Happy Monday! And Chag Pesach Sameach to all our readers celebrating the start of Passover tonight!

Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories

• The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Sunday that it neutralized ten terrorists and arrested eight wanted suspects during a two-day operation in the occupied West Bank that concluded on Saturday. A report from the Palestinian Health Ministry in the West Bank—which IDF has neither confirmed nor denied—claimed the operation killed 14 people, including one child and one teenager. Also on Sunday, the Palestinian Red Crescent claimed that an ambulance driver was shot and killed while transporting Palestinians injured in a skirmish with Israeli settlers, an incident the IDF has said it’s investigating. Meanwhile, the U.S. is reportedly planning to sanction an ultra-Orthodox IDF battalion, Netzah Yehuda, for alleged human rights violations in the West Bank predating Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel.
• President Joe Biden released a statement on Sunday condemning the “alarming surge” in antisemitism amid intensifying anti-Israel protests at Columbia University over the weekend. The demonstrations, which came ahead of Passover this week, have included praise for terrorism and calls for violence against Jews and Jewish students. New York City Mayor Eric Adams said Sunday that the police department has “an increased presence” near the university to “protect students and all New Yorkers on public streets,” but added he can’t send officers to the private campus unless another request is made by Columbia.
• Satellite imagery suggests that an Israeli counterattack against Iran early Friday morning likely caused damage to an Iranian air base, including an air defense system. Although the strike occurred near the central Iranian city of Isfahan—an area where there are known to be Iranian military and nuclear sites—officials from the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency said Iran’s nuclear facilities were undamaged. Citing anonymous Western sources, the New York Times reported that Israeli warplanes fired missiles at Iran during the attack, but it remains unclear if they contributed to the damage visible on satellite imaging. Israeli officials have not publicly taken responsibility for the strikes, but both U.S. and Iranian officials have attributed them to Israel. Iranian officials have continued to downplay the retaliation, claiming that Israel attacked with small-exploding drones that were neutralized by their defenses.
• The Biden administration on Friday announced its plans to withdraw all remaining military personnel—totaling more than 1,000—from Niger, including those stationed at a $110 million American air base that functions as a hub for counterterrorism operations in the Sahel region. The ruling junta—which came to power in a coup last summer—terminated a military cooperation agreement with the U.S. last month, prompting Nigerien government officials to denounce continued American presence in the country as illegal. A senior U.S. military official told the Wall Street Journal that the withdrawal “complicates the Pentagon’s ability to achieve U.S. security objectives in the region.”
• The House of Representatives passed legislation spearheaded by House Speaker Mike Johnson on Saturday totaling $95 billion in foreign aid for the Indo-Pacific, Israel, and Ukraine. A Senate vote on the package is expected as early as Tuesday, and President Joe Biden has signaled that he will sign it into law. Despite threatening to oust Johnson over the package, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia—one of three co-sponsors on the motion to vacate, which could force a vote to eject Johnson—said she would instead delay the motion until after the House’s Passover recess, providing more time to rally support for Johnson’s removal. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed his gratitude to the House for the $61 billion in Ukraine aid—about $10 billion of which is in the form of a loan—and hailed the legislation as a “solution for protecting life.”
• Included in the House’s foreign aid and national security package passed Saturday is a measure that could lead to the forced sale or ban of TikTok, the popular social media app with around 170 million U.S. users. The legislation—passed in a 360-58 vote in the House—would require TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to divest the app within one year or face a ban on its operations within the U.S. The House passed a similar bill last month before it stalled in the Senate. Biden expressed his support for the earlier bill, saying last month, “If they pass it, I’ll sign it.”
• Biden on Saturday signed legislation to extend for two years Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which allows the government to gather communication data from foreign citizens outside U.S. borders. The House passed legislation to reauthorize the measure earlier this month, and the Senate voted down several amendments trying to narrow the law’s reach before passing the reauthorization 60-34 late Friday night as the measure was set to expire.
• Jury selection in former President Donald Trump’s New York criminal trial related to alleged hush-money payments ended Friday after the five remaining alternate jurors were seated. Their identities are supposed to remain confidential, known only to the judge overseeing the case, prosecutors, Trump, and his legal defense team. Opening statements for the case are slated to begin Monday morning after Judge Juan Merchan scolded the defense for its flurry of motions meant to delay the start of the proceedings. Shortly after the jurors were seated Friday, a 37-year-old man set himself on fire outside the courthouse and succumbed to his injuries in the hospital later that night. In a manifesto published online, he revealed his motivations stemmed from various conspiracy theories, including that global leaders are plotting an “apocalyptic fascist world coup.”
• David Pryor, a former Democratic governor of and U.S. senator from Arkansas, died on Saturday from natural causes at the age of 89. Pryor began his public service career in 1960, when he was elected to the Arkansas state legislature, later serving in the U.S. House of Representatives before ascending to the governor’s mansion and eventually the Senate. 

Unpacking the Foreign Aid Bills

The 118th Congress is no stranger to chaos, but the gloves were well and truly off this weekend.

“I served 20 years in the military,” GOP Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas told CNN on Sunday. “It’s my absolute honor to be in Congress, but I serve with some real scumbags,” he said, taking specific aim at fellow Republican Reps. Matt Gaetz and Bob Good.

“Matt Gaetz is a bully,’ Rep. Derrick Van Orden of Wisconsin added Saturday. “[Texas Rep.] Chip Roy is a bully. Bob Good’s a bully. And the only way to stop a bully is to push back hard.” The three lawmakers referenced by Van Orden are among a group of hardline Republicans opposed to the trio of foreign aid bills passed over the weekend and obliquely threatening House Speaker Mike Johnson’s leadership over his decision to bring the bills to the floor. “The majority of the majority—the vast majority of the majority—is sick and tired of these high school antics,” Van Orden—who himself is no stranger to high school antics—added.