Daily Kickoff
Good Friday morning.
In celebration of Passover, the next Daily Kickoff will arrive in your inbox on Thursday, April 25. Chag sameach!
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we look at how recent tensions between Iran and Israel are testing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and report on the listening sessions the State Department is hosting with staffers unhappy about the Biden administration’s Israel policy. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Taffy Brodesser-Akner, Julian Edelman and Josh Harris.
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 and eJewishPhilanthropy stories, including: Why Jordan helped repel the Iranian missile attack on Israel; United flight cancellations stymie Passover travel plans; How Israel blocked most of Iran’s rockets from reaching its borders. Print the latest edition here.
Hours after a suspected Israeli strike on a series of sites across Iran, a steady tension loomed over the region. Iran has not yet said how or if it will respond to the attack early Friday morning, which targeted a military base near the city of Isfahan. Israel has not claimed responsibility for the strike, but a U.S. official told CNN that Israel carried out the attack in retaliation for last weekend’s attack in which Iran launched hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel.
With Iranian state media controlling what information about the attack is released, little is known about the effects of the strike. Both Israeli and Iranian media are downplaying the attack, and an Iranian official said Tehran did not plan to strike back at Israel.
Meanwhile, Iran was hit with a new round of U.S. and U.K. sanctions over last weekend’s attack. The Treasury Department announced the sanctions on 16 individuals and two entities in Iran that were tied to the weapons used in the strike. “Let it be clear to all those who enable or support Iran’s attacks,” President Joe Biden said in a statement, “we will not hesitate to take all necessary action to hold you accountable.”
Elsewhere in the region, the Biden administration is pushing for a potential Israel-Saudi megadeal, six months after the Hamas terror attack and subsequent war sidelined normalization efforts between Riyadh and Jerusalem. The agreement would include a deeper defense agreement between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, as well as a renewed Israeli commitment to work toward a two-state solution, which Saudi officials have privately indicated to the U.S. that they might accept in verbal assurances from Israel, according to The Wall Street Journal.
As Jews around the world prepare for Passover, which begins on Monday night, Jews in Pennsylvania are also preparing to send in their absentee ballots. That’s because the state’s primary this year falls on Tuesday — which makes it impossible for observant Jews to go to the polls that day, and very inconvenient for any Jews who celebrate the holiday.
Despite efforts to move the primary away from Passover, as lawmakers in Maryland did, Pennsylvania’s legislature failed to do so, writes Jewish Insider senior national correspondent Gabby Deutch.
In Pittsburgh, the local Jewish community is closely watching a primary challenge to Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA), a member of the Squad who has aligned with anti-Israel activists in the months since the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel. She faces a credible challenger in Bhavini Patel, a local elected official.
But despite Lee’s stance on Israel, pro-Israel groups like AIPAC and DMFI have stayed on the sidelines in the race. Lee trounced Patel in first-quarter fundraising, leaving the challenger looking like an underdog.
Still, Patel has earned the support of many in Pittsburgh’s Jewish community. Local activists have led grassroots campaigns to spread the word about Patel, and to encourage people to send in their mail-in ballots before Passover. We’ll have the results and post-election analysis for you next week.
Also: Keep an eye on Pennsylvania’s attorney general primary, where state Rep. Jared Solomon is running in the Democratic primary with the message that he will be tough on antisemitic hate crimes. It’s a powerful launching pad; Gov. Josh Shapiro served as attorney general before running for governor. Solomon faces a competitive field of several other Democrats, and the winner is sure to face a tough challenge this November.
foggy bottom atmosphere
Inside the State Department’s anti-Israel listening sessions
Not long after Kurt Campbell started his new job as the No. 2 official at the State Department in February, the Asia expert and now-deputy secretary of state began holding a series of listening sessions with staff members at Foggy Bottom. The informal meetings appeared on staffers’ calendars with no further information; they weren’t framed as being only about the war in Gaza. But these meetings, and others like them held by senior department officials with lower-level employees, have often devolved into venting sessions about U.S. policy toward Israel and Gaza, three department employees told Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch. All of them requested anonymity to speak candidly about internal department matters.
Call to action: “It was overwhelmingly calls, including from people I respect, [that] we need to do more to sanction Israel, we need to do more to punish Israel, we need to be more seriously considering ways in which we can sanction them, condition aid, cut off aid, reduce weapons flows,” said one foreign service officer with two decades of Middle East experience who sat in on a recent meeting with Campbell.
Internal ruptures: From universities to Fortune 500 companies to the federal government, few institutions have avoided the political fallout of the violent conflict in the Middle East that was sparked by Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack in Israel. The State Department — where thousands of diplomats and civil servants are tasked with implementing President Joe Biden’s foreign policy, which has maintained support for Israel in its goal of defeating Hamas — is not immune from that rancor.
Standing by: What stood out to some department employees at recent listening sessions was senior leaders’ unwillingness to defend Biden’s support for Israel’s security, particularly in response to a chorus of employees seeking a harsher stance toward the Jewish state. One result of their reticence is that other lower-level employees who stand by Biden’s support for Israel also do not speak up in those meetings.
‘mr. security’
With Iran strike, Netanyahu is tested on his flagship issue
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s standing as “Mr. Security” suffered a serious blow in the wake of the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7. But one of the keys to that reputation has been his decades-long focus on the Iranian threat. Now, after a reported limited Israeli strike in response to Iran’s weekend attack on Israel — the first direct Iranian attack on Israel in history — Netanyahu is being put to the test on his flagship issue, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports.
Legacy: Within Israel, the unfolding events shine a light on the Iran-focused message the prime minister has been broadcasting for over two decades. It comes amid growing Israeli skepticism over his record, following the Hamas attacks that happened on his watch. Regarding Netanyahu’s legacy, Danny Danon, a former Israeli ambassador to the U.N. and current Likud lawmaker, pointed out to JI before Friday’s strike that “when Netanyahu is asked how he wants to be remembered, he says he wants his legacy to be that he was a defender of Israel. It’s something that is important to him.”
Nuclear issue: Ari Harow, Netanyahu’s former chief of staff, argued on Thursday that if the prime minister “uses this opportunity to attack Iran’s nuclear capability, or uses this [international] coalition to bring about regime change [in Iran], then he’s able to restore at least that piece of his legacy.” However, Harow said that Netanyahu will most likely come out of this with his reputation further tarnished.
pushing ahead
Dems help move aid bill to House floor, as Johnson faces right-wing rebellion
House Democrats on the House Rules Committee voted last night to advance aid for Israel and other foreign allies to the House floor despite a rebellion from the Republicans’ right flank against Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA). Democrats’ support in the Rules Committee was a highly unusual step, and effectively a signal that House Democratic leadership is backing the legislation, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Minority party support: It’s unprecedented in at least the last 29 years for a House majority party to require minority party support to advance legislation out of the Rules Committee. But three conservative Republicans, Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY), Ralph Norman (R-SC) and Chip Roy (R-TX), bucked Johnson and voted against advancing the package.
Dem support: Democratic support will also be needed on a procedural “rule” vote on the House floor on the package — another rare occurrence — in light of the growing rebellion from right-wing Republicans. The House Freedom Caucus on Thursday announced all of its members will oppose the rule vote, and other right-wing Republicans may join them. Thursday night’s vote indicates that further Democratic support will likely be forthcoming on the House floor.
maryland moment
Top MD-03 congressional candidates suggest support for Van Hollen’s efforts against Israel
Former Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn and Maryland state Sen. Sarah Elfreth, the AIPAC-endorsed candidate running in the Democratic primary for the state’s 3rd Congressional District, appeared to suggest that they support Sen. Chris Van Hollen’s (D-MD) efforts to curtail Israel aid at an event this week. The incident occurred at a candidate forum hosted by the District 30 Democratic Club on Wednesday night in Annapolis. D30’s president, Fish Stark, asked the 16 House hopefuls to stand if they backed Van Hollen’s amendment to the Israel and Ukraine aid package conditioning future assistance on whether the war in Gaza is conducted in accordance with international law, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports.
All rise: Elfreth and Dunn joined 13 others in rising from their chairs, with Gary Schuman, who has polled toward the bottom of the pack, being the only candidate who remained seated. The Democrats are vying to succeed Rep. John Sarbanes (D-MD), who in October announced his retirement from Congress at the end of 2024.
Elfreth’s response: Reached by JI about why she stood up alongside competitors backing a conditioning of aid, a spokesman for Elfreth’s campaign said that she was responding affirmatively to a question “about requiring aid to be used in accordance with U.S. law, international law and the law of armed conflict. Based on this framing of the question, and Sen. Elfreth’s understanding that Israel is acting in accordance with these laws, she believed she was expressing support for a position that would not affect aid to Israel,” the campaign said.
No comment: Dunn’s campaign declined to comment on his position on the Van Hollen amendment.
rapping iran
Far left, Massie vote against condemning Iranian attack on Israel
Fourteen House members, including 13 mostly far-left Democrats and Republican Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), voted on Thursday morning against a resolution condemning the Iranian attack on Israel and expressing support for Israel’s defense, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
What it says: The resolution, led by Reps. Tom Kean (R-NJ) and Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), condemns the Iranian drone and missile attack on Israel, “fully supports Israel’s right to respond” through any means, calls on other countries to condemn the attack, praises the multinational effort to intercept missiles and drones, expresses commitment to additional aid to Israel, calls for “full enforcement” of sanctions and export controls against Iran and says the House “stands ready to assist Israel” in any way.
Who opposed: Democratic Reps. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), Cori Bush (D-MO), Greg Casar (D-TX), Jonathan Jackson (D-IL), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), Hank Johnson (D-GA), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Summer Lee (D-PA), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Delia Ramirez (D-IL) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) joined Massie in opposing the resolution. The bill passed by a 404-14 vote. Johnson initially voted present before changing his vote to no.
columbia fallout
Ilhan Omar’s daughter suspended from Barnard College following congressional questioning
Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN) daughter was suspended from Barnard College on Thursday morning over her involvement in an anti-Israel protest on Columbia University’s campus, a day after Omar questioned Columbia’s president at a House Education and Workforce Committee hearing, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Flashback: During her questioning, Omar repeatedly downplayed violations by anti-Israel protesters on campus and accused the school of unfairly and baselessly targeting pro-Palestinian activists. Omar did not mention her daughter’s leadership in a suspended campus anti-Israel group during the hearing.
What happened: Omar’s daughter, Isra Hirsi, who maintains a robust public profile of her own, posted on X on Thursday morning that she and two other students were “suspended for standing in solidarity with Palestinians facing a genocide,” adding that she’s part of the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment,” an unauthorized tent camp set up on the Columbia campus by anti-Israel activists in violation of the school’s rules and warnings provided by school officials. On Thursday afternoon, New York Police Department officers entered the encampment and began arresting demonstrators who refused to disperse.
Rewind: In her questioning of Columbia President Nemat Shafik, Omar said she was “appalled” that Columbia suspended and expelled six students from school housing “for their involvement in the pro-Palestinian panel event on campus,” claiming that the students were “arbitrarily targeted” and that Palestinian students were “harassed [and] intimidated” by private investigators. The panel Omar referred to included an individual linked to a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, and Columbia leaders said on Thursday had contacted the FBI about the event.
Worthy Reads
Warming Ties: In Foreign Policy, Steven Cook considers the motivations of Arab countries that have or are establishing ties with Israel. “Critics will undoubtedly argue that these securitized relationships are nothing to cheer. The ties between Arab governments — whose legitimacy is compromised, in part because of their ties to the Israelis — and an Israeli state that has dispossessed and repressed Palestinians would not exist but for authoritarian leaders and the support they enjoy in Washington. But this does not negate the fact that the security dialogues that have been underway between these countries for years paid off on April 13. The same basic argument holds for the Abraham Accords, under which security cooperation developed rapidly after years of informal and secret cooperation. There is no leader in the Gulf who trusts Netanyahu, and they recoil at what the IDF has wrought in Gaza, but the Emiratis, Bahrainis, and the Saudis (who are silent partners in the Abraham Accords) certainly dislike and fear Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps more. This underlines what everyone already knows about the accords and why supporters of the Palestinians are so angry about it: The Arab leaders who have normalized ties with Israel place more value on fending off the Iranian challenge than Palestinian statehood.” [ForeignPolicy]
Going It Alone:Politico’s Ian Ward looks at Sen. J.D. Vance’s (R-OH) isolationist approach to foreign policy. “Yet Vance’s efforts this week to persuade his Republican colleagues in the House of these specific objections are, in many respects, secondary to his broader goal of shifting the Republican paradigm on foreign policy. As Vance explained to me during our conversations, this larger project goes beyond injecting some ‘realism’ — or, as his critics would call it, “isolationism” — into the foreign policy debates on the right. In a more expansive sense, Vance sees the debate over Ukraine aid as a proxy for the debate over the direction of what he openly calls ‘the American empire’ — and, by extension, of America as a whole. ‘The really interesting debate that is happening between the establishment right and the populist right is [about] challenging the premise … that things are going really well,’ Vance told me. On the one side, establishment Republicans believe that the American empire is trending in the right direction; populist Republicans believe that the American empire is on the verge of collapse. The establishment points to falling poverty rates around the world; the populist right points to falling birth and life expectancies at home.” [Politico]
TikTok Hate:The Atlantic’s Yair Rosenberg spotlights antisemitism on TikTok, and the conspiracy theories surrounding the recent Capitol Hill legislation focused on the platform. “Like many conspiracy theories, the notion that Jews are out to ban TikTok contains a grain of truth. Jewish and pro-Israel groups have raised concerns about TikTok’s failure to moderate anti-Semitic content for years, including when it pertains to Israel, but they have never called for the app to be shut down. After the TikTok sale legislation was proposed, the Jewish Federations of North America said it ‘appropriately balances free speech and individual rights with regulatory action’ while asserting that ‘our community understands that social media is a major driver of the rise in antisemitism, and that TikTok is the worst offender by far.’ (Presumably, the organization arrived at this conclusion by spending 10 minutes on the app.) Researchers have found that pro-Palestinian content dwarfs pro-Israel content on TikTok, likely reflecting the platform’s young and international demographic. But no conspiracy theories or appeals to recent geopolitical developments are necessary to understand why U.S. politicians wouldn’t want one of the most-trafficked social-media networks in America to be run by Communist China via a black-box algorithm. Just this past December, researchers at Rutgers found that anti-China posts on topics like the Hong Kong protests or the regime’s brutal repression of Uyghur Muslims were dramatically underrepresented on TikTok compared with Instagram.” [TheAtlantic]
Around the Web
Arms Discussion: The White House is considering supplying upwards of $1 billion in weapons, including tank shells, mortars and vehicles, to Israel.
Hamas Hold-up: CIA Director Bill Burns said that Hamas’ refusal to accept a deal for a cease-fire and hostage release “is standing in the way” of getting humanitarian relief to Gazans.
U.S. Veto: The U.S. vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution granting the Palestinians full member state status in the general body; 12 countries voted in favor, while the U.K. and Switzerland abstained.
Rafah Talk: National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer and Israeli National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi met virtually to discuss a potential Israeli operation in Rafah.
TikTok Ban: Congress is expediting a vote on legislation that would effectively ban TikTok in the U.S., with a vote expected to take place in the House as early as this weekend.
No Consequences: Dozens of anti-Israel activists arrested for blocking traffic on San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge were released without being charged, with the district attorney citing a lack of evidence to pursue charges.
Sympathy for the Devil: A new poll by the Harvard Kennedy School found that 17% of those surveyed between the ages of 18-29 expressed sympathy toward Hamas.
Campus Crackdown: The New York Times looks at how colleges are cracking down on disruptive behavior after a series of high-profile incidents around the country tied to the Israel-Hamas war.
Pushback: The Washington Institute for Near East Policy’s Rob Satloff responds to a recent in-depth Washington Post report about a recent Israeli strike that killed Gazan civilians, noting that “in more than six months of war, the Post has not devoted a fraction of the effort that went into this one story into a detailed examination of what truly is a new, repulsive and frightening development in the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict — the purposeful, planned and organized use of sexual violence as a tool of war.”
Ex-Pat on Antisemitism: Fox News interviewed former New England Patriots receiver Julian Edelman about what he called the “hurtful” rise in antisemitism.
Draft Kings: Student leaders selected by Robert Kraft’s Foundation to Combat Antisemitism will announce the New England Patriots’ third-round draft pick next week.
Gaza War’s Reach: The New York Times reports on internal divisions within Japanese-American activist groups over long-standing relations with Jewish organizations that are supportive of Israel amid the country’s war with Hamas.
Coming Soon: Apple TV+ acquired the rights to Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s upcoming book, Long Island Compromise, which it plans to turn into a series that will be executive produced by Brodesser-Akner along with Richard Plepler through his Apple-based Eden Productions.
Master of Commanders: The Washington Jewish Week interviews Washington Commanders owner Josh Harris about his Jewish upbringing and philanthropic efforts in Israel.
Across the Pond: Police in the U.K. town of Bournemouth are investigating the theft of signs recognizing the municipality’s “twinning” with the Israeli city of Netanya.
Faulty History: A new memoir by former U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss includes a fabricated quote attributed to Mayer Amschel Rothschild about “control” over “the money of a nation.”
Refuah Shlema: Pollster Frank Luntz is recovering from a stroke.
Wine of the Week
JI wine columnist Yitz Applbaum reviews the Solomon Blanc from Covenant, the Jezreel Valley Nahalal and Darom by Yatir:
As we do our last-minute cleaning and shopping for Pesach, I will wrap up my wine recommendations for Pesach 5784 (see the first part from last week):
For the third cup of wine during the meal, I recommend the Solomon Blanc from Covenant. This sauvignon blanc is brilliant and bright. It opens with a traditional French SB earthiness. It then takes you into a valley of passionfruit awash in sweetness. The close is full of minerals and mushrooms and will stay with you for the rest of the Seder and possibly into the next morning.
For the third cup of the Seder, I would strongly recommend the Jezreel Valley Nahalal. This wine is a blend of grenache, syrah and carignan. It has a vibrant pepper opening, a dark chocolate mid-palate splash and a long plum finish.
For the fourth and final cup of the Seder, I will be drinking Darom by Yatir. This wine is a child of southern Israel. The shiraz, zinfandel, marselan and grenache grapes are from the Negev. There is a cacophony of flavors from these Middle Eastern grapes. It will keep you awake for the last part of the seder as great tannins and plush fruit are evident in every sip.
There is no more food to eat. So, the fourth cup needs to be a wine meal unto itself. The Dadah 2021 Cabernet Reserve opens with a strong cherry flavor. The mid-palate is laced with tobacco leaf oils, and the finish makes you want to start the meal all over again as it has overtones of brisket and leg of lamb.
Bonus: Check out Yitz’s interview this week with Max Raskin here.
Pic of the Day
People gathered on Wednesday around an empty Seder table featuring 133 chairs representing the remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza, during a protest opposite Downing Street in London.
Birthdays
Actress, author and fashion entrepreneur, she co-founded Fabletics, Kate Hudson turns 45…
FRIDAY: Elaine’s husband, Robert Brotman turns 87…Legal scholar and public intellectual, now a visiting professor at Cardozo School of Law, Stanley Fish turns 86… Prominent Israeli criminal defense attorney who also served as the attorney general of Israel, Yehuda Weinstein turns 80… Rebbi of the Vizhnitz hasidic dynasty based in Bnei Brak, Rabbi Yisroel Hager turns 79… Philanthropist and head of strategic human resources at Elliott Management Corporation, she is also on the board of The Paul E. Singer Foundation, OneTable, Tikvah and the Jewish Food Society, Terry Kassel… Comedian, actress and mental health campaigner in the U.K., Ruby Wax turns 71… Investor and hedge fund manager, Jacob Ezra Merkin turns 71… VP of GEM Commercial Flooring Company in Kansas, Gloria Elyachar… Angel investment fund manager, he won three Super Bowls during his 12-year NFL career, Harris Barton turns 60… Law professor at Arizona State University and senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Orde Félix Kittrie turns 60… Historian, author, screenwriter, political commentator and senior lecturer at the Hebrew University, Gadi Taub turns 59… Israeli entrepreneur who was the founder and former CEO of Better Place, Shai Agassi turns 56… Attorney general of Michigan, Dana Nessel turns 55… French stand-up comedian and actor, during 2019 he starred in “Huge in France,” an American comedy series on Netflix, Gad Elmaleh turns 53… Author of five books and a frequent columnist in The New Yorker, Rivka Galchen turns 48… Award-winning, film, television and theater actor, his official bar mitzvah was in 2015 at age 37, James Franco turns 46… Toronto-based entrepreneur, philanthropist, CEO and co-founder of Klick Health, Leerom Segal turns 45… Managing director of development at NYC’s Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, Brian Tregerman… Rabbi, philosopher, poet, coach and entrepreneur, he writes a weekly Torah commentary on Substack, Zohar Atkins turns 36… Executive director of Honest Reporting, Gil Hoffman… Consultant at Boston Consulting Group, Seffi Kogen… Jake Gerber…
SATURDAY: Stanford University professor and 2020 Nobel Prize laureate in economics, Paul Robert Milgrom turns 76… Chairman of the media networks division of Activision Blizzard, Steve Bornstein turns 72… Immigrants’ rights activist and professor at Salem State University, Aviva Chomsky turns 67… Television and radio host, Steve Malzberg turns 65… President and founder of the Center for AI and Digital Policy, Marc Rotenberg turns 64… Executive producer and host at “The Femsplainers Podcast,” Danielle Crittenden Frum turns 61… Semi-professional race car driver and restaurateur, Alan Wilzig turns 59… Television personality and game show host, known professionally as J.D. Roth, James David Weinroth turns 56… Israeli jazz bassist, composer, singer and arranger, Avishai Cohen turns 54… British film director, Sarah Gavron turns 54… Member of the Florida House of Representatives from southern Brevard County, Randy Fine turns 50… VP of government and public affairs at Cleveland-based GBX Group, Seth Foster Unger… Director of speechwriting for the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Michael C. Frohlich… Director of development at Democratic Majority for Israel, Elliott G. Mendes… President and CEO at the Los Angeles-based Skirball Cultural Center, Jessie Kornberg turns 42… Author and former general manager of Bird in Israel, Yaniv Rivlin… Sportscaster on Fox Sports and NFL Network, Peter Schrager turns 42… New York-based human rights lawyer, Irina Tsukerman… Writer for The Free Press, she wrote a weekly newsletter, “Chosen By Choice” to chronicle her journey converting to Judaism, Nellie Bowles… Evening breaking news editor at CNN Politics, Kyle Feldscher… Policy adviser and counsel to Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), Zachary L. Baum… Systems engineer at Google X, Joseph Gettinger turns 36… Facilitator, coach and workshop organizer, Daniela Kate Plattner… Research analyst at the U.S. Department of State, David Mariutto… VP at Cedar Capital Partners, Alex Berman… CEO of Social Lite Creative, Emily K. Schrader… Israeli scientist, engineer and artificial intelligence researcher at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dr. Maor Farid turns 32… Israeli model and swimwear designer, Neta Alchimister turns 30… Advertising platforms at Apple, McKenna Klein… Venture scout at LvlUp Ventures, Andrew J. Hirsh… R&B, soul, pop singer and teen actress, at 13 years old she was the runner-up on the second season of “The X Factor,” Carly Rose Sonenclar turns 25… Diane Kahan…
SUNDAY: Comedian, screenwriter, film director and actress, she returned to Broadway in 2018 after a 60-year hiatus, Elaine May turns 92… President of the Ben and Esther Rosenbloom Foundation, Howard Rosenbloom turns 85… British chemist and emeritus professor at the University of Cambridge, Sir Alan Roy Fersht turns 81… Award-winning folklorist, author, poet and editor of dozens of books, Howard Schwartz turns 79… Former lieutenant governor of Connecticut, Nancy S. Wyman turns 78… Southern California-based interior designer, Marilyn Weiss… Emergency physician in Panorama City, Calif., Joseph Edward Beezy… UCSB mathematician, an early winner of a MacArthur genius fellowship, Michael Hartley Freedman turns 73… Rabbi, psychologist, writer and editor, Susan Schnur turns 73… Professor emeritus at George Mason University Law School, Michael Ian Krauss turns 73… Australian barrister who is a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly following 31 years as mayor of Botany Bay, Ron Hoenig turns 71… Rabbi at Temple Ner Simcha in Westlake Village, Calif., Michael Barclay turns 61… Co-founder of the Genesis Prize and the Genesis Philanthropy Group, Mikhail Fridman turns 60… Chicago-based lobbyist and attorney, Scott D. Yonover… Art collector and dealer, Alberto “Tico” Mugrabi turns 54… Washington correspondent for NYT’s DealBook, Ephrat Livni… Founder of I Was Supposed to Have a Baby (IWSTHAB), an online community geared toward Jewish women experiencing infertility, Aimee Friedman Baron… Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter for The New York Times and best-selling author, Jodi Kantor turns 49… Head of business development and innovation at Birthright North America and CEO of Unistream, Ifat Bechor… Co-founder and chief innovation officer at Zivvy Media, Eric Weisbrod… Actress and voice actress, Shayna Bracha Fox turns 40… Investor relations officer at Linse Capital, Robert J. Kaufman… Once the top-ranked collegiate female tennis player in the U.S. and currently the head women’s tennis coach at the University of Oklahoma, Audra Marie Cohen turns 38… Salesforce marketing and cloud consultant at Jackson Family Wines, Joshua Gibbs… Outfielder for MLB’s Arizona Diamondbacks, he is a two-time World Series champion and a two-time All Star, he played for Team Israel in the 2013 and 2023 World Baseball Classics, Joc Pederson turns 32… Writer, magazine editor and actress, Tavi Gevinson turns 28…
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