to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Attorney General Pam Bondi to call on the government to provide additional resources and funding to allow houses of worship and nonprofits to protect themselves — including through the Nonprofit Security Grant Program — and ensure that law enforcement can properly investigate and prevent antisemitic violence.

Kingsley Wilson, a deputy press secretary at the Department of Defense who has come under fire from Democratic and Republican lawmakers and Jewish communal organizations for promoting antisemitic conspiracy theories, has been promoted to serve as the department’s press secretary, the Pentagon announced on Friday. 

“Kingsley’s leadership has been integral to the DoD’s success & we look forward to her continued service to President [Donald] Trump,” Sean Parnell, the chief Pentagon spokesman and a senior advisor to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, posted on X on Friday. 

On Thursday morning, as Jews around the world woke to news of an antisemitic attack that left two young people dead in Washington, the team at Lehrhaus, a kosher restaurant near Boston, prepared for another day of service. That night, dozens of people — young and old, Orthodox and secular, Jewish and non-Jewish — stopped by this Jewish tavern and house of learning to gather with community and, of course, to eat delicious food. 

Among the guests at the popular Somerville, Mass., restaurant on Thursday night was Gov. Maura Healey, a first-time visitor to a place that has become an institution for Boston’s Jewish community since it opened in 2023. She spent nearly an hour there talking to diners and meeting Lehrhaus’ staff.

Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), a candidate for governor of New Jersey, challenged his fellow candidates to pledge to sign bipartisan state legislation to codify the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism in response to the murder of two Israeli Embassy officials outside the Jewish museum in Washington.

That legislation has become a major dividing line in the gubernatorial race — Gottheimer and Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) support it, while Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop opposes it, but said recently he would not veto it. Other candidates did not respond to requests for comment on the issue earlier this year. Critics of the legislation say that the IHRA definition — which identifies some criticism of Israel as antisemitic — violates free speech protections.

Pro-Israel leaders in the United States on Thursday connected the murder of two Israeli Embassy employees outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington to the anti-Israel advocacy seen on the political extremes throughout the country since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, characterizing it as a culmination of such rhetoric and, in some cases, the failure of some politicians to denounce it.

The suspected shooter, Elias Rodriguez, shouted “free, free Palestine” and “I did it for Gaza” following the shooting, according to an eyewitness and video from the arrest. He reportedly published a manifesto railing against Israel.

A coalition of 46 Jewish organizations issued a joint statement on Thursday urging additional action from the federal government to address antisemitism in the United States following the killing of two Israeli Embassy staffers outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, and particularly expanding funding for a variety of programs to protect the Jewish community.

“The rising level of anti-Jewish incitement, which inevitably leads to violent acts like the one in Washington, DC yesterday, requires governmental action commensurate with the level of danger,” the letter reads.

Zohran Mamdani, a leading Democratic candidate in New York City’s June mayoral primary, declined to say whether he believes Israel has a right to exist as a Jewish state, when pressed to confirm his view during a town hall on Thursday night hosted by the UJA-Federation of New York in Manhattan.

“I believe Israel has a right to exist and it has a right to exist also with equal rights for all,” Mamdani said in his carefully worded response to a question posed by Jewish Insider’s editor-in-chief, Josh Kraushaar, who co-moderated the event. 

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) called on the Justice Department and the FBI to investigate the political organizations that Elias Rodriguez, the suspect in the fatal shooting of two Israeli Embassy staffers outside the Capital Jewish Museum, claims to be an active member of. 

Cornyn made the call in a post on X on Thursday that federal authorities should investigate the organizations allegedly affiliated with Rodriguez and the funding networks that finance their operations. The Texas senator was responding to a post alleging Rodriguez has ties to groups including the Party for Socialism and Liberation, People’s Congress of Resistance and ANSWER Chicago. 

The Trump administration on Thursday stripped Harvard University of its ability to enroll foreign students, citing Harvard’s collaboration with the Chinese Communist Party, in what the Department of Homeland Security described as an act of accountability for the university “fostering violence, antisemitism and pro-terrorist conduct from students on its campus.” 

The move is an escalation in President Donald Trump’s battle with Harvard, just one front in his war with elite higher education institutions. He has already revoked billions of dollars in federal funding from Harvard, as well as several other universities. Trump has also sought the deportation of hundreds of foreign students on college campuses over their alleged support for terrorism and antisemitism.

“The perfect diplomat.” 

That’s how a former colleague and friend of Yaron Lischinsky remembered him on Thursday, the day after the Israeli Embassy staff member was shot dead alongside his girlfriend, Sarah Milgrim, outside of the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington as the couple was leaving an event for young diplomats and Jewish professionals hosted by the American Jewish Committee.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) argued on Wednesday that sanctions on Iran’s nuclear program can’t be separated from other sanctions on the regime as part of a nuclear deal, comparing the approach apparently being taken by the Trump administration to that of the Obama administration.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said in congressional testimony this week that talks with Tehran have revolved solely around Iran’s nuclear program and have not addressed its sponsorship of terrorism or its ballistic missile program, but said that sanctions related to terrorism and missiles would remain in place if those issues are not addressed in a potential deal.

A bipartisan group of House lawmakers is urging colleagues to take steps to address antisemitism in the health care field in the 2026 appropriations process for the Department of Health and Human Services and related agencies.

In a letter sent Wednesday, the lawmakers called on the leaders of the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies to demand reports from HHS on the rise of antisemitism in health care.

Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the leading Democratic candidate in New York City’s upcoming mayoral primary, predicted that Jewish voters could ultimately swing the outcome of the June election in a new podcast interview released on Thursday.

“You have 600,000 registered Jewish Democrats. The whole turnout in the primary is 800,000,” he said in a conversation with Ammiel Hirsch, senior rabbi of Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in New York. “They could decide the election. Use your voice, use your vote, get aggressive. Passivity does not work.”

Antisemitic violence struck at the heart of the nation’s capital on Wednesday evening when an assailant shot and killed two Israeli embassy employees outside an event at the Capital Jewish Museum for young diplomats and Jewish professionals hosted by the American Jewish Committee.

“Two staff members of the Israeli embassy were shot this evening at close range while attending a Jewish event at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington DC,” embassy spokesperson Tal Naim Cohen said in a statement. “We have full faith in law enforcement authorities on both the local and federal levels to apprehend the shooter and protect Israel’s representatives and Jewish communities throughout the United States.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in a shift, said in a House Appropriations Committee hearing on Wednesday that Israel’s 11-week blockade of aid into Gaza was damaging Israel’s national security and international standing and that U.S. pressure had contributed to Israel’s decision to release the hold. He also said that current levels of aid entering Gaza are not sufficient.

The remarks are strikingly similar to comments made since the beginning of the war in Gaza by Democrats, particularly progressives, who have criticized Israel’s policy toward aid to Gaza, and stand in contrast with Rubio’s and other Republicans’ previous comments arguing against allowing aid to flow back into Gaza.

House Democrats urged Education Secretary Linda McMahon not to make cuts to the Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights as employees work through the backlog of cases, which includes scores of civil rights complaints from Jewish students alleging discrimination at their universities since the Oct.7, 2023, attacks on Israel. 

After Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) accused McMahon and the Trump administration of being broadly unconcerned with civil rights, citing the Office of Civil Rights and the Education Department “being decimated,” McMahon responded: “It isn’t being decimated. We have reduced the size of it; however, we are taking on a backlog of cases that were left over from the Biden administration.”

In his second consecutive day of hearings on Capitol Hill, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that he expects that additional Arab countries will join the Abraham Accords by the end of the year, if not earlier.

“We do have an Abraham Accords office that is actively working to identify a number of countries who have lined up and already I think we may have good news, certainly before the end of this year, of a number of more countries that are willing to join that alliance,” Rubio said a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Wednesday.

Striking a defiant tone on Wednesday amid intensifying international pressure to end the war in Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu laid down his conditions for the end of hostilities.

“The world is telling us to end the war,” Netanyahu said, in the first press conference he has held in Israel since December. “I am prepared to end the war according to clear conditions: Hamas lays down its weapons, steps down from power, returns all the hostages, Gaza is demilitarized and we implement the Trump plan” to relocate residents of Gaza. 

The Department of Defense formally accepted a luxury Boeing 747 jumbo jet from Qatar for President Donald Trump’s use as Air Force One, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement on Wednesday.

Parnell said Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth accepted the jet “in accordance with all federal rules and regulations” and that the Defense Department would “work to ensure proper security measures and functional-mission requirements are considered for an aircraft used to transport the President of the United States.”

Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ) pressed Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem for clarification on her department’s plans regarding the Nonprofit Security Grant Program — the funding of which is a key priority for the Jewish community — as the Trump administration considers cuts to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which manages the program. 

Kim and Noem engaged on the issue while the latter was testifying before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Tuesday. Kim, the top Democrat on the HSGAC subcommittee that oversees FEMA, urged Noem to ensure NSGP funding is not reduced or eliminated outright as part of President Donald Trump’s push to abolish FEMA, citing the program’s success in securing New Jersey synagogues amid rising antisemitism. 

Corey O’Connor prevailed in his bid to oust Mayor Ed Gainey of Pittsburgh in the Democratic primary on Tuesday, dealing a major blow to the activist left in a city where progressives had until recently been ascendant.

O’Connor, the Allegheny County controller and a centrist challenger, defeated Gainey, the first-term incumbent aligned with the far left, by a significant six-point margin, 53-47%, on Tuesday evening with most of the vote counted.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in his first appearance on Capitol Hill since being confirmed as secretary of state that Iran’s support for regional terrorist proxies has not been part of the ongoing talks between the Iranian government and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, which Rubio said have been focused wholly on Iran’s nuclear program and enrichment capabilities.

At the same time, Rubio insisted that any sanctions related to terrorist activity and weapons proliferation would remain in place if such issues are not part of the nuclear deal. 

As Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) faces attacks from the media and fellow lawmakers in the Democratic Party, he hit back at members of his own party on Tuesday in remarks to a group of bipartisan activists in Washington.

Speaking to members of NORPAC, a pro-Israel advocacy organization, Fetterman offered some of his sharpest criticism yet of the Democratic Party’s approach to Israel after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said on Tuesday that he is concerned about the views of some of the officials in the White House shaping President Donald Trump’s Iran policy, marking the most critical comments yet from the hawkish senator about Trump’s approach to Iran. 

He urged members of NORPAC, a pro-Israel advocacy organization, to raise the issue in their meetings with anyone in the Trump administration.

U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy announced that Britain has suspended negotiations with Israel on a new free trade agreement and will be “reviewing cooperation,” a day after the U.K., France and Canada threatened to take “concrete actions” and impose sanctions on Israel over its policies on humanitarian aid in Gaza and settlement activity in the West Bank.

Lammy, speaking to British lawmakers in the House of Commons on Tuesday, said the “Netanyahu government’s actions have made this necessary,” describing the lack of humanitarian aid entering Gaza as “intolerable” and “abominable.” 

Sydney Altfield, a champion of STEM education, has been tapped as national director of Teach Coalition, an Orthodox Union-run organization that advocates for government funding and resources for yeshivas and Jewish day schools, Jewish Insider has learned. She succeeds Maury Litwack, who founded the coalition in 2013 and served as its national director since. 

Altfield, who has held various roles with Teach Coalition for the past seven years, most recently served as executive director of its New York state chapter. In that position, she spearheaded STEM funding for private schools in the state and helped establish state security funding programs — two areas she intends to expand on a national level in the new role, which encompasses seven states: New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Florida, Pennsylvania, California and Nevada. 

The United Kingdom, France and Canada threatened on Monday to take “concrete actions” and impose sanctions against Israel if it does not change its policies on humanitarian aid and the war in Gaza, as well as settlements in the West Bank.

The statement from the three countries came in response to Israel’s announcement that it had begun an escalation in the fighting in Gaza, while allowing in a limited amount of food, 11 weeks after blocking all aid in an attempt to pressure Hamas to free more hostages.

A group of top House Republicans wrote to Harvard University on Monday, questioning the school about alleged work on research funded by the Iranian government, as well as members of the Chinese government.

The letter accuses Harvard researchers of working with Chinese academics on research funded by the Iranian National Science Foundation, an entity chartered by the Iranian government and ultimately controlled by the Iranian supreme leader.

Catholic-Jewish dialogue is “very precious” and must continue, Pope Leo XIV said at an audience with leaders of other religions on Monday, according to Italian news wire ANSA.

“Because of the Jewish roots of Christianity, all Christians have a special relationship with Judaism,” the pope said. “Theological dialogue between Christians and Jews remains always important and is very close to my heart.” 

Democratic Majority for Israel, a top pro-Israel advocacy group, is announcing a new president and board chair, after a recent leadership shake-up that resulted in the sudden departure of its founder last month.

The organization said in a statement to Jewish Insider on Friday that Brian Romick, a longtime senior aide to Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), will serve as president and CEO, succeeding Mark Mellman, a veteran Democratic pollster who founded the group in 2019 to counter growing anti-Israel sentiment on the left.

Will the recent surge of antisemitism on college campuses mark the end of an era for Jews at elite universities? Jewish scholars analyzed the current crisis — and debated whether Jewish students still belong at elite bastions of higher education — at a symposium hosted by the Center for Jewish History in Manhattan, NYC, on Sunday. 

Rabbi David Wolpe, a former visiting scholar at Harvard University Divinity School, delivered the event’s opening address.“I certainly don’t think that we should abandon great citadels of learning or be chased out of them, although to be there takes fortitude that I don’t think should be asked of every student,” Wolpe said. “So I’m going to give a selective answer: it depends who.” 

The sweet scent of maple syrup wafting through the air and the sound of pancakes sizzling on a griddle: For decades, that was the quintessential Shabbat morning in Keith and Aviva Siegel’s home on Kibbutz Kfar Aza in southern Israel. 

In that home, the couple’s four children — and eventually five grandchildren — would gather for family meals centered around pancakes — a recipe that originally belonged to Keith’s mother, a recipe that “brings back memories of special and happy family times,” he told Jewish Insider.   

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is facing sharp criticism from the city’s only Jewish alderman over his decision to appoint a local activist who was caught on video tearing down posters of Israeli hostages to a prominent city commission. 

Ishan Daya, the co-director of a think tank called the Institute for Public Good, was named to Johnson’s new Chicago Fiscal Sustainability Working Group, which will make recommendations to the mayor for a long-term financial plan for the city. The group’s other members include prominent Chicagoans working at institutions including Google, United Way, Microsoft and Chicago Urban League.

Warning that “the entire population of the Gaza Strip … is facing acute levels of hunger,” a group of 30 Senate Democrats, led by Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT), introduced a resolution on Thursday condemning Israel’s blockade of humanitarian aid moving into Gaza and calling on the Trump administration to work to end it.

The resolution states that the senators are “gravely concerned” with the “humanitarian crisis and acute suffering of the Palestinian civilians in Gaza” and “the suffering of the hostages and hostage families.”

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) said on Thursday that he’ll attempt to force a vote on his resolutions halting several sets of arms sales to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates in response to the Qataris offering President Donald Trump a $400 million Boeing jet to add to the Air Force One fleet and the Emiratis investing $2 billion in his family’s cryptocurrency coin.

The Connecticut senator’s joint resolutions of disapproval target $1.9 billion in arms sales to Qatar and $1.6 billion in weapons sales to the UAE, all five of which were co-sponsored by Sens. Brian Schatz (D-HI), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT). 

Eileen Filler-Corn, the first woman and Jewish speaker of Virginia’s House of Delegates, is backing Fairfax County Supervisor James Walkinshaw in his bid to succeed outgoing Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) in Northern Virginia, she said in an announcement shared exclusively with Jewish Insider on Thursday. 

“From my early days as delegate to my time as speaker of the Virginia House, James was a critical legislative partner in the historic progress we delivered for Fairfax County families,” Filler-Corn said of Walkinshaw, a former longtime chief of staff to Connolly. “He’s steady, thoughtful and deeply experienced at every level of government — and that’s the kind of leadership we need to take on Trump’s dangerous agenda and deliver real results.”

Is President Donald Trump good for the Jews? The question has been asked since his first term, when he made several high-profile moves that were widely praised in the Jewish community — moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights and bringing together the historic Abraham Accords, to name a few. Now in his second term, with Trump squaring off with universities and revoking the visas of some foreign students in the name of combating antisemitism, Jews continue to debate the question.

Two prominent Jewish voices put forward their arguments on Thursday night — Jason Greenblatt, who served as Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East during the first administration and, prior to that, had worked for him for 20 years, and Rahm Emanuel, former chief of staff to President Barack Obama. The charged debate, held at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan, was moderated by SAPIR Editor-in-Chief Bret Stephens. 

Joel Rayburn, the Trump administration’s nominee to be assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs, said at his confirmation hearing on Thursday that Iran should not be allowed to continue to enrich uranium in any capacity.

Rayburn said in his testimony that he agrees with positions articulated by various administration officials that Iran “does not need and should not have” a domestic nuclear enrichment program or reprocessing capacity in order to have domestic nuclear power or a medical research program. 

President Donald Trump visited the Abrahamic Family House in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on Friday, the first American presidential visit to the interfaith institution since its inauguration in February 2023.

The complex, which houses a synagogue, mosque and church connected by a central pavilion, was intended as a display of interfaith cooperation and tolerance by the UAE. During its construction, Mohamed Khalifa al-Mubarak, chair of the Emirati Department of Culture and Tourism, said the project “epitomizes interfaith harmonious coexistence and preserves the unique character of each religion.”

Lifting all U.S. sanctions from Syria risks bolstering a jihadist regime, Israeli analysts warned after President Donald Trump’s announcement in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.

After announcing the removal of sanctions, Trump met the following day in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, the former head of Al Qaeda in Syria whose nom de guerre was Ahmed al-Jolani.

New resolutions introduced Wednesday in the Senate by Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and Todd Young (R-IN) and in the House by Reps. Haley Stevens (D-MI) and French Hill (R-AR) condemn Hamas’ hostage-taking and other malign activities and urge the administration to focus on freeing the 58 remaining hostages being held in Gaza.

The introduction of the resolutions coincides with President Donald Trump’s visit to the Middle East and comes days after Hamas released Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander following direct talks with the United States, in which Israel was not involved.

Ronald Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress and a prolific Jewish philanthropist and GOP donor, appeared among other guests at the Lusail Palace in Doha, Qatar, on Wednesday to greet President Donald Trump and Qatari emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

Lauder has met with Qatari leadership several times since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel, largely to advocate for the release of hostages held in Gaza. 

Nearly all Senate Republicans sent a letter to President Donald Trump on Wednesday urging him only to agree to a nuclear deal with Iran that requires the full dismantlement of Tehran’s nuclear program. Eighty percent of House Republicans — 177 lawmakers — signed onto a nearly identical letter.

The Senate letter, led by Sens. Pete Ricketts (R-NE) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) and co-signed by every Republican senator except Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), calls on the Trump administration to follow through on its “explicit warnings” that Tehran “must permanently give up any capacity for enrichment.” The House version of the letter was led by Rep. August Pfluger (R-TX), the chairman of the Republican Study Committee, the largest conservative caucus in the House.

Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) said, in colorful terms, that he’s dubious of Qatar, a more aggressive tone days after he gave a noncommittal answer on whether President Donald Trump, who is in Doha, should accept a gifted Qatari luxury jet to serve as Air Force One.

“I trust Qatar like I trust a rest stop bathroom. If they want to be friendly, I want to be friendly back,” Kennedy said on Wednesday. “But with those guys, trust in God but tie up your camel.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) expressed concern on Wednesday about continued Houthi attacks on Israel despite the U.S. ceasefire deal with the group, suggesting that President Donald Trump’s desire to quickly find resolutions to conflicts may not be conducive to U.S. interests.

It’s the second time in two days the close Trump ally has appeared to put distance between himself and the president on foreign policy issues, after calling for a more cautious approach to sanctions relief for Syria.

President Donald Trump urged Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa to join the Abraham Accords during a meeting on Wednesday hosted by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also participated by phone, praising Trump’s recent decision to lift sanctions on Syria, according to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.

Trump also urged al-Sharaa to expel foreign terrorists from Syria, deport Palestinian terrorists, cooperate with the U.S. to prevent the resurgence of ISIS and assume responsibility for ISIS detention centers in northeast Syria, according to the statement by Leavitt. Trump and al-Sharaa met on the sidelines of a gathering of Gulf Cooperation Council leaders.

The Zachor Legal Institute, a legal think tank in Montana focused on combating antisemitism and boycott campaigns against Israel, is calling on the IRS to review the tax-exempt status of a nonprofit group involved in fundraising for pro-Palestinian activism, claiming its fiscal sponsorship of a radical anti-Zionist organization accused of advocating for political violence may be in violation of federal law. 

In a complaint filed Wednesday morning, Marc Greendorfer, the president and co-founder of the Zachor Legal Institute, formally urged the IRS to begin an investigation of the WESPAC Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in White Plains, N.Y., over its ties to Within Our Lifetime, an extreme activist group at the forefront of anti-Israel demonstrations across New York City in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks.

Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL) is criticizing Senate Democrats for declining to challenge media reports about Sen. John Fetterman’s (D-PA) mental health, attributing their reticence to the Democratic senator’s independent approach to Israel and immigration, and his support for several of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees.  

Britt, who has grown to be one of Fetterman’s closest personal friends in the Senate since both were elected in 2022, made the comments in an interview with Jewish Insider on Tuesday, where she raised concerns about the implications of Senate Democrats remaining silent as one of their own is targeted over his highly publicized mental health struggles during National Mental Health Awareness Month. 

A handful of congressional Republicans voiced fresh concerns on Tuesday about President Donald Trump’s plans to accept a gift of a Qatari luxury jet worth $400 million to join the Air Force One fleet.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), expanding on comments he made the previous day, said that there “will be plenty of scrutiny” of the transfer if it occurs. “There are lots of issues around that that I think will attract very serious questions if and when it happens.” But he also downplayed the gift as purely “hypothetical” at this point.

A Syrian diaspora conference in a meeting room in a House office building was abruptly canceled on Monday after a lawmaker raised concerns about the group and its leadership, sources familiar with the situation told Jewish Insider.

The group, the Alawites Association of the United States, which presents itself as a representative of the Alawite religious minority group whose members have been targeted by forces aligned with the new Syrian government, hosted the event in coordination with other Syrian-American organizations. The event initially began as planned on Monday.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), a close ally of President Donald Trump, called for a cautious and deliberate approach to removing sanctions on Syria and emphasized that Congress has a significant oversight role to play, hours after Trump announced he plans to lift “all” U.S. sanctions on Syria.

Graham’s statement on sanctions relief came as he touched down in Turkey for a trip aimed at evaluating the situation in Syria and appeared aimed at pumping the brakes on Trump’s sweeping declaration. Reactions from others on Capitol Hill to the news have been decidedly mixed across both parties.

A legal watchdog group sent a warning letter to Microsoft on Monday alleging that it is violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by refusing to recognize a Jewish Employee Resource Group, Jewish Insider has learned. 

The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law said its next step will be to file a federal lawsuit alleging violation of Title VII — which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin — within two weeks if the tech giant continues to deny Jewish employees the ability to establish an ERG. 

President Donald Trump lambasted “interventionalists” and “neo-cons” who previously led foreign policy discourse in the Republican Party in a speech on Tuesday at a U.S.-Saudi Arabia investment forum event in Riyadh. 

“The gleaming marvels of Riyadh and Abu Dhabi were not created by the so-called nation-builders, neo-cons or liberal nonprofits like those who spent trillions failing to develop [Kabul], Baghdad, so many other cities,” Trump said. “In the end, the so-called nation-builders wrecked far more nations than they built and the interventionalists were intervening in complex societies that they did not even understand themselves.”

The IDF targeted Hamas leader Mohammad Sinwar in a strike on the European Hospital in southern Gaza, according to a report in The Times of Israel.

The IDF said it conducted a “precise strike on Hamas terrorists in a command and control center, located in an underground terrorist infrastructure site beneath the European hospital” on Monday evening local time, though did not name the targets. 

A group of nine Jewish House Democrats wrote to President Donald Trump on Tuesday expressing “grave concerns” about reports that the Trump administration plans to seal a deal on nuclear energy cooperation with Saudi Arabia without Saudi-Israeli normalization.

The nuclear talks had previously been linked to discussions of a potential mega-deal between Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United States, which would include Saudi-Israel normalization, U.S.-Saudi nuclear energy cooperation and a U.S.-Saudi defense deal. 

A Richmond, Va., judge has issued a new court order ruling that a pro-Palestinian advocacy group with alleged ties to Hamas must finally turn over closely guarded financial documents sought in an ongoing investigation brought by Virginia’s attorney general.

The decision, issued on Friday, is a major blow for American Muslims for Palestine, a Virginia-based nonprofit group that has drawn a growing number of legal challenges in the aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks and Israel’s ensuing war in Gaza.

Though President Donald Trump’s plans to accept a lavish jumbo jet from Qatar are raising outrage among Democrats, the move isn’t prompting any notable political shifts in the U.S. views toward the Qatari regime, with some Democrats downplaying the relevance of Qatar’s specific role in the bargain and many Senate Republicans avoiding criticizing Trump or the offered gift.

Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), long an outspoken critic of Qatar, was one of the few Senate Republicans to strongly argue that accepting the plane would be risky.

A sweeping federal tax bill unveiled on Monday as part of Republicans’ budget reconciliation plan includes a provision that would expand the executive branch’s ability to revoke tax exemptions from nonprofits accused of supporting terrorism, a push that was once broadly bipartisan but ran into strong Democratic opposition at the end of the previous Congress.

The legislation would allow the secretary of the Treasury to revoke the tax-exempt status of a nonprofit he deems to be providing support to terrorist groups. Existing federal law requires the issue to be adjudicated at trial before an organization loses its status, and has rarely been used.

As classroom disruptions and building takeovers in the name of protesting Israel’s war in Gaza have roiled college campuses since the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks, universities have also seen a renewed focus on a quieter form of anti-Israel activity — students urging the university to divest from companies that operate in the Jewish state. 

Even schools that have traditionally been seen as politically unengaged in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have faced student referendums and calls to support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel in recent months. While these initiatives often generate headlines and a divisive campus climate for pro-Israel students, it’s extremely rare for a university to adopt the policies of the BDS movement — only two schools, Evergreen State and Union Theological Seminary, have done so. 

Israel needs to begin the move towards ending its reliance on U.S. military aid, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a meeting of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Sunday, amid disputes with the Trump administration over a wide range of national security issues.

“We receive close to $4 billion for arms. I think we will have to wean ourselves off of American security aid, just as we weaned ourselves off of American economic aid,” Netanyahu said. He added that, just as stopping economic aid helped spur economic growth in Israel, stopping military aid could help the defense sector.

A group of Senate Democrats led by Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) wrote to President Donald Trump last week criticizing his decision to dismiss multiple members of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council appointed by President Joe Biden.

“At a time when Holocaust denial and distortion are on the rise across the nation and around the globe, we are greatly concerned by your decision to fire multiple members of the [council] for political reasons,” the Democrats said. “Your action has inserted partisan politics into the country’s premiere institution dedicated to Holocaust education.”

Facing ethics scrutiny over his decision to accept a $400 million luxury jet from the Qatari royal family for use as Air Force One, President Donald Trump defended the move on Monday, calling it a “very nice gesture” made out of gratitude for U.S. security assistance.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office during an executive order signing, Trump said he believed the Qataris offered the plane because the U.S. has “helped them a lot over the years in terms of security and safety.” Trump said of Qatar as well as Saudi Arabia and the UAE, “We keep them safe. If it wasn’t for us, they probably wouldn’t exist right now.”

The headlines in the Hebrew media, on the eve of President Donald Trump’s visit to the Middle East this week, played up what some see as an emerging rift between Israel and the U.S. “Concerns in Israel: The deals will hurt the qualitative [military] edge,” read one. A weekend magazine cover assessed Israel’s relationship with the Trump administration as going “from volatile to depreciable.” 

The sources of anxiety in Israel are summed up by a lead headline of one Hebrew weekend newspaper: “The disputes with the Trump administration about Gaza, Iran and Saudi Arabia are increasing.” The Trump administration has already made a truce with the Houthis and cut a deal with Hamas to release Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander — without Israel — and the concern in Jerusalem is that more surprises — good and bad — may be on the way.  

Most of the best-known hostage relatives in Israel are those who have led demonstrations and called to topple the government, such as Einav Zangauker, who called last week for IDF reservists not to report for duty. 

But Iris Haim became renowned in Israel for taking a radically different approach. 

Last week, a group of Senate Republicans introduced a resolution laying down their stringent expectations for a nuclear deal with Iran. One of those conditions was a so-called “123 Agreement” with the United States, after “the complete dismantlement and destruction of [Iran’s] entire nuclear program.”

A source familiar with the state of the talks confirmed to Jewish Insider that a 123 Agreement is a part of the ongoing U.S.-Iran negotiations currently being led by U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.

Congressional Democrats are expressing outrage over reports that the Qatari government plans to give to President Donald Trump a luxury jet for use as Air Force One, which would reportedly continue to be available for Trump’s use after his presidency, and transferred to his presidential library.

The Qatari government has said the “possible transfer of an aircraft for temporary use as Air Force One is currently under consideration” but that it had not yet made a decision. But a White House official said that the Qatari government had already offered to “donate a plane” to the Pentagon.

A bipartisan group of 50 House members wrote to President Donald Trump on Friday urging him to “prioritize the release of the five Americans” who remain hostage in Gaza. One of those hostages, Edan Alexander, is believed to be alive.

“Securing the release of all five American hostages is critical as every additional moment in captivity is a matter of life or death,” the letter reads. “We urge you to avail yourself of all available options and diplomatic channels to achieve a deal for their release.”

President Donald Trump is reportedly set to accept a luxury jet from the Qatari royal family for use as his official plane.

ABC News reported on Sunday that the gift — which is being described as unprecedented — is set to be announced during Trump’s visit to Qatar next week. The luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet will be anointed the new Air Force One for Trump’s use as president and transferred to the Trump Presidential Library Foundation near the end of his term. 

A group of 25 Senate Democrats, comprising more than half of the caucus and led by several senior leaders, wrote to President Donald Trump on Friday condemning new plans for expanded Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip and accusing the Trump administration of failing to push for peace.

“This is a dangerous inflection point for Israel and the region, and while we support ongoing efforts to eliminate Hamas, a full-scale reoccupation of Gaza would be a critical strategic mistake,” the lawmakers said, of Israel’s plan to expand military operations in Gaza.

The University of Washington suspended 21 students who were arrested during anti-Israel protests at the Seattle campus earlier this week, according to the university, a marked shift from the school’s reaction to previous anti-Israel activity. 

The suspended students, who are also now banned from all UW campuses, were among more than 30 demonstrators, including non-students, arrested for occupying the university’s engineering building on Monday night — causing more than $1 million worth of damage. Masked demonstrators blocked entrances and exits to the building and ignited fires in two dumpsters on a street outside. Police moved into the building around 11 p.m. 

A federal program that provides funding to help vulnerable nonprofits meet their security needs has again begun reimbursing recipients, after a funding freeze at the Federal Emergency Management Agency left the fate of the Nonprofit Security Grant Program in limbo. 

FEMA has resumed its ordinary processes for reviewing applications and reimbursing nonprofits that were already approved to receive federal NSGP grants, after the reimbursement process stopped at least two months ago amid an agency-wide review of FEMA grant programs by the Trump administration. 

With President Donald Trump set to head to the Middle East in the coming days, and the next round of Iran talks being held this weekend, there are growing signs of friction between the United States and its closest ally in the Middle East.

The apparent divisions are especially notable in the context of the Iran talks — Israel largely opposes diplomacy with the regime and favors a military option to address Iran’s nuclear program, on which the Trump administration has not yet been willing to cooperate. 

As University of Michigan President Santa Ono is set to become president at University of Florida, he said on Thursday that “combating antisemitism” will remain a priority, as it has “throughout my career.”

“I’ve worked closely with Jewish students, faculty and community leaders to ensure that campuses are places of respect, safety and inclusion for all,” Ono wrote in an Inside Higher Ed op-ed. 

A bipartisan group of House lawmakers blasted the Trump administration over its deal to cease attacks on the Houthis in Yemen, a ceasefire agreement that does not include any provisions requiring the Iran-backed terrorist group to end its attacks on Israel.

The letter led by Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Don Bacon (R-NE) to President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is serving as acting national security advisor, is a new indication of congressional concern about the deal with the Houthis, which was met with skepticism by multiple Senate lawmakers when it was first announced.

A group of 28 House Democrats led by Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL) wrote to President Donald Trump on Friday urging him to call on Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu to resume aid flows into Gaza.

The letter follows one from close to 100 House Democrats earlier in the week, backed by J Street, which described Israel’s blockade of aid as a moral failure that would also endanger Israel’s security. The Schneider-led letter is worded in a less strident manner toward Israel, and is framed as supportive of Trump’s own comments and efforts on the issue.

Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Tom Cotton (R-AR) are cautioning that the Senate will not deliver President Donald Trump the 67 votes he needs to ratify a nuclear agreement with Iran if that deal does not require the “complete dismantlement” of Tehran’s current program.

The senators issued the warning during a press conference at the Capitol on Thursday promoting their resolution affirming that the only acceptable outcome of U.S. nuclear talks with Iran would be the total dismantlement of its enrichment program. 

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) argued on Thursday that Iran does not need a civilian nuclear energy program — a stance that would support a more stringent position on the ongoing nuclear negotiations than members of the Trump administration have outlined.

At the same event, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) called for full Iranian “nuclear disarmament,” the latest and most senior congressional Republican to weigh in in favor of that position, as the administration continues to send sometimes-muddled messages on the issue.

A former British-Israeli hostage who was held by Hamas in Gaza for 15 months spoke out against the Pulitzer Prize Board on Thursday for bestowing an award to a Palestinian poet who has disparaged victims of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks and appeared to legitimize the abduction of hostages, among other comments that have stirred controversy.

Emily Damari, who in January was released from Hamas captivity after she was shot and taken from her home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza in southern Israel on Oct. 7, expressed outrage at the Pulitzer committee board over its decision to honor Mosab Abu Toha, a Gazan-born writer whose New Yorker essays on the war-torn enclave won the award for commentary on Monday.

FBI Director Kash Patel was pressed on Wednesday about the exclusion of Ed Martin’s ties to an alleged Nazi sympathizer in his FBI background check after Martin was nominated by President Donald Trump to be U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C.

Patel faced questions from Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY) while testifying before the House Appropriations Committee about how the FBI background investigation report that was sent to Congress on Martin excluded information on his ties to former Jan. 6 defendant Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, despite the latter’s record of antisemitic public statements and posting photos of himself dressed as Adolf Hitler in 2024. Martin has since apologized for saying Hale-Cusanelli was being “slurred and smeared” by antisemitism allegations and asserts he did not know of his associate’s past comments.

Former hostage Noa Argamani and author Noa Tishby spoke about anti-Israel activism and antisemitism at the Milken Institute Global Conference on Wednesday, with Argamani saying that an anti-Israel performance at the Coachella music festival “broke her heart” and Tishby arguing that antisemitism “is nothing short of a cultural conflict.”

Argamani, who was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists from the Nova music festival on Oct. 7, 2023, said that she had intended to attend Coachella last month, where the Irish band Kneecap led the crowd in chants of “Free, Free Palestine” and displayed messages on the stage that read, “Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people,” “It is being enabled by the US government who arm and fund Israel despite their war crimes” and “Fuck Israel. Free Palestine.”