Daily Kickoff
Good Wednesday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we report on a Heritage Foundation event slated for today that was canceled over the planned release of a report from the foundation calling for the phasing out of Israel aid, and report on the Trump administration’s hiring of anti-Israel commentator Daniel Davis as deputy director of national intelligence under DNI Tulsi Gabbard. We also look at how the Jewish community in the Washington area is preparing for planned government layoffs and cover the Republican Jewish Coalition’s support for President Donald Trump’s call for a primary challenger to Rep. Thomas Massie in Kentucky. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Jake Sullivan, Dave Portnoy and Douglas Murray.
What We’re Watching
- The U.N. Security Council is slated to meet in a closed-door session today to discuss Iran’s advancing nuclear program.
- The Department of Education is closed today, with Education Secretary Linda McMahon citing “security” concerns. The closure was announced yesterday afternoon, as the department laid off approximately 1,300 employees.
What You Should Know
In the 48 hours following the arrest of and planned deportation proceedings against a former Columbia University student for his anti-Israel campus organizing activity, statements have emerged from political leaders and advocacy groups across the spectrum.
But those whose statements are most under the microscope have been Jewish organizations, feeling pressure to respond to the detention championed by President Donald Trump as part of an effort to target students “who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity.”
That the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil was done with what appeared to be little preparation — ICE officers who arrested Khalil were reportedly unaware that he no longer possessed a student visa and was in the U.S. on a green card — could potentially undermine the legal effort to deport him. Jewish groups couched their responses following Khalil’s arrest, often noting both his extreme activism and questions about due process.
Legal experts to whom JI spoke earlier this week were split on whether the administration had a solid enough case against Khalil. What is most likely is that the case will wind its way through the court system in a yearslong saga.
University administrators’ inaction in the weeks and months after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks to curb disruptive, violent and at times antisemitic activity on college campuses gave the Trump administration an opportunity to take punitive measures against student agitators — something Trump had during his campaign vowed to address after the Biden administration took a less aggressive approach.
It’s too soon to say if Khalil’s arrest, and any subsequent arrests (“many to come,” Trump said this week on Truth Social), will serve as a deterrent against future campus anti-Israel activity.
On one hand, the arrest could spur administrators to more swiftly act on violations of their schools’ student-conduct rules prohibiting the kinds of largely unchecked actions that targeted Jewish students and faculty in the last year and a half.
On the other hand, the arrests of Khalil and, potentially, other prominent activists could galvanize the anti-Israel far left at a time when anti-Israel protests were largely petering out, making Khalil — whose wife, an American citizen, is eight months pregnant — and other protest leaders causes celebre.
While Khalil’s case will be determined in the courts, the political outcome will hinge on whether Trump’s tough measures work. If the Trump administration’s aggressive actions create a more hospitable environment for Jews and Israelis on campuses, his actions will be seen as a necessary corrective to the approach to extremists that university administrators and some political leaders alike embraced.
But if the fight against antisemitism becomes a game of political football, dividing the Jewish community and deterring mainstream Democrats from speaking out against anti-Jewish hate, it could backfire.
The stakes are high for American Jews.
scoop
Heritage Foundation report draft calls for ending U.S. aid to Israel
The Heritage Foundation has composed a new proposal calling for the U.S. to cut off aid to Israel by 2047 and require the Jewish state to increase its purchasing of U.S. defense materials, Jewish Insider has learned. It was set to announce the report at an event on Wednesday, which has since been canceled, a source familiar with the situation said, after at least one of the headline speakers withdrew from participating, JI’s Danielle Cohen, Emily Jacobs and Marc Rod report.
What’s the plan: A draft of the report obtained by JI recommends that Washington use the 2028 expiration date of the current Memorandum of Understanding — which requires the U.S. to provide $3.8 billion of security assistance to Israel annually and must be renegotiated in 2026 — as an “opportunity” to “forge a new relationship with the State of Israel.” The plan laid out in the report advises initially increasing the amount of aid, called Foreign Military Financing (FMF), provided to Israel to $4 billion annually beginning in 2029, but decreasing it by $250 million annually starting in 2032 until the aid is stopped completely by the end of fiscal year 2047 (“to coincide with the 100th anniversary of Israel’s independence,” the report notes). The Heritage report frames this transition as a positive step for Israel, “elevating” the country from a “security aid recipient” into a “true strategic partnership” with the United States. “To achieve this,” the report continues, “Washington must fundamentally change Israel’s geopolitical position within the region.”
scoop
Anti-Israel commentator tapped as deputy director of national intelligence
Daniel Davis, a senior fellow at the isolationist Defense Priorities think tank with a record of strident criticism of Israel, has been tapped as a deputy director of national intelligence, three sources with knowledge of the selection told Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod. Davis has also lambasted U.S. support for the war in Gaza as a moral and strategic mistake. He has opposed military action to destroy Iran’s nuclear program, and suggested that it is only U.S. and Israeli policy and actions that are pushing Iran toward pursuing a nuclear weapon.
Past statements: Davis has been offered and accepted the position of deputy DNI for mission integration and is waiting on the completion of his background check, sources said. The mission integration role “serves as the DNI’s principal advisor on all aspects of intelligence,” according to the DNI website, and does not require Senate confirmation. As recently as Jan. 12, Davis called U.S. support for the war in Gaza a mistake. “On a practical level, we give away enormous leverage and credibility globally to hold *anyone* accountable for acts of w[a]nton violence, bc we not merely turn a blind eye to it, we cheer it on and supply the means to do more,” Davis wrote on X. “On a moral level this is a stain on our character as a nation, as a culture, that will not soon go away.” He has argued that the current conflict “did not begin” on Oct. 7, 2023, with the Hamas attacks, echoing narratives that seek to push blame for the attack and the ensuing conflict on Israel.
Tackling Tehran: Pro-Israel senators on both sides of the aisle emphasized the need for a military option to eliminate Iran’s nuclear program when asked on Tuesday about President Donald Trump’s outreach last week to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod and Emily Jacobs report.
cuts like a knife
Washington-area Jewish community braces for impact of mass federal layoffs
The firing of probationary workers throughout the federal government and the elimination of thousands of positions at agencies like USAID and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau have federal employees worried that more upheaval is on the way. The Washington-area Jewish community, home to some 300,000 Jews, is bracing for local impact in the wake of the firings. Local schools, synagogues and social service agencies are making plans to support laid-off community members and their families — and preparing for headwinds themselves, as fewer enrolled students or fewer dues-paying synagogue members could affect their bottom lines, too, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
Uncertainty overhead: “It’s day schools, it’s camps, it’s early childhood, JCC [Jewish Community Center] memberships,” said Gil Preuss, CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington. “All these things that are now having a ripple effect through the community because of the insecurity they have. They may never lose their job, but they may still make different decisions about where they spend their money because of fear of what might happen.”
Read the full story here.
kentucky call
RJC says it will join Trump in backing potential primary challenge to Thomas Massie
The Republican Jewish Coalition said on Tuesday that it would join President Donald Trump in backing a potential primary challenger to Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), as the longtime RJC foe comes under increased GOP scrutiny over his refusal to vote for a Trump-backed government funding package and other administration priorities, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
What they’re saying: “RJC will be a leading force alongside President Trump in support of a viable candidate to defeat Massie,” RJC spokesperson Sam Markstein said in a statement to JI. Trump railed against Massie’s obstructionist posture in a Truth Social post on Monday, saying “HE SHOULD BE PRIMARIED, and I will lead the charge against him. He’s just another GRANDSTANDER, who’s too much trouble, and not worth the fight.” Responding to Trump’s call for a primary challenge, RJC CEO Matt Brooks said on X that the organization “is with you. #DefeatMassie.”
GOP concerns
Senate Republicans unsettled by antisemitic Pentagon press secretary
Kingsley Wilson’s appointment as deputy press secretary for the Pentagon has caused consternation among pro-Israel Republicans on Capitol Hill given her long record espousing antisemitic conspiracy theories. Wilson’s repeated claims on social media about Leo Frank, the since-pardoned Jewish man whose controversial rape and murder conviction and subsequent lynching over a century ago in Atlanta spurred the creation of the Anti-Defamation League, her vocal opposition to U.S. aid to Israel and her amplification of Kremlin talking points have left some Republicans uneasy about her serving in the role,Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports.
Seeking resolution: Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, told JI that he was aware of the controversy surrounding Wilson and was in the process of investigating it further. “I’m concerned about it and looking into it,” Wicker said of Wilson. Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) said he expected Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to resolve the matter in some way. “Obviously I don’t agree with her comments. I trust the Pentagon will address this,” Scott, who serves on SASC and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told JI in a statement.
Read the full story here with additional comments from Sens. James Lankford (R-OK) and Dan Sullivan (R-AK).
legal limbo
White House offers legal justification for deportation of Columbia protest leader
As questions swirl about the Trump administration’s legal authority to revoke the green card of Columbia University protest leader Mahmoud Khalil, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt offered an answer on Tuesday — a federal statute that permits removing anyone with a U.S. visa or green card whose actions are “adversarial to the foreign policy and national security interests of the United States of America,” Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
No crime noted: Leavitt was referring to a passage in the Immigration and Nationality Act, the 1952 law that governs immigration, which says that if the secretary of state has “reasonable grounds” to believe that a migrant poses “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences” to the United States, that person is able to be deported. When asked if a green card holder must be charged with a crime in order to be eligible for deportation, Leavitt — in stating plainly that Secretary of State Marco Rubio already retains the power to deport individuals — suggested the answer is no.
Jewish community reaction: The American Jewish Committee became the latest mainstream Jewish group to cautiously celebrate the arrest and planned deportation of anti-Israel Columbia University protest leader Mahmoud Khalil, saying the former graduate student’s deportation was “fully justified” as long as he is afforded due process, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
Worthy Reads
Rahm Running?:Politico’s Jonathan Martin posits that former U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel, who is making the speaking circuit rounds talking about the future of the Democratic Party, could mount a presidential bid. “Since coming home in January from his stint in Tokyo — a job he repurposed to be American envoy to all of Asia — Emanuel has been as visible as any other Democrat. Never mind that he currently holds no office and hasn’t been on a ballot for a decade. Name the political podcast and Emanuel has likely been on it or will be shortly. He immediately snagged a CNN contract and regular Washington Post column, no small accomplishment for a former official at a moment of retrenchment for news organizations. … There’s not another living Democrat who hasn’t already run for president who’d better grasp every dimension of the job. In fact, this side of Leon Panetta, who’s even close? Emanuel worked on campaigns, including a presidential, was a senior aide in two White Houses, did a cameo in high finance, served three terms in Congress, was a big-city mayor for eight years and then envoy to one of the world’s largest economies for nearly four. And he’s only 65. He has longstanding relationships with many of the leading figures in politics, diplomacy, military, business, the media and, thanks to his agent brother, even Hollywood. Plus, yes, the donors. It’s easy to understand why Emanuel would think, well, why not me?” [Politico]
Tehran on the Ropes: In Foreign Affairs, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy’s Michael Knights and Hamdi Malik suggest that efforts to split Iran from its Iraqi proxy at a time of fraying relations between the countries could deal a severe blow to Tehran’s regional axis. “Security forces in Yemen and in Iran itself appear strong and brutal enough to maintain control of their own populations. But Tehran’s lackeys in Iraq are getting nervous. Iran-backed Iraqi militias attacked U.S. forces and Israeli targets regularly throughout 2024, killing three U.S. soldiers in a drone strike in March of that year. But these militias appear to have changed course. They have not launched a strike since early December — a sign that they are growing more fearful of attracting Washington’s attention. … Washington should take advantage of this moment to permanently reduce the level of Iranian control in Iraq. It should do so not through wide-scale military action but with tough diplomacy, the threat of sanctions, and intelligence operations. Such measures would deprive Iran of a vital source of funding and give the United States leverage in any negotiations with the regime’s leaders. Most important, it would lead to better governance for Iraqis, who have suffered for too long under Iran’s thumb.” [ForeignAffairs]
Columbia Profs at War:The Wall Street Journal’s Douglas Belkin looks at how Columbia University’s handling of anti-Israel activity on campus has caused strife between academic departments and among faculty members. “A half-century ago, Columbia professor Edward Said was among the founders of postcolonial studies that laid the intellectual groundwork for the current protest movement against Israel. A nucleus of his acolytes remain at Columbia and are active on campus. Those faculty more sympathetic to Palestinians control key committees on the faculty senate and have sought to limit discipline against protesters and restrictions on protests. That helps explain why Columbia didn’t restrict student disruptions on campus as aggressively as other schools, according to interviews with faculty members. Across campus, scientists and engineers have been less invested in the protests partly, several said, because they were too focused on their work to get involved. Now those researchers are being disproportionately punished by having grants and contracts canceled, said Larisa Geskin, a professor in the school of medicine at Columbia and cancer researcher.” [WSJ]
Curriculum Crisis: The editorial board of the Boston Globe calls for Massachusetts schools to adopt a “state-provided curriculum” following an uproar over unbalanced learning materials focused on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict distributed by the Massachusetts Teachers Association. “The MTA was right that teachers need help teaching such an emotional, confusing topic. But the guidance the union came up with shows that the MTA itself is too biased to be trusted with that job. Given how fraught the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has become, the state should instead take the lead in providing a balanced and detailed curriculum for instructors to use if they teach about either the immediate conflict, now in uneasy ceasefire, or the longer history of the tensions. … A state-provided curriculum would aim to be a balanced resource for the state’s teachers. Like everything else about the Middle East, it would be highly scrutinized and undoubtedly imperfect. Still, it would help reassure parents that their children were receiving as balanced an overview as possible of this complex conflict. And its existence would provide even more reason for the MTA to bring to a close its ill-advised attempt at providing content for the state’s teachers.” [BostonGlobe]
Word on the Street
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introduced another set of four resolutions to block arms sales to Israel, on top of those he introduced last month. He has yet to demand votes on the previous set of resolutions and his office did not respond to a request for comment…
A bipartisan group of lawmakers, including Reps. Keith Self (R-TX), Mike Lawler (R-NY), Claudia Tenney (R-NY), Rich McCormick (R-GA), Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), Michael McCaul (R-TX), Maria Salazar (R-FL) and Thomas Kean (R-NJ), reintroduced legislation to empower Congress to block the administration from lifting sanctions on Iran…
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said that the Trump administration “must articulate any criminal charges or facts that would justify [Mahmoud Khalil’s] detention or the initiation of deportation proceedings against him,” and that taking such action based on his views and opinions would be a violation of the First Amendment…
Barstool Sports owner Dave Portnoy said the Trump administration had offered him a job in the Department of Commerce…
Former National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan is joining the Harvard Kennedy School next month as the inaugural Kissinger Professor of the Practice of Statecraft and World Order…
Cornell University’s interim president said that the school’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine “faces suspension” over group members’ participation in the disruption of a panel earlier this week that included former Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and was focused on the peace process…
eJewishPhilanthropy spotlights the new Gibborim (Heroes) Scholarship at Rice University, which will provide a full-ride scholarship to one Israeli military veteran annually; the scholarship was created by Altitude Ventures co-founder Jay Zeidman…
Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, a leading left-wing Jewish advocacy group in New York City, is preparing to issue its endorsements in the June mayoral race as soon as this week, and appears likely to back City Comptroller Brad Lander and New York state Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports…
The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel blasted“No Other Land,” the Academy Award winner for Best Documentary, for running afoul of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement’s policy barring “normalization” with Israelis; the film, which was co-directed by a Palestinian journalist and an Israeli journalist, focused on conflict between the Israeli government and the West Bank town of Masafer Yatta…
A Belgian court acquitted a Flemish writer on charges of antisemitism and incitement, citing the country’s free speech laws; Herman Brusselmans had published a column in a satirical magazine saying he wanted “to ram a pointed knife straight down the throat of every Jew I meet”…
Writer Douglas Murray won a libel suit against The Guardian over a 2024 column in the British newspaper in which columnist Kenan Malik accused Murray of “supporting violent racist attacks”…
A U.K. Labour Party councilor was suspended amid an investigation into antisemitic text messages she had sent in a group chat last summer…
Australian officials said that a trailer that had been discovered outside of Sydney containing explosives — originally thought to be part of a plot targeting the city’s Jewish community — was part of a broader criminal ring…
An archeology professor and group of students excavating a site outside of Rome discovered what is believed to be the oldest Jewish ritual bath, known as a mikveh, in Europe…
The Wall Street Journal reports on Israeli concerns following U.S. hostage envoy Adam Boehler’s comments on Israeli news networks earlier this week regarding his recent direct talks with Hamas; Boehler had already frustrated Israeli officials by engaging in the talks and then detailing them in TV interviews in the U.S. over the weekend…
The IDF said a Hezbollah member was killed in an IDF drone strike on Tuesday in southern Lebanon…
Israel and Lebanon agreed on Tuesday to begin negotiations, mediated by the U.S., to resolve several border disputes, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports…
Forward Editor-in-Chief Jodi Rudoren is returning to The New York Times, where she previously served as Jerusalem bureau chief in addition to a number of other positions, to be the paper’s director of newsletters…
Project management system Asana announced that co-founder and CEO Dustin Moskovitz, who is also the company’s chair, will transition out of his leadership position; Moskovitz, who will retain his chairmanship, will remain CEO until a successor is in place…
Hollywood producer Stanley Jaffe, whose “Kramer vs. Kramer” won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1980, died at 84…
Pic of the Day
A group of Democratic House members, including Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), Brad Sherman (D-CA), Greg Landsman (D-OH), Haley Stevens (D-MI), Dan Goldman (D-NY) and Brad Schneider (D-IL), met with the family of Israeli hostage Omri Miran, who was taken captive on Oct. 7, 2023, and is believed to still be alive.
Birthdays
Sportscaster for ESPN and a host of “SportsCenter,” Steve Levy turns 60…
Born in Venezuela, raised in Israel, now residing in Lakewood, N.J., Rabbi Yitzchak Abadi turns 92… Photographer, musician and author of 15 children’s books, Arlene Weiss Alda turns 92… Carol Margolis… Retired U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) turns 78… Director, producer and screenwriter including directing the first of “The Fast and the Furious” film franchise, Rob Cohen turns 76… Born in Bombay, British sculptor, he won the 2017 $1 million Genesis Prize for “commitment to Jewish values, the Jewish community and the State of Israel,” Sir Anish Kapoor turns 71… Pitching coach who has worked for the Yankees, Reds, Braves, Marlins, Cubs and Padres, Larry Rothschild turns 71… Past president of AIPAC, he is the founder and CEO of R.A. Cohen & Associates, a residential developer in NYC, Robert A. Cohen… Former member of the Knesset for the Likud party, he is from the Israeli Druze community, Ayoob Kara turns 70… Founder of hedge fund Lone Pine Capital, Stephen Mandel turns 69… Sales representative at Paychex, Lynne Blumenthal… Director of institutional stewardship at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Diane Saltzman… Senior attorney in the DC office of Squire Patton Boggs, Stacey Grundman… Born in Haifa, he served as president of the Central Bank of Brazil and is now president of the Inter-American Development Bank, Ilan Goldfajn turns 59… U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) turns 57… Chief Washington correspondent for CNN and co-host of the Sunday morning program “State of the Union,” Jacob Paul “Jake” Tapper turns 56… Founder and CEO at Miller Strategies, Jeff Miller… Israeli film and television actor, Tzachi Halevy turns 50… SVP of communications at the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, Brian T. Weiss… Founder and publisher of Fleishigs, a kosher food magazine, Shlomo Klein… Actor and comedian, Samm Levine turns 43… Writer, artist and social media personality, she is known for her Daf Reactions series of videos explaining passages from the Talmud posted to TikTok, Miriam P. Anzovin… Lead public affairs specialist at the Association of American Medical Colleges, Talia Schmidt… Member of Congress (D-NY) since 2021, Ritchie Torres turns 37… Senior Middle East intelligence specialist at Vcheck, Aaron Magid… Founder and CEO of Serotonin and co-founder and president of Mojito, Amanda Gutterman Cassatt turns 34… CEO and co-founder of Wonder Media Network, Jennifer Manning Kaplan… Figure skater who won the 2016 World Junior championship, he competed for Israel at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, Daniel Samohin turns 27… Israeli Internet personality, model and singer, Anna Zak turns 24…
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