Daily Kickoff
Good Friday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we cover Tulsi Gabbard’s confirmation hearing to be national intelligence director and the reactions to her performance. We do a deep dive into the discord inside the Chautauqua Institution’s historic resort community over its defense of a senior staff member who called Oct. 7 a “momentous” day and refused to condemn Hamas, and interview the father of hostage Bar Kupershtein at the site from which his son was kidnapped. We also report on Kash Patel’s confirmation hearing for FBI director and highlight an investigation launched by Columbia University into a recent act of vandalism by anti-Israel demonstrators. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Zach Bauer, Doug Burgum and Elise Stefanik.
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: Jewish day school alumni far more connected to Jewish identity, Israel than peers in college — study; Inside the Israeli delegation that helped fight the Los Angeles wildfires; and Parents of Nova survivor meet their son’s savior, a Bedouin Israeli, for first time. Print the latest edition here.
What We’re Watching
- The U.S. Representative Office of the National Council of Resistance of Iran is holding a press conference at 11 a.m. today during which it says it will reveal undisclosed intelligence on the Iranian regime’s covert efforts to produce nuclear warheads.
- The first debate for Democratic candidates for governor of New Jersey will be held Sunday evening at Rider University.
- The Orthodox Union will host its first-ever attorneys conference to combat antisemitism, beginning on Sunday and ending on Tuesday, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Confirmed speakers include Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY).
What You Should Know
Tulsi Gabbard’s confirmation hearing to be director of national intelligence was marked by a series of evasive and often-unclear answers on some of her key vulnerabilities, which appear to have left her nomination in jeopardy, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Asked repeatedly by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle for a yes-or-no answer on whether she considered government leaker Edward Snowden to be a traitor, she repeatedly declined to do so. Instead, she offered a drawn-out answer describing Snowden as a criminal but also saying he had revealed serious legal and constitutional breaches.
Both Democrats and Republicans appeared perturbed and frustrated by her continued evasion on that point.
On Syria, Gabbard — who notably visited then-President Bashar Al-Assad in Damascus in 2017 — suggested the U.S. might be safer with the Assad government still in power, and unequivocally condemned the new government led by offshoots of Al-Qaida and ISIS. That was a break with other key administration nominees, who have said the U.S. should engage, albeit cautiously, with the new Syrian leadership.
Gabbard called it a “betrayal” for the U.S. to back anti-Assad rebels in Syria, whom she painted broadly as Islamist extremists and terrorists. “I have no love for Assad or Gaddaffi or any dictator. I just hate Al-Qaida. I hate that our leaders cozy up to Islamist extremists, calling them ‘rebels’,” she said. “Syria is now controlled by an Al-Qaida offshoot, HTS, led by an Islamist Jihadist.”
Gabbard firmly stood by her controversial and heavily scrutinized trip to Syria and Lebanon, which included hours-long meetings with Assad. “I believe that leaders, whether you be in Congress or the president of the United States, can benefit greatly by engaging … and meeting directly with people, whether they be adversaries or friends,” she said.
Gabbard claimed to have been unaware that a Muslim leader she met with in Syria had threatened suicide bombings in the West, and also pleaded ignorance about the connections of individuals she traveled with to Lebanon who are linked to a political party that had been involved in Hezbollah-led assassinations and other operations.
On Iran, Gabbard appeared to reverse her position on the 2020 strike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani — which she described at the time as an unconstitutional act of war — and the administration’s Iran policy more broadly, saying that she had feared, at the time, the strike would be escalatory but was proved wrong.
Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) also suggested that Gabbard had credulously accepted and spread Iranian-sponsored disinformation, alongside propaganda spread by Russia and the Assad government, while casting doubt on American intelligence assessments. He said he planned to tackle the Iran issue further in a subsequent classified session with Gabbard.
Gabbard said that she had cast doubt on U.S. intelligence reports finding that the Assad regime had used chemical weapons against civilians in part because “these two cases were being looked at to be used as a pretext for a major military movement.” She instead elevated a counter-narrative from dubiously sourced individuals linked to Russia and the Assad regime.
Another weak spot for Gabbard was her unclear approach to government surveillance authorities under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, as she repeatedly declined to say whether she believed warrants should be necessary for such surveillance; U.S. courts have ruled they are not. Read more below.
trouble in paradise
The exclusive Chautauqua Institution wrestles with antisemitism inside its gates

For nine weeks each summer, a small plot of land on the shores of Chautauqua Lake, in Western New York, becomes a utopian gathering place for Americans whose ideal summer vacation includes lectures, interfaith services and symphony performances, alongside kayaking, pickleball and ice cream. That easygoing, harmonious spirit was shattered in 2022, when the novelist Salman Rushdie was stabbed onstage during a lecture by a man linked to Iranian-backed terrorists. But Rushdie and Chautauqua emerged defiant, confident that the institution’s commitment to community and free expression had survived unscathed. Now, Chautauqua’s values are again being put to the test. This time, there is no clear path forward as controversy surrounding the Israel-Hamas war and accusations of antisemitism threaten to splinter this idyllic summer community, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
Accusations of negligence: The leaders of Chautauqua’s Jewish community claim that executives at Chautauqua have for months been ignoring their concerns about antisemitism among the institution’s senior staff. The institution has responded with lofty statements about its deeply held values of dialogue and nuance. That may be the Chautauqua way, but Jewish community members are saying it isn’t enough.
Read the full investigation here for a look at the discord inside the historic resort community over its defense of a senior staff member who called Oct. 7 a “momentous” day and refused to condemn Hamas.