Plus, China's charm offensive in Israel
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Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks alongside U.S. President Donald Trump to reporters in the Oval Office of the White House on May 30, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Good Friday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we look at the growing influence of the isolationist wing of the Republican Party in the Trump administration, and report on a bipartisan call from members of Congress for social media platforms to address antisemitic content. We also talk to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer about his push for an increase in Nonprofit Security Grant Program funding, and look at China’s efforts to strengthen relations with Israel. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Sen. James Lankford, Shari Redstone and Julie Platt.
What We’re Watching
- We’re keeping an eye on the fallout following yesterday’s clashes between President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, which escalated over a period of several hours as both men took to their respective social media platforms to attack the other.
- The Boulder chapter of Run For Their Lives will hold its weekly walk on Sunday to raise awareness for the remaining 56 hostages in Gaza, a week after a terror attack in which an Egyptian national firebombed marchers, injuring 15. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum as well as nearby Run For Their Lives chapters will send representatives to Sunday’s march.
- Brilliant Minds is holding its annual confab in Stockholm.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S GABBY DEUTCH AND JOSH KRAUSHAAR
Another week, another round of evidence showing that a growing faction of isolationist-minded foreign policy advisors — or, in the parlance of some on the MAGA right, the “restrainers” — are slowly but surely gaining influence in the Trump administration’s second term.
If personnel is policy, it suggests the second Trump term will feature a markedly different approach to the Middle East than his record from 2017-2021, which included the signing of the Abraham Accords between Israel and four Arab countries, the elimination of Iranian Revolutionary Guard leader Qassem Soleimani and the withdrawal from former President Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran.
We reported this week that the Senate will soon consider the nomination of Justin Overbaugh to be deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence and security. Overbaugh is just the latest of several senior Pentagon nominees who come from Defense Priorities, a Koch-backed think tank that has generally argued the U.S. should scale back its involvement in global conflicts, including in the Middle East.
It’s not just at the Defense Department. A senior State Department official told Jewish Insider that at Foggy Bottom, too, the “restrainers” are ascendant. Morgan Ortagus, an Iran hawk who has been serving as deputy Middle East special envoy under Steve Witkoff, plans to depart the office. At the National Security Council, top officials focused on Israel and the Middle East were pushed out last month as President Donald Trump seeks to centralize foreign policy decision-making in the Oval Office.
This story is more than just a gossipy tale of White House palace intrigue. This factional foreign policy battle is set to have major global consequences. The impact is already clear: Trump is pursuing nuclear negotiations with Iran, led by Witkoff, that may result in a deal — one that reportedly could allow Iran to at least temporarily continue enriching uranium, a position that would have been unimaginable in Trump’s first term.
EXCLUSIVE
Lawmakers press social media platforms on violent antisemitic content after attacks
A bipartisan group of 41 lawmakers led by Reps. Wesley Bell (D-MO) and Don Bacon (R-NE) wrote to the CEOs of Meta, TikTok and X on Friday urging them to take action in response to the spike in violent antisemitic content posted on their platforms following recent antisemitic attacks in Washington and Boulder, Colo., Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
What they said: “We write to express grave concern regarding disturbing and inflammatory content circulating on your platforms in support of violence and terrorism,” the lawmakers — mostly Democrats — wrote in a letter sent on Friday, highlighting the rise of rhetoric praising and justifying the two antisemitic attacks. “This content is effectively glorifying, justifying, and inciting future violence, mirroring the surge in hateful rhetoric and open calls to violence and support of terrorism observed after the October 7, 2023 [attacks], and the ensuing Israel-Hamas conflict.”
Nominee notes: Kim Richey, the nominee to be the assistant secretary of education for civil rights, said during a confirmation hearing on Thursday before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee that the Department of Education should look at amending Title VI regulations and issuing new guidance to address the surge of antisemitism on campuses nationwide since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
scoop
Schumer to push for $500 million for 2026 NSGP funding, says Republicans are amenable
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) will announce on Monday that he is launching “an all-out push to shore up” $500 million in the fiscal year 2026 budget for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program in response to a spate of recent antisemitic terrorist attacks, he revealed to Jewish Insider in an interview on Thursday. He said that key Senate Republicans have appeared amenable to that request and called the administration’s proposal for flat funding for the program a nonstarter, JI’s Emily Jacobs and Marc Rod report.
What he said: “The attack in Colorado, the shooting in Washington, the arson in Pennsylvania [of Gov. Josh Shapiro’s home] have one thing in common: they have cited anti-Israel sentiment as a justification for their violence. In other words, they’ve used the actions of the Israeli government they don’t like to justify violence against Jewish Americans here at home,” Schumer said. “We’re witnessing — unfortunately, in real time — the resurgence of collective blame against the Jewish people. Collective blame is traditionally one of the most nasty, dangerous forms of antisemitism, and so if we don’t confront it clearly, unequivocally together, we risk opening the door to even darker days.”
Bonus: In a letter to the editor of The Wall Street Journal, Nathan Diament, the executive director for public policy at the Orthodox Union, calls for “concrete steps” to address antisemitic violence, including an increase in funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program to $500 million and support for local police patrols near Jewish sites and institutions.
NOT IN OUR NAME
AJC rejects Trump’s travel ban as lacking a ‘clear connection’ to antisemitism
The American Jewish Committee criticized President Donald Trump for his executive order barring travel into the United States for citizens of 12 countries as lacking “a clear connection to the underlying problem” of domestic antisemitism and potentially having “an adverse impact on other longstanding immigration and refugee policies,” Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Zoom out: The administration framed the announcement as a response to the antisemitic terrorist attack in Boulder, Colo., carried out by an immigrant from Egypt who overstayed a work permit. The AJC’s response echoes the cautious, skeptical approach it and other major nonpartisan Jewish organizations have taken to other actions by the Trump administration to combat antisemitism, including revoking visas from international students and cutting funding from universities.
BEIJING BOOST
With increasing pressure from the West, can Israel resist a China charm offensive?
Chinese Ambassador to Israel Xiao Junzheng has been on a charm offensive since arriving to his new post in December. In contrast with his predecessors, who shied away from the Israeli media, Xiao has been blanketing the airwaves and acting in ways unprecedented for Beijing: condemning Hamas and calling to free the hostages. The ambassador’s personal outreach is a sharp departure from the declining relations between Beijing and Jerusalem since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks. But now, China is seemingly trying to turn the clock back to a time when it was making major investments in Israel and inviting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Beijing. Israel’s response has been inconsistent, and the Trump administration hasn’t yet raised any public objections to the outreach, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports.
Change in perspective: A year after the attacks and after Israel killed much of Hezbollah and Hamas’ leadership, Beijing made a subtle shift and started to speak about Israel’s “legitimate security concerns.” According to Carice Witte, founder and executive director of SIGNAL Group, a think tank specializing in Israel-China relations, Beijing no longer viewed Israel as a regional superpower after the Oct. 7 attacks, but “after Israel’s incredible military and intelligence successes in the fall of 2024 that rewrote the narratives of Lebanon and Syria, Beijing began to change its tune — becoming less anti-Israel and less pro-Iran.” Soon after his arrival in Tel Aviv in December, Xiao sprang into action. He praised Israeli tech companies in an interview with Israeli financial paper Calcalist. On ILTV last month, he gave the first unambiguous condemnation from China of the Oct. 7 attacks and even wore a yellow ribbon calling to bring back the hostages.
TRIP TALK
Sen. Lankford says he’s very ‘optimistic’ about Lebanon’s future after visit
Following a visit to the Middle East, Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) said he’s very “optimistic” about the future of Lebanon under its new government, describing the country’s leaders as serious about centralizing power and demilitarizing Hezbollah, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
What he said: “The Lebanese Armed Forces and the president were very clear: ‘We will be the defender of Lebanon. There’s not two armies, there’s one army,’” Lankford said. “They are working to demilitarize Hezbollah and to be able to make sure that they are the one army … I think there’s real progress and real opportunity.” Lankford said that he also heard from Iraqi partners in contact with the Iranian regime that Tehran is not budging on its commitment to uranium enrichment.
stamp of approval
Freed hostage Edan Alexander, family endorse Josh Gottheimer for New Jersey governor
Recently released Israeli American hostage Edan Alexander and his family endorsed Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) for governor of New Jersey and praised his advocacy for Alexander’s release in a letter to the congressman, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. Alexander grew up in Tenafly, N.J., in Gottheimer’s district.
What they said: The letter, read at a recent Gottheimer campaign event by a family friend, reads, “We can’t wait to thank you in person and we can’t wait to call you Governor Josh in November.” The letter is signed by Alexander himself, his mother and father Yael and Adi, his sister Mika and brother Roy. Alexander is a Gottheimer constituent who grew up in his district. “In those dark times” of Alexander’s captivity, “you were not only a shining ray of light, but you were what we call a mensch,” the family wrote.
Exclusive: A new coalition of pro-Israel LGBTQ activists is backing former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo as its first choice in a ranked slate of candidate endorsements for New York City mayor, according to a statement shared exclusively with Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel on Thursday.
Worthy Reads
For Pete’s Sake: The Atlantic’s Missy Ryan and Ashley Parker report on relations between the White House and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, which began to fray after Hegseth offered former White House advisor Elon Musk a high-level briefing in March. “Many at the Pentagon question how long the president’s backing for their boss will last. During his first term, Trump cycled through four defense secretaries and four national security advisers. … Although the president appears to appreciate Hegseth’s pugnacious public style, he may require more from his defense secretary over time, as the administration faces pressure to deliver on a set of complex and interlocking goals, including fixing a byzantine military-procurement system, reviving a diminished defense industry, and strengthening America’s response to China’s military rise.” [TheAtlantic]
Dems Missing the Revolution:The New York Times’ David Brooks posits that Democrats are misgauging the political shift underway in American society. “Trump has taken the atmosphere of alienation, magnified it with his own apocalypticism, and, assaulting institutions across society, has created a revolutionary government. More this term than last, he is shifting the conditions in which we live. Many of my Democratic friends have not fully internalized the magnitude of this historical shift. They are still thinking within the confines of the Clinton-Obama-Biden-Pelosi worldview. But I have a feeling that over the next few years, the tumult of events will push Democrats onto some new trajectory.” [NYTimes]
Word on the Street
The State Department announced sanctions on four International Criminal Court judges, calling the body “politicized” and alleging that the sanctioned judges “actively engaged in the ICC’s illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America or our close ally, Israel”…
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard appointed a close ally to sit in the office of the inspector general of the intelligence community…
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee delayed an anticipated vote on Thursday on Joel Rayburn’s nomination to be assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs as he faces opposition from Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), which could imperil his nomination, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) accused the search firm that oversaw the failed nomination of former University of Michigan President Santa Ono to lead the University of Florida of not properly vetting and disclosing the candidate’s record, in comments to Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs…
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) said he’ll force votes as soon as next week on resolutions to block U.S. arms sales to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates…
Air Force Secretary Troy Meink estimated on Thursday that the costs of retrofitting a Qatari plane that Doha intends to gift to the White House for use in the Air Force One fleet will be less than $400 million…
The Defense Department informed the Senate and House Armed Services committees that it will divert anti-drone technology allocated to Ukraine to positions in the Middle East…
Six members of Colorado’s House delegation introduced a resolution condemning the Boulder attack and the rise of antisemitism in the United States…
The NYPD is investigating as a hate crime an attack on a 72-year-old Jewish man who was putting up hostage posters on Manhattan’s Upper East Side; the assailants reportedly shouted “Free Palestine” at the man before the attack…
A federal judge in Massachusetts ordered a temporary halt to a Trump administration directive banning Harvard from enrolling international students…
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck is opening a public affairs shop led by Campbell Spencer and Max Hamel…
Paramount Global Chair Shari Redstone confirmed that she is being treated for thyroid cancer; a spokesperson for Redstone said her prognosis is “excellent” as she receives radiation treatment for the cancer, which was discovered two months ago…
The Washington Post reviews poet Edward Hirsch’s memoir My Childhood in Pieces, calling it a “vibrant, moving portrait of mid-century Jewish communities in Chicago and Skokie, Illinois, and of a particular middle-class Middle America”…
eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross interviews outgoing Jewish Federations of North America Chair Julie Platt about her tenure with the organization, which began just prior to Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and continued through the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks in Israel and ensuing war in Gaza…
Jonathan Hall, the U.K.’s senior-most advisor on terrorism issues, warned of the “extraordinary” terror and espionage threats posed by Iran and Russia on British soil…
A Pakistani man was convicted in a U.S. federal court of smuggling Iranian missile components to Tehran’s Houthi proxies in Yemen; two Navy SEALs died in the mission to apprehend Muhammad Pahlawan, whose boat was intercepted off the coast of Somalia in 2024…
The number of commercial ships passing through the Red Sea and Suez Canal has dropped by more than 50% since 2023; shipping companies are largely avoiding the maritime route, despite a recent ceasefire between the U.S. and the Houthis, out of concern that Houthi ballistic missiles targeting Israel could misfire and strike commercial vessels…
Israel reportedly assured the Trump administration it would not conduct military strikes targeting Iran’s nuclear facilities unless talks between Washington and Tehran fail…
Russian President Vladimir Putin offered Moscow’s assistance in ongoing U.S.-Iran nuclear talks, citing Russia’s close ties with Tehran…
Iran ordered thousands of tons of ammonium perchlorate, with the capability of fueling hundreds of ballistic missiles, from China…
The Israeli Air Force conducted strikes on the southern outskirts of Beirut targeting what the IDF said were Hezbollah drone production facilities…
Israel is providing weapons to an armed militia opposing Hamas, a defense source confirmed to Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov…
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation announced it was shutting its aid distribution sites until further notice…
Lufthansa plans to resume flights to Israel later this month…
Shaul Magid was appointed Harvard Divinity School’s first professor of modern Jewish studies in residence, a five-year appointment; Rabbi David Wolpe, a former visiting scholar at the school, called Magid, who has argued in favor of “counter-Zionism” and a binational state, a “gracious human being & an estimable scholar of Jewish texts,” but added that he profoundly disagree[s] with [Magid’s] stance on Israel and wish[ed] HDS would appoint someone whose views reflect the mainstream of the Jewish community”…
Economist Marina von Neumann Whitman, the first woman appointed to the White House Council of Economic Advisors, died at 90…
Pic of the Day
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul (left) and Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar participated on Thursday in a wreath-laying ceremony at the memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin.
Birthdays
Chicago- and Aspen-based businessman, he owns large stakes in Maytag, Hilton Hotels, the New York Yankees and the Chicago Bulls, Lester Crown turns 100 on Saturday…
FRIDAY: U.S. District Court judge since 1994, on senior status since 2005, serving in the Eastern District of New York, Frederic Block turns 91… Real estate entrepreneur and executive chairman of the Hyatt Hotels Corporation, Thomas Pritzker turns 75… U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) turns 73… Diplomat who has served as Israel’s ambassador to South Sudan and then Egypt, Haim Koren turns 72… Four-time Tony Award winner, he is an actor, playwright and screenwriter, Harvey Fierstein turns 71… Comedian, political critic, musician and author, Sandra Bernhard turns 70… Radio news personality, known as “Lisa G,” Lisa Glasberg turns 69… Past chair of the board of Prizmah: Center for Jewish Day Schools and President at Micah Philanthropies, Ann Baidack Pava… CEO of the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks and the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Steve Koonin turns 68… Israeli conductor and musician, Nir Brand turns 64… Former majority leader in the U.S. House of Representatives and now vice chairman of investment bank Moelis & Company, Eric Cantor turns 62… Partner in the strategic communications division of Finsbury Glover Hering (FGS Global), Jonathan Kopp turns 59… Israeli-American behavioral economics professor at UCSD, Uri Hezkia Gneezy turns 58… Best-selling author, journalist and television personality, Anna Benjamin David turns 55… Chairman of Israeli fintech entrio (formerly The Floor), he is the only child of Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, Elisha Wiesel turns 53… Hedge fund manager and founder of Saba Capital Management, he is also a skilled poker and blackjack player, Boaz Weinstein turns 52… Producer of 11 network television programs, Jennie Snyder Urman turns 50… 2019 Trump impeachment witness, he was director for European Affairs at the National Security Council, Lt. Col. (ret.) Alexander Semyon Vindman… and his twin brother, Col. (ret.) Yevgeny Vindman, a member of Congress from Virginia’s 7th District, both turn 50… Founder and chairman of the Washington Free Beacon, Michael L. Goldfarb turns 45… Senior reporter at ABC News, Katherine B. Faulders… Director at Finsbury Glover Hering (FGS Global), Anna Epstein… Member of the New York State Assembly until 2023 when he resigned to become VP of government relations at UJA-Federation of New York, Daniel Rosenthal turns 34… White House staffer during the Biden administration, Jordan G. Finkelstein… Communications manager at the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, Allie Freedman…
SATURDAY: Rehoboth Beach, Del., resident, Dennis B. Berlin… Former five-term Democratic congressman from California, he now serves as counsel in the Century City office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Mel Levine turns 82… Professor of linguistics at Georgetown University, and author of 13 books, Deborah Tannen turns 80… Epidemiologist, toxicologist and author of three books about environmental hazards, Devra Davis turns 79… Deputy secretary of state of the U.S. during the first half of the Biden administration, Wendy Ruth Sherman turns 76… Retired staff director at the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Hillel Weinberg… President of Shenkar College of Engineering, Design and Art in Israel, he is a grandson of former Israeli PM Levi Eshkol, Sheizaf Rafaeli turns 70… Member of the U.S. House of Representatives (D-PA-7) until earlier this year, Susan Ellis Wild turns 68… Former vice president of the United States, Mike Pence turns 66… Jerusalem resident, Deborah Lee Renert… Founder chairman and CEO of the Naftali Group, Miki Naftali turns 63… U.S. district judge for the Southern District of New York, Jesse Matthew Furman turns 53… U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) turns 53… Brooklyn rapper better known by his stage name Necro, Ron Raphael Braunstein turns 49… One-half of the Arab-Jewish electronic music duo Chromeo, David “Dave 1” Macklovitch turns 47… Israeli actress, singer and pianist, she performs in Hebrew, Russian, French and English, Ania Bukstein turns 43… Senior director of place-based initiatives at the Nathan Cummings Foundation, Isaac Luria… Editor of The New York Review of Books, Emily S. Greenhouse… Actress and model, Emily Ratajkowski turns 34… Canadian ice hockey forward, he played for China in the 2022 Winter Olympics, now a businessman in Ontario, Ethan Werek turns 34… Andrea Gonzales…
SUNDAY: Hebrew University mathematics professor and 2005 Nobel Prize laureate in economics, Robert Aumann turns 95… Guru of alternative, holistic and integrative medicine, Dr. Andrew Weil turns 83… Hedge fund founder and manager, founder of the Paloma Funds, Selwyn Donald Sussman turns 79… Detective novelist, best known for creating the character of V.I. Warshawski, Sara Paretsky turns 78… Founder and CEO of Sitrick and Company, Michael Sitrick… Classical pianist, teacher and performer at the Juilliard School and winner of a Grammy Award, he is the child of Holocaust survivors, Emanuel Ax turns 76… Former member of Knesset from the Zionist Union party, now a professor at Ben-Gurion University, Yosef “Yossi” Yona turns 72… Barbara Jaffe Panken… Senior advisor at Bloomfield Hills, Michigan-based O2 Investment Partners, Robert Harris (Rob) Orley… Journalist, stand-up comedian, author, cartoonist and blogger, Aaron Freeman turns 69… CEO of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau, Stacy Ritter turns 65… AVP for campaign at the Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago, Patti Frazin… Co-founder and CEO of the Genesis Prize Foundation, Stan Polovets turns 62… Winner of many Emmy and SAG awards, star of the long-running TV series “The Good Wife,” Julianna Margulies turns 59… Israel’s state comptroller and ombudsman, Matanyahu Englman turns 59… Actor, screenwriter and producer, Dan Futterman turns 58… Former congresswoman (D-AZ-8), she is a survivor of an assassination attempt near Tucson in 2011, Gabrielle Giffords turns 55… Actor who starred in USA Network’s “Royal Pains,” he also wrote and created the CBS series “9JKL,” Mark Feuerstein turns 54… Executive director at Consulate Health Care in New Port Richey, Fla., Daniel Frenden… Head of North America for the Jewish Agency and President and CEO of Jewish Agency International Development (JAID), Daniel Elbaum… Former deputy chief of staff for Charlie Baker when he was governor of Massachusetts, Michael Emanuel Vallarelli… Lead community organizer at LA Voice, Suzy Stone… Businesswoman, art collector and editor, founder of the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Dasha Zhukova turns 44… Fourth-generation supermarket executive at Klein’s ShopRite of Maryland, Marshall Klein… Corporate litigation partner in the Wilmington office of Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor, Daniel Kirshenbaum… Three-time Tony Award-winning theatrical producer, he is the co-founder at Folk Media Group, Eric J. Kuhn turns 38… CEO of BZ Media and the Bnai Zion Foundation, Rabbi Dr. Ari Lamm… Offensive tackle in the NFL for nine seasons until he retired in 2022, he started in 121 straight games in which he played every offensive snap, his Hebrew name is “Mendel,” Mitchell Schwartz turns 36…