• U.S.-led talks between Israel and Lebanon in Rome are slated to conclude today, after yesterday’s discussion was cut short by several hours “due to events on the ground,” the State Department said.
• The decision to pause talks came after the IDF conducted strikes in southern Lebanon over what it said were “blatant violations” of the ongoing ceasefire by Hezbollah, including an incident in which two IDF reservists were killed and four seriously wounded by an explosive device in southern Lebanon.
• Reports continue to indicate Iran and Oman are inching toward a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz after earlier agreements on the issue fell apart. An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Wednesday that Tehran and Muscat were close to finalizing an agreement, so long as “certain parties do not obstruct this process” — an apparent reference to the U.S.
• Tennessee is holding its primary elections today. In the state’s 5th District, Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN), a far-right lawmaker, is facing a serious primary challenge from Charlie Hatcher, a former state commissioner of agriculture.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MATTHEW KASSEL

Abdul El-Sayed’s narrow victory over Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) in Michigan’s bruising Democratic Senate primary on Tuesday is forcing many Jewish leaders in the state to confront an uncomfortable decision as they now look ahead to the general election in November.

Several Jewish Democrats in the battleground state are now indicating that they will break with a party they have long called home and instead vote for the Republican nominee, Mike Rogers, in the November election, citing their continued alarm over El-Sayed’s hostile rhetoric toward Israel as well as remarks they have interpreted as indifferent to rising antisemitism, among other concerns.

“I can’t vote for El-Sayed,” Michael Horowitz, a Jewish community leader and Detroit businessman who supported Stevens, a pro-Israel moderate, told Jewish Insider. “So many things I find despicable about him, not the least of which is his close association with Hasan Piker,” the antisemitic Twitch streamer, who Horowitz said “demeans America, demeans Jews and demeans all but the most radical among us.”

Horowitz confirmed he was now “leaning strongly to Rogers,” a former congressman who narrowly lost in his bid for Senate last cycle. “And I have heard from many in the Jewish community who say they will be supporting Rogers,” he said on Wednesday.

Hannan Lis, a Democratic fundraiser and Jewish leader who splits his time between Michigan and Israel, was among those who had told JI before the primary that he would vote for Rogers in the general election if El-Sayed won the nomination, noting he knows “many” Jewish Democrats who plan to do the same.

His reservations about Republicans preserving their Senate majority by picking up the Michigan seat held by retiring Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), he clarified, were superseded by his objections to El-Sayed’s stances on Israel and responses to antisemitism. “El-Sayed is no Democrat,” he claimed.

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

Reassessing Reality: The Atlantic‘s Jonathan Chait contends that, in order to wrest back their party from the far left, moderate Democrats will have to reevaluate some of their core stances, including support for AIPAC and Israel. “Fending off a leftist insurgency will be all but impossible unless Democrats reject AIPAC’s endorsements and stop supporting unconditional aid for an Israel that no longer works toward a two-state solution. Democrats also have to stop passively allowing multiple candidates to split the mainstream vote while the leftist vote consolidates behind a single candidate, as occurred in Michigan’s Seventh District and the Wisconsin governor’s race. But the greatest challenge for mainstream liberals is to find a way to engage in and win the substantive argument with the left.” [TheAtlantic]

Lemons into Lemonade: Tablet‘s Jacob Siegel argues that the U.S.-Israel alliance is loosening, and that the moment presents an opportunity for Israel to reduce its dependence on Washington and diversify its alliances. “A greater degree of separation between the United States and Israel is not only inevitable, it is desirable. Many supporters of Israel seem to be aware only of the significant challenges that this will create for the small country. They overlook the significant opportunities it presents for Israel’s growth. … With the chapter closing on its role as an outsize client state, Israel needs to develop itself as an independent regional power that is a desirable partner by virtue of its ability to innovate technologies and project force.” [Tablet]

Fashion Faux Pas: In The New York Times, John Galliano biographer Dana Thomas cautions against the decision by the Metropolitan Museum of Art to honor the designer, who was convicted of antisemitic abuse after praising Adolf Hitler. “Not all great creators deserve a retrospective, and someone as incendiary as Mr. Galliano certainly shouldn’t be the subject of one during his lifetime, when he stands to profit from the honor personally. With ‘John Galliano: Horizons,’ the Met and Ms. Wintour are selling the idea that they can tell the rest of us how to think about a difficult and divisive figure. Maybe they didn’t notice that idea has gone badly out of fashion.” [NYTimes]

Find more Worthy Reads in our Live Briefing via our new app (on Apple and Android) and website.

Asked about an Axios report that claimed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “confronted” him over their diverging policy views during his visit to Washington last week, Vice President JD Vance said in an interview on Fox News on Wednesday, “He didn’t confront me. We had a nice and frank conversation. … I would describe it as a pleasant but direct conversation”…

The White House denied a Washington Post report that President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth clashed last week at Camp David over the war in Iran; the Post reported that the president asked why he had been misled about a shortage of munitions…

A group of far-right figures, including Tucker Carlson, outgoing Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and former National Counterterrorism Center head Joe Kent — who gathered over the weekend at Carlson’s Maine home — are considering launching a third-party political organization…

The Israeli Foreign Ministry denounced a joint statement adopted by Arab states — including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Pakistan and Egypt, among others — whose foreign ministers convened in Jordan on Wednesday to discuss Israel’s policies in Jerusalem and said that Israel, which the statement claimed “has no sovereignty” over the city, had “alter[ed] the Arab Islamic and Christian identity of occupied Jerusalem”…

The IDF is investigating a reported arson attack by Israeli settlers in a Palestinian village in the West Bank overnight in which suspects allegedly set fire to homes and attacked residents, including children…

A new Israel Democracy Institute survey found that a majority of Israelis believes the integrity of the October election is in danger…

The Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen said on Wednesday that they struck a Saudi oil tanker in the northern Red Sea, escalating the group’s stated blockade against Riyadh and strikes on Saudi ships that have thus far been focused in the southern Red Sea, near the Bab el-Mandeb strait…

James Stavridis, former supreme allied commander of NATO, argues in Bloomberg that a Saudi-led naval coalition could help protect commercial shipping in the Red Sea from Houthi attacks, though it would likely still require U.S. and European intelligence and logistical support to be effective…

An Azerbaijani official said on Turkish TV that Baku lobbied Israel to stop the Knesset from voting to recognize the Armenian genocide…

FIFA officials gathered in Morocco this week reaffirmed their support for Gianni Infantino, days after the FIFA president faced widespread criticism from within the organization over a plan to privatize elements of the World Cup…

The Atlantic investigates whether al-Qaida, 25 years after the 9/11 attacks, is quietly rebuilding or if its core organization is effectively defunct…

A new poll shows left-wing Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva‘s lead over conservative challenger Flávio Bolsonaro, the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, narrowing ahead of the country’s October elections…

Benny Stanislawski, previously the communications director for Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), is joining Pennsylvania Democrat Bob Brooks‘ congressional campaign as communications director…

American University’s School of Public Affairs named Tom Kahn as director of its Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies; Kahn, who served as acting director for the past year, was the longest-serving staff director in history for the House Budget Committee…

Find on-demand Live Briefing updates throughout the day via our new app (on Apple and Android) and website.

The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law hosted 34 law students from leading law schools, including Columbia, Cornell, Duke, Georgetown, NYU and Vanderbilt, for its three-day Law Student Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C., this week. The students received training in civil rights law, Title VI, free speech and advocacy on behalf of Jewish students from a range of experts, including Brandeis Center founder Ken Marcus, pictured here addressing attendees.

Actor, director, producer and screenwriter, Soleil Moon Frye turns 50… 

Retired founding partner of the Jaffe Family Law Group, Daniel J. Jaffe turns 89… Esports executive and casino owner, he is a three-time bracelet winner at the World Series of Poker, Lyle Berman turns 85… Professor emerita and former dean at Bar Ilan University, Malka Elisheva Schaps turns 78… Film director, television director, producer and screenwriter, Brian Michael Levant turns 74… Austrian businessman with many U.S., Israeli and Eastern European investments, Martin Schlaff turns 73… Former state treasurer of Virginia and then state secretary of finance, she is now a gourmet popcorn manufacturer, Jody Moses Wagner turns 71… Professor of public diplomacy at The Fletcher School of Tufts University, she was formerly undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, Tara D. Sonenshine turns 67… Professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at The George Washington University Medical Center, Alan J. Lipman, Ph.D. turns 66… Israeli diplomat, he served as Israel’s consul general in NYC between 2000 and 2004, Alon Pinkas turns 65… NASA astronaut who spent 198 days on the International Space Station, he brought 18 bagels from his family’s bagel store in Montreal into space, Gregory Chamitoff turns 64… Chair of White & Case’s white collar practice group, Joel M. Cohen… Executive director of public affairs and policy communications at the American Council on Education, Jonathan Riskind… CEO of Elluminate (formerly known as the Jewish Women’s Foundation of New York), Melanie Roth Gorelick… Vice chair of Jewish California and a board member of JFNA and JCRC Bay Area, Susie Sorkin… Television and radio sports anchor on ESPN and ABC, he was one-half of the “Mike & Mike” team but now hosts his own ESPN morning program, Mike Greenberg turns 59… Chief economist at The Burning Glass Institute, Gad Levanon, Ph.D…. Law professor and associate dean at Michigan State University College of Law, David Blankfein-Tabachnick turns 55… Former boxing commentator and co-host of ESPN’s “This Just In,” Yiddish speaking Max Kellerman turns 53… Co-founder and former CEO of Uber, Travis Kalanick turns 50… Founder and CEO at Climb Together which helps prepare people from low-income backgrounds for entry level jobs, Nitzan Pelman… Screenwriter and television producer, he is best known for creating and executive producing the Fox teen drama “The O.C.,” Joshua Ian Schwartz turns 50… Former comms director for Zohran Mamdani’s New York City mayoral general election campaign, Jeffrey Lerner… Creative director and visual strategist, Rachel Gogel… Member of the New York State Assembly, Simcha Eichenstein turns 43… Winner of two gold medals in swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, he is now CEO of Gather Campgrounds north of Austin, Garrett Weber-Gale turns 41… Director of strategy and policy at K2 Space Corporation, he is also a non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, Corey A. Jacobson… Reporter at San Antonio Express-News, Elizabeth Teitz… Special advisor at the Department of Homeland Security and former student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Hunter Pollack turns 29…

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

President Donald Trump lambasted Iranian leadership today, calling the regime “unbelievably duplicitous” for contradicting his claim that Washington and Tehran are currently conducting negotiations, after Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said that Tehran was only in discussion with Oman about the Strait of Hormuz and had no plans to speak to the U.S.

Trump claimed in his Truth Social post that the regime had “begged” for a meeting, “with more scheduled in the immediate future,” adding, “whether Iran wants to admit it or not, we are, in fact, talking of a solution to a problem that they have caused, for decades.” Trump later told reporters that the talks were “a last chance for Iran to sign a good document” and that he wants to give Iran “every last chance before decapitation”…

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Board of Peace head Nickolay Mladenov held a “constructive and detailed” meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today, the board said, after the IDF continued to strike targets in Gaza over the weekend — in contravention of the Board of Peace’s Hamas disarmament plan, which called for the immediate cessation of hostilities in the enclave.

The board clarified that the IDF’s withdrawal beyond the yellow line in Gaza “will take place only once decommissioning [of Hamas’ weapons] is complete,” including all light and heavy weapons as well as terror tunnels. Netanyahu has yet to officially comment on the deal, but a senior Israeli spokesman said earlier today that the agreement “does not reflect Israel’s positions” and another Israeli official declared that the IDF “will not withdraw from the current line in the Gaza Strip”…

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Israeli President Isaac Herzog received the credentials of the new ambassadors from Chile and Honduras today; the two Latin American countries had pulled their ambassadors from the Jewish state shortly after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks in protest of the war in Gaza but have since elected new conservative governments that have sought to strengthen ties with Jerusalem…

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Education Secretary Linda McMahon sent a letter to every university in the country today asking their leadership to publish by the end of the year a statement committing to principles including transparency in admissions, free speech, diversity of thought and keeping foreign influence out of academics.

Yeshiva University President Rabbi Ari Berman applauded the initiative, which came after most universities rejected a compact from the Trump administration last year that had asked them to agree to a set of ideological principles in order to receive federal funding, and said YU would participate in the effort to rebuild public trust of higher education…

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Brown University President Christina Paxson announced today that she will step down at the end of the 2026-27 academic year, concluding her 15-year tenure at the Ivy League, during which the school increased Jewish student enrollment even as most peer institutions experienced significant drops, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports…

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As the Israel on Campus Coalition’s National Summit continues in Washington, Noah Pollak, a senior advisor at the Education Department, debated Jonathan Rauch, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, on whether the Trump administration’s crackdown on campus antisemitism has protected or threatened America’s liberal norms. After the debate, where Pollak argued in favor of the policy and Rauch argued against, students who were polled in the audience shifted their views to align more with Rauch, JI’s Haley Cohen reports…

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New hate crime data released by the NYPD shows an uptick of 8.5% in hate crimes against Jews in New York City this year so far, accounting for more than half of all hate crimes in the city, despite Jewish New Yorkers only accounting for 10% of the city’s population…

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A New York man was indicted on hate crimes charges on Friday for repeatedly vandalizing a kosher bagel shop, weeks after he was indicted for manslaughter for killing a prominent Jewish community member in a car crash…

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Author Alyssa Rosenheck pushed back on arguments raised by Bell Bird Books, a local bookstore in Nashville, Tenn., that canceled a book launch event for Rosenheck’s White. Blond. Jew.,which the bookstore claimed was due to security concerns. Rosenheck said she had personally paid for a private firm to secure the event and was told there were no outstanding security concerns, alleging that the event was canceled “because I’m an unapologetic Jewish voice … and it provokes an online mob of hate”…

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Trump is considering removing Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, according to CNN, after he said today that she “folded like an umbrella” when she withdrew a case against an alleged vandal of the Reflecting Pool and instead blamed the Interior Department for its botched renovation…

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at Sen. Darline Graham’s (R-SC) bid for a full term in the Senate, where she is facing headwinds despite having secured President Donald Trump’s endorsement.

We’ll be watching tomorrow’s Democratic primaries in Michigan and Missouri — the sharpest tests yet of the party’s divide over Israel. In Michigan’s Senate race, far-left Abdul El-Sayed seems the favorite in recent polling over Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI); in Missouri, Rep. Wesley Bell (D-MO) faces a rematch with former Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO). Also on the Michigan ballot: the battleground 7th District, where DSA-backed William Lawrence is the front-runner, and the 11th District, where Jewish state Sen. Jeremy Moss is running to succeed Stevens. Kansas, Virginia and Washington state will also hold their primaries tomorrow.

Israeli and Lebanese representatives will meet tomorrow to begin another round of U.S.-led negotiations in Rome. U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa sounded a cautious note today on the ongoing trilateral agreement, as the Lebanese Armed Forces and the IDF continue to work toward establishing the fragile pilot zones in southern Lebanon: “A great deal of technical work remains to ensure civilian safety on the ground,” Issa said. “There is a meaningful difference between drafting an agreement on paper and implementing it responsibly — moving too quickly risks jeopardizing the very civilians this process is meant to protect.”

The Senate Judiciary Committee is set to vote tomorrow on whether to advance acting Attorney General Todd Blanche‘s nomination to lead the Justice Department, after Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) dropped their opposition to his nomination when the administration agreed to rescind its $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund.

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, who is Jewish, said today at an antisemitism roundtable with local Jewish community leaders that she will not be attending the Michigan state Democratic Party convention in August because she would not feel safe there…

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A new Emerson College pollof the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Michigan found far-left candidate Abdul El-Sayed surging ahead of Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) by 15 points, 54-39%…

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The American Association of University Professors issued its first-ever political endorsement in its 110-year history today, backing El-Sayed ahead of next week’s primary. The professional organization has repeatedly faced criticism from Jewish groups and faculty members for straying from its mission by engaging in anti-Israel advocacy…

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An Emerson College poll of next month’s special primary election to replace the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on the ballot in South Carolina found Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) at the top of the pack, leading Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC) 22-19%, with a quarter of likely primary voters still undecided. If no candidate receives a majority, the top two vote-getters will advance to a runoff…

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Columbia University’s student workers’ union dropped its demand that the university divest from Israel during a bargaining session on Tuesday, the Columbia Spectator reports, in a significant reversal of the union’s pro-Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions advocacy. Union President Grant Miner claimed the move was a natural part of the negotiation process: “As you bargain, you have to face the realities of where you are.”

Columbia is also set to open its global center in Tel Aviv this summer, professor Nadav Eyal said on an episode of Dan Senor’s “Call Me Back” podcast earlier this week. Plans for the center were announced in April 2023, but have been on hold since the Oct. 7 attacks…

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Former Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes dropped out of the Democratic primary for governor today. Barnes said in his announcement video that it’s “very clear who our nominee is going to be,” in an apparent reference to Democratic Socialists of America-backed Francesca Hong, though he did not offer her his endorsement.

Barnes dropped out shortly before The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that the Wisconsin Democratic Party had investigated allegations in 2025 that he had taken advantage of his role in the party for sexual encounters with young women…

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Negotiations between mediators and Hamas, taking place on Thursday in Cairo, are “making progress” on disarmament, a diplomatic official told The Times of Israel. The plan under discussion would see “all weapons decommissioned” as well as “the elimination of all tunnels, depots of weapons and any weapons production facilities” in Gaza, the official said…

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Iranian hackers may have been behind a cyberattack on dozens of municipal water systems this week in Minnesota, state and federal officials told The New York Times…

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The Iran-backed Houthi terror group, which is based in Yemen, reportedly attacked Saudi Arabia this week from Iraqi territory. The group may have operated with the assistance of militias in the country working with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, in an indication of the growing coordination between Tehran’s proxies…

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Amid the renewed attacks it has faced from both Iran and the Houthis, Saudi Arabia hosted dozens of military officials from around the world, including the U.S., for a meeting today to establish a maritime defense alliance. Thirteen countries joined Riyadh in signing a statement of support for the effort: Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Yemen, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Sudan, Djibouti and Somalia…

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The Senate narrowly blockedanother push by Democrats today to force an end to the Iran war, 50-49, with Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Rand Paul (R-KY) again breaking with their party to vote for the war powers resolution and Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) voting against it…

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The share of Israelis who believe President Donald Trump is “highly committed” to protecting Israel’s security interests has dropped to a new low, according to a survey from Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies.

The organization’s July 2026 National Security Survey found that only 14% of Israelis believe the country’s security interests are a top concern for Trump, representing a significant drop from the 35% recorded in March, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports…

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Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) argued today at the Hudson Institute that, without regime change in Iran, the U.S. will likely need to continue to conduct periodic military operations against Iran’s nuclear program to prevent Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, JI’s Marc Rod reports…

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at the dynamics in the Democratic primary for the congressional seat being vacated by Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), where Jewish state Sen. Jeremy Moss’ challengers are targeting him for his ties to pro-Israel donors.

President Donald Trump is expected to hold a Cabinet meeting tomorrow at the historic Camp David retreat in Maryland.

The Democratic Socialists of America will hold its annual organizing conference this weekend in Chicago, where some programming will focus on “anti-imperialist and pro-Palestine organizing strategy” to end the “U.S.-Israeli genocide in Palestine.”

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

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

U.S. and Iranian leaders continued to escalate their rhetoric as renewed military hostilities entered their second week: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said today that Tehran is in “full-scale war” with the U.S., while President Donald Trump proclaimed that “every time Iran kills an American soldier” — after three service members were killed in Iranian attacks over the weekend — “they will pay for that killing many times over!” Trump said he had conveyed that directive to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine and “every leader in the military”…

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U.S. officials told The New York Times that dozens of U.S. service members were injuredand several helicopters damaged in previously undisclosed Iranian strikes in Jordan last week, prior to this weekend’s fatal attacks.

The deadly strikes reportedly hit housing units where U.S. forces live and sleep, with some troops unable to reach bomb shelters before the missiles struck…

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The NYT also investigates the deaths of three civilian crewmembers aboard a shadow tanker carrying Iranian oil that was targeted by U.S. strikes on June 10 as part of the American blockade of Iranian ports.

The Strait of Hormuz continues to be a focal point of the conflict, as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed today that two oil tankers had exploded after passing through the waterway…

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All the while, the White House posted to its social media feed a three-week-old poll from a right-wing polling firm showing support for the now-defunct U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding signed last month, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports…

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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani seemed to back away today from a campaign pledge — reiterated in an interview over the weekend — to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he visits New York for the upcoming U.N. General Assembly, JI’s Will Bredderman reports.

“My administration will follow all applicable local laws. That is our commitment,” the mayor told reporters. Trump, meanwhile, pledged on Truth Social that Netanyahu “will not be arrested, in any way, shape, or form, while in the United States of America”…

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Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC) confirmed on Fox News that she will run in the special election next month for U.S. Senate to fill the seat of her late brother, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC); Darline Graham already has Trump’s endorsement, given as he encouraged her to run on Friday.

Not to be dissuaded, Rep. Russell Fry (R-SC), who was thought to be a front-runner before Darline Graham came on the scene, also declared his candidacy for the seattoday. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) told reporters he is not endorsing anyone “at the moment” in the race…

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Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) became the latest progressive lawmaker to endorse far-left Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed today, citing the “special interests running millions of dollars in TV ads to buy this seat,” an apparent reference to the AIPAC-linked United Democracy Project super PAC supporting El-Sayed’s opponent, Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI)…

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Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) pulled family pictures off of his campaign site that feature his son-in-law, who was found to have promoted white nationalism and Nazi ideology online, as he runs for U.S. Senate against Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA)…

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The State Departmentannounced today that the Lebanese Armed Forces is assuming control of three villages in southern Lebanon as part of pilot zones established under the trilateral agreement between Israel, Lebanon and the U.S. The IDF, which is coordinating the effort with the LAF and U.S. military, said it will “respond forcefully to any violation of the agreement”…

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Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree announced a maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia today in retaliation for what the terror group called Riyadh’s “oppressive siege” on Yemen…

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Former Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer has rejoined the Jewish Institute for National Security of America as a distinguished fellow, the organization announced…

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at Ed Miliband, the member of Parliament who was tapped today by new U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham to serve as foreign secretary, and what his selection could mean for British policy toward Israel.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun will meet President Donald Trump at the White House. The two leaders’ first in-person meeting comes as Lebanon, the U.S. and Israel work to implement their trilateral agreement signed last month and as the Lebanese government seeks to demonstrate its ability to disarm and contain Hezbollah.

On the Hill, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine will appear before the Senate Appropriations Committee for a hearing on the Trump administration’s $88 billion supplemental funding request for the Pentagon.

The House Intelligence Committee will hold a hearing on the terror threat landscape ahead of the upcoming 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks with testimony from former National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster.

Jewish groups including the Jewish Federation of Columbia South Carolina, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, the Zionist Organization of America, Young Jewish Conservatives, the Jewish Community Action Network, the Focus Project, ChaiTech and Stop Antisemitism will hold a virtual national tribute to the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC).

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

More than 100 House Democrats, about half of the caucus, voted in favorof Rep. Thomas Massie’s (R-KY) amendment to strip all U.S. aid to Israel out of the State Department appropriations bill this afternoon, including several leaders of the caucus such as Rep. Katherine Clark (D-MA), the No. 2 House Democrat, and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).

While the amendment was overwhelmingly defeated, 314-104, the large segment of Democrats supporting the measure indicates a growing shift away from the party’s historic support for Israel…

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Vice President JD Vance, in an episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience” released today, stated repeatedly that Israeli actors are engaged in a “very discreet, very well-funded” influence campaign to extend the war in Iran: “There are some people within their system we know beyond a shadow of a doubt who are manipulating and trying to change American public opinion to keep the war going on indefinitely. Again, not towards any objective, but just indefinitely,” he alleged.

Vance also said that the late disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein “clearly had connections to the highest levels of Israeli intelligence” and to “elements of the Israeli deep state that were left of center”…

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The U.S., Israel and Lebanon, wrapping up talks in Rome this week, agreed on the structure and guidelines for implementing the two pilot zones the parties agreed to create in southern Lebanon, a State Department official said today, without specifying a timeline for the IDF’s withdrawal. The parties will now engage in expanded technical talks to implement the trilateral agreement reached in the last round of negotiations…

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CENTCOM began another round of strikes against Iran this afternoon; coming after strikes earlier in the day, the pace of the operations appears to be gaining momentum. President Donald Trump is reportedly considering expanding U.S. military efforts to include more airstrikes, utilizing ground forces and targeting nuclear sites again, according to The Wall Street Journal…

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Three senior U.S. officials connected to the Board of Peace, the Trump-led body created to resolve the conflict in Gaza, have been meeting with congressional offices this week to request $200 million for the International Stabilization Force, two people with knowledge of the meetings told Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch. The meetings mark the first time that Board of Peace representatives have approached Congress with a funding request…

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Ahead of today’s deadline, candidates have begun releasing their fundraising reports for the second quarter. In Georgia, where some in the Jewish community have felt torn between two less-than-ideal options in Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) and his opponent, Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA), Ossoff holds a commanding fundraising advantage: The senator reported raising$20 million this quarter with $42 million in the bank, while Collins raised $2.1 million, leaving him with $2.2 million in cash on hand…

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Meanwhile, Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed released his 2025 tax returns, which he is not legally obligated to do but was pressured to do by his opponent in the Democratic primary, Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI). El-Sayed’s reported total income was over $680,000, nearly $300,000 of which was unspecified as to its source…

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The anti-Israel American Priorities super PAC made an initial investment of $375,000 to boost El-Sayed in the race; El-Sayed has repeatedly railed against super PAC involvement in politics — particularly that of AIPAC’s United Democracy Project, which is spending heavily in favor of Stevens…

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Rep. Hilary Scholten (D-MI), speaking to Semafor about electability concerns in the Democratic Party, criticized progressives who “prop up other candidates who have said really problematic things.” The moderate congresswoman added that El-Sayed, who has been criticized for comments about Stevens seen as misogynistic, “has a problematic record with women”…

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A new Quinnipiac poll of Pennsylvania voters found Gov. Josh Shapiro leading his Republican opponent in his reelection race by 13 points, 53-40%, with a 56% overall approval rating. Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) had a 77% approval rating among Republicans, but only 19% among voters in his own party. Nearly half (49%) of voters said the Democratic Party has moved too far to the left, while 42% said the Republican Party has moved too far to the right…

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Former White House senior official Brett McGurk is releasing a book, Brink: Inside the Race to Free the October 7 Hostages, on his role leading U.S. efforts under former President Joe Biden to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, due out on Oct. 6 to coincide with the third anniversary of the attacks…

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The New York Times examines the role that Hollywood superagent Ari Emanuel could play in the potential presidential run of his brother, former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, as politicians increasingly seek access to media as part of their campaigns; among those close to Ari Emanuel are the UFC’s Dana White, commentator Joe Rogan, pundit Stephen A. Smith as well as Elon Musk…

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at what this afternoon’s vote on Massie‘s amendment to cut all U.S. aid to Israel means for the future of Israel policy in the Democratic Party.

At least eight Democratic candidates vying to replace former nominee Graham Platner on the ballotfor U.S. Senate in Maine will take the debate stage tomorrow evening in their first chance to pitch themselves to voters, ahead of the state Democratic Party’s nominating convention later this month.

President Donald Trump will give an address to the nation in the evening, which he has said will largely focus on American election security.

The American Federation of Teachers’ annual convention will kick off in Washington. The second largest teachers’ union in the U.S., the AFT has previously featured anti-Israel resolutions at its gatherings.

The Aspen Security Forum continues with several panels on the Middle East, including speakers such as Akif Çağatay Kılıç, top advisor to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan; Ayman Safadi, Jordan’s foreign minister; Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT); Ted Deutch, CEO of the American Jewish Committee; Dan Shapiro, former U.S. Ambassador to Israel; Rahm Emanuel; Anne Neuberger, former deputy national security advisor; and Salam Fayyad, former prime minister of the Palestinian Authority.

• President Donald Trump is slated to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan this afternoon, shortly after he lands in Turkey for the two-day NATO Ankara summit. The summit kicks off later today with representatives from all 32 NATO countries expected to attend. 
• In addition to heads of state, a bipartisan congressional delegation comprised of Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Chris Coons (D-DE) and Mike Rounds (R-SD) and Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH) will also be attending the summit after stopping in Budapest, Hungary, where the lawmakers met on Monday with newly elected Prime Minister Péter Magyar.
• Iran is expected to be a primary topic of conversations on the sidelines of the convening. Before leaving for Ankara, Trump said that the U.S. would either reach an agreement with Tehran, or would “finish the job.” His comments came hours before Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps struck two ships — believed to be a Qatari tanker and a Saudi vessel carrying crude oil — transiting through the Strait of Hormuz near the coast of Oman.
• In Iran, officials from dozens of countries — including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, India, China and Turkey — are taking part in the ongoing ceremonies around the funeral of former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Absent from the funeral events are representatives from the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, both of which were heavily targeted by Iran during the recent war. 
• Stateside, Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) and Abdul El-Sayed will face off this evening in a head-to-head debate as the two vie for the Democratic nomination in the state’s open Senate race. The debate will be the first matchup between the two since state Sen. Mallory McMorrow dropped her bid over the weekend.
• Former U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel is in Israel this week ahead of a planned speech tomorrow at Tel Aviv University. Emanuel met on Monday with human rights lawyer Cochav Elkayam-Levy, who spearheaded the effort to document Hamas’ sexual violence during the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks.
• Elsewhere in Israel, the three-day Contemporary Antisemitism conference kicks off today at the University of Haifa. Deborah Lipstadt, who served as the Biden administration’s antisemitism envoy, is slated to deliver the keynote address today.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MELISSA WEISS

When an ex-girlfriend of Graham Platner told Politico in a story published on Monday that the Maine Democratic Senate candidate had raped her in 2021 after entering her home while heavily intoxicated, she said she did so because the response to a recent New York Times report on Platner’s past dubious behavior had focused on discrediting Lyndsey Fifield, one of the women who featured prominently in the story over her ties to the GOP.

Jenny Racicot, a Democrat, hadn’t wanted to go public with the rape accusation (which she had shared off-record with the Times), in part because she and Platner were largely politically aligned.
“One of the reasons I didn’t come forward sooner was, the huge moral conflict that I had between supporting his politics, but not supporting him as a person,” Racicot told Politico. “My part of the story [in the NYT] was just a read-over,” Racicot said. “And the story was Lyndsey, and the accusations of her being politically motivated.”

The unfolding situation in Maine reflects a broader trend in American politics in which immoral or questionable behavior by one’s peers is ignored or obfuscated to serve a perceived “greater good” of electing a political ally despite their failing moral standards. 

In recent years, both major parties have increasingly tolerated conduct that would have once been considered disqualifying — even as the #MeToo movement briefly changed the nature of the discourse (see former Minnesota Sen. Al Franken as an example). Similar arguments have surfaced across political controversies over the last decade (including against President Donald Trump), with supporters of embattled candidates and officials insisting that policy positions outweigh personal conduct and dismissing allegations as politically motivated. 

In a short span of time, the 2017 rallying cry of “Believe all women” gave way to “Believe women whose politics align with ours” — a mindset that extended to the widespread denial of Hamas’ sexual violence during the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks and against the Israeli hostages kept in captivity in Gaza.

But yesterday’s Politico report, which prompted calls from Platner’s most prominent backers — including Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) — for him to end his bid, may mark the point at which previous defenses of the Maine Democrat become politically untenable.

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

Speaking From the Grave: The Wall Street Journal’s Saleh al-Batati and Benoit Faucon report on the messages being signaled by Iran’s leaders during funeral proceedings for the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. “A delegation from the Palestinian militia Hamas received a verse praising believers ‘who have remained true to the covenant they made with God.’ … The Iranians picked a quote [for Saudi Arabia’s delegation] referring to the Battle of Badr, in which the Prophet Muhammad’s followers defeated a much larger force through what was interpreted as a divine intervention. ‘There has already been a sign for you in the two armies that met,’ the verse said. ‘One was fighting in the cause of Allah and the other of disbelievers.’” [WSJ]

Guide For the Perplexed: In The New York Times, Nicholas Lemann posits how American Jewry can emerge from what he describes as a “collective identity crisis” amid increasing antisemitism and anti-Zionism. “My own advice for the perplexed among liberal American Jews would be, first, participate actively in the religious life of the community. That will connect you deeply to your people, back through time and everywhere in the world in the present. Second, and inextricably linked, study the Torah and the other essential texts. … Our patriarchs and matriarchs were all deeply flawed people, and the consistent failings of our people were collective as well as individual. Understanding that makes for a much better vantage point from which to contemplate the situation of Israel today than being subjected to litmus tests about Zionism from people who don’t understand how deeply embedded it is in most Jewish hearts.” [NYTimes]

Explosions — reportedly caused by explosive devices — were heard in Damascus on Tuesday as French President Emmanuel Macron met with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa at the presidential palace; the French president’s office said Macron was safe and his trip was continuing, while Syrian media reported that 18 people, including four police officers, were wounded in the incident…

An Iranian soccer federation official boasted that “the whole world is dancing to celebrate politics’ humiliating defeat by football” in response to the U.S.‘ World Cup loss on Monday to Belgium, after Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said he did a “happy dance” after Iran was eliminated earlier in the tournament…

In a Substack post, Democratic Majority for Israel President Brian Romick breaks down what he calls Vice President JD Vance’s “troubling rhetoric” about Israel…

A member of Washington state’s Human Rights Commission resigned following the release of video taken at a meeting last year in which he suggested during debate over an antisemitism resolution that Jewish people were “always crying” and raised concerns that the resolution’s passage would be “an open door for them to now continue to demand”…

Jewish students at Columbia University who reached a multimillion-dollar settlement with the school over its handling of antisemitism filed a lawsuit against attorney Marc Kasowitz, alleging that the lawyer, who had represented dozens of students, netted more than half of the settlement’s payout, totaling some $6.4 million, in legal fees after telling plaintiffs that a third party would be covering the fees…

The Israeli-inspired café Tatte is opening its first location in New York’s Flatiron District; read our interview with Tatte founder Tzurit Or here…

Two British men who filmed themselves shouting antisemitic slurs at a Jewish man in the London neighborhood of Clapton Common and posted the video to social media were given suspended sentences after pleading to religiously aggravated intentional harassment…

Police in the western Australian city of Albany are investigating an incident in which swastikas and antisemitic messages were spraypainted on an Anzac memorial…

In response to the Israeli government’s rejection of a High Court ruling against the creation of an alternative television broadcast regulator, the court warned that “principle of the rule of law is undermined, and social order disintegrates” without compliance with the court’s rulings…

Former Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is joining Harvard’s Institute of Politics as a resident fellow beginning in the fall semester…

Germany Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul (left), visiting Israel this week, signed an agreement with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar upping Berlin’s annual contribution to Yad Vashem from €1 million to €5 million through 2030.

Academy Award-winning screenwriter, director, and producer, Akiva Goldsman turns 64… 

Retired president of The Seeing Eye, the world’s premier guide dog school for the blind, Kenneth Rosenthal turns 88… Early collaborator on object-oriented computer programming in the 1970s, Adele Goldberg turns 81… Michigan-based real estate developer, he served as U.S. ambassador to Slovakia during the Bush 43 administration, Ronald N. Weiser turns 81… Cardiologist and former president of CRIF, the umbrella organization of French Jews, Richard Prasquier turns 81… Board member of the Israel Policy Forum, he spent 27 years as a bankruptcy attorney at Cooley LLP, Lawrence C. Gottlieb turns 79… Israeli business mogul with vast holdings in energy (Delek Group) and real estate (El-Ad Group), Yitzhak Tshuva turns 78… Former president of Hebrew University and a past member of the Knesset, Menachem Ben-Sasson turns 75… Co-founder and CEO of the biotechnology company Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Leonard Steven Schleifer turns 74… Pioneer of Israeli punk rock, nicknamed “HaMeshuga,” Rami Fortis turns 72… USAID official for 28 years until 2008, he now consults internationally on Rule of Law issues, Richard Gold… President of The Lapin Group, Avrum Lapin… Co-rosh yeshiva of Yeshivat Har Etzion, Rabbi Mosheh Lichtenstein turns 65… Former president of the United Synagogue in the U.K., Michael Howard Goldstein turns 63… President of HIAS since 2013, he first joined the immigration group in 1989 as a caseworker in Rome, Mark Hetfield turns 59… Comic book creator and a cappella singer, he published the Passover Haggadah Graphic Novel, Jordan B. Gorfinkel turns 59… Chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit, David Jeremiah Barron turns 59… Television and film actor, Robin Weigert turns 57… Azerbaijani-born businessman, he is a VP of the Russian Jewish Congress and the president of the International Charity Foundation of Mountain Jews, German Zakharyayev turns 55… Chief communications officer for Democratic Majority for Israel, Rachel Rosen… Consultant and project manager for nonprofits, Amy Handman… Head coach of the Florida Gators men’s basketball team that won the NCAA national championship in 2025, Todd Raymond Golden turns 41… WNBA player, she played on Israeli teams for six seasons, Alysha Angelica Clark turns 39… Ethiopian-born Israeli actor, she is active in the protest movement for social justice, Netsanet Mekonnen turns 38… Prime Video analytics expert on “Thursday Night Football,” Sam Schwartzstein turns 37… Olympic sports sailor, she competed for Israel in both the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics, Gil Cohen turns 34… Originally a figure skater and later a pairs skater, now an active competitive pairs skater competing for France, Megan Wessenberg turns 28… U.S. editor at Jewish Insider, Danielle Cohen-Kanik… Shalom Klein…

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

A woman who dated Maine Senate nominee Graham Platner alleged in a series of interviews with Politico that the Democrat sexually assaulted her in 2021, an account the outlet backed up with her correspondence and other interviews.The woman, Jenny Racicot, said Platner came into her home uninvited while intoxicated and forced himself on her despite her repeated objections.

In a video statement, Platner denied the accusation outright but said he’s “mindful of the political reality it will inflict” and would be “taking the time to reflect on the best path forward for the state that I love,” a different tone than Platner has struck in the aftermath of his previous controversies. The Maine Democratic Party can only choose a replacement nominee for the general election ballot if Platner voluntarily withdraws by July 13…

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voiced opposition today to the Trump administration’s sale of jet engines and potential sale of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey, hours before President Donald Trump was set to depart for the NATO summit in Ankara, Jewish Insider’s Christina Sher reports.

Netanyahu suggested on “Fox & Friends” that such moves “will upset the power balance in the Middle East, which is ultimately guaranteed by Israeli air superiority” and U.S. posture in the region. Axios reports that Netanyahu relayed the same message directly to Trump in a phone call last week and asked him to help address Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan‘s escalating anti-Israel rhetoric…

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The percentage of Jewish Israelis who believe Israel’s security is a central consideration for Trump has reached a record low of 26%, according to a new survey from the Israel Democracy Institute, JI’s Matthew Shea reports. The figure marks a 15-point decrease from a month ago, during which time the Trump administration signed its memorandum of understanding with Iran…

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Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem announced at a press conference in Gaza today that the terror group’s Emergency Committee — the administrative body that has governed the enclave for more than two decades — is dissolving and that its civil servants, who will remain in their roles, stand ready to work under the new technocratic government established by the Board of Peace.

The BoP expressed skepticism about the announcement, JI’s Emily Jacobs and Matthew Shea report, saying its “assessment will be guided by actions, not promises” and calling for a “genuine transfer of authority” and for Hamas to disarm. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar dismissed the move outright, calling it a “trick … designed to prevent [Hamas’] own disarmament”…

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Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter said both Israel and Lebanon see the agreement signed between Jerusalem, Beirut and Washington earlier this month as “superseding” the first clause of the U.S.-Iran MOU, which calls for the end of hostilities on all fronts. “Whether or not the United States does, you’ll have to ask an administration spokesman,” Leiter said at an event with the Council on Foreign Relations.

Leiter also said he “can’t imagine that any ultimate agreement with Iran would be absent a clause limiting the development of ballistic missiles,” though the MOU did not mention Iran’s ballistic missile program…

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In a preview obtained by Politico of the speech former U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel is set to deliver at Tel Aviv University on Wednesday, the prospective 2028 presidential candidate is set to say that the U.S. has spent too long “averting its eyes” from what he views as Israel’s misadventures, calling for “significant changes and a new direction” in the bilateral relationship.

“Going forward, Emanuel plans to say, Israelis should regard U.S. support as expressly contingent: On reviving a serious commitment to Palestinian sovereignty; On rejecting dreams of asserting dominion beyond official borders in pursuit of ‘Greater Israel’; On abandoning a security strategy that emphasizes brutally effective military force with scant attention to diplomacy or credible what-next plans in Gaza and Iran,” the outlet reported…

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French President Emmanuel Macron became the first major Western head of state to visit Syria since the fall of dictator Bashar al-Assad in 2024, landing in Damascus today for meetings with Syrian leaders. Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa is also expected to meet with Trump on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Turkey this week…

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

The two-day NATO summit begins in Turkey tomorrow with leaders of all 32 NATO countries expected to attend, as well as a congressional delegation comprised of Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Chris Coons (D-DE) and Mike Rounds (R-SD) and Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH). At the top of the agenda are increasing defense investments, as Trump continues to press NATO allies to shoulder a greater share of the alliance’s defense burden and threatens to draw down U.S. troops from Europe, and continuing to support Ukraine in its war with Russia.

Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) and Abdul El-Sayed, now the only remaining candidates in Michigan’s Democratic U.S. Senate primary, will participate in a televised debate on local news tomorrow night, their first head-to-head matchup since state Sen. Mallory McMorrow suspended her campaign yesterday.

The annual Contemporary Antisemitism conference, which bills itself as the largest annual academic conference on contemporary antisemitism, will kick off tomorrow at the University of Haifa. The three-day summit will feature hundreds of academics and experts, with a keynote speech tomorrow from former State Department antisemitism envoy Deborah Lipstadt and a lifetime achievement award presented to Tel Aviv University professor emerita Dina Porat.

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

In their indirect talks in Doha this week, the U.S. offered Iran access to some of its$100 billion in frozen funds in exchange for Tehran not instituting a toll on the Strait of Hormuz, but Iranian officials have continued to signal they plan to proceed with the move. Continued fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon also caused tension during the discussions, The Wall Street Journal reports…

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U.S. officials told The New York Times that Washington believed Israel was plotting to assassinate Iran’s top negotiators — Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf — as they were engaged in recent talks with the U.S. over the memorandum of understanding…

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Arizona Jewish and pro-Israel leaders told Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel that they feel misled by Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ), whom they supported in her contested 2024 primary but who has since turned away from the pro-Israel views she espoused during the campaign — including now rejecting support from Democratic Majority for Israel, which backed her with a surge of spending in 2024…

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The AIPAC-linked United Democracy Project super PAC is up with its first negative ad against far-left Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, JI’s Marc Rod reports, hitting the Democrat in the initial $2 million ad buy for his “long history of disrespecting women.” Meanwhile, El-Sayed picked up a high-profile endorsement today from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), her first in a contested Senate race this cycle.

UDP also made $400,000 in advertising reservations to support Rep. Wesley Bell (D-MO) as he faces a comeback primary challenge from former Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), whom UDP helped Bell defeat in 2024…

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Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, the Democratic nominee for governor, criticized his party’s socialist congressional nominee, Melat Kiros, for her refusal to describe the deadly firebombing of a Boulder, Colo., hostage awareness march last year as an act of antisemitism, JI’s Marc Rod reports…

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New York City congressional nominee Brad Lander published a response to Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove’s letter earlier this week in which Cosgrove predicted that Lander’s hostility to Israel would not be enough to protect him from being targeted by the far left. Lander argued in his response that criticism of Israel — including describing its war in Gaza as a genocide — is consistent with Jewish values and that excluding anti-Zionist Jews weakens the Jewish community…

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New polling data shows that a sizable majority of Jewish voters disapprove of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s job performance and fear he is pushing the Democratic Party too far to the left, in contrast with non-Jewish voters who hold a largely favorable view of the democratic socialist, JI’s Matthew Kassel reports…

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A bipartisan group of House lawmakers, led by Reps. Mike Lawler (R-NY) and Brad Sherman (D-CA), wrote to President Donald Trump today to “express deep concern about any effort” to sell F-35 fighter jets to Turkey, JI’s Marc Rod reports, after Trump and Vice President JD Vance indicated they were looking into it last week…

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Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC), the founder of the Republican Israel Caucus and a reliable ally of the Jewish state, called Israel’s “continuing aggressive operations” in Syria “deeply disturbing,” “counterproductive” and “irresponsible.” Wilson accused Israel of “taking Syrian land and attacking Syrian cities,” saying the operations “need to end immediately”…

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Wilson, along with Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), also sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio urging the administration to remove Syriafrom the State Sponsor of Terrorism list…

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Israel marked 1,000 days today since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks, with memorials and protests taking place around the country…

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Far-right commentator Tucker Carlson told the Columbia Journalism Review that he plans to help start a new political party — after saying last month he was renouncing the Republican Party — but does not plan to run as a candidate. He repeatedly railed against Israel in the interview and accused it of “taking over my political system and destroying my country”…

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Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin hosted his annual White Party at his Hamptons estate yesterday featuring a host of high-profile attendees, including Ivanka Trump, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, former quarterback Tom Brady, actor Leonardo di Caprio and more…

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s (D-FL) contentious primary race in Florida’s 20th Congressional District.

Fourth of July celebrations in the nation’s capital are kicking off with a bang (literally — the fireworks show on the National Mall could break world records). President Donald Trump is slated to give a speech on the Mall ahead of the fireworks show on Saturday night, followed by a military flyover debuting the new Qatari-gifted Air Force One jet.

Iran is slated to hold a massive, dayslong funeral procession for the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei beginning on Saturday in Tehran and including cities across Iran and Iraq. Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, a top mediator between the U.S. and Iran, will attend the memorial, alongside officials from dozens of other countries.

Christians United for Israel’s annual summit in Washington will begin on Sunday. Speakers over the three-day confab include State Department antisemitism envoy Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun; former Auburn University basketball coach Bruce Pearl; Malcolm Hoenlein, vice chair of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations; Georgia state Rep. Esther Panitch; and former Israeli hostage Yair Horn.

We’ll be back in your inbox with the Daily Overtime on Monday. Shabbat shalom and happy Fourth of July weekend!

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Talks in Doha about the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding have concluded, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi announced, with the countries agreeing to create a communication channel “by tomorrow” in order to address MOU violations.

The U.S. and Iran also agreed to “keep things quiet for the coming week,” a U.S. official told Axios, while Washington is reportedly continuing to press Tehran to abandon its plan to charge tolls in the Strait of Hormuz and “think bigger” on a nuclear deal. The sums Iran could generate from freely selling oil without sanctions under such a deal “would be 100 times more valuable to them,” the official said…

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New York Times/Siena polls of the six Senate battleground states — Alaska, Iowa, Maine, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas — found that Democrats have a path, albeit an uphill one, to retake the chamber in November. All of the races are within the margin of error except in North Carolina, where former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper leads Michael Whatley, former chair of the Republican National Committee, with the largest margin of seven points…

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Poetica Coffee, the Brooklyn cafe that banned Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) last week over his support of Israel, claimed in an Instagram post today that Goldman intentionally “smear[ed]” the business in talking about his experience “possibly for election-eve media exposure”…

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Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, told CNN yesterday that some democratic socialist candidates have views that are “vastly more radical” than where the “Democratic coalition” stands, saying their support for communism, open borders and defunding the police represents “a fundamental attack on America itself”…

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Asked about Republicans viewing him as easier to beat in a general election than his more-moderate primary opponents, far-left Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed told Semafor, “The number of times I’m gonna define and redefine Mike Rogers!” referring to the GOP Senate front-runner and former Michigan representative. “By the time I’m done, his best friends are gonna look at him and think what I think, say what I say. I’m gonna define him into eternity”…

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The National Education Association adopted new policies ahead of its convening this weekend in Denver after its Jewish Affairs Caucus and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs advocated for such changes, JCPA said, in response to last year’s assembly which grew contentious over antisemitism issues. The new changes include stronger conduct enforcement for delegates, electronic voting to reduce shouting on the floor during resolution votes, de-escalation training for NEA staff and repeated public reminders of the rules…

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Loay Abdelfattah Alnaji was sentenced to one year in jail and two years of probation yesterday after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter and battery in the death of Paul Kessler, a 69-year-old Jewish man who died after Alnaji struck him with a megaphone at a protest in California shortly after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks. The Anti-Defamation League’s California regional offices decried the sentence as “little more than a slap on the wrist” and expressed concern at the judge’s dismissive demeanor during sentencing…

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A New York woman was arrested yesterday by the FBI for allegedly providing material support to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, including over $30,000 in cryptocurrency. The woman is a leader of an extremist organization called the Direct Action Movement for Palestinian Liberation, according to the FBI, and had communicated with a person claiming to be a PIJ fighter in Gaza, whom she told she “wish[es] every day were October 7th”…

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Speaking at the Herzliya Conference in Israel, Maj. Gen. (res.) Amir Baram, director general of the Israeli Ministry of Defense, addressed Israeli public criticism of the U.S.’ foreign policy, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports: “What some in Israel perceive as weakness or folly, an apparent disregard for every warning sign on the ground, is viewed in Washington as cold, calculated and clear-eyed risk management in an era of shifting global attention.”

“For us, Iran is an existential threat; for the United States, it is a chronic regional challenge,” Baram said of the countries’ differing priorities. “We think Tehran, they think Taiwan”…

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U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar held a ceremony to sign the lease for the permanent new complex of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem; Huckabee handed Sa’ar a $1 bill as symbolic payment for the 99-year lease…

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The New York Times looks at President Donald Trump’s insistence that Syria take over fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon from Israel, an idea that has been shot down by Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa and raised alarm across the Middle East…

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CENTCOM hosted a regional security dialogue alongside the Bahrain Defense Force with participation from Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the UAE and Yemen — “the first time military leaders from Syria and Lebanon participated in a regional defense conference led by the United States,” CENTCOM said…

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The U.S. Navy is searching for a missing aircrew member after a Sea Hawk helicopter made an emergency water landing in the Arabian Sea, with three of the four crew members rescued in stable condition. There’s no indication any hostile action was involved, the Navy’s 5th Fleet said…

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at how Jewish leaders are approaching America’s 250th birthday — and why many see the milestone, coming at a fraught moment, as a chance to reaffirm both their Jewish identity and their faith in the American experiment.

The Maccabiah Games, which kicked off today in Jerusalem with a grand opening ceremony, begin in earnest tomorrow as about 5,000 athletes — including 900 from the U.S. — compete in more than 30 sports over the next two weeks.

• Members of the G7, including President Donald Trump, are in Évian-les-Bains, France, for a multiday summit. Trump is scheduled to meet today with United Arab Emirates President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and met earlier today with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on the sidelines of the summit.
• Speaking to media alongside the Qatari emir after their meeting, Trump said about the war with Iran, “Working with Qatar and the people of Qatar was really a pleasure — they were tough, they were strong, they are closest to Iran physically so … you were in a more dangerous position but I do have to say you fought and you helped us and with great bravery so I just want to compliment you on that and you will always be my friend.” Trump also noted that Qatar would be investing “much more than a trillion dollars” in the U.S. 
• Vice President JD Vance, whose newest book, Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith, comes out today, is slated to be interviewed this afternoon by Megyn Kelly.
• Vance’s appearance on “The Megyn Kelly Show” comes amid growing calls from Capitol Hill and beyond for the U.S. to make public the text of the memorandum of understanding with Iran, after Vance and Trump gave conflicting timelines for its release — and as Iranian-affiliated media outlets publish details they claim are part of the agreement. Trump said yesterday in Paris that the text would be released after a signing ceremony on Friday in Switzerland, while a senior U.S. official told journalists on Monday that the text would be released within 24-48 hours. 
• Voters in Washington, D.C., head to the polls today to cast ballots in the city’s mayoral primary, where D.C. Councilmember Janeese Lewis George, who repeatedly clashed with the city’s Jewish community over her ties to the Democratic Socialists of America and comments about Israel, faces former D.C. Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie. More below.
• In Georgia, Republicans will vote today in the runoff to select the party’s candidate to challenge Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) in November. The race will pit Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA), who is endorsed by Trump and has faced a series of controversies related to antisemitism and conspiracy theorists while in office, against Derek Dooley, the favored candidate of the state’s GOP governor, Brian Kemp. Read more about the race here.
• The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence is holding a closed briefing this afternoon.
• The Sami Rohr Jewish Literary Institute will announce the winner of the annual Sami Rohr Prize today. This year’s finalists are Laura Hobson Faure, Shaul Kelner, Jordan Salama and Amir Tibon.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S GABBY DEUTCH

Today’s mayoral primary in Washington, D.C., has not gotten the same kind of frenzied national attention that accompanied recent mayoral contests in New York City, which pitted Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist, against a centrist Democrat, and in Los Angeles, where Republican Spencer Pratt made an insurgent bid against Mayor Karen Bass and Nithya Raman, a Democrat Socialists of America-affiliated councilmember.

Still, there are dynamics with some similarities to the race in Washington, where DSA member Janeese Lewis George, a District councilmember, faces Kenyan McDuffie, a former councilmember running a more moderate campaign. And, like in New York, divisions over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have surfaced in a way that would once have been unexpected in a municipal election, at least before the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks in Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza. 

Early this year, Lewis George sparked concern among some Jewish Washingtonians when she said in a DSA questionnaire that she would not attend events that “promot[e] Zionism” and that she would avoid engaging with “the Israeli government or Zionist lobby groups.” 

She has since done a degree of damage control — meeting privately with rabbis and pledging at a Jewish candidate forum last month not to exclude people “based on your opinions or feelings on matters here and across the world,” even as she avoided answering a question asking her to clarify her views on Zionism. In March, she said it is not a conflict to support “Palestinian human rights” and to “stand firm in my commitment against antisemitism.” 

McDuffie saw an opening with the DSA endorsement kerfuffle, particularly when talking to Jewish voters, a constituency he has sought to engage. He told Jewish Insider in April that he would not seek the endorsement of DSA or any organization “that requires some sort of divisive pledge to exclude people that are a part of the fabric of the community.” And he has opted not to weigh in on questions about Israel at all, saying it is not the role of a mayor to conduct foreign policy. 

But zoom out, and the candidates’ approaches to Israel and Jewish communal issues were not front and center in the closing days of this race. The campaign has otherwise zeroed in on cost-of-living concerns and a dispute over who will better be able to counter President Donald Trump. 

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

Islamist Wave Crashing: The New York Times’ Ben Hubbard does a deep dive into the history of political Islam amid questions over whether the movement is in decline. “The map of the Middle East is dotted with examples of idealistic Islamist visions that failed to manifest into real-world successes. Their proponents may have marshaled popular support, for a time. They may have held the levers of power. They may have governed, or tried, in line with their views of Islamic law. But today, in most cases, they did not last. … Iran’s current travails have intensified discussion among experts about whether political Islam has crested and what that means for the Middle East and the broader Muslim world.” [NYTimes]

Trump’s Blind Spot: The Wall Street Journal’s Walter Russell Mead considers how President Donald Trump has miscalculated in his approach to Iran. “Mr. Trump’s disregard for ideas, ideals and people who claim to believe in them leads him to underestimate the strength and determination of people who mean what they say. … However perverse and depraved the ideas that animate the Islamic Republic and Hezbollah, they inspire the kind of conviction that motivates people to fight grimly on against the odds. In the end, Mr. Trump underestimated Iran’s determination and resilience and launched a war that is proving much costlier and harder to end than he’d expected.” [WSJ]

Axios reports that CIA Director John Ratcliffe warned President Donald Trump and other senior administration officials in the lead-up to the announcement of an MOU with Iran that U.S. intelligence indicated that Tehran was unlikely to make Washington’s desired nuclear concessions; Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly raised concerns about the agreement, while Vice President JD Vance, White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner backed the deal…

The Wall Street Journal reports that Boris Epshteyn, Trump’s personal attorney, joined the legal team of Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, who in 2024 was facing accusations of fraud by the Justice Department…

Axios spotlights the outsized role that Epshteyn plays in the White House, noting that Trump jokingly calls the lawyer “my psychiatrist” because of how often they speak…

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) is backing Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan over Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN) in the state’s open Senate race; Klobuchar said that though she was “friends with both,” she was backing Flanagan because the two appear together on the state’ Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party ticket… 

The Washington Post quietly removed two recently republished op-eds authored by a former Daily Caller staffer who had published racist and antisemitic writings under a pseudonym on a white supremacist website…

The New York Times is reviewing pieces by Nicholas Kristof, after Semafor discovered that on at least a dozen occasions, the columnist had quoted and reported on individuals who had contributed to his 2021 Oregon gubernatorial campaign without disclosing the relationship…

Former George W. Bush administration official Joel Scanlon was announced on Monday as the new president and CEO of the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports…

The Hollywood Reporter spotlights Los Angeles chef Eric Greenspan’s new restaurant Mish, which gives an updated take on classic Jewish deli fare…

A U.K. appeals court ruled that the government’s banning of the Palestine Action was lawful, calling London’s proscription of the activist group “justified and proportionate”…

Qatar plans to scale up its production of liquified natural gas after the Strait of Hormuz reopens, with a goal of restoring some 80% of its export capacity within two months; the moves comes after the Gulf nation’s Ras Laffan facility was damaged in an Iranian missile attack early in the war…

El Al inked a deal with Elon Musk’s Starlink to provide free high-speed internet to passengers traveling with the airline, beginning in 2027…

Far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir canceled a planned family trip to the U.S. amid challenges in obtaining a visa; Ben-Gvir, who has a history of criminal convictions in Israeli courts that could render him ineligible for a common ESTA visa, chose to forgo the trip after he was summoned to the U.S. Embassy to be fingerprinted…

Israel’s Defense Ministry accused organizers of the Eurosatory defense show in Paris of building walls around the booths of some Israeli defense technology firms, claiming that the companies had abided by a request from organizers to only display defensive weapons systems…

Pope Leo XIV met on Monday with a delegation from UJA-Federation of New York at the Vatican. Outgoing UJA CEO Eric Goldstein presented the pontiff with a menorah with an inscription expressing hope that the pope’s leadership “shine a bright light on unity, peace, tolerance, and human dignity for all.”

Singer-songwriter, Benjamin Lev Kweller turns 45… 

Professor of theoretical physics at Stanford University, Leonard Susskind turns 86… Brigadier-general (ret.) in the IDF, then a member of Knesset, then chairman of Ha’aguda Lema’an Hachayal, a nonprofit IDF veterans group, Avigdor Kahalani turns 82… Former dean of Yeshiva College, U.S. ambassador to Egypt for President Bill Clinton, and U.S. ambassador to Israel for President George W Bush, Daniel C. Kurtzer turns 77… Professor at Nanjing University and China’s leading professor of Jewish studies, Xu Xin turns 77… Rickey Wolosky Palkovitz turns 77… Investigative reporter who worked for Newsweek, NBC News and then Yahoo News, Michael Isikoff turns 74… Principal executive at Kohn & Associates and chairman of the board of directors at ARMR Sciences Inc., he was the volunteer varsity and junior varsity boys and girls basketball coach at Farber Hebrew Day School in Southfield, Mich., for more than three decades, Kenneth I. Kohn turns 73… UC Berkeley professor, Alison Gopnik turns 71… Professor of Jewish studies at the University of Freiburg (Germany), Gabrielle Oberhänsli-Widmer turns 69… Distinguished fellow in Jewish studies at Dartmouth College and visiting professor of modern Jewish studies at Harvard Divinity School, Shaul Magid turns 68… Southern California resident, Roberta Trachten-Zeve… Senior project executive at Kansas-based Stuart & Associates Commercial Flooring, Matthew Rafael Elyachar… Pulitzer Prize-winning business reporter and bestselling author, he is a past president of Washington Hebrew Congregation, David A. Vise turns 66… Former chair of the Broward County, Fla., JCRC, he is the co-founder of The Alliance of Blacks & Jews, Keith Wasserstrom… Actor, screenwriter, producer and director, Daniel Zelman turns 59… Senior correspondent for military and intelligence affairs for Yedioth Ahronoth, Ronen Bergman, Ph.D., turns 54… Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit, Julie Rikelman turns 54… CEO and founder of NYC-based Marathon Strategies, Philip Keith (“Phil”) Singer… Israeli photographer, digital artist and artificial intelligence researcher, Dina Bova turns 49… Geographer and writer, Joshua Jelly-Schapiro turns 47… Comedian, actor and YouTuber with almost 100 million views, Adam Ray turns 44… Senior portfolio manager on the Jewish life and Israel grantmaking team at One8 Foundation, Alyssa Bogdanow Arens… Pitcher for Team Israel in the 2023 and 2026 World Baseball Classic tournaments, he has been a free agent since November 2025, Zachary D. “Zack” Weiss turns 34… Head video producer at Ocean One Media, Perry Chencin… Former catcher on Israel’s National Baseball Team at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, now a senior consultant for EY, Tal Erel turns 30… Israeli artistic gymnast who won a gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and a silver medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Artem Dolgopyat turns 29…

• We’re awaiting the final results of yesterday’s runoffs in Texas, which saw Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton trounce Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) and antisemitic sex therapist Maureen Galindo defeated in the Democratic primary in the state’s 35th Congressional District. More below.
• We’re monitoring the situation in Iran as the Islamic Republic begins to lift its monthslong internet blackout across the country. Reuters reported on Tuesday that the Pentagon clashed with Elon Musk’s Starlink after the satellite internet company raised the price of deploying direct-to-cell services as well as the cost of its satellite Wi-Fi network used by the Defense Department for its kamikaze drones.
• Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan railed against Israel earlier today while making remarks on the occasion of the Muslim holiday of Eid-al Adha, suggesting that “the tyrant known as [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu will learn the necessary lesson at the hands of the world’s Muslims.”

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S JOSH KRAUSHAAR

In last night’s Texas primary runoffs, Democrats successfully prevented a virulent antisemite from becoming the party’s nominee in a battleground House race, while voters also ousted one of the party’s longtime anti-Israel lawmakers for a younger, more pragmatic replacement. 

On the Republican side, President Donald Trump’s endorsement of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was the decisive factor in Paxton’s sweeping victory over Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), a widely respected pragmatic conservative who served for years in party leadership. 

The results painted a picture of a volatile electorate in both parties. A late push by the Democrats’ House campaign arm and the pro-Israel advocacy group Democratic Majority for Israel helped prevent sex therapist Maureen Galindo, who advocated putting pro-Israel Jews in internment camps as part of her campaign message, from winning a valued nomination in Texas’ swing 35th Congressional District.

Johnny Garcia, a Bexar County sheriff’s deputy long touted by national Democrats as a top recruit, won the Democratic nomination by 28 points (64-36%) despite finishing in second place in the primary. He will face Republican Air Force veteran Carlos de la Cruz in the general election.

DMFI’s political action committee touted its role as an early endorser of Garcia’s campaign, and for being one of the first and few groups to raise the red flag on Galindo’s extreme views. In its victory statement, DMFI also condemned the efforts from a secretive GOP group to spend nearly $1 million on Galindo’s behalf, in hopes of elevating a more vulnerable Democratic candidate to the general election. 

On the positive side, an extremist was defeated thanks to leading Democratic Party organizations and officials rushing to condemn her candidacy. It’s a sign of how institutions can use their power to unify in speaking out against hate. On the other hand, she still won over one-third of the runoff vote despite the full-court press from Democrats to oppose her, a sign that it may take aggressive measures simply to stop a crank from prevailing.

Pro-Israel leaders also cheered the resounding defeat of Rep. Al Green (D-TX), who has alienated the Houston Jewish community with his anti-Israel votes in Congress in recent years and lackluster constituent services. Green lost by nearly 40 points to Rep. Christian Menefee (D-TX), who was just elected to Congress in a neighboring district and was forced to run against his colleague as a result of redistricting.

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

Blow to Beijing: In The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy’s Michael Singh posits that the war with Iran has revealed the limits of Beijing’s global influence. “[China] hasn’t come to the aid of its key economic partners like the U.A.E. Meanwhile, China’s relations with Iran, its supposed strategic partner, have been tenuous. Beijing has cautiously aided Tehran — buying oil and reportedly providing limited military support. Iran repaid the favor by seizing a Chinese vessel the same day President Trump and Mr. Xi met in Beijing. (Iran also fired on a Chinese vessel days before.) The moves indicated to both leaders exactly what Tehran thought of suggestions that China could force Iran to open the strait.” [WSJ]

Georgia on My Mind: The Washington Post’s editorial board raises concerns about the Republic of Georgia’s pivot to authoritarianism as the country increasingly aligns itself with American adversaries. “The United States’ once-stalwart ally in the region, Georgia, is increasingly turning anti-American. Its government, headed by the Georgian Dream party, has for years openly played footsie with Russia at the expense of its Western ties. Less well-known is that it has also been cultivating ties with Iran.” [WashPost]

Ceasefire in Name Only: In The New York Times, Lebanese writer Rana Hanna reflects on decades of failed ceasefires as a result of Hezbollah’s continued entrenchment in the country. “The state binds itself to agreements on behalf of an actor it can neither compel nor control. A Lebanese cease-fire is a document about the cessation of violence that leaves intact every internal mechanism that produced it. … Having lived all my life with war as the backdrop, I am hesitant to believe that things could change. But I need to. A cease-fire in Lebanon that ends the need for future cease-fires would have to happen on two planes. We would have to sign a peace treaty with our neighbors, and we would have to sign another with ourselves.” [NYTimes]

Secretary of State Marco Rubio tapped longtime advisor Mike Needham to serve as assistant to President Donald Trump and deputy national security advisor…

The Justice Department filed a third lawsuit against UCLA, alleging that the school violated Jewish students’ civil rights by being “deliberately indifferent” to antisemitism in the months after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks, including the creation in spring 2024 of an anti-Israel encampment on the campus…

Republicans in both chambers of Congress are urging the Trump administration to move to permanently dismantle the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, with a new letter from House Republicans calling for a reworking of Palestinian refugee programs in the region, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…

An appellate court granted Mahmoud Khalil a stay of a previous order that denied the former Columbia University anti-Israel protest leader a rehearing of his case as the Trump administration seeks to deport him…

CUNY School of Law once again featured anti-Israel activity at its commencement ceremony on Thursday, allowing antagonistic student activity during its graduation events for the fourth straight year, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports…

Brooklyn’s Park Slope Coop voted by a 2-to-1 margin in favor of boycotting Israeli products, capping off a yearslong endeavor by activists to end the institution’s sales of Israeli-made items including olive oil, hair products and some brands of tahini…

The Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office announced it was filing a hate crime charge against a California man who was captured on security footage attacking a visibly Jewish man as he was walking home from synagogue; the victim said that the alleged assailant shouted “Free Palestine!” in the aftermath of the attack…

“CBS Evening News,” hosted by Tony Dokoupil, reached 4 million viewers last week as the Bari Weiss-led network newscast makes inroads against rivals ABC and NBC…

British authorities in Bath are conducting a new probe into social media posts from the former mayor of the city, who resigned after coming under fire for sharing content suggesting that the recent arson attack on Hatzola ambulances in the heavily Jewish London suburb of Golders Green was an “Israeli false flag operation”…

Jordanian-American tech entrepreneur Amjad Masad, who has frequently criticized Israel, was honored by Jordanian King Abdullah II…

The Financial Times reports on the challenges facing the Trump administration’s Board of Peace, which has not received much of the $17 billion in pledged funds for operations; the group received $3 million from Morocco and $20 million from the United Arab Emirates to support the office of Board of Peace head Nickolay Mladenov, while another $100 million was given by the UAE to fund a currently stalled police-training program…

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz confirmed the death of Hamas military head Mohammed Odeh in an IDF strike in Gaza City, 11 days after Odeh was tapped to succeed Izz al-Din al-Haddad, who was also killed in an Israeli strike…

The IDF formally dismissed Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, the former military advocate-general, who last year admitted to leaking footage from the Sde Teiman detention center that allegedly showed the abuse of a Palestinian detainee by Israeli forces…

Israeli carrier Israir is planning to launch a direct route between Israel and New York City this summer, joining Arkia and El Al, which currently operate regular long-haul flights from Ben Gurion Airport to New York; Israir’s entry into the market comes as U.S. carriers Delta and United continue to delay a resumption of flights to Israel following the outbreak of war with Iran…

The U.S. and Thailand are accelerating talks for the Southeast Asian country’s state-controlled energy company PTT PCL to purchase some $5.4 billion in U.S. energy products per year; the talks, which began last year, ramped up following the onset of the Iran war, as Qatar, which is second only to the U.S. in liquefied natural gas exports, faced extensive damage to its energy infrastructure…

Elbit CEO Bezhalel Machlis told Reuters that the defense contractor is in the process of developing hardware to thwart Hezbollah’s fiber-optic drones, which have evaded Israeli defensive systems and targeted both IDF soldiers and civilians in recent weeks…

Indian authorities said that Iran released 10 Indian sailors who had been imprisoned in the Islamic Republic since the Palau-flagged oil tanker they were on was seized by Iranian forces last July…

Loews Corp Chairman James Tisch was elected as the new co-chair of the Council for a Secure America…

Newspaper mogul Donald Newhouse, who headed Advance Publications’ newspaper division, died at 96…

World War II veteran and Holocaust survivor Ralph Brunn, 101, joined by U.S. Navy veteran Barry Steelman, threw out last night’s ceremonial first pitch at the Baltimore Orioles’ home game against the Tampa Bay Rays at Camden Yards for Jewish Heritage Night. 

Stage, film and television actor and producer, Ben Feldman turns 46…

Professor emeritus at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, he is the author of over 80 books, Philip Kotler turns 95… Founder of Val d’Or Apparel and Cannon County Knitting Mills, Martin “Marty” Granoff turns 90… CEO of British real estate firm Heron International, he was knighted in 2024, Sir Gerald Ronson turns 87… Senior U.S. district judge for the Central District of California, Christina A. Snyder turns 79… Retired in 2014 as school rabbi and director of Jewish studies at The Rashi School, a K-8 Reform Jewish school in Dedham, Mass., Ellen Weinstein Pildis… Partner in the D.C. office of ArentFox Schiff, he wrote a book about the struggle for Jewish civil rights during the French Revolution, Gerard Leval turns 76… Analytical psychotherapist, author, and Jewish Renewal rabbi, Tirzah Firestone turns 72… Former MLB pitcher who played for the White Sox and Pirates, he is now a financial advisor at RBC Wealth Management, Ross Baumgarten turns 71… Emmy Award-winning actor, comedian and director, Richard Schiff turns 71… Owner of a 900-acre plant nursery in Kansas, he is a former MLB pitcher and was an MLB All Star in 1979 and 1982, Mark Clear turns 70… Marriage counselor, therapist and author, Sherry Amatenstein… U.S. ambassador to Argentina during the Biden administration, he served for six years as chairman of the National Jewish Democratic Council, Marc R. Stanley turns 69… Beverly Hills-based immigration attorney, founder and chairman of the Los Angeles Sephardic Jewish Film Festival, Neil J. Sheff… EVP of talent and technology at Phibro Animal Health, Jonathan Bendheim… Chicago-based reporter at The New York Times, he was a Rhodes Scholar and then a longtime senior editor for The New Republic, Noam Scheiber… Director of development at the Livingston, N.J.-based Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy, Grant Silverstein… Science of Success columnist for The Wall Street Journal, Benjamin Zachary Cohen… Director of legislative affairs and policy at General Atomics, Katherina “Katya” Dimenstein… Assistant district attorney for Dallas County, Joshua A. Fitterman… Reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer since 2012, Andrew Seidman… Emily Cohen… 

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• It’s primary day in Kentucky and Pennsylvania. More below on the races we’re watching.
• The Senate is slated to vote today on a war powers resolution, the eighth attempt by Senate Democrats to move forward on efforts to constrain the Trump administration’s military activities targeting Iran.
• The effort comes a day after President Donald Trump called off what he said was a strike on Iran planned for today. The president said the decision came at the request of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, which encouraged the administration to allow peace talks to continue. Read more here.
• The Senate Appropriations Committee is holding a series of budget hearings today, including one this morning for the Justice Department’s budget for 2027.
• CENTCOM head Adm. Brad Cooper is set to testify this morning before the House Armed Services Committee about security challenges in the Middle East.
• Elsewhere on the Hill, the Jewish Federations of North America will hold a press conference this afternoon to call for increased security funding, days after House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) called for $1 billion to be allocated for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program — $700 million more than Congress allocated in last month’s Homeland Security funding bill.
• The Center for American Progress is hosting its annual IDEAS Conference in Washington. Speakers include Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Jeffries; Democratic Govs. Wes Moore, Gavin Newsom, Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherril; and former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield in addition to a number of Democratic legislators.
• The Middle East Forum’s three-day policy conference kicks off today in Washington. Keynote speakers include senior White House official Seb Gorka, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter and Morgan Ortagus, a former deputy U.S. special envoy to the Middle East.
• The Nationals will host Jewish Community Day as the baseball team takes on the New York Mets at Nats Park.
• In New York, the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue is holding its spring benefit, where the congregation will honor Proskauer Rose’s Ira Bogner and former State Department antisemitism envoy Deborah Lipstadt.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S JOSH KRAUSHAAR

Today’s primaries in Kentucky and Pennsylvania may well serve as an early test over which party is more effectively dealing with its own antisemitism problems. 

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), one of the few remaining anti-Israel Republicans in Congress, has been spewing antisemitic tropes in the closing days of the campaign, portraying Congress as Israel-occupied territory and caricaturing wealthy Jewish donors as the fuel behind his opponent’s support, as he tries to fend off a serious challenge from Ed Gallrein, who is endorsed by President Donald Trump.

Meanwhile in Philadelphia, state Rep. Chris Rabb — who shared a post on his Instagram account promoting a conspiracy theory that the Bondi Beach terror attack in Sydney in which 14 Jews were killed was a false-flag operation perpetuating Israeli interests — holds the late momentum in an open Democratic congressional primary to succeed retiring Rep. Dwight Evans (D-PA). (Rabb’s campaign blamed a former campaign staffer for the offending post.)

A parade of progressive stars, from Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) to Jamie Raskin (D-MD), have traveled to Philadelphia to campaign with the Democratic Socialists of America-backed Rabb. Antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker likewise rallied with Rabb and held a fundraiser with him where attendees chanted: “Free Palestine!”

Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), representing the more mainstream wing of the Democratic Party, held a rally on Monday to boost one of Rabb’s leading challengers, state Sen. Sharif Street. 

Gallrein and Rabb both appear to hold latemomentum in their respective races. If the two end up winning, the conventional wisdom — and corresponding coverage — will rightly conclude that a Massie defeat came as a result of Trump’s outspoken opposition to the congressman and that a Rabb victory will be the result of progressives’ ascendance within the Democratic Party. 

But that will only tell part of the story. If Republicans end up ousting a lawmaker trafficking in some of the ugliest bigotry, while Democrats anoint a future lawmaker pushing extremist antisemitic conspiracy theories, it’s a sign of the direction both parties are headed.

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

Buffer Zone Bitterness: In The Washington Post, Rabbi Binyamin Krauss, the principal of Bronx Jewish day school SAR, criticized the decision by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to veto legislation that would have established buffer zones around schools. “As the head of a Jewish school in the Bronx, I’ve had to make difficult decisions to create a more secure environment in and around my school as the menace of antisemitism has surged in New York and across the country in recent years. We have been forced to divert educational resources and increase our security budget to safeguard students and staff as a precaution when the threat of violence against Jews has become common in the city.” [WashPost]

Good Taste Comes to Tech: The Wall Street Journal spotlights Sam Lessin’s VC firm Slow Ventures and its “etiquette classes” — hours-long gatherings teaching the “finer points of hosting, fundraising, wine pairing” to tech founders. “Sam Lessin, a dry-humored founding partner at Slow Ventures and a former vice president of product at Facebook, noted that AI has made coding ‘super commoditized.’ In the vast majority of cases, he said, instilling trust in customers is now more important than being able to show off technical genius. He added that, in the AI era, if you’re entering a meeting saying ‘Hey, I need access to your critical data,’ you need to win people over with a respectful demeanor and a low heart-rate.” [WSJ]

Con Job: In Tablet, Highline Capital founder Jacob Doft does a deep dive into an elaborate scheme he found himself a part of after being drawn into what he believed to be a cutting-edge Israeli startup. “And that, more or less, is how I entered a two-year relationship with a fraudulent AI company, a fake fighter pilot, a brilliant professor who was being conned by her own CEO, and a chatbot that was doing most of the work. It is, on balance, the strangest thing that has happened to me. And I spent 30 years on Wall Street, where strange things happen before lunch.” [Tablet]

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who is retiring at the end of the year, endorsed San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan as her successor in the Bay Area congressional district…

Reps. Claudia Tenney (R-NY), Brad Sherman (D-CA) and Mike Lawler (R-NY) led a bipartisan group of lawmakers in urging the U.K. to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist group…

Axios reports on the “explosion” of “direct, explicit and shockingly casual” antisemitism that “has become a part of day-to-day life for Jewish politicians in the run-up to the midterms…

Two of New York City’s leading mainstream Jewish organizations skipped a pre-Shavuot gathering at Gracie Mansion on Monday evening — with one directly pointing to a controversial video Mayor Zohran Mamdani posted to his official social media channels on Friday as the reason for refusing to participate, JI’s Will Bredderman reports…

Northwestern University’s Jewish community is celebrating the appointment of Mung Chiang as the school’s new president, optimistic that the supportive environment he fostered for Jewish students during his tenure as president of Purdue University will help combat the antisemitism seen at Northwestern in recent years, JI’s Haley Cohen reports…

Harvard is petitioning a federal judge to drop the Justice Department’s lawsuit against the school, arguing that the details of the complaint are out of date and don’t take into consideration steps the school has made in addressing antisemitism on campus…

The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington is leading an effort to establish and promote Scholarship Granting Organizations in the capital region in an effort to maximize the benefits of a new federal tax-credit initiative, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Jay Deitcher reports…

Puck reports that CBS executives are reportedly discussing the possibility of shifting Bari Weiss’ management of the network’s major programs as the company mulls a takeover of CNN that “would give her less control over the linear product,” adjusting “her focus to the news division’s digital growth while maintaining broad editorial influence across all the company’s platforms”…

A California man is facing federal hate crime charges for allegedly assaulting a Jewish man outside a real estate event in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Pico-Robertson in 2024; the alleged assailant, who later boasted in a text message to a friend that he “whooped 2 zios,” faces a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in prison… 

Police in London are investigating as a hate crime an attack on a Jewish man overnight in the heavily Jewish suburb of Golders Green…

The Guardian does a deep dive into Iranian efforts to recruit proxies, some of whom have no loyalties or ties to the Islamic Republic, to attack Jewish and Israeli targets around the world, following the arrest last week of an Iran-backed Iraqi militia leader tied to more than a dozen plots around the world…

Australia’s public broadcasters said they won’t use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism in their coverage, and will instead use their own internal guidance to maintain editorial independence…

Pakistan has deployed some 8,000 troops, as well as fighter jets, drones and an air-defense system, to Saudi Arabia, seven months after signing a mutual defense agreement with Riyadh…

Israeli forces boarded boats participating in the latest Global Sumud Flotilla to Gaza that were traveling in international waters off the coast of Cyprus; Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the troops were “effectively neutralizing a malicious plan designed to break the isolation we have imposed on Hamas terrorists in Gaza”.…

San Francisco-based software startup Decart, which was founded by Israelis Dean Leitersdorf, Orian Leitersdorf and Moshe Shalev and produces software that helps AI companies switch more easily between chips, is raising $300 million in a funding round led by Radical Ventures, with additional backing from Nvidia and Disney CEO Michael Eisner…

Amnon Shashua’s AI21 laid off approximately 60% of its employees as it refocuses the company on AI agent optimization technology associated with its Maestro platform; the move comes after the collapse of acquisition talks with AI cloud platform Nebius…

Hamas named Mohammed Ouda, who served as the group’s head of military intelligence during the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, as the new head of its military division, days after Israel killed Izz ad-Din al-Haddad in a targeted strike in Gaza on Friday…

Stacey Bosworth is joining the Forward as vice president of development…

Yael Shamouilian is joining the Anti-Defamation League as director of media relations…

Ofer Bronchtein, who served as a senior advisor to French President Emmanuel Macron on Israeli-Palestinian issues, died at 69…

Director Joe Sedelmaier, the brains behind Wendy’s famous “Where’s the beef?” ad, died at 92…

Israeli President Isaac Herzog (right) received the credentials of Somaliland Ambassador to Israel Mohamed Hagi on Monday at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem, five months after Israel first recognized the East African nation’s sovereignty.

Author of 28 novels, four of which have been adapted into Lifetime Original Movies, Jodi Picoult turns 60… 

Retired senior counsel in the D.C. office of Blank Rome, Harvey Sherzer turns 82… Retired chief judge of the New York Court of Appeals, now of counsel in the NYC office of Latham & Watkins, Jonathan Lippman turns 81… Clinical psychologist, author, teacher, public speaker and ordained rabbi, Dennis G. Shulman turns 76… Former member of the California state Senate, she was also a member of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus, Hannah-Beth Jackson turns 76… Israeli novelist and former journalist, Edna Shemesh turns 73… Nurse and former member of the Wisconsin State Assembly (2009-2015), Sandra “Sandy” Pasch turns 72… Retired chief of the general staff of the IDF, now leader of the Yashar party, Gadi Eizenkot turns 66… Chabad-Lubavitch rabbi, born in Milan, now chief rabbi of Russia, Rabbi Berel Lazar turns 62… Journalist, teacher and playwright, now editor-in-chief of Streetsblog NYC, Gersh Kuntzman turns 61… Born in Moscow, he is a professor of mathematics at the University of Chicago, Alex Eskin turns 61… Business manager and spokesperson for NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan, Estee Portnoy turns 59… Former CEO of Bend the Arc, a Jewish partnership for justice, Stosh Cotler turns 58… Israeli-born chef, owner of multiple NYC restaurants, she is a cookbook author and comedian, Einat Admony turns 55… Israeli actor and fashion designer, Dorit Bar Or turns 51… Canadian food writer and cookbook author, she is a judge on Bravo’s “Top Chef,” Gail Simmons turns 50… Member of the Knesset for the Likud party since 2019, Ofir Katz turns 46… Nonprofit manager and consultant, Alex Shapero… Pitcher for Team Israel at the 2017 World Baseball Classic and is now pitching coach for the UC Davis Aggies, Zachary “Zack” James Thornton turns 38… Activist, advocacy educator, engagement strategist and TED speaker, Natalie Warne… Ice hockey free agent, Brendan Leipsic turns 32… 

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for a look at the emerging bloc of Sunni countries uniting against Israel’s allies, potentially complicating the Jewish state’s regional strategy.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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