Examining the campaign finance reports of neo-Nazi influencer Dan Bilzerian prompts the question of who exactly would want to be associated with the hate-mongering candidate, who was badly defeated last week in his primary bid against Jewish congressman Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL). The next question is who would want to be associated with his associates.

In an age of dog whistles, Bilzerian leads a blaring Wagnerian orchestra of antisemitism. He made his name as an online influencer who dabbled in Holocaust denial and conspiracy theories about a Jewish role in everything from the John F. Kennedy assassination to 9/11. He capped his congressional campaign with an ad praising Adolf Hitler and featuring AI images of his opponent “the fat Jew Randy” sprouting horns.

So why would anybody give him their money — let alone thousands upon thousands of dollars?

The donor list of the campaign and two supporting committees reveal the “America First, Israel Never” candidate enjoyed a kind of crossover appeal: not so much across the aisle as around the political horseshoe.

Bilzerian’s biggest underwriters, after the candidate himself, are a couple of Georgia attorneys: Rawan and Ibrahim Awad, who together donated a combined $25,303 to Bilzerian’s committees. But Ibrahim Awad has also given heavily this cycle to left-wing, anti-Israel candidates — $7,000 to Michigan Senate contender Abdul El-Sayed, $4,000 to the failed comeback bid of former Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), $3,500 to New Jersey House candidate Adam Hamawy, $1,000 to Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-IL) and $1,000 to the Democratic Socialists of America’s Darializa Avila Chevalier in New York.

Closer to home, Awad also gave $1,000 to former far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA). In the years since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks, he has given sizable sums to Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), former Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), and Green Party presidential contender Jill Stein.

Bilzerian also drew support from a number of his fellow travelers on the extreme right: at least $2,860 from fellow antisemitic internet personality Jake Shields; $2,500 from veteran conservative donor and Unz Review contributor Eugene Kusmiak, who has railed against “entrenched Jewish supremacism” and written that “the most intelligent humans” are antisemitic; and $7,380.40 from serial entrepreneur Kyle Kinsel, who markets canned water under a brand associated with alt-right comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, infamous for his incendiary routine at a 2024 Trump rally that mocked multiple minority groups, including Jews.

The one issue uniting these far-left and far-right candidates? Opposition to Israel. 

Another illustrative example is California businessman Tony Bushala, whose money has similarly flowed to Israel’s critics on both ends of the political spectrum. Besides the $2,663.06 to Bilzerian, this cycle Bushala has shoveled $7,000 to Rep. Derek Tran (D-CA); $2,500 to Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA); $1,250 to Michigan House candidate Aisha Farooqi; $4,100 to Bush; $1,000 to imploded Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner; and smaller amounts to Tlaib, El-Sayed, Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA), DSA House nominee Claire Valdez in New York and former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander’s ouster of Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY).

At the same time, he’s given $4,734.58 to Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Mark Newgent, a primary challenger to Rep. Mark Self (R-TX), both of whom leaned into an extreme anti-Israel message in their unsuccessful campaigns this year.

Bushala also donated $2,000 in January to the far-right Anti-Zionist America PAC, which alleges on its website that “Zionism has taken over the U.S. government,” resulting in “subservience to Israel in word and deed.” The committee’s founder has called the Oct. 7 attacks a “false flag” and labeled Jewish people “the synagogue of Satan.”

There was a notable overlap in some of Bilzerian’s top donors and that of racist and antisemitic Florida gubernatorial candidate James Fishback, who finished in third place in the state’s GOP primary. Bilzerian’s committees got at least $12,000 from one of Fishback’s most generous supporters: attorney Hassan Shibly, who previously ran Florida’s Council on American-Islamic Relations chapter before resigning amid allegations of domestic abuse. As JI reported previously, Shibly is a longtime supporter of Omar’s, as well as of other left-wing candidates aiming to overturn the U.S.-Israel relationship.

Shibly did not respond to questions for this piece. However, contacted in July about his gift to Fishback, he denied holding any personal prejudice, and identified his opposition to U.S. aid to Israel as “one of the most significant reasons for my support.”

As more Democratic lawmakers join the chorus calling out influencer Hasan Piker over his comments that Jews’ support for Israel invites antisemitic violence, a growing number of moderate Democratic lawmakers said that Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed’s efforts to distance himself from Piker, a campaign surrogate, haven’t gone far enough.

“Hasan Piker’s recent ‘victim-blaming’ comments inciting violence against American Jews reflect one of the oldest strategies long deployed by bigots and tyrants alike. His most recent diatribe is consistent with his history of antisemitic statements,” Rep. Brad Schnieder (D-IL), a co-chair of the Congressional Jewish Caucus and chair of the centrist New Democrat Coalition, said in a statement.

Schneider said that El-Sayed had “so-far refused to condemn the words of Hasan Piker, his friend and frequent campaign surrogate.”

“It is disingenuous for El-Sayed to try to distance himself from Piker without specifically condemning, refuting, or even just rejecting Piker’s hateful rhetoric,” Schneider continued. “Claiming that no one speaks for him except himself and his team is not enough. The Jewish community in Michigan deserves outright condemnation of rhetoric that threatens their safety and very identity.”

Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) expressed similar sentiments.

“El-Sayed’s response was pathetic and it did not answer the call,” Gottheimer  said on Fox News. “He did not condemn Piker. He didn’t even mention Piker. He didn’t condemn what Piker said. He didn’t say I will never campaign with this guy again. … Frankly, he should not only condemn him, but no Democratic members should allow Piker anywhere near them on the campaign trail, they should have nothing to do with this guy. And anybody who does and has not condemned him bears responsibility for some of these comments like that.”

Gottheimer also urged House Republican leadership to call up his resolution with Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) condemning both Piker and far-right antisemitic influencer Candace Owens for a vote when the House returns to session next week — a move to force progressive lawmakers who have allied and associated with Piker to take a clear stance on the record about Piker’s history of antisemitism.

El-Sayed did not respond to a request for comment.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) also reiterated his previous condemnations of Piker’s comments in an appearance on CNN, confirming that he had been referring to Piker in a statement the day prior, which did not name the influencer specifically.

“Those comments were dangerous, malicious and antisemitic and should not be tolerated by anyone in the public square,” Jeffries said. “Everybody, regardless of ideological perspective, should be willing to denounce this rise of antisemitic rhetoric, hate crimes and bigotry, and actually try to move us to a society where we embrace everyone — even where there are differences on issues, be they foreign or domestic. The notion that people should be targeted because of their religious beliefs or ethnicity or race, whatever the case may be, that’s fundamentally inconsistent with who we are in this country.”

Piker dismissed the criticism from various Democrats as the result of an “aipac boss call.”

“they are unanimous in their hatred of me, and i welcome their hatred. if you’re a defender of israel’s genocide, of its occupation, of its child killing spree – then your boos mean nothing to me,” Piker wrote on X.

Other Democrats joined Jeffries in condemning Piker.

Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV), a co-chair of the bipartisan Senate antisemitism task force, called the comments a “new low,” even for someone who “has been trafficking in antisemitic tropes for a while.”

“Blaming Jewish Americans for the violence and hate they’re facing is not just wrong, it provides an excuse to those perpetuating these anti-Jewish hate crimes,” Rosen said. “Let me be absolutely clear: crimes against Jews for being Jews is antisemitism plain and simple. There’s no excuse for it.”

Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) said, “This shouldn’t be hard: no community should face the threat of violence for their political views.”

“In a time where political violence and anti-semitism has been spiking— and where just 6 months ago Michigan had a nearly deadly event of anti-semitic mass violence at Temple Israel — no one should causally be suggesting that anyone, Jews or otherwise, are to blame for being targeted,” Slotkin said.

Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) emphasized the pattern of “the extremes of American politics” of blaming Jews for antisemitism.

“Let me put it plainly: there is absolutely no justification for antisemitism. There never has been, and there never will be,” Torres said. “No amount of victim-blaming or gaslighting by Hasan Piker can shift moral responsibility away from where it belongs: the antisemites who commit acts of violence and terror against Jews.”

Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) said that “Piker’s dangerous and hateful language targeting Jewish Americans has no place in our civic discourse. Suggesting that Jewish Americans bear responsibility for hatred or violence directed against them is wrong, dangerous, and antisemitic” and that his commentary goes well beyond debate over Israeli or American policy.

“No American should be told that their political beliefs make them responsible for hatred or violence directed against them,” Booker continued. “There is a bright line between vigorous debate and rhetoric that stokes hatred toward our neighbors. Mr. Piker has crossed that line, repeatedly and unmistakably.”

Rep. Greg Stanton (D-AZ), who chairs the campaign arm of the New Democrat Coalition, said,  “Framing violence against Jewish Americans as something they brought on themselves shifts the blame from the perpetrators onto the very people they want to harm.”

Meanwhile, at least one progressive House Democrat is taking a different approach, calling out the growing number of Democrats who are condemning Piker.

“When the head of a major left-leaning DC think tank regularly gets in fights with the Dem base and progressive influencers on social media, almost in an irrational and uncontrollable way, does that ultimately hurt the think tank?” left-wing Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) said, an apparent reference to Center for American Progress CEO Neera Tanden, a vocal Piker critic on social media.

Rep. Randy Fine’s (R-FL) primary opponent, influencer Dan Bilzerian, is pushing blatantly antisemitic and pro-Adolf Hitler messaging in the closing days of Florida’s primary season.

Bilzerian has made no secret of the openly antisemitic tenor of his campaign, having said from the outset that he is challenging Fine because he is Jewish and pushing antisemitic conspiracy theories about Fine, the Jewish community and Israel.

But messaging and advertising from Bilzerian’s campaign has gained increased attention in the final days of the race, after Bilzerian posted a shocking video that leans into a series of blatant antisemitic tropes and overtones.

The two-and-a-half minute AI-generated video repeatedly calls Fine a “fat Jew” and accuses him of serving Israel over the United States. It describes Fine a “Jewish [supremacist]” and “Satan’s creepy little [minion]” over imagery of Fine hugging a bag of money.

It also calls Fine a “satanic whore,” over footage of horns growing out of his forehead, and refers to him as “Shylock.”

Over footage of Hitler, the video asks, “Should we revisit that Austrian painter’s opinions?”

It also suggests that Fine rapes children and calls for him to be tarred, feathered and imprisoned.

“Celebrating Hitler. Having horns grow out of the heads of Jews. Showing me violently assaulted,” Fine said in response to the video. “If this appeals to you, I don’t want your vote.   We have a choice on Tuesday, to embrace the kind of Nazism that led to the Holocaust or to repudiate this filth and reaffirm American values and character. Let’s send a resounding message on Tuesday.”

Bilzerian posted another AI video accusing Fine of staging an incident last week in which an unknown individual spray-painted a swastika on a Fine campaign sign outside of an early voting site.

Several prominent Republicans joined Fine in condemning the pro-Hitler Bilzerian ad.

“This brazen Nazi — who’s urging us to ‘revisit’ the opinions of Hitler— revels in Jew hate & defends Sharia law,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said on X. “This evil has no place in the Republican Party.”

Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) said that Bilzerian is “disgusting” and that “every single Republican needs to condemn this evil, and every single news outlet needs to expose how bad and antisemitic he is.”

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee called Bilzerian’s messaging “possibly the most disgusting … I’ve seen” and said he had “taken Jew-hate to a new low.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) called the attacks “vile” and “disgusting” and said that all leaders on both sides should reject them.

“Antisemitism and outward hatred of Jewish communities have no place in our politics or in America, and we will continue to call them out wherever they arise,” Johnson said. “On Tuesday, voters will reject the revolting rhetoric, and I am proud to endorse [Fine] as he works to continue delivering results for every family in [Florida’s 6th Congressional District].”

Rep. Mike Lawler (R-FL) said the video is “vile and has zero place in our politics, let alone the Republican Party.”

Several Democrats also denounced the video.

“The hateful campaign being run by Daniel Bilzerian in Florida is blatantly antisemitic and shocks the conscience,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said. “People of goodwill regardless of political affiliation must reject his vile attacks on the Jewish community. This cannot and will not stand.”

A group of Jewish House Democrats — Reps. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA), Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR), Lois Frankel (D-FL), Laura Friedman (D-CA), Dan Goldman (D-NY), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Greg Landsman (D-OH), Mike Levin (D-CA), Seth Magaziner (D-RI), Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Brad Schnieder (D-IL), Kim Schrier (D-WA), Brad Sherman (D-CA), Eugene Vindman (D-VA) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) — also condemned the attacks on Fine.

“We don’t agree with Randy Fine on much, if anything, and have condemned his racist, islamophobic statements,” the Democrats said. “But the grotesque, antisemitic campaign video posted by Republican Daniel Bilzerian has no place in America. We unequivocally condemn Bilzerian and his hateful antisemitic attacks.”

The Democrats urged social media platforms to take down the video and other antisemitic posts by Bilzeria, and called on the National Republican Congressional Committee and all Republicans to condemn and disavow Bilzerian and his backers.

Landsman also individually called out the post.

“This is a candidate for Congress, on the ballot in Florida on Tuesday. It’s blatant antisemitism, and could lead to violence against Jews,” Landsman said. “Unless he did this on his own, there is an AI company that created this. Which one? Plus, the social media platforms that don’t just allow this, but most likely boost it to millions. Everyone should be condemning this.”

The University of Washington on Friday reversed its decision to host far-left, antisemitic influencer Hasan Piker, citing a flawed planning process.

Piker, who has an extensive history of antisemitic rhetoric — including justifying Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks, calling Orthodox Jews “inbred” and asserting that America deserved 9/11 — was scheduled to appear in January as part of the school’s 2026-27 Speaker Series. 

On Friday, however, the public university in Seattle said that “it was determined that the process for organizing this event did not meet the necessary level of rigor for University-hosted events in the Speaker Series. As a result, this event will not be held.” 

“Going forward, procedures will be updated to ensure the standards we have for University-hosted events like the Speaker Series are met, particularly so that we can help elevate the level of dialogue on divisive topics during a polarized time in our country,” the statement said. 

The event listing, which has since been removed from the university website, described Piker as a “journalist and wildly popular content creator,” who has “become an authoritative voice for millennials and Gen Z,” and as someone who is “armed with sharp analysis and an irreverent wit.” It also asserted that Piker “has built a massive daily audience on Twitch and become an unlikely but authoritative voice for a generation hungry for honest political engagement.” 

The listing added that Piker has “sharp political insight and a characteristically irreverent sense of humor” and that he is “redefining what political commentary looks like in the digital age.” The university suggested attendees pay $10 per ticket, Jerusalem News Syndicate reported before the cancellation.

Miriam Elman, executive director of the Academic Engagement Network, a network of faculty and staff countering antisemitism on campus, told Jewish Insider that the school’s faculty and administration should work to ensure a similar incident does not occur in the future. 

“In general, universities shouldn’t be in the business of canceling speakers, provided they are invited through established processes. University officials should use their own voice to distance the school from hateful speech and to reiterate school values,” said Elman. “However, in this case, the university has alleged that protocols weren’t followed properly in organizing the event. It’s reassuring to hear that moving forward the university will work to ensure that standards for such university events are met — as clearly they weren’t in this case.” 

Elman called the description of the event, which lauded Piker, “an embarrassment.”

“In addition to tightening up standards and protocols for future guest speaker invitations, it’s also important for university officials to get to the bottom of the invite itself — who were the administrators and faculty who thought that Piker, a non-academic provocateur who has repeatedly supported U.S.-designated terror organizations, engaged in Holocaust trivialization and vilified Jewish-Zionist identity, would be the right speaker for this year’s series?” 

“Guest speakers come and go — it’s the faculty and staff who are the permanent stakeholders,” said Elman.  

Piker has recently been invited to speak at high-profile student events, including the Yale Political Union and the College Democrats of America’s convention.

J Street’s college group is co-sponsoring this weekend’s College Democrats of America convention that will feature far-left, antisemitic influencer Hasan Piker.

J Street U, the student organizing arm of J Street, “is proud to sponsor and participate in the College Democrats Convention,” Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of J Street, told Jewish Insider on Friday, hours after Piker was announced as the convention’s “surprise speaker.” 

The two-day conference began in Washington on Friday.  

“We had no role in the selection of speakers and we’re sure there will be speakers — including Hasan Piker — with whom we disagree,” said Ben-Ami. “Being in venues like this is even more important when there are participants with whom we disagree. Failing to show up would be an abdication of our responsibility to make the case for our pro-Israel views.”

Despite facing scrutiny over comments including justifying Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks, calling Orthodox Jews “inbred” and asserting that America deserved 9/11, Piker has recently been invited to speak at several high-profile events, including at The New Yorker‘s annual festival and at the Yale Political Union. 

During his speech Saturday evening at the conference, Piker distanced himself from the mainstream Democratic Party, condemning “Democrats who compromise, who conciliate and who betray us,” to loud applause. “No more to the Democrats who collaborate and cooperate with the fascists, who will fund ICE, who will fund Israel … we don’t need those Democrats anymore,” Piker said.

The College Democrats’ convention is hosting several speakers who hold extreme anti-Israel views, including Democratic Socialists of America activist and Arizona congressional candidate Deja Foxx, commentator Kat Abughazaleh, gun-control activist and former DNC vice chair David Hogg and Democratic Socialists of America-endorsed congressional nominee Melat Kiros.

Georgia state Rep. Ruwa Romman, a Palestinian-American legislator with a long record of anti-Israel activism, will also be speaking.

The lineup also includes elected officials who have been critical of Israel’s policies, such as Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO).

The College Democrats of America is the official collegiate arm and student outreach branch of the Democratic National Committee. Neither group responded to a request for comment from JI about their decision to invite Piker. 

The Congressional Dads Caucus is hosting children’s influencer Rachel Griffin-Accurso, better known as Ms. Rachel, as a featured guest at a reception in Washington on Tuesday, according to an invitation obtained by Jewish Insider. Griffin-Accurso has faced scrutiny and criticism over antisemitic activity and for hosting a pro-Hamas Palestinian journalist on her social media accounts.

Griffin-Accurso is one of 10 “special guests,” including “leaders, advocates, creators, entertainers, and changemakers who are helping redefine fatherhood and caregiving in America,” at the Tuesday reception. 

The reception is co-hosted by the Dads Caucus, founded by Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA), to advocate for policies including childcare affordability and accessibility, paid family leave and the child tax credit, ahead of the group’s Dad Ambassador Awards. The event is co-hosted by Equimundo, which describes itself as a nonprofit focused on promoting gender equality and preventing violence.

Gomez, whose office sent the invitation email to staffers for other Dads Caucus members, did not respond to a request for comment.

Griffin-Accurso faced criticism in early 2026 for liking an Instagram comment reading “Free america from the Jews.” She later apologized and said that the “like” was accidental. But she also engaged with conspiracy theories framing the incident as a set-up.

Griffin-Accurso responded, “ooooooooooohhhhh,” to a comment from an anti-Israel account about the incident asserting, “Spoiler alert: They left the comment themselves.”

She also came under fire for featuring Palestinian journalist Motaz Azaiza in a video on her Instagram account. Azaiza defended the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel, and posted a message on Telegram praising Hamas terrorists. He also compared Israeli Cabinet leaders to Adolf Hitler.

Rep. Greg Landsman (D-OH) told JI that inviting Griffin-Accurso to the event was a “bad decision” and he did not plan to attend. Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) also does not plan to attend.

Several other outspoken Jewish and pro-Israel members of the nearly 50-member caucus — which includes prominent moderates like Reps. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) and Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) — did not respond to requests or declined to comment on the invitation.

Caucus membership can often be a largely symbolic gesture and most members of the group would not necessarily have been involved in planning the event or been aware of the guest list.

LOS ANGELES — Yossi Farro stepped onto the helipad, taking in the panoramic view of Los Angeles: the Hollywood sign in front of him, the skyscrapers of downtown L.A. behind him, all of it surrounded by mountains. But he was not there to take in the view, aside from assessing its value as a backdrop for an Instagram video. 

Farro was standing atop a Wilshire Boulevard office building on Tuesday afternoon to wrap tefillin with two budding Jewish entrepreneurs in their 20s, and to record all of it for social media.

“What’s your message to the world?” Farro asked the two men, in a video that was posted to his 43,000 Instagram followers moments after it was recorded. “Be proud,” one said. “Try your best,” said the other, whose father owns the building. 

“Amazing,” Farro said energetically to the camera. “Have an amazing day.”

Farro grew up in New York as a Hasidic Jew, part of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. His long, wispy beard and no-frills outfit — black jacket, loose-fitting white button down shirt, black pants — stood in contrast to the more fashion-forward looks of the men he was visiting that day. 

But while Farro might look more Crown Heights than Beverly Hills, he has the camera-ready comfort that only a 22-year-old who has grown up being influenced by, well, influencers could have. It’s also safe to say his confidence comes at least in part from the Chabad movement, where from the time he was a teenager he was tasked with approaching strangers with a simple question: “Are you Jewish?” 

The goal is to get them to do a mitzvah, which for men usually means wrapping tefillin, the practice of donning a pair of leather black boxes that contain passages from the Torah. It’s an act that Orthodox Jews perform daily.

“Join me as I Wrap the most Powerful Jews in the World,” Farro’s Instagram bio reads. Look through his stories, and you’ll see actors and startup founders and CEOs. When a major elite gathering is happening, expect to find Farro on the sidelines, such as this week’s Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills. 

He didn’t get into the actual event, where tickets run into the high five figures. Farro doesn’t currently have a full-time gig; he told Jewish Insider he is inspired by the entrepreneurs he meets. In between brief run-ins with high-powered members of the tribe, he is sleeping at a friend’s place. 

But Farro was spotted around L.A. all week long, spending time at nearby hotels and a Lag Ba’Omer party for Milken attendees. He wrapped tefillin with music executive and entrepreneur Scooter Braun, KIND Snacks founder Daniel Lubetzky and Mark Suster of Upfront Ventures, the largest venture capital firm in L.A. He posted a photo with Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian, whom he ran into outside a Beverly Hills hotel. Approaching some of the world’s most influential and successful people does not seem to scare Farro: After Oaktree Capital Management co-founder Howard Marks told Farro he is not Jewish during a run-in at a Beverly Hills Starbucks, Farro Googled him — and learned he was lying. They did not wrap tefillin together, but “we grabbed a picture and ended up bonding over both growing up in New York.”

“I get a little nervous, but never too nervous to ask,” Farro said in an elevator down from the helipad. He was on his way to meet some other people to wrap, before heading to the airport to catch a flight to San Francisco to try to wrap tefillin with Joe Lonsdale, founder of Palantir and founder and managing partner at 8VC. (Farro met Alex Karp, Palantir’s CEO, a couple weeks ago.)

Farro’s tefillin-influencer journey began three years ago, when he was walking in Los Angeles and asked the rapper Lil Dicky to wrap tefillin. (Farro did not know who he was.) Not long after, he ended up doing the same with the actors James Franco and Jeremy Piven. 

His tefillin big break came one year after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks. For months he had been sending DMs on X to Bill Ackman, the hedge fund manager and Harvard alum who became a vocal critic of his alma mater’s handling of antisemitism. Farro got his phone number, and three weeks after making a pitch to wrap tefillin together, Ackman agreed to do it, on the anniversary of the attacks. Farro’s post on X with pictures from their tefillin date has more than 2 million views. 

So how does a young Chabad guy who hasn’t even formally earned his “rabbi” title yet, let alone gotten a job, fly around the country to exclusive gatherings to get high-profile Jews to do a mitzvah that many non-Orthodox Jews know very little about? Persistence, confidence and a very high tolerance for awkwardness. Belief — in himself, and in God — helps too.

“What’s my message? Why am I doing it? Bring godliness to everywhere, spread light, spread faith,” Farro said. “Just remember, wherever you go, wherever you are, there’s always a higher power.”

The leader of a newly launched progressive campus advocacy group affiliated with More Perfect Union, a prominent left-wing media organization, liked social media posts justifying the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, and expressed similar sentiments in at least one now-deleted X comment.

Elise Joshi, a Gen Z activist and influencer, is taking the helm of a new campus organization, More Perfect University, that is casting itself as a populist left rival to Turning Point USA, the right-wing advocacy group that has played a key role in pulling younger voters to President Donald Trump and promoting conservative values at colleges and universities across the country.

More Perfect University, which was announced on Wednesday, is the creation of More Perfect Union, founded in 2021 by Faiz Shakir, a senior advisor to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). In a splashy video, Joshi said the new group will extend More Perfect Union’s “fight to campuses,” vowing to equip students “with the tools to unrig our broken economic system” and stressing the “responsibility to speak truth to power falls on us.”

But while Shakir has long been known as a vocal critic of Israel, his own record of commentary on such issues does not appear to have gone as far as Joshi, whose past social media activity has notably sought to excuse the violence perpetrated by Hamas.

In one since-removed X comment from Oct. 7, 2023, for instance, Joshi suggested the Hamas attacks that killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages were an act of justified resistance linked to a broader movement including violent efforts to oppose slavery, apartheid and colonialism.

“It seems a lot of people forgot how slavery abolition, South Africa’s apartheid, and every independence movement against colonization was achieved,” Joshi wrote in the post, a screenshot of which was reviewed by Jewish Insider.

Joshi, who at the time was a recent graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, where she emerged as an outspoken youth activist with a sizable following on TikTok, also liked some comments posted on the day of the attack that expressed similar views, other screenshots show — including by one user who had asked, “What did y’all think decolonization meant? Vibes? Papers? Essays? Losers.”

In another post liked by Joshi, a user wrote, “Folks start really fighting back and all of a sudden everyone is a pacifist. Real revolution and decolonization is not fun. It is painful and violent.”

It is unclear when Joshi’s post alluding to the Hamas attacks was deleted. She did not respond to a request for comment from JI about her social media activity.

Elsewhere, Joshi, a former executive director of Gen-Z for Change, has summarized her negative views on Israel, reflective of the waning support for the Jewish state seen among younger voters on both sides of the aisle.

“A Jewish state in Palestine requires and has always required the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians so a Jewish majority is possible,” she wrote last June. “It requires a siege on Gaza and apartheid in the West Bank to prevent 5 million+ Palestinians from having equal rights.”

In a follow-up post to X, Joshi added that “Israel’s existence requires the subjugation of the indigenous Palestinian people who have inhabited that land for thousands of years.”

“The status quo is violent, from routine bombing to home demolition. To start and end with condemning Hamas only fuels the widely recognized apartheid state,” she said just two days after the Oct. 7 attacks.

Joshi, who has proudly identified on social media as an “anti-Israel activist,” has not indicated how More Perfect University will approach questions about the Middle East on college campuses, where protests and related forms of student activism have grown quieter in recent months, even amid ongoing war with Iran.

“My top issues are climate and unions, but I see the genocide in Gaza (not ‘conflict in the Middle East’) as a moral issue that’s fundamental to being human,” she said in a May 2024 post, commenting on polling results suggesting the war in Gaza and accompanying campus demonstrations did not rank among the most important concerns of college students. 

“GENOCIDE IS NOT RANK-ABLE,” she argued.

More Perfect Union did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday.

In a sign of the coalition she is seeking to build as the new leader of More Perfect University, Joshi shared a complimentary social media post from Hasan Piker, a controversial far-left Twitch streamer who has drawn criticism for frequently using antisemitic rhetoric and doubling down on his support for Hamas over Israel.

“Incredibly stoked for this!” Piker enthused in an X post on Wednesday about More Perfect University, which Joshi amplified on her social media accounts.

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 Third Way President Jon Cowan and Lily Cohen, a press advisor from the 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. 

The op-ed, headlined “Democrats Are Too Cozy with Hasan Piker,” generated outsized attention, in a way that previous efforts to spotlight Piker’s antisemitism hadn’t. Reporters who once gave Piker a free pass were now asking Democrats whether they agreed with his extremist positions. 

Suddenly, when presented with his indefensible comments, some Democrats started building up enough courage to speak out against him. First, it was Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL), head of the moderate New Democratic Coalition, who called Piker an “unapologetic antisemite.” Then, state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, running for the U.S. Senate in Michigan, told JI that Piker is “somebody who says extremely offensive things in order to generate clicks” — and called on one of her primary opponents, Abdul El-Sayed, to cancel a scheduled rally with him. 

Even left-wing lawmakers and candidates — such as Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner and a progressive Democratic state legislator from Michigan — canceled scheduled appearances with Piker.

By the end of the month, only three of the 14 prospective Democratic presidential candidates that Politico interviewed said they would appear on a livestream with Piker if invited. That marks a sea change from just weeks earlier, when he was being treated as the trendy fad in progressive politics. 

The dynamic is a reminder that the delusions of a social media echo chamber will persist unless they get confronted by political reality. Sometimes that reality is as simple as speaking up against craziness when everyone else is afraid to speak the truth. 

It would be heartening to conclude that this episode is proof that antisemitism can be confronted when good people speak up. 

But this past week also featured Politico publishing a virulently antisemitic cartoon that could have been drawn from the Nazi tabloid Der Sturmer — one that they pulled from their website and apologized for. This is the same publication, owned by Axel Springer, that gave Piker a credulous interview last year making no mention of his extremism. (And last week, it also blatantly misrepresented leading Democrats’ comments on AIPAC to manufacture an anti-Israel narrative.)

It all goes to show that the antisemitic rot fueled by social media is entering into the mainstream. It will take more brave and principled voices like Cowan and Cohen to stem the tide.

The neo-Nazi influencer Nick Fuentes has drawn a sizable online following that has fueled debate over his influence in the Republican Party as it grapples with how to address mounting antisemitism within its ranks, particularly among younger conservatives.

But a new report suggests that his rise may in part be artificially driven by a cluster of anonymous social media accounts largely based in foreign countries, and raises questions about the organic popularity of Fuentes’ movement in the United States as he seeks to grow his political reach to shape the coming midterm elections. 

The report, published on Monday by the Network Contagion Research Institute, a nonprofit watchdog group affiliated with Rutgers University, analyzed a recent sample of Fuentes’ posts on X and found that engagement within the first 30 minutes not only far exceeded his “legitimate reach” but also “routinely” outperformed accounts commanding significantly larger followings, including Elon Musk, who owns the platform.

For the 20 Fuentes posts examined by NCRI in that opening time window, just over 60% of initial amplification came from the same repeat accounts, pointing to a pattern of “behavior highly suggestive of coordination or automation,” the report states.

Nearly all those users were “fully anonymous,” with no real name, location or other identifying markers, according to NCRI, and a majority were “openly” or “functionally single-purpose” accounts dedicated to promoting Fuentes’ extremist positions, which have included Holocaust denial and admiration for Adolf Hitler.

Meanwhile, the report also found, roughly half of the accounts that promoted three of Fuentes’ most viral posts before the assassination of Charlie Kirk — whose death in September left a major vacuum in the conservative youth movement that Fuentes has been seeking to fill — originated from foreign users that were “heavily concentrated” in India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Malaysia and Indonesia, the sites of known content-engagement farms. 

“There is no organic explanation for this pattern,” the report notes, calling such activity “consistent with outsourced engagement infrastructure. These geographies describe the same low-cost amplification clusters and engagement farms that foreign actors often use to manufacture virality, distort platform metrics and manipulate recommendation systems.” 

The report argues that such alleged “manufactured engagement” artificially helped elevate Fuentes as a subject of heightened mainstream media interest in the wake of Kirk’s assassination, in addition to a friendly interview with Tucker Carlson weeks later, allowing “him to appear active, relevant and in position when a replacement narrative became available inside the broader MAGA ecosystem.”

Fuentes’ “manipulated reach is not accidental,” the report states, citing hundreds of instances from his show in which he has issued “real-time commands” to share his posts on social media — directives that the NCRI says run afoul of X’s content moderation policies prohibiting “orchestrated amplification.”

“Taken together,” the report concludes, “the evidence points to a deliberate, foreign-influenced campaign — relying on anonymous and possibly automated accounts — to artificially inflate Nick Fuentes’s reach, gaming the platform’s algorithm in a systematic effort to elevate his influence far beyond what genuine grassroots support could achieve.”

👋 Good Wednesday morning!

In today’s Daily Kickoff, we look at Qatar’s multifront effort to attract celebrities, influencers, U.S. politicians and media outlets, even as it continues to back destabilizing groups including Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. We have the scoop on a new call from lawmakers in Washington for Lebanon’s leaders to disarm Hezbollah, and report on concerns by the Anti-Defamation League that Sen. Bernie Moreno’s new legislation banning dual citizenship could revive antisemitic narratives. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Daniel Lurie, Jacob Helberg and Michael and Susan Dell.

Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by Jewish Insider 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

• The House Foreign Affairs Committee is holding a vote today to advance legislation designating the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization. More below.
• The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is holding a vote this morning on advancing the nominations of Yehuda Kaploun and Tammy Bruce to be the State Department’s antisemitism envoy and deputy representative to the U.N., respectively.
• Jared Isaacman will face the Senate Commerce Committee today for a second hearing to be the administrator of NASA, eight months after his initial nomination was pulled during a spat between Elon Musk, who backed his nomination, and President Donald Trump.
• Elsewhere in Washington, SKDK is hosting a small gathering with the parents of slain Israeli Americans Omer Neutra and Itay Chen and their supporters.
• In Maryland, the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington is hosting its annual “Lox and Legislators” event in Rockville this morning. Gov. Wes Moore, Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) and Democratic Reps. April McClain Delaney and Glenn Ivey are slated to speak.
• In New York, Israel Policy Forum is honoring Bob Elman and Bob Sugarman this afternoon at the group’s annual gala. The event will also feature a discussion with Ambassador Michael Ratney, Elisa Ewers and Rachel Brandenburg on the future of U.S. leadership in the Middle East.
• White House Deputy Special Envoy to the Middle East Morgan Ortagus is in Israel this week for meetings with senior Israeli officials. Israeli media reported that Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar is expected to present Ortagus with recent findings indicating that Hezbollah is rearming itself in Lebanon in violation of a ceasefire agreement inked between Jerusalem and Beirut last year. 

What You Should Know

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S marc rod

Qatar, whose ties to the Muslim Brotherhood have drawn scrutiny in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, is doubling down on a charm offensive focused on a handful of GOP lawmakers and conservative social media influencers, all while hosting two of the most established brands in American news. 

A group of House Republicans visited Qatar during the House’s Thanksgiving recess last week, including Reps. Laurel Lee (R-FL), Marlin Stutzman (R-IN), Abe Hamadeh (R-AZ), Ryan Zinke (R-MT) and Lance Gooden (R-TX). The trip occurred just before the House Foreign Affairs Committee is scheduled to vote on legislation that classifies the entire Muslim Brotherhood organization globally as a terrorist group.

A group of conservative social media influencers also visited Qatar over Thanksgiving, posting glowing dispatches lauding the country and its role in hosting a U.S. military base. 

Rob Smith, one of the invited guests, posted credulously about Qatar on his Instagram feed after the trip, “I wasn’t aware of a great deal of things about Qatar, only misperceptions and half-truths I’d read about online. When the opportunity was presented to me, with full authority and autonomy to ask the tough questions of the officials I’d be meeting with, I decided to risk any potential criticism and to travel and experience it for myself.”

Meanwhile, numerous prominent celebrities — including comedian Kevin Hart, celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay and tennis star Novak Djokovic — gathered in Doha over the weekend for the 2025 Formula One Qatar Grand Prix.

And this week, the country is hosting the Doha Forum, a conference co-sponsored by CNN. Those attending the conference include several Trump administration officials and ambassadors, politicians and philanthropists, alongside Israel-bashing officials such as former Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, sanctioned U.N. special rapporteur Francesca Albanese and former Iran envoy Rob Malley.

Others on the guest list include: Donald Trump Jr., U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack, U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker, Trump advisor Alex Bruesewitz, the Heritage Foundation’s Victoria Coates, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Bill Gates, the Quincy Institute’s Trita Parsi, CNN anchor Christiane Amanpour and other officials, leaders and analysts from around the world.

Also this week, The Wall Street Journal is hosting a technology conference in Doha, featuring business leaders and celebrities, hosted by various Journal reporters. As JI’s Matthew Kassel reports (see more below), the summit is raising ethical questions surrounding the paper’s deepening business ties with Qatar — even as the Journal’s conservative editorial page has slammed the Gulf monarchy as a financial and diplomatic sponsor of Hamas. 

Each of these events comes at a time when Qatar’s complicated public reputation in the United States is becoming a flashpoint, particularly inside the conservative movement.

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

QATAR’S PAPER PLAY

Wall Street Journal expands ties with Qatar, launches glitzy conference in Doha

The Wall Street Journal kicked off its Tech Live conference in Qatar on Tuesday, underscoring a deepening partnership between the publication and the controversial Gulf state. The exclusive summit, making its debut in the Middle East, will continue to be held in Doha, the Qatari capital, for the next five years, according to an initial announcement from Dow Jones, which publishes the Journal. The event is sponsored by the state-owned Qatar Airways, among a handful of other companies, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.

Growing embrace: Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, who spoke at the event on Tuesday in an onstage discussion with Dow Jones’ CEO, Almar Latour, said in a social media post that the conference “represents a key platform to discuss technology’s role in business and advance Qatar’s digital standing.” In addition, Dow Jones recently opened an office in Doha’s Media City as part of an effort to “strengthen its operations throughout the Middle East.”

Read the full story here.

SHARE

Share options

• 
  Facebook
• 
  Telegram
• 
  LinkedIn
• 
  WhatsApp
• 
  Reddit

Add JewishInsider on Google

STATE OF PLAY

Report: Muslim Brotherhood influence ‘increasingly pervasive’ in U.S.

The Muslim Brotherhood’s influence has become increasingly pervasive in the United States, according to a new report by the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy, titled “The Muslim Brotherhood’s Strategic Entryism into the United States: A Systemic Analysis.” President Donald Trump’s recent instruction to Secretary of State Marco Rubio to take steps toward banning Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated organizations came soon after ISGAP briefed policymakers from both parties and national security professionals, including Trump administration officials, in Washington and beyond about the study, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports.

Group’s goals: “For decades now, we’ve known that Islamism has been a problem within our liberal secular democracies,” ISGAP’s vice president, Haras Rafiq, told the Misgav Mideast Horizons podcast. (Harkov co-hosts the podcast.) The new ISGAP report cites authenticated Muslim Brotherhood documents describing the group’s strategy – called tamkeen, which loosely translates to “empowerment” – of entrenching itself in the institutions of Western democracies. 

Read the full story here.

SHARE

Share options

• 
  Facebook
• 
  Telegram
• 
  LinkedIn
• 
  WhatsApp
• 
  Reddit

Add JewishInsider on Google

SCOOP

Lawmakers to Lebanese leaders: ‘Disarm Hezbollah now’ or risk losing U.S. support

A bipartisan group of House lawmakers wrote to the president and prime minister of Lebanon on Wednesday demanding they urgently move forward to disarm Hezbollah, in accordance with the ceasefire agreement signed by Lebanon and Israel in November 2024. The group accused the Lebanese government of failing to fulfill its promises and obligations to disarm the terrorist group and threatened a withdrawal of U.S. support if it does not change course, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

What they wrote: “We write to you with a critical message: disarm Hezbollah now, including by force if necessary,” the letter reads. “Empty promises and partial measures that fall far short of disarming the group are clearly not enough. The lack of real progress has enabled Hezbollah to rearm and rebuild its positions, even in areas south of the Litani River, where it is prohibited from operating under UN Security Council Resolution 1701.” The letter, led by Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), was co-signed by Reps. Jefferson Shreve (R-IN), Don Bacon (R-NE), Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), Mark Messmer (R-IN), Tom Suozzi (D-NY), Claudia Tenney (R-NY), Don Davis (D-NC) and Jared Golden (D-ME).

Read the full story here.

SHARE

Share options

• 
  Facebook
• 
  Telegram
• 
  LinkedIn
• 
  WhatsApp
• 
  Reddit

Add JewishInsider on Google

HOLDING FIRE

Harmeet Dhillon declines to criticize Tucker Carlson for hosting antisemites on podcast

Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for civil rights at the Justice Department, defended Tucker Carlson’s hosting of neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes at the Israel Hayom summit on Tuesday. Dhillon took part in a conversation at the gathering, which took place in Manhattan, with the outlet’s senior diplomatic correspondent, Ariel Kahana, about the Trump administration’s efforts to combat domestic antisemitism, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports. 

Tucker talk: Asked about Carlson’s interview with Fuentes and what tools the U.S. had to prevent the spread of the antisemitic ideas from the far right, Dhillon distanced herself from Fuentes while calling Carlson a “friend.” Dhillon said, “What we say in First Amendment world is: The antidote to speech that you don’t like is more speech. It isn’t shutting down speech. So, I don’t agree with a single word that Nick Fuentes says or has to say, and the decision of whether or not to platform that person is one for my friend and former client, Tucker Carlson.” 

Read the full story here.

Also speaking at the summit: Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned of the influence of social media in shaping young people’s perceptions on Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports.

SHARE

Share options

• 
  Facebook
• 
  Telegram
• 
  LinkedIn
• 
  WhatsApp
• 
  Reddit

Add JewishInsider on Google

CITIZENSHIP QUALMS

ADL says Moreno’s dual-citizenship bill risks reviving ‘dual loyalty’ narrative

The Anti-Defamation League said on Tuesday that Sen. Bernie Moreno’s (R-OH) new proposal to ban dual citizenship risks reviving an antisemitic “dual loyalty” charge that has historically been used to target Jewish Americans, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs and Marc Rod report.

ADL’s approach: Dan Granot, the Anti-Defamation League’s senior director of government relations, told JI, “The idea of questioning the loyalty of Americans based on dual citizenship is deeply troubling. Dual citizenship is a lawful and common status that millions of Americans hold, and it does not diminish anyone’s commitment to the United States. Accusations of ‘dual loyalty’ have historically been used against Jews to exclude them from public life and even justify violence, making this trope especially harmful and dangerous.” 

Read the full story here.

Elsewhere: Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), a potential 2028 presidential candidate, is sparring with AIPAC on social media over ads the group ran criticizing his support for a House resolution describing the war in Gaza as a genocide, JI’s Marc Rod reports.

SHARE

Share options

• 
  Facebook
• 
  Telegram
• 
  LinkedIn
• 
  WhatsApp
• 
  Reddit

Add JewishInsider on Google

PAPAL PRAISE

Pope’s praise of Erdogan as a peacemaker raises eyebrows

Following a visit to Turkey on his inaugural international trip last week, Pope Leo XIV lauded Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on his peacemaking abilities and said Turkey has “an important role that it could play” in advancing peace in the Middle East and effectuating a two-state solution. The pope’s comments and decision to share pleasantries with the Turkish leader have struck some in the pro-Israel community as out of touch and are part a pattern of recent remarks from the Vatican that have been critical of Israel, most notably in its handling of the war against Hamas in Gaza, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports.

Reactions: Steven Cook, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, called the pontiff’s comments on Turkey “odd,” adding that his intentions were likely to “flatter his hosts but have little connection to reality.” Sinan Ciddi, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, agreed, calling the pope’s comments “flawed” and “fantasy.” However, he noted that popes have a “record of being idealists.”  

Read the full story here.

SHARE

Share options

• 
  Facebook
• 
  Telegram
• 
  LinkedIn
• 
  WhatsApp
• 
  Reddit

Add JewishInsider on Google

Worthy Reads

The Instagram Mayor: The Wall Street Journal’s Jim Carlton spotlights San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie’s embrace of social media as a means to boost the city’s standing after being elected on a platform of revitalizing the Bay Area, which for years had been plagued by economic and safety issues. “The 47-year-old Levi Strauss heir has become ubiquitous on the city’s social-media scene. He posts musings every day from his wanderings around San Francisco, some on somber topics like ongoing drug use but most are upbeat — even a bit hokey. … Social media, he added, is his way of telling San Franciscans — and the world — how the city is progressing. ‘It’s about being unfiltered, speaking directly to the people of San Francisco,’ the mayor said as he walked along the city’s waterfront last month after one of many stops, holding an umbrella against a cold, light rain.” [WSJ]

Having Hurwitz’s Back: In the Jewish Telegraph Agency, Jarrod Bernstein, Shelley Greenspan and Chanan Weissman, all former White House Jewish liaisons, defend former White House speechwriter Sarah Hurwitz amid a deluge of online criticism over a misleadingly edited video clip in which Hurwitz discussed how Holocaust education has impacted conversations about the Israel-Hamas war. “What followed was a torrent of outrage from people who claimed Sarah was arguing that we shouldn’t teach Holocaust education because doing so makes young people think the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza is a genocide. Others claimed she was saying that genocide only matters when it’s perpetrated against Jews. Such sentiments would obviously be obscene, and we were shocked that people would attribute them to Sarah, someone who just published a book in which she expressed profound anguish about the unbearable deaths of civilians in Gaza. … Sarah was also conveying that, contrary to the impression young people get on social media, what happened in Gaza is not analogous to the Holocaust. It was a devastating war that does not fit neatly into a simplistic frame of oppressor versus oppressed. That black and white paradigm disregards the complex challenges that continue to stymie a resolution to this heartbreaking conflict.” [JTA]

Spotlight Shapiro: The Atlantic‘s Tim Alberta profiles Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, amid speculation that the moderate Democrat could mount a presidential bid in 2028. “For a man with such an established public profile—years as a congressional aide, decades in various elected offices, a network as extensive as that of any Democrat in office today—Shapiro remains something of a mystery, a man whose real views and motives are widely debated but ill-defined. In conversations with dozens of people who know the governor, a certain irony is inescapable. Shapiro seems to believe that he is uniquely equipped to run for president and repair the Democratic Party’s deficit of trust and authenticity. Any such campaign, however, would expose deficits of his own.” [TheAtlantic]

Word on the Street

The State Department’s Jacob Helberg said that the U.S. is looking to lock in agreements with eight countries, including Israel and the United Arab Emirates, that will strengthen supply chains for computer chips and minerals critical to the production of AI technology; the White House is hosting the first meeting with officials from the countries on Dec. 12…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed openness to a U.S.-brokered security deal with Damascus involving southern Syria, with the caveat that Syria respects the buffer zone between the countries…

Republican Matt Van Epps defeated Democratic state Rep. Aftyn Behn by nine points in the special election in Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District…

Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) ruled out a primary challenge to Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), announcing on Tuesday that she’ll run for reelection in Massachusetts’ 7th Congressional District…

James Solomon won Jersey City’s runoff election for mayor, besting former Gov. Jim McGreevey…

Reps. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) and Claudia Tenney (R-NY) wrote to Secretary of State Marco Rubio urging him to work to secure the release of Kamran Hekmati, an American-Iranian dual citizen and member of the Persian Jewish community arrested in Iran earlier this year for having visited Israel 13 years ago…

The New York Young Republican Club is slated to honor far-right Alternative for Germany senior official Markus Frohnmaier at its upcoming annual gala…

A new offer from David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance for Warner Bros. Discovery reportedly has backing from the sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi; Paramount made the higher, second-round bid for the entire company, while Netflix and Comcast submitted bids for only Warner Bros.’ studios and streaming business… 

Philanthropists Michael and Susan Dell are donating $6.25 billion to back the creation of seed investment accounts for children in the U.S. as part of the “Trump accounts” program…

The family of Holocaust survivor Erno Spiegel donated the pen he used to falsify records to save dozens of sets of twins who were subject to medical experiments at Auschwitz…

OneTable laid off 25% of its employees as it undertakes a “planned, strategic shift” in its staffing…

The U.K.’s independent advisor on antisemitism told Parliament’s Home Affairs Committee that U.K. police altered evidence it used to justify banning Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters from attending a recent soccer match against Aston Villa…

U.K. Attorney General Richard Hermer urged Nigel Farage to apologize to former classmates over what they claimed were repeated antisemitic and racist insults from the Reform UK leader during his teenage years… 

Israel is finalizing the handover of its Arrow 3 anti-ballistic missile defense system to Germany, marking, at $4.2 billion, Jerusalem’s largest defense export deal…

Israeli officials said that remains transferred from Hamas to Red Cross officials on Tuesday do not match either of the remaining two hostages in Gaza…

The Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt is slated to reopen in the coming days, allowing access out of the enclave to Palestinians who have been approved by Israeli security officials…

Pic of the Day

Lockheed Martin, together with Israel’s Industrial Cooperation Authority, signed an extension this week for the Umbrella Industrial Cooperation Agreement (UICA) through the end of 2029. The ceremony was led by Israeli Minister of Economy Nir Barkat (center left), Lockheed Martin Chief Operating Officer Frank St. John (center right), Lockheed Martin Israel Chief Executive Tal Galor (right), the ministry’s Head of Industry Division Nurit Tsur-Rabino and Head of Industrial Cooperation Authority Division Yazeed Sheick-Yousif.

Birthdays

Professional tennis player with a WTA doubles ranking that reached as high as 21, Sharon Fichman turns 35…

Close associate of the Lubavitcher Rebbe and influential leader within Chabad, Rabbi Chaim Yehuda “Yudel” Krinsky turns 92… Founder of a successful wedding gown business and a lifestyle coach, Sandy Stackler… 1987 Pulitzer Prize-winner for his book on Arabs and Jews in Israel, he was a long-serving foreign correspondent and Washington bureau chief for The New York Times, David K. Shipler turns 83… Member of the New York State Assembly since 1994, Jeffrey Dinowitz turns 71… Former Argentine minister of foreign affairs, Gerardo Werthein turns 70… Miami-based criminal defense attorney whose clients have included O.J. Simpson and Charlie Sheen, Yale Lance Galanter turns 69… Painter and art teacher residing in Maryland, her teaching career started in Petach Tikva, Heidi Praff… Former editorial page editor at USA Today, William “Bill” Sternberg… Former member of the House of Representatives (D-NC) until January, now chair of Democratic Majority for Israel, Kathy Manning turns 69… British publicist, music manager and former tabloid journalist, Rob Goldstone turns 65… President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology since 2023, Sally A. Kornbluth turns 65… Aerospace and technology executive, entertainment attorney and media mogul, Jon F. Vein turns 62… Former member of the Knesset for the Yisrael Beiteinu party, Eli Avidar turns 61… Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California, she won Adam Schiff’s House seat in 2025, Democrat Laura Friedman turns 59… First VP at Adat Ari El Congregation in Valley Village, Calif., Malinda Wozniak Marcus… Cellist and associate professor at McGill University, Matt Haimovitz turns 55… SVP of strategic initiatives at NBC News until 2024, now a communications consultant, Alison “Ali” Weisberg Zelenko… Associate professor of Jewish history and chair of Jewish studies at Yeshiva University, Joshua M. Karlip, Ph.D. turns 54… French journalist, author, television and radio personality, Marie Drucker turns 51… Emmy and Grammy Award-winning comedian and actress, she discovered her Eritrean Jewish roots as an adult, Tiffany Haddish turns 46… Financial trader and founder of XTX Markets, Alex Gerko turns 46… CEO of Solar One, he was a member of the New York City Council through 2021, Stephen T. Levin turns 44… Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, Rachel Sarah Bloomekatz turns 43… Hasidic singer, his music videos have 120 million views on YouTube, Benzion Hakohen “Benny” Friedman turns 41… Founding partner and head of business strategy at Triadic, Elizabeth “Lizzie” Edelman… 

Major New York Jewish groups criticized former Assemblyman Michael Blake, who is running in the Democratic primary against Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), for featuring a clip of an influencer who supported the shooting of two Israeli Embassy employees at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington in his campaign launch video.

Blake’s video features a short clip from a social media video posted by Guy Christensen, an anti-Israel activist, accusing Torres of “investing in genocide,” one of the first clips in the video. 

Christensen praised the alleged D.C. shooter, Elias Rodriguez, urging his followers to support Rodriguez and describing his “act of resistance” as “justified” and to respond with “greater resistance and escalation” in the face of a potential crackdown against the anti-Israel movement.

“I do not condemn the elimination of those two Zionist officials,” Christensen said on social media at the time of the shooting. “[Rodriguez] is not a terrorist. He’s a resistance fighter. And the fact is that the fight against Israel’s war machine, against their genocide machine, against their criminality, includes their foreign diplomats in this country and internationally.”

Christensen was expelled from The Ohio State University for the video, which was taken down by TikTok.

In a statement, the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York condemned Blake’s video, both for featuring Christensen and for its use of other antisemitic tropes.

“Hurling a bus load of antisemitic tropes and platforming bigots who cheer antisemitic violence in a launch video is not the pro-humanity flex one thinks it is. In the backdrop of rising hate, this only deepens division, further inflames an already inflammatory climate in New York, and makes us all less safe,” the group said in a statement.

The Anti-Defamation League of New York and New Jersey focused its criticism specifically on the Christensen clip.

“No matter what your views are on the candidates or the issues, we can all agree that Michael Blake’s platforming of anti-Zionist influencer Guy Christensen should be roundly condemned,” the group said. “Christensen is an activist who regularly touts Hamas and promotes antisemitic ideas, and he defended the shooter that left two dead at the Jewish Museum this past spring.”

UJA-Federation of New York said in a statement, “We strongly condemn any use of antisemitic vitriol and those who promote it to attack opponents.”

“Regardless of beliefs, actively platforming Guy Christensen, who regularly shares antisemitic ideas and pro-Hamas rhetoric — in addition to defending the heinous antisemitic shooting in Washington, DC, this spring — is absolutely unacceptable,” UJA continued.

Blake apologized in a statement, issued late Monday after a group of local rabbis also joined the chorus of criticism.

“I unequivocally denounce the murder and celebration of the two young Israeli embassy staffers, as stated in my May 22nd, 2025 post on X, and I apologize for any pain our campaign video caused any member of the Jewish community by including someone who condoned this horrific event,” Blake said. “Just as I would for anyone targeted for the color of their skin, faith, or identity, I stand firmly against all acts of hate and violence. I am focused on the Cost of Living and Affordability crisis impacting all of the district, where Ritchie Torres’ actions have failed, along with continuing to address Antisemitism, Anti-Muslim hate, Housing and Immigration. We deserve better than Ritchie Torres.”