• Today is the special election in Georgia’s 14th Congressional District for the seat that was previously held by former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA). More below.
• Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine are slated to give a press briefing at 8 a.m. ET.
• The Senate Armed Services Committee is holding a classified briefing today on the U.S. and Israel’s military campaign in Iran.
• The Senate is voting this morning on the nomination of Lt. Gen. Joshua Rudd to be director of the National Security Agency and commander of U.S. Cyber Command.
• National Review and the Republican Jewish Coalition are co-sponsoring a daylong symposium on antisemitism. Speakers include Sens. Jim Banks (R-IN), Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Ted Cruz (R-TX), White House antisemitism envoy Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun, the Justice Department’s Leo Terrell, the Department of Education’s Noah Pollak, Brandeis Center founder Ken Marcus and Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MARC ROD

Voters are casting ballots today in the special election for the ruby-red House seat previously held by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), but the final outcome will likely remain uncertain for another month. 

With 17 candidates on the all-party ballot, the race is expected to go to a runoff — unless any candidate receives 50% or more of the vote, making today’s race effectively a competition over which two candidates are likely to finish with the most support. 

On the GOP side, the race is dominated by two candidates. The first is Clay Fuller, a local district attorney, veteran and former White House fellow who is backed by President Donald Trump. 

The second, former state Sen. Colton Moore, a hard-line conservative rabble-rouser often at odds with his own party’s leadership, is running as the anti-establishment populist — a profile that more closely matches Greene’s. 

The district is one of the most Republican in the country: Trump carried the district by 37 percentage points in 2024, and paid a visit to the district in late February to throw his support behind Fuller.

A third Republican candidate, Brian Stover, a local businessman, has raised a significant amount of campaign cash and is a wild card. 

On the Democratic side, the likely leader is Army veteran Shawn Harris, who lost to Greene in 2024 by nearly 30 points. He’s pulled in $4.2 million from Democrats outraged by Greene and who’ve been attracted by a far-fetched pitch that he can flip the seat. But he’s likely to secure a runoff spot, given how many Republican candidates are on the ballot.

Fuller’s campaign has been touting Trump’s endorsement, and his own military service. Fuller’s Air Force career included work on counterterrorism operations, and he was deployed in 2024 to the Al Udeid airbase in Qatar supporting U.S. Central Command operations. He also has the support of the conservative Club for Growth.

He has backed the U.S.-Israeli offensive against Iran, and expressed support for Israel. “President Trump tried the peace route with Iran not once, not twice, but THREE separate times—and they refused. He’s the peace President, but you can’t negotiate with a death cult,” Fuller said, emphasizing he had supported operations against Iran and that the regime and its proxies had killed many Americans.

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

Wolpe’s Wit: In a tongue-in-cheek essay in The Atlantic, Rabbi David Wolpe responds to a statement from California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office reaffirming his belief in Israel’s right to exist, issued after the governor came under fire for a series of anti-Israel remarks. “Given this statement, I feel it is appropriate to affirm that I believe that Gavin Newsom also has the right to exist, and I further believe that California itself has the right to exist. And the right to defend itself, specifically from Nevada, but not necessarily from Oregon. … As a spiritual leader, it is my responsibility to follow my conscience and not the shifting polls, which, coincidentally, currently align with my conscience. Yes, this position may arouse some ire. Many insist that California is a colonial enterprise, and much of it was stolen from its original inhabitants, the members of the liberal-arts faculty of UC Berkeley.” [TheAtlantic]

Chaos Be Damned: In The Washington Post, Douglas Feith, who served as undersecretary of defense for policy from 2001-2005, posits that President Donald Trump is attempting a new strategy in Iran. “Trump shows no concern about chaos. He is giving the Iranians a chance to take control away from the ayatollahs. Trump sees that as a gift — he doesn’t think the U.S. owes Iranians an on-the-ground effort to prevent chaos or to make their country stable, let alone democratic and prosperous. The president’s goal is to deprive Iran of the power to hurt the U.S. and its interests. If dangers develop down the road, he expects to be able to deal with them far more easily than if he had left in place the Islamic regime that was pursuing nuclear weapons and developing ever-longer-range missiles.” [WashPost]

Doha’s Decision: In his Substack “The Abrahamic Metacritique,” Hussein Aboubakr Mansour observes the developing inflection point in Qatar as the Arab state’s leaders determine its political and diplomatic future. “The question we should ask is whether Qatar will use this moment of crisis to do what its critics have demanded for years: sever its ties to political Islam, expel the Muslim Brotherhood networks it has funded and housed since the 1990s, abandon the Hamas patronage that made it indispensable as a mediator but also made it a target, and, perhaps, reposition as a clean, reliable American partner. The question sounds simple, but the answer is not.” [AbrahamicMetacritique]

Ari the Interviewer: The New York Times’ Brooks Barnes spotlights former Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel following the launch of the Hollywood agent’s new podcast, in which he takes center stage as an interviewer. “For people who have dealt with the combative Mr. Emanuel over the decades, this can be a bit like watching a body-swapping comedy: Who are you, and what have you done with Ari Emanuel? In contrast to his reputation, Mr. Emanuel comes across on ‘Rushmore’ as eminently likable. He’s polite and thoughtful. He’s able to maintain his focus for more than 90 seconds. Mr. Emanuel even allows himself brief moments of vulnerability — when the armor slips, and he’s not the alpha.” [NYTimes]

The Wall Street Journal does a deep dive into President Donald Trump‘s potential backing of either Vice President JD Vance or Secretary of State Marco Rubio — the latter of whom the president has expressed a growing preference for — as the GOP’s 2028 presidential candidate…

Politico looks at the diplomatic efforts of White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner as they represent a presidential administration that “views diplomacy like a real-estate venture, requiring a business mindset and a small team tasked with securing a big development deal”...

The Wall Street Journal spotlights the Florsheim loafers being gifted by Trump to all manner of White House visitors, noting that while at the White House in January, far-right commentator Tucker Carlson was given a pair of brown wingtips…

The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg reflects on the consequences of “Signalgate” a year after he was accidentally added to a group chat of senior Trump administration officials ahead of and during a U.S. operation targeting the Houthis…

Led by Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), 31 Senate Democrats pressed the administration for accountability for the death of a U.S. citizen in the West Bank, writing that there has been “a consistent pattern in which Americans are being killed in the West Bank by settlers or the IDF without justice or accountability, despite promises from U.S. officials”…

The Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board rejected for the second time in as many months a proposal for a virtual Jewish charter school, citing a state Supreme Court ruling that charter schools must be non-sectarian…

A mayoral candidate in Ann Arbor, Mich., featured an open Hamas supporter in his campaign video, JI’s Haley Cohen has learned…

A kosher concessions stand is setting up shop at Camden Yards for the Baltimore Orioles’ upcoming season; Birdland Kosher will sell ballpark and American Jewish fare, including hot dogs, chicken nuggets, soft pretzels, hot pastrami sandwiches on rye, potato knishes and chocolate chip cookies…

Australia will grant asylum to five members of Iran’s national women’s soccer team who had been in the country when the war broke out; the move came after President Donald Trump called on Canberra to help the women and offered them asylum in the U.S….

Team Israel was eliminated from the World Baseball Classic following its 10-1 loss to the Dominican Republic on Monday; the Israeli team will still play against the Netherlands today in Miami…

Comic book colorist Tatjana Wood, who survived the Holocaust in hiding at a Quaker school in the Netherlands before immigrating to the U.S. and becoming an award-winning artist, died at 99…

Argentine President Javier Milei was the featured guest at Yeshiva University last night for the latest in its “Great Conversations” series hosted by the school’s president, Rabbi Ari Berman (right). 

Co-founder of Twitter and then Jelly, which he headed from 2014 until its acquisition by Pinterest in 2017, Christopher Isaac “Biz” Stone turns 52… 

Member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, he played for the San Diego Chargers of the AFL and then for the Oakland Raiders of the NFL, Ron Mix turns 88… Long Beach, Calif., general surgeon, Leonard M. Lovitch, MD… Former chairman and president of Purdue Pharma, he and his family are the subject of multiple lawsuits relating to the opioid crisis, Richard Sackler, MD turns 81… Author and publisher of the Phoenix Scottsdale Jewish Friendship Trail Guidebook, Michael Alan Ross… Senior cryogenics engineer at Raytheon Missile Systems in Tucson, Ariz., he is also an adjunct professor at the University of Arizona, Lawrence Sobel… Founder and CEO of Cambridge, Mass.-based Pegasystems, Alan N. Trefler turns 70… Editor-at-large of Mishpacha Magazine, Binyamin Rose turns 70… Founder of two Israeli companies, Strategy3i Ltd. and Fluenzy, Jeffrey Kahn turns 68… Winner of four gymnastics medals in the 1984 Summer Olympic Games, now in the reverse mortgage business in Sarasota, Mitch Gaylord turns 65… Record producer, former co-president of Columbia Records and a co-founder of Def Jam Records, Frederick Jay “Rick” Rubin turns 63… Financial journalist for CNBC and one of the co-hosts of its morning show “Squawk on the Street,” David Faber turns 62… Executive director until 2024 of the America Israel Friendship League, Wayne L. Firestone turns 62… Stage, screen and television actor, he is the son of novelist Norman Mailer, Stephen Mailer turns 60… Investigative reporter for The New York Times since 2000, Danny Hakim… Former White House official in the Clinton administration, she is now the first lady of Pennsylvania, Lori Shapiro turns 53… Real estate agent on Bravo’s “Million Dollar Listing,” Josh Altman turns 47… Former IDF officer, then a financial executive, Aliza Landes… Former deputy assistant secretary at the U.S. State Department, now executive director at The Vandenberg Coalition, Carrie Filipetti… Actor and director, he is the son of Kate Capshaw and Steven Spielberg, Sawyer Avery Spielberg turns 34…

• We are monitoring developments across the Middle East as the U.S. and Israel continue to strike Iranian targets, Iran launches attacks against population centers in Israel and Israel strikes Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. Multiple sirens have sounded across central Israel, including Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, throughout the morning as the IDF intercepted the barrages being fired from Iran.
• German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is in Washington today. He’ll meet with President Donald Trump at 11 a.m.
• On Capitol Hill, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are expected to brief members of the Senate and House on the war in Iran.
• Elsewhere on the Hill, Elbridge Colby, the Pentagon’s under secretary of defense for policy, is testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee on the Trump administration’s national defense strategy.
• The Capitol Jewish Forum is hosting its annual Purim celebration on the Hill this afternoon, with more than a dozen Jewish legislators, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), slated to attend.
• The first primaries of the 2026 election cycle are also taking place today. In North Carolina, Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-NC) is facing far-left anti-Israel activist Nida Allam. Read more below.
• In the Texas Senate primary, Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) faces state Sen. James Talarico; On the Republican side, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) faces primary challenges from Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-TX) and scandal-plagued right-wing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Read more here and here.
• In the state’s 23rd Congressional District, Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX), also plagued by scandal amid allegations he had an affair with a staffer who later died by suicide, faces his second primary challenge from right-wing social media influencer Brandon Herrera. Read more here.
• Rep. Al Green (D-TX), who has become a consistent detractor of Israel in the House, faces newly elected Rep. Christian Menefee (D-TX), who has built solid relationships with the Houston-area Jewish community. Read more here.
• Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), a Republican hawk, faces a serious challenge from state Rep. Steve Toth, who is running to his right. Both candidates have been supportive of Israel.
• And Rep. Julie Johnson (D-TX) faces a difficult renomination fight against former Rep. Colin Allred (D-TX), who vacated the seat to run unsuccessfully for the Senate in 2024.
• It’s also primary day in Arkansas and Mississippi — but there are no major congressional primaries of note in either state.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MARC ROD

In the closing message of her campaign ahead of the North Carolina Democratic primary today, Durham County Commissioner Nida Allam, a far-left antagonist of Israel, is leaning into criticism of the war against Iran.

“President Trump just used our taxpayer dollars to bomb a school in Iran, killing over 100 elementary school children and starting another endless war abroad. This is reprehensible, and I strongly condemn it, as should every elected official,” Allam said in a direct-to-camera video ad posted on social media on Monday — despite no evidence that the U.S. or Israel were responsible for the strike.

Allam, who is Muslim, vowed that she would never accept support from defense contractors or pro-Israel groups, and said she “opposed these ‘forever wars’ my entire career, and I hope to earn your vote to be your proudly uncompromised pro-peace leader in Washington.”

By contrast, Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-NC), aiming to fend off a primary challenge from Allam, offered a condemnation of the “brutal and repressive” Iranian regime in a statement on Monday, while arguing that its “abuses do not give the president the authority to launch military strikes without Congressional approval.” She said Congress must vote to bring the war to an end.

In an initial statement on X over the weekend, Foushee issued an unequivocal condemnation of the operation, calling it “an unconstitutional escalation that risks dragging the United States into another catastrophic and endless war in the Middle East” that “ignores the will of the American people and recklessly puts our servicemembers in harm’s way” — without making mention of the Iranian regime.

Political observers said the Iran conflict could give late momentum to Allam. Given the leftward lean of the 4th Congressional District and Allam’s positioning to the left of Foushee — particularly on Middle East policy — it could very well make a difference,” Chris Cooper, a political scientist at Western Carolina University, told JI’s Matthew Kassel on Monday. “Thousands of votes have already been cast, but for late deciders, this is exactly the kind of issue that could help tilt a voter to one side or the other. It’s hard to get more salient than war.”

In 2022, Foushee won the seat in the 4th Congressional District against Allam with significant backing from the AIPAC-linked United Democracy Project super PAC, but Foushee has taken a more critical posture towards Israel over the last year. This year, significant outside spending has flowed into the race on both sides.

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

• President Donald Trump will deliver the State of the Union address at 9 p.m. ET. More below on what we’ll be looking out for tonight.
• Secretary of State Marco Rubio is slated to brief Senate and House leaders at 3 p.m. ET.
• Ali Larijani, the head of Iran’s National Security Council who in recent weeks has been designated by Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to try to ensure the regime’s continued survival in the event of military conflict, is in Muscat today to deliver Tehran’s response to U.S. negotiators through Omani interlocutors.
• The House Foreign Affairs Committee will hear from Jacob Helberg, the Trump administration’s under secretary of state for economic growth, energy, and environment, in a hearing this morning set for 10 a.m.
• AIPAC’s Congressional Summit wraps up today in Washington.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MARC ROD

President Donald Trump is set to address Congress for his State of the Union speech tonight, with U.S. forces amassing in the Middle East and administration officials engaged in an ongoing flurry of diplomacy with the Iranian regime.

We’ll be watching for how Trump will address the situation with Iran in his speech, if at all. Will he set red lines or negotiate demands for the regime? Will he lay out his plan or goals for a potential military attack? The White House, as of now, isn’t previewing his remarks.

Trump took to Truth Social yesterday afternoon with a post rejecting as “fake news” reporting from a series of outlets that Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had raised concerns about a sustained military campaign against Iran.

The president said that Caine “like all of us, would not like to see War” but also believes that a military conflict would be “easily won.” Although talks have reportedly centered around limits on Iran’s nuclear program, Trump continued to insist that the regime’s nuclear development is “no longer, but rather, was blown to smithereens.” He called reports that the administration is considering limited strikes on Iran “fake.” 

It’s not out of the question that Trump, who loves a made-for-TV moment, breaks major news on Iran during the speech — last year, he announced in the middle of his speech that the U.S. had apprehended a terrorist allegedly involved in the bombing that killed 13 U.S. servicemembers during the pullout from Afghanistan.

On the other hand, Trump, with midterms on the horizon, might steer clear of the topic entirely as he focuses on domestic issues dominating the headlines, such as tariffs and immigration.

We’ll also be keeping an ear out for whether Trump tries to draw any boundaries for the conservative movement on Israel policy and antisemitism in his speech. The president has largely stayed out of the ongoing fight over Israel roiling the right, but the GOP’s most prominent Israel critic, Tucker Carlson, visited the White House on Monday after an interview with U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee that grabbed headlines.

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

Class Warfare: Semafor’s Ben Smith reviews the “bad ideas” that have emerged since the start of the year, citing as one the phrase “Epstein class” that was popularized by Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) to describe a specific, largely Jewish set of power brokers. “The notion that there is a ‘class’ that includes Noam Chomsky and Howard Lutnick makes little sense except to lunatic antisemites. But hustlers of various sorts have long targeted elites for their own purposes. Take the crypto founder Sam Bankman-Fried, who contributed to Ossoff and Khanna’s political campaigns. It would be absurd to see Ossoff, Khanna, Tom Brady — a paid spokesman for Bankman-Fried’s crypto exchange — and me as part of an ‘SBF class.’” [Semafor]

Trump and Tucker: The Bulwark’s Will Sommer spotlights the relationship between President Donald Trump and Tucker Carlson and the “seeming impunity” the commentator, who platforms Holocaust deniers and antisemitic conspiracy theorists, enjoys even as he complicates relations between the White House and traditional conservatives. “Ultimately, Carlson’s perseverance in Trump’s orbit is a remarkable testament to his staying power. Lesser media luminaries would have been pushed to the outskirts of punditry. The question now is how long the alliance between the administration and Carlson can hold. After all, there are several major factions now tugging at Trump, including Israel supporters like [Laura] Loomer and Ben Shapiro, and the [Vice President JD] Vance faction that Carlson is close to. As 2028 gets closer, expect many more fights over the White House guest list — and a whole lot more drama.” [TheBulwark]

The Trump administration’s Board of Peace is considering using a form of cryptocurrency known as stablecoin in Gaza as an alternative to cash, which is in short supply after more than two years of war…

The State Department ordered non-essential personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, as well as their family members, to leave Lebanon, and is restricting the in-country travel of diplomats still stationed in the country…

Michael Sacks, a prominent Jewish Chicago-area Democratic donor and philanthropist, lamented rising anti-Israel sentiment and antisemitism after a progressive Illinois congressional candidate, union organizer Anthony Driver Jr., issued a public statement saying he would reject the donor’s contribution to his campaign due to his ties to AIPAC, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…

City & State New York profiles New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin as she settles into her new role, describing her as “someone who hopes to steer the council with a firm hand, notching real accomplishments” as well as “a structural counterweight to Mamdani and his fledgling administration”…

Organizers of the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival issued an apology following an uproar over the inclusion of a film festival student judge with an extensive history of criticizing Israel and comparing the war in Gaza to the Holocaust; the Israeli consulate in the Southeast, based in Atlanta, had withdrawn its support of the festival over the AJFF’s initial defense of the juror, who is the leader of the Morehouse College Muslim Student Association…

The New York Times profiles Saks Global head Richard Baker, whose newly formed company filed for bankruptcy just over a year after it was created in a merger between Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman…

The Nate D. Sanders auction house announced the upcoming sale of a letter signed by Ze’ev Jabotinsky written in 1938 as part of the Revisionist Zionism founder’s efforts to raise funds for a mass evacuation of European Jews ahead of Germany’s annexation of Austria…

Former U.K. Ambassador to the U.S. Peter Mandelson was arrested on suspicion of misconduct while in office, charges connected to Mandelson’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein…

France is blocking U.S. Ambassador Charles Kushner from directly accessing government officials after Kushner did not appear in response to a summons from French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot over the U.S. envoy’s comments earlier this month about the death of a far-right French activist…

In The New York Times, music critic Anthony Tommasini reflects on Anne Frank’s love of music as he experiences the arts in the diarist’s adopted city of Amsterdam, where she and her family lived until they went into hiding…

Australia began a royal commission, its highest form of federal inquiry, into the December 2025 terror attack targeting a Hanukkah party at Sydney’s Bondi Beach…

Internal investigators at Binance found that roughly $1.7 billion had been sent from Binance accounts to Iranian entities with ties to terror groups…

Israeli President Isaac Herzog hosted an iftar at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem last night for diplomats, religious leaders and Arab-Israeli community leaders. Among those in attendance were Bahraini Ambassador to Israel Khaled Yousif al-Jalahma (at right, with Herzog) and Emirati Ambassador to Israel Mohamed al-Khaja.

Professor of history at the Hebrew University, his books have been translated into 65 languages and have sold over 45 million copies, Yuval Noah Harari turns 50…

Chairman and CEO of Warner Bros until 2001, then chairman and CEO of Yahoo, Terence Steven “Terry” Semel turns 83… Moscow-born professor of mathematics at Yale University since 1991, Grigory Margulis turns 80… Encino, Calif., resident, Faye Gail Waldman… Rabbi and author of a book about chocolate and Judaism, she has held leadership positions in the national and regional Reform movement, Deborah R. Prinz turns 75… President of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies,  Clifford D. May turns 75… Member of the New Jersey Senate (R-21) since 2022 following 18 years in the N.J. General Assembly, Jon M. Bramnick turns 73… Head basketball coach in a Puerto Rican league, he coached in the Israeli Premier League and has been on NBA and college basketball staffs in the U.S., Brad Greenberg turns 72… Film critic for Entertainment Weekly and then for Variety magazine, Owen Gleiberman turns 67… Founder of the Baltimore Center of Advanced Dentistry, Gary H. Bauman, DDS… Former member of the Knesset for the Likud party, Nurit Koren turns 66… Managing director at SKDKnickerbocker, Karen Olick… Former Israeli minister of health and leader of the Meretz party, Nitzan Horowitz turns 61… Professor of piano and artist-in-residence at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Yakov Kasman turns 59… Author, survival expert, anthropologist and TV host, Josh Bernstein turns 55… Member of the Knesset for the Likud party, now serving as minister of science, technology and space, Gila Gamliel turns 52… Kyiv-born founder of WhatsApp in 2009, he sold the company to Facebook in 2014 for $19 billion, Jan Koum turns 50… NYC-based independent filmmaker, who, together with his older brother Joshua, directed and wrote the 2019 film “Uncut Gems” starring Adam Sandler, Benjamin Safdie turns 40… Partner at MizMaa Ventures Limited, Aaron Applbaum… Israeli actress and model, she has appeared in advertising campaigns for Urban Outfitters, Samsung and Sephora, Dar Zuzovsky turns 35… YouTube beauty guru known as RCLBeauty101 with 14.3 million subscribers, Rachel Claire Levin turns 31… Mitchell Brown…

• The second round of U.S.-Iran nuclear talks are taking place today in Geneva, with Omani Foreign Minister Badr Al-Busaidi, whose country hosted the first round of talks earlier this month, again mediating between the American team, led by White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, and the Iran team, led by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. Witkoff and Kushner are also participating in Russia-Ukraine talks later today in Geneva.
• The latest round of talks comes a day after Araghchi met in Geneva with International Atomic Energy Agency head Rafael Grossi, and as Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps begins military exercises in the Strait of Hormuz.
• Representatives from members of the Trump administration’s Board of Peace are arriving in Washington this week ahead of a meeting of member states slated for Thursday. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar will be representing Israel at the gathering. Over the weekend, Indonesia announced it would contribute thousands of troops to the international stabilization force in the Gaza Strip. 
• The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations is holding its annual mission to Israel.
• Israel’s Olympic bobsled team, led by AJ Edelman, continues trials today, after coming in last place at Monday’s first round.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MARC ROD

Taking the stage at the Munich Security Conference this weekend, two prominent progressive lawmakers rumored to be eyeing presidential runs in 2028, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), used the opportunity to bash Israel.

Criticism of Israel isn’t new for either lawmaker, but taking place on one of the most prominent foreign policy stages in the world, their remarks are a sign of the anti-Israel current that continues to course through the Democratic Party, particularly on its left flank.

Ocasio-Cortez, calling for the U.S. to condition aid to Israel, repeated accusations that Israel committed genocide in Gaza.

“The United States has an obligation to uphold its own laws, particularly the Leahy laws,” Ocasio-Cortez said, referring to laws that require suspension of aid to military units engaged in war crimes. “And I think that personally, that the idea of completely unconditional aid, no matter what one does, does not make sense. I think it enabled a genocide in Gaza. And I think that we have thousands of women and children dead … that was completely avoidable.”

Adding insult to injury for some observers, Ocasio-Cortez leveled the accusations in Munich, the site of Adolf Hitler’s Beer Hall Putsch, which ultimately catalyzed his rise to power.

Ocasio-Cortez’s appearance at the conference was a foreign policy test for the congresswoman — one she ended up struggling to pass. Despite studying under the tutelage of Matt Duss, a former foreign policy advisor to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), she faced accusations that she remains unprepared to tackle global issues, accentuated by her stumbling response when asked whether the U.S. should come to the defense of Taiwan if it was attacked by China. (The New York Times headline: “Ocasio-Cortez Offers a Working Class Vision in Munich, with Some Stumbles”)

At the end of the weekend, Ocasio-Cortez griped that her gaffes and perceived presidential ambitions overshadowed the message she intended to deliver, denying that the trip had anything to do with a potential presidential run. Several congressional allies jumped in to back up Ocasio-Cortez.

Murphy, in a separate session, also continued the theme of Democrats’ Israel-bashing. He questioned the reality of the ceasefire in Gaza, emphasizing Israeli violations of the ceasefire agreement while not mentioning Hamas’ continued violations.

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

• House Republicans are holding their annual retreat today at the Kennedy Center. President Donald Trump is slated to address the gathering at 10 a.m.
• White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are meeting with European officials in Paris today for continued talks on the Russia-Ukraine war.
• Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar is in Hargeisa today for meetings with senior officials, after Israel last month became the first country to recognize Somaliland.
• CES 2026 kicks off today in Las Vegas.
• In Florida, former Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and “Call Me Back” host Dan Senor will speak in conversation this evening at an event hosted by Palm Beach Synagogue.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S Josh Kraushaar

The political fall of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who just months ago was near the apex of political prominence as Kamala Harris’ running mate in the 2024 presidential election, is an object lesson in the consequences of pandering to the far left of the Democratic Party. 

Last year, Walz looked like he was on the fast track in national politics. Now he looks to be ending his career as a disgraced two-term governor.

Walz announced Monday that he’s not running for a third term in office, amid a growing scandal over massive welfare fraud, where dozens of individuals from the state’s Somali diaspora were convicted in schemes involving over a billion dollars stolen from the state’s social services programs.

The scandal offers a snapshot of some of the Democratic Party’s most glaring vulnerabilities. Walz, along with others in the state’s Democratic leadership, oversaw the allocation of generous welfare payments without ample accountability, while turning a blind eye to corruption in a Somali community that’s become a reliable Democratic voting bloc.

A nimbler, and more moderate, politician would have aggressively led the charge against the criminals instead of coming across as a passive bystander. After all, a scandal like this threatens the sustainability of generous social welfare programs that have defined the ethos of the Minnesota Democratic Party. Instead, in his announcement Monday, he decried “political gamesmanship” by Republicans for drawing outsized attention to the issue.

A more pragmatic Walz would also have been comfortable speaking out against scandalous elements within the Somali community (without painting the entire community with a broad brush). Instead, his belated comments speaking out against the fraud typically avoided reference to the perpetrators of the scandal, and he frequently blamed Republicans as racist for invoking their backgrounds. That only dug him into a deeper political hole.

Walz’s sensitivity about not alienating the state’s Somali community also came up in other areas that underscored his progressive instincts. When a leading Somali mayoral candidate (state Sen. Omar Fateh) came under fire for employing virulently antisemitic staffers at the top levels of his campaign, Walz remained silent, even as Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) spoke up. 

Walz also has been supportive of far-left Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) even when she’s faced controversies over using antisemitic tropes and embracing anti-Israel views that have placed her out of the Democratic Party’s mainstream. His selection as Harris’ running mate over Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro was cheered on by the anti-Israel wing of the party. 

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

The Hawks are Back: Puck’s Julia Ioffe looks at how the Trump administration’s recent operation in Venezuela has shifted political and policy dynamics among conservatives split between neoconservatism and MAGA-style isolationism. “The affinity for using American military force has, weirdly, thrown Trump into alignment with the same neoconservative camp that he trampled during his ascent to the White House. This cohort, which has praised Trump’s moves in both Venezuela and Iran, has long insisted that Democrats are constitutionally uncomfortable with American power and that they are too scared to use it. In their view, liberals overlearned the lessons of Iraq and, as a result, grew too prone to overthinking and overanalyzing — imagining consequences to military action that are far worse than reality merits.”[Puck]

Digital Detox: In The Wall Street Journal, Vivek Ramaswamy, who is mounting a bid for governor of Ohio, explains why he is ending his personal use of a number of social media platforms. “There’s a fine line between using the internet to distribute your message and inadvertently allowing constant internet feedback to alter your message. That isn’t using social media; it’s letting social media use you. As someone who ran a digitally centered campaign for president, I’ve seen this effect firsthand — on myself and my competitors. Politicians want to respond to voters, and rightly so. But polls are expensive and infrequent. Social media offers a tempting alternative: free, abundant real-time feedback. It creates the impression that you’re hearing directly from ‘the people’ and responding in kind. Modern social media is increasingly disconnected from the electorate.” [WSJ]

U.S. officials reportedly told acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez that Caracas must boot operatives from countries — including Iran and Cuba — that are hostile to the U.S….

In one of his final acts in office, Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares sent a letter on Monday reminding all K-12 superintendents and school boards in the state of their obligation to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism into their codes of conduct and discrimination policies, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports…

Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner raised $4.7 million in the last quarter of 2025, despite numerous scandals related to past controversial social media posts and a tattoo that resembled Nazi imagery… 

Attorney George Conway launched his bid in the crowded Democratic primary in New York’s 12th Congressional District to succeed Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY)…

Harvard President Alan Garber said in a recent episode of the Shalom Hartman Institute’s “Identity/Crisis” podcast that the Ivy League school had erred in allowing faculty members to share their personal views on politically charged issues, explaining that faculty activism had a chilling effect on campus climate…

Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison sold his Pacific Heights, Calif., home for $45 million, more than 10 times what he paid for the property in 1988…

Authorities in Germany are investigating a suspected arson attack targeting the home of the antisemitism commissioner of the state of Brandenburg…

Israel asked the country’s Supreme Court to allow for the continuation of a blanket ban on media access to the Gaza Strip, citing “security reasons” and suggesting that lifting the ban would endanger efforts to locate the body of hostage Ran Gvili; the court is set to rule on the petition, filed in 2024 by the Foreign Press Association as it sought access to Gaza…

The Israeli Communications Ministry approved a deal between Israeli and Palestinian telecom companies that will bring 4G access to the West Bank; the finalization of the agreement, which had been reached in 2022, had been delayed due to the Israel-Hamas war…

TheBank of Israel cut interest rates to 4%, the second straight time the bank has cut rates since Israel and Hamas reached a ceasefire in October 2025…

Israel struck what it said were Hezbollah and Hamas sites in southern Lebanon, days before the commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces is slated to brief officials in Beirut on the army’s efforts to disarm Hezbollah…

The Wall Street Journal looks at how Israel’s early recognition of Somaliland plays into Jerusalem’s broader strategy to establish diplomatic ties in a postwar era… 

In an effort to curb ongoing protests around Iran over the country’s economic troubles, government officials announced a program to give approximately $7 per month to every Iranian citizen…

Politico’s Sally Goldenberg is joining The New York Times’ Metro section, covering New York City politics and the Mamdani administration…

David Rosen, the co-founder of Sega, died at 95…

Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) met on Monday in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

English food writer and television cook, Nigella Lucy Lawson turns 66… 

Retired EVP and senior counsel of the Trump Organization, George H. Ross turns 98… International businessman and philanthropist, Nathan “Natie” Kirsh turns 94… Canadian businessman, investor and author, seven Canadian universities have a school named for him, Seymour Schulich turns 86… Co-founder of private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Henry R. Kravis turns 82… Chairman, president and CEO of Phibro Animal Health Corporation, he is a past chair of the Israel Policy Forum, Jack C. Bendheim turns 79… Yiddish-language author, journalist, playwright and lyricist, Boris Sandler turns 76… Attorney general of Oregon from 2012 until 2024, Ellen Rosenblum turns 75… Film, theater, and television director, her debut novel was published in 2020, Jan Pringle Eliasberg turns 72… Academic official at Tennessee State University for 10 years, he now serves as a consultant to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Michael Harris turns 70… Retired television executive and political commentator, Mark E. Hyman turns 68… Founder and executive director of Healthcare Across Borders, Jodi Lynn Jacobson… Israeli celebrity chef, Eyal Shani turns 67… Member of the Ukrainian Parliament and president of the Ukrainian Jewish Committee, Oleksandr Feldman turns 66… Daniel G. Slatopolsky… Founder of Pure California Beverages, Sarah Beth Rena Conner… Member of the Knesset for the Religious Zionist Party, she chairs the Knesset’s Labor and Welfare Committee, Michal Miriam Waldiger turns 57… Actor, painter and fashion designer, Greg Lauren turns 56… Author of 13 spy fiction novels and four nonfiction books, Alex Berenson turns 53… President and CEO of United Wholesale Mortgage, he is the majority owner of the Phoenix Suns of the NBA and Phoenix Mercury of the WNBA, Mat Ishbia turns 46… Israeli news anchor and host of the “Jewish Crossroads: Jewish Identity in Times of Crisis” podcast, Tamar Ish-Shalom turns 45… Israeli actress, best known for her role in “The Zookeeper’s Wife,” Efrat Dor turns 43… Award-winning investigative reporter at WCCO/CBS in Minneapolis, Jonah P. Kaplan… Social media program director at the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA), Aviva Slomich Rosenschein… Philanthropic advisor at the Community Foundation for a Greater Richmond, Sarah Arenstein Levy… Rabbinic fellow at NYC’s Park Avenue Synagogue, Aiden Pink… One of the youngest to ever sign a Major League Soccer contract at age 15, he is now a VP at Acacia Research, Zachary “Zach” Pfeffer turns 31… Rock climber for Team USA, he competed at the Paris Olympics in 2024, Jesse Grupper turns 29… Value accelerator lead at Goldman Sachs Growth, Anna Phillips…

• Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar is in Washington today, where he’ll meet with Bolivian Foreign Minister Fernando Aramayo Carrasco and sign an agreement to renew relations between Jerusalem and La Paz.
• On Capitol Hill, B’nai B’rith International and Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) are holding an event to mark the 50th anniversary of the U.N.’s “Zionism = Racism resolution.” Former Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), historian Gil Troy and the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Ben Cohen are slated to speak, while Israeli President Isaac Herzog will deliver remarks by video.
• At the Washington National Cathedral tonight, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who was the target of an arson attack during Passover, and Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, who gained national prominence for his response to TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk’s assassination in the state, will sit for a conversation about political violence.
• The Jewish Democratic Council of America is holding its annual Hanukkah party tonight in Washington.
• Yale’s Shabtai group is hosting an event on “The Future of Global Jewry” tonight, featuring Rabbi David Wolpe, Yale professor Paul Franks and Rabbi Shmully Hecht.
• The Jerusalem Post is convening its two-day Washington conference today.
• Abu Dhabi Finance Week continues today in the United Arab Emirates. Speakers today include Stephen Schwarzman, Harvey Schwartz and David Rubenstein.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MELISSA WEISS AND MATTHEW SHEA

Tucker Carlson, Rob Malley and Bill Gates walk into a Gulf hotel. 

It’s not the beginning of a joke, but rather, part of the speaker lineup at the Doha Forum over the weekend in Qatar.

As we’ve reported frequently over the last year, Doha has gone to great efforts to establish itself as a critical cog in the wheel of a functioning global society. Nowhere were the fruits of that labor on display more than at the two-day Doha Forum, held at the glitzy Sheraton Grand Doha Hotel.

Alongside traditional conference-circuit speakers — among them former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Microsoft founder Gates, U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack, U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker and Heritage Foundation senior fellow Victoria Coates — were more controversial voices.

Those voices include Carlson as well as Malley, the former Iran envoy who was suspended and had his clearance revoked for his alleged mishandling of classified documents; and Trita Parsi, the executive vice president of the Quincy Institute, which was a co-sponsor of the forum, who has in the past faced accusations of operating as an unregistered foreign agent for Iran.

In Doha, Carlson, a last-minute addition to the forum’s lineup, sat in conversation with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, a 20-minute conversation that preceded a sit-down between Donald Trump Jr. and investor Omeed Malik.

When discussing efforts to rebuild Gaza, Carlson suggested that Qatar should refrain from helping “rebuild a region that has been destroyed by a country [Israel] that has also bombed” them. Carlson also mocked Americans and lawmakers who have called out Qatar as a “terror state” or terror “financier,” despite Doha’s well-documented involvement with the Muslim Brotherhood and harboring of Hamas. 

As one longtime attendee of the Forum wrote on X, “[N]ever has Qatar displayed its immense convening power more effectively than this year.”

In an era in which American political figures face blowback for appearing at conferences that also platform extremist voices — such as Rep. Ro Khanna’s (D-CA) appearance this fall at Arabcon, where other speakers downplayed the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks — more mainstream speakers at the Doha Forum have faced a remarkably low amount of condemnation, and legitimized the conference and its organizers in the process.

That lack of condemnation underscores the degree to which Qatar’s strategy of infiltrating virtually every element of Western society — from media to sports to academia to government — has rendered it a powerful and at times dangerous force, and one that forces for Western values and democracy are unwilling to challenge or confront.

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

Tales from the Quad: In The Washington Post, former Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb, a Republican, reflects on the semester he spent teaching at Harvard University. “Yes, you may still find the intellectual underpinnings of Harvard’s embarrassing anti-Israel encampments in some clubs and faculty lounges. You will also find a new president, an observant Jew, who is making sure that similar disruptions of campus life and blatant antisemitism do not reappear, even as serious conservative speakers show up again. … What I’ve experienced may be a natural return to Harvard’s more moderate bearings, following noisy displays of intolerance by campus agitators in recent years. Or it may be due to the Trump administration’s forceful executive orders and fiscal pressure. Either way (and it’s probably both), let’s take the win and learn the broader lesson.” [WashPost]

The MAGA Melee on Israel: Politico’s Ian Ward does a deep dive into the conservative movement’s debate over U.S. support for Israel. “Foreign policy calculations aside, though, [American Conservative editor Curt] Mills acknowledged that much of the swing against Israel is being driven by a visceral sense that the GOP cares more about Israeli priorities than it does about the interests of its own voters. ‘There’s still no wall on the southern border. We still haven’t brought all these factories back. They still have not deported 10 million people,’ Mills told me. ‘But you know what they have done? They’ve kicked people out of the country for pro-Palestinian speech and they’ve bombed Iran.’ That view is enough to qualify Mills as a radical within the conservative movement, but he told me that he sometimes feels like a moderate compared to some of the Gen-Z conservatives. ‘They’re hardcore,’ Mills told me. ‘Frankly, some of them are so radicalized that they are, like, openly sympathetic to Hamas, which [they see as] close to pure freedom fighters.’” [Politico]

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

Rep. Marc Veasey (D-TX), a co-chair of the House antisemitism task force, will not seek reelection in his newly redrawn Texas congressional district…

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman is moving closer to launching a bid for governor of New York; Blakeman, a Republican, would face Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), who announced her bid last month…

A New Jersey court ruled that former Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), who is serving an 11-year sentence for bribery, is ineligible to hold public office or public employment in the state…

David Ellison’s Skydance Paramount is launching a $108 billion hostile bid to buy Warner Bros. Discovery following the announced sale of the company to Netflix; filings made public on Monday revealed that Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners and sovereign wealth funds from Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Qatar were on board to provide financing for Skydance Paramount’s bid…

A high school in San Jose, Calif., is investigating an incident in which students formed a swastika with their bodies and posted the image to social media…

The hate crimes unit of the Toronto police department is investigating an incident at a senior living community over the weekend in which mezuzot around the complex were removed from doorposts…

Argentina’s DAIA, the umbrella organization for the country’s Jewish community, filed a formal complaint after a number of far-left legislators pledged allegiance to a “free Palestine” during a swearing-in ceremony last week…

The New York Times looks at Hamas’ efforts to reconstitute itself and reassert its power in areas of the Gaza Strip from which Israel has withdrawn, challenging efforts by the U.S. and other countries to remove the terror group from power and rebuild the enclave…

Egypt and Iran — both countries where homosexuality can face legal consequences — were assigned the specially designated “Pride Match” celebrating the LGBTQ community during next year’s World Cup; the match, which will be played in Seattle, had been designated by the local organizing committee for the distinction before countries were assigned matches…

Iranian media reports that the trial of a European dual national charged with spying on behalf of Israel during the 12-day June war has begun…

The Jewish representative in Iran’s parliament said in a Telegram channel that he had been summoned by Iranian security agencies in recent weeks over social media activity, including liking and sharing posts about Israel, of some of his constituents…

Pennsylvania State Budget Secretary Uri Monson will depart his role to serve as the executive director of the Pennsylvania School Employees Retirement System… 

Washington, D.C., philanthropist Shirley Schwalb Small, who served on the boards of the Kennedy Center and the America-Israel Cultural Foundation, died at 94…

Social justice activist Cora Weiss died at 91…

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) swore in new members of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Council on Monday night in Washington. Among those sworn in were American Jewish Committee CEO Ted Deutch, philanthropist Tila Falic, Sid Rosenberg, Siggy Flicker, Jonathan Burkan and Matthew Segal.

Film and television actor, Jaren Miles Lewison turns 25…

Retired diplomat who served as Israel’s ambassador to Russia, China and the U.K., Zvi Heifetz turns 69… Los Angeles investor and entrepreneur, she leads Saving Giving, Lisa Zola Greer… Former senior White House aide and deputy secretary of the Treasury in the Clinton and Obama administrations, now vice chair of the Brunswick Group, Neal S. Wolin turns 64… CEO at Alta Vista Partners and former COO of the New York Mets, Jeffrey Scott Wilpon turns 64… Persian-born author of four novels, she is a frequent lecturer on Iranian Jewish history and the topic of exile, Gina B. Nahai turns 64… Senior research fellow at the Cato Institute, Daniel “Dan” Greenberg turns 60… Foreign minister of Israel since 2024, Gideon Sa’ar (born Gideon Zarechansky) turns 59… Governor of Virginia since 2022, his term ends in mid-January, Glenn Allen Youngkin turns 59… U.S. senator (D-NY), Kirsten Gillibrand turns 59… Violinist and conductor, he is the music director of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Joshua David Bell turns 58… Singer-songwriter, music producer and founder of StaeFit workout apparel, Stacey Liane Levy Jackson turns 57… President of the National Democratic Institute and former State Department official, Tamara Cofman Wittes turns 56… Singer-songwriter and son of Bob Dylan, he rose to fame as the lead singer and primary songwriter for the rock band the Wallflowers, Jakob Dylan turns 56… Senior rabbi of the Boca Raton Synagogue, Rabbi Efrem Goldberg turns 51… Managing director at Finsbury / FGS Global and a board member of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington until 2022, Eric Wachter… Award-winning screenwriter, film director and producer, Eliza Hittman turns 46… Actor, comedian and musician, best known for his role as Howard Wolowitz in the sitcom “The Big Bang Theory,” Simon Helberg turns 45… 2015 graduate of Yale Law School, she is a staff attorney at the Legal Aid Society’s immigration law unit’s youth project, Daniella Esther Rohr Adelsberg… Singer, songwriter and entertainer in the Orthodox pop music industry, Mordechai Shapiro turns 36… Digital director at the Abundance Institute, Shoshana Weissmann… Israeli fashion model, Dorit Revelis turns 24…

• In Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District today, Republican Matt Van Epps and Democrat Aftyn Behn face off in the special election to replace Rep. Mark Green (R-TN), who resigned over the summer. More below.
• In Washington, the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates is holding its annual National Day celebration.
• Elsewhere in Washington, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum is hosting the premiere of “The Last Twins,” a documentary about the efforts of Erno “Zvi” Spiegel, a Hungarian Jewish man and prisoner at Auschwitz who protected twins imprisoned at the concentration camp.
• Israel Hayom is holding its first New York summit today in Manhattan. Speakers include the Israeli daily’s publisher Dr. Miriam Adelson, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz, outgoing New York City Mayor Eric Adams, U.S. Special Envoy for Hostage Response Adam Boehler, Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder, TWG Global managing partner and former Biden administration senior official Amos Hochstein, the Justice Department’s Harmeet Dhillon and former hostages Guy Gilboa Dallal and Evyatar David.
• The Combat Antisemitism Movement is holding its 2025 North American Mayors Summit Against Antisemitism in New Orleans.
• In Miami, Art Basel kicks off today and runs through the weekend.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S Josh Kraushaar

Today’s special election in Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District — covering parts of Nashville, its conservative suburbs and rural counties in middle Tennessee — was expected to be a sleepy affair, given that the district backed President Donald Trump with 60% of the vote in 2024. The state’s aggressively partisan redistricting in 2021 was intended to guarantee GOP dominance of the state’s congressional delegation, leaving just one Democratic district in Memphis.

But in a sign that Trump’s growing unpopularity is creating unforeseen problems for Republicans in conservative constituencies, the race between Republican military veteran Matt Van Epps, a former state Cabinet secretary, and Democratic state Rep. Aftyn Behn is highly competitive. 

The fact that polls show the race tightening — with one Emerson College poll showing Van Epps in a statistical tie with Behn — is a sign of just how treacherous the political landscape has become for Republicans. Gallup’s latest survey found Trump with a 36% job approval, close to an all-time low throughout his two terms in office.  

If Republicans are nervous about holding a seat that Trump won by 22 points, there’s a growing likelihood of a blue wave that would give Democrats comfortable control of the House and an outside shot at a Senate majority. (One useful benchmark: Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) carried the 7th District by just two points in her 2018 Senate race, the last election year when Democrats rode a wave to win back the House.)

The fact that Republicans are struggling to make the case that the unapologetically progressive Behn holds views out of step with the conservative district on everything from anti-police rhetoric to antipathy towards her home city of Nashville to a record of hostility against Israel is also a sign of how nationalized our politics have become. In today’s tribal world, candidate quality and specific policy views mean a lot less than the overall political mood (vibes) and the popularity of the president.

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

Target on Their Backs: The New Yorker’s Benjamin Wallace-Wells spotlights the rise in political violence targeting U.S. officials on both sides of the aisle, including the Passover firebombing of the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion targeting Gov. Josh Shapiro. “[Cody] Balmer had pleaded guilty in mid-October, not just to arson and terrorism but to attempted murder. But Shapiro was still reluctant to focus on his attacker. ‘The prosecutor felt it was important to introduce into evidence the bomber’s claims that he did that because of “what I did to the Palestinians,” so clearly there was some motivation because of my faith,’ Shapiro said. ‘But I think it is dangerous for you or anyone else to think about those who perpetrate these violent attacks as linear thinkers, meaning that they have a left-wing ideology or a right-wing ideology, or that they have a firm set of beliefs the way you might or I might. These are clearly irrational thinkers. And I think that’s true of others who have claimed lives, whether it’s [Minnesota] Speaker [Melissa] Hortman’s or Charlie Kirk’s.’” [NewYorker]

Bearing Arms: The Atlantic’s Isaac Stanley-Becker reports on Germany’s moves to rebuild its offensive military capabilities amid concerns over increased Russian aggression on the Continent and moves by Washington toward neo-isolationism. “[Colonel Dennis] Krüger told me about traveling to Tel Aviv to fine-tune a missile-defense system purchased from the Israelis that can intercept and destroy long-range ballistic missiles in space. … For decades, Germany has been a top exporter of arms to Israel, its commitment to the security of the Jewish state a legacy of the Holocaust. Arrow 3, the largest defense deal in Israeli history, reverses that logic by making Israel a guarantor of German safety. Krüger said that work on the weapons system turned representatives from the two militaries into a ‘family,’ and that they built camaraderie when his staff waited out missile attacks in Tel Aviv’s belowground shelters with their Israeli counterparts. The weapons acquisition from Israel is ‘one next step,’ Krüger said, ‘in overcoming our history.’” [TheAtlantic]

Following a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Donald Trump called on Jerusalem to “maintain a strong and true dialogue with Syria” and warned Israel to avoid scenarios “that will interfere with Syria’s evolution into a prosperous State”…

U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack, the U.S.’ Syria envoy, met in Damascus on Monday with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa in an effort to calm tensions between Syria and Israel following weekend clashes…

Politico looks at concerns among Republican Jewish donors over increasing antisemitism on the right…

Sam Altman’s OpenAI is taking an ownership stake in Josh Kushner’s Thrive Holdings and will integrate its AI tools into Thrive’s companies, which were acquired with an eye toward consolidating them and incorporating AI into their processes; Thrive had previously invested billions of dollars in OpenAI… 

Private equity firm Apax Partners acquired Israeli online marketplace Yad2 for $950 million…

Harvard hired a recent divinity school graduate who was filmed in late 2023 assaulting a Jewish student at a “die-in” at the Cambridge campus…

The New York Times spotlights Eli Zabar’s egg salad sandwich…

Israeli filmmaker Rachel Elitzur interviews religious Jewish couples about their first night of marriage in her short documentary “The First Night”…

The Norwegian government is struggling to reach a consensus on issues regarding oil drilling and Oslo’s sovereign wealth fund’s investments in Israel in its draft budget for the coming year ahead of a vote scheduled for Friday…

A synagogue and memorial in Rome to a 2-year-old Jewish victim of terror were vandalizedearlier this week, drawing condemnations from the city’s Jewish community and Italy’s foreign minister, who called the vandalism “unacceptable”…

Colombia expelled more than two dozen members of the Lev Tahor sect, including 17 children, after a raid on the hotel in which they were staying…

Israel’s Iron Beam system, which intercepts missiles with lasers, will be delivered to the IDF for initial operational use at the end of the month, Brig.-Gen. (res.) Daniel Gold, head of the Israeli Ministry of Defense Research and Development Directorate, said at the International DefenseTech Summit at Tel Aviv University on Monday, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports… 

Iran sentenced award-winning filmmaker Jafar Panahi to a year in prison in absentia; Panahi, whose “It Was Just an Accident” won the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, is currently in the U.S. promoting the film…

The Sudanese Armed Forces offered Russia a 25-year naval base deal along the East African coast that, if Moscow accepts, would be its first position in Africa…

Apollo Global Management CEO and UJA-Federation of New York Board Chair Marc Rowan was honored with the Gustave L. Levy Award last night at the 50th UJA-Federation Wall Street Dinner in Manhattan.

Referencing New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s comments regarding the recent protests outside an aliyah event at the Park East Synagogue, Rowan declared Mamdani an “enemy” of the Jewish community, vowing that his organization would “call him out.” 

Read more from eJewishPhilantropy’s Nira Dayanim here.

Actress best known for playing Special Agent Kensi Blye in 277 episodes of CBS’ “NCIS Los Angeles,” Daniela Ruah turns 42… 

Former director of the Mossad and then head of the Israeli National Security Council, Efraim Halevy turns 91… Professor of rabbinic literature at Yeshiva University’s Gruss Institute in Jerusalem, Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff turns 88… Real estate executive and founder of the Sunshine Group, she was an EVP of The Trump Organization until 1985, Louise Mintz Sunshine turns 85… Sociologist and human rights activist, Jack Nusan Porter turns 81… Partner at Personal Healthcare LLC, Pincus Zagelbaum… Former drummer for a rock band in France followed by a career in contemporary Jewish spiritual music in Brooklyn, Isaac “Jacky” Bitton turns 78… EVP at Rubenstein Communications, Nancy Haberman… Author of more than 15 volumes of poetry, he is a professor emeritus of English at the University of Pennsylvania, Bob Perelman turns 78… French historian, professor at Sorbonne Paris North University and author of 30 books on the history of North Africa, Benjamin Stora turns 75… Retired associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, Barbara A. Lenk turns 75… Professor emerita at Montana State University, she was a member of the Montana House of Representatives and a board member of Bozeman’s Congregation Beth Shalom, Dr. Franke Wilmer turns 75… Canadian fashion designer and entrepreneur, he is best known for launching the Club Monaco and Joe Fresh brands, Joe Mimran turns 73… Partner in the Madison, Wis., law firm of Miner, Barnhill & Galland, she is a class action and labor law attorney, Sarah Siskind… Rabbi of Baltimore’s Congregation Ohel Moshe, Rabbi Zvi Teichman… Celebrity physician and author of diet books, he is the president of the Nutritional Research Foundation, Joel Fuhrman turns 72… Advertising account executive at the Los Angeles Daily Journal Corporation, Lanna Solnit… Cleveland resident, Joseph Schlaiser… Emmy Award-winning actress, Rena Sofer turns 57… Publisher and CEO of The Forward, Rachel Fishman Feddersen… Identical twin sisters, known as The AstroTwins, they are magazine columnists and authors of four books on astrology, Tali Edut and Ophira Edut turn 53… Lecturer of political science at Yale, she was formerly a White House staffer, Eleanor L. Schiff turns 49… Television writer and producer, Murray Selig Miller turns 49… Former member of the Knesset and then Israel’s ambassador to the U.K., Tzipi Hotovely turns 47… Director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation, Annie Fixler… Managing director with Alvarez & Marsal in Atlanta, she was a sabre fencer at the 2004 Summer Olympics, Emily Jacobson Edwards turns 40… Actor, best known for playing Trevor in the coming-of-age film “Eighth Grade,” Fred Hechinger turns 26…

• We’re keeping an eye on the implementation of President Donald Trump’s executive order issued yesterday targeting chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood. More below.
• Palestinian terror groups said they will turn over the body of a hostage to Israel this afternoon, a day after the Palestinian Islamic Jihad confirmed it was in possession of the body.
• Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is traveling to Paris for talks with senior French officials, slated to begin tomorrow, on a range of issues, including Tehran’s refusal to grant access to international nuclear weapons inspectors as well as French nationals being detained in the Islamic Republic.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MATTHEW KASSEL

A new feature from X that allows users to see where accounts are located across the world has exposed a range of extreme political actors as misrepresenting the countries in which they claim to be operating — raising questions over foreign involvement in online discourse.

The discrepancies have been particularly clarifying with regard to anti-Israel commentators as well as far-right MAGA influencers who frequently spread antisemitic rhetoric while espousing “America First” ideology.

Thanks to digital sleuths, it quickly became clear that many widely followed accounts were actually operating in such far-flung locales as Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Qatar, among other places — underscoring the degree to which outside agitators are fomenting division on both the left and right.

One illustrative far-right account, “MAGA Nation,” which claims to be “standing strong with President Trump,” for instance, was based in Eastern Europe rather than the United States, the X feature showed. Other similarly named accounts were discovered to be based in Nigeria and Thailand, contradicting the isolationist tenor of their rhetoric.

Several accounts that built large audiences condemning Israel and its war in Gaza were found to be running out of foreign countries. One account called “Gaza Notifications,” for example, is listed as being Turkey-based. Meanwhile, Palestinian journalist Motasem Dalloul denied claims that he was operating from Poland, which X showed to be his location, while purporting to live in Gaza. Dalloul responded to the claims with a video of himself in front of destroyed buildings and tent encampments and told podcast host Daniel Mael that he was using an e-SIM.

Meanwhile, a far-left political activist tied to Track AIPAC — an X account that has faced accusations of antisemitism for demanding the pro-Israel lobbying group register as a foreign agent — was found to be living in Germany, the Washington Free Beacon reported reported.

“Why are people in Pakistan, India, Qatar, Bangladesh and elsewhere trying to sell us division and racism?” Robby Soave, a senior editor for Reason magazine, asked in The Hill on Monday. “The answer is self-apparent,” he said. “Because they want America to fail. They want us to weaken. They want us to descend into infighting. They want us to start pointing fingers and scream in each other’s faces. They want us to fall behind.”

Other accounts disputed the accuracy of the feature, which was introduced over the weekend, or claimed that it did not provide a full picture of the situation.

The political advocacy arm of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, responding to scrutiny over a location in Turkey, said in an X post Monday that its director “first registered the account while he was visiting family in Istanbul,” adding: “Hardly a grand terrorist conspiracy.”

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

Dems Who Want to Fight: The New York Times’ Lisa Lerer spotlights a group of progressive Democratic senators that includes Sens. Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) who are challenging the approach being taken by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) to recruit and back mainstream candidates for open seats in upcoming primaries. “The party’s campaign arm, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, has not made any formal endorsements in contested primaries. However, the senators are convinced that it is quietly signaling support for and pushing donors toward specific Senate candidates: Representative Angie Craig in Minnesota, Representative Haley Stevens in Michigan and Gov. Janet Mills in Maine. The dispute exploded in a private meeting with Mr. Schumer and Ms. Gillibrand last month, when the skeptical senators raised concerns about the campaign arm’s electoral strategy. They were livid after the New York senators denied showing any preference in the three states, according to three people familiar with the conversation.” [NYTimes]

Warped Coverage of the War: In the National Interest, Ludovic Hood, a career foreign service officer who served as a senior advisor in the Biden administration’s State Department, suggests that much of the animus toward Israel over the last two years originates from biased reporting and political gesturing. “It is hardly surprising that Hamas was disinclined to contemplate ending the war when Washington’s foremost foreign policy preoccupation for much of 2024 was criticizing or threatening Israel. … In many respects, it is heartening to see young people engage in activism in this age of screen-induced torpor. But when protestors disregard or downplay Hamas’s role in the suffering in Gaza, or appear utterly unmoved by the ongoing massacres and starvation in Sudan or by the recent slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Arab Muslims in the civil wars in Syria and Yemen, one must ask what is unique about this conflict — or about Israel — that breeds such singular animosity.” [NationalInterest]

What Ayatollah?: In The Wall Street Journal, Reuel Marc Gerecht and Ray Takeyh posit that Israeli military successes in the region over the last two years have defanged Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and allowed his acolytes to largely replace him in decision-making matters. “If Mr. Khamenei had died on Oct. 6, 2023, he would be remembered as a successful, history-bending revolutionary. But the Oct. 7 war caught the cleric unprepared, utterly blind to the chain reaction that militant Palestinians were about to unleash. When the Israelis showed that the rules of the game had changed, Mr. Khamenei stayed with his old playbook. … Now when Mr. Khamenei pronounces on critical issues, VIPs he once humbled contradict him.” [WSJ]

The House Committee on Education and the Workforce is launching investigations into the public school systems in Berkeley, Calif.; Fairfax County, Va.; and Philadelphia over the districts’ handling of complaints of antisemitism in recent years…

A poll from the University of New Hampshire found 35% of Massachusetts voters undecided in the Senate primary matchup between Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) and Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA); Markey pulls in 34%, while 25% of respondents said they backed Moulton…

The New York Times reports on Jewish communal concerns over New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s response to a protest outside a Manhattan synagogue last week in which he condemned efforts by the NGO Nefesh B’Nefesh to assist in Jewish immigration to Israel…

The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro and The Free Press’ Bari Weiss sat for a wide-ranging discussion, released Monday, with “Call Me Back” host Dan Senor during a live taping of the podcast during the Tikvah Fund’s Jewish Leadership Conference…

eJewishPhilanthropy’s Nira Dayanim looks at the Canadian government’s decision to revoke the tax-exempt statuses of three Jewish NGOs in the country…

Len Blavatnik purchased for $115 million the East Hampton, N.Y., home previously owned by former Warner Bros. Chairman Terry Semel, marking the most expensive single residential home sale in the Hamptons’ history…

The owners of Washington, D.C., bagel chain Call Your Mother filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against the owner of the New Jersey-based Bubbi Bagels, which uses a similar logo and the phrase “Call Your Bubbi” on its marketing materials…

The New York Times spotlights musician David Amram, whose varied works include an opera about Jewish inmates at a concentration camp holding a Passover Seder and the “Songs of the Soul” symphony that combines Jewish folk elements from around the world…

Colombian officials took 17 children into protective custody after conducting a raid on a hotel where members of the Lev Tahor sect had been staying; authorities said the nine adults accompanying the children, who were questioned by officials, would likely be deported…

Israel’s Yad Vashem clashed with Polish officials over Warsaw’s complicity in the Holocaust following comments by U.S. Ambassador to Poland Tom Rose last week in which the diplomat criticized what he said was “the slander that Poland somehow bears responsibility for the crimes committed by others”…

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is formally closing down weeks after suspending its operations following the ceasefire last month between Israel and Hamas…

Israeli media reports that Emirates is planning to resume its flights between Israel and Dubai in early 2026… 

An Iran-based nuclear-testing and diagnostics company linked to the Islamic Republic’s military is using U.K.-made radiation-detection equipment in products that are available for purchase…

The amount of Iranian crude oil being held on offshore tankers has reached its highest level in two and a half years as China, Tehran’s top buyer, decreases its imports…

Fernando Lottenberg was reappointed as the special advisor on antisemitism at the Organization of American States…

The Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Rockville, Md., announced Jonathan Levy as its incoming head of school, succeeding Rabbi Mitchel Malkus…

Rabbi Daniel Septimus was named the executive director of the JCC Association of North America’s Center for Jewish Peoplehood…

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar addressed a special joint session of Paraguay’s National Congress in the capital of Asunción on Monday during Sa’ar’s multicountry visit to South America, which will also include a stop in Argentina.

Comic book writer and novelist, during his 16-year stint writing X-Men from 1975-1991, it is the best-selling comic book in the world, Christopher S. Claremont turns 75… 

Writer, lawyer, actor and economic commentator, including an Emmy Award-winning stint as a game show host, Ben Stein turns 81… President and CEO of the American Council for Capital Formation, Mark A. Bloomfield turns 76… Israeli scholar of Arab culture and a lecturer at Bar-Ilan University, Mordechai Kedar turns 73… Obstetrician and gynecologist, he is a past president of the Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven, Norman Ravski, MD turns 72… Beverly Hills, Calif., commercial real estate investor, Albert Ahobim… Retired men’s college basketball coach with 615 career wins, he won coach of the year honors four times in two different conferences, Ben Braun turns 72… Historian at Tel Aviv University, focused on religious phenomena in the Middle Ages, he is also president of the Ruppin Academic Center in Israel, Aviad Kleinberg turns 68… Director of the Chabad House in Johannesburg, South Africa, Rabbi David Masinter turns 66… Retired senior research scientist at ExxonMobil and editor of Rav J.B. Soloveitchik’s commentary to the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur machzorim, Arnold Lustiger… Israeli fashion and wedding dress designer, her reality TV show airs in over 145 countries worldwide, Pnina Tornai turns 63… Member of the Knesset for the Likud, he was the editor-in-chief at the Israel Hayom newspaper, Boaz Bismuth turns 61… Actress, comedian, entertainer and past member of the Tel Aviv-Yafo city council, Orna Banai turns 59… CEO of the Israeli American Council, Elan Carr turns 58… Founder and former managing director at Beacon Global Strategies LLC, Philippe Reines turns 56… Attorney and former member of the Florida House of Representatives from 2003 until 2011, Adam Hasner turns 56… Strategic communications manager at the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ, Lauren Sueskind Theodore… Judge of the U.S. District Court for Maryland, Julie Rebecca Rubin turns 53… Former member of both houses of the South Dakota Legislature, now a bail bondsman and a teacher at Congregation Beth Shalom in Sioux City, Iowa, Daniel Isaac Lederman turns 53… United States deputy secretary of labor, Keith Sonderling turns 43… Executive editor at Jewish Insider, Melissa Weiss turns 39… Deputy Washington editor and democracy editor for the Guardian, Kira Lerner… Bitcoin advocate and podcast host, Charles “Charlie” Shrem IV turns 36…

• All eyes are on Washington today for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to the nation’s capital and meeting with President Donald Trump, followed by a formal dinner in honor of the crown prince’s visit. More below.
• The National Task Force to Combat Antisemitism is holding a daylong conference on “Exposing and Countering Extremism and Antisemitism on the Political Right.”
• Elsewhere in Washington, the Aspen Cyber Summit is taking place at the Kennedy Center.
• The Jewish Federations of North America’s General Assembly wraps up today. Speakers at this morning’s closing plenary, which features a musical performance by The Tamari Project, include Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and “Call Me Back” host Dan Senor. JI’s Lahav Harkov will be moderating a session this morning on the future of the Middle East.
• The One Israel Fund is holding its annual gala tonight in New York. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) is keynoting this year’s event.
• In Turtle Bay today, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz will be joined by rapper Nicki Minaj as the two deliver remarks on the persecution of Christians in Nigeria.
• Outgoing New York City Mayor Eric Adams concludes his trip to Israel today. Following a trip to Kibbutz Nir Oz in Israel’s south, Adams will depart Israel for Uzbekistan.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S Matthew Shea

President Donald Trump is hosting Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman today at the White House, marking the first time MBS has visited Washington since 2018. 

Trump plans to roll out the red carpet for the visit, which includes a welcome ceremony, bilateral meeting in the Oval Office and a black-tie dinner in the evening. Tiger Woods and Elon Musk are expected to be in attendance at the dinner, among other high-profile attendees. “We’re more than meeting,” Trump said late Friday. “We’re honoring Saudi Arabia, the crown prince.” 

The visit is not an official state visit, as MBS is not Saudi Arabia’s head of state; however, the crown prince holds almost all responsibility in ruling the kingdom. 

The bilateral meeting will feature high-stakes discussions on several key issues, including the sale of F-35 fighter jets, Saudi-Israel normalization and a possible U.S.-Saudi defense pact. Experts told Jewish Insider such an agreement is likely to be modeled after the assurances Trump gave Qatar in September, in the wake of an Israeli strike on Hamas in the Gulf state, when he issued an executive order stating that the U.S. will regard “any armed attack” on Qatar “as a threat to the peace and security of the United States.” 

Trump announced on Monday he would approve the sale of the F-35s to Riyadh, helping the Saudis secure a long-coveted deal and making them the first country in the Middle East other than Israel to obtain the advanced fighter jets. “They want to buy. They are a great ally. We will be doing that. We will be selling them F-35s,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. 

Concerns remain within the foreign policy community over the impact that the sale of F-35s will have on the military balance in the region and Israel’s qualitative military edge, which the U.S. is bound by law to uphold. Experts also cautioned the risks of transferring sensitive technology to Riyadh after Saudi naval forces conducted a joint military exercise with China last month. Israel has requested that such a sale be conditioned on the kingdom joining the Abraham Accords, however Trump made no mention of such a provision.

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

• Temple Emanu-El in New York City is hosting an event this evening for the launch of Don’t Feed the Lion, a novel for middle schoolers on the theme of antisemitism by journalists Bianna Golodryga and Yonit Levi. The authors will be joined by chess champion Garry Kasparov and comedian Elon Gold for a conversation moderated by Rafaela Siewert. Read JI’s interview with Golodryga and Levi below. 

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S Josh Kraushaar

With a week since the off-year gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia, a clear dynamic is emerging: President Donald Trump’s gains with nontraditional GOP voters — especially working-class Black and Hispanic voters and Gen Zers — are not translating into support for the Republican Party this year. 

If Republicans are unable to recreate the Trump 2024 coalition without Trump on the ballot, they will face serious political disadvantages for the midterms and beyond. 

The double-digit margins of victory of incoming Democratic governors Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey and Abigail Spanberger in Virginia speak volumes about the current political environment. Their sweeping wins underscore that, while Democrats may be divided as a result of ideological infighting, the antipathy towards Trump and the GOP is the glue that holds the party together. 

The historic tendency of voters taking out their dissatisfaction on the party in power is alive and well, and is much more of a factor than the favorability ratings of the political parties.

The most revealing outcome from the gubernatorial elections is the fact that the majority-making elements of Trump’s coalition swung decisively back to the Democrats, according to the AP/Fox News voter analysis. In New Jersey, young men between 18-29 backed Sherrill by 14 points (57-43%) after narrowly supporting Trump in last year’s presidential election. In Virginia, Spanberger won 58% of young men, a huge margin for a demographic that had assumed to be trending away from the Democratic Party.

The Democratic Party’s comeback with Hispanic voters is equally as significant. Because of continuing inflation and backlash to the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation of illegal immigrants and ICE tactics, Hispanic voters once again voted like reliable elements of the Democratic coalition. In New Jersey, over two-thirds (68%) of Hispanic voters backed Sherrill — 12 points more than Kamala Harris’ support with Hispanics in the state in 2024. In Virginia, Spanberger’s 67% support with Hispanics was eight points ahead of Harris’ vote share with the key constituency.

Meanwhile, Black voters overwhelmingly sided with the Democratic nominees this year, after a notable minority of them backed Trump in last year’s presidential election. Spanberger won 93% of the Black vote, seven points more than Harris, even though she was running against a Black opponent in Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears. Sherrill won 94% of the Black vote in New Jersey, a whopping 15 points more than Harris carried in 2024.

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

The Next Peace Process: Robert Satloff, executive director at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, along with senior fellow Hanin Ghaddar and international fellow Ehud Yaari, lay out the prospects for peace between Israel and Lebanon in The Washington Post. “One way to avert a catastrophic return to war would be for Lebanon and Israel to begin their own peace process. Movement on normalization would not substitute for disarmament. But if diplomacy were pursued as an alternative to Israeli military action against Hezbollah, the very fact of the talks would undermine Hezbollah’s effort to claw back its political influence. And practical progress could show the Lebanese people the potential benefits of peacemaking. … The Trump administration should do more to get things going. … The administration should remind Lebanon that choosing to neither disarm Hezbollah nor pursue diplomacy with Israel will come with costs. Those could entail losing U.S. aid to the Lebanese Armed Forces, losing U.S. backing of international support for Lebanon’s economy and losing U.S. willingness to restrain Israel from disarming Hezbollah ‘the hard way.’” [WaPo]

Dreher’s Dread: Conservative author Rod Dreher frets over the “new radicalism” emerging among Gen Zers on the political right in America on his Substack, “Rod Dreher’s Diary.” “The main points I want to leave you with, based on what I saw and heard in Washington, are these: The Groyper thing is real. It is not a fringe movement, in that it really has infiltrated young conservative Washington networks to a significant degree. Irrational hatred of Jews (and other races, but especially Jews) is a central core of it. This is evil. If postliberal conservatism requires making peace with antisemitism and race hatred, count me out. It cannot be negotiated with, because it doesn’t have traditional demands. It wants to burn the whole system down. It really does. At the same time, the gatekeepers of the Right aren’t going to be able to make it go away, because they have less power than ever. Dealing with this is going to require great skill and subtlety, and courage.” [Substack]

Wrong on the Right: The Wall Street Journal’s Gerard Baker warns against Vice President JD Vance’s “breezy dismissal” of efforts to root out extremists from the right as infighting that should be avoided. “That would be a mistake. It is hard to imagine people like Mr. Fuentes and Candace Owens as figures of historic significance: The idea seems ridiculous. But what gives them their current salience — besides cozy sit-downs with the nation’s top media celebrity — is their claim, a plausible one, to be speaking for others. The rise of populism has been characterized by a liberalization of thought and speech that had previously been suppressed by the prevailing authorities of orthodoxy. Much of this was necessary and welcome. The cultural limitations on what ordinary people were supposed to think about issues like immigration and ‘gender identity’ were thrown off when populist leaders came along who dared to say things that many people had felt. But with this liberation of legitimate and reasonable ideas inevitably came a wider unleashing of much uglier sentiments on the right.” [WSJ]

Keep Hope Alive: Marking five years since the death of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, Tanya White, a senior lecturer at the Matan Institute for Torah Learning and a lecturer at the Rabbi Sacks Institute at Bar-Ilan University, contemplates Sacks’ lessons on hope in an essay for 18Forty. “Reflecting on his vast and far-reaching oeuvre, one could not hope to capture its scope in a single essay. Yet one idea has continued to echo through my mind over these past two years: his oft-quoted distinction between optimism and hope. Optimism and hope are not the same. Optimism is the belief that the world is changing for the better; hope is the belief that, together, we can make the world better. ‘Judaism,’ wrote Rabbi Sacks, ‘is the voice of hope in the conversation of humankind.’ These short yet powerful lines capture the essence of a uniquely Jewish theology that underpins Rabbi Sacks’ vast and far-reaching thought: a theology that places human freedom and responsibility side by side. That fosters an active virtue of courage to confront the world that is and work towards a world that ought to be. A theology that reinterprets the biblical concept of covenant for the challenges of modern liberal democracies.” [18Forty]

In a Fox News interview with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, asked about his country’s relations with Israel and the possibility of entering the Abraham Accords, al-Sharaa said, “Syria has borders with Israel, and Israel has occupied the Golan Heights since 1967. We are not going to enter negotiations directly right now.” He added that the U.S. might be able to “help reach this kind of negotiation”…

Abdul El-Sayed, an anti-Israel Democrat running in the Michigan Senate primary to replace retiring Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), has deleted his entire history on X, including “defund the police” posts…

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) endorsed left-wing Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan over her more moderate opponent, Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN), in the Democratic Minnesota Senate primary…

Progressive voters and Democratic Party activists are blaming Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) for the votes of eight Democratic senators who backed GOP legislation to put an end to the government shutdown…

The Wall Street Journal reports on Yale’s attempt to stay out of the line of fire in President Donald Trump’s crusade against higher education, including President Maurie McInnis’ increased government lobbying expenditures and a student forum where classmates encouraged each other to refrain from disruptive anti-Israel protests…

Palantir CEO Alex Karp defended his support of Israel in an interview with WIRED, saying, “Israel is a country with a GDP smaller than Switzerland, and it’s under massive attack. Some critiques are legitimate, but others are aggressive in attacking Israel. My reaction is, well, then I’m just going to defend them”…

Lt. Hadar Goldin, whose remains were returned to Israel on Sunday after he was killed and his body kidnapped to Gaza more than 11 years ago, was laid to rest at the Kfar Sava military cemetery this morning…

In his first interview since his release after two years in Hamas captivity in Gaza, Matan Zangauker, who was taken hostage on Oct. 7, 2023, told Channel 12 that every night one of his captors would play mind games with him giving him false reports of the combat between Israel and Hamas, telling him, for instance, “We took out 20 of your tanks today and we killed soldiers”… 

Danielle Sassoon, the former interim U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York who resigned her post rather than drop a case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams at the request of the Trump administration, has joined the conservative boutique law firm of Clement & Murphy…

The New York Times reports on Iran’s acute water crisis, which Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian warned could soon necessitate the evacuation of Tehran…

The New York Times considers the status of Iran’s nuclear program, as snapback sanctions have been enacted, negotiations are frozen and Tehran appears to be building a new enrichment site at Pickaxe Mountain…

British comedian and actor John Cleese has cancelled shows that had been scheduled to take place in Israel in late November and early December, with the Israeli production company handling his shows saying the “Monty Python” star had “succumbed to threats from BDS organizations”…

The Anti-Defamation League held its 31st Annual In Concert Against Hate in Washington last night. Hosted by actor and director Jason Alexander, the evening honored four individuals for their courage in fighting antisemitism and hate: Holocaust survivor and health policy leader Marion Ein Lewin; Dr. Michael L. Lomax, president and CEO of the United Negro College Fund; Wesley Seidner, a high school senior combating antisemitism in his Virginia community; and Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt.

Pictured, ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt with the honorees. From left: Seidner, Holt, Lewin, Greenblatt and Lomax.

Emmy Award and People’s Choice Award-winning television producer, Jason Nidorf “Max” Mutchnick turns 60… 

Retired psychiatric nurse now living in Surprise, Ariz., Shula Kantor turns 98… Retired television and radio sports broadcaster, Warner Wolf turns 88… Former Democratic U.S. senator from California for 24 years, Barbara Levy Boxer turns 85… Author, best known for her 1993 autobiographical memoir Girl, Interrupted, Susanna Kaysen turns 77… Television personality (former host of “Double Dare”), known professionally as Marc Summers, Marc Berkowitz turns 74… Founder of Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, Ken Grossman turns 71… Founder and president of D.C.-based Plurus Strategies, David Leiter… President at American Built-in Closets in South Florida, Perry Birman… Aish HaTorah teacher in Los Angeles, author and co-founder of a gourmet kosher cooking website, Emuna Braverman… Talk show host and founder of Talkline Communications, Zev Brenner turns 67… Philanthropist and founder of Portage Partners, Michael Leffell… Professor of philosophy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Steven M. Nadler turns 67… Former U.S. ambassador to the Czech Republic, he served as a counsel for the Democrats during the first Trump impeachment, Amb. Norman Eisen turns 65… Russian-born entrepreneur, venture capitalist and physicist, Yuri Milner turns 64… Founder and executive director of Los Angeles-based IKAR, Melissa Balaban… Former Israeli Police commissioner, Kobi Shabtai turns 61… Former member of the Knesset for the Likud party, Orly Levy-Abekasis turns 52… Tel Aviv-born actor and screenwriter, he is best known for his roles in “The Young and the Restless” and “NCIS,” Eyal Podell turns 50… Former Pentagon policy official, now vice president of the American Jewish Committee’s Center for a New Middle East, Anne Rosenzweig Dreazen turns 43… Defender for the Houston Dynamo in Major League Soccer, Daniel Steres turns 35… Formerly the finance director at the campaign for Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-PA), now a deployment strategist at GovWell, Shelly Tsirulik… Survivor of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, he has become an advocate against gun violence and recently launched his congressional campaign for the seat of retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), Cameron Kasky turns 25…

• Former Vice President Dick Cheney, a towering figure in Republican politics who led the “war on terror,” died last night, his family said in a statement. Cheney, who was vice president for both of President George W. Bush’s terms, previously served as White House chief of staff, congressman representing Wyoming and secretary of defense. He was 84.
• It’s Election Day in a number of states and cities around the country. In New York City, voters head to the polls today to cast their ballots for mayor and city council. We’re also watching the gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey, as well as the redistricting ballot initiative in California and the mayoral races in Minneapolis and Seattle. More below on the races to watch.
• In New York City, the World Zionist Organization and Temple Emanu-El are holding an event marking the 30th anniversary of the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Rabin’s grandson Jonathan Benartzi, Shalom Hartman Institute President Yehuda Kurtzer, former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro, Jewish Council for Public Affairs CEO Amy Spitalnick and peace activist Alana Zeitchik are slated to speak.
• Elsewhere in New York, the La’Aretz Foundation is holding its third annual benefit to support Israeli families in crisis. Israel’s consul general in New York, Ambassador Ofir Akunis, is slated to give remarks at the event, which will include food by Eyal Shani and will include Israeli “spokeskid” Ben Carasso and a performance by an IDF soldier in an elite unit who is known only as “M.”

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S Josh Kraushaar

The stakes for Jewish voters are high for today’s off-year elections. All the major contests — in New York City, New Jersey, Virginia and California — are taking place in parts of the country where Jews make up a significant constituency. At a time when both parties are facing rising antisemitism in their own midst, we will be keeping a close eye on the results for trends affecting the Jewish community.

Here’s what we’ll be watching most closely:

New York City mayor: Polls consistently show Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani with a comfortable lead, but there’s less consensus on how decisive his winning margin will be. Most polls show Mamdani under 50%, though a few show him hitting a majority. Some show the combined anti-Mamdani vote — represented by former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa — outpacing Mamdani’s share. 

Whether Mamdani surpasses a 50% majority will go a long way in determining how big his mandate will be. A narrower victory would mean that downballot Democrats — from members of Congress to local city council members — would have less to fear in response to the Mamdani movement.

President Donald Trump’s last-minute endorsement of Cuomo on Monday night could help the former Democratic governor pick off some Republican voters that had been leaning toward Sliwa. But for Cuomo to score an upset victory, he’d need to win over the vast majority of those Sliwa voters.

Pay close attention to the results in Rep. Jerry Nadler’s (D-NY) heavily Jewish Manhattan district for signs of where the progressive-minded Jewish vote ends up landing. Cuomo won the first round of balloting over Mamdani in the district (37-33%), which includes the Upper East and Upper West Sides, but Mamdani narrowly prevailed in the final round of ranked-choice voting. Nadler notably backed Mamdani after his victory in the primary, but his district featured a significant share of backers for Brad Lander, the progressive city comptroller, as well. Cuomo will need a solid showing in Nadler’s district to do well.

New Jersey governor: The race between Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) and Republican Jack Ciattarelli is competitive, though Democrats hold a small edge, according to public polls. The county we’ll be watching closely as a bellwether is Bergen County in north Jersey, which has one of the largest Jewish constituencies in the state and saw a significant pro-Trump swing from 2020 to 2024.

It’s also home to Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), the pro-Israel stalwart in Congress who carried the county in the Democratic gubernatorial primary and campaigned with Sherrill at a Jewish event in his home base last month.

Former President Joe Biden won 57% of the vote in Bergen, while former Vice President Kamala Harris barely won a majority (51%). New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, won 53% of the Bergen County vote in his narrow victory over Ciattarelli in 2021. Ciattarelli would probably need an outright win in suburban Bergen to secure a victory.

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

Hamas’ Miscalculation: In The Wall Street Journal, Ophir Falk, who was a member of Israel’s hostage negotiation delegation, posits that Hamas’ decision to take hostages on Oct. 7, 2023, was ultimately what led the terror group to agree last month to a ceasefire that demands its disarmament. “The hostage-taking prevented the conflict from dissolving into the traditional false narratives about ‘occupation,’ ‘resistance’ and ‘apartheid.’ Despite strenuous efforts to turn reality on its head, including through bogus international lawfare, many saw the truth — innocent people being held hostage by a genocidal terrorist organization committed to murdering Jews. Even Israel’s harshest critics struggled to argue that a nation should abandon its captive citizens. The hostage-taking provided what decades of legitimate Israeli grievances couldn’t: a broadly recognized imperative that eventually overcame the propaganda. The Palestinians’ greatest weapon — the ability to manipulate international sympathy — turned against them.” [WSJ]

What BDS is Really About: In Real Clear Policy, John Finley, the senior managing director and chief legal officer of Blackstone, argues that the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement has reached an “inflection point” in the U.S. “The goals of BDS, in addition to seeking an end to the ‘occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and dismantling the Wall,’ are often cloaked in terms of either support for an undefined Palestinian liberation or Palestinian’s inalienable rights such as equality and an inclusive democracy that celebrates diversity. … The acceptance of Israel as a Jewish state is foundational to peace in the region because the rationale for Israel’s existence is inseparable from it being a Jewish state. There is no Israel without Zionism and there is no Zionism without Israel.” [RealClearPolicy]