Daily Kickoff
Good Thursday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we report on the skepticism of some GOP lawmakers and experts of the U.S.’ approach to nuclear talks with Iran, and cover the confirmation hearing of Joe Kent, the Trump administration’s nominee to be director of the National Counterterrorism Center. We report on an upcoming BDS referendum at Georgetown University slated to take place during Passover, and cover the Senate vote to confirm Mike Huckabee as U.S. ambassador to Israel. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Keith Siegel, Elliot Grainge and Jessica Tisch.
What We’re Watching
- Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) and Joe Wilson (R-SC) are holding a press conference at the Capitol this morning to relaunch the Victims of Communism Caucus.
What You Should Know
A new Pew Research Center survey examining American public opinion towards Israel should raise some eyebrows in the pro-Israel community, Jewish Insider Editor-in-Chief Josh Kraushaar writes.
The poll, conducted between March 24-30, finds that Israel’s favorability rating is underwater in the survey for the first time since Pew began conducting polls on the matter, with just 45% of Americans viewing the Jewish state favorably, while 53% view it unfavorably. Pew’s last poll in 2022 found Israel with a plus-13 favorability score (55% favorable/42% unfavorable).
It’s possible this poll is an outlier, but other reputable surveys have found similar slippage in Israel’s political perception in the United States. A Gallup poll conducted in February found Israel’s favorability rating at a healthier 54% level, but it also marked the lowest rating in that survey since 2000.
The new Pew polling suggests Israel is losing support on two different fronts: From older Democrats, likely disenchanted with its close relationship with the Trump administration, and from younger Republicans, some of whom are influenced by the rise of anti-Israel and antisemitic discourse on social media and on right-wing podcasts.
On the Democratic Party front, Israel is now viewed negatively, the culmination of a partisan trend dating back to the Obama administration. Over two-thirds of Democratic voters (69%) now view Israel negatively — up 16 points since 2022.
But most concerning is the recent slippage of older Democrats, many of whom stood with Israel during the Biden administration but appear to be shifting their views with President Donald Trump in charge of the relationship. The Pew survey found that 66% of Democrats over 50 now view Israel negatively — a 22-point spike over the last three years.
It’s worth noting that on Capitol Hill, a majority of Democrats in Congress have continued to oppose anti-Israel resolutions aiming to block military aid to Israel and that fewer Democratic senators backed Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) resolution to that end this month, compared to last year.
The Pew data on the Republican side also contain red flags, even as the top-lines are generally positive. While a healthy majority of Republicans still view Israel favorably, over one-third (37%) now hold a negative view — up 10 points since 2022.
The uptick in negative views is almost entirely driven by younger Republicans. Those under 50 are now evenly divided over their views towards the Jewish state (50% view Israel negatively, 48% view it positively). That’s a sea change from the last survey three years ago, when nearly two-thirds of younger Republicans held a favorable view of Israel.
There is also a notable divide between evangelical and non-evangelical Republicans’ views of Israel. Among evangelical Protestants, 72% view Israel favorably, with many holding a deep connection with the Jewish state. Among non-evangelicals, Israel’s favorability rating dips to 47%.
It’s no coincidence that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, during his brief visit to Washington, chose to spend his time meeting with conservative podcasters and influencers instead of lawmakers. While Republican members of Congress are overwhelmingly supportive of the strong U.S.-Israel relationship, there’s a growing debate among the GOP grassroots.
Given that Netanyahu has bet heavily on Trump and the GOP’s goodwill, any slippage in support would carry outsized consequences. It’s a worthwhile reminder as the Trump administration engages in behind-the-scenes negotiations with Iran this weekend over the future of its nuclear program.
TEHRAN TALK
Lawmakers, national security experts skeptical of Trump’s Iran diplomacy
Pro-Israel lawmakers from both parties and national security experts are expressing deep skepticism towards the Trump administration’s push for a nuclear deal with Iran, set to formally begin this weekend with talks in Oman, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod and Emily Jacobs report. Their views reflect a widespread consensus that an adequate deal that would fully dismantle Iran’s nuclear program will be difficult, if not impossible, to achieve.
What they’re saying: Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) said that any deal with Iran must involve the dismantling of its nuclear program, a condition the regime is not likely to accept. “I think we need to tell Iran that we can do this the easy way or the hard way, and they need to make a deal. I personally don’t think Iran should have a nuclear weapon, or that we should allow them to get a nuclear weapon,” Kennedy said. Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) similarly said he opposes nuclear talks with Tehran. “I’m unsure of the value in negotiating. I would rather have them [Israel] just destroy” Iran’s nuclear facilities, Fetterman told JI. Multiple Republican lawmakers and analysts expressed specific concern about Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff serving as the lead U.S. negotiator in the talks.
Read the full story here for additional comments from Sens. Jack Reed (D-RI), Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) and Thom Tillis (R-NC), and WINEP’s Dana Stroul, JINSA’s Michael Makovsky and FDD’s Saeed Ghasseminejad.
On The Hill: The House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday advanced, with bipartisan support, legislation that would impose new sanctions on individuals and entities involved in Iran’s oil trade and hostage-taking and those involved in Houthi piracy, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
A seder without freedom
Keith Siegel recounts his Hamas captivity to foreign diplomats, AJC members
Keith Siegel, the North Carolina-born Israeli American freed earlier this year from Hamas captivity in Gaza, recounted the horrors he endured while being held by the terror group to a gathering of foreign diplomats, D.C. power players and American Jewish Committee members on Wednesday evening, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
A hostage’s message: Siegel, 65, spoke at the AJC’s annual Ambassadors’ Seder, attended by envoys from countries around the world to Washington, congressional staff and a range of other D.C. policy hands. The event was AJC’s largest-ever Ambassadors’ Seder in more than 30 years, with more than 400 attendees and diplomats from more than 60 countries registered to attend. “These memories of medieval torture methods still haunt me,” Siegel said. “Every interaction,” Siegel continued, “reinforced this brutal reality” that he was entirely at the terrorists’ mercy.
ON NOTICE
DHS: Immigration applications to be screened for suspected antisemitic activity
The federal agency responsible for approving immigration applications will begin screening applicants’ social media accounts for evidence of antisemitic activity, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on Wednesday, the latest action from the Trump administration directed at foreigners deemed to be antisemitic or pro-Hamas, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports. “Sec. [Kristi] Noem has made it clear that anyone who thinks they can come to America and hide behind the First Amendment to advocate for antisemitic violence and terrorism — think again. You are not welcome here,” Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement, referring to the Homeland Security secretary.
What this means: The new guidance from USCIS will allow immigration officials to monitor applicants’ and immigrants’ social media accounts to see whether they are “endorsing, espousing, promoting, or supporting antisemitic terrorism, antisemitic terrorist organizations or other antisemitic activity,” according to a press release. In particular, the guidance named the terror groups Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah and the Houthis.
suspect scheduling
Georgetown Student Association holding BDS vote over Passover
The Georgetown University Student Association bypassed its standard protocols to introduce a referendum on university divestment from companies and academic institutions with ties to Israel — deciding to hold the vote over the Passover holiday. Sixteen of the 28 members of the GUSA voted in favor of a resolution to put the divestment question before the undergraduate student body April 14-16. The initial vote, held earlier this week, was done in secret and without the approval of the senate’s Policy and Advocacy Committee — breaking from typical procedure, the university’s student newspaper, The Hoya, reported. The referendum will require at least 25% turnout and a simple majority of voters in favor to pass, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
Jewish community reaction: Jewish leaders on campus told JI that the vote is creating a “troubling” campus climate and expressed concern about the unusual way in which it unfolded. “The students are deeply disappointed by the rushed and irregular nature of this process, which bypassed the regular protocols of GUSA,” said Rabbi Menachem Shemtov, who leads Georgetown Chabad. “Additionally, scheduling the vote on a Jewish holiday is not only insensitive from the start, but sets a troubling tone that only descends from there. Many Jewish students are out of town and observing the holiday at the time of the vote, effectively excluding them from the process.”
KENT’S CONVICTIONS
Joe Kent says intelligence can keep the U.S. out of ‘endless wars’ in NCTC confirmation hearing
Joe Kent, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be director of the National Counterterrorism Center, emphasized the importance of accurate intelligence in preventing a repeat of “the past 20-plus years of endless wars” during his confirmation hearing on Wednesday, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports. Kent, who has called for the U.S. to pull back from the Middle East as part of his broader isolationist foreign policy views, told members of the Senate Intelligence Committee that he views this moment in history as a “very critical time for us to continue the fight against terrorism,” which he described as “the fight of my lifetime and the fight of my generation.”
Opening statement: “The past 20-plus years of endless wars and endless deployments overseas have quite frankly not addressed the terror threat that we faced after 9/11 and the terror threat that we face right now. We have to find a way to strike a reasonable balance and have sustainable counterterrorism efforts that mostly focus on enabling partners, allies, surrogates and proxies,” Kent said in his opening statement.
Dubious dismissals: Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) said on Wednesday that he was “deeply concerned” about the sudden firings of multiple senior National Security Council staffers and the director of the National Security Agency.
HUCKABEE TO THE HOLY LAND
Huckabee confirmed with support from Republicans, Fetterman
The Senate voted 53-46 on Wednesday to confirm former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee as U.S. ambassador to Israel, with only Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) breaking ranks to support him.“He’ll have all the votes that he needs,” Fetterman told Jewish Insider last month of his plans to vote for Huckabee. “He’s been in public life for a while. Our politics are definitely different, but he’s deeply devoted to Israel, as I am, so I can’t imagine voting against him.” Huckabee’s past comments supporting Israeli annexation of the West Bank and opposing a two-state solution, among others, have been a deal-breaker for most Senate Democrats, even vocal supporters of Israel, JI’s Emily Jacobs and Marc Rod report.
GOP backing: Senate Republicans, meanwhile, rallied around Huckabee and defended him as the right choice for the role going into Wednesday’s vote. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-WY), the No. 2 Senate Republican, urged their colleagues to stand behind Huckabee in floor speeches ahead of the vote. “I know that once he is confirmed, Ambassador Huckabee will be a strong and supportive voice for Israel and for America’s interests from his post in Jerusalem,” Thune said. Calling Huckabee a “fierce friend” to the Jewish state and the “right leader to have in this important role,” Barrasso noted how the former governor had “visited Israel more than 100 times. He knows its people, its purpose, its potential and its promise.”
Bonus: Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar congratulated Huckabee on his confirmation, calling him “a true friend of the Jewish state.”
Worthy Reads
Poison Ivy: In The Free Press, Princeton student Danielle Shapiro recounts her experience at an on-campus event this week featuring former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett that was disrupted by anti-Israel and antisemitism protesters. “As we filed out of the building, the protest had swelled to around 100, with most people wearing masks and many yelling at us: ‘You’re committing a holocaust!’ and ‘You’re killing babies!’ Multiple students, myself included, were told to ‘go back to Europe.’ We also heard many shouts of ‘They’re all fucking inbred!’ and ‘inbred swine!’ At least two or three protesters used their hands to create the shape of the Hamas triangle. Refusing to be intimidated, many of us stayed and filmed the scene. Ever since October 7, we have endured so many antisemitic protests on campus, it’s almost become the background noise to our studies. … But this was a new low. At a place where we’re taught to respect and uphold the values of free speech, SJP went so far as to pull a fire alarm, literally silencing speech, and even bragged about it.” [FreePress]
First Draft of the Gaza War: In The Jewish Review of Books, Matti Friedman reviews Asaf Hazani’s Anthropology at War, Hazani’s firsthand account of the first months of the Israel-Hamas war taken from his experiences in Gaza. “The most striking chapter of the book is titled ‘A Professional Army of Militias,’ in which Hazani describes the army as he encountered it in this war — chaotic and undisciplined at worst, creative and improvisational at best, and usually everything all at once. … Maybe other armies are different, and maybe ours should be. But as I read these pages, I couldn’t help thinking that a different army probably wouldn’t include a colonel with an anthropology degree who’d do his duty in the war, take notes, and dash off a tortured and thoughtful book the moment he got home. Most worthwhile war literature appears only years after the fighting, sometimes decades, when tempers cool and perspectives sharpen. In this case, the war isn’t even over. Hazani’s book will be read in the future not as a conclusive account but as an honest first draft — a raw version of one early stage in events that the author, like all of us, struggled to understand as they were going on.” [JRB]
Rhetorical Bombs on Iran: The Washington Post’s David Ignatius observes President Donald Trump’s approach to nuclear talks with Iran, announced earlier this week during an Oval Office press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “Trump likes to drop rhetorical bombs, even when he’s not sure where they will land. That’s been true of his Ukraine peace push, which so far only seems to have intensified fighting there; his tariff announcement, which has rocked global financial markets; and now his bid for face-to-face talks with Iran — with a threat of military action if diplomacy fails. … Trump evidently understands that in any negotiation with Iran, Israel will be an invisible third party. So it was significant that he announced his desire for direct talks with Netanyahu at his side. Though Trump was solicitous, one administration official speculated that the Oval Office scene was a way to keep Netanyahu in check and preempt Israeli criticism.” [WashPost]
Word on the Street
Vice President JD Vance met on Wednesday with a group of former hostages and relatives of Israelis still captive in Gaza…
Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with his Saudi counterpart, Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, in Washington on Wednesday to discuss a range of geopolitical issues, including the Israel-Hamas war, as well as President Donald Trump’s upcoming visit to the region…
FBI Director Kash Patel was removed as interim director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives…
Kari Lake, who had initially been tapped to serve as head of Voice of America, is being detailed to the State Department, where she is expected to coordinate between Foggy Bottom and U.S. Agency for Global Media, VOA’s parent organization, amid a broader effort by the Trump administration to gut the media agency…
Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) rejected the idea of meeting with Israeli Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, following a proposal from the hard-line Jewish group Betar; “There is no universe in which I would ever grant an audience to an extremist like Ben Gvir or any organization like yours that embraces his extremism,” Torres said…
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), whose nomination to be U.N. ambassador was withdrawn over House Republicans’ slim advantage in the chamber, was named the chair of House Republican Leadership…
New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, who is mounting a bid for mayor, is holding off on endorsing a candidate in the race for his old City Council seat, where far-left incumbent Shahana Hanif, who worked for Lander for four years, is facing a primary challenge from Maya Kornberg…
The New York Times spotlights NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, who continues to rebuff suggestions that she enter the city’s mayoral race…
The California Department of Education found that two teachers in San Jose’s Campbell Union High School District used one-sided teaching materials on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that “discriminated against Jewish students”…
The mayor of Vancouver, British Columbia, condemned a recently elected city councillor who had posted antisemitic comments, including allegations of “a secret cabal of Jews” that “controlled” the Canadian city’s planners…
Four dozen survivors and family members of victims of attacks by militant and terror groups in the Middle East are suing Iran and North Korea in U.S. court, alleging that Tehran and Pyongyang provided funding and weapons to groups that targeted Americans…
eJewishPhilanthropy hosted three nights of debates with the World Zionist Congress slates vying for support during the ongoing elections this month. Watch the full debates here…
The Wall Street Journal profiles Atlantic Records CEO Elliot Grainge, who assumed the record label’s top role last year amid the company’s declining market shares and widespread layoffs…
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan acknowledged that Ankara and Jerusalem have engaged in technical talks regarding operations in Syria, comments that were later confirmed by an Israeli official to Israel’s Channel 12…
The Israel Defense Forces said it will dismiss Israeli Air Force reservists who signed a letter demanding the immediate return of the hostages, arguing against the continuation of the war in Gaza…
Pic of the Day
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met yesterday with CIA Director John Ratcliffe (left) and Mossad Director David Barnea in Jerusalem.
Birthdays
Movie producer best known for the 2016 musical romantic-drama film “La La Land,” Jordan Horowitz turns 45…
Past president of the U.S. Soccer Federation, he was previously an executive of both the LA Lakers and the LA Clippers, Alan Rothenberg turns 86… Author of four novels and two political history books, he is a former senior editor at The New Yorker and a deputy editor of the Outlook Section in The Washington Post, Jeffrey Frank turns 81… Author of 265 books including 56 books in the Cam Jansen series, 68 biographies and books for youth on the Holocaust, David Abraham Adler turns 78… Naomi Eisenberger Atlani… Former member of the Knesset for 26 years, he once served as vice prime minister, Haim Ramon turns 75… Founder of Gantman Communications, Howard Gantman… Scarsdale, N.Y., resident, Robin Stalbow Samot… Soviet-born Israeli-American pianist, Yefim “Fima” Bronfman turns 67… Member of the Knesset for the Likud party for 23 years, now chairman of Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, Yuval Steinitz turns 67… Author and journalist, Lisa Belkin turns 65… Dana B. Fishman… CEO of NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association, Shirley Ann Bloomfield… Tom Kohn… Author of five best-selling memoirs and six novels, she has also written for magazines such as The New Yorker, O, The Oprah Magazine, Vogue and Elle, Dani Shapiro… Host of Radio Atlantic and a senior editor at The Atlantic, she was born in Israel and moved to Queens when she was 5 years old, Hanna Rosin turns 56… Governor of Missouri from January 2017 to June 2018, Eric Greitens turns 51… President of NJI Media and co-founder of FamousDC blog, Josh Shultz… Israeli journalist, television personality and a political columnist for the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, Amit Yitzhak Segal turns 43… SVP of entertainment and news media at RespectAbilityUSA, Lauren Appelbaum… Attorney who has clerked for two federal judges, he also served as a fellow in the office of the Solicitor General, Yishai Schwartz… White House liaison to the American Jewish community during the Biden administration, Shelley Greenspan… Associate at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, Daniel E. Wolman… Basketball player for Hapoel Haifa, he was the 2009 ACC Freshman of the Year for the Virginia Cavaliers, Sylven Landesberg turns 35… Israeli singer-songwriter, actress and model, she represented Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023, Noa Kirel turns 24… Phil Hayes… Susie Diamond…
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