The synagogue security scramble
Plus, Tucker Carlson and associates dominate Doha Forum
Add JewishInsider on Google👋 Good Friday morning!
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we preview this weekend’s Doha Forum and its lineup of speakers who are sharply critical of Israel, and report on the backlash from the Jewish community to recent comments by Sen. Chris Van Hollen attacking the head of the Washington JCRC as an “apologist” for the Israeli government. We cover the legislative push for “buffer zones” outside of places of worship following recent incidents in New York and Los Angeles, and spotlight Benjamin Landa, the Trump administration’s nominee to be U.S. ambassador to Hungary. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Mitchell Silk, Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun and Cornelia Foss.
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
- President Donald Trump will attend the World Cup draw this morning in Washington. Also attending is the head of Iran’s national team, which previously said it would boycott the draw over the U.S.’ refusal to grant visas to some members of the team.
- The two-day Reagan National Defense Forum kicks off today at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif. This year’s speakers include Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, Sens. Jim Banks (R-IN), Chris Coons (D-DE), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Mike Rounds (R-SD) and Rick Scott (R-FL); Reps. Ken Calvert (R-CA), Jimmy Panetta (D-CA), Adam Smith (D-WA) and Rob Wittman (R-VA); JPMorgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon, 8VC’s Joe Lonsdale, Palantir’s Mike Gallagher (formerly a Republican congressman from Wisconsin), former National Security Advisor H. R. McMaster; former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and former Deputy National Security Advisor Alex Wong.
- The Doha Forum begins tomorrow morning in Qatar. More below on the two-day confab’s speakers, including the recent addition of Tucker Carlson.
- Israeli President Isaac Herzog is traveling to the U.S. this weekend for a series of events taking place over the next week. On Sunday, he’ll be honored at Yeshiva University’s 101st Annual Hanukkah Dinner in New York. He’s also slated to attend the American Zionist Movement’s Biennial National Assembly, which is taking place this weekend in New York City.
- German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will arrive in Israel this weekend for meetings with senior officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Merz’s trip, his first official visit since becoming chancellor in May, will also include a visit to Jerusalem’s Yad Vashem and a meeting with Herzog before the president heads to the U.S.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S GABBY DEUTCH
As the holiday season gets underway, Jewish Washington is abuzz with a bipartisan tradition: gossiping about who got invited to the White House Hanukkah party — and how those who did not make the list can still score an invitation.
This year, there’s another conversation as well, in group chats of people who were invited to a Hanukkah party at the Naval Observatory, hosted by Vice President JD Vance: What’s with the Christmas branding on the invitation?
The top of the green-and-gold virtual invitation reads, “The Golden Noel: Celebrating 50 years of Christmas at the Vice President’s residence.” The invitation to President Donald Trump’s White House Hanukkah party, in contrast, looks, well, like a Hanukkah invitation — royal blue background, with white text.
“Would I have preferred something to be a little more Hanukkah-like? Perhaps, but I don’t see it as a very big deal,” said Rabbi Levi Shemtov, executive vice president of American Friends of Lubavitch (Chabad). Shemtov oversees kashrut at the White House Hanukkah celebration, whether it is hosted by a Democrat or a Republican.
Several people who received the invitation told Jewish Insider they found the decoration puzzling. Ultimately, though, they aren’t concerned. Many Jewish Republicans are pleased that Vance is hosting a Hanukkah celebration at all.
“Noticed that as well, but haven’t heard any complaints,” said one Republican who was invited to the party. “I’m happy he’s having one.”
Marquee Moment
Doha Forum embracing Tucker Carlson and his associates
Among the most high-profile speakers at this weekend’s Doha Forum in the Qatari capital are Tucker Carlson, his business partner Neil Patel and investor Omeed Malik — a lineup raising eyebrows given Carlson’s recent track record of credulously hosting antisemitic and Holocaust-denying guests on his right-wing podcast. The conference, which is co-sponsored by a panoply of elite institutions from CNN to the Atlantic Council, will bring together Trump administration officials, ambassadors, politicians and philanthropists alongside figures who hold fringe or hostile views of Israel and U.S. Middle East policy, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports.
What this means: The forum’s layout elevates voices aligned with Doha’s regional agenda while pairing them with Western political, philanthropic and corporate leaders — a mix that lends legitimacy to speakers with out-of-the-mainstream views. Carlson’s interview on the Doha Forum stage on Sunday will take place in conversation with the Qatari prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, an indication of his prominence at the confab.
COMMUNITY CONCERN
Jewish leaders scramble to protect synagogues amid threatening anti-Israel protests
As anti-Israel demonstrators increasingly target synagogues in protests that have turned violent and used antisemitic rhetoric, some Jewish leaders and state lawmakers are now calling for more expansive legislative safeguards to help bolster protections for houses of worship. The new efforts have come in the wake of threatening behavior outside synagogues in New York City and Los Angeles that drew forceful condemnation from elected officials and raised concerns among Jewish leaders who fear that such incidents will normalize antisemitic harassment disguised as anti-Zionism, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.
Legislative steps: In New York, state lawmakers this week introduced a new bill to ban protests directly outside houses of worship. The legislation seeks to amend the existing state penal law by establishing a 25-foot buffer zone around religious sanctuaries to insulate congregants from facing intimidation and potential clashes with demonstrators that have occurred more regularly in recent years.
Standing together: More than 1,000 New Yorkers braved the frigid temperatures on Thursday night, stretching across Lexington Avenue on the Upper East Side outside of the historic Park East Synagogue, surrounded by heavy police presence and voicing a unifying message: “We are proud New Yorkers, proud Jews and proud Zionists,” JI’s Haley Cohen reports.
SPEAKING AS ONE
Jewish groups rally around Maryland Jewish leader after Sen. Van Hollen team’s attack
Several major Jewish organizations rallied around Ron Halber, the CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, after a spokesperson for Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) attacked Halber as an “apologist for the Netanyahu government” and unrepresentative of his community. The Van Hollen spokesperson’s comments came in response to remarks by Halber to reporters in which Halber said that many in the Maryland Jewish community feel “betrayed” by the senator and that he has failed to show empathy for Israel and the Jewish people, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Board backing: The JCRC’s Board of Directors, in a statement late Thursday, offered Halber, who has led the group for nearly three decades, its full support, and applauded his work. “We are deeply disappointed that Sen. Van Hollen chose instead to malign Ron and our organization, but we are heartened by the outpouring of support from so many partners and friends. They know what we know: Ron and the JCRC support not only Jewish families, but the millions of people who live in the DMV.”
BY THE NUMBERS
New survey finds the spread of antisemitism slowing, but still elevated
Antisemitism in America has plateaued after a sharp rise in anti-Jewish hate incidents in the immediate aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks in Israel — yet fewer Americans are pushing back against it, according to a survey released Thursday by the Blue Square Alliance Against Hate, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
Findings: About 25% of the population has consistently held antisemitic attitudes since June 2024, the 2025 Antisemitism Landscape Survey reported. That’s a notable rise from the recent past, but the survey found that the growth of antisemitic views has slowed significantly. The survey, which has been conducted twice a year since June 2023, polled 7,028 American adults from Aug. 1-Sept. 30. It found that 58% of respondents think antisemitism is a minor problem or not a problem at all, a sizable majority, though one that has remained fairly steady for the past two years.
The road less traveled
A Mandarin-speaking Hasidic Jew walks into Washington…
To the business community in Asia and to his former colleagues at the Department of Treasury, Mitchell Silk was usually called Mitch. To his friends and family in the Jewish community he is, always, Moyshe. However those who know him refer to him, Silk in 2020 became the first Hasidic Jew to serve in a government role that required Senate confirmation. In a conversation with Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch last month, Silk reflected on an unlikely career path that began with a high school job at a Chinese restaurant, and later took him from studying abroad in Taiwan to conducting business deals in Hong Kong and then advising former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on trade with Asia.
Divine providence: “If I were to do a backward run for you of where I ended up and am at now, to each stage and link in the progression and the trajectory, I could do it only in a manner that highlights exactly how much hashgacha pratis, how much divine providence, factored into where I am today,” Silk told JI, using a Hebrew term. “I cannot explain it in any other way than how much I had a divine hand guiding me.”
BUDAPEST BEAT
The Orthodox Jewish philanthropist vying to be U.S. ambassador to Hungary
Benjamin Landa, a New York businessman and the son of a Holocaust survivor, was nominated in October to be the U.S. ambassador to Hungary — a delicate assignment given tensions over the U.S.’ relationship with the country. Landa, 69, is a yeshiva graduate and well-known philanthropist supporting Jewish, Israeli and other causes, including as founder of the Chabad of Port Washington. He’s also been a prominent donor to Republican political causes, and met in the Oval Office with President Donald Trump and advisor Roger Stone earlier this year, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Background: His father, Yehoshua Boruch Landa, served as a rabbi in prewar Czechoslovakia and survived the Nazi regime, but most of his family, who resided in Hungary, were killed in the Holocaust, according to Newsday. “My father, despite all the horrors he went through, he never lost his humanity, he never lost his sense of humor,” Landa told the New York Post. “It taught me the idea of resilience and starting from scratch – starting all over from the depths of hell to rise like a phoenix and that was my father – he never gave up.”
Worthy Reads
Conserving Conservatism: In The Washington Post, Princeton University professor Robert George cautions against the embrace of far-right figures, including Nick Fuentes, by some elements of the conservative movement. “A plea to my fellow conservatives to draw a bright line against bigotry is not a call to ‘cancellation.’ Individuals who hold extremist or bigoted views possess the same right to express their opinions as everyone else has. I would fight — indeed, I have fought — to protect their free speech rights despite my profound rejection of their beliefs. What I am doing is reminding conservatives that we stand for certain things. Therefore, not everything is up for grabs or negotiable. Nor is everyone, irrespective of their beliefs, welcome in the conservative movement. Unless you share conservatism’s core values, then you are not with us in standing for what our movement exists to conserve.” [WashPost]
Sanctuary City: Commentary’s Seth Mandel reflects on recently introduced legislation that would create a “buffer zone” protecting places of worship from protesters, following a demonstration outside Manhattan’s Park East Synagogue last month. “Indeed, the mere introduction of such legislation is an admission that incoming mayor Zohran Mamdani has already inaugurated bleaker times for the city and, perhaps, for the nation. … It should be noted that it is a violation of civil-rights law to prevent people from entering a house of worship. That is because such behavior is a direct assault on the First Amendment. Though Mamdani has exacerbated the problem, he did not create it. Even before his lies about ‘international law,’ the protest itself shattered civic norms. The result is a proposed law on top of a law. And that law might pass and it might make going to shul safer. But what kind of society needs such a law?” [Commentary]
Word on the Street
In an interview with NBC News, Vice President JD Vance complimented Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, while downplaying the degree of rising antisemitism in the Republican Party…
Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun, the Trump administration’s nominee to be the State Department’s special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, is expected to come before the full Senate for a confirmation vote before the end of the year, two sources familiar with the situation confirmed to Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod…
Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso announced his bid for the House seat being vacated by Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-NY), covering portions of Brooklyn and Queens…
Netflix entered into exclusive negotiations with Warner Bros. Discovery amid concerns from David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance that Warner Bros. “appears to have abandoned the semblance and reality of a fair transaction process” and that the selection of Netflix was predetermined by Warner Bros. management…
UCLA’s library finalized the processing and digitization of extensive archives — including interviews, membership directories and yearbooks — from the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center; the century-old synagogue’s campus and much of its paper records were destroyed in the Altadena wildfires earlier this year…
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission began the claims process for Jewish students and faculty at Columbia University who reported having experienced antisemitism on the campus between Oct. 7, 2023, and July 2025; the payments will come from a $21 million class claims fund established by the university as part of its $221 million settlement with the Trump administration reached earlier this year…
A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit by a Jewish Harvard Business School graduate who claimed the school violated his civil rights in its decision not to discipline two student-employees involved in an incident at an anti-Israel protest on campus in October 2023…
The New York Times spotlights artist Cornelia Foss, whose new exhibit, “Little Red,” was inspired by her childhood escape from Nazi Germany in 1939…
Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain and Slovenia pulled out of the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest after the European Broadcasting Union determined on Thursday that Israel will be allowed to compete…
A Lithuanian court fined the leader of the country’s populist Dawn of Nemunas party €5,000 after finding him guilty of inciting antisemitism and downplaying the Holocaust; among the comments made by Remigijus Žemaitaitis, whose party is in a coalition with the ruling Social Democrats, was a social media post blaming Jews for the “destruction of our nation”…
A new report from the office of Israel’s public defender found that treatment of Palestinians in Israeli prisons rapidly deteriorated following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks…
Israeli media reported the death of Gazan clan leader Yasser Abu Shabab, who led one of the main groups opposing Hamas rule in the enclave and had been targeted for assassination by the terror group…
The Israeli cabinet approved the defense budget for 2026 at 112 billion shekels ($34.63 billion), a 22 billion shekel increase from a previously presented draft budget…
The Wall Street Journal reports on European interest in Israeli military technology amid concerns about Russian aggression across the Continent…
Israeli series “Tehran” will return for its third season on Jan. 9 after delays related to the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attack and ensuing war; filming for the fourth season is already underway…
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi extended an invitation to his Lebanese counterpart to visit Iran to discuss bilateral ties between Tehran and Beirut…
Pic of the Day
An Instagram post from the account of Sheikh Mansour bin Jabor bin Jassim Al Thani, the head of Qatar’s Government Communications Office, featured an image of a drone show marking the end of The Wall Street Journal’s Tech Live conference in Doha. Read more about the Journal‘s expanded ties with Qatar here.
Birthdays
Former manager of the Israel national baseball team including at the 2020 Olympics, Eric Holtz turns 60…
FRIDAY: Nobel Prize-winning theoretical physicist, emeritus professor at Harvard and professor at Boston University, Sheldon Lee Glashow turns 93… St. Louis-based luxury senior living developer, Charles J. Deutsch turns 76… Professor in the school of journalism at the University of Tennessee Knoxville, Stuart Neil Brotman turns 73… Former U.S. ambassador to France and Monaco, she was a co-owner and CEO of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Jamie Luskin McCourt turns 72… Mediator and arbitrator for JAMSand J Street board member, Michael D. Young… Golfer on the PGA Tour and later a golf teaching professional, Anthony Irvin (Tony) Sills turns 70… Professor of Jewish history at Ben-Gurion University, she is focused on Sephardic heritage, Haviva Pedaya turns 68… Venture capitalist, speaker and investment advisor, Pascal Norman Levensohn turns 65… NYC-based author and clinical psychologist with specialties in aging and cancer, Mindy Greenstein, Ph.D…. Film, television and theater actress, Ilana Levine turns 62… Professor at the University of Chicago Law School, Eric A. Posner turns 60… Professor and dean emeritus of Columbia Law School, he served as CEO of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and was once a law clerk for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, David M. Schizer turns 57… Urologist in Westchester County, N.Y., Judd Boczko, M.D…. Ontario-born supermodel and actress, Shalom Harlow turns 52… President of The LS Group and political fundraiser, Lisa Spies… Co-founder and CEO of Axios, Roy Schwartz… Emmy Award-winning author and reporter, he is the chief national correspondent for ABC News, Matthew A. Gutman turns 48… Israeli-born, acclaimed video game developer, Neil Druckmann turns 47… Musical songwriting and producing duo, identical twins Ryan and Dan Kowarsky turn 46… Communications and marketing consultant, Adam S. Rosenberg… Senior managing director at Liberty Strategic Capital, Eli H. Miller… Emmy Award-winning senior personal technology columnist for The Wall Street Journal, Joanna Stern turns 41… Media correspondent for The New York Times, Michael Mendel Grynbaum… Israeli film and television music composer based in Los Angeles, Naama “Nami” Melumad turns 37… Reporter on the obituary desk of The New York Times, Alexander E. Traub… Chess master and commentator, his YouTube page has 5.7 million subscribers and over 3 billion views, Levy Rozman turns 30… Principal at Envision Strategy, Jonathan Shabshaikhes… Israeli model, Adar Gandelsman turns 28…
SATURDAY: Moshe Hochenberg… Member of the National Assembly of Quebec for 20 years until 2014 and active in a range of Jewish organizations, Lawrence S. Bergman turns 85… Renowned artist whose sculpture, photography, neon and video works appear in museums worldwide, Bruce Nauman turns 84… Israeli-born art collector and producer of over 130 full-length films, Arnon Milchan turns 81… Founder of Susan G. Komen for the Cure (named after her late sister), she also served as U.S. ambassador to Hungary and chief of protocol of the U.S., Nancy Goodman Brinker turns 79… Professor emeritus of Talmudic culture at the University of California, Berkeley, Daniel Boyarin turns 79… Senior U.S. district judge for the Northern District of Ohio, he has served as a trustee of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, Judge Dan Aaron Polster turns 74… Cell and molecular biologist, he is a professor at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, David L. Spector turns 73… Founder of Craigslist, Craig Newmark turns 73… Film, stage and television actress, Gina Hecht turns 72… Faculty member at Harvard Law School since 1981, she served as dean from 2009-2017, Martha Minow turns 71… Author of a bestselling novel, Memoirs of a Geisha, with over 4 million copies sold, Arthur Sulzberger Golden turns 69… SVP and general counsel at United Airlines, Robert S. Rivkin turns 65… Former EVP and COO of the Inter-American Development Bank, Julie T. Katzman turns 64… Emmy Award-winning producer, writer, director, actor and comedian, Judd Apatow turns 58… Israel’s minister of education, he was a fighter pilot for the IDF and then a civilian pilot for El Al before entering politics, Yoav Kisch turns 57… Professor of economics at the University of Chicago, he previously served as the chief economist for President Barack Obama’s Council of Economic Advisors, Michael Greenstone turns 57… Professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University, he is a son and grandson of rabbis, Julian E. Zelizer turns 56… Editor-in-chief of J. The Jewish News of Northern California, Chanan Tigay turns 50… Communications advisor at nexos.ai and host of the “The Dejargonizer” podcast, Amir Mizroch turns 50… Managing director in the NYC office of PR firm BerlinRosen, Dan Levitan… Editor-in-chief at The Air Current, Jon Ostrower… Venture capitalist in Israel, Ilan Regenbaum… Licensed community association manager in South Florida, now a regional associate at Bozzuto, Beth Argaman… Assistant professor in international relations and global politics at the American University of Rome, Andrea Dessì… Joe Blumenthal…
SUNDAY: Linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, political activist and professor emeritus at MIT, Noam Chomsky turns 97… Author or editor of 40 books including The New York Times best-selling Chicken Soup for the Jewish Soul, Rabbi Dov Peretz Elkins turns 88… Actor, director and producer, Larry Hankin turns 88… Hedge fund manager, he is the co-founder of Taglit-Birthright Israel and the founder of Hebrew language charter schools in NYC, Michael Steinhardt turns 85… Professor of mathematics at Princeton University, Nicholas Michael Katz turns 82… Novelist, essayist and screenwriter, Susan Isaacs turns 82… Former Israeli Foreign Ministry legal advisor and then Israeli ambassador to Canada, now at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Ambassador Alan Baker turns 78… Chair emeritus of the Longmeadow, Mass., Democratic Town Committee, Candy Glazer… Director and vice chairman of Simon Property Group, Richard S. Sokolov turns 76… Past board chair and president of AIPAC, Lillian Pinkus turns 74… U.S. senator (R-ME), Susan Collins turns 73… Chairman of Loews Hotels and co-owner of the NFL’s New York Giants, Jonathan M. Tisch turns 72… Haifa-born composer and professor of music at Harvard, Chaya Czernowin turns 68… Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention throughout most of the Obama administration, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden turns 65… Teacher in the Elko County School District in northeast Nevada and leader of the local Jewish community there, Shawn Welton-Lowe… Provost and interim dean of the William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education at The Jewish Theological Seminary, Dr. Jeffrey Kress turns 57… Co-founder of Laurel Strategies, a CEO advisory firm based in Washington, Dafna Tapiero… Director, producer, writer, actor and comedian, best known as the director of “Modern Family,” Jason Winer turns 53… President of baseball operations for the Chicago Cubs, Jed Hoyer turns 52… Leading actress in multiple television series including “Roswell” and “Unreal,” Shiri Appleby turns 47… Managing partner of NYC-based Capitol Consulting, he was previously at the UJA-Federation of New York and at the Orthodox Union, Jeffrey Leb… Food critic for The New Yorker, she received a 2024 James Beard Award, Hannah Goldfield… Co-author of Union: A Republican, a Democrat, and a Search for Common Ground, he is the managing partner at America’s Frontier Fund, Jordan Blashek… Executive director at NYC’s Mission Staffing, Jaime Leiman… Founder and CEO of Go Dash Dot, an active wear accessories brand, Hannah Fastov… Physician practicing in the U.K., Carine Moezinia… Freelance content creator and social media manager, Hannah Vilinsky… VP and head of the startup division at the Israel Innovation Authority, Hanan Brand… Jeff Blum… Toby Lerner…
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