Trump sets Iran deadline
Plus, previewing AIPAC's Congressional Summit
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In today’s Daily Kickoff, we preview the upcoming AIPAC Congressional Summit, which kicks off on Sunday in Washington, and spotlight a Texas congressional race in which Rep. Christian Menefee appears poised to oust Rep. Al Green, the latter of whom has strained his relationship with the district’s Jewish community over a series of anti-Israel votes. We report on a meeting between NYC’s DSA and far-left NYC Councilmember Shahana Hanif, who took flak from the group over her condemnation of Hamas, and cover Rep. Jan Schakowsky’s decision to pull her endorsement of congressional candidate Donna Miller over AIPAC’s suspected support for Miller. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Eric Fingerhut, Yardena Schwartz and Palmer Luckey.
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.
For less-distracted reading over the weekend, browse this week’s edition of The Weekly Print, a curated print-friendly PDF featuring a selection of recent Jewish Insider and eJewishPhilanthropy stories, including: Former Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop brings the fight against antisemitism to NYC’s business community; Josh Shapiro tells BBYO teens: Be proud to be Jewish; and Sole Jewish lawmaker in Belgium faces backlash amid spat with U.S. over mohels. Print the latest edition here.
What We’re Watching
- We’ll be keeping a close eye this weekend on developments in the Middle East as President Donald Trump mulls military action against Iran. The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that the president could order an initial limited strike in an effort to push Tehran into accepting a nuclear agreement. More below.
- AIPAC’s annual Congressional Summit kicks off on Sunday in Washington. More below on the gathering, which in recent years has taken the place of the group’s annual Policy Conference.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S GABBY DEUTCH
More than 1,000 of AIPAC’s top donors will gather in Washington this weekend for the pro-Israel group’s annual Congressional Summit, meeting at a moment of intense scrutiny surrounding the group’s political tactics.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Opposition Leader Yair Lapid are slated to address the convening via video, along with senior congressional leaders and a representative from the Trump administration, according to an AIPAC source. U.S. Ambassador to the U. N. Mike Waltz will speak at the conference, as will House Speaker Mike Johnson (R‑LA), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D‑NY), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D‑NY) and Sens. Tom Cotton (R‑AR) and Ted Cruz (R‑TX).
A spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) did not respond to a request for comment.
At the conference, AIPAC activists will work to “further accelerate the community’s political efforts this election cycle” and will meet with more than 400 members of Congress, according to the source with knowledge of AIPAC’s plans.
“Discussions will focus on the evolving threats facing Israel, the negotiations with Iran, solidarity with the Iranian people seeking freedom from a brutal regime, continued U.S. security assistance and expanding joint defense cooperation that will strengthen the security and strategic edge of both nations,” the source told Jewish Insider.
Supporters and critics alike are closely watching the group’s next moves after a very public defeat earlier this month. AIPAC spent more than $2.3 million on attack ads against former Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-NJ) in a Democratic primary in New Jersey, only for Malinowski to lose in a close race to Analilia Mejia, a far-left activist who will almost certainly take a much more hostile approach to Israel than Malinowski.
TEXAS TAKEDOWN
Democrats poised to oust Israel critic Al Green from Texas congressional delegation
Jewish leaders in the Houston area see a chance for a fresh start this year with a new congressman, after an increasingly strained relationship with their longtime representative, Rep. Al Green (D-TX), who has taken a strong anti-Israel turn in recent years, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. Due to Texas’ redistricting process, Rep. Christian Menefee (D-TX) now faces Green, as well as other long-shot candidates, for a full term in the House beginning in 2027.
Where things stand: Green, 78, is struggling to hold onto his seat in a primary against newly elected Menefee, the former Harris County attorney, who won a commanding victory in a special election runoff last month to replace former Rep. Sylvester Turner (D-TX). Since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, Green has consistently taken anti-Israel stances, even on legislation that has received widespread support on a bipartisan basis. Jewish leaders in the district say that Green, who was once close with the Jewish community, has become inaccessible and even hostile to Jewish constituents since Oct. 7.
CHICAGO FLIP-FLOP
Rep. Jan Schakowsky yanks endorsement of Donna Miller over alleged AIPAC support
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) rescinded her endorsement of Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller, who is running in a Democratic congressional primary in Illinois’ 2nd District, over support Miller is reportedly receiving from AIPAC-aligned forces, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. Miller has not been endorsed by AIPAC and neither the group nor its super PAC are publicly spending any money in the district. But it’s widely rumored in the Chicagoland area that pro-Israel forces are backing a new group, Affordable Chicago Now, supporting Miller.
State of play: Schakowsky’s reversal is a notable step in a campaign by progressives to make even perceived ties to AIPAC or any individual donors who have supported the pro-Israel group toxic within the Democratic Party — even if their support for a candidate isn’t coming through AIPAC. “Illinois deserves leaders who put voters first, not AIPAC or out-of-state Trump donors,” Schakowsky said in a statement. “I cannot support any candidate who is funded by these outside interests.”
UNDER FIRE
Democratic socialist NYC councilmember catches flak at DSA event for criticizing Hamas
A New York City councilmember known for her fervent criticism of Israel faced harsh questioning at a recent gathering of the Democratic Socialists of America — because she had also spoken out against Hamas, as well as supporters of the terrorist organization who demonstrated outside New York synagogues. The comments came during Councilmember Shahana Hanif’s interview earlier this month with the NYC-DSA Socialists in Office committee. Hanif, a DSA member who long lambasted Israel prior to facing a centrist challenger last year, appeared before the group in order to receive formal endorsement and volunteer support from the organization in the future, Jewish Insider’s Will Bredderman reports.
In the hot seat: “Something that concerned me is the comparison of protesters who chanted support of Hamas to neo-Nazi protests, equating them both as antisemitism. Many of us, with 60% of Gen Z supporting Hamas against Israel, many of us are realizing now that we’ve been lied to all our lives,” one participant in the interview said to Hanif. “We do so under fear knowing that the politicians that represent us are supporting a genocide, as well as supporting political repression against us. So will you fight back against that effort to repress us, or will you take part in it yourself?”
EDUCATION CONSTERNATION
Former Education Dept. OCR officials warn of weakened enforcement as Trump allies defend sweeping approach
The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights met in Washington on Thursday to hold its first hearing on campus antisemitism in more than 20 years. The commission — a bipartisan federal fact-finding agency established in 1957 — is chaired by a Democrat and also includes two Republicans appointed by President Donald Trump, yielding a diverse group of witnesses who sparred over Trump’s approach to campus antisemitism and his administration’s firing of more than half of the attorneys in the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
In the room: The 22 witnesses included Craig Trainor, who served as acting director of OCR during Trump’s first year in office; several former OCR attorneys; Matt Nosanchuk, a former deputy assistant secretary at DOE during the Biden administration now at The George Washington University Law School; Brandeis Center CEO Ken Marcus, who led OCR during Trump’s first term; National Jewish Advocacy Center CEO Mark Goldfeder; Jewish Council for Public Affairs CEO Amy Spitalnick; J Street U Director Erin Beiner; and students from Harvard, American University and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
WAR AND PEACE
Trump announces $10 billion U.S. investment in Gaza, sets deadline for Iran
President Donald Trump used the occasion of the first meeting of the Board of Peace in Washington on Thursday to announce significant monetary and troop commitments from the U.S. and other countries to stabilize Gaza, as well as lay out a timeline for military action against Iran, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports.
Putting money where their mouth is: “I want to let you know that the United States is going to make a contribution of $10 billion to the Board of Peace,” Trump said at the United States Institute of Peace (now named after the president), where several foreign leaders gathered for the meeting. The president also named, for the first time, which countries have agreed to make additional financial contributions to the reconstruction of Gaza: Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan and Kuwait “have all contributed more than $7 billion toward the relief package,” Trump said. In addition to U.S. and foreign officials, Marc Rowan, Yakir Gabay, Liran Tancman and Michael Eisenberg were in attendance, with Rowan, Gabay and Tancman all addressing the group.
Bonus: FIFA head Gianni Infantino, who attended the Board of Peace meeting in Washington, pledged $50 million for the construction of a new sports stadium in the Gaza Strip, as well as $15 million for the creation of a FIFA academy.
SENATOR SAYS
Sen. Lindsey Graham defends Israel’s Gaza war, draws WWII comparisons
In an appearance on the “On The Record” podcast with Hadley Gamble, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) rejected the suggestion from some in the Arab world that the deaths of civilians in Gaza do not align with Christian values. “I just don’t buy that at all, because what did we do in World War II? Did we think for one minute about starving the Germans? Did we bomb every city into smitherreens?” Asked if that meant he was comparing Israel’s response to Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on the Jewish state to how the U.S. responded in World War II, Graham responded affirmatively, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports.
What he said: Gamble then pressed Graham on Israel “flattening Gaza,” which the South Carolina senator said he took no issue with. “Just flatten it. We flattened Berlin. We flattened Tokyo,” Graham said. “Were we wrong to drop an atomic bomb to end the Japanese reign of terror? Were we? In my view, if I were Israel, I would have probably done it the same way. Without military victory, there is no hope of breaking radicalism. We flattened Germany. We flattened Japan.”
Bonus: Graham, who is wrapping up a weeklong trip to the Middle East, posted on X that he had “a very friendly, extensive and consequential meeting” with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Graham said that he was “hopeful that a dialogue can be started between Saudi Arabia and the UAE regarding their disputes in Yemen and Sudan,” and that the crown prince’s “vision for the region is for conservative Islam to coexist – with tremendous economic opportunity – for the people of Saudi Arabia, the Middle East, and the entire world.”
Worthy Reads
Protect Syrian Minorities: In The Wall Street Journal, Sam Brownback, formerly the ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, raises concerns about the security of religious minorities in Syria. “At the end of Saddam [Hussein]’s brutal dictatorship, Iraq had about 1.5 million Christians. Today, there are fewer than 250,000. There were more than 500,000 Yazidis in 2003 under Saddam. Today that number is estimated at 300,000, with 125,000 of those in internal-displacement camps, primarily in the Kurdistan region. The same will happen in Syria if we don’t insist on the safety of the country’s many religious and ethnic minorities. Syrian Kurds, Christians, Druze, Yazidis and Alawites must have domestic security. … When minorities are threatened, social cohesion breaks down. When social cohesion breaks down, durable peace becomes impossible. That vacuum is where other extremist groups thrive.” [WSJ]
Document Dump: In Tablet, David Sclar looks at how financial challenges facing Jewish institutions have forced some to sell off documents and artifacts they had been entrusted to keep safe. “The point is not nostalgia. It is that institutions are tested precisely in the moments when preservation becomes inconvenient. Jewish learning has often emerged in distress. … The question is not whether Jewish institutions face financial pressure, but whether these challenges warrant the irreversible dispersal of the documentary record. To abandon the foundations on which an institution rests, and the cultural heritage it is entrusted to preserve, is to incur a loss that extends well beyond its boundaries. Yet these collections can be used as bulwarks against the very pressures Jewish leaders seek to confront.” [Tablet]
Word on the Street
President Donald Trump notified Congress that the White House is seeking to reach a civil nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia that will not include nonproliferation safeguards that would prevent Riyadh from obtaining nuclear weapons…
The Congressional Jewish Caucus issued a statement condemning recent anti-Muslim comments by Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL), saying, “As political violence and attacks on religious minorities hit record levels, Members of Congress must lead by example, not fuel more hatred through dehumanization. As Jewish Americans who all come from families that immigrated to this country and faced ethnic and religiously based discrimination, seeing any Member, and particularly a fellow Jewish Member of Congress, spew such hatred is wholly unacceptable and against our Jewish values”…
The Free Press found an influx of new registrations by foreign lobbyists since Trump’s election in 2024, with “the biggest winners of the foreign lobbying surge” being MAGA-aligned Republicans…
Jewish Federations of North America CEO Eric Fingerhut called on Congress to increase funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program to $1 billion annually and to “make the program more flexible and simpler to use” during JFNA’s inaugural “State of the Jewish Union” address at the organization’s Washington headquarters, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports…
The Anti-Defamation League and Blue Square Alliance Against Hate are joining forces in a new partnership to combat the spread of antisemitism, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen has learned…
Crystal City Entertainment is developing Yardena Schwartz’s 2024 nonfiction book Ghosts Of A Holy War, about the 1929 Hebron massacre, into a narrative feature adaptation; read our interview with Schwartz here…
French and Israeli officials unveiled signage of the newly renamed Place Shimon Peres in Paris, honoring the late Israeli leader…
The American Jewish Committee and Conseil Représentatif des Institutions Juives de France, the umbrella organization representing French Jewry, announced a new partnership on Friday aimed at combating an increase of antisemitism that has caused many French Jews to consider leaving the country, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports…
The New York Times looks at Alan Dershowitz’s efforts to challenge the 1964 Supreme Court ruling on New York Times v. Sullivan, about press freedoms, which Dershowitz himself helped author while he was a law clerk in the court…
Global accounting firm KPMG is distancing itself from the upcoming Sydney Writers’ Festival, which is facing criticism for its inclusion of a Palestinian Australian speaker who called for “the end of Israel” and said that Zionists “have no claim or right to cultural safety”…
Anduril founder Palmer Luckey traveled to Israel earlier this week for Defense Tech Expo, where he met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu…
Israel’s High Court ruled that the government must move forward with the restoration and upgrading of the Western Wall egalitarian plaza, which has been delayed for nearly a decade due to resistance from the country’s chief rabbis and Haredi legislators…
In eJewishPhilanthropy, Tamara Zieve and Rachel Kohn spotlight the Peace of Mind program that brought former IDF soldiers known as tatziptaniyot, female soldiers who serve as unarmed observers — and whose unit gained attention after 15 were killed and seven taken hostage from the Nahal Oz base during the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks — to the U.S. to work through trauma…
Palestinian Health Ministry officials said a 19-year-old Palestinian American man was killed in clashes with Israeli settlers in the West Bank…
The IDF said it “strongly” condemned an infiltration of far-right activists, including Knesset Member Limor Son Har-Melech, into the Gaza Strip on Thursday…
The Wall Street Journal looks at the challenges for the Trump administration if it decides to move forward with an effort to force regime change in Iran, citing a “lack of a clear alternative” should Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei be removed from power…
The U.K. said it would not allow its bases in Gloucester and the Indian Ocean to be used by the U.S. to launch an attack on Iran; Trump, in response, withdrew U.S. support for the U.K.’s agreement to hand the Chagos Islands over to the country of Mauritius…
The family of a British couple detained in Iran said the pair, who were arrested and charged with espionage while on a motorcycling trip around the world, was sentenced to 10 years in prison…
Grammy Award-winning producer and lyricist Billy Steinberg, who wrote five No. 1 singles, including Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” and the Bangles’ “Eternal Flame,” died at 75…
Pic of the Day
A delegation of U.N. ambassadors led by Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon traveled to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp on Thursday.
Birthdays
Defenseman for the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers, Jake Walman turns 30…
FRIDAY: U.S. senator (R-KY), Mitch McConnell turns 84… Former head of the Israeli security agency Shin Bet and later a member of the Knesset for Yesh Atid, Yaakov Peri turns 82… Co-owner of NYC-based TF Cornerstone, owner of 12 million square feet and 7,000 apartments in NYC and D.C., Kamran Thomas Elghanayan turns 81… Screenwriter, film director and novelist, he wrote the screenplay for “Blazing Saddles,” Andrew Bergman turns 81… University professor at Brown University, winner of a 2015 Pulitzer Prize for biography, David Kertzer turns 78… Physician and acupuncturist based in Valley Village, Calif., Andrea Hoffman Kachuck… Nursing home administrator in Hazlet, N.J., Benzion Schachter turns 75… Founder and publisher of “Punch,” M. Sloane Citron turns 70… Senior VP for daytime news programming at Newsmax Media, David M. Friend turns 70… Former NFL player who played for seven different teams over 16 seasons, he was one of the NFL’s original long snapper specialists, Adam Blayne Schreiber turns 64… Senior editor at Politico, David Cohen… Professor of mathematics at the University of Chicago, Shmuel Aaron Weinberger turns 63… U.S. senator (D-AZ), Mark Kelly turns 62… Pulitzer Prize-winning staff writer and theater critic for The New Yorker, Emily Nussbaum… Cantor and lecturer at Hebrew Union College, Kerith Carolyn Spencer-Shapiro… Actress, comedian and writer, Andrea Savage turns 53… Emmy Award-winning film and television producer, he is the founder of Hidden Pictures Media, Todd Darren Lieberman turns 53… Comedian, actor and writer, best known for portraying Gina Linetti on Fox’s series “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” Chelsea Peretti turns 48… Actor, best known for his role as Joel Maisel on “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” Michael Zegen turns 47… Owner of a baseball development facility in Denver, he was a starting pitcher in Major League Baseball, Jason Hirsh turns 44… CEO at the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, Amy Spitalnick… Philanthropy consultant, Aimee Weiss… Ethiopian-born Israeli fashion model and television personality, winner of the Israeli version of “Big Brother,” Tahounia Rubel turns 38… Boca Raton, Fla., resident, Levi Yitzchok Shemtov turns 33…
SATURDAY: Holocaust survivor and author of a book on systemic hate, he was the developer of the L’Ermitage Beverly Hills in 1976, Severyn Ashkenazy turns 90… Co-founder of Dreamworks and noted collector of American artists’ work, his name is on the Lincoln Center complex in NYC, David Geffen turns 83… Monica Oakes Agor… Vice chairman of the NBA’s Detroit Pistons, he was previously a sports agent for basketball and baseball players, Arn Herschel Tellem turns 72… Winner of two Pulitzer Prizes during his 30 years reporting career, he is the director of a fiscal and monetary policy group at the Brookings Institution, David Meyer Wessel turns 72… Financial executive and real estate entrepreneur, he is the chairman of the KABR Group, a New Jersey-based real estate investment firm, Kenneth D. Pasternak turns 72… President of Yale University from 2013-2024, Peter Salovey (family name was Soloveitchik) turns 68… Fitness personality, he develops businesses through the “Body by Jake” brand, Jake Steinfeld turns 68… Owner of the NFL’s Cleveland Browns until 2012, he also owned Aston Villa F.C. of the English Premier League until 2016, Randolph David “Randy” Lerner turns 64… Former member of the Knesset for the Kadima and Hatnuah parties, Orit Zuaretz turns 59… Executive director of former Vice President Mike Pence’s advocacy organization, Advancing American Freedom, Paul Teller turns 55… Reality television star with frequent appearances on “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” and its spin-offs, Jonathan Cheban turns 52… NYT best-selling novelist (two of which have been made into movies), writer-in-residence in the graduate creative writing program at NYU, Jonathan Safran Foer turns 49… Chicago Cubs player best known for being hit in the head on the first pitch of his MLB debut resulting in a compound skull fracture, Adam Greenberg turns 45… Emergency medical physician at MedStar Washington Hospital Center and AIPAC National Council member, Dr. Miriam Fischer Wachter… Former member of the Florida House of Representatives for six years, now in private law practice, Katie Edwards-Walpole turns 45… New York City police commissioner since 2024, Jessica S. Tisch turns 45… French actress and film director, best known in the U.S. for her starring role as Shosanna Dreyfus in Quentin Tarantino’s 2009 war film “Inglourious Basterds,” Mélanie Laurent turns 43… Director of strategic philanthropy for the northeast region of American Friends of Magen David Adom, Samuel Zeev Konig… Rochester, N.Y., resident, Joshua Futerman… Pitcher for the Israeli team at the 2017 World Baseball Classic qualifier, he is now a sales associate at Stryker, Brad Goldberg turns 36… Israeli judoka, she won a team bronze medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Shira Rishony turns 35… Director of campus support and action implementation at Hillel International, Reuben Berman… Rhythmic gymnast who competed in the 2012 Olympics in London as a member of the Israeli team, Polina Zakaluzny turns 34… Monsey, N.Y., resident, Efrayim Katz… Former professional tennis player, in 2015 he was named the ACC Tennis Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year, Noah Rubin turns 30… Associate at Jones Day, Jay S. Schaefer…
SUNDAY: Retired justice and deputy president of the Supreme Court of Israel, Shlomo Levin turns 93… Child survivor of Bergen-Belsen, in 2024 she donated $55 million to the University of Haifa, Herta Amir turns 93… Music journalist and former board member for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation, Rona Elliot turns 79… Former co-chair of Wisconsin Jewish Democrats and author of three “Jewish Miss Marple” books, Linda Frank turns 78… Dutch singer-songwriter especially popular in France, she converted to Judaism and her children live in Israel, Helena “Lenny” Kuhr turns 76… White House counsel to President Barack Obama, now a professor at NYU School of Law, Robert (Bob) Bauer turns 74… Marriage and family therapist in Los Angeles and founder of the Israel Institute for Alternative Energy Advancement, Daryl Temkin Ph.D…. Chief strategist for both of Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns, now a CNN commentator, David Axelrod turns 71… President of the New York Yankees since 2000, executive producer for the YES Network, Randy Levine turns 71… Winner of five major golf championships and 24 other LPGA Tour events, she is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame, now a golf course architect, Amy Alcott turns 70… Former member of the Knesset for the Jewish Home–Tkuma party, Mordechai “Moti” Yogev turns 70… Office and program coordinator at The Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education, Lisa Shusterman… Writer, editor and publisher best known for his dark fiction, as well as his publishing imprint Aardwolf Publishing, Clifford Lawrence Meth turns 65… Senior rabbi of Congregation Beth El in Norfolk, Va., Rabbi Jacob Herber turns 63… Actress, comedian and cast member of “Saturday Night Live” for seven years, Rachel Dratch turns 60… Past leader of the Israeli Labor Party, he is now the CEO of Partner Communications (formerly known as Orange Israel), Avraham “Avi” Gabbay turns 59… Emmy Award-winning television producer, he served as showrunner for four seasons of NBC’s sitcom “The Office,” Paul Lieberstein turns 59… Actor, author and academic, Ari Hoptman turns 59… Soccer player on the Israeli national team and on teams in both Spain and Turkey, now a successful Israeli businessman, Haim Michael Revivo turns 54… Former president of the University of Florida, he retired as a U.S. senator from Nebraska in 2023, Ben Sasse turns 54… British stand-up comedian and broadcaster for GB News, Josh Howie turns 50… Winner of NBC’s “Last Comic Standing” in 2008, she has released six stand-up specials on Netflix, Iliza Shlesinger turns 43… Partner in the appellate practice of Norton Rose Fulbright, Peter B. Siegal… VP at Oddity, Miranda R. May… Former chair of the Washington chapter of the Israel Policy Forum Atid, Danielle Bella Ellison…
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