Turkey and Saudi gang up to pressure Israel
Plus, Congress questions Hezbollah disarmament delays
Add JewishInsider on Google👋 Good Wednesday morning!
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we report on yesterday’s meeting in Riyadh between Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, as Saudi Arabia and Turkey clash with Israel on a range of geopolitical issues, and cover a House Foreign Affairs Committee subcommittee hearing in which experts raised concerns about Lebanon’s slow-walking of its disarmament of Hezbollah. We report on concerns by Jewish leaders in Virginia over antisemitic statements espoused by a candidate for Fairfax County GOP chair, and profile Ben Shuldiner, the new head of Seattle Public Schools. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Isaac Mizrahi, Guy Gilboa-Dalal and Matt Nosanchuk.
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
- White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff is in the United Arab Emirates today for meetings aimed at reaching a ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine war. Witkoff traveled to the UAE from Israel, where he met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday afternoon.
- The meeting between Witkoff and Netanyahu came amid increasing tensions between the U.S. and Iran, and took place hours before a U.S. aircraft carrier shot down an approaching Iranian drone. On Tuesday evening, reports emerged that Tehran was pushing to move a meeting between Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi from Turkey to Oman.
- In Washington, First Lady Melania Trump is hosting former hostages Keith and Aviva Siegel at the White House this afternoon for a private sit-down.
- Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar is in Washington for a critical minerals conference hosted by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Last night, Sa’ar convened a group of Latin American and U.S. diplomats, including the ambassadors of Argentina, Paraguay and Ecuador as well as Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau, White House Faith Advisor Paula White and Reps. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL) and Mario Díaz-Balart (R-FL).
- The House Foreign Affairs Committee is holding a hearing on religious freedom around the world. Sam Brownback, who served as ambassador at large for international religious freedom, is among those set to testify.
- The Muslim World League is holding an event on Capitol Hill with former Saudi Justice Minister Sheikh Mohammed Al-Issa and Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun, the State Department’s special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism.
- The Manhattan Institute is awarding Ben Shapiro with the annual City Journal Award at a reception tonight in Palm Beach, Fla.
- The World Governments Summit continues today in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Earlier today, Tucker Carlson interviewed newly appointed Venezuelan Vice President Calixto Ortega Sánchez on the main stage. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who took the stage yesterday, told attendees that a new deal between the U.S. and Iran was “unimaginable” while Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei remains in power.
- Web Summit Qatar wraps up today in Doha, Qatar. During one of yesterday’s mainstage sessions, far-left streamer Hasan Piker alleged that Israel “played a significant role in how Oct. 7 took place.” Read more from JI’s Matthew Shea here.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S JOSH KRAUSHAAR
Tomorrow’s New Jersey special Democratic primary election to fill Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s vacant House seat will offer an early test of AIPAC’s ability to continue showcasing its political clout. The pro-Israel group’s super PAC, in a potentially risky move, has spent over $2 million in ads attacking former Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-NJ), who has come out in favor of conditioning some aid to Israel, in hopes of electing a more reliable ally in former Lt. Gov. Tahesha Way.
The group’s ad hits Malinowski not for his views on Israel, but for a bipartisan vote in 2019 funding the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and over stock trades he made as a congressman. The ICE attacks, in particular, are expected to resonate in the affluent, center-left district. Because of his name recognition representing a neighboring district before losing reelection in 2022, Malinowski started out as the early front-runner but is taking a serious hit on the airwaves.
But complicating that strategy is the presence of a far-left, anti-Israel candidate in Analilia Mejia, who leads a progressive advocacy group and has been endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). Mejia has been polling in second place, according to some reports, and has a path to winning the nomination — and the seat, given the 11th Congressional District’s Democratic lean.
The race also features Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill, an establishment-oriented politician — endorsed by former Gov. Phil Murphy — who has expressed consistently pro-Israel views on the campaign trail and in an interview with Jewish Insider.
Even as the political environment within the Democratic Party has shifted to the left, AIPAC isn’t backing down from its aggressive, on-offense playbook from 2024, when a number of mainstream pro-Israel Democrats backed by the group won their elections to Congress — while two of AIPAC’s most extreme opponents, former Reps. Cori Bush (D-MO) and Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), fell short in their reelection bids.
Given the changed intraparty mood, there was a question about whether pro-Israel groups would need to play a little more defense this election cycle, or at least refocus attention on stopping the most radical candidates with a chance of winning instead of going all-out for the most principled allies.
That’s looking — at least for now — not to be the case.
DEEPENING TIES
Riyadh and Ankara jointly condemn Jerusalem’s recognition of Somaliland, call for Israeli withdrawal from Syria
Saudi Arabia and Turkey issued a joint declaration on Tuesday pledging to expand cooperation across a wide range of defense, economic and regional security issues, signaling deepening strategic ties between the two countries and cementing a markedly improved relationship between former foes, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports.
Areas of agreement: As part of the joint statement, the two countries outlined their alignment on several regional issues, including rejecting Israel’s recognition of Somaliland and calling for an immediate Israeli withdrawal from Syria, as well as a two-state solution. The two leaders also agreed to push the U.S. toward de-escalation with Iran. The parties also agreed to “strengthen their cooperation” in areas including oil and gas and renewable energies, “building on Saudi Arabia’s massive energy investments,” the statement read.
ON THE HILL
Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing highlights Hezbollah disarmament challenges and opportunities for peace with Lebanon
Lawmakers and expert witnesses at a House Foreign Affairs Committee subcommittee hearing on Tuesday highlighted the ongoing challenges and delays in the disarming of Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, but also argued that there is tremendous opportunity in the country if Hezbollah’s influence can be defeated — including potential moves in the near term toward normalization with Israel, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Notable quotable: “We have the chance to help this government break free of the shackles of Iran’s malign influence. Hezbollah’s influence is vastly diminished thanks in large part to decisive Israeli action. But difficult choices now need to be made,” Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), the Middle East subcommittee chair, said in his opening statement, noting the “haphazard at best” efforts to disarm Hezbollah. Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA), the ranking member, said that there is a “historic opportunity” in Lebanon but “[t]hat window of opportunity, however, is narrow. Hezbollah is working hard to rebuild, rearm and to reconstitute itself as a major terrorist organization. He criticized the Trump administration and Special Envoy Tom Barrack in particular as hampering U.S. interests.
Syria spotlight: Lawmakers and expert witnesses pushed back at a Helsinki Commission hearing on Tuesday on efforts to reimpose sanctions on the Syrian government for its assault against the Kurds and other minorities, and pushed for the U.S. to facilitate a diplomatic arrangement between Israel and Turkey that would allow for a greater Turkish presence in Syria — in part as a counterweight to Russia, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
UNDER SCRUTINY
Jewish leaders raise alarm over Fairfax County GOP chair candidate’s antisemitism
A new candidate for Republican county chair in Virginia’s largest jurisdiction is facing scrutiny over a range of antisemitic social media posts in which she has told Jews to “move to Israel,” spread conspiracy theories about Jewish control of U.S. politics and expressed admiration for prominent neo-Nazis and Holocaust deniers, among other extremist comments. Shelly Arnoldi, who recently launched her bid to lead the Fairfax County Republican Committee, is stoking concerns among Jewish community leaders now seeking to raise awareness about her extensive public record of promoting antisemitic tropes while demonizing Israel, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.
Sign of the times: While Arnoldi is not seen as a particularly viable candidate in the upcoming Feb. 28 election, local political observers say, her campaign has still given some pause to both Jewish and Republican activists who worry her radical views underscore a creeping embrace of antisemitic sentiment in the GOP fueled by leading far-right commentators including Tucker Carlson, whose interviews she has eagerly endorsed. “She does not appear to be a serious person,” one Jewish community activist told Jewish Insider on condition of anonymity to address a sensitive topic. “But just because someone is a hateful antisemitic looney-tune doesn’t mean they can’t win office. She strikes me as someone who would continue to run, and in that regard I consider her to be a real threat.”
NAZI-ERA ACCOUNTABILITY
Senators demand UBS release documents on Credit Suisse’s Nazi ties
Republican and Democratic senators urged senior UBS executives in a hearing on Tuesday to reconsider the Swiss banking giant’s continued refusal to hand over more than 150 documents to an investigator probing Credit Suisse’s support for Nazi Germany during and after World War II, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports.
The arguments: Senators pressed Robert Karofsky, president of UBS Americas, and Barbara Levi, UBS Group’s general counsel, to reverse course on the bank’s opposition to sharing with attorney Neil Barofsky and Congress the remaining files on the yearslong investigation into the ways that Credit Suisse, which UBS acquired in 2023, aided Adolf Hitler’s war efforts. Karofsky and Levi testified at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that UBS could not provide the documents until the New York judge that approved a $1.25 billion settlement in 1998 between multiple Swiss banks, including Credit Suisse, and Holocaust survivors issued an order affirming that the deal would cover any future claims.
BARAKA’S BACKING
In progressive pivot, N.J. congressional candidate Brian Varela
Brian Varela, a businessman running in New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District, picked up an endorsement on Monday from Newark, N.J., Mayor Ras Baraka, a sign of Varela’s increasing outreach to progressive voters, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Background: Baraka’s progressive candidacy in last year’s New Jersey gubernatorial race raised concerns in the Jewish community, in part because Baraka, in the early 2000s, appeared alongside Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who has a long record of antisemitism, and applauded violent rhetoric by the controversial preacher. Baraka also faced scrutiny over his record on Israel and antisemitism. A Varela spokesperson said the candidate is proud to have Baraka’s endorsement but “wants to be unequivocal” in condemning Farrakhan and his violent rhetoric and antisemitism.
school of thought
New Seattle school superintendent claims tikkun olam as central leadership value
As Ben Shuldiner begins his tenure as superintendent of Seattle Public Schools, he’s got his hands full: The district is dealing with, among other things, a sharp decline in enrollment, a roughly $100 million budget deficit and serious gun violence issues, including the deaths of two students who were killed in a shooting outside a district high school on Friday. Adding to his plate, SPS has also made headlines in recent years with a series of high-profile antisemitic incidents, and Shuldiner, who is Jewish, knows he will likely be called to account for them, Jewish Insider’s Danielle Cohen-Kanik reports.
Shuldiner’s message: “What I’d say to Jewish readers, or anyone who wants to be an ally: If you see something bad, tell us. And we must act. If something is brought to me and we don’t deal with it, that’s on me. You should come after me — just give me a couple days to find a place to live first,” he told The Cholent, a local Seattle blog, in November. Shuldiner, 48, who took the helm at SPS on Feb. 1, comes from a family of New York educators. “Perhaps the most visceral and powerful concept in our faith is tikkun olam, repairing the world,” he wrote in an essay for The School Superintendents Association in November.
Worthy Reads
Talking to Tehran: In Newsweek, former White House Middle East Envoy Jason Greenblatt urges U.S. negotiators to address Iran’s treatment of its citizens when the parties meet later this week for talks aimed at calming tensions between Washington and Tehran. “The Iranian people are too often treated as a secondary concern, eclipsed by geopolitical calculations and security debates. That framing misses something fundamental. The regime’s threat to the outside world begins with how it governs at home. … Too often, international negotiations bracket domestic repression as an internal matter. That choice has consequences. A regime sustained by fear is not stable; it is brittle. Its violence is not incidental to its strategy. It is the strategy. Any serious approach to Iran must therefore confront the full scope of the threat the regime poses — not only to regional security and global nonproliferation, but to the Iranian people themselves. Their repression is not peripheral to the problem. It is central to it.” [Newsweek]
Pahlavi’s Path: The Free Press’ Eli Lake spotlights exiled Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi and the challenges he faces as he works to position himself as the successor to the current regime, should it collapse. “The moment has arrived for Pahlavi to decide what role he’ll play in any future beyond the regime. And there are signs that he is not well-positioned to unite the factions of Iran’s opposition and lead an orderly transition to a new form of government. Many other Iranian opposition figures told The Free Press that the crown prince’s organization has sought to marginalize them. Based on interviews with Iranian activists, along with journalists and friends and advisers to Pahlavi, it’s clear that the crown prince has alienated many of the Iranians who are challenging the Islamic Republic on the ground. Friends of the crown prince have bullied rival political figures and tried to curb their influence. And Pahlavi himself has at times exaggerated the fragility of the regime that just slaughtered thousands of his countrymen.” [FreePress]
San Francisco’s Mr. Fix-it: The New York Times’ Heather Knight profiles San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie, who has spent the bulk of his first year in office targeting minor bureaucratic hurdles and inconveniences facing city residents. “His quality-of-life strategy, which also included trying to bring businesses back to the hollowed-out downtown and clearing sidewalks of daytime drug markets, has paid off so far, resulting in strong first-year approval ratings. At the same time, Mr. Lurie, a moderate Democrat and earnest technocrat, insists he has no interest in national politics, and he still refuses to say President Trump’s name in public. … The maze at City Hall is so complex that some savvy San Franciscans earn a living as ‘permit expediters.’ Mr. Lurie’s administration has convened focus groups to figure out how to smooth the permitting process, yielding a running ‘no nonsense list’ that includes dozens of fixes.” [NYTimes]
Word on the Street
State Department Deputy Spokesman Tommy Pigott slammed South Africa for expelling Israel’s top diplomat in the country after video surfaced last week of Israel offering water technology and medical aid to minority tribes; “Expelling a diplomat for calling out the African National Congress party’s ties to Hamas and other antisemitic radicals prioritizes grievance politics over the good of South Africa and its citizens,” Pigott wrote on X…
The Chicago Tribune endorsed state Sen. Laura Fine over Evanston, Ill., Mayor Daniel Biss and far-left activist Kat Abughazaleh in the Democratic primary in Illinois’ 9th Congressional District…
Democrat Sue Altman, who lost to Rep. Tom Kean Jr. in the 2024 congressional election in New Jersey’s 7th District before working for Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ) as state director, is mounting a bid in the 12th District, which covers central Jersey…
New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft’s Blue Square Alliance released its upcoming Super Bowl ad aimed at tackling antisemitism, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports; the commercial will also air during the Winter Olympics and is part of a $15 million campaign that additionally includes digital advertisements and billboards…
The New York Times spotlights fashion designer and actor Isaac Mizrahi, whose three-week cabaret residence at New York’s Café Carlyle opened this week…
The descendants of French-Jewish art dealer Max Julius Braunthal, who was forced to sell a painting by Camille Pissarro under duress in 1941, are suing the Metropolitan Museum of Art for ownership of the work, which had been bequeathed to the museum more than two decades ago by its former chairman…
In an interview with The New York Times, former Israeli hostage Guy Gilboa-Dalal recounts his experiences in captivity, including the numerous sexual assaults he endured over the course of two years…
Israel’s high court ruled that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must explain why he has not fired National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir despite a determination by the country’s attorney general, with whom Ben-Gvir has clashed in the past, that the far-right minister abused his powers…
The two Human Rights Watch staffers comprising the organization’s Israel bureau resigned after the NGO refused to publish a report that called Israel’s refusal to allow Palestinians the “right of return” a “crime against humanity”…
Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi said that Hargeisa expects to soon reach a trade agreement with Israel, which in December became the first country to formally recognize the East African nation; Abdullahi said the country would seek access to Israeli technology as part of the deal, while it would give Israel rights to some of the country’s mineral deposits…
NPR spotlights efforts by the Syrian government to return ownership of the country’s Jewish sites to the largely exiled community…
Matt Nosanchuk was announced as The George Washington Law School’s new Lerner family associate dean for public interest and lecturer in public service law; Nosanchuk, a co-founder of the New York Jewish Agenda, was previously deputy assistant secretary for strategic operations and outreach in the Office for Civil Rights in the Biden administration…
The National Jewish Advocacy Center announced that it has acquired the Zachor Legal Institute…
Rochel Pinson, the oldest Chabad-Lubavitch emissary, who helped expand the movement’s footprint across North Africa while living in Morocco and Tunisia, died at 102…
Pic of the Day
Cypriot Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos (center) met earlier this week with American Jewish Committee CEO Ted Deutch (left) and Hellenic American Leadership Council Executive Director Endy Zemenides at AJC’s Washington office to discuss the opportunities and challenges presented by the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor.
Birthdays
Television writer and producer, best known for his work on two ABC dramas, “Lost” and “Once Upon a Time,” Edward Lawrence “Eddy” Kitsis turns 55…
One of the founders of the Jewish Community of Greater Stowe (Vt.), Barbara Gould Stern… Co-founder and chair of Sage Publications, an academic publishing company, she was international president of B’nai B’rith Girls at 19, Sara Miller McCune turns 85… Attorney, bank executive and philanthropist, donor of the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County, Adrienne Arsht turns 84… Torrance, Calif., resident, Patrick B. Leek… Senior counsel at the global law firm Dentons, Evan Wolfson turns 69… Director of English-language programming at Herzog College in Alon Shvut, Israel, Shalom Berger turns 66… Actress, best known for her award-winning role in the 1986 science fiction action film “Aliens,” Jenette Elise Goldstein turns 66… Member of the state Senate of Maryland, representing portions of Montgomery County, Brian J. Feldman turns 65… Former mayor of Anchorage, Alaska, Ethan Avram Berkowitz turns 64… Former kickboxing champion, ultra-distance cycling champion and IDF soldier, Leah Goldstein turns 57… President and COO of Blackstone Group and chairman of the board of Hilton Worldwide, Jonathan D. “Jon” Gray turns 56… The first Jewish mayor of Los Angeles, he then served as the U.S. ambassador to India until 2025, Eric Garcetti turns 55… Executive director of the Baltimore Jewish Council, Howard Libit… Senior vice president and chief policy officer at J Street, he was previously director of Jewish outreach for Kamala Harris’ 2024 presidential campaign, Ilan Goldenberg… Author, psychotherapist and group fitness instructor, her book is about her genetic disease that has made her almost completely blind and deaf, Rebecca Alexander turns 47… Washington-based economic policy reporter for The New York Times since 2014, Alan Rappeport… CEO at Aeris Medical Group PLLC in Minneapolis, Noson “Nelson” Weisbord turns 43… Senior manager in the NYC office of Monitor Deloitte, he previously held a series of White House, OMB and Commerce Department positions, Justin Meservie turns 43… Client operations and legal project manager at Ropes & Gray, Abigail Dana Cable… Professor emeritus at Northeast Forestry University in Harbin, China, Dan Ben-Canaan… Jan Winnick…
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