The debate comes amid a yearslong campaign by the Trump administration to pressure universities to crack down on antisemitism — an effort that has included federal funding cuts affecting dozens of schools
Israel on Campus Coalition
From left: Jonathan Rauch, Noah Pollak and moderator Aviva Klompas at the Israel on Campus Coalition's National Leadership Summit on Monday, Aug. 3, 2026.
Add JewishInsider on GoogleA senior Trump administration official and a journalist clashed during a Monday debate over whether the White House’s crackdown on campus antisemitism protects or threatens America’s liberal norms.
The debate — sponsored by SAPIR and held at the Israel on Campus Coalition’s National Leadership Summit in Washington — featured Noah Pollak, a senior advisor at the Education Department, who argued that the controversial crackdown is good for the country, and Jonathan Rauch, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and contributing writer for The Atlantic, who made the counterargument.
Some of the college students in attendance shifted their views on whether the Trump administration’s crackdown is good for America. Voting was conducted through scanning a QR code. At the start, 69% of students agreed the crackdowns were good for America and 31% disagreed; by the end, 57% of participating students said the crackdowns were good, while 43% said they were not.
After the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks in Israel, “university leaders chose not to enforce the rules for one group of people,” said Pollak. “As long as it was leftists and pro-Palestine people [leading protests], it was considered fine. I don’t want any special treatment for Jews or anyone … The problem is we have had a fundamental breach on the part of a lot of universities with the basic bargain that should govern how a university functions in the United States.”
“The situation was very dire so we felt our response had to be strong. The leadership of those schools have shown over and over again unwillingness to govern the institution they led,” said Pollak. “Those institutions are very intertwined with the federal government.”
The debate comes amid a yearslong campaign by the Trump administration to pressure universities to crack down on antisemitism — an effort that has included federal funding cuts affecting dozens of schools. Most of the Ivy League schools targeted by the government, including Columbia University, entered settlement negotiations with the administration last year, issuing reforms and paying millions of dollars to the government.
Federal judges have ruled that parts of the administration’s actions, including funding freezes, violated the First Amendment and federal law. However, schools have experienced much quieter semesters since the oversight began, though some attribute the calmer climate to fatigue from protesters and the Israel-Hamas war ending.
“Noah and I agree on the use of legitimate legal process by this or any administration to ensure that everyone’s civil rights are protected,” said Rauch. “Where we disagree is that the line has got to be due process. They must not go beyond that. It’s bad for Jews because we of all people know the importance of law. Second, it’s bad for America because a lawless country is first and foremost bad for Jews, but bad for everyone. Finally, I’m going to argue we Jews need to be very careful about running to the government for help, because it shows weakness … the government can never protect us from antisemitism, we must protect ourselves.”
Rauch argued that the Trump administration had crossed a line from oversight into overreach, and that while campus antisemitism is real, it has been overblown.
“It is dangerous to give this administration, or any administration, the leeway to decide that private sector institutions, like businesses, law firms and universities, are ‘out of control,’” he said. He asserted that universities, especially elite ones, have work to do to improve viewpoint diversity and get rid of “oppressive” diversity, equity and inclusion rules. But claims made by the government to describe the overall state of campuses are “a wild exaggeration,” he said.
“A lot of places are real problems, we found that out on Oct. 8. [But] most academics in most departments are still trying to do good research and it is still the case that America’s university system is the crown jewel of research in the entire world… it is advancing science at a rate that has never been seen before, and the federal government should not be used as a cajole to shut that down,” said Rauch.
“We have work to do but that work should be limited to working within the rule of law,” he continued. That includes allowing speech such as “globalize the intifada,” depending on the context, he added.
Pollak argued that the government did not overreach because if it had, there would be more significant changes on campuses following settlements.
“Other than the absence of tent encampments, most of these campuses are largely unchanged. Columbia remains largely undedicated to any substantive reforms. Their Middle East studies department is chock-full of Hamas supporters just like it was three or four years ago,” he said. “If it was true we were these big bullies dropping sledgehammers on these campuses, you would see big changes on these campuses.
Pollak lauded some “good policy reforms that will take time,” but he dismissed the notion “that we’ve set off nuclear bombs on campuses, campuses look just like they did several years ago.”
Pollak also asserted that the solution to campus antisemitism is “not speech regulation” in most cases, but “the restoration of basic liberal norms.”
“That is a bigger reform challenge that the schools themselves have to take when they consider hiring and admissions,” said Pollak. “One of the big problems with the protest climate on campus after Oct. 7 was the type of students that universities have [admitted]… far-left political activists so you had this disproportionate presence of those students.”
Addressing Harvard, the only school that chose to litigate the cuts instead of negotiating — and remains in litigation — “all Harvard needed to do to not have those grants threatened was bring itself in compliance with civil rights law,” said Pollak.
“Maintaining Harvard’s ability to continue to engage in racial discrimination, to continue allowing its radical faculty and students to harass Jews on campus, was so important to Harvard that they were willing to risk funding for cancer research in order to allow that stuff to continue. I was shocked at this,” he said.
Even after many elite universities agreed to the administration’s reforms and paid settlements, some Jewish students say that while protests have dissipated, a quieter pressure remains on campus — a lingering sense of exclusion.
The debate concluded asking what universities can do to address this.
Rauch said it’s up to student activists, including the ones in the room, to make the difference. “You guys are doing the work. The work of changing hearts and minds is the work of Jews on campus being visible, kind and outspoken. By forcing yourselves to be heard and telling our story of the Jewish people and what we stand for, you are the ones who can solve the problem.” Other than enforcing safety, he said universities can’t make the change.
Pollak said that while he appreciates that sentiment, he has a “darker view of what is going on on campuses.”
While the severity of campus antisemitism has eased — something Pollak attributes to the Trump administration — “the problem is that the system is basically rigged,” he said.
“As part of these negotiations with schools you have the opportunity to really go deep on the professors who are in different departments and administrators. The schools have made a choice. [Leaders] make a decision everyday about what kind of campus their school is going to look like, and they defer to radical faculty.”
“Where we are right now,” continued Pollak, “is at the culmination of decades of all of those small decisions, which have turned many of our campuses, especially the elite ones, into political monocultures that are incredibly radical.”
“That’s the true source of antisemitism on campus, you have intentional choices by schools to make political environments that are radical… students hear over and over again that Israel is evil, that Zionism is racist. Until the schools undergo serious reform in how they operate, the kind of people they hire, the kind of classes they teach, the kind of departments they have, this problem is not going to get better.”
Stevens highlighted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s criticisms of her earlier on Tuesday amid attacks by primary rival Abdul El-Sayed over AIPAC support
Andrew Roth/Sipa USA
Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) speaks at the Michigan Democratic Party Endorsement Convention in Detroit, Mich., on April 19, 2026.
Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) continued a war of words with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as she faced a barrage of attacks from her primary opponent, former public health official Abdul El-Sayed, at a debate on Tuesday in Michigan.
Netanyahu, in a CNN interview earlier on Tuesday, criticized Stevens for saying that his actions and government had made the Jewish community less safe and placed Jews in an “uncomfortable position.”
“It’s made her uncomfortable because she can’t stand up for the truth. She’s trying to, probably, excuse antisemitism,” Netanyahu said in response to a question from CNN host Dana Bash.
Asked about the war in Iran, Stevens criticized both President Donald Trump and Netanyahu.
“We need long-term peace. Donald Trump has failed us. The prime minister of Israel has failed in that regard, and he was just coming after me on this today,” Stevens said. “Look, I am unafraid. Michigan, you are my North Star, and no illegal wars, no unilateral wars at our expense.”
She doubled down on those criticisms later in the debate.
“It is very clear that Mr. Netanyahu has not made us safer, has not brought us closer to peace, and he’s endangered Jews here in America and around the world,” Stevens said. “This is why he was just trashing me today on CNN. I am not afraid of bullies. I am not afraid to stand up, and I continue to stand up for humanitarian aid, for the U.S. to work with the countries in the region and get aid into Gaza.”
She also highlighted her work with the families of Israeli hostages formerly held in Gaza.
Stevens accused El-Sayed of opposing a two-state solution, alluding to his repeated refusal to say directly whether he believes Israel has a right to exist.
“The difference between my opponent and myself on this issue is that I believe in a two-state solution,” Stevens said. “I can say that Israel has a right to peacefully exist alongside the people of Palestine and in Gaza.”
El-Sayed argued that Netanyahu and AIPAC’s support for U.S. politicians are the primary reasons the U.S. entered the war, and emphasized that an AIPAC-linked super PAC has been attacking him and supporting Stevens.
“So long as our politicians continue to be bought off by AIPAC, do not be surprised when we fight wars that are in their best interest to … annex Lebanon or to do genocide in Gaza,” he continued.
He also argued that U.S. support for Israel, which he described as a “rogue state,” has foreclosed the possibility of a two-state solution, calling for an end to U.S. aid to Israel and “blank checks” to other Middle Eastern countries including Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
In response to repeated attacks over her support from AIPAC, Stevens pivoted to discussing other issues including her record in Michigan, GOP support for El-Sayed’s campaign and El-Sayed’s failure to release his tax returns, among other issues.
Responding to multiple questions from viewers and the debate moderator about the leftward shift of the Democratic Party, both candidates largely sidestepped the issue, though El-Sayed suggested he’s supportive of a shift in the party.
“I’ll tell you this: it won’t shift if we continue to elect leaders who take money from the same corporations who have broken with the interests of the American public,” El-Sayed said. “[Senate Minority Leader] Chuck Schumer (D-NY) desperately wants one of us to be the next senator, and it’s not me. So, if you want your politics dictated by AIPAC or Chuck Schumer, then I’m not your guy.”
Stevens, meanwhile, emphasized her record in office as a “workhorse” for the state. “This has always been about Michigan,” she said, when asked whether the race was a battle over the future direction of the Democratic Party.
El-Sayed ultimately offered a similar answer, saying, “I’m not doing this because of some direction of a party. I’m doing this because of the Michiganders that I’ve gotten to see.”
Plus, primary day in Washington, D.C.
Aaron Schwartz/Sipa/Bloomberg via Getty Images
President Donald Trump speaks during a maternal healthcare event in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Monday, May 11, 2026.
Good Tuesday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we look at how legislators and Jewish groups are responding to details surrounding the memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran, and cover last night’s NY-10 debate between Rep. Dan Goldman and Brad Lander, where Israel and AIPAC again took center stage. We report on the influx of suspected GOP spending in the NY-17 Democratic primary as Cait Conley and Beth Davidson jockey for the chance to challenge Rep. Mike Lawler, and spotlight a new Meta initiative, announced by Ivanka Trump, to supply AI glasses to visually impaired veterans. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Eric Goldstein, Boris Epshteyn and Joel Scanlon.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by JI Executive Editor Melissa Weiss and Israel Editor Tamara Zieve, with an assist from Marc Rod. Have a tip? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
- Members of the G7, including President Donald Trump, are in Évian-les-Bains, France, for a multiday summit. Trump is scheduled to meet today with United Arab Emirates President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and met earlier today with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on the sidelines of the summit.
- Speaking to media alongside the Qatari emir after their meeting, Trump said about the war with Iran, “Working with Qatar and the people of Qatar was really a pleasure — they were tough, they were strong, they are closest to Iran physically so … you were in a more dangerous position but I do have to say you fought and you helped us and with great bravery so I just want to compliment you on that and you will always be my friend.” Trump also noted that Qatar would be investing “much more than a trillion dollars” in the U.S.
- Vice President JD Vance, whose newest book, Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith, comes out today, is slated to be interviewed this afternoon by Megyn Kelly.
- Vance’s appearance on “The Megyn Kelly Show” comes amid growing calls from Capitol Hill and beyond for the U.S. to make public the text of the memorandum of understanding with Iran, after Vance and Trump gave conflicting timelines for its release — and as Iranian-affiliated media outlets publish details they claim are part of the agreement. Trump said yesterday in Paris that the text would be released after a signing ceremony on Friday in Switzerland, while a senior U.S. official told journalists on Monday that the text would be released within 24-48 hours.
- Voters in Washington, D.C., head to the polls today to cast ballots in the city’s mayoral primary, where D.C. Councilmember Janeese Lewis George, who repeatedly clashed with the city’s Jewish community over her ties to the Democratic Socialists of America and comments about Israel, faces former D.C. Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie. More below.
- In Georgia, Republicans will vote today in the runoff to select the party’s candidate to challenge Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) in November. The race will pit Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA), who is endorsed by Trump and has faced a series of controversies related to antisemitism and conspiracy theorists while in office, against Derek Dooley, the favored candidate of the state’s GOP governor, Brian Kemp. Read more about the race here.
- The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence is holding a closed briefing this afternoon.
- The Sami Rohr Jewish Literary Institute will announce the winner of the annual Sami Rohr Prize today. This year’s finalists are Laura Hobson Faure, Shaul Kelner, Jordan Salama and Amir Tibon.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S GABBY DEUTCH
Today’s mayoral primary in Washington, D.C., has not gotten the same kind of frenzied national attention that accompanied recent mayoral contests in New York City, which pitted Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist, against a centrist Democrat, and in Los Angeles, where Republican Spencer Pratt made an insurgent bid against Mayor Karen Bass and Nithya Raman, a Democrat Socialists of America-affiliated councilmember.
Still, there are dynamics with some similarities to the race in Washington, where DSA member Janeese Lewis George, a District councilmember, faces Kenyan McDuffie, a former councilmember running a more moderate campaign. And, like in New York, divisions over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have surfaced in a way that would once have been unexpected in a municipal election, at least before the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks in Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza.
Early this year, Lewis George sparked concern among some Jewish Washingtonians when she said in a DSA questionnaire that she would not attend events that “promot[e] Zionism” and that she would avoid engaging with “the Israeli government or Zionist lobby groups.”
She has since done a degree of damage control — meeting privately with rabbis and pledging at a Jewish candidate forum last month not to exclude people “based on your opinions or feelings on matters here and across the world,” even as she avoided answering a question asking her to clarify her views on Zionism. In March, she said it is not a conflict to support “Palestinian human rights” and to “stand firm in my commitment against antisemitism.”
McDuffie saw an opening with the DSA endorsement kerfuffle, particularly when talking to Jewish voters, a constituency he has sought to engage. He told Jewish Insider in April that he would not seek the endorsement of DSA or any organization “that requires some sort of divisive pledge to exclude people that are a part of the fabric of the community.” And he has opted not to weigh in on questions about Israel at all, saying it is not the role of a mayor to conduct foreign policy.
But zoom out, and the candidates’ approaches to Israel and Jewish communal issues were not front and center in the closing days of this race. The campaign has otherwise zeroed in on cost-of-living concerns and a dispute over who will better be able to counter President Donald Trump.
SCOOP
Trump administration officials tout Iran deal, say ‘hardliners’ are spreading misinformation
Top Trump administration officials shared new details on Monday about the memorandum of understanding reached by the U.S. and Iran over the weekend, arguing that the new agreement is substantially better than the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and could pave the way for a new relationship between Washington and Tehran, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports.
VP remarks: During an interview with CNBC, Vice President JD Vance said, “What this agreement does is say to the Iranians that ‘You don’t have access to the money to rebuild that nuclear program, but if you’re willing to give up that program long-term, if you’re willing to accept the inspections and verification regime that’s necessary to give us the confidence you’re never going to have a nuclear weapon, then we want you to be a prosperous country, and we will re-invite you into the community of nations.’”
Congressional review: Several Republican senators said that the administration does not need to submit the recently signed 60-day memorandum of understanding with Iran to Congress for review and a potential vote under the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act, potentially sidestepping the first major opportunity for Congress to weigh in on the agreement, JI’s Marc Rod and Emily Jacobs report.
WAIT AND SEE
Top Senate Republicans say they don’t know details of the U.S. deal with Iran
With scant details provided by the Trump administration about the contours of the peace deal with Iran, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said on Monday afternoon that he doesn’t yet know enough about the administration’s deal with Iran to determine whether it is a good deal that will prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Leadership lowdown: “I don’t know enough about it to say,” Thune told reporters. “I think the issues are going to be compliance, and how you can enforce that, and what are the financial incentives that the Iranians have from our country, and what are they conditioned upon.” Thune also indicated that he believes the deal should be submitted to Congress for review under the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act. Thune said that “somebody” from the administration, whether that be Vice President JD Vance or other officials, “will need to” come to the Hill to brief members.
Deal divide: Some mainstream Jewish organizations are treating the deal as a preliminary step — focusing on the 60-day negotiating period ahead, while others are expressing skepticism about the contours of the agreement.
PRIMARY PLAY
Conley faces wave of suspected GOP spending in final days of NY-17 primary race
With the Democratic primary in New York’s 17th Congressional District coming down to a two-person race between veteran and former national security official Cait Conley and Rockland County Legislator Beth Davidson, an alleged Republican-linked group is spending big in an effort to block Conley from the nomination, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Last-minute money: A shadowy group that has been tenuously linked to GOP operatives recently announced plans to spend at least $1.5 million in the race against Conley, running ads echoing Davidson’s own messaging against Conley. The campaign suggests Republicans see Conley as the more competitive general election candidate.
DEBATE NIGHT
Goldman criticizes AIPAC despite endorsement in debate with Lander
Israel again took center stage on Monday night in a debate between former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander and Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) — with the incumbent congressman trying to prove his progressive bona fides by criticizing AIPAC, despite the group’s support for his campaigns, Jewish Insider’s Will Bredderman reports.
Israel and AIPAC: Both candidates, each a self-identified “progressive Zionist,” inveighed in the televised face-off on PIX11 against Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza, although Goldman declined to join Lander in calling the military actions a “genocide.” But the embattled Goldman, trailing in all available polls in the NY-10 race, also criticized AIPAC, despite acknowledging he has received the group’s endorsement.
EYE ON THE PRIZE
Ivanka Trump unveils Meta initiative to distribute AI glasses to visually impaired veterans
Ivanka Trump on Friday announced a collaboration between Meta and the Blinded Veterans Association that aims to donate Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses to all legally blind American veterans, which the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs estimates number roughly 130,000. The event was co-hosted by Meta and UFC, Jewish Insider’s Christina Sher reports.
Launch event: Speaking at a Freedom 250 reception at Ned’s Club Washington, Trump said Meta will “give every blind veteran in America a free pair of glasses as just a small way to say thank you for your service.” The initiative was spearheaded by Trump alongside Meta President Dina Powell McCormick, who served as deputy national security advisor for strategy in the first Trump administration. Also speaking at the reception, Powell McCormick said that Meta believes “superintelligence is going to help people find their purpose in life.”
Worthy Reads
Islamist Wave Crashing: The New York Times’ Ben Hubbard does a deep dive into the history of political Islam amid questions over whether the movement is in decline. “The map of the Middle East is dotted with examples of idealistic Islamist visions that failed to manifest into real-world successes. Their proponents may have marshaled popular support, for a time. They may have held the levers of power. They may have governed, or tried, in line with their views of Islamic law. But today, in most cases, they did not last. … Iran’s current travails have intensified discussion among experts about whether political Islam has crested and what that means for the Middle East and the broader Muslim world.” [NYTimes]
Trump’s Blind Spot: The Wall Street Journal’s Walter Russell Mead considers how President Donald Trump has miscalculated in his approach to Iran. “Mr. Trump’s disregard for ideas, ideals and people who claim to believe in them leads him to underestimate the strength and determination of people who mean what they say. … However perverse and depraved the ideas that animate the Islamic Republic and Hezbollah, they inspire the kind of conviction that motivates people to fight grimly on against the odds. In the end, Mr. Trump underestimated Iran’s determination and resilience and launched a war that is proving much costlier and harder to end than he’d expected.” [WSJ]
Word on the Street
Axios reports that CIA Director John Ratcliffe warned President Donald Trump and other senior administration officials in the lead-up to the announcement of an MOU with Iran that U.S. intelligence indicated that Tehran was unlikely to make Washington’s desired nuclear concessions; Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly raised concerns about the agreement, while Vice President JD Vance, White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner backed the deal…
The Wall Street Journal reports that Boris Epshteyn, Trump’s personal attorney, joined the legal team of Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, who in 2024 was facing accusations of fraud by the Justice Department…
Axios spotlights the outsized role that Epshteyn plays in the White House, noting that Trump jokingly calls the lawyer “my psychiatrist” because of how often they speak…
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) is backing Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan over Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN) in the state’s open Senate race; Klobuchar said that though she was “friends with both,” she was backing Flanagan because the two appear together on the state’ Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party ticket…
The Washington Post quietly removed two recently republished op-eds authored by a former Daily Caller staffer who had published racist and antisemitic writings under a pseudonym on a white supremacist website…
The New York Times is reviewing pieces by Nicholas Kristof, after Semafor discovered that on at least a dozen occasions, the columnist had quoted and reported on individuals who had contributed to his 2021 Oregon gubernatorial campaign without disclosing the relationship…
Former George W. Bush administration official Joel Scanlon was announced on Monday as the new president and CEO of the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports…
The Hollywood Reporter spotlights Los Angeles chef Eric Greenspan’s new restaurant Mish, which gives an updated take on classic Jewish deli fare…
A U.K. appeals court ruled that the government’s banning of the Palestine Action was lawful, calling London’s proscription of the activist group “justified and proportionate”…
Qatar plans to scale up its production of liquified natural gas after the Strait of Hormuz reopens, with a goal of restoring some 80% of its export capacity within two months; the moves comes after the Gulf nation’s Ras Laffan facility was damaged in an Iranian missile attack early in the war…
El Al inked a deal with Elon Musk’s Starlink to provide free high-speed internet to passengers traveling with the airline, beginning in 2027…
Far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir canceled a planned family trip to the U.S. amid challenges in obtaining a visa; Ben-Gvir, who has a history of criminal convictions in Israeli courts that could render him ineligible for a common ESTA visa, chose to forgo the trip after he was summoned to the U.S. Embassy to be fingerprinted…
Israel’s Defense Ministry accused organizers of the Eurosatory defense show in Paris of building walls around the booths of some Israeli defense technology firms, claiming that the companies had abided by a request from organizers to only display defensive weapons systems…
Pic of the Day
Pope Leo XIV met on Monday with a delegation from UJA-Federation of New York at the Vatican. Outgoing UJA CEO Eric Goldstein presented the pontiff with a menorah with an inscription expressing hope that the pope’s leadership “shine a bright light on unity, peace, tolerance, and human dignity for all.”
Birthdays
Singer-songwriter, Benjamin Lev Kweller turns 45…
Professor of theoretical physics at Stanford University, Leonard Susskind turns 86… Brigadier-general (ret.) in the IDF, then a member of Knesset, then chairman of Ha’aguda Lema’an Hachayal, a nonprofit IDF veterans group, Avigdor Kahalani turns 82… Former dean of Yeshiva College, U.S. ambassador to Egypt for President Bill Clinton, and U.S. ambassador to Israel for President George W Bush, Daniel C. Kurtzer turns 77… Professor at Nanjing University and China’s leading professor of Jewish studies, Xu Xin turns 77… Rickey Wolosky Palkovitz turns 77… Investigative reporter who worked for Newsweek, NBC News and then Yahoo News, Michael Isikoff turns 74… Principal executive at Kohn & Associates and chairman of the board of directors at ARMR Sciences Inc., he was the volunteer varsity and junior varsity boys and girls basketball coach at Farber Hebrew Day School in Southfield, Mich., for more than three decades, Kenneth I. Kohn turns 73… UC Berkeley professor, Alison Gopnik turns 71… Professor of Jewish studies at the University of Freiburg (Germany), Gabrielle Oberhänsli-Widmer turns 69… Distinguished fellow in Jewish studies at Dartmouth College and visiting professor of modern Jewish studies at Harvard Divinity School, Shaul Magid turns 68… Southern California resident, Roberta Trachten-Zeve… Senior project executive at Kansas-based Stuart & Associates Commercial Flooring, Matthew Rafael Elyachar… Pulitzer Prize-winning business reporter and bestselling author, he is a past president of Washington Hebrew Congregation, David A. Vise turns 66… Former chair of the Broward County, Fla., JCRC, he is the co-founder of The Alliance of Blacks & Jews, Keith Wasserstrom… Actor, screenwriter, producer and director, Daniel Zelman turns 59… Senior correspondent for military and intelligence affairs for Yedioth Ahronoth, Ronen Bergman, Ph.D., turns 54… Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit, Julie Rikelman turns 54… CEO and founder of NYC-based Marathon Strategies, Philip Keith (“Phil”) Singer… Israeli photographer, digital artist and artificial intelligence researcher, Dina Bova turns 49… Geographer and writer, Joshua Jelly-Schapiro turns 47… Comedian, actor and YouTuber with almost 100 million views, Adam Ray turns 44… Senior portfolio manager on the Jewish life and Israel grantmaking team at One8 Foundation, Alyssa Bogdanow Arens… Pitcher for Team Israel in the 2023 and 2026 World Baseball Classic tournaments, he has been a free agent since November 2025, Zachary D. “Zack” Weiss turns 34… Head video producer at Ocean One Media, Perry Chencin… Former catcher on Israel’s National Baseball Team at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, now a senior consultant for EY, Tal Erel turns 30… Israeli artistic gymnast who won a gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and a silver medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Artem Dolgopyat turns 29…
The trailing Democratic incumbent said the pro-Israel group is ‘harmful in many ways’ despite receiving its backing, while Lander defended appearing in an ad with Mamdani allies
Screenshot
New York City Comptroller Brad Lander debates Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), June 15, 2026
Israel again took center stage on Monday night in a debate between former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander and Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) — with the incumbent congressman trying to prove his progressive bona fides by criticizing AIPAC, despite the group’s support for his campaigns.
Both candidates, each a self-identified “progressive Zionist,” inveighed in the televised face-off on PIX11 against Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza, although Goldman declined to join Lander in calling the military actions a “genocide.” But the embattled Goldman, trailing in all available polls, also criticized AIPAC, despite acknowledging he has received the group’s endorsement.
“Brad and I agree on a lot of this: I do not think that AIPAC should unconditionally support the Israeli government, and I’ve made that very clear to them,” he said in answer to questions about the group. “I do think that AIPAC has some real problems and is harmful in many ways.”
Goldman said repeatedly that he has also received the backing of J Street, a left-leaning Zionist group often critical of Israel, and asserted that this proved he approached the issue “independently.”
Meanwhile, Lander — who has shifted left on Israel since receiving the endorsement of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani — continued to face questions about his decision to appear in an ad with another of the democratic socialist mayor’s favored candidates: former Columbia encampment organizer Darializa Avila Chevalier, a socialist challenger to Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY). Avila Chevalier has come under fire for attending an anti-Israel rally one day after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, an event denounced by both Lander and Mamdani, and for spreading Kremlin talking points and COVID-19 disinformation online.
Lander continued to insist that the ad, which characterized Mamdani and his slate of candidates as a “team,” did not constitute an endorsement. Goldman, for his part, called Espaillat a “mentor” and voiced support for his reelection.
AIPAC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Early voting in New York’s primaries began last week; the primary date is June 23.
Plus, Hezbollah drone dread
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks at a "Rental Ripoff" hearing at Fordham University in the Bronx borough of New York on March 11, 2026, in New York City.
Good Tuesday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we cover last night’s debate between Rep. Dan Goldman and Brad Lander, as the two sparred over Israel, and report on New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s backing of a congressional candidate with a history of posting extremist sentiments online, including promoting a post questioning Israel’s existence. We explore the challenges posed to Israel’s security by Hezbollah’s new drones, and look at how Rep. Ro Khanna’s leftward shift on Israel has divided Jewish residents of his Silicon Valley district. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Gov. Janet Mills, Marc Rowan and Barry Diller.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by JI Executive Editor Melissa Weiss and Israel Editor Tamara Zieve, with assists from Danielle Cohen-Kanik and Marc Rod. Have a tip? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
- It’s primary day in California, Iowa, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota. We’ll be closely following the results as polls close this evening, with an eye toward the results of the Los Angeles mayoral and controller elections, as well as the NJ-12 Democratic primary, where Adam Hamawy, who is under scrutiny for his past ties to Islamist extremists, is the front-runner in the race to succeed retiring Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ).
- The American Jewish Committee’s Global Forum concludes today. Speakers at the closing plenary include the Justice Department’s Harmeet Dhillon, Sens. John Fetterman (D-PA) and Dave McCormick (R-PA), and Reps. Mike Lawler (R-NY) and Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ).
- Secretary of State Marco Rubio is slated to testify this morning before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the State Department’s budget. This afternoon, Rubio will appear before the House Appropriations Committee for a separate hearing on the department’s budget. Following Rubio, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche will appear before the House committee for a hearing on the Justice Department’s upcoming budget.
- Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin is set to testify before the Senate Appropriations Committee this afternoon on his department’s budget for the upcoming year.
- The Senate Intelligence Committee is holding a closed-door intel briefing today.
- Roman Gofman begins his tenure today as head of the Mossad, after Israel’s High Court rejected two petitions challenging his appointment. He was sworn in earlier today at a command-change ceremony at the Mossad headquarters that was attended by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli President Isaac Herzog.
- The Israel Democracy Institute’s Eli Hurvitz Conference on Economy and Society kicked off earlier today in Jerusalem. Speakers include former Prime Ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid, as well as MKs Avigdor Liberman, Benny Gantz and Mansour Abbas. Read more here.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MATTHEW KASSEL
As the 2028 presidential campaign season nears, a handful of prospective candidates from the Democratic Party’s left flank are raising their profiles with efforts to shape a more critical approach to U.S. policy toward Israel.
Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Chris Murphy (D-CT), as well as Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), all of whom are seen as potential presidential prospects, have been among the party’s most prominent critics of Israel on Capitol Hill amid a marked decline in Democratic support for the Jewish state.
Recent moves suggest they are each testing voter appetite for a possible White House campaign. Even as they are not considered top-tier contenders in what is likely to be a crowded primary field, history has shown they could be positioning themselves for a Cabinet role — particularly if they prove successful in driving the national conversation on the debate stage and other forums.
Murphy, for instance, released a book last month, Crisis of the Common Good: The Fight for Meaning and Connection in a Broken America, of the sort that typically presages a bid for higher office. The senator has otherwise continued to promote what he terms a “forward-looking foreign policy,” which has included an increasingly antagonistic assessment of Israel and its relationship with the United States.
Van Hollen, meanwhile, published a deeply disputed op-ed in The New York Times last week that argued for wholly jettisoning the Democratic Party’s “unconditional support to Israeli governments” that, he warned, has “increasingly undermined American interests and values.”
candidate concerns
Mamdani-backed House candidate has inflammatory past and extremist reading list
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s favored candidate to topple Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) has a history of extremist sentiments — with commentary assailing Israel, interracial relationships, “white liberals” and the U.S. flag and military, Jewish Insider’s Will Bredderman reports.
Problematic posts: Inflammatory posts by Darializa Avila Chevalier, which have received coverage in the New York Post, Politico and AM New York, include: lambasting Black and Arab men for “fetishizing ugly colonizer women,” boasting of wiping her hand on the American flag, attacking former President Joe Biden as a “rapist,” declaring “f*** [Vice President] Kamala Harris,” demanding “No more police at all ever,” asserting Mayor Bill de Blasio “hates Black people” and is “a piece of shit” and calling American military veterans “child murderers” guilty of “war crimes.” She also shared a post stating that “Israel doesn’t exist.”
Bonus: American Priorities PAC plans to spend $2 million to boost three left-wing candidates backed by Mamdani. In addition to Avila Chevalier, the super PAC plans to run ads backing congressional candidates Brad Lander and Claire Valdez.
DEBATE WATCH
Lander and Goldman spar over Israel in televised showdown
Israel was on the menu — in more ways than one — in former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander’s televised clash with Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) Monday night as Lander seeks to oust the incumbent congressman in this month’s Democratic primary. The Jewish state was the centerpiece over which the two congressional contenders clashed for much of the hour-long debate on Spectrum News NY1, Jewish Insider’s Will Bredderman reports.
Fiery feud: Lander criticized Goldman’s support for former President Joe Biden’s policy toward the conflict in Gaza, touted his own pledge to deny further military aid to Israel and voiced sympathy for the successful push to ban Israeli products from the Park Slope Food Coop, though the self-described progressive Zionist maintained he still opposed the effort. So intensely did the two chew over the issue that Goldman at one point burst out, “Israel is not the most important issue in this district!” But when asked for the best place in the Brooklyn-Manhattan district to break bread, Lander returned to the Holy Land once more: or rather, to its cuisine. “I love Masalawala on Fifth Avenue, I love Miriam — I’ll go with those two,” the candidate answered.
HARD RO TO HOE
Khanna’s hostile turn toward Israel divides Silicon Valley Jews
Rep. Ro Khanna’s (D-CA) emergence as a leading Democratic Party critic of Israel — while affiliating with and embracing individuals and groups that have been accused of antisemitism and support for terrorism — is creating divisions within the local Jewish community in his Silicon Valley-area district, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
State of play: While Khanna maintains unified support from Jewish elected officials in the district, other Jewish community leaders say they feel abandoned, ignored and even attacked by their congressman, who they once saw as an ally, as he faces what could be his most credible primary challenge in years.
On the air: Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro defended Israel’s standing as a Jewish state, telling CNN in an interview aired on Monday that the country faces a level of scrutiny and attack over its religious character not applied to the dozens of Muslim states throughout the region, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
GROWING THREAT
Cheap, deadly and hard to spot: Hezbollah’s drones create urgent security threat for Israel
One of Israel’s most urgent emerging security threats is not a sophisticated missile or advanced weapons system, but a small, cheap drone that can be bought online and easily assembled. Hezbollah’s use of first-person view drones (FPVs) — a battlefield tactic widely utilized in the Russia-Ukraine war and now adopted by the Iran-backed terror group — has caused Israeli casualties, threatens civilians and exposed vulnerabilities in Israel’s air-defense systems, including the Iron Dome. The drones are small and inexpensive, but difficult to detect, experts tell Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea.
Rethinking strategy: The growing threat has caught the IDF off guard and is forcing Israeli officials to rethink how they protect soldiers, border communities and critical defense infrastructure during the fragile partial ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. “These are very simple, unsophisticated drones,” Yaakov Katz, a senior fellow at the Jewish People Policy Institute, told JI. “Imagine a person can watch with goggles almost and be the eyes of the drone, see what the drone sees and literally fly it to wherever it wants its target to be.”
Beirut breakthrough: President Donald Trump announced on Monday that Israel would not carry out strikes against Hezbollah in Beirut in exchange for the terror group halting its persistent attacks on northern Israel and IDF soldiers, cutting off imminent Israeli plans to expand its operations against Hezbollah in the Lebanese capital, JI’s Emily Jacobs reports.
IN OPPOSITION
JINSA CEO Michael Makovsky: ‘U.S. has lost the plot on Iran’
Michael Makovsky, the president and CEO of the hawkish Jewish Institute for National Security of America, criticized the Trump administration’s recent handling of the U.S. war in Iran, expressing concern about the possibility of a broader peace deal that does not address key issues. “The U.S. has lost the plot on Iran,” Makovsky told Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs on Friday.
A different tack: “After significant military achievements, declaring the ceasefire was a huge mistake, and there was too much hype about what pressure a blockade alone would achieve,” Makovsky said. “The net result has reduced U.S. leverage, and the perception that America is vulnerable if gasoline nears $5 per gallon.” Makovsky said that the U.S. “should not pursue a deal” with Iran, arguing that such an agreement “wouldn’t be worth the paper it’s written on.” He said that a deal “will only enrich and strengthen the regime and demoralize the Iranian people.”
ON THE HILL
Far left, far right rebel over defense bill provision on U.S.-Israel cooperation
A relatively routine provision that aims to facilitate expanded U.S. cooperation with Israel in the House’s draft of the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act has fueled outrage from the far left and far right, with some prominent figures making inaccurate claims that the provision would subjugate the U.S. military to Israel or otherwise compromise U.S. sovereignty, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
The situation: Critics are objecting to a provision in the bill, the “United States-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative,” which aims to expand and accelerate joint U.S.-Israel technological development and industrial cooperation; allow the U.S. to quickly adopt proven Israeli technologies; and promote joint training exercises, information sharing and co-production in areas including defense manufacturing, anti-tunneling, air- and missile-defense and various advanced technologies. Many such programs are already in place, and former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro, now a distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council, called the provision “quite unremarkable.”
Aid to trade: U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said on X that the next U.S. memorandum of understanding with Israel will end U.S. aid to Israel in favor of prioritizing trade.
Worthy Reads
Tech-tonic Shift: In The Atlantic, Yeganeh Torbati and Bozorgmehr Sharafedin explore how Iran’s crackdowns on tech startups dealt a death blow to the industry as it was on the rise. “The story of Iran’s start-ups could have been a triumphant one for Iran’s private sector, and for a young generation seeking opportunity and connection with the outside world. Instead, this is a story of thievery. … Iran’s tech entrepreneurs had built their businesses on a paradox. They were inspired by the Silicon Valley mythos of fierce competition, user-first design, and disruption. But Silicon Valley had arisen in a time and place where access to infrastructure, especially the internet, was relatively free and open. Iran’s economy was built on closed networks.” [TheAtlantic]
Not Easy Being Green: The Financial Times’ Anna Gross and Rachel Rees do a deep dive into the political evolution of U.K. Green Party leader Zack Polanski, who has come under fire amid numerous reports that he exaggerated or misrepresented elements of his background. “Within months of being overlooked [as a Liberal Democrat candidate], Polanski had joined the Green Party. He now describes himself as an ‘eco-populist,’ and has become the most popular figure on the left, fighting to reduce inequality, lower living costs and oppose Israel’s actions in Gaza. But Polanski has faced allegations that he misled the public about his career, his legal address and whether he voted in local elections.” [FT]
Survivor’s Story: In eJewishPhilanthropy, British-born Nova music festival survivor Maayan Dee describes her experience marching in Sunday’s Israel Day on Fifth parade in Manhattan. “Trauma isolates. It makes you feel that no one can understand, that the world keeps spinning while you’re frozen in the same field, on the same ground, that same Saturday morning. And after Oct. 7, alongside the personal pain, came something else: the feeling that the world doesn’t see us, that our story is being erased. But then something like this happens. You plant your feet on a street in Manhattan and you see a sea of blue and white. Jews and non-Jews who had no obligation to be there, and yet they were.” [eJP]
Word on the Street
President Donald Trump reportedly went on an expletive-laden tirade against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a phone call on Monday over the Israeli leader’s plans, since scrapped, to escalate military activities in Lebanon; a U.S. official speaking to Axios summed up Trump’s comments to Netanyahu as, “You’re f**king crazy. You’d be in prison if it weren’t for me. I’m saving your ass. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this”…
Israeli journalist Amit Segal said earlier today that the Axios report was “inaccurate,” noting that “Trump did not make personal remarks about jail or claim Netanyahu is hated globally” but indicated that “defending Israel’s global position is difficult and breeds hatred”…
A federal prosecutor told a judge in New York that the government may charge additional people in a wide-ranging terror probe following the arrest of the head of an Iran-backed Iraqi militia…
The Wall Street Journal looks at the White House’s efforts to pressure Oman, which has largely stayed neutral in the conflict with Iran, to side with the U.S. and cut its relations with Tehran…
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) blamed low turnout for his loss to Attorney General Ken Paxton in the state’s GOP Senate primary last week, and said that Trump’s endorsement of Paxton “wasn’t as [impactful] as he thought.” Cornyn said he “absolutely” believes that Paxton’s nomination endangers the seat, and that he stands by his comments during the campaign…
Republican Jewish Coalition CEO Matt Brooks celebrated his group’s role in ousting Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) in his primary election earlier this month at the organization’s “America 250”-themed gala Sunday night, JI’s Haley Cohen reports…
The New York Times does a deep dive into the congressional race pitting far-left activist Claire Valdez against Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, who was endorsed by outgoing Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-NY), as the race splits members of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s coalition…
Maine Gov. Janet Mills said in an interview with a local news outlet that she remains on the ballot in the state’s Democratic Senate primary, amid a new report that Graham Platner, who had been leading Mills in primary polling prior to her suspension of her campaign, had inappropriately communicated with at least half a dozen women while married to his wife…
Apollo Global Management CEO Marc Rowan met on Monday in Qatar with Sheikh Faisal bin Thani bin Faisal Al-Thani, the Gulf state’s minister of commerce…
Barry Diller’s People Inc. is preparing an $18 billion bid to take over MGM Resorts…
In a speech addressing antisemitism in Canada, Prime Minister Mark Carney said that the country’s “civic compact is failing Jewish Canadians; the Canadian premier also announced the establishment of a new Ministerial Advisory Council on Rights, Equality and Inclusion…
The Associated Press spotlights efforts by residents of Bedzin, Poland, and historians in the country to preserve World War II-era artifacts, including a building in what was the city’s Jewish ghetto that had secret bunkers and acted as a hub for Jewish resistance fighters…
El Al will resume its flights between Israel and San Francisco, more than six years after the route was paused amid the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic; the airline will run three weekly nonstop flights — under the flight number LY49, in tribute to the San Francisco 49ers — between Ben Gurion Airport and SFO…
Israel’s Defense Ministry said that France has barred official Israeli participation in the upcoming Eurosatory defense exhibition in Paris taking place later this month…
Thousands of Haredi demonstrators protesting Israel’s proposed draft laws crippled transportation in parts of the country on Monday, blocking highways and train tracks between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem…
The Associated Press reports on rising levels of child marriage in the Gaza Strip since the start of the Israel-Hamas war…
A Russian cargo ship arrived in Syria last month to resupply Moscow’s air base in the country, the first time it has done so since the fall of the Assad regime, signaling Russian officials’ intention to maintain the installation under the government of Ahmad al-Sharaa…
Pic of the Day
A memorial ceremony at the Israeli Embassy in Washington on Monday marking the one-year anniversary of the murders of Israeli Embassy staffers Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky was filled with many tears, some anger and even a few laughs, JI’s Marc Rod reports.
Milgrim’s father, Robert, told an assembled crowd of dignitaries, Jewish leaders and D.C. staffers that he was saddened not only by the death of his daughter but by the ways in which her death exemplifies the challenges facing every Jewish community.
Birthdays
Aerospace engineer and a former NASA astronaut, he flew on three shuttle missions and took a memento from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum into space, Mark L. Polansky (right) turns 70…
Former member of the British Parliament from Manchester and then a member of European Parliament, David Anthony Gerald Sumberg turns 85… Co-founder of ReelAbilities, a film festival by, or about, people with disabilities, Anita Altman turns 81… Israeli entrepreneur and inventor, founder of Indigo Digital Press and known as the father of commercial digital printing, Benny Landa turns 80… Johns Hopkins University professor and a pioneer in the field of cancer genomics, Dr. Bert Vogelstein turns 77… Writer-at-large for New York magazine since 2011, following a 31-year career at The New York Times, Frank Rich turns 77… SVP of institutional advancement at Brandeis University, Jordan E. Tannenbaum… Commissioner of the National Hockey League since 1993, Gary Bettman turns 74… Holiday and weekend cantor at Los Angeles Jewish Health (formerly Los Angeles Jewish Home for the Aging), Ben Zion Kogen… Former board chair of Sapir Academic College in the western Negev, he was one of Israel’s senior peace negotiators at the Camp David summit in 2000, Gilead Sher turns 73… Founder of Newark, N.J.-based IDT Corp and numerous affiliates and spinoffs, Howard S. Jonas turns 70… Dinorah Cecilia Baroody… General manager of The Piedmont Club, a Spartanburg, S.C., private social club, Davina Weinstein… Radio and television talk show host, Andrew Joseph “Andy” Cohen turns 58… President of Marvel Studios and chief creative officer for Marvel Comics, Marvel Television and Marvel Animation, Kevin Feige turns 53… Special counsel focused on land use and zoning at NYC-based law firm Goldstein Hall, Jessica Ashenberg Loeser… SVP of EnTrust Global, Jordan David Kaplan… Director of technology at Santa Monica, Calif.-based Action Network, a tech platform for progressive causes, Jason S. Rosenbaum… Woman Grandmaster chess player, she won the 2004 Israel Women’s Chess Championship, Bella Igla Gesser turns 41… Equestrian show jumper, she represented Israel at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Danielle “Dani” Goldstein Waldman turns 41… Co-founder and former CEO of The Wing, now the owner of The Six Bells (“a new old country store”) in Brooklyn, Audrey H. Gelman turns 39… Founder and CEO at Button AI, a company for AI paralegals that settle estates, Jared R. Fleitman… CEO and co-founder at Platform Cannabis Advisors, Benjamin G. Sheridan… Theater, television and film actor best known for his lead role in “SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical,” Ethan Samuel Slater turns 34… Israeli K-pop singer, whose first two songs when she was 17 both topped Israeli airplay charts, Ella-Lee Lahav turns 23…
Meanwhile, Rep. Haley Stevens avoided a question about receiving support from pro-Israel donors, while Abdul El-Sayed blamed rising antisemitism on white supremacy
Jim West/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Mallory McMorrow, a candidate for U.S. Senate, campaigns at the Michigan Democratic Nominating Convention
State Sen. Mallory McMorrow offered a straightforward answer when asked at a debate on Thursday, alongside the other two Democrats vying for an open Senate seat in Michigan, whether there is an antisemitism problem in the Democratic Party.
“There is,” said McMorrow. She told the story of an attendee at last month’s Democratic Party convention in Detroit who yelled an antisemitic slur at her Jewish husband, in front of their young daughter.
“That is terrifying. We need to be able to state very clearly that what the Netanyahu government is doing is wrong, that the violence needs to end, that we need to bring about long-term peace and security for Palestinians and for Israelis, and that turning that into not an anti-Netanyahu, but an anti-American Jewish message is dangerous,” McMorrow said, earning applause from the room.
The other two candidates — Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) and former public health official Abdul El-Sayed — did not directly address the question about Democrats.
Stevens condemned “rising political violence and extremism,” including the attack at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, in her district, which she said was carried out by a “homegrown terrorist.” She described herself as a lawmaker who is “leading on combating antisemitism in a bipartisan way. That does not have to be a partisan thing.”
El-Sayed said he understands discrimination because he has faced it himself. He blamed antisemitism in the U.S. on white supremacy.
“I know that antisemitism and Islamophobia tend to go hand in hand, and the real issue when it comes to either of them is the scourge of white supremacy,” he said, while arguing that respecting American Jews does not require supporting Israel.
The Democratic primary for the open Senate seat in Michigan is one of the most contentious in the country, and antisemitism has become a major issue, alongside U.S. foreign policy and support for Israel. It is perhaps the most high-profile seat where debates about the role of AIPAC might actually have an impact on the outcome.
Stevens, a longtime ally of the pro-Israel group, was the early frontrunner in the race but has faced attacks from her opponents for not criticizing AIPAC.
Presented with an opportunity on Thursday in a primary debate to help voters understand why she continues to receive support from the pro-Israel advocacy group, Stevens chose not to speak about the group at all.
“You take money from AIPAC. Walk us through what that money means and what it buys, and maybe what it doesn’t,” one of the debate’s moderators asked Stevens, as part of a question about how much influence individual donors have over their decisions.
“Michiganders are frustrated because we have not done comprehensive campaign finance reform. Mike Rogers will not vote for comprehensive campaign finance reform like I have in the House of Representatives,” Stevens said, referring to former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI), the expected GOP nominee for Senate. “We squarely need to put people at the front of our agenda.”
She also said she is “deeply proud to have grassroots support coming from grocery clerk workers to retired teachers to factory workers and the like,” and named some of the politicians who have endorsed her, including former Rep. Brenda Lawrence (D-MI), former Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and former Gov. Jennifer Granholm.
When asked about her views on foreign policy, Stevens attacked President Donald Trump for the “harmful and ridiculous” steps he took to pare back U.S. humanitarian aid abroad, and pledged to focus on peace.
“We need to see the United States work with our allies to achieve lasting peace between Russia and Ukraine, between the people of Israel and Palestine and of course between China and Taiwan,” said Stevens. “But when you remove the tools from our tool kit, you fail this country and you fail us, to allow us to work alongside our allies.”
Both McMorrow and El-Sayed used Thursday’s debate to remind voters that they do not accept donations from AIPAC. (AIPAC has not made an endorsement in the Senate race, but it has encouraged its supporters to donate to Stevens’ campaign.)
“I have not taken a dime of corporate PAC donations. I have not taken a dime of AIPAC donations,” said McMorrow, who is endorsed by the progressive Israel advocacy group J Street.
El-Sayed, who regularly accuses Israel of genocide and has said he struggles with the question of whether Israel has the right to exist as a Jewish state, slammed Stevens for taking AIPAC supporters’ donations.
“Let me tell you what absolutely would not shape my perception [of foreign policy]: it’s AIPAC money,” said El-Sayed.
Kristof, citing testimonies from victims, alleged that Israeli security forces and settlers committed sexual abuse against Palestinian prisoners; critics argue he relied on Hamas propaganda
Victor Boyko/Getty Images for Aurora Humanitarian Initiative
Nicholas Kristof speaks at the "Global Pulse Check" during the Humanitarian Summit and 2025 Human Rights and Humanitarian Forum at the UCLA Luskin Conference Center on May 07, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.
Nicholas Kristof’s New York Times column alleging widespread Israeli sexual violence against Palestinian prisoners was certain to generate intense debate and scrutiny, given the sensitivities involved in covering such a highly charged subject.
But after it was published on Monday, his opinion piece, headlined “The Silence That Meets the Rape of Palestinians,” has faced particularly heated backlash, including accusations of antisemitism and claims Kristof relied on discredited sources to advance his message.
Kristof, a veteran Times opinion columnist who has frequently reported on atrocities in far-flung locales, argued that Israeli leaders have ignored what he calls a well-documented pattern of sexual violence against Palestinians, even as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had “rightly” beseeched “civilized leaders” to “speak up” after Hamas was found to have engaged in a campaign of gender-based rape and brutalization targeting women during the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks.
Citing recent interviews with 14 Palestinian victims, including men and women, some of whose accounts he says he corroborated, Kristof relays a number of graphically detailed stories implicating members of the Israeli security forces and settlers whom he claims have escaped accountability.
Despite the direct testimonies he presented, critics have countered with a range of rebuttals, claiming that he drew a false equivalence between Israel and Hamas, that his column overstated the existence of alleged misconduct and that his broader assessment rests on questionable data and sources that weaken his central thesis.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who was quoted in the column as saying he was not surprised to hear about accounts of sexual violence, also wrote in a statement to the Times obtained by the journalist Eli Lake that “the positioning” of his comments “after pages of such allegations misrepresents my views.”
Meanwhile, Israel’s Foreign Ministry, in a social media post on Monday, dismissed Kristof’s column as “one of the worst blood libels ever to appear in the modern press,” saying it “will fight these lies with the truth.”
On Tuesday, echoing others who took issue with the column, the ministry said that Kristof had referenced a report by a Geneva-based NGO, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, whose founder “has documented ties to senior Hamas leaders,” raising questions about the accuracy of its conclusion that Israel uses “systematic sexual violence” that is “widely practiced as part of an organized state policy.”
The American Jewish Committee also expressed concerns about Kristof’s decision to cite allegations that Israel had trained police dogs to rape Palestinian prisoners, a claim that critics have rejected as a thinly sourced conspiracy theory. The AJC, for its part, said the allegation represented “a modern-day blood libel in the ‘paper of record.’”
“Allegations of abuse toward Palestinians deserve serious, rigorous investigation,” the organization wrote in a social media post on Tuesday. “Yet this piece, while opinion, appeared to be presented as an investigative report and fell alarmingly short of that standard while amplifying inflammatory narratives that have real-world consequences in a time of surging hatred toward Israelis and Jews worldwide.”
Kristof, who has defended his column in several social media posts, questioned “those who say that canine rape is impossible, despite the many Palestinians who have described it.”
“I’d note that at least three different medical journal articles discuss rectal injuries in humans from anal penetration by dogs,” he wrote on Tuesday. “Sigh.”
In a separate post after publication, Kristof voiced appreciation for “the intense interest in” his column. “For skeptics, why not agree on Red Cross and lawyer visits for the 9,000 Palestinian ‘security’ prisoners?” he replied. “If you think these abuse allegations are false, such monitoring visits would be protective. So why not?”
He also dismissed a viral but unverified social media post alleging Times discussions about “retracting” the column as “completely untrue,” a response backed up by the newspaper itself.
“There is no truth to this at all,” a spokesperson for the Times said in a statement posted to social media, adding that Kristof “traveled to the region to report firsthand on the stories of Palestinians who suffered abuse, and his article collects accounts in the victims’ own words, backed by independent studies.”
The Times did not respond to a request for comment from Jewish Insider regarding other reactions to the column and how or if it is now weighing the criticism.
Haviv Rettig Gur, an Israeli journalist, criticized the column as “obvious propaganda,” but acknowledged that “there really is abuse” that Israel must confront.
“The problem is real,” he said in a lengthy post. “It’s far smaller than they claim, but real nonetheless. And when discipline and morality break down, it can only get worse. We either crack down now or we watch it fester and grow.”
He also noted that the column had overshadowed a comprehensive new report, released on Tuesday by an independent Israeli group, concluding that Hamas had committed “systematic” and “widespread” sexual violence on Oct. 7 as part of a “calculated strategy.”
The Times spokesperson said in a statement that the report “had no bearing on” Kristof’s “opinion column or its publication timing.”
Michael Cohen, a pro-Israel political commentator based in New York City, argued in social media post that “two things can be true at the same time.”
“Kristof’s piece properly highlighted the horrible prison conditions for Palestinian detainees in Israel (which are well documented) while also leaning into arguments (the dogs’ story in particular) that are based on weak evidence from unreliable sources,” he wrote on Tuesday. “Lots of people are focusing on the latter and ignoring the former — and vice versa.”
“I know it’s verboten on this website (or elsewhere) to suggest nuance in anything related to” Israelis and Palestinians, Cohen added, “but that’s usually where the truth lies.”
Piker has previously urged his followers to kill the Florida senator, who spoke at Yale Political Union last year
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) speaks on government funding during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol on March 06, 2024 in Washington, DC.
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) called for the federal government to “immediately” pull funding from Yale University over Yale Political Union’s decision to host Hasan Piker, an antisemitic streamer who previously suggested that the senator should be killed. Piker is scheduled to speak on campus Tuesday for a debate titled “Resolved: End the American Empire.”
Scott, who spoke last year at YPU, a storied debate society at the Ivy League university, wrote on X on Friday that “Yale receives billions from the federal government — President Trump and Congress need to IMMEDIATELY revoke it.”
Piker, a far-left Twitch streamer, has recently been invited to speak at several high-profile events, despite a laundry list of antisemitic, anti-American and terror-supporting rhetoric, which includes justifying Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks in Israel. He has also called Orthodox Jews “inbred” and claimed America deserved 9/11.
For Scott, Piker’s incendiary language is personal; the streamer was briefly suspended from Twitch last year after urging followers to “kill Rick Scott.”
“An elite private university that hosts an antisemite who says a Senator should be killed, capitalists should be killed, and the U.S. deserved 9/11, shouldn’t get ONE CENT from taxpayers,” Scott wrote.
Asked about YPU hosting Piker, a spokesperson for Yale told Jewish Insider last week that “student organizations are responsible for issuing their own invitations to speakers.”
“At the same time, Yale is committed to maintaining a diverse, vibrant, and respectful community in which free expression is a fundamental value and a shared responsibility. The university is dedicated to providing a space where differing views can be expressed and heard respectfully,” the spokesperson said.
Unlike several Ivy League counterparts, including Harvard and Columbia, the Trump administration has not slashed Yale’s federal funding over antisemitism concerns.
The storied debate society at Yale University has previously hosted former presidents and intellectuals as featured guests
Noushad Variyattiyakkal/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Hasan Piker attends Web Summit Qatar 2026
The Yale Political Union, a storied debate society at the Ivy League university, is slated to host antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker on campus on Tuesday for a debate titled “Resolved: End the American Empire,” according to the organization’s social media.
YPU — a registered student-run group, which is the oldest and largest collegiate debate society in America, according to its website — has hosted a range of elite figures such as former Presidents Ronald Reagan, Joe Biden and Jimmy Carter; media figures like Walter Cronkite and George Stephanopoulos; and leading intellectuals including economist Milton Friedman and Margaret Mead.
Several alumni of the institution have held prestigious roles in politics, media and law, including former U.S. National Security Advisor McGeorge Bundy and former Secretary of State John Kerry.
A spokesperson for Yale University told Jewish Insider that “student organizations are responsible for issuing their own invitations to speakers.”
“At the same time, Yale is committed to maintaining a diverse, vibrant, and respectful community in which free expression is a fundamental value and a shared responsibility. The university is dedicated to providing a space where differing views can be expressed and heard respectfully,” the spokesperson said.
Piker, a far-left Twitch streamer, has recently been invited to speak at several high-profile events, despite a laundry list of antisemitic, anti-American and terror-supporting rhetoric, which includes justifying Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks in Israel. He has also called Orthodox Jews “inbred” and claimed America deserved 9/11.
Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed is facing criticism from fellow Democrats and Jewish leaders for hosting rallies with Piker at two Michigan universities last week.
Uri Cohen, executive director of the Slifka Center, Yale’s Hillel, told JI that “as an organization that holds foundational commitments to the free exchange of ideas — even those with which we deeply disagree — Slifka maintains that there must be a clear line between engaging with difference and platforming hate speech. We expect that Yale will continue to enforce applicable university policies to make sure that line gets reinforced for the good of Yale’s Jewish community and the larger campus as a whole.”
YPU did not respond to a request for comment from JI about its decision to host Piker.
Rabbi Yosef Hamra, the brother of the last chief rabbi of Syria, says ‘lifting the Caesar sanctions is essential to restore synagogues and cemeteries [and] safeguard irreplaceable Jewish heritage’
Rami Alsayed/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Syrian President Ahmad Al-Sharaa attends the signing ceremony of a strategic agreement to develop Tartus Port in Damascus, Syria, on July 13, 2025.
A debate is quietly simmering in Washington over the prospect of repealing congressionally mandated sanctions on Syria, an effort that has bipartisan support — but is not without its opponents.
As part of the Senate’s ongoing consideration of the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, a provision was included in a bipartisan consensus package of amendments that would fully repeal the Caesar Act, a strict sanctions framework imposed in response to the Assad regime’s human rights violations. Should the NDAA move forward on the Senate floor, the amendment is almost certain to pass.
The sanctions are currently being waived by the Trump administration, but can only be permanently repealed, before their 2029 expiration date, by Congress.
Some on Capitol Hill are pushing for a more cautious approach, keeping the sanctions on the books, at least in the short term, while pushing for the Syrian government, led by former Al-Qaida commander Ahmad al-Sharaa, to abide by a series of conditions in exchange for continued waiving of the sanctions.
Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) introduced a series of amendments to the Senate NDAA taking such an approach. The first would suspend the sanctions but keep them sanctions on the books indefinitely, past 2029, and require compliance with a series of conditions to keep the sanctions paused.
A second, updated amendment would keep the sanctions on the books for the next four years and would recommend but not require the reimposition of sanctions if the conditions in question are not met.
The Graham-Van Hollen amendment is unlikely to have sufficient support to pass the Senate.
A similar debate is playing out in the House, where the Financial Services Committee voted to advance a bill, led by Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), that would condition the lifting of sanctions, over the objections of lawmakers who have called for immediate and unconditional relief.
Activists in the Syrian-American diaspora community, including Rabbi Yosef Hamra, the brother of the last chief rabbi of Syria, who now resides in Brooklyn, are calling for Congress to reject efforts to condition sanctions relief, and want lawmakers to fully repeal the Caesar Act as quickly as possible.
Hamra, in a letter to congressional offices on behalf of the Jewish Heritage in Syria Foundation that was shared with Jewish Insider, expressed “grave concern” about the original Graham proposal, saying it would endanger Syrian Jews and prevent their ability to rebuild their community.
“This measure would put in place snapback provisions which would extend the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act indefinitely, including provisions harsher than those applied during the Assad regime’s worst atrocities,” Hamra wrote. “Lifting the Caesar sanctions is essential to restore synagogues and cemeteries, safeguard irreplaceable Jewish heritage and re-establish a mutli-faith community in Syria after more than 30 years in exile. Simply put, this amendment would be devastating to the Jewish community in Syria.”
Hamra noted that members of the Syrian Jewish community have begun to return to the country and work to rebuild and restore Jewish sites and artifacts, which he said requires “a stable, predictable policy environment that encourages investment, cultural preservation, and the safe return of refugees.”
He argued that the sanctions “should be completely repealed with no risk of snapping back. Any attempt to prevent this law from being completely repealed without risk of snapback would be a disaster” by discouraging support for projects inside the country, which he said would halt efforts to rebuild.
Henry Hamra, the son of the rabbi, told JI he also rejects the updated Graham-Van Hollen amendment.
“A watered down amendment by Senator Graham has the same chilling effect and damage of any amendment that requires conditions and threatens snapback sanctions of any kind,” Henry Hamra said in a statement to JI. “That’s why the Jewish Syrian community in the United States supports a clean repeal of the Caesar Act with no conditions it is the right and moral thing to do.”
Henry Hamra told JI that extensive work is needed to restore old synagogues, Torah scrolls and other artifacts that have been long neglected and added, “We need all the sanctions to be lifted to help us out.”
A source supporting the repeal effort said Treasury officials told Congress that keeping the Caesar Act — which includes mandatory secondary sanctions provisions on individuals doing business with those sanctioned — on the books in any form, even if the sanctions are being waived, has created an environment of uncertainty that has made foreign countries and businesses unwilling to invest in long-term development and reconstruction efforts in Syria.
“This is more than a two-year or a short-term thing to rebuild the whole neighborhood, [it] would take years. American companies, too, by the way, are interested in working in Syria. As long as Caesar is an authority, and there’s snapback for it, people will be wary to do that,” Mouaz Moustafa, the executive director of the Syrian Emergency Task Force, told JI. “And the progress, including on some of the conditions that are being placed, itself, would be stifled if [the] Caesar Act remains in perpetuity.”
Moustafa’s group is also opposing any action short of full Caesar repeal, and argues that anything less would be a punishment to the Syrian people.
A spokesperson for AIPAC told JI that the organization “do[es] not oppose the lifting of the Caesar sanctions but believe[s] Congress should make clear its expectations for the new Syrian government and lay out the conditions under which sanctions could be reimposed.”
John Hannah, a senior fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America and a national security advisor to former Vice President Dick Cheney told JI he opposes the sanctions repeal, and that he favors a conditional approach like that outlined in the Lawler bill.
Hannah said that there is “some significant evidence” that Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa is willing to engage on U.S. security priorities which justifies some easing of sanctions, “but our big concern is that the administration has had kind of a blind spot on internal matters in Syria with regards to governance and particularly with the relationship of Damascus to the key minority groups, some of them quite well armed.”
He warned that Syria’s future is being “undermined” by internal governance issues, including what he described as an “Islamist, Sunni-supremacist” and “highly centralized, authoritarian” approach to statebuilding by al-Sharaa, and by the two high-profile massacres of religious minority groups in recent months.
“[Al-Sharaa] has shown himself to be a ruthless pragmatist and I think the U.S. has just got to use the significant leverage it does have and continues to have, which is primarily wrapped in Caesar — to apply that equally as effectively as we have on the security priority to a set of priorities about the process of internal governance in Syria,” Hannah said. He argued that the U.S. should not “just surrender that prematurely, particularly after these extraordinary levels of violence we’ve seen inside of Syria that are completely undermining the possibility of a stable, cooperative Syrian partner to the United States.”
He warned that al-Sharaa’s “particular vision of Syria” is the greatest risk and potential driver of another collapse and devolution back into civil war in Syria — more so than the potential impacts of sanctions, as argued by proponents of sanctions relief. “We can’t tolerate another 1,500-person massacre of some minority inside of Syria. I think it’ll break the country,” Hannah added.
He said the U.S. should condition sanctions relief on legitimate dialogue and efforts to include and protect minorities, including Druze and Alawites, Western involvement in training and professionalizing the Syrian military and the expulsion of foreign jihadists from the Syrian government. Under such conditions, he said he’d be supportive of repealing Caesar in two years, ahead of its current expiration in 2029.
Hannah said that by making clear the U.S. is “fully committed to continuing to issue waivers,” as long as “we see a sustained level of progress here,” it should provide “sufficient green lights” to wealthy Arab states and others to begin ramping up investments.
He also urged the U.S. to work with regional and European allies to develop a joint approach and outreach strategy for Syria, and said that the time is not right for the U.S. to remove its remaining military forces from the country and surrender the leverage those troops provide.
Correction: Rabbi Yosef Hamra is the brother of the last chief rabbi of Syria. A previous version of the story identified Hamra as his nephew.
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