Jewish Insider

Last year, an array of Jewish community groups and leaders in St. Louis, spanning the political and religious spectrum, many of whom had not worked together in the past, came together with one purpose: unseat former Rep. Cori Bush. Rallying behind now-Rep. Wesley Bell, then a congressional candidate, the community leaders, including 36 local rabbis, mounted an aggressive advocacy effort in support of Bell. When that effort succeeded, the leaders, many of whom had not worked together prior, said they wanted to find ways to continue their partnership. That vision is now coming to fruition, with the launch of the Missouri Alliance Network, a new PAC that aims to advance Jewish community priorities and fight antisemitism in state and local politics, with plans to take on purveyors of antisemitism on both sides of the aisle, including Bush’s allies. Marc Rod reports: https://lnkd.in/gFzAyW8w

Tom Barrack, the nominee to be U.S. ambassador to Turkey, fielded questions before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about how he will approach the significant gaps between the U.S. and Turkey on a variety of bilateral and regional issues, but provided few specific answers on his approach, beyond saying that he would work to cultivate dialogue with Turkey and other regional partners. The questioning from members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee also highlighted senators’ significant and myriad frustrations with the U.S.’ ostensible ally. https://lnkd.in/gTArKHtT

As he prepares for a confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Joe Kent’s comments skeptical of U.S. strikes on the Houthis could be a subject of debate for Senate Republicans. https://lnkd.in/e8DV_2Ps

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Fuld v. Palestine Liberation Organization, a case that aims to determine — after decades of litigation and legislation — whether American victims of Palestinian terrorism can sue the PLO and Palestinian Authority for their payments to terrorists and their families. The justices extensively questioned lawyers for the families of terror victims, the U.S. government and the PLO, giving few hints as to how the final ruling in the case would land. “I think there’s a lot of ways the court could skin the cat and I think there will be multiple opinions written, and it’ll be a really interesting decision,” Mark Pinkert, an attorney with Holtzman Vogel who filed an amicus brief on behalf of a slew of Jewish organizations in the case, told Jewish Insider. https://lnkd.in/e5bgrmuW

The ADL and Academic Engagement Network helped sponsor a conference on combating antisemitism in law at UCLA last week featuring speakers affiliated with anti-Zionist organizations, whom attendees said used the event to promote anti-Israel and antisemitism rhetoric. The ADL said afterward that it was “pleased to co-sponsor the conference,” while the head of AEN said she would have pulled out of the event had she known of the speakers’ list. https://lnkd.in/ev8QMg3s

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee advanced Mike Huckabee’s nomination to be U.S. ambassador to Israel on a party-line vote on Wednesday. The vote suggests that Huckabee is likely to see minimal Democratic support when he comes to the Senate floor in the coming weeks, although Sen. John Fetterman has said he’s likely to support Huckabee. https://lnkd.in/eUtNtG_N

Palestinians have a responsibility to rise up against Hamas and to call to free the hostages and end the war in Gaza, Muhammad, a law student from Gaza City, told Jewish Insider. Muhammad took part in demonstrations against Hamas in the last week in central Gaza, where he has lived for most of the time since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel. Muhammad said that, while Hamas has portrayed the demonstrations as planned and funded from outside of Gaza, he sees them as grassroots with participants from different parts of the population. “People are fed up with Hamas’ attempt to use their bodies, their lives, as a tool to make political and even financial gains from this war,” he said. “These protests were very openly and obviously asking Hamas to step down, get out of the political and military picture in Gaza.” https://lnkd.in/eevwKZu5

When ICE agents detained Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil in March, the start of an escalating Trump administration effort to deport foreign students deemed sympathetic to Hamas, some Jewish Democrats were concerned. Like Trump, they were worried about antisemitism on campus and took issue with Khalil’s leadership of Columbia’s anti-Israel encampment last spring. But they feared that deporting a green card holder for his activism would raise issues about due process and freedom of expression. Most of the messages from senior Democratic leaders have failed to acknowledge Jewish Democrats’ real concerns about antisemitism and campus protests, even if many of them, too, are unhappy with the deportations. “I think it’s fair to say that, on the one hand, I think a lot of American Jews are troubled by what Trump is doing, and at the same time, they’re not feeling well-supported by Democrats,” said one longtime Democratic operative. https://lnkd.in/gRWWqCAA

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