X/Charles Kushner
U.S. Ambassador to France Charles Kushner and French President Emmanuel Macron
Good Monday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we have the scoop on World Food Program head Cindy McCain’s trip to Israel this week, and cover the clash between U.S. Ambassador to France Charles Kushner and Paris over rising antisemitism in the country. We talk to Rep. John McGuire about his recent trip to Israel with a Republican delegation, and spotlight Jewish communal concerns over increasingly anti-Israel rhetoric from the head of the American Association of University Professors. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Kevin Youkilis, John Bolton and Rabbi Pesach Wolicki.
What We’re Watching
- Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar is in Washington this week for meetings with senior U.S. officials. Sa’ar will meet with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and other officials, as well as Jewish communal leaders from the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.
- World Food Program Executive Director Cindy McCain is in Israel this week. More below.
- We’re keeping an eye on diplomatic tensions between the U.S. and France following a Wall Street Journal op-ed by U.S. Ambassador to France Charles Kushner in which Kushner wrote that, “not a day passes without Jews assaulted in the street, synagogues or schools defaced, or Jewish-owned businesses vandalized” in the country. France’s Foreign Ministry summoned Kushner following the op-ed’s publication yesterday. More below.
- The U.N. Security Council is set to vote today on a French proposal to extend the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, which has operated for decades in the border region between Israel and Lebanon and long faced criticism over its inability to prevent Hezbollah from amassing significant weapons stockpiles in the area. At his confirmation hearing last month, Michel Issa, the Trump administration’s nominee to be ambassador to Lebanon, dodged a question on whether the mandate should be extended, saying that the force’s role was likely to change as Beirut pushes Hezbollah to disarm.
- Nuclear talks between Iran and the U.K., Germany and France are expected to take place this week, ahead of next week’s deadline for the imposition of snapback sanctions on Iran.
- Meanwhile, International Atomic Energy Agency officials are in Washington this week for talks regarding Iran’s nuclear program.
- In Minneapolis, the Democratic National Committee’s summer meeting kicks off today. The DNC delegates will be considering two Israel-related resolutions — an anti-Israel measure that calls for an arms embargo and a suspension of U.S. military aid to Israel and a more balanced resolution calling for a ceasefire and the immediate return of hostages, which has the backing of DNC Chair Ken Martin.
- The Zionist Rabbinic Coalition is hosting a seminar today for rabbis navigating topics around Israel and antisemitism in High Holiday sermons.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MELISSA WEISS
After a tumultuous decade in American politics, both major parties are undergoing ideological and generational shifts that are likely to redefine America’s standing in the world — and its relationship with Israel.
On the left, a new generation of lawmakers from the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, many with more critical views of Israel than those who came before them, is making gains in major cities, state capitals and on Capitol Hill. On the right, the ascendance of the isolationist MAGA movement and the decline in support for Israel among younger evangelical Christians, traditionally a bastion of support for the Jewish state, is challenging what has long been traditional, strident GOP support for Israel.
Longtime observers of the U.S.-Israel relationship with whom JI spoke over the weekend expressed concern that Jerusalem has not developed a strategic long-term approach to deal with the emerging political realities in the U.S.
When asked if he believed there’s a serious effort in Jerusalem to address the longterm political challenges in the U.S., former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren was succinct: “I do not.”
The U.S.-Israel relationship, Yossi Klein Halevi, a senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute, told JI on Sunday, “has never been in bigger trouble.” What’s so significant about this moment, he said, is that “the erosion is happening in both parties.”
In the past, Halevi explained, “we could always rely on one party or the other to bail us out. And of course, in the past, it was usually the Democrats, and the fact that the erosion is now beginning in the Republican Party should be sending major, major alarms in Jerusalem, but I don’t see any indication of that.”
Former Knesset member Einat Wilf told JI that the warning signs had been evident for years, and that she had pushed for conversations on the future of the U.S.-Israel relationship when Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) began to criticize Israel. “I remember at the time I started talking with people,” Wilf recalled, “And I told them, ‘Look, if I’m Israel, then I’m putting a team now. Doesn’t have to be overt, but I’m putting a team now that begins to plan for a world where we don’t have such strong support.’”
scoop
Cindy McCain makes first Israel trip since start of Israel-Hamas war
World Food Program head Cindy McCain is in Israel this week on her first trip to the country since the start of the Israel-Hamas war nearly two years ago, three sources in the U.S. and Israel confirmed to Jewish Insider’s Melissa Weiss.
On the agenda: McCain’s trip comes amid a scaled-up effort to deliver aid to Gaza, following widespread reports of malnutrition, food shortages and distribution challenges. She will meet on Monday with families of some of the remaining 50 hostages in Gaza, and is expected to travel to the enclave on Tuesday. On Wednesday, McCain is expected to meet with Israeli and U.S. officials, including Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee. She may also meet with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who is in Lebanon this week and expected to travel on to Israel after leaving Beirut.
french face-off
Charles Kushner rebukes Macron for ‘dramatic’ rise in antisemitism in France
U.S. Ambassador to France Charles Kushner on Sunday penned an open letter to French President Emmanuel Macron, published in The Wall Street Journal, criticizing the “dramatic rise of antisemitism in France” and Paris’ failure to address the threat, Jewish Insider’s Melissa Weiss reports.
Summoned by France: In the op-ed, Kushner, who arrived at his posting last month, raised concerns that in France, “not a day passes without Jews assaulted in the street, synagogues or schools defaced, or Jewish-owned businesses vandalized,” citing statistics shared by the country’s Interior Ministry regarding the rise in antisemitism incidents. Kushner called on Macron to “enforce hate-crime laws without exception; ensure the safety of Jewish schools, synagogues and businesses, prosecute offenders to the fullest extent; and abandon steps that give legitimacy to Hamas and its allies.” In response, France’s Foreign Ministry summoned Kushner, issuing a statement calling his comments “unacceptable.” The letter comes weeks after Macron’s announcement that Paris intends to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state at next month’s United Nations General Assembly.
mission creep
Leading Jewish groups slam AAUP for ‘moving away from its mission’ with anti-Israel stance
Two leading Jewish groups aimed at countering antisemitism, along with several faculty, blasted the American Association of University Professors for moving “even further away from its mission” after its president said in a recent interview with Inside Higher Ed that the United States should not send defensive weapons to Israel amid its war against Hamas, which he called a genocide in Gaza, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
Fueling ‘hostility’: “Such rhetoric is deeply troubling and fuels hostility against Jewish and Zionist individuals in academic spaces and beyond,” the Anti-Defamation League and the Academic Engagement Network said last week in a joint statement to JI, in response to comments made by Todd Wolfson, the president of AAUP. Faculty who are longtime members of the association told JI that Wolfson’s latest remark further enforces a climate where Jewish and Zionist members no longer feel represented or protected within the association. Jeffrey Podoshen, a professor in the business department at Franklin & Marshall College, where he formerly served as AAUP chapter president, has suspended contributing dues to the association “as the organization has become much more politicized over the past number of years” in relation to Israel.
yom kippitcher
Game changer: Kevin Youkilis reflects on Judaism and antisemitism as an MLB all-star
It was 2007 and the Boston Red Sox had just won the World Series in Denver. Back at his hotel, three-time Major League Baseball all-star and World Series champion Kevin Youkilis had a party. “All of sudden, we started breaking out [dancing to] ‘Hava Nagila.’ The pride of celebrating a joyous occasion brought me back to my childhood and the traditions we learned in synagogue,” Youkilis said on Wednesday’s premiere episode of “Game Changers,” the new webseries from the Anti-Defamation League and Maccabi USA, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
Minority of one: “I was very lucky, I didn’t have many incidents [of antisemitism],” Youkilis, 46, said during the inaugural webinar, which was moderated by Alex Freeman, ADL’s director of sports engagement, and also included remarks from Morgan Zeitz, a University of Michigan student and Maccabi USA athlete. “Guys would joke around, ripping and good fun, but there was never anything directed at me that I felt was antisemitic,” Youkilis, who primarily played for the Red Sox and had stints with the New York Yankees and Chicago White Sox, continued. “People asked questions based on ignorance. Like everything in life, when you are a minority and all these things are happening and there’s a lot of rhetoric out there, you have two ways to go about it. You can get really reactive and angry, or you can educate. I think education is always the best tool.”
maga meets the holy land
A trip to Israel becomes a wake-up call for MAGA influencers
Rabbi Pesach Wolicki, the executive director of Israel365 Action, said he felt compelled to arrange a high-profile visit to Israel this month for a group of young MAGA influencers because of what he perceives to be Israel’s failure to appeal to the Make America Great Again movement amid slippage in support for the Jewish state from younger conservatives. “Let’s put it frankly, the way it came about was that the MAGA movement did not have any authentic voices out of Israel communicating to it in this war,” Wolicki told Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs in an interview last week about the trip. “Once you understand the language [that MAGA supporters speak], you realize how much 90% of the Jewish world does not understand it.”
Background: Israel365 Action, a subset of Israel365, the advocacy group that describes itself as an “Orthodox Jewish institution that believes that Jews and Christians must respect one another,” began organizing the visit late last year, after Wolicki was introduced to a group of pro-Israel individuals involved in managing and promoting conservative influencers. Among the influencers who took part in the delegation were Jayne Zirkle, Xavier DeRousseau, Cam Higby, Fabian Garcia, Lance Johnston and Avery Daye.
Changing minds: Johnston said his experience with Israeli soldiers at a barbecue disabused him of prejudices he previously held about the IDF, believing them to be anti-Christian. “We actually had lunch with these guys and just hung out. They were really, really nice to us and it was a really, really, a stark contrast of what I’d been told online. People were literally saying to me in America: ‘I do not trust the IDF, and I believe if I met them in person, they might beat me up or hurt me just because I’m an American or even Christian.’ I was openly wearing my Christian crosses, and I have a Christian tattoo right on my arm, and I was wearing a short sleeve shirt. They didn’t mention it at all,” the Gen Z influencer said.
trip reflections
Rep. John McGuire advised Netanyahu to ‘get the job done’ in Gaza during Israel trip
Fresh off his first congressional trip to Israel, Rep. John McGuire (R-VA) said that the future of his party remains pro-Israel, despite a vocal fringe of House Republicans opposing U.S. support for Israel amid its war against Hamas. “I don’t know where they are with their thoughts and ideas,” McGuire, a freshman lawmaker representing Virginia’s 5th Congressional District, told Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen last week, referring to attempts to block all U.S. funding to Israel by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY).
War plans: McGuire visited Israel earlier this month with the AIPAC-affiliated American Israel Education Foundation, alongside 44 other freshmen House Republicans, a trip that he described as “heartbreaking, inspirational and enlightening.” The group met with leaders including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee. McGuire said that he had not heard in meetings with leaders a plan for bringing the war to an end, but said that in a sideline conversation, Netanyahu appeared receptive to his advice to “get the job done,” and remain in Gaza until Hamas is defeated.
Worthy Reads
Statehood Trap: The Washington Post’s editorial board pushes back against recent efforts by Paris, Ottawa, London and Canberra to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state, arguing that the eradication of Hamas must be a prerequisite for statehood. “At the core, the future Palestinian state must recognize Israel’s right to exist and renounce violence and terrorism. That means removing from any government role groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad, whose calling cards are the elimination of the Jewish state. It means erasing from the education of young Palestinians in schools and mosques that insidious hatred of Israel and the Jewish people. And it means standing up a reformed Palestinian Authority with the credibility and resources to govern the new entity. The rush to recognize a Palestinian state by some of Israel’s staunchest allies such as France, Britain, Canada and Australia is born of an understandable frustration: mainly their inability to sway Netanyahu’s government to cease its destructive war on Gaza and alleviate the human suffering. Recognizing a Palestinian state is a diplomatic way of kicking over the table to try to restart peace talks from scratch.” [WashPost]
Journalists or Terrorists?: In The Wall Street Journal, Jamie Kirchick reflects on the decision by activist groups to classify Palestinians working for terror-aligned and Qatari-financed media outlets as journalists. “What these men did wasn’t journalism, and claiming otherwise dishonors the real journalists who risk and sometimes lose their lives endeavoring to bring us the truth. To put people who celebrated or participated in the Oct. 7 attacks in the same category as journalists Daniel Pearl, Marie Colvin and James Foley is a disgrace. What’s being hyped as an unprecedented attack on journalists is actually a cynical salvo in an information war. By claiming that Israeli brutality is responsible for the deaths of a ‘record’ number of ‘journalists’ in Gaza, international press-freedom groups have committed a category error. The figure is high because the world has never seen a conflict in which so many people working on behalf of terrorist organizations have been disingenuously characterized as journalists by once-respected watchdog groups. The cause of international press freedom is undermined when its leading institutions launder jihadist martyrdom into journalistic sacrifice.” [WSJ]
Beauty Marks: Puck’s Rachel Strugatz looks at the fallout following beauty influencer Huda Kattan’s posting of a video blaming Israel for both world wars and the 9/11 attacks; Sephora dropped Kattan from its upcoming campaign in response, but didn’t sever all ties. “Kattan’s video and posts were so disturbing, and her apology so insufficient, that Sephora had a moral imperative — and given the current political environment, a fiduciary obligation — to respond. (In Kattan’s apology video, she said her post was ‘misinterpreted and completely misused,’ and denied any allegations of antisemitism.) But Sephora’s business will be impacted, and sales will probably suffer, whether the retailer continues its partnership with Kattan or decides to cut ties with the brand. (Cue the social media boycott on both sides.) Surprisingly, Sephora hasn’t faced this level of backlash and criticism regarding one of its important partners before, and how it handles Huda Beauty will reveal a lot about its priorities and reliance on top brands with bright futures.” [Puck]On the Fringes: In the Jerusalem Journal, Republican Jewish Coalition CEO Matt Brooks argues that both major parties should distance themselves from their fringe elements that call for decreased U.S.-Israel ties. “We know that there is a vast difference between criticizing an Israeli policy or politician and calling for the destruction of the one Jewish state in the world, the one democracy in the Middle East. That is a distinction that we must keep making, clearly and loudly. Likewise, we must hold accountable the people who educate, inform, and influence Americans — from universities to news outlets to social media influencers — and not let lies go unrefuted. … It is possible to push extreme ideas and their advocates back to the fringes. The GOP and the conservative movement have done it before. It is possible to hold people accountable and call out anti-Israel and antisemitic words and actions when we see them. It is possible to use every means at our disposal to fight the information war being waged against Israel. It is possible, and it is imperative.” [JerusalemJournal]
Word on the Street
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, weeks after a leaked preliminary DIA report on the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities in June that suggested that the military action did not fully incapacitate Iran’s nuclear program…
FBI agents raided the home of former National Security Advisor John Bolton as part of a federal security probe…
The Department of Homeland Security, citing “terrorist ties,” canceled dozens of grants issued to Muslim organizations primarily through the Nonprofit Security Grant Program…
The New York Times spotlights the business pursuits of Michael Boulos, the son-in-law of President Donald Trump, following his 2021 engagement to Trump’s daughter Tiffany, as Boulos sought to benefit from his in-laws’ professional connections; in one such deal, Boulos, while working for his cousin’s yacht brokerage, overcharged his future brother-in-law, Jared Kushner, for a stake in a superyacht…
Kent Fuchs, the interim president of the University of Florida, said that the school’s search for a new president had become “more challenging” following the UF Board of Governors’ rejection of former University of Michigan President Santa Ono, who had been the only finalist in the previous search; Fuchs is leading the school until the end of the month, when a new interim leader will rotate into the position…
A Georgia man was fired after he and his wife were filmed shouting antisemitic insults at a neighbor whose daughter, an Israeli police officer, was killed in a terror attack in 2023…
Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp, who had previously served as The Netherlands’ ambassador to Israel, resigned after he was unable to bring sanctions against Israel; members of Veldkamp’s New Social Contract party followed his exit, throwing the existing caretaker government into disarray ahead of October elections…
Israel struck Houthi targets in Yemen on Sunday; the strikes followed the Houthis’ firing on Friday of a ballistic missile with a cluster bomb attached, the first such warhead that has been fired by the Iran-backed terror group…
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in his first public address since the 12-day war with Israel in June, effectively ruled out nuclear talks with the U.S., accusing President Donald Trump of wanting Tehran to “surrender”…
Iran’s defense minister said the country was planning to manufacture weapons outside of Iran, with factories being built in several countries…
Hundreds of inmates have been returned to refurbished areas of Iran’s notorious Evin Prison, which was damaged in the 12-day Israel-Iran war in June…
NPR’s Ari Shapiro is departing the public broadcaster, where he has co-hosted “All Things Considered” for a decade, next month; the departure by Shapiro, who joined NPR 25 years ago, comes amid a number of exits by other high-profile NPR staffers…
The New York Times’ “Vows” section spotlights the nuptials of Camp Social founder Liv Schreiber and Kyle Sidi Shaub…
Anne Neuberger, who served as deputy national security advisor for cybersecurity and emerging tech in the Biden administration, is joining Andreessen Horowitz as senior advisor focused on AI and cyber…
JI senior congressional correspondent Marc Rod and Olivia Truesdale, a program manager at FMC (Former Members of Congress), got engaged while vacationing in Venice, Italy. Marc proposed during a private breakfast at their hotel. They met in 2018 while they were editors for the Claremont Colleges’ student newspaper, and began dating shortly after…
Television and theater actor Jerry Adler, whose credits included “The Sopranos” and “The Good Wife,” died at 96…
Shelly Zegart, a founder of the Kentucky Quilt Project who sought to connect the craft to the American experience, died at 84…
Birthdays
Chairman of the National Credit Union Administration from 2009 until 2016, she now serves on the board of directors of Stewart Title Co., Deborah “Debbie” Matz turns 75…
British novelist, he is known for writing comic novels that revolve around the dilemmas of Jewish characters, Howard Jacobson turns 83… Bass guitarist and co-lead singer of Kiss, his birth name is Chaim Witz, known professionally as “The Demon” and Gene Simmons, he turns 76… Chairman of the board emeritus at the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles, Lorin M. Fife… CEO of The Joel Paul Group, a division of Merraine Group, specializing in executive recruitment for the nonprofit sector, William Seth Hochman turns 70… Former member of the Knesset for the Blue and White party, he is a retired major general in the IDF, Elazar Stern turns 69… Former program director at the St. Paul, Minn., JCC, Manfred “Fred” Haeusler… Former Trump fixer, he was the key prosecution witness in the 2024 Trump criminal trial brought by the Manhattan DA, Michael D. Cohen turns 59… Professor of mathematics at Harvard University (tenured at age 26, the youngest ever), pianist and chess national master, Noam David Elkies turns 59… U.S. senator (R-Ohio), appointed in January to fill the seat of VPOTUS JD Vance, Jon Husted turns 58… Musician, singer songwriter, author and record producer best known as the lead vocalist and guitarist of the band Wilco, Jeffrey Scot Tweedy turns 58… Former Canadian MP, now VP for external affairs and general counsel at Canada’s Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, Richard Marceau turns 55… Regional marketing director at UJA-Federation of New York, Suzanne Schneider… Executive director at the Religious Zionists of America, Alicia Post… Actress and musician best known for playing Melanie “MelRose” Rosen on the Netflix series “Glow,” Jaclyn Tohn turns 45… Director of development for South Florida’s JVAC – Jewish Volunteer Ambulance Corps, Sarah Schreiber… Founder and managing partner at Commonweal Ventures, Nathaniel Loewentheil… Director of state and local government relations at multinational conglomerate Philips, Evan Hoffman… Managing director in the D.C. office of SKDK, Daniel Barash… Canadian actress, Stacey Farber turns 38… Director of product marketing at LinkedIn, Sam Michelman… Founder and CEO of DLP Labs, Ryan Kuhel… Founder and CEO at the Center for Intimacy Justice, Jackie Rotman… Senior director of editorial strategy and operations at Axios, Neal Rothschild… Jane Wasserman… Investigative counsel for the House Education and the Workforce Committee, Jenna Lifhits Berger… Operations and accounting specialist at HealthSource Distributors, Adam Aryeh Friedman… Israeli singer-songwriter, Eden Hason turns 31… Carina Grossmann… Robert Cohen…
The French Foreign Ministry summoned the U.S. ambassador in response to his missive, published on Sunday in ‘The Wall Street Journal’
X/Charles Kushner
U.S. Ambassador to France Charles Kushner and French President Emmanuel Macron
U.S. Ambassador to France Charles Kushner on Sunday penned an open letter to French President Emmanuel Macron, published in The Wall Street Journal, criticizing the “dramatic rise of antisemitism in France” and Paris’ failure to address the threat.
In the op-ed, Kushner, who arrived at his posting last month, raised concerns that in France, “not a day passes without Jews assaulted in the street, synagogues or schools defaced, or Jewish-owned businesses vandalized,” citing statistics shared by the country’s Interior Ministry regarding the rise in antisemitism incidents.
Kushner called on Macron to “enforce hate-crime laws without exception; ensure the safety of Jewish schools, synagogues and businesses, prosecute offenders to the fullest extent; and abandon steps that give legitimacy to Hamas and its allies.”
In response, France’s Foreign Ministry summoned Kushner, issuing a statement calling his comments “unacceptable.” The letter comes weeks after Macron’s announcement that Paris intends to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state at next month’s United Nations General Assembly.
An Anti-Defamation League report from 2023, released months before Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks, found that the “penetration” of antisemitism in France, the U.K., Germany and Spain “into the political mainstream is cause for concern and has in some cases alienated Jews and other supporters of Israel.”
Kushner wrote in the WSJ that since Oct. 7, 2023, “pro-Hamas extremists and radical activists have waged a campaign of intimidation and violence across Europe.”
Antisemitism in France has been on the rise for years. In 2022, Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, at the time the Biden administration’s special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, warned that antisemitism in France was no longer “unique” and had spread across the European continent.
Earlier this month, the head of CRIF, the French Jewish umbrella group that represents the community, noted a “very strong rise” in antisemitism in the country, adding, “I don’t know a family that is not speaking about” emigration to Israel.
Plus, Charles Kushner condemns 'vile' Paris vandalism
Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu via Getty Images
Israeli army tanks and military vehicles move in the areas near the northern border line of the Gaza Strip in Ashdod, Israel on March 18, 2025.
Good Thursday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
I’m Danielle Cohen-Kanik, U.S. editor at Jewish Insider. I’ll be curating the Daily Overtime for you, along with assists from my colleagues. Please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts and feedback by replying to this email.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
Just before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened his Security Cabinet to discuss a full IDF takeover of the Gaza Strip, he told Fox News’ Bill Hemmer that Israel “intends to” take over Gaza but “doesn’t want to keep” the territory or “be there as a governing body.” Rather, Netanyahu said, Israel’s ultimate goal is to have a “security perimeter” around the enclave and to “hand it over to Arab forces that will govern it properly.”
Asked if President Donald Trump had given him a “green light” for the plan, Netanyahu said Trump “understands that it’s Israel who’s going to do the fighting” but that the two “haven’t gone into that kind of discussion.” Netanyahu added that the two leaders had agreed to a “humanitarian surge” to take place before what Netanyahu called “our final military action.”
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, speaking to Fox later in the day, said that Trump “has made it clear that he respects that Israel has to make the decision that is best for them. … The president is not going to try to second guess what Israel is doing”…
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday regarding the filing of federal hate crimes charges against Elias Rodriguez, the alleged perpetrator of the fatal Capital Jewish Museum shooting in May, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said the indictment “begins the statutory process on whether to seek the death penalty” and that Attorney General Pam Bondi “will determine whether or not to authorize my office to seek death.”
According to the filing, Rodriguez wrote in a document the day before the shooting, “Those of us against the genocide take satisfaction in arguing that the perpetrators and abettors have forfeited their humanity.” Reid Davis, the special agent in charge for the FBI Washington field office’s criminal division, said investigators “believe [Rodriguez] was a lone-wolf actor motivated by anti-Zionist and pro-Palestinian ideology, with the goal of conducting a mass shooting to call attention to his political agenda”…
Former Rep. Abigail Spanberger, the Democratic nominee for governor of Virginia, belatedly acknowledged antisemitic social media posts from state Del. Sam Rasoul, who chairs the Education Committee in the House of Delegates, after her campaign did not respond to multiple requests for comment on the issue from Jewish Insider.
Spanberger told the local political outlet Virginia Scope, “This war continues to unleash heartbreak and tragedy as we witness civilian deaths, starving families, and hostages still held by Hamas. … However, one can and must denounce these tragedies without using antisemitic language, whether intentional or not.” Notably, Spanberger did not specify whether she identified Rasoul’s rhetoric specifically as antisemitic…
Axios scooped the launch of a new podcast from Katie Miller, a former Trump administration aide and Elon Musk staffer married to White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller. After ending her tenure at DOGE along with Musk in March, Miller is kicking off “The Katie Miller Podcast,” aimed at conservative women, with an interview with Vice President JD Vance, among others…
David Ellison, CEO of Skydance Media, and George Cheeks, CEO of CBS, attended a morning editorial meeting at CBS News today, shortly after the $8 billion merger between Paramount, the parent company of CBS, and Skydance officially closed, per Puck News. The merger marks the end of a yearslong struggle between controlling shareholder Shari Redstone and other investors as well as Trump, with whom Paramount had to settle a $16 million lawsuit before the FCC approved the deal…
U.S. Ambassador to France Charles Kushner called the vandalization of El Al’s Paris office — which was splattered with red paint and graffiti that read “genocide airline” — “vile,” “cowardly” and “antisemitic.” He called for the French government to “fully prosecute this crime and bring the perpetrators to justice”…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for reporting on a new Orthodox Jewish community emerging in the unlikeliest of places, an interview with Rich Goldberg reflecting on his service with the White House National Energy Dominance Council and a dive into how pro-Israel lawmakers are reacting to Netanyahu’s Gaza takeover plans.
Going into the weekend, we’ll be watching the outcome of the Israeli Security Cabinet vote and its ripples in Washington, including in the White House, among Israel’s allies in Congress and within the American Jewish community.
We’ll be back in your inbox with the Daily Overtime on Monday. Shabbat shalom!
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EXCLUSIVE
How Hamas directs the distribution of cash from aid groups in Gaza: report
A new report from NGO Monitor describes the ‘workaround’ used by international aid groups to continue flow of aid to Gaza despite Hamas involvement
Tom Brenner For The Washington Post via Getty Images
Metropolitan Police Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation officers stand guard at a perimeter near the Capital Jewish Museum on May 22, 2025 in Washington.
Good Tuesday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
I’m Danielle Cohen-Kanik, U.S. editor at Jewish Insider. I’ll be curating the Daily Overtime for you, along with assists from my colleagues. Please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts and feedback by replying to this email.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro spoke out on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza today, telling a local news channel, “The fact that kids are starving in Gaza is not OK. It is not OK. And I think everyone has a moral responsibility to figure out how to feed these kids. It is true that Hamas intercepts aid. It is true that the aid distribution network is not as sophisticated as it needs to be, but given that, I think our nation, the United States of America, has a moral responsibility to flood the zone with aid. … It is awful, what is happening in Gaza.”
The Democratic governor called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claim that there is no starvation in Gaza “quite abhorrent,” and said Netanyahu’s language and support of “occupying” Gaza is “not only reckless … but what it does is it further isolates Israel in the world, and that’s a dangerous place for Israel to be.” It’s a sign of the rhetorical tightrope even pro-Israel Democrats are walking, as the party’s voters turn more critical towards the Jewish state…
Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), another moderate-minded Jewish Democrat, who recently said she supported resolutions led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) last week to block some arms sales to Israel, told Semafor that Israel’s moves to airlift increased aid into Gaza are “a start, but you can’t possibly get the volume of food in there that you need via an airlift.”
However, asked if she would support recognition of a Palestinian state, Slotkin said, “I just don’t believe that we should be recognizing a new state in the middle of an active hot war”…
After sources in the Prime Minister’s Office briefed reporters yesterday that IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir can step down if he doesn’t agree with Netanyahu’s move to expand the war in Gaza, the PMO released a statement that “the IDF is prepared to enact any decision made by the Security Cabinet.” The statement came after a three-hour meeting of senior security officials in which Zamir presented “possibilities to continue the campaign in Gaza.” Netanyahu plans to convene the full Security Cabinet on Thursday, according to Israel’s Channel 12 news…
House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) trip to Israel continues, including a meeting last night in Shiloh — the second West Bank settlement Johnson has visited since his arrival — with Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, as well as U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and his wife, Janet. Johnson’s delegation also met with Ditza Or, mother of hostage Avinatan Or…
The FBI released its 2024 Hate Crime Report this morning, which found that nearly 70% (1,938 incidents) of all religiously motivated hate crimes in the U.S. last year were committed against Jews, including terrorist threats, assault, vandalism, harassment, burglary, false bomb threats and swatting. It’s the highest number of anti-Jewish hate crimes ever recorded by the bureau since it began collecting data in 1991…
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) sent a letter to the IRS yesterday asking the agency to investigate the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ status as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based on “substantial evidence” that “confirms CAIR has deep ties to terrorist organizations”…
U.S. Ambassador to France Charles Kushner met yesterday with Saudi Ambassador to France Fahd bin Mayouf Al-Ruwaili. Kushner said the two discussed “the ways that our two countries can each contribute to peace and stability in the Middle East,” just one week after Saudi Arabia and France co-chaired a U.N. conference on the two-state solution which the U.S. and Israel boycotted…
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Federal Emergency Management Agency, quietly removed a requirement for grant applicants to certify they will not engage in a commercial boycott of Israel in order to be eligible for funding. The requirement had been included in notices published by FEMA on Friday for a tranche of at least $1.9 billion in natural disaster preparedness grants…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider this week for reporting on Rep. Maxwell Frost’s (D-FL) anti-Israel turn since coming into office as the first Gen-Z lawmaker, the University of Maryland’s decision to settle a lawsuit with CAIR for a six-figure sum and the Democratic Navy veteran, Rebecca Bennett, looking to unseat Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-NJ) in New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District.
Tomorrow, the New Jersey Jewish Business Alliance will host its 11th annual Legislative and Business Luncheon featuring gubernatorial candidates Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) and former Republican state Rep. Jack Ciattarelli. The two will face off in the Garden State’s November general election, with recent polling showing Sherrill with a comfortable lead.
Stories You May Have Missed
POLICY RECKONING
Lessons from Gaza disengagement remain relevant 20 years later
A lack of a ‘day-after plan’ and an unwillingness to address threats before they grew left Sharon’s 2005 promises unfulfilled. What has Israel learned since then?
DISTRICT DYNAMICS
James Walkinshaw sounds more supportive of Israel than his former boss
Walkinshaw said the U.S.-Israel relationship ‘has immense strategic importance to the United States, and I want to see a strong U.S. Israel relationship with bipartisan support’
Plus, interview with Rep. Greg Landsman
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
U.S. Census Bureau Director Robert Groves holds a news conference at the National Press Club August 25, 2011, in Washington, D.C.
Good Monday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we preview this week’s Capitol Hill hearing on campus antisemitism, and talk to experts about the possibility of a Saudi-Israeli normalization agreement. We interview Rep. Greg Landsman about the recent U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran’s nuclear program, and report on Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin’s outreach to Jewish groups following his comments earlier in the week regarding Zohran Mamdani’s defense of the phrase “globalize the intifada.” Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Amb. Charles Kushner, Sen. Joni Ernst and Elmo.
What We’re Watching
- Attendees of this year’s Aspen Security Forum are making their way to Colorado today, ahead of the start of the gathering tomorrow. Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod will be on the ground in Aspen — drop us a line if you will be as well.
- We’re also keeping an eye on stalled Israel-Hamas ceasefire talks amid reports that President Donald Trump and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani were set to meet on the sidelines of yesterday’s FIFA finals in New Jersey. Read more here.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MELISSA WEISS
School may be out of session for the summer, but officials from Georgetown University, the University of California, Berkeley and the City University of New York will be in the hot seat this week when they testify on Tuesday before the House Education and Workforce Committee.
This is not the first time that university officials have appeared in front of Congress to account for the situations on their campuses, but this week’s hearing aims to focus on more than just the anti-Israel activism that has permeated many campuses since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza to focus on root issues, including foreign funding in higher education as well as faculty anti-Israel organizing efforts.
With that as the backdrop, Georgetown’s interim president, Robert Groves, is likely to face hard-hitting questioning about the school’s donations from authoritarian regimes.
Nearly a decade ago, Georgetown took a $10 million donation from an organization connected to Beijing’s ruling Chinese Communist Party — more specifically, according to The Washington Post, to “the specific CCP organizations that manage overseas influence operations” — to establish the Initiative for U.S.-China Dialogue on Global Issues.
But that $10 million is a drop in the bucket compared to the amount of money Qatar is alleged to have sent to Georgetown. According to a study by the research institute ISGAP — which primarily focuses on progressive and Islamist antisemitism — Qatar has donated more than $1 billion dollars to the Jesuit school in recent decades. In addition, Qatar has long had a partnership with Georgetown that includes an outpost of the school in Doha. Earlier this year, the school extended its contract with Doha for another decade.
There’s a saying that has floated around many a conference, Jewish organizational board meeting and Shabbat dinner table in recent years: Jews endow buildings, their enemies endow what happens inside of them. Tomorrow’s hearing will see just how deeply those efforts have permeated.
normalization? not yet
After Iran strikes, Saudis in no rush to join Abraham Accords, experts say
One of the original drivers of the 2020 Abraham Accords was Israel’s vocal, public stance against Iran’s nuclear program and regional aggression. That stance also brought Israel and Saudi Arabia closer, a relationship that developed to the point that in the summer of 2023, it seemed like normalization was just around the corner. By extension, it might make sense for the Abraham Accords and a Saudi-Israel rapprochement to be back in the headlines after Israel took the ultimate stand against Iran’s nuclear program last month, bombing it with assistance from the U.S. Yet there has been almost no serious talk about Saudi Arabia joining the Abraham Accords in recent weeks, experts told Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov.
Saudi two-step: Riyadh has also been publicly signaling that its relationship with Tehran is still on track since China brokered a deal between the two countries in 2023. Saudi Arabia, like other Gulf States, spoke out last month against the Israeli and American airstrikes on Iran. Last week, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah. “There’s all this public condemnation of the attacks on Iran,” Bernard Haykel, a professor of Near Eastern studies at Princeton University, told JI, “but when the U.S. pulled its forces from the Air Force base in Qatar [due to Iran’s retaliation], they moved their planes to a Saudi base. So they condemned the U.S. for attacking Iran, but they also gave the U.S. protection.”
congressional conversation
Rep. Greg Landsman: Americans are ‘tired’ of partisanship on Iran and foreign policy
Rep. Greg Landsman (D-OH) has stood apart in recent weeks as one of a small number of congressional Democrats who’ve been supportive of the Trump administration’s strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. Landsman told JI he thinks that his Democratic colleagues’ responses to the strikes are motivated by the current political environment, fears about a broader war and concerns about the future of diplomatic talks and the safety of people in the region.
Looking ahead: Landsman argued in an interview with JI last week and in a recent op-ed that the Israeli and American show of force, alongside the undermining of Iran’s proxies across the region, could be the key to weakening the Iranian regime to a point where it will agree to a fundamental change of course going forward, unlocking opportunities for regional peace and prosperity. “[The Middle East] should be Europe, [if not] for Iran,” he said. “It hasn’t been able to break out that way because Iran has been the primary obstacle.”
damage control
DNC Chair Martin calls Jewish leaders amid Mamdani fallout
Ken Martin, the chair of the Democratic National Committee, spent Friday calling Jewish leaders, seeking to reassure them that he does not condone the phrase “globalize the intifada,” two sources with knowledge of the meetings told Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch. Among the leaders he called were senior officials at the Anti-Defamation League and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
Harmful rhetoric: Earlier in the week, a “PBS NewsHour” clip of Martin discussing New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani went viral. In the Friday phone calls, two sources confirmed, Martin faced criticism from Jewish leaders over Martin not specifically addressing the “globalize the intifada” language during his PBS interview. But a DNC senior advisor told JI that Martin made clear he stood with them against the harmful rhetoric. “By the end of it there was an understanding that Ken does understand and is aligned with the community and that frankly people want full-throated leadership,” the advisor said. “This language isn’t about Democrats. This is just not acceptable, period, and as a party it’s not acceptable.”
Bonus: Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs talks to Jewish Democrats and organizations that represent them about Martin’s handling of the Wednesday “PBS NewsHour” interview and fallout from it.
allies in arms
Senate’s defense bill includes effort to advance Middle East air defense cooperation
The Senate Armed Services Committee’s draft of the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, passed out of committee this week, includes provisions aimed at furthering coordinated air and missile defense efforts in the Middle East, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Pushing ahead: The amendment, led by Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), a co-chair of the Abraham Accords Caucus, instructs the Defense Department to submit to Congress a new report on implementing integrated air and missile defense infrastructure in the Middle East, including an assessment of threats; a summary of U.S. priorities and capabilities; and lessons learned from the Iranian ballistic missile attacks on Israel and the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea.
Read the full story here.Bonus: The House Armed Services Committee released its first draft of the 2026 NDAA on Friday. The bill would create an emerging technology cooperation program with Israel, extend the U.S. weapons stockpile in Israel and cooperative counter-tunneling programs through 2028, and expand counter-drone and missile cooperative programs and authorize increased funding. It would also expand U.S. support for the Lebanese Armed Forces and require a Pentagon briefing on Iran’s use of Western technologies in its drones.
history rewritten
AJC calls defacing of Jewish pogrom memorial ‘a test for Poland’s democracy’
The American Jewish Committee called for a “swift political response” following the placement of plaques at the Jedwabne memorial site in Poland that falsely accuse Jews of being responsible for killing Poles during the pogrom that occurred there 84 years ago last week, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
Background: At least 340 Jews were burned alive by their Polish neighbors in the massacre at Jedwabne on July 10, 1941. Marking the anniversary of the attack last Thursday, right-wing activist Wojciech Sumliński and his supporters illegally placed plaques in English and Polish several yards from the memorial, offering a revisionist account of what happened at the site. One of the plaques reads, “After the Soviets took over eastern Poland, Jews assumed administrative roles and, knowing the local realities, denounced Polish patriots who were then deported and murdered by the Soviets. Only the German attack on the Soviet Union halted these repressions. Then the Germans began killing Jews just as they had previously killed Poles by the millions.”Read the full story here.
camp comedy
Summer camp nostalgia hits the big screen in ‘The Floaters’
As summer heats up, Jewish adults looking for an escape from the fraught state of world Jewry may find themselves reflecting on a seemingly simpler time — getting competitive over color war or gaga ball and singing Debbie Friedman songs around a campfire at Jewish sleepaway camp. That sense of nostalgia for one’s Jewish summer camp years is doled out liberally in “The Floaters,” a new film that centers on the fictional Camp Daveed and a group of outsider teens called “floaters,” Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
Art imitating life: “We try to push the movie beyond lox and bagels,” co-producer Shai Korman told JI, noting that he and his co-producers — his two sisters — specifically aimed to “put on-screen Jewish women that exemplified the Jewish women that raised us, that were leaders and mentors.” Camp Daveed is run by women, from camp director Mara to the camp’s rabbi, Rabbi Rachel. Several iconic films, such as “Wet Hot American Summer” and “Meatballs,” were also inspired by Jewish camps. But in “The Floaters,” “we talk about the rules of kashrut,” Korman said. “You see Orthodox and secular kids all together, reflecting the world we grew up in.”
Worthy Reads
R&D Nation: In the Financial Times, Ruchir Sharma observes Israel’s rise as a regional economic superpower despite nearly two years of war. “Perhaps the most telling sign of its dynamism is that Israel now spends more than 6 per cent of GDP on research and development — more than any other nation and over double the global average. An unusually high share — about half — of that R&D funding comes from foreign multinationals, many involved in defence-related industries. … To many observers, the geopolitical situation in the Middle East still seems precarious. But the market’s optimistic take on Israel’s tech-driven economy is now showing up in economists’ forecasts, which are projecting growth at nearly 4 per cent in coming years. That’s relatively strong for a developed nation. It validates the market view that Israel is cementing its status as the region’s dominant economic force.” [FT]
FIDF Scandal Fallout: eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross looks at how recent concerns over alleged mismanagement and financial impropriety at Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces has “provided ample ammunition” to observers critical of legacy Jewish organizations. “Though always present in communal discourse, the tear-it-all-down-and-start-again voices have gained strength since the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks and the subsequent rise in global antisemitism, and not without cause. … Legacy institutions, with their galas and boards and committees and well-paid executives, are an easy target. These established organizations have often failed to defend their size and bureaucracy, or even acknowledge that alongside the stability and internal checks that they provide, those things do make them slower to react and pivot in an emergency.” [eJP]
The World to Come: In his “Jerusalem Journal” Substack, Avi Mayer considers the possibility of a post-Zionist America. “Critiques of Israeli policy, no matter how strident or widespread, do not automatically lead to the wholesale rejection of Israel or the negation of Jewish self-determination. But if current trends continue, and if voting patterns start to reflect the shifting views of the electorate, we may find ourselves in uncharted territory. The ramifications of a changed America could be wide-ranging, deeply impacting both American Jewish life and Israeli national security. An America that is intolerant of a core element of contemporary Jewish identity would be a place in which American Jews would feel — and be made to feel — increasingly uncomfortable. From the Soviet Union to the Middle East to western Europe, hostility to Zionism on the part of national leaders and elites has always precipitated societal antisemitism, forcing Jews to confront painful dilemmas.” [JerusalemJournal]
Word on the Street
Speaking at a Turning Point USA student conference in Florida over the weekend, far-right commentator Tucker Carlson suggested that Americans who served in the Israeli Defense Forces “should lose their citizenship,” adding that he believed a person “can’t fight for another country and remain an American, period”…
A hacker took over the X account of “Sesame Street” character Elmo, posting a series of profane, racist and antisemitic comments; the posts included a message to “kill all Jews” and another that described President Donald Trump as a “puppet” of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu…
xAI, the AI company affiliated with X owner Elon Musk, said that its Grok chatbot had undergone a coding update that modified what information it was taking in, making Grok “susceptible to existing X user posts; including when such posts contained extremist views”; the chatbot had spewed a series of antisemitic and sexually explicit posts over a period of several days last week…
A new survey from the Anti-Defamation League found that 1 in 4 Americans consider recent antisemitic attacks in the U.S. to be “understandable,” while three-quarters of those surveyed want the government to take more action against antisemitism…
Pennsylvania Democrat Jenelle Stelson is mounting a second congressional bid against Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA), to whom she lost by less than a percentage point in the 2024 election; read our interview with Stelson during her campaign last summer…
The U.S. Board on Geographic Names approved the renaming of an Alaskan waterway that had been named Nazi Island by the U.S. Air Force during World War II…
The Financial Times reports that the Boston Consulting Group was paid more than $1 million for its work on a Qatari-backed project led by former American military veterans to bring aid into Gaza by sea…
French President Emmanuel Macron and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman are not expected to attend an upcoming rescheduled conference on Palestinian statehood; the initial conference had been canceled following the onset of the Israel-Iran war.
The BBC spotlights Punjabi businessman Kundanlal Gupta, who during World War II saved more than a dozen Austrian Jews by creating fictitious job offers in India, providing those “hired” with a way to escape Nazi Europe…
New satellite images indicate that Iran struck an American storage facility that contained secure communications equipment on the Al Udeid base in Qatar during its attack on American targets last month…
Iranian state media alleged that Israel attempted to assassinate Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian during last month’s war; Pezeshkian reportedly suffered a leg wound in the Israeli strike on a meeting of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council…
Russian President Vladimir Putin has reportedly told leaders in Washington and Tehran that Moscow backs a nuclear deal with Iran that forbids the Islamic Republic from enriching uranium…
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Saturday that Tehran would be open to returning to nuclear talks in exchange for the guarantee that it would not face further attacks; Iran also said it would be open to International Atomic Energy Agency inspections, days after the country’s parliament passed a law tightening restrictions around international inspections…
A Palestinian-American man from Florida who was visiting family in the West Bank was killed in clashes with settlers…
A Filipino woman who worked as a caretaker in Rehovot, Israel, died as a result of injuries sustained in an Iranian ballistic missile strike last month; Leah Mosquera’s death brings the number of fatalities in Israel as a result of the 12-day war to 29…
Israel’s Transportation Ministry estimated that Ben-Gurion Airport will see 3.4 million travelers over the course of this summer, a drop of nearly 2 million passengers from the summer before the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks and ensuing war…
Charles Reinhart, the former director of the American Dance Festival, died at 94… B Lab founder Andrew Kassoy, who pushed the concept that capitalism could promote social good, died at 55… Physicist Daniel Kleppner, whose work on atomic clock accuracy helped shape the use of GPS systems, died at 92… Sports journalist Samuel Abt, who covered the Tour de France for more than three decades, died at 91…
Pic of the Day
U.S. Ambassador to France Charles Kushner visited the Memorial de la Shoah in Paris last week in what he said was his “first stop” after arriving in the country.
Birthdays
MLB pitcher for 11 seasons, now a sportscaster and author, he won the Cy Young Award and was an MLB All Star in 1980, Steve Stone turns 78…
Architect and urban designer, Moshe Safdie turns 87… Los Angeles resident, Susan Farrell… Film producer, best known for the Lethal Weapon series, the first two “Die Hard” movies and the Matrix trilogy, Joel Silver turns 73… Film and theatrical producer, in 2012 he became the first producer to have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Award, Scott Rudin turns 67… Co-founder and managing director of Beverly Hills Private Wealth, Scott M. Shagrin… United States secretary of commerce, Howard Lutnick turns 64… Venture capitalist at Breyer Capital, James W. Breyer turns 64… Media columnist for the Chicago Tribune until 2021, Phil Rosenthal turns 62… U.S. Permanent Representative to the U.N. Human Rights Council during the last three years of the Biden administration, she is the daughter and granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, Ambassador Michèle Taylor turns 59… Illustrator and author best known as the writer of The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Brian Selznick turns 59… Principal at Full Court Press Communications, Daniel Eli Cohen… Member of the Washington state Senate until 2023, David S. Frockt turns 56… President and CEO at the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston, Renee Wizig-Barrios… Rapper and record producer from Brooklyn known as “Ill Bill,” he is the producer, founder and CEO of Uncle Howie Records, William “Bill” Braunstein turns 53… Professor in the department of genetics at the Harvard Medical School, David Emil Reich, Ph.D. turns 51… Chief operating officer at Aish Global, Elliot Mathias… Fashion designer and cast member on “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” Dorit Kemsley turns 49… Retired mixed martial artist, now a life coach, Emily Peters-Kagan turns 44… Co-founder and executive chairman of Pinterest, Ben Silbermann turns 43… Editor-in-chief of the Washington Free Beacon, Eliana Yael Johnson… Interior designer and owner of Tribe By Design, Tehillah Braun… Professional golfer with four tournament wins in the Asian and European tours, David Lipsky turns 37… Founder at Bashert Group and head of a NYC-based family office, Daniel B. Jeydel… AVP for grantmaking at Hillel International, she recently joined the board of the Siegel JCC of Delaware, Rachel Giattino… Reporter covering housing and the home building industry for The Wall Street Journal, Nicole Friedman… Director of Chabad Georgetown, Rabbi Menachem Shemtov… Creator of the Instagram feed called Second Date Shadchan, Elizabeth Morgan (Lizzy) Brenner… Collegiate basketball star for Princeton and Maryland, now playing for Maccabi Bnot Ashdod of the Israeli Women’s Basketball Premier League, Abby Meyers turns 26…
In Kushner’s confirmation testimony, he spoke about his parents having lost most of their family in the Holocaust
Ivanka Trump/Instagram
Charles Kushner is sworn in as U.S. ambassador to France on June 18, 2025.
President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday swore in Charles Kushner as the U.S. ambassador to France.
Kushner, a real estate executive, longtime Jewish philanthropist and father of Trump’s son-in-law Jared, was confirmed in May on a mostly party-line vote, with Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) the only Democrat to support the confirmation.
In Kushner’s testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he told senators about his parents having immigrated to the U.S. from Belarus, where most of their family died in the Holocaust.
“My parents loved and appreciated our great country, the land of opportunity, just as I do,” Kushner said.
In 2020, Trump pardoned Kushner, after the latter served two years in a federal prison for tax evasion and for retaliating against a federal witness. In November, Trump described Kushner as “a tremendous business leader, philanthropist and dealmaker.”
During Kushner’s Oval Office swearing-in, he was joined by his children and grandchildren, including Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump — a rare White House appearance for the couple, who opted not to take on any official roles in Trump’s second term. Jared Kushner was a top Middle East advisor to Trump in his first term, and his swearing-in came as Trump is considering whether the U.S. should attack Iran’s nuclear program.
Plus, a sit-down with the first Orthodox Jewish chief federal judge
Win McNamee/Getty Images
U.S. President Donald J. Trump tours the synagogue at the Abrahamic Family House during a cultural visit on May 16, 2025, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Good Friday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we interview Judge Matthew Solomson, the first Orthodox Jew to be named chief judge of a U.S. federal court, and report from Operation Benjamin’s ceremonies this week honoring Jewish soldiers killed in action in Italy during WWII. We also cover yesterday’s confirmation hearing for Joel Rayburn, the Trump administration’s nominee to be assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs, and report on Jason Greenblatt and Rahm Emanuel’s debate last night over Trump administration policies. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Yuval Raphael, Eileen Filler-Corn and UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
For less-distracted reading over the weekend, browse this week’s edition of The Weekly Print, a curated print-friendly PDF featuring a selection of recent Jewish Insider and eJewishPhilanthropy stories, including: Jews in Canada and Australia warily eye the future after liberal party electoral victories; Trump’s Gulf tour underscores Israel’s diplomatic disadvantage; and Leo Terrell: DOJ plans to use litigation to ‘eliminate antisemitism. Print the latest edition here.
What We’re Watching
- 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.
What You Should Know
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.
legal pioneer
Matthew Solomson blazes trail as first Orthodox Jewish chief judge
When Judge Matthew Solomson’s great-grandfather came to the United States from Russia in the early 1900s, seeking a haven from the state-sanctioned antisemitism that plagued Europe, he was so scarred by the way his government had treated Jews that he would cross the street whenever he saw a police officer. Now, just three generations later, Solomson, 51, is the chief judge of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, making him the first Orthodox Jew to be named chief judge of any federal court in the United States. As he sits in his chambers, with a clear view of the White House and a piece of art depicting the Western Wall hanging behind his desk, he talked to Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch about his family’s quintessentially American story.
American dream: “To go from that kind of attitude about a government, any government, to serving at a high level within the government in the space of 100 years, to go from a family of immigrants to having been appointed by the president the United States, is a tremendous honor, and I think, a tremendous testament to our government and the incredible nature of the American society,” Solomson saidin an interview this week.
NOMINEE NEWS
Nominee for top Middle East post says admin insists on Iranian nuclear dismantlement
Joel Rayburn, the Trump administration’s nominee to be assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs, said at his confirmation hearing on Thursday that Iran should not be allowed to continue to enrich uranium in any capacity, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Hearing highlights: Rayburn said that Iran “does not need and should not have” nuclear enrichment capabilities. He also said that Iran’s terror proxy networks and ballistic missile capabilities should be addressed, but did not make clear whether those elements should be included in a nuclear deal. Raburn also suggested that he believes Saudi-Israeli normalization is only a matter of time. And he named Syrian-Israeli normalization as one of the conditions the administration expects from the new Syrian government as a condition of removing all sanctions on the country.
ARMS ARGUMENT
Sen. Murphy to force votes on halting weapons sales to Qatar and UAE
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) said on Thursday that he’ll attempt to force a vote on his resolutions halting several sets of arms sales to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates in response to the Qataris offering President Donald Trump a $400 million Boeing jet to add to the Air Force One fleet and the Emiratis investing $2 billion in his family’s cryptocurrency coin. The Connecticut senator’s joint resolutions of disapproval target $1.9 billion in arms sales to Qatar and $1.6 billion in weapons sales to the UAE, all five of which were co-sponsored by Sens. Brian Schatz (D-HI), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs and Marc Rod report.
Details: The $1.9 billion sale to Qatar includes eight MQ-9B armed drones and related equipment, including 200 JDAM tail kits, 300 500-pound bombs and 110 Hellfire II missiles. The three Emirati sales include six CH-47F Block II Chinook helicopters and relevant equipment, valued at $1.32 billion; F-16 aircraft components, accessories and defense services, a $130 million value; and spare or repair parts for the UAE’s AH-64 Apache, UH-60 Black Hawk and CH-47 Chinook aircraft, a $150 million value.
Murphy’s statement: “This isn’t a gift out of the goodness of their hearts — it’s an illegal bribe that the president of the United States is champing at the bit to accept. That’s unconstitutional and not how we conduct foreign policy. Unless Qatar rescinds their offer of a ‘palace in the sky’ or Trump turns it down, I will move to block this arms sale,” Murphy said in a statement on the Qatari resolution.
Also on the Hill: Warning that “the entire population of the Gaza Strip … is facing acute levels of hunger,” a group of 30 Senate Democrats, led by Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT), introduced a resolution on Thursday condemning Israel’s blockade of humanitarian aid moving into Gaza and calling on the Trump administration to work to end it, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
exclusive
Eileen Filler-Corn endorses James Walkinshaw in Northern Virginia House race
Eileen Filler-Corn, the first woman and Jewish speaker of Virginia’s House of Delegates, is backing Fairfax County Supervisor James Walkinshaw in his bid to succeed outgoing Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) in Northern Virginia, she said in an announcement shared exclusively with Jewish Insider’sMatthew Kassel on Thursday.
What she said: “From my early days as delegate to my time as speaker of the Virginia House, James was a critical legislative partner in the historic progress we delivered for Fairfax County families,” Filler-Corn said of Walkinshaw, a former longtime chief of staff to Connolly. “He’s steady, thoughtful and deeply experienced at every level of government — and that’s the kind of leadership we need to take on Trump’s dangerous agenda and deliver real results.” The endorsement puts to rest ongoing speculation over Filler-Corn’s own plans to run for the seat that is being vacated by Connolly — a veteran lawmaker who said in late April he would not seek reelection because of the return of his esophageal cancer.
PROTECTOR OR PROVOKER?
Jason Greenblatt, Rahm Emanuel face off over Trump’s record on antisemitism, Israel
Is President Donald Trump good for the Jews? The question has been asked since his first term, when he made several high-profile moves that were widely praised in the Jewish community — moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights and bringing together the historic Abraham Accords, to name a few. Now in his second term, with Trump squaring off with universities and revoking the visas of some foreign students in the name of combating antisemitism, Jews continue to debate the question. Two prominent Jewish voices put forward their arguments on Thursday night — Jason Greenblatt, who served as Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East during the first administration and, prior to that, had worked for him for 20 years, and Rahm Emanuel, former chief of staff to President Barack Obama. The charged debate, held at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan, was moderated by SAPIR Editor-in-Chief Bret Stephens, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
Campus questions: Trump’s crackdown on universities “is using antisemitism to deal with political retribution,” Emanuel said. “Everytime we have been pitted against other people, Jews have come on the negative side of that,” he warned. “The president isn’t responsible for antisemitism,” Emanuel continued. “But he is responsible for the moral tone in that office to condemn it when he sees it and he’s always walked away from that, and he’s given a permission slip publicly for that antisemitism.” Emanuel called it “revealing” that in a three-page letter the Trump administration sent to Harvard University earlier this month, stating that federal agencies will no longer provide the institution with grant funding, the word antisemitism “was never mentioned.” Greenblatt fired back, calling it “ironic” that “Harvard is fighting to stop the Jews from protecting their civil rights and Trump is fighting for their civil rights.” Greenblatt said, “Trump is being very aggressive” in his battle with higher education. “But I think appropriately … Trump said there is a serious problem and [he is] going to fight it with a heavy hand.”
SAVING PRIVATE RILEY
Decades after his death, a Jewish WWII hero is honored in Italy, with family of comrade present
Privates First Class Del Riley and Frank Kurzinger were fast friends. They met in 1943, training for the U.S. Army’s 10th Mountain Division at Camp Hale, Colo. In 1945, they took part in a mission to seize Monte Belvedere, in northern Italy, from the Germans. Riley hit a tripwire and was critically wounded on the way up the mountain. Kurzinger, a combat medic, rushed to Riley’s aid. He stepped on a land mine and was immediately killed. He was 22 years old. Del Riley died seven years ago, but on his 100th birthday this week, 15 of his descendants were reunited with Frank Kurzinger’s relatives in Italy, following the efforts of Operation Benjamin, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports from Italy.
Life mission: “Frank Kurzinger laid down his life for my father,” Del’s son, Marc Riley, said on Wednesday. “Since Feb. 20, 1945, my father spent his life trying to find the Kurzinger family to tell them … the kind of man Frank Kurzinger was. My father spent his life looking for Frank.” Operation Benjamin honored Kurzinger at a ceremony on Wednesday in the Florence American Cemetery, surrounded by sycamore and cypress trees on a Tuscan hillside.
Worthy Reads
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]
Word on the Street
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…
Pic of the Day
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.
Birthdays
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…
Scene Last Night: The Becket Fund honored Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks at its Canterbury Medal dinner for defending religious freedom. Some highlights from Rabbi Sacks’s speech – “Every persons faith is a flame – your flame doesn’t take from mine – and together we can light the world.” — “Secular societies are much less tolerant than the religions they accuse of intolerance.” — “Religion is the root of America… Don’t believe that when you sever these roots, the tree will survive.” — “America’s great contribution was to make faith into a force for liberty.” Cardinal Tim Dolan also spoke and said, “Rabbi Sacks reminds us that “a world without religion is a world condemned to violence and tyranny.” Mark Kellner profiled Rabbi Sacks for [DesertNews]…. Chelsea Clinton’s Jewish Mother-in-law skipped her own fundraiser headlined by Hillary Clinton: Congressional hopeful, Marjorie Margolies, instead attended a local Montgomery County Democratic Party dinner in her district. It didn’t matter too much as most donors were clearly only there to show early support for a likely Hillary 2016 campaign. The event marked Hillary’s first campaign appearance of 2014. Last night’s host, Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild, supported Hillary in the 2008 primary but then switched to support McCain in the general election. (more…)