US sanctions Iran-tied shadow banks, sends alert on religious charity abuse
(JNS)—The Trump administration announced several sanctions against the Iranian regime including against banking institutions accused of helping move hundreds of millions of dollars through the financial system and into Tehran.
Iraq-based International Development Bank for Investment and Finance “abused its access to the now-dissolved U.S. dollar wire auction and maintains ties to Iranian government entities and Iran-aligned militia groups in Iraq,” the U.S. Department of the Treasury said.
The bank was intended to supply Iran with American dollars and absorbed the business of neighboring Bank Melli, which recently closed under U.S. sanctions.
The U.S. government said that IDB ownership was transferred from a dual Iranian-Iraqi financier working for the sanctioned Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force but that the financier continues to hold sway over the bank.
The federal government also said Cuba-based Banco Internacional de Comercio S.A. has provided services to the Iran-based Karafarin Bank, which Washington also sanctioned, since at least 2022.
“The noose is tightening around Iran’s economy, and not even Iran’s so-called allies can save it,” stated Scott Bessent, U.S. treasury secretary.”
Somerville councilors, solicitor delay final action on Israel divestment proposal
(JTA)—Lawmakers in Somerville Massachusetts have delayed action on an Israeli divestment proposal to allow for more research into the question of what businesses would be banned and what the financial impact would be on the city.
Somerville’s Legislative Matters Committee debated the issue on Tuesday night after its City Council voted in November 2025 to find a way within a year to implement ballot Question 3 on Israel divestment approved earlier that month by 55.7% of ballots.
Councilor Lance Davis spent much of the meeting questioning Councilor Ben Ewen-Campen, who is Jewish, on the criteria he is developing by which to evaluate the companies that would be included in the procurement and investment ban.
That criteria is listed in a draft ordinance that deals only with companies the municipality directly invests in or does business with. It does not include subcontractors nor sole proprietors, defined as a “natural person conducting business in their own name or under a trade name,” without forming a legal entity (like a corporation) for the purpose of their business.
Ewen-Campen told the legislative committee his intention for the restricted entities would be those that demonstrated “direct, ongoing and knowing activity” in international humanitarian crimes, including in Israel and Palestine. “The intent is companies that play a role in the ongoing violations of international humanitarian law, apartheid, genocide, et cetera,” Ewen-Campen explained.
Bomb threat hoaxes called into four U.S. Jewish day schools
(JTA)—Bomb threat hoaxes targeting four U.S. Jewish day schools resulted in evacuations and a lockdown within the last week.
Hoaxers called in threats two minutes apart on Oct. 9 to two Brooklyn yeshivas, the Yeshivah of Flatbush Joel Braverman High School and the United Talmudical Academy of Williamsburg, News 12 reported. Police later determined the threats were hoaxes.
On Oct. 12, the Donna Klein Jewish Academy preschool in Boca Raton, Florida, was evacuated following a bomb threat. The Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County said in a Facebook post that the threat call was fraudulent.
Rep. Jared Moskowitz, a Florida Jewish Democrat, expressed relief that his constituents were safe. “Let’s be clear: there is no cause in the world that’s served by scaring children. If your grievance leads you to a K–12 school, you’re the problem,” he said on social media.
On the same day, the Milken Community School in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles – a private Jewish middle and high school – also went into lockdown after police reported receiving a call about an active shooter, but later clarified the security concern was a bomb threat.
Pennsylvania governor will sign IHRA definition bill when it passes legislature
(JTA)—Jonah Platt wants pote(JNS)—Pennsylvania state senator Judy Schwank thinks that Gov. Josh Shapiro will sign her bill defining antisemitism using the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition if lawmakers get it to his desk.
“If we can get it through both bodies and get it to the governor’s desk, he will sign it,” she told JNS.
Schwank, former dean of agriculture and environmental sciences at Delaware Valley College, told JNS that she introduced the bill knowing that there is not enough time to pass it this session.
But she wanted to “plant the seed and try to get it to grow,” after the state’s attorney general said in September that he would use the IHRA definition in his office. That made “the topsoil a little deeper,” she said.
“I will be reintroducing it,” the Jewish Democratic lawmaker told JNS. “I’m going to keep trying, and even if we can’t get it passed, keeping it in the forefront and talking about it is also important.”
Schwank introduced SB 1489 on Oct. 13. The measure would establish a definition in state statute based on the IHRA working definition. It was referred to the state Senate’s state government committee.
Schwank, who co-chairs the Pennsylvania Jewish Legislative Caucus, said that she prefers legislation to a gubernatorial executive order, because passage of a law would demonstrate lawmakers’ commitment to confronting Jew-hatred.
Families of US Oct. 7 victims ask for investigation in Washington
(JNS)—Relatives of American victims of the Oct. 7 attacks asked Congress to investigate the 2023 Hamas-led terrorist attacks during a memorial ceremony at the U.S. State Department on Wednesday.
The memorial, attended by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and CENTCOM commander Adm. Bradley Cooper, was closed to the press, but some of the family members who attended spoke to reporters that evening.
Ruby Chen, whose 19-year-old son was serving in the Israel Defense Forces and was killed on Oct. 7, said that Congress has a responsibility to examine the deaths of the 46 U.S. citizens killed in the attack.
“The United States can do much more to suck out the oxygen from these terrorist organizations and they can—they should—bring these people to justice on United States soil,” Chen told reporters. “The way they go about it is Congress.”
Ido Dan, a relative of two people who were killed on Oct. 7, said that understanding how the attack happened and caught Israel by surprise was fundamental to Israel’s purpose as a Jewish state.
