Lifting all U.S. sanctions from Syria risks bolstering a jihadist regime, Israeli analysts warned after President Donald Trump’s announcement in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.

After announcing the removal of sanctions, Trump met the following day in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, the former head of Al Qaeda in Syria whose nom de guerre was Ahmed al-Jolani.

New resolutions introduced Wednesday in the Senate by Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and Todd Young (R-IN) and in the House by Reps. Haley Stevens (D-MI) and French Hill (R-AR) condemn Hamas’ hostage-taking and other malign activities and urge the administration to focus on freeing the 58 remaining hostages being held in Gaza.

The introduction of the resolutions coincides with President Donald Trump’s visit to the Middle East and comes days after Hamas released Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander following direct talks with the United States, in which Israel was not involved.

Ronald Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress and a prolific Jewish philanthropist and GOP donor, appeared among other guests at the Lusail Palace in Doha, Qatar, on Wednesday to greet President Donald Trump and Qatari emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

Lauder has met with Qatari leadership several times since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel, largely to advocate for the release of hostages held in Gaza. 

Nearly all Senate Republicans sent a letter to President Donald Trump on Wednesday urging him only to agree to a nuclear deal with Iran that requires the full dismantlement of Tehran’s nuclear program. Eighty percent of House Republicans — 177 lawmakers — signed onto a nearly identical letter.

The Senate letter, led by Sens. Pete Ricketts (R-NE) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) and co-signed by every Republican senator except Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), calls on the Trump administration to follow through on its “explicit warnings” that Tehran “must permanently give up any capacity for enrichment.” The House version of the letter was led by Rep. August Pfluger (R-TX), the chairman of the Republican Study Committee, the largest conservative caucus in the House.

Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) said, in colorful terms, that he’s dubious of Qatar, a more aggressive tone days after he gave a noncommittal answer on whether President Donald Trump, who is in Doha, should accept a gifted Qatari luxury jet to serve as Air Force One.

“I trust Qatar like I trust a rest stop bathroom. If they want to be friendly, I want to be friendly back,” Kennedy said on Wednesday. “But with those guys, trust in God but tie up your camel.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) expressed concern on Wednesday about continued Houthi attacks on Israel despite the U.S. ceasefire deal with the group, suggesting that President Donald Trump’s desire to quickly find resolutions to conflicts may not be conducive to U.S. interests.

It’s the second time in two days the close Trump ally has appeared to put distance between himself and the president on foreign policy issues, after calling for a more cautious approach to sanctions relief for Syria.

President Donald Trump urged Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa to join the Abraham Accords during a meeting on Wednesday hosted by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also participated by phone, praising Trump’s recent decision to lift sanctions on Syria, according to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.

Trump also urged al-Sharaa to expel foreign terrorists from Syria, deport Palestinian terrorists, cooperate with the U.S. to prevent the resurgence of ISIS and assume responsibility for ISIS detention centers in northeast Syria, according to the statement by Leavitt. Trump and al-Sharaa met on the sidelines of a gathering of Gulf Cooperation Council leaders.

The Zachor Legal Institute, a legal think tank in Montana focused on combating antisemitism and boycott campaigns against Israel, is calling on the IRS to review the tax-exempt status of a nonprofit group involved in fundraising for pro-Palestinian activism, claiming its fiscal sponsorship of a radical anti-Zionist organization accused of advocating for political violence may be in violation of federal law. 

In a complaint filed Wednesday morning, Marc Greendorfer, the president and co-founder of the Zachor Legal Institute, formally urged the IRS to begin an investigation of the WESPAC Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in White Plains, N.Y., over its ties to Within Our Lifetime, an extreme activist group at the forefront of anti-Israel demonstrations across New York City in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks.