‘I can’t die now — I’m getting married in 6 days’
Plus, a publisher's nutty smear targeting Jews
👋 Good Monday morning!
In today’s Daily Kickoff, JI’s Marc Rod gives a first-person account from inside the chaos of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner after an assassination attempt on Trump administration officials. We report on the merger between former Israeli Prime Ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid as they seek to oust Benjamin Netanyahu, and talk to University of California regent Jay Sures about the UCLA student government’s recent condemnation of an event with a former Israeli hostage. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Daniel Shapero, Josh Kushner and Tzipi Hotovely.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by JI Executive Editor Melissa Weiss and Israel Editor Tamara Zieve, with an assist from Danielle Cohen-Kanik. Have a tip? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
- King Charles III and Queen Camilla land in Washington today for their first state visit to the U.S. since assuming the throne. They’ll arrive to a city reeling from this weekend’s attempted attack on Trump administration officials at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. More below from JI’s Marc Rod, who was attending the event at the Washington Hilton on Saturday night.
- The king and queen will be welcomed by President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump, and will have afternoon tea before attending a White House garden party.
- Trump is expected to convene a Situation Room meeting — sans King Charles — on Iran as the countries remain at an impasse amid stalled talks. The meeting comes days after plans for White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to go to Islamabad for a second round of talks were scrapped, with Trump telling Fox News on Sunday, “If they want to talk, they can come to us or they can call us.” Tehran has reportedly offered to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the war without resolving its disputes with Washington over the future of the Iranian nuclear program.
- Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is in Moscow today, where he is slated to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
- Israeli President Isaac Herzog is in Kazakhstan today, where he is slated to meet with President Qasym-Jomart Toqayev.
- Israel Tech Week kicks off today in Miami. Speakers include Daniel Flesch, Phil Goldfeder and Gabe Groisman.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MARC ROD
The White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday night began normally enough — a bustle of reporters, administration officials and members of Congress among other A-listers streaming from the packed lobby of the Washington Hilton down into the basement ballroom.
White House Correspondents’ Association President Weija Jiang, a CBS News White House reporter, finished her introductory remarks, and the thousands of guests packed into the ballroom tucked into their salads.
Then, a loud, shattering bang rang out from the other side of the ballroom. Initially, I didn’t think anything of it — I thought someone had dropped a large tray of food (as President Donald Trump said later, he thought the same thing).
Videos and other accounts of the evening indicate that someone from the security staff shouted from the front of the room that guests should get down. I didn’t hear it. My first indication that something was wrong was when I started seeing other guests ducking under the tables and security officers drawing their guns.
I tried to duck under the tablecloth, but no luck — another occupant of the table was already underneath, and there was no room. My heart pounding, I was forced to do my best to stay low — but I was in the backmost row of tables, right by a door, sitting directly in the aisle.
If a shooter came into the ballroom from behind me, I was a sitting duck. I was completely helpless and exposed.
Two thoughts ran through my head. The main one: I’m getting married in six days. I can’t die now. The second: I can’t believe this is happening to me again. (For those readers who are newer to Jewish Insider — I was also on scene for the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.)
JOINING FORCES
Naftali Bennett, Yair Lapid announce Knesset run ‘Together’

Former Israeli Prime Ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid will run in this year’s Knesset election as a joint party called “Together,” led by Bennett, they announced on Sunday. The move comes as the bloc of Zionist parties running against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc has recently polled higher than the parties in Netanyahu’s coalition, but with fewer than the 61-seat majority needed to form a government, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports.
Behind the scenes: Sources close to both party leaders told JI that they began discussing a joint run a week ago, and reached the final decision on Saturday night. Bennett will lead the party after having a consistently stronger showing in polls in recent months. Bennett, a former IDF combat officer, described the merger as “the most Zionist and most patriotic thing we have ever done for our country.” Lapid said that the country “needs unity like air to breathe.”
Survey says: A poll conducted for Israel’s Walla news site on Monday found that Lapid and Bennett would lose seats if an election were held today, in comparison to previous polls when they were running separately.










































































Continue with Google
Continue with Apple