• U.S. Central Command and the Saudi Arabian Armed Forces conducted joint strikes in eastern Iraq early Wednesday against Iranian proxies whom the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had “directed to attack U.S. forces and Saudi energy infrastructure,” CENTCOM said, adding that the militaries struck multiple logistics and weapons sites in response to more than 30 IRGC-directed drone attacks in the past 72 hours.
• The strikes came after CENTCOM said on Tuesday evening that it had intercepted multiple ballistic missiles fired by the IRGC in an “attempted surprise attack” on U.S. forces in the Middle East, marking a rupture in the pause in hostilities between the U.S. and Iran that had been in place since last week. The Jordanian military also announced that it had intercepted five missiles launched from Iran overnight.
• The Senate is expected to vote on another war powers resolution this afternoon seeking an end to U.S. military operations in Iran.
• Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-SC) funeral continues today in South Carolina, where he will receive a public procession at the Statehouse in Columbia and a private burial.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MARC ROD

A who’s who of international leaders, Cabinet members, senators and ambassadors gathered on Tuesday at the National Cathedral and on Capitol Hill for a somber and emotional tribute to the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), a giant both in Washington and on the world stage.

Graham distinguished himself over his career as one of the most important foreign policy voices in the Republican Party and a global statesman, evident in the fact that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sat just seats away from one another at the afternoon memorial service, representing two of the countries that Graham championed during his time in office. 

In one sign of how appreciated Graham’s pro-Israel leadership was to so many in the Jewish community, a number of attendees were seen wearing kippot at the National Cathedral service. Among the notable guests at the service were: philanthropist Miriam Adelson; Israel’s former Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer; Israeli opposition leader and Netanyahu rival Yair Lapid; Republican Jewish Coalition CEO Matt Brooks; Axios reporter Barak Ravid; and the parents of slain American Israeli hostage Omer Neutra.

Fox News host Sean Hannity gave special attention to Graham’s dedication to Israel in his eulogy, offering effusive praise to Netanyahu and the importance of the U.S.-Israel relationship.

“Lindsey would have been blown away that you took this long journey with your beautiful bride to be here today. He loved you. He loved the state of Israel, he loved the people of Israel,” Hannity told Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, from the lectern. “Under your leadership, Israel has been one of America’s most consistent and loyal allies. He was never shy to say it, to the day he passed. Just as President Trump has been Israel’s strongest friend in the history of the White House … Lindsey was that friend to Israel in the United States Senate.”

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

Graham’s Send-Off: The Atlantic‘s Mark Leibovich chronicles Lindsey Graham’s elaborate Washington send-off, showing how the senator’s genius for ingratiating himself with the powerful — President Donald Trump above all — carried through to the very end. “Trump acknowledged that he and Graham ‘did not exactly get off to the best of starts.’ Eventually, though, they would forge an important, if volatile, partnership. The president recounted an especially rough patch during the 2016 presidential campaign when Graham called Trump a ‘jackass’ and Trump responded by sharing Graham’s private cellphone number at a rally in South Carolina. For old times’ sake, Trump recited the number in his speech today: ‘202-228-0292, if anybody wants to give it a shot.’ He added that Graham had the last laugh, ‘because while I blew up his phone for one day, we became great friends, and Lindsey did not stop calling me for the next 10 years.’” [Atlantic]

Diplomacy by Misdirection: In The Wall Street Journal, Walter Russell Mead argues that President Donald Trump and Tehran have both utilized deliberate misdirection as part of their strategy in the on-again, off-again U.S.-Iran conflict. “Observers have long noted the fog of war, in which the chaos of conflict makes it difficult to determine exactly what is going on. In 2026 we are seeing something different: the slop of war, in which decoy diplomacy combines with military head-fakes to obscure the actual state of play. … If the war has brought Mr. Trump some unpleasant surprises, it has also demonstrated his resourcefulness. … Iran may be a hedgehog, but Donald Trump is a fox, and he’s unlikely to give up until he’s tried every trick in the book.” [WSJ]

The Other Nuke Deal: Eric Edelman, former under secretary of defense for policy, writes for the Jewish Institute for National Security of America that the emerging U.S.-Saudi civilian nuclear cooperation deal invokes a significant threat of nuclear proliferation. “While details remain scarce, there is good reason to be concerned that the deal would not only be a departure from longtime U.S. policy but also have the potential to upend the traditional U.S. strategic objective of attempting to slow, halt, and reverse the adoption of nuclear weapons. The U.S. might inadvertently make itself into a handmaiden for a nuclear proliferation cascade that would break a nonproliferation regime that is already under enormous stress from a range of geopolitical forces.” [JINSA]

Threats from Within: The New York Times’ Bret Stephens warns defenders of Israel not to downplay the threat that Israeli settler violence in the West Bank poses to both Israeli and Palestinian interests. “There is an immediate danger in that the spiraling West Bank violence could easily produce a third intifada that an exhausted Israel can ill afford militarily or diplomatically, to say nothing of the human cost in both Israeli and Palestinian lives. There’s a still greater long-term risk that the Netanyahu government’s excuse making for Jewish lawlessness and terrorism leads to what the scholar and diplomat Michael Oren, in a prescient Commentary essay from 2009, called ‘the hemorrhaging of sovereignty.’” [NYTimes]

A larger selection of Worthy Reads is available in our Live Briefing.

In an interview on Fox News’ “Hannity,” on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he will attend the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September, despite New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s threats — which he has since acknowledged he cannot act on — to arrest him. “I’m going to New York. I’m going to speak the truth in front of this hate-spewing elected official who’s pitting one group of New Yorkers against the others. He’s turning them against New York Jews”…

Asked by Sean Hannity what he would do if forced to make an emergency landing in a country that would enforce the International Criminal Court warrant against him, Netanyahu replied that he “has special forces around” who could “get a new task”…

Despite both being in Washington on Tuesday, Netanyahu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky did not hold an official meeting, though the two leaders were spotted speaking in person for the first time in several years at the National Cathedral ahead of the funeral proceedings. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha also spoke by phone, where Sa’ar invited Sybiha to visit Israel…

Sybiha also called his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi, for a “frank conversation,” Sybiha said on X on Tuesday, where he told Araghchi that Iran should refrain from any “escalatory steps” in regards to Ukraine’s recent strike on a cargo vessel carrying military supplies between Iran and Russia…

European allies are resisting U.S. efforts to create a joint patrol for the Strait of Hormuz until an enduring ceasefire with Iran is in place, Politico reports…

Iran rejected an Omani proposal whereby ships crossing the Strait of Hormuz would be split through both countries’ territorial waters, and instead proposed a deal that would see the routes stay largely in Iranian waters, Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said on state television on Tuesday…

Iran is set to receive an initial delivery of Chinese-made shoulder-fired air-defense missile launchers in the coming weeks, Reuters reports, citing sources familiar with the $60 million to $70 million purchase of between 300 and 400 systems…

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz told Israel’s Channel 14 on Tuesday that Jerusalem “very much want[s] to strike Iran’s energy targets,” but Washington “is not approving it at the moment because of the concern that Iran would attack neighboring countries, causing a global oil crisis”…

The Times of London reports on the efforts by the CIA and Mossad to track down Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen since February…

The Financial Times examines the UAE’s attempts to quietly restart diplomatic and economic relations with Iran even as Tehran has continued to fire on other Gulf states and Abu Dhabi maintains its ties with Jerusalem and Washington…

CENTCOM announced on Tuesday that it signed an agreement with the UAE to establish the first bilateral task force focused on developing military artificial intelligence. The group, named Task Force Talon Synapse, will formally launch in the coming weeks and will be based in Abu Dhabi, with around 20 American and Emirati personnel with expertise in AI, data and cybersecurity…

In the Washington Examiner, Mozah Alkindi, a self-described Emirati Muslim, calls out Mamdani’s rhetoric on Israel amid growing antisemitism in New York City. “Disagreement is normal. Opinions, preferences, and even biases are part of any society. What is not normal is allowing those differences to become a reason to hate or dehumanize people who think differently”…

Jay Clayton was confirmed by the Senate on Tuesday evening on a party line vote as director of national intelligence…

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, called on Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who has been hospitalized for over a month, to “directly and verbally address the people of Kentucky and provide proof of your capacity to serve, or resign”…

A man armed with a hammer entered the premises of the Lev Leviev School in Queens on Tuesday where a Jewish day camp was operating and shoved a child into a fence before being subdued by camp personnel. Queens Shmira, a local public safety organization, told JI’s Haley Cohen and Will Bredderman that the incident was not a hate crime but was rather perpetrated by an “emotionally disturbed individual.” The NYPD took a person of interest into custody and the child was treated for a laceration on site before being transported to a hospital…

eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross interviews Charles Asher Small, the founder and director of the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy, who has long been raising the alarm about Qatar, seeing it as an unabashed enemy of the West and responsible for much of the antisemitism that has been unleashed post-Oct. 7, 2023…

The New York Times Magazine chronicles the internal upheaval at the Heritage Foundation under President Kevin Roberts after he defended Tucker Carlson for hosting white-nationalist influencer Nick Fuentes — an event that triggered an exodus of the organization’s traditional conservative staff and brought in new hires who have reportedly accelerated Heritage’s turn against its old pro-Israel, free-market consensus…

Executives at former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s data and media conglomerate, Bloomberg LP, are reportedly in preliminary talks about potentially taking the company public…

CBS News announced that New York Times columnist Ross Douthat will join the network as a correspondent on “60 Minutes,” and Sebastian Junger, Gianna Toboni and Trevor Phillips will join as contributors…

Israeli cybersecurity firm Cyera signed a letter of intent to acquire Israeli cybersecurity startup Oasis Security for $1 billion…

Casey Wasserman confirmed on Tuesday that he sold his stake in his namesake management company, now called The Team, to Providence Equity Partners, which has held a majority stake since 2022…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke at a memorial dinner at the Four Seasons hotel in Washington on Monday night, held in honor of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC). The event was attended by family and friends of Graham, administration officials and members of Congress.

“America has lost a great patriot. Israel has lost one of its greatest friends and supporters. And I have lost a dear friend,” Netanyahu said. “Lindsey was wholeheartedly committed to the security of the United States, the security of Israel and the unrelenting fight against antisemitism. I will miss him greatly, and all of us will miss him greatly.”

During the event, Netanyahu was photographed in conversation with Lindsey Graham’s sister, Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC), as well as Steven Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff for policy, and Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE).

Actor and comedian, best known for his voice work in animation and video games, Richard Steven Horvitz turns 60…

Shoe designer, entrepreneur and founder of an eponymous shoe company, Stuart A. Weitzman turns 85… Chairman of BOK Financial Corporation in Tulsa, Okla., George Bruce Kaiser turns 84… Denver-based attorney, film producer and author of both fiction and nonfiction, Kenneth Eichner turns 72… Israeli electrical engineer and inventor, he is best known as the inventor of the USB memory stick, Dov Moran turns 71… Freelance writer and editor, Carol Eisenberg… Attorney general of Israel from 2016 to 2022, Avichai Mandelblit turns 63… Global economics reporter for The New York Times, Peter S. Goodman turns 60… Co-president of private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, and co-chairman and governor of the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets, Richard J. Schnall turns 57… Twin brothers, Los Angeles-based philanthropists and businessmen, Shlomo Yehuda Rechnitz and Yisroel Zev Rechnitz turn 55… Actor, filmmaker and musician, he is best known for his role in the CBS sitcom “How I Met Your Mother,” Joshua Radnor turns 52… MS NOW anchor, Peter Alexander turns 50… VP of community engagement at BBYO, Jayme David… Director of the Straus Center at Yeshiva University, he is also the rabbi of NYC’s Congregation Shearith Israel (The Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue), Rabbi Meir Yaakov Soloveichik turns 49… Data and investigative journalist at the Associated Press, Aaron Kessler… Former member of the Canadian Parliament, David de Burgh Graham turns 45… Iraq war veteran, political and communications strategist, she is now a visiting fellow at George Mason University’s National Security Institute, Allison Jaslow… Rabbi, writer, educator and physician assistant, Rabbi Levi Welton… White House principal deputy communications director during the Biden administration, Herbie Ziskend… EVP in the Los Angeles office of Edelman, Jason Levin… Israeli actor, model and television presenter, Maya Wertheimer turns 36… Policy advisor to Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), Daniel Ryan Vinik… Tony Award-winning actor, Ari’el Stachel turns 35… Uriel Wassner… Broadcaster for the Windy City Bulls, Sam Brief… Quarterback for the NFL’s Washington Commanders, Sam Hartman turns 27… 

• Technical delegations from the U.S. and Iran are meeting separately with Qatari and Pakistani mediators in Doha, but have no plans to meet directly. A senior Iranian official told Reuters that the focus of ‌the discussions is the release of Tehran’s frozen funds and the Strait of Hormuz, while President Donald Trump indicated on Monday that the negotiations would focus on Iran’s nuclear program.
• The Wall Street Journal reveals that after Saudi Arabia blocked U.S. military access needed for Project Freedom — Trump’s operation to crack open the Strait of Hormuz — and prompted the White House to threaten to withhold missile interceptors from the kingdom, the confrontation triggered a widening rift in the U.S.-Saudi relationship, with the U.S. now considering reducing its military footprint in the kingdom. Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited the Gulf last week but skipped a visit to Saudi Arabia; the week before, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman declined an invitation to attend the G7 summit in France, reportedly in protest of the U.S.’ handling of the war with Iran.
• Some of the most prominent figures in U.S.-Israel diplomacy, Israeli national security and the American Jewish community are gathering at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan, Israel, to help train a new generation of leaders confronting Israel’s evolving strategic challenges, as part of a pilot program that ends on Thursday. Among the faculty is former Ambassador Dennis Ross, the veteran Middle East negotiator who advised four U.S. presidents; Howard Kohr, the former longtime executive director of AIPAC; and Malcolm Hoenlein, who for decades served as executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. Read more in eJewishPhilanthropy.
• The Herzliya Conference wraps up today in Israel: Among the many top national security and political officials speaking are former Prime Ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid; former Israeli Ambassadors to the U.S. Danny Ayalon and Michael Herzog; former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro; EU Ambassador to Israel Michael Mann; Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot; Yisrael Beiteinu party leader Avigdor Liberman; Democrats party leader Yair Golan; Ra’am party leader Mansour Abbas; and Nadav Tamir, executive director of J Street Israel.
• And the Aspen Ideas Festival concludes today in Colorado. Jeff Flake, the former U.S. senator and former U.S. ambassador to Turkey; the Atlantic Council’s Ian Brzezinski; and the Stimson Center’s Emma Ashford will speak on a panel about the “next chapter of the trans-Atlantic relationship.”

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S JOSH KRAUSHAAR

Progressives in Colorado scored a number of key victories Tuesday night, including Democratic Socialists of America-aligned candidate Melat Kiros’ defeat of Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO) in the state’s 1st Congressional District.

The Colorado results suggest that, far from being contained to a few scattered congressional districts in New York City, the momentum for far-left, anti-Israel candidates is only growing within the Democratic Party, especially within urban population centers.

Kiros, a 29-year-old doctoral student, campaigned on her hostility to Israel and faced scrutiny when she declined to call the firebombing attack on a hostage awareness march in Boulder, Colo., antisemitic. DeGette, despite a long-standing progressive record in Congress, struggled to satisfy a critical mass of Democratic voters who preferred a more radical choice, especially when it came to opposing Israel.

Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) survived a scare from a little-known socialist challenger, state Sen. Julie Gonzales, but only won renomination with less than 60% of the Democratic vote. Even in the vote-rich Denver suburbs, the far-left challenger came within striking distance of the state’s well-known senator and former governor.

Former state Rep. Shannon Bird, a moderate championed by Democratic Majority for Israel, lost badly to state Rep. Manny Rutinel for the Democratic nomination in Colorado’s swing 8th District, currently held by Rep. Gabe Evans (R-CO). With most votes counted, Rutinel holds a 28-point lead over Bird, 62-34%.

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

When the DSA Came for Lander: Park Avenue Synagogue Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove penned a letter dated two years from now, published in the New York Daily News, to New York Democratic congressional nominee Brad Lander, predicting that he will be ousted by a Democratic Socialists of America-backed candidate in the next primary. “They told you it was never about being a Jew — only about being a Zionist — as if the two could be peeled apart, as if your Jewishness had nothing to do with the nation they demanded you disown. There’s an old teaching about the man who thinks he can ride the tiger and dismount whenever he likes. You didn’t tame the coalition you joined. You were, for one term, useful — until the moment it decided to disown you. You could renounce the policy, the lobby, even Zionism, but you could not renounce being a Jew.” [Daily News]

Drone Prone: Foreign Policy’s John Haltiwanger unpacks Israel’s “Hezbollah drone problem.” “After the fighting resumed in March, it wasn’t long before explosive drones were a leading cause of battlefield deaths for Israel in Lebanon. As a result, Netanyahu established a team of experts to address the issue and pledged to give the IDF an unlimited budget to address the Hezbollah drone threat. But there are no simple solutions. … In ancient Rome, gladiators used nets to entangle opponents before moving in for the kill. Today, Israeli troops are using the same primitive tool to defend against drones and intercept them before they reach their targets. The situation is indicative of how militaries have struggled to find countermeasures to drones and have been forced to adapt, particularly as the technology evolves at such a rapid pace.” [FP]

Separate But Equal: Hannah Rosenthal, former special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism under the Obama administration, argues in the Jewish Telegraphic Agency against the proposal of combining the role of the antisemitism envoy with that of the special envoy on Holocaust issues. “The office of special envoy on antisemitism and the special envoy on the Holocaust are complementary, but not duplicative. The former works to address contemporary antisemitism, hate crimes, extremism and government policy around the world. The latter focuses on historical justice, restitution, remembrance, archives and Holocaust-era accountability. The United States deliberately created separate offices because both missions are full time responsibilities.” [JTA]

Jews Turning on Israel: Actor and Jewish commentator Jonah Platt argues in a post on X against the trope of the young, “self-hating” Jew in an essay on X. “It’s maddening. It’s dangerous. It’s irresponsible. It’s shameful. But it isn’t nefarious. It isn’t Jew-hatred, it isn’t self-hatred, and honestly, it isn’t that hard to understand. These are disconnected, uneducated people, surrounded by like-minded peers, all reinforcing one another in a disconnected, uneducated worldview — one they’re not especially invested in anyway, and focus on only because progressive society says they’re supposed to.” [X]

President Donald Trump is considering returning to a full-scale military conflict with Iran and has discussed the idea with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine in recent days, The Wall Street Journal reports, but has decided to continue on the diplomatic track for now…

In an analysis of the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies found that the Trump administration is “evidently not applying [the 2015 Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act’s] requirements and restrictions to the MOU, apparently on the basis of an opinion from the Department of Justice,” but the White House and DOJ “have apparently not shared this surprising opinion, or its arguments, with either Congress or the public”…

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said on Monday that he did a “happy dance,” after Iran was knocked out of the FIFA World Cup, telling reporters that Iranian officials tried to bring into the U.S. individuals with ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and that accommodating the team while protecting national security had demanded incomparable attention…

The Terrorist Financing Targeting Center — a coalition comprised of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and the U.S. — announced joint sanctions against five entities and 16 individuals tied to Hezbollah’s financial network…

Oman has submitted a proposal to the U.S. for Muscat and Tehran to collect service fees from shipping companies seeking to transit the Strait of Hormuz, according to The New York Times. One of Iran’s deputy foreign ministers, Kazem Gharibabadi, said on Monday if Iran was unable to come to an arrangement with Oman it would move forward on its own…

A person close to the anti-Israel American Priorities super PAC told CNN many of its contributors weren’t very politically active until New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s campaign victory, which was the “moment that inspired them and brought them into the fold”…

Former Vice President Kamala Harris called Mamdani last week, and is holding lengthy, closed-door meetings with Palestinian activists in the run-up to a possible presidential campaign, Axios reports…

Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), speaking to CNN’s Jake Tapper, warned of the “tremendous danger and fear” for American Jews as they are being “dehumanized” and antisemitism is “becoming normalized”…

Phylisa Wisdom, the liberal activist appointed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani as executive director of his Office to Combat Antisemitism, got a harsh reception at a Holocaust memorial event in Brooklyn on Sunday. Video from the event shows a small group of hecklers booing, calling Wisdom a “kapo” and shouting that she was supportive of Adolf Hitler, JI’s Will Bredderman reports…

Far-left Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed dismissed a question on CNN about the Democratic Party’s “embrace” of antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker as a “ridiculous way to think about politics”…

Adam Jentleson, former chief of staff to Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) who went on to found the center-left Searchlight Institute think tank, urged Democrats to “just say no to AIPAC,” arguing the pro-Israel organization has “evolved from a group to a ‘Group,’” in the pejorative sense…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited southern Lebanon on Tuesday for the first time since the U.S.-brokered security agreement was signed last Friday. Netanyahu told IDF troops, “We will not leave southern Lebanon until the threat is removed”…

“Pod Save America” co-host Jon Lovett said the harassment of California state Sen. Scott Wiener at a transgender pride march last week was “as pure antisemitism as you can see”…

The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case of Daniel Grand, an Orthodox Jewish man from Ohio who was barred from holding Shabbat prayer meetings in his home without a “special use permit” and later faced harassment from city officials who encouraged neighbors to watch his home for signs of religious activity…

Haaretz tracks the carbon footprint of FIFA President Gianni Infantino as he has traveled between World Cup matches across North America on a Qatari private jet, racking up 47,337 kilometers (29,000 miles) from the tournament’s opening days through the first knockout match, after championing the body’s sustainability strategy…

Ellie Gottheimer and Larra Mullin, the children of Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, are releasing Shmoo & Ozzie Go to Washington today, a children’s book on bipartisanship. Proceeds from the book will go to support homeless children…

Mark Isakowitz, Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA)’s chief of staff, is set to release a book in January about his personal journey following the loss of his father, who immigrated to America after surviving Auschwitz, and Isakowitz’s daily practice of reciting the mourner’s prayer at a synagogue in Washington, JI’s Gabby Deutch reports…

Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner tapped Carolin Hulshoff Pol to serve as CEO of Telegraph Media Group following the German media company’s completion of its £575 million acquisition of the British publisher, ending a three-year ownership transition…

Former Israeli Air Force Commander Maj. Gen. (res.) Amikam Norkin is a leading candidate to head Anduril’s operations in Israel, as the American defense tech company explores a major expansion into the Israeli market, Calcalist reports…

The Iranian regime plans to take over St. Peter Evangelical Church, the oldest Protestant church in Iran, and evict the 20 families living there, The Free Press reports. The theocratic regime had thus far left it alone in fear of the U.S.’ retaliation, according to the outlet…

The Washington State Democratic Party adopted into its platform during its June convention an amendment blaming the “dramatic resurgence in antisemitism … in part [on] actions taken by the Israeli government,” Jewish News Syndicate reports…

Pentagon official Jason Olson has departed his position as the director of deradicalization for the Gaza Board of Peace, an official from the body told The Times of Israel, as the BoP is convening for discussions in Cyprus…

Tuesday marked the end of Steffen Seibert‘s four-year term as German ambassador to Israel. In a farewell social media video, he paid tribute to the country by listing 25 things he will miss. Seibert is succeeded by Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, who most recently served as the German Ambassador to Moscow…

Judah Gribetz, who as a top aide to Gov. Hugh Carey helped negotiate New York City‘s rescue from financial collapse in the 1970s and later devised a distribution plan for $1.25 billion in restitution to Holocaust survivors in a landmark class-action suit against Swiss banks, died Friday at 97…

Comedian Judy Gold spoke at an event hosted by the Israeli Embassy in Washington, “A Zionist LGBTQ+ Celebration,” at Adas Israel Congregation on Tuesday — a night of solidarity in memory of Sarah Milgrim, the embassy staffer murdered alongside her partner, Yaron Lischinsky, outside the Capital Jewish Museum in May 2025. Milgrim spent her time at the embassy building bridges between Israel and marginalized communities, including D.C.’s LGBTQ+ Jewish community.

Television, film and theater actor, including early career roles in Yiddish theater, Michael Burstein turns 81…

Applied mathematician, statistician and physicist, professor emeritus at both MIT and Harvard, Herman Chernoff turns 103… Former U.S. assistant secretary of education and former research professor at NYU, Diane Silvers Ravitch turns 88… Nobel laureate in economics for 1997 and co-creator of the Black-Scholes model for valuing options and other derivatives, Myron Scholes turns 85… Noted British art dealer and founder of an eponymous London art gallery, Victoria Marion Miro turns 81… Born in a DP Camp to her Holocaust survivor parents, she was the first Jewish woman to serve on the Canadian Supreme Court, Rosalie Silberman Abella turns 80… Israeli-Russian businessman, with holdings in energy and international real estate development, Shalva Chigirinsky turns 77… Partner in the Encino, Calif.-based law firm of Nolan Heimann, Douglas E. Mirell… Campaign, communications and fundraising consultant, Robert Kaplan turns 69… Hall of Fame player and coach in the WNBA and now an NBA broadcaster, Nancy Lieberman turns 68… Attorney and longtime Democratic activist in Pittsburgh, he is a regional chair of the ADL, Steven D. Irwin turns 67… Senior columnist at The Forward and former CEO of the A-Mark Foundation, Rob Eshman… President emeritus of the Orthodox Union and a retired partner at Ropes & Gray, Mark “Moishe” Bane… Under secretary of state for political affairs during most of the Biden administration, Victoria Jane Nuland (family name was Nudelman) turns 65… Journalist, filmmaker and educator, he is the co-founder of Aish[dot]com, Shraga Simmons turns 65… Professor of Jewish thought at Hebrew University, Benjamin Brown turns 60… Member of the Virginia House of Delegates since 2014, Marcus Bertram Simon turns 56… U.S. senator (R-IA), Joni Ernst turns 56… Screenwriter, producer and film director known for romantic comedy films, Marc Silverstein turns 55… Los Angeles resident, Adam B. Siegel… NASA astronaut, on her 2019 trip to the International Space Station she took novelty socks with Stars of David and menorahs, Jessica Meir turns 49… Co-founder of Edgeline Films, Elyse Steinberg… Hasidic musician mixing elements of dancehall, reggae, hip-hop and R&B, known by his stage name DeScribe, Shneur Hasofer turns 44…

• White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived in Qatar to represent the U.S. in talks with Iran, as the status of the negotiations remains unclear. The technical talks on the memorandum of understanding meant to be taking place separately are also up in the air — Iran’s foreign ministry said an Iranian technical delegation will be in Doha this week but will not be meeting with American officials. More below.
• Representatives of President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace are meeting this week in Cyprus as they seek to advance plans for a committee of Palestinian technocrats to replace Hamas in governing the Gaza Strip, The Times of Israel reports. Former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair, who sits on the Board of Peace’s executive board and has recently taken on a larger role in the organization, is set to participate in the “strategic workshop” being held from Tuesday to Thursday.
• Colorado voters will head to the polls in today’s Democratic primaries, where moderate candidates are fearing a far-left wave. More below.
• Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, will testify before the House Appropriations Committee where he is expected to address the White House’s $88 billion supplemental funding request for the war with Iran and FY2027 budget request.
• The Israeli Embassy in Washington will hold a “Zionist LGBTQ+ celebration” on the last day of Pride Month in memory of slain embassy staffer Sarah Milgrim’s allyship.
• In Israel, Reichman University’s Herzliya Conference kicks off, focusing this year on national security and national resilience. Israeli President Isaac Herzog will address the confab, as well as U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee; Amos Hochstein, who served as a Middle East envoy under former President Joe Biden; former Mossad chief Tamir Pardo; former Israeli National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi; journalist Barak Ravid; and Aliyah Minister Ofir Sofer.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S JOSH KRAUSHAAR

Colorado is a state famous for its moderation, with its governor (Jared Polis) and two senators (Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper) among the most pragmatic figures in Democratic politics. So if a far-left, anti-Israel wave sweeps over the Democratic Party in tonight’s statewide primaries, it will be a true wake-up call for those downplaying the rise of the socialist left.

The biggest race we’re tracking — and the one where a Democratic incumbent looks most vulnerable — is the primary between longtime Rep. Diana DeGette, 68, an influential progressive who has left an imprint on major legislation in Congress, and Democratic Socialists of America-affiliated 29-year-old doctoral student Melat Kiros, whose deep-seated antagonism against Israel is a top focus of her campaign.  

Kiros is the latest example of how radical candidates running for office on their hostility toward Israel are also indulgent of the rising antisemitism around them. Her political awakening came after she was fired from the law firm Sidley Austin for writing a public letter denouncing the hundreds of law firms that signed a petition calling on law schools to do a better job addressing antisemitism on their campuses.

Kiros was angered that the law firms considered those calling for the elimination of Israel as antisemitic. In the last week, she also refused to call the firebombing of a hostage awareness march in Boulder, Colo., antisemitic. Sense a pattern?

As JI’s Marc Rod reported, Kiros’ extreme views have done little to dent her support in a progressive Denver-area district that DeGette has easily held for the last three decades. In March, DeGette barely won the 30% of the vote from party activists necessary to qualify for the primary ballot — in what could be a foreshadowing of the primary results tonight.

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

• A diplomatic agreement between the U.S. and Iran could be signed as early as this weekend, possibly in Europe, President Donald Trump told reporters on Thursday afternoon. Trump said that an accord between Washington and Tehran — that, according to the president, would reopen the Strait of Hormuz and prevent Iran from having nuclear weapons — was “in pretty final shape” and likely to “get done over the next few days.” Read more from JI’s Matthew Shea here.
• Axios reports that the memorandum of understanding calls for the Strait of Hormuz to be reopened immediately without tolls, with the U.S. removing its blockade as well. According to the outlet, Trump “agreed one of the options” to deal with Iran’s nuclear program is “down-blending Iran’s highly enriched uranium inside the country under the supervision of U.N. inspectors.”
• The announcement of a possible agreement was met with something short of resounding praise from some U.S.-based Middle East observers. Mark Dubowitz, the CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, reiterated a phrase heard often during the negotiations on the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action: “No deal is better than a bad deal.” Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro called the agreement a “weak deal,” but suggested, “it’s the least bad alternative.”
• In Los Angeles, the U.S. men’s national soccer team makes its 2026 FIFA World Cup debut tonight against Paraguay. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, joined by a number of Cabinet officials, will lead the U.S. delegation to the match (and will meet with Paraguayan President Santiago Peña) as Trump stays in Washington to prepare for Sunday’s UFC Freedom 250 at the White House. Rubio will find himself in the same box as fellow potential 2028 contender California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who will also attend tomorrow’s match.
• The New York Knicks will face the San Antonio Spurs in Texas tomorrow night in Game 5 of the NBA Finals. Tonight, Chabad of San Antonio will host a Shabbat dinner for basketball fans in town for the weekend.
• French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot is leading a renewed call for a two-state solution today, ahead of next week’s G7 leaders’ summit in Evian, France.
• The Jewish Council for Public Affairs’ two-day National Summit kicks off on Sunday in New York City.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MATTHEW KASSEL

The far left is gaining traction in its electoral battle against the mainstream pro-Israel political community, notching a recent string of victories in high-profile Democratic primaries as it now finds itself on stronger financial footing compared to past campaign cycles.

Thanks in part to a range of new super PACs created to counter AIPAC’s political spending, the far left has elevated several anti-Israel Democrats in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and California to the nomination in key congressional primaries, with its sights set on closely contested upcoming matchups in New York City and Michigan.

In some cases, the anti-Israel left — buoyed by public opinion that has swung against the Jewish state in the wake of the war in Gaza — has been at parity or outspending pro-Israel groups, marking a significant change.

The most prominent vehicle for such spending is the recently launched American Priorities super PAC — which has pledged to spend at least $10 million during the midterms. The group most recently helped lift Randy Villegas, a progressive vying to unseat Rep. David Valadao (R-CA), in California. He claimed victory in the primary over Jasmeet Bains — a state lawmaker supported by pro-Israel activists and national Democatic leaders. American Priorities had invested heavily on behalf of Villegas, going toe to toe with Democratic Majority for Israel’s political arm — whose $500,000 for Bains failed to help her advance to the November election.

The anti-Israel PAC also played a role in securing wins for Pennsylvania state Rep. Chris Rabb, who faced scrutiny for pushing an antisemitic conspiracy theory before his House primary in Philadelphia last month, and Adam Hamawy, a retired Army surgeon who claimed the Democratic nomination in a central New Jersey district despite past controversial links to a convicted terrorist. American Priorities spent over $1.5 million in the crowded race to bolster Hamawy’s campaign.

Notably, AIPAC’s well-funded super PAC, United Democracy Project, chose to stay on the sidelines in all three of those races, as the far left has capitalized on the pro-Israel group’s unpopularity within the Democratic Party, particularly in heavily progressive districts where American Priorities is engaging most significantly.

AIPAC’s relatively cautious approach to Democratic races this cycle reflects a changing political landscape for the formidable pro-Israel group, which has flexed its financial resources in consequential primaries that meaningfully shaped the House Democratic caucus.

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

Spin Cycle: Puck’s Julia Ioffe looks at Barak Ravid’s coverage of the Trump administration and the Iran war, as the veteran Israeli journalist faces both praise and jealousy for his access to and sourcing of senior officials. “The [Biden] official recalled repeatedly trying to duck him, to no avail. ‘I heard you think I’m annoying,’ Ravid allegedly said, explaining that his daughter had heard it at school from the official’s daughter. Soon enough, this official concluded that Ravid was worth talking to, not least because he had such impressive sources in Israel and the Middle East. ‘He trades,’ the Biden official said. ‘You tell him something and he’ll say, “I spoke to someone in Bibi’s government and they told me this.” He’s more useful than other reporters, who are a one-way street.’” [Puck]

Looking Ahead: In Sapir, Roger Zakheim, the director of the Ronald Reagan Institute, writes that the future of a healthy conservatism depends on preventing its more noxious forms of populism from taking over the movement. “The future of American conservatism hinges on whether national conservatism will continue to outpace its ideological predecessors: traditional conservatism, neoconservatism, and Reaganism. At present, it is attracting a young and energetic following and getting far more of the podcast airtime. And when it comes to policy positions, there is not a single one more contested in this battle over the future of conservatism than U.S. support for Israel, with the traditional conservatives and neocons holding a firm ‘yea,’ but a growing number of influential natcons, including [far-right commentator Tucker] Carlson, pushing ‘nay.’ What makes this most ironic is where national conservatism began: Israel.” [Sapir]

Fights and Fêtes: In The Wall Street Journal, presidential historian Tevi Troy examines the historical context for President Donald Trump’s hosting of this weekend’s UFC Freedom 250. “While the superfight is a first for the White House, celebrity events have long been part of presidential birthday festivities. Perhaps the most famous was John F. Kennedy’s 1962 fundraising extravaganza for the Democratic Party at New York’s Madison Square Garden. Marilyn Monroe put on a slinky crystal-spangled dress so tight that she reportedly had to be sewed into it and sang a seductive ‘Happy Birthday, Mr. President’ in front of 15,000 people. Among the guests were Ella Fitzgerald, Jack Benny and Harry Belafonte.” [WSJ]

The State Department held its first-ever Symposium on Islamist Ideology and Antisemitism on Thursday, convening senior officials from across the Trump administration; the summit was hosted by Yehuda Kaploun, the U.S. special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, and Seb Gorka, the administration’s counterterrorism czar…

The State Department said it had “no plans to revoke” the green card of Trita Parsi, but that it would “unapologetically terminate the legal status of any foreign national who participates in activities that undermine America’s national security,” following a report earlier this week suggesting that officials in Foggy Bottom had launched an investigation into the Quincy Institute co-founder…

The Washington Post reports on a failed Qatari effort to safeguard its Ras Laffan gas complex through back-channel talks with Iran; the effort reportedly included a pledge that Doha would unilaterally halt its gas production, thereby raising prices and increasing pressure on the U.S. and Israel to swiftly end the war… 

Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) announced her endorsement of Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN) in Minnesota’s Senate primary, calling the moderate congresswoman “a leader and a fighter” who has “stepped up” while serving in the House, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports…

A left-wing streamer claimed to the New York Post that in 2021, Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner cheated on his then-fiancee with the streamer, providing to the Post text messages from September 2025 that included information about the Democrat’s personal life, including a Nazi tattoo whose meaning Platner later claimed he did not know…

The Florida Republican Party announced antisemitic and racist gubernatorial candidate James Fishback as a speaker at its Sunshine State Showdown convention, prompting Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) to withdraw from the upcoming confab…

New York congressional candidate Brad Lander, running against Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), told The New York Times that criticizing AIPAC, which he knows can sometimes invoke antisemitic tropes about Jews and money, makes him “feel queasy” but he still feels that he “[has] to”…

Some pro-Israel members of the United Teachers Los Angeles House of Representatives are condemning the union for bypassing its own policies to expel a Jewish teacher and Zionist activist, JI’s Haley Cohen reports…

The New York Times reviews Stephan Talty’s The American School of Spies: The Archaeologists Who Fought the Nazis and Saved the Treasures of Ancient Greece, about Allied efforts to fight the Nazis in World War II-era Greece and safeguard the country’s antiquities…

A Toronto police officer was shot and killed while executing a search warrant in connection with the March attack at the U.S. consulate in Toronto, which was linked to an Iranian Iraqi national…

U.K. Defense Minister John Healey and Al Carns, the country’s armed forces minister, resigned on Thursday, amid a dispute with No. 10 Downing St. over concerns that planned defense spending would not adequately address threats from Russia; Dan Jarvis was appointed to succeed Healey…

France accused Israeli cyber firm BlackCore of meddling in local French elections by targeting far-left mayoral candidates…

Israel’s Kan broadcaster reports that Israel was blocked from using the airspace of another country in the region during strikes earlier this week targeting Iran, despite having given Israel air clearance in past conflicts, in what one source said was a “clear diplomatic message” being sent to Jerusalem about shifting regional dynamics… 

The Israeli government is pushing for the rapid expansion of settlement construction in the West Bank, with a new proposal — slated for review by the country’s Security Cabinet on Sunday — calling for the allocation of hundreds of millions of dollars to establish a presence on approximately 60 sites in the enclave…

Former Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines was named by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace as the think tank’s new president…

JI wine columnist Yitz Applbaum reviews the Château Fayat 2022:

There are many ways to prepare for Shabbat. Few are as quietly glorious as a breakfast in France with Jacob Abitan given over to six magnificent wines. We worked our way across Bordeaux that morning, left bank to right bank and everything in between. One bottle followed me from that table all the way to a Shabbat Sheva Brachot in Tel Aviv, and has stayed with me since. That was the Château Fayat 2022. A Pomerol from the right bank, Fayat is built on the region’s signature merlot, the 2022 a merlot-dominant blend lifted by a touch of cabernet franc. From the first pour, it spoke a single word: serenity. Quiet, unhurried, composed. I saw the bottle through to its end, and it never once raised its voice.

It opened on a soft note of fig. The mid-palate broadened into something generous and shaded, a great red-cherry tree in full fruit. And the finish? The finish took my blood pressure down 40 points. Pour it alongside a faux pâté and let the richness settle into that creamy, silken merlot texture. It drinks beautifully now, reason enough to open one this coming Shabbat, though it has the structure to wait, and will reward your patience just as well five years on.

Purchase a bottle here.

Real estate attorney Martin Edelman, a longtime advisor to the ruling family of the United Arab Emirates, was awarded the country’s Order of the Union, the second-highest civilian honor, on Thursday by UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Jewish Insider’s Melissa Weiss reports.

Retired sportscaster for NBA games on TNT, has also been the play-by-play announcer of multiple Super Bowls, NBA Finals and Stanley Cup Finals, Marv Albert (born Marvin Philip Aufrichtig) turns 85… ​​

FRIDAY: Senior of counsel at Paul Hastings LLP, Martin Edelman turns 85… Former solicitor of labor in the Nixon and Ford administrations, then a senior partner at Gibson Dunn, William J. Kilberg turns 80… Social psychologist, he is the director of the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis University, Leonard Saxe turns 79… Israeli statesman and scholar who has served in multiple ministerial and leadership positions in the Israeli government including 20 years as a member of the Knesset, Yosef “Yossi” Beilin turns 78… Rabbi emeritus at Temple Beth El in Santa Cruz County, Calif., Richard Litvak… British Conservative Party member of Parliament until 2024, his father was a rabbi, Sir Michael Fabricant turns 76… Professor at the University of Florida’s Hamilton Center, his 2022 book is The Arc of a Covenant: The United States, Israel, and the Fate of the Jewish People, Walter Russell Mead turns 74… Dental consultant and recruiter, Kenneth Nussen… Peruvian banker and politician, José Chlimper Ackerman turns 71… Senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and instructor at Georgetown’s Center for Jewish Civilization, Danielle Pletka turns 63… Television producer and executive, he was the CEO of Showtime Networks until 2022, David Nevins turns 60… EVP of American Friends of Lubavitch (Chabad), from his base in Washington he serves as the worldwide governmental and diplomatic point person for the entire Chabad-Lubavitch movement, Rabbi Levi Shemtov… Film and television actor, best known for his role as Louis Litt in the legal drama series “Suits,” Rick Hoffman turns 56… EVP at Politico Europe, Carrie Budoff Brown… Founder of Singularity Communications, Eliezer O. “Eli” Zupnick… Founder and managing partner of the investment firm Thrive Capital and the co-founder of Oscar Health, Joshua Kushner turns 41… Canadian tech entrepreneur, television personality and venture capitalist, Michele Romanow turns 41… Partner at Enso Collaborative, Hanna Siegel… Co-creator of the Mozilla Firefox internet browser, he was the director of product at Facebook and then worked at Uber, Blake Aaron Ross turns 41… Counsel of government relations at Kaiser Permanente, Zachary Louis Baron… VP at MediaLink, Alexis Rose Levinson… Multimodal transportation coordinator in the planning department of Montgomery County, Md., Eli Glazier… Photographer and Instagram influencer, Tessa Nesis… Associate in the financial institutions group at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, Jay Rappaport… Israeli windsurfer, he won a gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Tom Reuveny turns 26… Lead consultant at AutoNate, Joel Bond… 

SATURDAY: Existential psychiatrist, he is a professor emeritus of psychiatry at Stanford University, Irvin David Yalom turns 95… Professor emeritus at UCLA, he played an influential role in the development of the ARPANET, the precursor to the internet, Leonard Kleinrock turns 92… London-born, now living in Gstaad, Switzerland, billionaire founder of Graff Diamonds, Laurence Graff turns 88… Former official in the Johnson, Nixon, Clinton and Obama administrations, winner of a 1985 MacArthur genius fellowship, Morton Halperin turns 88… Chairman and CEO of Oppenheimer & Co., then chancellor of Brown University and founder of Source of Hope Foundation, Stephen Robert turns 86… Member of Congress (D-NY) since 1992, Jerrold Lewis “Jerry” Nadler turns 79… Retired justice of the Supreme Court of Israel, he was previously attorney general of Israel, Elyakim Rubinstein turns 79… Assistant professor of ophthalmology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and director of retina surgery at Franklin Square Hospital, Michael J. Elman, MD… Chief Jewish education officer of the Jewish Federation of Broward County, Fla., Rabbi Arnie Samlan turns 71… Senior national political correspondent for NPR and a contributor at the Fox News Channel, Mara Liasson turns 71… Tech entrepreneur and co-founder and general partner along with Marc Andreessen of the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, Benjamin Abraham “Ben” Horowitz turns 60… Internet entrepreneur, founder and CEO of Overtime, a digital sports platform, Daniel Porter turns 60… Yoga instructor, Jenny Eisen Verdery… Founder of Peninsula Group, a publicly traded Israeli commercial finance institution, Micah Lakin Avni turns 57… Family court judge in New York City, serving in Brooklyn, Judge Erik S. Pitchal turns 54… Principal of Invariant, Eli Stokols… Founder and CEO of NYC-based JDS Development Group, a high-rise residential development firm active in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Miami, Michael Stern turns 47… Chief external affairs officer at BSE Global, Marissa Shorenstein… Policy advocate at Protect Democracy, Ariela Rosenberg… Actor, the son of Steven Spielberg and Amy Irving, Max Samuel Spielberg turns 41… Actor, known professionally as Kat Dennings, she starred in the CBS sitcom “Two Broke Girls,” Katherine Litwack turns 40… Fashion blogger and creator of Something Navy apparel stores, Arielle Noa Nachmani Charnas turns 39… Contributor at Real Clear Investigations, Benjamin H. Weingarten… Retired NFL football player after four seasons, he is the CEO at Mary Jones Cannabis, Gabe Carimi turns 38… Speed skater who represented the U.S. at the Winter Olympics in 2014, 2018, 2022 and 2026, Emery Lehman turns 30… 

SUNDAY: Retired Soviet nuclear scientist, now writing from Skokie, Ill., on Jewish intellectual spirituality, Vladimir Minkov, Ph.D. turns 93… Retired U.S. district judge for the District of Maryland, Marvin Joseph Garbis turns 90… Former vice chair of the board of the Jewish Federation-Council of Greater Los Angeles, Dr. Beryl A. Geber… 45th and 47th president of the United States, Donald J. Trump turns 80… Former French diplomat and advisor to former French Presidents Chirac and Sarkozy, Jean-David Levitte turns 80… Television sportscaster and journalist, Len Berman turns 79… Writer, critic, philosopher and magazine editor, Leon Wieseltier turns 74… Chairman and chief investment officer of Duquesne Family Office, Stanley Druckenmiller turns 73… One of the wealthiest people in the U.K., he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2017 for services to philanthropy, Sir Leonard “Len” Blavatnik turns 69… Political activist and outspoken critic of Islam, Pamela Geller turns 68… Co-founder of Virunga Mountain Spirits, a distillery in Rwanda, William Benjamin “Bill” Wasserman… President of Blue Diamond HR LLC, Michelle “Shel” Grossman… President of Williams College in Williamstown, Mass., Maud S. Mandel turns 59… Former head of global media partnerships at Facebook / Meta, now a senior advisor to Tollbit, Campbell Brown… Singer-songwriter with ten studio albums, Joshua Radin turns 52… Co-founder of Kelp, now executive fellow at Harvard Business School, Daniel M. Gaynor… Australian fashion model, author, philanthropist and businesswoman, Kathryn Eisman turns 45… NYC-based businessman, living in the U.S. since 2003, he is the son of Russian businessman and former political prisoner Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Pavel Khodorkovsky turns 41… Deputy assistant secretary at HUD and then senior advisor at OMB (both during the Trump 45 administration), Paige Esterkin Bronitsky… Director of public affairs at San Francisco’s District Attorney’s office, Lilly Rapson… Actor, with a variety of television and film appearances, Daryl Sabara… Communications and membership manager at Society for the Rule of Law, Julia Cohen… Associate attorney at Manning & Kass, Ellrod, Ramirez, Trester, Jacob Ellenhorn… Vienna-based Europe correspondent for Haaretz, Liam Hoare…

• We’re keeping an eye on the escalation in Israel’s north and in southern Lebanon as the IDF and Hezbollah continue to exchange fire. Efforts to reach a ceasefire over the weekend following an hours-long meeting on Friday between Israeli and Lebanese security officials fell short, with Hezbollah rejecting a proposal from Secretary of State Marco Rubio that the Iran-backed group end its missile and drone attacks against Israel in exchange for Israel agreeing not to resume attacks on Hezbollah strongholds in Beirut. The escalation comes amid a deeper Israeli incursion into southern Lebanon, and the IDF’s capture of the Crusader-era Beaufort Castle.
• On Capitol Hill,  the House is expected to vote on war powers resolutions on both Iran and Lebanon later this week, while the Senate is likely to vote on final passage of an Iran war powers resolution that cleared a procedural vote before the Memorial Day recess.
• The American Jewish Committee’s annual Global Forum continues today in Washington. Rabbi Angela Buchdahl, author Dara Horn and historian Jonathan Sarna are slated to speak at this morning’s plenary, while JI Editor-in-Chief Josh Kraushaar will address attendees this afternoon alongside Axios’ Barak Ravid and Kan’s Gili Cohen for a panel about the upcoming U.S. midterms and Israeli elections.
• The Israeli Embassy in Washington is holding a memorial this morning for slain staffers Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky, who were killed in a terror attack outside the Capital Jewish Museum last May.
• This afternoon, the Israeli Embassy in Washington will host an event with Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on the Isaac Accords Fund.
• In Israel, the Knesset is holding its first reading of a bill to dissolve the body and trigger elections. The Michigan Democratic Party’s Jewish, Black, senior and faith caucuses are jointly holding a debate this evening for the state’s open Senate seat. Democrats Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), state Sen. Mallory McMorrow and physician Abdul El-Sayed are all expected to participate.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S JOSH KRAUSHAAR

The latest revelations that Graham Platner, the Democrats’ anti-establishment, far-left standard-bearer in the Maine Senate race, was sending sexually explicit texts to as many as a dozen women while he was married — an issue his wife raised to campaign staff as a potential liability — is another sign that the candidate’s extensive baggage may be too much for the party to handle. (As commentator Haviv Rettig Gur posted on X: “I’m starting to think that SS tattoo might have been a red flag.”)

Meanwhile, a New York Times interview, published over the weekend, with leading New Jersey Democratic congressional candidate Adam Hamawy about his past affiliations with Islamist extremists is going to raise more red flags for Democrats.   

Asked about his travels with Omar Abdel Rahman, known as the “Blind Sheikh,” who was connected to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, Hamawy downplayed the spiritual leader’s jihadist sermons. “He wasn’t preaching death and destruction all the time,” Hamawy said. “He had certain views that he spoke in certain forums, but that’s not what he did every single day.”

With the calendar now turned to June, it’s yet another reminder that Democrats are on the verge of nominating some truly radical and damaged candidates for congressional office as a critical mass of primaries take place this month.

Many of the races are taking place in safely blue seats, so Democrats haven’t raised that much concern over candidates such as Hamawy, whose terror ties (including volunteer work for what was later revealed as an al-Qaida front group) at the very least, raise questions about suitability for public office.

But others, such as Platner, are running in battleground Senate seats where the stakes couldn’t be higher. In California and Montana, candidates are running in swing districts where the battle for the House majority will be fought. 

If May was the month that tested President Donald Trump’s power over the Republican Party (lesson: he’s still firmly in control of GOP voters), June will be the month that determines whether the Democratic Party is going to abandon its moderate moorings and nominate a roster of radicals.

The stakes couldn’t be higher — especially for Jewish Democrats, who have been among the leading voices alarmed by the rise of these candidates, who, not surprisingly, often hold virulently anti-Israel views and don’t have a problem mainlining antisemitic rhetoric. 

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

The Ties That Fray: Matthew Schmitz, the religion editor of The Washington Post’s opinions page, warns that “Democrats’ traditional Jewish alliance is fraying as never before” as anti-Zionist activism has crossed boundaries into antisemitism. “Antisemitism is rising on the left and the right, but its presence in the Democratic Party is particularly jarring. Jewish support for the Democratic Party was sealed during the New Deal era, when Jews rallied to Franklin D. Roosevelt. Jonah Goldstein, a leader in New York’s Jewish community who made the mistake of running for mayor as a Republican in 1945, joked in Yiddish that Jews had three veltn, or worlds: di velt (this world), yene velt (the other world) and Roosevelt.” [WashPost]

Calling on Congress: In Fox News, Ruby Chen, whose son, Itay, was killed during Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks and his body held in captivity, calls on Congress to create a bipartisan committee to investigate the attacks, in which dozens of Americans were killed. “We are seeking justice, but not only for those who carried out the murders. Also for those who financed, enabled and armed them as well. … When Americans are killed in a war zone, Congress has a duty to determine what happened, why it happened and who bears responsibility. That duty does not disappear because geopolitics are complicated. It does not pause because allies may be implicated. American lives cannot be subject to selective accountability. For decades, the United States has operated on a clear standard: kidnapping and killing Americans must carry consequences.” [FoxNews]

MBS’ Brotherhood Two-Step: In Alhurra, Abdulaziz Alkhamis observes Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s opposition to Muslim Brotherhood elements inside Saudi Arabia while backing Muslim Brotherhood offshoots in conflicts in the region and in Africa. “When the state wages war on the Brotherhood’s discourse at home while aligning with its affiliates abroad, it hands critics a potent argument: Why is political Islam considered a threat in Riyadh but a necessary partner in Yemen or Sudan? That question alone is enough to complicate Saudi Arabia’s new national narrative, weaken the rhetoric of the modern state, and create an opening for advocates of ‘reconciliation,’ ‘accommodation,’ and political reintegration.” [AlHurra]

Syria As the New Strait: In Foreign Policy, the Middle East Institute’s Charles Lister looks at Syria’s efforts to position itself as a “transformational corridor” and logistics hub in the region amid the shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz. “Syria could become one alternative overland artery in a network of new ones, spanning from the Gulf, to Egypt, to Jordan. This would be of enormous global significance — to regional states and Gulf energy producers, to customers in Europe, and, of course, for Syria itself. Iran’s shuttering of the Strait of Hormuz has also surged maritime shipping insurance rates, which, even if peace returns, are not expected to return to pre-conflict levels, thereby making overland transit structurally competitive.” [FP]

The U.S. struck several sites in Iran over the weekend after Iran downed an American MQ-1 drone, while Kuwait said early Monday that it was being targeted by missiles and drones that triggered sirens across the Gulf nation…

U.S. officials told The New York Times that American forces had helped some 70 vessels transit through the Strait of Hormuz in recent weeks as the key waterway remains largely closed amid stalled talks between Tehran and Washington…

The report comes days after President Donald Trump reportedly asked senior officials to make some changes to a draft ceasefire proposal with Iran, prompting a new back-and-forth with Tehran over the reworked items, which largely focus on Iran’s nuclear program…

The Financial Times spotlights Operation Jailbreak, a recent hackathon convened by Army Secretary Dan Driscoll during which defense firms and startups worked to build inter-operative weapons systems; FT reports that Driscoll wants to send some of the solutions from the hackathon to CENTCOM’s areas of operations in the Middle East within the next month to assist in countering Iranian drone threats…

The office of Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa said that the Syrian leader spoke by phone to Trump on Sunday about regional developments and the Syrian economy…

Reps. Jefferson Shreve (R-IN) and Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) introduced legislation to prohibit funding for UNIFIL, which has faced criticism for its inability to deter Hezbollah in Lebanon’s south, after Oct. 1, 2027…

Reps. Danny Davis (D-IL), Steve Cohen (D-TN) and Jim Clyburn (D-SC) introduced legislation to establish a National Park honoring Jewish philanthropist Julius Rosenwald and the network of schools for Black students that he founded…

Politico reports that the New York chapter of the Working Families Party declined to endorse Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) in his reelection bid over his failure to support the Block the Bombs Act as the New York Democrat faces a primary challenge from democratic socialist Darializa Avila Chevalier…

Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen, a Republican, signed an executive order requiring the state’s public schools and universities to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism in investigating complaints and directing the state’s Board of Education to provide educational materials about antisemitism, Israel and American Jewish history…

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul formally signed the state’s buffer zone bill, which enacts a 50-foot security perimeter around religious institutions, into law on Sunday at the Met Council’s annual legislative breakfast…

PBS interviews the father of slain Israeli Embassy staffer Yaron Lischinsky on the anniversary of the Capital Jewish Museum shooting in which Lischinsky and his partner were killed, about how he plans to honor his son’s legacy…

The Washington Post spotlights the “enduring mystery” of the post-World War II lives of Louis “Speedy” Weber and his wife, Frances, whose letters to each other while Louis was stationed in Europe during the war were recently digitized by the USO…

In The Wall Street Journal, Gil Troy reflects on the origins of anti-Zionism on the 81st anniversary of Iraq’s Farhud, the pogrom that marked a turning point for Iraqi Jews and initiated the mass exodus of the country’s Jewish community…

Far-left streamer Hasan Piker and Young Turks co-founder Cenk Uygur said they were both banned from the U.K. ahead of their scheduled upcoming appearances at London’s SXSW convening; Piker accused London of acting at “the behest of Israel,” while Uygur, who is Piker’s uncle, said the U.K.’s Home Office called him a “serious risk to the public order”…

Italian authorities canceled a Kanye West show scheduled for July in Emilia-Reggiano — as well as a concert by rapper Travis Scott slated for the following day — amid concerns from the country’s Jewish community over West’s past antisemitic rhetoric; West was previously slated to perform in the U.K., France, Switzerland and Poland at concerts that have since been canceled, with some countries revoking his entry visa…

Paris Saint-Germain beat Arsenal 4-3 in the UEFA Champions League match on Saturday night in Budapest, Hungary, the second year in a row the Qatar-owned team has won the league’s championship…

Australia’s royal commission investigating antisemitism in the country rejected an effort by the government to keep confidential official minutes from Cabinet meetings between 2020-2025 that pertain to the government’s budget for counterterrorism enforcement…

Far-right attorney Abelardo de la Espriella will face off against far-left activist Ivan Cepeda in Colombia’s presidential runoff next month after Sunday’s election in which no candidate reached the requisite 50%…

The Financial Times profiles Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed, the son of UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed who is being groomed to lead the Gulf nation…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the appointment of Shmuel Ben Ezra to serve as national security advisor and head of the country’s National Security Council; Ben Ezra, who oversaw the development of Israel’s Arrow 3 missile-defense system, will replace Gil Reich, who had been in the role in an acting capacity since October 2024 after Netanyahu fired Tzachi Hanegbi from the position…

Historian Ilan Shchori was named the senior vice president of B’nai B’rith International; Shchori, who is based in Tel Aviv, will also serve as the organization’s lead historian…

Longtime Newsday journalist Cara Trager died at 71…

Marion Miliband, a Holocaust survivor whose sons, David and Ed, went on to become leading figures in U.K. politics, died at 91…

Rabbi Andrew Baker, who is retiring as the American Jewish Committee’s director of international Jewish affairs after 47 years with the organization, was honored by AJC Board of Governors Chair Melanie Nelkin at last night’s plenary session at the AJC Global Forum in Washington.

Comedian, writer, actor, director and producer, Amy Schumer turns 45… 

Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, pianist and conductor, he has taught at Yale, SUNY Purchase, Cornell, Brandeis and Harvard, Yehudi Wyner turns 97… Holocaust survivor as a child, he served as the Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Israel for 10 years and twice as chief rabbi of Tel Aviv, Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau turns 89… NYC-based attorney, author of two books regarding the history and operations of El Al, owner of 40,000-plus pieces of memorabilia related to El Al, Marvin G. Goldman turns 87… Grammy Award-winning classical pianist, Richard Goode turns 83… Former member of the Knesset for the Yisrael Beiteinu party, Shimon Ohayon turns 81… Retired attorney in Berkeley, Calif., Thomas Andrew Seaton… Pediatrician in the San Francisco Bay area, longtime AIPAC activist, Elliot Charles Lepler, MD… Former member of the Knesset for the Shinui and the Hilonit Tzionit parties, Eti Livni turns 78… Founding editor of The American Interest, a bimonthly public policy magazine that is on hiatus since 2020, Adam M. Garfinkle turns 75… Former editor-in-chief of Bloomberg News and co-author with Michael Bloomberg of Bloomberg by Bloomberg, Matthew Winkler turns 71… Senior business editor at NPR for 25 years until his scathing review of liberal bias at the network in 2024, now a contributing editor at The Free Press, Uri Paul Berliner… Founding rabbi of Congregation Aish Kodesh in Woodmere, N.Y., Rabbi Moshe Weinberger turns 69… Former IDF officer and now a London based political scientist and journalist, Ahron “Ronnie” Bregman turns 68… Member of the Knesset for the Shas party for 16 years ending in 2015, Amnon Cohen turns 66… Owner of MLB’s Athletics, his parents were the co-founders of Gap, Inc., he is a board member of the Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) Foundation, John J. Fisher turns 65… Poet, performance artist and essayist, Adeena Karasick turns 61… Founding editor and publisher of the Dayton Jewish Observer, Marshall J. Weiss… Television personality and matchmaker, Sigalit “Siggy” Flicker turns 59… Actor, voice actor and film director, Danielle Harris turns 49… Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and writer, Spencer J. Ackerman turns 46… Partner in Oliver Wyman, a global management consulting firm, Daniel Tannebaum… President and CEO of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, Yael Eckstein turns 42… Musician, songwriter, author, actor and blogger, Ari Seth Herstand turns 41… Former CEO of The Good Food Institute, Ilya Sheyman turns 40… Political reporter for NBC News until last year, now a newspaper editor in Maine, Alex Seitz-Wald… Senior writer at Barron’s covering the Federal Reserve, Nicole Goodkind… Head of responsible AI policy at Palantir, Naomi S. Kadish… Executive business partner at Lyft, Isabel Keller… NYC-born Israeli pair skater, she competed for Israel at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Hailey Esther Kops turns 24…

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Former Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) is set to make a comeback bid for the Senate, taking on Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH) — who was appointed earlier this year to fill Vice President JD Vance’s seat — next year. Brown, who lost his seat to Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) in a hotly contested 2024 race, held a solidly progressive voting record during his three terms in the Senate but maintained his support for Israel and relationships with Ohio’s sizable Jewish community. Senate Democrats have encouraged Brown to run again, seeing him as one of the party’s few chances to flip a GOP-held Senate seat back to blue in the midterms…

The Democratic National Committee is set to consider two resolutions on Israel this month — one of which is downright hostile to the Jewish state. The first, introduced by DNC Chairman Ken Martin, calls for a ceasefire, the return of all hostages and a two-state solution. The other, introduced by progressive DNC members, calls for an arms embargo, the suspension of all military aid to Israel and for the Democratic Party to recognize a Palestinian state…

The Atlantic reports on the divide between the “reformist” and “academic resistance” factions of university leaders, exemplified by a heated meeting of the Association of American Universities. The reformists are led by Vanderbilt Chancellor Daniel Diermeier and Washington University in St. Louis Chancellor Andrew Martin, who have positioned their schools as safe spaces for Jewish students facing antisemitism on other campuses and advocate for more universities to do the same. The two told Jewish Insider last month, “Here are two institutions that are willing to stand in the public square and say, American higher education has lost its way in some respects. We’re great institutions, and we’re committed to working to ensure that our institutions and higher education writ large will do better in the future.”

The resistance faction, meanwhile, led in part by Princeton President Christopher Eisgruber and encompassing most Ivy League schools, says the reformists are lending legitimacy to the Trump administration’s war on higher education by admitting universities have a problem with liberal bias…

We’re hearing that Harvard, one of those Ivy Leagues battling with the federal government, could reach a settlement with the Trump administration as soon as tomorrow. Harvard may agree to spend $500 million for the restoration of its frozen federal funding, more than double what Columbia paid to the federal government last month. However, reported terms of the deal would see Harvard’s payment going towards vocational and educational programs, similar to the $50 million Brown University agreed to spend on local workforce initiatives, rather than going to the Trump administration…

George Washington University joined the schools under fire from the federal government today as the Department of Justice found it in violation of federal civil rights law. The DOJ said GW “took no meaningful action and instead was deliberately indifferent to the hostile educational environment on its campus” during an anti-Israel encampment and protests, and gave the D.C. school an Aug. 22 deadline to agree to dialogue…

The Trump administration is busy on the diplomatic front as well, now working towards a deal between Israel and Syria to open a corridor for Israel to deliver humanitarian aid to the Druze community in the southern Syrian city of Suweida, according to Axios. The initiative comes after Israel bombed Syria last month in defense of that community, as the Druze clashed with militias aligned with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa’s government. Tom Barrack, U.S. ambassador to Turkey and envoy to Syria, is expected to meet with Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani to discuss the deal in Paris next week…

The New York Times interviews Zakaria Zubeidi, the former leader of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a U.S.-designated terror group based in the West Bank town of Jenin, who was released from Israeli prison in February as part of a temporary ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. The profile framed Zubeidi, who also founded the Freedom Theater in Jenin, as “emblematic of something else: a sense of hopelessness that imbues Palestinian life,” a charitable interpretation for the man who led the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade during the Second Intifada — during which time the militia was designated as a Foreign Terror Organization by the U.S. and over 1,000 Israelis were killed in terror attacks… 

World Central Kitchen confirmed that the individuals struck by the IDF who were operating from a vehicle with a WCK emblem were not affiliated with the aid organization, saying it “strongly condemn[s] anyone posing as WCK or other humanitarians as this endangers civilians and aid workers”…

An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider tomorrow morning for an interview with Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who just returned from a trip to Israel, and another with American-Israeli venture capitalist Michael Eisenberg. We’ll also profile American Eagle CEO and philanthropist Jay Schottenstein.

Eric Levine, a top GOP donor and board member of the Republican Jewish Coalition, is co-hosting a fundraiser tomorrow evening for New York City Mayor Eric Adams as Adams tries to retain his office as an independent against Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani. Levin is joined by an array of donors from New York’s legal, financial and Jewish communities in hosting the event, advertised as “Democrats, Independents and Republicans coming together to save New York City.”

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

President Donald Trump spoke with Axios’ Barak Ravid today about Israel’s move to expand the war in Gaza. While the president didn’t go so far as to say he endorsed the plan, he said that, in his view, Hamas “can’t stay there” and the terror group is “not going to let the hostages out in the current situation.” Trump told Ravid, “I have one thing to say: remember Oct. 7, remember Oct. 7”…

Israel Hayom reported this afternoon that Israeli Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer is considering leaving the government in the coming months before Israel holds its next elections, which are currently scheduled for October 2026. Sources said Dermer, a close confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, began contemplating the move after Israel successfully degraded the Iranian nuclear threat in its June operation. Since February, he’s also led Israel’s hostage-release and ceasefire negotiation efforts…

The Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund, the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, divested from 11 of the 61 Israeli companies it held shares in and will no longer collaborate with Israeli hedge fund managers to invest in the country, the fund announced today. 

Nicolai Tangen, CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management which manages the fund, said about the move, “These measures were taken in response to extraordinary circumstances. The situation in Gaza is a serious humanitarian crisis. We are invested in companies that operate in a country at war, and conditions in the West Bank and Gaza have recently worsened. In response, we will further strengthen our due diligence”…

A delegation of 14 House Democrats, including 11 freshmen, met in Jerusalem today with Israeli President Isaac Herzog while on a trip organized by the AIPAC-affiliated American Israel Education Foundation. The strong showing of first-term members — who account for a third of the total House Democratic freshman class — is a sign of the organization’s continued pull among mainstream pro-Israel Democrats, even as anti-Israel activists within the party have sought to make the group politically toxic…

Virginia state Del. Sam Rasoul, chair of the Education Committee in the House of Delegates, continues to defend his view that Zionism is “evil” amid widespread Democratic criticism, telling local outlet WFIR News earlier this month that the criticisms he’s faced are politically motivated “silly season” attacks in the lead-up to the state’s November elections…

The Israeli-American Council’s Los Angeles headquarters was vandalized over the weekend, the group shared, with graffiti including swastikas, the letters SS as a reference to the Nazis and the phrases “f*** Jews” and “BDS.” IAC CEO Elan Carr said in a statement, “This incident will not intimidate or deter us — on the contrary, it fuels our determination to stand even stronger against antisemitism and to protect and strengthen our community for generations to come”…

An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider tomorrow morning for the full story on an Orthodox community emerging from the ground up in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains:

“People who buy homes in Mountain View, as the neighborhood will be called, must also buy into the vision of building a tight-knit community from the ground up (literally — the homes won’t be ready for at least a year).

Rabbi Yaakov Moshe Twerski, a rabbi from Monsey, N.Y., is on board to oversee religious matters in the community. Plans are underway to build a mikveh, a kosher supermarket, an Orthodox school system and a yeshiva — a second location of Yeshivas Lev Simcha, a religious school in Boca Raton, Fla. A synagogue has already been constructed.”

Also tomorrow, the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee is expected to discuss the issue of Haredi conscription in the IDF for the first time since former Chairman Yuli Edelstein was replaced by MK Boaz Bismuth. 

Though Edelstein and Bismuth are both Likud lawmakers, the party hopes the new chairman will be more amenable to the Haredi parties’ demands, which reportedly now include the cancellation of tens of thousands of draft notices sent to Haredi men over the past year.

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

All eyes were on Jerusalem today, where Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu amid a growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza and stalled ceasefire talks with Hamas. An Israeli official told Axios’ Barak Ravid that the men discussed moving from an “incremental and partial” ceasefire to a comprehensive one, meaning a final deal that would see the release of all the remaining 50 hostages, the disarmament of Hamas and the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip.

Witkoff and Huckabee will travel into Gaza tomorrow to visit humanitarian aid sites and “meet with local Gazans to hear firsthand about this dire situation on the ground,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced in a briefing this afternoon. After their visit, President Donald Trump will approve a “final plan” for food and aid distribution in Gaza. 

Trump placed blame for the situation squarely with Hamas this morning, posting on Truth Social, “The fastest way to end the Humanitarian Crises in Gaza is for Hamas to SURRENDER AND RELEASE THE HOSTAGES!!!” That goodwill may not last, though, with one source telling the Financial Times that Trump recently warned a “prominent Jewish donor” that “my people are starting to hate Israel”…

In the same FT article, Amos Hochstein, the former advisor to President Joe Biden and negotiator between Israel and Lebanon during his term, is quoted saying, “Part of being a pro-Israel U.S. president meant stepping in when necessary to save Israel from itself.” On Israel’s wars in the region, Hochstein said, “Israel looks like it’s out of control and needs an American intervention and stop button”…

The State Department announced “sanctions that deny visas” to members of the Palestine Liberation Organization and officials from the Palestinian Authority this morning, over the PLO and PA’s continued “pay-for-slay” policy, glorification of violence “especially in textbooks” and initiation of or support for proceedings against Israel at the International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice. 

The move comes in the midst of a spate of Western countries announcing their intent to recognize a Palestinian state in the coming months, signaling Washington is of a very different mind. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said the measure by the U.S. “exposes the moral delusion of certain countries that were quick to recognize a virtual Palestinian state while simultaneously turning a blind eye to its support for terror and incitement.” We’re keeping watch to see if the Trump administration moves to pressure countries like France, the U.K. and Canada to reverse course…

One U.S. ally waiting to jump into the fray is Germany, whose foreign minister, Johann Wadephul, just before an official visit in Israel today, said Berlin is not currently considering joining its neighbors in recognizing a Palestinian state, but that the process towards a two-state solution “must begin now.” “If that process continues to be blocked,” he warned, “Germany must consider reacting accordingly”…

The State Department also released a statement today — alongside 13 Western countries including France, the U.K. and Canada — condemning the “growing number of state threats from Iranian intelligence services in our respective territories,” specifically Iran’s attempts to “kill, kidnap and harass” Westerners and “target journalists, dissidents, Jewish citizens, and current and former officials”…

Relatedly, Israel’s National Security Council issued a warning to its citizens in the United Arab Emirates and is reportedly evacuating its diplomats due to increased terror threats targeting Israeli nationals there, in retaliation for Israel’s war with Iran…

The Washington Post today profiled Rachel Accurso, also known as Ms. Rachel, a popular children’s content creator and outspoken critic of Israel, without detailing the anti-Israel activism she’s incorporated into her children’s show and social media content. This month, she drew criticism from Jewish leaders for publishing a video with former UNRWA photographer Motaz Azaiza — who she called her “friend” —  who has made numerous social media posts defending Palestinian terrorism, according to Ha’aretz…

The Free Press scooped a potential new lawsuit against Harvard by the Trump administration after the Department of Health and Human Services, which had been investigating the university for antisemitism, found the school in violation of the Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and that it would not “voluntarily comply with its obligations.” HHS referred the case to the Department of Justice, which will decide how to proceed…

In a Thursday afternoon speech at the Heritage Foundation, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation‘s chair, Rev. Dr. Johnnie Moore, delivered a forceful defense of the beleaguered U.S.-backed aid organization, which nearly all Senate Democrats recently argued has “failed” in its mission and “contributed to an unacceptable and mounting civilian death toll.” Moore contended that GHF’s work shows the Trump doctrine of “peace through strength” in action, as opposed to the efforts of the United Nations, which he called “the press secretary for Hamas.” “American strength serves American values,” Moore said, “not a corrupt international system”…

An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for reporting on the connection between an anti-Israel group at the University of Washington and the proscribed terror group Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and for an interview with James Walkinshaw, longtime aide to the late Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA), who’s running for his former boss’ seat. We’ll also continue to cover the fallout from last night’s vote on resolutions led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) blocking arms sales to Israel, particularly for Democratic senators with large Jewish constituencies.

We’ll be watching the Witkoff-Huckabee visit to Gaza tomorrow and how their takeaways on the aid crisis translate into a new U.S. plan for food distribution, including involvement from Israel.

We’ll be back in your inbox with the next Daily Overtime on Monday. Shabbat shalom!

• The House of Representatives is set to vote this evening on two resolutions condemning antisemitism and the terrorist attack on a hostage march in Boulder, Colo. One resolution from Republicans, focused on Boulder, highlights immigration issues and denounces the slogan “Free Palestine,” while the other, which is bipartisan, links Sunday’s Colorado attack to a series of other recent violent antisemitic attacks. The first of the two is already attracting criticism from Democrats.
• The House Appropriations Committee’s Homeland Security subcommittee will hold a vote on its 2026 funding bill today. More below.
• New York City Mayor Eric Adams is holding a roundtable for Jewish media this morning.
• The Jewish Federations of North America is leading an LGBTQ+ Pride mission to Israel this week.

A QUICK WORD WITH MELISSA WEISS

The image of Greta Thunberg eyeing a turkey sandwich as she is taken into Israeli custody has been picked up across pro-Israel social media. And on the other side of the ideological spectrum, supporters of Thunberg, who is vegan, decried the “hostage-taking” of the Swedish climate activist and other participants on the boat that had been headed to Gaza before its interception overnight by Israel’s navy.

But the stunt — after all, the small vessel carrying Thunberg and the other activists could carry only a minimal amount of aid — has briefly taken global attention away from the legitimate efforts to distribute aid in Gaza, amid mounting distribution challenges following the launch of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation last month.

Distribution through the GHF was briefly paused last week following a series of incidents in and around distribution sites, including the shooting of some Gazans as they neared sites as instructed, and the rush on other facilities by crowds of Gazans. Additionally, the GHF said it was forced to close its distribution sites on Saturday due to threats from Hamas.

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

The Case for Israel: The Atlantic’s Yair Rosenberg posits that recent antisemitic attacks targeting Jews over their support for Israel underscores the country’s founding purpose as a safe haven for Jews. “Although these assailants all attacked American Jews, they clearly perceived themselves as Zionism’s avengers. In reality, however, they have joined a long line of Zionism’s inadvertent advocates. As in Herzl’s time, the perpetrators of anti-Jewish acts do more than nearly anyone else to turn Jews who were once indifferent or even hostile to Israel’s fate into reluctant appreciators of its necessity. … Simply put, Israel exists as it does today because of the repeated choices made by societies to reject their Jews. Had these societies made different choices, Jews would still live in them, and Israel likely would not exist — certainly not in its present form.” [TheAtlantic]

Foreign Exchange Fee: In The New York Times, Princeton professor David Bell considers the benefits and pitfalls of maintaining current levels of foreign-student enrollment in American universities. “If we think of universities principally as generators of knowledge, expanding international enrollments clearly makes sense. By increasing the pool of applicants, it raises the quality of student bodies, thereby improving the level of intellectual exchange and facilitating better research and more significant discoveries. … A graduate of an elite private school in Greece or India may well have more in common with a graduate of Exeter or Horace Mann than with a working-class American from rural Alabama. Do we need to turn university economics departments into mini-Davoses in which future officials of the International Monetary Fund from different countries reinforce one another’s opinions about global trade?” [NYTimes]

he State Department informed Congress that it no longer plans to eliminate the Office of the U.S. Security Coordinator, a Jerusalem-based office that works with both Israel and the Palestinian Authority; the office will now be consolidated into the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem…

Sens. Michael Bennet (D-CO) and John Hickenlooper (D-CO) introduced a resolution condemning the antisemitic terrorist attack in Boulder, Colo., and calling for “continued vigilance and Federal resources to counter rising antisemitism, investigate hate crimes, and support targeted communities”…

Hickenlooper was among the hundreds of marchers who attended Sunday’s hostage walk in Boulder, the first to be held following the attack…

Sens. Roger Marshall (R-KS) and Jerry Moran (R-KS) introduced a resolution honoring Sarah Milgrim, an Israeli Embassy employee and Kansan killed in the Capital Jewish Museum shooting…

A bipartisan resolution calling for the release of the remaining hostages held in Gaza advanced through the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday…

In audio leaked from a Democratic National Committee officers meeting that took place in mid-May, DNC Chair Ken Martin said he was not sure he wanted to continue in his position, amid a push to oust DNC Vice Chairs David Hogg and Malcolm Kenyatta; the move by Hogg’s super PAC to back primary challengers to incumbents spurred internal concerns over Hogg’s continued leadership role at the DNC…

New York City Mayor Eric Adams signed an executive order adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism…

The Bobov sect, a major Hasidic voting bloc in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn, is endorsing former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo for mayor of New York City, a representative for the community confirmed to Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel on Friday…

The mayor of San Diego and a number of the city’s Jewish organizations pulled out of the upcoming San Diego Pride over the selection of Kehlani, who has faced backlash for recent comments about Israel, as the celebration’s headline act; one of the singer’s recent music videos opens with the text, “long live the intifada”…

A Pride music festival in San Francisco announced that Kehlani, who was slated to headline the event, had departed the lineup… 

The New York Times spotlights the firing of a tenured Muhlenberg College professor over anti-Zionist social media posts, amid a broader crackdown on universities alleged to have mishandled campus antisemitism after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attack…

Two U.S. Army veterans were found with a cache of stolen weapons and Nazi and white supremacist paraphernalia after they were arrested in connection with the assault of another soldier while attempting to steal additional combat equipment from a Washington state base…

Three Serbian nationals were charged with vandalizing Jewish sites in Paris, including the city’s Holocaust memorial, last weekend…

Iran claimed to have seized an “important treasury” of documents regarding an Israeli nuclear program, but did not provide evidence of the discovery…

Israel recovered the body of Thai hostage Nattapong Pinta in Gaza; Pinta was believed to have been killed in the early months of the war, after he was taken hostage from Kibbutz Nir Oz, where he was working…

The IDF found the body of Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar, weeks after he was believed to have been killed in an airstrike while hiding in a tunnel under the European Hospital…

The Australian government canceled the visa of Israeli American activist Hillel Fuld, citing the Department of Home Affairs’ concerns over the risk officials suggest Fuld, who had been slated to speak at Magen David Adom fundraising events in Sydney and Melbourne, poses to “the health, safety or good order” of Australians… 

Israeli journalist Barak Ravid is departing Walla News and will join Israel’s Channel 12 as the network’s Washington correspondent; Ravid will continue to report for Axios and appear on CNN as an analyst…

The Jewish Telegraph Agency’s Ben Sales is joining The Times of Israel as news editor…

United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed hosted fellow UAE rulers and faith leaders last Friday on the occasion of Eid Al Adha, the Islamic festival that concludes its four-day celebration today. Among the faith leaders that greeted the UAE president was Rabbi Levi Duchman, the head of Chabad of the United Arab Emirates.

Former executive director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Dallas, Walter Julius Levy turns 103… 

Journalist for 30 years at CBS who then became the founding director of Harvard’s Shorenstein Center, then a fellow at GWU, Marvin Kalb turns 95… Retired Israeli diplomat who served as ambassador to Italy and France and world chairman of Keren Hayesod – United Israel Appeal, Aviezer “Avi” Pazner turns 88… Author of 12 books, activist, and founding editor of Ms. Magazine, Letty Cottin Pogrebin turns 86… British businessman, co-founder with his brother Maurice of advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi, Charles Saatchi turns 82… Diplomat and Shakespeare historian, Kenneth Adelman turns 79… Founder and chairman of Commonwealth Financial Network and chairman of Southworth Development, Joseph Deitch turns 75… Professional mediator and advice columnist, Wendy J. Belzberg… Israel’s former minister of defense and deputy prime minister, Benny Gantz turns 66… Canadian journalist, author, documentary film producer and television personality, Steven Hillel Paikin turns 65… Producer, director, playwright and screenwriter, Aaron Benjamin Sorkin turns 64… Former lead singer of the Israeli pop rock band Mashina, Yuval Banay turns 63… CEO of Jewish Women’s International, Meredith Jacobs… Managing director at Major, Lindsey & Africa, Craig Appelbaum… EVP of Jewish Funders Network, Rabbi Rebecca Sirbu… Screenwriter, director and producer, Hayden Schlossberg turns 47… Founder and CEO of Delve LLC, previously a Bush 43 White House Jewish liaison, Jeff Berkowitz… Co-founder of Swish Beverages, David Oliver Cohen turns 45… Jerusalem born Academy Award-winning actress, producer and director, Natalie Portman turns 44… Online producer, writer and director, Rafi Fine turns 42… Multimedia artist, Anna Marie Tendler turns 40… Composer and lyricist, in 2024 he became the 20th person to complete the EGOT, an acronym for the Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Awards, Benj Pasek turns 40… Israeli tech entrepreneur, he is the founder and chairman of Israel Tech Challenge, Raphael Ouzan turns 38… Director of the Yale Journalism Initiative, her book, A Flower Traveled In My Blood, is being published next month, Haley Cohen Gilliland… Deputy assistant secretary for strategic communications at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security during the Biden administration, Jeff Solnet… Ice hockey player for the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers and best-selling author of children’s books, Zachary Martin Hyman turns 33… Founder and CEO of The Fine Companies, Daniel Fine… Emilia Levy…

• President Donald Trump wraps up his three-country trip to the Middle East today in the United Arab Emirates. Earlier today, the president visited the Abrahamic Family House. More below.
• Former Israeli-American hostage Keith Siegel is in New York City today, where he is hosting a pancake pop-up at 12 Chairs Cafe’s Soho location. All proceeds from the pop-up will go to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
• The two-day FII PRIORITY Europe 2025 begins today in Tirana, Albania. Speakers include French President Emmanuel Macron, Richard Attias and Goldman Sachs’ Jared Cohen. 
• Iran’s deputy foreign minister is in Istanbul today for meetings with senior diplomats from France, the U.K. and Germany.
• The Eurovision finals are taking place tomorrow in Basel, Switzerland. Israeli singer Yuval Raphael advanced out of Thursday’s semifinals and will perform her “New Day Will Rise” on Saturday night.
• On Sunday, the Center for Jewish History is hosting “The End of an Era? Jews and Elite Universities.” The symposium will feature speakers including Rabbi David Wolpe, Jamie Kirchick, Eli Lake, Steven Pinker, Bill Ackman and Deborah Lipstadt.
• Also Sunday, the National Council of Jewish Women’s two-day Washington Institute kicks off in the nation’s capital.
• In New York, the Jewish Community Relations Council-NY is hosting its annual Israel Parade on Sunday.
• And in Paris, ELNET’s International Policy Conference begins Sunday.
• The World Jewish Congress kicks off in Jerusalem on Sunday evening.
• Pope Leo XIV will be inaugurated on Sunday at the Vatican. Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Israeli President Isaac Herzog will be among the dignitaries and officials traveling to Italy for the inauguration. 

A QUICK WORD WITH JOSH KRAUSHAAR

In our hyperpartisan times, it’s often hard to appreciate how often the Trump administration — on issues ranging from health care to abortion to trade — is taking liberal-to-left positions, yet can still rely on support from nearly all of the GOP base, Jewish Insider Editor-in-Chief Josh Kraushaar writes. 

President Donald Trump can call for implementing price controlson pharmaceutical companies, without generating even a peep of opposition from rank-and-file conservatives. The White House can defend federal regulations allowing abortion pills to be available online and by mail without facing much backlash from pro-lifers. It can slap punitive tariffs on allies and rivals alike, raising the risk of economic chaos, only backing down after mayhem in the markets, and not because of public pushback from lawmakers.

But perhaps the most consequential divergence of the Trump administration from conventional conservative views is on foreign policy, most recently its seemingly growing disconnect from Israel on issues ranging from Iran nuclear negotiations to the war against the Houthis in Yemen and the state of the war in Gaza. Trump’s views are apparently at odds with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on all those issues, to the point where the president didn’t even schedule a stop in Israel this week on his Middle East trip. 

We write a lot about the horseshoe theory, which has the far left and far right coming together to mainline views once considered beyond the political pale. On Middle East policy, it’s increasingly looking like there’s a different type of horseshoe, tying together Obama-era foreign policy advisors looking to attack the foreign policy establishment of their time as a “blob” along with isolationist-minded Trump advisors aiming to discredit mainstream conservative policymakers as part of an “interventionalist” cadre.

Just look at the stunning quotes from Obama and Biden-era foreign policy officials responsible for what some saw as unpopular national security decisions now praising the new Trump playbook in the Middle East. 

Obama Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes told Axios, reprising his Blob dig for Trump critics: “One thing you will say is he’s not tied to this constant fear of some bad faith right-wing attacks or stupid Blob-type, ‘we don’t do this, we must leverage the sanctions for blah blah blah.’ No! Sometimes you just have to try something different.”  

Rob Malley, Biden’s Iran envoy whose security clearance was suspended over alleged misconduct, also backhandedly praised Trump’s new approach in the Middle East. “It’s hard not to be simultaneously terrified at the thought of the damage he can cause with such power, and awed by his willingness to brazenly shatter so many harmful taboos,” Malley told Axios. 

The Axios story follows our own reporting last month, quoting numerous Obama and Biden-era officials finding common ground with Trump on trying to reach a diplomatic agreement with Iran, even if it requires major concessions. Phil Gordon, Vice President Kamala Harris’ national security advisor, told JI the Trump negotiating team is “gonna have to accept some of the same imperfections that the Obama team did.” 

The big potential question to come is if Trump’s negotiators strike a nuclear deal with Iran that looks awfully similar to Obama’s 2015 deal, short of a dismantlement of the Islamic regime’s nuclear program, will Republicans fall in line or stand their ground on an issue many have spoken out against since the original JCPOA? Only time will tell what transpires, but given the trajectory of our politics, principles tend to bow to power.

Plane Wrong: The Atlantic’s Jonathan Lemire and Russell Berman look at how Republicans are responding — or not addressing — President Donald Trump’s intentions to accept a luxury plane from Qatar. “But in a rare moment of defiance, some of the loudest cries of protest about the possible gift are coming from some of Trump’s staunchest allies. ‘I think if we switched the names to Hunter Biden and Joe Biden, we’d all be freaking out on the right,”’ Ben Shapiro, a Daily Wire co-founder, said on his podcast. ‘President Trump promised to drain the swamp. This is not, in fact, draining the swamp.’ Even in Washington, a capital now numbed to scandals that were once unthinkable, the idea of accepting the jet is jaw-dropping. Trump’s second administration is yet again displaying a disregard for norms and for traditional legal and political guardrails around elected office — this time at a truly gargantuan scale. Trump’s team has said it believes that the gift would be legal because it would be donated to the Department of Defense (and then to the presidential library). But federal law prohibits government workers from accepting a gift larger than $20 at any one time from any person. Retired General Stanley McChrystal, who once commanded U.S. forces in Afghanistan, told us that he couldn’t ‘accept a lunch at the Capital Grille.’” [TheAtlantic]

Acceptance Rates: In The Wall Street Journal, Alison Leigh Cowan proposes that universities ask questions of their applicants similar to the questions that green card applicants are required to answer on issues regarding violence and behavior. “Foreigners seeking green cards or nonresident visas must answer dozens of yes-or-no questions from the U.S. government. False statements can be grounds for deportation. They are also asked if they have any affiliation to communist or other totalitarian parties, and, in some instances, whether they intend to give financial or other support to terrorists or engage in activity intended to oppose, control or overthrow the U.S. government. American-born university applicants shouldn’t get a free pass. Plenty of them have been on the front lines of the rankest campus spectacles. This extra layer of diligence won’t solve the separate problem posed by tenured faculty who radicalize students once they arrive. But it’s a good place to start: University presidents have more sway over their admissions offices than they do over entrenched faculty members.” [WSJ]

President Donald Trump said on Thursday in the United Arab Emirates that American negotiators are “getting close to maybe doing a deal” with Iran over its nuclear program…

In a wide-ranging interview with Fox News, UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan spoke about the UAE-U.S. relationship, the Israel-Hamas war and nuclear talks with Iran; regarding Gaza, he called for “an authority that’s not Hamas that controls Gaza”…

During the president’s trip to the UAE, the countries inked an agreement to boost Abu Dhabi’s chip-making capabilities, the first such AI-related deal the U.S. has made since Trump entered office; the deal includes the creation of a 10-mile AI campus in Abu Dhabi supplied by U.S.-made chips…

Secretary of State Marco Rubio met on Thursday with his Syrian counterpart, Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani, in Turkey as the U.S. moves toward removing sanctions on Damascus following a directive from Trump…

Trump reportedly shared polling with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) that showed lagging numbers ahead of her decision not to move forward with a Senate bid challenging Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA)…

Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ) introduced the Persian Gulf Act, to prohibit the administration from changing the name of the Persian Gulf to the Arabian Gulf, as some in the Trump administration have reportedly considered…

A bipartisan group of 13 House members led by Rep. Jack Bergman (R-MI) introduced a resolution expressing support for continued and expanded U.S. defense cooperation, particularly in advanced research areas…

A group of nine Democratic legislators, including Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Summer Lee (D-PA), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Lateefah Simon (D-CA), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Delia Ramirez (D-IL) and Andre Carson (D-IN) introduced a resolution accusing Israel of genocide and calling for the U.S. to “ensure the United States ends its complicity in Israel’s ongoing Nakba against the Palestinian people”…

The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations voted unanimously to admit the Iranian American Jewish Federation, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross reports…

NYU is denying a diploma to a student speaker who railed against American “complicity in this genocide” in Gaza during a commencement ceremony at NYU’s Gallatin School…

Writer Salman Rushdie withdrew as the commencement speaker for Claremont McKenna College ahead of this weekend’s ceremonies…

Former Harvard Divinity School student Shabbos Kestenbaum settled his ongoing lawsuit against Harvard; the settlement comes days before a deadline for Kestenbaum to produce a range of documents that included his communications with President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign and messages from WhatsApp groups…

The Justice Department told Harvard it is looking into whether the school is complying with a Supreme Court ruling ending affirmative action in college admissions processes…

A Pittsburgh woman pleaded guilty for her role in the vandalism of two Jewish institutions in the Pennsylvania city; Talya Lubit, who is Jewish, was ordered to pay nearly $11,000 in restitution to Chabad of Squirrel Hill, the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh and the City of Pittsburgh and will face a parole board’s recommendation at her June sentencing… 

Officials in southern Nevada are investigating a string of threatening letters sent to Jewish organizations in the Las Vegas area…

The BBC is investigating whether a frequent guest on BBC Arabic who has been billed as both a “journalist” and “foreign policy analyst” served as editor-in-chief of the Hamas-owned Al-Aqsa TV until last September…

Vanity Fair profiles Axios reporter Barak Ravid, whose coverage since moving from Israel to Washington in mid-2023 has focused on the 2024 presidential election, U.S.-Israel relations and the Israel-Hamas war…

Israel carried out overnight strikes across the Gaza Strip, targeting what the IDF said was Hamas infrastructure, amid a broader escalation targeting the terror group in the enclave…

Trump addressed food shortages in Gaza on Friday, saying that “a lot of people are starving” but the U.S. is “going to get that taken care of”…

The New York Times reports on Hamas’ celebrations over the killing earlier this week of a pregnant Israeli woman in the West Bank…

Members of the Israeli branch of the Masorti/Conservative movement’s Mercaz Olami paid to publish and distribute posters in Haredi neighborhoods in Israel that equated Zionism with idolatry and heresy as part of an influence campaign aimed at driving a wedge between the Israeli Haredi public and the Haredi officials involved in the World Zionist Organization, eJewishPhilanthropy‘s Nira Dayanim reports…

Several dozen people participated in an annual pilgrimage to the Ghriba synagogue in Djerba, Tunisia, amid security concerns; two years ago, five people were killed in a terror attack targeting pilgrims, who previously numbered in the thousands…

President Donald Trump toured the Moses Ben Maimon Synagogue during his visit to the Abrahamic Family House in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, this morning, the first American presidential visit to the interfaith institution since its inauguration in February 2023, Jewish Insider’s Danielle Cohen reports.

Managing partner at Accretive LLC, a private equity firm, he is also executive chairman of Fubo TV, Edgar Bronfman Jr. turns 70… 

FRIDAY: Scholar, author and rabbi, he is the founding president of CLAL: The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, Irving “Yitz” Greenberg turns 92… Retired judge of the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, she has served as president and chair of The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, Ellen Moses Heller turns 84… Senior official in the Carter, Bush 41, Clinton and Obama administrations Bernard W. Aronson turns 79… Member of the New York State Assembly for 52 years (longest tenure ever), his term ended in 2022, Richard N. Gottfried turns 78… Chairman of NBC News and MSNBC from 2015 until 2020, Andrew Lack turns 78… Member of the House of Representatives since 2013 (D-FL), she was previously the mayor of West Palm Beach, Lois Frankel turns 77… Harvard history professor, a member of the Rothschild banking family of England, Emma Georgina Rothschild turns 77… Proto-punk singer, songwriter and guitarist, Jonathan Richman turns 74… Radio voice of the Texas Rangers baseball organization since 1979, Eric Nadel turns 74… Rochester, N.Y., resident and advisor to NYC-based Ezras Nashim volunteer ambulance service, Michael E. Pollock… Real estate developer and mechutan of President Trump, his nomination to be U.S. ambassador to France is pending in the Senate, Charles Kushner turns 71… Film and stage actress, noted for “An Officer and a Gentleman” and “Terms of Endearment,” Debra Winger turns 70… President of Tribe Media and editor-in-chief of the Jewish Journal, David Suissa… Real estate mogul and collector of modern and contemporary art, Aby J. Rosen turns 65… Executive assistant at Los Angeles-based FaceCake Marketing Technologies, Esther Bushey… U.S. ambassador to the European Union in the Obama administration, he had a bar mitzvah-like ceremony in Venice in 2017, Anthony Luzzatto Gardner turns 62… Social entrepreneur and co-founder of nonprofit Jumpstart, Jonathan Shawn Landres turns 53… Actress, television personality and author, Victoria Davey (Tori) Spelling turns 52… Host of programs on the Travel Channel and the History Channel, Adam Richman turns 51… VP and associate general counsel at CNN, Drew Shenkman… Managing director at FTI Consulting, Jeff Bechdel… Chef and food blogger, Jamie Neistat Lavarnway… Composer, conductor and music producer known for his film and television scores, Daniel Alexander Slatkin turns 31… 

SATURDAY: President of the Philadelphia-based Honickman Foundation, Lynne Korman Honickman turns 89… Annapolis, Md., attorney, Robert M. Pollock… News anchor for 45 years at WPVI-TV (ABC Channel 6) in Philadelphia until he retired in 2022, known professionally as Jim Gardner, James Goldman turns 77… Canadian philanthropist and the first woman to serve as lieutenant governor of Nova Scotia, Myra Ava Freeman turns 76… Corporate and securities attorney at NYC’s Eilenberg & Krause, he serves as counsel for Israeli technology companies doing business in the U.S., Sheldon Krause turns 70… Comedian, puppeteer and actor, Marc Weiner turns 70… Founder and president of ENS Resources, a D.C.-based consulting and lobbying firm focused on natural resources and sustainable energy, Eric Sapirstein turns 69… Host of “Marketplace Morning Report” on public radio, David Brancaccio turns 65… Author of the 2005 book Stars of David: Prominent Jews Talk About Being Jewish and a 2017 book about Jewish holidays, she is an honorary president of NYC’s Central Synagogue, Abigail Pogrebin… and her identical twin sister, Robin Pogrebin, reporter on the culture desk for The New York Times, both turn 60… Former general manager for corporate strategy at Microsoft, she was also an EVP at Hillel, Kinney Zalesne turns 59… CPA and founder of the Baltimore Hunger Project, it provides food packs for the weekend that are discretely slipped into over 2,200 poverty-stricken public-school children’s backpacks each Friday, Lynne Berkowitz Kahn… Israeli author and playwright, Sarah Blau turns 52… Reporter for The New York Times covering politics, campaigns and elections, Reid J. Epstein… Former member of Knesset, when elected in 2013 she became the youngest female Knesset member in Israel’s history, Stav Shaffir turns 40… Executive director of Informing Democracy and digital strategy adviser to Democratic organizations and candidates, Jenna Ruth Lowenstein… Digital and social media strategist at AARP, Sarah Sonies… Senior writer at Microsoft’s Future of Work group, Rebecca Rose Nelson Kay… Israeli judoka, he was the 2019 World Champion and won a team bronze medal at the 2020 Olympics, Sagi Aharon Muki turns 33… Director of congregational engagement at Mount Zion Hebrew Congregation in St. Paul, Minn., Heather Renetzky… Senior media relations manager at Rystad Energy, Katherine (Katie) Keenan…

SUNDAY: Leader and rebbe of the Hasidic dynasty of Ger since 1996, Rabbi Yaakov Aryeh Alter turns 86… Chairman and co-founder of K2 Intelligence and Kroll Bond Rating Agency, Jules B. Kroll turns 84… Best-selling author of nine spy thriller novels, Andrew Gary Kaplan turns 84… Ruth Madoff turns 84… Retired New York Times columnist and editorial writer, he was the NYT’s Jerusalem correspondent for four years in the early 1990s, Clyde Haberman turns 80… President of Everest Management and trustee of the Cheetah Conservation Fund, Gary Kopff turns 80… Los Angeles-based attorney and board member of American Friends of Nishmat, Linda Goldenberg Mayman… Longtime Washington correspondent for Newsweek, now writing for SpyTalk, Jonathan Broder turns 77… Longest-serving member of the Maryland House of Delegates, starting in 1983, Samuel I. “Sandy” Rosenberg turns 75… Chair of the executive of the Jewish Agency for Israel, a former IDF major general and leading activist for the disability community, Doron Almog turns 74… Senior advisor at Moelis & Company, a former IDF major general, then CEO of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Shlomo Yanai turns 73… Director of nutrition and hospitality at Philadelphia’s Temple University Hospital, Nancy Baumann… Attorney in Atlanta, he was the director of congregational engagement at the Union for Reform Judaism for nine years, Alan Kitey… Film producer, he is the CEO of Miramax since one year ago, Jonathan Glickman turns 56… Venture capitalist and author of a book on business principles derived from the Book of Genesis, Michael A. Eisenberg turns 54… CEO at Waze from 2013 to 2021, Noam Bardin… VP for communications strategy at Strategic Marketing Innovations (SMI), Bryan Bender turns 53… Head of development until earlier this year at NYC charter school system, Uncommon Schools, Sarah Danzig… Author of Substack-based newsletter and blog, “Slow Boring,” he was a co-founder of Vox, Matthew Yglesias turns 44… Founder of London-based Tech With Intention, Eliza Krigman… Senior director for the Middle East and North Africa on the White House’s National Security Council, Eric Trager… Founder of Satori Global Media, Joshua Lederman… Former acting under secretary of defense for intelligence and security, then a member of the National Archives Public Interest Declassification Board, Ezra Asa Cohen turns 39… Tech entrepreneur in the AI and gaming space, Dan Garon… Co-founder of Rebel (formerly known as Rebelmail) then acquired by Salesforce, Joe Teplow… Managing associate in the D.C. office of Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe, Lauren DePinto Bomberger… Executive producer of the Net Zero Life Podcast, Netanel (Tani) Levitt… Director of communications at Anduril Industries, Sofia Rose Gross Haft… Five-time member of the U.S. Women’s National Gymnastics Team, now a business manager in the office of the CIO at Citadel, Samantha “Sami” Shapiro turns 32… Chief development officer at TAMID Group, Rachel Philipson Marsh…