Chuck Hagel "regrets" his Jewish lobby comments. We bet he does. [Washington Post] It's a "very messy period" for Jewish education reform. [Jewish Week] The UK's press watchdog might probe Gerald Scarfe's Bibi cartoon. [JC] Fighting soccer's barbarians. [Tablet] Venezuelan intelligence agents are reportedly spying on its Jewish citizens. [Arutz Sheva] Barney Frank is denied an interim senator position. [Tablet] Why Israel might have felt the imperative to strike Syria. [Times of Israel] A Harvard …More

When the new Congress convenes in January, it will be missing several longtime pillars of support for Israel on Capitol Hill. Gone from the House of Representatives will be veteran Jewish Reps. Howard Berman (D-Calif.), the ranking member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee; Gary Ackerman (D-N.Y.), the ranking member on the committee’s Middle East and South Asia Subcommittee; and Steve Rothman (D-N.J.), a point person on funding Israel’s missile defense efforts. Absent from the Senate will be Sen. …More

Four Jewish Democrats kept or earned top slots on US House of Representatives committees. Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich.) preserved his top slot on the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, as did Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) on the Energy Committee, after the caucus' standing committee announced its selections on Tuesday. Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY) ascended to the top slot on the Appropriations Committee and Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) is now the ranking Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee. Lowey replaced Rep. Norm …More

Barney Frank, the first openly gay congressman, married his longtime partner James Ready Saturday. Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick officiated the ceremony at the Marriott hotel in Newton. Notable guests included House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Senator John Kerry and Representatives Dennis Kucinich and Steny Hoyer. Frank, a Democrat of Massachusetts, volunteered his sexuality in 1987, is now the first sitting member of Congress to be married to a partner of the same sex. Frank has been involved with …More

Simmering beneath the presidential season’s familiar refrains of support for Israel is a passionate partisan argument over how best to confront Iran and deal with the new Middle East. The Jewish election debate season was launched informally on May 4 at the annual American Jewish Committee global forum when longtime US Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Weekly Standard editor William Kristol made the case for their preferred presidential candidates. Kristol vs. Frank was lively, friendly and covered familiar …More

Rep. Barney Frank, one of the first members of Congress to announce he was gay, will marry his partner in a ceremony in Massachusetts, a state where gay marriage is legal.  The 71-year-old Democrat will marry Jim Ready, 42, a small business owner who has been Frank’s partner since 2007.  “I have a partner now,” Frank said in an interview earlier this month. 'I’m in love for the first time in my life.”  The Massachusetts representative will not be running for …More

Massachusetts Representative Barney Frank announced today that he will not seek reelection. The announcement reversed his earlier decision to run for a 17th term. The decision came shortly after the Massachusetts Legislature redrew congressional district lines. The state’s House members shrunk from 10 to nine because of comparatively slowly population growth show in the 2010 census. Redistricting changed Democratic Frank’s historically liberal district. While he kept liberal Newton, he gained …More