• We’re monitoring the situation in Israel and Lebanon after Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam slammed “attacks, incursions, demolitions and the systematic destruction of homes” in parts of southern Lebanon.
• Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, meanwhile, said the IDF was “destroying all the houses” in the established buffer zone between the countries as it prepares for a “long-term presence” in the area, prompting a rebuke from a State Department official, who said, without naming Katz, that a “permanent military presence in south Lebanon is not consistent with the commitments made in the framework or the long-term peace and security of both states.”
• We’re also keeping an eye on developments in the West Bank, as extremist settlers attempt a siege on a home owned by a Palestinian American family in the village of Qusra. U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee criticized the “horrific act of terror” targeting the home and its residents, who according to a relative in the U.S. were evacuated by the IDF.
• In Washington, the Hudson Institute is holding an event this morning looking at the U.S. and Israeli war against Iran nearly six months after the launch of Operation Epic Fury. Speakers include the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Behnam Ben Taleblu, the Hudson Institute’s Michael Doran and Zineb Riboua, and former State Department official Ludovic Hood, who recently joined Hudson’s Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East as a senior fellow.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S JOSH KRAUSHAAR

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who is openly considering a presidential campaign in 2028, made waves over the weekend when she declared that “Woke 1.0 was crazy” in a nationally televised ABC News interview where she distanced herself from the most unpopular elements of the progressive movement. 

Left unsaid during the conversation is what specific policies in the party’s last activist wave does she think were crazy, and does she still agree with any of them? After all, the platform of the Democratic Socialists of America currently outlines many of the same issues that played a role in Democrats’ defeat in 2024 — from progressive candidates’ support for defunding the police to the Biden administration’s open-ended immigration policy that led to the second Trump administration’s harsh crackdown on refugees and undocumented immigrants. 

Presumably, she’ll be asked to answer more of the specifics in subsequent interviews. But the implication of her comments was that it’s hard for Democrats to publicly embrace the panoply of left-wing issues that became liberal conventional wisdom around the time of the pandemic without suffering a significant political penalty. Democrats aren’t exactly speaking the language of climate change activists or transgender advocates or supporting watering down penalties for criminals anymore, as was commonplace in 2020.  

But they aren’t confronting the far-left forces that drove these issues to the forefront of the conversation for much of the last decade, either. The scandal surrounding Francesca Hong’s view of Thanksgiving as a “colonizer holiday” and Abdul El-Sayed’s comments bashing football, July 4 fireworks and Mackinac Island only underscore the impression that their deeply-held views are at odds with a majority of Americans. 

And meanwhile, the DSA faction is as influential as ever in Democratic Party politics. How did that happen, even as a prominent progressive like AOC now acknowledges the excesses of the far left? It’s because the activists have refocused their attention away from their (still deeply held) unpopular social and cultural positions, and are now singularly focused on demanding candidates label Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza as a genocide. That’s the biggest litmus test right now. And their efforts are aided by the overall decline in support for Israel within the Democratic Party that’s accelerated in the last year.

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

• Tensions are high in the Middle East going into the weekend, as Iran has continued to strike U.S. assets around the region this week and Saudi Arabia has also faced attacks by Tehran’s proxies.
• We’re keeping an eye out for word from Jerusalem on its stance on Trump’s announcement of a deal for Hamas’ “complete disarmament” announced last night, which requires complete IDF withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. See more below.
• Amid the global developments, Trump will hold the 13th Cabinet meeting of his second administration this morning at the historic Camp David retreat in Maryland.
• The Democratic Socialists of America kicks off its three-day annual organizing conference today in Chicago. One programming track is set to focus on “anti-imperialist and pro-Palestine organizing strategy” to end the “U.S.-Israeli genocide in Palestine.”

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S WILL BREDDERMAN

In chatting with plugged-in Democratic strategists currently working on congressional campaigns, I was shocked — but not all that surprised — at the acceptance that the party has been all but dominated by the socialist faction, led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), that has gotten more radical since his presidential campaign in 2016 and has played a key role in many Democratic primaries across the country.

Two Democratic operatives involved in Michigan and other targeted races bluntly told JI that left-wing candidates endorsed by Sanders and his band of far-left allies can now expect to win about one-third of the primary vote from the start if given the Sanders seal of approval. And far from being contained to deep-blue urban districts in New York, the trend is spreading into swing-district primaries and statewide nomination fights.

That’s certainly shaping up to be the case in Michigan’s 7th District, one of the biggest battleground districts in the country long held by now-Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI). Despite two candidates with cross-partisan credentials running — former Navy SEAL Matt Maasdam and former Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink — the Sanders-endorsed socialist activist William Lawrence is the front-runner, according to new polling conducted in the race.

And the socialist wave is building in statewide races in two of the biggest Midwestern battlegrounds, with Democratic Socialists of America-endorsed Francesca Hong running away with the Democratic nomination for Wisconsin’s governorship, despite her recent embrace of politically toxic views like supporting funding cuts to the police.

And as we’ve extensively covered in Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed’s virulently anti-Israel and left-wing platform in the Senate race doesn’t appear to be stunting his primary campaign against Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), even with popular Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s endorsement of Stevens.

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

• CENTCOM said it conducted a “heavy wave of strikes” against Iran on Wednesday night, as a “powerful response” to Tehran’s attempted attacks on U.S. forces on Tuesday. The military said it struck dozens of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targets in Iran, including military command centers, missile and drone facilities, coastal surveillance and defense sites and maritime capabilities.
• Earlier Wednesday, President Donald Trump had warned that the U.S. would “beat the f**king sh*t out of” Iran following the attempted attack by the IRGC, even as he signaled a willingness to keep diplomatic channels open. “We’ll be hitting them hard,” Trump told Fox News’ Trey Yingst. “They’re going to get a beating.”
• The Senate is expected to hold a procedural vote this morning on a war powers resolution seeking to end those U.S. operations in Iran, after it was postponed yesterday.
• The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will hold a nomination hearing for Sarah Rogers, the undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, to be CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media. 
• This morning, Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) is speaking at the Hudson Institute for a conversation on global threats.
• In the afternoon, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is co-hosting an antisemitism roundtable with the Anti-Defamation League to hear from Jewish community leaders about recent antisemitic incidents in the state.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S WILL BREDDERMAN

The morning after a double hate crime targeted an Asian American and a Jewish man wearing a yarmulke in Manhattan, during which the attacker allegedly yelled “Allahu Akbar” and “Justice for Islam” while passing a synagogue and stabbing the second victim, New York City Comptroller Mark Levine offered what may prove a eulogy for a political era in America’s greatest metropolis.

“There is no New York without us,” the Jewish Democrat said at a press conference outside The Jewish Center, the Modern Orthodox synagogue where the Jewish victim worshipped, invoking the deep history and contributions of Jews to the Big Apple.

But Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the lone citywide official not to attend the gathering, seems to wager that he can govern New York City without much support from the dense web of religious and civic organizations that historically shaped Jewish life there and helped guide the choices of his predecessors. Mamdani received only about one-third of the Jewish vote in the mayoral election, but little support from legacy Jewish groups.

One need only look to the state Assembly district covering the site of the assault to see how Mamdani is at odds with the mainstream Jewish leadership. As mayor, he endorsed an opponent of Rabbi Stephanie Ruskay, the favorite of local Jewish Democratic leadership, as she sought the seat in June. The rabbi serves as associate dean of Jewish Theological Seminary, and is the daughter-in-law of retired longtime UJA-Federation of New York CEO John Ruskay. In doing so, Mamdani even spurned one of his most vocal Jewish supporters, former Manhattan Borough President Ruth Messinger, long a standard-bearer of a Jewish liberalism rooted in communal institutions.

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

Who Fills the Void? The Wall Street Journal’s Barton Swaim examines the scramble to succeed the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), weighing the candidacy of former Gov. Mark Sanford against Graham’s own sister, Darline, drafted into the race by a Trump endorsement she didn’t seek. “Lindsey Graham and Mark Sanford were once close; so much so that Mr. and Mrs. Sanford, as they then were, named Graham godfather to their youngest son. Still I strongly suspect Mr. Sanford, a quasi-libertarian at heart, would view the hawkish policies advocated by Graham in narrowly fiscal terms and deem them too expensive … Will Ms. Graham carry on her brother’s ‘legacy,’ as her campaign literature claims? The task of replacing the ubiquitous Lindsey Graham seems undoable, but his sister signals the right attitude.” [WSJ]

Why Now? In his Substack, “It’s Noon in Israel,” Amit Segal explores the reasoning behind Iran’s renewed attacks on the U.S. “The logic is simple. Both sides are running out of time, but on different clocks. Iran’s runs on resources; [President Donald] Trump’s — whatever the reports of munitions shortages suggest — runs on patience. Iran can afford to lose resources if the spending drains Trump’s patience faster. Quiet slows his clock. Silence is Iran’s worst enemy. That is also why [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu is not pushing for another military campaign. Such a campaign would drain Trump completely — and if the regime survived, as it is certain it would, then even amid the rubble it would have won. Iran thinks it can out-stubborn Trump. Netanyahu is working around that bet rather than trying the strategy himself.” [Substack]

Friends and Foes: In The Free Press, Elliott Abrams, the former diplomat who now serves as a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, argues that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Washington this week as the two allies bearing the heaviest burden for U.S. interests — yet still uncertain whether President Donald Trump will fully commit to backing them. “The issue this week is not so much the personal relationships, though those matter far more than they should to Trump. Instead, the issue is how Trump sees friends, partners, allies, and democracies, versus opponents and enemies. Trump continues to treat Putin and Chinese president Xi Jinping with remarkable deference and respect despite the direct threats they pose to U.S. interests. There’s every reason to believe that Russia is providing Iran with intelligence helping it hit U.S. bases in the Middle East. Meanwhile, the U.S. is pampering an ally with far less skin in the game than Israel and Ukraine. Last week, the Trump administration announced its acceptance of a nuclear energy deal that will allow Saudi Arabia to enrich uranium, without subjecting it to inspections from the International Atomic Energy Agency.” [FP]

In an interview with ABC News, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he discussed with President Donald Trump various options to proceed with handling the conflict with Iran, but ultimately, “It’s his decision.” Netanyahu said, “The truth is, we’re partners. We’re allies. He’s the senior partner. It’s the United States of America, let’s not forget. And I’m a junior partner. But I’m the prime minister of Israel, and when I have to stand up for the interest of my country and the security of my country, I do so”…

Addressing Vice President JD Vance’s comments to podcaster Joe Rogan this month that American politics are being swayed by Israeli “influence campaigns,” Netanyahu said he “had a very good conversation with the vice president this morning, and I think we straightened that out because we’re not. That’s not our policy”…

Netanyahu also met with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at Blair House on Wednesday morning. Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter and Israeli National Security Advisor Shmuel Ben Ezra participated in the meeting, along with Elbridge Colby, undersecretary of defense for policy, and Sean Parnell, assistant to the secretary of defense for public affairs…

The late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) worked privately with Netanyahu just before the 2024 election to organize a bipartisan group of senators to denounce the International Criminal Court‘s investigation of the Israeli leader — coordination captured in footage from filmmaker Alex Holder, in which Graham joked he should be paid “tons of shekels” for his help…

Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman traveled to Washington and met with Trump and Vance at the White House on Wednesday, according to Axios, where Prince Khalid told them that, despite Riyadh having engaged in joint strikes with the U.S. on Iranian proxies, the kingdom still wants to see hostilities with Iran de-escalate…

CENTCOM head Adm. Brad Cooper has prepared a two-week intensive bombing campaign against Iran as an option for Trump to consider, The Wall Street Journal reports, outlining a strategy to cripple Tehran’s missile capabilities in order to reduce the strain on U.S. defensive munitions…

The Treasury Department sanctioned the Persian Gulf Marine Insurance Company and Hormuz Safe Marine Services Authority, which are backed by the IRGC, for running “insurance” schemes in the Strait of Hormuz, whereby the terror group creates threats to commercial shipping and then charges vessels for insurance coverage…

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met on Wednesday in Ankara with new Hamas head Khalil Al-Hayya…  

A Brooklyn federal judge sentenced Dan Sohail to serve six months in jail and pay $19,000 in restitution for ramming his car into Chabad’s world headquarters in Brooklyn in January…

The New York Times profiles Reihan Salam, the conservative Manhattan Institute president working to make the think tank the “intellectual engine of the resistance” to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani…

The New York Times’ “The Daily” podcast on Wednesday spotlighted AIPAC and the role it is now playing in U.S. politics, describing it as a once-bipartisan organization that has now become partisan and a polarizing force in the Democratic Party. During the conversation, among other statements that drew the ire of AIPAC, guest Jonathan Mahler said the advocacy group’s actions “have provided an opening, honestly, for bad actors, but in particular, in a sort of worrying sense for people who are not just criticizing Israel but who are criticizing Jews and Jewish influence”…  

In an X thread responding to several of the accusations made against it during the podcast, AIPAC said, “This is an outrageous accusation. Suggesting that politically active pro-Israel American citizens are to blame for antisemitism is shameful. Antisemites are responsible for the rise in antisemitism”…

The Associated Press spotlights a fringe group of Israeli settlers, the Pioneers of Bashan, who have repeatedly breached the border with Syria, with the ultimate goal of establishing Jewish settlements inside the country — despite condemnation from the IDF…

Opposition lawmakers in Israel filibustered an 11-hour Knesset Finance Committee session yesterday to block NIS 392 million ($127 million) for Haredi education and West Bank settlements…

The Forward tells the story of Nik Jakobs and his family — namely his grandmother, Edith, who was hidden by the entire Dutch town of Stadskanaal to survive the Holocaust, a story which the town recently restaged as a play — as Jakobs is now building a synagogue in an Illinois cornfield from the salvaged remnants of shuttered American shuls…

Jewish summer campers who were headed home to Baltimore during Tuesday night’s storms hauled a fallen tree off a Washington road, clearing the way for a blocked ambulance…

The Associated Press examines the growing far-left media ecosystem, including Drop Site News and Hasan Piker’s stream, that has helped to boost a range of progressive candidates during this primary cycle…

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) declined to answer questions from a Drop Site News reporter, responding, “Oh, you’re Drop Site! It’s like a race between who’s the more pro-Hamas: Drop Site or Zeteo?” Fetterman went on to reiterate his support for Israel and said he wanted Drop Site viewers to know “how much I love to watch Israel eliminating the Hamas leadership”…

A new Washington Post-Ipsos poll found that 3 in 4 Democrats would consider backing a socialist for president, but only 39% of overall respondents would do the same…

Boston University’s Conference on the Jewish Left has rescinded its invitation to Curt Mills, editor of The American Conservative magazine and a prominent voice in MAGA’s anti-Israel wing, after backlash over his inclusion in the March 2027 program, reports Jewish Currents, a magazine associated with the anti-Zionist Jewish left…

CBS News announced that Wall Street Journal correspondent Dov Lieber will join its team in September as a senior reporter based in Israel… 

The American Jewish Committee named Andrew Gross, who was previously director of international innovation and partnerships at the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, as director of its New York regional office…

Frances “Fran” Belzberg, a Vancouver philanthropist and Order of Canada recipient whose family founded Israel’s OneFamily terror-victims organization, died last Shabbat at 99…

Erica Schwartz, founder of The Well, a new Jewish dating app, mingled with prospective users at the app’s launch event on Tuesday in Manhattan. The Well — named for the biblical story of Eliezer finding Isaac’s wife, Rebecca — is slated to launch in the coming weeks. The app matches Jewish day school alumni using AI and matchmakers, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.

Commissioner emeritus of Major League Baseball, his 2019 memoir is For the Good of the Game, Allan Huber “Bud” Selig turns 92… 

Retired attorney from the firm of Hatton, Petrie & Stackler in Aliso Viejo, Calif., Ronald E. Stackler turns 89… The first woman justice on the Nebraska Supreme Court, as a teen she won two gold medals and a silver medal as a swimmer at the Maccabiah Games in Israel, Justice Lindsey Miller-Lerman turns 79… Actor, director and producer, Ken Olin turns 72… Philanthropist and investor, of Uzbek Bukhari background, known as the “King of Diamonds,” Lev Leviev turns 70… Sports executive, attorney and president of Paris Basketball, David Kahn turns 65… Former mayor of Arad and then a member of the Knesset for the Kulanu and Likud parties, Tali Ploskov turns 64… President of C&M Transcontinental, he served as COO for the first two Trump campaigns, Michael S. Glassner turns 63… Emmy Award-winning actor, comedian and producer, Lisa Kudrow turns 63… Head coach of men’s tennis and director of tennis operations at Columbia University, Howard Endelman turns 61… Best-selling nonfiction author, contributing editor at Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone magazines, he is a co-creator of the HBO series “Vinyl,” Rich Cohen turns 58… District chief of staff for retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), Robert M. Gottheim turns 55… Assistant attorney general for antitrust at the DOJ during most of the Biden administration, Jonathan Seth Kanter turns 53… Motivational speaker, author and entrepreneur, he served as a law clerk in 2008 for Justices O’Connor and Ginsburg, the first blind person to clerk for the U.S. Supreme Court, Isaac Lidsky turns 47… President of MS NOW, Rebecca M. Kutler… Member of the Knesset for the Otzma Yehudit party, Limor Son Har-Melech turns 47… Senior producer at Vox and host and producer of the podcast of the Association for Jewish Studies, Avishay Artsy… President and founder in 2014 of Dallas-based ECA Strategies, Eric Chaim Axel… Pittsburgh-based therapist, Lewis Sohinki… Author of Jerusalem Drawn and Quartered: One Woman’s Year in the Heart of the Christian, Muslim, Armenian and Jewish Quarters of Old Jerusalem, Sarah Tuttle-Singer turns 45… Former director of policy and public affairs for the Jewish Community of Denmark, now in the renewable energy and offshore wind industry, Jonas Herzberg Karpantschof… Attorney and member of the Los Angeles County GOP Central Committee for Assembly District 42, which includes Pacific Palisades, Elizabeth Barcohana turns 43… Former head of digital operations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel, Tamar Schwarzbard… Managing principal of West Egg Development, a New York-based real estate development firm, Samuel Ezra Eshaghoff turns 34… Former trade officer at Israel’s economic mission to the South and Midwest U.S., Joshua Weintraub… Winner of the Miss Israel pageant in 2014, she is now an international businesswoman, Mor Maman turns 31… Actor, as a 10-year-old she starred in the comedy film “Ramona and Beezus,” and since then in many movies and television shows, Joey Lynn King turns 27…

• President Donald Trump is back in Washington today following the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey. The president, who traveled to Ankara earlier this week aboard the plane recently gifted to him by Qatar for use as a new Air Force One, told reporters before he departed that he would be traveling on one of the older aircraft, while the new plane will be flown to a U.S. airbase in the U.K. The change-up came amid questions about the plane’s security features, as well heightened concerns regarding Iran following the resumption of strikes between the U.S. and the Islamic Republic.
• Before departing Turkey, Trump reiterated his threat to Iran that he would “finish the job,” telling reporters that he was no longer sure if he was interested in a peace deal with Iran and was questioning if the country’s leadership was rational enough to work with. The comments came as the U.S. and Iran traded strikes in the region, with CENTCOM saying it struck approximately 90 new military targets across Iran on Wednesday night — including air-defense systems, coastal surveillance assets, missile and drone storage sites, naval capabilities and military logistics infrastructure. Iranian media reported additional explosions in the Bushehr province this morning. Read more here.
• Secretary of State Marco Rubio is slated to meet at noon today at the White House with Saudi Ambassador to the U.S. Princess Reema bint Bandar Al Saud.
• Elsewhere stateside, we’re keeping an eye on Maine Democrats as the party looks to pick a new candidate to challenge Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) following Graham Platner’s announcement last night that he was suspending his campaign after a former girlfriend accused him earlier this week of having raped her. More below.
• The Contemporary Antisemitism conference at the University of Haifa wraps up today with a keynote speech from philosopher and author Bernard-Henri Lévy.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S emily jacobs

Allies of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) are launching a new political organization aimed at countering antisemitism within the Republican Party, Jewish Insider has learned, led by Arielle F. Klepach, a former assistant U.S. attorney and senior counsel for the National Jewish Advocacy Center.

The Front Line (TFL) will operate as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, meaning the group will not have to disclose its donors and can spend unlimited sums toward political activity, provided campaign finance is not its primary purpose and it does not contribute directly to campaigns. 

A source familiar with the matter told JI that those behind the organization, which Cruz is not directly involved with, raised several million dollars to fund the operation. Klepach will run the operation as executive director. 

“There has been a surge of antisemitism across America, which first engulfed the left and is now threatening the moral integrity and political unity of the conservative movement and the Republican Party,” Klepach said. “I am excited to lead The Front Line’s efforts to defeat right-wing antisemitism before it takes conservatives down the same path of anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and pro-Sharia advocacy that has taken the left.”

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

Battlefield Blues: Bloomberg’s Max Hastings looks at the challenges facing the U.S. as other countries more quickly evolve their weapons production systems and increasingly rely on AI to quickly produce advanced weaponry. “Warfare, strategy and weapons systems are morphing at extraordinary speed. The US still possesses by far the most capable military. But its ability to dominate a battlefield, never mind an entire region, is under threat in a fashion that military men and women understand better than do many national leaders.” [Bloomberg]

F-35 Fears: In the Greek daily Ekathimerini, Reps. Brad Schneider (D-IL) and Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), the co-chairs of the Congressional Hellenic Israel Alliance, warn of the risks to the alliance formed by Greece, Cyprus and Israel posed by the potential sale of advanced U.S. weaponry to Ankara. “Turkey’s expansive maritime claims, continued tensions in the Aegean, military overflights and provocations affecting Greece, Turkey’s continued occupation of Cyprus, and increasing demonization of Israel have contributed to instability at a time when the region has an opportunity to move in a different direction. … Advanced military capabilities should strengthen alliances and regional stability – not create uncertainty among the partners who have worked alongside the United States to build a more secure Eastern Mediterranean.” [Ekathimerini]

Forgetting ‘Never Forget’: The Wall Street Journal’s Bertrand Benoit observes that Germany is at an “inflection point” some eight decades after the Holocaust, as memory of the Shoah fades and both the far right and the far left are on the ascendance. “Can a democracy that was built on a sense of responsibility for the Holocaust survive without it? What does it mean for Europe if the country that set the modern standard for combating antisemitism across the continent chooses to move on at a time of rising Jew-hatred? And last, can a country that twice set the world ablaze — and is now engaged in the largest rearmament effort in decades as Russia threatens the continent — be trusted by neighbors if it abandons what has for eight decades served as its moral compass?” [WSJ]

In a change of tone, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said on Wednesday that Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa deserves a chance to rebuild the war-torn country, arguing that his efforts to curb Iran’s influence in Syria should prompt Israel to reassess its approach to the new government, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports…

Axios looks at how the U.S.-Iran war has increasingly shifted to focus on the Strait of Hormuz, suggesting that the White House “is preparing for what could become a multi-day or even multi-week exchange of fire”…

The Wall Street Journal spotlights how Jewish Democrats mulling 2028 presidential bids are navigating the party’s leftward shift on Israel…

The governing body of the Football Association of Ireland voted 75-32 to proceed with the national team’s upcoming matches against Israel, following calls for the FAI to boycott the games, slated to take place in Dublin’s Aviva Stadium…

The hate crimes unit of Montreal’s police department is investigating a series of attacks targeting members of the city’s Hasidic community last Friday night in which the attackers drove through a heavily Jewish neighborhood, shouting antisemitic slurs and throwing cans at people walking home from Shabbat services…

Australia’s antisemitism envoy, Jillian Segal, testifying before the government’s royal commission into antisemitism, called for the creation of an independent oversight committee to monitor the Australian public broadcaster’s compliance with its charter obligations; her comments came after numerous complaints over the broadcaster’s airing of falsities around the Israel-Hamas war and slowness to issue corrections…

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz pushed back against President Donald Trump’s suggestion this week that Israel would withdraw from Lebanon, saying, “We didn’t ask for anyone’s approval to enter Lebanon, and we don’t need approval to stay in Lebanon”…

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency downgraded its risk classification for Israel and the Gulf, opting against extending its high-risk conflict zone advisory for the region when the warning expired on Wednesday…

Attorney William Zabel, a prolific celebrity divorce lawyer who was instrumental in distributing some $2.2 billion to the victims of Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, died at 89…

Find on-demand Live Briefing updates throughout the day via our new app (on Apple and Android) and website.

Agudath Israel held a meet-and-greet event with New York officials on Wednesday in Manhattan. The group presented Julie Menin and Mark Levine, respectively the speaker of the City Council and the city’s comptroller, with mezuzot.

Menin decried what she called the “shameful and unconscionable” crisis of antisemitic incidents in New York. She touted the council’s passage of buffer zone bills for religious institutions and schools, asking rhetorically, “What could be controversial about that?” to a crowd that included Jason Binderman, the deputy director for the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism — an apparent dig at Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who opposed the bills. 

Pictured from left: Assemblymember David Weprin, Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY), Councilmember Mercedes Narcisse, Menin, Levine, Councilmember Chris Banks, Rabbi Yeruchim Silber, Rabbi Ephraim Gurell and state Sen. Lester Chang.

Co-founder of Netscape and co-founder and general partner of Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, he is celebrating his birthday at the Sun Valley conference, Marc Lowell Andreessen turns 55… 

Former Soviet refusenik, prisoner of conscience, human rights activist, author and translator, Iosif Begun turns 94… Constitutional law expert focused on the First Amendment and free speech, senior counsel at Cahill Gordon & Reindel where he has practiced since 1963, Floyd Abrams turns 90… Retired conductor and music director of symphony orchestras in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, Rochester, N.Y., Baltimore and Zurich, David Zinman turns 90… Huntington Woods, Mich., resident, Robert Morris Rubin… Arizona resident, Howard Cohen… Play-by-play announcer for the MLB’s San Diego Padres from 1980 to 2020, Theodore “Ted” Leitner turns 79… Tikvah “Tiki” Stern Lyons… Rabbi of Congregation Beth Jacob of Atlanta, Rabbi Ilan D. Feldman turns 72… U.S. senator (R-SC) since 2003, Lindsey Graham turns 71… Author, motivational speaker and former stockbroker, his autobiographical memoir, The Wolf of Wall Street, was adapted into a film and released in 2013, Jordan Ross Belfort turns 64… Mortgage professional and owner of D.C.’s Char Bar, Michael Alan Chelst… Public radio personality, former producer of “This American Life” and the host and executive producer of the “Serial” podcast, Sarah Koenig turns 57… Activist short seller, author and editor of the online investment newsletter Citron Research, Andrew Edward Left turns 56… Actor, tour guide, poet, speaker, philosopher and author, Timothy “Speed” Levitch turns 56… Host of The Free Press’ “Breaking History” podcast, Eli Jon Lake turns 54… Anchor and reporter for Fox Business Network, Lori Rothman turns 53… Member of the URJ North American board of trustees, Peter Webb… Co-founder and executive director of Nefesh B’Nefesh, Yehoshua Fass turns 53… Brigadier general (res.) in the IDF, he held many military leadership positions in digital transformation and computer science, Omer Dagan turns 50… Israeli documentary filmmaker, Guy Davidi turns 48… Retired poker player, now an options trader, she is the only woman to ever reach the No. 1 ranking on the Global Poker Index, Vanessa K. Selbst turns 42… Tony Award-winning theater, film and television actor, Brandon Uranowitz turns 40… Renewable energy and climate specialist, Samantha Hea Marks… Pitcher for Team Israel at the 2017 and 2023 World Baseball Classics, Jake Kalish turns 35… Pitcher in the Los Angeles Angels organization through 2024, now a free agent, Kenny Rosenberg turns 31… Spokeswoman and communications specialist for foreign media in the Office of the Prime Minister of Israel, Shoshana Bedrosian turns 29…

• U.S.-Iran talks that wrapped up in Doha on Wednesday are likely to resume next week, following funeral ceremonies for former Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that will begin this weekend.
• Americans will celebrate the country’s semiquincentennial with events around the U.S. through the weekend. President Donald Trump is slated to speak tomorrow at Mount Rushmore.
• In Washington, Jacob Helberg, the under secretary of state for economic affairs, and Trump administration antisemitism envoy Yehuda Kaploun will host a Shabbat dinner tomorrow at the U.S. Institute of Peace. More below on how the Jewish community will commemorate the anniversary.
• In New York on Saturday, former Israeli hostage Alon Ohel will play the piano alongside Five For Fighting singer John Ondrasik on the USS Nimitz as part of the International Naval Review 250.
• Bar-Ilan University’s two-week pilot leadership institute concludes today. Read more about the initiative here.
• Christians United For Israel’s annual summit kicks off on Sunday in Washington. Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter, former Israeli hostage Yair Horn and Judge Roy Altman are among those slated to speak.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S GABBY DEUTCH

In the run-up to America’s 250th anniversary, the Jewish community finds itself navigating a best-of-times, worst-of-times, head-spinning paradox — standing nervously between the promise of an ideal America and the peril of today’s America.

In conversation after conversation, Jewish thinkers who spoke to Jewish Insider about this unique moment expressed fear and concern about the increasingly precarious situation facing American Jews in one breath. In the next, they spoke glowingly about the gifts this country’s democracy has given to the Jews who live here. 

Despite this deep ambivalence, or perhaps because of it, the Jewish community is all-in on the 250th. 

We interviewed nearly two dozen rabbis, writers, historians and Jewish leaders from across the political and religious spectrum ahead of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. We wanted to know how they’re thinking about July Fourth at a time when antisemitism is rising and trust in American democracy is plummeting. 

The conversations reveal a shared sense of hope in the American project — and a belief that this semiquincentennial celebration presents a rare opportunity for American Jews to hold their heads high and reflect on what this democracy, even if flawed, has given them.

And we looked at how American Jews are celebrating the country’s birthday: with a Shomer Shabbat barbecue, an English-only day at a Jewish sleepaway camp, an all-night Torah study, a Talmudic-level close read of America’s founding documents. 

”An anniversary is a good occasion to put things in historic perspective. As bad as things may feel in the moment, they’re still pretty great relative to the bulk of not even just Jewish history, but also American Jewish history,” Atlantic writer Franklin Foer told JI. “All the ways in which Jewish values and American values are not just compatible, but overlap and extend one another, is something that I think is really important to cultivate within American Jewry and within American Jewish education.” 

Read the full story from JI’s Gabby Deutch here, with comments from figures including author Dara Horn, former Treasury Secretary and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew, Union for Reform Judaism President Rabbi Rick Jacobs, Florida Rabbi Efrem Goldberg and Shalom Hartman Institute President Yehuda Kurtzer. 

Zionism, From the Beginning: In The New York Times, Rabbi Ari Berman, the president of Yeshiva University, weighs in on the debate over the “profound misunderstanding” of the definition of Zionism. “While the modern state of Israel was founded on the ashes of the Holocaust and served as a safe haven for refugees, Zionism always aspired to be more than simply an answer to or refuge from antisemitism. It was a means of allowing Jews to live to their greatest potential, unfettered by the restrictive, often brutal, experiences of living in foreign lands. Zionism is thus an answer to a 3,800-year-old yearning, not only a response to a modern crisis.” [NYTimes]

What the DSA Really Wants: The Atlantic’s Jonathan Chait does a deep dive into the ideological shift undertaken by the Democratic Socialists of America. “The organization is still called democratic socialists, of course, but the term does not necessarily mean ‘liberal democracy’ as Americans have traditionally defined it. … The DSA’s long-term strategy is to exploit the Democratic Party’s ballot access and reservoir of voters to build its following, and then, after it gains enough power, break off to form its own party, after which the husk of the old Democratic Party would wither and die.” [TheAtlantic]

Finding Patriotism at a Summer Camp: The Free Press’ U.K.-based digital editor, Josh Kaplan, reflects on his experiences as a counselor at an American Jewish summer camp in upstate New York ahead of the U.S.’ semiquincentennial. “Spending every waking moment surrounded by people who speak your language and have very little else in common with you is remarkably eye-opening. You learn why they believe things that a European never would — like, they believe they were born in the best country in the world. And you learn that even if they have conflicted thoughts about their country’s politics and government, they still love the idea of America, its pageantry, and the flag.” [FreePress]

In a letter to President Donald Trump, Reps. Laura Gillen (D-NY), Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) and Mike Lawler (R-NY) urged the administration, in any sanctions relief for or negotiation with Iran, to address Iran’s support for terrorism and statutorily required compensation for victims of Iran-backed terrorism which amounts to billions of dollars…

The Free Press interviews Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) about his “Promise to America” pledge as the moderate Long Island Democrat works to restore the party’s base amid a series of Democratic Socialists of America wins in primaries and local elections around the country…

The Detroit News endorsed Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) in the Democratic primary for the state’s open Senate race…

Politico looks at the challenges facing House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) as he eyes the House speakership amid the far left’s ascendance — and two years before a state redistricting effort that could affect some of the Democratic Socialists of America’s recent gains, in which he is expected to play a significant role…

Far-left activist Darializa Avila Chevalier, who last week won the Democratic primary in New York’s 13th Congressional District, confirmed her relationship with attorney Ramzi Kassem, the chief counsel to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, saying the two met outside an immigration detention center…

A California man who pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the 2023 death of Paul Kessler at dueling pro- and anti-Israel rallies in California was sentenced to one year in jail; Kessler fell and hit his head in a confrontation with Loay Alnaji and died the following day…

Michelle Greenberg-Kobrin, who served as dean of students at Columbia Law School, was named Columbia’s Jewish life liaison, a position created following the school’s 2025 settlement with the Trump administration…

Immigration officials detained a Cuban national who had been living in the U.S. for more than a decade and working as what federal authorities described as a “foreign subversive” for Cuba’s “premier influence and intelligence front group”; Carlos Antonio Lloga Dominguez is alleged to be working with the U.S.-sanctioned Cuban Institute of Friendship With the People that brought far-left antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker and CodePink’s Medea Benjamin to Cuba earlier this year…

Qualcomm is acquiring Israeli cybersecurity company SAM Seamless Network in a deal estimated to be worth more than $150 million…

Former Israeli hostage Eliya Cohen and his fiancee, Nova music festival survivor Ziv Abud, held their henna ceremony on Wednesday night ahead of their wedding next month…

Archeologists discovered a cave believed to have been used by early human ancestors who predate the Neanderthals some 400,000 years ago outside the northern Israeli town of Fureidis…

The Wall Street Journal spotlights the United Arab Emirates’ efforts to recover from the economic and physical damage caused by ongoing Iranian attacks earlier this year…

Bloomberg reports that the UAE has returned to its prewar levels of oil exports, quietly sending ships through the Strait of Hormuz undetected and using a pipeline to bypass the area…

The U.S. is resuming some shipments of money to Iraq after suspending the payments for several months in an effort to pressure Baghdad to distance itself from Iran…

Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa appointed 70 legislators to the country’s parliament, with the 210-member body set to meet for the first time on Monday…

The Information’s Katie Roof is joining Business Insider as editor at large and will additionally join the Axel Springer Global Reporters Network as a global reporter…

Arno Rosenfeld is joining Haaretz as Washington correspondent, working with newly named U.S. Bureau Chief Ben Samuels…

The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law announced the death of board member Richard Cravatts…

Former Israeli hostage Daniella Gilboa released a new single on Wednesday, a year and a half after her release from Hamas captivity in Gaza. In an Instagram post, Gilboa said that she wrote the song, “Bye to Worries,” when she was 17, together with her boyfriend, Roy Dadon, when “we still didn’t  understand where life would take us, out of innocence and true love for music, and certainly I didn’t think I would sing this song to myself in my darkest moments when everything was taken from me.”

Inductee into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2014 as a member of the E Street Band, Roy J. Bittan turns 77… 

Director emerita of Hebrew studies at HUC-JIR, she sits on the board of Lashon Academy, Rivka Dori… Nobel laureate in medicine in 2004, he is a professor at Columbia University and a molecular biologist, Richard Axel turns 80… Co-creator of the “Seinfeld” television series and creator of HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” comedian and producer, Larry David turns 79… Swedish author and screenwriter, she wrote a novel about Jewish children who escaped the Holocaust, Annika Thor turns 76… Former CEO of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation, she also served as a State Department’s special envoy on antisemitism, Hannah Rosenthal turns 75… Montclair, N.J.-based philanthropic consultant, Aaron Issar Back, Ph.D…. Israeli Druze politician who serves as a member of Knesset for the New Hope party, Akram Hasson turns 67… Maryland state senator since 2015, Cheryl C. Kagan turns 65… Founder and head of business development of AQR Capital Management, David G. Kabiller turns 63… Member of the Knesset for the United Torah Judaism alliance, Ya’akov Asher turns 61… Chief White House correspondent for The New York Times, Peter E. Baker turns 59… Reading specialist at Wayne Thomas School in Highland Park, Ill., Stephanie Rubin… Co-founder, president and dean at Mechon Hadar in Manhattan, Shai Held, Ph.D. turns 55… Executive director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Jonathan Schanzer turns 54… Global industry editor for health and pharma at Thomson Reuters, Michele Gershberg… Music video and film director, Alma Har’el turns 51… Motivational speaker, media personality and EVP at RXR Realty, Charlie Harary turns 49… Author of fiction and nonfiction on a variety of Jewish topics, Elisa Albert turns 48… Israeli journalist, TV anchor and popular lecturer, Sivan Rahav-Meir turns 45… Member of Congress (R-NY) who is stepping down after this term, Elise Stefanik turns 42… Actor, singer and producer, she appeared in her first films as a 14-year-old, Ashley Tisdale turns 41… Actor and internet personality, Barbara Dunkelman turns 37… Actor, singer and songwriter, she played a lead role in the 2019 ABC series “Emergence,” Alexa Swinton turns 17..

• Jewish and Israeli aid and rescue organizations are preparing to send teams to Venezuela after the poverty-stricken South American country was hit by massive back-to-back earthquakes on Wednesday night, representatives of the groups told eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross. At least 164 people have been pronounced dead so far, and the number is expected to rise considerably as search efforts get underway, with some projections putting the death toll into the tens of thousands. Read more here.
• Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg is hosting the State Department’s two-day Pax Silica Summit at the U.S. Institute of Peace. Attendees include representatives from the signatory countries to the strategic initiative — which include Israel, Qatar, the UAE, India, Germany and the U.K., among others — and senior business executives. 
• On the Hill, acting Pentagon Comptroller Jules W. Hurst III will appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee for his confirmation hearing to be permanently appointed to the role — Hurst is likely to face questions about the Trump administration’s $88 billion supplemental funding request, largely to cover the cost of the Iran war, sent to Congress on Wednesday. 
• The House Committee on Education and Workforce will mark up the No Antisemitism in Education Act, and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin is slated to testify at an oversight hearing in the House Appropriations Committee.
• The Alliance for Responsible Citizenship‘s third annual conference wraps up in London today. Speakers at the summit, which focused on the future of Western civilization at the 250th anniversary of the United States, included House Speaker Mike Johnson; Energy Secretary Chris Wright; former Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin; Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy Sarah Rogers; and Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner.
• The Texas Democratic State Convention begins today: The three-day event will feature remarks from Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Texas U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin. Activists are set to consider close to 20 resolutions critical of Israel.
• The annual Aspen Ideas Festival, which brings together leading figures from politics, business, media and academia, kicks off in Colorado with an opening session featuring Aspen Institute leaders and journalists Fareed Zakaria and David Brooks.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S JOSH KRAUSHAAR

There’s little doubt that socialism is on the march within the Democratic Party after the latest  primaries, with extreme candidates who would have been dismissed as nonviable prevailing in numerous congressional primaries and mayoral contests from coast to coast. 

Factor in the political resilience of far-left Maine Senate nominee Graham Platner despite numerous scandals and the momentum of anti-Israel Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed in a contested Michigan primary despite facing well-funded opposition, and there’s the potential of radicals toppling mainstream candidates well outside the deep-blue confines of major urban centers. 

Ultimately, that’s a major question looming for the Democratic Party’s future — and the health of our democracy. Is the rise of socialism primarily a product of urban angst and college-age naivete, or does it have staying power beyond the most-progressive precincts in the country?  Can left-wing candidates prevail in swing districts, far away from the urban progressive centers that make up its base? Or will they end up being more of a noisy but powerless faction in Congress?

Either way, socialist candidates have gone from a curiosity that rarely won any congressional seats to riding a Democratic Socialists of America-organized grassroots wave that now has to be reckoned with. You could count the number of Squad members on one hand when Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-NY) and her like-minded allies were first elected in 2018 and 2020. Now their representation is poised to double from its previous peak — and AOC now counts as downright pragmatic, compared to several of her soon-to-be-colleagues.

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

Radical Shift: Reason’s senior editor Robby Soave examines Democratic congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier’s record as she is set to become what he calls Congress’ “first campus radical.” “In 2019, when I published my first book, Panic Attack: Young Radicals in the Age of Trump, I predicted that the era’s campus protesters would not shed their radicalism when they graduated college and moved out into the so-called real world — rather, they would force the world to conform to their quixotic expectations. This would be particularly felt in the areas of American life most susceptible to their influence: education, media, entertainment, and eventually, politics. Now that day has finally arrived. Welcome, congresswoman.” [Reason]

The Socratic AI Method: The Economist examines the rise in philosophers being hired by AI firms. “Some of the lessons that philosophy can offer AI researchers are ancient. The Socratic method — as described by Plato, an ancient Greek philosopher — uses feigned ignorance and sequential questioning to clarify meanings, spot contradictions and reveal ramifications. Many current AI systems tend towards sycophancy. Models trained in the Socratic method, says Jörg Noller, an expert on philosophy and AI at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, are less keen on people-pleasing and more willing to pursue the truth.” [Economist]

House Majority Math: Joel Wanger, DMFI PAC’s chief political officer, breaks down the results from Tuesday night’s primary elections. “Here’s the thing about House Majority math, and it’s something I’ve said before: it isn’t won in New York City or San Francisco. It’s won in places like San Diego and South Texas — and that’s exactly where pro-Israel Democrats had some of their best nights this cycle, nominating strong general-election candidates in competitive seats. … The pattern I’ve tracked all cycle keeps repeating: pro-Israel Democrats win decisively when they take primary challenges seriously and early, build broad coalitions rather than narrow ones, and talk about the kitchen-table issues — affordability, economic anxiety — that are actually driving voters right now. Where that didn’t happen, races were close. Where it did, they weren’t.” [Substack]

No Socialist Takeover: The Atlantic’s Adam Serwer argues that the Democratic Party is not being taken over by democratic socialists as a unified national force, but rather is becoming more ideologically diverse and locally shaped. “The modern Democratic Party, by virtue of its class and ethnic diversity, has always been ideologically heterodox. An approach that works for a Zohran Mamdani or a Janeese Lewis George will not necessarily work for a James Talarico in Texas or a Mary Peltola in Alaska. Many people outside of the democratic socialists’ cities and districts will focus on whether the candidates’ stances on Israel and Palestinian rights reflect a shift within the party (and they do) and the fact that they differ from more centrist Democrats (also correct). But whether they succeed as leaders and politicians will depend on much more local concerns — matters such as jobs, public safety, and affordability.” [Atlantic]

Israeli and Lebanese officials have reportedly denied a claim by a State Department official, cited by Reuters, who said that Israel had withdrawn from some of the southern Lebanese territory it has held during its war against Hezbollah…

Saudi Arabia is planning to host reconciliation talks between Gulf countries and Iran, a diplomat with knowledge of the arrangements told Agence France Presse. The summit, aimed at mending ties between Gulf nations, Iran and possibly other regional neighbors in the aftermath of the war, will be independent of ongoing U.S.-Iran talks, the diplomat said…

Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday; pictured sitting next to the secretary of state in a working lunch with MBZ was Michael Boulos, Trump’s son-in-law, whose father serves as a senior advisor to the president on the Middle East…

Bahraini National Security Advisor Sheikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa met separately with Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Lindsey Graham(R-SC) and Brian Schatz (D-HI) and Rep. Brian Mast(R-FL) during a visit to Washington…

FBI Director Kash Patel hosted Qatari Interior Minister Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani in Washington…

CENTCOM announced that the U.S. killed senior ISIS leader Ali Husayn al-‘Ulaywi in an airstrike in northwest Syria last Friday…

Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA) introduced a resolution to award a Congressional Gold Medal to Americans and relief organizations involved in saving Jewish Holocaust refugees…

An intelligence report obtained by journalists from the Israeli public broadcaster Kan details how Qatar became a central channel of economic and military strength for Iran, helping it to circumvent sanctions after the 2018 cancellation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and also after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel…

A Kuwaiti air-defense officer shared a firsthand account of the opening moments of Iran’s missile and drone attacks on the Gulf country, describing at a conference in London the frantic five minutes as ballistic missiles filled the sky and the air-defense network scrambled to respond…

Vice President JD Vance and his allies are embracing his role as the public face of President Donald Trump’s Iran deal, Semafor reports, arguing that backing an end to the conflict distinguishes him from the GOP’s neoconservative wing and strengthens his standing with the MAGA base ahead of a potential 2028 presidential run…

The New York Times traces a generational and ideological shift on the American right toward viewing Iran as a pragmatic country the U.S. can learn to live with — a pivot led by Trump but driven by other factors that include younger Republicans’ war fatigue and waning support for Israel…

New Lines Magazine spotlights the unrest surrounding a resort project in Albania’s Vjosa-Narta protected area by Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump that has sparked unprecedented mass protests in the country; the demonstrations have evolved from an environmental campaign to a broad expression of frustration with long-serving Prime Minister Edi Rama…

Ari Emanuel, TKO CEO and Mari Group founder, is in advanced talks to buy theater group ATG for $6 billion…

Morris Dancyger, a child survivor of Auschwitz who built a successful pharmacy and real estate career and co-founded the first modern art gallery in Calgary, Canada, died at 86…

Haredi demonstrators blocked major highways in Israel on Wednesday, causing massive traffic disruptions, in a nationwide protest against the imprisonment of yeshiva students who fail to comply with military draft orders.

Free agent center fielder, formerly in the San Francisco Giants organization, he was the 10th overall pick in the 2019 MLB draft, Hunter David Bishop turns 28…

Music publicist in the 1970s and 1980s for Prince, Billy Joel and Styx, later an author on human behavior, Howard Bloom turns 83… Founder and CEO of Bel Air Partners, a financial advisory firm for automotive retailers, Sheldon J. Sandler turns 82… Real estate developer in Brooklyn, Manhattan, Las Vegas and Miami and founder of The Continuum Company, Ian Bruce Eichner turns 81… Florida resident, Joseph C. Goldberg… Southern California-based mentor, coach and consultant for business executives through Vistage International, Gary Brennglass… Associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, Justice Sonia Sotomayor turns 72… Former member of the Knesset for the Meretz party, Michal Rozin turns 57… Founder and CEO of The Agency, a high-end real estate brokerage, Mauricio Umansky turns 56… Managing director of A-Street, an investment fund focused on seeding and scaling innovative K-12 student learning, Mora Segal… Senior media and PR specialist at Hadassah, Helen Chernikoff… Israeli philosopher, writer and publicist, he teaches at Yeshivat Har Etzion and Midreshet Lindenbaum, Rabbi Chaim Navon turns 53… Founder and director of The Biblical Museum of Natural History in Beit Shemesh, Israel, popularly known as the “Zoo Rabbi,” Natan Slifkin turns 51… Former fashion model and television presenter, Michele Merkin turns 51… Deputy director of government relations at Bread for the World, Zachary Silberman… President of Gratz College in Melrose Park, Pa., Zev Eleff turns 41… One-half of the husband-and-wife duo known for their YouTube channel h3h3Productions with more than 1.3 billion views, Ethan Edward Klein turns 41… Organizational change management specialist at CACI International, Isaac Snyder… VP of strategy at Saint Paul Commodities and co-founder of Veriflux, Daniel “Dani” Charles turns 39… Family Medicine Residency Faculty at Jefferson Einstein Hospital in Philadelphia, Pa., Avital Mintz-Morgenthau, MD… Senior reporter and writer covering the White House for CNN, Betsy Klein…

• Far-left, anti-Israel congressional candidates backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani swept a trifecta of contested primaries Tuesday night. But pro-Israel stalwart Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) won renomination in a landslide with 72% of the vote, and state Assemblyman Micah Lasher, an ally of Israel who holds close relations with the Jewish community, won the Democratic nomination to succeed Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY). (Read  more below.) 
• Outside of the deep-blue city, Democrats turned to pro-Israel moderates in key races. State Del. Adrian Boafo, who was the recipient of millions of dollars of supportive ads from AIPAC’s super PAC, easily prevailed in the Democratic primary to succeed retiring Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD). (Read more below.) Military veteran Cait Conley, meanwhile, won comfortably in a crowded Democratic primary, and will face Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) in a swing suburban New York City seat. And in Utah, former Rep. Ben McAdams (D-UT) easily defeated a challenger who campaigned on his anti-Israel bona fides.
• Rep. April McClain Delaney (D-MD) held off a well-funded challenge from former Rep. David Trone. Trone spent over $25 million of his own money on the race, but only won about 37% of the primary vote. And in Montgomery County, Md., progressive Councilmember Will Jawando is currently leading the more moderate Councilmember Andrew Friedson 41-33%in the Democratic primary for county executive with 70% of votes counted.
• President Donald Trump is expected to attend a GOP Senate luncheon as he remains at odds with his party over several legislative efforts. Later, he’ll hold a rally on the National Mall to kick off his 16-day Great American State Fair to celebrate the country’s 250th anniversary.
• Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is slated to brief House Republicans as the Pentagon gears up for a contentious fight over an expected $80 billion supplemental funding request to replenish stockpiles and otherwise pay for the war in Iran, according to several reports. Read more here.
• The House Appropriations Committee is set to mark up the 2027 defense spending bill.
• Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) will speak in conversation with Jewish Council for Public Affairs CEO Amy Spitalnick as well as leaders from other religious groups, including the Union for Reform Judaism and Orthodox Union, about the Jewish American Security Act.
• Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro’s media site, The Daily Wire, is co-hosting alongside ad agency LSKR a day of programming at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in the south of France, marking the company’s debut at the advertising industry’s premier annual gathering.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S WILL BREDDERMAN

It’s New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s party now — even if not everybody in the Big Apple feels invited.

The mayor’s candidates for Congress jumped out to early leads Tuesday night, with former City Comptroller Brad Lander comfortably defeating Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), a stalwart opponent of President Donald Trump who nonetheless lost support from his party’s base over his lukewarm support for the new mayor and longstanding pro-Israel record. Lander won 66% of the vote to Goldman’s 34%, with 90% of the vote counted as of Wednesday morning. 

The shocks to the party establishment continued throughout the night, as Democratic Socialists of America-endorsed state Assemblywoman Claire Valdez jumped to a commanding advantage over party favorite, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso. Valdez easily defeated Reynoso, 56%-36%, with 92% of the vote counted.

And the capstone on the night for Mamdani’s anti-Israel congressional trifecta came when networks announced the ouster of Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY), the chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, against radical doctoral student and Columbia encampment leader Darializa Avila Chevalier, whose inflammatory X feed — and attendance at an anti-Israel rally the day after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks — did little to derail her candidacy. In a much tighter race, Avila Chevalier beat the incumbent, 49%-46%, with 88% of the vote counted. 

Signs of the ascendance of the far left within overwhelmingly Democratic big cities have been visible for months. Mamdani’s astounding mayoral victory in 2025 mobilized a slew of like-minded candidates to run for office — in New York City and beyond. In Philadelphia, DSA-endorsed candidate Chris Rabb won a Philadelphia-based congressional seat last month. Last week, DSA-backed Janeese Lewis George romped to victory in the race for mayor in the nation’s capital, and is on track to become the city’s next top executive. 

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

Thin Air: Navy and Army National Guard veteran Brynn Tannehill argues in The Atlantic that the U.S. and Israel’s strategy toward Iran was flawed from the outset because it ignored historical lessons and relied primarily on airpower to force either regime change or surrender. “The U.S. plan for attacking Iran was doomed from the start because it relied on airpower without the benefit of external factors that would have made an air campaign successful. There was no credible threat of mass ground invasion to overthrow the Iranian regime. It was either internal revolution or nothing. The U.S. was also unwilling to inflict the sort of mass casualties and suffering that might have caused Iran to decide that capitulation was less damaging than continued resistance.” [TheAtlantic]

The Burgeoning Question about Burnham: The Jewish Chronicle’s Angela Epstein considers whether Labor MP Andy Burnham’s potential premiership in Britain will be “good for the Jews.” “Look to how recently, when asked for his views on the baseless allegations of genocide in Gaza, Burnham declined to take a clear position. Arguing he was too far removed from the situation to make such a judgement. Why not state plainly that no court has upheld the genocide claim [against Israel]? … So the rap sheet is troubling. Factor in the wider perception of Burnham as a weathervane politician, with an impressive number of U-turns under his belt, and there is justifiable cause for concern for British Jewry.” [JewishChronicle]

The Witkoff-Kushner Show: Journalist and editor Tina Brown, in her Substack “Fresh Hell,” reviews New York Times journalists Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan’s new book about the first year of President Donald Trump’s second administration. “Surprising to me in these pages is how well the odd couple of global diplomacy, the ever-sunny real estate deal man Steve Witkoff and Trump’s effete-looking son-in-law Jared Kushner, come across. After bringing home the Abraham Accords in the first term and wrangling Bibi and Hamas to a Gaza ceasefire in the second, it’s time to acknowledge that Kushner is a skilled, pragmatic closer and the garrulous Witkoff, dispatched round the world to end three wars at once, never stops trying.” [Substack]

International Atomic Energy Agency head Rafael Grossi said on Wednesday that inspectors would visit Iranian nuclear enrichment sites, after conflicting remarks on the matter by U.S. and Iranian officials. The parties’ agreement “says explicitly that the nuclear activities that are going to be carried out with the regards to the nuclear material facilities will be supervised by the IAEA — in all letters,” Grossi told reporters.…

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi spoke on the phone with senior Hamas official Basem Naim about the “latest developments” in the region, according to Iranian TV…

Victoria Coates, a vice president of the Heritage Foundation, met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, she said in an X post on Wednesday, noting that they discussed “Lebanon, Europe, the future of Western Civilization, and, of course, Iran”…

A U.S. fighter jet pilot who was shot down over Iran and rescued in April told intelligence officials he witnessed Iranian drones flying in a single swarm formation, CNN reports, which would mark a significant advancement in Tehran’s drone technology…

The Washington Post examines how President Donald Trump’s decision to go to war with Iran has impacted his popularity in the United Arab Emirates…

Robert Kraft’s Blue Square Alliance Against Hate announced the formation of its inaugural advisory board, including former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, Dentons CEO Kate Barton, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports exclusively…

The House Rules Committee yesterday teed up amendment votes on the 2027 State Department funding bill on cutting $3.3 billion in military aid to Israel, cutting U.S. aid to Jordan, blocking funding for the United Nations and blocking funding for the Middle East Partnership for Peace initiative. The amendments are expected to come up for votes later this week…

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) reiterated her criticism of Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner and accused him and his supporters of antisemitism at an Orthodox Union event on Tuesday, JI’s Marc Rod reports. “Our support for Israel remains as strong as ever,” Collins said, to a standing ovation. “We must all stand with Israel. In my case, I learned that lesson at an early age”…

New York City’s First Lady Rama Duwaji posted an Instagram story Tuesday flashing an “I Voted” sticker and encouraging her followers to support the two congressional candidates endorsed by both her husband and the Democratic Socialists of America: Assemblymember Claire Valdez and doctoral student Darializa Avila Chevalier. The post excluded Former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, who alone among Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s candidates identifies as a Zionist, JI’s Will Bredderman reports…

A manifesto allegedly left by the gunman behind Monday’s rampage in Côte-des-Neiges, a heavily Jewish neighborhood in Montreal, repeatedly targeted Jews and Zionists, specifically identifying “influential Zionists” among his intended victims, according to a copy of the document published by Rebel News, JI’s Haley Cohen reports…

Jewish Democrats in Texas are gearing up for the state party’s convention, which starts Thursday, as delegates are set to consider nearly 20 resolutions condemning Israel…

Israeli officials are exploring listing Israel Aerospace Industries and defense manufacturer Rafael on U.S. stock exchanges rather than in Israel, where they may face more burdensome disclosure requirements, according to Bloomberg. The Israeli government is reportedly looking to sell up to a 30% stake in the companies, which manufacture the Arrow and Iron Dome missile-defense systems…

Around 50 career and political appointee intelligence officials have been removed from their roles at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence since Bill Pulte assumed the role of acting DNI last week, CBS reports, including six employees who were fired and 45 who were sent back to other agencies…

Top Senate Democrats sent a letter to Republican committee chairs on Tuesday calling for hearings into a $500 million deal that sold nearly half of World Liberty Financial — a crypto company founded by members of the Trump and Witkoff families — to a group led by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al Nahyan, the UAE’s national security advisor, The Wall Street Journal reports…

Gen. Chris Donahue, the highly regarded commanding general of United States Army Europe and Africa who was seen as a rising star in the U.S. defense establishment, is expected to announce he is stepping down from his role in the coming days, adding to a growing list of senior military leaders who have departed or been pushed out during Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s tenure…

Netanyahu on Wednesday completed his testimony, after 98 hearings over the past year and a half, in his ongoing corruption trial…

Israeli-born KISS co-founder and bassist Gene Simmons tells The Wall Street Journal about the impact his mother, who was a Holocaust survivor, had on his worldview…

Breaker Media reports that New York Times columnist Bret Stephens was briefly mistaken by security for an intruder as he arrived at Times Publisher A.G. Sulzberger’s annual Catskills BBQ wearing a fedora, which is usually worn by Breaker Media’s reporter when he stakes out media gatherings…

The Wall Street Journal reports on how Larry Ellison quietly donated $45 million to a pro-Trump political nonprofit in 2024 — one of the largest single injections of capital that cycle — and how his private friendship with Trump has since paid dividends for both his tech company Oracle and his son David‘s growing media empire…

The New York Times spotlights the annual Great Nosh picnic that took place on Governors Island on Sunday, calling it “a kind of New York-centric Coachella for Jewish food and culture”…

“SportsCenter” anchor Linda Cohn, who presented more episodes of the ESPN show than anyone else in its history, is set to retire at the end of the month…

Longtime New Yorker staff writer Mark Singer, who specialized in profiles, died on Friday at 75…

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), (left), and Reps. Brad Schneider (D-IL) and Eric Burlison (R-MO) spoke at a launch event on Tuesday for the Abraham Accords Prosperity Group in Washington hosted by Sir Liam Fox (second from left), a former British minister. The group aims to promote investment and collaboration across the Abraham Accords countries.

Actor and singer, Elizabeth Greer “Beanie” Feldstein turns 33… 

Activist investor, he is a co-founder of Trian Partners, Nelson Peltz turns 84… Professor emeritus in the Lam Family College of Business at San Francisco State University, Sam S. Gill turns 84… Former chairman and CEO of New York Life Insurance Company, Seymour “Sy” Sternberg turns 83… Professor of philosophy at American Jewish University and founding dean of its rabbinical program, Rabbi Elliot N. Dorff turns 83… Founder of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, he is also the founder of Yeshivat Maharat for Orthodox women, Rabbi Avraham Haim Yosef (Avi) Weiss turns 82… Former secretary of labor in the Clinton administration, he is an author and professor emeritus at UC Berkeley, his newest book came out in 2025, Robert Reich turns 80… Former member of Knesset and former chief of staff of the IDF, Moshe “Bogie” Ya’alon turns 76… Early childhood specialist at Columbus City Schools and Columbus School for Girls in Columbus, Ohio, Carol Glassman… Former EVP at Edelman, he is the author of a book on the Saatchi & Saatchi ad firm, Kevin Goldman… President and CEO of public relations firm Steinreich Communications, Stanley Steinreich… U.S. district judge for the Southern District of Florida, Beth Francine Bloom turns 64… Principal from 2007 to 2023 of Mount Scopus Memorial College located in Melbourne, Australia, Rabbi James Kennard turns 62… The first on-air talent of the NFL Network when it debuted in 2003, he has become the face of the network, which merged with ESPN in 2025, Rich Eisen turns 57… Israeli businesswoman and owner of the soccer team, Hapoel Beer Sheva, her brother-in-law is Israel’s minister of economy, Nir Barkat, Alona Barkat turns 57… Author and columnist, he is the managing editor at Shtetl, Shulem Deen turns 52… Singer and songwriter known professionally as Ariel Pink, Ariel Marcus Rosenberg turns 48… Film director, screenwriter, producer, editor and cinematographer, Todd Strauss-Schulson turns 46… Director of domestic policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, he is the son-in-law of political analyst and commentator Bill Kristol, Matthew Continetti turns 45… Digital marketing manager at Guardian Pharmacy Services, Brett Rosner… VP of Houston-based RIDA Development, a multi-national real estate development company, Steven C. Mitzner… A 2015 contestant on “Jeopardy!” who earned $413,612 by winning 13 consecutive episodes, he is a son of United States District Court Senior Judge Amy Berman Jackson, Matthew Barnett “Matt” Jackson turns 34… Director of legislative fiscal affairs at the Rockland County (N.Y.) legislature, Moshe Gruber… College basketball player for the Harvard Crimson until 2022, then a graduate transfer player at NYU until 2024, Spencer Freedman turns 28… Lois Charles…

• President Donald Trump is back in Washington today after three days in France for the G7, where the U.S.‘ memorandum of understanding with Iran was a major topic of conversation both on the summit’s sidelines and in the president’s public comments. Last night, Trump, sitting alongside French President Emmanuel Macron, signed the MOU in Versailles, though a formal ceremony in Switzerland, with Vice President JD Vance in attendance, had initially been planned for Friday. More below.
• In Washington, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) is slated to speak this morning at the Hudson Institute about defense spending, debt and diplomacy.
• Elsewhere in Washington, votes are still being counted in the district’s mayoral and City Council races. Mayoral candidate Janeese Lewis George, currently a member of the City Council, continues to maintain a sizable lead over former D.C. Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie.
• In New York, thousands of people are expected to visit the Ohel in Queens today to mark the yahrtzeit of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, at his burial site.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MELISSA WEISS

Vice President JD Vance is increasingly becoming the face of Washington’s negotiations with Iran — setting him up to claim victory if the agreement is successful, or to take the fall if talks with the historically intransigent adversary collapse.

President Donald Trump said as much yesterday in France: “If it works out, I’m going to take the credit. If it doesn’t work out, I’m blaming JD,” Trump quipped on the sidelines of the G7 summit, hours before signing the agreement alongside French President Emmanuel Macron in Versailles.

Trump is far from the only Republican in Washington to tie Vance to the deal. Some GOP legislators swiftly moved to tie Vance to the MOU — hours after it was announced. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who has long advocated for military pressure against Iran, was one of the first, saying Sunday that it was “imperative that the architect of the deal, Vice President Vance and his negotiating partners, be part of the process in presenting the final deal to Congress.”

But the pressure on Vance quickly has spread through the party. On Wednesday, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), a longtime backer of the president who is largely aligned with the GOP’s isolationist wing (where Vance has also found his political home), told reporters, “I wish the VP all the best of luck.” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), without mentioning Vance by name, said that in moving forward with the MOU, “the president, unfortunately, is receiving bad advice once again.”

The criticism of Vance over the agreement with Iran extends beyond the capital. Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro said on Fox News on Wednesday that the MOU “appears to be, just from the text, a disaster that does not achieve any of the actual signal goals that were set by the administration at the beginning.” Directly addressing Vance’s role, Shapiro said, “The vice president of the United States, the chief negotiator on this particular project, has not well served the president.” Read more here on Shapiro’s comments.

Vance’s high-profile presence around the Iran negotiations draws attention to other senior members of the Trump administration — including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth — who have been notably absent from the White House’s public efforts to talk up the MOU.

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

The Name of the Game: The Atlantic’s Shane Harris looks at the outsized role Qatar has played in the war with Iran and other conflicts, as it seeks to portray itself as a neutral interlocutor despite its stakes in regional conflicts. “Qatar’s regional rivals have long seen Doha as a political and financial enabler of Iran-backed extremism throughout the Middle East. Qatar characterizes its ties to Tehran as a relationship of necessity, based on geography and shared economic interests, but its neighbors see something far more cynical and sinister. What Doha calls neutrality in its foreign policy, they call hedging bets and buying influence, particularly through lobbying spending in Washington that is out of proportion for a country of only about 300,000 citizens.” [TheAtlantic]

Slipping Through My Fingers: The New York Times’ David French considers the missteps made by President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in their handling of the war with Iran. “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel had too much confidence in his ability to persuade Trump. For his part, Trump had too much confidence in his ability to bully Iran. And so it turned out that the ‘dumb presidents’ understood reality far better than Trump. There are no shortcuts. If you’re going to destroy your opponent, you’re going to have to use immense force. If you’re going to compromise with your opponent, it’s best not to lose a war (or blink in the face of adversity) as a prelude.” [NYTimes]

He Is Your Brother: The Financial Times’ Michael Stott, Andres Schipani and James Shotter look at the deepening relationship between Israel and India. “Once a leading light in the Non-Aligned Movement of developing nations, which resisted cold war superpower alliances, embraced the Palestinian cause and criticised Israel, India now leans much more closely towards the Jewish state. … Israel’s closeness to India is also viewed in the Middle East as part of a deepening alignment between both countries and the United Arab Emirates. Abu Dhabi is doubling down on its relations with Israel and India, while Saudi Arabia has become more closely aligned with Pakistan, signing a defence pact with Islamabad last year.” [FT]

When All Is Said and Done: The Wall Street Journal’s Sadanand Dhume posits that Pakistan, which served as a mediator between Washington and Tehran, has emerged from the U.S.-Iran talks with greater global standing. “Other countries may end up studying Pakistan’s playbook to understand how to cozy up to the White House. For Islamabad, the benefits are obvious. Mr. Trump has repeatedly praised Pakistan’s leaders in public — he refers to the country’s de facto ruler, army chief Asim Munir, as his “favorite field marshal.” And the U.S.-Iran talks held in Islamabad in April gave Pakistan a rare opportunity to bask in favorable international media coverage.” [WSJ]

Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman and JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon were among the high-profile invitees at a dinner in France on Wednesday during which President Donald Trump signed the memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran…

At a markup on Wednesday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved the Eastern Mediterranean Gateway Act, to promote the IMEC corridor and other security and economic partnerships in the Eastern Mediterranean; a bill repealing additional sanctions on Syria; a bill to promote Iranian internet access and address human rights abuses; and legislation requiring the administration to assess whether both sides of the Sudanese civil war meet the conditions for designation as terrorist groups…

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights is investigating the American Psychological Association following complaints from Jewish and Israeli members over the association’s handling — and in some cases promotion — of anti-Israel activism by some members in its affinity groups; read JI’s deep dive into the APA’s challenges to confront antisemitism in its ranks here…

A new bill introduced by the House Abraham Accords Caucus instructs the administration to work to expand the Abraham Accords to include nations in Central Asia and the South Caucasus, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…

Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) grilled a Trump administration nominee on Wednesday at a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee about a seemingly antisemitic cover and article published by a student newspaper under his leadership in college. Also during the hearing, Cameron Hamilton, the nominee to be the FEMA administrator, said he plans to offer recommendations on reforms and additional funding for the NSGP in his first 30 days in office, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…

Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) wrote a letter to IRS CEO Frank Bisignano calling on the Trump administration to rescind CodePink’s 501(c)(3) status over the far-left activist group’s connections to China…

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), said in a NOTUS podcast released on Thursday that he was “kicking the tires” on a possible 2028 presidential run…

The New York Times looks at the degree to which the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has become an “inescapable issue” in the Democratic primary between Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) and former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander in New York’s 10th Congressional District…

The Wall Street Journal spotlights the Democratic primary in Florida’s redrawn 20th District, a majority-minority district that favors the Democrats, where longtime Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) is mounting a bid amid opposition from local Black leaders who have thus far failed to coalesce around a single candidate that could win a primary against the former DNC chair… 

A former chair of Michigan’s Democratic Party said that five of the eight individuals indicted by federal prosecutors last week on charges of intimidating University of Michigan officials seen as being pro-Israel were members of the party, and called for the party’s leadership to investigate their actions…

Israeli-British designer Ron Arad was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, an honor given in recognition of contributions to British society and culture…

Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, a major shareholder in Volkswagen, is complicating talks between the German automaker and the Israeli state-owned defense company Rafael over Rafael’s intention to buy a plant from Volkswagen to manufacture components for Israel’s Iron Dome missile-defense systems…

A new report from Germany’s Federal Association of Departments for Research and Information on Antisemitism found more than 8,700 reported cases of antisemitism in the country in 2025, roughly equivalent to the number of reported instances the prior year…

Thani Al Zeyoudi, the United Arab Emirates’ minister of foreign trade, said that the Gulf state was “moving toward having zero Hormuz dependency” even after the waterway is fully reopened, as it plans to expand its existing ports, build at least one new one and further develop its rail and road networks…

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said he was severing “all contact” with the E.U.’s Kaja Kallas over her recent comments comparing the situation in the West Bank to apartheid South Africa…

Somaliland Defense Minister Mohamed Yusuf Ali, who traveled to Israel this week with the African nation’s president, dismissed reports that Israel has a base in Somaliland, but said that Israel was training the country’s police and military forces…

Austin-based tech entrepreneur Joshua Baer, 50, was killed in a plane crash near Laredo, Texas…

Italian author Carlo Ginzburg died at 87…

French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte, accompanied President Donald Trump as he departed following a dinner held at the Château de Versailles on Wednesday, where Trump signed the memorandum of understanding with Iran.

Former music business mogul, he previously owned multiple record labels and represented musical artists including Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande, Scott Samuel “Scooter” Braun turns 45… 

Chicago-based attorney, he is the first ordained rabbi to have served as an alderman on the Chicago City Council, Solomon Gutstein turns 92… Former Washington Post editor, reporter and London bureau chief, Fred Barbash turns 81… Retired IT management advisor at Next Stage, Steven Shlomo Nezer… Croatian entrepreneur, he was previously the minister of economy, labour and entrepreneurship in the Croatian government, Davor Stern turns 79… Rebecca Diamond… Best-selling author and journalist, she was editor-in-chief of USA Today, Joanne Lipman turns 65… Retired professor of English at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, she was on the editorial board of Shofar, a peer-reviewed academic journal of Jewish studies, Helene Meyers… Executive of the William Pears Group, a large U.K. real estate firm founded by his father and grandfather, Sir Trevor Steven Pears (family name was Schleicher) turns 62… White House senior aide during the first Trump administration, he is a principal of Cordish Companies, a real estate and gaming empire, Reed Saunders Cordish turns 52… Film director and screenwriter, Jonathan A. Levine turns 50… Actor, comedian, satirist and writer, known professionally as Ben Gleib, Ben Nathan Gleiberman turns 48… Television producer and writer, Jeremy Bronson turns 46… Baseball pitcher for Team Israel at the 2020 Summer Olympics, he is now assistant general manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks, Jeremy Bleich turns 39… Of counsel at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Esther Lifshitz… Israeli musician, producer, singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, known by his stage name Dennis Lloyd, Nir Tibor turns 33… Director at Silver Point Capital, Jacob E. Best… Rachel Hazan…

• The U.S. and Iran continued to trade strikes overnight, with the U.S. targeting Iranian military infrastructure, including air-defense systems, radars and drone command-and-control units, while Iran fired at U.S. bases in Kuwait, Jordan and Bahrain. More below.
• Amid the ongoing exchanges of fire, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz is in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain this week, marking the first public visit by a senior U.S. official to the Middle East since the war with Iran began on Feb. 28, Jewish Insider’s Melissa Weiss reports.
• On Capitol Hill, the House Appropriations Committee’s Defense subcommittee is holding its markup of next fiscal year’s defense bill.
• Reps. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) and Don Beyer (D-VA) will speak this evening at a Progressive Policy Institute event billed as “Working Toward a New Era of Patriotism and Democratic Renewal” at the National Press Club in Washington.
• The Center for a New American Security is holding a daylong summit on Congress’ role in national security. Those slated to speak include Sens. Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Reps. Adam Smith (D-WA), Don Bacon (R-NE) and Jason Crow (D-CO); former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. (ret.) CQ Brown and the Hudson Institute’s David Feith.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MELISSA WEISS

The Likud party’s statement on Wednesday confirming that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would stand on the ballot this fall put to bed long-swirling rumors that the prime minister was considering forgoing another run — potentially in exchange for the government dropping its legal case against him.

That speculation had deepened earlier in the week, when President Donald Trump publicly mused whether Netanyahu, whom Trump referred to as “a wartime prime minister,” might decide to exit politics. A survey released this week by the Israel Democracy Institute found that 61% of Israelis — including 57% of Jewish Israelis and 87% of Arab Israelis — think Netanyahu should refrain from seeking another term.

With Netanyahu ending speculation about his political future, the focus now turns to the candidates seeking to unseat him.

Gadi Eisenkot’s ascent — earlier this week, a Channel 12 poll found for the first time that more Israelis favored him over Netanyahu as prime minister — comes as the former IDF chief of staff, who lost a son and two nephews in the Hamas war, becomes increasingly critical of Netanyahu, in whose war cabinet Eisenkot sat. As Israeli journalist Nadav Eyal points out, Eisenkot “isn’t seen as aggressive toward anyone but Netanyahu.”

Meanwhile, former Prime Ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid have experienced little momentum after they announced their merger into the “Together” slate in April. 

The two made a risky bet in joining forces with many months to go before the election — one that can’t easily be undone. And while their broad coalition was successful in 2021, it’s unclear if Together’s tent is big enough for all the anti-Netanyahu voters — in a changed electorate post-Oct. 7 — whom Bennett and Lapid would need to pick up. 

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

Cootie Culture: In The Wall Street Journal, Joel Engel connects bullying he witnessed as a child to the modern-day rise in antisemitism. “Decades would pass before Charles R. again crossed my mind. Then came the grotesque violence of Oct. 7, 2023, and the firestorm of Jew hatred it ignited, which still shows no signs of containment. Now I can’t stop thinking about him. … Is there a more fitting metaphor — or more incisive explanation — for antisemitism than ‘Jews have the cooties’? None of the grandiloquent exegeses on antisemitism ever cuts to the heart of the matter the way ‘Jews have the cooties’ does. Some people in the ancient world decided Jews were infected, and their decree reached critical mass, then rolled over through the ages the way Charles’s cooties followed him to a new school.” [WSJ]

Whither Islam in America?: In Sapir, Reihan Salam observes the potential trajectories for Islam in America, amid the growing popularity of American Muslim activists who advocate for anti-Zionist and anti-American causes. “Together, the integration paradox and religious attrition explain something that might otherwise seem puzzling: why the most committed and articulate voices of Muslim anti-Americanism in the United States are not marginalized, dispossessed, under-assimilated newcomers. Rather, they are privileged, cosmopolitan, first- and second-generation insiders who lead largely secular lives. Consider [New York City Mayor Zohran] Mamdani and Hasan Piker, two hyper-assimilated American Muslims who have risen to prominence on the strength of their anti-Zionism, one through electoral politics, the other through a mass cultural platform that has made him one of the most followed political voices in the country.” [Sapir]

In an interview with CBS News, Vice President JD Vance said, when asked if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had gotten anything wrong, that the Israeli leader had “certainly gotten some things wrong,” but called Netanyahu “a good partner” who “aggressively asserts the interests of his country”… 

The Associated Press reports that the White House has held conversations with U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra about potentially serving as director of national intelligence, as Democratic senators stonewall the renewal of a key part of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act over the administration’s tapping of Bill Pulte as interim DNI and refusal to swiftly nominate a permanent replacement….

The State Department has reportedly launched an investigation into Trita Parsi, a co-founder of the Quincy Institute, as federal officials mull whether to revoke the Iran-born activist’s green card…

Federal prosecutors indicted eight anti-Israel activists affiliated with the University of Michigan on Wednesday, accusing them of conspiring to run a campaign intimidating university officials seen as pro-Israel and vandalizing local Jewish organizations, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports…

A Zionist Organization of America delegation met with the Justice Department’s Leo Terrell during the group’s mission to Washington this week…

Despite his brush with Knicks guard Jose Alvarado during Game 3 of the NBA Finals earlier this week, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg returned to Madison Square Garden for last night’s Knicks comeback win over the San Antonio Spurs; Alex Soros was spotted two seats down from Bloomberg, who was flanked on his other side by actor (and MOT) Timothée Chalamet and Kylie Jenner…

The British, Australian and Canadian governments jointly launched a $4 million fund aimed at supporting grassroots Israeli-Palestinian peace-building efforts…

The Czech Republic said it would block efforts in the EU to sanction Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, with Czech Foreign Minister Petr Macinka saying that sanctioning the far-right minister ahead of Israel’s elections later this year “would actually help” Ben-Gvir, whose actions and comments Macinka said “really goes beyond the pale,” among some voters…

Lily Cohen is departing her role as a press assistant at Third Way and joining the office of Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) as director of communications…

Tal Politis, Israel’s incoming defense attaché in Washington, who most recently served as Navy chief of staff, was promoted to vice admiral…

After the conclusion of Chabad-Lubavich’s Living Legacy Conference and Global Jewish Roundtable on Wednesday in Washington, a small delegation of attendees, which included shluchim and supporters of American Friends of Lubavitch-Chabad, met with Vice President JD Vance.

Hedge fund manager, he is the owner of MLB’s New York Mets, Steven A. Cohen turns 70…

Heir to the British supermarket chain Sainsbury’s, minister in two British governments under Prime Ministers Major and Thatcher, Sir Timothy Alan Davan Sainsbury turns 94… Former executive director of NYC-based government watchdog Citizens Union and former NYC public advocate, Elisabeth A. “Betsy” Gotbaum turns 88… Chief spokesperson for AIPAC from 2012 to 2025, Marshall Wittmann turns 73… Columbus, Ohio-based retail mogul, CEO of American Eagle Outfitters, Value City Department Stores, DSW and others, sponsor of ArtScroll’s translation of the Babylonian Talmud, Jay Schottenstein turns 72… Member of Knesset for the Agudat Yisrael faction of the United Torah Judaism party, Meir Porush turns 71… Past president and national board member of AIPAC, he is a senior advisor to Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, Lee “Rosy” Rosenberg… Former director of the Shin Bet, Yuval Diskin turns 70… Member of Knesset for the Shas party, Yoav Ben-Tzur turns 68… New Windsor, N.Y., attorney, Barry Wolf Friedman… Political and social justice activist, she served as Illinois state representative and as human rights commissioner, Lauren Beth Gash turns 66… Opinion columnist for The Washington Post until 2025, now writing on Substack, Jennifer Rubin turns 64… Partner in the D.C. office of worldwide consulting firm, Brunswick Group, Michael J. Schoenfeld… President of J Street, Jeremy Ben-Ami turns 64… Deputy director of the CIA in the Biden administration, he held the same role in the last two years of the Obama administration, David S. Cohen turns 63… U.S. attorney for Minnesota since October 2025, Daniel Noah Rosen turns 61… Associate dean and lecturer at George Washington University Law School, he previously served in the Biden administration, Matt Nosanchuk… Professor of Jewish thought at the University of Haifa, Josef Hillel “J.H.” Chajes turns 61… Founder of Shabbat[dot]com, he also serves as the national educational director for Olami Worldwide, Rabbi Benzion Zvi Klatzko… Dean of TheYeshiva[dot]net, he succeeded his father as editor-in-chief of the Yiddish weekly Algemeiner Journal, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak “YY” Jacobson turns 54… Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration from 2017 to 2019, now a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, Dr. Scott Gottlieb turns 54… Budget director at the City Council of the District of Columbia, Jennifer Budoff… Israeli businesswoman and philanthropist, she participated in two seasons of the Israeli reality show “Me’usharot,” Nicol Raidman turns 40… Director of communications and programming at Academic Engagement Network, Raeefa Shams… Actor, performance artist and filmmaker, Shia LaBeouf turns 40… Retired figure skater who competed for Israel in the team event at the 2018 Winter Olympics, Aimee Buchanan turns 33… Olympic medalist in canoe slalom in London (2012), Rio (2016), Tokyo (2020) and Paris (2024), Jessica Esther “Jess” Fox turns 32… Israeli attorney and CEO of Dualis Social Venture Fund, Dana Naor…

• Today is the one-year anniversary of the terror attack at the Capital Jewish Museum in which two Israeli Embassy staffers were killed outside of an American Jewish Committee event taking place inside the venue. In marking the day, the museum announced that it will be open to the public today “as a space of reflection and remembrance.”
• The House of Representatives is expected to hold a vote on an Iran war powers resolution today, after House GOP leadership postponed the vote, which was to take place yesterday, over Republican attendance issues.
• The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington is holding candidate forums today with D.C. mayoral candidates Kenyan McDuffie and Janeese Lewis George.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MELISSA WEISS

In Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, Netanya and Beersheva, the conversations are the same: When will the war with Iran resume? What contingency plans are in place? Do we need to temporarily rent an apartment with a shelter?

All over Israel, there is a looming feeling that the next round of fighting is just around the corner. The Israel Democracy Institute’s latest polling, conducted earlier this month, found that 62% of Israelis think that the war’s renewal is likely.

But in the U.S., a resumption of war appears increasingly unlikely. With gas prices rising and the midterms approaching, the White House has little appetite for prolonged conflict. A New York Times/Siena poll released earlier this week found that nearly two-thirds of Americans think that going to war against Iran in the first place was a bad idea. Though fresh off a series of primary and state-level wins, President Donald Trump appears cognizant of the uphill battle that comes with resuming an unpopular war, even as he told reporters earlier this week he didn’t factor “Americans’ financial situation” in his approach to the war.

There is also a question of funding. Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK), the chair of the House Appropriations Committee, said this week that the Pentagon would “probably” be out of money to fund the Iran war by August.

Those are key factors that have not penetrated the discourse in Israel. Across the U.S., gas prices are sky high. The midterms are less than six months away. And on Capitol Hill, even some of the president’s staunchest backers are signaling opposition to a resumption of the war.

“Generally speaking, Israelis are not really attuned to internal politics in the U.S. that could be affecting President Trump’s decisions,” Tamar Hermann, director of IDI’s Viterbi Center for Public Opinion, told Jewish Insider this morning. “Recent coverage in the Israeli media has tended to obscure the domestic political constraints Trump faces, creating the impression that he is operating without meaningful checks and is effectively able to do as he pleases.”

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

American Jews Under Siege: In The Atlantic, Israel Policy Forum co-founder Michael Sonnenfeldt considers the “untenable position” that many American Jews find themselves in amid rising domestic antisemitism alongside decreasing support among Americans for Israel. “Anti-Semitism is rising sharply in the United States at the same time that traditional alliances with progressive organizations are weakening, political identities are being reshuffled, and emotional ties to Israel are strained by policies that clash with deeply held democratic and ethical commitments. The simultaneity of these pressures — political, moral, and psychological — is what makes the present moment feel so destabilizing.” [TheAtlantic]

Middle Man: In The Wall Street Journal, Sadanand Dhume questions Pakistan’s ability to operate as a fair intermediary as it seeks to play a central role in U.S.-Iran talks. “Pakistan has attributes that make it a useful intermediary, but America shouldn’t forget that when it comes to Iran, Pakistan’s interests aren’t the same as those of the U.S. On the face of it, Pakistan might seem like an odd choice for mediator. During the war in Afghanistan, Pakistan was widely castigated for playing a ‘double game,’ accepting U.S. aid to fight terrorism while at the same time secretly aiding and abetting the Afghan Taliban.” [WSJ]

A Convert’s Burden: In Moment Magazine, JoJo Kalin, a convert to Judaism who organized the event at the Capital Jewish Museum in which two Israeli Embassy staffers were killed, reflects on her faith as she considers her interaction with the suspected assailant, to whom she offered water after the attack. “There is a version of the future in which my future children would not have to carry this particular kind of fear. I am aware of that. And I am choosing this one anyway. I choose it because what they would inherit is not only fear. It is also peoplehood, memory and a stubborn, enduring joy. … I still think about that glass of water, about the instinct to give it, about the fact that I did not hesitate. I don’t know what it means, fully. I’m not sure it resolves into something clean or instructive. But I know this: That moment belongs to my humanity, not to his violence.” [Moment]

Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs talks to Leo Terrell, the senior counsel to the assistant attorney general for civil rights and chair of the Department of Justice’s antisemitism task force, about the creation of the DOJ’s Antisemitism Advisory Committee, which Terrell will oversee…

The Justice Department announced its indictment against a New Jersey man charged with making interstate threats to a Jewish institution in New York…

Sarah Rogers, the under secretary of state for public diplomacy, refuted accusations that the Trump administration has been ineffective in combating the spread of misinformation and hateful content on social media, arguing that free speech protections and efforts to combat disinformation are not mutually exclusive, in comments at the Hudson Institute on Tuesday, JI’s Emily Jacobs reports… 

Reps. Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) and Steve Cohen (D-TN) introduced a resolution honoring the 130th anniversary of the Jewish War Veterans organization…

During a House hearing on Wednesday, Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) engaged in a heated back-and-forth with a witness, Carol Swain, an author and commentator, as Swain repeatedly dodged his question about whether neo-Nazis are a supremacist group. Two other witnesses answered the question with a simple “yes”…

Director Michael Bay is working with Universal Pictures to develop a feature-length film about the rescue of two American pilots who were shot down in Iran last month; the film will be based off an upcoming book on the event by Mitchell Zuckoff…

TechCrunch profiles Ocean founder Shay Shwartz, whose email security platform protects against AI-powered attacks and recently exited stealth mode with $28 million in a funding round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners that included an investment from Wiz’s Assaf Rappaport…

eJewishPhilanthropy’s Jay Deitcher looks at how Jewish groups are approaching the use of AI for Torah study…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, along with other Israeli officials, issued a sharp condemnation of far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir after he released a video showing himself taunting detained flotilla activists, JI’s Matthew Shea reports…

Israeli prosecutors filed charges against a Jewish man accused of taking part in at least three attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank since February, including an April attack in which a poultry farm employee was hospitalized and remains in a coma…

The Wall Street Journal looks at Israeli efforts to track down all terrorists who took part in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks…