Donald Trump’s Shabbat project
Plus, the tefillin-wrapper chasing Milken moguls
Add JewishInsider on GoogleGood Wednesday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we look at concerns from Jewish leaders over the increasing targeting of Hillels by anti-Israel activists, and report on FEC filings indicating that far-left N.J. congressional candidate Adam Hamawy has charged his campaign for the use of office space in his medical practice. We tag along with Yossi Farro in Los Angeles as the 22-year-old hits the conference circuit in search of machers to wrap tefillin, and report on President Donald Trump’s call for Jewish Americans to observe a “national Sabbath” next week as part of the country’s Semiquincentennial celebrations and Jewish American Heritage Month. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Rep. Don Bacon, Michigan state Rep. Noah Arbit and David Frum and Danielle Crittenden.
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
- President Donald Trump announced a pause in Project Freedom, the plan unveiled earlier this week to protect ships transiting through the Strait of Hormuz. Trump’s announcement came shortly after Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters at the White House that the administration had ended its Operation Epic Fury against Iran and transitioned to Project Freedom. Axios reported this morning that the Trump administration believes it is nearing an agreement on a memorandum of understanding that would lay the groundwork for nuclear talks between Washington and Tehran. More below.
- The pause was announced hours after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met in Beijing with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
- The White House plans to unveil a new U.S. counterterrorism strategy this morning, the Trump administration’s Seb Gorka announced at the National Press Club last night. Gorka said the new strategy will “shape everything America does” when it comes to countering terrorism and repatriating American hostages. “Countries that wrongfully detain our citizens run the danger of being designated as state sponsors of wrongful detention, with all the attendant consequences that accrue,” he added.
- The Milken Institute Global Conference concludes today, with Argentine President Javier Milei set to deliver the confab’s closing remarks this afternoon. More below on yesterday’s sessions and sidelines conversations.
- Manhattan’s Stephen Wise Free Synagogue is holding a NY-12 candidate forum tonight, with Democrats George Conway, Micah Lasher and Jack Schlossberg slated to attend. Absent from the forum will be Alex Bores, who withdrew from the event yesterday.
- Elsewhere in New York City, former Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) and Jeff Yass are set to be honored tonight at the Alexander Hamilton Award Dinner.
- The Chicago Cubs will hold their first Jewish American community night when the team takes on the Cincinnati Reds. Cantor Rachel Brook of Lakeview’s Anshe Emet Synagogue will sing the National Anthem before the first pitch.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S JOSH KRAUSHAAR
Two Jewish Democrats from Chicago are looking to run for president.
One, Illinois’ two-term governor, JB Pritzker, has built up a reliably progressive record while steering clear of ideological fights over Israel, antisemitism and other cultural issues fueling the Democratic Party.
The other, former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, is one of his party’s leading pragmatists, known for feuding with left-wing Democrats over education, the power of unions and the degree to which cultural progressivism cost the party on the ballot box.
So it came as a surprise that, in two separate interviews each published Tuesday, it was Pritzker who came out as a more forceful voice against antisemitism and in support of the U.S. relationship with Israel, while Emanuel sounded like he was all too eager to blame Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he anticipated a future breakup between the two close allies.
Pritzker offered the point that relationships between allies aren’t dependent on whether you personally like the elected leadership in charge. It’s a line you’d expect more mainstream Democrats to invoke, especially as Israel’s favorability within the Democratic Party has sunk to new lows.
“There are a lot of people who don’t like Netanyahu, but you shouldn’t take it out on Israel. It’s a democracy that elected him. There are a lot of people who don’t like Trump. I mean, should we be tossed into The Hague as a country because of Trump?” Pritzker told Politico over matzoh ball soup at Manny’s Deli, referring to the home of the International Criminal Court.
Emanuel, when asked by Jewish Insider if there was a special relationship between the U.S. and Israel, agreed with the premise but then quickly pivoted to arguing the state of the relationship should be premised on Israel’s efforts contributing to peace in the region. It’s an implication that its post-Oct. 7 efforts at self-defense have gone too far.
FRONT LINES
Jewish leaders warn of new front in anti-Israel campus activity: targeting Hillels
In the aftermath of The New School student government’s vote to defund and sever ties with Hillel, Jewish leaders are warning that the latest front in campus anti-Israel activity is designed to delegitimize the world’s largest Jewish campus organization, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
Red line: “Hillel is a space of Jewish belonging on campus. It is a place Jewish students need, and particularly need right now. For anyone to call into question a place that Jewish students go for their needs is beyond the pale. This absolutely crosses a red line,” Laura Shaw Frank, vice president of the American Jewish Committee Center for Education Advocacy, told JI. Shira Goodman, the Anti-Defamation League’s vice president of advocacy, labeled the incident at The New School “an escalation,” voicing concern that campus organizations are targeted solely for supporting Israel.
Elsewhere in New York: Members of NYU’s chapter of Jews Against Zionism spoke out in support of a nationwide campaign to boycott Hillel, calling on the university to cut ties with the organization.
MISSION TO WRAP
How Yossi Farro, the 22-year-old tefillin wrapper, chases influential Jews from coast to coast
Yossi Farro stepped onto the helipad, taking in the panoramic view of Los Angeles: the Hollywood sign in front of him, the skyscrapers of downtown L.A. behind him, all of it surrounded by mountains. But he was not there to take in the view. Farro was standing atop a Wilshire Boulevard office building on Tuesday afternoon to wrap tefillin with two budding Jewish entrepreneurs in their 20s, as part of his mission to spread mitzvot — this week on the sidelines of the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
Milken moments: Farro, 22, grew up in New York as a Hasidic Jew, part of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, and has gained a social media following for wrapping “the most Powerful Jews in the World,” as his Instagram bio reads. After Oaktree Capital Management co-founder Howard Marks told Farro he is not Jewish during a run-in at a Beverly Hills Starbucks, Farro Googled him — and learned he was lying. They did not wrap tefillin together, but “we grabbed a picture and ended up bonding over both growing up in New York.”
ANTISEMITISM REPORT
ADL report: Antisemitic incidents decline overall in 2025, remain elevated in post-Oct. 7 era
The number of antisemitic incidents in the U.S. plummeted by a third last year, led by a steep drop on college campuses, but assaults with a deadly weapon spiked dramatically, according to the Anti-Defamation League’s 2025 audit released on Wednesday, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
By the numbers: The ADL tallied 6,274 incidents of antisemitic assault, harassment and vandalism across the country in 2025, an average of 17 incidents per day. While representing a 33% decrease from 2024, this total remains significantly higher than levels before the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks in Israel, making 2025 the third-highest year for antisemitic incidents since ADL began tracking the data in 1979.
Ted talk: Speaking on a Milken Institute Global Conference panel titled “Combatting the New Cycle of Antisemitism,” Ted Deutch, CEO of the American Jewish Committee, said social media companies should be pressured to enforce their own rules and regulations in the absence of government action, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Nira Dayanim reports.
WAR WHIPLASH
Trump pauses Strait of Hormuz operation, citing ‘great progress’ in Iran negotiations
President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that he was temporarily pausing “Project Freedom,” the three-day-old operation aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz to commercial traffic, at the request of Pakistan and due to progress in negotiations — hours after Secretary of State Marco Rubio heralded the start of the operation, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports.
Trump talk: The president wrote on Truth Social on Tuesday evening that all elements of Project Freedom, a U.S. mission to escort commercial vessels safely through the Strait of Hormuz, “will be paused for a short period of time” in order to see if a “[peace] agreement can be finalized and signed.” The U.S. blockade of Iranian ports, however, “will remain in full force and effect,” Trump noted.
Show of support: Virginia’s former Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin, defended the war in Iran in a Tuesday address at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles, JI’s Gabby Deutch reports.
Meanwhile in Israel: A majority of Israelis believe that ending the war with Iran under the current conditions would undermine the country’s security, according to a new poll from the Israel Democracy Institute, JI’s Matthew Shea reports.
FOLLOW THE MONEY
Anti-Israel House candidate sends campaign cash to his plastic surgery practice
Dr. Adam Hamawy’s New Jersey plastic surgery practice, which offers such procedures as Brazilian butt lifts, hair transplants and post-pregnancy “mommy makeovers,” is charging his own congressional campaign $7,900 a month for office space, Jewish Insider’s Will Bredderman reports.
Paper trail: Filings with the Federal Election Commission reveal that Hamawy, running on a fervent anti-Israel platform to replace retiring Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ), has already relayed the first rent check to Princeton Plastic Surgeons, for which state business records show the candidate himself as the sole owner. And there’s more campaign cash headed to the clinic in the months ahead, a spokesperson told JI. “We would much rather be spending this money on paid media, literature, or anything else, but we are running a grassroots campaign in one of the most expensive real estate markets in America, and a space for our volunteers to gather and organize is crucial,” an emailed statement reads.
PRESIDENTIAL DECREE
Trump urges Jewish Americans to observe ‘national Sabbath’ in Heritage Month proclamation
President Donald Trump encouraged Jewish Americans to observe Shabbat next weekend in his Jewish American Heritage Month proclamation issued earlier this week, marking the first time a U.S. president has called for a national Shabbat, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports.
Shalom Aleichem: The president wrote in the proclamation, issued on Monday, that he urged American Jews to “observe a national Sabbath” from sundown on Friday, May 15, 2026, to sundown on Saturday, May 16, 2026. The Shabbat coincides with Rededicate 250, Trump’s national prayer event commemorating “250 glorious years of American independence” as part of his Freedom 250 initiative, the public-private partnership overseeing the Semiquincentennial of the United States.
Warning bells: Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), a co-chair of the House Antisemitism Task Force, warned on Tuesday that anti-Israel sentiment has moved from the political fringes to a “dominant” position within the Democratic Party and warned the same could happen to his own party, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports.
Worthy Reads
Oil Change: In the Financial Times, United Arab Emirates Ambassador to the U.S. Yousef Al Otaiba explains Abu Dhabi’s decision to split from OPEC. “Aviation, logistics, advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence, tourism and life sciences are our fastest-growing sectors. In the past four years we have signed 35 comprehensive economic partnership agreements (of which 15 are already operational) with India, South Korea, Indonesia, Ukraine, Israel, Kenya, Malaysia, Vietnam, Jordan and others — broadening access to markets covering billions of people. We are advancing a bilateral trade agreement with the European Union. We have committed to a $1.4tn investment and technology partnership with the US. This is not the profile of a country whose primary interest is managing oil supply within a collective framework.” [FT]
As Trump Hesitates…: The Wall Street Journal’s Yaroslav Trofimov looks at concerns that Iran is taking advantage of the U.S.’ reluctance to reengage military by striking targets in the region knowing that the Trump administration is unlikely to respond. “President Trump chose to look the other way after Iran launched three salvos of missiles and drones into the United Arab Emirates, one of America’s main Middle Eastern partners, despite a cease-fire he negotiated nearly a month ago. The likely conclusion in Tehran, Gulf governments fear, is that further escalation pays off because Trump is so intent on extricating himself from the war that he will ignore renewed Iranian attacks on America’s regional allies.” [WSJ]
Maine Attraction: In The Free Press, Ruy Teixeira does a deep dive into the fundraising disparity between rivals Graham Platner and Maine Gov. Janet Mills, the latter of whom dropped her Senate bid after being significantly outraised by the far-left Democrat — and the national implications of Platner’s strategy. “Mills depended on itemized, large-donor contributions and institutional-style support. Platner, by contrast, sought and received national media coverage, national endorsements by progressive figures like Bernie Sanders, and a high profile in the online, generally progressive and antiestablishment Democratic discourse. That was then translated into massive numbers of small online donations through the ActBlue fundraising platform. Mills simply could not match this energy — and money.” [FreePress]
Word on the Street
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and United Arab Emirates President Mohamed bin Zayed spoke by phone this week to discuss Iran’s recent attacks on the Gulf nation; the Emirati news agency WAM said the two “affirmed their countries’ solidarity with the UAE and support for measures it takes to safeguard its security and stability and ensure the safety of its citizens”…
A majority of the candidates backed by President Donald Trump in Indiana as part of a broader redistricting fight in the state won their primaries, ousting sitting Republican legislators who opposed the redistricting effort…
In Ohio, Republican Vivek Ramaswamy secured the GOP nomination for governor, while Democrat Amy Acton, a former state health director, won the state’s Democratic primary…
Former Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) is endorsing Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) in the state’s Democratic primary for Senate…
The man accused of attempting to assassinate Trump at the White House Correspondents Dinner was hit with an additional charge of assaulting a Secret Service officer at the event last month…
The Atlantic does a deep dive into former Trump administration AI czar David Sacks’ efforts to fuse the Silicon Valley technology scene and White House priorities…
The New York Times’ Bret Stephens interviews Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) about the state of the Democratic Party ahead of the midterms, and the party’s goals for 2028 and beyond…
A California man reversed his plea of not guilty and pleaded to a charge of involuntary manslaughter in the death of pro-Israel activist Paul Kessler, who died after a clash at dueling pro- and anti-Israel rallies in November 2023…
The New York Times looks at how the decision by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to get involved in some primaries has “bitterly divided Democrats, who are feuding openly over the choices in a sign of deeper rifts about the party’s tactics and future”…
Michigan state Rep. Noah Arbit clarified that a Democratic bill package that removed Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur as state-recognized holidays was done at the behest of Jewish legislators, following confusion in past years over whether state residents were expected to report to work on those days; Arbit added that the bills acknowledging holidays are “just symbolic bills and last time we introduced them, we got all kinds of excited feedback from constituents thinking they’d finally get Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur off as paid holidays”…
IAC Chairman Barry Diller said at The Wall Street Journal’s Future of Everything conference that he would “absolutely” buy CNN before the network’s executives “ruin it any further”…
The Washington Post interviews David Frum and Danielle Crittenden about their efforts, through a book and an essay, respectively, to process their grief over their daughter Miranda’s death in 2024…
The Free Press spotlights Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, or HAYI, a new group, believed to have ties to Iran, that has claimed responsibility for a number of attacks targeting Jewish institutions across Europe in recent months…
London’s Metropolitan Police announced the creation of a “community protection team” as part of an effort to protect the city’s Jewish community amid a spate of antisemitic attacks…
The announcement came a day after U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer convened Jewish and community leaders at 10 Downing St. for a summit on antisemitism; shortly after the British leader began his remarks, security officials in London confirmed an investigation into an arson attack at a former synagogue…
Former U.K. Green Party leader Caroline Lucas called on the party to take immediate action to address antisemitism in its ranks, amid investigations into a number of members and candidates accused of making antisemitic comments; Lucas’ comments come as Rachel Millward, a co-leader of the party, faces criticism for sharing on social media a conspiracy about last week’s attack in the heavily Jewish London suburb of Golders Green…
Authorities in Sydney, Australia, arrested a man wearing a swastika shirt outside the venue where the country’s royal commission on antisemitism was convening for a third day of public testimony…
Pianist and composer Seymour Bernstein died at 99…
Pic of the Day
Bar Ben-Yaakov and Matan Sivek, co-founders of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum in the U.S., received the James Foley Foundation’s Humanitarian Award on Tuesday night at an event hosted at the National Press Club in Washington.
Qatari Minister of State Mohammed Al-Khulaifi was also honored at the event, where he received the group’s 2026 American Hostage Freedom Award for his role in facilitating negotiations that contributed to the release of hostages in Gaza, as well as his efforts that have brought several other hostages and Americans home, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports.
Birthdays
President and CEO of The Jewish Federations of North America, he was previously CEO of Hillel and a U.S. congressman from Ohio, Eric David Fingerhut turns 67…
U.S. senator (R-AL) from 1987 to 2023, Richard Shelby turns 92… Senior fellow emeritus at the Hoover Institution at Stanford, a U.S. District Court judge and the State Department legal advisor, Abraham David Sofaer turns 88… Novelist, playwright and human rights activist, professor emeritus at Duke University, Vladimiro Ariel Dorfman turns 84… Professor of law and philosophy at the University of Chicago, Martha Nussbaum turns 79… Israeli theoretical physicist and astrophysicist, he is best known for his work on gamma-ray bursts and on numerical relativity, Tsvi Piran turns 77… Senior counsel at WilmerHale, she was the deputy attorney general of the U.S. in the Clinton administration, Jamie S. Gorelick turns 76… Former prime minister of the United Kingdom, he sits on the founding executive board of the Board of Peace for Gaza, Tony Blair turns 73… President emeritus of the Jerusalem College of Technology / Lev Academic Center, Noah Dana-Picard turns 72… Director of the Jewish studies program at Northeastern University, Lori Hope Lefkovitz turns 70… Pepper Pike, Ohio, resident, Sherry Krasney Feuer turns 70… and her son, Nicky Feuer, turns 36… Co-founder of Boston-based HighVista Strategies, he is the former board chair of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Daniel Jick turns 69… Member of the Knesset for Likud from 2003 to2006, Daniel Benlulu turns 68… Retired attorney and former member of the board of trustees of the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ, Sheri Goldberg… Los Angeles-based attorney and real estate entrepreneur, Daniel Todd Gryczman… Israel’s minister of national security since 2022, he is the leader of the Otzma Yehudit party, Itamar Ben-Gvir turns 50… Member of the Knesset for the Yesh Atid party, Shelly Tal Meron turns 47… Los Angeles-based television personality, actress, writer and video blogger, Shira Lazar turns 43… Venture advisor at Vintage Investment Partners, Brachie Sprung… Conductor, pianist, clarinetist and composer, he is currently music director of The Louisville Orchestra, Edward “Teddy” Paul Maxwell Abrams turns 39… Founder at ALC Hospitality, Alyse Cohen… Principal at the UAE Presidential Court, Benjamin Levine… Partner at Courtside Ventures and advisor to the board of directors of the Atlanta Hawks, Oliver Ressler… Former head of business development at Seam and now a full-time conservative commentator across many social media platforms, Arynne Wexler turns 33… Actor and singer, married to actor Ben Platt, Noah Egidi Galvin turns 32…
Recent Daily Kickoff Newsletters
Please log in if you already have a subscription, or subscribe to access the latest updates.
Continue with Google
Continue with Apple