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: Daniel Silva paints a new picture for Gabriel Allon; Walter Russell Mead on the ‘insanity’ that led him to write a new book on American support for Israel; Sean Patrick Maloney pursues the mainstream lane in matchup against Biaggi; Striking a balance at the Western Wall; Jason Kander joins ‘Limited Liability Podcast’; Saudi art show examines the impact of change on the places people love; and An Israeli aid group is now working inside Ukraine’s borders — in partnership with the country’s first lady. Print the latest edition here.
President Joe Biden continued his first trip to the Middle East as president on Friday,visiting a Palestinian-run hospital in East Jerusalem and meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem.
Biden announced a series of economic measures aimed at restoring the U.S. relationship with the Palestinian leadership and improving daily life for the Palestinian people, among them improved access to healthcare and technology; 4G digital connectivity in both Gaza and the West Bank; and efforts to bolster economic growth and foster people-to-people dialogue to support peace. Biden also announced an aid package totaling $316 million, on top of the more than half a billion dollars it has already provided to the Palestinian people since the Biden administration began to restore funding cut by the Trump administration. Read more here.
During the president’s visit to East Jerusalem, Biden’s motorcade removed the Israeli flags from the cars driving the delegation.
Following his meeting with Abbas, Biden flew from Ben Gurion Airport to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. Ahead of his arrival, the Saudis announced that they would be opening their airspace for all civilian airplanes, including airlines flying to and from Israel. The president welcomed the decision in a statement on Friday: “Saudi Arabia’s historic decision to open its airspace for all civilian planes, including those flying to and from Israel, is an important step towards building a more integrated and stable Middle East region,” he wrote.
“Today, I will be the first president of the United States to fly from Israel to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia,” said Biden. “As we mark this important moment, Saudi Arabia’s decision can help build momentum toward Israel’s further integration into the region, including with Saudi Arabia. I will do all that I can, through direct diplomacy and leader-to-leader engagement, to keep advancing this groundbreaking process.”
A senior U.S. official told Jewish Insider on Friday that the president would “carry a message encouraging peace and stability to integrate the region.” In Saudi Arabia, he will hold bilateral discussions with King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, and on Saturday he is scheduled to attend a gathering of the Gulf Cooperation Council with six Arab countries.
On Thursday, Biden signed together with Lapid “The Jerusalem U.S.-Israel Strategic Partnership Joint Declaration” reaffirming the unbreakable bonds between the two countries and emphasizing the U.S. commitment to Israel’s security. The declaration undertakes to deepen and broaden the Abraham Accords between Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, as well as additional normalization agreements with Sudan and Morocco.
The document also stresses a U.S. pledge never to allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon, and that America is “prepared to use all elements of its national power to ensure that outcome.” Biden later reiterated that commitment in a press conference stating that he and Lapid “discussed the commitment to ensuring Iran never obtains a nuclear weapon. This is of vital security interest to both Israel and the United States.”
The atmosphere at the press conference, which was held at Jerusalem’s Waldorf Astoria, was warm and even festive as the two leaders signed the declaration with gold-plated pens. Biden recalled once again his meeting nearly 40 years ago with then-Prime Minister Golda Meir, and Lapid asked Biden to share Israel’s desire for peace with more Arab countries in the region.
Later on Thursday, Biden visited President Isaac Herzog’s residence, where he was given the Presidential Medal of Honor, given to individuals who have made an extraordinary contribution to the State of Israel. The audience included former Israeli ambassadors to the U.S., religious leaders in Israel and heads of Jewish American organizations.
Biden wrote in the Israeli president’s guest book, addressing Herzog by his nickname: “Bougie, my friend, thank you for all you and your family have done to deepen the ironclad bond between our two great countries. From our shared Irish roots to our shared love of Israel, we are united in heart and spirit. May our friendship endure and continue to grow! That is the Irish of it, as my grandfather Finnegan would say. God bless you. Joe. 7.14.22”
Biden also met with opposition leader and former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, with the former leader saying afterwards that it was a warm and successful meeting. “We’ve been friends for 40 years, but to ensure the next 40 years, we must deal with the Iranian threat,” Netanyahu wrote in a statement. “Sanctions and defensive military preparations are not enough. There must be a credible offensive military option.”
In the evening, Biden attended the opening ceremony of the 21st Maccabiah Games at Teddy Stadium in Jerusalem. Biden met with some 250 athletes of the more than 1,000-strong U.S. delegation at the games and then joined Herzog and Lapid to welcome the U.S. team as they marched into the stadium.
interview
Sean Patrick Maloney pursues the mainstream lane in matchup against Biaggi
Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY) walks down the House steps at the Capitol after a vote on Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021.
Facing a primary challenge from his left, Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY), the chairman of the House Democratic campaign arm, is touting his “unwavering support for the Jewish community and for Israel” as he seeks reelection in a newly drawn Hudson Valley congressional district with a sizable and politically active Jewish voting bloc. “I’m not going to ask for support from anybody who doesn’t support Israel, and I’m not going to play footsie with people who would support BDS or undermine the security of Israel,” Maloney said in a recent interview with Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel, referring to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement targeting the Jewish state. “I never have. I never will.”
Subtle reference: The implication was that his Democratic opponent, state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi, has engaged in such maneuvering, owing in part to her connections with left-leaning Democrats in Albany who have backed BDS. More recently, she has drawn support from some federal elected officials who have spoken out against Israel, most notably Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who endorsed Biaggi’s campaign last month. For her part, Biaggi has sought to clarify that she disagrees with Ocasio-Cortez on Middle East policy, even if they are otherwise largely aligned on domestic issues. “I have consistently said, and I will consistently say here, too, that I support Israel,” the 36-year-old state senator said in an interview with JI in June. “I support it, not despite being a progressive, but because I am progressive.”
Lowey nod: Former Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY), a pro-Israel stalwart who retired from the district last year after more than three decades in the House, backed up Maloney’s assessment. In a statement to JI, she offered her enthusiastic endorsement of Maloney’s campaign, describing the five-term congressman as “an invaluable partner” who “has been a leader on issues of national security and an unwavering supporter of our allies, including Israel.” The 55-year-old congressman “has been responsive on issues of concern to the Jewish community, including efforts to combat antisemitism in the Hudson Valley, across New York and around the world,” Lowey added. “Sean is a powerful representative for the Hudson Valley and New York State, and we should keep him in Congress.”
Similar stances: With just over a month remaining until the Aug. 23 primary, the hotly contested Democratic matchup has emerged as one of the latest fronts in an ongoing proxy battle between the party’s activist and establishment wings. But while several recent showdowns have featured sharp divisions over Israel, the Hudson Valley race is playing out along somewhat different lines. On paper, at least, the two opponents both seem to share a mainstream Democratic lane on Israel, even if Maloney is the only candidate who has dealt directly with Middle East issues at the federal level. Each supports continued U.S. military aid to Israel as well as additional funding for Israel’s Iron Dome missile-defense system. They also back efforts to expand the Abraham Accords, which established diplomatic relations between Israel and several Arab nations. Both have opposed BDS.
chesapeake challenge
Kelly Schulz’s political catch-22
Republican gubernatorial candidate Kelly Schulz in Catonsville, Maryland on June 09, 2022.
As a centrist Republican running with the backing of her popular boss and mentor, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, Kelly Schulz appears to already be on third base, the political equivalent of being one hit from home plate. In a year that could deliver a “red wave” of election victories for the GOP, Schulz thinks the state could elect a Republican governor for the third time in a decade. But to make it to the general election, let alone Annapolis, Schulz must first beat Maryland Delegate Dan Cox, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, in next Tuesday’s primary. The former state cabinet member and Republican lawmaker insists she can win enough Democrats and independents to become Maryland’s governor, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch writes.
Stick to the message: “It does get a little tricky. But I always like to say that there’s nothing more important to me, especially in my political world, than having integrity,” Schulz, who most recently served as Maryland’s commerce secretary, told JIin a recent interview. “That’s the message that I’m going to deliver to my Republican primary voters. And it’s the same message that I’m going to deliver to independent and Democratic voters in November.”
Primary politics: Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans two-to-one in the Old Line State, but that didn’t keep them from electing the moderate Hogan twice — even in 2018, when Democrats swept into governors’ mansions and statehouses elsewhere in the country. Schulz’s backers point out that Trump is extremely unpopular in Maryland — the former president earned just 32% of the vote in 2020 — but in a Republican primary, a Trump-backed candidate could emerge victorious. “Dan Cox is not a unifier,” said Louis Dubin, a real estate developer who lives in Montgomery County and is supporting Schulz. Polling shows Cox with a slight lead.
Schulz’s story: Schulz grew up outside Detroit and later moved to Frederick, Md. Her adopted hometown has provided Schulz with more than just a base of political support: In 2006, at age 36, she graduated from Hood College in Frederick, at the time a mother of two boys and the first person in her family to graduate from college. She worked first at the Environmental Protection Agency in the George W. Bush administration before running for Maryland’s House of Delegates, where she edged out a primary opponent by six votes.
Israel support: It was in Schulz’s role at the state Department of Commerce that she first got to know members of Maryland’s Jewish community. “We have a long relationship with Kelly Schulz because our Maryland/Israel Development Center, which is a joint effort with the state Department of Commerce, that fell within her agency. She has always been very supportive of it,” said Howard Libit, executive director of the Baltimore Jewish Council, the political and community relations arm of Baltimore’s Jewish federation, known as The Associated.
Communal consciousness: “I’ve spent a good deal of time with the Jewish community here in Maryland, both in the Baltimore area and the Montgomery County area. So of course, I want to be able to make sure that hate crimes are treated with the utmost importance, and to be able to make sure that people feel safe,” Schulz told JI. She also expressed support for BOOST, a program that offers private-school vouchers — including to Jewish day schools — to low-income students.
cinema verite
Ehud Bleiberg on the true story behind Netflix’s ‘Image of Victory’
As Arab forces waged war on the fledgling State of Israel in May 1948, mere days after David Ben-Gurion mounted a Tel Aviv platform to proclaim the establishment of the Jewish state, a mother kissed her 3-year-old son goodbye, handing him a note explaining, “I am giving up my child so that he will grow up in a safe place, to become a free person in his new country,” as she abandoned her only child with fleeing kibbutzniks to defend her kibbutz — one of many fronts in the war that would shape Israel’s future, Jewish Insider’s Jacob Miller reports. That woman — Mira Ben Ari — is the protagonist of Ehud Bleiberg’s new feature film, “Image of Victory,” released to American audiences on Netflix today, after enjoying success in Israel since its release in December.
Personal purpose: Bleiberg, the CEO of Bleiberg Entertainment whose notable titles include “The Iceman”(2012) and “The Band’s Visit”(2007), has long planned a film about the Battle of Nitzanim owing to a very personal link — his father, Yerah Bleiberg, fought in the campaign and was taken captive by the Egyptians. “This film just came to show what really happened — what you see in the film is what happened more or less,” Bleiberg told Jewish Insider in an interview. “A group of great people — innocent, very naive people, happy people, 21, 23, 18, 19 [year-olds] — the sky became gray and everything [came] against them.”
True story: The movie’s plot closely mirrors actual events during the 1948 battle. The Haganah paramilitary organization sent a platoon from its Givati brigade to shore up Nitzanim’s defenses, and helped the kibbutz wage a relentless defense against Egypt’s unexpected attack, despite being undersupplied and outgunned. Ultimately, the kibbutz members and Givati forces surrendered the settlement and were taken captive by Egypt. A separate 33 Jews — 17 soldiers and 16 kibbutz members — were killed during the fighting. After the defeat, Givati official Abba Kovner insinuated that the surrender of Nitzanim was not justified and castigated Nitzanim’s residents for cowardice. Eventually, the kibbutzniks were cleared of wrongdoing in a commission led by IDF Chief of Staff Yaakov Dori; Kovner, however, never apologized for his initial accusation.
Other side: Director AviNesher put his own stamp on the production, suggesting that the story follow an Egyptian wartime documentarian named Hassanin, who was recording the Egyptian assault. The framing device of the Egyptian documentarian necessitated telling the Egyptian version of the attack, a twist that adds to the film’s complexity and upped the production costs. Arab Israelis portray the film’s Egyptian characters, and the Arab and non-Arab actors befriended each other during the shooting. During the shooting, one of the Israeli actors who had served in the IDF’s elite Sayeret Matkal unit showed the Arab Israeli actors how to use weapons.
on the hill
House passes defense policy bill, including joint Middle East air-defense proposal
Members of the House Armed Services Committee take part in a markup of the National Defense Authorization Act on Capitol Hill on June 22, 2022.
The House of Representatives backed legislation to work on establishing a joint Middle East air-defense alliance as part of the passage of the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act on Thursday, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Multi-branch: President Joe Biden is expected to urge such an approach during his meetings in the Middle East this week. The House’s passage of this provision, the DEFEND Act — which instructs the secretary of defense to coordinate and draft a strategy for a wide-ranging regional defense architecture — highlights the support for such an initiative among U.S. lawmakers.
Funding forward: The bill, which passed by a 329-101 vote, also proposes $500 million for U.S.-Israel missile-defense cooperation — consistent with the 2016 Memorandum of Understanding; $40 million for anti-drone systems including directed energy weapons — an increase of 60% over last year; and $5 million to test an Israeli aerial loitering munition for potential U.S. purchase. It also establishes a grant program for joint U.S.-Israeli Post Traumatic Stress Disorder research.
Next steps: The annual NDAA sets out Defense Department policy and recommends funding levels that must be later fulfilled in a separate defense appropriations package. As a whole, this year’s bill proposes a record-breaking $840 billion in defense funding for the upcoming year. The appropriations package currently in the works in the House comes in substantially lower, at $762 billion. The Senate has yet to pass its proposed version of the NDAA, which also includes the DEFEND Act. The final bill could undergo significant modifications as the House and Senate reconcile their separate versions of the legislation.
Worthy Reads
💻 Influence Peddling: Wired’s Benjamin Wofford looks at the new ad-tech startup Urban Legend, the brainchild of Trump administration alum Ory Rinat. “Staffed by a plucky 14-person team, Urban Legend keeps its largest asset carefully hidden away inside its servers: an army of 700 social media influencers who command varying degrees of allegiance from audiences that collectively number in the tens of millions. The company has painstakingly cultivated this roster to reflect every conceivable niche of society reflected on the internet: makeup artists, Nascar drivers, home improvement gurus, teachers, doulas, Real Housewives stars, mommy bloggers, NFL quarterbacks, Olympians, and the occasional Fox News pundit. These influencers are paired with clients on Urban Legend’s private platform, the Exchange, where buyers spell out the parameters of the message they want to push to the public and set a budget. Influencers snatch the best available offers from a menu and are then free to craft the campaign’s message, molding it to the rhythms and vernacular of their followers. Clients only pay for each ‘conversion’ an influencer nets — $1.25, say, for every follower who joins a newsletter. In two years, Urban Legend’s influencers have run more than 400 campaigns, connecting people to its clients millions of times.” [Wired]
🤝 Two-State Push: In The Washington Post, World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder suggests that the need for a two-state solution has become more imminent amid changing demographics in the region. “President Biden’s upcoming visit to Jerusalem and Ramallah presents a unique opportunity. So does the emergence of an American-Arab-Israeli security alliance. [Israeli Prime Minister Yair] Lapid must seek a creative way to confront the Palestinian challenge, working hand-in-hand with the United States, the Sunni world and moderate Palestinians. Even if it appears impossible to arrive at a two-state solution, the prime minister must do everything in his power to avert a one-state catastrophe. No other mission is as important — or as urgent. Israel’s very future hangs in the balance.” [WashPost]
🗳️ Splitting the Vote: The New York Times’ Nicholas Fandos spotlights three-time congressional candidate Suraj Patel in New York’s 12th Congressional District, where he is hoping that Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Jerry Nadler (D-NY) will split a significant number of voters, clearing a lane to victory. “‘There’s a Starbucks there and a Starbucks there, and then there’s some brand-new hipster coffee shop here,’ the candidate said one recent weekday morning, whirling around 180 degrees in Velcro Stan Smith sneakers. ‘If all the people going to Starbucks split themselves half and half, then the third spot gets about 40 percent of the foot traffic… That,’ he wagered a little optimistically, ‘is what we’re doing.’” [NYTimes]
Around the Web
🏃 Poll Position: A new poll conducted by Data for Progress in New York’s 10th Congressional District found three leading candidates in the Democratic primary to represent portions of Manhattan and Brooklyn: New York City Councilmember Carlina Rivera (17%), New York state Assemblymember Yuh-line Niou (14%) and attorney Dan Goldman (12%).
🥖 Breaking Bread: Days after facing criticism for her support of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel, Niou shared a since-deleted photo of herself holding a challah, leading New York state Assemblymember Dan Rosenthal to note, “Posing with a challah doesn’t soften the dangerous and antisemitic position she took earlier this week.”
🇮🇸 Ice Them Out: The Anti-Defamation League asked Iceland’s foreign minister to take action against an anti-Israel website that mapped Jewish organizations in the Boston area, which is being hosted by an internet company in the North Atlantic nation.
📜 Putting Up Hurdles: Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) and 23 other House Republicans introduced a resolution expressing opposition to any diplomatic mission in Jerusalem for Palestinian outreach.
🚀 Laser-focused: Andy Borowitz’s latest satire piece in The New Yorker takes aim at Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) for her past comments suggesting that a Jewish family was behind deadly California wildfires.
🎭 Motor City Maestro: The New York Times spotlights the efforts of Yuval Sharon, the artistic director of the Detroit Opera, to breathe new life into the Michigan city’s arts scene with inventive performances in untraditional venues.
👋 Kosher Closing: Max’s Kosher Cafe in Maryland’s Montgomery County announced it is closing after 28 years in business.
📙 Book Shelf: In the Jewish Review of Books, A.E. Smith reviews The Recruiter: Spying and the Lost Art of American Intelligence, by former CIA case officer Douglas London, who is Jewish.
🏜️ No Place Like Neom: Bloomberg looks at the yearslong effort to construct the Saudi city of Neom, a $500 billion futuristic megaproject that is being driven by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — and that has seen countless hurdles along the way, throwing into doubt the ability to complete the project.
👍 Island Time: Jerusalem signed off on a Saudi-Egyptian agreement involving two Red Sea islands, as Israel and Saudi Arabia take steps toward normalization.
💰 Port Purchase: India’s Adani Ports will buy the Haifa Port in a $1.18 billion deal.
🇮🇷 War Crimes: A former Iranian judiciary official was convicted of war crimes and murder and sentenced to life in prison by a Swedish court for his role in a 1988 government crackdown in Iran that resulted in the deaths of more than 5,000 people.
Pic of the Day
(Photo by GIL COHEN-MAGEN/AFP via Getty Images)
Israeli President Isaac Herzog, President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid at the opening of the Maccabiah Games last night at Teddy Stadium in Jerusalem.
Birthdays
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., leaves the House Republican Conference meeting at the Capitol Hill Club in Washington on Tuesday, May 19, 2015.
Former congresswoman from 1989 to 2019, she was chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen turns 70…
FRIDAY: President and chairman of the board of the Annenberg Foundation, Wallis Annenberg turns 83… Member of the British House of Lords, he is a professor, medical doctor, scientist, television anchor and Labour Party politician, Baron Robert Maurice Lipson Winston turns 82… Professional sports bettor and poker player, he is a four-time winner of the World Series of Poker, Mickey Appleman turns 77… Physician and life fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, Dr. David H. Lippman… Rosh Yeshiva of Beth Medrash Govoha in Lakewood, N.J., Rabbi Dovid Schustal turns 75… EVP at the Aspen Institute, Elliot Gerson… California-based appellate attorney, Feris M. Greenberger… National grassroots director of the Orthodox Union’s Teach Coalition, Miriam Baron “Mimi” Jankovits… Board chair of The Jewish Federations of North America, Julie Beren Platt… Professor at the UCLA School of Law, Richard Harold Steinberg turns 62… Political news director at Bloomberg, Jodi Schneider… Member of Congress since 2011 (D-RI), his mother is Sabra née Peskin, David Nicola Cicilline turns 61…
Anchorage-based attorney, a member of the Alaska House of Representatives, Andy Josephson turns 58… Former U.K. Labour Party member of Parliament including three years as secretary of state for foreign affairs, now CEO of NYC-based International Rescue Committee, David Miliband turns 57… Co-founder and chief investment officer of Toronto-based EdgeStone Capital Partners, Gilbert S. Palter… Israeli actress and singer, Dafna Rechter turns 57… Senior advisor at investment bank Greif & Co., he is also the CFO of Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles, David S. Felman… Sales development representative at Graduway, Sam Kalmowicz… Rabbi, blogger and attorney, Eliyahu Fink… Senior correspondent at New York Magazine and a CNN contributor, Irin Carmon turns 39… Israeli actor, he played Boaz in Season 1 of “Fauda,” Tomer Kapon turns 37… Bloomberg reporter, Liana Balinsky-Baker… SVP of the Milwaukee Bucks and a candidate for the U.S. Senate from Wisconsin, Alexander Lasry turns 35… Associate VP at Hillel International, Jonathan Steven “Jon” Falk… Senior editor at Southern California Public Radio, Ariel Zirulnick… USA Today NFL reporter covering the Dallas Cowboys, she is also the author of a biography of a Holocaust survivor, Jori Epstein…
SATURDAY: Former State Department official under JFK and LBJ, later VP of Continental Airlines and then managing editor of The New York Times, James L. Greenfield turns 98… Billionaire businessman, former member of Knesset and winner of the Israel Prize, Ze’ev Stef Wertheimer turns 96… One of the three co-founders of Comcast Corporation, he served as its chief financial officer and vice chairman, Julian A. Brodsky turns 89… George J. Nahas… World-renowned violinist, violist and conductor, Pinchas Zukerman turns 74… Co-creator of the first-ever spreadsheet program (VisiCalc), he currently serves as the chief technology officer of Alpha Software, Daniel Singer “Dan” Bricklin turns 71… Former high-ranking civilian official in the Pentagon during the Bush 43 administration, now a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, Douglas J. Feith turns 69… Senior rabbi since 1997 at Temple Beth Avodah in Newton Centre, Mass., Rabbi Keith Stern… Los Angeles-based attorney, she is the president emerita of the L.A. chapter of the Jewish National Fund, Alyse Golden Berkley… Past vice chair of the board of trustees of The Jewish Federations of North America, Cynthia D. Shapira… British solicitor advocate known for his outspoken opposition to antisemitism, he represented Princess Diana in her divorce, Anthony Julius turns 66… Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and screenwriter, Tony Kushner turns 66…
Former U.S. ambassador to the E.U. and a witness at the Ukraine impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump, Gordon David Sondland turns 65… Former airline executive at Northwest and Delta, Andrea Fischer Newman… Former president of Viacom Music and Entertainment Group, Doug Herzog turns 63… Businessman and philanthropist, owner of interests in many Israeli firms including IKEA Israel, Matthew Bronfman turns 63… Canadian journalist, Jonathan Mann turns 62… Former Israeli minister of science and technology, now a venture capitalist, Yizhar Nitzan Shai turns 59… Chief of staff of the Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago, Jim Rosenberg… Philanthropist Victoria Rivka Zell… Former NFL offensive lineman in the 90s, he is now a division manager at Cherry Creek Mortgage in Boulder, Colo., Ariel Mace Solomon turns 54… Israeli former professional tennis player, Anna Smashnova turns 46… Founder of Pinkitzel, a cupcake cafe, candy boutique and gift store located in four Oklahoma cities, Jonathan Jantz… National political reporter for The New York Times, Shane Goldmacher… Co-founder of Los Angeles-based Meteorite Social Impact Advisors, Steven Max Levine… White House staff assistant and liaison to the Jewish community in the Bush 43 administration, now managing partner at Arogeti Endeavors, Scott Raymond Arogeti… Features reporter for Jewish Insider, Matthew Kassel… Founder and managing partner at Vine Ventures, Eric M. Reiner… Lactation consultant Chantal Low Katz…
SUNDAY: Founder of the Frommer’s series of travel guides, Arthur Frommer turns 93… Israeli politician and historian, he served as a member of Knesset (1996-2002), minister of foreign affairs (2000-2001) and as ambassador to Spain (1987-1991), Shlomo Ben-Ami turns 79… Emmy Award-winning play-by-play announcer for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Charley Steiner turns 73… Retired assistant general counsel of The Hartford and former chairman of the Board of the Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford, now a lecturer at UConn law school, Robert K. Yass… Rabbi emeritus at Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel in Elkins Park, PA, Lance Jonathan Sussman, Ph.D. turns 68… Managing general partner and co-founder of Pitango Venture Capital, he serves as chairman of The Peres Center for Peace & Innovation, Nechemia “Chemi” J. Peres turns 64… Chair of Samson Energy Company, co-founder of Granite Properties and co-chair of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, Stacy Helen Schusterman… Business development team lead at Quorum, Steven Lebowitz… Treasurer of Australia until a few months ago, Joshua Anthony “Josh” Frydenberg turns 51… Founder and CEO of Zeta Global, David A. Steinberg turns 52… Stand-up comedian, he was a finalist on the NBC reality-talent show “Last Comic Standing” in two seasons, Gary Gulman turns 52… Recently appointed executive director of Robert Kraft’s Foundation to Combat Antisemitism, Matthew E. Berger… Public television host, Shannan Butler Adler… Member of the Knesset for the Yesh Atid party, Boaz Toporovsky turns 42… Healthcare reporter for Barron, Josh Nathan-Kazis… Associate at Compensation Advisory Partners, Jared Sorhaindo… VP at JPMorgan Chase, Melanie Beatus Ettleson…
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