Daily Kickoff
Good Tuesday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we talk to Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro about campus antisemitism and report on Rep. Jared Moskowitz’s potential nomination to head FEMA. We talk to Democratic activist Ben Wikler, a top contender to lead the Democratic National Committee, about the party’s big-tent approach to Israel (and anti-Israel) activism, and cover the Antisemitism Awareness Act’s increasingly narrow odds of passage this Congress. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Lawrence Rosenblatt, Morgan Ortagus and Joel Rayburn.
What We’re Watching
- White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Eurasia Group founder Ian Bremmer are speaking about national security tonight at an event hosted by the 92nd Street Y.
- We’re keeping an eye on the race for the coveted ranking member slot on the House Oversight Committee, following Rep. Gerry Connolly’s (D-VA) besting of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) 34-27 in a Democratic leadership vote last night; Ocasio-Cortez plans to continue her bid today in the full-caucus vote to ratify that decision.
- New York City Mayor Eric Adams is holding his annual Hanukkah reception at Gracie Mansion tonight.
- In Washington, Bluelight Strategies is holding its annual Latkes and Vodkas party at the Capital Jewish Museum — this year, the invite notes, it’s “DOGE-approved.”
What You Should Know
Inside a White House bedecked with elaborate Christmas decorations, hundreds of Jewish activists, communal leaders, philanthropists, politicians and artists mingled at the annual White House Hanukkah party on Monday evening. Even when the U.S. servicemembers stationed throughout the party began ushering people out at the end of the night, the guests lingered, knowing many likely won’t be invited back next year, Jewish Insider senior national correspondent Gabby Deutch observed at last night’s gathering.
The mood at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue wasn’t quite sadness — it was more a sense of resignation, the same malaise that has afflicted Democrats since President-elect Donald Trump’s victory last month. Even the most die-hard Democrats at the party seemed to acknowledge that life would go on in 2025, even with Trump as president.
President Joe Biden didn’t speak about the imminent end of his term, but his remarks seemed to allude to the political reality, with a message focused on maintaining hope. Biden said that the Jewish people he knows have “taught us so much about the optimistic spirit of the Jewish people, [and] above all they taught me one thing: We can never lose hope.”
“I’ve seen the power of that hope in my own life and in the life of our nation,” Biden continued. “Next week you’ll light the eight candles on your menorahs. My final Hanukkah message to you is this: As president, this is to hold onto that hope. Shine your light. Shine the light of optimism. And above all, keep the faith.”
It was a brief speech, a reminder of Biden’s lifelong close ties to the Jewish community. He began by describing his father as a “righteous Christian” who taught him about the Holocaust. Biden condemned rising antisemitism, and stood by his support for Israel after the Oct. 7 attacks. “I learned a long time ago, you don’t have to be a Jew to be a Zionist,” he said.
Biden pledged to keep working to bring home the 100 hostages still held captive in Gaza: “I’ve gotten over 100 hostages out. I will not stop till I get every single one of them home,” he said, to strong applause.
Earlier in the evening, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff pledged to continue working with the Jewish community even after he and his wife, Vice President Kamala Harris, leave Washington. “Tonight I am rededicating myself to fighting antisemitism and hatred of all kinds,” Emhoff said. “I’m going to continue to show up for our community when these challenges persist.”
Throughout the festively decorated rooms in the White House, weary Democrats swapped stories of the vacations they’ll take after Jan. 20 and the stress of finding new jobs as a new administration comes to town. Still, disappointment in the election results didn’t keep attendees from enjoying the party. A crowded kosher buffet table featured lamb meatballs, several varieties of latkes, roasted vegetables and more, alongside sushi and sufganiyot.
Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove of New York’s Park Avenue Synagogue lit the menorah, acknowledging the holiday is still a week away. He opened with a sentence that captured the attitude of the room: “On behalf of American Jewry, with one voice and one heart, we are here to say we love you, and we will miss you.”
BIG-TENT APPROACH
Top DNC chair candidate says anti-Israel activist should have spoken at convention
Ben Wikler, the Wisconsin Democratic Party chair and a leading contender for the top job at the Democratic National Committee, suggested in a recent interview with Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel that he is in favor of what he called a “big-tent” approach to managing conflicts over Israel between warring moderate and far-left factions, rather than enforcing red lines on key issues.
What he said: “In a big-tent party, ensuring the voices of all different parts of our coalition unite around our nominee and our message is a source of strength for us,” he explained. Despite some major clashes over policy on Israel and the broader Middle East, “the vast majority of Democrats,” he said, “think Israelis and Palestinians alike deserve safety and freedom and respect — and have supported the Biden administration’s call for a cease-fire, return of hostages and a better future for Israelis and Palestinians.” While he did not address some of the most extreme demands from activists who advocated for harsher policies toward Israel during the election, including an arms embargo, Wikler suggested that he believed the DNC made a strategic error in refusing to allow a representative of the “Uncommitted” movement to deliver remarks at its nominating convention in Chicago last summer.
Read the full interview here.
PHILLY THOUGHTS
UPenn ‘lost its way’ in response to campus antisemitism, Governor Shapiro says
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said on Monday that some universities were “willing to forgo” their responsibilities to protect Jewish students on campus, singling out the University of Pennsylvania for having “lost its way” and “working to get back” to a better place, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports.
Campus beat: The governor’s comments, made in conversation with American Jewish Committee CEO Ted Deutch at an event commemorating the 80th anniversary of the organization’s Philadelphia-South Jersey chapter, came in response to a question about how colleges and universities had responded to the surge of campus antisemitism since Oct. 7. “Universities have a moral and a legal responsibility to the commonwealth of Pennsylvania and to this country to keep all students safe on campus,” Shapiro said. “For some universities, I think they were willing to forgo that responsibility, or it got a little bit out of balance. Some universities were willing to accept a little bit of hate over here, but no hate over here, and that’s not OK.”
CAMPUS CONCERNS
Columbia professor resigns after university allows anti-Israel academic to continue teaching course on Zionism
A Columbia University adjunct professor announced his resignation on Monday, citing the university’s decision to allow a longtime professor who described the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in Israel as “astounding,” “awesome” and “incredible” to continue teaching a course on Zionism. In his resignation letter, Lawrence “Muzzy” Rosenblatt, an adjunct professor of international and public affairs, wrote that having Joseph Massad, a professor of modern Arab politics and intellectual history, teach a course on Zionism was “akin to having a White nationalist teach about the US Civil Rights movement and the struggle for Black equality,” Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
Professor’s record: Massad is scheduled to teach the undergraduate course “History of the Jewish Enlightenment in 19th century Europe and the development of Zionism,” as he has done every spring since 2016. The class typically fills up, drawing between 30-60 students each semester. The class is limited to 60 students and is not a required course, but one of three courses Columbia students can elect to take during the spring semester on the subject of Zionism and the history of Israel, two of which are offered through Columbia’s Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies. One day after Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack last year, Massad wrote, “Perhaps the major achievement of the resistance in the temporary takeover of these settler-colonies is the death blow to any confidence that Israeli colonists had in their military and its ability to protect them.”
dead end
Antisemitism Awareness Act not expected in stopgap government funding bill
The Antisemitism Awareness Act (AAA) is not expected to be included in the stopgap funding bill that Congress must pass by the end of the week to avert a government shutdown, two individuals familiar with the situation told Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod.
The latest: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) had seen the funding legislation as a fallback option to pass the AAA after House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) rejected his request to put it in the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act, insisting on a standalone vote in the Senate. Though the spending has not yet been fully finalized or released, that avenue is now likely closed, sources said. The chances that the bill will pass through the Senate in the current Congress now appear slim. Angelo Roefaro, a spokesperson for Schumer, said, “We are trying all must pass legislation. The only way left to pass this is through the CR. If Johnson says yes, we can get it done.”
Call to Congress: In an op-ed published in The Times of Israel, William Daroff, CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, urges Congress to immediately pass the Antisemitism Awareness Act, arguing that “our students can wait no longer for relief.”
top contender
Moskowitz under consideration to lead Federal Emergency Management Agenc
Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), a stalwart pro-Israel Jewish Democrat, is reportedly a top contender to lead the Federal Emergency Management Agency under President-elect Donald Trump. If it comes to fruition, that nomination would open up a seat in an increasingly competitive South Florida district with a significant Jewish population, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. The position would not be an unfamiliar one for the first-term congressman, who previously served under Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as the director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) from 2019 to 2021.
Moskowitz’s record: During his time in Congress, Moskowitz has established himself as a staunch advocate for Israel and against antisemitism, regularly willing to cross the aisle and work with Republicans on those and other issues. But he has also publicly feuded with and mocked prominent Republicans and Trump himself, particularly from his post on the House Oversight Committee. Moskowitz’s voice at FEMA could be an important one for the Jewish community — FEMA administers the Nonprofit Security Grant Program that helps fund security for synagogues and other Jewish community institutions, and he received plaudits for his work on security funding issues during his time at FDEM and as a state House member. On the Hill, Moskowitz has advocated for increased NSGP funding, as well as served as a sponsor of the Antisemitism Awareness Act and worked with other moderate Democrats and across the aisle on a range of bills and other initiatives related to antisemitism.
school daze
Campuses on track to see similarly high rates of antisemitic incidents as last year, Hillel finds
College campuses are on track to see roughly as many antisemitic incidents this academic year as last year, in which Hillel International tracked 1,854 incidents, a 700% increase from the 2022-2023 academic year, the organization announced during its Global Assembly last week. According to Hillel, at least 864 antisemitic incidents have been recorded on college campuses as of mid-December — roughly halfway through the academic year. These included a physical assault of a Jewish student outside of Columbia University and antisemitic graffiti on the San Francisco Hillel building, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports for eJewishPhilanthropy.
Campus focus: More than 1,000 Hillel International professionals gathered in Boston last Monday through Thursday for the 10th annual Hillel International Global Assembly, which largely — but not solely — focused on campus antisemitism and the general “climate” that Jewish students are encountering. “Several sessions addressed the ongoing campus climate challenges facing Jewish students,” Adam Lehman, president and CEO of Hillel, told eJP after the gathering. “By virtue of our work and the work of others, we’ve seen real change in terms of how university administrations respond to harassment and discrimination towards Jewish students, but those issues continue.”
Read the full story here and sign up for eJewishPhilanthropy’s Your Daily Phil newsletter here.
Worthy Reads
Power Tools: In Foreign Affairs, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) suggests that the incoming Trump administration return to its hard-power approach to its foreign policy. “Trump would be wise to build his foreign policy on the enduring cornerstone of U.S. leadership: hard power. To reverse the neglect of military strength, his administration must commit to a significant and sustained increase in defense spending, generational investments in the defense industrial base, and urgent reforms to speed the United States’ development of new capabilities and to expand allies’ and partners’ access to them. As it takes these steps, the administration will face calls from within the Republican Party to give up on American primacy. It must reject them. To pretend that the United States can focus on just one threat at a time, that its credibility is divisible, or that it can afford to shrug off faraway chaos as irrelevant is to ignore its global interests and its adversaries’ global designs. America will not be made great again by those who simply want to manage its decline.” [ForeignAffairs]
Kurd Concern: In The Wall Street Journal, Thomas Kaplan and Bernard-Henri Lévy, cofounders of the Justice for Kurds nonprofit organization, argue that U.S. support for the Kurds in Syria and Iraq is critical to maintaining long-term peace in the region. “Regime change in Damascus has created a rare opportunity to honor our debt and make good on the moral obligation to secure the Syrian Kurds’ future. Doing so would also strengthen U.S. interests in the region. A bipartisan consensus behind a coordinated and energetic support of the much-admired Kurds would present the U.S. with a low-cost, high-impact policy option to show that America is back as the world’s most reliable partner. The moment is ripe to contrast the West’s fidelity, confidence and power with the current standing of the brotherhood of autocrats. The fall of Bashar al-Assad has crushed the reputations of both Russia and Iran, and dented even China’s, with strategic ramifications extending well beyond the Middle East. Such a forceful assertion of American leadership, at minimal expense, would pay significant dividends in hard as well as soft power. Beyond humanitarian aid, robust political and security relationships with our Kurdish comrades would directly serve key pillars of U.S. regional policy.” [WSJ]
Syria Strategy: In The Times, Simon Sebag Montefiore posits that President-elect Donald Trump should reconsider his plan to avoid involvement in Syria. “The prizes for Trump are twofold: first a deal that limits Iran’s regional aggression and nuclear programme in return for normalisation. If Iran, under its murderous but ageing dictator Khamenei, fails to change, Trump may wish to bomb its nuclear bases. Only America has the armaments to do it and in exercises around the US itself, its air force has already practised the runs necessary to pull it off. The fall of Assad and Hezbollah now place the very survival of the Iranian tyranny in jeopardy: its fall — a triumph for any US president — could be closer than anyone thinks. The second prize is equally hard: an expanded Abraham Accord. Hamas is now so shattered that a Gaza ceasefire and hostages’ return may coincide with Trump’s accession, opening up the possibility of some pathway to a Palestinian republic that brings Saudi Arabia and Israel together — and maybe Syria and Lebanon too.” [TheTimes]
Word on the Street
Morgan Ortagus and Joel Rayburn are among those being considered for the role of deputy secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs in the incoming Trump administration; Ortagus, who served as State Department spokesperson during the first administration, is also being mulled for ambassador to Saudi Arabia…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met yesterday with Adam Boehler, the incoming administration’s special envoy for hostage affairs, in Jerusalem…
Apollo Global Management is weighing how to approach its succession planning, following weeks in which Apollo CEO Marc Rowan was being considered for a role in the incoming Trump administration…
Sens. Peter Welch (D-VT), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Brian Schatz (D-HI) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)urged the administration to grant Temporary Protected Status to Palestinians in the U.S. to shield them from deportation…
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), speaking to the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee as it weighed candidates for committee leadership roles, signaled that she may no longer back primary challenges to congressional Democrats, as she has in prior election cycles…
Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ) walked back his assertion that an Iranian “mothership” was behind recent drone sightings across New Jersey and other parts of the Northeast; a joint statement from the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, FBI and FAA said that the objects, which have been spotted for the last month, are “a combination of lawful commercial drones, hobbyist drones, and law enforcement drones, as well as manned fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and stars mistakenly reported as drones”…
A Washington, D.C., City Council committee unanimously recommended the expulsion of Councilmember Trayon White, following allegations by federal authorities that White had accepted tens of thousands of dollars in bribes; White is known for having made a series of antisemitic comments during his time on the council…
The Justice Department announced the arrests of two men, including an Iranian-American dual citizen, with conspiring to transfer technology, in violation of American export laws, that was used in the drone strike that killed three U.S. servicemembers in January…
Police in Minneapolis are investigating a vandalism incident at the city’s largest synagogue, where two swastikas were spray-painted on a pillar and a door of the building…
The University of Pittsburgh is creating a working group to address antisemitism on campus and in the Pittsburgh area…
The Australian state of Victoria announced a series of proposed measures to combat antisemitism, including outlawing protests outside places of worship and banning the wearing of face masks at other demonstrations…
Germany blasted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pledge to double the population of the Israeli side of the Golan Heights, territory conquered by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War and annexed in 1981, for which his government has allocated $11 million…
Drug-production facilities uncovered outside of Damascus following the fall of the Assad regime confirmed Syria’s role as a mass producer of the illicit substance Captagon…
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani said that Syria won’t be used as a launchpad for attacks on Israel, adding that the new government in Damascus was committed to the 1974 disengagement agreement with Jerusalem…
President-elect Donald Trump suggested that Turkey, which has supported the Syrian rebel groups, was behind HTS’ “unfriendly takeover” that ousted the Assad regime…
U.S. officials are raising concerns that Ankara is preparing for a military incursion into areas of Syria controlled by Kurdish forces…
The mother of American journalist Austin Tice, who disappeared in Syria in 2012, asked Israel to pause its military activity in an area outside Damascus where “credible information” suggested Tice may be located…
A U.S.-based Syrian advocacy organization said that a mass grave containing the remains of at least 100,000 people was discovered outside Damascus…
The Washington Post looks at Iran’s increasing vulnerability following Israel’s strategic attacks against both Tehran and its proxies, as well as the fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria…
Iran halted the implementation of new modesty laws, with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian calling the legislation “ambiguous and in need of reform”…
Adrien Gardner Lesser is joining the office of Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) as New York Ciyt press secretary…
Jerome Kohn, the founder of the Hannah Arendt Center at the New School for Social Research who edited five of the writers’ works, died at 93…
Pic of the Day
Dan Senor (left) and Ben Shapiro shared the stage last night at an event hosted by Palm Beach Synagogue as part of its “Critical Conversations” series.
Correction: Jewish Insider mistakenly reported yesterday that Dan Shapiro, not Dan Senor, was appearing at last night’s event. We apologize for the error.
Birthdays
Pastry chef, television personality and cookbook author, Jeffrey Adam “Duff” Goldman turns 50…
Retired attorney and vice chair of The American Jewish International Relations Institute, Stuart Sloame turns 85… Former CEO of multiple companies including the San Francisco 49ers and FAO Schwarz, Peter L. Harris turns 81… VP of strategic planning and marketing at Queens-based NewInteractions, Paulette Mandelbaum… Professor of Jewish history, culture and society at Columbia University, Elisheva Carlebach Jofen turns 70… Retired chair of the physician assistant studies program at Rutgers, Dr. Jill A. Reichman turns 69… Former Israeli ambassador to the U.S. and senior foreign policy advisor to prime ministers Sharon, Barak and Netanyahu, Danny Ayalon turns 69… Former chairman and CEO of HBO for 28 years, he now heads Eden Productions, Richard Plepler turns 66… Israeli film director, screenwriter, animator and film-score composer, Ari Folman turns 62… President of Freedom House until this past May, now the director at Voice of America, Michael J. Abramowitz turns 61… Chief of the general staff of the IDF, Herzl “Herzi” Halevi turns 57… Founder and CEO of LionTree LLC, Aryeh B. Bourkoff turns 52… Israeli soccer goalkeeper, then on the coaching staff for the national team, Nir Davidovich turns 48… CEO of the New Legacy Group of Companies, he is also founder and chair emeritus of Project Sunshine, Joseph Weilgus… Co-director of New Public, Eli Pariser turns 44… Senior writer at National Review and author of Unjust: Social Justice and the Unmaking of America, Noah C. Rothman… Grammy Award-winning songwriter and musician, Benjamin Goldwasser turns 42… Director of foundation partnerships at the UJA-Federation of New York, Julia Sobel… National correspondent for Vanity Fair and author of the 2018 book Born Trump: Inside America’s First Family, Emily Jane Fox… Project leader at BCG / Boston Consulting Group, Daniel Ensign… Actor, singer-songwriter and musician, he starred in the Nickelodeon television series “The Naked Brothers Band,” Nat Wolff turns 30… Harvard College student and host of the “Voices of Impact” podcast, Isaac Raskas Ohrenstein…
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