Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will fly to Washington on Monday, where he will meet with President Donald Trump and attend the funeral of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), his office announced on Friday. 

Slated for Tuesday, the Oval Office meeting — Trump and Netanyahu’s first in-person sitdown since the start of the Iran war in late February — comes amid escalating U.S.-Iran hostilities and heightened Israeli readiness for potential strikes from Tehran. 

Trump told Axios on Thursday that he’s considering restarting major combat operations in Iran — including strikes larger than those carried out by the U.S. and Israel against Iran before the ceasefire began in early April. 

Netanyahu said that “Israel lost one of its greatest friends” after Graham died suddenly on July 11. The South Carolina senator’s funeral is scheduled for Tuesday at the National Cathedral in Washington.  

A video New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani released late Tuesday night — in which the democratic socialist railed at length against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu but confessed he couldn’t honor his campaign pledge to arrest him — triggered a wave of warnings from mainstream Jewish organizations that his singular focus on excoriating Israel from his official platforms places New Yorkers at risk.

The mayor’s video — which has received in the neighborhood of 150 million views across all his office’s social media channels, one of his most-viewed posts ever — ran with the tag “Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal” and denounced the Jewish state’s leader as “the architect of a horrific genocide.” Mamdani ultimately admitted in the video that his administration could not enforce an International Criminal Court warrant against Netanyahu should he attend the upcoming U.N. General Assembly. 

The social media clip, which accused Netanyahu and Israel of various war crimes including targeting women and newborn babies, provoked widespread outcry from Jewish groups. They noted Mamdani had omitted any reference to Hamas and the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks that touched off the latest round of conflict, and asserted he had neglected his responsibility as a local official elected to represent all communities in the city.

“This isn’t just political theater. It’s a dangerous dereliction of duty,” Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt wrote on X, noting the spike in hate crimes targeting Jewish New Yorkers since Oct. 7. “He remains relentlessly obsessed with the world’s only Jewish state — even as Jewish New Yorkers face record levels of antisemitism and the city confronts urgent problems that demand his attention.”

Greenblatt further argued the video was the product of an “antisemitic worldview” and “the play-acting instincts of a perpetual student activist.” 

The UJA-Federation of New York said in a statement, “New Yorkers elected a mayor to lead this city — not to make Israel the centerpiece of your political grandstanding. At a time of rising antisemitism, repeatedly singling out and vilifying the world’s only Jewish state for perceived political benefit is repugnant, puts Jews at greater risk — and leaves many Jewish New Yorkers feeling targeted and unwelcome in the city we call home.”

“Shame on you,” the post concluded.

AIPAC said Mamdani’s video was “based on a modern blood libel and outrageous lies.”

Other groups including the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Orthodox Union and American Jewish Committee contrasted the mayor’s pledges early in his administration to represent New Yorkers of all faiths and nationalities with his use of official city platforms to exclusively pillory Israel — with the OU calling it a “betrayal of his oath of office and his own commitment to protect all New Yorkers” and the AJC demanding he “stop putting a target on the back of the Jewish community.”

“New Yorkers elected a mayor, not a prosecutor of foreign leaders,” SWC wrote in a statement, arguing he had taken the issue beyond criticism of any one foreign statesman. “Mayor Mamdani repeatedly singles out Israel while using the prestige of his office to legitimize rhetoric that further isolates the Jewish state and deepens division here at home.”

The SWC statement added: “He delivered a sweeping moral indictment of Israel while erasing the terrorist atrocities that ignited this war.” 

Pressed with these concerns after an unrelated event at City Hall on Wednesday, Mamdani said he would hypothetically have liked to see ICC warrants enforced against leaders of Hamas as well. Asked if he saw the Oct. 7 attacks, the deadliest wave of violence against Jews since the Holocaust, as genocidal, the mayor called them a “horrific war crime” and “something that should be deeply opposed with every single fiber of our being” — but declined to answer in the affirmative.

He maintained that criticizing Israel publicly was in keeping with his responsibilities to the city’s Palestinian American community, as well as a “universal politics.” He also reiterated that he would not “be welcoming” Netanyahu to the city, and suggested New Yorkers might greet his arrival with protests.

“This is a city where if anyone feels a level of frustration or opposition, protest is something that we will always respect,” he said. “I leave it to New Yorkers themselves to make that decision.”

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani seemed to shy away on Monday from a campaign vow — referenced in an interview over the weekend — to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, even as he continued to lob rhetorical fusillades at the leader of the Jewish state.

The now-mayor promised to arrest Netanyahu in the early days of his run for Gracie Mansion, as he sought to consolidate the far left behind his then-longshot bid, and reiterated the promise after winning the Democratic primary. 

“My administration will follow all applicable local laws," Mayor Zohran Mamdani told reporters about arresting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — what legal experts and Gov. Kathy Hochul say is outside the NYPD's powers.

Read more: https://t.co/xLADaz8fBu pic.twitter.com/hDC8VCtn9p

— Jewish Insider (@jewishinsider) July 20, 2026

Legal experts and even Gov. Kathy Hochul have asserted this lies outside the powers of the NYPD. But the democratic socialist maintained in a weekend interview with The New York Times that an “active conversation” remained ongoing in the city’s law department about his ability to enforce a warrant from the International Criminal Court — of which the U.S. is not a member — to take the Israeli prime minister into custody if he comes to New York for the upcoming U.N. General Assembly meeting.

But Mamdani seemed to acknowledge on Monday that such a move might exceed his authority.

“My administration will follow all applicable local laws, that is our commitment, that is something will follow through on, when it comes to adherence to local laws,” the mayor told reporters after an unrelated event, stressing again when pressed: “We will follow our local laws.”

“I believe that when someone is charged with an International Criminal Court warrant, it’s something that should be taken seriously, whether it’s Benjamin Netanyahu or it’s [Russian President] Vladimir Putin or whomever else,” the mayor said.

Nonetheless, the mayor criticized Netanyahu as the “architect of the genocide of Palestinians” and affirmed his earlier assertion that the Israeli leader is a “war criminal.” 

President Donald Trump, for his part, took to Truth Social after Mamdani’s sitdown with the Times to promise that Netanyahu “will not be arrested, in any way, shape, or form, while in the United States of America.”

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) on Sunday called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to launch an investigation after the lawmaker said he was harassed by Israeli settlers in the West Bank last week, an incident Netanyahu attributed to a small group of “vigilantes.”

During his first known trip to Israel and the West Bank since October 2024, Khanna said that his delegation’s van had been surrounded, stopped and taunted last Wednesday by Israeli settlers armed with U.S.-made M4 rifles during a tour of the southern West Bank, an incident that a New York Times photographer traveling in a different vehicle said he witnessed. 

Khanna claimed IDF vehicles then appeared, and the soldiers spoke amiably with the settlers and continued to block the road themselves after the settlers departed. The IDF denied that the visitors were detained by military personnel.

Cameron Kasky, an aide to Khanna, said the group was held for over an hour and appealed to the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem for assistance. Kasky previously ran in the Democratic primary in New York’s 12th Congressional District on an explicitly anti-Israel platform.

Khanna told NBC News the incident had made him “more resolved” to consider a presidential run in 2028. 

“I have something unique to offer about the injustices of Palestinians,” he told the Times. “I’m going to go to every corner of America, regardless of whether I run or not, and tell their stories and tell the story of what is happening in the West Bank.”

An IDF spokesperson told NBC that troops and police officers were dispatched to the scene in a “closed military zone” after a “report was received regarding Israeli civilians who were unlawfully blocking the vehicle of foreign nationals.” The military said the soldiers reopened the road and let the delegation through.

Israel Police said that officers on the scene did not witness any violence and that the group was stopped in a restricted zone. Israel prohibits its citizens from entering certain areas of the West Bank without an IDF permit, particularly Palestinian Authority-controlled Area A, which are typically marked with warning signs. Foreign civilians are generally not legally barred from these areas, though they may be subject to security advisories or temporary restrictions.

Police added that Khanna’s tour group leader was warned of a possible arrest and that the group was told that civilians were not permitted in the area, before being released. Khanna said that his office had alerted the Israeli Embassy in Washington of his visit — a claim that was denied by the Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter.

Speaking on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” Leiter said that Khanna’s team did not alert Israeli authorities, saying instead that the California lawmaker had ignored a request from officials to allow them to assist in coordinating the trip. 

“We reached out to him [Khanna] when we heard he was going to Israel … We suggested he visit with survivors of the Oct. 7 [2023] massacre, that he visit the borders so he understands the issues that we have on our borders and so on,” Leiter said. “He [Khanna] ignored that and he decided to coordinate his trip not with Israel, but with Palestinian activists and with J Street.”

“There was a question about visas, that’s all,” Leiter added of Khanna’s outreach to the embassy. “But when we requested that he coordinate the trip with us, he rejected that by basically staying silent.”

J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami on Sunday denied that J Street had any involvement in organizing Khanna’s visit.

Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Khanna called the encounter “unprecedented” and accused the IDF of “lying.”

“They had violent settlers detain American citizens, including an American government official,” Khanna said. “You had these settlers brandishing M4s, kicking the tires of our van, laughing at us, mocking us, videotaping us. We were detained for about 20 minutes, fearful for our lives. Then the IDF comes, four soldiers, they tell our translator that they’re on the side of the settlers.”

Also appearing on NBC on Sunday, Netanyahu insisted that Israel is “a country of laws” and blamed the confrontation on a fringe group of  “vigilantes.”

“We’re a country of laws, and people who break the law, we take them to court,” Netanyahu said. “There is a vigilante effort, not by the settler community … There are 150 juvenile delinquents that are not part of that community. They come from other parts of Israel. I don’t want vigilantes of any kind, and we are working to put them under the law.”

Responding to Netanyahu’s remarks, Khanna pushed the Israeli leader to further investigate the matter.

“The prime minister needs to open an investigation on these violent settlers,” Khanna said. “They need to be prosecuted … their outpost needs to be investigated, and he [Netanyahu] needs to have an investigation on these four IDF officers.”

“Security cameras can see that they were involved in the detention of American citizens,” he added. “How dare they mistreat people with an American passport that way?”

Jared Kushner, United Arab Emirates Ambassador to the U.S. Yousef Al Otaiba and former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett participated in an off-the-record discussion on Thursday morning at Allen & Company’s annual Sun Valley conference, Puck News reported.

The closed-door conversation, held before the conference’s invite-only audience of business, media and technology leaders, took place months after Israel assisted the UAE during the war with Iran, sending an Iron Dome battery and operators to the Gulf state, which faced more rocket, missile and drone attacks from Iran than another country in the region.

Later in the morning, Sens. Dave McCormick (R-PA) and John Fetterman (D-PA) appeared together for a wide-ranging discussion. 

Meta COO Dina Powell McCormick, who is married to the Pennsylvania senator, is also in attendance at Sun Valley this week alongside Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other senior Meta executives.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voiced opposition to the Trump administration’s sale of jet engines and potential sale of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey on Monday, saying on “Fox & Friends” that such moves “will upset the power balance in the Middle East, which is ultimately guaranteed by Israeli air superiority” and “America’s posture” in the region. 

Netanyahu’s remarks came hours before President Donald Trump’s departure for a NATO summit in Turkey, on the sidelines of which Trump is expected to hold a bilateral meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. 

“I don’t think [Turkey] should be given F-35s or the engines for their fighter jets,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Fox News.

He described Turkey as “infected by the Muslim Brotherhood, an extreme movement that hates America.”

Read more: https://t.co/gSW5VJLPfA pic.twitter.com/XKovNgVPJM

— Jewish Insider (@jewishinsider) July 6, 2026

Last month, the Trump administration told Congress it was moving to sell more than $700 million of U.S.-made F-110 jet engines to the Turkish military and was reviewing Ankara’s eligibility for the F-35 program, in a potential change to U.S. sanctions which currently prevent Turkey from participating.

“I don’t think they should be given F-35s or the engines for their fighter jets,” Netanyahu said on Monday, describing Turkey as “infected by the Muslim Brotherhood, an extreme movement that hates America.” He also pointed to recent comments by Erdoğan and Turkish ministers that Netanyahu characterized as “calling for the annihilation of Israel.”

Netanyahu’s comments echo concerns shared by a bipartisan group of House lawmakers, led by Reps. Mike Lawler (R-NY) and Brad Sherman (D-CA), who wrote to Trump last week warning that Erdoğan’s “constant and growing anti-Israel rhetoric” and ties to Iran make Turkey’s inclusion in the F-35 program unwise. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled to Washington in early February 2025 with a pitch for President Donald Trump: to join Israel in a future campaign to bomb Iran’s nuclear sites. Trump did not agree at the time, though he eventually came around to the idea.

Two powerful White House figures were particularly skeptical of Netanyahu’s message. 

The first was Vice President JD Vance, who has been calibrating a more isolationist worldview for years. The second, according to a new book by New York Times journalists Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, was White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. 

Their new book, Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump, paints a picture of Wiles as a savvy operator with sharp political instincts who, on Middle East policy matters, routinely aligned with Vance in urging Trump to reconsider major foreign policy interventions. 

After that first meeting between Trump and Netanyahu, Wiles and Vance were both skeptical of Israel’s efforts to persuade the president. They feared that any involvement from the U.S. military could “spiral into an Israeli regime-change war,” according to Swan and Haberman. 

Throughout the first months of Trump’s second term, Wiles and Vance both worried that former Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL), Trump’s pick to be national security advisor, was “too hawkish” and “too sympathetic to the Israeli line,” according to the book. 

Soon, after an embarrassing public scandal in which Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg was added to a group chat with Waltz, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other top national security officials prior to U.S. strikes on Yemen last year, Waltz was removed from that position and nominated to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. 

When Trump convened his Cabinet in early 2026 to consider whether to attack Iran again, after joining Israel in striking Iranian nuclear sites in June 2025, Wiles was once more concerned about the U.S. entering a new global conflict. She worried about “being dragged into another Middle East war,” Haberman and Swan write. Political concerns were top of mind for her — a war in Iran might lead to higher gas prices, which she feared could cost Republicans in the midterm elections this year. 

Ultimately, though, Wiles got on board with the Iran war. 

Wiles, Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump’s other top foreign policy advisors convened in the Situation Room in late February to discuss the matter.

Vance, who was known to oppose the war, spoke first. He told the president that he thought the operation was a bad idea, but he would support Trump.

Wiles was up next. She told Trump that she was on board if Trump felt the operation would protect America’s national security. 

24 hours later, Trump authorized the strikes on Iran. 

President Donald Trump grew so frustrated with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during last September’s negotiations over a U.S.-brokered deal to end the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, that Trump cursed and yelled at Netanyahu in a phone call days before the agreement was announced publicly, according to a new book.

“Everybody’s sick of you, Bibi,” Trump said in a phone call with Netanyahu, Jared Kushner and White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, according to a book published on Tuesday by New York Times journalists Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan chronicling the first year of Trump’s second term. “All the Jews are sick of you. Even the two Jews on this call are sick of you.” 

The conversation came during the United Nations General Assembly last September, when Trump was selling the deal that became his 20-point plan to end the Gaza war that began after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks. In the book, titled Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump, Haberman and Swan recount the turbulent couple of weeks that led to the deal — starting with Kushner’s searing anger at the Israeli government after the Israel Defense Forces conducted an airstrike that targeted Hamas leadership in Doha. The September 9 attack came one day after Kushner and Witkoff met in Witkoff’s Miami home with Ron Dermer, a top advisor to Netanyahu, to discuss day-after plans for Gaza.

“Dermer lied to us,” Kushner and Witkoff told officials at the White House after the strikes in Qatar. 

The Qataris, according to Haberman and Swan, initially reacted by deciding they no longer wanted to help Israel. Kushner felt the same.

“I’m f**king out. The Israelis are crazy,” Kushner reportedly told an associate at the time. Then he realized it could provide an opening to rein in Netanyahu after nearly two years of war. 

In the aftermath, Kushner drafted what would become Trump’s 20-point peace plan. Days later, on the sidelines of the UNGA in New York, Kushner and Witkoff met with Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Qatar’s prime minister. The Americans told Al Thani that he had two options: isolate Israel further, which would be “understandable,” or use the moment “for leverage” to get Israel to negotiate. 

Al Thani took Kushner’s laptop and began typing edits directly into the draft document, according to the book. 

Trump brought the deal to Arab and Muslim leaders before he showed it to Netanyahu. Witkoff and Kushner warned White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles that Netanyahu might try to call Trump to scuttle the plan. When he did finally call the White House, Wiles patched through Kushner and Witkoff, who stayed on the phone with Trump and Netanyahu. 

As soon as Trump got on the phone, he began yelling at Netanyahu — the tirade where he said everyone was sick of the prime minister. 

“You can’t back out of this. I’m the best friend Israel ever had. Everybody hates you, and I’ve stood by you,” Trump said, according to the book. “This is a great deal for Israel.” 

Netanyahu said he would agree to the deal. The two men announced it together at a joint press conference two days later, though the deal was not yet official. They presented a united front. Trump said Netanyahu would have his “full backing” to continue the war if Hamas did not agree to the deal.  

On the evening of Oct. 8, just over a week later, the deal was finalized. Soon after, the 20 living hostages who remained in Gaza were released.

The long love affair between Israelis and President Donald Trump, on the rocks over the last few weeks as the U.S. and Iran hammered out an end to the war, appears to be over, with humiliations mounting for Jerusalem. “I call all the shots,” not Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump said earlier this month. More recently, the Israeli leader’s bombing campaign in Beirut was “vicious,” Trump said. And perhaps most humiliating of all, Trump suggested that Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa could better take care of Hezbollah than the IDF.

The Israeli public — the spurned lover who once hailed the U.S. president with billboards hung in the center of Tel Aviv reading “Thank you God & Donald Trump” — is not taking it well. Former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Herzog told JI, “President Trump, who has been a hero to many Israelis, is now openly criticized from within the Israeli government, including Netanyahu’s close circle.”

And this criticism is not only expressed behind closed doors. Channel 14, the popular right-wing outlet that promotes Netanyahu, has been criticizing Trump resolutely, with some of its anchors publicly cursing Vice President JD Vance and the president’s close advisors, White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.

It was not always this way. For most of the time since Trump reentered the White House in January 2025, he has been popular in Israel, with polls consistently showing high ratings for the American president. 

For Israelis, Trump is the one who brokered the hostage-release agreement with Hamas; Trump is the one who made the strikes in Iran and the bombing of the nuclear enrichment facilities in Fordow and Natanz a reality; and Trump is the one who established the Abraham Accords and is willing to expand them, giving Israelis the chance to sunbathe in the UAE, and perhaps in other countries in the Gulf in the near future. And although some won’t admit it, many Israelis also like his tendency to speak very bluntly, and crudely: a president born in Queens, full of Israeli chutzpah.

In recent weeks, the attitude toward Trump among the Israeli public, and the Israeli leadership, has radically and rapidly changed. But this process began even before the signing of the memorandum of understanding with Iran. Over the past few months, time and again, Netanyahu has tried to convince Trump to resume strikes on Iran, only to be rejected. A source familiar with the discourse between the two leaders described to JI a situation that has played out repeatedly since April: the Israeli prime minister explains why only the military option is the correct approach to Iran, while Trump listens but prefers the diplomatic path. 

And then Trump, in his typical fashion, says that Netanyahu will do whatever the U.S. president tells him to do — which has some degree of truth — but is not a good look for a prime minister seeking reelection. Trump has repeatedly criticized Israeli policy in Lebanon and publicly reprimanded Netanyahu for not being responsible enough. When the U.S. president once again floated the possibility that al-Sharaa should handle Hezbollah, which has fired thousands of rockets and drones toward Israel and most recently killed four Israeli soldiers overnight Thursday, the criticism in Israel escalated.

Trump had previously suggested that the Syrians take on Hezbollah, as reported by Kann earlier this week, during an official meeting between the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors in April, though those in attendance were unenthusiastic about the idea. To understand the Israeli approach toward Trump’s suggestion, one can look at what the chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Likud MK Boaz Bismuth, posted on X: “President Trump, we don’t trust the terrorist Jolani, we have Golani,” referencing a well-known IDF combat infantry brigade.

The opinion within the Trump administration has been made clear. “Trump is the only head of state in the entire world who is sympathetic  to the nation of Israel at this moment and time,” Vance told reporters on Thursday. “If I was in the Cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have left in the entire world,” he said. “The problem for Israel is not Donald J. Trump. And anybody in Israel who thinks their biggest problem is the president of the U.S. needs to wake up and smell the reality of the situation that country is in.”

Yet now, after the agreement has been published, the criticism remains unchanged. An Israeli official told JI that the agreement raises several troubling signs, among them: the uncertainty over whether all enriched uranium will be removed from Iran, or only the high-level uranium; under the terms of the agreement, Iran, it appears, will be allowed to enrich uranium at a low level on its soil, meaning it can continue to operate centrifuges; and the issue of oversight is not explained.

“The second shocking thing here is the betrayal of the Iranian people. The second clause in the MOU agreement states that neither country will interfere in the internal affairs of the other. This means the Iranians can execute protesters, and nothing will be done to them,” the Israeli official said. “This entire war started because Trump said that ‘help is on the way,’ and that we would not allow tens of thousands of protesters to be shot and slaughtered. Beyond the concern that Iran will remain a nuclear threshold state, there is also a moral problem here.”

Avner Vilan, a former senior security official and Iran expert, also raised concerns about the agreement. “Iran is receiving a great deal of relief right now, but there is still a long way to go to reach an agreement in the nuclear field. This is an agreement that gives the murderous terror regime in Iran infinite immunity and incentives, allowing it to survive almost indefinitely, while recognizing the strategic significance of Hormuz,” he told JI. 

Vilan also referred to the statements made by Trump in recent days that sparked concern within the Israeli defense establishment. Trump has legitimized Iran’s ballistic missile arsenal, and this, as Vilan points out, despite the fact that Israel defined this threat as an existential threat almost on par with the nuclear one. “This is more disturbing than the state of relations between Trump and Netanyahu, and of course, it doesn’t help that the president calls the State of Israel a ‘very small partner.’ At the beginning of the war, we were a ‘Model Ally.’ Not a small partner,” Vilan notes. “Israel’s point of strength for years was that the way to D.C. goes through Jerusalem. Today, that is no longer the case at all.”

“Israelis expected that the amazing military achievements the U.S. and Israel scored together would be translated into a strong, enduring diplomatic outcome focused on the nuclear issue,” says former Ambassador Herzog. “Instead, the U.S. opted out of the war with a general MOU that focuses on the Strait of Hormuz and the global economy, in return for releasing generous funds to Iran and postponing the core nuclear negotiations. There is little reason to believe that the Iranian regime will now agree to give up the nuclear option or change its orientation, especially as the U.S. military option is taken off the table.”

What looked like a year of celebrating blue, white and red cooperation has been fading more and more in recent weeks. The disappointment among senior Israeli officials is likely intensifying, due in part to the widespread praise that Trump has long received in Israel. It wasn’t for nothing that Trump said last month that he could run in the upcoming elections for prime minister in Israel and win. Even if he were on the ballot, with the thrill now gone, he wouldn’t stand a chance.

The Likud party’s statement on Wednesday confirming that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would stand on the ballot this fall put to bed long-swirling rumors that the prime minister was considering forgoing another run — potentially in exchange for the government dropping its legal case against him.

That speculation had deepened earlier in the week, when President Donald Trump publicly mused whether Netanyahu, whom Trump referred to as “a wartime prime minister,” might decide to exit politics. A survey released this week by the Israel Democracy Institute found that 61% of Israelis — including 57% of Jewish Israelis and 87% of Arab Israelis — think Netanyahu should refrain from seeking another term.

With Netanyahu ending speculation about his political future, the focus now turns to the candidates seeking to unseat him.

Gadi Eisenkot’s ascent — earlier this week, a Channel 12 poll found for the first time that more Israelis favored him over Netanyahu as prime minister — comes as the former IDF chief of staff, who lost a son and two nephews in the Hamas war, becomes increasingly critical of Netanyahu, in whose war cabinet Eisenkot sat. As Israeli journalist Nadav Eyal points out, Eisenkot “isn’t seen as aggressive toward anyone but Netanyahu.”

Meanwhile, former Prime Ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid have experienced little momentum after they announced their merger into the “Together” slate in April. 

The two made a risky bet in joining forces with many months to go before the election — one that can’t easily be undone. And while their broad coalition was successful in 2021, it’s unclear if Together’s tent is big enough for all the anti-Netanyahu voters — in a changed electorate post-Oct. 7 — whom Bennett and Lapid would need to pick up. 

Bennett — whose previous party was called Yamina, the Hebrew word for “right,” and who has described himself as more right-wing than Netanyahu — will have the additional challenge of convincing his potential supporters that he will not be too accommodating to the left. It’s worth recalling that their previous “Change” government was felled by breakaway members who were angry over Bennett’s concessions to his more-liberal coalition partners.  

Part of the Change coalition’s success in 2021 — and also its downfall the following year — was its recruitment of Mansour Abbas’ Ra’am party. Now, Ra’am remains the one Arab party not joining forces with the three others, as efforts to form an alliance falter. And Abbas said as recently as a month ago that Eisenkot, Bennett and former Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman “are all worthy and have the experience to lead the next government” — even as all three have distanced themselves from Abbas. 

But depending on how the seats are apportioned after votes are counted, the anti-Netanyahu opposition could potentially need Ra’am’s support to get to 61 seats. That possibility — though Bennett has said he will only sit with Zionist parties — could prove to be a poison pill for some right-wing voters disenchanted by Netanyahu who could otherwise be swayed to vote for Bennett in the election.

Though no election date has been set, it is increasingly likely that Israelis will cast their ballots in late October, close to the deadline mandated by Israeli law, and weeks after the anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks, which occurred on Netanyahu’s watch. 

Even in spite of the Oct. 7 attacks, Netanyahu has sought to portray himself as a strongman protecting his country. But he is increasingly seen by Israelis — and even his own supporters — as deferential to Trump (who recently proclaimed, “I call the shots” regarding Iran moves). Netanyahu’s own envoy to Washington, Yechiel Leiter, told CNN last month that Israel was a “junior partner” to the U.S vis-à-vis Iran.

Without a resolution to the ongoing tensions with Tehran — to say nothing of the recent waves of ballistic missile attacks from Iran and Yemen, and Hezbollah’s ongoing fire targeting northern Israel — Netanyahu could find himself fighting his toughest battle yet.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that, though Israel is “holding its fire” against Iran, Jerusalem has “a full right to self-defense” and is “exercising it to the extent necessary.” 

The prime minister warned that if Iran resumes its attacks on Israel, the IDF would respond with “overwhelming force.”

Netanyahu’s statement follows a series of tit-for-tat exchanges between Israel and Iran and its proxies that began with Hezbollah’s fire on northern Israel on Sunday. After Israel struck Hezbollah targets in Beirut, Iran fired a wave of ballistic missiles at Israel, prompting the IDF to strike military targets, as well as a petrochemical facility, in Iran.

Netanyahu also suggested he had pushed back on President Donald Trump’s request for Israel to not respond to Iranian strikes on Sunday. He said he had relayed to the White House the message about Israel’s right to self-defense “with appreciation and respect in my good conversations with my friend President Trump.”

Trump asked Netanyahu on Sunday to keep Israel’s strikes against Iran limited to prevent escalation, once it became clear that Israel would not stand down, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. On Monday, Netanyahu agreed to a second request from Trump to halt Israel’s attacks, sources told the outlet.

Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-IN) introduced a resolution on Wednesday endorsing and praising Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s call to wind down U.S. aid to Israel over the next decade, the latest twist in the rapidly evolving U.S. conversation over the future of the U.S.-Israel relationship and U.S. aid to Israel.

Few Republicans, at this point, have publicly endorsed Netanyahu’s effort, which comes amid talks between the U.S. and Israel over the next memorandum of understanding on military aid. Top U.S. officials have confirmed in recent days that ending U.S. aid to Israel is part of those discussions. Future American aid is largely expected to pivot toward a model based on trade, partnership and joint development.

Stutzman said he had discussed the resolution and the effort with Netanyahu and other Cabinet ministers during a visit to Israel alongside Rep. Abe Hamadeh (R-AZ) last week, and that the Israeli officials were strongly supportive.

“We thought this was a good opportunity to get a sense of Congress, and of course support not only Israel, but support the administration, and as they move ahead in the next negotiations of MOU, and I’m excited about it. I think it’s a big step for both countries,” Stutzman told Jewish Insider during an interview in his Capitol Hill office on Wednesday.

He said he would not have moved ahead with the resolution if he did not find that he and Netanyahu were on the same page in their goals, and said he would walk it back if President Donald Trump offered a strong counterargument. Netanyahu himself offered a letter of support for the resolution, which Stutzman publicized alongside the resolution.

Netanyahu said in the letter to Stutzman that he was “glad to receive your proposed Congressional resolution endorsing my plan to shift the framework for US-Israel defense cooperation from aid to partnership” and that the “time has now arrived for us to move from aid recipient to partner.”

Such public letters from Netanyahu directly endorsing U.S. legislation are highly atypical, even for legislation supportive of Israel. The resolution “commends Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his bold proposal.”

Stutzman said he had discussed the resolution with the White House, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA), though none of them have given their backing to the resolution yet.

The congressman called it an expression of support from the House for “the efforts of both our countries to take this step in our maturing relationship.” He said that winding down aid is a “mature step” that acknowledges Israel’s role as a regional power and its growing economy. And he said it would communicate to the administration the support from Congress for winding down U.S. aid as part of the MOU talks.

Some pro-Israel voices in the U.S. have griped about the way Netanyahu has approached the wind-down of U.S. aid to Israel, with his comments being decontextualized and weaponized by critics of Israel in the United States to suggest Netanyahu himself supports a severing of the U.S.-Israel relationship or an immediate end to all U.S. aid.

“I’m sure people will try to weaponize it, and they’ll try to create conspiracy theories out of it, but you know what, I was in the room, there was nothing but discussion about our relationship and our partnership,” Stutzman said, when asked about such concerns. “I’m sure there will be some out there that try to use it as fuel for something. They already are, and it’s laughable, because you know it’s more out of a spirit of hatred for Israel than realizing that it’s in the best interest of both countries.”

He argued that the resolution should attract widespread support from budget hawks — for saving U.S. taxpayer money — and from pro-Israel colleagues for giving Israel the opportunity to “stand on their own two feet and be a standing partner beside us and not look like they’re dependent on us.”

Stutzman also said that the resolution, and ending U.S. aid, would remove an argument made by antisemites that the U.S.-Israel relationship is coercive or exploitative, though he acknowledged that it would not solve the problem of antisemitism.

“I hear too many young people especially say that, ‘Israel controls the United States,’ or ‘the United States controls Israel,’” Stutzman said. “No, we just have such common values, and it’s a very natural relationship.”

In addition to the provisions on U.S. aid, the resolution “condemns antisemitism in all its forms, including physical attacks on Jewish individuals and institutions, the harassment of Jewish Americans, the spread of antisemitic propaganda, and the delegitimization of Israel’s right to exist.”

Stutzman said he wants to see the next MOU with Israel — after the current one expires in 2028 — move the U.S.-Israel relationship toward partnership between American and Israeli companies, which he said would be beneficial for the U.S., Israel and other Middle Eastern countries.

The resolution “strongly supports” a new MOU “to replace traditional military assistance with a framework of joint defense codevelopment, coproduction, and mutual investment that will strengthen both nations’ defense industries and military readiness.”

He said the U.S. should also be exploring a Middle Eastern analogue to NATO, including Israel and Gulf states, to include an Article V-style defense guarantee from the United States to protect its various partners in the Middle East. He argued that the war in Iran, during which Tehran has struck various U.S. Gulf allies, has “helped show the world who the real problem was, and that’s Iran and the IRGC.”

Stutzman predicted that Trump will be able to bring regional partners, which are increasingly splitting into camps — Israel and the UAE on one side, and other Gulf and Arab states like Saudi Arabia and Qatar on the other — back together after the war in Iran ends, by touting his ability to defang the Iranian regime, and pointing to the threat it poses to all of them.

He said he believes reports that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman would be willing to normalize relations with Israel if not for objections from his father, King Salman. Saudi Arabia has publicly rejected the idea of normalization prior to progress toward a two-state solution.

Stutzman’s resolution praises Netanyahu and Israel for their cooperation with the U.S. in military operations against Iran.

Asked about the resolution, Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL), one of the most vocal pro-Israel Republicans in the House, said he’s “not a huge fan of resolutions,” which are nonbinding, and that he “struggle[s] with this issue,” calling it a “win for Israel” to wean off of U.S. aid but a “terible decision for America” because “American benefits much, much more from that $3.8 billion than it costs us.”

He said that ending U.S. aid will not stop antisemitism.

“The unfortunate thing is people believe this will stop the antisemitism. It’s not driven by the aid to Israel, they’ll come up with something else,” he said. “I support getting rid of it, just because I like to call BS on all the antisemites, but you’re not going to see me running around to pass a resolution, which doesn’t mean all that much.”

He said that he hasn’t reviewed Stutzman’s resolution yet so he couldn’t commit to how he might vote on it, but said he would consider it. “But I’d rather we actually do things that would solve the problem than just talk about solving the problem.”

Netanyahu’s letter has already been weaponized by anti-Israel forces on the left and right, who are linking it to a provision of the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act set for a markup in the House Armed Services Committee on Thursday, which aims to enhance U.S.-Israel technological cooperation and sharing.

Those relatively routine measures, which enjoy bipartisan support and further existing programs, are being undertaken independent of the current MOU, and would not impact the level of U.S. foreign military financing being provided to Israel next year or in the future — though they do model the sort of joint development and co-production which are likely to be the focus of the next MOU.

Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) posted a highlighted version of the letter pointing to sections where Netanyahu referenced “my plan” for the future of U.S. aid, suggesting that it was referring to the NDAA provision.

The anti-Israel group A New Policy posted the same highlighted graphic. Neither acknowledged the fact that Netanyahu’s letter referenced a different piece of legislation, instead declaring that he was discussing the NDAA language.

Despite President Donald Trump’s public acknowledgement of a confrontational phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding Israeli operations in Lebanon, Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday largely defended Israel’s attacks against the Lebanese terrorist group.

He said that Hezbollah reached out to the U.S. government through the Lebanese authorities approximately two weeks ago and said that it would stop launching missiles into Israeli territory if Israel did not attack Beirut. But Rubio said that Hezbollah went back on that agreement and launched rockets at Israel within hours.

“Israel has not conducted massive operations in Beirut for some time,” Rubio said at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing. “Israel has a right to act in its defense.”

Israeli strikes have taken place largely to prevent imminent attacks by Hezbollah forces preparing to attack Israel, Rubio said. He said that Israel’s seizure of territory in southern Lebanon has been intended to deny Hezbollah freedom to operate and launch missiles, and that Israel has not been conducting large-scale operations in Beirut.

Pressed on the current U.S. position in negotiations with Iran, particularly in comparison to the first Trump administration’s condemnation of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, Rubio largely focused on the nuclear elements of the deal, but said that Iran’s missile program would also be discussed.

He said that Iran would not receive money or sanctions relief unless it agrees to dispose of its highly enriched uranium and give up its enrichment program.

Asked whether the administration would submit any deal reached to Congress, he said that the administration would comply with the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act, which requires such review. He said in a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing in the afternoon that the bill, known as INARA, has “very specific requirements about elements of the nuclear program that would have to be noticed to Congress.”

Pressed by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on whether Iran’s support for proxy terrorism would be part of any deal, Rubio said that the U.S. would like to see limits on that activity in a deal, but said that there could also be U.S. sanctions “just on that.”

He also suggested at the House hearing the U.S. is seeking to address Iran’s supply of 20% enriched uranium, in addition to 60% enriched uranium.

Asked about recent comments by Trump describing the Iranian military as moderate, and saying that the U.S. has left it “alone,” Rubio drew a distinction between military equipment and capabilities, which the U.S. has targeted, and certain figures inside the regime who have been more open to negotiations with the U.S. or a more conciliatory posture.

He also framed all U.S. operations since the ceasefire as defensive — retaliatory attacks to respond to or prevent attacks on commercial shipping, to which Iran has responded with strikes on facilities throughout the region.

“These are completely defensive in nature. But they are happening in response to an Iranian action. If they don’t shoot at those ships, we don’t shoot. But we have to respond,” Rubio said. “You have a civilian commercial vessel transiting the straits and they’re being targeted by drones.”

He denied a report that Iran had threatened to test a nuclear weapon if the U.S. does not make concessions in negotiations.

Asked about congressional action on Iran, Rubio noted that Iranian state media has framed congressional votes in favor of war powers resolutions to block operations against Iran as a victory which would tie the U.S.’ hands.

He also said that the administration does not feel it needs an Authorization for Use of Military force to carry out any potential further operations against Iran, but said that the administration would engage with Congress if that occurs and that it would welcome any further congressional authorities.

Pressed by Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) about Israel’s alleged nuclear capabilities, Rubio emphasized that Israel has never acknowledged that it has a nuclear program, though most of the world believes it does. “But they’ve never acknowledged that publicly, and as a feature of our foreign policy, for a variety of reasons, we don’t discuss it in that way either,” he said.

He said that the State Department might be able to discuss the issue further in a closed session and in a different context than a letter Castro and other Democrats sent to Rubio on the subject.

Rubio also affirmed that Turkey is currently not eligible to receive F-35 fighter jets as long as it operates a Russian S-400 missile defense system, under U.S. statute.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday 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 on a new memorandum of understanding.

Netanyahu made the comments in an interview with CNBC’s Sara Eisen after being asked about his political future and when Israel would be ready for new leadership. The prime minister responded by noting that while the Israeli people could decide at “any time” to remove him from power, he is currently focused on achieving four objectives: “finish[ing] the security envelope that we have to make vis-à-vis Iran and its proxies”; securing more investments globally to expand Israel’s AI and tech sectors; normalizing relations with several countries in the Middle East; and ending Israel’s reliance on U.S. aid. 

“The other thing I want to do is move away, in America, from aid to partnership. We’re now working on a memorandum of understanding, which will bring down the aid,” Netanyahu said. “I want it to start now, 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, because I think we’ve come of age.” 

The current MOU, which provides Israel with $3.8 billion in U.S. military aid annually, runs through FY 2028. Netanyahu did not clarify whether he would like to see aid begin to wind down through changes to the current agreement, or whether he is focused on ongoing negotiations for the next one.

“Israel has a robust economy, and I want us to go from aid to a partnership where we both invest equal amounts and both share equally in the fruits of our innovators and technologies,” he continued. “I think that’s very, very important. It will also take away the myth that Israel is depleting America’s coffers.”

Netanyahu has said on multiple occasions since January that he hopes to wean Israel off of U.S. aid, initially suggesting in January that Israel would work to end U.S. aid within the next ten years. He pitched the aid drawdown to President Donald Trump in late December, an idea the president was initially bewildered by and not supportive of. 

Netanyahu also downplayed reports that Trump told him he is “f***ing crazy” in a phone call on Monday about Israel’s military escalation in Lebanon and rejected the notion that his relationship with the president had shifted, noting that the two speak as frequently as “every two days.” 

Still, he did not deny that the conversation occurred as reported.

“Sometimes we have, as in the best of families, you have these tactical disagreements. We always find a way to work them out and we do so as great friends,” Netanyahu said. “We can disagree in the morning, and by the afternoon we have common action.”

Good Friday morning.

In today’s Daily Kickoff, we look at the state of play in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s inner security circle amid the departures of some of his key advisors, and talk to U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee about the influence of foreign funding in higher education. We spotlight the concerns among Jewish community members in Montana’s 1st Congressional District, as the leading Democratic candidates skew largely to the party’s left on Israel policy, and talk to American Jewish Committee CEO Ted Deutch ahead of AJC’s Global Forum, which kicks off on Sunday. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Daniel Loeb, Scooter Braun and Raz Shabtai.

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

For less-distracted reading over the weekend, browse this week’s edition of The Weekly Print, a curated print-friendly PDF featuring a selection of recent Jewish Insider and eJewishPhilanthropy stories, including: State Dept. official Sarah Rogers urges protecting free speech while fighting antisemitism; Pro-Israel groups grapple with the future of Israel funding and DSA quietly poised to make inroads in NYC’s congressional delegation. Print the latest edition here.

What We’re Watching

• In Washington, the Pentagon is convening military representatives from Israel and Lebanon for a fourth round of talks between Jerusalem and Beirut aimed at winding down military action around the Israel-Lebanon border and disarming Hezbollah and its strongholds in southern Lebanon.
• Allison Hooker, the State Department’s under secretary for political affairs, is slated to meet this morning with Oman’s ambassador to the U.S. The meeting comes days after President Donald Trump said at a Cabinet meeting that “Oman will behave just like everybody else, or we’ll have to blow ‘em up.” 
• Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is in Singapore for the International Institute for Strategic Studies’ Shangri-La Dialogue, where he’ll speak tomorrow morning. Dozens of defense ministers and senior officials from around the world are slated to speak at the convening, which kicks off later today and runs through the weekend.
• In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he ordered the IDF to expand its control in the Gaza Strip to 70% of the enclave, amid stalled talks aimed at disarming Hamas and beginning the reconstruction of Gaza.
• Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC) is hosting his annual World Famous Fish Fry, historically considered a mandatory pit stop for Democratic presidential aspirants. This year, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear are expected to attend the Columbia, S.C., fry-up.
• The Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor State Convention kicks off today and runs through the weekend. This year’s convention takes place amid growing concerns that the party’s statewide conventions have become activist turf, after attendees at the Michigan Democratic Party convention last month heckled pro-Israel speakers and in one case screamed an antisemitic slur at the Jewish husband of Michigan Senate candidate Mallory McMorrow. Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN), who is running for Minnesota’s open Senate seat, will skip this weekend’s convention altogether.
• The American Jewish Committee’s Global Forum begins on Sunday. Read our interview with AJC CEO Ted Deutch below.
• The annual Israel on Fifth parade will take place on Sunday in Manhattan. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani will not attend the parade, marking the first time in more than six decades that a sitting mayor has not attended. In attendance, however, will be dozens of Israeli officials — the largest delegation the country has ever sent to the parade. More below.
• Elsewhere in New York on Sunday, the Republican Jewish Coalition is holding its USA 250 Gala Dinner. U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz, Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon, Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana and Reps. Randy Fine (R-FL) and Mike Lawler (R-NY) are slated to speak at the event.

What You Should Know

A QUICK WORD WITH GILI COHEN

For years, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has relied on a small, passionately loyal inner circle of advisors — Ron Dermer foremost among them — to provide a sounding board on some of the country’s thorniest security matters.

Now, with Dermer (mostly) gone, new elections looming and Israel fighting a multifront war and isolated on the world stage, that inner circle is nearly empty. And the departures of key security advisors have left the longest-serving prime minister in the country’s history arguably more alone than ever.

The position of head of Israel’s National Security Council has been unfilled on a permanent basis since October 2025, when Netanyahu dismissed Tzachi Hanegbi from the role. It is currently held in an acting capacity by Gil Reich, a former senior official at the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission, who will move to a different role within the defense establishment on Monday. 

Just a day later, the director of the Mossad, David Barnea, will also step down after completing a full five-year term. He is set to be replaced by Netanyahu’s military secretary, Gen. Roman Gofman.

However, in the Israel of 2026, nothing is straightforward. High Court justices must soon rule on whether Gofman’s sensitive appointment for the Mossad will be approved. This comes after the head of the Senior Appointments Advisory Committee — the Israeli version of a Senate hearing for high-ranking civil service roles — opined that Gofman’s appointment was flawed on ethical grounds.

But Gofman’s departure will mark a farewell to one of Netanyahu’s closest advisors and currently the most influential security figure in his orbit — and at a time when Netanyahu’s post-Oct. 7 relationship with the military echelon remains exceptionally complex. 

“The role of the national security advisor and head of the NSC is critical and central for shaping, planning and overseeing the execution of Israel’s national security policy,” Eyal Hulata, who served as head of Israel’s NSC from 2021-2023, told Jewish Insider. 

“The fact that the prime minister is not appointing a replacement for this role is, unfortunately, yet another example of a disregard for organized staff work and another blow to the professionalism required when working with the defense establishment,” Hulata continued. Sources close to the prime minister told JI that Netanyahu intends to fill these soon-to-be-empty positions shortly.

So, who are the candidates for head of the Israeli NSC? According to sources familiar with the matter, there are two front-runners: Reuven Azar, Israel’s ambassador to India, and Col. (res.) Gabi Siboni, a hawkish commentator on military strategy.

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

AMBASSADOR’S INSIGHTS

Huckabee warns foreign influence in schools is driving evangelicals away from Israel

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee urged America to “be doing more” to combat foreign influence in schools, which he identified as a key factor in the declining support for Israel among younger evangelical Americans. While evangelicals have historically been some of Israel’s strongest allies, support among the youngest Americans is becoming “more divided” than in previous generations, Huckabee, who is an evangelical Christian, told Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen in a wide-ranging interview.  

Education consternation: “A lot of it is driven by social media and Middle Eastern studies programs that are heavily financed by Gulf state countries pouring billions of dollars into universities in the U.S. and giving people a very false understanding of what the realities in the Middle East are,” Huckabee said. His comments came shortly before he delivered the commencement address on Thursday at Yeshiva University’s graduation ceremony at Louis Armstrong Stadium in Queens.

Read the full interview here.

Doubling down: A week after describing J Street as “a cancer within the Jewish community” for calling for the United States to restrict aid to Israel, Yechiel Leiter, Israel’s envoy to Washington, doubled down on his critique of the organization, stating that the liberal advocacy group’s recent actions are “decidedly not pro-Israel,” eJewishPhilanthropy’s Nira Dayanim reports for JI.

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TED TALK

Antisemitism has become ‘instrumentalized’ and ‘institutionalized’ in politics, media and more, Ted Deutch says

Ahead of the American Jewish Committee’s annual Global Forum conference, which begins in Washington on Sunday, the group’s CEO, Ted Deutch, is reflecting on a significantly transformed landscape — in which, he said, antisemitism has become mainstream in politics and circles of power in alarming ways that seemed to leave the longtime former congressman stunned. But he also said, in an interview with Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod, that AJC has been working on a comprehensive new plan to address the changing manifestations of antisemitism in the current social environment, which it plans to unveil at next week’s conference.

Observing and adapting: “Antisemitism is unfortunately no longer just on the fringes, but it’s become instrumentalized, it’s become institutionalized in so many ways and amplified in mainstream politics and media and online and at international institutions,” Deutch told JI at AJC’s Washington offices on Thursday. “The threat of antisemitism has evolved, and I think our response has to evolve as well.”

Read the full interview here.

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UNDER SCRUTINY

Adam Hamawy’s Democratic rivals, Rep. Gottheimer call for answers on his terrorist ties

Several of Adam Hamawy’s opponents in the Democratic primary in New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District are challenging the candidate to explain his ties to Omar Abdel-Rahman, the convicted terrorist known as the Blind Sheikh, as well as his service with a charity later shuttered as a front for al-Qaida years after he volunteered, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod and Will Bredderman report.

Seeking clarity: Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) is now also joining them in seeking more clarity on the first-time congressional candidate’s background. Many of Hamawy’s other Democratic rivals appeared hesitant to address the military veteran and physician’s past ties to Islamist extremists, with only Mayor Adrian Mapp of Plainfield publicly addressing the weeks-old reporting about Hamawy testifying in defense of Abdel-Rahman. Brad Cohen, the mayor of East Brunswick, N.J., told JI Hamawy’s past ties require further explanation.

Read the full story here.

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MARKED ABSENT

Mamdani won’t attend Israel Day parade, but pledges ‘comprehensive security’

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani will break with 61 years of tradition by skipping this year’s “Israel Day on Fifth” parade, but his police chief will serve as a grand marshal — and the two pledged a “comprehensive security plan” to protect the festivities taking place on Sunday, Jewish Insider’s Will Bredderman reports.

What he said: At a press conference at One Police Plaza on Thursday, the mayor affirmed his longstanding vow to boycott the event. “I said on the campaign trail that I wouldn’t be attending the parade, and I’ve made my views on the Israeli government abundantly clear,” said Mamdani, who distinguished himself not just from his predecessors but also the pack of rivals he faced in the 2025 election with his anti-Israel stance. “While I will not be attending, our administration has been preparing for weeks to ensure the parade is safe for all those who take part.”

Read the full story here.

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Big Sky Battle

Most Montana Democrats running for Rep. Ryan Zinke’s seat slam U.S.-Israel relationship

In the contentious Democratic primary in Montana’s 1st Congressional District, Israel and antisemitism have become flashpoints in ways that members of the local Jewish community say they find concerning and potentially dangerous. Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT), who currently represents the seat, is retiring at the end of his current term, and Democrats view it as a potential pickup opportunity in a favorable midterm climate, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. 

Coming down on Israel: 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. Ryan Busse, a businessman and author who is the top fundraiser among the Democratic candidates, declared that the U.S. has been “forced into a war by another country,” alleging that Israel dragged the U.S. in its military campaign against Iran.

Read the full story here.

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MACKINAC MOMENT

At Mich. Senate debate, McMorrow says Dems have an antisemitism problem

Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow offered a straightforward answer when asked at a debate at the Mackinac Policy Conference on Thursday, alongside the other two Democrats vying for an open Senate seat in the state, whether there is an antisemitism problem in the Democratic Party, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports. “There is,” said McMorrow. She told the story of an attendee at last month’s Democratic Party convention in Detroit who yelled an antisemitic slur at her Jewish husband, in front of their young daughter. 

What she said: “That is terrifying. We need to be able to state very clearly that what the Netanyahu government is doing is wrong, that the violence needs to end, that we need to bring about long-term peace and security for Palestinians and for Israelis, and that turning that into not an anti-Netanyahu, but an anti-American Jewish message is dangerous,” McMorrow said, earning applause from the room.

Read the full story here.

Debate dodge: Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) sidestepped a question on accepting contributions from donors to AIPAC, giving a response characterized by The New York Times as “160 words without coming remotely close to answering the question” that failed to mention both Israel and AIPAC in her answer.

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Worthy Reads

Weeding Out the Uyghurs: The Financial Times’ Alison Killing does a deep dive into China’s escalating efforts to crack down on Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in the country. “But FT analysis suggests that the Chinese state’s campaign of oppression against Uyghurs and their culture and identity has in fact entered a new phase. It shows Xinjiang has the world’s highest prison detention capacity relative to its population size — evidence that authorities continue to rely on mass incarceration. Researchers and rights groups say repression in the region now extends towards the long-term remaking of Uyghur society. … ‘Everything that once reflected Uyghur civilization — our culture, our language — has been wiped out,’ says a Uyghur man who recently visited the region from the U.S.” [FT]

Making a Militia: In New Lines Magazine, Farea Al-Muslimi examines the decades-long effort by Hezbollah to grow and strengthen the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen. “The relationship between Hezbollah and the Houthis is not simply a case of proxy support. It reflects a sustained process of construction — militarily, politically and institutionally — that produced an actor with its own strategic direction. Over time, that process altered the relationship itself. What began as mentorship created the conditions for autonomy. The Houthis remain aligned within a broader regional framework, but they are no longer defined by their allies.” [NewLines]

Word on the Street

Vice President JD Vance said on Thursday afternoon that the U.S. and Iran were “very close” to reaching an agreement on the wording of a memorandum of understanding that would institute a 60-day ceasefire, reopen the Strait of Hormuz and begin nuclear talks… 

The Treasury Department reimposed sanctions on Francesca Albanese after the Trump administration appealed a federal court order to remove the U.N. special rapporteur from the U.S. sanctions list while a lawsuit challenging the sanctions plays out in court…

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer ruled out a 2028 presidential run, saying at Thursday’s Mackinac Policy Conference that “there will be a robust group of people running for president,” but she “will not be one of them”…

Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), a Jewish Democrat who is among the most vocal supporters of Israel in Congress, announced on Thursday that he would seek reelection in a new South Florida House district recently drawn to favor Republicans, after his own was largely erased, setting the stage for what is expected to be a costly and competitive race, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports…

Reps. Marlin Stutzman (R-IN) and Abe Hamadeh (R-AZ), two strong supporters of Israel, made another trip to the country this week, during which they met separately with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, JI’s Matthew Shea reports…

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani endorsed democratic socialist Darializa Avila Chevalier in her primary challenge to Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY); Mamdani had last year committed to backing Espaillat after the chair of the House Hispanic Caucus dropped his support for former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and endorsed Mamdani in the general election…

Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion President Andrew Rehfeld, speaking at the Re-Charging Reform Judaism conference in New York this week, fought back against Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch’s condemnation of the Reform seminary’s ordination of anti-Zionist clergy, calling his comments “an attack on the very Enlightenment principles that founded our movement” and accusing him of “anti-intellectualism,” eJewishPhilanthropy’s Nira Dayanim reports…

Third Point founder and CEO Daniel Loeb made his first podcast appearance, appearing on Patrick O’Shaughnessy’s “Invest Like the Best” to discuss AI, corporate governance and investing in the current climate…

Appearing on The Free Press’ “Second Thought” podcast, Scooter Braun reflects on his relationship with Kanye West and the performer’s past antisemitic comments, noting that “obviously the things that [West has] gone through and the things he’s said been have been very upsetting to me,” but that Braun wants “to always believe people have an opportunity to have salvation and growth. And as much as I was very much upset because my family was in the Holocaust, and some of the things he said were incredibly inappropriate [and] very frustrating. And that’s the reason, probably, we haven’t spoken in a very long time”…

Jerusalem-born chef Raz Shabtai’s North Miami restaurant Mutra was awarded a Michelin star, becoming the only current kosher restaurant with the honor…

A who’s who of high-profile figures in sports management were in Budapest, Hungary, last night for the UEFA Champions League gala dinner; those in attendance included New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin…

A Jewish teenager in Toronto who had been missing since mid-May was found by authorities, who are investigating “whether or not there is any evidence of criminality” in her disappearance…

Organizers of Rome’s upcoming Pride parade denied a request from the country’s only Jewish LGBTQ group to march with a float, saying that the Keshet Italia, which is unaffiliated with Israel, had refused to called Israel’s actions in Gaza a “genocide”…

A soccer match between the Irish and Qatari national teams at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium was disrupted on two occasions by match-goers who threw tennis balls emblazoned with Palestinian flags onto the field, raising concerns about fans’ behavior ahead of two matches between Ireland and Israel slated for this fall in Dublin…

Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon said that Israel would cut ties with U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres over Israel’s inclusion in an upcoming sexual violence blacklist, owing to alleged abuses of Palestinian detainees in Israeli custody…

CBS News is tapping former New York Times columnist Nick Bilton, a Vanity Fair alum, as executive producer of “60 Minutes,” replacing Tanya Simon…

The New York Times interviews the Washington Star‘s new owner, Dovid Efune, about his plans to resurrect the publication 40 years after it last published; earlier this week, Efune filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against online publication NOTUS, which recently announced plans to rebrand as The Star…

William Daroff, CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, was named the first chair of the J50 Forum, a group of leaders from 50 Jewish communities from around the world that was created last year by Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar… 

CNN Jerusalem Correspondent Jeremy Diamond won the Emmy Award for Outstanding News Interview for his sit-down with senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad…

Actor Marvin Chatinover died at 99…

Wine of the Week

JI wine columnist Yitz Applbaum reviews the Hajdu Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2022:

I have written before about the brilliant cult winemaker Jonathan Hajdu. His wines continue to grace the kosher market with varieties new to it, challenging our palates in ways at once playful and serious. His rieslings dance; his old-vine zinfandels brood.

This Shabbat, we were blessed to taste his 2022 Reserve Cabernet. A big, bold, all-encompassing wine, it opens with a rush of dry earthiness that yields to a mouthwatering mid-palate juiciness of dark berry. The finish is long, carrying familiar notes of dark chocolate and a whisper of cedar. Pair it with a meat-rich cholent, and lay a bottle down for years to come.

Pic of the Day

Dan Tadmor, the president of the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History, addressed the crowd at the museum gala last night in New York City, which honored Stuart and Jane Weitzman, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Nira Dayanim reports from the Plaza Hotel. The gala comes as the museum, which is making efforts to be incorporated into the Smithsonian, launches a $100 million fundraising campaign to transform and expand its mission.

“It’s the only museum that tells the American Jewish story in its entirety, geographically, historically, thematically, which is a tall order. It means that we need to excel,” Tadmor told eJP. “It’s been a very tumultuous 20 years, and thematic museums, which are museums that tell a story, they evolve, they need to evolve, because our stories change, narratives change, technology changes.”

Birthdays

Film, stage and television actor, singer and songwriter, Idina Menzel turns 55 on Saturday… 

FRIDAY: Montreal-based businessman and philanthropist, Marvin Birnbom turns 96… Professor emerita of marine biology at Rutgers University, Judith Shulman Weis turns 85… Former member of the Knesset for the Likud party and then Israel’s ambassador to Japan, Eli Cohen turns 77… Winner of three Emmy Awards and a Grammy, actor, composer, singer, songwriter and record producer, Danny Elfman turns 73… U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS) turns 72… Retired senior diplomat in the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, she was previously a brigadier general in the IDF, Ruth Yaron turns 69… Television writer, producer and actor, best known as the creator of the sitcom “Arrested Development” as well as the co-creator of “The Ellen Show,” Mitchell Hurwitz turns 63… Past president of Ahavath Achim Congregation in Wichita, Kan., she is a trustee-at-large on the board of JFNA, Ellen Ginsburg Beren… Professor at the University of Chicago, co-author of the best-selling books in the Freakonomics series, Steven Levitt turns 59… CEO and executive editor of 70 Faces Media, the parent company of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Amiram “Ami” Eden… Policy analyst at Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Yaakov Feinstein… Founding partner of Blandford Capital, Nathaniel Jerome Meyohas turns 52… Founder and creative director of the fashion label Shoshanna, Shoshanna Lonstein Gruss turns 51… Chief communications officer and global spokesperson at Aish, she is also a cookbook author, Jamie Geller turns 48… Film producer and former corporate lawyer at Skadden Arps, Edward Frank “Teddy” Schwarzman turns 47… Senior political reporter at The Forward, Jacob Kornbluh… Swedish-born pro-Israel activist, commentator and reporter, Annika Hernroth-Rothstein turns 45… Managing director at Hudson Bay Capital Management and Jewish communal activist, Alexander Berger… Assistant secretary for constituency affairs for New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, he was formerly her Jewish liaison, Jacob “Jake” Adler… Israeli-born assistant pitching coach for the Colorado Rockies, he pitched for Team Israel at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Alon Leichman turns 37… English actor, his bar mitzvah was at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, Gregg Sulkin turns 34… 

SATURDAY: Santa Monica, Calif.-based historian of Sephardic and Crypto-Jewish studies, Dolores Sloan turns 96… Real estate developer, landlord of the World Trade Center until 9/11, former chair of UJA-Federation of NY, Larry A. Silverstein turns 95… Partner in the NYC law firm of Mintz & Gold, he is also a leading supporter of Hebrew University, Ira Lee “Ike” Sorkin turns 83… Cape Town, South Africa, native, she is the owner and chef at Los Angeles-based Catering by Brenda, Brenda Walt turns 75… Former professional tennis player, he competed in nine Wimbledons and 13 U.S. Opens, Steve “Lightning” Krulevitz turns 75… Former chief rabbi of France, Gilles Uriel Bernheim turns 74… Medical director of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee’s Ethiopia spine and heart project, Dr. Richard “Rick” Hodes turns 73… Encino, Calif.-based business attorney, Andrew W. Hyman… Literary critic, essayist and novelist, Daphne Miriam Merkin turns 72… Israeli physicist and philosopher, Avshalom Cyrus Elitzur turns 69… Former member of Congress from Long Island for 16 years, since leaving Congress he has opened a bookstore and written three novels, Steve Israel turns 68… Former science editor for BBC News and author of several books, David Shukman turns 68… Founder of Krav Maga Global with 1,500 instructors in 60 countries, Eyal Yanilov turns 67… Member of the editorial board at The New York Times, Michelle Cottle… Writer, filmmaker, playwright and DJ, known by his pen name Ithamar Ben-Canaan, Itamar Handelman Smith turns 50… Member of Knesset who previously served as Israel’s minister of agriculture, Oded Forer turns 49… Director of marketing at NYC’s Congregation Rodeph Sholom, Scott Hertz… Deputy assistant to President Biden until 2023, the first Palestinian-American White House senior staffer, now the chief of staff for Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI), Reema Dodin turns 46… Communication and marketing coordinator for the San Francisco office of AIPAC, Alina T. Katz… Israeli author, her debut novel has been published in dozens of countries, Shani Boianjiu turns 39… Rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer, known professionally as Hebro, Raphael Ohr Chaim Fulcher turns 39… Senior counsel at Gilead Sciences, Ashley Bender Spirn… Ice hockey head coach of the ECHL’s South Carolina Stingrays, David Matthew Warsofsky turns 36… Deputy chief of staff for Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Miryam Esther Lipper… Senior reporter for CNN, Eric Levenson… Challah baker and manager of San Francisco’s Howard Properties, Jason Friend…

SUNDAY: Investment advisor at Wedbush Securities in Los Angeles, Alfred Phillip Stern turns 93… Owner of one of the nation’s largest privately held industrial empires, Ira Leon Rennert turns 92… Professor emeritus at Yale University and the 2018 winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, William Dawbney Nordhaus turns 85… Food critic at Vogue magazine since 1989 and judge on “Iron Chef America,” he is the author of the 1997 award-winning book The Man Who Ate Everything, Jeffrey Steingarten turns 84… Founder and retired CEO of the Democratic Leadership Council, Alvin “Al” From turns 83… Author, political pundit and a retired correspondent for HBO’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel,” he has won fourteen Emmy Awards during his career, Bernie Goldberg turns 81… Comedian, actor and TV producer, Susie Essman turns 71… Founder and chairman of the Katz Group of Companies with operations in the sports (including the Edmonton Oilers), entertainment and real estate sectors, Daryl Katz turns 65… Reality television personality, best known for starring in and producing her own matchmaking reality series, “The Millionaire Matchmaker,” Patti Stanger turns 65… Jerusalem-born inventor, serial entrepreneur and novelist; founder, chairman and CEO of CyberArk Software, one of Israel’s leading software companies, Alon Nisim Cohen turns 58… Entrepreneur, best known as the co-founder of CryptoLogic, an online casino software firm, Andrew Rivkin turns 57… Former Democratic mayor of Annapolis, Md., now VP of policy at SWTCH, Joshua Jackson “Josh” Cohen turns 53… Senior director of volunteerism & advocacy at the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, Melissa York… Israeli actor, singer and dancer, she played a Mossad agent in the espionage TV series “Tehran,” Liraz Charhi turns 48… Author of the “Money Stuff” column at Bloomberg Opinion, Matthew Stone Levine turns 48… Freelance writer in Brooklyn, Sara Trappler Spielman… Former attorney and NYT-bestselling author of the Mara Dyer and Shaw Confessions series, Michelle Hodkin turns 44… Senior counsel for autonomy & robotics at DoorDash, formerly a senior advisor at the Department of Commerce, Bert Eli Kaufman… Senior product manager at Tel Aviv-based Forter, Zoe Goldfarb… Stephanie Oreck Weiss… Chief revenue officer at NOTUS, Brad E. Bosserman… Senior rabbi and executive director of Jewish life at D.C.’s Sixth & I, Aaron Potek… Managing editor at NOTUS, Matt Berman… Medical student in the class of 2027 at the University of Nicosia Medical School, Amital Isaac… Brad Goldstein… Basketball player in Israel’s Premier League until recent years, while at Princeton he won the Ivy League Player of the Year award (2017), Spencer Weisz turns 31… Professional golfer on the PGA Tour, Max Alexander Greyserman turns 31… Tech product leader and rapper known by his stage name, King Sol, Benjamin Solomon turns 28…

For years, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has relied on a small, passionately loyal inner circle of advisors — Ron Dermer foremost among them — to provide a sounding board on some of the country’s thorniest security matters.

Now, with Dermer (mostly) gone, new elections looming and Israel fighting a multifront war and isolated on the world stage, that inner circle is nearly empty. And the departures of key security advisors have left the longest-serving prime minister in the country’s history arguably more alone than ever.

​The position of head of Israel’s National Security Council has been unfilled on a permanent basis since October 2025, when Netanyahu dismissed Tzachi Hanegbi from the role. It is currently held in an acting capacity by Gil Reich, a former senior official at the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission, who will move to a different role within the defense establishment on Monday. 

Just a day later, the director of the Mossad, David Barnea, will also step down after completing a full five-year term. He is set to be replaced by Netanyahu’s military secretary, Gen. Roman Gofman.

​However, in the Israel of 2026, nothing is straightforward. High Court justices must soon rule on whether Gofman’s sensitive appointment for the Mossad will be approved. This comes after the head of the Senior Appointments Advisory Committee — the Israeli version of a Senate hearing for high-ranking civil service roles — opined that Gofman’s appointment was flawed on ethical grounds.

Netanyahu believes Gofman has been wronged, and that right now, amid a “seven-front war,” as he noted in a recent press release, this appointment is critical.

​But Gofman’s departure will mark a farewell to one of Netanyahu’s closest advisors and currently the most influential security figure in his orbit — and at a time when Netanyahu’s post-Oct. 7 relationship with the military echelon remains exceptionally complex. 

​”The role of the national security advisor and head of the NSC is critical and central for shaping, planning and overseeing the execution of Israel’s national security policy,” Eyal Hulata, who served as head of Israel’s NSC from 2021-2023, told Jewish Insider. 

“The fact that the prime minister is not appointing a replacement for this role is, unfortunately, yet another example of a disregard for organized staff work and another blow to the professionalism required when working with the defense establishment,” Hulata continued. Sources close to the prime minister told JI that Netanyahu intends to fill these soon-to-be-empty positions shortly.

​So, who are the candidates for head of the Israeli NSC? According to sources familiar with the matter, there are two front-runners: Reuven Azar, Israel’s ambassador to India, and Col. (res.) Gabi Siboni, a hawkish commentator on military strategy. 

Azar, who previously served as Netanyahu’s foreign policy advisor, was involved in the brokering of the Abraham Accords and is considered a highly professional diplomat. As President Donald Trump has made a priority of advancing the Abraham Accords 2.0, now with additional countries such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia, Azar’s experience could be an asset to the NSC. 

Siboni is a military strategy expert who frequently provides commentary in the Israeli media, and is known for his hawkish views. He has a significant vulnerability, however: He is close friends with former IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, who is running against Netanyahu in the upcoming elections. 

​An Israeli source who worked for the current government claimed that while Netanyahu has other candidates in mind to be the next NSA, they don’t stand a real chance. “There are a little over three months left until the elections in Israel. Stepping into such a role when you know your tenure is about to end simply makes no sense,” the source told JI. “Moreover, Netanyahu is deeply suspicious when it comes to choosing the people he lets into his inner circle.” 

​Until recently, Netanyahu could rely on his loyal confidant Ron Dermer to serve as a de facto national security advisor, even though he held the title of minister of strategic affairs. Dermer left the role this year after an exhausting stretch of public service, but Netanyahu continues to invite him to security briefings, including highly classified ones.

​While the Prime Minister’s Office promises that the vacant positions will be filled soon, Netanyahu likely won’t be looking for another trusted figure like Dermer. Instead, he will be seeking someone like the Israeli version of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, an official who can juggle multiple roles at the same time without causing the boss any political headaches.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore slammed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a recent interview with Politico, arguing that the Israeli premier has committed war crimes and that his actions make American Jews less safe. 

Moore, a Democrat with close ties to Maryland’s Jewish community, reiterated his support for Israel’s existence. But he strongly criticized Netanyahu’s leadership.

“I think that the State of Israel has a right to exist, but I also think that so do the Palestinian people,” Moore said, when asked if he considers himself a Zionist. “From what we’ve seen from Bibi Netanyahu, I just do not know, and nor believe, that he is putting the same measure of focus on Palestinian lives as he does on Israeli lives.”

Moore declined to say whether he believes Israel’s actions in Gaza amount to a genocide, saying instead that the matter will be left to international courts to decide.

“I think that it’s going to have to be international tribunals [that] figure that out, but I do think this,” Moore said. “I know as a military person that you cannot use food as a negotiating tool. That is a war crime, and I think Bibi Netanyahu has committed war crimes.”

When asked whether Netanyahu should be in prison, Moore dodged the question.

“Look at it this way. First of all, he’s actually under investigation and indictment already right now,” said Moore. “But also if you look at what’s happened in Lebanon, even just since the start of the Iran war, he’s annexed and taken over 10% of Lebanon. That, again, is a war crime. I just don’t know how we can continue tolerating these types of actions by Bibi Netanyahu.”

Further, Moore continued, Netanyahu’s actions put Jews in Israel and America at risk, and complicate efforts to combat antisemitism.

“He’s not making Jewish people safe. He’s not making Israelis safe. He’s not making Jewish people in this country safe. We’re dealing with such a rise in antisemitism, Islamophobia, anti-Black. We’re dealing with such a rise of hate,” Moore said. He referenced a recent incident of antisemitic graffiti at an elementary school in Olney, Md., outside of Washington.

“This is real, and we have to be able to deal with this rising level of hate,” said Moore. “But the challenge that I have is I don’t know if Bibi Netanyahu actually believes that there should be Palestinian safety or Palestinian peace.” 

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

Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.

📡On Our Radar

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a heated phone call on Tuesday where they discussed a potential peace deal with Iran that was drafted by Qatar, Pakistan and other mediators, Axios reports, with Netanyahu pushing for a return to war.

Responding to reports that Netanyahu favors continuing strikes, Trump said on Wednesday that the Israeli leader “will do whatever I want him to do”…

Trump said the U.S. and Iran are “right on the borderline” of either securing a deal or resuming the war, telling reporters the process “could go very quickly, or could be a few days.” Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, meanwhile, threatened to strike “beyond the region” should military operations continue…

The Jewish Democratic Council of America announced a dual endorsement today of Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow in Michigan’s three-way Senate Democratic primary, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports, saying, “There are two candidates who stand with our community on issues of importance to Jewish voters, and there is one who does not.”

While JDCA CEO Halie Soifer acknowledged concerns that Stevens and McMorrow could end up splitting the more-moderate vote and inadvertently propelling the far-left Abdul El-Sayed to the nomination, she told JI the dual endorsement was meant to reflect JDCA’s broader assessment of the stakes of the race…

New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin is backing a new buffer zone bill for schools that aims to avoid another veto from Mayor Zohran Mamdani, JI’s Will Bredderman reports; the revised legislation narrows the language to early childhood facilities and K-12 schools and carves out other educational facilities, addressing concerns from the mayor and other councilmembers…

A new poll from the independent Pan Atlantic Research firm found presumptive Maine Senate Democratic nominee Graham Platner leading incumbent Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) 48-41% among likely voters. There was a stark educational divide: Platner led Collins by 20 points among those with a four-year college degree or higher, while the candidates were neck-and-neck among those without…

Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) vowed that if Maureen Galindo, the antisemitic conspiracy theorist running in the Democratic primary for Texas’ 35th District, is elected to Congress, “we will force a vote to expel her every single day we are here.”

All Jewish Democratic members of Congress also joined to condemn Galindo’s “vile, bigoted, and antisemitic views,” calling her “desperate and unhinged”…

Yesterday’s primary elections saw Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY) secure the GOP nomination for retiring Sen. Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) Senate seat, while in Georgia, former Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) and former football coach Derek Dooley will head to a runoff next month after neither received 50% in the race to take on Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA)…

Former Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), who represented the Boston area in Congress for more than three decades and was the first openly gay member of Congress, died on Tuesday, JI’s Gabby Deutch reports. He was 86.

In the final weeks of his life, Frank did a series of interviews to promote his forthcoming book, even as he anticipated not making it to the release date. In a May 8 interview with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Frank said he believed Democrats should reject far-left litmus tests, but said Israel policy is “180 degrees” different and that Democrats need to make clear their opposition to Netanyahu…

Netanyahu, along with other Israeli officials, issued a sharp condemnation of far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir after he released a video showing himself taunting detained flotilla activists, JI’s Matthew Shea reports.

In the video, Ben-Gvir waves a large Israeli flag over blindfolded activists kneeling on the ground and shouts, “Welcome to Israel, we are the masters.” Netanyahu said the way his Cabinet minister “dealt with the flotilla activists is not in line with Israel’s values and norms”…

James Murdoch, the son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, is purchasing, through his media holding company Lupa Systems, New York magazine, the Vox Media Podcast Network and Vox.com from Vox Media. Murdoch’s other business ventures include an investment firm, Bodhi Tree, founded in 2022 with $1.5 billion from the Qatar Investment Authority. His expanded holdings in American media mark a homecoming of sorts — his father owned New York magazine from 1977-1991…

⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for an interview with the two Republican candidates running for the University of Michigan Board of Regents, as they see an opening to pitch themselves to voters over Amir Makled, an anti-Israel Democratic nominee.

The Capital Jewish Museum in Washington will open to the public to mark the one-year anniversary of the shooting that killed Israeli Embassy staffers Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim.

The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington will hold candidate forums with D.C. mayoral hopefuls Janeese Lewis George and Kenyan McDuffie.

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, along with other Israeli officials, issued a sharp condemnation of far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir after he released a video showing himself taunting detained flotilla activists. 

Ben-Gvir posted the video, filmed at Ashdod Port, to social media on Wednesday, where he can be seen mocking dozens of international activists captured from a Gaza-bound aid flotilla. In the footage, the blindfolded activists are shown kneeling on the ground with their hands cuffed behind their backs. Waving a large Israeli flag over the handcuffed activists, Ben-Gvir shouts in Hebrew, “Welcome to Israel, we are the masters.”

International activists have launched several flotillas since the start of Israel’s war with Hamas, attempting to break the blockade and deliver aid to Gaza. The IDF has repeatedly intercepted these convoys, many of which have been found not to have aid on board, and deported the participants. On Tuesday, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned four individuals “associated with the pro-Hamas flotilla,” which it said was organized by the U.S.-designated Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad. 

The political fallout from the video came quickly from Ben-Gvir’s own governing coalition, including public condemnation from Netanyahu, who sought to separate Israel’s defense policies from Ben-Gvir’s personal optics.

“Israel has every right to prevent provocative flotillas of Hamas terrorist supporters from entering our territorial waters and reaching Gaza,” Netanyahu said in a statement. “However, the way that Minister Ben-Gvir dealt with the flotilla activists is not in line with Israel’s values and norms.”

Netanyahu added that he had already instructed authorities to expedite the deportation of the foreign activists. Netanyahu has repeatedly resisted pressure to oust Ben-Gvir from his Cabinet, calculating that he was essential to the survival of his coalition.

Foreign Affairs Minister Gideon Sa’ar also fiercely rebuked the performance, sparking an online feud between the two Cabinet ministers. In a post on X, Sa’ar told Ben-Gvir that he is “not the face of Israel.”

“You deliberately caused damage to the state in this disgraceful performance, and not for the first time,” Sa’ar wrote. “You squandered enormous, professional, and successful efforts made by many, many people — from IDF soldiers to Ministry of Foreign Affairs employees and many other fine individuals.”

Ben-Gvir pushed back against Sa’ar, doubling down on his actions.

“Israel’s Foreign Minister is expected to understand that Israel has stopped being a pushover,” Ben-Gvir retorted. “Anyone who comes to our territory to support terrorism and identify with Hamas will get slapped, and we won’t turn the other cheek.”

The video also garnered outcry from the Italian government, which has since summoned Israel’s ambassador in Rome, Jonathan Peled.

“The images of the Israeli minister Ben-Gvir are unacceptable. It is inadmissible that these demonstrators, including many Italian citizens, are subjected to this treatment that violates human dignity,” Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said in an official statement. 

Meloni noted that Italy is demanding “an apology for the treatment reserved to these demonstrators and for the total contempt shown toward the explicit requests of the Italian Government,” and said she plans to take immediate steps to secure the release of the detained Italians.

Antonio Tajani, Italy’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister, echoed Meloni’s sharp rebuke. “What emerges from Minister Ben-Gvir’s video is absolutely unacceptable and contrary to every basic safeguard of human dignity,” Tajani stated.

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

Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.

📡On Our Radar

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and James Lankford (R-OK) introduced the Jewish American Security Act today, a broad new effort to address antisemitism across multiple sectors of American society, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

The bill — launched at a Jewish Federations of North America press conference on Capitol Hill — aims to combat antisemitism on campus and online, as well as streamline and provide $1 billion in funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program, and has broad support among Jewish community groups and across all major religious denominations.

William Daroff, CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, told JI it was “deeply encouraging to see this bill come together with bipartisan, bicameral support at a time when that kind of consensus is all too rare”…

President Donald Trump endorsed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) ahead of the state’s heated GOP primary runoff next Tuesday, JI’s Emily Jacobs reports. Trump, who has repeatedly praised both candidates, claimed Cornyn “is a good man … but he was not supportive of me when times were tough.”

If Paxton wins the May 26 runoff, Democrats plan to invest millions behind their nominee, state Rep. James Talarico, who is trying to become the first Democrat to win a Senate seat in Texas since 1988. General election polling indicates that a matchup between Talarico and Paxton — who carries significant legal and ethical baggage — would be highly competitive…

Activist Maureen Galindo, a candidate for the Democratic nomination in Texas’ 35th Congressional District who has continuously trafficked in antisemitic conspiracy theories, pledged in an Instagram post last week to turn an immigrant detention center in south Texas into a “prison for American Zionists.” “It will also be a castration processing center for pedophiles which will probably be most of the Zionists,” she continued.

Jewish and Democratic groups, including Democratic Majority for Israel, are backing Galindo’s opponent, Bexar County sheriff’s deputy Johnny Garcia. In a statement about Galindo’s comments, DMFI accused Republicans of funding her campaign and “deliberately elevating one of the most grotesque antisemites in America”…

Trump blasted Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) for sending a campaign text to voters, as election day is underway in Kentucky, with a statement from Trump endorsing Massie — from 2022. Trump has endorsed Massie’s opponent, Ed Gallrein, in today’s Republican primary.

“Horrible Congressman Thomas Massie put out an old Endorsement, from many years ago, of him by me long before I found out that he was the Worst Congressman in the History of our Country,” Trump wrote on X — his first post on the platform in months…

New polling from the campaign of Navy veteran Rebecca Bennett shows her with a 20-point lead in the Democratic primary for New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District, the seat held by Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-NJ) — who is drawing increasing scrutiny for his monthslong unexplained absence from Congress. Bennett, who is leading the pack in fundraising, polled at 35% among likely primary voters, while Tina Shah came in second at 15%…

After abruptly scrapping a strike on Iran planned for today, Trump gave a vague timeline for renewed diplomacy, saying Tehran has only “a limited period of time” to return to the negotiating table. “Two or three days. Maybe Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Maybe early next week,” he told reporters today.

Hours after calling off the strike yesterday evening, Trump met with his national security team to discuss military options in Iran, Axios reports, suggesting resumed strikes are still on the table…

Speaking at the No Money for Terror Conference in Paris, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called on U.S. allies to “step up” and join Washington in taking aggressive economic action against Iran and its broader terrorism financing networks, JI’s Matthew Shea reports.

Bessent’s comments came as the Treasury Department announced sanctions against four individuals associated with the pro-Hamas flotilla traveling towards Gaza, as well as a suite of sanctions against Iranian shadow banking operations and 19 regime-linked vessels…

The Emirati Defense Ministry said that drone attacks that caused a fire at the UAE’s nuclear power plant over the weekend were launched from Iraqi territory, where several Iran-backed militias are based…

Adm. Brad Cooper, the head of U.S. Central Command, told members of the House Armed Services Committee that reports that Iran had managed to reconstitute many of its drone and missile sites struck during U.S. operations were inaccurate…

Twenty-five Republican senators led by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) wrote a letter to Trump urging him to “fully dismantle” the U.N. Relief and Works Agency and remove it from the U.N. budget, citing the agency’s “systemic infiltration by Hamas and other U.S.-designated terrorist organizations”…

The Oklahoman, a local daily newspaper, pulled down an opinion article published on Monday comparing the Oklahoma City Thunder NBA team to Israel — an “underdog that has become hated.” The article, written by a pro-Israel Jewish Oklahoman, was “mistakenly published,” the paper’s executive editor said, and “did not align with our opinion standards”…

⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for a readout from the Center for American Progress’ IDEAS Conference, where more than a dozen Democrats, several with national ambitions, shared their policy visions today in Washington.

The Jewish Federations of North America, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Combat Antisemitism Movement and Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History will host a breakfast with lawmakers on Capitol Hill to celebrate Jewish American Heritage Month, with a keynote speech from Sam Salz, believed to be the first and only Orthodox Jew to play Division I college football.

The Senate will begin consideration on the reconciliation bill to fund immigration enforcement, as well as security for the new White House ballroom, during which Senate Democrats could force votes on a range of issues, including the war in Iran.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold a budget hearing on State Department-adjacent entities, with testimony from former lawmaker and diplomat Tom Malinowski (D-NJ), National Endowment for Democracy President Damon Wilson and Inter-American Foundation CEO Sara Aviel.

The House Committee on Education & Workforce will hold a hearing on antisemitism in healthcare settings. Witnesses will include Deena Margolies, an attorney from the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law; Jamie Beran, CEO of the progressive Jewish organization Bend the Arc; Eveline Shekhman, CEO of the American Jewish Medical Association; and Dr. Jacob Agronin from Temple University Hospital.

Sarah Rogers, the under secretary of state for public diplomacy, will speak at the Hudson Institute about the U.S.’ public diplomacy strategy abroad, with opening remarks from Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO).

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PROBLEMATIC PLATFORMING

Nevada GOP candidate Marty O’Donnell hosted neo-Nazi influencer on podcast

In August 2025, O’Donnell hosted a popular far-right influencer best known by his online pseudonym ‘Raw Egg Nationalist’ on his podcast for a friendly discussion

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MICHIGAN MIDDLE GROUND

McMorrow walks the line on Israel, floats Iron Dome for Palestinians

In an interview with leftist podcasters Matt Bernstein and Emma Vigeland, the Michigan Senate candidate backed Israel’s access to Iron Dome systems, suggested Palestinians should also have them

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

Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.

📡On Our Radar

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

President Donald Trump announced that, at the request of Qatari, Saudi and Emirati leaders, he was calling off an attack on Iran he said was planned for tomorrow, after the heads of state assured him Iran would agree to a deal that “will include, importantly, NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS FOR IRAN!”

Trump said he had instructed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine to “be prepared to go forward with a full, large scale assault of Iran, on a moment’s notice, in the event that an acceptable Deal is not reached”…

A new New York Times/Siena poll found 35% of respondents said they sympathize more with Israelis, while 37% said they sympathize more with Palestinians. There was a stark partisan divide: Among Republicans, 66% said they sympathize more with Israelis, while just 17% of Democrats said the same.

Meanwhile, the poll found nearly two-thirds of respondents overall said they disapprove of the Iran war, including 91% of Democrats and 23% of Republicans. Eighty-one percent of Democrats said the costs of the Iran war would not be worth the benefits; 50% of Republicans said they thought it would be worth it, but 32% were unsure…

Several New York City Jewish leaders — including JCRC CEO Mark Treyger, the UJA-Federation of New York and Rabbi Joseph Potasanik, executive vice president of the New York Board of Rabbis — plan to skip Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s Shavuot event taking place this evening at Gracie Mansion, the New York Post reports, after the mayor released a video on Friday for “Nakba Day” that sparked outrage among the Jewish community.

Asked about the backlash, Mamdani claimed his “door is always open” for Jewish leaders “beyond just this evening’s event,” while doubling down on his decision to post the video, saying he was “proud to commemorate Nakba Day” because there are “many Nakba survivors in New York City”…

Two dozen Jewish lawmakers and candidates from both parties shared with Axios a stream of antisemitic voicemails and messages they’ve received, including repeated death threats and praise of Nazis. “It’s no longer a Republican and a Democrat [issue],” said Rep. Max Miller (R-OH). “Both ends of our parties are wackadoos who hate Jews”…

Ahead of tomorrow’s primary elections in Kentucky, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) is going out with an antisemitic bang: He accused his opponent, Trump-backed Navy veteran Ed Gallrein, of being the “puppet” of the Republican Jewish Coalition, which has spent nearly $4 million opposing Massie. The congressman further claimed “a coalition of Israel’s lobbyists and donors” is executing a “blatant attempt to buy a KY congressional seat” and that the RJC is “running [Gallrein’s] race.”

Gallrein, meanwhile, got a boost from Hegseth, who appeared today in Hebron, Ky., to urge voters to turn out for the GOP challenger. Hegseth — who claimed he was there in his personal capacity, as his appearance broke a longstanding tradition of defense secretaries who typically avoid engaging in electoral politics — praised Gallrein as a military leader who would remain loyal to Trump…

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) endorsed Rep. Julia Letlow (R-LA) in her runoff for U.S. Senate, after she finished in first place in the Louisiana primary held over the weekend, ousting Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA). Letlow, who is already endorsed by Trump, is expected to prevail over state Treasurer John Fleming…

A man named Zaid Gitesatani was arrested today on a hate crime charge for assaulting a Jewish man in June 2024 in the heavily Orthodox Pico-Robertson neighborhood of Los Angeles, as the victim was walking his dog near a synagogue that was hosting an Israeli real estate event.

In the days following the assault, Gitesatani posted screenshots of a video of the incident to his Instagram account with the caption, “The Chosen People sometimes need a good smack to wake up” and claimed he “whopped 2 zios,” among other comments, according to the Justice Department…

The three leading Democratic candidates in the race for executive of Montgomery County, Md., — Councilmembers Andrew Friedson, Evan Glass and Will Jawando — pledged to address the rise of antisemitism within the local school system in a discussion today with the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.

Jawando, the most progressive Democrat in the race, said, “I am disappointed that MCPS has not accepted” the training recommended by the JCRC earlier this month. “I will continue to urge them to do so”…

Rahm Emanuel, the former Chicago mayor and prospective 2028 presidential candidate, is slated to discuss the future of U.S.-Israel relations at Tel Aviv University on July 8, according to an announcement from the school today, JI’s Matthew Kassel reports…

Israeli-founded AI startup Decart raised $300 million at a nearly $4 billion valuation for software that helps AI companies switch more easily between chips from Nvidia, which invested in the company, and its rivals…

Police said they “neutralized” a threat during an active shooter situation today at the Islamic Center of San Diego, the largest mosque in the county. Local news reported two suspects are dead, and the mosque’s chairman said a security guard had been killed…

⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for a preview of tomorrow’s primaries in Kentucky and Pennsylvania.

CENTCOM Commander Adm. Brad Cooper will testify before the House Armed Services Committee.

The Senate Appropriations Committee will hold a budget hearing on the Department of Justice.

The Jewish Federations of North America will hold a press conference on the Hill with House and Senate lawmakers and hundreds of community leaders on the need for increased funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program.

The Center for American Progress will hold its 2026 IDEAS Conference in Washington with speakers including Govs. Gavin Newsom, Wes Moore, Mikie Sherrill and Abigail Spanberger, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and columnist Ezra Klein.

The Middle East Forum will begin its three-day policy conference in Washington, with keynote speeches from White House official Seb Gorka, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter and Deputy Special Presidential Envoy Morgan Ortagus.

The Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in Manhattan will hold its spring benefit where it will honor Amb. Deborah Lipstadt, the former State Department antisemitism envoy, with its Light of Freedom Award, and synagogue lay leader and attorney Ira Bogner with its Shem Tov Award.

Tomorrow is Jewish Community Day at Nationals Park in Washington as the team faces off against the New York Mets.

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DEM DYNAMICS

DSA’s ascent tests Democratic Party’s ideological boundaries

If elected mayor of Washington, D.C., Janeese Lewis George’s victory would hand a major win to Washington’s Democratic Socialists of America chapter

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CAMPAIGN COMPANY

Claire Valdez sat for interview with Twitch streamer who called Jews ‘demonic ethnicity’

The far-left congressional candidate also liked a post celebrating Oct. 7 shortly after the attacks

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

📡On Our Radar

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

During their meeting today in Beijing, President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed the issue of Iran, where the Chinese leader “did offer, he said, ‘if I can be of any help at all I would like to be of help,’” Trump recalled to Fox News’ Sean Hannity. “Anybody that buys that much oil has obviously got some kind of a relationship with them,” Trump added.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told NBC News about the discussion that the “Chinese side is not in favor of militarizing the Strait of Hormuz and they’re not in favor of a tolling system,” which are positions the Trump administration shares…

At a meeting of foreign ministers of the BRICS bloc in India today, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused the UAE of “direct involvement” in military operations against Iran; Araghchi later met on the sidelines with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov…

CENTCOM Commander Adm. Brad Cooper testified at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing that the U.S. and Israeli campaign against Iran has severely degraded its capabilities across a variety of fronts, to the extent that it will take years to reconstitute, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

Cooper said that 90% of Iran’s defense industrial base has been destroyed and that support to key Iranian proxies Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis has been “completely cut off.”

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, meanwhile, said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that the U.S. believes Iran has run out of storage capacity for its crude oil and will need to cut off oil production, a key marker that may put more pressure on the regime to agree to a deal…

Saudi Arabia has begun to consider promoting a nonaggression pact between Middle East countries and Iran once the war ends, according to the Financial Times, fearing that the conflict will leave Iran weaker but more hardline and conflict-prone. Several European countries are reportedly supporting the effort…

The House unanimously passed a resolution yesterday evening recognizing Jewish American Heritage Month and calling on elected officials to combat antisemitism…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said they will initiate a defamation lawsuit against The New York Times over Nicholas Kristof’s column earlier this week alleging widespread Israeli sexual violence against Palestinian prisoners, which critics said used dubious sourcing and elevated conspiracy theories…

The Times looks under the hood of the campaign of Jack Schlossberg, running in New York’s 12th District Democratic primary, which sources described as “so erratic and plagued by turnover that it raises questions about how he might handle himself as a member of Congress”…

Vice President JD Vance, speaking at a rally in Maine, praised Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) — despite her strained relationship with the president — as she heads to a competitive general election against presumptive Democratic nominee Graham Platner.

“Sometimes I get frustrated with Susan Collins, I almost wish that she was more partisan,” Vance said. “But the thing I love about Susan is she is independent, because Maine is an independent state. And frankly, if she was as partisan as I sometimes wish that she was, she would not be a good fit for the people of Maine”…

The United Federation of Teachers endorsed Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) in his competitive primary race against former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander next month; Goldman has been racking up labor support ahead of the June 23 primary against the progressive Lander, who is endorsed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani…

Tune Inn, the D.C. bar where William Paul, son of Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), accosted Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) with an antisemitic rant, announced that the younger Paul would be barred from the establishment going forward. The elder Paul hasn’t made any statement on the confrontation…

A flag with two swastikas and a Star of David was flown atop a building at New York University during a popular graduation event yesterday, reportedly appearing on top of the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development, named for Jewish benefactors Michael and Judy Steinhardt. The flag was quickly removed and police say an investigation is underway…

⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today

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 emerging bloc of Sunni countries uniting against Israel’s allies, potentially complicating the Jewish state’s regional strategy.

The White House will host a reception with Jewish leaders tomorrow evening to kick off Shabbat 250, an initiative announced by President Donald Trump in his proclamation marking Jewish American Heritage Month where he encouraged Jewish Americans to “observe a national Sabbath” to celebrate the approaching Semiquincentennial of the United States.

Several Jewish organizations and institutions will also be marking the day with special events, including a Shabbat 250 dinner being held in Washington by the Combat Antisemitism Movement and American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists.

New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch will speak at Friday evening Shabbat services at Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan.

The Lennart Meri Conference, an annual foreign policy and security summit in Estonia, begins tomorrow. Speakers include several foreign leaders, former Israeli National Security Advisor Eyal Hulata and Israeli Russian researcher and former hostage Elizabeth Tsurkov.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is kicking off an international tour tomorrow with a visit to the UAE, later heading to several European countries.

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

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FAMILY TIES

Alex Bores’ father, a key ally in his son’s House campaign, celebrated Israeli deaths, equated Zionists with Nazis

Alex Bores has invoked his labor bona fides through his union chief father in his run for the heavily Jewish Manhattan seat

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PHILLY FRONTRUNNER

Far-left state Sen. Chris Rabb surging ahead in Philadelphia primary

Rabb is facing off against state Sen. Sharif Street, a former state Democratic Party chair, and Ala Stanford, a physician and activist

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This P.M. edition is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next. Please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts and feedback by replying to this email.

📡On Our Radar

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced that he secretly traveled to the UAE during the war with Iran and met with President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, leading to a “historic breakthrough in relations” between the two countries.

The UAE, however, called the prime minister’s report “baseless” and denied the meeting occurred, saying in a statement that its relations with Israel “are public … and are not based on secrecy or hidden arrangements.”

But Netanyahu’s not the only one to make an under-the-radar visit: Mossad chief David Barnea also reportedly traveled to Abu Dhabi twice during the war, sources told The Wall Street Journal…

Netanyahu’s governing coalition submitted a bill today to dissolve the Knesset and trigger early elections, which is expected to receive a vote next week. If the measure passes, elections would have to be held within five months, though it’s possible they could happen in early September, so as not to coincide with the High Holy Days and the anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks.

The move appears to be an attempt to thwart the opposition, which submitted similar bills yesterday after Degel HaTorah, part of the ultra-Orthodox coalition party United Torah Judaism, said it would support such efforts due to the coalition’s failure to pass a law exempting yeshiva students from military service…

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) became the latest of a small number of Senate Republicans to break ranks and vote today with the majority of Democrats in favor of an effort to force an end to the war in Iran, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

She joined her colleagues Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Rand Paul (R-KY) in supporting the war powers resolution, but the effort still fell short of a majority of the Senate — or of the 60-vote threshold needed for passage — with a final vote of 50-49…

Paul’s son,William Paul, drunkenly accosted Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) yesterday, telling Lawler in front of a NOTUS reporter that, if anti-Israel Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) is to lose his reelection race, it will be because of “your people” and “you Jews,” going on to accuse Jews of being “anti-American” and prioritizing Israeli interests. Lawler, who is not Jewish, reportedly defended his support for Israel and told Paul he was being antisemitic.

Paul apologized in a post on X today, claiming he “had too much to drink and said some things that don’t represent who I really am”…

The Board of Peace is considering implementing its governance and reconstruction efforts solely in the parts of Gaza not under Hamas control, Axios reports, a contingency option written into the Gaza peace plan in case the terror group refused to disarm…

In an unlikely pairing, New York state Assemblymember Micah Lasher has enlisted Fight Agency, a top progressive consulting firm, to cut ads for his campaign for the 12th Congressional District, JI’s Matthew Kassel reports.

The firm — which was co-founded by Morris Katz, who rose to prominence as an advisor for New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s campaign — prides itself on elevating left-wing, anti-establishment candidates, including current clients and Senate hopefuls Graham Platner in Maine and Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan. Lasher, meanwhile, has called himself a “proud Zionist Jew” and has close connections to the state’s Democratic establishment…

A new nonprofit aiming to counter Mamdani has already raised over $1 million, according to its co-founder Phil Singer, who also worked on a super PAC for former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the mayoral race. NYC Common Sense intends to run ads and issue policy papers about Mamdani’s policies with which it disagrees and file lawsuits as needed…

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) called for an increase in funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program to $1 billion, JI’s Gabby Deutch reports from the Jewish Democratic Council of America’s leadership summit in Washington.

Noting that the Pentagon now estimates the cost of the Iran war at $29 billion, Jeffries asked, “How is it possible that we can’t spend at least 500 million [on NSGP]? I think the number should be even higher. Why wouldn’t we spend a billion dollars to make sure that the communities that we care about across this country are safe?”…

In a speech to parliament, King Charles III laid out his legislative priorities, including several aimed at combating the recent spate of violent attacks on the British Jewish community. One would permit the government to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps as a terrorist organization and create a new penalty for those who attack synagogues on behalf of foreign actors like Iran, with a potential of up to 14 years in prison…

Open Society Foundations, founded by left-wing philanthropist George Soros and run by his son Alex, announced it will provide $30 million to organizations combating antisemitism and Islamophobia over the next three years.

In a video statement, Alex Soros spoke of the personal nature of the investment, mentioning his father, who is a Holocaust survivor, and his wife, who is Muslim. OSF President Binaifer Nowrojee further cited the “deep injustices occurring in the Middle East,” which she said are “fueling indiscriminate prejudice, dehumanization, and violence directed against both Muslims and Jews”…

The Senate confirmed Kevin Warsh to be chairman of the Federal Reserve this afternoon on a largely party-line vote, with only Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) crossing the aisle to support the nominee, who is also the son-in-law of philanthropist Ronald Lauder. It’s the narrowest margin of approval for any Fed chair since the position became Senate confirmed in 1977…

⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for a conversation with Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) about his antisemitic run-in with William Paul.

President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will hold bilateral talks in Beijing.

Back in Washington, Israel and Lebanon will hold their third round of ambassador-level talks — which will reportedly include military representatives for the first time — to continue discussions on a peace deal framework and efforts to disarm Hezbollah.

CENTCOM Commander Adm. Brad Cooper and AFRICOM Commander Gen. Dagvin Anderson will appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee for a hearing on the posture of their respective areas of command.

The congressional Abraham Accords Caucus will hold an event on the implications of the tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, including Reps. Craig Goldman (R-TX) and Brad Schneider (D-IL) and the Middle East Institute’s Ambassador Yael Lempert and Karen Young.

The Israeli American Council will host a gala in New York City, featuring a keynote speech from former CENTCOM Commander Erik Kurilla with special guests Miriam Adelson and former Mossad Deputy Director Henrike Weissberg. The event will honor Yakir Gabay, a member of the Gaza Board of Peace’s executive board, and his wife, Elena.

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HEATED BACKLASH

Israeli officials, AJC slam Nick Kristof’s NYT column as modern-day ‘blood libel’

Kristof, citing testimonies from victims, alleged that Israeli security forces and settlers committed sexual abuse against Palestinian prisoners; critics argue he relied on Hamas propaganda

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SOUNDING THE ALARM

Lawmakers offer dire warnings about rising antisemitism at ADL reception

Former House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said antisemitism has worsened to the point that Jews aren’t guaranteed safety in the U.S.

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The United Arab Emirates denied a report by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office on Wednesday that the Israeli leader secretly traveled to the UAE during the war with Iran to meet with Emirati President Mohammed bin Zayed, which would have marked the first known meeting between the two leaders since the signing of the Abraham Accords in 2020.

The Prime Minister’s Office said that the meeting “resulted in a historic breakthrough in relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.” However, the UAE’s ministry of foreign affairs released a statement hours later calling the claims “entirely unfounded.” 

“The United Arab Emirates denies reports circulating regarding an alleged visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the UAE, or receiving any Israeli military delegation in the country,” the statement read. “The UAE reaffirms that its relations with Israel are public and conducted within the framework of the well-known and officially declared Abraham Accords, and are not based on non-transparent or unofficial arrangements.”

According to Ziv Agnon, who was Netanyahu’s chief of staff until early April, bin Zayed picked Netanyahu up in his own car and drove him to the palace.

During the conflict in Iran, Israel and the UAE have seen a marked increase in military and intelligence cooperation. Mossad chief David Barnea also quietly visited the UAE at least twice over the course of the war with Iran to directly coordinate regional security strategies, sources told The Wall Street Journal.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee confirmed this week that Jerusalem dispatched an Iron Dome missile-defense battery to the UAE along with Israeli military personnel to operate it in order to shield the Gulf nation from Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks. 

Two Israeli jets landed in the city of Al-Ain in Abu Dhabi in late March, according to flight radars, and headed back to Israel after an apparent four-hour visit. 

The Israeli and Emirati leaders also reportedly met in secret in 2018, two years prior to the signing of the Abraham Accords.

Good Monday morning.

In today’s Daily Kickoff, we talk to friends and former colleagues of Abe Foxman, the longtime former head of the Anti-Defamation League who died yesterday, and cover Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s comments on Iran and the U.S.-Israel relationship during his “60 Minutes” interview last night. We talk to Minnesota Vikings owner Mark Wilf, who brought a group of football players and Black Minneapolis-area high school students to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and report on Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s rebuke of former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene as a “proven bigot and antisemite,” which has earned the New York Democrat criticism from the far left. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Jeffrey Katzenberg, Morton Schapiro and Larry David.

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

What We’re Watching

• The White House rejected Iran’s latest response to the U.S.-proposed peace plan given to negotiators earlier this month, with President Donald Trump calling Tehran’s response “TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE.” The latest rejection comes days before Trump is set to travel to China to meet with President Xi Jinping — a trip that was initially postponed due to the Iran war.
• Jewish California, formerly the Jewish Public Affairs Committee of California, is kicking off its annual two-day Capitol Summit today in Sacramento. Speakers at the gathering include former Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff (who will be making his first advocacy address in the state since departing Washington) and Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman. 
• The World Jewish Congress is convening in Geneva as the group marks its 90th anniversary. Read more about the conference from eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross here.
• The 30th Annual Webby Awards will take place tonight in Manhattan. “Borrowed Spotlight,” the exhibit that paired A-list celebrities with Holocaust survivors, will be honored for its photography and design. Read our interview with “Borrowed Spotlight” creator Bryce Thompson here.

What You Should Know

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MELISSA WEISS

A mentor. A friend. A compass. A “professional’s professional.”

Those were just some of the descriptors that friends and former colleagues of Abe Foxman used as they reflected on the life and legacy of the longtime former head of the Anti-Defamation League following his death yesterday at age 86.

Foxman was born to Polish Jewish parents in present-day Belarus in 1940. As a toddler, his parents placed him in the care of his Catholic nanny, who had him baptized and raised him in the church. After being reunited with his parents at the end of World War II (following a legal battle in which his nanny attempted to keep custody of Foxman), the family moved into a displaced persons camp in Austria. In 1950, when he was 10 years old, the family immigrated to the U.S. 

His early childhood experiences shaped the trajectory of his life. Foxman joined the ADL in 1965 as a legal assistant, becoming the organization’s national director in 1987, a post he held until his retirement in 2015. He built the ADL into a $60 million organization with more than two dozen offices around the country. 

As the head of the ADL and in his retirement, Foxman was one of the nation’s foremost authorities on antisemitism. He met with presidents and popes, college students and celebrities — and everyone in between. He maintained close relationships over the years with those who had fallen under his tutelage.

“He was invaluable to me as a resource all those years, and he had a lot to offer,” Jay Kaiman, the president of the Marcus Foundation who was hired by Foxman to be the ADL’s Southeast regional director in 1996, told JI.

In 1987, Foxman was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s board, an honor that Presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Joe Biden would also bestow upon him. In a 2022 conversation with JI, Foxman said he had recently learned that he was the only Holocaust survivor to sit on the board. Many others, he said, were the children and grandchildren of survivors. But he was the only one to experience the horrors of Nazi Europe firsthand.

Deborah Lipstadt, the former State Department envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, told JI that Foxman “bridged that gap” — linking the devastating realities of the Holocaust to rising antisemitism in the present.

Read Foxman’s obituary in full here.

BLUE DOT BATTLE

Nebraska Democratic primary pits Israel critic against more-moderate challenger

Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District — the so-called “blue dot” in an otherwise red state — is a critical pickup opportunity for Democrats in November’s midterms. Vice President Kamala Harris won the district in 2024, and the popular, moderate Republican incumbent, Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), is retiring. The Democratic primary in the district on Tuesday is coming down to John Cavanaugh, a progressive state senator backed by a range of prominent left-wing leaders, and Denise Powell, a nonprofit executive backed by a host of Democratic political groups, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

Positions on Israel: Cavanaugh was one of 10 state senators who declined to sign onto a resolution supporting Israel and condemning Hamas on the first anniversary of the terrorist group’s Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel. “I support Israel and believe Israel has a right to exist. And I also believe a two-state solution is the only way to secure lasting peace,” Cavanaugh said in a statement to Jewish Insider in February. Powell is taking a more pro-Israel line, yet still falls to the left of other Democrats in the race on the issue. She said in a statement to JI earlier this year that she has “always unequivocally supported Israel’s right to exist and its right to defend itself.”

Read the full story here.

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THE BATTLE FOR MANHATTAN

In America’s largest Jewish district, Democratic candidates split over Israel, antisemitic protests

With seven weeks remaining until the Democratic primary for an open House seat in Manhattan, the crowded race is beginning to show emerging signs of division over Israel and rising antisemitism, key issues in the heavily Jewish district where many voters closely identify with liberal Zionist sentiments, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.

Different lanes: From recent efforts to block U.S. weapons sales to Israel to the intersection between anti-Zionism and antisemitism, the four top candidates in the closely contested race — state Assemblymembers Alex Bores and Micah Lasher, Kennedy scion Jack Schlossberg and former Republican attorney George Conway — are by varying degrees staking out differing views on Middle East policy as well as domestic concerns affecting the Jewish community, while continuing to reaffirm their support for the Jewish state.

Read the full story here.

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HORSESHOE THEORY

AOC blasts ‘proven bigot and antisemite’ MTG, earning some far-left criticism

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) expressed skepticism of allying with former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) on issues like Israel policy, calling Greene a “proven bigot and antisemite.” The comments have, notably, earned her the opprobrium of others on the far left, and also mark a break with some more mainstream Democrats who have urged their party to join forces with the disgruntled GOP ex-lawmaker, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

What she said: “There are certain places, certain areas where I don’t think that we should ignore some folks’ record on some of these issues. It’s about where we trust intent, where we trust where those outcomes are going,” Ocasio-Cortez said at an event last week at the University of Chicago Institute of Politics. “I personally do not trust someone like Marjorie Taylor Greene, a proven bigot and antisemite, on the issues of what is good for Gazans and Israelis.”

Read the full story here.

Pennsylvania politics: Axios reports on Gov. Josh Shapiro’s behind-the-scenes efforts to derail the congressional campaign of Chris Rabb, a state legislator with a history of anti-Israel activism who has the backing of Ocasio-Cortez and other progressive heavyweights, and with whom Shapiro has clashed in recent years.

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on the record

Iran war is ‘not over,’ Netanyahu tells ‘60 Minutes’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a CBS “60 Minutes” interview on Sunday that the war against Iran is not yet over, in spite of the weekslong ceasefire and assertions by the U.S. administration that the operations that began in February have concluded. In the interview with Major Garrett, Netanyahu also reiterated his call to end direct U.S. financial aid for Israel over the next 10 years, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

Premier’s position: Netanyahu said that, while the joint U.S. and Israeli operations in Iran accomplished much, the war is “not over,” with nuclear material still in Iran, and certain Iranian enrichment sites, proxies and ballistic missile efforts surviving. “We’ve degraded a lot of it. But all that is still there, and there’s work to be done,” he said, adding that any diplomatic agreement with Iran should address all of those areas. Netanyahu said that he would be happy to see an agreement, if it covers those areas, but that both Israel and the United States are prepared to reengage militarily if it does not.

Read the full story here.

MIA Mojtaba: The Wall Street Journal reports that among the hurdles facing Iranian negotiators as they attempt to negotiate with the U.S. is the inability to receive direction from Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, who was severely injured in Israeli strikes at the start of the war and who remains “noticeably MIA and silent on the talks.”

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HISTORY LESSONS

Minnesota Vikings owner Mark Wilf leads players, high school students on Holocaust Museum trip

Minnesota Vikings owner Mark Wilf, the son of Holocaust survivors, was joined by Vikings defensive tackle Levi Drake Rodriguez, offensive lineman Walter Rouse, defensive end Elijah Williams and former Vikings tight end Visanthe Shiancoe for a tour of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum together with a group of Black Minneapolis-area high school students, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports.

Looking back to move forward: “It’s very important for young people to learn about history and how they can make an impact on the world and society,” Wilf told JI during the group’s guided tour of the Holocaust museum. “To learn the history of the world — where sometimes there’s hatred and bigotry and see what it can lead to — and also learn the impact of an individual: how an individual can change things, can fight back and how we can set an example by being tolerant and learning from each other.”

Read the full story here.

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ON THE SCENE

Addressing WJC, Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner declares: ‘Europe must become more Jewish’

Mathias Döpfner, CEO of global publishing firm Axel Springer, doubled down on his and his company’s commitments to the Jewish People and the State of Israel on Monday morning in an address to the World Jewish Congress, condemning the rise of anti-Zionism and Jew hatred around the world, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross reports from Geneva.

Encouraging Jewish immigration: Perhaps most curiously, Döpfner called for European countries to encourage and facilitate Jewish immigration to the continent, noting that the Jewish population by capita is 10 times smaller than that of the United States. “Europe should introduce preferential immigration and naturalization for Jewish families. It is in Europe’s own best interests to change that,” he said. “It is more than a gesture. If the idea of a multicultural society is to be taken seriously, there is an urgent need for greater diversity in Europe’s Christian and increasingly Muslim-influenced societies today.”

Read the full story here.

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Worthy Reads

Giving Hate a Pass: In The New York Times, Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) warns that the Democratic Party has developed a double standard on antisemitism, citing its embrace of far-left antisemites and leftward shift on Israel. “I’ve spoken to congressional colleagues who have privately told me that many things [Hasan] Piker has said are disgusting. Yet they’ll say nothing about it in public, even as they rightly rush to condemn President Trump for his unending barrage of offensive comments and social media posts. … Democrats have justly denounced the Trump administration for its broadsides — in some cases, threats — toward some of America’s closest allies. But many increasingly excuse, or join, feverish denunciations of Israel, our longstanding, democratic and strategic ally.” [NYTimes]

Habit-Forming: In The Wall Street Journal, former Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) reflects on the good habits that can be adopted amid what he calls a “civilization-warping crisis of institutional decline,” naming among the good habits the institution of “tech Sabbaths” to disconnect from the internet. “Character, whether of an individual or of a nation, is molded by habits and by time. This republic requires men and women to do long-form deliberation, serious thinking, honest humility and daily striving. What good is it to gain the whole world if we forfeit the souls that we’re supposed to form? We can’t expect to remain free without being virtuous, we can’t be bold without being rooted, we can’t be great without aiming first to be good.” [WSJ]

No Layup for Silver: The Atlantic’s Tim Alberta looks at the challenges facing NBA Commissioner Adam Silver as the league enters “a moment of institutional crisis” amid a series of betting and corruption scandals. “The quality of the product has diminished. Narratives surrounding the league are prevailingly negative. Things once taken for granted — commercial satisfaction, cultural prestige, national relevance — no longer seem guaranteed. Peacetime is a thing of the past; for the foreseeable future, the commissioner will be at war — with fans, with media critics, with players and coaches, with the game itself.” [TheAtlantic]

Word on the Street

In response to an op-ed by Saudi Ambassador to Washington Turki al-Faisal that alleged that Israel attempted to ignite a war between Saudi Arabia and Iran, analyst Hussain Abdul-Hussain slammed al-Faisal and Riyadh’s “cowardice and abandoning of responsibility” over its decision not to respond to Iran’s attacks across the Middle East…

The FBI said that a man who was wearing a T-shirt with the flag of Iran when he killed three people outside an Austin, Texas, bar in early March had acted alone and without foreign influence, but “admired” slain Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who had been killed the previous day…

Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) introduced a bill to ban certain federal funding to schools that operate branch campuses in Iran, Turkey, Qatar and other adversary states, a companion to legislation introduced recently in the House…

Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) introduced a bill to prohibit U.S. exports of oil and gasoline until hostilities with Iran cease, in a bid to lower energy prices spiking as a result of the war…

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul confirmed to Jewish leaders on Thursday that she will opt into a new federal education tax initiative, a move promoted by community advocates to help fund Jewish day schools and yeshivas, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports…

The Jewish Journal published the commencement address that former Northwestern University President Morton Schapiro had been slated to deliver at Georgetown University Law Center’s graduation ceremony; Schapiro withdrew as the school’s commencement speaker following backlash from anti-Israel student activists…

Despite being banned from campus, UCLA’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter is actively lobbying candidates to influence upcoming student government elections, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen has learned… 

A former Cornell student convicted of making threats against the school’s Jewish community in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks was sentenced to 21 months in prison; a lawyer for Patrick Dai said the posts were a “misguided attempt to highlight Hamas’ genocidal beliefs and garner support for Israel”…

Artist Paul Klee’s “Angelus Novus” sketch, which had been owned by German-Jewish philosopher Walter Benjamin, who died in Nazi Europe in 1940, will go on display today at New York’s Jewish Museum after its transport from Jerusalem was delayed by the Iran war…

The New York Post covers Jeffrey Katzenberg’s exclusive gathering of CEOs in Montecito, Calif., that took place last week…

The Wall Street Journal spotlights the “golden age of bagels” as restaurants across the country put their own spins on the classic Ashkenazi Jewish breakfast carb…

The New York Times reports on a decades-old screenplay written by Larry David that has found new life after being purchased by a fan on eBay and published online in full…

Authorities in north London charged a British man with religiously aggravated assault in an attack on three members of the Enfield Jewish community over the weekend… 

The family of a deceased Palestinian man in the West Bank was forced by Israeli settlers to exhume and rebury the man after the settlers claimed the cemetery was too close to a newly established settlement; the family had been granted a permit for the burial by Israeli officials and coordinated with Israeli security forces, who did not intervene in the forced exhumation…

ZoomInfo announced plans to close its R&D center in Israel and lay off some 300 employees; the decision comes five years after the software company was acquired by Chorus.ai for $575 million…

Iranian human rights activist and Nobel Peace laureate Narges Mohammadi was transferred to a hospital in Tehran and had her sentence suspended after collapsing last week in prison…

The Wall Street Journal profiles Iraqi banking tycoon and Prime Minister-designate Ali Al Zaidi, the preferred candidate of President Donald Trump whose bank had in 2024 been penalized for its ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps…

Pic of the Day

U.K. Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis spoke on Sunday at a rally against antisemitism in London organized by the Board of Deputies of British Jews, Jenni Frazer reports for eJewishPhilanthropy.

Mirvis gave the opening address at the rally, which also included speeches from Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch, Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey and senior Reform U.K. Party official Richard Tice.

Birthdays

Filmmaker and podcast host, Dan Trachtenberg turns 45…

Israeli optical and kinetic artist and sculptor, he was just awarded the Israel Prize, Yaacov Agam turns 98… Sociologist and author of numerous books, magazines and website columns on the subject of love, relationships and intimacy, Pepper Schwartz, Ph.D. turns 81… Israeli social activist focused on issues of women’s and human rights, Iris Stern Levi turns 73… Treasurer and receiver-general of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Deborah Beth Goldberg turns 72… Past president and then chairman of AIPAC, Morton Zvi Fridman, MD turns 68… Copy chief at Random House until 2023 and the author of Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style, Benjamin Dreyer turns 68… Brian Mullen… Howard M. Pollack… CEO of hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management, William Albert “Bill” Ackman turns 60… Former senior fellow and a Middle East analyst at the Hudson Institute, now a consultant, Michael Pregent turns 58… Member of the California state Senate since 2016, now running for Congress, Scott Wiener turns 56… Co-founder and president of Omaha Productions, which he started with Peyton Manning, Jamie Horowitz… Deputy chief of staff in the Office of the President at Carnegie Mellon University, Pamela Eichenbaum… Senior cost analyst at the Israeli Ministry of Defense, Michael Jeremy Alexander… PR and brand manager for overseas resource development at Leket Israel, Shira Woolf… Founder and CEO of the digital asset technology company Architect Financial Technologies, Brett Harrison turns 38… Staff writer at Time magazine, Olivia B. Waxman… Supervisor of commerce strategy at Zenith, James Frichner… Israeli actress, she appeared in “Shtisel,” “Unorthodox” and “Captain America: Brave New World,” Shira Haas turns 31… Paralympic track and field athlete, he is also a motivational speaker and disability rights advocate, Ezra Frech turns 21… 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a CBS “60 Minutes” interview on Sunday that the war against Iran is not yet over, in spite of the weekslong ceasefire and assertions by the U.S. administration that the operations that began in February have concluded.

In the interview with Major Garrett, Netanyahu also reiterated his call to end direct U.S. financial aid for Israel over the next 10 years.

Netanyahu said that, while the joint U.S. and Israeli operations in Iran accomplished much, the war is “not over,” with nuclear material still in Iran, and certain Iranian enrichment sites, proxies and ballistic missile efforts surviving.

“We’ve degraded a lot of it. But all that is still there, and there’s work to be done,” he said, adding that any diplomatic agreement with Iran should address all of those areas. Netanyahu said that he would be happy to see an agreement, if it covers those areas, but that both Israel and the United States are prepared to re-engage militarily if it does not.

The Islamic Republic regime, he added, is at its “weakest point” but “it’s not over.” Asked whether there is anyone on the Iranian side capable of negotiating a durable deal, Netanyahu declined to disclose his views publicly, but said he had shared his opinion with Trump.

Netanyahu denied reports that he had assured Trump prior to the beginning of the war that the Iranian regime would fall.

“[We] both agreed that there was both uncertainty and risk involved,” Netanyahu said. “And I remember … I said, and he said that there’s danger in action, in taking action. But there’s greater danger in not taking action.”

Addressing a question about the physical condition and influence of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, who was reportedly seriously wounded at the beginning of the war and has made no public appearances since, Netanyahu said, “I think he is alive.” 

“What his condition is, it’s hard to say,” Netanyahu said. “You know, he’s holed up in some bunker or in some secret place and he’s, I think he’s trying to exert his authority. I don’t think he has the same authority that his father had … that’s also creating the disruptions in the regime.”

Asked whether the U.S. and Israel had underestimated the likelihood that Iran would close the Strait of Hormuz, he said that they came to understand the issue over the course of the war. But he argued that Tehran’s decision to close the Strait has proven costly for Iran, in light of the U.S.-imposed blockade.

He also declared that Iran would have had a nuclear weapon now, or within two months, if Israel and the U.S. had not carried out their operations in 2025 and 2026.

“The most pointed success is knocking out 20 top nuclear scientists who were working on the atomic bombs to be used against Israel, America and anyone else,” Netanyahu said.

🇮🇷WATCH: Iran might already have a nuclear bomb, had Israel not launched its two military operations, Israeli PM Netanyahu said on his "60 Minutes" CBS interview.

Read more here: https://t.co/ABBvkCPGHp pic.twitter.com/chDlNiYKeB

— Jewish Insider (@jewishinsider) May 11, 2026

“I think taking out that amount of know-how — it doesn’t eliminate the know-how but it sets them back,” he continued. “Does it mean that they can’t produce a device? No. But it means that if they planned this arsenal of nuclear atomic bombs that they thought they’d have by now — that’s gone, that’s been pushed back, and it’s important they don’t have an atomic arsenal. But they would have had it and we would have faced certain death. So the greatest accomplishment is we’re alive.”

Netanyahu recounted conversations in 2016 and 2024 with Trump in which Trump expressed concern about Iran’s nuclear program. Asked why the U.S. had not acted militarily until 2025, Netanyahu said that Trump had been hopeful that sanctions imposed in his first administration would stop Iran’s nuclear program, but they did not fully do so.

Netanyahu reiterated his call to draw down and ultimately end direct U.S. financial support for Israel over the next decade — despite tensions that his stance has caused with supporters of Israel on both sides of the aisle. He also said he wants to begin drawing down financial support now, rather than waiting for the next Congress, adding that “it could go down very fast.”

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu: "I want to draw down the American support to Israel to zero."

In a "60 Minutes" CBS interview, Netanyahu reiterated his call to end direct U.S. financial aid for Israel over the next 10 years.

Read more here: https://t.co/4AXZP3RyUc pic.twitter.com/3NI5nWNW47

— Jewish Insider (@jewishinsider) May 11, 2026

He said that the future of the relationship should be focused on joint projects equally funded by both Israel and the United States, from which the two countries would share equally. Such a system is how missile defense funding is currently provided, among other projects, but that funding has also come under attack by some in the U.S.

Netanyahu blamed social media, and the manipulation of American social media users by hostile foreign actors using bot farms, for cratering support for Israel among the American people.

“While they’re attacking us with the equivalent of F-35, we’re trying to fight them with a Polish cavalry,” Netanyahu said. “So I think we have to engage on that front, not by censorship but by finding ways that are applicable to democracies. … We have a problem. I recognize it. And we have to get our act together.”

Asked about Gaza, Netanyahu said that Hamas still must be disarmed, demilitarized and deradicalized, and that he has asked the U.S. to provide names of countries that are willing to send in their own troops to carry out that effort, given that Hamas has reneged on its ceasefire obligations. He suggested that Israel may ultimately need to carry out that mission itself.

“If it comes down to us, then we’ll have to do it, but we’ll choose the time and the circumstances in which to do it because we’ve got a few other things,” he said. “But we are not going to let Hamas ever threaten Israel again.”

The Israeli prime minister said that Israel had destroyed more than 90% of Hezbollah’s missile and rocket stockpile, but that the group still maintains thousands of such weapons. He said that an invasion of Lebanon was necessary to prevent a repeat of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas incursions into Israel from Israel’s north.

Asked about Russian and Chinese support for Iran during the current war, Netanyahu largely dodged the question. He argued that an emboldened Iran is not in China’s best interests, and said that Russian military support to Iran has “not been a big issue” — while declining to comment on intelligence support, which Moscow has reportedly provided Tehran in the form of targeting data for missile and drone attacks throughout the region.

Jewish Insider’s Israel editor Tamara Zieve contributed to this report.

The near-consensus among Israeli political pundits is that the merger of the parties led by former Prime Ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid is a huge moment in the campaign ahead of the next Knesset election, scheduled for Oct. 27. 

However, judging by polls published by six major Hebrew-language media outlets after the merger on Sunday, not much has changed since the announcement that Bennett and Lapid were joining forces. 

The newly formed “Together” opposition party polled around 24 seats — nearly the same number of seats as the two parties combined before the merger. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party is, according to the average of the latest polls, still the largest party at 29. 

According to the latest polling, it would be difficult for either side to build a governing coalition. The opposition Zionist parties did not get a 61-seat majority in any of the six polls. The most favorable poll for the opposition showed the anti-Netanyahu Zionist parties at 60 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, while the current coalition received over 61 seats in two polls (from those commissioned by Channel 14 and I24NEWS, which are more sympathetic to Netanyahu than the other media outlets).

To be sure, polls taken within 24 hours of an event are not the most reliable, and much can change in the six months until the election. 

The key question after the Bennett and Lapid merger is whether they are fighting other opposition candidates for dominance within their bloc – in which case, Bennett has likely solidified his status as Netanyahu’s main competition for the premiership – or to broaden the bloc’s appeal to win a majority in the Knesset. 

Netanyahu famously said in 2018 and many times since, in reference to shifts in the opposition: “I don’t intervene in how the left divides up its votes.” That quip, made when Bennett was still in the pro-Netanyahu camp, is now reflective of Bennett’s weakness.

So far, the  polling has shown that Bennett, who was solidly on the right for the first eight years of his political career, will struggle to peel off voters from the right-wing pro-Netanyahu bloc into his camp. 

In his last election campaign in 2021, Bennett ran primarily on right-wing messages but ended up leading a coalition of mostly center and left parties, together with an Arab party in the government, something many right-wing voters, as well as two Knesset members who jumped ship, viewed as a betrayal. 

Add to that the fact that Lapid is to Bennett’s left — something both acknowledged several times in their Sunday night press conference, referring to their “differences” – likely referring to Bennett’s support for settlements and opposition to a two-state solution, which Lapid supports. Both candidates emphasized their shared views on domestic policy in response.   

Netanyahu has kept mostly quiet about the Bennett-Lapid merger, but his one response shows that he will try to widen the wedge between Bennett and the right. 

Netanyahu’s social media accounts posted an image from 2021 showing Lapid and Bennett sitting with Mansour Abbas, head of Ra’am, the Islamist party in their governing coalition. Ominous music plays in the background, and the words “they already did it once; they will do it again” are splashed across the picture.

The Ra’am factor will also likely be key after the election. The Zionist opposition parties have said mixed things about whether they would be willing to have an Arab non-Zionist party in their coalition in a post-Oct. 7 Israel. Revelations about the Ra’am party’s financial and historic ties to Hamas will also likely come up in the campaign.

As of now, the Knesset’s three Arab parties have said they will run in a single Joint List this year, as they did in 2015-2021, increasing Arab voter turnout and their representation in the Knesset. Ra’am is the only one of the parties that has to date been willing to sit in a coalition, and unlike Abbas, the other party leaders, Ayman Odeh and Ahmed Tibi, do not accept Israel as a Jewish state. 

Because of those realities, Bennett and Lapid’s Together party will likely have to make a concerted – and perhaps quixotic – effort to win over right-leaning voters if it wants to increase its bloc and unseat Netanyahu. That task will be easier said than done. 

Argentine President Javier Milei began an event-packed visit to Israel on Sunday, which will include receiving a Presidential Medal of Honor and lighting a torch in Israel’s Independence Day ceremony on Tuesday.

Milei and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched the “Isaac Accords” on Sunday, an initiative conceived by Milei to encourage closer cooperation between Israel and Latin American countries. 

An Israeli diplomatic source told Jewish Insider that Ecuador and Paraguay are expected to join the Isaac Accords. Israeli media have reported that Costa Rica, Panama and Uruguay have also expressed interest. 

Milei described the launch of the initiative as “a historic moment for our nations. It will not only strengthen the relationship between Argentina and Israel, united by shared values, but also represents a step toward a freer and more prosperous hemisphere.”

“Isaac, the son of Abraham, represents an initiative to extend the model initiated by President [Donald] Trump in the Middle East to Latin America, addressing challenges such as terrorism, antisemitism, and drug trafficking, while inviting other nations to join,” Milei said. “Nations that share values have a mission to work together. With the support of the United States, we have the opportunity to bring about transformative change.”

The accords are “a new strategic framework aimed at strengthening cooperation between Argentina, Israel and like-minded partners in the Western Hemisphere, the descendants of Isaac and nations of the Judeo-Christian tradition, in defense of freedom and democracy, and in the fight against terrorism, antisemitism, and drug trafficking,” according to Israel’s Foreign Ministry.

Milei suggested launching the accords in a meeting with Israel Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, whose father was from Argentina. The Israeli foreign minister was the main Israeli catalyst pushing for the agreement, including in his most recent meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio last summer, during which they established a working group to advance the matter, an Israeli diplomatic source told JI.

Netanyahu said that he sees “great hope vis-à-vis the Latin American continent. We see the beginnings of change, certainly we’ve seen enormous change in Argentina, but I think that this is also a compass and a map for other countries, not only for their internal reforms but also for their external reforms, that is coming back to the alliance of freedom. It begins with the two of us and with the support that is always there of the United States for free societies.”

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee took part in the launch ceremony, and called Milei and Netanyahu “two of President Trump’s greatest friends” who seek to “bring back the values that are the underpinning of Western civilization and Judeo-Christian values upon which our nations were built.”

Sa’ar described Milei as “one of the boldest leaders of our age. … We will continue to strengthen this close friendship! Viva Argentina! Viva Israel!” 

Earlier Sunday, Milei visited the Western Wall with Argentinian Ambassador to Israel Axel Washnish, a rabbi with whom he learned Torah for years before becoming president.

Israel and Argentina also announced direct flights between the countries. The first El Al flights to Buenos Aires are expected to start in November.

The end of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s 16-year tenure following his electoral defeat on Sunday to center-right rival Péter Magyar has sparked immediate questions regarding the future of one of Jerusalem’s most reliable, yet complicated, alliances in Europe. 

While Orbán’s departure removes a reliable ally of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu within the European Union, experts suggest Jerusalem’s standing in Europe and bilateral relationship with Budapest will not be significantly set back. 

Under Orbán, Hungary frequently broke ranks to block anti-Israel statements and actions from the EU. The former leader maintained a warm posture toward Israel and voiced opposition to terror organizations. He also initiated the process to withdraw Budapest from the International Criminal Court after it issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu. Orbán called the court “political” and defied the ruling by welcoming the Israeli prime minister for a visit. 

“Israel is losing a close friend with the electoral defeat of Viktor Orbán,” David May, a senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Jewish Insider. “His willingness to defy EU consensus shielded Israel from many hostile actions. The Central and Eastern European states are far friendlier to Israel than their Western counterparts, and that will likely continue under Peter Magyar — though to what extent remains unclear.”

Magyar has vowed to maintain Hungary’s “special relationship” with Israel, calling the Jewish state an “important economic partner.” However, he has also called for “pragmatic relations,” including returning Hungary to the ICC and suggesting that Budapest will likely move away from the reflexive veto that characterized the Orbán era, replacing it with a case-by-case approach to EU measures concerning Israel. 

“We do not know much about Péter Magyar’s policy views on Israel,” said Ferenc Németh, an international relations expert and Fulbright visiting researcher at Georgetown University. “Politically speaking, I do not expect relations to worsen or for Magyar to have a cold or hostile position toward Netanyahu; rather, Hungary will align with the views of its partners on key issues concerning Israel.”

Németh added that Israel will remain “an important partner for Hungary, especially given the economic ties and the shared Jewish heritage.” He noted that Magyar’s desire to rejoin the ICC is likely aimed at strengthening “Hungary’s position among its most valuable Western partners and to achieve full alignment with their views.”

Jonathan Ruhe, a fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, also suggested that significant change in posturing is unlikely. He noted that Orbán’s defeat is “easily overstated in terms of likely impact on Israel.” 

“Israel’s standing in Europe won’t be dimmed by Orbán’s departure,” Ruhe said. “Israel has reliable partners like Germany, Czechia, Greece and Cyprus. Germany in particular has been a firewall against a lot of European anti-Israeli actions, and Magyar has suggested he’ll follow Germany’s lead here.”

Experts also noted that Orbán’s actions did not carry as much weight as they appeared and expressed concern over the former Hungarian leader’s preference for Moscow in the Russia-Ukraine conflict and complex relationship with Tehran. 

“Orbán blocked primarily statements critical of Israel, not concrete measures — with the exception of a sanctions package targeting violent settlers and organizations targeting Palestinians in the West Bank,” Matthew Levitt, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said. “And Hungary did not always act in Israel’s interest under Orbán, such as when Hungary offered Iran intelligence support after the pager attack against Hezbollah in September 2024.”

May similarly noted that Orbán was “not without controversy.”

“His close ties with Russia — and sometimes strong bonds with Iran — at times placed the Hungarian leader at odds with Israeli and U.S. interests,” May said. “Orbán’s proximity to antisemites and his antidemocratic tendencies also made him a less than desirable ally.”

Ruhe said that Orbán’s actions in support of Israel should be “weighed against everything he did to whitewash Hungary’s role in the Holocaust, engage in antisemitic dog-whistling, roll back democracy and essentially serve as an agent of Moscow — Iran’s partner in crime — inside the EU.”

“Magyar has pledged to maintain his country’s ‘special relationship’ with Israel, but without Orbán’s significant baggage that far outweighed the few concrete steps he took in support of Israel,” Ruhe added. 

Németh said that Hungary will remain “a country with a strong zero-tolerance policy against all forms of antisemitism,” noting that Orbán, despite his often vocal support for Israel, engaged in actions that could be perceived as triggering “antisemitic views.” 

“Orbán has used coded messages to trigger antisemitic views, [such as] making George Soros, an American-Hungarian businessman of Jewish heritage, a central figure in propaganda,” Németh said. “Magyar has pledged not to do that.”

Amid the ceasefire with Iran, new Israeli polls were split on the outcome for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party and coalition. Three television polls showed Netanyahu losing significant support as a result of the unpopularity of the ceasefire, while polls from two right-leaning networks projected he would still have a majority in the Knesset to form a coalition. 

The election is currently slated for the end of October. Israeli Channels 12, 13 and Kan 11 projected Netanyahu’s coalition would not receive enough votes to stay in power, but they also found that center-left parties — excluding Arab parties, which most Zionist parties have said would not be invited to join their coalition — would not get the 61-seat majority to form a winning coalition. 

Channels 14 and i24NEWS news projected that the coalition would be able to remain in power, but with a smaller majority than it received in 2022, as it has consistently received in polling since then.

Netanyahu appeared defensive in a televised statement on Saturday night, during which he argued that the results of the nearly six-week war against Iran had been positive, and the ceasefire may not be final: “There are people who say ‘we have no achievements.’ There are giant achievements.”

“The campaign is not yet over, but even now it can be clearly stated: We have achieved historic accomplishments,” Netanyahu continued. “Iran tried to squeeze us in a stranglehold; Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Assad regime in Syria, the militias in Iraq, the Houthis in Yemen, Iran itself. They wanted to choke us, and we are choking them. … Those who threatened to destroy us are now fighting for their own survival.” 

Netanyahu went on to list the war’s achievements: “We succeeded in crushing the nuclear program, crushing the missile program,” and brought Iran’s regime “to its lowest, weakest level since the establishment of the regime 47 years ago.” He also listed dozens of senior officials and military commanders who had been killed by Israel and weapons sites that had been destroyed.

Still, the prime minister acknowledged that the enriched uranium in Iran must be removed “either … by agreement, or it will come out in other ways.”

Netanyahu also spoke at length about negotiations with Lebanon as the IDF continued operations against Hezbollah. He said the talks would be about the disarmament of the Iran-backed terrorist group and “a real peace agreement” with Beirut.

In polls released the night before, Israeli channels 12 and 13 and public broadcaster Kan found that a narrow majority of Israelis (from 51% to 56%) said they oppose the two-week ceasefire with Iran. In addition, in a poll published Sunday by the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University, 61% of Israelis opposed the ceasefire, and less than a third (31%) said they believed that the Iranian regime was significantly harmed in the war. 

Elie Pieprz, an international political consultant who has worked on Likud campaigns, argued that Netanyahu doesn’t need the war to come to a conclusively positive end for Israel for him to use it to his political advantage.

“The prime minister has always thrived when something tantalizing is very close, and [he can say] ‘if you just give me another term, I can bring this home,” Pieprz said. “I think regime change [in Iran] is exactly one of those things.”

Conversely, Nilly Richman, a strategist who has worked with President Isaac Herzog and launched Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party, told Jewish Insider that “there is no doubt that Netanyahu is stressed, and he is broadcasting it.” 

According to Richman, the stress comes from the fact that “the polls aren’t bringing [Netanyahu] to the point he hoped to be in after this war” and that he will have to testify again in the corruption trials against him this week, now that Israel is no longer in a state of emergency.

According to Kan’s poll, the current coalition parties were projected to receive 51 seats, while Zionist opposition parties got 59. Likud received 25 seats, down from 28 in the previous week’s polls, while former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s yet-unnamed party was steady at 19.

On Channel 12, Israel’s most-watched news broadcast, Likud was projected to drop to 25 from 27 last week, and Bennett to rise from 20 to 22 seats. The coalition would get 50 seats, and the Zionist opposition 60, according to the poll.

In Channel 13’s poll, the coalition got 54 seats and the Zionist opposition received 55. Likud received 22 seats, up from 25 last week, and Bennett went from 18 to 21.

Newer, more right-leaning channels 14 and i24 News, however, showed Netanyahu would be able to form a majority coalition with his current partners. They did not ask about support for the ceasefire.

In i24’s poll, Likud received 32 seats and former IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar Party led the opposition with 14 seats. The coalition would win 64 seats and the Zionist opposition received 45.

Pro-Netanyahu Channel 14, whose pollster, former Netanyahu aide Shlomo Filber, most accurately predicted the results of the last election, found that the right-wing bloc received 66 seats while the Zionist opposition received 42. The poll also gave Likud 36 seats and Bennett’s party 10, with Yashar leading the Zionist opposition with 11 seats.

Filber’s poll was also the only one asking about the Joint List — a bloc of all four Arab parties, which they have said they plan to form — rather than polling them as the two separate blocs they have in the current Knesset – and found that the singular bloc received 12 seats, more than any Zionist opposition party.

Former Defense Minister Benny Gantz’s party did not pass the electoral threshold in any of the polls, while Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s party passed it in the polls from Channels 13 and 14 and i24.

Pieprz said that “polls taken six months out [to the election] are not super-relevant, [though] there is value to tracking polls.”

Richman argued that “polls taken a moment after something happened are meaningless. It takes a moment for everything to sink in.” She also noted that “people want to see what will happen in two weeks,” when the current ceasefire with Iran is due to expire.

However, she pointed to a poll Channel 12 took of residents of Israel’s north as especially significant. Residents of the north are worth about 35 Knesset seats, and continue to be attacked by Hezbollah multiple times a day. The poll found that 70% of them — including a third of those who voted for the coalition in the last election — give the government a bad grade in dealing with their issues. While in 2022, the number of coalition and Zionist opposition voters in the north were about even, the Zionist opposition is now leading in the north by eight points.

Richman estimated that “three to four seats could move between the blocs.”

Much of that movement is from Likud to former Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman’s Israel Beytenu party, which is “on the right, but against Bibi,” Reichman said. She said that Liberman has kept his distance from the center-left and right-wing blocs, saying that he can be part of a coalition without Haredim or Arabs or the left-wing Democrats Party, a claim that appeals to moderate right-wing voters.

Pieprz said that, in line with Liberman’s more independent messaging, he may be signaling that he would be willing to join a coalition with Netanyahu but without Haredi parties, and that Netanyahu may be willing to do that rather than enter another cycle of multiple consecutive elections. “I don’t think Bibi will feel indebted to the Haredim,” he said.

Richman said moderate right-wing voters who don’t want to vote for Netanyahu are not moving toward Bennett, who is hawkish and holds right-wing positions on settlements, the economy and more. “Bennett will have to betray the left so that the right will forgive him” for forming a coalition with left-wing parties and an Arab party in 2021, she argued.

Pieprz said that Bennett is “moving in a downward trend” in the polls, and that “people in the opposition express frustration that he’s not going after voters on the right, and instead trying to concretize a base on the left, creating a problematic dynamic. I don’t think he can maintain it for six months.”

Pieprz noted that there has been a lot of infighting within the Zionist opposition, especially between Eisenkot and Bennett for dominance in the bloc.While calling the infighting “a bad look, they will never win that way,” he said they “have enough time to reconfigure and get on the same page and act in a way that shows the Israeli public that there is a legitimate alternative to Netanyahu.”  

He posited that Netanyahu “is in relatively good shape, primarily because there is not a robust and developed opposition. … People supporting the prime minister are pretty solid. It would take a lot to dislodge [their votes]. In the opposition, there is fluidity.” 

Pieprz, however, said that Netanyahu “squeezed out a lot of the political benefit of the war itself” — such as passing a budget that will allow his coalition to survive months longer than it may have — “and now he has to frame [the war] properly over the next six months. … He can make that case ‘allow me and the team that got us to this point to push it over the top.’”

Richman noted that the successful attacks on Iran’s nuclear program during last year’s 12-day war did not impact Netanyahu’s political standing much, but projected that after this war, the prime minister is likely to decline further in the polls.

“Bibi built [a monster] that ate him,” she said. “If Iran is so scary … Well, [Israel] attacked Iran and not much happened to us, Israel wasn’t destroyed, so we don’t need [Netanyahu] anymore. It’s like [former UK Prime Minister] Winston Churchill” — who lost an election right after World War II and Netanyahu is known to admire — “Be careful what you wish for, Bibi.” 

Israel is working to launch direct negotiations with Lebanon, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Thursday.

“In light of the repeated requests from Lebanon to open direct negotiations with Israel, I instructed the Security Cabinet yesterday to start direct negotiations with Lebanon as soon as possible,” Netanyahu said in a statement from his office.

Netanyahu’s announcement came as President Donald Trump said in a call with Israel’s Channel 13 that he told the prime minister to scale back its strikes on Lebanon. 

A source familiar with the matter told Jewish Insider that talks would begin next week in Washington, with the U.S. facilitating. Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter and his Lebanese counterpart, Nada Hamadeh Moawad, will represent their countries in the talks.

The negotiations, Netanyahu said, will focus on disarming Hezbollah and making peace between Israel and Lebanon.

“Israel appreciates the call today by Lebanon’s prime minister to demilitarize Beirut,” Netanyahu stated.

Minutes after Netanyahu’s announcement, Hezbollah shot rockets at northern Israel. 

Earlier Thursday, the Lebanese cabinet told the armed forces to ensure its monopoly on force in Beirut, meaning that Hezbollah would not be able to operate in the city. 

“The army and security forces are requested to immediately begin reinforcing the full imposition of state authority over Beirut Governorate and to monopolize weapons in the hands of legitimate authorities alone,” Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said.

Meeting a day after Israel struck 100 targets in Beirut, the cabinet also decided to lodge a complaint against Israel with the United Nations Security Council. It called for Lebanon to be included in the current ceasefire in the Iran war.

Jerusalem and Washington have said that Israel’s war against Iranian proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon is not part of the ceasefire. 

Israel and Lebanon reached a ceasefire deal at the end of 2024, which was brokered by the Biden administration and supported by the incoming Trump administration. As part of the agreement, the Lebanese Armed Forces were meant to ensure Hezbollah was disarmed south of the Litani River, however, proved incapable of doing so, and the Shi’ite terrorist group amassed arms and fighters near the Lebanon-Israel border. 

The current round of fighting began soon after the war with Iran in late February, when Hezbollah began launching rockets, missiles and drones at Israel. Israel’s Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that the Iranian proxy had shot 6,500 projectiles at Israel in 40 days.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has called to hold direct negotiations with Israel repeatedly over the past five weeks, including on Thursday.

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

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

According to Israeli law, state budgets are meant to be passed by the end of the previous fiscal year, on December 31, but an extension is permitted to the end of March. If no budget is passed by the final deadline, the Knesset is automatically dissolved and an election is called for three months later.

This government had used that extension amid disputes over legislation reducing the penalties on Haredi yeshivas and young men who do not enlist in the IDF such that it would effectively continue their blanket exemption from military service. The matter remained unresolved, with Haredi parties threatening to vote against the budget, as the war with Iran began at the end of February.  

Two weeks into the war, Netanyahu and Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced that the coalition would set aside legislation under dispute, including Haredi conscription, in order to pass the budget.

As part of the conditions for Haredi parties Shas and United Torah Judaism to drop their demand to pass the conscription exemption bill, the budget included an increase of over NIS 1 billion (approximately $319 million) for Haredi yeshivas and other institutions. The funding would offset much of the sanctions on Haredi individuals and institutions in recent years, after the High Court of Justice struck down their exemption from IDF service.

Israeli Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara had blocked most of the funds from being included in the draft of the budget that went to a vote, because it was meant to circumvent the law, but the coalition voted it in soon after midnight Sunday as an amendment to the budget bill. 

In addition, Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Boaz Bismuth, of Netanyahu’s Likud Party, said last week that the Haredi IDF exemption bill would be back on the Knesset agenda in two weeks, after Passover — meeting another demand by the Haredi parties that the exemption from the IDF be legislated as soon as possible after the budget.

Bismuth’s remarks about the return of the Haredi exemption bill came on the same day as a report on Israel’s Channel 13 that Zamir warned in a Security Cabinet meeting that the “IDF is going to collapse in on itself” if it does not increase its ranks. 

In addition to the likelihood of Haredim no longer facing penalties for failing to serve, a law reducing mandatory IDF service from 36 months to 30 months is set to go into effect in January 2027. Zamir asked the government earlier this year to revert to the previous length of mandatory service.

”I am raising 10 red flags,” Zamir reportedly said. “The IDF needs a [Haredi] conscription law, a reserve duty [extension] law and a law to extend mandatory service. Before long, the IDF will not be ready for its routine missions and the reserve system will not last.” 

The 2026 budget is the largest in Israel’s history, reaching NIS 850.6 billion ($271 billion), with an unprecedented NIS 143 billion ($45.8 billion) for the defense budget alone, amid the war with Iran and Hezbollah and continued operations in Gaza.

All other ministries were cut by 3% to fund the extra wartime spending.

The budget was passed in a final vote after over 13 hours of opposition filibustering, as well as repeated missile sirens stopping the proceedings, during which lawmakers voted from a fortified room, as opposed to the regular Knesset plenum.

Days after launching the war against Iran last month, Israel and the U.S. began signaling that they were quickly degrading the Iranian ballistic missile threat. Two weeks into the war, the White House posted on X that “Iran’s entire ballistic missile capacity [was] functionally destroyed.” 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a press conference last week that “Iran’s missile and drone arsenal is being massively degraded and will be destroyed.” The IDF has repeatedly sent updates over the past month about having destroyed the majority of Iran’s ballistic missiles and launchers. 

So why are missile barrages and rushing to the bomb shelters still a part of most Israelis’ daily  lives?

Sirens sounded 10 times in Israel’s center on Thursday. In the last week, about 1,000 alerts were sent out to different parts of Israel due to Iranian missiles. Israelis from Eilat to the Golan have spent many hours in shelters since the war began. Two fatalities were reported in recent days, but nearly 300 people have been injured since the beginning of this week, according to the spokesperson for Magen David Adom emergency services.

Jonathan Schanzer, executive director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Jewish Insider that “this is a war, and wars have tides that come in and out … [they] require a certain amount of adjustment and patience. You’re not going to get everything you want in a linear fashion.”

The IDF declined to comment on the unusual number of Iranian missiles penetrating Israel this week – in contrast with the war overall, during which only about 40% of the missiles crossed into Israeli skies, according to the INSS, generally resulting in fewer sirens each day. 

Schanzer pointed to the weather as one explanation: Clouds, rain and fog in Iran make it difficult for Israeli Air Force drones, which remain in Iran’s skies at all times, to detect and destroy missile launchers before they shoot. 

But even if the skies were sunny, “the number of missiles [left in Iran] is likely below 1,000 and could be down to 500; it’s an inexact science,” Schanzer said. “The missile capability is obviously still there and has been throughout, and that doesn’t change. … They still have the ability to fire.”

There’s a term in Hebrew, which translates to “armaments economy,” that explains another aspect of what is happening. The IDF, Schanzer said, is “probably thinking about … how many missile interceptors do you burn when you know there are another two or three weeks left of Iran’s capability to launch, and there’s also [the war in Lebanon]. There is a calculus and there is an uncomfortable one.” 

A new report from the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA) found that 90% of the roughly 4,200 missiles and drones fired by Iran at targets across the region were intercepted, but American, Israeli and Gulf states’ air defenses have been degraded by Iran’s targeting of radar and communication links. “The war has become a stockpile race,” JINSA stated. “U.S. and Israeli offensive fire must exhaust Iran’s missiles and drones before … interceptor stocks run too low.”

Yaakov Katz, a military expert and author of While Israel Slept: How Hamas Surprised the Most Powerful Military in the Middle East, argued to JI that missile launcher destruction is the wrong way of looking at the war, meant to “create a narrative of accomplishment,” when there is still much work to be done.

Ultimately, Katz argued, people don’t care about the number of missiles that were destroyed when they’re “in the bomb shelter five, six times a day. … They’re getting hammered. It’s not a way to measure anything.”

“The IDF knows when they blow up a launcher … They know what they destroyed,” Katz said. “But the number remaining constantly changes, which proves it is BS. … In week one [the IDF] said there were 150 launchers left. In week two they said 150 left. A few days ago, they said 150 again.”

Katz pointed out that the IDF likely does not know how many missiles and launchers Iran has underground. “There is satellite footage showing [the IDF] destroyed entrances to the underground ‘missile cities,’ but they don’t know how long it takes to excavate [new entrances] or what damage there is inside.”

While Katz said that he doesn’t “diminish from the value of taking a threat, degrading it and having more time to live in a place of security,” he does not view that as a victory, because the threat will return. He pointed to how rapidly Iran was able to produce new ballistic missiles after last year’s 12-day war: “They’re going to rebuild everything.” 

“Just saying they destroyed 70-80% of missile launchers … If that’s your measure of success, you’re basically confirming there will be another war in the future,” he added.

“This war has three potential victories,” Katz said, listing regime change, removing Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium and, lastly, reaching “a deal that provides for any or all of those, plus restrictions on the development and range of ballistic missiles.”

Katz also noted that the United Arab Emirates is relaying a similar message — that degrading Iranian missiles is not enough. He cited a recent Fox News appearance by Lana Nusseibeh, the UAE’s minister of state at the foreign ministry, and an op-ed by Yousef Al Otaiba, the UAE ambassador to the U.S., who wrote in The Wall Street Journal, “We need a conclusive outcome that addresses Iran’s full range of threats: nuclear capabilities, missiles, drones, terror proxies and blockades of international sea lanes.”

Schanzer agreed that the number of missiles and launchers destroyed is “a tactical measure … you’re attacking the arrow and not the archer.” However, he added: “You can criticize it all you want, but if that’s all you’ve got, then you’re doing all you can.”

“The bigger goal is regime change, but there’s no handbook for that either,” he said. “I still think America and Israel have the advantage. There is zero air defense in Iran, the leadership is absolutely decimated, the arsenal is smaller than it was, and the regime is under enormous strain. That is the most important measure to look at right now. It doesn’t mean there aren’t challenges [such as] the Strait of Hormuz and missile attacks.” 

Former Secretary of State Tony Blinken said at a Harvard Kennedy School event this week that he warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a few months into the war in Gaza that Israel was going to lose support among not just Democrats, but also Republicans and evangelical Christians.

“Israel was mostly seen as the David and other forces were seen as the Goliath. That is now flipped,” Blinken said. “One of the things that I told Netanyahu was, ‘You may not care that you’re losing the Democratic Party, but trust me, you are going to lose young Republicans. You’re going to lose young evangelicals. This is generational.’ And he moved on to something else.”

The conversation took place early in 2024, a few months after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks that killed 1,200 people in Israel. During his remarks at Harvard, Blinken said he wonders if there is more the U.S. could have done to protect Palestinians in Gaza. But he also called on people not to be “binary” in their thinking about the Middle East.

“Of course, for me, coulda-woulda-shoulda is something that will always be there when it comes to Gaza. It could not help but be given the level of human suffering,” said Blinken. 

“But where did we start? We started with Oct. 7. We started with the most horrific massacre of Jews since the Holocaust,” Blinken added. “It’s very easy to say, ‘Oh, yeah, that’s a given.’ Except it wasn’t a given for Israelis and Israeli society. It became one for the rest of the world, but not for Israelis.”

Blinken was being interviewed by New York Times reporter David Sanger, who said that history books written about President Joe Biden will show his administration as “strongest on Ukraine and weakest on Gaza.” 

Asked whether the Biden administration could have done things differently in Gaza to save lives, Blinken said, “Could we, should we have done things differently such that the suffering that people endured, the loss of the children you just listed and so many others could have been averted? The short answer is: Maybe yes.”

“We had to make judgments in real time about how to try to get to a better place. We made those judgments. People will make their own judgments about what we did and what we didn’t do,” said Blinken.

Despite the humanitarian crisis that emerged in Gaza, the U.S. pushed Israel to do more for Palestinians and to allow more aid into Gaza, Blinken said.

“That didn’t just happen. It happened because every single day we were on the Israelis to try to get assistance in, to open more crossing points, to flood the zone. They did that profoundly inadequately. They did that in ways that were not the way I would like to have seen it done, but we got some of that done,” said Blinken. “But yes, of course, you couldn’t be and I wouldn’t be human if I didn’t ask myself every day, could we have done things differently.”

Blinken said that the trauma Israelis experienced after Oct. 7 was so severe that Israel’s war in Gaza would have continued, even without American support — and that cutting off American weapons sales to Israel may have actually lengthened the war.

“Cutting off arms, sure, that was an option. But I don’t actually believe that at least in the near term, it would have changed things,” said Blinken. “I also believe it would have led to an even wider war as Israel’s enemies, and they were multiple, jumped in, and that only would have extended the war in Gaza, not ended the war in Gaza.”

The main focus of the Biden administration, according to Blinken, was to reach a ceasefire, “with hostages coming out and with aid going in.” He acknowledged the pain of people who were angry about the situation in Gaza, but questioned why so little anger was directed at Hamas.

“I empathize with people who felt this so deeply,” said Blinken. “I do remain with a question in my mind about why barely a word was spoken in all those months about Hamas, which was an actor too, and is responsible for so much of what happened.”

The war against Iran may have united the vast majority of Israelis who support its aims, but much of the governing coalition’s prewar political obstacles still have to be resolved by the end of the month — including the passing of a state budget for the current year and a Haredi conscription law — or else an early election will automatically be called.

The coalition failed to pass a 2026 budget by Dec. 31, a regular occurrence in Israel, due to several policy disputes. By law, if the Dec. 31 deadline is not met, it may be extended to the end of March. However, if the Knesset does not pass a budget by the end of March, the law states that the body will automatically dissolve, with an election held 90 days later.

The Knesset is slated to go into recess on March 24, but it appears increasingly likely that the legislature will stay in session, with efforts to finalize the budget continuing until hours before Passover, which begins on the evening of April 1.

If Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his coalition succeed in approving a budget, the official election date would be set for Oct. 26, though the parties could choose to hold it on an earlier date. 

Some Israeli media have reported that Netanyahu would prefer to hold the election before Rosh Hashanah (Sept. 12) and the subsequent three weeks of Jewish holidays; other analysts have said he would not want an election after Oct. 7, because the date will serve as a reminder of his government’s failure to prevent Hamas’ 2023 terror attack. 

If the coalition does not succeed in passing a budget, the election will be held at the end of June, and Netanyahu’s Likud party will have to launch a campaign, potentially as the war with Iran is still ongoing.

Before the war, the biggest political challenge for Netanyahu’s government related to issues surrounding Haredi military service.  

The Haredi exemption from the mandatory IDF draft was canceled by the High Court of Justice in 2023, just prior to the Hamas attacks — and shortly before Israelis became acutely aware of the IDF’s urgent manpower needs. Since then, the government has been embroiled in legal and legislative disputes over how many young Haredi men to conscript and what penalties should be imposed on those who refuse to serve.

With the issue unresolved, both Haredi parties quit their Cabinet posts last year, though Shas and parts of United Torah Judaism mostly continued voting with the coalition in the Knesset. Still, the parties demanded that a bill reducing penalties for not serving in the IDF be passed before they supported the budget.

While the head of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Netanyahu loyalist Boaz Bismuth, led the effort to draft legislation that the Haredi parties would agree to — the proposal would institute relatively low enlistment quotas and lessen and defer most penalties for refusing to serve — enough members of Knesset from other coalition parties opposed it that it was unclear that Bismuth’s bill would get enough votes to pass.

Last week, Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced that coalition parties agreed to put aside all controversial legislation, including the Haredi draft bill, as well as a reform led by Smotrich to further privatize the dairy sector, which faced significant opposition within Likud. The Haredi parties were reportedly incentivized to drop their insistence on passing the bill when Smotrich and Netanyahu agreed to meet their other budgetary demands.

Dropping the Haredi draft bill means that the status quo remains: The IDF is legally required to send draft notices to all Haredi men aged 18-26, though they do not have to send them all at once, and the government must stop funding yeshivas for young men who are required by law to draft. Yet the government does not plan to enforce the law while the war against Iran is ongoing, Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs told the High Court on Thursday.

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara flagged some Haredi budgetary demands as illegal, leading the parties to threaten once again to vote against the state budget unless the same amount of funding is diverted to places that Baharav-Miara would not reject. That dispute delayed a vote on increasing the wartime defense budget that had been set for Monday.

At the same time, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and his Otzma Yehudit party have yet to drop their most controversial proposal, the death penalty for terrorists, which they continue to demand be passed before the budget vote. Otzma has followed through on past threats to vote against the coalition or absent themselves from key votes if their demands are not met.

Ben-Gvir posted a video on X on Wednesday, in which an off-camera voice said, “I heard the Iranians say that you’re dead.” Standing in front of a gallows with a plaque with Israel’s anthem, a memorial to Jewish underground fighters who were hanged by the British Mandatory government, Ben-Gvir said: “I am dying to execute terrorists. Death penalty for terrorists.” 

When Israel and the U.S. launched their first strikes on Iran, Ron Dermer was in Australia, about as far as one could get from the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem or the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv. He soon found himself, like many other Israelis wanting to get home from abroad, on a plane to Taba, Egypt, from which point he would cross back into Israel, where airspace remains restricted.

Since November, when he resigned from his official post as strategic affairs minister, Dermer has spent most of his time traveling for speaking engagements. But now, two sources with knowledge of the matter confirmed to Jewish Insider, Dermer is back again in public service. 

He may not have an official title, but he is doing what he has done for the previous three years — serving as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s closest and most trusted advisor. Israel’s Walla News quoted a source in the Prime Minister’s Office who said Dermer was reporting for “reserve duty,” like over 100,000 other Israelis since the outset of the war with Iran.

Netanyahu and Dermer’s relationship has been so close for the past 26 years that Dermer has been called the prime minister’s third son and nicknamed “Bibi’s brain.” With a very small inner circle and few advisors whom he truly trusts, Netanyahu views Dermer as a critical asset to his team at a time when the U.S. and Israel are making decisions that will determine the future of the Middle East for years to come.

Dermer is also known as having a good relationship with the Trump administration, and has reportedly been taking part in Netanyahu’s nightly calls with President Donald Trump. 

Those relationships have served Dermer well. When Trump presented his 20-point plan to end the war in Gaza last September, he repeatedly said, “Right, Ron?” addressing his remarks to Dermer, who was sitting in the front row.

Trump and Netanyahu have been remarkably in sync since the war began on Feb. 28. But some cracks are beginning to show: After the IDF bombed an Iranian fuel depot earlier this week, Trump administration sources leaked that they thought Israel went too far. 

Trump has sent mixed messages about the expected duration of the war, saying on Monday that it is “very complete,” but also “could go further,” while Netanyahu said on Saturday night, “We are continuing with full force.” 

Dermer may well be the point person tasked to smooth over the differences that are likely to come up between the leaders. Netanyahu is counting on it.

Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) urged voters in her district not to vote for East Brunswick Mayor Brad Cohen, one of the 17 candidates running to replace her, accusing him of being a “hardline supporter” of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Cohen, the top fundraiser in the field, was singled out for criticism by Watson Coleman, who declined to endorse a candidate in the 12th Congressional District primary, according to the New Jersey Globe.

“He’s a hardline supporter of Netanyahu, who is a despot, a corrupt leader,” Watson Coleman, a longtime critic of Israel, told the news outlet.

Cohen currently holds a substantial fundraising lead in the race to replace Watson Coleman, with $279,000 raised and $263,000 cash on hand as of the end of 2025.

Cohen told the Globe that Watson Coleman’s characterization of him is false, and that he disagrees with certain actions of the Israeli government.

“I have a lot of respect for Congresswoman Watson Coleman. She spent her first Passover at my house when she became a congresswoman, so our history goes back a long time,” Cohen said. “On most issues, we’re completely on the same page. But I think she’s mischaracterizing me when she calls me a hardliner.”

He did not respond to a request for comment from Jewish Insider.

Cohen is a prominent figure in the local Jewish community and a self-described AIPAC member, who also testified in support of legislation codifying the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism in the state legislature and pushed back against efforts to adopt a ceasefire resolution in the East Brunswick town council, according to the Jewish Link, a regional Jewish news outlet.

He and Watson Coleman clashed in 2019 after she voted against a resolution opposing the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement targeting Israel, though he defended her from accusations of antisemitism a year later.

Cohen urged the East Brunswick public school district to investigate whether an antisemitic hate crime had occurred in 2024 when a picture of a Jewish student group was erased from the high school yearbook and replaced with a picture of Muslim students.

During a visit to Israel in 2022, Cohen signed a sister city agreement between East Brunswick and Yavne, Israel.

Other notable candidates in the race include Sue Altman, the former state director for Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ), a progressive activist who ran for Congress on a pro-Israel platform in 2024 in a neighboring district, and Adam Hamawy.

Hamawy is a physician and veteran who gained prominence as a vocal critic of Israel after he volunteered as a doctor in Gaza in 2024. He’s endorsed by Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), whose life he saved after her helicopter was shot down in Iraq, and he was Watson Coleman’s guest to President Donald Trump’s address to Congress in 2024.

Watson Coleman praised five of the 17 candidates in the race, including Altman and Hamawy, as “hardworking, good people,” but said she would otherwise not “[put] my finger on this in any way, shape, or form.”

Cohen has already faced antisemitic attacks during his congressional campaign, including an Instagram page dedicated to attacking him that portrays him with devil horns and drinking blood, and derisively characterizes him as “Israel first” and a “Zionist … destroying usa.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again voiced skepticism about the U.S.’ ability to reach an agreement with Iran as he departed Joint Base Andrews on Thursday, a day after his White House meeting with President Donald Trump.

Netanyahu said that his nearly three-hour meeting with Trump “mostly focused on the negotiations with Iran.”

“The president thinks the Iranians understand who they’re dealing with,” Netanyahu said. “He thinks the conditions he is setting, combined with their understanding that they made a mistake last time not reaching a deal, could bring them to agree to conditions that will allow a good deal to be reached.”

The prime minister’s view was more reserved: “I do not hide my general skepticism about the possibility of any deal with Iran.”

Netanyahu said he told Trump that if a deal is indeed reached, “it must include the components that are important to us, the State of Israel, and, I think, the entire international community: not just the nuclear matter, but also ballistic missiles and Iranian proxies in the region.”

After Wednesday’s White House meeting, the Prime Minister’s Office stated that the leaders discussed Iran and Gaza, and that Netanyahu “emphasized the security needs of the State of Israel in the context of the negotiations, and the two leaders agreed on continued coordination and the close contact between them.”

Trump posted on Truth Social that he “insisted that negotiations with Iran continue to see whether or not a Deal can be consummated. If it can, I let the Prime Minister know that will be a preference. If it cannot, we will just have to see what the outcome will be.”

The president warned that last time Tehran did not make a deal, the U.S. launched Operation Midnight Hammer, striking Iran’s nuclear sites.

The Prime Minister’s Office said Netanyahu will not be returning to Washington next week as he had been scheduled to, in order to speak at an AIPAC conference, and will instead appear virtually.

As he departed Washington a day after his meeting with Trump, Netanyahu voiced skepticism about the U.S.’ ability to reach an agreement with Iran.

“The president thinks the Iranians understand who they’re dealing with,” Netanyahu said from Joint Base Andrews. “He thinks the… pic.twitter.com/A1AsiDYZCe

— Jewish Insider (@J_Insider) February 12, 2026

The U.S. will continue pursuing diplomacy with Iran, President Donald Trump said following his White House meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday.

“There was nothing definitive reached other than I insisted that negotiations with Iran continue, to see whether or not a deal can be consummated,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “If it can, I let the Prime Minister know that will be a preference.”

If negotiations do not lead to a deal, the president added, “we will just have to see what the outcome will be. Last time, Iran decided they were better off not making a deal, and they were hit with Midnight Hammer. That did not work out well for them. Hopefully, this time, they will be more reasonable and responsible.” 

In addition, Trump wrote, he and Netanyahu discussed “the tremendous progress being made in Gaza.” 

Trump characterized the summit as “a very good meeting, the tremendous relationship between our two countries continues.”

Netanyahu’s office said he and Trump discussed Iran, Gaza and regional developments. 

“The prime minister stood up for the State of Israel’s security needs in the context of the negotiations, and the two agreed to continue to coordinate closely,” the Prime Minister’s Office statement read. 

Netanyahu made a quiet entrance to the White House, and Trump was uncharacteristically camera-shy.

Trump and Netanyahu’s meetings — this was their seventh in the past year — have usually been accompanied by freewheeling press huddles, either in the Oval Office or East Room, in which Trump answered dozens of questions. On Wednesday, however, reporters were not allowed in the room before or after the meeting, which continued longer than scheduled and included lunch.

At the top of the meeting’s agenda were the details of the ongoing negotiations with Iran. The American team is led by White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, both of whom met with Netanyahu at Blair House on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, Trump said on Fox Business that the Iranians “want to make a deal. I think they’d be foolish if they didn’t. We took out their nuclear power last time, and we’ll have to see if we take out more this time.”

Trump added that a “good deal” would mean “no nuclear weapons, no ballistic missiles, no this or that.” 

That statement checks off the most important items on Netanyahu’s priority list for an Iran deal, while leaving out the Islamic Republic’s sponsorship of terrorist proxies like Hezbollah and Hamas. It also does not include any aid to the Iranian protesters against the regime, whom Trump said late last year that he would help.

A source on Netanyahu’s delegation said that the prime minister is aware of the American political sensitivities around their meeting and was cautious to show deference to Trump, lest Netanyahu be seen as trying to push for war.  

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, however, said in an interview that his country’s ballistic missile program is “never negotiable.” 

Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani called Trump ahead of his meeting with Netanyahu to encourage him to reach a deal, according to Qatari media.

Netanyahu met with Secretary of State Marco Rubio ahead of the Trump meeting, for discussions focused on the administration’s plans for Gaza. 

Netanyahu presented Rubio with signed letters certifying his membership in the Board of Peace, which Trump founded to oversee reconstruction and demilitarization in Gaza and attempt to resolve other conflicts. 

The Board of Peace’s first meeting is next week, and Netanyahu’s office has yet to say whether he will attend. The prime minister was expected to come back to Washington from Feb. 18-22 for an AIPAC conference beginning that Sunday, and his office said the trip is still on schedule. 

👋 Good Monday morning!

In today’s Daily Kickoff, we preview Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s trip to Washington this week following the White House’s talks with Iran on Friday, and have the exclusive on a new report from the North American Values Institute on antisemitism in K-12 schools. We report on Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal’s praise for the Oct. 7 attacks at the Al Jazeera Forum in Doha, Qatar, over the weekend, as Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin hosted his annual Super Bowl lunch that was attended by a senior Qatari official. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Yakir Gabay and Narges Mohammadi.

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

What We’re Watching

• Vice President JD Vance is traveling to Armenia today as part of a two-country trip that will also include a stop in Azerbaijan later this week, in a last-minute trip first reported yesterday. Vance will not be in Washington during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the White House, slated for Wednesday.
• Former Israeli hostage and musician Alon Ohel will play a one-night concert in Tel Aviv this evening. In videos shared by his loved ones during his more than two years in captivity, Ohel deftly played the piano, drawing widespread praise for his talent. He’ll be performing alongside a number of high-profile Israeli musicians, including Idan Amedi and Eviatar Banai for the performance, titled “Alon Ohel, Playing for Life.”
• The Religious Liberty Commission is holding its fifth hearing on issues related to antisemitism today at the Museum of the Bible. Speakers at the gathering, which begins this morning and runs through the mid-afternoon, include the Justice Department’s Leo Terrell, former Auburn men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl and former U.S. Ambassador for Religious Freedom Sam Brownback.
  Prince William is making his first official visit to Saudi Arabia this week. The trip comes as Riyadh hosts the World Defense Show, and as the U.K. works to establish Saudi Arabia as a partner in its next-generation Tempest fighter aircraft program.
• Somali Defense Minister Ahmed Moallim Fiqi is also in Riyadh, where earlier in the day he inked a new defense cooperation agreement with Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman. The Saudi official had met with Jewish leaders in Washington last month, during which he reiterated Riyadh’s opposition to Israel’s recent recognition of Somaliland.

What You Should Know

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S LAHAV HARKOV

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to fly to Washington for a Wednesday White House meeting amid increasing concern in Jerusalem that the U.S. and Iran are headed towards a nuclear deal that does not meet Israel’s immediate security need — to drastically limit Iran’s ballistic missile program.

After the first round of indirect negotiations in Oman on Friday, President Donald Trump told reporters on Air Force One that talks had been “very good” and that “Iran looks like it wants to make a deal very badly.” 

Asked about Iran’s demand that the talks only be about nuclear weapons, Trump said, “That would be acceptable. One thing, right up front, no nuclear weapons. … They weren’t willing to do that [last year]; now they are willing to do much more.” That message contrasted with Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s remarks from last week, that “in order for talks to actually lead to something meaningful, they will have to include certain things, and that includes the range of their ballistic missiles, that includes the sponsorship of terrorist organizations across the region, that includes the nuclear program and that includes the treatment of their own people.”

Netanyahu announced the urgent meeting with Trump, less than two months after they last met at Mar-a-Lago, with a statement that said: “The Prime Minister believes any negotiations must include limitations on ballistic missiles and a halting of the support for the Iranian axis.”

For Israel, while the Iranian nuclear program may be the biggest threat, Operation Midnight Hammer did enough damage that the ballistic missiles are the more urgent concern, one that Iran has been threatening to use against Israel if the U.S. launches an attack. 

Though Israel destroyed hundreds of missiles, launchers and production sites during the 12-Day war last June, most of Iran’s missiles remained intact. The prime minister presented the president with evidence during their December meeting that Iran has been working to rebuild its ballistic missile program and air defenses with help from China and Russia.

Any deal that does not include significant limitations on the range of Iran’s ballistic missiles will be woefully inadequate from Israel’s perspective. Plus, as Netanyahu’s office said on Saturday, Israel wants a deal that addresses Iran’s sponsorship of terrorist proxies like Hamas and Hezbollah.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) expressed skepticism that the negotiations would bring about an acceptable agreement and noted the legal requirement to bring any such deal before Congress, writing on X: “I hope it can meet our national security objectives and the needs of the people of Iran through diplomacy. Given Iran’s behavior regarding deals, it could be a tough sell. However, I am open-minded, understanding [that] any agreement with the Islamic Republic and the United States must come to Congress for review and a vote.” 

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

FROM CENTER STAGE

In Qatar, Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal headlines Al Jazeera Forum focused on defaming Israel

Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal addressed Qatar’s 17th Al Jazeera Forum on Sunday in Doha, at a conference that focused heavily on denigrating Israel, while featuring senior officials from Iran and Somalia. Mashaal applauded the group’s Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel as having “brought the Palestinian cause back to the forefront of the world” and said that Palestinians “take pride” in “resistance,” a euphemism for violence against Israelis. He called to “pursue Israel and establish that it is a pariah entity that is losing its international legitimacy,” noting the “changes in the elites, universities and social networks” against Israel, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports.

Peak promotion: The Hamas leader, who resides in Doha, also hailed Qatar’s “honorable role in the [Palestinian] cause.” Hamas is designated by the U.S., European Union and other countries as a terrorist organization, and Mashaal is wanted in the U.S. for terrorism, murder conspiracy and sanctions evasion relating to his role in planning the Oct. 7 attacks. Mashaal was listed on the conference’s program and list of speakers in versions of the Al Jazeera Forum website archived by independent researcher Eitan Fischberger, but as of Sunday, Mashaal was no longer listed. At the same time, the Al Jazeera Forum X account extensively promoted Mashaal, with 19 posts about the terror leader’s remarks. The account featured two posts about conference keynote speaker Abbas Araghchi, the foreign minister of Iran. 

Read the full story here.

Elsewhere at the Forum: Another speaker was Francesca Albanese, the U.N. special rapporteur who has been sanctioned by the U.S. for “infringement on the sovereignty” of Israel and the U.S. by pursuing International Criminal Court prosecutions of citizens of both countries, as Secretary of State Marco Rubio described her actions last year. Albanese claimed in her remarks, delivered via video, that Israel had committed a premeditated genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, and that all of humanity “now has a common enemy” in Israel.

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DOHA DISSONANCE

As speakers in Doha brand Israel as humanity’s ‘common enemy,’ Michael Rubin hosts Qatari minister at Super Bowl lunch

As the Al Jazeera Forum took place in Doha, Qatari minister Nasser Al-Khelaifi was being feted by Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin at another high-profile convening — Super Bowl weekend, taking place in Santa Clara, Calif. Al-Khelaifi is the chairman of Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), one of the Qatari sovereign wealth funds that invests heavily in international sports and entertainment. Among his other titles, Al-Khelaifi is also a board member of the Qatar Investment Authority, a minister of state and the president of the Paris Saint-Germain Football Club in France and the Qatar Tennis Foundation. 

Flourishing friendship: Rubin posted a picture with Al-Khelaifi from his annual Super Bowl luncheon on Instagram with the caption, “Incredible lunch with amazing people across sports, business, and culture.” Rubin and Al-Khelaifi have developed a friendship in recent years, including a long-term partnership between Fanatics and Paris Saint-Germain. Rubin posted a photo with Al-Khelaifi at the F1 Qatar Grand Prix last November, where he called the Qatari minister his “brother” and said, “What you did for both the city of Paris and country of Qatar is truly amazing.”

Read the full story here.

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STICKING BY THE STICKY NOTE

Amid criticism, Kraft’s anti-hate group defends Super Bowl ad against antisemitism

The Blue Square Alliance Against Hate’s widely watched Super Bowl ad last night designed to combat antisemitism instead sparked a heated divide within the Jewish community over the effectiveness of its message, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports. Titled “Sticky Note,” the ad from New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft’s group featured a Jewish student being harassed by his high school classmates because of his religion, with bullies placing a “dirty Jew” sticker on his backpack. In a show of allyship, a Black classmate puts a blue square over the note. “Do not listen to that,” he tells his Jewish classmate. “I know how it feels.” 

Target audience: A chorus of commentators criticized the advertisement, which is part of a $15 million media campaign that will also include ad spots during the Winter Olympics, for depicting Jews as victims in need of protection from non-Jews and for avoiding the reality that the source of many antisemitic incidents in schools stem from hostility toward or hatred of Israel. But the leader of Kraft’s group told JI that the ad wasn’t trying to appeal to a Jewish audience. Instead, Blue Square Alliance President Adam Katz told JI that with more than 100 million viewers, the Super Bowl provides an opportunity to reach an audience that is “unengaged — and in many cases uninformed — about antisemitism … We’re very focused on this audience that’s lacking awareness, empathy and motivation to act,” he said.    

Read the full story here.

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MEJIA MOMENTUM

Will Democrats rally behind progressive socialist Mejia as she vies to represent wealthy N.J. district?

With progressive activist Analilia Mejia’s expected victory in the special election Democratic primary in New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District, attention is now turning to the upcoming April special election and the June regular election primary as the last chances for moderates and pro-Israel groups to defeat her, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

Looking ahead: “June is potentially irresistible for the other candidates who ran … if any of these candidates could get a one-on-one shot at making it in June,” Micah Rasmussen, the director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University, said. But unless the field can consolidate, Rasmussen said, it’s hard to see how the result would be any different in June. He said former Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-NJ), who closely trails Mejia, would have the strongest shot at defeating her head-to-head, while former Lt. Gov. Tahesha Way might have a tougher battle.

Read the full story here.

UDP’s outlook: “The outcome in NJ-11 was an anticipated possibility, and our focus remains on who will serve the next full term in Congress,” UDP spokesperson Patrick Dorton said in a statement on Friday. “UDP will be closely monitoring dozens of primary races, including the June NJ-11 primary, to help ensure pro-Israel candidates are elected to Congress.”

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EXCLUSIVE

New report warns about the rise of activists smuggling in antisemitic content in K-12 schools

Political activists seeking to push extremist perspectives into the classroom are behind a nationwide acceleration of antisemitic content in K-12 classrooms, with increasingly active movements targeting school boards, district leadership and teacher organizations, according to a report published Monday by the North American Values Institute, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.

Findings: The group’s 58-page report, “When the Classroom Turns Hostile: A Strategic Response to Extremism and Antisemitism in K-12 Education,” shared exclusively with JI, found that in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel, what it described as radical ideological frameworks have dominated key education institutions across the country. Ideologies such as “oppressor-oppressed” are common in schools of education, accreditation bodies, teacher unions and district bureaucracies, all of which shape classroom materials. 

Read the full story here.

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MENTORSHIP MOVES

AOC under Matt Duss’ foreign policy tutelage as she makes 2028 moves

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has been receiving briefings from Matt Duss, an outspoken critic of the U.S.-Israel alliance and former foreign policy advisor to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), as she prepares for a high-profile appearance at the Munich Security Conference this week, The New York Times reported on Friday. Duss, who is now executive vice president at the Center for International Policy, a left-wing think tank, has long been a prominent detractor of U.S. relations with Israel, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports. 

Duss’ record: He has called for blocking aid to Israel and has expressed opposition to renewing the 10-year memorandum of understanding, which is set to expire in 2028 and currently provides $3.8 billion in military funding to Israel annually. He has also cast doubt on the Abraham Accords, accusing the normalization agreements between Israel and several Arab countries of using “racist logic” that is “premised on the perpetual repression of Palestinians” and helping to fuel Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks. Duss has frequently called Israel’s resulting war in Gaza a genocide. “I don’t think a Democrat can be nominated in ‘28 without acknowledging that it is a genocide,” Duss suggested in an interview with The Financial Times last September.

Read the full story here.

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Worthy Reads

Baker’s Recipe: Politico’s Diana Nerozzi and Ian Ward profile the Trump administration’s Andy Baker, whose “fingerprints are evident on some of the Trump administration’s most norm-shattering postures,” including Vice President JD Vance’s address at last year’s Munich Security Conference and the White House’s National Security Strategy. “Behind the scenes, the seldom-pictured and extremely private deputy national security adviser has emerged as a key figure in Vance’s orbit, shaping both the vice president’s foreign policy thinking and some of the White House’s most consequential national security decisions — especially its increasingly confrontational stance toward America’s allies in Europe. … With Vance emerging as a leading candidate to secure the 2028 Republican nomination, Baker, a self-described ‘realist’ who is skeptical of traditional American alliances and U.S. military intervention abroad, is expected to play an even more important role in shaping the future of the GOP’s foreign policy.” [Politico]

Harassed at Haverford: In The Free Press, Haviv Rettig Gur recounts his recent experience as a guest speaker at Haverford College, where his talk was disrupted by anti-Israel student protesters. “It was the strangest thing: The more I treated them like neglected children hungry for knowledge, the more likely they were to respond in healthy and productive ways. I didn’t meet violent illiberal radicals that evening at Haverford; I met children playing at violent illiberal radicalism. I met young people starved for wisdom and authority who had been told that their every emotional kink and outburst was valid and unassailable truth. … In the end, we managed to have an honest exchange of ideas, but it felt as though we had to buck everything their campus culture had taught them in order to reach that point. I met a real hunger for depth and understanding among young people who’d been told in a hundred different ways that their unexamined emotions were wisdom enough.” [FreePress]

The Two Elites: The Financial Times’ Janan Ganesh observes the “fatally interlocking” relationship between the private and public elite, against the backdrop of the resignation of former U.K. Ambassador to the U.S. Peter Mandelson over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein. “Most people do not find money — or the main ways of making money, such as banking — intrinsically interesting. This might be less true in societies that are new to wealth. But it holds in the established western cities. There, the self-made often discover too late that all their work and risk-taking has brought them less social status than expected. A minor magazine editor outranks them at a party. A hand-to-mouth actor is more welcome at Soho House. A bureaucrat can affect their business. Most rich people don’t mind. Even those who do tend to react maturely, perhaps sponsoring the arts for some reflected glory or buying a media outlet. But some will cross the line in seeking to be near the beau monde. Which consists of whom? Artists, intellectuals, politicians, even the occasional journalist: the public rather than private 1 per cent. Their value in social settings is high. Their income might not be.” [FT]

Word on the Street

The Pentagon is cutting its graduate-level programmatic and fellowship partnerships with Harvard, alleging that the school is imparting “globalist and radical ideologies” amid ongoing tensions between the school and the Trump administration…

NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch named Cardinal Timothy Dolan and the Rev. A.R. Bernard co-heads of the department’s chaplaincy unit, where they will jointly oversee a team of 10 chaplains; Dolan and Bernard, who respectively represent Catholic and Black churches, succeed Rabbi Alvin Kass, who died last year after six decades with the NYPD… 

The New York Times looks at how conspiracy theories about the U.S.S. Liberty incident, in which Israel mistakenly fired on a U.S. naval ship during the Six-Day War, are spreading in far-right circles and are being promoted by Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens…

The Washington Post profiles American Conservative editor Curt Mills as the “avatar of a new right” works to shape the future of a post-Trump Republican Party; the “the No. 1 item on Mills’s agenda,” the Post reports, “is pushing back against Trump on U.S. support for Israel’s retaliation against Hamas after the attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, and agitating for a hard turn away from America’s 80-year bond with the Jewish state”… 

The New York Times reviews Allegra Goodman’s This Is Not About Us, a collection of short but intertwined stories about generations of a fictional large Jewish family…

Israeli Olympic bobsled captain AJ Edelman said the apartment where the Israeli team had been staying in Milan ahead of the Olympic Games had been robbed; among the items taken, Edelman said, were thousands of dollars in cash as well as some of the team’s passports…

The Australian state of Queensland introduced a series of hate speech reforms that include the banning of the public use of such slogans as “globalize the intifada” and “from the river to the sea”; the move was undertaken in response to the December terror attack on a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach…

Israeli President Isaac Herzog and First Lady Michal Herzog visited the site of the Bondi attack earlier today as part of a four-day visit to the country that will also include stops in Melbourne and Canberra…

Israeli carrier El Al was fined $39 million by the country’s Competition Authority over its price-gauging of tickets after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks and through May 2024, finding that El Al raised prices on routes — a majority of which were only being served by the airline due to security concerns that resulted in widespread route suspensions — by between 16-31%…

Ynet profiles Israeli real estate investor Yakir Gabay, who was named to the executive board of the Trump administration’s Board of Peace…

The families of Druze children killed in a Hezbollah strike on a soccer field in the Israeli town of Majdal Shams in July 2024 are suing the terror organization for 80 million shekels ($25 million); 12 children were killed and dozens injured in the attack…

Israel’s Security Cabinet approved a series of measures that will allow Israeli authorities to exert more control in the West Bank, with far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who backed the expansion, saying, “we will continue to bury the idea of a Palestinian state”…

Iran sentenced activist Narges Mohammadi, who had been imprisoned since her arrest in December and had begun a hunger strike, to seven years in prison…

The new sentence against Mohammadi comes as Iranian security forces arrested four senior politicians affiliated with the country’s reformist parties… 

Israeli music icon Matti Caspi died at 76…

Pic of the Day

Attendees of the International Conference of Shluchot in Brooklyn, N.Y., posed for the annual “class photo” outside the Chabad-Lubavitch world headquarters over the weekend. Some 4,500 women representing more than 100 countries traveled to New York for the annual gathering.

Birthdays

Sports announcer for NBA, NFL and college basketball games on CBS, TNT and TBS, as well as Brooklyn Nets games on the YES Network, Ian Eagle turns 57…

Grammy Award-winning songwriter of over 150 hits including “Somewhere Out There” from the movie “An American Tail,” in partnership with his late wife Cynthia Weil, Barry Mann (born Barry Imberman) turns 87… Singer-songwriter, she wrote 118 songs that made it to the Top 100 between 1955 and 1999 and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Carole King (born Carol Klein) turns 84… Professor of economics at Columbia University, Nobel laureate in 2001, former SVP and chief economist of the World Bank, Joseph Stiglitz turns 83… Three-time Tony Award and three-time Emmy Award-winning actress, Judith Light turns 77… Professor of history and modern Jewish studies at UCSD, Deborah Hertz turns 77… Israeli singer mostly in the Mizrahi music tradition, he has released over 30 albums, Shimi Tavori (born Shimshon Tawili) turns 73… Former governor of Virginia, chair of the DNC, chair of two Clinton presidential campaigns (Bill’s in 1996, Hillary’s in 2008), Terry McAuliffe, a/k/a “the Macker,” turns 69… Creator of the HBO series “The Wire” (2002-2008) and NBC’s series “Homicide: Life on the Street” (1993-1999), winner of a 2010 MacArthur genius fellowship, David Simon turns 66… Theoretical physics professor at Columbia University since 1996, author of multiple books written for the general public such as Icarus at the Edge of Time, Brian Greene turns 63… Isaac Lieberman… Managing director with the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, he was the lieutenant governor and then attorney general of Delaware, Matthew P. Denn turns 60… Play-by-play announcer for ESPN’s men’s college basketball and for the Toronto Blue Jays, Dan Shulman turns 59… British broadcasting executive who is currently chief content officer at the U.K.’s Channel 4, Ian Katz turns 58… President of the K-12 education portfolio at the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies, Julie Mikuta… Assistant adjunct professor of journalism at UCLA, she was a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for the Los Angeles Times for 16 years, Abigail Helaine “Abbe” Goldman turns 56… Managing director of AlTi Tiedemann Global, Jeffrey L. Zlot… Charleston, S.C., resident, Ellen Miriam Brandwein… Television and film actress, Margarita Levieva turns 46… Member of the Minnesota state Senate since 2011, Jeremy R. Miller turns 43… Senior director of public policy and strategy for Christians United for Israel Action Fund, Boris Zilberman… Director of development for Ben-Gurion University, Jason Pressberg… Member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives (D-182) since 2023, Benjamin R. Waxman turns 41… Managing partner of Precision Infrastructure Management, Thomas Szold… Brazilian chess grandmaster, André Diamant turns 36… Associate director at Merck Research Laboratories, Carly Abenstein Myar… Israeli judoka, he competed for Israel at the 2020 and 2024 Summer Olympics, Baruch Shmailov turns 32… Offensive tackle for the NFL’s Carolina Panthers, Jake Curhan turns 28…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to fly to Washington for a Wednesday White House meeting amid increasing concern in Jerusalem that the U.S. and Iran are headed towards a nuclear deal that does not meet Israel’s immediate security need — to drastically limit Iran’s ballistic missile program.

After the first round of indirect negotiations in Oman on Friday, President Donald Trump told reporters on Air Force One that talks had been “very good” and that “Iran looks like it wants to make a deal very badly.” 

Asked about Iran’s demand that the talks only be about nuclear weapons, Trump said, “That would be acceptable. One thing, right up front, no nuclear weapons. … They weren’t willing to do that [last year]; now they are willing to do much more.” That message contrasted with Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s remarks from last week, that “in order for talks to actually lead to something meaningful, they will have to include certain things, and that includes the range of their ballistic missiles, that includes the sponsorship of terrorist organizations across the region, that includes the nuclear program and that includes the treatment of their own people.”

Netanyahu announced the urgent meeting with Trump, less than two months after they last met at Mar-a-Lago, with a statement that said: “The Prime Minister believes any negotiations must include limitations on ballistic missiles and a halting of the support for the Iranian axis.”

For Israel, while the Iranian nuclear program may be the biggest threat, Operation Midnight Hammer did enough damage that the ballistic missiles are the more urgent concern, one that Iran has been threatening to use against Israel if the U.S. launches an attack. 

Though Israel destroyed hundreds of missiles, launchers and production sites during the 12-Day war last June, most of Iran’s missiles remained intact. The prime minister presented the president with evidence during their December meeting that Iran has been working to rebuild its ballistic missile program and air defenses with help from China and Russia.

Any deal that does not include significant limitations on the range of Iran’s ballistic missiles will be woefully inadequate from Israel’s perspective. Plus, as Netanyahu’s office said on Saturday, Israel wants a deal that addresses Iran’s sponsorship of terrorist proxies like Hamas and Hezbollah.

Trump said in December that he would give Israel a green light to strike Iran’s missile program – and a “fast” one if the Islamic Republic rebuilds its nuclear program. And a U.S. military threat still stands, with Trump telling reporters on Friday: “We have a big armada, a big fleet heading in that direction that will be there soon, so we’ll see how that works out. … If they don’t make a deal, the consequences are very steep.” The White House also announced on Friday new secondary sanctions on countries doing business with Iran, in the form of increased tariffs. 

However, Trump also told reporters that he is in “no rush” to reach a deal. The president is less likely to green-light Israeli strikes while he still has Special Envoy Steve Witkoff negotiating with Iran. At the same time, nothing is stopping Iran from continuing to produce more medium- and long-range ballistic missiles in tandem with the talks.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) expressed skepticism that the negotiations would bring about an acceptable agreement and noted the legal requirement to bring any such deal before Congress, writing on X: “I hope it can meet our national security objectives and the needs of the people of Iran through diplomacy. Given Iran’s behavior regarding deals, it could be a tough sell. However, I am open-minded, understanding [that] any agreement with the Islamic Republic and the United States must come to Congress for review and a vote.” 

The Netanyahu-Trump meeting this week is politically tricky for both sides, as well. If Trump continues to pursue a nuclear-only deal that doesn’t meet Israel’s needs, while holding Israel back from striking Iran, the prime minister will look weak in an election year. If Trump continues to push the missiles and proxies issues, Tehran is even less likely to accept a deal and the U.S. and Iran may once again be brought to the brink of a military confrontation. That could lead to accusations that Trump is being unduly influenced by Netanyahu – though such claims from “kooky Tucker Carlson” and his ilk have not seemed to bother Trump much in similar past circumstances.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced a last-minute trip to Washington on Wednesday to discuss talks between the U.S. and Iran, a day after President Donald Trump praised the negotiations with Tehran.

“The Prime Minister believes any negotiations must include limitations on ballistic missiles and a halting of the support for the Iranian axis,” the statement, sent Saturday night, read.

White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Oman on Friday.

Later Friday, Trump told reporters on Air Force One that the talks had been “very good.” 

“Iran looks like it wants to make a deal very badly,” he said. “We have to see what that deal is, but I think Iran wants to make a deal very badly, like they should. Last time, they didn’t want to make a deal, but I think this time they feel differently.”

Asked about Iran’s demand that the talks only be about nuclear weapons, Trump said, “That would be acceptable. One thing, right up front, no nuclear weapons. … They weren’t willing to do that [last year]; now they are willing to do much more.” 

The president also said that he is in “no rush” in the negotiations, adding, “If you remember in Venezuela, we waited around for a while.”

Trump indicated that the military threat to Iran still stands: “We have a big armada, a big fleet heading in that direction that will be there soon, so we’ll see how that works out. … If they don’t make a deal, the consequences are very steep.” 

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) expressed skepticism that the negotiations would bring about an acceptable agreement, and called for Congressional review and approval, which the 2015 Iran nuclear deal lacked. 

“I hope it can meet our national security objectives and the needs of the people of Iran through diplomacy,” Graham wrote on X. “Given Iran’s behavior regarding deals, it could be a tough sell. However, I am open-minded, understanding [that] any agreement with the Islamic Republic and the United States must come to Congress for review and a vote.” 

Meanwhile, in Iran, videos and photos were posted online of Iranians once again protesting the regime using methods other than mass demonstrations, The Wall Street Journal reported, including shouting slogans at funerals, doctors condemning the arrest of colleagues for treating wounded protesters, hosting memorials for wounded protesters and more. 

California state Sen. Scott Wiener announced on Thursday that he is stepping down from his role as one of the co-chairs of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus, capping off nearly two weeks of controversy and frustration among Jewish leaders in the state after the San Francisco Democrat declared Israel’s actions in Gaza to be a genocide. 

Wiener said in a statement, which was obtained by Jewish Insider, that the decision was prompted in part by the fallout of his genocide comments.

“My campaign is accelerating, and my recent statements on Israel and Gaza have led to significant controversy in the Jewish community. The time to transition has arrived,” Wiener said. He will remain in the role until Feb. 15.

Wiener, who is running for Congress in a competitive Democratic primary to fill the seat being vacated by retiring Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), has long declared himself a progressive Zionist while also criticizing the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s actions in Gaza. 

But after a candidate forum this month where his two competitors were quick to say Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, Wiener faced pressure from his left to use the word himself, and released a video a few days later changing his stance. 

“I’ve stopped short of calling it genocide, but I can’t anymore,” Wiener said. A coalition of local and statewide Jewish advocacy groups responded with a statement saying his position “is both incorrect and lacks moral clarity.” 

Wiener said Thursday that the American Jewish community “is navigating an extremely difficult moment in time,” and called for more dialogue.

“As we move through this moment, it is even more important for Jews here and globally to foster open dialogue and acceptance of disagreement, even on the hardest of issues,” Wiener said. “Since I stated my view that the Netanyahu government committed a genocide in Gaza, I have had many in-depth conversations with members of the Jewish community with a range of perspectives. While many in the community strongly disagree with my view, I am grateful for their willingness to engage with me and hear my perspective, showing once again the deep respect for difference in our community.”

In an interview with Politico this week, Wiener said he had avoided using the word “genocide” until now because of the harm and hurt it would cause the Jewish community. 

“Until now, I have not used the word genocide really for two reasons: First of all, it is an extremely sensitive issue in the Jewish community,” Wiener said. “And [second] particularly because the word genocide has been weaponized against Israel and against Jews for a long time. There are people who think Israel’s mere existence is genocide.” 

He said he’s heard from Jewish voters and leaders in the days since who are unhappy with his statement, but asked them to remember his record.

“If you’re mad at me, if you feel betrayed, I respect and honor that. But just also remember how many times I’ve gone to the mat for this community, and the bullets I’ve taken for this community,” Wiener said. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposes the composition of the executive board meant to oversee the rebuilding of Gaza, his office said on Saturday.

“The announcement regarding the composition of the Gaza Executive Board, which is subordinate to the Board of Peace, was not coordinated with Israel and runs contrary to its policy,” the Prime Minister’s Office stated. “The Prime Minister has instructed the Foreign Affairs Minister to contact the U.S. Secretary of State on this matter.”

Netanyahu emphasized his objection in a speech to the Knesset on Monday, saying that “there will be no Turkish or Qatari soldiers in Gaza. We are currently in a dispute with the U.S. over the makeup of the advisory council for Gaza.”

Though Netanyahu said the board was not coordinated with Israel, he spoke with President Donald Trump twice in recent days, and Mossad Chief David Barnea met with White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff on Friday. The calls and meetings were reportedly about Iran.

The White House announced on Friday that several committees to govern Gaza and oversee its reconstruction and administration had been formed, including the Gaza Executive Board.

The Gaza Executive Board is meant to support the office of the high representative for Gaza and the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, which is made up of Palestinian technocrats. It includes Witkoff, Jared Kushner, former U.K. Prime Minister U.K. Tony Blair, Apollo Global Management CEO Marc Rowan, Israeli-Cypriot businessman Yakir Gabay, head of Egyptian intelligence General Hassan Rashad, UAE Minister for International Cooperation Reem Al-Hashimy, U.N. Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Sigrid Kaag, and the previous holder of that position, Nickolay Mladenov, who will serve as the high representative for Gaza.

The board also includes Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Qatari diplomat Ali Al-Thawadi. Israeli officials have previously spoken out against Turkish involvement in Gaza’s reconstruction. Qatar has funded Gaza reconstruction in the past, with significant funding and dual-use materials reaching Hamas; the terrorist group’s leaders have also resided in Doha.

A Trump administration source characterized Netanyahu’s statement to Jewish Insider as a minor issue that would likely be smoothed out within days. 

The source noted that Turkish and Qatari representatives were key to negotiating the ceasefire in Gaza, which took effect in October, and that they call Witkoff and Kushner daily, and therefore have an influence on the process regardless of the titles they are given. He also added that Netanyahu has a direct line to Trump.

“It’s all based on whether Hamas demilitarizes or not,” he added. “If Hamas demilitarizes, that is what’s most important [above the composition of the board]. If Hamas doesn’t demilitarize, none of this matters. … The prime minister has a commitment from the president that Hamas will demilitarize.”

Israeli Opposition Leader Yair Lapid said that “Netanyahu is allowing Turkey and Qatar into Gaza. That endangers Israel’s security. That is not what our brave soldiers fought for for two years.

“Instead of releasing panicky statements of protest, Israel should offer a clear alternative, for Egypt to administer Gaza for the next 15 years, for Hamas to be disarmed, and work with American partners to strengthen Israel’s border,” Lapid added.

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said that he supports Netanyahu’s “important message.”

“Gaza does not need an ‘executive board’ that will supervise its ‘rehabilitation,’ it needs to be cleaned of Hamas terrorists who should be destroyed, along with encouraging massive voluntary emigration, in accordance with President Trump’s original plan,” Ben-Gvir said. “I call on the prime minister to instruct the IDF to prepare to go back to war in Gaza using great force in order to achieve the central goal of the war, the destruction of Hamas.”

The White House also announced the members of the founding executive board of the Trump-chaired Board of Peace, whose purview is not limited to Gaza. Netanyahu told the Knesset on Monday that the board is meant to serve as an alternative to the United Nations, 66 of whose organizations the U.S. left earlier this month. The board is composed of Secretary of State Marc Rubio, Witkoff, Kushner, Blair, Rowan, World Bank President Ajay Banga and Deputy National Security Advisor Robert Gabriel. 

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Argentinian President Javier Milei also accepted invitations from Trump to join the board, while Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had yet to respond. French President Emmanuel Macron declined to join. Netanyahu was invited to join or send an Israeli representative, according to Ynet. Russian President Vladimir Putin was invited, as was President Alyaksandr Lukashenka of Belarus; Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky received an invitation on Tuesday, Ukrainian Ambassador to Israel Yevgen Kornichuk told JI. China, Germany, Australia, Albania, Jordan, Egypt and Bahrain reportedly received invitations, as well. 

Membership on the Board of Peace is for three years; Trump asked countries to pay $1 billion for a permanent seat, Bloomberg reported.

Trump appointed Aryeh Lightstone and Josh Gruenbaum, members of Witkoff’s team, to be special advisors to the Board of Peace, “leading day-to-day strategy and operations, and translating the Board’s mandate and diplomatic priorities into disciplined execution,” the White House stated.

When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proposed winding down U.S. military aid late last year, President Donald Trump was bewildered and did not immediately support the move, two sources familiar with the matter told Jewish Insider. 

Since then, Netanyahu has announced his intentions to move ahead with the plan anyway.

Netanyahu pitched the president on his proposal while visiting Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., in late December, the Israeli prime minister told The Economist in an interview released on Friday. The idea was spearheaded by Ron Dermer, Israel’s former minister of strategic affairs and a top Netanyahu advisor, according to two sources familiar with the matter. 

Dermer has defended the idea to U.S. lawmakers and other officials, arguing that such a move would improve the Jewish state’s embattled reputation in the United States, a claim that Netanyahu repeated to Trump. Since Dermer left government late last year, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter has become the point person on the matter, a source close to the prime minister told JI.

Netanyahu even suggested that Israel may not take or could return some of the military aid it is set to receive from the U.S. in 2027 and 2028 under the terms of the current memorandum of understanding, one source said.

Trump could not understand why Netanyahu would propose ending American military aid to Israel and disagrees that the move would improve U.S. public opinion on the Jewish state, one source familiar with the president’s perspective told JI. He is skeptical that the plan would benefit either country, but is also not dismissing it out of hand, they said. 

Netanyahu departed Trump’s Palm Beach resort on New Year’s Day without having committed to going through with or abandoning the plan. He continued engaging with U.S. lawmakers about the idea in the week and a half that followed, two congressional sources familiar with the matter said, with Netanyahu ultimately announcing last week that the plan was “in the works.”

“We’ve come of age and we’ve developed incredible capacity,” Netanyahu told The Economist. “And our economy, which will reach, certainly within a decade, will reach about a trillion dollars — it’s not a huge economy, but it’s not a small economy. So I want to taper off military aid within the next 10 years.”

“And that’s not saying that I don’t want to fight for the allegiance and support of the American people — I do, you would have to be crazy not to,” he continued.

White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly told JI in a statement regarding the meeting that “Israel has had no better friend in its history than President Trump. The administration continues to work closely with our ally Israel to successfully implement the President’s 20 Point Plan for Peace and strengthen regional security in the Middle East. We do not detail the President’s private conversations — any announcements would come from the administration directly.”

The apparent disconnect between the Israeli and U.S. positions on aid comes as the next MOU is being negotiated between the two countries, with the current 10-year agreement coming to an end in 2028. 

One source said they understand Trump to be supportive of continued aid, something the Israelis have miscalculated, because “the president sees the aid relationship as a bridge to potentially restoring American manufacturing; essentially, giving Israel money to invest in the American industrial base.”

Israel receives $3.3 billion annually from the U.S. under the current MOU in foreign military financing, which usually must be used to purchase American defense products and services. Israel is unique in that it is allowed to use a portion of its FMF for domestic procurement, a benefit that is set to be phased out by the MOU’s end in 2028.

The other $500 million that Israel receives annually under the MOU is earmarked for joint missile-defense programs, such as Iron Dome, David’s Sling and the Arrow systems, which is appropriated directly to the Department of Defense, similarly to other U.S.-Israel cooperative programs including anti-tunneling and drone initiatives. This method of funding, appropriated to the U.S. government rather than directly to Israel, could be expanded to replace FMF if it is wound down.

Likud lawmaker Amit Halevi, who has been the primary engine within the party pushing to phase out U.S. military aid, told JI that the model Israel has been presenting to the Trump administration and on Capitol Hill is this one of “joint projects and investments.” 

While Netanyahu has not detailed what he thinks phasing out U.S. aid would entail, Halevi’s proposal involves shifting to jointly funded research and development projects in defense, cybersecurity and intelligence.

Halevi said that Netanyahu “has a list of things he wants to get done before the next election,” which is officially set for late October but could take place sooner, and that an “MOU that he sees as an achievement” is likely on that list.

The Likud MK has led multiple Knesset subcommittee meetings on the matter, in which representatives from Dermer’s office said they were seriously discussing changing the military aid model.

Halevi argued that Netanyahu’s remarks in The Economist interview are unique in that it is the first time the prime minister is saying he wants Israel to eventually receive no aid at all.

Two of Netanyahu’s spokespeople, however, said that Netanyahu’s position is not new, citing his comments to conservative commentator Ben Shapiro in October and Australian journalist Erin Molan in November. In both interviews, Netanyahu recounted that he phased out American financial aid to Israel in his first term in office in 1996, and that he intends to do the same for military aid.

“I am committed to making Israel as fully self-sufficient as possible,” Netanyahu told Shapiro. “We can transform our military defense industry, make a quantum jump to be able to be self-sufficient and to share with America the extraordinary developments that we have.” 

Netanyahu also said in a Cabinet meeting in May that “we receive close to $4 billion for arms. I think we will have to wean ourselves off of American security aid.” 

His spokespeople had no further comment when asked if anything had changed in light of Netanyahu’s meeting with Trump in December.

Last March, Leiter canceled a meeting with Halevi over his advocacy on the Hill against continuing aid. Weeks earlier, Leiter pulled out of a Heritage Foundation event due to the publication of a paper that called for the gradual elimination of U.S. aid to Israel.

Yet, in September, reflecting the shift in Israel’s position, Leiter told JI that “the nature of any MOU or collaborative effort is going to change,” and it may consist of “greater [joint] research and development between our two countries, rather than relying on American weapons.”  

One American source familiar with the negotiations said, “The Israelis just have to come in and ask for what they need and stop trying to figure out what the U.S. wants to hear.” 

Following Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement that Israel seeks to wean itself off of U.S. aid within next 10 years, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told Jewish Insider he will push forward an effort to end U.S. aid more quickly — a major shift from one of Israel’s closest allies on Capitol Hill.

“From my point of view as an American, now that this decision has been made, I don’t think we need to wait 10 years,” Graham, who chairs the State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs (SFOPs) subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said. “I’m going to work on expediting the wind down of the aid and recommend we plow the money back into our own military.”

The majority of direct U.S. military aid to Israel — $3.3 billion annually through the U.S.-Israel memorandum of understanding — comes through the SFOPs budget package. An additional $500 million in cooperative missile defense funding for co-produced systems is provided through the Defense funding tranche, along with funds for other cooperative programs.

The current MOU guaranteeing $3.8 billion per year expires in 2028.

Graham said that he wants to see the funding redirected into the U.S. military, in light of President Donald Trump’s plan, announced this week, to request $1.5 trillion for the Pentagon for 2027, a more than 50% increase over the 2025 budget.

“President Trump’s budget request of $1.5 trillion for [the] Department of War is a major increase, and every dollar we can recoup, from efficiency or allies who don’t need the money anymore, is welcome to go into building up our military,” Graham said. “Israel’s a great friend and a marvelous military, but we’re the only superpower in the world. America and the demands on us are at an all-time high because of the threats. The American military is the best in the world and in great demand. So what I think is best for America, now that Israel has made this decision, is to expedite this money, plowing it back into our own military needs.”

Netanyahu’s announcement came at a time of rising criticism of U.S. aid to Israel on both sides of the aisle.

But Graham argued that — if Israeli leaders believe that winding down U.S. aid will help rebuild support for the Jewish state among those who are critical of Israel — they are likely mistaken. He added that he’d communicated that view to Israeli leaders, but they pushed ahead anyway.

“From a political point of view, if people in Israel think this will get more support in America, I doubt it. I don’t think people who support Israel and understand its vital role object to the aid, which is a small fraction of our budget, and I don’t think you get any credit from people who think Israel is a liability by reducing our military assistance,” Graham said. “I made that position clear, but Israel is a sovereign nation, a great friend. I respect their decision.”

The South Carolina senator said that he “respect[s]” Netanyahu’s decision, adding “As an American, you’re always appreciating allies that can be more self-sufficient.”

Graham described the U.S. funding for Israel as a “great investment” for U.S. national security which has ultimately saved American taxpayer funding and filled capacities the U.S. would otherwise struggle to achieve.

“The investment we’ve made into the IDF has been a great investment for our national security. We have no better ally than Israel. The more capable they are, the safer America [is],” Graham said. “So I’ve always seen this money going to the IDF as investing in a very capable partner being able to do things that we can’t do at a fairly small price. It would be hard for America, if not impossible, to replicate some of the things the Israeli military and intelligence community can do because of location and expertise.”