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The Trump Administration continues to take strong steps against antisemitism and against terrorist groups and their supporters.

Mahmoud Khalil, a green card holder and Columbia University graduate who led antisemitic campus protests there last year, was recently detained by ICE for his pro-Hamas activities.

This week a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University, a foreign student with ties to Hamas, was also detained by immigration officials.

The Trump Administration's strong stand against pro-Hamas agitators isn't limited to college campuses. Last Friday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio designated the South African ambassador to Washington, Ebrahim Rasool, as a "persona non grata", calling Rasool a "race-baiting politician." The decision comes after Rasool publicly alleged that President Donald Trump was leading a global white supremacist movement. Rasool is a known supporter of Hamas.

Also this week, the Justice Department announced the launch of Joint Task Force October 7, an initiative that will seek justice for the victims of the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack in Israel and address the ongoing threat posed by Hamas and its affiliates. The victims of October 7 include 47 US citizens killed in the attack and 8 US citizens abducted by Hamas.

According to the DOJ statement:

JTF 10-7 will focus on targeting, charging, and securing for prosecution in the United States the direct perpetrators of the October 7 attack — the terrorists on the ground that day who murdered and kidnapped innocent civilians. JTF 10-7 will also assume responsibility for the pending charges against Hamas leadership relating to the October 7 attack and other acts of terrorism, and to bring those criminals to the United States to face justice for their reprehensible role in these atrocities. Finally, JTF 10-7 will investigate acts of terrorism and civil rights violations by individuals and entities providing support and financing to Hamas, related Iran proxies, and their affiliates, as well as acts of antisemitism by these groups.

...These efforts will build on the Justice Department’s ongoing investigations into the perpetrators of these heinous acts and demonstrate the Department’s commitment to degrading and dismantling Hamas, holding Hamas supporters accountable, achieving justice for victims, and fighting terrorist-led antisemitism.

In an op-ed at The Hill, RJC Leader Mor Greenberg writes:

President [Donald] Trump's record on Jewish and Israeli issues isn't just strong — it's unmatched. He moved the US embassy to Jerusalem while every other president just talked about it. He recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. He brokered the Abraham Accords, making historic peace deals between Israel and Arab nations. He cut funding to UNRWA, an organization that has been spoon-feeding antisemitic propaganda to Palestinian children for decades. These aren't symbolic gestures — they're actions that reshaped the geopolitical landscape and made Israel, and Jews, safer.

Meanwhile, American college campuses have become lawless free-for-alls of open antisemitism. Jewish students are harassed, assaulted and stalked in broad daylight. And yet, who is actually cracking down on it? Not Joe Biden. Not the progressives who claim to care about Jewish safety but can't bring themselves to condemn a single pro-Hamas mob. It's the Republican Party that's holding universities accountable, yanking federal funding from schools that refuse to protect Jewish students.

And this isn't just about protests — it's about real, dangerous extremists operating on American soil with the backing of the Democratic establishment. Take Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University activist with a long history of pro-Hamas rhetoric and open incitement. Khalil has called for "armed resistance" against Israel.

Yet when ICE arrested him, Democrats, including members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, rushed to his defense. They called his deportation proceedings "authoritarianism," conveniently ignoring his ties to a US-designated terrorist organization.

Let that sink in. The same party that claims to stand against antisemitism is going to bat for a Hamas supporter. The same Democratic leadership that talks a big game about fighting hate is bending over backward to protect an extremist who incites violence against Jews.

The White House publishes occasional roundups of the Trump Administration's successes. The most recent one includes:

• President Trump and his administration continued their remarkable progress in securing the border following the news that illegal crossings have plummeted to the lowest levels ever recorded.
  
  • In President Trump's first 50 days, ICE arrested 32,809 illegal immigrants — nearly 75% of whom were accused or convicted criminals — virtually the same number of arrests over the entirety of Biden's final year in office.
  • Just 77 "gotaways" were recorded in the past three weeks — a 95% decrease from the average daily number of "gotaways" under Biden in 2023.
  • Migration to the US through Panama's Darien Gap has dropped by 99% as would-be illegal border crossers turn around.
• The Environmental Protection Agency launched the "biggest day of deregulation in American history," which included ending the Biden-Harris electric vehicle mandate, stopping the Biden Administration's assault on power plants, and eliminating costly emissions standards.
• The EPA canceled more than 400 "diversity, equity, and inclusion" and "environmental justice" grants, totaling $1.7 billion.
• The Department of Education opened investigations into 45 universities under Title VI for alleged impermissible use of race-exclusionary preferences, race-based scholarships, and/or race-based segregation.
• The Department of Transportation rescinded memos issued by the Biden administration that injected social justice, radical environmental agendas into infrastructure funding decisions.
• The Department of the Treasury sanctioned Iran's oil minister and shadow fleet operators and targeted Houthi terrorists involved in smuggling and procuring weapons.

At JNS, Bryan Leib reflects on promises made, promises kept; namely, President Trump's actions to protect American Jews and stand with Israel. He notes a number of important presidential actions and concludes: "For those who feared that pro-Israel and pro-Jewish rhetoric on the campaign trail would fade into empty promises, these first weeks should be reassuring to all. Promises were made, and Trump is proving—once again—that they will be kept."

Oren: Israel's Second War of Independence

[One question] I was being frequently asked: which if any of Israel's previous wars did today's war most closely resemble? …[F]or me the larger truth remains that in the roster of Israel’s conflicts over the decades since achieving statehood, none today continues to echo so resonantly—or so instructively—as does the one I named at the start: the 1948–49 War of Independence.

…First, as in our War of Independence, the current war has been fought not deep in enemy territory but nearby and indeed within the state itself: in our farms, towns, settlements, and municipalities.

Next, like its predecessor at Israel's birth, this latest war has been waged not only or even principally against our armed forces but rather against our civilian population… This war, again like the War of Independence, has seen civilian Israeli volunteers picking up guns to protect and secure their homes and their families huddling in bomb shelters.

Finally, this war—for which we do not yet have a nationally accepted name—not only resembles the War of Independence but also rivals it in terms of its duration. As of the January 19th cease-fire, the current conflict has outlasted our independence struggle by four days.

Like Israel's other wars, this latest one, too, has been fought for our security, if not for our very survival. But the current war is also being fought for something even more fateful. That something is Israel's soul.

JNS: Jim Jordan - Israel stands 'in a category all by themselves' among US allies

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), an influential member of the conservative wing of the House Republican Conference, said in an interview with Jewish Insider last week that Israel stands in a unique place among US allies and that the US should always be ready to assist Jerusalem when it needs help.

Asked after a recent trip to Israel about potential additional avenues for Congress to support Israel, including future aid packages, Jordan described Israel as "in a category all by themselves."

…Jordan led a delegation of House Republicans to Israel last month, his first visit to the Jewish state since before the COVID-19 pandemic. Jordan said that the "resiliency of the Jewish people and the miracle that is the nation of Israel" was all the more evident during this visit, particularly when the group visited the sites of Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, massacres.

"The other big takeaway for me was just how different the Middle East is now" due to Israel's operations against Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran and the fall of [Bashar al-Assad] in Syria, Jordan added. "It was just a terrible tragedy what happened on the 7th of October a year and a half ago, but since then, there's been a change, and I feel like Israel's in a stronger position now."

J. Philip Rosen Elected Chair of World Jewish Congress-American Section
Congratulations to RJC Board of Directors member J. Philip Rosen, who has been elected Chair of the World Jewish Congress – American Section. The World Jewish Congress works to connect Jewish communities around the world and to represent the interests of the Jewish people on the global stage.

Fortgang: The Rise of Civil Terrorism

Today's left-wing agitators deploy random acts of lawlessness designed to inconvenience and disrupt as many civilians as possible, hoping to pressure them to get the government to change course. This tactic is reasonably described as a form of terrorism, though the activists aren't murderous like al-Qaida or Hamas—they don't use guns, bombs, or threats of unpredictable bloodshed. Instead, they engage in civil terrorism.

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…[T]heir aim is to make life intolerable for Americans who support Israel, or the US in its current form. Appeasement only emboldens them: if we refrain from arresting or prosecuting them, they believe, we might give in through political concessions. Their approach leverages our law-abiding nature against us.