SAN DIEGO (SDJW) — Steve Witkoff, President-elect Trump’s designee as his Middle East envoy reiterated at a conference in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, that Hamas had better release the hostages prior to Jan. 20, when Trump takes office. “Listen to what the president has got to say. It’s not a pretty day if they’re not released.”
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Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has told Bloomberg that if normalization with Saudi Arabia requires recognition of a Palestinian state, then there will be no deal.
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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) was outmaneuvered by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) over the pending Antisemitism Awareness Act. Schumer wanted to give leftist senators cover to vote for it by including it in the omnibus National Defense Authorization Act, but Johnson, who wants anti-Israel Democrats to go on record in a stand-alone vote, declined to go along with that stratagem. On Saturday night, the final NDAA mark-up was released without the Antisemitism Awareness Act included.
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Adam Schiff was formally sworn in Monday as California’s U.S. senator, succeeding Laphonza Butler who was appointed to an interim position following the death of longtime senator Dianne Feinstein. All three are Democrats.
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Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity chapters across the U.S. will undergo security training involving situational awareness and de-escalation skills “to protect themselves, their houses and the entire Jewish community,” said Rob Derdiger, CEO of AEPi International, in a joint statement with Richard Priem, CEO of Community Security Service.
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Police in Melbourne, Australia, say they are pursuing three suspects in the arson fire at Adass Israel Synagogue that gutted much of the building. Australia’s Attorney General Mark Dreyfus rejected Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s assertion that “this heinous act cannot be separated from the anti-Israel sentiment emanating from the Australian Labor government” – a reference to Australia casting a vote in the United Nation’s General Assembly demanding that Israel quit its occupation of Palestinian territory. Said Dreyfus: “Australia remains a close friend of Israel, as we have been since the Labor government recognized the State of Israel when it was created by the United Nations.” Julian Leeser, a member of the opposition Liberal party, says Dreyfus should resign from the Labor government if he is true to his pro-Israel principles.
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San Diego Jewish World staff report