In Lebanon, two IDF soldiers were killed over the weekend by a missile fired by Hezbollah
Magen David Adom
The site of a missile strike in central Israel, March 9, 2026
Add JewishInsider on GoogleOne person was killed in an Iranian missile attack that struck a construction site in the city of Yehud in central Israel, volunteer emergency service Magen David Adom reported on Monday.
MDA pronounced the victim, a man who appeared to be about 40 years old, dead at the scene. Another man, believed to be around the same age, was evacuated to the nearest hospital in serious and unstable condition. Both were foreign workers.
“It was a difficult scene,” MDA paramedic Liz Goral said. “The two casualties were lying unconscious and suffering from severe shrapnel injuries to their bodies. After performing resuscitation efforts, we had to pronounce the death of a man, approximately 40 years old, and we evacuated the second casualty in serious condition.”
The Hatzalah volunteer emergency services reported three additional injuries in the area.
Missile strikes on Israel caused significant property damage over the weekend in Tel Aviv and Rishon LeZion, a large city in central Israel. Overnight Sunday, a woman in the Rishon Lezion area was treated for a head injury after being hit by flying rocks.
Since the beginning of Operation Lion’s Roar, there have been 13 fatalities. Emergency service Magen David Adom has treated 622 injured people, the majority of whom were injured making their way to shelter or in traffic accidents related to stopping suddenly for missile sirens.
IDF International Media Spokesperson Nadav Shoshani said in a briefing on Monday that though “the amount [of missiles] in each barrage is going down, they are still dangerous. We have seen what one missile can do … some of them carry warheads that weigh a ton. We have seen Iran use weapons that constitute war crimes – cluster munitions – almost on a daily basis.”
Saudi Arabia had its first two fatalities from the Iranian attacks over the weekend: an Indian national and a Bangladeshi national, both of whom were in residential areas when they were killed. The State Department ordered diplomats at the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, which faced several attacks by Iran last week, to leave the Gulf state.
In Lebanon, two IDF soldiers were killed over the weekend by a missile fired by Hezbollah. The soldiers were retrieving a vehicle from a position in southern Lebanon at the time they were killed, the IDF Spokesperson’s Office said. One soldier, combat engineer Maher Hatar, 38, was the first Druze soldier killed in the war. The second soldier’s identity has not been cleared for publication.
Shoshani said that in the week since Hezbollah joined Iran’s attacks on Israel, they have launched hundreds of rockets and UAVs at Israel.
“Hezbollah is present in southern Lebanon,” Shoshani said. “The IDF is standing between the terrorists and [Israeli] civilians. … Hezbollah has spent decades amassing weapons, and even though we spent the last 2.5 years degrading those weapons, they still are able to threaten our civilians.”
The IDF conducted a raid in southern Lebanon on Sunday night, Shoshani said, emphasizing that it was limited and “not the beginning of a ground maneuver.”
The IDF also struck Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force commanders based in Beirut over the weekend.
Also over the weekend, IDF soldiers unsuccessfully searched a cemetery in Lebanon for the remains of Ron Arad, an Israeli Air Force navigator who disappeared in 1986. The IDF said that there were no clashes with Hezbollah and that soldiers were not fired upon, while Lebanon’s health ministry reported that dozens of people were killed in the operation.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that “the operation … did not yield the findings we were looking for, but the commitment of the state of Israel and my own commitment to complete all the missions regarding our captives and missing is absolute and constant. So it has been and so it shall be.”
Arad’s widow, Tami, expressed misgivings about the operation in a Facebook post: “Our desire to know what happened to Ron stops as soon as there is a risk to IDF soldiers. In our view, the sanctity of life comes before the commitment to return the remains of a fighter for burial. This is our worldview regarding our loved one who disappeared some 40 years ago. … We appreciate the state of Israel’s commitment and at the same time we ask … do not instruct [to begin] operations with even a minimal risk to the fighters.”
White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s informal advisor, are set to visit Israel on Tuesday, a Trump administration source confirmed to Jewish Insider overnight. Later, unconfirmed reports on Monday said that the trip was called off.
The scheduled visit comes after Israel bombed Iranian oil facilities over the weekend. Israel notified the U.S. in advance of the strikes, but Washington reportedly misunderstood the extent of the planned attacks, which went further than the White House expected.
Shoshani said that the fuel depot was connected to the IRGC.
Over the weekend, the IDF also struck an Iranian Internal Security command center in Isfahan, as well as a base used by the IRGC, IRGC police and the Basij paramilitary force. In another wave of strikes, the IDF hit the IRGC Space Agency, which included the command-and-control structure for the Khayyam satellite used to monitor Israel.
“The strikes were completed as part of the phase of deepening the damage to the core arrays and foundations of the Iranian regime,” the IDF Spokesperson’s Office said.
In addition, the IDF struck F14 fighter jets at Isfahan airport, along with detection and air defense systems and two major ballistic and cruise missile production sites in Parchin and Shahrud.
The IDF also killed Abu al-Qassem Baba’iyan, head of the military office of the Iranian supreme leader and the chief of staff of the emergency command, who was responsible for coordinating between the Iranian regime’s military groups to attack Israel. His predecessor, Ali Shadmani, was killed by Israel in last year’s war with Iran.
The Islamic Republic officially confirmed on Sunday that Mojtaba Khamenei, a son of assassinated Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, would succeed his father. Trump said last week that appointing the younger Khamenei was “unacceptable,” and that he would play a significant role in choosing the country’s next leader. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has said that “any leader appointed by the Iranian terror regime will be a clear target for elimination.”
This post has been edited to correct the number of fatalities that occurred on March 9.
Plus, Hollywood stars come out for Israel
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👋 Good Thursday morning!
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we look at efforts by Jewish groups to lobby Democratic governors to opt into a new federal education tax credit program, and report on IL-9 congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh’s comments at a debate last night expressing opposition to U.S. support for Israel’s Iron Dome missile-defense system. We cover D.C. mayoral candidate Janeese Lewis George’s pledge to the DSA that she would reject interactions with the “Zionist lobby,” and report on a new lawsuit filed by Jewish groups against California for its failure to address antisemitism in K-12 schools in the state. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rep. Greg Landsman and Jay Solomon.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by JI Executive Editor Melissa Weiss and Israel Editor Tamara Zieve, with assists from Danielle Cohen-Kanik and Marc Rod. Have a tip? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
- White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are back in Geneva for Omani-brokered talks with Iran. The meeting comes two days after Witkoff, speaking at AIPAC’s Congressional Summit in Washington, said that any future nuclear deal with Iran should last indefinitely — a departure from the Obama administration’s 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which included sunset clauses.
- President Donald Trump will receive an intelligence briefing at 11 a.m.
- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi wraps up his two-day visit to Israel today. In a speech yesterday at the Knesset — which was also attended by former New York Mayor Eric Adams — Modi, who was the first Indian leader to address the Israeli body, pledged that “India stands with Israel firmly with full conviction in this moment and beyond.”
- In California, JCRC Bay Area, the Jewish Federation Los Angeles and JPAC are hosting the Jewish California 2026 Governor Candidate Forum at the Skirball Center in Los Angeles. Speakers at the forum are set to include entrepreneur Tom Steyer, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), political commentator Steve Hilton, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
- Jewish Alumni Strong is hosting a screening on Capitol Hill this afternoon of Duki Dror’s 2025 film “Unraveling UNRWA,” about the embattled U.N. organization.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S JOSH KRAUSHAAR
A pair of new polls — one in a Democratic Senate primary in Maine and one in a Republican gubernatorial primary in Florida — should sound alarm bells about the political and ideological trajectory of Gen Z voters, and the younger generation’s creeping tolerance of antisemitism that transcends party ID.
While the top lines from the polls generated the most headlines, the more notable takeaway was just how different the preferences of Boomers and Gen Zers were — even among those affiliated with the same party. The younger voters gravitated toward the candidates with checkered (at best) records on antisemitism.
James Fishback, a 31-year-old Republican investor who made a name for himself with incendiary social media posts attacking Israel and invoking antisemitic tropes, is barely winning a following among most Florida Republicans as he runs for governor. But among younger Republican voters, he appears to be building a growing base of support.
Graham Platner, an anti-establishment oyster farmer who for years had a skull-and-bones Totenkopf tattoo on his chest, a symbol adopted by a Nazi SS unit, is barely facing any backlash from Maine voters in his outsider Senate campaign. (He had the tattoo covered up during the campaign, amid widespread controversy.) Indeed, he may soon become the favorite to win the Senate seat in Maine, fueled by near-universal support among younger Democratic voters.
The polling underscores the dramatic generational disconnect.
TAXING TALK
Democratic governors facing push from Jewish groups to embrace education tax credits
At the start of a pivotal campaign cycle, Democratic governors will face a politically high-stakes decision this year on a new education policy that President Donald Trump signed into law last year. One provision of Republicans’ sweeping spending package adopted in 2025 — dubbed the “One Big Beautiful Bill” by Trump — was a measure that provides a dollar-for-dollar federal tax credit for people who donate to approved scholarship organizations that can support a range of education expenses, including private school tuition and tutoring. Individual states must opt in for taxpayers to be eligible for the credit of up to $1,700 annually, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
The dilemma: Democratic governors, skeptical of school choice programs and wary of powerful teachers’ unions, face a tricky choice. They have to opt in by the end of the year for taxpayers to be eligible for the credit. The National Education Association urged lawmakers to vote against the bill last year, and has said that “voucher-inspired schemes” like the federal tax credit program “erode public education, the foundation of our democracy.” (An NEA spokesperson declined to comment on Wednesday.) Orthodox Jewish groups have long supported school choice efforts, including vouchers, while most non-Orthodox groups sat out those matters in the past or opposed them. Now, Orthodox leaders are being joined by the Jewish Federations of North America as the umbrella group urges Democratic governors to support the bill.
Bonus: eJewishPhilanthropy’s Nira Dayanim does a deep dive into the program and how it could impact the Jewish community.
EXCLUSIVE
Rep. Greg Landsman: U.S., allies ‘may very well need’ to carry out targeted strikes on Iran
Rep. Greg Landsman (D-OH) said that the U.S. and its allies “may very well need to take defensive action, targeting military assets in Iran,” in a statement shared with Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod on Wednesday.
Notable quotable: “Targeted strikes on known ballistic missiles and rocket infrastructure and other weapons depots, including nuclear assets, may very well save lives,” Landsman said. “The region and world would be a much safer place if the regime’s military capacity was leveled. These targeted strikes could prevent war, which should be the goal of any effort.” While Landsman didn’t explicitly say in the statement that he intends to oppose the war powers resolution on Iran that may come to a vote before the House next week, his position suggests that he’s skeptical of that effort.
Schedule check: Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) told reporters on Wednesday that a Senate resolution blocking the use of military force against Iran without congressional authorization is likely to come up for a vote next week, though it could come as early as Thursday.
Veep’s view: Vice President JD Vance urged the Iranian regime on Wednesday to take President Donald Trump’s diplomatic overtures “seriously,” cautioning that the president has “a number of tools at his disposal” to keep the “craziest and worst regime in the world” from acquiring nuclear weapons, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports.
PRAIRIE STATE DEBATE
Abughazaleh says she doesn’t support Iron Dome, dodges on Israel’s right to exist
At a televised debate in Illinois’ 9th Congressional District on Wednesday evening, far-left activist and social media influencer Kat Abughazaleh said she would not support continued aid for Israel’s Iron Dome, dodged a question on Israel’s right to exist and said that President Donald Trump is only considering strikes on Iran because he wants to “bomb more brown people,” Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
What she said: Asked whether she supports Israel’s right to exist, Abughazaleh responded, “I think that this question is said as if it doesn’t exist. What we need is to ensure that any solution, whether it is a two-state, a single secular state, whatever it is, is negotiated not by America, but by the people that actually live there.” Asked whether she would support conditioning defensive systems like Iron Dome, Abughazaleh responded, “Defensive weaponry is an oxymoron. Weapons are inherently offensive.”
Exclusive: Amid attacks from anti-Israel activists and groups over her support for Israel and backing from pro-Israel supporters, Illinois state Sen. Laura Fine, a Democrat running for an open Illinois House seat, unapologetically championed her backing for the Jewish state in a position paper obtained by Jewish Insider.
DRAWING LINES
D.C. mayoral candidate Janeese Lewis George vows to reject ‘Zionist lobby’ in seeking DSA endorsement
Washington, D.C., mayoral candidate Janeese Lewis George told the Metro D.C. chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America that she will not attend events focused on “promoting Zionism and apartheid,” according to a questionnaire from the group that she filled out prior to earning its endorsement earlier this month, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
Candidate commitments: “I will refrain from going on any political junkets to Israel. I will also not attend events focused on obfuscating the realities of occupation or promoting Zionism and apartheid,” Lewis George wrote in her answers on the questionnaire, which the local DSA group posted to its website. Lewis George described herself as “a proud member of Metro DC DSA.” The DSA questionnaire asks candidates to publicly support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, and to refrain from engaging with “the Israeli government or Zionist lobby groups” — a category that it said includes AIPAC, Democratic Majority for Israel, Christians United for Israel and the more liberal J Street.
EDUCATION CONSTERNATION
Jewish groups file suit against California for widespread failure to address antisemitism in K-12 schools
Jewish legal groups filed a lawsuit on Thursday against the State of California over an alleged failure to address antisemitism — some of which is stemming from teachers’ unions — in K-12 public schools across the state. Filed by the Louis D. Brandeis Center For Human Rights Under Law and StandWithUs, with outside counsel from veteran California plaintiffs’ attorney Michael Sherman, the suit also names the California State Board of Education, the State Department of Education and Superintendent Tony Thurmond, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
Details: It highlights several complaints from Jewish parents and children statewide, in school districts including Berkeley, Los Angeles, Santa Clara, San Francisco, Campbell Union, Fremont, Etiwanda and Oakland. In the Berkeley Unified School District, which has been a hotbed for antisemitic incidents since the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks, a ninth grader said his art teacher displayed a Star of David with a fist punching through it. The same teacher promoted a walkout filled with chants that included, “F*ck the Jews,” according to the complaint, which states that when the student’s mother reported the teacher’s conduct, the school’s solution was to separate the Jewish student from his class in the library and health center.
ON THE STAGE
Hollywood stars highlight link between Jews and Israel at Carnegie Hall performance
Call it a mash note to Jewish identity, and to the Jewish homeland. Hollywood heavyweights took to New York City’s world-renowned Carnegie Hall stage on Tuesday night to highlight the link between the Jewish people and the land of Israel, spanning thousands of years, in the form of recounting historic love letters to the Jewish state, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
Letters of legacy: “Letters, Light and Love” made its U.S. premiere in a one-night only performance hosted by UJA-Federation of New York as Jewish celebrities including Amy Schumer, David Schwimmer, Debra Messing, Tovah Feldshuh, Jonah Platt and Michael Aloni read excerpts of letters written about Israel across centuries. The notes came from writers such as Julius Caesar, Maimonides, Golda Meir, Sir Moses Montefiore, Albert Einstein, Harry Truman, John Adams, Winston Churchill and Leonard Bernstein.
On the air: The first episode of “David: King of Israel,” a new four-part Fox Nation docudrama, premieres on Thursday, offering a dramatic reenactment of the biblical coming-of-age story of King David that provides relevant lessons in a time of conflict, actor Zachary Levi, the series’ host, told Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen.
Worthy Reads
The Brown-Bag Candidate: The Atlantic’s Mark Leibovich interviews former Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) as Brown aims to flip the seat that he — and Democrats — see as a possible pick-up in the midterms. “I asked Brown why he thought Democrats had lost so much credibility with blue-collar, lower- and middle-income citizens. In a historic flip of party identity, voters are now more likely to view Republicans as better attuned to the concerns of working-class people, whereas Democrats are more associated with affluent, college-educated elites. ‘From your perspective, what has that evolution been like over the years?’ I asked. Brown blew off my question. ‘I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about it,’ he said. ‘This might surprise you.’ … But it is perhaps another element of Brown’s appeal that he tends not to get bogged down in hifalutin theories or sociology (his Yale degree notwithstanding). He prides himself on being an unglamorous advocate, who has earned enough trust with enough voters to defy Ohio’s Republican trend lines. At least until he didn’t.” [TheAtlantic]
Angst Over AIPAC: In The Times of Israel, Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt, the chair of the Zionist Rabbinic Coalition, raises concerns about recent pledges by candidates and elected officials not to take donations affiliated with AIPAC. “This approach feeds stereotypes about Jewish money and political influence that can lead to antisemitic targeting of Jews. No other community is similarly vilified for donating money to candidates who support their policy priorities, nor would it be tolerated. Most candidates have no problem accepting funds from special-interest groups or corporations who have a particular cause to promote, including those who overtly advocate for policies from which they will personally benefit. Perhaps the time has come to pay more attention to candidates who support certain oil-rich countries in the Middle East who have sought to buy influence and the source of their funding, rather than American Jews.” [TOI]
Word on the Street
The NYPD declared before the New York City Council on Wednesday that it has “no objections” to Council Speaker Julie Menin’s proposal compelling the department to develop a policy for establishing “buffer zones” outside houses of worship during protests, Jewish Insider’s Will Bredderman reports…
Protests tied to the San Francisco chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America at an event on tax reform with San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie included chants to “Tax the rich” that morphed into calls to “Tax the Israel” and at least one person shouting “Tax the Jews”; the X account for Gov. Gavin Newsom’s press office called the incident “[d]isgusting,” while former Obama administration advisor David Axelrod called it “really alarming. Echoes of another, very dark time”…
The U.S. Coast Guard is investigating an incident in which a swastika was found at a recruit training facility in Cape May, N.J.; the incident comes months after the Coast Guard temporarily downgraded the image’s designation as a hate symbol…
Attorneys for rapper Kanye West, now known as Ye, are appealing a lower court ruling that rejected his effort to squash a workplace discrimination lawsuit filed by a former employee who alleged she was subject to antisemitism while an employee of West; attorneys for the rapper are arguing that West’s comments, which including describing himself as a “Nazi” and “Hitler,” are protected as artistic expression…
Former Harvard President Larry Summers will resign from teaching at the university following the release of documents that showed a close relationship between Summers, a former Treasury secretary, and Jeffrey Epstein…
The U.K. is delaying a parliamentary vote on the decision to transfer the Chagos Islands, which houses the U.S.’ Diego Garcia military base that serves as a counterweight to Chinese influence in the region, to the Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius, following criticism of the deal by President Donald Trump…
The New York Times interviewed dozens of medical professionals in Iran about treating patients who were injured in the recent widespread protests and violently suppressed by the government…
KLM announced a “temporary” suspension of flights between Amsterdam and Israel, effective March 1…
Legislation that would amend Israel’s 1967 Protection of Holy Places Law and effectively criminalize egalitarian prayer at the Western Wall in Jerusalem passed its first legislative reading, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross reports…
The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem announced it will set up for one day later this week in Efrat, the first time the embassy will offer consular services in a West Bank settlement; an embassy spokesperson said the move did not reflect a change in U.S. policy toward the West Bank…
Right-wing Israeli activists staged a third protest in as many weeks outside the home of Lucy Aharish, stemming from comments the Israeli Arab news anchor made earlier this month criticizing the government’s lack of response to a recent uptick in violence in the Israeli Arab community…
The New York Times spotlights the growing popularity in Australia of the One Nation party and its leader, anti-immigration activist Pauline Hanson, amid shifting public attitudes in the country around immigration that spiked following the December 2025 terror attack at a Sydney Hanukkah celebration…
Former Wall Street Journal reporter Jay Solomon is joining The George Washington University’s Program on Extremism as executive head of investigations…
Book publisher Ann Godoff, who led Random House before moving over to Penguin Press, died at 76…
Pic of the Day
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was honored yesterday by Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana with a medal for his “significant contributions to the State of Israel and the Jewish people.”
Birthdays
Founder and editor-in-chief of Tablet, Alana Newhouse turns 50…
Professor emeritus of sociology and Jewish studies at Rutgers University, Chaim Isaac Waxman, Ph.D. turns 85… Businessman, art collector and political activist, he is the president of the World Jewish Congress since 2007, Ronald Lauder turns 82… Professor emeritus in the sociology and anthropology school of Tel Aviv University, Yehouda Shenhav turns 74… Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter in multiple musical genres, he has sold over 75 million records, Michael Bolton turns 73… Former member of the Knesset for the Labor Party, she is now president of Beit Berl College, Yael “Yuli” Tamir turns 72… Julie Levitt Applebaum… Member of the Knesset for over 30 years, he is the former Israeli national security advisor, Tzachi Hanegbi turns 69… Former U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey, now a partner at Arnold & Porter, Paul J. Fishman turns 69… Professor of sociology and bioethics at Emory University, he is the older brother of Rabbi David Wolpe, Paul Root Wolpe turns 69… CEO and Chairman at Gilgamesh Pharmaceuticals, Jonathan Sporn, M.D. turns 68… U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) turns 68… Partner at Unfiltered Media, Alan Rosenblatt, Ph.D…. Theoretical physicist who works on astrophysics and cosmology, Abraham “Avi” Loeb turns 64… CEO at Rutgers University Hillel, Lisa Harris Glass… President of MLB’s Miami Marlins from 2002-2017, he was a contestant in the 28th season of “Survivor” in 2014, David P. Samson turns 58… Motivational speaker, focused on anti-bullying, Jon Pritikin turns 53… First violin and concertmaster (since she was 26) for the D.C.-based National Symphony Orchestra, Nurit Bar-Josef turns 51… Member of the House of Representatives (D-NY-10), he is an heir to the Levi Strauss & Co. fortune, Daniel Sachs Goldman turns 50… Entrepreneur, she launched “Student of Life, For Life” in 2020, Rebekah Victoria Paltrow Neumann turns 48… Special assistant to the president and director of Jewish engagement in the White House Faith Office, Martin J. Marks turns 45… Brett Michael Kaufman…
Plus, Witkoff calls for indefinite Iran nuclear deal
Mario Tama/Getty Images
An attendee wears a jacket at an Iowa caucus watch party organized by Metro D.C. Democratic Socialists of America, on February 3, 2020 in Washington, DC.
Good Wednesday afternoon!
This P.M. edition is reserved for our premium subscribers — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
It’s me again — Danielle Cohen-Kanik, U.S. editor at Jewish Insider and curator, along with assists from my colleagues, of the Daily Overtime. Please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts and feedback by replying to this email.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
Ahead of the third round of U.S.-Iran negotiations taking place in Geneva tomorrow, Vice President JD Vance told Fox News that President Donald Trump “has a number of other tools at his disposal” besides diplomacy to ensure “the craziest and worst regime in the world” does not obtain nuclear weapons, following on the president’s remarks during last night’s State of the Union calling Iran “the world’s No. 1 sponsor of terror”…
In response to Trump’s comments, where he also said Iran was developing advanced ballistic missiles and had killed 32,000 protesters, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei tied Trump to the “law of propaganda coined by Nazi [chief propagandist] Joseph Goebbels.”
“This is now systematically used by the U.S. administration and the war profiteers encircling it, particularly the genocidal Israeli regime … Whatever they’re alleging in regards to Iran’s nuclear program, Iran’s ballistic missiles, and the number of casualties during January’s unrest is simply the repetition of ‘big lies,’” Baghaei wrote on X…
White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, who is leading Iran negotiations alongside Jared Kushner, reportedly told AIPAC members at the group’s summit in Washington yesterday that any deal reached with Iran should not have a “sunset clause,” as the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action was criticized for.
“We start with the Iranians with the premise that there is no sunset provision. Whether we get a deal or not, our premise is: you have to behave for the rest of your lives,” Witkoff told the group, according to Axios. He said talks are currently focused only on the nuclear issue, but if they are successful, the administration would look to hold additional talks on Tehran’s missile program and support for terror proxies…
Satellite photos analyzed by the Associated Press appear to show U.S. ships that typically dock in Bahrain as part of the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet have moved out to sea. The 5th Fleet similarly scattered its ships during the U.S. strikes in Iran last June…
Dutch airline KLM announced a suspension of flights between its hub in Amsterdam and Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport starting March 1 until further notice, saying in a statement that it is currently “not commercially or operationally feasible for KLM to operate flights to Tel Aviv.” It’s the first airline to pause flights amid the current unrest with Iran…
On the campaign trail, Washington, D.C., mayoral candidate Janeese Lewis George vowed to reject the “Zionist lobby” in a questionnaire seeking the endorsement of the Metro D.C. chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports, a category that the DSA said includes AIPAC, Democratic Majority for Israel, Christians United for Israel and J Street.
Referencing her appearance at an event with the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington in December, Lewis George assured the DSA she “disagree[s] with the JCRC on a number of issues,” including its opposition to describing Israel’s actions in Gaza as a genocide and its “definition of antisemitism that criminalizes dissent, and their attacks on activists.”
Ron Halber, CEO of the JCRC, told JI, “As far as I’m concerned, [the DSA’s questionnaire] is an antisemitic manifesto. They are making the price of their endorsement the social exclusion of Jews”…
Illinois state Sen. Laura Fine, a Democrat running for an open Illinois House seat, unapologetically championed her backing for Israel in a position paper obtained by JI’s Marc Rod, amid attacks from anti-Israel activists and groups over her support for the Jewish state and backing from pro-Israel supporters.
Fine described Israel in the paper as “more than just a strategic ally, it is a beacon of democracy in one of the world’s most volatile regions,” as she and some of her primary opponents, including Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss and far-left activist Kat Abughazaleh, are set to participate in a televised debate tonight…
The U.S.-led Board of Peace released a video today laying out its vision for Gaza. The board’s goal by Year 3 is to fully rebuild the southern Gazan city of Rafah and have Gaza “connected to the world through an Abrahamic gateway, linking it with Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and extending to India and Europe.” By the board’s 10th year, it said, Gaza will be “self-governed,” without specifying who will oversee the enclave and how Hamas will be removed from power…
Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana awarded Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi the newly established Medal of the Knesset, the highest honor of the body, after Modi’s address there today. His remarks were warmly received by members of Knesset and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was also in the chamber…
Following Israel’s recognition of Somaliland’s independence in December, Jerusalem accepted the appointment of Mohamed Hagi as the first Somaliland ambassador to the Jewish state (and its first fully accredited ambassador anywhere in the world). Hagi “was a member of the inner circle of officials who promoted the establishment of relations between Israel and Somaliland,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry said, and vowed that a reciprocal Israeli ambassador “will soon be appointed”…
Former Harvard President Larry Summers will remain on leave from his teaching position at the Ivy League school for the duration of the academic year, at which point he will retire, Harvard announced today, after files released by the Department of Justice showed Summers maintained a relationship with sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein after the financier had been convicted of prostitution involving a minor…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for a preview of Fox Nation’s new docudrama on King David, offering a dramatic reenactment of the biblical coming-of-age story of the Jewish leader.
White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will hold discussions with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Geneva, mediated by Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi.
California Jewish groups including the JCRC Bay Area, the Jewish Federation of Los Angeles and Jewish California, which rebranded today from its previous name of JPAC, are hosting a forum for candidates running for governor, as Gov. Gavin Newsom reaches his term limit. Participating candidates include former presidential contender Tom Steyer, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, all of whom are Democrats, as well as Republican commentator Steve Hilton.
Stories You May Have Missed
PUSHING BACK
Moderate Democrats mock notion that Kamala Harris lost because she wasn’t tougher on Israel
Rep. Jared Moskowitz, representing a swing district: ‘The idea that the vice president lost every swing state because she wasn’t more extreme on this issue is laughable’
CAPPELLO’S CAMPAIGN
Democrat John Cappello brings military experience in Israel to race against Mike Lawler
The Air Force veteran, who served for six years at the U.S. Embassy in Israel, said Israel should continue to make efforts toward peace
Plus, major Dem donor calls out 'Jew hate' in party
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
President Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House on September 25, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Good Monday afternoon!
This P.M. edition is reserved for our premium subscribers — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
It’s me again — Danielle Cohen-Kanik, U.S. editor at Jewish Insider and curator, along with assists from my colleagues, of the Daily Overtime. Please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts and feedback by replying to this email.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
As rumors abound about the possibility and timing of U.S. strikes on Iran, the State Department ordered the evacuation of non-essential personnel and their families from the U.S. Embassy in Beirut. “Based on our latest review, we determined it prudent to reduce our footprint,” a State official told Fox News…
Nearby, amid the buildup of U.S. military assets in the region, American refueling and cargo planes were spotted at Ben Gurion Airport…
President Donald Trump denied reports that Pentagon officials, namely Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine, are raising concerns about striking Iran, writing on Truth Social this afternoon, “General Caine, like all of us, would like not to see War but, if a decision is made on going against Iran at a Military level, it is his opinion that it will be something easily won.”
“He has not spoken of not doing Iran, or even the fake limited strikes that I have been reading about, he only knows one thing, how to WIN and, if he is told to do so, he will be leading the pack,” Trump said of Caine, while alluding to the potential breadth of military action against Iran…
Secretary of State Marco Rubio pushed back his visit to Israel, originally scheduled for this weekend, to March 2, The Jerusalem Post reports, days after the next round of U.S.-Iran negotiations in Geneva on Thursday…
Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), a leader on foreign policy among Democrats in Congress, told Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs that he heard “pretty stark early warning signs of some challenges where core allies do not share our priorities” on a potential Iran strike during his recent trip t0 Europe, which included stops at the Munich Security Conference, along with meetings in Ukraine and Moldova with top European diplomats.
Coons laid out what he hopes to see from the president: “A) Consult Congress. B) Make a case to the American people about why this is in our national security interest. C) Clarify what on earth he’s planning with this Board of Peace … And D) If he’s going to work with close allies to ramp up pressure to try and achieve something at the negotiating table, he should work with close allies”…
Anthony Driver Jr., a union organizer and candidate in Illinois’ 7th Congressional District, doubled down on his recent repudiation of AIPAC, despite previously having little public record on Israel policy issues. Following a press conference last week where Driver, who is running against AIPAC-backed Chicago Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin, denounced the pro-Israel group, he returned donations from major Democratic Party donor Michael Sacks over the finance executive’s ties to AIPAC.
Sacks, who was a major backer of former President Barack Obama and former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, said in his reply, “It is truly sad there is so much anti Israel sentiment and outright Jew hate that Anthony found himself in this position. I can only hope that the electorate rejects hate in all forms”…
As more details emerge about Rep. Tony Gonzales’ (R-TX) alleged affair with a staffer who later committed suicide, a poll commissioned by the campaign of Brandon Herrera, Gonzales’ opponent, shows the congressman trailing Herrera by a whopping 24 points among likely GOP primary voters. The story, which entered the news cycle right as early voting kicked off, could catapult Herrera, a social media influencer with a history of antisemitism, to the Republican nomination and on to Congress…
Investigators at the cryptocurrency giant Binance found last year that about $1.7 billion had been sent from two accounts to Iranian entities with links to terror groups, The New York Times reports, even after Binance pleaded guilty to violating anti-money laundering laws in 2023 and vowed to prevent sanctioned actors from accessing its platform. Trump pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who was jailed for his role in the saga, in October 2025…
The Atlanta Jewish Film Festival backtracked in its defense of a juror selected for a judging panel who had posted antisemitic and anti-Israel content online, whom it had stood behind even after the Israeli Consulate in Atlanta announced it was withdrawing its funding and support of the event over the pick.
The festival changed its tune yesterday, saying it is “first and foremost, a Jewish institution” and has “a responsibility, particularly at this fraught time, to stand firmly against antisemitism and to affirm the Jewish people’s right to self-determination.” It said it would review its “organizational processes and policies, including those related to antisemitism, BDS, and cultural boycotts”…
The French Foreign Ministry has moved to block U.S. Ambassador to France Charles Kushner’s access to government officials after he declined to appear for a summons by Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot today, which was issued after the U.S. Embassy reposted comments by Trump about a far-right French activist who was killed in a clash with far-left protesters. It was Kushner’s second summons, after his first last year when he accused the French government of not adequately combating antisemitism…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for a look at Sue Altman’s shifting views on Israel as the formerly pro-Israel congressional candidate is now running in New Jersey’s more heavily Democratic 12th Congressional District.
We’ll be watching for mention of President Donald Trump’s thinking on Iran as he delivers the annual State of the Union address tomorrow night. Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger will deliver the Democratic response.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold a hearing on “advancing national security through commercial diplomacy” with Jacob Helberg, under secretary of state for economic affairs, who recently told JI that he hopes the Pax Silica initiative, which he leads, “will pave the way for peace and economic integration” in the Middle East.
Australia’s royal commission on antisemitism, formed after the Hanukkah terror attack at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, will hold its first public hearing, though no testimony or evidence will be heard.
Stories You May Have Missed
OVERTON WINDOW
Jewish Democrats alarmed about whether their party will remain welcoming
Former Democratic Rep. Kathy Manning: ‘There is no doubt that we are living through very difficult times for American Jews’
BIG TENT SHABBAT
State Dept. Shabbat dinner draws UAE, Saudi ambassadors and senior Trump officials
The dinner was hosted by Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun, the U.S. antisemitism special envoy
Plus, the spread of 'Epstein class' conspiracy theorizing
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Tucker Carlson speaks at his Live Tour at the Desert Diamond Arena on October 31, 2024 in Phoenix, Arizona.
👋 Good Wednesday morning!
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we look at the rise of the “Epstein class” turn of phrase that has increasingly come to describe politically and financially connected individuals with no links to the disgraced financier, and report on efforts by left-wing congressional candidates in Illinois to band together against AIPAC and pro-Israel groups. We talk to Rich Goldberg about what he characterizes as Iran’s posturing in negotiations with the U.S., and report on a call from the leading U.S. social work group denouncing efforts to expel Israel from the International Federation of Social Workers. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Josh Kushner, Eli Sharabi and Tracy-Ann Oberman.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by JI Executive Editor Melissa Weiss and Israel Editor Tamara Zieve, with assists from Danielle Cohen-Kanik and Marc Rod. Have a tip? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
- Tucker Carlson, who has frequently railed against the U.S.-Israel relationship and Christian Zionism, is in Israel today, where he is conducting an extensive interview with U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee. Israeli media reported that the interview is slated to take place at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport, with Carlson arriving by private plane and not leaving the airport premises. Earlier this week, Huckabee, a Baptist minister, told the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, “I figure instead of him talking about me, he should talk to me.”
- The International Federation of Social Workers is holding a vote today on whether to expel members of the Israeli Union of Social Workers, a day after the U.S.-based National Association of Social Workers came out against the move. More below.
- In California, the trial of the man accused of killing activist Paul Kessler during an incident at dueling pro- and anti-Israel rallies in Los Angeles a month after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks is slated to begin.
- Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani is in Venezuela today for meetings with senior officials. The trip is the Qatari leader’s first since the U.S. apprehended former President Nicolás Maduro last month.
- The Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy is taking place today in Switzerland. Speakers at the daylong gathering, which is being co-sponsored by dozens of organizations, include UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer, who is giving opening remarks on behalf of the sponsoring organizations, Iranian dissident writer Masih Alinejad and the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights’ Brandon Silver.
- The Kigali Forum, a conference bringing together policy leaders and think tanks from the United States, Africa and Israel to discuss “the new Middle East,” is taking place today in Kigali, Rwanda. Attendees include representatives from AIPAC, the Hudson Institute, the Atlantic Council and the American Foreign Policy Council.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S JOSH KRAUSHAAR
After AIPAC’s super PAC suffered an embarrassing setback in this month’s New Jersey special primary election — unwittingly helping boost the fortunes of Analilia Mejia, an anti-Israel, far-left candidate, with its attacks against former Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-NJ) — all eyes will be on Illinois’ upcoming primaries, and the impact of a surge in pro-Israel spending on ads in four closely watched congressional contests.
AIPAC’s super PAC, the United Democracy Project, along with other outside groups boosting the fortunes of pro-Israel candidates, are betting big on four Chicago-area candidates in crowded Democratic primaries: Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller (for the seat of retiring Rep. Robin Kelly); Chicago City Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin (for the seat of retiring Rep. Danny Davis); former Rep. Melissa Bean (for the seat of Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, who is running for Senate); and state Sen. Laura Fine (running for the seat of retiring Rep. Jan Schakowsky).
The biggest beneficiaries of outside group spending are Fine and Bean, receiving about $1.25 million apiece in air cover from Elect Chicago Women, a super PAC formed to boost their campaigns (and which appears to be a vehicle for pro-Israel supporters).
Both of those primaries, in the affluent Chicago suburbs, are developing differently.
The race to succeed Schakowsky, in a progressive-minded but notably Jewish Lakefront district, is shaping up to be the most hotly contested primary in the state. The field is similar to a lot of emerging Democratic primaries this year — one mainstream pro-Israel candidate (Fine), one harsh critic of Israel (Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss) and one all-out anti-Israel activist (social media influencer Kat Abughazaleh).
Fine, fueled by support from pro-Israel allies, raised over $1 million in the last fundraising quarter and was the first candidate to spend money on the air. That jump-start helped give her early momentum, with an internal poll from her campaign showing her tied for the lead with Biss at 21%, with Abughazeleh lagging in third place. (A subsequent internal poll released by Biss’ campaign showed Biss leading with 31%, while Fine and Abughazaleh were tied in second with 18% apiece.)
MONIKER MEANING
Anger at ‘Epstein class’ bleeds into conspiratorial finger-pointing
Since late last year, when the Justice Department began releasing millions of documents from its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, the well-connected financier and sex trafficker, each day seems to bring news of yet another luminary who had a relationship with Epstein. The revelations of Epstein’s ties to elite power brokers on both the political left and right has contributed to a deepening conspiratorial mindset among the public, as people understandably question why influencers and titans of finance stayed in close touch with a man who had been convicted of sex crimes. But the legitimate outrage at the powerful people who ignored and at times enabled Epstein’s crimes has spread beyond just those who appear in the chummy emails he exchanged. It has now, in some corners, bled into conspiratorial finger-pointing on issues that have nothing to do with the ethical concerns raised in the document dump, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
Part of the conversation: Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), a Silicon Valley progressive, has begun referring to this hodgepodge of people as the “Epstein class.” But usage of the term is not precise. It’s an anti-elite message, and Khanna is applying it more widely than just the people with whom Epstein had a relationship. “These people were at the Davos conferences together, they were financing the same politicians together,” Khanna said in a recent interview. “It’s all the same club. It’s a club. And they don’t want that club to be broken.” Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), an anti-Trump Republican who worked with Khanna on the legislation that forced the release of the files, said last week, “This is about the Epstein class,” when asked about President Donald Trump’s efforts to unseat him in this year’s midterm election.
JOINING FORCES
Left-wing congressional candidates band together in Illinois, aiming to counter moderate momentum and pro-Israel spending
Four progressive House candidates came together in the Chicago area on Tuesday to condemn reported pro-Israel spending in their districts, a sign of growing cross-district collaboration among candidates hostile to Israel as they seek to push back against pro-Israel interest groups, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. The joint press conference included Evanston, Ill., Mayor Daniel Biss, state Sen. Robert Peters, activist Junaid Ahmed and union organizer Anthony Driver Jr. All four are endorsed by the Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC.
New voice: Driver’s attendance was particularly notable given that he has little public record on Israel policy issues. He’s running in the 7th Congressional District, where the AIPAC-linked United Democracy Project has spent $753,000 — and reportedly plans close to $3 million in spending — in support of Chicago Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin. He was endorsed by the CPC on Tuesday. Meanwhile, in the 9th District, Biss has been leaning aggressively into Israel and AIPAC-related attacks on state Sen. Laura Fine as a centerpiece of his campaign.
ROCK AND A HARD PLACE
In North Carolina’s Research Triangle, pro-Israel voters at a loss
Four years after their first showdown, progressive anti-Israel activist Nida Allam and Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-NC) are facing off for a second time in the Durham, N.C.-based 4th Congressional District — but under very different circumstances, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
No clear choice: While the pro-Israel community stepped in strongly to back Foushee against the stridently anti-Israel Allam, a Durham County commissioner, in 2022, Foushee has since shifted significantly to the left on Israel policy, leaving pro-Israel backers with no clear choice in the race between an incumbent who has abandoned her support of Israel and a challenger with a deeper hostility to the Jewish state. Foushee, in 2022, was backed by more than $2 million in outside spending by the United Democracy Project, marking one of the AIPAC-aligned super PAC’s early, defining victories. But this time, that pro-Israel support for Foushee is unlikely to materalize in what has become a sprint to the left. This time, Allam is benefiting from substantial outside spending.
Q&A
Former Trump admin official Richard Goldberg bullish on Trump enforcing Iran red line
Readouts from Iran on progress made in the latest round of negotiations with the U.S. are evidence of the regime “simply buying for time” and evidence that Tehran isn’t willing to make the concessions demanded by the Trump administration, Richard Goldberg, a former Trump administration official and senior advisor at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea in an interview Tuesday. Following the second round of nuclear negotiations, which Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called “serious, constructive and positive,” Goldberg made the case for why he thinks there’s a high likelihood of future U.S. military action against Iran, and why he sees the negotiations as diplomatic theater.
Talks takeaway: “If this was operating in a vacuum, and I saw that readout from the Iranian foreign minister, I would tell you that I thought this was a readout of one of the many rounds the regime held with [Special Envoy for Iran under President Joe Biden] Rob Malley or other diplomats from past administrations, Obama or Biden, with the sort of silliness of the readout of ‘We’ve agreed to terms in principle of what we might talk about,’” Goldberg said. “It is one of the clearest signs of a regime that’s not willing to make the tough concessions that the president has demanded, and instead is simply buying for time.”
AGAINST THE TIDE
Leading U.S. social work org comes out against efforts to expel Israel from international body
The leading membership organization of U.S. social workers called on Tuesday for the field’s largest international body to oppose efforts to expel Israel’s association of social workers, ahead of a planned vote on that question slated for Wednesday, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports. The International Federation of Social Workers will vote on Wednesday on a contentious effort to expel the Israeli Union of Social Workers, after some European members complained that Israeli social workers had served in combat roles during Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. A petition, organized by several Jewish social work associations, circulated last week urging the U.S.-based National Association of Social Workers and the Canadian Association of Social Workers to come out against the measure garnered more than 12,000 signatures.
Speaking out: NASW — which boasts more than 120,000 members and claims to be the largest national social work organization in the world — weighed in for the first time with a statement on Tuesday urging IFSW members to vote against the measure in order “to uphold the profession’s core values of unity, dialogue and compassion.” The NASW said in a statement, “We are deeply surprised and disappointed that our European colleagues, who have not experienced circumstances comparable to those faced by their Israeli counterparts, are now seeking to judge and exclude them. We hope that, should they ever face similar challenges, they are met with the compassion, understanding, and empathy that they are currently denying to their Israeli colleagues.”
brussels debacle
Sole Jewish lawmaker in Belgium faces backlash amid spat with U.S. over mohels
The long-simmering controversy over whether mohels can perform ritual circumcisions in Belgium broke dramatically into international public view this week, over a case involving the prosecution of three mohels. The controversy, which touches on sensitive religious, legal and diplomatic matters, has ensnared the only Jewish lawmaker in Belgium, Michael Freilich, as well as the U.S. ambassador to Belgium, Bill White, who accused the country of antisemitism over the legal action. And it stretches from Antwerp, home to a large Orthodox Jewish community, to Washington, to Jerusalem, where Israel’s foreign minister has weighed in, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports.
The matter at hand: It comes after Belgian police arrested the mohels, Jewish religious authorities who conduct circumcisions, during a series of raids last May in Antwerp. The individuals have been charged with performing a medical procedure without a license. While Brussels has not specifically outlawed ritual circumcision, it requires a doctor to perform the procedure. There are no mohels who are also doctors in Belgium, a source close to Freilich told JI, and Jewish law requires a mohel to be Jewish. Freilich has become the target of accusations from his fellow lawmakers, in light of a recent interview to a Yiddish-language newspaper Der Yid, in which he recounted raising the matter at a roundtable discussion with members of Congress during a visit to Washington.
Worthy Reads
Ignoring Red Lines: The editorial board of The Wall Street Journal warns that Iran is hoping the Trump administration will follow in the footsteps of the Obama administration and only focus on Iran’s nuclear program in talks, even as President Donald Trump has pledged to come to the defense of Iranian protesters. “Mr. Trump prizes flexibility, and he could ignore any red line he has drawn, as Mr. Obama did at great cost in Syria. But given the ideas Iran has floated so far, a deal would likely require Mr. Trump to cave. Why would he do that while the regime is afraid of its own people, badly weakened militarily by Israel and under financial pressure? The main concession Iran is discussing is to suspend uranium enrichment for a time. But Iran isn’t enriching now, thanks to U.S. bombers, and it isn’t ready to resume. In exchange for that status quo, Tehran wants U.S. sanctions relief, which would be a lifeline to the regime and a betrayal of the protesters.” [WSJ]
Vance’s False Idol: Tablet’s Liel Leibovitz shares a letter he wrote to an unnamed Catholic friend about his concerns around antisemitism and anti-Zionism in the Catholic Church, following the controversy last week resulting from comments by a Catholic member of the White House’s Religious Liberty Commission. “I admire Vice President JD Vance’s journey, and I want to believe that he respects my people and faith as much as I respect his. But watching him in public these days sends shivers down my spine. With one morally clear statement, he could disempower this entire emerging false idol. Instead, he’s doing the opposite. … That the Vice President would choose to center his faith not in deep, meaningful, personal, and evocative ways but as a facile and misdirected talking point is concerning. When we say we want more faith in public life, I’m not sure even the most ardently observant among us has in mind a world in which our elected officials are guided by theological urges rather than by America’s cold, hard interests.” [Tablet]
Word on the Street
Vice President JD Vance said that Iranian officials were still unwilling to acknowledge “some red lines” set by the U.S. in negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program, as Axios reports that a war between the U.S. and Iran, likely with Israeli involvement, “could begin very soon”…
A week after Carrie Prejean Boller was removed from the White House Religious Liberty Commission after making stridently anti-Zionist comments at a hearing on antisemitism last week, Sameerah Munshi, a member of the commission’s advisory board, came to Prejean Boller’s defense. “It is my hope as an American that ‘America First’ prevails for Carrie and ordinary Americans over an ‘Israel First’ project bent on eroding the constitutional protections that belong to every American,” Munshi said on Monday. She remains an advisor to the commission…
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate, is releasing a book later this year focused on his Christian faith…
House Democrats are mulling a forced vote to censure Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) for recent Islamophobic comments made on social media if House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) does not take action…
The New York Times does a deep dive into the fractured relationship between the Black and Jewish communities following comments by Rev. Jesse Jackson, who died yesterday, to The Washington Post in 1984 in which he referred to Jews as “Hymies” and New York City as “Hymietown”…
Thrive Capital founder Joshua Kushner announced that Thrive was closing its 10th fund, with the majority of the more than $10 billion raised going to designated growth-stage investments…
Eric Trump is investing in Israeli drone maker Xtend in a deal that will merge the Israeli company with Florida-based construction company JFB Construction — which says it already has a multimillion-dollar Pentagon contract — with plans to take the new company public…
Scotiabank dissolved its remaining 165,000 shares in Israel’s Elbit Systems, after facing activist pressure, including protests outside branches of the Canadian bank and the disruption of an awards ceremony sponsored by the bank…
A federal judge blocked the deportation of Columbia University graduate student Mohsen Mahdawi, who led anti-Israel protests at the university, citing a procedural misstep by federal attorneys who failed to certify a document that was to be used as evidence against Mahdawi…
A U.N. committee under the body’s Human Rights Council rebuked the European countries that have in recent days called for the removal of Francesca Albanese as special rapporteur for the Palestinian territories, saying that the moves against Albanese, who recently came under fire for comments in which she called Israel the “common enemy” of humanity, were “vicious attacks, rooted in disinformation”…
Radio Télévision Suisse removed commentary from one of its broadcasters covering the Olympic men’s bobsled races over his remarks regarding Israeli bobsled captain AJ Edelman’s support for Israel, which the commentator described as support for “genocide,” saying that Stefan Renna’s comments “may have appeared inappropriate due to its length within the context of a sports commentary”…
A new YouGov poll commissioned by the Council for a Secure America found majority support in Syria for both U.S. engagement (65%), as well as a security arrangement with Israel (64%)…
Syria is closing the al-Hol detention camp that previously housed tens of thousands of people, including Islamic State members and their families, weeks after the Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdish group that had been supported by the U.S. and had been overseeing it, withdrew amid a takeover of the region by Syrian government forces…
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday slammed Israel’s recent recognition of Somaliland, arguing that the recognition does not help any party…
Eli Sharabi’s Hostage, which recounts his 16 months in Hamas captivity, was named the book of the year at the Jewish Book Council’s National Jewish Book Awards…
Yoav Gonen, formerly a reporter at The City, is joining the office of New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin as communications director…
Jewish Currents tapped former Forward reporter Joshua Nathan-Kazis to join its staff…
Cato Institute co-founder Edward Crane, who established the libertarian think tank in 1977, died at 81…
Pic of the Day
British actor Tracy-Ann Oberman was named as a member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire from King Charles in a ceremony on Tuesday at Windsor Castle.
Birthdays
French movie actor, Esther Garrel turns 35…
Rosh yeshiva at Yeshiva University, he also holds a Ph.D. in operations research from NYU, Rabbi Hershel Reichman turns 82… Former U.S. representative from New York for 32 years, he was chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Eliot Engel turns 79… Former national and Washington correspondent for The New York Times for 24 years, Michael Janofsky… Russian pharmaceutical businessman, Boris Spiegel turns 73… Principal at NYC-based Liebman Advisors, Scott Liebman… Israeli singer and actress, Ilana Avital turns 66… Portfolio manager at Capital Group, she holds a master’s degree in economics from New York University, Hilda Lea Applbaum… Co-principal of the Institute for Wise Philanthropy, Mirele B. Goldsmith… Mayor of Miami Beach, Fla., from 2013-2017, Philip Louis Levine turns 64… National director of events at the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Lori Tessel… Director of the digital diplomacy bureau at Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, David Saranga turns 62… Author and school safety activist who had a daughter, Meadow, who was killed in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in 2018, Andrew Scot Pollack turns 60… Professor emeritus of the chemistry department at Stony Brook University, she was the Democratic nominee in 2020 for the 1st Congressional District of New York, Nancy Sarah Goroff turns 58… President of Yeshiva University since 2017, Rabbi Ari Berman turns 56… CEO of an eponymous Baltimore-based branding, marketing, PR, advertising and design firm, David F. Warschawski turns 55… Fitness expert, nutritionist, media personality and author, Jillian Michaels turns 52… Actor, comedian, writer, director and producer, Isaac “Ike” Barinholtz turns 49… Co-founder (with Dan Gilbert) of StockX, the stock market for high-end product resale, it started as a secondary market for sneaker sales, Joshua Eliot “Josh” Luber turns 48… Singer-songwriter and pianist, Regina Spektor turns 46… Chief development officer for J Street, Adee Telem… Instagram celebrity, with 9.4 million followers, known commonly as The Fat Jewish, Josh Ostrovsky turns 44… President of baseball operations for the New York Mets, David Stearns turns 41… Editorial writer and opinion columnist for The Washington Post, James P. Hohmann… Deputy director of strategic planning at NYC’s Housing Authority, Dylan Sandler… Producer and off-air reporter on Capitol Hill for NBC News, Rebecca R. Kaplan…
"Iran proved time after time that its promises cannot be trusted," Netanyahu told Witkoff in Jerusalem meeting
Kobi Gideon (GPO)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meeting in his office with US Special Presidential Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff (Kobi Gideon (GPO)
There are few things that Ha’aretz and the pro-Netanyahu Channel 14 agree on, but with American and Iranian officials set to meet for nuclear talks on Friday, there was near wall-to-wall agreement in Israel that the talks are unlikely to bring positive results.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff during his visit to Israel on Tuesday that “Iran proved time after time that its promises cannot be trusted,” according to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office.
An Israeli military source told Channel 14 that Netanyahu also warned Witkoff that Iran wants to use the negotiations to “kill time … to transfer offensive weapons to hiding places.”
Witkoff, along with Jared Kushner, are set to represent the U.S. in the talks, which were originally set to be held in Turkey but have reportedly been moved to Oman, and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is expected to lead his country’s negotiating team. Iran has also demanded that the negotiations be limited to its nuclear program, while the U.S. seeks to curb Tehran’s ballistic missile program and support for regional proxies.
Hours after Witkoff met with Netanyahu on Tuesday, Iran launched a drone at the USS Abraham Lincoln, which the military shot down, and a U.S. ship escaped an Iranian attempt to stop it at sea.
Jerusalem eyed the move toward negotiations with Iran with skepticism.
Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen, a member of the Security Cabinet, said on Wednesday, “Let’s admit the truth. There is no value to a diplomatic agreement with Iran.”
“Iran has never kept any of its commitments, and even if it agrees to something, it’ll be a hudna [Arabic for a temporary ceasefire] until Trump is out of office,” Cohen told Israel’s 103FM.
Cohen said that “Trump is a businessman who wants the bottom line, and therefore he is taking his time to bring it. Our message to the U.S. is that negotiations with Iran are a waste of time.”
Cohen argued that it is in the interest of the region to see the Islamic Republic fall: “Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE and Azerbaijan told the U.S. ‘don’t attack Iran’ out of fear. It’s clearly lip service.”
Ehud Ya’ari, the in-house Middle East analyst for Israel’s Channel 12, wrote in an article published Wednesday that the talks will try to reach “an interim arrangement that will relieve the tension without solving the problems.”
“A move like this is not a good enough solution for Israel,” Ya’ari wrote. “An interim agreement means freezing problems, not solving them.”
At the same time, Ya’ari argued that a broader agreement that will satisfy both Trump and Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is impossible, though an interim agreement will also be challenging.
Tamir Hayman, director of the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University and former IDF intelligence chief, told Ha’aretz‘s Hebrew podcast “The Week” that “anything is better than an agreement with Iran. …Israel does not want an agreement.”
“Israel does not want any nuclear program at all, zero enrichment,” Hayman said. “We’ll want limits to missile manufacturing and the export of terror to the Middle East export of arms. … My concern in light of past statements by Witkoff is that … he’s only dealing with nuclear and for him, any compromise on enrichment [is acceptable].”
Hayman argued that “you can’t bring down a regime that you are negotiating with…Any agreement they reach is a lifeline for the regime.”
However, he added, “even without an attack, [the mullahs] will fall in the end,” citing the tens of thousands of protesters killed and Iranian leadership’s inability to save the country’s collapsing economy.
Hayman said he used to be opposed to “managing the conflict,” but now he believes that the current situation, in which Iran there is a domestic political and economic crisis and no centrifuges are spinning in Iran, “could be good and increase the chances that it will awaken something inside [Iran].”
Meanwhile, Israelis continued to live under the shadow of threats from Iran’s regime, after over a month of concern that Iran may retaliate for an American strike by attacking Israel. The ad for the latest episode of Eretz Nehederet, Israel’s answer to SNL, opened with host Eyal Kitzis looking bored in the studio with ticking clocks behind him and the message: “So, we are still waiting for Iran to attack.”
Plus, White House press corps welcomes Hamas-friendly outlet
YAR/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images
Pedestrians walk past a mural bearing anti-American symbols on the outer wall of the former U.S. Embassy, now called the "U.S. Den of Espionage Museum," in Tehran, Iran, on October 26, 2025.
Good Monday afternoon!
This P.M. edition is reserved for our premium subscribers — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
It’s me again — Danielle Cohen-Kanik, U.S. editor at Jewish Insider and curator, along with assists from my colleagues, of the Daily Overtime. Please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts and feedback by replying to this email.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
After weeks of rising tensions, the U.S. and Iran are back on the diplomatic track: White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to meet with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Istanbul, Turkey, on Friday, Axios reports, possibly alongside Jared Kushner and the foreign ministers of several countries including Turkey, Qatar, Egypt, Oman, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
What exactly will be up for discussion in the first meeting between the U.S. and Iran since the 12-day war last June is unclear — Iranian officials have said only nuclear activity is on the table, while the U.S. has traditionally maintained support for a comprehensive deal covering nuclear, missile and terror activity…
Before the dialogue in Turkey, Witkoff is slated to stop in Israel tomorrow to consult with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, the IDF chief of staff, and hold meetings in the UAE and Qatar…
The parties are still covering all their bases: The U.S. and Israeli navies conducted a joint “routine maritime exercise” in the Red Sea today, after CENTCOM warned Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Friday to “avoid escalatory behavior at sea”…
Back in Washington, the White House tapped Drop Site News, a publication founded in 2024 to offer reporting explicitly hostile to Israel over the war in Gaza and the U.S. response to it, for the press corps’ new media seat on Sunday, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
Drop Site has credulously interviewed several Hamas leaders, vigorously denied claims that Hamas terrorists raped anyone during the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel and supported the Iranian regime during the anti-government protests last month. Its inclusion among the outlets in Sunday’s press rotation (when no press briefing was held, so its reporter did not get the opportunity to ask a question) was a marked contrast to the mostly right-wing outlets that are usually selected…
And on the campaign trail, Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) came out today in support of Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan in the closely fought Democratic primary to replace her, joining fellow progressives Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) in supporting Flanagan over the more moderate Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN). The endorsement comes days after fundraising reports for the final quarter of 2025 showed Craig raised double what Flanagan brought in ($2 million and $1 million, respectively)…
In New York City, Comptroller Mark Levine endorsed Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) in his primary against former Comptroller Brad Lander. Lander, challenging Goldman from the left on issues including his support for Israel, is endorsed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani, further highlighting divisions between Levine and the mayor as the two have sparred over issues including city investment in Israel bonds…
Jacobin profiles Diana Moreno, the democratic socialist running to fill Mamdani’s Queens seat in the state Assembly on a platform highlighting her progressive credentials as an organizer and immigrant.
“Moreno, wearing a keffiyeh, is featured in Mamdani’s launch video, pushing a stroller carrying her newborn son, saying ‘I want to raise my kid in New York.’ ‘I got pregnant one month after the genocide in Gaza started. My relationship to motherhood cannot be divorced from witnessing the world dehumanize children in Palestine,’” she said…
In New York’s 7th Congressional District, Councilmember Julie Won filed paperwork today to join the competitive race to replace retiring Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-NY). All three candidates for the highly progressive district — which include Assemblymember Claire Valdez, who has the backing of Mamdani and the DSA, and Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, who has been endorsed by Velázquez — have made comments critical of Israel.
On the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks, Won expressed hope for a ceasefire and return of the hostages, mourning the 1,200 people “brutally killed” by Hamas in Israel and the “over 40,000 brutally killed in Palestine,” a figure Israel disputed at the time.
When a campaign last summer opposing a neighborhood development plan in her district invoked antisemitic rhetoric, Won denounced the move while maintaining her support for the “free Palestine” movement, saying in a statement, “It’s extremely alarming to me that someone would go so low to co-opt a movement of free Palestine for their own purpose — to incite anger and potentially violence … It’s shameful to compare Long Island City to Gaza — where people are literally losing their lives, land and starving to death — to this rezoning and blaming it on a local Jewish landlord who isn’t even part of the rezoning”…
Former Rep. Colin Allred (D-TX), who switched his candidacy from running for the open Texas Senate seat to its 33rd Congressional District, endorsed Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) for the Senate over his former primary rival, state Sen. James Talarico. Allred alleged that Talarico had called him a “mediocre Black man” and took aim at Talarico’s platform as a devout Christian: “You are not saving religion for the Democratic Party or the left,” Allred said…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for the view from Washington on the continued possibility of U.S. strikes on Iran, even as diplomatic efforts unfold.
We’ll be watching for indications out of White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff’s meetings in Israel on where the parties stand on engaging with Tehran.
It will be a busy day on the Hill, amid ongoing efforts to end the partial government shutdown: The House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold a hearing on U.S. policy towards Lebanon and “obstacles to dismantling Hezbollah’s grip on power” with testimony from several Washington Institute experts; the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on the Nazis’ use of Swiss banks; the Helsinki Commission will hold a hearing on Russia’s influence in post-Assad Syria; and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will hold a hearing on terrorism in North Africa.
The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington will host its Maryland advocacy day with Gov. Wes Moore as keynote speaker.
The World Governments Summit will kick off in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, with speakers including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, Spanish President Pedro Sánchez, Israeli philanthropist and Mobileye CEO Amnon Shashua and several other world leaders.
Stories You May Have Missed
DIPLOMATIC SPAT
South Africa banishes Israeli diplomat days before vote in Congress on trade benefits
Pretoria angered after Israel offers parched region water management aid; Jerusalem declares South African diplomat serving Palestinians persona non grata
RHOADES’ RUN
Swing district Democratic congressional candidate in Omaha blasts rivals over their criticism of Israel
Crystal Rhoades, the clerk of the District Court in Douglas County, is running on an unapologetically pro-Israel platform
Plus, Kanye West claims he's 'not a Nazi' in full-page WSJ apology
Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu via Getty Images
Vehicle, carrying the body of the last Israeli hostage remaining in Gaza Ran Gvili, arrives the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute prior to the funeral ceremony in Tel Aviv, Israel on January 26, 2026.
Good Monday afternoon!
This P.M. edition is reserved for our premium subscribers — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
It’s me again — Danielle Cohen-Kanik, U.S. editor at Jewish Insider and curator, along with assists from my colleagues, of the Daily Overtime. Please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts and feedback by replying to this email.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
The IDF announced this morning it had identified the remains of the final deceased hostage, Ran Gvili, in Gaza and is returning them to Israel for burial, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports, marking the end of the hostage crisis that had gripped Israel and world Jewry for nearly 850 days in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks.
Beyond the hostages taken on Oct. 7, Gvili’s return means that no Israelis — living or deceased — are being held by terror groups in Gaza for the first time since 2014.
While the IDF uncovered Gvili’s body in a Muslim cemetery where Hamas had buried it, President Donald Trump told Axios that the terror group “worked very hard to get the body back. They were working with Israel on it. You can imagine how hard it was.”
“Now we have to disarm Hamas like they promised,” Trump continued, as the parties move into Phase 2 of his peace deal. For its part, Israel announced it will reopen the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza in a “limited” capacity later this week.
Remarking on Gvili’s return, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt added at a press conference this afternoon that “more than 20 new, additional countries have also signed up to join the newly established Board of Peace,” without naming the additions…
The New York Times lays out the latest developments in U.S.-Iran tensions, as American military assets reach the region and Iranian officials, as well as Iranian proxy terror groups, intensify their threats against the U.S. and Israel.
Joe Kent, the director of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center, has warned Iraqi officials that if Iranian-backed militias in Iraq were to strike U.S. troops, the U.S. would retaliate, according to the Times…
Trump told Axios that the situation in regards to Iran is “in flux” but that the U.S. has “a big armada next to Iran. Bigger than Venezuela.” Still, the president left the possibility of diplomacy with Tehran open: “They want to make a deal. I know so. They called on numerous occasions. They want to talk”…
Despite the ongoing tensions, the Trump administration deported about a dozen Iranians back to Tehran yesterday, CNN reports. It’s the third such deportation flight to Iran during Trump’s second term, and the first since the regime began its violent crackdown on protesters…
Elsewhere in the region, Israeli and Lebanese officials were hosted by the U.S. Embassy in Jordan over the weekend to discuss “steps needed for a more peaceful and prosperous region,” according to the U.S. Embassy in Beirut…
Several leading Jewish and pro-Israel advocacy groups are expressing concerns about the impact of the recent rise in antisemitic and Islamist messaging out of Saudi Arabia, JI’s Matthew Kassel reports, as the Gulf kingdom’s rhetoric is increasingly raising questions about its standing as a reliable U.S. ally in the region.
Among other groups, the Anti-Defamation League said in a sharply worded social media statement last week that it was “alarmed by the increasing frequency and volume of prominent Saudi voices — analysts, journalists and preachers — using openly antisemitic dog whistles and aggressively pushing anti-Abraham Accords rhetoric, often while peddling conspiracy theories about ‘Zionist plots’”…
Turning to the U.S., progressive operative Waleed Shahid announced today that he will assume the newly created role of deputy communications director of economic justice in New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s office, JI’s Will Bredderman, joining us to cover New York City Hall, reports.
Shahid, the former spokesperson for Justice Democrats, was also a leader in the 2024 Uncommitted movement, which sought to deny support to former President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris over the Biden administration’s support for Israel following the Oct. 7 attacks, and served as an advisor to former Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY)…
After the fatal shooting of a man by ICE officers in Minneapolis this weekend, Gov. Tim Walz compared immigration enforcement activities in Minnesota to Anne Frank’s persecution by the Nazis, drawing condemnation from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. “Many of us grew up reading that story of Anne Frank. Someone’s going to write that children’s story about Minnesota,” Walz said at a press conference yesterday.
Without referencing Walz or ICE, the USHMM responded in a statement today: “Anne Frank was targeted and murdered solely because she was Jewish. Leaders making false equivalencies to her experience for political purposes is never acceptable. Despite tensions in Minneapolis, exploiting the Holocaust is deeply offensive, especially as antisemitism surges”…
Israeli comedian Guy Hochman, whose New York City show was canceled last week amid protests by pro-Hamas groups, spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about becoming an “international flashpoint” after his subsequent show in Beverly Hills, Calif., was also canceled and his visa to perform in Canada was revoked.
“I’m not a politician. I’m a comedian. A very Zionist comedian. But it’s terrible to see it happening. But I am not giving up and I’m not giving in. I will not give them the pleasure. But I am getting a lot of threats on my life. I know there’s a big difference between us, but I don’t want to be the Israeli Charlie Kirk,” Hochman said…
Rapper Kanye West took out a full-page ad in today’s print edition of The Wall Street Journal apologizing for his erratic, and often antisemitic, behavior in recent years, claiming his actions stemmed from a brain injury sustained years ago that amplified his bipolar disorder.
“In that fractured state, I gravitated toward the most destructive symbol I could find, the swastika, and even sold T-shirts bearing it,” West wrote in the ad. “I regret and am deeply mortified by my actions in that state and am committed to accountability, treatment, and meaningful change. It does not excuse what I did though. I am not a Nazi or an antisemite. I love Jewish people”…
The Washington Post reportedly informed its staff on a Zoom call today that up to half of employees will be laid off, with the biggest cuts to its foreign and sports desks…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for a profile of Deni Avdija, the Israeli NBA star making his triumphant return to Washington tomorrow as his current team, the Portland Trail Blazers, takes on his former team, the Wizards, during their Jewish Heritage Night game.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s new memoir, Where We Keep the Light, is out tomorrow. We’ll be taking a look at how Shapiro discusses Israel and Judaism in its pages, as the swing-state governor potentially seeks the Democratic presidential nomination in 2028.
Marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day, representatives of the U.S. and Israel will speak at the United Nations, and the Trump-Kennedy Center in Washington will host “Enduring Music: Compositions from the Holocaust,” a concert of music composed in ghettos and death camps.
Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli’s International Conference on Combating Antisemitism will continue with remarks from Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama (who addressed the Knesset today), former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, former New York City Mayor Eric Adams, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and more.
In Berlin, Israeli Economy Minister Nir Barkat will deliver remarks at the WELT Economic Summit, the annual European business and political confab organized by media conglomerate Axel Springer.
Stories You May Have Missed
HER WAY
Tahesha Way campaigns as close ally of Jewish community in pivotal N.J. special election
Way is touting her support for stalled legislation that would codify the IHRA definition of antisemitism into law
FACING SCRUTINY
Josh Gruenbaum’s rapid rise from overseeing federal contracting to dealmaking on the world stage
Gruenbaum started working with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner on Middle East diplomacy after the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect in October
Plus, Swiss Shabbat in Davos
Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP via Getty Images
President Donald Trump as he leaves the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on January 21, 2026.
👋 Good Friday morning!
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we look at President Donald Trump’s mixed messaging on Iran this week, and report on California state Sen. Scott Wiener’s resignation as co-chair of the state legislature’s Jewish caucus after he accused Israel of genocide. We cover a letter from more than 100 New Jersey rabbis condemning former Gov. Phil Murphy and state Assembly leaders over their spiking of an antisemitism bill, and talk to GOP legislators about Trump’s decision to invite Russia and China to join the Board of Peace. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Emily Damari, AJ Edelman and Rabbi Yehoram Ulman.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by JI Executive Editor Melissa Weiss and Israel Editor Tamara Zieve, with an assist from Marc Rod. Have a tip? Email us here.
For less-distracted reading over the weekend, browse this week’s edition of The Weekly Print, a curated print-friendly PDF featuring a selection of recent Jewish Insider and eJewishPhilanthropy stories, including: Paige Cognetti running in Josh Shapiro’s footsteps in key Pa. swing district; Mississippi’s Jewish community rallies after antisemitic arson; and Amy Acton became a household name in Ohio — now, she wants to be governor. Print the latest edition here.
What We’re Watching
- The World Economic Forum wrapped up this morning in Davos, Switzerland. Some of those who are staying for the weekend will be attending tonight’s Shabbat dinner in the Alpine town. Though not an official WEF event, the exclusive annual dinner will bring together roughly 150 conference attendees at the conclusion of the busy week. Anne Neuberger, the Biden administration’s deputy national security advisor for cyber and emerging technology, and Henry Schein Board Chair and CEO Stanley Bergman, will be the dinner’s main speakers this year, joined by Michelle Bolten, the chief of staff to the vice chairman of BlackRock. Rabbi Menachem Berkowitz, who received his semicha from Chabad last week, will give tonight’s d’var Torah, and professor Ricardo Hausmann will share his thoughts on current events, with a focus on Venezuela. Read more about past Shabbat dinners at Davos here.
- White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are in the United Arab Emirates for the weekend for meetings aimed at ending the Russia-Ukraine war following a meeting last night in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which was also attended by White House advisor Josh Gruenbaum, that went into the early morning hours.
- The U.N. Human Rights Council is holding an emergency session today on Iran‘s weekslong crackdown on anti-government protesters.
- Manhattan’s Temple Emanu-El will hold a special interfaith service tonight honoring Cardinal Timothy Dolan as the longtime Catholic official retires as the archbishop of New York.
- The two-day JLI Leadership Summit starts on Sunday in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MELISSA WEISS
Tensions are running high across the Middle East after a week in which the U.S. and Iran lobbed threats at each other, dominating headlines, destabilizing markets and leaving many in the region unnerved at the prospect of renewed military action seven months after the 12-day war between Israel and Iran that included U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
On the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, yesterday, Trump warned that an “armada” was on its way to the Gulf — a reference to the aircraft carrier and fleet of fighter jets being redeployed from the South China Sea.
In response, Gen. Mohammad Pakpour, the head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, warned that Iran had its “finger on the trigger, more prepared than ever, ready to carry out the orders and measures of the supreme commander-in-chief.”
Trump, true to form, has been unpredictable and inconsistent in his approach to Tehran — alternating between threatening force and teasing diplomacy. “Iran does want to talk, and we’ll talk,” Trump said at a signing ceremony in Davos on Thursday, just hours before he told reporters on Air Force One about the naval deployment to the Gulf. “We have a massive fleet heading in that direction, and maybe we won’t have to use it,” he said on AF1, managing in one whiplash-inducing sentence to lob a threat at Iran while also offering it a theoretical off-ramp.
The president has proven that he is willing to engage in bold action — especially when it comes to Iran. One has only to look to the 2020 killing of Quds Force head Gen. Qassem Soleimani or the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities last June to see that the Trump administration is willing to engage militarily with Iran in ways prior administrations may have not. (Case in point: former President Joe Biden’s issuance in April 2024 of a one-word warning to Iran — “Don’t” — a day before Tehran launched hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel.)
SCOOP
Scott Wiener steps down as co-chair of California Jewish caucus after accusing Israel of genocide
California state Sen. Scott Wiener announced on Thursday that he is stepping down from his role as one of the co-chairs of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus, capping off nearly two weeks of controversy and frustration among Jewish leaders in the state after the San Francisco Democrat and congressional candidate declared Israel’s actions in Gaza to be a genocide, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports. “My campaign is accelerating, and my recent statements on Israel and Gaza have led to significant controversy in the Jewish community. The time to transition has arrived,” Wiener said in a statement. He will remain in the role until Feb. 15.
Background: Wiener, who is running for Congress in a competitive Democratic primary to fill the seat being vacated by retiring Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), has long declared himself a progressive Zionist while also criticizing the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s actions in Gaza. But after a candidate forum this month where his two competitors were quick to say Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, Wiener faced pressure from his left to use the word himself, and released a video a few days later changing his stance. “I’ve stopped short of calling it genocide, but I can’t anymore,” Wiener said.
MEETING ADJOURNED
Richmond, Calif., City Council fails to censure mayor over antisemitic social media posts
A city council meeting in Richmond, Calif., ended with shouting and frustration after 11 p.m. on Tuesday evening when the body adjourned without considering a measure seeking to censure Mayor Eduardo Martinez, who is under fire from the local Jewish community after sharing antisemitic posts on his LinkedIn page last month, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports. Tuesday’s meeting was the first since Martinez shared multiple incendiary posts regarding the terrorist attack at a Hanukkah celebration in Bondi Beach, Australia, last month. He shared one post referring to the shooting as “Israel’s false flag attack.” Another post called the public celebration of Hanukkah “deeply provocative and very un-Jewish” and said it was meant to intimidate Muslims.
Expressing outrage: “This is a complete embarrassment as a city council,” Councilmember Jamelia Brown, one of the officials who sought to issue a formal censure of Martinez, said before walking away from the meeting room. “We will stand in solidarity and say that this was antisemitic conduct and behavior, yet we don’t want to formalize it and put it on record. It’s very coward [sic] behavior.”
PRAIRIE STATE POLITICS
Moderate Democrat faces off against anti-Israel challengers in suburban Chicago battleground
Former Rep. Melissa Bean (D-IL) is emerging as the early front-runner in the Illinois 8th Congressional District primary, with an anti-Israel progressive candidate potentially a strong competitor, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
State of play: “Coming into it, you’d say Melissa would probably be the one to beat. The question is, has the party changed a lot, especially in primaries, since she was in the House last?” Peter Giangreco, a Chicago political strategist, told JI. “Has the party moved — or at least Democratic primary voters, have they moved to the left more than where Melissa is, is sort of an open question.”
ON THE TRAIL
In new ad, John Cornyn blasts radical Islam for Oct. 7, Bondi Beach attacks
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), facing a serious primary challenge from his right, released a new campaign ad on Thursday calling “radical Islam” a “bloodthirsty ideology” that has influenced recent terror attacks targeting Jews, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.
The ad: “It fueled the unspeakable crimes on Oct. 7,” Cornyn says in the 30-second ad, called “Evil Face,” before citing the mass shooting last month during a Hanukkah gathering in Australia that was allegedly motivated by the terrorist group ISIS. “It showed its evil face again at Bondi Beach.” Speaking directly to the camera, Cornyn touted his recent efforts to revoke the tax-exempt status of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a nonprofit advocacy group whose executive director has drawn scrutiny for celebrating the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, 2023. “Let me be clear: No organization that supports terrorists should receive taxpayer benefits,” Cornyn concludes in the ad. “And Sharia law has no place in American courts or communities.”
SPEAKING OUT
New Jersey rabbis blast ex-Gov. Murphy, Assembly leaders over IHRA bill
Nearly 100 New Jersey rabbis wrote to now-former Gov. Phil Murphy and members of the New Jersey Assembly this week expressing concerns about reporting from Jewish Insider that Murphy and other Democratic leaders had blocked passage of legislation to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism, JI’s Marc Rod reports.
The latest: “This is a deeply troubling failure of leadership that places political calculations above the safety of the Jewish population,” the 95 rabbis wrote. “Prioritizing politics over antisemitism signals that Jewish safety is negotiable and subjects our community to further cases of harassment and violence.” They called on state leaders to immediately take up and pass the IHRA bill.
Elsewhere: Political leaders in North Carolina are condemning the Nazi symbols and antisemitic graffiti discovered earlier this week at a hub of Jewish life in Charlotte, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports.
NOT CONVINCED
Some Republicans skeptical of Trump’s invitation to Russia, China to join Gaza Board of Peace
Some Republican lawmakers said they’re hesitant about President Donald Trump’s decision to invite Russia and China to be part of the Board of Peace that is set to manage the reconstruction of Gaza, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod and Emily Jacobs report.
What they’re saying: “To exclude them from participation would be inappropriate; to include them in any real positive influence — neither one of them contributes money, neither one of them contributes an expertise in democracy,” Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) said. “I don’t mind them being included, but I think we have to be realistic. They both lack either the generosity or the expertise necessary to create a different world for the Palestinians in their future government.” Republicans indicated that they’re open to Trump’s idea of the Board of Peace becoming a replacement or alternative to the United Nations, citing the U.N.’s long-standing anti-Israel bias.
Seeing the big picture: Hamas must demilitarize before Gaza can undergo redevelopment, President Donald Trump’s informal advisor Jared Kushner said on Thursday on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, as he presented the administration’s plan to disarm the terrorist group and rebuild Gaza, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports.
Worthy Reads
Iraq and a Hard Place: Bloomberg’s Sam Bagher observes the difficult decisions facing Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani as the country finds itself being pulled by both Iran and the U.S.“The Arab country is torn between Iran, its erstwhile enemy that wants to maintain its longtime grip on its neighbor, and the U.S., the superpower whose disastrous 2003 invasion destroyed the country and destabilized the Middle East for a generation. … Over the past two years, Sudani has largely steered a middle path through the fallout from Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel and the ensuing Gaza war that have humbled Tehran, turned the Jewish state into a regional military hegemon and reshaped the Middle East. But at the same time, taking advantage of Iran’s weakness, he’s worked quietly to move Iraq closer to the US, its wealthy Sunni-led Gulf Arab allies and Turkey. It’s a fine line — he must dismantle Iran-backed militias, entice Western and Gulf Arab investment and bring in American oil companies, all without alienating Shiite political factions backed by Tehran or inviting a stronger response from the Islamic Republic.” [Bloomberg]
Bouncing Bibi: The Financial Times’ Andrew England and James Shotter look at efforts across the Israeli political spectrum to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in this year’s election. “As the incumbent, Netanyahu only has to ensure he doesn’t lose. If there is no clear winner — as happened in a string of elections before a 2022 vote — he could remain as caretaker prime minister. Or Netanyahu, as he has done before, could attempt to peel off opponents to form a government. That means only an outright opposition victory, achieved just once in the past 17 years of Netanyahu’s dominance, would dethrone ‘King Bibi’. ‘Politics-wise, Netanyahu pretty much yet again dug himself out of a political grave,’ says Yohanan Plesner, a former member of the Knesset for the centrist Kadima party, now at the Israel Democracy Institute. ‘The least wise thing you can do is predict Netanyahu’s end in politics.’” [FT]
Day-to-Day Hate: In The Washington Post, Or Moshe, who spent more than two years working in the international department of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, warns that antisemitism is increasingly being accepted as a part of society even as attacks against Jews escalate in their brutality and frequency. “I have learned something painful and consistent. Jewish pain is rarely allowed to stand on its own. Instead, it is weighed. Qualified. Contextualized. Explained away. Violence against Jews is treated as a reaction rather than an atrocity. Fear is treated as an exaggeration. Mourning is treated as politics. … Antisemitism today does not always look like the caricatures people expect. It does not always announce itself with slurs or symbols. Sometimes it presents itself as moral clarity. It claims righteousness while denying Jews the right to safety, dignity and self-defense. It insists that Jewish fear is suspicious. That Jewish vulnerability is strategic. That Jewish deaths require footnotes.” [WashPost]
Monuments to Evil: In eJewishPhilanthropy, Menachem Z. Rosensaft calls on New York City leaders, including Mayor Zohran Mamdani, to act on a long-standing request from the Jewish community to remove plaques in lower Manhattan honoring French war criminals Marshal Philippe Pétain and Pierre Laval, who were responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of French Jews during the Holocaust. “The two plaques remain as monuments not only to Laval and Pétain, but also to the callous indifference of three successive NYC mayors and municipal administrations to the glorification of two men who epitomized evil. During the primary campaign for last year’s Democratic mayoral nomination, Zohran Mamdani declared that he ‘condemned the Holocaust.’ … Fair enough. I am prepared to take him at his word. As mayor, Mamdani can now demonstrate affirmatively that he is genuinely committed to honor the memory of the more than six million Jewish people murdered by the Nazis.”[eJP]
Word on the Street
Saudi Ambassador to the U.S. Princess Reema Bandar Al Saud and Israeli President Isaac Herzog both shared optimistic remarks about the region’s future at a lunch, hosted by Meta President Dina Powell McCormick and philanthropist David Rubenstein, following a signing ceremony inaugurating the new Board of Peace in Davos, Switzerland, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports…
President Donald Trump said he had rescinded his invitation for Canada to join his newly created Board of Peace, amid a deepening rift between Washington and Ottawa and days after Prime Minister Mark Carney warned that the world was “in the midst of a rupture”…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met this morning with Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) in Jerusalem…
The House passed a funding package for the Department of Homeland Security on Thursday, with seven moderate Democrats joining with Republicans to advance the bill in spite of Democratic uproar about Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations; the bill, packaged with Pentagon funding legislation, now heads to the Senate, where its fate is uncertain…
House Republicans narrowly defeated a war powers resolution that would have limited the Trump administration’s ability to act in Venezuela without congressional approval; GOP leaders delayed the closing of the vote in order to give Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-TX) time to reach Capitol Hill from Dulles airport via police escort and cast a vote that tied the total count and prevented the resolution from passing…
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) filed paperwork to form a campaign committee as she moves closer to announcing a run for governor in Minnesota…
Former Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, a leader of the school’s anti-Israel protest movement, will likely be rearrested and deported to Algeria, a top Department of Homeland Security official said Wednesday, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports…
A federal judge issued an order blocking the Trump administration from retaliating against the American Association of University Professors and the Middle East Studies Association for their efforts to prevent the detention and deportation of visa holders who engaged in anti-Israel activity…
The NYPD arrested two teenagers in connection with the vandalization of a playground in Gravesend Park, Brooklyn, in which dozens of swastikas were graffitied on structures at the playground in two separate incidents; the teens are facing aggravated harassment charges, with one of them facing an additional charge of criminal mischief as a hate crime…
Children’s entertainer Ms. Rachel is under fire for liking a social media comment calling to “Free america from the Jews”; after posting a tearful apology for her initial engagement with the comment — which she said had been an accident — the educator responded “ooooooooooohhhhh” to another user’s suggestion that Jews had left the antisemitic comment…
Israel’s bobsled team, led by Israeli American athlete AJ Edelman, secured a slot in next month’s Winter Olympics in Milan, making history as the country’s first Olympic entrant in the sport; read more about Edelman’s yearslong effort to get an Israeli team to the Olympics here…
Former hostage Emily Damari got engaged to her girlfriend, food influencer Danielle Amit, at a party celebrating the British-Israeli citizen’s one-year anniversary of her release from Hamas captivity…
The U.S. is mulling a full troop withdrawal from Syria, days after Damascus took control over areas previously controlled by the U.S.-backed Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces; a U.S. assessment found that approximately 200 low-level Islamic State fighters escaped from a Syrian prison earlier this week but had been recaptured after SDF forces abandoned the facility they had been guarding…
Baltimore-based entrepreneur and political fundraiser Michael Bronfein, the co-founder and CEO of Curio Wellness, died at 70…
Pic of the Day
At the Sydney Opera House on Thursday, Chabad of Bondi, led by Rabbi Yehoram Ulman (pictured), marked the shloshim — the 30-day milestone after death — of the victims of the Hanukkah terror attack at Bondi Beach, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Nira Dayanim reports.
Birthdays
Singer-songwriter and one of the world’s best-selling recording artists of all time, Neil Diamond turns 85 on Saturday…
FRIDAY: Real estate developer, Bruce Ratner turns 81… Professor of biological chemistry at Weizmann Institute of Science, David Wallach turns 80… Educational consultant, trade association and non-profit executive, Peter D. Rosenstein turns 79… Manager of Innovative Strategies LLLP, he is a board member of the Baltimore-based Zanvyl and Isabelle Krieger Fund, Howard K. Cohen… Former U.S. senator (D-DE), Tom Carper turns 79… Israeli archaeologist and professor at the University of Haifa, Estee Dvorjetski turns 75… Former Mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa turns 73… President of Lazard, Raymond J. McGuire turns 69… Broadway theater owner, operator, producer and presenter and president of the Nederlander Organization, he is a 13-time Tony Award winner, James L. Nederlander turns 66… Former president of Staples Inc., she serves on the boards of Burlington Stores, CBRE and CarMax, Shira Goodman turns 65… Former CEO of the Foundation for Jewish Camp for 15 years, Jeremy J. Fingerman… Journalist and co-author of Game Change and Double Down: Game Change 2012, John Heilemann turns 60… Palm Beach, Fla., resident, formerly of Greenwich, Conn., Hilary Bangash Cohen… Journalist, screenwriter and film producer, in 2009 he wrote and produced “The Hurt Locker” for which he won two Academy Awards including for Best Picture, Mark Boal turns 53…Film director, comic book artist and musician, S. Craig Zahler turns 53… Israeli set and production designer for the television and film industries, Arad Sawat turns 51… Fourth rebbe of the Pittsburgh hasidic dynasty, Rabbi Meshulam Eliezer Leifer turns 47… Founder and executive director of Jew in the City, Allison F. Josephs… Strategic communications consultant, Arielle Poleg… Head of Meta’s Instagram, Adam Mosseri turns 43… Manhasset, N.Y., native who competed for Israel in figure skating, she was the 2014 Israeli national champion, Danielle Montalbano turns 37… Retired in 2024 as a soccer player for DC United, he also played on the U.S. men’s national soccer team, Steven Mitchell Birnbaum turns 35… NYC native who competed for Israel in pairs figure skating, she and her partner won silver medals in the 2008 and 2009 Israeli championships, Hayley Anne Sacks turns 35…
SATURDAY: Canadian architect and urban renewal advocate, she is a member of the Bronfman family, Phyllis Barbara Lambert turns 99… Born in Tel Aviv, 2011 Nobel Prize laureate in Chemistry, professor at Technion and Iowa State University, Dan Shechtman turns 85… Chairman of the Sazerac Company and of Crescent Crown Distributing, two of the largest domestic distillers and distributors of spirits and beer in the US, William Goldring turns 83… Professor of modern Jewish history at New York University, Marion Kaplan turns 80… Politician and lawyer who was an official in the Reagan, Bush 43 and Trump administrations, Elliott Abrams turns 78… Professor of alternative dispute resolution and mediation at Hofstra School of Law, Robert Alan Baruch Bush turns 78… Ukrainian-born comedian, actor and writer, he emigrated to the U.S. in 1977 and is noted for the catchphrase “What a country,” Yakov Smirnoff turns 75… Conductor, violinist and violist, who has performed with leading symphony orchestras worldwide, Yuri Bashmet turns 73… VP of strategy at LiveWorld, Daniel Flamberg… Founder of an online software training website which was acquired by LinkedIn in 2015 for $1.5 billion, Lynda Susan Weinman turns 71… Burlingame, California-based surgeon at Peninsula Plastic Surgery, Lorne K. Rosenfield M.D…. Beryl Eckstein… Former senior correspondent for Fox News for 24 years, now a senior correspondent at Newsmax, Rick Leventhal… Former CEO of Ford Motor Company, and now on the boards of Hertz and Qualcomm, Mark Fields (his family’s original name was Finkelman) turns 65… B’nei mitzvah coordinator at Temple Beth Am of Los Angeles, Judith Alban… Former HUD secretary and OMB director, now the president and CEO of Enterprise Community Partners, a housing non-profit, Shaun Donovan turns 60… Co-founder and executive director of Protect Democracy, he served as associate White House counsel in the Obama administration, Ian Bassin turns 50… Journalist and then tax attorney, now chief legal officer at Ripple Fiber, Joshua Runyan… Sporting director for Hapoel Jerusalem of the Israeli Premier League and the FIBA Champions League, Yotam Halperin turns 42… Founder and CEO at TACKMA and a principal at Schottenstein Property Group, Jeffrey Schottenstein… Former regional director of synagogue initiative at AIPAC, Miryam Knafo Schapira… Law Clerk at Fried Frank, Michael Krasna… Musician and former child actor, Jonah Bobo turns 29…
SUNDAY: Senior partner of The Mack Company and a director of Mack-Cali Realty, a real estate investment trust, David S. Mack (family name was Makofsky) turns 84… Israeli peace activist and author, whose fiction and nonfiction books have been translated into more than 30 languages, David Grossman turns 72… Editor-in-chief of The National Memo, Joe Conason (family name was Cohen) turns 72… Retired in 2023 as Dean of the Jerusalem campus of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Naamah Kelman-Ezrachi turns 71… SVP and senior portfolio manager in the Los Angeles office of Morgan Stanley, Robert N. Newman… Stage, film and television actress and television director, Dinah Beth Manoff turns 70… Los Angeles resident, Helene S. Ross… Agent at Creative Artists Agency, Michael Glantz… Chief correspondent and executive editor for CBS News “Eye on America” franchise, Jim Axelrod turns 63… Former member of Knesset for Yesh Atid, he also served as minister of education, Shai Moshe Piron turns 61… Founding partner of merchant bank Finback Investment Partners, John Leachman Oliver III… Member of the Canadian Parliament from Montreal since 2015, he won 12 medals in swimming at the 2013 and 2017 Maccabiah Games, Anthony Housefather turns 55… Author of multiple novels, she is a writer-in-residence in Jewish studies at Stanford University, Maya Arad turns 55… Toronto-born movie and television actress, she had a recurring guest role on the Fox TV series “24,” Mia Kirshner turns 51… National political reporter at The Washington Post covering campaigns, Congress and the White House, Michael Scherer… President and CEO of Knollwood Cemetery Corp, David Newman… President of Ukraine since 2019, he is the first Jewish leader of that country, Volodymyr Zelensky turns 48… Member of the U.S House of Representatives (D-FL), Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick turns 47… Benjamin L. Newton… Managing VP of executive operations for the National Association of Manufacturers, Mark Isaacson… Member of the Arizona House of Representatives until 2023, Daniel Hernández Jr. turns 36… Actress, writer and director, Pauline Hope Chalamet turns 34… Associate director of foreign policy at JINSA, Ari Cicurel…
Plus, Cornyn targets 'radical Islam' in heated TX-SEN primary
Mandel NGAN / AFP via Getty Images
Jared Kushner speaks at the "Board of Peace" meeting during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on January 22, 2026.
Good Thursday afternoon!
This P.M. edition is reserved for our premium subscribers — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
It’s me again — Danielle Cohen-Kanik, U.S. editor at Jewish Insider and curator, along with assists from my colleagues, of the Daily Overtime. Please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts and feedback by replying to this email.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
Before officials departed from Davos, Switzerland, today, the Trump administration undertook a big task: laying out its complete vision for the demilitarization and reconstruction of Gaza, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports.
Jared Kushner, speaking after President Donald Trump’s remarks at his founding ceremony for the Board of Peace, presented the administration’s “demilitarization principles” meant to be implemented in the next 100 days, including the destruction of “heavy weapons, tunnels, military infrastructure, weapons production facilities and munitions.”
The ultimate vision sees a completely overhauled Gaza including a port and a tourism zone along the Mediterranean coast, as well as large residential areas and industrial complexes, while retaining the IDF security perimeter.
But “this deal only happened because … we all worked together to make this happen,” Kushner said, urging countries, including Israel, to put aside their differences to bring the plan to fruition. “I see people criticizing Israel, or Israel criticizing Turkey and Qatar. Just calm down and work together for 30 days”…
Meanwhile, several of the highest-profile attendees of the Board of Peace ceremony hustled to a private lunch, JI’s Gabby Deutch reports, including Saudi Ambassador to the U.S. Princess Reema Bandar Al Saud and Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who both spoke hopefully about the future of the Abraham Accords.
Also in the room: Bahraini Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell and more…
The Wall Street Journal lays out the concerns of the Board of Peace holdouts — including China, Russia, France and Britain, who are wary of joining a body where they don’t hold a permanent veto and that seeks to replace the one where they do, at the U.N. Security Council. There’s also the issue of its broad mandate: EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said today that European leaders could work with the board “if we narrow it down to Gaza like it was meant to be”…
The U.S. is weighing a complete withdrawal of its troops from Syria, the Journal also reports, shortly after Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa’s forces carried out a campaign against the Kurdish-led and U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, ultimately ordering it to disband.
The U.S. has around 1,000 troops in the country, many of whom are co-located with the SDF, where they carry out missions against ISIS (SDF forces were in charge of guarding ISIS prisoners until last weekend). Recent events have led the U.S. to question the viability of its mission in Syria, American officials told the Journal…
Elsewhere in the region, the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps issued a stark warning to the U.S. and Israel, even as Trump said this morning that he’s open to diplomatic dialogue with Tehran.
The IRGC and Iran “have their finger on the trigger, more prepared than ever, ready to carry out the orders and measures of” Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, “a leader dearer than their own lives,” Mohammad Pakpour said, as Iran issued its first official death toll of the protests, putting the number killed at 3,117…
Stateside, California state Sen. Scott Wiener, who is running for retiring Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) seat, announced today that he is stepping down from his role as one of the co-chairs of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus, JI’s Gabby Deutch reports, capping off nearly two weeks of controversy and frustration among Jewish leaders in the state after the San Francisco Democrat declared Israel’s actions in Gaza to be a genocide.
Wiener said in a statement, which was obtained by JI, that the decision was prompted in part by the fallout of his genocide comments. “My campaign is accelerating, and my recent statements on Israel and Gaza have led to significant controversy in the Jewish community. The time to transition has arrived,” Wiener said. He will remain in the role until Feb. 15.
In an interview with Politico this week, Wiener said he’s heard from unhappy Jewish voters and leaders in the days after his comments, but asked them to remember his record. “If you’re mad at me, if you feel betrayed, I respect and honor that. But just also remember how many times I’ve gone to the mat for this community, and the bullets I’ve taken for this community,” Wiener said…
In a new ad released today, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), facing a serious primary challenge from his right, calls “radical Islam” a “bloodthirsty ideology” that has influenced recent terror attacks targeting Jews, JI’s Matthew Kassel reports.
“It fueled the unspeakable crimes on Oct. 7,” Cornyn says in the 30-second ad, called “Evil Face,” before citing the mass shooting last month during a Hanukkah gathering in Australia that was allegedly motivated by ISIS. “It showed its evil face again at Bondi Beach.”
The ad comes as Cornyn’s opponent, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, has also made combating “radical Islamist terrorist groups” a priority, as he engages in a lawsuit with the Council on American-Islamic Relations…
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro further clarified the questions he was asked by Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign as he was vetted to be her running mate, in an interview airing this weekend on “CBS Sunday Morning.” “They actually asked if I was an agent [of the Israeli government] and if I had ever spoken to an undercover agent of the Israeli government,” he said, to which he pointed out that he wouldn’t necessarily be aware if he had spoken to someone undercover.
“I think it went beyond just checking a box on a questionnaire,” Shapiro said of his perception of the questioning. “I can tell you that it landed on me in an offensive way. I have dedicated my entire adult life to serving this country. … For someone to question my loyalty, particularly as someone who is as open about his faith as he is, was offensive to me”…
The Department of Homeland Security said Columbia University graduate student and protest leader Mahmoud Khalil could be deported to Algeria, JI’s Haley Cohen reports, shortly after a federal appeals court ruled Khalil could be rearrested.
Tricia McLaughlin, DHS assistant secretary for public affairs, said on NewsNation yesterday, “it looks like he’ll go to Algeria. That’s what the thought is right now. It’s a reminder for those who are in this country on a visa or on a green card. You are a guest in this country — act like it. It is a privilege, not a right, to be in this country to live or to study.”
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a statement that Khalil “is a New Yorker. He should remain in New York City.” He called the “attack” on Khalil “part of a larger attack on the freedom of speech that is especially pronounced when it comes to the use of that speech to stand up for Palestinian human rights. I will make that clear to everyone. He deserves to be in the city just like any other New Yorker”…
Australia’s main opposition coalition, composed of the Liberal and National parties, split yesterday — during the country’s day of mourning for the Hanukkah Bondi Beach massacre — over a disagreement about the government’s proposed hate speech laws, which were introduced as a response to the attack. The Liberal party voted with the government to adopt the reforms, which increase penalties for hate speech and ban groups who promote it, while the Nationals were opposed, citing concerns around free speech…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for a rundown of the state of the race in Illinois’ 8th Congressional District, where former Rep. Melissa Bean (D-IL) is fending off far-left Israel detractors.
Over the weekend, the Trump administration’s focus will shift back from Gaza to Russia and Ukraine, as the countries hold trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi, UAE, tomorrow and Saturday. White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and advisor Jared Kushner headed from the Board of Peace ceremony to Moscow earlier today.
Diplomats and Jewish leaders will head to Jerusalem for the 2nd annual International Conference on Combating Antisemitism, hosted by Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli, which kicks off Monday evening. Last year’s inaugural conference was mired in controversy over the inclusion of far-right European politicians, causing several leading Jewish figures to cancel their appearances (many of whom similarly do not appear on this year’s agenda).
We’ll be back in your inbox with the Daily Overtime on Monday. Shabbat Shalom!
Stories You May Have Missed
COGNETTI’S CAMPAIGN
Paige Cognetti running in Josh Shapiro’s footsteps in key Pa. swing district
The Scranton mayor is championing her support for Israel as she challenges GOP Rep. Rob Bresnahan
FACING SCRUTINY
Gov. Spanberger disappoints Va. Jewish leaders with appointment of Jim Moran to GMU board
Moran, a former longtime congressman now lobbying for Qatar, has an extensive record of using antisemitic tropes and hostility to Israel
Plus, is Saudi normalization dead?
Harun Ozalp/Anadolu via Getty Images
President Donald Trump delivers a speech during the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on January 21, 2026.
👋 Good Thursday morning!
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we report on this morning’s signing ceremony for President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace in Davos, Switzerland, and talk to Jewish communal leaders in Virginia about Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s appointment of former Rep. Jim Moran to the board of George Mason University despite his past antisemitic comments and relationship with Qatar. We interview Scranton, Pa., Mayor Paige Cognetti as the Democrat mounts a congressional bid in northeastern Pennsylvania, and report on a Manhattan comedy club’s cancellation of a show by an Israeli comedian amid protest by pro-Hamas groups. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Robert Kraft, Rahm Emanuel and Nitzan Chen.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by JI Executive Editor Melissa Weiss and Israel Editor Tamara Zieve, with assists from Danielle Cohen-Kanik and Marc Rod. Have a tip? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
- The World Economic Forum continues today in Davos, Switzerland. Earlier today, President Donald Trump held a signing ceremony with the newly created Board of Peace. More below.
- Later this afternoon in Davos, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto will separately take the main stage. The last time the Indonesian leader, whose country is joining the Board of Peace, had a global platform — four months ago at the United Nations General Assembly — he concluded his speech by saying “Shalom.”
- Later in the afternoon, Meta President Dina Powell McCormick, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud and Bridgewater Associates’ Nir Bar Dea will participate in a panel focused on geopolitics and global collaboration. Elon Musk will take the stage following that discussion for a one-on-one conversation with BlackRock CEO and WEF interim Co-Chair Larry Fink.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S LAHAV HARKOV
President Donald Trump hosted a signing ceremony on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday for the founding members of the Board of Peace, his newly formed organization dedicated to world peace and security.
“We’re going to have peace in the world, and boy, wouldn’t that be a great legacy for all of us,” Trump said in his speech launching the board.
The Board of Peace’s “inaugural resolution,” which Trump signed at the ceremony, is to oversee the demilitarization and reconstruction of Gaza.
On Iran, Trump said that the U.S. bombing in June was because “they were two months from having a nuclear weapon, and we can’t let them have that. Iran does want to talk, and we’ll talk.”
In addition to the U.S., 19 countries attended the “massive event,” as a Trump administration source characterized it to Jewish Insider: Bahrain, Morocco, Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Hungary, Indonesia, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Pakistan, Paraguay, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan and Mongolia.
Members of Trump’s team in Davos — Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, informal advisor Jared Kushner and Josh Gruenbaum, a diplomatic advisor to the board — spent the hours preceding the event working to bring more countries on board.
Most Western European countries declined to join the Board of Peace because of its apparent aim to replace the United Nations, as well as Trump’s pressure to turn Greenland over to the U.S. and Russia’s invitation to join.
FACING SCRUTINY
Gov. Spanberger disappoints Va. Jewish leaders with appointment of Jim Moran to GMU board
Days after assuming office, Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger is facing scrutiny from Jewish leaders over her decision to appoint Jim Moran, a former congressman representing northern Virginia now working as a lobbyist for clients including Qatar, to the George Mason University board of visitors, despite his extensive record of using antisemitic tropes and hostility to Israel. The appointment, which Spanberger announced on Saturday hours after she had been sworn into office, came as part of a broader leadership shake-up of the state’s three public universities — as the Democratic governor seeks to assert her influence in the wake of a Republican administration whose university board oversight she had criticized during the campaign as politically meddlesome, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.
Controversy: Moran, a Democrat who retired from Congress in 2015, faced widespread criticism as well as calls for his resignation over comments in 2003 in which he blamed the Jewish community for pushing the U.S. into war with Iraq, a remark he reiterated four years later while singling out the pro-Israel group AIPAC. Even as he has voiced regret for some of his past remarks, Moran, who is now 80, has downplayed accusations of antisemitism and has continued to echo such rhetoric in recent years while appearing on panel discussions with a London-based NGO led by a former Hamas activist. In one virtual event in 2023, for example, Moran attributed Washington’s support for “apartheid” in Gaza to Jewish control of American politics.
doha dealings
Newly announced Senate candidate Julia Letlow attended 2023 Qatar junket funded by pro-Doha group
Rep. Julia Letlow (R-LA), who announced a primary challenge to Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) this week, was part of a 2023 junket trip to Qatar funded by a pro-Qatar business group, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. She was joined by Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX), who is mounting a Senate bid in Texas, on the Qatar trip.
About the trip: The February 2023 trip, funded by the U.S.-Qatar Business Council, included meetings with Qatari leaders, some of whom have been accused of backing terrorism. According to ethics paperwork submitted by the members, the group spent nearly $15,000 on Letlow’s travel and close to $18,000 on Crockett’s travel. It included meetings with multiple Qatari figures accused of ties to terrorism, including the head of a bank sued by American victims of terrorism in 2020.Read the full story here.
COGNETTI’S CAMPAIGN
Paige Cognetti running in Josh Shapiro’s footsteps in key Pa. swing district
Paige Cognetti, the Democratic mayor of Scranton, Pa., is staking out a pro-Israel platform as she seeks to unseat freshman Rep. Rob Bresnahan (R-PA) in a Pennsylvania swing district, emphasizing her support for continued military aid to the Jewish state in the wake of its war against Hamas in Gaza. In a recent interview with Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel, Cognetti, who is favored to win the Democratic nomination in Pennsylvania’s 8th Congressional District, said “the Israel question,” as she called it, is “very simple” for her.
Case in point: “I vehemently support Israel’s right to defend itself,” she explained, “and would take extremely seriously Congress’ role in ensuring they have the military aid that they need to defend themselves in a really dangerous neighborhood.” To underscore her point, Cognetti, who was sworn into her third term as Scranton’s mayor earlier this month, touted a local munitions plant that she said continues to produce “the shells that we use for our own defense, but also that we ship to our allies, like Ukraine and Israel.”
TEHRAN TALK
Trump: ‘We hope there’s not going to be further action’ against Iran
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he hopes no military action will be needed in Iran, but stopped short of ruling it out as the U.S. continues to move military assets to the Middle East, Jewish Insider’s Mathew Shea reports.
What he said: “We hope there’s not going to be further [military] action,” Trump said during an interview with CNBC on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, while alluding to the fact that it still might be a possibility given Tehran’s conduct in suppressing nationwide demonstrations. “But you know, [the regime is] shooting people indiscriminately in the streets.” The president has previously called the Iranian regime’s killing of protesters a “red line” and vowed to protesters that “help is on its way.” Trump repeated his claim on Wednesday that Iranian authorities had planned to hang 837 protesters last week, but “canceled it” after he warned them not to.
More from Trump: Speaking to a packed room at the World Economic Forum, Trump again issued a stark warning to Hamas on Wednesday, setting a timeline for the terror group’s disarmament and stating that it must deliver on its agreement to demilitarize or face potential military consequences.
CAMPUS BEAT
University of Washington to host radical anti-Israel activists at Palestinian advocacy conference
A university professor who resigned from her position following a Title VI antisemitism investigation, and another who organized large-scale anti-Israel demonstrations, are among several controversial speakers scheduled to speak at an event on Friday hosted by the University of Washington. The daylong conference, called “The World as Palestine: On Advocacy, Activism, and Justice,” is organized by the Middle Eastern Studies department and is scheduled to be held in the university’s student union building, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen and Danielle Kanik-Cohen report.
Set to speak: Andrea Brower, a former instructor in a “Solidarity and Social Justice” program at Gonzaga University in eastern Washington, is scheduled to speak during the program’s opening panel, “Reflections from Eastern Washington’s Palestinian Liberation Movement.” She resigned in 2024 after the school opened an antisemitism investigation into the protests she led on campus against Israel’s war in Gaza and her criticism of the university’s investment in companies with ties to Israel. Another speaker, Kathryn DePaolis, an associate professor and interim chair and director of the School of Social Work at Eastern Washington University, helped create a new group called the Inland Northwest Coalition for the Liberation of Palestine two months after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attacks. During Israel’s war in Gaza, the organization staged Palestinian “die-ins” in front of the Spokane courthouse.
NO LAUGHING MATTER
Manhattan comedy club cancels Israeli comedian amid protest by pro-Hamas groups
A Manhattan comedy club canceled Israeli comedian Guy Hochman’s show on Tuesday night after pro-Hamas groups protested outside of the venue. “The owner of the place was afraid and canceled the show,” Hochman told Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen, referring to Broadway Comedy Club, located near Times Square. “So, I did an alternative show for my audience outside freezing to death.”
What happened: City College of New York’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter was among the groups promoting the Tuesday demonstration on social media. It shared a post from the New York City chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement that said “victory” was achieved by the cancellation. Outside the comedy venue, masked demonstrators banged on drums, chanted and held signs that read “clean up the trash,” “death to the IDF” and “no war criminals in our city.” A heavy NYPD presence was called to monitor the protest.
Worthy Reads
Saudi Turns on the Hate Spigot: In his Substack “It’s Noon in Israel,” Amit Segal posits that efforts to normalize relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia are dead. “Over the past month, Al Arabiya has been worse than Al Jazeera in the texts broadcast against any normalization with Israel. Saudi podcasters who specialize in luxury cars or sports are suddenly cursing Zionism and the Abraham Accords. … Now, with the Saudis no longer celebrating the Abraham Accords, they are trying to undermine their foundations of support, from Morocco to the Emirates. Someone I spoke with this week used an Arab proverb to explain it: ‘He who cannot reach the grapes says they are sour.’ I suggested an Israeli version, straight from air-defense battle lore: ‘If I don’t fly, nobody flies.'” [ItsNooninIsrael]
Hanging the Protesters Out to Dry: In The Wall Street Journal, William Galston criticizes President Donald Trump’s decision not to assist Iranian anti-regime protesters. “Considering the information Mr. Trump received during the administration’s deliberations, his decision to stand down may well have been correct. Still, he shouldn’t have sent encouraging messages to the protesters if he wasn’t committed to backing them up. Because he did so, the president bears a measure of responsibility for the consequences. … Even if he decides against military action, he has a robust menu of nonmilitary options that could significantly weaken the regime. As my Brookings Institution colleague Suzanne Maloney has proposed, he can target key command-and-control systems to weaken the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and other security forces, seize Iran’s ghost fleet of oil tankers, and impose sanctions on Chinese imports of Iranian oil. He can also fully restore the Voice of America’s Iran Service, press our friends and allies to expel Iran’s diplomats, and help strengthen Iran’s divided opposition groups.” [WSJ]
Blazing a Trail, Quietly: The Athletic’s Jason Quick profiles Portland Trail Blazers forward Deni Avdija, the Israeli basketball phenom who got his start playing for Maccabi Tel Aviv and is having his best season as a pro. “He doesn’t feel pressure to add his voice to the dialogue surrounding his country’s conflict in the Middle East and, in fact, feels irritated when he is put in the middle of it. … He said he understands that he has a larger platform than most to deliver his viewpoint, but he said he doesn’t think that requires him to broadcast his opinion or politicize it. ‘I’ll be honest: What do people expect me to do?’ Avdija said. ‘This is my country, where I was born, where I grew up. I love my country; there are a lot of great things about my country. But obviously, not everyone is educated and knows what is going on, and that’s what pisses me off. Because if you are educated and know what is going on, it’s fine to say what you think and say who you think is right or wrong. But if you are not educated and you are not part of the Middle East, and you don’t understand how long this goes back and understand the consequences and everything … just don’t say anything.’” [TheAthletic]
Copying Caracas: The Economist looks at the continued tensions inside Iran following the regime’s crackdown on the widescale protests that swept the country in recent weeks. “Much of this internal criticism focuses on the 86-year-old Mr Khamenei, who has ruled for 36 increasingly despotic years. Critics complain about his intransigence in nuclear talks with America: by insisting on a token enrichment programme, they argue, he squandered a deal in 2025 that could have lifted sanctions altogether. Some go further. At least one cleric behind the manifesto called for him to stand trial for the state’s slaughter, according to another signatory. ‘We expect the supreme leader to exit within the next three to 12 months,’ says an investor still operating in Iran, citing both Mr Khamenei’s age and unpopularity. Others wistfully seek Mr Trump’s intervention. ‘We used to worry we’d become Venezuela,’ runs a joke in cafés frequented by civil servants. ‘Now we worry we won’t.'” [TheEconomist]
Word on the Street
Organizers of the World Economic Forum are mulling moving the annual gathering to another venue, with interim Co-Chair Larry Fink arguing that the WEF should “start doing something new: showing up — and listening — in the places where the modern world is actually built”; among the places he suggested were Detroit and Dublin…
Fink and Bank of America President and CEO Brian Moynihan were spotted this week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, wearing the blue square pins popularized by Robert Kraft’s foundation that have become a symbol in the fight against antisemitism, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports…
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick was heckled at a WEF dinner last night, with European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde walking out during his speech…
The U.S. Air Force confirmed that the Qatari jet being gifted to President Donald Trump for use as Air Force One will be delivered by this summer…
The Treasury Department announced sanctions on six Gaza-based medical organizations the government said had ties to Hamas’ al-Qassam Brigades, as well as the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad, which the department said was “clandestinely controlled” by Hamas and had supported numerous flotillas attempting to reach Gaza; in November, Reps. Andy Barr (R-KY) and Jefferson Shreve (R-IN) sent a letter to the Treasury Department calling for the designation of the PCPA as a Specially Designated Terrorist group…
The House Foreign Affairs Committee voted 45-2 to advance legislation expanding U.S. cooperation programs in the Eastern Mediterranean; Reps. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) and Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) voted against the bill, with Castro citing concerns that U.S.-Israel scientific grant programs cited in the bill may provide funding for programs in the West Bank and East Jerusalem…
Former U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel, who is mulling a 2028 presidential bid, weighed in on Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s recent revelation that the Harris presidential campaign had asked if he was an Israeli government agent, calling the questions “totally appropriate and totally inappropriate”…
A judge in New York ordered a newly drawn congressional map, determining that the state’s 11th Congressional District — the only New York City district represented by a Republican — had been drawn unconstitutionally…
The New York Times spotlights the relationship between New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, who hold differing views on policing and politics, as they work together in Mamdani’s first weeks in office…
The Mississippi state Senate unanimously approved a resolution in support of Jackson’s Beth Israel Congregation, a week and a half after Stephen Spencer Pittman allegedly set fire to the synagogue, which housed the state’s largest Jewish congregation; Pittman pleaded not guilty earlier this week to a federal charge of arson…
The NYPD is investigating an incident in which more than 50 swastikas were graffitied on a playground in Gravesend Park, Brooklyn…
The New York Times reports from the Los Angeles premiere of “Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!,” a two-part documentary about the legendary comedian and filmmaker…
Israel is moving toward the privatization of Israel Aerospace Industries and considering the sale of stakes in Rafael Advanced Defense Systems in an effort to offset the last two years of massive defense spending…
Three journalists, including contributors to CBS News and Agence France-Press, were killed in an Israeli strike in Gaza…
A report from the Israeli Justice Ministry’s Public Defender’s Office found that some Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails have faced “conditions unfit for human beings,” citing instances of food deprivation, medical neglect and violence…
Nitzan Chen is departing Israel’s Government Press Office after nearly 14 years as its director…
Eliezer “Geizi” Tzafrir, a former Mossad and Shin Bet senior official who oversaw the Mossad’s Tehran station during the 1979 fall of the shah, died at 92…
Legal historian Barbara Aronstein Black, who became the first woman to lead an Ivy League law school when she was named the head of Columbia Law School in 1986, died at 92…
Rifaat al-Assad, who was known as the “butcher of Hama” for his role in quelling an uprising to overthrow his brother, former Syrian President Hafez al-Assad, died at 88…
Pic of the Day
Israeli President Issac Herzog met with his Somalilander counterpart, Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, at a dinner on Wednesday night on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Birthdays
Jewish hockey player, he was a first-round pick of the New York Islanders in 2014, Josh Ho-Sang turns 30…
Nobel Prize laureate in chemistry in 2000, he is a professor emeritus at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Alan J. Heeger turns 90… Los Angeles resident, Ruth Lynn Kopelove Sobel… Managing director and founder of Brave Warrior Advisors, he is the son of Hall of Fame baseball star Hank Greenberg, Glenn H. Greenberg… Rabbi and leader who has served in New York, New Jersey and California, Mark Samuel Hurvitz… Brooklyn-born conductor, who during his tenure as artistic director of the Kraków Philharmonic became friends with Pope John Paul II for whom he later conducted multiple Papal concerts, Gilbert Levine turns 78… Senior political law counsel and consultant at Akin Gump, Kenneth A. Gross turns 75… Founder and executive director of the Brooklyn-based Bridge Multicultural and Advocacy Project, Mark Meyer Appel… Publisher at Chicago Public Square, Charlie Meyerson… Financial services attorney, Lisa Arlyn Lowe… Former director-general of the Israeli Defense Ministry, he is a retired major general in the IDF, Ehud “Udi” Adam turns 68… Member of the Knesset for Likud, Katrin “Keti” Shitrit-Peretz turns 66… Deputy president of the Supreme Court of Israel, Noam Sohlberg turns 64… Michael S. Marquis… President of the World Jewish Restitution Organization, Gideon Taylor… American-Israeli composer, pianist and music producer, Roy Zu-Arets turns 57… Actor best known for his role as Harvey Specter on the USA Network series “Suits,” Gabriel Macht turns 54… Play-by-play broadcaster for the Washington Commanders of the NFL, Bram Weinstein turns 53… Rabbi at the Midway Jewish Center in Syosset, N.Y., Joel Mark Levenson… Director of the Chabad House in Kathmandu, Nepal, Rabbi Yechezkel “Chezki” Lifshitz… Columnist for Ami Magazine, Yochonon Donn… CEO of Our Generation Speaks, Heidi Rosbe… Managing director at SKDKnickerbocker, Kendra Barkoff Lamy… Congress executive producer at Politico, Zachary Warmbrodt… Music composer and winner of two Academy Awards and two Grammys, Justin Hurwitz turns 41… Head of U.S. at Blue Laurel Advisors and of counsel at Grossman Young & Hammond, Mark Donig… NYC-based managing director at Politico, Jesse Shapiro… Business reporter for The Washington Post, she is also a professional balloon twister and was a 2018 contestant on “Jeopardy!,” Julie Zauzmer Weil… Israeli singer known as Netta, she was the winner of the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest in Lisbon, Portugal, Netta Barzilai turns 33… Actress, best known for her role as Nicky Reagan-Boyle in the CBS series “Blue Bloods,” Sami Gayle Klitzman turns 30… Associate in the Chicago office of Applegate & Thorne-Thomsen, Matthew Lustbader…
The Jewish Book Council launched a new subscription service, Nu Reads, which provides six Jewish books per year, modeled on the success of PJ Library
For Jewish and Israeli authors and the people who enjoy their books, the publishing industry has been a decidedly depressing place over the last two years.
A spreadsheet titled “Is Your Fav Author a Zionist?” went viral on social media and called for readers to boycott so-called “Zionist” authors, a label extended even to some who merely spoke to Jewish audiences. The literary magazine Guernica retracted an essay by an Israeli author in response to protests from staff. LitHub, the preeminent news site dedicated to the publishing industry, has adopted a stridently anti-Israel stance since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks two years ago. “A litmus test has emerged across wide swaths of the literary world effectively excluding Jews from full participation unless they denounce Israel,” the author Jamie Kirchick wrote in The New York Times last year.
A new initiative from the Jewish Book Council, a 100-year-old nonprofit dedicated to promoting Jewish literature, aims to fight back against the torrent of bad news for Jewish writers. This month, JBC unveiled Nu Reads, a subscription service that will deliver selected Jewish books to subscribers bimonthly. The first book, Happy New Years by the Israeli author Maya Arad, has already shipped to Nu Reads’ inaugural subscribers.
“There’s a chill for our community across the industry,” JBC CEO Naomi Firestone-Teeter told Jewish Insider in an interview this month. “If we care about Jewish literature and we care about these authors and ideas, we need to buy these books. We need to invest in them and support them.”
Curated book subscription services have soared in popularity in recent years. A reinvigorated Book of the Month Club launched in 2016, an homage to the ubiquitous brand of the 1950s and 1960s that helped curious readers find new titles; the new iteration has a reported 400,000 members. More than 230,000 Jewish families in the U.S. and Canada receive children’s books each month through PJ Library, a program modeled on Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. It was PJ Library — which has transformed young Jews’ experience with Jewish books in the two decades it has existed — that served as an inspiration to JBC.
“I very jokingly suggested that I wish that there was a PJ Library for grown-ups,” said Tova Mirvis, the author of five books and Nu Reads’ writer-in-residence, who helps curate the book selections. “It was just an idea, and I began to think about it. I spent a lot of time thinking about my own experience of reading Jewish books, and how who I am as a person and as a writer is so shaped by my love of Jewish fiction.”
Unlike PJ Library, Nu Reads is not a charity project. It asks consumers to choose to spend their money on hardcover copies of new Jewish books. The founding subscriber rate of $154 includes six books delivered over the course of a year, along with invitations to community gatherings and author talks. Several hundred people have become subscribers in the two weeks since Nu Reads was announced.
At a time when Jewish writers face growing challenges in the publishing industry, JBC hopes Nu Reads will herald Jewish readers’ purchasing power to remind publishers that Jewish books are a good investment, because publishing is, ultimately, a business.
“It’s much harder to get published because there are fewer venues. There are fewer places that review books. We have so many other distractions we use aside from reading books. There are fewer bookstores — all the ways that, I think, the literary world has shrunk, and so of course that affects Jewish writers as well,” Mirvis told JI.
Nu Reads, Mirvis hopes, will serve as “a reminder to the literary world, to publishers and editors, that there are so many people within the Jewish community who love these books. I think it’s a way to galvanize readers to say, ‘I want to read the next generation of these writers.’”
In early 2024, JBC created an online resource for Jewish writers and publishing industry professionals to report instances of antisemitism they had experienced. The organization, which is best known for presenting the annual National Jewish Book Awards, also launched a virtual support group for Jews in the literary world that still meets regularly.
“This is such a competitive industry,” said JBC CEO Naomi Firestone-Teeter. “We’re holding all of that together to try to not be sensationalist about anything, but at the same time, these are real concerns that are valid.”
So far, JBC has received more than 400 reports of antisemitism, with examples including digital harassment and abuse, students kicked out of literary journals because of their views on Israel and writers asked by publishers or marketers to discuss their Judaism only in a particular way.
Still, it’s nearly always impossible to attribute a decision in the literary world purely to antisemitic motives. A book may be dropped by a publisher because of the author’s attitude toward Israel or the Jewish themes it portrays. But it could also be dropped for a near-infinite number of other reasons: limited demand, fewer books being published overall or the book simply not being very good.
“This is such a competitive industry,” said Firestone-Teeter. “We’re holding all of that together to try to not be sensationalist about anything, but at the same time, these are real concerns that are valid.”
Nu Reads’ second selection is Sam Sussman’s Boy From the North Country, a novel about a boy in upstate New York who grows up with a nagging sense that he is Bob Dylan’s illegitimate child. (The book is based on Sussman’s own life, and a glance at a photo of the author reveals more than a passable resemblance to the folk icon.)
As a child in the Hudson Valley, far from other Jews, Sussman had formative encounters with stories by Jewish writers such as Chaim Potok, Philip Roth and Tony Kushner. When he moved to New York City, Jewish book events were how he tapped into the Jewish community.
“We only have so much control over how the wider world receives Jewish literature,” author Sam Sussman told JI. “But I think it’s very important that within the Jewish world, we’re open to stories from Jews of all backgrounds and with all political and cultural perspectives.”
“I really grew up in a part of the world where there weren’t a significant number of other Jews, and literature was a really important way for me to connect to a broader sense of Jewish community,” Sussman told JI.
Sussman has not experienced the kind of pushback or stigmatizing that some other Jewish writers have reported since Oct. 7. Instead, he urged Jewish readers to think about how to ensure that the full diversity of Jewish voices and stories are told and respected.
“We only have so much control over how the wider world receives Jewish literature,” Sussman told JI. “But I think it’s very important that within the Jewish world, we’re open to stories from Jews of all backgrounds and with all political and cultural perspectives.”
Sussman’s story, and the growing positive acclaim for his debut novel, is a reminder that despite the steady drip of negative headlines for Jewish authors, the literary world — an industry Jewish authors and intellectuals helped shape over decades — is not a monolith, and the story of American Jewish literature has not yet reached its conclusion.
“How do we respond to the urgent needs of our community and raise awareness about them and create written documentation around them, but also, how do we find ways that we can just really celebrate our Jewishness and have that propel us forward?” asked Firestone-Teeter. “The ability to hold all these things at once is incredibly inspiring.”
Plus, CAIR sues over antisemitism training video
Pete Kiehart for The Washington Post via Getty Images
Paul Ingrassia, forer White House liaison to the Justice Department, left, announces the release of brothers Andrew and Matthew Valentin outside of the DC Central Detention Facility on January 20, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Good Monday afternoon!
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
I’m Danielle Cohen-Kanik, U.S. editor at Jewish Insider and curator, along with assists from my colleagues, of the Daily Overtime briefing. Please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts and feedback by replying to this email.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
President Donald Trump continued to voice his frustration today with Hamas’ ongoing violence in the Gaza Strip, including a recent ceasefire violation where Hamas terrorists shot an anti-tank missile at IDF machinery and killed two soldiers, though he stopped short of calling for action against the terror group.
At a bilateral lunch at the White House with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Trump told reporters, “We made a deal with Hamas that they’re going to be very good, they’re going to behave, they’re going to be nice and if they’re not, we’re going to go in — we’re going to eradicate them if we have to, they’ll be eradicated.”
Trump claimed the violence was committed by rogue members of the terror group: “I don’t believe it was the leadership — they had some rebellion in there among themselves — and they killed some people, a lot of people.”
Despite his phrasing, Trump emphasized that the U.S. will not send troops into Gaza. “We don’t need to [have U.S. boots on the ground] because we have many countries, as you know, signed on to this deal,” he said. “We had countries calling me when they saw some of the killing with Hamas, saying, ‘We’d love to go in and take care of the situation ourselves.’ In addition, Israel would go in in two minutes if I asked them to go in. … But right now we haven’t said that. We’re going to give it a little chance and hopefully there will be a little less violence”…
Trump advisors Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, in Israel to help shore up the ceasefire, reportedly told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in their meeting today not to take any action that could risk the first phase of the agreement, Israeli media reports, despite the recent violations by Hamas…
Netanyahu appointed Israeli-American businessman Michael Eisenberg as his representative to the U.S.-led international body monitoring the implementation of the ceasefire, according to Israeli media. Eisenberg previously helped establish the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Vice President JD Vance, set to land in Israel tomorrow, is expected to visit the monitoring body’s command center…
The Trump administration’s nominee for ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, former Rep. Mark Walker (R-NC), is also in Israel this week on a trip focused on “religious freedom, unity and resilience after the release of hostages.” Yesterday, he met with American hostage families and today visited Yad Vashem and the Western Wall…
The military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said today it was handing over the remains of a hostage held in Gaza to IDF troops. The army announced the casket is now in Israel and headed for identification…
Meanwhile in the U.S., Politico reports that Paul Ingrassia, the Trump administration’s nominee to head the Office of Special Counsel, said on a text chain of Republican operatives last year that he has “a Nazi streak” in him “from time to time” and that all holidays commemorating Black communities “need to be eviscerated.”
Ingrassia, who has a history of promoting antisemitic conspiracy theories, including calling the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel a “psyop,” is scheduled receive a confirmation hearing in the Senate on Thursday…
The Council on American-Islamic Relations filed a lawsuit against Northwestern alleging that the university violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by adopting time, place and manner restrictions on student protest and requiring students to watch an antisemitism training video, Jewish Insider‘s Danielle Cohen-Kanik reports.
Among other allegations, the suit, filed in federal court in Illinois, claims Northwestern violated students’ rights by requiring them to agree to the school’s code of conduct, which now incorporates the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism, as well as mandatory bias training that includes a video on antisemitism created in collaboration with the Jewish United Fund, the city’s Jewish federation…
Dartmouth College joined five other universities in rejecting the Trump administration’s “Compact for Academic Excellence” over the weekend. With a deadline of today, the University of Arizona, the University of Texas at Austin and Vanderbilt University are the only schools offered early access to the compact that have yet to respond publicly…
John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council under the Biden administration, is set to become director of the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics on Nov. 15, according to Axios…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider tomorrow morning for reporting on the U.K. Jewish community’s reaction to rising antisemitism in the country after the Yom Kippur attack on a Manchester synagogue and reflections from a 21-year-old Argentinian activist who was awarded with a trip to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum for her work in tolerance.
This evening, Aish is hosting former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in conversation with Elisha Wiesel on “the future of New York City” about the upcoming mayoral elections.
Tomorrow, the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control will hold a hearing on Hezbollah’s drug trafficking activities in Latin America.
Hillel International CEO Adam Lehman will appear at 92NY in New York City tomorrow evening to discuss “the state of Judaism on campus.”
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SUOZZI’S STAND
Tom Suozzi finds comfort zone in the political middle, speaking up for Israel
The New York Democrat praised Trump for the hostage deal: ‘We thank God and congratulate President Trump and all those who helped make the return of the hostages a reality’
HERITAGE OF HOPE
In Israel and Gaza, Nelson Mandela’s granddaughters find hope amid devastation
Zamaswazi (Swati) Dlamini-Mandela and Zaziwe Dlamini-Manaway traveled to the region earlier this month, ahead of an announced ceasefire between Israel and Hamas
Plus, Charles Kushner condemns 'vile' Paris vandalism
Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu via Getty Images
Israeli army tanks and military vehicles move in the areas near the northern border line of the Gaza Strip in Ashdod, Israel on March 18, 2025.
Good Thursday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
I’m Danielle Cohen-Kanik, U.S. editor at Jewish Insider. I’ll be curating the Daily Overtime for you, along with assists from my colleagues. Please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts and feedback by replying to this email.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
Just before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened his Security Cabinet to discuss a full IDF takeover of the Gaza Strip, he told Fox News’ Bill Hemmer that Israel “intends to” take over Gaza but “doesn’t want to keep” the territory or “be there as a governing body.” Rather, Netanyahu said, Israel’s ultimate goal is to have a “security perimeter” around the enclave and to “hand it over to Arab forces that will govern it properly.”
Asked if President Donald Trump had given him a “green light” for the plan, Netanyahu said Trump “understands that it’s Israel who’s going to do the fighting” but that the two “haven’t gone into that kind of discussion.” Netanyahu added that the two leaders had agreed to a “humanitarian surge” to take place before what Netanyahu called “our final military action.”
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, speaking to Fox later in the day, said that Trump “has made it clear that he respects that Israel has to make the decision that is best for them. … The president is not going to try to second guess what Israel is doing”…
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday regarding the filing of federal hate crimes charges against Elias Rodriguez, the alleged perpetrator of the fatal Capital Jewish Museum shooting in May, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said the indictment “begins the statutory process on whether to seek the death penalty” and that Attorney General Pam Bondi “will determine whether or not to authorize my office to seek death.”
According to the filing, Rodriguez wrote in a document the day before the shooting, “Those of us against the genocide take satisfaction in arguing that the perpetrators and abettors have forfeited their humanity.” Reid Davis, the special agent in charge for the FBI Washington field office’s criminal division, said investigators “believe [Rodriguez] was a lone-wolf actor motivated by anti-Zionist and pro-Palestinian ideology, with the goal of conducting a mass shooting to call attention to his political agenda”…
Former Rep. Abigail Spanberger, the Democratic nominee for governor of Virginia, belatedly acknowledged antisemitic social media posts from state Del. Sam Rasoul, who chairs the Education Committee in the House of Delegates, after her campaign did not respond to multiple requests for comment on the issue from Jewish Insider.
Spanberger told the local political outlet Virginia Scope, “This war continues to unleash heartbreak and tragedy as we witness civilian deaths, starving families, and hostages still held by Hamas. … However, one can and must denounce these tragedies without using antisemitic language, whether intentional or not.” Notably, Spanberger did not specify whether she identified Rasoul’s rhetoric specifically as antisemitic…
Axios scooped the launch of a new podcast from Katie Miller, a former Trump administration aide and Elon Musk staffer married to White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller. After ending her tenure at DOGE along with Musk in March, Miller is kicking off “The Katie Miller Podcast,” aimed at conservative women, with an interview with Vice President JD Vance, among others…
David Ellison, CEO of Skydance Media, and George Cheeks, CEO of CBS, attended a morning editorial meeting at CBS News today, shortly after the $8 billion merger between Paramount, the parent company of CBS, and Skydance officially closed, per Puck News. The merger marks the end of a yearslong struggle between controlling shareholder Shari Redstone and other investors as well as Trump, with whom Paramount had to settle a $16 million lawsuit before the FCC approved the deal…
U.S. Ambassador to France Charles Kushner called the vandalization of El Al’s Paris office — which was splattered with red paint and graffiti that read “genocide airline” — “vile,” “cowardly” and “antisemitic.” He called for the French government to “fully prosecute this crime and bring the perpetrators to justice”…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for reporting on a new Orthodox Jewish community emerging in the unlikeliest of places, an interview with Rich Goldberg reflecting on his service with the White House National Energy Dominance Council and a dive into how pro-Israel lawmakers are reacting to Netanyahu’s Gaza takeover plans.
Going into the weekend, we’ll be watching the outcome of the Israeli Security Cabinet vote and its ripples in Washington, including in the White House, among Israel’s allies in Congress and within the American Jewish community.
We’ll be back in your inbox with the Daily Overtime on Monday. Shabbat shalom!
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From the Strait of Hormuz to the halls of Congress: Rebecca Bennett aims to take on Rep. Tom Kean Jr.
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EXCLUSIVE
How Hamas directs the distribution of cash from aid groups in Gaza: report
A new report from NGO Monitor describes the ‘workaround’ used by international aid groups to continue flow of aid to Gaza despite Hamas involvement
Tom Brenner For The Washington Post via Getty Images
Metropolitan Police Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation officers stand guard at a perimeter near the Capital Jewish Museum on May 22, 2025 in Washington.
Good Tuesday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
I’m Danielle Cohen-Kanik, U.S. editor at Jewish Insider. I’ll be curating the Daily Overtime for you, along with assists from my colleagues. Please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts and feedback by replying to this email.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro spoke out on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza today, telling a local news channel, “The fact that kids are starving in Gaza is not OK. It is not OK. And I think everyone has a moral responsibility to figure out how to feed these kids. It is true that Hamas intercepts aid. It is true that the aid distribution network is not as sophisticated as it needs to be, but given that, I think our nation, the United States of America, has a moral responsibility to flood the zone with aid. … It is awful, what is happening in Gaza.”
The Democratic governor called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claim that there is no starvation in Gaza “quite abhorrent,” and said Netanyahu’s language and support of “occupying” Gaza is “not only reckless … but what it does is it further isolates Israel in the world, and that’s a dangerous place for Israel to be.” It’s a sign of the rhetorical tightrope even pro-Israel Democrats are walking, as the party’s voters turn more critical towards the Jewish state…
Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), another moderate-minded Jewish Democrat, who recently said she supported resolutions led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) last week to block some arms sales to Israel, told Semafor that Israel’s moves to airlift increased aid into Gaza are “a start, but you can’t possibly get the volume of food in there that you need via an airlift.”
However, asked if she would support recognition of a Palestinian state, Slotkin said, “I just don’t believe that we should be recognizing a new state in the middle of an active hot war”…
After sources in the Prime Minister’s Office briefed reporters yesterday that IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir can step down if he doesn’t agree with Netanyahu’s move to expand the war in Gaza, the PMO released a statement that “the IDF is prepared to enact any decision made by the Security Cabinet.” The statement came after a three-hour meeting of senior security officials in which Zamir presented “possibilities to continue the campaign in Gaza.” Netanyahu plans to convene the full Security Cabinet on Thursday, according to Israel’s Channel 12 news…
House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) trip to Israel continues, including a meeting last night in Shiloh — the second West Bank settlement Johnson has visited since his arrival — with Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, as well as U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and his wife, Janet. Johnson’s delegation also met with Ditza Or, mother of hostage Avinatan Or…
The FBI released its 2024 Hate Crime Report this morning, which found that nearly 70% (1,938 incidents) of all religiously motivated hate crimes in the U.S. last year were committed against Jews, including terrorist threats, assault, vandalism, harassment, burglary, false bomb threats and swatting. It’s the highest number of anti-Jewish hate crimes ever recorded by the bureau since it began collecting data in 1991…
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) sent a letter to the IRS yesterday asking the agency to investigate the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ status as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based on “substantial evidence” that “confirms CAIR has deep ties to terrorist organizations”…
U.S. Ambassador to France Charles Kushner met yesterday with Saudi Ambassador to France Fahd bin Mayouf Al-Ruwaili. Kushner said the two discussed “the ways that our two countries can each contribute to peace and stability in the Middle East,” just one week after Saudi Arabia and France co-chaired a U.N. conference on the two-state solution which the U.S. and Israel boycotted…
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Federal Emergency Management Agency, quietly removed a requirement for grant applicants to certify they will not engage in a commercial boycott of Israel in order to be eligible for funding. The requirement had been included in notices published by FEMA on Friday for a tranche of at least $1.9 billion in natural disaster preparedness grants…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider this week for reporting on Rep. Maxwell Frost’s (D-FL) anti-Israel turn since coming into office as the first Gen-Z lawmaker, the University of Maryland’s decision to settle a lawsuit with CAIR for a six-figure sum and the Democratic Navy veteran, Rebecca Bennett, looking to unseat Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-NJ) in New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District.
Tomorrow, the New Jersey Jewish Business Alliance will host its 11th annual Legislative and Business Luncheon featuring gubernatorial candidates Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) and former Republican state Rep. Jack Ciattarelli. The two will face off in the Garden State’s November general election, with recent polling showing Sherrill with a comfortable lead.
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DISTRICT DYNAMICS
James Walkinshaw sounds more supportive of Israel than his former boss
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Wikimedia Commons/Ahmad Aburob/Facebook
Jordanians protest in Amman in June 2018, angry at the state of the economy in the country.
Stability in Jordan is key to stability in the region as the Trump Administration pursues its plan for peace between Israel and the Palestinians, Tamara Cofman Wittes of the Brookings Institution said on Tuesday, on a conference call from Tel Aviv.
“The survival of Jordan to me is pretty core to the survival of the Middle East,” Cofman Wittes said. The call was set up to discuss possible fallout if Israel were to annex of parts of the West Bank, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s comments on the matter during the election in April.
“The King [of Jordan] is already in a very delicate position… a majority of the Jordanian population is Palestinian. If we’re going to see significant, mass mobilization in the wake of an annexation move anywhere in the Arab world, you’re going to see it first in Jordan,” Cofman Wittes said. “I think that given the existing domestic challenges, it just adds this much more fuel to the fire.”
Ms. Cofman Wittes landed in Tel Aviv following a week of travel in the Hashemite Kingdom. She warned Tuesday that Jordanian frustrations are high. The citizenry’s anger over domestic issues — lack of jobs, crumbling infrastructure, poor healthcare and education – could be set off if they feel abandoned by their government and if the King is perceived to be supporting U.S. policy toward Israel and against Palestinian national aspirations.
Jordan maintains a “cool” peace with Israel and has oversight of the Temple Mount, the Muslim Holy Sites of Haram al-Sharif and Al-aqsa Mosque, and it’s unclear what the country’s role would be in any proposed peace plan by President Trump’s Middle East peace team of Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt. The two advisors are expected to visit Jordan this week to discuss the Bahrain summit with the King.
Cofman Wittes said that the King faces an impossible choice. He can accept the terms of the Americans and “sell out” the political and national interests of the Palestinians and potentially receive large investment. Or, he could maintain a delicate stability in his country by acting in the national consensus of the population.
“What is a head of government supposed to do in that circumstance?” Cofman Wittes asked. “He cannot sell out his national interest, even for the highest price – is basically saying, ‘Yes, I am prepared to destabilize my own rule, my own life-span in power for the sake of whatever check you say you’re going to write to me or you say whatever pledge you say the Gulf is going to give to me.’ I just don’t think that’s a deal any King of Jordan is going to go for.”
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