Daily Kickoff
👋 Good Friday morning!
For less-distracted reading over the weekend, browse this week’s edition of The Weekly Print, a curated print-friendly PDF featuring a selection of recent JI stories, including: Milwaukee’s son makes a Senate run; Tom Friedman contrasts Middle East approaches: ‘Trump did crazy well, Biden doesn’t do crazy’; From start-up nation to foodtech destination; Spoon U founder Sarah Adler Hartman brings innovation to the Times; Still pressing the fight for press freedom; ‘No timelines’ on adding Israel to Visa Waiver Program, senior DHS official says; and In a first, AIPAC to enter campaign politics. Print the latest edition here.
Why is Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) getting involved in the race for speaker of the New York City Council? According to a New York Post report, the head of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who represents Queens, is working alongside City Councilmember Tiffany Caban, a favorite of the Democratic Socialists of America, to install Councilmember Adrienne Adams as speaker over fellow Queens resident, Councilmember Francisco Moya.
Both Adams and Moya claimed earlier this week that they have the necessary votes to win the position, though some in the party have expressed skepticism that Moya, who has the backing of Mayor-elect Eric Adams (who is not related to the Queens councilwoman), has drummed up enough support ahead of the January vote.
The Post highlighted Caban’s views on Israel, noting that she is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement and stating that Meeks “is joining forces with socialist, anti-Israel-leaning elected officials.”
However, Democrats in New York tell JI that the unlikely pairing between Meeks, who was elected as Queens County Democratic leader in 2019, and Caban is purely political. “The speaker’s race is one of the last places county leaders can really exert their influence,” a Democratic source told JI. “They all have their own preferred candidate and work to cut deals for chairmanships for their delegation.”
A 25-year-old Israeli man was killed in a shooting attack near the Homesh outpost in the West Bank on Thursday. The army said shots were fired at a car the victim was traveling in. Two other passengers sustained light injuries.
“We strongly condemn the terrorist attack today in the West Bank that killed an Israeli citizen and wounded two others,” State Department Spokesman Ned Price tweeted. “Our thoughts are with the victims of this attack and their families.”
“Last night’s murderous terrorist attack in the West Bank robbed a family of their father and husband. May his memory be a blessing. We pray for swift healing to the injured victims,” said U.S. Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said, “Together with all the people of Israel, I send heartfelt condolences to the family of the person killed in the horrific attack that took place tonight in Samaria, and a speedy recovery to the wounded. The security forces will get their hands on the terrorists very soon and we’ll ensure that justice is served.”
Physical attacks and acts of vandalism allegedly perpetrated by settlers against Palestinians have been reported since yesterday’s attack, which was the latest in a series of terrorist attacks in recent weeks.
Settlers erected a new West Bank outpost in the early hours of Friday morning, named Nofei Yehuda, in memory of the victim, Yehuda Dimentman.
Alan Gross was released from a Cuban prison seven years ago today, after five years of incarceration. Read our interview with him from last year.
homecoming
Gale Brewer returns to the City Council

Gale Brewer participates in “eGovernment: Using tech to improve our civic ecosystem” at Internet Week HQ on Day 1 of Internet Week 2015 in New York May 18, 2015.
With two-thirds of the New York City Council’s 51 members stepping down next month, the legislative body is poised for more diversity than it has ever seen. Gale Brewer, the outgoing two-term Manhattan borough president, is in many ways returning to a vastly different council than the one she occupied from 2002 to 2013 — though she doesn’t see it that way. “To be honest with you, the issues are the same,” she told Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kasselrecently over breakfast at a retro-style diner on the Upper West Side, where she has lived for more than four decades. “I’m about the issues.”
Showing up: Brewer has built close relationships with Jewish community leaders in Manhattan throughout a decades-long career in public service that extends back to the late 1970s, when she began a 12-year stint as Ruth Messinger’s chief of staff in the City Council. “The thing that most comes to mind about Gale is that she shows up,” Gideon Taylor, executive vice president of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, told JI. “The big events she shows up for, and she shows up for the small events, too. She’s there for conversations one-on-one. That’s what’s needed,” adding, “She’s a mensch.”
Israel issues: Brewer has traveled to Israel a number of times, both as a private citizen and on sponsored trips with organizations like JCRC-NY. While she describes herself as a strong supporter of the Jewish state, however, Brewer said she anticipates that pro-Israel sentiment will likely face some resistance in the new Council. Though the Council wields no direct influence over foreign policy, Brewer believes that pro-Israel members will “have to be careful” given recent tensions in Congress that, she suggested, could trickle down to the local level.
Around town: During her time as borough president, Brewer maintained a constant, on-the-ground presence throughout Manhattan, earning a reputation for herself as an unusually attentive local elected official. The borough president opened a store-front office in Harlem, for instance, that she says allowed for a level of personal service her constituents have appreciated. “That helped for me to be considered [to be] what I think I am,” Brewer told JI, “which is very supportive and responsive.” “The joke among her colleagues is that she has impersonators that she sends out every morning to events and meetings,” Brad Hoylman, a New York state senator who ran unsuccessfully for Manhattan borough president in the Democratic primary last June, told JI. “Having a presence from Washington Heights down to the Battery and beyond is really part of the job, but she’s done it in an incredibly skillful and tireless way.”