Jewish Insider

Read today's #DailyKickoff: UCLA hosts anti-Zionists at conference on antisemitism Full briefing 👇 https://lnkd.in/e9wQb4ZG

The chairs of Senate Foreign Relations and House Foreign Affairs Committees are threatening to sanction the United Nations Human Rights Council and its members if the council moves forward on plans to create a new special body to investigate Israel. Sen. Jim Risch and Brian Mast wrote to U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres regarding an upcoming resolution vote to establish a new International Investigative Mechanism (IIM) targeting Israel, the result of a Palestinian Authority push to create an alternative to the International Criminal Court probe of Israel through the UNHRC. “Make no mistake, any HRC member state or UN entity that supports an Israel-specific IIM in any form will face the same consequences as the ICC faced for its blatant overreach and disregard for sovereign prerogatives,” the letter reads. https://lnkd.in/ee7BNNB8

After Columbia Interim President Katrina Armstrong’s abrupt resignation on Friday, several of the university’s congressional antagonists quickly jumped in to criticize Armstrong’s successor, former ABC News journalist and Columbia board Co-Chair Claire Shipman. But a different reaction came from the White House: subtle praise. The Trump administration’s antisemitism task force called Columbia’s Friday night actions an “important step,” which an administration official confirmed was in reaction to Shipman’s appointment. On Columbia’s campus, the news was met with cautious optimism from pro-Israel student leaders. https://lnkd.in/eZxSC7VC

SCOOP | The Senate HELP Committee will announce tomorrow that it will hold a markup of the Antisemitism Awareness Act next Wednesday, two sources told Jewish Insider. The committee meeting, when senators will discuss potential amendments before voting to advance the legislation to the full Senate, will be the first forward movement on the bill since it was reintroduced in both chambers earlier this year. https://lnkd.in/e4DziW5C

The Senate Armed Services Committee has voted to advance the nomination of Elbridge Colby to be undersecretary of defense for policy. The tally was not made public, but the vote indicates he was able to overcome skepticism about his nomination from some Republicans concerned about his past isolationist views. https://lnkd.in/e5MybM6T

Some Jewish groups are urging the Supreme Court to weigh in on a series of cases related to religious liberty and separation of church and state before the justices in the current term. Over the next month, the court is expected to hear three such cases that could have consequences for Jewish institutions: One regarding public funding for religious schools, another about parents’ control over school curricula based on their religious beliefs and a third on the tax-exempt status of religiously affiliated organizations. https://lnkd.in/e-qEkFPR

Iran and global terrorist organizations, including ISIS, plan to target Jews and Israelis traveling during Passover, Israel’s National Security Council warned. “Iran is the central generator of global terror, directly or through its proxies, against Israeli and Jewish sites around the world,” the National Security Council said in a statement released before Israeli schools go on Passover break. https://lnkd.in/g2bRme9a

“In Pennsylvania we have a huge Jewish population, and it’s predominantly Democrat,” Republican Sen. Dave McCormick told Jewish Insider in an interview. “I won a lot of those voters, even though they were registered Democrats, I think because I was a forceful advocate. And I wasn’t a forceful advocate for political reasons, it was just an obvious position to me.” Noting that the two residences he’s called home in the tight-knit Pittsburgh neighborhood of Squirrel Hill have been within walking distance of the Tree of Life Synagogue, the site of the deadliest massacre of American Jews in U.S. history in 2018, McCormick explained that he came from “a community where you’re very aware of antisemitism and hatred taken to its extreme.” https://lnkd.in/gbwkeYJw

Read today's #DailyKickoff: Test of Trump's strength in Wisconsin, Florida races Full briefing 👇 https://lnkd.in/eCdUAgDh

The Instagram page of the anti-Israel coalition Columbia University Apartheid Divest was disabled on Monday for the second time since the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks, a spokesperson for Meta confirmed to Jewish Insider. Haley Cohen reports: https://lnkd.in/eiXipwcm