Ryan statement came after the New York congressman voted to cut off all U.S. aid to Israel

JEWISH INSIDER
Pat Ryan says he’ll refund AIPAC donors who ask following vote to end U.S. aid to Israel
Matthew Kassel
July 17, 2026

Rep. Pat Ryan (D-NY) said that he no longer wants AIPAC’s endorsement and would be “returning the funds” the group’s PAC had sent his campaign, following his vote on Wednesday, along with 102 other Democrats, to cut off all aid to Israel. The New York Democrat also said he would refund individual donors who had previously supported his campaign if they made the request. “I expect groups like AIPAC will not support me in my future elections and frankly, I don’t want their support,” he wrote in a social media post explaining his vote, saying he would no longer back $3.3 billion in annual military aid to “a corrupt and increasingly dangerous Netanyahu regime. READ MORE

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“In an interview with Joe Rogan, Vance accused the Jewish state of undermining his peace deal that had already fallen apart”

FREE PRESS
The Real Cause of J.D. Vance’s Failure in Iran
Batya Ungar-Sargon
July 16, 2026

Vice President J.D. Vance has found the real culprit behind the collapse of the Trump administration’s peace deal with Iran, for which he led negotiations. It’s not the lying mullahs who spent the past 40 years murdering Americans and lying to credulous Democrats about their peaceful intentions. It’s not the lying Iranian negotiators who told Vance and other U.S. negotiators that they were signing a deal in good faith, only to fire on commercial ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz a week later. Certainly, it wasn’t Vance himself, who told CNN’s Jake Tapper how “cool” it was to be making progress in talks with Iran’s leaders…No, the real culprit behind the collapse of Vance’s deal with Iran is conniving Israelis who used their shekels to pay influencers to character-assassinate the vice president, all for the crime of seeking peace. READ MORE

POLITICO Vance’s tough talk on Israel is alienating some Jewish GOP donors The vice president’s pugnacious defense of a ceasefire agreement with Iran that rattled Israeli diplomats — and his tough talk on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government — has damaged his standing with some pro-Israel GOP donors who have backed the party under President Donald Trump. “It’s hard to find any support for him at all in the Jewish community,” said Eric Levine, a prominent GOP fundraiser and board member of the Republican Jewish Coalition, a group aimed at strengthening ties between the Jewish community and party leaders. Levine was speaking for himself and not the coalition.

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“Senator Graham “more pro-Israel than AIPAC,” while CUFl counted him among Israel’s most stalwart allies in Congress”

NOON IN ISRAEL
Israel Loses Its Greatest Friend on Capitol Hill
Amit Segal
July 12, 2026

It’s Sunday, July 12, and this morning the office of South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham announced that he passed away Saturday evening after a sudden and brief illness—two days after turning 71. He had returned from Kyiv on Friday, where he met Volodymyr Zelensky, and was booked on Meet the Press for this very morning. Israel has lost its greatest friend on Capitol Hill. That isn’t an exaggeration; it’s the consensus of the Israeli opposition and coalition, who rose in unison this morning to eulogize the beloved senator. Born and raised in his beloved South Carolina, Graham grew up living in a cramped room behind his parents’ combined pool hall, bar and liquor store. Later becoming a lawyer and enlisting in the U.S. military, he entered Congress in 1995, becoming the first Republican to represent South Carolina’s 3rd District since Reconstruction. In 2003, he moved up to the Senate, where he and John McCain became a trio with Joe Lieberman—dubbed the “Three Amigos” by Gen. David Petraeus on one of their endless trips to Iraq and Afghanistan. Hawks, travelers and crossers of aisles for wars worth fighting. Especially Israel’s. READ

NEW YORK POST Lindsey Graham had among the lowest wealth in Congress despite a lifetime at the center of power The late Sen. Lindsey Graham ranked among the bottom half of Congress’ big earners despite more than three decades in office and a top role leading the GOP. Graham, 71, died Saturday night with a net worth of nearly $1.5 million, leaving the senator, who had a modest upbringing in South Carolina, ranked at 294th in wealth among the 535 voting members of Congress, according to data from the Quiver Quantitative tracker. As a point of contrast, Graham’s personal wealth is a drop compared to Congress’ wealthiest member, fellow Sen. James Justice (R-WV), whose net worth is estimated at more than $664 million, according to Quiver Quantitative. 

THE HILL FBI visits Graham’s DC home FBI personnel visited late Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-S.C.) home in Washington, D.C., on Monday, less than 48 hours after he died of an aortic dissection.  At least six men and two women in FBI gear were at Graham’s row house in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of D.C., according to footage shot by Nexstar’s Vinay Simlot. At one point, an FBI agent entered the home after a man wearing a U.S. Marshals Service jacket exited it. Later on, two agents wearing blue and yellow FBI windbreakers entered the home. While agents went into and out of the home, a man wearing an FBI jacket stood watch outside near a large black container — at one point, another man wearing bureau gear retrieved a manila folder from the container. 

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“The House Armed Services Committee Democrat said his family’s home was vandalized and a staffer was assaulted over his stance on Israel policy”

JEWISH INSIDER
Smith says he was pressured to vote against Israel aid by violent, far-left activists
Matthew Shea
July 16, 2026

Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, indicated  he voted to cut off military aid to Israel in part because of sustained personal threats against his family and his staff, part of what  he described as a violent and relentless campaign of intimidation by far-left anti-Israel activists. Smith voted on Wednesday to support an amendment introduced by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) to strip $3.3 billion in U.S. aid to Israel from the 2027 State Department appropriations bill — a major reversal by the hawkish Democrat after he previously told Jewish Insider he planned to oppose the measure….“To date, my family and I have had our home vandalized, a fire has been set in my driveway, my neighbors’ lives have been disrupted by demonstrations in the middle of the night, town halls meant to be forums for dialogue have been shut down, and a staff member has been physically assaulted,” Smith said in a statement on X. READ MORE

THE HILL 100 House Democrats vote to cut off aid to Israel, showcasing party shift House Democrats split nearly evenly on a Wednesday amendment to cut off U.S. aid to Israel, showcasing how the contentious issue is reshaping the political dynamics in the party. The amendment spearheaded by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) was presumed to be a doomed show vote, but it provided a test for Democrats who have been increasingly under pressure from the activist base over Israel. The amendment failed 104-314-10, with 103 Democrats voting in favor, 98 Democrats voting against, and 10 voting present. Massie was the only Republican who supported the amendment.

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Democratic congressman Ro Khanna has been pandering to the anti-Israel left for months. In a podcast interview this week, he realized what his new bedfellows actually believe.

FREE PRESS
Ro Khanna’s Rude Awakening
Eli Lake
July 15, 2026

Winston Churchill remarked in 1940 that an appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile in the hopes that it will eat him last. On Tuesday, Rep. Ro Khanna proved the great man’s point yet again in an appearance on the Drop Site News podcast. Like seemingly almost everything in American politics this year, the conversation was all about Gaza. The interview with one of the most pro-Hamas outlets in U.S. media should have been a victory lap for Khanna, who last week grabbed headlines for a stunt where he claimed he was detained by the Israel Defense Forces after local settlers pulled over his entourage in a once-restricted area of the West Bank. Khanna has reinvented himself during the last year to curry favor with the populist fringe of his Democratic Party, devoting himself to the cause of releasing law enforcement files on Jeffrey Epstein and casting himself a defender of the forgotten working class. Once a proud supporter of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), Khanna is now one of the pro-Israel group’s leading opponents. READ MORE

JNS Paul Miller: Why I will no longer fight for the LGBTQ community To the LGBTQ movement, I must now say that, because of my Judaism, I was given an opportunity to show my love in the most personal way. But ironically, for the same reason, I can no longer stand with you. When “intersectionality” entered the mainstream in the 2010s, historically disenfranchised and oppressed groups banded together to embrace inclusion, diversity and social justice. Yet the most persecuted group in human history, people who endure the systemic racism built into humanity itself, are not only excluded but also recategorized to fit this new narrative. Jews are now classified as privileged colonizers and oppressors. The progressive movement, in which the LGBTQ community plays an integral role, has become a regressive campaign that embraces exclusion and antisemitism…As a Jew, I can no longer stand with a movement that is antisemitic and anti-Israel at its core.

JNS Jonathan Tobin: Ro Khanna and the weaponization of anti-Zionism in American politics The California congressman’s Judean misadventure was an attempt to boost his long-shot presidential hopes and move on from his sponsorship of the disastrous Graham Platner.simply reported on his story without investigating the events that led up to the incident.

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“We have the agency our ancestors could only long for and the sovereignty they could only pray for. We can shape what happens next”

TABLET MAG
We Are the Luckiest Jews Who Have Ever Lived
Ben Freeman
July 13, 2026

For three years we have watched Jew-hatred erupt on campus, online, inside political movements, and among people we once called friends. Institutions we helped build, funded, and sat on the boards of have turned away from us and showed us exactly what they were made of: incubators of old hatred now decked with new jargon. Many of us feel betrayed and bewildered. But rather than wallow in sadness, recognize that these betrayals provide us with information. These institutions were not always rotten; something in them changed over the last decade: Principle was traded for donor comfort, standards for slogans, scrutiny for the easier feeling of being on the right side of a hashtag. Oct. 7 did not create that rot. It was the storm that hit at the exact moment the hull had already given out, and the whole world got to see which vessels were still seaworthy. Ours went down first, because they had already been rotting for years. Throwing us over the side was simply what they did to survive a little longer. READ MORE

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In Europe, assimilation of immigrants has not taken place. When one imports the Third World, one becomes the Third World

GATESTONE
Do the Math: Why Europe May Not Pull Through
Drieu Godefridi
July 14, 2026

Europe as we have known it for centuries — a civilization founded on a native majority population, a common culture, industrial prosperity, and a certain idea of liberty and property — appears destined to disappear. This will happen not in some spectacular cataclysm, but through a slow, inexorable erosion, made inevitable by structural trends now too powerful to be reversed in the time it would take to stop it. Even if, in the years ahead, several European countries bring to power so-called “right-wing” coalitions that have never yet governed, this can no longer substantially alter Europe’s collective destiny. The problem is no longer merely political; it is demographic, energetic, economic, and institutional. These four processes interlock and reinforce one another in a sinister yet terribly efficient mechanism. In 2024, the total fertility rate of the European Union, migrants included, stood at 1.34 children per woman, far below the replacement threshold of 2.1. READ MORE

MEDIA LINE Canadian Jews Weigh Leaving as Antisemitism Fuels Search for Safer Homes Jewish organizations in Canada say rising antisemitism is pushing some members of the community to consider leaving the country, with groups arranging exploratory trips to Panama and Tulsa, Oklahoma, for Jews who no longer feel safe at home. The Toronto-based Tafsik Organization, a Jewish civil rights group, told The Media Line it is organizing a trip to Panama this month for people interested in relocation, after two earlier trips drew dozens of participants. The US-based organization Tulsa Tomorrow said more than 1,500 Canadians have expressed interest this year in its trips to Tulsa, where antisemitism is often cited as a reason for considering a move.

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“Iranian president Ahmadinejad being held by IRGC after authorities in Tehran uncovered his secret contacts with Israel”

ISRAEL HAYOM (by agreement with JNS)
Israel reportedly recruited Ahmadinejad in secret plan to topple Iran’s regime
Staff
July 13, 2026

Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was at the center of an Israeli plan to overthrow the regime in Tehran, with then-Mossad Director David Barnea traveling to Budapest in 2024 for a personal meeting with him, according to a New York Times investigation. The investigation, based on accounts from US and Iranian officials familiar with the matter, said Ahmadinejad is currently being held under house arrest by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ intelligence branch after authorities in Tehran uncovered a significant portion of his contacts with Israel. The recruitment operation reached its peak in late February this year, during the opening days of the war between the US and Israel and Iran. On Feb. 28, the day the war began, Israel struck Ahmadinejad’s residential compound in Tehran, hitting a building housing his security guards as well as his vehicle. Shortly after the strike, according to four senior Iranian officials, a black Peugeot arrived at the scene, picked up Ahmadinejad and quickly drove him away. READ MORE

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“VP Vance’s critique overlooks long history of Israeli diplomacy, compromise, and reluctant wars. But worse, it invokes an age-old blood libel”

CLARITY
The Israeli Response to Vance
Michael Oren
July 9, 2026

…What they should have asked, “is JD Vance right when he said that Israel “can’t just kill [its] way out of solving every single national security problem that [it has]’?” The answer is adamantly “no!” The charge that Israel uses brute force to resolve all its security problems is firstly, and historically, false. This is the country which, in 1949, signed armistice agreements with four Arab countries that only a year before had tried to destroy us. In 1967, that same country offered to return almost all of the sizable territories we captured in the Six-Day War in return for peace with the Arab leaders who once again sought to annihilate it. Their response was the three “no”s—no recognition, no negotiation, no peace. This is the country, Israel, which returned the Sinai Peninsula, an area more than three times its size, in return for peace with Egypt. We are the nation that signed a peace agreement with the arch-terrorist Arafat who for decades specialized in murdering Israelis. He soon went back to murdering Israelis and still we sought peace with him. READ MORE

JPOST As Jewish Republicans sour on JD Vance, many are rallying behind Marco Rubio for 2028 Pro-Israel criticism of Vance has grown in response to the terms of the Iran deal last month which delivered multiple concessions to the Islamic Republic.

AFTER OCTOBER 7 Kevin Deutsch: The Vance-Carlson Alliance Will Push Republicans Toward Antizionism in 2028 White House Race American Jews were hit with antizionist bigotry from both political parties Wednesday. In the House, 103 Democrats voted to eliminate $3.3 billion in annual assistance to Israel, despite most of that money flowing right back into the U.S. economy. The vote was fueled by anti-Israel libels and pressure from the antizionist hate movement. Around the same time, Vice President JD Vance accused actors inside the Israeli government of conducting a secret, lavishly funded operation to manipulate Americans and prolong the war with Iran. 

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“His pompous, fact-lite sermon on Gaza is a transparent effort to win back Muslim voters and the keffiyeh classes”

SPIKED
Andy Burnham’s shameful pandering to anti-Israel bigots
Brendan O’Neill
July 10, 2026

Here he comes, pandering Andy Burnham. The King of the North throwing out the red meat of Israelophobia to keep certain voters sweet. The incoming PM yapping piously about Israel’s possible ‘war crimes’ in a bid to win back restive Muslim voters and the keffiyeh classes who’ve abandoned Labour for the crackpot Greens. That’s what I saw in Burnham’s staggeringly pompous digital sermon on Gaza – not an act of geopolitical conviction but a masterclass in demographic toadying. It was in a video chat with the Guardian – where else? – that Burnham promised to get tough on Israel when he succeeds Keir Starmer as PM this month. In classic therapy-speak, he acknowledged that ‘Labour’s initial response to the treatment of Gaza caused huge hurt’. Hurt to who? Those mobs who swarmed our streets after 7 October hollering for further holy war against the Jewish State? Cry me a river. ‘We got it wrong and I am sorry for that’, he said in his clinical-feeling mea culpa. READ MORE

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