Daily Kickoff
Good Friday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we cover Amb. Deborah Lipstadt’s testimony on Capitol Hill about antisemitism in Latin America, and report on an upcoming anti-Israel event being hosted by the Yale Women’s Center. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Matti Friedman, Cliff Asness and Elena Zhukova.
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: How ‘Dear White Staffers’ turned into an anti-Israel, antisemitic account; The rescue mission that tested burgeoning Israel-Indonesia relations; Eugene Vindman offers tough love to Israel as he pursues congressional campaign. Print the latest edition here.
President Biden’s State of the Union address last night was a deeply political speech, in preparation for a rematch against former President Donald Trump, but was also an effective argument that could help him win persuadable voters — and convince skeptics he has enough energy to serve a second term, Jewish Insider Editor-in-Chief Josh Kraushaar writes.
The president opened his feisty speech by underlining the stakes for global security in Ukraine, while pledging to protect a strained democracy at home. He brought up issues that divide traditional or pragmatic conservatives from Trump’s MAGA base — including support for Ukraine, condemning political violence committed by the Jan. 6 rioters and protecting in vitro fertilization (IVF), which was challenged last month by an Alabama state court.
“We face an unprecedented moment in the history of the Union. And yes, my purpose tonight is to both wake up this Congress, and alert the American people that this is no ordinary moment either,” Biden said in the address.
“Not since President Lincoln and the Civil War have freedom and democracy been under assault here at home as they are today. What makes our moment rare is that freedom and democracy are under attack, both at home and overseas, at the very same time.”
Biden repeatedly referred to Trump as “my predecessor” while offering red-meat attacks against his general election opponent. He turned the State of the Union into “a form of political theater as he seemingly taunted his opponents in an attempt to spotlight policy disagreements on the economy, immigration and abortion,” as the Washington Post put it.
Biden’s approach to Ukraine and to Israel in the address was very different. He urged the House to fund Ukraine’s efforts to defend itself against Russian aggression, equating the situation in Eastern Europe to January 1941 after Hitler invaded Europe.
But he didn’t address Israel until much later in the speech, and balanced his demand for Hamas to release the hostages with criticism of Israel for not being attentive enough to the humanitarian challenges in Gaza. He offered a rote reminder of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, while saving his outrage over conditions for Palestinians.
Unlike at the beginning of the war, when Biden agreed that Israel needed to remove Hamas from power, he made no such reference in the State of the Union address, saying only that Israel has “a right to go after” the terror group. (For more on Biden’s remarks on Israel and its war in Gaza, read JI’s coverage below.)
The partisan speech matched the polarized moment in American politics. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) only stood up twice during the entire address to applaud — including when Biden called for the safe return of Israeli hostages — and clapped mildly when there were other opportunities to demonstrate bipartisan agreement.
The big political question is whether Biden’s energized, politically attuned performance will move the needle with persuadable voters watching. Some of the substance should resonate with anti-Trump Republicans who backed Nikki Haley in the GOP presidential primary. But Biden’s relentless partisanship could just as easily turn off others tired of the rampant gridlock in Washington.
biden’s bully pulpit
Biden delivers tough love to Israeli leaders in State of the Union
President Joe Biden delivered a pointed message to Israel’s leaders in his annual State of the Union address, saying before a joint session of Congress on Thursday that Israel “must do its part” alongside the United States to greatly increase the amount of humanitarian assistance entering Gaza — a message that he said he could offer as a “lifelong supporter of Israel,” Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch and Marc Rod report.
Will not rest: Speaking five months to the day after the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks that killed more than 1,200 people in Israel, Biden lamented “the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust.” He acknowledged the presence in the House gallery of more than a dozen family members of American hostages in Gaza, and promised that he “will not rest until we bring your loved ones home.” His call for the release of the hostages earned an almost unanimous bipartisan standing ovation. Only Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Cori Bush (D-MO), who held signs that said “lasting ceasefire now,” remained seated.
All in for Ukraine: Biden’s note of caution to Israel’s leaders stood in contrast to his message to Ukraine, an embattled ally that, like Israel, is waiting on U.S. military assistance that remains in limbo in Congress. Early in his address, he called directly on Congress to pass the stalled legislation to support Ukraine, arguing that standing by Ukraine means standing up for democracy.
Port in Gaza: Biden announced plans, previewed earlier in the day by senior administration officials, for the U.S. military to create a “temporary pier” on the coast of Gaza to “receive large shipments carrying food, water, medicine and temporary shelters.” The effort will be conducted in coordination with Israeli officials.
Added burden: Biden touted the work he has done to try to protect civilians in Gaza, including “working nonstop to establish an immediate ceasefire that would last for six weeks” in exchange for the release of hostages. He reiterated that Israel has a responsibility to do more to protect civilians in Gaza. “Israel has an added burden because Hamas hides and operates among the civilian population like cowards, under hospitals, day care centers and all the like,” said Biden.
On the scene: Before the speech began, Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL) passed out stickers with “153” written on them, representing the number of days the hostages have been in captivity in Gaza. Around 60 lawmakers on the Democratic side donned the stickers, including a handful of senators as they entered. At least a dozen on both the Republican and Democratic sides also donned yellow ribbon pins, another symbol for the hostages. Hostage families distributed a pin and a “bring them home now” dog tag to every congressional office and asked the members to wear them, or a sticker.
resolution confusion
Jewish House members added to Palestinian statehood resolution without consent
Two Jewish House members said this week that they were added, without their knowledge or consent, as sponsors of a resolution supporting Palestinian statehood. According to one of the two, the bill’s sponsor dragged his feet for months before removing her, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
What happened: Reps. Kathy Manning (D-NC) and Jamie Raskin (D-MD) were removed this week as sponsors of a resolution by Rep. Al Green (D-TX), which states that Congress “affirms Palestine’s right to exist and at a future time to become a nation State,” as well as supports a two-state solution and “rejects calls for Palestine’s destruction.” The two lawmakers had been quietly added as co-sponsors on the same day earlier this year, on Jan. 3.
Manning’s response: A Manning spokesperson told JI that her office discovered the error on Jan. 8 and immediately informed Green’s office. “Green’s staff informed us that Rep. Manning’s name purportedly was submitted for cosponsorship through the use of a Google form in late December with no subsequent confirmation directly with our office,” the spokesperson continued. “Regrettably, Green’s office delayed two months before removing Rep. Manning’s name from the bill and also failed to notify us in advance of his Floor remarks this week.”
Firing back: Green denied any wrongdoing in a statement, and did not directly acknowledge Manning and Raskin’s allegations that their names were fraudulently added as co-sponsors of the legislation. He also blamed Manning for the delay in removing her, arguing that she could have removed herself at any time. He emphasized that co-sponsors had been collected in a standard fashion.
antisemitism watch
Columbia’s proposals to tackle antisemitism draw mixed reviews from Jewish leaders
The recommendations handed down earlier this week from Columbia University’s task force on antisemitism painted a picture of Jewish students feeling “isolation and pain” in the wake of pro-Palestinian protests that have gripped the campus since Oct. 7. They also cited a lack of disciplinary response from the university regarding unauthorized protests of the Israel-Hamas war as contributing to Jewish students’ struggles on campus, and called for the university to more effectively investigate policy violations by creating an easier process for filing complaints. But on the pivotal question of whether some of the slogans chanted at those rallies veer from legitimate political speech into antisemitism, the task force’s recommendations are ambiguous, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Haley Cohen reports for Jewish Insider.
Slogan semantics: The report states, “Obviously, the chants ‘gas the Jews’ and ‘Hitler was right’ are calls to genocide, but fortunately no one at Columbia has been shouting these phrases… Rather, many of the chants at recent Columbia protests are viewed differently by different members of the Columbia community: some feel strongly that these are calls to genocide, while others feel strongly that they are not.” The report does not, however, specifically address the slogan “from the river to the sea Palestine will be free,” which has frequently been chanted at protests on Columbia’s campus and is widely viewed by Jewish groups as a call for genocide of Israelis.
Key issue: According to David Schizer, a professor of law and economics and dean emeritus of Columbia’s law school, who is one of the three co-chairs of the task force, the key issue that the 24-page report addresses is the thorny matter of campus free speech — emphasizing that “everyone needs to have a right to speak and to protest,” he said.
campus beat
Jewish leaders denounce Yale Women’s Center scheduled conference for ‘libelous portrayal of Israel’
Jewish leaders at Yale University denounced an upcoming conference being hosted by the Yale Women’s Center for its “exclusion of Jewish women’s voices and its libelous portrayal of Israel and Israelis.” The conference is dedicating its annual event on the New Haven, Conn., campus to the theme of “Pinkwashing and Feminism(s) in Palestine”, the group announced on Thursday, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Haley Cohen reports for Jewish Insider.
‘Betraying obligations’: “To the extent the Center is organizing this event, it betrays its obligations to Yale’s Jewish and Israeli women in particular, and to its mission,” Uriel Cohen, executive director of the Joseph Slifka Center for Jewish Life at Yale, and the center’s rabbi, Jason Rubenstein, told JI in a joint statement.
Program: The event is slated for April 5-7 and is co-sponsored by Yale Faculty for Justice in Palestine. It is also sponsored by academic departments — American studies and gender studies — and the Center for Study of Race, Indigeneity and Transnational Migration. It will feature a number of discussions that, based on their titles, accuse Israel of committing war crimes in its current conflict against Hamas. These include “Gendered, Racialized, and Sexualized Torture by the Israeli Military in Gaza” and “Pinkwashing Genocide.”
Keynote: The keynote address will be delivered by Sa’ed Atshan, an associate professor of peace and conflict studies and anthropology at Swarthmore College, who has participated in multiple National Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) conferences and is a proponent of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement. He said in 2014 at SJP’s conference, “We all know Israel is an apartheid state and should be boycotted.”
living la vida loca
Lawmakers press Lipstadt on Latin American leaders’ antisemitic comments
Lawmakers pressed State Department antisemitism envoy Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt on Thursday on the State Department’s response to antisemitic and anti-Israel moves by a series of Latin American leaders, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. Lawmakers noted that Latin American leaders, including those in Colombia, Honduras, Bolivia, Brazil and Chile have taken diplomatic action against Israel since Oct. 7 or made openly antisemitic remarks, as antisemitism has skyrocketed in many Latin American countries. Critics have said the administration has failed to meaningfully respond to these actions.
Quotable: “These leaders, that I just mentioned, are the favored partners of the Biden administration in the Western Hemisphere,” Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL), who chaired the hearing with Lipstadt, said. “In the meantime, other countries like Paraguay, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic have condemned the Hamas attack, in the most forceful terms, and have stood with Israel at international forums around the world. But unfortunately, they have received no thanks from the Biden administration.”
Response: Lipstadt said that she, her office and other State Department officials have made clear to the leaders in question that their comments are viewed by the U.S. as “pure and unadulterated antisemitism,” and are unacceptable. “We let them know that this is something we take seriously — you can’t just make statements like this and get away with it,” she said. “I would hope that they will get the message that if they want to work with the United States closely, this is not something that redounds to their benefit.”
never is now
AG Garland captures sense of ‘fear of Jewish Americans’ in keynote address at ADL summit
Attorney General Merrick Garland, whose own grandmother fled the pogroms in Eastern Europe, leaving behind two siblings who were murdered in the Holocaust, may be uniquely positioned to understand this moment in America, with antisemitism running at historic levels in the wake of Oct. 7. So when he quietly referenced a statistic — that between Oct. 7 and Jan. 30 of this year, the FBI opened more than three times the number of anti-Jewish hate crime investigations than in the previous four months — it landed with a punch. Yet even that striking statistic, Garland said on Thursday morning during his keynote address at the Anti-Defamation League’s Never is Now conference, does not “begin to capture the fear in which I know Jewish communities have been living,” eJewishPhilanthropy’s Haley Cohen reports.
Planning for the worst: “They do not capture the fear of Jewish Americans that any sign of our identity could make us the target of an attack,” the attorney general continued. “They do not capture the hours that congregations have spent planning for the worst. Many of you gathered here today have experienced fear in your communities.”
Controversial opening session: Thursday’s keynote address was a contrast from the day prior, which included a controversial opening session. The political divide was palpable on Wednesday morning — despite the ADL’s calls for unity in response to the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks. Dozens of attendees exited the room as Jared Kushner, former President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and former senior adviser, took to the stage on Wednesday morning to be presented the inaugural ADL Abraham Accords Champion Award for his role in helping to broker the Accords, the normalization agreements between Israel and four Arab countries, in 2020. The ADL has credited the Abraham Accords with helping in the efforts to secure the release of hostages in Gaza.
Read the full story here and sign up for eJewishPhilanthropy’s Your Daily Phil newsletter here.
Worthy Reads
Moving Music: In The Free Press, Matti Friedman spotlights “Canaan,” by Shlomi Shaban, as he visits Israel’s south with the singer-songwriter, who performed a recent concert at the Gaza border in the hopes it would reach the hostages that remain there. “The song presents Jews lost in the Middle East, pursued by unseen enemies and tortured by their own history. It questions the success, even the premise, of their quest for a homeland. If ‘Jerusalem of Gold’ was about the magic of returning to a place, ‘Canaan’ is skeptical that you can ever get there — or that any real problem will be solved if you do. … Over the past few weeks I’ve been speaking to friends in the army reserves now returning from the war in Gaza, including a tank officer whose elbow was pulped by a sniper round, and another who spent five weeks blowing up tunnels, and who had an engineer next to him crushed to death by a chunk of falling concrete. My impression is that they have faith in the military command and none in the government. Our leaders don’t know where they’re going but the soldiers are moving ahead street by street, one friend in an infantry unit said, and getting there. There seemed to be less a geographic destination than victory, or at least something that wasn’t defeat. They all think we must keep fighting. You could imagine them having a conversation like the one in ‘Canaan.’” [FreePress]
DEI in Israel: In The Wall Street Journal, Ian Kingsbury considers how the concept of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) plays out in Israeli academia. “I quickly noticed that Israelis talk about DEI differently, most notably by excluding or redefining the E. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem is committed to ‘diversity and inclusion.’ Ditto the Israel Institute of Technology, or Technion. Tel Aviv University keeps the E, but instead of equity, it emphasizes ‘equality and diversity.’ The president of Technion disavowed DEI, telling me that it is an unacceptable answer to the question he asks himself every morning: ‘Is our work in the interest of Israeli society and Israeli security?’ … At the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, I asked an Arab woman who works as a diversity and equity official how her institution understands the topic. She said her school demands equal opportunity, not equal outcomes. The latter, she said, would pit people against each other, deepening divides that Israel has worked hard to close.” [WSJ]
Leading By Example: The New York Times’ David Brooks invokes the leadership styles of Winston Churchill and Franklin Delano Roosevelt as he assesses the state of modern politics. “While Churchill’s political gift was steadfastness, Roosevelt’s was nimble dexterity. He relished improvisation, trying multiple things at once even if they did not fit together. His untroubled confidence in his own and his nation’s power rested upon an exceptionally sensitive awareness, conscious and unconscious, of his own milieu, his intuitive anticipation of how public opinion would flow, how events would unfold. It’s as if he had antennae that could feel the minutest vibrations across the political world. …You may doubt it in these gloomy years, but I think even today’s America could produce a leader of F.D.R.’s buoyancy. We have by far the strongest large economy on earth. We have by far the most innovative technical centers, the greatest centers of learning and the mental and spiritual resources brought by millions of striving immigrants. We have more talent in America today than ever before. We need somebody who can name those strengths and connect them to our children’s future.” [NYTimes]
Around the Web
Pressing On: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the IDF will continue its war against Hamas in Gaza, an effort that will include operations in Rafah.
Hostage Meeting: Lawmakers met on Capitol Hill with Mia Schem, the French-Israeli hostage freed from Gaza last year, ahead of Schem’s appearance at Thursday’s State of the Union address as a guest of House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Arms Accounting: The White House asked the State Department for an accounting of upcoming weapons transfers to Israel; the request is the first of its kind made of Israel since Oct. 7, but is in line with requests the White House has made regarding weapons transfers to Ukraine.
TikTok Tussle: Despite an intensive last-minute pressure campaign by TikTok, the House Energy and Commerce Committee voted unanimously to advance a bill that will give TikTok’s Chinese parent company six months to sell the app or see it banned in the U.S. The bill is supported by the Jewish Federations of North America and is headed for a floor vote next week.
SHIP Sanctions: Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) said that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will soon meet to vote on the SHIP Act, which imposes new sanctions on Iranian oil exports, targeting China.
Santos Returns: Former Rep. George Santos (R-NY) announced a planned primary challenge to Rep. Nick LaLota (R-NY), months after the Long Island legislator introduced a resolution to expel Santos from the House.
Senate Scuttlebutt: A source close to Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) told the New York Post that the embattled legislator is not planning to run for reelection; Menendez has not commented on the report.
Third-Party Thoughts: No Labels delegates will meet today and are expected to move forward with an independent “unity ticket” in the presidential election. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), who earlier this week announced she would not run for reelection, ruled out a third-party bid for the presidency.
Asking Asness: The Financial Timesinterviews AQR Capital Management co-founder Cliff Asness about his market strategy and the rise of artificial intelligence.
Schmear and a Smear: A popular bagel shop in Berkeley, Calif., owned by a Jewish woman was vandalized with graffiti reading “Israel baby killer.”
Director Resigns: The interim CEO of the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, who is Jewish, resigned from her position over “vitriolic and antisemitic backlash” after eight artists altered their works with anti-Israel messaging, resulting in the museum’s temporary closure, which provoked an uproar.
Campus Beat: Two Jewish students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology filed a lawsuit against the school over its handling of antisemitism on campus.
Across the Pond: The U.K.’s commissioner for countering extremism described London as a “no-go zone for Jews” during the anti-Israel protests occurring in the city every weekend, and called on the government to enact “policies to meet the scale of the challenge.”
Troublesome Tally: Tabletbreaks down Hamas’ questionable reporting of fatalities in Gaza.
Tehran at Fault: A U.N. fact-finding mission determined that Iran was responsible for the “physical violence” that led to the death in custody of Mahsa Amini in 2022, setting off protests around the country.
Arab Sector Investment:The Circuitspotlights Takwin Ventures, an Israeli entity with backing from Erel Margalit and Chemi Peres that boosts Arab startups and entrepreneurs.
Boarding to Baku: Azerbaijan Airlines will resume direct flights between Baku and Tel Aviv on March 19.
Scene Last Night: Last night at Temple Emanu-El’s Streicker Center in New York City, former Religious Action Center head Rabbi David Saperstein and former senior Bush administration official Tevi Troy debated whether liberalism or conservatism was better for the Jews. Over 1,200 people watched the hybrid virtual and in-person event. The conversation was part of a series of debates Saperstein and Troy are doing around the country to contrast liberalism and conservatism — but also to model civil debate in a time of extreme partisanship.
Mazal Tov: Rupert Murdoch is engaged to retired molecular biologist Elena Zhukova, the former mother-in-law of Roman Abramovich; the couple will be married at Murdoch’s California estate.
Transition: Matti Friedman is joiningThe Free Press as a monthly contributor.
Remembering: Singer Steve Lawrence, who performed with his wife, Eydie Gormé, for five decades, died at 88.
Pic of the Day
Runners passed the Jaffa Gate and the Old City during the 13th annual International Jerusalem Marathon this morning. Some 40,000 people are taking part in the event, which this year is taking place as a tribute to the IDF, security forces and rescue teams amid Israel’s war against Hamas. Many runners wore shirts or held signs raising awareness about the hostages.
Birthdays
Host of Public Radio International’s “Science Friday,” Ira Flatow turns 75 on Saturday…
FRIDAY: Jazz pianist, composer, organist, arranger and music director, Dick Hyman turns 97… Former member of the U.S. House of Representatives (D-CA) until 2023, Alan Stuart Lowenthal turns 83… Chair of the U.K.’s Office of Communications, Baron Michael Grade (family name Winogradsky) turns 81… Judaism and science blogger, he is a retired attorney at Seyfarth Shaw, Roger Price turns 80… Lyricist, singer, songwriter and New York Times best-selling author, Carole Bayer Sager turns 77… Licensed clinical psychologist and past director of couple therapy training at the Chicago Center for Family Health, Dr. Mona Fishbane… Senior fellow on national security and international policy at the Center for American Progress, Alan Makovsky turns 74… Brenda Krantz… Former chair and CEO of MGM, he is now vice-chair of DraftKings, Harry Evans Sloan turns 74… Public affairs producer and weekend assignment editor at KDKA News in Pittsburgh, Aviva Jayne Radbord… Former governor of Virginia and later U.S. senator, his mother was from a Sephardic Jewish family in Tunisia, George Allen turns 72… Retired in 2016 after 29 years as the executive director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Rochester (N.Y.), Larry Fine… Host and managing editor of the WNYC radio program “On the Media,” Brooke Gladstone turns 69… Director of training and operations at Consilium Group, Bunny Silverman Fisher… President of the World Bank Group until last year, David Malpass turns 68… D.C.-based labor and employment attorney at Bredhoff & Kaiser, Bruce R. Lerner… Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actress, Camryn Manheim turns 63… Founder and CEO of 32 Advisors, LLC, he was previously president of UBS Investment Bank, Robert Wolf turns 62… VP of talent acquisition at Sageview Consulting, Carin Maher… VP for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Evan A. Feigenbaum turns 55… Director of external affairs at Davidoff Hutcher & Citron, Zack Fink… Member of the U.S. House of Representatives since 2017 (D-NJ), Joshua S. Gottheimer turns 49… Marketing and communications director at the Center for Open Science, Alexis C. Rice… Executive director of Masbia soup kitchen, Alexander Rapaport turns 46… Executive advisor of social networking site Raya, Jared Morgenstern turns 43… Director at PJT CamberView, Eric Louis Sumberg… Founder and CEO of Delta Flow Solutions, Jeff Sonderman… Actress who appears as the store manager Lily Adams in AT&T commercials, she starred in the 2019 film short “The Shabbos Goy,” Milana Vayntrub turns 37… Manager of health policy at the Council for Affordable Quality Healthcare, David Streeter… Five-time BMI Songwriter of the Year award winner, known professionally as Benny Blanco, Benjamin Joseph Levin turns 36… Associate attorney at NYC’s Morvillo Abramowitz Grand Iason & Anello, Nathaniel Jacob Sobel… Program analyst at Mathematica Policy Research, Karen Katz… Director of government affairs and corporate citizenship in the Washington office of PepsiCo, Taylor Jaye Lustig… Marketing communications manager for Commerce Casino, Amanda Helen Botfeld… Tennis player, she has won ten singles and fifteen doubles titles on the ITF Women’s Circuit, Jamie Loeb turns 29… Director of product marketing and brand operations at DirecTV, Alexa (Lexi) Chavin… Associate at 25madison, Miriam Applbaum…
SATURDAY: Professor emeritus of sociology and Jewish studies at the University of Toronto, best known for his work on German Jewry, Y. Michal Bodemann turns 80… President at Adelson Family Foundation and a board member of Prizmah, Michael Bohnen… Sag Harbor-based painter, sculptor and printmaker, Eric Fischl turns 76… Rhodes Scholar, Harvard Law graduate, author and political journalist, Michael Kinsley turns 73… Member of the Knesset from 1989 to 2021, now chairman of Israel Aerospace Industries, Amir Peretz turns 72… President and CEO of NYC’s flagship public TV station WNET, Neal Shapiro turns 66… Professor emeritus of economics at NYU, nicknamed “Dr. Doom,” Nouriel Roubini turns 66… Susan Liebman… Founder and president of NYC-based Gotham Media Strategies, Gordon Platt… Private equity and venture capital investor, Howie Fialkov… Member of the Canadian House of Commons, she serves as the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, Ya’ara Saks turns 51… VP and head of global communications and public affairs for Meta / Facebook, David I. Ginsberg… Senior fellow at Harvard University’s Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government, Matthew Vogel… Former CEO of the Trevor Project, now an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the International Rescue Committee, Amit Paley… Co-founder and CEO at ImpactTechNation, he is also a co-founder of the political party Wake-Up Jerusalem (Hitorerut B’Yerushalayim), Hanan Rubin… Israeli-born singer, now one-half of the world music duo Shlomit & RebbeSoul, Shlomit Levi turns 41… News editor at the Jewish News Syndicate, Menachem Wecker… Partner in the Los Angeles law firm of Bocarsly Emden, Rachel Rosner… Political analyst on the Fox News Channel, Jessica Tarlov turns 40… Communications director for North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, Alissa “Sadie” Weiner… CEO at New Orleans-based QED Hospitality, Emery Whalen… Pitcher for Team Israel at the 2017 World Baseball Classic, Jared Lakind turns 32… Founding partner of Mothership Strategies, Jacob “Jake” Austin Lipsett… Director of adult education and Israel engagement at the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County (Fla.), Marla Topiol… First round pick by the San Jose Sharks in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, now playing in the AHL, Ozzy Wiesblatt turns 22… Stephen Lent…
SUNDAY: Long Beach, Calif., general surgeon, Leonard M. Lovitch, MD… Author and publisher of the Phoenix Scottsdale Jewish Friendship Trail Guidebook, Michael Alan Ross… Senior cryogenics engineer at Raytheon Missile Systems in Tucson, he is also an adjunct professor at the University of Arizona, Lawrence Sobel… Founder and CEO of Cambridge, Mass.-based Pegasystems, Alan N. Trefler turns 68… CEO at Strategy3i Ltd. and Fluenzy, Jeffrey Kahn turns 66… Olympic gold medalist in gymnastics, he won four medals in the 1984 Summer Olympic Games and is a member of the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, Mitch Gaylord turns 63… Record producer, former co-president of Columbia Records and a co-founder of Def Jam Records, Frederick Jay (“Rick”) Rubin turns 61… Peabody Award-winning financial journalist and market news analyst for CNBC and one of the co-hosts of its morning show “Squawk on the Street,” David Faber turns 60… Executive director until a few months ago of the America Israel Friendship League, Wayne L. Firestone turns 60… Stage, screen and television actor, he is the son of novelist Norman Mailer, Stephen Mailer turns 58… Investigative reporter for The New York Times, Danny Hakim… Real estate agent on Bravo’s “Million Dollar Listing,” Josh Altman turns 45… Aliza Landes… Executive director at The Vandenberg Coalition, Carrie Filipetti… Actor and director, Sawyer Avery Spielberg turns 32… Editor-at-large of Mishpacha Magazine, Binyamin Rose…
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