Daily Kickoff
👋 Good Tuesday morning!
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we talk to Ambassador Tom Nides about plans to expand hours at the Allenby border crossing, and interview Daniel Gordis about his recent address to AIPAC. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, Tali Friedman and Nazanin Boniadi.
A seven-member bipartisan Senate delegation representing the Abraham Accords Caucus is traveling around the Middle East this week. The group is currently in the United Arab Emirates after stops in Morocco and Bahrain earlier in the week. The group will continue on to Israel from Abu Dhabi.
The delegation, led by Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and James Lankford (R-OK), attended a VIP reception in Abu Dhabi on Monday afternoon before meeting with senior Emirati leaders. More below.
Rosen reportedly told the Israeli government that she doesn’t want the delegation to meet with members of two far-right parties that are in the coalition, according to Axios.
Brett McGurk, the White House National Security Council’s Middle East policy coordinator, is also traveling in the Middle East this week. McGurk visited Iraq and Jordan along with Biden administration energy envoy Amos Hochstein, who was already in the region for the Atlantic Council Global Energy Forum in Abu Dhabi that ended on Sunday. Al Arabiya reported that McGurk is expected to travel to Israel later this week.
This afternoon at Davos, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto, Qatari Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al Thani and International Monetary Fund head Kristalina Georgieva will speak on a panel titled “Keeping the Lights on amid Geo-political fracture.”
Today marks the one-year anniversary of dual drone attacks from Houthi rebels in Yemen targeting an oil storage facility in Abu Dhabi that killed three people and injured six others. The White House issued a statement from President Joe Biden in which he pledged to work “in close cooperation with my friend President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed” and said the U.S. will “remain steadfast in our pursuit of diplomacy to bring a peaceful end to the war in Yemen, and the United States will continue to support the security of the UAE and our other partners in the Middle East, including providing needed military assistance.”
After the attack last January, Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told JI that he was planning to engage in discussions with the Biden administration about reinstating the Houthis’ designation as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, which the administration had removed less than a year prior. The designation has not to date been reapplied.
Pennsylvania Gov.-elect Josh Shapiro will be sworn in today at a ceremony in Harrisburg. Read our write-up of the meaning behind the Bibles Shapiro will use during the ceremony.
border business
With Israel already committed to expanding hours at the Israel-Jordanian border crossing, an upgrade is next

It’s a weekday morning in early January and the Allenby Bridge Border Terminal is relatively quiet. A parade of heavily loaded trucks heads toward Jordan via the cargo side of the crossing, while a handful of buses and taxis ferry waiting travelers with oversized bags and suitcases to and from the dusty, antiquated arrivals and departures halls. Long ago, agreements forged between Israel and Jordan, and Israel and the Palestinian Authority, designated this border crossing primarily for Palestinians, though foreign tourists and diplomats may also pass through here. U.S. Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides is hoping to improve the conditions through which thousands pass through each day, Jewish Insider’s Ruth Marks Eglash reports.
Cramped conditions: In winter, there is less traffic, but in the summer months, especially during the holy month of Ramadan, the crossing, which is also referred to as the King Hussein Bridge, turns into a jostling, bustling and overcrowded nightmare for journey-makers. The outdated facilities and stifling heat of the Jordan Valley, mixed with political and cultural tensions, makes transiting through the terminal uncomfortable and sometimes painful. Nides’ starting goal: to see the crossing operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week. “It’s about decency, it’s about respect, it’s about doing something that makes people’s lives marginally a little bit better,” Nides told JI last week. “You know, you can do some things that have nothing to do with compromising security, that is why I’ve been pushing this so hard. No one wants to stand in line for so long,” he added. “Can you imagine being in a car or a bus and just waiting, waiting, waiting for hours when it can be solved so easily by expanding hours and improving the quality of the experience? And that’s what I’ve been trying to do.”
Opening hours: Last November, a year after his arrival and following months of pressure by both the ambassador and U.S. Special Envoy to the Palestinian Authority Hady Amr, Israel launched a weeklong pilot program to bring on more staff and keep the crossing open for 24 hours a day. While Israel is unlikely to keep the crossing open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, beginning on April 2 Allenby’s operating hours will greatly expand. The border will allow passage continually Sundays through Thursdays, with daytime hours on Fridays and Saturdays. (Today the crossing operates from 8 a.m.-11:30 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 8 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.)
Post-pandemic influx: Following the easing of travel restrictions towards the end of 2021, the rush of returning travelers caught those manning the crossing off-guard, Alex Chen, director of the Allenby Border Crossing, explained to JI. “What happened here after [the height of the COVID-19 pandemic] was no different to what happened in other airports and border crossings all over the world, it was part of the same phenomenon,” Chen said, confirming that the crossing would soon begin operating 24 hours a day, five days a week. He added that he was already in the process of reassembling and rehiring staff.
Bigger picture: With his first goal achieved, Nides said he would now focus on finding funding for already-approved Israeli plans to renovate and upgrade the outdated transit facility, which were put on hold, with funds diverted, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Chen shared with JI plans for the new terminal building – an expansive and modern facility that will allow for less-intrusive security arrangements, upgraded and fast-moving biometric passport checks and an overall more comfortable experience for passengers, including a duty-free store.
Read the full story here.