Dermer dispatched on Iran
Plus, Jewish activists look local to fight for their values
Add JewishInsider on Google👋 Good Tuesday morning!
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we look at how Israel is responding to the Trump administration’s openness to negotiations with Iran, and spotlight the post-Oct. 7 rise in grassroots Jewish activist groups that seek to educate local officials and candidates about issues of importance to the Jewish community. We have the scoop on a private apology from a Washington, D.C., mayoral candidate to local Jewish leaders over her pledge to the Democratic Socialists of America to boycott Zionist events, and report on former Rep. Jamaal Bowman’s work with Citizens Against AIPAC Corruption, whose “AIPAC Tracker” targets candidates who have accepted campaign funds from a range of pro-Israel groups. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Nathan Benaich and Eli Wald.
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
- Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) was confirmed last night as secretary of Homeland Security in a 54-45 vote, with Sens. John Fetterman (D-PA) and Martin Heinrich (D-NM) voting for Mullin and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) voting against. He’ll be sworn in later this morning.
- Meanwhile, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle signaled movement toward resolving the stalemate over Department of Homeland Security funding after a group of Republicans spoke to President Donald Trump about the issue.
- The Hill & Valley Forum is taking place today in Washington. Jacob Helberg, a co-founder of the forum now serving as the State Department’s undersecretary of state for economic affairs, will kick off the daylong confab this morning, while House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) will deliver the keynote address in the afternoon. Others slated to speak at Hill & Valley include U.S. International Development Finance Corporation CEO Ben Black, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, Sens. Mike Rounds (R-SD), Chris Coons (D-DE), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Todd Young (R-IN), Jim Banks (R-IN), Rick Scott (R-FL) and Mark Warner (D-VA); Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), John Moolenaar (R-MI) and Riley Moore (R-WV); Palantir’s Mike Gallagher (himself a former member of Congress), JPMorgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon, Sequoia’s Shaun Maguire and Base Power Company’s Zach Dell.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S LAHAV HARKOV
“We will safeguard our vital interests under all circumstances,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday, hours after President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. would suspend strikes on Iranian energy facilities to start negotiations.
In a Hebrew video statement, Netanyahu tried to reassure the Israeli public that the war would end in a way that made the previous three weeks — in which they, not Americans, ran with their children to bomb shelters multiple times a day — worth it. He vowed that Israel would be “continuing to strike in both Iran and Lebanon.”
“Earlier today, I spoke with our friend, President Trump,” Netanyahu said. “President Trump believes there is an opportunity to leverage the tremendous achievements we have reached alongside the U.S. military to realize the goals of the war through an agreement, an agreement that will safeguard our vital interests.”
Behind the scenes, however, the phone call was not enough to reassure Jerusalem that Washington had its interests in mind, and Netanyahu dispatched his closest advisor, Ron Dermer, to deter the Trump administration from reaching a “not good” deal, Israel’s Channel 12 reported.
Note the word choice: “not good.” If negotiations are genuine and this is not another mind game by the Trump administration, Israeli officials were not so optimistic in their briefings to Jewish Insider and Israeli media as to say there could be a good outcome from a deal that, de facto, would continue to recognize the mullahs’ regime — but perhaps a disaster could be averted.
Netanyahu used the term “vital interests” twice in his statement. The top interest on Dermer’s list is ensuring that the 440 kg of highly enriched uranium, the material that Iran boasted to White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff was enough for 11 bombs, would be removed from Iran. According to Ynet, Witkoff made this demand clear, raising his voice on the phone to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi before the latter’s first overture last week to return to the negotiating table.
PAIN TO POWER
From WhatsApp chats to City Hall, a new Jewish activism is born
A new class of Jewish American activists has emerged since the Oct, 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel: people who were disappointed by the apathy or even outright hostility that some co-workers, teachers, neighbors and local elected officials demonstrated towards Jews and Israelis suffering in the aftermath of the massacres and who felt no one was doing what was needed to reach those leaders, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
Meeting a need: “Even when we have special elections for things that seem totally unrelated, like the county assessor, which is in charge of property taxes and things like that, at this point, people are reaching out to us and saying, ‘Who do we vote for?’” said Bay Area Jewish Coalition co-founder Keren-Or Reiss, who was born in Israel and now lives in San Mateo, Calif., where she works as a product manager at a tech company. “Is there someone here who’s going to somehow use this platform to spread hate or to normalize antisemitism against us?”
SCOOP
DSA-backed D.C. mayoral candidate apologizes privately to Jewish leaders over pledging to boycott Zionist events
Janeese Lewis George, a Democratic Socialists of America-endorsed candidate for mayor of Washington, D.C., met with prominent local rabbis and Jewish community leaders last week amid fallout over a DSA questionnaire she filled out outlining her views on Israel and antisemitism, that was made public last month, two sources familiar with the meeting told Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch.
Questionnaire controversy: In the questionnaire, Lewis George pledged not to attend events focused on “promoting Zionism and apartheid.” She also said that she had attended a D.C. Jewish Community Relations Council event in December only to talk about opposing Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s deportation measures in the region, and that she did not agree with JCRC’s stances on Israel, Zionism and antisemitism. At the meeting, at the Orthodox Ohev Sholom Congregation in Shepherd Park, Lewis George apologized for her statements in the questionnaire, one of the event’s attendees told JI, and cried when someone in the meeting described feeling hurt by her answers in the questionnaire.
Bonus: In the Washington Jewish Week, Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington CEO Ron Halber raises concerns about the DSA’s questionnaire, calling it “an outrageous and revolting display of religious discrimination. Candidates should not engage with this anti-Jewish loyalty oath, and candidates who have received the DSA endorsement should disavow it.”
SECOND ACT
Former Rep. Jamaal Bowman finds work with Track AIPAC
Former Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), who lost his bid for reelection in 2024 largely over his hostile views on Israel, now appears to be working for a political action committee linked to a radical anti-AIPAC social media account — a committee funded in part by soft-rock icon Don Henley, Jewish Insider’s Will Bredderman reports.
Paper trail: The latest disclosure filings from Citizens Against AIPAC Corruption, one of two PACs tied to the X account AIPAC Tracker and website Track AIPAC, show that it paid $7,000 to a Yonkers, N.Y.-based firm called JAB Advocates for “General Campaign Consulting.” JAB does not appear to be a registered company in New York, but its address in the filing belongs to Bowman, who lost a primary challenge for his seat covering parts of the Bronx and Westchester County to Rep. George Latimer (D-NY) in 2024. Bowman’s LinkedIn identifies him as JAB Advocates’ “Founder & Principal.”
BACKTRACK BLAKE
Ritchie Torres challenger Michael Blake flip-flops on BDS stance
Michael Blake, a far-left primary challenger to Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) who has grounded his challenge largely in criticism of Torres’ pro-Israel stance, flipped his view on the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement during his campaign, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod and Will Bredderman report.
Flip-flop: In January, at a candidate forum, Blake affirmed his opposition to the BDS movement and highlighted anti-BDS legislation he helped sponsor as a state assemblyman. But in an X post on Friday, he reversed his position on the issue. “I oppose efforts that punish [BDS movement] participation,” Blake said on X. “My previous support of NY bills was wrong b/c I didn’t understand the harm incl. the ‘Palestine exception’ on speech & academic freedom for Palestinian rights. Gov’t must protect Free speech & reject retaliation & fear.”
POLICY REBUKE
Sen. Richard Blumenthal decries ‘stupid’ decision to ease Iranian oil sanctions
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) lambasted the Trump administration for lifting sanctions on some Iranian oil last week, allowing the sale of 140 million barrels of oil currently at sea in a bid to bring down oil prices globally and potentially netting Iran $14 billion, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
What he said: “The irony is, we worked so hard to get those sanctions imposed and Republicans pushed so diligently, and now literally in the flick of a pen, [President Donald] Trump lifts them with very little benefit to consumers in America and tremendous boost to Iran and Russia, both of them trying to kill our troops and saying ‘death to America’ and ‘death to Israel,’” Blumenthal told JI.
No comment: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) did not directly address whether the degradation of Iran’s military infrastructure should be viewed as a positive outcome, instead emphasizing the war’s potential economic and geopolitical consequences, when asked by MS NOW’s Joe Scarborough on Monday’s edition of “Morning Joe” whether that degradation was a “good thing.”
CLEARED FIELD
N.J. progressive Analilia Mejia will not face serious Dem opposition in primary
Analilia Mejia, a progressive activist and organizer who won a surprise victory in the special election primary in New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District, looks to be on track to win the district’s regular election Democratic primary after several of her potential opponents declined to run, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Dropping out: Former Lt. Gov. Tahesha Way announced Sunday that she won’t run against Mejia for the seat, leaving Mejia with no major Democratic competition; other moderate candidates in the special election primary also declined to run again, and Assemblywoman Rosaura Bagolie briefly considered a run, but decided not to pursue a bid as elected Democrats in the state quickly coalesced behind Mejia. Way was the favorite of pro-Israel groups in the primary. Several of the other Democratic special election candidates pledged not to run for the full term if they lost the special election — but Way had not made such a promise.
Worthy Reads
The Mullahs’ Messenger: The Wall Street Journal’s Laurence Norman spotlights Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who has led Tehran’s negotiations with the West on a variety of issues, including the nuclear talks that preceded the start of the war last month. “In the months leading up to the U.S. and Israeli campaign, senior Arab officials say Araghchi flitted between openness, at times joining friendly dinners, and menacing by appearing to imply Iran might attack its neighbors. At one point, he told Saudi officials that Iran would target the United Arab Emirates, which has an open split with Riyadh, if war broke out. At other moments, he suggested the kingdom was also in Iran’s sights if it didn’t prod Washington away from war, the officials said. Tehran eventually attacked both.” [WSJ]
Droning On: The Washington Post’s Damir Marusic considers how Iran’s use of mass-produced, low-cost weaponry could affect how the Pentagon plans for future military conflicts. “The Shaheds detonating around the Persian Gulf underline the point that the era of relying purely on exquisite, expensive weapons is over. Watching cheap drones tear apart Ukraine’s Western-provided air defenses should have been a wake-up call, but the problem remained theoretical. Washington carefully rationed what was sent to the Ukrainians without asking difficult questions about U.S. arsenals. Now, by depleting existing stocks, Trump is forcing the reckoning: Just how will the U.S. rebuild?” [WashPost]
Open Season: In UnHerd, Ben Judah, who served as special advisor to former U.K. Foreign Minister David Lammy, reflects on the recent instances of violent antisemitism targeting Diaspora Jewry, including in his community in London. “A war is being waged against the Jewish diaspora. It is being waged with bombs, shootings, harassment and intimidation. The attacks, and the fear of them, are a small side plot in a great Middle Eastern War. … Yet more than fear, I feel disappointment. For if ever me and my son, or any of us who pray here, were butchered by a gunman shouting ‘Free Palestine,’ many Western activists would equivocate, contextualize, or even say it served us right.” [UnHerd]
Word on the Street
Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg said that the U.S. plans to contribute $250 million to a supply chain investment fund — part of the White House’s Pax Silica initiative — whose other participants include the United Arab Emirates, Israel and Qatar….
The Telegraph reports that outposts of British private schools based in Qatar are using course materials that whitewash the Holocaust…
Wesam Hassanein, who served as Vice President JD Vance’s Middle East affairs advisor, is departing government to join the lobbying firm Continental Strategy LLC; Hassanein said that he was “not leaving because I oppose the president’s decision on Iran — I’m 100% supportive of President Trump’s decision to deny Iran nuclear weapons,” adding, “We should have done what President Trump is doing years ago”…
President Donald Trump declined to say on Monday if he knew whether Joe Kent, who stepped down last week as director of the National Counterterrorism Center in protest of the war in Iran, was leaking classified information amid reports he is under investigation by the FBI for doing so, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports…
Speaking at CERAWeek in Houston, former Defense Secretary James Mattis said the U.S. is “in a tough spot … and I can’t identify a lot of good options” regarding the situation in the Strait of Hormuz…
The Wall Street Journal looks at how Trump’s decision to enter talks with Iran — after giving Tehran a 48-hour deadline to reopen the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend — came about following a series of quiet talks among Arab states looking to find an off-ramp to the conflict, even as those countries remained skeptical that a quick end to the war was in sight…
In response to former French diplomat Gérard Araud’s comment that the United Arab Emirates — which has received the brunt of Iranian missile attacks since the start of the war — was “deepening your dependence on a country that has led yours into a disastrous conflict without caring about your interests,” Emirati Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed replied, “We will never be blackmailed by terrorists”…
ABZ’s comments come as Gulf states, including the UAE and Saudi Arabia, reportedly consider becoming more deeply involved in the fight against Iran…
The Associated Press spotlights how surveillance systems have been increasingly used as a tool in warfare, spotlighting Israel’s access to Tehran’s network of street cameras, which allowed the IDF to conduct strikes that eliminated much of Iran’s top leadership on the first day of the war…
Politico profiles Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who is quietly being considered by the Trump administration for a leadership role in a post-regime Iran…
The Financial Times explores how Palantir is becoming a “flashpoint” in midterm campaigns around the U.S. due to its work with federal immigration officials, prompting some sitting members of Congress and candidates with previous ties to the data intelligence firm to distance themselves…
In an interview with Politico, in which he was asked if he is a Zionist, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he “revere[s]” the state of Israel” and is “proud to support” the Jewish state, but “deeply, deeply” opposes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s leadership and indulgence of the far right. He also clarified that he does not consider Israel an apartheid state, and that his use of the phrase was in reference to a column by The New York Times’ Tom Friedman…
Estée Lauder is in talks with Spanish beauty conglomerate Puig to potentially merge into a single $40 billion company…
Nathan Benaich’s Air Street Capital raised $232 million for a new fund as it focuses on AI investments…
The Justice Department announced two new investigations against Harvard University — one probing the school’s compliance with a 2023 ruling striking down the use of affirmative action in admissions, and the other looking into complaints of antisemitism…
The New York Times looks at the rollout of a new initiative in dozens of New York City public schools to teach Jewish and Muslim American history…
Yad Vashem Chairman Dani Dayan met with Pope Leo XIV on Monday at the Vatican; Dayan gifted the pontiff a reproduction of Belgian-Jewish artist Carol Deutsch’s “Where Art Thou?” that was painted before Deutsch was murdered at Buchenwald in 1944…
BlueFuture LLC founder Eli Wald is joining Democratic Majority for Israel as chief development officer…
Venture capitalist Leonid Radvinsky, who acquired ownership of the OnlyFans website in 2018, died at 43…
David Simon, known as the “mall king” for leading his family’s real estate companies through three decades that saw the firm acquire more than 200 retail properties, died at 64…
Pic of the Day
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer (third from left) met on Monday with representatives of London’s Jewish community hours after four Hatzola ambulances were set on fire in an antisemitic attack.
Birthdays
Former CEO of Microsoft, he is the owner of the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers, Steve Ballmer turns 70…
Beverly Hills-based estate planning attorney, Ronald M. Kabrins turns 88… Co-owner of Baltimore-based Bond Distributing Company until 2022, Rochelle “Ronnie” Footlick… Member of the House of Lords and star of the U.K.’s version of “The Apprentice,” he was the chairman of Tottenham Hotspur, Baron Alan Sugar turns 79… Film and television actress and director, Donna Gail Pescow turns 72… Attorney in Tarzana, Calif., Paul Marshall Leven… AIPAC and Jewish community activist in Austin, Deborah E. Rudy… Owner of Joslynda Capital, Michael Weiss… Veteran of four NASA space shuttle missions, he had a mezuzah on his bunk in the space shuttle, Scott Jay “Doc” Horowitz turns 69… Professor emerita of art history at Hofstra University and widely published poet, Martha Hollander turns 67… Professional wrestler under a series of ring names including “The Star of David,” his wrestling career spanned from 1979-2000, Barry Horowitz turns 66… Former president of American Jewish University, the Newseum and Colgate University, Jeffrey Herbst turns 65… CEO of The Female Quotient, Shelley Zalis… Former official at UJA-Federation of New York and JDC, now at NYC’s 92NY, Laura Spitzer… Actor who is best known for his roles on the Fox medical drama series “House” and the USA Network’s science fiction drama “Colony,” Peter Jacobson turns 61… Founding partner and chief strategy officer at The Quiet Co., Fred Menachem… Veteran Israel-based journalist, now working for The Jerusalem Report, Ruth Marks Eglash… Actress, she appeared in every film of the “American Pie” film series from 1999-2012, Alyson Hannigan turns 52… Special counsel at Sullivan & Cromwell, Aharon Friedman… Chairman and CEO of Dorshei Torah v’Tzion and senior rabbi of the Hudson Yards Synagogue, Rabbi Jason Herman turns 49… Actor best known for his role as FBI Special Agent Aram Mojtabai in NBC’s “The Blacklist,” Amir Arison turns 48… Director of marketing at Window Nation, Eric Goldscher… Executive editor at Bloomberg Green, a vertical and print magazine focused on climate change, Aaron Rutkoff… Famed NYC photographer now working for the MTA, he is known for wearing vintage suits and hats daily, Marc A. Hermann turns 44… Pitching coach at San Jacinto College, he pitched for Team Israel in the 2017 World Baseball Classic and in the 2020 Olympics, Josh Zeid turns 39… Director of communications at the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, Joshua D. Cohen… Venezuelan-born featured celebrity chef, she is a caterer and a private chef in Los Angeles, Deborah Benaim turns 38… Growth strategist at Fun and Function, Jenna Nelson Beltser… Three-time all-star hockey player, most recently with PWHL Boston of the Professional Women’s Hockey League, Kaleigh Fratkin turns 34… Former COO at Bnai Zion Media, Justin B. Hayet… Competitive pair skater for Israel at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, now a software development engineer for Amazon Web Services, Andrea “Anya” Davidovich turns 29…
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