When the Kennedy Center unveiled the Israeli Lounge in 1971, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) offered soaring remarks about the importance of the small reception room, which had been designed and constructed at the behest of Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir as a gift to the United States.

Kennedy called the lounge — designed by Israeli architect Raphael Blumenfeld, who also designed the interior of the Israeli Knesset, and filled with original creations by Israeli artists — a “magnificent room” that could bring “the U.S. and Israel closer together, and all humanity together.” 

California state Sen. Scott Wiener, a Democrat running in a crowded primary to replace retiring Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), has spent the last week navigating the political fallout of a Gaza-related exchange at a candidate forum that lasted no more than 30 seconds but has since gone viral in progressive Bay Area political circles.

All three candidates who appeared at the forum last week — Wiener, San Francisco Board of Supervisors member Connie Chan, and Saikat Chakrabarti, former chief of staff to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) — were asked if they believed Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, by lifting a “yes” or “no” placard. The other two said yes; Wiener did not answer at all. 

Former Obama administration officials and Crooked Media hosts Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett and Ben Rhodes are hosting a fundraiser in Hollywood, Calif., on Thursday for Abdul El-Sayed, a far-left, anti-Israel candidate running in the Democratic Senate primary in Michigan.

El-Sayed, a physician and former director of the Wayne County Department of Health, has made his criticisms of Israel a centerpiece of his campaign, criticizing other candidates in the race as being insufficiently hostile to the Jewish state.

Former Rep. Mary Peltola (D-AK) announced Monday that she’s entering the Senate race against Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) in Alaska, giving Democrats an outside chance of picking up the red-state Senate seat.

Peltola, the first Alaska Native elected to Congress, served for just over one term in the House from 2022 until she lost reelection in 2024, filling the final few months of former Rep. Don Young’s (R-AK) term after he died in office and winning a full term in the November 2022 election. Peltola is the the most recent Democrat to win statewide office in Alaska, and benefited in her House races from the state’s new ranked-choice voting system.

The suspect in an arson attack that destroyed Mississippi’s largest synagogue early Saturday morning confessed to targeting the building because of its “Jewish ties,” the FBI announced on Monday. 

In an affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Mississippi more than 48 hours after the attack, the FBI said the suspect, Stephen Spencer Pittman, 19, admitted to starting the blaze at Beth Israel Congregation in Jackson, Miss., due to “the building’s Jewish ties.” In an interview with the Jackson Fire Department, he referred to the institution as the “synagogue of Satan,” a historically antisemitic phrase that has been re-popularized by far-right commentator Candace Owens. 

Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, a Democratic candidate for Senate, said in a recent radio interview that accusations of genocide against Israel — with which she has previously agreed — have become a “political purity test,” arguing that there has been too much emphasis on that specific word.

McMorrow herself has backed accusations of genocide, affirming in response to a question at an October event that she believes the war in Gaza is a genocide “based on the definition” — though she didn’t specifically utter the word “genocide” herself.

The Lebanese Armed Forces announced Thursday that it had taken operational control of the south of the country and successfully completed the first phase of its operation to disarm Hezbollah — a claim that experts say is unlikely to satisfy Israel and could risk further escalation. 

Under the November 2024 ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah, the Lebanese government was tasked with removing the terror group south of the Litani River, near Israel’s border, with a deadline of Dec. 31, 2025, before moving to the second phase of disarmament north of the Litani. 

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is facing criticism from Democratic leaders over his delayed and muted response to last week’s pro-Hamas protest in Queens that caused nearby schools and a synagogue to close early in anticipation of the demonstration, where dozens of masked protesters chanted “We support Hamas” near the synagogue. 

Democratic elected officials across New York — including left-wing politicians hostile to Israel, like Mamdani ally and former City Comptroller Brad Lander — were quick to release statements condemning the support for Hamas that was on display at the demonstration, which was organized by the group Palestinian Assembly for Liberation, [PAL]-Awda, to protest an event held by CapitIL, a Jerusalem-based real estate agency.