U.S. President Donald Trump revoked Executive Order 14115 shortly after taking office in January 2025, ending the sanctions program before the case reached trial.

By Aaron Bandler, JNS

A settlement between the Trump administration and plaintiffs who challenged former U.S. President Joe Biden’s executive order authorizing sanctions on certain Israelis and organizations in Judea and Samaria includes a commitment from the U.S. government not to pursue sanctions against the plaintiffs and affirms that Israel and its citizens will be treated as close allies of the United States.

The Lawfare Project announced the settlement on Thursday, nearly two years after it helped fund a lawsuit challenging Executive Order 14115, which Biden signed in February 2024.

The order authorized sanctions against individuals accused of undermining peace, security and stability in Judea and Samaria.

The lawsuit, filed in August 2024 by Texans for Israel, the Israel-based nonprofit Regavim and two Israeli residents, argued that the order was being used to target political advocacy and support for Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria rather than acts of violence.

The plaintiffs were represented by Holtzman Vogel Baran Torchinsky & Josefiak PLLC.

As part of the settlement, the U.S. Department of the Treasury stated that it will take no action against the plaintiffs and affirmed that “Israel is one of the United States’ closest allies, and the United States will treat the country and its people accordingly,” according to the Lawfare Project.

The agreement further states that the United States “categorically rejects any policy that would infringe upon Israel’s sovereignty or target private organizations and Israeli citizens living in” Judea and Samaria, the group said.

U.S. President Donald Trump revoked Executive Order 14115 shortly after taking office in January 2025, ending the sanctions program before the case reached trial.

Eugene Kontorovich, a law professor at George Mason University who advised the plaintiffs’ legal team, told JNS that the settlement highlights a significant policy shift from the Biden administration.

“Under any Republican administration, Israelis are never going to be sanctioned simply for advocating against aid to Hamas or advocating against illegal Palestinian construction, as some of our plaintiffs have done,” said Kontorovich, who advised the legal team.

He added that the settlement “marks a sharp contrast” to actions taken by other governments.

While the United States has ended the sanctions program, both Canada and the European Union have imposed sanctions on Regavim.

The settlement includes no monetary compensation, according to Kontorovich.

‘An important affirmation’

The Lawfare Project also said the Treasury Department acknowledged that it had no evidence that Reut Ben Haim, founder of the Tzav 9 protest movement opposing the transfer of humanitarian aid that could reach Hamas in Gaza, directly engaged in violent activity.

Ben Haim was among those sanctioned under the Biden administration’s policy.

“The people being sanctioned are not even alleged to have engaged in violence—certainly there’s no evidence that they engaged in violence—and in many cases they’re being sanctioned for what we would call advocacy,” Kontorovich told JNS.

The administration’s acknowledgment that Israel is one of the country’s closest allies and will be treated as such is “an important affirmation from President Trump that Israel and America stand together, and certainly sanctioning the citizens of your allies from participating in the democratic process is not how allies should treat allies, and that these sanctions were truly a hostile and horrible act by the Biden administration,” Kontorovich told JNS.

Kontorovich said the administration’s declaration that it would not target private organizations or Israeli citizens living in Judea and Samaria is particularly significant because the lawsuit alleged that the sanctions regime disproportionately targeted Israeli Jews while failing to sanction Palestinian terrorists.

At the same time, he cautioned that future administrations could revisit such policies.

Because sanctions “swing back and forth” under administrations, a Democratic administration could still impose sanctions against “Israeli civil society groups for opposing illegal Palestinian activity, and even growing to sanctions on anyone supporting Jews living in Judea and Samaria, which is very much what the European sanctions tend to be really now,” Kontorovich told JNS.

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The report argues that money intended for one project freed these organizations to fund activism in Israel to oppose the judicial reform efforts of the Netanyahu government.

By Andrew Bernard, JNS

The House Judiciary Committee said that it has uncovered new funding links between the Biden administration and left-wing groups that oppose the Israeli government, as well as groups with ties to terrorist organizations

A May 29 committee memorandum, which JNS obtained exclusively and which was addressed to committee members from the Republican-led committee staff, addresses “new information about the Biden-Harris administration helping to fund protests against the Netanyahu government.”

It alleges that U.S.-based organizations, including the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Tides Network, “provided over $5 million to groups that funded radical anti-Israel protests in the U.S. and Israel, and supported multiple terrorist-linked NGOs.”

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), chairman of the committee, told JNS that the funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development, the State Department and other federal agencies raised questions about the misuse of federal dollars.

“You’re taking taxpayer money, you’re supposed to be doing good work,” the congressman said. “Why in the heck is it going to groups that are pro-Hamas?”

“Our government is sending American tax dollars to NGOs that are undermining our ally—our best ally—the State of Israel,” he told JNS. “That’s not how it’s supposed to work.”

The memo provides new details, after the committee released the initial findings of its investigation in 2025.

It describes a web of financial connections, in which the Biden administration “provided grant funds to groups that contributed directly and indirectly to the judicial reform protests that sought to undermine the Israeli government.”

“Documents suggest that the Jewish Communal Fund, and its grantees, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors and PEF Israel Endowment Funds, may have violated their tax-exempt status by funding groups engaged in radical anti-government campaigns in Israel,” the memo says.

“Another U.S. government grantee, Abraham Initiatives, similarly led anti-government protests in Israel and, according to a 2023 audit, the organization failed to comply with anti-terrorism procedures in a USAID-funded program,” per the memo.

Between 2016 and 2022, the Tides Network received $30 million from USAID, while Abraham Initiatives received about $2.05 million in government funds between 2018 and 2021.

Some of the money that the Biden administration provided to these groups was intended for projects unrelated to Israel.

In the case of Tides, the $30 million went to “a civil development program in regions of Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Pacific.”

The report argues that money intended for one project freed these organizations to fund activism in Israel to oppose the judicial reform efforts of the Netanyahu government.

“Money is fungible,” Jordan told JNS. “It’s tough to track exactly, but it looks like some of this money was also then being run through one or two NGOs, winding up on college campuses to promote all the crazy antisemitic, anti-Israel stuff on campuses.”

“Even worse yet, it looks like some of it maybe even funded organizations that had links to terrorism,” he said.

In one example, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (RPA) “received millions of dollars in grants from the Biden-Harris Administration’s USAID, State Department and Department of Defense,” the committee memo says.

RPA then donated $557,000 to its “affiliate and partner,” the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF), per the memo.

RBF, in turn, has “donated $190,000 to Defense for Children International Palestine, an Israel-designated terrorist organization with ties to the U.S.-designated terrorist organization, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine,” according to the memo.

RBF has also made donations to Jewish Voice for Peace, one of the main organizers of anti-Israel demonstrations in the United States, and to Alliance for Global Justice, a U.S.-based non-profit that the committee alleges has provided funding to the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network.

The Biden administration designated Samidoun as a front for the PFLP in 2024.

JNS sought comment from all nine of the organizations that the committee Republicans describe in their report.

Jordan told JNS that the layers of funding increased the complexity of the investigation and made it difficult to ascribe conclusive intent to the Biden administration for letting money go to groups linked to terrorists.

“I don’t know that we have any evidence that suggests that they knew they were funding some organization that was actively giving dollars to groups associated with terrorism,” Jordan said.

“It’s just today’s left, you see this all the time,” he told JNS. “It’s always against Israel, and always this pro-Hamas, pro-Gaza approach to things. I think it was probably that.”

Through defunding USAID and conducting oversight investigations, the Trump administration and Republicans intend to prevent federal money from being used to undermine Israel, Jordan told JNS.

“It’s important that this kind of stuff is not going on any longer,” the congressman said. “That we make sure it’s not going to happen in the future.”

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Joe Biden’s deputy secretary of state excoriates Israel’s prime minister, accusing him of genocide in the Gaza Strip and destabilizing the Middle East.

By David Rosenberg, World Israel News

A senior Biden administration official excoriated Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week, accusing him of committing genocide in the Gaza Strip and destabilizing the Middle East.

On Friday’s episode of “The Mishal Husain Show” podcast, hosted by Bloomberg, former US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman criticized both Republicans and Democrats, arguing that both parties’ policies have failed to “create stability and peace” in the Middle East.

She took aim at President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, while blaming the United States and Britain for the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran.

Sherman repeatedly chided Trump over his Iran policies, accusing the president of trying to “bully” the Islamic Republic.

“Every time President Trump tries to bully Iran — Iran has immense pride and dignity. They’re a terrible regime that slaughtered protesters in the street, but it is who they are.”

Regarding Israel, Sherman said that while she is a supporter of the Jewish state and that the United States should “try to protect their security,” she voiced support for Palestinian statehood and accused the Netanyahu government of instigating genocide in the Gaza Strip.

“It is critical that Israel remains an ally of the US and we protect the right of a Jewish state,” Sherman said.

“I also believe that Prime Minister has led us down a road — and we have been part of it — that has, in essence, created a genocide in Gaza that has destabilized the Middle East.”

Sherman later added that she could not say whether Israel’s actions in Gaza met the legal threshold of genocide but said that “there is no doubt that Gaza was demolished.”

“Palestinians deserve a home, dignity and peace. Israel absolutely deserves security and peace. I’m a strong supporter of Israel and the right of a Jewish state, but I am not a supporter of destroying any civilization, or any people — that goes for the Palestinians or the Iranian people, as much as I might find the regime odious.”

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Officials warn of possible Iranian sleeper cells in the United States after more than 1,500 Iranians were nabbed attempting to infiltrate via Mexico during the Biden administration.

By World Israel News Staff

US officials and lawmakers have voiced renewed concern about the possibility of Iran-linked terrorist sleeper cells inside the United States after more than 1,500 Iranian nationals were intercepted at the southern border during the Biden administration, with hundreds later released pending immigration proceedings.

The warnings have intensified amid the current US-Israel war with Iran and fears that Tehran or its proxies could look for ways to retaliate against targets inside the American homeland.

Officials have expressed concern about possible Iranian agents who were not among the 1,504 Iranian citizens apprehended on the southern border.

Sen. Bill Hagerty of Tennessee told the New York Post that the known numbers are troubling precisely because authorities cannot say with confidence how many others may have evaded detection.

Roughly half of the intercepted Iranians were released into the country while awaiting court hearings.

The concerns have been amplified by intelligence reporting reviewed in recent weeks.

Reuters reported on March 7 that the White House temporarily halted a federal security bulletin warning of a heightened Iran-related threat to the US, saying the administration wanted the alert reviewed before release.

According to the report, the draft bulletin had been prepared for state and local law enforcement by the FBI, DHS and the National Counterterrorism Center.

President Donald Trump has also said publicly that he was briefed on possible Iranian “sleeper cells” in the United States, arguing they entered under earlier border policies.

But the public record remains mixed: Officials have warned of a persistent risk, while stopping short of presenting evidence of a broad, active sleeper cell network already operating domestically.

Iranian-linked plots have in the past been uncovered on American soil.

The Justice Department announced on March 6 that a federal jury convicted Asif Merchant, described as an Iranian government operative tied to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, after prosecutors said he entered the United States in 2024 to arrange political assassinations, including the killing of Donald Trump.

In a separate 2024 case, the department charged Farhad Shakeri in an alleged IRGC-directed murder-for-hire scheme that prosecutors said included a plan targeting then-President-elect Trump.

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2024 election autopsy report by the Democratic National Committee pins part of the blame for Kamala Harris’ loss to President Trump on the Biden administration’s policies regarding Israel and the war in Gaza.

By World Israel News Staff

An internal Democratic Party probe into the electoral defeat of Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024 has found that the Biden administration’s policies regarding Israel and the war in Gaza following the October 7 invasion were contributing factors to the Democratic ticket’s loss to Donald Trump, Axios reported Sunday night.

The autopsy, conducted by the Democratic National Committee, was never published and according to the report has been closely guarded since party leaders decided last year to conceal the results from the public.

During the investigation, DNC officials met with representatives from the Institute for Middle East Understanding Policy Project (IMEU), a left-wing anti-Israel think tank supported by radical pro-Palestinian organizations.

In a closed-door meeting with DNC aides, IMEU Policy Project officials provided data that they claimed showed that the Biden administration’s policies on Israel and Harris’ own attempts to balance public support for Israel while criticizing the IDF campaign in Rafah and advocating for an immediate ceasefire were “net negative” for the Democratic ticket.

Two senior IMEU Policy Project aides said that the DNC had already drawn the same conclusion.

Axios has claimed that it verified that the DNC independently reached the conclusion that Israel policies hurt the 2024 campaign.

The IMEU Policy Project has since accused the DNC of withholding the 2024 autopsy due to its findings regarding Israel, a claim the DNC has denied.

The DNC has confirmed that it was in contact with the IMEU Policy Project, Axios reported.

Harris herself has publicly suggested the Gaza war hurt her 2024 campaign.

“We should have done more as an administration,” Harris said while promoting her memoir. “We should have spoken publicly about our criticism” of Israel’s government.

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Biden senior adviser Amos Hochstein: “Netanyahu is both not telling the truth and ungrateful to a president that literally saved Israel at its most vulnerable moment.”

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Amos Hochstein, a senior envoy in the Biden administration, publicly rebuked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the Israeli leader suggested that a US “embargo” on ammunition during the Gaza war contributed to the deaths of Israeli soldiers.

Netanyahu, speaking at a Tuesday press conference, said Israel paid “very heavy prices” in the fighting, noting that while losses are part of war, “at a certain stage, we didn’t have enough ammunition.”

He described troops operating in areas already struck by artillery and air power, only to encounter terrorists still entrenched inside booby-trapped homes.

Hochstein responded on X, rejecting the allegation and defending the scale of American support during the conflict. “After more than $20 billion in military support, the largest in Israel’s history, two aircraft carriers rushed to the region, deterring a massive regional war, defeating Iran missile and drone attacks twice, and defending Israel at its most vulnerable moments, the only acceptable response to President Biden and the American people is thank you,” he wrote.

In comments to Axios shortly afterward, Hochstein accused Netanyahu of misrepresenting the situation. “Netanyahu is both not telling the truth and ungrateful to a president that literally saved Israel at its most vulnerable moment,” he said.

Brett McGurk, another senior Biden aide, echoed the criticism. “That statement by Netanyahu is categorically false,” McGurk told Axios.

He added that Biden left office with a ceasefire in Gaza and hostages returning home, a truce in Lebanon with Hezbollah weakened, and Iran in what he described as its weakest position in decades following two failed missile attacks countered by US deployments and coordinated defenses that damaged Iranian air defenses.

McGurk said Biden’s military assistance to Israel remained consistent throughout the crisis.

Former US Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides also disputed Netanyahu’s account. “He is wrong. Biden’s support for Israel has been rock solid, and he did it at enormous political cost,” Nides told Ynet.

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President Biden’s antisemitism czar and deputy czar blast Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign, accusing it of “classic antisemitism” for probing Jewish governor considered for VP slot as possible Israeli double agent.

By World Israel News Staff

Two officials who served in the Biden administration to monitor and combat antisemitism have condemned the 2024 presidential campaign of former Vice President Kamala Harris, accusing the campaign of “classic antisemitism.”

The criticism stems from claims by Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, who is Jewish, that when he was vetted as a possible vice presidential nominee for the Democratic ticket in 2024, he was asked by campaign officials whether he was secretly working as a “double agent for Israel.”

The New York Times revealed the accusation in a report Sunday that cited excerpts from Shapiro’s upcoming memoir.

After the encounter, Shapiro wrote, he was left wondering “whether these questions were being posed to just me, the only Jewish guy in the running, or if everyone who had not held a federal office was being grilled about Israel in the same way.”

“These sessions were completely professional and businesslike,” Shapiro added. “But I just had a knot in my stomach through all of it.”

On Monday, Deborah Lipstadt responded to the revelation, writing on social media that the incident was “extremely distressing.”

“When vetted by the White House for my position as Special Envoy, I was not asked anything akin to this. Had I been, I would have responded that the question is an example of why an Envoy is necessary. It is classic antisemitism,” Lipstadt wrote.

“The more I read about Josh Shapiro’s treatment in the vetting process, the more disturbed I become. The questions to him, I repeat, are why they needed a Special Envoy on antisemitism. These questions were classic antisemitism.”

Lipstadt, a historian who focuses on Holocaust denial and antisemitism, served as President Joe Biden’s special envoy on antisemitism.

Her deputy, Aaron Keyak, also denounced the Harris campaign’s inquiry of Shapiro as antisemitic.

“The minimum demand of Jews in the United States and our allies – even those in public service – is to simply be treated like any other American, regardless of religion, ethnicity, or race,” Keyak said in a statement.

“That Governor Josh Shapiro wrote that he was asked if he was a double agent of the world’s only Jewish state is an antisemitic inquiry.”

“While we can safely assume that asking all potential Vice Presidential picks if they are an Israeli double agent is not included on the standard list, the obvious question is why it was Governor Shapiro who was targeted by the staff of the presumptive Democratic Presidential Nominee, Kamala Harris, in particular. The truth is, we almost certainly know why.”

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The Biden administration reportedly cut Israel off from the surveillance feed of the Gaza Strip, impairing Israel’s search for hostages and hunt for Hamas terrorists.

By World Israel News Staff

The Biden administration withheld critical intelligence information regarding the Gaza Strip from the Israeli military during the war with Hamas and efforts to return hostages abducted on October 7, Reuters reported.

Six people cited in the report said that during the latter part of last year, the US military suspended Israel’s access to the live video feed from an American drone conducting reconnaissance over the Gaza Strip.

Five of the people cited by the report said that Israel was denied access to the video feed for at least a few days.

The surveillance drone had been providing intel used by Israel’s military to target Hamas terrorists, and to aid efforts to locate hostages held in the Gaza Strip.

Two sources added that the Biden administration also limited Israel’s use of some intel data in its efforts to strike Hamas terror targets in Gaza.

US intelligence officials ordered limits imposed on American intel sharing with Israel linked to the Gaza Strip amid growing criticism in the US intelligence community regarding Israel’s handling of the war in Gaza and accusations by some officials of mistreatment of captured terrorists.

According to the report, US intel agencies felt that their Israeli counterparts had failed to demonstrate sufficiently that the IDF was abiding by international laws of war when using American intelligence information.

It is unclear whether the White House was directly involved with the decision to cut off Israel’s access to the Gaza drone video feed or to limit how Israel could use other American intelligence information.

A spokesperson for the former president refused to comment on the report.

The sources cited in the report did not specify whether President Joe Biden had signed off on the intel withholding, though one source said that intelligence agency officials have some latitude to temporarily withhold information.

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Dearborn has the largest ratio of Muslim and Arab residents in the nation and has been dubbed “America’s Jihad Capital” thanks to local community leaders, elected officials, and religious leaders who have promoted Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran.

By Chuck Ross, The Washington Free Beacon

An anti-Israel group started by two federal officials who resigned from the Biden administration over U.S. support for Israel is soliciting residents of Dearborn, Mich., a hotbed of anti-Israel and pro-Hamas sentiment, to fund its “professional lobbying force” to pressure lawmakers to vote against laws protecting Israel and Jews.

A New Policy Inc., a group formed last year by former State Department official Josh Paul and former Department of Education official Tariq Habash, is soliciting donations through Facebook ads to fund its lobbying efforts to combat AIPAC—which it accuses of steering U.S. foreign policy to foment “endless conflict”—and change public perception of Israel’s war against Hamas.

The group has spent $13,000 on 20 Facebook ads, many of them directed specifically to users in Dearborn, according to data provided by Facebook.

“AIPAC has lobbyists. We’ve had to rely on outrage,” one ad states. Another accuses AIPAC of “weaponiz[ing] Jewish identity” to justify policies that “sustain occupation” of Gaza.

“For too long, America has neglected Palestinian freedom & equality,” says another ad directed at Dearborn, featuring a Palestinian flag.

“Join the movement for a new approach that centers human rights and advances OUR national interest!”

Habash, who served as a policy adviser at the Department of Education until January 2024, touted the group during a panel at ArabCon, a convention of anti-Israel and pro-Hamas activists held last month in Dearborn.

“There are organizations like mine, A New Policy. If you don’t know us, please you should know us,” Habash said.

It’s further indication that the anti-Israel movement sees Dearborn as the epicenter of its organizational activities.

The city has the largest ratio of Muslim and Arab residents in the nation and has been dubbed “America’s Jihad Capital” thanks to local community leaders, elected officials, and religious leaders who have promoted Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran.

Chants of “Death to Israel” and “Death to America” have been heard at rallies held in the city against Israel’s war on Hamas.

Dearborn mayor Abdullah Hammoud attended a rally there last year where Arab-American community leader Osama Siblani hailed Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah as a “hero.”

Paul, the former director of congressional and public affairs for the State Department’s bureau of political-military affairs, leads A New Policy’s lobbying arm, according to lobbying disclosures.

Paul, who resigned from the State Department just days after Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, lobbied the Senate, House, and State Department on dozens of bills, including against the Preventing Antisemitic Harassment on Campus Act of 2025, a bill introduced by Sen. Rick Scott (R., Fla.) that fines universities for repeated failures to stop antisemitic harassment.

A New Policy’s super PAC has contributed to just two candidates: $500 to “Squad” member Rep. Summer Lee (D., Pa.) last year, and $2,500 in June to state Rep. Donavan McKinney (D., Mich.), who is challenging Rep. Shri Thanedar (D., Mich.), a progressive who has drawn the ire of anti-Israel groups for accepting donations from AIPAC.

It’s all part of a two-track strategy “to find levers to be able to influence” members of Congress to counterbalance what the “pro-Israel, pro-genocide lobby has been doing for decades,” Habash said at ArabCon. “Because that’s how politics works.”

Habash, who told the audience they “can give directly through A New Policy PAC’s conduit page,” said that anti-Israel groups and donors “have to make sure that [members of Congress] know when we are contributing to them.”

Habash said the lobbying efforts are largely directed at allies to the group’s cause. A number of veteran Senate Republican aides told the Washington Free Beacon they have had no interaction with A New Policy.

During the panel, Zahra Billoo, a notoriously anti-Semitic official with the pro-Hamas Council on American-Islamic Relations, singled out Jewish Democratic Rep. Brad Sherman (Calif.) as an example of a lawmaker who should face “real consequences” for supporting Israel.

“Wow, AIPAC has bought that seat and him, and he doesn’t care,” said Billoo, who accused Sherman of taking “every opportunity to make an anti-Palestinian statement.”

Billoo contrasted Sherman with Rep. Ro Khanna (D., Calif.), who spoke at ArabCon just before the panel with Billoo and Habash. “I’m really proud that Congressman Ro Khanna represents the district that the CAIR office I run is in,” said Billoo.

During his remarks, Khanna railed against Israel and AIPAC and blasted fellow House Democrats who have not signed onto his bill to create Palestinian statehood. Khanna said those Democrats “are making us on the side of the pariah in world opinion,” referring to Israel.

Khanna did not mention Oct. 7 or criticize Hamas, though he told the Free Beacon prior to ArabCon that he would.

Other ArabCon speakers defended Hamas and other terrorist organizations at the three-day conference.

Billoo, during her panel with Habash, touted the five co-founders of the Holy Land Foundation, who were convicted of funding Hamas, as “incredible, generous, kind, beautiful men.”

Rabab Abdulhadi, a San Francisco State University professor, refused to condemn Hamas or Oct. 7 in a panel on Sunday.

“I never ever condemn Palestinian resistance and anyone’s resistance around the world,” she told moderator Amer Zahr, a Dearborn school board member who has said he “stand[s] with” Hamas and Hezbollah against Israel.

Lara Sheehi, who spoke on a panel Saturday moments after Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, praised the “Al-Aqsa Flood”—Hamas’s name for the Oct. 7 terrorist operation—as a “force that disrupts” Israel’s “oppressive system.”

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Biden’s National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan calls for “political change” in Israel after revealing he encouraged congressional Democrats to back arms embargo on Israel.

By World Israel News Staff

A senior official in the Biden administration publicly endorsed imposing a sweeping arms embargo on Israel after privately lobbying Democratic lawmakers to back the move.

On Wednesday, former National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan appeared on The Bulwark podcast with Tim Miller, a former Republican strategist who bolted the party over his opposition to the Trump administration.

During the interview, Sullivan offered his backing for an arms embargo on Israel, revealing that earlier this year, he privately advised Democrats to back proposals in Congress to ban weapons sales to the Jewish state.

In particular, Sullivan expressed frustration with Israel after the January 19 ceasefire lapsed in March, resulting in a resumption of hostilities between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

“I have, in fact, told a number of members who were thinking about the votes on these resolutions that the situation as it stands today, following the breakdown of the cease-fire in March, means that a vote to withhold weapons to Israel is a totally credible position,” Sullivan said. “That is a position I would support.”

On March 2, the six-week truce reached in January ended without a new agreement in place for the second phase in the planned three-stage ceasefire, which was envisioned by the Biden administration culminating in a permanent end to the war in Gaza.

Amid the failure of brokered talks to reach a new deal, Israel gradually reimposed its siege on Gaza, and on March 18, it resumed military operations against Hamas in the coastal enclave.

Following the collapse of the January 19 ceasefire, Democratic lawmakers drafted measures aimed at curtailing US support for Israel, including bills that would have barred arms sales to Israel.

One such bill, proposed by Senator Bernie Sanders – an independent who caucuses with the Democrats – received the backing of more than half of Senate Democrats in a vote in July.

In Wednesday’s podcast, Sullivan also hinted at support for replacing the current Israeli government, suggesting that a continuation of Benjamin Netanyahu’s premiership could lead Democrats to distance themselves from the Jewish state.

“For me, the bigger question…is the future of the US-Israel relationship. Here it comes down to what is the future of Israel. Are we going to be dealing with the prime minister [Netanyahu] and a right-wing government for years on end, or is there going to be political change in Israel? Because I think that would have an impact on what the nature of the US-Israel relationship…will be.”

Should Israeli voters continue to elect right-wing governments similar to the current coalition, Sullivan continued, “Then it won’t be the Israel as we’ve known it.”

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Those who use TikTok more than 30 minutes a day are 17 percent more likely to hold anti-Semitic or anti-Israel views than those who do not, according to a 2023 survey.

By Alana Goodman, The Washington Free Beacon

TikTok, the Chinese social media platform awash in anti-Semitism, has hired a former official from a heavily scrutinized Biden administration agency to help combat the issue, a source familiar with the matter tells the Washington Free Beacon.

TikTok tapped Erica Mindel, who previously consulted for Biden administration anti-Semitism envoy Deborah Lipstadt, as its new public policy manager for hate speech.

Lipstadt faced criticism in her role for her failure to speak out against the anti-Semitic campus protests after Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel.

The move comes amid a sharp rise in anti-Semitism on TikTok, which the Jewish Federations of North America said has been the “worst offender.”

Those who use TikTok more than 30 minutes a day are 17 percent more likely to hold anti-Semitic or anti-Israel views than those who do not, according to a 2023 survey.

The problem grew after Oct. 7 to such a degree that Jewish celebrities and influencers have called the company to account for its role in promoting hatred against Jews.

Sacha Baron Cohen, for instance, told TikTok executives that their platform “is creating the biggest anti-Semitic movement since the Nazis.”

Jewish TikTok employees have accused the app’s moderators of allowing open bigotry and the proliferation of false claims about Jews and Israel on the platform, and some TikTok staffers have used the company’s internal chat system to praise terrorism and anti-Israel boycotts.

Some of the examples of anti-Semitism spreading on TikTok include the conspiracy theory that contemporary Jews are not Jews but actually “Khazars” and bent on world domination, notions that Jews are responsible for the world’s wars in an effort to gain power, and suggested searches with names like “Ashkenazi Jewish witchcraft Satanism.”

In a notable November 2023 episode, a letter written by Osama bin Laden discussing motivations for 9/11 went viral. In it, the al Qaeda founder mentions Jewish “control of your economy, through which they have then taken control of your media, and now control all aspects of your life making you their servants and achieving their aims at your expense.”

The uptick in anti-Semitism on TikTok, which is linked to the Chinese government through parent company ByteDance, has reportedly followed a similar explosion in anti-Jewish conspiracy theories on the Chinese internet.

A spokesman for TikTok declined to comment.

Some Jewish leaders, like Zionist Organization of America president Morton Klein, are skeptical of the hire, noting that Lipstadt’s office was silent on instances of anti-Semitism that were politically inconvenient for the Biden administration.

Lipstadt’s office, for instance, failed to publicly address Arab leaders who have repeatedly denied the Holocaust.

“During [Lipstadt’s] tenure, she refused to call out all sorts of antisemitism around the world,” Klein told the Free Beacon.

He noted that Lipstadt also endorsed the Biden administration’s strategy to combat anti-Semitism, which included a watered-down definition and was meant to be carried out in partnership with the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

Klein said he had qualms about social media platforms like TikTok giving such a role to “anyone who worked for someone like Deborah Lipstadt, who’s afraid to take on anti-Semitism occurring throughout the world, who is defending anti-Semitic groups like CAIR … and who has refused to condemn Holocaust denial by Syria’s [former dictator Bashar] Assad and [Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud] Abbas.”

Lipstadt’s tenure coincided with a record-high surge in anti-Semitic incidents following the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks.

She has strongly condemned pro-terrorist protests on American college campuses since leaving office but did not publicly speak out against the movement while in the Biden administration, saying she was “enjoined from involving [herself] in domestic matters” during her time as U.S. Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating Anti-Semitism at the State Department.

The Biden administration published a national plan to counter anti-Jewish bigotry in 2023, but the report promoted conflicting definitions of anti-Semitism—including those contending that it is acceptable to hold the Jewish state to different standards from other countries.

Many pro-Israel Jewish leaders, who had asked the Biden administration to use the stronger International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of anti-Semitism, harshly criticized the decision.

Ultimately, lobbying efforts on the part of anti-Israel groups to include multiple definitions of anti-Semitism to avoid giving legitimacy to the IHRA standard proved successful.

Jewish leaders also criticized the Biden administration at the time for partnering with CAIR on the anti-Semitism strategy, an organization with ties to Hamas and other terrorist organizations and whose leader said he “was happy” to see the events of Oct. 7.

But Lipstadt, who attended strategy rollout meetings, praised the plan as a “historic moment in the modern fight against what’s known as the world’s oldest hatred.”

Erica Mindel did not respond to a Free Beacon comment request.

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Biden has also faced scrutiny for repeatedly relying on an autopen to sign off on presidential actions amid concerns about his health.

By Matthew Xiao, The Washington Free Beacon

Joe Biden’s former deputy chief of staff, Annie Tomasini, pleaded the Fifth during a congressional deposition on Friday, becoming the third Biden aide to refuse to testify in the House GOP’s investigation into the former president’s mental acuity.

Tomasini declined to answer whether, during her time in the Biden administration, the White House “instructed her to lie” about Biden’s health, the New York Post reported.

“There is now a pattern of key Biden confidants seeking to shield themselves from criminal liability for this potential conspiracy,” House Oversight Committee chairman James Comer (R., Ky.) said at the deposition.

Former White House physician Kevin O’Connor—who gave Biden clean bills of health throughout his term—refused to testify last week, citing physician-patient privilege and his Fifth Amendment rights.

On Wednesday, former first lady Jill Biden’s chief of staff, Anthony Bernal, followed suit in not answering questions from House Republicans.

“It’s apparent they would rather hide key information to protect themselves and Joe Biden than be truthful with the American people about this historic scandal,” Comer said Friday.

The former aides’ refusal to testify comes as reports have shed light on Biden’s mental and physical decline.

Biden appeared “extremely exhausted” and “unaware of what was happening in his own campaign” ahead of his debate last June with Trump, longtime Biden aide Ron Klain said, according to Chris Whipple’s recent book Uncharted.

Klain had to cut short the two mock debates he had organized for Biden and was “struck by how out of touch with American politics” the then-president was.

“At one point … Biden wanders out in the middle of the session, he wanders out to the pool, collapses into a lounge chair, and falls sound asleep,” Whipple told Fox News host Jesse Watters.

Biden has also faced scrutiny for repeatedly relying on an autopen to sign off on presidential actions amid concerns about his health.

The New York Times reported Sunday that Biden “did not individually approve” the names of thousands of federal convicts granted clemency, instead allowing his staff to finalize the sweeping pardons and commutations using an autopen.

According to Comer, Tomasini on Friday also invoked the Fifth “when asked if she ever advised President Biden on the handling of classified documents found in his garage, if President Biden or anyone in the White House instructed her to conceal or destroy classified material found at President Biden’s home or office, and if she ever conspired with anyone in the White House to hide information regarding the Biden family’s ‘business’ dealings.”

Klain is expected to testify next week, while other members of Biden’s inner circle—including former press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre—are scheduled to appear before the House committee beginning in August, according to the Post.

The Trump administration in late June formally waived executive privilege for nine former Biden aides, clearing the way for their testimony.

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The investigation also points to potential violations of Israeli nonprofit law.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

An investigation by the US House of Representatives has raised concerns that American taxpayer money may have been used to support protests against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s judicial overhaul plan.

According to a report released Thursday, congressional committees are examining whether organizations that received US federal grants under the Biden-Harris administration were involved in efforts to destabilize the Israeli government.

As reported by The Jerusalem Post in March, six nonprofit organizations operating in the United States and Israel have come under scrutiny by the House Judiciary and Foreign Affairs Committees.

Lawmakers are investigating whether funds provided by the administration were funneled into mass demonstrations in 2023 opposing Netanyahu’s controversial judicial reform plan.

The congressional report alleges that the administration awarded grants to several groups that “contributed directly and indirectly” to the anti-reform protests.

Among the recipients cited are Blue and White Future (BWF) and the Movement for the Quality of Government in Israel, both of which reportedly received significant funding.

The investigation also points to potential violations of Israeli nonprofit law. It notes that BWF’s activities during the protests may have gone beyond the organization’s legal mandate, possibly breaching the conditions of its nonprofit registration by “operating outside of its stated goals.”

Beyond the political controversy, the investigation raises further concerns about US funds potentially reaching groups linked to terrorism.

One example cited is the Gaza-based Bayader Association for Environment and Development, which has reportedly received nearly $1 million in US aid since 2016. Despite this support, the NGO has openly collaborated with Hamas officials, the report states, including organizing joint events with Hamas leaders and coordinating with ministries under Hamas control.

The most recent grant to Bayader, according to the report, was issued by USAID on October 1, 2023—just one week before Hamas launched its deadly October 7 attacks.

The investigation remains ongoing and is expected to widen to include other US and Israeli organizations allegedly involved in misusing federal funds either to influence Israeli domestic politics or to support groups connected to terrorism.

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Joint drill focused on neutralizing Iranian nuclear facilities amid rising Middle East tensions.

By David Brummer, World Israel News

An Israeli official revealed on Sunday that the United States and Israel conducted a joint military exercise a year ago, simulating a direct attack on Iran’s nuclear program, the i24NEWS TV channel reported.

The admission offers new context to the dramatic US airstrikes launched this weekend against key Iranian nuclear sites.

According to a report published on Sunday by the ABC News TV channel, the joint exercise — held in March of last year under the Biden administration — was the first of its kind to rehearse an offensive strike on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure explicitly.

The drill was reportedly designed to simulate attacks on major facilities such as Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan, which were among the targets that US forces struck late Saturday night.

“We didn’t think a year ago that this would happen now,” the unnamed Israeli official told the outlet, describing the scope of the exercise as “unprecedented.”

The disclosure came just hours after US President Donald Trump confirmed that the US military had carried out a major operation targeting Iran’s nuclear capabilities.

In a brief televised address, Trump announced what he called a “spectacular military success,” stating that “Iran’s main nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated.”

pic.twitter.com/wu9mMkxtUg

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 21, 2025

The US strikes, which followed over a week of Israeli bombardments on Iranian military and nuclear infrastructure, mark a significant escalation in the ongoing conflict.

Israeli operations have already severely weakened Iran’s air defenses and claimed the lives of several top military and intelligence commanders, as well as nuclear scientists.

Trump warned Tehran against further retaliation, saying on his Truth Social platform that any response would be met with a “much stronger” American reaction.

“This cannot continue. There will be either peace or tragedy for Iran — far greater than what we’ve seen in the last eight days,” he said.

Despite public appearances suggesting hesitation or disagreement between Washington and Tel Aviv, Israeli sources now confirm that the US strike was coordinated closely with Israel.

According to those familiar with the matter, both governments intentionally presented a facade of disunity to mislead Iranian intelligence and preserve the element of surprise.

The revelation of the prior joint exercise highlights the depth of US-Israel strategic cooperation, suggesting that military options against Iran’s nuclear program have been on the table for some time, despite public diplomatic efforts.

As tensions in the region continue to rise, the international community remains on edge, watching closely for Iran’s next move in what is quickly becoming one of the most volatile confrontations in years.

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Matthew Miller, the spokesman for the US State Department under President Joe Biden, says that “without a doubt” Israel has committed “war crimes” in the Gaza Strip.

By David Rosenberg, World Israel News

A former senior US State Department official in the Biden administration accused Israel of committing war crimes in the Gaza Strip during its ongoing war against the Hamas terror organization.

In an interview published by Sky News, the UK TV channel, on Monday, Miller rejected claims that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, but quickly added that he believes the Jewish state has, “without a doubt,”  committed war crimes in the Gaza war.

“I don’t think it is a genocide, but I think it is without a doubt true that Israel has committed war crimes.”

Miller said that he held this view during his term as State Department spokesman, but withheld it since it was not in line with the administration’s official positions.

“When you’re at the podium you are not expressing  your personal opinion, you’re expressing the conclusions of the United States government; the United States government had not concluded that they committed war crimes – still have not concluded that.”

The former Biden and Obama administration official said he was unsure if Israel had actively encouraged its soldiers to commit war crimes in Gaza, or whether those crimes, which he alleges took place, were incidental.

“That, I think, is an open question,” Miller said. “What I think is almost certainly not an open question is that there have been individual incidents that have been war crimes, where Israeli soldiers… have committed war crimes.”

Miller went on to criticize Israel’s military judicial system for failing to hold soldiers accountable for the war crimes he claims took place.

“We have not yet seen them hold sufficient numbers of the military accountable, and I think it is an open question whether they are going to.”

Turning to the Biden administration’s relationship with Israel following October 7, 2023, Miller said there were disagreements both “small and big” between senior US officials over how to handle ties with Israel during the Gaza war.

“There were disagreements all along the way about how to handle policy. Some of those were big disagreements, some of those were little disagreements.”

“The administration did debate, at times, whether and when to cut off weapons to Israel. You saw us in the spring of 2024 stop the shipment of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel because we did not believe they would use those in a way that was appropriate in Gaza.”

Miller hinted that he believes the Biden administration should have done more to “pressure the Israeli government to agree” to a ceasefire earlier in the war.”

The comments come just days after two Obama administration officials – Ben Rhodes and Tommy Vietor – accused Israel of committing genocide in the Gaza war.

“That’s a genocide,” Rhodes said on the Pod Save America podcast.

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A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official revealed that 45-year-old Mohamed Sabry Soliman of Colorado Springs had overstayed his visa and was in the country illegally.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

US President Donald Trump took to social media to blame the attack in Boulder on Sunday that wounded eight people on the Biden administration’s “open border” immigration policy.

A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official revealed that 45-year-old Mohamed Sabry Soliman of Colorado Springs had overstayed his visa and was in the country illegally.

Those injured were attending a gathering in Boulder organized by Run for Their Lives, an organization that raises awareness on behalf of the hostages still in Gaza.

Trump wrote on Truth Social, “He came in through Biden’s ridiculous Open Border Policy, which has hurt our Country so badly. He must go out under the ‘TRUMP’ Policy. Acts of Terrorism will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law,” Trump wrote. “This is yet another example of why we must keep our Borders SECURE, and deport Illegal, Anti-American Radicals from our Homeland.”

Soliman, originally from Egypt, had been planning the attack for a year and declared that he “wanted to kill all Zionist people and wished they were all dead.”

The FBI is investigating the incident as a terror attack and as a potential hate crime.

“It is clear that this is a targeted act of violence, and the FBI is investigating this as an act of terrorism,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Mark D. Michalek said in a press conference Sunday. “It’s our job — the FBI, the Boulder police, and our law enforcement and community partners — to bring these criminals to justice and keep these communities safe.”

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reported that the suspect arrived in the US on a B2 non-immigrant visa in August 2022. A month later, he applied for asylum. Although his visa permitted him to remain in the Country until February 2023, he did not depart when it expired.

The B2 visa is intended for short-term visits and is typically granted to individuals traveling for tourism, leisure, or medical reasons.

“This individual, this terrorist, was allowed into this country by the previous administration, was foolishly given a tourism visa, and then was illegally allowed to stay,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Monday afternoon. “These individuals are going to be deported, and we’re not going to tolerate such violence in our country.”

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