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The Supreme Court has agreed to prolong its temporary halt of a lower court ruling that would have compelled the Trump administration to immediately disburse full Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for November. The move marks a brief victory for the administration, coming just hours after it petitioned the high court for urgent intervention.

In a late Monday filing, administration lawyers urged the justices to preserve an emergency stay previously granted by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. The Court’s latest decision ensures that the stay will remain in effect until 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, November 13. U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer had asked the Court to step in, contending that the government should not be forced to release full SNAP payments before Congress resolves the ongoing shutdown.

At the heart of the dispute is whether the administration must fully restore food assistance payments that lapsed at the start of November due to the budget impasse. Several states filed suit, arguing that millions of low-income households would suffer immediate harm if the benefits were suspended. “Because of USDA’s actions, SNAP benefits will be delayed for the first time since the program’s inception,” the states said in court filings.

Federal judges initially sided with the states, ordering the administration to release the full payments. The ruling prompted Trump officials to appeal, insisting that the lower courts had overstepped their authority. They maintained that Justice Jackson’s earlier stay should remain intact while Congress works to reopen the government. In their filing, the administration argued, “the answer to this crisis is not for federal courts to reallocate resources without lawful authority.”

“The only way to end this crisis — which the Executive is adamant to end — is for Congress to reopen the government,” the filing continued, emphasizing that the impasse lies within legislative, not judicial, jurisdiction.

State officials accused Washington of politicizing a program that sustains roughly one in eight Americans. “Any further stay would prolong that irreparable harm and add to the chaos the government has unleashed, with lasting impacts on the administration of SNAP,” they told the Court Tuesday morning. “The government has offered no defensible justification for that result,” they added. “The administrative stay should be terminated, and no further stay should be granted.”

Tensions escalated after the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued a directive over the weekend instructing states to “immediately undo any steps taken to issue full SNAP benefits,” instead limiting payments to 65% of the monthly amount. States that refused to comply were warned of steep financial consequences. The order triggered a swift response from U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani, who paused the USDA’s directive, citing widespread confusion among state agencies.

New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin condemned the administration’s stance in blunt terms. Calling the decision “the most heinous thing” he had witnessed in office, Platkin underscored the scope of the program in his state. “There are more children in New Jersey on SNAP than consists of the entire population of our state’s largest city,” he said at a Monday press conference, highlighting the potential scale of the fallout if aid is withheld.

{Matzav.com}

The Israel Air Force has built a “target bank” of potential strike sites inside Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria and along the Jordanian border as part of lessons learned from October 7, 2023. The aim, military sources say, is to enable a very high tempo of strikes during a mass raid even if the command-and-control picture collapses — a scenario that could see dozens of strikes in the first hour and hundreds more thereafter.

According to a report on i24NEWS, the target bank was created so that, in the event of a large coordinated attack, fire can be delivered quickly and at scale. For the first time, the IDF is testing the ability to activate that capability during a massive exercise in Judea and Samaria. Air Force planners estimate that by the end of the year the system will be operable at the press of a button in some brigades, allowing them to disrupt an assault on communities; over time the capability will be extended to the eastern border and additional sectors.

Security forces continued counterterror operations across Judea and Samaria in an effort to prevent escalation amid the cease-fire in the Gaza Strip. Dozens of suspects were detained, weapons were seized, and authorities uncovered a workshop used to manufacture weapons.

In several incidents the military said forces foiled attacks on IDF units conducting operations, neutralizing three attackers. In two other cases soldiers intercepted militants who hurled petrol bombs at a major civilian roadway.

The army also demolished the home of a gunman responsible for a shooting attack in May 2025 in which an Israeli mother and her infant son were murdered. The group’s military wing later confirmed that the individual killed in the Al-Far’a refugee camp was one of its operatives.

Tensions flared during the olive-harvest season across parts of Judea and Samaria, where violent clashes were reported between Israeli settlers and Palestinian olive pickers. Near the town of Beita, eleven Palestinians were wounded, including several journalists, the Palestinian Health Ministry said, describing the incident as a “settler attack.” Hamas claimed that journalists and emergency teams were among the injured and demanded international action against what it called “the murderous government.”

The concern that the West Bank could play a central role in a renewed multi-front campaign against Israel is not new. Military documents and materials captured by IDF forces during operations in Gaza indicate that Yahya Sinwar — Hamas’s head of its political bureau in the Gaza Strip — viewed Judea and Samaria as a key theater in any decisive campaign against Israel.

In a June 19, 2022 message to Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, Sinwar reportedly outlined three scenarios for “uniting the arenas” once a campaign was launched; all included sparking unrest in the West Bank as a central front of terror. In a handwritten operational guidance dated August 24, 2022, Sinwar expressed confidence that a ground incursion into Israel would trigger a chain reaction that would bring fighting from the West Bank as well, and he urged the documentation of atrocities to stir “a wave of frenzy, madness and momentum” among Palestinians, Arab Israelis, Jerusalemites and the wider Muslim world — both to encourage them to rise and to sow fear among the enemy.

Israeli security planners say recent drills and the development of the target bank are direct responses to those lessons, aimed at ensuring that, if a mass raid occurs again, the IDF can generate immediate, distributed fires to blunt and disrupt the attackers even under the worst command-and-control conditions.

{Matzav.com}

A 50-year mortgage sounds like an easy fix for high monthly payments: stretch the loan, shrink the bill. But when you run the numbers—and think through how housing markets, lenders, and households behave—the idea mostly trades short-term relief for much higher long-term costs, slower wealth-building, and potentially higher home prices. Here’s a clear, math-driven look. […]

Speaking defiantly from an underground bunker, Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem on Tuesday night issued a sharp warning to Israel, asserting that his group will never lay down its arms despite mounting global pressure. “Israeli strikes cannot continue indefinitely—everything has its limits. We will not give up our weapons,” Qassem said.

His fiery address was delivered as part of Hezbollah’s annual Martyrs’ Day observance, a day the organization uses to honor its fallen fighters and rally support for its ongoing struggle against Israel. In his remarks, Qassem made clear that Hezbollah would resist all international efforts to disarm. “We will not relinquish our weapons, nor will we entrust the future of our generations to arrogant powers,” he declared. “It is our right to do whatever is necessary to defend our existence, our land, and our people.”

Qassem insisted that the existing ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel, signed a year ago, applies solely to the region south of the Litani River. He accused Israel of breaching the spirit of that agreement and demanded that the Lebanese government take immediate action to address Israeli positions along the border. The government, he said, must push for Israel’s withdrawal from five outposts in southern Lebanon “by all legitimate and available means.”

He also cautioned against any attempt to modify the current ceasefire deal, claiming such efforts would only serve to legitimize Israeli aggression. “There will be no substitute for the ceasefire agreement between Hezbollah and Israel,” Qassem warned, “as that would amount to pardoning Israeli violations.”

His remarks come amid growing pressure within Lebanon to curb Hezbollah’s military power. The Lebanese cabinet recently directed the national army to draft a plan to disarm the group by the end of 2025—a move that has drawn criticism from Hezbollah leadership. Qassem made clear in his speech that such efforts would fail, denouncing the initiative and reiterating his long-standing position that the organization will never abandon its weapons under any circumstances.

{Matzav.com}

Republican candidate for New York governor Elise Stefanik is racking up endorsements as she seeks the party’s nomination to challenge Gov. Kathy Hochul, but could still face a primary challenge from Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, who is signaling he may run. Stefanik’s campaign touted endorsements from nine GOP county executives The North Country congresswoman […]

In a wide-ranging interview with the Washington Post, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa charged that Israel has broken a decades-old disengagement deal, accusing it of launching widespread airstrikes and seizing new territory inside Syria.

“Syria got into war with Israel 50 years ago. Then, in 1974, there was a disengagement agreement,” al-Sharaa told the paper following his historic visit to the White House and meeting with President Trump. “This agreement lasted for 50 years. But when the [Assad] regime fell, Israel revoked this agreement. They expanded their presence in Syria, expelled the UN [peacekeeping] mission and occupied new territory.”

The Syrian leader claimed that Israel’s military has intensified operations in the country since his rebel group, the Nusra Front, toppled the Assad government last December. According to al-Sharaa, Israeli jets have conducted more than 1,000 strikes since December 8, hitting the Presidential Palace and the Ministry of Defense among other strategic sites. “But because we want to rebuild Syria, we didn’t respond to these aggressions,” he said.

Rejecting Israel’s explanations that the strikes were motivated by security concerns, al-Sharaa asserted that the true goal is territorial expansion. “Israel has always claimed that it has concerns about Syria because it is afraid of the threats that the Iranian militias and [Lebanon’s] Hezbollah represent. We are the ones who expelled those forces out of Syria,” he declared.

In a surprising revelation, the Syrian president confirmed that direct talks are underway between Damascus and Jerusalem, facilitated by Washington and other international intermediaries. “We have gone a good distance on the way to reach an agreement. But to reach a final agreement, Israel should withdraw to their pre-Dec. 8 borders,” al-Sharaa told the Washington Post. “Today, we found that Mr. Trump supports our perspective as well, and he will push as quickly as possible in order to reach a solution for this.”

When asked about the possibility of establishing a demilitarized zone south of Damascus, al-Sharaa rejected the idea outright. “To talk about an entire region demilitarized, it will be difficult, because if there is any kind of chaos, who will protect it? If this demilitarized zone was used by some parties as a launching pad for hitting Israel, who is going to be responsible for that?” he asked. He insisted, “At the end of the day, this is Syrian territory, and Syria should have the freedom of dealing with their own territory.”

In a separate interview with Fox News, broadcast Monday, al-Sharaa addressed the notion of Syria joining the Abraham Accords but spoke cautiously. He declined to state whether his country would recognize Israel’s right to exist, saying only, “Syria has borders with Israel, and Israel occupies the Golan Heights since 1967. We are not going to enter into a negotiation directly right now. Maybe the United States administration, with President Trump, will help us reach this kind of negotiation.”

Just two months earlier, al-Sharaa had told journalists in Damascus that negotiations over a security pact with Israel could soon bear fruit. At that time, he hinted that if the pact succeeded, it might pave the way for “additional agreements,” though he emphasized that “normalization or peace” with Israel was not currently being discussed.

{Matzav.com}

In the heart of one of the world’s largest Jewish cities, Boro Park Shomrim stands as a pillar of safety and protection with its team of over 150 dedicated volunteers. The organization, guided by Rabbinic oversight and dedicated to individuals and the community as a whole, is vital to the safety and community life of […]

In a milestone with global implications, Israel has begun pumping desalinated seawater into the Kinneret — the first time anywhere in the world that processed ocean water is being used to refill a natural freshwater lake. The Water Authority inaugurated the system on October 23, marking a turning point in Israel’s decades-long battle against drought […]

President Donald Trump’s administration has rolled out new State Department instructions that could sharply limit visa approvals for foreigners with certain health conditions or limited financial means, the AP reports. The policy, outlined in a cable obtained by The Associated Press, orders consular officials to more aggressively evaluate applicants’ ability to remain self-sufficient without turning to public benefits. It marks another step in Trump’s broader immigration tightening since returning to office in January.

“The Trump Administration is putting the interests of the American people first,” said State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott. “This includes enforcing policies that ensure our immigration system is not a burden on the American taxpayer.”

The cable, distributed to all U.S. embassies and consulates, expands on existing “public charge” standards — the principle allowing immigration officers to deny visas or residency to those deemed likely to depend on government assistance. While the concept has long existed in immigration law, Trump had previously widened its scope during his first term. The new directive builds on that precedent, adding new health and financial factors for officials to consider.

Among the medical issues that could now raise red flags are chronic illnesses, obesity, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, neurological and metabolic disorders, as well as mental health conditions like depression and anxiety. The memo reportedly notes that such conditions can require “hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of care.”

Julia Gelatt, associate director of the Migration Policy Institute’s immigration policy program, warned that this move could significantly narrow the pool of eligible applicants. “This could lead to a substantial narrowing of immigration,” she said. “The Trump administration is trying to go back to the policies that it worked to implement in its first term related to public charge.”

Applicants already undergo strict medical screenings before being granted entry. U.S.-approved physicians test for contagious diseases like tuberculosis, ask about drug or alcohol history, and verify vaccination records. But under the new order, consular officers must also weigh an individual’s age, education, work skills, health, family status, and detailed financial situation.

The instructions direct officers to verify evidence of applicants’ assets — including bank accounts, savings, investment portfolios, retirement funds, and trusts — whenever financial strength is cited to meet self-sufficiency requirements. Officials are even authorized to conduct interviews in English to gauge language proficiency.

Critics say the guidelines could particularly harm older applicants and those from lower-income backgrounds. Adriana Cadena, executive director of Protecting Immigrant Families, called the approach “dangerous” and harmful even to legal residents. “Its reported breadth and secrecy drive confusion and concern that deter lawfully present immigrants and U.S. citizens in immigrant families from getting help and care for which they qualify under federal law,” Cadena said.

Although the changes primarily target those applying from abroad or seeking visa renewals, immigration attorneys caution they could also affect family reunification. Loved ones of immigrants already living in the U.S. may find it harder to obtain permission to visit or relocate.

U.S. officials familiar with the policy clarified that it applies to immigrant visas — not to short-term B-2 visitor visas used for tourism or medical travel. Still, immigration lawyer Steven Heller said the practical effect could be sweeping, since the language gives consular officers broad discretion. “The new guidance is about messaging,” he said. “They are being given clearance to use the ‘totality of the circumstances’ as a sword, rather than a shield.”

Experts believe the directive signals an intent to reshape visa adjudication — shifting the presumption from approval to suspicion. With Trump’s administration focused on restricting entry for those deemed financially or medically “at risk,” advocates warn that thousands who once would have qualified could now find the door to America abruptly closed.

{Matzav.com}

TRUMP: “I am proud to announce that Chicago, Illinois, despite all of the radical opposition and obstruction we have from the Mayor and the Governor, has seen Car Theft, Shootings, Robberies, Violent Crime, and everything else, drop dramatically. As we ramp up more assets, these numbers will continue to drop…”

SEC. DUFFY: “Today has been a much better day, a lot more air traffic controllers are coming in…on Saturday, we had 81 staffing triggers, today we have 4. I think our air traffic controllers are seeing an end to the shutdown and feeling more hopeful.”

“It’s a meaningless vote,” Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said on the Democrats’ exchange in the government shutdown deal to set aside a vote on health insurance subsidies. “Maybe people feel good about having a vote, but it doesn’t mean anything at all,” Sanders said.

Russia unveiled its “human-like robot” today. It didn’t go great, unless stumbling and falling like Joe Biden is now being called “human-like”

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Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy expressed confidence that air traffic controllers will soon receive substantial back pay once the government reopens, as he spoke to reporters Tuesday at Central Wisconsin Airport in Mosinee. “Our controllers could be paid within 48 hours of the government opening,” he said, emphasizing that payments would arrive quickly. “I think it’s a 70% payment. But they’ll get a big lump sum of what they’re due, which is helpful. They don’t have to wait another two weeks to be paid.”

Duffy discussed the toll the federal shutdown has taken on the aviation sector and its workforce, criticizing Senate Democrats for blocking the continuing resolution that had been approved by the House. After 41 days of gridlock, enough senators finally crossed party lines to advance the measure, clearing the path for government operations to resume.

While optimistic about restoring regular flight schedules, Duffy cautioned that some residual delays could continue as systems and staffing levels return to normal. “If we have the controllers showing up … I think we’re going to be back to regular flight schedules,” he said. “Again, I can’t control the weather, you know that. I can’t control if there’s issues on aircraft, that’s mechanical. But with regard to controlling the airspace, we’ll be up and running.”

He acknowledged that many air traffic controllers have faced financial hardship throughout the prolonged shutdown. “Also on this day is the day that the controllers don’t get their second paycheck. And as I talked to controllers, it was interesting,” he said, noting that veteran employees were slightly more prepared. “They were telling me, you know, ‘A lot of us can maybe navigate one pay period.’ It’s not pleasant, but they have a little pot of money for a rainy day fund,” Duffy said, “but a lot of the new controllers didn’t.”

The timing of the government’s reopening, he added, is especially critical for those struggling to meet expenses. “They said virtually all of them can’t navigate missing two pay periods, which is a whole month of pay they’ve missed. So that’s a problem,” he said. “And that’s why this reopening of the government is so critical to happen right now.”

Despite the turbulence, Duffy commended airlines for cooperating with the reduced flight schedules that became necessary during the shutdown. He urged travelers whose flights were canceled to contact the Department of Transportation if they have not yet received refunds, assuring that the agency is monitoring such cases closely.

Meanwhile, House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana has recalled lawmakers to Washington, urging them to prepare for a swift vote on the new appropriations bill that will fund the government and bring the standoff to an end.

{Matzav.com}

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu flatly rejected mounting opposition calls for a state commission of inquiry into the failures that led to Hamas’s October 7, 2023 massacre on Monday, defying public opinion polls, a court directive, and the growing demands of bereaved families. The prime minister instead pledged to form what he called a “broadly […]

One year after toppling Bashar al-Assad and reorienting his war-torn country toward the West, Syria’s new president Ahmed al-Sharaa walked into the White House on Monday for a historic first as a Syrian leader welcomed to Washington. But just hours later, the rebel-turned-president made clear he isn’t ready to go as far as the Trump […]

During his visit to Argentina this week, Rishon LeZion HaRav David Yosef shlit”a personally intervened to free a woman who had been an agunah for approximately twelve years. The incident unfolded suddenly during Rav Yosef’s packed official visit to the Argentine Jewish community. Local rabbanim approached Rav Yosef urgently, explaining that a woman in their […]

By Jonathan S. Tobin

Some of Tucker Carlson’s defenders and apologists have argued that the backlash against the former Fox News host-turned-podcaster isn’t really about antisemitism.

Given the cozy interviews he’s granted to neo-Nazi “groyper” Nick Fuentes and Holocaust-denier “historian” Daryl Cooper—and his willingness to invite anyone on his show that will promote blood libels against or otherwise smear Israel—that’s not an argument anyone should take seriously. There’s no doubt that Carlson, like so many on the left, are determined to move the Overton Window of acceptable discourse so as to make it acceptable to engage in a wide variety of antisemitic tropes aimed at stigmatizing Jews and anything to do with the Jewish state.

But it’s also true that there is an ongoing debate about foreign policy in which Carlson’s efforts to aid the cause of delegitimizing the Jewish state and its supporters is playing a significant role. As Carlson has made clear, the ultimate target of his attacks isn’t really Jews or even the state of Israel. He’s just as, if not more, interested in taking down Americans who support it, thereby altering American foreign policy in the Middle East.

An antisemitic trope

If he is to be stopped, it won’t be because conservative supporters of the U.S.-Israel alliance like Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) speak up in defense of Israel and its friends. Rather, it will be because Vice President JD Vance, who is not only Carlson’s avowed friend and ally, as well as a frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, does so.

The phrase Carlson uses is “Israel First,” which is an attempt to disparage anyone who backs the U.S.-Israel alliance as not merely unpatriotic but also somehow at odds with President Donald Trump’s “America First” foreign policy. The expression is essentially an antisemitic trope about dual loyalty, and is linked to other ones about Jews buying influence. That’s why, rather than maintaining silence about Carlson’s most recent platforming and coddling of a neo-Nazi, the vice president needs to show that he is prepared to challenge allies to his right. If he fails to do so, it will not only hurt the country; it will also harm Vance’s own chances of following Trump into the Oval Office.

The “Israel First” smear delineates the distinction between the contemporary right-wing version of Jew-hatred from the even more potent one on the left.

Both are rooted in toxic myths.

Leftists are wrong to think of the Jewish state as either “white” or a manifestation of imperialism, since the Jews are the indigenous people of Israel. But left-wingers, like New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, hate Israel because they see it through the lens of their mindset in which the world is divided between two groups: people of color who are always victims no matter what they do, and “white” oppressors who are always in the wrong.

Progressive myths

Progressives have successfully indoctrinated a generation of young Americans to believe in critical race theory, intersectionality and settler-colonialism. As a result, their mischaracterization of the genocidal Palestinian-Arab cause of destroying Israel as justified resistance to racism has become something close to orthodoxy for most liberals.

Unlike the left, the overwhelming majority of American conservatives do not hate Israel. Nor are they antisemitic.

But a growing and increasingly loud minority on the right who are hostile to Israel view it as being part of a conspiracy to undermine American sovereignty. They regurgitate Carlson’s canards about Israel’s supporters—both Jews and evangelical Christians— wrongly manipulating the United States into conflicts in which it has no stake. Some of them also believe this is a threat to Christianity and white supremacy. Their support comes from a group of predominantly male youngsters who are influenced by the likes of Carlson, podcaster Candace Owens and the vile Fuentes.

Which faction poses the greater threat to what is left of what was once optimistically termed as a bipartisan pro-Israel consensus? And how do we reach and persuade either variety of Israel-haters—whether on the left or the right—that they’re wrong?

It’s easy to see the left as a greater problem simply because it now dominates the Democratic Party.

The intersectional left-wing base of the Democrats is in thrall to the ideologues who falsely analogize the Palestinian war on the Jewish state as a rerun of the American civil-rights movement. Faith in that distorted understanding is so deep that nothing Israel’s opponents do—including the atrocities of Oct. 7, 2023 and a century of rejection of every attempt at compromise, including offers of Palestinian statehood—can make them realize that they are backing a genocidal cause rooted in hatred of Jews. Nor do they seem to care that the side they’re on is reactionary Islamist one that opposes all of their other progressive beliefs about society, including  LGBTQ and women’s rights.

Such people not only dominate party activism. They also virtually monopolize the ranks of liberal journalism, thus amplifying their ability to control the discussion in the mainstream media about the Middle East.

Pro-Israel Democrats, such as Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), are an increasingly small minority out of step with the rest of their party. So are moderates, like Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who, while deeply critical of the Jewish state, are still supportive of the alliance. But, despite the hopes of Shapiro and other non-leftists who will hop into the race in the next two years, it’s increasingly likely that the next Democratic president, whether in 2028 or some point in the future, will not merely be a half-hearted ally, as was the case with Joe Biden, or unfriendly in the manner of Barack Obama, but an open and unabashed foe of Israel in a way that is unprecedented.

Danger on the right

As dire as that prospect is for Israel-supporters, there is a strong argument that the threat from right-wing Israel-haters is just as dangerous heading into the next presidential election cycle.

Given that Trump is the most pro-Israel president since the founding of the modern Jewish state, and that the base of the GOP is largely evangelical and devoted to the welfare of Israel, that doesn’t make sense. Unlike the case with the Democrats, the Republican GOP congressional caucuses in the House and Senate are both strongly supportive of Israel.

But it would be a mistake to underestimate the potential of those who cheer on Carlson and his even more extreme Israel-haters and antisemites to influence discourse on the right.

Indeed, as Vance’s response to a question from a student at a Turning Point USA event at the University of Mississippi indicated, signs of real trouble are on the horizon. The student asked why the United States supports Israel and gives it “hundreds of billions of dollars.” He also questioned both the value of the alliance and repeated slanders about “ethnic cleansing” in Gaza (falsely attributed to the late Charlie Kirk), and claimed that not only did Israelis practice a different religion but “openly support the prosecution of ours.”

Vance could have shot down the lies about “ethnic cleansing” and Israeli persecution of Christians, not to mention the exaggeration of the extent of the military aid it gets. But he didn’t. Instead, he did his best imitation of former Vice President Kamala Harris’s kowtowing to the libels of leftist Israel-haters during last year’s campaign. He expressed sympathy with the student and asserted that the Trump administration wasn’t getting bossed around by Jerusalem.

A ‘post-Israel America?’

It’s that kind of answer from a politician who is fully capable and willing to challenge critics and questioners when they are in the wrong that encouraged the paleocon American Conservative magazine to ponder whether Vance will be the one to “lead a post-Israel America.”

That may be wishful thinking. After all, Vance made a compelling case last year that the Jewish state was a model ally for an “America First” administration, since it is willing to do its own fighting and has shared interests with the United States. But right now, he seems more interested in maintaining his close friendship with Carlson and appealing to the audience who watches him and other far-right podcasts than in telling the truth about the antisemitic libels directed at Israel.

The populist national conservative wing of the GOP seems to be increasingly worried about its young voters being under the influence of antisemites.

That was on display in the last few weeks as the Heritage Foundation think tank failed to fully dissociate itself from Carlson. Others on the right, such as Megyn Kelly and Matt Walsh, who are more interested in bashing those who care about Israel and antisemitism than in criticizing even the craziest of Jew-haters like Owens, seem to agree that a neo-Nazi of Fuentes’s ilk speaks for the concerns of many, if not most, young conservative males. Support for engagement with Fuentes and his followers, rather than condemnation of them, is a disturbing abandonment of principles.

As conservative thinker Rod Dreher noted in his Substack, he’s now convinced that “between 30 and 40 percent” of the Zoomers who work in official Republican Washington are fans of Nick Fuentes.” If the actual number is anywhere close to that number, it isn’t merely shocking. It’s something that ought to be setting off alarms among those who have confidently assumed that the right was immune to antisemitism, especially when compared to the political left.

It’s hard to imagine anyone with a strong following on the left, like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) or others in the Congressional left-wing “Squad,” pushing back against the intersectional myths about Israel’s being a “white” oppressor or asserting that Jews aren’t the indigenous people of Israel. But it ought not to be fanciful to imagine Vance, who has an early but impressive lead in the race to succeed Trump in 2028, disabusing young conservatives of the myths that Carlson or Fuentes have been feeding them.

As someone who has opposed an unlimited U.S. commitment to the war in Ukraine and the need to prioritize the coming threat from China, he has the standing to take the opportunity to reiterate the arguments for the alliance with Israel at a time when many on the right look to him for leadership to defend the conservative movement from antisemites.

He could point out that, contrary to Carlson’s assertions, the United States benefits enormously from security cooperation, joint weapons and technology development and intelligence-sharing with Israel.

He could make it clear that almost all of the billions in military aid that Israel receives is spent in the United States, and that assisting American arms manufacturers is just as crucial for the U.S. as it is for the Jewish state.

He could also argue that far from persecuting Christians—a lie that Carlson floated in an interview on his program with the Israel-hating sister of former Clinton administration staffer and ABC News host George Stephanopoulos—the Jewish state is the only country in the Middle East where Christians can live and worship freely. That’s something unimaginable in virtually every Muslim and Arab country, including Qatar, which Carlson falsely lauds as a true American ally.

AIPAC vs. Qatar

He might also note that the smears against the pro-Israel AIPAC lobby that are frequently repeated by users of the term “Israel Firsters” are similarly mendacious. Contrary to its detractors and some of its supporters who have also exaggerated its influence, AIPAC is not only not the dominant force in Washington; its efforts are dwarfed by those of other special interest groups, ranking 191st in direct lobbying, 18th in direct contributions to candidates and 21st in outside spending.

By contrast, Qatar is operating a vast influence operation in the United States that encompasses not just direct contributions, but also the Islamist propaganda broadcast on its Al Jazeera network. It also involves buying the loyalty of American businessmen such as Trump envoy Steve Witkoff and journalists like Carlson. It invests heavily to subvert American higher education, to which it is the largest foreign donor.

This invidious campaign aims not only to promote the emirate’s financial and political interests, such as supporting its terrorist clients like Hamas. It also seeks to spread Islamist beliefs among U.S. Muslims and secular college students that are antithetical to the values of Western civilization that conservatives believe in and wish to defend against the effort by woke progressives to tear down.

Anyone who worries about defending biblical values or putting American interests first ought to be sounding the alarm about Qatar. And this means all those who tap into the deep religious, ethical and political support for Israel as AIPAC does, especially conservative Christians.

But the vice president seems to be making a political calculation that he can’t afford to alienate Carlson’s and Fuentes’s fans if he is to secure the support of the right in future races.

That’s unfortunate and not just because at a time of an unprecedented surge in American antisemitism, the country needs moral leadership. It’s potentially dangerous because the longer Carlson and those on the right who share his obsessive hatred of Israel are allowed to expand their foothold in mainstream conservative discourse, the stronger they will grow.

That will not only fuel the kind of Jew-hatred on the right that we now take for granted on the intersectional left. But it will lend legitimacy to the anti-Israel Democrats who have so much in common with Carlson and fumble a GOP opportunity to seize the political center from a party that treats extremists like AOC and Mamdani as rock stars and their future leaders.

Repudiating the far-right won’t deprive Vance of the votes he needs to obtain the 2028 GOP presidential nomination. But it could cost him the general election if he makes the same mistake as Harris did in 2024: allowing himself to be captured by extremist allies.

Jonathan S. Tobin is editor-in-chief of JNS.

{Matzav.com}