Attendees at Gantz’s Iftar

Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz on Monday sought to soothe tensions over recent violence in Jerusalem by inviting Arab diplomats to break the daily Ramadan fast at his office compound in Tel Aviv, The Circuit’s Jonathan Ferziger reports.

Table talk: Over a traditional Iftar dinner, Gantz asked envoys from the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Egypt to relay to their leaders that Israel is “taking unprecedented steps to enable freedom of worship,” according to a Defense Ministry statement. He said “extremists” are to blame for restrictions that have triggered clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount.

Shared concerns: In his remarks to the Arab diplomats on Monday, Gantz hailed the Abraham Accords while warning about the nuclear threat from Iran. “Israel values freedom of worship and we will do everything in our capacity to enable it, while an extremist group — the minority — aims to harm it,” Gantz said. “It is important for us that this message is brought to the leaders of your countries.”

Invite list: Guests at the Iftar meal in Tel Aviv included Moroccan Ambassador Abderrahim Bayoud, UAE Ambassador Mohamed Al Khaja, Bahraini Deputy Head of Mission Abdulkarim Ebrahim Alanansari and Egyptian Embassy Counsellor Walid Talaat Mahdy. No Jordanian representative was listed in the Defense Ministry statement.

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Bonus: President Joe Biden spoke with King Abdullah II of Jordan on Monday. The two “discussed in detail recent efforts to stem violence in Israel and the West Bank, including at the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount complex in Jerusalem,” according to a readout of the call distributed by the White House. “The President welcomed recent steps to reduce tensions and expressed his hope that the final week of Ramadan will pass peacefully. He underscored the need to preserve the historic status quo at the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount, and recognized the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan’s role as the custodian of Muslim holy places in Jerusalem.”

Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) seen speaking during the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) Policy Conference in Washington, D.C.

AIPAC’s new super PAC, the United Democracy Project, has focused all of its spending so far — $1.2 million — on four Democratic primary races, according to FEC filings, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

Cash flow: The super PAC raised $15.7 million in the first quarter and has so far spent $1.2 million across four Democratic primary races set for early May — Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional District, Ohio’s 11th and the 1st and 4th Districts in North Carolina. It made no expenditures for or against Republicans. Its spending included expenditures in support of three Democrats and against two. AIPAC’s PAC has endorsed more than 300 candidates as of last week, all but 10 of them incumbents.

Making their picks: “We intend to be active in a significant number of races where there is a clear difference between a candidate who supports a strong U.S.-Israel relationship and a candidate that does not or who may seek to undermine that relationship,” UDP spokesperson Patrick Dorton told JI. “Our goal is to help build the broadest bipartisan coalition of candidates who support the U.S.-Israel relationship… Our activist donors, who include one of the largest donors to the Democratic Party, are focused on ensuring that we have a U.S. Congress that, like President Biden, supports a vibrant and robust relationship with our democratic ally, Israel.”

On the list: In Pennsylvania, UDP spent $347,000 opposing community organizer Summer Lee, who has faced accusations that she is anti-Israel. In Ohio, the group spent $77,000 supporting Rep. Shontel Brown (D-OH) and $143,000 opposing former state Sen. Nina Turner. In North Carolina, UDP spent $294,000 supporting state Assemblymember Valerie Foushee. Foushee is running against a range of candidates, including activist and Durham County Commissioner Nida Allam, who is a longtime vocal critic of Israel. The group also spent $326,000 supporting state Sen. Don Davis, who is running against former state Sen. Erica Smith. AIPAC has attacked Smith for past tweets regarding the 2021 conflict between Israel and terrorist groups in Gaza and for voting against an anti-Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions bill.

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This May 12, 2005, file photo shows an unidentified visitor viewing the Impressionist painting called “Rue St.-Honore, Apres-Midi, Effet de Pluie” painted in 1897 by Camille Pissarro, on display in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid.

The Supreme Court sided unanimously last week with the heirs of a Holocaust survivor who are seeking to reclaim from a Spanish state museum a painting taken by the Nazis, opening up a new phase in the long-running legal battle, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

Background: The question before the Court pertained to legal rules determining whether federal or state “choice-of-law” standards for adjudicating the case should be applied in deciding possession of the artwork, estimated to be worth more than $30 million. These rules determine whether the case would be adjudicated under domestic or Spanish law. A lower court determined that federal choice-of-law rules should be used and that the case should be decided according to Spanish law, which grants legal possession of the looted artwork to the museum.

Ruling: In its 9-0 decision, the Supreme Court agreed that California choice-of-law rules should be applied, but kicked the case back down to a lower court to decide whether that choice-of-law test would dictate the application of California or Spanish law. Authoring the opinion for all nine justices, Justice Elena Kagan wrote that Spain should be treated the same as any other private party — such as a U.S.-based museum — would be in the case, and that the law therefore dictates the use of California’s choice-of-law test.

Response: “My late father, Claude Cassirer, was a Holocaust survivor and as a result, an immigrant to this country. After all that he and his family had been through, he felt strongly that the proudest day of his life was when he became a U.S. citizen after the war,” David Cassirer, the descendant of Holocaust survivor Lilly Cassirer, who is carrying on the suit, told JI. “He and my late mother Beverly, who were married for almost 70 years until my father’s passing, would have been so happy to know that this case was decided favorably, and unanimously, by the highest court in the land.”

Other side: Lawyers for the museum did not respond to a request for comment from JI, but the museum released a statement expressing confidence that it would maintain possession of the artwork. The lawyers have argued previously that California rules would also dictate that the case be judged based on Spanish law, leaving the painting in the museum’s hands.

Read more here.

The two Republican frontrunners in Pennsylvania’s closely watched Senate primary — TV personality Dr. Mehmet Oz and former hedge fund manager David McCormick — squared off in their first televised debate on Monday evening, trading a litany of pointed barbs with just weeks to go until the May 17 election, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports. The sniping underscored the increasingly hostile dynamics of the race in which former President Donald Trump recently threw his support behind Oz, despite McCormick’s aggressive efforts to snag the coveted endorsement.

Convenient shield: During the debate, which was broadcast from Harrisburg by WPXI, Oz repeatedly invoked Trump’s support to deflect insinuations that he has flip-flopped on several key issues and is a Republican in name only, or RINO. Addressing the attack ads from McCormick’s campaign, Oz argued that his opponent’s efforts “are designed to fool the electorate” as well as the former president — to no avail. McCormick, Oz jabbed, had been “unable to pull the wool over” Trump’s eyes. “President Trump saw right through him.”

Addressing China: McCormick, for his part, pushed back against criticism that he had profited from investments in China as the former CEO of Bridgewater Associates. “I’ve been a successful businessman, I’ve run two businesses, I served in our military for 10 years fighting against the communists, I negotiated at the highest levels against the Chinese and other countries when I had a top-secret clearance at the National Security Council, and I’ve done business around the world in 20 countries including 2 percent of our business in China,” he said. “It’s just disingenuous for Mehmet to say that when Mehmet has so many dollars coming into his pocket from China.”

Crowded field: The candidates were joined onstage by three other GOP contenders who are vying to succeed outgoing Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA), including real estate developer Jeff Bartos, cable news commentator Kathy Barnette and Carla Sands, who served as Trump’s ambassador to Denmark but has struggled to gain traction. Bartos, sticking to a theme he has consistently promoted throughout the race, touted his connections with “Main Street” voters across Pennsylvania, while Barnette charged that Oz and McCormick are “globalists” who are out of touch with the state.

Sandstorm: Sands, who had also sought Trump’s endorsement, suggested that the former president had made a mistake in backing Oz. “President Trump doesn’t always get the best advice,” she said. “It’s unfortunate but true.” The former diplomat boasted of her pro-Trump credentials and insisted that Oz, who previously served in the Turkish army, would “put Turkey first” rather than American interests. His rebuttal: “President Trump was very clear,” he shot back. “I’m America first.”