Former Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni gives a press conference in Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday, Feb. 18, 2019. Livni, on Monday, announced her retirement from politics.

Long before “Hatikvah,” Israel’s national anthem, played openly in Abu Dhabi or Manama, long before Israeli military jets took part in training exercises with Gulf countries, and long before normalization agreements were signed at the White House, there was one Israeli leader engaging in quiet, and very secret, diplomacy with the Arab world: Tzipi Livni. In a recent interview from her Tel Aviv home with Jewish Insider’s Ruth Marks Eglash, the former Israeli lawmaker downplayed more than a decade of covert meetings and conversations with country leaders, foreign ministers and other representatives of the Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, and even Saudi Arabia.

Game-changer: While former President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior advisor Jared Kushner has twice been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize as one of the architects of the Abraham Accords, it is possible that this entire process might not have happened if not for the groundwork laid by Livni. “Truthfully, I didn’t think that Kushner could do this; it’s really a huge achievement. I mean, to have these agreements without the Palestinians, it really surprised me when I saw the news. It is a real game-changer,” Livni said during the interview at her Tel Aviv home. “[Kushner] deserves all the credit he is getting.”

Advanced signs: Livni said that she was as surprised as anyone when the White House announced the agreements in August 2020, although, she noted, there were some signs of a regional sea change. She recalled two key incidents several months before that momentous announcement, and the subsequent signing of the Accords on the White House lawn in September 2020, that made her realize attitudes were shifting. “In 2019, not long after I quit politics, I was invited to attend a conference in Bahrain,” Livni said. “It was an international conference, but the event was sponsored by Bahraini officials, and I arrived there openly with an Israeli passport…. For the first time ever, I held a public meeting with [Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed] Al Khalifa, and we even took a photo together,” she continued. “It felt very normal and that was something I was not used to.”

Decade of diplomacy: Livni traces her covert meetings back to the period of the Annapolis Conference more than a decade earlier. It was her Palestinian peace partner, the Palestinian Authority’s late chief negotiator Saeb Erekat, who first lobbied Arab leaders on her behalf, urging them to meet with the Israeli leader. Later, said Livni, former Norwegian peace negotiator Terje Larsen stepped in, inviting her and other regional leaders to gather under the guise of his International Peace Institute (IPI). “The meetings were not public but there were others in the room from Arab countries,” she said, describing how she soon had the phone numbers of numerous Arab ministers and their assistants and began meeting with them regularly, informally, on the sidelines of international gatherings such as the U.N. General Assembly in New York and the Munich Security Conference in Germany.

Opening the door: Among the meetings and relationships forged, Livni describes a 2008 visit to Qatar for the Doha Forum on Democracy, Development, and Free Trade. Her appearance at the conference was made public, but while in Qatar she attended a more private dinner at the home of the country’s emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani. There she met with the foreign ministers of Oman and other Arab states, and held a heated exchange with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “It’s clear that this opened the door, it was the first understanding that we have mutual regional interests and there was the possibility to have a direct line, discreetly, to speak about these issues,” she continued. “There were also other lines [between the countries] but they were mostly on security. I was speaking with them on broader challenges.”

Read the full interview here.

Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-NY) speaks during a press conference on deportation of veterans on Thursday, Nov. 16, 2017.

Rep. Kathleen Rice’s (D-NY) announcement on Tuesday that she will not seek reelection — which came as a surprise to many in New York politics — sets up a dash to bring together a Democratic primary field with just two weeks until the start of the state’s petitioning process, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

Timing is everything: A statement issued this week by the congresswoman — who took office in 2015 representing Nassau County — in which she announced her retirement from Congress offered no specifics as to her decision. “I don’t think it’s a coincidence that she’s retiring after the district map came out,” Democratic strategist Ross Wallenstein told JI. Earlier this month, Gov. Kathy Hochul approved the state’s new congressional map.

Bad omens: Others believe Rice may have seen warning signs on the horizon for 2022, which is expected to be a strong year for Republicans nationwide. “No politician wants to lose or take the risk of losing,” Hank Sheinkopf, a longtime New York Democratic strategist, told JI. “Last fall, suburban politicians, Democrats tended to get in trouble, particularly in New York. Why? Crime… It’s a problem for [Rice], particularly as a former district attorney. And as a congresswoman, she could have paid the price for what people are beginning to perceive as a Democratic mess.”

Up in the air: The nonpartisan election handicapper Cook Political Report rates the race as “Solid Democratic,” but some on both sides see the potential for a more competitive race. Democratic consultant Jake Dilemani said that the district is “by no means a lock” for Democrats, and success in November depends both on whom Democrats nominate and Biden’s approval ratings come Election Day. The district, he noted, includes “marginal parts of the county that flip back and forth between the parties” and some areas that are more solidly Republican, such as the Five Towns.

Testing the waters: Potential Democratic candidates who have been floated include former Nassau County Executive Laura Curran, state Sen. Todd Kaminsky, Nassau County Legislator Kevan Abrahams, Nassau County Legislator Carrié Solages, former Hempstead Town Supervisor Laura Gillen, former State Assembly Member Phil Goldfeder and Freeport Mayor Robert Kennedy. A source close to Gillen confirmed that she is “seriously considering” a bid for the seat. None of the potential candidates commented on the speculation. “It’ll be someone who’s got the capacity to come up with money pretty quickly and who can win,” Sheinkopf said, adding that the primary will likely be competitive.

Flip side: So far, only one Republican candidate, former Marine and tech entrepreneur Bill Staniford, has announced his candidacy. Others who could potentially join the race include state Assemblyman Edward Ra, who represents Hempstead, and Nassau County legislator Laura Schaefer, a source familiar with the district said. Ra declined to comment and Schaefer did not respond to a request for comment.

Read more here.

Mike Gibbons, a Republican Senate candidate for Ohio, speaks to supporters during a campaign rally in Maineville, Ohio.

In recent weeks, Mike Gibbons has shot to the front of the pack in Ohio’s crowded Republican Senate primary. While Gibbons has long been viewed as a viable contender among nearly half a dozen top-tier candidates seeking the nomination to replace retiring Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), the Cleveland-based investment banker, 69, has for months struggled to assert his dominance in the publicly available polling on the race. But his numbers now appear to be spiking at an opportune moment, with just under three months remaining until the May primary, reports Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel.

‘We’re connecting’: In an interview with JI this week, Gibbons expressed confidence about his prospects as he enters the final stretch of the primary. “It’s really a confirmation of what I was always already seeing on the ground,” he said, attributing his newfound momentum, in part, to a statewide campaign tour in which he has so far visited 75 of Ohio’s 88 counties. “We feel we’re connecting, but it wasn’t showing in the polls for a while.” The Senate hopeful said he expects “to see a continued, positive direction” as the race heats up in the coming weeks.

Survey says: On Tuesday, an independent survey from The Trafalgar Group showed Gibbons in second place at 16%, trailing former Ohio State Treasurer Josh Mandel by five points. More favorably for Gibbons, his campaign released two internal polls this month, both conducted by Cygnal, that placed him ahead of his opponents for the first time since he entered the race last spring. The most recent poll, made public on Friday, placed Gibbons in first with 23% of the vote and a 12-point lead over Mandel.

Latest attack: It hasn’t hurt that Gibbons has now loaned his campaign nearly $11.5 million, having launched a $10 million ad campaign last summer. On Tuesday, Gibbons released his latest salvo, ridiculing both two opponents, J.D. Vance and Jane Timken, as “Washington wimps” while casting himself as “Trump strong.” The ad made no mention of Mandel. “Josh is moving in the wrong direction,” Gibbons said of the conservative rabble-rouser, who has moved further to the right than many in the field.

Paul’s stall: Gibbons touted an early endorsement from Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who has angered pro-Israel advocates as he continues to block the $1 billion in supplemental funding for Israel’s Iron Dome missile-defense system. “I have not discussed that specifically with him,” Gibbons, who supports the funding, told JI. “I know for a fact that he’s greatly in support of the State of Israel, so that’s certainly not an issue,” he said of Paul. “These things get complicated and caught up in issues that may not even be related, and I don’t know that specifically. I’m going to find out. I haven’t focused on it. But all I can say is, Iron Dome is going to get funded if I have anything to do with it.”

Read the full interview here.