• We’re keeping an eye on the launch of the U.S.’ “Project Freedom” effort — announced by President Donald Trump on Sunday — to guide vessels out of the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has since warned the U.S. Navy against entering the waterway. The U.S. military denied a claim earlier today that Iran hit an American warship trying to enter the strait. More below.
• The Milken Institute Global Conference kicked off yesterday in Los Angeles and runs through Wednesday. More below on what to expect at this year’s summit. JI’s Gabby Deutch is on the ground covering the Milken conference — drop her a line if you’re there, too.
• In Washington, U.S. Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy Sarah Rogers is slated to meet this morning with Lior Haiat, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ deputy director-general for North America.
• Tonight in New York, The Jewish Center is hosting a candidate roundtable with Micah Lasher and Alex Bores, two of the candidates vying to succeed Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) in New York’s 12th Congressional District.
• Lag B’Omer begins tonight. In Israel, police are preparing for potential unrest in the vicinity of Mt. Meron, a Hasidic pilgrimage site where thousands have gathered annually for the holiday. Law enforcement scaled back the celebrations out of concern that the site, in northern Israel, could become a target for Hezbollah.
• The Pulitzer Prize Board will announce the winners of the 2026 prizes at 3 p.m. ET.
• A bevy of high-profile guests are slated to attend tonight’s Met Gala, with attendees dressed according to this year’s theme, “Costume Art.” This year marks the first that Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos are serving as cosponsors and lead chairs of the annual event.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S GABBY DEUTCH

A who’s who of global decision-makers is gathering today at the iconic Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles for this year’s annual Milken Institute Global Conference. Investors, philanthropists and business executives from around the world will hobnob with pro athletes, movie stars and politicians. 

The four-day convening is billed as a way for global leaders to address some of the world’s biggest challenges. According to event organizers, this year’s conference is focused on building “a more sustainable, equitable and resilient future” in the face of “recent disruption and innovation.” In other words: What are the most powerful innovators in the world going to do about artificial intelligence?

AI is shaping up to be the buzzword at Milken, just like it is everywhere else right now. Govs. Ron DeSantis of Florida and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan will each be talking on Monday about developing a competitive workforce. Sens. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) and Mark Warner (D-VA) will speak on a panel with Alphabet President Ruth Porat and Meta President Dina Powell McCormick about disruptions to the American workforce. Perhaps the most anticipated speaker of the day is Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. 

A closed-door session today about ties between Silicon Valley, Washington and the Middle East features UAE Ambassador to the U.S. Yousef Al Otaiba, Israeli-born Silicon Valley investor Elad Gil, Abu Dhabi department of health chair Mansoor Ibrahim Al Mansoori and Jacob Helberg, the U.S. under secretary of state for economic affairs. 

Read the rest of ‘What You Should Know’ here.

Dem Reset on Israel: In The Bulwark, former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro posits that the Democratic Party’s relationship with Israel has hit the “feeding-frenzy stage” and suggests considerations for the party to weigh as it moves leftward on Israel. “How will Hamas, Iran, Hezbollah, and the Houthis respond to the end of U.S. assistance to Israel? Will it make them less likely to pursue their dreams of Israel’s destruction? Or will they feel emboldened? … Would Arab and Muslim countries considering normalizing relations with Israel be more or less likely to do so if they see the United States pull away? Would Gulf nations still see the United States as their primary security partner as we distance ourselves from Israel?” [TheBulwark]

MBZ Zigs: The Financial Times’ Andrew England looks at how United Arab Emirates President Mohamed bin Zayed is steering the Gulf nation as the region sits at a crossroads that will determine its future. “For MBZ, it is a pivotal moment — a conflict he had long prepared for, but also a test of who among his nation’s traditional allies could be relied upon in a crisis. And the UAE has made clear it believes some have been found wanting. The state has openly criticised what it perceives to be the tepid response of Arab and Muslim partners. … But the war gave it the impetus to act on a threat it had previously only dangled, deepening a festering rift with Riyadh, fuelled by economic competition and conflicting visions of how to manage the region’s crises.” [FT]

The Unity Test: In The Jerusalem Post, William Daroff, the CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, considers the challenges facing the American Jewish community. “Institutions were built to sustain a broader communal fabric: federations, schools, synagogues, community centers, and civic organizations grounded in the idea that Jewish continuity is a collective responsibility. That instinct toward unity now faces a real test. … Fragmentation carries risk, especially under external pressure. The strength of American Jewish life depends on the ability to hold differences within a framework of mutual obligation: to argue, even sharply, without losing sight of a shared inheritance and a common future.” [JPost]

Pod Squad: Air Mail’s Alyson Krueger spotlights the use of the “pod” as an alternative to a traditional receiving line during King Charles III’s recent visit to Washington. “A political pod featured Speaker Mike Johnson, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Nancy Pelosi, and Stephen Miller — a seemingly flammable grouping. But John McCarthy, a Democratic strategist and former Biden White House aide, who was also in the pod, saw diplomatic promise in the 25 minutes its members spent waiting as a group. ‘There are not a lot of scenarios where leaders who are Democrats and Republicans are getting together in D.C. right now,’ he says. He thought it created a useful shared experience. ‘You met the King together! Next time you need something across the aisle, you have this interesting life experience that you can draw upon.’” [AirMail]

National Security Action, the foreign policy group founded by former National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Obama administration senior official Ben Rhodes — both of whom remain on the board — has tapped Maher Bitar, the former NSA official who had faced criticism from GOP lawmakers for his alleged “clear bias against and disregard for Israel,” to lead the organization as it wades into the 2028 primaries…

Former U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel, a likely Democratic presidential candidate, on Friday signaled his backing for Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner, who has drawn scrutiny over his far-left views and decades-old Nazi tattoo that he recently covered up, Jewish Insider’s Josh Kraushaar reports…

The newly formed Jewish Federation of Annapolis & the Chesapeake is pushing back after Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman repeatedly declined to include funding for security grants requested by Jewish institutions in his proposed budget, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports… 

Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner were spotted on Saturday night at the Amex x Carbone Beach pop-up in Miami Beach, Fla., chatting with Carbone owner Jeff Zalaznick, on the sidelines of the Miami Grand Prix… 

Israeli model Yael Shelbia and Formula 1 driver Lance Stroll, who have been rumored to be dating since last year, made their F1 debut as a couple at the Miami Grand Prix, where Stroll was racing, on Sunday…

New York magazine profiles wine importer and distributor Victor Schwartz, the lead plaintiff challenging the Trump administration’s tariffs, who scored a 6-3 Supreme Court victory last fall…

Ryan Cohen’s GameStop made an offer to purchase eBay for $56 billion, with the goal of turning the online reseller into an Amazon competitor…

Cornell University President Michael Kotlikoff clashed with students whom he said were engaging in “harassment and intimidation” following an on-campus event on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; several students surrounded Kotlikoff’s car as he was trying to leave the parking lot and he was filmed backing into a student while another claimed he ran over his foot, but no injuries were reported…

The Washington Post spotlights JoJo and Yoni Kalin, a married couple that witnessed the killings last year of two Israeli Embassy staffers at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, and looks at how they have responded in different ways to the rise in antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment…

A historic Nantucket, Mass., lifesaving station purchased by the island’s Jewish community is set to become Nantucket’s first synagogue in more than four decades…

Australia’s royal commission into the December attack at a Hanukkah party at Sydney’s Bondi Beach held its first public hearing, with members of the city’s Jewish community testifying about their experiences with antisemitism; among those testifying was Sheina Gutnick, whose father was killed in the attack and who warned of the “real-world consequences of hatred”…

The man suspected of stabbing two Jewish men in the London suburb of Golders Green last week was charged with two counts of attempted murder, as well as a weapons charge; Essa Suleiman was also hit with a third charge of attempted murder, for an attack that took place in another part of the city earlier in the day…

A British court found a Kuwaiti asylum-seeker guilty of weapons charges and preparing to conduct a terrorist attack, a year after the man was apprehended outside the Israeli Embassy in London with knives…

Robert Shrimsley, the executive editor of the Financial Times, warns that British Jews are “being forced to live a more fearful and smaller Jewish life” amid ongoing attacks on Jewish communities around the country…

Israel Hayom interviews Morgan Ortagus, who departed the Trump administration earlier this year after working on the White House’s Lebanon portfolio…

The family of journalist Austin Tice, who disappeared in Syria in 2012, said there is new information indicating that Tice is potentially alive and in the hands of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps…

Pakistan said it assisted in the transfer of 22 Iranians whose ship was seized by the U.S. Navy last month, as a “confidence-building measure” between Washington and Tehran…

The New York Times looks at how China is attempting to benefit from any outcome in the U.S.-Iran conflict, both by encouraging Tehran to come to the negotiating table and providing commercial support to the Islamic Republic in the event of a resumption of hostilities, while also preparing for a summit in mid-May between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping…

The Wall Street Journal profiles Iranian businessman Babak Zanjani, who was released from Iran’s death row last year after facing corruption charges and now helps the Islamic Republic evade sanctions through cryptocurrency networks…

Marc Rod, JI’s senior congressional correspondent, and Olivia Truesdale-Rod, program manager for Former Members of Congress, married on Friday at Meridian House in Washington, D.C., with JI’s D.C. team in attendance. Rabbi Aaron Miller of Washington Hebrew Congregation officiated…

Nick Stewart is departing his role as managing director of advocacy at FDD Action and joining the Trump administration, working in the office of White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff…

Psychologist and Holocaust survivor Edith Eger, who as a teenager in Auschwitz was forced to dance for Dr. Josef Mengele — and who recounts those experiences in her books — died at 99…

The Michael Levin Lone Soldier Center hosted the opening on Friday of an exhibit titled “Plates of Hope and Color” that included 180 original works created by Israeli artists, musicians and “lone soldiers” from around the world with no family in Israel.

Medalist in the women’s halfpipe event at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, Arielle Townsend Gold turns 30…

Former chairman and CEO of American International Group, once the largest insurance company in history, then chairman and CEO of the Starr Companies, Maurice Raymond “Hank” Greenberg turns 101… Executive director of the Texas A&M Hillel for 30 years, now a security consultant for the tourism industry, Peter E. Tarlow turns 80… U.S. special envoy for climate change in the Obama administration, now a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, Todd D. Stern turns 75… Trustee of the Institute for Islamic, Christian and Jewish Studies, Lee Sherman… Partner at NYC-based Mintz & Gold, he was EVP and general counsel for both the Las Vegas Sands and News Corporation, Lawrence “Lon” A. Jacobs… Northern Virginia-based portrait artist, Ilisa G. Calderon… CEO at Gigawatt Global, Yosef Israel Abramowitz turns 62… Member of the House of Representatives (D-VT), Rebecca A. “Becca” Balint turns 58… Triathlete, she has a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins and is a winner of international ironman competitions, Joanna Sue Zeiger turns 56… Director of congregational education at NYC’s Park Avenue Synagogue, Bradley Solmsen… Former Florida state senator and state attorney for Palm Beach County from 2013 to 2025, Dave Aronberg turns 55… Chair and director at NYC’s Department of City Planning until last month, Daniel Garodnick… Mechal Wakslak… Executive advisor at Veterans Community Project, he served as the secretary of state of Missouri, Jason Kander turns 45… Chief operating officer at Repair the World, Jessica Chait… Tech entrepreneur, best known as a co-founder of both Vine and HQ Trivia, Rus Yusupov turns 42… SVP at BerlinRosen, Allison Fran Bormel… Chief development officer at Ramah Darom, previously with Americans for Ben-Gurion University and AIPAC, Rebecca Leibowitz Wasserstrom… Script writer at Disney, Steven A. Rosenberg… Adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, Shana Mansbach… Manager of public policy and external affairs at Meta / Facebook, Sasha Altschuler… Actor best known for voicing the title character of the animated film “Finding Nemo,” Alexander Gould turns 32… Partner in the client services group at Signum Global Advisors, Elliot Miller… Finance lead at Shopify, Olivia Breuer…