Daily Kickoff
👋 Good Wednesday morning!
Ed note: We hope you had a joyous and meaningful Purim holiday. On Monday, we revealed a few personnel updates to our growing team. We’re thrilled that Josh Kraushaar is joining our team as editor in chief of Jewish Insider; Melissa Weiss is being promoted to executive editor of Jewish Insider and today is Judah Gross’ first day as news editor of eJP. Our team is the backbone of everything we do and we encourage you to reach out to get to know us.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we report on an upcoming Jewish women’s summit at the White House and presidential primaries currently scheduled to be on Passover. We also talk to Israeli MK Yitzhak Pindrus about his proposed legislation that mirrors the U.S.’ Taylor Force Act. Others in today’s Daily Kickoff include: Ned Price, Dalya Attar and Matti Friedman.
After Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reported earlier this week from the Arab Conference at Harvard, where speakers including former Women’s March leader Linda Sarsour and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) urged students to protest “apartheid” Israel, the consulting giant McKinsey & Company, which was listed as a high-level sponsor of the event, released a statement on Monday distancing itself from the event.
“When we learned late last week that a speaker at an event our recruiting team was sponsoring at Harvard University had a history of anti-Semitic comments, we immediately stepped away from the conference, canceled our in-person recruiting meeting and withdrew two speakers from the program,” the statement said. “We condemn anti-Semitism in all its forms and stand for inclusion and tolerance everywhere.”
As of Tuesday evening, McKinsey isstill listed as a “close circle sponsor” of the conference — the highest level of sponsorship — on the conference website. The recruiting session still appears on the schedule, and a page listing the time and place of the McKinsey recruiting session, which was set to take place on Sunday, is still active. (A revised schedule sent to attendees on Sunday morning did not list the McKinsey session. JI reached out to conference organizers to ask whether the session took place, but they did not respond.)
McKinsey’s statement did not specify which speaker the company was referencing, and a spokesperson declined to comment further. DJ Carella, the firm’s global director of media relations and corporate communications, did not respond to questions about whom the statement was referring to or why the organization was still listed as a sponsor on the conference website.
In a Tuesday night email to students and donors, Harvard Hillel’s executive director, Rabbi Jonah Steinberg, lamented comments by Sarsour in which the outspoken activist said she was “not afraid of Zionists in America. I’m not afraid of people trying to silence me.” Jewish students at Harvard, Steinberg wrote, experience such accusations “as painful and prejudiced.”
Read our story about McKinsey’s announcement here.
Today on Capitol Hill, the Senate Intelligence Committee will hold a hearing with officials from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, CIA, Defense Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency and FBI on worldwide threats.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is scheduled to vote today on Michael Ratney and Eric Garcetti’s nominations to be the U.S. ambassadors to Saudi Arabia and India, respectively, although those votes may be delayed by senators’ objections. The committee will also vote on repealing the authorizations for use of military force in Iraq and promoting cooperative projects to protect civilians in Iraq and on the Arabian Peninsula from Iranian drones.
Elsewhere on the Hill, House Democrats announced that pro-Israel stalwart Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL) received a waiver to rejoin the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He had served on the committee in the previous Congress — at one point seeking to lead the Middle East subcommittee — but was not initially reappointed this year. Additionally, newly sworn-in Rep. Jennifer McClellan (D-VA) will be joining the House Armed Services Committee.
State Department spokesperson Ned Price will step down from the job — which he’s had since the start of the Biden administration — later this month and will transition to a role working directly with Secretary of State Tony Blinken. Read our recent profile of Price here.
scoop
White House to host inaugural Jewish Women’s Forum this week

The White House will convene its first-ever Jewish Women’s Forum on Thursday, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch has learned. The three-and-a-half-hour event, which is by invitation only, is set for this week to mark Women’s History Month and Purim, according to an invitation viewed by JI.
Community builders: The invitation was sent by the White House’s Jewish liaison, Shelley Greenspan, to Jewish female leaders “who are working to improve the lives of people in their communities,” according to the invitation. More than 70 women are expected to attend the meeting, which will highlight topics including antisemitism, leadership and gender equity, the White House confirmed Tuesday.
Shine a light: “Jewish women have long been involved in both public service and communal work, contributing in innumerable ways to American society,” Greenspan told JI on Tuesday night. “The Jewish Women’s Forum at the White House is an opportunity to shine a light on women who have turned Jewish values into action.”
Who’s who: Thursday’s gathering will kick off with a fireside chat with Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff and feature briefings from senior White House officials. Among those expected to address the group of 70 women are Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism; Anne Neuberger, deputy national security advisor for cyber and emerging technology; Latifa Lyles, special assistant to the president for gender policy; and Rosie Hidalgo, senior advisor on gender-based violence and special assistant to the president.