
Daily Kickoff: Abrahamic Family House opens in Abu Dhabi
👋 Good Friday morning!
Ed. note: In observance of President’s Day, the next Daily Kickoff will arrive on Tuesday morning. Enjoy the long weekend!
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we talk to Rep. Adam Schiff following his entry into the California Senate race, and bring you on-the-ground coverage of the opening of the Abrahamic Family House in Abu Dhabi as well as a preview of the Munich Security Forum, which kicked off this morning. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Susan Wojcicki and Michael Ratney.
The Abrahamic Family House — the new multifaith center in the United Arab Emirates that comprises a mosque, church and synagogue — officially opened yesterday in Abu Dhabi in a moving ceremony that featured leaders and children of the three Abrahamic faiths.
Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, chairman of the Department of Culture and Tourism in Abu Dhabi and president of the Abrahamic Family House, opened the ceremony with an extended moment of silence for those affected by the recent earthquakes in Turkey and Syria before welcoming the several hundred guests who gathered for the historic occasion. “We hope that the Abrahamic Family House will inspire youth everywhere, as we highlight our common humanity and work towards the creation of a more peaceful world for generations to come,” Al Mubarak shared.
Attendees from the UAE’s royal family included Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Minister of Tolerance and Coexistence Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan. UAE Minister of State Noura Al Kaabi also attended the event.
Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, the chief rabbi of the United Kingdom who first visited the UAE last November, was on hand at the Abrahamic Family House to speak on behalf of the Jewish community. Mirvis noted the verse Olam Chesed Yibaneh and how the House is a symbol of how God will build the world with kindness. Earlier in the day, Mirvis attached the mezuzah to the door of the Moses Ben Maimon Synagogue alongside synagogue leaders Rabbi Yehuda Sarna, Rabbi Ben de Toledo and Yael de Toledo.
The Emirates News Agency released a video of the opening ceremonies, available here.
At a forumcelebrating the Abrahamic Family House earlier today, Rabbi Sarna remarked that he believes this is the first synagogue inaugurated in the Gulf since the Bahrain Synagogue was built in Manama in 1931.
Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan, the UAE’s minister of tolerance, addressed the forum today and remarked that “we hope to work with our brothers and sisters around the globe… and together we hope to help our communities to move away from suspicion and fear to mutual trust and acceptance… Our goal is to encourage, empower and enable people from different religious backgrounds to work together for the benefit of us all.”
Our team is on the ground in Abu Dhabi this weekend and we will have more interviews and photos from the festivities for you in the next few days.
The Munich Security Conference kicked off this morning in Germany. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant addressed the conference earlier today, and later spoke on a panel organized by the Abraham Accords Institute and the Conference of European Rabbis. Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Chris Coons (D-DE) are speaking this afternoon, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) will participate in a Ukraine-focused panel later today. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is also scheduled to speak today.
Israeli Labor MK Merav Michaeli will speak tonight on a panel titled “Protecting the Core: Refueling Democratic Resilience.”
Later this evening, Vice President Kamala Harris will host a reception for Secretary of State Tony Blinken and the congressional delegation to the conference.
Tomorrow morning, Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), who leads the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, will speak on a panel titled “Women, Life, Freedom: Visions for Iran.” Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, will speak tomorrow morning before Harris takes the stage. Later in the day, Blinken will speak on a panel about the future of Ukraine. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) will speak on a panel later in the day, just before U.S. climate envoy John Kerry takes the stage.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who until last month served as speaker of the House, will speak alongside the head of Ukraine’s parliament, Ruslan Stefanchuk, in a session focusing on the role of parliaments in wartime. Also in Munich is New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, who will speak on the conference’s final morning.
Also on Sunday morning, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will speak alongside the foreign ministers of Jordan and Norway and Abdulla bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, Bahrain’s undersecretary for political affairs, on a panel titled “Israel, Palestine, and the Middle East.”
trip tracking
Schumer’s trip to Israel, Germany to include stop at Dachau

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) will lead a bipartisan delegation of senators on an international delegation that will include stops in Israel and at the Dachau concentration camp in Germany, Schumer spokesperson Angelo Roefaro confirmed to Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod. The news of Schumer’s visit to Israel, reportedly taking place at the end of next week, was first reported by Axios, but had not been confirmed by Schumer’s office. His stop at Dachau, and the other senators joining the visit, have not been previously reported.
On deck: Citing security concerns, Roefaro said he was unable to detail a full itinerary for the senator, but said that Schumer plans to lay a wreath and sign the guest book at Dachau as his first stop on the trip, which coincides with the Munich Security Conference.
Shining a light: Roefaro said the Senate majority leader, the highest-ranking Jewish official in the country, has made Holocaust remembrance and education a “personal mission.”
Read more here.