Despite shifting geopolitical dynamics and internal debates within the United States, Israel continues to hold a central position in American strategic considerations. The upcoming visit of President Donald Trump to the Middle East underscores the enduring importance of the U.S.-Israel relationship, even as discussions with Iran progress and regional tensions fluctuate.

Israel’s military strategy has undergone significant changes in recent weeks, particularly in its approach to Hamas. The Israeli government and military have initiated operations aimed at compelling Hamas to surrender by isolating it from the civilian population it often uses as human shields. This includes relocating a substantial portion of Gaza’s population to humanitarian zones in the south, while maintaining pressure on Hamas to release hostages.

The Israeli government believes that only through sustained military pressure can it secure the return of hostages, as evidenced by prior hostage releases, which came following intense military operations. This approach aligns with prior statements by Steve Witkoff, U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, that a temporary ceasefire leading to renewed combat may be necessary to achieve strategic objectives.

Israel has historically provided significant humanitarian aid to Gaza, at times exceeding the amount needed to feed Gaza’s population. However, concerns have been raised about the diversion of aid by Hamas for militant purposes. In response, Israel, in coordination with the United States, is working to implement a strategy involving private and international organizations to deliver aid in controlled quantities, ensuring it reaches the intended recipients and is used appropriately.

The recent missile attacks by Houthi rebels, targeting Ben-Gurion International Airport, highlight the persistent threats posed by Iran’s proxies. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has emphasized that Israel will respond at a time and place of its choosing, including actions against Iran itself. This stance reflects Israel’s determination to counteract Iranian aggression, despite U.S. requests that it refrain from actions that could disrupt ongoing negotiations with Tehran.

Within the United States, of course, is a spectrum of opinions regarding support for Israel. While some voices advocate for a re-evaluation of the relationship, the prevailing sentiment remains supportive, particularly in the context of ensuring that Iran does not acquire a nuclear weapon.

Israel’s position on the strategic radar of the United States remains significant, and is shaped by shared security interests, regional dynamics, and the imperative to address threats from adversaries like Iran and its proxies. While challenges persist, the enduring partnership between the United States and Israel continues to be a cornerstone of Middle Eastern geopolitics.

The release of Edan Alexander after 584 days in Hamas captivity prompted celebrations from U.S. elected officials, American Jewish groups and residents of the Israeli-American’s home state of New Jersey on Monday.

Local media reported that hundreds of people gathered in Alexander’s hometown of Tenafly, N.J., to dance and cheer for the 21-year-old’s return from captivity in Gaza. Hamas terrorists kidnapped Alexander, who was serving as a soldier in the Israeli army, on Oct. 7.

Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), who represents Tenafly and has long advocated for Alexander’s return, told JNS that the scene in the town center was “overwhelming.”

“Seeing the community come together starting at 5:00 this morning was just yet another sign of the strength and resiliency of not just Tenafly and not just Jersey, but really a sign of an incredible family, who never lost faith or hope for one minute,” Gottheimer said. “We saw Edan, and the crowd just erupted.”

“I spoke to the family yesterday, as I do most days, and we’d been here before, where you thought he was getting out, and we were so close,” Gottheimer said. “I had faith and hope that this day would come, and here we are. I just can’t wait to give him a hug.”

The Israeli Defense Forces released video footage on Monday afternoon of Alexander reuniting with his mother, father and other family members.

“If that didn't bring you to tears, I don't know what will,” Gottheimer said.

Alexander is believed to have been the last living American hostage in Hamas captivity, though the terror group continues to hold the corpses of four Americans. Following Alexander’s release, Hamas now holds 58 hostages, with less than half thought to be alive.

The first hostage to be freed since February, Alexander is the only male soldier taken on Oct. 7 to return from captivity so far.

Jewish groups, including the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee and the Jewish Federations of North America, cheered Alexander’s liberation from Gaza.

“Jewish Federations have prayed 19 months for the return of every person taken hostage by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023,” the Federation stated. “Along the way, we have rejoiced at those who have returned home safely and mourned those who have not. We will continue those prayers until the remaining 58 are released.”

U.S. President Donald Trump took off for a trip to the Middle East on Monday morning, with stops planned in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, the latter of which helped negotiate Alexander’s release.

Trump also hinted during a press conference in the Roosevelt Room of the White House that he might travel to Turkey. He is not expected to visit Israel on this trip.

The White House posted an image of Alexander in an IDF helicopter, en route to Tel Aviv’s Sourasky Medical Center.

In the photo, Alexander holds a whiteboard with the message, “Thank you, President Trump” in English and Am Yisrael chai (“the nation of Israel lives”) in Hebrew, along with the name of his infantry unit.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, thanked Trump, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, for Alexander’s freedom.

“With every day that Edan has been held hostage, the Alexander family has endured unimaginable pain, uncertainty and fear,” Murphy wrote. “With Edan’s return home, their—and our—prayers have finally been answered.”

‘We’re getting an American home’

U.S. elected officials from both parties welcomed the end of Alexander’s captivity and called on Hamas to release all of the remaining hostages.

“It is unconscionable that Hamas continues to prolong the pain of the remaining hostages and their families,” Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) wrote. “Every hostage must be released now.”

Some supporters and critics of Israel differed, however, on what the next step should be in the wider Israel-Hamas war.

“We should encourage Israel to keep up the pressure to destroy Hamas and bring all the hostages home,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) wrote.

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) stated following Alexander’s release that, along with a return of the remaining hostages, there should be a ceasefire and an influx of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.

The New Jersey Democrat urged Trump to negotiate a settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict during his Middle East trip.

“The work must continue to achieve a two-state solution that affirms and protects Israel’s right to exist as a democratic Jewish state and ensures the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and a state of their own,” Booker wrote. “I urge the Trump administration to stress this during the president’s upcoming visit to the region.”

Gottheimer told JNS that while he hopes that Alexander’s release is a breakthrough that could lead to the release of the remaining hostages, the goals of “crushing the terrorists” and securing the release of the remaining hostages remain unchanged.

“I think the focus today should be on the good news,” Gottheimer said. “We’re getting an American home, and we never leave an American behind.”

“Seeing him hug his parents—that could be any of us with our kids, and that's all I was really thinking about today," he added. "It’s what I’ve been thinking about now for more than 18 months.”

Despite the simmering of media reports on recent disagreements over the direction of Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Washington and Jerusalem remain aligned on its core objectives, Danny Danon, Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, said during a press briefing on Monday at the world body’s headquarters in New York City.

Danon told JNS that while the United States may have made mistakes in the past by trying to dictate Israel’s actions, the Trump administration shares the Jewish state’s goal of fully removing Hamas from Gaza.

“The current administration still believes Hamas should not be part of the equation,” he said. “If you speak privately with my colleagues from the Arab League in this building, they’ll say the same.”

U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit this week to the Middle East, where he plans to meet with officials in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, will underscore this point to him, according to Danon.

“The United States continues to support Israel’s two main goals of dismantling Hamas and bringing the hostages home,” he said.

Danon also stated that he hopes the release of 21-year-old Israel-American Evan Alexander from captivity will help pave the way for a more comprehensive deal regarding the other 58 hostages, about half of whom are believed to be alive.

‘Entire country on alert’

At the same time, Danon condemned the recent Houthi attacks on Israel as clear acts of terror. “You have to understand that whenever the Houthis send their missiles to Israel, it puts the entire country on alert,” he said. “It sends millions of people to shelters.”

He said that Trump’s traveling to the region does not mean that Israel will halt retaliatory strikes against the Houthis in Yemen.

“Unfortunately, the Houthis continue to attack Israel with no reason,” he said, despite the fact that “we have no dispute with them. We have no border with them. We sent them a clear message that we will retaliate—and we did. We attacked the international airport in Sana’a, and now we issued a warning for three ports in Yemen.”

Israel has made efforts to minimize civilian casualties in Yemen, according to the ambassador.

Still, he noted, “if they continue to send ballistic missiles into Israel, we will get into Sana’a, and they will pay a very heavy price.”

The U.S. State Department is sanctioning three Iranian nationals and one Iranian entity with ties to Iran’s Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research, also known as SPND, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Monday.

Those sanctioned are involved in activities that currently or could potentially “materially contribute to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction,” Rubio stated, adding that the sanctions are intended to “delay and degrade” SPND’s ability to research and develop nuclear weapons.

“Iran continues to substantially expand its nuclear program and carry out dual-use research and development activities applicable to nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons delivery systems,” Rubio’s statement read. “Iran is the only country in the world without nuclear weapons that is producing uranium enriched to 60%, and it continues to use front companies and procurement agents to obscure its efforts to acquire dual-use items from foreign suppliers.”

On Sunday, the United States and the Islamic Republic held another round of indirect nuclear talks, which Tehran characterized as “difficult.”

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican, recently signed into law two bills that define and respond to Jew-hatred in the state and its educational institutions.

“Oklahomans value the freedom to live and worship with our families in peace,” the governor, who signed the bills on May 6, told JNS.

The first bill, SB 942, requires public schools to use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of Jew-hatred in their codes of conduct and to train faculty, staff and students about Jew-hatred, and directs the Oklahoma Education Department to use that definition in its probes under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

The second bill, SB 991, adopts the IHRA definition into state law, which makes Oklahoma the 37th state to do so, the Combat Antisemitism Movement, which supported the bills, stated.

Stitt said he signed the legislation, “because Oklahoma is committed to protecting religious freedom and rejecting antisemitism.”

“I’m grateful to our Jewish neighbors for their contributions to our state, and we’ll make sure Oklahoma continues to lead with strength and moral clarity when it comes to our religious freedoms,” he told JNS.

Oklahoma is the fifth state, after Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky and Tennessee, to pass this type of legislation since April 1, CAM said.

The governor of Edan Alexander’s home state told JNS that he is “just incredibly relieved and incredibly thankful” at the news that the last American hostage believed to be alive was released by Hamas after 584 days in captivity.

“This is a huge day for, obviously, most importantly, the Alexander family, but for New Jersey and for America more broadly,” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, told JNS.

Murphy plans to meet with the Alexander family, including Edan, in the not-so-distant future. He had the family over to the governor’s house during Passover, he said.

“We have stayed very close to his family,” Murphy told JNS. “We’ve gotten to know his mom and dad and brother and sister well. We’re incredibly, incredibly happy for them. I can only imagine what it must be like.”

Alexander was born in Israel and grew up in New Jersey. After high school, he returned to Israel and enlisted in the Israel Defense Forces. Hamas terrorists captured the dual U.S.-Israeli citizen on Oct. 7.

Murphy told JNS that Alexander’s release is a “huge relief, especially for his family, obviously.”

Hamas is believed to be holding the bodies of four other American hostages—Omer Neutra, Itay Chen, Gadi Haggai and Judi Weinstein Haggai. Hamas also holds dozens of others captured on Oct. 7. 

Murphy credited both U.S. President Donald Trump and former President Joe Biden with helping to free Alexander.

“Both administrations worked this very hard,” he told JNS. “I know both the Biden and Trump teams prioritized Edan’s release. I don’t have insights, but I know there were a lot of people out there, most importantly his family, just staying ever vigilant, never giving up.”

“Obviously, thank God, this is the culmination of that,” he said.

Murphy, Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) and other officials in the Garden State had also highlighted the fact that Alexander remained in captivity prior to his release.

“I don’t know if it impacted his release, but I do know that we were a small part of keeping this in front of mind for anybody out there who cared in the least about the innocent lives that were being held,” Murphy told JNS.

“Edan was the last American hostage being held there. Making sure people knew that and that they never forgot that, in our own small way, I think that was important,” he said. “I can’t say that it had anything to do with his release, but again, his family deserves the top billing here. They were unbelievably relentless and just a great family, and bless them all.”

Newly elected Pope Leo XIV sent a letter on May 8 to Rabbi Noam Marans, director of interreligious affairs at the American Jewish Committee, affirming his commitment to fostering Catholic-Jewish relations.

The letter, shared by AJC on Monday, states that the pope pledges “to continue and strengthen the church’s dialogue and cooperation with the Jewish people in the spirit of the Second Vatican Council’s declaration Nostra Aetate.”

“It is gratifying to see that, so early in his tenure, the pope has affirmed the importance of strong Catholic-Jewish relations,” Marans told JNS, adding that the letter was “unexpected but entirely welcome.”

“The pope recognizes that Nostra Aetate remains a call to action for stronger ties between the two faiths, and we stand ready to work with the Church to ensure that happens,” Marans added.

Nostra Aetate is the official 1965 declaration from the Vatican that states Jews cannot be collectively held responsible for the death of Jesus Christ and rejects antisemitism in all its forms.

“We are deeply moved that Pope Leo XIV, so early in his papacy, has reaffirmed his commitment to Catholic-Jewish relations,” AJC wrote. “As we approach the 60th anniversary of this landmark declaration, we look forward to working together to deepen understanding and cooperation.”

I am not good with break-ups, but I am considering ending a lifelong relationship. My “partner” is my synagogue in Chicago, and I am considering not just breaking up with it but the entire Conservative movement.

This is not a small, impulsive decision. But I am starting to realize that it’s not that I have changed so much, it’s that my partner has. It has become something increasingly unrecognizable to me. Even so, it saddens me to contemplate breaking up with such a close, lifelong partner.

I was raised Conservative. I celebrated my bar mitzvah in a Conservative synagogue. I’ve been a member of my current synagogue for almost 30 years, and my children all celebrated their bar and bat mitzvahs there within the past decade. But I am thinking of leaving because the movement and my synagogue have become less places for religious and spiritual guidance, and more organs for political haranguing.  

To me, the basics are simple. Places of worship should be just that: Religious and spiritually based spaces centered on the teachings of their respective good books. They should not be quasi-political gatherings in disguise. To the extent possible, they should avoid politics.

I am not naive. Some spiritual teachings, of course, overlap with modern-day politics. And when they do, they should be acknowledged without picking favorites, like how a teacher frames a thorny problem for her students, letting the students come to their own conclusions.

But, sadly, much of “organized” Judaism is going the other way. It is proactively inserting itself into the political fray. And, in so doing, it is not only losing members but its soul.

It’s one thing for synagogues to support Israel, as I believe they should, since the promised land is part of our covenant and a core tenet of the Torah. But to take positions on climate, immigration, abortion, school funding and other current events is a whole different matter. After all, the Haggadah says, “Next Year in Jerusalem,” not fight for your issue of choice, no matter how noble that issue may be.  

Separation of church and state needs to be a two-way street. Though we normally think of it as the government not interfering with religious affairs, increasingly, we have to ask if religion is interfering with government affairs.

It used to be the exception for religious “authorities,” like rabbinical councils, to issue statements and resolutions on political matters. Now, rabbinical councils meet regularly to pass “resolutions” weighing in on whatever the political controversy of the day might be.

What alarms me is not which side of a political issue my temple and the Conservative movement are on. What alarms me is that they pick a side to begin with. It’s not about whether my side’s political position prevailed, but rather that any side was chosen.

For me, two recent events highlight my concerns.

First, my synagogue formally partnered with a new pro-choice Jewish group that supports abortion at any stage for any reason. I wrote to my rabbi and the temple board, stating that partnering with this group is unnecessary and wrong. I did so even though I am historically pro-choice.

Similarly, during Shabbat services around Passover, our rabbi essentially gave two separate sermons. One was lovely, centering on spiritual faith, in which he explained how God did not part the sea for the fleeing Israelites until the water was up to their nostrils; the other was a lecture on our three branches of government and criticizing President Donald Trump. To me, it didn’t matter whether the rabbi was praising or scorning the president; both are inappropriate and unnecessary in a temple sermon.

I don’t think most rabbis, ministers, priests and imams studied at religious seminaries in hopes of one day taking political positions. Then again, I am told that the Reform and Conservative rabbinical seminaries today are spitting out graduates who seem to compete for who can be the most woke. Some even pride themselves on openly despising Israel. And these are our future spiritual leaders? If so, then shame on Jewish “leadership.”

Perhaps, I am naive to think my synagogue could stay above the fray and not become caught in the political quagmire of our times. But for generations prior, organized religion sure did a better job of doing so. Religious leaders didn’t sit around thinking about how they could enter the political fray. They didn’t need to validate themselves or search for alliances. The Torah was enough.

The final straw for me may be that the Rabbinical Assembly, the international association of Conservative rabbis, recently signed a statement condemning some of Trump’s orders to fight antisemitism on college campuses.

I have always viewed my place of worship as a solemn place of refuge from politics and the daily grind. A place to use its teachings to help frame things for me, but not decide things for me or take formal positions on my behalf. A place where the Torah itself is more than enough, and it need not be supplemented with weekly political commentaries.

If I wanted another place where I could hear political ideas, I have no shortage of choices and don’t need a house of worship. I wouldn't even have to pay temple dues for that.

In this episode of “The Meira K Show,” host Meira K tackles the burning question on everyone’s mind: Has Donald Trump turned his back on Israel? The president is planning to visit Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar this week, but not Israel. And recent U.S. actions that sidestep or exclude the Jewish state have fostered rumors of a split that are spreading in the Israeli media and beyond.

Meira lays out the facts behind the frenzy, from America’s ceasefire deal with the Houthis (without Israel) to murky signals about the Saudi peace process and speculation that Trump’s “America First” stance could leave Israel exposed. But is this a betrayal, or a bold vote of confidence in Israel’s strength?

With her trademark clarity and passion, she explains why Trump’s distance may not be a snub but a challenge for Israel to stand on its own. She also explores what it means for Israel to be seen as self-sufficient, the dangers of media-fueled hysteria, and how to read between the lines of international diplomacy.

Also in this episode:

• The return of Tzvi Feldman’s remains after 43 years
• Gaza war update: 80% of Rafah leveled; morale of the Israel Defense Forces stronger than ever
• Hostage crisis: 21 possibly alive, though media narratives are spiraling out of control
• Kanye West's “Heil Hitler” video to Pulitzer Prize scandals
• Meira’s book pick: Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Jew?

Watch now for the real story beyond the panic, politics and headlines.

See more at: @JNS_TV. And don’t forget to hit the subscribe button!