Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

President Donald Trump confirmed to Fox News this morning that the White House is communicating directly with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and said that Tehran should “raise the white flag of surrender,” as the 60-day memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran — which was intended to lead to the creation of a permanent peace agreement but was quickly deemed moot by both parties — officially expired today without a deal in sight.

Jared Kushner separately told Fox News about the status of talks with Iran that Trump is “focused on economic pressure” but is still open to reaching an agreement, adding that dialogue between the White House and “different areas of the Iranian government” is “probably more robust than it’s maybe ever been” and that the conversations are “positive”…

Trump also threatened in his interview to “bomb the sh*t out of” Oman if the country “gets in the way,” amid Muscat’s negotiations with Tehran over the Strait of Hormuz.

Speaking later to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said he doesn’t think Oman “behave[s] very well” and that the U.S. would “handle them very easily.” He also reaffirmed his recent claim that he intends to declare the strait a U.S. territory, saying he “think[s] it’s a great idea”…

Responding to Trump’s threat, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) announced he intends to introduce a war powers resolution when the Senate returns from recess to prohibit U.S. military action against Oman…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he had “deep and constructive discussions” with Board of Peace head Nickolay Mladenov and Kushner in Jerusalem today, where the parties agreed to establish two working groups: one on the “disarmament and demilitarization of Gaza,” which they agreed should happen before “any reconstruction,” and a second on sanitation and public health concerns in the enclave.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog also met with the group and said he was “impressed that Israel’s security interests are an important and central element of their plan”…

After the meetings, Kushner told Fox News that he predicts there will be progress in starting to demilitarize Gaza “in as little as 30 days” and beginning to fill in Hamas’ terror tunnels “in the next 60 to 90 days.”

Despite Trump stating in his interview that Israel should not be conducting any more strikes in Gaza, Kushner said the Board of Peace would “not restrict Israel’s right to defend itself” and that if Hamas doesn’t follow through on its commitments, Israel will “have a lot more support from the U.S.” to “finish the job.” He called his Sunday meeting with Hamas leaders “cordial” and said they “said all the right things” but that they are “hard to trust”…

Trump said today it’s “most appropriate” that he “stay out of” Israel’s upcoming elections but added that he “may endorse somebody” anyway….

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi disputed claims by Masrour Barzani, prime minister of the region of Kurdistan, that his office was attacked by Iranian drones: “Kurdish friends should be vigilant against false-flag ploys to sow discord between neighbors,” Araghchi said on X, claiming that Iran has historically “protected” the Kurds. It was a striking characterization given that Iran has repeatedly struck Kurdish opposition bases in Iraqi Kurdistan, including during the current war, and has a decades-long history of suppressing its own Kurdish population…

New York City leaders are condemning a series of inflammatory posters opposing a new housing development in Chelsea that use antisemitic, racist and homophobic language, including a call to “stop Zionist occupation of Manhattan,” tying the project to “foreign wealth dirty zionist money” and claiming that “Talmudists are trained to cheat.”

City Hall called the posters “vile” and claimed the rhetoric “has absolutely no place in our city’s political discourse,” while Mark Treyger, CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, said, “Disagreement over housing policy is legitimate. Dehumanizing your neighbors is not”…

Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) and Dan Goldman (D-NY) continued to spar this week over the University of Washington’s decision to cancel a planned speech by antisemitic influencer Hasan Piker, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

After Goldman argued initially against Jayapal’s denunciation of the school, the congresswoman said she “completely disagree[s] with [Goldman’s] analysis of free speech”; Goldman responded that students have ample access to “Piker’s racist and anti-American views,” but the university has a responsibility to prevent discriminatory conduct or a hostile environment for Jewish students that could interfere in their ability to participate on campus…

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at AIPAC’s involvement in tomorrow’s special election in California’s 14th Congressional District, where state Sen. Aisha Wahab is facing off against former Dublin, Calif., Mayor Melissa Hernandez, who is backed by the pro-Israel group.

Florida will also hold its primary elections tomorrow, where several pro-Israel and Jewish candidates are facing off against far-right and far-left extremists. Read more on the races and their implications here.

The Sephardic Rabbinical Conference will conclude in New York with speakers including Israeli Consul General Ofir Akunis; Daniel Rosenthal, vice president for government relations at UJA-Federation of New York; Rabbi Elie Buechler, director of programs at the Orthodox Union Advocacy Center; and rabbis from around the world.

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced today that his Office to Combat Antisemitism will be releasing a municipal plan to combat antisemitism, Jewish Insider’s Will Bredderman reports.

The mayor marketed the plan as the “first-in-the-nation,” even as former Mayor Eric Adams already released a “blueprint” for combating antisemitism on his last day in office, which included the city adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism — a policy that Mamdani repealed on his first day.

The move comes days after Mamdani hosted a roundtable with rabbis in the city who asked the mayor to back off his attacks on Israel, a request that Mamdani did not reference or commit to addressing in his remarks…

The California state Legislature is considering a bill to require state agencies to include “Jewish” as an ethnicity option on all forms that collect demographic data. The move would make California the first state to officially consider Judaism as more than a religion for identification purposes…

A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit yesterday brought by the Trump administration against Harvard University alleging that the school showed “deliberate indifference” to antisemitism on campus in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks.

The judge ruled that the few campus incidents cited by the administration were “too isolated and episodic” to find “any institutionalized noncompliance with Title VI persists at Harvard to this day”…

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), former chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said on X today that she had communicated her “concerns” to the University of Washington about its decision to cancel an appearance by far-left, antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker, and encouraged student groups who “want to hear from Mr. Piker to work with the University to ensure they can proceed.”

Piker had earlier this week denounced Democrats who didn’t “speak out against this clear violation” of the First Amendment due to his “position as a prominent critic of Israel”…

Former Democratic Maine Senate nominee Graham Platner is expected to headline a Labor Day rally for the Hancock County Maine Democrats next month, his first public appearance since dropping out of the Senate race after he was accused of rape by a former romantic partner…

White House advisor Jared Kushner is planning a trip to Israel next week with Board of Peace head Nickolay Mladenov to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials to discuss the Hamas disarmament deal, Axios reports…

CENTCOM announced today it is undertaking efforts to establish the “first-ever multi-domain, multinational attack drone task force,” including consulting with and inviting regional partners to join, that will work to utilize unmanned, one-way attack drones “from above, on, and below the sea” in the Middle East…

The U.S. has lost roughly a quarter of its fleet of MQ-9 Reaper drones in the war with Iran, sources told The Washington Post, as the armed drones have been targeted by Tehran and its proxies in Yemen and Iraq…

The Pentagon is sending the USS George Washington aircraft carrier to replace the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Middle East, as reports and lawmakers indicate that conditions aboard the ship are deteriorating after a record 200 days without a port call; Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth dismissed the concerns about the Abraham Lincoln today as “completely misrepresented”…

Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC), facing a runoff special election to be the GOP nominee for her late brother’s Senate seat, announced she is co-sponsoring the Jewish American Security Act, the U.S.-Israel FUTURES Act, a bill on Iran sanctions and a bill on Iranian human rights and internet access…

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at how Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is avoiding contending with the anti-Israel turn of her preferred successor, San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan, in her race against state Sen. Scott Wiener.

President Donald Trump will appear with Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, the GOP candidate for New York governor, at an event on Long Island honoring law enforcement officials.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), a member of the Squad, will appear at a rally in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., alongside anti-Israel progressives running against Jewish Democrats Reps. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), as well as socialist Colorado Democratic congressional nominee Melat Kiros.

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

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

A State Department official pushed back on Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz’s comments in southern Lebanon today, where he said the IDF would remain deployed in a security zone, contrary to the agreement signed between Washington, Jerusalem and Beirut.

“The United States expects all parties to act in a manner consistent with the Framework they agreed to, and Israel clearly stated that it has no territorial ambitions in Lebanon. A permanent military presence in South Lebanon is not consistent with the commitments made in the Framework, or the long-term peace and security of both states,” the official told Axios…

Sources told Reuters that Israel and Lebanon have agreed that countries including Britain, Italy, Switzerland and Indonesia could contribute troops to an international force meant to oversee Hezbollah’s disarmament; an Israeli official denied any decisions had been made on the issue…

President Donald Trump continued to boast about the success of the U.S. campaign against Iran, stating again in a post on Truth Social today that the U.S. “has total control over the Strait of Hormuz” and that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is “decimated and fleeing.”

Meanwhile, out of the 166 ships that have transited the strait so far this month — a significant decrease from the average before the war — only two are known to have used the U.S.- and Oman-backed route, according to The Wall Street Journal…

In a rare interview with Western media, top IRGC advisor Mohammad Reza Naqdi told “PBS News Hour” that Iran is prepared to continue hostilities through the end of Trump’s term and accused the U.S. of waging a “war without strategy”…

The New York Times documents the efforts being made by Gulf countries to construct routes to move oil out of the region that do not rely on the Strait of Hormuz…

Board of Peace head Nickolay Mladenov denied in a post in Hebrew today that there is any financial agreement between the board and Hamas, refuting a report by Israeli public broadcaster Kan that the board would cover Hamas’ debts up to $400 million.

The disarmament roadmap states that the new Palestinian technocratic government will “assess the legitimate commitments to suppliers, contractors and other parties — up to a total amount of no more than $400M — and address them”; Mladenov said in his post that such processes “are not channeled through Hamas” and that “all accounts are open to full scrutiny by the donor governments”…

The publisher of the Atlanta Jewish Times, Michael Morris, penned an open letter to Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) today pressing the senator over his repeated votes to block U.S. military sales to Israel, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

“I apologize for being blunt, but please, stop lying to me and your constituents. I hear you claim, over and over again, that you support Israel — that your support is ‘ironclad.’ It is not,” Morris wrote…

Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) denied today that the more than $30 million of support she received from AIPAC’s super PAC in her failed run for U.S. Senate backfired, saying on CNN that those who criticize AIPAC “maybe don’t understand what the group is” and that she’s “proud of the friendships and the relationships I have there [and] the really good Americans” who make up its membership…

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is stepping away from her role at the end of the month, Trump announced today, in order to spend more time with her family. The president said Leavitt will now serve as “one of my top outside advisors”…

Josh Kushner, managing partner of the venture capital firm Thrive Capital, and former Disney CEO Bob Iger have agreed to purchase a controlling interest in the Los Angeles Lakers for a record-breaking price of $12.5 billion, JI’s Matthew Shea reports…

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at local Jewish political organizing efforts in major cities across the country.

The Hudson Institute will hold an event examining the state of the ongoing conflicts in the Gulf with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Behnam Ben Taleblu and Hudson’s Michael Doran, Ludo Hood and Zineb Riboua.

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, insisted today that any agreement reached between Iran and Oman on administering the Strait of Hormuz is separate from Tehran’s broader closure of the waterway, which will only be lifted once the U.S. accedes to Iran’s demands.

Meanwhile, Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, a key mediator between the U.S. and Iran, met today with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Tehran. Islamabad’s defense minister, Khawaja Asif, told Bloomberg that developments are “shaping up again in favor of a peace arrangement”…

CENTCOM said it disabled a Panama-flagged cargo ship sailing toward Iranian ports today by firing two Hellfire missiles into the vessel’s engine room, the third such incident since the U.S. blockade began…

Ed Miliband, who last month was appointed by new U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham to be foreign secretary, said he had a “frank and constructive first call” with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar today, during which the British diplomat raised the issues of settler violence, settlement expansion and the humanitarian situation in Gaza, among others.

The discussion came a day after Miliband met with British Jewish community leaders, who said they were “impressed” by the foreign secretary’s “longer-term commitment to maintaining the conversation”…

Sa’ar announced that Israel and Venezuela have agreed to renew consular relations — establishing a coordination mechanism to provide consular services to each country’s citizens — in the first official channel between the two since Caracas severed diplomatic ties in 2009. The move builds on the Israeli aid delegation dispatched to Venezuela after the June 24 earthquakes…

The Palestinian technocratic committee meant to govern Gaza convened a joint coordination meeting with several U.N. agencies — including the World Food Program, UNICEF and the World Health Organization — as well as representatives from the Board of Peace and former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair’s Institute for Global Change to coordinate on humanitarian aid and reconstruction issues…

Former Mossad head Yossi Cohen said at a conference in Israel today that Israeli operatives have “toured” Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility “many times” in order to “understand” it, and called the U.S. operation to bomb the site during the 12-day war in June 2025 “the fulfillment of all my dreams”…

The NYPD denied that its officers will be accompanying New York City First Lady Rama Duwaji on a trip to Lebanon and Syria next month after City Hall said that, “upon the strong recommendation of the NYPD, the First Lady’s security detail will be joining her” on the trip.

“The NYPD does not send officers to countries with level four travel advisories for discretionary reasons,” the NYPD said today, referring to the State Department’s ranking system that currently designates the two countries as “do not travel” locations. Mayor Zohran Mamdani later said the diverging statements stemmed from a “miscommunication,” and that when his wife makes the trip “it will be without any NYPD detail”…

Democratic Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed has made private over 100 YouTube videos from his time as a podcaster and commentator, CNN reports, including videos in which he lambasted fireworks on the Fourth of July, floated replacing the Second Amendment and voiced support for prison abolition…

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee added Brian Poindexter, the Democratic nominee in Ohio’s 7th Congressional District, to its “Red to Blue” program as he aims to unseat Rep. Max Miller (R-OH). Democratic leadership will offer Poindexter strategic support as the district, previously considered a long shot for Democrats given its GOP leanings, is now seen as a key flip opportunity as Miller navigates accusations of domestic violence by his ex-wife…

The campaign of Francesca Hong, the socialist seen as the front-runner in today’s Democratic primary election for governor of Wisconsin, was rebuffed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) as she sought his endorsement due to her perceived weaknesses as a candidate, Politico reports; her campaign is planning to overhaul its staff to address such issues if she proceeds to the general…

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for results from key primaries taking place today in Minnesota, South Carolina, Connecticut and Wisconsin.

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Responding to a recent demand from Iran that the U.S. fully compensate it for its war costs in order to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, President Donald Trump issued his own demand today that Tehran compensate the U.S. “for all of the people that they have killed and gravely wounded with their roadside bombs and many conflicts,” as well as pay reparations to the “families of the hundreds of thousands of innocent protestors that Iran has killed over the last 50 years.” Trump said he instructed U.S. representatives to “put this firmly into any, and all, future negotiations” with Tehran…

Shortly after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday that Israel rejects the Hamas disarmament deal, Board of Peace head Nickolay Mladenov told Israel’s Channel 12 that the deal is “the only way” that “guarantees” that the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, “will not occur again.”

“Nobody is required to do anything — last of all Israel — before we actually have verified steps on the ground,” Mladenov said, referring to the IDF’s eventual withdrawal from Gaza after all of Hamas’ weapons are “stored, and ultimately rendered unusable,” by the Palestinian technocratic government…

The International Atomic Energy Agency will remove nuclear material stored at a secret site in Syria tied to the fallen Assad regime, Axios reports, per an agreement reached between Trump, Jerusalem and Damascus…

Megan Romer, a national co-chair of the Democratic Socialists of America, said in a podcast interview last week that the Oct. 7 attacks were “largely inevitable” — “If you put people in an open-air concentration camp and you deprive them of rights, of dignity, of food, of the ability to live in safety, you have to expect that they are going to not take that for that long,” she said — and that she would have attended the anti-Israel Times Square rally on Oct. 8 had she been in the area, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports…

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said on MS NOW today that Abdul El-Sayed, the state’s Democratic nominee for Senate, should “tone down his rhetoric” about Israel and AIPAC in order to help combat antisemitism in the Democratic Party.

“Not everything is about AIPAC, not everything is about Israel. … Even if we wiped Israel off the face of the earth tomorrow, you know, everyday Michiganders’ lives wouldn’t be better on” issues such as housing and healthcare, Nessel said…

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

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”…

The new conservative government in Colombia, which recently returned its ambassador to Israel, today recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, becoming the second country to do so after the U.S.

Colombia’s Foreign Ministry announced the move shortly after a powerful earthquake struck the country, killing over 100 people…

A new app called Sabbath is selling an ancient pitch to a modern, phone-addicted crowd: lock technology away for one sacred day a week. The app — which founder Ben Springwater calls “Shabbat with training wheels” — is “trying to make a bigger tent, get more people to experience some of the benefits and virtues of what Shabbat offers,” he told JI’s Haley Cohen, by allowing users to block certain apps from sundown to sundown on either Saturday or Sunday…

The Cook Political Report updated its rating of Rep. Max Miller’s (R-OH) district from “Likely Republican” to “Toss Up” after the deadline passed for Miller to drop out of his reelection race, which he declined to do despite facing serious domestic abuse allegations. Miller has denied the accusations levied against him by his ex-wife and her father, Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH)…

Politico explores how Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is using her political clout to boost her preferred successor, San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan, over Chan’s opponent, state Sen. Scott Wiener, including lining up endorsements and hosting major fundraisers…

“Fauda” star Lior Raz announced that the fifth season of the series, set two years after the Oct. 7 attacks, is coming to Netflix on Sept. 8…

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at D.C.’sever-evolving kosher food scene.

Connecticut, Minnesota, Vermont and Wisconsin will hold primary elections tomorrow, with South Carolina and Alabama holding special elections as well.

We’ll be watching the outcomes in Minnesota’s Senate race, where Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN) and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan are neck-and-neck, as well as the Wisconsin governor’s race, where democratic socialist Francesca Hong is favored to win the Democratic nomination.

In the South Carolina special Republican Senate primary, Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC) is trying to hold her late brother’s seat in a race widely expected to head to an Aug. 25 runoff. And in Connecticut’s 1st District, longtime Rep. John Larson (D-CT) faces his first serious primary challenge in decades from former Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin.

Kenneth Marcus, the chairman of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, will testify before a hearing of the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission tomorrow, urging the commission to repeal rules requiring employers to keep and submit yearly reports breaking down their workforce by race, sex and ethnicity.

Marcus argued to JI that the practice has “created the impression that the agency is pushing them to use racial preferences in order to improve their numbers.” He said the situation has left Jews either “invisible because we’re not counted, or potentially stigmatized because we are,” and that “counting by race or ethnicity has never been helpful for the Jewish people and has sometimes been dangerous.” He said that eliminating these requirements would allow the EEOC to focus more fully on specific complaints of alleged discrimination.

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

President Donald Trump disputed reports that the U.S. is running low on critical munitions as a result of the Iran war, claiming on Truth Social last night that the country has “massive amounts of ‘munitions,’ especially of certain types” and that more are being manufactured and shipped to the U.S. “as needed”…

The IDF struck several targets in southern Lebanon again today “in response to the incident yesterday” during which two IDF soldiers were killed and four severely injured in an explosion that the army attributed to Hezbollah.

The strikes came during the last day of Israel-Lebanon talks in Rome, which a State Department official said were “productive on the technical and expert levels” and brought the parties “a lot closer on what needs to be done to advance and expand the pilot zone process”…

Jonathan Cowan, president of the center-left group Third Way, told The New York Times that the group plans to spend $15 million ahead of the 2028 presidential election to target the Democratic Socialists of America after Abdul El-Sayed’s primary win in the Michigan Senate race. “It is deeply troubling to see radical, far-left candidates winning in places that are potentially presidential swing states,” Cowan said. El-Sayed was not endorsed by the DSA, though he was championed by the far left…

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) told Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs that he believes El-Sayed’s victory has put Michigan in play for Republicans to win in November. “[El-Sayed] will quickly discover a primary is a much different situation in this state [than the general election], when you’re accountable for winning the other side. I can’t wait to see him campaign for the general. I have got my popcorn for that,” Fetterman said…

Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) joined Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Reps. Brad Knott (R-NC) and Tom Suozzi (D-NY) today in introducing the Right to Worship Act, a federal bill that would ban activity that knowingly disrupts or impedes access to scheduled religious services within 100 feet of the entrance of a house of worship, JI’s Marc Rod reports…

California Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed Lele Yutzy as the state’s first director of its Office of Civil Rights, which was created under a bill enacted last year that acknowledged the prevalence of antisemitism in the state’s public schools and pledged to tackle discrimination. The office is also required to appoint an antisemitism prevention coordinator…

Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH) joined Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) in calling on Rep. Max Miller (R-OH), Moreno’s former son-in-law, to drop out of his reelection race and resign from Congress amid growing scrutiny of domestic violence allegations made against Miller, JI’s Marc Rod reports…

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill‘s Mission to Deliver PAC endorsed a series of Democratic candidates with national security or military backgrounds, including Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) in his primary campaign to oust Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA).

Asked in a debate on local news earlier this week if Israel committed war crimes in Gaza, Markey answered an emphatic “yes” and called to end all military aid to Israel, while Moulton called the conflict an “absolute moral atrocity” and highlighted his rejection of AIPAC’s support but did not answer in the affirmative…

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said in a statement today that he has been discharged from the hospital after a fall in Juneand will continue his recovery at home, without indication of when he will return to Capitol Hill…

The feud between Jerusalem and Ankara continued today as Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan claimed Israel’s “attacks targeting Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity” are “among the greatest threats to the country’s stability.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar in turnaccused Fidan of hypocrisy, arguing that Turkey currently occupies 5% of Syria while the IDF holds a buffer zone “that comprises just one-tenth of one percent of Syrian territory”…

An extremist Israeli settler, Yinon Levi, was charged by the Israeli State Attorney’s Office with reckless homicide over the July 2025 killing of Palestinian activist Awdah Hathaleen, who had been featured in the Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land” about home demolitions in the West Bank…

The Yemeni Defense Ministry said the Houthis attacked the internationally recognized government’s military forces in several locations — reportedly killing dozens of soldiers — and that the military would retaliate against the terror group “at the appropriate time and place.”

The hostilities mark Yemen’s latest potential slide back towards its brutal civil war that devastated the country from 2014 until the Houthis and the Saudi-backed government reached a ceasefire in 2022…

The United Arab Emirates has successfully transported more oil through the Strait of Hormuz in the last two months than any other country despite ongoing military hostilities in the area, Bloomberg reports, by utilizing tankers that switch off their transponders during the risky crossing…

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at the special election to replace former Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), where AIPAC’s United Democracy Project super PAC is working to boost Dublin, Calif., Mayor Melissa Hernandez over state Sen. Aisha Wahab.

A deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz may still emerge, though its reported contours are raising concerns among experts that it could grant Tehran unprecedented oversight over the international shipping route, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports.

In the latest development, Iranian state media reported today that the country’s parliament is considering a preliminary bill to bar American, Israeli and other “hostile” vessels from utilizing the strait.

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

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

After the U.S. conducted strikes yesterday in Iran, President Donald Trump said from the Oval Office this morning that the U.S. would “hit them hard again today” and told Fox News that he may target Iranian power plants and bridges because Tehran is “tapping the United States along” in negotiations.

As Trump convened his national security team in Washington this afternoon to discuss military options, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters CENTCOM will be “busy tonight” with “bombs dropping on key facilities in Iran”…

Trump also revealed today that he directed the U.S. military last month to “execute a secret mission” to assist oil tankers and other commercial vessels in transiting the Strait of Hormuz, an effort that “has resulted in more than 100 MILLION Barrels of Oil” and over 200 commercial ships moving through the waterway. His Truth Social post was a clarification of earlier comments that seemed to suggest the U.S. was stealing this oil directly out of Iran; U.S. operations to facilitate passage in the strait have been previously reported…

Trump provided Fox News with new details of the downing of the U.S. Army helicopter earlier this week, describing how an Iranian drone became lodged between the two pilots in the cockpit who guided the helicopter into the sea, where they were rescued “for the first time in U.S. military history” by an unmanned sea drone…

Qatari mediators visited Tehran today in the hopes of pushing Iranian officials to engage more effectively in negotiations with the U.S., Axios reports, after Trump had grown increasingly frustrated with their intransigence over the last two weeks, even as he continued to signal the two sides were approaching a deal…

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz met with UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi, the highest-level U.S. official to publicly visit the Gulf since the Iran war began…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blasted Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as an “antisemitic dictator” today after Erdoğan condemned Israel’s “network of murder” in Syria and Lebanon and threatened a “very clear and strong response” if Turkish interests in the region were jeopardized. Netanyahu said Erdoğan, whom he accused of supporting Hamas, lacks the moral authority to criticize Israel.

Trump, when asked in the Oval Office about the potential for war between Israel and Turkey, described Erdoğan as a “hell of a leader” and said, “I don’t think that will happen as long as I’m president”…

More than 20 countries, including the U.S., issued a joint statement condemning “lethal plotting and malign actions” by Iran’s security forces working with international and local criminal groups in Europe, North America and Australia, including their efforts to target “Iranian dissidents, journalists and Jewish and Israeli communities and interests”…

The Department of Justice indicted eight individuals associated with the University of Michigan for allegedly threatening university leaders, law enforcement, businesses and the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit over the conspirators’ perception of their “purported financial support of Israel.”

The individuals “discussed methods by which to harm the targets and their families, including poison, bombs, and psychological torture,” engaged in extensive vandalism and threw jars filled with noxious chemicals into homes, according to the department…

An immigration judge ordered earlier this month that Columbia University anti-Israel protest leader Mohsen Mahdawi be deported to Jordan, after a lengthy legal battle in which the Trump administration claimed Mahdawi has been involved in and supported terrorist violence. Mahdawi, who has not been charged with a crime, is still seeking review of his removal proceedings in federal court…

The Senate Education and Natural Resources Committee advanced the Holocaust Education and Antisemitism Lessons (HEAL) Act by a voice vote…

The National Republican Senatorial Committee, in a memo to donors, acknowledged that the “political fundamentals in Maine remain challenging” for Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) to retain her seat against scandal-plagued challenger Graham Platnerand called it a “fatal mistake to assume Platner is too damaged to win”…

Trump offered Collins his backing today after having long been at odds with the senator: Asked if she has his full endorsement, Trump said, “She does, because she’s a sane woman. She’s not my best friend at all … but she’s a sane person and she’s a respected person.” He called Platner a “thug,” a “phony” and a “bad person”…

Ron Klain, the former chief of staff to President Joe Biden, defended Platner’s tattoo of a Nazi symbol in a comment responding to the Republican Jewish Coalition on Instagram, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports: Klain claimed the Totenkopf “was a skull and crossbones to remember [Platner’s] fallen comrades from his service in Afghanistan,” an explanation Platner’s campaign has not previously offered…

Former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, running against Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) in the 10th Congressional District, denied to JI’s Will Bredderman that he’s backing Darializa Avila Chevalier in her race against Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) — even as the two appeared together in an ad paid for jointly by both of their campaigns…

Kennedy scion Jack Schlossberg, running in the Democratic primary for New York’s 12th District, came out yesterday in support of the Block the Bombs Act, JI’s Matthew Kassel reports, despite having previously expressed skepticism about the bill seeking to broadly restrict weapons sales to Israel…

Meanwhile, Public First Action, the PAC linked to AI giant Anthropic, is spending $1.2 million on a Knicks-themed ad in support of Schlossberg’s opponent, Alex Bores, who has become a leading advocate for AI regulation on the campaign trail. The ad is set to air tonight during Game 4 of the NBA Finals, Politico reports…

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for a look at the state of play in Israel’s elections, taking place this fall.

The House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee will hold a closed-door markup of the 2027 defense spending bill.

Reps. Don Beyer (D-VA) and Ritchie Torres (D-NY) will speak at a Progressive Policy Institute event on “Working Toward a New Era of Patriotism and Democratic Renewal” at the National Press Club in Washington.

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

President Donald Trump announced today that Iran was responsible for downing a U.S. Apache helicopter over the Strait of Hormuz last night, and vowed to respond out “of necessity.” Trump had reportedly told aides his “red line” for resuming military action would be if Iran killed any more Americans, though he confirmed in his post on Truth Social that both American pilots involved were “safe and uninjured.”

Later, however, in a call with The Wall Street Journal, Trump appeared to downplay the incident, saying it “wasn’t a big deal” and that “the pilot is fine”…

Top GOP lawmakers echoed Trump’s initial assessment that the U.S. must respond: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) told Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea that Iran should face “significant consequences.” Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, similarly said the U.S. must “vigorously respond,” and Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC) pushed for “decisive action”…

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi signaled that Tehran is distancing itself from the episodeand not claiming it as a direct attack on the U.S. He said in a statement, “Foreign forces in proximity to our territory are at constant risk on account of their own human errors, plain accidents, or potentially being caught in crossfire. To reduce risk, best solution is for them to leave”…

Trump, speaking to ABC News, openly mused about whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “even wants to continue” and run in Israel’s upcoming elections, slated to take place this fall. “He’s a wartime prime minister. We will very shortly win the war one way or the other, and you know he’s a wartime prime minister,” Trump said…

A gunman from Lebanon entered Israeli territory and fired on IDF troops, who killed him before he crossed the border fence, the IDF said. The infiltration set off a widespread search for potential accomplices, though none were found…

Before the latest round of missile fire between Israel and Iran, U.S. and Iranian negotiators had focused their discussions on four major elements of a nuclear deal, officials told The New York Times, even as the Trump administration has said nuclear issues will be discussed in a subsequent round of negotiations.

The key points reportedly include how long Iran will suspend uranium enrichment, diluting the country’s stockpile of already enriched uranium, dismantling three of its major nuclear facilities and “snap” inspections of all relevant sites inside the country…

A new survey from the Israel Democracy Institute found the share of Israelis who believe the country’s security is a primary consideration for Trump has plummeted to 44%, down from 60% who said the same in March at the beginning of the Iran war, JI’s Matthew Shea reports.

It’s the lowest level of Israeli trust in Trump since the institute began tracking the metric when he was elected to a second term in November 2024, coming as Washington and Jerusalem seemingly diverge on their strategies and ultimate goals of the war with Iran…

Twenty-one countries issued a joint statement urging Israel not to implement a new law requiring international NGOs wanting to operate in the West Bank and Gaza to register with and be vetted by the Israeli government, calling the law “part of a broader pattern of restrictive measures” that “constrain the urgently needed humanitarian response.”

Israel’s Foreign Ministry dismissed the concerns and claims of the countries as “completely unfounded and detached from reality” as it said there are “immense amounts of humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip”…

Randy Villegas, a left-wing Democrat running to unseat Rep. David Valadao (R-CA) in California, claimed victory today in the jungle primary over Jasmeet Bains, a moderate Democrat who had been favored by pro-Israel leaders as well as the party’s national leadership, JI’s Matthew Kassel reports. Democratic Majority for Israel’s super PAC had spent heavily to help Bains with a $500,000 TV ad buy opposing Villegas…

United Democracy Project, the AIPAC-affiliated super PAC, is spending $2 million on an initial ad buy this week to boost Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) in the Democratic primary for Michigan’s open Senate seat, a UDP spokesperson confirmed to JI’s Matthew Kassel. The ad touts Stevens’ record fighting for the auto industry, opposing Medicare cuts and working to cap insulin prices in Congress…

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

Keep an eye out for timely analysis of today’s primary election results in Maine, Nevada and South Carolina from Jewish Insider Editor-in-Chief Josh Kraushaar — premium JI subscribers like you will receive it first.

The Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee will hold a markup of the HEAL Act, a bipartisan bill examining Holocaust education efforts across the country.

The Culture for Peace Institute will hold a conference in Washington with speakers including State Department antisemitism envoy Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun; Sens. John Fetterman (D-PA) and Dan Sullivan (R-AK); and Reps. Nick LaLota (R-NY), Randy Fine (R-FL), Andy Barr (R-KY), Mike Lawler (R-NY), Max Miller (R-OH), Tom Suozzi (D-NY), Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and Derrick Van Orden (R-WI).

Elsewhere in Washington, Iran International will hold a town hall focused on the conflicts in Lebanon and Iran, featuring the Middle East Institute’s David Hale and Alex Vatanka as well as Dan Diker, president of the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs.

In the evening, lawmakers will take the field for the annual Congressional Baseball Game at Nationals Park.

In New York, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations will hold its annual antisemitism convening, bringing together communal professionals, experts and others to discuss efforts to combat antisemitism.

New York state Assemblymember Claire Valdez, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso and City Councilmember Julie Won — the top Democratic candidates for New York’s 7th Congressional District to replace retiring Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-NY) — will face off for a debate on local news channel PIX11.

The Auschwitz Jewish Center Foundation will honor New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin, former Israeli hostage Elkana Bohbot and Gazan human rights lawyer Moumen Al-Natour at its gala in Manhattan.

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

President Donald Trump cautioned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that if Israel went forward with a plan to escalate its strikes on Iran today, “you will be on your own very soon,” the president recalled in an interview with Axios, after which the Israeli leader reportedly called off the attack. Trump also claimed the U.S. and Iran are nearing a “phenomenal deal. We are getting everything we wanted”…

Netanyahu subsequently said in a video statement that, while Israel is “holding its fire” against Iran, Jerusalem has “a full right to self-defense” and is “exercising it to the extent necessary” — a message he said he relayed “with appreciation and respect in my good conversations with my friend President Trump.” But Netanyahu warned that if Iran resumes its attacks on Israel, the IDF would respond with “overwhelming force”…

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of the Iranian parliament, said in an address today that Iran’s simultaneous military strikes and diplomacy are part of an intentional strategy and that, though Tehran is seeking to end the war, it does not want to normalize relations with Washington…

U.S. forces disabled another empty oil tanker attempting to sail to Iranian ports today after it failed to disobey orders to stop by firing a precision munition into the ship’s engineering and steering spaces, CENTCOM announced. It’s the seventh such vessel U.S. forces have disabled since the blockade began…

Thirty-eight Senate Democrats, led by Sens. Adam Schiff (D-CA), Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), demanded in a letter to Trump that the administration provide Congress with the legal opinion backing its determination that U.S. hostilities against Iran have ended, given the ongoing strikes and U.S. presence in the region…

At next week’s G7 summit in France, which Trump will be attending, European leaders will attempt to secure the president’s support for a U.K. and France-led effort to de-mine the Strait of Hormuz, Bloomberg reports…

The J7, a coalition of Jewish communal organizations representing the seven largest Jewish Diaspora populations, urged Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to prioritize action over further study after he announced Ottawa’s new Ministerial Advisory Council on Rights, Equality and Inclusion would examine rising antisemitism in the country.

Arguing that the problem has already been well documented, the groups called for a “whole-of-government” response focused on enforcement and countering extremist ideologies and terror movements…

United Democracy Project, the AIPAC-aligned super PAC, began buying ad time in Michigan today, in what appears to be the pro-Israel group’s first foray into the state’s heated Democratic Senate primary…

The Wall Street Journal interviews activists Daniel Moraff and Leanne Fan, who, along with consultant Morris Katz, recruited Graham Platner to run for Senate in Maine. The two said that their own vetting process of Platner did not turn up the Nazi tattoo he had on his chest, nor the full extent of his controversial Reddit posts, but they believed none of what they had seen at the time “will or should stop him from becoming a U.S. senator”…

The two factions of Williamsburg, Brooklyn’s Satmar community united behind Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso in the race to succeed retiring Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY). Reynoso, a native of the district, clashed with some of the Hasidic sect’s leaders as a city councilmember but rebuilt relationships in subsequent years. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who has found allies in the Satmar sect while in office, is backing Reynoso’s opponent, Assemblymember Claire Valdez…

Ahead of tonight’s Knicks NBA Finals game against the San Antonio Spurs at Madison Square Garden, The Forward examines the chant sweeping New York City — “My mayor Muslim, my bagel Jewish, my Christian Dior, Knicks in four!” — and what it says about the city’s identity…

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for a look at the view from Washington on Trump’s attempt to pressure Netanyahu not to retaliate to Iran’s recent ballistic missile attacks.

Maine, Nevada, North Dakota and South Carolina will hold their primary elections tomorrow.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold a markup of various bills, including one to direct the State Department to impose sanctions on the leaders and family members of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) responsible for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Sudanese civil war.

The House Appropriations Committee will mark up the FY 2027 spending bills for Labor, Health and Human Services and Homeland Security.

The Atlantic Council will kick off its two-day Global Energy Forum with remarks from Energy Secretary Chris Wright; Ben Black, CEO of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation; Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy; and representatives from Kuwait, Egypt, Syria and more.

Agudath Israel of America will celebrate the opening of its new office on Capitol Hill with a tribute to its longtime vice president for government affairs, Rabbi Abba Cohen, who is set to step down after 37 years at the organization.

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Three women who were romantically involved with Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner told The New York Times in a detailed exposé that the presumptive Democratic nominee had been “toxic,” physically threatening, misogynistic and unfaithful during their yearslong relationships.

One former partner, Lyndsey Fifield, confirmed Jewish Insider’s reporting from October that Platner had known what the Nazi symbol tattooed on his chest represented and had taught her the word for it, calling it “my Totenkopf”…

John Bolton, President Donald Trump’s national security advisor during his first term, intends to plead guilty to illegally retaining sensitive national security information, CNN reports, a charge that could carry up to five years in prison…

Trump told aides he would only consider resuming military action against Iran — besides the skirmishes in the Strait of Hormuz, which the administration has insisted do not qualify as warfare — if Iran were to kill American troops, U.S. officials told The Wall Street Journal…

Trump lambasted the House’s “meaningless vote” yesterday passing an Iran war powers resolution “right in the middle of my final negotiations to end the War with the Islamic Republic of Iran. Who would do such an unpatriotic thing,” he mused…

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun told reporters today that the ceasefire announced yesterday with Israel would take effect only after Hezbollah approved of the proposal, given that it’s contingent on the terror group’s disarmament and withdrawal from southern Lebanon; Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem then rejected the agreement, calling the negotiations “absurd, humiliating and insulting,” and claiming Hezbollah’s withdrawal at this time would mean “surrender, defeat and achieving the enemy’s goals”…

Israel and Hezbollah then continued to exchange fire in southern Lebanon, where a UNIFIL peacekeeper was killed today after a mortar shell struck a U.N. position in the area. The IDF said the launch trajectory of the mortar “clearly indicates” it was launched by Hezbollah…

The House rejected a war powers resolution by Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) that aimed to block U.S. support for the Israeli operations in Lebanon, after House Democratic leaders publicly came out against the effort. But the Democratic leaders said they would support a future effort by Tlaib along similar lines that will include carveouts for other U.S. operations inside Lebanon, indicating that Tlaib’s next effort is likely to pick up greater Democratic support…

Iran and Russia signed a $25 billion memorandum of understanding on nuclear cooperation, Iranian state media reported…

The Times takes a look at how Qatar and the U.S. came to dominate the global liquefied natural gas market and how disruptions to Qatari exports amid the Iran war are exposing the risks of that concentration while potentially increasing America’s energy and geopolitical leverage…

In its markup of the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act, the House Armed Services Committee blocked by a voice vote an effort to strip out a relatively routine provision on cooperation with Israel, which has become the subject of criticism and misinformation online. Both the chairman and ranking member of the committee said that critics were misrepresenting the provision and what it entails…

Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee proposed providing $315 million for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program in 2027, a slight increase from 2026 funding levels but far below the $1 billion that supporters of the program in the House and Jewish and other faith communities have advocated for, JI’s Marc Rod reports. Jewish groups called the proposal appreciated, but vastly inadequate, given the current threat level…

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) called out recent AIPAC and crypto-linked spending in the crowded Democratic primary to replace retiring Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), where AIPAC’s super PAC has invested heavily in support of Hoyer-endorsed Adrian Boafo, JI’s Matthew Kassel reports. Van Hollen accused the “outside groups” of “trying to buy this congressional seat,” and said the groups “do not have the voters’ interests at heart”…

A week after winning his primary runoff against anti-Israel Rep. Al Green (D-TX), Rep. Christian Menefee (D-TX) co-sponsored the Block the Bombs Act. Menefee was seen as the more pro-Israel choice in the race, who Jewish community leaders hoped would provide a fresh start after their relationship with Green collapsed…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed Brig. Gen. Guy Markizeno as his military secretary, after his previous military secretary, Maj. Gen. Roman Gofman, became director of the Mossad earlier this week. Markizeno, who currently serves as military secretary to Defense Minister Israel Katz, has “extensive experience in coordinating between the political echelon and the military echelon,” Netanyahu said in a statement…

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar announced Israel will open its first embassy in the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana, calling the rise of center-right Prime Minister Janez Janša, whose government was approved by the country’s parliament today, a “new chapter” in Israel-Slovenia relations after “years of the hostility of the previous government”…

The Times interviews Iranian soccer federation head Mehdi Taj, who said the Iranian national team’s U.S. visas have still not been approved less than two weeks before the team is set to play its first World Cup match in the country, while the team trains in Mexico rather than its planned home base in Arizona. Taj was formerly a commander in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps…

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for a look at the new art exhibit at Manhattan’s Altneu synagogue grappling with the end of American Jewry’s “golden age.”

We’ll be watching to see how the latest revelations about Platner‘s past play out on the campaign trail ahead of Tuesday’s primary election, where Democratic Gov. Janet Mills is still on the ballot. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) is expected to join Platner at his Get Out the Vote rally in Bar Harbor, Maine, tomorrow evening.

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

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told CNBC’s Sara Eisen today that he wants to start the process of winding down U.S. aid to Israel in the final two years of the Trump administration, as both countries work toward reaching a new memorandum of understanding, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports.

“We’re now working on a memorandum of understanding which will bring down the aid,” Netanyahu said. “I want it to start in the last two years of the Trump administration and I want it to keep going down, coming to zero.” His comments suggest he’s looking to begin phasing out aid even while the current MOU is set to provide Israel with $3.8 billion in U.S. military assistance annually through FY 2028…

Despite President Donald Trump’s public acknowledgement of a confrontational phone call with Netanyahu regarding Israeli operations in Lebanon, Secretary of State Marco Rubio largely defended Israel’s attacks against the Lebanese terrorist group, JI’s Marc Rod reports.

Rubio said at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing today that Hezbollah reached out to the U.S. government through Lebanese authorities and said that it would stop launching missiles into Israeli territory if Israel did not attack Beirut, but Hezbollah went back on that agreement and launched rockets at Israel within hours…

Trump avoided directly answering a question from reporters this afternoon if the U.S. ceasefire with Iran still stands, after Iran launched several ballistic missile attacks around the region last night.

“There is a reason for certain things, and there’s usually a reason that sometimes makes sense. We got it, we nipped it in the bud very quickly … but some people would say they were slightly provoked because we took a strong action for a different reason. So they were reciprocating,” the president said…

Sens. John Fetterman (D-PA) and Dave McCormick (R-PA) told JI’s Emily Jacobs on Tuesday that they both believe antisemitism is worse on the left than on the right, arguing that the electoral success of far-left candidates with antisemitic records in Democratic primaries distinguishes the left from the right, as similarly controversial candidates have struggled in GOP primary contests…

The anti-Israel American Priorities super PAC pledged to spend $2 million backing New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s chosen congressional candidates: former City Comptroller Brad Lander, running to unseat Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY); Darializa Avila Chevalier, challenging Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY); and Claire Valdez, running to succeed Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY). All three candidates have denounced super PAC spending in the past…

Maine Senate candidate and presumptive Democratic nominee Graham Platner released an internal poll showing he still leads his general election opponent, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), by a margin of four points after potential voters are told about his most recent scandals. The latest figures from Platner’s camp mark a drop from the roughly eight-point advantage the Democratic candidate has held in previous polls…

In the race to succeed retiring Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), state Sen. Scott Wiener and Connie Chan, a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors who was endorsed by Pelosi, will advance to the general election. With half of votes counted so far in the jungle primary, Wiener won 41% and Chan received 28%, while Saikat Chakrabarti, a wealthy tech entrepreneur aligned with the anti-Israel left, came in third with 15%…

In Montana’s 1st Congressional District, where Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT) is retiring, smokejumper Sam Forstag prevailed in the Democratic primary, where several of the candidates, including Forstag, had expressed views critical of Israel. Forstag now faces an uphill battle against Trump-endorsed Republican military veteran Aaron Flint in the general election, given the district’s GOP leanings…

The NYPD arrested an NYU student today for raising a flag that displayed swastikas and a Star of David atop a university building last month. The perpetrator was a fourth-year NYU student at the time of the incident and has not yet received a diploma, a university spokesperson told JI’s Haley Cohen. The New York Times reported that the man is named Alexander Stepnowsky, a music technology student who was charged with a hate crime and trespassing…

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for a look at why pro-Israel groups chose not to engage in New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District to oppose anti-Israel Democratic nominee Adam Hamawy in yesterday’s primary election.

The House Armed Services Committee will hold a markup of the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act, where Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) said he will attempt to strip out a routine provision facilitating expanded U.S.-Israel cooperation.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will testify before the House Ways & Means Committee.

New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin and City Councilmember Virginia Maloney will meet with Manhattan Holocaust survivors at UJA-Federation of New York headquarters to mark Holocaust Survivor Day.

Brandeis University’s Jonathan Sarna will sit in conversation with Princeton’s Laura Arnold Leibman at Temple Emanu-El in New York City to discuss the Jewish experience of the American Revolution, a month ahead of the U.S. Semiquincentennial.

UN Watch will hold its annual gala in Geneva, where the group will honor free speech and women’s rights activists Abnousse Shalmani and Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

President Donald Trump again dismissed reports that Iranian negotiators have cut off dialogue with the U.S. as “false and erroneous,” writing in a post on Truth Social that discussions have continued “four days ago, three days ago, two days ago, one day ago, and today”…

About the current talks, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today that the U.S. is not offering Iran any sanctions relief in exchange for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, and that sanctions relief would only be on the table if Tehran makes concessions related to its nuclear program in the next phase of negotiations, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…

The Trump administration sent a fresh slate of diplomatic nominations to the Senate for approval today, but noticeably absent was a full-throated push to fill critical ambassadorial vacancies across the Middle East and North Africa, even as the Iran conflict has increased the need for coordination and dialogue in the region, JI’s Matthew Shea reports.

The newest list of nominees included only two names for the MENA area: Donald Blome, tapped to serve as assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs — a role that acts as the principal advisor on U.S. foreign policy across the region — and Nick Oberheiden, nominated to be U.S. ambassador to Egypt…

In a highly unusual move, Trump appointed Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and chairman of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as acting director of national intelligence, after DNI Tulsi Gabbard announced she will resign effective June 30. Pulte, who has no prior experience in an intelligence role, has been a staunch Trump loyalist and led some of the president’s retribution efforts against his political adversaries…

The fourth round of Israel-Lebanon diplomatic talks began at the State Department today, and is expected to last through tomorrow…

At an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council yesterday requested by France, every country except for the U.S. called for Israel to immediately withdraw from southern Lebanon and deescalate military hostilities in the country…

The heads of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations met today with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and Maj. Gen. Hassan Rashad, head of the country’s General Intelligence Service, in Cairo, where they discussed U.S.-Egypt relations and Middle East security…

A new poll of 600 likely voters in the Michigan Senate Democratic primary conducted for the campaign of physician Abdul El-Sayed found him leading the pack with 34% of the vote, two months ahead of Election Day. Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) came in second with 31% and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow trailed at 19%…

Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for civil rights, appearing at the American Jewish Committee’s Global Forum in Washington, condemned the “egregious examples of antisemitism that have transpired here at home on American soil” since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel as “devastating and antithetical to our values as a nation,” JI’s Emily Jacobs reports…

The backlash to the participation of Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and other far-right Israeli politicians in the Israel Day on Fifth parade in New York City over the weekend continues: Mark Treyger, the head of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, which organizes the parade, told The New York Times that he had been blindsided by their attendance.

“There was a complete lack of transparency here,” Treyger said, adding that the Israeli consulate in New York had declined to share with him who would be attending. Dan Rosenthal, a top official at the UJA-Federation of New York, wrote on X that both New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Smotrich “believe in a one-state solution”…

White House Correspondents’ Association President Weijia Jiang announced that the Correspondents’ Dinner will be rescheduled for July 24, after April’s event was cut short by a shooting attack. Trump said he will once again give remarks at the gathering, which will take place at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Washington…

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for the results of today’s high-stakes Democratic primary in New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District, where plastic surgeon Adam Hamawy, whose past terror ties have raised red flags about his candidacy, is the favorite to win.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio will be back on the Hill testifying before the House Foreign Affairs Committee and a Senate Appropriations subcommittee, while Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin will appear before the House Homeland Security Committee.

State Department antisemitism envoy Yehuda Kaploun and the Argentine Embassy in Washington will co-host a commemoration ceremony at the U.S. Institute of Peace marking the 32nd anniversary of the bombing of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA), with remarks from House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast (R-FL) and AMIA President Osvaldo Armoza.

The Jewish Democratic Council of America will host a candidate forum for the New York 12th Congressional District Democratic primary at the Streicker Center in New York City.

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

President Donald Trump announced that Israel would not carry out strikes against Hezbollah in Beirut in exchange for the terror group halting its attacks on northern Israel, hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a statement instructing the IDF to strike Hezbollah targets in the Lebanese capital.

While Trump said he had a “very good call with Hezbollah” as part of the negotiations, the Lebanese Embassy in Washington later clarified that the message was relayed through Lebanese officials rather than communicated directly from the president to the terror group.

Netanyahu said after the announcement that he had informed Trump that “if Hezbollah does not stop attacking our cities and civilians, Israel will strike terrorist targets in Beirut,” while the IDF will continue hitting targets in southern Lebanon as planned…

The news came hours after Iranian state-linked media reported that Tehran had suspended negotiations with the United States and warned it could direct its proxies, including the Houthis in Yemen, to target shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait — another critical global trade route — in response to Israel‘s continued military operations against Hezbollah…

Trump disputed the reporting, writing on Truth Social this afternoon that “talks are continuing, at a rapid pace, with the Islamic Republic of Iran,” despite having told NBC News earlier in the day that he would welcome a pause in talks if the reports were accurate. “I think we’ve been talking too much, if you want to know the truth,” Trump told the outlet. “I think going silent would be very good, and that could be for a long time”…

Amid the diplomatic dance, military operations have escalated: The U.S. struck several sites in Iran over the weekend after Iran downed an American MQ-1 drone. U.S. forces also intercepted two Iranian ballistic missiles targeting American forces based in Kuwait last night, CENTCOM said…

Michael Makovsky, the president and CEO of the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, criticized the Trump administration’s recent handling of the U.S. war in Iran, telling Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs on Friday, before the events of this weekend, that the “U.S. has lost the plot on Iran” and that a deal with the regime now “wouldn’t be worth the paper it’s written on”…

Responding to claims from former National Counterterrorism Center head Joe Kent that U.S. aid to Israel does not confer benefits to America, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee defended the relationship and said the next U.S.-Israel memorandum of understanding, after the current one expires in 2028, will end aid to Israel and “be based on trade”…

Republican Jewish Coalition CEO Matt Brooks celebrated his group’s role in ousting Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) in his primary election earlier this month at the organization’s “America 250”-themed gala held last night in Manhattan, JI’s Haley Cohen reports.

“Being anti-Israel in today’s Republican Party is not — unlike the Democratic Party — a path to success,” said Brooks, who called defeating Massie a “critical victory” for the direction of the GOP and conservative movement…

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro told CNN that he believes Israel is being unfairly singled out for criticism as a Jewish state: “For those who do not want there to be a Jewish state, oftentimes they will predicate their views on this notion that being grounded in a religion and being a democracy can’t coexist,” he said.

“I think it’s important to point out the hypocrisy of that view when there are 46 majority Muslim nations, 23 of which have Islam as their official religion … and only one has Judaism as their official religion, and yet we’re focused on just the Jewish state,” Shapiro continued. (Important to note: While Israel has a Basic Law declaring it the nation-state of the Jewish people, the country does not have an official state religion)…

El Al announced it will restart nonstop flights between Israel and San Francisco on Oct. 25, citing high demand for the route between the tech hubs, which was paused in 2020 at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The three weekly flights will be numbered LY49, in a nod to the San Francisco 49ers NFL team…

The Israeli Ministry of Defense said France has barred Israeli officials from participating in the Eurosatory defense show in Paris later this month. Israeli defense firms, which can participate but will not have a dedicated Israeli national pavilion, can only showcase air-defense systems and are prohibited from displaying offensive weapons systems…

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for coverage of tomorrow’s key primary elections across the country — including House races in New Jersey, California, Montana, Iowa, New Mexico and South Dakota, California’s gubernatorial race and Montana’s open-seat Senate race — several of which will serve as a referendum on the Democratic Party’s progressive versus establishment divide.

On the Hill, Secretary of State Marco Rubio will appear before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Appropriations Committee. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin will testify at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche will speak at a House Appropriations Committee hearing. The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence will also hold a closed intel hearing.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog will attend a command change ceremony at Mossad headquarters to inaugurate Maj. Gen. Roman Gofman as the new head of the agency, after the Israeli High Court rejected petitions today calling for Gofman’s appointment to be annulled on ethical and procedural grounds.

The Israel Democracy Institute will kick off its two-day Eli Hurvitz Conference on Economy and Society in Jerusalem.

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Despite recent clashes between the U.S. and Iran — including Iranian missile and drone attacks around the region last night — negotiators from both countries have reportedly agreed to terms for a 60-day ceasefire with continued negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program, U.S. sources confirmed to the White House press pool.

President Donald Trump has not yet given his stamp of approval to the deal, Axios reports, and has told mediators he wants a couple of days to consider it…

In the meantime, Iranian state media reported a renewed exchange of fire in the Strait of Hormuz this afternoon, as Iranian forces were said to have fired “warning shots” at four vessels and engaged air defenses against a “hostile aircraft”…

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned that the U.S. “will not tolerate any effort to impose a tolling system in the Strait of Hormuz,” specifically cautioning Oman that the Treasury Department will “aggressively target” any actors involved in facilitating such tolls. Bessent said during a press conference this afternoon that he spoke with the Omani ambassador to the U.S. this morning who assured him Muscat has no plans to do so…

In an excerpt of her forthcoming memoir, View From the East Wing, shared with The Atlantic, former First Lady Jill Biden recalls leaving her husband notes on the bathroom mirror during his time as president, including her views on Israel’s war in Gaza. “Net has to stop,” she once wrote, in a reference to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Before a phone call between him and President Joe Biden, she advised, “Be strong. Don’t let BN use your goodness”…

A week after describing J Street as “a cancer within the Jewish community,” Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter doubled down on his critique of the organization, stating that the liberal advocacy group’s recent actions are “decidedly not pro-Israel,” Nira Dayanim reports for Jewish Insider.

Speaking today at the Re-Charging Reform Judaism summit at the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in Manhattan, Leiter was resolute, but more measured in his criticism: “I believe the tent, as we call it, should be wide and as inclusive as possible. But it cannot be inclusive to those who are contributing to the efforts of those seeking the collapse of the tent,” he said…

Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) announced today that he would seek reelection in a new South Florida House district recently drawn to favor Republicans, after his own was largely erased, JI’s Matthew Kassel reports, setting the stage for what is expected to be a costly and competitive race…

Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) met with UAE National Security Advisor Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi today, where the two “reviewed the distinguished strategic relations” between the UAE and U.S…

Kip Talley, the chief of staff to Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) — who is currently the front-runner for the GOP runoff in Georgia to take on Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) — used his position to push to free Charles Johnson, a notorious Holocaust denier who was jailed for contempt of court, according to text messages reviewed by Slate. Talley sent the messages in a group chat that also included neo-Nazis Nick Fuentes and Richard Spencer…

A new Democratic super PAC called Project 218 dropped nearly $400,000 in support of progressive organizer Sue Altman in New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District Democratic primary, just days ahead of the election next week. The paid ads are intended to counter the nearly $1.5 million spent by the anti-Israel American Priorities super PAC in support of Altman’s opponent, Adam Hamawy, who has faced scrutiny over his work with a group tied to Al-Qaida…

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is considering endorsing democratic socialist Darializa Avila Chevalier in her insurgent bid to unseat Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY), according to The New York Times, changing course from his pledge to back Espaillat, which came after the congressman endorsed Mamdani in the mayoral general election…

UJA-Federation of New York purchased 20,000 bags of Bamba peanut snacks in response to the Park Slope Food Coop’s decision to boycott Israeli-made products, which the federation intends to distribute at the Israel Day parade in the city on Sunday…

Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, seen as a potential presidential contender, ruled out a run for the White House in the next election, telling a local Fox outlet, “I think there will be a robust group of people running for president. I will not be one of them in 2028”…

CBS Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss tapped former New York Times and Vanity Fair contributor and documentarian Nick Bilton as executive producer of “60 Minutes,” after the former head of the program, Tanya Simon, was fired today amid disagreements over issues including editorial independence of the top-rated weekly news program…

Mutra, a high-end kosher restaurant in North Miami run by Israeli chef Raz Shabtai, received a Michelin star today, which the restaurant said makes it the first fully kosher establishment to do so…

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for a look at how Israel and antisemitism have become a flashpoint in the Democratic primary for Montana’s 1st Congressional District. A sneak peek:

“Though the district leans Republican, that hasn’t stopped a majority of Democrats in the field from racing to the left on Israel policy, a dynamic that was on clear display at a recent debate.”

Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC) will host his annual Famous Fish Fry tomorrow in Columbia, S.C., an event that has evolved into a key stop for Democratic presidential hopefuls. Among those with an eye on 2028, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear are expected to attend the gathering.

Israeli and Lebanese military representatives are expected to hold discussions at the Pentagon tomorrow, Israeli media reports, without diplomatic representation.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is in Singapore, where he will deliver remarks at the Shangri-La Dialogue, a high-level defense summit, on Saturday.

The annual “Israel Day on Fifth” parade will take place in New York City on Sunday, with organizers predicting “one of the biggest turnouts ever” as well as the largest-ever Knesset delegation, JI’s Will Bredderman reports. Breaking with 61 years of tradition, Mayor Zohran Mamdani will skip the festivities, while NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch will serve as grand marshal.

Elsewhere in the city on Sunday, the Republican Jewish Coalition will hold its gala celebrating the forthcoming 250th anniversary of the United States with speakers including U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz, Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon, Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) and Republican Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, who is running for New York governor.

In Washington, the American Jewish Committee’s Global Forum kicks off on Sunday with a plenary featuring former Israeli hostages Keith and Aviva Siegel, Vanderbilt University Chancellor Daniel Diermeier and AJC CEO Ted Deutch.

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

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Speaking at a Cabinet meeting today at the White House, President Donald Trump signaled that he may not agree to a deal to end the war with Iran if Middle East countries including Saudi Arabia and Qatar do not join the Abraham Accords. “I think those countries owe it to us,” he said, adding, “I’m not sure we should make a deal if they don’t sign.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio was vague about the prospects and timeline for such an agreement with Iran, saying, “I think there’s been some progress and some interest, and we’ll see over the next few hours and days whether progress could be made”…

The White House also denied reports from Iranian state media about the contents of an apparent draft agreement, calling it a “complete fabrication.” Among other details, the deal would have seen Iran maintain some control over the Strait of Hormuz in conjunction with Oman; at the Cabinet meeting, Trump said about the prospect, “Oman will behave just like everybody else or we’ll have to blow them up”…

Sarah Rogers, the under secretary of state for public diplomacy, maintained in an interview with Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs that the Trump administration’s commitment to free speech, including for extreme views, does not take away from its opposition to antisemitism, claiming that “the Nazis may have the right to post, but also the Nazis are bad and sick and stupid”…

Reps. Marlin Stutzman (R-IN) and Abe Hamadeh (R-AZ) met today in Israel with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, where they discussed regional issues including Lebanon and Syria. Both lawmakers are active on issues of Middle East policy in Congress and were some of the first members to visit Syria, where Hamadeh’s family is from, after the fall of dictator Bashar al-Assad…

Despite publicly billing himself as the candidate most critical of Israel in the race for New York’s 12th Congressional District, Kennedy scion Jack Schlossberg told a group of supporters at Manhattan’s exclusive Harmonie Club earlier this month that he has “been a stronger supporter of Israel than I ever thought I would be standing here today with you, because of educating myself on the issue,” according to a recording obtained by Politico. “I probably would have continued funding Israel’s offensive weaponry within the years following Oct. 7,” he told the group.

Schlossberg denied that the comments mark a change from his previous stances, and said that he has consistently opposed all weapons sales to Israel while supporting funding for the Iron Dome…

Several Jewish New York state legislators, including Assemblymembers Sam Berger, Simcha Eichenstein, Nily Rozic, Kalman Yeger and Aron Wieder and Sen. Sam Sutton, released a statement applauding the Legislature’s passage yesterday of a bill establishing a 50-foot buffer zone around religious institutions, calling it a “strong message to the Mayor that the Jewish community is not afraid to stand up.”

Assemblymember Micah Lasher, who was a sponsor of the bill and is running for Congress in the 12th District, did not sign on…

The Museum of Jewish Heritage in Manhattan announced the appointment of former federal prosecutor Tali Farhadian as its new CEO, with her term set to begin on Sept. 8. A Persian Jew born in Tehran, Farhadian has had a storied legal career including clerking for the late Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, serving as counsel to former Attorney General Eric Holder and teaching at NYU and Columbia law schools…

Far-right activist Bo French won the Republican nomination for a spot on Texas’ powerful oil and gas regulatory commission in yesterday’s primary runoff, heading to a general election against Democratic state Rep. Jon Rosenthal, the only Jewish member of the Texas state Legislature (who also identifies as agnostic and “multireligious”)…

Harvard has selected four new Radcliffe Fellows for the 2026-2027 academic year who have histories of anti-Israel activism, The Washington Free Beacon reports, including an English professor from Gaza’s Al-Aqsa University, which has ties to Hamas…

The Heritage Foundation added four new members to its board, including Israeli American conservative political theorist Yoram Hazony, after several members resigned in the aftermath of Heritage President Kevin Roberts’ defense of Tucker Carlson over his interview with neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes…

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for a look at the Trump administration’s decision to keep many ambassador positions vacant, as the clock ticks down for any potential nominations before the end of the current Congress.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee will deliver the commencement address at Yeshiva University’s graduation ceremony at Louis Armstrong Stadium in Queens, N.Y.

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

No agreement has materialized between the U.S. and Iran today, as the Iranian Foreign Ministry denounced U.S. strikes in the country last night as a sign of “bad faith and unreliability” and warned Tehran “will leave no act of aggression unanswered”…

The IDF carried out a strike against Mohammed Odeh, Hamas’ new military commander in Gaza and one of the “architects” of the Oct. 7 attacks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a joint statement, days after Israel killed his predecessor, Izz al-Din al-Haddad…

The IDF has also expanded its military campaign against Hezbollah beyond the security zone established in the ongoing Israel-Lebanon ceasefire, in an effort to combat drone attacks by the terror group on Israel’s northern communities. Netanyahu said at the start of a Security Cabinet meeting today that Israel is “operating with significant forces on the ground and taking control of strategically dominant positions” in Lebanon.

U.S. officials reportedly approved of the plan but warned Israel “not to bring down buildings in Beirut,” for fear of impacting talks with Iran…

Iran has begun restoring some internet access for its citizens, an Iranian official and watchdog groups said today, curbing what is reportedly the longest nationwide internet shutdown in history at nearly three months long…

Mike Needham, a close advisor to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, will transition from the State Department, where he serves as counselor and head of policy planning, to deputy national security advisor and assistant to the president at the White House…

Netanyahu is considering appointing his advisor Caroline Glick to the position of Israeli consul in New York, according to Israel’s Channel 12. Glick has drawn scrutiny for her repeated criticisms of the Reform and Conservative movements as well as liberal Israel advocacy groups…

CENTCOM denied reporting by The Wall Street Journal that it has restarted “Project Freedom” and said U.S. forces are “not currently escorting commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz.”

And the State Department called reports that the U.S. and Israel are working to strip Jordan of its custodianship of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem “categorically false”…

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro warned in an interview with Politico that efforts within the Democratic Party to single out AIPAC as “toxic” could be seen as silencing Jewish voices in the American political system.

“Do I agree with every political decision they’ve made, every endorsement they made? Of course not,” Shapiro said of the pro-Israel group. “I think what we have seen is a weaponization of that. … When you have people who are advocating for issues that they feel strongly about and they are having their voices silenced, I think that’s a problem in our system”…

In a letter sent to Trump today, more than 90 House Republicans, led by Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), called for the administration to “fully dismantle” the United Nations Relief and Works Agency and to rethink its operations “not only in Gaza, but across the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria,” Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

UNRWA has “perpetuated the refugee crisis and reinforced the conditions that have allowed terrorism to persist,” the lawmakers wrote, arguing that in serving as the primary provider of public services in several countries, the agency “has reduced incentives for host governments to pursue long-term solutions”…

The Justice Department sued UCLA today for allegedly violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act due to its “deliberate indifference to race and national origin discrimination against Jewish and Israeli students”; it’s the Trump administration’s latest move in its legal campaign against the school, as it also pursues a Title VII lawsuit alleging UCLA discriminated against its Jewish and Israeli employees…

The final version of a New York state “buffer zone” law will make it a Class B misdemeanor — one of the lowest levels of criminal offenses — to “knowingly” infringe on the right of access or egress to a religious institution, or to cause those entering or exiting to fear for their safety from a distance of less than 50 feet, JI’s Will Bredderman reports.

The bill, which is expected to pass as part of a package around the state budget, is less punitive than the original legislation endorsed by Gov. Kathy Hochul, which would have charged such obstruction as a felony, but doubles the buffer zone from its original distance of 25 feet…

The Park Slope Food Coop, a high-profile progressive Brooklyn institution with around 17,000 members, is set to vote this evening whether to enact a BDS policy against selling Israeli-made products, an issue that has ignited a political flashpoint among New York Democrats and caused the vote to go virtual, with organizers citing security concerns.

Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) has encouraged members to oppose the measure, while his congressional primary opponent, former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, said he would vote against it if he was a member but would not tell others to do so. City Council Speaker Julie Menin said in a statement today that the “proposed boycott serves to further divide New Yorkers” and that she hopes the co-op will reject the effort…

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani declined, in an interview with a local news outlet, to endorse a candidate in New York’s 12th Congressional District — where he noted he is a constituent — calling it a “pleasure” to serve with both Micah Lasher and Alex Bores in the state Assembly…

After doubling down on his claim that presumptive Maine Senate Democratic nominee Graham Platner’s tattoo of a Nazi Totenkopf is “disqualifying,” Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) reiterated today that he still will not endorse Platner’s opponent, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME): “Susan Collins is a rubber stamp for the worst admin in history. Claims that I would endorse her, implicitly or otherwise, ignore my track record supporting Democrats to take back both chambers. … Regardless of what happens in Maine, Democrats need to take back the Senate and I’ll keep working hard to make it happen”…

Jeremy Burton, CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston, condemned as “crazy and disgusting” a video of a man in the city dressed as Adolf Hitler stomping on an Israeli flag…

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for results from today’s primary runoff elections in Texas, where we’re tracking the races between Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Trump-endorsed Attorney General Ken Paxton for U.S. Senate; antisemitic conspiracy theorist Maureen Galindo and establishment-backed sheriff’s deputy Johnny Garcia for the Democratic nomination in the 35th District; and Reps. Al Green (D-TX) and Christian Menefee (D-TX) in the member-on-member primary for the newly redrawn 18th District.

Trump will convene a Cabinet meeting tomorrow at the White House — relocated from the historic Camp David in Maryland due to weather — where the issue of negotiations with Iran is expected to feature prominently on the agenda.

• We’re monitoring news out of Washington and also out of Doha, Qatar, where Middle East officials, including an Iranian delegation, are meeting to continue talks aimed at ending the Iran war.
• Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who spent the long weekend in India, said before departing for Armenia today — hours after the U.S. conducted what it said were defensive strikes overnight on Iranian targets — that negotiations were ongoing. “I think it’s a lot of talking back and forth going on about specific language in the initial document, so it’ll take a few days,” Rubio noted. “The president’s expressed his desire to make it. He’s either going to make a good deal or no deal.”
• Earlier this morning, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei warned in a written statement that “From now on, the slogans ‘Death to America’ and ‘Death to Israel’ will be the dominant slogans of the Islamic nation and the oppressed people of the world. The United States will have no safe haven to spread evil and establish its military bases in the region.”
• We’re also keeping an eye on the Israel-Lebanon border following Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s directive to “crush” Hezbollah, as well as Israel’s scaled-up attacks targeting parts of the country held by the Iran-backed terror group.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MELISSA WEISS

For many Americans, Memorial Day weekend marked the unofficial start of summer, with barbecues, weddings and trips to the beach. For President Donald Trump — who opted against attending his own son’s wedding in the Bahamas, citing “circumstances pertaining to Government” — the weekend was spent on calls with Middle East leaders and inching the U.S. closer to a deal with Iran.

The working assumption in Jerusalem and Washington last week — noted in our Daily Kickoff last Thursday — was that the White House preferred a deal with Tehran over a resumption of fighting, owing to increasing opposition to the war and a slew of recent GOP defections on war powers resolutions indicating concerns among Republicans that renewed military action could further damage the party’s midterm prospects.

That assumption was actualized over the weekend, with a series of Truth Social posts by Trump indicating that a deal was near, with the finer details yet to be ironed out. Among the details reportedly in the draft agreement: a 60-day extension of the ceasefire, a lifting of the U.S. blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s commitment not to seek nuclear weapons as well as the disposal of its stockpile of enriched uranium and an end to fighting on every front — including Lebanon.

In a Truth Social post, Trump — who convened a call with a group of Arab leaders, and a separate call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — said that he was “mandatorily requesting that all Countries immediately sign the Abraham Accords,” suggesting that Saudi Arabia and Qatar should be the first new countries to normalize relations with Israel, followed by Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt and Jordan (though the latter two have already enacted peace treaties with Israel, and Ankara and Jerusalem have diplomatic relations). 

The reported contours of the burgeoning agreement drew rebukes from hawkish Senate Republicans. “If the result of all that is to be an Iranian regime — still run by Islamists who chant ‘death to America’ — now receiving billions of dollars, being able to enrich uranium & develop nuclear weapons, and having effective control over the Strait of Hormuz, then that outcome would be a disastrous mistake,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said. Read more here.

But even as Washington and Tehran moved closer to a deal, the U.S. carried out what it called “self-defense strikes” on Iranian targets, including missile launch sites and vessels around the Strait of Hormuz. And in Lebanon, Israel ramped up strikes on Hezbollah targets, with Netanyahu vowing to “crush” the Iran-backed terror group.

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

Dmitriev’s Detail: The Atlantic’s Robert Worth profiles Kirill Dmitriev, the Ukraine-born, U.S.-educated special envoy for Russian President Vladimir Putin who leads the country’s sovereign wealth fund and who has been tasked by Moscow to negotiate an end to the Russia-Ukraine war with White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. “Putin chose Dmitriev for this job not only because of his reassuring American credentials — degrees from Stanford and Harvard Business School, work experience at McKinsey and Goldman Sachs — but because his profile matches that of his two main American interlocutors. He is an oligarch whose glamorous blond wife is close friends with Putin’s younger daughter. That makes him a virtual son-in-law of the ruler, and it may be the reason his real-estate holdings alone have soared from some $5 million to $100 million over the past decade.” [TheAtlantic]

Still Running for Something: Politico’s Ben Jacobs profiles Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) as the New York Republican, who is not seeking reelection this year after a brief gubernatorial bid and having had her nomination to be U.N. ambassador pulled, considers her next political moves. “Further, Stefanik, who is Catholic, has become very popular among Jewish voters — a reputation burnished by her book on antisemitism. One Democratic operative marvelled at the reception that Stefanik received at a recent AIPAC event in New York City. ‘Guys who were good Democrats and regularly supported strong progressive candidates were on their feet cheering,’ says the operative, granted anonymity to speak frankly.” [Politico]

The Gift That Is Ben-Gvir: In an The Atlantic piece headlined “Israel’s Human Wrecking Ball,” Avi Issacharoff raises concerns about the reputational and societal damage to Israel he believes is being caused by Israeli Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who last week was filmed berating Gaza flotilla participants in a since-viral video. “The latest provocation by Ben-Gvir proved something that many Israelis have suspected for years: Ben-Gvir is not merely a nightmare for Israeli liberals, but the fulfillment of the fantasies of Israel’s enemies. He provides them with precisely the ammunition they need to argue, time and again, that Israel, in its fight against Hamas and Hezbollah, is the aggressor, and a cruel one at that. Ben-Gvir is a gift to the terrorist groups and the countries that seek Israel’s destruction.” [TheAtlantic]

Owens’ Omissions: The Wall Street Journal‘s William McGurn questions Hunter Biden’s recent appearance on antisemitic conspiracy theorist Candace Owens’ podcast, during which Owens’ questions to the son of the former president focused heavily on Israel. “But not asking key questions about what was going on in the Biden White House is shirking a duty. There are still many questions that deserve answers, and they can be asked in a way that doesn’t attack former President Biden. One that comes to mind is whether Joe stayed on too long because his friends and family didn’t want him to step aside. Another has to do with all those snide digs on Israel. Maybe Ms. Owens could have asked Hunter if his father or Zohran Mamdani better represents the Democratic Party these days.” [WSJ]

The Trolling of America: In The New York Times, Jessica Brandt, who from 2023-2025 served as an official in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, warns that Iran and other malign actors, such as China, are utilizing emerging internet technologies and trends. “But with the Lego-style videos and other satirical content, Iran and its supporters are using a different tool for influencing public opinion. It’s not disinformation. It’s not traditional war propaganda. It’s trolling. No one is being deceived because deception isn’t the point. Reach, ridicule and cultural resonance are. … Iran is exploiting a gap that our current defenses weren’t built to close. We need to address it before a more capable adversary decides to do the same.” [NYTimes]

Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID), the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, warned that the Lebanese government and Lebanese Armed Forces “need to step up and take immediate action to ensure Hezbollah is fully and permanently disarmed” or risk losing U.S. support…

In The New York Times, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) calls on the U.S. to recognize a Palestinian state “that is subject to clear benchmarks, including free and fair elections” while “ending taxpayer-funded support” for Israel; the Maryland Democrat also called for Saudi Arabia to normalize relations with Israel…

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) endorsed New Jersey doctor and anti-Israel activist Adam Hamawy in the race to succeed outgoing Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) in the state’s 12th Congressional District…

Federal officials are investigating whether antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker and other far-left activists, including CodePink’s Madea Benjamin, violated U.S. sanctions during their recent trip to Cuba…

An investigation by the Colorado Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights found that Denver Mayor Mike Johnston and the city’s police chief, through their refusal to tamp down on demonstrators at the anti-Israel encampment at the city’s Auraria Campus, which hosts several state and city colleges, violated Jewish students’ civil rights…

Former Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil plans to appeal to the Supreme Court last week’s decision by an appellate court not to review his case as the anti-Israel campus protest leader continues to fight the government’s deportation case against him…

The Wall Street Journal looks at developer Asher Luzzatto’s efforts to convert unused office space in downtown Denver into more than 1,000 housing units and mixed-use spaces…

The Wexner Foundation told alumni on Thursday that it will spin off its flagship leadership programs into an independent nonprofit, marking a major development within the Jewish philanthropic landscape that comes as the foundation’s benefactor, Les Wexner, continues to face pushback for his past ties to financier Jeffrey Epstein, JI’s Gabby Deutch reports…

Pope Leo XIV cautioned of the dangers of artificial intelligence in a new encyclical letter, comparing this juncture of its advancement to the choice “between constructing [the Tower of] Babel or rebuilding Jerusalem” after the Babylonian exile, which he described as a collaborative effort “with God at the center”…

Australia’s royal commissioner investigating antisemitism in the country warned against harassing and intimidating witnesses who have given testimony about their experiences with antisemitism…

Federal prosecutors in Germany filed charges against a Danish national accused of operating as an agent of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, who, with support from the IRGC’s Quds Force, allegedly planned to attack leaders of Germany’s Jewish community as well as Jewish grocery stores in Berlin…

The New York Post reports that Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi, the Iraqi national arrested in Turkey on charges of planning attacks on Jewish and Israeli targets, had also plotted to assassinate Ivanka Trump in retaliation for President Donald Trump’s 2020 strike that killed Al-Saadi’s mentor, Quds Force head Qasem Soleimani…

The head of Iran’s national soccer association said that the national team’s World Cup training base was moved from the U.S. to Tijuana, Mexico, after previously being assigned to Tucson, Ariz….

Haaretz reports that Shin Bet head David Zini traveled to the United Arab Emirates to meet with Mohammed Dahlan, a rival of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas who has ties to members of the Palestinian technocratic group helping to administer Gaza…

Semafor spotlights Qatari minister Ali Al Thawadi, who represents Doha on the Gaza Executive Board, as the official plays a quiet but influential role in Middle East policy and Doha’s diplomatic dealings, including in efforts to end the U.S.-Iran war… 

Etihad will add a sixth daily flight from Abu Dhabi to Israel next month for a total of 42 flights per week, making Israel the destination to which the airline has the most weekly flights…

Speaking on Sunday at an event honoring the winners of the Jerusalem Unity Prize, Israeli President Isaac Herzog condemned the normalization of “a terrible process of brutalization,” amid ongoing settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank and reports of brutality against Palestinian detainees…

Israeli software company Wix plans to lay off approximately 1,000 employees — roughly 20% of its staff — in the coming months, amid plummeting stock values and rising costs related to the company’s early adoption of AI technologies…

Israel-Canadian legal scholar and political scientist Ran Hirschl died at 62…

Manny Nosowsky, a New York Times crossword creator who had a first career as a urologist, died at 94…

Singer Mendy Worch released the video for his song “Jungle,” featuring TYH Boys. Worch said the song was inspired by a teaching from his rabbi, who shared his grandfather’s wisdom that “you don’t need to fix the whole giant jungle at once. If you just light up your own little corner, that light will start to spread. It will travel further and further until it fills the entire world.”

Journalist and educator, the mother of Janet (anthropologist and UCSF professor), Anne (co-founder of 23andMe) and the late Susan (former CEO of YouTube), Esther Hochman Wojcicki turns 85…

Public speaker, teacher and author of dozens of books on the English language, he writes a weekly column that is syndicated in newspapers throughout the U.S., Richard Lederer turns 88… Member of the House of Representatives (D-IL) since 1999, she is not seeking reelection this year, Janice Danoff “Jan” Schakowsky turns 82… Former SVP of News at NPR, after a lengthy career at the New York Daily News, The New York Times and the Associated Press, Michael Oreskes turns 72… Co-founder and CEO of Mobileye which he sold to Intel in 2017, he is also a professor at Hebrew University, Amnon Shashua turns 66… NYC real estate developer, past chair and board member of The Charles H. Revson Foundation and a former commissioner on the NYC Planning Commission, Cheryl Cohen Effron… Former brigadier general in the IDF, she has been a member of the Knesset for the Likud since 2009, currently serving as minister of transportation, Miriam “Miri” Regev turns 61… Counsel in the government affairs practice of Paul Hastings, Dina Ellis Rochkind… Photographer, her work has appeared in galleries and been published in books, Naomi Harris turns 53… Communications strategist at O’Connell & Goldberg, Eileen Esther Alkabes… South Florida entrepreneur, Sholom Zeines… Senior program officer for media and communications at Maimonides Fund, Rebecca Friedman… Former minor league baseball player, he has become one of the leading agents for NBA players, with five contracts of over $100 million each, Jason Glushon turns 41… Author of a book on the 1929 origins of the current Arab-Israeli conflict, Yardena Schwartz… CEO and director of the National Jewish Advocacy Center, Mark Goldfeder… Co-founder of Stories Abroad Tours and consultant on policy and advocacy for progressive causes, Arielle Gingold… Assistant professor of law at Wayne State University Law School, Benjamin L. Cavataro… Toronto-born Israeli actor and singer, best known as the protagonist of the Israeli television series “Split,” Melissa Amit Farkash turns 37… Senior manager of strategic partnerships and engagement at U.S. Pharmacopeia, Morgan A. Jacobs… Catcher in the Philadelphia Phillies organization, he played for Team Israel in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, Garrett Patrick Stubbs turns 33… Eytan Merkin… 

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch has compiled our team’s summer reading list to kick-start the long weekend. Take a look at the new releases we’re recommending from this spring, as well as books we’re looking forward to in the coming months…

President Donald Trump struck a confident note on the U.S.’ ability to secure Iran’s already enriched uranium, telling reporters in the Oval Office today, “We will get it. We don’t need it, we don’t want it. We’ll probably destroy it after we get it, but we’re not going to let them have it.” He’s also still hinting at renewed military operations: “We’re going to either make sure they don’t have a nuclear weapon or we’re going to have to do something very drastic,” he said…

Former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander — who polls show running well ahead of Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) in next month’s Democratic primary — broadened his already sweeping criticism of Israel in a speech to a Queens mosque earlier this month, suggesting the country’s actions against Hezbollah in Lebanon could constitute genocide, JI’s Will Bredderman reports…

More than 2,000 New Jersey rabbis and lay leaders signed a petition to New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill and state lawmakers urging them to take prompt action to implement the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism in the state, JI’s Marc Rod reports.

“We were deeply dismayed that legislation to adopt the IHRA definition was recently shelved for political reasons, despite broad support in the legislature and clear evidence of rising antisemitism,” the letter, which was organized by the Jewish Majority, reads, referencing former Gov. Phil Murphy’s efforts to quash the bill last year…

Critics of Qatari funding of American universities are watching Northwestern University’s incoming president, Mung Chiang, to see how he handles the school’s upcoming contract renewal for its satellite campus in Doha, JI’s Haley Cohen reports.

Northwestern’s contract to operate its campus in Qatar (NU-Q) is set to expire at the end of the 2027-2028 academic year. Interim President Henry Bienen said earlier this month that the NU-Q review process is “ongoing” and would be left up to the university’s new leadership…

Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin released the DNC’s long-awaited 2024 election “autopsy” today, ending months of pressure from activists demanding answers for the party’s losses last year; the 192-page document, the contents of which Martin disavowed, does not mention the party’s policies on Israel, Gaza or the Middle East, which critics had alleged sank Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential bid…

A new poll conducted for the Jewish Voters Resource Center found American Jewish voters’ top priorities in the midterm elections are the “future of democracy” and cost of living, with antisemitism ranked as the third most important issue, though it was the No. 1 “dealbreaker” that would cause a candidate to lose their vote. Israel ranked fifth among most important issues, while the Iran war — which 62% of American Jews disapproved of — ranked nearly last.

Ninety percent of respondents said they were concerned about antisemitism in the U.S., including 63% who said they were very concerned. Only 16% of respondents said they think Israel’s war in Gaza was a success, while the rest were nearly split in considering it a failure or being unsure…

Former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Herzog said today that he does not view J Street, the progressive Israel advocacy group, as a pro-Israel organization, JI’s Marc Rod reports, weighing in on the escalating war between his successor, Ambassador Yechiel Leiter, and J Street.

“To me, to be pro-Israel is to draw a clear line between criticizing Israeli government policies — and supporting anti-Israel agendas and libels de-legitimizing the State of Israel,” Herzog said on X…

The Senate abruptly departed for its Memorial Day recess, not set to return until June, without taking up the partisan reconciliation bill to fund immigration enforcement and security for the White House ballroom; the primary source of the delay is opposition from Republicans to the administration’s proposed $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund, expected to give payouts to Jan. 6 defendants and other Trump allies. The House is also set to depart a day earlier than anticipated…

Board of Peace head Nickolay Mladenov published in a series of posts on X a 15-point plan to “complete the implementation” of Trump’s 20-point Gaza peace plan. Hamas’ disarmament, Mladenov said, would not be “unilateral” or require “immediate surrender”; instead, it would be a “phased, Palestinian-led and internationally verified process” that would see arms transferred to the Palestinian technocratic committee governing Gaza rather than Israel…

The State Department’s Office of the Inspector General is conducting an investigation into the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, according to the Financial Times, focused on how the now-defunct aid organization spent a $30 million federal grant it received last June…

The Atlantic’s David Frum argues that rising antisemitic violence in the West — such as the attack on his hometown synagogue in Toronto when a gunman fired 20 bullets at its exterior — makes recent media coverage of Israel especially dangerous, criticizing Nicholas Kristof’s dubiously sourced New York Times column alleging systemic sexual abuse of Palestinian prisoners by Israeli officials as “the new blood libel”…

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for the results of this afternoon’s expected Iran war powers vote in the House, which could pass, depending on attendance. Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME), until now the lone Democratic holdout, is expected to flip his vote in favor.

President Donald Trump is expected to deliver remarks tomorrow in Rockland County, N.Y., at a campaign event for Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), as the congressman faces a competitive reelection in his swing district.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel to Sweden tomorrow to attend a meeting of NATO foreign ministers; from there, he will embark on a three-day visit to India, stopping in several cities for meetings on energy security, trade and defense cooperation.

On Sunday, the left-wing “Pod Save America” will host a Michigan Senate Democratic primary forum with candidates Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), state Sen. Mallory McMorrow and far-left Abdul El-Sayed, who has been championed by the podcast’s hosts.

In observance of Shavuot and Memorial Day, we’ll be back with the Daily Overtime on Tuesday. Chag sameach!