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Marjorie Taylor Greene is feuding with Donald Trump. Could she win over Jewish Democrats?
(JTA) — As the U.S. House prepared this week to take a pivotal vote to force the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, one leading Jewish Democrat had words of praise for a prominent MAGA diehard who helped make the vote possible.
“This is a party that’s got room for Marjorie Taylor Greene, if she wants to come over,” Rep. Jamie Raskin told a group of Florida Democrats on Monday. “We got room for anybody who wants to stand up for the Constitution and for the Bill of Rights today.”
Raskin wasn’t the only influential Jewish Democrat to have recently offered praise for Greene, the far-right Georgia congresswoman with a history of conspiratorial remarks about Jews, Israel and antisemitism.
Last month California Sen. Adam Schiff, who had called Greene part of the “lunatic fringe” when she first entered Congress in 2021, released a short video titled “I agree with… MTG?” The issue they agreed on, Schiff said, was rising healthcare costs, which Jewish Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer also said Greene was “absolutely right” about. Such Democratic praise came as a growing number of Jewish Republicans, including Florida Rep. Randy Fine, have taken the opposite tack and more forcefully denounced Greene as an antisemite.
Such praise for Greene from unexpected corners comes as she is generating positive press for her recent public break with President Donald Trump, which helped spur all but one Republican to ultimately vote on Tuesday to release the Epstein files.
Trump formally withdrew his support for Greene last week, calling her a “RINO,” or Republican in name only, and saying he is willing to support a primary challenge against her.
In recent days Greene, amid her escalating split from the president she once fervently supported, has made the media rounds. She told CNN she was “committed to ending the toxic politics” and told Bill Maher that “I didn’t even know the Rothschilds were Jewish” when she made a now-infamous 2018 Facebook post blaming California wildfires on a space laser she said was funded by the Jewish banking family. Joy Behar of “The View,” like Raskin, urged her to become a Democrat, to wild audience applause.
Yet some Jewish groups are still urging caution when it comes to dealing with the onetime QAnon adherent.
“Marjorie Taylor Greene’s repudiation of Donald Trump – whether on the Epstein files or healthcare subsidies – isn’t something Democrats had on our 2025 bingo card. Her separation from MAGA, however, doesn’t erase her years of political extremism and dangerous lies about Jewish Americans,” Hailie Soifer, head of the Jewish Democratic Council for America, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in a statement.
Soifer continued, “If Marjorie Taylor Greene wants to truly distinguish herself from the toxic and divisive politics of Donald Trump, she needs to take meaningful action to repudiate the antisemitic conspiracy theories that she’s previously espoused.”
The head of Democratic Majority for Israel, a pro-Israel group focused on shoring up the left side of the aisle, also expressed hesitation about Greene’s transformation.
“Marjorie Taylor Greene’s sudden and supposed change of heart regarding President Trump does not erase her long record of antisemitic rhetoric, her affinity for spreading dangerous conspiracy theories and her clear anti-Israel actions, which have continued through yesterday,” the group’s CEO, Brian Romick, told JTA in a statement on Tuesday. “She is a key part of the troubling trend and embrace of antisemitism coursing through the GOP.”
Romick specifically pointed out the congresswoman’s record on Israel.
“Greene has consistently voted and spoken out against providing critical support and resources for Israel to defend itself,” Romick said. “There should be no room for antisemitism, her dangerous views on Israel, or reckless conspiracy theories in either political party.”
The discussion around Greene has renewed speculation about the political future for an outspoken member of Congress who still believes disproven theories that the 2020 election was stolen and is the rare Republican to publicly accuse Israel of genocide in Gaza.
The Anti-Defamation League had, in years past, been one of the Jewish groups most loudly sounding the alarm on Greene. A spokesperson for the ADL declined to comment on Greene for this story.
In 2021, as Greene was being stripped of committee assignments over her promulgation of conspiracy theories, including antisemitic ones, ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said that Greene “literally is breaking new ground in antisemitism, stringing together so many crazy ideas it’s hard to keep track.” The following year he also called her remarks comparing then-President Joe Biden to Hitler “disgraceful”.
On her rehabilitation tour, Greene has made no effort to signal any change in her thinking on Israel or antisemitism. Even the issue that Greene has taken up as her main breaking point with Trump — Epstein — has in her hands become fodder for more conspiracy theories about Israel.
“It really makes you wonder what is in those files and who and what country is putting so much pressure on him?” Greene wrote about Trump on X last week as she pushed for the Epstein files release. She attached a screenshot of a donations page from the pro-Israel lobbying giant AIPAC.
When asked about the tweet later on CNN, Greene was even more explicit about what she was saying.
“We saw Jeffrey Epstein with ties to Ehud Barak,” she said, referring to documented links between the sex trafficker and the former Israeli prime minister, who visited Epstein’s townhouse on multiple occasions. “We saw him making business deals with them. Also, business deals that involved the Israeli government and seems to have led into their intel agencies. And I think the right question to ask is, was Jeffrey Epstein working for Israel?”
Greene again asserted that Trump was acting on behalf of a foreign power during a press conference with Epstein survivors Tuesday morning, before the House vote.
“He called me a traitor for standing with these women and refusing to take my name off the discharge petition,” Greene said about Trump while flanked by survivors. “Let me tell you what a traitor is. A traitor is an American who serves foreign countries and themselves.”
Greene also isn’t trying to bury her past association with Nick Fuentes, the antisemitic podcaster whose recent interview with Tucker Carlson has spurred broader fears about his “groyper” movement’s hold on the GOP.
In the same CNN interview with Jewish anchor Dana Bash, Greene declined to condemn Carlson’s decision to interview Fuentes. “I don’t believe in canceling people,” Greene said, also reminding viewers that she herself had spoken at a Fuentes-organized conference in 2022.
Greene is close with Carlson, appearing on his show the week before Fuentes and backing recent insinuations promoted by Carlson and Candace Owens that Israel may have played a role in the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. And she has offered some Israel-centric conspiracy theories of her own.
In May Greene suggested that the Mossad, Israel’s intelligence services, may have played a role in John F. Kennedy’s assassination. And in an August interview with conservative personality Megyn Kelly, Greene further stated, “Israel is the only country I know of that has some sort of incredible influence and control over nearly every single one of my colleagues. And I don’t know how to explain it.”
Greene has also advanced talking points circulated by far-right Christians. Last year she opposed a House bill to define antisemitism on the grounds that it “could convict Christians of antisemitism for believing the Gospel that says Jesus was handed over to Herod to be crucified by the Jews.”
At least one Democratic lawmaker embracing Greene publicly says he is still treading carefully.
In a statement to JTA, Raskin — whose remarks in Florida seemingly welcoming Greene were met with some boos — outlined more specifically what he would need to see from her in order to bring her into the fold.
“Before I would welcome Rep. Greene or any other leaders who might flee from Trump’s autocratic personality cult,” he told JTA, “I would of course want to see them repudiate all the forms of authoritarianism, antisemitism, racism, transphobia and bigotry that they have promoted as Republicans and that have become so intertwined with the MAGA Republican brand under Trump.”
Raskin added, “I have real hope that a whole lot of my colleagues will continue to evolve away from the dangerous and divisive swamps of MAGA politics.”
The post Marjorie Taylor Greene is feuding with Donald Trump. Could she win over Jewish Democrats? appeared first on The Forward.
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In a first, President Donald Trump to receive Israel Prize, the country’s top civilian honor
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Monday that President Donald Trump will receive the Israel Prize in 2026, marking the first time the award will be bestowed to a foreign leader.
Trump was informed he had won the prize during a meeting with Netanyahu at his Mar-a–Lago estate as the pair discussed plans to push the ceasefire in Gaza into its second phase, a process that has stalled in recent months.
“For the first time in the history of the State of Israel: The Israel Prize will be awarded to President Trump!,” wrote Israeli Education Minister Yoav Kisch in a post on X. “This is a historic decision that expresses recognition of President Trump’s extraordinary contribution and lasting impact on the Jewish people in Israel and around the world.”
On a call with Kisch during the meeting, Trump said the award was a “great honor,” adding that to be the “first one outside of Israel is really something.”
While the prize has infrequently been awarded to non-Israeli citizens in its history, including to Indian conductor Zubin Mehta in 1991, Monday’s announcement marked the first time that a foreign leader has received the accolade.
According to the Jerusalem Post, the guidelines for the prize mandate that candidates must be Israeli citizens, with the exception of “candidates for the Israel Prize for Diaspora Jewry and/or for a special contribution to the Jewish people.” Mehta, for example, was music director of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.
Speaking beside Trump on Monday at a press conference in Florida amid negotiations for the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal, Netanyahu said that Trump would receive the award for his “tremendous contributions to Israel and the Jewish people.”
“President Trump has broken so many conventions to the surprise of people, and then they figure out, oh, well, maybe you know, he was right after all,” said Netanyahu. “So we decided to break a convention to or create a new one, and that is to award the Israel Prize, which, in almost our 80 years, we’ve never awarded it to a non-Israeli, and we’re going to award it this year to President Trump.”
Netanyahu added that the award “reflects the overwhelming sentiment of Israelis across the spectrum.”
“They appreciate what you’ve done to help Israel and to help our common battle against the terrorists and those who would destroy our civilization,” continued Netanyahu.
Trump has made no secret of coveting and appreciating prizes, having frequently said that he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize. Netanyahu was among the world leaders, including officials from Pakistan and Cambodia, who nominated Trump for the Nobel. Earlier this month, the international soccer federation FIFA awarded Trump its inaugural “FIFA Peace Prize.”
This article originally appeared on JTA.org.
The post In a first, President Donald Trump to receive Israel Prize, the country’s top civilian honor appeared first on The Forward.
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Iran Faces Nationwide Protests Amid Economic Collapse as Israel Voices Support for Demonstrators
Protesters demonstrate against poor economic conditions in Tehran, Iran, with some shopkeepers closing their stores on Dec. 29, 2025, in response to ongoing hardships and fluctuations in the national currency. Photo: ZUMA Press Wire via Reuters Connect
Iran on Monday experienced a second straight day of expanding nationwide anti-government protests, with violent clashes between demonstrators and security forces escalating as the country grapples with unprecedented domestic crises amid Israel’s open support for the protesters.
On Sunday, thousands of people joined protests across Tehran as shopkeepers closed their stores and went on strike over the country’s deepening economic crisis and the rial — the nation’s currency — plummeting to record lows, Iranian media reported.
Demonstrators are now calling to extend strikes into a third day on Tuesday, with closures reported across key markets and protests spreading nationwide amid mounting economic pressure and growing calls for regime change.
With public unrest sweeping the nation and disrupting commercial districts, security forces have escalated their crackdown, clashing violently with protesters while firing tear gas at shopkeepers.
In widely circulated social media videos, protesters can be heard chanting slogans such as “Death to the dictator” and “[Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei] will be toppled this year,” while also calling for Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian to step down.
Videos sent to Iran International show security forces confronting protesting shopkeepers in central Tehran on Monday, with riot police deployed around the Grand Bazaar and tear gas used on Jomhouri Street near the Hafez underpass. pic.twitter.com/OyhQlyUJaN
— Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) December 29, 2025
On Monday, Pezeshkian made his first official response to the protests, announcing that government officials had been instructed to engage in talks with community leaders.
“I have instructed the interior minister to hear the legitimate demands of the protesters by engaging in dialogue with their representatives, so the government can fully address the issues and respond responsibly,” the Iranian leader said in a televised speech.
According to Iranian media, Pezeshkian also appointed former economy minister Abdolnaser Hemmati as the new head of the central bank, announcing a leadership change amid growing criticism over the rial’s historic decline and accelerating inflation.
Meanwhile, Israel has openly expressed support for the protests, denouncing the Islamist regime’s ongoing oppression and pointing to the country’s dire economic and social conditions.
“People in Iran are exhausted with the regime and the collapsed economy,” Israel’s Foreign Ministry wrote in a post on its Persian-language X account.
چون اسرائیل همیشه در کنار مردم ایران ایستاده است. https://t.co/KTC6j44Cpr
— اسرائیل به فارسی (@IsraelPersian) December 29, 2025
Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett also voiced his support for the protesters, saying they deserve a better future and affirming that the international community stands with them.
”The Iranian people have a glorious past, and they can have an even more glorious future. That future depends on every one of you,” Bennett said in a video posted on X.
“So, to all the brave men and women now rising up across your country, all the nations of the free world stand with you in your just struggle. Change is possible, there will be a better Middle East,” he continued.
Meanwhile, the Mossad — Israel’s national intelligence agency — used its X account in Farsi to urge the Iranian people to stand up to the regime, indicating agents would join them in support.
“Let’s come out to the streets together,” the Mossad wrote. “The time has come. We are with you. Not just from afar and verbally. We are with you in the field as well.”
با هم به خیابان ها بیایید. وقتش رسیده.
ما همراه شما هستیم. نه تنها از راه دور و شفاهی. در میدان نیز همراهتان هستیم.— Mossad Farsi (@MossadSpokesman) December 29, 2025
Iranian authorities warned that anyone accused of disrupting the country’s economic system would face punishment, calling such acts part of a “foreign-backed effort to destabilize the country.”
The Iranian Interior Ministry blamed the growing unrest on “hostile psychological operations,” claiming that foreign exchange fluctuations were driven by “enemy inducements” rather than economic factors, while urging the public to resist outside propaganda.
Iran has been facing a brutal economic and ecological crisis, with crippling pressure on its water and energy resources, forcing the government to take steps to relocate its capital amid mounting economic and foreign sanctions.
#BREAKING A video obtained by Iran International shows security forces shooting directly at protesters in Hamadan on Monday. pic.twitter.com/MiSXcdyrnp
— Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) December 29, 2025
As the country’s domestic crises deepen, the government has also intensified its internal crackdown.
According to Iran Human Rights Monitor (IHR), a Norway-based NGO that tracks the death penalty in the country, at least 1,791 people have been executed this year, marking a staggering rise from the 993 executions recorded in 2024.
Most of those executed were accused of collaborating with Mossad and aiding covert operations in Iran, such as assassinations and sabotage targeting the country’s nuclear program.
With at least 61 women among those executed, Iran remains the world’s leading executioner on a per capita basis, using capital punishment as a tool of repression, fear, and ideological control.
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Trump Warns Iran of Possible Strike, Urges Hamas to Disarm After Meeting Netanyahu
US President Donald Trump greets Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu upon arrival for meetings at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, US, Dec. 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
US President Donald Trump said on Monday the United States could support another major strike on Iran were it to resume rebuilding its ballistic missile or nuclear weapons programs and warned Hamas of severe consequences if it does not disarm.
Speaking beside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following a meeting at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, Trump suggested Tehran may be working to restore its weapons programs after a massive US strike in June.
“I’ve been reading that they’re building up weapons and other things, and if they are, they’re not using the sites we obliterated, but possibly different sites,” Trump told reporters during a press conference.
“We know exactly where they’re going, what they’re doing, and I hope they’re not doing it because we don’t want to waste fuel on a B-2,” he added, referring to the bomber used in the earlier strike. “It’s a 37-hour trip both ways. I don’t want to waste a lot of fuel.”
Trump, who has broached a potential nuclear deal with Tehran in recent months, said his talks with Netanyahu focused on advancing the fragile Gaza peace deal he brokered and addressing Israeli concerns over Iran and over Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Iran, which fought a 12-day war with Israel in June, said last week that it had conducted missile exercises for the second time this month.
Netanyahu said last week that Israel was not seeking a confrontation with Iran, but was aware of the reports, and said he would raise Tehran’s activities with Trump.
A SECOND PHASE IN GAZA?
Trump said he wanted to move to the second phase of the ceasefire deal between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas reached in October after two years of fighting in Gaza, a progression that entails international peacekeeping forces deployed in the Palestinian enclave.
Israel and Hamas accuse each other of major breaches of the deal and look no closer to accepting the much more difficult steps envisaged for the next phase. Hamas, which has refused to disarm, has been reasserting its control as Israeli troops remain entrenched in about half the territory.
Israel has indicated that if Hamas is not disarmed peacefully, it will resume military action to make it do so.
During his Monday comments, Trump heaped the blame on the terrorist group for not disarming more promptly, arguing that Israel had lived up to its side of the deal and warning that Hamas was inviting grave consequences.
“There will be hell to pay,” Trump warned when asked what he will do if Hamas does not lay down its arms. He has made similar statements at previous intervals during the fighting.
Netanyahu said this month that Trump had invited him for the talks, as Washington pushes to establish transitional governance for the Palestinian enclave amid Israeli reluctance to move forward.
The deployment of the international security force was mandated by a Nov. 17 UN Security Council resolution.
While Washington has brokered three ceasefires involving its longtime ally – between Israel and Hamas, Israel and Iran, and Israel and Lebanon – Netanyahu is wary of Israel‘s foes rebuilding their forces after they were considerably weakened in multiple wars.
Overall, Trump’s comments suggested he remains firmly in Netanyahu’s camp, even as some aides have privately questioned the Israeli leader’s commitment to the Gaza ceasefire. His comments also suggested he is willing to risk additional hostilities related to Gaza and Iran, even as Trump has taken credit for resolving Israel‘s wars in both places.
Trump struck a warm tone as he greeted Netanyahu before their meeting, going so far as to say that Israeli President Isaac Herzog had told him he planned to pardon Netanyahu of corruption-related charges – a conversation Herzog’s office immediately denied took place.
Netanyahu reciprocated, telling reporters after the meeting that he was gifting Trump the country’s Israel Prize, which he said has historically been reserved for Israelis.
NEXT STEPS IN GAZA CEASEFIRE PLAN
Trump’s plan to end the Gaza war ultimately calls for Israel to withdraw from the Palestinian territory and Hamas to give up its weapons and forgo a governing role.
The first phase of the ceasefire included a partial Israeli withdrawal, an increase in aid and the exchange of Israeli hostages kidnapped by Hamas for Palestinian detainees and prisoners.
An Israeli official in Netanyahu’s circle said that the prime minister would demand that the first phase of the ceasefire be completed by Hamas returning the remains of the last Israeli hostage left in Gaza, before moving ahead to the next stages. The family of the deceased hostage, Ran Gvili, joined the prime minister’s visiting entourage.
Israel has yet to open the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, also a condition of Trump’s plan, saying it will only do so once Gvili’s remains are returned.
Trump said that he and Netanyahu did not agree fully on the issue of the West Bank but the Republican leader did not lay out what the disagreement was.
TURKEY, SYRIA ALSO DISCUSSED
Before the meeting, Trump told reporters he would talk to Netanyahu about the possibility of stationing Turkish peacekeepers in Gaza. That is a fraught subject – while Trump has frequently praised Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, Israel and Turkey have a much more circumspect relationship.
While the fighting in Gaza has abated, it has not stopped entirely. Although the ceasefire officially began in October, Israeli strikes have killed more than 400 Palestinians — according to Hamas-controlled Gaza health officials — and Palestinian terrorists have killed three Israeli soldiers.
Netanyahu said on Monday that Israel was keen to ensure a peaceful border with Syria, and Trump said he was sure Israel would get along with President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who took power after longtime strongman Bashar al-Assad was deposed last year.
But Israel has been suspicious of the new leader, who was once a member of al-Qaeda, going so far as to bomb government buildings in Damascus this July.