HOSTAGE DIPLOMACY

Israeli activists and Qatari minister honored at D.C. event for work on hostage negotiations

Co-founders of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum in the U.S. received the James Foley Foundation’s Humanitarian Award; Qatari minister of state received the 2026 American Hostage Freedom Award

Isaac Campbell

Bar Ben-Yaakov and Matan Sivek, co-founders of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum in the United States, jointly received the James Foley Foundation’s Humanitarian Award, May 5, 2026.

By

Matthew Shea

May 6, 2026

Middle Eastern diplomacy is often defined by deadlock. But on Tuesday night, an unlikely cohort of awardees – the Israeli grassroots activists who advocated for the families of those taken hostage on Oct. 7, 2023, and a Qatari minister who took part in the high-stakes negotiations to secure the hostages’ return – were brought together to celebrate one thing: the work that goes into the breakthroughs that bring hostages home.

The event, held at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., was hosted by CBS News Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Margaret Brennan, with awards presented by the James Foley Foundation — a nonprofit honoring the legacy of James Foley, who was killed by ISIS in 2014. The foundation advocates for families of detainees and works to end what it describes as the “scourge of wrongful detention worldwide.”

Bar Ben-Yaakov and Matan Sivek, co-founders of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum in the United States, jointly received the Humanitarian Award. The forum was established less than 24 hours after the Oct. 7, Hamas-led terrorist attacks in Israel and grew into a broad, nonpolitical network of volunteers, hostage families and professionals.

In her acceptance speech, Ben-Yaakov said that following the attacks, “it felt like there were only two options: either do something about it or go crazy.”

“We just could not accept that the story we would tell our children is one where 251 people were simply left to die in the hands of Hamas,” Ben-Yaakov said. “We needed to be able to tell them [our children] a different story. That people showed up, that they refused to look away and that in the end they helped bring them home.”

She said that despite the two having “no formal role, no background in hostage advocacy and no network in the corridors of power,” they decided to get to work.

“What began in that moment grew into a campaign, but from day one it was never ours,” Sivek said. “It belonged to the hostage families. They decided, we stayed behind the scenes – by design. We were creating the conditions for families to advocate with clarity and impact.”

Sivek said he got involved in part because of his grandfather, Jacob Sivek, who survived the Holocaust. The elder Sivek attended Tuesday’s awards ceremony.

“After Oct. 7, I thought of him and his family living through World War II, left to their own devices. Who was advocating for them?” Sivek said as his grandfather stood up to applause from the room of attendees. “I knew – and we knew – that we were not going to be bystanders.”

However, the road was long and often demoralizing. “During the campaign, most of the time, you feel like you’re failing,” Yaakov said. “Nothing moves. Everything depends on forces far beyond your control.”

“Throughout this turbulent road we held onto one goal,” she continued. “We had one image in front of our eyes and it was to witness the embrace – the precious moment when families are reunited and held in each other’s arms again. The renewed smiles, the tears of joy, the ability to see life in color again. That moment was the reason for everything we had done.”

Qatari Minister of State Mohammed Al-Khulaifi was also honored at the event, where he received the group’s 2026 American Hostage Freedom Award for his role in facilitating negotiations that contributed to the release of hostages in Gaza, as well as his efforts that have brought several other hostages and Americans home.

Al-Khulaifi told the audience that “every negotiation, every sleepless night and every difficult decision is for one glorious moment when the phone finally rings and the voice on the other side says we are finally coming home.”

“Every person who walks away safe is the result of a deliberate effort, solid coordination and an unshakable commitment to the value of human life,” Al-Khulaifi continued. “There are long nights filled with uncertainty, decisions made with incomplete information, and moments where you hold your breath and simply hope that preparation meets opportunity, yet knowing this opportunity is only made possible through the work of creating an environment for dialogue and understanding.”

Al-Khulaifi spoke of his role in negotiations between the U.S., Israel and Hamas to free the hostages in Gaza. He said that the stories of several individuals, including Edan Alexander, an American Israeli who was held captive in Gaza, “remind me and my team why this work matters.”

“Each case was difficult,” Al-Khulaifi said. “Each required trust, assistance and coordination across difficult circumstances, but all shared the same profound victory. The long awaited healing of broken families. Our collective efforts help us create breakthroughs every single day.”

gaza ground game

Future of Gaza peace plan uncertain amid Hamas intransigence

The terror group has reportedly rejected a Board of Peace proposal to disarm

Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP via Getty Images

Mourners react at a funeral in Gaza City's Shujaiya neighbourhood on March 28, 2026.

By

Matthew Shea

April 17, 2026

As Hamas reportedly continues to reject the U.S.-led Board of Peace’s disarmament framework and fails to comply with key demilitarization deadlines, the future of the fragile Gaza peace process remains uncertain.

Disarming Hamas is a central pillar of President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace initiative, which secured the release of the remaining Israeli hostages and included a partial Israeli military withdrawal from eastern Gaza. Its second phase has hinged on Hamas laying down its arms — a step that is expected to pave the way for further IDF withdrawal from the enclave and a transition to governance by the 15-member National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, led by Ali Shaath and operating under the Board of Peace.

Last month, Nickolay Mladenov, the Board of Peace’s high representative for Gaza, presented a framework for demilitarization and set a deadline for the end of last week for Hamas to disarm. Reports indicate the group rejected the proposal, accusing Mladenov of bias toward Israel and blaming Jerusalem for not completely fulfilling its obligations under the first phase of the plan.

U.S. and Hamas negotiators held the first direct talks between the parties since the announcement of the Gaza ceasefire in October 2025 on Tuesday night, CNN reported. Senior U.S. advisor Aryeh Lightstone and Mladenov met with Khalil al-Hayaa, a chief Hamas negotiator, in Cairo, where Mladenov communicated that Hamas must accept the terms of the demilitarization agreement “or face a return to war.”

Former White House officials are split over the path forward and whether the Trump administration should escalate pressure on Hamas or stay the course.

Dan Shapiro, who served as U.S. ambassador to Israel under President Barack Obama and was appointed by then-President Joe Biden in 2021 to serve as special liaison to Israel on Iran, said Hamas is unlikely to disarm voluntarily, arguing the group would only do so “under duress.” One potential avenue, he said, would be renewed Israeli military action, though he emphasized that such a move would be both costly and unlikely.

“[Israeli military action] would come at an enormous price in civilian casualties, given Hamas’ embedded position within Gaza’s population,” Shapiro said, adding that it is “highly unlikely the Trump administration would lend its support to such an operation” and that it would deal “further blows to Israel’s international support.”

Instead, Shapiro pointed to regional pressure as a more viable path, particularly from Qatar and Turkey, which he said have previously used their leverage to influence Hamas.

“The other source of pressure on Hamas would be the threat of Qatar and Turkey to withdraw their political, financial and hosting support of the organization,” Shapiro said. “They were the parties who used their unique leverage with Hamas after the Israeli strike in Doha to convince Hamas to release all hostages. Trump should engage their leaders, as he did in that period, to convince them to use their leverage again, this time to pressure Hamas to disarm.”

However, Shapiro cautioned that the war in Iran has diverted U.S. attention and “may have reduced Trump’s ability to influence key regional leaders, like [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan and the emir of Qatar, to take this necessary action on Hamas disarmament.”

Elliott Abrams, a former Iran envoy under the first Trump administration, similarly noted that Hamas “hasn’t changed its spots.” He said that Hamas leaders “obviously think a disarmed Hamas is a dying Hamas; without ‘armed struggle’ they believe they will disappear and become just another political party.”

“What Mladenov and the U.S. government need to figure out is what happens to the Board of Peace and to U.S. policy if Hamas won’t disarm,” Abrams said. “I think the answer is to prevent any arms and money from being smuggled into the half of Gaza that Hamas still controls, and to develop the half of Gaza under Israeli control.”

“No one seems to want to invade and conquer western Gaza, including the IDF,” Abrams added. “Perhaps over time, Gazans will begin migrating to the parts of Gaza where life can be lived without Hamas.”

Meanwhile, Alexander Gray, former chief of staff to the National Security Council during Trump’s first term, offered a more supportive view of the administration’s current strategy, calling it “realistic.”

“While we must continue to work with Israel to ensure Hamas is unable to wage war against our partners and allies and terrorize the region, we must also be realistic about the nature of the organization and its leadership,” Gray said. “The administration’s vision for a prosperous Gaza and secure Israel must continue apace, while appropriate and realistic steps are taken to prevent Hamas from acting true to its charter and perpetrating further death and destruction.”

Daily Kickoff

The Singham web around Mamdani’s City Hall

Plus, Witkoff equates hostages and Palestinian prisoners

Leonardo MUNOZ / AFP via Getty Images

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani arrives for a news conference at Gracie Mansion in New York City on March 9, 2026.

By

JI Staff

March 30, 2026

👋 Good Monday morning!

In today’s Daily Kickoff, we look at the ties between New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration and the family of far-left, pro-China financier Neville “Roy” Singham, and report on White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff‘s comments at FII PRIORITY comparing the freeing of Israeli hostages kidnapped by Hamas to the release of Palestinians from Israeli prisons. We look at how Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick’s potential expulsion from Congress over federal financial crimes could provide a pathway for a staunch Israel critic to take her seat, and report on the Israeli Knesset’s 11th hour passage of its 2026 budget, pushing off a potential early election. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Barry Diller and Jonathan Greenberger.

Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by JI Executive Editor Melissa Weiss and Israel Editor Tamara Zieve, with assists from Danielle Cohen-Kanik and Marc Rod. Have a tip? Email us here.

What We’re Watching

We’re continuing to monitor a potential escalation in the Middle East after the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen launched several ballistic missiles at Israel over the weekend, marking the terror group’s entry into the latest conflict.
More than 2,000 U.S. servicemembers are en route to the region as part of a mass Pentagon deployment. Yesterday, President Donald Trump said he wanted to “take the oil in Iran” — a move that would involve the seizure of Kharg Island. Before returning to Washington, the president told reporters on Air Force One that Tehran had agreed to allow 20 cargo ships carrying oil to transit through the Strait of Hormuz.
Authorities in Haifa are responding to a fire at the Bazan oil refinery — the second time the site has been damaged since the start of the war a month ago — following a series of attacks this morning by both Hezbollah and Iran. Israel’s Environmental Protection Ministry said that there was no risk of hazardous leaks at the site.
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa is in Berlin today, where he’ll meet with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz before traveling on to the U.K., where he’ll meet tomorrow with Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London. Al-Sharaa’s trip to Germany marks the first time in 25 years that a Syrian leader has visited the country.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is slated to give remarks at Knitting Factory founder and music impresario Michael Dorf’s 33rd Annual Downtown Seder tonight at City Winery in Manhattan, with all proceeds from the event going to the Seeds of Peace nonprofit. Others in the lineup tonight include former CNN commentator Don Lemon, singer David Broza and comedian Modi.
Ahead of the start of Passover on Wednesday evening, Jewish Insider wine columnist Yitz Applbaum is out with his recommendations for this year’s Seders. Read more here.

What You Should Know

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S JOSH KRAUSHAAR

A useful rule of thumb to live by: Social media isn’t real life.

But one of the challenges in the brave new world of media is that extremist influencers can often create the perception of influence simply by dominating so much of the online discourse.

Hasan Piker, a far-left streamer who has been the subject of favorable media profiles despite a laundry list of antisemitic and terror-justifying rhetoric, is a case study in how traditional journalists normalize extremists — and how politicians conclude there’s a marketplace for radical views in the electoral marketplace, even when it’s typically a mirage.

In part because Democrats have been desperate to find anti-establishment voices that claim to speak for young men, Piker is seen as a popular, edgy podcaster by liberal leaders in both media and politics. (Nevermind the fact that Piker gets only about 36,000 viewers on a typical stream — about 1/25th of the typical nighttime audience of MS NOW, as The Atlantic’s David Frum pointed out.)

The New Yorker invited Piker to speak at its annual festival, treating the antisemitic streamer as just another one of the many thought leaders in attendance. Leading progressives, such as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), joined him at rallies and on his show.

And a handful of leading Democratic presidential contenders — most notably California Gov. Gavin Newsom — expressed interest in going on his show.

This, despite the fact Piker has justified Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attacks, forcefully denied some of the terror group’s atrocities, has called Orthodox Jews “inbred” and claimed America deserved 9/11.

Any one of those comments on their own would have typically disqualified anyone from playing a part in our political discourse. Yet in the wave of glowing profiles, Piker’s antisemitism and anti-Americanism didn’t even merit a mention.

It wasn’t until March 19, when Lily Cohen, a press advisor from the Third Way center-left think tank, took the initiative to co-write a column for The Wall Street Journal calling out Piker’s antisemitism without any caveats. The decision to call out the crazy — when few in the press or politics had the courage to do so — was a moment that proved that one principled voice in defense of normalcy can break the mirage of those who believe there’s a political marketplace for this garbage.

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

PHONE A FRIEND

Family of China-allied tech mogul embedded in Zohran Mamdani’s movement

Then-New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks during the Jews For Racial And Economic Justice’s Mazals Gala on September 10, 2025 in New York City. (John Lamparski/Getty Images)

Relatives of a Shanghai-based software magnate devoted to promoting Chinese, Iranian and Russian interests are operating inside the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, supporting Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s preferred candidates for Congress and playing significant roles in shaping and advancing key elements of his agenda, Jewish Insider’s Will Bredderman has found.

Family affair: Alicia Singham Goodwin, the political director of the far-left nonprofit Jews for Racial and Economic Justice — and niece of far-left financier Neville “Roy” Singham — spearheaded a Jewish outreach operation for Mamdani’s campaign, bundled thousands in donations and was publicly credited by the mayor with originating one of his signature policy ideas. Her parents, both members of NYC-DSA, have donated to his endorsed congressional candidates and she herself has collaborated with Mamdani himself on key organizational structures inside the group.

Read the full story here.

SANCTIONS SCRUTINY

Senate Dems blast Trump for waiving sanctions on Russian and Iranian oil

Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) speak with veterans about the Iran war at Capitol Hill on March 18, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images for VoteVets)

A group of 25 Senate Democrats criticized President Donald Trump on Friday for lifting sanctions on Russian and Iranian oil exports, sanctions which have seen broad bipartisan support, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

Notable quotable: “We write with deep concern and confusion over your administration’s recent decision to ease sanctions on Russian and Iranian oil exports,” the Democrats wrote in a letter to the president. “These actions speak once again to the troubling lack of strategic foresight that has marked your administration’s decision-making prior to and during its war of choice with Iran, jeopardizing the lives of our servicemembers across the region and raising costs for Americans here at home.”

Read the full story here.

Lebanon front: A war powers resolution introduced by Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Delia Ramirez (D-IL) and Nydia Velazquez (D-NY) on Friday would block any U.S. participation in and assistance to Israeli operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

compare and contrast

Steve Witkoff draws equivalence between Israeli hostages and Palestinian security prisoners

White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff during the Future Investment Initiative (FII) Priority Summit conference in Miami, Florida, on March 27, 2026. (Zak Bennett/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff on Friday compared the release of Israeli hostages kidnapped by Hamas to the release of Palestinians from Israeli prisons, stating that both experiences “feels like we’re changing lives.” He made the comment at the FII Priority summit in Miami, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports.

What he said: “People ask me: ‘Why do I like doing it?’ And I say because it feels worthy, it feels like we’re changing lives,” Witkoff said. “I remember when we met those families of the Israeli hostages and they were ecstatic because they didn’t think their children were coming home. But I was also in Gaza,” Witkoff continued. “I met Gazan families whose children were released from Israeli prisons in exchange, and they were just as grateful as the Israeli parents.”

Read the full story and watch the clip here.

SEAT SHAKEUP

Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick’s scandal could send another Israel critic to Congress

Elijah Manley, who is running in the FL-20 primary against Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL), left, attends a House Ethics Committee adjudicatory subcommittee on a motion for summary judgment regarding accusations against her, in Longworth building on Thursday, March 26, 2026. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

The scandal surrounding Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL) could send another far-left Israel critic to Congress, after a House Ethics Committee panel found her guilty on Thursday of 25 charges and lawmakers now move toward expelling her from the chamber, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. Cherfilus-McCormick was also indicted last year for a range of financial crimes.

The latest: Even before the indictment and Ethics Committee inquiry, Cherfilus-McCormick faced primary challenges including from Elijah Manley, a young progressive who has been critical of Israel. Manley, 27, who has leaned into Cherfilus-McCormick’s indictment as fuel for his campaign, sat prominently behind her at her Ethics Committee trial last week. Dale Holness, the candidate who lost by a hair to Cherfilus-McCormick in 2021, is also running again. A poll of 300 likely primary voters in Pensacola in February found Manley leading the field with 38% of the vote, followed by Cherfilus-McCormick with 35% and Holness with just 10%. In a head-to-head matchup with Holness, Manley held a double digit lead, 45%-33%.

Read the full story here.

CHANGING TACK

Lagging in polling and fundraising, Lawler challenger hardens anti-Israel stance

Speaking to Jewish Insider last July, Effie Phillips-Staley, one of the Democrats aiming to take on Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) in suburban New York this fall, said that she wanted to be “very clear that the U.S. has to continue to be a critical ally to Israel” and that she wouldn’t support additional conditions or restrictions on U.S. aid to Israel. But as support for Israel has declined with the Democratic base, the progressive candidate has flip-flopped on her views towards the Jewish state, JI’s Marc Rod reports.

The latest: She received an endorsement this month from the virulently anti-Israel group TrackAIPAC, which has garnered accusations of antisemitism and dishonest tactics even from elected Democrats who are themselves critical of Israel. In a statement to JI, a spokesperson for Phillips-Staley said that her initial stance was a result of “the typical boilerplate advice from establishment Democrats to stay away from critiques of US aid to Israel.” This week, she faced criticism from local Democratic Party leaders for appearing on Hasan Piker’s stream. Her trip to Israel also included a conversation with Rev. Munther Isaac, a virulent antisemite who has justified Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

Read the full story here.

EARLY ELECTION AVERTED

Israel passes 2026 budget, avoiding early election

A vote on the state budget at the auditorium in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, during the war with Iran and Hezbollah, March 29, 2026. (YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition narrowly beat a deadline that would have led to an early election, passing the 2026 state budget early Monday morning, a day before the March 31 deadline, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports.

Remaining issue: The budget passed after the coalition granted NIS 800 million ($255 million) in benefits to Haredi institutions, and promised Shas and United Torah Judaism that the government would pass a law that, in effect, would continue yeshiva students’ exemption from military service, even as Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, the IDF chief of staff, raised “10 red flags” about insufficient military manpower.

Read the full story here.

Worthy Reads

The Hawks’ Blind Spot: The Atlantic’s Jonathan Chait raises concerns about the possibility that a negative outcome in the U.S. and Israel’s war against Iran could further boost the ascendent far-right isolationist wing of the GOP. “Trump’s populist allies have learned that their most poisonous ideas have a potent audience. Figures such as [Tucker] Carlson, [Nick] Fuentes, and the far-right influencer Candace Owens have developed mass followings by supplying the forbidden fruits of anti-Semitic paranoia that the old establishment withheld. They have tapped into a deep desire to blame Israel and a Jewish cabal for the world’s problems. If Trump is seen as having failed because of a war fought alongside Israel that was urged on him by the hawks, Carlson’s case against the Republican elite will become trivially simple.” [TheAtlantic]

The Alt-War: In The Washington Post, University of Pittsburgh professor Jennifer Murtazashvili, who moved to Israel as a Fulbright scholar in January, observes how online propaganda has altered the way in which the war in the Middle East is being understood by broad swaths of the West. “We are living through the first alt-war: a conflict in which the war fought online and the war fought in reality have diverged so completely that they might as well be happening on different planets. … The liberal internationalist left and the isolationist right — two camps that have agreed on almost nothing for decades — have suddenly found themselves in lockstep, racing to declare the war a failure before it had barely begun. … Together they are the most powerful engine of the alt-war.” [WashPost]

From Karachi to Palm Beach: Bloomberg’s Faseeh Mangi profiles Bilal Bin Saqib, the Pakistani cryptocurrency expert and “key player” in Karachi’s efforts to build fiscal ties with the U.S. “Last month, Saqib posted a selfie with Zachary Witkoff and other company executives at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. That came around the same time that Pakistan reached an agreement with the US to revamp the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan, a deal negotiated by Steve Witkoff. … Starting in March of last year, he was appointed to a series of positions in quick succession: The finance minister’s chief adviser on crypto, chief executive officer of the Pakistan Crypto Council, special assistant to the prime minister on blockchain and crypto. Finally he ended up as chairman of the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority.” [Bloomberg]

Word on the Street

The U.S. is reportedly making preparations for a weekslong ground operation in Iran that would likely fall short of a full-scale invasion but would consist of smaller raids conducted by special forces…

Separately, the White House is mulling a plan to extract nearly 1,000 pounds of uranium from Iran that would include troops on the ground…

The Wall Street Journal looks at Pakistan’s effort to position itself as a mediator between the U.S. and Iran; over the weekend, Karachi hosted foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt to discuss efforts to deescalate tensions in the Middle East…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was in the Middle East over the weekend, said that Ukrainian intelligence revealed that Russia took photos of a U.S. air base in Saudi Arabia on three separate occasions shortly before three soldiers were injured in an Iranian attack on the base; the finding comes as, The Wall Street Journal reports, Moscow steps up its backing for Iran in part “to salvage what’s left of its shrinking web of partnerships”…

The Financial Times reports that Iran is increasingly relying on its “resistance economy” that functions through domestic production and sanctions evasion in an effort to stave off economic collapse, as The Wall Street Journal does a deep dive into Tehran’s “tentacled ecosystem that controls more than half of the economy” and keeps the regime afloat…

The White House issued a statement honoring Education and Sharing Day, U.S.A., honoring the “life, legacy, and vision of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson,” the late Lubavitcher Rebbe…

Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Peter Welch (D-VT) introduced a resolution to block certain arms sales to the United Arab Emirates…

Sens. Ed Markey (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Van Hollen, Welch and Sanders introduced a bill that would require the affirmative consent of Congress for any nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia…

Every Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee wrote to the committee’s chairman requesting a public briefing on the Iran war, saying they are “deeply troubled by the lack of transparency” from the administration…

The Democratic National Committee is expected to vote next month on a resolution opposing outside “corporate-backed independent expenditures” that explicitly criticizes AIPAC and its affiliated United Democracy Project super PAC…

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, signed into law legislation formally adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism, becoming the 37th state to do so…

Politico published, and then removed, a cartoon with antisemitic imagery that included Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with an outsized nose and members of Congress wearing bloodied Jewish prayer shawls…

The cartoon was published a day before Politico reported on the “frustrations and anger” with the U.S. war in Iran that “were on full display” among young male MAGA adherents at last week’s CPAC conference, despite a straw poll at the Dallas confab that found overwhelming support for both the Trump administration and the U.S. involvement in the war…

The Wall Street Journal looks at San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie’s effort to address the city’s anticipated budget shortfall of $900 million through private contributions and the creation of the San Francisco Downtown Development Corporation to raise funds to revitalize the area…

The Information reports on last week’s JPMorgan Chase’s Tech100 gathering in Montana, where attendees included White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, Jared and Josh Kushner, Michael Dell and Dario Amodei…

Apollo Global Management is planning to open a second U.S. headquarters, with Austin, Texas, South Florida and Nashville reportedly among the shortlisted cities; Apollo plans to make the “bulk” of its future hires from the area it selects for the second HQ…

Barry Diller purchased an $11 million duplex penthouse frequented by President John F. Kennedy at New York’s Carlyle Hotel; Diller purchased the property from Karen Pritzker, who with her husband paid $12.5 million for it in 2007…

Nursing home owner Daryl Hagler sold off five properties in Brooklyn and Queens for $332 million, months after a report from New Jersey’s state comptroller found that Hagler and his business partner owed $124 million to the government for redirecting Medicaid funding and understaffing two N.J. nursing homes…

A New Jersey man was charged with plotting an attack on Within Our Lifetime founder and anti-Israel activist Nerdeen Kiswani…

The University of Florida chapter of College Republicans is suing the school for forcing the group’s disbandment after the circulation of an image of a member doing a Nazi salute, citing its First Amendment rights…

Semafor spotlights the work of the New York Post’s “runners” — reporters without a specific beat who are dispatched to cover all manner of stories — by shadowing Reuven Fenton, “one of eight siblings, three of whom are rabbis” and “one of a number of people with arguably the oldest job in American journalism, and perhaps one of the only ones that will survive AI”…

Yeah that’s Kosher released the 2026 edition of its annual guide to kosher ballpark eating…

The U.K.’s Liberal Democrats suspended the mayor of Bath after he shared social media posts calling a recent arson attack on Hatzola ambulances in London’s heavily Jewish Golders Green suburb an Israeli false flag operation…

A day after Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa and three other senior Latin Patriarchate officials were denied access to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Israel Police announced an agreement that will allow Catholic Church officials access to the site; the accord came after intervention from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who called for Pizzaballa to be granted “full and immediate access” to the church…

The IDF withdrew the Netsah Yisrael battalion from the West Bank following a weekend confrontation between reservist soldiers and a CNN crew in which reporter Jeremy Diamond alleged his cameraman was put in a chokehold by one of the soldiers…

The Atlantic spotlights the Kurdish Peshmerga forces along the Iran-Iraq border that are preparing for possible military action in Iran…

Politico Executive Vice President Jonathan Greenberger was named the publication’s new editor-in-chief; Greenberger, who was previously the Washington bureau chief at ABC News, will assume the new role in May…

Dr. Kurt Gitter, who as a baby fled Nazi Europe with his family and would go on to become a pioneer in the field of eye surgery, as well as an avid collector of Japanese art, died at 89…

Dr. Judith Rapoport, whose work brought widespread awareness to obsessive-compulsive disorder, died at 92…

Pic of the Day

IDF Sgt. Moshe Itzhak HaCohen Katz, a U.S.-born IDF soldier from New Haven, Conn., who was killed in combat in Lebanon on Friday, was buried on Sunday in Jerusalem.

Birthdays

(Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images for Audible)

Actress, director, producer and ballerina, Juliet Landau turns 61..

Partner of Rose Associates, a real-estate firm in the NYC area, Elihu Rose turns 93… Professor of international trade at Harvard and winner of the Israel Prize in 1991, Elhanan Helpman turns 80… Cherry Hill, N.J. resident, Zelda Greenberg… Film and television director, Michael Stephen Lehmann turns 69… Comedian, actor, television personality, screenwriter, author and musician, Paul Reiser turns 69… Host of Public Radio Exchange’s “The World,” Marco Werman turns 65… District attorney of Philadelphia since 2017, Larry Krasner turns 65… U.S. ambassador to Bulgaria under Presidents Obama and Trump, he is a past president of the American Foreign Service Association, Eric Seth Rubin turns 65… Actor best known for his role as Steve Sanders on the television series “Beverly Hills, 90210,” Ian Ziering turns 62… Owner and founder of D.C.-area’s Ark Contracting (what else can you call your company if your name is Noah), Noah Blumberg… U.S. special representative for international negotiations in the first Trump administration, now at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Jason Dov Greenblatt turns 59… Regional director in the Washington office at AJC: Global Jewish Advocacy, Alan Ronkin… Associate dean of students at Bard College, she helped 350 people escape Afghanistan amidst the U.S. withdrawal, Danna Harman… Tel Aviv-born actress, she appears on television and film in both Israel and the U.S., Mili Avital turns 54… Mexican-American chef, she won a James Beard Award for her PBS television series “Pati’s Mexican Table,” Patricia “Pati” Jinich turns 54… Financial services professional, he was formerly treasurer of Oakland County, Mich., Andy Meisner turns 53… Iranian-born LA-based retired actress, best known for her roles in “Crash” and the “Saw” franchise, also as the mother of the inspirational amputee Ezra Frech, Bahar Soomekh turns 51… Communications consultant, Gabriela Schneider… Jerusalem-born documentary photographer for the Associated Press, he won the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography in 2007, Oded Balilty turns 47… Detroit-area Jewish leader and founder at Multifaith Life, Alicia Chandler… Best-selling author of The Oracle of Stamboul and The Last Watchman of Old Cairo, Michael David Lukas turns 47… Former senior advisor to then-Ambassador David Friedman at the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, he is now a diplomatic advisor to the Board of Peace, Aryeh Lightstone turns 46… Chief program officer at Jewish Democratic Council of America, Robert J. Saferstein… Founder and editor-in-chief at Standard & Works, Zach Silber… Senior reporter at The Huffington Post, Jessica Schulberg… Third baseman for MLB’s Chicago Cubs, he was the MVP of the 2018 MLB All-Star Game, Alex Bregman turns 32… Associate at Arnold & Porter, she is a granddaughter of the late Dr. Ruth Westheimer, Leora Einleger…

COMPARE AND CONTRAST

Steve Witkoff draws equivalence between Israeli hostages and Palestinian security prisoners

Speaking at the FII Priority summit, the special envoy also said the current ceasefire proposal with Iran would address the regime’s nuclear enrichment and existing stockpiles

Zak Bennett/Bloomberg via Getty Images

White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff during the Future Investment Initiative (FII) Priority Summit conference in Miami, Florida, on March 27, 2026.

By

Matthew Shea

March 29, 2026

White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff compared the release of Israeli hostages kidnapped by Hamas to the release of Palestinians from Israeli prisons, stating that both experiences “feels like we’re changing lives.”

“People ask me: ‘Why do I like doing it?’ And I say because it feels worthy, it feels like we’re changing lives,” Witkoff said on Friday at the FII Priority summit in Miami. “I remember when we met those families of the Israeli hostages and they were ecstatic because they didn’t think their children were coming home.”

“But I was also in Gaza,” Witkoff continued. “I met Gazan families whose children were released from Israeli prisons in exchange, and they were just as grateful as the Israeli parents.”

“People ask me: ‘Why do I like doing it?’ And I say because it feels worthy, it feels like we’re changing lives,” Witkoff said on Friday at the FII Priority summit in Miami. “I remember when we met those families of the Israeli hostages and they were ecstatic because they didn’t… pic.twitter.com/CBpwY4bQHi
— Jewish Insider (@J_Insider) March 29, 2026

Israel released around 2,000 Palestinian security prisoners in exchange for 20 living and several deceased hostages under the U.S.-backed ceasefire and hostage-release deal with Hamas. At least 250 of the released prisoners were serving life sentences for carrying out deadly terror attacks.

During the summit, Witkoff also discussed the current conflict in Iran, as President Donald Trump continues to herald the success of ongoing diplomatic negotiations with the regime. Iran initially denied that negotiations were taking place but then formally rejected the U.S.’ 15-point ceasefire proposal, sending a five-point counteroffer that would recognize Tehran’s authority over the Strait of Hormuz.

“There are some people who have denied that we are negotiating,” Witkoff said. “We may have a different definition of negotiating than they do, or there may be people within their system today who just don’t have the ability to admit it, but we’re talking to them.”

“We have a 15-point deal on the table that the Iranians have had for a bit of time,” Witkoff added. “We expect an answer from them, and it would solve it all. It would solve the enrichment question, which is, we can’t have enrichment there today.”

Witkoff said the deal on the table would also solve Iran’s “enriched material stockpile, which they have to give up.”

“There are red lines for us, but we’re not looking to see the dissolution of the Iranian people,” Witkoff said. “They are very good people. We want them to thrive and survive and the country to join the league of nations and to be prosperous and do a lot of business. We just don’t want the destabilizing forces that they’ve generated out there.”

Witkoff said a deal could generate “collateral benefits,” such as diplomatic normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel, a goal that has thus far been elusive for the administration. He also noted that there will be “meetings this week,” and that “ships are passing” in the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran has effectively blocked one of the world’s most critical oil passageways.

“I think the president wants a peace deal, but he also believes in — and I believe in it too — peace through strength. Without pressure, you never get anybody to the table,” Witkoff said. “We’re employing a lot of strength, we have a big fleet there, and yet we’re prepared to solve it with a diplomatic solution.”

Post-trauma activism

‘Bringing voice to the voiceless’: Former hostages Aviva and Keith Siegel heal through helping others

The couple, once held captive by Hamas, channel their trauma into humanitarian work, volunteering in Kenya’s Kakuma refugee settlement with IsraAid and amplifying the stories of those suffering in silence

IsrAid

Keith and Aviva Siegel volunteer at Kenya’s Kakuma refugee settlement with IsraAid

By

Melissa Weiss

February 10, 2026

Keith and Aviva Siegel have seen the horrors of war up close and personal — torn from their home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza and taken hostage deep into Gaza, where Aviva would spend nearly two months and Keith would be held for more than a year.

And yet, little could have prepared them for what they would encounter at the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, where they spent five days last month volunteering at one of the world’s largest refugee settlements with the Israeli humanitarian group IsraAid as part of the couple’s pivot to humanitarian efforts around the world.

Aviva, who was a school teacher before the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks, choked up as she recalled the pregnant teenagers she met in the camp, where hundreds of thousands of people have fled from places such as South Sudan, Somalia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

One of the teens she met, a 15-year-old girl, had just given birth to her second child. She had her oldest child at age 13. “It was too much for me to carry,” Aviva told Jewish Insider from New York. “It was too much for me to carry because of so many things. You know, these girls, some of them have been raped, and there’s nobody in the world that’s protecting them, nobody.”

It was a familiar feeling for the couple, who have each recounted having seen fellow hostages after they had been sexually assaulted by their Hamas captors.

The people she met at the refugee camp, Aviva said, were “screaming out with no voice to tell how bad the situation is there. It took me to Gaza, to those moments, and so many moments and so many days of not knowing if I’ll ever live, if I’ll make it, if I’m visible, if anybody is doing anything they could to take me out of there.”

“I didn’t understand in Gaza how the world let us stay there for so long,” she said.

The couple’s time in captivity — and after, as they became prominent activists lobbying for the release of the remaining hostages in Gaza — deepened their resolve to use their newfound prominence for good. From Kenya, the Siegels flew to Washington, where they met last week with First Lady Melania Trump.

“We were at the White House, and I told the first lady about our experience in Kakuma at the refugee camp, and the hardships and the horrific life they have there,” Keith said. “I kind of feel like I carry them with me, in my heart and my soul and my thoughts, and just to be able to be their voice here in the U.S.”

The couple exchanged experiences both with refugees in the camp and IsraAid staffers — many of whom are refugees themselves.

“I really felt like it was like a mutual understanding,” Keith said. “And also feeling like all of us, them and Aviva and I, have experienced suffering. All of us have experienced being hungry because we didn’t have food to eat, being thirsty because we didn’t have water to drink. Just the uncertainty, the lack of security and feeling like death could be imminent.”

Both Keith and Aviva said they were shaped by their early childhood experiences. Coming from apartheid South Africa, Aviva, whose family moved to Israel when she was 9, said that as a child, “I saw things that shouldn’t be in this world.”

Being at the refugee camp, she explained, “brought me back to those days of being a kid in a place that is just a disaster. It’s a disaster.”

Growing up in the U.S., Keith said, “my parents raised me, and they showed me, by their example, tikkun olam. It’s one of the important concepts about values of the Jewish faith.”

“I’m sure my late parents would be very, very proud of me,” he added. “I feel like I’m continuing their legacy of things that were so important to them their whole lives. They were helping people in many, many different ways. Within their community, but also outside of their community and around the world.”

The Siegels were connected to IsraAid through Matan Sivek, a co-founder of the D.C. Hostages and Missing Families Forum and, with his wife, a leader of the group’s U.S. efforts. Sivek, who lives in Washington, joined IsraAid as the group’s head of strategic partnerships last year.

The pairing between the Siegels and IsraAid was, as CEO Yotam Polizer told JI, “a spiritual match.”

“It’s an unbelievable privilege to have Aviva and Keith, because they are really bringing voice to the voiceless,” Polizer said. “They are, for me and for us, the best example of post-traumatic growth, which I believe is the essence of Israel — how these terrible, terrible tragedies could also turn into opportunities to support others and to build bridges.”

IsraAid has operated in the camp for more than a decade, and employs approximately 50 people there. Among the services it provides are health clinics, clean water access and schooling for some of the tens of thousands of children in the camp.

“Keith and I aren’t special in any way,” Aviva said. “We are just two people that were kidnapped from Kfar Aza and spent time in the world’s darkness, Keith for 484 days, and me for 51 days. And we know what it’s like to need help. So we need to help them. We just need to help them.”

Keith became emotional as he talked about the organization’s work across the globe. “I know there are many, many other people all around the world that are in big trouble, and I feel like it’s my responsibility as much as I can to search to be aware of people that are in trouble, and do whatever I can do to help them.”

For him, the pivot to the humanitarian field also served a deeper purpose. “Helping others,” he said, “is part of my healing.”

HOSTAGE HOMECOMING

Melania Trump hosts Keith and Aviva Siegel in emotional White House reunion

'Aviva is a warrior. She's a warrior. She was fighting very hard for Keith, and I know he suffered a lot,’ the first lady said

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

First Lady Melania Trump, Keith Siegel (L) and Aviva Siegel (R) hold hands during a meeting in the Blue Room of the White House on February 04, 2026 in Washington, DC.

By

Gabby Deutch

February 4, 2026

First Lady Melania Trump welcomed freed Israeli hostages Aviva and Keith Siegel to the White House on Wednesday, one year after Aviva met the first lady for the first time and pleaded for help securing her husband’s release.

In the meeting in early 2025, Aviva gave the first lady books that she had written about Keith, who grew up in North Carolina. Trump then passed those books to the president, the first lady shared on Wednesday.

“I gave him the books, the books that Aviva gave me, and I explained the situation — where she thought that Keith was, how he was doing. She didn’t have much information, but she knew how much he was suffering, because she was with him for 50 days,” said Trump. “I explained to him everything, and I know how hard he was working.”

The Siegel couple was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists from Kibbutz Kfar Aza on Oct. 7, 2023. Aviva was held hostage for 51 days before being released in the first ceasefire deal in November 2023, but Keith was not released until 2025, after 484 days of captivity. Over the course of the war, Aviva became one of the most visible activists advocating for the release of all the hostages.

“Aviva is a warrior. She’s a warrior. She was fighting very hard for Keith, and I know he suffered a lot,” Trump said on Wednesday. “I’m happy to see you healthy at home with your children, with your grandchildren, with your family, and I know you’re giving back your time, your energy, to other people.”

Keith responded to the first lady’s remarks with emotional comments of his own, getting choked up at times.

“I want to thank you for being a very compassionate person, for supporting and helping Aviva during those difficult days, and you helped her enormously in many ways,” Keith said to Trump. “I’m eternally grateful to you and President Trump for bringing me home and for bringing all of the hostages back to their families.”

The first lady said the meeting was planned to coincide with the Siegels’ travel schedule in Washington. But she also used the event to tout her new documentary, “Melania,” which the first lady said includes footage of her meeting with Aviva.

According to the White House, text displayed at the end of the documentary lists Trump’s accomplishments as first lady, including: “Melania Trump played a key role in securing the release of Keith Siegel after 484 days as a hostage in Gaza, just 12 days after the inauguration.”

ANALYSIS

With the final hostage home, hard work of disarming Hamas remains

In Jerusalem and in Washington, officials expressed skepticism about the prospect of Hamas voluntarily relinquishing its weapons

Ohad Zwigenberg/AP

Police officers salute as a convoy carrying the coffin of Ran Gvili, the last hostage whose remains were recovered from the Gaza Strip, passes through Matzliah in central Israel on the way to his funeral, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026.

By

Lahav Harkov

January 28, 2026

A major chapter has ended in the war that began when Hamas invaded Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, with the burial of Ran Gvili, the final hostage whose remains were returned earlier this week from Gaza and buried today in his southern Israel hometown of Meitar.

Yet thousands of Israelis continue to be called up for reserve duty and the final aim of the Gaza war — disarming Hamas and demilitarizing Gaza — has yet to be achieved.

At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last week, President Donald Trump said that “many countries say we really want to” disarm Hamas, and his advisor Jared Kushner presented the administration’s plan for the next steps in Gaza, which include the destruction of “heavy weapons, tunnels, military infrastructure, weapons production facilities and munitions” in Gaza in the next 100 days. Under the plan, only members of the police appointed by the Palestinian technocratic committee would be able to hold weapons, but Hamas is reportedly seeking to have 10,000 of its members, whom Israel regards as terrorists, remain in the police force.

At the same time, Kushner’s slide deck was much more focused on the “New Gaza,” complete with Dubai-esque futuristic skyscrapers, than it was on the details of how to get Hamas to give up its weapons. “There is no Plan B,” Kushner said regarding Gaza’s future.

In Jerusalem and in Washington, officials expressed skepticism about the prospect of Hamas voluntarily relinquishing its weapons, and whether the International Stabilization Force described in the Gaza ceasefire deal will be up to the task of confiscating those weapons.They view Israeli military action in the Hamas-controlled half of Gaza as the likely scenario.

Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen, who sits on the Security Cabinet, told Kan Bet radio that while Israel is heaving “a great sign of relief with the return of the hero Ran Gvili … the central thing in stage two [of the Gaza ceasefire] is disarming Hamas and demilitarizing Gaza.”

“The chance that [Hamas] will give up its arms willingly or that the international force being put together now will do the work, in my opinion, is not high,” Cohen said. “That’s why in the framework of talks between Israel and the U.S. … a timeline was established, meaning that if the international force succeeds, then good, but if it goes according to my estimation … then the State of Israel will ensure Hamas disarms. … We are determined to finish the job.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) called in a post on X for Trump to “allow Israel to finish the job,” saying that “as to Hamas, nothing has changed. … They don’t seek peace. They only seek destruction. … This has gone on too long.”

Jonathan Ruhe, fellow for American strategy at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, noted to Jewish Insider that the International Stabilization Force meant to deploy to Gaza as part of the ceasefire “still lacks a clear mandate, or the troops to fill it out.”

“Because Hamas won’t disarm peacefully, Arab and other Muslim countries consistently refuse to put their forces in harm’s way or risk causing collateral damage to Palestinian civilians,” Ruhe said. “The U.S. needs to adapt its strategy, which remains stuck on convincing Hamas to give over its weapons. Hamas thinks it won the war. … An emboldened and well-armed Hamas steadily undermines Trump’s plan of convincing international partners to invest their money and political capital in the hard work of building a new Gaza.”

Matthew Shea contributed to this report.

closed chapter

IDF secures return of Ran Gvili, the final deceased hostage, from Gaza

With Gvili’s return, no Israeli hostage — living or deceased — is being held in the enclave for the first time since 2014

Amir Levy/Getty Images

Israeli tanks stationed near the border with the Gaza Strip on September 17, 2025 in southern Israel.

By

Matthew Shea

January 26, 2026

The IDF announced on Monday that it had uncovered the remains of deceased hostage Ran Gvili at a Muslim cemetery in eastern Gaza City and would be bringing them back to Israel for burial — recovering the final hostage of the Gaza war and marking the first time since 2014 that no Israeli captive, alive or deceased, is being held in the enclave.

Gvili, a 24-year-old member of the Israeli Police Special Forces, died in combat while protecting Kibbutz Alumim in southern Israel during the morning of the Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attacks. His body was then abducted by Hamas and taken into the Gaza Strip where he was buried by the terrorist group.

Dentists and forensic experts deployed to the cemetery were able to identify Gvili’s remains after the IDF had tested hundreds of bodies, according to The Times of Israel. In return, Israel is prepared to hand over at least 15 Palestinian bodies to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

“Following the completion of the identification process by the National Institute of Forensic Medicine, in cooperation with the Israel Police and the Military Rabbinate, IDF representatives informed the family of the deceased hostage Sergeant First Class Ran Gvili, that their loved one has been identified and will be returned for burial,” the IDF said in a statement.

Addressing members of the Knesset on Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared, “My friends, members of the Knesset, a short while ago we returned Ran Gvili, a hero of Israel. I commend the commanders and soldiers of the IDF and the ISA [Shin Bet intelligence agency] for the perfect execution of this sacred mission … We all wore the [hostage] pin, and now that the mission is complete, the time has come to remove it.”

Israeli President Isaac Herzog also thanked those “involved in the operation,” adding that the people of Israel are “moved to tears” and removed his own yellow hostage pin in a video.

“Finally, Ran has been returned home to his family in Israel,” said Herzog. “After many difficult years, for the first time since 2014, there are no Israeli hostages in Gaza. An entire nation prayed and waited for this moment.”

Hamas had held several Israeli hostages for over a decade, including Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, who crossed into the Gaza Strip in 2014 and 2015, respectively, and were held alive by the terror group, as well as the remains of IDF soldiers Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul, who were killed during the 2014 war between Israel and Hamas. All four were returned to Israel in the aftermath of Oct. 7, either through hostage-release deals or recovery efforts by the IDF.

Prior to Gvili’s return, Hamas had been accused of intentionally delaying the release of the Israeli hostages in order to prolong its survival and gain leverage. However, Trump told Axios that the terrorist group helped locate Gvili’s remains.

“[Hamas] worked very hard to get the body back,” Trump said in an interview on Monday. “They were working with Israel on it. You can imagine how hard it was.”

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said that the recovery of the final hostage body proves the group is committed to the terms of the Gaza ceasefire.

“The discovery of the body of the last Israeli captive in Gaza confirms Hamas’s commitment to all the requirements of the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip, including the prisoner exchange,” Qassem said in a statement. “Hamas will continue to adhere to all aspects of the agreement, including facilitating the work of the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza and ensuring its success.”

White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff announced earlier this month that President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan is moving into Phase 2, a shift from a ceasefire and hostage release to the demilitarization of Hamas and reconstruction of the Gaza Strip — a pivot that could be accelerated by the recovery of the last hostage.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said in a statement to Jewish Insider, “At long last, after 843 days, the body of Ran Gvili, the last Israeli hostage held by Hamas, is home. It has taken far too long, but finally, all those who fought of the release of hostages can breathe a sigh of relief.”

“I will never forget meeting with the hostage families for the first time in Israel just days after Oct. 7. They have fought bravely and tirelessly for the return of hostages and did not give up until every single hostage was brought home. Today my heart is with all of the hostages, their families, and those who advocated for their return who can finally begin on the path to recovery and healing,” Schumer continued.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) also expressed relief for Gvili’s return on social media, noting that the former policeman “epitomizes the heart and soul of Israel.”

“It is with joy and deep sadness that the body of Ran Gvili has been recovered by the Israeli government, allowing him to go home and receive a dignified burial,” Graham wrote. “He fought like a tiger and to the death, taking terrorists down with him. His love for Israel, the one and only Jewish state, consumed his being, and he made the ultimate sacrifice.”

Ted Deutch, CEO of the American Jewish Committee, also welcomed Gvili’s return in a post on X, adding that “healing can begin.”

“This is the moment we’ve prayed and fought for over the last agonizing 843 days,” Deutch wrote. “I’ve come to know so many families of the hostages over the past two years and I hold them all in my heart today.”

Bookshelf

Ex-hostage’s wife writes book to help children deal with loss post-Oct. 7

The book, 'Mojo’s Return: A Story of Resilience and Hope,' was published in November

Amazon/Maya Alleruzzo/AP

Book cover/Lishay Miran Lavi

By

Lahav Harkov

January 15, 2026

The Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel left children living near the Gaza border with significant emotional baggage — whether they themselves were kidnapped, had a loved one taken hostage or killed, or had to evacuate their home — and their parents and caregivers tasked with helping them regain hope and resilience.

Lishay Miran Lavi, whose husband, Omri Miran, was held hostage by Hamas in Gaza for 738 days, sought to help children deal with loss and uncertainty related to Oct. 7 and beyond, with her new book, Mojo’s Return: A Story of Resilience and Hope, which was published in Hebrew and English in November.

On Oct. 7, Miran, Miran Lavi and their daughters, then ages 6 months and 2, were in their home in Kibbutz Nahal Oz when Hamas terrorists attacked. Terrorists entered their home and forced a 17-year-old neighbor, under threat of death, to tell the Miran family to come out. The terrorists held the family and other hostages in a nearby home for several hours, broadcasting the scene on Facebook Live. They later kidnapped Miran and others to Gaza, leaving his wife and daughters on the kibbutz. Miran Lavi and her daughters, Roni and Alma, were rescued by IDF soldiers that evening and were evacuated to Kibbutz Kramim, near Beersheva, where they have lived ever since.

Miran Lavi began working on the book with her New York-based co-authors Melissa Stoller and Mary Millman about a year ago, with assistance from ANU – The Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv, as a way to discuss what happened to her family with her two daughters, who were by then 4 and 2.

Proceeds from the book will go to children’s resilience centers near the Gaza border.

“It’s a tool to reflect what happened for the girls and help them deal with the fact that their dad [was] not there,” Miran Lavi told Jewish Insider on Wednesday. “It’s for my girls and for everyone’s children who experienced Oct. 7 with a great loss, like a father or uncle who is not coming back because he was murdered, or fell in the war.”

Mojo’s Return tells the story of a father, mother and two girls who were celebrating a holiday together when a storm hits their kibbutz. The storm upends the kibbutz, destroying many homes, and the father and the family’s dog, Mojo, disappear. Family, friends and strangers start hanging up signs with the father’s name and photo, and the girls would call out at night and say they love their father. Mojo makes his way back to the kibbutz, injured, but months pass and the father does not return. The mother and girls try to rebuild their lives and do fun things such as baking and going on picnics, and they draw pictures of what they did for their father to see when he comes home.

The story ends inconclusively, with the girls and mother sitting on their doorstep with Mojo, hoping that “a new day of sun will arrive.”

The co-authors finished writing the book, which was also meant to bring awareness to the hostage crisis, when Miran was still held in Gaza, but it was published weeks after he was freed on Oct. 13, 2025.

Still, Miran Lavi chose to keep the open-ended conclusion to the story.

“The book came from my personal story and everyone’s story of Oct. 7, but it can be for anyone and anything, so any ending could happen. We got a happy ending, but that does not always happen,” she said.

Miran Lavi said that she and her daughters “lived with uncertainty for over two years and had to deal with it in different ways,” and the book addresses such situations.

Mojo was inspired by the Miran family’s real dog, also named Mojo, who like his eponymous book character went missing after the Oct. 7 attacks. Miran Lavi thought Mojo was lost or killed, but he was returned to the family days after the attack. He died in May.

“Mojo was really part of the family,” Miran Lavi said. “Mojo’s return gave us a lot of hope after the early days of chaos and unclear emotions. We didn’t know if Omri was alive or not, but it was very symbolic for us that Mojo was found. … It gave us hope.”

Miran Lavi and her co-authors wrote the book in Hebrew and English simultaneously, and released it in both languages.

“The story of Oct. 7 is not just for Israelis,” she said. “The book touches on so many things for children who experienced loss anywhere in the world.”

Miran Lavi has received videos from other families who read the book.

“It’s moving to see the response to something that I created. There are children who said it made them think about lost toys, or a dog that died, or an uncle or father who fell in the war. Everyone takes it to their own place,” she said.

The first person to read Mojo’s Return to Alma and Roni was Omri, after his return from captivity. Miran Lavi recounted that 2-year-old Alma’s reaction was: “But dad came back.”

“It raised a conversation,” she said. “It also made them miss Mojo. We talked about how dad came back but Mojo died. We talked about Mojo and death.”

Now that the Miran family is reunited, Miran Lavi said that “it is a great joy, a lot of fun, but it is not so simple. It’s not like Dad is back and everything is O.K. We have a long journey ahead.”

The Miran family is one of many hostages’ families who have started crowdfunding for support after their loved one’s return.

“The State of Israel is really giving us a lot in the area of rehabilitation and psychological aid, but we set up the crowdfunding to allow us to dedicate ourselves to his journey of rehabilitation and lift ourselves up again,” she said.

Meanwhile, the family of four is still living in Kibbutz Kramim, and has yet to decide whether to go back to Nahal Oz: “We’re still not in the right place to make that decision. We’re at the beginning of our journey, and it’s still open,” she said.

Lishay Miran also mentioned Ran Gvili, the final hostage whose body remains in Gaza.

“In all of these months that Omri is back, we still feel like we cannot move forward as long as one of us is left behind, and we call for his return,” she said.

VIRAL MEETUP

Sydney Sweeney meets with freed Israeli hostages Noa Argamani and Avinatan Or

The actor is dating Jewish music executive Scooter Braun, who has been involved in post-Oct. 7 Israel advocacy

Instagram/StandWithUs

Sydney Sweeney with freed Israeli hostages Noa Argamani and Avinatan Or

By

Emily Jacobs

January 14, 2026

Actor Sydney Sweeney met with freed Israeli hostages Noa Argamani and Avinatan Or, posing for a photo with the pair that began circulating on social media on Tuesday.

The photo of the three was shared by the Jewish advocacy group StandWithUs on its X and Instagram accounts. It is unclear when or where the meeting took place.

While the social media posts did not divulge how the get-together was organized, Sweeney, one of Hollywood’s biggest young actors, has been dating Jewish investor and music executive Scooter Braun, who has become friends with Argamani since her rescue from Hamas captivity in Gaza in June 2024.

Braun has become more involved in pro-Israel activism since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel, helping finance and organize the exhibition, “06:29 am: The Moment Music Stood Still,” a traveling exhibit honoring the victims of Hamas’ massacre at the Nova music festival. His friendship with Argamani first made headlines in September 2024, when Braun brought her to the Global Citizen Festival in New York to help her advocate for the release of the remaining hostages in Gaza, including Or, her boyfriend. (Or was eventually released in October 2025.)

Sweeney has largely avoided discussing political matters publicly. Most recently, she initially refrained from weighing in as the controversy swirled last summer surrounding her American Eagle’s “great jeans” ad campaign, which used a double entendre that drew accusations of promoting eugenics.

The actor made headlines in November after she declined to apologize to those offended by the ad. “When I have something to say, you will hear from me,” Sweeney told GQ at the time.

“I knew at the end of the day what that ad was for, and it was great jeans,” she continued, explaining that the situation “didn’t affect me one way or the other.”

Sweeney ultimately decided to speak out last month amid continued backlash to the ad and her decision to stand by it. She told People Magazine that she views herself as a person who “leads with kindness” and wanted to clarify her opposition to hatred.

“Anyone who knows me knows that I’m always trying to bring people together. I’m against hate and divisiveness,” Sweeney said. “In the past my stance has been to never respond to negative or positive press but recently I have come to realize that my silence regarding this issue has only widened the divide, not closed it.”

Daily Kickoff

Shapiro, Carlson spar at AmericaFest

Plus, Bowman boosts Fuentes

Samuel Corum/Getty Images

Ben Shapiro walks the red carpet at the Turning Point USA Inaugural-Eve Ball at the Salamander Hotel on January 19, 2025 in Washington, DC.

By

JI Staff

December 19, 2025

👋 Good Friday morning!

In today’s Daily Kickoff, we interview former Israeli hostage Omer Shem Tov ahead of his address today at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest, and report on barbs exchanged between Ben Shapiro and Tucker Carlson at the confab’s opening night plenary. We have the scoop on an effort by Sen. Bill Cassidy to press the National Education Association on an alleged “deeply troubling” pattern of antisemitism, and report on the resignation of a senior official in the incoming administration of New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani over past antisemitic posts. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Amy Latzer, Dana Rubinstein and Kinney Zalesne.

Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by Jewish Insider Executive Editor Melissa Weiss, with assists from Danielle Cohen-Kanik and Marc Rod. Have a tip? Email us here.

For less-distracted reading over the weekend, browse this week’s edition of The Weekly Print, a curated print-friendly PDF featuring a selection of recent Jewish Insider and eJewishPhilanthropy stories, including: Norman Podhoretz remembered as visionary of neoconservative thought; Serving faith and nation: The rabbis bringing light to U.S. troops on Europe’s front lines; and The new book urging young Jews to take inspiration from Soviet Jewish dissidents. Print the latest edition here.

What We’re Watching

White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff is meeting in Miami today with senior officials from Qatar, Egypt and Turkey to discuss the continued implementation of the Trump administration’s Gaza peace plan. Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty are slated to attend the meeting, the first convening at such a senior level since the ceasefire went into effect in October. The meeting comes as The Wall Street Journal reports on the challenges — namely Hamas’ refusal to disarm — facing the Trump administration as it attempts to implement the second phase of the agreement.
Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest continues today in Phoenix, Ariz. Former Israeli hostage Omer Shem Tov will take the main stage today (more below), as well as Heritage Foundation CEO Kevin Roberts, former HUD Secretary Ben Carson, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, Erika Kirk, Steve Bannon, Vivek Ramaswamy, Megyn Kelly and James O’Keefe.

What You Should Know

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MATTHEW KASSEL

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

center stage

Freed Israeli hostage Omer Shem Tov to address Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest

Omer Shem Tov speaks onstage at Beverly Wilshire, A Four Seasons Hotel on October 30, 2025 in Beverly Hills, California.

Turning Point USA’s annual AmericaFest kicked off on Thursday with prominent names on its four-day agenda, including Vice President JD Vance and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA). Some speakers, such as Tucker Carlson and Steve Bannon, have spread anti-Israel and even antisemitic messages through their platforms, while others, including Ben Shapiro and Glenn Beck, have been strong advocates for Israel. Joining them on the program on Friday is Omer Shem Tov, who was held hostage by Hamas in Gaza for 505 days, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports.

Courting the crowd: Shem Tov plans to tell the audience at AmericaFest the story of his captivity, in addition to paying tribute to Kirk and discussing the importance of the U.S.-Israel relationship. Shem Tov told JI that he’s speaking to TPUSA because “we can see on social media that something is changing on the American right. You can see more and more people coming out with all kinds of antisemitic statements and anti-Israel statements,” adding, “It’s very concerning, because these are people who vote for Trump, people who are supposed to be good for us.”

Read the full story here.

center stage

Freed Israeli hostage Omer Shem Tov to address Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest

‘I want to make them understand that the friendship between the U.S. and Israel is one of the greatest things for both countries,’ said Shem Tov, who Hamas held hostage in Gaza for 505 days

Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images for Simon Wiesenthal Center

Omer Shem Tov speaks onstage at Beverly Wilshire, A Four Seasons Hotel on October 30, 2025 in Beverly Hills, California.

By

Lahav Harkov

December 19, 2025

Turning Point USA’s annual AmericaFest, its first since the killing of its founder and leader Charlie Kirk in September, kicked off on Thursday with prominent names on its four-day agenda, including Vice President JD Vance and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA).

Some speakers, such as Tucker Carlson and Steve Bannon, have spread anti-Israel and even antisemitic messages through their platforms, while others, including Ben Shapiro and Glenn Beck, have been strong advocates for Israel.

Joining them on the program on Friday is Omer Shem Tov, who was held hostage by Hamas in Gaza for 505 days.

Shem Tov, 23, arrived at the Nova Festival near the Gaza border on Oct. 6, 2023, with his friends, siblings Itay and Maya Regev. On the morning of Oct. 7, when they heard gunshots, they attempted to flee, but Hamas terrorists fired on them, loaded them onto a pickup truck and drove them to Gaza. Itay and Maya Regev were freed in the first hostage deal in November 2023, and Shem Tov was moved into tunnels, where he was held in darkness and with little to eat until his release in February of this year.

Since then, Shem Tov has regularly traveled abroad to advocate for the release of the rest of the hostages and speak about Israel and the war.

Shem Tov told Jewish Insider that he’s speaking to TPUSA because “we can see on social media that something is changing on the American right. You can see more and more people coming out with all kinds of antisemitic statements and anti-Israel statements.”

“It’s very concerning, because these are people who vote for Trump, people who are supposed to be good for us,” he added. “This is the time to go to them and explain to them what is really happening in the war and make them understand that the friendship between the U.S. and Israel is one of the greatest things for both countries.”

Shem Tov said it wasn’t until he was freed from Hamas captivity that he became aware of TPUSA and Charlie Kirk’s work. “To see someone who is not Jewish, not directly connected to Israel, go to universities and the largest audiences and fight for Israel was very touching,” Shem Tov said of Kirk. “He did a better job than most Israelis. It was amazing to see him.”

Shem Tov was in the U.S. when Kirk was murdered and said he was “shaken.”

“It’s scary because [public speaking] is what I’m doing now, too, but on the other hand, it should not silence us. We must continue to fight. We have been fighting for our freedom for thousands of years, and we will continue,” he said.

Shem Tov plans to tell the audience at AmericaFest the story of his captivity, in addition to paying tribute to Kirk and discussing the importance of the U.S.-Israel relationship.

Israelis have come to know a story of Shem Tov’s heroism while in captivity, which he repeated for JI.

“During a difficult period [of the captivity], the IDF was right above me. I heard tanks over my head, and even soldiers speaking at night, through the air vents,” he recalled.

“[Hamas terrorists] set up bombs in the building above us and brought the cables underground,” Shem Tov said. “I asked what it was, and they told me. One of [the captors] said that when soldiers get to the house above us — there were cameras, so we could watch — I need to blow up the house.”

“I looked at him, the leader of the tunnel, and I said ‘I won’t do it.’ He looked at me and was in shock that I said no. He said, ‘If you don’t do it, we’ll shoot you in the head.’ I said, ‘So shoot me in the head. I won’t hurt my brothers.’ After that, they abused me,” Shem Tov recounted.

Debates on college campuses pale in comparison to the terror of captivity and the threat of immediate death, so Shem Tov said he is “always ready” for any anti-Israel audience members who may come for him.

“I know the facts,” he said. “If they come with a claim that sounds logical and rational, then I am prepared to debate and bring the truth. I know the truth, I saw it with my own eyes.”

Shem Tov recalled speaking at an event at University of California, Berkeley, where he was disappointed to find a totally supportive audience. He set up a table on campus the next day with an Israeli flag and a sign that read “I was a hostage in Gaza for 505 days, ask me anything.”

“Pro-Palestinian people came up to me with keffiyehs and watermelon pins. I think they were more calm and pleasant because I was a hostage. I told them my story, but I was open to hearing what they had to say. I think I succeeded in changing people’s minds. It was amazing to see,” he said.

Omer Shem Tov speaks with students at the University of California, Berkeley.

Asked about Shem Tov’s address and the mix of pro- and anti-Israel voices appearing at AmericaFest, Turning Point USA spokesman Andrew Kolvet said in a statement to JI, “You can recognize that there is a legitimate foreign policy debate within the right while simultaneously recognizing that abducting young people at a music festival and holding them hostage for 505 days is a horrific evil.”

“Omer’s heroism should absolutely be celebrated, and we pray that the peace in Gaza, made possible by President [Donald] Trump’s strong and steady leadership, proves durable and long-lasting,” Kolvet stated.

Shem Tov said he had no background in public speaking or Israel advocacy before being released from Gaza.

“I wasn’t a good student,” he said. “I would disturb in class and be kicked out a lot. I went to the army, and when I finished, I worked as a waiter to try to make money to go on a big trip, and then I was kidnapped.”

Shem Tov said he is often asked whether it is hard for him to speak so frequently about what he endured as a hostage.

“I do it for the hostages. Up to the very last one. … It’s not over until Ran Gvili” — the final hostage whose body remains in Gaza — “comes home,” he said.

“Second, it’s advocacy for Israel. It’s very important for people to understand what happened on Oct. 7,” he added.

Shem Tov said, “I thank God. God brought me home for a reason and with a story that I can tell so people will be strengthened and to spread light, love and truth. It’s hard, but it is fulfilling to see the change happening with my own eyes.”

“I think I learned to get some gifts from this terrible thing that happened. I learned not to just be sad, but to get up and strengthen others,” he said.

As to the terrorist attack on a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney, Australia, on Sunday in which 15 were killed, Shem Tov said “it really brought me back” to the Nova Festival.

“A month and a half ago, I was there in Bondi Beach. I know the area; I know what it looks like; I know a lot of people there. It was very painful to see that this had to happen to more people,” he said. “We went through this once in Israel. It should have brought a change and made people understand… but here, it’s happening again. It’s scary and painful and disappointing to people who don’t understand that we need to fight terrorism. It’s not fighting for freedom; it’s not resistance.”

Shem Tov expressed appreciation to Jewish communities around the world that advocated for his release.

“It’s a privilege to meet people who I don’t know and didn’t know me, but did whatever they could to pray for me and fight for me, to shout in the streets. … They dedicated so much of themselves and so much time that it is a privilege to look them in the eyes and say thank you,” he said.

Shem Tov added that he salutes all of the IDF soldiers who fought in the war: “I appreciate them so much for fighting, whether in their prayers or in the field.”

Daily Kickoff

Pinning down the X imposters draws bipartisan praise

Plus, meet Mamdani’s transition team

Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images

X on App Store displayed on a phone screen is seen in this illustration photo taken in Krakow, Poland on June 7, 2025.

By

JI Staff

November 26, 2025

Good Wednesday morning.

In today’s Daily Kickoff, we talk to Jewish communal leaders about what’s next for their organizations following the implementation of the ceasefire in Gaza and return of the living hostages, and interview lawmakers about X’s recent decision to include users’ location information. We report on concerns from New York City Jewish officials over some members of Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s transition teams, and spotlight the race in Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District, where far-left state lawmaker Aftyn Behn is making gains ahead of next week’s special election. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Jack Kirby, former FDNY Commissioner Robert Tucker and Pope Leo XIV.

Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by Jewish Insider Executive Editor Melissa Weiss and Israel Editor Tamara Zieve with an assist from Marc Rod. Have a tip? Email us here.

Ed note: In observance of Thanksgiving, the next Daily Kickoff will arrive on Monday, Dec. 1. Enjoy the long weekend!

What We’re Watching

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is in Paris today for meetings with senior French officials, including Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot. The meeting comes days after France, joined by the U.S., U.K. and Germany, pushed for the International Atomic Energy Agency to pressure Iran to allow inspectors access to the Islamic Republic’s nuclear facilities.
The Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy is hosting a daylong conference in Abu Dhabi on the Abraham Accords’ impact across the region.
Pope Leo XIV is making his first international trip since becoming pontiff, traveling on Thursday to Turkey and from there to Lebanon on Sunday. In Turkey, the pope is scheduled to meet with Turkish Chief Rabbi David Sevi as well as other religious leaders.

What You Should Know

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S HALEY cOHEN

For more than two years, Jewish communities around the country — despite deep rifts over Israel’s prosecution of the war in Gaza — demonstrated a historic united effort to bring home the hostages kidnapped by Hamas during the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks. In cities coast to coast, Jewish individuals and groups across different denominations, political affiliations and ages gathered together for rallies, fundraisers and walks, voicing a singular message: “Bring Them Home Now.”

The efforts culminated last month with the release of the remaining living hostages and a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. But heads of leading Jewish organizations say the work is not done and there are several new consensus issues for American Jews, with many echoing that tackling the increase in antisemitism remains a central and unifying concern.

“Helping to rebuild Israel, continuing to secure our communities and leaning into a surge in Jewish life” that sparked new energy in the community in the wake of Oct. 7 are the next issues Jewish federations nationwide are addressing, Eric Fingerhut, CEO of Jewish Federations of North America, told Jewish Insider.

“We all understand that there are serious and long-term issues related to the war in Israel, both related to trauma and mental health issues that have arisen, all of the rebuilding that is needed and support to those who fought and bereaved families,” said Fingerhut.

“The toxic combination of rising security threats and antisemitism remain a top priority. We still have work to do to make sure our communities are fully secure,” he continued. An October JFNA and Anti-Defamation League survey found that more than half of all Jewish Americans experienced at least one form of antisemitism in the past year; 14% have developed exit plans to flee the U.S. if the situation worsens.

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

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION

Bipartisan praise from lawmakers on X’s new location feature

(Subaas Shrestha/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Republican and Democratic lawmakers alike are cheering the implementation of X’s new location feature this week — allowing users to see what countries accounts are operating from — with some expressing hope that the move will expose the level of foreign involvement in domestic online political discourse. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle touted the new feature as a useful way to identify if an account commenting on U.S. political matters could potentially be a foreign actor, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod and Emily Jacobs report.

Providing insight: The new feature has exposed a variety of far-left and far-right accounts engaging in U.S. political discourse and spreading antisemitic and anti-Israel sentiments as they operate from various foreign countries. Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) said the information gleaned from the platform’s new feature crystalized the degree to which “foreign interests are trying to spread” antisemitic ideas in the United States. “The evidence is insightful,” Bacon, who is leading a bill with Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) aimed at addressing antisemitism on social media, told JI.

Read the full story here with additional comments from Gottheimer, Sens. James Lankford (R-OK) and Ted Cruz (R-TX), Reps, Tom Suozzi (D-NY) and Laura Friedman (D-CA) and former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley.

COMMUNITY CONCERNS

Mamdani transition picks draw scrutiny from Jewish leaders

(Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)

Zohran Mamdani, the mayor-elect of New York City, rolled out an extensive list of more than 400 new transition team appointees on Monday, saying the picks would help “recruit top talent and develop smart policy” on such issues as housing, community safety and economic development. Despite the wide diversity of his choices, some of the appointees have raised concerns among Jewish leaders who remain skeptical of the mayor-elect and his commitment to fighting antisemitism, especially in moments where anti-Israel sentiment can cross a line into overt bigotry against Jews, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.

In the spotlight: Among the most controversial sources of criticism was Mamdani’s appointment of Tamika Mallory, a former Women’s March leader who stepped down from its board amid allegations of antisemitism, to a newly established community safety committee. Mallory, who rose to prominence as a leading organizer of the Women’s March after President Donald Trump was first elected, resigned from her role as a co-chair of the organization after facing accusations of having made virulently antisemitic remarks, including a widely discredited claim that Jewish people had played a major part in the slave trade.

Read the full story here.

GARDEN STATE RACE

Former Rep. Tom Malinowski, Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill leading contenders in race to replace Sherrill

Former Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-NJ) and Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call via AP/Facebook)

The race to replace New Jersey Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill in her northern New Jersey district, an affluent, suburban area with a sizable Jewish population, has attracted around a dozen Democratic candidates from a wide array of backgrounds. But three Jewish leaders in the state plugged into the local political scene say they see Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill as the likely front-runner for the 11th Congressional District seat, with former Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-NJ) as a formidable candidate as well, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

State of play: Gill has the endorsement of Gov. Phil Murphy, whose 2017 campaign Gill managed, and has long been seen as a rising star. One Jewish leader said he expects Gill would be a reliable advocate for Jewish issues, but two others raised concerns, noting Gill’s wife’s relationships with local anti-Israel groups. Jeff Grayzel, the deputy mayor of Morris Township, N.J., and a leader in his local Jewish community relations council and federation, argued that he has a path to victory if Gill and Malinowski focus their fire on each other, and if Morris County voters and the Jewish community in Essex County turn out in support of him.

Read the full story here.

Malinowski’s view: Malinowski told JI in an interview last week, that he’s “as pro-Israel as I have ever been.” But he’s also expressing more openness to — but also not committing to supporting — policies conditioning or restricting aid, and called for the U.S. to serve as a “counterweight” to the Israeli far right. And he said that U.S. aid shouldn’t be used in furtherance of Israeli actions that the U.S. itself doesn’t support. At the same time, he expressed support for the Trump administration’s Gaza peace plan and strikes on Iran.

Tennessee tackle

Long-shot Tennessee special election candidate stakes out anti-Israel stance

Democratic congressional candidate State Rep. Aftyn Behn, D-Nashville, attends a campaign event during the special election for the seventh district, Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025, Nashville, Tenn. (George Walker IV/AP)

Far-left Tennessee state Rep. Aftyn Behn, making a bid for the open 7th Congressional District seat in next week’s special election, has staked out strongly anti-Israel positions during the course of her campaign and political career, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. Former Vice President Kamala Harris rallied with Behn in Tennessee earlier this month, and Behn has outraised Van Epps, $1.2 million to $993,000. Former Rep. Mark Green (R-TN), who vacated the seat earlier this year, won in 2024 by 20 points, but polls show Van Epps leading by just 8.

Her record: Behn called for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, and described the war in Gaza as a genocide as early as Oct. 29, 2023, weeks after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, shortly after she was elected to the statehouse. She also visited the anti-Israel encampment at Vanderbilt University, in Nashville, describing it as “well organized, grounded in liberation politics.”

Read the full story here.

FROM BUDAPEST TO D.C.

Hungary pitches its pro-Israel stance as model for Europe in fight against antisemitism

Hungarian Minister for European Union Affairs Janos Boka talks to media prior to the start of an EU General Affairs Ministers Council in the Europa building, the EU Council headquarter on July 18, 2025 in Brussels, Belgium. (Thierry Monasse/Getty Images)

In the last decade and a half, Hungary has gained a reputation as the most conservative European nation, a distinction happily touted by the country’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, who has been in office since 2010. In building that reputation, Orbán has courted controversy — with inflammatory comments about racial minorities and the LGBTQ community, by taking measures that critics say erode the country’s democracy and by adopting a more pro-Russia stance than most of the rest of the European Union. His hard-line policies are part of why Orbán and President Donald Trump have been able to cultivate a close relationship, with the U.S. and Hungary now far more aligned than they were during the Biden administration. “That’s an understatement,” János Bóka, Hungary’s minister for EU affairs, told Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch with a laugh during a visit to Washington last week.

Eye on antisemitism: But if Trump has taken a page from Orbán’s conservative governing playbook, bringing the two countries closer together, Bóka said there is one political trend playing out among American conservatives that he hopes Hungary avoids: the rise of antisemitism on the political right. “I am aware of the discussion that you are now having in the States on the reviving of antisemitism on the right. One of the added values of my trip in the U.S. is that I can study this firsthand and can discuss this with people so I have a better understanding,” Bóka said. “This phenomenon is something that is very difficult for me to understand, because at least in Hungary and in most parts of Europe, it doesn’t have a parallel, or at least not yet.”

Read the full interview here.

EDUCATION CONSTERNATION

House launches probes into antisemitism in three major public school districts

Chairman Tim Walberg (R-MI) attends the House Education and Workforce Committee hearing on “The State of American Education” in the Ryaburn House Office Building on Wednesday, February 5, 2025. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

The public school systems in Fairfax County, Va.; Berkeley, Calif.; and Philadelphia became the latest targets of the federal government’s crackdown on antisemitism in the classroom when the House Committee on Education and the Workforce announced on Monday it would open investigations into the districts. Jewish leaders and parents in all three cities welcomed the probes with cautious optimism and said that they were long overdue, referencing high-profile incidents that have roiled each district, especially in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks in Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza. While much of the federal government’s attention has been on the historic levels of antisemitism on college campuses, focus has recently shifted to addressing anti-Israel sentiments creeping into the classrooms at some public K-12 schools, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.

Textbook trouble: All three districts under investigation have ties to the “Teaching Palestine” curriculum, which was created by textbook publisher Rethinking Schools. “There are fair-minded ways to look at complicated problems in the Middle East. Rethinking Schools materials aren’t that,” said Clifford Smith, government affairs director of the North American Values Institute, which published a report exposing anti-Israel bias within Rethinking Schools. “They are propaganda masquerading as educational resources,” Smith told JI. He called on Congress to “take a hard look at the role groups like Rethinking Schools are playing in the recent explosion of antisemitism.”

Read the full story here.

Worthy Reads

X Marks the Spot: In The Washington Post, Tinder founder Sean Rad and former Twitter/X executive Zach Schapira praise X’s recent decision to make public information regarding user location, and suggest what steps other social media platforms can take in the interest of transparency. “Social platforms fundamentally changed how people and ideas move across borders. A borderless digital ecosystem shrank distances, opened markets and created the potential for a global town square. Those benefits are profound, and worth preserving. But when political conversation moved online, one assumption baked into that early design became dangerously outdated: that geography no longer matters. … X’s recent bold decision, led by Head of Product Nikita Bier, to add country labels to accounts reflects an important shift: a recognition that geographic transparency is crucial context to help users understand whether a post is a firsthand account or distant commentary, whether it reflects genuine local sentiment or coordinated foreign messaging.” [WashPost]

Spotlight on Sudan: In Newsweek, former White House Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt pushes back against criticism of the United Arab Emirates’ involvement in the Sudanese civil war. “Before the UAE became involved, Sudan had already collapsed, multiple times. The country has endured civil wars, coups, economic breakdowns and revolutions. Its institutions were hollowed out long before any recent foreign role. Blaming the UAE for ‘causing’ Sudan’s unraveling ignores decades of internal governance failures, competing militarized elites and the near-total absence of a functioning state. Sudan’s tragedy is primarily Sudanese in origin, even if outsiders have played supporting roles. Here is another hard reality: No war-torn state, especially one with Sudan’s history, recovers without responsible, significant external support—financial, humanitarian and diplomatic. Countries do not rebuild themselves in isolation. They need partners. And yes, those partners, whether the UAE or anyone else, will always have interests alongside their intentions to help.” [Newsweek]

History Lesson: In Moment Magazine, Menachem Z. Rosensaft raises concerns about U.S. Ambassador to Poland Tom Rose’s recent comments absolving Poland of complicity in the Holocaust. “Forty years ago, I criticized President Ronald Reagan when he said that the members of the notorious Nazi Waffen-SS buried at the German military cemetery at Bitburg ‘were victims, just as surely as the victims in the concentration camps.’ I said at that time that ‘The photograph of the president of the United States laying a wreath in the name of the United States at a cemetery which includes SS officers will be used and exploited by revisionist historians and neo-Nazis as proof that the president has forgiven the SS and it is now all right to forget.’ In a similar vein, Rose’s ill-advised and historically false whitewashing of the Polish role in the genocide of European Jewry is certain to be fodder for Polish and other antisemites who seek to trivialize (if not dismiss altogether) the Holocaust as a minor, essentially meaningless occurrence that does not warrant commemoration or remembrance.” [Moment]

Comics as Jewish Lit: eJewishPhilanthropy’s Jay Deitcher spotlights a new exhibit at Manhattan’s Jack Kirby Museum commemorating the Jewish comic book author’s life and legacy. “The Kirby Museum, along with The Siegel and Shuster Society, which honors Superman’s Jewish co-creators, is one of the few nonprofits celebrating the Jewish masterminds of the comics medium. Even though these writers and artists’ creations are plastered on nearly every child’s lunch box — not only in America, but around the world — their foundations and museums often lack the financial support of nonprofits dedicated to those deemed ‘fine’ artists. … ‘Comic books are Jewish literature,’ [author Roy Schwartz] said. ‘They tell the same stories as Philip Roth and Bernard Malamud and Primo Levi just through metaphor and hyperbole with a younger audience in mind, but they’re selling the same bagels on the same street corner, and this canon of Jewish American literature and art deserves to be on the same shelf as those other greats.’” [eJP]

Word on the Street

President Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman clashed last week in a private meeting over the possibility of Riyadh normalizing relations with Israel, with the Saudi leader reportedly saying that anti-Israel sentiment in the Gulf nation was too high at the moment for Saudi Arabia to join the Abraham Accords…

The Trump administration is driving efforts to construct housing in Israeli-controlled portions of the Gaza Strip to shelter tens of thousands of Palestinians, with the goal of having the first residential units inhabitable in the coming months…

Reps. Craig Goldman (R-TX), Ann Wagner (R-MO), Bill Huizenga (R-MI), Mike Lawler (R-NY), Joe Wilson (R-SC) and Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) introduced a resolution praising the expansion of the Abraham Accords to include Kazakhstan…

Bloomberg reports on a leaked audio recording of a call between White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and a senior foreign policy aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin last month in which Witkoff reportedly advised Moscow on how to approach President Donald Trump in negotiations regarding Ukraine…

Politico looks at how Trump’s friendly meeting with and praise for New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani could complicate efforts by Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), who is mounting a bid for governor, to tie Mamdani to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, whom Stefanik is challenging…

Former FDNY Commissioner Robert Tucker, who is Jewish, cited his religion as one of the factors in his decision to resign following Mamdani’s election, saying that Mamdani’s “whole campaign really reflected” incompatibilities between himself and the incoming administration…

Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser said she will not seek a fourth term in next November’s election…

A final report approved unanimously by Massachusetts’ Special Commission on Combating Antisemitism determined that antisemitism is on the upswing in the state and made a number of recommendations, including the implementation of guidelines for primary and secondary schools to address discrimination and funding for the state’s new Hate Crimes Awareness and Response Team…

The Wall Street Journal reports on the uptick in universities asking applicants about navigating differing opinions as they look to recruit student populations that can thoughtfully approach disagreements…

An Illinois man was sentenced to two years of probation and 100 hours of community service after pleading guilty to battery in a 2024 incident in which he and an accomplice assaulted two Jewish students at DePaul University; the second attacker remains at large…

The Manhattan District Attorney’s office announced plans to retry Pedro Hernandez for the 1979 kidnapping and murder of 6-year-old Etan Patz, eight years after the New York man was convicted after a federal appeals court overturned the conviction earlier this year, citing the original judge having erred in his instructions to the jury…

Israel identified the remains of hostage Dror Or, who was killed at his home in Kibbutz Be’eri during the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks, after they were handed over on Tuesday by Palestinian terror groups in Gaza; Or’s wife, Yonat, was killed in the attacks, and two of their three children were taken hostage and released during the November 2023 ceasefire…

Israel is expanding the exemption on personal customs imports for products under $150; previously, imports totaling more than $75 were subject to customs and import fees…

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil accused Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar of being a “war criminal” after Sa’ar spoke about connections between Caracas and Iran and the latter’s terrorist proxies, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports…

Reuters reports on an effort by Israeli researchers to use AI to transcribe and sift through the medieval Cairo Geniza, which contains more than 400,000 documents, only a fraction of which have been deciphered…

Lebanon granted citizenship to FIFA President Gianni Infantino in what the Lebanese Football Association called a “symbolic” gesture; the move is expected to cause consternation in the country, where Lebanese women cannot pass their citizenship to their foreign husbands, or to their children if the father is not Lebanese…

Pic of the Day

(MICHAEL APPLETON/MAYORAL PHOTOGRAPHY OFFICE)

Jewish communal leaders in New York City joined First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro and Queens Borough President Donovan Richards (center) for a groundbreaking ceremony on Tuesday for a new Holocaust memorial in Queens.

Birthdays

(Photo by Sebastián Vivallo Oñate/Agencia Makro/LatinContent via Getty Images)

First Jewish governor of Delaware from 2009-2017 and later U.S. ambassador to Italy, Jack Alan Markell turns 65…

Holocaust refugee from Budapest, Hungary, he founded a generic drug company in 1965 that he sold to Teva Pharmaceuticals 35 years later, University of Toronto’s pharmacy school bears his name, Leslie Dan turns 96… San Francisco-based venture capitalist, he is a founding partner of CMEA Capital, Formation 8 and Baruch Future Ventures, Thomas R. Baruch turns 87… President of the Haberman Institute for Jewish Studies, Arthur Hessel turns 83… Diplomat and author, he worked under Presidents Bush (41), Clinton and Obama on Middle East matters, in 2002 he co-founded a synagogue in Rockville, Md., Dennis B. Ross turns 77… Former national executive director of the Zionist Organization of America, Gary P. Ratner turns 77… Former member of the Illinois House of Representatives for 32 years, now a lobbyist, Louis I. Lang turns 76… U.S. senator from West Virginia, Shelley Moore Capito turns 72… Pulitzer Prize-winning author of nonfiction books based on his biological observations, he is a professor at Columbia University School of Journalism, Jonathan Weiner turns 72… Israel bureau chief and a senior editor for the Middle East at Bloomberg News, Ethan Samuel Bronner turns 71… Editor, journalist and publisher of Hebrew media for U.S.-based Israeli readers, he is the author of several books and award-winning screenplays, Meir Doron turns 71… Staff cartoonist for The New Yorker, where she has published more than 1,000 cartoons, Roz Chast turns 71… Israeli reporter and writer, Ari Shavit turns 68… Mayor of Miami Beach, Fla., from 2017-2023, prior to that he served in both houses of the Florida Legislature, Daniel Saul Gelber turns 65… District Attorney of Los Angeles County, Nathan Joseph Hochman turns 62… Former professional tennis player, he won three singles and one doubles title on the ATP Tour, Jay Berger turns 59… CEO and founder of Dansdeals, a credit card and travel blog, Daniel Eleff turns 41… Editor-in-chief of W Magazine, Sara Anne Moonves turns 41… Software engineer at Regard, Benjamin Huebscher… Executive director of Agudath Israel of Ohio, Rabbi Eric “Yitz” Frank… Executive director at the Council for a Secure America, Jennifer Sutton… Senior counselor at Palantir Technologies, Jordan Chandler Hirsch… Television and film actress, Anjelica Bette Fellini turns 31…

ANALYSIS

After Gaza war, Jewish groups chart new agenda: security, rebuilding and renewed Jewish engagement

There are several new consensus issues for American Jews, with community leaders highlighting that tackling the increase in antisemitism remains a central and unifying concern

Noam Galai/Getty Images

Eric Fingerhut speaks during The Jerusalem Post New York conference on June 03, 2024 in New York City.

By

Haley Cohen

November 26, 2025

For more than two years, Jewish communities around the country — despite deep rifts over Israel’s prosecution of the war in Gaza — demonstrated a historic united effort to bring home the hostages kidnapped by Hamas during the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks. In cities coast to coast, Jewish individuals and groups across different denominations, political affiliations and ages gathered together for rallies, fundraisers and walks, voicing a singular message: “Bring Them Home Now.”

The efforts culminated last month with the release of the remaining living hostages and a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. But heads of leading Jewish organizations say the work is not done and there are several new consensus issues for American Jews, with many echoing that tackling the increase in antisemitism remains a central and unifying concern.

“Helping to rebuild Israel, continuing to secure our communities and leaning into a surge in Jewish life” that sparked new energy in the community in the wake of Oct. 7 are the next issues Jewish federations nationwide are addressing, Eric Fingerhut, CEO of Jewish Federations of North America, told Jewish Insider.

“We all understand that there are serious and long-term issues related to the war in Israel, both related to trauma and mental health issues that have arisen, all of the rebuilding that is needed and support to those who fought and bereaved families,” said Fingerhut.

“The toxic combination of rising security threats and antisemitism remain a top priority. We still have work to do to make sure our communities are fully secure,” he continued. An October JFNA and Anti-Defamation League survey found that more than half of all Jewish Americans experienced at least one form of antisemitism in the past year; 14% have developed exit plans to flee the U.S. if the situation worsens.

Additionally, Fingerhut said the “significant rise and interest in Jewish life” that was fueled by Oct. 7, which JFNA termed “The Surge,” is here to stay. An April survey conducted by JFNA found that while the increased engagement that was documented in the months following the attacks has ebbed over the past year, it remains relatively high, with roughly a third of the respondents — 31% — saying that they are engaging more with the Jewish community than they did in the past, compared to 42% who said so last year.

“There are great opportunities to increase the number of people engaged in Jewish life and education, [including] restarting travel to Israel fully,” Fingerhut told JI.

Even while some donors and Jewish professionals are increasingly facing burnout, Fingerhut said “the level of engagement is very high.”

“We’ve seen growth across the Jewish federations system,” he continued. “Campaigns are up in every community and there’s a high level of cooperation between all of the Jewish organizations working more closely together now than ever. I expect you’ll see lots of consensus and working together to address these issues.”

Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the ADL, wrote in an eJewishPhilanthropy op-ed last month that “the existential crisis that the Jewish Diaspora has experienced over these last 24 months is not going away.”

“We will make no apologies for focusing ferociously on the safety of the Jewish community at a time when that safety is at risk,” wrote Greenblatt. “We will not shrink from the task of ensuring that America remains a place where Jewish people can live, work, worship and thrive openly and proudly. For those that perpetrate antisemitism, spread anti-Zionism, discriminate against Jews, or attack our community in any way, we will use every tool at our disposal to stop you. We will push back in boardrooms, expose the issues in classrooms, and prosecute our case in courtrooms.”

Similarly, the American Jewish Committee told JI that consensus work will involve “the continued fight against antisemitism.”

“It is imperative that the community calls out antisemitism in all its forms — whether it comes from the far left or far right. AJC will continue working with leaders around the world and across the political spectrum, from local governments to heads of state, to recognize and confront this threat. We are also engaging with businesses and civil society in a multi-pronged approach that counters antisemitism from all angles. The surge of antisemitism that we are currently witnessing requires our community to band together. We cannot and will not succeed if we are not united in this fight,” the group said in a statement.

AJC, which launched a Center for a New Middle East in 2024, said it also plans to continue focusing on issues in the Middle East, including advocating for the release of the three deceased Israelis still held in Gaza.

“Expanding the Abraham Accords and the growing circle of peace remains a top priority for us,” the AJC added, noting that “in a post-war Middle East, the substance of the work changes, but our engagement with leaders throughout the region will continue to be a vital part of our work.”

Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, told JI that “the vast majority of American Jews have deep concerns about rising antisemitism and broader threats to our democracy — including the false choice between Jewish safety and democracy offered by extreme voices on both ends of the political spectrum.”

“Our institutions and leaders can all rally behind the recognition that there is no Jewish safety when our democratic norms and the rule of law are threatened, just as there is no democracy without real Jewish safety,” said Spitalnick.

Aya Shechter, chief programming officer of the Israeli-American Council, echoed an “intense focus” on combating antisemitism, in a statement to JI, adding that the group plans to also “strengthen civic engagement and cultivate Jewish identity.”

Daily Overtime

Dermer’s diplomatic departure

Plus, Elaine Luria wants a rematch

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) is joined by Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer and other officials for a meeting with U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth at the Pentagon on July 09, 2025 in Arlington, Virginia.

By

JI Staff

Danielle Cohen-Kanik

November 11, 2025

Good Tuesday afternoon!

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

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

📡On Our Radar

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed sidestepped a question about Israel’s right to exist during an interview with the anti-Israel media outlet Zeteo last week, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

Zeteo founder Mehdi Hasan asked El-Sayed how he would respond if and when he faces questions on the campaign trail about whether he supports Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state. Pressed after initially dodging the question, El-Sayed said, “Israel exists. Palestine doesn’t. And so I always wonder why nobody asks me why Palestine doesn’t have a right to exist.”

El-Sayed also dismissed AIPAC donors as “MAGA billionaires throwing their money around to try to dictate the outcome for a Democratic primary,” though AIPAC has not yet endorsed a candidate in the Michigan Senate race…

Chi Ossé, a far-left Gen Z New York City councilman, is planning to launch a primary challenge to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), The New York Times reports, despite discouragement from his ideological ally, Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, who clinched Jeffries’ endorsement shortly before the general election. Ossé’s insistence on running reportedly caused him to be disinvited from Mamdani’s election night party…

Elsewhere in New York, Bruce Blakeman, the first Jewish executive of Nassau County who just won reelection last week, is considering mounting a bid for governor, he told Politico, where he would face off against Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) in the GOP primary. Both are allies of President Donald Trump; Blakeman said he “told [Trump] that I was interested, and he didn’t discourage me. And I think he’s had the same conversation with Elise. I think the president is going to play it out and see what happens at the convention”…

Also throwing her hat in the ring, former Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA), a moderate Jewish Democrat with a strong pro-Israel record, plans to launch a comeback campaign tomorrow, Punchbowl reports. Luria would likely be the front-runner in the already crowded Democratic primary to win back Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District from Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-VA), who defeated her in 2022…

Ron Dermer, Israel’s minister of strategic affairs and longtime advisor and confidante to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, resigned from his post today after three years in the role, JI’s Tamara Zieve reports. “This government will be remembered both for the October 7 attack and for its management of the two-year, seven-front war that followed,” Dermer wrote in his resignation letter. Israeli media had reported for months that Dermer’s departure was expected.

Dermer has led Israel’s ceasefire and hostage-release negotiations since February and is expected to stay on as Netanyahu’s envoy to continue handling the future of the Gaza portfolio, political sources recently told JI…

The State Department denied reports today that White House advisor Jared Kushner met with Gaza militia leader Yasser Abu Shabab to discuss ceasefire issues including dozens of Hamas terrorists still “stuck” in tunnels on the Israeli side of the ceasefire lines, though U.S. officials told Axios Kushner did speak with Netanyahu about the issue during their meeting in Jerusalem yesterday, and is eager to resolve it without impact on the next phase of the deal…

Saudi Arabia is set to host a U.S.-Saudi investment summit in Washington next Wednesday, a day after Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to the White House. An invite obtained by CBS News shows the event taking place at the Kennedy Center, co-hosted by Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Investment and the U.S.-Saudi Business Council…

An undated letter from Houthi Chief of Staff Yusuf Hassan al-Madani to Hamas’ Al Qassam Brigades indicates that the Yemeni terror group has halted its attacks on Israel and ships in the Red Sea amid the ongoing ceasefire: “We are closely monitoring developments and declare that if the enemy resumes its aggression against Gaza, we will return to our military operations deep inside the Zionist entity, and we will reinstate the ban on Israeli navigation in the Red and Arabian Seas,” the letter reads…

⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider tomorrow morning for an analysis on congressional redistricting efforts and additional reporting on Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa’s Washington meetings.

The International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries kicks off tomorrow, drawing 6,200 rabbis from 111 countries to New York City.

Former First Lady Michelle Obama will appear at Washington’s Sixth & I Synagogue tomorrow evening to discuss her forthcoming book, The Look.

Stories You May Have Missed

BETTER TOGETHER

Black and Jewish college students explore shared adversity and allyship at DC-area ‘Unity Dinner’

‘Unity Dinner’ at George Washington University, November 2025

Sponsored by Robert Kraft’s Blue Square Alliance, Hillel International and the United Negro College Fund, the event brought together over 100 students in an effort to rebuild the Black-Jewish alliance of the Civil Rights Movement

Read more

Daily Overtime

Trump and Al-Sharaa make history, quietly

Plus, Laura Loomer turns on Israel aid

Syrian Presidency

President Donald Trump greets Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa in the Oval Office on Nov. 10, 2025.

By

JI Staff

Danielle Cohen-Kanik

November 10, 2025

Good Monday afternoon!

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

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

📡On Our Radar

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Despite the historic nature of Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa’s White House visit today, his meeting with President Donald Trump was kept a relatively low-key affair. Al-Sharaa entered through a back door and didn’t receive the usual greeting photo op with Trump, and the meeting was closed to the press.

The two leaders made news nonetheless: Syria is now set to join the U.S.-led campaign against ISIS, Trump and al-Sharaa discussed reopening respective embassies in Damascus and Washington and the Treasury Department issued a new order extending the suspension of U.S. sanctions on Syria for six months.

Ibrahim Olabi, Syria’s U.N. ambassador, said the two leaders also discussed a prospective Israel-Syria security agreement. “The term used frequently during the meeting by President Trump and Secretary [of State Marco] Rubio was ‘let’s get this done,’” Olabi said…

Trump has encouraged lawmakers to fully lift the congressionally mandated U.S. sanctions on Syria, but Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL), a Trump ally and the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, did not commit to supporting sanctions relief when he held his own meeting with al-Sharaa yesterday, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

Mast and al-Sharaa “had a long and serious conversation about how to build a future for the people of Syria free of war, ISIS, and extremism,” Mast said in a statement, but offered no words of praise for the Syrian leader…

Sergio Gor was sworn in as U.S. ambassador to India today to unusual fanfare — he and Trump were joined in the Oval Office by Rubio; Vice President JD Vance; Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent; Attorney General Pam Bondi; U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro; Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Jim Risch (R-ID); Katie Britt (R-AL) and Tommy Tuberville (R-AL); Erika Kirk and Fox News host Laura Ingraham, among others.

Swearing in Gor, who used to serve as the head of the Presidential Personnel Office where he wielded significant influence in assuring political hires shared his skepticism of American engagement abroad, Vance said, “We have such a crowd here, you’d think we were swearing in a vice president”…

Laura Loomer, a right-wing Trump advisor who has historically maintained pro-Israel stances, wrote on social media today that, after spending “an incredible week” in Israel, she has “reached a firm conclusion: Israel must end its dependence on U.S. aid and the U.S. must end all aid to Israel.”

“I truly hope by the end of the Trump administration and by the beginning of a new administration in 2028 that we see zero aid flowing to Israel,” she wrote, calling it a “win-win” for the U.S., which will no longer be a “global baby sitter,” and for Israel, which will be free to conduct its wars as it wishes.

In response, Democratic Majority for Israel accused Loomer of continuing “a troubling pattern on the Right — embracing anti-Israel policies & undermining our allies,” in the vein of Tucker Carlson and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA)…

Christine Pelosi, daughter of Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who was thought to be considering a run for her mother’s seat as she retires, announced today that she is not running for Congress. Instead, Pelosi is launching a campaign for the state Senate seat currently held by Scott Wiener, who is running for her mother’s San Francisco congressional district…

New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani named two of his top advisors today: Dean Fuleihan to be first deputy mayor and Elle Bisgaard-Church as his chief of staff.

Bisgaard-Church is a democratic socialist who was part of Mamdani’s campaign inner circle. Fuleihan, on the other hand, is a city and state government veteran; he previously served in the same role under former Mayor Bill de Blasio and as his budget director, as well as a budget expert in the state Legislature, among other roles. Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), who was at times at odds with Mamdani during his campaign, called Fuleihan’s appointment “exceptional … in more ways than one”…

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 law office of Clement & Murphy, The New York Times reports. The conservative boutique firm is known for its “longstanding opposition to executive branch overreach”…

The Wall Street Journal reports on Yale’s attempt to stay out of the line of fire in 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: “‘The only thing continuing to protest will do is to take education and opportunities away from the rest of us,’ said one post [on the forum]. ‘Ppl need to stop being stupid and selfish and realize they will gain no ground under this administration on the Israel issue’”…

Palantir CEO Alex Karp defended his support of Israel in an interview with WIRED, released today, 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.”

“When people are fair to Israel and treat it like any other nation, which I don’t think they do, I will be much more willing to express in public the things I express in private to Israelis”…

⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider tomorrow morning for reporting on veteran journalists Bianna Golodryga and Yonit Levi’s new book, Don’t Feed the Lion, which they will launch at Temple Emanu-El in New York City tomorrow night, joined in conversation by comedian Elon Gold.

This evening, Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa will appear on Fox News’ “Special Report” with Bret Baier.

Stories You May Have Missed

SCENE AT SOMOS

Jewish leaders begin outreach to incoming Mamdani administration, sensitively

New York City Mayor elect Zohran Mamdani meets with the press after he joined members of the Centro Islamico del Caribe -Masjid Ebadur Rahman mosque in prayer, on November 7, 2025 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Mamdani was in San Juan for the annual SOMOS political retreat.

At the post-election Somos conference, Jewish officials tried to find areas of common ground with the new mayor

Read more

Daily Overtime

Great success! Kazakhstan to join Abraham Accords

Plus, Treasury targets Hezbollah financiers

Maksim Konstantinov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

The Kazakhstan national flag flutters in the wind on a flagpole.

By

JI Staff

Danielle Cohen-Kanik

November 6, 2025

Good Thursday afternoon!

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

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

📡On Our Radar

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

The Abraham Accords is expected to gain another participant this evening, though in a first, the country is not joining as a show of peace with Israel — since the new addition, the Muslim-majority central Asian nation of Kazakhstan, has had full diplomatic relations with Israel since 1992.

Kazakhstan’s president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, is expected to announce the move at a meeting with President Donald Trump later today, where they will also hold a joint phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump administration officials told Axios that the White House wants to “build momentum” for the Abraham Accords ahead of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to Washington on Nov. 18.

As far as Kazakhstan’s motivation, the former Soviet nation has long lobbied Washington to cancel a Cold War-era law that has hindered its access to American markets, and could benefit from currying favor with the Trump administration.

Leading Jewish organizations have worked with Kazakhstan’s Jewish community and government for over a decade to lobby Congress to repeal the Jackson-Vanik Amendment, and told Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov and Danielle Cohen-Kanik that they are highly supportive of the country’s inclusion in the Accords…

Ahead of Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa’s own visit to the White House on Monday, the U.N. Security Council voted in favor of a U.S.-sponsored resolution to lift sanctions on the former Al-Qaida leader turned president…

Also getting an Oval Office welcome, Israeli media reported today that Trump invited the 20 Israeli hostages released from Gaza last month to visit the White House in two weeks…

On the Hill, members of the Senate Armed Services Committee from both parties voiced concerns with Elbridge Colby, under secretary of defense for policy, and his office at the Pentagon at a committee hearing today — for the second time this week, JI’s Marc Rod reports.

“Many of this committee have serious concerns about the Pentagon’s policy office and how it is serving the president of the United States and the Congress,” Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), the chairman of the committee, said in his opening statement. “In many of these conversations, we hear that the Pentagon policy office seems to be doing what it pleases without coordinating, even inside the U.S. executive branch”…

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) announced this morning that she will retire at the end of her term in 2027, after serving 39 years in Congress where she made history as the first female speaker of the House.

For most of her illustrious career, Pelosi has been a reliable ally of Israel and, as Democratic leader, generally managed to keep her caucus united around support for the Jewish state. But, like many Democrats, she leaned in a more critical direction during the war in Gaza, at one point supporting a call to suspend weapons transfers to Israel. Read JI’s interview with Scott Wiener, the state senator from California seeking to win her seat…

The IDF is beginning to demobilize thousands of reservists called up for duty, some of whom have served hundreds of days in the past two years, announcing that the country is transitioning from war into a period of “enhanced border security” as the ceasefire with Hamas in Gaza largely endures…

The Treasury Department announced sanctions today against members of Hezbollah’s “finance team” who “oversee the movement of funds from Iran” in an effort to support the Lebanese government’s moves to disarm the terror group. The department revealed that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps has already transferred over $1 billion to Hezbollah this year…

Author Jamie Kirchick argues in The Washington Post that the “inevitable fracturing of President Donald Trump’s MAGA movement is in sight, the instigator of its rupture that most narcissistic and destructive of media personalities: Tucker Carlson.”

Kirchick admonishes Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts for failing to outright condemn Carlson’s platforming of neo-Nazi influencer Nick Fuentes: “Stalinists and Holocaust deniers like Fuentes are perfectly entitled to spew their nonsense on street corners, through self-published manifestos or in online livestreams. What they are not entitled to is the imprimatur of purportedly respectable institutions whose reputations hinge upon the voices they choose to amplify”…

⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider tomorrow morning for an interview with former Minnesota Sen. Rudy Boschwitz, who will be celebrating his 95th birthday.

On Sunday, the Zionist Organization of America will hold its annual gala, where it will present awards to Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY); Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter; Leo Terrell, head of the Department of Justice’s antisemitism task force; Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon; and philanthropists Irit and Jonathan Tratt.

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

Stories You May Have Missed

THE INSIDE STORY

The 36 hours in Washington that took hostage families from grief to gratitude

The story of how the hostage families came to learn their loved ones were coming home, told to JI by key players

Read more

Daily Overtime

Mayor Frey wins in Minneapolis in rebuke of far left

Plus, the end of a Golden era in Maine

Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey speaks to supporters at an Election Night party on November 2, 2021 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

By

JI Staff

Danielle Cohen-Kanik

November 5, 2025

Good Wednesday afternoon!

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

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

📡On Our Radar

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Jewish Americans are still taking stock after Zohran Mamdani’s victory last night in the New York City mayoral race. The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, based in New York, called Mamdani’s victory a “grim milestone” and a reminder “that antisemitism remains a clear and present danger, even in the places where American Jews have long felt most secure.” Ted Deutch, CEO of the American Jewish Committee, listed policies the organization will be looking toward “to address the profound concerns about what the future holds for Jewish safety and belonging.”

Robert Tucker, the Jewish commissioner of the New York City Fire Department, resigned this morning, The New York Post reports, hours before he was set to fly to Israel to meet his counterpart there.

In his first response to an incident of antisemitism as mayor-elect, Mamdani denounced the vandalism of the Magen David Yeshiva in Brooklyn, which had two swastikas graffitied on it overnight, as “a disgusting and heartbreaking act of antisemitism, and it has no place in our beautiful city”…

Another heavily Democratic city rejected its own far-left candidate for mayor today, as incumbent Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis won reelection against his DSA-aligned challenger, state Sen. Omar Fateh, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports. Marking a win for the more pragmatic wing of the Democratic Party, Frey secured his third term with 50% of the vote, to Fateh’s 44%, in the second round of the city’s ranked-choice voting.

A similar result may be emerging in Seattle, where preliminary results last night showed the Democratic incumbent, Mayor Bruce Harrell, leading over his socialist challenger, Katie Wilson, though many ballots remain to be counted…

One day after a historic Election Day — first democratic socialist mayor of New York City, largest turnout in an NYC mayoral race since 1969, first female governor of Virginia, first Muslim woman elected to statewide office as Virginia’s lieutenant governor, a record percentage of registered voters turning out for the municipal election in Minneapolis, among others — and the U.S. is already hitting another milestone: the longest government shutdown in history, at 36 days long.

President Donald Trump partially blamed the shutdown for Democrats’ strong showing in yesterday’s elections at a breakfast with Senate Republicans this morning, telling them, “I thought we’d have a discussion after the press leaves about what last night represented, and what we should do about it. … I think if you read the pollsters, the shutdown was a big factor, negative for the Republicans”…

Citing the shutdown, increased polarization and rising political violence, Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) announced this afternoon that he will not be seeking reelection. Golden, a pro-Israel centrist who often worked across the aisle, has represented Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, a largely rural, working-class district that Trump won in the 2024 election by 14 points, since 2018, a seat that will be difficult for Democrats to maintain…

Recently freed former hostage Elizabeth Tsurkov recounted her two and a half years of captivity by Kataib Hezbollah, the Iran-backed terror group in Iraq, in a new interview with The New York Times, detailing the torture she experienced that resulted in potentially permanent nerve damage and the need for “long-term physical and psychological rehabilitation,” as determined by doctors at Israel’s Sheba Medical Center…

The University of Maryland, College Park student government is scheduled to vote on two resolutions hostile towards Israel tonight, JI’s Haley Cohen reports. One calls for the university to prohibit people who are “committing war crimes” and “genocide” from speaking on campus, after the campus chapter of Students Supporting Israel hosted an event last month where former IDF soldiers spoke about their experiences serving during Israel’s war with Hamas.

The second resolution calls on the university to issue an apology to students who faced disciplinary action for protesting that event, when demonstrators packed the outside hallway shouting “baby killers” and “IOF [Israel “Occupation” Forces] off our campus,” while several others protested outside of the building with chants comparing the IDF to the Ku Klux Klan…

Variety profiles David Ellison in his first 100 days as CEO of the recently merged Paramount Skydance, including the media company’s about-face on Israel issues. Free Press founder Bari Weiss, hired as editor-in-chief of CBS News by Ellison, “has been so vocal in her support of [Israel] that she faces frequent death threats. She and her wife, The Free Press co-founder Nellie Bowles, require a detail of five bodyguards that costs the studio $10,000-$15,000 a day.”

Paramount also reportedly “maintains a list of talent it will not work with because they are deemed to be ‘overtly antisemitic’ as well as ‘xenophobic’ and ‘homophobic,’” after the studio was the first to denounce a boycott of Israel signed by several Hollywood heavyweights…

⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider tomorrow morning for the latest news on the Heritage Foundation’s internal reckoning with its defense of Tucker Carlson.

Tomorrow, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery (HEAR) Act, a bill aimed at eliminating loopholes used to possess Nazi-looted artwork that Jewish families have been trying to recover.

The Senate Armed Services Committee will hold a nomination hearing for Alex Velez-Green to be deputy under secretary of defense for policy, coming days after committee lawmakers blasted the Pentagon office and its head, Elbridge Colby, during a contentious hearing for failing to communicate with them.

Maccabi Tel Aviv will play Aston Villa tomorrow in a Europa League match that generated controversy after local authorities announced that supporters of the Israeli team would not be permitted to attend, with the game deemed “high risk” over security concerns. Over 700 police officers are expected to be deployed and a no-fly zone will be established around the Villa Park stadium in Birmingham, England.

Israel’s Hapoel Tel Aviv basketball team will face off against the Dubai team in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, in Round 9 of the EuroCup tomorrow.

The Blue Square Alliance Against Hate, formerly the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism, will host its second Sports Leaders Convening at Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts tomorrow, featuring Robert Kraft, the organization’s CEO and owner of the New England Patriots; Ted Deutch, CEO of the American Jewish Committee; Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League; Adam Lehman, CEO of Hillel International; Michael Masters, CEO of the Secure Community Network; and leaders from major sports leagues.

The Washington Institute for Near East Policy will host a webinar tomorrow on the possibility of peace between Israel and Lebanon with Lebanese Member of Parliament Fouad Makhzoumi.

Stories You May Have Missed

KENTUCKY CONTEST

Nate Morris seeks McConnell’s seat with populist, pro-Israel message

Lexington tech entrepreneur Nate Morris speaks at the annual Fancy Farm picnic, Aug. 2, 2025, in Fancy Farm, Ky.

In an interview with JI, the wealthy businessman declined to weigh in on the Tucker Carlson controversy but said Republicans ‘shouldn’t be in the business of canceling anyone’

Read more

Daily Overtime

Johnson, Thune call out right-wing antisemitism

Plus, lawmakers say Pentagon, Elbridge Colby icing them out

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA), accompanied by Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), speaks during a news conference in Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol Building on October 3, 2025 in Washington, DC.

By

JI Staff

Danielle Cohen-Kanik

November 4, 2025

Good Tuesday afternoon!

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

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

📡On Our Radar

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Election Day is underway, and voters are breaking turnout records in New York City. Already by noon today, more people had voted in the mayoral race than had voted in the entirety of the 2021 NYC mayor’s race. By 3 p.m., more than 1.4 million New Yorkers had voted in the race — more than in any NYC mayoral election since 2001, according to The New York Times — with several more hours before the polls close at 9 p.m.

President Donald Trump chimed in last night, urging New Yorkers to vote for former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. “Whether you personally like Andrew Cuomo or not, you really have no choice. You must vote for him, and hope he does a fantastic job,” he wrote on social media. Trump added in another post, “Any Jewish person that votes for Zohran Mamdani, a proven and self professed JEW HATER, is a stupid person!!!”…

One party leader not weighing in: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who has officially made it through the mayoral race without issuing an endorsement. He had said throughout the election that he had held “conversations” with Mamdani but resisted calls to either endorse his party’s candidate or to denounce his anti-Israel views. At a press conference in the Capitol this afternoon, Schumer told reporters he himself had voted and “look[s] forward to working with the next mayor” but would not reveal who got his vote…

Leading right-wing figures continue to contend with the normalization of antisemitism within the GOP: House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) joined the list of Republicans who have publicly admonished Tucker Carlson for platforming neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes on his podcast, saying today, “Some of the things [Fuentes has] said are just blatantly antisemitic, racist and anti-American. Anti-Christian, for that matter. I think we have to call out antisemitism wherever it is. Whether it’s Tucker or anybody else, I don’t think we should be giving a platform to that kind of speech. He has a First Amendment right, but we shouldn’t ever amplify it. That’s my view.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) also denounced antisemitism on the right in comments today, though without naming Carlson or Fuentes. “Well, there are lots of voices, obviously, out there, but I don’t think there ought to be any — there just should be no room at all whatsoever for antisemitism or other forms of discrimination. That’s certainly not what our party is about,” Thune said…

Backlash against the Heritage Foundation for defending Carlson also continues; the National Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, a conservative coalition aligned with Heritage, changed its tune today in an email to President Kevin Roberts, a day after the task force said it would stand by the organization.

In today’s email, obtained by Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch, the NTFCA co-chairs made several demands of Roberts, including removing his controversial video defending Carlson; an apology “to those Christians and Jews who are steadfast members of the conservative movement and believe that Israel has a special role to play both biblically and politically;” a conference hosted by Heritage on the boundaries of the conservative movement; hiring a visiting fellow “who shares mainstream conservative views on Israel, Jews and Christian Zionists” to win over Gen Zers; and to host Shabbat dinners with Heritage’s interns and junior staff members to educate them about Judaism.

The task force co-chairs said in the email that if an agreement is not reached soon, their relationship with Heritage “will be irrevocably harmed.” Co-chair Luke Moon told JI, “If the terms aren’t met, we will take the NTFCA elsewhere”…

Several Jewish organizations have cut ties with the NTFCA already over the incident, including the Zionist Organization of America and Young Jewish Conservatives; today, the Coalition for Jewish Values and Combat Antisemitism Movement did so as well.

“We cannot grant legitimacy to an effort to combat antisemitism operated by the Heritage Foundation while Heritage is validating antisemitism and giving it a platform,” CJV wrote. “Although our target” on the task force “was and remains primarily a left-wing cause, ‘no enemies on the right’ was always liable to be proven false.”

CAM, in its resignation letter to Roberts, affirmed its support of free speech and specified that “the genesis of this letter is our deep concern with how you, Mr. Roberts, on behalf of the Heritage Foundation, have chosen to exercise your rights” [emphasis original]…

Bipartisan lawmakers expressed frustration with the Pentagon for not properly briefing them on national security issues at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing today, after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced a new rule last month requiring all Pentagon staffers to get approval before interacting with members of Congress.

Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) called out Elbridge Colby, under secretary of defense for policy, specifically, saying it was even harder to contact him than Hegseth or Trump. “Man, I can’t even get a response, and we’re on your team,” Sullivan said…

The Trump administration is pushing Congress to repeal the Caesar Act sanctions on Syria ahead of Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa’s first visit to the White House on Monday, urging lawmakers to include it in the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act. The Senate already approved the repeal in its version of the NDAA last month, but the House version does not include a similar provision…

⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider tomorrow morning for an interview with Republican Kentucky Senate candidate Nate Morris, who is seeking to take the seat of retiring Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), and for a reflection on the late Vice President Dick Cheney’s legacy.

Tomorrow afternoon, the ADL will host a post-election briefing on the New York City mayoral race with its CEO, Jonathan Greenblatt, and Hindy Poupko, senior vice president of community strategy and external relations at UJA-Federation of New York.

Former Israeli hostage Emily Damari will appear at Temple Emanu-El in New York City tomorrow evening for her first public speaking engagement in the U.S., joined by author Noa Tishby.

Stories You May Have Missed

SCOOP

Before denouncing AIPAC, Moulton sought group’s endorsement for Senate campaign, source says

Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) speaks with a reporter outside of the U.S. Capitol Building on November 16, 2021 in Washington.

Moulton turned against the group when it was unable to guarantee him an endorsement upon the launch of his Senate campaign, a source told JI

Read more

Daily Overtime

DMFI poll finds Dems give Trump credit on hostage deal

Plus, Virginia LG candidate skirts antisemitism questions

Joshua Sukoff/Medill News Service

President Donald Trump holds a joint news conference at the White House with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on February 4, 2025. This is Trump’s first joint news conference with a foreign leader in his second term.

By

JI Staff

Danielle Cohen-Kanik

November 3, 2025

Good Monday afternoon!

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

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

📡On Our Radar

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

It’s Election Day across the country tomorrow, and we’ll be watching several key races.

Front of mind is the New York City mayoral race where Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani is expected to prevail, though it remains to be seen if he’ll claim an absolute majority.

All candidates are still vying for the Jewish vote: Over the weekend, divisions emerged in the anti-Zionist Satmar Hasidic community after one of its political leaders issued an endorsement of Mamdani — some leaders publicly broke ranks to reject the move and instead endorse his rival, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Meanwhile, Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa visited the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s Ohel in Queens (and recalled a blessing he received from Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson decades ago which Sliwa claimed “saved my life”)…

In nearby New Jersey, gubernatorial candidates Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) and Jack Ciattarelli are doing the same. We’ve covered Sherrill’s recent outreach efforts to the state’s sizable Jewish community; on the GOP side, President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social on Sunday urging “ALL of my supporters in the Orthodox community in Lakewood [N.J.] and its surrounding towns to vote in HUGE numbers for Jack Ciattarelli,” naming in particular “all the Yeshiva students who turned out to vote for me last year.” Trump won around 88% of the heavily Jewish township’s vote in the 2024 presidential election…

And in Virginia, former Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) is likely to win the governor’s mansion against the state’s current lieutenant governor, Republican Winsome Earle-Sears, in a race set to make Old Dominion history — either way, the state will elect its first female governor.

Also on the Virginia ballot: Ghazala Hashmi, the Democratic state senator running for lieutenant governor, who has elicited concern from the state’s Jewish community over her past involvement in anti-Israel activism and her record on combating antisemitism.

In a brief interview today, Jewish Insider’s Editor-in-Chief Josh Kraushaar asked Hashmi how big of a challenge she thinks antisemitism is in Virginia. Hashmi replied: “I think we see growing challenges on so many levels of bigotry, and we have to be united in our efforts. I’m facing a great deal of Islamophobic attacks, as you probably have seen, so we have to respond to everything.” Pressed on what she thought about antisemitism specifically, Hashmi cut the interview short…

The fallout from the Heritage Foundation’s embrace of Tucker Carlson and refusal to disavow Nick Fuentes continues, as right-wing figures publicly declare themselves aligned with or opposed to the move. Orthodox conservative influencer Ben Shapiro said about Carlson, Fuentes and their ilk in a lengthy video statement today: “These people aren’t to my right. They’re not attached in any way to the fundamental principles of conservatism. And these people have already declared themselves my enemies. I’d be a fool not to take them seriously.”

Ryan Neuhaus, who served as Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts’ chief of staff until Friday, resigned after reposting numerous social media posts in defense of Roberts, including one saying that Heritage employees opposed to his statement were “virtue signaling” and calling for them to resign…

A new poll released today by the Democratic Majority for Israel finds that Democrats overwhelmingly support the ceasefire deal reached between Israel and Hamas and a majority of them think Trump played at least a “somewhat important role” in reaching the agreement, JI’s Danielle Cohen-Kanik reports.

A majority of those polled (56%) said they believe that the U.S. should keep its alliance with Israel, though only 32% felt so “strongly.” Three-quarters (75%) said they support Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish homeland, with 12% saying they don’t believe Israel has a right to exist…

The Wall Street Journal documents the rise and sustained popularity of Abdulmalik Al-Houthi, the reclusive commander of the Houthis in Yemen, who has continued to resist pressure by officials from Arab states to cease the terror group’s attacks on Israel and ships in the Red Sea, “and go back to being a relatively small-time player in the region’s conflicts.”

“‘They genuinely believe in this jihad to remove Israel from that land,’ said April Longley Alley, a former United Nations diplomat who has engaged with the Houthi leadership. ‘And they’re going to keep pushing’”…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the dispatch of a humanitarian and medical aid delegation from Israel to Jamaica today, to assist in relief efforts after Hurricane Melissa tore through the country earlier this week…

Sudanese refugees in Israel told The Times of Israel about the compounded pain and fear they experienced as the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks and the civil war in Sudan unfolded in parallel, decrying the lack of media coverage of Sudan while the world focused on Gaza…

Yad Vashem announced today that the museum has identified the names of 5 million Jewish victims of the Holocaust, and hopes to use artificial intelligence to name at least 250,000 more…

⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider tomorrow morning for the backstory surrounding Massachusetts Senate candidate Rep. Seth Moulton’s (D-MA) attacks against AIPAC.

Tomorrow, the World Zionist Organization and Temple Emanu-El are holding a memorial event in New York City for slain Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin on the 30th anniversary of his assassination. Speakers will include Rabin’s grandson, Jonathan Benartzi; Yehuda Kurtzer, president of the Shalom Hartman Institute; former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro; Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs; and Israeli American peace advocate Alana Zeitchik.

Stories You May Have Missed

UNIVERSITY INSIGHTS

Longtime higher ed leader Gordon Gee says fear, not free speech, is ruling America’s campuses

University of West Virginia President Gordon Gee speaks to reporters after the College Football Playoff presidents group meeting Tuesday, June 22, 2021, in Grapevine, Texas.

Gee, who served as president of five universities over 45 years, told JI he believes some administrators are opposed to reform efforts as a knee-jerk reaction to Trump

Read more

exclusive

DMFI poll finds majority of Democrats support ceasefire and credit Trump for achievement

The new poll also found that three-quarters of Democrats support Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish homeland

Avi Ohayon (GPO)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Donald Trump hold a joint press conference at the White House on February 4, 2025

By

Danielle Cohen-Kanik

November 3, 2025

A new poll from a leading Democratic pollster finds Democrats broadly support the ceasefire and hostage-release deal reached between Israel and Hamas and a majority of them think President Donald Trump played at least a “somewhat important role” in reaching the agreement.

The poll, released Monday by the Democratic Majority for Israel and conducted by the Mellman Group, surveying 800 Democrats between Oct. 15-26 with a 4.9% margin of error, found an overwhelming share (72%) of Democrats favored the Trump peace plan when all aspects of the agreement were spelled out.

Details provided about the first phase included Hamas returning all of the hostages, alive and dead, and Israel releasing Palestinian prisoners, as well as an influx of humanitarian aid into Gaza. The poll described the second phase as disarming Hamas, economic redevelopment in Gaza and “setting the conditions for a pathway to Palestinian statehood.”

Respondents favored the plan at 72% with only 4% opposed.

The description did not specify that Hamas has slow-walked the release of the hostage bodies, which it was meant to return shortly after the deal was reached, only saying that “While there have been flare-ups of violence, spokesmen from both sides have said they are still trying to make the agreement work.”

Almost all Democrats (83%) said the deal is an important achievement. Fifty-six percent called it a “very important” achievement, with majorities across all ideological, age, gender and race categories.

Sixty-one percent of respondents said Trump played at least a somewhat important role in securing the deal, with 31% of them calling his role “very important.” Trump remained universally unpopular with those Democrats polled, holding an unfavorability rating of 92%.

A majority of the Democrats polled (56%) said they believe that the U.S. should keep its alliance with Israel, though only 32% felt so “strongly.” Three-quarters (75%) said they support Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish homeland, with 12% saying they don’t believe Israel has a right to exist.

Daily Overtime

Heritage doubles down on Tucker ties

Plus, Palantir CTO's Israeli inspiration

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Tucker Carlson speaks during the memorial service for political activist Charlie Kirk at State Farm Stadium on September 21, 2025 in Glendale, Arizona.

By

JI Staff

Danielle Cohen-Kanik

October 30, 2025

Good Thursday afternoon!

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

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

📡On Our Radar

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Efforts are underway to establish an International Stabilization Force in Gaza, Axios scooped today, with U.S. Central Command taking the lead on drafting the plan and holding discussions with countries, including Indonesia, Azerbaijan, Egypt and Turkey, to potentially contribute troops.

Though Israeli officials have said they oppose Turkey’s involvement in Gaza, the U.S. still views Ankara as most capable of getting Hamas “to agree and behave,” one U.S. official told the outlet.

Israel’s main concern is the new force’s legitimacy with Gazans and its willingness to engage militarily with Hamas, a senior Israeli official said. The plan would also see the creation of a new Palestinian police force, with training and vetting by the U.S., Egypt and Jordan…

Kevin Roberts, president of the influential Heritage Foundation, released a video today affirming the organization’s support of anti-Israel commentator Tucker Carlson, defending the podcaster from the “pressure” of the “globalist class,” after reports arose that Heritage had scrubbed references to Carlson from one of its donation pages.

“When it serves the interests of the United States to cooperate with Israel and other allies, we should do so … But when it doesn’t, conservatives should feel no obligation to reflexively support any foreign government, no matter how loud the pressure becomes from the globalist class or from their mouthpieces in Washington,” Roberts said.

His comments come days after Carlson hosted neo-Nazi influencer Nick Fuentes on his podcast, whom Roberts said he was unwilling to “cancel.”

“We will always defend our friends against the slander of bad actors who serve someone else’s agenda. That includes Tucker Carlson, who remains — and as I have said before — always will be a close friend of the Heritage Foundation,” Roberts continued…

In the run-up to the New York City mayoral election, The Bulwark co-founder Bill Kristol — a longtime conservative commentator and founder of The Weekly Standard — said that he would vote for Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani if he were a resident of the city.

“You know, New York City gets to have a left-wing mayor. It’s not the first time, and it’s different from the rest of the country. I wish they were a little less, you know, tolerant of certain things — on Israel, and so, against Israel and all that. But some of the economic stuff, I think, is just silly, but I don’t think it’s going to matter,” Kristol told The Forum. He called “the idea of going back to” former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo “ridiculous”…

Cuomo, meanwhile, picked up the endorsement of Rep. Nick Langworthy (R-NY), the former chair of the New York State Republican Party, who said he’s had “plenty of disagreements — very publicly over the years — and fought tooth and nail with Gov. Cuomo. But there’s no doubt in my mind he would be a far superior mayor than a communist,” referring to Mamdani.

When asked if it’s a mistake for Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa to stay in the race, Langworthy said, “Everyone’s really got to check, is this a vanity project? Or is this something you’re trying to do to seriously be the mayor? There’s only one candidate running against Mamdani that has a credible path to win. And there’s Andrew Cuomo”…

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) is preparing to enter the race for New York governor shortly after the mayoral election, Axios reports, with more than $13 million on hand. Stefanik’s team reportedly believes New Yorkers will turn on the Democratic Party if Mamdani is elected mayor, leaving Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul — who endorsed Mamdani — more vulnerable…

Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), the party front-runner for Senate in Michigan, is “underwhelming” the Democratic establishment, NOTUS reports, with strategists warning that her fundraising and campaign activity does not show her substantially pulling ahead of her opponents — state Sen. Mallory McMorrow and Abdul El-Sayed, the latter of whom is backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), both running to her left — as expected…

Palantir’s chief technology officer, Shyam Sankar, appearing on The New York Times’ “Interesting Times” podcast released today, affirmed that Israel is a “morally appropriate partner” for the software giant to conduct business with, and said that he was motivated to join up as a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves this year to lend his technological expertise because of his “observation in Israel after Oct. 7.”

“Israel is an incredibly technical country. Bountiful resources of technologists,” Sankar said. But when reservists were called up to join the IDF in its war in Gaza, “they were horrified at the state of technology, which is actually an implicit self-critique. … The IDF got more modernization done in the four months after Oct. 7 than in the 10 years that I’d worked with them prior”…

⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider tomorrow morning for reporting on the Kennedy Center’s efforts to address antisemitism and fight cultural boycotts of Israel as its Trump-appointed director looks to make a mark on programming at the institution.

The Republican Jewish Coalition’s leadership summit kicks off tomorrow in Las Vegas, with featured speakers including House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL), Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter and many more. JI’s Matthew Kassel will be in attendance — be sure to say hello!

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

Stories You May Have Missed

CALIFORNIA CAMPAIGN TRAIL

Scott Wiener, looking to succeed Pelosi, balances progressive politics with Jewish allyship

California State Senator Scott Wiener addresses the SF Chronicle Editorial Board on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2018 in San Francisco, Calif.

Weiner, a longtime California state senator, could face a crowded field of Democrats if Nancy Pelosi retires — including AOC’s former chief of staff

Read more

Daily Overtime

Trump pushes vote on imperiled ambassador nominee

Plus, Suozzi re-ups Cuomo endorsement

Win McNamee/Getty Images

Hamtramck, Mich. Mayor Amer Ghalib introduces President Donald Trump, as Trump visits a campaign office on Oct. 18, 2024, in Hamtramck, Michigan.

By

JI Staff

Danielle Cohen-Kanik

October 29, 2025

Good Wednesday afternoon!

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

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

📡On Our Radar

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

The White House has told Republicans that President Donald Trump will not pull the nomination of Amer Ghalib, the mayor of Hamtramck, Mich., to be U.S. ambassador to Kuwait and wants the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to hold a vote on his candidacy, despite the growing bipartisan opposition to his nomination, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports.

White House officials have communicated to committee Republicans in recent days that Trump would not withdraw Ghalib’s nomination because the president credits the Democratic Hamtramck mayor with helping him win the state of Michigan in the 2024 presidential election by turning out the state’s Arab American vote, two sources familiar with the ongoing discussions told JI.

“If Trump wants his friend to go down that way, that’s OK. He can go down that way,” one Republican on the committee said, expressing confidence that Ghalib had no path to advance out of committee…

Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY), who represents a Long Island-based swing district on the outskirts of New York City, today endorsed former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the general election for New York City mayor. Suozzi had endorsed Cuomo in the Democratic primary and announced last month that he would not be endorsing Zohran Mamdani after he secured the party’s nomination.

In Suozzi’s decision to re-up his support for Cuomo, now running as an independent, less than a week out from the election, he distanced himself from Mamdani’s political leanings: “I’m a Democratic Capitalist, not a Democratic Socialist. I endorse Andrew Cuomo. I can not back a declared socialist with a thin resume to run the most complex city in America”…

Time magazine profiles New York City Mayor Eric Adams, where he recalls hosting Mamdani and his father, Mahmood Mamdani — a professor at Columbia University with a long record of anti-Israel commentary — for dinner in 2023. “The frightening thing is, he really believes this stuff! Globalize the intifada, there’s nothing wrong with that! He believes, you know, I don’t have anything against Jews, I just don’t like Israel. Well, who’s in Israel, bro?” Adams said…

Elsewhere in New York, the Democratic race to clinch the nomination for retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY)’s seat gained another candidate today: Cameron Kasky, a Jewish gun control activist who survived the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in 2018. Kasky, who recently started co-hosting the “For You Pod” with The Bulwark, frequently criticizes Israel and AIPAC in public statements, including accusing Israel of carrying out a genocide in Gaza and not being committed to the ongoing ceasefire with Hamas.

The field to succeed Nadler, a progressive Jewish lawmaker whose district has one of the largest Jewish constituencies in the country, has already drawn several candidates, including his former longtime aide, Micah Lasher…

Another candidate with harsh words for AIPAC is Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA), challenging Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) for his seat. Moulton, considered more moderate than Markey, continued to appeal to his left flank this week, appearing on a podcast hosted by Jack Cocchiarella, a self-described “progressive Gen Z political commentator” who frequently engages in harsh criticism of Israel on social media.

Moulton — who recently decided to return AIPAC’s donations and pledged not to take its support going forward — said his split with the group could continue to feature in the race depending “a lot on what happens in Gaza and Israel. … I certainly hope … we don’t resort to more violence, and if that’s the case, I think we’ll be able to talk about other issues in this campaign. Sadly, if it’s not, then I’m sure this will keep coming up.”

Moulton did not push back on Cocchiarella’s assertion that AIPAC, which he said has ties to the “Netanyahu regime,” should “be registered as a foreign lobby.” (Accusations from both political fringes that AIPAC — whose members are American citizens — constitutes a foreign influence operation have often invoked antisemitic dual loyalty tropes)…

The Anti-Defamation League today removed a section called “Protect Civil Rights” from its “What We Do” webpage, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reports, shortly after it pulled down its “Glossary of Extremism and Hate” amid conservative attacks on the organization. The group appears to be pivoting after FBI Director Kash Patel recently cut the bureau’s ties with the ADL, calling it “an extreme group functioning like a terrorist organization”…

Spotted in Riyadh, Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa spoke today at the Future Investment Initiative summit, with front-row spectators Donald Trump Jr. and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman…

Also in the region, U.S. envoy Morgan Ortagus visited Lebanon today to push the Lebanese government to speed up efforts to disarm Hezbollah, with a goal of total disarmament by the end of the year, The New York Times reports.

The Lebanese Armed Forces have seized 10,000 rockets and 400 missiles from the terror group as part of disarmament efforts already, though Israeli and American officials told the Times it’s not sufficient, with Hezbollah moving to rebuild its stockpile…

⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider tomorrow morning for an interview with California Democratic state Sen. Scott Weiner, running to replace former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who is rumored to be announcing her retirement plans shortly.

Tomorrow, the N7 Foundation and Polaris National Security Foundation are hosting the invite-only Washington Prosperity Summit, with attendees including Trump administration officials, bipartisan lawmakers, foreign dignitaries from the Middle East and business executives, “to explore policies to advance prosperity in the region.”

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is hosting its 2025 Humanitarian Award Dinner in Los Angeles tomorrow, honoring Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, CNN anchor Dana Bash, Oct. 7 survivor Aya Meydan and former Israeli hostage Omer Shem Tov. Director Steven Spielberg will present Zaslav with this year’s Humanitarian Award, the center’s highest honor.

In Washington, Sony Pictures Entertainment, the Motion Picture Association and the German Embassy will host a special screening of “Nuremberg,” a new feature film on the Nuremberg Trials.

Also tomorrow, the World Zionist Congress wraps up in Jerusalem and the Future Investment Initiative summit comes to a close in Riyadh.

Stories You May Have Missed

JUSTICE, JUSTICE HE PURSUES

New U.S. Attorney in Minnesota Daniel Rosen sees history of antisemitism repeating itself

In an interview with JI, the Minnesota prosecutor and Jewish community leader said he was motivated to seek the role because of the ‘rapid escalation of violent antisemitism’

Read more

Daily Overtime

Israel strikes in Gaza after Hamas ceasefire violations

Plus, Mamdani invokes antisemitic tropes in newly revealed video

Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu via Getty Images

Smoke rises after Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, as seen from Israel near the border, on Oct. 7, 2025.

By

JI Staff

Danielle Cohen-Kanik

October 28, 2025

Good Tuesday afternoon!

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

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

📡On Our Radar

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today ordered the IDF to “immediately carry out forceful strikes in the Gaza Strip” after Hamas terrorists opened fire on Israeli troops in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

Hamas, in response, said it is postponing the release of a hostage body meant to be turned over to Israel today. Yesterday, Hamas staged the recovery of hostage remains that it reburied before handing to the Red Cross, caught on film by the IDF, which turned out to be partial remains belonging to a hostage who was already recovered by the Israeli army in 2023. Netanyahu said the act “constitute[d] a clear violation of the [ceasefire] agreement.”

Israeli officials told Axios that Netanyahu initially sought approval for action against Hamas from President Donald Trump, who is currently traveling in Asia, before moving forward, but there’s “no indication” the two leaders spoke before Netanyahu’s announcement on today’s strikes…

A senior Israeli official told Israel Hayom that Saudi Arabia has scaled back its participation in ceasefire talks after far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich made a disparaging comment last week on Saudi-Israel normalization, if it were to require the establishment of a Palestinian state. The statement (“No thank you, keep riding camels in the desert”) prompted blowback and he apologized shortly after.

“It’s not only because of Smotrich, but his comments certainly pushed [the Saudis] in that direction,” the official told the outlet. “Israel is now dealing with a bloc that includes Turkey, Qatar and Egypt — countries interested in preserving Hamas’ role in Gaza to varying degrees and refusing to pressure it to disarm”…

The Wall Street Journal traveled to an IDF outpost on the “yellow line” demarcating where Israeli troops have pulled back in Gaza. Israel is working on building water and electricity infrastructure and new aid hubs in the area and believes the entire line, which sits on high ground by design, is defensible from Hamas, Israeli officials told the Journal…

With a week to go until Election Day in the New York City mayoral race, new video has surfaced of Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani invoking antisemitic rhetoric shortly before the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks.

Speaking at a Democratic Socialists of America convention in August 2023, Mamdani said, “For anyone to care about these issues, we have to make them hyper local. We have to make clear that when the boot of the NYPD is on your neck, it’s been laced by the IDF.” The idea that police brutality in the United States is caused by law enforcement training or coordination with Israel is a modern antisemitic trope.

Mamdani continued, “We are in a country where those connections abound, especially in New York City. You have so many opportunities to make clear the ways in which that struggle over there [Israel], is tied to capitalist interests over here”…

Meanwhile, The New York Times reports on the super PACs backing former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo for mayor, which have raised him more than $40 million over the course of the election — compared to $10 million raised by super PACs for Mamdani and $1 million for Curtis Sliwa, the Republican nominee.

“The donors to the pro-Cuomo super PACs have included Michael R. Bloomberg, the former mayor; William Lauder, the chair of the Estée Lauder Companies; Ronald Lauder, the president of the World Jewish Congress; Bill Ackman, the investor; Steve Wynn, the casino investor; Daniel Loeb, the hedge fund manager; Barry Diller, the chairman of IAC; and Joe Gebbia, the co-founder of Airbnb,” the Times reports.

Bloomberg, who spent at least $8 million attempting to defeat Mamdani in the Democratic primary, met with him last month after he clinched the party’s nomination. Bloomberg was careful to note it was not an endorsement meeting, but rather a discussion on policy and staffing if Mamdani is elected mayor…

On the Hill, the nomination of Amer Ghalib, the mayor of Hamtramck, Mich., to be U.S. ambassador to Kuwait is facing what appear to be insurmountable odds as opposition to his confirmation grows among Senate Republicans, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports.

Senators on both sides of the aisle had privately expressed reservations about Ghalib’s nomination prior to his rocky confirmation hearing in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week, but his attempts to evade responsibility for his support of antisemitic positions prompted several Republicans on the committee to go public.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) announced at the end of Ghalib’s hearing last Thursday that he would not be able to support moving his nomination out of committee to the Senate floor. Sens. John Curtis (R-UT), John Cornyn (R-TX) and Dave McCormick (R-PA) have since followed suit. Others on the panel, including Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-NE), have said they plan to raise their concerns about Ghalib with the committee chairman, Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID), and the White House…

Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY) will introduce a resolution this week affirming Israel’s sovereignty over the Temple Mount and demanding equal freedom of worship for all, JI’s Emily Jacobs scooped.

The resolution, if adopted, would put the House of Representatives on record as affirming “the inalienable right of the Jewish people to full access [of] the Temple Mount and the right to pray and worship on the Temple Mount, consistent with the principles of religious freedom.”

The current Israeli position, however, that Netanyahu has consistently affirmed, is to maintain the status quo at the holy site, which restricts Jewish prayer…

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), who led the the memorable questioning of university presidents at a House Education Committee hearing in December 2023, is coming out with a new book, titled Poisoned Ivies: The Inside Account of the Academic and Moral Rot at America’s Elite Universities, on April 7, 2026…

⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider tomorrow morning for reaction in Washington to Israel’s latest strikes in Gaza in response to Hamas’ ceasefire violations.

Tomorrow, the Future Investment Initiative continues its ninth annual conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

In the evening, the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington is hosting its 2025 annual gala. Honorees include former Rep. David Trone (D-MD) and his wife, June, who is a JCRC board member; Behnam Dayanim, attorney and JCRC vice president; and Eva Davis, a realtor and co-chair of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington’s Network Council.

Stories You May Have Missed

POSTWAR PLAN

East Gaza v. west Gaza: How partial IDF control could shape the enclave

A view of the Jabalia neighborhood in Gaza City, Gaza on October 27, 2025.

Experts say the IDF-controlled eastern region of Gaza could become a tool to isolate the terrorist group and reshape the enclave’s future, even as major hurdles remain

Read more

Postwar plan

East Gaza v. west Gaza: How partial IDF control could shape the enclave

Experts say the IDF-controlled eastern region of Gaza could become a tool to isolate the terrorist group and reshape the enclave’s future, even as major hurdles remain

Anas Zeyad Fteha/Anadolu via Getty Images

A view of the Jabalia neighborhood in Gaza on October 27, 2025.

By

Matthew Shea

October 28, 2025

After an agreement was reached between Israel and Hamas to initiate the first stage of President Donald Trump’s ceasefire proposal in mid-October, the IDF retreated to an “initial withdrawal line,” leaving Israeli forces in control of 58% of the enclave as Israel and mediators push Hamas to release the remaining deceased hostages and comply with the rest of the agreement, including disarmament and relinquishing power.

The line divides Gaza in two: an “East,” controlled by the IDF and serving as a buffer zone to Israel, and a “West,” run by Hamas and host to the concentrated Palestinian population.

In interviews with Jewish Insider, experts painted a picture of two Gazas, explaining that the area Israel holds can be used strategically to root out Hamas and maintain leverage if hostilities resume. But challenges lie ahead in rebuilding the enclave and moving Palestinians back into the eastern region.

“There are virtually no Palestinians living in the eastern part of Gaza beyond the yellow line. The eastern part does not see the movement and the maneuvers of Hamas. That’s still confined to the western part,” Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, a Gaza native and resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, told JI. “Actual civilians of Gaza are all entirely under Hamas’ control in the west.”

Alkhatib said Israel has kept Palestinians from returning to the east over security and operational concerns, but also as leverage.

“How do you ensure that you don’t have Hamas members embedding themselves into the civilians, as they have done time and again? How do you ensure that Gazans coming into the east aren’t hindering clearance operations of tunnels or unexploded munitions?” Alkhatib asked. “I also think that the return of Palestinians to beyond the ‘yellow zone’ is leverage that Israel is holding onto until phase one is thoroughly and fully complete.”

Vice President JD Vance, in Israel last week, said during his trip that Palestinians should be able to move into a “Hamas-free zone” in southern Gaza “in the next couple months.” But experts warned that the timeline will be difficult given the conditions on the ground.

David May, a senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said Israel has developed technology to recognize Hamas fighters and could use it to allow non-combatants access to the area under Israeli control. But even if Israel can vet who enters, eastern Gaza has endured destruction comparable to the west, and serious concerns await displaced civilians.

“The ubiquitous tunnel system that Hamas has dug in Gaza, which no doubt traverses the yellow line that serves as the ceasefire line, limits Israel’s ability to provide a safe zone in the eastern portion of Gaza,” May told JI.

Palestinians who move into the Hamas-free zone and those working on rebuilding would also face the issue of land ownership, Alkhatib noted.

“Who owns these lands, and where do people have their homes? Every plot of land in Gaza is accounted for,” he said. “You can’t just rebuild Gaza without taking into consideration that you’re doing so over pieces of land and properties that belonged to people.”

“There could be a process in which that happens, regardless of any claims to the land,” Alkhatib continued. “Basically there could be a fund established that allows for the compensation of rightful owners. But beyond that, eastern Gaza could be developed to create a compelling example that others in Gaza want to be part of.”

Despite these challenges, experts say finding ways to take in Palestinians to east Gaza could isolate Hamas in the west — a strategy Israel could use to undermine the terrorist group’s authority and bring in international support for rebuilding.

“East Gaza under IDF control would become a Hamas-free zone where the world comes together to support the emergence of thriving new political, social and economic institutions where the lives of average Gazans would flourish,” said John Hannah, a senior fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America.

“Hamas-controlled west Gaza, by contrast, would be condemned to repression, stagnation and sustained misery. Over time, the east would become a huge magnet for the vast majority of Gaza’s population who would vote with their feet to live within a ‘free Gaza,’ fatally isolating and undermining Hamas rule and legitimacy,” Hannah continued.

May said this contrast can show Gazans “an alternative to life under Hamas’ corruption and oppression” and make donors more likely to contribute to rebuilding projects knowing aid won’t be intercepted by Hamas.

“If there is running water, sewer, electricity, internet, fixed roads and infrastructure, if there is something that resembles jobs and economic opportunity, and you create vetted methods for accepting incoming civilians into that area, then absolutely there could be a way in such that slowly drains the population out of west Gaza,” said Alkhatib.

However, Hannah argued that keeping half the enclave as a buffer zone could also serve Israel’s interests if fighting resumes.

“Right now, Israel controls an extensive buffer zone containing very few hostile Gazans standing between its border communities and Hamas-controlled west Gaza,” said Hannah. “How eager should [Israel] be to attract over a million or more Gazans to pick up and move much closer to Israel’s borders?”

May said Israel may have plenty of time to decide on how to proceed should Hamas continue to be uncooperative with the implementation of the rest of the first phase of the agreement.

“There is still a lot up in the air,” said May. “As ceasefire lines in the Middle East have a tendency to become permanent borders, Israel needs to plan for the possibility of the yellow line becoming a long-term territorial marker.”

COPYCAT EFFECT

Fairfax County schools denounce Muslim student groups promoting hostage taking, violence on social media

The DC area’s Jewish community council calls for the offending students to be disciplined

Fairfax County Public Schools bus is seen outside of Lutie Lewis Coates Elementary School in Herndon, Virginia.

By

Haley Cohen

October 27, 2025

The Fairfax County public school system denounced two high schools’ Muslim Student Association chapters on Monday for publishing social media videos that imitate hostage-taking and depict violence as part of a recruitment pitch to attract participants to their programming.

The school system, in a statement to Jewish Insider, said that if the involved students are found to have violated school conduct codes, they will be “held accountable for their actions.” But they announced no disciplinary measures yet, despite widespread outcry from Jewish community leaders in the Northern Virginia suburb.

“FCPS has been made aware of social media videos featuring high school student organization members that are neither school nor division approved,” a spokesperson for the school district told JI. “These videos depict violence, including kidnappings, with victims being hooded and placed in the trunk of a car, among other things. Acting out these types of violent acts is traumatizing for many of us to watch and, given world events, especially traumatizing to our Jewish students, staff, and community.”

The statement goes on: “FCPS would never consider these videos to be appropriate or acceptable content. Any students found to be violating our Student Rights and Responsibilities will be held accountable for their actions.”

The videos were published on Instagram last week by MSA chapters at two elite FCPS schools, Langley High School and Thomas Jefferson High for Science and Technology. Both videos invited students to join a club meeting and pretended to kidnap those who did not want to participate.

The Langley MSA video, which portrayed a kidnapping of students by throwing them into the trunk of a car, has since been deleted.

The Thomas Jefferson MSA clip, which was taken offline after JI reported its existence Monday afternoon, was filmed in a classroom where a student wearing a keffiyeh asks other students if they plan to attend the meeting. When two students say no, two other students approach them, cover their heads with keffiyehs and carry them away to the other side of the room, as they pretend to scream that they are being kidnapped.

In the following scene, the two students say they are attending, one of whom is wearing a sweatshirt with an outline of Israel, the West Bank and Gaza filled in with the colors of the Palestinian flag. The video ends showing the “kidnapped” students laying down, one on the floor and one in a plastic bin, and text that says, “no one was harmed in the making of this video.”

Instagram video from Thomas Jefferson High for Science and Technology’s Muslim Student Association chapter

Langley High School administration did not respond to JI’s request for comment about the video, while Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology administrators declined to comment, redirecting the inquiry to the county.

“We are appalled that some FCPS high school students used unauthorized social media accounts bearing FCPS school names to imitate hostage-taking and violent deaths. It is never appropriate to make light of such horrific acts, but it is especially callous and cruel to do so when Hamas continues to hold the bodies of deceased Israeli hostages more than two years after committing the worst mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust,” Guila Franklin Siegel, the JCRC of Greater Washington’s chief operating officer, told JI.

“The trauma that all families impacted by the Israel-Hamas war have experienced over the past two years remains fresh. Making light of violence during a time of war is beyond the pale.”

“FCPS must determine whether students have violated school conduct codes with this behavior, and if so, discipline them accordingly,” continued Siegel. “The district should take any steps necessary, including legal action if needed, to ensure that school names, images, and logos do not appear on unauthorized social media accounts. School officials must communicate transparently and with moral clarity to the entire school system about these incidents. All people of goodwill should be horrified by this.”

Siegel called the school system’s response to several recent antisemitic incidents “slow and nontransparent,” and urged FCPS to “do more to properly address such behavior.”

The MSA posts come weeks after students at several Muslim student organizations at Fairfax County high schools organized “Keffiyeh Week” protests timed to the second anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attacks, encouraging classmates to wear the scarf associated with the Palestinian movement.

DISCUSSION REOPENED

With hostages home, Israel revisits special tribunal, death penalty for Oct. 7 terrorists

Israeli Justice Minister Yariv Levin threw his support behind legislation to allow for the formation of a special tribunal to prosecute Hamas terrorists who are part of the Nukhba, the terrorist group’s special forces unit

Knesset

MK Simcha Rothman (center)

By

Lahav Harkov

October 24, 2025

The return of the final, living hostages to Israel last week has reopened discussion of putting the Palestinian perpetrators of the Oct. 7, 2023, atrocities in Israel on trial.

Israeli Justice Minister Yariv Levin threw his support behind legislation to allow for the formation of a special tribunal to prosecute Hamas terrorists who are part of the Nukhba, the terrorist group’s special forces unit, on charges of genocide, which carries the death penalty.

The bill is meant to “ensure that the legal process will be run efficiently and to ensure that justice will be done and seen,” Levin said in a joint statement with the bill’s sponsors, Knesset Law, Constitution and Justice Committee Chairman Simcha Rothman of the Religious Zionist Party and Yisrael Beytenu lawmaker Yuli Malinovsky. The group plans to bring the legislation to a first vote as soon as possible and usher it through the process “at the greatest speed, with a shared aim to bring the Nukhba terrorists to justice soon.”

Levin, Rothman and Malinovsky said that the office of the Israeli state attorney, the country’s chief prosecutor, has drafted indictments against Nukhba terrorists.

They noted that during the two years since the Hamas attacks on southern Israel, the State Attorney’s Office, police and Shin Bet have interrogated the Nukhba terrorists and collected evidence “of an unprecedented scope,” including thousands of hours of video of the atrocities and of testimony.

During that time, the Law, Constitution and Justice Committee held a series of meetings to examine possible ways to put the Nukhba terrorists on trial and ensure they are prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

“We met with the Justice Ministry once every few months,” Rothman told Jewish Insider. “Levin finally supports [the bill]. Every obstacle was standing in our way, and [Levin] didn’t make an effort to remove them. Now, there’s nothing preventing it from moving forward.”

The move toward putting Oct. 7 perpetrators on trial comes soon after the return of the living hostages, as well as weeks after a heated debate in the Knesset over instituting the death penalty for terrorists. The legislation’s explanatory portion says it is meant to “nip terrorism in the bud and create a heavy deterrent.”

The death penalty has only been carried out once in Israel’s history — following the conviction of senior Nazi official Adolf Eichmann for crimes against the Jewish people and crimes against humanity.

The bill, which applies to terrorists broadly, not only those who participated in the Oct. 7 attacks, was proposed by members of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit Party and brought before the Knesset National Security Committee, chaired by Tzvika Foghel, also of Otzma. The Prime Minister’s Office asked Ben-Gvir to postpone the vote.

Gal Hirsch, the coordinator for the hostages, said in the committee meeting that Ben-Gvir’s effort was potentially harmful to the ongoing discussions to secure the release of the remaining hostages. Representatives from hostage families have also pleaded with the lawmakers to stop the proceedings, concerned that the moves could endanger their loved ones.

On Monday, Ben-Gvir made an ultimatum to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that either the death penalty bill passes a first Knesset vote in the next three weeks, or his party will no longer vote with the coalition.

“When terrorists remain alive, the terrorists outside are motivated to carry out kidnappings in order to free their Nazi brothers in future deals,” Ben-Gvir said. “If they murder a Jew, they do not stay alive.”

Rothman argued that his bill is significantly different from Ben-Gvir’s, and pointed out that he held a committee meeting the same week as the one that courted controversy, and neither Netanyahu nor Hirsch asked him to hold off.

“It’s a question of whether you want real results. [Otzma lawmakers] don’t understand what they’re dealing with. The law they want to pass [is so broad], I think it would end up giving a Jewish Israeli the death penalty first,” he remarked.

While Rothman said that having all of the living hostages home will help the Oct. 7 trials to move forward, when he asked senior defense figures over the last two years whether there was a risk to the hostages’ lives from his actions, “they said no. They said when there’s a conviction or maybe even an indictment, possibly, but just building the framework is not a risk.”

As such, Rothman said that though it may seem like a long time has passed, “the time hasn’t been a waste. A lot of material was collected and we oversaw the legislative and political decisions that needed to be made.”

Rothman and Malinovsky’s bill would establish a special tribunal for those who participated in the Oct. 7 attacks, with the proceedings made public. The legislation sets different rules for presenting evidence to protect the privacy of victims and their families, and to streamline the process of prosecuting large numbers of defendants. It also allows for non-Israeli judges to be appointed. In addition, it would establish a committee of representatives of Israel’s justice minister, defense minister and foreign minister to determine government policy as to whether to prosecute the Nukhba terrorists on genocide charges, which carry the death penalty, taking national security into consideration.

In a Knesset Law, Constitution and Justice Committee meeting on Wednesday, the first since Levin publicly supported the bill, Malinovsky said that she and Rothman “understand that it was difficult to gather evidence … and I know that law enforcement and the State Attorney’s Office overturned every stone to find evidence. [Regular] criminal justice proceedings do not have a response for the events of Oct. 7, therefore MK Rothman and I wrote this bill to regulate the jailing and prosecution of the terrorists who participated in the Oct. 7 massacre.”

Malinovsky said that there is difficulty tying specific terrorists to specific murders, and genocide is a collective crime, by which they can be charged as a group. In cases in which there is no evidence tying a terrorist to genocide, they can be tried in a military court as illegal fighters who committed acts of terror against Israel, a crime that carries a life sentence.

Much of the bill is focused on clear criteria for genocide charges.

“At first, the Justice Ministry said that genocide charges won’t work,” Rothman recalled earlier this week, “but today, I think they understand that they need to go there.”

The special tribunal is meant to prevent the Oct. 7 trials from getting caught up in the Israeli justice system’s significant backlog.

“It’s a lot of heavy cases that will block up the whole justice system” if the trials are in regular courts, Rothman explained.

In addition, he said, “I don’t want a situation where a judge is with the Nukhba in the morning and in the afternoon is dealing with an Israel who stole a car. We could end up lowering the standards of defendants’ rights in all of Israel. When we authorized preventing meetings [of terrorists] with lawyers, [judges] used it for all kinds of other cases, just because they can. We’re not going to allow that.”

Rothman said that the question of appointing foreign judges to the tribunal remains open, because it may be too complex. However, he said, “bringing a major jurist from the U.S. or somewhere else can give the trials an international imprimatur.”

Malinovsky said at the committee meeting that the Oct. 7 attacks “are like nothing else in the world, and I invite anyone who has knowledge to speak. We need creative solutions, outside of the box, and therefore we need a change of attitude, especially in the Justice Ministry.”

TRIP TALK

Vance takes center stage in Trump effort to keep Gaza ceasefire on track

The vice president’s visit to Israel marks a pivot point in the Trump administration’s efforts for a post-Hamas Gaza

Nathan Howard-Pool/Getty Images

U.S. Vice President JD Vance boards Air Force Two en route to Israel on October 20, 2025 at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland.

By

Matthew Shea

October 21, 2025

Vice President JD Vance landed in Israel on Tuesday with the charge to lead efforts to stabilize the fragile ceasefire in Gaza and assist in the implementation of the second phase of President Donald Trump’s peace deal.

Following the release of the remaining 20 living Israeli hostages from Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, there was little indication that Hamas would abide by the other elements of Trump’s 20-point plan, which calls on the terrorist group to disarm and cede governance to a technocratic group of Palestinian leaders. In the last week, Hamas began executing Palestinians, clashing with rival groups and reasserting itself as the security and governing force in the Gaza Strip.

Over the weekend, Hamas terrorists shot an anti-tank missile at IDF machinery and killed two soldiers and Israel retaliated with airstrikes in Rafah, further jeopardizing the status of the ceasefire. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu briefly halted the delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza, but reversed course following pressure from the Trump administration.

The vice president will now step into the conflict, visiting Israel at an important juncture as the Trump administration looks to avoid another breakdown into renewed hostilities and ensure full compliance with the deal.

“Hamas is going to fire on Israel. Israel’s going to have to respond, of course. There are going to be moments where you have people within Gaza that you’re [not] quite sure what they’re actually doing. But we think it has the best chance for sustainable peace,” Vance told reporters on Sunday, referring to the peace proposal.

The decision to dispatch Vance to Israel is a sign of the Trump administration’s continued engagement in the Middle East after securing the hostage-release deal, according to experts.

“We are in a moment of really intense American engagement and influence that have got us to a stage one that no analyst a month ago would have told you was possible, and so there is a moment of opportunity here,” said John Hannah, a senior fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America. “In order to be sustained, it’s a ceasefire and peace process that is going to require intense and continuous U.S. engagement at the most senior levels.”

While Vance’s foreign policy experience was limited during his time in the Senate, the vice president has remained deeply engaged on issues regarding Israel during the second Trump administration. Hannah said this continued high level involvement will be key to sustaining any peace deal.

David May, a senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said deploying Vance shows the significance of this issue to the Trump administration.

“This is a huge legacy item for President Trump, and so trying to make sure that the ceasefire holds is a highly important item for him. They had to send someone of a high profile, and sending the vice president shows that you are serious,” said May.

May said it would be a “huge accomplishment” if Vance is able to keep the ceasefire from collapsing — and secure progress toward other elements of Trump’s peace plan.

“This is now an opportunity for Vance to build on his portfolio and show his vice presidential experience,” said May. “There’s very often vice presidents that sit in the background and don’t do much and don’t have much to show for it. This is an opportunity for him to get in the foreground.”

The key, May says, will be for Vance to leverage the U.S. relationship with Israel and convince Netanyahu’s government to show restraint in responding to Hamas’ provocations.

“In order for the ceasefire not to collapse, the exchanges of fire have to stop. It’s very difficult to get Hamas to stop firing, but if you can get the Israelis to stop responding, or at least to respond less forcefully, then maybe that can lower the temperature a little bit and allow for some of the benefits of the ceasefire to start kicking in,” said May.

But beyond keeping the pause in hostilities afloat, the administration still faces a significant challenge in completely disarming Hamas and removing them from Gaza, a hurdle May says could require further confrontation with the terrorist group.

“I don’t think any power besides maybe the United States or Israel can be trusted and would have the commitment to actually disarming Hamas,” said May. “Unless Hamas is able, or willing, to resume its previous role as being a more religious and cultural and social organization without the same political power or weapons, I don’t foresee a way of implementing the ceasefire without maybe another round of fighting with Israel actually taking out Hamas.”

Vance is slated to stay in Israel until Thursday, according to reports. The vice president will join White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, both of whom played vital roles in securing the first phase of the deal, who are already in Israel and met on Monday with Netanyahu.

ANALYSIS

Where the center is holding — and where it’s collapsing

There are a number of upcoming key elections that will test the power of the mainstream against extremist forces

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Democratic socialist candidate Zohran Mamdani, who won the Democratic primary for mayor of New York City, attends an endorsement event from the union DC 37 on July 15, 2025, in New York City.

By

Josh Kraushaar

October 20, 2025

Last Friday, we laid out how American Jewry is facing a fork in the road in the aftermath of the Gaza war and release of hostages, and that the coming months will be crucial in assessing whether Jews will experience a renewed period of normalcy or whether the rising tide of anti-Israel sentiment and antisemitism will continue unabated.

There are a number of upcoming key elections that will test the power of the mainstream against extremist forces. Here are the developments we’ll be watching most closely.

Will Zohran Mamdani win a majority of the New York City vote, and how will he govern if elected as mayor? Right now, without any surge in funding and organization among anti-Mamdani forces in Gotham, it’s looking very likely that the far-left candidate will prevail. But polls still show him consistently under 50%, without gaining any real momentum since winning the Democratic primary. And half of the six most recent public polls in the race (as tracked by RealClearPolitics) show the anti-Mamdani candidates collectively winning more of the vote than the front-runner. This race doesn’t at all look like a mandate for the far left.

If Mamdani wins, the next big question is whether he’ll govern more pragmatically than his past record would suggest. Will he try to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he visits New York City, as he has consistently said he would do on the campaign trail? Will he threaten the tax-exempt status of Jewish groups because they support Israel? Will he reappoint Jessica Tisch, the effective NYPD chief, as a signal of his willingness to moderate?

He’s been wooing business leaders and working to spin reporters that he’s not as ideological as his political career suggests, but that may be more wishful thinking than anything based on a careful scrutiny of his comments and record.

Will Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) or Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) receive a serious primary challenge? Massie and Greene are the two members of the small but loud faction of the anti-Israel and increasingly antisemitic crowd among House Republicans. Not coincidentally, they also are the two Republicans that are most antagonistic towards President Donald Trump — from calling for a release of the government files on Jeffrey Epstein to, in Greene’s case, agreeing with some Democratic health care demands during the government shutdown.

Massie looks more politically vulnerable, with Trump and his allies actively recruiting a challenger to run against him and releasing internal polling showing he can be defeated. Former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein, who ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the Kentucky Senate last year, looks like Trump’s favored candidate. But no one has yet announced a challenge, with the filing deadline less than three months away (Jan. 9).

Greene looks safer, but her increasing Trump criticism could change that dynamic. The filing deadline in Georgia isn’t until March 2026.

How credible a threat will Graham Platner pose to Gov. Janet Mills in Maine’s Democratic Senate primary? Under normal political circumstances, an established two-term governor would hold a commanding advantage over an oyster farmer without any elective experience in a race for the Senate. That’s especially true given that the challenger has a long paper trail of comments calling himself a communist and embracing a laundry list of radical views.

Yet Platner has parlayed his rough-and-tumble biography and anti-establishment authenticity into media buzz, and raised an impressive $4 million for the race since announcing his candidacy over the summer.

Mills, who is 77 and the favorite of Democratic Party leaders, starts out as the favorite to win the nomination. Platner has lately been facing scrutiny over his lengthy string of social media posts where he identified as a communist, called all police “bastards” and said rural Americans are racist and stupid, among other incendiary comments. He also downplayed concerns of sexual assault in the military in online forums.

Normally, those types of views and comments would be political career-enders. But in this anti-establishment, populist moment, it’s hard to be confident in assuming the traditional rules of politics apply. After all, Mamdani has weathered scrutiny of his own radical affiliations without suffering outsized political consequences.

In addition to holding down-the-line progressive views on the economy, Platner is also uniquely hostile to Israel, even to the point of releasing a digital attack ad against the pro-Israel advocacy group AIPAC. Shortly after launching his campaign for the Senate, Platner labeled Israel’s war against Hamas a genocide.

Mills, as governor, doesn’t have much of a foreign policy record but has spoken out against Israel boycott measures embraced by municipal leaders in Portland. But as the candidate representing more-mainstream Maine Democrats, it’s likely she will adopt a more-moderate posture when it comes to Middle East policy.

Will Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares be rewarded for his work against antisemitism? For a while, it looked like there would be a sizable blue wave in this November’s Virginia statewide elections, with Trump unpopular in the state and the DOGE-fueled government layoffs juicing up Democratic engagement.

That leaves Miyares, the state’s Republican attorney general who has targeted terrorist funding from anti-Israel groups in the state and called on Virginia’s universities to aggressively confront antisemitism, in a precarious political position.

But a shocking scandal involving his Democratic opponent, former state legislator Jay Jones, has upended the race and given Miyares a good chance to win reelection. The revelation of text messages from Jones wishing violence against one of his GOP colleagues has drawn bipartisan outrage, and led some Democrats to distance themselves from him. Public polling has been sparse, but recent surveys have shown Miyares pulling ahead in the race after trailing throughout the year.

One nonpartisan Jewish leader in Virginia told Jewish Insider that Miyares was one of the most effective and engaged elected officials in countering antisemitism, and the race was emerging as a key bellwether of whether Jewish voters would reward GOP officials for their allyship.

One example of Miyares’ bipartisanship: the Virginia attorney general played a key role in working to remove the anti-Israel protest encampment outside former Secretary of State Tony Blinken’s Northern Virginia home after progressive local government officials declined to do so.

Can Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) prove anti-Israel activists on social media are more bark than bite? The other big Democratic Senate showdown is taking place in Michigan, the state with a sizable Jewish constituency but also the largest share of Arab voters in the country.

Stevens starts out as the front-runner, thanks to her record of winning tough elections, successful fundraising and backing from many national Democratic leaders. She has also been a stalwart supporter of Israel, easily toppling an anti-Israel Democratic challenger in a closely watched 2022 Democratic primary against another sitting member of Congress. She’s a favorite of the politically engaged Jewish Democratic community, many of whom have championed her candidacy.

But with the political winds on Israel in the Democratic Party shifting, Stevens will be facing her fiercest test against two challengers running campaigns that are decidedly more hostile towards Israel. Abdul el-Sayed, an acolyte of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), has long been an opponent of the Jewish state, and is likely to win over many Arab-American voters with anti-Israel views.

State Sen. Mallory McMorrow began her campaign sounding more in the pro-Israel camp, but has grown steadily more hostile as Democratic voters have turned more critical of the Jewish state. This month, she said she considered Israel’s war in Gaza to be a genocide.

Stevens is still widely viewed as a favorite, and led the pack in fundraising in the just-completed third fundraising quarter. She also benefits from the possibility that McMorrow and el-Sayed split the progressive, anti-Israel vote, leaving more-mainstream Democratic voters in her camp.

But if anti-Israel sentiment becomes a litmus test for more Democratic primary voters, Stevens could face headwinds down the road. This primary, taking place next August, is as clear a test as there is of the size and depth of hostility towards Israel in the Democratic Party.

Will socialist, anti-Israel candidates prevail outside of New York City? While Mamdani’s Democratic Socialists of America-aligned mayoral campaign has gotten outsized attention, socialist candidates in the mold of Mamdani are running for mayor of other big cities across the country.

In Minneapolis, the city’s liberal Minneapolis mayor, Jacob Frey (who is Jewish), is facing a DSA-backed challenge from Omar Fateh. Fateh, a state senator, is a BDS supporter and hired senior staffers who defended the Oct. 7 terror attacks, and have called for the dismantlement of Israel. This race is expected to be close, according to in-state analysts.

The other notable contest is in Seattle, where Mayor Bruce Harrell finished in second place in an August primary to a self-declared socialist challenger, Katie Wilson. The two candidates are facing off in the general election, where Harrell is now seen as an underdog. Wilson has spoken out less about Israel and the war in Gaza than many of her socialist counterparts, but many Jewish leaders in Seattle are concerned about her overall record.

dueling narratives

Israelis divided over Kushner, Witkoff portrayals of Doha strike

The Trump advisors said the president felt the Israelis were ‘out of control' and it was 'time to be very strong' with them

Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images

U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff (C), flanked by Jared Kushner (L), speaks at the weekly 'Bring Them Home' rally in Hostage Square Hostages Square on October 11, 2025 in Tel Aviv, Israel.

By

Lahav Harkov

October 19, 2025

Two clashing narratives have emerged about Israel’s strike on a meeting of senior Hamas terrorists in Doha, Qatar, in September, following the release of a preview of an interview with U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner on CBS’ “60 Minutes” program that aired on Sunday evening.

Both narratives posit that the strike hastened the arrival of President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan to free the hostages and end the war. Figures close to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the attack pushed an anxious Qatar, Hamas’ patron and host of its senior officials, to do more to get the terrorist organization across the finish line.

Trump’s negotiators, however, presented a scenario in which the president, unhappy about the strike, pressured Israel to end the war.

Of the Israeli strike on Doha, Witkoff said that he and Kushner, who in recent months has also played a key role in the administration’s Middle East efforts, “felt a little bit betrayed.”

Kushner added, “I think [Trump] felt like the Israelis were getting a little bit out of control in what they were doing, and it was time to be very strong and stop them from doing things he thought were not in their long-term interest.”

Witkoff said that Qatar, which served as a key mediator between Hamas and Israel for much of the negotiations, said that, following the strike, “we had lost the confidence of the Qataris, so Hamas went underground. It was very difficult to get to them … and it became very, very evident as to how important, how critical [Qatar’s] role was.”

Jerusalem, however, had a different version of the events, as told by Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, Netanyahu’s closest confidante, in an Israel Hayom column by journalist Amit Segal.

Israelis involved in the negotiations viewed Qatar as a “spoiler,” such as when they talked Hamas out of accepting a deal proposed by Egypt earlier in the year, according to Segal.

Dermer, Segal wrote, “links the strike to the agreement … The Qataris, it turns out, were convinced that by agreeing to host the negotiations, they had obtained immunity from Israeli strikes on their soil. From their perspective, the strike was a blatant, offensive breach of the commitment. … The Americans’ genius was to convert that negative energy into fuel to propel negotiations to their goal. ‘You want Israel to stop? Then let’s end the war.'”

Netanyahu’s office and the White House closely coordinated throughout subsequent talks to end the war, Segal reported. Then came an agreement backed by several Arab states calling for Hamas to disarm and without the immediate involvement of the Palestinian Authority.

Reactions in Israel to the “60 minutes” preview fell on predictable lines. Netanyahu’s critics said that the U.S. officials’ comments demonstrated that the prime minister did not want to enter the agreement, but instead was pushed into it by Trump.

Israeli Opposition Leader Yair Lapid argued that Witkoff and Kushner’s comments made clear that “after the failed attack on Doha, Trump thought that Netanyahu lost control and forced an agreement on Netanyahu that he didn’t want. … An American administration has never described an Israeli government like this.”

Ha’aretz journalist Amir Tibon, who lived in one of the kibbutzim attacked by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, posted on X: “Witkoff and Kushner say in their own voices: Trump understood that Netanyahu was not on the right track and acted aggressively against him to reach a ceasefire and free the hostages.”

Nava Rozolyo, a prominent figure in the protests against Netanyahu years before the Gaza war began, wrote: “Thank you … for forcing Hamas and Netanyahu to reach an agreement on the return of all hostages and ending the war. Thank you for saving us from our own government and for saving lives.”

On the Israeli right, many took issue with Witkoff and Kushner’s retelling of events.

Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs President Dan Diker posted on X that “the Israelis ‘getting out of control’ is what helped bring the hostage deal to the table, scaring the Qataris out of their minds.”

Some highlighted Kushner and Witkoff’s business dealings in Qatar. Kushner’s investment company, Affinity Partners, manages billions of dollars in investments from Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund. Witkoff’s son sought Qatari investments in commercial real estate projects earlier this year, and in 2023, Qatar bought the Park Lane Hotel in Manhattan from Witkoff and his partners.

Yishai Fleisher, spokesman for the Jewish community in Hebron and an informal advisor to Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who opposes the ceasefire deal, posted on X in response to the video: “Two American Jews, with no blood on the line in Israel (their wife and kids don’t drive on the roads with Jihadis), but lots of money on the line and business with Qatar, wag their finger at the Jewish State as they cut an awful deal that is certain to bring war.”

Other moments in the interview courted further controversy in Israel, such as when Witkoff described an Israeli cabinet meeting that he attended, in which Ben-Gvir talked about “all the death and all the carnage” from the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks and was “emotional.” In response, Witkoff described his son Andrew’s death from an overdose and told the Israeli cabinet minister to “let it go, you just can’t play the victim all the time.”

Witkoff also brought up his son’s death in the interview in relation to his meeting with Hamas lead negotiator Khalil al-Haya, whose son was killed in the Doha strike.

“We expressed our condolences to him for the loss of his son, and I told him that I had lost my son and we are both members of a really bad club, parents who had buried children,” he said.

Kushner said of Witkoff and the senior Hamas terrorist: “When Steve and him talked about their sons, it turned from a negotiation with a terrorist group to seeing two human beings kind of showing a vulnerability with each other.”

Kushner also said that he sought to relay a message to Israel’s leadership that “now that the war is over, if you want to integrate Israel with the broader Middle East, you have to find a way to help the Palestinian people thrive and do better.”

“How are you doing with that message?” Leslie Stahl asked.

Kushner smiled and replied: “We’re just getting started.”

This report was updated on Oct. 20, 2025, after the CBS “60 Minutes” interview aired in full.

LOOKING AHEAD

Next steps in Gaza murky as Hamas reasserts itself, keeps most hostage bodies

With Hamas refusing to disarm, there may be “two Gazas,” with war in one part, Trump’s proposed technocratic government in another, experts tell JI

Abed Rahim Khatib/picture alliance via Getty Images

16 October 2025, Palestinian Territories, Khan Yunis: A truck carrying fuel enters Khan Yunis through the Karem Shalom crossing as part of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.

By

Lahav Harkov

October 16, 2025

Following the joy in Israel over the return of the remaining living hostages on Monday and President Donald Trump’s declaration that “the long and painful nightmare is finally over” came the letdown: Hamas, as of Thursday, had returned only nine out of 28 bodies of the deceased hostages and started to execute rivals and reestablish itself in the areas of Gaza from which the IDF withdrew.

While Trump has repeatedly said the war in Gaza is over, when asked by CBS News if that’s the case, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel “agreed to give peace a chance,” and later in the interview said it still needs to “finish the war as speedily as possible.”

The future of Gaza remains unclear, despite Israel agreeing to Trump’s 20-point plan for the region. Hamas only agreed to the immediate steps in the plan: stopping the war, freeing the hostages in exchange for 1,950 prisoners, including those who killed Israelis in terrorist attacks, and Israel withdrawing to a specified line within Gaza.

Trump posted on Truth Social on Wednesday that the plan’s second phase, which entails Hamas’ disarmament and demilitarization of the Gaza Strip, “begins right NOW!!!” Yet, an Israeli official confirmed to Jewish Insider a report that, with Hamas withholding most of the remaining hostages’ bodies, negotiations to continue to the next phase of the plan are on hold.

Disarming Hamas and the demilitarization of Gaza are meant to take place “under the supervision of independent monitors,” but those monitors have yet to be selected and sent to the region. The Peace Board announced — and led — by Trump, with the involvement of former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair that is meant to oversee Gaza’s administration by Palestinian technocrats has not yet been formed, nor has the temporary International Stabilization Force meant to train Palestinian police and be part of the “long-term internal security solution” for Gaza and Israel.

Meanwhile, Hamas has entered the vacuum and, in recent days, has tried to consolidate its power by killing members of clans that it accused of collaborating with Israel.

On Tuesday, Trump called the clans “gangs that were very bad,” adding that Hamas’ attacks “didn’t bother me much” and that the terror group had his “permission” to proceed; Trump compared Gazan opponents of Hamas to gang members from Venezuela who entered the U.S. illegally.

At the same time, Trump said that Hamas must disarm, threatening U.S. involvement if the group does not lay down its weapons. “They will disarm or we will disarm them,” Trump said. “If they don’t disarm, it’ll happen quickly and perhaps violently, but they will disarm.”

Netanyahu told CBS News that he “hope[s] we can do this peacefully. We’re certainly ready to do so.”

Kobi Michael, a senior researcher at the Misgav Institute for National Security and Zionist Strategy, told the Misgav Mideast Horizons podcast co-hosted by Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov this week that although Trump’s plan “has 20 articles, it is not very well-detailed. Actually, it is a framework … [Trump] isn’t very interested in the details. He is very focused on the final outcome, on the vision. He leaves the details for the professionals.”

“If President Trump will lose his focus, determination, decisiveness with regard to the further phases of his own plan — and I mean disarming Hamas, demilitarization of the Gaza Strip, and so on — [Israel] might find [itself] in a stalemate. This, I would say, is the main challenge of the State of Israel — keep President Trump focused,” Michael warned.

Ofer Guterman, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University, told JI that Hamas reestablishing itself within the “yellow line” to which the IDF withdrew is “unpleasant but expected,” because “up until now, Israel refused to deal with all the systems we wanted to put in place instead of Hamas.”

“The technocratic administration, international forces, Palestinian police, etc. – these are just headlines with nothing behind them. We need to start building them. Some will only be relevant in weeks or maybe months,” Guterman argued.

Guterman also pointed out that, while the second phase of the deal may go into effect in the coming weeks, it will likely last for years.

“We need to remember that we are still in phase one,” he said. “Not all the hostages are back, and that influences the decision-making in Israel. … Our first, central goal is to bring back most, if not all, or the hostages’ bodies that remain there.”

Former Israeli National Security Advisor Maj.-Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror said that Hamas is likely to return most of the bodies to the best of its capability.

“Hamas understands that, without [returning the bodies], it will clearly not be fulfilling its obligation to the Americans and Qatar and other countries, and may find itself in a war in which it doesn’t have its main card, the hostages,” Amidror said in a Jerusalem Press Club briefing.

Michael warned that while countries such as Qatar and Turkey that support the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas “were clever enough to understand … what is important for President Trump is to release the live hostages and declare the end of the war, and when it comes to the other phases, President Trump will be much more tolerant and they will be able to convince him that they need more time and Israel has to make further concessions.”

“Hamas does not intend to dismantle itself … [or] give up its influence and position, not only in the Gaza Strip, but the entire Palestinian arena,” Michael said. “The Qataris and the Turks are interested in keeping Hamas as a relevant player in the Gaza Strip, first of all, as a platform for increasing its influence on the entire Palestinian Authority.”

The priority in Gaza must be removing Hamas’ control over any part of the enclave, including humanitarian or civilian services, Amidror argued.

“The people of Gaza are suffering from the strong hand of Hamas,” he said. “Today, Hamas is killing many Gazans. … We have to find a way to disarm Hamas for them and for Israel.”

Amidror also said that it is “clear that nothing can be done in Gaza, not to rebuild, not to bring in forces that will implement civilian change, if Hamas is still so strong. Hamas cannot attack Israel anymore, but it is the strongest force in Gaza, and in that situation, no one will rebuild Gaza.”

As long as Hamas does not disarm, Guterman said, “Israel must prevent the rehabilitation of the areas of Gaza controlled by Hamas.”

Michael pointed out that Trump’s plan allows Israel and partner countries to proceed with establishing a technocratic administration and International Stability Force in Gaza before Hamas is disarmed.

“If Israel will agree to do that in the southern part, the area between Khan Younis and Rafah, I think there is a high probability for the success of security personnel and the Palestinian Authority,” Michael said. “They will enter the region empty of Hamas, with the presence of the government of technocrats, and everything will be fully coordinated with the IDF. … Begin the reconstruction process there, and continue the war in the north against Hamas, until Hamas is dismantled.”

In such a scenario, Michael posited that residents of Gaza will try to move south to the areas being rebuilt to try to make a better life than in the areas controlled by Hamas.

“Then Hamas will lose its strength, which [comes from] the population, and it will be much easier for the IDF to besiege the areas that Hamas is present in, to dismantle Hamas,” he said.

Guterman thought that Israel implementing the plan in only part of Gaza was the likely scenario, but that progress would halt there and there would be “two Gazas.”

“Hamas will be within the yellow line, trying to grow more powerful as we try to fight it, and Gaza will have a security corridor in over 50% of the territory, making it easier to defend the [Israeli] towns near the border and create a better base for actions against Hamas,” he said.

For there to be an alternative administration in the IDF-controlled areas of Gaza that would undermine Hamas’ legitimacy, run by countries in the region, Israel’s “concession will have to be … committing to a viable path to a two-state solution,” Guterman argued.

Good Monday morning!

In today’s Daily Kickoff, we report on the release this morning of the 20 remaining living Israeli hostages, and preview President Donald Trump’s speech to the Knesset. We talk to historian Pamela Nadell about her new book about antisemitism, and look at the race taking shape in Tennessee between Rep. Steve Cohen and state legislator Justin Pearson. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Patrick Dumont, Zeev Buium and Ben Shapiro.

Ed. note: The next Daily Kickoff will arrive in your inbox on Thursday. Chag Sameach!

Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by Jewish Insider Executive Editor Melissa Weiss and Tamara Zieve with assists from Marc Rod and Danielle Cohen-Kanik. Have a tip? Email us here.

What We’re Watching

We’re following today’s events as they unfold in Israel, following the release this morning of the remaining living hostages and President Donald Trump’s arrival in the country. Trump will travel to Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, later today for a signing ceremony that will be attended by officials from around the world. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declined an invitation extended earlier today by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, citing the Simchat Torah holiday, which begins this evening in Israel.

What You Should Know

A QUICK WORD WITH MELISSA WEISS AND TAMARA ZIEVE

It was the day that Israelis have waited for after more than two years — or two years exactly by the Hebrew calendar. Thousands had already assembled by dawn at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, where some had slept overnight, for the release of the last remaining hostages known to be alive. Shortly after 8 a.m., the first seven hostages — Omri Miran, Matan Angrest, Ziv Berman, Gali Berman, Guy Gilboa-Dalal, Alon Ohel and Eitan Mor — were released to Red Cross custody.

The song “Habayta,” meaning “home,” the unofficial anthem of the hostage families, played over a montage of photos of the 47 men and one woman who have spent the last 738 days in captivity — a scene that has repeated itself in the square every Saturday night for two years.

Israeli networks split coverage between the live festivities across the country, in-studio reporting and interviews with hostage families and former hostages. Former hostage Emily Damari called into Israel’s Channel 12 upon the release of her neighbors and friends, twins Zvi and Gali Berman, and said the Shehecheyanu prayer giving thanks — a prayer also recited by the thousands thronging in and around Hostages Square. The crowd erupted in joy at the sight of the two brothers being reunited.

By midday, the 20 living hostages — also including Avinatan Or, Bar Kupershtein, Ariel and David Cunio, Eitan Horn, Elkana Bohbot, Evyatar David, Maksym Harkin, Matan Zangauker, Nimrod Cohen, Rom Braslavski, Segev Kalfon and Yosef-Chaim Ohana — were on Israeli soil.

The first images of the men trickled out over the course of the morning: Miran, flanked by his wife and father, wearing a shirt with artwork by his two young daughters; the Berman twins in Maccabi Tel Aviv jerseys; Ohel, pale but smiling and standing on his own, with sunglasses to protect his damaged eyes.

In contrast to previous hostage release, as dictated by the agreement, there were no propaganda ceremonies staged by Hamas as they handed over the captive Israelis. Instead, Hamas made video calls to the hostages’ relatives, who spoke to their loved ones as they stood beside their masked and uniformed captors.

Amid the hostage releases, President Donald Trump descended from Air Force One to the tarmac at Ben Gurion Airport on Monday morning, where he was greeted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog. White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump — who spoke at Saturday night’s hostage rally in Tel Aviv. Read our coverage of their speeches at the rally here.

Signing the Knesset’s guestbook after his arrival, Trump wrote, “This is my great honor — a great and beautiful day, a new beginning.”

With the release of the last living hostages, and later today the remains of four of the 28 deceased hostages, Israel will begin the process of releasing close to 2,000 Palestinian prisoners in accordance with the first phase of the deal. After that, attention will turn to negotiations surrounding the deal’s second phase.

After addressing the Knesset, Trump will travel to Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, for a signing ceremony that will also include Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas. Trump’s speech was delayed due to a call with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who extended an invitation to Netanyahu to join the ceremony. Netanyahu’s office released a statement saying that the prime minister thanked Trump for the invitation, but won’t be able to participate due to the close timing with the beginning of the Simchat Torah holiday this evening.

In Israel, it has been a day of celebration after two years of pain, longing, fear, anxiety. It was the first time in two years that Israelis were able to wholeheartedly greet each other with ‘chag sameach‘ — a greeting that took on a double meaning on the eve of Simchat Torah, which begins this evening.

But the day will take a heavier turn this afternoon when the remains of just four of the deceased hostages are expected to be returned to Israel, bringing a combination of pain and closure to their loved ones who will finally be able to give them a proper burial. Meanwhile, the 24 other hostage families — who were shocked to learn this afternoon of the low number of bodies that will be released — will be left waiting for the remains of their loved ones to be located and returned home. The Hostages Families Forum called the development a “blatant breach of the agreement by Hamas,” and called on the Israeli government and the mediators to “take immediate action to rectify this grave injustice.”

Read ‘What You Should Know’ here.

TRUMP’S TALK

President Trump receives hero’s welcome as hostages return to Israel

U.S. President Donald Trump (2R) is welcomed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) at Ben Gurion International Airport on October 13, 2025 in Tel Aviv, Israel. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

President Donald Trump gave a victory speech in the Knesset as the final 20 living hostages returned to Israel from Gaza on Monday, in accordance with the first phase of his plan to end the war, Jewish Insider‘s Lahav Harkov reports.

Live from Israel: Israeli television stations showed a live screen, with Air Force One landing at Ben Gurion Airport on one side, and IDF vehicles carrying freed hostages Eitan Mor, Gali and Ziv Berman, Matan Angrest, Omri Miran, Guy Gilboa-Dalal and Alon Ohel to their families on the other. Trump was given a hero’s welcome in the Knesset, where he was met with an honor guard and current and former lawmakers gave him a lengthy standing ovation. “The hostages are back – it feels so good to say it!” Trump said.

Read the full story here.

Tennessee tackle

Rep. Steve Cohen draws younger, far-left challenger hostile to Israel in primary

U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) speaks during a Congressional briefing on Iran held by the Organization of Iranian American Communities on Capitol Hill on April 16, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN), a 10-term congressman from Memphis, Tenn., has long occupied a unique position in U.S. politics. The 76-year-old lawmaker, who became Tennessee’s first Jewish member of the delegation when he took office in 2007, is the only Democratic House member in his solidly conservative state. And as the lone white member of either party to represent a majority-Black district, Cohen has also managed to deftly navigate a delicate racial dynamic in his district, only facing occasional primary challenges from Black challengers. Through it all, he has been a political powerhouse in Memphis, holding onto his seat by building a broad and diverse coalition of support. Now, he is facing what could be his biggest test in years as he prepares to go up against a formidable new challenger in the 2026 primaries, at a moment when some veteran Democratic House members are under growing pressure from a crop of younger opponents who are pushing for generational change to revive the party’s declining image among younger, disillusioned voters, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.

New competition: Justin Pearson, a Democratic state legislator from Memphis who rose to national prominence in 2023 when he and a fellow Black colleague were expelled from the Tennessee General Assembly for leading a gun control protest on the House floor, announced last week that he would challenge Cohen in what is shaping up to be a bitterly contested and expensive primary, highlighting differences over identity as well as hot-button issues such as Israel and the war in Gaza.

Read the full interview with Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) here.

BOOKSHELF

Jewish studies scholar argues modern-day antisemitism akin to 1950s-era discrimination in new book

Historian Pamela Nadell is very familiar with the rituals of publishing a book, as she has written nine of them: Secure a release date, present at academic conferences, maybe headline a handful of general-public events. Although she is at the forefront of her field at American University — chair in Women’s and Gender History, director of the Jewish studies program and former president of the American Jewish Historical Society — Nadell knows that success in academia does not often translate to strong book sales. Things appear to be different for her latest book, Antisemitism: An American Tradition, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.

Pertinent timing: Nadell began to understand how much interest a book on antisemitism would generate when her publisher assigned a full-time publicist to promote the book, which will be published on Oct. 14. Nadell is booked at speaking engagements across the country into 2027, starting with an event at the Washington bookstore Politics and Prose next week. The book that she began researching six years ago will now appear on bookshelves at a time when antisemitism has reached record levels since the Anti-Defamation League began tracking data in 1979. “I had hoped, frankly, that the subject would be seen as a historic subject by the time [the book] came out into the world,” Nadell told JI in a recent interview. “And that’s absolutely not the case.”

Read the full story here.

DOHA DEALINGS

Hegseth signs deal to open Qatari Air Force facility in Idaho

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth (R) and Qatari Defense Minister Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani at the Pentagon in Arlington, Va., on October 10, 2025. (ALEX WROBLEWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, in a Pentagon meeting with Qatari Defense Minister Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani on Friday, signed a deal to open a Qatari Air Force facility at the U.S. Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. Facing swift backlash, Hegseth clarified that under the terms of the agreement, “Qatar will not have their own base in the United States — nor anything like a base. We control the existing base, like we do with all partners.”

Broad opposition: The deal has elicited criticism from voices as wide-ranging as Trump ally and far-right influencer Laura Loomer and Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin. “An economic bailout for Argentina. An air force base for Qatar. This guy is doing everything but putting America first,” Martin said, a sentiment echoed by the DNC’s vice chair, Malcolm Kenyatta. Loomer wrote a spree of X posts lambasting the deal, framing it as the vanguard of a Muslim Brotherhood invasion of Idaho and the United States, a threat to national security, a precursor to a potential terrorist attack and the harbinger of the downfall of Western civilization. “Now that the GOP has decided to literally harbor Islamic terrorists on US soil, I don’t really care about fighting for Republicans as much as I did yesterday. I have lost hope for 2026 and 2028 to be totally honest,” Loomer said.

Read the full story here.

ROLE REALIZED

Senate confirms Trump pick to lead civil rights division at Education Dept.

U.S. Department of Education headquarters building in Washington, DC. (David Ake/Getty Images)

The Senate voted this week to confirm Kimberly Richey as the assistant secretary for civil rights at the Education Department, eight months after President Donald Trump named her to the role. The Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights, which Richey will lead, is responsible for overseeing investigations into antisemitism at American schools and universities. The Trump administration laid off more than half of the division’s investigators earlier this year, sparking sharp criticism from congressional Democrats, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.

Background: Richey previously served in the same role on an interim basis for the final months of Trump’s first term. For much of that administration, she was deputy assistant secretary of the office that oversees special education issues. She first worked at the Education Department in the George W. Bush administration after being hired by Ken Marcus, now the chairman of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law. Richey comes to Washington from Florida, where she had been serving as senior chancellor for Florida’s Department of Education. Before that, she was deputy superintendent of the Virginia Department of Education.

Read the full story here.

HILL TALK

Senate moves toward repeal of Caesar Act Syria sanctions in defense bill

A general view of the U.S. Capitol Building from the National Mall, in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, May 29, 2025. (GETTY IMAGES)

The Senate approved the repeal of strict sanctions legislation targeting the now-deposed Assad regime in Syria, as part of its version of the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

State of play: The chamber also passed, as part of a bipartisan package of amendments, an amendment led by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) — opposed by some Syrian-American activists — that requires regular reports to Congress certifying Syria’s compliance with a variety of U.S. priorities and urges the administration to reimpose sanctions if such verification cannot be completed. The House version of the NDAA does not include a similar provision, so whether the sanctions repeal is included in the final bill, and in what form, will be subject to negotiations between the two chambers.

Read the full story here.

Worthy Reads

The Families’ Fight: The Free Press’ Matti Friedman reflects on the successes of the movement to free the hostages juxtaposed with the realities of war. “On the day of the Hamas massacres, which ravaged swaths of southern Israel and killed nearly 1,200 people, Israelis saw their feeling of security shattered, along with their faith in their leadership and army and in the basic promise that the helpless chapters of Jewish history had ended conclusively with the founding of the state of Israel. This rupture required psychological repair, and this became inseparable, for some, from the hostages’ return. ‘The slogan ‘Bring Them Home,’ rather than ‘Give Them Back,’ the fact that it’s directed inward, gets at the idea that this is really about restoring our own place and our own agency, which is at the heart of Zionism,’ [Tal] Becker said when we spoke again Sunday. Another popular slogan, seen on bumper stickers and protest signs, reads Nachzir, nakum: ‘We’ll return them and rise.’ Those two acts are linked, the second predicated on the first.” [FreePress]

Sharabi’s Survival: The Atlantic’s Franklin Foer considers what he calls the “existential heroism” of the released Israeli hostages. “Unlike Sharabi, some of the hostages already surmised that they had lost their families in the massacre, shattering the most compelling why of them all. Yet that didn’t diminish their will to live. Despite being secular, they found solace in listening to an observant hostage, the son of a rabbinical scholar, recite the Jewish grace after meals. Like Odysseus, they trained their minds to relentlessly focus on home. ‘There is no more regular Eli,’ Sharabi told himself in his first days in Gaza. ‘From now on, I am Eli the survivor.’ That he clung to optimism in the face of despair wasn’t inevitable.” [TheAtlantic]

Campus Beat: In The New York Times, Danielle Sassoon, who resigned as interim U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York earlier this year after she refused to drop charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, raises concerns about free speech and civil rights on college campuses. “Universities, no less than the professionals they teach, have an obligation to uphold civil dialogue as the bedrock of a functioning democracy. Administrators continue to overlook that this obligation means they must guarantee forums to explore a diversity of ideas safely and openly. … Students who object to policies of the Trump administration or oppose Israel’s war in Gaza or who advocate abortion rights rarely have to worry that their campus speakers will be disrupted by protesters or generate security concerns related to the backlash of a student mob. Security concerns, real or fabricated, arise when a speaker promises to buck campus orthodoxy. And that is precisely when universities need to stand up for debate rather than surrender to those who would stifle it.” [NYTimes]

What’s Next: In The Times of Israel, Alan Gross, who was held as a political prisoner in Cuba for five years and now lives part-time in Israel, considers how Israelis and Palestinians can rebuild in a post-war era. “Healing will not come from slogans or ceremonies. It will come — slowly, painfully — through remembrance, accountability, and the rebuilding of trust where it has been shattered. It requires rejecting the easy narratives that divide “us” from “them,” and insisting instead on empathy — for our own people, yes, but also for those on the other side who have also lost children, parents, and homes. Too many of us already know what it means to wake up each day in a world changed by violence. Yet it is precisely in that fragile act of continuing — of refusing to surrender our humanity — that recovery begins.” [TOI]

Word on the Street

Leaked U.S. documents indicate that Arab countries quietly expanded their military cooperation with Israel in the last three years in what the U.S. called a “Regional Security Construct”…

The New York Times reports on a recently discovered handwritten memo from slain Hamas leader and Oct. 7 mastermind Yahya Sinwar authored weeks before the 2023 attacks that directed Hamas members to set fire to and destroy residential neighborhoods and communities; the memo contradicts claims by other senior Hamas officials that the terror group did not plan to attack civilian areas…

Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro raised concerns about the rise of “a conspiratorial right,” noting that social media users “get a lot more likes and clicks if you are promoting an anti-Israel, anti-Jewish agenda than if you are doing the opposite”…

The Atlantic published an excerpt from Rabbi Angela Buchdahl’s upcoming memoir detailing her conversations with a gunman who held a Texas synagogue hostage in January 2022…

The New York Times looks at the effort by Patrick Dumont, the son-in-law of Sands owner Miriam Adelson, to restore the relationship between the NBA and China, two years after relations soured following NBA executives’ pro-democracy social media posts…

The U.K. government directed universities in the country to crack down on campus antisemitism, with Education Minister Bridget Phillipson saying university administrators “have my full backing to use their powers” in “ridding their campuses of hate”…

French President Emmanuel Macron reappointed Sébastien Lecornu, who until last week served a brief stint as prime minister before resigning, to his role amid political and economic deadlock that has paralyzed the country…

Israeli American hockey player Zeev Buium scored his first NHL goal on Saturday against the Columbus Blue Jackets; Buium, a defenseman for the Minnesota Wild, is believed to be the first Israeli hockey player to ever score a goal in the NHL…

Pic of the Day

TEL AVIV, ISRAEL – OCTOBER 13: People celebrate as they watch the hostage release live stream at Hostages Square on October 13, 2025 in Tel Aviv, Israel. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

People celebrate in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square on Monday morning as they watch a livestream of the release.

Birthdays

Amy J. Berg at the VIBE/Variety Google TV Cocktails & Conversations held at the Riverhorse on Main on January 25, 2025 in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Anna Pocaro/VIBE via Getty Images)

Emmy Award-winning film director, producer and screenwriter, Amy J. Berg turns 55…

Former deputy assistant secretary at the USDA, he retired in 2024 as an attorney working on organic food law, Richard D. Siegel turns 86… Musician, singer, songwriter, best known for his lead role in the Simon & Garfunkel duo, Paul Simon turns 84… Past chair of the Anti-Defamation League, Esta Gordon Epstein… Founder of PublicAffairs Books, an imprint of Perseus Books at Hachette Book Group, Peter L.W. Osnos turns 82… Author of 12 cookbooks, Mollie Katzen turns 75… U.S. senator (D-WA), Maria Cantwell turns 67… President of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, Rabbi Donniel Hartman turns 67… Former White House press secretary under President George W. Bush, now a media consultant and Fox News contributor, Ari Fleischer turns 65… Partner at FGS Global until 2024, Jack Krumholtz… Former Associated Press bureau chief for Israel and the Palestinian territories, now a home builder in the Indian state of Goa, Steven Gutkin… Second gentleman of the United States in the Biden-Harris administration, Douglas Emhoff turns 61… Co-chairman of Disney Entertainment where she is responsible for television and streaming, Dana Freedman Walden turns 61… Richard Lamke… Attorney general for England and Wales for parts of 2021 and 2022, he was a member of the U.K. Parliament for 14 years until 2024, Michael Ellis turns 58… Award-winning actor, comedian and screenwriter, Sacha Baron Cohen turns 54… Israeli fashion model, Shiraz Tal turns 51… Offensive lineman in the NFL for ten seasons (Broncos, Redskins, Bears and Browns), now the COO of Raleigh-based VetOvation, Leonard Lebrecht Friedman turns 49… Adjunct professor of Jewish studies at Ohio University and director of member engagement at the Academic Engagement Network, Sarah Livingston… Emily Gould… Jerusalem bureau chief for CNN, Oren Liebermann turns 43… Land-use attorney at Seattle-based firm of Hillis Clark Martin & Peterson, Joshua E. Friedmann… Political reporter for NBC News, Rebecca Shabad… Film director, producer and screenwriter, Jordan David “J.D.” Lifshitz turns 33…

HOME AT LAST

Twenty living hostages return home as Trump lands in Israel

Thousands had already assembled by dawn at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square — where some had slept overnight — for the release of the last remaining hostages known to be alive

(Photo by Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images)

People gather to watch the hostage release live stream at Hostages Square on October 13, 2025 in Tel Aviv, Israel.

By

Melissa Weiss

Tamara Zieve

October 13, 2025

It was the day that Israelis have waited for after more than two years — or two years exactly by the Hebrew calendar. Thousands had already assembled by dawn at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square — where some had slept overnight — for the release of the last remaining hostages known to be alive. Shortly after 8 a.m., the first seven hostages — Omri Miran, Matan Angrest, Ziv Berman, Gali Berman, Guy Gilboa-Dalal, Alon Ohel and Eitan Mor — were released to Red Cross custody.

“Habayta,” meaning “home,” the unofficial anthem of the hostage families, played over a montage of photos of the 47 men and one woman who have spent the last 738 days in captivity — a scene that has repeated itself in the square every Saturday night for two years.

Israeli networks split coverage between the live festivities across the country, in-studio reporting and interviews with hostage families and former hostages. Former hostage Emily Damari called into Israel’s Channel 12 upon the release of her neighbors and friends, twins Zvi and Gali Berman, and said the Shehecheyanu prayer giving thanks — a prayer also recited by the thousands thronging in and around Hostages Square. The crowd erupted in joy at the sight of the two brothers being reunited.

By just before midday, the 20 living hostages — also including Avinatan Or, Bar Kupershtein, Ariel and David Cunio, Eitan Horn, Elkana Bohbot, Evyatar David, Maksym Harkin, Matan Zangauker, Nimrod Cohen, Rom Braslavski, Segev Kalfon and Yosef-Chaim Ohana — were on Israeli soil.

The first images of the men trickled out over the course of the morning: Miran, flanked by his wife and father, wearing a shirt with artwork by his two young daughters; the Berman twins in Maccabi Tel Aviv jerseys; Ohel, pale but smiling and standing on his own, with sunglasses to protect his damaged eyes.

In contrast to previous hostage release, as dictated by the agreement, there were no propaganda ceremonies staged by Hamas as they handed over the captive Israelis. Instead, Hamas made video calls to the hostages’ relatives, who spoke to their loved ones as they stood beside their masked and uniformed captors.

Amid the hostage releases, President Donald Trump descended from Air Force One to the tarmac at Ben Gurion Airport on Monday morning, where he was greeted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog. White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump — who spoke at Saturday night’s hostage rally in Tel Aviv. Read our coverage of their speeches at the rally here.

Signing the Knesset’s guestbook after his arrival, Trump wrote, “This is my great honor — a great and beautiful day, a new beginning.”

With the release of the last living hostages, and later today the remains of four of the 28 deceased hostages, Israel will begin the process of releasing close to 2,000 Palestinian prisoners in accordance with the first phase of the deal. After that, attention will turn to negotiations surrounding the deal’s second phase.

After addressing the Knesset, Trump will travel to Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, for a signing ceremony that will also include Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas. Trump’s speech was delayed due to a call with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who extended an invitation to Netanyahu to join the ceremony. Netanyahu’s office released a statement saying that the prime minister thanked Trump for the invitation, but won’t be able to participate due to the close timing with the beginning of the Simchat Torah holiday this evening.

It was a day of celebration after two years of pain, longing, fear, anxiety. It was the first time in two years that Israelis were able to wholeheartedly greet each other with ‘Chag Sameach‘ — a greeting that took on a double meaning on the eve of Simchat Torah, which begins this evening.

But the day will take a heavier turn this afternoon when the remains of just four of the deceased hostages are expected to be returned to Israel, bringing a combination of pain and closure to their loved ones who will finally be able to give them a proper burial. Meanwhile, the 24 other hostage families — who were shocked to learn this afternoon of the low number of bodies that will be released — will be left waiting for the remains of their loved ones to be located and returned home. The Hostages Families Forum called the development a “blatant breach of the agreement by Hamas,” and called on the Israeli government and the mediators to “take immediate action to rectify this grave injustice.”

TRUMP'S TALK

Trump receives hero’s welcome as hostages return to Israel

Trump: ‘The people of America join you in those two everlasting vows: Never forget and never again’

(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

U.S. President Donald Trump (2R) is welcomed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) at Ben Gurion International Airport on October 13, 2025 in Tel Aviv, Israel.

By

Lahav Harkov

October 13, 2025

President Donald Trump gave a victory speech in the Knesset as the final 20 living hostages returned to Israel from Gaza on Monday, in accordance with the first phase of his plan to end the war.

Israeli television stations showed a live screen, with Air Force One landing at Ben Gurion Airport on one side, and IDF vehicles carrying freed hostages Eitan Mor, Gali and Ziv Berman, Matan Angrest, Omri Miran, Guy Gilboa-Dalal and Alon Ohel to their families on the other.

As Trump arrived at the Knesset, the Red Cross collected the other 13 living hostages: Elkana Bohbot, Rom Braslavski, Nimrod Cohen, Ariel Cunio, David Cunio, Evyatar David, Maxim Herkin, Eitan Horn, Segev Kalfon, Bar Kupershtein, Yosef-Chaim Ohana, Avinatan Or and Matan Zangauker.

Trump was given a hero’s welcome in the Knesset, where he was met with an honor guard and current and former lawmakers gave him a lengthy standing ovation.

“The hostages are back – it feels so good to say it!” Trump said.

In a speech that was over an hour long, the president declared that “today, the guns are calm, the sirens are still, and the sun rises on a Holy Land that is finally in peace, that will hopefully live — God-willing — in peace for all eternity.”

Trump said this marks “the historic dawn of a new Middle East,” and “an age of harmony for Israel and all the nations in the region.”

The president touted his success as a peacemaker, but added: “We’re not going to go into war, but if we do, we will win that war … I think Bibi [Netanyahu], as you mentioned, before, peace through strength, that’s what it’s all about.”

“Hamas will be disarmed and Israel’s security will no longer be threatened in any way, shape or form,” he vowed. “Israel, with our help, has won all they can, has won by force of arms. Now it’s time to transform that win … into peace and prosperity for the whole region. Time to enjoy the fruits of your labor.”

Trump said that “as we celebrate today, let us remember how this nightmare of depravity all began,” describing the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks. “Nobody could believe what they were witnessing. The USA grieved alongside you. … The people of America join you in those two everlasting vows: Never forget and never again.”

Trump expressed his appreciation for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom he called “a man of exceptional courage and patriotism.”

“He is not the easiest guy to deal with, but that’s what makes him great,” Trump added.

Trump said that Netanyahu had “the courage to say, ‘That’s it, we won, and we’re going to rebuild and make Israel stronger and greater than it has ever been before.’”

The Palestinians, Trump added, need to “concentrate on building their people up instead of trying to tear Israel down.”

“Israel, America and all the nations of the Middle East will soon be safer, greater and more prosperous than ever before,” Trump said, concluding his speech. “I love Israel. I’m with you all the way. You will be bigger, stronger and more loving than ever before. God bless you, God bless the United States of America, and God bless the Middle East.”

“You, President Donald J. Trump,” Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana said, “are a colossus who will be enshrined in the pantheon of history. The people of Israel will remember you. We are a nation that remembers … The world needs more Trumps.”

Netanyahu said that “this a momentous day, a day of great joy as the remaining hostages come home … At the beginning of the war, I promised to bring all the hostages home. Today, with the indispensable help … of President Trump and his team and with the incredible sacrifice and courage of the soldiers of Israel, we are fulfilling that promise.”

Trump and Netanyahu met with former hostages, the families of hostages, IDF soldiers wounded in action and victims of the Oct. 7 attacks at the Knesset.

Trump is expected to head to the Egyptian resort town of Sharm al-Sheikh later Monday, for a ceremony marking the end of the war in Gaza. Trump secured Netanyahu’s invitation while at the Knesset, calling Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi before his speech, but Netanyahu declined, citing the Simchat Torah holiday.

Other expected attendees at the ceremony include Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, French President Emmanuel Macron, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres and the leaders of nearly three dozen countries.

Despite the celebrations on Monday and suggestions that the war was over, Hamas has been attempting to reestablish itself in the parts of Gaza from which the IDF withdrew, executing and battling its Palestinian opponents.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said that the IDF will continue to work to disarm Hamas and destroy its tunnels along with an international team overseen by the U.S.

Trump’s plan to end the war also includes replacing Hamas with a transitional government made up of Palestinians under the supervision of a “Peace Board” that he will lead and is expected to include former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, as well as deradicalization of the population of Gaza.

Hamas is expected to transfer four of the 28 bodies of hostages that remain in Gaza later Monday, according to the Hostages Families Forum, which described the low number as a “blatant breach of the agreement by Hamas.” Hamas has said it has been unable to locate all of them.

Close to 2,000 Palestinian prisoners were expected to be released later Monday, including 250 terrorists, many of whom were serving life sentences, and 1,700 arrested after the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks on Israel.

Among those being released are Hilmi Abdul Karim, who bombed a bus in Jerusalem, killing 11, Mouad Badr Abdallah Da’is, who murdered mother of six Dafna Meir, and others.

home stretch

Kushner, Witkoff, Ivanka Trump take center stage in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square

Mentions of President Donald Trump drew raucous applause, while the crowd booed Witkoff’s mentions of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Paulina Patimer

Jared Kushner, Steve Witkoff and Ivanka Trump speak in Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Oct. 11, 2025.

By

Melissa Weiss

October 11, 2025

Days before the remaining living hostages are expected to be released from more than two years of captivity in Gaza, White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump addressed a receptive crowd of hundreds of thousands on Saturday night in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square.

Witkoff and Kushner had been in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, earlier in the week for high-level talks that secured an agreement, which went into effect on Friday, to end the two-year war between Israel and Hamas. They arrived in Israel on Thursday ahead of President Donald Trump’s planned visit to the country on Monday, the day that most living hostages are expected to be released.

“To the hostages themselves,” Witkoff said, “our brothers and sisters, you are coming home.” The White House special envoy praised Trump, who, Witkoff said, “once again proved that bold leadership and moral clarity can reshape history and change the world.”

“We all owe a debt of deep gratitude to President Trump,” the White House special envoy continued, to cheers and chants thanking Trump, Witkoff and Kushner. Numerous mentions of Trump’s name throughout the evening drew cheers and applause from the crowd.

Witkoff paused his speech and appeared flustered after his mentions of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu drew widespread jeers from the crowd. “I was in the trenches with the prime minister,” Witkoff said as he tried to mollify the crowd. “Believe me, he was a very important part here.” Netanyahu and Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, Witkoff added, “have both sacrificed so much for this country and devoted their lives to the service of Israel.”

Witkoff noted the “tireless dedication of leaders who would not rest until the world saw what could be achieved,” naming the president, Kushner and Arab leaders including Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi.

Calling Oct. 7, 2023, a “shattering day,” Kushner said the attacks “shocked me to my core in a way I’ll never be the same. Since then, my heart has not been complete.”

Kushner, who has in recent months been increasingly involved in the White House’s efforts to reach a comprehensive deal to end the Israel-Hamas war, described the “tremendous burden that I felt to see these hostages come home, to see their families get the closure they deserve and to end this nightmare — and also to see the suffering end for the people in Gaza, who, for most of them, were experiencing this through no fault of their own, other than being born into a situation that was horrific.”

In brief remarks, Ivanka Trump said that “the return of each hostage is not only a moment of homecoming and relief, it’s a triumph of faith, of courage and of our shared humanity.”

Addressing the hostage families, Trump said, “The president wanted me to share, as he has with so many of you personally, that he sees you, he hears you, he stands with you — always. Always.”

A video that played as Kushner, Witkoff and Trump exited the stage praised the U.S. president as “Israel’s great friend.”

Ruby Chen, the father of slain Israeli American hostage Itay Chen, who spoke following Trump, said that Israel Police estimated that 400,000 people were in attendance at Saturday’s rally, a weekly solidarity event since the Oct. 7 attacks.

Daily Kickoff

Kraft’s antisemitism org rebrands

Lester Cohen/Getty Images for The Recording Academy

Robert Kraft speaks onstage during the 2024 MusiCares Person of the Year Honoring Jon Bon Jovi during the 66th GRAMMY Awards on February 2, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.

By

JI Staff

October 10, 2025

Good Friday morning.

In today’s Daily Kickoff, we look at the tepid response by many far-left lawmakers to the ceasefire and hostage-release deal agreed to by Israel and Hamas earlier this week, and have the scoop on the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism’s rebrand to Blue Square Alliance Against Hate and its new “Sunday Night Football” ad airing this weekend. We report on Rep. Ro Khanna’s effort to distance himself from Holocaust denier Ian Carroll after both men appeared in a documentary that promoted antisemitic tropes, and talk to CNN’s Jake Tapper about the release of his new book about the capture and prosecution of Al Qaeda operative Spin Ghul. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Michael Koplow, Modi Rosenfeld and Klaus Schwab.

Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by Jewish Insider Executive Editor Melissa Weiss. Have a tip? Email us here.

For less-distracted reading over the weekend, browse this week’s edition of The Weekly Print, a curated print-friendly PDF featuring a selection of recent Jewish Insider and eJewishPhilanthropy stories, including: Two years after Oct. 7 attacks, Israeli nonprofits struggle to pivot from crisis mode to sustainability; ‘A story about family’: Noam Tibon, director Barry Avrich reflect on ‘The Road Between Us’ premiere; and ‘Now, life:’ Former hostage Eli Sharabi shares his post-captivity resilience and optimism. Print the latest edition here.

What We’re Watching

We’re continuing to monitor ceasefire and hostage-release efforts in Israel and Gaza following the Israeli Cabinet’s vote overnight to approve the Trump administration’s 20-point plan to end the war. The ceasefire went into effect at 5 a.m. ET. Israel began its withdrawal from parts of the enclave this morning.
Earlier today, the IDF warned Gazans not to approach the areas of the Strip where troops are still stationed, while Hamas announced its police officers would enter areas from which the IDF withdrew. Within Israel, officials are notifying families of terror victims whose Palestinian assailants are being released as part of the agreement.
In a filmed statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that “all of the hostages will be home in the coming days…Two years ago, Simchat Torah turned into a day of national grief. This Simchat Torah will become a day of national joy.”
President Donald Trump is expected to travel to Israel, and potentially also to Egypt, later this weekend, arriving in Israel early Monday morning. Trump is slated to speak at the Knesset on Monday, making him the fourth U.S. president in history to give such an address. He’ll join White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who arrived in Israel last night.
In the U.S., C-SPAN will debut its new “Ceasefire” program tonight. The show’s first guests include former Vice President Mike Pence, former U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel, former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer and Faiz Shakir, a senior advisor to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).

What You Should Know

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MATTHEW KASSEL

The newly brokered ceasefire and hostage-release agreement between Israel and Hamas was met on Thursday with a notable lack of enthusiasm from the most outspoken Democratic detractors of Israel in Congress — even as they have vocally advocated for ending the war in Gaza.

While the deal drew accolades across the political spectrum, from left-wing Israel detractors such as Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) to MAGA stalwarts, some of the most high-profile members of the far-left Squad and other ideologically aligned lawmakers remained silent well after the first phase of the agreement was finalized Wednesday or offered only grudging praise for the long-awaited development that could lead to an end to the war.

Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Summer Lee (D-PA) and Greg Casar (D-TX), chair of the House Progressive Caucus, did not respond to requests for comment from Jewish Insider and had not weighed in publicly on the deal as of Thursday night, despite widespread reaction to the agreement on Capitol Hill.

In statements to social media, Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Delia Ramirez (D-IL) briefly voiced hope that the deal would hold but reiterated their accusation that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza and called for increased accountability in the conflict, without referring to Hamas’ involvement.

Like Omar, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) made no mention of the hostages in his own response to the deal, which also expressed hope that the agreement would, “as soon as possible,” help end “this horrific war.”

The relatively muted comments — or lack thereof — underscore how anti-Israel lawmakers are reluctant to praise a major diplomatic breakthrough brokered by President Donald Trump — even as it aligns with their interests in ultimately ending the two-year war in Gaza.

They also highlight how the broader pro-Palestinian movement, whose extreme rhetoric has increasingly signaled support for Hamas as a “resistance” group righteously opposing occupation, has grown captive to a narrow and uncompromising conception of the war that attributes blame for the conflict exclusively to Israel while largely dismissing the suffering of the hostages.

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

scoop

Robert Kraft’s anti-hate group renames itself the Blue Square Alliance Against Hate

Robert Kraft speaks onstage during the 2024 MusiCares Person of the Year Honoring Jon Bon Jovi during the 66th GRAMMY Awards on February 2, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft’s Foundation to Combat Antisemitism is rebranding under the name Blue Square Alliance Against Hate and launching a new advertisement focused on antisemitism that’s slated to debut on “Sunday Night Football” this weekend, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen has learned. The rebranded group, whose blue square pins have become a ubiquitous symbol in the fight against antisemitism, is airing the “Sunday Night Football” ad as part of a $10 million media campaign designed to redouble awareness of the steep rise of anti-Jewish hate.

Details: The new ad campaign, titled “When There Are No Words,” will be airing on one of the most watched shows on broadcast television — during a game between the AFC champion Kansas City Chiefs and Detroit Lions. “What do you say when a Jewish boy is kicked on a New York city sidewalk?” a voice asks as the 30-second commercial begins. “What do you say when a Holocaust survivor is firebombed in the streets of Colorado? What do you say when one in three Jewish Americans were victims of hate last year? When there are no words, there’s still a symbol to show you care. The blue square.” The name change and advertisement campaign — which will be supplemented by billboards and social media posts — are an extension to the foundation’s “Blue Square” campaign, which launched in March 2023, aiming to turn the blue square into the symbol for Jewish solidarity and opposition to hatred against Jewish people.

Read the full story here.

bad bedfellows

Khanna backpedals after sharing documentary clip with antisemitic influencer

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) speaks at a rally near the U.S. Capitol on June 29, 2021, in Washington, D.C.

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) distanced himself from antisemitic influencer Ian Carroll after the congressman posted to social media an excerpt from a YouTube documentary that featured separate clips of himself and Carroll, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. The documentary itself, posted by a YouTube videomaker with the handle Tommy G, is filled with antisemitic tropes. The thumbnail for the video frames Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a puppetmaster with strings controlling several men in suits, posed in front of the White House, flanked by Israeli and AIPAC flags. There are also several dollar bills superimposed over the image.

Commenting on Carroll: Carroll, described in the documentary as a researcher, is an antisemitic conspiracy theorist who has engaged in Holocaust distortion. He has claimed that Israel and Jewish people are involved in a malign global conspiracy, control the U.S. government and were responsible for the 9/11 attacks. “This was a documentary made by Tommy G who interviewed me. I did not speak to or meet Ian Carroll. I stand by my words and should be judged by them,” Khanna said in a statement to JI. “I vehemently disagree and reject any views blaming Israel for 9/11, denying the Holocaust, or conspiracies about a Jewish syndicate exerting control.”

Read the full story here.

aid debate

Wisconsin Dem recruit calls for U.S. to halt arms to Israel

Rebecca Cooke, the leading Democratic challenger to Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI) in a Wisconsin battleground congressional district, said at a recent campaign event that she supports a halt to U.S. military aid to Israel, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

Follow-up: “I don’t think that taxpayer dollars should be going to fund the killing of children. Period,” Cooke said in response to an audience question, in a video obtained by JI. “I think this is a moral issue. The other thing that I’ll say is that I don’t think that we should send more military aid to the Netanyahu government invasion.” Asked about those comments, Cooke insisted to JI that she supports Israel’s self-defense. “My record is clear, I strongly support Israel’s right to defend itself,” Cooke said in a statement. “I’ve expressed my deep concerns about the humanitarian toll of the war in Gaza, and I’m thrilled that a peace agreement has been reached and that the hostages will be able to return home.”

Read the full story here.

book shelf

In ‘Race Against Terror,’ Jake Tapper takes on the justice system and jihadism

In his new book, Race Against Terror: Chasing an Al Qaeda Killer at the Dawn of the Forever War, released on Oct. 7, CNN anchor Jake Tapper uses novelistic flair to explore the little-known true story behind a high-stakes, globe-spanning effort to prosecute jihadist Spin Ghul, who was ultimately convicted in federal court of killing American service members in Afghanistan. “My first goal for people who read the book is they’ll just enjoy the story and find it compelling,” Tapper told Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel in a recent interview. “I tried to write it almost like a novel in as compelling a way as possible. But a second goal is for people to think about the war on terrorism and the best ways to keep us safe,” he added, noting “an argument to be made that the attempt to lock Spin Ghul up forever keeps us safer than if he had just been sent to Guantanamo, where by now he might have been freed.”

War at home: Tapper weighed in on anti-Israel protests that have targeted his home, as well as the personal residences of other Jewish journalists and government officials. “I don’t think that it’s really an issue with my commentary as much as it’s an issue with my faith. … There’s any number of journalists in Washington, D.C., and these people targeted me and Dana Bash. Maybe someday somebody can explain to me why they protested outside the house of [former Secretary of State] Antony Blinken but not outside the house of any secretary or Cabinet official in the Trump administration. It seems pretty obvious to me.”

Read the full interview here.

what comes next

Israel Policy Forum’s Michael Koplow: Hostage deal ‘frees up’ U.S. Jewry for long-term initiatives

On Thursday morning, news that both Israel and Hamas had accepted President Donald Trump’s ceasefire and hostage-release plan prompted a Jewish communal exhale of relief. In Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, there were scenes of dancing and jubilation. Some cried, some embraced, some poured shots of arak and toasted “l’chaim” — to life! In the Diaspora, Jewish groups across the political spectrum echoed that same sense of relief, welcoming a deal that promises the return of all living hostages within 72 hours of a ceasefire and the eventual return of the slain ones, as well as a potential pathway to stability in Gaza and the wider Middle East. To understand the role of American Jewry going forward, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Nira Dayanim spoke on Thursday with Michael Koplow, chief policy officer at the Israel Policy Forum.

Shifting relationship: “American Jewish institutions are going to have to grapple with what it means for American Jews to have a different relationship with Israel,” Koplow said. “And that’s going to impact all sorts of things. It’s going to impact funding. It’s going to impact American Jewish education on Israel. It’s going to impact the types of Israeli organizations that American Jews interact with. So it’s way, way too early to say anything definitively, but I don’t think that we should expect that now that the war is over, everything is going to just go back to the status quo ante, as if the last two years didn’t happen.”

Read the full interview here and sign up for eJewishPhilanthropy’s “Your Daily Phil” newsletter here.

Worthy Reads

How the Deal Was Done: The Washington Post’s David Ignatius examines how President Donald Trump spearheaded the effort to bring the Israel-Hamas war to an end after many failed starts. “The blustering, go-it-alone president did it in an unlikely way: by listening to others and organizing a coalition that, by the end, included all major Arab and European nations, as well as Israel and Hamas. … He decided it was time for peace — and that he wouldn’t tolerate any more foot-dragging from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or Hamas. Today, the battlefield is finally quiet. Trump’s peace plan could fall apart, obviously. This is the Middle East. Key details like disarmament of Hamas aren’t yet resolved. But in achieving his ceasefire, Trump demonstrated skills and used tactics that showed more flexibility and cooperation than are typical of him. He listened to expert advice and changed some of his views. He engaged in subtle secret diplomacy, especially with Qatar.” [WashPost]

Split Screen: In The Free Press, Gaza-born researcher and writer Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, who lost dozens of relatives in the Israel-Hamas war, looks at the ideological gap between Palestinians in Gaza and supporters of the cause in the West. “Those who decided to spend the second anniversary of the attacks of October 7 ‘flooding the streets’ should instead take a step back and think about how they can actually be helpful to the people of Gaza and beyond. … One of the first steps to freeing Palestinians from the horrors of war is to free them from the ‘Free Palestine Movement’ in the diaspora and Western world. The unholy alliance between the far left, far right, and Islamist hooligans who normalize Hamas’s narrative is harmful first and foremost to the Palestinian people. Legitimate critique of Israeli policies is not the same as calls for jihadi violence and antisemitic rhetoric, which have become the norm in the toxic Israel and Palestine discourse that desperately requires level heads to prevail and radical pragmatism to be adopted across the board.” [FreePress]

Media Shift: Puck’s Dylan Byers considers the backlash to Skydance’s acquisition of Bari Weiss’ Free Press and installation of Weiss as editor in chief of CBS News. “It’s difficult, frankly, to see these reports as anything other than supporting evidence for Bari’s evergreen thesis about media bias — a desire to amplify the preferred narrative, rather than do the actual reporting. There may also be some envy at play, too. Most legacy media journalists who launch Substacks with bold mission statements about speaking the truth end up publishing uninspired partisan analysis and doing video chats with Steve Schmidt every week. Bari went out and built a nine-figure business. In the days since her start, I’ve surveyed at least 15 CBS News sources across the organizations and, in addition to the very real uncertainty around how this is going to work and what it will mean for specific people’s jobs, the overwhelming response has been excitement, cautious optimism, and relief.” [Puck]

Word on the Street

The Trump administration is taking a multi-agency approach to its crackdown on far-left groups with alleged ties to “domestic terror networks”; among the groups being investigated are the anti-Israel activist groups IfNotNow and Jewish Voice for Peace…

Paul Ingrassia, the Trump administration’s nominee to lead the Office of Special Counsel, faced sexual harassment accusations, since retracted, from a lower-ranking female colleague who stayed in a hotel room with Ingrassia after he had, unbeknownst to her, canceled her room reservation…

The New York Times looks at the role that Jared Kushner, who had planned to stay out of government in the second Trump administration, played in the effort to reach a ceasefire and hostage-release deal, while Politico does a deep dive into how Kushner and Steve Witkoff, the White House’s special envoy, moved the deal across the finish line…

The Treasury Department announced sanctions on a Chinese oil refinery that handles nearly 10% of China’s crude oil imports over its facilitation of Iranian oil distribution in violation of sanctions…

A new Quinnipiac survey of the New York City mayoral race conducted following Mayor Eric Adams’ departure from the race has Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani leading former Gov. Andrew Cuomo by 13 points; Mamdani had previously led Cuomo by 22 points in a Quinnipiac poll taken in early September, prior to Adams dropping out…

The New York Times profiles comedian Modi Rosenfeld, dubbed the “Orthodox Ellen DeGeneres” by fellow comic Alex Edelman for his routines that blend his Jewish background and LGBTQ identity…

The Financial Times reports on the “uncertain moment” that the World Economic Forum finds itself in following the departure of its founder, Klaus Schwab, and as “[m]ultilateralism is in retreat, protectionism is on the rise, and great-power rivalry … is remaking global governance”…

CNN spotlights Jewish families who chose to immigrate to Israel — or leave the country — following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks…

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado was announced as the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize…

Indonesia denied visas to Israeli gymnasts who planned to travel to the Southeast Asian country for the World Artistic Gymnastics, costing the Israeli team its spot in the world championship…

German-born anti-apartheid activist and journalist Ruth Weiss, who escaped Nazi Europe as a child when her family settled in South Africa, died at 101…

Pic of the Day

Israeli President Isaac Herzog (center) met on Thursday with Jared Kushner and White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff in Jerusalem shortly after their arrival from Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, where they met with negotiators to finalize an agreement to end the Israel-Hamas war.

Birthdays

NEW YORK, NY – MARCH 15: Dr. Miri Adelson attends the 2016 Friends Of The Israel Defense Forces Gala at The Waldorf Astoria on March 15, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Shahar Azran/Getty Images)

Physician, philanthropist and the majority owner of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation and the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, Dr. Miriam Adelson turns 80…

FRIDAY: Professor emeritus of constitutional law at Harvard Law School, he has argued 36 cases in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, Laurence Tribe turns 84… Past chairman and CEO of KB Home, a nationwide home-builder known until 2001 as Kaufman & Broad, Bruce Karatz turns 80… Former director of the Center for Information and Documentation Israel in The Hague, promoting a positive view of Israel within Dutch society, Ronald Maurice (Ronny) Naftaniel turns 77… Former member of the Knesset for 30-years on behalf of three political parties, he has served in six ministerial roles, Meir Sheetrit turns 77… Long-time IDF Chaplain, Yedidya Atlas… Award-winning writer and photographer based in Albuquerque, N.M., Diane Joy Schmidt… Vocalist and songwriter best known as the lead singer of Van Halen, he is an inductee of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, David Lee Roth turns 71… Co-chairman and chief investment officer of Oaktree Capital Management, Bruce Karsh turns 70… Former NASA astronaut who flew on five Space Shuttle missions, he has held many positions at NASA including chief scientist, John M. Grunsfeld turns 67… Shareholder at the Bethesda, Md., law firm of Selzer Gurvitch, Neil Gurvitch… Dean of Harvard Law School, John C. P. Goldberg turns 64… Founder and principal of Los Angeles-based real estate firm, Freeman Group, Rodney Freeman… Governmental relations and strategic communications principal at BMWL Public Affairs, Sam Lauter… Head of School at de Toledo High School, a Jewish school in Northern Los Angeles County, Mark H. Shpall… Governor of California since 2019, Gavin Newsom turns 58… Concert pianist and composer, Evgeny Kissin turns 54… Israeli comedian and actor, twice voted as the funniest Israeli, Asi Cohen turns 51… Chief rabbi of Vienna and of the Austrian Armed Forces, Schlomo Elieser Hofmeister turns 50… Israel resident and op-ed contributor for The New York Times, he is the author of four acclaimed books, Matti Friedman turns 48… Former two-time White House Jewish Liaison, now the director of Maimonides Fund’s Sapir Institute, Chanan Weissman… President of Ian Sugar Strategies, Ian Sugar… Head of U.S. government relations and corporate affairs at Glencore, Seth Levey… VP in the Chicago office of Goldman Sachs, Avi Davidoff… Rabbi of Congregation Bnai Yeshurun in Teaneck, N.J., Elliot Schrier turns 36… North American campus director at CAMERA, Hali Haber Spiegel… Winner of Israel’s National Bible Quiz as a teen and then a soldier in the IDF’s Combat Intelligence Collection Corps, he is a son of PM Benjamin Netanyahu, Avner Netanyahu turns 31… U.S. correspondent at Israel Hayom and deputy director at Jewish Virtual Library, Or Shaked…

SATURDAY: Professor emeritus of history at UCLA, winner of both a Pulitzer Prize and the Israel Prize, he won a MacArthur Genius fellowship in 1999, Saul Friedländer turns 93… Former assistant U.S. attorney who prosecuted then VPOTUS Spiro T. Agnew in 1974, he is the author of four novels, Ronald S. Liebman turns 82… Israeli novelist and documentary filmmaker, Amos Gitai turns 75… U.S. senator (D-WA), Patty Murray turns 75… Senior circuit judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Barry G. Silverman turns 74… Past president and then board chair of Congregation B’nai Tzedek in Potomac, Md., Helane Leibowitz Goldstein turns 72… Israeli ambassador to Germany, he has also been Israel’s ambassador to both the U.K. and the U.N., Ron Prosor turns 67… NYC-based philanthropist, Shari L. Aronson… Former EVP at JFNA, now CEO at the Vancouver, B.C.-based Ronald S. Roadburg Foundation, Mark Gurvis turns 66… Owner of Sababa Travel, Sharon Kleiman Rockman… Los Angeles-based real estate agent, Peter Turman… President and CEO of NYC-based real estate firm Tishman Speyer, Rob Speyer turns 56… CEO of Focus at 50, helping Israeli companies break into the U.S. market, Asher Epstein… Director of development for Yad Vashem UK Foundation, Joshua E. London turns 50… Executive director of the StandWithUs Israel office in Jerusalem, Michael Dickson turns 48… Member of the Council of the District of Columbia since 2015, Brianne Nadeau turns 45… Political journalist, opinion commentator and satirist, Jamie Weinstein turns 42…SUNDAY: Long-time baseball reporter for The New York Times, he is enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame, Murray Chass turns 87… U.S. Ambassador to Italy during the Trump 45 administration, he is a co-founder of private equity firm Granite Capital International, Lewis Eisenberg turns 83… Long-time Fox News anchor, more recently at CNN from 2021 to 2024, Chris Wallace turns 78… Retired CEO of Wakefield, Mass.-based CAST, a nonprofit whose mission is to transform education for students with disabilities, Linda Gerstle… Pediatrician and medical ethicist, John D. Lantos, MD turns 71… Dermatologist in Los Angeles, Lamar Albert Nelson, MD… First female rabbi ordained in Conservative Judaism, Amy Eilberg turns 71… Co-founder of Ares Management, he is the owner of the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks, Tony Ressler turns 65… Deputy director of the National Economic Council during the first 17 months of the Biden administration, now a distinguished professor at Northeastern University, Seth D. Harris turns 63… Former executive director of Start-Up Nation Central until 2022, now a strategic adviser to Israeli start-ups including Remilk, Wendy Singer… Editor of The Wall Street Journal‘s Weekend Review section, Gary Rosen… Managing director at Goldman Sachs, he recently completed 31 years at the firm, Raanan Agus… Los Angeles-based trial attorney for many high-profile clients, Babak “Bobby” Samini turns 55… Producer, actress and screenwriter, Alexandra Brandy Smothers… Former member of the Knesset, she now serves as the co-chair of the Green Movement of Israel, Yael Cohen Paran turns 52… Computer programmer, creator of the BitTorrent protocol and founder of Chia cryptocurrency, Bram Cohen turns 50… Only son and heir-apparent of the current Rebbe of the Belz chasidic dynasty, Rabbi Aharon Mordechai Rokeach turns 50… Israeli actress, model and television anchor, Miri Bohadana turns 48… Reporter and host of “The Daily” at The New York Times, Michael Barbaro… Member of the Florida Senate until 2024, Lauren Book turns 41… Freelance journalist, Rosie Gray turns 36… Argentine fashion model and artist, Naomi Preizler turns 34… Pitcher for Team Israel in the 2020 Olympics and 2023 World Baseball Classic, he is the founder of Stadium Custom Kicks, Alex Katz turns 31… October 7 hostage, she was rescued by the IDF in June 2024, Noa Argamani turns 28…

analysis

Far-left lawmakers struggle to embrace a ceasefire they’ve long demanded

The relatively muted comments — or lack thereof — underscore how anti-Israel lawmakers are reluctant to praise a major diplomatic breakthrough brokered by President Donald Trump — even as it aligns with their interests in ultimately ending the two-year war in Gaza

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) (R) introduces Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) during a campaign rally at the Roy Wilkins Auditorium March 2, 2020.

By

Matthew Kassel

October 10, 2025

The newly brokered ceasefire and hostage-release agreement between Israel and Hamas was met on Thursday with a notable lack of enthusiasm from the most outspoken Democratic detractors of Israel in Congress — even as they have vocally advocated for ending the war in Gaza.

While the deal drew accolades across the political spectrum, from left-wing Israel detractors such as Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) to MAGA stalwarts, some of the most high-profile members of the far-left Squad and other ideologically aligned lawmakers remained silent well after the first phase of the agreement was finalized Wednesday or offered only grudging praise for the long-awaited development that could lead to an end to the war.

Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Summer Lee (D-PA) and Greg Casar (D-TX), chair of the House Progressive Caucus, did not respond to requests for comment from Jewish Insider and had not weighed in publicly on the deal as of Thursday night, despite widespread reaction to the agreement on Capitol Hill.

In statements to social media, Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Delia Ramirez (D-IL) briefly voiced hope that the deal would hold but reiterated their accusation that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza and called for increased accountability in the conflict, without referring to Hamas’ involvement.

Like Omar, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) made no mention of the hostages in his own response to the deal, which also expressed hope that the agreement would, “as soon as possible,” help end “this horrific war.”

The relatively muted comments — or lack thereof — underscore how anti-Israel lawmakers are reluctant to praise a major diplomatic breakthrough brokered by President Donald Trump — even as it aligns with their interests in ultimately ending the two-year war in Gaza.

They also highlight how the broader pro-Palestinian movement, whose extreme rhetoric has increasingly signaled support for Hamas as a “resistance” group righteously opposing occupation, has grown captive to a narrow and uncompromising conception of the war that attributes blame for the conflict exclusively to Israel while largely dismissing the suffering of the hostages.

In a statement addressing the agreement, for example, Abdul El-Sayed, a prominent critic of Israel who is now running for Senate in Michigan, said that “the impending return of Palestinian and Israeli hostages to their families offers a glimmer of hope in a dark time,” equating Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, some of whom were serving life sentences for terrorism, now set to be released as part of a hostage-for-prisoners exchange with Hamas.

El-Sayed also devoted most of his lengthy message to denouncing “genocide in Gaza,” saying that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “and all who enabled these atrocities must be held accountable under international law.” El-Sayed’s statement did not name Hamas.

Earlier this week, El-Sayed had drawn widespread backlash over a fundraising email his campaign sent on the two-year anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks that blamed Israel for the war in Gaza but also did not mention the terrorist group or the massacre that had initially sparked the war in Gaza.

As the new agreement is set to be implemented in the coming days, it will be worth closely observing if the Squad’s rhetoric on the situation in Gaza evolves — and whether even the most hostile critics of Israel can muster even a little enthusiasm for a deal that could fulfill a goal they have pushed since the start of the war.

muted response

Anti-Israel lawmakers offer grudging acknowledgment of hostage release deal

Sen. Bernie Sanders didn’t mention the Israeli hostages in a comment expressing hope the war in Gaza would soon end

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) (R) introduces Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) during a campaign rally at the Roy Wilkins Auditorium March 2, 2020.

By

Marc Rod

October 9, 2025

Democratic lawmakers who have been stridently critical of Israel and its operations in Gaza offered tepid support for the ceasefire and hostage-release deal, the first phase of which was signed on Thursday, while reiterating their criticisms of Israel and the U.S.’ support for the Jewish state. Few offered any words of support for the Israeli hostages who have been held by Hamas for over two years.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who has led a series of efforts to block arms transfers to Israel, didn’t explicitly praise the deal negotiated by President Donald Trump, but said he hopes the deal would lead to the end of a “horrific war.” He made no mention of the Israeli hostages set to be released, but asserted one-tenth of the Gazan population was killed or injured during the war.

“As of today something like 10% of the Palestinian people in Gaza have been killed or wounded, mostly women, children and the elderly. The United States has put tens of billions of dollars into an effort which has led to mass destruction,” Sanders told Jewish Insider. “So I hope — and I’m sure everybody else does — that this horrific war can end as soon as possible.”

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) said on X that the ceasefire is a “hopeful step” but quickly pivoted to expressing unvarnished opposition to Israel. She also made no mention of the Israeli hostages expected to be freed from their Hamas captors.

“For the sake of humanity, let’s hope this will be a lasting and permanent ceasefire,” Omar said. “While this is a hopeful step, we must demand accountability for every war crime committed during this genocide and continue to call for an end to the occupation.”

Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-IL), the lead sponsor of legislation that aims to place strict conditions on critical arms sales to Israel, said on X she plans to continue to pursue that legislation.

“Immediately after October 7, I called for a ceasefire and for a path that honors our shared humanity. It is unfortunate that it took this long. However, I am hopeful that today’s ceasefire agreement will bring the hostages and prisoners home and end the bombing and starvation of the Palestinian people,” Ramirez said. “We must save Palestinian lives and pursue an end to U.S. complicity in Israel’s war crimes, atrocities, and genocide. I will continue to work to Block the Bombs, as we pursue a future of self-determination for the Palestinian people and a just and lasting peace for all residents of the region.”

Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX), tamping down on enthusiasm for the deal, reposted an X post suggesting that Israel may violate the deal.

“There is certainly some hope that the Gaza deal will hold but it’s important to remember that the last ceasefire agreement collapsed in March before ever reaching phase 2 when Israel reimposed a blockade on Gaza and bombings on the strip resumed,” the post, from an NBC News correspondent, reads.

Other prominent critics, particularly on the far-left, have remained unusually mum about the deal.

Squad members Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA) and Progressive Caucus Chair Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX) did not respond to requests for comment and did not comment publicly.

Some other lawmakers who have been vocally critical of Israel’s operations in Gaza offered more fulsome praise for the deal.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) said in a statement that the deal is “the first hopeful moment in a long time,” noting both the release of hostages and the surge of aid into Gaza. He credited U.S. pressure on Israel, however, rather than the reported increased pressure from Qatar, Turkey and Egypt on Hamas, for the breakthrough.

“Pressure from the U.S. and others has always been necessary to reach this moment — something that could have been achieved much earlier and prevented the staggering loss of civilian life, starvation, and devastation in Gaza,” Van Hollen said. “U.S. leadership will be essential to enforce this plan and convert this moment into real progress toward lasting peace — which can only be achieved by sidelining the extremists on all sides and committing to security, dignity, human rights, and justice for all.”

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), who led an effort calling for the U.S. to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state, also praised the deal and led with the return of the Israeli hostages in his comments.

“It’s obviously very welcome news. Finally, the hostages are going to come home. The bombing hopefully is going to stop. Israel is going to withdraw,” Khanna said on Fox Business. “Everything I have read seems that this is a welcome development. And I’m really glad that after two years of a war, this seems to be finally coming to a resolution.”

“Now, we need to work for 2 states & ensure the bombing does not resume later in the year,” he added on X.

Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) told JI, “For the sake of humanity, I pray this holds. It is so far past time to end this genocide, free the hostages, and surge food, water, and baby formula to starving families in Gaza.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) declined to comment, saying she had not reviewed the deal.

Good Thursday morning.

In today’s Daily Kickoff, we report the latest out of Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, following the announcement overnight that Israel and Hamas had reached a hostage-release and ceasefire agreement as part of the first phase of a broader deal to end the war in Gaza. We talk to Noam Tibon about the Toronto International Film Festival’s decision to cancel and then reinstate the screening of a documentary about his efforts to rescue his family during the Oct. 7 attacks, and look at how the Pentagon’s new rules regarding grooming standards could impact Orthodox Jewish servicemembers. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Rep. Josh Gottheimer, Anne Dreazen and Maine Gov. Janet Mills.

Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by Jewish Insider Executive Editor Melissa Weiss, with assists from Danielle Cohen-Kanik and Marc Rod. Have a tip? Email us here.

What We’re Watching

We’re closely tracking the ongoing talks to secure the release of the remaining 48 living and dead hostages and reach an end to the war, following last night’s breakthrough in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and former White House senior advisor Jared Kushner are expected to travel to Jerusalem tonight for the continuation of talks. More below.
We expect to hear more about the agreement over the course of the day, first in a televised White House Cabinet meeting scheduled for 11 a.m. ET, followed hours later by a press conference at 3 p.m. ET with Finnish President Alexander Stubb. Become a premium subscriber and sign up for the Daily Overtime to get our afternoon update on the latest in the talks.
Negotiations between the Trump administration and Harvard aimed at releasing billions of dollars in frozen grant funding are set to resume today, with Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman, who chaired the Strategic and Policy Forum during the first Trump administration, is playing a central role in the talks.
In Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to name a new prime minister by the end of the week, following the resignation earlier this week of Sébastien Lecornu, who held the position for less than a month.

What You Should Know

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S LAHAV HARKOV

It’s a “morning of historic and momentous news,” as Israeli President Isaac Herzog put it on Thursday, when Israelis woke up to learn that a deal had been reached to free the remaining hostages in the coming days and halt the fighting in Gaza.

The sides are expected to officially sign the deal in Egypt today, and Israel’s Cabinet is set to vote at 11 a.m. ET on the exchange of the 48 hostages, 20 of whom are thought to be alive, for close to 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. The IDF said it began preparing to withdraw from parts of Gaza as part of the deal.

Hamas is expected to release the Israeli hostages first. Only when Israel is satisfied that the terrorist group has freed everyone it can find — including the remains of about 28 Israelis who were killed — will Palestinian prisoners be released. The swap comes with caveats: Hamas says it is unable to locate some of the bodies, and about 250 of the Palestinian prisoners set to be released are serving life sentences for terrorist offenses, though Israel insisted that high-profile detainees — such as Second Intifada mastermind Marwan Barghouti — will not be part of the deal.

The deal is expected to pass easily in the Cabinet, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party holding the majority of the seats. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who expressed opposition earlier this week to President Donald Trump’s plan to end the war, was unusually quiet on Thursday morning, while Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said he would not vote in favor.

Trump said in an interview with Fox News that all of the hostages “will be coming back on Monday. … As we speak, so much is happening to get the hostages freed.”

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

communal reactions

‘Fulfillment of our prayers’: Jewish groups hail Gaza ceasefire deal

Jewish organizations and leaders from around the world and across most of the ideological spectrum cheered the acceptance last night of the first phase of a Gaza peace plan, which will see the release of all living hostages in the coming days and the eventual release of slain ones as well, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross reports.

Communal response: Jewish Federations of North America said in a statement that it “celebrate[s] the exciting news of the deal between Israel and Hamas to return all the remaining hostages home and end the war. Both AIPAC and J Street issued statements in support of the agreement, as did the American Jewish Committee, Israel Policy Forum, the Israeli-American Coalition, Jewish Council for Public Affairs, National Council of Jewish Women, Anti-Defamation League, the Conservative movement, Yeshiva University, Board of Deputies of British Jews and World Jewish Congress, among many others.

Read the full story here and sign up for eJewishPhilanthropy’s Your Daily Phil newsletter here.

Bonus: Jewish communal leaders and a bipartisan group of political officials gathered somberly on Tuesday at the “Sukkah of Hope” hosted by the Hostages Families Forum at the Kennedy Center to mark two years since the Hamas terror attacks, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports from Washington.

book shelf

‘Now, life:’ Former hostage Eli Sharabi shares his post-captivity resilience and optimism

Eli Sharabi speaks to the press ahead of Security Council meeting at U.N. Headquarters.

Freed hostage Eli Sharabi’s new memoir, Hostage, ends with him visiting the graves of his wife, Lianne, and his daughters, Noiya and Yahel, for the first time after being released from nearly a year and a half of captivity in Gaza, during which he had hoped they were still alive following the Hamas attack on their home in Kibbutz Be’eri on Oct. 7, 2023. “This here is rock bottom. I’ve seen it. I’ve touched it,” Sharabi writes. “Now, life.” That final sentence of Sharabi’s memoir could sum up his post-captivity self. In a recent interview with Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov, Sharabi said he was determined to reassert his agency, take action on hostage advocacy and move forward in his life.

In the belly of the beast: “I recognize that even within Hamas, after spending 24/7 with them for many months and having different conversations with them, I understand who is ideological and who stumbled into it because Hamas controls the financial faucets in Gaza,” Sharabi told JI. “Does that make them innocent? Of course not. The moment they got the order, I was shackled around my legs. If they were told to shoot me, they would have shot me.”

Read the full story here.

FILM IN FOCUS

‘A story about family’: Noam Tibon, director Barry Avrich reflect on ‘The Road Between Us’ premiere

Noam Tibon and Barry Avrich at the premiere of “The Road Between Us” documentary at the Toronto International Film Festival.

The most important victory of Israeli Maj. Gen. (res.) Noam Tibon’s life was rescuing his son, daughter-in-law and two granddaughters from their home in Kibbutz Nahal Oz during the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks. But the premiere of a new documentary telling that story almost didn’t happen, after “The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue” was removed from the Toronto International Film Festival’s schedule last month, where it was set to make its debut. The film’s reinstatement after widespread pushback was “a victory for the movie and a victory for the truth of what happened on Oct. 7,” Tibon, the film’s protagonist, told Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen in an interview alongside documentarian Barry Avrich.

Global effort: “What was extraordinarily amazing to me — because I just didn’t think we had the wind to our back — was that the global pressure and reaction to the withdrawal of this film was so enormous and validating. We received emails from Jewish people as far as Shanghai” who were outraged over the film’s cancellation, Avrich recalled. “It was one of the great moments in my film career, when the Hollywood community and Jewish community globally said, ‘We will not be erased.’ I kept telling Noam, ‘You will not cancel your ticket, you’re coming to Toronto. We will show this film.’” Tibon said he dedicated the film to “all of the people who fought with me on Oct. 7 — the brave soldiers and border patrol and the brave squad of [Kibbutz Nahal Oz]. I hope many people will watch this around the world because it’s a story about family. What would you do in such a situation?”

Read the full interview here.

exclusive

Gottheimer, GOP lawmakers warn Irish BDS effort will damage relationship with United States

Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and a group of Republican House lawmakers warned the Irish government on Monday that pending legislation to criminalize the importation of Israeli goods from the West Bank and east Jerusalem into Ireland risks damaging the country’s economic relationship with the United States, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. The lawmakers also criticized Dublin’s efforts to support a genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.

Message to Dublin: “This legislation threatens to inflict real harm on American companies operating in Ireland. If enacted, it would put U.S. firms in direct conflict with federal and state-level anti-boycott laws in the U.S., forcing them into an impossible legal position and jeopardizing their ability to do business in Ireland,” reads the letter, addressed to Taoiseach Micheál Martin. “Therefore, were it to pass this bill, Ireland would risk causing significant damage to its own economic credibility and partnerships with American commerce.” The letter states that Dublin’s moves are “fueling rising antisemitic and anti-Zionist sentiment in Ireland and beyond,” and urges the country to cease both efforts in order to “preserve the economic and diplomatic ties between our two nations.”

Read the full story here.

grooming guidelines

Pentagon’s stricter grooming standards could impact Orthodox Jewish servicemembers

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth speaks to senior military leaders at Marine Corps Base Quantico on September 30, 2025 in Quantico, Virginia.

The military grooming rules announced last week and circulated in a memo to military members would end most existing religious exemptions allowing troops to maintain beards. The regulations would present a potential obstacle to Orthodox Jewish servicemen who maintain beards. The policy, which would return the military to pre-2010 standards — when the Pentagon first granted an exemption to a Sikh soldier to maintain a beard in uniform — also prohibits sideburns below the ear openings, potentially impacting servicemen who wear peyot, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

Waiver crackdown: Religious facial hair waivers will be “generally not authorized” under the new policy, and will require “individualized reviews” with “documentation demonstrating the sincerity of the religious or sincerely held belief … sufficient to support a good faith determination by the approving authority,” according to the Pentagon memo. “The military obviously has its need for discipline and uniform adherence,” Rabbi Levi Shemtov, the executive vice president of American Friends of Lubavitch (Chabad), told JI. “At the same time, it has been, and we hope it will continue to be, cognizant that certain individuals, for them to serve and accommodation will be necessary, and as in the past, if everything else about that particular person adheres to military standards, then they should get the dispensation they need.”

Read the full story here.

transitions

AJC names Anne Dreazen to lead its Center for a New Middle East

The American Jewish Committee tapped Middle East policy official Anne Dreazen on Thursday as vice president and director of its Center for a New Middle East, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen has learned. The center launched in June 2024 to advance the organization’s existing work in Israel and the Gulf, with the goal of hosting conferences and business programs in the U.S., Israel and the Gulf, and working with emerging leaders in Israel and the Arab world.

Background: Dreazen, whose career spanned 15 years at the Department of Defense in a variety of roles — most recently as principal director for Middle East policy — is slated to begin the Washington DC-based position on Oct. 20. She oversaw U.S. defense cooperation with partners including Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar while serving as the Pentagon’s principal director for Middle East Policy, under both Democratic and Republican administrations. She also served as a national security fellow in the Senate. Prior to that, Dreazen spent seven months on the ground in Iraq’s Anbar Province, facilitating U.S. reconstruction efforts following Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Read the full story here.

Worthy Reads

Bearing Witness: In Politico, Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner reflects on the rise of antisemitism globally following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks and his meeting with Nova music festival cofounder and producer Ofir Amir. “Since this conversation about the events of Oct. 7, I keep asking myself how Ofir Amir can bear what happened after Oct. 7. How he can bear that victims are turned into perpetrators and perpetrators into victims. That more and more often, it is concealed who started this war, what is action and what is reaction. How he can bear it that justified criticism of decisions made by an Israeli government is mixed with deep-rooted hatred of Jews and that, as a result, instead of an obvious global wave of compassion and solidarity, a global wave of cold-heartedness and increasingly aggressive anti-Semitism has emerged. How he can bear what I can hardly bear, even though I am neither a victim nor a relative of victims.” [Politico]

A Family’s Torment: The Financial Times’ Mehul Srivastava interviews Ilay David, whose brother, Evyatar, has appeared in multiple Hamas hostage videos in a continuous state of decline since his capture two years ago. “But in this litany of broadcast suffering, few have suffered more than the family of Evyatar David, a 24-year-old guitar player who loved AC/DC and Queen and was kidnapped from the Nova Music Festival alongside 40 others. … Ilay has watched the video of him waiting many times, his brother breathing fresh air and begging for his freedom. ‘Of course, Hamas terrorists told him to beg for their life,’ he said. ‘But I saw my brother’s eyes. I saw that he really begged for his life — I saw that he wants to cry.’ Ilay says he lies awake wondering why his brother was chosen for this public form of torture — so many other hostages had suffered in private, while others were filmed but their videos never released. ‘Why Evyatar? Why does he have to suffer so much more?’ he said.” [FT]

Problems Across the Pond: Jewish News Editor Richard Ferrer considers the increasing isolation and antisemitism faced by the U.K.’s Jewish community. “Since Hamas’s massacre in Israel, Jews in Britain have been pushed, slowly — and ever so politely — out of public life. Jewish actors have been dropped from shows. Jewish comedians told their Edinburgh Fringe gigs are off under the pretext of ‘staff safety.’ Venues have quietly cancelled Jewish musicians. Holocaust survivor visits to schools have been pulled ‘for security reasons.’ Every time a theatre has cancelled a Jewish performer, every time a company has decided it’s ‘uncomfortable’ working with Jews, the line between silent and savage antisemitism has blurred just a little more. Now that line no longer exists. On Thursday, Britain became a place where a knife-wielding man called Jihad can convince himself that driving a car into Jews outside a synagogue isn’t an atrocity but a statement. Tonight, I’m off to a bat mitzvah party hoping there’s enough security on the door. That’s life for British Jews now. And death.” [JewishNews]

Iran’s Next Move: The Atlantic’s Arash Azizi and Graeme Wood weigh Iran’s military and diplomatic options following its defeat during the 12-day war with Israel in June. “Iran could surrender its nuclear ambitions. Call this the Libya option, after Muammar Qaddafi’s renunciation of his nuclear program in 2003. The limits of the Libyan option’s appeal are evident when one considers Qaddafi’s fate, which was to be deposed, poked in the backside with a piece of steel, and shot in the head. More appealing is the relative calm of North Korea, whose combined nuclear and conventional deterrent shows no sign of weakness. States that go nuclear tend to survive. … Another option would be to go short of nuclear — to go ballistic.” [TheAtlantic]

Word on the Street

The Department of Commerce sanctioned more than two dozen companies in China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates for acting as conduits for Iran to purchase American technology…

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law legislation taking aim at antisemitism in K-12 schools, which passed last month over the opposition of the state’s largest teachers union…

Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) called on the New Jersey Education Association to fire its recently hired magazine editor, citing since-deleted social media posts promoting violent and antisemitic content, including a post that said that the president of Egypt was “filthier than the Jews”…

Maine Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, is expected to announce her entry into the state’s 2026 Senate race in the coming days; Mills will face a crowded primary field that includes Israel critic Graham Platner as she seeks to challenge Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) next year…

On the second anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel, Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, who is running for Senate in Michigan, sent a fundraising email to supporters that criticized Israel’s ground invasion of Gaza while ignoring the Hamas attack that precipitated it, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…

Several key Minnesota political leaders across the ideological spectrum, including Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN) and Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Tina Smith (D-MN), condemned the vandalism of a synagogue in Minneapolis on Wednesday as an act of antisemitism, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…

The New York Times explores how New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s views on Israel were shaped by his upbringing and college activism; during his time at Bowdoin College, where he founded the campus’ chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, Mamdani refused efforts to collaborate with the campus’ J Street U chapter, citing SJP’s “antinormalization” policy against working with groups that support Israel’s right to exist…

Federal prosecutors in Maryland are expected to charge former National Security Advisor John Bolton in the coming days with mishandling classified documents…

A Pennsylvania couple is pursuing legal action against the previous owner of their home, who hid a tiled swastika and German war eagle, installed in the 1970s, under carpet during the property sale…

A U.K. court began proceedings against two men accused of planning a terror attack against the Jewish community in Manchester in late 2023 and early 2024; the trial is taking place days after two people were killed in an unrelated terror attack on a Manchester synagogue on Yom Kippur…

The Wall Street Journal looks at how 10 Downing Street under Prime Minister Keir Starmer and the ruling Labour party has struggled to quell daily anti-Israel protests around the country amid concerns that the rallies are fueling antisemitism in the U.K.…

The family of Bipin Joshi, a Nepali citizen taken hostage by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, released a recently discovered video of Joshi filmed shortly after his abduction to Gaza…

Iran released a 19-year-old French-German cyclist who had been detained since June…

Longtime Zabar’s owner Saul Zabar, who oversaw the appetizing shop’s operations for seven decades, died at 97…

Attorney Bruce Cutler, who secured multiple acquittals for his client, mob boss John Gotti, died at 77…

Pic of the Day

Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman and Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion prayed at the Western Wall during the Priestly Blessing on Thursday in Jerusalem. Also in attendance during the Chol Hamoed prayers were the Sephardic and Ashkenazi chief rabbis of Israel and former hostage Sasha Trufanov.

Birthdays

(Photo by Tara Walton/Toronto Star via Getty Images)

U.S. ambassador to Canada during the Obama administration, then vice chair of BMO until 2024, David Jacobson turns 74…

Founder, executive chairman and now retired CEO of C-SPAN, known for his unique interview style, Brian Lamb turns 84… Retired federal government manager and analyst, Charles “Chuck” Miller… Associate professor of Jewish history at the University of Maryland, Bernard Dov Cooperman turns 79… Burbank, Calif., resident, Richard Marpet… Commissioner of Major League Soccer since 1999, Don Garber turns 68… VNOC engineer at Avaya until a few months ago, David Gerstman… Attorney at Wilkes Artis, Eric S. Kassoff turns 65… Retired director of Jewish learning at the Brandeis School of San Francisco, Debby Arzt-Mor… Managing director and financial advisor at Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management and chair emeritus of DMFI, Todd Richman… Best-selling author and motivational speaker, Simon Sinek turns 52… Rosh yeshiva at Yeshivas Elimelech following 17 years as rabbi at Ohev Shalom Synagogue in Washington, D.C., Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld turns 51… Musician and singer, Neshama Carlebach turns 51… Member of the Knesset for Yesh Atid, Karin Elharar Hartstein turns 48… SVP for Jewish education, community and culture at Hillel International, Rabbi Benjamin Berger… Partner at Left Hook Strategy, Justin Barasky… CEO at Denver-based energy firm Nexus Energy Partners, he was the national board chair of Moishe House (now known as Mem Global) until 2022, Ben Lusher… Senior director of state and international affairs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform, David Meyerson… Stand-up comedian and two-time Emmy Award-winning television writer, Ian Karmel turns 41… VP of portfolio management for LEO Impact Capital, Lily Goldstein… Counsel in O’Melveny’s NYC office, he was an executive assistant and advance associate in the Obama White House, David Cohen… Physical therapist in Montreal, Chaya Notik… VP at L’Oréal, Jason Kaplan turns 35… Senior manager of policy communications at Snap, Julia Schechter… Israel-based senior associate at JP Morgan Payments, Daniel Rubin… Manager of in-stock management at Amazon in NYC, Kayla Levinson Segal… Security coordinator of Kibbutz Nir Am on Oct. 7, 2023, now an Israeli heroine after her team killed 25 terrorists and the kibbutz suffered no casualties, Inbal Rabin-Lieberman turns 27… Foil fencer, he won a team bronze medal at the 2020 Olympics (Tokyo) and an individual bronze medal at the 2024 Olympics (Paris), Nick Itkin turns 26…

analysis

Anticipation in Israel and around the world as hostage-release talks reach the end zone

Israeli media reports have said that Hamas could begin freeing hostages as early as Saturday, without the mass propaganda events that marred previous hostage releases

Liri Agami

Former hostages and hostage families, meeting with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, speak to President Donald Trump following Trump's announcement that Israel and Hamas had reached an agreement to free the hostages.

By

Lahav Harkov

October 9, 2025

It’s a “morning of historic and momentous news,” as Israeli President Isaac Herzog put it on Thursday, when Israelis woke up to learn that a deal had been reached to free the remaining hostages in the coming days and halt the fighting in Gaza.

The sides are expected to officially sign the deal in Egypt today, and Israel’s Cabinet is set to vote at 11 a.m. ET on the exchange of the 48 hostages, 20 of whom are thought to be alive, for close to 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. The IDF said it began preparing to withdraw from parts of Gaza as part of the deal.

Hamas is expected to release the Israeli hostages first. Only when Israel is satisfied that the terrorist group has freed everyone it can find — including the remains of about 28 Israelis who were killed — will Palestinian prisoners be released. The swap comes with caveats: Hamas says it is unable to locate some of the bodies, and about 250 of the Palestinian prisoners set to be released are serving life sentences for terrorist offenses, though Israel insisted that high-profile detainees — such as Second Intifada mastermind Marwan Barghouti — will not be part of the deal.

The deal is expected to pass easily in the Cabinet, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party holding the majority of the seats. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who expressed opposition earlier this week to President Donald Trump’s plan to end the war, was unusually quiet on Thursday morning, while Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said he would not vote in favor.

Trump said in an interview with Fox News that all of the hostages “will be coming back on Monday. … As we speak, so much is happening to get the hostages freed.”

Israeli media reports have said that Hamas could begin freeing hostages as early as Saturday, without the mass propaganda events that marred previous hostage releases.

Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter made clear that only the first phase of the deal had been agreed on, and the end of the war can only come after it is implemented.

“We hope it leads to a complete cessation of hostilities and a rebuilding of Gaza for the sake of the Gazans and for the sake of Israel, but it’s the first stage, and we’ve got to see the first stage implemented completely,” Leiter told CNN.

Trump is expected to fly to Israel over the weekend to celebrate the release of the hostages and address the Knesset, following an invitation from Netanyahu. The Hostages Families Forum invited Trump to meet with families and give an address in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square during his trip. U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s former Middle East advisor, Jared Kushner, are expected to arrive in Israel later Thursday.

“We can finally breathe again, embrace those we feared we would never hold, and bring to dignified burial those we have lost. … We simply need the opportunity to look you in the eye and express what words alone cannot fully convey: that you gave us back our families, and with them, our hope,” the hostage families’ group wrote to Trump.

A delegation of released hostages and hostages’ relatives were in Washington, meeting with Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, when the deal was announced. With the president on Lutnick’s speakerphone, members of the group thanked the president for his efforts.

The Tikvah Forum, made up of more hawkish hostage families, said that the news “gives us hope. We are full of hope that … we will merit to embrace our loved ones soon. Thank you to everyone who acted to bring them all back, especially our brave soldiers.”

Opposition leader Yair Lapid called for Trump to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, echoing a recent call from hostage families who nominated the president for the award.

Earlier in the week, senior figures from several of the countries involved in the talks headed to Egyptian resort town Sharm el-Sheikh to close the deal, including Witkoff, Kushner, Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani and Turkish Intelligence Minister Ibrahim Kalin.

Negotiators hammered out the details of the first phase of Trump’s 20-step deal — the hostage release — along with Israel’s initial lines of withdrawal. According to the plan Trump announced last month, Israel would only withdraw from Gaza City in the first stage, but subsequent Israeli media reports indicate that Jerusalem agreed to a withdrawal from parts of Khan Younis, as well.

The talks in Egypt began after Hamas stated last week that it was willing to exchange the hostages for Palestinian prisoners. The terrorist group rejected other components of the Trump plan, such as laying down its arms and the demilitarization and deradicalization of Gaza, yet Trump said he views Hamas as “ready for a lasting peace.”

Netanyahu said in a subsequent statement that this was a new concession from Hamas in that they agreed to free the hostages “while the IDF remains deep within the [Gaza] Strip.” The Trump plan would also have the IDF remain in a buffer zone along Gaza’s perimeter, including the Philadelphi Corridor between Gaza and Egypt.

Other issues under negotiation include who will be part of the temporary technocratic administration governing Gaza and the “Peace Board” led by Trump, with former British prime minister Tony Blair taking part, as well as, potentially, Apollo Global Management CEO Marc Rowan.

DONE DEAL

Trump: Israel, Hamas agreed to ‘first phase’ of peace plan

All of the hostages are expected to be released as soon as this weekend

President Donald Trump delivers remarks at the Israeli American Council National Summit at the Washington Hilton on September 19, 2024 in Washington, DC.(Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

By

Marc Rod

October 8, 2025

President Donald Trump announced Wednesday evening that Israel and Hamas had agreed to “the first Phase of our Peace Plan” that he outlined last week.

“This means that ALL of the Hostages will be released very soon, and Israel will withdraw their Troops to an agreed upon line as the first steps toward a Strong, Durable, and Everlasting Peace,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Axios reported that all the hostages will be released 72 hours after the Israeli cabinet approves the deal, likely by Monday. Israel is expected to release 250 Palestinians serving life sentences in Israeli prisons and 1,700 Palestinian prisoners detained since Oct. 7 in exchange.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the announcement was a “great day for Israel” and that he would convene the government tomorrow “to approve the agreement and bring all our beloved hostages home.”

“I thank the heroic soldiers of the IDF and the entire security apparatus, whose bravery and sacrifice brought us to this day. I thank, from the bottom of my heart, President Trump and his team for their mobilization for the sacred task of releasing our hostages,” Netanyahu said. “God willing, we will continue together in order to achieve all our aims and expand the peace with our neighbours.”

The Israeli government said that Trump and Netanyahu had spoken and had a “very emotional and warm conversation” and “the Prime Minister thanked President Trump for all his efforts and for his global leadership, and President Trump congratulated the Prime Minister for his determined leadership and the actions he led.”

Netanyahu invited Trump — who has not yet visited Israel in his second term in office — to address the Knesset. Axios reported that Trump is planning to visit Israel “in the coming days.”

Further negotiations will be necessary to continue into further phases of the deal, which Trump had originally presented as an all-or-nothing ultimatum to Hamas.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle and Jewish groups celebrated the announcement, even as many warned that continued vigilance is necessary to ensure Hamas abides by the terms of the deal.

Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL), the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said that Trump “just did what career diplomats never could — he brought the world closer than it’s ever been to peace in Gaza. This deal only works if Hamas follows through. We don’t trust terrorists, we trust results.”

Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) said that the deal is a “victory” for the hostage families and “step toward healing for Israelis, Palestinians, people throughout the Middle East, and for the world.”

“I am grateful for the efforts that have brought us here, and urge the Trump Administration to continue its leadership in these negotiations,” Rosen continued. “We must continue to ensure Israel’s security, surge humanitarian aid to ease the suffering of innocent Palestinians in Gaza, and pursue steps toward a lasting peace that finally brings this conflict to an end.”

In a statement, AIPAC said that the deal is “an extraordinary moment for America, Israel and the world” that had been brought about by “the enduring partnership” between the U.S. and Israel. It described the deal as a “just conclusion to the terrible war Hamas started” which “creates tremendous opportunity to forge a better future” for the region.

“AIPAC applauds President Trump and his negotiating team for this tremendous achievement and for working together with Israel to broker this peace plan. We deeply appreciate the moral clarity and steadfast support from the overwhelming majority of Congress, Republicans and Democrats alike, who stood with the Jewish state throughout this war and ensured Israel had the resources it needed to achieve its objectives against Hamas,” the statement said.

“Now, America and the world must be vigilant to ensure that Hamas adheres to the terms and implementation of the peace plan.”

The American Jewish Committee, which has worked extensively with the hostage families, said, “Hope is finally within reach.”

“We welcome President Trump’s announcement of a deal to free the hostages and begin to end the war. As we await the details, we look forward to the day we can finally say every hostage is home,” the statement continued. “We are grateful to the President and his Administration for their leadership in helping bring about this pivotal moment.”

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), in celebrating the deal, dubbed Trump “the peace president.”

“This historic deal not only brings the hope of prosperity to a region that has been ravaged by Iran-backed terror but establishes steps towards lasting peace,” Ernst continued. “Today there is a new dawn that could not have happened without the leadership of President Donald J. Trump, who united our partners and allies against our common enemy: Iran. Finally, the hostages who have endured a living nightmare will be reunited with their loved ones, and the bodies of Americans Itay Chen and Omer Neutra can be laid to rest in dignity.”

Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI), the chair of the House Republican Conference, also credited Trump for the deal.

“This is what happens when we have strong leadership. Funny how peace only seems possible when President Trump’s in charge,” she said. “The Israel-Hamas ceasefire didn’t happen by accident — it happened because of his strong leadership that puts America — and peace — first. Grateful the hostages are finally coming home and peace in the Middle East is on the horizon.”

Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) said, “We should all be rooting for the success of an agreement that secures the release of the hostages and ends the war. Who could possibly be against that?”

Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa, said that the “news is a welcome breakthrough and a testament to the strength of America’s unwavering partnership with Israel and our Arab partners.”

“Now, with Hamas reportedly accepting the ceasefire deal and releasing all remaining hostages, we have a historic opportunity to end the bloodshed and begin rebuilding a secure, peaceful future for Israel,” Lawler continued.

“Thank you to President Trump for leading this effort and working tirelessly to establish peace and bring the hostages home. The United States, Israel, and our regional partners will hold Hamas accountable, and there will be no tolerance for backsliding or deception.”

on the hill

Gottheimer, Hoyer blast Israel critics, emphasize responsibility for war falls on Hamas

On the anniversary of Oct. 7, the lawmakers were joined by former hostage Ilana Gritzewsky and a cousin of deceased hostage Omer Neutra

Marc Rod

Rep. Josh Gottheimer speaks at a press conference on the second anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2025, in Washington, D.C.

By

Marc Rod

October 8, 2025

Speaking at a press conference on the second anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel alongside a former hostage and the family member of a U.S. citizen still held in Gaza, Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and Jewish organizational leaders slammed critics of Israel and emphasized that the responsibility for the continuation of the war in Gaza lies with Hamas.

“To all of the critics and naysayers who haven’t missed a chance to scream, yell and slam Israel, I say to them, ‘Where are your voices today? Where are your voices for peace?’” Gottheimer said. “You must push Hamas and take the deal that Israel has already accepted and that the Arab states and the U.S. support.”

He also emphasized the need to counter “social media cooked-up fiction” that has attempted to distort the memory of the attacks.

Hoyer, the former Democratic majority leader, condemned as outrageous the antisemitism that has targeted the Jewish community — whom he called “the victims” of the Oct. 7 attack — and emphasized repeatedly that Hamas is responsible for the attacks two years ago and everything that has followed.

“[The] trauma has grown with every hostage executed, every missile launched and every day this war has been drawn out — by Hamas,” Hoyer said. “Hamas’ crimes on Oct. 7, tragically have also led to the deaths, injury and displacement of thousands of Palestinians as well. Hamas has their blood on their hands.”

Hoyer, emphasizing the millenia-long history of antisemitism, said that people and leaders must speak up and take action against it.

“To young people: Do not fall into the trap of believing misinformation. Focus on who attacked, who abused,” Hoyer said. “America responded to the Japanese, we responded to Hitler’s actions in Europe. It was very tough: hundreds of thousands, indeed, millions of lives were lost. We thought perhaps that we may have, as mankind, learned a lesson of the cost of hate, the cost of bigotry, the cost of prejudice.”

Former Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL), the CEO of the American Jewish Committee, offered his thanks to Gottheimer and Hoyer for their clear stances in support of Israel and the hostages.

“In a world swimming in moral confusion, I want to extend our deep gratitude for the moral clarity with which you have consistently approached the events of Oct. 7, the need to speak up, the need to be clear about what happened and the need for us to always remember,” Deutch said.

He added that leaders have a responsibility to condemn antisemitism and Hamas unequivocally, and that their choice of rhetoric has “life or death consequences.”

“We’ve seen a terrifying surge in antisemitism, and in this upside-down world that we live in, Hamas is so often praised while its hostage-taking, atrocities and war crimes are ignored. Today is a reminder that we need to reset the truth,” he continued. “Words matter, and leadership matters. And when public figures slander Israel would normalize calls for violence, chants of globalizing the intifada, when there is open praise for Hamas — then they help to create the conditions for violence from Washington to Boulder to Manchester.”

Deutch also highlighted that, immediately after Oct. 7, before Israel had even begun its counterattack, people around the world marched in the streets in support of Hamas.

On the second anniversary, he continued, “there are some marches taking place around the world of the same people who were not interested in peace two years ago, when they supported Hamas. If they were serious about peace now, they will be marching to force Hamas to accept the terms of this deal. This is a moment when all of the people who claim to support peace have to be held accountable.”

Meredith Jacobs, the CEO of Jewish Women International, contrasted the sense of belonging she felt during a High Holy Days event at the White House in October 2022 with the widespread denial and ostracization that Jews and Israeli victims of Oct. 7 faced from the world following the attacks.

“October 2022 I was secure in my place in the world, secure in my safety and acceptance,” Jacobs said. “A year later, October 2023, that sense of belonging and safety was shattered. … I remember sitting with horror in the silence of the world and in the silence of other feminist organizations, and I remember what came after the silence, the effective malicious campaign of disinformation and denial.”

“When it came to Israeli women, those who were supposed to stand with us delegitimized the evidence, dehumanized Israeli bodies and applied a double standard when responding to the rape and mutilation of Israeli women,” she continued.

Former hostage Ilana Gritzewsky recounted the trauma she underwent in Gaza: “I was beaten … taken to Gaza on a motorcycle, with sexual abuse. For 55 days, I was held in captivity, living in fear and hunger, and deprived of all basic human grace. No fresh air, no sunlight, no showers, very little food or water. I lost 24 pounds. I lost hearing in my left ear. My hip was broken. My leg was burned. My jaw was dislocated and they took my soul.”

She said that she cannot heal until the other hostages, including her partner, Matan Zangauker, are released. And she emphasized that this is “a fight for all of us” — that the same terrorism could come for “any country.”

Speaking on behalf of deceased American hostage Omer Neutra’s parents, Neutra’s cousin Yasmin Magal said that the Trump plan has appeared to usher in a true shift.

“Today, two years later, we sense a shift for the first time. There is a real alignment. Recognition that the moral center of the war is not territorial politics but the fate of the hostages. We have seen bold leadership in recent days,” Magal said. “Willing to act with clarity, urgency and strength, President [Donald] Trump has demonstrated that kind of courage, understanding that resolving the hostage crisis is not just a humanitarian necessity, but the key to stability and peace. We need the same moral clarity from all leaders around the world, because peace cannot begin until the hostages come home.”

At the press conference, Gottheimer announced a series of pieces of bipartisan legislation aimed at commemorating the Oct. 7 anniversary.

One, cosponsored by Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), would bestow a Congressional Gold Medal, Congress’ highest honor, on the American hostages and victims of Oct. 7.

The second, cosponsored by Reps. Lois Frankel (D-FL), Joe Wilson (R-SC) and Young Kim (R-CA), would condemn the Oct. 7 attack, call for the release of hostages, reaffirm Israel’s right to self-defense, advocate for humanitarian aid and condemn antisemitism.

The third, cosponsored by Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), would direct the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum to create a model curriculum about the Oct. 7 attacks, the history of antisemitism and its role in the attacks and the denial and distortion of the attacks that followed Oct. 7.

Each of the pieces of legislation is supported by a range of Jewish ådvocacy groups.

Separately, in the Senate, Sens. Joni Ernst (R-IA) and John Fetterman (D-PA) and every Senate Republican introduced a resolution condemning the Oct. 7 attacks and “destructive and antisemitic protests in the United States” and supporting the ceasefire and hostage-release negotiations brokered by the Trump administration.

marking the day

Hostage families nominate Trump for Nobel Peace Prize, thank him at D.C. memorial

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and his wife, Allison, supported the creation of the sukkah through their family foundation

Liri Agami

Former hostages Noa Argamani (left) and Edan Alexander (center) stand with Daniel Neutra, brother of hostage Omer Neutra, and other hostage family members at a memorial event at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 7, 2025.

By

Gabby Deutch

October 8, 2025

Oct. 7 bloomed warm and sunny in Washington this year as dozens of Jewish community leaders and bipartisan political officials gathered somberly at a pavilion at the Kennedy Center to mark two years since the Hamas terror attacks in Israel.

A large sukkah, deemed the “Sukkah of Hope,” had a simple message displayed: “Two years in captivity. We can bring them home,” with photos of the 48 people, living and dead, still held captive by Hamas in Gaza. Several former hostages and the family members of those still in Gaza walked up to the stage inside the sukkah, one after the other, all with variations on the same message: Thank you, President Trump, they said. Bring our loved ones home.

“President Trump, we are thankful for what you’ve done, for your determination, for the time and energy you’ve given to this cause,” said Liran Berman, whose twin brothers, Gali and Ziv, remain in Gaza.

“We are really grateful and hopeful. I’m glad that this man, Donald Trump, is behind us,” said Iair Horn, who in February returned to Israel after 498 days in Hamas captivity. His younger brother, Eitan, is still being held in Gaza.

Their appeal to the president’s dealmaking prowess came after the Hostages and Missing Families Forum nominated Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize, an honor he has long coveted. The president sent a letter to the former hostages and the hostage families early Tuesday thanking them for the nomination and expressing his commitment “to returning all the hostages home, and ensuring the total destruction of Hamas so these horrific acts may never be repeated.”

The Sukkah of Hope was supposed to be constructed on the Ellipse, outside the White House. But the government shutdown meant that could not happen. Still, its move to the Kennedy Center did not keep high-level government officials from visiting.

Before the memorial service, several Cabinet secretaries had breakfast with the former hostages and hostage family members. In attendance were Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

Ronen Neutra, whose son Omer was killed on Oct. 7 and whose body is being held hostage by Hamas, said the Cabinet members sounded optimistic about the possibility of a deal.

“We are hearing from the Cabinet members their optimism that we might be getting closer to a deal,” Neutra said. “But I think what is more important for us, or as important, is to hear the commitment that [we] have been hearing from President Trump, that this has to happen, and this is on his top priority list, and I think it trickles down.”

Lutnick and his wife, Allison, supported the creation of the sukkah through their family foundation.

“Donald Trump is the driving force of peace in this world,” Lutnick said at the memorial event. “The United States of America is together with the hostages and the hostage families. We are part of you, we are with you and we will help get them home.”

In the crowd at the event were Noa Argamani, Edan Alexander, Keith Siegel, Arbel Yehoud, Doron Steinbrecher and Ilana Gritzewsky, all of whom survived Hamas captivity. Alexander, a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen, and the Neutra family met with Trump at the White House on Tuesday afternoon.

At the memorial, several outlined the torture they face and they fears they harbor for loved ones who remain in Gaza.

“There are no words in any language to describe what I went through,” said Yehoud, whose partner, Ariel Cunio, 28, remains in Gaza. “Even as I stand here before you, I’m not really there. A massive part of me is still there, trapped in that darkness, and I will remain there until my Ariel and everyone comes home.”

Book shelf

‘Now, life:’ Former hostage Eli Sharabi shares his post-captivity resilience and optimism

Sharabi’s new book, Hostage, tells the story of his kidnapping and 491 days in Gaza

Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images

Eli Sharabi speaks to the press ahead of Security Council meeting at U.N. Headquarters.

By

Lahav Harkov

October 6, 2025

Freed hostage Eli Sharabi’s new book, Hostage, ends with him visiting the graves of his wife, Lianne, and his daughters, Noiya and Yahel, for the first time after being released from nearly a year and a half of captivity in Gaza, during which he had hoped they were still alive following the Hamas attack on their home in Kibbutz Be’eri on Oct. 7, 2023.

“This here is rock bottom. I’ve seen it. I’ve touched it,” Sharabi writes. “Now, life.”

The memoir tells a horrific story of 491 days of violence, deprivation and starvation.

That final sentence of Sharabi’s memoir — “Now, life” — could sum up his post-captivity self. In an interview with Jewish Insider last month, Sharabi said he was determined to reassert his agency, take action on hostage advocacy and move forward in his life.

Sharabi seemed cheerful speaking about his recovery. He was still slimmer than his pre-captivity self, but no longer as gaunt as he was emerging from the tunnels in Gaza in which Hamas starved him, giving him only a stale pita to eat each day, at most.

“I’m getting stronger every day,” Sharabi said. “I make sure to exercise and have weekly therapy sessions and make sure to take care of myself. I am strong and positive and facing forward.”

Sharabi’s days are filled with meetings around Israel and the world advocating for the remaining hostages to be freed.

“From the moment I got out of Sheba [Medical Center], 10 days after being freed, it has been non-stop action,” he said. “I have a lot of trips abroad, meeting with government officials — presidents, prime ministers, members of parliament, foreign ministers — and a lot of lectures in Israel and around the world, to a lot of Jewish communities. … It’s non-stop, morning to night.”

In his book, he recounts reassuring hostages Alon Ohel, who is still in Gaza, and Eliya Cohen and Or Levy, who have since been released, that he was sure their families were protesting and advocating for their release.

“It was important for Eliya and me to tell Or and Alon, who were more pessimistic about our chances, to get out and thought ‘maybe they forgot us,’” Sharabi recalled. “Eliya and I were very positive and said we had no doubt our families and good friends are not resting for a moment and doing all they could to free us.”

Sharabi said that when his captors would tell him about protests in the streets of Israel, they would say the demonstrations were against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but he and his fellow hostages saw it as “the nation going out to fight for us. It gave us hope.”

When Sharabi was released, he saw that the scale of the hostage advocacy movement was beyond what he had imagined.

“When I got out and understood that it was masses of people in Israel, it excited me,” he said. “I met members of Jewish communities in New York, Chicago, Miami, London, Mexico. I meet Israelis and Jews all around the world and understand what they did all this time. It is very touching. I didn’t expect it at all. I expected my friends and family. I didn’t think that people would have posters of me at their holiday table. It’s heartwarming.”

At home in Israel, however, there have been sharp political divisions about the looming deal to release the hostages in exchange for ending the war in Gaza. Some far-right ministers in Netanyahu’s government oppose President Donald Trump’s plan, which calls to free all 48 remaining hostages — 20 of whom are thought to be alive — within three days, because they call to prioritize defeating Hamas.

“In Israel, everything is political,” Sharabi lamented. “It’s terrible. All of our elected officials, with no exception, are partners in this terrible thing. I think all the people of Israel are sick of everything being political. I think most people in Israel hate this.”

The hostages, Sharabi said, “are not about right and not about left.” His brother, Yossi, was also taken captive and was killed while in Hamas captivity, which the IDF found may have been caused by an IDF airstrike.

Sharabi had an almost paternal relationship with Ohel when Hamas held them captive together in the tunnels under Gaza, and he expressed relief to have seen Ohel in a new hostage video released by the terror group last month.

“He’s amazing,” Sharabi said. “If you told me a week after I met him that he would survive six or seven months alone, after I left him, I would have doubted it. I left him after a very positive process during which he strengthened himself and learned how to survive, that you can’t be nice all the time and can’t be naive. He developed resilience and isn’t shaken by every change and every fear.”

Sharabi emphasized that, while in captivity, it is crucial to “understand that not everything is in our control, but we have the ability to choose how we respond.”

“I’m optimistic that soon we will see [Ohel] united with his family, and soon after, I will reunite with him. I am looking forward to it,” he said.

Sharabi describes his captors in detail in the book. Some were always cruel, while others snuck the hostages extra scraps of food. Some were true extremists, while others appeared to be in Hamas for the money.

“There are no innocent people in Gaza,” he said, “not civilians and certainly not the people in Hamas. In the 52 days that I was aboveground, not in tunnels but with a family in a house, they made sure people outside would not hear or see me, because they thought people would come in and kill me.”

“I recognize that even within Hamas, after spending 24/7 with them for many months and having different conversations with them, I understand who is ideological and who stumbled into it because Hamas controls the financial faucets in Gaza,” Sharabi added. “Does that make them innocent? Of course not. The moment they got the order, I was shackled around my legs. If they were told to shoot me, they would have shot me. … Some did it for money, not ideology, but they starved me, humiliated me and beat me. It doesn’t make them innocent.”

Sharabi also called on the Western world to recognize that Hamas is part of a broader ideology that threatens them, as well.

“I recently got back from 10 days in Australia,” he recalled. “We flew to Canberra to meet the deputy prime minister and foreign minister, both of whom are, at the very least, not pro-Israel. It was important for me to tell them two things.”

“First, disagreements with Israeli policy are fine. I, too, as a citizen, don’t always agree with Israeli policy. That’s what’s good about a democracy… We can say our opinions and disagree. But at the same time, even if they don’t think like Israelis and don’t have to care about me as an Israeli, they are part of the Commonwealth, and my wife and daughters were British and murdered in their homes with their British passports in their hands — the Hamas terrorists knew.”

Sharabi said his captors said to him time after time that “after Israelis and Jews, they will get to France, Britain, America and Spain. The whole world will be Islam.”

Second, Sharabi said he speaks out against antisemitism in his meetings with leaders.

“It cannot be that in 2025, Australian Jews are afraid to go out into the streets. It’s 2025, not 1940. That is [the leaders’] responsibility. They are not speaking out clearly enough against antisemitism. I’m not a politician or a diplomat, so I can say that each one of them is responsible. … Every Jew today is affected by the hate crimes in the world, and that is the responsibility of the government and elected officials,” he said.

Sharabi said his constant activity, including writing his memoir, “has a therapeutic side to it, to deal with [the experience] and not leave it all inside.”

“I don’t like to compare it to the Holocaust, but a lot of survivors didn’t talk, not even to their children,” he noted. “My psychologists, from the beginning, said … they never saw such a huge trauma. It’s not just the captivity, but also the huge loss of my wife, daughters and brother. It’s important to talk. It helps me a lot.”

As to why he doesn’t like to make comparisons between Oct. 7 and the Holocaust, when some Israelis have done so, Sharabi said that during the Holocaust, Jews were “a stateless people, a homeless people, with no government to take care of them.”

“There is a lot of anger in Israel in part because there is a country, there is an address that was supposed to take care of us and our security, and it failed,” he added. “It’s not like the Holocaust, so I don’t like the comparison. There were horrors there that we didn’t see here, like the gas chambers; instead there is a murderous terrorist organization.”

At the same time, Sharabi noted that in the months since his release in February, he has not been exposed to a lot of the details and footage of the Oct. 7 attacks, in which his wife and daughters were among the 132 Israelis murdered in his hometown, Kibbutz Be’eri: “I am being protected like a safe. I haven’t turned on the TV; I don’t watch my own interviews.”

“I have trouble grasping it,” he added.

Even without exposure to the horrors of Oct. 7, speaking and writing about his captivity means going back to the darkest moments of his life, repeatedly.

“I am connected to the pain. I recognize it; I have words for it. Not a day goes by that I don’t cry over it. I hear music on the radio in the car that reminds me of the girls,” he said. “But I also remember them with a lot of smiles, and when I cry, it’s about longing for them, not sadness. I am emotional about the good, when I remember my wife and my girls and their smiles.”

“It’s good for me to talk all the time. It’s important to me. I’m freeing it from my system, instead of leaving it inside,” he added.

exclusive

AIPAC to air ad on MSNBC featuring hostage testimony

‘Free the hostages, remove Hamas, end the war,’ the ad reads

Screenshot/YouTube

Former hostage Ohad Ben Ami appears in a 30-second AIPAC ad airing on MSNBC.

By

Marc Rod

October 6, 2025

AIPAC is set to begin airing an ad on MSNBC on Monday featuring testimony from former hostage Ohad Ben Ami, who was held by Hamas in Gaza for 491 days.

The ad — while largely non-political — constitutes a notable outreach from AIPAC to the liberal Democratic base, a demographic that polls show is growing increasingly antagonistic toward Israel.

The ad will air in the Washington area 14 times over seven days, seven times on morning shows and seven times during the evening.

“Doctors said that if I would have stayed another two weeks or three, I would have not survived. We are in the dark, no food, no medicine. Like, you are in hell,” Ben Ami states in the ad. “It is more than 200 days [since] I [got] out. If you want to bring [the remaining hostages home] alive, we must do it fast.”

“Hamas still holds 48 hostages in Gaza,” captions displayed on screen read. “Free the hostages, remove Hamas, end the war.”

Hamas officials are meeting with Israeli negotiators in Cairo on Monday following an announcement from the terror group on Friday that it was willing to enter final negotiations to release the hostages and end the war, along the terms outlined by President Donald Trump’s proposal.

nearing the end zone

Cautious hope in Israel ahead of talks for Hamas to free all hostages

Israeli PM Netanyahu: ‘We are on the verge of a very great achievement. ... It is not yet final; we are working on it diligently’

Chris McGrath/Getty Images

People chant slogans and hold placards in support of hostages still held by Hamas during a solidarity protest, calling for an end to the war and the release of all remaining Israeli hostages on October 4, 2025, in Tel Aviv, Israel.

By

Lahav Harkov

October 5, 2025

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, hostage families and others in Israel expressed cautious optimism over the weekend, after Hamas agreed to enter talks to free the 48 remaining hostages in exchange for a partial Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

An Israeli team consisting of Strategic Minister Ron Dermer, diplomatic advisor Ophir Falk, Coordinator for the Hostages and Missing Gal Hirsch and representatives of the Mossad and Shin Bet are expected to head to Cairo on Monday for proximity talks to negotiate the implementation of President Donald Trump’s 20-step plan to end the war. Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and Jared Kushner, who has been involved in the talks, will represent the U.S.

Netanyahu said in a video statement Saturday night that Israel and the U.S. intend to “limit this negotiation to a few days” and that it would be about “technical details” of the Trump plan.

“We will not tolerate any more delay tactics, time-wasting or evasion on the part of Hamas,” he said.

As Trump noted on Truth Social, the ceasefire would immediately take effect once it is agreed to by Hamas. The terror group would have to release the remaining 48 hostages – 20 of whom are thought to be alive – in exchange for Israel’s freeing of over 1,700 Palestinian prisoners, hundreds of whom are serving life sentences on terrorism charges, and the rest arrested in Gaza in the last two years. Then, Israel would withdraw to an initial line, as part of a gradual withdrawal toward a buffer zone along Gaza’s perimeter.

The details likely to be negotiated include the precise line to which Israel will withdraw initially and, at the end of the process, which countries will make up the International Stabilization Force meant to be the “long-term internal security solution” to keep Gaza demilitarized and prevent the resurgence of terrorism, according to the Trump plan, and who will be part of the transitional technocratic committee meant to govern Gaza. Former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair and Apollo Global Management CEO Marc Rowan are expected to be involved in the Peace Board led by Trump that will oversee the transitional government.

Netanyahu vowed that “Hamas will be disarmed and the Strip demilitarized. This will happen either via a diplomatic route, according to the Trump plan, or via a military route by us.”

The talks come after Hamas released a statement early Saturday in which it embraced parts of the Trump plan — exchanging Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, an influx of aid and encouraging Palestinians to remain in Gaza — but rejected the concessions the plan would entail, including the demilitarization and deradicalization of Gaza. Hamas said it would punt that decision to “a collective national position … to be discussed within a comprehensive Palestinian national framework, in which Hamas will be included.”

Despite Hamas accepting only a fraction of his plan, Trump wrote on Truth Social that he believes the terrorist group is “ready for a lasting PEACE” and called on Israel to “immediately stop the bombing of Gaza so that we can get the hostages out safely and quickly.”

IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir then “instructed to advance readiness for the implementation of the first phase of the Trump plan for the release of the hostages,” according to an IDF statement early Saturday morning. At the same time, Zamir said, “all troops must maintain high alertness and vigilance, in addition to reinforcing the need for a rapid response to neutralize any threat.”

In his video statement, Netanyahu presented Trump’s plan as being coordinated with Jerusalem. “As a result of the intense military pressure we applied and the diplomatic pressure, Hamas was pressured into agreeing to the plan we presented,” Netanyahu said.

The prime minister added that “we are on the verge of a very great achievement. … It is not yet final; we are working on it diligently, and I hope, with G-d’s help, that in the coming days, during the Sukkot holiday, I will be able to inform you about the return of all our hostages, both living and deceased, in one phase, while the IDF remains deep within the Strip and in the controlling areas within it.”

Tel Aviv’s Hostage Square was filled with demonstrators on Saturday night, calling for the deal to be implemented.

Liran Berman, brother of hostages Ziv and Gali Berman, said that “with hope comes fear. Will the deal be signed? When will I see my brothers again? We are suspended between hope and dread. We have lived through Hamas’s lies before. We cannot let another deal collapse. Not again. President Trump, we stand with you. Do not stop. It is now or never.”

Former hostage Gadi Moses said, “I know the road is still long and riddled with obstacles, but today I can say that for the first time since my release from captivity, I have heard declarations that may give us some hope. This is the time to cease fire and focus on returning all the hostages and ending the war.”

Also Saturday, Netanyahu held meetings and discussions with the leaders of right-wing parties in his governing coalition, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, both of whom have called to annex and settle the Gaza Strip.

Ben-Gvir said that “we will be happy like everyone to see all the hostages returning to us,” but “if Hamas continues to exist after all the hostages are freed, Otzma Yehudit [Ben-Gvir’s party] will not be part of the government. We will not be part of a national defeat that will turn into a ticking time bomb until the next massacre.”

Smotrich did not threaten to leave the coalition, but he said that Netanyahu made a “severe mistake” by acquiescing to Trump’s call to stop the attack on Gaza City rather than holding “negotiations under fire.”

“It’s a recipe for Hamas to waste time and wear down Israel’s stance,” he posted on X.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid has said his party will vote to prop up the government if parties within the coalition attempt to bring it down to stop a hostage and ceasefire deal.

On Saturday afternoon, Lapid said: “When Shabbat ends and you hear Smotrich and Ben-Gvir’s threats, remember they have nothing to threaten with. We won’t let them sabotage the deal. A clear majority of the Knesset and a clear majority of the nation support the Trump plan.”

GAZA DEAL

Hamas, calling for further negotiations, says it agrees to full hostage release

President Trump, reacting to the statement, said he believes Hamas is ‘ready for a lasting PEACE’ despite the group’s clear differences with the White House proposal

JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images

A sign identifying Israeli hostages Gali and Ziv Berman is raised by the barbed-wire fence during a demonstration by the families of the hostages taken captive in the Gaza Strip

By

Gabby Deutch

October 3, 2025

Hamas said in a statement on Friday night that it was ready to enter final negotiations over the Trump-authored peace plan and that it was willing to release all the hostages remaining in Gaza.

The Palestinian terror group said it would release the living hostages and the bodies it has held hostage since the Oct. 7 attacks nearly two years ago. Twenty of the 48 hostages are believed to still be alive.

Hamas added it is willing to hand over administration of the Gaza Strip to a “Palestinian body composed of independents.” But the terror group also insisted — contradicting the terms of the Trump proposal — that Hamas will maintain a role in discussions over the future of Gaza through a “comprehensive Palestinian national framework.”

The deal is not yet final, and in its response to the Trump plan, Hamas said that the group is ready to enter negotiations to discuss the remaining details.

In response, Trump said in a post on Truth Social that he believes Hamas wants to make a deal, and called on Israel to “immediately stop the bombing of Gaza.”

“Based on the Statement just issued by Hamas, I believe they are ready for a lasting PEACE,” Trump wrote. “Israel must immediately stop the bombing of Gaza, so that we can get the Hostages out safely and quickly! Right now, it’s far too dangerous to do that. We are already in discussions on details to be worked out.”

A spokesperson for the Israeli embassy declined to comment.

This story was updated at 5:32 p.m.

ANALYSIS

After Netanyahu’s ‘yes’ to ending Gaza war, Hamas needs to answer – and the devil is in the details

Whether Hamas would agree to release the hostages first, before Israel makes any concessions other than stopping the fighting, remains to be seen

MEHMET ESER/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

President Donald Trump welcomes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu upon his arrival at the White House West Wing in Washington, DC, on September 29, 2025.

By

Lahav Harkov

September 30, 2025

With Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accepting President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan to end the war in Gaza at the White House on Monday, the ball is now in Hamas’ court.

Whether Hamas would agree to release the hostages first, before Israel makes any concessions other than stopping the fighting, remains to be seen. There is also newfound pressure on Qatar, a chief patron of Hamas, to convince the terror group to accept the deal.

The late Israeli elder statesman Abba Eban famously said, “The Arabs never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.” In readily accepting Trump’s plan, Netanyahu is counting on Hamas to do just that.

That’s not to say that Netanyahu opposes the plan. His calculus may be that he will be able to execute the parts he supports, while the aspects he finds less favorable are unlikely to materialize anyway — largely, he believes, due to the Palestinians’ own intransigence.

As Netanyahu noted in the press conference, the plan meets all of Israel’s war aims: Bringing back the hostages, dismantling Hamas — most of which Israel already did in the war — and making sure it no longer poses a threat to Israel, through demilitarization and deradicalization. Other elements of the plan that Israel has long said would be part of the “day after” for Gaza are a technocratic government with help from international partners, and the IDF retaining a buffer zone inside Gaza’s perimeter. Netanyahu also reportedly secured 11th-hour edits to the plan regarding the IDF’s withdrawal and Hamas’ disarmament prior to the press conference.

But the details are tricky.

For example, point 17 of the plan: “In the event Hamas delays or rejects this proposal, the above, including the scaled-up aid operation, will proceed in the terror-free areas handed over from the IDF to the [International Stabilization Force].”

In other words, if Hamas rejects the plan, humanitarian aid “without interference” — likely including dual use items that could be exploited by terrorist organizations — would still be immediately and significantly scaled up and managed by the United Nations and Red Crescent, among others. Once an international force is put together, the IDF would still be expected to retreat from areas in which it has defeated Hamas. And a transitional, technocratic government overseen by Trump and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s “Board of Peace” would be put into place.

All of that is meant to happen even if the hostages are not freed and Hamas refuses to lay down its arms.

Yet, Trump said that if Hamas rejects the plan: “You know, Bibi, you have the full backing to do what you have to do.” And Netanyahu made clear what that means to him — continuing the war: “Israel will finish the job by itself. This can be done the easy way or it can be done the hard way, but it will be done. We didn’t fight this horrible fight, sacrifice the finest of our young men, to have Hamas stay in Gaza.”

Arab countries that would potentially take part in the “Board of Peace” and the International Stabilization Fund have said repeatedly that they would not participate in administering Gaza until the war ended, which makes it unclear if, as the plan says, all of that will really happen if Hamas rejects the deal and the war continues.

Then there’s the part of the plan that is most controversial in Netanyahu’s political base: the potential involvement of the Palestinian Authority in governing Gaza, and the creation of a pathway to Palestinian statehood.

“Gaza will have a peaceful administration that is run neither by Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority,” Netanyahu said in the press conference.

Yet the text of the plan says that the Gaza transitional government will only stay in place “until such time as the Palestinian Authority has completed its reform program, as outlined in various proposals, including President Trump’s peace plan in 2020 and the Saudi-French proposal, and can securely and effectively take back control of Gaza.”

The 2020 proposal includes things such as “a constitution … that provides for freedom of press, free and fair elections, respect for human rights for its citizens” and more, as well as “transparent, independent, and credit-worthy financial institutions” and ending incitement.

Netanyahu said on Fox News’ “Sunday Briefing” that “if all of that is turned on its head, there’s a tremendous transformation … Good luck. Some people believe it happens. I don’t think it’s going to happen.”

The plan also says that the “credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood” would only happen “when the PA reform program is faithfully carried out.” Netanyahu appears to be calculating that Ramallah is unlikely to meet those conditions.

That being said, Netanyahu did sign a document that says unequivocally “we recognize [statehood] as the aspiration of the Palestinian people,” which is disturbing to some on the Israeli right, who argue that even acquiescence in principle is a problem.

While there is significant opposition to the plan from the right flank of Netanyahu’s governing coalition, it has been neutralized for now, in that most of the plan will not go to any kind of vote in the Cabinet. Any attempts to bring the government down over it would have to wait three weeks for the Knesset to come back from its recess, and even then they are likely to fail, with some of the opposition offering Netanyahu a “safety net.”

But as Netanyahu heads back to Israel having said “yes,” plenty of doubts remain as to whether this plan will actually be enacted. First, whether Hamas agrees, and then, new questions and challenges every step of the way.

HILL REACTIONS

Senators react to Trump’s Gaza plan with cautious optimism

Sen. Lindsey Graham sounded skeptical that Hamas would accept the deal: ‘Distrust and verify with these guys’

Amir Levy/Getty Images

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) speaks at a press conference on US-Israel relations on February 17, 2025 at the Kempinski Hotel in Tel Aviv, Israel.

By

Marc Rod

Emily Jacobs

September 30, 2025

Senators reacted with cautious optimism — and a degree of skepticism — to President Donald Trump’s announcement on Monday of a sweeping deal that would end the war in Gaza, see the release of the remaining hostages and facilitate reconstruction of the Gaza Strip.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) warned that the execution of the deal would require close monitoring of Hamas’ compliance and that long-term peace in the region will likely require eliminating Iran’s other proxies, in addition to Hamas.

“I hope Hamas agrees — we’ll get the hostages home. Distrust and verify with these guys,” Graham said. “A lot of loopholes if you don’t watch it, but I hope we can land this deal.”

“When you talk about normalizing the Mideast, I’m all for that. But after Oct. 7, we have to learn one thing: As long as radical Islamic terrorist groups exist, you can’t have a normal Mideast,” Graham continued. “I hope we can land this deal and bring the hostages home and start a new chapter in Gaza and the West Bank, but I will never support normalization until Hezbollah is dealt with. You cannot say the Mideast is a normal place as long as Hezbollah is a threat the way it is today.”

He said that he’s concerned that Hezbollah would replicate Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack if Israel and Saudi Arabia again begin to move toward normalization again before the Lebanese terror group is eliminated.

“If we do the Hamas deal, we should insist that the region deal with Hezbollah and take them both down, then eventually the Houthis,” he continued. “My takeaway of Oct. 7 is if you don’t have these radical groups in a box, you can never really achieve peace.”

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) said that there are “some details to be filled in, but I think by and large this seems like a very encouraging development.”

Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) was hesitant to offer an assessment of the deal before Hamas had agreed to the terms.

“It’s the deal that hasn’t happened yet. It’d be nice. I mean, I guess it would be great if we get the hostages back and we get a ceasefire and we get to rebuild Gaza. That all sounds really good. I’m glad that Trump cares about this. It seems optimistic,” he told JI.

Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) expressed some hesitation about engaging with the Qataris and taking a deal, but suggested Trump was ready to bring the conflict to a close.

“It’s bold. It’s gutsy on the president’s part. I just will believe it when I see it. I’m just so skeptical of one side in this, getting Qatar in there and involved,” Cramer told JI. “Clearly we’re playing along a little. I don’t know. I just don’t know. I think the timing for Trump is sort of like, ‘Okay, now’s the time [for a ceasefire]. We’ve done the dance long enough.’”

Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC) said he’s reviewing the plan, adding that the elimination of Hamas is a necessity.

“You can’t have Hamas promising the destruction of Israel,” he continued. “As long as there’s no threat, I see an opportunity here, but you can’t make a deal with somebody that wants to exterminate you.”

Senate Foreign Relations Committee chair Jim Risch (R-ID) praised the plan on X. “President Trump again shows his commitment to peace with his plan to bring all the hostages home, end the war in Gaza and transition to a future that allows the Palestinian people to prosper without Hamas’ terror schemes,” Risch said. “Anyone who wants a better future for the Palestinian people should join this pursuit of peace.”

Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) told Jewish Insider he’s “glad they look like they’re moving toward peace.”

“I don’t think Israel is worried any longer about being popular. I think Israel was worried about its survival, and I respect that. And they’re going to do whatever it takes,” Kennedy continued. “Now, will Hamas accept it? I don’t know. I really don’t know. I hope they do. But if they don’t, I think Israel needs to continue to do what it’s been doing and wipe Hamas off the face of the earth.”

Democrats expressed hope that the deal would bring the war to a close.

Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) told JI, “I’m encouraged the president’s engaging directly and saying this war must end. Humanitarian relief needs to go in, hostages need to come out, there needs to be a plan going forward for Gaza,” but said he hadn’t seen the details of Trump’s announcement.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said that he was not familiar with the specifics of the plan. “If there’s a ceasefire and return of the hostages and humanitarian relief, bravo,” Blumenthal said.

Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT), one of the most vocal critics of Israel’s Gaza operations in the Senate, told JI he hadn’t reviewed the plan but “my main concern [is to] start getting food and medicine in. That has to happen immediately.”

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), the ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement. “I call on Hamas to accept, and Israel to faithfully implement, the proposal laid out by the United States.”

Prior to the meeting, leading Senate Democrats had urged Trump to press Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept a hostage deal that ends the war, as well as to pressure Netanyahu to rule out annexation of the West Bank.

LET'S MAKE A DEAL

Trump announces Gaza peace deal alongside a supportive Netanyahu

But even as the Israeli prime minister embraced the deal, he indicated some disagreements with the specifics of the agreement

Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images

President Donald Trump, right, and Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, during a news conference in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Monday, Sept. 29, 2025.

By

Gabby Deutch

September 29, 2025

President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Monday that Israel had agreed to sign onto the White House’s 20-point peace plan to end the war in Gaza, with Trump calling the development “one of the great days ever in civilization.”

Both leaders described the deal, which would release all of the remaining Israeli hostages in exchange for an immediate end of the war, as the starting point for greater regional integration, a goal that Trump described as “eternal peace in the Middle East.”

Senior Trump administration officials first introduced the plan last week in a meeting with Arab and Muslim leaders in New York, and Trump said he had buy-in from the Qataris, who have been a go-between in negotiations with Israel and Hamas, and that he had discussed the matter with the leaders of the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

But the deal is not yet final: Hamas has not yet agreed to it, though Trump expressed hope that the terror group will do so. Trump said he would allow Netanyahu to continue the war with his “full backing” if Hamas does not agree to it.

“This can be done the easy way, or it can be done the hard way. But it has to be done,” Netanyahu said at the press conference. “All these goals must be achieved because we didn’t fight this horrible fight, sacrifice the finest of our young men, for Hamas to stay in Gaza.”

The plan would require the release of all the hostages still held by Hamas back to Israel within 72 hours, and an immediate end to the war, according to a copy of the plan published by the White House. In exchange, Israel would release 250 Palestinians serving life sentences in Israeli jails, along with nearly 2,000 Gazans detained since the Oct. 7 attacks in 2023.

The first principle of the plan is that Gaza would be deradicalized, with Hamas out of power and transitional mechanisms in place to take over governance of the beleaguered territory. Amnesty would be offered to Hamas members “who commit to peaceful co-existence and to decommission their weapons” once the hostages are returned. Hamas members who wish to leave would have safe passage to do so, although the plan does not explicitly state that they will be required to leave. The plan would also surge aid to Gaza through the United Nations and other international mechanisms as soon as the hostages are released.

An international transitional body, with Trump as chair and former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair heavily involved, would oversee the redevelopment of Gaza until the Palestinian Authority has been reformed and is able to take over leadership of the Gaza Strip. The U.S. and other Arab and international partners would develop a temporary stabilization force to deploy in Gaza, and Trump would oversee the creation of an economic development plan to facilitate investments in the seaside territory.

“I believe that today we are taking a critical step towards both ending the war in Gaza and setting the stage for dramatically advancing peace in the Middle East, and I think beyond the Middle East, with very important Muslim countries,” Netanyahu said. “We’re giving everybody a chance to have this done peacefully, something that will achieve all our war objectives without any further bloodshed.”

Several Muslim leaders announced their support for the deal, including the prime minister of Pakistan and the Emirati foreign minister.

As Trump and Netanyahu stood side by side, each heaping praise upon the other, they were not entirely on the same page about all aspects of the deal — in particular the role of the Palestinian Authority in the future governance of Gaza, which Netanyahu has all but written off, despite that goal listed as an objective in the White House’s plan.

“Gaza will have a peaceful civilian administration that is run neither by Hamas nor by the Palestinian Authority,” Netanyahu said, a contrast to the plan’s language that the PA — once it is reformed, an objective that could take years — will control Gaza.

The White House deal also recognizes “Palestinian self-determination and statehood” as “the aspiration of the Palestinian people.” Netanyahu, however, has said repeatedly that a Palestinian state is out of the question.

Trump did not refer to the plan’s language about Palestinian statehood in his remarks, instead offering leeway to Netanyahu. “Prime Minister Netanyahu is very clear about his opposition to a Palestinian state,” Trump said. “Several countries have foolishly recognized the Palestinian state.”

The leaders’ comments followed a three-hour meeting between Trump and Netanyahu. During the meeting, Trump orchestrated a phone call between Netanyahu and the Qatari emir, which Trump said afterward was a “a heart-to-heart conversation” in which Netanyahu apologized for Israel’s attack on Doha last month that targeted Hamas leaders and killed a Qatari security guard. The three nations agreed to launch a “formal trilateral mechanism” to “enhance mutual security, correct misperceptions and avoid future misgivings.”

The full text of the plan says that even if Hamas rejects the plan, the scaled-up humanitarian aid operation will continue, and terror-free areas will be handed over from the Israel Defense Forces to the international stabilization force. But Trump said that Israel will have the “full backing” of the U.S. to resume fighting in Gaza if Hamas does not accept the plan.

“If Hamas rejects the deal — which is always possible, they’re the only one left. Everyone else has accepted it. But I have a feeling that we’re going to have a positive answer. But if not, as you know, Bibi, you’d have our full backing,” said Trump.

ANALYSIS

Under pressure at home and abroad, Netanyahu to meet Trump for Gaza talks

If Hamas does not agree to the plan, it would still call for Israel to withdraw from parts of Gaza where Hamas is out of power and for an international stabilization force to take over

SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images

President Donald Trump shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on April 7, 2025.

By

Lahav Harkov

September 29, 2025

As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu heads into his meeting with President Donald Trump today, the key question is what kind of Gaza ceasefire plan he will agree to — and how Hamas will respond.

“We have a real chance for GREATNESS IN THE MIDDLE EAST,” Trump posted on Truth Social on Sunday, ahead of his meeting with Netanyahu. “ALL ARE ON BOARD FOR SOMETHING SPECIAL, FIRST TIME EVER. WE WILL GET IT DONE!!! President DJT.”

Netanyahu was more circumspect. “I hope we can make it a go because we want to free our hostages,” he told Fox News on Sunday.

“He won’t say no to Trump,” a source in the prime minister’s delegation said. But what Netanyahu has been saying is something like, “yes, but.”

While Trump clearly would like to make a big announcement at the end of Netanyahu’s White House meeting, having repeatedly said in public that the war will soon end, he has left out the specifics.

A version of the plan that Trump shared with Arab leaders has leaked, but the administration has not made it public or talked much about specific goals beyond ending the war and freeing the hostages. Trump’s Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who held Witkoff’s role in the first Trump administration, met with Netanyahu twice in New York and again in Washington, quietly working out the details.

Among the elements of the plan Trump shared with a group of Arab countries at the U.N. General Assembly last week, are that the war would end and Hamas would release the 48 remaining hostages, 20 of whom are thought to be alive, within 48 hours of the ceasefire taking effect. In exchange, Israel would release over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, including hundreds serving life sentences for serious acts of terror. Israel would not occupy or annex Gaza, and would gradually withdraw from territory.

If Hamas does not agree to the plan, it would still call for Israel to withdraw from parts of Gaza where Hamas is out of power and for an international stabilization force to take over.

Gaza would be deradicalized and demilitarized, and redeveloped, with a surge of aid entering the area. At first, Gaza would be administered by Palestinian technocrats supervised by a U.S.-backed international body with Arab and European countries taking part. This administration is meant to continue until reforms are completed in the Palestinian Authority.

Ultimately, the plan states, it may create the conditions for a pathway to Palestinian statehood, and the U.S. would facilitate a dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians.

The plan also marks a major shift in Trump administration policy. While the president said in February that all residents should leave Gaza, which would then be turned into a “Riviera,” it now says that Gazans would be encouraged to stay and build their future.

The plan contradicts Israel’s conditions to end the war in a number of ways, including that Israel retain a military presence along Gaza’s periphery, security control of Gaza and be allowed to strike anytime it sees terror rearing its head again.

Netanyahu also made clear in his speech to the UNGA on Friday that a Palestinian state is not acceptable to Israel, saying that “giving the Palestinians a state one mile from Jerusalem after Oct. 7 is like giving Al-Qaida a state one mile from New York City after Sept. 11. This is sheer madness. It’s insane, and we won’t do it.” He said in the interview on Fox News on Sunday that he was skeptical the PA could undergo such a “tremendous transformation.”

At home, Netanyahu faces pressure in both directions. Coalition partners like National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who said Netanyahu has “no mandate to end the war without defeating Hamas,” and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich who publicly stated his red lines on Monday, including full Israeli security control of Gaza, a permanent IDF presence along Gaza’s perimeter and no Qatari or PA involvement. Others on the right say that the plan gives too much to the Palestinians without demanding enough in return. A delegation of West Bank mayors flew to the U.S. over the weekend to try to talk Netanyahu into insisting on annexation.

Yet, at the same time, some in Likud have been quietly urging Netanyahu to accept the broader strokes of the plan — the return of the hostages and demilitarization of Gaza – to bring about the end of the war. Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said he trusts Netanyahu “to represent Israel’s interests as needed in talks with President Trump.”

While Netanyahu may be facing pressure from Trump to return to Israel with a ceasefire plan to enact, the quiet diplomacy — at least by Trump administration standards — indicates that they may give him some time and space to decide.

Yet there is another deadline ahead. Between all of the sports, culture, arms and other boycotts, there is a far more consequential threat emerging: the potential suspension of free trade between Israel and the EU, its largest trading partner, until at least 2027, which could send Israel’s economy into a tailspin.

The European Commission is set to vote on the matter on Oct. 20, and it requires a qualified majority to pass. Germany, Italy, the Czech Republic and Hungary are on Israel’s side, but whether that will be enough remains to be seen. A ceasefire agreement could put a stop to Brussels’ initiative.

And lest we forget, there’s the likelihood that Hamas will reject the plan. While there are elements of it that could go forward without Hamas’ acquiescence, for Israel freeing the hostages is a necessary condition for the reconstruction of Gaza.

GAZA ESCALATION

Israel starts major ground operation in Gaza City

The IDF operation aims to seize Gaza City, one of two remaining areas of the Gaza Strip still under Hamas control and home to the vast majority of the enclave's population

Abdalhkem Abu Riash/Anadolu via Getty Images

Smoke rises following Israeli airstrikes that hit and destroyed multiple buildings and high-rise towers in Gaza City, Gaza on September 14, 2025.

By

Lahav Harkov

September 16, 2025

The Israel Defense Forces launched a major ground operation in Gaza City on Tuesday morning, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the military announced.

“We started intensive action in Gaza,” Netanyahu said at the Tel Aviv District Court, where he asked to postpone his testimony in his ongoing corruption trial in light of “important things happening.”

The IDF operation, known as Gideon’s Chariots II, aims to seize Gaza City, one of two remaining areas of the Gaza Strip still under Hamas control and home to the vast majority of the enclave’s population at this point in the war, though the Israeli military said that a significant percentage of the city’s residents had fled the area ahead of the offensive.

The ground campaign in Gaza City follows several days of aerial bombings and fighting on the outskirts of the city.

The new operation comes as Israel faces growing foreign and domestic pressure to end the war, which is nearing its two-year mark. The families of hostages being held in Gaza also warn that the ground campaign threatens their loved ones who are being held captive in the city. An IDF official said that the offensive in Gaza City was entering a “new phase,” targeting the network of Hamas-built tunnels after weeks of operating in the city’s periphery.

Two divisions entered Gaza City on Tuesday, and more will gradually be added, the military official said.

Gaza City is “Hamas’ main stronghold,” and the IDF expects to encounter 2,000-3,000 Hamas fighters there, the military official said.

IDF Spokesperson in Arabic Avichay Adraee posted on X warning residents of Gaza City that the IDF “has begun destroying infrastructure in Gaza City.”

“Gaza City is considered a dangerous combat zone, and staying in the area puts you at risk,” he wrote. “Join the more than 40% of the city’s residents who have left the city to ensure their safety and the safety of their loved ones.”

In recent weeks, Israel instructed residents to move south along designated routes, but fewer than half have done so, with Hamas threatening those who wished to leave the city and others refusing to move again.

“Hamas is actively trying to block Gazans from moving out of Gaza City,” the IDF official said. “They are trying to turn Gaza City into one of the largest cases in history of using human shields, using hundreds of thousands of people.”

Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement that “Gaza is burning. The IDF is striking terrorist infrastructure with an iron fist and IDF soldiers are fighting courageously to create the conditions to free the hostages and defeat Hamas.”

“We will not give up and will not retreat until we complete the mission,” he added.

The Israeli Air Force bombarded Gaza City on Monday night, with reverberations felt as far as central Israel.

Meanwhile, Israel has demolished over 50 multistory buildings in Gaza City, which Netanyahu has called “terror towers.” The IDF official called the buildings “key targets … that would be used against us in a ground operation.”

Several hostages’ relatives set up tents outside of the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem overnight Monday, amid Israeli Air Force strikes on Gaza.

The Hostage Families Forum cited reports that some hostages have been moved above ground, and said that their loved ones are being “used as human shields.”

“The Prime Minister has decided to send IDF soldiers to areas where our loved ones are located, who might be harmed and not return alive,” the forum stated. “He is doing everything to ensure there is no deal and not to bring them back. … We are terrified that this might be their last night, that the living hostages will pay with their lives, that the deceased will disappear there. We are no longer willing to accept this. We came here this evening, and we are not moving from here.”

Hours before the Gaza City offensive began, Secretary of State Marco Rubio departed Israel after a two-day visit and headed to Qatar, who he said should continue mediating between Israel and Hamas to end the war and free the hostages.

“If any country in the world can help mediate it, Qatar is the one. They’re the ones that can do it,” Rubio said.

WAR TALKS

Hamas official says disarmament non-negotiable, rejects Trump’s Gaza ceasefire plan

Senior Hamas figure, Bassem Naim, said on Monday that the group will not accept disarmament, one of Israel's requirements for ending the war

OZAN KOSE/AFP via Getty Images

Senior Hamas official Basem Naim speaks during an interview with AFP in Istanbul on February 8, 2025.

By

Lahav Harkov

September 9, 2025

A senior Hamas official publicly rejected any deal requiring the terrorist organization to lay down its arms, after Israel said it would support such a deal proposed by the Trump administration.

In response to the Trump deal, Bassem Naim, a Turkey-based senior Hamas official, released a statement on his Telegram channel on Monday calling the proposal a “humiliating surrender document” and not a serious offer to end the war.

Naim told Middle East Monitor, a pro-Hamas, Qatar-funded site, that the terrorist group would agree to a long-term ceasefire and would release all of the hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, but the Palestinians “right” to weapons and to fight Israel “cannot be relinquished.” He also said the terrorist group would only agree to a full IDF withdrawal from Gaza.

The Trump administration’s deal, according to Israel’s Channel 12, would require Israel to stop its military operation in Gaza City and start a 60-day ceasefire. In the first 48 hours, Hamas would release all 48 remaining hostages, 20 of whom are believed to be alive, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Then, the sides would negotiate the end to the war.

The proposal does not get into the details of an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, which is supposed to take place gradually as other elements enter to administer the enclave. Israel has said it will maintain a security perimeter around the Gaza Strip, including the Philadelphi Corridor along the border with Egypt.

According to Kan, peace activist Gershon Baskin, at the request of U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Wikoff, passed the offer to Hamas official Ghazi Hamad, with whom he reached the 2011 deal to release captured IDF soldier Gilad Shalit. Baskin told Al-Monitor that the plan includes incentives for Hamas, though he did not specify what they are.

President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday that “everyone wants the Hostages HOME. Everyone wants this War to end! The Israelis have accepted my Terms. It is time for Hamas to accept them as well. I have warned Hamas about the consequences of not accepting. This is my last warning, there will not be another one!”

A source close to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier this week that while Israel is “seriously considering” the proposal, “it seems that Hamas will continue its refusal.”

A Qatari official briefed media that the country’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani, met with Hamas negotiator Khalil Al-Hayya on Monday and pressed him to “respond positively” to the proposal.

Israel has said its conditions to end the war are “the release of all hostages, Hamas’ disarmament, demilitarization of the [Gaza] strip, Israeli security control of the [Gaza] Strip, the establishment of an alternative civilian government that does not educate to terror, does not promote terror and will not threaten Israel,” as the Prime Minister’s Office stated last week.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz threatened on Monday that “a great hurricane will strike today in the skies of Gaza City and the roofs of the terror towers will shake.”

“This is the last warning to the Hamas murderers and rapists in Gaza and in luxury hotels abroad: Free the hostages and lay down your weapons or Gaza will be destroyed and you will be destroyed,” he wrote on X.

Hours later, Netanyahu said that the Israeli Air Force bombed 50 “terrorist high-rises” in Gaza City.

“All of this is only the introduction, only the beginning of the main intensive operation, the ground incursion of our forces, that are now getting organized and gathering, into Gaza City,” he added during a visit to Air Force Command. “To the residents of Gaza, listen to me carefully: You have been warned. Get out of there.”

At the start of Sunday’s cabinet meeting, Netanyahu acknowledged “the price that we are paying in the diplomatic and public diplomacy fields.”

“The best way to get out of this, of course, is to … end the war as fast as possible with the victory that we have defined: Eliminating Hamas, the return of all the hostages and ensuring that Gaza never again threatens Israel,” he said.

However, he added: “If I need to choose between victory over our enemies and malicious propaganda against us, I choose victory over our enemies.”

ANALYSIS

U.S. pushes Israel to deliver victory as Netanyahu prepares for Gaza City offensive

Jerusalem finds itself facing calls both at home and abroad against further entrenchment in Gaza

MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP via Getty Images

An Israeli army soldier stands atop the turret of a Merkava main battle tank next to another soldier while positioned near military vehicles along the border with the Gaza Strip in southern Israel on September 2, 2025.

By

Melissa Weiss

September 3, 2025

As Israel calls up tens of thousands of reservists ahead of a planned takeover of Gaza City and rejects ceasefire proposals that fall short of a comprehensive deal to end the war and release all of the hostages, Jerusalem finds itself facing calls both at home and abroad against further entrenchment in Gaza.

At the same time, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing pressure from Washington to end the war — with a decisive victory over Hamas.

President Donald Trump signaled his growing weariness with a protracted war in an exchange with The Daily Caller, published earlier this week, in which he said Israel is “gonna have to get that war over with,” noting that Israel “may be winning the war, but they’re not winning the world of public relations.” Netanyahu said at his weekly Cabinet meeting on Sunday that Trump had instructed Israel to go into Gaza City with “full force.”

Days earlier, the president held a White House meeting that included Jared Kushner and former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair to discuss a “day-after” plan for the Gaza Strip. Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer scrapped a planned meeting with World Food Program head Cindy McCain to fly to Washington for consultations.

Taken together, Trump’s comments and last week’s gathering underscore the president’s dwindling patience with the ongoing war — concerns that have been highlighted in Israeli media reports in recent days.

Israel’s Channel 12 reported over the weekend that Trump, frustrated by Hamas’ intransigence, is pushing Netanyahu to move more quickly to decisively defeat Hamas. That could pose a challenge for Israel, which has not been able to declare “total victory” against Hamas in nearly two years but now faces White House pressure to end the war in a short amount of time — “perhaps even within two weeks,” according to Channel 12.

It remains unclear whether Israel is fully prepared for an incursion into Gaza City — the IDF announced on Wednesday that it will work in the coming weeks “to strengthen operational readiness in the Gaza Strip” — or is threatening the move as a negotiating tactic to push Hamas to accept a comprehensive deal, after the Prime Minister’s Office conveyed that it would not accept a partial agreement that doesn’t result in the release of all of the remaining hostages.

Following the collapse of talks over the summer, Washington had reportedly been frustrated not only with Hamas but with Qatar, which presented a rosier-than-reality picture of the talks. Those frustrations shifted the White House’s calculus and boosted support for Netanyahu’s approach to Gaza.

“We will only see the return of the remaining hostages when Hamas is confronted and destroyed!!! The sooner this takes place, the better the chances of success will be,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social site last month.

Fresh off its successful resolution of the decades-long conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the Trump administration is looking to score another win on the global stage. Following last month’s summit in Alaska aimed, unsuccessfully, at ending the Russia-Ukraine war, a wind-down of the Israel-Hamas war would give the White House a diplomatic victory, as well as say in Gaza reconstruction efforts.

For now, Israel and the U.S. appear to be largely speaking in tandem, with a shared vision for the future of Gaza. But if Israel fails to achieve “total victory” on Trump’s truncated timeline, Jerusalem and Washington could be headed on a collision course.

LOSING THEIR FAITH

Boulder hostage advocacy group goes underground after violent attack

The Boulder chapter of ‘Run for Their Lives’ will no longer publicly disclose the location of its activities after participants have faced escalating harassment

ELI IMADALI/AFP via Getty Images

An Israeli flag is fixed to a street sign as police stand by off Pearl Street on the scene of an attack on demonstrators calling for the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza, in Boulder, Colorado, on June 1, 2025.

By

Haley Cohen

August 28, 2025

The Boulder chapter of “Run for Their Lives,” an organization that arranges weekly marches to advocate for the hostages held in Gaza, will no longer publicly advertise its walking route, the group announced on Wednesday.

The decision comes “following weeks of escalating harassment and threats,” including from a candidate for city council, the group said, less than three months after a Molotov cocktail attack on the group left a participant dead and injured 15 others.

The weekly walks will take place “under heavy security at undisclosed locations,” going forward, the organization said.

In recent weeks, community members have stalked and shouted slurs at participants, such as “genocidal c**t,” “racist” and “Nazi,” and have threatened organizers’ children, according to the Colorado Jewish Community Relations Council.

Among the demonstrators is a candidate for Boulder City Council, Aaron Stone, who called Rachel Amaru, founder of the Boulder chapter of Run for Their Lives, a “Nazi” during one of the walks.

Boulder City Council member Tara Winer, who is Jewish and sometimes joins the walks, told Denver’s 9News that she has been targeted by the anti-Israel demonstrators while on the walks. “I have to deal with the agitators every two weeks [at open comment City Council meetings], if not more, and my weekend is my weekend, so I did not want to have to stand there and listen to that again,” she said. “I think that I have been targeted. Yes, absolutely.”

“This walk has already been the target of deadly violence. Now participants are facing a level of harassment that makes it impossible to continue safely in public view,” Brandon Rattiner, senior director of the Colorado JCRC, said in a statement.

The torment comes as anti-Israel rhetoric has increased at Boulder City Council meetings and among council members since the Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attacks. Last month, Councilmember Taishya Adams accused the City Council of “continuing to fund this genocide,” in reference to the Israel’s war with Hamas. She also wrote on social media that the killing of Native Americans was the “biggest genocide,” bigger than the Holocaust, and said their communities haven’t received reparations, “unlike Jewish people.”

Adams also refused to condemn the June 1 firebombing, in which Mohamed Sabry Soliman, an Egyptian national, threw a Molotov cocktail at participants of the solidarity walk for hostages being held by Hamas. Karen Diamond, 81, died weeks later after succumbing to her wounds.

minneapolis moment

Jewish Democrats sound encouraging note on DNC Israel resolution votes

Democratic insiders told JI that DNC chair Ken Martin withdrew his Israel resolution largely to avoid a disruptive floor debate over Israel on Wednesday

Audrey Richardson/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Ken Martin, chairman of the Democratic National Committee , speaks during a news conference in Aurora, Ill., on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025.

By

Matthew Kassel

August 27, 2025

Pro-Israel Democrats expressed cautious optimism about the unexpected decision by Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin to withdraw his resolution pressing for humanitarian aid to Gaza and for the release of hostages held by Hamas, which was unanimously approved by party members on Tuesday at the DNC’s annual summer meeting held in Minneapolis.

Martin, in a sudden reversal, announced he would pull the resolution after DNC members rejected a dueling measure, opposed by pro-Israel groups, that had endorsed an arms embargo and a suspension of U.S. military aid to Israel. Instead, he said he would create a task force “comprised of stakeholders on all sides” of the Israel debate to pursue what he called a “shared dialogue” on an increasingly divisive issue.

“This was a surprise ending to this meeting,” Halie Soifer, the CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, which helped draft the pro-Israel measure and privately advocated for its passage, told Jewish Insider on Tuesday.

Despite Martin’s 11th-hour reversal, Soifer said she was satisfied with the outcome, noting the DNC also passed a resolution condemning antisemitism that, coupled with its rejection of the arms embargo proposal, “reflects where the party stands” on major issues concerning Israel and the Jewish community.

“It’s my sense,” she added of Martin, “that he introduced and ensured passage of this resolution to defeat the other resolution,” which she said “was completely out of step with the views of the party.”

Soifer said she hopes to join the proposed task force “to discuss the path forward” on approaching Israel, acknowledging internal tensions that have roiled the party in recent years. Martin “clearly recognized that there are a range of strongly held views on this matter, and he wants to make sure that those voices are heard,” she told JI.

Martin has not yet shared additional details on the task force, and the DNC did not return a request for comment from JI. Latonya Reeves, a DNC member in Minneapolis, told JI on Tuesday that she had not been further informed of the task force — which she called “the best way to move forward” on the issue.

Sara Forman, who leads the New York Solidarity Network, a local pro-Israel group that aligns with Democrats, said she was broadly “encouraged” that the DNC had chosen “not to recommend” what she dismissed as a “one-sided resolution against Israel,” arguing that the party “represents far more than its progressive base.”

“I’m always one for conversation, and think that talking about things is an important step, so I’m going to offer grace to Martin in this regard,” she said of his announcement. Still, she added of the failed resolution, “I think it’s a bigger concern overall that the Democratic Party seems to be uniquely singling out Israel for rebuke or scrutiny in a way that no other U.S. ally is rebuked or scrutinized.”

A spokesperson for Democratic Majority for Israel, which released a statement praising the DNC’s votes before Martin revealed he would pull the resolution, said it was “pleased that the anti-Israel measure was decisively defeated by the committee,” but declined to comment more broadly on what transpired at the end of the meeting.

Brian Romick, DMFI’s president and CEO, said in an interview with JI that he viewed the outcome on Tuesday as “a win” for the pro-Israel community, in light of the potential for a more hostile debate. “The bad resolution was rejected and Ken’s compromise resolution also passed the committee,” Romick said. “That all happened publicly” and “reaffirmed where the party stands on Israel,” he said. “Anything else beyond that is just inside baseball.”

Some Democratic insiders familiar with internal party dynamics indicated that Martin had chosen to change course because he anticipated a disruptive floor debate over his resolution, which was poised to face broader scrutiny during the DNC’s general session on Wednesday.

“He’s worried about what would happen at the meeting,” one party source informed of the matter said on Tuesday. “On one hand, viewed from there, it makes sense and seems like a rational move,” the source reasoned, while also noting that it has “some real downsides.”

On the other hand, “when you punt something to a task force you actually continue the debate, because now it’s going to be a big fight” over who is included in the committee, the source said. “Then it becomes hard to move past.”

Manny Houle, a Democratic pro-Israel strategist in Minneapolis, said Martin’s maneuver was tactically smart — as DNC leadership seeks to avoid “internal proxy fights and focus messaging on pushing back against” the Trump administration in advance of the upcoming elections. “It is often a tactic to give your most ardent detractors busy work so you can focus on the work that matters,” he explained.

The party’s pro-Israel wing knows it has “the power to push back,” Houle told JI. “It’s not worth giving more air to the extremist factions.” The debate over Israel “is not going away anytime soon,” he added. “But we’ve shown where we stand and hopefully there are more pressing things that we need to give oxygen to.”

Whatever Martin’s intentions, Susan Turnbull, a former DNC vice chair, said she was excited by the prospect of a task force, suggesting that it would be well-timed to take place between the conventions.

“What I think is the case is that this, of all issues, needs to have consensus and that what he wanted in his first meeting is not to have winners and losers,” she told JI. “He wanted to come to a good result for collaboration.”

“I’m giving him a lot of credit because we have a hard enough time within the Jewish community dealing with this issue,” she said, adding that it will be “important that every perspective be considered” as the DNC hones its approach to the Middle East.

It remains to be seen if Martin, who on Tuesday acknowledged a “divide” in the party over Israel, will find partnership on the opposing end of the issue. Allison Minnerly, the 26-year-old DNC member who had introduced the failed measure on Gaza, which faced criticism for not mentioning Hamas, voiced disappointment with his decision and said he was “prolonging” the conversation rather than taking a position to align the party with a base she views as amenable to her views on Israel.

Still, as the DNC moves to reach a tenuous detente on Israel, some pro-Israel Democrats said that any future resolution on the issue should reflect values that have long been espoused by the party, even as they have faced ongoing pushback from the activist left.

“The vast majority of American Jews, and Americans more broadly, understand the complexity of the conflict — wanting to see Israel’s security protected and the remaining hostages released, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza truly addressed, and all parties work toward a future in which both Israelis and Palestinians are safe and free,” Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the nonpartisan Jewish Council for Public Affairs, told JI. “Any resolution on Gaza should reflect those widely-held values.”

Amanda Berman, CEO of the Zioness Action Fund, a progressive pro-Israel advocacy group, said on Tuesday that “there is legitimate critique and concern about this devastating war dragging on — and Democrats should stand staunchly with the Israeli public as it models dissent, protest and a pro-democracy movement the American left should emulate.”

“To the extent that any fringe element of the Democratic Party is willing to abandon Israel and the American Jewish community,” Berman said, “they will be abandoning true progressive values, liberation for persecuted minority communities, our historic alliances and America’s national security.”

FACING THE BASE

Under pressure from left-wing activists, DNC Chair Ken Martin withdraws Israel resolution

Martin will be creating a party task force comprised of ‘stakeholders on all sides’ of the Israel debate

Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz/MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images)

By

Matthew Kassel

August 26, 2025

Shortly after members of the Democratic National Committee passed a resolution on Tuesday voicing support for humanitarian aid to Gaza and calling for the release of hostages held by Hamas, Ken Martin, the party chair, announced that he would withdraw the measure, which he had introduced, and instead form a task force to continue discussing the matter.

The surprise reversal came even as the DNC, now holding its annual summer meeting in Minneapolis, had voted to reject a dueling and more controversial resolution that had backed an arms embargo as well as a suspension of U.S. military aid to Israel, raising alarms among Jewish and pro-Israel Democrats who rallied behind Martin’s effort, co-sponsored by DNC leadership.

“There is a divide in our party on this issue. This is a moment that calls for shared dialogue and calls for shared advocacy,” Martin said after the competing measure had been voted down. “And that’s why I’ve decided today, at this moment, listening to the testimony and listening to people in our party, to withdraw my amendment resolution to allow us to move forward in a conversation on this as a party.”

He said that he would “appoint a committee or a task force comprised of stakeholders on all sides of this to continue to have the conversation, to work through this, and bring solutions back to our party.”

Martin announced his decision after huddling with co-sponsors of the failed resolution, which also called for recognition of a Palestinian state and was expected to be voted down. The measure additionally drew criticism for not mentioning Hamas — in contrast with Martin’s proposal, which also supported a two-state solution. The measures, each backing an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, were nonbinding and meant to telegraph the party’s stances on an issue that has increasingly fueled internal tensions.

His about-face underscores the pressures that Martin, who became DNC chair in February, is facing from an outspoken contingent of anti-Israel activists who are now aggressively seeking to push the party away from its traditional commitment to defending the U.S.-Israel relationship — which has come under growing strain amid party backlash to the ongoing war in Gaza.

Martin has offered no additional details on what motivated his abrupt decision or his new plan to create a task force. The DNC did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

His sentiments echoed the “big-tent” rhetoric that he had endorsed when he ran for DNC chair — with some pro-Israel party members voicing reservations that his approach could be overly accommodating to extreme views and fail to enforce red lines on Middle East policy.

Martin’s Gaza resolution was unanimously approved by the DNC’s Resolutions Committee, while the dueling measure, introduced by a 26-year-old member from Florida, was rejected in a voice vote.

The committee did not take a recorded vote and no members asked for a breakdown, a person familiar with the process said. An attempt to add language into the alternate resolution calling for the release of all hostages and to oppose offensive weapons to Israel also fell flat, reflecting a failed effort to unify the resolutions that preceded the votes this week.

The meeting on Tuesday was expected to be heated but largely avoided the sort of drama that animated its convention last year, drawing more attention for Martin’s decision to yank his own proposal near the end of the proceedings.

Even as Martin called for a continued dialogue on the matter, Allison Minnerly, the DNC member who had introduced the failed resolution, expressed disappointment with his choice and said she believed he was “prolonging” the conversation rather than taking a position to align the party with a base that she views as amenable to her views on Israel.

mea culpa

Netanyahu: IDF strike on Gaza hospital a ‘tragic mishap’

The Israeli prime minister’s statement came after President Donald Trump said he’s ‘not happy’ about the attack

Abed Rahim Khatib/picture alliance via Getty Images

A view of Nasser hospital in Gaza, that was damaged by an Israeli strike on August 25, 2025.

By

Gabby Deutch

August 25, 2025

An Israeli strike on a Gaza hospital that reportedly killed 20 people, including four journalists, was a “tragic mishap,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday, not long after President Donald Trump criticized the attack.

“Israel deeply regrets the tragic mishap that occurred today at the Nasser Hospital in Gaza. Israel values the work of journalists, medical staff and all civilians,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement. “The military authorities are conducting a thorough investigation. Our war is with Hamas terrorists. Our just goals are defeating Hamas and bringing our hostages home.”

Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that he is “not happy” about Israel’s strike on the Nasser Hospital, in the southern Gaza Strip.

“I’m not happy about it. I don’t want to see it,” Trump said, while noting that he did not know the details of the strike.

The president added that he is also committed to getting the remaining hostages out of Gaza, though he expressed doubt that a deal would come through.

“At the same time,” he said, “we have to end that whole nightmare. I’m the one that got the hostages out. I got them out, all of them. [Middle East envoy] Steve Witkoff has been amazing.”

Israel has said that 20 living hostages are still being held in Gaza, but Trump on Monday repeated a claim that the true number is “probably a little bit less than 20, because I think one or two are gone.” Israeli officials have not said that any of the 20 hostages believed to be alive have died recently.

Hamas, Trump said, is unlikely to release the hostages.

“I said a long time ago I’m going to get them out, but when we get down to that final 10 or 20, these people aren’t going to release them, because [Hamas is] dead after they release them,” Trump said. “It’s a nasty situation, very nasty. Horrible thing.”

The Israeli Defense Forces announced that it would conduct an inquiry into the attack. “The IDF regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals and does not target journalists as such. The IDF acts to mitigate harm to uninvolved individuals as much as possible while maintaining the safety of IDF troops,” IDF international spokesperson Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said.

trip talk

Greg Landsman: Israel is ‘close’ to ending Gaza war

The Ohio Democrat, who visited Israel last week, also called for pressure on Qatar to push Hamas officials in Doha to end the war and release the remaining 50 hostages

President Isaac Herzog on X

Israeli President Isaac Herzog meets a delegation of House Democrats in Jerusalem on August 11, 2025.

By

Emily Jacobs

August 21, 2025

Following his recent trip to Israel, Rep. Greg Landsman (D-OH) says he believes that the Jewish state is “as close as I’ve understood it to be to ending” the war in Gaza.

“The language around aid has changed. [Israel talks] about surging aid and they talk about ending this war quickly,” Landsman, who discussed his trip on Wednesday with Jewish Insider, said. “They talk about getting the hostages back no matter what, and whether there’s a deal or not, they’re getting them home. So, they obviously can’t speak to what that looks like or what that means, but I got the sense that this should and hopefully will be the end.”

He made a similar comment in a statement on his trip shared with JI, which stated: “The end of the war appears close, and G-d willing it ends very soon. With it, rebuilding of Gaza can begin. The first glimpses of this ‘day after’ plan can be seen, and the Arab nations that have declared the end of Hamas must play a huge role in what happens next.” His comments came as Israel weighs the most recent ceasefire proposal, and as the IDF prepares to call up tens of thousands of reservists ahead of plans to take over Gaza City in the coming months.

Regarding next steps, Landsman wrote in the statement, “This is a moment of truth for Qatar, to be sure. With senior Hamas leaders in their midst, detaining them – if negotiations continue to falter – may be necessary. This could hasten the end of the war and the release of the hostages. They must do everything in their power – now.”

Landsman told JI that he believes “everyone should be putting pressure on all parties to end the war. I think it is entirely appropriate to put pressure on the Israeli government to end this war. I also think it is necessary for people to put pressure on Qatar and Egypt to end this war, to use all of the leverage they have, particularly with the senior Hamas leaders that are in Qatar.”

“I believe that’s true to some extent, to a lesser extent, for folks in Egypt to say we’re done, you have to accept a return, a deal that ends this war and returns hostages. The pressure also needs to be placed on these 22 Arab countries, and I believe Egypt and Qatar are on that list, but the other 20 who have said, in an unprecedented move, that Hamas needs to disarm and disband. Now they’ve got to turn that into action and establish a coalition with the United States and Israel and Europe to end this war,” he continued.

The Ohio congressman was one of 14 House Democrats who took part in a delegation to the Jewish state last week. The trip was organized by the AIPAC-affiliated American Israel Education Foundation, which organized a similar visit to Israel for House Republicans the week prior that overlapped for several days with the Democrats’ trip.

Landsman told JI that he viewed the trip as an opportunity to accomplish three main objectives: to be available as a resource to answer questions from Israeli leaders and build relationships with newer members of Congress like himself; to get fully briefed on the work being done to ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza; and to engage with stakeholders in the broader peace process in the region. “Going sort of allows me to do all three of those things,” he said.

Landsman said that this trip highlighted the similarities between the American and Israeli people and as citizens of liberal democracies where citizens are free to air frustrations about their respective governments.

“The frustration with the government is something that many Israelis feel. They are frustrated with this government, especially as it relates to Gaza,” Landsman said. “And I appreciate that because it’s a liberal democracy. Israelis are just as critical of this government, if not more, than folks around the world or here in the United States.”

Landsman told JI that the Israeli officials and citizens he spoke with urged him and others on the trip to continue supporting a strong U.S.-Israel relationship during moments when they took issue with some of the actions of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“They remind you that they would never want anyone to abandon them, as we would never want anyone to abandon us. It’s an important reminder that being critical of the government when you disagree is part of democracy, it’s why democracy and freedom are so important,” he said. “There’s a line. In terms of having the strength and courage to both stand up to and criticize your partners, while also having the strength and courage to not abandon them, especially a partnership like this one and in an existential moment such as this.”

The Ohio Democrat offered a similar thought in his official statement, in which he wrote: “Instead of abandonment, many of us have chosen to visit the region, to show up, and to support the Israeli government when we agree and to push back when we don’t. We know that abandonment may be politically expedient, but it is strategically wrong. It will render our country unreliable to those who we need to ensure global security and global prosperity.”

“We must always remain a reliable partner for democracy and peace. The United States of America does not abandon its allies, nor will we do so here,” the statement continued.

Landsman told JI, “We should not abandon Ukraine and our European allies. We should not abandon, and I don’t believe we will, one of our strongest partners in peace and democracy and freedom, and that’s the state of Israel.”

“We want people to stick with us. That’s why I used the word ‘reliable’ in my statement. We need people to stick with us for our economic prosperity, for national security. If we’re not sticking with others, people will stop sticking with us, and that is very bad for the United States,” the Democratic lawmaker said.

“This is why we worry about [President Donald] Trump or any president that starts to undermine our relationships with folks across the world. It becomes very, very costly and very dangerous to the United States. We wouldn’t want anyone to look at this government [in the U.S.] and say, ‘Well, we’re gonna back away from our commitment, our investments in America.’ That would be terrible,” he continued.

Landsman said he believed his worldview was shared by the majority of the American people.

“When I come home and have these conversations, I get a very common-sense position. It’s where I believe most people are when I talk to them. They worry about the humanitarian situation. How can you not? They want this war to end. How can you not? They get frustrated with a government that has people like [Israeli National Security Minister Itamar] Ben-Gvir and [Finance Minister Bezalel] Smotrich. Of course, they should,” Landsman explained.

“But they also know that Hamas can’t stay, and Israel has to figure out a way to win this war or end it so that folks can rebuild without a terrorist organization in their way. They know that Iran is the barrier to everything good in the region. They know if you start to undermine the partnership with Israel, the only people who win are folks associated with the regime and the terror networks they fund,” he added.

ambassador's assessment

Mike Huckabee sounds cautious note on status of ceasefire negotiations

Huckabee: ‘We’re not dealing with a nation state. We’re dealing with savages’

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Mike Huckabee moderates a roundtable discussion with President Donald Trump on Oct. 29, 2024 in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania.

By

Haley Cohen

August 19, 2025

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said on Tuesday he is “optimistic” while also remaining “realistic,” about the latest round of ceasefire and hostage-release negotiations with Hamas.

“I want to be optimistic about a deal with Hamas but I’m also aware of who we are dealing with, we’re not dealing with a nation state. We’re dealing with savages,” Huckabee said during an online briefing co-hosted by the American Jewish Congress and World Zionist Organization.

The former governor of Arkansas’ comments come as Hamas has reportedly agreed to a 60-day ceasefire proposed by Qatari and Egyptian mediators, during which some of the remaining 50 hostages would be released. Israel had not responded to the proposal as of Tuesday afternoon.

“Whether or not [Hamas is] serious about bringing this to a close, all I can tell you is I hope so. But what’s happened before, even when they say they are thinking seriously about bringing this to a conclusion, making a deal, they always add one or more things that are completely unacceptable, bring those to a table, then it all starts over again,” he continued.

“So I’m not going to give up, I’m always going to be optimistic, but I’m also realistic,” Huckabee said. “These are not people that come to the table because they are reasonable,” he said referring to Hamas.

Huckabee also spoke about what Gaza could look like after the war ends. “It’s going to be a very different future and we don’t know exactly where it’s going,” he said, claiming that most Gazans he’s met with do not want Hamas in control, nor do they want the Palestinian Authority, Palestine Liberation Organization or Fatah in power.

“One thing we can agree on is Hamas can’t win, they can’t stay, they must disarm,” he said. The ambassador condemned France and the United Kingdom for their intent to formally recognize a state of Palestine. Doing so, he said, is “empowering and emboldening Hamas.”

Huckabee lauded the June 22 U.S. airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, which “obliterated their nuclear capacity,” but he cautioned that Iran still has “nuclear aspirations.”

“You would think they would give those up in light of what happened to them,” Huckabee said.

“Iran is still talking about how to get nuclear capacity. I would say to them, ‘You’ve been kicked once you don’t want to go through it again.’ But if it has to be, it will be.”

Daily Kickoff

Raskin goes rogue on Israel

Plus, the two-finger hustle that impressed Ari Emanuel

Senate Television via AP

In this image from video, House impeachment manager Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., becomes emotional as he speaks during the second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump in the Senate at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2021.

By

JI Staff

August 18, 2025

Good Monday morning.

In today’s Daily Kickoff, we report on yesterday’s strikes across Israel to call attention to the plight of the remaining 50 hostages, and report on Rep. Jamie Raskin’s support for the “Block the Bombs” bill that calls for limiting offensive weapons sales to Israel. We cover comments from Rep. Katherine Clark, the No. 2 House Democrat, calling Israel’s actions in Gaza a “genocide,” and report on a new push from leading Jewish organizations for universities to pursue reforms to deal with antisemitism. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Mark Shapiro, Larry Fink and Liv Schreiber.

What We’re Watching

President Donald Trump is convening European leaders at the White House today following his meeting on Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump will meet privately with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at 1 p.m. ET, followed by a larger meeting with the European heads of state at 3 p.m.
Leaders expected to be in attendance include U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, President of the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.
Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed Al Thani is meeting with senior officials in Cairo today to discuss a new ceasefire proposal. The trip comes days after Al Thani met in Doha with Mossad head David Barnea.

What You Should Know

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S TAMARA ZIEVE

The unrest could be felt everywhere — in traffic jams, on the airwaves, in WhatsApp groups, even in the waiting room of a dental clinic.

Across Israel yesterday, hundreds of thousands joined a nationwide unofficial strike, led by hostage families and bereaved families, demanding an end to the war in Gaza and the immediate release of the hostages still held there. According to the Hostages Families Forum, over 1 million people participated in protests throughout the day. As the government plans to escalate its military campaign against Hamas, emotions ran high across towns, cities and online spaces, deepening a national rift.

Police clashed with demonstrators blocking roads. In Ra’anana, a truck driver was arrested after allegedly attacking a protester. In a Tel Aviv neighborhood mothers’ WhatsApp group, several members condemned local cafés for staying open, while another defended them for “not strengthening Hamas.” At a dental clinic, a man berated staff for opening their doors, shouting, “What about the hostages!?”

At the heart of the tensions is a painful divide: Protesters — including the majority of the hostage families — argue that rescuing the captives must come before all else. Meanwhile, the government and its supporters, and even several hostage families, claim such demonstrations weaken Israel’s negotiating hand and embolden Hamas. Israeli President Issac Herzog, speaking at Hostages Square, said, “There’s no Israeli who doesn’t want them back home. We can argue about philosophies, but truly, the people of Israel want our brothers and sisters back home.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doubled down on his government’s stance in a public statement, warning: “Those who are calling for an end to the war today without defeating Hamas, are not only hardening Hamas’s stance and pushing off the release of our hostages, they are also ensuring that the horrors of October 7 will recur again and again … to advance the release of our hostages and to ensure that Gaza will never again constitute a threat to Israel, we must complete the work and defeat Hamas.”

Yet recent polls show that a majority of Israelis support prioritizing the hostages’ release and bringing an end to the war.

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

BACKING THE BLOCK

Raskin backs bill severely restricting U.S. arms transfers to Israel

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) during a news conference in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, May 22, 2025. (Annabelle Gordon/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), one of the most visible and well-known progressive Jewish lawmakers in Congress, late last week became a co-sponsor of the “Block the Bombs Act,” a bill led by far-left lawmakers that aims to severely restrict U.S. aid to Israel. The bill would impose unprecedented new conditions on weapons sales or transfers to Israel, requiring specific congressional authorization for each individual transfer of various weapons systems, and would require Congress to identify specific purposes for which those weapons would be used, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

Arms embargo: Critics say that the bill would effectively constitute an arms embargo for the key weapons in question. Raskin has not issued any statement on his support for the bill, which aligns him with some of the most anti-Israel members of the House, and did not respond to a request for comment. Currently, 32 other lawmakers are co-sponsoring the legislation, but Raskin, the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, is among the most recognizable sponsors. Three other progressive Jewish House members, Reps. Sara Jacobs (D-CA), Becca Balint (D-VT) and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), are also backing the bill.

Read the full story here.

sound of silence

Klobuchar, Walz staying silent over Fateh staffers’ antisemitism

State Sen. Omar Fateh (campaign website)

Leading elected officials in Minnesota are remaining silent in response to a top Minneapolis mayoral candidate, far-left state Sen. Omar Fateh, whose campaign has faced scrutiny for employing staffers who have celebrated Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks and called for Israel’s destruction, among other extreme views he has yet to publicly address, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.

No comment: Even as some of the state’s leading Democratic lawmakers have endorsed Fateh’s rival, incumbent Mayor Jacob Frey, who is seeking a third term, they have so far declined to weigh in on the staffers’ comments and Fateh’s decision to hire them, which has raised questions about his acceptance of extreme rhetoric on a particularly sensitive issue. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Gov. Tim Walz, who are Frey’s most high-profile backers in what is expected to be a hotly contested race, both avoided addressing the matter to JI. A spokesperson for Klobuchar declined to comment on Friday, and representatives for Walz did not return multiple requests for comment.

Read the full story here.

CLARK’S BARK

No. 2 House Democrat describes war in Gaza as ‘genocide’

House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-MA) conducts a news conference in the Capitol Visitor Center on Wednesday, July 23, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Rep. Katherine Clark (D-MA), who serves as the House Democratic whip, the No. 2 Democratic leader in the chamber, described the war in Gaza as a “genocide” at an event last Thursday, based on video of the event that has been shared online, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

What she said: “We each have to continue to have an open heart about how we do this, how we do it effectively, and how we take action in time to make a difference, whether that is stopping the starvation and genocide and destruction of Gaza, or whether that means we are working together to stop the redistricting that is going on, taking away the vote from people in order to retain power,” Clark said in a brief clip from an event that was first reported by Axios.

Read the full story here.

CAMPUS BEAT

Leading Jewish groups urge universities to pursue reforms to deal with antisemitism

A row of tents line one side of a student encampment protesting the war in Gaza at the Johns Hopkins University Homewood Campus on Tuesday April 30, 2024, in Baltimore, MD. (Wesley Lapointe for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

As students return to school in the coming weeks, four leading Jewish organizations are encouraging university leaders to adopt a new set of recommendations, released on Monday, designed to curb the antisemitism that has overwhelmed many campuses since the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks in Israel, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen has learned.

The guidelines: The joint effort from the Anti-Defamation League, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Hillel International and Jewish Federations of North America calls for increased safety measures as well as long-term structural reforms and builds upon a four-page set of recommendations released last August. The recommendations urge university leaders to “consistently enforce” codes of conduct around protests; appoint a coordinator to address Title VI discrimination complaints; reject academic boycotts of Israel; conduct annual student and faculty surveys in regard to campus antisemitism; crack down on online harassment (in addition to physical safety concerns); and hold faculty accountable for political coercion and identity-based discrimination.

Read the full story here.

AID ALLEGATIONS

Whistleblower alleges U.N. and World Food Program refused IDF assistance

A convoy of aid trucks on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing with the Gaza Strip on July 27, 2025. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)

An aid worker in Gaza filed a whistleblower complaint with the inspector general of the U.S. Agency for International Development alleging that the World Food Program and U.N. refused security cooperation with the IDF, the whistleblower confirmed to Fox News last week. The complaint alleges “gross misconduct and misuse of humanitarian funds” by the WFP and U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and that the agencies had turned down support “including security protection and coordination” to distribute humanitarian aid from senior IDF officials, saying “they were not prepared to discuss such coordination,” Jewish Insider’s Danielle Cohen-Kanik reports.

What they said: The whistleblower told Fox News that the IDF has cleared thousands of tons of U.N. aid for distribution that are waiting inside of Gaza, and the “U.N. must be held accountable to pick up and distribute such aid.” They said that it must be determined “the extent to which U.N. agencies, by refusing to coordinate with the IDF on essential issues, including security, are abusing U.S. taxpayer funds rather than using them to deliver the aid the American people are donating — and whether such actions are being taken independently by U.N. officials in Gaza or at the direction of the U.N. Secretary-General or other senior U.N. officials in New York.”

Read the full story here.

EXCLUSIVE

Lawler bill would repeal decades-old provision on U.S. diplomatic facility construction in Israel

U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) speaks during a press conference outside of Columbia University on April 22, 2024 in New York City. In response to recent campus unrest and anxieties regarding Jewish student safety, Columbia University President Minouche Shafik announced a shift to online learning for Monday. (Photo by David Dee Delgado/Getty Images)

Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) introduced legislation on Friday to repeal a decades-old provision in U.S. law relating to the construction of new diplomatic facilities in Israel and the West Bank, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. The provision, enacted in 1986 as part of a package designed to improve security for U.S. diplomats and combat terrorism, banned funding from that bill from being used for “site acquisition, development, or construction of any facility in Israel, Jerusalem, or the West Bank except for facilities to serve as a chancery or residence within five miles of the Israeli Knesset building and within the boundaries of Israel as they existed before June 1, 1967.”

Lawler’s law: Lawler’s bill, the Keeping Official Territories Eligible for Land-use (KOTEL) Act, named for the Jewish holy site, would repeal the language from the 1986 bill. “Israel is one of America’s closest allies, and this 40-year-old inactive prohibition serves no purpose. The KOTEL Act removes these outdated restrictions so we can continue to ensure the bond between the U.S. and Israel remains ironclad,” Lawler said in a statement. It’s not clear how much impact Lawler’s initiative would have on current efforts to acquire or build new diplomatic facilities — the funding to which the 1986 provision applies has expired. But it could head off future attempts to challenge such construction.

Read the full story here.

Worthy Reads

Aid Aide: In Foreign Affairs, Jack Lew and David Satterfield, respectively the former U.S. ambassador to Israel and U.S. special envoy for Middle East humanitarian issues during the Biden administration, detail their efforts to send aid into Gaza and suggest how the Trump administration can prevent a worsening humanitarian crisis in the enclave. “When aid was flowing before the cease-fire, it did not arrive by chance. It came one border crossing and one truck convoy at a time, and it required overcoming political and battlefield challenges every step of the way. As the world watches the crisis unfolding today and demands a solution, it is important to learn from what worked and what did not, and to remember that it falls to all parties to find a solution. The stakes are too high to allow the delivery of critical assistance to be derailed by Israeli political dynamics, obstruction by Hamas or armed Gazan gangs, or infighting among aid providers. And Washington must remember that it uniquely has the tools and leverage to avert an escalating catastrophe.” [ForeignAffairs]

Northern Exposure: In The Wall Street Journal, Eugene Kontorovich calls on the Trump administration to use its United Nations Security Council veto power to nix an effort to extend the mandate of UNIFIL, arguing that the U.N. peacekeeping force has long failed in its goals to maintain peace and calm along the Israel-Lebanon border. “The first Trump administration considered nixing Unifil but was persuaded to compromise on a package reducing its size and supposedly introducing reforms. There will be temptations for the U.S. to compromise again. But if Unifil survives, it will eventually regrow under a less vigilant administration. Some in the administration argue the Lebanese army isn’t ready to take over for Unifil. But Unifil doesn’t keep the peace, so there’s nothing to get ready for. … If the U.S. doesn’t veto Unifil, it would undermine the credibility of Washington’s broader demands — both for genuine disarmament of terror groups in Lebanon and Gaza and for broader U.N. reform.” [WSJ]

What ‘Pro-Israel’ Means Now: In the Jerusalem Journal, Halie Soifer, the CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, considers what it means to be a pro-Israel American in a post-Oct. 7 era. “In 2025, being pro-Israel should mean standing with the Israeli people in the aftermath of October 7, supporting Israel’s security as it faces ongoing regional threats, remaining deeply committed to Israel’s future as a Jewish and democratic state, and recognizing there’s no future for Hamas as part of any solution to this conflict. It also means expressing concern about the war — and continued captivity of hostages — which has gone on for too long. Calls to address the acute humanitarian crisis in Gaza don’t make someone anti-Israel. American Jews are also concerned about the crisis in Gaza, though there’s a clear double standard when it comes to assessing support of Israel among Democrats.” [JerusalemJournal]

Fight Club: The Wall Street Journal profiles Mark Shapiro, TKO’s president and chief operating officer, following the $7.7 billion deal between Paramount Skydance and TKO to acquire the distribution rights to TKO subsidiary Ultimate Fighting Championship, which Shapiro orchestrated. “It was on a cross-country flight in 2002 that Shapiro had a chance meeting with [TKO CEO] Ari Emanuel, the Hollywood power broker. Emanuel spotted Shapiro frantically typing with his two index fingers. After watching him for a few hours, Emanuel was mesmerized. ‘I couldn’t take it anymore,’ Emanuel says. He persuaded the person sitting next to Shapiro to switch seats and asked, ‘what the f—k are you doing?’ Shapiro replied he worked at ESPN and was preparing a report for Disney bosses Michael Eiser and Iger. Emanuel and Shapiro, who are from neighboring Chicago suburbs, hit it off. Soon, they were talking regularly. Today, they are joined at the hip. Emanuel is executive chairman and chief executive of TKO and executive chairman of talent agency WME Group.” [WSJ]

Word on the Street

The Trump administration halted the issuance of all visitor visas to Gazans, following a social media post by Laura Loomer citing the entry of families of Palestinian children seeking medical treatment in the U.S….

Members of The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page talk to former U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel about his opposition to the Democratic Party’s far-left flank as he mulls a 2028 presidential bid…

2020 Democratic congressional candidate Ammar Campa-Najjar is weighing a rematch against Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA). Read Jewish Insider’s 2020 profile of Campa-Najjar here…

The New York City Parks Department issued an order to vacate to the leaders of a Queens community garden who required prospective members to sign a “statement of values” that opposed Zionism…

New Yorker staff writer Doreen St. Felix deleted a series of social media posts about the Holocaust after coming under fire for calling Sydney Sweeney an “Aryan princess” following the release of a viral American Eagle ad campaign featuring the actress…

An Ohio man pleaded guilty to hate crimes charges connected to the November 2023 assaults of two Jewish students from Ohio State University; according to court documents, Timur Mamatov punched a student wearing a “chai” necklace after asking if the student was Jewish…

The Forward interviews “Bojack Horseman” creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg about his new animated series “Long Story Short,” about a Jewish family…

The World Economic Forum named Larry Fink a co-chair of the group’s board of trustees, alongside Andre Hoffmann; the two replace Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, who served as chairman on an interim basis…

The Wall Street Journal spotlights Camp Social, founded by entrepreneur Liv Schreiber, amid the rise in popularity of adult sleep-away camps…

French President Emmanuel Macron condemned as “antisemitic hatred” the cutting down of a tree planted in a Paris suburb in memory of Ilan Halimi, a French-Jewish man who was tortured and killed in 2006…

Australia canceled the visa of far-right Israeli lawmaker Simcha Rothman hours before he was scheduled to depart for a speaking tour in the country; Australian Foreign Minister Tony Burke confirmed the ban, saying that Canberra “takes a hard line on people who seek to come to our country and spread division”…

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir posted a video of himself in an Israeli prison warning Marwan Barghouti, the high-profile Palestinian political leader who is serving five life sentences for his role in the murders of numerous Israelis, “Whoever messes with the people of Israel, whoever murders children and women — we will wipe them out. You need to know this”…

The Wall Street Journal reports on the deepening clean water shortage in the Gaza Strip…

An investment group led by Israel’s Leumi Partners is acquiring the rideshare app Gett for $190 million…

The New York Times looks at Iranian efforts to recruit Israelis to commit espionage and acts of terrorism within Israel…

The Israeli military said it struck a Houthi energy infrastructure site south of the Yemeni capital of Sana’a over the weekend…

South Africa’s Foreign and Defense Ministries distanced themselves from comments by army chief Gen. Rudzani Maphwanya, made during his recent trip to Iran, praising the close ties between Pretoria and Tehran and condemning Israel; South African President Cyril Ramaphosa called Maphwanya’s trip to Iran “ill-advised” and said he planned to meet with the military leader over it…

Historian Rabbi Berel Wein, the founder of Yeshiva Shaarei Torah in Monsey, N.Y., who previously led the Orthodox Union’s kashrut division, died at 91…

Rachel Aliza Nisanov, the 13-year-old daughter of Rabbi Shlomo Nisanov, died in a jet-skiing accident in Florida last Tuesday…

Pic of the Day

Seventeen-year-old Pushpa Joshi, the sister of Nepali hostage Bipin Joshi, speaks at a hostage rally in Tel Aviv on Saturday night. The Joshi family arrived in Israel last week for the first time as they work to raise awareness about the plight of Bipin, a farming student who was taken hostage on Oct. 7, 2023, from Kibbutz Alumim.

Birthdays

Ken Goldin attends the King Of Collectibles Season 2: The Goldin Touch NYC Premiere Party at Studio 525 on June 04, 2024 in New York City. (ROB KIM/GETTY IMAGES FOR GOLDIN)

Auctioneer, television personality and sports card collector, he is featured on the Netflix TV series “King of Collectibles: The Goldin Touch,” Kenneth Goldin turns 60…

Art collector, museum trustee in Chicago, Aspen, Colo., and Orange County, Calif. and former member of Cultural Property Advisory Committee to the U.S. State Department, Barbara Bluhm-Kaul turns 85… Baltimore resident, Jerome Seaman… Holocaust survivor, novelist, artist and producer, Sonia Wolff Levitin turns 91… Retired teacher of Talmud at Jerusalem’s Yeshiva Torat Shraga, Rabbi Noam Gordon, Ph.D…. Former two-term mayor of San Diego, the first Jewish mayor of San Diego, Susan G. Golding turns 80… Businessman and former chair of the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, John D. Goldman turns 76… Partner in Chazan-Leipzig Consulting, Cindy Chazan… Retired judge of the Montgomery County (Pa.) Court of Common Pleas, Gary S. Silow turns 74… Dramatist, screenwriter and poet, Winnie Holzman turns 71… President at Wyckoff, N.J.-based Benefit Connections, Raphael Schwartz… President of Touro University, Alan H. Kadish, M.D. turns 69… Labor law attorney in the Los Angeles office of Ogletree Deakins, Stuart Douglas Tochner… U.S. Treasury secretary in the Obama administration, now president of Warburg Pincus, Timothy Geithner turns 64… CEO of the Future of Privacy Forum, a D.C.-based think tank and advocacy group focused on issues of data privacy, Jules Polonetsky turns 60… Executive director of the Maccabee Task Force, David Brog turns 59… Criminal defense attorney and media personality in Las Vegas, Dayvid Figler turns 58… Award-winning comic book writer and artist for both Marvel and then DC Comics, Brian Michael Bendis turns 58… Professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School, he served as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers during the Obama administration, Jason Furman turns 55… Sarah S. Bronson… Conservative political talk radio host on the Sirius XM Patriot channel, Andrew Steven Wilkow turns 53… Greek Orthodox priest, he serves as a judge in Israel’s religious court system and encourages Christians to enlist in the IDF, Gabriel Naddaf turns 52… Best-selling author, her novels have been translated into 35 languages, Nicole Krauss turns 51… Writer, actress and stand-up comedian from NYC, Jessi Ruth Klein turns 50… Washington director of the Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute, Roger Zakheim… Actor, comedian, writer, producer and musician, David A. J. “Andy” Samberg turns 47… Commissioner of New York City Emergency Management, Zachary Iscol turns 47… Fellow at The Jewish People Policy Institute and managing partner of the Madad website, Noah Slepkov… Editor of Moment Magazine, Sarah Breger… Reporter for The Wall Street Journal covering the Justice Department and federal law enforcement, Sadie Gurman… Co-founder and CEO of Mostly Human, Laurie Segall turns 40… Mixed martial artist, she competes in the bantamweight and featherweight divisions, Olga Rubin turns 36… Israeli judoka who won Olympic bronze medals at the 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympics, Or “Ori” Sasson turns 35…

ANALYSIS

While Gaza war marches on, protesters hold the line for the hostages

A nationwide strike led by hostage families draws hundreds of thousands into the streets, revealing the depth of Israel’s internal divide as the military prepares for its next move in Gaza

Yair Palti

Protestors hold up phone flashlights in Tel Aviv's Hostages Square and the surrounding streets during mass demonstration for the hostages, August 18th, 2025

By

Tamara Zieve

August 18, 2025

The unrest could be felt everywhere — in traffic jams, on the airwaves, in WhatsApp groups, even in the waiting room of a dental clinic.

Across Israel yesterday, hundreds of thousands joined a nationwide unofficial strike, led by hostage families and bereaved families, demanding an end to the war in Gaza and the immediate release of the hostages still held there. According to the Hostages Families Forum, over 1 million people participated in protests throughout the day. As the government plans to escalate its military campaign against Hamas, emotions ran high across towns, cities and online spaces, deepening a national rift.

Police clashed with demonstrators blocking roads. In Ra’anana, a truck driver was arrested after allegedly attacking a protester. In a Tel Aviv neighborhood mothers’ WhatsApp group, several members condemned local cafés for staying open, while another defended them for “not strengthening Hamas.” At a dental clinic, a man berated staff for opening their doors, shouting, “What about the hostages!?”

At the heart of the tensions is a painful divide: protesters — including the majority of the hostage families — argue that rescuing the captives must come before all else. Meanwhile, the government and its supporters, and even several hostage families, claim such demonstrations weaken Israel’s negotiating hand and embolden Hamas. Israeli President Issac Herzog, speaking at Hostages Square, said “There’s no Israeli who doesn’t want them back home. We can argue about philosophies, but truly, the people of Israel want our brothers and sisters back home.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doubled down on his government’s stance in a public statement, warning: “Those who are calling for an end to the war today without defeating Hamas, are not only hardening Hamas’s stance and pushing off the release of our hostages, they are also ensuring that the horrors of October 7 will recur again and again … to advance the release of our hostages and to ensure that Gaza will never again constitute a threat to Israel, we must complete the work and defeat Hamas.”

Yet recent polls show that a majority of Israelis support prioritizing the hostages’ release and bringing an end to the war.

Israeli journalist and commentator Ben Caspit wrote on social media: “To join the protest strike, you don’t have to be a leftist. Nor a centrist. Nor a rightist… You need a heart. There on the left side, between the ribs and the lungs. A beating heart that feels the need to express solidarity with our kidnapped brothers, with their families, with the terrible suffering.”

“And no, don’t believe the spin that it ‘helps Hamas.’ It doesn’t. Hamas doesn’t need strike X or demonstration Y to get to know Israeli society. Hamas knows us very well, just as we know them. They are death eaters. We seek life. That’s the whole difference.”

Meanwhile, Amit Segal — a reporter and political commentator often seen opposite Caspit on Channel 12 — offered a more sober take in his newsletter on Sunday: “While the strike will help many Israelis express their frustration and desperation to bring the hostages home, it won’t bring Israel closer to achieving the very thing they’re protesting for.”

Even if that may be, the protests reach further than home: former hostages have recounted the strength they gained from witnessing the demonstrations on the news while in captivity in Gaza. In Tel Aviv, as night fell, thousands of protesters raised their phone flashlights in Hostages Square and the surrounding streets, creating a moment of visual unity. The sea of lights stretched across the plaza and beyond — a simple gesture that carried a message of solidarity for the hostages still held in Gaza.

At the same time, the wheels of war are already turning. While Israelis grappled with grief, anger and hope in the streets, the military was preparing for its next incursion. Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, the IDF’s chief of staff, declared yesterday from the Gaza Strip: “Today we are approving the plan for the next phase of the war.”

“We will maintain the momentum of Operation ‘Gideon’s Chariots’ while focusing on Gaza City. We will continue to strike until the decisive defeat of Hamas, with the hostages always at the forefront of our minds,” Zamir said, adding, “Soon we will move on to the next phase” of the operation.

ISRAEL INSIGHTS

Freshman House Republicans discuss their recent trip to Israel

Both Reps. Julie Fedorchak and Randy Fine slammed European leaders, saying they are making it harder to get hostages released

Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images

Reps. Julie Fedorchak (R-ND) and Randy Fine (R-FL)

By

Marc Rod

August 15, 2025

Returning from a trip to Israel, two first-term House Republicans blasted European nations and others that have recently hardened their positions toward Israel, saying that those decisions had set back efforts to free the hostages and end the war.

One of the lawmakers who visited Israel with the AIPAC-affiliated American Israel Education Foundation also indicated that she had not heard in meetings with Israeli leaders a concrete plan for bringing the war to an end.

Rep. Julie Fedorchak (R-ND) told Jewish Insider she had been interested during the trip to examine the increasing hostility by European countries and others toward Israel, including their decisions to recognize a Palestinian state, and their public postures blaming Israel for the humanitarian issues in Gaza.

“It is not supported by the facts on the ground. … Europe’s actions definitely set back the … negotiations for Hamas releasing the existing hostages — potentially resulting in them dying,” Fedorchak said. “It’s maddening that these countries that should know better, or should take the time to find out better, are taking these very unhelpful positions.”

She called on the European leaders and others criticizing Israel to visit the sites of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks and meet with Hamas’ victims, calling it “almost unfathomable that people are blaming Israel.”

“Go talk to the families whose houses were invaded, and the parents of 15-year-olds who died being shot at in a safe room, trying to hold the door from the terrorist on the other side,” Fedorchak said, “families who had to watch their women be raped and abused. The 300 young people that were killed at the music festival.”

Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) told JI that it was critical for the group, and for supporters of Israel in general, to “continue to make clear the lie being spread about starvation” — which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted does not exist in the enclave while President Donald Trump has said there is “real starvation.”

Fine also said it was crucial to “stand up to these countries like France and the U.K. and Canada and Australia that have fully embraced Muslim terror and want to reward it.”

He likewise argued that the European countries’ actions had extended the war. Fine said he’s not worried, however, about longer-term fallout from the shift away from Israel by some of its longtime European allies.

“I’ve always thought Israel needs to stop caring about what the world thinks and take care of itself,” he said. “There’s lots of antisemites in the world, they’re always looking for an excuse. … All of this stuff is simply an excuse to let your inner antisemitism out. That’s all any of it is.”

Fedorchak indicated that Israeli leaders had not laid out a concrete plan for how they would bring the war to an end.

“The big question of how do you end this, and how do you get out of it with the hostages alive — I didn’t ever hear a real great plan for that. I think that’s a million-dollar question,” Fedorchak said, highlighting concerns about the hostages being held in potentially booby-trapped tunnels, the risks to Israeli soldiers in the ongoing military campaign and the likelihood that further concessions to Hamas in negotiations will further embolden the terror group.

“I was frustrated that a long-term solution — or even an immediate solution for the war — is very elusive. I wish that it hadn’t gone on so long. I wish that when the hostages were first taken, the whole world would have stood with Israel and tried to get them back right away … so it wasn’t allowed to drag out so long,” she said.

Fine said that specific plans for ending the war would be sensitive for Israel to share, but that the goals remain the same, of bringing home the hostages and ensuring that terrorists do not continue to control Gaza.

“It has to get to an end point, so I am confident that it will get there,” Fine said. “I’m disappointed that I think these European countries, in their publicly backing Hamas, drag it out. If I was in Taiwan right now, I’d consider going into China and killing a bunch of people, because that seems to be the great way to get your country recognized.”

Fedorchak said she was struck by how the ongoing hostage crisis “has pretty much frozen in time that invasion in Israel, and everybody is reliving it pretty much constantly,” adding that the ongoing hostage situation is an “an ongoing, terrible human rights offense by Hamas.”

She added that the trip had highlighted the proximity of the threats that Israel faces: The lawmakers were forced to take shelter from a rocket attack on their first night in Israel. “You can’t appreciate what that’s like if you don’t go there and see it.”

The group also met with leadership from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

Fine said that the meeting was an opportunity to learn more about its efforts — including that “they haven’t used any lethal force at all since they set up their sites,” he said.

He also noted that the GHF leaders told the group they had been trying to work with Hamas, “but the U.N.’s not interested in working with them, because the U.N. is an offshoot of Hamas.”

Fedorchak said that GHF leadership gave the impression that the organization was “making progress” in expanding aid deliveries and aiming to open more distribution sites.

She said the U.S. should continue providing humanitarian aid and called on other nations to do so as well, calling it “critical” to protecting and supporting the Palestinians “that are really stuck there” as Israel continues its efforts to defeat Hamas, either through military means or a Hamas surrender.

“Hamas still has a stranglehold on the leadership and governing in Palestine or in Gaza, and they’re a terrorist organization with the [goal] of eliminating Israel,” Fedorchak said. “So that’s not going to work long term there. I don’t envision any time where Hamas can lead Gaza and provide peace and economic stability for the people there and for their neighbors to the east and north of Israel. So Hamas has to go.”

Nevertheless, Fedorchak said she came away feeling hopeful about the potential future beyond the war, saying that there’s “a lot of promise” for expanding the Abraham Accords and ultimately “hopefully providing an opening for a new pro-peace Palestinian leadership to take root in Gaza and the West Bank.”

Fine, who has traveled to Israel before and has quickly built a name for himself as a combative supporter of Israel in his short time since taking office, said he was grateful for all of the colleagues who joined the trip and showed their support for Israel.

“It was good to see that the anti-Israel voices are small and they are loud,” Fine said. “The vast majority of my colleagues, I think, are even more pro-Israel now than they were before. … I don’t think we can give too much attention to the antisemites in Congress. I think the vast majority of Republicans are more pro-Israel now than they were before, not less.”

He argued that an overlapping trip by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) — during which Johnson offered support for Israel asserting full sovereignty over the West Bank, which Fine refers to by its biblical name, Judea and Samaria — is a signal of Republicans’ continued and increased affinity for the Jewish state.

Addressing those — including some Republican lawmakers — who’ve grown frustrated with Israel’s leadership and the war in Gaza, Fine said that “their frustrations are misplaced.”

“The … people who it appears are starving in Gaza are the hostages,” he said. “The responsibility for all of this lies with the Muslim terrorists. This all ends if they release the hostages and surrender.”

Fedorchak said that the visit had given her “a greater appreciation for the value of America and our willingness to stand up for the ideals” that the U.S. shared with Israel and its allies.

“I appreciate that the U.S. is willing to be on the front lines defending that, and the partnership with us and Israel is obviously central to Israel’s ongoing strength and existence in the Middle East,” she said. “It’s really valuable to have an ally like Israel in the Middle East.”

Fedorchak said she was deeply impressed with Israel’s “resourcefulness,” both in developing impressive weapons and defensive systems as well as in agriculture, and with Israelis’ focus on family, patriotism and national service.

Fine noted that the group had also received a briefing about the atrocities committed against the Druze in Syria, and condemned the international community for its comparative lack of attention on that crisis. “Nobody cares when you see Druze being slaughtered in Syria … no Jews, no news,” he said.

Asked about whether the U.S. should adjust its policy toward the new Syrian government in response to the attacks against the Druze, Fine declined to weigh in specifically, while reiterating that the situation is “dire” and is being overlooked.

In addition to the large group meetings, Fine said he’d taken several one-on-one meetings at the request of Israeli leaders, including with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee Chairman Simcha Rothman and members of Israel’s foreign ministry.

He said that those meetings had also focused on Israeli security issues — ”making sure Israel is safe and secure, Jews are safe and secure and having zero tolerance for Muslim terror.”

Fine also said that he was stopped by Israelis repeatedly during the trip who recognized him and were “appreciative of the stands that I’ve taken, about wearing a kippah.”

ANALYSIS

Netanyahu-Zamir rift exposes deepening divide over Gaza, Haredi draft

Top IDF and government officials have clashed on a series of issues, including the appointments of more than two dozen military officials and Zamir’s opposition to the plan to take over Gaza City and expand IDF operations in the Gaza Strip

IDF

The Chief of the General Staff, LTG Eyal Zamir, the Director of the ISA, Ronen Bar, and the Commanding Officer of the IAF, Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar, in the IAF’s Underground Operations Center, commanding the strikes in Gaza overnight between March 17th and March 18, 2025

By

Melissa Weiss

August 14, 2025

Tensions between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Eyal Zamir, the chief of staff of the IDF, are as high as the record-setting temperatures that have swept the region.

The IDF’s top officials and the Israeli government have clashed on a series of issues in recent days, including the appointments of more than two dozen military officials and Zamir’s opposition to Netanyahu’s plan to take over Gaza City and expand IDF operations in the Gaza Strip, which was approved by Israel’s Security Cabinet last week.

The IDF chief of staff has warned that the new approach to Gaza risks the lives of the 20 remaining living hostages in the enclave, and would further deplete the military’s resources in Gaza. The army, under strain after nearly two years of war, has — even prior to Zamir’s appointment in March — been at odds with the government over the continued exemption of the majority of the country’s Haredi population from the mandatory conscription required of most Israelis.

Israel Democracy Institute President Yohanan Plesner told Jewish Insider this morning that “historically, the relationship between the political level — prime minister, defense minister — and the top brass of the defense establishment, and mainly the IDF chief of staff, has been based on the premise that when Israel engages or embarks on significant security endeavors, operations and so on, it’s based on mutual consent,” with both parties having “de facto … veto power.”

But now, Plesner said, Netanyahu “is violating this decision-making norm that characterized the way decisions on core security [and] national security issues were made in the past.”

Plesner pointed to IDI polling conducted earlier this summer that showed Zamir being the senior official in whom Israelis had the most trust, at 68.5%. The same poll found Netanyahu with a trust rating of 40%.

The potential removal of a senior official months into his tenure “was not in the cards in the past. A chief of staff would voice their professional opinion and they wouldn’t risk being fired.”

The clash between Netanyahu and Zamir has also drawn in former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who is widely seen as one of the only people who could topple Netanyahu in the next election. Bennett attributed the infighting to Zamir’s opposition to the continuation of Haredi draft exemptions — an issue that has sowed division even within Netanyahu’s coalition and still threatens to topple the government.

“Instead of standing behind the army,” Bennett said, “the government has launched an attack *on* the army.”

Netanyahu has previously clashed with — and dismissed — senior military officials, most notably former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, whom Netanyahu first tried to fire in early 2024 but was met with mass protests, before ousting him in November 2024. Last summer, Israeli media reported tensions between the prime minister and Zamir’s predecessor, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, over Netanyahu’s suggestion that hostage talks had not moved forward because Hamas did not feel enough pressure from the country’s military. Netanyahu also pursued the dismissal of former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar whom he clashed with on a number of issues — including the hostage negotiations and war strategy — citing “continuing lack of trust.”

Plesner pointed out that relations between Netanyahu and both Gallant and Halevi “very much soured around the fact that they were committed to implementing the Supreme Court ruling” that removed the Haredi draft exemption, and that Zamir, as chief of staff, similarly backs the conscription of the Haredi community as war fatigue plagues the reservists who have served hundreds of days in uniform since the start of the war.

Nearly all of the IDF’s top leaders from Oct. 7, 2023, have departed their roles, whether by choice or force, in the almost two years since the attacks. Netanyahu — who has long tried to absolve himself of responsibility for the attacks, instead blaming the military and the Shin Bet — remains the only senior government official from that time still in power. Analyst Nadav Pollak suggested that the prime minister has, since Oct. 7, been “trying to divert the blame from him to the military leadership (he didn’t know Hamas plans etc.) and as long as the focus is on the IDF leadership it’s not on Bibi.”

Now, with the Knesset out for the rest of the summer, ceasefire talks stalled and an immediate collapse of his government off the table, Netanyahu is able to buy some time — perhaps up to several weeks — as Israel’s top political and military brass game out and implement the government’s Gaza strategy. Meanwhile, observers will watch to see how Zamir will carry out Netanyahu’s orders.

GAZA GAMBIT

Facing criticism from all sides, Netanyahu claims new Gaza plan will ‘end the war speedily’

Right and left rail against Israeli plan to seize control of Gaza City to further pressure Hamas

GIL COHEN-MAGEN/AFP via Getty Images

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during an event at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Jerusalem on July 27, 2025.

By

Lahav Harkov

August 10, 2025

Israel’s decision to take control of Gaza City is meant to prevent further prolonging the war, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday.

The prime minister’s comments come as elements of the Israeli right and nearly all of the left have railed against the decision, further destabilizing the prime minister’s hold on Israel’s leadership.

In a video statement on Saturday night, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said he had “lost trust that the prime minister can and wants to lead the IDF to a decisive victory.”

At the same time, tens of thousands of Israelis took to the streets of Tel Aviv to protest against the Cabinet’s decision, calling for an immediate hostage deal.

Speaking Sunday at a press conference for foreign media in Jerusalem, Netanyahu said that “Hamas still has thousands of terrorists in Gaza … Hamas is refusing to lay down its arms, so Israel has no choice but to finish the job.”

”Contrary to false claims,” the prime minister argued, “this is the best way to end the war and to end it speedily.”

Rather than take control of Gaza City, part of the remaining 25% of Gaza that Israel does not control, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir presented to the Security Cabinet on Thursday night a strategy of surrounding those areas, while expressing concern about the safety of the 20 hostages believed to still be alive if a military takeover is attempted.

As to whether Israel’s new plan puts hostages in further danger, Netanyahu said that “the option of just doing a war of attrition from a defensive position has not proved itself. It won’t bring [the hostages] out … [It will lead to a] protracted conflict that won’t bring the war to an end.”

”I don’t want to prolong the war. I want to end the war, and I think the other option would have prolonged the war,” he added. “Prolonging the war means that many of them could be starved to death.”

Netanyahu also emphasized Israel’s “five principles for concluding the war,” authorized by the Security Cabinet, which he said were his “day-after plan” for Gaza. They consist of disarming Hamas, returning the hostages, demilitarizing Gaza, Israeli security control of the enclave and establishing a civilian administration for Gaza led by neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority.

Though Netanyahu said in an interview with Fox News last week that Israel plans to take control of all of Gaza, the Security Cabinet decision announced early Friday morning fell short of that.

The Security Cabinet voted early Friday, after a 10-hour meeting that began the previous day, for the IDF to “prepare for taking control of Gaza City while distributing humanitarian assistance to the civilian population outside the combat zones.”

Netanyahu continued to speak of the IDF seizing all of Gaza on Sunday, presenting an image of the “remaining Hamas strongholds” of Gaza City and the “central camps and Moassi,” a second enclave. A spokesperson for the prime minister clarified to Jewish Insider after the press conference that “the decision that was authorized is about Gaza City. Later, if needed, the central camps as well.”

Netanyahu said that, as Israel did before maneuvering into Rafah over a year ago, it plans to move the population out of Gaza City, “safeguard the civilian population and let us go, at last, into the most important stronghold of Hamas.”

Gaza City is only part of the remaining 25% of Gaza not currently controlled by the IDF. Reports indicate that the IDF said it will take two months to move the civilian population out of the city; Netanyahu said he instructed the military to do it in less time because he wants to finish the war as soon as possible.

That two-month window leaves an opening for another ceasefire deal as Qatar, Egypt and the U.S. are reportedly working on reviving negotiations.

The plan was supported by “a decisive majority of Security Cabinet ministers,” according to the Prime Minister’s Office.

Smotrich accused Netanyahu of “making a U-turn” from a plan they devised together “to go all the way,” involving “dramatic moves to bring victory in Gaza, a combination of a quick military victory and an immediate diplomatic move to exact a painful price from Hamas, destroy its military and civilian capabilities, and put unprecedented pressure to free the hostages.”

Instead, Smotrich argued, the Security Cabinet chose to support “an immoral, unreasonable folly,” that would involve “sending tens of thousands of fighters to maneuver in Gaza City while endangering their lives and paying heavy diplomatic and international prices, only to pressure Hamas to free hostages and then retreat.”

“I cannot back this decision. My conscience doesn’t allow it … No more stopping [the war] in the middle … We must make a clear, sharp move to defeat Hamas and bring the hostages home all at once,” he stated.

Despite saying that he lost trust in Netanyahu, Smotrich did not say he was leaving the coalition. Instead, he called for another Security Cabinet meeting to further discuss Israel’s next steps in Gaza.

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who, like Smotrich, has pushed for more aggressive moves in the war in Gaza, told Army Radio on Sunday that Smotrich turned down his offer to present an ultimatum to Netanyahu to quit the government if it does not accept a plan to “go in, destroy, conquer.” Smotrich and Ben-Gvir have called for Israel to fully occupy Gaza and build Israeli settlements in the enclave.

Smotrich’s outspoken criticism is a signal of the growing leverage he holds within Netanyahu’s volatile government. Netanyahu currently has a minority coalition, holding just 60 out of the Knesset’s 120 seats, making his political situation tenuous. The United Torah Judaism and Noam parties left the coalition last month over disputes relating to sanctions for Haredim who do not serve in the IDF.

Tzvi Sukkot, a lawmaker from Smotrich’s Religious Zionism Party, wrote in a post on X on Sunday morning, “if we are going back to Oct. 6, 2023 and decide to give up on the war aims, it is an existential threat to the State of Israel. If that is the situation, in my humble opinion, we must go to an election.”

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid wrote Smotrich a letter asking for his support for a bill to disperse the Knesset, which would trigger an election.

“You admitted that the prime minister’s policy is not bringing a decisive victory in Gaza, is not bringing back our hostages and is not winning the war,” Lapid wrote. “You added that you cannot stand behind the prime minister and back him anymore. In light of this, I call you to join me in a letter to the Knesset speaker in which we can say there was a significant change in circumstances that justifies bringing up the bill to disperse the Knesset again.”

At the same time, the political opposition and the Hostages Families Forum spoke out against the more aggressive approach in Gaza approved by the Security Cabinet, pointing to Zamir’s opposition to the move.

Lapid called the decision “a disaster that will lead to many additional disasters.”

“In total opposition to the opinion of the military and security levels, without consideration for the exhaustion and attrition of the fighting forces, Ben-Gvir and Smotrich dragged Netanyahu to a move that will take many months, will lead to the death of hostages, to many soldiers killed, will cost tens of billions of Israeli taxpayer money and will lead to diplomatic collapse. That’s just what Hamas wants,” Lapid said.

“As we approach the tragic one-year anniversary of the murder of six hostages who were executed by their captors, the expansion of fighting only further endangers those still held in Gaza’s tunnels,” the forum stated. “Hamas continues to exploit military escalation as justification for its brutal treatment of our loved ones … Our government is leading us toward a colossal catastrophe for both the hostages and our soldiers. The Cabinet chose last night to embark on another march of recklessness, on the backs of the hostages, the soldiers, and Israeli society as a whole.”

Tens of thousands gathered for the weekly demonstrations in central Tel Aviv Saturday night, blocking the city’s central artery, the Ayalon Highway. Some of the hostages’ relatives called for a general strike on Sunday and for soldiers to refuse orders.

Shai Mozes, nephew of released hostage Gadi Mozes, said that following the Security Cabinet decision, “the mission you’ll be given is participation in killing the hostages. In this situation, there is no choice but to refuse.”

Several hostages’ relatives expressed support for a general strike, as did Lapid. The Hi-Tech Forum, representing dozens of Israeli tech companies and hedge funds, said they would allow their employees to miss work if a strike is held.

The Histadrut, Israel’s national labor union, declined to support a strike, following a court ruling last year that they can only strike for explicitly labor-related reasons.

Netanyahu also discussed the humanitarian situation in Gaza in the press conference Sunday, saying that Israel’s “policy throughout the war has been to prevent a humanitarian crisis while Hamas’ policy is to create it.”

Israel is working to avoid a humanitarian crisis by designating safe corridors for aid distribution, increasing safe distribution points managed by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and continuing airdrops by Israel and other countries, he said.

”The only ones being deliberately starved in Gaza are our hostages,” Netanyahu argued, displaying a screenshot from a video Hamas released last week of hostage Evyatar David and contrasting his emaciated arm with the much thicker one of his captor.

Netanyahu also displayed photographs of children from Gaza who appeared in the foreign media alongside claims that they had been starved by Israel, and listed the congenital diseases from which they suffered that were not originally reported. He said his office is looking into whether Israel can sue The New York Times over the matter.

The prime minister compared the claims to blood libels: “We were said to be spreading vermin in Christian society; we were said to be poisoning the wells; we were said to slaughter Christian children for blood. That was followed by massive violence, pogroms, displacement, followed by the worst of all, the Holocaust.”

”The international press is falling for Hamas propaganda, hook line and sinker,” he added, standing next to the text “Open your eyes to Hamas’s lies.”

Netanyahu also said he had ordered the IDF to allow more foreign journalists into Gaza.

However, he stated, “We will not commit suicide to get a good op-ed.

friendly concern

American Jewish Committee expresses ‘deep apprehension’ over Gaza City takeover plan

AJC statement: ‘The profound risks posed by a full military takeover of Gaza City cannot be overlooked’

Haley Cohen

Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, U.S. special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, and Rabbi Andrew Baker, AJC’s director of international Jewish affairs, in conversation with AJC CEO Ted Deutch.

By

Danielle Cohen-Kanik

August 8, 2025

The American Jewish Committee, one of the leading global Jewish and pro-Israel advocacy organizations, expressed its “deep apprehension” over the Israeli Security Cabinet’s vote to move forward with a military takeover of Gaza City, in a statement released by the organization on Friday.

AJC acknowledged the “extraordinary challenges” Israel faces due to Hamas’ “intransigence” in negotiations and the “failure of the international community to impose sufficient pressure on the terrorist organization.”

“Still,” the statement read, “the profound risks posed by a full military takeover of Gaza City cannot be overlooked.” It highlighted concerns over “endanger[ing] the lives of the remaining hostages” and the possibility of “substantial casualties among both Israeli soldiers and Palestinian civilians,” in particular.

AJC called on the signatories of the New York Declaration — signed last month by dozens of countries including member states of the Arab League and European Union — to “apply maximum pressure on Hamas to agree to a hostage release and ceasefire agreement.”

ANALYSIS

‘No good options’: Israel considers high-stakes Gaza occupation plan

Netanyahu, Zamir and Katz held a three-hour meeting on Tuesday, which was reportedly very tense due to disagreement over the plan

EYAD BABA/AFP via Getty Images

Smoke billows from Israeli bombardment as pictured from Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on July 21, 2025.

By

Lahav Harkov

August 6, 2025

Israel’s Security Cabinet is set to vote this week on occupying the remaining parts of Gaza that it does not currently control, after Hamas refused last month’s ceasefire and hostage deal proposal and did not return to negotiations.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir and Defense Minister Israel Katz held a three-hour meeting on Tuesday, which was reportedly very tense due to disagreement over the plan, though Zamir ultimately said he will follow through with the government’s decision.

Zamir argued that the IDF should surround the areas in Gaza in which it currently does not have a presence, including Gaza City and towns in the center of Gaza in which hostages are believed to be held. Entering those areas, Zamir warned, would endanger the lives of the 20 hostages who are thought to be alive. Hamas has threatened to kill hostages if the IDF approaches, as it had executed six hostages a year ago.

Beyond the fraught issue of the hostages, there is the matter of what “occupation” means.

Broadly, the war in Gaza was initially conducted via raids in which the IDF would warn civilians to leave a given area, enter, destroy terrorist infrastructure and combat terrorists, and eventually leave to move to a different part of Gaza, letting the population return. Hamas terrorists would also end up returning to those areas, leading the IDF to have to enter some of the same places repeatedly.

In March, Israel embarked on Operation Gideon’s Chariots, in which Israel entered Gaza from its perimeter on all sides, and moved inwards, capturing territory and maintaining control of it, in contrast to its previous strategy. That operation has, in effect, resulted in Israel controlling 75% of Gaza.

The remaining 25% is what Israel would move to control under the plan Netanyahu supports.

Brig.-Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser, head of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security and the former head of research for IDF intelligence, told the Misgav Mideast Horizons podcast this week that the commonly used 75%-25% formulation is “a misrepresentation.”

“Almost all the population of Gaza is in areas controlled by Hamas, which allows Hamas to keep its grip over the population, and this is the source of its power … It’s not about the percentage of the area, it’s about who controls the population,” he said.

While “occupation” is the correct military term for what Israel would be doing by taking control of territory, the connotation of the word in the Israeli context tends to be the West Bank, which Israel has controlled since 1967 and where over half a million Jewish citizens of Israel live.

Some Cabinet ministers have advocated for allowing Israelis to move to Gaza, where 21 Israeli settlements were forcibly evacuated in 2005; Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected such a plan.

What senior Israeli officials have long said is that, while Israel seeks to have other countries and some Palestinians administer Gaza, they will not do so until it’s clear that Hamas has been ousted. As such, Israel may have to take control for some time until other arrangements are made.

Kuperwasser said that while Netanyahu’s decision may be risky, Zamir’s preference of surrounding the remaining 25% of Gaza is more of the same.

“In Gaza, there are no good options,” he said. “The option of continuing what we have done for the last 22 months is not a good option, because it didn’t put enough pressure on Hamas to release the hostages and accept the idea that they should give up their arms. The option of succumbing to Hamas demands … is a very bad idea, too. And taking over Gaza is also a bad idea, because you end up being responsible for the population of Gaza and there is going to be a lot of criticism around the globe … you cannot guarantee that you are going to get the hostages alive.”

Kuperwasser argued that the only way at this point for Israel to move towards freeing the hostages and removing Hamas from power is if Hamas is “convinced that we are about to take over Gaza by force and remove them from power by force … So we have to make this decision, and yes, it comes with a price.”

Starting on the new strategy may be enough to convince Hamas to reach a deal, Kuperwasser said, but in order to get to that point, he argued, Israel has to prepare to actually occupy Gaza.

“We have to convince Hamas that we are serious, that we are really preparing for this eventuality,” including for civil administration of Gaza, he said.

COUSIN'S CRY

‘Evyatar became a skeleton in Hamas tunnels,’ hostage’s cousin says after video released

‘We need everyone who sees the difficult pictures of Evyatar to understand that we don’t have another minute. We don’t have another day. We can lose him in the coming days,’ Matan Eshet tells JI

Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades/AFP via Getty Images

This screengrab from a video released on August 1, 2025 by Hamas, shows Israeli hostage Evyatar David looking weak and malnourished.

By

Lahav Harkov

August 5, 2025

Days after Hamas released a video showing hostage Evyatar David emaciated and being forced to dig his own grave in a tunnel under Gaza, David’s family called on the Trump administration to do anything it can to ensure that the hostages are released.

“Evyatar is fighting for his life with what little strength he has left,” Matan Eshet, David’s cousin, told Jewish Insider on Monday. “You can see it in his eyes. You don’t need a medical degree to understand that Evyatar only has a few days to live.”

David, 24, was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists from the Nova Festival on Oct. 7, 2023.

In a video released over the weekend, an extremely gaunt David was shown in a tunnel under Gaza digging, with his bones protruding. He wrote on a calendar documenting the small amounts of food — either lentils or beans — his captors have given him on some days, and on other days he wrote “no food.”

At one point in the video, a Hamas terrorist reaches out from behind the camera to hand him a can of food, and the terrorist’s arm is visibly much thicker than David’s.

“This can is for two days, just to keep me alive,” David said of the food.

“I don’t know what I’m going to eat,” David said. “I haven’t eaten in days … I’m getting thinner and weaker by the day … What I’m doing now is digging my own grave … This is the grave where I think I’m going to be buried. Time is running out.”

Prof. Ronit Endevelt, the former head of the Nutrition Division at the Israeli Health Ministry now on the Hostage Families Forum medical team, estimated that David’s weight dropped about 41% to 40-45 kg.

Hamas released a video of David in February of this year, with hostage Guy Gilboa Dalal in a car, visibly distressed while being forced to watch other hostages being released. David’s health has visibly deteriorated since the previous video; he appears much thinner and paler in the new one.

Eshet said his family is “feeling broken” after seeing the new footage.

“It’s not Evyatar. He doesn’t look like that or sound like that. That’s not how he moves. We see the distress in so many ways. He looks like a shadow of himself,” Eshet said. “He has to get medical care and food already.”

The video of David describing his starvation at the hands of Hamas came as some of the world’s largest media outlets published photos of children in Gaza who they reported were starving, but failed to mention that they suffered from genetic diseases. More broadly, much of the media coverage of Gaza in recent weeks has been about the humanitarian situation and difficulties distributing food to the residents.

“It’s maddening,” Eshet said. “Hamas are the ones taking the aid instead of the civilians. And then they claim that [Israel is] starving them, not Hamas who is preventing people from getting the food, while Hamas is choosing not to let Evyatar receive food.”

Eshet noted that the arm of the Hamas terrorist who handed Evyatar the can of food was “much bigger and more muscular compared to Evyatar.”

“On the news, you can see people walking in the food markets in Gaza. People do not look the way Evyatar looks,” Eshet added. “No one was close to looking the way Evyatar does.”

Eshet called on “Israel and the world to demand that Evyatar come home already.”

“We need everyone who sees the difficult pictures of Evyatar to understand that we don’t have another minute. We don’t have another day. We can lose him in the coming days,” he added.

“The U.S. government succeeded in getting a deal on Day minus-One, before [President Donald] Trump’s inauguration,” Eshet said. “America needs to do the same thing again and stand up and insist that the hostages are freed now, regardless of whatever else is happening.

“They did it once. They made a deal happen. They need to use that power again to make sure Evyatar comes home,” Eshet added.

Asked about the reports that Israel plans to expand its military operations in Gaza, including in areas where the hostages are believed to be held, Eshet said he hopes “these are tactical tools to bring about a change, stand up to Hamas and reach a [hostage] deal from a position of strength.”

Eshet and David are first cousins. Eshet recalled that they “grew up together.”

“Evyatar is a charming and loving person, a good listener with a contagious smile,” Eshet said. “He was a middle child, and was friends with his big brother and little sister. He always paid attention to whoever needed help in the house.”

Eshet said that David loved to play guitar and that his music could always be heard in his parents’ house. Before Oct. 7, David planned to travel the world and try to make a living playing music.

“He had a smile and shining eyes, and we’re all waiting for him,” Eshet said. “He was a boy who became a skeleton in the Hamas tunnels. He needs to come home and be a regular person and live the life that is waiting for him.”

There are 50 hostages remaining in Gaza, 20 of whom are believed to be alive. Hamas rejected the latest attempt by the U.S. and Israel to reach a temporary ceasefire and hostage-release deal late last month.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad also released a video of hostage Rom Braslavski last week, who was also emaciated.

The Hostages Families Forum released a report by its medical team on Monday “warning that the hostages still held alive in Gaza are suffering from deliberate, prolonged, and systematic starvation … causing multisystem damage and posing an immediate risk of death.”

Prof. Hagai Levine, head of the medical team, said that “the outcome of this cruel experiment is foreseeable — body and mind will gradually deteriorate until they collapse. Any further delay in rescuing the hostages may cost human lives. We must not stand idly by while our brothers vanish. We must act now to bring them all home.”

war path

Netanyahu reportedly pushing for major expansion of war in Gaza

Last year, Hamas executed six hostages when the IDF approached their position; military reportedly opposes taking control of areas in Gaza where hostages are believed to be held

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to reporters after meeting with U.S. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) at the U.S. Capitol on July 8, 2025, in Washington, D.C.

By

Lahav Harkov

August 4, 2025

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to ask the Security Cabinet to back expanding Israel’s military efforts in Gaza, Israeli media reported on Monday.

“We are going to conquer the [Gaza] Strip,” a senior source in Netanyahu’s office told Israel’s Channel 12. “The decision was made. Hamas will not free more hostages without us fully surrendering, and we will not surrender. If we don’t act now, the hostages will die of hunger and Gaza will remain under Hamas’ control.”

A few caveats: Netanyahu did not use the term conquer or occupy with all of the Cabinet ministers to whom he conveyed his position, according to Israeli public broadcaster KAN. Maariv reported that Netanyahu has not made a final decision yet about whether the IDF should take control of all of Gaza, and noted that legally, he cannot decide on his own without the Security Cabinet.

“Netanyahu realized … that there is no point anymore in waiting for Hamas [to agree to a deal], and therefore a decision about the next stage of the war must be made quickly,” a source involved in the matter told Maariv. “The dispute now is not about whether to act or negotiate, because a deal with Hamas is no longer on the table. Rather, it’s about how to act without a deal, whether to go for full conquest or for a siege and increased pressure.”

IDF Chief of Staff Maj.-Gen. Eyal Zamir reportedly favors a siege over occupying all of Gaza.

The IDF currently controls about 75% of the Gaza Strip, and the new plan would bring the entire area under Israel’s control. Among the areas the IDF would enter would include Gaza City, where the IDF has not maneuvered in a year and a half, and towns in central Gaza, where some 20 remaining living hostages are believed to be held.

The military’s hesitation to enter those areas was, in part, due to a concern for the hostages’ safety. Last year, Hamas executed six hostages when the IDF approached their position and former hostages have said that their captors said they would kill them if the army approached the location where they were held. Hamas has also warned the IDF that attempts to rescue hostages would result in death.

Senior officials were quoted in multiple Israeli news outlets saying that Zamir should resign if he disagrees with Netanyahu’s decision to take control of the remaining 25% of the Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu is expected to bring the proposal to a Security Cabinet vote on Tuesday.

The move comes two weeks after Hamas rejected a partial ceasefire and hostage-release deal, and Israel and the U.S. said they would only pursue comprehensive agreements to free all of the hostages moving forward. Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad published videos in recent days of hostages Rom Braslavski and Evyatar David who appeared to be starving; the latter was filmed digging his own grave.

In addition to Zamir, others expected to argue against conquering the rest of Gaza, according to Channel 12, are Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, Shas leader Arye Deri, National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi and Mossad chief David Barnea, among others.

Netanyahu has the support of Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, Military Secretary Maj.-Gen. Roman Gofman and Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs.

The Prime Minister’s Office did not respond to requests for comment on the reports.

Rather than confirm or deny that he had made a decision about Israel’s next military steps in Gaza, Netanyahu posted a video to X after Hebrew media reported on the matter, which focused on Israeli efforts to get food and medicine to residents of Gaza, and compared claims that Israel was starving Gazans to antisemitic conspiracy theories.

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