War and peace
Plus, an anti-Israel Republican could win pivotal Texas primary
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In today’s Daily Kickoff, we preview today’s Board of Peace gathering in Washington as the Trump administration mulls military action against Tehran, and cover an effort by Reps. Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie to force a vote on a resolution blocking the Trump administration from conducting strikes on Iran. We report on the GOP primary in Texas’ 23rd District, where Rep. Tony Gonzales, who is facing allegations he had an affair with a staffer who has since died by suicide, is facing a challenge from a far-right influencer with a history of antisemitic social media activity, and talk to former Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop about his new role leading the Partnership for New York City. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Bari Weiss, Roddie Edmonds and Amb. Mike Huckabee.
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 Trump administration is convening its Board of Peace today in Washington. Among those attending the gathering are Argentine President Javier Milei, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, Emirati Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, Belarus Foreign Minister Maxim Ryzhenkov and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan. More below.
- Jewish Federations of North America CEO Eric Fingerhut will deliver the inaugural “State of the Jewish Union” address at the organization’s Washington headquarters.
- The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is holding a daylong public briefing today on antisemitism on campus. Speakers include Jewish Council for Public Affairs CEO Amy Spitalnick, Louis D. Brandeis Center founder Kenneth Marcus, National Jewish Advocacy Center CEO Mark Goldfeder, law professor Eugene Volokh and The George Washington University Law School’s Matt Nosanchuk.
- The National Governors Association kicks off its annual Washington summit today.
- Minister of Economic Affairs at the Israel Embassy in Washington Noach Hacker is speaking at the Hudson Institute today, where he will sit with Hudson’s Mike Doran for a conversation about U.S.-Israel economic ties.
- French President Emmanuel Macron, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei are attending the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, India, that kicked off earlier today.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MELISSA WEISS
High-level foreign officials, top diplomats and heads of state will gather in Washington today for the first in-person convening of the Trump administration’s Board of Peace — as U.S. military assets flow into the Middle East and President Donald Trump mulls a potentially weekslong sustained military campaign in Iran.
The gathering, ostensibly focused on the disarmament of Hamas and the establishment of a peace-aligned administration in the Gaza Strip, comes as the U.S. moves dozens of fighter jets and support aircraft to the region — reportedly the largest buildup in military air power since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
It’s a split screen befitting the president — who said at his inauguration last year that his “proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker,” and who has claimed success in negotiating an end to numerous conflicts, as well as the release of the remaining Israeli hostages from Gaza last year — even as the U.S. has used force to enact political change, such as in Venezuela.
But a U.S. operation in Iran would differ significantly from what took place in Venezuela last month. In the place of ousted President Nicolás Maduro is Delcy Rodríguez, the former vice president who is now working with the Trump administration. No such natural successor to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei exists. Behind the supreme leader is a laundry list of equally — if not more — radical hard-liners eager to take the ailing Khamenei’s place. Reza Pahlavi, the son of the deposed shah of Iran, who has spent most of his life living in exile, has sought to return to Iran to usher the Islamic Republic into a new democratic era — but does not appear to have the on-the-ground support as well as enough legitimacy among Iran’s vast diaspora community.
The Trump administration continues to signal publicly that it wants to find a diplomatic resolution to the situation in Iran, with White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt saying as much at yesterday’s press briefing.
But the White House is continuing to move forward with preparations for a military confrontation, which could include anything from targeted strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities to a move toward regime change. Trump met on Wednesday with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to discuss options for Iran.
TEHRAN TENSIONS
‘Don’t change your weekend plans,’ experts say amid media frenzy over possible Iran strikes
Tensions in Israel continued to rise over possible missile strikes from Iran, as signals increased that President Donald Trump is ready to order a strike on the Islamic Republic, possibly within days. Yet experts told Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov on Thursday that, despite the constant flow of reports that Trump favors a military response as negotiations with Iran falter, an American strike and Iranian retaliation against Israel are likely not imminent. In a moment that went viral in Israel and sparked hundreds of phone calls to the IDF Home Front Command, former IDF intelligence chief Amos Yadlin told Israel’s Channel 12 on Wednesday that while he went to the Munich Security Conference last week, “I would think twice about flying [abroad] on the coming weekend.”
On alert: IDF Spokesperson Effie Defrin, however, said that “there is no change in the situational assessment, and if there will be, we will update [the public]. There is no need to panic.” Defrin also noted that “there are negotiations, and the IDF has long been prepared for maximum defense. If we are attacked, we will respond forcefully.” However, while Israel’s leadership and the IDF’s assessment is that the U.S. will warn them before a strike, they plan to prepare quietly and not alert the public in advance, in order to increase the chances of success, Israel’s Kann News reported on Wednesday. Raz Zimmt, director of the Iran Program at Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies, quipped to JI in reference to Yadlin’s remarks: “Don’t change your weekend plans.”
Central target: Home Front Command chief Maj.-Gen. Shay Klapper told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Wednesday that “the Home Front Command will be a central arena in relevant operational scenarios and is a significant component of Israeli society’s resilience and ability to save lives.”
ON THE AGENDA
What to watch for at the Board of Peace’s first meeting in D.C.
After a splashy debut at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last month, President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace will convene for its first meeting on Thursday in Washington. The new international body now faces a test of its ability to operationalize its goals: Observers will be watching whether the board makes any significant announcements toward its goal of implementing Phase 2 of Trump’s peace plan, which is focused on rebuilding Gaza and securing the enclave, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch and Matthew Shea report.
Expected substance: A source familiar with Thursday’s meeting told JI that it is “not just pomp and circumstance,” and that they expect discussion about topics including humanitarian aid and the Palestinian technocratic government in Gaza. “It’s not window dressing at all,” the source said of the board’s work. According to a senior Trump administration official, speakers at the event will include Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Jared Kushner, former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz, White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Nickolay Mladenov, the former U.N. Middle East envoy now serving as the high representative for Gaza on the Board of Peace. Little has been shared publicly about what the format will be.
TEXAS TROUBLE
How an anti-Israel Republican with an antisemitic history could get elected in Texas
An unfolding scandal implicating Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) could catapult an anti-Israel social media influencer with a history of antisemitic posts to Congress in Texas’ upcoming 23rd District Republican primary, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. Brandon Herrera, who ran against Gonzales in 2024, came under fire from Gonzales and Jewish and pro-Israel groups in the previous election cycle over a series of his YouTube videos replete with imagery, music and jokes about the Nazi regime and the Holocaust. He also expressed opposition to U.S. aid to Israel.
Shake-up: But Tuesday evening, corroborating a long-running rumor, the San Antonio Express News reported that Gonzales had been having an extramarital affair with a female staffer who died by suicide last year. The paper reported that the relationship was allegedly well-known and cited multiple sources close to the woman, including a former colleague, and a text message she sent confirming the relationship prior to her death.
FULOP’S FIGHT
Former Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop brings the fight against antisemitism to NYC’s business community
As he settles into his role leading the Partnership for New York City, a prominent business advocacy group, Steve Fulop, the former longtime mayor of Jersey City, N.J., has a few major issues on his mind, chief among them countering the rise of antisemitism. For Fulop, a Jewish Democrat who assumed his new job last month, just five days after he left office on Jan. 15, such efforts are not only personal as a former yeshiva student who was also the grandson of Holocaust survivors. They are directly connected, he explained to Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel, to promoting a friendlier climate where businesses can feel safe and welcome in the city.
Should I stay or should I go: Many of the Partnership’s Jewish board members, representing some of the city’s most powerful firms in finance, real estate and other leading sectors, also share his sense of urgency, Fulop said, as do many of the 800,000 employees who make up his group’s core constituency. “They often say of the tax conversation that we could talk about whether people stay or go, if they migrate elsewhere,” Fulop said of his conversations with members in an interview with JI on Tuesday at his fifth-floor office in the Financial District, which looks out on Jersey City. “But if you continue on a trend where it feels like antisemitism is increasing and quality of life is decreasing, that is a trigger for people to leave very, very fast.”
CUBA CAMPAIGN
Nearly half of New York City Council joins JVP, CODEPINK in pro-Cuba appeal
A raft of Democrats — including 23 members of the 51-seat New York City Council, multiple state lawmakers and four candidates for Congress — have joined forces with a Beijing-aligned tech tycoon to bail out the fuel-starved dictatorship in Cuba. The officials in question lent their names to the “Let Cuba Live” campaign, which denounces President Donald Trump’s oil embargo on the island nation and seeks to triage solar panels and generators to defray the crippling impact on its energy production, Jewish Insider’s Will Bredderman reports.
Who’s involved: All donations for the effort run through the People’s Forum, a Manhattan-based nonprofit established and financed by Shanghai-based magnate Neville “Roy” Singham, part of his sprawling web of organizations promoting the interests of China and its allies Russia and Iran. Let Cuba Live’s website reveals the involvement of other Singham-linked groups, including CODEPINK — co-founded by his wife, Jodie Evans — and the ANSWER Coalition, both of which spearheaded anti-Israel protests beginning the day after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel. Jewish Voice for Peace and the Democratic Socialists of America are also signatories, along with well-known left-wing celebrities such as Susan Sarandon and Roger Waters who have long been vocally hostile to Israel.
WAR POWERS RUSH
Reps. Ro Khanna, Thomas Massie plan to force vote on resolution blocking Iran strikes
Reps. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Thomas Massie (R-KY) plan to introduce and attempt to force a vote on a war powers resolution blocking military action against Iran without congressional authorization, as the Trump administration appears to be moving closer to military action against the Islamic Republic, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
What they’re saying: Khanna framed the legislation as an attempt to block a “disastrous war” with Iran. “Like the votes before the Iraq war, this could be one of the most consequential votes in the history of Congress,” Khanna said. “Are we going to stop another endless dumb foreign war? Or will the neoconservatives mislead us once again?” Once introduced, there will be a waiting period of 15 House session days before the lawmakers can force a vote on the resolution.
Worthy Reads
School of Hope: The New York Times’ David Halbfinger and Bilal Shbair spotlight the Academies of Hope network of private schools operating in Gaza, the brainchild of a Palestinian American doctor that is primarily funded by Jewish donors, which provides peace-focused education for 9,000 Palestinian students across five campuses. “Operating schools in any war zone is hard enough, and schools across the enclave are struggling to rebuild. But Dr. Hasan has compounded his challenges. He revamped a much-criticized national curriculum and worked to keep Hamas from endangering his schools. He also verifies that none of his staff have ties to militant groups, a charge Israel has leveled against the United Nations agency caring for Palestinians in Gaza and some international aid groups.” [NYTimes]
Poison PEN: In Tablet, Ari Ingel, executive director of the Creative Community for Peace, raises concerns about PEN America’s commitment to free speech, weeks after the literary organization walked back its condemnation of the cancellation of an event by an Israeli comedian. “The pattern has been consistent: They listen, offer no meaningful response, and then double down on a hostile anti-Zionist and anti-Israel posture. In doing so, PEN America has helped legitimize antisemitic discrimination at a moment when antisemitism in the United States is at historic levels. This is not an isolated failure of judgment, but a structural rot in the organization, one that reflects leadership choices, institutional culture, and a governing board that has failed to intervene.” [Tablet]
Sports Talk: The Hollywood Reporter’s Steven Zeitchik reflects on the recent sports successes of Israeli NBA star Deni Avdija and Israel’s first Olympic bobsled team, juxtaposed with the pushback they’ve faced from Israel critics. “But the sight of a Jew excelling in sports is even more than a bit of representational inspiration. So much of antisemitism, historic and resurgent, is bound up with demeaning Jews as genetically inferior — at the top line with Hitler and those infamous Olympics 90 years ago but also much more casually, in easy jokes and schoolyard assumptions, in the implication that genetic makeup makes Jews less athletic.” [HollywoodReporter]
Word on the Street
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and the Israel Airports Authority disputed Tucker Carlson‘s claim that he was detained and interrogated by Ben Gurion Airport security while at the airport for an interview with the ambassador; the IAA said that “Carlson and his party were politely asked a few routine questions, in accordance with standard procedures applied to many travelers” and that the questioning took place “in a separate room within the VIP lounge solely to protect their privacy and to avoid conducting such a discussion in public”…
Democratic Majority for Israel’s PAC announced its endorsement of 11 congressional candidates, including Cait Conley in NY-17, Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti in PA-8, Janelle Stelson in PA-10, and former Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA) in VA-2; the group also announced it is backing Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller in IL-2 and former Rep. Melissa Bean in IL-8, but is staying out of the contentious IL-9 Democratic primary, where AIPAC’s super PAC is backing state Sen. Laura Fine…
A Tennessee man who saved more than 200 Jewish soldiers under his command at a Nazi POW camp in Germany will be posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor by the White House for his efforts; Roddie Edmonds, who was taken captive during the Battle of the Bulge, famously refused to identify Jewish troops when asked by the camp’s commandant, saying, “We are all Jews here”…
An effort to expel Israel from the International Federation of Social Workers failed on Wednesday in a closed-door Zoom meeting; a second vote, on suspending Israel, also failed, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports…
American, Israeli and African officials gathered with little fanfare but big plans on Wednesday, coming together in Rwanda for the trilateral Kigali Security Summit on issues including technology, innovation and national security, Jewish Insider’s Danielle Cohen-Kanik reports…
MS NOW inked an agreement with Crooked Media that will create a new weekly show, titled “Crooked on MS NOW,” that will compile content from the podcast and media company’s shows, including “Pod Save America” and “Pod Save the World”…
Bari Weiss withdrew from the University of California, Los Angeles’ upcoming annual Daniel Pearl Memorial Lecture, reportedly citing security concerns…
Chicago and DePaul University police are investigating an incident that occurred at a cafe in the city’s Lincoln Park neighborhood in which students from three Chicago-area schools said they were harassed while at a meetup for Jewish students at the Olive & Oak Cafe near DePaul’s campus…
An Australian man who pleaded guilty to publicly inciting hatred for antisemitic remarks he made last month at a Sydney rally against immigration was sentenced to a year in jail, with the chance for parole in October…
The U.S. is withdrawing its remaining 1,000 troops from Syria, with plans for the U.S.’ decade-long presence to fully end over the next two months…
Pic of the Day
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz attended a Security Council meeting on Israel and the Palestinian territories on Wednesday, during which he defended President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, a day ahead of the board’s gathering.
Birthdays
Actor who played the young autistic Jacob “Jake” Bohm in the Fox TV series “Touch,” later portraying a young Bruce Wayne in another Fox series “Gotham,” David Mazouz turns 25…
2004 Nobel Prize laureate in physics, he is a professor at the University of California Santa Barbara, David Jonathan Gross turns 85… Former chairman of the board and CEO of Sony Corporation, chairman of the board of trustees of the American Film Institute, Sir Howard Stringer turns 84… Retired co-founder of integrated digital marketing agency Hawkeye / Mosaic, now known as Publicis Hawkeye, Sharon Edelman… President of the Technion Israel Institute of Technology from 2009 until 2019, Peretz Lavie turns 77… Founder and president of the eponymous Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund, she is on the boards of the NFL’s NY Giants, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and the Aspen Institute, Laurie M. Tisch… and also the birthday of her first cousin once removed, co-founder and CEO of Atria (a private medical institute in NYC), Alan Tisch… Managing partner of Encino, Calif.-based Hager Pacific Properties, Adam Tuvia Milstein turns 74… Former Goldman Sachs partner and then a senior executive at JPMorgan Chase, he now serves on various corporate and nonprofit boards, Barry L. Zubrow turns 73… International CEO of Taglit Birthright Israel since 2008, Gidi Mark turns 70… Novelist, essayist and short story writer, he was a winner of a 2005 MacArthur genius fellowship, Jonathan Allen Lethem turns 62… Retired U.S. district court judge, he was a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy (1993-1994) alongside future justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, Gary Scott Feinerman turns 61… SVP of government relations at Las Vegas Sands Corp., Andy Abboud… Co-founder of the band Phish where he is the lead drummer and frequent songwriter, Jon Fishman turns 61… Communications director for 27 years for Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), now a consultant, Kevin D. Bishop… Chairman of the World Zionist Organization, Yaakov Hagoel turns 55… Canadian media personality, conservative political activist, writer and broadcaster, Ezra Levant turns 54… Partner at InfraStrategies and senior fellow at the UCLA Institute for Transportation Studies, Joshua Levi Schank, Ph.D…. Founder of The New York Times‘ “DealBook” and co-creator of Showtime’s “Billions,” Andrew Ross Sorkin turns 49… Hollywood writer and producer, best known for “The Newsroom” (2012) and “Quantico” (2015), Gideon Yago turns 48… Jewish rapper, part of the alternative hip hop group Darshan, better known by his stage name Eprhyme (pronounced “E-Prime”), Eden Daniel Pearlstein turns 46… Writer of the “In the Know” gossip column for The Hill newspaper in Washington, where she covers Congress, D.C.’s social scene, celebrities and politics, Judy Kurtz Altscher… Founder of a Middle East NGO, Regional Organization for Peace, Economics & Security (ROPES), Ben Birnbaum… Former MLB pitcher for the Phillies (2011-2012), he now runs Big League Advance, a company that invests in minor league players in exchange for a percentage of their future MLB earnings, Michael Schwimer turns 40… Samantha Zalaznick… Tight end for the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs, he played college football at Harvard, Anthony Firkser turns 31… Daniel Blum…
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