Plus, moderates speechless in Seattle
Shmulik Almany
Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter addresses Rosh Hashanah reception at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, Sept. 18th, 2025
Add JewishInsider on GoogleGood 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
Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter said in an interview with The Jerusalem Post that Israel “prefer[s] that Turkey not receive F-35s from the U.S.,” breaking with Washington over the move that President Donald Trump indicated he was open to during a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in September.
But Leiter dismissed concerns around Saudi Arabia potentially acquiring F-35s, which is currently under negotiation ahead of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to the White House next week. “There’s no indication that Israel’s qualitative edge will be compromised,” he said. Leiter has recently become Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s main conduit in Washington after the resignation of Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer…
Israel is seeking a new 20-year memorandum of understanding with the U.S. when the current one expires in 2028, U.S. and Israeli officials told Axios, double the length of past agreements.
New Israeli propositions, including redirecting some of the funds towards joint U.S.-Israeli R&D rather than direct military aid, are reportedly designed to make the lengthy deal more attractive to Trump as well as the GOP, which has grown weary of foreign aid…
Trump told MBS in a phone call last month that he expects to see progress made on Israel-Saudi normalization now that the ceasefire in Gaza is in force, U.S. officials also told Axios, which MBS said he was “willing to work on”…
Israel and White House advisor Jared Kushner are preparing contingency plans in case Trump’s 20-point Gaza peace plan doesn’t come to fruition, Israeli media reports. The IDF’s chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, told Israeli Security Cabinet officials that the IDF will soon present its alternative…
Meanwhile in the U.S., the Democratic primary for the seat of retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) in New York’s 12th Congressional District, which has one of the largest Jewish constituencies in the country, gets more crowded by the day.
Shortly after the entry of JFK’s grandson, Jack Schlossberg, into the race, Erik Bottcher, a Democratic city councilman and LGBTQ activist, told The New York Times he’s jumping in (and that he supports Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state). There are rumors that Lincoln Project co-founder George Conway is eyeing a bid, as well.
Among the many other candidates are longtime Nadler aide Micah Lasher, who today got the endorsement of Comptroller-elect Mark Levine; state Assemblyman Alex Bores; and gun control activist Cameron Kasky, who posted yesterday on social media, “If you are a Democrat running in 2026 and do not fully support an arms embargo to the State of Israel … Stop wasting everybody’s time”…
Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell conceded to his opponent, socialist Katie Wilson, today after last night’s ballot drop made it mathematically impossible for him to prevail.
Though the moderate Harrell led in the polls for the week following Election Day, Wilson eventually gained ground and now leads him by a 0.7% margin — just shy of 2,000 votes. With only several hundred votes left to be counted, The Seattle Times said the race is “on pace to be the closest in modern Seattle politics.”
Wilson joins New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, as well as progressive challengers who prevailed in several Seattle City Council races, as evidence of the far left’s growing popularity in major U.S. cities. However, their small (or razor thin, in Wilson’s case) margins of victory and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey’s win over his DSA-aligned opponent are proof the fringe still lacks a mandate in the Democratic Party…
Former Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA) announced raising more than $500,000 in the first 24 hours after the launch of her comeback bid for her seat in Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District.
The Jewish, pro-Israel Navy veteran sent out a fundraising email this afternoon with the subject line “Chutzpah,” saying the “Yiddish term that means guts or courage … runs in my family” and she’s “not afraid of a little mishigas”…
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) was hospitalized today after suffering a “ventricular fibrillation flare-up” and subsequent fall and face injuries, but is doing well, his spokesperson reported. His scheduled discussion this evening with UJA-Federation of New York about his new book has been cancelled…
The New York Times profiles Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts and his path from leading a small Catholic college to helming the prominent think tank and sparking controversy among conservatives over his embrace of Tucker Carlson.
Roberts claimed as part of his defense over releasing the controversial video during a staff meeting last week, “I actually don’t have time to consume a lot of news. I consume a lot of sports,” and “I didn’t know much about this [Nick] Fuentes guy. I still don’t.”
“‘Who could believe that the head of a think tank doesn’t think?’ said Charles Jacobs, the president of the Jewish Leadership Project, which resigned from a Heritage Foundation task force meant to fight antisemitism after Mr. Roberts’ video was released”…
Joining the list of Heritage resignations, Adam Mossoff, a law professor at George Mason’s Scalia Law School and a prominent pro-Israel advocate, announced he is resigning as a Heritage visiting fellow today “based on [his] considered judgment” of Roberts’ video and “subsequent commentary”…
⏩ 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 a preview of President Donald Trump’s meeting next week with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams is traveling to Israel tomorrow for a five-day trip where he plans to meet with government officials and economic development and high-tech leaders.
The Texas Tribune Festival, taking place this week in Austin, continues tomorrow with speakers including former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO), Democratic Texas Senate candidates James Talarico and Rep. Colin Allred, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), comedian John Mulaney, former Sen. Joe Manchin (I-WV), venture capitalist Joe Lonsdale and former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. On Saturday, Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Adam Schiff (D-CA) are slated to speak.
MSNBC is launching its rebrand on Saturday as MS NOW, part of its separation from NBCUniversal, with dozens of veteran journalists recruited as part of its expanded newsroom.
On Sunday, the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust will present its fourth annual New York Jewish Book Festival.
Sunday evening, the Jewish Federations of North America’s General Assembly kicks off in Washington, with an opening plenary including former U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel, authors Sarah Hurwitz and Micah Goodman, CNN contributor Scott Jennings and Rabbi Angela Buchdahl, senior rabbi at Central Synagogue in New York City.
We’ll be back in your inbox with the Daily Overtime on Monday. Shabbat Shalom!
Stories You May Have Missed
BROTHERHOOD PARADOX
Israel’s neighbors have banned the Muslim Brotherhood, but Israel hasn’t. Why not?
One of its branches is banned for Hamas ties. The other sits in the Knesset
WOOD-N’T TAKE IT
Another Maine Democrat takes page from Platner playbook
Jordan Wood, now running to succeed Rep. Jared Golden, said he won’t take money from AIPAC in his newly launched House campaign
Plus, Musk’s role in rising online antisemitism
Salah Malkawi/Getty Images
Jordanian police close the entrance of a Muslim Brotherhood headquarter after the announcement of banning the society in the country on April 23, 2025 in Amman, Jordan.
Good Thursday morning!
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we examine the growing Saudi-Turkish competition for influence over Damascus and talk to House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL) about his current position on Syria sanctions. We highlight the blessing given by Rabbi Yosef Hamra, the brother of the last chief rabbi of Syria, to Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa during his visit to Washington and delve into the legal status of the Muslim Brotherhood in Israel and why it’s not fully banned. We also report on an interview with the founders of the Track AIPAC account, who until now had been anonymous, and on Jordan Wood’s comment, after he announced his Senate bid in Maine, that he would reject contributions from AIPAC. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Michael Rapaport, Alex Moore and Charlie Spies.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by Jewish Insider Israel Editor Tamara Zieve and U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik, with an assist from Marc Rod. Have a tip? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
- The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom is holding a hearing this morning on religious freedom in Syria during the country’s transition out of dictatorship.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S Josh Kraushaar
So much of the conversation about the rise of right-wing antisemitism has been focused on the supply side of the equation — the growing number of online commentators and podcasters, led by Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens, who are mainlining anti-Jewish tropes, conspiracy theories and Holocaust revisionism to their sizable audiences.
Less scrutinized is the demand-side part of the equation: Why are so many people in the independent podcasting ecosystem mimicking the same antisemitic arguments and hosting the same extremist guests? Is there really a significant audience for this nonsense?
On paper, there’s no constituency for this type of extremism. As an example: Carlson’s public sympathizing towards Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, for instance, is about as politically toxic as you can get with the American public. A recent NBC News poll found just 3% of Americans view Putin favorably, while a whopping 84% view him negatively.
But in the world of social media, a small but passionate audience of superfans — even if they’re extremists — can be more lucrative than a much broader audience of mainstream news consumers. The problem is that the perception of influence, fueled by these social media platforms, can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
We saw this pattern play out on the left in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election, when politically toxic views about policing, immigration, race and gender identity received outsized attention on Twitter, were enforced by a small number of online influencers and quickly became conventional wisdom in institutional liberal circles. The shift was so profound that most of the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates embraced left-wing positions that they later ended up regretting.
With Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter (now X), the platform’s algorithm now incentivizes far-right discourse, creating a marketplace for bigoted and antisemitic influencers. It’s what’s creating a demand for the conspiratorial content of Carlson, Owens and others, and it also explains why more-mainstream figures in the “independent” media space, like Megyn Kelly, are increasingly flirting with these extremist narratives.
“It’s not lost on me that there was a great celebration on the right when Elon Musk bought Twitter — and now it looks like one of the worst things for the right in a long time. The algorithms on X really promote the worst excesses of the post-liberal right,” said one former official at a conservative policy institution granted anonymity to discuss concerns. “Tucker and Megyn are in the business of monetizing the algorithm more than building an audience.”
REGIONAL POWER PLAY
Trump, al-Sharaa meeting highlights growing Saudi-Turkish competition for influence over Damascus
At the White House on Monday, as President Donald Trump met with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, two other high-level figures were in attendance — Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, underscoring how Syria has become a new battleground for regional influence. Following the fall of longtime dictator Bashar al-Assad’s regime last December, the war-ravaged nation has become a political vacuum, transformed into a critical security frontier for many regional players — most notably Turkey and Saudi Arabia, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports.
Stakes in Syria: “Saudi Arabia and Turkey are among the most powerful Middle Eastern countries. The power vacuum caused by the Syrian civil war turned Syria into a stage for these competing powers,” said David May, a research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “Both countries supported elements working to topple former Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad.”
CAESAR QUESTIONS
House Foreign Affairs Chair Mast now says he’s undecided on Syria sanctions repeal effort
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL) told Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod that, after his meeting with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa earlier this week, he’s going to “think about” his skeptical stance on the repeal of sanctions on Syria under the Caesar Civilian Protection Act. Mast has expressed concerns about lifting the sanctions, and his sign-off would be needed for the repeal to be included in the final 2026 defense bill.
Readout: Asked if the meeting had changed his views on the issue, Mast said that he had read at length about al-Sharaa and his background prior to the meeting. “We had a lot of conversation, good conversation,” Mast said. “I asked him very pointedly [to] explain why we’re no longer his enemy. He gave a pretty good answer. Said he was hoping for a noble future for his people, one free of radicalism, fundamentalism … and ISIS. So it was a good answer.”
Bonus: Mast told JI that the Foreign Affairs Committee is looking to take up consideration of legislation designating the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization, but did not elaborate on a potential timeline. Sponsors of the companion legislation in the Senate are pushing for a markup in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
BROTHERHOOD PARADOX
Israel’s neighbors have banned the Muslim Brotherhood, but Israel hasn’t. Why not?
While Congress is working on a bill to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization in the U.S., and the Islamist group is banned from Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and beyond, the group’s status in Israel is much more complicated. The matter drew renewed attention this week after Mansour Abbas, the leader of the Ra’am party in the Knesset, an ideological offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, declined to call for the eradication of Hamas on Israeli radio, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports.
Backlash: The interview sparked headlines and analysis in right-leaning Israeli media and comments by politicians on the right about the viability of center and left-wing parties once again forming a coalition with Ra’am to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, when Ra’am’s leader would not say that he is for eradicating Hamas. The historic and recent connections between Hamas and Ra’am, both of which were founded by adherents of the Muslim Brotherhood, shed light on the nuances of the international Sunni Islamist movement and its status in Israel. Michael Milshtein, head of the Palestinian Studies Forum at the Moshe Dayan Center at Tel Aviv University, emphasized, in an interview with JI on Wednesday, that the Muslim Brotherhood is an ideology aiming to make Muslim societies more religious, and is not one centralized organization spanning the Muslim world.
historic handshake
Syrian American rabbi blesses Syrian president in Washington
Rabbi Yosef Hamra, the brother of the last chief rabbi of Syria, who now lives in Brooklyn, was invited to offer a blessing to Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa during a meeting between al-Sharaa and a variety of Syrian diaspora activists in Washington on Sunday, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Making history: “Syrian Jews coming up and sitting down with the president — this is really history,” Henry Hamra, who leads the Jewish Heritage in Syria Foundation with his father, told JI. “A lot of people from over here, from our community, were very, very emotional about it. It’s a beautiful thing, and my father was so touched and it was a great moment.” Hamra said that al-Sharaa had thanked his father for the blessing and said that he would “love to see you again in Syria.” He said that al-Sharaa had also, during the meeting, expressed a commitment to religious inclusion and pluralism.
ANONYMOUS NO MORE
Anti-AIPAC account’s co-founder is former staffer for AOC, Bush, Bowman
One of the co-founders of the Track AIPAC account and website that has gone viral in online anti-Israel circles is a former campaign staffer for a series of far-left lawmakers, she revealed in an interview on Wednesday. The group’s founders had previously remained anonymous. Cory Archibald, who founded the Citizens Against AIPAC Corruption PAC before merging with Track AIPAC, described herself in an interview with the “Breaking Points” podcast as a former campaign staffer for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and former Reps. Cori Bush (D-MO) and Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), all members of the anti-Israel Squad, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Podcast playback: Casey Kennedy, Archibald’s other co-founder, said in the interview that numerous members of Congress have reached out to the group to start a dialogue. The Track AIPAC founders also said that they plan to expand their efforts to tracking individual pro-Israel donors’ political spending generally. Asked about accusations that it is antisemitic to demand, as Track AIPAC does, that AIPAC register as a foreign lobbying organization — given that AIPAC’s members and leadership are American citizens and do not take direction from the Israeli government — the two did not directly address the issue. “I would say it is not antisemitic to stand against an ongoing genocide that’s being perpetrated with American backing,” Kennedy responded.
Wood-n’t take it: Jordan Wood, a Maine Democrat who dropped his Senate bid on Wednesday to run for the seat held by retiring Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME), said in a recent podcast interview that he would reject contributions from AIPAC, the pro-Israel advocacy group, joining a growing crop of Democratic candidates who have made similar pledges, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.
EDUCATION CONSTERNATION
ADL report finds pervasive antisemitism in 20 American academic associations
Antisemitism is on the rise within 20 major U.S.-based professional academic associations, according to a study published Thursday by the Anti-Defamation League, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports. The research, conducted in September, found that 42% of surveyed Jewish faculty members who belong to an association report feeling alienated because they are Jewish or perceived as Zionist; 25% report feeling the need to hide their Jewish or Zionist identity from colleagues in their association; and 45% report being told by others in their associations what does and does not constitute antisemitism. The data was collected using the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism.
Impacted organizations: Among the associations the report profiles is the Association of American Geographers, which faced pressure from members to adopt a boycott of Israel in August. Other organizations in which the ADL reported antisemitism include: National Women’s Studies Association, American Public Health Association, American Psychological Association and American Educational Research Association. A Jewish member of the American Anthropological Association interviewed for the study said that the organization’s 2023 conference, held one month after the Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attacks in Israel, “was one of the first times I felt afraid professionally as a Jewish person. I felt very vulnerable … if I had been wearing a Star of David, which I wasn’t, I would have taken it off. I did not feel safe.”
Worthy Reads
Can Vance Save the Right?: Following on his Substack article lamenting the rise of “new radicalism” among Gen Zers on the political right, conservative author Rod Dreher posits in The Free Press that the one person who can “save the right, and America, from this rising extremism” is Vice President JD Vance. “Vance is — or could be — the answer to the problem of [Nick] Fuentes and the nihilistic culture that spawned his popularity. Vance lived out a grim version of the chaos that so many men of the generation just below his own are living — and triumphed over it. As a veteran who turned against the Iraq War in which he served, he knows all too well about the failures of American institutions. … Vance should not try to reason with the Groypers, to talk them into the tent. They only want to mock, destroy, and humiliate. Aside from hating Jews, Israel, blacks, and women, they have no program or vision. The best way — the only way — to counter their malignant influence is to condemn them, straight up, but without dismissing the legitimacy of the despair that drives young men into their ranks. … Then, Vance and his team must develop concrete solutions to the economic precarity in which the Zoomers live. … Third, Vance should lean hard into his Christian faith, which is deep and authentic. … Finally, Vance’s biography is an asset that none of his would-be rivals has.” [FreePress]
Antisemites in Their Midst: David Drucker warns in Bloomberg that rising antisemitism on the right could be what “unravels” the GOP’s coalition. “Yet many traditional Republicans remain reluctant to criticize [Tucker] Carlson. The former Fox News host is popular on the populist right and his podcast is among the country’s most influential media platforms. Others fear alienating the populists, concerned Republicans cannot defeat Democrats in national elections without them. … In the four decades from Reagan to Trump, Republicans generally fought the Democrats using ideas as weapons; and conservative media personalities used whatever ideological authority they possessed to enforce party dogma. But during Obama’s presidency, Republicans and their media allies got it into their heads that the US was on the brink of an irreversible collapse that could only be prevented by permanently blocking the Democrats from power. Ideology became secondary — if that — to defeating the left. With that in mind, it’s only logical that, as long as their votes are on offer, some Republicans are willing to tolerate antisemites in their midst.” [Bloomberg]
Libel Lessons: Adam Louis-Klein, founder of the Movement Against Antizionism, argues in The Free Press that New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s win must be understood in the frame of what he calls “the libel-cycle: a recurring civilizational pattern in which anti-Jewish libels spread through society, generate moral hysteria, and rapidly recode entire ideological systems into engines of anti-Jewish meaning. … [Mamdani’s victory] is not just a local event or a mere function of economic populism. It signals a broader cultural shift — one in which opposition to Jewish peoplehood has become a mark of moral virtue. And it marks something larger still: a recurring civilizational pattern — the cycle of libel — to which the only adequate response is historical consciousness and the courage to forge a new paradigm.” [FreePress]
Word on the Street
U.S. and Saudi officials are working to finalize a defense pact between the two countries ahead of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to Washington next week, Axios reports. Riyadh is also reportedly looking to purchase a large weapons package from the U.S., including F-35 fighter jets…
Venture capital investor Alex Moore is exploring laser warfare startups and sea-cruising drone technology that could capture a portion of the hundreds of billions of dollars MBS promises to spend in the U.S. Moore, an early protégé of Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel, heads the defense portfolio at Austin, Texas-based 8VC and traveled to Israel last week to assess new investment prospects and sat down for an interview with The Circuit’s Jonathan Ferziger…
After a spate of violent attacks by Israeli settlers in the West Bank, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters there is “some concern about events in the West Bank spilling over and creating an effect that could undermine what we’re doing in Gaza”…
In the latest incident overnight, a mosque in a Palestinian village in the West Bank was torched and defaced with anti-Islamic graffiti…
The Treasury Department issued sanctions against 32 individuals and entities based in countries including Iran, China, the UAE and India that contribute to Iran’s ballistic missile and drone production…
Emirati officials have expressed concerns about the roles of Qatar and Turkey in the plan for postwar Gaza, The Jerusalem Post reports…
Former Vice President Kamala Harris told pro-Palestinian hecklers at a speaking event this week that the Biden administration “should’ve spoken publicly about our criticism of the way that Netanyahu and his government were executing this war. … But let’s be very clear, that the inhuman nature of what has happened to the Palestinian people in Gaza, the innocent civilians, the extent of hunger, famine, suffering, death, is something that we must acknowledge”…
New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has a meeting scheduled with NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, Politico reports, in a sign that he will follow through with his pledge to keep her in the role….
After a group of rabbis in the Bronx issued a statement calling congressional candidate Michael Blake’s use of a video of anti-Israel activist Guy Christensen “deeply offensive,” the former assemblyman apologized and denounced the murder of two Israeli Embassy staffers outside the Capital Jewish Museum in May, which Christensen had celebrated. “I apologize for any pain our campaign video caused any member of the Jewish community by including someone who condoned this horrific event,” Blake, who is challenging Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) in the Democratic primary, said…
In his memoir released this week, Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) details his falling out with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, accusing him of being driven by “optics and fear”…
Virginia Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat, asked the board of the University of Virginia to refrain from choosing a replacement for its former president, James Ryan, until she takes office, saying she is “deeply concerned” about the board’s failure to push back against the Trump administration’s ouster of Ryan…
The Republican Jewish Coalition announced on Wednesday that it had elected to its board of directors Dan Conston, the former president of the Congressional Leadership Fund; Charlie Spies, a veteran elections attorney; and philanthropist David Gemunder, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports…
The St. Louis Board of Aldermen, akin to its city council, passed a nonbinding resolution calling on the city’s retirement system to divest from companies involved in Israel and its war in Gaza, including Boeing, a significant employer in the region, after a heated debate…
IDF Arabic-language spokesperson Col. Avichay Adraee is set to retire soon after 20 years of service. He is likely to be replaced by Maj. Ella Waweya, one of the most senior female Arab Muslim officers in the IDF…
Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel toured sites and communities attacked by Hamas in the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, including a visit to the home of Amir Tibon, Haaretz journalist and author of The Gates of Gaza, a book about the attack on his kibbutz, Nahal Oz. Merkel was in Israel to receive an honorary doctorate from the Weizmann Institute of Science…
The New York Times chronicles the distrust in the Five Eyes — the intelligence alliance comprising the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia and New Zealand — with FBI Director Kash Patel, over his personnel decisions, inexperience in intelligence matters, partisanship and interpersonal interactions…
An Israeli-founded AI cybersecurity company, Tenzai, founded just six months ago, came out of stealth yesterday with a $75 million seed round, with support from major venture capital firms including Greylock Partners, Lux Capital and Battery Ventures…
Pic of the Day
Actor and Israel advocate Michael Rapaport (right) led a conversation with Daniel Goldstein, a 33-year-old IDF reservist, licensed social worker and trauma survivor, at the American Friends of NATAL’s 20th anniversary gala in New York on Monday evening. Rapaport hosted the gala, which aimed to raise funds for trauma care and spotlight the mental health crisis Israel is facing.
Birthdays
Former relief pitcher in the Colorado Rockies organization, he pitched for Team Israel at the 2017 World Baseball Classic, now an EMT in Los Angeles, Troy Neiman turns 35…
Former president and COO of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation, who serves on the boards of many Jewish organizations and founded the Jewish Future Promise, Mike Leven turns 88… Israeli industrialist with holdings in energy, real estate and automobile distributorships, Gad Zeevi turns 86… Shmuel Harlap… Chief rabbi of Rome, Rabbi Dr. Shmuel Riccardo Di Segni turns 76… Publisher of the independent “Political Junkie” blog and podcast, Kenneth Rudin… U.S. attorney general throughout the Biden administration, Merrick Garland turns 73… Israeli businessman Nochi Dankner turns 71… Managing director of the Jewish Education Innovation Challenge, Sharon Freundel… Former president of the D.C. Board of Education, Ruth Wattenberg… Former editor-in-chief of British Vogue for 25 years, she is a strategic advisor to Atterley, an Edinburgh, Scotland-based fashion marketplace, Alexandra Shulman turns 68… U.S. senator (R-AK), Dan Sullivan turns 61… Producer and writer, he has written for 10 television shows, Matt Weitzman turns 58… San Jose, Calif., resident, Katherine (Katya) Palkin… Somali-born activist who has served in the Dutch parliament, she is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, Ayaan Hirsi Ali turns 56… Former Israeli government minister for the Shas party, he has served as minister of communications and then minister of sousing, Ariel Atias turns 55… Founder of Pailet Financial Services, a predecessor agency of what is now the Dallas office of Marsh & McLennan, Kevin Pailet… Rabbi Andrea Dobrick Haney… President and CEO at the U.S. Travel Association, Geoffrey Freeman… Member of the Knesset for the Yesh Atid party, Meirav Ben-Ari turns 50… Television journalist employed by Hearst Television, Jeff Rossen turns 49… President of baseball operations for MLB’s Los Angeles Dodgers, Andrew Friedman turns 49… Israeli rapper and record producer, generally known by his stage name “Subliminal,” Yaakov (Kobi) Shimoni turns 46… CEO of the JCC of Greater Baltimore, Paul M. Lurie… Judoka who won three national titles (2000, 2002 and 2004), she competed for the U.S. at the Athens Olympics in 2004, Charlee Minkin turns 44… Senior director of policy and communications at Christians United For Israel, Ari Morgenstern… Political communications consultant, Jared Goldberg-Leopold… PR and communications consultant, Mark Botnick… Professional soccer player, then a soccer coach and now a sales account executive at Les Friedland Associates, Jarryd Goldberg turns 40… Michael Schwab… Member of the U.S. House of Representatives (R-OH), one of four Jewish Republican congressmen, Max Leonard Miller turns 37… Staff attorney for the ACLU’s voting rights project, Jonathan Topaz… Israeli film, television and stage actor and model, Bar Brimer turns 28… J.D. candidate at University of Houston Law Center, Cole Deutch… VP of Israel and global philanthropy and director of Christian Friends of the Jewish Agency for Israel, Danielle Mor…
Plus, Cait Conley emerges as Dem front-runner against Lawler
Win McNamee/Getty Images
President Donald Trump meets with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during a “coffee ceremony” at the Saudi Royal Court on May 13, 2025, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
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
U.S. and Saudi officials are working to finalize a defense pact between the two countries ahead of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to Washington next week, Axios reports. The agreement would reportedly contain similar guarantees to those Qatar received from the U.S. last month, with the Saudis also looking to purchase a weapons package that would include F-35 fighter jets.
The Trump administration also told the Saudis that it would like to see progress made on Saudi-Israel normalization, U.S. officials said. The negotiations on these deals quietly brought White House advisor Jared Kushner to Riyadh over the weekend and the Saudi defense minister to the U.S. earlier this week…
Jordan Wood, a former congressional aide and Democratic candidate for Senate in Maine, announced that he is switching his candidacy to now run for the House in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, where Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) has said he will not seek reelection.
Wood joined his fellow Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner in vowing not to accept support from AIPAC, saying in an interview last week, “There’s a tremendous amount of distrust right now among Democratic primary voters that the money that AIPAC has put into our political system has affected our priorities when it comes to foreign aid to Israel”…
Another shifting race is New York’s 17th Congressional District, where Jessica Reinmann, a Democratic nonprofit executive who was challenging Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), dropped out of the Democratic primary today and endorsed Cait Conley.
An Army veteran with extensive counterterrorism experience in the Middle East, Conley told Jewish Insider in April about her commitment to Israel’s security and concerns around threats posed by Iran.
With her background in national security, Conley is viewed as having the strongest profile to win back the swing seat for the party, according to Democratic sources familiar with the race.…
The Wall Street Journal reports on financial gains made by U.S. businesses over the two-year Israel-Hamas war; out of the $32 billion of military-related sales the U.S. has greenlit to Israel since October 2023, $19.3 billion is through contracts with Boeing, Lockheed Martin has secured $743 million, Caterpillar secured $295 million, and more…
An Israeli-founded AI cybersecurity company, Tenzai, founded just six months ago, came out of stealth yesterday with a $75 million seed round. Its technology, which finds hackable vulnerabilities in code, drew support from major venture capital firms including Greylock Partners, Lux Capital and Battery Ventures…
Israel reopened the Zikim border crossing into Gaza today to facilitate increased food and humanitarian aid flow, as part of its compliance with the ongoing ceasefire agreement with Hamas…
After being heckled by anti-Israel protesters at a podcast taping earlier this week, former Vice President Kamala Harris paused the conversation to tell the audience: “A lot of what this process has been for me has been about reflection. Look, we should’ve done more as an administration. We should’ve spoken publicly about our criticism of the way that Netanyahu and his government were executing this war.”
“We had more levers in terms of leverage that we did not use. … But let’s be very clear, that the inhuman nature of what has happened to the Palestinian people in Gaza, the innocent civilians, the extent of hunger, famine, suffering, death, is something that we must acknowledge,” Harris continued…
⏩ 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 status of the Muslim Brotherhood under Israeli law.
The U.S. House is expected to approve a spending package to reopen the government this evening, which would fund the government through Jan. 30.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom is holding a hearing tomorrow morning on religious freedom in Syria during the country’s transition out of dictatorship.
The DP World Tour golf championship kicks off in Dubai, UAE, tomorrow.
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NEXT STEPS
After Mamdani win, socialists look to challenge Democratic incumbents in NYC
Pro-Israel Democratic Reps. Hakeem Jeffries, Ritchie Torres and Dan Goldman are facing long-shot challengers from the far left
HISTORY LESSONS
Clintons tie Trump’s Gaza peace plan to Oslo Accords in Rabin memorial discussion
Former President Bill Clinton invoked slain Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s ‘law’: ‘We will fight terror as if there are no negotiations. We will negotiate as if there is no terror’
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.
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.
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BETTER TOGETHER
Black and Jewish college students explore shared adversity and allyship at DC-area ‘Unity Dinner’
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
PEACEKEEPING PROSPECTS
Concerns in Israel as U.S. seeks United Nations mandate for international force in Gaza
Israeli experts are pessimistic about the effectiveness and safety of a U.N.-led force, given Israel’s experience with similar mandates in the past
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.
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.
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SCENE AT SOMOS
Jewish leaders begin outreach to incoming Mamdani administration, sensitively
At the post-election Somos conference, Jewish officials tried to find areas of common ground with the new mayor
DAYTONA X DAMASCUS DIPLOMACY
The influencer couple selling Syria on Capitol Hill
JI asked senior New York Democratic officials and Jewish community leaders to discuss the top threats that a Mamdani administration could pose to Jewish life in the city
Plus, Treasury targets Hezbollah financiers
Maksim Konstantinov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
The Kazakhstan national flag flutters in the wind on a flagpole.
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!
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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
COMMUNITY CONCERNS
What New York City Jewish leaders are most worried about in a Mamdani mayoralty
JI asked senior New York Democratic officials and Jewish community leaders to discuss the top threats that a Mamdani administration could pose to Jewish life in the city
Jewish groups, Canadian politicians outraged over film festival’s cancellation of Oct. 7 documentary
American Jewish Committee: ‘Pulling a movie because footage wasn't cleared for copyright by a terror group is so ridiculous that it would almost be laughable’
Jemal Countess/Getty Images
A view of a large TIFF display on King Street during the first night of the 2024 Toronto Film Festival on September 05, 2024 in Toronto, Ontario.
Pro-Israel groups and Canadian politicians expressed outrage on Wednesday after organizers of the Toronto International Film Festival canceled an invitation to show the documentary “The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue,” about the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks, at its upcoming festival, citing the use of Hamas footage of the attacks that had not been approved for use by the terror group.
The documentary tells the story of retired Israeli general Noam Tibon, who raced from Tel Aviv to rescue his son and two young granddaughters trapped in a safe room in Kibbutz Nahal Oz when Hamas terrorists invaded on Oct. 7.
“The Toronto International Film Festival’s reasoning for canceling the October 7 documentary screening is completely absurd and transparently dishonest,” the American Jewish Committee said in a statement. “Pulling a movie because footage wasn’t cleared for copyright by a terror group is so ridiculous that it would almost be laughable — if it weren’t so deeply, shamelessly disturbing.”
In an open letter, Creative Community for Peace, a nonprofit that mobilizes prominent members of the entertainment community to oppose boycotts of Israel, wrote that “instead of advancing peace, TIFF has chosen to amplify hate.”
“This is a surrender to an antisemitic campaign determined to silence Jewish and Israeli voices, at a time when antisemitism in Canada is surging to historic levels. Your decision has only deepened and legitimized that hostility. You claim the cancellation was for security reasons — yet anti-Israel productions face no such barrier.”
The CCFP letter continued, “You claim that the project couldn’t be screened because the filmmakers didn’t have the rights to footage Hamas — a Canadian designated terrorist group, broadcast to the world on October 7, 2023 when they massacred, raped, brutalized, and kidnaped thousands of innocent people from toddlers to Holocaust survivors — but that strains credibility.”
“By pulling this film, TIFF has silenced a story of extraordinary courage and survival,” Noah Shack, CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, the advocacy arm of the Jewish Federations of Canada, said in a statement. “This shameful decision comes at a perilous time, as extremists are emboldened by recent plans by Canada and other nations to recognize Palestinian statehood.”
Toronto City Councillors James Pasternak and Brad Bradford called on the TIFF to reverse its decision.
“If TIFF does not reverse its decision, [the] Council should demand an investigation into this film banning decision,” Pasternak and Bradford said in a joint statement. “This film tells the story of a heroic rescue in the face of unimaginable violence, yet instead of defending truth and artistic freedom, TIFF appears to have yielded to political pressure and the fear of protests. Intimidation must not dictate which stories can be told. Silencing survivors and granting a listed terrorist organization any semblance of legal legitimacy is not neutrality — it is a moral failure.”
A TIFF spokesperson told Deadline that the invitation was withdrawn “because general requirements for inclusion in the festival, and conditions that were requested when the film was initially invited, were not met, including legal clearance of all footage.”
“The purpose of the requested conditions was to protect TIFF from legal implications and to allow TIFF to manage and mitigate anticipated and known risks around the screening of a film about highly sensitive subject matter, including potential threat of significant disruption.”
The 2024 TIFF festival also did not spotlight an Israeli film. Rather, it featured three anti-Israel documentaries, with four more slated for 2025. The festival is scheduled to run Sep. 4-14.
The conservative legal scholar specifically scrutinizes law schools, which he argues have grown hostile to free speech and inquiry
Legal scholar Ilya Shapiro had a personal run-in with cancel culture in 2022, when a tweet he later admitted was poorly worded sparked an online uproar and allegations of racism, leading to an official investigation by Georgetown University Law Center, where he had been hired to lead the university’s Center for the Constitution.
Months later, the university closed its investigation and cleared Shapiro’s name. But too much damage had been done, Shapiro said, and he resigned just days after formally taking the helm of the center.
Now, three years after he posted the ill-fated tweet that criticized President Joe Biden for promising to name a Black woman to the Supreme Court, Shapiro has many more allies in his criticism of the “illiberal takeover” of higher education and legal education in particular, a problem he describes in his new book, Lawless: The Miseducation of America’s Elite.
The aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks in Israel and the rise in antisemitism that followed at many top American universities proved to be a tipping point, Shapiro argued.
“It raised the issue of the dysfunction and pathologies in our institutions of higher education to a national level,” Shapiro, a senior fellow and director of constitutional studies at the Manhattan Institute, told Jewish Insider in an interview on Thursday.
Shapiro, whose career has been spent in libertarian and conservative institutions, asserts that his critique of legal education today is not about the fact that most law school faculty at the nation’s top universities lean to the left politically. In other words, he insists that his concerns are not just the grievances of someone whose views place him firmly in the minority in the legal sphere.
“I want to emphasize that this is not the decades-long complaint that conservatives have with the hippie takeover of the faculty lounge, if you will,” said Shapiro.
Instead, Shapiro is sounding the alarm about what he fears is the corrupting of the legal profession, a field that is crucial to so many facets of American life, by a culture of silence and groupthink.
“[Law students] are being acculturated into the idea that inquiry is not a high value, that certain topics can’t even be broached, that certain perspectives shouldn’t be raised,” said Shapiro. “It’s antithetical to the idea that you train lawyers to understand the other side of the issues so they can better advocate for their clients.”
“What happens at law schools matters,” Shapiro added, “because lawyers, for good or ill, are overrepresented among our political leaders, among the gatekeepers of our institutions.”
He drew a distinction between why people outside of academia should care about the shift away from nuance and openmindedness at America’s top law schools versus similar challenges in other academic disciplines.
“While it’s sad and unfortunate for the development of human knowledge and such if an English department or a sociology department goes off the rails, the law schools are more directly connected to our public life, so it matters what kind of lawyers are turned out,” Shapiro argued.
He pointed to early career associates pressuring their law firms to take them off cases with certain clients, or firms parting ways with prominent partners who worked on conservative cases — such as former Solicitor General Paul Clement, who in 2022 won a major gun rights case at the Supreme Court but then had to start his own firm when his employer decided it no longer wanted to work on Second Amendment issues.
In his book, Shapiro outlines some high-profile incidents that occurred in recent years at top law schools. In 2022, several student groups at Berkeley Law School said they would not allow any Zionists to give talks to their members, which prompted outrage by Berkeley Law’s dean, Erwin Chemerinsky — who last year faced antisemitic hate from his own students.
“I think a lot of people have come to realize that there really are issues, and it’s not just conservatives whining about this or that,” said Shapiro, who attributes many contemporary challenges on university campuses to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion bureaucracies that have increasing power over many parts of campus life.
As President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration approaches, some major companies are doing away with their DEI programs, a “vibe shift” that Shapiro says hasn’t yet come to American law schools.
What Shapiro wants to see at law schools is more commitment to showcasing diverse viewpoints, and a recommitment to teaching America’s future lawyers that the legal system, though imperfect, is not broken beyond repair, even as many students now learn that the rule of law in America is “irrevocably spoiled with racism, sexism, inequality, imbalances.” He thinks fixing the problem isn’t actually that hard, if law school administrators can muster the courage to do it.
“This is not rocket science,” said Shapiro. “It’s just a matter of enforcing your own policy and applying common sense and standing up to the mob. But all too few university leaders are willing to do that.”
Shapiro is on a book tour this spring, which includes a speaking gig at Georgetown. He hasn’t been back since his ignominious departure.
‘All you’ve got to do is just move the star’
Jonatan Svensson Glad
Jewish LGBTQ and allied groups were confronted by organizers of the D.C. Dyke March on Friday.
The Jewish marchers, escorted by Metro Police, approached McPherson Square in downtown Washington D.C. Friday afternoon where they were stopped by D.C. Dyke March organizers, who created a silent blockade, preventing the Jewish marchers from entering the larger gathering space for the march.
The confrontation occurred on the sidelines of the square, with hundreds of other activists across the way organizing ahead of the march’s start time.. The two sides faced each other in silence before debating whether Jewish groups carrying Jewish pride flags could join the demonstration.
Jewish-LGBTQ activsits and allies (right) debate with D.C. Dyke March organizers (left) about the presence of the Jewish Pride flag, a rainbow flag with the Star of David in the middle.
“We really strongly believe Jewish and Palestinian dykes equally deserve to take up space,” said Jill Raney, one of the D.C. Dyke March organizers and a member of IfNotNow, an American-Jewish activist group. “…so we ask for folks to take a look at these signs and think about is this a symbol of a government that has done harmful things to people, or is this a symbol of your pride in a community. Noticing the important difference of being Jewish and being a Zionist.”
D.C. Dyke March organizers charged the Jewish pride flag too closely resembled the Israeli flag, a nationalist symbol that to them represents Palestinian oppression. The Palestinian flag, they argued, is representative of freedom and not a specific government or country and so would be allowed.
“…The hope for Palestinian freedom, not a specific government,” Raney said.
Jewish groups countered that the Palestinian flag represents a nationalist movement and that banning Jewish pride flags was antisemitic, removing the Star of David from the march.
“That’s symbolizing a country, that’s nationalism,” said one of the Jewish activists. “So we disagree about that, and that’s ok that we disagree…” Raney countered.
Steph Black, a student at American University, holds a Jewish Pride flag and argues with D.C. Dyke March organizes while holding her flag.
In video from the event published by Israel on Campus Coalition, Raney suggests that the Jewish marchers “move” the Star of David’s placement on the flag. “All we ask is that you move… in order to have the Jewish pride flag not be about Zionism, all you’ve got to do is just move the star… You could have brought something different…”
In another confrontation, with Dyke March organizers suggested different versions of the Jewish star on a Pride flag, Anne Lewis, former White House communications director in the Clinton administration, replied, “We could fix it — we could do it this way [mimes a square], and then nobody would even know we were Jewish, how’s that?”
The confrontations weaved together different debates. Organizers also asked that only Dykes participate in the march, with allies — men and straight women — asked to support from the sidelines.
“…You’re holding a space for people and so are we,” said Amanda Berman, executive director of Zioness Movement, who helped organize supporters to march with the Jewish pride flag, as more people gathered around the central conversation to see what would happen. “And we are really excited to join you, in solidarity, with our Queer sisters as both queer Jews and as allies, thank you for welcoming us.”
In the end, the Jewish Dykes were allowed to march with their flags and signs and with selected leaders of Jewish organizations accompanying them in the march.
Carly Pildis, a writer and Jewish activist, was one of the women asked to stay to march with the Jewish-LGBTQ women, and said that a lot of the group “respectfully went home.”
“We really wanted to honor that space, we’re not interested in hurting anyone or taking anyone’s space. Everyone I’ve talked to here, at least other than the people mediating were sort of like, ‘what happened? That’s a bummer? Why did you have a hard time getting in?’ We just want the Jewish women who are here and want to fly the flag to be able to. I feel like we succeeded in that.”
Groups that came out to support the Jewish-LGBTQ community included A Wider Bridge, Zioness Movement and Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, and representatives from the Jewish Democratic Council of America.
One attendee said she didn’t realize there was a controversy around the rainbow flag and started talking to the Jewish-LGBTQ group out of curiosity.
“I’ve never heard this topic before, interesting in a way but kind of sad in a way,” said Alex, 20, from Richmond, VA, who came to the march with friends because she’s a lesbian. She asked that her last name not be used.
When she arrived she saw the two groups talking and went to see what was happening. “I heard there was a bit of discourse between a flag… Personally, me looking at that, I didn’t think that it was Israeli at all, I just thought, oh it’s a pride flag and this person is Jewish-queer person, and they’re reppin’ themselves fully and thats great.”