Daily Kickoff
Good Thursday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we do a deep dive into the effort to hire a slew of isolationist staffers at the Pentagon, and report on White House Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff expressing openness to “dialogue” with Hamas. We cover the Trump admin’s redesignation of the Iran-backed Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and talk to George Mason University community members concerned about the school’s handling of incidents involving students who support terror groups. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Rep. Mikie Sherrill, Dr. Miriam Adelson and Chicago Bears CEO Kevin Warren.
What We’re Watching
- President Donald Trump will make one of his first public appearances since the inauguration — albeit remotely — today at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The president is slated to give the prime-time speech at 5 p.m. local time. Earlier this afternoon, the foreign ministers of France, the Palestinian Authority, Syria, Iraq and Jordan will speak on a panel about “how to lower the temperature in the Middle East,” followed by a conversation with Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders with journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin.
- Earlier today at Davos, Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers and American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten participated in a conversation about antisemitism. Summers, who has been a vocal critic of the Ivy League’s response to antisemitism on its campuses, noted that while there have been “inexcusable failures of protection” of Jewish students, he maintained that it is both false and unhelpful to say that these universities are now dangerous for Jews. Such a move, he argued, “would be to exaggerate the problem in a way that would — in my view — undermine our credibility.” Check out our sister publication eJewishPhilanthropy’s coverage of the panel in its newsletter today.
What You Should Know
There’s been something of a vibe shift in pro-Israel Republican circles since President Donald Trump’s inauguration, Jewish Insider Editor-in-Chief Josh Kraushaar writes.
Widespread expectations that the Trump administration would maintain the solidly pro-Israel foreign policy of the first Trump term have been tempered by appointments of several isolationist national security officials critical of Israel, along with a new special envoy to the Middle East who has seemingly favored dealmaking at all costs, regardless of how it affects American interests or our allies.
The biggest news,as we reported in JI, is the appointment of Michael DiMino for deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East — an under-the-radar position that nonetheless holds a lot of influence in directing policy. It’s a role that would be involved in making key decisions about Washington’s military support for Israel and about how to deal with Iran’s nuclear program and its terrorist proxies.
In the Biden administration, the position was most recently held by former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro, a friendly face in pro-Israel circles.
So it’s notable that DiMino, a former fellow at the Koch-funded isolationist think tank Defense Priorities, would be calling for a significantly reduced American presence in the Middle East, spoke out against using military force against the Houthis in Yemen and even suggested that the U.S. shouldn’t even give Israel “defensive support” against Hezbollah.
DiMino also argued against the Abraham Accords, the signature foreign policy accomplishment of the first Trump term, in an October 2023 interview with the Quincy Institute’s Responsible Statecraft publication. “The Abraham Accords left out the issue of Israel-Palestine, and I think that’s a massive mistake,” DiMino said. “That was largely done because people thought that that’s the thorniest issue, that we could set it aside and solve 80% of the rest of the equation, but it doesn’t work that way.”
As an official at a leading pro-Israel organization told us: “Someone who states that the U.S. has no interests in the Middle East or downplays the Iranian threat shouldn’t be running Middle East policy at the Pentagon.”
We’ve also learned,from a deeply reported piece in today’s newsletter by JI’s Matthew Kassel, that one of the key operatives hiring isolationist staffers to fill key Pentagon roles is Dan Caldwell, a Koch-affiliated policy advisor who has a long trail of public comments criticizing the close U.S.-Israel relationship. Read more below.
Adding to the concerns is the string of comments made by Steve Witkoff, a longtime Trump business partner who is now his special envoy to the Middle East. He reportedly played a key role in pressuring Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make concessions in order to implement the first phase of the cease-fire and hostage-release deal.
But it’s his remarks yesterday about diplomacy with Hamas and its patron Qatar that have drawn even greater scrutiny. In an interview with Fox News on Wednesday, Witkoff said it was “good” that Hamas — a U.S. designated terrorist group — reportedly wanted to negotiate directly with the United States. In the same interview, he effusively praised Qatar as “enormously helpful” in the negotiations, name-checking Qatar and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed as “indispensable.” Read more here.
Put simply, if these same comments and decisions were made by the Biden administration, Republicans would be outraged. Many conservatives have already been crying foul. “Witkoff said it is good if the United States talks directly with Hamas? Where’s the foreign policy A-Team?” conservative talk show host Mark Levin wrote on X.
The broader concern among traditional conservatives is that if Trump tries to push the GOP’s foreign policy in an isolationist direction that’s less supportive of Israel, there’s a risk some Republicans will largely fall in line, given that loyalty often trumps principles in today’s Washington.
We’re seeing that dynamic play out with Trump’s efforts to reverse the TikTok ban, even as most Republicans have railed against the Chinese-owned app as a dangerous national security threat — and voted to ban it. But aside from a handful of principled national security hawks — like Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) — many Republicans have muted their objections to accommodate Trump’s new position.
Support for Israel runs deep in the Republican Party, and there are plenty of traditional foreign policy conservatives filling key roles in the Trump administration. And Trump’s decision Wednesday to declare an executive order redesignating the Houthi rebels as a Foreign Terrorist Organization is a sign of a foreign policy that’s tougher on Iran.
But the rise and growth of an isolationist strain can’t be overlooked, and it threatens to reshape Republican foreign policy over the long haul, unless there’s a concerted pushback.
behind the scenes
Koch-affiliated policy advisor playing key role in isolationist Pentagon appointments
A leading opponent of traditional Republican foreign policy who advocates for a vastly reduced U.S. presence in the Middle East has been quietly involved in the transition process at the Defense Department, according to four people familiar with the matter, underscoring a distinct ideological shift in the Pentagon as President Donald Trump builds his new administration. Dan Caldwell, an Iraq War veteran and defense policy advisor with deep ties to the Koch network, has been working behind the scenes to help shape personnel decisions at the Defense Department, sources told Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel on Wednesday, speaking on the condition of anonymity to address a sensitive topic.
Caldwell and Koch: Recent hiring announcements for key positions have reflected Caldwell’s preference for a more restrained foreign policy approach that would have the U.S. scale back its long-standing focus on the Middle East and regional adversaries such as Iran, while expressing a largely skeptical attitude toward Israel, among other views espoused by a growing isolationist wing of the GOP. David Wurmser, a pro-Israel foreign policy expert who served as a Middle East advisor to former Vice President Dick Cheney, said that Caldwell, “who is driving these appointments, comes at this from his deep affiliation with the Koch” network, which Wurmser has criticized. “The Koch crowd,” he explained to JI, is “either isolationist, anti-American or both and seeks to use American fatigue to cynically weaken our allies and diminish American power.”
Witkoff words
Trump Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff says he’s open to ‘dialogue’ with Hamas, praises Qatar
Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, said on Wednesday that he welcomed the potential for “a dialogue” with Hamas and heaped praise on Qatar for helping facilitate the cease-fire deal between Israel and Gaza, despite facing scrutiny for previous ties to the Gulf nation, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs and Marc Rod report. Asked by Fox News’ Dana Perino to respond to a top Hamas official telling The New York Times, “We are prepared for a dialogue with America in achieving understandings on everything,” Witkoff replied, “I think it’s good if it’s accurate.”
What he said: “I think you can get everybody on board in that region. I really do. With a new sense of leadership over there,” Witkoff added, noting that “everybody” in this case included Qatar. “Oh my gosh, Qatar was enormously helpful in this [cease-fire agreement]. Sheikh Mohammed [bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, the Qatari prime minister], his communication skills with Hamas were indispensable here,” Witkoff said. Many other conservatives have been deeply skeptical of Qatar’s influence and role in the negotiations, viewing the country as a supporter of Hamas and urging the U.S. to exert pressure on it.
Read the full story here.
Exclusive: Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC), a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee who previously led the Middle East subcommittee and leads the Republican Study Committee’s national security task force, is urging House and Senate leaders to prioritize passing legislation codifying maximum-pressure sanctions against the Iranian regime — rather than relying on executive orders alone — and heading off any attempt at a new nuclear deal with the regime, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
hitting the houthis
Trump redesignates Houthis as foreign terrorist organization
President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Wednesday designating Yemen’s Houthi rebels as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), reversing a Biden-era policy that had removed the group from the State Department’s list of global terror groups. The move grants the U.S. government additional sanctions authority, giving Trump more tools to go after the Iran-backed Yemeni terror group, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports. The policy comes after the Houthis, also known as Ansar Allah, fired ballistic missiles at Israel for months, including as recently as Saturday.
Backstory: Democratic and Republican lawmakers urged former President Joe Biden to reconsider his February 2021 decision to remove the Houthis from the FTO list, a choice that he said was due to humanitarian considerations. His administration argued that taking the Houthis off the FTO list was necessary for civilians in Yemen to have better access to aid amid a bloody civil war.
Bonus: The Houthis released the crew of a Bahamas-flagged commercial vessel that had been hijacked by the militia group in November 2023.
campus beat
George Mason University reckons with terror-supporting students on campus
Several pro-Israel individuals affiliated with George Mason University are expressing concern with the university’s response after pro-terrorism materials were found in the home of two of its students and a third student was charged with plotting a mass casualty attack. The worries persist even as local Jewish leaders are praising how the public university in Fairfax, Va., has handled these threats, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
Self-examination: “There needs to be a reckoning to what extent the environment at the university has become conducive to radicalism and extremism and antisemitism in ways that could be dealt with without violating First Amendment rights,” David Bernstein, a law professor at George Mason’s Antonin Scalia Law School, told JI. “There haven’t been a lot of terrorism cases on campuses around the country,” Bernstein continued. “Why is it that there are several at our university? Could we be speaking up more about antisemitism and extremism? Should we have made greater efforts to disassociate the university from pro-Hamas sentiment which appeared on campus almost immediately after Oct. 7?”
garden state race
Mikie Sherrill embraces endorsement from progressive activist who supports ending U.S. aid to Israel
Rep. Mikie Sherrill’s (D-NJ) gubernatorial campaign accepted an endorsement from Patricia Campos-Medina, a progressive organizer and former Senate candidate who has called to end U.S. aid to Israel and expressed support for anti-Israel campus protests, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. Campos-Medina is also joining Sherrill’s campaign as a volunteer senior advisor and campaign surrogate.
Background: Campos-Medina, in a Democratic primary debate for the open Senate seat in New Jersey last year, said she opposes further U.S. aid to Israel, calling to hold Israel “accountable” for “the genocide in the killing of Palestinians.” “We need to stop arming Israel and giving them money and military power and take away their ability to keep killing innocent children in Gaza and Palestine,” she said at a rally when she ran for Senate. Campos-Medina accused her Senate opponents of standing for “war-mongering” and not being true progressives because they refused to endorse that position — one that Sherrill herself has not endorsed.
designer dressed
Miriam Adelson’s hostage-ribbon dress makes an impression
First Lady Melania Trump’s navy blue boater hat, Second Lady Usha Vance’s pink coat and Ivanka Trump’s Audrey Hepburn-inspired black-and-white gown made fashion headlines on Inauguration Day in the U.S. But in Israel, Dr. Miriam Adelson’s rose-gold and yellow-ribbon adorned dress at a Republican Jewish Coalition bash sent the fashionistas into overdrive. Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov spoke to Tova Chasin, the designer of the dress.
Tovale: A photo of the dress, covered in the yellow ribbons showing support for release of the hostages held in Hamas captivity, made waves in Israel after being circulated online after the event by influencer Lizzy Savetsky. The woman behind the dress is Tova Chasin, known in the Israeli fashion industry as “Tovale,” the name of the brand she founded in the 1980s. She now runs the label with her daughter, Naama Chasin. Tova Chasin told JI that she began to design shirts with Israeli flags on them immediately after the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks on Israel, but Adelson’s hostage-ribbon dress was made specially for her. “She has excellent taste and it is a pleasure to dress her,” Chasin told JI. “It all started with her love for the State of Israel, and that of her [late] husband Sheldon. That is the connection between us, because I love the Land of Israel.”
Worthy Reads
Gabbard’s Guru: The Atlantic’s Elaine Godfrey looks at former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard’s ideological journey, with many who have known her over the years attributing her worldview to Chris Butler, the Hawaii-based founder of a Hare Krishna offshoot group. “Gabbard’s instincts are those of a ‘moth to a flame of power,’ [Rep. Debbie] Wasserman Schultz told me. And Trump’s flame is burning brightly again. But in Gabbard’s dogged pursuit of power, or at least of proximity to power, others see the influence not of a new guru, but of the old one: Butler. … Each of the current and former Democratic lawmakers I spoke with for this story had concerns about the Gabbard-Butler relationship. ‘There are some very tough questions that need to be asked,’ Representative Jill Tokuda, Democrat of Hawaii, told me. ‘Who’s really calling the shots when it comes to what Tulsi Gabbard believes?’” [TheAtlantic]
Let’s Make a Nuke Deal: In The Wall Street Journal, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Reuel Marc Gerecht and Mark Dubowitz consider how President Donald Trump can counter Iranian nuclear efforts. “The more important question: If Mr. Trump agrees to nuclear negotiations with Iran, how will he approach them? Will he firmly deny Iran the capacity to enrich uranium and retain deeply buried centrifuge facilities and nuclear-capable ballistic missiles? Will he demand that the International Atomic Energy Agency inspect all suspected nuclear sites in Iran and have access to all nuclear-related paperwork and personnel? Will he insist on all the things Barack Obama should have demanded but didn’t when he approved the Iran nuclear agreement in 2015? Or will Mr. Trump take a more conciliatory approach? Will he agree to billions in sanctions relief in return for a temporary halt in Iran’s production of 60%-enriched uranium and the transfer of its existing stockpile to Moscow for ‘safekeeping’? Will he soften sanctions in exchange for an extension of Obama-era prohibitions on Iranian nuclear production, which would again leave in place atomic-weapons infrastructure?” [WSJ]
Word on the Street
President Donald Trump spoke on Wednesday to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, his first call to a foreign leader since the inauguration; the Saudi leader also spoke toSecretary of State Marco Rubio in a separate call…
Elon Musk weighed in on the discourse around his hand gestures at Monday’s inauguration rally, saying that “radical leftists are really upset that they had to take time out of their busy day praising Hamas to call me a Nazi”…
Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA) will chair the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near East, South Asia, Central Asia, and Counterterrorism, two sources familiar with the matter tell Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs…
A federal judge rejected an effort from former Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) to have his conviction tossed over a laptop that was inadvertently given to jurors but meant to be excluded from the trial; Menendez will be sentenced next week…
Politico interviews former Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN), who attempted to mount an early primary challenge to former President Joe Biden…
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) is mulling a gubernatorial run in South Carolina…
The Financial Times interviews Alex Soros about his approach to philanthropy and his chairmanship of the Open Society Foundations founded by his father…
A new exhibition at New York’s Center for Jewish History, opening on International Holocaust Memorial Day on Monday, includes a multimedia installation about Anne Frank and a full-scale recreation of the secret annex where Frank hid with her family…
The New York Times reports on concerns over the exclusion of Jewish students from diversity, equity and inclusion departments and programming on college campuses…
Chicago Bears CEO Kevin Warren said that the hiring of new head coach Ben Johnson was “beshert,” using the Yiddish word for “destiny”…
More than two dozen members of the Chicago City Council called on Mayor Brandon Johnson to remove a puppetry display at the Chicago Cultural Center titled “US-Israel War Machine” and displaying bloody caricatures of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Uncle Sam; the legislators calling for the display’s removal said it “crosses into the obscene and promotes hate”…
Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer said on Wednesday that Israel has not committed to allowing the establishment of a Palestinian state in exchange for normalization with Saudi Arabia, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports…
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres predicted on Wednesday, while speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that the Middle East would be “deeply reshaped” by the conflicts and emerging new governments across the region in the last year, Jewish Insider’s Melissa Weiss reports…
El Al pilot Nechama Spiegel became the first Haredi female captain with the airline after she was promoted from first officer…
Reuters reports on how Hamas’ continued control over Gaza is complicating day-after planning…
American-Israeli academic Clinton Bailey, who extensively documented Bedouin culture, died at 88…
Pic of the Day
Singer and Nova music festival survivor Yuval Raphael was selected as Israel’s representative to this year’s Eurovision contest in Switzerland. During the attack, Raphael hid in a roadside bomb shelter that was attacked by Hamas terrorists armed with grenades on Oct. 7; she was rescued from under a pile of dead bodies after eight hours.
Birthdays
Real estate developer and former minority owner of the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets and Barclays Center, Bruce Ratner turns 80…
Professor of biological chemistry at Weizmann Institute of Science, David Wallach turns 79… Educational consultant, trade association and nonprofit executive, Peter D. Rosenstein turns 78… Manager of Innovative Strategies LLLP, he is a board member of the Baltimore-based Zanvyl and Isabelle Krieger Fund, Howard K. Cohen… U.S. senator (D-DE) from 2001 until three weeks ago, Tom Carper turns 78… Israeli archaeologist and professor at the University of Haifa, Estee Dvorjetski turns 74… Former mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa turns 72… President of Lazard, he was a 2021 candidate for mayor of NYC, Raymond J. McGuire turns 68… Political consultant and media advisor for the Democratic Party, Madeleine “Mandy” Grunwald turns 68… Broadway theater owner, operator, producer and presenter and president of the Nederlander Organization, he is a 13-time Tony Award winner, James L. Nederlander turns 65… Former president of Staples Inc., she serves on the boards of Burlington Stores, CBRE and CarMax, Shira Goodman turns 64… CEO of the Foundation for Jewish Camp for 15 years, he will retire on March 1, Jeremy J. Fingerman… Journalist for NBC News and MSNBC, co-author of Game Change and Double Down: Game Change 2012, John Heilemann turns 59… Palm Beach, Fla., resident, Hilary Bangash Cohen… Journalist, screenwriter and film producer, in 2009 he wrote and produced “The Hurt Locker,” for which he won two Academy Awards including for Best Picture, Mark Boal turns 52… Film director, comic book artist and musician, S. Craig Zahler turns 52… Israeli set and production designer for the television and film industries, Arad Sawat turns 50… Fourth rebbe of the Pittsburgh Hasidic dynasty, Rabbi Meshulam Eliezer Leifer turns 46… Founder and executive director of Jew in the City, Allison F. Josephs… Strategic communications consultant, Arielle Poleg… Head of Meta’s Instagram, Adam Mosseri turns 42… Israeli musician, comedian and director, Daniel Koren turns 41… Manhasset, N.Y., native who competed for Israel in figure skating, she was the 2014 Israeli national champion, Danielle Montalbano turns 36… Retired in 2024 as a soccer player for DC United, he also played on the U.S. men’s national soccer team, Steven Mitchell Birnbaum turns 34… NYC native who competed for Israel in pairs figure skating, she and her partner won silver medals in the 2008 and 2009 Israeli championships, Hayley Anne Sacks turns 34… Member of the senior leadership of the Montgomery County Jewish Parents Coalition, Paula Bienenfeld… Former dean of the Schechter Rabbinical Seminary in Jerusalem, Rabbi Avi Novis-Deutsch…
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