Daily Kickoff
Good Friday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we report on the race shaping up to replace Sen. Mitch McConnell following his announcement he will not seek reelection next year, and talk to Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens about how her party is approaching antisemitism and Israel. We also report on a California school district’s agreement to end its ethnic studies program over educational materials’ antisemitic content, and cover the participation of a Rutgers lecturer in a recent webinar hosted by a Hamas-linked group. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Reps. Craig Goldman and Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Mathias Döpfner and Brandon and Kyle Lutnick.
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: Alleged violations of Israel-Egypt peace treaty ring alarm bells in Israel; Rep. Dan Goldman wants to set partisanship aside on House antisemitism task force; and COP leader Daroff: ‘Legacy organizations should and will adapt, and if they don’t, they will die’. Print the latest edition here.
What We’re Watching
- Arab leaders are meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, today to discuss possible counter-proposals to President Donald Trump’s plan to relocate the population of Gaza.
- The Principles First Summit kicks off in Washington today. Former National Security Advisor John Bolton, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Norm Eisen, Marc Cuban and former congressional candidate Harry Dunn are slated to speak during the weekend-long confab.
- The FII Summit wraps up in Miami today. This morning, Tishman Speyer CEO Rob Speyer, Starwood Capital Chairman & CEO Barry Sternlich and City Storage Systems CEO Travis Kalanick will speak about urban real estate. Later in the morning, Mets owner Steve Cohen is slated to speak about sports investing. This afternoon, Saudi Ambassador to the U.S. Princess Reema Bandar Al Saud, Saudi Investment Minister Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al-Falih and Miami Mayor Francis Suarez will speak at an invite-only session focused on U.S.-Saudi investment ties.
- Har Zion Temple in Penn Valley, Pa., is celebrating its 100th anniversary this Shabbat. Rabbi David Wolpe and his three brothers are slated to speak in memory of their father, Rabbi Gerald Wolpe, who led the congregation for 30 years.
- Georgetown Entrepreneurship is holding its third-annual student-led Venture in the Capital Summit today. The gathering, organized by Drew Peterson, will feature prominent VCs including Shaun Maguire, Adam Fisher, Alan Patricof and Craig Shapiro.
- The Chabad-Lubavitch Shluchos conference continues through the weekend, with its annual gala banquet to be held Sunday evening in New Jersey.
- Germans will vote on Sunday in the country’s parliamentary elections. Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrat party is behind in the polls, with Friedrich Merz and his Christian Democratic Union party leading with roughly 30% support. The far-right Alternative for Germany party, led by Alice Weidel, is polling at 20%, behind Merz’s party but ahead of Scholz’s.
What You Should Know
When Hamas paraded four coffins of deceased hostages — which the terror group claimed to be 83-year-old Oded Lifshitz, 9-month-old Kfir and 4-year-old Ariel Bibas and their mother, Shiri Bibas — in a grotesque display yesterday in front of jubilant Gazans before handing them off to the Red Cross, Israelis were despondent, Jewish Insider’s U.S. editor Danielle Cohen reports. To deepen the anguish, one of those celebrating at the handover was recently released terrorist Mohammad Abu Warda, who murdered three Americans in a 1996 bus bombing.
Well into the night, the grim spectacle took an even darker turn — the IDF had quickly identified Lifshitz’s body and later Kfir and Ariel’s too, but found that the fourth body was not Shiri’s.
Further, the IDF found that the two children were likely “brutally murdered” in November 2023, rather than killed in an Israeli airstrike as Hamas had claimed. Shiri’s status remains unknown.
Then, the near-simultaneous series of explosions on three empty buses near Tel Aviv, and the discovery of an additional explosive device before it was detonated — reportedly intended to explode on Friday morning and kill hundreds of people — underscored the continued threat of Palestinian terrorism on an already dark day.
These developments have rocked the already unsteady ground of the second phase of the cease-fire and hostage-release deal, which Israel agreed to begin negotiating just days ago.
The IDF called the handover of the “anonymous, unidentified body,” which was not found to match any other hostage, “a very serious violation” of the agreement, the second phase of which calls for a complete IDF withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. Such a withdrawal has already been difficult for Israel’s vulnerable government to agree to, and with this blatant breach of the deal, Hamas has further enraged the Israeli public and given the deal’s detractors more fodder.
Hamas this morning claimed to have been surprised by Israel’s findings and said that Shiri’s remains appeared to have been mixed up with other human remains from the rubble after an Israeli airstrike hit the place she was held in, Reuters reported.
The attempted terror attack also vindicates the segment of Israelis who are growing more and more agitated with Israel releasing dangerous Palestinian prisoners, many with a history of deadly terror attacks, back into Palestinian society as part of the deal.
Adam Boehlor, President Donald Trump’s U.S. hostage affairs envoy, told CNN, “If I were them [Hamas], I would release everybody right now or it’s going to be total annihilation.”
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) condemned the scenes in Gaza on Thursday and told JI’s Emily Jacobs that Hamas’ hostage transfer ceremony was indicative of the level of support the terror group has among the Palestinian people. Fetterman argued that such support came with “accountability” attached to it. Read more here.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) called for “the military and political annihilation of Hamas” hours after video emerged of cheering Palestinian crowds reacting to the release.
Earlier on Thursday, U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said the negotiations had “a real chance of success,” a level of optimism that appears dimmed by the events of the day. Read more here.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on X yesterday following the release of the bodies, “Hamas is evil – pure evil – and must be eradicated. ALL hostages must come home NOW.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this morning, “The cruelty of the Hamas monsters knows no bounds. Not only did they kidnap the father, Yarden Bibas, the young mother, Shiri, and their two small babies. In an unspeakably cynical manner, they did not return Shiri with her little children, the little angels, and they put the body of a Gazan woman in a coffin.”
“We will work resolutely to bring Shiri home together with all our hostages — both living and dead — and ensure that Hamas pays the full price for this cruel and evil violation of the agreement,” Netanyahu added.
open seat
McConnell’s retirement creates opening for Massie Senate bid
Sen. Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) retirement, announced on Thursday, could open up a path for Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), among the most consistent opponents of legislation to support Israel and combat antisemitism in the House, to make a bid for the U.S. Senate in the 2026 midterms. The prospect is generating fierce opposition from the local and national Jewish community, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Smoke signals: While Massie has not yet announced his plans, and his office did not respond to a request for comment, he’s been seen in recent years as being a contender for McConnell’s seat when the 83-year-old legislator retired. Massie publicly floated the prospect of running for Senate on Thursday afternoon, posting a poll on X asking followers whether he should remain in the House, run for Senate or run for governor. The Republican Jewish Coalition quickly pledged that it would mount an aggressive push against Massie if he runs, with “unlimited’ spending against the congressman.
Q&A
Haley Stevens: Democrats need to ‘stop making everyone happy at the expense of making no one happy’
Recently sworn in for her fourth term in Congress, Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) has set herself apart as one of the most outspoken Michigan Democrats in support of Israel and against rising antisemitism. Her stance has won her strong support with her district’s sizable Jewish community, which helped her defeat Rep. Andy Levin (D-MI) in a member-on-member primary in 2022. Her allyship with the Michigan Jewish community has set her apart in a state where many Democrats have tried to walk a political tightrope since Oct. 7, 2023, attempting to maintain support from the Jewish community while wooing anti-Israel progressives, along with Muslim and Arab-American constituencies. Now, as she considers a bid for Michigan’s open Senate seat in 2026, Stevens spoke to Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen about her approach to policymaking and politics.
On Israel: “When constituents come to me — going back to Israel — and they say we need one state, I say, I don’t agree with that. When they say they hate that I support Israel — that I’m supporting genocide — I’m just very clear that I support Israel’s right to exist and here’s why,” Stevens said. “We’ve got to be very clear about who we are and stop making everyone happy at the expense of making no one happy. Days after Oct. 7, I told my team that clarity, transparency and consistency are key. That’s how I’ve approached this horrible war and the positions I’ve taken as a member of Congress who has voted proudly to continue our relationship [with Israel] while also making votes to support humanitarian aid into Gaza, which is a way to stop some of the horrors that Hamas has brought upon its people.”
curriculum controversy
Santa Ana School District stops teaching ethnic studies due to antisemitic content
California’s Santa Ana Unified School District cited antisemitism as its reason to stop teaching ethnic studies after settling a lawsuit on Thursday that claimed course material used by the district was rooted in antisemitic rhetoric. The lawsuit — filed by the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, Anti-Defamation League and American Jewish Committee — alleged that the courses “Ethnic Studies World Geography,” “Ethnic Studies World Histories” and “Ethnic Studies: Perspectives, Identities, and Social Justice” contained false and damaging narratives about Israel and Jews. Under the settlement, the school district agreed to redesign those courses and provide opportunity for public input in accordance with California’s open meeting laws, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
Wider issue: The involvement of several major Jewish groups in the lawsuit speaks to the “fact that this is not just a problem locally in Santa Ana but it’s a problem nationally and it’s something that we can’t allow to continue,” Marci Miller, Brandeis Center’s director of legal investigations, told JI. The lawsuit, which was filed one year ago, alleged that Ethnic Studies Steering Committee officials considered holding meetings to approve courses on Jewish holidays to make it difficult or impossible for Jews to attend. The pejorative term “Jewish Question” appeared on a committee agenda.
Read the full story here.
terror ties
Rutgers lecturer, UNRWA official take part in Hamas-affiliated webinar
Rutgers University lecturer Hamid Abdeljaber and UNRWA official Adnan Abu Hasna spoke at a Hamas-affiliated organization’s webinar on Wednesday. The webinar, titled “UNRWA after the ban law and the arrival of Trump: Dangers and coping mechanisms,” was a discussion of the aftermath of an Israeli law banning the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, in light of some of its employees taking part in the Oct. 7 attacks and its facilities being used to attack Israel and hold hostages, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports.
Background: The webinar was organized by Association 302 for Palestinian Refugees, a Lebanon-based group led by Ali Hweidi, who is also a leading official for Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad, a group designated by Israel as a Hamas front. It was aired live on the Facebook page of the European Palestinian Information Center, whose chairman, Abin Abou Rashed, was arrested in the Netherlands for sending millions of Euros to Hamas. In addition, a Hamas official in Lebanon, Ahmed Al-Hajj, was one of the speakers in the webinar.
scoop
Lawler, Cherfilus-McCormick introduce new Iran sanctions legislation
Reps. Mike Lawler (R-NY) and Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL), the chair and ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Middle East and North Africa subcommittee, introduced legislation this week that would place sanctions on additional parties involved in Iran’s petrochemical trade, some of which were not targeted in previous sanctions legislation, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. The bill, the Enhanced Iran Sanctions Act, follows two Iran oil sanctions bills that Lawler led in the previous Congress, which passed into law last year. The backing of Lawler and Cherfilus-McCormick, who hold key positions on the Foreign Affairs Committee, suggests that the bill could receive serious bipartisan momentum.
Cracking down: The legislation imposes sanctions on those involved in the export, sale or processing of Iranian petrochemical products, including banks and financial institutions, insurance providers, ship-flagging registries, pipeline builders or operators of processing facilities; any or all subsidiaries, successors and aliases of such entities; owners or majority shareholders of such entities; corporate officers of such entities; and family members of individuals involved in such activity.
Read the full story here.
caucusing for peace
Craig Goldman, Wasserman Schultz named as co-chairs of Abraham Accords Caucus
Reps. Craig Goldman (R-TX) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) were named as co-chairs of the House Abraham Accords Caucus on Thursday, joining returning co-chairs Reps. Ann Wagner (R-MO) and Brad Schneider (D-IL), Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
New blood: The two Jewish lawmakers replace two co-chairs who did not run for reelection in 2024, former Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and David Trone (D-MD). Working with a corresponding bipartisan caucus in the Senate, the House group has led a series of efforts to strengthen and expand the normalization agreements between Israel and Arab states in a variety of arenas, including enhancing military cooperation, and launched a working group to discuss Gaza reconstruction last year. Goldman’s leadership in the caucus is his first major move since being elected to Congress to take a leadership role in Middle East policy issues.
Worthy Reads
When Innocence Dies, Twice: In The Wall Street Journal, Bernard-Henri Lévy reckons with the last weeks of Kfir and Ariel Bibas’ lives, after the infant and toddler’s bodies were identified by forensics following their release from Gaza. “One must imagine the life of Kfir and Ariel as hostages if, as is probable, they were torn from their mother’s arms. Imagine the life of a baby who spends most of his time in dark, damp tunnels. Imagine the life of a toddler, ripped from his family without understanding. Picture them playing, because children always play. Did they have stuffed animals or spent shell casings? Legos or guns to lick instead of honey-coated letters? Were they hungry? Thirsty? Did they scrape mud with their tiny nails or drink contaminated water? Did the captors change Kfir’s diapers, or did they let him sit in his own filth until his skin burned? Did they have talcum powder? Medicine for fevers? What did the masked jailers do when the boys cried, were scared of night noises, or asked the stars about their fate when they were briefly allowed outside? Did they hit them? Strike them with rifle butts? Did they amuse themselves by firing their Kalashnikovs into the air to frighten them further? Did Ariel become the guardian of his baby brother? Did they live out their brief lives together or separately?” [WSJ]
Buyer’s Remorse: The Atlantic’s Yair Rosenberg suggests that some of President Donald Trump’s supporters are unhappy with the policies he has adopted since taking office in January. “A month after Trump’s inauguration, the honeymoon is over; some of his backers are waking up next to the man they voted for and wondering if they’ve made a terrible mistake. With every policy he implements and offhand remark he makes, Trump is falsifying the imaginary versions of himself that inspired many of his supporters. In late January, Tucker Carlson, arguably the most influential media personality on the American right, interviewed Curt Mills, the executive director of The American Conservative, a generally pro-Trump publication. Basking in the glow of the inauguration, the two men enthused over what they described as Trump’s commitment to a new policy of American restraint on the world stage. ‘It is an actual choice,’ Mills said. “We cannot do the border if we do the Middle East.’ Carlson quickly concurred: ‘We have to reorient toward our own interests.’ Eleven days after this conversation aired, Trump announced his Gaz-a-Lago gambit. Shortly after, Mills published and promoted a piece declaring, ‘Trump’s Apparent Gaza Scheme Endangers His Entire Legacy.’” [TheAtlantic]
Witkoff’s Way: Puck’s Tara Palmeri looks at Steve Witkoff’s power within the State Department as the Middle East envoy plays key roles in the Trump administration’s efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas wars. “Unlike Trump’s first term, when national security advisor John Bolton and Pompeo were constantly at loggerheads, I’m told there’s no obvious power struggle between Witkoff and Rubio, and that Witkoff is privately deferential to Rubio. And technically, of course, special envoys don’t outrank ambassadors, let alone the secretary of state. But if you can walk into the Oval Office and have the president’s ear, your authority is hard to contest. And Witkoff — who has seemingly added Ukraine and Russia to his Middle East portfolio — is the envoy with the most potential to overshadow his nominal boss. ‘No one is saying, “What does the secretary of state think?”’ said the department official. ‘In terms of setting direction, Witkoff outranks Rubio.’” [Puck]
Word on the Street
Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Rick Scott (R-FL) and Reps. Mike Rogers (R-AL) and Chip Roy (R-TX) introduced the DEFUND Act, which would initiate the United States’ withdrawal from the United Nations, citing in part the U.N.’s actions toward Israel; Rogers is the chair of the House Armed Services Committee…
The Senate voted 51-49 to confirm Kash Patel as director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) voting against him…
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee voted along party lines to advance Linda McMahon‘s nomination to be secretary of education…
Cantor Fitzgerald announced that Brandon and Kyle Lutnick, the sons of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who was confirmed by the Senate earlier this week, will be elevated to senior roles at the company; Brandon Lutnick was named CEO and chairman, and Kyle Lutnick will serve as executive vice chairman…
The Financial Times interviewed Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner about Vice President J.D. Vance’s speech at the Munich Security Conference last week…
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said she won’t remove New York City Mayor Eric Adams from office, weeks after the Justice Department announced it was moving to dismiss corruption charges against Adams; Hochul added that she planned to limit Adams’ governing capabilities for the remainder of his term…
Among those named to City & State NY’s “New York City Power Broker 100” list: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Reps. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), Dan Goldman (D-NY) and Jerry Nadler (D-NY), NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, City Comptroller Brad Lander, Met Council CEO David Greenfield, JCRC-NY CEO Mark Treyger, Jewish Voters Action Network founder Maury Litwack and UJA-Federation of New York’s Eric Goldstein and Hindy Poupko…
Columbia University removed diversity, equity and inclusion language from its website following last month’s executive orders banning DEI policies at educational institutions…
A former employee of Intel who is Jewish resolved his lawsuit against his former employer, to whom he had complained about a supervisor who had made antisemitic and inflammatory comments…
The U.K.’s culture minister is looking into how the BBC aired a documentary about Gaza whose young protagonist is the son of a senior Hamas official; the BBC said it was taking the documentary, titled “Gaza: How To Survive A War Zone,” off the air while it conducts “further due diligence with the production company that made the film”…
The Berlin Film Festival is facing a police investigation and calls for the defunding of the festival after a Hong Kong filmmaker giving a speech on behalf of an awardee blasted Israel as “a brutal colonial settler state funded by the West”…
The New York Times looks at Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s efforts to position Riyadh as a key player in global diplomatic efforts…
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei pressed the emir of Qatar to release frozen funds that are being held by Doha; the Biden administration in September 2023 issued a waiver authorizing the release from Qatar of some $6 billion in South Korean oil payments to Tehran, at least some of which is still being held…
New York real estate developer Marshall Rose, a central figure in the revivals of Bryant Park and the adjacent New York Public Library, died at 88…
Landscape architect M. Paul Friedberg, who focused on reimagining standard city architecture and planning, died at 93…
Pic of the Day
Israelis waited yesterday for the convoy transporting the bodies of Israeli hostages Oded Lifshitz, Ariel Bibas and Kfir Bibas outside the Abu Kabir National Center for Forensic Medicine in Tel Aviv.
Birthdays
Pitcher for the Israeli team at the 2017 World Baseball Classic qualifier, he is now a sales associate at Stryker, Brad Goldberg turns 35 today…
FRIDAY: Holocaust survivor and author of a book on systemic hate, he was the developer of the L’Ermitage Beverly Hills in 1976, Severyn Ashkenazy turns 89… Co-founder of Dreamworks and noted collector of American artists’ work, his name is on the Lincoln Center complex in NYC, David Geffen turns 82… Monica Oakes Agor… Vice-chairman of the NBA’s Detroit Pistons, Arn Herschel Tellem turns 71… Winner of two Pulitzer Prizes during his 30 years reporting career, he is the director of a fiscal and monetary policy group at the Brookings Institution, David Meyer Wessel turns 71… Chairman of the KABR Group, a New Jersey-based real estate investment firm, Kenneth D. Pasternak turns 71… President of Yale University from 2013 until 2024, Peter Salovey (family name was Soloveitchik) turns 67… Fitness personality, he develops businesses through the “Body by Jake” brand, Jake Steinfeld turns 67… Owner of the NFL’s Cleveland Browns until 2012, he also owned Aston Villa F.C. of the English Premier League until 2016, Randolph David “Randy” Lerner turns 63… Former member of the Knesset for the Kadima and Hatnuah parties, Orit Zuaretz turns 58… Executive director of Mike Pence’s advocacy organization, Advancing American Freedom, Paul Teller turns 54… Reality television star, Jonathan Cheban turns 51… NYT best-selling novelist (two of which have been made into movies), writer-in-residence in the graduate creative writing program at NYU, Jonathan Safran Foer turns 48… Former Chicago Cubs player, Adam Greenberg turns 44… Emergency medical physician at MedStar Washington Hospital Center, Dr. Miriam Fischer Wachter… Former member of the Florida House of Representatives for six years, now in private law practice, Katie Edwards-Walpole turns 44… French actress and film director, Mélanie Laurent turns 42… Director of strategic philanthropy for the northeast region of American Friends of Magen David Adom, Samuel Zeev Konig… Rochester, N.Y., resident, Joshua Futerman… Israeli judoka, she won a team bronze medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Shira Rishony turns 34… Director of campus support and action implementation at Hillel International, Reuben Berman… Rhythmic gymnast who competed in the 2012 Olympics in London as a member of the Israeli team, Polina Zakaluzny turns 33… Monsey, N.Y., resident, Efrayim Katz… Former professional tennis player, Noah Rubin turns 29… Associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore, Jay S. Schaefer…
SATURDAY: Retired justice and deputy president of the Supreme Court of Israel, Shlomo Levin turns 92… Child survivor of Bergen-Belsen, in 2024 she donated $55 million to the University of Haifa, Herta Amir turns 92… Music journalist and former board member for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation, Rona Elliot turns 78… Former co-chair of Wisconsin Jewish Democrats and author of three “Jewish Miss Marple” books, Linda Frank turns 77… Dutch singer-songwriter especially popular in France, she converted to Judaism and her children live in Israel, Helena “Lenny” Kuhr turns 75… White House counsel to President Obama, now a professor at NYU School of Law, Robert (Bob) Bauer turns 73… Marriage and family therapist in Los Angeles and founder of the Israel Institute for Diplomacy and Technology Advancements, Daryl Temkin Ph.D.… Chief strategist for both of Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns, now a CNN commentator, David Axelrod turns 70… President of the New York Yankees baseball club since 2000, executive producer for the YES Network, Randy Levine turns 70… Winner of five major golf championships and 24 other LPGA Tour events, she is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame, now a golf course architect, Amy Alcott turns 69… Former member of the Knesset for the Jewish Home-Tkuma party, Mordechai “Moti” Yogev turns 69… Former director of administration and special projects at Cincinnati’s Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education, Lisa Shusterman… Writer, editor and publisher best known for his dark fiction, as well as his publishing imprint Aardwolf Publishing, Clifford Lawrence Meth turns 64… Senior rabbi at Herzl-Ner Tamid Conservative Congregation in Mercer Island, Wash., Rabbi Jacob Herber turns 62… Actress, comedian and cast member of “Saturday Night Live” for seven years, Rachel Dratch turns 59… Past leader of the Israeli Labor Party, he is now the CEO of Partner Communications (formerly known as Orange Israel), Avraham “Avi” Gabbay turns 58… Emmy Award-winning television producer, he served as showrunner for four seasons of NBC’s sitcom “The Office,” Paul Lieberstein turns 58… Actor, author and academic, Ari Hoptman turns 58… Former soccer player on the Israeli national team and on teams in both Spain and Turkey, Haim Michael Revivo turns 53… British stand-up comedian and former columnist for the Jewish Chronicle, Josh Howie turns 49… Winner of NBC’s “Last Comic Standing” in 2008, she has released six stand-up specials on Netflix, Iliza Shlesinger turns 42… Partner in the appellate practice of Norton Rose Fulbright, Peter B. Siegal… VP at Oddity and SpoiledChild, Miranda R. May… Former chair of the D.C. chapter of the Israel Policy Forum Atid, Danielle Bella Ellison…
SUNDAY: Retired senior counsel in the Baltimore office of DLA Piper, he served as president of the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, Shale D. Stiller turns 90… EVP emeritus of the Orthodox Union and editor-in-chief of the Koren Talmud Bavli, Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb turns 85… Bethesda, Md., resident, Lois Copeland… Dean of a yeshiva high school in Israel, in 1967 he co-founded a popular band called The Rabbis’ Sons, Rabbi Baruch “Burry” Chait turns 79… Philosopher, novelist and public intellectual, she was a winner of a MacArthur Genius Fellowship in 1996, Rebecca Newberger Goldstein turns 75… Chairman of Agudath Israel of America and CEO of the OuterStuff sportswear line, Sol Werdiger turns 74… Film director, writer and producer, he is the president emeritus of the Producers Guild of America, Marshall Schreiber Herskovitz turns 73… Investor, holder of both Kazakh and Israeli citizenship, he served as president of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress (a regional branch of the WJC), Alexander Mashkevitch turns 71… 25-year veteran of USAID’s Foreign Service, she was the mission director for USAID in the West Bank and Gaza, Monica Stein-Olson turns 68… Strategic communications consultant, Joe Berkofsky… Political consultant and pollster, he is the founder of Luntz Global, Frank Luntz turns 63… Founder and CEO of Dell Technologies, Michael Dell turns 60… U.S. senator (D-MD), Angela Alsobrooks turns 54… Best-selling author of young adult novels, Nova Ren Suma turns 50… Grammy Award-winning actor, comedian and singer, Josh Gad turns 44… CEO of film production firm Benaroya Pictures, Michael Benaroya turns 44… Founder of Tahrir Scarf, Johnathan Morpurgo… Chief operating officer and director of research at The Lawfare Project, Benjamin Ryberg… Member of the Knesset for the Likud party, Dan Illouz turns 39… Chief of staff at USAID until DOGE, Rebecca Chalif… Reporter at Bloomberg, Jennifer Epstein turns 39… Founder of an eponymous real estate brokerage in Tel Aviv, Barak Daon… Engineering manager at Business Insider, Reuben A. Ingber… Strategy and impact officer at Walton Enterprises, Mary Ann Weiss… National politics breaking news reporter at The Washington Post, Patrick Svitek… Director of policy and business development at Polymateria, Gidon Feen…
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