• The Senate Armed Services Committee is holding a classified briefing today on the U.S.’ June strikes targeting Iranian nuclear facilities.
• The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is holding confirmation hearings today for Michel Issa to be U.S. ambassador to Lebanon and Duke Buchan, the former Republican National Committee finance director, to be ambassador to Morocco.
• The Israel on Campus Coalition’s National Leadership Conference wraps up today in Washington. Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA) and Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) are slated to speak at the confab’s closing session.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S Josh kraushaar

One of the defining features of our politics over the last decade has been the declining power of institutions, combined with the growing influence of individuals acting in their narrow self-interest, frequently at the expense of the public interest.

President Donald Trump’s ability in 2016 to bypass the Republican establishment benefitting from a crowded, self-interested opposition, was one of the seminal moments in our brave new world of individualism over institutionalism. Party institutions, outside-group spending and strident media criticism were no match for the grassroots army that rallied to Trump in that election.

Ten years later, the inability of moderate Democrats and other mainstream institutions to organize any coalition against the campaign of far-left New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani looks like the culmination of a dynamic where leaders feel powerless to lead, and are instead simply standing aside, ceding any influence to a cadre of ideological activists within the party. 

What’s remarkable about this moment is that the top Democratic leaders in New York, over a month after the primary, aren’t supporting Mamdani — but aren’t willing to speak out against him, either. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) have all stayed on the sidelines, reflecting the state of political purgatory that many mainstream leaders are in right now.

Read the rest of ‘What You Should Know’ here.

The Hunger Games: The Free Press’ Matti Friedman lays out the challenges in getting accurate information regarding humanitarian aid and malnutrition in Gaza. “The transformation of truth-telling institutions into ideological megaphones has had a high price for citizens in liberal societies and for the institutions themselves, as we’re now seeing at places like Harvard and NPR. The feeling of being unmoored from objective reality — of rowing a boat through a choppy sea of lies and propaganda — is very much a feature of the present moment, and not only in Israel. But one of the most awful prices was made clear this past week, with reports of acute hunger in Gaza. In a blizzard of ideological fiction, how are sane citizens in Israel, or anywhere else, supposed to know what’s true and to do the right thing? It’s not an exaggeration to say, as we’re seeing right now, that the answer to this question can be a matter of life and death.” [FreePress]

Screen Time: Against the backdrop of media coverage of the growing food crisis in Gaza, The Atlantic’s David Graham looks at the role television news plays in informing President Donald Trump. “As president, Trump has access to the most powerful information-gathering network in the world, yet he takes his cues from what he watches on television. This helps him see the news from the same perspective as the general public, which has enabled his political success. But it also narrows his understanding, and it makes him highly susceptible to manipulation. … This means that despite access to high-quality information about what’s going on in Gaza, he seems to really perk up only once it’s on the tube. Such a narrow information stream is a problem, because TV is not a good source of information on its own; it should be consumed as part of a balanced news diet.” [TheAtlantic]

For Pete’s Sake: Politico’s Rachael Bade looks at the relationship between President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth following a series of missteps and moves that are at odds with the White House. “Concerned that the laundry list of scandals could lead to his downfall, they’ve implored Hegseth in private conversations to rethink surrounding himself with people the White House distrusts. Others are urging Hegseth to make peace with the former employees he ousted and accused of leaking. A smaller group is even quietly working to help those employees land a public apology or some sort of exoneration of their character. ‘If there’s any chance at Pete resetting and ensuring that whatever time he has left in this position is well served, he’s got to do it — otherwise Pete is just doubling down on the lie,’ said the person close to Hegseth. So far, however, he has yet to heed the warning.” [Politico]

Water Woes: The Financial Times’ Chloe Cornish, Eleni Varvitsioti and Ahmed Al Omran spotlight the growing use of desalinization plants by governments in the Middle East and southern Mediterranean, as the region grapples with mounting water crises and rising temperatures. “Reducing energy consumption has made producing desalinated water less polluting in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, and reduced the costs. In Israel, water produced by the Sorek B desalination plant is priced at about 40 cents per cubic metre, which is enough for 25 showers, according to Thames Water. Dubai utility Dewa will get a price of 37 cents per cubic metre for water from its Hassyan desalination plant, which is due to start operations next year. … Academics in Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest desalinated water producer, are trying to tackle the brine problem. Zhiping Lai, a professor at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, is mining the brine for valuable elements such as lithium and potassium, which have commercial uses.” [FT]

A Blackstone executive and NYPD officer were among four people killed in a shooting last night at Blackstone’s Park Avenue headquarters in Manhattan; the suspect, who was reportedly targeting NFL headquarters in the same building, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound…

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signed an MOU earlier this month with Qatar for the “unconditional donation” of a luxury jet…

The Senate Appropriations Committee‘s Justice Department budget bill released last week sets up a clash with the House over funds aimed at combating hate crimes; the House bill aims to eliminate that funding, supported by key Jewish groups, for 2026, while the Senate bill would preserve it…

Sen. Angus King (I-ME) accused Israel of deliberately causing a famine in Gaza, calling its actions in Gaza “an affront to human decency,” and said that he “will advocate — and vote — for an end to any United States support whatsoever [for Israel] until there is a demonstrable change in the direction of Israeli policy.”…

Two members of the Boulder, Colo., City Council accused a colleague of posting content on social media that “crossed a serious line into antisemitism”…

Harvard is reportedly open to spending as much as $500 million to resolve its legal disputes with the Trump administration, following an agreement between the government and Columbia University last week in which the New York school agreed to pay $200 million and undertake a series of steps to address campus antisemitism…

Singer Regina Spektor‘s weekend concert in Portland, Ore., was disrupted by anti-Israel protesters…

An Oregon man was sentenced to 60 months in prison over a series of bomb threats to Jewish institutions in the New York area dating back to 2021… 

Palestinian activist Awdah Hathaleen, who appeared in the recent Oscar-winning film “No Other Land,” was shot and killed by an Israeli settler in the West Bank on Monday; the Trump administration had recently lifted sanctions that had been imposed on Hathaleen’s alleged assailant, Yinon Levi, by the Biden administration…

Israel’s Elbit Systems was awarded a $260 million contract with the German government to supply defensive systems for Berlin’s A400M aircraft fleet…

The Financial Times reviews Scott Anderson’s King of Kings, which focuses on the fall of the shah in Iran in 1979…

Iran’s Foreign Ministry said that officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency are expected to travel to the country in the next two weeks for talks aimed at restarting inspections of Iran’s nuclear sites…

Los Angeles-based philanthropist Wallis Annenberg, whose family foundation, which she led for more than 30 years, gave over $3 billion to an array of causes, died at 86…

Longtime Washington Post reporter Morton Mintz died at 103…

Israeli singer Eden Golan performed her 2024 Eurovision Song Contest entry “Hurricane” on Monday at the Israel on Campus Coalition’s National Leadership Summit in Washington.

Tony Award-winning actor, Ari’el Stachel turns 34…

Chairman of BOK Financial Corporation in Tulsa, Okla., George Bruce Kaiser turns 83… Shoe designer, entrepreneur and founder of an eponymous shoe company, Stuart A. Weitzman turns 76… Denver-based trial lawyer, film producer and author of both fiction and nonfiction, Kenneth Eichner turns 71… Israeli electrical engineer and inventor, he is best known as the inventor of the USB memory stick, Dov Moran turns 70… Former deputy health and science editor at The Washington Post, Carol Eisenberg… Attorney general of Israel from 2016 to 2022, Avichai Mandelblit turns 62… Global economics and geopolitical correspondent for The New York Times, Peter S. Goodman turns 59… Actor and comedian, best known for his voice work in animation and video games, Richard Steven Horvitz turns 59… Twin brothers, Los Angeles based philanthropists and businessmen, Shlomo Yehuda Rechnitz and Yisroel Zev Rechnitz turn 54… Actor, filmmaker and musician, he is best known for his role in the CBS sitcom “How I Met Your Mother,” Joshua Radnor turns 51… Chief White House correspondent for NBC News, Peter Alexander turns 49… SVP of philanthropic engagement at BBYO, Jayme David… Director of the Straus Center at Yeshiva University, he is also the Rabbi of NYC’s Congregation Shearith Israel (The Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue), Rabbi Meir Yaakov Soloveichik turns 48… Data scientist and journalist focused on elections for the Associated Press, Aaron Kessler… Former member of the Canadian Parliament, David de Burgh Graham turns 44… Iraq war veteran, political and communications strategist, she is now serving as an adjunct professor at Duke University, Allison Jaslow… Rabbi, writer, educator and physician assistant, Rabbi Levi Welton… White House principal deputy communications director during the Biden administration, Herbie Ziskend… SVP in the Los Angeles office of Edelman, Jason Levin… Israeli actress, model and television presenter, Maya Wertheimer turns 35… D.C. attorney, Daniel Ryan Vinik… Uriel Wassner… Broadcaster and media relations manager for the Chicago Dogs and Windy City Bulls, Sam Brief… Quarterback for the NFL’s Washington Commanders, Sam Hartman turns 26…