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Just hours ago, a shooting attack in the heart of Tel Aviv left two people dead and injured 12, four of them seriously. The attack took place on Dizengoff Street, in an area where bars and restaurants were full of patrons on a spring night. The shooter or shooters are still at large at last report.

The Republican Jewish Coalition expresses our profound grief and outrage at this violence against Israeli civilians. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims tonight. We hope that the Israeli police and military personnel participating in the manhunt will swiftly find the killer or killers and bring them to justice.

The Washington Free Beacon reports on efforts on Capitol Hill to stop the Biden administration from entering an Iran nuclear deal that is even worse than the 2015 JCPOA:

• Bipartisan legislation in Congress would force the Biden administration to release information about how its bid to unwind economic sanctions on Iran would empower and fund the hardline regime’s regional terrorism enterprise against Israel.

• Congressional Republicans are spearheading a legislative effort to bar the Biden administration from lifting terrorism sanctions on Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) as part of a new nuclear agreement with Tehran… [T]he Preventing Terror Sympathizers from Appeasing Terrorists Act… would block the White House from delisting the IRGC from the Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO) list without congressional approval.

In addition, Jewish Insider reports:

Eighteen House Democrats came together in a joint statement and press conference on Wednesday to voice concerns about the ongoing talks with Iran over its nuclear program, but left unclear whether they would all vote against a deal if or when it comes before Congress… Reps. Kathleen Rice (D-NY) and Ritchie Torres (D-NY) have separately expressed concerns to JI, bringing the total number of House Democrats who have publicly raised concerns about the talks to 20.

… Around 15 House Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee held their own press conference on Wednesday opposing the deal and calling for continued “maximum pressure” sanctions.

The Washington Examiner adds:

House Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Member Michael McCaul told reporters that lawmakers are planning to file a discharge petition to force a resolution of disapproval of the Biden administration’s plan to revive the Iran nuclear deal… McCaul, a Texas Republican, is now looking to use the discharge petition, a procedural mechanism that requires the support of 218 lawmakers and allows members to circumvent leadership and force a vote on a measure on the floor, to require the administration to obtain congressional approval to enter the deal.

Further reading:

• Dubowitz and Zweig: Iran’s Master Class in Evading Sanctions - The ‘central banker of terrorism’ could coach Russia on how to diminish pressure from the West over the Ukraine war.

Ellie Cohanim, a senior fellow with Independent Women's Forum and the former US deputy special envoy to combat antisemitism, writes at Newsweek:

Israelis last week went from experiencing a national high, as Israel hosted for the first time on her soil a regional summit with the foreign ministers of four Arab countries and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, to national mourning as a wave of terror attacks in the country led to a bloodbath that left 11 Israelis dead. These events are related. Also related is the Biden administration's posture toward Israel, reverting back to failed American polices that would pretend that the obstacle to achieving a durable Israeli-Palestinian peace is Israel, rather than Palestinian intransigence and Palestinians' rejection of the very existence of a Jewish state.

Read more here.

This study shows how Biden’s stimulus contributed to inflation

Contrary to claims from the White House, economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco say President Joe Biden's stimulus package contributed significantly to inflation.

The first Jewish justice was also the first to face confirmation hearings

Until 1916, Congress didn’t conduct public hearings on Supreme Court nominees. That changed when President Woodrow Wilson nominated Boston lawyer Louis D. Brandeis to be the high court’s first Jewish justice. The Senate quickly convened the first confirmation hearings. Its stated reason was that the 59-year-old lawyer was a controversial liberal who might lack “judicial temperament.” But antisemitism was an uneasy undercurrent in the debate, and Brandeis himself suspected his religion was one of the main causes for skepticism of his appointment.

RJC staff have returned to their offices for in-person work. Contact information for our offices can be found on our web site. Please visit us online for the latest RJC news, to see details of upcoming events, and to donate to the RJC. Read past editions of this newsletter here.