Daily Kickoff
Good Friday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we look at the debate over ethnic studies education in California following the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks, and spotlight Mazi Pilip, the GOP candidate in the upcoming special election to replace Rep. George Santos. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Len Saxe, Sen. Ben Cardin and former Sen. Ben Sasse.
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: Voices against Hamas growing louder as war in Gaza continues; Judaica sales surge as community members seek ‘a little Jewish joy’ during a difficult time; Northern Israel a ‘waking nightmare’ amid efforts to push Hezbollah from border, says resident and security analyst. Print the latest edition here.
Another major tactical disagreement between Washington and Jerusalem over operations in Gaza spilled into public view on Thursday during U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan’s visit to Israel, Jewish Insider Washington correspondent Gabby Deutch reports.
The purpose of Sullivan’s visit, according to several senior Biden administration officials, was to urge Israel to shift its strategy in Gaza — and soon.
“The issue really is, when does Israel shift from the high-intensity military operations that are underway today to a different phase of this conflict, one that’s more precise, more targeted, more driven towards things like those high-value individuals?” Sullivan said in an interview with Israel’s Channel 12 News.
The New York Times reported that President Joe Biden would like to see such a change within the next three weeks. That’s a very different timetable from what Israeli officials are relaying publicly. “It will require a long period of time. It will last more than several months, but we will win and we will destroy them,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said of Hamas, while standing next to Sullivan before their meeting.
The Biden administration has not laid out any consequences that Israel might face if it does not follow U.S. recommendations regarding the war. But it’s not the first time the two governments have been at odds this week. This policy shift comes amid a clash between Biden and the far-right government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is skeptical of pursuing a two-state solution — the only outcome acceptable to the White House. Whether Israel follows Washington’s lead, or whether the two countries publicly come to a head, remains to be seen. Read more here.
hit the books
In California’s public schools, ethnic studies becomes a flashpoint

Weeks into the Israel-Hamas war, an Oakland, Calif., City Council meeting went viral as local residents stepped up to the lectern and spread outlandish, antisemitic lies about the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks in Israel. The council was considering calling for a cease-fire in a resolution that the Bay Area Jewish Community Relations Council called “inflammatory” and “anti-Israel.” But this meeting was far from the first time that anti-Israel and antisemitic ideas had appeared in Oakland since Oct. 7. Often, the rhetoric mirrored what’s being taught in some of the area’s public schools. It’s part of a broader trend of educators bringing current events into the classroom — and in this case, teaching one-sided depictions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to children as young as 6, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
Statewide questions: While the most egregious examples of antisemitism have taken place in the state’s most progressive communities, a city in Orange County has also adopted a school curriculum that Jewish leaders view as anti-Israel and antisemitic. But the Bay Area has become the epicenter of radical activity.
Beast of a fight: “The local fight is a beast. It is an absolute beast. It’s extremely difficult and challenging,” said Sarah Levin, executive director of JIMENA: Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa. Levin and other Jewish community advocates in California described a fraught atmosphere for Jewish students in the weeks since Oct. 7. It’s one that they have long feared — and tried hard to avoid — after California passed an ethnic studies requirement in the state’s public high schools, following years of activism from left-wing groups.
Curriculum fight: “What we’ve been concerned about since 2019 is that some ethnic studies activists have been insistent on incorporating anti-Zionist and in some cases explicitly antisemitic content in curricula,” said David Bocarsly, executive director of the Jewish Public Affairs Committee of California, a coalition of Jewish communal organizations throughout the state.
Start to spread: The issue is not confined to California, even if that’s where it is playing out in its most extreme form. “We’ve been so hyper-focused on the college and university-level issues, and rightfully so,” said Tyler Gregory, CEO of the Bay Area JCRC. “But I think this, in the long run, could be much more damaging if we don’t head it off now.”
Oakland fallout: A Jewish environmentalist on the Oakland City Council was disinvited from a lecture at the University of California, Berkeley after students discovered his social media posts in support of Israel.