California Opens Two Fronts for Recognition of Jewish Identity

A federal appeals court revived a lawsuit by Jewish parents and teachers challenging Los Angeles Unified School District ethnic-studies materials they say promote Jew-hatred. Separately, California SB 1387 would state that ethnicity includes Jewish identity for purposes of state demographic data, creating a second institutional test of whether Jewish identity is legible in public policy.

• The Ninth Circuit overturned the lower court’s permanent dismissal of the Los Angeles ethnic-studies lawsuit, allowing the plaintiffs to revive their challenge.
• The case was filed in 2022 by The Deborah Project on behalf of Jewish parents and teachers.
• Under SB 1387, California law would expressly provide that the term ethnicity includes Jewish identity.

The two developments address the same policy blind spot from different directions: public institutions cannot reliably identify anti-Jewish exclusion if Jewish identity disappears inside broad racial or religious categories. The litigation and legislation will test whether California systems can recognize Jewish peoplehood without reducing it to faith alone.

Rep. Chris Pappas won the Democratic Senate nomination 65%-33% after Karishma Manzur made attacks on his Israel position and called him a “shill for AIPAC.” In the open 1st District, Stefany Shaheen won after criticizing AIPAC and opposing military aid to Israel, producing a mixed result rather than a single statewide verdict.

• Pappas defeated Manzur by nearly two to one, while former Sen. John Sununu won the Republican nomination for the general election.
• The House primary moved in the other direction: Stefany Shaheen prevailed after using opposition to AIPAC and Israel aid as campaign distinctions.
• Israel policy was therefore salient in both contests but did not generate a uniform electoral effect.

The results separate two claims often treated as one: anti-AIPAC rhetoric can be viable in a crowded House primary, while an explicit personal smear over Israel can fail decisively in a statewide contest. General-election performance will provide the next test of whether either message travels beyond a Democratic primary electorate.

Reps. Josh Gottheimer and Elise Stefanik launched a bipartisan congressional caucus focused on campus antisemitism during an event with leaders from six universities. The ADL, Jewish Federations of North America and partner groups separately released a Jewish Students’ Bill of Rights aimed at helping communities confront antisemitism in K-12 schools.

• The new Combating Antisemitism on College Campuses Caucus was announced at Vanderbilt University.
• University leaders participating represented Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Texas at Austin, Dartmouth, Alabama and Washington University in St. Louis.
• The K-12 initiative gives students, parents and communities a common framework for responding to bullying, exclusion and anti-Jewish hostility.

The response architecture is moving beyond incident-by-incident condemnation toward standing institutions and defined student protections. Its practical significance will depend on whether universities, school systems and enforcement agencies convert those frameworks into consistent consequences.

Satellite imagery reportedly shows accelerated construction at Iran’s deeply buried Pickaxe Mountain nuclear site as the United States develops options against a facility believed able to withstand powerful bunker-busting weapons. At the same time, Iran targeted vessels and a U.S. base in Jordan after American forces destroyed five IRGC-linked oil tankers.

• Construction at Pickaxe Mountain accelerated sharply during 2026, according to the satellite-imagery report.
• CENTCOM said U.S. forces destroyed five Iranian crude oil tankers after the IRGC twice targeted a U.S. warship with ballistic missiles; no American personnel were injured.
• Iran subsequently said it attacked 10 ships near the Strait of Hormuz and a U.S. base in Jordan.

Iran is pairing nuclear hardening with horizontal military escalation, increasing both the technical cost of stopping its program and the regional cost of pressure. The interaction between a more survivable nuclear site and attacks on U.S. forces narrows the space for a limited conflict.