President Donald Trump’s proposal to evacuate Palestinians from Gaza does not replace the need for Israel to meet its war aims of eradicating Hamas and ensuring they can no longer threaten Israel, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar told the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organization’s mission to Israel during an interview with Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov on Thursday.

“With regards to Trump’s idea, I will put it this way,” Sa’ar began. “If someone wants to emigrate and on the other side you have a country willing to accept [them], that is legitimate and it is moral, as in any other part of the world which is in conflict. I think it’s a new suggestion, a fresh one.”

Speaking at the FII Summit on Wednesday, President Donald Trump repeated his “peace through strength” mantra, saying, “without the strength, it’s going to be very hard to have the peace.”

“Having strength, having power to protect yourself and your people is a very important thing — hopefully you don’t have to use that power,” Trump said.

In a grim spectacle, Hamas paraded the coffins of four hostages, including a baby and a toddler, before a banner showing images of their smiling faces and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu portrayed as a vampire, on a stage in Khan Younis, Gaza, on Thursday morning. Hamas then transferred the bodies to the Red Cross to deliver to Israel after more than 500 days of anguish

The youngest of the hostages, Kfir Bibas, was 9 months old when he was kidnapped along with his brother Ariel, 4, and mother Shiri Silberman Bibas, 32. Hamas also returned the body of one of the oldest hostages, Oded Lifshitz, 85. All were taken from Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7, 2023.

New Jersey legislation codifying the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism is splitting the Democratic field in the gubernatorial race, after one leading candidate said last week he’d veto the bill.

Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) told JI this week that she supported legislation under consideration in the state that would codify the IHRA definition as New Jersey’s official definition of antisemitism for assessing cases of antisemitic discrimination. “I’ve supported the IHRA definition in the U.S. House, and would support the current state Senate bill to combat the alarming rise of antisemitism in New Jersey,” Sherrill said in a statement to JI.

Beth Davidson, a Democratic Rockland County legislator who on Tuesday entered the race to challenge Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) in New York’s 17th Congressional District, said that her journey converting to Judaism as an adult is a key part of the path that has led her to public office.

Davidson, who is expected to face a contested Democratic primary for the nomination, is running in one of the Democrats’ strongest opportunities to pick up a GOP-held seat in 2026. Lawler, who is one of only a few House Republicans to win a district that former Vice President Kamala Harris carried in 2024, is seriously considering a run for governor.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) condemned in the “strongest terms” the anti-Israel protesters who physically assaulted Orthodox Jews in the Borough Park neighborhood of Brooklyn on Tuesday evening. 

“Mask-wearing protestors chanting anti-Semitic slogans in the middle of the most Orthodox Jewish community in the city is all about provocation and not about free speech. I applaud the NYPD for keeping order and condemn in strongest terms those who used antisemitic language and symbolism at this event,” Schumer said in a statement provided exclusively to Jewish Insider.

Democratic Majority for Israel is calling on Al Williams, a candidate for Michigan’s Democratic Party chair who has faced widespread criticism over recent antisemitic comments, to drop out of the race ahead of Saturday’s election.

Williams, a veteran Democratic organizer from Detroit, drew backlash for claiming at a candidate forum co-hosted by the Arab American Democratic Caucus earlier this month that his party is “not the Jewish party,” invoking an antisemitic trope about Jewish control of American politics.

Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) on Wednesday morning became the latest Republican to push back on President Donald Trump’s attack against Ukraine and its President Volodymyr Zelensky, as U.S. officials sit down with Russian leaders to discuss ending the war in Ukraine.

Lawler, who represents a suburban New York swing district and is eyeing a gubernatorial run, rejected a series of moves and comments by the Republican president, without directly mentioning Trump. Lawler is also a subcommittee chair on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.