SAN DIEGO (SDJW) — U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller has tried to tamp down expectations that a ceasefire in Gaza will be reached before the end of the year. He said on Tuesday that he is optimistic “tempered by the realism of the past several months, where we have been close before, where you have heard us describe this as being inside the 10-yard line but then finding those last 10 yards are the most difficult because, for various reasons, the two parties have not agreed to a final deal.”
U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe Show” that “We are wary about making predictions or promises but this is close and with enough pushing from the outside mediators and the commitment of Israel and Hamas, we can get it done.”
Times of Israel reported that in Rafah, Gaza, the IDF’s Chief of Staff Let. Gen. Herzi Halevi commented, “We are dismantling Hamas and targeting its infrastructure and forces so that there will never be another October 7th. We are exerting pressure on Hamas daily, driving it into greater distress, to ensure the return of the 100 hostages, hopefully alive – and for those who are not, to provide them a proper burial in Israel.”
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Sharren Haskel, Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister, told Bloomberg Television that rebels who have taken over the government of Syria, are “wolves in the clothes of sheep and we are not fooled by nice talks.” She added in an interview is that “the one thing that is in our minds is to make sure that we can protect and defend our borders and our communities.”
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Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-Florida) announced she will be cochair of the Abraham Accords Caucus in the next Congress, according to a report by Jewish News Syndicate. “A new Middle East is taking shape, and U.S. leadership, along with close cooperation with Arab partners, is essential to advance the dream that we envisioned on Oct. 6, not the nightmare that we woke up to on Oct. 7,” she said at a Capitol reception hosted by real estate developer Bobby Rechnitz marking the 4th anniversary of the accords.
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Congressman Seth Magaziner (D-Rhode Island), who sits on the House Homeland Security Committee, told CNN’s Jim Acosta that mysterious drones flying over parts of the East Coast so far have been found to “not nefarious.” He said, however, that the alarm over the rash of drone sitings has persuaded him that legislation is necessary to give state and local governments more enforcement power over drones and the ability to bring them down when necessary.
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U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) told The Washington Post that if Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “continues to be as oppositional as he has been to certain vaccines, I would have trouble voting for him” for Secretary of Health and Human Services. … Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) said he has made it clear that Kennedy has made “certain statements that are outlandish” .. Sen. Senator Jon Ossoff (D-Georgia) said he is “open-minded about nominees across the federal government and look forward to hearing how each of them intend to serve the nation and my constituents in Georgia.
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Former California State Sen. Josh Newman (D-Orange County) plans to run in 2026 in a different state Senate district than the one he lost in the 2024 election, reports The Orange County Register. “I think I have a lot left to offer in public service and I’m not interested in running for something else. I’d like to finish the work I was doing as a member of the state Senate.”
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Jewish Telegraphic Agency has profiled Rachel Laser, the Jewish leader of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
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San Diego’s Unified School Board elected Cody Petterson to the rotating position of president on Monday. He succeeds Shana Hazan, who filled the position last year. Petterson was vice president.
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Compiled by San Diego Jewish World staff