Blumenthal: ‘Our bipartisan effort seeks to strengthen measures to bring long overdue justice to families whose cherished art was brazenly stolen by the Nazis’
J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, center, is flanked by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., left, and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024.
Add JewishInsider on GoogleSens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) introduced bipartisan legislation last week aimed at eliminating loopholes used by museums and other stakeholders to continue possessing Nazi-looted artwork that Jewish families have been trying to recover.
Introduced on Thursday, the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery (HEAR) Act would expand on Cornyn’s 2016 legislation of the same name, which was passed at the time by unanimous consent, by ending the Dec. 31, 2026, sunset date on the original bill and strengthen the existing procedural protections to ensure that victims’ claims are not dismissed due to non-merit-based factors such as time constraints.
“The artwork wrongfully ripped from Jewish hands during the Holocaust bears witness to a chapter in history when evil persisted and the worst of humanity was on full display. I’m proud to introduce this legislation to support the Jewish people and Holocaust survivors by helping them recover art confiscated by the Nazis that they are rightfully owed and give them the justice and restitution they deserve,” Cornyn said in a statement.
“The theft of art by the Nazi regime was more than a pilfering of property — it was an act of inhumanity. Our bipartisan effort seeks to strengthen measures to bring long overdue justice to families whose cherished art was brazenly stolen by the Nazis,” Blumenthal said.
Many families of Holocaust victims in the U.S. who have located artwork from deceased relatives and sued to recover those items face the deadline at the end of next year before the statute of limitations sets in. Thousands of stolen works of art remain unreturned to their rightful owners from the Nazi plunder, and there are scores of ongoing cases to resolve disputes over ownership of those items.
“Unfortunately, many museums, governments, and institutions have contradicted Congress’ intent and obstructed justice by stonewalling legitimate claims, obscuring provenance, and employing aggressive legal tactics designed to exhaust and outlast Survivors and their families. Rather than embracing transparency and reconciliation, too many have chosen to entrench and litigate, effectively preserving possession of stolen works rather than returning them to their rightful owners,” a press release for the bill states.
Sens. Thom Tillis (R-NC), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), John Fetterman (D-PA), Eric Schmitt (R-MO) and Katie Britt (R-AL) co-sponsored the bill, which was endorsed by a number of Jewish organizations including Agudath Israel of America, the American Jewish Committee, Anti-Defamation League, Jewish Federations of North America, StandWithUs and World Jewish Congress, among others.
“This legislation helps to right a historic wrong committed during one of the darkest chapters in history. By eliminating unnecessary legal obstacles, the HEAR Act establishes a clear path to restitution for Holocaust survivors and their families, ensuring that art and cultural property stolen by the Nazis can finally be returned to their rightful owners,” Tillis said.
Fetterman said in a statement, “Eighty years after the Holocaust, we have a moral responsibility to do right by the victims of these atrocities and their families. I’m grateful to join my colleagues from both sides of the aisle in introducing the HEAR Act to help return artwork stolen by the Nazis to its rightful owners.”
Plus, is Trump's Abrahamic Family House visit a harbinger for the region?
Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey attends a May Day rally in Pittsburgh, May 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
Good Tuesday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff we interview religious freedom experts about the significance of President Donald Trump’s visit to the UAE’s Abrahamic Family House last Friday, and speak with strategists about the state of the Illinois Senate race following Rep. Lauren Underwood’s announcement that she will not be running. We also report on the threat by France, the U.K. and Canada to impose sanctions on Israel and a letter by a group of top House Republicans to Harvard University, questioning alleged connections to Iran and China. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Ronald Lauder, Sydney Altfield and Omer Shem Tov.
What We’re Watching
- NORPAC’s annual mission to Washington is bringing 1,000 allies to Capitol Hill to meet with members of Congress. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and John Fetterman (D-PA) will be speaking to attendees as part of the morning session.
- The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will hold a hearing with Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the State Department’s 2026 budget request. Rubio will also attend a hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee’s State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs subcommittee on the president’s 2026 budget request for the State Department.
- The Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs will hold a hearing on the Department of Homeland Security’s 2026 budget request with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
- Reps. Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Jim McGovern (D-MA) will co-chair a congressional hearing of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission to conduct a global review of antisemitism. Speakers will include Ted Deutch, CEO of the American Jewish Committee; Marina Rosenberg, senior vice president for international affairs at the Anti-Defamation League; Eric Fusfield, director of legislative affairs at B’nai B’rith International; and Stacy Burdett, a consultant on antisemitism response and prevention.
- Tonight, the ADL will host its reception in Washington celebrating Jewish American Heritage Month. The National Museum of American Jewish Military History, along with AJC and Jewish War Veterans of the USA, will host a discussion in Washington, moderated by CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer, with three Jewish-American WWII veterans.
- The Qatar Economic Forum, sponsored by Bloomberg, kicked off in Doha today with an opening address delivered by Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani. Other speakers today include Elon Musk; former CIA Director Gen. David Petraeus; Morgan Ortagus, the U.S. deputy special envoy to the Middle East; Mohammed Saif Al-Sowaidi, the CEO of the Qatar Investment Authority; and Marc Nachmann, global head of asset and wealth management at Goldman Sachs.
- The Middle East Forum 2025 Policy Conference continues today in Washington.
- The World Jewish Congress 17th Plenary Assembly concludes today in Jerusalem.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’s Matthew Kassel
As Pittsburgh’s bitterly contested mayoral primary concludes on Tuesday, the election represents the first major front in a broader proxy battle between moderate and progressive Democrats clashing over Israel and antisemitism, which could shape a range of developing contests at the state and federal levels.
The primary pits Mayor Ed Gainey, the progressive first-term incumbent whose record of commentary on Israel’s war in Gaza and handling of antisemitic activity have sparked backlash from Jewish leaders, against Corey O’Connor, a centrist challenger who is touting his long-standing ties to Pittsburgh’s sizable Jewish community and highlighting his support for Israel.
In recent weeks, the race has grown increasingly nasty, turning in part on escalating tensions over Israel’s war with Hamas that have coincided with a glaring uptick in antisemitic incidents. Pittsburgh police said on Monday, for instance, that they were investigating the distribution of antisemitic flyers in the heavily Jewish neighborhood of Squirrel Hill — following high-profile acts of vandalism last year at several Jewish buildings in the city.
While Gainey has condemned antisemitism, he has otherwise drawn criticism for declining to challenge efforts by far-left activists to bring an Israel boycott and divestment referendum to Pittsburgh voters. He has also stirred controversy for signing a joint statement addressing the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks that made no mention of Hamas and used insensitive language that alienated even some of his closest Jewish allies on the far left.
During a candidate forum hosted last month by Pittsburgh’s Jewish Federation, which has publicly expressed disappointment with Gainey’s record on such issues, the mayor defended his approach to the failed ballot measures while acknowledging that his statement had caused offense. “I apologize for those mistakes,” he said, noting that if given the chance to redo the letter, he would first seek input “to discover exactly what’s wrong with the wording.”
Despite his contrition, many Jewish community members remain skeptical of the mayor, whose allies have spread false accusations that national pro-Israel groups such as AIPAC are spending to boost O’Connor, the Allegheny County controller. Last week, meanwhile, supporters of Gainey also circulated a letter in Squirrel Hill alleging that the Israel-Hamas war has been imported into the race as a pretext for “fake accusations of antisemitism” now being “used as a political tool to try to pry Mayor Gainey out of office.”
Jeremy Kazzaz, executive director of the Beacon Coalition, a local Jewish advocacy group whose political arm has donated to O’Connor’s campaign, said that even as most voters have been “focused on the basics” of city governance, “we can’t ignore that antisemitism has cast a shadow over this election.”
“The Jewish community isn’t imagining things,” he told Jewish Insider on Monday. “We’re responding to real, overt bigotry from voices elevated at the center of Mayor Gainey’s campaign.”
For his part, O’Connor, who grew up in Squirrel Hill and whose late father served as mayor, has said his relationship with the local Jewish community instilled in him a commitment to defending Israel and speaking out against antisemitism. In his discussion with the Jewish federation, he drew contrasts with Gainey on key issues, noting, for example, that he “absolutely” would have opposed the Israel divestment proposal.
“You need a mayor,” he argued, “who is going to be vocal to support and fight against antisemitism.”
While earlier polling had shown O’Connor with a wide lead over Gainey, who has struggled to assert himself in his race for reelection, some more recent surveys indicate the embattled mayor has narrowed the gap in the final stretch of the primary. Still, local political observers who spoke with JI predicted that O’Connor — who has outraised Gainey while locking up key endorsements — would ultimately prevail on Tuesday.
The heated race is a particularly vivid microcosm of intra-Democratic conflicts over Middle East policy that are poised to inflect House and Senate races in Illinois and Michigan next year. The gubernatorial primary in New Jersey and the mayoral race in New York City next month have also featured prominent divisions over Israel, now emerging as a top issue in the final weeks of the race.
RIPPLE EFFECT
Will Trump’s visit to UAE’s Abrahamic Family House inspire a regional shift?
Before President Donald Trump departed the Middle East last week, his motorcade made one final stop in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, before heading to the airport: a visit — the first by a U.S. president — to the Abrahamic Family House, a multifaith complex with Muslim, Christian and Jewish houses of worship. His tour, with stops inside the mosque, church and synagogue, underscored the message of tolerance that he shared in an address at a Saudi investment forum earlier in the week. Trump used the speech to call for Saudi Arabia to normalize ties with Israel, following the lead of the UAE, as well as Bahrain and Morocco. So could the Saudis similarly follow suit by creating an Abrahamic Family House of its own, or something similar to advance religious pluralism? Religious freedom experts tell Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch that’s highly unlikely.
Charting a course: “I think you won’t see a version of the Abrahamic Family House in another country. I think what you will see is each country, in their own way, doing similar things in the years to come,” said Johnnie Moore, an evangelical leader who met with MBS in 2018 as part of the first delegation of evangelical leaders to Saudi Arabia. “Obviously in Saudi Arabia, the baseline is different.” As the home of Mecca, the birthplace of Islam, Saudi Arabia has long been viewed as the standard-bearer for the Muslim world. In the UAE — a much smaller nation, where nearly 90% of residents are foreigners there for business purposes or as laborers — Islamic law has never been applied as strictly.
FORWARD FOCUS
Ronald Lauder defends his engagement with Qatar, hails Trump for ‘opening up’ Middle East to U.S.
After visiting Qatar with President Donald Trump last week, newly reelected World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder insisted on Monday on the need to engage with the controversial Gulf state to use whatever leverage it has to secure the release of the remaining Israeli hostages and work toward a resolution to the war in Gaza and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict more generally, despite its past support for terrorism and anti-Israel advocacy. Speaking to eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross on the sidelines of the WJC meeting in Jerusalem, Lauder praised Trump for bringing Middle Eastern countries closer to the United States, which he said would also benefit Israel.
Qatar questions: “What Qatar did – what anyone did — is in the past. We can’t eliminate what was done in the past. The question is, can Trump and the emir, [Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani] — and I know the emir very well — can Trump and the emir turn things around and make it work? That’s the question,” said Lauder, who was reelected for another four-year term as president of the WJC on Monday. Asked if that engagement with Qatar has been effective so far, Lauder refrained from speculating. “I don’t know, but it didn’t hurt,” he said. “What I think that Trump did was open up the entire Middle East to America, and what’s good for America is also good for Israel. That’s the operative message there.”
Read the full story here and sign up for eJewishPhilanthropy’s Your Daily Phil newsletter here.
NOT RUNNING
Illinois Senate primary likely a toss-up, experts say, after Underwood declines to run
Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-IL) said on Monday that she would pass on an anticipated run for the Illinois Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) in 2026, leaving what’s likely to be a three-way race among Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton and Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) and Robin Kelly (D-IL), Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
State of play: Stratton is backed by billionaire Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, as well as Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), while Krishnamoorthi has $19 million in the bank for the race and members of the Congressional Black Caucus are backing Kelly. Pritzker could put significant funding behind Stratton’s run and reportedly worked behind the scenes to block Underwood and other candidates from entering the race. Underwood, on CNN, denied that Pritzker had forced her to stay out of the race. A Jewish Democratic strategist, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the race candidly, told JI they see the Chicagoland Jewish vote — a sizable community — as largely still up for grabs given that none of the candidates have particularly deep ties to the Jewish community coming into the race. They said Jewish voters will likely take time to evaluate each of the candidates.
MOUNTING PRESSURE
France, U.K., Canada threaten sanctions against Israel
The United Kingdom, France and Canada threatened on Monday to take “concrete actions” and impose sanctions against Israel if it does not change its policies on humanitarian aid and the war in Gaza, as well as settlements in the West Bank. The statement from the three countries came in response to Israel’s announcement that it had begun an escalation in the fighting in Gaza, while allowing in a limited amount of food, 11 weeks after blocking all aid in an attempt to pressure Hamas to free more hostages, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports.
What they said: The countries said they “strongly oppose the expansion of Israel’s military operations in Gaza. The level of human suffering is intolerable. Israel’s denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable and risks breaching International Humanitarian Law.” In addition, they said that the “basic quantity of food” to be allowed into Gaza “is wholly inadequate,” and that Israel must work with United Nations agencies. Israel and the U.S. have been working on an alternative mechanism to distribute aid rather than rely on U.N. agencies, which have not prevented Hamas from pocketing large quantities of aid and in some cases employed Hamas terrorists.
Making waves: Yair Golan, leader of the Israeli left-wing Democrats party, sparked backlash when he said in a radio interview this morning that Israel is on its way to becoming a pariah state, criticizing the war in Gaza: “A sane country does not wage war against civilians, does not kill babies for a hobby, and does not set goals involving the expulsion of populations.” His comments drew condemnation from both coalition and opposition members as well as President Isaac Herzog.
HARVARD IN THE CROSSHAIRS
Senior House Republicans question Harvard over Iran connections
A group of top House Republicans wrote to Harvard University on Monday, questioning the school about alleged work on research funded by the Iranian government, as well as members of the Chinese government, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. The letter accuses Harvard researchers of working with Chinese academics on research funded by the Iranian National Science Foundation, an entity chartered by the Iranian government and ultimately controlled by the Iranian supreme leader. It states that such work occurred at least four times since 2020, as recently as last year.
Signed on: The letter was signed by Reps. John Moolenaar (R-MI), Tim Walberg (R-MI) and Elise Stefanik (R-NY). Moolenaar is the chair of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, Walberg chairs the Education and Workforce Committee and Stefanik is the chair of House Republican Leadership.
TAKING THE HELM
Teach Coalition taps Sydney Altfield as national director
Sydney Altfield, a champion of STEM education, has been tapped as national director of Teach Coalition, an Orthodox Union-run organization that advocates for government funding and resources for yeshivas and Jewish day schools, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen has learned. She succeeds Maury Litwack, who founded the coalition in 2013 and served as its national director since.
Background: Altfield, who has held various roles with Teach Coalition for the past seven years, most recently served as executive director of its New York state chapter. In that position, she spearheaded STEM funding for private schools in the state and helped establish state security funding programs — two areas she intends to expand on a national level in the new role, which encompasses seven states: New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Florida, Pennsylvania, California and Nevada. “We’re at a very pivotal moment in Jewish day schools where the continuity of the Jewish people relies on Jewish education and having access to such. That also has to come at a quality education,” Altfield told JI in her first interview since being selected for the position. “It’s so important to understand that it’s not just about STEM but it’s about the entire Jewish education being high quality, something that’s accessible for everyone.”
Worthy Reads
What JD Vance Means: The Atlantic’s George Packer profiles Vice President JD Vance and speculates on the significance of his rapid political ascent. “Vance illuminates the larger subject of contemporary America’s character. In another age, his rise might have been taken as proof that the American dream was alive and mostly well. But our age has no simply inspiring and unifying tales, and each chapter of Vance’s success is part of a national failure: the abandonment of American workers under global neoliberalism; the cultural collapse of the working class; the unwinnable forever war; a dominant elite that combines ruthless competition with a rigid orthodoxy of identity; a reaction of populist authoritarianism. What seems like Vance’s tragic wrong turn, the loss of real promise, was probably inevitable — it’s hard to imagine a more hopeful plot.” [TheAtlantic]
Columbia Unbecoming:New York magazine’s Nick Summers catalogues Columbia University’s collapse amid antisemitism and pressure from the Trump administration. “As recently as October 6, 2023 — the day before Hamas attacked Israel — Columbia seemed a juggernaut. After decades of growth, the endowment was a fat $14 billion and buildings named for a new generation of megadonors were rising across 17 acres of new campus. After a global search, the university had selected a cosmopolitan new president, Minouche Shafik of the London School of Economics, to lead it into the future. But since that golden moment, the turmoil has been almost too much to catalogue. Endless protest and counterprotest. Campus lockdowns. Police raids. A president paraded before Congress. Students dragged before secretive discipline panels. One canceled commencement, two presidential resignations, and countless students wondering if ICE is inside their dorms. The strife is ongoing, and the campus is as miserable as ever. Columbia is a broken place.”[NYMag]
The Cuomo Conundrum:Politico’s New York editor Sally Goldenberg explains why former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is the odds-on favorite to become the next New York City mayor. “Among Cuomo’s rivals, no one has successfully zeroed in on why he’s so unpopular, or how to chip away at his strengths: Executive experience in a time of uncertainty, universal name recognition when few people are dialed into local politics, a trademark toughness that appeals to Democrats desperate to take on President Donald Trump. The candidates’ anti-Cuomo messages have yet to stick, but they are starting to put money behind them in TV ads and ramping them up on the campaign trail. Lander is calling him corrupt — a reference to his nursing home order during Covid and an attorney general’s report finding he sexually harassed women on his gubernatorial staff. Cuomo denies all wrongdoing and is pursuing aggressive legal recourse.” [Politico]
Desperate Diplomacy in Doha: The Wall Street Journal’s Anat Peled reports on a whirlwind effort by hostage families to meet with President Donald Trump and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani during Trump’s Middle East tour, as part of a wider global effort to talk to anyone who will listen — and has the power to help. “Tears edged down Idit Ohel’s face as she showed U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and a senior Qatari official the video of her son, Alon, being kidnapped by Hamas into Gaza. An aide to the Qatari official, wearing a traditional Arab thawb, slid a box of tissues toward her. The gesture, at a hastily arranged meeting in Doha, encapsulated the awkward position the families of remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza found themselves in last week: They were dependent on a country that harbors Hamas to secure the freedom of loved ones captured in the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks. “It was a sensitive human moment between people where we put politics aside and there were only two human beings,” Ohel said of the encounter. “There was a lot of emotion, empathy and respect in it.” [WSJ]
Word on the Street
The Senate confirmed yesterday real estate developer Charles Kushner, father of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, to be ambassador to France. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) was the only Democrat to vote in favor…
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) introduced a bill on Monday to prevent foreign planes from being used as part of Air Force One’s fleet, Axios reported…
Democratic Majority for Israel is out with a new digital ad titled “Trojan Horse,” hitting President Donald Trump over his plan to accept a $400 million plane from Qatar. The ad will run on digital platforms in the Washington area…
The Trump administration reportedly first approached Qatar about the possibility of acquiring a Boeing 747 for use as Air Force One, contrary to Trump’s claims of it being offered as a gift…
Speaking at the annual Jerusalem Post conference in New York City on Monday, Special Envoy for Hostage Response Adam Boehler said about a hostage release deal, “I do think we’re closer than we ever were”….
Chabad social media influencer Yossi Farro wrapped tefillin with Boehler and prayed for the immediate and swift release of the hostages…
Also during the conference, New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced the formation of a new New York City-Israel Economic Council to boost business ties. Israel’s efforts on the council will be headed by Economy and Industry Minister Nir Barkat…
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) didn’t attend a committee hearing in 2025 until this month, according to a Bloomberg Government analysis…
Rachel Goldberg-Polin and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) will be speaking at Yeshiva University graduation on Thursday…
Ishan Daya stepped down from the Chicago Fiscal Sustainability Working Group just hours after being appointed and after Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reported on his selection on Friday. Daya sparked backlash after he was filmed ripping down Israeli hostage posters shortly after the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks…
Leo Terrell, head of the DOJ Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, and Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun sent a letter yesterday to Francesca Albanese, the United Nations’ special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, accusing her of alleging that her “alarming campaign of letters targeting institutions that support or invest in the state of Israel” are “defamatory, dangerous, and a flagrant abuse of your office”…
Bloomberg journalist Jason Kao was one of the individuals arrested after storming Columbia University’s Butler Library earlier this month. An NYPD spokesperson confirmed to The Washington Free Beacon that Kao was charged with a crime, suggesting he was not covering the event in his journalistic capacity…
Eden Yadegar spoke to the Columbia Spectator about her experience becoming the face of pro-Israel activism at Columbia University after the Hamas terror attacks. She said, “It felt like I was experiencing, in many ways, a different university after Oct. 7, but I also felt like I was a different person experiencing that university”….
Britain plans to strengthen its powers to target state-sponsored terrorist threats after several Iranian-backed security incidents in recent weeks, U.K. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said yesterday…
The New York Times spotlights the role of Israel and antisemitism policy in the New York City mayoral race, after candidate Zohran Mamdani rushed to correct reports that he refused to condemn the Holocaust…
A Washington Examiner analysis found that foreign agents working on behalf of Qatar have significantly increased their outreach to right-wing media, from just over 10% of their media engagement between January-November 2024 to more than half since Election Day…
A Haaretz exposé found that a pro-Qatar online influence campaign allegedly crafted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s aides continued even after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks in Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza…
The Times of Israel interviews Orthodox Jewish musician Lenny Solomon, the subject of a new documentary “The King of Shlock,” which will be screened on Thursday at the DocAviv film festival in Tel Aviv…
Former hostage Omer Shem Tov threw the first pitch at the Boston Red Sox game on Monday during the team’s Jewish Heritage Night at Fenway Park…
Pic of the Day
Israeli-Russian IndyCar driver Robert Shwartzman, 25, on Sunday became the first Indy 500 rookie to win the pole since 1983. He used his win to call for peace in both Israel, where he was born, and Russia, where he was raised. “I just want peace in the world,” Shwartzman said. “I want people to be good, and I don’t want the separation of countries, saying, ‘This is bad country. This is good country.’ There is no bad or good. We’re all human beings, and we just have to support each other.” The Indy 500 will be held on Sunday, Memorial Day weekend.
Birthdays
Born in upstate New York as Michael Scott Bornstein, former Israeli ambassador to the U.S. and then member of the Knesset, Michael Oren turns 70…
CEO at Kings’ Care – A Safe Place, operator of multiple drug and alcohol rehabilitation and treatment centers, Ilene Leiter… Canadian businesswoman and elected official, she served in the Ontario Assembly and in the Canadian House of Commons, Elinor Caplan turns 81… Former member of the New York State Assembly until 2020, representing the 97th Assembly District in Rockland County, Ellen Jaffee turns 81… Former member of the U.S. House of Representatives (D-CT-2) for 20 years, he was born in a DP camp in Germany after World War II, Sam Gejdenson turns 77… Chagrin Falls, Ohio, attorney, Robert Charles Rosenfeld… CEO emeritus of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, Michael S. Miller… Seamstress and weaver, Bernice Ann Penn Venable… Retired in 2022 as a federal judge for the Southern District of Texas, she is now a mediator and arbitrator, Judge Nancy Ellen Friedman Atlas turns 76… Five-time Emmy Award-winning producer and writer who has worked on “Saturday Night Live,” PBS’ “Great Performances” and “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show,” Alan Zweibel turns 75… U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID) turns 74… Former director of international affairs, policy and planning at the Conference of Presidents, Michael Alan Salberg… Professor at Tulane and former president of the Aspen Institute and CEO of CNN, Walter Isaacson turns 73… Actress and singer, known for her work in musical theater, Judy Kuhn turns 67… CEO and founder of Abrams Media, chief legal analyst for ABC News and the founder of Mediaite, Dan Abrams turns 59… NYC location scout and unit production manager for feature films and television commercials, David Brotsky… Co-founder and CEO of Breitbart News, Larry Solov turns 57… Partner and head of public affairs at Gray Space Strategies, Ami Copeland… French singer and actress, at 13 she became the youngest singer to ever reach No. 1 in the French charts, Elsa Lunghini turns 52… Co-president of Major League Baseball’s Tampa Bay Rays, Matthew Silverman turns 49… Emmy Award-winning singer and songwriter, Rachel Platten turns 44… Manager of privacy issues for Amazon’s public policy team, Philip Justin (PJ) Hoffman… Program officer at the Michigan-based William Davidson Foundation, Vadim Avshalumov… Founder and CEO of Berkeley, California-based Caribou Biosciences, a genome engineering company, Rachel Haurwitz, Ph.D…. Director of federal policy and strategy for the ADL, Lauren D. Wolman… Executive communications leader, Susan Sloan… VP of digital advocacy at McGuireWoods Consulting, Josh Canter… Beauty pageant winner who was awarded the title of Miss Israel 2014, Doron Matalon turns 32… Political consultant, Aylon Berger turns 25… Political activist, he is a survivor of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, Kyle Kashuv turns 24…
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., speaks with reporters at the White House, Friday, March 14, 2025, in Washington.
Good Tuesday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we talk to senators about how Israel and the U.S. should respond to the recent ballistic missile strike on Ben Gurion Airport, and interview Illinois state Sen. Laura Fine about her newly announced bid for the House seat being vacated by Rep. Jan Schakowsky. We also report on Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff’s prediction that other Arab countries will soon join the Abraham Accords, and talk to an Atlanta-area surgeon who is suing anti-Israel groups for defamation over their attacks over his volunteer IDF service. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Marc Rowan, Gal Gadot and Michigan AG Dana Nessel.
What We’re Watching
- Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is in Washington today, where he’ll meet with President Donald Trump at the White House.
- The House Appropriations Committee is holding simultaneous oversight hearings this morning with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
- This afternoon, the House Foreign Affairs Middle East subcommittee is holding a public hearing on “Maximum Impact: Assessing the Effectiveness of the State Department’s Bureau of Counterterrorism and Charting the Path Forward.”
- The Israel Allies Foundation, in conjunction with Eagles’ Wings, the Zionist Rabbinic Coalition, American Christian Leaders for Israel and the Combat Antisemitism Movement, is hosting its Israel Advocacy Day and Independence Day Reception today in Washington. The groups will host a reception tonight with the co-chairs and members of the Congressional Israel Allies Caucus.
- The Orthodox Union is convening its annual Washington mission today and tomorrow. Tonight, they’ll host a kickoff dinner reception honoring Sen. James Lankford (R-OK).
- At the Milken Institute’s Global Conference in Los Angeles, IKAR’s Rabbi Sharon Brous will speak on a panel titled “What Faith Means to Me,” while Pershing Square’s Bill Ackman and Yeshiva University’s Rabbi Ari Berman will speak at back-to-back sessions on higher education. Also slated to address the gathering today: pollster Frank Luntz, Education Secretary Linda McMahon, Relativity Space CEO Eric Schmidt.
- The Future Summit continues today in Israel.
- We’re also keeping an eye on Berlin, where earlier today conservative leader Friedrich Merz failed to secure the number of parliamentary votes necessary to become the country’s next chancellor. Merz had allied his Christian Democratic Union party and associated Christian Social Union party with the more liberal Social Democrats. The Bundestag could hold a second round of voting as soon as today, but must elect a new chancellor in the next two weeks.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S JOSH KRAUSHAAR
Even as deep ideological divisions within the Democratic Party persist, pro-Israel Democrats are growing bullish about their recruiting class of congressional candidates in key Senate and House races — as groups anticipate contested primaries against their favored frontrunners, Jewish Insider Editor-in-Chief Josh Kraushaar writes.
In three key Senate battleground races, the emergence of mainstream Democratic members of Congress with lengthy records supporting Israel — Reps. Haley Stevens (D-MI), Angie Craig (D-MN) and Chris Pappas (D-NH) — is a sign that for all the energy of the progressive left, traditional Democrats are still more reflective of their party’s overall electorate.
While the lawmakers start their campaigns with advantages, several face the prospect of competitive primary challenges coming from their left.
In Michigan, Stevens has emerged as one of the most outspoken backers of a strong U.S.-Israel relationship, boasts close connections to Jewish community leaders and already has ousted an Israel critic (former Rep. Andy Levin) in her young political career. She starts out the Senate race with a healthy $1.6 million cash on hand, according to first quarter FEC filings.
Stevens, however, is facing candidates courting the progressive base: State Sen. Mallory McMorrow became nationally known for her abortion rights activism, and launched her campaign by calling for a younger Senate leader to replace Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). McMorrow, whose husband is Jewish, has also met with Jewish leaders to assure them of her pro-Israel bona fides.
The Michigan candidate courting anti-Israel elements of the electorate is former Michigan health official Abdul El-Sayed, who has run unsuccessfully for statewide office before. Former Michigan House Speaker Joe Tate, a former NFL player, is also seriously considering a run.
Many Jewish Democrats view Stevens as an ally in the same light as pro-Israel stalwarts like Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) or Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) — as someone principled and unafraid to speak out against antisemitism and anti-Israel extremism. Her candidacy will serve as an early bellwether for how much room there is for such moderate voices in today’s Democratic Party.
In Minnesota, Craig is another Israel ally looking as the early favorite in the Democratic primary against the state’s progressive lieutenant governor, Peggy Flanagan. Craig has been willing to speak out against anti-Israel Democratic colleagues amid Middle East policy disagreements; Flanagan is more closely aligned with J Street.
And in New Hampshire, Pappas is looking like the clear favorite for the Democratic nomination to succeed retiring Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH). A swing-district moderate, Pappas has generally held a more pro-Israel record than his Democratic colleagues in the state.
Outside the battlegrounds, Illinois’ wide-open Senate primary to succeed retiring Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) could potentially feature divisions over Middle East policy. Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) and Robin Kelly (D-IL), both potential candidates, are listed on the AIPAC political portal for favored candidates, while Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-IL), another possible contender, is not.
There are also developing House race skirmishes over Israel. As JI’s Matthew Kassel scooped today, state Sen. Laura Fine announced her candidacy to succeed retiring Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) in a district with a significant Jewish constituency. Fine, who is running on a pro-Israel platform, is expected to face a challenge from Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, who drew controversy in 2017 for initially tapping (and later dropping) an anti-Israel, DSA-affiliated running mate for his gubernatorial campaign.
Levin, the former Michigan congressman who has been critical of Israel, is also exploring a political comeback in two of the open House seats in the Detroit suburbs. If he runs in Stevens’ House seat, he could face state Sen. Jeremy Moss, who is one of the strongest allies of the Jewish community in the Michigan state legislature.
HANDLING THE HOUTHIS
GOP senators say U.S., Israel must escalate response to Houthis after Ben Gurion airport hit
Senate Republicans predicted a continued escalation of U.S. and Israeli attacks on the Houthis following the group’s ballistic missile attack on Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport over the weekend, which American and Israeli air defenses failed to intercept. The U.S. has been carrying out, and has pledged to continue, a heavy bombardment of the Iranian-backed Yemeni group for weeks. Though the pace of the Houthis’ onslaught has slowed, its continued attacks on Israel and repeated shoot-downs of U.S. drones have demonstrated that the group maintains significant capabilities. Israel launched its first direct attacks on Yemen in months on Monday, following the weekend strike, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs and Marc Rod report.
GOP reactions: “It’s pretty scary. I mean, it’s scary that they were able to get through both the American defense and the Israeli defense. It’s a dangerous place, and the only way this is gonna stop is when we start holding Iran accountable. This is not the Houthis, it’s Iran, so until they get held accountable, it’s not going to stop,” Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) told JI. Other Republican senators shared Scott’s view that the Houthis are unlikely to cease their attacks and that Israel must respond militarily. Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) said, “I think the president needs to turn them into fish food.”
Kaine suggests listening to Houthi demands: Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) described the Houthi strikes as “very troubling,” but said that the previous ceasefire agreements in Gaza had been the sole mechanism by which the U.S. had made any progress with stopping the Houthis. “The only thing that’s worked with the Houthis in the last couple years has been the ceasefire in Gaza, that’s it. When the ceasefire happened in November of ‘23, the short one, they ratcheted down and they ratcheted down during the last ceasefire that we just had that completed.”
Read the full story here with additional comments from Sens. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), Mike Rounds (R-SD), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Chris Murphy (D-CT).
PRAIRIE STATE PRIMARY
Schakowsky retirement sets up Illinois Democratic primary battle over Mideast policy
The next big intra-Democratic primary battle over Middle East policy is shaping up on the North Shore of Chicago in one of the most heavily Jewish House districts in the country, where longtime Jewish Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) said on Monday that she would not seek reelection. Her widely anticipated retirement announcement had set off a behind-the-scenes scramble among several potential candidates eyeing the coveted open seat in Illinois’ deep blue 9th Congressional District, which includes part of Chicago and northern suburbs such as Evanston and Skokie, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.
Fine time to launch: The first major Democratic candidate to enter the race, Laura Fine, a Jewish state senator, launched her campaign on Tuesday morning and is emerging as a pro-Israel favorite in the developing primary, as she prepares to face several opponents who have been openly hostile to the longstanding U.S. alliance with Israel or drawn backlash from Jewish leaders over their approach to key issues involving Middle East policy. In an interview with JI on Monday, Fine touted her pro-Israel platform and described herself as a staunch defender of the Jewish state who has long been outspoken against rising antisemitism fueled by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks and the ensuing war in Gaza.
normalization news
Witkoff predicts expansion of Abraham Accords coming soon
Speaking at an event on Monday celebrating Israeli Independence Day, Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff suggested that he expects additional countries will join the Abraham Accords in the coming year, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
What he said: “We think [we] will have some, or a lot of announcements, very, very shortly, which we hope will yield great progress by next year,” Witkoff said of the prospects for additional normalization between Israel and Arab states, at an event organized by the Israeli embassy in Washington.
Elsewhere in Washington: House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) spoke at an event with the Zionist Rabbinic Coalition and pro-Israel Christian groups on Monday. Johnson pledged that the House will “continue to shed light on [college presidents’] failures and as long as I’m speaker of the House, the people’s House will continue to be a bulwark against antisemitism.” He also spoke about his visit to Columbia University’s encampment and his first trip to Israel. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and White House Faith Office Director Jenny Korn also addressed the group.
DEFAMED IN DEKALB
Jewish surgeon sues anti-Israel groups for defamation after volunteering in IDF
An Atlanta Jewish surgeon who served in the Israeli Defense Forces in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attacks is suing several anti-Israel groups after a medical student made defamatory accusations that the surgeon’s service aided and abetted a genocide in Gaza, rendering him unfit to provide medical care. The statements were circulated by major organizations, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations and National Students for Justice in Palestine. After Oct. 7, Dr. Josh Winer took leave as a physician and professor at Emory University School of Medicine to serve as a doctor in an IDF reconnaissance unit in Gaza, providing medical care to wounded soldiers. Upon returning to Emory, Winer “encountered hostility as a supporter of Israel,” he told Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen.
The accusations: Umaymah Mohammad, an Emory medical student, accused Winer of war crimes and genocide, according to the lawsuit. Her statements were initially made during a segment of “Democracy Now!,” a daily news program broadcast on the internet, television and radio. She repeated the statements in an op-ed, a podcast hosted by the International Union of Scientists and at a press conference. CAIR Georgia, CAIR National, Doctors Against Genocide Soceity, NSJP and Emory Students for Justice in Palestine — which are all named as defendants in the suit alongside Mohammad — published, reiterated and expanded upon Mohammad’s claims. Emory SJP, for instance, created social media posts that claimed Winer was a threat to students and patients of color.
KEMP-AIGN TRAIL
Kemp’s decision to pass on Senate race leaves Jewish voters up for grabs
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, one of the most popular officials in the state, announced on Monday he will not challenge Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) when he is up for reelection in 2026, dealing a blow to Senate Republicans, who were hoping his candidacy would have given Republicans an edge in a critical battleground, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports. Kemp said in a statement on Monday that he had “decided that being on the ballot next year is not the right decision for me and my family.”
What he said: Several Jewish Democratic leaders, disenchanted with anti-Israel elements of the Democratic Party, expressed an openness to backing Kemp over Ossoff, if the governor ran for the Senate. Ossoff’s vote last year to block military aid to Israel alienated many Jewish voters in the state, and the backlash led him to reject additional similar measures targeting the Jewish state when they came up for a vote last month. But Kemp’s decision not to run could help push skeptical Jewish Democrats and independents back toward Ossoff’s column, especially if the Democratic senator works more closely with the Jewish community in the state, which is strongly supportive of Israel.
VOTE VETOED
House cancels vote on IGO Anti-Boycott Act following right-wing objections
Following online outrage from the right, the House canceled a planned vote on the IGO Anti-Boycott Act, legislation expanding current U.S. anti-boycott laws to include international organizations, despite broad bipartisan support for the legislation last year, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Growing pattern: The fallout is just one recent example of how actors on the political fringes have mobilized to stymie pro-Israel legislation and bills to combat antisemitism that otherwise enjoy bipartisan support — often by misrepresenting their aims and impacts — and have ammassed sufficient influence to upend that bipartisan consensus and scuttle the legislative process. Bipartisan support for identical legislation last year was so strong that it passed the House by a voice vote in February 2024, after being reported out of the House Foreign Affairs Committee by a 42-3 vote in late 2023. But this year, it’s meeting a very different reception following vocal criticism from far-right House members and conservative influencers that caught fire on X.
Worthy Reads
Hard Look at Harvard: The Atlantic’s Eliot Cohen weighs in on Harvard’s recently released report documenting antisemitism on the Cambridge campus. “The widespread harassment of Jews reported at Harvard reflects the attitudes of hundreds if not thousands of students, faculty, and staff—that last group is an often underappreciated element in indulging or even encouraging this behavior. It reflects the development of identity-driven politics, for which responsibility lies outside the university as well as within it. It has been fed by witch-hunting for ‘white privilege’ (no matter that there are plenty of Jews of color, as a walk down the streets of Tel Aviv will show you). It flourishes in the bogus specializations that have hived off from more traditional and all-embracing disciplines such as history, literature, and anthropology. It has been nurtured in research centers whose very existence is premised not on the quest for truth but on the pursuit of a political or ideological agenda.” [TheAtlantic]
Life in the Big Apple: In The New Yorker, actress Lena Dunham reflects on her childhood and life in New York before she made a transatlantic move to the U.K. “In the city, by contrast, my mother could pack ten or eleven separate excursions into a single day — or, conversely, spend hours wandering the floors of the discount department store Century 21, striking up endless conversations in the communal dressing room. … My mom and her sisters — Jewish girls at the opposite end of the spectrum from the Margarets, Hazels, and Tesses of the world — lived to move. I distinctly remember my mother repeating that ‘what I love about Manhattan is that if you really want to you can always get from one end to the other in twenty minutes.’ (This is not, strictly speaking, true, and I blame the remark for my lifelong inability to properly judge commute times.) My aunt Susan once said of my mother, ‘Laurie is a ‘from’ girl — the lox is from one place, the bagels from another, the flowers from someplace else.’ Knowing how to get the best out of the city — from discount Manolos to vintage buttons to a ten-dollar blow-dry — gives my mother the satisfaction of a chess grand master stumping her opponent with a series of unexpected moves. But being a ‘from’ girl is about more than the provenance of goods; it’s about living at such high speeds that your inner life can never quite catch up to you.” [NewYorker]
Word on the Street
President Donald Trump is pushing Republican lawmakers to support the confirmation of Ed Martin, the administration’s nominee to be U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., who had previously praised a Nazi sympathizer…
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a memo calling for a “minimum” 20% reduction in the number of four-star generals and admirals on active military duty…
Rep. Laura Gillen (D-NY) received the distinguished statesmanship award from the Council of Jewish Organizations Flatbush at the group’s annual legislative breakfast over the weekend. Previous recipients include Reps. Mike Lawler (R-NY), Ritchie Torres (D-NY) and Yvette Clarke (D-NY)…
The House of Representatives passed the Solidify Iran Sanctions Act, extending indefinitely existing energy sanctions on Iran first passed in 1996, by a voice vote…
Sheikh Bandar bin Mohammed bin Saoud al-Thani, the chairman of the Qatar Investment Authority and governor of the Qatar Central Bank, met on the sidelines of the Milken Global Conference in Los Angeles with senior business executives including Steve Mnuchin, Peter Chernin and Howard Marks…
Speaking at Milken, Apollo Global Management CEO Marc Rowan backed the Trump administration’s tariff policy while cautioning that the economy could slow down if “damage” to the U.S. brand isn’t addressed…
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the company was dropping its plan to pivot to a for-profit structure…
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel withdrew all charges against seven University of Michigan students arrested last year for their role in anti-Israel protests on the campus; Nessel said the decision was made in part due to the “impropriety” of a letter sent by the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor defending her against allegations of bias…
The Trump administration proposed that Columbia University enter into a consent decree by which the government would have oversight over the school’s efforts to ensure viewpoint diversity and not factor race into admissions decisions; the consent decree was suggested as an alternative to a court battle between the government and the Ivy League school…
Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy rescinded his offer to fund a trip to Auschwitz for at least one of two men involved in an incident in a Barstool bar in which an antisemitic sign was carried around the premises; Portnoy said one of the individuals, a student at Temple University, “did a 180” and absolved himself of responsibility for the incident…
New York’s City Park’s Foundation dropped singer Kehlani as a performer at an upcoming Pride concert in Central Park, following pushback, including from Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), over Kehlani’s use of antisemitic and anti-Israel imagery and phrases in her performances and music videos…
Gal Gadot and Matthias Schoenaerts will star in the upcoming post-WWII thriller “Ruin,” about a Holocaust survivor and German soldier who partner to exact revenge on a Nazi unit…
If Hamas does not accept a ceasefire and hostage-release deal by the end of next week, Israel will launch “Operation Gideon’s Chariots,” escalating the war in Gaza until Jerusalem attains its war aims, a senior Israeli defense source said on Monday, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports…
The Daily Mail interviews Israeli singer Yuval Raphael, who survived the Oct. 7, 2023, attack at the Nova music festival by hiding under bodies in a bomb shelter, about her journey to the Eurovision Song Contest…
The IDF said that two Hamas commanders, including one who participated in the Oct. 7 attacks and held hostages, surrendered to Israeli troops in Rafah…
Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha received the Pulitzer Prize in commentary for his essays, published in The New Yorker, about life in Gaza during the Israel-Hamas war…
Pope Francis, who died last week, had directed for the “popemobile” that transported him during a 2014 trip to the West Bank to be donated to a Catholic charity that operates in the Palestinian territories for use as a mobile children’s aid clinic in Gaza…
Pic of the Day
Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) and documentarian Wendy Sachs speak at the Capitol Hill screening of “October 8,” which looks at the rise of antisemitism on campus following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks in Israel. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Reps. Laura Gillen (D-NY) and Virginia Foxx (R-NC) were also in attendance.
Birthdays
Conductor, pianist, clarinetist, and composer, he is currently music director of The Louisville Orchestra, Edward “Teddy” Paul Maxwell Abrams turns 38…
U.S. senator (R-AL) from 1987 until 2023, Richard Shelby turns 91… Senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford, previously a Columbia law professor, a U.S. District Court judge and the State Department legal advisor, Abraham David Sofaer turns 87… Novelist, playwright and human rights activist, professor emeritus of Latin American studies at Duke University, Vladimiro Ariel Dorfman turns 83… Professor of law and philosophy at the University of Chicago, she has been awarded 69 honorary degrees from around the world, Martha Nussbaum turns 78… Israeli theoretical physicist and astrophysicist, he is best known for his work on gamma-ray bursts and on numerical relativity, Tsvi Piran turns 76… Partner at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, she was the deputy attorney general of the U.S. in the Clinton administration, Jamie S. Gorelick turns 75… Former prime minister of the United Kingdom, he then served as the special envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East, Tony Blair turns 72… President emeritus of the Jerusalem College of Technology / Lev Academic Center, Noah Dana-Picard turns 71… Director of the Jewish studies program at Northeastern University, Lori Hope Lefkovitz turns 69… Co-founder of Boston-based HighVista Strategies following 23 years at Goldman Sachs, he is the former board chair of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Daniel Jick turns 68… Member of the Knesset for Likud between 2003 and 2006, Daniel Benlulu turns 67… President and CEO of The Jewish Federations of North America, he was previously CEO of Hillel and a U.S. congressman, Eric David Fingerhut turns 66… Retired attorney and former member of the board of trustees of the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ, Sheri Goldberg… Los Angeles-based attorney and real estate entrepreneur, Daniel Todd Gryczman… Israel’s minister of national security since 2025 and leader of the Otzma Yehudit party, Itamar Ben-Gvir turns 49… Member of the Knesset for the Yesh Atid party, Shelly Tal Meron turns 46… Los Angeles-based television personality, actress, writer and video blogger, Shira Lazar turns 42… Partner at Amiti, an early-stage deep tech fund, Brachie Sprung… Founder at ALC Hospitality, Alyse Cohen… Senior principal at Alterra climate investment fund, Benjamin Levine… Partner at Courtside Ventures and advisor to the board of directors of the Atlanta Hawks, Oliver Ressler… Head of business development at Seam, she is a conservative commentator across many social media platforms, Arynne Wexler… Actor and singer, Noah Egidi Galvin turns 31…
MENAHEM KAHANA/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir enters a district courtroom in Tel Aviv on December 10, 2024.
Good Tuesday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we report on Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir‘s meetings in Washington, and cover Israel’s rejection of a ceasefire proposal that does not include the full disarmament of Hamas. We report on Rep. Ritchie Torres’ remarks at the American Jewish Committee’s Global Forum, and look at Fox News’ focus on issues critical to the Jewish community. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Sen. Andy Kim, Rep. Greg Landsman and Brandon Shorenstein.
What We’re Watching
- Yom HaZikaron, Israel’s day to memorialize fallen soldiers and victims of terror, begins today at sundown. At 8 p.m. local time and again tomorrow morning, a siren will sound across the country.
- The House Homeland and Armed Services Committees will hold reconciliation markups today.
- The American Jewish Committee’s Global Forum wraps up in New York today. More below.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S JOSH KRAUSHAAR
President Donald Trump is facing growing political backlash to his aggressive agenda and executive actions, according to a flurry of new polling marking his 100th day in office. His job approval average has dipped to 44% (down from 52% when he took office), according to Nate Silver’s polling tracker, with sizable majorities now disapproving of his handling of the economy as well as many other pressing voter concerns.
The polling finds that even on issues Trump touted on the campaign trail to win support — tackling illegal immigration, providing economic security for the working class, targeting government waste and fighting antisemitism — the chaotic policy execution and championing of extreme solutions has sapped him of badly needed political capital.
The New York Times/Siena survey released last weekend finds that a majority of Americans (54%) believe Trump is exceeding the powers available to him as president, while only 43% believe he’s abiding within constitutional norms.
All told, the polling paints a picture of an administration that correctly identified the challenges the country faces, but has badly misdiagnosed the right solutions, Jewish Insider Editor-in-Chief Josh Kraushaar writes.
A few examples from the NYT/Siena survey: Even as most Americans favor tougher crackdowns on illegal immigration, only 10% said they favored sending U.S. criminals to jail in El Salvador, just 17% support deporting immigrants who protested Israel and just 32% approve of the administration’s deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador. Trump’s overall approval rating on immigration, once his strongest issue, is now underwater in most national polls.
While there’s been a populist undercurrent in the country in recent decades, Americans are nonetheless worried that Trump’s imposition of tariffs will only make the economy worse: A 56% majority said Trump’s tariff policies have “gone too far,” while only 8% said they haven’t gone far enough. All told, as economic experts warn of a possible recession amid stock market volatility, over half of Americans (55%) now disapprove of Trump’s economic performance, a marked reversal from his first term.
On foreign policy, only 40% of respondents said they approve of Trump’s handling of international conflicts, and just 35% expressed approval of his handling of the war between Russia and Ukraine. And more Americans said they prioritize maintaining important relationships with allies (52%) rather than making sure other countries are paying their fair share (44%).
And on the antisemitism front, the NYT/Siena poll findsthat only one-third of respondents favor withholding federal funds from certain universities, while 58% oppose Trump’s hardball tactics against such schools.
The results from the NYT/Siena poll, consistent with other national surveys, underscore that Trump misread his political mandate, assuming the views of his base matched the mood of the persuadable voters that swung his way. The new polling shows Trump has lost particularly significant ground since the election with Hispanics and Gen Z voters — two groups whose surprising levels of support secured Trump’s second term.
And while Democrats are facing historically low favorability ratings of their own amid a party-wide identity crisis, when voters are asked to look ahead to the 2026 midterms, they hold a three-point lead on the congressional ballot (47-44%). It’s a sign of how far Trump has fallen in the three months since his inauguration.
MEASURED ACCESS
Far-right Israeli minister scores first meetings on Capitol Hill, none with Trump administration
Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s firebrand national security minister, was in Washington on Monday to promote President Donald Trump’s plan for Gaza — and, in particular, to try to garner support for moving Arabs out of the embattled enclave. But while Ben-Gvir has branded himself a loyal soldier for Trump’s message, the far-right politician has yet to receive an invitation to discuss the matter with anyone in the Trump administration, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
On the Hill: “We did not meet with anybody from the Trump administration. That wasn’t the main goal,” Ben-Gvir told JIin an interview on Monday on Capitol Hill, speaking through a translator. While the controversial minister did not succeed in reaching the White House, Ben-Gvir, who has long faced criticism over his embrace of Israeli extremists, had better luck in scoring meetings with congressional Republicans, including some in leadership positions. Ben-Gvir met on Monday with Reps. Claudia Tenney (R-NY), Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Mike Lawler (R-NY), as well as Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL), the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Ben-Gvir traveled to Mar-a-Lago last week to meet with House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN), the third-most powerful House Republican, and Rep. Lloyd Smucker (R-PA).
NO DEAL
Israel rejects 5-year ceasefire, hostage-release deal without Hamas disarming
Israel will not accept a Hamas-proposed five-year ceasefire and hostage-release deal because it does not require the terrorist organization to disarm, a senior Israeli official said in a briefing to journalists on Monday. A Hamas official said on Saturday the group would release at one time all of the remaining hostages in Gaza — 59 total, including at least 21 living — in exchange for a five-year ceasefire. Hamas would not, however, agree to disarming and would only enter an agreement to end the current war in Gaza, rejecting a 45-day ceasefire and hostage deal proposal proffered by Israel earlier this month, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports.
Red line: The Israeli official said that the five-year proposal has been “going around some Arab states.” He said, “There is no chance we will agree to a ceasefire with Hamas that will only allow it to rearm, recover and continue its war against Israel.” Regarding a recent report that Qatar encouraged Hamas to harden its stance in the negotiations, the official said that “the Qataris had a negative influence in the current negotiations.” The official said that the reason Israel has been fighting at a lower intensity in Gaza since the last ceasefire ended on March 18 was to give hostage negotiations a chance. ”We want to exhaust the effort to return the hostages and that influences our patterns of action,” he said.
AWARD ADDRESS
Ritchie Torres at AJC Global Forum: ‘A durable peace is possible’ in the Middle East
Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) offered a message of hope that peace in the Middle East is “as close as we have ever been,” in remarks before more than 2,000 people from 60 countries gathered in Midtown Manhattan on Monday for the second day of the American Jewish Committee Global Forum, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports. Torres, who was honored with the group’s inaugural Nita M. Lowey Congressional Leadership Award, said that the “future of the Middle East does not belong to the Islamic Republic and its empire of terror.”
‘Abrahamic dream’: “The future of the Middle East belongs to Israel and the Abraham Accords. The future of the Middle East does not belong to hate. The future belongs to hope: hatikva,” Torres continued. “In the grand sweep of history, in the millennia-long Maccabean marathon that is the story of the Jewish people, we are as close as we have ever been to realizing the Abrahamic dream of a world where all the children of Abraham — Jews, Christians and Muslims — can coexist in peace and prosperity. A durable peace is possible, and we as Americans, in the greatest country on earth, have the power — indeed the responsibility — to make it so and make peace.”
hostage concerns
Sen. Andy Kim seeks answers on Edan Alexander amid uncertainty over his condition in Gaza
Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ) has asked the State Department and intelligence community officials for a status update on the condition and whereabouts of Israeli American hostage Edan Alexander, a New Jersey native, after Hamas claimed it had lost contact with his captors inside Gaza, the senator told Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs.
Kim’s efforts: Speaking to JI at the Capitol on Monday, both Kim and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) said they were seeking more information on Alexander from U.S. and international channels. “We’ve asked the State Department and intel community to try to provide us any and all information that they might have. I talked to his parents about this and we’re just trying to figure out what’s what. Also, we just met with the hostage office at the State Department to try to press on the necessity for us to have a sense of what’s true or not on that front. I’m trying to see if I can meet with the ambassadors of Egypt and Qatar as well to see if they have any information through their own routes in terms of engagement,” Kim told JI.
securing the neighborhood
Rep. Greg Landsman: Ending Iran’s nuclear program, terrorism would transform the Middle East
Following a visit to Israel and Jordan last week, Rep. Greg Landsman (D-OH) told Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod that there is a “unique, potentially generational opportunity” to change the Middle East if the U.S. can help put an end to Iran’s nuclear weapons program and its support for regional terrorism. Landsman also told JI he’s working on legislation to create a bipartisan select committee focused on Middle East peace, an initiative he said would help elevate the issue and find bipartisan solutions.
Notable quotable: He said that eliminating Iran’s support for regional terrorism would radically change the lives of the Lebanese, Palestinian, Syria, Jordanian, Yemeni, Iraqi and Israeli people. “Everyone wins. Literally — everyone wins,” Landsman said. “That’s the key, and probably one of the most important things to Middle East peace. If [Middle East envoy Steve] Witkoff and the administration have those in play, and they’re willing to pull the right coalition together to get that done, that would be a game changer.” He emphasized that any deal must include ending Iran’s support for regional terrorism as well as any domestic nuclear enrichment and removing Iran’s nuclear stockpiles.
media matters
Fox News woos Jewish viewers amid perceived media bias against Israel
For Fox News host Dana Perino, supporting Israel has been a given since the early days of her career, when she visited the Jewish state multiple times with President George W. Bush as his press secretary. Perino, who first arrived at the White House while the nation was reeling from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, worked alongside Bush, initially as his deputy press secretary, throughout the early years of the war on terror. Two decades later, as co-anchor of Fox’s “America’s Newsroom,” Perino finds herself frequently drawing on those experiences, especially in the past year and a half as she’s reported on the aftermath Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks in Israel, the ensuing war in Gaza and record-breaking levels of antisemitism in the U.S, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
Switching the channel: “Once you learn those issues, they are ingrained in you,” Perino told JI, referring to the threats Jews face, in Israel and around the world. “Plus, if you care about doing the right thing — and an additional plus is working for a place that encourages you to do the right thing, that news comes first.” The sentiment has increasingly caught the eye of liberal-leaning American Jews who believe that much of the mainstream media’s coverage is unfairly hostile to Israel. Weeks after Oct. 7, Fox Corp.’s CEO, Lachlan Murdoch, told shareholders at the annual meeting that the network must “stand up” to antisemitism.
Worthy Reads
Going Radical in Pittsburgh: Tablet’s Armin Rosen does a deep dive into the background of Talya Lubit, a Jewish anti-Zionist activist who along with Mohamad Hamad is facing federal charges tied to the vandalism of a Pittsburgh Chabad. “If Lubit became an anti-Israel radical, it did not happen as the sole result of anything she did or experienced at Dickinson [College] — just as it didn’t happen only because of her parents’ divorce, or the influence of her conspiratorial stepfather, or her horror at Israeli conduct in Gaza, or a romantically self-sacrificing male influence like Hamad. She was radicalized for reasons that are both convenient and inconvenient. Thousands of civilians really have died in Gaza, for instance, though the great majority of people who care about this fact, including ones who blame Israel for every single one of those deaths, haven’t vandalized a synagogue in response. At some point, Lubit’s sympathy for the vulnerable and her insistence on bold truth-telling devoured her sense of judgement and proportion. Long before that, she was a sociable person with a contrarian and humanistic streak who never really fit in. As one college classmate put it, ‘she is someone who I think is always looking for community and has been pushed away.’” [Tablet]
The Oldest Hatred, Anew: In The Washington Post, Clive Gillenson considers the millennia-old existence of antisemitism. “In the end, no theory can fully explain antisemitism, because it is not based on a rational cause. It adapts to each era’s anxieties and insecurities. When Jews are poor, they are despised as beggars; when they are rich, as exploiters; when they are religious, they are portrayed as fanatics; when they are secular, they are dangerous radicals. In every situation, antisemites have no problem adapting their prejudices. Thus, antisemitism, if it is about the need to have someone else to blame, may well not be about Jews at all. Jews have survived because they have no choice but to survive, and in doing so, they have outlasted every empire, ideology and movement that sought to erase them. Perhaps antisemitism still exists only because humanity has so often needed it.” [WashPost]
Class Crisis: The Wall Street Journal’s Matthew Hennessey laments the decline of respectful and thoughtful engagement across the political and media spectrums. “Personal qualities once synonymous with good character have fallen so far out of fashion as to seem like rumors from an ancient age. Did athletes really once accept defeat with dignity? Did people really restrain themselves from saying everything that popped into their heads? Did known philanderers refrain from trying to mount political comebacks? Did ex-presidents stay out of the limelight as a courtesy to their successors? Yes, kids, there was a time when prominent people were expected to exhibit grace. You couldn’t smack someone in the face on the Oscars broadcast and expect to resume your career in Hollywood. Shooting a CEO in cold blood earned you no fans. … Let it be acknowledged that the good old days weren’t all class, all the time. Politics, in particular, has always rewarded a degree of ruthlessness. Some of history’s greatest monsters hid their depravity behind a smile. But it was long said that hypocrisy is the tribute that vice pays to virtue. There was something laudable about the impulse to couch vulgarity with an apology. It seems we’ve lost even that.” [WSJ]
Word on the Street
President Donald Trump sat for a wide-ranging interview with The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg, Ashley Parker and Michael Scherer weeks after Goldberg was included on a Signal thread with senior Trump administration officials who discussed plans to strike Houthi targets in Yemen…
An F-18 fighter jet fell off the USS Harry S. Truman and sank in the Red Sea after the aircraft carrier was forced to make a sharp turn to avoid a missile that had been fired by the Iran-backed Houthis…
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal Party won the country’s federal elections on Monday, beating the Conservative Party and its leader, Pierre Poilievre, who is also projected to lose his own seat in Parliament…
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and state legislators reached a compromise over proposed legislation around the use of face masks; the state will create a new charge for individuals who commit a crime while wearing a mask or flee the scene of a crime while masked…
House committees are beginning work this week on Republicans’ reconciliation package, the massive federal budget bill that would implement key elements of the Trump administration’s agenda, including extending tax cuts and implementing budget increases and reductions across the federal government, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…
Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN) launched her bid for the Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN)…
Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA), who had battled esophageal cancer, announced he will not seek reelection in 2026 following the disease’s return; Connolly said he will “soon” step down from his position as ranking member of the House Oversight Committee…
The New York Times profiles Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX), the head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, as he and his supporters advocate for a “Resistance 2.0” approach to the Trump administration…
Justice Democrats is backing a primary challenger to Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-MI) in Michigan’s 13th Congressional District as the far-left group looks to target Democrats in the upcoming congressional elections cycle…
A new book by The Wall Street Journal’s Keach Hagey revealed that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman mulled running for political office, including president and governor of California; Altman has denied the claims…
House Education and Workforce Committee Chair Tim Walberg (R-MI) wrote to Northwestern University President Michael Schill on Monday summoning him to appear before the committee for a transcribed interview about alleged failures to protect Jewish students, nearly a year after he gave testimony at a committee hearing, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…
Harvard University rebranded its office of diversity, equity and inclusion as the Office of Community and Campus Life, headed by the school’s former chief diversity officer, whose new title will be chief community and campus life officer, amid growing tensions between the school and the Trump administration over Harvard’s handling of antisemitism…
Nike apologized for a recent billboard positioned at the end of the London Marathon that read “Never Again. Until Next Year,” following an outcry from Jewish communal leaders over the company’s use of the term, which is often associated with Holocaust remembrance…
Kiss’ Gene Simmons listed his Beverly Hills home for nearly $14 million; the musician purchased the home for $10.5 million in 2021…
The Wall Street Journal spotlights Brandon Shorenstein, who took over his family’s San Francisco-based property company shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic and has overseen it through years of market upheaval…
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Foreign Secretary David Lammy met with Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa in London on Monday…
International Criminal Court judges informed Karim Khan, the court’s chief prosecutor, that he cannot publicize or announce his pursuance of warrants for Israeli officials; the move comes ahead of plans by Khan to seek additional arrest warrants for Israeli officials, following the issuance last year of warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant…
Shin Bet head Ronen Bar said he will step down from his position on June 15, amid a public and polarizing clash with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who tried to dismiss him in March, a move which was suspended by the Supreme Court…
Turkish Airlines, Pegasus and Virgin Atlantic will not resume direct flights to Israel; Virgin Atlantic will maintain its codeshare partnership with El Al despite the cessation of its own flights…
Iran proposed a meeting with British, French and German officials in Rome later this week, ahead of the next scheduled nuclear talks between Iranian and American negotiators…
The Financial Times looks at how Iran is addressing ground subsidence that is increasingly causing safety and infrastructure issues around the country…
The New York Times reports on distrust among the Kurdish population in Syria about the new government, backed by Ha’yat Tahrir al-Sham, with which the Kurds’ Syrian Democratic Forces have previously battled in northeastern Syria…
Pic of the Day
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee (right) met this week in Tel Aviv with Emirati Ambassador to Israel Mohamed Al Khaja.
Birthdays
Israeli-born, NYC resident, stand-up comedian, actor and sometimes chazan, Modi Rosenfeld turns 55…
Nobel Prize-winning economist, professor at MIT, known for his analysis of Social Security policy, Peter Diamond turns 85… Co-founder of the NYSE-traded homebuilding company Toll Brothers, Bruce E. Toll turns 82… Retired U.S. senator (D-MI), she completed her 24 years in the Senate this past January, Debbie Stabenow turns 75… Marcy Smith… SVP of communications and journalist in residence at University of Maryland Global Campus, Michael Freedman… Comedian, actor, writer, producer and director, he is best known for playing a semi-fictional version of himself in the 180 episodes of the sitcom “Seinfeld,” Jerry Seinfeld turns 71… London-born actor with three Academy Awards for best actor, knighted at Buckingham Palace in 2014, Sir Daniel Day-Lewis turns 68… Sportscaster, best known as the radio and television play-by-play announcer for MLB’s New York Mets, Gary Cohen turns 67… Co-founder and first CEO of Netflix, Marc Bernays Randolph turns 67… Israeli diplomat, she was Israel’s ambassador to Latvia and then to Ireland, Lironne Bar Sadeh turns 66… Former NYC comptroller, now a candidate for mayor of NYC, Scott M. Stringer turns 65… CEO and chairman of 20th Century Fox until its acquisition by Disney, Stacey Snider turns 64… CEO of the United Democracy Project, Rob Bassin… Professor of psychology and behavioral economics at Duke University, he is the author of many books including Predictably Irrational, Dan Ariely turns 58… NYC-based award-winning artist who works with sound, kinetics, optics, magnetism and other materials to make sculptures and photographs, Julianne Swartz turns 58… Film and television actor, Paul Adelstein turns 56… Executive at a NYC-based investment management firm, Bennett J. Schachter turns 50… Minister of environmental protection in Israel’s prior government, Tamar “Tami” Zandberg turns 49… SVP of the Leon Levine Foundation and director of operations for the Levine family office, Justin Steinschriber… Israeli model and actress, she has appeared in many American movies, TV shows and advertisements, Bar Paly turns 43… Director of the office of government relations at the Smithsonian Institution, Anne Brachman… Commercial, industrial and residential real estate developer in the Mid-Atlantic region, Samuel A. Neuberger… Director of government affairs for Teach Coalition, Daniel Mitzner… Baseball pitcher for Team Israel at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Jonathan de Marte turns 32… Surfer, she represented Israel at the 2020 and 2024 Summer Olympics, Anat Lelior turns 25…
MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP via Getty Images
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, gestures during an interview at the patriarchate headquarters in the old city of Jerusalem on April 22, 2025.
Good Friday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we spotlight Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem who is a contender to be named the next pope, and report on the selection of Michael Anton to lead the U.S. delegation’s technical talks with Iran over its nuclear program. We also preview the American Jewish Committee’s annual Global Forum, which kicks off Sunday, and interview CEO Ted Deutch about the organization’s approach to the Trump administration’s efforts to address campus antisemitism. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Adam Neumann, Larry Summers and Ron Dermer.
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: She forgot Yom Hashoah – then created a movement that changed the way Israel remembers the Holocaust; From seminary to secretary: How Uri Monson balances Pennsylvania’s budget and keeps Shabbat; and The quirky new VC being guided by Jewish values. Print the latest edition here.
What We’re Watching
- Technical talks on Iran’s nuclear program are taking place in Oman this weekend. More below.
- Elsewhere in the region, CENTCOM head Gen. Erik Kurilla is in Israel for meetings with senior officials to discuss Iran.
- The White House Correspondent’s Dinner will take place tomorrow night at the Washington Hilton in Dupont Circle.
- President Donald Trump will attend the funeral of Pope Francis tomorrow in the Vatican.
- Former Rep. George Santos (R-NY) is facing at least two years in prison when he is sentenced today for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
- The American Jewish Committee’s Global Forum kicks off on Sunday in New York. More below.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MARC ROD
The American Jewish Committee’s annual Global Forum Conference kicks off this weekend in New York. AJC’s CEO Ted Deutch told Jewish Insider that the organization is expecting over 2,000 attendees.
“It’s been clear since Oct. 7 [and] in everything we’ve seen since, the challenges that the Jewish community in Israel are facing are global challenges and they require global responses,” Deutch said. “AJC has people in 40 places around the world — 25 offices in the U.S., 15 more around the world — this is the opportunity for all of that global advocacy, all of those global advocates, to come together.”
Headline speakers will include Paraguayan President Santiago Peña, who moved his country’s embassy to Jerusalem last year and yesterday designated Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization and expanded Paraguay’s terrorist designations of the armed wings of Hezbollah and Hamas to encompass the entirety of both organizations. In addition, outspoken pro-Israel members of the European and Brazilian legislatures, as well as Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) and Auburn University basketball coach Bruce Pearl, will address the gathering. John Spencer, the chair of urban warfare studies at West Point’s Modern War Institute, and former Council on Foreign Relations President Richard Haass will be speaking.
Deutch said there will be a significant focus on the hostages — Noa Argamani and the family of Edan Alexander will be in attendance.
The event will also feature a debate between Ellie Cohanim, the former deputy antisemitism envoy in the first Trump administration, and Bill Kristol, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dan Quayle, on American leadership in the world and the implications of Trump’s America First foreign policy.
While not yet confirmed, Deutch said that the Trump administration had “expressed great interest” in sending a representative to speak at the conference.
Deutch also teased the announcement of a new collaborative effort to “help document antisemitism and the need to really confront it in all of its contemporary forms.”
In total, attendees and speakers will hail from more than 60 countries, including a feature discussion with Jewish community members from France, Mexico and Australia. Students will come from 46 U.S. colleges and universities and 27 other countries including Mexico, South Africa, North Macedonia and Australia. Young leaders from 14 countries who are part of AJC’s Access Global program will also be in attendance.
Deutch told JI that seeing university students step up as leaders and work together to strengthen each other has become “one of my favorite parts of AJC.” He said that there will also be opportunities for AJC’s campus programs to work with the World Union of Jewish Students and the European Union of Jewish Students and meet with Deutch and other AJC leaders.
“We’ve continued to work under the firm belief that the most important battlefield in the fight against antisemitism in the United States right now is in education,” Deutch added. He said that the conference will feature conversations with officials and activists at all levels, with a focus on both college and high school.
Speaking to JI at AJC’s offices in Washington this week, Deutch also delved into the nuanced approach AJC is taking on the Trump administration’s high-profile actions on campus antisemitism, including stripping grants from colleges and large-scale deportations of student visa holders, as well as offering an outlook on the ongoing Iran talks. Read more below.
letter to the president
Jewish Senate Dems accuse Trump of weaponizing antisemitism to attack universities
A group of Jewish Senate Democrats accused President Donald Trump of weaponizing antisemitism as a pretext to withhold funding from and punish colleges and universities, moves they said in a letter on Thursday “undermine the work of combating antisemitism” and ultimately make Jewish students “less safe,” Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
What they’re saying: “We are extremely troubled and disturbed by your broad and extra-legal attacks against universities and higher education institutions as well as members of their communities, which seem to go far beyond combatting antisemitism, using what is a real crisis as a pretext to attack people and institutions who do not agree with you,” the lawmakers, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), antisemitism task force co-chair Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Brian Schatz (D-HI), wrote to the president.
TEAM LEAD
Administration taps State Department’s Michael Anton as technical lead for Iran talks
The Trump administration tapped the State Department’s director of policy planning, Michael Anton, to lead a team of technical experts in negotiations with the Iranian regime about its nuclear program, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. According to Politico, Anton will lead a team of around 12 mostly career officials in discussions set to begin this weekend.
Anton’s record: Anton is a conservative essayist and speechwriter who served in the first Trump administration as a deputy assistant to the president for strategic communications on the National Security Council. In a 2020 Fox News interview, Anton said that the original Iran deal was flawed in part because it provided significant up-front financial benefits to Iran before the provisions more favorable to the U.S. took effect, which Iran used to fuel terrorism. He said President Donald Trump was “right to object to that” and reimpose sanctions. He said that cutting off Iranian resources would de-escalate, rather than escalate conflict.
Read the full story here.
ted talk
AJC searches for a middle ground on Trump’s campus antisemitism moves, CEO Ted Deutch says
The Trump administration’s moves to cut billions in federal funding from colleges and universities and detain and deport foreign students have sparked fierce debate in the Jewish community in recent months, and opened fault lines among some who see the actions as necessary to fight antisemitism and others who argue that they’re an overreach. The American Jewish Committee is trying to take a more nuanced approach, the organization’s CEO Ted Deutch told Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod in an interview at AJC’s Washington office this week ahead of the group’s annual Global Forum conference, which starts this weekend.
Middle ground: Deutch emphasized that AJC is a “fiercely nonpartisan organization,” which means it must sometimes “hold competing thoughts” so that it can “speak with clarity about what we believe is in the best interests of the Jewish community” and represent “the vast middle of the Jewish community.” He added, “There are campuses [where] so many of the challenges should have been addressed by universities, and weren’t. We’ve been clear that it’s really important that the administration, that the president, is making this a priority. At the same time, as we’ve said, due process matters and obviously our democratic principles matter as well. We have to be able to both express appreciation and, when necessary, express concern.”
papal prospect
From Jerusalem to the Vatican: Cardinal Pizzaballa emerges as a contender for the papacy
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa left the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem’s Christian Quarter on Wednesday to head to the Vatican for his first-ever conclave to select the next pope. He departed as the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, but some have speculated that he could have a new title — pope — in the coming weeks, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports. Pizzaballa is widely viewed as one of the favorites to succeed Pope Francis, who died on Monday. The vast majority of popes have come from Italy, where Pizzaballa hails from, though he has lived in Israel for the past 35 years and is fluent in Hebrew. His knowledge of the Middle East, as well as his support for inter-religious dialogue, are viewed as advantages, while his age, 60, is seen as too young for a pope, according to Politico.
Background: Pizzaballa moved to Jerusalem in 1990, when he pursued a master’s degree in the Bible at Hebrew University while studying and teaching at the Franciscan Faculty of Biblical and Archaeological Sciences in Jerusalem. He later became responsible for the pastoral care of Hebrew-speaking Catholics and then was elected Custos of the Holy Land, a senior position in the church in Israel, Palestinian-controlled territories, Jordan, Syria, Cyprus, Rhodes and part of Egypt, from 2004-2016. Pope Francis appointed Pizzaballa to be the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem in 2020, and made him the first-ever cardinal based in Jerusalem in 2023. Pizzaballa said that the appointment of a cardinal in the city elevated the “voice of Jerusalem” within the Catholic Church.
survey says
Poll shows most Jewish voters anti-Trump, but more receptive to his handling of antisemitism
More than 7 in 10 American Jews disapprove of President Donald Trump’s job performance, a new poll found, but he is making some inroads with Jewish voters on his handling of antisemitism, compared to his first-term standing. The poll, administered by Democratic pollster Mark Mellman for the Jewish Electoral Institute (JEI) between April 15-18 and released on Wednesday, found that Trump’s overall approval rating among Jewish voters is at 24%, with 72% disapproving, Jewish Insider’s Danielle Cohen reports.
What this means: The results suggest there hasn’t been much of a shift since the election: Trump won 26% of the Jewish vote, according to Mellman’s post-election survey conducted last December. The poll also found large majorities of the 800 registered American Jewish voters who were surveyed opposing his policies on tariffs, cuts to the federal government and threats to law firms. “American Jewish voters are deeply distressed about the direction in which Donald Trump is taking the country and oppose many of his key policies. Indeed, a majority of Jewish voters disapprove of his job performance overall and disapprove of the way Trump is handling antisemitism,” Mellman said.
SCOOP
World Zionist Congress identifies thousands more suspect votes amid growing fraud probe — sources
The World Zionist Congress’ election committee has identified thousands more suspicious votes that were cast in the ongoing American election after rejecting nearly 2,000 votes that were deemed to have been fraudulent, multiple sources in Israel and the United States told eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross. The Area Election Committee, which oversees the election, has not identified the slates for whom the votes were cast.
Ramifications: Together with the original tossed votes — which represented more than 2% of the total votes at that point — these additional suspect ballots represent a significant percentage of the total votes cast, which will likely mean that there will be a delay in releasing the results of the election, which ends May 4, in order to conduct a thorough audit of ballots. The American Zionist Movement, which is running the election, did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Read the full story here and sign up for eJewishPhilanthropy’s Your Daily Phil newsletter here.
Worthy Reads
The Last Waltz: The Atlantic’s Isaac Stanley-Becker does a deep dive into the recent upheaval and series of dismissals at the National Security Council coupled with President Donald Trump’s growing “distrust” of National Security Advisor Mike Waltz. “The result is that Waltz remains on the job even as he has effectively lost control over his own NSC. The erosion of his authority extends to both policy and personnel. On the priorities that matter most to the president, Waltz has less influence than Stephen Miller, the homeland-security adviser and deputy White House chief of staff for policy, whose team is part of the NSC. Miller treats the advisory body not as a forum to weigh policy options, current and former officials told me, but as a platform to advance his own hard-line immigration agenda. On the most sensitive geopolitical issues, including Russia’s war in Ukraine and U.S. interests in the Middle East, Trump’s longtime friend and special envoy, Steve Witkoff, sometimes draws on the support of the NSC staff but often operates independently, officials said.” [TheAtlantic]
The Dermer Doctrine: The Washington Post’s Shira Rubin looks at Israeli Strategic Minister Ron Dermer’s role in working to facilitate a potential U.S.-Saudi-Israeli mega-deal. “Dermer, 54, is technically Israel’s minister of strategic affairs, but he is widely viewed as Israel’s unofficial foreign minister, and his rise has helped shape the country’s relationship with Washington, the Palestinians and the wider Arab world. … While the Saudis have pinned their hopes on Dermer — seeing him as Netanyahu’s ‘right hand man, who is extremely influential and effective,’ according to Bernard Haykel, a professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University — normalization is a harder sell than it’s been before, he said. The war in Gaza has made it more difficult for Saudi Arabia to pursue negotiations with Israel, as Saudi youth have increasingly taken up the Palestinian cause. And Netanyahu’s resistance to Palestinian statehood and the push by some members of his far-right government to resettle Gaza and expel its residents are a challenge to the kingdom’s ambitions to stabilize and modernize the region.” [WashPost]
Alternate Approach: In Foreign Policy, the Council on Foreign Relations’ Steven Cook argues against both military strikes and diplomacy to address Iran’s nuclear program. “Only once policymakers in Washington understand the Iranian sociopolitical order that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and his successor built does a superior policy become clear: doing more of what Washington has already been doing. Maintaining sanctions on Iran, preventing the regime and its proxies from destabilizing the region, and responding to them when they try, as well as providing moral support for the Iranian opposition, provide the United States with the best chance for the regime to collapse in on itself. Such an approach is not without risk, however, as Iranian scientists continue to work diligently to develop their nuclear program. But it is the most realistic and feasible policy toward rendering Tehran’s nuclear program less worrisome.” [ForeignPolicy]
Hitting Harvard: In The Hill, attorney Mark Goldfeder reflects on Harvard’s response to the Trump administration’s funding cuts and freezes, which it has blamed on the school’s handling of campus antisemitism. “The bottom line is this: We are living at an inflection point in our country’s history, and it is time for everyone to take a long, hard look in the mirror to see where they stand. If you are fine with protesters using their free speech to incite anti-Jewish hate, but not with the government using its free speech to stand up for the Jews; if you are okay with the IRS revoking tax breaks for racist institutions, but not for ones who ignore antisemitism; if you romanticize leaders of groups that endorse the murder of Jews, yet call it ‘unlawful’ when the government enforces civil rights; and if you care so much about ‘illegal’ detentions that you simply must get on a plane and act, but only when the person being held is not Jewish, well, there is a word for that, and it isn’t pretty.” [TheHill]
Word on the Street
The Department of Health and Human Services Task Force to Combat Antisemitism said it was “cautiously encouraged” by Yale’s efforts in recent days to swiftly address anti-Israel activity, including the brief establishment of an encampment on the campus…
Ed Martin, the Trump administration’s pick to be U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., who is currently serving in an interim role, apologized for his recent praise of a Nazi sympathizer with a history of making antisemitic comments…
Joe Kasper, who served as chief of staff to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, is departing the Pentagon entirely, days after reports that he would be reassigned out of Hegseth’s office…
The Financial Times spotlights Brian Ballard’s lobbying firm Ballard Partners, which previously employed several members of the Trump administration and includes clients in Israel, Turkey and Saudi Arabia…
Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff rejected a proposal from Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi to attempt to reach an interim nuclear agreement, saying that the parties should work to reach a comprehensive deal by the end of the 60-day window given by the Trump administration…
Puck’s William Cohan interviews former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, previously the president of Harvard, about the Trump administration’s approaches to tariffs and academia…
In Time, Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin called for the party’s senior officials to abstain from intervening in Democratic primaries, days after DNC Vice Chair David Hogg pledged to back insurgent candidates through an outside spending group…
Far-left New York state Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani, who is mounting a bid for mayor of New York City, released his first ad of the race, targeting front-runner and former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo…
Adam Neumann’s real estate startup Flow raised over $100 million in a Series B funding round with backing from Andreessen Horowitz…
The Washington Post reviews Richard Kreitner’s Fear No Pharaoh, which spotlights Jewish American views on abolition in the Civil War era…
The International Criminal Court’s appeals chamber unanimously ruled to return to a lower chamber an Israeli challenge to a ruling regarding jurisdiction in the issuance of arrest warrants of senior Israeli officials to a lower court…
Israel acknowledged its responsibility for the death of a Bulgarian aid worker who was killed in a strike last month on a U.N. guesthouse in Gaza where the IDF said it had “assessed enemy presence”…
Documentarian Andrea Nevins, whose short film “Still Kicking: The Fabulous Palm Springs Follies” was nominated for an Oscar in 1998, died at 63…
Author and researcher Leonard Zeskind, whose work focused on far-right and white nationalist movements, died at 75…
Attorney and art collector Arthur Fleischer Jr. died at 92…
Nechama Grossman, the oldest Holocaust survivor in Israel, died yesterday, on Holocaust Remembrance Day, at 110…
Pic of the Day
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met in Jerusalem on Thursday with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Reps. Ann Wagner (R-MO), Gregory Meeks (D-NY), Amata Coleman Radewagen (R-American Samoa), Madeleine Dean (D-PA), Marilyn Strickland (D-WA), Greg Landsman (D-OH) and Laura Friedman (D-CA).
Birthdays
Former chairman of the Conference of Presidents and previously president of Bed, Bath and Beyond, Arthur Stark turns 70…
FRIDAY: Retired attorney, Myron “Mike” Sponder… Social worker and former health spokesman of the Green Party of the U.K., he is the older brother of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Larry Sanders turns 90… Co-founder of Lender’s Bagel Bakery, he was the national chair of UJA, Marvin Lender turns 84… Founder of Omega Advisors, Leon G. “Lee” Cooperman turns 82… Former CEO of Caravan Products and the H.C. Brill Co., Joseph (Joe) Weber turns 80… Founder of CAM Capital, Bruce Stanley Kovner turns 79… Rosh yeshiva at Yeshiva University and rabbi of the Young Israel of Riverdale Synagogue, Rabbi Mordechai Willig turns 78… David Handleman… Longtime chairman and CEO of Village Roadshow Pictures, now president of Through The Lens Entertainment, Bruce Berman turns 73… Administrative law judge at the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board, Beth A. Fox… Commissioner of the National Basketball Association, Adam Silver turns 63… Senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, Michael Scott Doran turns 63… Litigator at Quinn Emanuel, he served as U.S. ambassador to the Czech Republic in the Obama administration and clerked for Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun, Andrew H. Schapiro turns 62… Emmy Award-winning actor, comedian and producer, he is descended from a Sephardic family rooted in Thessaloniki, Hank Azaria turns 61… Infomercial pitchman, better known as Vince Offer, Vince Shlomi, or “The ShamWow Guy,” Offer Shlomi turns 61… Israeli diplomat who served as deputy head of mission at the Embassy of Israel in D.C., Benjamin Krasna turns 60…
CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Rochester (NY) since 2016, Meredith Dragon… New York Times-bestselling author and adjunct professor of neuroscience at Stanford University, David Eagleman turns 54… Deputy director of community health at the Utah Department of Human Services, David E. Litvack turns 53… Manager of the Oakland Ballers baseball team in the Pioneer League until last July, Micah Franklin turns 53… Democratic Party strategist, she is a co-founder of Lift Our Voices, Julie Roginsky turns 52… President of the Alliance for Downtown New York, the nation’s largest business improvement district, Jessica S. Lappin turns 50… Senior-editor-at-large for Breitbart News, Joel Barry Pollak turns 48… Attorney turned grocer and now professor at American University, she founded and sold Glen’s Garden Market north of Dupont Circle, Danielle Brody Rosengarten Vogel… Co-founder of WeWork and now Flow, Adam Neumann turns 46… Executive director at Yaffed, Adina Mermelstein Konikoff… Managing director, head of social, content and influencer at Deloitte Digital, Kenneth R. Gold… Spokesperson and director of public affairs and planning division at FEMA during the Biden administration, now SVP at Avoq, Jaclyn Rothenberg… Film and television actress, model and singer, Sara Paxton turns 37… Staff writer at Daily Kos, Emily Cahn Singer… Former NHL ice hockey defenseman, now a color analyst for Westwood One and ESPN, Colby Shane Cohen turns 36… TikTok Star with 10 million social media followers and over 3 billion annual views, he runs the culinary website CookWithChefEitan, Eitan Bernath turns 23…
SATURDAY: Computer expert, author, lecturer, Jewish genealogy researcher and publisher of Avotaynu, the International Review of Jewish Genealogy, Gary Mokotoff turns 88… Retired Federation executive in Los Angeles, Oakland and Sacramento, Loren Basch… Investment banker and chairman and CEO of Lehman Brothers through its bankruptcy filing in 2008, Richard S. Fuld Jr. turns 79… Professor of computer science and engineering at MIT, Hal Abelson turns 78… Chair of the Conference of Presidents, Harriet P. Schleifer… President of Brandeis University from 2016 until last November, Ronald D. Liebowitz turns 68… Moscow-born journalist and political activist in Israel, Avigdor Eskin turns 65… Senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and contributing editor of The Atlantic, Jonathan Rauch turns 65… London-based interfaith social activist, she founded and chaired Mitzvah Day International, Laura Marks turns 65… Journalist, biographer and the author of six books, Jonathan Eig turns 61… Former member of the Maryland House of Delegates for four years and then the Maryland State Senate for eight years, Roger Manno turns 59… Former member of the California State Assembly where he served as chairman of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus, Marc Levine turns 51… Member of the NYC Council for six years and now a recently elected member of the NY State Assembly, Kalman Yeger turns 51… General partner of Coatue Management, Benjamin Schwerin… Senior staff editor of the international desk of The New York Times, Russell Goldman turns 45… Senior director of federal government affairs at Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Karas Pattison Gross… Media relations manager at NPR, Benjamin Fishel… London-based reporter for The Wall Street Journal covering finance, he is the co-author of a book on WeWork, Eliot Brown… Male fashion model and actor, Brett Novek turns 41… Head coach of the UC Irvine Anteaters baseball program, he played for Team Israel in the 2012 World Baseball Classic, Ben Orloff turns 38… Communications director at the University of Florida College of Health and Human Performance, Alisha Katz… Product strategy services at Apple, Kenneth Zauderer… Washington correspondent for The Epoch Times, Jackson C. Richman… Board liaison at American Jewish World Service, he is also a part-time matchmaker at Tribe 12, Ross Beroff… Ahron Singer…
SUNDAY: Financial executive, he retired in 2014 as head of marketing for money manager Van Eck Global, Harvey Hirsch turns 84… Nonprofit executive who has managed the 92nd Street Y, the Robin Hood Foundation, the AT&T Foundation and Lincoln Center, Reynold Levy turns 80… U.S. senator (R-WV), Jim Justice turns 74… Physician and a former NASA astronaut, she is a veteran of three shuttle flights with more than 686 hours in space, Ellen Louise Shulman Baker, M.D., M.P.H. turns 72… Director-general of the Israel Antiquities Authority until 2020, he was previously a member of Knesset and deputy director of the Shin Bet, Yisrael Hasson turns 70… VP at Covington Fabric & Design, Donald Rifkin… Biologist and professor of pathology and genetics at Stanford University School of Medicine, he won the 2006 Nobel Prize for medicine, Andrew Zachary Fire turns 66… Co-founder of Casamigos Tequila and owner of restaurants, bars and lounges worldwide, Rande Gerber turns 63… Former member of the Knesset for the Shinui party, Yigal Yasinov turns 59… CEO of ZAM Asset Management, Elliot Mayerhoff… Showrunner, director, screenwriter and producer, Brian Koppelman turns 59… Founder and CEO of NYC-based Gotham Ghostwriters, Daniel Gerstein turns 58… Israeli actor, entertainer and television host, Yitzhak “Aki” Avni turns 58… Attorney and journalist, Dahlia Lithwick… Author, political analyst and nationally syndicated op-ed columnist for The Washington Post, Dana Milbank turns 57… U.S. senator (D-NJ) since 2013, he was previously the mayor of Newark, Cory Booker turns 56… Israeli television and radio journalist and former member of the Knesset for the Jewish Home party, Yinon Magal turns 56… Professor of science writing at MIT, Seth Mnookin turns 53… Cinematographer and director, Rachel Morrison turns 47… Identical twin brothers, between the two of them they won 11 Israeli championships in the triathlon between 2001 and 2012, Dan and Ran Alterman both turn 45… Israeli screenwriter and producer, she has written numerous advertisements and screenplays, Savion Einstein turns 43… Deputy regional director for AIPAC, Leah Berry… Television and film actress, Ariel Geltman “Ari” Graynor turns 42… Basketball coach, analyst and writer, Benjamin Falk turns 37… Senior creative director at Trilogy Interactive, Jessica Ruby… Head of data and climate science at Watershed, Jonathan H. Glidden… Associate at Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel, David Jonathan Benger… Investor and entrepreneur, Noah Swartz… MD/MPH candidate in the 2025 class at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, newly matched to be a medical resident at UCLA, Amir Kashfi…
Legislation would require the State Department to annually report anti-normalization efforts in Arab states.
Mark C. Olsen
U.S. Sen. Cory Booker addresses family, friends, elected officials, and New Jersey National Guard leadership during the farewell ceremony for more than 180 New Jersey Army National Guard Soldiers from Alpha and Charlie Companies, 2nd Battalion, 113th Infantry Regiment, at the Prudential Center, Newark, N.J., Feb. 4, 2019.
In a bipartisan effort to ease decades of tensions between Israel and Arab states, Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Rob Portman (R-OH) introduced legislation on Thursday that would require the State Department to provide an accounting of countries that punish individuals for engaging with Israel.
The bill, “Strengthening Reporting of Actions Taken Against the Normalization of Relations with Israel Act of 2020” would require the State Department to include a status report on anti-normalization laws in countries covered by the department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs in its annual Report on Human Rights Practices. The requirement would run from 2021 to 2026.
(Read the full text of the bill, S.4482 – “Strengthening Reporting of Actions Taken Against the Normalization of Relations with Israel Act of 2020”.)
The legislation includes a provision stating that the Arab League “has maintained an official boycott of Israeli companies and Israeli-made goods since the founding of Israel in 1948.”
A number of Arab countries have laws punishing citizens for interacting with Israeli citizens and businesses. The Arab League first issued a formal boycott of Jewish businesses in 1945, three years prior to the formation of Israel. Afterwards, the League modified the ban to include secondary businesses affiliated or trading with Israel.
In a statement to Jewish Insider, Portman said, “I am proud to join Senator Booker on this bipartisan legislation which supports our ally Israel and the longstanding US policy that encourages Arab League states to normalize their relations with Israel.”
“Anti-normalization laws in the region continue to be a barrier toward communities, people, NGOs and business coming together. In my visits to the region, I’ve seen the deep and abiding friendships that exist, and they are essential to building a long term peace,” Portman continued. “This bill will discourage those Arab League states that continue to enforce anti-normalization laws and support efforts like those proposed by the Arab Council that encourage and defend community engagement amongst Arabs and Israelis.”
“Since my time in the Senate, I have consistently supported Arab-Israeli engagement,” Booker said in a statement. “The need for people-to-people engagement between these communities is not only a critical tool for diplomacy but also important for peace and economic prosperity in the region. Our bill will strengthen America’s commitment to pursuing peace by supporting and encouraging dialogue between Arab and Israeli citizens.”
The bill cites a number of organizations and groups working in support of normalizing relations.
The Arab Council for Regional Integration, one group praised in the bill, applauded Sens. Booker and Portman for sponsoring the legislation. “We are gratified that at a time of turmoil around the world, two prominent U.S. Senators have decided to stand with advocates of people-to-people engagement between Arabs and Israelis,” Arab Council co-founder Mostafa El-Dessouki told JI. “Civil society has always been the ‘missing piece’ in efforts to forge a just and lasting peace in our region. This bill will empower the many bridge-builders among us to move forward toward a ‘peace between peoples.’”
On Sunday, the leadership for the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organization released a statement praising Portman and Booker. “This bipartisan measure takes action against [anti-normalization] policies and promotes the process of further regional normalization with Israel, which is critical to achieving a genuine and lasting peace between the Jewish state and its Arab neighbors.”
Special Report: Behind the scenes of the deal between the ‘Great Satan’ and ‘Axis of Evil’ [Reuters]
Longer-Term Deal With Iran Faces Major Challenges: “The euphoria over the signing of a historic nuclear agreement with Iran gave way to sober reality Sunday as the parties clashed over a key element of the deal and congressional skeptics threatened to thwart it.” [WashingtonPost]
Obama called Netanyahu and the two spoke for close to a half hour: [US Embassy]
Israeli Officials Knew White House Was Holding Secret Talks With Iran: [BuzzFeed]
AP – Israel’s options limited: [Associated Press] (more…)
Newark Mayor Cory Booker is getting a lot of help from his Jewish friends lately – financial help that is. According to the Wall Street Journal, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg hosted Booker at his Upper East Side townhouse last night for a fundraiser with about 50 people attending that the Journal estimates brought in at least $130,000.
As the Journal points out, “this is not the first time Mr. Booker has traveled to New York to help fund his bid for the open U.S. Senate seat — and he will return before the Aug. 13 primary.”
On July 11, there was an evening fundraiser for “young professionals” on the rooftop of the Maritime Hotel in Chelsea hosted by two young Jewish women – Audrey Gelman — press secretary for Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer and an actress on the “Girls” television show — and Carolyn Tisch Sussman, the granddaughter of the former chairman of the New York Giants, according to the invitation.
Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump will host a fundraiser for Booker’s Senate bid next Wednesday, a campaign source familiar with the event told Politico. Tickets for the evening reception held by the daughter of Donald Trump and the owner of Kushner Properties begin at $5,200 and go up to $10,400, according to the invitation. Jared’s younger brother and venture capitalist, Josh Kushner, is a cohost. Jared and Ivanka had bundled $41,000 for Booker’s Senate campaign as of May.
In the New York/New Jersey area, the pro-Israel group NORPAC has already hosted 3 events for Booker in the past few months including events in Englewood hosted by Daniel and Joyce Straus, in Teaneck hosted by Drs. Mort and Esther Friedman, and at Woodcliff Lake hosted by Robert and Diane Rosenblatt
Booker has raised raised $6.5 million so far this year. Booker is running to fill the US Senate seat of the late Frank Lautenberg, who died on June 3rd.