Daily Kickoff
Good Friday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we preview the Michigan Democratic presidential primary and South Carolina Republican presidential primary, and interview Nikki Haley’s communications director Nachama Soloveichik. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Ronald Liebowitz, Gabriel Barnett and William Daroff.
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: The former Facebook exec seeking to re-center Harvard; Rep. Andy Kim keeps his distance from some progressive backers; Keir Starmer facing the ghost of Jeremy Corbyn within the Labour party. Print the latest edition here.
What once looked like an afterthought of a Michigan presidential primary is becoming more interesting, thanks to some left-wing activists’ efforts to organize a protest vote against President Joe Biden over his Middle East policy. The Democratic primary, held next Tuesday, will offer some empirical evidence for how large an anti-Israel constituency there is in the battleground state, Jewish Insider Editor-in-Chief Josh Kraushaar writes.
The share of the vote that “uncommitted” receives next Tuesday will be worth watching. Unlike in New Hampshire (where activists organized a write-in campaign for “cease-fire”), there’s an option on the Michigan primary ballot for Democratic voters to informally register their disapproval of the president. The effort has been endorsed by Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), the most outspoken anti-Israel lawmaker in Congress.
It’s worth noting that 2% of Michigan Democratic primary voters backed “uncommitted” in 2016, and more than 1% did the same in 2020 — even though there was no concerted outside campaign.
Given the organized effort and sizable Muslim vote in Michigan, a successful showing by anti-Israel forces would likely have to hit double-digits to be deemed a success. That’s consistent with the expectation that Our Revolution, the left-wing political group backing the effort, has publicly set.
So far, the anti-Israel forces within the party have shown a lot more bark than bite. New Hampshire Democrats were expecting a credible showing from an effort to write-in “cease-fire” on their ballots. That effort only ended up winning a tiny 1,497 Democratic primary votes, making up only 1% of the total.
But there are signs that the Biden campaign is anticipating a credible showing from the uncommitted forces. When JI asked a Biden campaign operative what would constitute a strong Michigan showing for the president, the official said that they weren’t focused on the primary — and expected many of the uncommitted voters to return to Biden’s fold for the general election.
The big question in Michigan is whether a critical mass of Michigan voters care enough about the Middle East — as opposed to more basic concerns, like the economy — to cast a protest ballot against Biden.
If a sizable share of young voters and African-American voters, who generally hold less favorable views towards Israel, end up joining the protest effort, it would be worth noting. But if the effort is limited to the most hardened anti-Israel voices around Dearborn, which has the country’s largest Arab-American population, don’t expect Michigan Democrats to lose sleep over the anti-Israel activism.
This Saturday also marks the South Carolina Republican presidential primary, where former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley hopes to perform respectably in her home state. Polls show former President Donald Trump on track for a significant victory, tallying around two-thirds of the GOP primary vote.
Haley insisted this week that she will continue her campaign, regardless of the South Carolina results. The latest campaign finance reports show her campaign still has plenty of money to mount a challenge to Trump, no matter how long the odds.
In Miami, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said yesterday at the Future Investment Initiative Conference that Israel “absolutely” can win its war in Gaza, by establishing “a security belt that is sufficient for them.” He added, “It’s not about Israel winning so much as it is about us. It’s about those of us who believe in these fundamental ideas of nations who aren’t terror regimes prevailing. We have to demonstrate that we’re prepared to do victory, not just fight things to a draw. It will take all of us to begin to deliver that.”
The end goal, Pompeo continued, should be to return to the pursuit of regional integration through the Abraham Accords. He identified Iran as the main obstacle to that pursuit.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s end goal, however, was less clear in a document about “the day after” the war, Jewish Insider senior political correspondent Lahav Harkov reports. The plan approved by the Security Cabinet on Thursday night was heavy on details about the medium term, but only described what should not happen in the long term —no acceptance of a Palestinian state unless it is directly negotiated with Israel
After listing the war aims of destroying Hamas’ military capabilities and infrastructure and returning the hostages, the document states that, in the medium term, Gaza must be fully demilitarized. In addition, Israel must maintain the ability to stop terrorist threats throughout Gaza, keep a buffer zone as long as there is a security need, and patrol the Gaza-Egypt border with Egyptian and American cooperation.
Civilian affairs would be managed by local Palestinians who are unaffiliated with terror groups, and Israel would act to shut down UNRWA.
Arab states with relevant experience will be asked to help formulate and implement a de-radicalization plan for Gaza. Only after that, would there be a plan to rehabilitate Gaza with funding from countries accepted by Israel – which may leave out Qatar.
conservative concerns
Top Nikki Haley official: The GOP is going through ‘a midlife crisis’
Nachama Soloveichik, a veteran GOP strategist who serves as former South Carolina Gov. NikkiHaley’s communications director, is one of several like-minded Republican operatives advising the campaign, which in many ways has positioned itself in opposition to the growing neo-isolationism that is animating the party as former President Donald Trump reasserts his influence. In an interview with Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel on the eve of Saturday’s South Carolina Republican primary, Soloveichik said, “I think the Republican Party is definitely going through a midlife crisis of some sort.”
Dropping out: “You see really good, solid people like [retiring Wisconsin Rep.] Mike Gallagher and [former Pennsylvania Sen.] Pat Toomey, my former boss, who are just like, ‘Peace out, I don’t want to have anything to do with this dumpster fire,” Soloveichik added. “And who can blame them?”
Energized by the fight: But while she now finds herself in an uphill battle on her first presidential campaign, Soloveichik claims she isn’t ready to concede the fight. “Listen, we get that we’re the underdog,” she said, citing a quote from Haley’s speech on Tuesday in which the former South Carolina governor likened her bid to a matchup between David and Goliath. “But she relishes being the underdog. She’s always been the underdog. She’s a fighter. She likes fighting. She believes this fight is worthwhile and that energizes her — so when she’s energized, we’re energized.”
Israel and isolationism: More broadly, however, the seasoned campaign operative, on hiatus from her job as a partner with ColdSpark, a Republican consulting firm, expressed concern over the GOP’s recent turn to isolationism, particularly after a vote earlier this month in which more than half of Senate Republicans opposed aid to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan, including some of the party’s most dependable foreign policy hawks. “I have real concerns that Israel will be thrown under the bus,” said Soloveichik. “To me, it’s like, if you don’t think Ukraine is worth helping, if you don’t think that Vladimir Putin is evil and needs to be condemned, then why is Israel so different?”
Read the full interview here.
Q&A
Brandeis President Liebowitz speaks up about campus challenges in the post-Oct. 7 world
Brandeis University was founded in 1948 “by the American Jewish community at a time when many elite universities were discriminating against Jews,” according to its website. As Jewish students today at many elite universities are facing levels of discrimination on campus not seen in several generations, Ronald Liebowitz, who has served as the president of Brandeis since 2016, sat down with eJewishPhilanthropy’s Haley Cohen, reporting for Jewish Insider, to discuss this precarious moment in academia.
East Coast, West Coast: Liebowitz spoke of the challenges that come with leading a historically Jewish institution today and figuring out where it fits in the larger academic space. “When I go to the West Coast and talk about Brandeis, people there say ‘we’re not gonna send our kids to Brandeis, they don’t wanna study Hebrew or Talmud, they don’t wanna wear kippahs.’ And I said that’s not who we are. While on the East Coast, places like Riverdale or even Manhattan, people say ‘does Brandeis remember it’s Jewish? It’s abandoned its Jewish roots,’” Liebowitz told JI.
SJP ban: Liebowitz, a self-proclaimed “firm believer in free speech,” defended his decision to ban the group Students for Justice in Palestine from Brandeis’ campus in November — making Brandeis the first private university to do so since Oct. 7. “One thing I’m also opinionated about is selective free speech and a university cannot take selective stances on when it’s OK to do what some might describe as hate speech— I call it gratuitous speech,” he said. “I look at gratuitous speech as speech that is unnecessary to advance the mission of the institution. To me the mission of the institution is to promote the engagement of different ideas, even as difficult as they are. The SJP situation to me was one of those examples where they were simply being a mouthpiece [for Hamas], which has been designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S.”
Read the full interview here.
stepping in
White House names Gabriel Barnett interim Jewish liaison
The White House has appointed a new official to temporarily oversee the Biden administration’s relationship with the U.S. Jewish community, a key constituency for President Joe Biden, particularly as Israel’s war with Hamas continues and antisemitism is on the rise in the United States, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
New name: Gabriel Barnett, a White House advisor for public engagement who served as the deputy Jewish outreach director on the Biden campaign in 2020, will serve as White House Jewish liaison in an interim capacity while Shelley Greenspan, who has held the role since the summer of 2022, is on maternity leave. Barnett joined the White House in 2022 as a legal assistant. Prior to joining the White House, Barnett worked at Israel Policy Forum and as a staffer for Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) on the House Judiciary Committee.
Important moment: Barnett steps into the role at what is likely a busy — and fraught — moment for the Jewish liaison, a position that dates back to the Carter administration. The White House is still implementing its national strategy to counter antisemitism. Meanwhile, the ongoing war in Israel and Gaza has sparked volatility in the Democratic ranks, with Biden attempting a delicate balancing act between constituencies who applaud his support for Israel and others on the left who are more critical.
Read the full story here.
conference conversations
Daroff: Don’t believe the hype, U.S.-Israel ties are strong
The reports of divisions between the United States and Israel over the war in Gaza are grossly exaggerated, according to William Daroff, CEO of the Conference of Presidents of American Jewish Organizations. That assessment follows weeks of discussions with Israeli and American officials, capped off by the conference’s mission to Israel, which concluded on Thursday. “The amount of daylight and the amount of disagreement is not as substantial as it is reported in anonymously sourced pieces in news media,” Daroff told eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross on the final day of the mission.
Packed schedule: Daroff has been in Israel for several weeks, meeting with Israeli politicians, officials and analysts ahead of the Conference of Presidents mission, which began on Sunday. “I’ve been, both individually and with the group, with the prime minister [Benjamin Netanyahu], the defense minister [Yoav Gallant], the foreign minister [Israel Katz], the strategic affairs minister [Ron Dermer], the opposition leader and [war cabinet minister] Benny Gantz.”
Message of gratitude: According to Daroff, the Israeli leaders and officials primarily expressed to the Conference of Presidents mission a feeling of gratitude toward President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Tony Blinken for their support and efforts on behalf of Israel. “[They asked us] to thank President Biden, Secretary of State Blinken for their support for Israel, both as it relates to moral support — Secretary Blinken has been here seven times; the president made his historic first trip by an American president into an Israeli war zone in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attack — and to the continuing support in international organizations, including the president’s veto [in the United Nations Security Council] on Monday,” Daroff said.
Read the full story here and sign up for eJewishPhilanthropy’s Your Daily Phil newsletter here.
deterring iran
Iranian proxy attacks in the Middle East likely to resume, former top Pentagon official says
Dana Stroul, the former deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East, said on Thursday that Iran’s proxy attacks on U.S. forces in the Middle East — which have abated following a strike that killed three American service members — will likely resume, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Quotable: “Iran’s strategic objective is to expel U.S. forces from the region, and it has not achieved that objective,” Stroul said on a webinar yesterday with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, where she is now the director of research. “At this point in time, I would say it is positive that there’s been a pause. But we should expect these attacks to resume, mostly because we know that Iran continues to arm and fund and train these groups.”
Saudi deal: Former Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO), during the event, reiterated a sentiment expressed by some fellow Republicans: that a normalization deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel, which will require concessions from the U.S. to Saudi Arabia, likely can only happen under President Joe Biden, given the need for support from Senate Democrats. He also said that Saudi Arabia’s request for a mutual defense treaty with the U.S. will require concessions from the kingdom beyond normalizing relations with Israel.
Elsewhere in Washington: House Democrats quietly took the first step last week toward a discharge petition — a bipartisan option to sidestep House Republican leadership — for Ukraine and Israel aid. The bill would likely open for signatures on March 1.
cease-fire call
Jewish House Democrats join calls for ‘mutual, temporary’ Israel-Hamas cease-fire
Thirteen House Democrats on Thursday echoed the Biden administration in calling for a “mutual, temporary” cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, to provide for the “immediate return of all of the 134 hostages,” as well as additional humanitarian aid, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. The call — signed by some pro-Israel Democrats as well as others who’ve been more critical of the Israeli military campaign — reflects the shifting politics around the terminology of a “cease-fire,” and the growth in calls for a “temporary cease-fire” to pause the conflict while ensuring the release of hostages.
Signatories: The letter was led by Reps. Dan Goldman (D-NY) and Jamie Raskin (D-MD), joined by Reps. Becca Balint (D-VT), Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR), Steve Cohen (D-TN), Greg Landsman (D-OH), Seth Magaziner (D-RI), Jerry Nadler (D-NY), Dean Phillips (D-MN), Kim Schrier (D-WA), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Brad Sherman (D-CA) and Susan Wild (D-PA).
Further ahead: The lawmakers also suggested that such a pause could ultimately be extended through talks for a permanent political settlement. “After [a temporary cease-fire] occurs, we can turn our focus forward to working with you and our allies to promote enduring peace in the Middle East through the neutralization of Hamas and the creation of a long sought-after two-state solution,” they continued.
Elsewhere in Congress: Also on Thursday, Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-MI), a one-time Israel critic turned supporter, told JI that he supports finding a “diplomatic solution that would dismantle Hamas and rebuild Gaza,” adding that he supports efforts for a cease-fire contingent on the release of all hostages, the dismantling of Hamas’ military infrastructure and humanitarian aid for the Palestinian people.
On the schedule: The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will hold a hearing on Iran’s proxy network next Wednesday, the committee’s first hearing on Iran in months. It will include testimony from Brookings Institution Vice President Suzanne Maloney and former Iran envoy Brian Hook. A Foreign Relations Subcommittee will hold a hearing on Tuesday on Yemen and the Red Sea with testimony from Yemen envoy Tim Lenderking and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Daniel Shapiro.
Worthy Reads
How to Debate at Dartmouth: In The Wall Street Journal, Emma Osman spotlights a new initiative at Dartmouth — the Dartmouth Dialogues program. “Faculty are already being trained on how to guide debate — particularly when a topic is likely to become charged. [Dartmouth President Sian] Beilock’s hope is that students will learn to disagree respectfully and take that skill with them when they leave the classroom. Starting in the fall, new students will be given similar training. These types of training sessions sometimes elicit eye-rolls from students, but by consistently reminding students that disagreement is OK, Ms. Beilock believes that the college can ‘create the environment to get this right.’ The program will also bring speakers to campus for discussions on touchy topics. These will be modeled on the school’s Middle East Dialogues, begun in the wake of the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel and the start of the war in Gaza. Passions were running hot and the college sought to redirect some of that energy into a productive enterprise. Professors from the Jewish studies and Middle Eastern studies departments convened a series of public conversations about the history and politics of the Israel-Palestinian conflict. The goal was to remind students that the college’s purpose was academic, not emotional.” [WSJ]
War Stories: eJewishPhilanthropy’s Haley Cohen reports on the hardships faced by Ukrainians two years after the outbreak of the country’s war with Russia, and the challenges faced by Jewish groups in their efforts to provide psychological support, material aid and relocation assistance for civilians in war-torn cities. “‘The Jewish communal infrastructure of support and rescue has been tested these past few years more seriously than any time since WWII,’ said Eric Fingerhut, president of the Jewish Federations of North America. ‘Our ability to maintain historic levels of response to multiple crises over a long period of time has proven the necessity and strength of the Jewish Federation system,’ Fingerhut continued. JFNA has raised and distributed $96.1 million for Ukraine, and among other services, has helped 180,000 Ukrainians find refuge in the U.S. and assisted 91,925 people make aliyah to Israel because of Russia’s invasion.” [eJP]
Around the Web
Cold War Redux: President Biden called Russian President Vladimir Putin a “crazy S.O.B.” at a fundraiser in California on Wednesday. “We have a crazy S.O.B. like that guy Putin, and others, and we always have to worry about nuclear conflict,” Biden said. On Thursday, Biden met with the widow of Alexei Navalny, Yulia Navalnaya, and their daughter, Dasha.
Mutually Assured Destruction: The U.S. government has directly warned Russia not to deploy a new nuclear-armed anti-satellite weapon, which it said would violate the Outer Space Treaty and jeopardize U.S. national security interests.
Diplomatic Dance: Secretary of State Tony Blinken, addressing Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s comparison of Israel’s actions in Gaza to Hitler’s treatment of Jews, said Thursday: “We profoundly disagree. But that’s also something that friends do. We can have these disagreements…and still continue all of the vital work that we’re doing together.”
Houthi Strategy: Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthis are gearing up for a long battle with the U.S. and its allies around the Red Sea, regardless of the Israel-Hamas war, Bloomberg reports.
Second Round: The Biden administration is preparing to slap a second round of sanctions on Israeli settlers who committed acts of violence in the West Bank, according to a Times of Israel report.
Just Jared: Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, did not rule out the possibility of a 2028 presidential campaign when asked in a Politico interview.
Georgia Race: David Lubin, the father of an Israeli-American IDF soldier who was killed in a terror attack in November, will run against Georgia state Sen. Sally Harrell in the Democratic primary after she abstained from voting on an antisemitism measure.
The Summers Rules: Former Harvard President Larry Summers lists specific things the university should be doing — and isn’t — to crack down on growing antisemitism on campus.
Split on SATs: Yale University reinstated its requirement that future applicants take the SAT for admission on Thursday, while the University of Michigan made their testing requirement optional.
TikTok Nation: Roughly one-third of adults are on TikTok, according to a new survey from the Pew Research Center, but only about half of those users actually post content on the platform.
Battery Charge: A South Florida man was arrested and charged with battery after police say he assaulted a 69-year-old Jewish man as he was leaving synagogue.
Michigan Menace: A predominantly Jewish country club in West Bloomfield, Mich., was vandalized with anti-Israel graffiti, the Detroit Free Press reports.
Army Service:The Wall Street Journal looks at the impact of the war in Gaza on the Haredi community’s long-standing exemption from the army.
Definitions Matter: An Indiana Senate Committee removed references to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism from a bill that would define and ban antisemitism in the state.
Something’s Rotten in Denmark: Since Oct. 7, Denmark has recorded the highest number of antisemitic incidents tracked since WWII.
Across the Pond: U.K. House of Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle apologized to parliament over a chaotic debate on a cease-fire in Gaza, in which he overturned parliamentary precedent to allow the Labour party to bring its motion to a vote. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called Hoyle’s handling of the Gaza vote “very concerning.”
CBS Controversy: After CBS fired acclaimed investigative reporter Catherine Herridge, the network has caused an uproar after seizing her files, computers and records, including private information on sources.
McGill Mess: Pro-Palestinian student groups blocked entry to the Bronfman Building at McGill University in the latest protest demanding the university divest from interests in Israel since the Israel-Hamas war started.
AI Champion:The Wall Street Journal spotlights private-equity billionaire and Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman and his hefty contributions to AI education and research.
DoJ Hire: The Justice Department tapped Jonathan Mayer, a Princeton University academic, as its first chief artificial intelligence officer and chief science and technology adviser.
Comic Relief:The Daily Northwestern features stand-up comedian Alex Edelman in the midst of his tour with his solo show “Just For Us.”
See You in Paris: Israel’s war cabinet reportedly voted last night to send a delegation to Paris today to participate in hostage talks.
Transition: Julie Katz, the American Jewish Committee’s Atlanta associate director, was appointed for a one-year role at the U.S. State Department, working under Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt in the Office of the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism.
Remembering: The creator of Dr. Solomon’s Anti-Virus Toolkit, Dr. Alan Solomon, died at 75.
Pic of the Day
The deToledo High School, a private Jewish school in the San Fernando Valley, honored a delegation of 12 visiting Israeli teenagers, co-sponsored by ORT America, who were displaced from their homes near the Gaza border following the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks. Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA), Los Angeles City Councilmember Bob Blumenfield and de Toledo Head of School Mark Shpall hosted the students in a ceremony of solidarity yesterday during which four of the students shared details about their personal experiences of Oct. 7.
Birthdays
Former Minister of Foreign Affairs for Israel, he was chief of the general staff of the IDF until 2011, Gabi Ashkenazi turns 70 on Sunday…
FRIDAY: Retired senior counsel in the Baltimore office of DLA Piper, he served as president of the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, Shale D. Stiller turns 89… Former New York City comptroller for 16 years, Harrison J. Goldin turns 88… EVP emeritus of the Orthodox Union and editor-in-chief of the Koren Talmud Bavli, Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb turns 84… Bethesda, Md., resident, Lois Copeland… Dean of a yeshiva high school in Israel, in 1967 he co-founded a popular band called The Rabbis’ Sons, Rabbi Baruch “Burry” Chait turns 78… Philosopher, novelist and public intellectual, she was a winner of a MacArthur Genius Fellowship in 1996, Rebecca Newberger Goldstein turns 74… Chairman of Agudath Israel of America and CEO of the OuterStuff sportswear line, Sol Werdiger turns 73… Film director, writer and producer, he is the president emeritus of the Producers Guild of America, Marshall Schreiber Herskovitz turns 72… Investor, holder of both Kazakh and Israeli citizenship, he served as president of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress, Alexander Mashkevitch turns 70… 25-year veteran of USAID’s Foreign Service, she was the mission director for USAID in the West Bank and Gaza, Monica Stein-Olson turns 67… Strategic communications consultant, he was previously director of communications and PR for the Jewish Federations of North America, Joe Berkofsky… Political consultant and pollster, he is the founder of Luntz Global, Frank Luntz turns 62… Founder and CEO of Dell Technologies, Michael Dell turns 59… Best-selling author of young adult novels, Nova Ren Suma turns 49… Actor, comedian and singer, Josh Gad turns 43… CEO of film production firm Benaroya Pictures, Michael Benaroya turns 43… Founder of Tahrir Scarf, Johnathan Morpurgo… Chief operating officer and director of research at The Lawfare Project, Benjamin Ryberg… Member of the Knesset for the Likud party, Dan Illouz turns 38… Chief communications officer at USAID, Rebecca Chalif… Reporter at Bloomberg covering residential real estate with a focus on NYC’s housing market, Jennifer Epstein turns 38… Founder of an eponymous real estate brokerage in Tel Aviv, Barak Daon… Engineering manager at Business Insider, Reuben A. Ingber… Strategy and impact officer at Walton Enterprises, Mary Ann Weiss… National politics breaking news reporter at The Washington Post, Patrick Svitek… Head of public affairs and regulatory strategy at Polymateria, Gidon Feen…
SATURDAY: Former U.S. senator and then Democratic nominee for VPOTUS in the 2000 U.S. presidential election, Sen. Joe Lieberman turns 82… Chairman and CEO of Warner Bros until 2001, then chairman and CEO of Yahoo, Terence Steven “Terry” Semel turns 81… Professor of mathematics at Yale University since 1991, Grigory Margulis turns 78… Encino resident, Faye Gail Waldman… Rabbi and author of a book about chocolate and Judaism, Deborah R. Prinz turns 73… President of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Clifford D. May turns 73… Member of the New Jersey Senate since 2022 following 18 years in the NJ General Assembly, Jon M. Bramnick turns 71… Head basketball coach in a Puerto Rican league, he coached in the Israeli Premier League and has been on NBA and college basketball staffs in the U.S., Brad Greenberg turns 70… Film critic for Entertainment Weekly and then for Variety magazine, Owen Gleiberman turns 65… Former member of the Knesset for the Likud party, Nurit Koren turns 64… Founder of the Baltimore Center of Advanced Dentistry, Gary H. Bauman, DDS… Managing director at SKDKnickerbocker, Karen Olick… Former Israeli minister of health and leader of the Meretz party, Nitzan Horowitz turns 59… Professor of piano and artist-in-residence at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Yakov Kasman turns 57… Author, survival expert, anthropologist and TV host, Josh Bernstein turns 53… Member of the Knesset for the Likud party, now serving as Minister of Intelligence, Gila Gamliel turns 50… Founder of WhatsApp, Jan Koum… Professor of history at the Hebrew University, his books has been translated into 65 languages and have sold over 45 million copies, Yuval Noah Harari turns 48… NYC-based independent filmmaker, who, together with his older brother Joshua, directed and wrote the 2019 film “Uncut Gems” starring Adam Sandler, Benjamin Safdie turns 38… Partner at MizMaa Ventures, Aaron Applbaum… Israeli actress and model, she has appeared in advertising campaigns for Urban Outfitters, Samsung and Sephora, Dar Zuzovsky turns 33… YouTube beauty guru known as RCLBeauty101 with 14.3 million subscribers, Rachel Claire Levin turns 29… Mitchell Brown…
SUNDAY: Former talk show host, Sally Jessy Raphael (born Sally Lowenthal) turns 89… Owner of both the MLB’s Chicago White Sox and the NBA’s Chicago Bulls, Jerry M. Reinsdorf turns 88… Former president of the Associated: Jewish Federation of Baltimore and then EVP of the UJA-Federation of New York and the first-ever CEO of United Jewish Communities, Stephen Solender turns 86… Science and medicine reporter for the New York Times and author of six books, Gina Bari Kolata turns 76… Graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, formerly CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, Steve Gutow turns 75… Jerusalem-based attorney and chairman of Republicans Overseas Israel, Marc Zell turns 71… Opinion columnist for the New York Times since 2016, after nine years as the NYT’s editorial page editor, Andrew Rosenthal turns 68… VP of communications at CNN until 2022, Barbara Levin… Policy editor at TheBulwark, Mona Charen Parker turns 67… CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Buffalo since 2015 after a 20-year career at Hillel, Rob Goldberg… Co-president of Paterson, N.J.-based JNS-SmithChem, Michael F. Smith… U.S. ambassador to Israel until last July, now vice chair of Blackstone, Thomas Richard Nides turns 63… Mayor of Burlington, Vt., since 2012, Miro Weinberger turns 54… Founder of “News Not Noise,” she was previously the chief White House correspondent for CNN, Jessica Sage Yellin… Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, she is now VP of global curation for Meta / Facebook, Anne Elise Kornblut turns 51… Co-founder of Singapore-based Alchemist Travel, Lauren Raps… Comedian, actress and writer, Chelsea Joy Handler turns 49… Actress best known for her roles in NBC’s “Parks and Recreation” and Fox’s “Boston Public,” Rashida Jones turns 48… Managing director of Covenant Wines in Berkeley, Calif., Sagie Kleinlerer… Assistant director at San Francisco-based EUQINOM Gallery, Lyla Rose Holdstein… Founding partner of Parallel Capital and board chair of the Holocaust Museum LA, Guy Lipa… Actor best known for his role in Fox’s “Malcolm in the Middle,” Justin Berfield turns 38… CNN’s Jerusalem correspondent, Hadas Gold turns 36… 2013 U.S. national figure skating champion, now a regional VP at ProShares, Maxwell Theodore “Max” Aaron turns 32… Julie Goldman…
Recent Daily Kickoff Newsletters
