Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said today that Israel’s airstrike in Gaza over the weekend, which the IDF said targeted a Palestinian Islamic Jihad member who was planning a terror attack, did not violate the ongoing ceasefire with Hamas. 

Rubio, who visited Jerusalem last week, told reporters standing next to President Donald Trump aboard Air Force One, “Israel didn’t surrender its right to self-defense. … We don’t view that as a violation of the ceasefire. They have a right — if there’s an imminent threat to Israel — and all the mediators agree to that”…

On the campaign trail, Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) became the first elected Democrat to call for Democratic Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner to drop out of the race to replace Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), saying he finds the candidate’s conduct “personally disqualifying,” Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports.

“This is a man who criticized and mocked police, rural Americans, and then put a Nazi tattoo on his body,” Auchincloss said. He expressed dissatisfaction with Platner’s defenses, in which the progressive candidate has claimed his actions aren’t a “liability.”

“I think it’s a liability, and I think we should have high standards for United States senators and one of them is: you don’t have a Nazi tattoo on your body,” Auchincloss continued…

Kevin Brown, the campaign manager for Platner, is stepping down after starting the job just last week, Axios scooped today. Brown told the outlet, “I started this campaign Tuesday but found out Friday we have a baby on the way. Graham deserves someone who is 100% in on his race and we want to lean into this new experience as a family”…

More than 160,000 New Yorkers submitted their ballot for New York City mayor with the start of early voting over the weekend, five times higher than the first weekend of early voting in 2021, according to Gothamist. Voters over 55 made up the majority of ballots cast, in contrast with the Democratic primary when voters ages 25-34 were first to the polls…

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, who also ran in the mayoral Democratic primary and has been backing nominee Zohran Mamdani, is advancing plans to challenge Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) for his congressional seat, City & State New York reports. 

“I’m very focused on helping Zohran win next Tuesday, and I’ll focus on after that, after that,” Lander told the outlet. At a rally for Mamdani over the weekend, Lander said “it’s more important than ever that we have leaders who understand this moment and will be partners to Zohran” in “the halls of Congress,” potentially hinting at his desire to run. Read JI’s reporting last month of the dynamics of a possible Lander-Goldman matchup…

Former Sen. John E. Sununu (R-NH), the former New Hampshire senator and part of an influential Granite State political family, officially launched his bid last week to take over the Senate seat of retiring Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH). 

Sununu’s candidacy ensures a hotly contested GOP primary against former Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA), who served as ambassador to New Zealand during the first Trump administration. Brown, who announced his candidacy in June, served a partial term representing Massachusetts in the Senate from 2010-2012, only holding the seat for two years before being bested by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).

Brown and Sununu, both of whom had pro-Israel records when they served in the Senate, will battle it out before taking on Rep. Chris Pappas (D-NH), the expected Democratic nominee with a history of winning in a swing district…

In an interview with The New York Times, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said that he still believes the U.S. could elect a Jewish president in his lifetime, even in the face of frequent antisemitic violence like the Passover arson attack on his residence. 

“Being open about my faith has opened me up to be able to have a deeper relationship with the people of Pennsylvania, allowed them to share their stories … We’re doing that in this ultimate swing state,” Shapiro, seen as a 2028 presidential contender, said…

Semafor reports on a new survey of hundreds of thousands of voters, conducted by a new center-left group called Welcome, that finds that 70% of voters think the Democratic Party over-prioritizes cultural issues. The report urges Democrats “to abandon some of the progressive language about race, abortion, and LGBTQ issues that Democrats began using after the 2012 election — and recommends the nomination of more candidates willing to vote with Republicans on conservative immigration and crime bills”…

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 Fairfax County Public Schools’ reaction to glorifications of violence by local Muslim Student Association chapters.

Tomorrow afternoon, the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution will hold a hearing on “Politically Violent Attacks: A Threat to Our Constitutional Order.”

Jewish Federations of North America will hold a briefing tomorrow on how the deal that split off ownership of TikTok’s U.S. business may impact the social media platform’s treatment of antisemitic content.

The 39th World Zionist Congress kicks off in Jerusalem tomorrow with the largest U.S. delegation in history, made up of 155 delegates and approximately 100 alternates. U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee will address a luncheon hosted by the American Zionist Movement ahead of the Congress’ opening.

• The Israel Defense Forces launched a major ground operation in Gaza City on Tuesday morning, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the military announced, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports.
• Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro will be delivering a speech this morning on political violence in America at the Eradicate Hate Global Summit in Pittsburgh. 
• The Senate Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing this morning on oversight of the FBI with FBI Director Kash Patel.
• Democratic Majority for Israel is hosting a live briefing with Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro on Gottheimer’s recent trip to Israel, next steps for the Abraham Accords and the latest in the Israel-Hamas war.
• The Center for a New American Security is holding a live fireside chat with Adam Boehler, the U.S. special envoy for hostage response.
• Alan Dershowitz, a former Harvard Law School professor and prominent defense attorney and Israel advocate, is speaking at the JFK Jr. forum at Harvard at the first “Middle East Dialogues” event of the academic year, hosted by professor Tarek Masoud, who invites polarizing speakers to debate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
• In the evening, American Friends of Lubavitch (Chabad) will host its Lamplighter Awards at D.C.’s Union Station. This year’s honoree is Palantir CEO Alex Karp, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) will receive a leadership award.
• Magen David Adom will host its 2025 New York City Gala in Manhattan, where political commentator Meghan McCain will receive its Champion of Israel Award. 

A QUICK WORD WITH jI’S MATTHEW KASSEL

As Zohran Mamdani wins support from a growing number of Democratic leaders in his bid for mayor of New York City, he has notably walked back some of his most polarizing views on several key issues — with one major exception: Israel.

In recent days, the Democratic nominee, who has long been an outspoken critic of Israel and its war in Gaza, has doubled down on his campaign vow to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if elected, even as legal experts cautioned such a move could be illegal. 

Mamdani, a vocal supporter of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, also said that he would seek to divest city holdings in Israel bonds and terminate a program established by Mayor Eric Adams, who is running as an independent, to foster business partnerships between companies in Israel and New York City.

Meanwhile, Mamdani has refused invitations to explicitly condemn calls to “globalize the intifada,” even as he has acknowledged concerns from Jewish voters who see the phrase as provoking antisemitic violence. He has said he will instead discourage use of the slogan, which he himself has not used publicly.

The 33-year-old democratic socialist and Queens assemblyman has otherwise declined to denounce Hasan Piker, a far-left streamer who has said that “America deserved 9/11” and has used antisemitic rhetoric in commenting on Israel. Mamdani sat for a lengthy interview with Piker during the primary.

Mamdani’s unyielding approach to opposing Israel underscores just how central the issue is to his self-conception as an activist and an elected official long involved in such causes. “This is something that I will never stray from for the rest of my life,” he explained in a Zoom discussion in 2020 with a pro-Palestinian advocacy group. “This is kind of, in many ways, the founding battle for justice that I’ve had.”

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

Charlie Kirk and the Debate on Israel: Semafor Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith writes about what the right-wing debate over Charlie Kirk’s views on Israel say about the future of the MAGA movement. “Future historians will puzzle over why the conflict between Israel and Palestine has been the issue, above all others, to split both US political parties in the 2020s. But one thing the feuding MAGA factions agree on is that there isn’t really another prominent figure like Kirk — a big voice who was focused on smoothing over his movement’s fractures, not hashing them out in public for clout. The only other one, in fact, is Donald Trump, who has proven — in his transactional way — a master of holding together disparate Republican factions. But so far, Trump has firmly chosen Israel’s side in the intraparty dispute. And now it’s not clear who remains to try to smooth over the generational divide, or who would even want to try.” [Semafor]

The Social Media Curse: Jewish Journal Editor-in-Chief David Suissa applauds Gov. Spencer Cox’s statement that “Social media is a cancer on our society right now,” and call for people to “log off, turn off, touch grass,” a message Cox conveyed as he announced the arrest of the suspect in the killing of Charlie Kirk. “We’ll hear plenty of sermons during the upcoming Holy Days, but I can’t help wishing that every rabbi finds a way to squeeze in that message. Why? Because our country has gone off the deep end. The reactions to the murder of Charlie Kirk have brought out our worst. The poor guy can’t die in peace without becoming a lightning rod for our societal dysfunctions. Unlike the old days before social media, today this toxic ugliness is front and center and screeching loud. Indeed the minute Kirk died, armies of social media soldiers put on their uniforms and let fly their predictable bullets. When Cox called social media a ‘cancer on our society,’ he might have added that it’s also an addiction.” [JewishJournal]

The Clock is Tik(Tok)ing: Carrie Filipetti, executive director of the Vandenberg Coalition, calls for the Trump administration to enforce the ban on TikTok in The Washington Post ahead of the Sept. 17 deadline for the company to be acquired by an American company or face a ban, calling it “critical to heading off a military confrontation and, if necessary winning one” against the Chinese Communist Party. “Imagine the following scenario. China decides to attack Taiwan, and, fearing the United States will come to Taiwan’s aid, launches preemptive strikes against American targets overseas. In the United States, Chinese operators launch drone attacks from secret bases located on more than 380,000 acres of farmland China has purchased. As the government considers its options, the 170 million American TikTok users open their feeds to thousands of bots disguised as people, rattling off anti-American propaganda; encouraging young students desperate for meaning to fight their own government; and spreading disinformation at such a rapid rate that it is impossible to discern fact from fiction.” [WashPost]

Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo called Israel’s war in Gaza “horrific” in an interview with The New York Times on Monday and called for an immediate end to its military operations. “There is no doubt that the people of New York and the nation see the continued carnage that is happening and are deeply, deeply disturbed and want it over, and believe it has gone on way too long,” he said…

An independent United Nations inquiry has concluded that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza and that top Israeli officials, including Netanyahu, have incited genocide, in a 72-page report released today. Israel said it “categorically rejects this distorted and false report and calls for the immediate abolition of this Commission of Inquiry.” …

Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah said she was fired from the paper on Monday over her social media posts reacting to the Charlie Kirk assassination. Attiah, a far-left commentator, retweeted social media messages justifying the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel as it was taking place… 

The Fallen Servicemembers Religious Heritage Restoration Act, which aims to ensure that Jewish World War I and II veterans receive the proper grave markers reflecting their religion, passed the House. “This bill is an important step to allow for the research necessary to correct these errors and ensure there are resources for that work,” Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), who is leading the bill with Rep. Max Miller (R-OH), said. “This will make it possible for these brave Jewish servicemembers’ descendants to know that their loved one’s military service, life and religious heritage are properly honored”…

Micah Lasher, a New York state assemblyman and former aide to Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), launched his campaign for his former mentor’s congressional seat on Monday…

Former Sen. Joe Manchin’s (I-WV) new book, Dead Center, comes out today, detailing his departure from the Democratic Party to become an independent, featuring scathing remarks for his former Democratic colleagues…

The New York Times investigates a series of trade and business dealings over the UAE’s access to AI chips that appear to be connected with cryptocurrency windfalls for the Witkoff and Trump families…

U.S. and Chinese negotiators have reached a framework deal for switching ownership of TikTok, in an effort to avert a threatened shutdown of the app…

HBO Max acquired the rights to a new series, “One Day in October,” the first scripted portrayal of the Oct. 7 attacks, filmed on location in Israel and based on real accounts. The show will premiere Oct. 7, 2025, the two-year anniversary of the attacks…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview clip that accusations that he’s prolonging the war in Gaza for his own political purposes are “malicious and false.” The interview with Israel’s Channel 13, a rarity for Netanyahu, will air in full today… 

Tzachi Braverman, Netanyahu’s chief of staff and close confidant, was approved to serve as Israel’s ambassador to the U.K., replacing Tzipi Hotovely at the end of her five-year term, though he likely won’t be posted to London for several months…

The Heritage Foundation released a report yesterday marking the fifth anniversary of the Abraham Accords, “looking back at all the Accords achieved and looking forward to the fulfillment of their tremendous potential.” …

UJA-Federation of New York announced new grants totaling approximately $7.8 million to expand support for Israel’s recovery and long-term rebuilding efforts, including recovery in Israel’s north and south and support for families including those of reservists, wounded soldiers and hostages, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross reports…

Sotheby’s is launching its new flagship at the Breuer Building in Manhattan in November by staging a major auction featuring the late Leonard Lauder’s $400 million art collection —including Gustav Klimt masterpieces —and an estimated $80 million group of artworks from the estate of Jay and Marian Pritzker… 

The Monuments Men and Women Foundation stopped the auction of two Nazi-looted oil paintings from the collection of more than 300 works seized from Adolphe Schloss during World War II…

The New York Times announced a new weekly newsletter on religion and spirituality, hosted by the Times’ Lauren Jackson…

Lynn Forester de Rothschild is exploring a sale of a minority stake in the parent company of The Economist magazine, according to Bloomberg, which would mark the publication’s first ownership shakeup in over a decade…

Secretary of State Marco Rubio attended the inauguration yesterday of the Pilgrimage Road archaeological site in the City of David, Jerusalem, calling the site “an enduring cultural and historical bond between the United States and Israel” and “a powerful reminder of the Judeo-Christian values that inspired America’s Founding Fathers.”

Israeli windsurfer, he won bronze in Atlanta 1996 and gold in Athens 2004, Israel’s first Olympic gold medalist, Gal Fridman turns 50…

Argentinian physician, author of books on gender relations, Esther Katzen Vilar turns 90… Democratic member of the Florida House of Representatives for multiple terms, in 2015 she became the president of Plaza Health Network, Elaine Bloom turns 88… NYC-based real estate investor and the founder of Cammeby’s International Group, Rubin “Rubie” Schron turns 87… Defense policy advisor to Presidents Reagan, Bush 41 and Bush 43 and member of a number of D.C. based think tanks, Richard Perle turns 84… Montebello, Calif., resident, Jon Olesen… Pompano Beach, Fla., resident, Shari Goldberg… Israeli playwright and screenwriter, Motti Lerner turns 76… Sheriff of Nantucket County, Mass., James A. Perelman turns 75… Founder and CEO of OurCrowd, Jonathan Medved turns 70… Media sales consultant, Fern Wallach… Award winning illusionist, who has sold tens of millions of tickets to his shows worldwide, known professionally as David Copperfield, David Seth Kotkin turns 69… Anthropology professor at Cornell, his work centers on Jewish communities and culture, Jonathan Boyarin turns 69… Director of stakeholder engagement at the National Council of Jewish Women, he is a nephew of former U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl, Dan Kohl turns 60… President and rabbinic head of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School in Riverdale, N.Y., Rabbi Dov Linzer turns 59… Writer-at-large for The New York Times Magazine, Jason Zengerle… Mayor of Kiryat Motzkin, a city in the Haifa suburbs, Tzvi (Tziki) Avisar turns 47… VP of public affairs and corporate marketing at Meta / Facebook, Josh Ginsberg… President of basketball operations for the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers, Koby Altman turns 43… National field director at the Israel on Campus Coalition, Lauren Morgan Suriel… VP of customer success at SimpliFed, Suzy Goldenkranz… Actor, best known for starring in “The Secret Life of the American Teenager,” Daren Maxwell Kagasoff turns 38… NYC-based economics and wealth reporter at The Wall Street Journal, Rachel Louise Ensign… Israeli actress who played the lead role in Apple TV’s spy thriller “Tehran,” Niv Sultan turns 33… Winner of an Olympic bronze medal for Israel in Taekwondo at the 2020 Games in Paris, Avishag Semberg turns 24…

Commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service, an office within the General Services Administration, Joshua Z. Gruenbaum turned 40 on Monday…

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu predicted that Israel will have to become increasingly self-reliant as countries call for embargoes and sanctions against the Jewish state. Speaking at a Finance Ministry conference in Jerusalem today, Netanyahu said, “We will increasingly need to adapt to an economy with autarkic characteristics.”

“I am a believer in the free market, but we may find ourselves in a situation where our arms industries are blocked. We will need to develop arms industries here — not only research and development, but also the ability to produce what we need,” the Israeli PM said…

Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Jerusalem today, where they gave remarks on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the Abraham Accords. “Imagine, despite the difficulties the region has confronted over the last few years, how much more difficult it would have been had the Abraham Accords not been in place,” Rubio said…

Elsewhere in the region, after an emergency summit of Arab states convened in Qatar to discuss last week’s Israeli strike in Doha, the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries today directed the GCC defense ministers to hold an “urgent meeting” to “assess the defense situation of the Council states.”

The countries also issued a communique calling on states to “review diplomatic and economic relations” and “initiate legal proceedings” against Israel…

At the International Atomic Energy Agency’s annual conference happening now in Vienna, Iran is circulating a resolution to censure the U.S. and Israel over their strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities in June. Iran was unexpectedly elected by other Middle Eastern countries to serve as vice president of the gathering.

Mohammad Eslami, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said in an interview that “if [participating countries] want to obey the law of the jungle and the rule of coercion and force” by blocking the motion, “it’ll end in chaos”…

Stateside, Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) announced he will not be endorsing Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani for New York City mayor, on the heels of New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s announcement that she’s supporting the candidate.

Suozzi, who represents a swing district on Long Island, said that, “While I share [Mamdani’s] concern about the issue of affordability, I fundamentally disagree with his proposed solutions. Like the voters I represent, I believe socialism has consistently failed to deliver real, sustainable progress.”

On Hochul, Suozzi said that he did not discuss his decision with her and is “not in a position to give the Governor political advice considering the fact that when I ran against her she beat me soundly”…

In another high-profile New York race, Micah Lasher, a state assemblyman and former aide to Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), officially launched his campaign for his former mentor’s congressional seat today, joining a Democratic primary that’s likely to become crowded in the heavily Jewish Manhattan district. Nadler is expected to offer Lasher his support, a key endorsement in the race…

The New York Times investigates a series of trade and business dealings over the UAE’s access to AI chips that appear to be connected with cryptocurrency windfalls for the Witkoff and Trump families.

When David Feith, then senior director for technology on the National Security Council, attempted to change AI chip policy, which would have inhibited that access, he was fired by President Donald Trump, after a conversation with his influential advisor Laura Loomer…

The fallout from Charlie Kirk’s killing continues: Semafor’s Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith writes about Kirk’s legacy on Israel within the GOP and how both the isolationist and pro-Israel camps of the party are now claiming him as their own.

“A bereft White House official told me that Kirk functioned as something like a Republican chairman and Rush Limbaugh ‘rolled into one.’ Clips of his speeches and debates are everywhere, but movement-building is a subtler thing, and Kirk’s public statements, friends said, often reflected attempts at intraparty diplomacy,” Smith wrote…

Karen Attiah, an opinion columnist at The Washington Post who regularly espoused anti-Israel views, was fired from the paper over her posts on social media about Kirk’s death, including mischaracterizing some of his positions and positing that her “journalistic and moral values” prevented her from “engaging in excessive, false mourning” for Kirk.

Attiah, the Post’s founding Global Opinions editor, retweeted social media messages justifying the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel as they were taking place and wrote a piece on Oct. 13, less than a week after the attacks, headlined, “We cannot stand by and watch Israel commit atrocities”…

Also in the media, Jewish influencer Hen Mazzig reacts to Jewish actress Hannah Einbinder’s pro-Palestinian commentary at the Emmys last night in The Hollywood Reporter: “Hannah should know there is no such thing as a ‘good Jew’ who can launder antisemitism. The ‘good Jews’ trope — the ones who sign boycott pledges or reassure progressives that this isn’t about hatred — are always used as cover. They are never enough. And at the end of the day, the people demanding ‘good Jews’ don’t actually believe there is anything good about being Jewish”…

After the Vuelta a Espana bike race in Madrid was called off during its finale on Sunday due to anti-Israel protests on the route, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called today for Israel to be banned from sports events due to its military campaign in Gaza, despite the team being protested, Israel-Premier Tech, not being an official Israeli team. 

The international union of cyclists voiced its disapproval of Sánchez’s stance, saying in a statement that it “strongly condemns the exploitation of sport for political purposes in general, and especially coming from a government”…

Lynn Forester de Rothschild is exploring a sale of a minority stake in the parent company of The Economist magazine, according to Bloomberg, which would mark the publication’s first ownership shake-up in over a decade…

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider tomorrow morning for an interview with Yaakov Katz, former editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post, on his new book about Oct. 7 and an interview with Rep. Zach Nunn (R-IA), a rising national security voice on Capitol Hill.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro will deliver a major address on political violence at the Eradicate Hate Global Summit in Pittsburgh tomorrow, nearly a week after the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk and several months after the firebombing of Shapiro’s residence over Passover. 

Also speaking at the summit will be KIND Snacks founder and former CEO Daniel Lubetzky alongside Lonnie Ali, founder of the Muhammad Ali Center with her eponymous late husband. 

The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing tomorrow morning on oversight of the FBI with FBI Director Kash Patel.

Democratic Majority for Israel will host a live briefing tomorrow with Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro on Gottheimer’s recent trip to Israel, next steps for the Abraham Accords and the latest in the Israel-Hamas war.

The Center for a New American Security will hold a live fireside chat tomorrow with Adam Boehler, the U.S. special envoy for hostage response.

Alan Dershowitz, a former Harvard Law School professor and prominent defense attorney and Israel advocate, will speak tomorrow at the JFK Jr. forum at Harvard at the first “Middle East Dialogues” event of the academic year, hosted by professor Tarek Masoud, who invites polarizing speakers to debate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In the evening, American Friends of Lubavitch (Chabad) will host its Lamplighter Awards at D.C.’s Union Station. This year’s honoree is Palantir CEO Alex Karp, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) will receive a leadership award.

Magen David Adom will host its 2025 New York City Gala in Manhattan, where political commentator Meghan McCain will receive its Champion of Israel Award. 

• Secretary of State Marco Rubio is set to attend the inauguration of the Pilgrim’s Road in the City of David in Jerusalem this evening after meeting earlier today with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar. More below on Rubio’s visit to Israel.
• Seb Gorka, the White House’s senior director for counterterrorism and a deputy assistant to the president, is also in Israel this week. After landing at Ben Gurion Airport yesterday, he wrote on X, “Utterly sobering to see the pictures of all the innocent  hostages still being held by Hamas for more than 700 days lining the walkway to passport control.”
• Also in Israel is a delegation of nearly 250 state lawmakers from around the U.S., organized by Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
• A summit of Arab and Muslim leaders is being held in Doha, Qatar, today to denounce Israel’s strike on Hamas officials hosted by the Gulf state. Ahead of the gathering, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met with his Qatari counterpart in Doha yesterday …
• Stateside, RJC board member Eric Levine is holding a fundraiser for Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC). The invite to the event, co-hosted by James Baker, Wayne Berman, Jeff Cohen, Steve Sall, RJC PAC and the NRSC, said the fundraiser will help Senate Republicans maintain their majority and “stand against the tide of communism and antisemitism overtaking the Democratic Party.”
• The Academic Engagement Network is hosting a three-day symposium for college administrators for the launch of its fifth annual Signature Seminar Series. The gathering, taking place in Washington, will focus on how administrations can meaningfully address antisemitism on college campuses.
• The Eradicate Hate Global Summit begins in Pittsburgh today.
• Today is the five-year anniversary of the signing of the Abraham Accords at the White House on Sept. 15, 2020.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S GABBY DEUTCH

Over the weekend, the California State Assembly passed a bill that is intended to address what Jewish community advocates describe as crisis levels of antisemitism in the state’s K-12 schools. 

The bill passed despite the objections of the powerful California Teachers Association, the state’s largest teachers’ union, which had stalled the legislation in July, claiming that efforts to combat antisemitism could impinge on teachers’ academic freedom when it came to discussing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 

It was just one of several examples of influential state and national teachers’ unions presenting a roadblock against efforts to fight antisemitism in public schools, where discrimination against Jewish and Israeli students has skyrocketed over the past two years — even though many of those efforts have broad support from within the Jewish community, and from outside it, too. 

In California, the CTA and anti-Israel groups like the Council on American-Islamic Relations were on one side of the issue, facing a diverse coalition of the bill’s backers that included the legislature’s Jewish, Black, Latino and Asian American and Pacific Islander caucuses. In an effort to appease the CTA during negotiations, some parts of the bill were removed, including language that would’ve defined what constituted an antisemitic learning environment. 

But the union never changed course. 

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

Loaded Language: Andrew Weinstein, a former U.S. public delegate to the United Nations under the Biden administration, writes in Time magazine about why the use of phrases like “globalize the intifada” are so damaging. “Language doesn’t only reflect intention — it carries the weight of past use, of collective trauma, of coded threats. It has an impact. And so, when a community tells you a phrase evokes existential fear, it’s not enough to say, ‘I didn’t mean it that way.’ To do so is more than just a failure of sensitivity — it’s a failure of solidarity. And this is where so many well-meaning people lose their way. They treat empathy as if it were conditional, or zero-sum. They hear Jewish pain and ask first whether it aligns with their politics, parsing slogans instead of listening to those affected by them. This hurts Jews. But even more than that, it fractures coalitions, pushing away people who, too, strive for collective justice — and driving them toward those who cynically (and capriciously) dangle the carrot of protection.” [Time]

Is Mamdani a Team Player? In The Hill, Amanda Berman, founder and executive director of the Zioness Action fund, pushes back against pressure by supporters of New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani on Democratic leaders to endorse him, highlighting Mamdani’s own recent history during the last presidential campaign. “Mamdani didn’t just fail to support Democratic presidential nominees Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden in last year’s existentially urgent campaign, he spoke out and organized against them. In March of 2024, Mamdani urged voters to withhold their vote from Biden. ‘As proud Democrats and elected officials and New Yorkers,’ Mamdani declared, ‘we endorse the Leave it Blank campaign.’ Last summer, as the world watched the Democrats make history by nominating the first Black woman on a major party ticket, Mamdani proudly platformed the Uncommitted Movement, which protested her convention. This was not passive disagreement. It was an intentional and successful effort to sabotage the Democratic ticket in a general election — when the risks could not have been more clear, when every vote mattered, when Democrats were working tirelessly to defeat an authoritarian megalomaniac who had already incited a violent insurrection to stop the peaceful transfer of power.” [The Hill] 

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul endorsed New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani, becoming one of the few prominent Democrats in the state to do so, saying, “I didn’t leave my conversations with him aligned on every issue” but the two “discussed the need to combat the rise of antisemitism urgently and unequivocally”…

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), who is mulling a 2026 challenge to Hochul, responded to the endorsement with a statement accusing Hochul of “embrac[ing] this raging Communist who will destroy New York making it less affordable and more dangerous — once again putting criminals and communists first, and New Yorkers LAST”…

In an interview with CNN’s Manu Raju, Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) said the New York City mayoral race, in which Mamdani is the front-runner, “has really no impact on my life.” Fetterman also said Hamas and Iran are to blame for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza: “It is hell on earth. Why do some people blame Israel for that? I blame Hamas and Iran for that,” he said…

The Washington Post reports that the Mossad declined to implement a ground operation in Doha, Qatar, last week  to assassinate senior Hamas officials in the Gulf nation over concerns that such a move would damage ties with Doha as it acts as a mediator between Israel and Hamas. As a result, Israel instead carried out an airstrike that looks like it failed to kill the top targets …

CENTCOM head Bradley Cooper, joined by U.S. special envoy Tom Barrack, met with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa in Damascus…

Antisemitic conspiracy theories proliferated online in the aftermath of the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, the Anti-Defamation League found, with over 10,000 posts on X that include the phrase “Israel killed Charlie Kirk” posted in the two days after his murder…

Republican officials are considering an effort to persuade former Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron to drop his bid for Senate, as he pursues Sen. Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) seat upon his retirement, and instead challenge Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), Politico reports…

“The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue,” a documentary about Oct. 7, won the People’s Choice Award for best documentary at the Toronto International Film Festival, after originally being canceled due to the festival’s concern that Hamas footage had not been approved for use…

Among several actors who used their platform at the Emmy Awards in Los Angeles last night to criticize Israel, Hannah Einbinder called to “Free Palestine” and Javier Bardem wore a keffiyeh while calling for a “commercial and diplomatic blockade” on Israel…

The Wall Street Journal profiles billionaire Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, as he backs a bid for Paramount, headed by his son David, to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery and The Free Press…

Nika Soon-Shiong, daughter of the Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong, has been tapped as the publisher of Drop Site News, a far-left anti-Israel outlet. She told Semafor that she was inspired by the site’s coverage of the war in Gaza…

The Vuelta a Espana bike race in Madrid was called off during its finale on Sunday after anti-Israel protesters occupied the route and overturned barriers…

Police in London arrested and charged a 37-year-old homeless man with smearing feces on synagogues and other Jewish institutions in the city…

Holocaust survivor Fania Fainer, known for the heart-shaped booklet of birthday wishes she was gifted by fellow prisoners at the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1944 — an object she preserved throughout death marches and the war and that went on to become the subject of a film and a book, died at 100… 

Several hundred people gathered on Sunday evening at the French Embassy in Washington for the Capital Jewish Museum’s second annual gala, in service of a simple theme: “preserving history and building bridges,” Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports. The gala honored the investor and philanthropist David Rubenstein and Esther Safran Foer, the former longtime CEO of Sixth & I Synagogue and the Capital Jewish Museum’s founding board president. Speaking at the event, Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland decried rising antisemitism in the United States and, in particular, the killing of Israeli Embassy staffers Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky outside the museum in May. Read more here.

Film executive, she produced “The Hunger Games” film series, Nina Jacobson turns 60…

Founder and former CEO of Elektra Records, he is a member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Jac Holzman turns 94… Professor at the Hebrew University and a leading scholar of the Dead Sea Scrolls, Emanuel Tov turns 84… Chief rabbi of Migdal HaEmek, known as the “Disco Rabbi,” Rabbi Yitzchak Dovid Grossman turns 79… Professor emerita of education at Boston University’s Wheelock College, Diane Elizabeth Levin turns 78… NYC-based composer and multi-instrument musician, Ned Rothenberg turns 69… Television comedy writer, he served as a showrunner, writer, and producer for “The Simpsons” and co-created the animated series “The Critic,” Michael L. Reiss turns 66… Business litigator in the Miami office of Gunster, Aron U. Raskas… Managing partner and chief technology officer at Differential Ventures in Philadelphia, he is also the founder of a series of kosher restaurants, David Magerman… NPR’s media correspondent, David Folkenflik turns 56… Actor, best known for his roles on “Sports Night” and “The Good Wife,” Josh Charles turns 54… Comedian, writer and actress, Kira Soltanovich turns 52… VP of leadership at the Anti-Defamation League until earlier this year, Deborah Leipzig… Customer success manager at Screencastify, event organizer and fundraiser, Shayla Rosen… Author and longtime education correspondent at NPR, Anya Kamenetz turns 45… Data scientist, economist and author of the 2017 New York Times bestseller Everybody Lies, Seth Stephens-Davidowitz turns 43… Screenwriter, film producer and director, often in collaboration with his childhood friend Seth Rogen, Evan D. Goldberg turns 43… Model and Israeli beauty pageant winner, Yael Markovich turns 41… Partner in CHW Strategic Advisors and CEO of Harmon Face Values, Jonah Raskas… CFO at Israel on Campus Coalition, Tomer Zvi Elias… Chief strategy officer at PW Communications, Amanda Bresler… Reporter at The New York Times, Eliza Shapiro… Singer and actress, she was the 2009 winner of the Israeli version of “A Star is Born,” Roni Dalumi turns 34… Beauty pageant titleholder, she was crowned Miss Israel 2012, Shani Hazan turns 33…

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Lawmakers, candidates and officials from across the political spectrum continued to reel in the aftermath of the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in Utah yesterday, with many changing their planned appearances. 

Vice President JD Vance went to pay his respects to the Kirk family in Salt Lake City instead of attending a 9/11 memorial ceremony at Ground Zero in New York. Kirk’s casket will be flown back to his home state of Arizona on Air Force 2 along with his family and friends. 

In addition, President Donald Trump moved a Pentagon 9/11 memorial event to a more secure location, as his team was especially shaken by Kirk’s death; Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico devoted his campaign kickoff speech in San Antonio last night to memorializing Kirk; right-wing media personality Ben Shapiro, a close friend of Kirk, canceled an event tonight at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation in California; Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) announced she is postponing a rally in North Carolina this weekend out of respect for Kirk and security concerns; and more…

The fallout continues from Israel’s strike against Hamas leaders in Doha this week, with Democratic Majority for Israel accusing Trump in a new scathing statement of betraying Israel by coming out publicly against the strike and potentially foiling its effectiveness by tipping off Qatar (though U.S. and Qatari officials have said that the warning call from Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff came as the strike was already underway).

The statement puts the group at odds with many Democratic lawmakers, who have come out against the strike. 

“After years of criticizing Democrats — despite our party’s 75-year history of supporting Israel — President Donald Trump yesterday broke with our vital ally in an unprecedented manner,” DMFI CEO Brian Romick said. “The White House must answer whether their pre-warning of the attack in any way compromised Israel’s ability to eliminate Hamas’ terrorist leadership”…

Doubling down in its displeasure, the Trump administration joined a unanimous U.N. Security Council statement today that condemns the strike, though it does not mention Israel nor Hamas.

“Council members underscored the importance of de-escalation and expressed their solidarity with Qatar. They underlined their support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Qatar, in line with the principles of the UN Charter. Council members recalled their support for the vital role that Qatar continues to play in mediation efforts in the region,” the statement read…

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani will travel to Washington tomorrow to discuss the incident, Israeli media reports, meeting with senior Trump administration officials and potentially the president himself, and Qatar will host an emergency summit beginning Sunday with Arab states.

Al Thani said in an interview that, prior to the strike, a meeting had been scheduled for Friday between himself, Egyptian and Turkish intelligence officials and Witkoff, but Israel’s attack “destroyed the mediation efforts” for a ceasefire with Hamas and “extinguished the last glimmer of hope”…

Back in Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu authorized a plan to build the long-disputed E1 settlement project, which would make a contiguous Palestinian state nearly impossible, at a signing ceremony today at the Ma’ale Adumim settlement, where the new units will be added.

“We said a Palestinian state will not be established — and indeed, a Palestinian state will not be established,” Netanyahu said at the event…

The New York Times’ Jerusalem bureau announced that David Halbfinger is returning to Israel to serve as the paper’s bureau chief, and Isabel Kershner was named senior correspondent.

The newly merged Paramount Skydance is now preparing a bid to purchase Warner Bros. Discovery, The Wall Street Journal reports, including its cable networks and movie studio. The bid is backed by the Ellison family — Paramount owner David Ellison is the son of billionaire Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison…

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 belated passage of a K-12 antisemitism bill in the California Legislature that pitted Jewish Democrats and their allies against teachers’ unions in the state.

The Capital Jewish Museum in Washington will host a gala Sunday evening honoring Esther Safran Foer, the former executive director of D.C.’s Sixth & I Synagogue, and David Rubenstein, chairman of the Carlyle Group.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to land in Israel early next week, with a planned appearance at the opening of the Pilgrimage Road at the City of David archaeological site on Monday. (Read JI’s coverage of the Pilgrimage Road excavation here).

A bipartisan delegation of 250 U.S. state legislators will also land in Israel for a trip next week.

The Climate Solutions Prize Tour, in partnership with the Jewish Climate Trust, will begin in Israel on Sunday, after several days in the UAE.

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

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

We’re watching developments in ceasefire and hostage-release negotiations after President Donald Trump called for Hamas to accept the latest U.S.-sponsored deal over the weekend, which would see all the hostages, living and dead, released on the first day of the ceasefire. 

Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and former Trump Mideast advisor Jared Kushner met with Israeli Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer in Miami today to discuss developments in Gaza, Axios’ Barak Ravid reports.

Hamas had claimed it was ready to “immediately sit at the negotiating table” in response to Trump’s statement, but sources for the terror group told a Saudi newspaper today that a complete hostage release would not be possible immediately, claiming a ceasefire would have to go into effect first to reach all the bodies…

In other national security news, The New York Times spotlights the race between defense firms to develop technologies for a future “Golden Dome” missile-defense system.

“Companies chosen for Golden Dome are likely to become the new cornerstones of U.S. defense, military officials involved in the project said,” and firms including Palantir and Anduril as well as innovative startups have been in discussions with the Trump administration, the Times reports. 

Mark Montgomery, senior director of the Center for Cyber and Technology Innovation at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said, “There are more than 100 companies out there with a sensor, satellite or other devices they want to sell to Golden Dome. This is the Wild West, and this is a massive opportunity for whoever is selected”…

Diplomatic tensions are rising between Israel and Spain after Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced today that his country would be formalizing an existing de facto arms embargo against Israel and banning anyone who has participated in “genocide” in Gaza from entering Spain as well as ships carrying fuel for the IDF from Spanish ports. 

“This is not self-defense, it’s not even an attack — it’s the extermination of a defenseless people,” Sanchez said of Israel’s war in Gaza.

In response, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar announced that Israel had banned two anti-Israel Spanish ministers from entering the country; Spain then summoned its ambassador in Tel Aviv, all shortly after a young Spanish immigrant to Israel was killed in this morning’s terror attack on a bus stop in Jerusalem…

The U.K. has come to a different conclusion about Israel’s actions in Gaza, according to a letter sent last week by former Foreign Secretary David Lammy before he was replaced in a reshuffling of Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Cabinet. 

Lammy wrote to the chair of the U.K.’s international development committee that the Foreign Office had found in an assessment that Israel was not committing a genocide as it was missing “intent” to do so. It’s the first time the U.K. has said so explicitly, previously holding that the matter of genocide was up to international courts to determine, just weeks before the country is expected to recognize a Palestinian state…

Former Hudson Institute CEO and President Kenneth Weinstein will serve as CBS News’ ombudsman, a new role that oversees editorial concerns from employees and viewers, Paramount announced Monday. Alongside reports that Paramount is expected to purchase Bari Weiss’ Free Press and bring her into an editorial role at CBS, the moves mark a new era for the network that has been accused of systemic anti-Israel bias…

Embracing their anti-Israel bona fides, hundreds of actors, filmmakers and film industry workers recently signed a pledge to boycott Israel, which says it was inspired by filmmakers who refused to screen their films in apartheid South Africa.

The signatories, including Hollywood stars such as Alyssa Milano, Mark Ruffalo, Anna Shaffer, Ayo Edebiri, Cynthia Nixon, Hannah Einbinder and Ilana Glazer, promised “not to screen films, appear at or otherwise work with Israeli film institutions — including festivals, cinemas, broadcasters and production companies — that are implicated in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people”…

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) said in comments to Jewish leaders in New York City today that some of her fellow Democratic lawmakers are inadvertently fueling antisemitism through the rhetoric and slogans they use, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

“When they say words like ‘river to the sea,’ whey they say words like ‘globalize the intifada,’ it means end Israel. It means destroy Jews,” Gillibrand said. Intifada, she continued, is “not a social movement. It’s terrorism, it’s destruction, it’s death.”

The New York senator had previously offered strong condemnation of NYC Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani for his refusal to condemn the “globalize the intifada” slogan and has not endorsed his bid for mayor…

Mamdani’s opponent, New York City Mayor Eric Adams, meanwhile, officially dropped the ballot line “EndAntiSemitism,” running only on the “Safe & Affordable” line, after the New York City Board of Elections said he couldn’t run on both. Adams’ campaign spokesperson said he intends to pursue legal options over the issue…

Graham Platner, an anti-Israel Democratic Senate candidate in Maine, wrote in a high school op-ed shortly after 9/11, during the Second Intifada in Israel, that the media provides an “incomplete story” of terrorist acts and writes “incomplete coverage” of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict “where a sometimes-oppressive Israeli state can be, and often is, portrayed as a victim.” 

Platner and his co-authors argued in the article in a local Maine outlet, unearthed by the Free Beacon, that ending terrorist acts would be “best achieved by understanding the circumstances under which they were committed”…

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider tomorrow morning for an interview with former Obama speechwriter Sarah Hurwitz, whose new book As A Jew: Reclaiming Our Story From Those Who Blame, Shame, and Try to Erase Us, comes out Tuesday. 

It’s a busy week in Washington, where the 2025 MEAD Summit will kick off tomorrow. The high-profile but elusive gathering will bring together top American and U.S. security officials, diplomats, lawmakers, philanthropists, CEOs and journalists. If you’re attending, make sure to say hello to JI’s Josh Kraushaar and Gabby Deutch!

The Iran Conference, hosted by the National Union for Democracy in Iran, will also begin in Washington tomorrow for analysts, policymakers and activists to discuss Iran policy, just two months after U.S. and Israeli strikes decimated Tehran’s nuclear and military infrastructure.

On the Hill, the House Education and Workforce Committee’s Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions will hold a hearing on “unmasking union antisemitism.”

Virginia’s 11th Congressional District is holding its special election tomorrow to fill the seat of the late Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA). James Walkinshaw, Connolly’s longtime former aide, is the heavy favorite to win. Read JI’s interview with Walkinshaw here. 

Looking to New York City, The MirYam Institute will hold an international security benefit briefing tomorrow featuring former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett; nearby, the Soufan Center will begin its Global Summit on Terrorism and Political Violence, meant to honor the memory of 9/11 victims and address emerging global threats.

The Florida Holocaust Museum is reopening tomorrow with a ribbon-cutting ceremony after an extensive period of renovation.

Abroad, the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem will host its belated July 4 party tomorrow, and the Hili Forum will convene its last day in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, covering trade, tech and governance. DSEI U.K., a large defense trade show, is starting up in London, where protests are expected against the dozens of Israeli firms that are participating.  

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Kicking off the new school year, embattled Northwestern University President Michael Schill announced today he is stepping down as president, remaining in an interim role until his successor is chosen.

Schill’s tenure coincided with a period of antisemitic turmoil on the Chicago-area campus and he was accused of handling the issue poorly, leading some lawmakers to call for his resignation. 

A brief recap of Schill’s troubled tenure: He acceded to several demands of an anti-Israel encampment on campus in the spring of 2024, drawing condemnation from Jewish leaders and leading several Jewish members of Northwestern’s antisemitism advisory committee to step down. He then defended the move in a heated House Education and Workforce Committee hearing as being in the interest of Jewish students and was recalled by the committee this spring due to his alleged failure to live up to his own commitments from the previous hearing.

Committee Chairman Tim Walberg (R-MI) said in a statement today that “President Schill will leave behind a legacy of not only failing to deter antisemitism on campus but worsening it. … Northwestern’s next president must take prompt and effective action to protect Jewish students.”

In his resignation announcement, Schill said that “from the very beginning of my tenure, Northwestern faced serious and often painful challenges. … I was always guided by enduring values of our University: protecting students, fostering academic excellence, and defending faculty, academic freedom, due process and the integrity of the institution”…

Columbia University, meanwhile, hired Jonathon Kahn as its senior associate dean of community and culture, a new position created to “build and lead initiatives that cultivate curiosity, civic purpose and meaningful dialogue” and “reimagine what a liberal arts and sciences education can be in the next century,” Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.

Kahn signed a 2021 letter supporting the Palestinian “indigenous resistance movement” and rejecting “the fiction of a ‘two-sided conflict,’” accusing Israel of carrying out “settler colonialism, apartheid, and ethnic cleansing”…

Secretary of State Marco Rubio called an Israeli proposal by far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to annex parts of the West Bank “wholly predictable” in response to European countries’ planned recognition of a Palestinian state. 

Rubio said, “We told all these countries. We said, if you guys do this recognition stuff — it’s all fake, it’s not even real — if you do it, you’re going to create big problems. There’s going to be a response from Israel … and it may even trigger these sorts of actions that you’ve seen, or at least these attempts at these actions. So we’re watching it closely.”

Rubio, who was asked about the issue today at a press conference in Quito, Ecuador, continued, “What you’re seeing with the West Bank and the annexation, that’s not a final thing. That’s something that’s being discussed among some elements of Israeli politics. I’m not going to opine on that today.”

“And by the way, let me tell you something. The minute, the day that the French announced their [intent to recognize a Palestinian state], Hamas walked away from the negotiating table. … We also warned that that would happen, and it did. Sometimes, these guys don’t listen,” Rubio said.

The issue of West Bank annexation was due to be discussed in a high-level meeting convened by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today but was reportedly removed from the agenda after the UAE warned such a move would be a “red line” for regional normalization…

Israeli officials told The Wall Street Journal that Mossad Director David Barnea and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar have joined IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir in expressing hesitation to Netanyahu over the IDF’s plan to expand its offensive into Gaza City. They have also argued in favor of reaching a partial hostage-release deal with Hamas as an alternative to the comprehensive deal Israel is currently seeking…

A viral accusation that the IDF killed an 8-year-old Palestinian boy at a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid site in May was proven false when the boy was found to be alive and safely extracted from the Gaza Strip. The claim had been made by Anthony Aguilar, a former GHF contractor and Green Beret, who repeated the story on far-right and far-left media outlets.

Johnnie Moore, head of the GHF, said in a statement today, “When this lie was brazenly, cravenly shared from the press to the halls of Congress, our team set out to find this little boy — whatever it took.” He attributed the success to “veterans who never stopped working to find him and bring him to safety in the most complex environment imaginable”…

A report by the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency, obtained by the Associated Press, found that, as of one day before Israel’s strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities began, Iran had escalated its nuclear enrichment and increased its stockpile of near weapons-grade enriched uranium to where it could soon produce at least one atomic bomb…

On the Hill, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) asked the FBI to investigate the Palestinian Youth Movement as a “threat to U.S. national security” after one of its leader, Aisha Nizar, called for Palestinian activists to “disrupt” the supply chain for F-35 fighter jets at the recent People’s Conference for Palestine in Michigan…

Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA), who is running for Senate in Georgia, filed a resolution today to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) for “promoting and cheering on terrorism and antisemitism” at the same conference…

Semafor’s David Weigel reports from this year’s National Conservatism conference, which is winding down in Washington today and featured a host of high-level right-wing personalities from Trump administration officials to lawmakers and influencers. 

Conference speakers and attendees were jubilant over what they view as conservative successes in President Donald Trump’s second term, but there was one “possible future sore point that conference organizer Yoram Hazony acknowledged openly: Israel.”

“Hazony was upset by the ‘depth of the slander of Jews as a people’ that he saw in corners of the online right. The Israel critics in their fold could make the nationalist ‘revolution consume itself,’ he added, and risk everything,” Weigel wrote…

In long anticipated news, United Airlines announced today it’s restarting direct flights to Tel Aviv from Chicago O’Hare and Washington Dulles in early November…

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 a new cross-faith initiative to address antisemitism led by Robert Kraft’s Foundation to Combat Antisemitism.

This weekend, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) will be campaigning with New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani in the next installment of Sanders’ Fighting Oligarchy tour, after an appearance in Maine last weekend with anti-Israel Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner. 

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

• Senior Emirati diplomat Lana Nusseibah warned in a just-published interview that Israel’s potential annexation of the West Bank would constitute a “red line” for Abu Dhabi that would “end the vision of regional integration.” We’re keeping an eye on the diplomatic dynamics following Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich‘s announcement earlier today that Israel plans to annex approximately 82% of the West Bank.
• This morning, the Middle East and North Africa subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee will sit for a closed-door, member-only roundtable with U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee “on key issues facing the bilateral relationship as it relates to Judea and Samaria,” the biblical term for the West Bank.
• We’re monitoring Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s upcoming trip to Israel, first reported yesterday. Rubio is slated to attend the inauguration of the Pilgrims’ Road at the City of David in Jerusalem on Sept. 15. Read more here from JI’s Melissa Weiss.
• We’re also keeping an eye on Sacramento, where California legislators are days from the end of the legislative year and have yet to take up a bipartisan antisemitism bill. Jewish groups in the state have voiced support for the legislation, which has faced pushback from the California Teachers Association.
• Tonight in New York, journalist Yaakov Katz will speak in conversation with The New York Times’ Bret Stephens about Katz’s new book, While Israel Slept, written with Amir Bohbot.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MELISSA WEISS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hitting the Houthis: The Wall Street Journal’s Dov Lieber and Saleh al-Batati spotlight Israel’s efforts to target Houthi leadership, following a strike last week that killed the terror group’s prime minister and nearly a dozen other senior officials. “The strike also reflects an aggressive Israeli security posture in which Israel wants its adversaries to know it will hit back hard against any potential threat, say military analysts. The new doctrine is referred to among soldiers as FAFO, an acronym for f— around and find out, according to one of the security officials. … After escalating its fight against the Houthis, Israel hopes its strikes will have a deterrent effect on the group and other potential enemies in the region, one of the Israeli security officials said. The official said there is hope in Israel that the Yemeni people opposed to the Houthis will once again take up arms against them. ” [WSJ]

Inspection Time: The editorial board of The Washington Post calls on Iran to allow International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors back into the country and to resume nuclear talks with the U.S. “The only way to know for certain what’s left is for the inspectors to fully return and for the Iranian government to come clean about what, if anything, it still has. To prevent further conflict, Iran also needs to reenter negotiations with the United States over any future nuclear program for civilian-only use. The United States says it is ready to talk, but Iran has insisted as a precondition, among other things, that Trump commit to no further strikes. That would give away too much leverage. … If Tehran takes any lesson from June, it should be that the United States is not afraid of using military force to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons. Trump resisted pressure from the vocal isolationist faction in his base, and he could do so again if he feels it is necessary to protect the nation’s security.” [WashPost]

Higher Ed’s Real Problem: In The Atlantic, Boston University professor E. Thomas Finan posits that the Trump administration’s legal efforts against top-tier universities should serve as a “wake-up call” that pushes schools to meaningfully address deep-seated issues. “Strong free-speech protections for students and faculty combined with a commitment to intellectual diversity can help foster open inquiry and rigorous analysis. Colleges and universities should also consider remaining neutral on more political issues: Constant interventions can sap the academy’s credibility and make students who take opposing views feel unwelcome. … Colleges cannot assume that the public consensus that has sustained them will simply remain in place, nor should they assume that reaching financial settlements will mend the structural weaknesses that have made them so vulnerable in the first place. The surest protection for the academy is to forge a new political compact — to prove, once again, that America’s higher education is indispensable to its democracy.” [TheAtlantic]

New War Footing: In his “Clarity” Substack, former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren considers the ways in which the Israeli approach to the country’s military has shifted in the post-Oct. 7 era. “Never will we forfeit the need for deep buffer zones along all our frontiers. Never again will the IDF favor a defensive over an offensive strategy — Iron Dome over tanks and armored personnel carriers — and rely almost exclusively on technology rather than soldiers to guard our land. Never again will our reservists go years without training or go into battle without even the most basic gear. … If, before the war, the questions of Haredi military service and integration into the economy were important but still open to debate, today that discussion has ended.” [Clarity]

The Treasury Department announced sanctions on Iraqi businessman Waleed al-Samarra’i, who also holds citizenship in St. Kitts and Nevis, over his efforts to help Iran evade restrictions on oil exports…

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) announced she will not seek reelection in 2026, setting up a potential primary clash between the establishment and MAGA wings of the GOP; Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA), an ally of Ernst, launched her bid shortly after Ernst’s announcement…

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, Disney CEO Bob Iger and Thrive Capital’s Josh Kushner were spotted sitting together in the first row at last night’s U.S. Open match in Queens, N.Y., between Novak Djokovic and Taylor Fritz; Jeffrey Katzenberg was also spotted attending the same match…

Elliott Investment Management, which has a $4 billion stake in PepsiCo, is pushing for changes at the food and beverage conglomerate, including re-franchising its bottling network and pulling low-selling products…

Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio cautioned that the U.S. risks falling into pre-WWII-era autocratic politics…

In The Wall Street Journal, stock trader Peter Tuchman, who has been photographed more than 1,000 times on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, reflects on his 18-year “15 minutes of fame as the Einstein of Wall Street” after the New York Daily News ran a front-page photograph of Tuchman in 2007…

New York mayoral candidate Jim Walden, who had been polling in single digits, dropped out of the race and called on the remaining candidates who are polling low to consider exiting the race, citing concerns over Democratic nominee and front-runner Zohran Mamdani’s “extreme bigotry toward police, his authentic commitment to communism, his antisemitic obsessions, and his sympathies for terrorists”…

Police in Los Angeles are investigating the vandalism of a Jewish supplies store in the city’s Encino neighborhood; security camera footage captured the vandal spray-painting antisemitic graffiti on the side of the Mitzvahland goods store on Shabbat…

Palantir co-founders Peter Thiel and Joe Lonsdale, as well as Elad Gil and Keith Rabois,were in Israel this past weekend for the wedding of Zach Frenkel, an investor in Thiel’s VC firm; some of the high-profile wedding attendees, including Blackstone and Palantir executives, reportedly met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the trip…

French President Emmanuel Macron announced that the upcoming Conference on the Two-State Solution, which Paris is co-hosting with Saudi Arabia, will be held in New York on Sept. 22; Macron called for a “reformed and strengthened” Palestinian Authority, a “fully reconstructed” Gaza Strip and the disarmament of Hamas…

Pope Leo XIV is slated to meet with Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Thursday at the Vatican…

UAE National Security Advisor Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed hosted Larry Fink in Abu Dhabi, where he congratulated the BlackRock CEO on his new position as co-chair of the World Economic Forum…

Ali Larijani, the head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said that U.S. demands that Tehran curb its missile program were hindering potential nuclear talks…

Former U.S. Ambassador to Jordan Yael Lempert was named vice president for outreach at the Middle East Institute…

Israel’s national basketball team, led by Deni Avdija (pictured, in blue), secured a Sweet 16 spot in the EuroBasket tournament for the first time in more than a decade. The team beat Belgium 92-89 on Tuesday in Katowice, Poland.

Media personality, psychologist and socialite, also known as Dr. Estella, Estella Sneider, Psy.D. turns 75…

London-based advice columnist for the Cosmopolitan UK magazine for over 40 years, known there as an agony aunt, Irma Kurtz turns 90… Past chair of the Anti-Defamation League and later the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Robert G. Sugarman turns 86… Retired software engineer at IBM for 39 years, he persevered after many years to locate and inter the remains of the crew of a crashed WW II American B-24 in the Indian Himalayans, succeeding in 2008, Gary Zaetz turns 71… Actor best known for portraying Bobby Baccalieri on “The Sopranos,” more recently he has appeared in 146 episodes of CBS’ “Blue Bloods,” Steve Schirripa turns 68… Chair of the global sustainability platform at Apollo Global Management, Jonathan Silver… Offensive lineman for the NFL’s New Orleans Saints from 1982 to 1989, now a professional photographer, Brad M. Edelman turns 65… Producer and reporter at NBC and MSNBC, early in his career he spent eight years as a volunteer broadcaster and reader for the Jewish Guild for the Blind, Adam Reiss turns 60… Executive chairman of Time magazine, Edward Felsenthal turns 59… Historian and journalist who has written four books on the rise of the American conservative movement (focused on Goldwater, Nixon and Reagan), Eric S. “Rick” Perlstein turns 56… Mayor of Haifa until 2024, she was the first woman to lead that city, Einat Kalisch-Rotem turns 55… Executive director at the Michael Reese Research & Education Foundation, Jason Rothstein… VP of data visualization at Moody’s Corporation, Todd Lindeman… CEO of PR and communications firm Sunshine Sachs Morgan & Lylis, Shawn Sachs… Founder of the Silverstein Group, providing strategic policy, crisis management and communications advice, Rustin Silverstein… Rabbi of The Hampton Synagogue, Avraham Bronstein turns 45… Chief advancement officer of Honeymoon Israel, Avital Ingber… Head of global public affairs marketing at Meta / Facebook, Joel Martín Kliksberg… Chief media correspondent for CNN until 2022, then a fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School, now back at CNN, Brian Stelter turns 40… South Florida-based attorney, she served as the co-chair of JFNA’s national young leadership cabinet, Lindsey Tania Glantz… Comedy writer, producer and performer, Megan Amram turns 38… Fashion model and actress, Kaia Jordan Gerber turns 24…

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Today, we remember Wesley LePatner, a Jewish philanthropist and Blackstone executive killed in Monday’s shooting at the firm’s Manhattan headquarters. LePatner, 43, served on the boards of the pluralistic Abraham Joshua Heschel School and the UJA-Federation of New York. The federation called LePatner “extraordinary in every way” in a statement, saying she “lived with courage and conviction, instilling in her two children a deep love for Judaism and the Jewish people.” Hindy Poupko, deputy chief planning officer at UJA, said in remarks at the Israel on Campus Coalition’s National Leadership Summit in Washington today that there was a second Jewish victim of the shooting, Julia Hyman. Hyman, a Cornell graduate, worked for Rudin Management in the Midtown skyscraper…

Concerns among Democrats about the humanitarian situation in Gaza and Israel’s role in it are intensifying. On Capitol Hill, the majority of Senate Democrats, led by a group including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV), sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff calling the humanitarian crisis in Gaza “unsustainable” and saying that the Israeli- and American-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has “failed” to properly deliver aid…

One Democrat standing up for Israel is Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), who said at the ICC summit today, “We have to remind the world that, despite the amnesia, Hamas was the central cause of the war in Gaza. … Hamas is morally responsible, principally responsible for the war in Gaza.” Read more on Torres’ speech in JI’s Daily Kickoff tomorrow…

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who did not sign the Senate Democrats’ letter, jumped into the fray by introducing another resolution to block an arms transfer to Israel — his third since November 2024. In a novel twist, this resolution would block the sale of $1 million worth of assault rifles to Israel’s police force overseen by far-right Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir, potentially opening the door for more Democrats to vote in favor, given Ben-Gvir’s less-than-favorable reputation within the party…

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, applying pressure of his own, announced today that the U.K. will recognize a Palestinian state at the U.N. General Assembly in September — matching France’s timeline, announced last week — unless Israel takes “substantive steps to end the appalling situation” in Gaza, reaches a ceasefire with Hamas and commits to reviving the possibility of a two-state solution and not annexing the West Bank. President Donald Trump, who met with Starmer in Scotland yesterday, told reporters that the British PM didn’t discuss the move with him and that he has no view on it, but that the U.S. is “not in that camp”…

On the home front, UCLA settled a lawsuit with Jewish students who alleged that the university permitted antisemitic conduct during the campus’ anti-Israel encampments in spring 2024. According to the agreement announced today, the university cannot allow or facilitate the exclusion of Jewish students, faculty or staff from UCLA programs or campus areas. Notably, the agreement specifies that Jews cannot be excluded “based on religious beliefs concerning the Jewish state of Israel.” Also getting a windfall in the settlement: UCLA agreed to pay over $2.3 million combined to UCLA Hillel and Chabad, the Anti-Defamation League, the Academic Engagement Network and other Jewish organizations combating antisemitism on campus…

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider later this week where we’ll feature an interview with Jeanine Pirro, interim U.S. attorney for D.C., who spoke with JI about the ongoing prosecution of the assailant responsible for the deadly May shooting at the Capital Jewish Museum. We’ll also cover Rep. Mike Collins’ (R-GA) record on antisemitism as he jumps in the race to challenge Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA), and report on Harvard’s overtures to the Jewish community while it gears up for a settlement with the federal government.

We’re staying tuned for how President Donald Trump may react as some of the U.S.’ closest allies gear up to recognize a Palestinian state, a policy the U.S. has rejected as unhelpful to peace efforts for decades. Though he said today he has “no view” on the matter, as the U.N. General Assembly nears, will Trump take a tougher line on his European partners?

• The UJA-Federation of New York and JCRC-NY will be hosting a town hall this evening with the leading Democratic New York City mayoral candidates. Jewish Insider Editor-in-Chief Josh Kraushaar and New York Jewish Week managing editor Lisa Keys will be co-moderating the forum.
• The Brandeis Center will host a briefing on Capitol Hill featuring current college students and recent graduates sharing their personal experiences with antisemitism on campus. Kenneth Marcus, chairman and CEO of the Brandeis Center, Alyza Lewin, president of the Brandeis Center, and Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) will also deliver remarks.
• The House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Africa subcommittee will hold a hearing on the ongoing civil war in Sudan.
• The Qatar Economic Forum wraps up today in Doha. 

A QUICK WORD WITH ji’s TAMARA ZIEVE

It was an evening dedicated to humanitarian service — young Jewish professionals gathering under the theme “Turning Pain Into Purpose,” discussing interfaith collaboration and working to counter the rising tide of “us versus them” narratives. The event spotlighted efforts to respond to humanitarian crises in the Middle East and North Africa — including in Gaza.

But what was supposed to be a night rooted in shared humanity was rocked by deadly violence. Outside the Capital Jewish Museum, where the American Jewish Committee was hosting the event, an assailant opened fire on a group of four people, killing a young couple, both Israeli Embassy employees.

Eyewitness Paige Siegel, who was a guest at the event, told Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod that she heard two sets of multiple shots ring out, and then an individual, who police have since identified as suspected shooter Elias Rodriguez, 30, of Chicago, entered the building appearing disoriented and panicked, seconds after the shooting ended. She said security allowed the man in, as well as two other women separately. (Police say the suspect had discarded his weapon.)

Siegel said she spoke to the man, asking him if he had been shot. He appeared panicked and was mumbling and repeatedly told bystanders to call the police. Siegel said that she felt the man was suspicious.

JoJo Drake Kalin, a member of AJC’s DC Young Professional Board and an organizer of the event, told JI’s Danielle Cohen the man appeared disheveled and out of breath when he entered the building. Kalin assumed he had been a bystander to the shooting who needed assistance and she handed him a glass of water. Siegel said that the man was sitting in the building in a state of distress for approximately 10 to 15 minutes, and she and a friend engaged him in conversation, informing him that he was in the Jewish museum.

Siegel then said that the man started screaming, “I did it, I did it. Free Palestine. I did it for Gaza,” and opened a backpack, withdrawing a red keffiyeh.

“The deep irony I felt after the guy pulled out the keffiyeh was, ‘if only you knew,’” Drake Kalin reflected. “It was Jewish professionals gathering not for a political agenda but for our collective humanity,” Kalin added. “Which I won’t let this event take from me.”

The two victims of last night’s attack, Yarón Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, were due to be engaged soon — Israeli Ambassador Michael Leiter said that the man had purchased a ring earlier this week and was planning to propose next week in Jerusalem.

Milgrim’s last job before joining the embassy’s public diplomacy department was at Tech2Peace, where she researched peace-building theory and, according to her LinkedIn profile, designed and implemented a 12-person study on the role of friendships in the Israeli-Palestinian peacebuilding process.

Lischinsky emigrated from Germany to Israel at age 16, where he studied government, diplomacy and strategy and served in the IDF, according to his LinkedIn profile. The last post shared on X by Lischinsky, an employee of the embassy’s political department, called out a United Nations official for “blood libel,” for spreading a false claim that 14,000 babies in Gaza would die within 48 hours without aid.

Reactions to the killings have been swift. President Donald Trump said of the shooting, “These horrible D.C. killings, based obviously on antisemitism, must end, NOW! Hatred and Radicalism have no place in the USA.”

Leiter said Trump vowed to him that the administration would do everything it can to fight antisemitism and demonization and delegitimization of Israel. “We’ll stand together tall and firm and confront this moral depravity without fear,” Leiter said.

Attorney General Pam Bondi spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, updated him on the details of the incident and asked to convey her condolences to the families of the couple, according to a statement from Netanyahu’s office.

“We are witness to the terrible cost of the antisemitism and wild incitement against the State of Israel,” Netanyhau said. “Blood libels against Israel have a cost in blood and must be fought to the utmost. My heart grieves for the families of the young beloveds, whose lives were cut short in a moment by an abhorrent antisemitic murderer. I have directed that security be increased at Israeli missions around the world and for the state’s representatives.”

In a press conference in Jerusalem this morning, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said the attack was “the direct result of toxic antisemitic incitement against Israel and Jews around the world that has been going on since the Oct. 7 massacre.” He pointed a finger at incitement by “leaders and officials of many countries and international organizations, especially from Europe.”

Sa’ar noted that “there is not one week without terror attacks or attempted terror attacks around the world — usually more than one.”

The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem and Israeli missions around the world will lower their flags to half-mast today to honor the memory of Milgrim and Lischinsky.

Read JI’s full report on the terrorist attack here.

Terror Comes to Washington: Commentary Editor John Podhoretz reflects on the nature of last night’s deadly attack outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington. “This is a different kind of event from the attacks on synagogues in Pennsylvania and California in 2018, which were the work of white supremacists. It happened at a secular Jewish site, and targeted an event sponsored by the American Jewish Committee for young diplomats. And it was self-evidently an act of anti-Semitic terror in the nation’s capital — which raises similarities to the 2015 attack on the Hyper Casher supermarket in France’s capital, Paris. The only analogue here I can think of was the invasion of the headquarters of the B’nai Brith in D.C. in 1977 by Hanafi Muslims, during which 104 staffers at the Jewish organization — including my wife’s cousin, William Korey, an expert on Soviet Jewry — were held hostage for three days and repeatedly threatened with execution and torture. Two other buildings in DC were invaded as well, and a security guard at one of them was shot in the head and killed.” [Commentary]

Private Sector Diplomacy: The Atlantic’s Andrew Exum writes approvingly about Trump’s transactional approach to Middle East foreign policy in The Atlantic. “Trump unabashedly uses the American private sector as an instrument of national power. In fact, he does this better than any previous president has in my lifetime…Trump may well understand that with the Democratic Party likely divided on Israel for the next generation, his Jewish and evangelical-Christian supporters have nowhere else to go. This puts him in a position of power relative to the Israeli prime minister — one that must surely make Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders very uncomfortable. Making them still more uncomfortable will be the fact that everyone who mattered seemed to be in those meetings in the Gulf. Everyone, that is, except them” [TheAtlantic]

Red Lines on Iran: The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board endorses Trump’s Iran diplomacy. “Iran’s rulers are unhappy with the direction of nuclear talks, which is a sign President Trump is pushing in the right places. No one is ever pleased to make far-reaching concessions, but those are what the U.S. and the world need to get a deal worth making… Iran long insisted it would never negotiate with Mr. Trump. It spent the Biden years talking about killing him. But after Mr. Trump resumed sanctions enforcement and built up a military threat that Iran had to take seriously, Iran came to the table. Its other options are worse. Tehran may decide it can’t abandon enrichment or allow its centrifuges to be dismantled. And it may call the U.S. and Israeli bluff on the use of force, but that could be a mistake its leaders come to regret” [WSJ]

President Donald Trump is reportedly set to appoint Thomas Barrack, the current U.S. ambassador to Turkey, as a special envoy for Syria…

The Department of Defense formally accepted a luxury Boeing 747 jumbo jet from Qatar for President Donald Trump’s use as Air Force One, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement on Wednesday, Jewish Insider’s Danielle Cohen reports.

The State Department announced that anyone involved in the sale or transfer to or from Iran of 10 materials found to be used in Iran’s nuclear, military and ballistic missile programs will now be subject to mandatory sanctions…

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said at a conference in Tehran on Wednesday about nuclear negotiations with the U.S. that Iran “not give up this right to use peaceful nuclear technology in any way. No matter what they say, do, how they threaten us or impose sanctions, it makes no difference.” Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said that the fifth round of nuclear talks will be held in Rome on Friday…

Xiyue Wang, who was wrongly imprisoned in Iran for more than three years until Trump arranged for his release during his first administration, was named as a senior advisor for Iran at the State Department…

In a tense meeting at the Oval Office yesterday, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa refuted unsubstantiated claims made by Trump about genocide against white South Africans…

Speaking at one of the university’s commencement ceremonies on Wednesday, Columbia University’s acting president, Claire Shipman, said, “I know many in our community today are mourning the absence of our graduate, Mahmoud Khalil,” referring to the anti-Israel protest leader who is currently facing deportation proceedings, and said, “We firmly believe that our international students have the same rights to freedom of speech as everyone else, and they should not be targeted by the government for exercising that right.” 

Some 100 pro-Palestinian protesters outside the campus attempted to disrupt the ceremony…

Charl Kleinhaus, an Afrikaner who was granted refugee status in the United States and said Jews are “untrustworthy and a dangerous group” on social media, confirmed that he is being resettled by HIAS and its affiliate, the Jewish Family Services of Western New York. Kleinhaus said his posts were “completely misinterpreted” and he “probably should have worded it better”…

The Vaad of Lakewood, N.J., endorsed Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) for the Democratic nomination in the New Jersey gubernatorial election, specifically calling on unaffiliated voters to cast their ballots for him in the June 10 primary…

New York state Democratic lawmakers moved to block a bill in the state Assembly to include the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism in state education law…

The Wall Street Journal spotlights shifting sentiment in the Israeli public toward the war in Gaza…

Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the United Arab Emirates’ national security advisor, met with Stephen Schwarzman, chairman and CEO of Blackstone, to discuss investment trends… 

Arc magazine chronicled the role of the Lubavitcher Rebbe in supporting President Jimmy Carter’s creation of the Department of Education…

Amy Schumer, Israeli actor Yadin Gellman and Israeli director Eliran Peled are co-producing a romantic comedy called “Now More Than Ever” about the divides between Israeli and American Jewry post-Oct. 7…

Eliana Goldin, a recent Columbia University graduate and pro-Israel activist, shared her experience being fired from the Columbia Daily Spectator student newspaper…

Philanthropist and Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay, whose father was Jewish, died at 65…

Auburn University men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl addressed a Jewish American History Month breakfast on Capitol Hill yesterday. Guests included more than 25 House members and senators, antisemitism envoy nominee Yehuda Kaploun and former deputy envoy Aaron Keyak. The event was hosted by the Combat Antisemitism Movement, Jewish Federations of North America, Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History, AEPi and Operation Benjamin.

Author, activist, actress and producer, she served until 2023 as a special envoy against antisemitism at Israel’s Foreign Ministry, Noa Tishby… 

Senior fellow emeritus at the Hudson Institute, Irwin M. Stelzer turns 93… Retired U.S. district court judge from Massachusetts, now a senior lecturer at Harvard Law School, Nancy Gertner turns 79… Award-winning staff writer at The New Yorker since 1989, Connie Bruck turns 79… Former Skadden partner and then vice-chair at Citibank, J. Michael Schell turns 78… Cognitive scientist and CEO emeritus of Haskins Laboratories in New Haven, Philip E. Rubin turns 76… Director emeritus of policy and government affairs at AIPAC, Ambassador Bradley Gordon turns 76… Gloria Woodlock… Charles Scott… Former member of Knesset from the Zionist Union party, he was previously a major general in the IDF, Eyal Ben-Reuven turns 71… Immediate past chair of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Dianne F. Lob… Former member of Congress (D-AZ-1), now a business and transactional attorney in Phoenix, Sam Coppersmith turns 70… Senior consultant as to philanthropy and impact at private equity firm Cresset Capital, Sanford Ronald “Sandy” Cardin… U.S. Sen. (R-AK) Lisa Murkowski turns 68… General partner of Google Ventures where he co-leads the life science investment team, David Schenkein turns 68… Former head coach of the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers, he was the winning coach of the EuroLeague Championship in 2014 with Maccabi Tel Aviv, David Blatt turns 66… Actor, he appeared in all five seasons of the HBO program “The Wire” as defense attorney Maurice Levy, Michael Kostroff turns 64… British writer, philanthropist and documentary filmmaker, Dame Hannah Mary Rothschild turns 63… Partner at Sidley & Austin, he clerked for Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist in the 1996 term, David H. Hoffman turns 58… Former relief pitcher for seven MLB teams, Alan Brian “Al” Levine turns 57… Harvard Law School professor since 2007, he clerked for Supreme Court Justice David Souter in the 1998 term, Noah Feldman turns 55… Israeli cookbook author and TV cookery show host, Shaily Lipa turns 51… Israel’s minister of communications in the prior government, Yoaz Hendel turns 50… Executive director of American Compass, Oren Cass… Co-founder of Facebook in 2004, Dustin Aaron Moskovitz turns 41… Retired slot receiver and kick returner for the NFL’s New England Patriots, member of three Super Bowl-winning teams, Julian Edelman turns 39… Co-founder and former CEO of Tinder, Sean Rad turns 39… Film, television and theater actress, Molly Ephraim turns 39… Washington bureau chief for the Los Angeles Times, Michael Wilner turns 36… J.D. candidate at Harvard Law School in the class of 2026, he is a summer associate at Weil Gotshal, Alex Friedman turns 25… Law clerk for a federal judge in the Eastern District of New York until earlier this year, Peter Walker Kaplan… Emma Kaplan… Aryeh Jacobson… Rebecca Weiss… Benjamin Weiss…

• South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and President Donald Trump will meet at the White House today, with new trade agreements on the agenda amid strained ties between the two countries.
• The Combat Antisemitism Movement and the Jewish Federations of North America will host the Annual Jewish American Heritage Month Congressional Breakfast on Capitol Hill today, with a keynote address from Bruce Pearl, head coach of the Auburn men’s basketball team.
• The House Appropriations Committee will hold separate budget hearings with testimony from Education Secretary Linda McMahon and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
• The House Foreign Affairs Committee will also hold a hearing with Rubio on “Fiscal Year 2026 State Department Posture: Protecting American Interests.”
• The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions will hold a hearing on “The State of Higher Education” with witnesses including Dr. Andrew Gillen, a research fellow at the Cato Institute; Dr. Michael Lindsay, president of Taylor University; Dr. Mark Brown, president of Tuskegee University; Mike Pierce, executive director of the Student Borrower Protection Center; and Dr. Russell Lowery-Hart, chancellor of the Austin Community College District.
• The Qatar Economic Forum continues today in Doha, with speakers including Donald Trump Jr.; Steve Mnuchin, former U.S. treasury secretary; Mark Attanasio, principal owner of the Milwaukee Brewers; John Micklethwait, editor-in-chief of Bloomberg; and Hassan Al-Thawadi, former secretary general at Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S hALEY COHEN

A new Anti-Defamation League report puts a spotlight on episodes of antisemitism in K-12 non-Jewish independent schools, a trend that doesn’t get as much attention as the higher-profile incidents on college campuses but is affecting Jewish students in critical ways. 

The study found antisemitic incidents in independent schools down 26% in 2024, compared to 2023, but still up significantly since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks. There were only 494 documented incidents of antisemitism in independent schools in 2022; that number has nearly doubled to 860 in 2024.

A quarter of surveyed parents said their children experienced/witnessed antisemitic symbols (such as swastikas) in school.

The research was conducted through four focus groups and a survey of 369 parents of Jewish children in independent K-12 schools across 21 states. The ADL told Jewish Insider‘s Haley Cohen it selected independent schools to evaluate since they operate outside of the oversight of public education and therefore have greater autonomy in shaping their curricula, policies and disciplinary procedures. 

In addition to expressing concern over antisemitic symbols, nearly one-third of parents reported anti-Jewish and anti-Israel curricula featuring more prominently in their children’s classrooms since the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks. They’re also deeply dissatisfied with administrators’ responses to antisemitism: Of the parents surveyed who were aware of antisemitism in their child’s school, 34% said the school’s response was either “somewhat” or “very” inadequate.

One bit of encouraging news: A sizable majority of students at these schools (64%) said they felt “very comfortable” showing their Jewish identity at schools, with only 8% feeling somewhat or very uncomfortable with doing so. But there were isolated episodes of student discomfort, including one parent saying their son avoided wearing a Star of David necklace. 

Another notable trend: Many independent school parents voiced concern that diversity, equity and inclusion frameworks do not include Jewish identity and antisemitism. They view the exclusion as a fundamental flaw of the programming rather than an oversight and described a pattern in which Jewish identity was omitted altogether from DEI conversations or misrepresented to perpetuate bias.  

And parents are voting with their feet: There’s been an increase in Jewish day school enrollment in recent years. 

But for those Jewish students who remain in independent schools, the ADL said it’s launching a new initiative to hold schools accountable and support families. “These independent schools are failing to support Jewish families,” Jonathan Greenblatt, the group’s CEO, said. “By tolerating — or in some cases, propagating — antisemitism in their classrooms, too many independent schools in cities across the country are sending a message that Jewish students are not welcome. It’s wrong. It’s hateful. And it must stop.” 

A Tale of Two New York City’s: New York magazine’s E. Alex Jung writes about the stark contrast between Andrew Cuomo and Zohran Mamdani in the New York City mayoral primary. “Their respective campaigns are striking foils: Cuomo, who at 67 would become the oldest incoming mayor of New York City ever, has stayed out of the public eye while racking up endorsements from major labor unions. When he does appear, he’s working the Black church circuit. He knows that the path to the Democratic nomination has historically gone through Black and Latino voters, mostly in Southeast Queens and Central Brooklyn. In one simulation, Cuomo is winning those communities by 91 percent and 72 percent by the final round, respectively. To the ire of white liberals, he has a broad multi-racial coalition. While Mamdani is seemingly everywhere in the city, running from protests to rallies to galas, his base is largely white college-educated Brooklynites, with much of his early efforts going toward activating South Asian and Muslim voters, who have traditionally been ignored. ‘Zohran is Cuomo’s wet-dream opponent,’ says one anti-Cuomo Democratic strategist. ‘Supported by online kids, on the record for “defund,” on the record about Palestine, and little support in Black or Latino communities.’” [NYMag]

Sam (A)I Am: In a New Yorker review of two new books on Sam Altman and the future of AI, Benjamin Wallace-Wells considers the OpenAI founder’s Midwestern Jewish roots. “Within the world of tech founders, Altman might have seemed a pretty trustworthy candidate. He emerged from his twenties not just very influential and very rich (which isn’t unusual in Silicon Valley) but with his moral reputation basically intact (which is). Reared in a St. Louis suburb in a Reform Jewish household, the eldest of four children of a real-estate developer and a dermatologist, he had been identified early on as a kind of polymathic whiz kid at John Burroughs, a local prep school. “His personality kind of reminded me of Malcolm Gladwell,” the school’s head, Andy Abbott, tells [Keach] Hagey [author of The Optimist: Sam Altman, Open AI, and the Race to Invent the Future]. ‘He can talk about anything and it’s really interesting’ — computers, politics, Faulkner, human rights.” [NewYorker]

Under African Skies: The Foundation for Defense of Democracies senior director Elaine Dezenski and senior research analyst Max Meizlish offer a warning about South Africa’s anti-American activity in the run-up to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s meeting with Trump today. “South Africa isn’t an innocent, neutral party. It is playing both sides — courting the West while deepening its ties to China, Russia and Iran. Its leaders speak the language of nonalignment, but their actions tell a different story: They’ve welcomed Hamas and Hezbollah officials, hosted sanctioned Russian warships and worked with entities tied to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps … South Africa’s conduct is not just inconsistent with American values — it’s increasingly incompatible with US national security. Under Ramaphosa, the ANC has intensified its lawfare campaign against Israel at the International Court of Justice, ramped up efforts to diplomatically isolate Taiwan, and embraced Beijing’s narrative on global governance by joining the China-led BRICS group. The ANC’s historical alignment with authoritarian powers is no secret — but today, it’s backed by real material support. That should concern every serious policymaker in Washington.” [NYPost]

The Illiberal Left, and Right: The Liberal Patriot’s executive editor, John Halpin, considers the future of American liberalism. “Instead of pragmatic, universal solutions to the problems of working- and middle-class Americans, Democrats after Obama went off on extreme ideological tangents and illiberal fads from structural racism and transgender ideology to decriminalization and open borders to the socialist ‘Green New Deal’ and other radical climate policies. Notably, all of these illiberal ‘ideas’ produced significant public backlash from a wide array of American voters and are now in the process of being dismantled or disregarded. On the Republican side, the traditional party of Reagan has basically discarded all its past social and economic liberal commitments in favor of Trump’s peculiar blend of command-and-control tariff and trade policies, unrestrained executive authority, withdrawal from global allies and international security arrangements, and the use of governmental legal and bureaucratic authority to attack and prosecute perceived enemies. ‘Postliberal’ ideas that explicitly reject individualism as the foundation of American life are now dominant in a party that feels the need ‘to be really ruthless when it comes to the exercise of power,’ according to Vice President JD Vance.” [LiberalPatriot]

President Donald Trump is reportedly frustrated by the continuing war in Gaza and has instructed his aides to tell Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “wrap it up,” White House officials told Axios…

Netanyahu’s office announced yesterday that the senior members of the ceasefire and hostage-release negotiating team had been recalled from Doha, Qatar, while the working echelon would continue the talks. The PMO statement stressed that Israel had agreed to the U.S. proposal but that Hamas “is continuing to cling to its refusal”…

In an interview published today in The National, Jake Sullivan, the Biden administration’s national security advisor, says of Trump’s relationship with Netanyahu, “It’s not that the balance of power has changed, just the weight and emphasis on who can deliver” …

CNN, citing intelligence from “multiple US officials,” reported that Israel has been making preparations to strike Iranian nuclear facilities, though they stressed it remains unclear if Israeli leaders have made a final decision to do so. In reaction to the story, former Washington Institute for Near East Policy fellow Nadav Pollak wrote on X: “The only surprising part in [the story] is that US officials leaked the fact they monitor Israeli communications.”…

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday that, “I do not think nuclear talks with the U.S. will be successful” and warned, “They should not try to talk nonsense. It is a big mistake to say that we will not allow Iran to enrich. No one is waiting for permission from this or that.”…

Trump announced Tuesday that the United States will move forward on construction of a Golden Dome missile defense system. Trump began calling for a U.S. missile defense shield similar to Israel’s Iron Dome after watching Israel deflect missiles and drones amid Iran’s attacks in 2024… 

Democrat Sam Sutton won a special election for a New York state Senate seat, which the GOP had hoped to flip after Trump received 77% of the vote in the district in November. The district encompasses several heavily Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods, and Sutton is a leader of its Sephardic community…

The New York Times confirmed reporting that Trump, through the Pentagon, White House military office and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, had initially approached the Qataris about purchasing the luxury Boeing 747 jet for use as Air Force One, rather than it being offered as a gift…

Newly released emails reveal that Joe Kent, chief of staff to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, pressured analysts to revise an intelligence assessment to align with Trump’s claim that Venezuela’s government controls a criminal gang…

Elon Musk told attendees at the Qatar Economic Forum that he doesn’t plan to spend money on elections in the future. “I think I’ve done enough,” he said…

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) clashed in a heated exchange during a Senate hearing Tuesday. “I regret voting for you for secretary of state,” Van Hollen said. “Your regret for voting for me confirms I’m doing a good job,” Rubio responded… 

Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT) sought unanimous consent to call up a resolution pushing the administration to work to resume U.S. aid to Gaza, which is sponsored by nearly all Senate Democrats. Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID) blocked the effort…

The United Arab Emirates said yesterday that it will send urgent humanitarian aid to Gaza, after UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed and his Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar spoke on the phone… 

The U.S. and Turkey released a joint statement on the U.S.-Turkey Syria Working Group’s most recent meeting held in Washington, which included discussions on “shared priorities in Syria, including sanctions relief according to President Trump’s directive and combatting terrorism in all its forms and manifestations”…

Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) sent a letter to Paramount Global Chair Shari Redstone expressing their concern that CBS News may be engaging in “improper conduct” and violating anti-bribery law in its effort to settle a lawsuit with Trump that will potentially block Paramount’s intended merger with Skydance…

Trump called Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) a “grandstander” who “should be voted out of office” over Massie’s opposition to his budget bill. Massie, a longtime opponent of aid to Israel and legislation to combat antisemitism, is mulling a statewide run for Senate or governor in Kentucky…

Speaking at a congressional hearing of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission on Tuesday, AJC CEO Ted Deutch urged the U.S. to remain engaged in international bodies including the U.N., UNESCO and OSCE and called for Congress to confirm Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun to the role of special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism and provide $3 million in funding for the office…

New York Times reporter Joseph Bernstein chronicled the life of his father, a “Nazi hunter” with the U.S. Department of Justice in the ‘80s, who was killed in the Pan Am 103 bombing in 1988, and his struggle to find meaning in the resulting decades-long investigation that ultimately led to the currently delayed trial of a Libyan man accused of planting the bomb on behalf of dictator Muammar Gaddafi…

Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer eulogized his mother, Yaffa Dermer, who died last Sunday at the age of 89. Ron said, “We don’t choose our parents. They are chosen for us. So I thank Hashem for blessing me to have been raised by such an extraordinary mother and teacher. … Over the years, I have had the privilege to serve in prominent positions and hold prestigious titles. But the greatest honor of my life has been to be Yaffa’s son.”…

Eva Wyner, previously deputy director of Jewish affairs for New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, is now serving as the governor’s director of Jewish affairs…

Arthur Maserjian, previously chief of staff at the Combat Antisemitism Movement, is now the senior director of the Combined Jewish Philanthropies’ Center for Combating Antisemitism…

Eric B. Stillman was hired to serve as the next president and CEO of the Florida Holocaust Museum, which will reopen on Sept. 9 following an extensive renovation; Stillman succeeds Mike Igel, who has led the organization as its interim CEO for the past year…

Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) and Dan Goldman (D-NY) addressed an Anti-Defamation League reception celebrating Jewish American Heritage Month yesterday in Washington.

Northern California-based comedian, he celebrated his bar mitzvah at 52 years old in Israel, Josh Kornbluth turns 66… 

Former U.S. senator from Minnesota, he was previously a comedian, actor and writer, Al Franken turns 74… VP of the Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities, Ralph Lewin turns 72… Guitarist and composer, Marc Ribot turns 71… EVP of American Friends of Bar-Ilan University, Ron Solomon… Chief rabbi of Mitzpe Jericho and dean of Hara’ayon Hayehudi yeshiva in Jerusalem, Rabbi Yehuda Kroizer turns 70… CEO of the Boston-based hedge fund Baupost Group, Seth Klarman turns 68… Legal analyst at CNN, Jeffrey Toobin turns 65… Founder and former co-owner of City & State NY, Thomas Allon turns 63… Director of antisemitism education and associate director of the Israel Action Program, both at Hillel International, Tina Malka… Actress, artist and playwright, Lisa Edelstein turns 59… Former head of Dewey Square’s sports business practice, now a freelance writer, Frederic J. Frommer… Author and journalist, she was a reporter with The New York Times for eight years, Amy Waldman turns 56… U.S. cyclist at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, she is now the executive director of the New England Mountain Bike Association, Nicole Freedman turns 53… President and CEO of the Michigan-based William Davidson Foundation, Darin McKeever… University chaplain for NYU, Rabbi Yehuda Sarna turns 47… Founder of Agora Global Advisory, Brandon Pollak… EVP and chief legal officer at Sinclair Broadcast Group, David Gibber… Professor of computer science at the University of Texas at Austin, Scott Joel Aaronson turns 44… President of Mo Digital, Mosheh Oinounou… International fashion model for Versace, Sharon Ganish turns 42… Partner at CreoStrat, Steve Miller… Windsurfer who represented Israel in the Olympics (Beijing 2008 and Rio 2016), she is now a SW delivery lead at SolarEdge, Maayan Davidovich turns 37… Player on the USC team that won the 2016 NCAA National Soccer Championship, she is now an associate in the LA office of Foley & Lardner, Savannah Levin turns 30… Comedian, actress and writer, known for starring in the HBO Max series “Hacks,” Hannah Marie Einbinder turns 30… Deputy director at the Yael Foundation, Naomi Kovitz…

BIRTHWEEK: (was Monday): Alex Shapero…