In an exclusive interview with Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch on Thursday, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) cautioned that a proposal to weaken Israel’s Supreme Court would be “a complete breakdown of separation of powers” but added that she backs some judicial reform in the Jewish state. 

Democratic values: “Most of us who believe in democracy would be concerned about a proposal that would allow the Knesset to overturn the Supreme Court,” Sinema said in an interview in her Senate hideaway, a small windowless room with brightly colored modern furniture that matches her predilection for eye-catching outfits. 

Recent events: “I was happy to see that [Israeli Prime Minister] Bibi [Netanyahu] stepped back from some of his proposed plans, because it was obvious that the people of Israel did not support those plans. It also seems fairly obvious that judicial reform is needed,” said Sinema. One element of Netanyahu’s proposed judicial reform would allow Israel’s Knesset to override rulings from the Supreme Court. That clause has been targeted in months of widespread protests throughout Israel. 

Political evolution: Sinema began her political career two decades ago as an antiwar activist and local spokesperson for the left-wing Green Party. Now, her foreign-policy positions are much closer to the mainstream bipartisan Washington consensus, including support for U.S. aid to Israel and continued military and financial assistance to Ukraine. Despite Sinema’s eagerness to discuss her work on foreign policy, she did not want to say whether she identifies as a hawk or a dove. “I don’t know that I define myself,” she said. “That’s not really my thing.”

Future plans: Since her election in 2018, the Arizona senator has frustrated Democrats by taking a more moderate stance and spurning the party on several major votes, most notably on rolling back the legislative filibuster. Late last year, she formally changed her party affiliation from Democrat to Independent. Ever since, she has lost her base of Democratic support, and polls show her lagging in third place in a likely three-way Senate race. Sinema has not yet said whether she will run for reelection next year, and declined to comment on her future plans. “I’m not going to answer,” she said when asked whether she will run again. 

Read the full interview here.

As former President Donald Trump dominates the Republican primary field, leading GOP donors and Trump skeptics are, however reluctantly, beginning to reckon with a new reality: that Trump seems increasingly likely to win the nomination in 2024, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.

What they’re saying: “The sense that I get is there’s pretty much a resignation he’s going to be the nominee,” Joel Geiderman, a physician in West Hollywood, Calif., who sits on the board of the Republican Jewish Coalition, acknowledged in an interview with JI on Thursday. “Based upon my circle of friends and my informal survey,” said Jon Tucker, a GOP activist in Pittsburgh, “there’s just a fervent hope and prayer that, somehow, Trump will get out of the way and allow other candidates to get back in.” “Right now, I don’t see anybody else getting traction,” concluded a prominent Republican donor in Chicago, who expects that Trump will win the nomination. “It makes me feel that people like me, the ‘before Trump’ Republicans, don’t have a home,” he sighed.

Post-primary prediction: Even as the nearly dozen Republican donors interviewed by JI declined to back the former president in the primary, they were divided on the question of supporting Trump if he becomes the nominee again. “There’s no one I see the Democrats putting up that means I would not support Trump being the nominee,” one top Republican donor explained, noting that he appreciated Trump’s policies, if not his personal conduct, as president. “Obviously, he has issues with respect to his, you know, temperament and pettiness, which I think helped cause him to lose.” Still, the donor was otherwise cautiously optimistic that another candidate may ultimately come forward ahead of the primaries who can “implement” Trump’s agenda “without the noise or baggage,” he said.

Alternatives: Bernard Hasten, a longtime confidante of former Vice President Mike Pence — who is now weighing a White House bid of his own — said he would not vote for Trump in the primary if there are other Republican candidates on the ballot. But, he added, “If Donald Trump is the Republican nominee for president and the Democratic nominee is Joe Biden, I’d pick Donald Trump hands down.” But, he said, “if there’s some wonderful Democrat who comes out of the woodwork” and is “middle-of-the road and somewhat reasonable, that could change my view in the general election.”

Read the full story here.

Sens. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and Jim Risch (R-ID) are expected to introduce a resolution marking the 75th anniversary of Israel’s founding, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod has learned, days after a similar resolution passed the House with broad bipartisan support

History: The resolution asserts that “the establishment of the State of Israel realized the right of the Jewish people to self-determination and is an outgrowth of the existence of the historic and ancestral kingdom of Israel established in the Land of Israel 3,000 years ago with Jerusalem as its capital.”

Focus on democracy: It emphasizes Israel’s “pluralistic democratic political system,” noting its system of Basic Laws, “which provide the foundation of Israel’s democratic system,” its “vibrant Arab community… possessing equal rights under law” and Israel’s protections for free speech, press and elections and the rule of law. “The Senate… commends the people of Israel for their remarkable achievements in building a pluralistic democratic society in the Middle East,” the resolution states, and “reaffirms its continuing support for Israel as a Jewish and democratic state that is committed to — (A) defending the security, freedom and equality of all its inhabitants regardless of religion, race, or sex; and (B) guaranteeing freedom of religion, conscience, language, education, and culture.”

Peace process: The resolution notes that the U.S. “has actively supported and played a significant role in the efforts to bring about Israeli-Palestinian peace, in line with the long-standing U.S. commitment to a sustainable, viable, two-state solution negotiated directly between the parties, resulting in an end to the conflict and two states for two peoples based on mutual recognition, dignity and peaceful neighborly relations.” It “reiterates [the Senate’s] support for a comprehensive lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians, in which both enjoy peace, security and prosperity,” and asserts that “security coordination between Israelis and the Palestinian Authority promotes stability and is critical to de-escalating tensions.”

Read the full story here.

Bonus: Rep. Randy Weber (R-TX) is set to introduce a resolution today that would reaffirm U.S. support for Israel and characterize the Iranian regime as “a threat to Israel, the region, the United States and global stability.” The resolution, obtained by Jewish Insider, warns that the U.S., Israel and the world could be at risk of an unprovoked nuclear attack if Iran develops a nuclear weapon, and asserts that the House “believes the United States and international community must ensure the Islamic Republic of Iran does not build or acquire nuclear weapons.” Co-sponsors of the legislation include 25 Republicans and four Democrats, Reps. Juan Vargas (D-CA), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), David Trone (D-MD) and Susan Wild (D-PA).

It’s not hard to see how Jacob Steinmetz developed a passion for sports as a child — his father, Elliot Steinmetz, a longtime basketball coach, has headed the Yeshiva University Maccabees since 2014 — but despite obvious talent, few would have imagined that a young, religious kid playing T-ball in his synagogue’s league would go on to become the first practicing Orthodox Jew to be drafted by a Major League team. Now 19, Steinmetz has nearly three years of professional ball under his belt and is currently a starter for the Visalia Rawhide, the Diamondbacks’ Single-A affiliate team in Visalia, Calif. During the most recent episode of Jewish Insider’s podcast, Steinmetz joined co-hosts Rich Goldberg and Jarrod Bernstein to discuss his journey into professional baseball as an Orthodox Jew.

On what it’s like to play professional baseball: “You definitely see that it’s a job and, I mean, it’s tough work. We go at it for 100, I mean, big leagues are 162 games, I’m not sure how many the minor league games are, but we go six days a week and we’re at the field for pretty much most of the day. As a pitcher, as a starting pitcher, it’s a little easier just because I pitch once a week and I know I’ll have the next six days off, but I mean I still love it, especially on days where I pitch. Once you go out there… there’s nothing like it.”

On maintaining a religious lifestyle in Visalia: “The team has been unbelievable about it, finding me kosher food wherever I go… But for me, the kosher food isn’t as big of a problem just because I know, worst case, I can do an Instacart order or something from a supermarket that has just bagels and cream cheese, and that could be my go-to meal if I have to… And for Shabboses, for Sabbath, the team has also been trying to avoid me having to pitch on Saturdays, which in minor league ball is pretty easy, because we have six-game series, as I said, and we have six starters, so it kind of worked out that each person has their own day, so they just slotted me in on whichever day, and so Saturdays I’m able to just kind of walk to the field and not really have to worry about anything else.”

Bonus lightning round: Favorite major leaguers to watch growing up? “My go-to is usually Derek Jeter.” Favorite Jewish sports player of all time? “I don’t know if I really had a favorite Jewish sports player, I mean, I always say that like I know Kevin Youkilis was a Jewish sports player, but he was with the Red Sox so [being a Yankees fan] I couldn’t like him. Alex Bregman’s with the Astros, so I couldn’t really like him. So, it kind of seems like a lot of the Jewish sports players that I grew up watching were rivals with the Yankees, so I don’t really know if I had a favorite.” Favorite baseball movie of all time? “I mean a lot of baseball movies I had watched when I was a lot younger, so I don’t really remember them as much. I mean, I’ve seen all the classic ones: I’ve seen ‘The Sandlot,’ I’ve seen ‘Rookie of the Year,’ I’ve seen ‘Bull Durham,’ I’ve seen ‘Major League.’ Favorite? The ‘Major League’ movies I always found pretty funny, especially as a younger kid.”

Read more and listen to the podcast here.

For generations, Judy Blume’s 1970 coming-of-age classic Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret has made girls on the cusp of adolescence laugh, cry and commiserate over the realities of their changing bodies, writes Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch. But the beloved novel, which has sold millions of copies, is about more than a sixth grader who both dreads and anxiously awaits her first period as a harbinger of adulthood. A new movie adaptation of the book, the first feature film adaptation of any of Blume’s novels, which comes out today, depicts a girl grappling with the drama and indignities of middle school while also thinking deeply about a topic that is perhaps more scary to her than puberty: religion.

Soul searching: “What struck me was how profound Margaret’s spiritual journey is,” Kelly Fremon Craig, the film’s director, told JI in a recent interview. “That’s something I did not remember from when I was a kid reading it. So that was actually a big part of why I wanted to make the film, because I felt like there was this secret, very simple yet profound journey at the center of it that I think a lot of readers miss.” 

Life’s big questions: The movie hews faithfully to the 1970s suburban milieu of the book, which follows 11-year-old Margaret Simon and her interfaith parents from their cramped Manhattan apartment to a spacious but unfamiliar home in the New Jersey suburbs. When she starts sixth grade, Margaret (played by Abby Ryder Fortson) falls in with a group of girls who are obsessed with such crucial questions as where to buy their first bras, when they will first kiss a boy and when they will get their periods. To help her grapple with such a pivotal time, Margaret starts an ongoing conversation with God in her head. 

On location: Most of the film was shot in Charlotte, N.C., and Craig’s location scout suggested they film the temple scene at Temple Israel, a Conservative synagogue. “I just loved the pink and blue stained glass,” Craig said. “It was very important to me to get every single little detail right in those places, and to capture them in a way that felt respectful, and beautiful, and the best of these religions.” The synagogue’s real-life senior rabbi, Michael Wolk, leads a service and delivers a sermon in the background of the synagogue scene. 

Read the full story here.