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Key congressional committee OKs a hike in funding for the antisemitism monitor

WASHINGTON (JTA) —A congressional committee approved an increase in funding for the office of Deborah Lipstadt, the State Department’s antisemitism monitor, from $1.5 million to $2.5 million.
The U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee approved the bill, which pays for State Department and foreign operations, late Wednesday. It now goes to the full House, and must be reconciled with parallel Senate legislation. Senators who focus on antisemitism hope to get similar language into the corresponding Senate bill.
This week, a bipartisan slate of lawmakers who belong the House’s Task Force for Combating Antisemitism got the funding increase into the bill’s committee report, which conveys the bill’s legislative intent.
“The dangerous and distributing rise in antisemitism requires unprecedented investments in the Office of the Special Envoy so that the Special Envoy has the staffing and resources it requires to accomplish its work,” said a release Wednesday from Rep. Grace Meng, the New York Democrat who is a co-chair of the task-force. Lipstadt’s title is special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism.
The other co-chairs are Rep. Kathy Manning, a North Carolina Democrat, and Chris Smith, a New Jersey Republican. The other lawmakers involved in getting the funding in the committee report are Democrats Susan Wild of Pennsylvania and Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, and Republicans María Elvira Salazar of Florida, David Kustoff of Tennessee and Don Bacon of Nebraska.
The amount is $500,000 more than the $2 million sought earlier this year by lawmakers who focus on antisemitism, who sent letters to the U.S. State Department and to appropriators asking for the funds. It also comes after the Biden administration rolled out a comprehensive strategy for combating antisemitism in May.
In pressing for the increase, lawmakers have cited what reports say is a spike in antisemitic attacks and rhetoric both domestically and abroad.
“Antisemitism is a tangible and growing threat faced by both the American Jewish community and Jews around the world,” said a letter sent to House appropriators in March and signed by 83 House members from both parties. A similar bipartisan letter signed by 33 senators was sent to Senate appropriators in April.
Lipstadt, who is a noted scholar of the Holocaust, needs the money for travel and for staff as demand for her presence overseas increases, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency has learned. She has traveled extensively in Arab Gulf states to promote education about Jews as nations in the region normalize ties with Israel. This week, she was part of a delegation that traveled to Bosnia and Herzegovina for a commemoration of the 28th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre, in which 8,000 Muslims were killed during the Bosnian War.
Jewish groups that have pressed for the increase praised the approval. “We’re hopeful that number will stay in the final appropriations bill,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League. “The data is clear: We are facing a crisis of rising global antisemitism with incidents and attitudes at historic highs both in the U.S and in many countries abroad. This funding increase will ensure the office can grow to meet the challenges of the day and have the necessary resources to carry out its important work of fighting antisemitism around the world.”
Elana Broitman, the Jewish Federations of North America’s senior vice president for public affairs, said in a statement that the funding will help Lipstadt “ensure we are leveraging all of our diplomatic tools to help improve the safety and security of at-risk Jewish communities and hold world leaders to account.”
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The post Key congressional committee OKs a hike in funding for the antisemitism monitor appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Israeli Strike on Tehran Kills Bodyguard of Slain Hezbollah Chief

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi lays a wreath as he visits the burial site of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, on the outskirts of Beirut, Lebanon, June 3, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
A member of Lebanese armed group Hezbollah was killed in an Israeli air strike on Tehran alongside a member of an Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group, a senior Lebanese security source told Reuters and the Iraqi group said on Saturday.
The source identified the Hezbollah member as Abu Ali Khalil, who had served as a bodyguard for Hezbollah’s slain chief Hassan Nasrallah. The source said Khalil had been on a religious pilgrimage to Iraq when he met up with a member of the Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada group.
They traveled together to Tehran and were both killed in an Israeli strike there, along with Khalil’s son, the senior security source said. Hezbollah has not joined in Iran’s air strikes against Israel from Lebanon.
Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada published a statement confirming that both the head of its security unit and Khalil had been killed in an Israeli strike.
Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli aerial attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs in September.
Israel and Iran have been trading strikes for nine consecutive days since Israel launched attacks on Iran, saying Tehran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. Iran has said it does not seek nuclear weapons.
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Hamas Financial Officer and Commander Eliminated by IDF in the Gaza Strip

Israeli soldiers operate during a ground operation in the southern Gaza Strip, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, July 3, 2024. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), in cooperation with the General Security Service (Shin Bet), announced on Friday the killing of Ibrahim Abu Shamala, a senior financial official in Hamas’ military wing.
The operation took place on June 17th in the central Gaza Strip.
Abu Shamala held several key positions, including financial officer for Hamas’ military wing and assistant to Marwan Issa, the deputy commander of Hamas’ military wing until his elimination in March 2024.
He was responsible for managing all the financial resources of Hamas’ military wing in Gaza, overseeing the planning and execution of the group’s war budget. This involved handling and smuggling millions of dollars into the Gaza Strip to fund Hamas’ military operations.
The post Hamas Financial Officer and Commander Eliminated by IDF in the Gaza Strip first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Report: Wary of Assassination by Israel, Khamenei Names 3 Potential Successors

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, May 20, 2025. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
i24 News – Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei named three senior clerics as candidates to succeed him should he be killed, the New York Times reported on Saturday citing unnamed Iranian officials. It is understood the Ayatollah fears he could be assassinated in the coming days.
Khamenei reportedly mostly speaks with his commanders through a trusted aide now, suspending electronic communications.
Khamenei has designated three senior religious figures as candidates to replace him as well as choosing successors in the military chain of command in the likely event that additional senior officials be eliminated.
Earlier on Saturday Israel confirmed the elimination of Saeed Izadi and Bhanam Shahriari.
Shahriari, head of Iran’s Quds Force Weapons Transfer Unit, responsible for arming Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, was killed in an Israeli airstrike over 1,000 km from Israel in western Iran.
The post Report: Wary of Assassination by Israel, Khamenei Names 3 Potential Successors first appeared on Algemeiner.com.