How Israelis are marking Yom HaZikaron
Good Wednesday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we report on a new musical project that aims to mark Yom HaZikaron, Israel’s national memorial day, and spotlight Sen. Bill Cassidy’s efforts to target antisemitism from his perch at the top of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. We also report on President Donald Trump’s dismissal of at least seven members of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council who were appointed by former President Joe Biden, and preview today’s Senate markup of the Antisemitism Awareness Act. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Abigail Mor Edan, Tom Barrack and Gov. Phil Murphy.
What We’re Watching
- Today is Yom HaZikaron, Israel’s day to honor and remember those killed in the country’s wars and in terror attacks. Official and unofficial events are being held around the country today. Yom Haatzmaut, the country’s independence day, begins at sundown tonight.
- The Israeli government’s official Yom Ha’atzmaut celebration was canceled due to high winds and adverse weather conditions.
- This morning in Washington, the Senate HELP Committee is voting on the Antisemitism Awareness Act and the Protecting Students on Campus Act. More below.
- The House Foreign Affairs Committee is holding a hearing on State Dept authorization.
- This afternoon, the House Armed Services Committee is holding a hearing on missile defense.
- Later today, the Senate Committee on Aging is holding a hearing on antisemitism targeting older Americans. Read more here.
- The Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments today in St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School v. Drummond, which focuses on funding for faith-based charter schools.
- Tonight, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy is holding its 40th anniversary gala dinner in Washington.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MELISSA WEISS
As a siren sounded last night at 8 p.m. and then again at 11 a.m. this morning local time, Israel came to a standstill as it honored some 25,000 Israelis killed in the nation’s wars and in terror attacks, Jewish Insider Executive Editor Melissa Weiss reports.
Cars stop on highways and their drivers step out. Neighbors step out onto their balconies, heads bowed. At public gatherings across the country, Israelis are briefly frozen in place — quiet, pensive — before coming to life again as the siren concludes.
As the siren ends and an altered version of normalcy resumes, Israelis are left to grapple with the dual realities of a nation at war that must simultaneously live and mourn, that must fight both an enemy committed to its destruction and tend to the millions traumatized by the Oct. 7 attacks and a year and a half of war, that is forced to fight both internal divisions and external threats.
In comments made at the Jewish News Syndicate‘s International Policy Summit in Jerusalem earlier this week, Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer told attendees that Israel’s war with Hamas — the longest sustained war since the country’s fight for independence nearly eight decades ago — would be over within a year.
But it’s not the first time an Israeli official has given a timeline. In May 2024, Israeli National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi predicted that the war would last through the end of the year — which at that point was a nearly unimaginable amount of time.
But today, the idea that the war could last another 12 months is draining to a populace that is fatigued from a year and a half of war, grieving those they have lost both in the war and the attacks that preceded it, and waiting for the return of the remaining 59 hostages.
Reservists, already struggling to maintain both their home lives and carry out their military duties, are buckling under the strain, amid a growing national anger over the failure of the government to make significant moves to draft soldiers from within the Haredi community, a segment of Israeli society that is among those that have suffered the fewest losses — both on Oct. 7 and in the ensuing war. (Read more on the topic from eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross here.)
And the country’s military — the leadership of which has almost entirely turned over since last Yom HaZikaron — finds itself at odds both internally and with the government, amid debates over war strategy and priorities, as well as accountability for the Oct. 7 attacks.
In March, when the Israeli Democracy Institute last conducted a survey about how Israelis would prioritize the government’s stated war goals, 68% said that the release of the remaining hostages should be the top priority, with 25% saying that toppling Hamas should be the first priority. It’s a gulf that has widened since the question was first posed in January 2024, when 51% said that the hostages should be the first priority, and 36% wanted to prioritize the destruction of Hamas.
Concerns about the government’s attitude toward the hostages are even less likely to be allayed following a comment by Sara Netanyahu, made in a meeting on Tuesday with individuals selected to light torches in the state’s Independence Day ceremony, that fewer than 24 hostages remain alive — correcting her husband, who said that 24 were alive, in keeping with previous government information. The exchange was widely panned, with Channel 12’s Amit Segal saying it was “truly bizarre and inappropriate” for the families to learn of the devastating news “through an interjection by Sara Netanyahu.”
For the families of the remaining hostages, the prospect of another year of war is unthinkable.
Emily Damari, the British-Israeli hostage who was freed earlier this year, reflected on Yom HaZikaron in a social media post to her Instagram page. Damari said that last year, she and fellow hostage Romi Gonen realized the significance of the day as their captors watched Al Jazeera. “At 11 a.m.,” Damari said, “we decided to stand for a moment of silence in memory of the fallen, who in their death commanded us to live, in memory of our friends who were killed.”
Today in Gaza, miles from where Israelis commemorate the dead, the living hostages languish after 572 days in captivity, prisoners awaiting the kind of freedom that the rest of the world takes for granted while enduring the kind of inhumanity the rest of the world could not imagine. And across the country, parents, siblings and children mourn those who have died — some who were killed protecting the country, others who died simply for living in it.
More than 300 soldiers and 79 civilians were killed between last Yom HaZikaron and today. It is impossible to know how many of them attended Yom HaZikaron events last year in their communities and on their bases, listening to the stories of those fallen in battle and those killed in acts of terror. Did they think the war would have ended by the next Yom HaZikaron? Did they imagine that their names would be among those mourned this year?
It is in the days leading up to Yom Kippur that Jews ask to be inscribed in the Book of Life. But it is on Yom HaZikaron that many ponder their own mortality, and the country’s — and what it means to be Israeli.
ON THE HILL
Senate committee to mark up Antisemitism Awareness Act, amid growing Democratic opposition
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee is set to meet on Wednesday to vote on the Antisemitism Awareness Act, in what could be a contentious meeting with a slew of potential amendments, some of which seek significant changes to the bill, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod and Emily Jacobs report.
State of play: Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO), a HELP Committee member and co-sponsor of the AAA, told JI that “about 50 different amendments” have been introduced, and it remains to be seen what the bill will look like at the end of the committee’s markup. As a co-sponsor, he indicated that he is inclined to support the bill. Sens. Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) and Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), had been seen as potential or likely votes in favor, but are now expected to vote against the legislation. Some Democrats are framing the legislation as a giveaway of additional power to the Trump administration. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who is seeking drastic changes to the legislation, is also likely to oppose it. A largely cosmetic amendment from GOP leadership appears aimed at mollifying freedom of speech and religion concerns from other Republicans.
Words of Warning: Matt Brooks, the CEO of the Republican Jewish Coalition, warned this week that anti-Israel sentiments that he said have taken over the Democratic Party are beginning to infiltrate the Republican Party and require a strong response, JI’s Marc Rod reports.
targeting hate
Bill Cassidy leans in to fight antisemitism as chair of key Senate committee
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, will bring up the Antisemitism Awareness Act and another piece of antisemitism legislation for consideration today — the latest in a series of steps Cassidy has taken to respond to campus antisemitism since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks in Israel. AAA has been a priority for the Jewish community for years and for Cassidy, who told Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs in an interview this week that he expects both pieces of legislation to advance out of committee.
Legislative affairs: The Louisiana senator has made antisemitism a major focus for the HELP Committee this Congress. Cassidy has leaned in since taking over the chairmanship role from Sanders in January, signing on as a cosponsor of the AAA, reintroducing his Protecting Students on Campus Act with Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) — which will also be marked up today — holding the panel’s first hearing on domestic antisemitism since Oct. 7 and launching an investigation into Americans Muslims for Palestine’s activities on college campuses. Cassidy says he wants to see the response from universities once the two bills become law, but is open to considering further legislative efforts if needed down the line. “I think we have to see how this plays, because, obviously, there’s executive orders, obviously there’s a greater sense of awareness among college and university presidents that they are being scrutinized because of this,” Cassidy said of next steps for Congress in finding policy avenues to address domestic antisemitism.
EXCLUSIVE DETAILS
Trump dismisses at least 7 Biden appointees to U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council
The Trump administration has dismissed multiple members of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council appointed by former President Joe Biden, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod and Matthew Kassel report.
Who’s out: Sources familiar with the situation told JI that those fired from the board overseeing the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and other Holocaust commemoration activities include former Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, former White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain, former Ambassador Susan Rice, former Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer, former presidential senior advisor Tom Perez, former Ambassador Alan Solomont and Mary Zients (an activist and wife of former White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients). “He’s talking all about fighting antisemitism, but he chooses to make a divisive call on the official arm of the federal government that was created to remember the Holocaust,” Solomont told JI. The New York Times also reported that Anthony Bernal, a senior advisor to former First Lady Jill Biden, had been dismissed.
REPORT RELEASE
Under fire, Harvard releases reports on antisemitism, Islamophobia on campus
Harvard University’s long-awaited dual reports on antisemitism and Islamophobia, released on Tuesday, reveal a campus beset by tension and simmering distrust — as well as a university struggling to handle competing claims of discrimination, animosity and exclusion made by Jewish and Muslim students, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch and Haley Cohen report.
Commitments: In the 300-page antisemitism report, which was made public amid alumni frustration and pressure from the Trump administration, Harvard committed to partnering with an Israeli university; providing additional resources for the study of Hebrew and Judaic studies; hosting an annual academic symposium on antisemitism; asking the leadership of Sidechat, a social media app that allows college students to post anonymously, to enforce its content moderation policies; and launching a pilot program in the business school addressing contemporary antisemitism.
exclusive
Senate Republicans aim to defund U.N. agencies that penalize Israel
A group of more than 20 Senate Republicans led by Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID) is set to introduce legislation on Wednesday that would strip U.S. funding from any United Nations agency that takes action to expel, downgrade, suspend or restrict Israel’s participation, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. “Israel is one of America’s greatest allies, and under President Trump’s Administration, we will no longer tolerate — much less fund — the blatant antisemitism at the United Nations. This bill will send a clear message to the UN and any other antisemitic international organizations: if you want America’s money, you’ll need to respect our Israeli friends,” Risch, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement. “America will always stand with Israel.”
On board: The Stand with Israel Act is co-sponsored by Sens. Tom Cotton (R-AR), Ted Budd (R-NC), Mike Lee (R-UT), James Lankford (R-OK), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Dave McCormick (R-PA), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Katie Britt (R-AL), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Shelly Moore Capito (R-WV), John Boozman (R-AR), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Josh Hawley (R-MO), John Barrasso (R-WY), Pete Ricketts (R-NE), Jim Justice (R-WV), John Hoeven (R-ND), John Cornyn (R-TX) and Rick Scott (R-FL).
MEANINGFUL MUSIC
Songs of the fallen set the tone for Yom HaZikaron in Israel
Israelis start Yom HaZikaron, their day to honor those killed in wars or in terror attacks, by standing silently as a siren blares throughout the country. When the siren goes off, first at 8 p.m. and then at 11 the next morning, the nation comes to a standstill. Traffic stops in bustling intersections, and drivers get out to stand next to their cars. Bus drivers pull over on the side of the highway. But what do Israelis do after the evening siren? For many, the answer is easy: They sing. This year, Galgalatz and Army Radio, a news and talk station run by the IDF, worked on a joint project of reported audio features and songs relating to fallen soldiers and victims of terror. Army Radio shared details of the project with Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov before its release to the public planned for this afternoon.
Living lyrics: One new song, “You’re Out There Traveling,” is based on a poem written by Aharon Danino, brother of Ori Danino, who was kidnapped at the Nova festival on Oct. 7 and murdered soon after. Danino, 25, escaped the music festival in a car, but went back to help save the lives of Maya and Itay Regev and Omer Shemtov, who were taken hostage and later released. The song is performed by “M Hamistaarev,” an IDF reservist who goes undercover as a Palestinian and therefore performs with a mask covering his face. Tiktok videos of M singing in Gaza went viral soon after the war began in 2023, and he has since released original music. M went to the shiva for Ori Danino and became friendly with the family, and Danino’s brother brought him the poem, which they worked together to set to music.
Worthy Reads
A Country Divided: In his “Clarity” Substack, former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren looks at the schisms dividing the country’s military that underscore deeper divisions across Israel. “Pilots fire from tens of thousands of feet in the air, far from almost any danger, while the ground troops are fighting in the ruins and mud of Gaza with indescribable dangers everywhere. But while seemingly about operational issues, the debate reflects the underlying divisions within Israeli society. The majority of the pilots come from a different socio-economic background than most of the Golani soldiers and paratroopers under the Southern Command. There are ethnic and religious schisms that separate the two groups as well. At stake is not only the differences between the blue uniforms of the air force and the ground forces’ green uniforms, but between people of Israel generally. … We must strive to achieve a compromise which, while not loved by all, will at least prove acceptable. Achieving that compromise is not just the job of the army but above all, the government’s, which must not retreat from its sovereign responsibility. We owe this all to the memory of the approximately 25,000 who fell in our wars and in terrorist attacks. We must honor them all with unity.” [Clarity]
A Pence for Your Thoughts: In The Wall Street Journal, former Vice President Mike Pence reflects on President Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office. “Similarly, reports of negotiations with the mullahs in Tehran sound increasingly like President Obama’s failed nuclear deal. In the interest of peace, and our cherished ally Israel, the Iranian nuclear program must be verifiably dismantled or destroyed. … President Trump deserves credit for an energetic and effective start. His instincts on security, strength and sovereignty are as sharp as ever. But if we want to see this nation become truly great again, we can’t exchange time-tested conservative principles for populist platitudes. We need to stand with our allies and stand up to our enemies. We need to cut taxes and tariffs, keep our military strong and well-funded, and lead on the world stage. A strong first 100 days is a foundation. But only a return to the conservative principles that guided our administration and achieved peace and prosperity during the president’s first term will ensure that this administration builds something lasting—for the president’s legacy, and for America’s future.” [WSJ]
Piker Problem: The Free Press’ Josh Code spotlights the mainstreaming of far-left anti-Israel streamer Hasan Piker, whose rise on Twitch has drawn scrutiny both of his rhetoric and of the platform’s decision to continue hosting him. “In an era when Democrats seem at a loss to counter the bro-y populism of the MAGA right, Piker uses the MAGA-coded activities of weightlifting and trips to the gun range to make socialist politics hip, courting an audience of young and very online men who have been drifting right. Mainstream news outlets have called him ‘The AOC of Twitch’ — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez being one of the only other Democrats to successfully wield social media—and ‘a model for the future of progressive media.’ In the past year alone, he’s appeared at the Democratic National Convention, as well the left’s favorite podcast, ‘Pod Save America’ and the tour of Senator Bernie Sanders and AOC herself. He’s also done an interview with Jon Stewart for ‘The Daily Show,’ set to release in mid-May. … But Piker’s rise isn’t just the story of a young man realizing he can get rich by telling young Americans to hate their country and love their enemies — it’s the story of a platform that lets him promote it. Twitch’s 61-year-old CEO, Dan Clancy, is an apparent fan of Piker. In an interview with Bloomberg in April 2023, Clancy said he appreciates the streamer’s ‘frankness and bluntness.’” [FreePress]
Word on the Street
The Senate confirmed Tom Barrack as U.S. ambassador to Turkey by a 60-36 vote, with Democratic Sens. Michael Bennet (D-CO), Chris Coons (D-DE), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Mark Warner (D-VA) supporting him…
The Qatari Diar and Dar Global are slated to announce a deal to construct a Trump International beachside project north of Doha, the company’s first real estate development in the Gulf nation…
The Trump administration is pushing Egypt to allow commercial and military American vessels free passage through the Suez Canal in exchange for the administration’s strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen that have targeted ships transiting through the Red Sea…
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is backing Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, the deputy commander of U.S. Central Command, to replace outgoing CENTCOM Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla, who is retiring this summer; Hegseth is boosting Cooper over Gen. James Mingus, an Army general who was widely expected to be tapped for the role…
The Treasury Department announced sanctions on six companies in China and Iran for their ties to Tehran’s ballistic missile program…
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is weighing the possibility of cutting the U.S. security coordinator role for the West Bank and Gaza Strip; the position, held by a three-star general, liaises between Israeli and Palestinian security officials…
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, who is traveling in the Middle East with his family, met in Manama this week with members of the Jewish community, including former Bahraini Ambassador to the U.S. Houda Noonoo…
A Native American Democratic Party activist is challenging the results of the Democratic National Committee’s recent leadership vote, arguing that the election process, by which activist David Hogg was selected as one of the party’s vice chairs, had “discriminated against three women of color candidates”…
New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who is making his bid for reelection as an independent, is gathering signatures on a newly created “EndAntiSemitism” ballot line…
Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser is facing questions over an unreported 2023 trip she and four staffers took to Qatar, for which Doha paid more than $60,000; Bowser’s office, which initially claimed the trip was paid for by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, has asked Doha to sign a donation agreement two years after the trip took place…
The Texas state legislature overwhelmingly passed legislation that would codify the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism; the bill, which has already been passed by the state Senate, will be sent to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk…
A federal judge ruled that Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University graduate who has been detained by immigration authorities for the last month, can proceed with a lawsuit alleging that his detention violates his First Amendment rights…
Germany’s center-left Social Democrats party agreed to join a coalition government with the country’s center-right Christian Democratic Union and Christian Social Union, positioning CDU leader Friedrich Merz to be the country’s next chancellor…
A new survey by the Jewish Federations of North America found that a third of Jews are more engaged with the Jewish community than they were before Oct. 7, 2023, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross reports…
Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics said in its annual report that the country’s population had exceeded 10 million for the first time in its history…
An Israeli man was sentenced to 10 years in prison for conspiring with Iranian agents to assassinate senior Israeli officials and for illegally entering an enemy country…
Iranian officials cited “false” documentation of the items stored at the Shahid Rajaee port prior to an explosion at the facility earlier this week…
Characterizing Turkey as a “potentially threatening regional power” led by a “pro-Hamas” president, a new report from the Jewish Institute for National Security of America released Wednesday argues that Turkey should not be considered for readmission into the F-35 fighter jet program, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…
Conservative commentator David Horowitz, the founder of the David Horowitz Freedom Center, died at 86…
Walter Frankenstein, who survived the Holocaust by hiding in locations throughout Germany before going on to fight in Israel’s War of Independence, died at 100…
World War II veteran and avid Mets fan Seymour Weiner, who became a viral sensation after he was honored as the team’s Veteran of the Game during Opening Day 2024, died at 98…
Pic of the Day
More than a dozen House lawmakers met on Tuesday with Abigail Mor Edan, an Israeli-American kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, at age 3, and her family.
Lawmakers in attendance included Reps. Mike Lawler (R-NY), Ritchie Torres (D-NY), Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Susie Lee (D-NV), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), Laura Gillen (D-NY), Eugene Vindman (D-VA), Brad Schneider (D-IL), Grace Meng (D-NY), Sarah McBride (D-DE), Lois Frankel (D-FL), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), Andrew Clyde (R-GA), Mike Levin (D-CA), Randy Fine (R-FL) and Pete Aguilar (D-CA).
Birthdays
“Wonder Woman” actress, Gal Gadot turns 40…
Rabbi, scholar and professor of Jewish studies at Yeshiva University, Saul J. Berman turns 86… Founder and CEO of Kansas City-based American Public Square, he was the U.S. ambassador to Portugal during the Obama administration, Allan J. Katz turns 78… Brooklyn-based clinical social worker, Marsha S. Rimler… Psychologist, author of several children’s books and president of the Saban Family Foundation, Cheryl Saban turns 74… Israeli Supreme Court justice until 2021, he was previously attorney general of Israel, Menachem “Meni” Mazuz turns 70… Partner in the communications and ad agency GMMB, he served as an advisor to President Obama in both his 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns, James David (Jim) Margolis turns 70… London-based international real estate investor and developer, Zachariasz “Zak” Gertler turns 69… Cartoonist and illustrator, best known for his over 100 magazine covers appearing on The New Yorker and other publications, Barry Blitt turns 67… Former commissioner at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, she was a U.S. Supreme Court law clerk, Chai R. Feldblum turns 66… Professor of sociology at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, she served as president of Jerusalem’s Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Eva Illouz turns 64… Senior fellow at Misgav: the Institute for Zionist Strategy and National Security, David M. Weinberg… Borough president of Manhattan, Mark D. Levine turns 56… CEO of Newton, Mass.-based Gateways: Access to Jewish Education, focused on children with special educational needs, Tamar Davis… Senior director for U.S. Jewish grantmaking at the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies, David Rittberg… Executive director of federal affairs at General Motors, Eric Feldman… Legislative director for U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Omri Ceren… Senior policy advisor at Alston & Bird in Washington DC, Jonathan Jagoda… Chief communications officer at Business Insider, Ari Isaacman D’Angelo turns 40… Screen, stage and television actress and singer, Dianna Agron turns 39… Founder of Lubin Strategies, he is also an affiliate at Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center, Nathaniel (Nate) Lubin… Communications director for Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA), Rachel S. Cohen… Associate in the D.C office of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, Daniel E. Wolman… Elementary schoolteacher at Broward County Public Schools, Jenna Luks… Reporter at The Wall Street Journal covering consumer behavior and economics, Rachel B. Wolfe… Director for NextGen at the World Jewish Congress, Yonatan (Yoni) Hammerman… Fund manager for a private foundation, Idan Megidish… Global account sales manager for Isotopia Molecular Imaging, Noam Aricha…
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