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White House to brief Jewish Congress members as it seeks funding for antisemitism strategy
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Top White House officials are meeting with a bipartisan slate of Jewish members of Congress Wednesday as the administration presses for funding for key components of its strategy to combat antisemitism, including efforts on college campuses.
Douglas Emhoff, the Jewish Second Gentleman, who is spearheading implementation of the strategy, will join Neera Tanden, President Joe Biden’s top domestic policy adviser, and Liz Sherwood-Randall, his top homeland security adviser, in a meeting Wednesday with 15-20 Jewish lawmakers from the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate, a White House official told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
These officials and others have been routinely briefing Jewish communal leaders on the implementation of the strategy, which Biden unveiled in May and accelerated in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre in Israel, which launched the war between Israel and the terror group in Gaza. The most recent briefing was on Monday, when many Jewish leaders were in town to attend the White House Hanukkah party.
At the meeting Wednesday, the White House will bring up at least two components of the strategy that require congressional funding that administration insiders have accused Republicans of obstructing in Congress.
“Following the update, they will engage in a discussion about how Congress and the Administration can work together to counter the scourge of antisemitism,” said the official in an email.
One of the issues on the agenda, the official confirmed, is funding for the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, which handles complaints of bias at federally funded college campuses. Jewish and pro-Israel groups have filed a series of federal complaints alleging that university administrations have not done enough to counter antisemitism on their campuses. Since Oct. 7, the civil rights office has enhanced its efforts to field and address the complaints.
House Republicans have for months sought cuts to the office as they wrestle with the White House to bring down federal spending.
Liberal groups that see the office as a necessary tool to combat bias and discrimination on campuses have pushed back, and their case gained traction in the swirl of antisemitism controversies on campuses since Oct. 7, with Biden administration officials arguing that the office needed to increase its staff to handle the number of complaints.
“Another way to address the scourge of antisemitism on college campuses is to sufficiently fund OCR and the Department of Ed,” Amy Spitalnick, the CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, a national public policy group, said in an interview earlier this week.
“And there have been efforts by Republican elected officials and others to cut funding for OCR at a time when its work is crucial,” said Spitalnick, who is among the Jewish leaders who have consulted with the administration on its antisemitism strategy.
Another White House funding request related to the antisemitism strategy is $200 million in extra funds for nonprofit security grants, which help religious institutions harden themselves against potential attackers. That amount would be added to the $360 million currently appropriated for the program. The White House official said that this too would be on the agenda on Wednesday.
That request is part of a $106 billion emergency funding request that includes more than $14 billion in assistance for Israel as it fights with Hamas and more than $61 billion in assistance for Ukraine as it repels Russia’s invasion. The Republican-led House passed the Israel component, conditioning it on cuts to funding for the Internal Revenue Service, a condition the Senate’s Democratic majority says is unacceptable. Republicans also want intensified restrictions on the Mexico border before they even consider the rest of the package.
There are 24 Jewish Democrats and two Jewish Republicans in the House, and eight Jewish Democrats in the Senate. The two Jewish Republicans, Max Miller of Ohio and David Kustoff of Tennessee, may be key bridges to the House Republican leadership. Miller, notably, told Jewish Insider recently that he was furious with Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana, a Republican, for attaching conditions to the Israel funding.
At the meeting with the members of Congress, the White House official said, the Biden team will review its achievements in implementing its antisemitism strategy, including consolidating Education Department protections for victims of religious bigotry; training on identifying antisemitism and Islamophobia across a number of executive agencies; providing training on anti-religious bigotry to students in the agriculture and health sectors; and updating and distributing an FBI hate crimes threat response guide.
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The post White House to brief Jewish Congress members as it seeks funding for antisemitism strategy appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Syrian Leader al-Sharaa Holds Talks With Erdogan on Surprise Istanbul Visit
Ahmed al-Sharaa, Syria’s interim president, and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey’s president, met during al-Sharaa’s first diplomatic trip since the fall of the al-Assad regime. Photo: Screenshot
i24 News – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was holding talks with Syrian counterpart Ahmed al-Sharaa in Istanbul on Saturday, local media reported. No further details were available.
This comes one day after the US administration of President Donald Trump issued orders that it said would effectively lift sanctions on Syria in order to help the country rebuild after a devastating civil war.
The Treasury Department issued a general license that authorizes transactions involving the interim Syrian government led by Al-Sharaa, as well as the central bank and state-owned enterprises.
The general license, known as GL25, “authorizes transactions prohibited by the Syrian Sanctions Regulations, effectively lifting sanctions on Syria,” the Treasury said in a statement.
Syria welcomed the sanctions waiver early on Saturday, which the Foreign Ministry called a “positive step in the right direction to alleviate the country’s humanitarian and economic suffering.”
Syria is keen on cooperating with other countries “on the basis of mutual respect and non-interference in internal affairs. It believes that dialogue and diplomacy are the best path to building balanced relations,” the ministry said in a statement.
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‘It Was Just An Accident’ by Iran’s Jafar Panahi Wins Cannes’ Top Prize
Director Jafar Panahi, Palme d’Or award winner for the film “Un simple accident” (It Was Just an Accident), reacts, during the closing ceremony of the 78th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France, May 24, 2025. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier
Revenge thriller “It Was Just An Accident” by Iranian director Jafar Panahi, who was last at the Cannes Film Festival in person more than 20 years ago, won the Palme d’Or top prize on Saturday.
Panahi, who has been arrested several times for his filmmaking and was under a travel ban until recently, last attended the festival in person in 2003, when “Crimson Gold” was screened in the Un Certain Regard category.
“Art mobilizes the creative energy of the most precious, most alive part of us. A force that transforms darkness into forgiveness, hope and new life,” said jury president Juliette Binoche when announcing the award.
“It Was Just An Accident” follows Vahid, played by Vahid Mobasseri, who kidnaps a man with a false leg who looks just like the one who tortured him in prison and ruined his life.
Vahid sets out to verify with other prison survivors that it is indeed their torturer – and then decide what to do with him.
An emotional Panahi, wearing sunglasses on stage, thanked his cast and film crew during his acceptance speech.
The Grand Prix, the second-highest prize after the Palme d’Or, was awarded to “Sentimental Value” from acclaimed director Joachim Trier.
The jury prize was split between the intergenerational family drama “Sound of Falling” from German director Mascha Schilinski and “Sirat,” about a father and son who head into the Moroccan desert, by French-Spanish director Oliver Laxe.
Brazil’s “The Secret Agent” won two awards, one for best actor for Wagner Moura, as well as best director for Kleber Mendonca Filho.
“I was having Champagne,” said Mendonca Filho after he ran up to the stage to collect his award after celebrating Moura, who previously made a name for himself in hit TV series “Narcos.”
Newcomer Nadia Melliti took home best actress for “The Little Sister,” a queer coming-of-age story centered around the daughter of Algerian immigrants in Paris.
Belgium’s Dardenne brothers, who have the rare honor of already having won two Palme d’Or prizes, took home the award for best screenplay for their film “Young Mothers.”
Twenty-two films in total were competing for the prize at the 78th Cannes Film Festival, with entries from well-known directors Richard Linklater, Wes Anderson and Ari Aster.
Saturday’s closing ceremony officially ends the glamour-filled festival that began on May 13.
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Judge Temporarily Blocks Trump Admin From Revoking Harvard Enrollment of Foreign Students
US President Trump speaks to the media at the annual White House Easter Egg Roll, Washington, DC, April 21, 2025. Photo: Andrew Leyden/ZUMA Press Wire via Reuters Connect
A US judge on Friday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from revoking Harvard University’s ability to enroll foreign students, a policy the Ivy League school called part of President Donald Trump’s broader effort to retaliate against it for refusing to “surrender its academic independence.”
The order provides temporary relief to thousands of international students who were faced with being forced to transfer under a policy that the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based university called a “blatant violation” of the US Constitution and other federal laws, and said would have an “immediate and devastating effect” on the university and more than 7,000 visa holders.
“Without its international students, Harvard is not Harvard,” the 389-year-old school said in its lawsuit filed earlier on Friday in Boston federal court. Harvard enrolled nearly 6,800 international students in its current school year, equal to 27% of total enrollment.
The move was the latest escalation in a broader battle between Harvard and the White House, as Trump seeks to compel universities, law firms, news media, courts and other institutions that value independence from partisan politics to align with his agenda. Trump and fellow Republicans have long accused elite universities of left-wing bias.
Harvard has pushed back hard against Trump, having previously sued to restore nearly $3 billion in federal grants that had been frozen or canceled. In recent weeks, the administration has proposed ending Harvard’s tax-exempt status and hiking taxes on its endowment, and opened an investigation into whether it violated civil rights laws.
Leo Gerden, a Swedish student set to graduate Harvard with an undergraduate degree in economics and government this month, called the judge’s ruling a “great first step” but said international students were bracing for a long legal fight that would keep them in limbo.
“There is no single decision by Trump or by Harvard or by a judge that is going to put an end to this tyranny of what Trump is doing,” Gerden said.
In its complaint, Harvard said the revocation would force it to retract admissions for thousands of people, and has thrown “countless” academic programs, clinics, courses and research laboratories into disarray, just a few days before graduation. It said the revocation was a punishment for Harvard’s “perceived viewpoint,” which it called a violation of the right to free speech as guaranteed by the US Constitution’s First Amendment.
The Trump administration may appeal US District Judge Allison Burroughs’ ruling. In a statement, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said, “unelected judges have no right to stop the Trump Administration from exercising their rightful control over immigration policy and national security policy.”
Since Trump’s inauguration on January 20, his administration has accused several universities of indifference toward the welfare of Jewish students during widespread campus protests against Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
Harvard’s court challenges over the administration’s policies stand in contrast to its New York-based peer Columbia University’s concessions to similar pressure. Columbia agreed to reform disciplinary processes and review curricula for courses on the Middle East, after Trump pulled $400 million in funding over allegations the Ivy League school had not done enough to combat antisemitism.
In announcing on Thursday the termination of Harvard’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification, effective starting in the 2025-2026 academic year, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, without providing evidence, accused the university of “fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party.”
Harvard says a fifth of its foreign students in 2024 were from China. US lawmakers from both parties have expressed concerns about the influence of the Chinese government on US college campuses, including efforts by Beijing-directed Chinese student associations to monitor political activities and stifle academic speech.
The university says it is committed to combating antisemitism and investigating credible allegations of civil rights violations.
HARVARD DEFENDS ‘REFUSAL TO SURRENDER’
In her brief order blocking the policy for two weeks, Burroughs said Harvard had shown it could be harmed before there was an opportunity to hear the case in full. The judge, an appointee of Democratic President Barack Obama, scheduled hearings for May 27 and May 29 to consider next steps in the case. Burroughs is also overseeing Harvard’s lawsuit over the grant funds.
Harvard University President Alan Garber said the administration was illegally seeking to assert control over the private university’s curriculum, faculty and student body.
“The revocation continues a series of government actions to retaliate against Harvard for our refusal to surrender our academic independence,” Garber wrote in a letter on Friday to the Harvard community.
The revocation could also weigh on Harvard’s finances. At many US universities, international students are more likely to pay full tuition, essentially subsidizing aid for other students.
“It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enroll foreign students and benefit from their higher tuition payments,” DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.
Harvard’s bonds, part of its $8.2 billion debt pile, have been falling since Trump first warned US universities in March of cuts to federal funding.
International students enrolled at Harvard include Cleo Carney, daughter of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, and Princess Elisabeth, first in line to the Belgian throne.
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