The New Hampshire senator is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
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Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) speaks during the 2026 Concordia Annual Summit at Sheraton New York Times Square on September 21, 2026 in New York City.
Add JewishInsider on GoogleSen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has, like her House counterpart, placed a procedural hold on a $2.8 billion sale of bombs to Israel, a source familiar with the situation told Jewish Insider.
Rep. Greg Meeks (D-NY), the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, announced last week that he had also placed a hold on the sale. Traditionally, such holds would prevent the sales from going forward, though the Trump administration has bypassed them in the past.
The sale is set to be financed by U.S. foreign military aid funding.
Other Senate Democrats have also vowed to attempt to block the sale, and a vote on the Senate floor on such a measure is likely should the administration move forward with the sale over Shaheen and Meeks’ objections.
He attributed much of the shift on Israel policy among his Democratic colleagues to bullying, harassment and threats from the anti-Israel camp
Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images
Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) speaks at a press conference on Capitol Hill on Sept. 8, 2025.
For Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), the Democratic caucus has become an increasingly lonely place for those who remain staunchly pro-Israel, with what he described as bullying, harassment and threats from the anti-Israel camp contributing to the shift away from Israel among Democratic lawmakers.
“What is it like to be in the caucus? It’s become lonely,” Moskowitz said during a wide-ranging interview with Jewish Insider in his Capitol Hill office last week. “None of my colleagues are mean to me, but it is an ostracizing feeling. There’s no doubt that the Democrats that are super pro-Israel, in general, feel somewhat ostracized, and how could you not?”
He said that the “mushy middle” of the party is being pushed left, explaining that he has had colleagues tell him that consultants have told them that, in order to win reelection, they’ll need to reject AIPAC or vote against pro-Israel legislation or express opposition to Israeli missile-defense systems.
“No one really loves family infighting,” he said. “For me, I’m fighting for what I believe in. For me, it’s not about the polling. I’ll go down on this issue. Ultimately, I’m not interested in moderating to try to win my election.”
He also attributed some of the shift to harassment and threats of violence targeting members, including Moskowitz being the target of an assassination attempt in 2024. Standing up for Israel, at this point, puts members’ families at risk, he said, and with that pressure coming exclusively from the anti-Israel side, it’s no surprise that some members are caving.
“I talk to members. They’re scared from all of this stuff. Not only are they scared, their spouses are scared, and do not underestimate the spouse in this congressional relationship,” he said. “The bullying is only happening one way. Members are getting bullied online. They’re getting bullied in the hallways. They come down the steps [from the House chamber], cameras get put in their face on this issue.”
Moskowitz said that, because he has refused to cave on this issue, he now needs armed security and police protecting him in his district — as do other outspoken members. He said that it’s important for members who have been outspoken, on both sides of the aisle, to be reelected.
“If you look at what’s happened to the Jewish community in two years, where are we in five? Where are we in five years? Are we going to lose an entire political party?” he asked.
And Moskowitz warned that he sees similar issues on the horizon in the Republican Party. “The Tucker [Carlson] wing of the [Republican] Party is ready to pounce. The only thing that’s keeping them at bay is Trump. … The fight you’re seeing that we’re having now, they are going to have on the right.”
The Florida congressman, asked about the upcoming Israeli elections, said that he believes that some of his Democratic colleagues have “backed themselves into a corner” by focusing their criticism on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“A lot of my colleagues, when they voted to cut off aid to Israel, both in the Senate and in the House, said, ‘Well, it was all about Netanyahu,’” he recounted. “My argument to them was, ‘At some point, he won’t be there. How are you going to go back to those voters who you’ve now courted because you cut off aid and go back to them saying, ‘Well I’m going to let the aid flow now because Netanyahu is gone?’”
As a result, he predicted that a loss for Netanyahu would do little to change Democratic discourse on Israel, noting that anti-Israel voices online have already begun to target other Israeli leaders as polling has suggested that Netanyahu may lose.
Moskowitz said that the recent outrage, from both progressive commentators and some of his colleagues, over his appointment as ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Middle East and North Africa subcommittee has been disproportionate to the position itself, and tinged with “veiled antisemitism.”
At the same time, Moskowitz argued that the appointment shows that pro-Israel Jews remain part of the Democratic “big tent” — at least for Democratic House leaders. He also noted that anyone on the committee — which includes several vocal critics of Israel — could have objected to the appointment, but chose not to.
“For me, this isn’t game theory. This is real,” Moskowitz said, emphasizing that his relatives fled the Holocaust in Europe. “Tough economic times in a country, wealth inequality — the Jews. It’s not a new playbook that’s being run on the community.”
“Not only does the big tent include pro-Israel Jews but we’re going to give them leadership spots on that issue,” he said.
He said that he sees criticisms of “Zionists” and of Israel as barely disguised attacks on the Jewish people as a whole — with the vast majority of American Jews being Zionists — drawing on historic tropes and patterns.
“For me, this isn’t game theory. This is real,” Moskowitz said, emphasizing that his relatives fled the Holocaust in Europe. “Tough economic times in a country, wealth inequality — the Jews. It’s not a new playbook that’s being run on the community.”
“If we don’t fix the affordability issue, antisemitism is going to continue to get worse,” he added. “For me, it’s intricately linked. It’s not our fault, but we are being made the scapegoat for all of these things. Flock cameras? Jews. AI? Jews. Can’t afford your groceries? Jews. If we don’t start fixing problems here, we’re going to be on the short side of that stick.”
His children, he said, will grow up in a different and more hostile America than he did, after the Jewish community had believed it was assimilated and safe.
“We assimilated in Spain. We assimilated in Germany. Never thought what could happen could happen, and we were expelled and exterminated in both of those countries,” he said.
He credited much of the rise in antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment to malign foreign influence, particularly through coordinated bot campaigns on social media. He said that, if the Nazis had a tool like social media on their side during World War II, they likely would have won.
“Congrats to China and our foreign adversaries, who took an 80-20 issue and turned it into a 20-80 issue as an experiment in a petri dish that they can apply to Taiwan in the future,” Moskowitz said. “We’re just letting foreign adversaries decide how the American people are going to think on everything.”
He described social media platforms as deliberately blind to the problem — until similar tactics were applied to the issue of data centers, which could impact their bottom lines.
“When it comes to Israel, I want to see them treated like any other ally,” he continued. “If the idea is that the majority of our members want to cut off aid to Israel, then we’re going to have to look at all our other allies’ humanitarian records, and we’re going to have to treat them all the same. I look at that as calling balls and strikes, and getting into reality off of the internet.”
Moskowitz is favored to be chairman of the Middle East subcommittee next year if Democrats take the House, but he said he would still need to rally support on the committee to secure the seat. He said that ultimately House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Member Greg Meeks (D-NY) would set the agenda for Democrats, but that he sees opportunities to use the post to strengthen U.S. ties with the Gulf and Mideast allies.
He called the decision to allow a Saudi nuclear energy deal to proceed without Saudi Arabia joining the Abraham Accords a “missed opportunity” and said it’s important to ensure that Gulf allies don’t try to appease Iran “because the Iran war now has gone south.”
“When it comes to Israel, I want to see them treated like any other ally,” he continued. “If the idea is that the majority of our members want to cut off aid to Israel, then we’re going to have to look at all our other allies’ humanitarian records, and we’re going to have to treat them all the same. I look at that as calling balls and strikes, and getting into reality off of the internet.”
The congressman also blasted those who blame Israel alone for the war in Iran, explaining that in conversations with ambassadors from the Gulf countries, “they were all supportive of this — all of them,” but are now “upset about the marketing and the branding of the war” and hiding from responsibility.
Moskowitz supported the administration’s 2025 strikes on Iran’s nuclear program, and opposed war powers efforts to block a U.S. attack on Iran before the war began earlier this year. But he has supported war powers resolutions since the war started, arguing that Congress must preserve its constitutional role in making war.
“I think the president made a mistake in hindsight. Think about it this way: In an alternative reality, had he come to Congress in the very beginning, it probably would have passed,” he said, “and then we would have owned it with him. He owns it all on his own.”
He said the administration underestimated Iran’s willingness to take the Strait of Hormuz hostage and to expand the war to attack Gulf allies, and overestimated the fragility of the Iranian regime.
Moskowitz also said that the administration has shifted and scaled back its goals, noting that Trump no longer emphasizes the need to remove enriched nuclear material from Iran, now focusing primarily on the Strait of Hormuz.
“We didn’t succeed on the terms he told people of why we were going. And so I think it was a completely failed strategy on prosecuting the war,” Moskowitz said, even as he said he’s glad that former Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is dead, Iran’s navy has been destroyed and the Iranian nuclear program has been set back.
He said he does not want the war to become a long-term problem, but also said that he still does not want to see a deal that would provide Iran with substantial financial relief. “That has to be still the North Star. They cannot have a nuclear weapon. But mistakes that we have made to try to achieve that now could have long-term repercussions.”
Since beating Democratic Socialists of America member Oliver Larkin by nearly 30 points in his primary race, Moskowitz has gone on the offensive against the DSA and the surging socialist wing of the Democratic Party.
He said that he thinks mainstream Democrats need to recognize income inequality and other economic struggles that are driving young people toward the DSA, but also need to realize that the DSA is “awash in antisemitism” and a range of other unpopular and fringe ideas.
“There will be members here from the DSA, but they’ll be 5% of the caucus,” Moskowitz said. “What we can’t do is what the Republicans did with [former House Speaker] Kevin McCarthy. We can’t go make a deal with the DSA because then that deal will be held over the entire caucus for the next two years while we’re in power.”
He said that, despite being targeted with what he described as the “whole DSA apparatus” in his primary, he decided not to engage directly with his opponent, to not run negative ads and to try to keep the race local.
“I was going to deny these viral moments for them,” he said, arguing that other Democrats had erred by getting in direct fights with DSA opponents. “It was my belief that the voters would reject it without me having to spend a ton of money explaining to them why it was bad, and that’s what happened.”
He said his polling showed that Larkin’s stances were turning off voters and argued that his strategies “blew up in their face,” alienating older voters, Jewish voters and Hispanic voters.
“This is not a place that the DSA can win in, and they shouldn’t have done it because it made them look stupid,” Moskowitz said.
Moskowitz noted that he now enters the general election with $2 million, a substantial cash advantage over his Republican opponent, former Boca Raton Mayor Scott Singer, who is also Jewish.
He argued that his brand of politics and his past ties to former Gov. Ron DeSantis will help him win over independent voters in the general election, and highlighted his appeal with Jewish voters, among whom he vastly outperformed former Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election. He noted that he doesn’t have to calibrate stances on the U.S.-Israel relationship in his district, but can instead express his honest views in a way that other Democrats can’t.
“This election between me and [Singer], on [Israel and antisemitism] in particular, is the difference between a vote versus a voice,” Moskowitz continued. “He’ll be a vote on pro-Israel. I’m not going to deny that. He will be a vote, but he won’t be a voice.”
The sale is the largest purchase price for any sports team in American history
(Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
Commissioner of the NBA Adam Silver, Joshua Kushner and CEO of Disney Bob Iger attend the Men's Quarterfinal match between Novak Djokovic of Serbia and Taylor Fritz of the United States on Day Ten of the 2025 US Open at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 2, 2025 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City.
Josh Kushner, founder and managing partner of the venture capital firm Thrive Capital, and former Disney CEO Bob Iger have agreed to purchase a controlling interest in the Los Angeles Lakers for a record-breaking price of $12.5 billion.
“As lifelong NBA fans, we are deeply honored for the opportunity to become stewards of the Los Angeles Lakers, one of the most iconic sports franchises in the world. We have immense respect for the leadership and vision of Jerry and Jeanie Buss,” Kushner and Iger said in a statement, referring to Jeanie Buss, governor and minority owner of the Lakers, and her late father, longtime Lakers owner Jerry Buss. “Our long-term commitment is to build on that foundation, compete at the highest level, and serve this extraordinary team, its fans, and the city of Los Angeles.”
Prior to securing the majority stake in the Lakers, Kushner had actively explored sports and cultural ventures alongside Iger — the pair sat side-by-side with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver at the U.S. Open in September 2025.
The record-setting deal comes less than a year after Mark Walter, CEO and chairman of TWG Global, acquired a controlling interest in the franchise from the Buss family at a $10 billion valuation, a sale approved by the NBA Board of Governors in October 2025. Walter had served as the Lakers’ majority owner since October 2025.
On the court, the Lakers’ front office and the team’s head coach, JJ Redick, are preparing to navigate a transitional era following the offseason departure of star forward LeBron James, who signed with the Philadelphia 76ers after eight seasons in Los Angeles.
The transaction follows a 53-29 campaign for Los Angeles that secured the No. 4 seed in the Western Conference playoffs. After eliminating the Houston Rockets in the first round, the Lakers were eliminated in a sweep by the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder in the conference semifinals.
Plus, Bibi's back in town
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) walks into the Senate Chamber on December 11, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Good Tuesday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we preview Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House, which will take place today before the funeral of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), which both leaders are attending. We look at AIPAC’s messaging strategy to attack far-left candidates, and cover last night’s Michigan Senate primary debate between Abdul El-Sayed and Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI). We also report on New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s refusal to engage with calls to tone down his rhetoric on Israel after the recent stabbing attack on the Upper West Side, and highlight a meeting between Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and a group of rabbis in Doha, which was publicized by the emir. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Yair Lapid, Rahm Emanuel and Amir Tibon.
We also have a new on-demand Live Briefing that you can access throughout the day via our new app (on Apple and Android) and on our website.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by Israel Editor Tamara Zieve and U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik. Have a tip? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with President Donald Trump at the White House this morning for their eighth such meeting during Trump’s second term. Read more below. Earlier, Trump is slated to meet separately with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, before all the leaders — joined by others, including Israeli Opposition Leader Yair Lapid — make their way to the funeral of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC).
- The Jewish Federations of North America is hosting a breakfast at its Washington office in honor of Graham, ahead of his funeral later today.
- Graham’s funeral will begin at the U.S. Capitol with a private ceremony and continue with a service at Washington National Cathedral, where remarks will be delivered by Trump, Fox News’ Sean Hannity and Emillie Boggs Roberts, Graham’s niece.
- The Senate is expected to hold votes on a number of issues including on Jay Clayton’s nomination to become director of national intelligence and on a procedural motion to begin consideration of Russia sanctions legislation championed by Graham before his death, which now includes Iran sanctions as well.
- This evening, Central Synagogue in Manhattan will hold a memorial service for Wesley LePatner, one year after the Blackstone executive and Jewish philanthropist was killed in a shooting at the firm’s Midtown headquarters.
- The 20th Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature will be awarded to Haaretz journalist Amir Tibon for his Oct. 7 memoir, The Gates of Gaza, this evening at a private ceremony in Jerusalem.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S melissa weiss
For watchers of the U.S.-Israel relationship, the events of the last few days have had a familiar feel. On Friday, President Donald Trump suggested at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner that Iran would “love to make a deal. I don’t think they’re ready to. I don’t think it’s time yet, but I’m willing to listen.” Today, the president will meet at the White House with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the countries weigh a military escalation with Iran.
The similarities to the dialogue surrounding Iran earlier this year are striking. In early February, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, “Iran looks like it wants to make a deal very badly.” Days later, Trump would meet at the White House with Netanyahu for talks focused on Iran. Weeks after that meeting, the U.S. and Israel launched joint military strikes against the Islamic Republic, kicking off a six-week war.
Despite the similarities around these two meetings — much has changed.
In the U.S., there is growing opposition among Americans to renewed military action against Iran — a sentiment that extends to some top military officials, including, reportedly, CENTCOM head Adm. Brad Cooper.
Public perception of Israel — and Israelis — has hit its most negative point in years, with Gen Z Americans across the political spectrum having significantly more favorable views of Palestinians than Israelis.
The numbers demonstrate the degree to which opinions on Israel and Iran — and the U.S. role in the region — have shifted in the five months since the war began. The domestic politics in the U.S. vis-a-vis Iran look very different than they did during the last Trump-Netanyahu meeting.
PRIMARY PLAYBOOK
From Michigan to Missouri, where tensions between the Democratic Party’s moderate and far-left factions are playing out in high-profile contests for the House and Senate, AIPAC is hitting its anti-Israel opponents for their past criticism of former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris in an effort to portray the candidates as hostile to mainstream policy goals, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.
Messaging strategy: The tactic, which the AIPAC-linked United Democracy Project super PAC also deployed last election cycle in key races, dates back to at least 2021, when DMFI PAC, Democratic Majority for Israel’s political arm, had relentlessly attacked Nina Turner — a former Ohio state senator running for an open House seat in Cleveland on a platform that was critical of Israel — for remarks in which she had compared voting for Biden to eating a “bowl of s**t.” Now, UDP is reviving the playbook as it takes on former Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), who is seeking a rematch against Rep. Wesley Bell (D-MO) after she lost her St. Louis House seat in 2024. In recent attack ads, UDP, which has spent over $2.5 million to boost Bell, is hitting Bush over past comments criticizing Biden and Harris, as well as her vote against the bipartisan infrastructure package while in Congress in 2021.
MICHIGAN MATCHUP
If Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary has become a test case for the saliency of AIPAC and Israel as a political issue for Democratic voters, then Monday night’s debate between Abdul El-Sayed, a far-left former public health official, and Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) served as the ultimate battlefield — and illustrated the gulf between the two candidates on the issue, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
Debate recap: Over the course of an hourlong debate, El-Sayed made clear that he believes his opposition to AIPAC and to Israel will help him win next week’s election. Stevens, meanwhile, did not even utter the word “AIPAC.” Stevens outlined her views on the Middle East, arguing that she and El-Sayed diverge because she supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict while he has not acknowledged Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state. She touted her support for Michigan’s Jewish community and mentioned the work she did to advocate for the hostages after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel.
TEMPERATURE CHECK
Days after an alleged hate crime against a Jewish person in Manhattan, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani refused to engage with suggestions from various corners that he de-escalate his rhetoric around Israel — or speak to why he continued publicly toying with arresting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu well after city attorneys told him he couldn’t, Jewish Insider’s Will Bredderman reports.
Dismissing questions: A number of Jewish leaders linked the attack to the mayor’s recent denunciations of Netanyahu and the Jewish state, and even a fellow Democrat signaled at a press conference on Friday morning that Mamdani should “take the temperature down.” Netanyahu himself, whom Mamdani excoriated in a widely watched video last week, accused the mayor of “fomenting hate” in a Sunday appearance on Fox News. But the mayor declined to substantively engage with any of these criticisms when pressed by reporters on Monday. “I’m not interested in getting into a back-and-forth with Prime Minister Netanyahu,” the mayor said.
SHEIKH SHIVA
Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani hosted a group of rabbis on Monday at Lusail Palace in Doha. Rabbi Mendy Chitrik, chairman of the Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States, led the delegation along with his son, Rabbi Eliyahu Chitrik, who organizes Jewish communal programming in Qatar. They were joined by Rabbi Yehuda Gerami, the chief rabbi of Iran, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
Making it public: The emir’s office publicized the meeting, posting on the palace’s social media account that the delegation offered condolences on the death of the emir’s father and predecessor, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani. Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani also attended the meeting. The emir’s decision to publicize the visit on his official channels is a rare public acknowledgment of Jewish communal ties by a Gulf state that has no formal relations with Israel and funds the news outlet Al Jazeera, which amplifies narratives hostile to the Jewish state.
COALITION CALCULUS
Addressing the Atlantic Council in Washington, former Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid presented his case on Monday for Israel’s diplomatic future should his opposition bloc form the country’s next government after the upcoming elections. Lapid argued that Israel is increasingly isolated diplomatically and feuding with its allies — which he blamed primarily on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his coalition — and he recommended that Jerusalem adopt a more measured and bipartisan approach going forward, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
What he said: Lapid said that Israel can’t act on the world stage with the same impunity that the United States can, that it needs to listen to its friends around the world instead of writing them off. The Jewish state, he continued, should never fund digital influence operations against American leaders, should stay out of American partisan politics and must rebuild its relationships with Europe. “Iran is an enemy. Hezbollah is an enemy. Hamas is an enemy,” Lapid said. “France is not the enemy. Sweden is not the enemy. [Sens.] Elizabeth Warren [D-MA], Jon Ossoff [D-GA] and Tim Kaine [D-VA] are not the enemy. The Democratic Party is not the enemy. [Vice President] JD Vance is not the enemy.”
CANDIDATE CORNER
Former Florida state Rep. George Moraitis is hoping that a bipartisan approach and his background in the Statehouse and as a military veteran will make him a formidable candidate to take on Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) in South Florida in November. Moraitis is running in the Republican primary in Florida’s 25th Congressional District against former Boca Raton Mayor Scott Singer, who is Jewish, and businessman Dan Franzese, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Moraitis’ pitch: In the general election, the winner will face Moskowitz — or his socialist primary challenger — in the district redrawn to favor Republicans. Moraitis told JI he spent his “whole life in public service,” serving in the Navy on submarines and as a state representative. He said he wants to work to “restore the American dream,” protect U.S. national security and defend “our God-given freedoms” of worship, speech and assembly, including combating rising antisemitism, as well as what he described as efforts to shut down churches and Christian prayer.
Worthy Reads
Winning the Battle, Losing the War: The Atlantic‘s Franklin Foer argues that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has squandered his role as “the guardian of Israel’s standing in America.” “Netanyahu aggressively confronted the military threats — but proceeded to lose on the battlefield that made his career. He had risen to power by persuading Americans on the correctness of his cause, but came to govern as though persuasion were futile, as if his father had been right all along. He never seemed to recognize that his old successes had come amid tailwinds: the Cold War, the wars on terror, decades when America was predisposed to sympathize with Israel’s case. When the zeitgeist turned, Netanyahu did not adjust the argument. He concluded there were no minds to change: The hatred of the Jewish state was immutable. Under Netanyahu, Israeli public diplomacy has treated each new critic not as someone to be persuaded or corrected, but as an anti-Semite revealed.” [TheAtlantic]
A Home for Hate: Matthew Hennessey writes in The Wall Street Journal‘s “Free Expression” newsletter that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s recent invective against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was an “antisemitic smoke signal.” “Campaign crowds ate it up when Mr. Mamdani said he was going to make the NYPD enforce the International Criminal Court’s dubious arrest warrant for Mr. Netanyahu. Mr. Mamdani must have loved the buzz. Were he more experienced, or less of a zealot, he might realize that being mayor comes with responsibilities that a rabble-rouser in a kaffiyeh never needs to consider. … Mr. Mamdani and his allies play definitional games: We aren’t antisemitic, they say, only anti-Zionist. … You may think you’re making a clever distinction, or that your limp assertions about hate having no home in the city will absolve you of all blame when someone believes what you say and starts trying to kill Jews while shouting ‘Allahu akbar.’ It won’t.” [WSJ]
Surrender to Socialism: Axios co-founders Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen lay out the six stages of “political surrender,” warning the Democratic Party might be on its way to capitulating to socialism. “Republicans didn’t decide to become President Trump’s party. They surrendered to him, one stage at a time, over a decade, in plain sight. Democrats swear that socialism’s growing grip on their party is different, and can be contained. The early signals suggest otherwise. Why it matters: Party transformations follow a predictable six-stage evolution — recoil, squint, rationalize, submit, amplify, and purge. Each stage has language you can hear long before you see it in the votes. Republicans just finished the full cycle. Democrats might be starting it.” [Axios]
Forbidden Fruit: Designer and brand strategist Debbie Millman posits in The New York Times that guidelines around AI usage should follow those of Kabbalah, which many are encouraged not to study until they reach the age of 40. “We do not wait for children to turn 16 to hand them car keys because cars are evil, and we do not insist that surgeons train for years because scalpels are immoral. We build thresholds around powerful things because power requires judgment, and judgment can’t be downloaded or installed. Before a person asks a machine to write for them, they should know what it feels like to write from the depths of their own uncertainty and identity. Before a person lets a machine imitate their voice, they should have endured the long, uneven, often humiliating process of acquiring one.” [NYTimes]
Word on the Street
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will reportedly present intelligence to President Donald Trump at their meeting on Tuesday showing that Iran is rebuilding its military capabilities and pursuing a nuclear bomb at an accelerated pace, according to Israel’s Channel 12…
Asked about Netanyahu’s opposition to the U.S.’ planned sale of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey, Trump told reporters on Monday, “Turkey’s been a great ally — for me. … Nobody tells me what we should be selling,” a clip that the White House’s rapid response social media account posted to X…
Saudi Arabia intercepted drones launched by Iran-backed militias in Iraq on Monday, which were targeting oil facilities in the country’s Eastern Province and in Riyadh, the Saudi Defense Ministry said in a statement. Israel, Jordan and Iraq also reported drone attacks on Monday…
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said that he wants to include a significant increase in defense funding when the Senate takes up the budget reconciliation bill recently passed by the House, which is aimed in part at covering expenses related to the Iran war…
Next week’s talks between Israel and Lebanon, to be held again in Rome, will focus on expanding the “pilot zone” process in southern Lebanon, resolving “all outstanding border issues” and working towards a comprehensive peace agreement, a State Department official said…
Iranian authorities publicly hanged two men who were found guilty of attacking two police officers during anti-regime protests earlier this year, Iran’s judiciary said on Tuesday…
Far-right commentator Laura Loomer told Politico she would “like to serve as an envoy” to Trump on foreign policy, after the death of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who had held a similar role in Trump’s orbit…
Former Congressional Black Caucus Chair Rep. Steven Horsford (D-NV), a relative moderate, joined several left-wing CBC members in endorsing Donovan McKinney, who is challenging Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-MI)…
Former New York City Mayor Eric Adams is being sued by an ex-staffer over allegations that she was discriminated against because she is Palestinian, claiming that Adams had adopted a strict anti-Palestinian stance after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks. The aide, Hasibe Rashid, is asking for the court to reinstate her as a policy advisor in Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s office…
Several Jewish legal organizations sent Mamdani a letter protesting the makeup of his 18-person judicial nominating advisory committee, which contains no Jewish representation…
In an opinion piece in the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, William Daroff and Betsy Berns Korn, the CEO and chair of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, decry Mamdani’s repeated claim that Israel committed a “genocide” in Gaza, comparing it to medieval blood libels…
Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel told Politico he heard from Vice President Kamala Harris, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and GOP Utah Gov. Spencer Cox after his speech laying out his Israel policy at Tel Aviv University earlier this month, saying they were “all very affirmative and all appreciative”…
Daniel Moraff, the political consultant who helped recruit failed Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner before Platner’s campaign collapsed following a rape allegation, was himself accused of sexual assault: One former romantic partner told The Handbasket that Moraff had sex with her in 2019 in spite of her repeated objections and the former campaign manager for Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA) said Moraff was barred from Lee’s 2022 campaign due to six allegations of sexual misconduct, including at least one of sexual assault…
David Fox, the dealmaker credited with building Kirkland & Ellis into the world’s biggest law firm, has now launched Irving, a law firm primarily driven by AI, and is building a center for AI at Hebrew University’s law school…
In The Free Press, Casey Babb reports on a spike in emigration of Jewish Canadians due to heightened antisemitism in the country…
The New York Times profiles Sammy Nussdorf, the Jewish 29-year-old who parlayed his family’s business acumen and his TikTok account into Meadow Lane, a viral Lower Manhattan gourmet market that pulled in $3 million in its first 90 days…
“Mazel Tough,” a new romantic comedy series about modern dating in the Jewish community, will feature Jewish stars Alex Rich, Adam Shapiro, Michael Vlamis and Jonathan Lipnicki…
British musician Boy George released a new single defending Israel’s actions in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks. Posted to his X account with the hashtag “Shalom,” the song is titled “We Will Dance Again,” a mantra used by survivors of the Nova music festival massacre…
Pic of the Day
Israeli Minister of Economy and Industry Nir Barkat voted in the Likud party’s internal elections on Monday in Jerusalem.
The Likud Central Committee approved a proposal that grants Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu eight reserved slots in the top 29 places on the list, significantly increasing his control over the party’s slate.
Birthdays
Actor and reality show personality, Elizabeth Berkley Lauren turns 54…
Survivor of Auschwitz-Birkenau as a teen, he emigrated to Israel and became an artist, Yehuda Bacon turns 97… Chicago radio and television news personality, Walter David Jacobson turns 89… U.S. District Court judge in Manhattan, then U.S. attorney general during the Bush 43 administration, now of counsel at the international law firm of Debevoise & Plimpton, Michael Mukasey turns 85… Swedish industrialist, chairman of the Nobel Foundation (manager of the Nobel Prize) from 2005 to 2013, Marcus Storch Ph.D. turns 84… In 1986 she became the first woman in the IDF to hold the rank of brigadier general, she then served as a member of Knesset, and now serves on multiple for-profit and nonprofit boards, Amira Dotan turns 79… Tax professional, Joe Pollak turns 76… President of the Council on Foreign Relations for 20 years until he retired in 2023, Richard N. Haass turns 75… Tel Aviv-born real estate developer, he has restored many historic buildings in Downtown Los Angeles, Izek Shomof turns 67… Partner and managing director of Meadow Lane Advisors, he serves on the board of American Jewish World Service, Marty Friedman… French-Israeli hairdresser and entrepreneur, Michel Mercier turns 65… American schoolteacher, wrongfully detained by Russia in 2021, he was released in the early weeks of the Trump 47 administration, Marc Hilliard Fogel turns 65… Talent booker, publicist and television and radio personality in Atlanta, Mara Davis turns 57… Tech entrepreneur who has invested in more than 100 startups, New York Times best-selling author, Joshua M. “Josh” Linkner turns 56… Co-founder of the personal genomics and biotechnology company 23andMe, she recently regained control of the company, Anne Wojcicki turns 53… Inaugural Jewish life venture fellow at the William Davidson Foundation, now deputy CEO at UpStart, Jennifer Lew Goldstone… Jerusalem-born actor with more than 30 movie and television roles in the U.S., Ori Pfeffer turns 51… Associate justice of the Supreme Court of California, Leondra Kruger turns 50… Israeli journalist and former member of the Knesset, Ksenia Svetlova turns 49… Managing partner at Altitude Ventures, a healthcare venture capital firm, he served as White House Jewish liaison from 2005 to 2007, Jay Zeidman… Senior reporter at Bloomberg News, Laura Nahmias… CEO and CTO at Diagnostic Robotics in Jerusalem, the firm produced an app for managing COVID-19 patients during the pandemic, Kira Radinsky Ph.D. turns 40… VP of player personnel at MLB’s Miami Marlins, Samuel Mondry-Cohen… Director of operations at Elite Healthcare Consultants, Menachem “Mark” Perl… Actor and producer who stars in the CBS series “Ghosts,” Asher Chazen Grodman turns 39… Staff writer at The New Yorker, Ruby Cramer… Larry Gordon…
His critics once saw him as an ally, but fear he’s pandered to extremists as he raises his national profile ahead of the 2028 presidential election
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) leaves the U.S. Capitol on March 13, 2024 in Washington.
Rep. Ro Khanna’s (D-CA) emergence as a leading Democratic party critic of Israel — while affiliating with and embracing individuals and groups that have been accused of antisemitism and support for terrorism — is creating divisions within the local Jewish community in his Silicon Valley-centered district.
While Khanna maintains unified support from Jewish elected officials in the district, other Jewish community leaders say they feel abandoned, ignored and even attacked by their congressman, whom they once saw as an ally, as he faces what could be his most credible primary challenge in years.
For some in the district, ties with the congressman have been strained for years, and were further inflamed by the March attack on two Israeli Americans in San Jose’s Santana Row shopping district.
Khanna strongly condemned the attack but some in the community said his words rang hollow after months of escalating anti-Israel rhetoric. Some Jewish leaders in the district say that they saw a direct connection between Khanna’s incendiary language condemning the Jewish state and attacks such as the one their community experienced.
Two days after the attack, Khanna posted about how he is “proud to stand” with Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner and New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, as well as to join far-left streamer Hasan Piker’s show, all of whom have faced criticism from the Jewish community — comments that prompted condemnation by Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt.
Jewish leaders in the district who are now critical of the congressman said the community’s relationship with Khanna started out strong when he was first elected in 2016, but has significantly deteriorated over time, particularly in the past few years. Khanna’s Silicon Valley district includes substantial, concentrated Jewish and Israeli-American communities.
Tali Klima, a spokesperson for Bay Area Jewish Coalition Action, a local grassroots advocacy group, said that Khanna was “warmly welcomed” by the Jewish community when he was first elected and that many in the community had supported him.
Khanna traveled to Israel three times while in office, and has expressed support for the Abraham Accords, voted in 2019 to condemn the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, condemned calls to “globalize the intifada,” voted in early 2024 to condemn the slogan “from the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free” and introduced a Holocaust education resolution in 2024. Amid rising antisemitism in recent years, he has touted appointing a point of contact for addressing antisemitism in the district on his congressional team.
But, Klima and other critics said, they’ve seen the congressman’s posture change over time.
“He’s become more and more divisive and more extremist in his views, that we never heard when he was first elected, especially since Oct. 7. It’s been a massive shift in the way that he communicates about things that we care about,” Klima continued.
“At this point, the community has really lost trust in him,” Klima said. “Much of the community is afraid of him, and much of the community is also very angry and feels betrayed by him.”
“Having participated in local town halls with Representative Khanna and spoken with him about various community concerns, I am thankful for his commitment to open dialogue and remaining accessible even when we disagree,” Assemblymember Patrick Ahrens said. “His dedication to peace and justice for all people and support for a two-state solution is laudable. He has been a leader for accountability and transparency with the Trump Administration, particularly with the bipartisan push for the release of the Epstein files.”
Khanna has frequently and repeatedly accused Israel of genocide, was among the first lawmakers to endorse calls for cutting off U.S. support for Israel’s Iron Dome missile-defense system and led an effort for U.S. recognition of a Palestinian state, among a range of other stances and votes, and has repeatedly faced scrutiny for his affiliations with groups and individuals condemned by the Jewish community.
Later this week, he’s set to offer an amendment to strip a provision advancing U.S.-Israel cooperative programs out of the 2027 defense bill. Though one former Biden administration called the provision “quite unremarkable” and in keeping with existing programs, Khanna called it a “fusion” of the U.S. and Israeli militaries to prevent scrutiny and accountability for U.S. aid to Israel.
Jewish elected officials supporting Khanna, in statements shared with Jewish Insider, praised the congressman for his support for a two-state solution and for engaging with local Jewish communities.
“Having participated in local town halls with Representative Khanna and spoken with him about various community concerns, I am thankful for his commitment to open dialogue and remaining accessible even when we disagree,” Assemblymember Patrick Ahrens said. “His dedication to peace and justice for all people and support for a two-state solution is laudable. He has been a leader for accountability and transparency with the Trump Administration, particularly with the bipartisan push for the release of the Epstein files.”
State Sen. Josh Becker added, “While Congressman Khanna gets a lot of ink for his criticism of Israel he gets less for his vocal support of a two state solution and Israel as a safe democratic Jewish state.”
Others, such as San Jose City Councilmember David Cohen, more broadly praised him for his work on local issues.
“The fact that an elected official like Khanna defends [people like Hasan Piker and Zohran Mamdani] and their dangerous antisemitic views is not only shameful — but it also actively endangers the lives of Jewish people both in his district and around the country,” Oleg Ivanov, executive director of StandWithUs Northern California, said.
“Times are very difficult these days in Washington D.C., and Congressmember Khanna remains a steady advocate for our region and economy. We need people who understand the tech industry and also who bring money back to our community from the federal budget,” Cohen said. “He has shown courage and has been willing to face his constituents at monthly town hall meetings ever since he was elected. While I don’t agree with every position he takes, I admire his thoughtfulness and transparency.”
Cohen declined to speak further on Khanna’s foreign policy work or his relationship with the local Jewish community.
But others in the community feel that their concerns aren’t being heard or listened to by the congressman. Daniel Klein, CEO of Jewish Silicon Valley, a Jewish nonprofit which runs a local JCC and other community programs and resources, said he’s communicated to Khanna directly that he thinks the legislator is out of step with his constituents.
“The fact that an elected official like Khanna defends [people like Hasan Piker and Zohran Mamdani] and their dangerous antisemitic views is not only shameful — but it also actively endangers the lives of Jewish people both in his district and around the country,” Oleg Ivanov, executive director of StandWithUs Northern California, said.
Ivanov also accused Khanna of spreading a “blood libel” in accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza.
Oded Shekel, executive director of Bay Area Jewish Coalition Action, emphasized that members of the Jewish and Israeli community in Khanna’s district feel afraid, isolated and that they have to hide who they are, and don’t feel they’re getting the support they expect from their congressman.
Shekel said that he doesn’t necessarily think Khanna is personally or openly antisemitic, but that he is supporting and rationalizing extreme voices, to the point that has made many Jews like him feel that Khanna is the “strongest voice [that] hurts Jews in his district.”
Khanna joined a town hall in 2024 hosted by the Bay Area Jewish Coalition — a separate entity from Bay Area Jewish Coalition Action led by the same individuals — but the relationship has soured since then.
Sunnyvale Mayor Larry Klein, a Khanna supporter, said he’d attended the BAJC town hall, and met with Jewish community members alongside Khanna to discuss the challenges that Jewish high schoolers were facing from antisemitism in the district, and how the congressman could address them.
“Good to hear directly from High School Students and their parents on the district issues,” Mayor Klein said in a statement. “It was valuable to hear firsthand about the harassment that Jewish Students had endured.
Mayor Klein also praised Khanna’s “bipartisan approach to leadership” on issues including “working to halt reckless foreign intervention” and the release of the Epstein Files, saying that Khanna, “consistently puts principles over politics.” He also praised Khanna’s engagement with constituents more broadly and work on securing federal funding for the district.
Daniel Klein of Jewish Silicon Valley described Khanna’s stances and statements as hostile to the Jewish community. He said that the violent attack in Santana Row, and other similar incidents, are the “natural maturation” of the rhetoric Khanna has used and elevated.
“I appreciate the congressman being outraged” about the Santana Row attack, “but statements and what he normalizes and who he platforms before these incidents, and then who he chooses to stand with and platform and normalize after these incidents, makes the community feel unseen and unsupported by the congressman,” Klein said he told Khanna’s office in the wake of the attack.
Yet, Klein said, Khanna’s rhetoric does not appear to have shifted substantially since the March attack.
“I’m a big fan of Congressman Khanna,” Ben Linder, a J Street board member who lives just outside Khanna’s district, told JI. “The majority of the Jewish community is squarely behind him and very aligned with him,” Linder continued, emphasizing that he has seen Khanna speak on multiple occasions to busy synagogue audiences.
Klima echoed that, expressing frustration that Khanna’s condemnation of the attack was quickly followed by a return to his usual rhetoric and activity.
In addition to Jewish elected officials backing him, Khanna maintains support among segments of the local Jewish community. Ben Linder, a J Street board member who lives just outside Khanna’s district, told JI he continues to strongly support the congressman. J Street has endorsed Khanna, but Linder spoke to JI in a personal capacity, not on behalf of the progressive Israel advocacy group.
“I’m a big fan of Congressman Khanna,” Linder, who was born in Israel and moved to the U.S. in high school, said. “The majority of the Jewish community is squarely behind him and very aligned with him,” Linder continued, emphasizing that he has seen Khanna speak on multiple occasions to busy synagogue audiences.
He called critics “out of touch with the view of the majority of Jews right now” both in Khanna’s district and nationally, pointing to a Washington Post poll last year that found a majority of Jews are critical of the way the war in Gaza has been conducted.
He asserted that discontent with Khanna traces to a “vocal minority in the district, mainly led by right-wing Israeli expats that dislike Congressman Khanna” and are “out of touch with where our community is.”
“I consider Ro Khanna very pro-Israel. He is clearly anti-Netanyahu and anti- the policies of Israel’s right wing government, but so am I, and, I think, so are the majority of Jews in this district,” Linder said.
Critics of Khanna said that the congressman’s activity following the Santana Row attack matches a pattern they’ve observed repeatedly when Khanna is called out for conduct or statements they find offensive — Khanna will apologize, or offer targeted condemnations, but won’t substantially change his behavior, and ultimately continues doubling down.
They said this pattern ignores the way that Khanna’s own rhetoric is fueling antisemitism.
Klima emphasized that Khanna’s constituents have come to him on numerous occasions asking him to dial down his rhetoric. At this point, she said, his “symbolic condemnations” of antisemitism “ring very hollow.”
“He’s speaking out of both sides of his mouth, basically,” she said, adding that, as a longtime congressman, his comments “[legitimize] this rhetoric,” driving similar activity from other local officials as well.
Ivanov said it’s easy for Khanna to denounce antisemitic attacks or vandalism, “but as soon as he does that, he continues to spread the antisemitic conspiracy theories, to defend antisemitic speakers that are out there every day, fueling the antisemitism that leads to these actions.”
“We will not accept Khanna’s pro-forma denunciation of antisemitic incidents while he himself continues to fuel antisemitism and defend antisemites,” Ivanov said.
Linder, the Khanna supporter, argued that Khanna has made clear that he “will speak with anyone” and “dialogues with people he disagrees with, and I respect that.” Khanna has expressed similar sentiments to JI in the past.
Linder said he strongly disagreed with the notion that Khanna’s rhetoric is fueling violence, and emphasized that the Santana Row attack was not charged as a hate crime.
“I don’t believe there was sufficient evidence to show that it was hate-motivated,” Linder said. “The congressman came out very quickly and denounced that attack, denounced the violence, and I fundamentally am not a subscriber to the notion that criticizing Israel fuels antisemitism. I see a clear delineation between criticism of Israel and Jew hatred. I don’t believe the two are connected. As a matter of fact, I think some of the actions of Netanyahu and the Israeli government, the extreme right Israeli government foment antisemitism.”
Shekel, a Khanna critic, said that, during conversations with Khanna about antisemitism that community members are facing, Khanna has expressed sympathy while pivoting to emphasize his disputes with various Israeli government policies.
“We feel that he is fixated, obsessed with Israel,” Klima added.
“The organized Jewish community is telling you exactly where the majority of the Jewish community stands, and if you choose not to listen, it is not due to lack of knowing where your constituents are. It’s a choice,” Daniel Klein, CEO of Jewish Silicon Valley, said. “It’s a choice at that point, and then that begs the question of why the member of Congress is choosing to ignore the Jewish community while also at the same time saying he’s being responsive to the Jewish community. That’s a contradiction I don’t have the answer to.”
Klein said that some in the community see Khanna as not only ignoring their concerns but attacking the Jewish community for elevating those issues in the first place. He pointed to an incident in which Khanna shared on his X account a clip of Holocaust denying social media influencer Ian Carroll as one such instance.
Klein said he and representatives of the local Jewish Community Relations Council sat down in person with Khanna’s staff about the video — “not only the fact that this person was platformed, the person wasn’t taken down immediately, and instead of listening to the Jewish community’s concerns, at least publicly, he seemed to attack the Jewish community instead.”
Klein also characterized Khanna as deflecting the concerns of the local Jewish community in conversations, offering a variety of excuses, including pointing to national polling on Israel policy issues.
“The organized Jewish community is telling you exactly where the majority of the Jewish community stands, and if you choose not to listen, it is not due to lack of knowing where your constituents are. It’s a choice,” Klein said. “It’s a choice at that point, and then that begs the question of why the member of Congress is choosing to ignore the Jewish community while also at the same time saying he’s being responsive to the Jewish community. That’s a contradiction I don’t have the answer to.”
Critics in the district see a political motivation behind Khanna’s rhetoric and positioning.
Ivanov said that he first met Khanna several years ago, when Ivanov was working for the American Jewish Committee. The congressman at the time emphasized “the importance of maintaining progressive support for Israel in American society. That has obviously changed over the past few years, where he has embraced this tide of vilification of Israel as a way to appeal to the rising popularity of bashing Israel among certain voters,” Ivanov said.
Klima said that the “general sentiment” among members of the Jewish community is that Khanna’s stance is “opportunistic” and that he’s following anti-Israel trends for the sake of popularity, rather than any “deeply held view.”
“We feel like he’s throwing us, his constituents, under the bus for his political game, because he feels like this is a win for progressives,” she said.
The congressman is widely seen as preparing for a presidential campaign in 2028.
Khanna’s frequent commentary about the “Epstein Class” — he was one of the leading advocates in the House for releasing files related to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — has also set off alarm bells for Khanna’s critics.
Klima said that many in the Jewish community read those references as code for the Jewish community writ large, “because of our history with him, our recent history with him.” She said that Khanna’s pattern of rhetoric and actions has sowed distrust of him and his motives.
Khanna has dismissed the notion that the phrase is antisemitic, pointing to Jewish elected officials who have also spoken about the “Epstein Class.”
Critics in the district say that Khanna has a lot of work to do to repair his relationships with the Jewish community — and that it will take more than the pro forma condemnations of antisemitism that they feel he’s been offering over the past few years.
Klein encouraged Khanna to “stop feeding the extreme left and the alt-right” on social media and called on him to apologize for “ignoring the Jewish community,” and “actually start listening to the organized Jewish community,” rather than the “fringes.”
Klima said that she is fed up with what she sees as “symbolic gestures” by the congressman.
“We feel like we’re just pawns in his political game, because the very next day, he’s back to the ‘genocide’ and his political obsession,” she said. “[He] is clearly hurting us and it needs to be something much deeper than just a statement.”
Plus, Senate Rs hold the line on Iran enrichment
Oliver Contreras / AFP via Getty Images
Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks during the inaugural Critical Minerals Ministerial meeting at the Sate Department in Washington, DC, on February 4, 2026.
👋 Good Tuesday morning!
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we preview today’s high-level talks in Washington between Israel and Lebanon, and talk to Senate Republicans about reports of a U.S. request for Iran to pause its enrichment of uranium for 20 years. We report on a call from Rep. Angie Craig, who is mounting a Senate bid, for Minnesota Democrats to investigate antisemitic activity ahead of the state party’s convention, and look at what the election in Hungary of Péter Magyar could portend for Budapest-Jerusalem relations. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Gov. Wes Moore, Noah Wyle and Elkana and Rebecca Bohbot.
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
- Secretary of State Marco Rubio will oversee talks in Washington this morning with Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter and Lebanese Ambassador to the U.S. Nada Hamadeh. U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa and State Department Counselor Michael Needham will also join the talks, slated to start at 11 a.m. Read more here.
- Ahead of the talks, a senior Hezbollah official said the Iran-backed group would not abide by any agreement reached between Beirut and Jerusalem. Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has continued since the implementation of the Iran ceasefire, but has largely occurred in southern Lebanon and northern Israel following pressure from the White House for Israel to scale back its attacks in Beirut.
- A second round of in-person negotiations between the U.S. and Iran could take place as soon as this week — days before the April 21 expiration of the current ceasefire — following President Donald Trump’s comments yesterday that “we’ve been called by the other side,” who would “like to make a deal very badly, very badly.”
- The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum is hosting its annual Yom HaShoah commemoration on Capitol Hill this morning, with more than 30 Holocaust survivors slated to attend. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Reps. Joe Wilson (R-SC) and Lois Frankel (D-FL) and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick will participate in the ceremony, during which Ben Ferencz, who served as the U.S.’ chief prosecutor in Nuremberg, will be posthumously honored.
- The Atlantic Council is hosting Jacob Helberg, the State Department’s under secretary of state for economic growth, energy and the environment, this evening for a discussion on U.S. economic leadership in the Middle East.
- Semafor’s World Economy Summit continues today in Washington. Speakers include Helberg, Sens. Tim Sheehy (R-MT) and Gary Peters (D-MI), former Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, Michael Dell, Reid Hoffman, Meta’s Dina Powell McCormick, Forum AI’s Campbell Brown and Citadel’s Ken Griffin.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S JOSH KRAUSHAAR
Tomorrow (April 15) isn’t just Tax Day, but it’s also the deadline for candidates vying in the pivotal midterms to report their latest fundraising figures — an important marker on the political calendar in determining which candidates are raising enough money to run credible campaigns and which will be left financially behind.
Historically, having a critical mass of prominent, well-heeled supporters was a prerequisite for a congressional candidate being able to get their message out to the public.
Not long ago, candidates with extreme or exotic views — such as those affiliated with the Democratic Socialists of America on the left or those embracing conspiracy theories on the far right — would have a hard time being taken seriously by rank-and-file donors, who typically want a back a winner and would shy away from those with far-out-of-the-mainstream views.
Similarly, the pro-Israel community historically benefited from the presence of strong organizations like AIPAC that helped pool supporters’ money to favored candidates, giving them outsized impact within both parties. More recently, AIPAC’s super PAC has led the way in engaging directly in political campaigns, directly spending money on behalf of favored candidates and attacking some of the most radical candidates on the ballot.
But in our brave new decentralized world of politics and media, where a critical mass of small-dollar donations from passionate individuals can easily be amassed online (especially through an incendiary video clip or well-timed fundraising appeal), the comparative advantage of having a defined group of reliable donors can be neutralized by an online feeding frenzy that galvanizes enough individuals to give to a radical cause or candidate.
At the same time, the social media-driven public conversation — without any guardrails and few standards — has totally transformed what is viewed as normal. One recent example: 27-year-old Kat Abughazaleh, a far-left social media influencer without any roots in the Chicago-area district she was running in, raised well over $3 million for her (unsuccessful) primary campaign, fueled by high-volume, low-dollar, largely out-of-state contributions.
If former House Speaker Tip O’Neill once said all politics is local, the opposite is true today. All politics is now nationalized, with the most outlandish hot takes and incendiary commentary most likely to go viral.
TEHRAN TALKS
Senate Republicans maintained the position on Monday that Iran should never be allowed to possess nuclear enrichment capacity, following reports that the administration had proposed a 20-year pause in enrichment — rather than a permanent end to Iran’s enrichment capacity — as part of peace talks in Islamabad over the weekend, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
What they’re saying: Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-NE) told JI that he hadn’t seen the reports about the administration’s negotiating position and declined to comment on it specifically, but said more broadly that he does not believe that Iran has any legitimate need for enrichment. “There’s no civilian reason for Iran to have an enrichment program,” Ricketts said. “They’re getting their uranium right now for their civilian program from Russia, and the fact that they have admitted they’ve enriched uranium to near bomb-grade potential demonstrates that this is for nuclear weapon production, not civilian use.”
Read the full story here with additional comments from Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), John Cornyn (R-TX), Ted Budd (R-NC), Rick Scott (R-FL), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), John Kennedy (R-LA), James Lankford (R-OK) and John Curtis (R-UT).
MARKING THE DAY
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore pledged that his administration “will always support Maryland’s Jewish community” in recorded remarks for an event Monday evening marking Yom HaShoah, Israel’s Holocaust memorial day, at Beth Tfiloh Congregation in Pikesville, Md., a heavily Jewish suburb of Baltimore, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
What he said: The Maryland governor, a potential Democratic presidential contender, said that it is his and his state’s “governing philosophy” to “unapologetically confront and condemn antisemitism and persecution wherever it arises,” to provide no refuge to hate, denial and conspiracy theories, to ensure that everyone feels safe to worship and to “realize the full promise of tikkun olam.” He called Holocaust remembrance a “responsibility” for those living today.
MINNESOTA MATTERS
The Senate campaign of Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN) is calling on Minnesota’s Democratic Party to launch a formal investigation into a series of alleged instances of antisemitic activity among delegates in the lead-up to its state convention being held at the end of next month, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.
Allegations: In a letter sent last week to Richard Carlbom, chair of Minnesota’s Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, Craig’s campaign wrote that one of its staffers had received a threatening anonymous phone call last month from a person “believed to be a delegate” who used an ethnic slur for Jews and said that the congresswoman “takes dirty Jewish money.” The letter, shared exclusively with JI, also cited a local DFL organizing convention in late March at which an unnamed delegate allegedly said that “we should nuke” Israel, among other examples of extremist violent rhetoric.
PIKER’S POV
Given the chance to walk back some of his most incendiary commentary on an episode of the “Pod Save America” podcast released Sunday, antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker instead doubled down on his support of Hamas and other inflammatory rhetoric, Jewish Insider’s Danielle Cohen-Kanik reports.
What he said: “This [quote] is from January,” host Jon Favreau, a former speechwriter to President Barack Obama, told Piker in a segment looking back on some of Piker’s comments that have been picked up by national media. “‘Hamas is a thousand times better than a fascist settler colonial apartheid state,’” Favreau quoted. “I stand by that,” Piker responded quickly, later adding, “I’m a lesser-evil voter and therefore I would vote for Hamas over Israel every single time.”
Called to account: Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) called for the federal government to “immediately” pull funding from Yale University over Yale Political Union’s decision to host Piker, who previously suggested that the senator should be killed. Piker is scheduled to speak on campus Tuesday for a debate titled “Resolved: End the American Empire,” JI’s Haley Cohen reports.
HUNGARY FOR MORE
The end of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s 16-year tenure following his electoral defeat on Sunday to center-right rival Péter Magyar has sparked immediate questions regarding the future of one of Jerusalem’s most reliable, yet complicated, alliances in Europe. While Orbán’s departure removes a reliable ally of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu within the European Union, experts suggest Jerusalem’s standing in Europe and bilateral relationship with Budapest will not be significantly set back, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports.
Solid standing: Jonathan Ruhe, a fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, suggested that significant change in posturing is unlikely. “Israel’s standing in Europe won’t be dimmed by Orbán’s departure,” Ruhe said. “Israel has reliable partners like Germany, Czechia, Greece and Cyprus. Germany in particular has been a firewall against a lot of European anti-Israeli actions, and Magyar has suggested he’ll follow Germany’s lead here.”
POLL POLITICS
A recently conducted survey assessing how Jewish voters view leading Israel advocacy groups finds that public opinion is divided over the effectiveness of outside engagement in American elections, Jewish Insider’s Josh Kraushaar reports. The Mellman Group poll, commissioned by the Jewish Electorate Institute (JEI) and released last week, surveyed 800 registered Jewish voters between March 13-23.
Survey says: It found a narrow 39% plurality agreed that it “was more important than ever” for pro-Israel groups to play a leading role in speaking out against candidates who oppose a close U.S.-Israel alliance, while 37% of respondents feared that such advocacy risks making things worse. The split largely was along partisan lines: While two-thirds of Jewish Republicans and 59% of Jewish independents backed strong pro-Israel political advocacy, just 28% of Democrats shared the same view. A near-majority (46%) of Democrats feared that pro-Israel electioneering could turn voters against Israel.
Worthy Reads
West Bank Extremes: In The Free Press, Haviv Rettig Gur warns that settler violence in the West Bank has the potential to radicalize Palestinian elements in the enclave and drive further strife. “Underneath all of this is a structural failure: the absence of a coherent rule of law in the West Bank. In a system without clear law and order, naked power wins. Always. For Palestinians, legal uncertainty is constant — over land, over protection. For extremist settlers, that vacuum is an opportunity. Meanwhile, most Israelis are looking elsewhere, at rockets, at war, at existential threats. The settler violence issue feels secondary. Or unsolvable. And that’s a mistake. Because there will be a price to pay for this lawlessness.” [FreePress]
Dire Straits: In Foreign Policy, Bobby Ghosh looks at the challenges facing Tehran as the Islamic Republic focuses on its control of the Strait of Hormuz after six weeks of war that has degraded much of the country’s military capabilities. “The element of strategic surprise [on Hormuz] is now spent, and the world will find ways to mitigate the costs Iran can impose. Mojtaba Khamenei may match Trump for braggadocio, but the country he has inherited from his father has been devastated, and the prospects for recovery are grim. All the problems that existed before Feb. 28 exist still, compounded by everything the war has wrought. A survivor he may be. Stronger, he isn’t.” [ForeignPolicy]
IHRA Ire: In the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Combat Antisemitism Movement’s Alyza Lewin praises the decision by Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers to sign into law legislation adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism. “Why are detractors aggressively seeking to torpedo IHRA legislation? The answer: Because the IHRA definition exposes bad-faith actors who deliberately seek to conceal their hatred of Jews under the guise of political criticism of Israel. It unmasks those who claim to support Jews but work overtime to turn society against anyone who recognizes essential components of Jewishness, namely Jewish peoplehood and a shared ancestry originating in the Land of Israel.” [MilwaukeeJournalSentinel]
Word on the Street
President Donald Trump signed a bill extending the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act, which will make it easier for the descendants of Holocaust survivors and victims whose art was looted by the Nazis to recover the works; the legislation passed the House of Representatives last month and the Senate in December…
A group of six additional Senate Democrats plan to file new war powers resolutions this week to halt the war in Iran, a move that would allow Democrats to continue forcing votes on the war for the foreseeable future, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…
The Atlantic looks at the commercial impact of the U.S.’ blockade of the Strait of Hormuz as Washington attempts to force Iranian concessions vis-a-vis economic pressure…
The Wall Street Journal spotlights Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) efforts to shift the Democratic Party to the left as he backs far-left candidates across the country during the midterms…
Reps. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) and Tony Gonzales (R-TX) announced their resignations from Congress amid efforts to expel both men, in addition to Reps. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL) and Cory Mills (R-FL), from the House…
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro hosted King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands at an event at Philadelphia’s Independence Hall on Monday…
The Washington Post reports on a recent dinner in which Heritage Foundation chief Kevin Roberts praised Chronicles editor Paul Gottfried, whose monthly magazine has platformed far-right fringe and white supremacist writers…
The New York Times looks at efforts by National Ground Game, a nascent Democratic group, and antisemitic conspiracy theorist Nick Fuentes to make gains on college campuses following last year’s killing of Charlie Kirk, whose Turning Point USA had developed a large campus following under Kirk’s leadership…
More than 1,000 Hollywood figures signed onto a letter from Jane Fonda’s Committee for the First Amendment, Norm Eisen’s Democracy Defenders Fund and the Future Film Coalition opposing Paramount’s efforts to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, citing the loss of jobs and higher costs they believe would result from the deal…
“The Pitt” actor Noah Wyle, whose father was Jewish, talked to the U.K.’s Jewish Chronicle about his time on the show and his first experience playing a Jewish character…
Dublin’s National Concert Hall canceled an upcoming fundraiser for Magen David Adom Ireland for a second time after the event, scheduled for May, was canceled and reinstated…
A report from Tel Aviv University released ahead of Yom HaShoah, Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day, found that 2025 saw the highest level of deadly antisemitic violence in more than 30 years…
Former Israeli hostage Elkana Bohbot and his wife, Rebecca, announced on the six-month anniversary of Bohbot’s release from Gaza that they are expecting their second child…
Former U.S. Ambassador to the Bahamas Arthur Schechter, who previously served as president of the Jewish Federation of Houston and a member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, died at 84…
Pic of the Day
Birthdays
Basketball player selected 26th overall by the Brooklyn Nets in the first round of the 2025 NBA draft, Ben Saraf turns 20…
Anne Monk… Former chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Elisse B. Walter turns 76… Israeli news editor and analyst who retired in 2020 from the Israeli daily Haaretz, Chemi Shalev turns 73… Media executive who sold her family’s controlling interest in Paramount Global to Skydance Media in August 2025, Shari Redstone turns 72… Co-founder, co-chairman and co-CEO at Canyon Partners, LLC, Mitchell Julis turns 71… Film, television and theater producer, his credits include the widely acclaimed 2016 film “La La Land,” Marc Platt turns 69… Birmingham, Ala.-based post-denominational rabbi, known on social media as “Deep South Rabbi,” Barry Altmark… Founder of Bobbi Brown Cosmetics and author of 10 books about makeup and beauty, Bobbi Brown turns 69… Border czar for the first few months of the Biden administration, she is the former U.S. ambassador to Mexico, Roberta S. Jacobson turns 66… Bench coach for the New York Yankees, he was also bench coach for Team Israel at the World Baseball Classic in 2023, Brad Ausmus turns 57… Los Angeles-based freelance editor and writer, Robin Heinz Bratslavsky… SVP of Washington and investigative news at CNN, Adam Levine… Emmy Award-winning actress best known for the title role on the WB series “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” Sarah Michelle Gellar Prinze turns 49… Journalist, professor and author of five books, Sasha Issenberg turns 46… Co-founder and CEO of Statt, a venture-backed AI/ML enterprise software platform, Steve Glickman… Teacher, formerly principal, at Bnei Akiva Schools of Toronto, Hillel David Rapp… French entrepreneur, he is the president of CRIF, the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions since 2022, Yonathan Arfi turns 46… Founder and CEO of Charity Bids, Israel “Yummy” Schachter… Award-winning science fiction and fantasy writer, Rachel Swirsky turns 44… President of Sightful, he is the co-author of The New York Times bestseller The Black Banners, Daniel Freedman… Classical cellist, she was awarded a MacArthur Foundation genius grant in 2022, Alisa Weilerstein turns 44… Former baseball first baseman who played in the MLB, Japanese and Mexican leagues, Joshua S. Whitesell turns 44… Documentary filmmaker, Nicholas Ma… Washington-based senior technology policy reporter at Axios, Ashley Gold… Isaac Hasson… Graphic designer and daughter of Carolina Panthers owner, David Tepper, Casey Tepper… Yitzchak Tendler… Jon Fine… Moriah Elbaz…
Rep. Ritchie Torres: ‘Hopefully you’ll have a Democratic Party with enough successors to sustain and strengthen the U.S.-Israel relationship’
Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images
Congressman Steny Hoyer (D-MD) speaks at a press conference in Washington, DC on February 24, 2025.
Democratic lawmakers and leaders are lauding Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), the longtime former No. 2 Democratic House leader, as a champion for Israel and say that his retirement, announced Thursday, will deprive Democrats of one of the leading congressional advocates of a strong U.S.-Israel relationship.
Hoyer, 86, has served in Congress since 1981, and was the second-most senior House Democrat from 2007-2023. A prominent voice respected by colleagues on both sides of the aisle, Hoyer has for years led first-term Democrats on trips to Israel with the AIPAC-affiliated American Israel Education Foundation. His retirement comes at a time of a sea change on Israel policy among Democratic lawmakers and the party base.
Though he has at times offered criticism of Israeli policies and voted — despite serious objections — for the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, Hoyer has remained among the most steadfast and outspoken Democratic supporters of Israel during the war in Gaza and was largely supportive of the U.S. strikes on Iran last June.
Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) told Jewish Insider that Hoyer has “historically … been one of the guardians of the U.S.-Israel relationship within the Democratic Party.”
“He will have no replacement, but hopefully you’ll have a Democratic Party with enough successors to sustain and strengthen the U.S.-Israel relationship,” Torres continued.
“He has been a great friend to Israel. I’ve traveled to Israel with him. I’ve stood with him in the Appropriations Committee to make sure Israel gets the financial support that it needs to be secure,” Rep. Lois Frankel (D-FL) told JI. “When you look around this chamber, it’s hard to find many members who have been so long standing advocate[s] for the security of Israel.”
“You see a new wave of of members coming in on both sides who don’t really have the historic context of the importance of security for Israel — and so, yeah, he’s a big loss,” Frankel continued.
Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) told JI that Hoyer’s retirement would be a “huge loss” for supporters of the U.S.-Israel relationship.
“We’re seeing that — not just with people like [Hoyer], but other senior members — that when they leave, the people who are replacing them are not just [not] pro-Israel. They’re anti-Israel,” Moskowitz said. “What flavor of anti-Israel are we going to get? So for the pro-Israel community, it’s a whole separate concern.”
Hoyer’s suburban Maryland district is safely Democratic, and includes the eastern D.C. suburbs and the outskirts of Annapolis and Baltimore. Five candidates have already declared their candidacy in the district, and several ambitious Maryland political figures could join the race.
Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) noted in a statement that the two leaders’ experience leading delegations to the Jewish state was one of the factors that united them across the partisan divide.
Brian Romick, the CEO of Democratic Majority for Israel, who previously served as Hoyer’s chief of staff and worked for the congressman for almost three decades — beginning as a teenage campaign volunteer — said that one of the critical lessons Hoyer taught him was “why America must remain a steadfast friend of Israel.”
“I helped him lead 12 congressional delegations there, ensuring that members of Congress learned not just about the important strategic relationship between the United States and Israel but also about the miracle of Israel’s very existence,” Romick said. “Those trips were powerful and transformative experiences for us. He worked relentlessly to ensure Israel had the resources it needed to defend itself by itself and fought back against attempts to undermine the U.S.-Israel relationship.”
“Our country, the Democratic Party and the pro-Israel movement are all in a better place today because of his service,” Romick continued.
In a statement, AIPAC praised Hoyer as “one of the most principled champions of the U.S.-Israel alliance to ever serve in Congress.”
“His unwavering commitment to building bipartisan support for Israel’s security, leadership on dozens of congressional delegations to Israel, and moral clarity in defending this partnership have made an impact that will be felt for generations to come,” the organization said.
Outside of his support for Israel, colleagues praised Hoyer as a leader, mentor and a steadfast champion of Congress as an institution.
“Congressman Hoyer is just a very good friend,” Frankel said. “I love him, and I’m going to miss him a lot, and his legacy is amazing. … His departure is going to be a loss in a lot of areas. I mean, the man is amazing, and his historic knowledge of this body is just awesome.”
Moskowitz said that the “institution won’t be the same without him.”
“Steny’s record on a whole host of issues — and also, when new members come in, Steny’s one of the folks that takes you on a tour of this building,” Moskowitz continued. “He brings you along, he helps train you, he also makes you understand when you’re in the majority how you govern, and when you’re in the minority, how you [can] be the loyal opposition. His presence is going to be deeply missed.”
Torres called Hoyer “an institution” who has “dedicated 45 years of his life to serving Congress.”
“You’d be hard-pressed to find someone who has a greater reverence for Congress as an institution than Steny Hoyer,” he said.
Romick lauded Hoyer for teaching him “lessons that will stay with me for a lifetime,” and said that his work with Hoyer “profoundly … shape[d] my career and my character.”
“His strong leadership and ability to build consensus to pass important legislation improved the lives of Americans,” Romick added.
Even McCarthy, in his statement, said that Hoyer “earned the mutual respect of his colleagues on both sides of the aisle — as a fair dealer, a respected leader, and an institution within the institution he most loved,” calling Hoyer “a good friend” and “the only one trustworthy in his party’s leadership team.”
“The House, his constituents in Southern Maryland he has represented for over 40 years, and our nation are indebted to the service of a statesman like Steny Hoyer,” McCarthy said.
Rep. Katherine Clark is the highest-ranking Democrat to have used the term, even as only a small number of other lawmakers have done so
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-MA) conducts a news conference in the Capitol Visitor Center on Wednesday, July 23, 2025.
Rep. Katherine Clark (D-MA), who serves as the House Democratic whip, the No. 2 Democratic leader in the chamber, described the war in Gaza as a “genocide” in an event this week, based on video of the event that has been shared online.
“We each have to continue to have an open heart about how we do this, how we do it effectively, and how we take action in time to make a difference, whether that is stopping the starvation and genocide and destruction of Gaza, or whether that means we are working together to stop the redistricting that is going on, taking away the vote from people in order to retain power,” Clark said in a brief clip from an event that was first reported by Axios.
Clark spokesperson Joy Lee has said in a statement provided to multiple outlets that Clark’s “position on the war has not changed,” including that she supports a permanent ceasefire, the return of all hostages and an increase of aid to Gaza.
“It should not be controversial to say that Israeli children did not deserve to be kidnapped and murdered by Hamas, nor should it be controversial to say that Palestinian children, who bear no responsibility for Hamas’ atrocities, do not deserve to be killed by war or starvation,” Lee’s statement reads. “A secure future for Israeli and Palestinian children demands a real two-state solution and a permanent end to efforts to deny their rights to exist.”
Clark’s office did not respond to a request for comment seeking further clarity.
Lee told The Boston Globe that Clark’s comments came in response to protesters at the event. The brief clip shared online does not include the context of Clark’s remarks.
Only a small number of far-left and far-right lawmakers have described the situation in Gaza as a genocide, and none who serve in leadership roles in Congress.
Clark was speaking at an event organized by the Friends Committee on National Legislation, a lobbying group of the Quaker movement, which has been heavily critical of Israel and supported efforts in the Senate to block arms sales to Israel.
Clark’s office did not respond to a question about whether she supports efforts to block some or all weapons sales.
The group’s criticism of Israel predates the war in Gaza, and it lobbied in favor of the Iran nuclear deal. It also advocates more broadly against militarization generally, including pushing for shrinking military spending.
Clark has been endorsed by AIPAC and is featured alongside each of the other top House leaders on the group’s PAC website.
The Auburn University basketball coach has become a vocal advocate for Israel and against antisemitism, speaking at a Capitol Hill event last week
Stew Milne/Getty Images
Bruce Pearl head coach of the Auburn Tigers argues a call during the first half against the Alabama Crimson Tide at Neville Arena on March 8, 2025 in Auburn, Alabama.
With Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), the former Auburn University head football coach, announcing on Tuesday that he’ll forgo a second term in the Senate to instead run for governor of Alabama, chatter is emerging that another Auburn University coach, Bruce Pearl, might follow in Tuberville’s footsteps and make a bid for his Senate seat.
Semafor reported on Tuesday that Pearl’s name is being floated for the seat, but it’s not clear that he is interested. Pearl is Jewish and has become politically active on issues related to Israel and Middle East policy and antisemitism — delivering a keynote address just last week on Capitol Hill at a breakfast celebrating Jewish American Heritage Month.
“Alabama is a Republican stronghold, so the NRSC is confident voters will elect another Republican to continue representing them and championing President Trump’s agenda,” Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), the chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said in a statement about Tuberville’s decision, which did not mention Pearl specifically.
In his speech on the Hill last week, Pearl, who coaches Auburn’s men’s basketball team, rejected the idea of a two-state solution.
Pearl argued that a Palestinian state had effectively been “tried” in Gaza, following the Israeli withdrawal from the territory in 2005. “They had an opportunity and they turned it into a terrorist state. We cannot make that same mistake again,” he said.
“There cannot be another Palestinian state,” Pearl said. “We need to practice our faith and we need to put our faith into practice. My Jewish friends, we need to wake up and understand that when we said never again, we meant never again, but it happened again on Oct. 7.”
Pearl said that he supports the position recently articulated by Trump administration officials on Iran — that negotiations are the right first step but that Iran must dismantle its nuclear program.
“I’m glad President [Donald] Trump is taking leadership and having this discussion, and giving them the opportunity, and if they don’t take the opportunity, it’s got to be done for them,” Pearl said.
He pushed back on charges of genocide leveled against Israel, highlighting that the Palestinian population has ballooned since 1948, and said that Holocaust education should be mandatory and that colleges should be teaching the truth about the Middle East. Pearl also condemned countries that have criticized Israel’s conduct in the war.
“We’ve gotta protect ourselves from those people that want to kill us,” Pearl, who does not have Israeli citizenship, said. “And the second thing is this: We’ve got to be mensches. We’ve got to be kinder. We’ve got to be more generous. We’ve got to be the very best versions of ourselves that we possibly can. That’s what we’re simply commanded to do.”
Pearl told his family’s story at the event — his grandfather fled the pogroms to the United States with three siblings, while the rest of his family remained in Europe, where most died in the Holocaust.
He said he remembers sitting with his crying grandfather watching television coverage of the Six-Day War; Pearl said his grandfather was afraid that Israel would be wiped out overnight.
“He said if Israel was a state, maybe, in 1929, maybe more of his family would have been able to go to Israel,” Pearl said. “And maybe some of his relatives would still be alive. He told me two things that day: Number one, the United States of America saved his life … And the second thing was that if Israel was born sooner, maybe more of my family would still be alive.”
Pearl said that his love for Israel is an intrinsic part of his love of his Jewish faith.
He highlighted connections between the Abrahamic faiths — that Abraham “is the father of all nations, that connects us all” and that Jesus was Jewish.
“The Jewish people are strong. The Jewish people know how to work hard. We’re taught to speak the truth. We’re taught to hold the right values. We’re taught to stand up for injustice. We’re taught to teach it to our children,” Pearl said, describing that spirit as the one that brought him and two other Jewish coaches into the college basketball Final Four this year.
He said he believes the “vast majority of Americans support the Jewish people and support the State of Israel,” and praised Evangelical Christians who support Israel for reasons of faith.
FIRST LOOK – Vanity Fair September issue, “GOLDMAN’S GEEK TRAGEDY: A month after ace (Jewish) programmer Sergey Aleynikov left Goldman Sachs, he was arrested. Exactly what he’d done neither the F.B.I., which interrogated him, nor the jury, which convicted him a year later, seemed to understand. But Goldman had accused him of stealing computer code, and the 41-year-old father of three was sentenced to eight years in federal prison. Investigating Aleynikov’s case, MICHAEL LEWIS holds a second trial” – “[I]n early 2009 [Aleynikov got an offer] to create a trading platform from scratch for a new hedge fund run by a 39-year-old Russian fellow named Misha Malyshev [who was] willing to pay him more than a million dollars a year … He agreed and then told Goldman he was leaving. … Four times in the course of [his final six] weeks he mailed himself source code he was working on. (He’d later be accused of sending himself 32 megabytes of code, but what he sent was essentially the same 8 megabytes of code four times over.) The files contained a lot of open-source code he had worked with, and modified, over the past two years, mingled together with code that wasn’t open source but proprietary to Goldman Sachs. As he would later try and fail to explain to an F.B.I. agent, he hoped to disentangle the one from the other, in case he needed to remind himself how he had done what he had done with the open-source code, in the event he might need to do it again. (more…)
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