NGO Monitor President Gerald Steinberg is set to step down in January, 25 years after founding the Jerusalem-based watchdog group focused on scrutinizing nonprofit organizations critical of Israel and their funding sources, Jewish Insider has learned.

Olga Deutsch, 47, currently NGO Monitor’s vice president, will succeed Steinberg following a months-long transition process at the organization, which since its inception has been closely associated with its founder.

Steinberg, 74, who resigned from his position as a professor of political science at Bar-Ilan University seven years ago, told JI, “There is a point in one’s life where one has to decide the different priorities. And I’ve done this long enough, and other people can have more energy and can take over.”

Deutsch joined NGO Monitor more than a decade ago, heading the Europe department before becoming VP seven years ago. Deutsch told JI that she hopes to “open the next exciting chapter,” while preserving the “character of the organization that Gerald created, which is serving as pioneers and continuing to flag the new fronts through which the Jewish state and the Jewish people are being attacked or put in danger.”

“No one can step into [Steinberg’s] shoes — I would not dare try that,” Deutsch told JI, describing Steinberg as a trailblazer who “identified 25 years ago what will be — and are — the tactics and the method in which the Jewish state and the Jewish people are being attacked, and that is weaponization and abuse of the language of human rights.”

Steinberg had previously been set on a purely academic career path. But the World Conference against Racism in Durban, South Africa, in 2001, which he said was “hijacked months or even years before as a platform for revitalizing the ‘Zionism as racism’ theme,” changed his trajectory, particularly as he observed the role of NGOs in that drive.

Reflecting on the achievements of the organization he subsequently built, Steinberg said, “I can certainly look back and say that both in the academic realm and in the political realm, NGOs are now recognized as important political actors.” 

Steinberg argued that there is greater understanding that NGOs can have malign impacts and can contribute to conflict and antisemitism, despite presenting themselves as human rights organizations.

When he started working on the subject, Steinberg recounted, “People said to me, ‘Why are you bothering with this? They are so unimportant in international politics.’ That’s no longer the case.”

Steinberg said that a challenge for the team going forward “is this tremendous increase in antisemitism as it’s reflected in and fueled by NGOs in a broad sense and how do you prioritize … in the activities of NGO Monitor? I think that that’s a very difficult challenge, because there’s a temptation to be everywhere.”

The group has long drawn criticism from human rights organizations and left-leaning activists who accuse it of seeking to delegitimize NGOs critical of Israeli policy and disproportionately targeting left-wing, pro-Palestinian groups, while aligning itself with Israeli government positions and broader pro-Israel advocacy efforts.

Deutsch rejected those accusations, telling JI, “We have a very, very clear definition of what it is that we research: We focus on NGOs that define themselves as human rights and humanitarian NGOs.” 

Deutsch was born in Serbia and lived in Germany and Belgium before moving to Israel. She brought to NGO Monitor expertise in Europe and the European Union, which she highlights as “the single largest aid donor in the world.” 

“We try to follow the money, because we understand that understanding the financial streams and who’s behind these organizations can be — and oftentimes is — quite telling,” Deutsch said. She argued that many of the organizations scrutinized by NGO Monitor receive European government funding and that some Palestinian NGOs highlighted in the group’s reports have ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which is designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and the EU. 

Last month, the Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCIP) closed its doors, citing “Israel’s targeted criminalization of Palestinian human rights organizations.”

Steinberg said NGO Monitor’s research into alleged ties between DCIP officials and the PFLP led to increased scrutiny of the group and subsequent funding cuts. “We are blamed for that,” he said.

NGO Monitor research has regularly been presented in parliaments in Europe and offers specific policy recommendations in the region, as well as North America and Australia. Deutsch said the group seeks to “inspire that policy conversation with elected officials in how do you prevent aid going directly and indirectly to Hamas again” — a pertinent consideration in the rebuilding of postwar Gaza.

Most recently, the European Parliament in April passed a budgetary resolution citing an NGO Monitor report on internal suspected Hamas documents that “allegedly indicate attempts of Hamas’ infiltration and monitoring through so-called ‘guarantors’ of international NGOs including within Union-funded humanitarian projects in the Gaza Strip.”

The resolution “urges the Commission to investigate all allegations of any type of undue infiltration and influence within Union-funded humanitarian projects and to suspend or recover Union funding where breaches are confirmed.”

“Before Oct. 7, [2023,] it was not always easy to explain why the activities of these non-governmental organizations are dangerous,” Deutsch said. “But after Oct. 7, I think the magnitude and the volume and how publicly it was displayed, of the hatred done in the name of human rights, has made everyone understand why the work that NGO Monitor does is  crucial.”  

After Steinberg passes the mantle to Deutsch, he will remain involved with the organization’s 20-person team as president emeritus and continue leading its academic activities and research initiatives.

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.”

Israel is ending all defense procurement from France, the Israeli Defense Ministry said, citing Paris’ hostile posture toward Jerusalem and a desire to increase domestic production and purchases from allies. 

“Israel will reduce all defense procurement from France to zero, replacing it with domestic Israeli procurement or purchases from allied countries,” Israel’s Ministry of Defense told Politico on Tuesday. 

Maj. Gen. Air Baram, the director general of the ministry, said on Israel’s Channel 12 that the move is part of a larger effort to decrease military dependence on and partnerships with nations that have strained diplomatic relations with Israel. 

The ministry also canceled meetings with France’s minister of the armed forces, instead insisting that “there will be no new professional engagement with the French military.” 

The move is the latest rift in the bilateral relationship that has sharply deteriorated following the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks. During the Israel-Hamas war, France took a critical stance toward Jerusalem’s military conduct in the Gaza Strip and worked to pressure Israel to halt operations. 

In September of last year, French President Emmanuel Macron became one of the first major U.S. allies to recognize Palestinian statehood. In that same month, Macron had said that Israel’s operations in Gaza were “making so many civilian casualties and victims that [Jerusalem is] completely destroying the credibility and image of Israel not only in the region but in public opinion everywhere.” 

President Donald Trump has also expressed frustration with France for its actions amid the war in Iran, including prohibiting planes with military supplies destined for Israel from flying over its territory. He wrote on Truth Social that Paris has been “VERY UNHELPFUL” and that “The U.S.A. will REMEMBER!!!” — a post that surprised French officials. 

Paris has also moved to limit Israeli participation in defense forums, barring dozens of Israeli companies from the Eurosatory 2024 exhibition, restricting their presence at the 2025 Paris Air Show and suspending export licenses.

Experts told Jewish Insider that the latest announcement is likely political posturing and will not have any practical impact on Israel given that defense ties between the two countries have already been on the decline. 

“Israeli procurement from France was apparently quite limited and since the Israeli Ministry of Defense initiated the cut-off, they made the calculation that they could replace the items they obtain from France,” said Michael Eisenstadt, a fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “I suspect there will be no practical consequence for Israeli manufacturers.”

A parliamentary report published in late 2025 found that France approved more than 200 dual-use export licenses to Israel in 2024 totaling €76.5 million — a roughly 60% drop from the previous year.

Eisenstadt noted that the latest action from Israel will not impact “collaboration between private companies or entities.” Existing agreements are expected to be upheld, and private firms can continue pursuing deals.

“Israel has lost patience with French criticism and unreliability,” Edmund Fitton-Brown, a former British diplomat and senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told JI. “The fact is that Israel has historic reasons not to trust France, and now no longer needs France.”

Fitton-Brown said that moving forward Israel may increasingly “rely on the U.S. to represent its 

interests in international affairs.” He similarly said that it will likely not have much impact on Israel. 

“Israel is increasingly all-in with the U.S. as a defense partner, which makes diversifying defense supply an irrelevance,” Fitton-Brown said. “France has been the most disappointing of Israel’s European friends, adopting neutral or even hostile positions on a range of issues: recognition of a Palestinian state, a failure to back Israel fully against Hezbollah in Lebanon, ambivalence and obstruction regarding the U.S.-Israeli campaign against Iran.”

At least nine people were killed in an Iranian missile strike on a residential neighborhood in Beit Shemesh, about 35 miles west of Jerusalem, the Israeli emergency medical service, Magen David Adom, reported on Sunday, bringing the Israeli death toll from the war with Iran launched a day earlier to 12.

Another 28 people, including young children, were injured, with two in serious condition. 

The missile barrage on the mostly Orthodox Jerusalem suburb directly struck a public bomb shelter under a synagogue, among other sites.

Yehuda Shlomo, an MDA EMT, said that when he arrived on the scene, he saw “heavy structural damage, smoke in the air and a great deal of chaos with dozens of frightened casualties emerging from the damaged buildings.” 

Another EMT, Tzvi David, said that he rescued a woman in her 60s trapped under a slab of concrete and that firefighters extricated three children from a locked room.

Photos and videos taken by MDA show buildings destroyed to their foundations, others heavily damaged, and burned-out cars. 

IDF International Media Spokesperson Lt.-Col. Nadav Shoshani posted on X that “since the beginning of Operation ‘Roaring Lion’ the Iranian regime has been targeting civilians, we know that this is their strategy. In their recent attack they killed many civilians in the community of Beit Shemesh. The Iranian regime is a terror regime.” 

“I send my deepest condolences to the families. We will continue to do everything we can to remove these capabilities from this bloodthirsty terror regime,” Shoshani stated.

Late Saturday night, a missile strike in the Tel Aviv area killed two women, one a Filipina caregiver aged 32 and the other aged 68 who died of respiratory issues while moving to a shelter, and injured 121 people.

A 102-year-old man in Ramat Gan, east of Tel Aviv, also died after falling down the stairs on his way to a protected space during an incoming missile siren, Ichilov Hospital announced Sunday.

About 40 buildings in Tel Aviv sustained damage from the missile strikes, with one deemed uninhabitable, the municipality stated. Over 200 residents were evacuated to hotels in the city.

The most heavily damaged building did not have its own safe room and most residents had evacuated to a public bomb shelter, Israel’s Home Front Command said. 

Israeli President Isaac Herzog visited the impact site in Tel Aviv and called on the people of Israel and the region to “stay strong.”

“This is a historic effort to change the trajectory in the Middle East to a different future — a future of peace,” Herzog said. “We’ve been confronted by an empire of evil for a generation.”

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whom Israel killed on Saturday, “spent a whole generation taking his people’s resources and directing them towards terror, bloodshed, pain and horror. And what we are doing here, together, all the allies, the United States, leading this effort … towards a vision of peace in the region,” Herzog said.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Jerusalem this week was an important geopolitical moment for Israel.

The biggest tangible outcome of the visit is that, according to Indian media, Israel plans to transfer Iron Dome and Iron Beam missile-defense technology to India, as part of a defense deal reaching as much as $8 billion-$10 billion. The governments only officially acknowledged “significant growth made in defense cooperation … both in scope and scale.” 

As for confirmed deliverables, Israel launched expedited free-trade negotiations with the world’s most populous country and fastest-growing economy. The governments released a nine-page statement announcing agreements in a range of areas, including mineral exploration, AI, agriculture, cultural exchange and recruitment of up to 50,000 Indian workers to Israel in the next five years — fulfilling a major need for Israel, which revoked most work permits for Palestinians after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks. 

But the real impact is likely greater than any specific agreement. It’s the alliance on display between Israel and India — a “special strategic partnership,” as the countries are calling it — that bolsters Israel’s global position at a time when many of the Jewish state’s traditional partners have turned away. 

Lauren Dagan Amoss of Bar-Ilan University’s Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies and a leading India analyst in Israel, characterized Modi’s speech to the Knesset as “a threshold moment … designed to justify an upgrade from cordial relations to a partnership with strategic depth and deliverables. … The message was aimed at external stakeholders … especially Washington, the Gulf states, and the broader economic-technological community … rather than treating Israel as a standalone bilateral track.” 

That dovetails with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s remarks at a Cabinet meeting on Sunday, where he described his vision of a “hexagon of alliances around or within the Middle East. This includes India, Arab nations, African nations, Mediterranean nations (Greece and Cyprus), and nations in Asia that I won’t detail at the moment.” That “hexagon” creates “an axis of nations that see eye-to-eye on the reality, challenges, and goals against the radical axes, both the radical Shia axis, which we have struck very hard” — i.e. Iran — “and the emerging radical Sunni axis,” meaning Qatar, Turkey, and perhaps India’s historic adversary Pakistan, which signed a defense pact with Saudi Arabia less than six months ago. 

Modi’s visit came as the world is watching the U.S. and Iran to try to understand if a military conflict is on the way, and while he did not make any specific reference to the Islamic Republic or nuclear weapons, the Indian leader spoke about terrorism, of which Iran is the leading state sponsor. Modi spoke about Israel and India both having “endured the pain of terrorism for a long time,” and said that “countering terrorism requires sustained and coordinated global action, because terror anywhere threatens peace everywhere. That is why, India supports all efforts that contribute to durable peace and regional stability.”

At a time of acute security needs for Israel, the Indian prime minister showed his understanding of Israel’s “security ethos,” Dagan Amoss wrote, and Modi signaled a shift towards deepening the countries’ defense ties, “from a procurement-centric logic to a capability-building approach: industrial integration, supply-chain resilience, and strategic connectivity through corridors, critical infrastructure, and technology as an enabling platform rather than one-off transactions.”

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to arrive in Israel on Wednesday to address the Knesset and head an innovation event in Jerusalem, as part of what Israeli Ambassador to India Reuven Azar told Jewish Insider is an “upgrade” in relations between the countries “to a new, strategic level.”

The visit of the head of the world’s most populous nation, whose relations with Israel have grown stronger since Modi became prime minister in 2014, has important implications for the Jewish state’s security, geopolitics and trade, Azar said. 

Modi last visited Israel eight years ago. At the time, a photo of the Indian leader and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wading barefoot in the Mediterranean Sea during a visit to a desalination plant went viral. 

His trip this week, during which he will address Israel’s Knesset, comes amid rising tensions across the Middle East — and as Israelis prepare for a potential attack from Iran.

India has been the Israeli defense industry’s largest customer in recent years, with arms sales totaling $20.5 billion during 2020-2024. The countries have reportedly closed deals worth $8.6 billion since the beginning of 2026.

During his visit, Modi plans to sign an “updated security agreement to allow the private sector to work on more sensitive products when it comes to joining production,” Azar, who has been Israel’s envoy to India since September 2024, said. “The updated protocols will allow us to work on more sensitive technology. It will create a lot of action.”

Netanyahu and leading Israeli defense figures have spoken about moving toward greater self-sufficiency in arms manufacturing. Delhi has long had a “Make in India” campaign to increase local production, requiring Israeli arms companies to open production lines in India in order to sell to the country, and the agreement means that joint production “will get a significant upgrade, because we are expanding both the scope and range of technologies we can apply,” Azar said.

“Both Israel and India want to be more independent and self-reliant when it comes to production and less reliant on foreign supply. Producing things together means that, during times of need, we can supply things to each other, unlike what happened during the war [in Gaza] … in which we had interruptions in supply from different countries,” Azar said.

Economically, Israel and India are working on a free-trade agreement, and hope to expand their cooperation on emerging technologies, as well as large infrastructure projects. Azar said that he worked to bring Indian companies to bid on tenders relating to the ongoing Tel Aviv Metro subway project, and that 15 have already applied.

The U.S. has long expressed concern about security risks related to Chinese companies working on major infrastructure projects in Israel. Companies from India, which views China as an adversary, have been considered as a potential competitive alternative. 

Though Azar, a former deputy national security advisor for foreign policy, served as head of the Israel-U.S.-China Internal Task Force Israel’s Foreign Ministry at the beginning of the decade, he declined to comment on that aspect, preferring to focus on Israel-India bilateral relations.

With regard to the India–Middle East–Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), a trade route meant to pass through Israel, among other countries in the region, and compete with China’s Belt and Road Initiative, Azar said that “we need to wait for the right geopolitical moment to make it happen. … It needs to happen, but evidently, it won’t now.” 

“Currently, there is some movement of merchandise, but to see it become massive, we need some change in Saudi Arabia,” Azar said.

Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E., both points on the IMEC route, are facing increased tensions between them. Riyadh has pointed some of its ire at Jerusalem, and has been growing closer to India’s historic foe, Pakistan.

Azar was enthusiastic about an Israeli Cabinet decision approved on Sunday in which Israel plans to allocate over $48 million to cooperation with India in a variety of spheres. Half of the funds come from individual government ministries seeking the cooperation, and the other half was specially allocated by the Finance Ministry.

“The most important is upgrading research and development with funds from the Israel Innovation Authority, and academic cooperation. Israeli universities are all over India now, getting into agreements to exchange students and transfer technology and innovation offices. They feel very welcome in India,” he said.

Asked if that means India has become an alternative to much of the West, where Israeli academics have faced hostility in recent years, Azar said that India and Israel “don’t have challenges in this realm and continue working together to discover the joint resilience so needed in times of war.”

At the same time, he added, “it’s important for any country to diversify. We feel we have so much in common with India, which is a rising force in the world. It’s natural, and it’s not only Israel. Last week, 20 heads of state and 50 foreign ministers went to an AI summit in India. … Everybody is chasing India now.” 

Though India-Israel relations were worse before Modi’s rise, Azar said they have the potential for longevity.

“We are now building the pillars of relations that are going to last,” he said. “We are trying to get bipartisan support. There is a lot of support for Israel, not just in [Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party]. The general public feels it, and we have a high appreciation of that. There are some parties, like the communists, that are more critical, but I think this relationship is going to last.”

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.

Several Jewish and pro-Israel leaders met privately with Saudi Arabia’s defense minister in Washington on Friday afternoon, as Riyadh draws scrutiny for its increasingly hostile posture toward Israel and promotion of antisemitic messaging.

According to several sources familiar with the discussion, Prince Khalid bin Salman Al Saud denied to attendees that increasing antisemitic and anti-Israel rhetoric out of the kingdom was reflective of the monarchy’s position and emphasized that Riyadh and Jerusalem have mutual understanding and ongoing military, security and intelligence cooperation. He praised Israel’s actions against Hezbollah in Lebanon but said he doesn’t agree with Jerusalem’s recent decision to recognize Somaliland’s independence. 

The same day of the meeting, a Muslim cleric in Medina gave a sermon calling for “victory” over the “Zionist aggressors,” while an imam in Mecca preached, “O God support them in Palestine and substitute their weakness with strength.” Hussain Abdul-Hussain, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, noted that the Saudi government selects speakers to deliver Friday sermons.

On Saudi Arabia’s seeming decline in relations with the UAE, the prince acknowledged the two countries have clashed recently in Yemen but denied any broader pivot in Saudi foreign policy or increasing acceptance of the Muslim Brotherhood in the kingdom, which experts have alleged.

He also spoke to Turkey’s importance in the region, as Saudi Arabia’s growing alliance with Ankara, in addition to countries including Qatar and Pakistan, has raised concerns about the country’s increasing alignment with Islamist actors.

One source confirmed reporting by Axios that Prince Khalid told the group that if President Donald Trump does not follow through on his pledge to take military action against Iran, “it will only embolden the regime.”

Among the attendees, according to two sources with knowledge of the meeting, were Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, American Jewish Committee CEO Ted Deutch, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations CEO William Daroff, B’nai B’rith International CEO Daniel Mariaschin and Rabbi Levi Shemtov of American Friends of Lubavitch (Chabad).

An AJC spokesperson confirmed Deutch’s participation at the meeting. “AJC is in regular, ongoing dialogue with our partners across the Gulf and in Israel to strengthen regional security and advance cooperation and integration,” the spokesperson told JI. “Today was another example of that work. We carry out these efforts continuously from Washington, Jerusalem and Abu Dhabi.”

Daroff also confirmed his attendance to JI, saying the group “had a constructive, off-the-record conversation as part of an ongoing dialogue with Saudi Arabia on regional and geostrategic issues, and appreciated the opportunity to speak frankly.” 

Shemtov similarly confirmed his participation and said the prince’s demeanor was “friendly and engaging.” Shemtov said he left the meeting “somewhat encouraged, even if not yet completely convinced” but declined to provide details on what was discussed as the meeting was off the record. Mariaschin confirmed his attendance as well.

The nearly two-hour meeting was also attended by 15 representatives of Washington-area think tanks, including Daniel Shapiro, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel now at the Atlantic Council; Dennis Ross, a veteran Middle East peace negotiator now at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy; Barbara Leaf, former assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs who is now a distinguished diplomatic fellow at the Middle East Institute; Douglas Silliman, former U.S. ambassador to Iraq who is now the president of the Arab Gulf States Institute; Rev. Johnnie Moore, the former executive chairman of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation; Karim Sadjadpour, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; and former diplomat Daniel Fried, now a distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council, the sources told JI.

In a separate meeting earlier Friday that ran for almost an hour and a half, Prince Khalid met with a smaller group of pro-Israel national security experts, including Mark Dubowitz of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and Michael Makovsky of the Jewish Institute for National Security of America. Both confirmed to JI they had attended but declined to share details about the discussion.

Israel’s recognition of Somaliland has stirred unease across parts of the Arab and Muslim world, challenging regional power dynamics as Jerusalem moves first in a strategically sensitive corner of the Horn of Africa.

Israel became the first country to recognize Somaliland on Friday, 34 years after the democratic, pro-Western state declared its independence from Somalia. The move puts Israel at odds with a number of Arab and Muslim nations including Qatar, a major power broker in Somalia and a key mediator in regional conflicts, at a time when Washington is seeking to expand the Abraham Accords and manage competing Arab interests in the Horn of Africa.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar signed a document establishing full diplomatic relations between the countries which affirms that they have “shared values, strategic interests and the spirit of mutual respect that binds our peoples,” and that “this relationship will contribute to advancing peace, stability, and prosperity in the Horn of Africa, the Middle East and beyond.”

The Prime Minister’s Office described the recognition as being “in the spirit of the Abraham Accords, signed at the initiative of President [Donald] Trump,” and Netanyahu told Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi that he would “communicate to President Trump your willingness and desire to join the Abraham Accords.”

However, Trump has largely dismissed the idea that the U.S. would follow suit at this juncture, saying it is “under study.” 

“Does anyone know what Somaliland is, really?” Trump told The New York Post. 

Somalia is a member of the Arab League, joining in 1974 as the first non-Arab nation due to strong cultural, religious and historical ties. Somalia also holds a crucial geopolitical location for global trade. 

Somalia has served as a proxy battleground for broader regional power struggles, with influential Middle Eastern states supporting different factions and projects. 

Qatar has sought to establish itself as a dominant influence and key mediator in Somalia, supporting the central government and pouring resources into the country for over a decade. 

“Want another reason to back Somaliland? Qatar — the Muslim Brotherhood’s biggest bankroller — backs the other side,” Foundation for Defense of Democracies CEO Mark Dubowitz said.

On Saturday, the Qatari government released a statement rejecting “the announcement of mutual recognition between the Israeli occupation authorities and the Somaliland region,” and “any attempts aimed at establishing or imposing parallel entities that would undermine the unity of Somalia.” Doha also said in the statement that  it would be “more appropriate” for the Jewish state to “recognize the State of Palestine.” 

Qatar also released a statement with 21 Arab and Muslim countries — including Jordan, Egypt, Iran, Pakistan and “the State of Palestine” — “stressing their unequivocal rejection of Israel’s recognition of the Somaliland region.” 

Recognizing Somaliland is also a way of positioning Israel against Qatar, as Foundation for Defense of Democracies CEO Mark Dubowitz pointed out: “Want another reason to back Somaliland? Qatar — the Muslim Brotherhood’s biggest bankroller — backs the other side.” 

An official Somaliland X account posted that “Doha has no business meddling in Somaliland’s affairs while bankrolling Muslim Brotherhood proxies to prop up Mogadishu’s failed regime. … Foreign powers parroting Mogadishu’s line can shove their hypocrisy. Our future is ours—not dictated by Qatar’s Islamist agenda.” 

Egypt and Turkey, both close allies of Somalia, have also condemned Israel’s recognition of Somaliland. Saudi Arabia, a country that holds a more moderate posture toward the Jewish state but has expressed reticence to establish relations with it, is reportedly less likely to normalize ties with Israel due to the recognition of Somaliland, according to Israel’s Channel 12. 

The UAE, in contrast, has nurtured a close relationship with Somaliland, a factor that may have encouraged Jerusalem in its move to recognize the African state, though Abu Dhabi has not yet recognized Somaliland, Asher Lubotzky, a researcher at the Israel-Africa Relations Institute, wrote.

Sa’ar said in a statement that relations between the two countries grew over the course of the last year, and that they will exchange ambassadors and open embassies. Israel and Somaliland also plan to cooperate in the fields of agriculture, health and technology, the Prime Minister’s Office stated.

Israeli and Somaliland officials have reportedly held secret meetings over the course of the past several months. The president of Somaliland has met with Netanyahu and Sa’ar, as well as Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, and Netanyahu invited him for another visit. 

“Somaliland could serve as a forward base for a range of missions,” Asher Lubotzky, a researcher at the Israel-Africa Relations Institute, wrote in a paper published last month, “intelligence collection and monitoring of the Houthis and their military buildup; logistical support for Yemen’s internationally recognized government in its war against the Houthis; and direct operations, from offensive actions to intercepting Houthi attacks at sea or by UAVs.”

In a paper published by Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies a month before Israel recognized Somaliland, Lubotzky wrote that the African state’s “security importance for Israel has become even more pronounced over the past two years.” 

Somaliland is strategically located for Israel, across the Gulf of Aden from parts of Yemen controlled by the Houthis, who have frequently attacked Israel over the past two years.  

“Somaliland could serve as a forward base for a range of missions,” Lubotzky wrote, “intelligence collection and monitoring of the Houthis and their military buildup; logistical support for Yemen’s internationally recognized government in its war against the Houthis; and direct operations, from offensive actions to intercepting Houthi attacks at sea or by UAVs.”

The growing number of countries recognizing a Palestinian state also may have curbed Israel’s former reluctance to recognize secessionist states out of a concern that it could set a precedent for supporting Palestinian statehood, Lubotzky noted.

Earlier this year, reports indicated that Somaliland could be open to accepting Palestinian refugees from Gaza, as President Donald Trump expressed support for relocation from the enclave to enable reconstruction efforts. Recent reports suggest this idea has resurfaced and may factor into any emerging arrangement between Israel and Somaliland. 

The European Union released a statement that it “reaffirms the importance of respecting the unity, the sovereignty and the territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Somalia … This is key for the peace and stability of the entire Horn of Africa region.” 

The African Union has declined to formally recognize Somaliland in the past, citing concerns that doing so could set a precedent for secession across the continent and trigger wider instability.

A vote to remove sixth Israeli President Chaim Herzog’s name from a public park was taken off of Dublin City Council’s agenda, after sparking an uproar in the Irish Jewish community, Jerusalem and Washington over the weekend. 

Herzog, father of current Israeli President Isaac Herzog, was born in Belfast and grew up in Dublin, and was the son of Ireland’s Chief Rabbi Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, who later became Israel’s first chief rabbi. Chaim Herzog fought in the British Army in World War II, taking part in the liberation of Bergen-Belsen, and was the head of IDF intelligence and Israeli ambassador to the U.N. — famously tearing up its “Zionism is racism” resolution — before serving as president in 1983-1993.

The park in Dublin was named after Herzog in 1995, to coincide with the 3,000th anniversary of Jerusalem’s establishment. It is adjacent to Ireland’s only Jewish school and close to major Orthodox and Progressive synagogues.

The plan to remove Herzog’s name came after a campaign to replace it with the name of Hind Rajab, a Palestinian girl killed during the Gaza war. Another reported proposal was to name the park “Free Palestine.” 

One member of the Dublin City Council Commemorations and Naming committee, Conor Reddy, wrote a post on X on Oct. 7, 2023 sharing a photo of a bulldozer from Gaza tearing down a barrier with Israel and added the text: “Tear down the fences, demolish the walls.” In another post that day, he said, “Resistance is heroic.” The following day, he wrote on X that the massive Hamas terrorist attacks “should be celebrated and supported … [and] should be embraced by everyone who values justice … It is beautiful.” 

The entire naming committee, except for one member, voted last week in favor of excising Herzog’s name, and to initiate a consultation process to select a new name. 

The next step would have been for the full Dublin City Council to vote on the name removal, which was scheduled for Monday. However, Dublin City Council Chief Executive Richard Shakespeare announced on Sunday that the vote would be withdrawn because the council’s naming committee did not follow the proper procedure. In addition, Dublin Mayor Ray McAdam said the committee had not provided the council with a sufficiently detailed report to make an informed decision. 

The change to the council’s agenda came after leading figures in the Irish government, as well as in Jerusalem and Washington, expressed opposition to renaming the park.

Though Ireland’s national government has taken the most anti-Israel stance in Europe since the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks, Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin called on Sunday for the motion to rename Herzog Park to be withdrawn. 

“The proposal would erase the distinctive and rich contribution to Irish life of the Jewish community over many decades … The proposal is a denial of our history and will, without any doubt, be seen as antisemitic,” he said in a statement. 

Irish Foreign Minister Helen McEntee noted that Herzog “is an important figure for many people, particularly for members of Ireland’s Jewish community. The government has been openly critical of the policies and actions of the government of Israel in Gaza and the West Bank … Renaming a Dublin park in this way — to remove the name of an Irish Jewish man — has nothing to do with this and has no place in our inclusive republic. … I urge Dublin City Councillors to vote against it.”

Irish Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Simon Harris said he agreed with McEntee and called the proposal “offensive.” Minister for European Affairs and Defense Thomas Byrne said that Herzog’s “story is an Irish story,” calling for the council to drop the proposal. 

Ireland is also pulling its “Occupied Territories Bill” to boycott Israeli products from the West Bank in light of a “changed political climate” as a result of the ceasefire in Gaza, the Irish Mail on Sunday reported. The legislation faced legal challenges due to its violation of European Union trade rules, and, as several members of Congress pointed out, could run afoul of U.S. states’ laws penalizing those who boycott Israel and damage relations between Washington and Dublin. 

Former Irish Justice Minister Alan Shatter told Jewish Insider that the government responses to the proposed Herzog Park name change, which came about 24 hours after the announcement from Dublin City Council, arose from concern in the government “about the bad international publicity. … I think they’re a little freaked by all the international condemnation,” much of which came from Jerusalem and Washington. 

The city council is independent and does not have to abide by the national government’s direction on naming matters, and parties to the left of the current government have a majority on the council. As such, removing Herzog’s name may have had majority support despite government party leaders’ opposition.

Reddy posted on X that the vote “is being pulled from the agenda after bad faith smears from Zionists [and] Americans. There is nothing antisemitic about removing the name [and] there was nothing wrong with the procedure that brought us to this point! Shocking.” 

Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s office released a statement on Saturday that the name change would “harm the legacy of the sixth President of the State of Israel, the late Chaim Herzog, as well as harming the unique expression of the historical connection between the Irish and Jewish peoples. … Removing the Herzog name, if it happens, would be a shameful and disgraceful move. We hope that the legacy of a figure at the forefront of establishing the relations between Israel and Ireland, and the fight against antisemitism and tyranny, will still get the respect it deserves today.

Former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Herzog, another one of Chaim Herzog’s sons, called the proposed name change “sad,” and said it was “painful to see how Ireland, once home to a proud, thriving Jewish community, has become the scene of raging antisemitism. Ireland is now one of the most virulent anti-Israel countries in Europe, blurring the line between criticizing Israeli policies and questioning Israel’s right to exist.” He called on Jewish organizations in the U.S. and worldwide to speak up in “denouncing this shame.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said that the proposed name change showed that “there is no decision more accurate and just than my decision to close our embassy in Dublin,” adding that the city “has become the capital of antisemitism in the world.”

“The Dublin Municipality has decided to remove the name of Chaim Herzog … What cannot be removed is the disgrace of the Irish antisemitic and anti-Israeli obsession,” Sa’ar added.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) posted on X: “When you think it couldn’t get worse in Ireland regarding animosity toward Israel and the Jewish people, it just did. … I don’t know what the people of Dublin are trying to say, but this is what I hear: A complete turning upside down of history when it comes to the Jewish people and the state of Israel. Modern Ireland … unfortunately has become a cesspool of antisemitism.”

Graham later wrote that he was “glad to hear efforts to rename Herzog Park in Dublin have been rejected.”

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee called the proposal “an incredible insult to the Herzog family whose roots are deep in Ireland. Let’s hope decent Irish people stop this madness!” 

After the motion was withdrawn, Huckabee wrote that “Ireland still has rational and thoughtful people … Hopefully this ends a very targeted form of  bigotry pushed by a few people who should be ashamed of themselves.” 

The Jewish Representative Council of Ireland stated that the motion “sends a hurtful and isolating message to a small minority community that has contributed to Ireland for centuries. We call on Dublin City Councillors to reject this motion. The removal of the Herzog name from this park would be widely understood as an attempt to erase our Irish Jewish history.” 

Shatter, a lifelong Dublin resident who had a 14-year national political career, lamented on X that “Ireland’s politics … has become systematically antisemitic.” 

Following the proposal’s withdrawal, Shatter said that “Dublin City Council’s Mayor should publicly apologize to the Jewish community for the stress [and] hurt caused [and] also apologize to the Herzog family.” 

“Until the government adopts a more balanced approach to the complexity of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, demands Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups end their violence and like [the Provisional Irish Republican Army] decommission their arms and abandons its inflammatory rhetoric, antisemitism in Ireland will continue to escalate and there will be further egregious, shameful examples,” Shatter wrote.

If Dublin eventually moves to change Herzog Park’s name, Shatter told JI that there may be legal recourse against it, should the council move to do so. 

“In my analysis, the city council has violated its legal obligations, both international and domestic,” he said. “They failed to engage in any consultative process with the Jewish community in Dublin, failed to communicate its intentions to the Herzog family and violated its own development plan.”

The plan in question requires the city to “consider cultural and minority sensitivities.”

In addition, as a member of the European Union, Ireland is meant to protect minority cultural rights, he noted.

In 2014, a plaque marking Chaim Herzog’s birthplace in Belfast was removed following multiple occurrences of vandalism and amid concern for the safety of the building’s staff and nearby residents.

In a move that has sent ripples through diplomatic circles and sparked outrage in Jerusalem, multiple countries — including some of Israel’s key allies — officially recognized a Palestinian state yesterday. The coordinated announcements by the U.K., Canada, Australia and Portugal, with more to come, mark a significant shift in the West’s posture — one that, while largely symbolic, underlines concerns about growing efforts to isolate Israel diplomatically.

“Today, to revive the hope of peace for the Palestinians and Israelis, and a two-state solution, the United Kingdom formally recognises the State of Palestine,” said Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

“The man-made humanitarian crisis in Gaza reaches new depths. The Israeli government’s relentless and increasing bombardment of Gaza, the offensive of recent weeks, the starvation and devastation are utterly intolerable,” he said.

While Starmer said that the move toward a two-state solution “is not a reward for Hamas, because it means Hamas can have no future,” the terror group hailed it as “a gesture to the struggle, steadfastness and sacrifices of our people on the path to liberation and return.” 

In President Donald Trump’s meeting with Starmer last week, Trump described the statehood push as “one of our few disagreements.”

The chain of Palestinian statehood recognition is unlikely to bring any immediate changes on the ground. As U.K. Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy said yesterday in an interview with Sky News, “any decision to recognize a Palestinian state … does not make a Palestinian state happen overnight. That has to be part of a peace process, it has to be based on 1967 borders, it has to be based on a shared capital in Jerusalem. That will be for final-status discussions. But it is to keep that process alive.”

Lammy stressed that the U.K. rejects any role for Hamas, “has been crystal clear that it is a terrorist organization” and is working on efforts to reform the Palestinian Authority. 

Israel and many of its supporters have slammed the move as rewarding terrorism, as the country continues its war against Hamas in Gaza, where 48 hostages kidnapped during the group’s Oct. 7, 2023 attacks remain in captivity.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he has “a clear message to the leaders who recognize a Palestinian state after the terrible massacre of Oct. 7: You are giving a massive prize to terror. … It will not happen. There will not be a Palestinian state west of the Jordan River.” Netanyahu hinted that Israel will increase settlement activity in response. Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and several other coalition members went a step further by calling for annexation of the West Bank, which Saudi Arabia has reportedly said would have “major implications.” Read more on Netanyahu’s reaction and upcoming UNGA speech here.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) delivered a scathing assessment of the statehood development, writing on X: “80 years after the end of WWII, where over 6 million Jews were killed by the Nazis for simply being Jewish, the so-called civilized world is rewarding modern day religious Nazis with an arbitrary Palestinian state designation,” pointing to the lack of defined borders, leadership, and security arrangements.

The Hostages Families Forum also condemned the decision, saying in a statement: “As families who deeply want peace in the region, we believe that any discussion about recognizing a Palestinian state must be contingent upon the immediate release of all hostages … Any nation that fails to uphold this essential prerequisite acts against international law and effectively enables terrorism while legitimizing the October 7th massacre.”

Additional countries are expected to recognize a Palestinian state later today — on the eve of Rosh Hashanah — at the High-Level Conference on Palestine Statehood, led by France and Saudi Arabia.

And well into Rosh Hashanah tomorrow, when Israeli officials will be observing the Jewish high holiday, the U.N. Security Council will hold a critical meeting on the Gaza war. 

In the face of these efforts to sideline Israel, Netanyahu is set to address the United Nations General Assembly on Friday, where he’s set to push back forcefully against the recognitions and reassert Israel’s red lines.

In Sunday’s Cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said that he will “present the truth. It is the truth of Israel, but it is also the objective truth of our just struggle against the forces of evil. I will also present our vision for true peace, peace that grows out from strength. … We have to fight both in the U.N. and in all the other fronts against the slanderous propaganda aimed at us, and against the calls to create a Palestinian state that will endanger our existence and constitute an absurd prize for terrorism.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. is focused on moving forward from Israel’s strike on Qatar last week, refraining from doubling down on criticism during a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Monday.

“We are just focused on what happens next,” Rubio said, when asked about Tuesday’s strike aiming at Hamas’ leadership in Doha, Qatar’s capital. On Saturday, Rubio had echoed comments by President Donald Trump that the U.S. “is not happy” about the strike.

“Some fundamentals still remain that have to be addressed, regardless of what has occurred,” Rubio said at the press conference on Monday. “We still have 48 hostages. Hamas is holding not only 48 hostages but all of Gaza hostage … As long as they still exist, are still around, there will be no peace in this region.”

Rubio said the end of the war in Gaza, disarmament of Hamas and freeing the hostages are “pillars of what we hope will happen in the region.”

The secretary of state said that the U.S. not only wants Qatar to continue to play a role in those matters “but also in a better future for the people of Gaza, which cannot happen with Hamas intact. We are going to continue to encourage Qatar to play a constructive role in that regard.” Rubio is scheduled to visit Qatar on Tuesday after concluding his trip in Israel.

As to the chance of a negotiated deal to end the war, Rubio said that “the problem is Hamas is a terrorist group, a barbaric group, committed to destroying the Jewish state, so it probably won’t happen.”

“I don’t think there’s anyone who wouldn’t prefer a negotiated settlement,” he added. “That would be the ideal outcome we can see, one we worked on, but we need to be prepared for the reality that savage terrorists don’t often agree to disarm.”

Netanyahu reiterated that “Israel’s decision to act against Hamas’ terrorist leadership was a wholly independent decision by Israel … It was conducted by us and we assume full responsibility for it, because we believe terrorists should not be given a haven.”

As to those saying Israel violated Qatari sovereignty, Netanyahu said that the U.S. took similar action against the Taliban in Afghanistan and Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.

“You don’t have such sovereignty when you are effectively giving a base to terrorists, a place where they can ply their gruesome trade,” he said.

Netanyahu also took issue with a claim made by a reporter during the press conference that the Doha strike was a failure, because it remains unclear if any of Hamas’ leaders were killed. The prime minister said Israel is waiting for further reports on the matter.

“I’ll tell you the results,” he added. “We sent a message to the terrorists. You can run, you can hide, but we’ll get you. … I don’t accept the premise that the raid failed, because it had one central message. … If the terrorists think they enjoy immunity they’ll do it again and again, and if you deny that immunity, they’ll think twice.”

Netanyahu opened the press conference by paying tribute to the “powerful bond” between Israel and the U.S. and thanking Trump for helping target Iran’s nuclear facilities in June, as well as his efforts to free the hostages remaining in Gaza, 20 of whom are believed to still be alive.

Rubio said that Iran is a threat not only because of its pursuit of nuclear weapons, but because of its development of short and midrange missiles that can reach across the Middle East and into Europe.

“This is an unacceptable risk not just for Israel but for the U.S. and the world, which is why the president has continued with his campaign of maximum pressure on Iran until they change course,” Rubio said. “We are encouraged by our partners in Europe beginning the process of snapping back [sanctions] on Iran, who are clearly out of compliance [with the 2015 nuclear deal]. We 100% support that; that’s what needs to happen.” 

The secretary of state criticized countries that recently announced they would recognize a Palestinian state.

“The things these nations are doing in the U.N. are largely because of domestic politics. They’re largely symbolic. The only impact they have is to make Hamas feel emboldened … You know, there’s a negotiation going on and maybe you think you made some progress on getting hostages released and ending the war, and then these things come out and Hamas walks away … They see international support, they believe they’re getting what they want, and they walk away,” Rubio said.

Rubio also spoke about his plan to attend the inauguration of the Pilgrims Road on Monday evening. The site features the path on which Jewish pilgrims walked to the Second Temple in Jerusalem, which Rubio described as “perhaps one of the most important archeological sites on the planet, important to many in the U.S.”

The secretary of state arrived in Israel on Sunday, beginning his visit with prayers at the Western Wall with Netanyahu. He also met with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer on Monday.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Jerusalem on Sunday, at the start of a five-day trip to Israel and the U.K.

Rubio began the visit with prayers at the Western Wall, together with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee.

During a tour of the Western Wall Tunnels, Netanyahu called Rubio an “extraordinary friend of the State of Israel.”

“The Israeli-American alliance,” Netanyahu said, “is as strong and as durable as the stones of the Western Wall that we just touched. Under President [Donald] Trump and Secretary Rubio and their entire team, this alliance has never been stronger, and we deeply appreciate it.”

Rubio is expected to attend on Monday the inauguration of an ancient tunnel connecting the City of David archeological park to Jerusalem’s Old City. The tunnel is said to be the road pilgrims took to the ancient Temple in Jerusalem. 

Rubio’s visit comes days after Israel’s attempted strike on Hamas leaders in Doha, Qatar last week, which the secretary said he was “not happy” about. 

“Now we need to move forward and figure out what comes next,” he told reporters on Saturday.

Before taking off for Israel, Rubio posted on X that the focus of the trip “will be on securing the return of hostages, finding ways to make sure humanitarian aid reaches civilians, and addressing the threat posed by Hamas. Hamas cannot continue to exist if peace in the region is the goal.”

The State Department said that Rubio plans to “convey America’s priorities in the Israel-Hamas conflict and broader issues concerning Middle Eastern security, reaffirming U.S. commitment to Israeli security.”

Rubio and Israeli leaders are expected to discuss Operation Gideon’s Chariots II, as Israel has called its coming invasion of Gaza City, which it has been preparing for by evacuating an estimated 300,000 residents and bombing buildings with terrorist targets inside.

The secretary of state’s visit is taking place amid a push within Netanyahu’s coalition for Israel to annex parts of the West Bank in response to the announcement by a dozen countries, led by France, that they would unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state this month.

The State Department said Rubio’s agenda for the visit includes discussing ways to push back against recognition of a Palestinian state, as well as the International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice cases against Israel.

Rubio is expected to hold further meetings with Netanyahu and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and with Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar.

The secretary of state is also expected to meet with families of hostages being held in Gaza.

Nearly a day after an Israeli airstrike targeted a meeting of high-level Hamas officials in Doha, Qatar, there are more questions than answers, both in Jerusalem and Washington. Israel has not confirmed which officials were killed in the strike, while Hamas has said that five officials from the group, including the son of Hamas’ chief negotiator, Khalil al-Hayya, were killed in addition to a member of the Qatari security forces. 

Israeli reports earlier today indicate that the strike did not kill the most senior echelon of the terror group, which for years has been based in Qatar, a U.S. ally.

Amid ongoing uncertainty over the success of the strike, the operation was met with rare condemnation from the White House, first from Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and then from President Donald Trump himself, who said he “was very unhappy about it, very unhappy about every aspect” — perhaps, in part, because the operation is not believed to have taken out the most senior Hamas officials.

But it was Trump himself who said over the weekend on his Truth Social site that he had “warned Hamas about the consequences of not accepting” the ceasefire and hostage-release deal that had been put forward by the U.S.

At the same time that Trump officials, including the president, were criticizing the operation, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee was embracing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the U.S. Embassy’s belated Independence Day celebration in Jerusalem, where the prime minister addressed a smaller group of VIPs attending the party.

“Israel acted wholly independently and we take full responsibility for this action,” Netanyahu said of the Doha strikes. “This action can open to an end of the war in Gaza.”

Israeli officials and defense sources said on Wednesday that they are waiting for better intelligence before commenting on who was killed, but they viewed the operation as a success.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned that there could be additional strikes of this kind: “The long hand of Israel will act against its enemies anywhere in the world. There is no place where they can hide. Whoever was a partner in the Oct. 7 massacre will be fully brought to justice.” 

Everyone from Israeli Opposition Leader Yair Lapid to Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich put out statements praising the IDF and Shin Bet and saying the terrorists got what they deserved.

At the same time, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said the affiliated families felt “deep concern and heavy anxiety” that their loved ones would pay the price. “We know from survivors who have returned that the revenge directed at the hostages is brutal. The chance of bringing them back now faces greater uncertainty than ever before.” 

However, Shimon Or, uncle of hostage Avinatan Or, said on Kan radio that “this action brings us closer to bringing Avinatan and the rest of the hostages. …We will not bring back the hostages anymore with military operations and ‘the gates of hell,’ but with control over Gaza.”

Meanwhile, Israeli officials have pushed back on criticism that the strikes would affect ceasefire talks, briefing press in Hebrew and English that the operation will help talks, because there are other channels for negotiations. 

As Israel calls up tens of thousands of reservists ahead of a planned takeover of Gaza City and rejects ceasefire proposals that fall short of a comprehensive deal to end the war and release all of the hostages, Jerusalem finds itself facing calls both at home and abroad against further entrenchment in Gaza.

At the same time, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing pressure from Washington to end the war — with a decisive victory over Hamas.

President Donald Trump signaled his growing weariness with a protracted war in an exchange with The Daily Caller, published earlier this week, in which he said Israel is “gonna have to get that war over with,” noting that Israel “may be winning the war, but they’re not winning the world of public relations.” Netanyahu said at his weekly Cabinet meeting on Sunday that Trump had instructed Israel to go into Gaza City with “full force.”

Days earlier, the president held a White House meeting that included Jared Kushner and former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair to discuss a “day-after” plan for the Gaza Strip. Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer scrapped a planned meeting with World Food Program head Cindy McCain to fly to Washington for consultations.

Taken together, Trump’s comments and last week’s gathering underscore the president’s dwindling patience with the ongoing war — concerns that have been highlighted in Israeli media reports in recent days.

Israel’s Channel 12 reported over the weekend that Trump, frustrated by Hamas’ intransigence, is pushing Netanyahu to move more quickly to decisively defeat Hamas. That could pose a challenge for Israel, which has not been able to declare “total victory” against Hamas in nearly two years but now faces White House pressure to end the war in a short amount of time — “perhaps even within two weeks,” according to Channel 12. 

It remains unclear whether Israel is fully prepared for an incursion into Gaza City — the IDF announced on Wednesday that it will work in the coming weeks “to strengthen operational readiness in the Gaza Strip” — or is threatening the move as a negotiating tactic to push Hamas to accept a comprehensive deal, after the Prime Minister’s Office conveyed that it would not accept a partial agreement that doesn’t result in the release of all of the remaining hostages. 

Following the collapse of talks over the summer, Washington had reportedly been frustrated not only with Hamas but with Qatar, which presented a rosier-than-reality picture of the talks. Those frustrations shifted the White House’s calculus and boosted support for Netanyahu’s approach to Gaza.

“We will only see the return of the remaining hostages when Hamas is confronted and destroyed!!! The sooner this takes place, the better the chances of success will be,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social site last month. 

Fresh off its successful resolution of the decades-long conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the Trump administration is looking to score another win on the global stage. Following last month’s summit in Alaska aimed, unsuccessfully, at ending the Russia-Ukraine war, a wind-down of the Israel-Hamas war would give the White House a diplomatic victory, as well as say in Gaza reconstruction efforts.

For now, Israel and the U.S. appear to be largely speaking in tandem, with a shared vision for the future of Gaza. But if Israel fails to achieve “total victory” on Trump’s truncated timeline, Jerusalem and Washington could be headed on a collision course. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is slated to attend the inauguration of the Pilgrims’ Road at the City of David in Jerusalem during his upcoming visit to Israel, two sources familiar with Rubio’s travel confirmed to Jewish Insider this week.

Rubio will be making his second trip to Israel as secretary of state, after first visiting in February. The September 15 event, according to an invitation viewed by JI and translated into English, “will be attended by senior diplomats and high-ranking officials from the government[s] of Israel and the United States, along with our close friends.”

Last week, Rubio met in Washington with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, who was making his first trip to the nation’s capital since becoming Israel’s most senior diplomat last year.

Good Tuesday morning.

In today’s Daily Kickoff, we look at questions around a potential new Memorandum of Understanding between Jerusalem and Washington ahead of the 2028 expiration of the Obama-era MOU, and report on a push by major Jewish groups to encourage applications to the Nonprofit Security Grant Program despite the Trump administration’s imposition of additional conditions on the funds. We cover the release of a new Humash with writings from Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks that were edited and organized posthumously, and look at how Sergio Gor’s departure from the White House to become ambassador to India could affect the administration’s hiring decisions. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Rep. Jerry Nadler, Joseph Kahn and Zach Witkoff.

What We’re Watching

• We’re keeping an eye today on a number of weekend developments across the U.S. and Middle East:
• Congress is back in session today in Washington after the August recess. Driving today’s news is Rep. Jerry Nadler’s (D-NY) announcement last night that he will not seek reelection next year. More below.
• The Senate is slated to hold a procedural vote on the National Defense Authorization Act this evening. On the other side of the Capitol, the House Foreign Affairs Committee is holding a virtual briefing with U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee focused on the West Bank.
• In the Middle East, tensions remain high following Israeli strikes late last week that killed a dozen senior Houthi officials, including Prime Minister Ahmed al-Rahawi. The Iran-backed group retaliated several times over the weekend with ballistic missile attacks, all of which fell short or were intercepted.
• In Gaza, an Israeli strike killed Abu Obeida, Hamas’ spokesman, over the weekend. President Donald Trump, who is slated to speak from the White House at 2 p.m. today, addressed Israel’s predicament in Gaza, telling the Daily Caller on Sunday that Israel “may be winning the war, but they’re not winning the world of public relations, you know, and it is hurting them.”
• Belgium became the latest European nation to announce plans to recognize a Palestinian state at the U.N. General Assembly in New York later this month. In response to the Palestinian statehood push, Israel is reportedly considering annexing parts of the West Bank. 
• Missing from the UNGA this year will likely be the Palestinian delegation, after Secretary of State Marco Rubio revoked the visa of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and dozens of other officials, who had planned to attend the General Assembly as well as an international gathering focused on Palestinian statehood.

What You Should Know

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S JOSH KRAUSHAAr

Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), a progressive stalwart and a longtime Democratic pillar on the House Judiciary Committee, announced his retirement Sunday evening, opening up a recently redrawn Manhattan district that the congressman has held for over three decades.

Nadler, whose district has one of the largest Jewish constituencies in the country, has long positioned himself as a progressive pro-Israel advocate, even as he broke with the organized Jewish community on some issues — most notably his support for former President Barack Obama’s Iran nuclear agreement in 2015.

But in recent months, he has emerged as being at odds with the New York Jewish community on some high-profile issues. Even as most of the leading New York state Democratic voices have held back any endorsement of far-left New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani, Nadler was one of the first House Democrats to offer the anti-Israel candidate his support — and has worked to secure support from a deeply skeptical Jewish community towards Mamdani. 

Nadler has also lately become a sharp critic of the Jewish state, in contrast to his pro-Israel Jewish Democratic colleagues from his home state. In a New York Times interview announcing his departure, he accused Israel of committing mass murder and war crimes in Gaza “without question.” He told the paper that when he returns to Congress, he will support legislation withholding offensive military aid to Israel, joining a growing roster of progressive Democrats in doing so — a move that could give cover for other colleagues to follow suit. 

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

mou minefield

Negotiations for next U.S.-Israel aid deal faces uphill battle with changing political tides

In September 2016, when President Barack Obama announced that the U.S. and Israel had signed a 10-year deal pledging a total of $38 billion in military assistance to Israel, the news was generally uncontroversial and greeted with bipartisan plaudits. That deal, known as the U.S.-Israel Memorandum of Understanding, is now close to expiring, and the next one — if there is a next one — will be negotiated in an entirely different political environment. Israel remains deeply enmeshed in a nearly two-year war in Gaza, with little indication of an end in sight, making forward-looking negotiations more difficult. A new MOU is not a given. U.S. support for Israel has dramatically declined on the left, and it is fracturing in isolationist corners of the right as well. Even some staunchly pro-Israel Republicans have grown wary of foreign aid in general, a shift that could affect U.S. policy toward Israel, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.

Message and meaning: “Ten-year MOUs have communicated an ongoing, consistent and bipartisan commitment to support Israel’s security by crossing administrations and demonstrating that it’s an ongoing relationship,” said former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro. “It allows planning for big-ticket acquisitions.” The long-standing commitment allows Israel to plan to make large purchases that could take several years to acquire, such as fighter jets. The MOU is not actually a binding agreement, it’s a framework. Congress must still approve the $3.3 billion in military financing and $500 million in missile defense laid out in the MOU each year during the annual appropriations process, and could do so even in the absence of an MOU. 

Read the full story here.

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HAWKEYE STATE POLITICS

Iowa Senate primary could pit establishment, MAGA wings of GOP against each other

The newly open Senate race in Iowa could pit a House Republican seen as a conventional conservative against challengers likely to attack her from the right. The race could also be an early bellwether of the GOP’s direction as it moves toward the post-Trump era, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

In contention: Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA), a former local news anchor and state representative elected to Congress in 2020, is widely seen as likely to make a run for Ernst’s seat. In the House, Hinson has a consistent record of support for the U.S.-Israel relationship and legislation to combat antisemitism, and has signed onto congressional letters criticizing international legal cases against Israel and supporting the Abraham Accords. She supported the U.S. strikes on Iran earlier this summer. Should she enter the race, she’ll face the prospect of running against lesser-known, right-wing Republicans like Jim Carlin, a former state senator who entered the race to challenge Ernst from the right. Joshua Smith, a former libertarian and podcast host, also declared his candidacy against Ernst. He has a record of anti-Israel and antisemitic commentary. 

Seeing opportunity: Democrats are expected to make an aggressive bid for the seat in the general election, and several have already entered the primary race, including state Rep. Josh Turek, state Sen. Zach Wahls and Des Moines School Board Chair Jackie Norris. David Yepsen, a longtime former political writer, editor and columnist at the Des Moines Register, predicted a “really good race” in the general election, given that Democrats have already fielded several contenders, have put up strong showings in recent state special elections, have been energized by opposition to the Trump administration and have an advantage in the midterms. 

Read the full story here.

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NEW BLOOD

Sergio Gor’s White House departure could end ideological grip on hires

Sergio Gor’s expected departure from a key role in the White House, where he has vetted thousands of candidates for political jobs as the influential leader of the Presidential Personnel Office, is raising some questions about how his litmus tests and isolationist views will compare to his newly announced replacement, particularly with regard to national security hires. Gor, 38, was nominated by President Donald Trump last week to be U.S. ambassador to India. If confirmed by the Senate, Gor, who was also tapped as special envoy for South and Central Asian affairs, will leave behind a powerful post at which he built a reputation as an ideological gatekeeper, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.

Stepping into his shoes: Throughout his time in the White House, Gor has drawn attention for his unyielding focus on loyalty to Trump and — more singularly — a fierce commitment to elevating national security and foreign policy hires who share his skepticism of American engagement abroad. His successor, Dan Scavino, as the White House confirmed this week, is likewise a longtime Trump confidante who now serves as White House deputy chief of staff. But unlike Gor — whose background suggests an interest in imposing ideological litmus tests on job applicants  — Scavino, 49, “has no ideology other than Trump,” according to a former top administration official.

Read the full story here.

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FUNDING FRICTION

Jewish orgs urge institutions to apply for NSGP grants, regardless of questions about new conditions

A series of Jewish community groups, in a joint statement released on Tuesday, urged Jewish organizations to apply for Nonprofit Security Grant Program funding, in spite of ongoing concerns from some in the community about potential new immigration and DEI-related conditions on the funding, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

What they’re saying: “While we are aware that questions have arisen on the part of certain religious institutions regarding the current year’s program criteria, our organizations strongly urge all eligible institutions to apply for this critical resource,” the Jewish Federations of North America, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Anti-Defamation League, Secure Community Network, Community Security Initiative and Community Security Service said in a joint statement. The groups said they have been “in regular contact with government officials who have affirmed their continued commitment to protecting the safety of all faith-based institutions and the values they hold.”

Read the full story here.

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NORWEGIAN WOULDN’T

Graham floats retaliatory tariffs, visa restrictions over Norway BDS move

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on Thursday floated the possibility of punitive tariffs and visa restrictions in response to the decision by Norges Bank Investment Management — the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund — to sell its stake in the American machinery company Caterpillar in response to the Israeli military’s use of its products in the West Bank and Gaza, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

Retaliation threat: “To those who run Norway’s sovereign wealth fund: if you cannot do business with Caterpillar because Israel uses their products, maybe it’s time you’re made aware that doing business or visiting America is a privilege, not a right,” Graham said on X. “Maybe it’s time to put tariffs on countries who refuse to do business with great American companies. Or maybe we shouldn’t give visas to individuals who run organizations that attempt to punish American companies for geopolitical differences.”

Read the full story here.

State Department responds: “We are very troubled by the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund’s decision, which appears to be based on illegitimate claims against Caterpillar and the Israeli government,” a State Department spokesperson told JI. “We are engaging directly with the Norwegian government on this matter.”

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WISDOM CARRIED FORWARD

New Humash features Rabbi Sacks’ posthumously published translations

Former British Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks was a towering figure in Jewish life whose unique blend of Torah and Western wisdom attracted adherents around the world for many years before his death in 2020. Now, with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, approaching later this month, and the restarting of the cycle of reading the weekly Torah portion a few weeks later, Rabbi Sacks’ longtime Jerusalem-based publisher, Koren, is releasing a posthumously completed Koren Shalem Humash, with a new translation and insights to encourage deeper understanding of the Five Books of Moses, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports.

How it started: The story of the Koren Shalem Humash begins in 2006, Joanna Benarroch, president of The Rabbi Sacks Legacy, told JI last week. At that time, Sacks began working on his popular series of books about the weekly Torah portion, Covenant and Conversation. “He started writing it online every week,” Benarroch recalled. “He was the chief rabbi of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth, based in London, but he started to build a global audience.” Sacks’ goals for Covenant and Conversation were “to make Torah relevant to us today, so it’s not just wisdom from 2,000-3,000 years ago today, but wisdom we can also take with us. It was very important to him for us to be proud, knowledgeable Jews and to share that with the next generation … to create new leaders who were proud, knowledgeable Jews. These were the things permeating his mind when he was writing,” Benarroch said.

Read the full story here.

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Worthy Reads

Rahm Com(munism): In The Wall Street Journal, former U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel, who is mulling a 2028 presidential bid, warns that domestic political division is providing an opening to malign actors, such as China, that seek to capitalize on the moment. “By 2011, the country was beset by two movements defined almost exclusively by anger and resentment. Occupy Wall Street’s antipathy to capitalism fixed the sentiment now driving Zohran Mamdani’s campaign for New York mayor. The tea party simultaneously metastasized into the MAGA movement and the riots of Jan. 6, 2021. With real violence in the offing, politics are worse than they have been in decades. … In some Shakespearean sense, China’s long shadow has appeared at exactly the right moment. But Xi Jinping is much more than a foil poised to unite Americans who would otherwise remain defined by their blue and red affinities. The China threat is both real and potent. The U.S. has never before been asked to face down a country that has three times our population, is fueled by an advanced economy, and is capable, as its leaders intend, of replacing us atop the global hierarchy.” [WSJ]

What the Australia Attacks Signal: The Atlantic’s Arash Azizi considers the motives behind Iran’s attacks on Jewish and Israeli targets around the world, following Australia’s expulsion of Iranian diplomats over Tehran’s involvement in recent antisemitic attacks in the country. “The elements organizing the attacks are ideological. They seek to burnish Iran’s image as an aggressive, revisionist actor, determined to destabilize the West and unconstrained by practical concerns. Inside the regime, this faction competes with a more pragmatic group that prioritizes trade and seeks to improve relations with the West. Those behind the hits on Australian targets may even see their activities as having a dual use: By striking synagogues and restaurants in Western countries, they intimidate their global enemies and help stymie the diplomatic agenda of pragmatists at home.” [TheAtlantic]

Hanging With Hezbollah: In The Free Press, Winston Marshall reflects on a recent trip to Lebanon and meeting with a Hezbollah member in Baalbeck. “Believe it or not, I feel sadness for the jihadi at the Baalbek mosque. His was a worldview almost completely inverted from mine. For him the good guys are Nasrallah, Assad, Khamenei, and Hitler. The bad guys are Donald Trump, Jews, and Jolani. Only on Jolani might we have found some common ground. His eyes glazed with the delirium of his cult. Rarely in my life have I come face-to-face with a man possessed with such evil. How exactly does one offer a golden bridge of reconciliation to a cult hell-bent on fighting and martyrdom? That is the impossible question Lebanon has to answer.” [FreePress]

Word on the Street

The Trump administration is planning to cut $4.9 billion in foreign aid from the State Department, USAID and other international aid groups without congressional approval, under the auspices of the Impoundment Control Act…

The Trump family’s World Liberty Financial cryptocurrency garnered $5 billion following its launch earlier this week; Zach Witkoff, a son of Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff who serves as WLF’s CEO, distanced the private company from the Trump administration but added, “clearly President Trump is the greatest president of all time”…

The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to end the mandate of the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which has been operating along the border between Israel and Lebanon for five decades, at the end of 2026…

The Washington Post reports on a postwar plan for Gaza, days after President Donald Trump convened a White House meeting on the issue, that would see the enclave enter into a 10-year trusteeship with the U.S. that would involve the temporary relocation of its residents both within and outside the Strip during the rebuilding effort…

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is reportedly clashing with senior CIA officials after she disclosed the name of a currently serving undercover CIA officer in a list of current and former officials whose clearances were being revoked by the ODNI… 

Sens. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Peter Welch (D-VT), Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) urged the Trump administration to “use its full power and authority to immediately facilitate a massive surge in all humanitarian aid, and in particular infant formula, into Gaza to address this crisis”…

A Florida man was sentenced to 25 years in prison for planning attacks on Jewish and Black community sites as well as on Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL)…

The Boulder chapter of “Run for Their Lives,” an organization that arranges weekly marches to advocate for the hostages held in Gaza, will no longer publicly advertise its walking route, the group announced last week, saying the decision was made “following weeks of escalating harassment and threats,” less than three months after a Molotov cocktail attack on the group left a participant dead and injured 15 others,Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports…

Unknown vandals graffitied the Greenwich Village apartment building where New York Times Executive Editor Joseph Kahn lives, writing in red paint, “Joe Kahn lies Gaza dies”…

The superintendent of the Beverly Hills Unified School District struck down a school board vote to display the Israeli flag in schools and administrative buildings in the district for one month every year; Superintendent Alex Cherniss said that only the U.S. and California flags would be flown on school properties, citing “heightened safety concerns”…

The New York Post reports on financial ties between the Qatari royal family and filmmaker  Mira Nair, the mother of New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani; Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad Al-Thani, the sister of the Qatari emir, has repeatedly posted on social media in support of Mamdani’s candidacy…

Police in Ontario, Canada, are investigating the stabbing of a Jewish woman at a kosher supermarket as a hate crime; days later, 32 officials from Canada’s Liberal Party, led by MP Anthony Housefather, issued a statement condemning the “deplorable rise of antisemitism in Canada”…

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer tapped former Columbia University President Minouche Shafik to serve as his chief economic advisor; Shafik, an economist, departed Columbia last summer amid widespread criticism of her administration’s handling of campus antisemitism…

A Holocaust memorial in Lyon, France, was vandalized with graffiti reading “Free Gaza”… 

The Wall Street Journal looks at how the IDF is struggling to get reservists, many of whom have served months of reserve duty, to continue reporting as the war grinds on toward a third year…

A flotilla of nearly two dozen boats attempting to reach Gaza departed on Monday after a failed start on Sunday due to adverse weather conditions; climate activist Greta Thunberg, who was detained and deported from Israel in May, is participating in the new flotilla effort…

The New York Times reports on concerns from Israeli tourists of harassment abroad as a result of escalated tensions resulting from the Israel-Hamas war…

GOP fundraiser Elliott Broidy, who settled a lawsuit with Qatar after being hacked, is reportedly a partner in the Israeli company KOIOS, which ran a public relations campaign on behalf of Doha… 

A second former International Criminal Court staffer accused the court’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, of sexual misconduct; Khan, who had requested arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, was placed on administrative leave in May following earlier allegations that he’d acted inappropriately toward a staffer…

Gallant said in an interview with Israel’s Channel 12 that Israel should kill Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the next round of conflict between Israel and Iran…

The New York Times reports on how Israel tracked the movements of senior Iranian officials through the phone activity of their bodyguards…

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it arrested eight people accused of sending sensitive information regarding Tehran’s military and its nuclear program to Mossad agents…

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan encouraged Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian to continue nuclear talks with the West and reiterated Ankara’s support for Tehran…

The International Atomic Energy Agency said that a building in Syria that was destroyed by Israel in 2007 was found to have trace amounts of uranium, deepening speculation at the U.N. nuclear watchdog that the site had been used as a nuclear reactor…

Houthi terrorists stormed the Sanaa, Yemen, offices of UNICEF and the World Food Program, detaining staffers from both organizations…

Ruth Marks Eglash is now the editor of The Jerusalem Report…

Pic of the Day

At the funeral of her son Idan Shtivi on Monday, Dalit Oron mourned over the body of Shtivi, who was killed on Oct. 7, 2023. IDF forces operating in Gaza last week recovered Shtivi’s body as well as the body of hostage Ilan Weiss, who was killed on Oct. 7 while defending his community in Kibbutz Be’eri.

Birthdays

Television producer, attorney, legal analyst and celebrity reporter, he is the founder of TMZ, Harvey Levin turns 75…

Trustee of a foundation started by her husband, Harold Grinspoon, she is on the PJ Library Book Selection Committee, Diane Leshefsky Troderman turns 84… Attorney who was part of the “Dream Team” that successfully defended O.J. Simpson in 1995, he is a co-founder of three businesses, LegalZoom, Shoedazzle and RightCounsel, Robert Shapiro turns 83… One of Israel’s earliest high-tech entrepreneurs, Yossi Vardi turns 83… Rabbi of Baltimore’s Shearith Israel Congregation since 1987 and president of the Baltimore Vaad HaRabonim, Rabbi Yaakov Hopfer turns 81… Lincolnwood, Ill., resident, Tobi Rebecca Kelmer… Tech entrepreneur and consultant at Xynetics Group, Richard Mandelbaum turns 79… Member of the Knesset for the United Torah Judaism party from 1999 until 2022, Yaakov Litzman turns 77… SVP at Southern Bank & Trust, he is an honorary director of Ohef Sholom Temple in Norfolk, Va., Steven Kocen… CEO of Lionsgate Entertainment, the leading Canadian independent film studio, Jon Feltheimer turns 74… Retired president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston from 1987 to 2017, Lee Wunsch turns 73… Author, entrepreneur and venture capitalist, Nick Hanauer turns 66… Investigative producer for CBS News, Daniel Klaidman… Chief Washington correspondent for Newsmax, James Rosen turns 57… Founder of Israeli media organization TheMarker and a deputy publisher of the Haaretz daily newspaper, he is also a clinical professor at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, Guy Rolnik turns 57… Serial entrepreneur, co-founder and chairman of Groupon, he is also the founder and CEO of Tempus AI, Eric Lefkofsky turns 56… Executive producer at PBS’s “Frontline,” Raney Aronson-Rath turns 55… Chair of Sight Diagnostics, he was previously director general of the Israeli prime minister’s office, Eliyahu David (Eli) Groner turns 55… Contemporary Jewish religious music vocalist, known by the mononym “Ohad,” Ohad Moskowitz turns 51… Chief of staff for Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Jess Fassler… D.C.-based U.S. tax policy reporter for The Wall Street Journal, Richard Rubin… Actor, comedian and impressionist, Jonathan Kite turns 46… Executive editor of news for Bloomberg, the co-anchor of “What’d You Miss” on Bloomberg Television and co-host of the “Odd Lots” podcast on Bloomberg Podcasts, Joseph Weisenthal turns 45… Partner at Axiom Strategies, Ethan Zorfas turns 40… Co-lead of the U.S. tech practice at Edelman, Margot Edelman… Chief of staff at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, Seth Zweifler… Former MLB baseball pitcher, he was a first-round pick in the 2013 MLB draft, now playing for the Staten Island FerryHawks, Rob Kaminsky turns 31…

Good Monday afternoon.

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

I’m Danielle Cohen-Kanik, U.S. editor at Jewish Insider. I’ll be curating the Daily Overtime for you, along with assists from my colleagues. 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

There has been a whirlwind of political activity in Israel today, starting with the bombshell news that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu intends to ask the Security Cabinet to approve an expansion of Israel’s war in Gaza, which would see the IDF control all of the enclave.

The move will have reverberations throughout Jerusalem and Washington, from Netanyahu’s own government to hostage families, Capitol Hill and the White House. Officials on both sides of the aisle in the U.S. have been pushing hard for a comprehensive ceasefire and an end to the war — including Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, who was in Israel just days ago at the behest of President Donald Trump. Stay tuned to Jewish Insider for how this will play out in the coming days…

In other headlines coming out of Israel, the Cabinet voted unanimously this morning to oust Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, with whom the current government has been at odds since it was formed, accusing her of political bias.

Shortly after the vote, the Israeli Supreme Court issued an injunction temporarily blocking the firing and ordering the government to continue abiding by Baharav-Miara’s legal opinions until the court issues a final ruling. 

It’s the first time an Israeli government has ever voted to oust the AG, and with some Cabinet ministers already boycotting her and pushing back on the court’s decision, Israel could be edging toward a constitutional crisis.

Meanwhile, Likud MK Yuli Edelstein was officially pushed out of his chairmanship of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee today, over coalition disagreements on a Haredi conscription bill. He was replaced by Boaz Bismuth, also from Likud, whom the party hopes will be more amenable to reducing sanctions on Haredim who dodge the draft. Israeli voters across a large swath of the political spectrum, including the Likud base, are on Edelstein’s side of the debate…

Getting a front-row seat to these developments, House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) trip to Israel with a House Republican delegation continues today. The group visited the town of Ariel, making Johnson the highest-ranking elected federal official to visit a West Bank settlement. While there, Johnson told a meeting of senior Yesha Council officials that “Judea and Samaria are the front lines of the State of Israel and must remain an integral part of it,” and stopped by Ariel University…

Also in Israel this week are two delegations of freshman House members, one from each caucus, organized by the AIPAC-affiliated American Israel Education Foundation. The Democratic trip is led by Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), the former House majority leader, and Rep. Pete Aguilar, (D-CA), the caucus chair…

Back at home, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations CEO William C. Daroff met with Under Secretary of Defense Elbridge Colby at the Pentagon today. Though Colby had faced criticism around his nomination from pro-Israel circles for his calls to scale back U.S. involvement in the Middle East, Daroff told JI that Colby “expressed a clear and serious understanding of U.S. strategic interests in the Middle East, including the vital importance of deterring Iran, preventing regional adversaries from gaining dominance, and sustaining Israel’s security following the Twelve Day War.” Daroff said he was “encouraged by [Colby’s] principled and grounded approach”…

The Federal Emergency Management Agency said in grant notices made public Friday that states must guarantee they will not engage in boycotts of Israeli companies in order to qualify for a tranche of more than $1.9 billion in natural disaster preparedness grants…

Software analytics giant Palantir topped $1 billion in revenue for the first time, it shared in an earnings report today. The company has secured several large contracts with the Trump administration, including an agreement announced last week for $10 billion over the next decade with the U.S. Army…

Veteran Democratic political strategist Howard Wolfson, an outspoken supporter of Israel and Jewish causes, appeared on Daniel Gordis’ “Israel from the Inside” podcast today with the message that “the war for hearts and minds” in U.S. support for Israel “has been lost.” The former communications director of Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign, Wolfson said that he’s “clanging the alarm bell as loudly as I can and hoping that the Israeli public and the decision-makers in Israel understand how far Israel has fallen in public approval in the United States and what the implications of that are.”

“Israel is getting absolutely decimated” in information warfare, Wolfson continued. “And that may not be fair, it may not be accurate, but I think those questions of fairness and accuracy, they’ve become largely irrelevant. It’s not about fairness and accuracy. It’s about effectiveness and about impact.”…

⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider this week for a dive into the lessons learned from Israel’s disengagement from Gaza 20 years ago this month, an analysis of what a new poll of New York City Jewish voters means for Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral prospects and a look into the latest fundraising figures from pro-Israel campaign groups.

Tomorrow morning, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar will meet with American Jewish leaders in New York, JI has learned, and then head to a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on the situation of the hostages held in Gaza. Sa’ar prompted the special session after videos of two hostages — Evyatar David and Rom Braslavski — were released by Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, showing the two men looking haggard and severely emaciated.

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Many of the state’s Jewish leaders are wary of speaking out against the Maryland Democrat’s votes to block arms sales to Israel

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QATAR CALL

Landsman calls on Qatar to detain Hamas leaders until hostages are freed

The Democratic congressman, in a letter rejecting an offer for a staffer to travel to Qatar, said that the kingdom needs to do more to pressure Hamas

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Good Thursday afternoon.

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

I’m Danielle Cohen-Kanik, U.S. editor at Jewish Insider. I’ll be curating the Daily Overtime for you, along with assists from my colleagues. 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

All eyes were on Jerusalem today, where Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu amid a growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza and stalled ceasefire talks with Hamas. An Israeli official told Axios’ Barak Ravid that the men discussed moving from an “incremental and partial” ceasefire to a comprehensive one, meaning a final deal that would see the release of all the remaining 50 hostages, the disarmament of Hamas and the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip.

Witkoff and Huckabee will travel into Gaza tomorrow to visit humanitarian aid sites and “meet with local Gazans to hear firsthand about this dire situation on the ground,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced in a briefing this afternoon. After their visit, President Donald Trump will approve a “final plan” for food and aid distribution in Gaza. 

Trump placed blame for the situation squarely with Hamas this morning, posting on Truth Social, “The fastest way to end the Humanitarian Crises in Gaza is for Hamas to SURRENDER AND RELEASE THE HOSTAGES!!!” That goodwill may not last, though, with one source telling the Financial Times that Trump recently warned a “prominent Jewish donor” that “my people are starting to hate Israel”…

In the same FT article, Amos Hochstein, the former advisor to President Joe Biden and negotiator between Israel and Lebanon during his term, is quoted saying, “Part of being a pro-Israel U.S. president meant stepping in when necessary to save Israel from itself.” On Israel’s wars in the region, Hochstein said, “Israel looks like it’s out of control and needs an American intervention and stop button”…

The State Department announced “sanctions that deny visas” to members of the Palestine Liberation Organization and officials from the Palestinian Authority this morning, over the PLO and PA’s continued “pay-for-slay” policy, glorification of violence “especially in textbooks” and initiation of or support for proceedings against Israel at the International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice. 

The move comes in the midst of a spate of Western countries announcing their intent to recognize a Palestinian state in the coming months, signaling Washington is of a very different mind. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said the measure by the U.S. “exposes the moral delusion of certain countries that were quick to recognize a virtual Palestinian state while simultaneously turning a blind eye to its support for terror and incitement.” We’re keeping watch to see if the Trump administration moves to pressure countries like France, the U.K. and Canada to reverse course…

One U.S. ally waiting to jump into the fray is Germany, whose foreign minister, Johann Wadephul, just before an official visit in Israel today, said Berlin is not currently considering joining its neighbors in recognizing a Palestinian state, but that the process towards a two-state solution “must begin now.” “If that process continues to be blocked,” he warned, “Germany must consider reacting accordingly”…

The State Department also released a statement today — alongside 13 Western countries including France, the U.K. and Canada — condemning the “growing number of state threats from Iranian intelligence services in our respective territories,” specifically Iran’s attempts to “kill, kidnap and harass” Westerners and “target journalists, dissidents, Jewish citizens, and current and former officials”…

Relatedly, Israel’s National Security Council issued a warning to its citizens in the United Arab Emirates and is reportedly evacuating its diplomats due to increased terror threats targeting Israeli nationals there, in retaliation for Israel’s war with Iran…

The Washington Post today profiled Rachel Accurso, also known as Ms. Rachel, a popular children’s content creator and outspoken critic of Israel, without detailing the anti-Israel activism she’s incorporated into her children’s show and social media content. This month, she drew criticism from Jewish leaders for publishing a video with former UNRWA photographer Motaz Azaiza — who she called her “friend” —  who has made numerous social media posts defending Palestinian terrorism, according to Ha’aretz…

The Free Press scooped a potential new lawsuit against Harvard by the Trump administration after the Department of Health and Human Services, which had been investigating the university for antisemitism, found the school in violation of the Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and that it would not “voluntarily comply with its obligations.” HHS referred the case to the Department of Justice, which will decide how to proceed…

In a Thursday afternoon speech at the Heritage Foundation, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation‘s chair, Rev. Dr. Johnnie Moore, delivered a forceful defense of the beleaguered U.S.-backed aid organization, which nearly all Senate Democrats recently argued has “failed” in its mission and “contributed to an unacceptable and mounting civilian death toll.” Moore contended that GHF’s work shows the Trump doctrine of “peace through strength” in action, as opposed to the efforts of the United Nations, which he called “the press secretary for Hamas.” “American strength serves American values,” Moore said, “not a corrupt international system”…

⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for reporting on the connection between an anti-Israel group at the University of Washington and the proscribed terror group Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and for an interview with James Walkinshaw, longtime aide to the late Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA), who’s running for his former boss’ seat. We’ll also continue to cover the fallout from last night’s vote on resolutions led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) blocking arms sales to Israel, particularly for Democratic senators with large Jewish constituencies.

We’ll be watching the Witkoff-Huckabee visit to Gaza tomorrow and how their takeaways on the aid crisis translate into a new U.S. plan for food distribution, including involvement from Israel.

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

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Since the Israeli strike on Iran’s air defenses in October, Jerusalem has sought a green light, or something close to it, from Washington to strike the Islamic Republic’s nuclear sites. President Donald Trump, however, repeatedly told Israel to hold off as he pursued a diplomatic agreement with Tehran to stop its enrichment program. 

Now, after the Iranian nuclear program has continued apace and Trump has voiced frustration over Tehran’s intransigence, it seems that Jerusalem’s patience for diplomacy is running out.

Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and Mossad chief David Barnea will be meeting Trump’s top negotiator Steve Witkoff on Friday ahead of the sixth round of talks with Iran in Oman on Sunday “in an additional attempt to clarify Israel’s stance,” an official in Jerusalem said, amid persistent reports and strong indications that Israel is prepared to strike Iran.

After a call with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu last week, Trump said that if Tehran does not agree to give up uranium enrichment, the situation will get “very, very dire.” On Wednesday, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said that “there have been plenty of indications” that Iran is moving towards weaponization of its nuclear program, and Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla, the chief of CENTCOM, said that he presented Trump and Hegseth with numerous options to attack Iran if nuclear talks break down. 

Hours later, the State Department began to move some personnel out of Iraq and the military suggested that servicemembers’ families depart the Middle East, while the U.K. warned about a potential “escalation of military activity” in the region. Such evacuations are often the first step to reduce risk ahead of a large-scale military operation. 

Trump told reporters that the evacuations are happening because the Middle East “could be a dangerous place, and we’ll see what happens.” More on this from Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod here.

Kurilla postponed his testimony before the Senate planned for Thursday. Staff at U.S. embassies and consulates throughout the Middle East were told to take safety precautions, and those stationed in Israel were told not to leave the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, Jerusalem or Beersheva.

Multiple news outlets published reports citing anonymous American officials that Israel is ready to strike Iran without help from the U.S. One possible reason for the timing — moving forward even as Washington and Tehran are set to enter a sixth round of talks on Sunday — is that Iran has reportedly begun to rebuild the air defenses that Israel destroyed last year. Iranian Armed Forces Chief of Staff Mohammad Bagheri reportedly said last month: “We are witnessing a remarkable improvement in the capability and readiness of the country’s air defense.”

Ynet’s well-sourced military analyst Yoav Zitun reported early Wednesday that Israel’s threat to attack Iran’s nuclear program is serious, and the most likely scenario is that Israel would strike Iran on its own but coordinate with the U.S. to receive air defense support. That scenario appears consistent with both Trump’s stated reticence to launch an attack, and the events that took place later that day.

In light of the negotiations set to continue on Sunday, some American analysts told JI that Washington could be acting as though it’s preparing for a possible attack to pressure Iran into concessions. 

If the latest moves successfully pressure Iran, Shira Efron, Israel Policy Forum’s director of policy research, told JI that she hoped it would be “an opportunity to get to a bigger, better deal.” 

However, in Israel, it looks like the moves towards a strike on Iran are serious. 

The fact that Netanyahu is expected to go on a two-day vacation in northern Israel this weekend and his son is getting married next week have been counterintuitively pointed to as indications that a strike is imminent — after all, the Hezbollah pager operation happened when the prime minister was in New York, and the strike on Syria’s nuclear facilities in 2007 took place when then-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was set to go on vacation in Europe.

“Yesterday, I thought there was no way something is going to happen,” Efron said, but now, “I think we’re at the money time. It’s more serious than we had thought.” 

“Israel clearly no longer thinks an agreement can work, so it all depends on whether Trump told Israel it can do something before” negotiations between Iran and the U.S. break down, Efron said.

With the Middle East in flux from Gaza to Lebanon, Syria and Iran, any week in the last 600 days would have been a busy one in Jerusalem. Still, Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA) arrived in Israel on Monday at a particularly significant moment, with nuclear talks with Iran reaching a critical juncture and the U.S. and Israel moving forward with a plan to distribute humanitarian aid in Gaza.

Israel is one stop in McCormick’s first trip abroad after becoming chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near East, South Asia, Central Asia, and Counterterrorism earlier this year. 

“There are so many issues that will be coming before the Senate … so it felt like it was appropriate to come and get the truth on the ground,” McCormick said in an interview with Jewish Insider in Jerusalem on Tuesday. “We wanted to come to Israel as a show of solidarity. It’s a very tough time now, in the aftermath of [Israeli Embassy staffers] Yaron [Lischinsky] and Sarah [Milgrim] killed in Washington, and all the polarization and the challenges with Gaza and Iran.”

In between a visit to the Western Wall and minutes before his meeting with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the group implementing the American-Israeli Gaza aid plan, which has come under fire from international aid groups on the ground, McCormick spoke with JI about the significant issues on his agenda. Tech investor Liran Tancman, one of the Israelis involved in arranging the aid distribution program, took part in the meeting with McCormick and GHF as well. 

The GHF began distributing aid on Monday, though it had to pause at one point on Tuesday, reportedly due to overcrowding. Additionally, Hamas members reportedly threatened Gazans who cooperated with the American-led effort.

“I certainly recognize … how complex a problem this is,” McCormick said. “On one hand, you want to give the humanitarian assistance that is needed to make sure innocents are able to have the support they need. But it’s also a tool that’s been hijacked by Hamas as a source of revenue, as a source of leverage and control. So, how do you balance?”

The senator noted positively that hundreds of trucks had already entered Gaza, and expressed hope that the GHF could distribute aid to families in need.

McCormick also pointed out that “this whole thing could end overnight if [Hamas] release[s] the hostages.”

His message for countries such as the U.K., France and others that have threatened action against Israel if it does not allow the U.N. to distribute aid is “to actually look at the complexity of the problem and the good faith efforts that are being taken to address it. I think that will hopefully be confidence-building for them.”

McCormick was also in Israel at a time in which the Trump administration appears increasingly concerned that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not on board with the White House’s efforts to reach a diplomatic deal with the Islamic Republic over its nuclear program. Israel is reportedly preparing contingency plans to strike Iran. 

Tensions between Washington and Jerusalem led Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to tell Fox News on Monday that she was dispatched to Israel to tell Netanyahu to allow negotiations to run their course.

The day after meeting with Netanyahu, McCormick said, “Nobody shared any battle plans with me. Obviously, the administration is in close contact with the Israeli government … I think, ultimately, the defining point is Iran can’t have a nuclear program and can’t be on the path to having a nuclear program. That’s a defining goal.”

“I think there is an opportunity because I think Iran is at a weak moment due in part to incredible actions that Israel has taken against the terrorist proxies supported by Iran,” he added. “The political pressure on Iran is at an all-time high, and the capability of the Iranians is at an all-time low. So you’ve got a moment of opportunity, and I’m hoping that forces will come together to make the most of it.”

McCormick argued that Trump and Netanyahu’s remarks on Iran’s nuclear program are consistent with one another.

“I go to what President Trump said, which is full dismantlement of the nuclear program and no enrichment, those are his two red lines, and I listen to what Netanyahu said yesterday, which is, ‘I don’t trust them, but we need full dismantlement of the nuclear program and no enrichment,’” he said.

McCormick noted that former Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, Israel’s opposition leader, said the same thing as Netanyahu about Iran in their meeting. 

“If the deal would come together in line with what President Trump has said, that would be something that would be welcome,” McCormick added. “It would be a huge step forward for the region and a huge step forward for the world.” 

Asked if Republicans in the Senate would accept a deal that fell short of those lines, McCormick first said that while he is not privy to the details of the current negotiations with Iran, “I don’t necessarily believe any of what I read [in the media]. I’ll believe it when I hear the president … I’m not going to talk about something that doesn’t exist yet.” 

The senator pointed to a letter signed by nearly all Senate Republicans urging the president to reject any deal that does not include the full dismantlement of Iran’s nuclear program.

“I’ve been with the president when he’s talked about this, and I’ve heard him talk about dismantling [the Iranian nuclear program] … That’s the position that I think he’s taken and that I would take,” he stated.

When one negotiates with Iran, McCormick said, the first consideration must be to “take Iran at its word when it says it wants to destroy Israel and the United States,” and the second is that “there’s a history of untrustworthiness.”

“If you start with those two premises, then you have to get an outcome where the likelihood of a reconstitution of a nuclear Iran program is not something that is in the cards,” he said.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Congress last week that the current negotiations with Iran are only about its nuclear program and not its terror proxies or ballistic missile program, though related sanctions remain in place.

However, McCormick said, “that doesn’t mean U.S. policy is only going to deal with [the nuclear program], and my basic view is Iran has been a bad actor and any … reducing sanctions should also require the complete termination of any support for terrorist proxies.”

Asked if that doesn’t contradict an offer to lift sanctions in exchange for a nuclear-only deal, McCormick said, “I don’t know what the deal is, but any treaty would ultimately come before the Senate and those are the kinds of questions I’ve asked.”

McCormick expressed confidence that the Trump administration would not try to circumvent the Senate, saying that “for any agreement to last, it needs to come through the Senate.”

The senator rejected the framing that there are two dueling foreign policy camps in the Trump administration, the more traditional Republicans and the “restrainers,” saying that Trump has been “very consistent” and that he has “a realpolitik view of supporting American interests.”

“I’ve seen lots of administrations … There are always conflicting views. That’s how good policies are made. You have a policy process where people get to argue and the president gets to decide,” he said.

Trump, McCormick said, has “made it very clear that the Israelis are our closest ally in the Middle East. There is no one that’s done more to support Israel … He’s been very clear on his stance on antisemitism. So listen, these are complex problems … but I think the administration stance has been a very clear one, and the president keeps coming back to peace through strength, which I think is one of the defining pieces of this foreign policy.”

As for the relationship between the U.S. and Qatar, which hosts Hamas leaders in its capital and represents Hamas’ interests in hostage and ceasefire negotiations with Israel, McCormick said: “From a realpolitik perspective, Qatar is an important part of bringing together the possibilities of a peace deal, but I think any funding that’s supporting terrorist organizations or any historical support should be an important consideration in the relationship.”

The senator posited that “our relationship with Qatar is moving in the right direction, but ultimately it depends on changing behavior where it’s not supporting groups that aren’t in line with U.S. objectives or allies of the United States.”

When it comes to concerns that Qatar is spending large sums of money to try to gain favor and influence the U.S., McCormick drew a distinction between the $400 million plane Qatar is planning to gift Trump to be used as Air Force One and then donated to his library, and Qatar’s large contributions to American universities.

McCormick has “concerns about the plane from a security perspective and an intel perspective. Obviously, we want to make sure that … there’s no national security risk associated with it.”

However, he called the donation of the plane “a sort of transaction between the U.S. government in many countries that happens in all sorts of different forms … It’ll go through whatever ethics review.”

McCormick said that funding for universities, however, is a major concern, not only from Qatar but from China, “particularly if there are motivations tied to it.”

“No one has been a stronger voice on antisemitism on campus than me,” he said. “Any foreign money that can be tied to supporting groups that are leading this antisemitism, I’m very opposed to. I think President Trump cracking down on these universities for their antisemitism, looking at the sources of funding, making federal funding contingent on dealing with antisemitism and making sure universities are doing their role is necessary.”

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa left the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem’s Christian Quarter on Wednesday to head to the Vatican for his first-ever conclave to select the next pope. He departed as the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, but some have speculated that he could have a new title — pope — in the coming weeks.

“This is a moment during which we need to be united in prayer, first for me, because this is a time in which I carry a great and important responsibility. And we must pray for the church, for we are a part of a big body which is [the] universal church, the Catholic Church. I am sure that your prayers, all together, will bring the right choices for the good of the universal church,” Pizzaballa said in a recorded statement before his departure. 

Pizzaballa is widely viewed as one of the favorites to succeed Pope Francis, who died on Monday. The vast majority of popes have come from Italy, where Pizzaballa hails from, though he has lived in Israel for the past 35 years and is fluent in Hebrew. His knowledge of the Middle East, as well as his support for inter-religious dialogue, are viewed as advantages, while his age, 60, is seen as too young for a pope, according to Politico. 

Pizzaballa moved to Jerusalem in 1990, when he pursued a master’s degree in the Bible at Hebrew University while studying and teaching at the Franciscan Faculty of Biblical and Archaeological Sciences in Jerusalem. He later became responsible for the pastoral care of Hebrew-speaking Catholics and then was elected Custos of the Holy Land, a senior position in the church in Israel, Palestinian-controlled territories, Jordan, Syria, Cyprus, Rhodes and part of Egypt, from 2004-2016. 

Pope Francis appointed Pizzaballa to be the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem in 2020, and made him the first-ever cardinal based in Jerusalem in 2023. 

Pizzaballa said that the appointment of a cardinal in the city elevated the “voice of Jerusalem” within the Catholic Church. 

Wadie Abunasser, who was the spokesman of the Catholic Church in Israel for 30 years and is now coordinator of the Holy Land Christian Forum, a Christian laity group in Israel, told Jewish Insider that he hoped the honor bestowed on Pizzaballa would lead to recognition of Jerusalem as a city whose patriarch’s elevation to cardinal would be fast-tracked.

Ben-Gurion University Vice President Michal Bar Asher-Siegal, who is an expert in Christian-Jewish relations, told JI that Pizzaballa’s advancement to cardinal was “crazy, it shows the importance of Jerusalem in Pope Francis’ eyes … There are only 130 cardinals in the world.”

The promotion “reflects the importance of [Jerusalem], but also the person,” Bar Asher-Segal added. “[Pizzaballa] is an important figure who reached an important status.”

Pizzaballa, according to a profile by prominent Catholic affairs reporter John L. Allen Jr. from 2016, was “very much Francis’s man.” The pope entrusted Pizzaballa with organizing a peace prayer summit in the Vatican in 2014 with Israel’s then-President Shimon Peres and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

More recently, Pizzaballa, who was appointed cardinal only days before the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks in Israel, made waves with his public positions on the subsequent war. Pizzaballa called the massacre “barbaric.” Later that month, Pizzaballa answered in the affirmative when asked if he would be willing to be exchanged for Israeli children taken hostage by Hamas in Gaza: “If this can lead to freedom, to bring the children home, no problem. There is total willingness on my part.” 

Yet, when two Catholics in Gaza were shot, Pizzaballa accused Israel of killing them “in cold blood,” though the IDF said that soldiers shot in response to an RPG that was fired from near the church. In December 2023, photos of the Pizzaballa wearing a keffiyeh, a traditional Palestinian scarf, courted controversy in Israel. 

From the start of the war, Pizzaballa campaigned to be able to visit Catholics in Gaza and spoke out about their plight. As of last year, there were 1,017 Christians in Gaza, 135 of whom are Catholic; about 300 people, mostly Christians, were living in the Holy Family Catholic Church compound in Gaza. 

According to the Catholic publication First Things, the patriarchate told Catholics in Gaza not to comply with the IDF’s evacuation order in Gaza City, for fear that it would be viewed as “complicity in an Israeli campaign to depopulate Gaza [that] risked setting Mideast Muslims against their Christian neighbors.” At the same time, they informed the IDF that Christians would shelter in the church and Israel facilitated the flow of food and supplies to them.

Israel allowed Pizzaballa to enter Gaza days before Christmas last year and he met with the community that had been living in the church compound from the start of the war. 

Abunasser said that Pizzaballa “has especially cared, since the start of the war, for the Christian presence in Gaza. He was the only church leader who repeatedly asked the Israelis, despite all the risks, to go and visit.”

The 2016 profile said that some in the Middle East have “long looked on [Pizzaballa] with suspicion because of his closeness to Israel and Jewish culture.” 

“In the zero/sum political game of the Middle East, in which a friend of Israel often is automatically seen as an enemy of Palestine and the Arab cause, all that has made Pizzaballa suspect in the eyes of some Arab clergy, and something of an arresting choice to lead a patriarchate whose membership is overwhelmingly Arab,” Allen Jr. wrote at the time.

Allen wrote that those critics highlight a comment Pizzaballa reportedly made about Palestinian leaders blaming Israel for all of their problems: “If the weather isn’t good, the cause is the occupation.”

Pizzaballa “talks relatively openly and the pope listened and was very interested. That means [Pizzaballa] brought the topic of Christians in the Holy Land to international attention,” Ben-Gurion University Vice President Michal Bar Asher-Siegal, who is an expert in Christian-Jewish relations, said.

In an interview with First Things this year, Pizzaballa referred to the Palestinian Authority as “weak,” which he said left Catholics vulnerable to attack.

Bar Asher-Segal said that Pizzaballa has not hesitated to criticize the PA, under whose rule Christians “suffer attacks from Muslims and in villages where Muslims are the majority, they are pushed to the sidelines. There have been very difficult attacks in Ramallah and Bethlehem … He speaks out against the Palestinian Authority, where Christians are targets of hate and the PA does nothing.”

“It takes courage to come out against the PA,” Bar Asher-Siegal added. 

Pizzaballa “talks relatively openly and the pope listened and was very interested. That means [Pizzaballa] brought the topic of Christians in the Holy Land to international attention,” Bar Asher-Siegal said.

The cardinal has also spoken out against Israel’s “neglect” of its Christian community, she continued. She pointed out that Christians are the most educated population in the country, but many emigrate, a matter of concern for Pizzaballa.

Christians in Israel have increasingly complained of harassment, especially in Jerusalem, Bar Asher-Siegal said, arguing that there has been a major increase in recent years of incidents of Jews spitting on Christians and vandalizing their property. 

“Israel said it is committed to freedom of religion and taking care of the holy sites in Jerusalem, but it isn’t meeting its commitments … Israel comes out very bad here … It’s a strategic and moral mistake,” she said. 

Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Aryeh King told JI that he had looked into the matter and that the Jerusalem Police said there had not been a rise in such incidents. 

Abunasser said that Pizzaballa “played a major role in improving ties with political authorities in Israel, the Palestinian Authority and even Jordan. He improved relations with Muslims and Jews on the religious and political level … He is very respected among the diplomatic corps in Israel and Jerusalem.”

The cardinal, Abunasser continued, “is wise and knows, despite all the contradictions and challenges, how to manage things even in difficult times. He succeeded in imposing his respect on everybody, including those who might sometimes disagree with him.”

King, someone who has clashed with local Christians in the past, said that “there are others who led a very anti-Israel line. I can’t say that he did. Some Christians did, but he is not like that.”

The Jerusalem deputy mayor has led protests against Christian missionaries in Jerusalem, though he emphasized that he also spoke out against recent incidents of harassment against the local community.

“There’s a clear line. We have no problem with Christians who mind their own business, but we will fight against Christians trying to change Jews’ religion,” King said. “I don’t remember [Pizzaballa] as someone who led such steps in recent years.” 

“He is really a special person who enjoys wide respect among Jews and Arabs,” Wadie Abunasser, who was the spokesman of the Catholic Church in Israel for 30 years and is now coordinator of the Holy Land Christian Forum, said. “He is a person who is charming and close to the people.” 

“Jerusalem is a microcosm of Jewish-Christian relations,” King added. “It’s a very sensitive place and there are constantly things happening in interreligious relations … I am deputy mayor and pretty involved in what is happening in the Old City and east Jerusalem, and I can’t point to him as someone who acted against Jews.”

King posited that “maybe there’s a place for optimism if [Pizzaballa becomes] the head of the church and he understands what is happening in Jerusalem where there are politically hot conflicts between religions.”

Abunasser said that Pizzaballa is well-liked across different populations in Israel and beyond.

“He is really a special person who enjoys wide respect among Jews and Arabs,” Abunasser said. “He is a person who is charming and close to the people.” 

Pizzaballa “is someone who always, like Pope Francis or Jesus, gives priority to the weak people. He cares for the weak and the poor,” he said.

Abunasser said he heard many stories from disadvantaged people about how Pizzaballa helped them, though the cardinal himself would keep his efforts quiet — “even his close associates sometimes don’t know what he does in that regard.”

“I discovered that he started many initiatives in the Latin Patriarchate. He launched several microfinancing projects to help unemployed people, especially in the Bethlehem area,” he said. 

Abunasser also highlighted reforms and improvements that Pizzaballa made to the administration of the church, both as Custos of the Holy Land, who is in charge of holy sites, and as the Latin Patriarch.

“[Pizzaballa’s] long service in the church of the Holy Land is something that was known worldwide. The church of the Holy Land is always in the news, not only in the media but also in the church. Therefore, I believe he has a good reputation,” he added.

Despite his enthusiasm for Pizzaballa, Abunasser emphasized that he is not lobbying for him to be pope. Abunasser pointed out that, contrary to regular politics, campaigning and self-promotion are frowned upon in Vatican conclaves.

“Even [Pizzaballa] himself, when people joked with him ‘you will be the next pope,’ he said ‘please don’t curse me.’ He believes we must trust the spirit,” Abunasser said.

A nurse and midwife who has delivered more than 1,000 babies. A soldier who swapped weekend shifts so that he could attend his brother’s bar mitzvah. A young man attending an outdoor rave with friends. A father awaiting the birth of his third child.

The families of four American citizens who believe their loved ones are being held by Hamas in Gaza gathered in Tel Aviv on Tuesday afternoon to deliver a public, emotion-laden plea to both the Israeli and American governments, neither of which, relatives say, have provided adequate support or information about their family members.

On Tuesday afternoon, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said that 20 or more Americans remain unaccounted for. A National Security Council spokesperson confirmed on Monday that at least 11 American citizens have been killed in the attacks.

On Tuesday afternoon, following a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Vice President Kamala Harris, President Joe Biden said he had “directed my team to share intelligence and deploy experts from across the United States Government to consult with and advise Israeli counterparts and hostage recovery efforts. Because as president, I have no higher priority than the safety of Americans being held hostage around the world.”

Rachel Goldberg, who grew up in Chicago and now lives in Jerusalem, last heard from her son, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, on Saturday morning. Goldberghad turned her phone off on Friday evening as the sunset ushered in Shabbat and Simchat Torah. After a siren alerted her to a rocket attack near Jerusalem on Saturday morning, she turned on her phone, concerned about Hersh, who was attending the Tribe of Nova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im. 

“I turned my phone on, I believe, at 8:23 in the morning,” Goldberg said. “And when I turned it on, there were two texts in a row from Hersh at 8:11. The first one said, ‘I love you’ and immediately at 8:11 also it said, ‘I’m sorry.’ And so I knew immediately wherever he was, it was a terrible situation.”

Goldberg identified her son, whom she has not heard from since, in a photo taken inside a bomb shelter. In collecting eyewitness accounts, she said, she learned that Hersh had been injured in a firefight. 

“They were fish in a barrel sitting in this bomb shelter,” Goldberg explained. “Terrorists came to the door, they were throwing grenades in, shooting machine guns, and we know that Hirsch’s arm from the elbow down was severed, was blown off, and that he tied a tourniquet around with his shirt.” She has not received any further information about her son’s whereabouts.

Goldberg was joined by the families of Itay Chen, Sagui Dekel-Chen (who is not related to Itay) and Adrienne Neta, whose son, Nahar Neta, issued a plea to President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Tony Blinken. The administration, Neta said, is “responsible to bring the U.S. citizens back home safe and sound. We expect nothing less from the U.S. administration and from President Biden and Secretary of State Blinken.”

Adrienne Neta is a California-born nurse and midwife who moved to Israel in 1981. She lived for decades on Kibbutz Be’eri, one of the deadliest sites of Saturday’s attack. When Hamas terrorists invaded the kibbutz, her children said, she was sitting on her patio on the phone. It was roughly 9:30 a.m. “Both my brother and my sister were on the call with her as the terrorist barged into her home, and we heard a little bit of screaming and that was our last contact with her,” her son Nahar Neta said. “There was no shooting on the call.” 

His mother, Neta added, tried to use the limited Arabic she had picked up as a longtime nurse at Soroka Hospital to communicate with her captors.

A half-hour’s drive from Neta’s Kibbutz Be’eri sits Kibbutz Nahal Oz, which is where 35-year-old Sagui Dekel-Chen was taken hostage as he and other men on the kibbutz attempted to overpower the terrorists who had infiltrated the property. Dekel-Chen’s wife is pregnant with the couple’s third daughter.

Of the roughly 400 residents of the kibbutz, Sagui’s father, Jonathan Dekel-Chen, said, more than half have been killed or taken hostage. The roughly 160 survivors, the elder Dekel-Chen said, “call this a pogrom.”

“What happened to us, it’s not a war,” he said. “It’s not a fair fight. It is a pogrom. Hundreds of heavily armed, well-organized terrorists walked, rode, ran over the border with one object in mind: and that was to kill, maim, to destroy civilian life along the border.”

“As such,” he continued, “it seems to me that the United States, my original home, and still a very beloved place for me, always wants to be and must be on the side of good.” He called on the “United States government, to the Congress, to do what they can on the side of good here. We’re waiting for Sagui to come home.”

Rubi Chen, whose son Itay was captured while on duty, said he has connected with about 10 other families who are missing a relative with American citizenship following Saturday’s ambush.

Itay Chen had not been scheduled to be on duty the weekend of the attack. His younger brother’s bar mitzvah was the following weekend, when he had been originally scheduled to report for duty. Itay had traded weekend shifts so that he could be a part of his family’s celebrations. 

Rubi Chen said the IDF had informed the family that Itay was listed as missing in action. 

“You would think it would be a good assumption to say that after 70 hours, if he’s not in the State of Israel, he might be some other place. If that is the case, then he is by definition a POW.” Chen called for his son to be treated as a POW according to international law.

Chen said he had been in contact with the State Department and the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, but that he has received few answers as to his son’s whereabouts and any plans to rescue the hostages. There has “been no formal or concentrated attempt to talk to us as a group and update us about what they are doing in this matter,” Chen said on Tuesday.

“Please do not think of us only as a headline,” Rubi Chen pleaded. “We are more than that.”