When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with President Donald Trump next week, the Iranian threat will be at the top of the agenda. That’s a sentence that could have been written countless times in the past – but this time, after the degradation of Iran’s nuclear program, was supposed to be different.

We’re six months out from Operation Midnight Hammer, when the U.S. and Israel worked together to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities, and the 11 days of Israeli airstrikes on Iran that preceded it.

But much of the public conversation following that 12-day war focused on the damage done to Iran’s nuclear program – which is likely significant, but still hard to measure precisely – and less on the Islamic Republic’s ballistic missiles and air defenses.

Israel destroyed hundreds of missiles, launchers and production sites, and boasted about its control of the airspace over Tehran a day into the war as testament to its military prowess. But Jerusalem is now deeply concerned that Tehran has managed to recoup, with help from China, much of its losses.

In that vein, Netanyahu and his team are preparing to brief Trump on Israel’s concerns that Iran is expanding its ballistic missile program.

IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir called the head of U.S. Central Command, Adm. Brad Cooper, to warn that an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps exercise that began last week is likely part of preparations to attack Israel, Axios reported.

NBC News reported over the weekend that Netanyahu plans to tell Trump that Israel may strike Iran if the ballistic missile program reaches a point where it is an immediate threat. The prime minister is reportedly expected to present Trump with options for the U.S. to take part in such a military operation or to assist in the effort.

Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei ruled out any negotiations to dismantle the country’s ballistic missile program. At a weekly press conference on Monday, Baqaei said, “Iran’s missile program was developed to defend Iran’s territory, not for negotiation. Therefore, Iran’s defense capabilities, designed to deter aggressors from any thought of attacking Iran, are not a matter that could be talked about.”

The Iranian missile attacks in June effectively shut down Israel’s economy. Israel’s defense establishment was prepared for a scenario in which 1,000 Israelis were killed by missiles, though ultimately, the IDF’s Arrow 2 and 3 defense systems shot down 86% of Iran’s deadly ballistic missiles, meaning only 36 out of 550 missiles launched reached their targets, 32 people were killed, over 3,000 wounded and 13,000 homes destroyed by missiles landing in Tel Aviv, Beersheba and other cities.

Israel is concerned that Iran could produce as many as 3,000 ballistic missiles per year if it is not stopped. With the same success rate, and assuming Iran uses 3,000 missiles, that would mean 420 missiles exploding in Israel and nearly 12 times as much damage in life, limb and property. 

Tim Chapman, the president of former Vice President Mike Pence’s think tank, said on Monday that he expects his Advancing American Freedom organization to poach more staffers from the Heritage Foundation after announcing the hiring of 15 individuals from the embattled conservative organization.

Advancing American Freedom, founded by Pence in 2021 to advocate for classical conservative principles as President Donald Trump’s MAGA movement cemented its hold on parts of the Republican Party, announced on Monday that 15 Heritage staffers, including three senior officials from the think tank’s legal, economic and data teams, would be moving to AAF at the start of the new year. Chapman, who has been leading the recruitment effort, predicted more Heritage staffers would resign amid continuing frustration over Heritage President Kevin Roberts’ refusal to disavow Tucker Carlson for his platforming of neo-Nazi influencer Nick Fuentes.

“Why I’m so excited about this big move today is because it really supercharges our efforts to be able to be a policy leader on the Capitol Hill and helps us create an institution that will be valuable to policy entrepreneurs,” Chapman told Jewish Insider in an interview on Monday. “These 15 hires that came today will not be the last 15. We expect to see other people leave Heritage and go to AAF and other places as well. We are happy to welcome them.”

Richard Stern, who led Heritage’s economic policy group, and Kevin Dayaratna, who served as Heritage’s chief statistician, were two of the senior officials from the embattled think tank joining AAF along with some members of their team. They are being joined by John Malcolm, Heritage’s vice president of its Institute for Constitutional Government and director of the organization’s Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, who will relocate the center, named for former Attorney General Edwin Meese III, to AAF. 

Chapman helped launch and lead Heritage Action, the think tank’s grassroots advocacy arm, and served as chief of staff to the late Heritage cofounder Edwin J. Feulner during part of his 36-year tenure as the organization’s president. He told JI that AAF began a $15 million fundraising campaign last month to cover the expenses of hiring the outgoing Heritage staffers and raised $13 million within two weeks. 

“We viewed this as a big opportunity to accelerate our growth plans, to become that institution that we’re building. It all happened very fast,” Chapman said.

Chapman said AAF’s quick success with fundraising suggested to him that “there is a market out there amongst conservative philanthropists for reorganization on the right. There were a lot of new donors who came in because they saw the value in the project and the importance of having an institution like the one I’m describing, and a lot of our current donors who stepped up and gave more.”

“It also says to me that there is a very heightened awareness of the downfall of institutions like Heritage, who have shifted their focus,” he explained.

“I look at it as the conservative movement reorganizing itself. The Heritage team that we are bringing over today, these are principled conservatives more in the traditional conservative camp. They wouldn’t think of themselves as nationalist conservatives, or not even necessarily MAGA conservatives,” Chapman said of the Heritage recruits. “There are a lot of things that MAGA fights for that we might be aligned on, but they would view themselves that way [from a more traditional standpoint], and they very much had been feeling stifled over the last two years at the Heritage Foundation.”

“Heritage had been creating an environment internally where the organization’s role as a traditional think tank that stood outside of the Republican Party was not the business plan for the future of the Heritage Foundation,” he added. “They started to think of themselves more as an outside enforcer for the MAGA nationalist perspective, and really began to orient themselves around personalities, whether it’s President Trump or [Vice President] JD Vance or other personalities that hold significant cachet on the right.”

Pence accused the Heritage Foundation of “abandoning its principles” in an interview with The Wall Street Journal on AAF’s recruitment effort. “Why these people are coming our way is that Heritage and some other voices and commentators have embraced big-government populism and have been willing to tolerate antisemitism,” Pence told the outlet. 

A Heritage spokesperson did not respond to JI’s request for comment on Chapman’s comments or on AAF recruiting more than a dozen of their staffers, though Andy Olivastro, Heritage’s chief advancement officer, was critical of the former employees in a statement to the Journal. 

“Our mission is unchanged, and our leadership is strong and decisive,” Olivastro said. “Heritage has always welcomed debate, but alignment on mission and loyalty to the institution are non-negotiable. A handful of staff chose a different path — some through disruption, others through disloyalty.”

Several Trump appointees to the board of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum are pushing for the ouster of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), alleging that he has rarely attended meetings and that his accusations of genocide against Israel run counter to the museum’s mission.

Sanders has served on the council for nearly two decades.

The board, formally known as the Holocaust Memorial Council, is mostly made up of presidential appointees who serve for five-year terms, joined by a handful of members from the House and Senate chosen by congressional leadership. Sanders was appointed in 2007. Lawmakers are technically subject to the same five-year term limits but in practice have often served until a successor is appointed or they leave office.

Jonathan Burkan, who was appointed to the council twice by President Donald Trump, said he’s never seen Sanders at any meetings of the council — which he said has not been the case for other lawmakers, both Democrats and Republicans.

“Everything that’s happened after Oct. 7, everything that has been going on with antisemitism, with the Holocaust — I do feel that if someone is a Jewish elected official, they should at least attend one meeting in over a 20-year period of time,” Burkan said. “They should find someone else besides Bernie just to be on the council.”

Each of the council members who spoke to Jewish Insider spoke in their personal capacities, not as representatives of the council as a whole.

Burkan added that “Bernie Sanders accusing Israel of genocide downplays the Holocaust, which actually hurts the museum which he serves.”

Stuart Eizenstat, the chair of the council, has pushed back on accusations of genocide against Israel and has argued that extreme anti-Israel rhetoric is fueling violent antisemitism. The museum’s director has also condemned comparisons between the war in Gaza and the Holocaust.

Daniel Huff, who was appointed to the board during Trump’s first administration, said that it’s “important that the museum be a bipartisan effort,” emphasizing that other Democratic lawmakers on the council have been frequent and active participants in its meetings.

“That’s the type of representation that we want,” Huff said. “My observation, simply, is that Sanders has not shown up to any meeting, as far as I can tell.”

“The problem is that he’s publicly out there advocating positions that are really at odds with some of the fundamental things that the museum does, and one of them is making sure that the word ‘genocide’ is carefully safeguarded, and deployed only when necessary, so as not to diminish the memory of those who died in the Holocaust,” Huff said.

Huff argued that, in a time of rising antisemitism, the Holocaust Museum has an important role to play, and it’s “important that everybody who’s in a leadership position there is focused on the importance of the moment, the urgency of the moment.”

“We’re living in a dangerous moment and everyone ought to be paying attention,” Huff said. “We need people who understand the fierce urgency of the moment we’re in, and the need to act wisely and decisively.”

He said that there are many Democrats who would be strong candidates and members of the board, but that Sanders does not fit that bill.

“It’s not a political statement … the ask is just, find someone who’s aligned and involved — that’s it, very simple,” Huff said.

Rob Garson, the president of the American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists, who was recently appointed to the board for the first time, said that he was surprised to find out that Sanders was a member.

“It’s not as if they have that many [meetings] in any given year, and it’s not as if it’s in an inconvenient place for him to come to. He clearly just either doesn’t care or doesn’t want to care,” Garson said.

He added that Sanders’ public rhetoric is “diametrically opposed to the message of the Holocaust Memorial Council.”

“It should be people that actually are aligned with what the Holocaust Museum stands for, and Sanders just isn’t that,” Garson said. 

Tila Falic, another recent Trump appointee, said that people selected for the board “represent Holocaust education, and it represents combating antisemitism for Jews and for non-Jews in the United States … people that are appointed should take their job seriously by, first of all, showing up.”

If Sanders is unable to attend or is not aligned with the Museum’s mission, “then he should be removed and give that seat to somebody who wants to take an active role and make a difference.”

Sanders did not respond to a request for comment. Nor did Eizenstat, the chair of the council. The museum also did not provide comment on the effort to remove Sanders or confirm how many meetings the senator has attended during his tenure.

Trump stirred controversy early this year when he removed a slew of Biden appointees from the board, replacing them with several of his own picks.

Following the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, President Donald Trump has taken an unusually open approach toward Damascus, seeking to usher in a new era of stability and regional integration. But that strategy is beginning to face significant tests from jihadist elements embedded within Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa’s own military ranks.

In his second term, Trump has made unprecedented moves to normalize relations with Damascus and promote a new political order in Syria following the fall of the Assad regime last year. During a Middle East visit in May, Trump became the first American president in 25 years to meet with a Syrian leader and announced the lifting of U.S. sanctions on Syria that had been in place for more than a decade. On Nov. 10, Trump hosted al-Sharaa at the White House in a historic visit, during which Syria formally joined the U.S.-led anti-ISIS coalition. The administration has also sought to broker a security agreement between Syria and Israel.

Despite those efforts, experts warn that Trump’s push for stabilization is increasingly being challenged by the incorporation of jihadist-aligned figures into Syria’s emerging military and security apparatus.

“What my colleagues and I have been warning this entire year is that al-Sharaa was putting his jihadist allies into the new Syrian military without apparent measures to prevent bad things from happening,” said David Adesnik, vice president of research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, who added that those with jihadist beliefs were integrated in “large groups.”

Those concerns were underscored earlier this month, when two U.S. soldiers and one civilian contractor were killed in Syria in an attack claimed by the Islamic State (ISIS) — the first U.S. casualties in the country since Assad’s fall in December 2024. Reports indicated the assailant was a lone gunman who had previously served in Syria’s Internal Security service and had extremist leanings.  

“The ISIS attack that killed U.S. service members and a civilian should be a wakeup call that the terrorist group is still a threat, and will seize opportunities to reconstitute,” said Dana Stroul, director of research at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “So far, the Trump team has tested al-Sharaa’s forces by asking them to go after ISIS threats and the record is fairly positive. But the ‘Defeat ISIS mission’ is not complete.”

While ISIS remains active in parts of Syria — particularly in the country’s northeast, where U.S. forces have long maintained a presence — some experts told Jewish Insider that jihadist figures aligned with al-Sharaa in the new Syrian military are the more immediate challenge to stabilization efforts.

John Hannah, a senior fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, said al-Sharaa’s decision to formally align with the U.S.-led anti-ISIS coalition has not only provoked ISIS, but also energized jihadist elements within Syria’s ranks.

“ISIS has been relatively quiet since the collapse of the Assad regime. That’s clearly changed over the past couple of months,” Hannah said. “That decision to sign on with a posse led by the Americans against fellow Muslims served as a major provocation — not just to ISIS, but to the broader jihadist community, including fighters now inside Syria’s new formal security structures.”

“There have been deep feuds among jihadis, and al-Sharaa was on one side in a feud against the Islamic State,” said David Adesnik, vice president of research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “Al-Sharaa is also invested very heavily in a better relationship with the United States. The last thing he needs is a guy in his own ranks killing Americans and potentially throwing all of this off.”

In a Truth Social post, Trump vowed “very serious retaliation” to the attack, writing that the Syrian president “is extremely angry and disturbed by this attack.” The U.S. conducted strikes on multiple ISIS targets in Syria last Friday.

Adesnik said Trump’s comments likely accurately “represent al-Sharaa’s views,” noting that ISIS has long been a rival to al-Sharaa within the jihadist ecosystem.

“There have been deep feuds among jihadis, and al-Sharaa was on one side in a feud against the Islamic State,” Adesnik said. “Al-Sharaa is also invested very heavily in a better relationship with the United States. The last thing he needs is a guy in his own ranks killing Americans and potentially throwing all of this off.”

Days after the attack, Trump signed an executive order barring Syrian nationals from entering the United States. The order “adds full restrictions and entry limitations” on Syria “based on recent analysis.”

Stroul said that while this is “not a significant change in U.S. policy toward Syria,” it will be “received poorly by Syrians.”

“On a positive note, the EO clearly acknowledged the work of the one-year-old government in Damascus to address its security challenges, in coordination with the U.S.,” said Stroul. “This suggests that once the U.S. has confidence in the security procedures of Damascus, it could reverse this decision.”

But signs of ideological extremism within Syria’s new military have continued to surface. Shortly before the attack, video surfaced of what appeared to be a group of Syrian army soldiers chanting a jihadist declaration of war against Israel during a military parade in Damascus.

“It should have been obvious quite a while back that there were large groups within the Syrian military that had precisely this belief,” Adesnik said. “It goes back to the fact that [Syria’s new leadership] has integrated a large number of al-Sharaa’s jihadi forces, or aligned jihadi forces, into the military. Being deeply anti-Israel to the point of supporting Hamas is sort of par for the course if you’re a jihadist.”

Adesnik added that such views are consistent with al-Sharaa’s past rhetoric on Israel. Pro-Israel critics of al-Sharaa have pointed to the Syrian leader’s past ties to Al-Qaida, a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization and group he joined following the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq. While operating for the group as a foot soldier, al-Sharaa was captured by U.S. military forces and imprisoned. He later founded one of the terror group’s Syrian branches.

U.S. officials have played down concerns about Syrian intentions toward Israel. Tom Barrack, the U.S. ambassador to Turkey and special envoy to Syria, told reporters last week that Damascus is not interested in aggression against the Jewish state. But Israeli officials have taken a more pessimistic view, with Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli writing on X that war with Syria is “inevitable.”

“The SDF have been America’s most reliable and effective partner in fighting ISIS for more than a decade,” John Hannah, a senior fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, said. “The logic of incorporating those SDF units wholesale into al-Sharaa’s army and then unleashing them with U.S. backing on the ungoverned spaces of Syria’s central desert where ISIS has found real sanctuary is compelling.”

The White House has aimed to broker a security agreement between Damascus and Jerusalem, in which the Jewish state would relinquish territory it holds within Syria. However, Israel has differed on this approach due to security concerns and a deep distrust of the leadership in Damascus. The two sides reportedly remain far apart on any potential agreement. 

The U.S. currently maintains roughly 1,000 troops in Syria, supported by U.S. air power, and continues to work with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a longtime American partner that has played a central role in combating ISIS. Hannah argued that integrating the SDF into Syria’s new security structures could help counteract jihadist and ISIS influence in the country.

“The SDF have been America’s most reliable and effective partner in fighting ISIS for more than a decade,” Hannah said. “The logic of incorporating those SDF units wholesale into al-Sharaa’s army and then unleashing them with U.S. backing on the ungoverned spaces of Syria’s central desert where ISIS has found real sanctuary is compelling.”

Adesnik echoed that view, calling SDF integration “definitely a good idea,” while cautioning that progress is likely to be slow.

“There was an interim agreement in March, but the odds of that happening in the next few weeks are very low,” Adesnik said. “As long as it doesn’t go completely off the rails, they’ll probably kick the can down the road.”

Despite the challenges to stabilization, Stroul said that U.S. policy toward Syria will likely “remain consistent,” and that she expects the Trump administration to continue embracing the new government in Damascus and al-Sharaa’s leadership. 

“President Trump is about to sign into law the bipartisan NDAA which lifts the sweeping Caesar sanctions against Syria — this was requested by the Trump team and the al-Sharaa government to Congress,” said Stroul. “This is a critical step in sanctions relief that will allow foreign investment to flow into Syria without fear of U.S. punitive action, and is a major signal of support for the post-Assad Syria.”

Good Monday afternoon!

This P.M. edition is reserved for our premium subscribers — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.

It’s me again — Danielle Cohen-Kanik, U.S. editor at Jewish Insider and curator, along with assists from my colleagues, of the Daily Overtime. Please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts and feedback by replying to this email.

📡On Our Radar

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Over a dozen of the Heritage Foundation’s top legal and economic staff are departing the think tank to join former Vice President Mike Pence’s Advancing American Freedom group, in the latest sign of the continued internal dysfunction racking Heritage since its president, Kevin Roberts, embraced Tucker Carlson after he platformed neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes.

“Why these people are coming our way is that Heritage and some other voices and commentators have embraced big-government populism and have been willing to tolerate antisemitism,” Pence told The Wall Street Journal. 

More than 30 of Heritage’s employees have reportedly resigned or been fired in the last several days, and at least three trustees have also dropped their affiliation with the group. Josh Blackman, who announced he’s stepping down as senior editor of The Heritage Guide to the Constitution, told Roberts in his resignation letter that his comments on Carlson “were a huge unforced blunder, and gave aid and comfort to the rising tide of antisemitism on the right”…

A straw poll conducted of attendees at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest summit found that the anti-Israel views of some of the event’s speakers were not largely shared by the audience — only 13% of respondents said they don’t view Israel as an ally of the United States (one-third thought Israel is a “top ally” while an additional 53% said it’s one ally of many).

Brent Scher, editor-in-chief of the conservative Daily Wire, wrote on X about the poll, “For those who think Tucker and Candace [Owens] are winning … they’ve convinced nobody.” The same poll found 84% of respondents would like to see Vice President JD Vance as the 2028 Republican presidential nominee…

A new report from the Anti-Defamation League finds that more than one-fifth of New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s appointees to his transition team have extreme anti-Israel backgrounds, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports. 

Among the advisors, Youssef Mubaraz, who was appointed to serve on the committee on small businesses, dismissed a Facebook video about Hamas’ widespread use of sexual violence on Oct. 7 as “propaganda,” according to the report. Mohammed Karim Chowdhury, a member of the worker justice committee, previously shared a post claiming that “Zionists are worse than Haman of ancient times, the Inquisition, and the Nazis.”

Mamdani said about the report at a press conference today that “we must distinguish between antisemitism and criticism of the Israeli government” and that the “ADL’s report oftentimes ignores this distinction”…

George Conway, co-founder of the anti-Trump Lincoln Project group, filed paperwork today to join the crowded Democratic primary in New York’s 12th Congressional District to replace retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY). The once decidedly conservative lawyer abandoned his affiliation with the Republican Party over his disagreements with President Donald Trump and became a significant donor of former President Joe Biden, though Conway’s decision to run as a Democrat himself is a step further than he’s gone before. 

The New York Times reported last month that Conway told a group of donors he would aim to act as a “wingman” to Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Dan Goldman (D-NY), also both lawyers fiercely opposed to Trump, if elected to Congress…

Meanwhile Erik Bottcher, a New York City councilman, dropped out of the NY-12 primary in order to run for a state Senate seat…

Brad Lander, the outgoing New York City comptroller trying to unseat Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), received an endorsement today from anti-Israel City Councilmember Shahana Hanif, who has faced backlash from her sizable Jewish constituency for her refusal to explicitly condemn Hamas in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks and blaming Israel’s “unjust occupation of the Palestinian people” for the violence, her inaction on incidents of antisemitism in the district and her endorsement of calls to “globalize the intifada,” among other issues…

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee echoed warnings Jerusalem is reportedly providing to the Trump administration around Iran’s preparations for another military conflict with Israel while speaking at Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies conference today.

“Iran, I don’t know that they ever took [Trump] seriously until the night that the B-2 bombers went to Fordow. I hope they got the message but apparently they didn’t get the full message cause … they appear to be trying to reconstitute and find a new way to dig the hole deeper, secure it more,” Huckabee said…

The Trump administration is recalling senior diplomats from at least 29 countries, State Department officials told the Associated Press, largely from Africa and Asia with several in Europe and the Middle East, as part of its continued effort to “advance the America First agenda”…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hosted the prime minister of Greece and president of Cyprus in Jerusalem today to “strengthen security, promote economic development and deepen the ties between our countries,” he said in a statement…

In the latest development in the bidding war over Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount amended its offer to acquire the company to include $40.4 billion of equity financing personally guaranteed by Larry Ellison, co-founder of Oracle and father of Paramount’s CEO, David Ellison. Warner Bros. had previously advised shareholders to reject Paramount’s offer due to concerns over its ability to provide the financing…

⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for a preview of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s meeting with President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort at the end of the month.

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In recent weeks, James Fishback, a 30-year-old Republican investor who last month launched a long-shot campaign for governor of Florida, has drawn online attention for a series of incendiary social media posts attacking Israel and invoking antisemitic tropes.

In addition to praising followers of the neo-Nazi influencer Nick Fuentes, comments for which he has refused to apologize, Fishback has promoted a range of extreme anti-Israel positions, including in a recent campaign ad vowing to defend those who accuse the Jewish state of genocide. He has taken repeated aim at the pro-Israel organization AIPAC, which he calls a “foreign lobbying group,” saying its supporters are “slaves” and that his own “allegiance is to America.”

“I’ll be the first to admit that I fell for the ‘Israel is our greatest ally’ scam and the lie that criticizing Israel is ‘antisemitic,’” he wrote in a social media post this week. “It wasn’t until I was offered a paid trip to Israel this summer (which I never took) that I realized how cringe and pathetic the propaganda was.”

In using such inflammatory rhetoric, Fishback, a political newcomer, is likely seeking to capitalize on the views of a younger audience of far-right voters increasingly fueling anti-Israel as well as antisemitic sentiment in the GOP, which has recently forced the party to confront a growing schism within its ranks over its ideological direction.

But while Fishback has sought to cast next year’s Republican primary as “very clearly a two-person race” between him and Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) — the pro-Israel GOP front-runner now dominating the polls while reporting a $40 million fundraising advantage — political operatives in both parties are skeptical his insurgent bid will ultimately amount to any sort of meaningful on-the-ground traction even as he continues to provoke controversy from behind the screen.

“Social media is the only reason anyone has heard of Fishback, and 20 years ago no one would even be talking about him,” Steve Schale, a Democratic strategist in Florida, told Jewish Insider. “Unless he stumbles into a pile of cash, it’s hard for me to see this being more than just an effort to get clicks.”

Fishback, the CEO of an anti-DEI investment firm called Azoria, is hardly the first candidate hoping to translate social media clout into votes or fame. A growing cohort of young influencers seeking office has emerged in recent years, so far with no success. 

Deja Foxx, a progressive TikTok activist who ran for Congress in Arizona this summer, had raised a lot of money and appeared to be gaining momentum near the end of the campaign. But despite the hype, Foxx fell short by nearly 40 points — losing out to a more established local lawmaker.

In the race to succeed outgoing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Donalds, a three-term congressman who is endorsed by President Donald Trump, is heavily favored to clinch the nomination over a handful of lesser-known primary rivals. Multiple surveys have shown him leading by double digits — with support from a range of state elected officials. Fishback, for his part, claimed just 2% of the vote in a recent poll.

“Although we’re still in the early stages of this race, it’s almost game, set, match,” said Ford O’Connell, a Republican strategist in Florida. “Byron Donalds is dominating the field, approaching 50% in the polls. Once voters realize he has Trump’s endorsement, he becomes the clear favorite. In GOP primary politics, Trump’s endorsement is the platinum standard.”

“If you look at any legitimate polling I would say Mr. Fishback has a very tall mountain to climb,” Will McKinley, a GOP lobbyist and government consultant in the state, echoed to JI.

Jim Cherry, a Republican pollster in Florida, said his “firm does political polling and as of this point, no client has requested that we include Fishback in any gubernatorial head-to-head questions.”

A college dropout and former hedge fund analyst, Fishback attracted some attention in conservative circles after he pitched DOGE “dividend checks” to a receptive Elon Musk, though the plan never took off. He later launched a super PAC to oppose Musk when the billionaire mogul fell out with Trump. He announced his gubernatorial bid in mid-November, pledging to “build on” DeSantis’ “historic record.”

Fishback has portrayed himself as a strong ally of DeSantis, who has so far declined to publicly back anyone in the race, while dismissing Donalds’ bid. But Fishback’s hostility to Israel puts him at odds with the governor, who has long touted his support for the Jewish state.

Meanwhile, Fishback’s recent comments on Israel are almost certain to alienate a sizable population of Jewish voters who live in Florida and can help tip the scales in close elections.

“In my opinion, he’s not a serious candidate and is simply trying to be incendiary to get attention,” said Gabriel Groisman, a Jewish Republican donor and a former mayor of Bal Harbour, Fla. 

He declined to comment further, saying that doing so would be “counterproductive.”

In a statement to JI Thursday, Sam Markstein, spokesperson for the Republican Jewish Coalition, dismissed Fishback as “a radical fringe candidate who has decided that the way to run his campaign is to attack the Jewish community and our ally Israel.” 

“It won’t work — and Republican Floridians will resoundingly reject him in the GOP primary,” he said.

Fishback, in response, said the “only poll that matters is on Election Day: August 18, 2026,” adding: “Until then, I am committed to earning Floridians’ votes by visiting all 67 counties to meet folks where they are, hear their concerns and share my vision for a more affordable Florida.”

“If elected, I’ll be a governor for all Floridians,” he continued in a statement to JI. “As a Christian, I have never ‘attacked’ anyone for their faith. I will protect religious freedom and ensure the safety of all Floridians.”

Good Thursday afternoon!

This P.M. edition is reserved for our premium subscribers — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.

It’s me again — Danielle Cohen-Kanik, U.S. editor at Jewish Insider and curator, along with assists from my colleagues, of the Daily Overtime. Please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts and feedback by replying to this email.

📡On Our Radar

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s newly tapped director of appointments, Catherine Almonte Da Costa, abruptly resigned this afternoon after her history of antisemitic online posts — including complaining about “money hungry Jews” — was unearthed, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.

Da Costa, who previously served as executive assistant to former Mayor Bill DeBlasio and was appointed by Mamdani yesterday, posted a series of antisemitic comments in 2011 and 2012, which were obtained by the Judge Street Journal.

Among other X posts — deleted along with her account today — Da Costa wrote in January 2011, “Money hungry Jews smh,” according to screenshots. “Woo! Promoted to the upstairs office today! Working alongside these rich Jewish peeps,” she posted in June 2011.

After outcry from the Anti-Defamation League and others, Mamdani’s team told JI that “Catherine expressed her deep remorse over her past statements and tendered her resignation, and [Mamdani] accepted.” Da Costa said in her own statement that her posts were “not indicative of who I am” and had “become a distraction from the work at hand”…

In another incident of antisemitism proliferating online, Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua garnered widespread backlash — including from New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft’s foundation focused on combating antisemitism — for performing an antisemitic dance on social media on Tuesday, JI’s Haley Cohen reports, leading Nacua to issue an apology this afternoon.

During streamer Adin Ross’ livestream on Tuesday, he taught the wide receiver a touchdown celebration that ended with Nacua looking into the camera and rubbing his hands together — a stereotypical movement indicating greed that Ross’ fans refer to as his “iconic Jewish dance.” Ross then asked Nacua to perform the dance during the Rams’ game against the Seattle Seahawks tonight, to which Nacua agreed. 

In his apology, Nacua stated that at the time of the livestream, he had “no idea this act was antisemitic in nature and perpetrated harmful stereotypes against Jewish people”…

In response to the Hanukkah terror attack in Sydney, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced today that his government will introduce new legislation to strengthen hate speech laws in the country and allow the government to cancel or reject visas of people deemed likely to spread hate.

The move comes after Australia ignored repeated warnings from local Jewish communities and Israel that rising antisemitism in the country posed a threat to Jewish safety; Albanese conceded the point in his announcement, claiming, “Governments aren’t perfect. I’m not perfect”…

Scott Singer, the Republican mayor of Boca Raton, Fla., announced a run for Congress today for the seat held by Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL). The district, already competitive, is facing a possible redistricting effort by state Republicans which would further endanger the pro-Israel congressman’s hold on it. Singer, who sits on the U.S. advisory board of Combat Antisemitism Movement, has been a strong supporter of Israel as well… 

NOTUS asked over 120 House Republicans if they intend to run for reelection amid rumors of a mass wave of retirements in the party. Several, including Reps. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) and Mark Amodei (R-NV), gave noncommittal answers…

The State Department issued new sanctions today against dozens of ships and related companies involved in Iran’s “shadow fleet” used to evade existing oil sanctions, as well as against two International Criminal Court judges involved in prosecuting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, citing the judges’ votes against an Israeli appeal to drop arrest warrants for the two earlier this week…

President Donald Trump contradicted an announcement made weeks ago by Netanyahu’s office that the two have set a meeting at the president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla., for Dec. 29, telling reporters in the Oval Office today, “We haven’t set [a meeting] up formally, but [Netanyahu] would like to see me. … He’ll probably come see me in Florida.”

Asked if Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi will join them, as speculated by the signing of a major gas deal between Israel and Egypt yesterday, Trump said, “I’d love to have him. El-Sissi is a friend of mine”…

D.C. City Councilmember Janeese Lewis George, a democratic socialist running for city mayor, committed to standing up for the Jewish community and taking proactive steps to ensure its security on a panel at a Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington breakfast this morning, JI’s Marc Rod reports.

Lewis George’s presence at the event and comments are particularly notable given that she’s a self-identified democratic socialist. (Many DSA-aligned elected officials across the country, including Mamdani, have had combative or nonexistent relationships with mainstream Jewish organizations in their cities and districts.)

“I learned at a very young age how important it was to loudly condemn and loudly stand up for our Jewish neighbors,” Lewis George said. She recalled that she realized through education programs in D.C. schools “how important it was that we support each other in solidarity, in our connected struggles, our connected history”…

⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for an interview with a longtime Jewish activist mounting a bid for Washington, D.C.’s congressional delegate seat.

White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff will meet with the Qatari prime minister and Egyptian and Turkish foreign ministers in Miami tomorrow to discuss implementation of the second phase of President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan. 

Turning Point USA’s AmFest continues over the weekend, including a debate over Israel on Saturday between political commentator Steve Deace and Christian nationalist leader Pastor Doug Wilson. 

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

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CENTER PUSH

Moderate N.Y. Democrat Rory Lancman hoping to reinvigorate party’s centrist wing in the suburbs

The former state assemblyman told JI: ‘I confess to being disappointed that Democrats aren’t making a bright line litmus test out of whether someone supports the existence of the Jewish state’

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Good Wednesday afternoon!

This P.M. edition is reserved for our premium subscribers — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.

It’s me again — Danielle Cohen-Kanik, U.S. editor at Jewish Insider and curator, along with assists from my colleagues, of the Daily Overtime. Please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts and feedback by replying to this email.

📡On Our Radar

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

In the wake of the Hanukkah terror attack in Sydney and the deadly Yom Kippur attack in Manchester, the heads of Britain’s Metropolitan Police and Greater Manchester Police said they will change their policies on arrests in connection with the use of threatening slogans, including “globalize the intifada.”

“The words and chants used, especially in protests, matter and have real world consequences. We have consistently been advised by [the Crown Prosecution Service] that many of the phrases causing fear in Jewish communities don’t meet prosecution thresholds. Now, in the escalating threat context, we will recalibrate to be more assertive,” their joint statement read.

“We know communities are concerned about placards and chants such as ‘globalise the intifada’ and those using it at future protest or in a targeted way should expect the Met and GMP to take action. Violent acts have taken place, the context has changed — words have meaning and consequence. We will act decisively and make arrests,” they pledged. The Israeli Embassy in the U.K. welcomed the move but called it “disappointing” that it only came “after more Jews have been killed”…

Daniel Flesch, a senior policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation, emerged as a critical voice raising the alarm on right-wing antisemitism from within the institution in a speech on Monday night, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports, as the think tank continues to grapple with fallout from its president’s embrace of Tucker Carlson after his controversial interview with neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes.

“The last couple of years, really for longer than that, the threat of antisemitism has largely been the domain of the left,” Flesch said at a Hanukkah party hosted by the Young Jewish Conservatives. “Now, in some ways, the call is coming from inside the house.”

Flesch continued, “Right now, the issue we’re facing is a threat to the West. We see it on the left. Now we’re seeing it to the right. And those like Tucker Carlson and others present the greatest threat, I think, on the right. They are anti-conservatives in the conservative movement, seeking to destroy our movements, and in so doing, destroy the future of the United States”…

And on the left, former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro called out his fellow Democrats in The Atlantic for their own turn against Israel, including his former Obama administration colleague, Ben Rhodes, who has emerged as one of the leading anti-Israel voices in the party. 

“The story of the [Oct. 7] attack and its aftermath — so often ignored in commentaries about the past two years — affirms that what the United States was dealing with was not a genocidal nation out to destroy all Palestinians but a deeply imperfect democratic partner beset by enemies, actual genocidal enemies, and terrorists sworn to its physical destruction,” Shapiro wrote.

“But there is a darker danger to the approach that Rhodes and others endorse. … If the test of fealty for the Democratic Party becomes supporting international efforts to pressure Israel to define itself out of existence, or expressing indifference to the campaign of Israel’s enemies to destroy it, we will be in a much uglier place. That is not a policy that would meet any moral test … Those calling for an end to U.S. support for Israel need to be mindful that, perhaps inadvertently, they are abetting this camp”…

Brad Lander, the outgoing New York City comptroller challenging Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), told the anti-Israel publication Zeteo News and its host Mehdi Hasan that politicians including former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Mayor Eric Adams and President Donald Trump are “delighted to weaponize antisemitism, to weaponize Jewish fear, against Muslims especially but really against inclusive, multi-racial democracy” in the wake of the Sydney terror attack. He also pledged to support efforts to recognize a Palestinian state if elected to Congress…

The Senate passed the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act this afternoon, sending the bill to the president’s desk. Read JI’s coverage of the bill’s components, including the full repeal of Caesar Act sanctions on Syria and funding joint programs with Israel…

The Senate also finally confirmed Jared Isaacman to head NASA, after he was initially nominated last December but then pulled by the White House during a spat between Trump and Elon Musk, who backed his nomination, and renominated in November…

FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino, Director Kash Patel’s right-hand, is contemplating leaving the bureau, multiple outlets report. Patel’s choice of Bongino for his deputy raised eyebrows at the time, given Bongino has no prior FBI experience — though he is a former Secret Service agent — and rose to prominence as a right-wing podcaster boosting claims that the 2020 election was “stolen”…

Israel signed its largest ever gas deal today with Egypt to the tune of around $35 billion, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced. The White House had reportedly pushed Israel to finalize the deal to set the groundwork for a trilateral meeting between the three countries…

Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani today to “launch the seventh annual U.S.-Qatar Strategic Dialogue,” working to “deepen cooperation on shared economic and strategic goals in the Middle East and across the world,” according to a readout from Rubio…

⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for an interview with a moderate New York Democrat hoping to reclaim the party’s pro-Israel bonafides in a state Senate race in the wake of New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s victory, and coverage of a fiery speech by conservative commentator Ben Shapiro at the Heritage Foundation today on antisemitism on the political right.

Turning Point USA’s annual America Fest summit will kick off in Phoenix, Ariz.; Opening night will include speeches from Erika Kirk, now CEO of TPUSA after the killing of her husband; Shapiro; actor and activist Russell Brand; and podcast hosts Matt Walsh and Tucker Carlson. The organization’s attempt to navigate its messaging about the identity of the GOP, including its stance on Israel, in the wake of its founder’s death will be on full display as both pro- and anti-Israel commentators, including Shapiro and Carlson, take the stage.

In Washington, the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington will hold the last in its series of “Lox and Legislators” breakfasts in D.C. with speakers including outgoing Mayor Muriel Bowser and Attorney General Brian Schwalb.

The Brooklyn Nets vs. Miami Heat NBA game taking place at the Barclays Center in New York will pay tribute to the victims of the Hanukkah terror attack in Sydney, including participation by the nephew of slain Rabbi Eli Schlanger.  

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Trump warns that Israel, ‘Jewish lobby’ have lost influence in D.C.

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SANDERS’ STATEMENT

Bernie Sanders pivots from sympathy toward Sydney shooting victims to criticizing Netanyahu

Netanyahu said on Sunday that Jerusalem had previously warned Australia’s PM that Palestinian statehood recognition endangered Jews in the country

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President Donald Trump warned on Tuesday that Israel and the “Jewish lobby” have lost their influence in Washington and that Congress is “becoming antisemitic,” in a holiday message delivered to attendees at the White House’s annual Hanukkah party.

Trump expressed concern about the shift while delivering remarks from the East Room to a who’s who of lawmakers and prominent Jewish figures ahead of a ceremonial menorah lighting. The president repeatedly cautioned that the Jewish community and its allies “have to be very careful because bad things are happening” to Jewish people and to Israel’s global standing, citing the deadly attack on a Hanukkah event in Sydney, Australia, over the weekend and the denials of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel. 

“You see what goes on in Australia. Or Oct. 7, how about Oct. 7? And then you have people that deny it ever happened. How about the people that deny, like they deny the Holocaust,” Trump said. 

In reference to a compilation of footage taken during the Oct. 7 attacks and shown to journalists, legislators and other officials, Trump said, “I saw tape that — I wish I never saw it. Actually, I wish I never saw it. … There’s no denying [what took place on Oct. 7], but then they’ll say, ‘Oh, the tape was a rigged tape. It was a tape that never existed. They made it up. It’s just propaganda.’ I don’t know if they believe it. I don’t think they believe it.”

“You have to be very, very careful. Bad things are happening and we’re not going to let that happen while I’m president,” he continued. “The DOJ and Harmeet [Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for civil rights at the Justice Department], we’re not going to let it happen, but please, please be vigilant and careful because you have some bad people that are now in Congress.” 

The president discussed the changes to Israel’s political standing in the U.S. and the growing number of Israel critics on Capitol Hill, noting his late father’s relationship with the Jewish community in New York, something he mentioned throughout the speech. Trump told the crowd how he and his siblings “grew up respecting and loving Jewish people. You know, you don’t even think about it in Brooklyn and Queens.”

“If you go back 10, 12, 15 years ago at the most, the strongest lobby in Washington was the Jewish lobby. It was Israel. That’s no longer true. You have to be very careful,” Trump said. “You have a Congress in particular which is becoming antisemitic. You have AOC [Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY)] plus three, you have those people. [Democratic Rep.] Ilhan Omar, she hates Jewish people. You have to be very careful because there’s been a big change.”

“My father would tell me: The most powerful lobby that there is in this country is the Jewish lobby. It’s the Israeli lobby. It’s not that way anymore. You have a lot of people in your way,” he added. “You have a lot of people that don’t want to help Israel. You have a lot of people in Congress that don’t like Israel. You have a lot of people in Congress that in a way … they hate Israel. They hate Israel.”

Trump admitted that the realignment against Israel and the American Jewish community’s inclusion in domestic politics came as a surprise to him.

“If you would have told me 15 years ago that that was possible, I would have said, there’s no way, there’s no way that’s possible, but it’s happening, and obviously, it’s getting progressively worse,” he explained. “Less so in the Senate, but the Senate’s starting also. You get glimmers, you know? When I’m in the back rooms talking to people, you get glimmers of statements that you say, ‘Whoa, where did that come from?’ So we have to be, we have to be very careful, because bad things are happening.”

Among the members of Congress in the crowd as the president spoke were Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Jared Moskowitz (D-NJ), Paul Gosar (R-AZ), David Kustoff (R-TN), Ronny Jackson (R-TX), Mike Lawler (R-NY), Max Miller (R-OH), Craig Goldman (R-TX) and Randy Fine (R-FL). Administration officials in attendance included Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick; White House Staff Secretary Will Scharf; Rabbi Yehouda Kaploun, the Trump administration’s nominee to be the State Department special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism; and Harmeet Dhillon.

GOP megadonor Miriam Adelson; Fox News host Mark Levin; Mort Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America; Norm Coleman, national chairman of the Republican Jewish Coalition; RJC CEO Matt Brooks; Israeli-American Council CEO Elan Carr; John Catsimatidis, a businessman and talk radio host from New York; far-right commentator Laura Loomer; constitutional scholar Alan Dershowitz; former White House Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt; Avi Berkowitz, a former White House adviser during the first Trump administration; American Jewish Committee CEO Ted Deutch; former Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel; journalist Douglas Murray; Chabad’s Yossi Farro; RNC spokeswoman Liz Pipko; talk radio host Sid Rosenberg; rapper Kosha Dillz; and Boca Raton Mayor Scott Singer were spotted at the gathering.

Michael Bornstein and Jerry Wartski, two Holocaust survivors in attendance, watched Trump deliver his remarks from the front of the audience.

Trump invited several guests on stage to offer brief messages of their own, including Adelson, Levin, Rosenberg and Pipko. Adelson, who Trump noted was a top donor in the 2024 cycle, told the crowd she had spoken to Dershowitz during the event about the constitutional viability of Trump seeking a third term. “I said, ‘Alan, I agree with you. Four more years.’ So, we can do it. Think about it,” Adelson told Trump, prompting the room to erupt in applause.

The event, which took place in the East Room amid ongoing construction in the East Wing, came one night after Vice President JD Vance held a Hanukkah gathering at the vice president’s residence at the Naval Observatory. It also came hours after the White House held an afternoon reception for a smaller group of Jewish attendees. Conservative commentator Josh Hammer and former Auburn University men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl were among those spotted at that gathering.

The band at the evening reception played a mix of orchestra renditions of Hanukkah songs and smooth jazz as guests mingled and admired the blue and white Hanukkah ornaments on the four large Christmas trees in the East Room, two at each entrance. 

The menorah lighting was led by Trump, Lutnick, Scharf and Rabbi Levi Shemtov, the executive vice president of American Friends of Lubavitch (Chabad). Trump revealed that he did not realize Scharf was a practicing Jew until hearing him recite the prayer so easily on stage.

“I didn’t know he was that Jewish,” Trump said to Scharf with a smile. “You are seriously Jewish.”

Shemtov thanked Trump for showing “solidarity with the Jewish people and Israel,” telling the president as he stood just off stage, “You don’t just express solidarity. You practice solidarity with the Jewish people. And you practice solidarity with Israel, perhaps in a way we’ve never seen before.” 

Trump’s support for the Jewish community, Shemtov said, was “to the extent that many people say and many people believe that you may very well be — even among the friends of Israel and the Jewish people we’ve had — the most, the strongest, the deepest friend that Israel, and the Jewish people have ever had here in the White House.”

Republican consultant Arie Lipnick hosted an afterparty following the official White House reception. Attendees included Kaploun, Shemtov, Fine, Singer, Adam and Ellen Beren, Jewish Federations of North America CEO Eric Fingerhut, CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations William Daroff, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Rob Garson and Johnathan Burkan, former Deputy Special Envoys to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism Aaron Keyak and Ellie Cohanim, NORPAC NY Chair Trudy Stern, Commerce General Counsel Pierre Gentin and Michael Oved from the White House Council of Economic Advisors.

Good Tuesday afternoon!

This P.M. edition is reserved for our premium subscribers — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.

It’s me again — Danielle Cohen-Kanik, U.S. editor at Jewish Insider and curator, along with assists from my colleagues, of the Daily Overtime. Please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts and feedback by replying to this email.

📡On Our Radar

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

The co-chairs of the House Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Antisemitism are urging Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to act more forcefully to protect Australia’s Jewish community and implement months-old recommendations from the country’s antisemitism envoy, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

In a letter sent today, the lawmakers said that there were repeated “warning signs” before the Sunday massacre in Sydney targeting a Hanukkah celebration, including firebombings of synagogues, graffiti, assaults and threats of violence, which “have now led to a tragic reality.”

They noted that Jillian Segal, the Australian special envoy to combat antisemitism, released 49 recommendations to be implemented across a range of institutions in July, and questioned what the Australian government has done to enact that plan and how it will protect the Jewish community going forward…

The Coast Guard quietly implemented its new policy downgrading the status of swastikas from prohibited hate symbols to only “potentially divisive,” after having said it would scrap the change due to widespread backlash, including from members of Congress…

The Trump administration expanded its travel ban today to include individuals from five additional countries, among them being Syria, which the White House has otherwise been welcoming into the international community, as well as individuals with Palestinian Authority-issued travel documents…

The Department of Defense is preparing for a major restructuring, The Washington Post reports, including consolidating U.S. Central Command, European Command and Africa Command under a new organization called the U.S. International Command. “Such moves would complement other efforts by the administration to shift resources from the Middle East and Europe and focus foremost on expanding military operations in the Western Hemisphere,” sources with knowledge on the matter told the Post…

The U.S. and Qatar are drawing up contracts for Doha’s acquisition of F-35 fighter jets, Israeli media reports, raising concerns about the Jewish state’s qualitative military edge among Israeli officials. In response, they are reportedly compiling their own package of requests from the U.S., including more advanced fighter jets and munitions…

A conference hosted by CENTCOM in Doha today with dozens of countries to work on the International Stabilization Force for Gaza did not make meaningful progress, a European official told The Times of Israel, including failing to adequately determine the force’s mandate and its role in disarming Hamas…

A new Siena poll of New York voters released today found 35% of Jewish respondents view New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani favorably, up from the 18% of respondents who said the same last month. Among all respondents, Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul led GOP challengers in head-to-head matchups with both Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman; Hochul received around 50% of the vote to Stefanik’s 30% and Blakeman’s 25%… 

Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for civil rights at the Department of Justice, said today that her office would investigate a disturbing video of several Orthodox Jews being harassed and physically assaulted in the New York City subway…

The guest list for a New York Young Republicans gala last Saturday, which was attended by members of Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, also included a former producer for former Rep. Matt Gaetz’s (R-FL) show who was fired for posting an animated video depicting Jews as cockroaches counting money; Jared Taylor, the editor of a white supremacist website called American Renaissance; and a streamer who goes by Sneako, known for posting antisemitic content, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reports. Neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes also claimed he received an invitation, which was rescinded at the last minute…

Administration officials lined up to release statements in defense of White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles after a Vanity Fair interview released this morning quoted her maligning President Donald Trump and his top Cabinet secretaries, which she said was “disingenuously framed” (though Trump himself said he agreed with her characterization in the interview that he has an “alcoholic’s personality”).

In one of several conversations with author Chris Whipple, Wiles said about Trump’s October appearance at the Knesset, where he lauded Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s war effort, “I’m not sure [Trump] fully realizes that there’s an audience here that doesn’t love it.”

Whipple also asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio if he would challenge Vice President JD Vance in the 2028 Republican presidential primary, to which Rubio said, “If JD Vance runs for president, he’s going to be our nominee, and I’ll be one of the first people to support him”…

Months after the merger of Paramount Skydance brought new leadership to CBS News, including The Free Press’ Bari Weiss as editor-in-chief, in part to address the channel’s perceived bias, Trump wrote on social media today, “For those people that think I am close with the new owners of CBS, please understand that 60 Minutes has treated me far worse since the so-called ‘takeover,’ than they have ever treated me before. If they are friends, I’d hate to see my enemies!” Trump has previously spoken positively of David Ellison, Paramount’s CEO, who has engaged extensively with the White House, including about an ongoing bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery…

New York magazine profiles Weiss’ journey from The New York Times to The Free Press to CBS News, where her hiring allowed Ellison to “signal with a single stroke that the new CBS News was pro-Israel, anti-woke, and MAGA-amenable — all attributes Weiss spent years cultivating in L.A. and that could come in handy in Ellison’s dealings with the Trump administration”…

⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for a preview of the race for Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District, where Gov. Josh Shapiro’s endorsement in the Democratic primary may be a sign of how he hopes to build political capital as he prepares for a possible 2028 presidential campaign.

Conservative pro-Israel commentator Ben Shapiro will sit for a discussion tomorrow with embattled Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts. Their conversation comes amid heightened debate on the political right about antisemitism and anti-Israel animus, sparked by Roberts’ defense of podcaster Tucker Carlson after he platformed neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes. (Two more Heritage board members resigned today over the scandal.)

The Israeli Embassy in Washington will host its Hanukkah reception and Jewish members of Congress — including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Sens. Brian Schatz (D-HI), Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Reps. Brad Schneider (D-IL), Brad Sherman (D-CA), Craig Goldman (R-TX), Dan Goldman (D-NY), David Kustoff (R-TN), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), Greg Landsman (D-OH), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), Jerry Nadler (D-NY), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Max Miller (R-OH) and Randy Fine (R-FL) — will host the annual Capitol Hill Hanukkah celebration.

In the evening, President Donald Trump will deliver an end-of-year address to the nation.  

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VANCE’S VIEW

JD Vance links youth antisemitism to immigration, demographics of Gen Z

‘I would say there’s a difference between not liking Israel (or disagreeing with a given Israeli policy) and anti-semitism,’ the vice president added

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Good Monday afternoon!

This P.M. edition is reserved for our premium subscribers — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.

It’s me again — Danielle Cohen-Kanik, U.S. editor at Jewish Insider and curator, along with assists from my colleagues, of the Daily Overtime. Please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts and feedback by replying to this email.

📡On Our Radar

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Just a day after the deadly terror attack on a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney, Australia, U.S. authorities announced they had foiled an alleged terror plot by an anti-Israel, anti-American extremist group. The group — the Turtle Island Liberation Front — appears to also be one of the organizers of an anti-Israel protest that targeted a Los Angeles synagogue this month, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports. 

Four members of the TILF were arrested over the weekend in the Mojave Desert over a plot to set off pipe bombs in a coordinated attack at midnight on New Year’s Eve targeting U.S. companies in Los Angeles and Orange County, Calif., authorities revealed today.

Earlier this month, TILF’s LA chapter posted a “call to action” on its Instagram urging followers to target the “bloody war criminals” and “genocidal monsters” from Israeli defense contractor Elbit Systems and listed an address that corresponds with the Wilshire Boulevard Temple building where an event featuring a researcher from Elbit was taking place at the same date and time. Protesters entered the synagogue and disrupted the event, with one person shattering a glass vase and chanting profanities. Two people were arrested during the incident…

Jewish Senate Democrats released a joint statement on yesterday’s attack, saying, “The disturbing wave of antisemitism around the globe has struck anxiety and fear into the hearts of every Jewish community. Some have faced harassment, vandalism, and discrimination. Others, violence as brutal as what we saw yesterday in Sydney.”

“We must speak out against all discrimination, from heinous acts like today to the normalization of antisemitic rhetoric, and the attempts to blur the line between political disagreement and antisemitic hate,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) wrote. 

Missing from the signatories was Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) — he issued a separate statement yesterday calling antisemitism “a disgusting and cowardly ideology — and it is growing worldwide.” Sanders called for all to “come together to confront and defeat antisemitism wherever it exists — and we must be equally committed to fighting all forms of racism, white supremacy, xenophobia, and bigotry”…

Elsewhere on the Hill, Trump’s nominee to be U.S. ambassador for international religious freedom, former Rep. Mark Walker (R-NC), has not yet received a confirmation hearing due to behind-the-scenes opposition from his former opponent, Rep. Ted Budd (R-NC), who defeated Walker in a heated primary race three years ago, NBC News reports. Walker will likely need to be renominated in 2026 in order to receive a hearing…

The White House conveyed its displeasure with Israel’s Saturday strike on a senior Hamas commander in a private message to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, U.S. officials told Axios, calling it a violation of the U.S.-led ceasefire. 

“The White House message to Netanyahu was: ‘If you want to ruin your reputation and show that you don’t abide by agreements be our guest, but we won’t allow you to ruin President Trump’s reputation after he brokered the deal in Gaza,’” a senior U.S. official told the outlet…

A senior State Department official and two GOP members of Congress met Friday with members of Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which has long faced accusations of extremism and pro-Nazi sympathies, JI’s Marc Rod reports.

The State Department meeting is in line with the recently released National Security Strategy, which stated that it would be U.S. policy to boost anti-European Union and anti-immigration parties in the European Union.

Special Envoy Ric Grenell said that those criticizing the meeting “don’t understand tough diplomacy.” Responding to critiques online, Grenell wrote, “Talking is a tactic. We are tired of failed diplomacy where you don’t talk to people and think it’s a punishment. Your guy [former President] Joe Biden didn’t talk to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin for 4 years while a war raged”…

Harvard Hillel’s Orthodox rabbi, Ethan Fried, and his wife, Bella, were placed on administrative leave on Friday pending an investigation, The Harvard Crimson reports. “The decision was announced less than four hours before the start of Shabbat in a Hillel WhatsApp chat for Orthodox students, without advance notice. Hillel leadership did not disclose the reason for the leave, which took effect immediately”…

Former Vice President Kamala Harris is laying the groundwork for another run for president in 2028, Axios reports, including expanding her book tour, appearing before the Democratic National Committee and changing her rhetoric to go after the “status quo”…

The Atlantic’s Yair Rosenberg writes about the alarming rise of antisemitism among America’s youth: “The research collectively suggests that America is becoming more anti-Semitic because its young people are becoming more anti-Semitic. This finding flies in the face of the folk wisdom that prejudice is the province of the old and will die out with them. That maxim may be true of some bigotries, but anti-Semitism is not one of them. Instead, in the United States, the opposite is happening: Anti-Jewish prejudice is growing precisely because it is the domain of the next generation, not the previous one”…

⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for more reporting on the fallout of yesterday’s terror attack in Sydney, including political ramifications in the U.S.

Tomorrow, the Hanukkah celebrations continue in Washington with the White House Hanukkah reception and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s (D-FL) annual soiree, as well as in New York with a reception at The Jewish Museum hosted by UJA-Federation of New York and the Israeli mission to the U.N. and another hosted by American Friends of the Anu Museum of the Jewish People honoring Albert Bouria, CEO and chair of Pfizer, and Adonis Georgiadis, Greece’s health minister.

On the Hill, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs will co-host a briefing on Jewish-Muslim solidarity with the Muslim Public Affairs Council, featuring Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Lateefah Simon (D-CA), JCPA CEO Amy Spitalnick and MPAC President Salam Al-Marayati. The MPAC has received criticism for its anti-Israel activism, including for backing a resolution by Rep. Rashia Tlaib (D-MI) claiming Israel committed genocide in Gaza and for repeatedly accusing U.S. officials of being beholden to Israel.

Meanwhile in Doha, CENTCOM will host a conference with more than 25 countries to continue to work out logistics for the International Stabilization Force for Gaza. 

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PRIMARY MATCHUP

Lander struggles to land hits on Goldman — beyond disagreeing on Israel

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President Donald Trump and senior U.S. officials took a moment during the start of Hanukkah to reflect on the deadly antisemitic terrorist attack over the weekend at a holiday celebration in Sydney, Australia. 

The attack, which occurred Sunday when two gunmen opened fire at a Hanukkah event on Sydney’s Bondi Beach, killed at least 15 people, including a Holocaust survivor. Over 40 others were injured.

Speaking at the White House Sunday night, Trump called the shooting a “purely antisemitic attack,” and praised Ahmed al Ahmed, a Muslim man and bystander who stepped in to disarm the gunman at Bondi Beach. Ahmed is undergoing surgery for gunshot wounds. 

“It’s a very brave person actually who went and attacked one of the shooters, and saved a lot of lives,” said Trump. “Great respect to that man that did that.”

Trump added that in the wake of the attack, Jews should celebrate Hanukkah “proudly.” The president has largely dismissed safety concerns in the U.S. and told reporters on Fox News on Sunday that Jewish Americans should “be proud of who you are.” 

Antisemitic incidents have been on the rise around the world, particularly since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 terror attack on Israel. On Friday night, a California home decorated for Hanukkah was the target of a drive-by shooting. In Amsterdam on Sunday, anti-Israel protesters gathered and set off smoke bombs near a venue that was scheduled to hold a Hanukkah concert performed by Israeli cantor Shai Abramson.  

During the National Hanukkah Menorah lighting ceremony in Washington on Sunday, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick echoed Trump’s message about the attack and insisted that Jewish Americans “celebrate proudly.”

“Today we light the light of Hanukkah to bring light to much of this darkness,” said Lutnick. “It is a difficult and tough day for what we’ve lost, but we must always celebrate being Jews.”

On Sunday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a call with Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong to discuss the attack in Sydney. 

“The United States strongly condemns the heinous terrorist attack in Australia targeting a Hanukkah celebration hosted by Chabad-Lubavitch of Bondi,” said State Department deputy spokesperson Tommy Pigott. “We stand in solidarity with the Jewish community and with the Australian people as we pray for the victims and their families. We are grateful to Australian first responders and bystanders for their heroic response.”

In his statement, Pigott called rising antisemitism a “scourge that must be confronted and defeated.”

“No community should have to fear publicly celebrating their faith and traditions due to the threat of extremist violence and terror,” said Pigott. “There can be no compromise with antisemitism.”

Federal authorities foiled an alleged terror plot by an anti-Israel, anti-American extremist group, officials announced on Monday. The group — the Turtle Island Liberation Front — appears to also be one of the organizers of an anti-Israel protest that targeted a Los Angeles synagogue this month. 

Four members of TILF were arrested over the weekend in the Mojave Desert, where they had allegedly gathered to attempt to construct improvised explosive devices. According to Bill Essayli, the first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, they planned to set off the pipe bombs in a coordinated attack at midnight on New Year’s Eve targeting U.S. companies in Los Angeles and Orange County, Calif. 

“Last Friday, Dec. 12, the defendants took a significant step to carry out their plans,” Essayli said at a press conference Monday, noting that they traveled to a remote campsite near Twentynine Palms in San Bernardino County to begin assembling the bombs. “They had everything they needed to make an operational bomb.” 

Attorney General Pam Bondi described TILF as “a far-left, pro-Palestine, anti-government, and anti-capitalist group” in a social media post about the arrests. The four people arrested were identified as Audrey Ilene Carroll, Dante Garfield, Zachary Aaron Page and Tina Lai. They face charges of conspiracy and possession of a destructive device. FBI Director Kash Patel announced on Monday that a fifth individual with ties to the plot was arrested in New Orleans. 

Carroll had a poster at her home that said “Death to America. Long live Turtle Island and Palestine,” according to prosecutors. Turtle Island is a phrase used by some Native Americans to describe North America. 

TILF appears to be an organizer of an anti-Israel protest that targeted Wilshire Boulevard Temple, one of the largest synagogues in Los Angeles, earlier this month. 

The group posted a “call to action” on its Instagram urging followers to target the “bloody war criminals” and “genocidal monsters” from Elbit Systems, an Israeli defense company, because of the purported use of Elbit’s AI technology in Los Angeles’ Koreatown neighborhood. “Never let them live in peace,” the caption read. 

The post listed an address on Wilshire Boulevard for the demonstration but did not name the location. The address corresponds with the Wilshire Boulevard Temple building where an event to teach Koreans about security strategies, featuring an AI researcher from Elbit Systems, was taking place at the same date and time. 

Protesters entered the synagogue and disrupted the event, with one person shattering a glass vase and chanting profanities. Two people were arrested during the incident. L.A. Mayor Karen Bass called the activists’ actions “abhorrent” and pledged to send more security to houses of worship. 

Other posts on TILF’s Instagram call for violence.

“Peaceful protest will never be enough,” one graphic reads. “The only way out is through resistance.” 

The account’s most recent post was promoting a Palestine-themed holiday market in Los Angeles last weekend. 

Prosecutors announced on Monday that the investigation into the TILF New Year’s Eve plot was due in part to an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in September “to root out left-wing domestic terror organizations in our country such as antifa and other radical groups,” according to Essayli.

The hotly anticipated primary matchup between outgoing New York City Comptroller Brad Lander and Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) was widely expected to be a bellwether race that would test the strength of pro-Israel sentiment within the Democratic Party.

Featuring two prominent Jewish New Yorkers with sharply opposing views on the Middle East, the race notably pits Lander, an outspoken critic of Israel and its war in Gaza, against Goldman, a more moderate incumbent viewed as a strong defender of the Jewish state.

But nearly a week after announcing his challenge, Lander, the progressive New York City comptroller, is so far tiptoeing around such differences, even as they are arguably the driving contrast in the primary. Instead, he has more actively emphasized a message that is casting Goldman as ineffective in countering President Donald Trump — declaring it is “time for fighters” and “not folders” in Congress.

His top surrogates — including a range of vocal Israel critics including Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Zohran Mamdani, the mayor-elect of New York City — have made no mention of Middle East policy in their statements endorsing his campaign to represent New York’s 10th Congressional District, which covers Lower Manhattan and a swath of northwest Brooklyn.

“We need more fighters in Washington now more than ever, and Brad is a fighter,” Warren said last week, adding that Lander has “the grit to not just win this race, but deliver for working families.”

Such comments, however, have failed to note that Goldman, who was elected to Congress in 2022, is recognized as a leading Trump antagonist, having served as the top prosecutor in the president’s first impeachment case. Like Lander, he has frequently confronted the Trump administration on a range of issues including its immigration agenda. Last week, for instance, Goldman seized the spotlight during a fiery House hearing in which he clashed with Kristi Noem, the Homeland Security secretary — accusing her of illegally deporting asylum seekers in a grilling that drew headlines and social media virality.

Warren’s team did not respond to a request for comment when asked why she was not satisfied with Goldman’s record opposing Trump and his administration’s policies.

The early effort by Lander and some of his allies to employ rhetoric focused largely on fighting Trump has obscured how Israel is the clearest dividing line in the race — raising questions about Lander’s strategy as he seeks to shape a narrative Goldman’s supporters have dismissed as a misdirection. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), in a statement last week, countered that her colleague is one of the “best members” she has “ever served with” and said he “is exactly the right fighter for this moment.”

With opposition to Trump likely a major motivating force for midterm voters, Lander is now facing scrutiny over his attacks targeting a two-term incumbent who has long staked his reputation on effectively battling the president. Meanwhile, in the wake of Israel’s recent ceasefire with Hamas, it remains to be seen if Gaza will continue to be an animating issue heading into the June primary election that is already shaping up to be a heated and expensive race.

Goldman, a Levi Strauss heir whose estimated net worth is up to $250 million, spent nearly $5 million of his own money during his first primary bid three years ago, when he narrowly prevailed in a crowded field of progressive rivals who split the vote. Lander has also targeted Goldman’s personal wealth, saying that the “oligarchy” should not “be able to buy a seat in Congress.”

Even as Lander, a former longtime city councilman from Brooklyn, touts high-profile support from the Senate, House progressives have for their part so far stayed on the sidelines. 

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), an Israel critic who backed Lander’s comptroller bid in 2021 and called him a “talented hero” after his arrest by federal agents at an immigration courthouse last June, said she is “not weighing into that race right now,” echoing other like-minded lawmakers who also declined to take sides in the looming primary.

While Lander has long identified as a progressive Zionist, he has been outspoken in criticizing Israel’s conduct in Gaza, accusing the country of war crimes and ethnic cleansing. He has additionally called for conditioning U.S. aid to Israel, a measure Goldman has rejected. 

“What Lander is counting on now is the sentiment of the moment, which is further to the left and more anti-Israel,” Hank Sheinkopf, a veteran Democratic consultant in New York City, told Jewish Insider in a recent interview.

In a speech before the mayoral election, where he rose to prominence as a top surrogate for Mamdani after losing his own primary bid, Lander advocated for building a “coalition of anti-Zionists and liberal Zionists,” seeking to unify opposing factions to end “the horrors in Gaza.” 

Goldman, for his part, chose not to endorse Mamdani, citing concerns about his approach to Israel and rising antisemitism, but he has said he looks forward to working with the mayor-elect on promoting his affordability agenda.

“What Lander is counting on now is the sentiment of the moment, which is further to the left and more anti-Israel,” Hank Sheinkopf, a veteran Democratic consultant in New York City, told Jewish Insider in a recent interview.

Still, in the days after launching his campaign, Lander has sent mixed signals about how he plans to highlight differences with his opponent on Israel. 

In his campaign announcement video released last Wednesday, for example, he took a thinly veiled jab at Goldman in vowing not to do “AIPAC’s bidding,” referring to the increasingly demonized pro-Israel group, but did not mention the incumbent by name.

Lander told The New York Daily News in an interview last week that he views contrasts over Gaza as ancillary to their approaches to confronting the Trump administration, drawing raised eyebrows from observers who noted that hitting Goldman on his strongest issue avoids addressing a more salient tension over Middle East policy.

“On this issue, we have some disagreements,” he said of Israel, “but the core rationale is because it’s time for fighters not folders,” Lander elaborated on his approach to the race.

One Jewish community leader supportive of Goldman expressed frustration at the logic behind Lander’s challenge. “I’m just pissed that there’s not a single thing they can point to what Goldman isn’t doing right other than being pro-Israel,” he told JI, speaking on the condition of anonymity to address a sensitive subject.

During a campaign kickoff event in Brooklyn last week, Lander accused Goldman of failing to hold Israel accountable for its behavior in Gaza, saying “only I, of the two of us, recognize that Netanyahu’s leveling of schools and hospitals and the destruction of Gaza was a war crime,” in reference to the Israeli prime minister. He also reiterated that New Yorkers “don’t want elected officials who do AIPAC bidding in a district that recognizes that our safety and our freedom is bound up together.”

Lauren Hitt, a spokesperson for Lander’s campaign, disputed criticism that he is avoiding Israel as a top issue. “Brad literally called out AIPAC in his launch video, so safe to say he will continue to spend quite a bit of time discussing Israel in this race,” she said in a statement to JI on Friday. 

On Friday, Lander also said on social media that, if he were a member of Congress, he would introduce a resolution censuring Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) over his recent incendiary comments calling for Muslims to be “destroyed.” Lander, without directly citing his opponent, also noted he would “not have voted with Republicans” to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) over incendiary comments against Israel during the Israel-Hamas war in 2023, as Goldman himself had done.

Hours later, Goldman also denounced Fine in an X post for remarks assailing Muslims as “barbarians,” calling the statement “despicable and unacceptable” and saying he “must apologize and retract this tweet immediately.”

Lauren Hitt, a spokesperson for Lander’s campaign, disputed criticism that he is avoiding Israel as a top issue. “Brad literally called out AIPAC in his launch video, so safe to say he will continue to spend quite a bit of time discussing Israel in this race,” she said in a statement to JI on Friday. 

“Brad will also speak to the other issues concerning NY-10 voters, including affordability — another topic where the heir to the Levi Strauss fortune is out of step with the district’s experience. NY-10 voters don’t need a representative that’s palling around with Don[ald Trump] Jr. in the Bahamas, they need someone who understands and represents their views,” Hitt added, referring to an October social media post in which Trump’s son sarcastically thanked Goldman for his “kind words” about the president’s ceasefire and hostage deal during the government shutdown.

For now, it is unclear how AIPAC and pro-Israel groups more broadly are assessing the matchup — and if they will choose to engage in the primary. A spokesperson for AIPAC declined to weigh in. 

In 2022, AIPAC disclosed after Goldman had won his primary that its super PAC, United Democracy Project, had quietly contributed at least $350,000 to a separate group established near the end of the race to fund a series of attack ads against Yuh-Line Niou, a far-left rival who had drawn controversy for voicing alignment with the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement targeting Israel.

One pro-Israel consultant, who was granted anonymity to address a sensitive topic, suggested “AIPAC’s involvement in the race would probably be a negative against Goldman.” Mamdani, an ally of Lander who has long been a fierce critic of Israel, performed well in the district — where Goldman’s views on Israel have faced backlash from left-wing voters.

Democratic Majority for Israel, which is backing Goldman, had been wary of a one-on-one contest with Lander, whom polling has shown is a strong opponent, according to a person familiar with the group’s discussions. Lander’s early consolidation of progressive support helped to push two other rivals on the left not to run in the race, effectively clearing the field for the outgoing comptroller. A spokesperson for DMFI did not respond to requests for comment regarding its plans.

Goldman, meanwhile, said in an interview with a local news outlet last week he welcomes Lander’s challenge but is “not really thinking about” the race “right now.” A campaign spokesperson said that he is “focused on stopping” Trump and “will deal with Brad and other challengers in the new year,” when he is “planning to roll out a flood of” endorsements from fellow House members.

Despite differences over Israel, Goldman is also endorsed by J Street, a progressive Israel advocacy group that has long been close to Lander. A spokesperson for J Street told JI in a statement the group is “proud” to back Goldman and “we deeply value his pro-Israel, pro-peace and pro-democracy leadership.”

“Dan has a progressive record,” said Chris Coffey, a Democratic strategist. “It’s not always as far left on Israel as Brad, for sure, and that is one of the things that differentiates them on policy.” Israel, he added, “could be a defining issue in this race,” regardless of Lander’s messaging efforts to prioritize Trump.

“We are also grateful for our years-long friendship with Brad Lander, who is a vocal leader for our values. We know that the issue of peace is close to both of their hearts,” the spokesperson continued. “Ultimately, it is up to the district to determine who they want to represent them in Congress, and we are glad to see two J Street-aligned voices in this race.”

A top J Street official, speaking on background to address the primary, confirmed the group will not be engaging materially in the race as it is satisfied with both candidates’ records. “I expect our donor base will give to both,” the official told JI. “There’s definitely a split of opinion on this race, to say the least.”

“Dan has a progressive record,” said Chris Coffey, a Democratic strategist. “It’s not always as far left on Israel as Brad, for sure, and that is one of the things that differentiates them on policy.” Israel, he added, “could be a defining issue in this race,” regardless of Lander’s messaging efforts to prioritize Trump.

Lander, for his part, could also face backlash from far-left activists in the district who have bristled at his identification as a progressive Zionist and have taken issue with his investments in an Israeli arms producer as comptroller, even as he chose to cease holdings of Israel bonds during his four years in office.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which is focused largely on winning back the House in next year’s midterms, declined to comment on the primary, though it has traditionally backed incumbents.

Locally, a political advocacy group in the district called Brooklyn BridgeBuilders, which is dedicated to fighting antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment, is planning to support Goldman and is currently in the process of formalizing its strategy, according to Ramon Maislen, its CEO.

“The decision to challenge a highly effective liberal Jewish incumbent is incredibly fraught,” Maislen, a Jewish community activist who lives in Park Slope, told JI. “Dan is someone who has been unwavering in taking on Trump, defending our democracy and standing with the Jewish community.”

It has been nearly three months since President Donald Trump unveiled his 20-point peace proposal for Gaza, but officials have yet to explain how key aspects would function in practice or how Hamas’ entrenched presence in the enclave will be addressed. 

Under the plan, Gaza’s governance would be overseen by a Trump-led “Board of Peace,” followed by an international executive board expected to include Jared Kushner and White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff. Beneath the board would sit a technocratic Palestinian government of approximately a dozen Palestinians who are not affiliated with Hamas. 

Trump initially planned to announce board members by Christmas, but that timeline has slipped to early next year. On Thursday, the White House proposed that Nickolay Mladenov, a Bulgarian diplomat and former UN Middle East envoy, join the Trump-led board as an on-the-ground representative in Gaza. In such a role, Mladenov would be expected to work with a future Palestinian technocratic government.  

But as Trump focuses on hand-picking members for his ideal Palestinian governing body, experts told Jewish Insider that the administration has offered little clarity on how this layered structure would actually govern Gaza — or, more consequentially, how it can operate while armed Hamas terrorists remain in control of much of the enclave. 

“It just hasn’t been made clear on the issue of governance or security how this stuff is actually going to work, or how Hamas is going to be persuaded to step aside,” said Aaron David Miller, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “Is [the Board of Peace] the overriding executive authority that has the final say in Palestinian governance and security? If that’s the case, it’s going to fail because none of these members of the Board of Peace have the time or inclination to make those decisions.” 

Israel currently controls 53% of Gaza, as demarcated by the “Yellow Line,” while Hamas maintains control in the remaining western part of the enclave. Despite heavy losses, Hamas fighters continue to operate and have given no indication of relinquishing power. Miller called the task of ensuring Hamas is “stripped of its weapons” an “extremely difficult” objective.

“There is no indication that Hamas is ready to meet its commitments to disarm,” said Dana Stroul, research director at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “If anything, [Hamas’] surviving leaders are deliberately muddying the messaging to make their terrorist organization appear reasonable and a legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.”

To prevent a Hamas resurgence, Trump has made the deployment of an International Stabilization Force (ISF) a central pillar of the plan. But the administration has yet to define the composition of the force. Israel has objected to Turkish participation, and while countries such as Azerbaijan and Indonesia have been floated as part of the force, it lacks definitive commitments. 

Elliott Abrams, who served as Iran envoy during Trump’s first term, told JI that the White House has yet to “seriously address the question of who would maintain security in Gaza and prevent a Hamas recovery.”

“To answer that question you have to answer, ‘Who is willing to shoot at Hamas terrorists?’” said Abrams. “The ISF proposal was unrealistic in that it never even asked this, much less answered it. The idea that Muslim or European or U.N. forces would shoot [at Hamas] was never realistic.” 

Miller echoed that concern and questioned how an international force would respond in the event Hamas fighters “emerge from tunnels crossing the line of control.”

“Would forces from Arab and Muslim countries fire on Palestinians? Will they be able to maintain their legitimacy if the Israelis are unhappy or dissatisfied with the response of this force and choose to undertake a response of their own?” said Miller. “That’s an extraordinarily challenging set of problems that need to be unpacked.”

The Trump administration indicated on Thursday that it is planning to appoint a two-star American general to command the stabilization force. But experts said the administration should first lay out a concrete plan of what it expects from ISF participants. 

“Who heads [the stabilization force] is much less important, frankly, then what it’s going to do,” said Miller. “It doesn’t matter who sits on top of the organization or the construct if it’s feckless, weak and riddled with contradictions and dysfunction.” 

Stroul agreed, adding that without “clarity on the missions and activities” of the ISF, the force will “encounter challenges.”

“Without a clear plan of responsibility for security on the ground, it is difficult to imagine international organizations and funding coming into Gaza to start the work of rubble clearing and reconstruction,” said Stroul.

Good Thursday afternoon!

This P.M. edition is reserved for our premium subscribers — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.

It’s me again — Danielle Cohen-Kanik, U.S. editor at Jewish Insider and curator, along with assists from my colleagues, of the Daily Overtime. Please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts and feedback by replying to this email.

📡On Our Radar

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-NC) is preparing for a primary rematch in her deep-blue Durham-area district, where Durham County Commissioner Nida Allam, whom Foushee beat in 2022, announced she will challenge her once again. 

The race will look different this time around — four years ago, Foushee was one of the first beneficiaries of the AIPAC-affiliated United Democracy Project super PAC, which spent more than $2.1 million to help her defeat Allam, who has an extensive history of anti-Israel activism. The pro-Israel group was Foushee’s single largest donor in that race, which became the most expensive Democratic congressional primary in North Carolina history. 

Since then, though, Foushee has taken her own anti-Israel turn, including supporting efforts to block the transfer of offensive weapons to Israel, voting against numerous measures cracking down on Iran, the Houthis and the International Criminal Court as well as the Antisemitism Awareness Act, and announcing over the summer that she will not take money from AIPAC in 2026. It remains to be seen how the “AIPAC factor” will play into next year’s rematch, as both candidates now vie for the anti-Israel vote…

More candidate déjà vu: Former Rep. David Trone (D-MD) launched a primary challenge today against Rep. April McClain Delaney (D-MD) to win back his old seat in Maryland’s 6th Congressional District, which he held from 2020-2024. Trone, the billionaire owner of Total Wine & More, has been a major AIPAC donor and was a staunchly pro-Israel member of Congress. 

During his failed 2024 Senate bid, though, where he was defeated in the Democratic primary by Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), he took a more critical line against Israel over its war in Gaza. Questioned at a campaign event by the anti-Israel group IfNotNow, Trone said, “What happened on Oct. 7 was absolutely horrendous and incomprehensible. But what’s happened since then is also horrendous and incomprehensible,” calling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “a large part of our problem”…

In nearby Virginia, local Jewish groups including the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington issued a joint statement this afternoon calling for Sam Rasoul, the state delegate with a history of inflammatory anti-Israel rhetoric who announced he’s exploring a bid for Congress, to resign his position as chair of the Education Committee in the state’s House of Delegates.

Without mentioning his potential congressional run, the groups said Rasoul is “no longer fit to serve” as he “uses his position and platform to regularly spew vitriol toward the Jewish people”…

Mike Lindell, CEO of MyPillow and an ally of President Donald Trump, joined the Republican primary for governor of Minnesota today, hoping to challenge Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, who is running for a third term. Lindell, who rose to prominence for his promotion of the conspiracy theory that the 2020 presidential election was rigged, ran for chair of the Republican National Committee in 2023, though Trump did not offer him his endorsement then…

In Indiana, Republican state senators dealt a political blow to Trump this afternoon when they joined together with Democrats to vote down a redrawn congressional map that would have given Republicans a leg up in the state. Trump and his allies had extensively pressured the GOP-held state Senate to pass the map with threats of primary challenges and potentially withheld federal funds…

With just weeks until his inauguration, New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is expected to meet with the New York Board of Rabbis today, CNN reports, which is led by Reform Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch. Hirsch was one of the foremost Jewish voices raising alarm bells during Mamdani’s election over his hostility to Israel. 

“Several rabbis who are attending are planning to propose a unified agenda, asking Mamdani to back away from his rejection of Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state” and his support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, invitees told CNN. Several Jewish leaders also said they “will put pressure on other New York officials like Gov. Kathy Hochul and incoming city council speaker Julie Menin to not work with Mamdani more broadly if he follows through on promised anti-Israel moves and doesn’t provide more reassurances to Jews in the city”…

Politico chronicles Mamdani’s attempt to influence the city council speaker’s race between councilmembers Menin and Crystal Hudson, where Mamdani asked power brokers and organizations to hold off on their endorsements until he was able to assess the race himself. The mayor-elect’s sway seemed to be limited, though, as Menin, who was seen as less aligned with Mamdani, announced she had garnered enough support to win next month’s election, where she will become the first Jewish city council speaker…

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) prepared a letter to Israeli President Isaac Herzog requesting he pardon Netanyahu, Talking Points Memo scooped, weeks after Trump did the same. Without confirming if he had sent the letter, Fetterman stood by it: “It’s a pointless distraction,” he said about Netanyahu’s ongoing court proceedings. “I fully support it and I stand on the letter.”

In the correspondence, dated Dec. 2, Fetterman wrote, “In a world this dangerous, I question whether any democracy can afford to have its head of government spending valuable hours, day after day, in a courtroom rather than the situation room”…

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee struck a new tone on Israel’s September strike in Doha, Qatar, on Hamas operatives, telling the Turkey-based outlet Clash Report, “There’s been some talk that Israel attacked the country of Qatar — it did not. … There was one missile, it was aimed at one person. Now, unfortunately, there were some people who were near that missile strike that were injured or killed from it, but that was not an attack on the nation of Qatar. If that’s the new standard, then the United States must apologize for going after Osama bin Laden while he was in Pakistan being protected by the Pakistanis.”

Huckabee’s comparison of Qatar harboring Hamas operatives to Pakistan harboring bin Laden differs from the Trump administration’s policy thus far, where it has embraced Qatar and forced Netanyahu to apologize for the strike…

The New York Times reports on Syria’s effort to rebuild its military, which was entirely dismissed upon the fall of dictator Bashar al-Assad. 

“The military’s new command structure favors former fighters from Mr. al-Sharaa’s former rebel group [an Al-Qaida affiliate] — even over those who may have more expertise, according to many soldiers, commanders and analysts. And religious minorities have not yet been included in the military, although Syria is a religiously and ethnically diverse country that has already witnessed waves of sectarian violence,” the Times writes…

⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for an interview with Soviet-born activist Izabella Tabarovsky on her new book, Be a Refusenik: A Jewish Student’s Survival Guide, in which she encourages Jewish college students to reclaim their Zionism and take inspiration from the Soviet refuseniks of the 1980s.

The Hudson Institute will host a daylong summit on “Antisemitism as a National Security Threat” tomorrow, with speakers including Sebastian Gorka, senior director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council; Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee; Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, former State Department special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism; author Walter Russell Mead; and CNN commentator Scott Jennings, among others.

The White House will host a meeting with representatives from Israel, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the U.K., the United Arab Emirates and Australia tomorrow to kick off an initiative strengthening supply chains for AI development.

Saturday night, Alex Edelman will appear at Washington’s Sixth & I synagogue to perform his new show, “What Are You Going to Do,” with shows to follow over the next week in Brooklyn, N.Y., and Philadelphia.

On Sunday, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore will host a Hanukkah brunch reception at his official residence.

That evening, the annual National Menorah Lighting will take place on the Ellipse, in front of the White House. 

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

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Tensions escalated between Washington and Jerusalem this week over Israel’s handling of Syria and negotiations for a possible agreement to renew the 1974 ceasefire between the two neighboring countries, with adjustments.

Speaking at The Jerusalem Post conference in Washington on Wednesday, U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack, who also serves as the Trump administration’s Syria envoy, said the time is ripe for Israel and Syria to reach an agreement: “It’s the easiest place to show the world a soft hand and bridge grievances.”

In Barrack’s telling, an agreement between Syria and Israel will only be possible with an immediate, complete Israeli withdrawal from the buffer zone between the countries. The IDF has held the 155-square-mile area since the fall of Syrian President Bashar Assad a year ago, and Israel has sought to withdraw incrementally and remain at the peak of Mount Hermon.

Instead, Barrack said, “Let’s not fight over geography. What we’re concerned about is we’re not going to let Oct. 7 happen ever again,” so the focus should be on demilitarizing the area south of Damascus. “Syria knows its future depends on a security and border agreement with Israel. Their incentive is non-aggressive toward Israel,” Barrack said. However, he added, “After Oct. 7, Israel doesn’t trust anybody. … The Syrians have been unbelievably cooperative.” 

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, however, was skeptical in his remarks at the same event: “The gaps between us and Syria have widened. They have new demands. Of course, we want an agreement, but we are further from one now than we were a few weeks ago.”

Since Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa toppled and replaced Assad, Israel has been extremely skeptical about the former leader of Syria’s branch of Al-Qaida, whom Sa’ar and others have branded a “terrorist in a suit.” The concerns have not dissipated over the course of the last year, even as President Donald Trump embraced al-Sharaa as a “young, attractive guy” with a “tough past” and dropped sanctions, Europe moved towards lifting sanctions, as well, and Abraham Accords countries have accepted him.

“The train has left the station; the whole world accepts al-Sharaa as the legitimate leader of Syria and is ignoring his jihadi background as well as that of the people heading his military – but we can’t ignore it,” Sarit Zehavi, founder and president of the Alma Research and Education Center, which focuses on Israel’s north, told JI.

In late November, during an IDF raid on the town of Beit Jinn to arrest two Syrian terrorists, a firefight broke out, leaving 13 Syrians dead and six IDF soldiers injured.

In a celebration of a year since Assad’s fall, the Syrian Army paraded through the streets of Damascus, chanting “Gaza, Gaza, our rallying cry … From your blood I forge my ammunition.” Israel’s bellicose Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli shared the video with the message: “War is inevitable.”  

Zehavi quipped about the celebrations: “I’m not sleeping any better at night. The message is ‘we will save Syria from the Zionist occupation.’ A regime that wants peace doesn’t do these things, nor does a regime that is disconnecting itself from Islamism.” 

Beyond the concerns about al-Sharaa’s jihadi past seeping into the present, Jerusalem is skeptical about the longevity of his regime and the stability of Syria as one, cohesive political entity. 

Shira Efron, distinguished Israel policy chair and senior fellow at RAND, told JI that “the hilltops Israel is holding now in Syria, especially the Hermon, are really strategic, security-wise, and it doesn’t make sense to withdraw when you have a neighbor who is still unstable.” 

Israel is also concerned about the Druze minority in Syria, which has close ties to Israeli Druze, who are an important political constituency and hold prominent positions in the Israeli security establishment. Israel has pledged to protect the Druze in Syria, and the IDF has acted to that end.

“The greater mindset in Israel post-Oct. 7 is that we messed up so badly reading the intentions of an adversary that we are not taking any chances,” Efron said. “We are preemptively taking out their capabilities because we cannot trust their intentions, let alone when we are talking about a controversial figure with a very complicated past – and that’s the understatement of the century.”

While Efron acknowledged that “Israel has valid concerns,” she warned that time is not on its side. She said that Israel may have missed an opportunity to use the leverage it had to reach better terms earlier this year, when al-Sharaa was more eager to reach an agreement, the West had not fully embraced him and Trump was not cracking jokes with him in the Oval Office. 

Now, Zehavi said, “Israel thought it would be able to withdraw [from southern Syria] and stay in Hermon, widen the buffer zone and al-Sharaa doesn’t want either.”

That being said, Efron posited that Israel has room to maneuver within what appear to be the current parameters of the talks, including asking for American guarantees, negotiating timelines for withdrawal with stages conditioned on Damascus keeping its commitments to demilitarize southern Syria and demanding protections for the Druze.

Zehavi, however, said any agreement would be “with someone Israel can’t trust. It can only be based on guarantees. The worst-case scenario would be if, in the end, Syria is an Islamist state with Western support. That is what needs to be prevented.”

More broadly, Efron said, “it doesn’t make sense to get into battles with the Americans” or for Israel to “act like it’s being dragged kicking and screaming into agreements, like we forgot how to use the diplomacy muscle.” She was optimistic that an agreement could “pave the way to water cooperation and maybe further cooperation.”

Members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and expert witnesses on Wednesday debated the meaning and significance of President Donald Trump’s edict in September that he “will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank,” which came amid a reported effort earlier this year by the Israeli government to assert sovereignty over all or part of the territory.

The at-times contentious hearing focused on “Understanding Judea and Samaria: historical, strategic and political dynamics in U.S.-Israel Relations,” referring to the biblical term for the West Bank preferred by members of the Israeli government and also used by Republicans on the Foreign Affairs Committee.

Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), the chairman of the Foreign Affairs subcommittee on the Middle East, which hosted the hearing, asserted that Trump was only expressing his opposition to the annexation of territory not currently controlled by Israel.

“When the president is talking about annexing, again, I think it’s important to actually look at the map,” Lawler said. “Sixty percent of the West Bank is under Israeli control.” 

Lawler’s comments came in response to a remark from ranking member Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) highlighting Trump’s position on the issue.

“While some have argued that you don’t need to annex the West Bank because it’s already part of Israel, clearly that’s not what President Trump had in mind,” Sherman argued.

The back-and-forth set off a spat between the two members, with Sherman shouting a demand to be given additional time to respond to Lawler, and Lawler rebuking him in hushed tones as the hearing continued.

Lawler previously organized a private briefing for committee members with U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee on a similar subject.

Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL) pressed GOP witnesses over their apparent disagreements with Trump on the issue. Like Lawler, they made the case that Trump’s position had been misrepresented.

Eugene Kontorovich, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, argued that Trump’s position and the situation have not been “accurately characterized.”

“There have been proposals to extend Israeli civil law to those areas where Jewish communities are, in other words, to incorporate under Israeli law, parts of Judea and Samaria,” Kontorovich said. “President Trump’s plan is consistent with his 2020 vision for peace, where Israel would, in fact, expand Israeli civil jurisdiction specifically to those areas, and it seems his comments were simply a reaffirmation of that, that’s how I understand it.”

Schneider responded: “I think his comments were clear: ‘There will not be annexation,’ was I believe exactly what he said,” to which Kontorovich interjected, “of the West Bank.”

The Vision for Peace plan that Kontorovich referenced would also have created a Palestinian state. Plans announced by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the time to annex Israeli settlements immediately upon the release of that plan were rejected and blocked by Trump in 2020.

Multiple Democrats along with Democratic witness Jon Alterman, the Brzezinski chair in global security and geostrategy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, raised comparisons between the political and governance situation in the West Bank and eastern Ukraine — noting that ethnically Russian Ukrainians had a voice and vote in the Ukrainian government prior to the Russian invasion, and that they are now disenfranchised under Russian occupation. 

Alterman said that allowing annexation would also weaken the U.S.’ argument against Russia’s attempted annexation of parts of Ukraine.

Democratic lawmakers and Alterman also warned that full annexation would create a politically untenable position for Palestinians in the West Bank, where they are disenfranchised under Israeli control or expelled — a situation that could prompt further international outrage — or have voting rights and would have sufficient voting share to fundamentally change the nature of Israel. Alterman added that the status quo breeds Palestinian resentment and opposition from the global community.

“If we’re honest with ourselves, we need to recognize that not only are there competing claims here, but there are competing legitimate claims, and that’s if we just consider what’s clear from the historical record. When we bring in faith values and interests which aren’t universal, the issue becomes even more complicated,” Alterman said. He urged lawmakers to seek solutions that preserve space for peace between the Israelis and Palestinians.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) floated the question of whether the U.S. should, instead of a full separation of Israel and a Palestinian state under a two-state solution and in light of the Palestinian Authority’s dysfunction, be “looking for a solution that is not a conventional state, one that has levels of autonomy, levels of governance, but … the borders would inherently be porous, the question of militarization would be dealt with in some ways as though it is one nation and in other ways clearly with a recognition of the facts on the ground.”

Alterman said that would inevitably involve certain compromises to Israel’s own sovereignty and decision making with “some sort of outside [entity].”

Kontorovich argued that such a proposal would make a “lot of sense,” comparing it to the situation in American Samoa, whose residents are not U.S. citizens and do not have a vote in federal elections. Issa responded that American Samoans do “stand among us and have a say.”

Mort Klein, the president of the Zionist Organization of America, repeatedly emphasized that the PA continues to pay the families of terrorists who conduct attacks against Israel and indoctrinates Palestinian children with anti-Israel and antisemitic ideologies, and that Palestinian Arab opposition more broadly is responsible for the lack of peace in the region. Some Republicans echoed the same point.

Klein said that the PA’s actions “make peace virtually impossible until they have a dramatic reformation and transformation of their actions and their regime,” also noting the escalating security threats in the West Bank.

He focused in his opening remarks on the historical Jewish ties to the region and asserted that Palestinian Arabs have no such claims. “If Israel does not control the Jewish heartland in Judea and Samaria, peace will be impossible. Again, Judea and Samaria are Jewish Israeli land, it’s Jewish land, legally, religiously, biblically, politically and morally,” Klein said.

Sherman argued in his opening statement that modern borders should be based on the modern state of affairs, rather than historical Jewish territories — noting that Tel Aviv had not been Jewish territory for most of the Kingdom of Judea’s history, and that defining international borders based on the “maximum you ever controlled in history” would be a ridiculous exercise.

At the end of the hearing, a group of Code Pink activists confronted Yossi Dagan and Yisrael Ganz, the heads of two Israeli regional settlement councils, surrounding and screaming at them. Capitol Police demanded the activists leave the hearing room.

Ganz said in a statement, “We will do everything to apply sovereignty to Judea and Samaria.” Dagan added, “The hearing is a milestone in the cancellation of the lie of the ‘occupation.'”

One year after the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, policymakers and officials in the United States and Israel remain increasingly divided over how to confront the changing landscape in Damascus.

Following the fall of Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, the IDF moved into a U.N. buffer zone inside southern Syria to protect Israel’s northern border as Damascus’ military and political landscape shifted. A year later, against Damascus’ wishes, Israel still controls the 155-square-mile area and has proceeded to carry out arrests of terror suspects, while also seizing weapons and conducting targeted airstrikes. 

These actions have collided with President Donald Trump’s push to broker a security agreement and end hostilities between the two countries, which the president and some experts see as a key part of stabilizing Syria — and, ultimately, the region. The Trump administration has often sided with Damascus in recent disputes, warning that Israel’s strikes are undermining efforts to reach an agreement, which the White House also views as a path to normalization. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu maintains that any agreement must require Syria to accept the demilitarization of territory stretching from southern Damascus to the Israeli border. However, Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa has rejected this condition, arguing that it would create a dangerous security vacuum in southern Syria. 

Critics of al-Sharaa and some in the pro-Israel community have remained wary of relinquishing the area to the Syrian government given al-Sharaa’s past ties to Al-Qaida, a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization that he joined following the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq. While operating for the group as a foot soldier, al-Sharaa was captured by U.S. military forces and imprisoned, and he later founded one of the terror group’s Syrian branches. 

“In [Israel’s] perspective, the problem is mistrust as well as hard security indicators,” Ahmad Sharawi, a research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Jewish Insider. “Southern Syria is awash with weapons, weapon trafficking routes and Iran-backed networks. At the same time, Israel is being asked to make concessions to a government led by a former Al-Qaida emir whose coalition still includes figures that praised the Oct.7 attacks and openly endorse armed resistance against Israel.”  

Jonathan Ruhe, a fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, explained that Israel is concerned that should a deal be made, it could allow for “potentially hostile forces to encroach anywhere near the border.” In a conversation with the Hudson Institute last month, Caroline Glick, international affairs advisor to Netanyahu, said keeping threats away from Israel’s borders has become an instrumental part of the Israeli government’s foreign policy in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks. 

“Defense is simply not an option for such a small country, and thus the security of each and every border matters more for Israel than most any other country,” said Ruhe. “To be viable for Israel, a deal would have to demilitarize southwest Syria and probably include real prohibitions on Turkish military presence in Syria. It also likely would have to permit Israel to use Syria as an air corridor to Tehran, or at least not openly prohibit this.”

Reflecting the views of those urging an accommodation towards the new Syrian government, Barbara Leaf, assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs under the Biden administration, maintained that Israel has nothing to worry about with a normalized al-Sharaa government.  

Participating on a panel at the Middle East Institute on Wednesday, Leaf refrained from addressing Israel’s security concerns, instead arguing that Syria holds no hostile posture towards the Jewish state and that Israel’s actions are prohibiting an agreement. She pushed for the U.S. to exert more pressure. 

“There’s no other recourse but for the White House to come down very hard and definitively on the Israeli government to stop the bombing and to start making plans to pull back from that border and get serious and finish this set of discussions,” said Leaf. 

Sharawi suggested that Israel remains hesitant and has taken a “far more pessimistic view of Syria’s short-term trajectory. 

“Even if al-Sharaa himself is signaling restraint, Israeli decision-makers are deeply skeptical that his control is durable or that he would retain power long enough to enforce any agreement,” said Sharawi. 

Last month, Trump administration officials indicated that a security deal was “99% done,” with hopes that Trump’s Oval Office meeting with al-Sharaa in November could help push the agreement over the line. But talks continue to stall. 

Gideon Sa’ar, Israel’s foreign minister, said on Wednesday that the gap between the two sides has grown, as the Syrians have added new demands.

Ruhe said it may also be tricky for the White House to fast-track an agreement as Trump could have less room to exert pressure on Israel.

“Partly it’s a question of how much pressure Trump can still apply to Israel, since he already leaned hard on Netanyahu to agree to the Gaza ceasefire,” said Ruhe. “Any foreseeable deal would be a narrow nonaggression pact, not Syria joining the Abraham Accords as Trump may wish.”

Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun, President Donald Trump’s nominee to serve as U.S. antisemitism special envoy, warned in an interview with Jewish Insider that inaccurate, inflammatory content is being allowed to spread on social media, and pledged to work with social networks to curb the spread of antisemitic falsehoods online. 

“The ideal outcome is, I want to continue America’s tradition of free speech and allowing free speech anywhere and everywhere, freedom of expression,” Kaploun said. “But I would like the platforms — because of the advent of AI and those technologies, you have the ability to recognize when something is not factually correct and it should be labeled as such. I think that’s something that we’d like to target.” 

Kaploun spoke to JI on Wednesday, with his Senate confirmation vote for the State Department role expected this month before the holiday recess. His comments about working with social media platforms to label misinformation contradict  the approach of the Trump administration, which has urged the major platforms not to “censor” information. Earlier this year, after Trump took office, Meta announced the end of its fact-checking program, and YouTube eased many of its content moderation policies. 

“There’s many other areas of working with the companies — the algorithms and things that have been now proven, that bots are busy promoting antisemitic rhetoric on the internet, how we get to some of that and preventing some of that. These are very tall tasks. These are not things that occur overnight,” said Kaploun, a Chabad-trained rabbi and businessman from Miami. “But I truly believe there is a true willingness of many people within the administration to tackle these problems and confront them head on, globally.” 

As an example of the kind of content he would seek to flag as false, Kaploun referred to a July New York Times article about the hunger that many civilians in Gaza were experiencing during Israel’s war against Hamas. The Times published a correction regarding the article several days after it was published, once it was revealed that a child who was featured prominently in the article as an example of malnutrition had preexisting health conditions. 

The misrepresentation in the photo could contribute to antisemitism, according to Kaploun, who suggested that the article had been viewed hundreds of times more than the correction. 

“I’m not exactly 100% sure of the actual number, but in that realm, a total disbalance and disproportionate view of people saw something that could be creating antisemitic behavior,” said Kaploun. “All those people that saw it have incorrect information.” 

He declined to say whether he believes social networks should have removed posts that included that article. 

“I’m not going to get into the specifics or the semantics of what that’s going to look like. We are going to work collectively and together with these companies and try and come up with productive solutions that will lower the disinformation and lower the hatred,” Kaploun said. “That’s what I’d like to work with these social media platforms to do a better job with, recognizing that and making sure that we can do a better job of getting accurate facts out.”

Discussing strategy, Kaploun laid out a vision for his tenure as special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, stating that his first priority would be to fight antisemitism with “pro-Semitism” — teaching about Jewish history and culture, and convincing countries and groups that are experiencing antisemitism that Jews are productive members of society and contribute a great deal to the countries in which they live.

“What I mean by pro-Semitism is to explain to countries the benefits of what it is the Jewish nation provides, and our historical perspective of what the Jewish communities have always done for communities, in terms of growth in countries,” said Kaploun. “The countries that have literally attacked the Jews and expelled the Jews don’t always have success, and there’s a reason for that. And when countries are welcoming and when Jews are in countries, usually the benefits far exceed any type of whatever detriments [there] are. There really aren’t detriments.”

“It’s not all about Israel,” Kaploun added. “It’s about the Jewish culture, the Jewish religion, the Jewish sciences.” 

Still, he recognizes that separating Israel from discussions of antisemitism is not possible — like if he encounters people who insist that they have no problem with Jews, and that their only issue is with the Jewish state. 

“Understand the battle that Israel has to fight here,” said Kaploun. “You’re fighting a culture that was teaching children to kill themselves, that the benefit to get to heaven is to kill a Jewish person. So we have to get to the root causes. You want to condemn Israel, ‘Oh, I love the Jews, but I hate Israel.’ Why is Israel in existence? Because there was a period of time when Jews were being slaughtered throughout Europe and the world was silent and there wasn’t a country for the Jews to go to.”

Here, too, he said it all comes down to education.

“The importance of Israel may need to be explained, but at the same time, people’s facts are incorrect,” Kaploun said. “If they’re factually accurate, then you’re able to have a conversation with someone. They will see the folly of what they’re saying.”

Kaploun has a plan, he told JI, for where to kick off his work once he is confirmed by the Senate and moves into Foggy Bottom. 

“The president and the secretary [of state] are firmly behind the efforts that I am doing,” Kaploun said. “They’ve made it very, very clear that the administration is fully behind the efforts that we’re going to do to combat antisemitism.”  

Good Wednesday afternoon!

This P.M. edition is reserved for our premium subscribers — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.

It’s me again — Danielle Cohen-Kanik, U.S. editor at Jewish Insider and curator, along with assists from my colleagues, of the Daily Overtime. Please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts and feedback by replying to this email.

📡On Our Radar

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

As President Donald Trump pushes ahead in rolling out Phase 2 of his 20-point Gaza peace plan, the critical U.S.-led International Stabilization Force continues to be mired in confusion, even as a U.S. official told The Jerusalem Post that they expect the ISF to be deployed to Gaza “at the beginning of 2026, with one or two countries initially participating.”

Which countries that will include is unclear — U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz publicly named Indonesia and Azerbaijan as countries that may provide troops to the force last month, and Indonesia has indicated openness in public comments. 

But an Azeri official told The Times of Israel that the country has not committed to doing so and has many of the same reservations as the other Muslim-majority countries still holding out — namely, wanting to ensure that the ceasefire will help to advance a Palestinian state and that their troops will not be required to engage with Hamas. The U.S. has failed to properly explain what they are asking of these countries, the Azeri official said.

Adding to the uncertainty, the U.S. official told the Post that the ISF “will not be deployed in areas controlled by Hamas in the Gaza Strip,” contrary to the goals outlined for the force in the peace plan…

Speaking at the Post’s conference taking place on Capitol Hill today, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) appeared to dismiss the feasibility of the ISF altogether: “There is no air force [that is] going to disarm Hamas. You will find a unicorn quicker. Only Israel can do it,” he said.

On the prospects of Saudi-Israel normalization, the South Carolina senator argued that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman “is not going to recognize Israel until he gets an outcome better for the Palestinians, or he will get killed.” However, before Israel can cede ground on the issue, Graham said, “Hamas needs to go. Hezbollah needs to be disarmed. I am not even approaching normalization until Iran’s proxies cannot generate another Oct. 7”…

Also speaking at the conference, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar poured cold water on another one of the Trump administration’s priorities in the region — an Israel-Syria security agreement. “At the moment, the gaps between us and Syria have widened. They have raised new demands. Of course, we want an agreement, but we are now further from reaching one than we were a few weeks ago,” Sa’ar said, without providing details on the new developments…

Looking to the campaign trail, New York City Councilmember Alexa Avilés dropped her prospective primary bid against Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) today, following the entry of Comptroller Brad Lander into the race.

Avilés, who had been endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America, said in a statement, “My neighbors know that the era of dark money in politics, of letting AIPAC and the real estate lobby call the shots, must end. … What’s clear from my years in public services is that Dan Goldman has fundamentally failed our communities. A split field runs too great a risk of allowing him another damaging term.” Avilés did not, however, offer Lander her endorsement.

Along with the exit of former state Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou, who bowed out yesterday also to avoid a split progressive vote, the primary is unfolding as a head-to-head matchup between Lander (who appeared to get hacked today on X) and Goldman. 

In one of his first statements about the congressman since launching his challenge, Lander told the New York Daily News that he and Goldman “have some disagreements” about Israel and Gaza, but the issue is secondary to fighting back against Trump, which he feels he can do a better job of. The comments raised questions about Lander’s apparent strategy — one of Goldman’s biggest political strengths is his credibility with the Democratic base over his role leading the 2019 impeachment efforts against Trump… 

The New York Times digs into Trump’s decision not to dissuade Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman from joining the GOP primary for New York governor, where Trump ally Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) is already running. 

“Mr. Trump’s refusal to use his influence to halt Mr. Blakeman — and his subsequent neutrality since the announcement — sent shock waves through Republican circles, where many party loyalists had already committed to supporting Ms. Stefanik and wish to avoid a primary,” the Times writes…

Andrew Kolvet, executive producer of “The Charlie Kirk Show” and close confidant of the slain conservative influencer, has placed Turning Point USA on the pro-Israel side of the right’s debate about the U.S.’ support for the Jewish state… with caveats.

Kolvet told the Christian Broadcasting Network that, despite the weaponization of Kirk’s legacy by anti-Israel actors, TPUSA stands firm that “Israel has a right to exist, that it has a right to defend itself, that we fully reject hatred of Jewish people, antisemitism, all that stuff.”

But, “when it comes to how much we should fund Israel,” he warned, “should the status quo, the foreign policy status quo be continued, should it be altered? Those kinds of things are worthwhile debates to have,” otherwise “you’re going to alienate the young people that Charlie worked so hard to bring into the fold.”

Kolvet also asserted that the conservative tent, while continuing to embrace Israel’s right to exist, should be big enough to accommodate those who don’t. Kirk was “committed” to having Tucker Carlson speak at TPUSA’s annual AmericaFest, taking place next week in Arizona, Kolvet said, “and that is not going to change.”

But even as Carlson appears on opening night, so will Ben Shapiro, and “maybe the coalition needs to find a way to stay together and be big enough to have both of those perspectives in it, because I think if not, then we’re going to find ourselves in a really tricky spot in 2026, 2028”…

⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for an interview with anthropology student-turned founder of the Movement Against Antizionism, Adam Louis-Klein. 

On the Hill, the House Homeland Security Committee will hear from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent and Michael Glasheen, operations director of the national security branch of the FBI, on “worldwide threats to the homeland.”

The House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold a hearing on the U.S. response to crimes against humanity in Sudan amid its ongoing civil war. 

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With Brad Lander’s announcement on Wednesday of his primary challenge to Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), allies of the progressive New York City comptroller are feeling particularly bullish about his prospects.

Lander, a former longtime city councilman, is widely known in Goldman’s left-leaning, heavily Jewish district, which covers Lower Manhattan as well as parts of Brooklyn. Polling has suggested a primary matchup will be competitive. Lander is also expected to notch a key endorsement from Zohran Mamdani, the mayor-elect of New York City and a democratic socialist who performed strongly in the deep-blue district last month.

But even as Lander now seeks to capitalize on the newfound momentum from Mamdani’s victory, some experts speculated that he could face more obstacles than his supporters have envisioned in his bid to unseat a two-term incumbent with vast personal wealth and who is nationally recognized as a top Democratic foe of President Donald Trump.

“A Democratic primary for Congress during a midterm election in which the narrative will strongly focus on rebuking President Trump and his agenda means, for candidates, a heavy reliance on credibility taking on the president,” Jake Dilemani, a Democratic consultant, told Jewish Insider on Tuesday. 

Goldman, a Jewish Democrat who served as a Trump impeachment prosecutor before he was elected, “has those credentials and the ability to show voters how he took on Trump in the past and won,” Dilemani said. “His antagonistic history with President Trump is unique compared to the rest of the field.”

While both Lander and Goldman have been forceful opponents of Trump’s deportation efforts, Hank Sheinkopf, a veteran Democratic strategist, called Goldman “the guy who took on Trump before it was fashionable,” arguing that he “has plenty to run on.”

He also predicted that Lander “is going to have problems going after Goldman” over his support for Israel “because [Lander is] a Jew who identifies as a liberal Zionist,” a term increasingly used as a pejorative on the far left. Lander, 56, has long been a vocal critic of Israel, but he is not aligned with the anti-Zionist left in refusing to recognize Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, a disagreement that could fuel some tension during his campaign.

“You can’t dislodge an incumbent without a negative campaign. What’s the negative campaign? It’s not clear yet,” Sheinkopf told JI. “Goldman has a better playbook to work with.”

In a statement to JI on Tuesday, Maddy Rosen, a spokesperson for Goldman, said the congressman “is focused on stopping the Trump administration from what they’re doing to immigrant families in his district right now.”

“He’s proud of his progressive record in Congress and will deal with Brad and other challengers in the new year,” Rosen added.

A spokesperson for Lander declined to comment. Mamdani’s team did not respond to a request for comment.

Lander, who ran an unsuccessful campaign for mayor, during which he emerged as a top ally of Mamdani, had been widely viewed as poised for a leading role in the mayor-elect’s administration. Instead of offering him a job, Mamdani reportedly encouraged him to challenge Goldman, promising an endorsement in next year’s June primary, likely to be among the most bitterly contested Democratic fights of the upcoming election cycle.

Goldman, 49, does still possess some notable vulnerabilities that have made him a target of the left. His outspoken support for Israel amid its war in Gaza irked many progressive voters, for instance, while his ties to AIPAC have fueled criticism from another potential rival, Alexa Avilés, a far-left city councilwoman who has been weighing a campaign. 

Yuh-Line Niou, a former state assemblywoman who narrowly lost to Goldman during his first House bid in 2022, was considering a rematch but decided not to run to avoid splintering the anti-Goldman vote, she said on Tuesday.

Chris Coffey, a Democratic consultant who lives in the district, posited that by entering the race earlier than his potential opponents, Lander is now “trying to box out” the Democratic Socialists of America — which has officially endorsed Avilés for the primary.

“I think Dan will be able to raise money and have folks spend on his behalf,” Coffey added. “Overall a lot of money will be spent on this race.”

A spokesperson for AIPAC, which has endorsed Goldman and supported his first House campaign, declined to comment on the brewing primary battle.

Even absent outside spending, Goldman, an heir to the Levi Strauss fortune whose estimated net worth is up to $250 million, can draw on his own personal wealth to help fund his reelection bid and mount an offensive against Lander — who is hoping to capture the enthusiasm of the party’s grassroots base and is reportedly courting endorsements from progressive leaders including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).

During his first congressional primary three years ago, Goldman dropped nearly $5 million of his own money into the race, prevailing in a crowded field of prominent progressive opponents with a plurality of the vote. Goldman easily won reelection last year, beating a handful of lesser-known challengers.

President Donald Trump’s recent executive order directing a review of Muslim Brotherhood chapters for potential terrorism designations is limited in scope, and leaves out scrutiny of Qatar and Turkey — a strategy that experts say reflects both legal realities and geopolitical constraints.

The order, which was signed on Nov. 24, directs Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to identify which branches of the Muslim Brotherhood — with a focus on chapters in Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt — should be designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and which should be deemed Specially Designated Global Terrorists.

Rather than apply a terrorist designation to the entire Muslim Brotherhood as a whole, Trump’s executive order first looks at individual branches. This strategy is echoed in a Senate bill, sponsored by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), which requires an assessment of every branch of the Muslim Brotherhood in an effort to designate the organization for its involvement. 

The House version of the legislation was modified in committee last week and now more closely resembles the Trump executive order.

Michael Jacobson, a senior fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said the approach “makes sense,” adding that a “one-size-fits-all” designation would be unproductive. He also noted that it will allow the administration to more effectively pursue chapters of the organization.

“The bottom-up approach will allow the administration to proceed in a more strategic and calculated fashion,” said Jacobson. “Targeting individual chapters and entities could also open up additional avenues for investigation and action. Once individual branches are designated, the Treasury could then use its authorities to sanction those supporting these branches. I believe that this approach is also more likely to gain support from other governments.”

This same sentiment was echoed by Cruz, who called the “bottom-up” approach the “correct and sustainable strategy.”

“That strategy is built into both the president’s executive order, which was a bold and critical breakthrough in advancing American national security, and my bipartisan legislation,” Cruz told Jewish Insider. “It’s the consensus strategy, and it’s the right one.” 

David Adesnik, vice president of research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told JI that while a single designation done in “one fell swoop” might be appealing, it faces legal and factual challenges. 

“The administration was rightly concerned that a judge could overturn a designation of the entire organization if he or she assessed that it didn’t meet the legal thresholds. This would have serious consequences in several respects,” said Michael Jacobson, a senior fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “If a judge ruled against a Muslim Brotherhood ban, it would be interpreted by some as a signal that the MB is not a terrorist organization, end of story — also a message the administration was likely eager to avoid.”

“This is not a single unified organization,” said Adesnik. “There’s no headquarters, no address, no person who is the head. It’s very hard to make a terror designation if you’re not exactly sure who you’re designating.”

Jacobson said the administration also looked to avoid a blanket designation out of concern that any legal challenges that followed could hurt efforts to reign in the Muslim Brotherhood. 

“The administration was rightly concerned that a judge could overturn a designation of the entire organization if he or she assessed that it didn’t meet the legal thresholds. This would have serious consequences in several respects,” said Jacobson. “If a judge ruled against a Muslim Brotherhood ban, it would be interpreted by some as a signal that the MB is not a terrorist organization, end of story — also a message the administration was likely eager to avoid.”

Some critics of the executive order, including far-right influencer Laura Loomer, who is a confidant of the president, have expressed frustration over the administration’s decision not to name Qatar and Turkey in the order.

“The Muslim Brotherhood designation signed by President Trump today doesn’t have any teeth,” Loomer posted on X on Nov. 24. “This designation is probably the weakest designation of the Muslim Brotherhood we could have ever received, as it doesn’t even apply to Qatar and Turkey.”

Both Qatar and Turkey have strengthened ties with the United States during Trump’s second term, however the two countries are also significant supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood and have been known to provide sanctuary for their members. 

“Claiming to get tough on the Muslim Brotherhood without a serious strategy to clamp down on the support provided by the movement’s most important state sponsors in Qatar and Turkey is not a serious policy,” said John Hannah, a senior fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America. “Out of consideration for America’s longstanding partnerships with both countries and President Trump’s particular affinity for their leaders, one hopes that there is a plan to bring real pressure to bear on both Doha and Ankara in private to cease and desist their wide-ranging support for MB affiliates across the Middle East and globally.”

But while Qatar and Turkey’s ties to the Muslim Brotherhood are problematic, experts said they were not included because they do not currently have chapters of the organization in their countries, which the executive order focuses on.

“If we’re targeting chapters of the Brotherhood, there are no Brotherhood chapters in those countries,” said Adesnik. “So the real question is, how do you deal with what are effectively state sponsors of the Brotherhood? And does that state sponsorship cross the line into terrorism or sponsorship of terrorism?”

The Senate bill also does not address how Turkey and Qatar would be targeted as state sponsors of the organization. 

However, experts and legislators remain wary of the threat posed by the two nations and have expressed that plans to root out the Muslim Brotherhood should account for Turkey and Qatar.

“Claiming to get tough on the Muslim Brotherhood without a serious strategy to clamp down on the support provided by the movement’s most important state sponsors in Qatar and Turkey is not a serious policy,” said John Hannah, a senior fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America. “Out of consideration for America’s longstanding partnerships with both countries and President Trump’s particular affinity for their leaders, one hopes that there is a plan to bring real pressure to bear on both Doha and Ankara in private to cease and desist their wide-ranging support for MB affiliates across the Middle East and globally.”

With the current executive order, the White House is seeking to first designate branches in countries that experts said are involved in violence from within the country. This will also likely include entities that finance other Foreign Terrorist Organizations, according to Jacobson. 

In Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt, threats connected to the Muslim Brotherhood have become national issues of concern. 

“The Islamic Group [Muslim Brotherhood chapter in Lebanon] clearly built up the ability to carry out attacks against Israel and cooperated very openly with Hezbollah,” said David Adesnik, vice president of research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “Authorities there really aren’t doing anything about it, partly because they lack power and have other issues to address. So it’s a pretty fair point.” 

In April 2025, Jordanian authorities arrested 16 individuals and thwarted a plot that was to involve rocket and drone attacks inside the country. The suspects were linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, which is the government’s largest opposition group. Following the arrests, the Jordanian government banned the group entirely. 

Adesnik said that while Jordan has initiated a “thorough crackdown” to address the problem, it is notable that there was “clearly a branch that had migrated toward planning for terrorism.” 

In Lebanon, he called the Muslim Brotherhood a “persistent issue.”

“The Islamic Group [Muslim Brotherhood chapter in Lebanon] pretty openly built up a capability to carry out attacks against Israel and cooperated very clearly and openly with Hezbollah,” said Adesnik. “Authorities there really aren’t doing anything about it, in part because they don’t have a lot of power and they have a lot of other problems to deal with. So it’s a pretty reasonable case.” 

Adesnik called the administration’s targeting of Egypt the “thorniest case from a definitional perspective.” He noted that while Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi’s regime in Cairo has spent more than a decade cracking down on the Brotherhood “aggressively,” concerns still remain over the presence of branches such as Harakat Sawa’d Misr, also known as Hasm, which was already designated by the U.S. as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist Entity in 2018. 

“The question is just what’s left of the Brotherhood there?” said Adesnik. “Is it doing enough to merit a designation?”

Good Tuesday afternoon!

This P.M. edition is reserved for our premium subscribers — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.

It’s me again — Danielle Cohen-Kanik, U.S. editor at Jewish Insider and curator, along with assists from my colleagues, of the Daily Overtime. Please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts and feedback by replying to this email.

📡On Our Radar

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander is set to launch a primary challenge to Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) as soon as tomorrow, Politico reports, with an endorsement from Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani — after Mamdani declined to give him a position in his administration. 

Goldman was one of the New York Democratic holdouts who did not endorse Mamdani during his election, largely over concerns about his rhetoric on Israel, but Goldman’s district, which covers Lower Manhattan and a section of Brooklyn that includes the progressive enclave of Park Slope, voted overwhelmingly for the mayor-elect.

The primary matchup will likely serve as a test of the Democratic electorate’s support for continued mainstream pro-Israel representation in New York City, as Goldman and Lander, both of whom are Jewish, take markedly different stances on Israel. Political strategists told Jewish Insider in October that Lander will be a formidable candidate, though Goldman, who is an heir to the Levi Strauss fortune, will have the financial and incumbent advantage…

Axios unpacks the “Tea Party-style revolt” by progressives in the Democratic Party after the last-minute entry of Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) into the Texas Senate primary yesterday and amid concerns by party leadership that their favored midterm candidates in Maine, Michigan and Iowa are falling behind expectations. 

“Some Democratic senators are openly questioning their party’s leadership and working against [Senate Minority Leader Chuck] Schumer in primaries. Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Chris Murphy (D-CT) have spoken to, or plan to speak to, candidates challenging the party establishment’s picks, sources familiar with the discussions told Axios”…

Pressed on his position about AIPAC, Democratic Majority for Israel and the “Israel lobby” at large, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, considered a top 2028 presidential contender, told progressive Gen Z podcaster Jack Cocchiarella that AIPAC “has never been involved with me, I’ve never received a dollar from them in my entire political career, so I’ve had an opinion on that going back decades now.” 

Asked if he would take AIPAC funds at any point in his political future, Newsom said, “I don’t take tobacco money, oil money, I’ve never taken AIPAC money, there’s certain absolutes that are the lines that have been drawn for decades for me, and those will continue.” The pro-Israel group has not been involved in gubernatorial nor presidential races…

FBI Director Kash Patel signed bilateral security agreements with Qatar today, in a move that is drawing renewed scrutiny to potential conflicts of interest surrounding his past lobbying for the Gulf emirate, the details of which he has failed to disclose, JI’s Matthew Kassel reports.

During a meeting in the Qatari capital of Doha, Patel signed two memorandums of understanding with his counterpart “to advance mechanisms of security cooperation and coordinate efforts in training, the exchange of information and capacity-building,” according to Qatari state media. Neither Patel’s visit to Doha nor the agreements with Qatar have been publicly announced by the FBI. 

Patel, whose brief tenure leading the FBI has been mired in ethics controversies, drew scrutiny during his confirmation over undisclosed consulting for the Qatari government — provoking accusations that he improperly avoided registering as a foreign lobbyist…

The Columbia University task force overseeing efforts to combat antisemitism on campus released its fourth and final report today, spotlighting Columbia’s lack of full-time Middle East faculty who are not “explicitly anti-Zionist,” JI’s Haley Cohen reports.

According to the report, “Columbia lacks full-time tenure line faculty expertise in Middle East history, politics, political economy and policy that is not explicitly anti-Zionist.” The absence of ideological diversity is having an impact on course offerings — in listening sessions, the task force said it heard from students that classes at the university more often than not treat Zionism as entirely illegitimate…

On another New York campus facing allegations of antisemitism, New York City Jewish leaders sent a letter to the chancellor of the City University of New York yesterday condemning a recent interfaith event on campus that devolved into an antisemitic tirade by a Muslim leader as well as the school’s lackluster response, The Times of Israel reports. 

The signatories — which include New York City Councilmember Eric Dinowitz; Mark Treyger, head of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York; Eric Goldstein, CEO of the UJA-Federation of New York; and Miriam Elman, head of the Academic Engagement Network, among others — called for CUNY to amend its student code of conduct…

Responding to a video that purports to show the Syrian Army chanting in support of Gaza amid celebrations on the anniversary of the fall of dictator Bashar al-Assad, Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli wrote on social media, “War is inevitable.” The Trump administration has been working to deescalate tensions between Jerusalem and Damascus…

Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana met with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) on the Hill today where the two “officially launched their effort to rally Speakers and Presidents of Parliaments around the world to join them in nominating President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2026,” according to a joint statement. 

Ohana also met with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and Sens. John Fetterman (D-PA) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC). Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, also visiting Capitol Hill, met with Fetterman and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch (R-ID)… 

The bilateral meetings continued overseas as well: Mike Waltz and Danny Danon, the U.S. and Israeli ambassadors to the U.N., respectively, continued their joint visit to Israel today with stops at Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, the Kerem Shalom humanitarian aid crossing into Gaza and the U.S.-led Civil Military Coordination Center in Kiryat Gat. They also held a meeting with the family of Ran Gvili, the last deceased hostage still held in Gaza…

⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for reporting on U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack’s off-message comments on the Middle East putting him at odds with Washington.

On the Hill, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) will host the Congressional Menorah Lighting, with remarks from Rabbi Levi Shemtov, executive vice president of American Friends of Lubavitch (Chabad).

 The House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold a hearing titled “Understanding Judea and Samaria: Historical, strategic, and political dynamics in U.S.-Israel relations,” with speakers including Eugene Kontorovich, senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation; Morton Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America; and Jon Alterman, chair in global security and geostrategy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Elsewhere in Washington, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar will meet with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Also taking place downtown, the Aspen Security Forum will hold its Washington meeting featuring remarks from Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA), Reps. Jason Crow (D-CO), Mike Turner (R-OH), John Moolenaar (R-MI) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL); Ukrainian Defense Minister Denys Shmyhal; NATO Deputy Secretary General Radmila Shekerinska; and representatives from the Heritage Foundation, American Jewish Committee and American Enterprise Institute, among others.

Across the river, the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington will host the Virginia edition of its annual “Lox and Legislators” breakfast, headlined by Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-VA).

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Good Monday afternoon!

This P.M. edition is reserved for our premium subscribers — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.

It’s me again — Danielle Cohen-Kanik, U.S. editor at Jewish Insider and curator, along with assists from my colleagues, of the Daily Overtime. Please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts and feedback by replying to this email.

📡On Our Radar

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

President Donald Trump will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Dec. 29 at the president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla., Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports. 

Netanyahu is expected to depart Israel for what will be his fifth meeting with Trump in the U.S. this year on Dec. 28 and return on Jan. 3, meaning that the prime minister will begin 2026 stateside. Palm Beach is the only expected stop during the trip, according to Israeli media. 

The agenda for the end-of-year meeting has not been announced, though it is likely to cover implementation of the second phase of Trump’s peace plan, Hezbollah’s rearmament in Lebanon and efforts to reach a potential security agreement in Syria…

As 2025 winds down and we head into a midterm election year, headlines abound on the campaign trail: Sam Rasoul, a Palestinian American Virginia state delegate with a history of inflammatory anti-Israel rhetoric, announced today that he is considering running for Congress in 2026, pending the outcome of a redistricting effort in the state, JI’s Gabby Deutch reports.

Rasoul, a Roanoke Democrat who chairs the Education Committee in the House of Delegates, came under fire from prominent Jewish Democrats in the state earlier this year for a series of posts on social media, including ones in which he claimed “Zionism has proven how evil our society can be” and that Zionism is a “supremacist ideology created to destroy and conquer everything and everyone in its way.”

In a fundraising email announcing his intention to formally explore a congressional run, Rasoul made his opposition to Israel a central part of his pitch. “Virginians are looking for bold, experienced, progressive leadership that meets this moment and delivers results by … ending all military aid to Israel, which has waged a genocide in Gaza using our taxpayer dollars in violation of American law,” Rasoul wrote…

In Texas, Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) filed paperwork to run for the Senate this afternoon, just hours ahead of the state’s deadline. She’s set to hold a press conference this evening formally announcing her candidacy.

The progressive lawmaker, seen as a tough sell for a general election in a solidly Republican state, hopes to take the seat of Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), who is facing his own high-stakes primary. But first, Crockett will need to prevail in the Democratic primary against state Rep. James Talarico, considered a rising star in the party, who raised over $6 million in the first few weeks after his launch in September and has taken a critical view of Israel in his campaign.

Anticipating Crockett’s entry into the race, former Rep. Colin Allred (D-TX) announced this morning he’s switching his candidacy from the Senate to Texas’ newly drawn 33rd Congressional District, which he used to represent parts of in the House. He’ll now face a primary against Rep. Julie Johnson (D-TX), who is running in the 33rd after her seat in the neighboring district was redrawn…

In Colorado, far-left candidates are lining up to take on establishment Democrats: Denver-area state Sen. Julie Gonzales, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, launched a primary challenge to Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) today, and Melat Kiros, an attorney who was fired in 2023 for criticizing her own firm in anti-Israel social media posts, secured the Justice Democrats’ backing last week for a primary bid against Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO)…

Hill watchers are waiting to see when Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) will host members of Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany party, which she said on social media last month would be happening in December… 

Politico’s Ian Ward discusses the intra-MAGA movement to turn the Republican Party away from Israel with the figures leading the charge: Curt Mills, editor of The American Conservative; former Trump advisor Steve Bannon; podcasters Tucker Carlson and Dave Smith; and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).

Mills said “he sometimes feels like a moderate compared to some of the Gen-Z conservatives. ‘They’re hardcore,’ Mills told me. ‘Frankly, some of them are so radicalized that they are, like, openly sympathetic to Hamas, which [they see as] close to pure freedom fighters’”…

On that note, a new survey by the Yale Youth Poll found that younger voters, and especially the conservatives among them, hold overwhelmingly more critical views of Israel and of the Jewish people than older generations, JI’s Danielle Cohen-Kanik reports. 

In a list of antisemitic statements — including “Jews in the United States are more loyal to Israel than to America,” “It’s appropriate to boycott Jewish American-owned businesses to protest the war in Gaza” and “Jews in the United States have too much power” — 70% of respondents overall disagreed with all three; however, only 57% of 18-22-year-olds and 60% of 23-29-year-olds said the same. 

Among those ages 18-34 who self-identified in their responses as “extremely conservative,” a sizeable majority of 64% said they agreed with at least one of the listed statements, far more than any other subgroup of younger voters — 38% of 18-34-year-olds overall said the same, already a notable minority…

The newly merged Paramount Skydance launched a hostile takeover bid to buy Warner Bros. Discovery today, after Netflix announced it had acquired the media giant last week. Paramount said in an initial press statement that its bid — which values Warner Bros. around $108 billion, compared to the Netflix deal, which valued it around $83 billion — was backed by the Ellison family (David Ellison co-founded Oracle, while his son, David, runs Paramount) and investment firm RedBird Capital. However, a securities filing shows the bid is also backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, the Emirati-owned L’imad Holding Company, the Qatar Investment Authority and Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners…

⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for updates on executive and legislative efforts to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization. 

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and Bolivian Foreign Minister Fernando Armayo will hold a signing ceremony in Washington tomorrow for an agreement to renew diplomatic relations between the two countries, which have been largely frozen since 2009.

The Jerusalem Post will kick off its conference on Capitol Hill, with a theme of “The U.S.-Israel Strategic Alliance: Security, Technology, and Strengthening Ties with American Jewry.” Headlining the two-day event are Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder, several Israeli officials and U.S. lawmakers.

Nearby, B’nai B’rith International is marking the 50th anniversary of the infamous U.N. resolution equating Zionism with racism on the Hill. Israeli President Isaac Herzog will address the gathering by video, along with remarks by B’nai B’rith CEO Dan Mariaschin, historian Gil Troy, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Ben Cohen and former Rep. Ileana Ros Lehtinen (R-FL).

On everyone’s minds and calendars: The yearly Washington-area holiday party scramble begins this week. Tomorrow evening, the Jewish Democratic Council of America will host its fourth annual Hanukkah party and the Vandenberg Coalition will hold its holiday party.

Stories You May Have Missed

THE SILK ROAD

A Mandarin-speaking Hasidic Jew walks into Washington…

Mitchell ‘Moyshe’ Silk, the first Hasidic Jew confirmed to a post by the Senate, speaks to JI about his path from Borough Park to Washington

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BLAKE’S BACKTRACK

In 2020 AIPAC position paper, Michael Blake vowed to support Israel, highlighted Black-Jewish unity

Blake also highlighted his efforts to combat the BDS movement and anti-Israel sentiment

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President Donald Trump will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Dec. 29 at the president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fl., according to the Prime Minister’s Office. 

Netanyahu is expected to depart Israel on Dec. 28 and return on Jan. 3 after Shabbat, meaning that the prime minister will begin 2026 stateside. Palm Beach is the only expected stop during the trip, according to the Israeli outlet Maariv. 

It will be the two leaders’ fifth meeting in the U.S. this year — they have already met four times at the White House during Trump’s second term, most recently on Sep. 29 when they held initial discussions on the 20-point peace plan for Gaza. 

Neither side has commented on the meeting agenda for the conversation later this month; however, it is likely to include topics such as the implementation of the next phase of the peace deal, which consists of determining which countries may contribute to an international stabilization force and the Palestinian technocratic government to sit below the Trump-led “Board of Peace,” among other issues.  

Trump is expected to announce the members of the committee and the board before Christmas. 

Talks could also touch on Hezbollah rearmament in Lebanon and efforts to reach a potential security agreement in Syria. 

The Trump administration has sought to avoid a reignition of hostilities between Israel and the Lebanese-based terrorist group, and brokered the first direct diplomatic talks since 1993 between Jerusalem and Beirut last Wednesday in an effort to de-escalate tensions. However, reports indicate that Hezbollah is continuing to re-arm, threatening a fragile ceasefire. 

White House officials have also expressed concern this month that Israeli strikes in Syria could undermine a potential security agreement between the two countries, and Trump issued a warning to Israel on social media not to “interfere” in Syria and to maintain a “strong and true dialogue” on the same day he invited Netanyahu to the U.S. 

The last time Trump and Netanyahu met at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach was in July 2024, in the midst of the U.S. presidential election. 

As an ideological battle plays out in the Republican Party over whether America should adopt an engaged approach to global affairs or take a more restrained one, a new National Security Strategy authored by the Trump administration offers a clear-cut answer — presenting America as deeply engaged, so long as the policies adopted by Washington are deemed to put “America First” by President Donald Trump. 

Trump has no qualms about using unusual strategies to achieve his national security aims (what the 29-page document refers to as his “unconventional diplomacy”), but the strategy paints a picture of a president who is intently focused on his global legacy and on shoring up his image as “the president of peace.” 

“For a country whose interests are as numerous and diverse as ours, rigid adherence to non-interventionism is not possible,” the strategy states. “Yet this predisposition should set a high bar for what constitutes a justified intervention.”

The document takes aim at prior American commanders-in-chief, saying such documents authored by past administrations became “bloated and unfocused” by focusing on the entire world. “Not every country, region, issue, or cause — however worthy — can be the focus of American strategy. The purpose of foreign policy is the protection of core national interests; that is the sole focus of this strategy,” the document asserts.

The president abhors the use of traditional foreign policy language to try to categorize his approach, the strategy makes clear: “President Trump’s foreign policy is pragmatic without being ‘pragmatist,’ realistic without being ‘realist,’ principled without being ‘idealistic,’ muscular without being ‘hawkish’ and restrained without being ‘dovish.’ It is not grounded in traditional, political ideology. It is motivated above all by what works for America — or, in two words, ‘America First,’” according to the document. 

Yet what is clear from the strategy is that Trump remains captivated by the world’s challenges and believes he can help remedy them. In a letter introducing the strategy, Trump writes that he has achieved a historically “dramatic … turnaround” on matters of foreign affairs. 

Border security is a key focus — he touts his restoration of “the sovereign borders of the United States” and the deployment of the military “to stop the invasion of our country” — alongside culture war issues, with Trump saying the U.S. has rid the military of “radical gender ideology and woke lunacy.” He names the global conflicts he has played a role in helping to resolve, including “ending the war in Gaza with all living hostages returned to their family” and “obliterat[ing] Iran’s nuclear enrichment capacity” when America bombed Iran’s nuclear sites in June.

Trump’s key goal in the Middle East appears to be to keep Iran in check, though Iran is only mentioned three times in the report. In the first national security strategy of Trump’s first term, in 2017, Iran was mentioned 17 times. 

“We want to prevent an adversarial power from dominating the Middle East, its oil and gas supplies and the chokepoints through which they pass while avoiding the ‘forever wars’ that bogged us down in that region at great cost,” the strategy states, without naming a particular adversarial power. 

America historically prioritized the Middle East because of its dominant role in supplying energy, its position as “a prime theater of superpower competition” and seemingly needless conflict, the strategy states. The Trump administration argues the energy question takes less priority, with America now a net energy exporter; and that superpower competition has faded, with America in “the most enviable position, reinforced by President Trump’s successful revitalization of our alliances in the Gulf, with other Arab partners and with Israel.”

Conflict, the strategy asserts, “remains the Middle East’s most troublesome dynamic.” But it argues that Iran, “the region’s chief destabilizing force,” was “greatly weakened” by Israel’s actions after the Oct. 7 attacks two years ago and by U.S. involvement in the June war. 

Trump visited Saudi Arabia in May, the first major international trip of his second term, and he recently welcomed Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to Washington. Both of these meetings were focused on investment and building economic ties between the U.S. and Gulf nations. The national security strategy makes clear that this is a core goal for Trump.

“The region will increasingly become a source and destination of international investment, and in industries well beyond oil and gas,” the strategy states. “We can also work with Middle East partners to advance other economic interests, from securing supply chains to bolstering opportunities to develop friendly and open markets in other parts of the world such as Africa.” 

The Trump administration praised partners in the Middle East for combating radicalism, but also said the U.S. will no longer try to goad Gulf nations into democracy.

Continuing to fight radicalism in the region “will require dropping America’s misguided experiment with hectoring these nations — especially the Gulf monarchies — into abandoning their traditions and historic forms of government,” the strategy states. That pledge marks a significant shift from the Biden administration’s approach, which called for strengthening democracy around the world. The word “democracy” appears just three times in Trump’s national security strategy, and not as a goal of American foreign policy. 

The White House said expanding the Abraham Accords will remain a policy priority. Other “core interests” include maintaining the security of Gulf energy supplies, ensuring that terrorism cannot be allowed to grow and reach the U.S. and “that Israel must remain secure.”

“But the days in which the Middle East dominated American foreign policy in both long-term planning and day-to-day execution are thankfully over,” the strategy asserts, “not because the Middle East no longer matters, but because it is no longer the constant irritant, and potential source of imminent catastrophe, that it once was. It is rather emerging as a place of partnership, friendship, and investment — a trend that should be welcomed and encouraged.”

To the business community in Asia and to his former colleagues at the Department of Treasury, Mitchell Silk was usually called Mitch. To his friends and family in the Jewish community he is, always, Moyshe. 

However those who know him refer to him, Silk in 2020 became the first Hasidic Jew to serve in a government role that required Senate confirmation. (The next Hasidic Jew to be tapped for a Senate-approved role also came from President Donald Trump: Yehuda Kaploun, whose nomination to serve as antisemitism special envoy was approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday.) 

As assistant secretary of the Treasury for international markets in Trump’s first term, Silk worked on trade negotiations with China — he previously spent several years living in Hong Kong, where he found a surprisingly robust Jewish community that enjoyed more kosher restaurants than he would later encounter in Washington — and on a COVID-era program that provided assistance to the airline industry. 

He did all of this while commuting weekly to Washington from Borough Park, leaving Brooklyn on Sunday afternoon and returning on Thursday night, just as the scents and sounds of Shabbat cooking began to fill the air. 

His service “demonstrated beyond any doubt that there need not be any compromise in the Jewish lifestyle of an observant, Hasidic Jew with the highest echelons of government service,” said Rabbi Levi Shemtov, executive vice president of American Friends of Lubavitch (Chabad). They prayed together most days during Silk’s three years in Washington. “I think that with his extraordinary breadth of experience and broad talent, plus a very engaging personality, Mitch Silk — or Moyshe, as we called him — remains one of the extraordinary Jewish figures in public service of this generation.”

In a conversation with Jewish Insider last month, Silk reflected on an unlikely career path that began with a high school job at a Chinese restaurant, and later took him from studying abroad in Taiwan to conducting business deals in Hong Kong and then advising former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on trade with Asia. And while many other China experts have passed through Washington over the years, it’s doubtful that any of them spent the period following their government service working on a major translation and commentary of a seminal work of Jewish thought. (For Silk, that was Kedushat Levi, an important text by the Hasidic Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev. He published his three-volume edition in 2023.)

“If I were to do a backward run for you of where I ended up and am at now, to each stage and link in the progression and the trajectory, I could do it only in a manner that highlights exactly how much hashgacha pratis, how much divine providence, factored into where I am today,” Silk told JI, using a Hebrew term. “I cannot explain it in any other way than how much I had a divine hand guiding me.”

Silk, who is 64, never set out to become an expert in international markets with a law practice in Asia. He grew up first in Chicago and later in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., which is where the path began — with, as Silk would put it, a little help from God.

“I found the Asian mystique interesting, but I just ended up working in a Chinese restaurant to make money to help my mother. I ended up learning Chinese because I needed to for my work,” Silk recalled. He spent a year studying in Taiwan, as well as a period in China. Shortly after getting married, he and his wife moved to Hong Kong in 1992 when Silk was tasked with opening an office there for a large law firm. 

“It was a really great period in my religious and spiritual development,” he said of his years in Hong Kong. 

While his work took Silk to places with smaller Jewish communities than his home in New York, he said he never lacked for religious options. He saw the number of synagogues in Hong Kong grow during his time there, as well as the number of kosher restaurants — though both were a tiny fraction of the options available to him just steps from his home in Borough Park. But with fewer people in the community, Silk got involved. As an active member of Hong Kong’s Hevra Kadisha, the group of Jews who make sure bodies are prepared for burial according to Jewish law, he helped remodel the facilities where that process takes place. 

“I think the real distinguishing factor for me is that I was able to make an impact in a way in communal life that I would have never had the opportunity to do in the United States,” said Silk.

Silk spent 21 years at the law firm Allen and Overy, and it was only when a former colleague from the firm joined the Treasury Department and suggested Silk for a role there did he contemplate working in Washington. He first served as a deputy assistant secretary before Trump nominated him to the more senior role. 

“It was the greatest job that I ever had in my life,” said Silk. 

No longer in government, Silk still believes strongly in Trump’s approach to the economy, including his controversial use of tariffs to wrest trade deals from other nations. 

In a new book, A Seat at the Table: An Inside Account of Trump’s Global Economic Revolution, Silk outlines his religious journey as he progressed through his career. He writes longingly of the joy of returning home to Brooklyn before Shabbat, and the difficulty of driving away from the Yiddish-tinged chaos of his community as he headed toward the “sterile calm” of Washington.

But he also uses the book to make a case for Trump’s economic agenda, and to present himself as a loyal steward of — and cheerleader for — that message. 

“This book is not a memoir,” Silk writes. “It’s a road map and a call to action. It’s an inside look at Trump’s economic principles and strategies through the lens of my Treasury portfolio, to help illuminate what Trump really stands for.” 

At the beginning of the book, Silk makes clear what he stands for, and the ideals that drive him. The book’s epigraph features three quotes — one from the Talmud, one from Kedushat Levi and one from Rabbi Mordchele of Nadvorna, the Ukrainian shtetl where his grandfather was born: “True justice demands action. Hard work redeems hardship. To serve with heart is to lead with purpose.”

Good Thursday afternoon!

This P.M. edition is reserved for our premium subscribers — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.

It’s me again — Danielle Cohen-Kanik, U.S. editor at Jewish Insider and curator, along with assists from my colleagues, of the Daily Overtime. Please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts and feedback by replying to this email.

📡On Our Radar

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

With one foot already out the door of Gracie Mansion, New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced at the North American Mayors Summit Against Antisemitism last night that he’s signing an executive order barring city agencies from participating in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. His message to his successor, Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani? “If the incoming administration wants to reverse [the executive order], that is on their watch.”

Mamdani responded today, telling reporters, “The mayor is free to issue as many executive orders as he’d like with the less than 30 days that he has in office, and then we will be taking a look at every single one once we actually enter into City Hall”…

Several democratic socialists are eyeing a run for New York’s deeply progressive 7th Congressional District, a Brooklyn and Queens-area seat where Democratic Rep. Nydia Velázquez is retiring, The New York Times reports. Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso entered the race today, though he said the Democratic Socialists of America, which he had approached to support his candidacy, conveyed it is looking to “run one of its own members,” setting up what’s likely to be a tense intra-faction race. Velázquez has held various anti-Israel positions during her decades in Congress, including recently co-sponsoring a Code Pink-backed resolution accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza…

The federal government announced today that anyone who was employed by Columbia University between Oct. 7, 2023-July 2025 and experienced discrimination based on “their Jewish faith, Jewish ancestry, and/or Israeli national origin, and/or because they objected to or complained about such harassment” can now apply to receive part of a $21 million fund Columbia was required to create as part of its agreement with the federal government.

“This resolution represents the largest [Equal Employment Opportunity Commission] public settlement in nearly 20 years for any form of discrimination or harassment. In addition, in the EEOC’s 60-year history, this is both the largest EEOC settlement for victims of antisemitism to date, as well as the most significant EEOC settlement for workers of any faith or religion,” the commission said…

Abbas Alawieh, co-founder of the “Uncommitted” movement and previous chief of staff to former Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), declared his candidacy for the Michigan state Senate today. “When the establishment was funding genocide abroad while failing to deliver for working families here at home, I took action and led a historic anti-war movement that mobilized one million pro-peace Democratic voters to demand change,” he said in his campaign launch video…

Israeli media reports President Donald Trump will announce the beginning of the second phase of his 20-point Gaza peace plan in the next few weeks, according to senior American officials. The move is thought to take place before Christmas, shortly after which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to visit the White House for the fifth time since the beginning of the year…

The head of an anti-Hamas Palestinian militia in Gaza that received backing from Israel was killed in a “clash” today, an Israeli official told The New York Times. Israel said it provided arms to his group, the Popular Forces, as a counter to Hamas, which the militia denies…

The U.S. declined to sanction Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and other PA officials for payments to terrorists under its “pay-for-slay” policy, which the White House had threatened to do last month, after Abbas fired the minister responsible for authorizing the payments, The Times of Israel reports…

Ireland, Spain, the Netherlands and Slovenia announced their intent to boycott next year’s Eurovision Song Contest after organizers declined requests to hold a vote to boot Israel from the competition. Israeli President Isaac Herzog welcomed Israel’s continued participation, saying the country “deserves to be represented on every stage around the world”…

⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for a profile of the first Hasidic Jew to serve in a government role that required Senate confirmation.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup draw is taking place at the Kennedy Center in Washington tomorrow, with President Donald Trump expected to attend. Iran now plans to send representatives, its sports minister said, after initially boycotting the draw when several members of its delegation were denied visas to enter the U.S.

Meanwhile, the two-day Reagan National Defense Forum will kick off in Simi Valley, Calif. Among the guests and speakers at the national security confab: Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget; Reps. Pete Aguilar (D-CA), Don Bacon (R-NE), Gregory Meeks (D-NY), Seth Moulton (D-MA) and Adam Smith (D-WA); Sens. Jim Banks (R-IN), Ted Budd (R-NC), Chris Coons (D-DE), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Rick Scott (R-FL) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH); Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorganChase; Gen. Michael Guetlein, director of the Golden Dome at the Department of Defense; Joe Lonsdale, co-founder of 8VC; Leon Panetta, former secretary of defense; and many more representatives of the U.S. military, European nations, defense contractors and think tanks.

In Qatar, the Doha Forum will begin Saturday, a diplomatic gathering cosponsored by a panoply of elite institutions featuring discussions on Israel, Gaza, Iran, Syria, Ukraine, international tribunals and other topics of geopolitical interest. Among the high-profile speakers are Tucker Carlson, in conversation with the Qatari prime minister; Carlson’s business partner Neil Patel; and Carlson’s investor Omeed Malik, who will speak alongside Donald Trump Jr. Read more about the gathering from JI’s Matthew Shea.

Nearby, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is expected to arrive in Israel Saturday night for his first visit since taking office, weeks after Germany announced it would lift its partial arms embargo on Israel. Merz is set to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday to discuss the Gaza ceasefire and visit Yad Vashem. 

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

Stories You May Have Missed

SURVEY SAYS

New Reagan Institute polling finds widespread approval for Trump’s strikes against Iran

The survey also found solid support for the U.S.-Israel alliance, even as the level of backing has slightly declined

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HISTORY IMMERSION

Amid rising antisemitism, Success Academy takes charter school students to Auschwitz

Eight high school students took part in school’s inaugural six-day trip to Poland in November

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President Donald Trump’s decision to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities in June, dealing a significant blow to the Islamic Republic’s weapons program, is viewed favorably by 60% of Americans, according to a newly released survey commissioned by the Ronald Reagan Institute.  

The decision to bomb Iran’s nuclear program was one of the most popular policies the Pentagon has made in Trump’s second term, according to the survey. Of the 10 policies tested, only two (using force against drug traffickers in Latin America and issuing gender-neutral standards for combat roles) had a higher net approval rating.

Despite the widespread support for the airstrikes, there is a partisan divide in support. Republicans overwhelmingly supported the military action, while 39% of Democrats did so. 

The survey also painted a mixed picture about the state of U.S.-Israel relations, finding that two-thirds of Americans consider Israel to be an ally, including 57% of Democrats. The share of respondents calling Israel an ally is down six points from the institute’s survey last year. When it comes to sending weapons to Israel, half of respondents were supportive — with a 68% supermajority of Republicans, but just 35% of Democrats. 

If Hamas refuses to demilitarize Gaza, however, 54% of Americans would favor further Israeli military action, including 42% of Democratic voters.

“Overall, the American people know who is the ally and who the adversary is in the Middle East,” Roger Zakheim, the director of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute, told Jewish Insider. “Even after the impact of Israel’s lengthy war against Hamas in Gaza, you still have close to a supermajority [in the U.S.] viewing Israel as a strong ally, which is reassuring for Jerusalem.”

The findings are part of a wide-ranging examination of American public opinion on national security issues, indicating a consistent American preference to maintain engagement in the world. Nearly two-thirds (64%) of respondents said the “it is better for the United States to be more engaged” in international affairs, with just 33% disagreeing. 

Notably, support for the U.S. sending weapons to Ukraine as it defends itself from Russian attacks wins widespread support, with 64% in favor — a nine-point jump from last year’s survey. Ukraine is also viewed as an ally by three-fourths of respondents. Only 17% said they thought Russia was an ally, while 79% viewed the country as an enemy.  

When asked which country poses the greatest threat to the U.S., China held a sizable lead, with nearly half of respondents naming Beijing, while 26% ranked Russia at the top. Only 3% said Iran posed the greatest threat.

The poll of 2,507 adults was conducted jointly by Beacon Research, a Democratic firm, and Shaw & Company Research, a Republican firm, between Oct. 23-Nov. 3. The two polling firms also conduct Fox News’ polling. 

It was released in the run-up to this year’s Reagan Defense Forum, which is being held this Friday and Saturday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif.

👋 Good Wednesday morning!

In today’s Daily Kickoff, we look at Qatar’s multifront effort to attract celebrities, influencers, U.S. politicians and media outlets, even as it continues to back destabilizing groups including Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. We have the scoop on a new call from lawmakers in Washington for Lebanon’s leaders to disarm Hezbollah, and report on concerns by the Anti-Defamation League that Sen. Bernie Moreno’s new legislation banning dual citizenship could revive antisemitic narratives. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Daniel Lurie, Jacob Helberg and Michael and Susan Dell.

Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by Jewish Insider 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

• The House Foreign Affairs Committee is holding a vote today to advance legislation designating the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization. More below.
• The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is holding a vote this morning on advancing the nominations of Yehuda Kaploun and Tammy Bruce to be the State Department’s antisemitism envoy and deputy representative to the U.N., respectively.
• Jared Isaacman will face the Senate Commerce Committee today for a second hearing to be the administrator of NASA, eight months after his initial nomination was pulled during a spat between Elon Musk, who backed his nomination, and President Donald Trump.
• Elsewhere in Washington, SKDK is hosting a small gathering with the parents of slain Israeli Americans Omer Neutra and Itay Chen and their supporters.
• In Maryland, the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington is hosting its annual “Lox and Legislators” event in Rockville this morning. Gov. Wes Moore, Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) and Democratic Reps. April McClain Delaney and Glenn Ivey are slated to speak.
• In New York, Israel Policy Forum is honoring Bob Elman and Bob Sugarman this afternoon at the group’s annual gala. The event will also feature a discussion with Ambassador Michael Ratney, Elisa Ewers and Rachel Brandenburg on the future of U.S. leadership in the Middle East.
• White House Deputy Special Envoy to the Middle East Morgan Ortagus is in Israel this week for meetings with senior Israeli officials. Israeli media reported that Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar is expected to present Ortagus with recent findings indicating that Hezbollah is rearming itself in Lebanon in violation of a ceasefire agreement inked between Jerusalem and Beirut last year. 

What You Should Know

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S marc rod

Qatar, whose ties to the Muslim Brotherhood have drawn scrutiny in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, is doubling down on a charm offensive focused on a handful of GOP lawmakers and conservative social media influencers, all while hosting two of the most established brands in American news. 

A group of House Republicans visited Qatar during the House’s Thanksgiving recess last week, including Reps. Laurel Lee (R-FL), Marlin Stutzman (R-IN), Abe Hamadeh (R-AZ), Ryan Zinke (R-MT) and Lance Gooden (R-TX). The trip occurred just before the House Foreign Affairs Committee is scheduled to vote on legislation that classifies the entire Muslim Brotherhood organization globally as a terrorist group.

A group of conservative social media influencers also visited Qatar over Thanksgiving, posting glowing dispatches lauding the country and its role in hosting a U.S. military base. 

Rob Smith, one of the invited guests, posted credulously about Qatar on his Instagram feed after the trip, “I wasn’t aware of a great deal of things about Qatar, only misperceptions and half-truths I’d read about online. When the opportunity was presented to me, with full authority and autonomy to ask the tough questions of the officials I’d be meeting with, I decided to risk any potential criticism and to travel and experience it for myself.”

Meanwhile, numerous prominent celebrities — including comedian Kevin Hart, celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay and tennis star Novak Djokovic — gathered in Doha over the weekend for the 2025 Formula One Qatar Grand Prix.

And this week, the country is hosting the Doha Forum, a conference co-sponsored by CNN. Those attending the conference include several Trump administration officials and ambassadors, politicians and philanthropists, alongside Israel-bashing officials such as former Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, sanctioned U.N. special rapporteur Francesca Albanese and former Iran envoy Rob Malley.

Others on the guest list include: Donald Trump Jr., U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack, U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker, Trump advisor Alex Bruesewitz, the Heritage Foundation’s Victoria Coates, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Bill Gates, the Quincy Institute’s Trita Parsi, CNN anchor Christiane Amanpour and other officials, leaders and analysts from around the world.

Also this week, The Wall Street Journal is hosting a technology conference in Doha, featuring business leaders and celebrities, hosted by various Journal reporters. As JI’s Matthew Kassel reports (see more below), the summit is raising ethical questions surrounding the paper’s deepening business ties with Qatar — even as the Journal’s conservative editorial page has slammed the Gulf monarchy as a financial and diplomatic sponsor of Hamas. 

Each of these events comes at a time when Qatar’s complicated public reputation in the United States is becoming a flashpoint, particularly inside the conservative movement.

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

QATAR’S PAPER PLAY

Wall Street Journal expands ties with Qatar, launches glitzy conference in Doha

The Wall Street Journal kicked off its Tech Live conference in Qatar on Tuesday, underscoring a deepening partnership between the publication and the controversial Gulf state. The exclusive summit, making its debut in the Middle East, will continue to be held in Doha, the Qatari capital, for the next five years, according to an initial announcement from Dow Jones, which publishes the Journal. The event is sponsored by the state-owned Qatar Airways, among a handful of other companies, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.

Growing embrace: Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, who spoke at the event on Tuesday in an onstage discussion with Dow Jones’ CEO, Almar Latour, said in a social media post that the conference “represents a key platform to discuss technology’s role in business and advance Qatar’s digital standing.” In addition, Dow Jones recently opened an office in Doha’s Media City as part of an effort to “strengthen its operations throughout the Middle East.”

Read the full story here.

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STATE OF PLAY

Report: Muslim Brotherhood influence ‘increasingly pervasive’ in U.S.

The Muslim Brotherhood’s influence has become increasingly pervasive in the United States, according to a new report by the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy, titled “The Muslim Brotherhood’s Strategic Entryism into the United States: A Systemic Analysis.” President Donald Trump’s recent instruction to Secretary of State Marco Rubio to take steps toward banning Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated organizations came soon after ISGAP briefed policymakers from both parties and national security professionals, including Trump administration officials, in Washington and beyond about the study, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports.

Group’s goals: “For decades now, we’ve known that Islamism has been a problem within our liberal secular democracies,” ISGAP’s vice president, Haras Rafiq, told the Misgav Mideast Horizons podcast. (Harkov co-hosts the podcast.) The new ISGAP report cites authenticated Muslim Brotherhood documents describing the group’s strategy – called tamkeen, which loosely translates to “empowerment” – of entrenching itself in the institutions of Western democracies. 

Read the full story here.

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SCOOP

Lawmakers to Lebanese leaders: ‘Disarm Hezbollah now’ or risk losing U.S. support

A bipartisan group of House lawmakers wrote to the president and prime minister of Lebanon on Wednesday demanding they urgently move forward to disarm Hezbollah, in accordance with the ceasefire agreement signed by Lebanon and Israel in November 2024. The group accused the Lebanese government of failing to fulfill its promises and obligations to disarm the terrorist group and threatened a withdrawal of U.S. support if it does not change course, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

What they wrote: “We write to you with a critical message: disarm Hezbollah now, including by force if necessary,” the letter reads. “Empty promises and partial measures that fall far short of disarming the group are clearly not enough. The lack of real progress has enabled Hezbollah to rearm and rebuild its positions, even in areas south of the Litani River, where it is prohibited from operating under UN Security Council Resolution 1701.” The letter, led by Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), was co-signed by Reps. Jefferson Shreve (R-IN), Don Bacon (R-NE), Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), Mark Messmer (R-IN), Tom Suozzi (D-NY), Claudia Tenney (R-NY), Don Davis (D-NC) and Jared Golden (D-ME).

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HOLDING FIRE

Harmeet Dhillon declines to criticize Tucker Carlson for hosting antisemites on podcast

Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for civil rights at the Justice Department, defended Tucker Carlson’s hosting of neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes at the Israel Hayom summit on Tuesday. Dhillon took part in a conversation at the gathering, which took place in Manhattan, with the outlet’s senior diplomatic correspondent, Ariel Kahana, about the Trump administration’s efforts to combat domestic antisemitism, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports. 

Tucker talk: Asked about Carlson’s interview with Fuentes and what tools the U.S. had to prevent the spread of the antisemitic ideas from the far right, Dhillon distanced herself from Fuentes while calling Carlson a “friend.” Dhillon said, “What we say in First Amendment world is: The antidote to speech that you don’t like is more speech. It isn’t shutting down speech. So, I don’t agree with a single word that Nick Fuentes says or has to say, and the decision of whether or not to platform that person is one for my friend and former client, Tucker Carlson.” 

Read the full story here.

Also speaking at the summit: Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned of the influence of social media in shaping young people’s perceptions on Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports.

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CITIZENSHIP QUALMS

ADL says Moreno’s dual-citizenship bill risks reviving ‘dual loyalty’ narrative

The Anti-Defamation League said on Tuesday that Sen. Bernie Moreno’s (R-OH) new proposal to ban dual citizenship risks reviving an antisemitic “dual loyalty” charge that has historically been used to target Jewish Americans, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs and Marc Rod report.

ADL’s approach: Dan Granot, the Anti-Defamation League’s senior director of government relations, told JI, “The idea of questioning the loyalty of Americans based on dual citizenship is deeply troubling. Dual citizenship is a lawful and common status that millions of Americans hold, and it does not diminish anyone’s commitment to the United States. Accusations of ‘dual loyalty’ have historically been used against Jews to exclude them from public life and even justify violence, making this trope especially harmful and dangerous.” 

Read the full story here.

Elsewhere: Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), a potential 2028 presidential candidate, is sparring with AIPAC on social media over ads the group ran criticizing his support for a House resolution describing the war in Gaza as a genocide, JI’s Marc Rod reports.

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PAPAL PRAISE

Pope’s praise of Erdogan as a peacemaker raises eyebrows

Following a visit to Turkey on his inaugural international trip last week, Pope Leo XIV lauded Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on his peacemaking abilities and said Turkey has “an important role that it could play” in advancing peace in the Middle East and effectuating a two-state solution. The pope’s comments and decision to share pleasantries with the Turkish leader have struck some in the pro-Israel community as out of touch and are part a pattern of recent remarks from the Vatican that have been critical of Israel, most notably in its handling of the war against Hamas in Gaza, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports.

Reactions: Steven Cook, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, called the pontiff’s comments on Turkey “odd,” adding that his intentions were likely to “flatter his hosts but have little connection to reality.” Sinan Ciddi, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, agreed, calling the pope’s comments “flawed” and “fantasy.” However, he noted that popes have a “record of being idealists.”  

Read the full story here.

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Worthy Reads

The Instagram Mayor: The Wall Street Journal’s Jim Carlton spotlights San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie’s embrace of social media as a means to boost the city’s standing after being elected on a platform of revitalizing the Bay Area, which for years had been plagued by economic and safety issues. “The 47-year-old Levi Strauss heir has become ubiquitous on the city’s social-media scene. He posts musings every day from his wanderings around San Francisco, some on somber topics like ongoing drug use but most are upbeat — even a bit hokey. … Social media, he added, is his way of telling San Franciscans — and the world — how the city is progressing. ‘It’s about being unfiltered, speaking directly to the people of San Francisco,’ the mayor said as he walked along the city’s waterfront last month after one of many stops, holding an umbrella against a cold, light rain.” [WSJ]

Having Hurwitz’s Back: In the Jewish Telegraph Agency, Jarrod Bernstein, Shelley Greenspan and Chanan Weissman, all former White House Jewish liaisons, defend former White House speechwriter Sarah Hurwitz amid a deluge of online criticism over a misleadingly edited video clip in which Hurwitz discussed how Holocaust education has impacted conversations about the Israel-Hamas war. “What followed was a torrent of outrage from people who claimed Sarah was arguing that we shouldn’t teach Holocaust education because doing so makes young people think the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza is a genocide. Others claimed she was saying that genocide only matters when it’s perpetrated against Jews. Such sentiments would obviously be obscene, and we were shocked that people would attribute them to Sarah, someone who just published a book in which she expressed profound anguish about the unbearable deaths of civilians in Gaza. … Sarah was also conveying that, contrary to the impression young people get on social media, what happened in Gaza is not analogous to the Holocaust. It was a devastating war that does not fit neatly into a simplistic frame of oppressor versus oppressed. That black and white paradigm disregards the complex challenges that continue to stymie a resolution to this heartbreaking conflict.” [JTA]

Spotlight Shapiro: The Atlantic‘s Tim Alberta profiles Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, amid speculation that the moderate Democrat could mount a presidential bid in 2028. “For a man with such an established public profile—years as a congressional aide, decades in various elected offices, a network as extensive as that of any Democrat in office today—Shapiro remains something of a mystery, a man whose real views and motives are widely debated but ill-defined. In conversations with dozens of people who know the governor, a certain irony is inescapable. Shapiro seems to believe that he is uniquely equipped to run for president and repair the Democratic Party’s deficit of trust and authenticity. Any such campaign, however, would expose deficits of his own.” [TheAtlantic]

Word on the Street

The State Department’s Jacob Helberg said that the U.S. is looking to lock in agreements with eight countries, including Israel and the United Arab Emirates, that will strengthen supply chains for computer chips and minerals critical to the production of AI technology; the White House is hosting the first meeting with officials from the countries on Dec. 12…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed openness to a U.S.-brokered security deal with Damascus involving southern Syria, with the caveat that Syria respects the buffer zone between the countries…

Republican Matt Van Epps defeated Democratic state Rep. Aftyn Behn by nine points in the special election in Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District…

Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) ruled out a primary challenge to Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), announcing on Tuesday that she’ll run for reelection in Massachusetts’ 7th Congressional District…

James Solomon won Jersey City’s runoff election for mayor, besting former Gov. Jim McGreevey…

Reps. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) and Claudia Tenney (R-NY) wrote to Secretary of State Marco Rubio urging him to work to secure the release of Kamran Hekmati, an American-Iranian dual citizen and member of the Persian Jewish community arrested in Iran earlier this year for having visited Israel 13 years ago…

The New York Young Republican Club is slated to honor far-right Alternative for Germany senior official Markus Frohnmaier at its upcoming annual gala…

A new offer from David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance for Warner Bros. Discovery reportedly has backing from the sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi; Paramount made the higher, second-round bid for the entire company, while Netflix and Comcast submitted bids for only Warner Bros.’ studios and streaming business… 

Philanthropists Michael and Susan Dell are donating $6.25 billion to back the creation of seed investment accounts for children in the U.S. as part of the “Trump accounts” program…

The family of Holocaust survivor Erno Spiegel donated the pen he used to falsify records to save dozens of sets of twins who were subject to medical experiments at Auschwitz…

OneTable laid off 25% of its employees as it undertakes a “planned, strategic shift” in its staffing…

The U.K.’s independent advisor on antisemitism told Parliament’s Home Affairs Committee that U.K. police altered evidence it used to justify banning Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters from attending a recent soccer match against Aston Villa…

U.K. Attorney General Richard Hermer urged Nigel Farage to apologize to former classmates over what they claimed were repeated antisemitic and racist insults from the Reform UK leader during his teenage years… 

Israel is finalizing the handover of its Arrow 3 anti-ballistic missile defense system to Germany, marking, at $4.2 billion, Jerusalem’s largest defense export deal…

Israeli officials said that remains transferred from Hamas to Red Cross officials on Tuesday do not match either of the remaining two hostages in Gaza…

The Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt is slated to reopen in the coming days, allowing access out of the enclave to Palestinians who have been approved by Israeli security officials…

Pic of the Day

Lockheed Martin, together with Israel’s Industrial Cooperation Authority, signed an extension this week for the Umbrella Industrial Cooperation Agreement (UICA) through the end of 2029. The ceremony was led by Israeli Minister of Economy Nir Barkat (center left), Lockheed Martin Chief Operating Officer Frank St. John (center right), Lockheed Martin Israel Chief Executive Tal Galor (right), the ministry’s Head of Industry Division Nurit Tsur-Rabino and Head of Industrial Cooperation Authority Division Yazeed Sheick-Yousif.

Birthdays

Professional tennis player with a WTA doubles ranking that reached as high as 21, Sharon Fichman turns 35…

Close associate of the Lubavitcher Rebbe and influential leader within Chabad, Rabbi Chaim Yehuda “Yudel” Krinsky turns 92… Founder of a successful wedding gown business and a lifestyle coach, Sandy Stackler… 1987 Pulitzer Prize-winner for his book on Arabs and Jews in Israel, he was a long-serving foreign correspondent and Washington bureau chief for The New York Times, David K. Shipler turns 83… Member of the New York State Assembly since 1994, Jeffrey Dinowitz turns 71… Former Argentine minister of foreign affairs, Gerardo Werthein turns 70… Miami-based criminal defense attorney whose clients have included O.J. Simpson and Charlie Sheen, Yale Lance Galanter turns 69… Painter and art teacher residing in Maryland, her teaching career started in Petach Tikva, Heidi Praff… Former editorial page editor at USA Today, William “Bill” Sternberg… Former member of the House of Representatives (D-NC) until January, now chair of Democratic Majority for Israel, Kathy Manning turns 69… British publicist, music manager and former tabloid journalist, Rob Goldstone turns 65… President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology since 2023, Sally A. Kornbluth turns 65… Aerospace and technology executive, entertainment attorney and media mogul, Jon F. Vein turns 62… Former member of the Knesset for the Yisrael Beiteinu party, Eli Avidar turns 61… Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California, she won Adam Schiff’s House seat in 2025, Democrat Laura Friedman turns 59… First VP at Adat Ari El Congregation in Valley Village, Calif., Malinda Wozniak Marcus… Cellist and associate professor at McGill University, Matt Haimovitz turns 55… SVP of strategic initiatives at NBC News until 2024, now a communications consultant, Alison “Ali” Weisberg Zelenko… Associate professor of Jewish history and chair of Jewish studies at Yeshiva University, Joshua M. Karlip, Ph.D. turns 54… French journalist, author, television and radio personality, Marie Drucker turns 51… Emmy and Grammy Award-winning comedian and actress, she discovered her Eritrean Jewish roots as an adult, Tiffany Haddish turns 46… Financial trader and founder of XTX Markets, Alex Gerko turns 46… CEO of Solar One, he was a member of the New York City Council through 2021, Stephen T. Levin turns 44… Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, Rachel Sarah Bloomekatz turns 43… Hasidic singer, his music videos have 120 million views on YouTube, Benzion Hakohen “Benny” Friedman turns 41… Founding partner and head of business strategy at Triadic, Elizabeth “Lizzie” Edelman… 

The Muslim Brotherhood’s influence has become increasingly pervasive in the United States, according to a new report by the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy, titled “The Muslim Brotherhood’s Strategic Entryism into the United States: A Systemic Analysis.”

President Donald Trump’s recent instruction to Secretary of State Marco Rubio to take steps toward banning Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated organizations came soon after ISGAP briefed policymakers from both parties and national security professionals, including Trump administration officials, in Washington and beyond about the study.

“For decades now, we’ve known that Islamism has been a problem within our liberal secular democracies,” ISGAP Vice President Haras Rafiq told the Misgav Mideast Horizons podcast. (Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov co-hosts the podcast.)  

The new ISGAP report cites authenticated Muslim Brotherhood documents describing the group’s strategy – called tamkeen, which loosely translates to “empowerment” – of entrenching itself in the institutions of Western democracies.

“It was a 100-year plan, and they’re 43 years into it,” Rafiq said. “We looked at the who, why, what, where … and then analyzed how well we’re doing against it.”

The Muslim Brotherhood’s basic goals, he said, are “to set up a utopian Islamist state and enforce their vision of Sharia-based law on the whole state, and secondly, to spread that around the world. … [Their] tactic, the opium of the masses, is to wipe Israel off the map.” 

In liberal democracies, one of the major elements of the plan is “figuring out a way to persuade Muslims, if you’re living in the West, that the Islam that your parents practice … is actually wrong and it fits into … innovation, false association with a deity, [and] haram, which means not allowed,” Rafiq said. “So first of all, change the Islam that’s practiced from within.”

The way the Muslim Brotherhood relates to non-Muslim societies, Rafiq said, is to “try to persuade others by using a faith-based identity politics which aligns with what they believe — that they are the proper Muslims. And over time, there are four key areas where they focus: One is political infiltration and legislation, the second is controlling the narrative, the media, the third is how they can increase the capacity [of those steps], and looking at Muslims and changing from within.”

Rafiq said that Muslim Brotherhood-sympathetic organizations latched onto the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to increase their influence.

“It was a time when there was a lot of confusion,” he recounted. “What organizations like CAIR [the Council on American-Islamic Relations] and others were able to do was to latch onto people who wanted to understand who were these Muslims, why did people want to fly planes into the Twin Towers … and they actually were very quick to latch onto the media, the politicians, the people within civil society who were hungry to know more, and become one of the main voices.” 

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, recently declared both the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR to be foreign terrorist organizations banned from the state. Rafiq pointed out, however, that the state has not seized any assets or taken any concrete action against the organization.

The difference between CAIR, which presents itself as an advocacy group for a minority population, and other organizations that aim to do the same, Rafiq said, is that “ultimately, at the end of the day, the people who set up the organization actually are part of the Muslim Brotherhood Islamist worldview, and ultimately are trying to … use entrenchment to change the liberal democracy from within.”

Rafiq also cited ties between CAIR and unindicted co-conspirators in the Holy Land Foundation trial, the largest terrorism finance trial in the U.S., which shut down an organization that was funding Hamas.

“I guess other non-Islamist organizations that represent Muslims and other organizations don’t want those objectives and are not involved in these kinds of criminal activities,” he said.

CAIR has “been able to persuade and fool people that they’re actually representing Islam and Muslims and they’re the correct voices,” he said. Still, Rafiq cited polling that out of 1.9 billion Muslims worldwide, 1.4 billion reject Islamism, which includes the Muslim Brotherhood. 

“The good news is still that the majority of Muslims around the world reject Islamism,” Rafiq said, while noting that he did not have specific data about the U.S.

However, Rafiq said that the Muslim Brotherhood has successfully inculcated young Muslims in the West with antisemitism.

“Antisemitism is a key tool that they use in the guise of being anti-Israel or anti-Zionist, etc., to recruit people to their worldview,” he said.

Rafiq called Qatar “the last man standing” in the Sunni Arab world, in that its regime supports the Muslim Brotherhood. 

“Muslim Brotherhood Islamist ideology is deeply entrenched within all parts of [Qatar’s] civil society, all the way to the top,” he said. “As a result of this entrenchment … they’ve used tamkeen successfully across the board, from educating children all the way up to civil society organizations and the leadership. One can say the Muslim Brotherhood has a funding arm, which is directly the Emir and the institution, the country, the economy and the corporation that is Qatar.”

ISGAP has estimated that Qatar’s soft power assets worldwide are worth $1 trillion. The Gulf state is the largest state donor to universities in the U.S., and much of those donations are undocumented.

Qatar spreads the Muslim Brotherhood’s messages via Al Jazeera in Arabic and English.

“The English one will be a lot more palatable, but still pushing the Islamist narrative. The Arabic is downright nasty – and they get away with it, because what they’ve done is set up Al Jazeera as a corporation,” Rafiq said. “But they are 100% owned by the Qatari royal family. Therefore, in my view, when they operate in the U.S., they should [register] under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.” 

Rafiq said the West can do more to make support for the Muslim Brotherhood more costly for Qatar and discourage its leadership from continuing. One example he gave is an ISGAP report exposing Qatari funding for Texas A&M, including a contract that said all of the research projects are property of the Qatar Foundation – including those with dual-use purposes that could be used to develop weapons. After initially denying the links, the president of the university pulled it out of Education City in Doha.

“That really hurt [Qatar],” Rafiq said. “The reason I know it hurt them was that we are constantly besmirched and lies are told about us and we are targeted by the Qatari government.”

Another win, Rafiq argued, was the Israeli strike on Doha in September.

“That was the key moment in which they realized that even though they have a defense agreement with the U.S., they can’t really hide. But the downside was that rather than actually use that and push on the advantage, what the U.S. government has done is create the situation with the ceasefire in Gaza … and pushed out countries like Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. … and decided to bring in Qatar and Turkey, and that’s a problem.”

“We need more support from [the Trump administration] in terms of Qatar, and not to be taken in by geopolitics,” he added. 

Rafiq compared fighting the Muslim Brotherhood without taking on Qatar to taking aspirin when you have cancer.

“Islamism is a virus or a cancer … which is spreading rapidly, and unless we deal with it, the root cause, and we persuade Qatar to stop funding it … it won’t really make a difference,” Rafiq said.

One of the challenges in combating Islamism, Rafiq said, is that “we don’t make it easy to recognize Islamism in the same way that we recognize fascism and communism … [because] they’ve been able to push this narrative so effectively of Islamophobia.”

“Islam is a set of ideas, a set of values. In a liberal democracy, no set of ideas should be beyond critique, satire or even parody, even if they are ideas that I believe – and I’m a Muslim,” he said. “The people who are intolerant have persuaded us that these concepts are intolerant; therefore, we fall in line.” 

Good Tuesday afternoon!

This P.M. edition is reserved for our premium subscribers — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.

I’m Danielle Cohen-Kanik, U.S. editor at Jewish Insider and curator of the Daily Overtime, along with assists from my colleagues. Please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts and feedback by replying to this email.

📡On Our Radar

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

ESPN college football commentator Paul Finebaum has decided not to enter the Republican primary to replace former Auburn football coach and outgoing Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), AL.com reports, after he told Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs last week that he was weighing a bid.

Finebaum said he was “appreciative of my bosses at ESPN for allowing me to explore this opportunity. But it’s time for me to devote my full attention to something everyone in Alabama can agree upon — our love of college football”…

Also staying out of the fray, Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), a member of the Squad, has decided not to challenge Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), instead seeking reelection to her own House seat, she said in a statement. If she had run, Pressley would have been a formidable primary opponent to both Markey and Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA), who is also in the race, as all three have staked out anti-Israel positions…

After AIPAC bought a series of digital ads on Instagram and Facebook targeting Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) for his comments claiming Israel committed genocide in Gaza, Khanna released a video statement today saying AIPAC wants to “prevent me from having a seat at the table in the leadership of our country”…

Asked about Tucker Carlson’s interview with neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes at the Israel Hayom summit in Manhattan today, Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for civil rights at the Justice Department, said, “The antidote to speech that you don’t like is more speech. It isn’t shutting down speech. And so, I don’t agree with a single word that Nick Fuentes says or has to say, and the decision of whether or not to platform that person is one for my friend and former client, Tucker Carlson”…

Dhillon also called New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani an “antisemitic demagogue,” diverging from President Donald Trump, who held a friendly Oval Office meeting with Mamdani last month, and said that, under the incoming mayor’s administration, the Justice Department would be “responding with law enforcement, to the extent that the city of New York fails to protect Jews”…

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke on stage about her experiences with students in her class at Columbia University, where she teaches about international relations, following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks: “When you would try to talk to [the students] to engage in some kind of reasonable discussion, it was very difficult because they did not know history, they had very little context and what they were being told on social media was not just one-sided, it was pure propaganda”…

Abroad, after Trump pushed Israel yesterday to maintain a “strong and true dialogue” with Syria, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today while visiting Israeli soldiers who were wounded in southern Syria, “In good spirit and understanding, an agreement can be reached with the Syrians, but we will stand by our principles.”

He said Israel’s requirements for such an agreement would be the demilitarization of a buffer zone in southern Syria and that the Syrian Druze community be guaranteed protection by the government…

Israeli media reports that Israel plans to present Morgan Ortagus, U.S. deputy special envoy to the Middle East, who is visiting the country today, with intelligence proving Hezbollah is rearming in southern Lebanon…

An Israeli delegation visited Germany this week to begin the handover of an Arrow 3 missile defense system, which Berlin purchased in 2023 for $3.5 billion, Israel’s largest arms deal to date. The system is set to be deployed tomorrow in Germany, the first country outside of Israel to operate it, in an effort to bolster European air defenses against Russia…

The chief of the West Midlands Police force in the U.K. admitted in a parliamentary committee hearing yesterday that the report presented to the Aston Villa soccer club that led fans of Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer team to be banned from attending a game in Birmingham, England, last month included false and fabricated information.

The report referenced a November 2023 match between Maccabi and the West Ham soccer team that never took place, and claimed that Maccabi fans had harassed and assaulted Muslim communities during a match in Amsterdam, which Dutch law enforcement said did not occur…

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar engaged in a public spat with Irish Ambassador to Israel Sonya McGuinness at a Foreign Ministry event in Jerusalem today over the Dublin City Council’s shelved vote to remove former Israeli President Chaim Herzog’s name from a public park. 

In a brief back and forth, Sa’ar accused the city council of only walking back its “antisemitic proposed decision” after international uproar and said, “There’s nothing in your system right now that can defend you from that virus of antisemitism except [for] external pressure and exposing the antisemitic nature of this government of Ireland … We will continue to expose you until you will understand that you cannot deceive the world”…

⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today

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

Keep an eye out in tomorrow’s Jewish Insider for reporting on recent efforts by Iran International, an independent Persian-language broadcaster, to bring the voices of U.S. policymakers to Iranian citizens.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will vote on the nominations of Yehuda Kaploun to be special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism and Tammy Bruce to be U.S. deputy ambassador to the U.N. Meanwhile, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation will hold a nomination hearing for Jared Isaacman to become head of NASA.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold a vote to designate the entire Muslim Brotherhood globally as a foreign terror organization. 

The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington will hold its “Lox & Legislators” Maryland Legislative Breakfast tomorrow morning, including appearances by Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Reps. Glenn Ivey (D-MD) and April McClain Delaney (D-MD) and Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich.

The Israel Policy Forum will host its annual benefit in Manhattan honoring board members Bob Elman, former president of the American Jewish Committee, and Bob Sugarman, former chair of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and of the Anti-Defamation League.

Stories You May Have Missed

IDEOLOGICAL COUNTERWEIGHT

Likely NYC council speaker Julie Menin on a collision course with Mayor-elect Mamdani

If elected in January, Menin would be the first Jewish speaker of the New York City Council

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VETO VISION

U.N. member states push to eliminate Security Council veto

The move, which experts told JI is unlikely to be implemented, would enable the body to further target Israel by preventing the U.S. from vetoing anti-Israel resolutions

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Good Monday afternoon!

This P.M. edition is reserved for our premium subscribers — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.

I’m Danielle Cohen-Kanik, U.S. editor at Jewish Insider and curator of the Daily Overtime, along with assists from my colleagues. Please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts and feedback by replying to this email.

📡On Our Radar

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by phone today to discuss the Gaza ceasefire and expanding peace agreements, and Trump invited Netanyahu for another visit to the White House “in the near future,” according to a readout from the Prime Minister’s Office…

The readout did not mention any discussion of Syria, despite Trump posting on social media this morning that “it is very important that Israel maintain a strong and true dialogue with Syria, and that nothing takes place that will interfere with Syria’s evolution into a prosperous State.” He said Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa “is working diligently to make sure good things happen, and that both Syria and Israel will have a long and prosperous relationship together.”

Trump did not denounce any specific Israeli actions, though the comment came just days after the IDF clashed with gunmen during an arrest operation in southern Syria, which Syrian state media said killed 13. Israeli media reported today that the Trump administration is frustrated with Israel over its continuing military action in Syria and the issue is expected to feature prominently in Netanyahu’s next White House visit…

On the Hill, the House Foreign Affairs Committee is set to discuss and vote on Wednesday on legislation that aims to classify the entire Muslim Brotherhood globally as a terrorist group, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

The legislation may go further than the Trump administration’s recently announced efforts on the issue, which do not directly aim to proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood in its entirety, but rather focus on its branches…

Israel’s Iron Beam system, which intercepts missiles with lasers, will be delivered to the IDF for initial use at the end of the month, JI’s Lahav Harkov reports.

Brig.-Gen. (res.) Daniel Gold, head of the Israeli Ministry of Defense Research and Development Directorate, who made the announcement at the International DefenseTech Summit at Tel Aviv University today, said “the Iron Beam laser system is expected to fundamentally change the rules of engagement on the battlefield.”

The use of the laser system will drastically lower the costs of missile defense, with each use of the Iron Beam costing around $3, as opposed to about $50,000 per Iron Dome interceptor. As such, it will cost significantly less for Israel to intercept a rocket than it costs for its enemies to produce them, at $5,000-$10,000…

On the campaign trail, former Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), who is challenging Rep. Wesley Bell (D-MO) to reclaim her former seat in Congress, posed for a photo with Guy Christensen, an anti-Israel influencer who defended the Capital Jewish Museum shooting, in which two Israeli Embassy employees were killed, JI’s Marc Rod reports.

The influencer posted a photo last week from what appears to be a recent American Muslims for Palestine conference — Christensen is wearing an AMP lanyard and speaker badge — alongside a smiling Bush, with the caption “We’re coming for you AIPAC”…

Evanston, Ill. Mayor Daniel Biss, a Democrat, who is currently running for Congress to replace retiring Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), denounced the agreement reached between Northwestern University and the Trump administration to restore the university’s federal funding in a statement today. 

“As a Jewish person, I am disturbed by the Trump administration’s disingenuous use of the very serious crisis of antisemitism to justify its actions. Of course, we know that this administration isn’t actually concerned about antisemitism — in fact, this administration has proven to be filled with overt Nazi sympathizers,” Biss wrote.

Jewish leaders associated with the school told JI’s Haley Cohen that they are cautiously optimistic that the deal — which, among other stipulations, ends the university’s 2024 agreement with anti-Israel student protesters — will improve campus climate for Jewish students…

Meanwhile, a Harvard student who was charged with assaulting an Israeli peer during an October 2023 “die-in” on university campus shortly after the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks was hired by the university in August as a graduate teaching fellow, the Washington Free Beacon reports…

In a New Yorker feature on rising political violence, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro discusses his understanding of what motivated the alleged attacker who firebombed the governor’s residence last Passover. “The prosecutor felt it was important to introduce into evidence the bomber’s claims that he did that because of ‘what I did to the Palestinians,’ so clearly there was some motivation because of my [Jewish] faith,” the Democratic governor said. 

“But I think it is dangerous for you or anyone else to think about those who perpetrate these violent attacks as linear thinkers, meaning that they have a left-wing ideology or a right-wing ideology, or that they have a firm set of beliefs the way you might or I might. These are clearly irrational thinkers.”

Rep. Greg Landsman (D-OH) also recounts in the piece his experience being intimidated by a group of protesters staging a sit-in outside of his home in October 2024, recalling “that he and his family spent the day trying to get the protesters to leave, working with both local authorities and the Capitol Police, but they ‘would not move.’ His son was in the final stages of practicing for his bar mitzvah; that evening, he recited the Torah while the protesters chanted pro-Palestinian slogans outside”… 

No stranger to threats of political violence, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said today three of his New York offices were targeted with bomb threats in emails with the subject line “MAGA”…

⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today

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

Keep an eye out in tomorrow’s Jewish Insider for a preview of the special election taking place tomorrow in Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District. 

Israel Hayom is hosting a conference in New York City tomorrow featuring American and Israeli officials and public figures, including New York City Mayor Eric Adams; Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon; former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman; former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz; Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA); Strauss Group Chair Ofra Strauss; and Israeli Minister for Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli, as well as released hostages Evyatar David and Guy Gilboa-Dalal.

The Embassy of the United Arab Emirates will hold a celebration marking the country’s 54th National Day at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington.

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ON THE TRAIL

Malinowski stresses he’s pro-Israel in N.J. comeback bid, while not ruling out conditions on aid

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday asked President Isaac Herzog to pardon him, six years after Netanyahu was indicted for fraud, breach of trust and bribery and as his yearslong trial continues to play out in Israeli court.

Among the reasons Netanyahu cited for requesting the pardon, in a concurrent video statement, was “the requests from President Trump to the president of Israel, so I can work together with him as quickly as possible to promote the necessary shared interests between the U.S. and Israel in a window of opportunity that I doubt will return.”

Earlier this month, Trump wrote a letter to Herzog calling on him “to fully pardon Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been a formidable and decisive War Time Prime Minister, and is now leading Israel into a time of peace, which includes my continued work with key Middle East leaders to add many additional countries to the world changing Abraham Accords. … While I absolutely respect the independence of the Israeli Justice System, and its requirements, I believe that this ‘case’ against Bibi, who has fought alongside me for a long time, including against the very tough adversary of Israel, Iran, is a political, unjustified prosecution.”

Netanyahu’s attorney, Amit Hadad, sent Herzog’s office a 111-page file of details of the trial, including a letter from the prime minister.

The proceedings involve three cases in which Netanyahu was indicted in 2020: for allegedly illegally advancing the interests of Israeli Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan while accepting gifts from Milchan and his friend, Australian billionaire James Packer; for allegedly engaging in negotiations with Yediot Aharonot publisher Arnon Mozes to advance positive media coverage of the prime minister in exchange for weakening the free rival newspaper Israel Hayom; and for allegedly accepting a bribe from Shaul Elovitch, the owner of Israeli telecom conglomerate Bezeq for positive media coverage on Elovitch’s news outlet at the time, Walla, in exchange for regulatory changes that benefited him. The judges overseeing the trial suggested in 2023 that the prosecution consider dropping the bribery charge because it would be difficult to prove, but the prosecution declined. 

“In recent years,” Netanyahu wrote, “the tensions and disputes between parts of the nation and the branches of government have increased. I am aware that the ongoing process on my matters have turned into a focal point of strong disputes. … As such, and despite my personal interest in continuing the trial and proving my innocence until my total exoneration, I think the public interest says otherwise. Out of public responsibility as the prime minister to try to bring reconciliation between parts of the nation, I have no doubt that ending the trial will help reduce the flames in the dispute around it.”

The prime minister also said that, in light of Israel’s “security challenges and diplomatic opportunities,” it is essential “to mend the tears, to reach unity in the nation and bring back the trust in government institutions.”

In his video statement, Netanyahu said that the judges on his case have ordered him to be present in court three times a week, which he called “an impossible demand that is not made on any other citizen in Israel.” 

In Israel, the president has the power to pardon and commute sentences of offenders, mostly those convicted of crimes. There is also a precedent of a president pardoning offenders who have yet to be convicted, such as in the Bus 300 Affair, in which Shin Bet agents who killed two Palestinian terrorists after they had been captured alive were pardoned before receiving a conviction by then-President Chaim Herzog.

However, there is no precedent of a mid-trial presidential pardon in Israel.

According to an analysis by Israel Democracy Institute research fellow Dana Blander, a pardon may be granted at any point, including in the middle of a trial, and does not require an admission of guilt or a statement of contrition. However, past opinions by Israel’s Supreme Court and attorney general after the Bus 300 Affair said that pardons before convictions may only be used in rare cases. 

Herzog’s office passed Netanyahu’s request to the Justice Ministry’s Pardons Department, which will send its opinions to the legal advisor of the Office of the President, who will then add her opinion before sending them to Herzog. A source in Herzog’s office told Jewish Insider that the process may take weeks and the president will rely heavily on the opinions he receives.

“The Office of the President is aware that this is an extraordinary request which carries with it significant implications. After receiving all of the relevant opinions, the President will responsibly and sincerely consider the request,” Herzog’s office stated.

Israeli opposition figures came out against Netanyahu’s request, with Opposition Leader Yair Lapid saying that Herzog “cannot pardon Netanyahu without him admitting guilt, expressing regret and immediately leaving political life.”

Blue and White party Chairman Benny Gantz argued that Netanyahu’s request is “totally fake,” because it does not follow the usual process.

“Instead of fueling the flames, put out the fire that you created in Israeli society, stop the harm to democracy, call an election, and only then ask for a plea deal or pardon,” Gantz said.

Gantz and Israel Beiteinu leader Avigdor Liberman both speculated in public statements that Netanyahu sent the pardon request to distract from the controversial bill making its way to the Knesset that would allow most Haredim to remain exempt from IDF service.

“We cannot let him run the public conversation,” Liberman said. “Eyes on the goal.”

In the last decade and a half, Hungary has gained a reputation as the most conservative European nation, a distinction happily touted by the country’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, who has been in office since 2010. 

In building that reputation, Orbán has courted controversy — with inflammatory comments about racial minorities and the LGBTQ community, by taking measures that critics say erode the country’s democracy and by adopting a more pro-Russia stance than most of the rest of the European Union. His hard-line policies are part of why Orbán and President Donald Trump have been able to cultivate a close relationship, with the U.S. and Hungary now far more aligned than they were during the Biden administration.

“That’s an understatement,” János Bóka, Hungary’s minister for EU affairs, told Jewish Insider with a laugh during a visit to Washington last week. 

But if Trump has taken a page from Orbán’s conservative governing playbook, bringing the two countries closer together, Bóka said there is one political trend playing out among American conservatives that he hopes Hungary avoids: the rise of antisemitism on the political right. 

“I am aware of the discussion that you are now having in the States on the reviving of antisemitism on the right. One of the added values of my trip in the U.S. is that I can study this firsthand and can discuss this with people so I have a better understanding,” Bóka said. “This phenomenon is something that is very difficult for me to understand, because at least in Hungary and in most parts of Europe, it doesn’t have a parallel, or at least not yet.”

That’s because Bóka says Hungary has all but eliminated right-wing antisemitism and the lingering vestiges of Nazi ideology, or at the very least that the country has made it “politically irrelevant.” 

“I cannot pretend the 20th century did not happen,” said Bóka, who as of May also serves as Hungary’s special commissioner tasked with fighting antisemitism. But, he added, “this government has basically expelled political antisemitism from the political discourse.” 

The situation in Hungary is more complicated than Bóka let on. Orbán has faced criticism from Jewish organizations for years over his targeting of Hungarian Holocaust survivor and financier George Soros, with the Anti-Defamation League writing in 2018 that the Hungarian campaign against Soros is “chilling.” Deborah Lipstadt, the Holocaust historian who served as the State Department’s antisemitism envoy during the Biden administration, said in 2022 that Orbán’s rhetoric warning against racial mixing “clearly evokes Nazi racial ideology.” 

Bóka, who was in Washington to meet with American Jewish communal leaders, said Hungary has adopted a “zero-tolerance policy toward antisemitism,” and said the allegation that Orbán is antisemitic is “wrong” and “a misunderstanding of what he does.”

Similar to Trump, Budapest has adopted the stated goal of combating antisemitism, even if its approach is controversial and targeted toward one particular political ideology. And like Trump, Bóka views the fight against antisemitism as tied to the country’s broader efforts to limit migration. 

“We see some elements coming from the far left and as a part of a European network that is becoming more active and vocal in Hungary as well in the past few months. But I think this is very limited,” said Bóka. “We haven’t seen violent incidents that are in any way similar to what we see in some Western European cities because of the strict migration policy we have in place. And also because of the zero tolerance policy on antisemitism, we don’t see radical Islamism as a political factor in Hungary.” 

Because his job description includes Hungary’s relationship with the EU, Bóka sees his purview as broader than just antisemitism in Hungary. He called it a “European challenge” that must be addressed together. “Antisemitism exists in all EU member states, including Hungary,” Bóka acknowledged. He thinks he — and Hungary — have something to offer other European nations as they seek to combat antisemitism. 

His first lesson to them is about Israel: If you are serious about fighting antisemitism, Bóka argues, attacking Israel’s actions in Gaza in EU forums will undermine that goal. Israel has leaned heavily on Orbán as a pro-Israel bulwark in the EU. Hungary announced earlier this year that it would leave the International Criminal Court to protest its treatment of Israel and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces an arrest warrant from the body. 

Jewish communities “will never believe that you are credible, that you have a real political commitment for fighting antisemitism, if at the same time you send very mixed messages as far as your relationship with the State of Israel is concerned,” said Bóka. “If you start speaking the language of isolation, sanctions and so forth, then you will lose the opportunity to cooperate with the State of Israel on fighting antisemitism in Europe, which is indispensable.” 

During his time in Washington, Bóka met with Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun, Trump’s nominee to serve as U.S. antisemitism special envoy. Kaploun had his Senate confirmation hearing last week but has not yet been confirmed. Bóka also met in New York with Jeff Bartos, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations for management and reform. He said he is “convinced” that the U.S. and Hungary can collaborate on fighting antisemitism. 

“I believe that we have a very similar strategic view on objectives and the ways and means to get there,” said Bóka. “I think there’s a lot of openness on both sides to cooperate.”

Zohran Mamdani, the mayor-elect of New York City, rolled out an extensive list of more than 400 new transition team appointees on Monday, saying the picks would help “recruit top talent and develop smart policy” on such issues as housing, community safety and economic development.

Despite the wide diversity of his choices, some of the appointees have raised concerns among Jewish leaders who remain skeptical of the mayor-elect and his commitment to fighting antisemitism, especially in moments where anti-Israel sentiment can cross a line into overt bigotry against Jews.

Among the most controversial sources of criticism was Mamdani’s appointment of Tamika Mallory, a former Women’s March leader who stepped down from its board amid allegations of antisemitism, to a newly established community safety committee.

Mallory, who rose to prominence as a leading organizer of the Women’s March after President Donald Trump was first elected, resigned from her role as a co-chair of the organization after facing accusations of having made virulently antisemitic remarks, including a widely discredited claim that Jewish people had played a major part in the slave trade.

The assertion echoed an infamous tract published by the Nation of Islam, whose antisemitic leader, Louis Farrakhan, Mallory had also praised as “the GOAT,” or “greatest of all time,” on social media. 

In a statement to Jewish Insider on Tuesday, the Anti-Defamation League, which launched an online tool to monitor policies and personnel choices of the incoming administration, called Mallory “simply the wrong choice for a committee on community safety” and said that she has “made some highly insensitive remarks about Jews and money, which play directly into antisemitic tropes,” while aligning “herself with people like notorious antisemite Louis Farrakhan.”

“Given the fact that New York’s Jewish community is facing antisemitism and security threats at unprecedented levels, the mayor-elect needs to appoint someone who will unite, rather than divide, communities.” the ADL spokesperson said.

In 2020, Mamdani called on social media for Mallory to be released from custody after she and others were arrested during a social justice demonstration in Kentucky. Linda Sarsour, a Palestinian American activist and former Women’s March leader who also has espoused antisemitic rhetoric, has long been an ally of Mamdani, but was not appointed to a role on any of his transition committees.

Monica Klein, the communications director for Mamdani’s transition, said in a statement shared with JI on Tuesday that the newly announced “subcommittees are preparing to implement Mayor-elect Mamdani’s agenda of safety and security for Jewish New Yorkers and everyone else who calls this city home, including his pledge for an 800% increase in anti-hate crime prevention.”

Mallory did not respond to a request for comment.

After the appointees were publicized Monday, Jewish leaders were scouring the lists in group chats and private texts for signs of how the newly elected mayor, a democratic socialist and staunch critic of Israel, would approach issues of concern to the community.

“There are a lot of bad names,” one Jewish leader told JI, sharing screenshots of exchanges flagging some transition picks seen as problematic, such as an anti-Zionist rabbi and activists affiliated with the Democratic Socialists of America, which is pushing Mamdani to divest from Israel when he takes office.

Other appointees who drew scrutiny were Alex Vitale, a professor of sociology at Brooklyn College who has called for an end to policing and will advise on community safety. 

The list included a number of outspoken detractors of Israel. Tahanie Aboushi, a civil rights lawyer and a former candidate for Manhattan district attorney who, like Mamdani, has endorsed boycotts against the Jewish state, will provide input on legal affairs. Lumumba Bandele, a member and organizer of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement who is joining the community organizing team, has frequently accused Israel of genocide as well as apartheid, while calling Zionism “a crime against humanity,” among several other incendiary social media comments.

The tolerance of such heated rhetoric underscores how Mamdani’s election upended the conventional thinking that a winning candidate in New York — a place with the largest Jewish community of any city in the world — must show strong support for Israel, emboldening like-minded allies who are now poised to shape the administration. 

Still, some Jewish leaders were encouraged that Mamdani had chosen Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, the executive vice president of the New York Board of Rabbis, to join an emergency response committee, despite his past criticism of the mayor-elect’s views on Israel.

Potasnik, who was recently named the first chief chaplain of the New York City Police Department, said he had “no specifics” to share about his role at the moment, noting that Mamdani’s representatives advised new appointees to direct any press requests to the transition team. 

“There are going to be meetings discussing what we’re expected to do,” Potasnik told JI broadly. “I just think that it’s important to have constructive engagement discussing important issues impacting our lives in New York.”

Potasnik was a member of outgoing Mayor Eric Adams’ transition team, which featured more than 700 members and leaned heavily on the Orthodox community.

Mamdani, for his part, named a handful of rabbis to join his transition team, including Abby Stein, a top Jewish ally who identifies as an anti-Zionist and will advise on health issues, and Rachel Timoner, who is the leader of Congregation Beth Elohim, a Brooklyn Reform synagogue that hosted a discussion with the mayor-elect during the campaign. She is serving on the immigrant justice committee.

In addition to clergy members, Mamdani tapped a pair of former Jewish lawmakers, Helen Rosenthal and Ruth Messinger, and community activists such as Masha Pearl of the Blue Card Fund, a nonprofit providing financial support for Holocaust survivors. 

Rabbi Marc Schneier, a critic of Mamdani, spoke with the mayor-elect late last week after protesters had demonstrated outside Park East Synagogue, a Modern Orthodox congregation in Manhattan led by his father. 

He said that Mamdani — who had drawn backlash over his initial statement on the protest, which he revised this week — voiced interest in learning more about legislation to bar demonstrations from taking place outside houses of worship.

But while Schneier was encouraged that Mamdani had been receptive to his recommendation, he told JI that he did “not see things changing” with respect to other key issues, such as the mayor-elect’s refusal to recognize Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state.

“If he continues to encircle himself with people who are going to support his limited understanding of Israel,” he said, “then we’re going to have a problem here.”

Good afternoon.

This P.M. edition is reserved for our premium subscribers — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.

I’m Gabby Deutch, senior national correspondent at Jewish Insider. I’ll be curating the Daily Overtime for you today, along with assists from my colleagues. Please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts and feedback by replying to this email.

📡On Our Radar

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) told The Hill that podcaster Tucker Carlson’s recent decision to interview neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes was “a big mistake.” Johnson said freedom of speech gives Carlson the right to host whomever he chooses, but that he also has a “responsibility” to not “amplify” hateful views: “I think it’s a dangerous trend to give a platform to people who are just openly and unrepentantly antisemitic and engaging in all this hateful racist stuff. It’s just not helpful”…

The Trump administration is seeking the construction of temporary residential compounds to house Palestinians who currently reside in the Israeli-controlled parts of Gaza, The New York Times reports. American officials think the quick construction of the compounds, deemed “Alternative Safe Communities,” will encourage Palestinians to seek job and housing opportunities in an area away from Hamas control…

Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad gave a casket to Israel that reportedly contains the remains of one of the three dead hostages still being held in Gaza. Identifying the body will take up to two days, according to Israel’s Health Ministry…

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman poured cold water on President Donald Trump’s request during their White House meeting last week that he move toward normalizing ties with Israel, according to an Axios report. Trump reportedly felt “disappointed” after MBS’ rejection of his request, with MBS saying anti-Israel sentiment in Saudi Arabia means such a deal is not possible right now…

Hadassah led 27 other Jewish organizations in a letter calling on the United Nations to take greater action against gender-based violence, and in particular to combat “the ongoing denial of Hamas’ weaponization of sexual violence on Oct. 7, 2023, and against the hostages illegally held in Gaza, including at the UN, [which] sends a dangerous message to Hamas and other terrorists that it can act with impunity in harming civilians”…

Senior U.S. officials met today with their Russian counterparts in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky communicated that he is open to a U.S.-brokered deal to end the Russia-Ukraine war. Zelensky said he wants to meet with Trump as soon as possible —possibly over Thanksgiving — to hash out the final points of a deal, including key issues like territorial concessions. Meanwhile, Russia struck Kyiv on Tuesday as talks progressed…

White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff introduced the idea of a renewed push for a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia during a phone call with a senior Kremlin official last month, soon after the Trump administration brokered a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, Bloomberg reports. The 20-point Middle East peace plan served as inspiration for the 28-point Russia-Ukraine plan, though that plan has since been significantly amended…

Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser announced on Tuesday that she will not run for a fourth term in next year’s mayoral election, a choice that is likely to set up a competitive race to lead the nation’s capital… 

The city council in Somerville, Mass., is set to vote tonight on whether to divest city funds from companies that do business with Israel. A nonbinding ballot measure calling for divestment received 55% of the votes in the city’s municipal elections earlier this month…

Trump is considering firing FBI Director Kash Patel, after the former podcast host has elicited a slew of controversy about mismanaging government resources and clashing with other Trump administration officials, MS NOW reports. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called the story “fake news”…

The Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy in the United Arab Emirates is hosting a conference about the Abraham Accords tomorrow with speakers from the UAE, Israel, Morocco, Cyprus, the U.K. and the U.S. A keynote address will be delivered by Ali Rashid Al Nuaimi, chair of the defense affairs, interior and foreign affairs committee in the UAE’s Federal National Council…

⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today

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

Keep an eye out in tomorrow’s Jewish Insider for an interview with Hungary’s minister for European Union affairs, who in May was appointed the country’s antisemitism commissioner for the country and who visited Washington last week for meetings with the Trump administration and Jewish leaders.

White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff will be in Moscow on Wednesday for a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, as the U.S. lobbies Russia and Ukraine to sign onto a Washington-mediated peace deal. 

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will be in France to meet with his French counterpart, Jean-Noel Barrot. France recently supported a United Nations effort to push Iran to allow the International Atomic Energy Agency to inspect the nuclear sites damaged in the country’s 12-day war with Israel over the summer. Iran suspended cooperation with the IAEA following the war with Israel.

We’ll be back in your inbox with the Daily Overtime on Monday. Happy Thanksgiving and Shabbat Shalom!

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Paul Finebaum, the longtime ESPN host and veteran Birmingham, Ala., college football commentator, is seriously considering entering the Republican primary to replace outgoing Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), three sources familiar with the matter confirmed to Jewish Insider. 

Finebaum, 70, began considering a run in late August, as it became clear that former Auburn University men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl, whom Finebaum had encouraged over the summer to enter the race, was not going to make his own bid. Both men are Jewish and have known each other for over a decade as prominent figures in the Southeastern Conference — Pearl as a legendary college basketball coach and Finebaum as an outspoken football commentator. 

Finebaum has largely avoided talking about politics during his career commentating on college football. The ESPN host, whose contract with the network ends in mid-2027, made some comments critical of President Donald Trump early in his first term, though Finebaum grew supportive of the president before he left office in 2021. During that time, Finebaum also grew tired of what he has described to those in his orbit as liberal bias at ESPN and the Walt Disney Company, the media giant that owns the network, according to a source close to Finebaum. 

While confirming his interest in the seat in an appearance on the “Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show” in late September, Finebaum said that he unsuccessfully lobbied ESPN to allow him to interview Trump on the network in 2019.

Reached for comment, Finebaum told JI, “It’s true, I’ve received a lot of calls encouraging me to run for Senate. So many of those calls have the same theme: Alabamians aren’t looking for someone running for the Senate as a job promotion. They want a senator ready to fight for their families, for conservative values and for President Trump’s agenda.”

“We all have a belief system, things that drive us and make us who we are, faith is a big part of that for me. I’m praying about the best path forward for me and my family,” his statement continued. “I’m flattered that so many people think I can serve in that role for them. Like I tell everyone who calls me or stops me at the grocery store, I’ll have something to say soon.”

A spokesperson for ESPN said they were “politely declining” JI’s request for comment.

Known as the “Mouth of the South,” Finebaum spent decades building a devoted following of college football fans as host of “The Paul Finebaum Radio Network,” a sports radio program devoted to Southeastern Conference athletics. Finebaum left Birmingham for Charlotte, N.C., in 2013, when ESPN signed him to a multiyear deal to help launch SEC Network the next year and rebrand his program as “The Paul Finebaum Show.” 

The longtime sports analyst moved back to Alabama with his family earlier this year, and has since been splitting his time between his new residence and Charlotte, where the studio for his syndicated ESPN program is based. 

While he has until late January to file for next May’s GOP primary, Finebaum has privately acknowledged he needs to make a decision about running imminently, with numerous other candidates already in the race. The SEC Network host has given himself a deadline of the first week in December to decide, though sources close to Finebaum say he has privately acknowledged that he is facing growing frustration from some in Alabama’s political class over the prolonged wait. 

Finebaum, who grew up attending an Orthodox synagogue in Memphis, Tenn., would be the only Jewish Republican in the Senate.  

As part of his Jewish upbringing, Finebaum was a member of the B’nai B’rith Youth Organization (BBYO). He said in a 2017 interview with the organization that he got involved in a Memphis-area chapter as a teen after being connected through his mother, who had been involved with BBYO for more than three decades. He eventually became a regional president at 16 years old.

Finebaum credited BBYO with teaching him “how to communicate, which is something I now do every day.” He also touted “the relationships that I formed and learning how to listen to people” as the main things he “took away from BBYO.” 

Finebaum, whose family moved from New York to Memphis just before he was born, told the Athletic in a July profile that he has “explored Christianity” and once considered converting to Catholicism with his wife Linda, who was raised Methodist. He said he still practices Judaism, however, to honor his parents. 

“I had a political operative tell me about a month ago: ‘Listen, I like you. I’ve followed you my entire career. I appreciate how you’ve spoken out on hypocrisy and held the people that run college football accountable. But you’re Jewish, and it will never work in Alabama,’ Finebaum said In an appearance on Travis and Sexton’s program on Monday. “I disagree strongly. I have lived in Alabama most of my adult life.”

“I believe in God and very strongly in faith, but it has been a challenge to find my way,” Finebaum said of exploring different faiths. “As I got older and opened my eyes to other things, it really helped me. … It’s a lifelong journey for me.”

“Whatever that means,” he added jokingly.

In an appearance on Travis and Sexton’s program on Monday, Finebaum said bringing Christians and Jews together would be one of his “major goals” as a Jewish senator for Alabama. 

“Right now, I don’t need to tell anyone listening to the show where that issue is and how much division is out there,” Finebaum said. “I had a political operative tell me about a month ago: ‘Listen, I like you. I’ve followed you my entire career. I appreciate how you’ve spoken out on hypocrisy and held the people that run college football accountable. But you’re Jewish, and it will never work in Alabama.’ I disagree strongly. I have lived in Alabama most of my adult life.”

Finebaum argued that the claim that Alabamians wouldn’t support a Jewish candidate was a “ridiculously unfair attack” on the people of the state, who he said “have been painted in a corner.” 

“That may have been true 50 or 60 years ago, but it’s not true today,” Finebaum said.

“I’m not going to run on being a Jewish Republican senator, if I chose to, from Alabama,” he continued. “But I think it would, you know, standing up there, assuming it happened, with [Alabama] Sen. [Katie] Britt, who is someone who has represented the great values of the state. I think we would make an incredible tandem. … I’m not in the field, but I think I’m the only person that could actually do that.”

If he enters the race, Finebaum would face no shortage of GOP competitors. The crowded Republican field to replace Tuberville includes Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, who has been the state’s chief law enforcement officer since 2017; Rep. Barry Moore (R-AL); Morgan Murphy, Tuberville’s former national security advisor; and Jared Hudson, a former Navy SEAL and pro-Trump businessman. 

Moore has the support of the Club for Growth, the well-funded conservative organization that was once at odds with Trump but has pledged to “work closely” with the president in the midterms. He’s also been endorsed by Sens. Ted Budd (R-NC) and Steve Daines (R-MT), the latter of whom chaired the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the Senate GOP campaign arm, last cycle. On the House side, Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Tim Burchett (R-TN) have gotten behind his campaign. 

Hudson is endorsed by Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-MT).

Trump has not endorsed in the race yet, nor has Tuberville or the NRSC. Finebaum has been making overtures to people close to the president about seeking his endorsement. He has also engaged with some of the state’s leading campaign operatives and donors, as well as the NRSC, about getting in the race.

Finebaum told those around him in recent weeks that he came away from his conversations with senior NRSC officials feeling encouraged about their interest in his candidacy, despite the fact that he’d be making such a late entry into the race. He has also cited what he described as overtures from conservative commentators, GOP lawmakers and other Trump allies urging him to run as reason to consider throwing his hat in the ring. 

A NRSC spokesperson did not respond to JI’s request for comment.

“Paul is smart. He loves the country,” Sen. Tommy Tubervile (R-AL) said on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast in late September. “[He’s] been a friend of mine for a long time. I tell you, he’s got 100% name ID in Alabama. He’d have a lot of big people behind him. He would be a force in the race if he decided to get into it.”

The ESPN mainstay had initially planned to travel to Washington, D.C., to meet with GOP senators and NRSC officials about a potential run after the August recess, but had to cancel the trip due to scheduling conflicts. He faced headwinds in organizing a trip this fall due to the government shutdown, and has not made it to Washington since starting to consider entering the race. 

Tuberville, who opted against seeking a second term in the Senate to run for governor of Alabama, has publicly embraced the idea of Finebaum running to succeed him. 

“Paul is smart. He loves the country,” Tuberville said on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast in late September. “[He’s] been a friend of mine for a long time.”

“I tell you, he’s got 100% name ID in Alabama. He’d have a lot of big people behind him. He would be a force in the race if he decided to get into it,” he added of Finebaum.

Britt is not getting involved in the GOP primary and plans to hold off on weighing in until she endorses the Republican nominee in the general election, three sources familiar with her thinking told JI. The Alabama senator and her husband Wesley Britt, a former NFL tackle with the New England Patriots, are longtime friends of Pearl’s and have socialized with Finebaum for years through Alabama sports circles. 

A spokesperson for Britt did not respond to JI’s request for comment.

Regardless of how Trump or the NRSC land on endorsing Finebaum’s campaign, the ESPN host is certain to face some right-wing detractors. Far-right commentator Laura Loomer has accused him of being a “Trojan horse” for his “radical” and “left-leaning views,” including his comments supporting the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020 and criticisms he made of Trump during his first term. 

Loomer, a close ally of the president’s, claimed in a series of tweets last month that Finebaum’s views are “at odds with the conservative values that define the Republican Party and Alabama’s electorate,” and accused him of “using” Trump-aligned “influencers” to “dupe MAGA into thinking he’s conservative so he can run” for Tuberville’s seat.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday pledging to designate certain chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations, identifying the organization’s branches in Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt as particularly problematic. 

“Its chapters in Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt engage in or facilitate and support violence and destabilization campaigns that harm their own regions, United States citizens and United States interests,” according to the executive order. 

As evidence, the White House cited the participation of the Lebanese Muslim Brotherhood in the Oct. 7 terror attacks for Israel; the Jordanian chapter’s record of providing material support to Hamas; and the calls by a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt to for violent attacks against U.S. partners. 

The new policy gives the secretary of state and the secretary of the Treasury 30 days to identify which branches should be designated “Foreign Terrorist Organizations” and which should be deemed “Specially Designated Global Terrorists,” another formal designation by the U.S. government that comes with less severe consequences than the FTO designation. 

According to the executive order, it is now official U.S. policy “to cooperate with its regional partners to eliminate the capabilities and operations of Muslim Brotherhood chapters designated as foreign terrorist organizations” and to “deprive those chapters of resources, and thereby end any threat such chapters pose to United States nationals or the national security of the United States.” 

The executive order comes a week after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, issued an order designating the Muslim Brotherhood a terror group, though the move is largely symbolic at the state level. 

Some Republicans have been pushing the White House to target the Muslim Brotherhood for months, though the effort stalled until a few weeks ago.  

The Muslim Brotherhood, a transnational Islamist group, gained prominence in 2012, when Mohamed Morsi — who was affiliated with the movement — became Egypt’s president, following a revolution that ousted Egypt’s longtime leader Hosni Mubarak. Morsi was then removed from office in a coup d’etat in 2013.  

A White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.