Daily Kickoff
👋 Good Monday morning!
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we talk to Sen. Jim Risch about Turkey and NATO, and have the exclusive details on a new push by a group of international lawmakers to force social media companies to address antisemitism. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Shelley Greenspan, Jason Greenblatt and Menachem Rosensaft.
The Jewish Community Relations Council of New York held its annual congressional breakfast on Sunday in Midtown Manhattan, where more than half a dozen House members — and one high-ranking Jewish senator — delivered remarks on countering antisemitism and upholding support for Israel, even as they drew some subtle contrasts while addressing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new governing coalition.
Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), one of two Jewish House members from New York, kicked off the event with a word of caution, voicing concern over the Israeli government’s proposal to overhaul the judicial system, among other policies. The U.S.-Israel alliance “will be endangered if democratic principles are not adhered to,” Nadler argued, echoing sentiments he expressed in a recent opinion piece for Haaretz. “We should continue to engage at all levels and continue to make clear that democracy here in the United States and Israel is something that we will fight for,” the congressman reiterated on Sunday.
The newly minted House minority leader, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), struck a relatively even-handed note while at the lectern. “It’s important to recognize Israel as a place that is and always shall be a Jewish and democratic state,” Jeffries told a packed room at the UJA-Federation of New York headquarters, insisting that New York’s “congressional delegation will remain committed on the Democratic side” to supporting continued U.S. security assistance to Israel. “We will never waver from it.”
Meanwhile, Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), the former chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, vowed “to work with Prime Minister Netanyahu’s new government to jointly address our shared challenges, including the threat from Iran,” adding that he “will continue to work to have a two-state solution and oppose policies that make us less likely to achieve that goal or that endanger our mutual interests and values.”
Freshman Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), a Republican whose Hudson Valley district includes a sizable population of Orthodox Jewish voters, said “there is broad bipartisan support” for Israel in the House, while pledging to “confront” a recent uptick in antisemitism “on social media,” “in town hall meetings” and “even on the floor of Congress.”
Last month, Lawler, a former state assemblyman, was among several Republican House members from New York to call for the resignation of Rep. George Santos (R-NY), who was banned from attending the JCRC-NY breakfast following revelations that he had fabricated most of his biography, including claims to Jewish heritage.
During his speech, Lawler gave a brief shoutout to state Assemblyman Daniel Rosenthal, who was in attendance, describing the Queens Democrat as a potential “future colleague depending on what happens in” New York’s 3rd Congressional District, where Santos currently serves. While Rosenthal’s name has been included on an emerging list of possible candidates to replace Santos, the state lawmaker has so far declined to comment on his future plans.
The other House members at the JCRC breakfast were Democratic Reps. Adriano Espaillat, Yvette Clarke and Grace Meng, the latter of whom in the coming months will lead a JCRC-sponsored “study tour” to Israel with “elected officials and community leaders in Queens,” Jay Hershenson, a JCRC-NY board member, announced while introducing the congresswoman.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who spoke for nearly 20 minutes, called antisemitism a “poison” that is “growing” in the U.S., while casting particular blame on “celebrities and athletes with big platforms” for amplifying such bigotry. “I can’t root for the Nets anymore as long as Kyrie is on the Nets,” he admitted, referring to Kyrie Irving, the NBA player who belatedly apologized after he was widely condemned for sharing a link to an antisemitic film last year. Soon after the event, however, several news outlets reported that the Nets are now trading Irving, an all-star point guard, to the Dallas Mavericks.
A 7.8 magnitude earthquake in southern Turkey killed more than 1,200 people overnight and could be felt as far as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he had “instructed all authorities to make immediate preparations to provide medical, and search and rescue assistance” and that the government was readying a delegation to dispatch to Turkey.
A second earthquake, this one registering at a 7.5, occurred in the early afternoon local time.
exclusive
International lawmakers push social media platforms for changes on antisemitism policies

Members of the International Interparliamentary Task Force to Combat Online Antisemitism wrote to officials at major social media companies on Monday morning asking them to agree to a raft of commitments and policy changes aimed at combating antisemitism on their sites, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod has learned.
Letter writing: The letters, from Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), Canadian Member of Parliament Anthony Housefather and former Member of the Israeli Knesset Michal Cotler-Wunsh, who lead the group, are addressed to officials at Twitter, Youtube, Meta and Tik Tok. The letters, which come several months after a tense hearing on the issue on Capitol Hill, press social media leaders to answer questions that remained unaddressed at the hearing and urged them to make specific policy changes in combating antisemitism.
Digging deeper: The legislators specifically press the executives on how their platforms address antisemitism that may be masked as criticism of Israel, as well as the use of “Zionists” as a euphemism for Jewish people writ large. The lawmakers asked if the companies will include “Zionism as a protected characteristic/identity” and “commit to a specific, consistent policy for removing content and users who deny the Holocaust or call for violence against Jews, Israelis, or Zionists.” They further ask the executives how they will address antisemitism by government officials and how their companies will change their algorithms to stop serving antisemitic content to users.
Policy changes: The lawmakers also ask the platform executives to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism, publicly share data on antisemitism as well as cooperate with the task force — potentially including independent audits, train content moderators specifically on antisemitism and “revisit the difference between legitimate criticisms of Israel and the demonization of the world’s only Jewish state.” The letters ask the companies to answer the task force’s questions and commit in writing to following its recommendations by March 15.
Twitter trouble: The letters convey similar language, with the exception of the one to Twitter, which experienced major turnover in leadership and staffing shortly after last year’s hearing. “We are disappointed that Ms. Austin was dismissed from her position as Director of U.S. and Canada Public Policy, as well as the purge of policy, public affairs, and content moderation teams at Twitter,” a unique passage in the Twitter letter reads, referring to Twitter’s former director of U.S. and Canada public policy, Michele Austin, who testified to the task force last year. “It is our strong belief that Twitter must continue to prioritize its efforts to combat hateful speech, disinformation, and incitement of violence, regardless of who owns the platform.”