Daily Kickoff: Boehler said to be sidelined from Israeli hostage file
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In today’s Daily Kickoff, we look at the mayoral race in Pittsburgh, where Mayor Ed Gainey has been at odds with the city’s Jewish community in recent months, and report on the Trump administration’s rescinding of a top intel position to a far-right commentator who espoused anti-Israel views. We also report on the canceled meeting between Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin and Jewish groups in Washington, and look at how widespread layoffs at the Department of Education will impact its handling of Title VI complaints filed by Jewish students claiming discrimination. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: MK Amit Halevi, Ron Prosor and Rabbi Moshe Hauer.
Ed. note: The next Daily Kickoff will arrive on Monday, March 17. Purim sameach!
What We’re Watching
- Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is running for mayor of New York City, is set to unveil a public safety plan today that calls for the introduction of city legislation to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism into law, with “strict penalties for offenders,” his campaign told Jewish Insider exclusively. The plan will also endorse legislation “that prohibits wearing masks in demonstrations to hold those who break the law accountable,” Cuomo’s campaign said.
- President Donald Trump is holding a working lunch today with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
- Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Russia earlier today, following meetings in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia earlier this week.
- China will serve as host on Friday for nuclear talks with the deputy foreign ministers of Russia and Iran.
- The Secure Community Network is holding a call this afternoon to discuss guidance related to FEMA and the Nonprofit Security Grant Program.
What You Should Know
It takes a little time for the public to react to a new administration’s accomplishments and missteps, as voters don’t typically follow the news as regularly and obsessively as political junkies.
But less than two months into President Donald Trump’s disruptive second term, there are already clear signs that the president is squandering the goodwill and political capital that he entered office with, writes Jewish Insider Editor-in-Chief Josh Kraushaar.
A new CNN/SSRS poll, released Wednesday, shows Trump’s job approval falling to 45% with 54% disapproving — a three-point dip since the pollster’s last survey two weeks ago. His net job approval is now lower than what it was at the same point in his first term in office (45/52% in CNN’s March 2017 poll).
The biggest drag on Trump’s fortune is his handling of the economy, with the imposition of tariffs against allies dampening the public’s optimistic perception of Trump’s fiscal stewardship. The stock market has dropped precipitously over the last month amid trade threats and the president’s own admission that people may feel an economic pinch before his goal of bringing back more jobs to the United States will be reached.
Fifty-six percent of Americans now disapprove of his handling of the economy, higher than at any point during his first term in office. By a significant margin, voters ranked the economy as the most important issue — making any possible downturn politically treacherous.
Trump’s approval rating on foreign affairs, just as significantly, is near an all-time low for him as well, as the administration has been browbeating many American allies, most notably Ukraine as it aims to defend itself against Russian aggression. Picking a fight with our Canadian neighbors doesn’t look particularly popular, either.
Trump’s net approval on foreign affairs is now minus-16 (42% approve/58% disapprove), which is lower than his score on that front for much of his first term. Nearly 6 in 10 voters now consider Trump’s views and policies “too extreme” — up five points since the fall of 2024. And a whopping 86% view Trump taking a “completely different approach to presidential power” than his predecessors, a dynamic that his supporters view as a positive attribute.
Trump’s tough immigration policies are his administration’s greatest political strength. A majority (51%) of Americans approve of his handling of border security — a far superior score to former President Joe Biden’s grades on the subject.
Elon Musk is shaping up to be a political burden on Trump, with the DOGE chief’s own favorability ratings well underwater (35% favorable, 53% unfavorable). And while many Americans view cutting wasteful bureaucracy as a positive, most Americans (62%) are more concerned that Musk will end up cutting valuable government services than that the cuts won’t go far enough (37%).
A new CNN/SSRS poll, released Wednesday, said they view Musk unfavorably — an unusually high number for an entrepreneurial icon and close ally of Trump.
All told, the new polling paints a picture of Trump doing what a lot of overly confident presidents do — overreading their mandate and spending more time catering to the base than the larger pool of persuadable voters who gave Trump his margin of victory in the 2024 election.
Biden thought he could spend billions of dollars on social programs without any fiscal consequences, and withdraw troops from Afghanistan on an accelerated timetable and not suffer any backlash. That hubris early on in his administration — focusing on catering to his progressive base — made him unpopular, and he never recovered politically.
By picking fights against allies, alarming markets with aggressive tariffs and racing to cut government without focusing on the consequences, Trump is at risk of following in Biden’s footsteps.
steel city race
Pittsburgh’s mayor struggles politically amid lack of support from city’s Jewish community
Last fall, Pittsburgh’s Democratic mayor, Ed Gainey, sparked an uproar after he signed onto an insensitively worded joint statement addressing the one-year anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks, drawing widespread backlash from Jewish community leaders and prominent elected officials. Days after its release, Gainey’s campaign treasurer, Jonathan Mayo, wrote an anguished message to the mayor. “I felt it was poorly worded, hastily constructed, ill-timed and tone deaf in terms of how it would land with the Jewish community,” Mayo, who is Jewish, wrote in an Oct. 22, 2024, email recently obtained by with Jewish Insider. The reaction to Gainey’s statement from a dependable ally encapsulated the depth of dissatisfaction within the wider Jewish community over his outreach and engagement on key issues, as he seeks reelection in the May 20 primary against a formidable challenger who has said that Pittsburgh voters “deserve better” than the imperiled first-term incumbent, JI’s Matthew Kassel reports.
Leading the polls: The mayoral race has drawn national attention in recent weeks as Gainey’s opponent, Corey O’Connor, the Allegheny County controller who launched his bid in December, has taken a wide lead in polling, won crucial endorsements and significantly outpaced the mayor in fundraising. In the latest blow to Gainey’s campaign, he narrowly lost the endorsement of the Allegheny County Democratic Committee this week, in an upset that O’Connor celebrated as “a sign” that “the people around this city want a change.”
on second thought
Trump admin withdraws intelligence job offer to anti-Israel commentator
The Trump administration rescinded a job offer to anti-Israel commentator Daniel Davis to be deputy director of national intelligence for mission integration following Jewish Insider’s reporting on his anti-Israel views, and amid growing criticism of the selection from both sides of the aisle, JI’s Marc Rod reports.
The latest: A source familiar with the situation confirmed to JI that Davis — who had been offered and accepted a role and was undergoing a background check — would no longer be joining the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Davis’ past comments on Israel and Iran had prompted bipartisan alarm on Wednesday. “I am absolutely shocked by these comments,” Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) told JI earlier in the day, before Davis’ job offer was withdrawn. “President Trump is the most pro-Israel president in our nation’s history, and I fully expect every member of the administration to enact his agenda and stand strong with our great ally, Israel.”
bewildered by Boehler
Senate Republicans say hostage envoy needs to be sidelined after media blitz
Republicans on Capitol Hill are privately bewildered by Adam Boehler, President Donald Trump’s special envoy for hostage affairs, over his confounding behavior during a media blitz last weekend about his unprecedented talks with Hamas and subsequent handling of the fallout. GOP sources told Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs the administration has pulled Boehler off of the Hamas hostage file and suggested that he needs to be further sidelined or pushed out of the administration.
Fallout: In the aftermath of those appearances, Boehler has had several conversations with pro-Israel Republican offices on the Hill this week to address questions and concerns about his comments. The conversations have been described as largely unproductive by those who spoke to JI in recent days, the result of what one senator described as Boehler’s inability to demonstrate that he understood what exactly the issue was. “It’s like he’s in Never Never Land,” one Republican, a close ally of the White House, said of Trump’s hostage envoy. “There have been rumblings in the conference since Sunday,” a senior GOP senator who serves as a top committee chair, said of the situation.
getting their irish up
Meeting canceled between Jewish leaders and Irish prime minister in Washington
Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin was welcomed to the White House on Wednesday by President Donald Trump. But among Jewish leaders, the prime minister’s annual St. Patrick’s Day trip, which comes at an already tense time between Ireland and Israel over the war in Gaza, stirred controversy — including a canceled meeting and accusations from an Israeli government official that the taoiseach is an “antisemite” who has promoted “a blood libel towards the State of Israel,” Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen and Josh Kraushaar report.
Nixed meeting: A meeting scheduled for Friday between the Irish leader and four Jewish groups — the Anti-Defamation League, American Jewish Committee, B’nai Brith International and AIPAC — was canceled earlier this week. While the reasons for the cancellation have not been publicly disclosed, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter told JI that “if any Jewish leader canceled the meeting, they should be commended. It would show leadership. The battle for antisemitism starts with shunning antisemites,” Leiter said.
probe problems
Education Dept. layoffs cut half the staff investigating campus antisemitism
Mass layoffs at the Education Department included steep cuts to the office responsible for investigating civil rights abuses at American schools and universities, including allegations of antisemitism. The Office for Civil Rights, which has opened more than 100 investigations into antisemitism at educational institutions since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks, will close seven of its 12 regional offices. The affected offices include those in New York, Boston and San Francisco, cities that are home to some of the worst allegations of antisemitic discrimination in K-12 schools and on college campuses. More than half of the investigative staff members at OCR, which had about 550 employees, lost their jobs on Wednesday, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
Opposing views: Ken Marcus, who oversaw OCR in the first Trump administration, argued that President Donald Trump has made antisemitism a priority, so he expects those cases to continue to get attention, even with a smaller staff. But Catherine Lhamon, the assistant secretary of education for civil rights under President Joe Biden, said investigators were already overburdened, managing 50 cases per person when she left the office on Jan. 20.
Hill reactions: Democrats on Capitol Hill are accusing the Trump administration of undermining efforts to fight antisemitism, while Republicans are largely more sanguine about the cuts and their potential impact, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
aid argument
Meet the Likud lawmaker advocating for the U.S. to phase out military aid to Israel
The recent controversy over a Heritage Foundation paper calling for the gradual elimination of U.S. aid to Israel was preceded by a 10-day visit to Washington by Likud lawmaker Amit Halevi, who promoted a similar proposal on Capitol Hill and beyond last month, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports. Halevi, an MK from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s party, spoke with Republican members of Congress, addressed the Hudson Institute, attended the Conservative Political Action Committee conference and met with Heritage Foundation leadership, accompanied by another advocate for reducing U.S. aid, Gideon Israel, president of the Jerusalem-Washington Center, which advises right-leaning figures on U.S.-Israel relations.
What he’s saying: During his visit to Washington, Halevi distributed pamphlets titled: “A Great Israel – A Greater America. Ending Aid. Expanding Sovereignty.” He called for an even shorter interim period than Heritage, which said that U.S. military aid should be phased out by 2048; he said that within a decade, it should be “replac[ed] with a model that strengthens bilateral cooperation,” including jointly funded research-and-development projects in defense, cybersecurity and intelligence. Earlier this week, JI interviewed Halevi at a synagogue event in Modi’in, Israel, where he spoke about his reasons for wanting the change. “I think that [aid] causes damage to Israel,” Halevi said, adding that the aid leads to “pressure on Israel over all the years on our vital interests. You get money, so you need to do this and this and this.”
Read the full story here.
moscow in the middle east
Extreme caution needed as Israel supports Russia remaining in Syria, experts say
As Jerusalem looks warily at the new government in Syria, senior Israeli officials are reportedly supporting efforts by the Russian Army to remain in the war-torn country — an approach, Israeli analysts have warned, that comes with many risks. Reuters reported last month that Israel has been lobbying the U.S. to allow Russia to maintain military bases in Syria, in an effort to try to keep the country weak and push back against Turkey, which has had a presence in Syria since 2016 and, according to Israel’s Foreign Ministry, controls as much as 15% of Syria via proxies. High-level Israeli diplomats have been in touch with Russian counterparts to discuss the matter, sources in Jerusalem told Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov.
Moscow’s approach: Russia, which backed ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad through those bases, is also seeking a deal with Syria’s new ruling party, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, to maintain its presence. This is all taking place as the U.S. works to formulate its policy on the new Syrian government — and amid a shift away from Washington’s support for Ukraine in the war that began when Russia invaded its neighbor in February 2022. Arkady Mil-Man, the former Israeli ambassador to Russia and head of the Russia program at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University, told JI that since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel, “Russia clearly supported Hamas and Iran. They have a totally anti-Israel stance. Whoever thinks Russia will be our friend is mistaken.”
Bonus: Israel reportedly carried out targeted airstrikes in Damascus earlier today.
Worthy Reads
Purim in the Present: In The Jerusalem Post, the Orthodox Union’s Rabbi Moshe Hauer considers what lessons from the story of Purim can be applied to the present day. “Like every antisemite, Haman promoted a conspiracy theory, a narrative of demonization that described the Jews as a fifth column embedded in every corner of the world, playing by their own rules, and contributing nothing but harm to society. Achashverosh – like millions of gullible leaders and citizens of the world throughout history – swallowed this whole and granted Haman free rein to excise the Jewish disease from his kingdom. Then, however, Achashverosh wandered past that false narrative. The night before Esther’s party, he had been reminded that he owed his life to Mordechai, who had saved him from an assassination attempt; now he had learned that his beloved Queen Esther was also Jewish. It simply did not compute. This was not the nation that Haman had described and that Achashverosh had readily agreed to destroy: ‘Esther, who would have the audacity to want to destroy you and your nation?!’ No different than in the Purim story, the many antisemites of the world inexcusably and maliciously distort the narrative of the Israel-Hamas War to make the Jewish people unrecognizable.” [JPost]
The Politics of the Green Card: In The Free Press, attorney Jed Rubenfeld looks at the “maze of statutory and constitutional issues” around the recent detainment of Mahmoud Khalil, a green card holder and former Columbia University student, over his campus anti-Israel activism. “If Khalil has been arrested solely for espousing or endorsing terrorist acts, his detention would undoubtedly violate the First Amendment — if he were a citizen. Political opinion, no matter how abhorrent, is protected speech in America. Expressing support for even the sickest terrorist butchers, like Hamas, is protected speech. In fact, even if Khalil had committed nonspeech, non-protected acts like blocking Jewish students from accessing parts of the Columbia campus, but the true reason for his arrest was because he’s pro-Hamas, he would still have a First Amendment retaliation claim — if he were a citizen. But he’s not a citizen. His green card makes him a lawful permanent resident, but he’s still an alien. Thus the real question is whether, or when, or to what extent aliens have the same constitutional rights as citizens. Unfortunately for both left and right, the answer is complicated.” [FreePress]
Moscow as Mediator?: In Foreign Policy, the Center for a New American Security’s Jonathan Lord argues against the Trump administration’s efforts to engage Russia as an intermediary on nuclear talks between Washington and Tehran. “The White House should immediately abandon this unwise pursuit. Simply put, Russia’s shared interests with Iran make it an unsuitable mediator and will surely work to undermine America’s interests in the Middle East and those of America’s partners and allies. Long an arsonist in the Middle East, Washington should distrust Moscow’s attempt to don a firefighter’s helmet now. Believing Putin shares America’s long-held, bipartisan interest in forever preventing the development of an Iranian bomb is tantamount to believing the wolf can negotiate on behalf of the fox to reach a nonaggression pact with the hen house. The wolf and the fox are more likely to carve up the chickens between them than negotiate a deal in good faith that preserves the poultry. … At every turn, Russia has undermined U.S. national interests in the Middle East by supporting America’s regional adversaries and by extension, the security of Israel and America’s partners in the Gulf such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Russia worked in parallel with Iran to prop up Bashar al-Assad’s murderous regime over more than a decade of civil war.” [ForeignPolicy]
The Price of Dissent: The Atlantic’s Arash Azizi spotlights Iranian academic Sadegh Zibakalam, who was imprisoned for months in Iran’s Evin prison and is facing new charges while on medical furlough. “Predictably, out of all his vocal expressions of dissent, Zibakalam has paid the highest price for his stance on Israel. Back in the early 2000s, during the Second Intifada, he criticized the Iranian position on Israel as ‘more Palestinian than Palestinians’ and called for moderation. In 2014, during a public debate with a conservative, he shocked many by declaring, ‘I recognize Israel as a country because the United Nations recognizes it.’ And in 2016, when he was invited to speak at a university in Mashhad, he refused to join in the tradition of trampling an American and an Israeli flag, theatrically hoisting himself onto a banister to avoid stepping on them as he climbed the stairs. ‘It is wrong to stomp on the flag of any country, because it is a point of identity and a national symbol,’ he said after the video of his gesture went viral.” [TheAtlantic]
Word on the Street
Speaking to press alongside Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin, President Donald Trump reiterated his past claim that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) “is a Palestinian,” adding, “he’s not Jewish anymore”…
Senior Emirati official Anwar Gargash delivered Trump’s letter to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday; the letter suggested Tehran and Washington reengage in nuclear talks…
The Treasury Department announced sanctions against the Sweden-based Foxtrot Network and its leader, Rawa Majid; the criminal organization plotted an attack on the Israeli Embassy in Sweden last year…
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) said she will not seek reelection next year, opening up what could be a crowded race to succeed her in the purple state…
Former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) is likely to soon announce his entry into the state’s Senate race to succeed Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), who will leave Congress at the end of his term…
Sen. Jim Banks (R-IN) introduced legislation on Wednesday requiring colleges and universities receiving federal funding to publicly disclose their policies for responding to civil disturbances on campus, a response to disruptive anti-Israel demonstrations seen on campuses across the country since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks on Israel, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introduced an additional set of four resolutions to cut off various weapons sales to Israel this week, in addition to the four he already introduced earlier this year, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…
IfNotNow and Justice Democrats were among four far-left groups calling on the Democratic National Committee to deepen its outreach to Palestinian voters…
A federal judge in New York ordered that Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia graduate who was arrested earlier this week following the Trump administration’s revocation of his green card over his anti-Israel activism, remain in detention in Louisiana while his case moves forward…
In the Los Angeles Times, University of California, Berkeley Law School Dean Erwin Chemerinsky argued that Khalil should not be deported for his anti-Israel activity…
Timothy Cardinal Dolan penned an op-ed in The Free Press on the “evils of antisemitism”; the Catholic leader said that during the current “Lenten season, we Catholics and all Christians would do well to meditate on our faith’s rejection of antisemitism, as well as the pernicious ways in which social media can warp young minds”…
The Houthis in Yemen said that the Iran-backed militant group would continue its attacks on “any Israeli vessel” transiting through the Gulf…
At a U.N. Security Council meeting on Wednesday, the U.K.warned Iran that it would reimpose sanctions if the Islamic Republic continues to move forward with its nuclear program…
Pic of the Day
Israeli Ambassador to Germany Ron Prosor spoke on Wednesday in Berlin at a lunch on the sidelines of the Conference of Minister Presidents — a gathering of the heads of Germany’s federal states — meant to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between Israel and Germany.
Birthdays
Television and film actor, Emile Hirsch turns 40…
Editor of Avotaynu Magazine, a journal of Jewish genealogy and scholarship, Sallyann Amdur Sack-Pikus turns 89… Israeli journalist, author and television host, Dan Margalit turns 87… Pop singer, pianist, composer of over 500 songs and record producer, his family name derives from the Hebrew word for charity, Neil Sedaka turns 86… Israeli singer, he won the 1978 Eurovision Song Contest, Izhar Cohen turns 74… Psychotherapist in private practice in Manhattan and Teaneck, N.J., Shana Yocheved Schacter… U.S. Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND) turns 68… Founder of the Drug Policy Alliance, Ethan Nadelmann turns 68… Professor of applied mathematics at Imperial College London, he is also a chess grandmaster, Jonathan Mestel turns 68… Former Florida congressman, Alan Grayson turns 67… Teacher of rabbinic literature and author of The Jewish Family Ethics Textbook, Rabbi Neal S. Scheindlin turns 65… Founder and CEO of MediaBistro which she sold in 2007, now managing director of Supernode Ventures, Laurel Touby turns 62… Heavy metal songwriter, vocalist for the band Disturbed as well as for the band Device, David Draiman turns 52… Member of the California State Senate since 2014, Benjamin Allen turns 47… Former member of Knesset for the Jewish Home party, he is a decorated IDF officer (now a reservist), Yonatan “Yoni” Chetboun turns 46… Deputy campaign manager on Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) 2020 presidential campaign, now host of “The Agenda,” a radio show airing on SiriusXM, Ari Rabin-Havt… President and CEO of Nefco, Matthew Gelles… Television and film actor, Emory Isaac Cohen turns 35… Senior director of social marketing at NBC Universal since 2015, Jessie Hannah Rubin… Formula 3 racing driver, his mother is Houda Nonoo, the first Jewish woman to serve as an ambassador of Bahrain, Menasheh Idafar turns 34… Gabriel Romano… Former mayor of Miami Beach, Fla., and author of From Shoeshine Boy to Mayor, Norman Ciment… Director and actor, known for his work on “The Intern,” “Big Time Adolescence” and “I Want You Back,” Jason Orley…
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