Just 11% of American Jews accept Vice President JD Vance’s claim that fears of antisemitism are overblown and largely reflect frustration with American foreign policy rather than genuine bigotry toward Jews.

By David Rosenberg, World Israel News

Nearly three-quarters of American Jews do not trust Vice President JD Vance on the issue of antisemitism, a new poll shows, after the vice president appeared to defend far-right podcaster Tucker Carlson from accusations of antisemitism while minimizing the extent of antisemitism in the US.

In December, Vance said in an interview with UnHerd that much of what is labeled antisemitism is in reality a “backlash to the consensus view in American foreign policy” regarding Israel, arguing that the number of antisemitic Americans is in fact negligibly small.

Vance estimated that “99% of Republicans, and I think probably 97% of Democrats” are not antisemitic.

However, a poll released Tuesday by the Jewish People Policy Institute shows a widespread rejection by American Jews of Vance’s claims.

According to the survey, conducted earlier this month, just 11% of respondents agree with Vance’s argument that only a marginal number of Americans are antisemitic and that much of what is described as antisemitism in actuality merely reflects frustrations over foreign policy.

A whopping 73% of respondents said they rejected this interpretation, including 67% of Trump voters.

Furthermore, 74% of American Jews said they did not trust Vance to handle antisemitism, with 49% declaring complete distrust in the vice president on the issue.

The poll also surveyed American Jews for their opinions on the future of Judea and Samaria and how Israel should handle the Palestinian Authority.

Just 25% of respondents said they support deepening Israeli control over Judea and Samaria and expanding Jewish towns in the area, compared to 42% of Israeli Jews who favored this option in an October 2025 poll.

Over one-third (35%) said they support the establishment of a Palestinian state – compared to just 15% of Israeli Jews in the October poll – with another 35% backing separation from the Palestinians, while Israel retains freedom to operate militarily in Judea and Samaria.

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Vance also addressed the return of the remains of deceased hostages and said the process will be slow and difficult.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Vice President J.D. Vance warned Tuesday that Hamas faces annihilation if it fails to honor the cease-fire terms but declined to attach a timetable to that threat, saying Washington will not set a fixed deadline for disarmament.

Speaking at the U.S.-Israel coordination center overseeing the Gaza truce, Vance answered a question about Hamas disarming—a crucial part of the 20-part plan the terror group says it will not fulfill—by saying, “If Hamas doesn’t comply with the deal, very bad things are going to happen.”

“If Hamas doesn’t cooperate, it will be obliterated,” he said, echoing a similar statement by Donald Trump but not indicating any deadline for the terror group’s elimination of weapons.

Vance said his trip to Israel, which he described as planned for months, was not a last-minute effort to prop up the agreement after recent IDF strikes that followed a Hamas attack in which two Israeli soldiers were killed.

On the shape of Gaza’s future authority, Vance said the administration has not settled on a model. “I don’t know the answer to that question,” he said, adding that any governance arrangement must remain adaptable to conditions on the ground.

He emphasized that security, reconstruction and humanitarian needs—including food and medicine—must come first before long-term political arrangements are decided.

Vance also addressed the return of the remains of deceased hostages and said the process will be slow and difficult.

He noted some hostages may be buried beneath vast amounts of rubble or their locations simply unknown, and urged “a little bit of patience” as recovery teams work.

Vance acknowledged that Turkey playing a part may seem objectionable to Israelis given its past support for Hamas, but added, “No one who is a party to this conflict can look at the conflict and not point at something that they don’t like and that they disagree with … The way that we’re going to get to peace is to focus on the future, which is what the president of the United States has asked us to do.”

“We’re not going to force anything on our Israeli friends when it comes to foreign troops on their soil, but we do think that there’s a constructive role for the Turks to play, and frankly, they’ve already played a very constructive role,” he added.

Despite the administration’s firm rhetoric, Vance reiterated that Washington will not impose a disarmament deadline, instead tying consequences to Hamas’s behavior under the cease-fire.

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When asked whether he feared extremist or pro-Hitler views among young Republicans, Johnson replied, “No.”

By Asaf Elia-Shalev, JTA

House Speaker Mike Johnson on Thursday said Republicans “roundly condemn” a leaked group chat in which Young Republican officials joked about gas chambers, praised Adolf Hitler and used racist, antisemitic and homophobic slurs, as well as an American flag with a swastika that was found in a Republican congressman’s office.

When asked whether he feared extremist or pro-Hitler views among young Republicans, Johnson replied, “No.”

“Obviously, that is not the principles of the Republican Party. We stand for the founding principles of America,” Johnson said in a press conference. “We have stood against that. We fought the Nazis. We roundly condemn it, and anybody in any party who espouses it, we’re opposing that.”

Johnson’s remarks capped two days of intensifying fallout from a Politico exposé that published thousands of messages exchanged over months by rising Republican operatives around the country.

In the cache reviewed by Politico, participants joked “Everyone that votes no is going to the gas chamber,” celebrated “Great. I love Hitler,” and traded demeaning references to Black people, Jews and LGBTQ people.

State and local leaders appeared in the chat, including one Vermont state senator. The revelations have already cost several participants their jobs and prompted the deactivation of the Kansas Young Republicans chapter, with the Young Republican National Federation itself calling for implicated officials to “immediately resign from all positions” within the organization.

Civil rights attorney Leo Terrell, who heads the Trump administration’s Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, reacted saying, “Antisemitism on the right is just as dangerous as antisemitism on the left.”

Meanwhile, Vice President J.D. Vance has sought to downplay the severity of the situation.

Vance posted on X with a screenshot of texts in which Jay Jones, a former Democratic nominee for Virginia attorney general, suggested a prominent Republican deserved “two bullets to the head.”

“This is far worse than anything said in a college group chat, and the guy who said it could become the AG of Virginia,” Vance wrote. “I refuse to join the pearl clutching when powerful people call for political violence.”

Vance later said in an interview on “The Charlie Kirk Show,” “The reality is that kids do stupid things. Especially young boys, they tell edgy, offensive jokes. Like, that’s what kids do. And I really don’t want us to grow up in a country where a kid telling a stupid joke — telling a very offensive, stupid joke — is the cause of ruining their lives.”

Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, praised Republican leaders who condemned the messages, which he called “offensive and very concerning.”

“I’m also glad that many leaders, including @EliseStefanik and @RepMikeLawler, spoke out strongly and swiftly against these hateful statements,” Greenblatt wrote on X.

Gov. Gavin Newsom urged Congress to investigate the scope of extremist sentiment within Republican-aligned youth networks, arguing that the chat logs were “neither fringe nor humorous.” In a letter to the House Oversight Committee chair, Newsom contrasted GOP scrutiny of campus antisemitism with what he characterized as muted responses to hate inside party infrastructure.

Reactions to the messages were building up as a separate controversy ricocheted through the Capitol: a photograph circulating online showed a swastika integrated into the stripes of an American flag displayed in a Republican lawmaker’s office. Capitol Police opened an investigation after Rep. Dave Taylor called the image “vile and deeply inappropriate” and suggested it was the result of vandalism.

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US envoy Steve Witkoff met with families, acknowledging that recovering the remains of all the deceased hostages could be extremely difficult.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Vice President JD Vance said Sunday that not all the hostages murdered by Hamas will necessarily be recovered, warning that the effort to locate and return their remains could take time.

“The reality is that some of the hostages may never get back,” Vance said on Sunday in an interview on Fox.

He added that while rescuing the living remains the Trump administration’s priority, returning the bodies of those killed is also a vital part of “giving families the ability to have a proper burial with their loved ones who were murdered by brutal terrorists.”

His comments came as Israel and Hamas prepared to implement the first phase of a ceasefire agreement that formally ended the two-year war in Gaza.

The deal requires Hamas to release all remaining hostages — 20 believed to be alive and 28 confirmed dead — within 72 hours of the Israel Defense Forces’ withdrawal from Gaza, completed Friday at noon.

In return, Israel will free about 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.

Gal Hirsch, Israel’s coordinator for hostage affairs, told families in a Friday message that “the process of releasing your loved ones — our loved ones — will begin on Monday morning.”

He said living hostages would be transferred first, followed by the remains of those killed, which would be received “in a painful and respectful ceremony” before being taken to Israel’s Institute of Forensic Medicine for identification.

Top Hamas representative Osama Hamdan confirmed the timeline to AFP, stating that “the prisoner exchange is set to begin on Monday morning as agreed.”

However, Israeli officials cautioned that not all timing details were settled, citing Hamas’ logistical challenges and coordination with the International Committee of the Red Cross.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff met with families Saturday, acknowledging that recovering every body could be extremely difficult.

Relatives pleaded with Israeli authorities to “do everything possible” to bring everyone home.

Israeli officials have privately acknowledged that between seven and 15 bodies may never be found.

Despite that grim reality, the Trump-brokered peace agreement sparked scenes of jubilation at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, where tens of thousands gathered to celebrate what many called the beginning of Israel’s long-awaited closure.

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He will also meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who will be key to President Donald Trump’s professed goal of ending the Russia-Ukraine war.

By Ben Sales, JTA

Vice President J.D. Vance will visit the site of the Dachau concentration camp on Thursday, the latest in a string of senior U.S. officials to travel to the former Nazi camp.

Vance will visit Dachau before heading to the nearby Munich Security Conference, an elite national security gathering, multiple outlets reported on Tuesday.

He wrote on social media that his visit to Europe is focusing on artificial intelligence policy.

He will also meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who will be key to President Donald Trump’s professed goal of ending the Russia-Ukraine war.

Vance is the latest vice president to visit Dachau, one of the first camps built by the Nazi regime.

Joe Biden visited with his granddaughter in 2015, when he was serving as vice president, and has taken the trip with other children and grandchildren as well.

Vice President Mike Pence visited Dachau in 2017. In 2023, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, who is Jewish, went on a Jewish heritage tour of Poland, including a visit to Auschwitz.

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