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Lee Zeldin, a bright spot for Republicans despite NY loss, won’t seek GOP chair but will assume Jewish GOP leadership role
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Lee Zeldin, the Republican Jewish congressman who mounted a stronger-than-expected but failed bid to be New York’s governor, says he has decided not to run to be the chairman of the Republican National Committee.
But in a sign that he expects to have continued influence despite exiting Congress, Zeldin, who has been the top-ranked Jewish Republican in the country, this week joined the board of the Republican Jewish Coalition.
That means he will play a key role in animating political giving by Republican Jews at a time when the future of the Republican Party is under contention. Zeldin, a Long Island Republican whose strong showing in New York is credited with flipping four formerly Democratic congressional seats there, issued a blistering statement on Wednesday morning accusing the incumbent RNC chairwoman, Ronna McDaniel, of a “disappointing” performance during her three two-year terms in the job.
“The grassroots is frustrated, deflated, and defeated,” he said, referring to a string of defeats since McDaniel assumed the party leadership at the behest of former President Donald Trump in 2017. “They are tired of coming up short like what happened again just yesterday.”
Zeldin was referring to the defeat Tuesday in Georgia of GOP Senate candidate Herschel Walker, the former NFL star who challenged incumbent Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock. Warnock bested Walker in a runoff, becoming the only statewide win for Democrats in Georgia this cycle.
The election season has been a crushing disappointment for Republicans who anticipated a “red wave” of victories because President Joe Biden remains unpopular. Instead, Democrats gained a seat in the Senate and maintained control of the chamber; lost the U.S. House of Representatives to Republicans, but barely; and kept a number of governorships that were seen as vulnerable, flipping a number of state legislatures in the process.
On McDaniel’s watch, Republicans also lost the presidency and the Senate in 2020, and the House in 2018.
Zeldin said he was not running because McDaniel’s reelection was “baked in”; she is believed to have the support of at least 100 of the 168 party officials who comprise the voting membership of the RNC.
Zeldin said he has the support of the party’s grassroots, although how he made that assessment is not clear. He also has said that Republican donors would be more likely to give if he were elected and recently named two to the New York Post: Blackstone Group chairman Stephen Schwartzman and steel magnate Andrew Sabin. Both are Jewish. Ronald Lauder, the cosmetics heir and the president of the World Jewish Congress, poured millions into Zeldin’s gubernatorial bid.
Zeldin in his statement said there still was time for McDaniel to withdraw from the race before the election early next year and suggested he would consider running were she to do so.
“The better path forward would be for Chairwoman McDaniel to listen to and respect the wishes of the actual grassroots voters of our party, and allow the RNC to forge ahead with new leadership,” he said. “Her greatest service to the Republican Party at this time would be to make room for a new Chair.”
Both McDaniel and Zeldin were seen as close to Trump. Zeldin was on the team that defended the former president during one of his impeachment trials and also voted not to certify Biden’s election after Trump’s lies about the election results spurred a deadly insurrection at the Capitol.
Zeldin distanced himself from Trump during the gubernatorial election, not appearing with him in a state where Trump, although a native, is deeply unpopular. Now, Republicans are blaming Trump and his insistence on loyalty to his false claims about the 2020 election for their poor performance. Zeldin did not mention Trump in his statement.
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The post Lee Zeldin, a bright spot for Republicans despite NY loss, won’t seek GOP chair but will assume Jewish GOP leadership role appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Palestinian Terrorists Hand Over Body of Another Gaza Hostage
Palestinians walk past the rubble of destroyed buildings, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Jabalia, northern Gaza Strip, November 6, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Palestinian terrorist group Islamic Jihad handed over the body of a deceased hostage on Friday as part of the Gaza ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
The Israeli military said in a statement on Saturday it had confirmed the body was that of Lior Rudaeff following an identification process.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that a coffin carrying the remains of a hostage had been handed over to Israeli security forces in Gaza via the Red Cross.
Islamic Jihad is an armed group that is allied with Hamas and also took hostages during the October 7, 2023, attack that precipitated the Gaza war. It said the hostage’s body was located in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.
Under the October ceasefire deal, Hamas turned over all 20 living hostages still held in Gaza since the group’s attack on Israel, in return for nearly 2,000 Palestinian convicts and wartime detainees held in Israel.
The ceasefire agreement also included the return of remains of 28 deceased hostages in exchange for the remains of 360 militants.
Including Rudaeff, taken from the Kibbutz Nir Yitzchak, 23 hostage bodies have been returned in exchange for 300 bodies of Palestinians, though not all have been identified, according to Gaza’s health authorities.
The tenuous ceasefire has calmed most but not all fighting, allowing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to return to the ruins of their homes in Gaza. Israel has withdrawn troops from positions in cities and more aid has been allowed in.
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Iran’s Severe Water Crisis Prompts Pezeshkian to Raise Possibility of Evacuating Tehran
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian attends the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit 2025, in Tianjin, China, September 1, 2025. Iran’s Presidential website/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
i24 News – As Iran is experiencing one of its worst droughts in decades, President Masoud Pezeshkian warned that the capital of Tehran might have to be evacuated if there were no rains in the next two months.
“If it doesn’t rain, we will have to start restricting water supplies in Tehran next month. If the drought continues, we will run out of water and be forced to evacuate the city,” the leader was quoted as saying.
Pezeshkian described the situation as “extremely critical,” citing reports that Tehran’s dam reservoirs have fallen to their lowest level in 60 years.
According to the director of the Tehran Water Company, the largest water reservoir serving the capital currently holds 14 million cubic meters, compared to 86 million at the same time last year.
Latyan Dam, another key reservoir, is only about nine percent full. “Latyan’s water storage is just nine million cubic meters,” Deputy Energy Minister Mohammad Javanbakht said recently, calling the situation “critical.”
On Saturday, Energy Minister Abbas Aliabadi said “we are forced to cut off the water supply for citizens on some evenings so that the reservoirs can refill.”
The ongoing crisis is giving rise to increasing speculation that further shortages could trigger nationwide protests and social unrest.
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US Forces Working with Israel on Gaza Aid, Israeli Official Says
A Palestinian carries aid supplies that entered Gaza, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, in Zawaida in the central Gaza Strip. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
US forces are taking part in overseeing and coordinating aid transfers into the Gaza Strip together with Israel as part of US President Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan, an Israeli security official said on Saturday.
The Washington Post reported on Friday that the US-led Civil-Military Coordination Center (CMCC) will replace Israel in overseeing aid into Gaza. It cited a US official and people familiar with the matter as saying Israel was part of the process but that CMCC would decide what aid enters Gaza and how.
The Israeli security official said that Israeli security services remain part of policy, supervision and monitoring with decisions made jointly, and that the integration of the CMCC was already underway.
A spokesperson for the US embassy in Jerusalem told Reuters that the US was “working hard, in tandem with Israel and regional partners, on the next phases of implementing” the president’s “historic peace plan.” That includes coordinating the immediate distribution of humanitarian assistance and working through details.
The US is pleased by the “growing contributions of other donors and participating countries” in the CMCC to support humanitarian aid to Gaza, the spokesperson said.
TOO LITTLE AID GETTING IN
Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas agreed a month ago to a first phase of a peace plan presented by Trump. It paused a devastating two-year war in Gaza triggered by a cross-border attack by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023, and secured a deal to release Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners.
The CMCC began operating from southern Israel in late October, tasked with helping aid flow and stabilizing security in Gaza, according to the U.S. Central Command.
While the truce was meant to unleash a torrent of aid across the tiny, crowded enclave where famine was confirmed in August and where almost all the 2.3 million inhabitants have lost their homes, humanitarian agencies said last week that far too little aid is reaching Gaza.
Israel says it is fulfilling its obligations under the ceasefire agreement, which calls for an average of 600 trucks of supplies into Gaza per day. Reuters reported on October 23 that Washington is considering new proposals for humanitarian aid delivery.
The Israeli official said that the United States will lead coordination with the international community, with restrictions still in place on the list of non-governmental organizations supplying aid and the entry of so-called dual-use items, which Israel considers to have both civilian and military use.