Calling in the Bibi-sitters
Plus, Trump’s Kuwait ambassador pick to face GOP grilling
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In today’s Daily Kickoff, we preview tomorrow’s presidential election in Ireland and look at front-runner Catherine Connolly’s history of criticizing Israel and the West, and report on today’s Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing for Amer Ghalib, who has questioned Hamas’ atrocities on Oct. 7, 2023, to be U.S. ambassador to Kuwait. We talk to experts about the carousel of senior U.S. officials traveling to Israel this week as the ceasefire holds, and talk to legislators on Capitol Hill about Vice President JD Vance’s suggestion that Turkish troops could play an on-the-ground role in postwar Gaza. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch and Joel Rayburn.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by Jewish Insider Executive Editor Melissa Weiss and Israel Editor Tamara Zieve, with an assist from Danielle Cohen-Kanik. Have a tip? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
- Secretary of State Marco Rubio lands in Israel today for a two-day trip that will include meetings with senior officials. Rubio’s visit comes days as Vice President JD Vance wraps up his trip to the country. The vice president, who is still in the country, is meeting today with Defense Minister Israel Katz and IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir. More below.
- In Washington, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is holding its confirmation hearing for Hamtramck, Mich., Mayor Amer Ghalib to be U.S. ambassador to Kuwait. More below.
- The Hudson Institute’s Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East is hosting a one-day conference focused on the U.S. role in the South Caucasus. Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) is slated to give the keynote address.
- In New York, Dan Senor is hosting a live taping of the “Call Me Back” podcast with Israeli journalists and CMB contributors Nadav Eyal and Amit Segal at the Temple Emanu-El Streicker Center.
- Elsewhere in New York, the 92NY is hosting the second installment of the Sapir Debates. Former Rep. Kathy Manning (D-NC), Yehuda Kurtzer, Batya Ungar-Sargon and Jamie Kirchick, in conversation with The New York Times’ Bret Stephens, will debate “Does Zionism Have a Future on the American Left?”
- The Jewish National Fund’s annual Global Conference for Israel begins today in Hollywood, Fla.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S LAHAV HARKOV
Ireland is set to elect a new president tomorrow. Like in Israel, the role of president is largely ceremonial, but unlike in Israel, where the Knesset elects the president and the choice is mostly the result of backroom political deals, the Irish president is directly elected by the people.
That means the choice reflects the mood of the Irish public — and after the news coming out of the Emerald Isle over the past two years, it may come as no surprise that the country appears to be on the verge of choosing a candidate with anti-Israel, antisemitic and even anti-Western views.
The current president, Michael D. Higgins, is no friend of Israel or the Jews, having called antisemitism accusations an Israeli “PR exercise.” When the Jewish community asked him not to attend a Holocaust remembrance ceremony out of a concern that he would politicize it, he went anyway and gave a speech comparing Israel’s actions in the war in Gaza to the Holocaust.
The country’s former justice minister, Alan Shatter, told Jewish Insider that the leading candidate for the presidency, Catherine Connolly, “if elected, will present as Michael D. Higgins on steroids.”
Connolly, a legislator representing Galway West since 2016, is a hard-left candidate running as an independent, and led a recent Irish Times poll by 18 points.
The front-runner’s anti-Israel history goes back to before the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza, and includes remarks that crossed the line into antisemitism. In 2021, Connolly wrote in a parliamentary question that Israel is “attempt[ing] to accomplish Jewish supremacy,” using language associated with centuries-old antisemitic conspiracy theories.
NOMINEE BACKLASH
Kuwait ambassador nominee expected to face chilly GOP reception at confirmation hearing
Amer Ghalib, the mayor of Hamtramck, Mich., and President Donald Trump’s nominee to be U.S. ambassador to Kuwait, is expected to face a frosty reception when he appears today before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for his confirmation hearing. The hearing comes after months of private pushback from GOP senators to Ghalib’s nomination over his anti-Israel record, which includes him questioning reports of Hamas atrocities on Oct. 7, 2023, supporting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement and for liking antisemitic comments on social media, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports.
Pushback: Ghalib was given a date for his confirmation hearing in early October after months of delays. During that time, several committee Republicans unsuccessfully lobbied the White House to withdraw Ghalib from consideration for the Kuwait post, according to a senior GOP defense staffer familiar with the conversations. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), the top Democrat on the committee, said earlier this month that Ghalib’s nomination had been delayed. Ghalib acknowledged at the time that he was facing objections but said that Trump had called him to offer his continued support for his nomination, and the hearing was scheduled shortly after. With the hearing moving ahead, senators on both sides of the aisle have prepared questions for Ghalib about his history of incendiary public statements criticizing Israel and appearing to justify Hamas’ attacks on the Jewish state and deny that sexual violence took place, as well as his record as mayor of Hamtramck.
DIPLOMATIC CAROUSEL
‘Bibi-sitting’: Experts say Vance, Rubio trips to Israel part of U.S. efforts to constrain Netanyahu
Secretary of State Marco Rubio traveled to Israel on Thursday, becoming the latest senior official dispatched to the country by President Donald Trump as the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas extends into its second week, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports. Rubio joins several other administration officials and representatives who have made the journey to Israel this past week, on the heels of the signing of the first phase of Trump’s peace proposal, including Vice President JD Vance, White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and advisor Jared Kushner.
Administration’s aims: The swift mobilization of U.S. officials comes as the Trump administration aims to lay the groundwork for the second phase of the deal and works to keep Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from reigniting fighting in the Gaza Strip and fracturing a delicate peace deal, amid Hamas’ repeated violations of the agreement. Vance, in his meeting with Netanyahu on Wednesday, emphasized that Israel is not a “vassal state” that needs to be told what to do. The string of high-level visits is “not about monitoring in the sense of, you know, monitoring a toddler,” Vance told reporters alongside Netanyahu. “It’s about monitoring in the sense that there’s a lot of work.” Chuck Freilich, an associate professor of political science at Columbia University, told JI he sees it as a form of U.S. oversight, or “Bibi-sitting,” something he says is “long-standing tradition” in the U.S.-Israel relationship.
turkey tension
Vance’s Turkish troop proposal draws GOP skepticism
Vice President JD Vance’s suggestion on Tuesday that the U.S. would welcome Turkish troops playing a role in the proposed stabilization force in Gaza was met with skepticism from leading Republican lawmakers and experts in Washington, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea and Emily Jacobs report. Vance told reporters in Israel that while the U.S. would not “force” Israel to accept Turkish troops “on their soil,” the Trump administration believed “that there’s a constructive role for the Turks to play.”
Expressing doubts: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told JI, “I appreciate Turkey and Qatar as allies, but when it comes to Israel, [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan’s been terrible in terms of rhetoric. I appreciate the role they played in trying to get the ceasefire, but the appetite in Israel for Turkey and Qatar to have a major role is pretty limited, given the history.” Jonathan Ruhe, a fellow for American strategy at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, expressed similar doubts. “Having Turkish forces in there particularly strikes me as a bad idea. Turkey is not an impartial force. They are a capable and experienced military, but mostly doing things the United States and Israel don’t want them to be doing.”
Q&A
Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch: Opposition to Mamdani is a Jewish ‘imperative’
As the New York City mayoral race nears its end, Manhattan Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch has a message for his colleagues: It’s not too late to provide “leadership and clarity of perspective” to voters to oppose Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, citing the candidate’s hostility towards Israel and refusal to recognize it as a Jewish state. In an interview with Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen on Wednesday, the senior rabbi of the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue, said there is still time for left-wing Jewish leaders to find their voice. Even without initiatives and statements from the Reform movement, progressive Jewish leaders can still “make a difference” by “laying out the stakes” — even as early voting begins this Saturday.
Sense of duty: “We’ve been slow to respond to widespread, pervasive, global anti-Zionism and we’ve been slow inside the Jewish community in countering Jewish voices who are anti-Zionist,” Hirsch told JI. “We, the mainstream of the Jewish community, have an obligation to counter that ideology. If it’s not countered, it intensifies and exacerbates the problem and that relates to public candidates as well. It’s imperative for the American Jewish community to stand up and express the kinds of views that I expressed. I think more are doing so. It is a responsibility at this historic moment in time for Jewish leadership to do so.”
Rabbinic rebuke: Over 650 rabbis from around the country signed on to an open letter on Wednesday voicing concern that, if elected New York City mayor, Mamdani would threaten “the safety and dignity of Jews in every city,” citing the Democratic nominee and front-runner’s antagonistic views towards Israel, JI’s Haley Cohen reports.
DEBATE DIGEST
Mamdani says he will ask Jessica Tisch to stay on as NYPD commissioner
Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City, confirmed that he would ask Jessica Tisch to stay on as the city’s police commissioner if elected, ending long-standing speculation over his plans for a key role in his potential administration, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.
What he said: Tisch, appointed last year by outgoing Mayor Eric Adams, “took on a broken status quo, started to deliver accountability, rooting out corruption and reducing crime across the five boroughs,” Mamdani said at the second and final general election debate on Wednesday evening. “I have said time and again that my litmus test for that position will be excellence, and the alignment will be of that position,” Mamdani added. “And I am confident that under a Mamdani administration, we would continue to deliver on that same mission.” Mamdani’s choice could assuage concerns among moderate Democrats and other crime-conscious New Yorkers who had been hopeful that he would choose Tisch, a widely respected technocrat who previously led the Department of Sanitation. Tisch, 44, who is Jewish, has not said whether she would plan to continue in her position if Mamdani is elected on Nov. 4.
Democrats divided: Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) said on Tuesday that he is still not ready to endorse Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, as he hasn’t seen the candidate assuage Jewish communal concerns, Jewish Insider’s Danielle Cohen-Kanik reports. Appearing on CNN, Goldman said he wasn’t sure if he would vote for Mamdani or his rival, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and that he’s “trying to work through” outstanding issues he has with the candidates.
UNION UNEASE
Josh Gottheimer urges N.J. teachers’ union to dismiss editor over antisemitic, pro-Hamas posts
Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and other top New Jersey officials are urging the state’s largest teachers’ union to reverse its decision to appoint Ayat Oraby as an editor of its NJEA Review magazine, citing a series of antisemitic and pro-Hamas posts on social media, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports. Gottheimer has engaged repeatedly with the New Jersey Education Association in recent weeks, sending two letters to union leadership outlining his concerns, but Oraby, who was appointed in August, has remained in her position at the Review — a magazine distributed to roughly 200,000 educators statewide.
Online archive: Oraby’s since-deleted posts on X, screenshots of which were viewed by JI, hold Israel — not Hamas — responsible for the deaths of Israelis during the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks, claiming Israel “killed many of its citizens,” and voiced her support of Hamas, praising their actions on social media as “resistance” in August 2025. “While the criminal occupation gang kills children in the streets and treats Muslims with no mercy, you find liberated prisoners hugging and kissing HAMAS soldiers, which indicates the good treatment they received,” Oraby posted, referring to videos of Israeli hostages staged by Hamas. In other posts, Oraby explicitly called for violence against Israeli officials and claimed in July 2025 that the Jewish state “surpassed Nazism by far.” She also referred to journalists as “the filthy Hebrew media.”
Worthy Reads
Problematic Poster Boy: The Free Press’ Eli Lake examines the mainstreaming of far-right conspiracy theorist Nick Fuentes, who had previously faced ostracization over a litany of antisemitic, racist and misogynist comments. “Fuentes became the avatar of the canceled during his time in the wilderness. For his superfans, or Groypers, he is the Sex Pistols in 1977, reveling in broken shibboleths. And these anonymous low-follower accounts repost short clips from his livestreams on YouTube, X, Facebook, and TikTok. Fuentes is not just an influencer; he leads a dedicated movement of obsessive shitposters. … Part of the Fuentes appeal is that he presents himself as the ultimate martyr in a movement built on the social martyrdom of right-wingers. He is also willing to turn his sights on beloved MAGA influencers and politicians — to his fans, that makes him seem authentic.” [FreePress]
Alarm Bell: In his “Clarity” Substack, former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren raises concerns about New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s candidacy weeks before the election. “Yes, the candidate is young, charismatic, and brimming with new ideas. So, too, are many of the Jew-hating influencers followed by millions. There can be no obscuring the fact that the candidate wants to see my state, my family, and the home of the world’s largest Jewish community erased from the map. And clearly the candidate would not care if that erasure were accomplished with violence. The candidate’s vicious positions on Israel come after the two years in which the distinction between anti-Zionism and antisemitism has virtually disappeared. In that time, New York Jews have been threatened almost daily by the haters of both the Jewish people and the Jewish state. For them, the candidate’s constant condemnations of Israel are not merely dog whistles but clarion calls to action.” [Clarity]
Word on the Street
United Arab Emirates National Security Advisor Tahnoon Bin Zayed Al Nahyan met on Wednesday with Jared Kushner and White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, following their trip to Israel earlier this week…
Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner, under fire for a tattoo that resembles a Nazi symbol, said he’d covered up the tattoo, which he got in 2007, shortly after its existence was made public earlier this week; on Wednesday, the Advocate reported that the Maine Democrat, who is also facing criticism for past racist and misogynist Reddit posts, authored a series of newly uncovered homophobic posts between 2016-2021…
The State Department rejected a ruling from the International Court of Justice earlier this week that determined Israel must facilitate aid into Gaza and that the Israeli government had not proven that members of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency were members of Hamas…
The Justice Department will pause several investigations into the University of Virginia, following the school’s confirmation that it will comply with a Trump administration directive prohibiting “unlawful racial discrimination in its university programming, admissions, hiring, or other activities”…
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee advanced Joel Rayburn’s nomination to be assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs; Rayburn had faced what Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), the committee’s ranking member, described over the summer as a “very difficult” confirmation path, owing to a lack of Democratic support and Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-KY) refusal to back the nomination…
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) spoke out against the rise of right-wing antisemitism in his speech at Christians United for Israel’s “Night to Honor Israel” event on Sunday: “In the last six months, we have seen antisemitism rising on the right in a way I have never seen it in my entire life,” Cruz said; he also noted that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seemed to downplay right-wing antisemitism as the result of “astroturfed” Qatari and Iranian bots. “I am telling you, it is real, it is organic and it is spreading,” Cruz said he told Netanyahu…
The New York Times covers the multiple efforts by Paramount — all rebuffed — to purchase Warner Bros. Discovery, following Warner Bros.’ announcement earlier this week that it was considering a number of deals…
The California Faculty Association, which opposed a recent effort to to combat antisemitism in California schools, is distributing a questionnaire to political candidates in the state asking them if they had ever accepted money from AIPAC or the Jewish Public Affairs Committee of California, the latter of which is a coalition of nonprofits and progressive associations and does not make political contributions…
Rabbi Louis Scheiner was spotted speaking with former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) at a wedding in Los Angeles…
The New York Times’ culture critic reports from a recent event at New York’s Beacon Theater with “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “Seinfeld” creator Larry David, who has largely avoided the spotlight since “Curb” ended a year and a half ago…
The International Olympic Committee recommended that global sporting events no longer be held in Indonesia, following Jakarta’s decision to refuse visas to Israeli athletes who qualified for this week’s World Artistic Gymnastics Championships…
Tehran announced the conditional release of Iranian national Mahdieh Esfandiari in France; the countries had previously discussed the potential release of Esfandiari in exchange for a French couple jailed for more than two years in Iran on espionage charges…
Pic of the Day
Israeli President Isaac Herzog presented the Israeli Presidential Medal of Honor, the country’s highest civilian award, to nine individuals in a ceremony last night in Jerusalem.
Spotted at the ceremony: honorees Dr. Miriam Adelson, Mathias Döpfner, Avi Ohry, Justice (ret.) George Karra, Galila Ron-Feder Amit, Dina Porat, Yossi Vardi, Sheikh Muwaffaq Tarif and Moti Malka, as well as U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, German Ambassador to Israel Steffen Seibert, Friede Springer, Jan Bayer, Haim Saban, Shimon Axel Wahnish, Eli Beer, Amitai Raziel, Matan Adelson, Shirin Herzog, Natan Sharansky and former hostages Matan Angrest and Segev Kalfon.
Birthdays
Filmmaker, actor and producer famous for creating the cult horror “Evil Dead” series, as well as directing the original “Spider-Man” trilogy, Sam Raimi turns 66…
Chairman emeritus of the shopping mall developer Simon Property Group and the principal owner of the NBA’s Indiana Pacers, Herbert “Herb” Simon turns 91… Distinguished university professor of American and Jewish studies at the State University of New York at New Paltz, Gerald Sorin turns 85… Israeli journalist who has written for Davar and Yedioth Ahronoth, he won the Israel Prize in 2007, Nahum Barnea turns 81… Attorney best known for his role as special master for the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund and for similar roles in a number of mass torts, Kenneth Feinberg turns 80… Neuro-ophthalmologist, academic, author and researcher, he is vice-chair of ophthalmology at UCLA, Alfredo Arrigo Sadun, M.D. turns 75… Screenwriter and television producer, best known for his work on “Star Trek,” Ira Steven Behr turns 72… Founder and CEO of global outsourcing company TeleTech (now TTEC) with over 50,000 employees on six continents, Kenneth D. Tuchman turns 66… Founder of the New Democrat Network in 1996, he closed it down in 2024, Simon Rosenberg turns 62… Author of 100 children’s and young adult fiction books that have sold more than 35 million copies worldwide, Gordon Korman turns 62… Former editor-in-chief of The New York Observer, Kenneth Kurson turns 57… Member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors until her surprise retirement this past August, she is a tenured professor of public policy at Georgetown, Adriana Debora Kugler turns 56… President of the Jewish Confederation of Ukraine and VP of the World Jewish Congress, Boris Lozhkin turns 54… Film director, producer and talent agent, best known for his two-year marriage to Meghan Markle starting in 2011, Trevor Engelson turns 49… Senior director of strategic operations at SRE Network, following eight years at J Street, Shaina Wasserman… President of Renco Group, a family-owned private holding company founded by his father, Ira Rennert, Ari Rennert turns 47… Communications consultant, she was a senior advisor to Rohit Chopra, the former director at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Allison Preiss… Minister delegate for European Affairs in the French government, Benjamin Haddad turns 40… Cartoonist for The New Yorker, Amy Kurzweil turns 39… Director of development at Mabua Israeli Beit Midrash, Ayelet Kahane… Senior associate in the Washington office of Hogan Lovells, Annika Lichtenbaum… Former speechwriter and special assistant at the U.S. Department of Labor, now a sales manager at Orangetheory Fitness, Rachel Shabad… VP of content marketing and partnerships at SiriusXM, Allison Rachesky… Richard Rubenstein…
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