Happy Thursday! Big news: Kermit the Frog will be delivering the University of Maryland commencement address on Thursday. But if you thought the beloved muppet would be a good choice to dodge campus uproar, think again—students are already criticizing administrators for avoiding “real issues.”
Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories
- A gunman shot and killed two Israeli Embassy staff who were leaving an event at the Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday night. The suspect—a 30-year-old from Chicago who later attempted to breach the museum—yelled “free, free Palestine” following his arrest, Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith said during a media briefing. “Harming the Jewish community is crossing a red line,” Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon said Wednesday, calling the shooting a “depraved act of anti-Semitic terrorism.” U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, meanwhile, said U.S. officials were “actively investigating” the attack and vowed to bring the “depraved perpetrator to justice.” The victims—a man and a woman—were planning to get engaged, the Israeli Embassy in Washington confirmed.
- President Donald Trump on Wednesday had a heated exchange with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa during his visit to the White House, accusing the country of conducting a “genocide” against white Afrikaners. Trump dimmed the lights in the Oval Office and played a prepared montage of clips to justify his roundly debunked claims, which Ramaphosa—who called for a “reset” between South Africa and the U.S. in his opening remarks— vehemently denied. In February, the White House suspended all aid to South Africa, citing the country’s alleged discrimination against white farmers, and granted refugee status to Afrikaners “escaping government-sponsored race-based discrimination.” The U.S. accepted 59 Afrikaners last week.
- The Pentagon said on Wednesday that it had officially taken possession of a luxury jet from Qatar, which gave the $400 million aircraft to Trump as a gift. The Air Force said it would award a contract to modify the plane to serve as Air Force One, as White House officials seek to have the jet ready by the end of the year. But both Republican and Democratic lawmakers have expressed concerns about the ethics and safety of accepting the aircraft from Qatar. On Monday, Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Democratic minority leader, introduced a bill to ban the use of foreign planes as Air Force One, but the measure failed to pass on Wednesday.
- Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Wednesday that the country will not stop enriching uranium, “with or without an agreement,” as nuclear talks between the U.S. and Iran continue. The remarks followed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s Tuesday statement casting doubt on the likelihood of negotiations between the two countries ending in a deal. “Try not to talk nonsense,” the ayatollah said, addressing American negotiators. U.S. special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff said Sunday that Iranian uranium enrichment is a “red line” for Washington, though American officials—including Witkoff himself—have wavered on that point in the past.
- Israel is planning possible military strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities, multiple outlets reported this week. U.S. officials leaked information to CNN on Tuesday stating that Israel was readying strikes despite the Trump administration’s pursuit of a deal with Iran, and on Wednesday, Israeli sources told Axios—confirming initial reports—that Israel was preparing to attack if the talks between the U.S. and Iran break down, which they believe is now more likely. In April, Trump said that the U.S. would be a “leader” in attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities if a deal was not reached.
- The European Union and the United Kingdom imposed new sanctions on Russia on Tuesday, without the United States. The new penalties target Russia’s “shadow fleet,” which includes more than 200 vessels used to transport and sell Russian oil internationally. The EU is already discussing additional sanctions that would target the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines, Russia’s financial sector, and additional ships in the shadow fleet. The increased pressure on Russia comes after President Trump backed away from his previous demand that Russia declare an immediate, 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine following a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, instead declaring that Russia and Ukraine would “immediately start negotiations toward a ceasefire.”
- House Republican leadership released a new version of its tax cut and spending bill on Wednesday night, including last-minute changes. In its new form, the bill moves up the enforcement of new Medicaid work requirements from 2029 to December 2026, ends certain clean energy tax credits in 2028 instead of 2031, and increases the state and local tax (SALT) deduction cap from $30,000 to $40,000 for people making less than $500,000 a year. The amended version is expected to go to the floor on Thursday.
- Rep. Gerald Connolly of Virginia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, died Wednesday at the age of 75. A nine-term congressman, Connolly in April announced his decision not to seek reelection in 2026 after a battle with esophageal cancer. “We were fortunate to share Gerry with Northern Virginia for nearly 40 years because that was his joy, his purpose, and his passion,” his family said in a statement.
Israel’s ‘Eighth Front’
Two young aides from the Israeli Embassy were leaving the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., when they were ambushed by a gunman and fatally shot at close range just after 9 p.m. Wednesday. The suspect, a 30-year-old from Chicago, yelled “free, free Palestine” after being detained as he attempted to breach the museum. His victims were later identified as Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, a young couple who planned to get engaged in Jerusalem next week.
Details of the shocking attack are still emerging. But it comes amid a rising tide of antisemitism in the 19 months since Hamas’ October 7, 2023, invasion of Israel, in which terrorists killed more than 1,200 people and abducted 251 others into the Gaza Strip. Israeli and Jewish communities across the West are now bracing for the possibility of further violence, as they continue to stare down the threat of both state-sponsored attacks and homegrown extremism. “My primary concern — one that is likely shared by law enforcement agencies — is that this heinous act of murder in DC may catalyze additional terrorist attacks targeting Jews,” Foundation for Defense of Democracies analyst Joe Truzman said following the attack.
Wednesday’s shooting appeared to target an event for young Jewish diplomats hosted by the American Jewish Committee (AJC), law enforcement officials said. “Prior to the shooting, the suspect was observed pacing back and forth outside of the museum. He approached a group of four people, produced a handgun, and opened fire,” Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith told reporters Wednesday night. “After the shooting, the suspect then entered the museum and was detained by event security. Once in handcuffs, the suspect identified where he discarded the weapon—and that weapon has been recovered—and he implied that he committed the offense. The suspect chanted ‘free, free Palestine’ while in custody.”
U.S. officials promptly vowed to investigate the shooting and hold the attacker to account. “We are actively investigating and working to get more information to share,” U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Wednesday. “We will bring this depraved perpetrator to justice.” FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino said authorities were reviewing evidence but added that “early indicators” pointed toward “an act of targeted violence.” In a post on Truth Social, President Donald Trump decried the attack as “based obviously” on antisemitism. “Hatred and Radicalism have no place in the USA.”
Meanwhile, Tal Naim Cohen, the spokeswoman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington, said Wednesday that Israel has “full faith in law enforcement authorities on both the local and federal levels to apprehend the shooter and protect Israel’s representatives and Jewish communities throughout the United States.” But the attack followed months of efforts by Jewish and Israeli institutions and communities across the West to bolster their own security—and in some cases conceal their identities—in the absence of a robust governmental response to growing antisemitism.
According to an April report by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a non-profit group that has tracked antisemitic incidents in the U.S. for 46 years, the number of such incidents reached a record high last year. The organization documented 9,354 examples of anti-Jewish harassment, vandalism, and assault throughout 2024, a 344 percent increase over the past five years and an 893 percent increase over the last decade. The driver, accounting for more than half of the incidents, was ballooning anti-Israel sentiment. “Out of over 5,000 anti-Israel rallies tracked by ADL in 2024, 2,596 involved antisemitic messaging in the form of signs, chants or speeches,” the report observed.
In cities and on college campuses across the country, advocacy on behalf of Palestinians often veered into open calls for violence against Jews and Israelis. One popular chant, “globalize the intifada,” refers to a series of Palestinian uprisings in the late 1980s and early 2000s, which together left more than 1,200 Israelis—most of them civilians—dead. Another, “from the river to the sea,” calls for the erasure of the Jewish state.
Meanwhile, online antisemitism content continues to surge. A January report by the World Zionist Organization and the Jewish Agency for Israel found a 300 percent increase in anti-Jewish posts worldwide last year, with instances of Holocaust denial making up more than 21 percent of the recorded content. The internet has also provided a platform for misinformation and disinformation about Israel to spread unchecked.
“Online spaces are a perfect breeding ground for the dissemination of very, very bad actors, and antisemitism is what unites them,” Michal Cotler-Wunsh, Israel’s special envoy for combating antisemitism, told TMD. “What happens online does not remain online.”
And indeed, the incitement has real-world consequences. In the last 19 months a series of arson attacks and vandalism have targeted synagogues, Jewish-owned businesses, and Jewish homes across the U.S. and Europe. Last month, a 38-year-old man set fire to the residence of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro hours after the Democratic governor, a practicing Jew, had gathered for Passover with his family. Speaking to a 911 dispatcher, the arsonist said Shapiro “needs to know that he will not take part in his plans for what he wants to do to the Palestinian people,” adding “he needs to stop having my friends killed.”
Last year, 77 percent of Jewish Americans polled said they felt less safe here in the U.S. in the aftermath of Hamas’ October 7 attacks, the American Jewish Committee reported in February. More than half said they’d changed their behavior—by avoiding wearing things that identify them as Jewish; avoiding posting content online that identifies them as Jewish; and avoiding certain events, places, or situations—out of fear of antisemitism. As documented by a recent Harvard University-commissioned report, for example, campus protests caused some Jewish students at the Ivy League to hide their backgrounds.
Since October 2023, there have been a series of thwarted attacks and close calls across the country. In January, Florida police arrested an armed man who they said had planned an attack at the office of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. In the same month, the FBI detained an Islamic State supporter allegedly planning a mass casualty terrorist attack on the Israeli consulate in New York City.
The incidents have also prompted Jewish communities to take their safety into their own hands. Across North America and Europe, synagogues, schools, and community centers have invested heavily in private security since October 7. Following Wednesday’s shooting, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced plans to boost security for Israeli embassies worldwide.
And Wednesday wasn’t the first time Israeli diplomats have been targeted. Just this month, British authorities arrested four Iranian men accused of plotting a terrorist attack on the Israeli Embassy in London. Iran and its proxies have long sought to target Israelis and Jews in diaspora in what some have dubbed Israel’s “eighth front” in its ongoing war. (The others are Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, and Iran itself, all of which have launched direct attacks on the Jewish State at some point in the last 19 months.)
Between homegrown radicalism and state-sponsored violence, “Jewish communities, Israelis, Zionists around the world are not only alarmed but alarmed for good reason,” Cotler-Wunsh said.
October 7 has unleashed a “tsunami of antisemitism” around the world, she added, “with a complete failure across institutions, governments, organizations, cities, law enforcement mechanisms to comprehensively identify and combat all strains of this lethal, ever-mutating hate.”
Today’s Must-Read
Killing Them Softly
In August 2009, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce attacked President Barack Obama’s budding health care overhaul, declaring in a scathing television advertisement the legislation would raise taxes, balloon the deficit, and socialize medicine. Motivating the business lobbying group’s aggressive opposition were concerns the eventual Affordable Care Act would stifle economic growth and threaten its members’ profitability. Nearly 16 years later, the chamber is again at odds with a president and his prized agenda. But unlike the Obamacare hypothetical, Donald Trump’s unilateral implementation of tariffs on foreign imports is doing demonstrable damage to economic growth and business profitability. Yet rather than publicly target the president’s trade policies, the group is relying on respectful lobbying to obtain relief for its members.
Toeing the Company Line
Worth Your Time
- In case you haven’t heard, the action horror movie Sinners, directed by Ryan Coogler, is a bona fide box office hit. Writing for Bloomberg, Jason Bailey explores why an exciting, original film was so successful—and why it might represent a turning point for the film industry. “It’s staying in theaters and remains in the top five because people are seeing it repeatedly and telling their friends to watch it. It’s hard to overstate how much this is not par for the course in our age of seemingly disposable entertainment (or, as some insist on calling it, ‘content’),” Bailey wrote. “Just as important as the word-of-mouth advertising — and perhaps even an extension of it — was Coogler’s savvy online campaign explaining the picture’s various exhibition formats (and, consequently, why filmgoers should prioritize seeing it in theaters). This approach is not unprecedented. The most recent efforts from Coogler’s contemporaries, Christopher Nolan and Quentin Tarantino, follow a similar filmmaker-forward marketing pattern. Emphasis has been placed on their reputations for quality, their insistence on shooting film versus digital and their pronounced preference for the theatrical viewing experience. In other words, what we’re seeing with these success stories are cases of the auteur as the marketable brand instead of a specific genre or IP.”
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In the Zeitgeist
Critically acclaimed pop artist Lorde—best known for her 2013 LP Pure Heroine—is releasing her first new album in four years next month. Here’s the first single off her upcoming album.
Let Us Know
Have you personally seen evidence of increased antisemitism?
