Bibi’s buddy bounced in Budapest
Plus, Tucker’s GOP favorability tanks
Add JewishInsider on Google👋 Good Monday morning!
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we look at how Israeli sentiment about the war in Iran could affect the country’s elections slated for later this year, and report on J Street’s decision to back calls for the end of U.S. missile-defense funding assistance to Israel. We talk to friends and former colleagues of former Rep. Eliot Engel, who died on Friday, and look at Tucker Carlson’s plummeting personal ratings amid rebukes from President Donald Trump. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Mike Bloomberg, Roman Gofman and Rachel Stortch.
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
- Following the failed U.S.-Iran talks over the weekend, CENTCOM’s blockade on maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz will begin at 10 a.m. ET. Read more here.
- The announcement prompted a warning from Iran that ports in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman could potentially be targeted by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The White House is reportedly considering resuming limited military strikes on Iran in tandem with the blockade in an effort to further pressure Tehran. More below.
- The Helsinki Commission is holding a briefing on Capitol Hill this afternoon focused on diplomacy with the Vatican. The briefing comes amid tensions between the White House and the Holy See following Pope Leo XIV’s comments on Saturday that the “delusion of omnipotence” was driving the war with Iran. In response, President Donald Trump posted on his Truth Social site on Sunday that the pontiff “is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy,” adding, “I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon.”
- Semafor’s World Economy Summit kicks off today in Washington. Speakers today include Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Rick Scott (R-FL), Peter Orszag and Anne Wojcicki.
- The family of former Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY), who died on Friday, will be sitting shiva this week in Riverdale, N.Y. Read our obituary for the longtime New York congressman below.
- Yom HaShoah, Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day, begins at sunset. Communities in Israel and around the world will hold remembrance events. In Jerusalem, Yad Vashem – The World Holocaust Remembrance Center will air a prerecorded state ceremony that will include speeches from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog.
- The House will potentially hold several expulsion votes this week, following a San Francisco Chronicle report that Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) had sexually assaulted female staffers. The report prompted calls for the House to take action against Swalwell, who suspended his gubernatorial bid on Sunday following the report, and three other House members — Reps. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL), Cory Mills (R-FL) and Tony Gonzales (R-TX) — over allegations of misconduct.
- In Hungary, Péter Magyar’s center-right opposition Tisza party appears poised to secure a supermajority following Sunday’s elections. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who has led the central European nation since 2010 — and who had the tacit backing of Netanyahu — conceded to Magyar on Sunday evening. Israeli Opposition Leader Yair Lapid congratulated Magyar on his victory, saying that he hoped relations between Jerusalem and Budapest “will continue to deepen and strengthen” under Magyar’s leadership.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MARC ROD
As U.S. discourse about Israel has become increasingly polarized and the left has grown increasingly hostile to the Jewish state, support for Israel’s missile-defense systems that protect the lives of millions of civilians remained a popular bipartisan priority.
Even among many progressives who were otherwise critical of Israel, U.S. aid for systems such as Iron Dome remained a rare exception, with most praising the system as an important protection measure for Israelis and Palestinians alike.
Emblematic of that fact: Just four House Democrats and two Republicans voted last year in favor of cutting $500 million in cooperative missile-defense funding that the U.S. provides to Israel annually.
But in the wake of the wars in Gaza, Iran and Lebanon, that consensus appears to be shifting quickly on the left. A growing number of progressive candidates — along with J Street, the left-wing Israel advocacy group — are now racing to disavow all military support for Israel, including for defensive systems such as the Iron Dome.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), one of the most prominent progressive standard-bearers, has been a trendsetter on the issue. She said earlier this month that she would not support any funding for Israeli missile defense going forward, after previously vociferously defending her vote against last year’s amendment cutting missile defense as a clear and easy choice.
Her reversal on the issue came amid criticism and pressure from Democratic Socialistsof America members over that vote, as the far-left group debated whether to endorse her once more in her upcoming reelection bid.
POLITICAL BACKLASH
Netanyahu defensive as weekend polls show his coalition losing support
Amid the ceasefire with Iran, new Israeli polls were split on the outcome for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party and coalition ahead of the country’s election slated for later this year. Three television polls showed Netanyahu losing significant support as a result of the unpopularity of the ceasefire, while polls from two right-leaning networks projected he would still have a majority in the Knesset to form a coalition, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports.
Pushing back: During a televised statement on Saturday night, Netanyahu argued that the results of the war against Iran had been positive, and the ceasefire may not be final: “There are people who say ‘we have no achievements.’ There are giant achievements.” Netanyahu said, “The campaign is not yet over, but even now it can be clearly stated: We have achieved historic accomplishments. Iran tried to squeeze us in a stranglehold; Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Assad regime in Syria, the militias in Iraq, the Houthis in Yemen, Iran itself. They wanted to choke us, and we are choking them. … Those who threatened to destroy us are now fighting for their own survival.”
WINDS OF CHANGE
J Street backs far-left calls to end U.S. missile-defense aid to Israel
J Street, the progressive Israel advocacy organization which describes itself as a “pro-Israel, pro-peace” group, offered backing for the growing calls among far-left lawmakers to end U.S. support for Israel’s missile-defense systems, such as Iron Dome, which until recently had been largely spared even by strident critics of the Jewish state, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
What they said: “What progressives are saying is not radical, and in fact, [Israeli Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu and [Sen.] Lindsey Graham (R-SC) are arguing the same thing. Israel is capable of paying for its own military equipment, including supplies for its missile defense systems,” a J Street spokesperson told JI.
U-turn: Former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, who is challenging Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) in a bitterly contested June primary, called for ending all U.S. aid to Israel during an interview published Friday, reversing his prior support for funding to bolster Israel’s Iron Dome missile-defense system, JI’s Matthew Kassel reports.
CHOICE OF WORDS
Elissa Slotkin warns against equating Jewish donors with ‘Israel lobby’
Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) has lately been saying that she does not take money from AIPAC or any corporate political action committees. So when a college student asked her at a town hall in Cincinnati on Thursday about $4.5 million she has received from “pro-Israel lobbies,” Slotkin pushed back — arguing the student was unfairly lumping together all Jewish donors, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Detuch reports.
What she said: “I’m not sure what you’re referring to on ‘not AIPAC but the Israel lobby.’ If you’re equating ‘Israel lobby’ to Jews, I got a problem with that,” Slotkin said. Slotkin said that just as Iranian Americans, for instance, may not agree with everything the Iranian government does, “I think it’s really important, especially now, to make a distinction between the Israeli government and the choices that they’re making and the average Jew, OK, and Jewish people who donate to campaigns,” Slotkin said, earning applause from the audience.
Ramped up rhetoric: Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro accused President Donald Trump of being “bullied” into starting a war with Iran, suggesting in an interview with the “All-In Podcast” that Israel had pressured the U.S. into joining a military campaign against the Islamic Republic.
TUCKER TROUBLES
Tucker Carlson’s personal ratings nosedive, as Trump slams his former ally
Tucker Carlson, the anti-Israel and antisemitic podcaster whose outspoken opposition to the Iran war has strained his relationship with President Donald Trump, has seen his personal ratings nosedive including among Republicans, according to a new YouGov poll. The survey, commissioned by UMass-Lowell between March 26-30, finds Carlson’s overall favorability rating at a dismal 17%, with 38% viewing him unfavorably. Nearly one-third of respondents said they had no opinion of him, and 15% had never heard of him, Jewish Insider’s Josh Kraushaar reports.
Survey says: Among Republicans, Carlson’s favorability rating is now just at 31%, with 24% viewing him unfavorably, and 35% offering no opinion. (For context, a Manhattan Institute poll of Republicans conducted in December 2025 found 63% of Republicans viewed Carlson favorably, with 21% viewing him unfavorably.)
Booking it: Skyhorse Publishing is launching a new imprint with Tucker Carlson in partnership with the Tucker Carlson Network; the imprint is set to publish books from Los Angeles Times owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, Russell Brand and far-right influencer Milo Yiannopoulos.
IN MEMORIAM
Former Rep. Eliot Engel, Foreign Affairs Committee chair and stalwart supporter of Israel, dies at 79
Former Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY), who represented the Bronx and Westchester County in the House from 1988 to 2020 and served for years as the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, died Friday at age 79, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Retrospective: Engel, who was Jewish, rose to become the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee when Democrats retook the House in 2018, after serving as the ranking member from 2013 to 2018. He was a strong and vocal advocate for the U.S.-Israel relationship and the Jewish community, also acting as a co-chair of the House antisemitism task force. But he was defeated in the 2020 election by far-left former Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), with Engel’s support for Israel becoming a primary issue in the race — an early harbinger of subsequent trends in the Democratic Party.
COMFORT FOOD
From trauma to table: An Israeli duo uses food therapy and song to foster connection
Israeli singer Hananel Edri discovered his love for food and his family’s Moroccan traditions in his grandmother’s kitchen, where he found solace after the trauma of a rocket strike on his family home in Kiryat Shmona, near Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, at age 10. Meanwhile, Merav Oren — founder and CEO of Foodish, the culinary department of Tel Aviv’s Anu Museum of the Jewish People — grew up between Atlanta and Israel, rooted in a different culinary tradition: Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine. This year, the two brought their worlds together to form “Soul and Roll,” a new immersive culinary and musical experience, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
Cooking up connection: “We talk, Hananel sings and at the end people do a hands-on experience making ma’amoul,” a traditional Middle Eastern pastry often served at Mimouna, the Moroccan-Jewish celebration to mark the end of Passover, Oren told JI on Sunday at an event to launch Foodish’s international expansion. Held at the Washington home of documentary filmmaker Aviva Kempner, some two dozen attendees got a taste of a Soul and Roll show, including Edri’s rendition of “Jerusalem of Gold” and a Moroccan song dedicated to his grandmother, followed by a lesson in making date-filled ma’amoul pastries to bring home.
Worthy Reads
Strait Talk: The Wall Street Journal’s Benoit Faucon does a deep dive into how the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps maintains control over the Strait of Hormuz through underground pens, waterborne drones and other technology. “[Iran’s] regular navy operated Iran’s big battleships largely for prestige and occasional long-range deployments. The paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, on the other hand, has its own extensive fleet of more nimble boats designed to control the crucial waterway with missiles, mines and harassment of commercial ships — and they are much harder to reach.” [WSJ]
Pressure Point: The Washington Post’s David Ignatius considers the implications of the failed U.S.-Iran talks in Islamabad, Pakistan, over the weekend and President Donald Trump’s threatened blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. “The blockade is a pressure tactic, to be sure, but not primarily a military one. Trump has no appetite for further armed conflict. He knows that the upsides are limited and the ‘tail risk,’ as financial traders like to say, is large. His aim instead is to put a severely battered Iran into an economic vise to see if its leaders will set a different course in a big, comprehensive deal.” [WashPost]
Hungary for Change: The Times of Israel’s Nava Frieberg looks at how Peter Magyar’s victory in Sunday’s elections in Hungary could affect Budapest’s support for Israel in the European Union. “But while Orban’s support has been politically significant, Hungary’s practical impact on EU policy has been more limited than often assumed, and a change in Hungarian leadership is unlikely to radically shift bilateral relations, experts say. … While Orban’s government has taken significant measures to support Israel in international forums, its ability to block EU moves against Israel has affected rhetoric more than policy, a European diplomat familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel.” [TOI]
Word on the Street
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam postponed his trip to the U.S., which was slated to begin yesterday, citing the security situation in Lebanon; the postponement comes ahead of a planned meeting this week in Washington between Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter, Lebanese Ambassador to the U.S. Nada Hamadeh Moawad and U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa…
The State Department revoked the green cards of three relatives of an Iranian regime official who served as a spokesperson for the militants who held American citizens captive during the 1979-1980 Iran hostage crisis…
Two federal immigration judges who presided over the government’s failed efforts to deport college students Rümeysa Öztürk and Mohsen Mahdawi over their anti-Israel activism were fired by the Trump administration; Roopal Patel and Nina Froes, who were both appointed by the Biden administration and were nearing the end of their probationary periods, were fired as part of a broader dismissal of dozens of immigration judges…
The Justice Department’s Board of Immigration Appeals rejected Columbia University anti-Israel protest leader Mahmoud Khalil’s attempt to dismiss his deportation case on Thursday, his lawyers said, JI’s Haley Cohen reports…
Reps. Chip Roy (R-TX), Andy Ogles (R-TN), Clay Higgins (R-LA) and Ralph Norman (R-SC) introduced a bill to designate the Council on American-Islamic Relations as a terrorist group…
Rep. George Latimer (D-NY) introduced a bill to nullify the Trump administration’s oil sanctions relief for Iranian vessels…
Antisemitic conspiracy theorist Dan Bilzerian filed paperwork to challenge Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) in the Republican primary in Florida’s 6th Congressional District…
Politico explores the challenges facing the Democratic National Committee’s Middle East working group, days after the DNC’s rules committee rejected anti-Israel and anti-AIPAC resolutions at the group’s New Orleans gathering…
The Yale Political Union is slated to host antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker on campus on Tuesday for a debate titled “Resolved: End the American Empire,” according to the organization’s social media, JI’s Haley Cohen reports…
Town & Country spotlights the book events being hosted at former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Bloomberg Philanthropies headquarters, which has “become the place in New York to have a book party, one that regularly attracts power players simply by nature of the host”…
The Wall Street Journal spotlights Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps’ business successes as the company and its leadership lean into social justice causes; the Journal notes that David Bronner, who serves as the company’s cosmic engagement officer, traveled to Israel and the West Bank last year and blasted the “military apartheid rule” in the enclave…
Police in San Francisco arrested a 20-year-old man accused of throwing a Molotov cocktail at the home of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman…
The Wall Street Journal looks at how upheaval among staff at the streaming startup Mubi over the company’s deal with Sequoia Capital — owing in part to Sequoia’s investments with startups that work with the IDF and the social media posts of Sequoia Capital partner Shaun Maguire — resulted in a decline in subscriptions and an exodus of employees…
New York state Sen. Jack Martins, a pro-Israel Republican, announced he will not seek reelection to his Long Island seat…
Cisco is in advanced talks to acquire Israeli cybersecurity startup Astrix Security in a deal potentially worth $350 million…
Israel barred Spain from accessing the Civil-Military Coordination Center in Kiryat Gat that is being used to oversee the ceasefire in Gaza, with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar saying that Madrid has “such a blatant anti-Israeli bias that it has lost any ability to serve as a useful actor in implementing” the ceasefire plan…
Days later, Israel’s Foreign Ministry summoned Francisca María Pedrós Carretero, Spain’s chargé d’affaires, after the Spanish town of El Burgo blew up an effigy of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as part of its annual Easter event…
Nine foreign carriers, including Etihad and Ethiopian Airlines, are set to resume service to Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport this week…
The IDF announced it killed one of the Hamas terrorists who took hostages Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alon Ohel, Eliya Cohen and Or Levy from a roadside bomb shelter during the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks…
Maj. Gen. Roman Gofman was approved to be the next head of the Mossad; Gofman, the military secretary to Netanyahu, will assume the role on June 2…
New York Solidarity Network named Rachel Stortch, the COO of Fifth Avenue Synagogue and a former Missouri lawmaker, as its first CEO; NYSN Board Chair Gary Ginsberg called Stortch “a rare combination of electoral strategist and community builder”…
Fred Drasner, the former co-publisher of the New York Daily News, died at 83…
Pic of the Day
Singer Noga Erez on Saturday became the first Israeli artist to perform at the annual Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif. Addressing the crowd during her set, Erez said, “I come from a very, very, very complex part of this planet, and to get us all here doing this was kind of like forces that I didn’t know that I had.”
Birthdays
Longtime drummer for Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band and the bandleader for “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien,” Max Weinberg turns 75…
Curator and then director of the Louvre until 2001, he is the son-in-law of the late Alain de Rothschild, Pierre Rosenberg turns 90… Geneticist and 1985 Nobel Prize laureate in medicine, Michael Stuart Brown turns 85… Author and feminist leader, she is the former CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Gloria Feldt turns 84… Managing director at Tiedemann Advisors, he was previously a vice chair at Goldman Sachs and a high-ranking State Department official, Robert D. “Bob” Hormats turns 83… Retired member of the U.S. House of Representatives (D-CA) after 10 terms, Susan Carol Alpert Davis turns 82… VP of the New Israel Fund, Paul Egerman… Actor who won a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Vincent in the television series “Beauty and the Beast,” Ron Perlman turns 76… Partner in Uplands Real Estate Partners, Deborah Ratner Salzberg… Former member of the U.K. Parliament until 2005, she served as the U.K.’s first ever minister of state for asylum and immigration under then-Prime Minister Tony Blair, Barbara Margolis Roche turns 72… Co-founder of Highbridge Capital Management, a hedge fund based in NYC, and a founding board member of the Robin Hood Foundation, Glenn Dubin turns 69… Author of six books and co-host of “Democracy Now!,” a daily global independent news hour, Amy Goodman turns 69… Art historian, philanthropist and author of the KosherLikeMe website, Liz Rueven… U.S. senator (D-PA) until last year, Bob Casey, Jr. turns 66… Former orthopedic surgeon, he was the Democratic nominee for the 2020 U.S. Senate election in Alaska, Alan Stuart Gross turns 64… President Donald Trump’s nominee for chair of the Federal Reserve, he was the youngest-ever Federal Reserve governor until 2011, Kevin Warsh turns 56… Lead vocalist and founding member of the rock group “Staind,” he has also enjoyed a successful solo career in country music, Aaron Lewis turns 54… CEO and executive director of D.C.-based Sixth & I, a center for arts, entertainment and ideas, Heather Moran… Staff writer at Tablet Magazine, Armin Rosen… Senior director of government relations at FDD Action, Alexandria Paolozzi… General partner at Overmatch Ventures, Morgan Hitzig… Senior consultant at Gray Ink, Lauren Epstein Schwartz… Sales executive at Sign Source NJ, Aharon Lipnitsky… Helene Cash…
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