Daily Kickoff
👋 Good Tuesday morning!
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we get details on Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s conversation with the Jewish Federations of North America, and interview former Israeli minister Ayelet Shaked about her post-politics life. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Ariel Levy, Yair Rosenberg and John Bolton.
When President Joe Biden delivers the annual State of the Union address tonight before a joint session in Congress, some SOTU watchers will be on the lookout for a number of things beyond the content of the president’s speech: For example, how many standing ovations the president gets, or which legislators angled for a coveted aisle seat (as a member of Congress, former Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) was known to arrive early for such a seat). But they’ll also be watching to see who was invited to be a guest at the annual address. Members and officials are limited in the number of guests allowed due to the size of the House chamber.
Holocaust survivor Ruth Cohen, who last week spoke at Holocaust commemoration events in the UAE and Egypt, will sit with First Lady Jill Biden and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff for the address. Cohen, who survived Auschwitz-Birkenau and now lives in Rockville, Md., met with Emhoff and Harris last year to discuss antisemitism. She will be one of 20 people — including singer Bono and Ukrainian Ambassador to the U.S. Oksana Markarova — invited to sit in the first lady’s box.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA)invited former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom to be his guest at the annual speech.
Elsewhere on the Hill, Republicans announced yesterday that Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) will chair the House Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia, joined by Reps. Brian Mast (R-FL), Tim Burchett (R-TN), Ronny Jackson (R-TX), Jim Baird (R-IN), Mike Lawler (R-NY) and Rich McCormick (R-GA). Wilson was the former ranking member.
Democrats announced that Rep. Jim Costa (D-CA) will remain on the committee, after being excluded in the last round of assignments, and Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO), a former Army Ranger who served in Afghanistan, will join the panel. Reps. Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA) and Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) are set to step off the panel to join the Intelligence Committee, according toPolitico.
This afternoon, Reps. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) and Dan Goldman (D-NY) will hold a press conference alongside voters in New York’s 3rd Congressional District, who are represented by Rep. George Santos (R-NY), to call for McCarthy to expel the Long Island Republican from Congress.
in the room
Inside Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s speech to the Jewish Federations’ board

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) spoke yesterday to the Jewish Federations of North America’s board meeting about her recent trip to Israel and the other signatory countries to the Abraham Accords, addressing concerns surrounding the new Israeli government as well as prospects for regional peace, an individual in the room told Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod. JFNA’s board came together on Sunday and Monday to approve the federations’ policy agenda for the year, with about 150 board members in attendance, half of whom participated virtually.
On Israel: The New York senator, who visited Israel last month with members of the Abraham Accords Caucus, told JFNA that she does not agree with Israel’s proposed judicial reforms — which critics say would erode the separation of powers and the judiciary’s ability to act as a check on other parts of the government — but added that it was not her place to discuss Israel’s internal processes, the individual said. However, she said, “I can tell you when I met with Israeli civil society members and local leaders, they’re very worried. They were very worried that it would destroy the democracy of Israel, and that it would change the balance of powers that they believe Israel has always had.”
Peace prospects: Gillibrand echoed comments she has made publicly about the prospects for regional peace, saying that she has “never been more optimistic.” “I’ve never seen Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu have a path for peace in his mind before. In fact, every meeting I’ve had up until this one, he didn’t have one; he just said, ‘I can only protect my people,’” Gillibrand told the federations’ leadership. “But right now he has a vision about what it would look like, how it could be done, and what allies he needs right now to get that done. And that started with the Abraham Accords.” Gillibrand elaborated on opportunities she sees for progress for the Palestinians under the Abraham Accords, arguing, “We should ask that these Arab countries invest in the Palestinians,” because the Palestinians would accept the Arab nations’ aid even if they will not accept Israel’s help.
Campus conversation: Gillibrand touched on rising antisemitism on college campuses, noting, “If you are a college kid on a campus today and you are Jewish, there might be efforts to make sure you can’t be in student government and their efforts to make sure you don’t have a voice, their efforts to demean you and to diminish you, and for college kids that has a lot to handle.” She also more broadly addressed the “prolific and prevalent and wide-ranging” rise in antisemitism and reiterated her support for the nonprofit security grant program. The New York senator is up for reelection in 2024.