Daily Kickoff
👋 Good Friday morning!
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we cover Israel President Isaac Herzog’s trip to New York, and look at the increasingly fraught relationship between Rep. Jamaal Bowman and some constituents over Israel-related issues. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Bill Burns, Greta Gerwig and Josh Harris.
We learned this week that it pays — literally — to be the party in power. In the Senate, where Democrats hold the majority, Democratic senators up for reelection posted huge fundraising hauls, according to newly released fundraising reports.
Of the seven Democratic-held Senate seats rated as competitive by the Cook Political Report, six of the Democratic senators or Democratic candidates raised over $2.7 million.
Among senators, Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) led the fundraising pack, raising $5.1 million, while Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) brought in $5 million. Both red-state Democrats face tough races against credible GOP opposition. Sens. Bob Casey (D-PA), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) all raised more than $2.7 million.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) was the only politically vulnerable senator not to hit the $2 million benchmark, but he still outraised his GOP opponent, Gov. Jim Justice. Manchin hasn’t announced whether he’s running for reelection, and headlined a No Labels event in New Hampshire on Monday,
Several Democratic members of Congress running for the Senate also raised significant sums of money: Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) raised a whopping $8.2 million for a competitive California Senate primary, outdistancing Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA), who brought in $3.2 million, and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), who raised $1.1 million.
In Texas, Rep. Colin Allred (D-TX) outraised Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), even though both reported strong fundraising totals. Allred raised $6.2 million, while Cruz raised $3.3 million — the highest total of all GOP senators.
On the House side, where Republicans hold the majority, the fundraising dynamic was reversed. Sixty-five Republican candidates raised $500,000 or more in the second quarter compared to 40 Democrats.
The 18 Republican members in districts President Joe Biden won raised an average of $739,000 in the second quarter, and banked $1.7 million, on average. The five Democrats representing seats former President Donald Trump won in 2020 raised an average of $542,000, while ending June with an average of $735,000 cash on hand.
Over in Israel, protestors once again took to the streets last night in an angry reaction to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s primetime speech in which he defended the “reasonableness standard” bill, which is set to pass into law next week, accused the opposition of failing to negotiate with the coalition, criticized protestors and slammed judicial reform opponents who have threatened to refuse to carry out army reserve duty. In response to the speech, leaders of the protest movement accused Netanyahu of incitement and of harming the country.
“This evening, I would like to calm everyone: In every situation, Israel will continue to be a democratic state,” Netanyahu said. “It will continue to be a liberal state. It will not become a state governed by Jewish religious law and it will safeguard everyone’s individual rights. But when I say ‘everyone,’ these rights must really be equal for everyone. None are more equal, and none are less equal. Some people cannot be subject to the law while others are above it – and can block roads, set fires, block the railways, block ambulances and put lives at risk.”
“Citizens of Israel, all of the remarks about the destruction of democracy are simply absurd,” Netanyhahu said. “This is an attempt to mislead you over something that has no basis in reality. What does endanger democracy is refusal to serve. Refusal to serve endangers the security of us all, of every citizen of Israel.”
Today in Aspen, Secretary of State Tony Blinken will take the stage at 9 a.m. local time, followed by a panel featuring Sens. Chris Coons (D-DE), John Cornyn (R-TX) and Jim Risch (R-ID). Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) will speak later this morning. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan will be the Security Forum’s last featured speaker before this year’s confab concludes.
herzog hangout
U.S.-Israel bond ‘transcends governments,’ Herzog tells New York Jewish community
The U.S.-Israel bond “transcends governments,” Israeli President Isaac Herzog said Thursday during an address to the New York Jewish community at an Upper East Side event space hosted by UJA-Federation of New York and co-sponsored by the Orthodox Union. The discussion, moderated by CNN reporter Bianna Golodryga, concluded the third day of Herzog’s diplomatic visit to the U.S., which earlier on Thursday included a jaunt through New York City, where he met state, local and world leaders, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch and eJewishPhilanthropy’s Haley Cohen report.
No winners: Herzog addressed the protests over the government’s proposed judicial overhaul that are roiling Israel, and discussed the current state of the U.S.-Israel relationship and his meetings earlier this week in Washington, D.C. The Israeli president, who has urged compromise in the debate over the judicial overhaul, called on proponents and opponents of the plan to “sit down and figure this out. If one side wins, everyone loses,” Herzog said.
No comment: Asked whether world leaders, including President Joe Biden, should be concerned over Netanyahu and his coalition’s actions, Herzog declined to answer the question. “I was told you were going to be a friendly interviewer,” he said to Golodryga amid a roar of laughter from the crowd. “There are certain questions that you don’t expect the president to answer.”
community concerns
Jamaal Bowman’s anti-Israel posture fuels primary opposition back home
Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) has long had a contentious relationship with Jewish community leaders in his district, many of whom have vocally objected to his increasingly hostile positions toward Israel. The last few days, however, have contributed to a new level of frustration with the Bronx progressive, who is facing scrutiny from Jewish voters for opposing a House resolution rejecting claims that Israel is a racist state and subsequently boycotting Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s address to a joint session of Congress, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.
Ongoing issue: “The Jewish community is furious, and it comes from a long and recent chain of events,” Justin Brasch, the Democratic president of the White Plains Common Council, said in an interview with JI on Thursday. “People text, email and call me every single day expressing frustration with Congressman Bowman.”
Seeing an opponent: For months, Jewish activists and establishment Democrats in New York’s 16th Congressional District, which includes Westchester County and the Bronx and is home to a sizable Jewish community, have been looking to recruit a viable primary challenger to run against Bowman in 2024, when he will be seeking his third congressional term. “The recent vote and joint session issues have spiked interest in finding an opponent,” said one prominent Democratic leader in Westchester who has taken issue with Bowman’s approach to Israel. “There’s been a lot of consternation and disappointment.”
allies in arms
CIA director warns Russian-Iranian partnership is dangerous for U.S. allies
CIA Director Bill Burns warned on Thursday that further growth in the Iranian-Russian defense partnership could pose dangers to the U.S.’ partners in the Middle East. Speaking at the Aspen Security Forum, Burns addressed the security cooperation between Iran and Russia, including Iran’s provision of weaponized drones that Russia has used in its invasion of Ukraine. In exchange, Russia has considered providing advanced combat aircraft to Iran, a move Burns said would be a particularly worrisome development that could create further destruction beyond the Ukrainian civilians impacted by the drone attacks, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Regional ramifications: “The provision of advanced combat aircraft obviously creates threats to our friends in the region as well,” Burns said. He described the relationship between Beijing and Moscow as “a useful two-way street” for both parties, noting that Russia has also sent technicians to work on Iran’s space launch and other missile programs.
Hesitations: But Burns also said that the partnership has also not been without its hurdles within Tehran. “We have… seen signs — and some of this has been public — where the Iranian leadership has hesitated about supplying ballistic missiles to the Russians, which was also on their wish list as well, partly because they’re concerned not just about our reaction, but about European reaction as well,” Burns said.
advancing the accords
Senate Foreign Relations, Abraham Accords Caucus leaders introduce sweeping Abraham Accords legislation
The senior members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee joined the Senate co-chairs of the Abraham Accords Caucus on Thursday to introduce legislation aimed at expanding and strengthening the Abraham Accords through a host of new programs and proposals for more than $120 million in funding, as well as an ambassador-level official for the Abraham Accords, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Sponsors: The Regional Integration and Normalization Act (RINA Act) is sponsored by Sens. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Jim Risch (R-ID), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Cory Booker (D-NJ) and James Lankford (R-OK).
Critical region: “This bill capitalizes on the dynamics that are profoundly reshaping the Middle East and North Africa,” Menendez said in a statement. “Further integration in this region, one marked by conflict and disunity, must be a pillar of U.S. foreign policy moving forward. It will remain a region that is critical to U.S. strategic interests, and we should support efforts that increase stability and prosperity for our partners and the region’s citizens.”
High expectations: Menendez predicted that the bill would pass with broad bipartisan support.
Worthy Reads
👱♀️ Barbie’s Blessings: The New York Times’ Willa Paskin profiles “Barbie” director and co-writer Greta Gerwig ahead of the film’s release. “It’s a testament to Gerwig’s singular earnestness — a level of sincerity unavailable to many of us — that using Barbie to affirm the worth of ordinary women feels, to her, quasi religious. She told me that when she was growing up, her Christian family’s closest friends were observant Jews; they vacationed together and constantly tore around each other’s homes. She would also eat with them on Friday nights for Shabbat dinner, where blessings were sung in Hebrew, including over the children at the table. May God bless you and protect you. May God show you favor and be gracious to you. May God show you kindness and grant you peace. Every Friday the family’s father would rest his hand on Gerwig’s head, just as he did on his own children’s, and bless her too. ‘I remember feeling the sense of, ‘Whatever your wins and losses were for the week, whatever you did or you didn’t do, when you come to this table, your value has nothing to do with that,”’ Gerwig told me. ‘“You are a child of God. I put my hand over you, and I bless you as a child of God at this table. And that’s your value.” I remember feeling so safe in that and feeling so, like, enough.’ She imagines people going to the temple of the movies to see ‘Barbie’ on a hot summer day, sitting in the air-conditioned dark, feeling transported, laughing, maybe crying, and then coming out into the bright heat. ‘I want people to feel like I did at Shabbat dinner,’ she said. ‘I want them to get blessed.’” [NYTimes]
🇮🇷 Tehran Talk: In Foreign Affairs, Jamsheed Choksy and Carol Choksy suggest that the U.S. needs to rethink its approach to Tehran amid Iran’s efforts to reset and resume its relationships throughout the Arab world. “Tehran has not just accelerated rapprochement with Saudi Arabia. It has embarked on a charm offensive across the Arab world, seeking to reestablish diplomatic ties and economic influence in Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and elsewhere. Iran sees an opening to take advantage of the United States’ confused and diminished ambitions in the Middle East, and its moves are contributing to the further displacement of the United States there. To accomplish this reset, Tehran has pivoted toward a less ideological, more pragmatic, regional foreign policy. But Western and Arab countries should approach this shift with skepticism. Nothing in Iran’s politics indicates that it intends to be a good neighbor in the long run. And much evidence suggests that it aims to reclaim its role as a revisionist, revolutionary force, intent on securing regional hegemony. For Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Middle East, compromise with Iran is a big gamble. For the West, it could be a calamity.” [ForeignAffairs]
📽️ Toy Story: The Wall Street Journal’s Ben Cohen examines how Barbie creator Ruth Handler found commercial success by innovating an untried approach to consumers. “In the early days of Mattel, the startup that Handler founded with her husband that would become the world’s biggest toy company, she made a series of bold decisions marketing something called a Burp Gun that led directly to Barbie, the ‘Barbie’ movie and the entire Barbie industrial complex. What she learned selling millions of Burp Guns made it possible for her to sell billions of Barbies. Handler broke the rules of her business in three ways: how she sold toys, when she sold them and who bought them. She realized before anybody in her industry that parents weren’t her target demographic. Children were. She also spent an incredible amount of money to advertise on television shows all year round — and that strategy turned out to be revolutionary.” [WSJ]
★ From Queens to Hollywood: The Washington Post’s Karen Heller talks to actress Fran Drescher, the president of SAG-AFTRA, about becoming the public face of the Hollywood strike. “‘I feel like I’m being called on the hero’s journey,’ she said in a phone interview Wednesday, ‘and when you’re called on the hero’s journey, it’s not something you necessarily want to do, but when you’re called upon to do it, you do the right thing, and you do it.’ It was 5:40 a.m. in L.A. The voice was a rasp, stretched but still fired. ‘I’m exhausted and exhilarated all at the same time. I’m sure it’s not healthy,’ said Drescher, who has been the actors union president since 2021. Previous union leaders include Charlton Heston, Ronald Reagan and Melissa Gilbert. As SAG-AFTRA president, Drescher has adopted a no-nonsense uniform of black-and-white athleisure, loose hair, an occasional baseball cap. The voice is a constant. The night before, Drescher had spoken with labor advocate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), their voices redolent of Queens (Drescher) and Brooklyn (Sanders), in a video conversation pickled with ‘a few shekels’ and ‘use your noodle’ and ‘they came to us with bupkis.’” [WashPost]
🎓 Campus Conundrum: Politico’s Charlie Mahtesian and Madi Alexander spotlight GOP efforts to address the growing electoral power of college towns in swing states. “There’s no single factor driving the college town trend. In some places, it’s an influx of left-leaning, highly educated newcomers, drawn to growing, cutting-edge industries advanced by university research or the vibrant quality of life. In others, it’s rising levels of student engagement on growing campuses. Often, it’s a combination of both. What’s clear is that these places are altering the political calculus across the national map. Combine university counties with heavily Democratic big cities and increasingly blue suburbs, and pretty soon you have a state that’s out of the Republican Party’s reach. None of this has gone unnoticed by the GOP, which is responding in ways that reach beyond traditional tensions between conservative lawmakers and liberal universities — such as targeting students’ voting rights, creating additional barriers to voter access or redrawing maps to dilute or limit the power of college communities. But there are limits to what those efforts can accomplish. They aren’t geared toward growing the GOP vote, merely toward suppressing Democratic totals. And they aren’t addressing the structural problems created by the rising tide of college-town votes — students are only part of the overall phenomenon.” [Politico]
Around the Web
🏃♂️ Mondaire’s Momentum: An internal poll in New York’s 17th Congressional District showed former Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-NY) leading Liz Gereghty 43-8% in a primary matchup. The winner will go on to face Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) next fall.
🐦 War of Words: Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley traded barbs on Twitter with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), with Haley telling the legislator she would “fit in great with the antisemites at the United Nations” after Ocasio-Cortez doubled down on her no vote on a resolution showing support for Israel.
⛳ Golf Goal: In the wake of a hearing on Capitol Hill over the deal between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf, former Trump administration Mideast envoy Jason Greenblatt suggests Congress should be supporting agreements that promote foreign investment in the U.S.
🗳️ DeSantis Details: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is planning to reboot his presidential campaign after a little over a month in the race, with a focus on national messaging and more small events on the ground, rather than scheduled big speeches.
🏺 Treasure Trove: The Wall Street Journal follows the journey of ancient ceramic artifacts discovered in Israel to the U.S., and then across the country and back, before ending up at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
👴 Age is Just a Number? Politico looks into the subtle accommodations that are being made for President Joe Biden, who is 80 years old.
🍦 Cold Calculation: Politicointerviews Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Ben Cohen about his campaign against the U.S. countering Russia in its war against Ukraine.
🏈 $6B for Commanders: A group of NFL team owners unanimously approved the sale of the Washington Commanders from Dan Snyder, who has owned the team since 1999, to a group led by Josh Harris. Snyder will also pay the league $60 million as part of the sale’s closing, following an investigation that found that the Commanders withheld revenue and that Snyder had sexually harassed a former employee.
📉 Let’s Make a Deal, Again: Blackstone President Jonathan Gray is predicting that decreasing levels of inflation will result in the resumption of deals as market levels stabilize.
📺 TV Trouble: Vulturelooks at the impact that the ongoing Writers Guild of America and Screen Actors Guild strikes will have on networks’ fall lineups, which will largely be replaced by reruns, reality TV and a pivot to streaming services.
Ξ FTX Intrigue: The New York Timesreports on the private writings of former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison ahead of her testimony in the trial of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, with whom Ellison was romantically involved, slated for this fall.
🏢 Brin’s Pivot: Google co-founder Sergey Brin has in recent months been working alongside researchers, in a shift to a more hands-on approach, as the company works to develop its next large AI system.
🇬🇧 Across the Pond: The Roald Dahl Museum and Story Center issued a statement apologizing for its namesake’s history of racism and antisemitism, and backed a 2020 statement from Dahl’s family condemning the author’s antisemitism.
🌊 Water Worries: The Department of Defense will deploy forces into the CENTCOM area of responsibility in order to bolster maritime security after recent attempts by Iran to threaten the free flow of commerce in the Strait of Hormuz and its surrounding waters, the department said yesterday in a press release.
🇸🇦 Kingdom Come: In an agreement inked with UNESCO, Saudi Arabia committed to allowing representatives from all member states — including Israel — to travel to the kingdom for the World Heritage Committee’s meeting in Riyadh in September.
🇺🇳 No-Go: The U.N.’s shipping agency approved a U.S.-led proposal to rescind Iran’s bid to host an upcoming maritime conference.
🇹🇷 Turkey Trip: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is slated to travel to Turkey for a state visit next Friday, and will meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan; Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is also expected to meet with Erdogan in Turkey next week.
🪖 Base Tragedy: A 21-year-old IDF officer was killed in an accident involving a shipping container on the Tzeelim base.
Wine of the Week
JI wine columnist Yitz Applbaum reviews the Domaine de Chevalier White:
“For those who do not give white wines their due, let me tell you: They can be sublime. One such wine I enjoyed recently took over my soul and filled me to the brim with unfettered happiness. It was 75% sauvignon blanc, 25% sémillon and 100% a new high — my new dragon to chase. The Domaine de Chevalier Blanc is a tangy bomb laced with flavors of mango and smoked salmon. The front palate is delicately acidic, the mid-palate feels like jumping into a pool of heavy whipping cream and the finish is rich with honeysuckle and peach cobbler. Open this bottle within the next three years and enjoy with Chilean sea bass slathered in butter and capers.”
Pic of the Day
Israeli President Isaac Herzog meets yesterday with Rabbi Alvin Kass, NYPD’s 87-year-old chief chaplain, and the Shomrim Society, a group of Jewish NYPD officers.
Birthdays
Former White House intern, now an activist, television personality and fashion designer, Monica Lewinsky turns 50 on Sunday…
FRIDAY: President at Admar Group, Henry Dean Ostberg turns 95… Escondido, Calif., resident, Leonard Simon Zoll… Retired CEO of Sony/ATV, Martin Bandier turns 82… Professor emeritus in the Department of Physics at Bar-Ilan University, he won the Israel Prize in 2018, Shlomo Havlin turns 81… Director of the Center for the Political Future at USC, Robert Shrum turns 80… Criminal defense attorney, Benjamin Brafman turns 75… Former member of the U.K. Parliament, now in the House of Lords, Baroness Susan Veronica Kramer turns 73… U.S. Senator (R-WY), John Barrasso turns 71… Chairman and CEO at Quantitative Financial Strategies, Sanford “Sandy” Jay Grossman turns 70… Endocrinologist and professor at Columbia University’s medical school, she is the president of NYC’s Central Synagogue, Shonni Silverberg, MD… Professor at Columbia Law School and daughter of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Jane Carol Ginsburg turns 68… Irene Ostrovsky… Comedian and actor, best known for his five seasons on “Saturday Night Live” ending in 1990, Jon Lovitz turns 66… Former chief rabbi of Moscow, his opposition to the Ukraine war forced him to leave Russia, Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt turns 60… Literary agent and the co-head of at William Morris Endeavor book department, Eric Matthew Simonoff turns 56… Actress and producer, Alysia Reiner turns 53… Professor of astronomy at MIT and winner of a 2013 MacArthur genius award, Sara Seager turns 52… Brazilian fashion designer best known for avant-garde designs and eclectic prints, Alexandre Herchcovitch turns 52… CEO of Fanatics, Michael G. Rubin turns 51… Founder, president and CEO of Securing America’s Future Energy (SAFE) and the Electrification Coalition, Raphael “Robbie” Diamond… Rabbi of Congregation Bais Naftali and teacher at Mesivta Birkas Yitzchok, both in Los Angeles, he is a popular motivational speaker, Rabbi Yoel Gold… Online media personality and director of product management at Unity in Vancouver, Veronica Belmont turns 41… Clinical social worker, Aniko Gomory-Pink… Entrepreneur and political activist, Chloé Simone Valdary turns 30… Policy analyst at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, Zachary A. Marshall… Sales and leasing agent at Goodrich – Compass, Rachel Elizabeth Nieves… Attorney in Madrid and secretary general of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain until 2021, Elias Cohen…
SATURDAY: Israeli actress, prominent in both theater, television and film, Gila Almagor turns 84… British Conservative Party member of Parliament for 36 years, Anthony Steen CBE turns 84… Historian, author and professor (now emerita) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Judith Walzer Leavitt turns 83… British biochemist and professor at the University of Dundee in Scotland, Sir Philip Cohen turns 78… Actor, director and comedian, Albert Brooks (born Albert Lawrence Einstein) turns 76… Past president of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Detroit, owner of Nodel Parks, Richard Martin Nodel… Winner of eight Academy Awards, eleven Grammy awards, pianist and composer of many Disney movie musical scores, Alan Menken turns 74… Owner of Baltimore’s Seven Mile Market, Hershel Boehm… Managing director of a public affairs firm and activist to ensure that the Holocaust and its many victims are not forgotten, Terry Swartzberg turns 70… Publisher of The 5 Towns Jewish Times, Larry Gordon turns 70… Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia since 2011 (senior status since May 2023), Judge Amy Berman Jackson turns 69… Member of AJC’s Jewish Religious Equality Coalition, Cindy Masters… Former secretary of veterans affairs in the Trump administration, David Jonathon Shulkin turns 64… Founding partner of the D.C.-based intellectual property law firm, Greenberg & Lieberman, Stevan Lieberman turns 58… Television journalist and news anchor, David Shuster turns 56… CEO of Leviathan Productions (focused on Jewish history, folklore and literature), Jack Benjamin (Ben) Cosgrove… Pentagon speechwriter, Warren Bass… Owner of West Bloomfield-based Saltsman Industries and Saltsman Financial Group, Daniel A. Saltsman… Former Pentagon official, now a contractor for CISA, Jonathan Freeman… Contemporary artist living in Brooklyn, he is best known for sculptural paintings that use multiple layers of glass to create three-dimensional collages, Dustin Yellin turns 48… Manager of global issues for ExxonMobil, Elise Rachel Shutzer… Associate justice on the New Jersey Supreme Court, Rachel Wainer Apter turns 43… Former White House assistant press secretary, now the managing editor of podcasts at NBC News, Reid Cherlin… White House correspondent, Andrew Grant Feinberg turns 41… Freshman member of the House of Representatives (D-RI), Seth Michael Magaziner turns 40… Executive director of the American Sephardi Federation, Jason Guberman-Pfeffer… Actor best known for his role in the Freeform series “Pretty Little Liars,” Keegan Phillip Allen turns 34… Chief of staff at Valera Health, Maor Cohen… Talia Thurm Abramson… Serial entrepreneur, software consultant and product strategist in Silicon Valley, Yoela Palkin… Actor and voice actor, his career started when he was 10 years old, he starred as Eric in Netflix’s “Santa Clarita Diet,” Skyler Gisondo turns 27… Michael Suissa… Ogen CEO, Sagi Balasha…
SUNDAY: Banker who distributed $60 million to his 400 employees when he sold City National Bank of Florida in 2008, Leonard L. Abess turns 75… Former U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands, she was the chair of the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation until last month, Fay Hartog-Levin turns 75… Retired judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Judge Alex Kozinski turns 73… Businessman and real estate investor who made his fortune in the trade and manufacture of fertilizer in the former Soviet Union, Alexander Rovt turns 71… President of the Marcus Foundation, Jay Kaiman… Academy Award-winning film producer (“Titanic”), Jon Landau turns 63… Proprietor of Oy Vey Jewish Bakery and Delicatessen in Terre Haute, Indiana, Chavah Stair… Freelance journalist, she is the widow of Daniel Pearl and wrote a book about his kidnapping and murder in Pakistan in 2002, Mariane Pearl turns 56… Executive director and chief creative officer at the Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream, Rachel Eva Goslins turns 54… U.S. senator (D-GA), Raphael Warnock turns 54… Dov M. Katz… Freelance television writer and author of two books, Joel Stein… Psychologist in private practice in both Manhattan and Great Neck, Long Island, Lynn Glasman, Ph.D…. Music producer and songwriter, Jonathan Reuven “J.R.” Rotem turns 48… Professor at Georgetown University Law Center, Itai Grinberg… Mayor of Minneapolis since 2018, Jacob Lawrence Frey turns 42… Sports studio host and play-by-play announcer for Westwood One, Sirius XM and ESPN, Jason M. Horowitz… Reporter for the Washington Post, she covers the Justice Department and FBI, Perry Stein… Starting right fielder for Team Israel at the 2017 World Baseball Classic, Zach Borenstein turns 33… Joseph Stern…
BIRTHWEEK: Israel Policy Forum executive committee member and associate director of academic programs at New York University’s Abu Dhabi Institute, Sharon Bergman (was Tuesday)… Los Angeles-based documentary producer/ director, Jeremy Goldscheider (was Tuesday)…