
Daily Kickoff: The return of Jon Lovett live + 10 new October books
👋 Good Friday morning!
For less-distracted reading over the long weekend, browse this week’s edition of The Weekly Print, a curated print-friendly PDF featuring a selection of recent JI stories, including: The Met Gala and the far-left vs. the far-right; How Ayanna Pressley shifted her stance on Israel; An interview with Michael Herzog, Israel’s incoming ambassador to the U.S.; Little Sesame offers an education in hummus for the Washington set; Matt Dolan walks an uncharted path in Ohio’s Republican Senate primary; Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan donate $1.3 million to Jewish groups; and Jon Lovett live — finally! Print the latest edition here.
House leadership postponed a planned vote last night on the Senate’s bipartisan infrastructure deal. The development is a blow to Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), a lead negotiator for a group of Democratic centrists, who said on Thursday afternoon that he was “1,000 percent” confident the bill would pass the House last night.
Gottheimer tweeted after the postponement, “It ain’t over yet,” saying that “negotiations are ongoing” and emphasizing that the House is not formally adjourned. The House will be back today to continue work on the bill.
Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid inaugurated the Israeli embassy in Manama, Bahrain, yesterday, in a ceremony attended by Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdullatif al Zayani, a year after the two countries signed a normalization agreement. Lapid and Zayani also signed bilateral agreements relating to water, the environment and sports, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson told the Jewish Insider.
Earlier Thursday, Lapid became the first Israeli senior official to meet with Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, which he described as “a historic, warm, and hopeful meeting.”
Vice President Kamala Harris’s office addressed concerns by Jewish leaders and legislators critical of her response to a comment from a George Mason University student earlier this week that Israel is committing “ethnic genocide.”
Symone Sanders, a senior advisor to the vice president and Harris’s chief spokesperson, told JI on Friday morning, “Throughout her career, the Vice President has been unwavering in her commitment to Israel and to Israel’s security. While visiting George Mason University to discuss voting rights, a student voiced a personal opinion during a political science class. The Vice President strongly disagrees with the student’s characterization of Israel.”
on stage
Jon Lovett live — finally!

Jon Lovett visits BuzzFeed’s “AM To DM” on September 11, 2019 in New York City.
Jon Lovett, the former Obama speechwriter, progressive podcast host and stand-up comedian, seemed eager to hone his act in an interview with Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel last week before returning to a live stage for the first time in 18 months. “I’m really excited to go back to it because if I don’t get applause, my doctor says I could get very sick,” the Crooked Media co-founder deadpanned, testing out a gag over the phone.
Zoom gloom: Before the pandemic, Lovett, 39, hosted a raucous weekly podcast, “Lovett or Leave It,” in front of a live audience, often in his home city of Los Angeles. For the past year-and-half, he kept his show going remotely, as best he could, on Zoom, recording interviews with a wide assortment of comedians, journalists, politicos and other guests “in front of a needy golden-doodle,” as a facetiously updated tag line informed viewers tuning in from home — an allusion to Lovett’s beloved dog, Pundit.
Back to basics: Now, Lovett is stepping back onto the stage as he embarks on a series of weekly outdoor shows, “Lovett or Leave It: Live or Else,” which began last Thursday at the Cinelounge in Hollywood and will culminate in a performance at the Beacon Theater in Manhattan on Nov. 12. Lovett’s panelists have so far included Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and B.J. Novak, the actor and comedian, with future guests yet to be confirmed. “Doing jokes over Zoom, you know, we made it work,” Lovett said. “I’ll be glad to not do it for a while.”
‘Not married yet’: Still, Lovett had more company than just Pundit and his remote audience during the pandemic. He is engaged to investigative journalist Ronan Farrow, who proposed two years ago in a draft of his book Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators. Asked if they were married yet, Lovett guffawed. “Do you know what would happen if I told you that we were married and my mother saw a link to this piece that said we were married already?” he said. “I would hear the shouting from Boynton Beach, Florida. We are not married yet.”
Borscht Belt charm: Lovett, who is Jewish, has been regaling listeners with his charmingly anachronistic brand of Borscht Belt-inflected political commentary for years. Though Lovett admits that he is “super rusty” after months of video interviews, he is looking forward to perfecting his on-stage approach after months of video interviews. “There’s going to be a lot of experimentation and trial and error,” he said.