It’s been more than 100 days since Hamas attacked Southern Israel and took nearly 200 hostages captive. Now, the families of those victims are urging the U.S. and Israeli government to ramp up its efforts to bring them home. 

A group of bipartisan senators led by Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Senate Foreign Relations Chair Ben Cardin, D-Md., held an emotional press conference Wednesday with five families whose loved ones are still being held hostage by Hamas.

‘I discussed with a few of the families some new strategy that we can implement. And I promise to try and do that,’ Schumer said Wednesday. ‘There are always new initiatives as there are right now. And we are making slow, slow, slow, but important progress. Not that that progress can’t come fast enough. And let me be clear, if Hamas had any basic shred of humanity, they would have released the hostages already.’

Schumer and other senators did not immediately expand on what those new strategies or initiatives would entail. 

Hamas is still holding 130 of the 240 hostages captive, including six Americans, whose conditions are unknown. Families lamented that Wednesday marked 103 days since the attack.

One of the victims’ family members, Jon Polin, said during the press conference that his son, Hersh, was celebrating his 23rd birthday at the music festival when Hamas terrorists massacred over a thousand people. Hersh is one of the current victims held hostage.

‘From eyewitness accounts and subsequent video footage, we know that he was loaded onto a Hamas pickup truck after having his left arm, his dominant arm, blown off,’ Polin told reporters. ‘And as Americans, we expect the United States, the greatest superpower in the history of the world, to use its full power to secure the hostages release. This includes making sure that all partners in the region make this a top priority.’

Adi Marciano’s daughter was killed in captivity while being held by Hamas terrorists. As she urged for more action to release the remaining victims, she said a ‘black cloud’ hangs over her.

‘Let’s ensure that we do everything in our power to bring our loved ones home,’ she said. 

Yarden Gonen’s 23-year-old sister, Romi, was also kidnapped by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7. 

‘You are all lawmakers of the most powerful country in the world, a beacon of democracy, a defender of civil and human rights,’ Gonen said. ‘Please, with this great power comes great responsibility. I ask you, please do everything you can to get our hostages home where they deserve to be. This is a violation of international law, of basic human rights.’

Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-NE., said ‘Hamas must surrender’ and that he and his colleagues will continue to ‘push for the release of hostages.’ Sens. Susan Collins, R-Me., Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., were also in attendance. 

Ernst urged the Biden administration to do more to help the release of hostages. Some Israeli family members blamed Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu for not striking a deal to get their loved ones home. 

Cardin emphasized throughout the press conference that lawmakers will exhaust every possible avenue to progress toward bringing the victims home safely. 

He also criticized the Qatar government for not doing more to advance the effort. 

‘They do have opportunities that we don’t have,’ Cardin said. ‘They have not been as effective as I would like to see them.’

Israeli President Kibbutz Be’eri confirmed on Tuesday that two residents, Yossi Sharabi, 53, and Itai Svirsky, 38, held captive by Hamas, were killed. The announcement followed the release of a new Hamas video on the 100-day anniversary of the October 7 massacre, which also features a third hostage, Noa Argamani, 26.

Family members at Wednesday’s press conference lamented that if action isn’t taken swiftly to release the captives, their loved ones will inevitably be killed. 

‘Every day that Prime Minister Netanyahu and the war cabinet do not negotiate a deal to release all the people who are hostages in Gaza is a failure,’ said Liz Natfali, a relative of 4-year-old Abigal Edan, who was the first American hostage freed by Hamas. 

An agreement to temporarily halt the war between Israel and Hamas was carried out in November, which resulted in the release of about 100 hostages and 180 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails. But the deal was short-lived after Hamas violated the pause and continued to hold more than 100 victims still captive.  

House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., is hitting back at a House Democratic bid to have her censured. 

Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., introduced a resolution to censure Stefanik on Wednesday, accusing her of ‘providing aid, comfort and support’ to people who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Stefanik responded by releasing a statement from top aide Alex DeGrasse blasting Goldman as a ‘corrupt radical,’ pointing out that he’s been scrutinized for possible ethics violations in the past.

‘Failed Far Left House Democrats are in absolute desperate free fall that Elise Stefanik continues to be one of the most effective Members of Congress going on offense every single day exposing Democrats and Joe Biden’s corruption and lies,’ DeGrasse said.

He continued, ‘Dan Goldman is a corrupt radical New York Democrat who unethically traded tens of millions of dollars in stocks while failing to pay rent, took money from a Jeff Epstein associate, funds terrorist groups like Hamas through his family foundation, launders millions through his family foundation to attack Republican Members of Congress, and supports radicals like Tish James who are engaging in witchhunts against President Trump while releasing violent criminals on our streets.’

Past reports from the New York Post and Washington Free Beacon, as well as other outlets, have accused Goldman of raising questions with his stock trade activity. Last March, Fox News Digital found Goldman was tied to a left-wing dark money group funneling money into trying to impede the House GOP’s investigations into President Biden.

DeGrasse also pointed to Goldman’s past comments calling for Trump to be ‘eliminated.’

‘Dan Goldman and Democrats are desperate because they know Joe Biden is going to lose this November,’ the Stefanik aide said.

Fox News Digital reached out to Goldman’s office for comment.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., threw his support behind Stefanik as well, telling reporters that the censure resolution is ‘patently absurd.’

‘She’s one of the best leaders and communicators in Congress. She’s doing an exceptional job. The idea that he would use a censure to attack a political opponent is just absurd,’ Johnson said.

Addressing reporters outside the Capitol on Wednesday, Goldman referenced Stefanik calling those jailed in connection to Jan. 6 ‘hostages’ and claimed it downplayed the situation faced by Israelis being held captive by Hamas in Gaza.

However, he decided against introducing the resolution as privileged for now, a move that would have forced House leaders to take it up within two legislative days.

‘We plan today to file it without raising the privileges. Our hope is that there are other Republicans, especially those in New York, where both Ms. Stefanik and I come from, who recognize that this kind of rhetoric is unacceptable, and that the Republicans will bring it up on their own,’ Goldman said.

‘But if they don’t, we are prepared to consider moving forward with a privileged resolution.’

FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., will introduce a bill Wednesday that aims to protect the independence of tax-exempt organizations from being subject to erroneous federal regulations.

The bill, called the Safeguarding Charity Act, comes after two recent court decisions ruled private organizations are subject to federal restrictions simply due to their tax-exempt status.

‘Civic organizations like churches, schools, and charities are crucial to our communities,’ Rubio said in a statement to Fox News Digital. ‘I remain concerned by recent court decisions that could subject these organizations to burdensome federal regulations simply because they are tax-exempt.’

The bill ‘would protect these organizations from the government’s politicized battles,’ Rubio said.

Rubio’s bill comes as recent federal court decisions assert that private institutions, based on their tax-exempt status, could face federal restrictions. This poses a risk of penalties for private schools, churches and nonprofit charities that fail to comply with onerous and politically charged regulations.

The courts deemed tax-exempt status as a form of ‘federal financial assistance,’ as seen in the cases of Buettner-Hartsoe v. Baltimore Lutheran High School in 2021 and E.H. v. Valley Christian Academy in 2022. 

These court decisions have the potential to affect a range of tax-exempt organizations that are not currently receiving federal financial assistance, according to Rubio’s office.

This includes private K-12 schools, certain higher education institutions, houses of worship, charitable organizations, private foundations, labor unions, social welfare organizations, homeowners associations, volunteer fire companies, credit unions, chambers of commerce, boards of trade and veterans organizations.

The recent rulings could threaten single-sex private schools, churches and charities. For example, a private Catholic all-girls school would not be able to deny a biological male who identifies as a transgender female from attending.

‘If the reasoning of these decisions is more widely embraced, hundreds of thousands of tax-exempt organizations will be unexpectedly subject to burdensome federal statutes and regulations for the first time,’ the bill text analysis reads. ‘They will incur substantial compliance costs and could potentially lose their tax-exempt status if they are found to have violated any of the relevant statutes.’

Sens. Mike Braun, R-Ind., JD Vance, R-Ohio, and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., are co-sponsoring the legislation, and House Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., introduced companion legislation in the House.

‘Due to multiple, radical judicial decisions targeting religious schools, Congress must now codify that an organization holding tax-exempt status is not to be considered as a recipient of federal financial assistance,’ Steube said in a statement.

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon praised former President Donald Trump’s handling of the economy, immigration, China and other issues in an interview this week.

Dimon made the comments defending ‘MAGA’ voters during an interview with CNBC’s ‘Squawk Box’ on Wednesday.

‘When people say ‘MAGA,’ they’re actually looking at people voting for Trump, and they think they’re voting — they’re basically scapegoating them, that you are like him. But I don’t think they’re voting for Trump because of his family values,’ Dimon said of the former president.

Dimon hesitated from fully endorsing Trump’s rhetoric on sensitive topics, but said it was clear many voters found value in his first term as president.

‘I don’t like how he said things about Mexico […] but he wasn’t wrong about some of these critical issues, and that’s why they’re voting for him,’ Dimon told CNBC. ‘I think people should be a little more respectful of our fellow citizens.’

‘I mean, really, can we just stop that stuff and actually grow up and treat other people with respect and listen to them a little bit?’ he continued. ‘I think this negative talk about MAGA is going to hurt Biden’s election campaign.’

It is only the latest commentary Dimon has offered on economic issues facing citizens across the country.

Dimon said earlier this month that he is not convinced the Federal Reserve can achieve a soft landing as a result of their most aggressive rate hike campaign since the 1980s. 

During an exclusive interview on ‘Mornings with Maria’ on Tuesday, Dimon warned about the possibility of a looming recession, while comparing the financial state to the turbulent period of 50 years ago when the nation endured a decade of high inflation. 

‘I look at a lot of things, and forget just economic models for a second, $2 trillion of fiscal deficit, the infrastructure and IRA act, the green economy, the re-militarization of the world, the restructuring of trade are all inflationary,’ he told host Maria Bartiromo. ‘And that looks a little more like the 1970s to me.’

Fox News Digital’s Kristen Altus contributed to this report.

Iran’s foreign minister warned Israel that attacks by Iran and its allies against Israeli and American targets will continue so long as Israeli forces are waging war in Gaza on Wednesday.

Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said the attacks would halt if Israel withdraws its forces. Iran and its proxy terrorist groups have attacked Israeli and U.S. targets more than 100 times since mid-October, threatening to widen Israel’s war against Hamas into a regional conflict.

‘An end to the genocide in Gaza will lead to an end of military actions and crises in the region,’ Amirabdollahian said at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

‘The security of the Red Sea is tied to the developments in Gaza, and everyone will suffer if Israel’s crimes in Gaza do not stop… All the (resistance) fronts will remain active,’ he added.

Iran deployed one of its navy vessels to the Red Sea earlier this month. Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have also launched dozens of missile and drone attacks against international trade vessels in the Red Sea.

The U.S. and other Western allies have thwarted many of the Houthi attacks, but several shipping companies have diverted travel elsewhere. Such diversions cost weeks of shipping time as vessels must travel around Africa.

Israel has given no indication that it plans to halt its war against Hamas in the near future. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who launched the war after Hamas carried out a massacre on Oct. 7 that included the killing of at least 1,200 Israelis, has said the war will last ‘many more months.’

Netanyahu has also threatened war with Hezbollah, another Iran-backed terrorist organization that operates in Lebanon to Israel’s north.

President Biden’s administration has remained largely supportive of Israel throughout the conflict, but has urged Netanyahu’s government to scale back its offensive in Gaza.

Reuters contributed to this report.

The State Department says the Air Force is sending a replacement plane to Switzerland to bring Secretary of State Antony Blinken home Wednesday after the aircraft he was traveling in was unable to take off due to a ‘mechanical issue.’

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the incident happened after Blinken left Davos, where he was attending the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting. 

‘There’s a mechanical issue. I don’t know the nature of the mechanical issue, but he is in Zurich. He was scheduled to fly back from Zurich,’ Miller said. ‘The Air Force has a replacement plane inbound. We expect him to be back still tonight. But several hours later than originally planned.’

According to Bloomberg, the aircraft, a modified Boeing 737, suffered a critical error after an oxygen leak was detected and it was not immediately fixable. The aircraft was subsequently deemed unsafe to fly.

The update came hours after Blinken spoke during a Davos panel, where he called for stability in the Middle East and said the region was at ‘an inflection point’ that requires hard decisions. He also projected confidence that a resolution could be made to end the Israel-Hamas war.

‘We’re in the midst of what is human tragedy in so many ways in the Middle East right now — for the Israelis and Palestinians alike,’ Blinken said.

During his remarks, he reiterated the need for a ‘pathway to a Palestinian state’ and said Israel would not ‘get genuine security absent that.’

‘The problem is getting from here to there, and of course, it requires very difficult, challenging decisions. It requires a mindset that is open to that perspective,’ Blinken said.

Blinken said Israelis would need to decide on their leadership and direction, saying it’s up to them whether the country can ‘seize the opportunity that we believe is there.’

Prior to the Davos trip, Blinken spent a weeklong trip to the Middle East aimed at calming tensions across the region.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

EXCLUSIVE: The No. 3 House Republican is throwing his support behind the Biden administration’s decision to redesignate the Houthis as a terror group, though he suggested the label should never have been stripped.

‘Though it took Joe Biden three years to figure out what Republicans already knew, there’s no time like the present to ditch the failed foreign policy that led to unprecedented attacks on American troops and international commerce,’ House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., told Fox News Digital.

‘Hopefully the president has learned an important lesson: When terrorists show you who they are, believe them.’

The U.S. and U.K. led a coalition of countries in striking Houthi positions in Yemen on three occasions this month, most recently on Tuesday.

Iran-backed Houthi fighters have been attacking ships in the Red Sea they accuse of being tied to Israel. The rebel group has said it is in response to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.

President Biden called the Houthis terrorists when answering questions by reporters on Friday.

His administration lifted the Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) label against the militant group in February 2021. The designation was made under former President Trump.

Biden officials announced Wednesday morning that the Houthis would be added to the Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) list over their actions in the Red Sea recently. 

The SDGT designation is slightly less severe than FTO. For instance, immigrants associated with FTO designees can be denied U.S. visas and in some cases deported, while there is no immigration provision associated with SDGT.

‘We’ve taken this action to pressure the Houthis to cease their terrorist activity, including missile and drone attacks against international shipping,’ a senior administration official said.

‘The ultimate goal of sanctions is to convince the Houthis to de-escalate and bring about a positive change in behavior. If the Houthis cease their attacks, we can consider delisting the designation.’

Biden has faced criticism from both the right and the left over his administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war.

Republicans have accused the president of not taking a stronger stance toward Israel, while progressives have staged protests against what they view as insufficient aid to Gaza.

The Russian government will be offering citizens living in the United States a chance to vote in the upcoming presidential elections. 

Russian officials announced Wednesday that polling stations will be opened at consulates in the U.S. during the March election.

‘In the U.S., we plan to open three polling stations: in our embassy in Washington, as well as our consulates in New York and in Houston,’ said Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov, according to Agence France-Presse.

Moscow previously expressed hesitancy toward opening polling locations overseas in ‘unfriendly’ countries.

‘We are asking countries to ensure security,’ Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova previously said.

President Vladimir Putin submitted his nomination papers to the Central Election Commission last month for the March 17 election, which he is widely expected to win. The former intelligence officer continues to hold overwhelming political power in Russia’s government and institutions. 

Liberal Democratic Party candidate Leonid Slutsky and New People Party candidate Vladislav Davankov were approved for the March election by official earlier this month. 

Danankov currently serves as the deputy speaker for the state Duma — Russia’s lower legislative chamber. Slutsky is the head of the state Duma’s foreign affairs committee.

The Russian Communist Party has registered candidate Nikolai Kharitonov to stand in the election.

While ostensibly rivals for the nation’s top executive position, communist Nikolai Kharitonov, nationalist Slutsky, and liberal-leaning Davankov are widely seen as mere token opposition by analysts.

Not all individuals seeking to run against Putin have been given clearance to stand for election.

Yekaterina Duntsova — an independent politician who wanted to run on a platform to end the war with Ukraine — had her candidacy application unanimously rejected by the country’s electoral commission on Saturday, which cited ‘numerous violations’ in the papers she had submitted.

President Biden will redesignate Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis as a terrorist group — three years after removing them from the Foreign Terrorist Organizations list — in response to repeated attacks on shipping vessels in the Red Sea. 

The Houthis will be placed on the Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) list, which will trigger sanctions designed to prevent further attacks on global trade in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, according to senior administration officials. 

‘These attacks are a clear example of terrorism and a violation of international law and a major threat to life, global commerce, and they jeopardize the delivery of humanitarian assistance,’ a senior administration official told reporters on Tuesday.

The decision comes as the Houthis have launched dozens of attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea. The group said the attacks are in response to Israel’s military campaign against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. On Tuesday, Houthi fighters launched anti-ship ballistic missiles from Yemen into the Red Sea.

‘We’ve taken this action to pressure the Houthis to cease their terrorist activities, including missile and drone attacks against international shipping. The ultimate goal of sanctions is to convince the Houthis to de-escalate and bring about a positive change in behavior,’ the official said. 

The terrorist designation is set to take effect in 30 days. Officials emphasized that commercial shipments of food, medicine and fuel into Yemeni ports will be exempted so as not to deny humanitarian aid to the Yemeni people amid the civil war between the Houthis and the country’s internationally recognized, Saudi-backed government,

‘The administration is prioritizing the mitigation of unintended adverse impacts from this designation that may otherwise arise for the people of Yemen,’ a second official said. 

Secretary of State Antony Blinken delisted the Houthis as both a foreign terrorist organization and as specially designated global terrorists in February 2021 as the Biden administration sought to make it easier to get humanitarian aid into Yemen.

The move was a reversal of former President Trump’s decision to place the Houthis on the FTO list over the strong objections of human rights and humanitarian aid groups in the waning days of his presidency.

The foreign terrorist designation barred Americans and people and organizations subject to U.S. jurisdiction from providing ‘material support’ to the Houthis, which the groups said would result in an even greater humanitarian catastrophe than what was already happening in Yemen.

An SDGT designation will also freeze Houthi assets, but unlike the FTO designation, it will not impose immigration restrictions on members, according to the State Department. The SDGT sanctions also will not touch people and organizations who provide ‘material support’ to the Houthis. 

‘It was the correct step in 2021 to revoke the foreign terrorist organization and SDGT designations for the Houthis,’ an administration official said, adding that Blinken made that decision ‘in recognition of a very dire humanitarian situation in Yemen.’ 

According to officials, the SDGT designation is part of a ‘broader effort’ to deter the Houthi attacks along with military action. 

The recent Houthi attacks in the Red Sea have disrupted global shipping. Linda Thomas Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said last week that 2,000 ships since November have been forced to divert thousands of miles to avoid the Red Sea.

Houthi militants have threatened or taken hostage mariners from more than 20 countries.

On Tuesday, U.S. forces struck and destroyed four Houthi anti-ship ballistic missiles that were prepared to launch from Yemen, CENTCOM said.

‘The recent attacks since November are really unacceptable,’ the official said. ‘We cannot sit idly by and watch what the Houthis are doing in the Red Sea and not recognize their actions for what they are.’ 

Fox News Digital’s Louis Casiano, Jacqui Heinrich and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Journalism is in chaos. It is an industry where only a tiny percentage of people dare hold different political opinions and more than 60% of journalists think the news business is going in the ‘wrong direction.’ Don’t take my word for it. Take theirs.

More than 1,600 journalists responded to a survey from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications and the results are damning. Only 3.4% of U.S. journalists claim to be Republicans, with another 36.4% saying they’re Democrats. That’s more than 10 times more Democrats than Republicans. Or at least the ones who will admit they are on the left. 

More than half (51.7%) call themselves ‘independents’ and another 8.5% ‘other.’ Journalists have been getting these survey questions for more than 50 years and they have grown savvier. Many carefully list themselves in those other categories to avoid being called biased. So, just keep that 3.4% number in mind. Out of all journalists. 

Or let’s give the real number – 96.6% are not Republicans. 

That’s how Russiagate and Russian collusion get rammed down the throats of the American public like the scandal really happened. (Hint: It didn’t.) That’s how they cover for a president who is barely coherent much of the time and lies constantly about his family, his accomplishments and his past. (Hey Potus, say hi to Corn Pop for me.) 

Remember when the press tried to tally then-President Donald Trump’s so-called ‘lies?’ For President Biden, they call them misstatements or ignore them entirely. As Sgt. Muldoon explained in the John Wayne movie, ‘Green Berets,’ ‘Well… that’s newspapers for you, ma’am. You could fill volumes with what you don’t read in them.’

It’s only gotten worse since actor Aldo Ray read those lines. In 1971, one-fourth of U.S. journalists were Republican. In 50 years, journalism has essentially purged any political opposition in its ranks. And we get the result. 

Ninety-six-percent agreement is how the press tries to convince you that the border isn’t a problem when even Democrat mayors are screaming that it is. And their cities are only hit with a tiny portion of what red states have had to endure. 

And this is how you get an elite press that pretends ordinary Americans can afford food, rent and mortgages, when those same Americans tell you they can’t and 96% are worried about the economy. It’s so bad that one-fourth of Americans are ‘doom spending’ money they don’t have to compensate.

The 96% make no effort to cover the many failures of the Biden administration. The administration backed Ukraine, but not well enough for it to win. Our military is under near constant attack in the Mideast, and we barely respond as trade routes are conquered by terrorists.

Because the 96% are firmly in the Democrat camp. Heck, they went out of their way to elect President Biden and are trying to do so again.

Most journalists won’t even admit the news industry’s problems. If you dig further into this enlightening study, only 21.8% think any sort of ‘political orientation’ diversity is needed in their newsrooms. And it’s unclear if that means they think their outlets need to even be more liberal or more conservative. To emphasize that point, only 12.7% think ‘perceived bias and opinion journalism’ is a problem.

Journalism has become a dad joke. What’s the difference between ignorance and indifference? They don’t know and they don’t care.

The problems with our journo elite don’t stop there. Whites make up less than 60% of the U.S. population, but 82% of the news media. That doesn’t bother them either. Only about one-fourth of those studied think racial diversity is an issue in their newsrooms. 

More than eight out of 10 journalists said performing a government ‘watchdog’ role is important. Ironic for a field that didn’t notice when the secretary of defense went AWOL and disappeared for several days for surgery. 

Nearly all journalists (96.4%) have college degrees, a huge change from the 1982 study, about the time I started my news career when it was about 70%. Journalism used to be considered a trade that you could learn. Now, it’s a field that requires expensive college indoctrination, so they are unbothered by the biases they encounter every day.

As journalism has become an elite field, it has abandoned its role in serving the public. Local journalism has dried up or has almost no resources. National journalism is dominated by a few outlets like The Washington Post and New York Times and even the Post just had buyouts. Only 7.4% of those surveyed think reaching the widest audience is ‘extremely important.’

So much for the dad joke about newspapers being black and white and read all over. 

It’s no wonder why Americans have lost faith in the news media. And it will get substantially worse this election. The 96% have spoken.