• 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.

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.)

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

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]

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…

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.

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…

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun, President Donald Trump’s nominee to serve as special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, had his confirmation hearing today before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

Kaploun leaned into the importance of education as a tool to counter antisemitism. “We must, educate, educate, educate about the history of the Jewish community in America and the Judeo-Christian values our country was founded on,” Kaploun told senators. The Chabad-trained rabbi and businessman largely sidestepped a question about Trump’s recent praise for Tucker Carlson after the conservative podcaster hosted neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes for a friendly interview…

After a Muslim speaker led a walkout during an interfaith event at City College of New York, saying he refused to sit next to the executive director of Baruch College Hillel, whom he described as a “Zionist,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Wednesday described the incident as “antisemitism, plain and simple.” Hochul, a Democrat, said she expects university administrators to “act swiftly to ensure accountability.”

Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for civil rights, called the incident “deeply concerning” and said the Justice Department “will look into” it… 

Also in New York, Jessica Tisch said she would stay on as police commissioner in New York City when Zohran Mamdani becomes mayor. The decision builds a bridge between Mamdani, who has a history of sharp criticism of the police, and a law enforcement leader with a record of reducing crime in the city.  

“Now, do the Mayor-elect and I agree on everything? No, we don’t,” Tisch wrote in a letter to the NYPD’s more than 45,000 employees. “But in speaking with him, it’s clear that we share broad and crucial priorities: the importance of public safety, the need to continue driving down crime, and the need to maintain stability and order across the department. We also agree that you deserve the city’s respect and support”…

Iranian nuclear scientists traveled to Russia last year as part of an attempt to access technology that could potentially be used for nuclear weapons — their second covert visit, according to U.S. documents obtained by the Financial Times. The documents offer the first evidence of Russia and Iran engaging in concrete information-sharing that could relate to nuclear weapons… 

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to Washington continued on Wednesday with meetings with lawmakers and a high-profile appearance at an investment summit with Trump at the Kennedy Center. 

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) sat down with MBS, who also attended a breakfast reception with a dozen members. Sens. Jim Risch (R-ID) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), who lead the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, are meeting with the Saudi leader at his hotel this afternoon after a larger bipartisan Senate meeting was canceled. 

Trump said at the investment forum that $270 billion in deals were being signed with “dozens of companies.” The list of deals has not yet been made public. The CEOs of Chevron, Qualcomm, Cisco, General Dynamics and Pfizer attended the event, according to an event program, along with senior executives from IBM, Google, Salesforce, Andreessen Horowitz, Boeing, Halliburton, Adobe, Aramco, State Street and Parsons Corp. 

At the Kennedy Center, Trump also said that he expects MBS to serve as a “distinguished member” of the Trump-led “Board of Peace,” which was part of the president’s 20-point peace plan approved by the United Nations Security Council this week…

Democratic Majority for Israel’s president and CEO, Brian Romick, criticized the outcome of Trump’s meetings with MBS, saying in a Wednesday statement that “any substantial upgrade in the U.S.-Saudi relationship,” including closer defense ties and the acquisition of U.S. weapons, “must be tied to meaningful, measurable progress toward Saudi-Israel normalization.” Romick said Congress must play a role in ensuring “Israel’s qualitative military edge is preserved”…

In a Truth Social post after the investment forum, Trump said MBS asked him “to use the power and influence of the Presidency to bring an immediate halt to what is taking place in Sudan,” which he described as “the most violent place on Earth.” 

“We will work with Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Egypt and other Middle Eastern partners to get these atrocities to end, while at the same time stabilizing Sudan,” Trump wrote…

The Senate Armed Services Committee postponed expected votes on Alex Velez-Green and Austin Dahmer, both nominated to be deputies to Elbridge Colby, the under secretary of defense for policy, viewed as one of the leading isolationist policymakers in the Trump administration. The confirmation hearings for both men exposed deep dissatisfaction among Republicans with Colby and his office.

Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) told JI’s Marc Rod he believes there was a “broad consensus” on the committee that more time was needed to process Velez-Green and Dahmer’s nominations. “I don’t think it was one or two people holding it up, or anything like that. … My impression was the committee felt the support there was not ready yet, but … we didn’t want to hold up anybody else”…

Iran freed an oil tanker that its forces had seized near the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, the first time Iran had seized a ship in its waters since April 2024. Iranian state media said the ship, which was freed without its cargo, had committed “violations,” but did not say what they were…

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider tomorrow morning for a look at two Republican political figures in Texas who have faced censure by national Jewish groups over allegations of antisemitism, but who may be making comeback bids in this year’s Texas congressional primaries.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told President Donald Trump on Tuesday that he wants to join the Abraham Accords, but that a path to a two-state solution is needed. We’ll have a story tomorrow on what the two leaders’ meeting means for the future of Israel-Saudi normalization.

Tomorrow, nearly all of the 20 hostages released by Hamas last month will be in Washington for a meeting with Trump at the White House. Three of them spoke publicly for the first time earlier this week at the Jewish Federations of North America General Assembly, including Avinatan Or, who shared a harrowing account of his attempt to escape from Hamas’ tunnels. In an interview that aired today on Israel’s Channel 12 News, freed hostage Guy Gilboa-Dalal described enduring a sexual assault at gunpoint while in captivity.

Vice President JD Vance is slated to join Breitbart’s Matthew Boyle for a fireside chat at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington. We’ll be watching to see whether he discusses ongoing GOP tensions over Tucker Carlson, Nick Fuentes and right-wing antisemitism. 

Washington notables will remember former Vice President Dick Cheney at his funeral at the Washington National Cathedral. Former President Joe Biden will be in attendance, and former President George W. Bush will deliver remarks, along with Cheney’s daughter, former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY). 

• President Donald Trump is signing an executive order today to rename the Department of Defense as the Department of War, the name used through the first half of the 20th century until its renaming in 1949 as part of the implementation of the National Security Act of 1947.
• Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, are endorsing Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA) today in her bid to succeed Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA). Read more from JI’s Emily Jacobs here.
• We’re continuing to monitor the situation in California, where members of the state’s Jewish Caucus are moving toward watering down antisemitism legislation that has faced significant pushback from the California Teacher’s Association. Proposed concessions on the legislation — which has until the end of the legislative session next Friday to pass — include the removal of penalties against schools that foster antisemitic learning environments and a provision setting guidance for teaching subjects that could be considered controversial.
• We’re also keeping an eye on the situation in Israel, following the IDF’s announcement that it was in control of 40% of Gaza City amid continued calls this week from senior Israeli officials including IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir and Mossad head David Barnea for Jerusalem to accept a temporary ceasefire. Earlier today, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced the beginning of an aerial campaign targeting Hamas operatives in Gaza City. As Israel marks 700 days since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks, the terror group released a video of Guy Gilboa-Dalal and Alon Ohel.
• Looking ahead to the weekend, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is bringing his “Fighting Oligarchy” tour to New York City on Saturday, where he’ll campaign with Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani.
• On Sunday, the Jewish Theological Seminary kicks off its inaugural storytelling festival. Etgar Keret, Jonathan Safran Foer, Jodi Kantor, Shalom Auslander, Alex Edelman and Deborah Treisman are all slated to speak at the event, which runs through Tuesday.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S JOSH KRAUSHAAR

Just when it looked like far-left New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani was on track to become mayor, in part thanks to persistent divisions among his opposition, there are signs of a possible consolidation of the crowded field.

The New York Timesreported that embattled Mayor Eric Adams is considering a job offer from the Trump administration — a position at the Department of Housing and Urban Development or an ambassadorship have been floated — that would entice him to withdraw from the race. The paper is also reporting that Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa has also been approached by Trump allies, but Sliwa has remained adamant that he is sticking in the race. 

All told, Trump’s team is doing everything it can behind the scenes to eliminate the structural hurdles for a successful anti-Mamdani coalition, without publicly putting its finger on the scale for the leading Mamdani challenger, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. (It’s also notable that Trump, even though it would be in his political interest to use a Mamdani mayoralty as a battering ram against Democrats, is more concerned about the policy consequences of a socialist mayor in his hometown.)

A one-on-one Mamdani-Cuomo general election showdown is still far from a sure thing, but it’s worth noting that the matchup would be quite competitive, according to the available public polling. Even the pro-Mamdani pollster Adam Carlson found in July that Mamdani only led Cuomo by three points among registered voters in a head-to-head matchup, though the lead expanded to double digits when the most likely voters were polled.

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

Kim or Khamenei?: In Foreign Affairs, Vipin Narang and Pranay Vaddi of MIT’s Center for Nuclear Security Policy posit that as a result of the damage inflicted to Iran’s nuclear program during the 12-day Israel-Iran war, North Korea will become a model for rogue states looking to advance their nuclear programs. “In contrast to Tehran, Pyongyang largely avoided delays in weaponizing its program; it made steady progress toward a bomb, using periodic engagement to test U.S. resolve over possible agreements, routinely relied on feints and stalling tactics, and weathered tremendous diplomatic and economic pressure along the way. When diplomacy broke down, North Korea rapidly advanced its program so its Kim regime was prepared to approach any future engagement from a position of greater strength. … For would-be proliferator states, the lessons are dangerously clear: do not wait to get the bomb, assume major powers will attack, and do not trust that diplomacy is within reach. In other words, be like Kim, not like Khamenei.” [ForeignAffairs]

The New Axis Powers: In The New York Times, the Center for a New American Security’s Richard Fontaine and Andrea Kendall-Taylor caution that this week’s summit in Beijing with the leaders of Russia, China, North Korea and Iran signals a growing threat to the U.S.-led world order. “Though they may occasionally come to one another’s aid — like the North Korean soldiers who joined their Russian allies in battle against Ukrainian forces — that is not the point. The group has a much more ambitious objective. It seeks, like the World War II era Axis Powers of Germany, Italy and Japan, “a new order of things,” in which each country can claim “its own proper place.” Discontented with an international system they believe denies them the status and freedom of action they deserve by virtue of their power and civilizations, they are united in the desire to change it. … Indeed, the gathering in Beijing suggests that the axis, rather than withering following the war in Iran in June, has momentum. Its members sense an opportunity.” [NYTimes]

Laying Blame: In The Times of Israel, Menachem Rosensaft, who teaches a genocide law course at Cornell Law School, pushes back against the International Association of Genocide Scholars’ recent passage of a resolution labeling Israel’s actions in Gaza a genocide. “Nowhere in the IAGS resolution is there even an allusion to, let alone explicit mention of, the facts that it is Hamas, not Israel, that has used Palestinian civilians in Gaza, including children, as human shields; that it was Hamas, not Israel, that established military installations behind schools and hospitals, making them legitimate targets in Israel’s wholly legitimate efforts to eliminate the threat posed by such military installations; that by all reliable accounts, Hamas bears more than its fair share of responsibility for preventing the distribution of humanitarian aid in Gaza.” [TOI]

The State Department announced sanctions on Al Haq, the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights over the groups’ legal moves against Israel at the International Criminal Court…

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that he had advised European countries against their push for Palestinian statehood, saying that such a move would cause “reciprocal actions” — such as Israeli annexation moves — and “would make a ceasefire [in Gaza] harder”; Rubio’s comments came as Finland joined the group of European nations that issued a declaration in support of a two-state solution following a French- and Saudi-led conference in July on the issue…

The U.S. is mulling restrictions on diplomats from several countries, including Brazil, Iran and Sudan, who are traveling to New York later this month for the U.N. General Assembly; among the restrictions under consideration is banning Iranian diplomats from shopping at big-box stores such as Costco and Sam’s Club…

President Donald Trump hosted tech leaders, including Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Google co-founder Sergey Brin on Thursday at the White House; Brin was later photographed with Trump in the Oval Office…

The Wall Street Journal spotlights the tensions between Trump and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), who has opposed key pieces of the president’s legislative agenda and increasingly finds himself at odds with GOP leadership…

Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA) filed a resolution to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) for “promoting and cheering on terrorism and antisemitism at the People’s Conference for Palestine.” Carter is a candidate for Senate in Georgia…

Former Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) is weighing a congressional bid in Florida’s 19th District, as Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) vacates the seat to run for governor…

Elias Rodriguez, the Chicago man accused of killing two Israeli Embassy staffers outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, pleaded not guilty to a series of felony charges related to the May attack…

The New York Times profiles author Sam Sussman, whose soon-to-be-released novel Boy from the North Country mirrors his own life as the potential son of singer Bob Dylan…

Argentinian prosecutors filed charges against the daughter and son-in-law of a senior Nazi official who served as financial advisor to Adolf Hitler before fleeing to Argentina with looted artwork; the couple was charged with hiding the looted “Portrait of a Lady” by Italian painter Giuseppe Ghislandi, as well as nearly two dozen Matisse works…

In a new interview with the popular Israeli Telegram channel Abu Ali Express, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to a question asking if Israel could announce the war over in Rafah and allow civilians back into the city, saying, “It’s a good idea and it’s not theoretical … We are doing work on the ground”; Netanyahu declined to respond to whether the war would end before Israel’s next election, which is set for over a year from now could take place earlier in 2026… 

Israel’s national basketball team fell short in its EuroBasket tournament matchup against Slovenia; the team, led by Deni Avdija, will next face Italy or Greece… 

In his first visit to Qatar since Iran launched ballistic missiles at the U.S. air base in Qatar, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on Thursday in Doha; Araghchi also met with senior Hamas officials living in Qatar… 

Iran’s Foreign Ministry said it had downgraded its diplomatic relations with Australia following the expulsion of Tehran’s ambassador to Canberra and three other Iranian diplomats over Iran’s involvement in attacks on Jewish sites in Melbourne and Sydney…

Warren Bass, who previously worked at the Pentagon as director of speechwriting and a senior advisor to former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, is joining The Washington Institute for Near East Policy as director of communications and senior fellow…

Mia Ehrenberg is joining the Democratic National Committee as senior spokesperson…

Holocaust survivor David Schaecter, a co-founder of the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach, died at 96…

Psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton, whose most well-known work was a deep dive into Nazi doctors during the Holocaust, died at 99…

Joshua Abram, a co-founder of the NeueHouse coworking space, died at 62…

Philanthropist Harold Matzner, the longtime chair of the Palm Springs International Film Festival, died at 88…

Israeli President Isaac Herzog (left) met on Thursday with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican. In a readout following the meeting, Herzog said the two discussed, “first and foremost, the need and duty to free the hostages and bring them home.”

Co-founder and chairman of Murray Hill Properties in NYC, Norman Sturner turns 85 on Saturday… 

FRIDAY: Author, educator, and activist, Jonathan Kozol turns 89… Rabbi emeritus of Congregation Rinat Yisrael in Teaneck, N.J., and rosh yeshiva of the Torah Academy of Bergen County, Rabbi Yosef Adler turns 74… Judge of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, JoAnne Fishman Kloppenburg turns 72… COO of The New York Public Library, she has been married to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) since 1980, Iris Weinshall turns 72… Principal at Watershed Associates, he is a negotiation consultant, Stuart Shlossman… Heidi Beth Massey… New York-based real estate developer, Jacob Frydman turns 68… Judge of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, for the Southern District of Florida, Laurel Myerson Isicoff turns 68… Investigative journalist, Yevgenia Albats turns 67… Member of the Knesset until 2023, she is the first woman in the IDF promoted to major general (the IDF’s second highest rank), Orna Barbivai turns 63… Canadian lawyer, investor and business executive, he is the co-founder and chairman of Israeli AI company Aiola, Mitch Garber turns 61… Nationally syndicated newspaper columnist and a senior editor at Reason magazine, Jacob Z. Sullum turns 60… Chief assistant district attorney in Manhattan until 2021, now a criminal defense attorney, Karen Friedman Agnifilo turns 59… Entrepreneur and investor, he is the chairman of Mentored, an education technology platform, Eric Aroesty… Managing editor for politics and legal affairs at USA Today, Holly Rosenkrantz… Senior rabbi of Temple Sholom in Vancouver, B.C., and past chair of Reform Rabbis of Canada, Rabbi Dan Moskovitz turns 55… Academy Award-winning filmmaker, Ari Devon Sandel turns 51… Member of the Knesset for the Yisrael Beiteinu party, Yulia Malinovsky turns 50… Payroll specialist at Topaz Financial Services, Jeremy C. Frankel… Voice actor for English versions of anime, animation and video games, Maxwell Braden Mittelman turns 35… Director in the D.C. office of Baron Public Affairs LLC, Jeremy Furchtgott… Founder of Bangalore-based Catoff, Anthony (Tony) Klor… NYC-based director of strategic initiatives and director of IPF Atid, both at Israel Policy Forum, Shanie Reichman turns 30… Shoshanna Liebman…

SATURDAY: Retired 36-year member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Rep. Sander Levin  (D-MI) turns 94… CMadelon “Madi” Portugal… Member of the New York State Assembly from 1981 until the end of 2024, Helene Weinstein turns 73… Oncologist and bioethicist, he is the older brother of Rahm and Ari, Ezekiel Jonathan “Zeke” Emanuel turns 68… Co-founder in 2008 of Kol HaNeshamah: The Center for Jewish Life and Enrichment and co-author of a siddur, Dr. Adena Karen Berkowitz… Founding managing director at Olympus Capital, Daniel R. Mintz… Former governor of New Jersey from 2010 until 2018, and two-time candidate for president of the U.S., Chris Christie turns 63… Toronto-based publisher and entrepreneur, she serves on the board of governors of Shalem College, Elisa Morton Palter… Rabbi of Temple Shalom in Louisville, Ky., since 2016, Beth Jacowitz Chottiner turns 61… City treasurer of Southfield, Mich., Irv “Moishe” Lowenberg… Chess Master since age 14, now a FIDE Grandmaster, Ben Finegold turns 56… National director at AIPAC, Joseph S. Richards… Acting president and CEO of the JCC Association of North America until this past July, earlier this week she was named as chief development officer at the Ad Council, Jennifer Mamlet… Chief communications officer at Bloomberg LP, Jason Schechter… Israeli film, television and stage actor, Amos Tamam turns 48… Author, he won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for fiction for his novel The Netanyahus, Joshua Cohen turns 45… Former rabbi at Beth El Synagogue in Minneapolis for 14 years, now a consultant, Avi S. Olitzky… Senior policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation, he is a veteran of the IDF and an AIPAC alum, Daniel Flesch… Communications director at the William F. Buckley, Jr. Institute at Yale University, Ari Schaffer… Australian-born entrepreneur, now living in NYC, he is the co-founder of two start-ups, Ben Pasternak turns 26… Actor whose career started at 8 years old, Asher Dov Angel turns 23…

SUNDAY: Palm Beach, Fla., resident, the school at the Westchester (N.Y.) Jewish Center bears her name, Beverly Cannold turns 100… Considered one of the “Founding Mothers” of NPR, she is now a special correspondent on NPR’s “Morning Edition,” Susan Stamberg turns 87… Member of the U.K.’s House of Lords, Baron Andrew Zelig Stone turns 83… Longtime political columnist for Time magazine and author of the novel Primary Colors, Joe Klein turns 79… Color commentator for New York Yankees radio broadcasts since 2005, Suzyn Waldman turns 79… Former national political editor at the Washington Post, Maralee Schwartz… Owner and CEO of Gristedes Foods, John Catsimatidis turns 77… Pulitzer Prize-winning former national correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, now director of literary journalism at UC-Irvine, Barry E. Siegel turns 76… Minneapolis-area school counselor and language arts teacher, Sandra Sevig… Russian-born mathematician, he is a professor emeritus at UCSD, he was formerly a professor at both Yale and University of Chicago, Efim Zelmanov turns 70… Chief rabbi of the U.K., he was knighted by King Charles III as part of the 2023 New Year Honours, Rabbi Sir Ephraim Yitzchak Mirvis turns 69… 2023 Nobel Prize laureate in medicine, professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Drew Weissman turns 66… Global co-chair of the Israel practice at Latham & Watkins until his retirement in 2023, Stuart Kurlander… President of Hofstra University since 2021, the first woman to hold this position, Susan Poser turns 62… Bahraini ambassador to the U.S. from 2008 until 2013, after the prior four years in the Bahraini Parliament, both firsts for a Jewish woman, Houda Ezra Ebrahim Nonoo turns 61… Personal finance journalist and CEO of the multimedia company HerMoney, Jean Sherman Chatzky turns 61… Vice provost at Yeshiva University, she is the author or co-author of 15 books on leadership, the Torah and spirituality, Erica Brown turns 59… Award-winning special writer at The Wall Street Journal and author of six best-selling books, Gregory Zuckerman turns 59… Part-owner of the NHL’s New Jersey Devils, the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers, the NFL’s Washington Commanders and MLB’s Cleveland Guardians, David S. Blitzer turns 56… Tax partner with RSM US LLP, where he serves as the national family office enterprise markets leader, Benjamin Berger… Screenwriter, producer and director of many successful films and TV shows, Alex Kurtzman turns 52… Author of three New York Times bestsellers and an adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, Gayle Tzemach Lemmon turns 52… Rabbi of Baltimore’s Congregation Shomrei Emunah since 2009, Rabbi Binyamin Y. Marwick… Deputy chief of staff and legislative director for Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME), Eric B. Kanter…