The Art of the Peace Board
Plus, is Saudi normalization dead?
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In today’s Daily Kickoff, we report on this morning’s signing ceremony for President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace in Davos, Switzerland, and talk to Jewish communal leaders in Virginia about Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s appointment of former Rep. Jim Moran to the board of George Mason University despite his past antisemitic comments and relationship with Qatar. We interview Scranton, Pa., Mayor Paige Cognetti as the Democrat mounts a congressional bid in northeastern Pennsylvania, and report on a Manhattan comedy club’s cancellation of a show by an Israeli comedian amid protest by pro-Hamas groups. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Robert Kraft, Rahm Emanuel and Nitzan Chen.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by JI Executive Editor Melissa Weiss and Israel Editor Tamara Zieve, with assists from Danielle Cohen-Kanik and Marc Rod. Have a tip? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
- The World Economic Forum continues today in Davos, Switzerland. Earlier today, President Donald Trump held a signing ceremony with the newly created Board of Peace. More below.
- Later this afternoon in Davos, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto will separately take the main stage. The last time the Indonesian leader, whose country is joining the Board of Peace, had a global platform — four months ago at the United Nations General Assembly — he concluded his speech by saying “Shalom.”
- Later in the afternoon, Meta President Dina Powell McCormick, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud and Bridgewater Associates’ Nir Bar Dea will participate in a panel focused on geopolitics and global collaboration. Elon Musk will take the stage following that discussion for a one-on-one conversation with BlackRock CEO and WEF interim Co-Chair Larry Fink.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S LAHAV HARKOV
President Donald Trump hosted a signing ceremony on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday for the founding members of the Board of Peace, his newly formed organization dedicated to world peace and security.
“We’re going to have peace in the world, and boy, wouldn’t that be a great legacy for all of us,” Trump said in his speech launching the board.
The Board of Peace’s “inaugural resolution,” which Trump signed at the ceremony, is to oversee the demilitarization and reconstruction of Gaza.
On Iran, Trump said that the U.S. bombing in June was because “they were two months from having a nuclear weapon, and we can’t let them have that. Iran does want to talk, and we’ll talk.”
In addition to the U.S., 19 countries attended the “massive event,” as a Trump administration source characterized it to Jewish Insider: Bahrain, Morocco, Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Hungary, Indonesia, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Pakistan, Paraguay, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan and Mongolia.
Members of Trump’s team in Davos — Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, informal advisor Jared Kushner and Josh Gruenbaum, a diplomatic advisor to the board — spent the hours preceding the event working to bring more countries on board.
Most Western European countries declined to join the Board of Peace because of its apparent aim to replace the United Nations, as well as Trump’s pressure to turn Greenland over to the U.S. and Russia’s invitation to join.
FACING SCRUTINY
Gov. Spanberger disappoints Va. Jewish leaders with appointment of Jim Moran to GMU board
Days after assuming office, Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger is facing scrutiny from Jewish leaders over her decision to appoint Jim Moran, a former congressman representing northern Virginia now working as a lobbyist for clients including Qatar, to the George Mason University board of visitors, despite his extensive record of using antisemitic tropes and hostility to Israel. The appointment, which Spanberger announced on Saturday hours after she had been sworn into office, came as part of a broader leadership shake-up of the state’s three public universities — as the Democratic governor seeks to assert her influence in the wake of a Republican administration whose university board oversight she had criticized during the campaign as politically meddlesome, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.
Controversy: Moran, a Democrat who retired from Congress in 2015, faced widespread criticism as well as calls for his resignation over comments in 2003 in which he blamed the Jewish community for pushing the U.S. into war with Iraq, a remark he reiterated four years later while singling out the pro-Israel group AIPAC. Even as he has voiced regret for some of his past remarks, Moran, who is now 80, has downplayed accusations of antisemitism and has continued to echo such rhetoric in recent years while appearing on panel discussions with a London-based NGO led by a former Hamas activist. In one virtual event in 2023, for example, Moran attributed Washington’s support for “apartheid” in Gaza to Jewish control of American politics.
doha dealings
Newly announced Senate candidate Julia Letlow attended 2023 Qatar junket funded by pro-Doha group
Rep. Julia Letlow (R-LA), who announced a primary challenge to Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) this week, was part of a 2023 junket trip to Qatar funded by a pro-Qatar business group, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. She was joined by Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX), who is mounting a Senate bid in Texas, on the Qatar trip.
About the trip: The February 2023 trip, funded by the U.S.-Qatar Business Council, included meetings with Qatari leaders, some of whom have been accused of backing terrorism. According to ethics paperwork submitted by the members, the group spent nearly $15,000 on Letlow’s travel and close to $18,000 on Crockett’s travel. It included meetings with multiple Qatari figures accused of ties to terrorism, including the head of a bank sued by American victims of terrorism in 2020.Read the full story here.
COGNETTI’S CAMPAIGN
Paige Cognetti running in Josh Shapiro’s footsteps in key Pa. swing district
Paige Cognetti, the Democratic mayor of Scranton, Pa., is staking out a pro-Israel platform as she seeks to unseat freshman Rep. Rob Bresnahan (R-PA) in a Pennsylvania swing district, emphasizing her support for continued military aid to the Jewish state in the wake of its war against Hamas in Gaza. In a recent interview with Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel, Cognetti, who is favored to win the Democratic nomination in Pennsylvania’s 8th Congressional District, said “the Israel question,” as she called it, is “very simple” for her.
Case in point: “I vehemently support Israel’s right to defend itself,” she explained, “and would take extremely seriously Congress’ role in ensuring they have the military aid that they need to defend themselves in a really dangerous neighborhood.” To underscore her point, Cognetti, who was sworn into her third term as Scranton’s mayor earlier this month, touted a local munitions plant that she said continues to produce “the shells that we use for our own defense, but also that we ship to our allies, like Ukraine and Israel.”
TEHRAN TALK
Trump: ‘We hope there’s not going to be further action’ against Iran
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he hopes no military action will be needed in Iran, but stopped short of ruling it out as the U.S. continues to move military assets to the Middle East, Jewish Insider’s Mathew Shea reports.
What he said: “We hope there’s not going to be further [military] action,” Trump said during an interview with CNBC on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, while alluding to the fact that it still might be a possibility given Tehran’s conduct in suppressing nationwide demonstrations. “But you know, [the regime is] shooting people indiscriminately in the streets.” The president has previously called the Iranian regime’s killing of protesters a “red line” and vowed to protesters that “help is on its way.” Trump repeated his claim on Wednesday that Iranian authorities had planned to hang 837 protesters last week, but “canceled it” after he warned them not to.
More from Trump: Speaking to a packed room at the World Economic Forum, Trump again issued a stark warning to Hamas on Wednesday, setting a timeline for the terror group’s disarmament and stating that it must deliver on its agreement to demilitarize or face potential military consequences.
CAMPUS BEAT
University of Washington to host radical anti-Israel activists at Palestinian advocacy conference
A university professor who resigned from her position following a Title VI antisemitism investigation, and another who organized large-scale anti-Israel demonstrations, are among several controversial speakers scheduled to speak at an event on Friday hosted by the University of Washington. The daylong conference, called “The World as Palestine: On Advocacy, Activism, and Justice,” is organized by the Middle Eastern Studies department and is scheduled to be held in the university’s student union building, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen and Danielle Kanik-Cohen report.
Set to speak: Andrea Brower, a former instructor in a “Solidarity and Social Justice” program at Gonzaga University in eastern Washington, is scheduled to speak during the program’s opening panel, “Reflections from Eastern Washington’s Palestinian Liberation Movement.” She resigned in 2024 after the school opened an antisemitism investigation into the protests she led on campus against Israel’s war in Gaza and her criticism of the university’s investment in companies with ties to Israel. Another speaker, Kathryn DePaolis, an associate professor and interim chair and director of the School of Social Work at Eastern Washington University, helped create a new group called the Inland Northwest Coalition for the Liberation of Palestine two months after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attacks. During Israel’s war in Gaza, the organization staged Palestinian “die-ins” in front of the Spokane courthouse.
NO LAUGHING MATTER
Manhattan comedy club cancels Israeli comedian amid protest by pro-Hamas groups
A Manhattan comedy club canceled Israeli comedian Guy Hochman’s show on Tuesday night after pro-Hamas groups protested outside of the venue. “The owner of the place was afraid and canceled the show,” Hochman told Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen, referring to Broadway Comedy Club, located near Times Square. “So, I did an alternative show for my audience outside freezing to death.”
What happened: City College of New York’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter was among the groups promoting the Tuesday demonstration on social media. It shared a post from the New York City chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement that said “victory” was achieved by the cancellation. Outside the comedy venue, masked demonstrators banged on drums, chanted and held signs that read “clean up the trash,” “death to the IDF” and “no war criminals in our city.” A heavy NYPD presence was called to monitor the protest.
Worthy Reads
Saudi Turns on the Hate Spigot: In his Substack “It’s Noon in Israel,” Amit Segal posits that efforts to normalize relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia are dead. “Over the past month, Al Arabiya has been worse than Al Jazeera in the texts broadcast against any normalization with Israel. Saudi podcasters who specialize in luxury cars or sports are suddenly cursing Zionism and the Abraham Accords. … Now, with the Saudis no longer celebrating the Abraham Accords, they are trying to undermine their foundations of support, from Morocco to the Emirates. Someone I spoke with this week used an Arab proverb to explain it: ‘He who cannot reach the grapes says they are sour.’ I suggested an Israeli version, straight from air-defense battle lore: ‘If I don’t fly, nobody flies.'” [ItsNooninIsrael]
Hanging the Protesters Out to Dry: In The Wall Street Journal, William Galston criticizes President Donald Trump’s decision not to assist Iranian anti-regime protesters. “Considering the information Mr. Trump received during the administration’s deliberations, his decision to stand down may well have been correct. Still, he shouldn’t have sent encouraging messages to the protesters if he wasn’t committed to backing them up. Because he did so, the president bears a measure of responsibility for the consequences. … Even if he decides against military action, he has a robust menu of nonmilitary options that could significantly weaken the regime. As my Brookings Institution colleague Suzanne Maloney has proposed, he can target key command-and-control systems to weaken the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and other security forces, seize Iran’s ghost fleet of oil tankers, and impose sanctions on Chinese imports of Iranian oil. He can also fully restore the Voice of America’s Iran Service, press our friends and allies to expel Iran’s diplomats, and help strengthen Iran’s divided opposition groups.” [WSJ]
Blazing a Trail, Quietly: The Athletic’s Jason Quick profiles Portland Trail Blazers forward Deni Avdija, the Israeli basketball phenom who got his start playing for Maccabi Tel Aviv and is having his best season as a pro. “He doesn’t feel pressure to add his voice to the dialogue surrounding his country’s conflict in the Middle East and, in fact, feels irritated when he is put in the middle of it. … He said he understands that he has a larger platform than most to deliver his viewpoint, but he said he doesn’t think that requires him to broadcast his opinion or politicize it. ‘I’ll be honest: What do people expect me to do?’ Avdija said. ‘This is my country, where I was born, where I grew up. I love my country; there are a lot of great things about my country. But obviously, not everyone is educated and knows what is going on, and that’s what pisses me off. Because if you are educated and know what is going on, it’s fine to say what you think and say who you think is right or wrong. But if you are not educated and you are not part of the Middle East, and you don’t understand how long this goes back and understand the consequences and everything … just don’t say anything.’” [TheAthletic]
Copying Caracas: The Economist looks at the continued tensions inside Iran following the regime’s crackdown on the widescale protests that swept the country in recent weeks. “Much of this internal criticism focuses on the 86-year-old Mr Khamenei, who has ruled for 36 increasingly despotic years. Critics complain about his intransigence in nuclear talks with America: by insisting on a token enrichment programme, they argue, he squandered a deal in 2025 that could have lifted sanctions altogether. Some go further. At least one cleric behind the manifesto called for him to stand trial for the state’s slaughter, according to another signatory. ‘We expect the supreme leader to exit within the next three to 12 months,’ says an investor still operating in Iran, citing both Mr Khamenei’s age and unpopularity. Others wistfully seek Mr Trump’s intervention. ‘We used to worry we’d become Venezuela,’ runs a joke in cafés frequented by civil servants. ‘Now we worry we won’t.'” [TheEconomist]
Word on the Street
Organizers of the World Economic Forum are mulling moving the annual gathering to another venue, with interim Co-Chair Larry Fink arguing that the WEF should “start doing something new: showing up — and listening — in the places where the modern world is actually built”; among the places he suggested were Detroit and Dublin…
Fink and Bank of America President and CEO Brian Moynihan were spotted this week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, wearing the blue square pins popularized by Robert Kraft’s foundation that have become a symbol in the fight against antisemitism, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports…
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick was heckled at a WEF dinner last night, with European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde walking out during his speech…
The U.S. Air Force confirmed that the Qatari jet being gifted to President Donald Trump for use as Air Force One will be delivered by this summer…
The Treasury Department announced sanctions on six Gaza-based medical organizations the government said had ties to Hamas’ al-Qassam Brigades, as well as the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad, which the department said was “clandestinely controlled” by Hamas and had supported numerous flotillas attempting to reach Gaza; in November, Reps. Andy Barr (R-KY) and Jefferson Shreve (R-IN) sent a letter to the Treasury Department calling for the designation of the PCPA as a Specially Designated Terrorist group…
The House Foreign Affairs Committee voted 45-2 to advance legislation expanding U.S. cooperation programs in the Eastern Mediterranean; Reps. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) and Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) voted against the bill, with Castro citing concerns that U.S.-Israel scientific grant programs cited in the bill may provide funding for programs in the West Bank and East Jerusalem…
Former U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel, who is mulling a 2028 presidential bid, weighed in on Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s recent revelation that the Harris presidential campaign had asked if he was an Israeli government agent, calling the questions “totally appropriate and totally inappropriate”…
A judge in New York ordered a newly drawn congressional map, determining that the state’s 11th Congressional District — the only New York City district represented by a Republican — had been drawn unconstitutionally…
The New York Times spotlights the relationship between New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, who hold differing views on policing and politics, as they work together in Mamdani’s first weeks in office…
The Mississippi state Senate unanimously approved a resolution in support of Jackson’s Beth Israel Congregation, a week and a half after Stephen Spencer Pittman allegedly set fire to the synagogue, which housed the state’s largest Jewish congregation; Pittman pleaded not guilty earlier this week to a federal charge of arson…
The NYPD is investigating an incident in which more than 50 swastikas were graffitied on a playground in Gravesend Park, Brooklyn…
The New York Times reports from the Los Angeles premiere of “Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!,” a two-part documentary about the legendary comedian and filmmaker…
Israel is moving toward the privatization of Israel Aerospace Industries and considering the sale of stakes in Rafael Advanced Defense Systems in an effort to offset the last two years of massive defense spending…
Three journalists, including contributors to CBS News and Agence France-Press, were killed in an Israeli strike in Gaza…
A report from the Israeli Justice Ministry’s Public Defender’s Office found that some Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails have faced “conditions unfit for human beings,” citing instances of food deprivation, medical neglect and violence…
Nitzan Chen is departing Israel’s Government Press Office after nearly 14 years as its director…
Eliezer “Geizi” Tzafrir, a former Mossad and Shin Bet senior official who oversaw the Mossad’s Tehran station during the 1979 fall of the shah, died at 92…
Legal historian Barbara Aronstein Black, who became the first woman to lead an Ivy League law school when she was named the head of Columbia Law School in 1986, died at 92…
Rifaat al-Assad, who was known as the “butcher of Hama” for his role in quelling an uprising to overthrow his brother, former Syrian President Hafez al-Assad, died at 88…
Pic of the Day
Israeli President Issac Herzog met with his Somalilander counterpart, Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, at a dinner on Wednesday night on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Birthdays
Jewish hockey player, he was a first-round pick of the New York Islanders in 2014, Josh Ho-Sang turns 30…
Nobel Prize laureate in chemistry in 2000, he is a professor emeritus at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Alan J. Heeger turns 90… Los Angeles resident, Ruth Lynn Kopelove Sobel… Managing director and founder of Brave Warrior Advisors, he is the son of Hall of Fame baseball star Hank Greenberg, Glenn H. Greenberg… Rabbi and leader who has served in New York, New Jersey and California, Mark Samuel Hurvitz… Brooklyn-born conductor, who during his tenure as artistic director of the Kraków Philharmonic became friends with Pope John Paul II for whom he later conducted multiple Papal concerts, Gilbert Levine turns 78… Senior political law counsel and consultant at Akin Gump, Kenneth A. Gross turns 75… Founder and executive director of the Brooklyn-based Bridge Multicultural and Advocacy Project, Mark Meyer Appel… Publisher at Chicago Public Square, Charlie Meyerson… Financial services attorney, Lisa Arlyn Lowe… Former director-general of the Israeli Defense Ministry, he is a retired major general in the IDF, Ehud “Udi” Adam turns 68… Member of the Knesset for Likud, Katrin “Keti” Shitrit-Peretz turns 66… Deputy president of the Supreme Court of Israel, Noam Sohlberg turns 64… Michael S. Marquis… President of the World Jewish Restitution Organization, Gideon Taylor… American-Israeli composer, pianist and music producer, Roy Zu-Arets turns 57… Actor best known for his role as Harvey Specter on the USA Network series “Suits,” Gabriel Macht turns 54… Play-by-play broadcaster for the Washington Commanders of the NFL, Bram Weinstein turns 53… Rabbi at the Midway Jewish Center in Syosset, N.Y., Joel Mark Levenson… Director of the Chabad House in Kathmandu, Nepal, Rabbi Yechezkel “Chezki” Lifshitz… Columnist for Ami Magazine, Yochonon Donn… CEO of Our Generation Speaks, Heidi Rosbe… Managing director at SKDKnickerbocker, Kendra Barkoff Lamy… Congress executive producer at Politico, Zachary Warmbrodt… Music composer and winner of two Academy Awards and two Grammys, Justin Hurwitz turns 41… Head of U.S. at Blue Laurel Advisors and of counsel at Grossman Young & Hammond, Mark Donig… NYC-based managing director at Politico, Jesse Shapiro… Business reporter for The Washington Post, she is also a professional balloon twister and was a 2018 contestant on “Jeopardy!,” Julie Zauzmer Weil… Israeli singer known as Netta, she was the winner of the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest in Lisbon, Portugal, Netta Barzilai turns 33… Actress, best known for her role as Nicky Reagan-Boyle in the CBS series “Blue Bloods,” Sami Gayle Klitzman turns 30… Associate in the Chicago office of Applegate & Thorne-Thomsen, Matthew Lustbader…
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