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US Sen. Jon Ossoff Faces Waning Support Among Georgia Jews, Reelection Chances in Danger: Report
Then-Democratic US Senate candidate Jon Ossoff speaks after the runoff election against Republican Senator David Perdue in a still image from video in Atlanta, Georgia, US, Jan. 6, 2021. Photo: Jon Ossoff for Senate/Handout via REUTERS.
US Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) is hemorrhaging support among Jewish constituents over his increasingly adversarial posture against Israel, according to the New York Times.
Jewish community leaders and donors initially became disillusioned with Ossoff after the lawmaker voted to implement a partial arms embargo against Israel and lambasted the Jewish state’s conduct in its war against Hamas, the Times reported over the weekend. The newspaper noted that a coalition of Jewish organizations subsequently sent a private letter to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, encouraging the Republican to challenge Ossoff in the 2026 Senate race.
“As a bipartisan group of leaders in the metropolitan Atlanta Jewish community, we humbly ask you to consider running for the United States Senate in 2026,” the letter read.
“Should you decide to run in the 2026 election,” the letter continued, “you would find no better friends, more loyal allies, or stronger supporters than us and our community.”
Last November, Ossoff, along with 19 other senators, joined an unsuccessful effort spearheaded by progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) to block the transfer of certain heavy-duty arms to Israel.
Ossoff, who is Jewish, accused the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of behaving with “reckless disregard” for the lives of Palestinian civilians. He slammed the Jewish state for supposedly failing to “provide safe passage for food and essential medical supplies” in Gaza and criticized Israel for engaging in “conduct” that allegedly undermined American interests. Lamenting the arms embargo’s failure to pass the Senate, Ossoff stated that Israeli officials needed a “message” that the Jewish state must “have mercy for the innocent.”
Following the Hamas-led slaughter of roughly 1,200 people and kidnapping of 251 hostages throughout southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, relations between the Democratic Party and Jews have become increasingly strained. Many supporters of Israel have become outraged at what they perceive as growing anti-Israel animus if not outright antisemitism within traditionally left-wing institutions.
Progressive lawmakers such as Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), and Summer Lee (D-PA) have spent the past year launching attacks against Israel’s character, accusing the Jewish state of committing both a “genocide” and an “ethnic cleansing” campaign in Gaza. Even nominally moderate lawmakers such as Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) have sharpened their criticisms of Israel over the past 16 months, calling into question the Democratic party’s support of the Jewish state among some pro-Israel advocates.
The Times‘ report on Ossoff came after the latest Economist/YouGov poll released last week showed that Democrats in the US widely sympathize with Palestinians over Israelis.
Separately, the American Jewish Committee (AJC) released a survey last week finding that American Jews believe the Republican Party is handling antisemitism better than the Democratic Party and that 81 percent of American Jews stated that they cared about Israel because it was “important.”
Ossoff, who ran a senatorial campaign in part focusing on his Jewish identity, will likely face intense competition to secure reelection in 2026. If Kemp were to enter the 2026 Senate race, he would be coming off the heels of a popular stint as governor, in which he enjoyed a 63 percent approval rating in June 2024. Ossoff is also widely considered one of the most vulnerable Democratic senators up for reelection, already facing a barrage of attack ads from Republicans within The Peach State.
The post US Sen. Jon Ossoff Faces Waning Support Among Georgia Jews, Reelection Chances in Danger: Report first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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‘With or Without Russia’s Help’: Iran Pledges to Block South Caucasus Route Opened Up By Peace Deal
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 8, 2025. Photo: Kevin Lamarque via Reuters Connect.
i24 News – Iran will block the establishment of a US-backed transit corridor in the South Caucasus region with or without Moscow’s help, a senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader was quoted as saying on Saturday by the Iran International website, one day after the historic peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
“Mr. Trump thinks the Caucasus is a piece of real estate he can lease for 99 years,” Ali Akbar Velayati said of the so-called Zangezur corridor, the establishment of which is stipulated in the peace deal unveiled on Friday by US President Donald Trump. The White House said the transit route would facilitate greater exports of energy and other resources.
“This passage will not become a gateway for Trump’s mercenaries — it will become their graveyard,” the Khamenei advisor added.
Baku and Yerevan have been at loggerheads since the late 1980s when Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous Azerbaijani region mostly populated by ethnic Armenians, broke away from Azerbaijan with support from Armenia. Azerbaijan took back full control of the region in 2023, prompting or forcing almost all of the territory’s 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee to Armenia.
Yet that painful history was put to the side on Friday at the White House, as Trump oversaw a signing ceremony, flanked by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
The peace deal with Azerbaijan—a pro-Western ally of Israel—is expected to pull Armenia out of the Russian and Iranian sphere of influence and could transform the South Caucasus, an energy-producing region neighboring Russia, Europe, Turkey and Iran.
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UK Police Arrest 150 at Protest for Banned Palestine Action Group
People holding signs sit during a rally organised by Defend Our Juries, challenging the British government’s proscription of “Palestine Action” under anti-terrorism laws, in Parliament Square, in London, Britain, August 9, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Jaimi Joy
London’s Metropolitan Police said on Saturday it had arrested 150 people at a protest against Britain’s decision to ban the group Palestine Action, adding it was making further arrests.
Officers made arrests after crowds, waving placards expressing support for the group, gathered in Parliament Square, the force said on X.
Protesters, some wearing black and white Palestinian scarves, chanted “shame on you” and “hands off Gaza,” and held signs such as “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action,” video taken by Reuters at the scene showed.
In July, British lawmakers banned Palestine Action under anti-terrorism legislation after some of its members broke into a Royal Air Force base and damaged planes in protest against Britain’s support for Israel.
The ban makes it a crime to be a member of the group, carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.
The co-founder of Palestine Action, Huda Ammori, last week won a bid to bring a legal challenge against the ban.
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‘No Leniency’: Iran Announces Arrest of 20 ‘Zionist Agents’
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi addresses a special session of the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, June 20, 2025. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
i24 News – Iranian authorities have in recent months arrested 20 people charged with being “Israeli Mossad operatives,” the judiciary said, adding that the Islamic regime will mete out the harshest punishments.
“The judiciary will show no leniency toward spies and agents of the Zionist regime, and with firm rulings, will make an example of them all,” spokesperson Asghar Jahangiri told Iranian media. However, it is understood that an unspecified number of detainees were released, apparently after the charges against them could not be substantiated.
The Islamic Republic was left reeling by a devastating 12-day war with Israel earlier in the summer that left a significant proportion of its military arsenal in ruins and dealt a serious setback to its uranium enrichment program. The fallout included an uptick in executions of Iranians convicted of spying for Israel, with at least eight death sentences carried out in recent months. Hit with international sanctions, the country is in dire economic straights, with frequent energy outages and skyrocketing unemployment.
In recent weeks Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi affirmed that Tehran cannot give up on its nuclear enrichment program even as it was severely damaged during the war.
“It is stopped because, yes, damages are serious and severe. But obviously we cannot give up of enrichment because it is an achievement of our own scientists. And now, more than that, it is a question of national pride,” the official told Fox News.