House Republicans are targeting vulnerable districts in the 2026 midterms over the Department of Homeland Security shutdown and burgeoning Transportation Security Administration security chaos.

“House Democrats shut down Homeland Security while TSA agents work for free and Americans sit in hours-long security lines,” National Republican Congressional Committee spokesperson Mike Marinella wrote Monday in a statement, announcing the targeting of Democrats in 28 districts most impacted by TSA security checkpoint delays.

The NRCC launched a paid ad campaign, focusing on Democrats it accuses of shutting down DHS and forcing TSA agents to work without pay as travelers face long security lines.

“Democrats are being blamed by the American people for the catastrophe going on right now at our airports and at other points of transportation and beyond,” President Donald Trump told a Monday gathering on addressing crime in Memphis, Tennessee.

MINNEAPOLIS MAYOR CLAIMS TRUMP CAN JUST ‘HIRE OUT MORE TSA AGENTS’ DESPITE DHS SHUTDOWN

“And we want the public to know we’re not going to let them out of this trap that they created for themselves.”

The NRCC airport-focused campaign ad targets a list of battleground and open-seat districts across California, Florida, Indiana, Maine, Michigan, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Texas, Virginia and Washington.

The targeting comes as Trump has sent Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to airports with long TSA security lines that have forced Americans to show up to check in up to five hours in advance or potentially missing their flights over the first weekend of spring travel – one of the busier times of the year.

TSA OFFICIAL WARNS SMALLER AIRPORTS COULD SHUT DOWN AMID DHS FUNDING CRISIS

“We’re not going to have the Democrats destroy our country,” Trump told reporters in an under-wing gaggle before boarding Air Force One on Monday morning in West Palm Beach, Florida. “These people are the most destructive sick people, the Democrats.”

Airports in the Northeast were also hit by a shutdown at LaGuardia Airport in New York City, where an Air Canada jet crashed trying to avoid a Port Authority Police Department fire truck that was cleared to cross the runway as the jet was landing.

The LaGuardia ground stop forced travelers to other New York City and New Jersey airports and led to cancellations and delays around the country that was relying on the availability of those jets grounded.

SCHUMER KNOCKS TRUMP ON IRAN, PLAN TO SEND ICE TO AIRPORTS: ‘ASKING FOR TROUBLE’

ICE agents arrive at JFK airport in New Yorlk City, N.Y., Monday, March 23, 2026. The agents are being brought in to assist TSA agents amid staffing shortages due to the government shutdown. (David Dee Delgado for Fox News Digital)

“In addition, after the appalling lines and massive disruptions at major airports nationwide last weekend, I am again demanding that Democrats in Congress immediately end their disgraceful shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security and restore the full funding for airport security and the TSA,” Trump told the Memphis event.

“They are holding it up because they want to take care of illegal immigrants coming into our country. They want to take care of criminals that are in sanctuary cities.”

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

On the proverbial political tarmac, House Republicans are clinging to a narrow 217-214 majority. That tally includes one newly designated independent – Rep. Kevin Kiley, I-Calif., who vowed to continue to caucus with Republicans.

There are three outstanding vacancies yet to be filled after the resignations of former Reps. Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J., and Marjorie Taylor Greene-R-Ga., and the Jan. 6 death of late Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Calif.

Counterterrorism police are leading an investigation after four Jewish community ambulances were set on fire outside a synagogue in London early Monday in what authorities are treating as an antisemitic hate crime. 

The attack took place around 1:45 a.m. in the Golders Green neighborhood, where Hatzola ambulances, a volunteer emergency service run by the Jewish community, were deliberately set ablaze in a synagogue parking lot, according to a statement by Detective Chief Superintendent Luke Williams of the Metropolitan Police.

“This arson attack is being treated as an antisemitic hate crime. This is a devastating incident for our Jewish communities,” Williams said. He added that while the incident has not yet been formally declared terrorism, “the investigation is now being led by Counterterrorism Policing… and all lines of enquiry remain open.”

A video circulating online purports to show Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiyya, an Iran-linked group that has claimed responsibility for recent attacks on Jewish sites in Belgium and the Netherlands, taking credit for the London attack, according to the Jewish Chronicle.

WESTERN LEADERS MUST CONFRONT ISLAMIST-INSPIRED ANTISEMITIC VIOLENCE BEFORE IT TARGETS EVERYONE

Charred remains of ambulances belonging to Hatzola, a Jewish community organization, which were set on fire in an incident that the police say is being treated as an antisemitic hate crime, in northwest London, Britain, March 23, 2026.  (Hannah McKay/Reuters)

Authorities are examining a potential link to a newly emerged group with suspected ties to Iran. “We are aware of an online claim from a group taking responsibility for this attack,” Williams said. “Establishing the authenticity and accuracy of this claim will be a priority… but it is not something we can confirm at this point.”

Alan Mendoza, executive director of the Henry Jackson Society, told Fox News Digital that the attack reflects years of policy failures in confronting Iranian activity on British soil. “Successive U.K. Governments have completely failed in their primary duty of keeping the home front safe. Iranian terrorist activity has been known about in the U.K. for years yet no significant moves have been made to ban the IRGC or restrict the ability of regime-linked entities to function within British society. We have created the conditions for terrorism to flourish,” he said. 

He argued that Britain’s broader approach to the conflict with Iran — attempting to maintain distance while avoiding direct confrontation — has further emboldened Tehran. “The current policy on the war in Iran is delusional. The Government is pretending Britain is not involved. The Iranian regime does not, however, believe in neutrality and has decided its position for us: ripe for targeting.”

Joe Truzman, a senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said in a post on X that “My initial assessment is that the attack could potentially be linked to Ashab al-Yamin, an Iran-linked group that has carried out multiple attacks against Jewish institutions across Europe since the war began… Hopefully this is something different, but the possibility that the group is involved should be examined.”

ISRAEL’S NETANYAHU DEMANDS WESTERN GOVERNMENTS ACT TO BATTLE ANTISEMITISM: ‘HEED OUR WARNINGS’

Charred remains of ambulances belonging to Hatzola, a Jewish community organization, which were set on fire in an incident that the police say is being treated as an antisemitic hate crime, in northwest London, Britain, March 23, 2026.  (Isabel Infantes/Reuters)

Police said they are searching for three suspects seen on CCTV pouring an accelerant onto the vehicles before igniting them. No injuries were reported, though nearby homes were evacuated as a precaution. 

The attack comes amid a broader wave of violence targeting Jewish communities across Europe in recent weeks.

Scott Saunders, CEO of the International March of the Living, said the incident represents a dangerous escalation. “The arson attack in Golders Green… marks a dangerous escalation in the targeting of Jewish communities,” Saunders said. “Emergency vehicles operated by Jewish volunteer first responders were deliberately attacked… in direct proximity to a place of worship — a space that should represent safety.”

CANADA’S CARNEY UNDER PRESSURE TO ACT AFTER SYNAGOGUES SHOT AT IN LATEST ANTISEMITIC INCIDENTS

Shadow Foreign Secretary Priti Patel visits the scene after four ambulances belonging to Hatzola, a Jewish community organization, were set on fire in an incident that the police say is being treated as an antisemitic hate crime, in northwest London, Britain, March 23, 2026.  (Isabel Infantes/Reuters)

“These ambulances do not only serve Jewish communities… Targeting them is an attack not only on Jewish life, but on the shared fabric of the community they serve,” he added. “Since the war with Iran began, antisemitic attacks have become more frequent, more brazen, and more direct. Jewish institutions are being singled out; synagogues, community spaces, and now even the emergency services that exist to protect Jewish lives, with a growing sense that these are legitimate targets. Following the deadly shooting in and around a synagogue in Manchester last October, where this escalation already resulted in loss of life, the attack in Golders Green makes clear that this trajectory is continuing.”

Dr. Charles Asher Small, founder of the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy, said the attack reflects a broader trend.

“The attack against a visible Jewish target is not an isolated act of vandalism; it is the violent fruition of a climate where Jew-hatred has been normalized and institutionalized,” Small said.

ISRAELI INTEL OFFICIAL SAYS YOUR ‘JAW WOULD DROP’ AT TERROR PLOTS PREVENTED WORLDWIDE

Men hold the flag of Israel and the pre-Iranian Revolution “Lion and Sun” flag near the scene where four ambulances belonging to Hatzola, a Jewish community organization, were set on fire in an incident that the police say is being treated as an antisemitic hate crime, in northwest London, Britain, March 23, 2026. REUTERS/Isabel Infantes (Isabel Infantes/Reuters)

“At the center of this malignancy sits the Iranian regime… which actively funds and directs the networks that view British Jewish institutions as legitimate targets,” he added.

British officials also condemned the attack.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said, “An attack on our Jewish community is an attack on us all. We will fight the poison that is antisemitism.”

Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis called the incident on X “a particularly sickening assault — not only on the Jewish community, but on the values we share as a society.”

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Police secure the site near a synagogue damaged by an explosion early on Monday, in Liege, Belgium, March 9, 2026.  (Yves Herman/Reuters)

“The targeting of Hatzola… is a most painful illustration of the ongoing battle between those who sanctify life and those who seek to destroy it,” he added in a statement posted March 23, 2026.

Police said there have been no arrests and urged anyone with information to come forward.

The United States stood alone at the United Nations in early March after a European-led procedural move blocked a vote on defining gender in biological terms at one of the world’s leading forums on women’s rights.

At the conclusion of the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women, the U.S. was the only country to oppose the body’s annual “Agreed Conclusions,” citing concerns that the language departs from biological definitions of women and girls. No other member state voted with the United States.

At the center of the dispute is how the United Nations defines “gender.” Current U.N. frameworks, rooted in the 1995 Beijing Declaration, do not provide a fixed definition and instead rely on evolving interpretations tied to broader concepts of gender identity, according to EU officials. 

The U.S. proposal sought to anchor the term explicitly in biological sex.

UPROAR AFTER IRAN NAMED VICE-CHAIR OF UN BODY PROMOTING DEMOCRACY, WOMEN’S RIGHTS

The U.S. introduced a resolution titled “Protection of women and girls through appropriate terminology,” which sought to clarify how gender is understood across U.N. policy.

Turkish Minister of Family and Social Services Mahinur Ozdemir Goktas attends a high-level meeting themed âViolence Against Women and Girlsâ as part of the 70th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in New York, United States, on March 12, 2026.  (Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images)

The draft states that the term “gender” should be interpreted “according to its ordinary, generally accepted usage, as referring to men and women.” 

The proposal never reached a vote. Belgium, speaking on behalf of the European Union, introduced a “no action motion,” a procedural tool that blocks debate and prevents a proposal from being considered. 

The motion passed, halting the U.S. resolution before it reached the floor.

That distinction carries practical implications. U.N. language shapes global standards tied to development funding, humanitarian programs, education policy and anti-discrimination frameworks.

Bethany Kozma, director of Global Affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services, told Fox News Digital the move reflects a broader effort to shut down debate at the U.N.

STATE DEPT MOVES TO EXPAND MEXICO CITY POLICY, TARGETING ABORTION, DEI AND GENDER IDEOLOGY IN FOREIGN AID

“While our redlines were ignored, the United States Government will not stand by and watch as malicious forces misuse multilateral organizations to promote their ideologies and social agendas, obstructing nations’ abilities to exercise their national sovereignty,” Kozma said. “We will always protect women and girls from dangerous gender ideology and affirm biological truth.”

She added that the decision to block the vote was driven by political calculation.

“The EU blocked our resolution to define gender to mean men and women at the U.N. because they feared we would win and they would lose,” Kozma said. “We will not give up on doing what is right for women and girls. Even if we stand alone like we did at the U.N. last week, we will always stand to protect women and girls from dangerous radical gender ideology and always affirm biological truth.”

STATE DEPARTMENT DECLARES ‘INTERNATIONAL BUREAUCRACIES’ WILL NO LONGER GET ‘BLANK CHECKS’ FROM THE US

Delegates attend a United Nations Security Council meeting on Feb. 24, 2026, in New York City. (John Lamparski/Getty Images)

A State Department official, speaking on background, described the move as part of a broader coordinated effort led by European countries.

“These are procedural games that these countries are not prepared for,” the official said, referring to smaller delegations that may lack guidance on complex procedural votes.

The official said the maneuver allowed opponents to block a vote despite what the U.S. believed was growing support. These claims could not be independently verified.

The European Union rejected the U.S. criticism, saying the proposal was flawed and rushed.

“The draft resolution presented by the U.S. was factually incorrect,” said David Jordens, spokesperson for Belgium’s foreign ministry, adding that it “misquotes and contradicts” language agreed to in the 1995 Beijing Declaration.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

The United Nations Headquarters is photographed in New York City. (iStock)

“While the EU respects Member States’ prerogative to put forward new initiatives for consideration, CSW members should not be forced to rush a decision on an issue of this importance by the unilateral initiative of one Member State, without any prior consultations or negotiations,” Jordens said.

He added that “there is no universally agreed definition of the term ‘gender’. As reflected in the outcome of the Fourth World Conference on Women, the term was understood in accordance with its ordinary and generally accepted usage, without establishing a fixed or exhaustive definition. The United Nations should continue to approach gender equality in an inclusive and forward-looking manner, respectful of diversity. Any effort to revisit or reinterpret internationally agreed language must take place through broad, transparent consultations with the full membership.”