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The DETERRENT Act was passed by the House of Representatives this morning, by a vote of 241-169. In addition, the two anti-Israel amendments that Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) submitted for this bill were soundly defeated, with over 400 Representatives voting "No" on each of them.

Thank you to the thousands of RJC members who emailed their congressmen, urging them to support the DETERRENT Act and to reject Tlaib's amendments.

Last month, Rep. Michael Baumgartner (R-WA) and Tim Walberg (R-MI), the chairman of the House Education Committee, introduced a bill to hold colleges accountable for the contributions they receive from foreign adversaries like Qatar.

The DETERRENT Act will lower the disclosure threshold from $250,000 to $50,000, close loopholes universities have used to conceal donations, and increase penalties for colleges that refuse to honor their legal obligation to be transparent.

As the Jewish Insider reports, the DETERRENT Act "has been backed by some Jewish community groups in response to concerns that Qatari, Iranian and other foreign donations are driving antisemitic and anti-Israel activity and attitudes on college campuses."

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) introduced two amendments to this bill that appeared to target Israel. Their language would require schools to report investments in, or donations from, any country defending a case before the International Court of Justice related to accusations of "war crimes" or "genocide," or any country with an official facing an active arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court.

The ICJ infamously labeled Israel’s war against Hamas as a genocide and the ICC has arrest warrants out for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on the ICC in February because of its illegal arrest warrants against Prime Minister Netanyahu and other Israeli officials. Last month, President Trump signed an executive order to "halt foreign aid or assistance" to South Africa, partly in response to the country's ICJ case and anti-Israel stance.

Click here for more information about the DETERRENT Act and watch your emails to see when the Senate will take up this important legislation.

Jacob Kornbluh at the Forward reports on the April 1 special election in Florida to fill the seat vacated by now-National Security Advisor Mike Waltz. Jewish Republican Florida State Sen. Randy Fine is running against a Muslim Democrat, Josh Weil. Democrats are pouring money into this race, in a district that President Donald Trump won by more than 30 points.

Kornbluh writes:

As a politician, Fine embraced the nickname "Hebrew Hammer" given to him by a Republican colleague and became a leading sponsor of pro-Israel legislation and measures aimed at combating antisemitism. His legislative efforts include: amending the state’s anti-BDS law to bar all municipalities and agencies from purchasing products from companies or organizations that boycott Israel; requiring schools and universities to treat antisemitism on par with racism; and codifying the use of the controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism, which classifies most anti-Zionism as antisemitic. He also passed legislation to enhance security at Jewish day schools.

... The Republican Jewish Coalition, which hosted a fundraising event for Fine after he announced his bid in November, said it is confident Fine will prevail. If elected, Fine would increase Jewish Republican representation in Congress to levels not seen since the 1980s. There are currently three Jewish Republicans in the House: Reps. Max Miller of Ohio, David Kustoff of Tennessee, and Craig Goldman of Texas.

"Randy Fine will be the next Congressman for Florida’s 6th Congressional district, and we look forward to working closely with him after his victory on April 1," said Sam Markstein, RJC's spokesperson.

You can help Randy Fine over the finish line! Click here to support Randy Fine for Congress.

Hamas kidnappers told rescued hostage Shlomi Ziv the terrorist organization had operatives on American campuses, according to a lawsuit filed this week by October 7 victims, with the terrorists showing him articles and photographs of Columbia university protests.

According to the Jerusalem Post, the lawsuit alleges not only that Columbia SJP renewed its dormant Instagram activity three minutes before the attack and National SJP appeared to have produced propaganda material during or before the massacre, but argues that the affiliated groups been financed and supported by Hamas through organizations that the terrorist group founded.

The lawsuit was filed by nine US and Israeli citizens who were victims of Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, including relatives of people murdered or taken hostage, and two affiliated with Columbia who reported mistreatment there.

It was filed against Within Our Lifetime (WOL) and its leader, Nerdeen Kiswani; Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and its representative, Maryam Alwan; Columbia-Barnard Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and its representative, Cameron Jones; and Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), and its lead negotiator Mahmoud Khalil.

Mahmoud Khalil is currently in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody and is fighting government efforts to deport him from the United States.

Notably, the Washington Free Beacon reports that: "Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University protest leader in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, hid his work for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) when he applied for a green card, according to federal prosecutors. Khalil worked for the terror-tied agency at the time of Hamas's Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, and concealing the job while applying for permanent residency last March justifies his deportation, the prosecutors say."

Also this week, as the Jewish Insider reports, US intelligence officials testified before Congress that the Trump Administration is probing potential foreign influence and backing behind pro-Hamas protests on college campuses. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said that "there are some assessments that reflect that" there has been foreign state or non-state backing for pro-Hamas protest groups like Students for Justice in Palestine. She would not discuss details in the public hearing.

The RJC's effective and successful efforts to get out the Jewish vote for President Donald Trump and Republicans in key battleground states in 2024 was based on the most sophisticated data modeling and Jewish voter microtargeting ever developed.

The company that did that modeling and guided our efforts, Pulse Decision Science, has won a 2025 Reed Award for "Best Use of Data Analytics/Machine Learning in Field Program" for the work they did for the RJC. The Reed Awards are given by Campaigns & Elections, the political consulting industry's leading trade magazine. The awards, now in their 16th year, recognize the most exceptional work in political campaigning and related fields.

Zakheim: The Houthis are the new Barbary Pirates

Shortly after America had achieved its independence from Great Britain, the new nation confronted a threat from the Ottoman provinces of Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli. Beginning in 1784, raiders from these statelets along the Barbary coast, known as the Barbary Pirates, would attack American merchant shipping, capturing sailors for whom they initially extorted ransom and subsequently protection money in the form of tribute from the US.

…Two centuries after the Barbary Wars, America is once again fighting a war overseas to protect its shipping, as well as that of its allies and friends. The Houthis are today's Barbary Pirates.

The Houthis only differ from their predecessors in that they have not yet attempted to seize American captives for ransom. Their attacks have forced the vast majority of shipping that normally transits the Red Sea instead to sail around Africa, lengthening shipping timetables and increasing costs.

Bryen: It is, and it isn’t one war

Israel will do what the government of Israel determines is necessary to secure its borders and its people, eliminate Hamas’s power in Gaza, and force the terrorist entity to return the remaining hostages. [Just an aside, but not really, it needs to be said that "bring them home" is the wrong mantra. There is no way to "bring" them. Hamas must "send them home," with the onus on them.]

… But there's another war currently being waged as the United States responds to Houthi forces in the Red Sea.

… The United States and Israel are fighting both a single war and multiple wars as they work toward the freedom of navigation for themselves and the world, and the security of their people and their borders. In the middle of both wars—and the ongoing wars in Syria and Lebanon—is Iran.

It is, and it isn't one war. But the bottom line is that Iran's ability to control events and threaten regional and international partners must be taken out of the equation. This starts by stopping Hamas and Houthis.

Jewish Insider: House committees investigating connections between federal NGO funding and 2023 Israel judicial protests
The House Judiciary Committee and House Foreign Affairs Committee are jointly investigating six organizations that received federal funding during the Biden administration to determine if those grants were intended to target Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's political standing during the 2023 judicial reform protests.