Daily Kickoff
Good Friday morning.
Ed. note: In honor of Presidents Day, the next Daily Kickoff will arrive on Tuesday, Feb. 18.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we preview the Munich Security Conference, which begins today, and talk to members of the U.S. delegation about what they’re expecting in sessions and on the sidelines of the confab. We also look at growing concerns among members of the American Academy of Pediatrics over the group’s anti-Israel activism and interview the Jewish Azerbaijani singer who will represent his country in Eurovision. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Linda McMahon, UAE Amb. Yousef Al Otaiba and Joel Rayburn.
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: Is AIPAC’s big bet on Sarah Elfreth paying off?; The good, the bad and the ugly of USAID’s Middle East funding; and Restitution project genealogists track down rightful heirs of Nazi-looted books. Print the latest edition here.
What We’re Watching
- Vice President J.D. Vance is slated to speak this afternoon at the Munich Security Conference, which kicked off earlier today. More below.
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wraps up a weeklong trip to Europe in Poland today. Among those invited to travel with Hegseth this week was far-right conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec, who said he was in Ukraine earlier this week with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
- Hamas said that it plans to release three hostages — Alexander Trufanov, Israeli-American citizen Sagui Dekel-Chen and Iair Horn — tomorrow as per the terms of last month’s cease-fire agreement, following threats made earlier this week to indefinitely delay the release of hostages.
- Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet with Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Jerusalem on Sunday, during Rubio’s first visit to Israel since taking office.
- The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations begins its annual Israel mission in Jerusalem on Sunday. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is slated to address the group on Sunday evening.
What You Should Know
The Munich Security Conference, which began today in the German city, will be the first global stage in which the second Trump administration will present its approach to today’s security and geopolitical challenges.
Vice President J.D. Vance,who visited Dachau yesterday, is slated to speak this afternoon about the U.S.’ role in the world. Vance toldThe Wall Street Journal yesterday that the U.S. could levy sanctions against Russia — and dangled the possibility of military action — if President Vladimir Putin doesn’t agree to a peace deal with Ukraine. Read more about Vance’s visit to Dachau here.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is also expected to attend the conference, after a delay due to a cracked window on his plane forced the aircraft to return to Washington yesterday. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Charles Q. Brown is also attending, and will be speaking Saturday on a panel focused on a “whole-of-society” approach to defense. Keith Kellogg, the administration’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, will speak on a Saturday panel about the war.
Nearly two dozen U.S. legislators will be attending the confab, led by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI). Attendees from the U.S. delegation include: Sens. Jim Risch (R-ID) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), respectively the chair and ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Mark Warner (D-VA), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Chris Coons (D-DE), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Eric Schmitt (R-MO) and Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), as well as Reps. William Timmons (R-SC) and Jason Crow (D-CO).
We talked to a number of the legislators who are on their way to Munich about what they expect to dominate the conversations on the stage and sidelines of the conference.
Graham told JI’s Emily Jacobs that he expects the U.S. delegation “to talk about how we failed in the deterrence arena. We’re years into this war [between Russia and Ukraine]. Well, what happened? Where did we fail? Make sure we don’t fail again. And whatever deal you do about Ukraine, make sure it doesn’t lead to another war and puts China on notice: here’s what happens if you invade Taiwan. And [to discuss] how did we fail when it came to Iran? How did we let it get this strong?”
With multiple dedicated sessions, Ukraine will be a major topic again at this year’s conference, which falls days before the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of the country. The issue came up earlier in the week when Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, speaking in Brussels, said it was “unrealistic” to think that Ukraine would join NATO after the war. (Wicker toldPolitico that Hegseth “made a rookie mistake in Brussels, and he’s walked back some of what he said but not that line,” adding “I don’t know who wrote the speech — it is the kind of thing Tucker Carlson could have written, and Carlson is a fool.”)
Blumenthal told us on Wednesday that he expects “a lot of consternation after Sec. Hegseth’s comment today, which amounts to betrayal and surrender for Ukraine. I think there will be a lot of anger and angst about our abandoning the fight, undermining Ukraine’s position before it even begins negotiations, which hardly seems like the art of the deal. I think on a number of fronts, there will be both fear and outrage that our foreign aid effort is being abandoned, and that our position in the world may be shrinking.”
“I’m going to be listening and sympathizing [with allies],” Blumenthal added, “but also redoubling my determination that we must support Ukraine, Israel and other allies at risk because their fight for freedom is our fight.”
One Republican senator coming to the conference this year told us there are fundamental misunderstandings about the U.S. political system by non-American attendees. “People are concerned. Every time I go to a NATO summit or the Munich Security Conference, people do not understand our form of government. … They think that suddenly we’ve got an imperial presidency, where any president, whether it be Biden or Trump, can do whatever they want to. We know there are guardrails. We know the treaties that we’re in are subject to congressional confirmation. So you go back there and basically do a little ‘Schoolhouse Rock’ with them” — a reference to the once-popular children’s educational programming that taught civics, math, science and grammar through animated musical numbers — “on how the U.S. government works, that calms down fears.”
What about the Trump administration’s Cabinet, which grew this week with the confirmations of Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health and human services secretary? “Of course” the topic will come up, Coons told us. Regarding Gabbard, Coons said he had “heard directly, already, from representatives of close allies that her confirmation to lead our intelligence community will make close, trusted intelligence communications more difficult between some of the partners and allies we rely on most closely to help keep us safe.”
Schatz told JI that he expects the Trump administration’s halting of most of its foreign aid to be a major topic of discussion. “We’re going to fly to Munich as a delegation of members of Congress on the Democratic and Republican side, and we’re not going to be able to get a first word out before our partners around the world are going to ask us: ‘What the hell did you just do to us?’” Schatz told JI.
We also expect the Israel-Hamas war, as well as the region’s changing landscape, to be a key topic among attendees. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar will speak at Munich this afternoon about the prospects for Middle East peace, shortly after International Atomic Energy Agency head Rafael Grossi talks about global nuclear threats. Grossi’s address comes hours after a Russian drone struck the Chernobyl nuclear site.
A second conversation on Middle East peace — this one without any Israeli representation — will take place later today, featuring Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Hussein Safadi, the European Commission’s Kaja Kallas and the U.N.’s Sigrid Kaag. The conversation will be moderated by CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.
Tomorrow morning will see addresses from German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. U.K. Foreign Minister David Lammy and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock will speak tomorrow afternoon on a panel of Europe’s top diplomats. Later in the day, World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder will speak on the main stage about the Middle East in conversation with The Washington Post’s Souad Mekhennet.
bad medicine
The war on the pediatrics ward: Inside the American Academy of Pediatrics’ battle with antisemitism
Like other fields, the world of American medicine has not been spared from the division wrought by the Israel-Hamas war. The problem is particularly acute within the field of pediatric medicine. The rise of antisemitic and anti-Israel rhetoric by pediatric doctors online and in medical forums has raised concerns among Jewish providers for their patients and careers. Within distinguished medical bodies, senior physicians and students alike are issuing anti-Israel purity tests, urging organizations ostensibly focused on promoting high-quality medical care to take sides in a divisive war thousands of miles away. Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch investigates the concerns of Jewish doctors within the American Academy of Pediatrics, the preeminent membership body for pediatricians, which claims to have more than 67,000 members.
Blind spot: “They appear to be taking a different approach to issues that involve Jews and Israel than they do in other areas,” Dr. Daniel Rauch, a pediatrician and professor at Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine in New Jersey, said of the AAP, an organization with which he has been involved for decades. “To be so blind in this area is frightening and speaks to structural antisemitism.”
Since the Oct. 7 attacks, JI has investigated antisemitism across America, including in the mental health field, the LGBTQ community and the literary world.
Now, read JI’s deep dive on the challenges Jewish pediatricians face in their most important professional organization.
bridge blocks
Elbridge Colby’s Pentagon nomination generates concern among key Senate Republicans
The nomination of Elbridge Colby to be the next undersecretary of defense for policy is causing concerns among some Republicans over his accommodationist approach to a nuclear Iran and his ties to other isolationist figures recently installed at the Pentagon, many with links to Charles Koch and his network of organizations, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod and Emily Jacobs report.
State of play: Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), the chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, confirmed to JI that there are issues among committee members with Colby’s nomination. “There are concerns, there are concerns,” Wicker told JI, echoing comments he’s made to other media outlets in recent days. One Republican senator familiar with the situation told JI that the White House was aware of Colby’s GOP dissenters on the Armed Services Committee, which currently has jurisdiction over Colby’s nomination. They added that the Trump administration officials they had spoken with knew that the problems surrounding Colby’s nomination were “not just about him,” pointing to broader concerns about the hirings of Michael DiMino and Dan Caldwell. The senator said Colby’s nomination is currently not moving ahead in the committee, which the senator said is a positive sign.
education consternation
Dems raise alarm that Education Department layoffs will hinder antisemitism enforcement
Congressional Democrats are raising concerns that reported firings at the Department of Education directed by the White House will hobble the department’s ability to combat antisemitism, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod and Emily Jacobs report.
What they’re saying: Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ) raised the issue during Linda McMahon’s confirmation hearing on Thursday to be secretary of education, saying he was “alarmed” that multiple Office for Civil Rights staff had allegedly been placed on administrative leave without notice or explanation. “While President Trump has paid lip service to combating antisemitism, this move demonstrated that he will not take the actions necessary to match the words,” Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), chair of the House antisemitism task force, said in a statement.
Read the full story here.
Campus questions: McMahon committed to ensuring the safety of Jewish students on college campuses and addressing the backlog of federal civil rights complaints filed since Oct. 7, 2023, during her confirmation hearing, though she did not offer specifics on how she would implement her plans, JI’s Emily Jacobs reports.
stepping down
Facing antisemitism allegations, Chautauqua Institution parts ways with embattled religion director
For months, Jewish community members who spend the summer at the Chautauqua Institution — the exclusive resort community and cultural center in Western New York known to many as the place where author Salman Rushdie was stabbed in 2022 — have quietly raised concerns to Chautauqua executives about a senior staff member who had published antisemitic statements online. And for months, nothing changed, until a group of Jewish leaders went public with their concerns last month. The institution’s director of religion programs, Rafia Amina Khader, plans to resign from her position today, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
Deep regret: “Chautauqua Institution deeply regrets the pain and concern experienced recently in our community and has apologized sincerely for its role in that,” said Jill McCormick, Chautauqua’s director of communications and special projects.
cutting ties
Moderate councilman revokes endorsement of NYC comptroller candidate over ties to far left
A moderate New York City councilman has quietly revoked his endorsement of Justin Brannan, a top Democratic candidate for comptroller, over his new ties to anti-Israel figures on the far left, according to people familiar with the situation, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.
Cause and effect: Jim Gennaro, a veteran Democrat from Queens, pulled his support for Brannan on Wednesday, a day after JI published a story detailing growing concerns among Jewish community leaders about the candidate’s recent efforts to court backing from far-left activists and elected officials who have voiced anti-Israel rhetoric. The councilman’s team drafted a brief statement explaining his decision that circulated privately on Wednesday but has not been released, according to a person familiar with the matter who was granted anonymity to discuss private deliberations. “Ten days ago, I endorsed my colleague Justin Brannan for Comptroller,” read the statement, which was reviewed by JI. “Last night, I became aware of an article about Justin Brannan, dated yesterday, February 11. Today, I have retracted my endorsement of CM Brannan.”
Read the full story here.
friends in unexpected places
The Jewish music teacher representing a Muslim-majority country at Eurovision
When Israeli singer Yuval Raphael represents her country at the Eurovision Song Contest in May, there will be at least one other Jewish singer taking the stage in Basel, Switzerland. Asaf (Safael) Mishiev is the frontman of Mamagama, the band selected to represent Azerbaijan – a Muslim-majority country – in the annual music competition. Mishiev, 32, teaches vocals and guitar at the Jewish Music School in Baku, Azerbaijan’s capital. Mamagama’s song has not been unveiled yet, but Mishiev told Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov that he wrote it as a teenager and updated it to fit more contemporary pop trends. The music integrates traditional Azerbaijani elements and is inspired by “Michael Jackson, Daft Punk, anything funky.”
From Baku to Basel: Speaking with JI on Wednesday with bandmates Huss and Arif, the group’s bassist and drummer, on the line to help translate to English, Mishiev said he was “proud” and “speechless” to represent his country in this year’s Eurovision. “My parents and I were born in Baku, and my grandparents are from the Red Village, where Jewish people are from in Azerbaijan,” he said, referring to one of the only all-Jewish towns outside of Israel. Mishiev is a Mountain Jew, part of a population that has inhabited the eastern and northern Caucasus, mostly in Azerbaijan and parts of eastern Russia, since the fifth century. Some of the best-known Mountain Jews include Israel’s most popular singers, such as Omer Adam and Sarit Hadad, who represented Israel in the Eurovision in 2002.
Worthy Reads
Dems at a Crossroads: In The New York Times, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) lays out a new vision for the Democratic Party, following its losses in the November 2024 elections. “We have to acknowledge what we spectacularly failed to recognize in the last election — that the status quo is broken and Americans are feeling a righteous anger about the real damage that the governing class has done to their lives over the past few decades. With the establishment of both parties defeated, we are, as you may have heard, at a fork in the road. Either the country will continue to succumb to a burn-it-all-down political nihilism and disillusionment, or Democrats can use this moment of crisis to reframe the terms of the debate. We must persuade people that transformative government is capable of improving their lives by reversing what many have experienced as decades of stagnation and decline.” [NYTimes]
Karp’s Carp: The Wall Street Journal’s Erich Schwartzel interviews Palantir co-founder and CEO Alex Karp ahead of the release of his upcoming book, The Technological Republic: Hard Power, Soft Belief, and the Future of the West. “Karp has advocated many of the book’s central themes for years, but several developments pushed him to put it all in one place. Hamas’s massacre of Israelis on Oct. 7, 2023 galvanized him to get louder, he said. In the hours after word of the attack spread, Karp had Palantir employees on the ground in Israel to help coordinate the country’s response. Two workers — a Pole and a Brit, both non-Jews — flew themselves there before Karp could ask them to go, he said. Karp watched the world’s response to the attack while coordinating the effort to help. ‘People started protesting against Israel on Oct. 8,’ he said. He is unapologetic in his support for Israel and for doing business with its government. ‘It was very risky. We’re a publicly traded company,’ he said.” [WSJ]
Collision Course: The Washington Post’s David Ignatius looks at how Israel’s consideration of military action to keep Iran from developing a nuclear weapon could put Jerusalem at odds with President Donald Trump’s efforts to reach the same goal through diplomacy. “Trump, ever the dealmaker, has envisioned an epic bargain with Iran since his first term. Though in 2018 he scrapped the nuclear deal that President Barack Obama had negotiated, he claimed he could get a better, bigger deal. He worked with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and French President Emmanuel Macron to coax Iran — under sanctions pressure — to agree. Mark T. Esper, then defense secretary, said in August 2019, ‘We want to talk with Iran and talk about a diplomatic path forward.’ But that effort failed. Trump’s sledgehammer approach to negotiations — disrupt and then deal — has been the central feature of these first weeks of his second term. But threatening kinetic action against Iran is a reach, even for Trump. He clearly doesn’t want a war. But the final decision-maker here may be Netanyahu, not Trump.” [WashPost]
Loyalists at the Pentagon:The Atlantic’s Tom Nichols raises concerns about Trump administration appointments in the Pentagon. “The biggest risk is not that these nominees will do poorly in their jobs. They will have assistants — the same bureaucrats and experienced civil servants whom Trump and Hegseth are trying to drive from the Pentagon — who will make sure that things get done as much as possible in the midst of the chaos. The real danger will come during a crisis, when Trump needs the defense secretary and his senior staff to rise to the occasion and provide advice and options under difficult and perhaps even terrifying conditions. Although these nominees will likely serve up plenty of uninformed or irresponsibly sycophantic views at such a moment, few of them have the depth of knowledge or experience to offer steadier guidance — let alone to push back against the president when needed.” [TheAtlantic]
Dialing Up Deterrence: In The Hill, Jamil Jaffer and DJ Rosenthal of the National Security Institute at George Mason University’s Scalia Law School argue that President Donald Trump should take “decisive action” against the threats posed concurrently by Russia, China, Iran and North Korea. “Trump therefore has a series of extraordinary opportunities to achieve historic diplomatic breakthroughs that could address many of the ongoing hot spots, create new partnerships and strategic alliances, and ease simmering tensions. But strong diplomacy relies on an underlying projection of real strength as its foundation. Indeed, Nixon’s successful detente with Russia’s Brezhnev was only made possible by his track record of deploying a variety of aggressive tools, across a variety of international theaters, to protect U.S. interests. Foreign aggressors have to believe that the U.S. is willing to defend our interests and those of our allies. They also must know that when they cross us, we will respond decisively. When our adversaries see us as weak, they take advantage and broader and more dangerous global conflicts can ensue.” [TheHill]
Word on the Street
UAE Ambassador to the U.S. Yousef Al Otaiba, speaking about public diplomacy at the World Government Summit in Dubai, discussed his government’s engagement with the U.S.; asked if the UAE could find common ground with the Trump administration on Gaza, Al Otaiba replied, “We’re going to try. I think the current approach is going to be difficult but at the end of the day we’re all in the solution-seeking business. We just don’t know where it’s going to land yet”…
President Donald Trump nominated Kimberly Richey, a civil rights attorney and education administrator who has held senior leadership roles in statewide education in Virginia and Florida, to be the next assistant secretary for civil rights at the Department of Education, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports. As the department’s civil rights chief, Richey will oversee investigations into alleged instances of antisemitism at U.S. schools and universities…
Trump also nominated Joel Rayburn, a former diplomat and senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, to serve as assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, a role overseeing key Middle East policy issues, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports…
Danielle Sassoon, the interim U.S. attorney in Manhattan, resigned along with five other Justice Department officials after receiving an order from the Justice Department to drop federal corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams; Sassoon had been preparing additional charges against Adams, accusing him of having destroyed evidence tied to his case…
Elon Musk said he would pull his $97.4 billion bid for OpenAI if the nonprofit, which he co-founded with Sam Altman, halted its move to become a for-profit entity…
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced an effort to rescind $20 billion in climate-related grants; Zeldin said on Thursday he had canceled a $50 million grant to the Climate Justice Alliance, whose website claims that “climate justice travels through a Free Palestine”…
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, alleging that the government is violating the Administrative Procedure Act and has “jeopardized at least $5.5 billion” in federal funds designated for the commonwealth…
Sens. Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), John Cornyn (R-TX) and Pete Ricketts (R-NE) introduced a bill to place sanctions on individuals and entities involved in Iranian oil sanctions evasion…
Ricketts and 13 Senate Republican colleagues, joined by Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Claudia Tenney (R-NY) introduced a bipartisan resolution urging European allies to implement snapback sanctions against Iran…
More than 140 House Democrats condemned Trump’s call for the Palestinian population of Gaza to be displaced and the territory to be taken over by the U.S.; the letter, which was led by Reps. Sean Casten (D-IL) and Brad Sherman (D-CA), has some signatories, such as Sherman, who are strong supporters of Israel…
Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX) and five GOP colleagues introduced a bill requesting a report to Congress on U.S. funding to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency…
A bipartisan group of House and Senate lawmakers is introducing legislation in both chambers that proposes tens of millions in additional funding annually for U.S.-Israel defense cooperation and would establish a series of new cooperative programs, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…
House Education and Workforce Committee Chair Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI) requested documentation from Columbia University about its handling of recent antisemitism incidents, accusing the school of failing to discipline those involved in antisemitic protests or meet past commitments to the committee…
Reps. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) and Andrew Garbarino (R-NY) introduced a bill to ban colleges and universities from accepting funding from state sponsors of terrorism, including Iran…
Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) said she will not seek reelection in 2026; Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Angie Craig (D-MN), as well as Gov. Tim Walz, are considering running for the seat…
Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) is seriously considering a bid to run for the Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) next year…
Former U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel is joining CNN as a senior political and global affairs commentator…
Members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee appeared to find common ground at a hearing on the future of Syria on Thursday, coalescing around a desire to ensure that the U.S. remains engaged in the country and works with the new Syrian government on developing a relationship, based on specific conditions and benchmarks, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…
Members of the Massachusetts Special Commission on Combating Antisemitism clashed with leadership of the Massachusetts Teachers Union in a two-hour meeting earlier this week over concerns that the MTA was providing one-sided, anti-Israel resources to educators teaching about the Middle East
New York’s 12 Chairs restaurant will offer a limited-time kosher prix-fixe menu in collaboration with Israeli chef Avi Levy next month…
German politician Friedrich Merz, who is expected to perform well in the country’s upcoming elections, warned that Elon Musk could face consequences for his boosting of the far-right Alternative for Germany party…
CNN interviews the mothers of several of the young Israeli women held hostage by Hamas and released in recent weeks…
The mother of freed Israeli hostage Danielle Gilboa said her daughter was forced by her Hamas captors to participate in the filming of a fake video of her death…
The Wall Street Journal breaks down confusion over ownership of Gaza, following Trump’s announcement earlier this month that the U.S. would take over the enclave…
The U.K.’s Foreign Office confirmed that two British citizens were arrested in Iran; the Foreign Office has cautioned dual British-Iranian citizens against travel to the Islamic Republic, warning of “significant risk” of detainment…
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian warned that Iran would rebuild its nuclear facilities if they were to be attacked; Pezeshkian’s comments come a day after media reports that Israel was planning a strike against Iran’s nuclear program…
Iran is reportedly accepting chemical shipments from China for use in Tehran’s missile program…
The head of the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen warned that the militia would restart its attacks on Israel if Washington moves forward with a plan to relocate the population of Gaza…
Pic of the Day
A new exhibition titled “Eternity of Israel” opened this week at Terminal 3 of Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport, providing visitors an opportunity to explore the history of Israel through archaeological findings and photos from significant moments of discovery during excavations, including a stone from the Western Wall weighing five tons.
Birthdays
Retired chairman and CEO of Los Angeles-based City National Bank, Russell Goldsmith turns 75 today…
FRIDAY: Civil and human rights activist, rabbi, radio host, television producer and public speaker, Allen Secher turns 90… Owner of Bloomberg LP and former mayor of NYC, Michael Bloomberg turns 83… Award-winning investigative journalist for The Washington Post and author, Carl Bernstein turns 81… Chairman and CEO of Reebok for 26 years until its 2005 sale to Adidas, Paul Fireman turns 81… British businessman and founder of WPP plc, Sir Martin Stuart Sorrell turns 80… Former borough president of Brooklyn for 12 years, following a 23-year stint as a New York State senator, Marty Markowitz turns 80… Chairman and CEO of the Blackstone Group, Stephen A. Schwarzman turns 78… Film producer and EVP of the NFL’s New York Giants, winner of a Golden Globe award, an Academy Award and two Super Bowl rings, Steven Elliot “Steve” Tisch turns 76… Host of “Fresh Air,” an interview program distributed throughout the U.S. by NPR, Terry Gross turns 74… Sports executive and former All Star basketball player, she served as president of the WNBA for six years and as SVP of the PGA Tour for 17 years, Donna Geils Orender turns 68… Executive board member at the Los Angeles Museum of The Holocaust, Paulette Beckmann Nessim… Co-founder and CEO at 25Madison and executive chairman of Townsquare Media, Steven Price turns 63… Volleyball and beach volleyball star, she is the only Brazilian in the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, Adriana Brandão Behar turns 56… Long-distance runner, she won the bronze medal in the women’s marathon at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Deena Drossin Kastor turns 52… Senior director for strategy, policy and government affairs for the National Insurance Crime Bureau, Howard Handler… Financial advisor in the Boca Raton office of San Blas Securities, Alan Feinberg Jr…. Activist and writer known by the pen name MaNishtana, Shais Rishon turns 43… Ice hockey player selected in the first round of the 2002 NHL draft, he then played on four NHL teams and was also a player on the U.S. national team, Eric Nystrom turns 42… Jewish communal activist, Carly Pildis… Co-founder of Run for Something PAC, Amanda Litman… Four-year basketball player for the California Golden Bears, then for Bnei Herzliya of the Israeli Premier League, now a real estate broker in Miami, Sam Singer turns 30… Actress best known for her role as Charlotte on the CMT comedy television series “Still the King,” Madison Iseman turns 28…
SATURDAY: British actress who has starred in nearly 60 films, Claire Bloom turns 94… Professor of cognitive science at Indiana University, Pulitzer Prize winner, Douglas Hofstadter turns 80… Former Democratic member of the Texas House of Representatives for 26 years, Elliott Naishtat turns 80… Cartoonist, editor, teacher at the School of Visual Arts in NYC and long-time contributing artist for The New Yorker, Art Spiegelman (born Itzhak Avraham ben Zeev) turns 77… Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter, Melissa Manchester turns 74… Television and movie actor, he stars as the IRGC’s head of investigations in the Apple TV Israeli series “Tehran,” Shaun Toub turns 67… SVP of global communications at Philip Morris International, Marian Salzman turns 66… Professor at Yale Law School and author of two best-selling novels, Jed Rubenfeld turns 66… Host of the radio program “Jewish Moments in the Morning” since 1983, Nachum Segal turns 62… Principal at Catalyzing Philanthropy, Karen Paul… Developer of the Miami Design District and many other properties in South Beach, Craig Lewis Robins turns 62… Self-employed writer, Elizabeth Ives (“Beth”) Solomon… Founder and editor-in-chief of Talking Points Memo, Josh Marshall turns 56… Investor, he founded and then sold the Rockstar energy drink, Russell Goldencloud Weiner turns 55… Founder and director of Areyvut, Daniel Rothner turns 53… Actress, writer, producer and comedian, she won two Primetime Emmy Awards for playing Susie Myerson in “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” Alexandrea Borstein turns 52… Director of business development at Treetop Companies, Eric Distenfeld… Director of education at the Orthodox Union and host of the “18Forty” podcast, David Bashevkin, Ph.D. turns 40… Deputy executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition, Alex Siegel… Offensive lineman on three NFL teams, he is now a regional sales manager at Sirtex, Ben Gottschalk turns 33… Beauty pageant titleholder who represented Israel at the Miss Universe pageant in 2016, Yam Kaspers Anshel turns 27… Australian racewalker, she competed in the women’s 20 kilometer walk at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics, Jemima Montag turns 27… Actor and voice actor, Zachary Adam Gordon turns 27…
SUNDAY: Financier and activist shareholder, Carl Icahn turns 89… Educator, theorist, writer and professor emeritus of political science at the University of Hawaii, Michael Joseph Shapiro turns 85… Chair emeritus and founding chair of the Jewish Electorate Institute, Ralph Grunewald… Secretary-general of the World Council of Religious Leaders, Bawa Jain turns 68… Deputy America editor at The Washington Post, Susan K. Levine… Co-founder, president and managing partner of Avenue Capital Group, Sonia Gardner turns 63… British serial entrepreneur and philanthropist, Maurice Samuel Ostro turns 60… Co-director of Women for Israel’s Tomorrow, Nadia Matar turns 59… Past president of Hebrew Free Loan in Detroit and founder of Brilliant Detroit, Carolyn Glaser Bellinson… President of the Sixteen Thirty Fund, Amy Kurtz turns 56… Reporter for The New York Times since 1994, she is the author of a novel and two cookbooks, Jennifer Steinhauer turns 56… Spokesman for Bloomberg LP, Ty Trippet… French actress, director and screenwriter, Géraldine Nakache turns 45… Regional director of the Westchester region of Birthright Israel Foundation, Marissa Schaevitz Levey… CEO of FinePoint, Meredith Fineman… U.S. senator (D-GA), Jon Ossoff turns 38… Second of three sisters who are members of the rock band Haim, Danielle Sari Haim turns 36… Rachel Rubenstein… Actor, singer and dancer, he is one youngest-ever winner of a Tony Award at 15 years old, Kiril Jacob Kulish turns 31… Eric McDonald…
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