Plus, Turkey's F-35 bid has Israel on edge
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U.S. President Donald Trump waves to the media after walking off of Air Force One at Miami International Airport on April 11, 2026 in Miami, Florida.
Add JewishInsider on GoogleGood Wednesday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we report on President Donald Trump’s comments at the NATO summit in Ankara this morning that the MOU with Iran is “over,” and look at how Israel is approaching U.S. plans to sell fighter jets and weapons systems to Turkey. We report on growing pressure for Graham Platner to drop his Senate bid in Maine following recent sexual assault allegations, and cover last night’s Michigan Senate debate between Rep. Haley Stevens and Abdul El-Sayed. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, Elan Carr and Marine Le Pen.
We have also launched a new on-demand Live Briefingthat you can access throughout the day via our new app (on Apple and Android) and on our website.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by JI Executive Editor Melissa Weiss and Israel Editor Tamara Zieve, with an assist from Danielle Cohen-Kanik. Have a tip? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
- The NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, wraps up today. President Donald Trump is slated to depart this afternoon after meeting with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa.
- Speaking at the summit earlier today, Trump said that the ceasefire agreement with Iran was “over,” calling the country “scum,” following overnight Iranian strikes targeting military installations in Bahrain and Kuwait. The Iranian attacks came after CENTCOM hit over 80 targets in Iran on Tuesday, hitting air-defense systems, command and control networks, coastal radar sites and more than 60 Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps small boats in retaliation for Iranian attacks on three commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.Read more here.
- Israeli media reports that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who is in Ankara with the president and was planning to make a last-minute trip to Israel today, called off the visit. Hegseth had been slated to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
- Former U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel, who arrived in Israel earlier this week, will give an address this afternoon at Tel Aviv University on his vision for the future of U.S.-Israel relations.
- The annual Contemporary Antisemitism conference continues today in Haifa.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S GILI COHEN
Is President Donald Trump about to throw Israel under the … fighter jet?
The F-35 may be a stealth jet, but the Trump administration’s likely sale of the highly sophisticated planes to Turkey is creating a very out-in-the-open rift between Jerusalem and Ankara. It pits two strongmen of the type that Trump purports to admire — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, both of whom are vying to be a kind of Mideast “favorite son” to the mercurial American president — against each other.
The potential for the sale — one that strikes at the heart of Israel’s qualitative military edge and could tilt the balance of power in the region — is fueling anxiety in Israel. So much so that Netanyahu took to Fox News on both Sundayand Monday to detail Turkey’s long anti-Israel “rap sheet.” And this comes after harsh words by both Trump and Vice President JD Vance about Israel’s isolation on the world stage.
Israeli foreign policy analysts are also raising red flags. “Defining [Turkey] as an enemy would be a mistake, but it is clearly a rival that openly acts against the State of Israel and promotes a vision that includes Israel’s destruction,” Avner Golov, vice president of national security consulting firm MIND Israel and former senior director at the Israeli National Security Council, told JI.
The potential F-35 fighter jet sale is a complex one for Israel. Turkey was actually part of the program once before, but was expelled during the previous Trump administration over its purchase of a Russian air-defense system.
“Turkey used to be our friend, we used to train together, so they were not part of our demand within the framework of the qualitative military edge,” a former Israeli Air Force planner told JI. “And here we find ourselves in a problem: Turkey was a member of the project, and we are not” — though Israel has received F-35s despite not being an official partner.
thumb on the scale
The Maine Democratic Party accused Senate candidate Graham Platner on Tuesday of attempting to “put his thumb on the scale” to influence whom the party chooses to replace him on the ticket, as a growing wave of Democrats in the state position themselves to run for the seat. The charge by party officials comes a day after a former romantic partner accused Platner of sexual assault and as many of his key supporters urge him to suspend his campaign, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Continued scandal: Additional allegations of nonconsensual sexual conduct emerged on Tuesday, in a new Washington Post interview with another former romantic partner of Platner who had previously accused him of domestic abuse. Platner’s campaign has denied all of the allegations.
Cut loose: New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Tuesday joined the swelling chorus of Democratic voices demanding Platner abandon his campaign — a campaign the mayor’s own top political advisor helped start and steer, JI’s Will Bredderman reports.
BASHING BIBI
Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as she faced a barrage of attacks from her Senate primary opponent, former public health official Abdul El-Sayed, at a debate on Tuesday in Michigan, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. Netanyahu, in a CNN interview earlier on Tuesday, criticized Stevens for saying that his actions and government had made the Jewish community less safe and placed Jews in an “uncomfortable position.”
Back-and-forth: In response to a question from CNN host Dana Bash, Netanyahu said, “It’s made her uncomfortable because she can’t stand up for the truth. She’s trying to, probably, excuse antisemitism.” Asked about the war in Iran, Stevens criticized both President Donald Trump and Netanyahu. “We need long-term peace. Donald Trump has failed us. The prime minister of Israel has failed in that regard, and he was just coming after me on this today,” Stevens said. “Look, I am unafraid. Michigan, you are my North Star, and no illegal wars, no unilateral wars at our expense.”
Identity politics: El-Sayed told CNN this week that he does not believe that a politician’s support for Israel could be about anything other than money. “Not if you’re a Democrat and you believe in human rights,” El-Sayed told CNN when asked about such a distinction, JI’s Gabby Deutch reports.
turkish delight
President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that his administration was preparing to lift congressionally mandated sanctions on Turkey as he weighs moving forward with the sale of coveted F-35 fighter jets to Ankara, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports.
What he said: “We’re going to be taking the sanctions off,” Trump said alongside Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara, referring to lifting the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA). “It’s time to do that. We don’t want to sanction friends. It’s very simple,” he continued. “We’re working very closely with [Secretary of State] Marco Rubio and with [Treasury Secretary] Scott Bessent and with [Defense Secretary] Pete [Hegseth] and everybody else.”
SANCTIONS STANDOFF
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle remain deeply skeptical of President Donald Trump’s plans to lift sanctions on Turkey and revive its participation in the F-35 fighter jet program, but members of a bipartisan Senate delegation attending the NATO summit said Wednesday they could support the move if Ankara resolves long-standing security concerns over its use of the Russian-made S-400 missile-defense system, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod and Tamara Zieve report.
Red flag: “Selling one of America’s most advanced fighter jets to Turkey is not in the best interest of the United States,” Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) told JI. “It risks compromising critical technology and sends the wrong message to our allies in Europe and the Middle East. Restrictions on the sale of F-35s to Turkey should absolutely remain in place while [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan continues to operate Russian S-400s, in accordance with existing U.S. law.”
Yes, but: Speaking on the sidelines of the NATO summit at a press conference on Wednesday morning, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) noted that “[Sen.] Thom Tillis [R-NC] and I wrote the legislation that prohibited, that kicked Turkey out of the F-35 program because of their acquisition of the S-400.” Shaheen continued, “If there is an acceptable way to deal with the S-400 and the threat that that poses to the technology and the F-35 and there is satisfactory agreement on the part of all parties about that, then I think having Türkiye back in the F-35 program would be a positive development, both for Türkiye and for the United States.”
Read the full story here with additional comments from Reps. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), Brad Sherman (D-CA), Brad Schneider (D-IL), Mike Turner (R-OH), George Latimer (D-NY), Dina Titus (D-NV), Chris Pappas (D-NH), Joe Wilson (R-SC) and Sens. Mike Rounds (R-SD), Chris Coons (D-DE) and John Cornyn (R-TX).
scoop
A federal judge in Illinois has scheduled a Feb. 8, 2027, trial to determine whether the American Muslims for Palestine group can be held legally responsible for the 1996 murder of American teenager David Boim, according to a court document obtained by Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen. The landmark case could establish whether U.S. organizations are liable for funding Hamas terror operations.
Details: In 2017, Daniel Schlessinger, the Boims’ lead attorney, filed a lawsuit against AMP, a leading anti-Israel advocacy group with alleged ties to Hamas. The lawsuit accuses AMP of acting as an “alter ego” of the Islamic Association for Palestine, a now-defunct group that shut down after it was found to have provided material support to Hamas. Although a judge had previously ruled that AMP could not be considered what is legally described as an “alter ego” of the earlier organization, the ruling was overturned in 2022 and the case was reopened. Next year’s trial could further “pave the way for American families who have been the victims of terror, in particular those killed or taken hostage in the Oct. 7 attacks, to seek justice in federal courts across the United States,” Schlessinger told JI.
CHATBOT FAIL
Major AI chatbots consistently fail to reject antisemitic inquiries in Persian as effectively as they do in English, according to a report released on Wednesday by the Anti-Defamation League. The group argues the safety flaw has broad implications as millions rely on these platforms to understand conflicts such as the U.S.-Israel war against Iran, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
Translation trouble: The report, “Lost in Translation: How AI Chatbots Fail Persian Speakers on Antisemitism,” looked at responses by the most widely-used chatbots — OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude, Google’s Gemini and xAI’s Grok — over several weeks in March, amid the Iran war. After assessing eight prompts and 800 total responses, researchers identified a “systemic” bias in how AI models process sensitive topics, heavily dependent on the language used.
Worthy Reads
Propping Up Platner: In The Atlantic, Mike Nelson questions why Graham Platner’s defenders ignored a laundry list of red flags regarding the Maine Senate candidate’s background and beliefs. “But why were the Jews who were targeted by the organization whose logo he bore not worthy of the same support? And was Lyndsey Fifield, a conservative woman who alleged that Platner had engaged in emotional and physical abuse (also denied by Platner), less worthy because of her politics? What does it say about Platner’s defenders that his other horrible behavior was within their range of acceptability?” [TheAtlantic]
The Antisemitism Caucus: CNN’s Edward-Isaac Dovere talks to Jewish Democrats about how antisemitism is increasingly permeating conversations in the party about Israel. “‘I know at some point there will be a day of reckoning, because I still believe that Jews should have a homeland,” the [Vermont Rep. Becca Balint] told CNN. “There will be people, I think some of my own supporters, who will turn on me, because I still believe in a two-state solution. I still do. I still believe that Israel should be safe and secure.’ … She described a familiar ache. Like the people who tell her that homophobia doesn’t exist and then ask her what it means that she’s a lesbian. Like the House Democratic colleague she wouldn’t name who she says came to a bipartisan antisemitism taskforce meeting and said, ‘I didn’t really think there was any antisemitism anymore, because all the Jews are rich.’” [CNN]
Word on the Street
Lebanon’s embassy in Washington confirmed that President Joseph Aoun is set to meet with President Donald Trump at the White House on July 21…
FEMA officials notified states that they must show proof of compliance with a number of changes to election procedures, including the use of paper ballots and checking voters’ citizenship, in order to receive tens of millions of dollars in terrorism-prevention funding…
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) said they had spoken earlier this week to Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), whose health status has been in question since his hospitalization last month…
Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs announced a new undergraduate major in global affairs and public policy, backed by a donation from the Mike and Sofia Segal Foundation…
A French court upheld far-right leader Marine Le Pen’s embezzlement conviction, but reduced her five-year ban on holding office, clearing the way for her to potentially run in next year’s presidential election…
Israel’s consulate in New York was evacuated from its Midtown Manhattan building after a nearby high-rise building under construction showed signs of collapsing, prompting evacuations across the neighborhood…
Ireland’s parliament passed a measure that would ban imported goods from West Bank settlements and Jewish areas of east Jerusalem…
A senior YouTube official testifying before Australia’s royal commission into antisemitism defended the platform’s decision not to remove a video that called the Bondi Beach terror attack a “false flag” operation and suggested that a survivor who posted images of his wounds had faked his injuries…
The Financial Times reports that Riyadh has been delaying and in some cases blocking payments from Saudi banks to accounts based in the United Arab Emirates in recent months amid deepening tensions between the Gulf nations…
The family of British couple Craig and Lindsay Foreman, who have been detained in Iran since January 2025, alleged that Iranian authorities are withholding medicine and basic hygiene products from the couple, who have been on a hunger strike for the last two months in protest of their conditions…
Amichai Cohen was named the vice president of research at the Israel Democracy Institute…
Israeli-American Council CEO Elan Carr will step down as the organization’s CEO after three years at the helm of the group, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Justin Hayet reports…
Rachel Fish has been hired as the first CEO of the Israel Institute, succeeding Executive Director Ariel Ilan Roth, who has led the organization since it was founded by the Schusterman Family Philanthropies in 2012, the organization announced on Tuesday, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross reports…
Actor Louise Lasser, who played the title role in the short-lived TV show “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman,” died at 87…
Find on-demand live briefing updates throughout the day via our new app (on Apple and Android) and website.
Pic of the Day
An IsraAid team deployed to Venezuela in the aftermath of two earthquakes late last month that caused extensive damage around the South American nation and killed more than 3,500 people held a self-care and mental health workshop last week for local first responders and search-and-rescue volunteers in the country.
Birthdays
Writer, television producer, ventriloquist and puppeteer, Mallory Hurwitz Tarcher Lewis turns 64…
Retired in 2016 after 26 years as executive director of the Baltimore Jewish Council, Arthur “Art” Abramson turns 78… Democratic candidate for president of the U.S. in 2020 and 2024, Marianne Deborah Williamson turns 74… Mayor of Farmington Hills, Mich., until 2023, she is a former member of the Michigan state House of Representatives, Vicki Barnett turns 72… Attorney and Democratic politician from Texas, Barbara Ann Radnofsky turns 70… Attorney and a former U.S. ambassador to Belgium in the Obama administration, Howard Gutman turns 70… Partner of the global law firm Dentons, was the first Jewish person to win statewide office in Georgia as attorney general, Samuel Scott Olens turns 69… Former member of Knesset who had served as Israel’s foreign minister, justice minister, agriculture minister and housing minister, Tziporah Malka “Tzipi” Livni turns 68… Retired rabbi at Temple Emanuel in Beaumont, Texas, Rabbi Joshua Samuel Taub… Co-president of Rochester, New York-based Hahn Automotive Warehouse, he is on the board of governors of the Jewish Federation of Greater Rochester, Eli N. Futerman… SVP and COO of the Jewish Communal Fund, Marina W. Lewin… Washington bureau chief of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency until his retirement from that role at the end of 2024, he continues to write for JTA, Ron Kampeas turns 66… Consultant strategist, policy advisor and writer, he served as corporate counsel to Allstate Insurance for 28 years, Steven Richard Sheffey turns 66… Americas president of DGA Group, he is a former Clinton White House senior staffer, Dan K. Rosenthal turns 60… Former ice hockey player, her three sons were seventh, first and fourth picks overall, respectively, in the 2018, 2019 and 2021 NHL Drafts, Ellen Weinberg-Hughes turns 58… Higher education reporter for The Wall Street Journal, Douglas Belkin… Democratic nominee for New York’s 10th Congressional District, Bradford S. “Brad” Lander turns 57… Managing director of investor relations for Harbor Group International, Meir Raskas… Israeli film director, producer and researcher, Eyal Boers turns 51… EVP of the Atlantic Council, Jenna H. Ben-Yehuda… Atlanta-based educator, activist and writer, Robbie Medwed… Sports journalist, known for his coverage of mixed martial arts and professional wrestling, Ariel Jacob Helwani turns 44… Senior legal counsel at Horizons Law and Consulting, Alon Sachar… Policy and communications consultant following four years as an assistant to the president during the Biden administration, Stefanie Feldman turns 38… Diplomatic correspondent at The Jerusalem Post and i24NEWS, Amichai Stein…
EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas: ‘At some point, either the government will know information related to individuals’ religion, or we will not be able to enforce the laws on their behalf’
Dillon Meyer Media
EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas and Brandeis Center founder Kenneth Marcus speak at the inaugural conference on antisemitism and civil rights law at Harvard University on April 16, 2026.
The Trump administration official leading a controversial probe into antisemitism at the University of Pennsylvania told Jewish leaders and legal experts on Thursday that compiling a list of Jewish faculty with their detailed personal information was necessary to identify and protect victims.
“There is no other way to protect victims of harassment or discrimination unless you collect information about them,” Andrea Lucas, chair of the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, said at the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law’s inaugural conference on antisemitism and civil rights law, held at Harvard University.
“We never collect information to contact someone on their work system,” she said. “The EEOC’s long-standing practice is to collect personal information because we want to make sure that there is not any clear monitoring of your email systems … that when you speak to a government agency you feel completely not pressured.”
Last month, a federal judge ordered Penn to comply with a subpoena from the Trump administration requesting detailed information about Jewish university affiliates as part of the EEOC’s ongoing investigation into Penn’s handling of antisemitism. The subpoena had requested the school turn over lists of Jewish employees and members of Jewish organizations — including their identifying details and phone numbers — which the school called “extraordinary and unconstitutional.” Critics on campus have likened the move to Nazi-era methods of collecting information about Jews.
During a fireside chat with Kenneth Marcus, founder of the Brandeis Center and former assistant secretary of education for civil rights under the first Trump administration, Lucas noted she was speaking generally and not about the Penn case specifically, as litigation is ongoing.
“At some point, either the government will know information related to individuals’ religion, or we will not be able to enforce the laws on their behalf,” continued Lucas, who is not Jewish but emphasized a personal interest in religious liberty as “a core thing the EEOC needs to be focusing on.”
“I understand the sensitivities around this issue … but fundamentally the Jewish community does have to decide: do you want to have civil rights enforcement in this space? If you do, there is no other way we can get money for victims.”
Experts told Jewish Insider in January that a more typical investigation might involve agency officials interviewing people who issued complaints directly with the agency, then visiting the campus and publicizing their investigation, calling the EEOC’s methods in the Penn case “incredibly unusual, if not completely unprecedented.”
Lucas asserted that the same standard applied for helping members of any race, religion or gender. None of the event’s speakers publicly disagreed with Lucas’ statements.
The daylong conference was born out of last year’s settlement between the Brandeis Center and Harvard over a Title VI lawsuit, and was framed around this year’s U.S. Semiquincentennial.
It opened with an address from Marcus and a benediction from Harvard Chabad’s Rabbi Hirschy Zarchi. Attendees included Harvard community members, Jewish activists, lawyers and scholars.
The plenary session, “Towards a Jewish Civil Rights Movement,” moderated by Marcus, featured William Daroff, CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations; Elan Carr, CEO of Israeli-American Council and former special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism; and Miriam Elman, executive director of the Academic Engagement Network.
Carr called the battle against antisemitism “a war for the soul of America and the soul of civilization,” and advocated for a shift in classroom curriculums and federal funding.
“Jew-hatred is history’s greatest barometer of human ruin and suffering. We are fighting for the future of our country and American values. So we need to get serious about teaching American values … we can’t safeguard this republic unless we teach American kids what this republic is, why it was founded, what our values are and constitutional structures are,” he said. “This is a national crisis with national implications. The federal government needs to say ‘no money goes anywhere to any educational institution unless there’s Western values, American civics, basic principles of the United States as part of the curriculum.’”
After the session, Daroff told JI that “today’s conference brought a united American Jewish community together, aligned in action. We are not standing back. We are organizing, building and acting together with shared purpose and resolve.”
The conference also featured a panel titled “Defining Anti-Semitism at America’s 250th: New Challenges for a New Century.” Speakers debated the importance of pushing states to codify the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism, as many mainstream Jewish groups are using resources to do. Critics of IHRA say the definition chills political speech and criticism of Israel.
Nathan Diament, executive director for the Orthodox Union Advocacy Center, said that IHRA is not only important for combating campus antisemitism — as several of the speakers emphasized — but also regarding legislation in Washington.
At the same time, “in the political arena, vagueness around questions [of what is antisemitism] is unhelpful. The most important currency in politics is votes. Advocates and voters need to be able to say with clarity to politicians [what they will and will not support]. This is the most important need for the definition of antisemitism, to draw a line as clearly as we can and make clear to politicians that if they cross this line, there will be consequences,” said Diament.
“Even as the OU has, and continues to, support legislation to codify the IHRA definition, I don’t think at this stage in the game that’s the most important way to further the definition and to use our political capital,” he continued. “We don’t need Congress’ approval of how we want to define antisemitism. We don’t need them to codify it and we don’t need them to give us permission to use it to hold members of Congress and other politicians accountable. We can use the IHRA definition because we say that’s the definition.”
Alyza Lewin, president of U.S. affairs for the Combat Antisemitism Movement and former president of the Brandeis Center, pushed back by highlighting how the law enforcement trainings she provides varies based on local adoption of the IHRA definition. She noted a stark difference between training in states where it is codified, such as Georgia, and those where it is not, such as New York.
Law enforcement in Georgia “has a very concrete reason now to understand and use” the training, said Lewin. “In New York, especially after [Mayor Zohran Mamdani] reversed the executive order on IHRA, I can try to explain it to them but it’s just a nice thing I teach them. They are under no obligation to actually engage with it and utilize it. So I do think on a state by state level, it does make a difference whether or not a state has adopted the IHRA definition.”
In a separate panel, moderated by Anat Alon-Beck, a visiting professor at Harvard Law School, speakers explored new avenues for litigation against antisemitism.
“Nearly two years after the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, the Jewish community still lacks unified messaging, coordinated toolkits and a clear strategy. At a time when antisemitic actors are highly organized and aligned, our disunity is a serious vulnerability,” Alon-Beck told JI following her session. “We need to come together — with clarity, courage and coordination — because the stakes could not be higher.”
According to the Brandeis Center, this conference was the first in an annual three-part series.
Charles Dabda, a third-year student at Touro Law Center and law clerk with National Jewish Advocacy Center, told JI he was leaving the conference with a clear sense that “antisemitism is rising in real time with real consequences across campuses, professional spaces and beyond. At the Brandeis Center, and NJAC, our commitment remains resolute and steadfast; we will confront antisemitism wherever it manifests — through advocacy, and, when necessary, the courtroom.”
To mark the second anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel, the Jewish Insider team asked leading thinkers and practitioners to reflect on how that day has changed the world. Here, we look at how Oct. 7 changed Jewish advocacy
Courtesy Orthodox Union
Members of the Orthodox Union Advocacy Center met with Education Secretary Linda McMahon on Wednesday to discuss federal efforts to counter antisemitism and new legislation promoting school choice, Sept. 17th, 2025
Plus, NYT spotlights terror leader
Zhu Ziyu/VCG via Getty Images
A glimpse into the Harvard University campus on May 24, 2025 in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Good Tuesday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
I’m Danielle Cohen-Kanik, U.S. editor at Jewish Insider and curator, along with assists from my colleagues, of the Daily Overtime briefing. 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
Former Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) is set to make a comeback bid for the Senate, taking on Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH) — who was appointed earlier this year to fill Vice President JD Vance’s seat — next year. Brown, who lost his seat to Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) in a hotly contested 2024 race, held a solidly progressive voting record during his three terms in the Senate but maintained his support for Israel and relationships with Ohio’s sizable Jewish community. Senate Democrats have encouraged Brown to run again, seeing him as one of the party’s few chances to flip a GOP-held Senate seat back to blue in the midterms…
The Democratic National Committee is set to consider two resolutions on Israel this month — one of which is downright hostile to the Jewish state. The first, introduced by DNC Chairman Ken Martin, calls for a ceasefire, the return of all hostages and a two-state solution. The other, introduced by progressive DNC members, calls for an arms embargo, the suspension of all military aid to Israel and for the Democratic Party to recognize a Palestinian state…
The Atlantic reports on the divide between the “reformist” and “academic resistance” factions of university leaders, exemplified by a heated meeting of the Association of American Universities. The reformists are led by Vanderbilt Chancellor Daniel Diermeier and Washington University in St. Louis Chancellor Andrew Martin, who have positioned their schools as safe spaces for Jewish students facing antisemitism on other campuses and advocate for more universities to do the same. The two told Jewish Insider last month, “Here are two institutions that are willing to stand in the public square and say, American higher education has lost its way in some respects. We’re great institutions, and we’re committed to working to ensure that our institutions and higher education writ large will do better in the future.”
The resistance faction, meanwhile, led in part by Princeton President Christopher Eisgruber and encompassing most Ivy League schools, says the reformists are lending legitimacy to the Trump administration’s war on higher education by admitting universities have a problem with liberal bias…
We’re hearing that Harvard, one of those Ivy Leagues battling with the federal government, could reach a settlement with the Trump administration as soon as tomorrow. Harvard may agree to spend $500 million for the restoration of its frozen federal funding, more than double what Columbia paid to the federal government last month. However, reported terms of the deal would see Harvard’s payment going towards vocational and educational programs, similar to the $50 million Brown University agreed to spend on local workforce initiatives, rather than going to the Trump administration…
George Washington University joined the schools under fire from the federal government today as the Department of Justice found it in violation of federal civil rights law. The DOJ said GW “took no meaningful action and instead was deliberately indifferent to the hostile educational environment on its campus” during an anti-Israel encampment and protests, and gave the D.C. school an Aug. 22 deadline to agree to dialogue…
The Trump administration is busy on the diplomatic front as well, now working towards a deal between Israel and Syria to open a corridor for Israel to deliver humanitarian aid to the Druze community in the southern Syrian city of Suweida, according to Axios. The initiative comes after Israel bombed Syria last month in defense of that community, as the Druze clashed with militias aligned with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa’s government. Tom Barrack, U.S. ambassador to Turkey and envoy to Syria, is expected to meet with Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani to discuss the deal in Paris next week…
The New York Times interviews Zakaria Zubeidi, the former leader of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a U.S.-designated terror group based in the West Bank town of Jenin, who was released from Israeli prison in February as part of a temporary ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. The profile framed Zubeidi, who also founded the Freedom Theater in Jenin, as “emblematic of something else: a sense of hopelessness that imbues Palestinian life,” a charitable interpretation for the man who led the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade during the Second Intifada — during which time the militia was designated as a Foreign Terror Organization by the U.S. and over 1,000 Israelis were killed in terror attacks…
World Central Kitchen confirmed that the individuals struck by the IDF who were operating from a vehicle with a WCK emblem were not affiliated with the aid organization, saying it “strongly condemn[s] anyone posing as WCK or other humanitarians as this endangers civilians and aid workers”…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider tomorrow morning for an interview with Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who just returned from a trip to Israel, and another with American-Israeli venture capitalist Michael Eisenberg. We’ll also profile American Eagle CEO and philanthropist Jay Schottenstein.
Eric Levine, a top GOP donor and board member of the Republican Jewish Coalition, is co-hosting a fundraiser tomorrow evening for New York City Mayor Eric Adams as Adams tries to retain his office as an independent against Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani. Levin is joined by an array of donors from New York’s legal, financial and Jewish communities in hosting the event, advertised as “Democrats, Independents and Republicans coming together to save New York City.”
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Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) is joined by Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer and other officials for a meeting with U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth at the Pentagon on July 09, 2025 in Arlington, Virginia.
Good Monday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
I’m Danielle Cohen-Kanik, U.S. editor at Jewish Insider and curator, along with assists from my colleagues, of the Daily Overtime briefing. 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 spoke with Axios’ Barak Ravid today about Israel’s move to expand the war in Gaza. While the president didn’t go so far as to say he endorsed the plan, he said that, in his view, Hamas “can’t stay there” and the terror group is “not going to let the hostages out in the current situation.” Trump told Ravid, “I have one thing to say: remember Oct. 7, remember Oct. 7”…
Israel Hayom reported this afternoon that Israeli Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer is considering leaving the government in the coming months before Israel holds its next elections, which are currently scheduled for October 2026. Sources said Dermer, a close confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, began contemplating the move after Israel successfully degraded the Iranian nuclear threat in its June operation. Since February, he’s also led Israel’s hostage-release and ceasefire negotiation efforts…
The Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund, the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, divested from 11 of the 61 Israeli companies it held shares in and will no longer collaborate with Israeli hedge fund managers to invest in the country, the fund announced today.
Nicolai Tangen, CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management which manages the fund, said about the move, “These measures were taken in response to extraordinary circumstances. The situation in Gaza is a serious humanitarian crisis. We are invested in companies that operate in a country at war, and conditions in the West Bank and Gaza have recently worsened. In response, we will further strengthen our due diligence”…
A delegation of 14 House Democrats, including 11 freshmen, met in Jerusalem today with Israeli President Isaac Herzog while on a trip organized by the AIPAC-affiliated American Israel Education Foundation. The strong showing of first-term members — who account for a third of the total House Democratic freshman class — is a sign of the organization’s continued pull among mainstream pro-Israel Democrats, even as anti-Israel activists within the party have sought to make the group politically toxic…
Virginia state Del. Sam Rasoul, chair of the Education Committee in the House of Delegates, continues to defend his view that Zionism is “evil” amid widespread Democratic criticism, telling local outlet WFIR News earlier this month that the criticisms he’s faced are politically motivated “silly season” attacks in the lead-up to the state’s November elections…
The Israeli-American Council’s Los Angeles headquarters was vandalized over the weekend, the group shared, with graffiti including swastikas, the letters SS as a reference to the Nazis and the phrases “f*** Jews” and “BDS.” IAC CEO Elan Carr said in a statement, “This incident will not intimidate or deter us — on the contrary, it fuels our determination to stand even stronger against antisemitism and to protect and strengthen our community for generations to come”…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider tomorrow morning for the full story on an Orthodox community emerging from the ground up in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains:
“People who buy homes in Mountain View, as the neighborhood will be called, must also buy into the vision of building a tight-knit community from the ground up (literally — the homes won’t be ready for at least a year).
Rabbi Yaakov Moshe Twerski, a rabbi from Monsey, N.Y., is on board to oversee religious matters in the community. Plans are underway to build a mikveh, a kosher supermarket, an Orthodox school system and a yeshiva — a second location of Yeshivas Lev Simcha, a religious school in Boca Raton, Fla. A synagogue has already been constructed.”
Also tomorrow, the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee is expected to discuss the issue of Haredi conscription in the IDF for the first time since former Chairman Yuli Edelstein was replaced by MK Boaz Bismuth.
Though Edelstein and Bismuth are both Likud lawmakers, the party hopes the new chairman will be more amenable to the Haredi parties’ demands, which reportedly now include the cancellation of tens of thousands of draft notices sent to Haredi men over the past year.
Stories You May Have Missed
FROSTY OUTLOOK
The Florida Democrat has shifted away from commitments he made to Jewish leaders during his first run for Congress, fueling frustration among former supporters
POLICY FLIP
Reps. Maxine Dexter (D-OR) and Valerie Foushee (D-NC) flip-flopped on their previous opposition to block military aid to the Jewish state
Plus, Qatar picks up another Beltway lobbyist
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) in the Senate Judiciary Committee on January 30, 2025 in Washington, D.C.
Good Wednesday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we talk to Sen. Lindsey Graham about recent incidents on and near Christian sites in Gaza and the West Bank, and interview Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt about the National Education Association’s recent rejection of a proposal to cut ties with his organization. We report from a conference this week in New York City hosted by Reut USA and The Rabbi Sacks Legacy focused on the future of Jewish education, and cover the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s vote to advance legislation that aims to expedite arms sales to Abraham Accords signatories. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Gal Gadot, Rom Braslavski, Eyal Shani and Shahar Segal.
What We’re Watching
- President Donald Trump is slated to give an address today on AI at a Washington summit co-hosted by the Hill & Valley Forum and the “All In” podcast.
- Secretary of State Marco Rubio is meeting with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi this afternoon in Washington.
- White House Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff heads to Rome today ahead of a meeting on Thursday with Israeli and Qatari negotiators to discuss ceasefire and hostage-release efforts.
- The House Appropriations Committee is holding a full committee markup this morning for the FY 2026 National Security, State and Related Programs bill.
- Also this morning, the House Foreign Affairs Committee is holding a hearing with Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Allison Hooker.
- In the afternoon, HFAC’s Middle East and North Africa subcommittee is holding a hearing with the State Department’s acting coordinator for counterterrorism, Greg LoGerfo.
- On the other side of the Capitol, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is holding a hearing on diplomatic strategies for the Middle East. Former Iran envoy Brian Hook, former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro and RAND senior analyst Shelly Culbertson are slated to testify.
- Later today on the Hill, Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Don Bacon (R-NE), joined by Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, will announce bipartisan legislation to combat antisemitism and disinformation on social media platforms.
- Elsewhere on the Hill, footwear enthusiast Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) is celebrating the third annual “Sneaker Day.”
- Also this afternoon, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies is hosting a conversation on U.S. counterterrorism efforts between FDD Executive Director Jonathan Schanzer and Seb Gorka, the Trump administration’s deputy assistant to the president and senior director for counterterrorism.
- Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar is in Ukraine today for meetings with senior Ukrainian officials.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S JOSH KRAUSHAAR
One of the biggest challenges in our modern media ecosystem is breaking out of the echo chambers that so many are locked into.
Ezra Klein’s New York Times column this week, headlined “Why American Jews No Longer Understand Each Other,” is a worthwhile example of how even the best-intentioned columnists can struggle to understand the world outside their own social and informational bubble.
The column portrays a vocal minority of anti-Zionist sentiment within the Jewish community as much larger than it actually is. The characterization of a roughly even divide within the Jewish community between Zionists and anti-Israel Jews is at odds with numerous reputable polls tracking Jewish public opinion.
Public polling serves as a useful reality check to much of the framing in the column, and underscores the breadth of Jewish support towards Israel. An April 2025 Pew Research Center survey found 72% of Jewish Americans held a favorable view towards Israel. A fall 2024 poll of Jewish voters commissioned by the conservative Manhattan Institute found 86% of Jews considering themselves “a supporter of Israel.” A spring 2024 survey of Jewish voters commissioned by the Democrat-affiliated Jewish Electoral Institute (JEI) found 81% of Jewish respondents were emotionally attached to Israel.
This doesn’t paint the portrait of a community that is meaningfully divided over Israel — even amid the wave of negative, if not hostile, coverage towards the Jewish state in recent months.
Klein’s column quotes four Jewish voices — from anti-Israel polemicist Peter Beinart to the publisher of the anti-Zionist Jewish Currents publication to the rabbi of a deeply progressive Park Slope synagogue to self-proclaimed “progressive Zionist” Brad Lander — while just one (former Biden antisemitism envoy Deborah Lipstadt) reflects the mainstream Jewish majority.
foreign agent walking
William Bennett, a former U.S. secretary of education under former President Ronald Reagan, registered in early July as an agent for Qatar, to advocate for the country on education-related issues, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Defending Qatar: Bennett, according to a Foreign Agents Registration Act filing first highlighted by analyst Eitan Fischberger, will receive a total of $210,000 over seven months to serve as a “senior education advisor” to the Qatari Embassy to “make efforts to publicize the fact that Qatari higher education efforts to do not support radical Islamicist movements or positions, and his engaging in publicized efforts — potentially including communications to U.S. political office holders — would help dispel contrary notions.”
WORDS OF WARNING
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said that future military actions by Israel must be “conducted in a way to maintain support here at home” amid backlash to the Jewish state’s most recent operations in Syria and the strike that killed three at a Catholic church in Gaza. Speaking to Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs from the Capitol on Tuesday, Graham warned that Christians in the West Bank must not face the same fate as other Middle Eastern Christian communities, including in Syria, where as many as 1,000 Christians were killed between the fall of former Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad in November and March of this year under the new Syrian government.
Protecting the community: “Support for Christians throughout the region is eroded, and we need to make sure that doesn’t happen in the West Bank,” Graham told JI when asked how Israel had handled the backlash against its recent military actions in Gaza, last week’s fatal strike on the Holy Family Catholic Church, the only Catholic church in Gaza, and reports of an arson attack in the area of the fifth-century Church of St. George in the West Bank town of Taybeh — which an Israeli police probe found to be unfounded, stating that the fire had been “in an adjacent open area, with no buildings, no crops, and no infrastructure of the site damaged.”
union dues
Days after the National Education Association walked back a decision by its members to cut ties with the Anti-Defamation League, ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt praised the move but cautioned that the union still has a “long way to go” toward making clear that it respects the Jewish community, he said in an interview on Monday. “I am glad that they recognize what’s wrong about calling out the most consequential organization fighting antisemitism at a time of rising antisemitism,” Greenblatt told Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch. “Yet at the same time, there are elements of even the statement that lead me to believe that we’re still in this fight. We’ve got a long way to go to make sure that the ADL and our community is respected for who we are.”
Caveats: While the board of directors of the NEA — the largest teachers union in the country — condemned antisemitism in the statement released last week, the board also stated that the organization’s rejection of the anti-ADL measure was “in no way an endorsement of the ADL’s full body of work.” Further, the NEA called on the ADL “to support the free speech and association rights of all students and educators.”
DOUBLING DOWN
Anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil, who was a prominent leader of the Columbia University protest movement, repeatedly declined to condemn Hamas in a CNN interview on Tuesday, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
No straight answer: “It’s disingenuous to ask about condemning Hamas while Palestinians are the ones being starved now by Israel,” Khalil told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer and Pamela Brown when asked whether he condemns the U.S.-designated terrorist organization. Khalil also accused the Trump administration of “weaponizing antisemitism” to “silence my speech” and denied that he engaged in any antisemitic activity.
250 years later
Making Jewish education more accessible is the key to many of the challenges facing American Jews today, several Jewish leaders said on Monday at a conference on the future of American Jewry, held at the UJA-Federation of New York headquarters in Manhattan, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports for eJewishPhilanthropy.
Community questions: Drawing inspiration from the teachings of the late Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, some 100 rabbis, lay leaders, entrepreneurs and CEOs of Jewish organizations debated how to expand Jewish education — as well as a number of other issues facing American Jewry — at the daylong conference organized by Reut USA and The Rabbi Sacks Legacy. “A greater threat even than the antisemites is our own well-being internally, our own loss of identity, our own distance from our history, values and knowledge from our texts,” Elan Carr, CEO of the Israeli-American Council and former U.S. special envoy for monitoring and combating antisemitism in the first Trump administration, told attendees.
Read the full story here and sign up for eJewishPhilanthropy’s Your Daily Phil newsletter here.
MONEY MATTERS
Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee’s National Security, Department of State and Related Programs subcommittee are backing a significant increase in funding for the State Department’s special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
New provisions: The explanatory report accompanying the subcommittee’s 2026 funding bill, which it advanced last week, proposes $2.5 million for the office, up from the $1.75 million provided in 2024 and 2025. The report also includes provisions requesting new oversight mechanisms for U.S. funding abroad to combat the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement that targets Israel and prevent U.S. funding of political groups. It additionally raises concerns about Turkey’s relationship with Hamas. And it offers funding for cultural heritage projects in Israel, like the City of David.
Worthy Reads
Isn’t It Rich: On her podcast “Honestly,” The Free Press’ Bari Weiss interviews journalist and author Evan Osnos about the evolution of technology and industry and his new book, The Haves and Have-Yachts, which looks at American wealth in today’s society. “Not only is it going to mean that our jobs are suddenly in much shorter supply, that kids coming out of school, as we’re already seeing today, are finding themselves in a much harder position to find that first job and get that first rung on the job ladder, but also our whole sense of purpose as an individual. I mean, the first time that you pick up your phone and realize that it is able to do your job better than you are, to reach judgments, to parse complicated, conflicting pieces of information, that’s going to be also a crisis of meaning and purpose in our society.” [Honestly]
The Case Against Genocide: The New York Times’ Bret Stephens counters a recent NYT op-ed accusing Israel of committing genocide. “In short, the first question the anti-Israel genocide chorus needs to answer is: Why isn’t the death count higher? The answer, of course, is that Israel is manifestly not committing genocide, a legally specific and morally freighted term that is defined by the United Nations convention on genocide as the ‘intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such.’ … But bungled humanitarian schemes or trigger-happy soldiers or strikes that hit the wrong target or politicians reaching for vengeful sound bites do not come close to adding up to genocide. They are war in its usual tragic dimensions.” [NYTimes]
The Fruits of Brokering: The Guardian’s Nesrine Malik looks at Qatar’s efforts to become a “global middleman” that facilitates conversations aimed at resolving local and regional conflicts, as part of its broader ambitions to become a major global player. “‘This is a job that not many people do,’ minister of state Al-Khulaifi told me. ‘Sometimes we feel like we are doctors, trying to develop the right solution for the most complicated cases, trying to offer them the medicine they need.’ The rewards Qatar seeks from this work are not immediate, tangible ones. They’re not looking for investment opportunities, access to raw materials or a say in what happens after a deal is agreed. ‘They don’t ask anything from the participants,’ said one source who had recently been involved in a Qatari-brokered mediation process. The source’s counterpart on the other side echoed his comments: ‘All they wanted was to be recognised as a player.’ The fruits of the brokering – building status and trust, which in turn deepen international influence and relationships – are the prize.” [TheGuardian]
The “Z” Word: In The Wall Street Journal, Rabbi Avi Shafran considers how the term “Zionist” is used by both Israel’s supporters and opponents. “How Israel wages that war is rightly open to criticism, but it is subject, too, to reasoned defense. When someone angrily shouts ‘Zionist!’ at those who offer the latter, that person is using the word to portray defenders of Israel as monstrous murderers. It is meant to defame as evil the belief that Hamas and other terrorist entities need to be destroyed. … Civilians suffer and die in the prosecution of justifiable, even necessary, wars. That tragedy is intensified when you are fighting an enemy who hides behind human shields. Eradicating the engines of terror in Gaza requires attacking the places from which they operate: hospitals, schools and mosques. But whatever one thinks of Israel’s actions, this twisted definition of “Zionist” as evildoer fails the basic purpose of a word: It reveals nothing about its purported subjects, and everything about their accusers.” [WSJ]
Word on the Street
U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack, who is also serving as the White House’s Syria envoy, is convening U.S., Israeli and Syrian officials on Thursday to discuss security measures in Syria following last week’s sectarian violence; ahead of the meeting, Barrack said he advised Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa to reconsider some of Damascus’ policies regarding military structure and the integration of minority communities…
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee met on Tuesday in Ramallah with Palestinian Authority Vice President Hussein al-Sheikh; the meeting underscores the change in approach to the Trump administration by the PA, which had previously refused to meet with Ambassador David Friedman when he served as ambassador during the first Trump term…
Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and James Lankford (R-OK) led more than a dozen Senate lawmakers on a letter to X owner Elon Musk, raising concerns over his xAI’s inability to take “reasonable measures” to keep its Grok chatbot from engaging in hate speech…
The House Financial Services Committee voted Tuesday to advance a bill that would place a series of conditions on the lifting of U.S. human rights sanctions on Syria, after a debate over whether the U.S. should instead pursue complete sanctions relief for the new Syrian government, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…
The House Foreign Affairs Committee voted on Tuesday to advance legislation that aims to expedite arms sales to U.S. partners that are members of the Abraham Accords, as well as bills to review the U.S.-South Africa relationship and to combat the proliferation of Western-made parts in Iranian drones, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…
Columbia University suspended or expelled more than 70 students who participated in disruptive anti-Israel protests at the school’s Butler Library and at the campus’ encampment last year…
The New York Times reports on the controversy surrounding the funding behind the revitalization of Germany’s Hamburg State Opera; the funding for the project comes from German billionaire Klaus-Michael Kühne, whose family’s company collaborated with the Nazis during World War II to transport items looted from European Jews…
The Qatar Olympic Committee confirmed it is engaging in conversation with the International Olympic Committee as part of a bid to host the 2036 Olympic and Paralympic Games…
The planned launch of Gila and Nancy, a new restaurant in Berlin from Eyal Shani and Shahar Segal, was postponed by several weeks following anti-Israel protests outside the restaurant…
Palestinian Islamic Jihad said it lost contact with the captors of Israeli hostage Rom Braslavski, who is believed to be held alone; PIJ in April released a video of Braslavski, who was kidnapped from the Nova music festival on Oct. 7, 2023…
Avera Mengistu, who was held in Gaza for over a decade before his release earlier this year, was released from Tel Aviv’s Ichilov hospital after five months; the Ethiopian-Israeli man, who suffers from mental illness, will be moved into a special residential facility…
The New York Times reports on a string of near-daily fires and explosions across Iran in recent weeks that regime authorities increasingly believe are part of a coordinated sabotage campaign…
Saudi Arabia’s investment ministry said it will convene a Saudi-Syrian investment forum in Damascus to help spur economic development in the country…
The Wall Street Journal does a deep dive into the origins of the recent sectarian violence in Syria…
Pic of the Day
Actor Gal Gadot (second from left) met on Tuesday with former Israeli hostages (from left) Moran Stela Yanai, Doron Steinbrecher, Naama Levy and Liri Albag. Not pictured is Ilana Gritzewsky, who also joined the group.
Birthdays
Starting right fielder for Team Israel at the 2017 World Baseball Classic, Zach Borenstein turns 35…
Banker who distributed $60 million to his 400 employees when he sold City National Bank of Florida in 2008, Leonard L. Abess turns 77… Former U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands, she was the chair of the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation until 2023, Fay Hartog-Levin turns 77… Retired after serving for 32 years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, Judge Alex Kozinski turns 75… Businessman and real estate investor who made his fortune in the trade and manufacture of fertilizer in the former Soviet Union, Alexander Rovt turns 73… Senior rabbi of the Great Neck Synagogue for over 30 years, he served as president of the Rabbinical Council of America, Rabbi Dale Polakoff turns 68… President of the Marcus Foundation founded by the late Bernie Marcus of Home Depot, Jay Kaiman… Proprietor of Oy Vey Jewish Bakery and Delicatessen in Terre Haute, Ind., Chavah Stair… Freelance journalist, she is the widow of Daniel Pearl and wrote a book about his kidnapping and murder in Pakistan in 2002, Mariane Pearl turns 58… Director, producer and actor in movies and television, Shawn Adam Levy turns 57… Executive director and chief creative officer at the Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream, Rachel Eva Goslins turns 56… U.S. senator (D-GA), Raphael Warnock turns 56… Dov M. Katz… Freelance television writer and author of two books, Joel Stein… Psychologist in private practice in both Manhattan and Great Neck, Long Island, Lynn Glasman, Ph.D…. Activist and fashion designer, Monica Lewinsky… Israeli film actress best known for her performances as a Jedi Master in the “Star Wars” prequel trilogy, Orli Shoshan turns 51… Music producer and songwriter, Jonathan Reuven “J.R.” Rotem turns 50… Professor at Georgetown University Law Center, Itai Grinberg… Singer, he represented Israel in the 2001 Eurovision Song Contest, Tal Sondak turns 49… Radio disc jockey, television show host and professional wrestling personality, Peter Elliot Rosenberg turns 46… Mayor of Minneapolis since 2018, Jacob Lawrence Frey turns 44… Sports studio host and play-by-play announcer for Westwood One, Sirius XM and ESPN, Jason M. Horowitz… Comedian and actor, Rick Glassman turns 41… Reporter for The Washington Post, Perry Stein… Joseph Stern…
By Jacob Kornbluh & JI Staff
TOP TALKER: Obama administration to work with new PA-Hamas unity government: In what some are calling a new low in the U.S. – Israeli relationship, the Obama administration said on Monday that it will maintain relations and financial aid to the Palestinian Authority, earning a rebuke from Israel. “Based on what we know now, we intend to work with this government, but will be watching closely to make sure it upholds the principles (honoring past agreements with Israel, renouncing violence and recognizing Israel) that President Abbas reiterated today,” DoS spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. (more…)
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