Blumenthal: ‘Our bipartisan effort seeks to strengthen measures to bring long overdue justice to families whose cherished art was brazenly stolen by the Nazis’
J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, center, is flanked by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., left, and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024.
Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) introduced bipartisan legislation last week aimed at eliminating loopholes used by museums and other stakeholders to continue possessing Nazi-looted artwork that Jewish families have been trying to recover.
Introduced on Thursday, the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery (HEAR) Act would expand on Cornyn’s 2016 legislation of the same name, which was passed at the time by unanimous consent, by ending the Dec. 31, 2026, sunset date on the original bill and strengthen the existing procedural protections to ensure that victims’ claims are not dismissed due to non-merit-based factors such as time constraints.
“The artwork wrongfully ripped from Jewish hands during the Holocaust bears witness to a chapter in history when evil persisted and the worst of humanity was on full display. I’m proud to introduce this legislation to support the Jewish people and Holocaust survivors by helping them recover art confiscated by the Nazis that they are rightfully owed and give them the justice and restitution they deserve,” Cornyn said in a statement.
“The theft of art by the Nazi regime was more than a pilfering of property — it was an act of inhumanity. Our bipartisan effort seeks to strengthen measures to bring long overdue justice to families whose cherished art was brazenly stolen by the Nazis,” Blumenthal said.
Many families of Holocaust victims in the U.S. who have located artwork from deceased relatives and sued to recover those items face the deadline at the end of next year before the statute of limitations sets in. Thousands of stolen works of art remain unreturned to their rightful owners from the Nazi plunder, and there are scores of ongoing cases to resolve disputes over ownership of those items.
“Unfortunately, many museums, governments, and institutions have contradicted Congress’ intent and obstructed justice by stonewalling legitimate claims, obscuring provenance, and employing aggressive legal tactics designed to exhaust and outlast Survivors and their families. Rather than embracing transparency and reconciliation, too many have chosen to entrench and litigate, effectively preserving possession of stolen works rather than returning them to their rightful owners,” a press release for the bill states.
Sens. Thom Tillis (R-NC), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), John Fetterman (D-PA), Eric Schmitt (R-MO) and Katie Britt (R-AL) co-sponsored the bill, which was endorsed by a number of Jewish organizations including Agudath Israel of America, the American Jewish Committee, Anti-Defamation League, Jewish Federations of North America, StandWithUs and World Jewish Congress, among others.
“This legislation helps to right a historic wrong committed during one of the darkest chapters in history. By eliminating unnecessary legal obstacles, the HEAR Act establishes a clear path to restitution for Holocaust survivors and their families, ensuring that art and cultural property stolen by the Nazis can finally be returned to their rightful owners,” Tillis said.
Fetterman said in a statement, “Eighty years after the Holocaust, we have a moral responsibility to do right by the victims of these atrocities and their families. I’m grateful to join my colleagues from both sides of the aisle in introducing the HEAR Act to help return artwork stolen by the Nazis to its rightful owners.”
Plus, Trump's Gulf tour underscores Israel’s diplomatic disadvantage
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt/X
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, President Donald Trump and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa meet in Riyadh, May 14th, 2025
Good Wednesday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we report on President Donald Trump’s meeting earlier today with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, and analyze the findings of a new poll from the Jewish Voter Resource Center. We also talk to Sen. Katie Britt about recent attacks on Sen. John Fetterman, and spotlight the Zachor Legal Institute’s call for the IRS to investigate a key fiscal sponsor of anti-Israel agitators. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Dan Senor, former Vice President Mike Pence and Rabbi Noam Marans.
What We’re Watching
- President Donald Trump continues his Middle East trip today as he flies to Qatar this afternoon. Earlier today, Trump met with Gulf Cooperation Council leaders in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, including a side meeting with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa. Read more about the meeting between Trump and al-Sharaa here.
- The House Homeland Security Committee is holding a hearing this morning with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
- The Department of Justice is holding its 32nd Annual Federal Interagency Holocaust Remembrance Program this morning.
- The Israeli American Council is holding a Yom Ha’atzmaut celebration tonight at the Library of Congress.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JOSH KRaushaar
A new poll commissioned by a Democratic Jewish group suggests that concerns over antisemitism have receded a bit since post-Oct. 7 record levels, with younger voters notably less concerned than their parents and older generations. The survey, conducted by GBAO, also finds the depth of attachment for Israel, while still at high levels, has also dipped somewhat as time has passed since Hamas’ attacks, Jewish Insider Editor-in-Chief Josh Kraushaar writes.
The big toplines from the Jewish Voter Resource Center survey, which polled 800 Jewish voters between April 22 and May 1: Only one-quarter of Jewish voters view President Donald Trump favorably. Among respondents, Democrats hold a commanding 70-22% lead on next year’s generic congressional ballot. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s standing among American Jewish voters is also low, with only 34% viewing him favorably, while 61% see him unfavorably.
Over two-thirds (69%) of Jewish voters profess an attachment to Israel, which is down from 82% a month after Oct. 7 but at a similar level to the years preceding the attack. Nearly two-thirds of Jewish respondents (62%) said they’re very concerned about antisemitism — a historically high number, but a marked dropoff from the 79% who expressed the same sentiment in November 2023. Notably, only 33% of younger Jewish voters ages 18-34 said they’re concerned about antisemitism.
Asked whether right-wing or left-wing antisemitism was a bigger threat, respondents were more divided. Nearly half (47%) said right-wing individuals and groups were more responsible, while 34% viewed left-wing groups as a bigger problem. And Democrats fared relatively poorly on which party is better equipped to handle antisemitism, holding just a seven-point edge (34-27%) over Republicans despite a much greater overall partisan advantage.
The most significant takeaway from the survey is the gaping divide within the Jewish community when it comes to Jewish observance — secular and less observant Jews hold diametrically opposing views on many issues compared to their more observant coreligionists.
For instance, 75% of Orthodox Jewish respondents said they approved of Trump’s job performance, compared to only 18% of Reform Jewish voters. While 69% of Orthodox Jews and 60% of Conservative Jews have a “very strong” attachment to Israel, that number falls to 35% among Reform Jews (and 22% among those unaffiliated).
On domestic policy issues, the gap is similar. Most Orthodox voters (78%) favor eliminating DEI initiatives that receive federal funding, while only 21% of Reform respondents say the same. The poll also found two-thirds of Orthodox Jews backing the president’s original punitive tariffs against China, while just 14% of Reform voters agreed.
The results underscore that one of the biggest challenges in both Israel and the United States’ Jewish community is internal divisions that make it harder to present a united front externally. Those divisions are slowly, but notably, percolating even on issues that once united the Jewish world post-Oct. 7.
ON THE SIDELINES
Trump’s Gulf tour underscores Israel’s diplomatic disadvantage
If there was any doubt about President Donald Trump’s increasing reliance on checkbook diplomacy, and his disapproval of America’s past approach to the Middle East, he left little room for dispute in a keynote address on Tuesday in Saudi Arabia that sharply critiqued “interventionalists” and “neo-cons” while calling for an end to regional wars. The message in Trump’s speech, and the optics of a visit to the Middle East that doesn’t include a stop in Israel, were met with concern by pro-Israel Republicans and hawkish foreign policy experts, who worry that his turbo-charged dealmaking with the oil-rich Gulf nations — cemented this week with trade deals in the hundreds of billions of dollars — puts Israel at a diplomatic disadvantage, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
Dollar signs: “His approach is obviously completely transactional. If he has a view about the U.S. national interest, that view revolves around financial and commercial interests, and that obviously diminishes the value of the alliance with Israel, which is not primarily financial and commercial,” said Elliott Abrams, a former longtime Republican official who served as Iran envoy in Trump’s first term. “It’s based on values. It’s based on military cooperation. It is based also on high-tech cooperation, but Trump seems to be less interested in that and more interested in the dollar signs.”
Presidential address: “The gleaming marvels of Riyadh and Abu Dhabi were not created by the so-called nation-builders, neo-cons, or liberal nonprofits like those who spent trillions failing to develop [Kabul], Baghdad, so many other cities,” Trump said in a speech on Tuesday at a U.S.-Saudi Arabia investment forum event in Riyadh. “In the end, the so-called nation-builders wrecked far more nations than they built and the interventionalists were intervening in complex societies that they did not even understand themselves. Trump also condemned American presidents who “have been afflicted with the focus that it’s our job to look into the souls of foreign leaders and use U.S. policy to dispense justice for their sins.”
AIRING CONCERNS
More Republicans voice concern about Qatari jet, as Dems pursue blocking efforts
A handful of congressional Republicans voiced fresh concerns on Tuesday about President Donald Trump’s plans to accept a gift of a Qatari luxury jet worth $400 million to join the Air Force One fleet, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod and Emily Jacobs report. Democrats, meanwhile, stepped up their efforts to block the gift.
Growing worries: Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), expanding on comments he’d made the previous day, said that there “will be plenty of scrutiny” for the transfer if it occurs. “There are lots of issues around that that I think will attract very serious questions if and when it happens.” But he also downplayed the gift as purely “hypothetical” at this point. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) came out more strongly against the gift, saying, “I’m not a fan of Qatar, I think they have a really disturbing pattern of funding theocratic lunatics who want to murder us, funding Hamas and Hezbollah and that’s a real problem. I also think that the plane poses significant espionage and surveillance problems, so we’ll see how this issue plays out, but I certainly have concerns.”
Bonus: Bloomberg looks at the potential security risks associated with Qatar’s proposed gift of a luxury jet to the Trump administration, citing expert concerns over “opportunities for surveilling, tracking or compromising communications.”
FAIR-WEATHER FRIENDS
Sen. Katie Britt slams Democrats for not defending Fetterman
Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL) is criticizing Senate Democrats for declining to challenge media reports about Sen. John Fetterman’s (D-PA) mental health, attributing their reticence to the Democratic senator’s independent approach to Israel and immigration, and his support for several of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports.
Independent streak: Britt, who has grown to be one of Fetterman’s closest personal friends in the Senate since both were elected in 2022, raised concerns about the implications of Senate Democrats remaining silent as one of their own is targeted over his highly publicized mental health struggles during National Mental Health Awareness Month. “John has been a voice for Israel. He has been a voice for the Jewish people. He has been willing to take a look at nominees and approach things in a common-sense way. He understands the need for a secure border and interior enforcement. He was out front on the Laken Riley Act. I would say that part of [Democrats’] silence has to do with his independence,” Britt told JI.
STATE OF THE JEWS
Dan Senor: Jewish day schools, summer camps key to thriving U.S. Jewry
Jewish day schools and summer camps as well as gap years in Israel are some of the strongest contributors of a solid Jewish identity — ones that provide the tools that are needed at this precarious moment to “rebuild American Jewish life” — podcast host and author Dan Senor said on Tuesday night as he delivered the 45th annual State of World Jewry address at the 92NY in Manhattan, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports for eJewishPhilanthropy.
Jewish giving: “But here’s the uncomfortable truth,” Senor said, pointing to a statistic that of the 33 Jewish individuals on the Forbes 400 list with publicly reported charitable giving, no more than 11% of their giving went to Jewish causes. “I am not suggesting Jewish generosity to the broader civic square come to an end,” Senor said. “But I am arguing that it is time for a recalibration in favor of our community’s needs. We need to invest so that we can look back on this moment decades from now and say: American Jewish life was not the same after that. It was better.”
Read the full story here and sign up for eJewishPhilanthropy’s Your Daily Phil newsletter here.
scoop
Syrian diaspora group’s Capitol Hill conference abruptly canceled amid anti-Israel, Assad regime concerns
A Syrian diaspora conference in a House office building meeting room was abruptly canceled on Monday after a lawmaker raised concerns about the group and its leadership, sources familiar with the situation told Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod.
What happened: A member of Congress reserved the room on the group’s behalf, but that member withdrew their sponsorship on Monday after the event had begun, a source said. Per House policy, the group would have been required to leave the room once it lost that sponsorship. The group in question denied that the event had been canceled or disrupted. In the days before the conference, Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) wrote to the chair and ranking member of the Committee on House Administration urging them to intervene to cancel the event, citing concerns about alleged ties to the Assad regime and comments the group’s counsel had shared in support of the Houthis and about Israel.
Bonus: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), a close ally of President Donald Trump, called for a cautious and deliberate approach to removing sanctions on Syria and emphasized that Congress has a significant oversight role to play, hours after Trump announced in a speech in Riyadh that he plans to lift “all” U.S. sanctions on Syria, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. Reactions from others on Capitol Hill to the news have been decidedly mixed across both parties.
money matters
Antisemitism watchdog calls for IRS to investigate fiscal sponsor of anti-Israel agitators
The Zachor Legal Institute, a legal think tank in Montana focused on combating antisemitism and boycott campaigns against Israel, is calling on the IRS to review the tax-exempt status of a nonprofit group involved in fundraising for pro-Palestinian activism, claiming its fiscal sponsorship of a radical anti-Zionist organization accused of advocating for political violence may be in violation of federal law, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.
The argument: In a complaint filed Wednesday morning, Marc Greendorfer, the president and co-founder of the Zachor Legal Institute, formally urged the IRS to begin an investigation of the WESPAC Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in White Plains, N.Y., over its ties to Within Our Lifetime, an extreme activist group at the forefront of anti-Israel demonstrations across New York City in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks. “Through its fiscal sponsorship of Within Our Lifetime, a violent, radical and anti-Israel organization, WESPAC may have violated both the public policy doctrine and the illegality doctrine that the IRS uses to analyze and discern whether a 501(c)(3) charitable organization can maintain their tax-exempt status,” Greendorfer wrote in a letter to Michael Faulkender, the acting commissioner of the IRS, arguing that a “thorough investigation” of the matter “is warranted.”
Worthy Reads
Doha’s Dollars: The Free Press’ Jay Solomon and Frannie Block do a deep dive into Qatar’s efforts to establish footholds across American society. “Qatar has spent almost $100 billion to establish its legitimacy in Congress, American colleges and universities, U.S. newsrooms, think tanks, and corporations. Over the past two decades, it has poured those billions into purchases of American-made weapons and business investments ranging from U.S. real estate to energy plants. It built — and still pays for — the Al Udeid Air Base, even as the American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have ended. Doha finances research and campuses at prestigious American universities. And its lobbyists have the connections needed to open all the right doors in Washington. Since 2017, it has spent $225 million on lobbying and public-relations efforts in the nation’s capital. … The influence built by Qatar in the U.S. has no modern parallel, The Free Press found, whether compared with large American companies seeking to influence antitrust policy, energy firms trying to win new drilling rights, or other foreign governments aiming to shape U.S. policy—or shield themselves from it. For comparison, Qatar spent three times more in the U.S. than Israel did on lobbyists, public-relations advisers, and other foreign agents in 2021 — and nearly two-thirds as much as China did, according to the government’s latest reports.” [FreePress]
Dealmaker or Wrecker?: The Washington Post’s David Ignatius looks at President Donald Trump’s unconventional approach to foreign policy as he balances multiple conflicts and a trade war with China while in the middle of his first trip abroad. “‘America has no ‘permanent enemies,’ Trump said in his discussion of Iran. That simple statement will reverberate across the region, especially in Israel, which views Iran as a deadly adversary. Israeli anxieties might be eased by Trump’s warning that if Iran didn’t agree to a nuclear deal and make peace, it would face ‘massive maximum pressure.’ Trump’s comments in Saudi Arabia cap a remarkable few weeks in which he has bent policies, including his own, to accommodate what he evidently concluded were limits imposed by global reality. … My takeaway: Trump remains a disrupter and a dealmaker — with big ambitions for ending global conflicts and boosting America’s economy. He can also be a wrecker, as in many of his domestic policies that have savaged universities, law firms, medical research, government agencies and anyone on Trump’s retribution list. But abroad, he appears to have recognized the constraints imposed by the financial markets, the resistance of China and other big trading partners, the danger of wasting money on inconclusive wars, and the inescapable fact of global economic interdependence.” [WashPost]
Full-Court Press: In an essay adapted from a speech he gave at the Notre Dame Kellogg Institute for International Studies, New York Times Publisher A.G. Sulzberger reflects on the role a free press plays in society. “And the press is far from the only American institution that finds itself under pressure. We’re seeing direct efforts to go after government agencies, universities, cultural institutions, research organizations, advocacy groups and law firms. We’re even seeing challenges to the authority of Congress and the courts to serve as a check on executive power. Like all of those institutions, the free press is imperfect. And like all of those institutions, the free press is a load-bearing pillar in a free society. … Let me pause to say plainly that as a champion of independent journalism, I believe our job is to cover political debates, not to join them. We’re not the resistance. We are nobody’s opposition. We’re also nobody’s cheerleader. Our loyalty is to the truth and to a public that deserves to know it.” [NYTimes]
Word on the Street
Iranian officials said that Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi proposed a joint nuclear-enrichment venture in its negotiations with the U.S.; a representative for Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff denied the report…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Witkoff held a meeting on Wednesday in Jerusalem, the second time in three days the two have met…
Speaking at an event hosted by the Buckley Institute, former Vice President Mike Pence expressed “concerns” about the Trump administration’s revocation of Harvard’s tax-exempt status, stating, “What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. If we establish the precedent of taking away tax-exempt status from certain institutions that reflect discriminatory practices or antipathy toward right-wing views, we might find ourselves in an America where subsequent administrations think the same”…
The Trump administration announced it is cutting an additional $450 million in federal grants to Harvard, citing the school’s “pervasive race discrimination and anti-Semitic harassment”…
Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said he would “assess” a 2028 presidential run, after declining to mount bids for Senate and governor in Michigan, where he resides…
A legal watchdog group sent a warning letter to Microsoft on Monday alleging that it is violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by refusing to recognize a Jewish Employee Resource Group, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen has learned…
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck hosted a 30th anniversary reception in its new office in Washington; speaking to the dozens of Capitol Hill legislators in attendance — including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), , Chair John Barrasso (R-WY), NRSC Chair Tim Scott (R-SC), Sens. Michael Bennet (D-CO), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Ted Budd (R-NC), Susan Collins (R-ME), Chris Coons (D-DE), Steve Daines (R-MT), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Ron Johnson (R-WI), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), James Lankford (R-OK), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Ed Markey (D-MA), David McCormick (R-PA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Gary Peters (D-MI), Jack Reed (D-RI), Jim Risch (R-ID), Mike Rounds (R-SD), Tina Smith (D-MN), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI); House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Reps. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Steny Hoyer (D-MD), Jeff Hurd (R-TX), Lisa McClain (R-MI), Chris Pappas (D-NH), Greg Stanton (D-AZ), Ritchie Torres (D-NY), Rob Wittman (R-VA) and Ann Wagner (R-MO) as well as Hill staff, administration officials, clients and friends of the firm — founder and Chairman Norm Brownstein reflected on the firm’s start “in a small office above the Capital Grille”…
New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced the creation of the city’s Office to Combat Antisemitism, staffed by Executive Director Moshe Davis…
A community garden in the Ridgewood neighborhood of Queens, N.Y., is facing eviction after requiring prospective members to sign a “statement of values” that included opposing Zionism…
In a letter to Rabbi Noam Marans, the American Jewish Committee’s director of interreligious affairs, Pope Leo XIV pledged “to continue and strengthen the Church’s dialogue and cooperation with the Jewish people.” Prominent Jewish Italian journalist Maurizio Molinari commented to Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov that the letter shows the new pope’s “deep understanding of the damage caused by his predecessor. … He understands that the very base of the dialogue with the Jews was put at risk” by his predecessor, Pope Francis….
U.K. broadcaster Gary Lineker is again facing criticism after sharing a social media post comparing Israel to a rat…
Workers in Argentina discovered a trove of Nazi-era documents in the basement of the country’s Supreme Court, where the propaganda materials had been kept for eight decades after being seized by the government during a customs search in 1941…
The IDF targeted Hamas leader Mohammad Sinwar in a strike on the European Hospital in southern Gaza yesterday, Jewish Insider’s Danielle Cohen reports…
Israel intercepted Houthi ballistic missile attacks on Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning; the missiles set off sirens in central Israel, including Tel Aviv and Jerusalem…
Natan Sachs, formerly the director of Brookings’ Center for Middle East Policy, is joining the Middle East Institute…
Pic of the Day
Israeli President Isaac Herzog (right) presented German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier with the Israeli Presidential Medal of Honor at a ceremony on Tuesday at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem.
Birthdays
Actress who has appeared in 13 movies, she is the daughter of Steven Spielberg, Sasha Rebecca Spielberg turns 35…
Born in Casablanca and raised in Paris, Midtown NYC hair stylist and owner of La Boîte a Coupe salon, Elie Laurent Delouya turns 77… Physician and social activist, she was the Green Party’s nominee for POTUS in 2012, 2016 and 2024, Jill Stein turns 75… Professor emerita of computer science at Technion, Orna Grumberg turns 73… Dean of UC Berkeley Law School, he is one of the most frequently cited American legal scholars on constitutional law and federal civil procedure, Erwin Chemerinsky turns 72… Los Angeles city attorney from 2013 until 2022, Mike Feuer turns 67… Author of seven international bestsellers on topics such as strategy, power and seduction, Robert Greene turns 66… Head of School at the Gideon Hausner Jewish Day School in Palo Alto, Calif., Daniel L. Lehmann turns 63… Former member of Knesset for the Meretz party and a major general (reserves) in the IDF, he now leads the Democrats party, Yair Golan turns 63… Former ESPN SportsCenter anchor and football sideline reporter, Suzanne Lisa “Suzy” Kolber turns 61… Retired U.S. Air Force lt. colonel, now serving as director of the U.S. Office of Global Shield, Robert Levinson turns 60… CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven, she is a former seven-term Connecticut state senator, Gayle Slossberg turns 60… Education program lead of Bloomberg Philanthropies, Howard Wolfson… Record producer, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter, he has won nine Grammy Awards, Greg Kurstin turns 56… Managing partner of Alexandria, Va.-based MVAR Media and a leading strategist in Democratic politics, Jon Vogel… Political director for the Northeast region at AIPAC, Jason Koppel… Emmy Award-winning executive producer at NBC’s “Meet the Press,” David Philip Gelles… Director of media relations and a spokesman at Chabad Lubavitch, Rabbi Mordechai “Motti” Seligson… Chairman, CEO and co-founder of Meta / Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg turns 41… Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Businessweek reporter, Josh Eidelson… Senior managing director of government relations at The Blackstone Group, Alex I. Katz… Associate at O’Melveny & Myers, he is a former track star and then football player at Harvard, Andrew Ezekoye… Former pitcher for Yale and then Team Israel, he is now a senior associate on the Surveyor Capital team at Citadel, Eric Brodkowitz turns 29… Center for the NHL’s New Jersey Devils, he was the first pick in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft and is the son of hockey star Ellen Weinberg-Hughes, Jack Hughes turns 24…