Daily Kickoff
👋 Good Friday morning!
Today is Rosh Chodesh, the Jewish new month of Iyar, and Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim festival of the breaking of the fast upon the completion of Ramadan. Chodesh tov and Eid Mubarak to all!
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we report on a letter by 41 senators offering support for joint U.S.-Israel missile-defense programs, and cover the Heritage Foundation’s 50th anniversary conference. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: A look at Sen. Mike Lee’s unique foreign policy, how Montana Tucker made it to the White House and Reza Pahlavi’s ongoing trip to Israel.
For less-distracted reading over the weekend, browse this week’s edition of The Weekly Print, a curated print-friendly PDF featuring a selection of recent Jewish Insider, eJewishPhilanthropy and The Circuit stories, including: For America’s ambassador to Germany, a personal reflection on Yom HaShoah; DeSantis takes steps to attract center-right Jewish voters; Aliza Licht knows how to stay ‘on brand’; After 30 years, Azerbaijan sends its first envoy to Israel; Where is Bibi’s head at?; Supreme Court appears poised to expand, but not radically reshape, religious workplace accommodations, advocates say; Lawmakers, Holocaust survivors join together for commemoration event on Capitol Hill; Jewish leaders mark 80th anniversary of Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in this year’s March of the Living; and Israeli venture grants ‘wishes’ to 1,600 Holocaust survivors. Click here.
A print version is also available of the first two installments of our five-part investigative series: WHO KILLED KESHER’S RABBI? – Parts 1 and 2.
Jews who are more politically conservative are also more likely to affiliate with Jewish institutions and prioritize Jewish practices in their daily lives, according to a recently released Keren Keshet Foundation survey of American Jews.
The political crosstabs within the poll, which was first published in Tablet this month, add detail to the surface findings that the American Jewish community is splitting between active and affiliated Jews, who make up about half of self-identified Jews, and ambivalent and alienated Jews, who make up the other half.
The survey found that most respondents still have a close attachment to their Jewish identity and sense of belonging (75% said being Jewish was very or somewhat important), while also saying that many are growing increasingly disconnected from both religious and cultural institutions.
But those who are on the most progressive side of the political spectrum — compared to self-identified liberals, moderates and conservatives — are disproportionately among those who are less affiliated with organized Judaism, Jewish Insider Editor in Chief Josh Kraushaar reports.
Nearly 60% of progressive Jews aren’t affiliated with one of the major denominations, even as 60% of Jews overall consider themselves either Orthodox, Conservative, Reform or Reconstructionist. More than three in four progressive Jews don’t belong to a synagogue (compared to 66% who don’t overall).
About half of self-identified political conservatives consider themselves very or moderately religious, compared to less than one-quarter of progressives (21%).
The political disconnect is even clearer when it comes to emotional attachment to Israel: Only 30% of progressives are either very or somewhat attached to the Jewish state, compared to 74% of conservatives, 54% of moderates and 50% of liberals.
One area that united many progressive Jews: Participation in a social justice activity. Nearly 40% of progressive respondents said they engaged in social justice efforts, compared to just 15% overall.
The survey was conducted from Nov. 4, 2022 to Jan. 2, 2023. A total of 1,500 adults who identify as religiously or culturally Jewish were interviewed.
In the Middle East, Iran’s exiled crown prince, Reza Pahlavi, and his wife Yasmine, continued touring Israel and meeting officials over the last couple of days, hosted by Israeli Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel, and including a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara.
After visiting the Sorek Desalination Plant in Palmachim, Pahlavi tweeted, “In Iran, the Islamic Republic is turning lakes, rivers and wetlands into deserts, while in Israel, government and industry are converting the desert into water… After speaking with the scientists, water experts and infrastructure innovators here, I am certain that a free and democratic Iran can engage in partnership with Israel to reverse the environmental damage caused by the Islamic Republic and rejuvenate and rebuild Iran’s water ecosystem.”
Mark Dubowitz, chief executive of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, met with Pahlavi in Tel Aviv yesterday, and discussed an action plan to provide maximum support to the Iranian people; to impose maximum pressure on the regime; and to encourage Iranians and others to oppose the regime, Dubowitz told Jewish Insider’s Tamara Zieve. The two proposed steps that the U.S. and Israel could undertake to achieve these goals — potentially with the support of European countries — including a labor strike fund to spur nationwide strikes financed by frozen Iranian assets, a plan to provide internet access to circumvent regime censorship, and measures to split the regime and give those who are part of the IRGC and other security services a pathway out of sanctions if they turn against the Islamic Republic.
Dubowitz’s impression from his discussions with Pahlavi is that the former prince “has a deep understanding of what it will take to replace the regime in Iran with something more hopeful for his people. He is impressed with what Israel has accomplished and believes that the Israeli and Iranian people will one day be the closest of friends and partners.“
Dubowitz also addressed “the prevailing Western elite narrative” that Pahlavi, whose visit to Israel has drawn mixed reactions, is not popular in Iran. Dubowitz countered that this “seems to be contradicted by his huge social media following inside the country, the slogans chanted during the recent protests invoking his name, and his endorsement by prominent Iranian cultural and sports figures inside the country.”
LETTER WRITING
More than 40 senators offer support for U.S.-Israel missile-defense funding

Forty-one senators from both parties have signed onto a letter, obtained by Jewish Insider, offering support for full funding — $500 million — for joint U.S.-Israel missile-defense programs, including Iron Dome, David’s Sling and Arrow and counter-drone programs, in 2024, JI’s Marc Rod reports.
Details: The letter, sent last week to Sens. Jon Tester (D-MT) and Susan Collins (R-ME), the chair of the Senate Defense Appropriations subcommittee and the ranking member of the Appropriations Committee, is organized annually by Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Mike Rounds (R-SD). The $500 million is guaranteed annually by the 2016 U.S.-Israel Memorandum of Understanding and was codified into law by Congress, but must be appropriated by Congress annually.
Signatories: The communique was signed by 41 senators, three fewer than an identical letter in 2022, including 32 Democrats and nine Republicans. Signatories include Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Ted Budd (R-NC), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Bob Casey (D-PA), Chris Coons (D-DE), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), John Fetterman (D-PA), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), James Lankford (R-OK), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Ed Markey (D-MA), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Gary Peters (D-MI), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Rick Scott (R-FL), Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), Tina Smith (D-MN), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), John Thune (R-SD), J.D. Vance (R-OH), Mark Warner (D-VA) and Ron Wyden (D-OR).
Read more here.
Elsewhere on the Hill: In Senate testimony on Tuesday, U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Samantha Power emphasized the “elaborate vetting systems” in place for examining recipients of U.S. aid, particularly in the Palestinian territories, including cross checking beneficiaries with the FBI’s terrorism center. She condemned “in the strongest terms” the leaders of a group that had allegedly received U.S. funding, who had publicly praised terrorist attacks targeting Israel. Power also emphasized that “we’ve seen in recent weeks, the vibrancy of civil society” in Israel.