Previewing the Munich Security Conference
Plus, Cornyn talks to JI about primary, concern over Saudis
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In today’s Daily Kickoff, we preview this year’s Munich Security Conference, which kicks off today, and report on New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s refusal to condemn the co-founder of “Hot Girls for Zohran” after his pro-Hamas, antisemitic conspiracy posts were first reported by JI this week. We talk to Texas Sen. John Cornyn about his primary challenger Ken Paxton’s associations with Steve Bannon and other far-right figures, and report on Jeremy Carl’s increasingly unlikely bid to be assistant secretary of state for international organizations after Sen. John Curtis voiced his opposition to the nomination over Carl’s past antisemitic comments. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: AJ Edelman, Rep. Elise Stefanik and Jafar Panahi.
Ed. note: In observance of Presidents Day, the next Daily Kickoff will arrive on Tuesday, Feb. 17. Enjoy the long weekend!
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 Munich Security Conference kicks off today in Germany. More below.
- The annual BBYO International Convention kicks off today in Philadelphia, with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro slated to speak tonight.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MELISSA WEISS
A who’s who of the world’s major political leaders, both past and present, are descending on Munich for the annual Munich Security Conference. After last year’s forum, in which Vice President JD Vance, who was leading the U.S. delegation, took an abrasive tone against Europe in his keynote address that rankled some attendees, Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to bring a softer tone when he leads this year’s delegation.
Unlike last year, when the Israel-Hamas war featured prominently on the agenda, this year’s MSC schedule has relatively little time dedicated to talking about the conflict, with just two sessions expected to touch on Gaza. And while last year’s attendee list included a number of Israelis, including President Isaac Herzog and Defense Minister Israel Katz, there are no current Israeli officials slated to speak. (Former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni will join one of the panels on Gaza reconstruction.)
Also absent this year is a Qatari presence. Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, who spoke last year about de-escalating tensions in the Middle East, is not on this year’s schedule, nor are any other Qatari officials.
Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) — back this year after skipping the 2025 MSC to travel to the U.S.-Mexico border — and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) will lead a bipartisan congressional delegation that includes Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Mark Warner (D-VA), Chris Coons (D-DE), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Steve Daines (R-MT), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Peter Welch (D-VT), Andy Kim (D-NJ) and Elissa Slotkin (D-MI).
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is slated to speak on two panels today, one on the “rise of populism,” and another on the “future of U.S. foreign policy,” the latter in conversation with Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Matthew Whitaker, the U.S.’ representative to NATO. Matt Duss, a former foreign policy advisor to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) who has been critical of the U.S.-Israel relationship and is now advising the New York Democrat, said that she will use her perch in Munich to give the “working-class perspective” on the intersection of domestic politics and foreign policy.
AOC isn’t the only millennial member of Congress to be addressing the MSC this year. Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ), the first Iranian American Democrat elected to Congress, will be speaking on Sunday on a panel titled “Under Reconstruction: A World Order for the Next Generation.”
A town hall session focused on Gaza rebuilding efforts will take place later this afternoon. Speakers include Nickolay Mladenov, the Bulgarian diplomat serving as the head of the Gaza Board of Peace, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), Livni and Palestinian Authority Foreign Affairs Minister Varsen Aghabekian. Concurrent to that panel is a session focused on maritime security, with Yemeni President Rashad al-Alimi, whose country has been used by the Iran-backed Houthis as a launching pad for attacks on ships transiting through the Gulf, set to speak.
no comment
Mamdani refuses to condemn ‘Hot Girls for Zohran’ head’s pro-Hamas, antisemitic conspiracy posts
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his team refused to condemn social media posts from the co-founder of the group “Hot Girls for Zohran” that boosted antisemitic and pro-Iran voices and bashed police and leading U.S. politicians. The refusal came one day after Jewish Insider revealed Kaif Gilani — a finance professional who spearheaded a social media, merchandising and volunteer canvassing operation supporting the mayor’s election last year — had shared conspiracy theories from a Holocaust revisionist and a video cheerleading ex-Hamas military chief and Oct. 7 mastermind Yahya Sinwar, along with posts insulting law enforcement and various political figures, Jewish Insider’s Will Bredderman reports.
At City Hall: From City Hall on Thursday, Mamdani would only stress that Gilani’s organization operated independently of his official election effort. Asked by a reporter about his association with Gilani, Mamdani said, “This was an individual leading an outside group and was never paid for by our campaign. If New Yorkers want to know my views then they can hear it directly from me. When JI pressed the mayor directly whether he condemned the content of Gilani’s posts, Mamdani refused to respond and left the room, similar to how he fled questions on the matter from Politico on Wednesday. His press secretary maintained he had answered the question.
Making distance: Congressional candidate and former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander condemned social media posts from Gilani, a former top campaign consultant, that promoted Hamas, Iran and anti-Israel conspiracy theories — but refused to explain how he came to hire him in the first place.
PROBING QUESTIONS
Elise Stefanik asks RFK Jr. to probe anti-Israel ‘working group’ in NYC health office
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) urged the Trump administration Thursday to investigate reports that a clique of ideologically driven staffers at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene had launched an anti-Israel “working group” inside the agency, Jewish Insider’s Will Bredderman reports. In a letter addressed to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the upstate lawmaker decried reports that employees had met during work hours at the city bureaucracy’s Queens headquarters.
What she wrote: Stefanik raised the possibility the department’s federal funding might have gone toward a prohibited political purpose — or that the gathering may have violated civil rights protections by creating a discriminatory environment for Jewish New Yorkers. “The use of federal funds to support or tolerate government-sponsored activities that veer into ideological advocacy or that risk emboldening hate is a grave matter with civil rights and public safety implications,” Stefanik wrote.
NOMINEE NEWS
Jeremy Carl nomination derailed after grilling over antisemitic, anti-Israel comments
The nomination of Jeremy Carl, tapped to be the assistant secretary of state for international organizations, appears bound to fail after Sen. John Curtis (R-UT) announced his opposition to Carl’s confirmation following a contentious confirmation hearing in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this morning, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Under fire: Curtis and a series of Democrats questioned Carl over past antisemitic, anti-Israel and otherwise inflammatory comments that the nominee had made online and in a series of podcast appearances. All Democrats are expected to oppose the nomination, and Curtis’ opposition would be enough to block the nomination from advancing out of the committee. “I find his anti-Israel views and insensitive remarks about the Jewish people unbecoming of the position for which he has been nominated,” Curtis said in a statement after the hearing.
COLEMAN AGAINST COHEN
Retiring Rep. Watson Coleman slams only Jewish candidate for being a ‘hard-line supporter of Netanyahu’
Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) urged voters in her district not to vote for East Brunswick Mayor Brad Cohen, one of the 17 candidates running to replace her, accusing him of being a “hard-line supporter” of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while otherwise remaining agnostic on the race, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
The latest: Cohen is the top fundraiser in the field, and Watson Coleman singled him out for criticism, declining to otherwise take sides in the 12th Congressional District primary, according to the New Jersey Globe. “He’s a hard-line supporter of Netanyahu, who is a despot, a corrupt leader,” Watson Coleman, a longtime critic of Israel, told the New Jersey news outlet. Watson praised a handful of the candidates in the race but said she would otherwise not “[put] my finger on this in any way, shape, or form.”
Holding back: New Jersey’s Democratic congressional delegation on Thursday has now fully lined up behind progressive activist Analilia Mejia — with the exception of Rep. Josh Gottheimer, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
TEXAS TALK
Cornyn slams Paxton for associating with Steve Bannon, not calling out antisemitism on right
Facing a heated primary against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) accused his right-wing challenger on Thursday of associating with antisemitic and anti-Israel voices within the MAGA movement. Cornyn told Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs and Josh Kraushaar in a wide-ranging interview that Texas Republican voters should view Paxton’s associations with figures such as former Trump advisor Steve Bannon as “alarming” — while urging Republicans to call out antisemitic and anti-Israel voices within the party, along the lines of his outspoken Texas GOP colleague Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX).
Questioning his conservatism: “There’s this interesting, and troubling, tendency of some folks who claim the MAGA mantle to associate with antisemites like Nick Fuentes, Candace Owens and Steve Bannon. I know Ken Paxton regularly goes on Bannon’s ‘War Room’ podcast, and it’s something that should be alarming to Texas voters. People like that I don’t think are what I would call conservatives,” Cornyn said.
On alert: Cornyn also warned on Thursday that the U.S. needs to continue to monitor the “shifting loyalties” of Saudi Arabia, amid concerns that Riyadh is pivoting away from its traditional allies and toward Islamist actors, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports.
FACING JUSTICE
Grand jury indicts Mississippi synagogue arsonist on civil rights charges
The Mississippi man indicted last month in connection with setting the state’s largest synagogue on fire is facing two additional federal charges. Stephen Spencer Pittman, a 19-year-old who admitted to committing arson on Jackson’s Beth Israel Congregation in the early hours of Jan. 10 due to “the building’s Jewish ties,” was indicted by a federal grand jury this week on civil rights and arson offenses. The indictment adds additional counts to an earlier arson charge, making it a three-count indictment, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
Details: “The Department of Justice will not tolerate attacks on houses of worship,” said Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general of civil rights at the Justice Department. “This superseding indictment shows that we will investigate and we will prosecute such vicious attacks that strike at the core of our country’s long tradition of religious liberty.” According to court documents from his arrest, Pittman is alleged to have used gasoline to set fire to the house of worship. He referred to the institution as the “synagogue of Satan,” a historically antisemitic phrase that has been repopularized by far-right commentator Candace Owens.
Capitol call: Beth Israel Congregation President Zach Shemper wrapped up a week on Capitol Hill Thursday feeling “confident” that sharing the story of the recent arson attack on his synagogue with lawmakers would bring increased security funding for houses of worship nationwide — including his own, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
Worthy Reads
Regional Row: The Washington Post’s David Ignatius spotlights the “epic feud” between the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia that is shifting regional dynamics. “The regional tension directly interfered with U.S. policy last March, when the Trump administration was assaulting Houthi rebels in Yemen who had been attacking Red Sea shipping. According to a senior former U.S. official, Trump called a top UAE official and asked him to help ‘mop up’ the Houthis. The UAE leader said he could send 2,000 troops immediately and 5,000 more soon — but he asked for a Saudi pledge that it wouldn’t support a Yemeni Islamist militia known as Islah. The Saudis didn’t deliver that promise, and the campaign never happened, the former U.S. official said.” [WashPost]
The Beauty Queen’s Blind Spot: The Atlantic’s Yair Rosenberg recounts his conversation with Carrie Prejean Boller, who was removed from the White House’s Religious Liberty Commission over her questioning of Jewish witnesses and defense of promulgators of antisemitism, including Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens, at a hearing earlier this week. “Indeed, as long as the subject was Israel, Boller was eager to engage. But when the conversation turned to other things that she had said at the commission hearing that pertained to anti-Semitism, not merely anti-Zionism, she suddenly became much more evasive. … Rather than reckon with anti-Semitic statements from those she had defended at a hearing intended to confront anti-Semitism, she repeatedly attempted to reroute our conversation back to the safer ground of criticizing Israel. She either did not realize that she was using anti-Zionism as a pretext to launder vulgar anti-Semitism and its purveyors into the public square, or she did not care.” [TheAtlantic]
Strike While it’s Hot: In The Wall Street Journal, Bernard-Henri Lévy posits that the Trump administration should pursue military action to effect regime change in Iran. “Can one settle for ‘sanctions,’ ‘pressure’ and concessions wrung out and immediately circumvented, when one knows that Russia has long since found ways to flood Tehran and its proxies with the resources they need to continue their enterprise of destruction over the long term, given a sufficient respite? Is any compromise possible with fanatics who proclaim that they prefer the apocalypse to defeat and who, if there were an apocalypse, wouldn’t hesitate to drag their near and distant neighbors into it? I hope the American administration understands this. I hope it has grasped that the era of containment is over, that deterrence doesn’t work against a state that has made internal terror, regional destabilization and the end of the world both a mode of governance and a program.” [WSJ]
Give Diplomacy a Chance: In the Arab News, Jason Greenblatt, who served as the White House Middle East envoy during President Donald Trump’s first term, weighs in on Trump’s meeting this week with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the decision to pursue diplomacy with Iran. “Many predicted he would strike quickly. I did not. Weeks ago, I wrote that he would first test whether diplomacy could work — real diplomacy, aimed at real results. Not another Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action-style agreement riddled with loopholes and excuses. Not another paper promise that looks good in headlines and collapses in practice. The last deal, among its many flaws, merely kicked the nuclear threat down the road and gave the Iranian regime space to cheat. And cheat they did. Trump wants something different.” [ArabNews]
Word on the Street
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again voiced skepticism about the U.S.’ ability to reach an agreement with Iran as he departed Joint Base Andrews on Thursday, a day after his White House meeting with President Donald Trump, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports…
The USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier group — the Navy’s most advanced carrier group — is moving from the Caribbean to the Middle East amid ongoing tensions between the U.S. and Iran…
The United Nations this week elevated an Iranian official to a senior leadership role and publicly congratulated Tehran on the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution — moves that former Trump administration officials and Middle East policy analysts say reflect a troublingly conciliatory posture by the international body toward a regime accused of violently repressing its own people, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports…
The U.S. smuggled approximately 6,000 Starlink internet connectivity kits into Iran last month as Tehran conducted a nationwide internet blackout…
A new analysis of satellite imagery by the Institute for Science and International Security found that Iran is fortifying its Isfahan nuclear complex…
The EU Aviation Safety Administration extended to March 31 an advisory urging airlines to avoid Iranian airspace…
The man arrested in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood after allegedly stabbing a visibly Jewish man — to whom he had reportedly made antisemitic remarks prior to the attack — was released on bail…
Yeshiva University said that an incident in which a YU student was assaulted in Manhattan’s 181st Street subway station was an “unbiased attempted robbery”…
The U.K.’s Community Security Trust recorded a spike in antisemitic incidents the day of and the day following the terror attack at a Manchester synagogue on Yom Kippur last year in which two people were killed; with 40 incidents recorded each day, they marked the highest daily totals of the year…
The British High Court ruled that the government’s ban on the Palestine Action activist group was unlawful, despite group members’ participation in the vandalism and destruction of private property as part of their protests…
The new Israeli shekel hit a 30-year high, closing on Thursday at NIS 3.0680 to the dollar…
Israeli authorities arrested an IDF reservist and a civilian on charges of using classified information to place bets on the betting platform Polymarket…
The Football Association of Ireland said its national team will not forfeit any potential matches against Israel after the teams were drawn together, along with Austria and Kosovo; the announcement comes months after the FAI approved a motion calling on Israel to be banned from the Europa League…
The Atlantic interviews Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, whose Oscar-nominated “It Was All an Accident” was filmed in secret in the Islamic Republic and smuggled out of the country…
Pic of the Day
Team Israel bobsledders AJ Edelman and Ward Fawarseh, the first Druze Olympian, took practice runs on Thursday in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, ahead of the two-man Olympic bobsled race on Monday. Read our interview with Edelman here.
Birthdays
Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter, Melissa Manchester turns 75 on Sunday…
FRIDAY: Rabbi and Talmudic scholar, also emeritus professor of economics at New York University, closely identified with the Austrian school of economic thought, Yisroel Mayer Kirzner turns 96… Israeli film and theater actor, Dalia Friedland turns 91… Former chair of the Toronto-based Mackenzie Institute think tank, he was a North York and Toronto City councillor, Norman “Norm” Gardner turns 88… Professor at American Jewish University in Los Angeles and scholar of biblical literature and Semitic languages, Ziony Zevit turns 84… Newsletter editor specializing in U.S. intelligence, military and foreign policy issues, Jeff Stein turns 82… U.S. senator (D-CT), Richard Blumenthal turns 80… Professor of anthropology at the University of Toronto, author of ‘I Didn’t Know You Were Jewish’ … and Other Things Not to Say When You Find Out, Ivan Kalmar turns 78… Former CEO of the Cleveland Browns and president of the Philadelphia Eagles, Joe Banner turns 73… Radio broadcaster for the New York Mets, Howard “Howie” Rose turns 72… Painter and photographer Ron Agam turns 68… Ukrainian businessman, previously president of the United Jewish Community of Ukraine, Ihor Kolomoyskyi turns 63… Casting director, Amy Sobo… Legal scholar, journalist and author, CEO emeritus of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Jeffrey Rosen turns 62… Member of the Knesset for United Torah Judaism, Moshe Shimon Roth turns 62… Internet entrepreneur and co-founder of Zynga, Mark Pincus turns 60… Past chair of national women’s philanthropy of The Jewish Federations of North America, Rochelle “Shelly” Kupfer… Former senior speechwriter for Treasury secretaries Geithner and Lew during the Obama administration, Mark Cohen… Retired Israeli soccer player, he made 89 international appearances for Israel and won nine league championships, more than any other Israeli player, Alon Harazi turns 55… Founding member and partner of Drowos Wealth Management Group at Center Street Capital Advisors, Bryan M. Drowos… Publisher of Southern California’s Jewish Link, Dov Blauner… Investigative reporter at Reuters since 2018, following 12 years as a Wall Street Journal reporter, Mike Spector… Associate vice president for communications at Columbia University, Samantha Slater… Jonathan Neuman… Director of philanthropy at LPPE LLC, Daniel Sperling… Founder and owner at Miami’s Cadena Collective, Alejandra Aguirre turns 35…
SATURDAY: Civil and human rights activist, rabbi, radio host, television producer and public speaker, Allen Secher turns 91… Owner of Bloomberg LP, 2020 presidential candidate, former chairman of Johns Hopkins University and mayor of NYC, Michael Bloomberg turns 84… Award-winning investigative journalist for The Washington Post and author, who together with Bob Woodward did much of the original news reporting on the Watergate scandal, Carl Bernstein turns 82… Chairman and CEO of Reebok for 26 years until its 2005 sale to Adidas, Paul Fireman turns 82… British businessman and founder of WPP plc, Sir Martin Stuart Sorrell turns 81… Former borough president of Brooklyn for 12 years, following a 23-year stint as a New York state senator, Marty Markowitz turns 81… Chairman and CEO of the Blackstone Group, Stephen A. Schwarzman turns 79… Film producer and EVP of the NFL’s New York Giants, winner of a Golden Globe award, an Academy Award and two Super Bowl rings, Steven Elliot “Steve” Tisch turns 77… Retired chairman and CEO of Los Angeles-based City National Bank, Russell Goldsmith turns 76… Host of “Fresh Air,” an interview program distributed throughout the U.S. by NPR, Terry Gross turns 75… Sports executive and former All-Star basketball player, she served as president of the WNBA for six years and as SVP of the PGA Tour for 17 years, Donna Geils Orender turns 69… Former executive board member at the Holocaust Museum LA, Paulette Beckmann Nessim… Co-founder and CEO at 25Madison and executive chairman of Townsquare Media, he was previously deputy assistant secretary of defense, Steven Price turns 64… Volleyball and beach volleyball star, she is the only Brazilian (out of 455 athletes) in the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, Adriana Brandão Behar turns 57… Long-distance runner, she won the bronze medal in the women’s marathon at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Deena Drossin Kastor turns 53… Senior director for strategy, policy and government affairs for the National Insurance Crime Bureau, Howard Handler… Financial advisor in the Boca Raton office of San Blas Securities, Alan Feinberg Jr.… Activist and writer known by the pen name MaNishtana, Shais Rishon turns 44… Ice hockey player selected in the first round of the 2002 NHL draft, he then played on four NHL teams and was also a player on the U.S. national team, Eric Nystrom turns 43… Columnist for The Forward, Carly Pildis… Co-founder of Run for Something, a PAC dedicated to helping progressive young people run for office, Amanda Litman… Four-year basketball player for the University of California, Berkeley Golden Bears, then for Bnei Herzliya of the Israeli Premier League, now a real estate broker in Miami, Sam Singer turns 31… Actor best known for her role as Charlotte on the CMT comedy television series “Still the King,” Madison Iseman turns 29…
SUNDAY: British actress who has starred in nearly sixty films, her paternal grandfather shortened his name from Blumenthal, Claire Bloom turns 95… Professor of cognitive science at Indiana University, Pulitzer Prize winner, Douglas Hofstadter turns 81… Former Democratic member of the Texas House of Representatives for 26 years, Elliott Naishtat turns 81… Cartoonist, editor, former teacher at the School of Visual Arts in NYC and long-time contributing artist for The New Yorker, Art Spiegelman (born Itzhak Avraham ben Zeev) turns 78… Television and movie actor, he stars as the IRGC’s head of investigations in the Apple TV Israeli series “Tehran,” Shaun Toub turns 68… SVP of corporate development at Philip Morris International, Marian Salzman turns 67… Professor at Yale Law School and author of two best-selling novels, Jed Rubenfeld turns 67… Host of the radio program “Jewish Moments in the Morning” since 1983, Nachum Segal turns 63… Principal at Catalyzing Philanthropy, a boutique consulting firm, Karen Paul… Developer of the Miami Design District and many other properties in South Beach, Craig Lewis Robins turns 63…Self-employed writer, Elizabeth Ives “Beth” Solomon… Founder and editor-in-chief of popular progressive blog, “Talking Points Memo,” Josh Marshall turns 57… Investor, he founded and then sold the Rockstar energy drink, Russell Goldencloud Weiner turns 56… Founder and director of Areyvut, Daniel Rothner turns 54… Actress, writer, producer, and comedian, she won two Primetime Emmy Awards for playing Susie Myerson in “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” Alexandrea Borstein turns 53… Director of business development at Treetop Companies, Eric Distenfeld… Director of education at the Orthodox Union and host of the 18Forty podcast, David Bashevkin, Ph.D. turns 41… Deputy executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition, Alex Siegel turns… Offensive lineman on three NFL teams, he is now an executive regional sales manager at Sirtex, Ben Gottschalk turns 34… Beauty pageant titleholder who represented Israel at the Miss Universe pageant in 2016, Yam Kaspers Anshel turns 28… Australian racewalker, she competed in the women’s 20 kilometer walk at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics, Jemima Montag turns 28… Actor and voice actor, Zachary Adam Gordon turns 28…
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