Daily Kickoff
Good Wednesday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we report on last night’s address by President Donald Trump to a joint session of Congress, and cover the confirmation hearing of Elbridge Colby to be undersecretary of defense for policy. We also look at how the Jewish community is responding to Trump’s pledge to punish colleges that allow illegal protests, and report on the upcoming departure of the top U.S. official in the State Department’s Office of Palestinian Affairs. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Ilya Sutskever, Hank Azaria and Deborah Lipstadt.
What We’re Watching
- The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing focused on antisemitism this morning. Read more here on the individuals who will be testifying during the committee’s first hearing dedicated to the issue since Oct. 7, 2023.
- The House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Europe subcommittee is holding a hearing focused on relations with Turkey this morning. The Washington Institute’s Anna Borshchevskaya, Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Jonathan Schanzer and the Center for a New American Security’s Celeste Wallander are slated to testify.
What You Should Know
President Donald Trump’s nearly two-hour speech to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday evening included only a brief mention of his administration’s policy on the Middle East, without any new or specific details about his plans for the region, Gaza or the collapsing hostage deal, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod and Emily Jacobs report from the Capitol.
Foreign policy generally received comparatively little focus in the speech, which was the longest presidential address to Congress since at least 2000.
In his short remarks on the Middle East, Trump said, “We’re bringing back our hostages from Gaza,” and said that the U.S. is going to “build on [the] foundation” of the Abraham Accords “to create a more peaceful and prosperous future for the entire region.” He added, “a lot of things are happening in the Middle East.”
The president made no mention of Iran, a major focus of Trump’s congressional speeches in his first term, did not explicitly reference Hamas and did not mention the freed hostages who were in the gallery above the chamber.
Other foreign policy issues that received greater focus included Trump’s plans to take control of the Panama Canal, to take over Greenland and to broker peace between Ukraine and Russia.
In the gallery above the House chamber, at least five former hostages and hostage family members, including Noa Argamani, Keith and Aviva Siegel, Iair Horn and Ronen Neutra, could be seen wearing yellow scarves, a recognition of the hostages held in Gaza. Steve Witkoff, Trump’s Middle East envoy, was seated next to Marc Fogel, an American teacher who was recently released from Russian prison and who was flown out of Russia on Witkoff’s personal plane.
A handful of lawmakers were wearing yellow hostage ribbon pins. (Most of the lawmakers wearing pins last night were ones who do so every day). Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) wore a keffiyeh with a pink trim, matching the pink jackets worn by numerous Democratic women in protest of Trump administration policies that they viewed as harmful to women. Tlaib was the only member sporting Palestinian accoutrements, a contrast from President Joe Biden’s State of the Union speech the year prior when several other far-left lawmakers also wore keffiyehs. Numerous Democrats also wore blue and gold, the colors of the Ukrainian flag.
The president made no mention of his administration’s recent moves to crack down on antisemitism on college campuses or his threat earlier in the day to defund colleges that allow “illegal” protests.
Trump said he’s asking Congress to fund a “Golden Dome” missile defense system for the United States, inspired by Israel’s Iron Dome. “Israel has it … the United States should have it too, right?” Trump said, his only explicit mention of Israel in the address.
In the Democratic response, freshman Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) focused on national security and sharply criticized Trump’s foreign policy, saying, “We all want an end to the war in Ukraine, but Reagan understood that true strength required America to combine our military and economic might with moral clarity. As a Cold War kid, I’m thankful it was Reagan and not Trump in office in the 1980s. Trump would have lost us the Cold War.” She added that “Reagan must be rolling over in his grave.”
Several pro-Israel Democrats told JI after the speech that they thought the hostages and the situation in the Middle East merited more attention from Trump in his remarks.
“He didn’t even mention the importance of the U.S.-Israel relationship,” Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) told JI. “This is a guy who supposedly Republicans exalt as Israel’s greatest friend. You would think in an almost two-hour address that one of the most significant crises in the Middle East in modern times may have gotten more than a passing mention.”
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) and other Republicans pushed back. “The fact is that the president has outlined a lot of specifics on Iran, already put in place some of the most severe sanctions [and] has been working with our allies to get the hostages out, as well as ultimately find a solution long-term with respect to Gaza.” Lawler said. “He’s already been working on a lot of these issues.”
moscow in the middle
Security experts concerned with reports of Russia’s interest in mediating U.S.-Iran nuclear talks
Days after President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance clashed with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office, the Trump administration took another step closer to normalizing Moscow’s role on the world stage, with a Bloomberg News report on Tuesday indicating that Russia agreed to work with Trump as a negotiator in nuclear talks with Iran that will also focus on mitigating Iranian proxies. The announcement was met with skepticism from foreign policy experts, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
Endgame unclear: Two key questions arose following the Russia-Iran news: Will Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has grown closer to Tehran in recent years and relied on Iranian weapons in his war against Ukraine, be an honest broker and an advocate for Washington’s demands? Second, what kind of nuclear agreement would Trump be able to achieve with Russia as a mediator? “Trump thinks that he’ll have a Russian partner at the table,” rather than Russia as an adversary, said Mark Dubowitz, CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Still, it’s not clear what Trump’s endgame is for Iran.
hearing headlines
Colby says nuclear Iran an ‘existential danger’ to the U.S., backpedaling on past views
Elbridge Colby, the nominee for undersecretary of defense for policy, said at his Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing on Tuesday that he now views a nuclear-armed Iran as an “existential” threat to the United States homeland and said he would provide military options to the administration to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon if necessary. Colby also sought to distance himself from Michael DiMino, who prompted alarm among supporters of Israel after being named deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Addressing past comments: Colby’s comments suggest he’s backtracking on his past views that the U.S. could contain a nuclear-armed Iran, and that the consequences of striking Iran to eliminate its nuclear program would be worse than those of Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon, which had raised serious concerns for Senate Republicans. But when pressed in detail about his past comments, Colby also tried to justify them by arguing he was merely pushing back against what he viewed as an overly hawkish consensus at the time. And he underscored, later in the hearing, that the Trump administration’s goal is to reach a “trust-but-verify negotiated agreement” with Iran — with a military option available.
Read the full story here, including comments from Vice President J.D. Vance and Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK).
campus crackdown
Trump’s threat to punish universities that allow ‘illegal protests’ draws tentative support from Jewish leaders
President Donald Trump’s threat on Tuesday to slash federal funding from universities that continue to allow what he labeled “illegal” protests drew tentative support from several Jewish leaders on the front lines of fighting campus antisemitism, while facing pointed criticism from First Amendment advocates, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
ADL response: While mainstream Jewish organizations largely declined to weigh in on Trump’s campus crackdown, the Anti-Defamation League cautiously welcomed Trump’s statement for drawing attention to the environment for Jewish college students, while underscoring that any penalties need to be lawful. The group “welcome[s] attention and action to combat antisemitism on campus, and urge[s] that any action taken addresses the problem directly and is constructive, helping to rebuild a welcoming environment for Jewish students on campus,” Todd Gutnick, an ADL spokesperson, told JI. “Of course, it is crucial that consequences must be lawful, preserve constitutionally protected free speech and be enforced in ways that are consistent with due process,” Gutnick said.
Read the full story here.
changing tides
Israel open to talking to European far-right parties, but won’t speak with Germany’s AfD
As the Alternative for Germany (AfD) Party reached second place with over 20% of the vote in last week’s German election, Israel reversed its policy of nonengagement and began reviewing potential relations with three other European right-wing nationalist parties — but not AfD. Israel is taking a case-by-case approach to the parties in France, Sweden and Spain, in light of some of those on the nationalist right taking steps to counter antisemitism, along with embracing pro-Israel policies, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports.
FM’s perspective: In a meeting last week with Jewish community and pro-Israel organization leaders in Brussels, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar spoke about his decision to allow Israeli diplomats to meet with representatives of the National Rally in France, the Sweden Democrats and Vox in Spain. During the visit, Sa’ar also held meetings with his counterparts from the European Union. He said that, following a review of Israel’s policy not to speak to far-right parties on the continent, he “didn’t see a reason not to” change Jerusalem’s approach to the three parties. Sa’ar said the Foreign Ministry is examining the parties individually: “We check their attitudes towards Israel and their support for Israel. We are also reviewing their attitudes towards antisemitism, Holocaust denial, and other such matters.”
scoop
Head of State Dept. Office of Palestinian Affairs to leave Jerusalem later this month
Hans Wechsel, the head of the State Department’s Office of Palestinian Affairs in Jerusalem, plans to leave his position at the end of March, according to four people with knowledge of Wechsel’s decision, Jewish Insider’s Melissa Weiss reports.
Back to D.C.: Wechsel, a career diplomat who has been posted in the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon and Turkey and previously held the position of director of counterterrorism for the Middle East and South and Central Asia, will return to Washington following his departure from Jerusalem. He told employees in a staff meeting on Tuesday about his decision to leave the position, which he assumed in August 2024. An individual with knowledge of the staff meeting said that Wechsel told staff that he “didn’t like the direction the ship was heading.”
Worthy Reads
Sidelining Rubio: In Vanity Fair, Gabriel Sherman details Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s reported “unhappiness” with President Donald Trump over foreign policy positions the administration has taken, as well as the distribution of power that is normally held by the country’s top diplomat. “While Rubio was quick to get in line in the days after the Zelenskyy showdown, the historic confrontation did indeed reveal a fault line inside the administration: Rubio is privately frustrated that Trump has effectively sidelined him. According to four prominent Republicans close to the White House, Rubio, who has been a Russia hawk and Ukraine supporter, has told people he is upset by his lack of foreign policy influence despite being, on paper at least, the administration’s top diplomat. One of the sources said they felt as though Rubio is often the last to know when foreign policy decisions are made in the White House. According to Republicans I spoke with, Rubio’s unhappiness with Trump was brewing before Zelenskyy’s visit went sideways. Two of the sources said Rubio was caught off guard when Trump appointed nine foreign policy “envoys” with high-profile assignments such as ending the wars in Gaza and Ukraine.” [VanityFair]
Isolating Iran: In Time, Dennis Ross posits that Trump must master the art of statecraft in order to achieve his desired policy outcome vis-a-vis Iran. “What should Trump’s objective be? It is not enough to stop Iran from producing a nuclear bomb; the goal must be to prevent it from preserving the option of producing one later. For that he must put pressure on Iran that the Iranians find meaningful: it needs to be political as isolation is something the Iranians seek to avoid; it needs to be economic so that Iran feels the increasing alienation of its public; it needs to be military so that the Iranians know that they could lose their entire nuclear infrastructure, one they have been investing in for nearly 40 years, if diplomacy fails. The Trump Administration will need to frame the issue, explain the danger of what Iran is doing, and mobilize the world to isolate the Iranians and demonstrate that there is an option for a diplomatic outcome, one in which Iran is permitted civil nuclear power, provided Iran takes it. The instinct to go it alone will leave us without partners and reduce the prospect of succeeding without the use of force — something President Trump clearly prefers.” [Time]
Word on the Street
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the implementation of President Donald Trump’s January executive order designating the Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization…
The State Department is unfreezing some $95 million earmarked for Lebanon’s armed forces amid a broader funding freeze that has halted most U.S. foreign aid…
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his meeting last week with Trump was “regrettable” and “did not go the way it was supposed to be”; Zelensky proposed a limited truce with Russia and expressed willingness to move forward on a minerals deal with the U.S. that was intended to be signed last week…
The Orthodox Union wrote to the Senate Judiciary Committee recommending steps that the Congress can take legislatively to counter antisemitism, ahead of today’s hearing on antisemitism…
Rep. Lance Gooden (R-TX) and 13 other House Republicans introduced legislation to prohibit U.S. contributions to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and other U.N. agencies…
A group of Democratic House lawmakers — Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), Greg Casar (D-TX), Chuy Garcia (D-IL), Al Green (D-TX), Hank Johnson (D-GA), Summer Lee (D-PA), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Mark Pocan (D-WI), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Delia Ramirez (D-IL), Nydia Velázquez (D-NY) and Bonne Watson Coleman (D-NJ) — introduced a series of four resolutions to block certain arms sales and transfers to Israel…
Rep. Ryan Mackenzie (R-PA) introduced legislation to repeal sunset provisions of existing Iran sanctions legislation…
Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg met last week with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) about potentially mounting a Senate bid in Michigan, where Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) is retiring…
The New York Times published an exit interview with Deborah Lipstadt, the special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism in the Biden administration…
The Wall Street Journal spotlights Ilya Sutskever, the former chief scientist of OpenAI, whose new startup Safe Superintelligence is being valued at $30 billion…
The Washington Post interviews Hank Azaria, whose latest project is a road show in which he performs as Bruce Springsteen…
A group of Arab leaders who met in Cairo on Tuesday released a $53 billion proposal to rebuild Gaza without displacing the population of the enclave, with the expectation that it would be incorporated into a future Palestinian state without Hamas in government…
Eyal Zamir, the IDF’s incoming chief of staff, was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general earlier today; Zamir succeeded outgoing Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi…
The IDF said it killed the leader of a Hamas cell in the West Bank city of Jenin…
The Shin Bet issued a report on Tuesday admitting security failures prior to the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks; the report comes less than a week after the IDF released the findings of its own probe that found the military had ignored warnings and failed to protect the Gaza Envelope region…
Travel records reviewed by Reuters revealed that Russian missile specialists traveled to Tehran on numerous occasions over the last year; the two men carried passports that are used for official state business…
Iran and China are using small boats to move oil out of the Islamic Republic and into Chinese ports in an effort to avoid sanctions…
A new study from the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia found that Qatar was the wealthiest Arab country; the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain were ranked second and third, respectively…
Former CIA officer-turned-vintner Peter Sichel, who as a teenager fled Nazi Europe with his family before enlisting after Pearl Harbor and joining the pre-CIA Office of Strategic Services, died at 102…
Artist Hal Hirshorn died at 60…
Longtime Central Park performer Joseph Gitnig died at 95…
Pic of the Day
Effie Yahalomi, sister of slain French-Israeli hostage Ohad Yahalomi, stood in front of his casket as it was placed in a hearse during his funeral earlier today in Rishon Letzion, Israel. Yahalomi was killed while in captivity in Gaza; his body was returned by Hamas last week during the final release of hostages included in the first phase of the cease-fire.
Birthdays
Recording music industry executive, known for his association with the game show “Jeopardy!” as both a contestant and as a host, Austin David “Buzzy” Cohen turns 40…
Particle physicist and astrophysicist, he is a professor emeritus at the University of Michigan, Carl William Akerlof turns 87… Retired university counsel for California State University, Donald A. Newman… Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, he is an associate fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Roy Gutman turns 81… Retired partner of Los Angeles law firm, Gordon, Edelstein, Krepack, Grant, Felton & Goldstein, LLP, Mark Edelstein… President of Los Angeles PR firm Robin Gerber & Associates, Robin Gerber Carnesale… Managing partner at Lerer Hippeau, Kenneth B. Lerer turns 73… Political philosopher and professor at Harvard Law School, Michael Joseph Sandel turns 72… Founder and retired CEO of the DC-based News Literacy Project, he was a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter with the Los Angeles Times for 21 years, Alan C. Miller… Author of Judaism: A Way of Being and professor of computer science at Yale University, David Hillel Gelernter turns 70… Maryland State senator since 2019, following 12 years in the Maryland House of Delegates, Benjamin F. Kramer turns 68… Actor, screenwriter and film producer, he has been a contestant on three seasons of CBS’ ‘Survivor,” Jonathan Penner turns 63… Retired tennis player, she won 10 doubles tournaments, Elise Burgin turns 63… Former senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and former NPR reporter, Sarah Chayes turns 63… Professor at Université de Montréal, most noted for his work on artificial neural networks and deep learning, Yoshua Bengio turns 61… Chair-elect of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, former president and Board chair of AIPAC, Betsy Berns Korn… President and founder of West End Strategy Team, Matt Dorf turns 55… Los Angeles-area builder and developer, Michael Reinis… President and CEO of the Colorado Solar and Storage Association, Michael N. Kruger… Chief communications officer at Jenner & Block, Daniel S. Schwarz… Actor and screenwriter, Jason Isaac Fuchs turns 39… Managing director at Portage Point Partners, Steven Shenker… Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate # 37244-510, founder of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried turns 33… Manager of operations support at TEKsystems, Andrew Leiferman… Singer with 39.2 million followers on Instagram, her career started with a song she performed at her own bat mitzvah, Madison Elle Beer turns 26…
Recent Daily Kickoff Newsletters
