Vance dances with Israel conspiracy theories
Kevin Carter/Getty Images
U.S. Capitol building on July 12, 2026 in Washington, DC.
Add JewishInsider on GoogleGood Thursday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we report on yesterday’s House vote in which 103 Democrats backed an amendment from GOP Rep. Thomas Massie calling for an end to U.S. aid to Israel, and cover Vice President JD Vance’s comments to Joe Rogan alleging an Israeli influence campaign that was “manipulating” U.S. opinion on the Iran war. We have the scoop on a series of meetings this week between Board of Peace officials and congressional offices as the Trump-backed group seeks to raise $200 million for a peacekeeping force, and look at the race in South Carolina to succeed Sen. Lindsey Graham. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Robert Kraft, Robert O’Brien and Harry Stebbings.
We have also launched a new on-demand Live Briefing that you can access throughout the day via our new app (on Apple and Android) and on our website.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by JI Executive Editor Melissa Weiss and Israel Editor Tamara Zieve, with an assist from Danielle Cohen-Kanik. Have a tip? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
- President Donald Trump is slated to meet with Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC) today at 9:30 a.m. ET in the Oval Office, two days after she was sworn in to her late brother’s seat. Tonight, Trump will give a prime-time address at 9 p.m. that is expected to include allegations that China meddled in the 2020 elections.
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not planning to travel to Washington next week, following reports that Lindsey Graham‘s funeral, which had been rumored to be scheduled for Tuesday, will take place later in July. The Prime Minister’s Office said that Netanyahu will now travel to Washington at the end of the month.
- This morning at the Aspen Security Forum, Jordanian Foreign Affairs Minister Ayman Safadi is slated to sit for a fireside chat with NBC’s Andrea Mitchell.
- Following their conversation, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), American Global Strategies’ Rob Greenway and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s Karim Sadjadpour will join a panel on Iran, followed by a panel on Israel featuring American Jewish Committee CEO Ted Deutch, former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro and Israeli pollster Dahlia Scheindlin.
- The forum’s afternoon sessions will focus on geopolitics and emerging technologies, with Andreessen Horowitz partner Anne Neuberger, who served as the deputy national security advisor for cyber and emerging technology in the Biden administration, set to join a panel on AI’s impact on national security.
- Immediately after, former U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel — newly returned from his trip to Israel last week — will speak on a panel on the Indo-Pacific. Focus then shifts to the Middle East, with former Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad joining a panel on finding middle ground in the region.
- The American Federation of Teachers’ biennial convention kicks off this morning in Washington.
- In Maine, local news outlet News Center Maine is hosting a debate for eight of the Democrats seeking to replace former Senate candidate Graham Platner on the ballot following his withdrawal from the race. The debate comes as Maine Democrats find themselves split over whom to support at the party’s nominating convention later this month, in which hundreds of yet-to-be-selected state party delegates will choose a candidate to replace Platner, who withdrew earlier this month after a former romantic partner accused him of rape.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S Marc rOD
More than 100 House Democrats — just under half of the party’s caucus — voted to cut off all U.S. aid to Israel on Wednesday, marking another flashpoint in the party’s growing disillusionment with the Jewish state. It’s a result that would have been almost unimaginable even a year ago.
The fact that the number of anti-Israel votes included several longtime pro-Israel Democrats who had previously been endorsed by AIPAC — like Reps. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA), Glenn Ivey (D-MD), Maggie Goodlander (D-NH) and Pat Ryan (D-NY) — is a sign that even some members in the mainstream wing of the party are running scared of a potential primary threat from the left.
Combined with the Senate vote earlier this year in which 40 Democrats voted for a measure led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) to block shipments of some weapons to the Jewish state, the message is clear: Israel can no longer count on reliable support from the Democratic Party.
And voting for the equivalent of a wrecking ball to the U.S.-Israel relationship — an amendment that even vocal critics of Israel described as flawed and a calculated political stunt by Republicans — is no longer a nonstarter for congressional Democrats. With a more carefully crafted amendment presented by a member without Rep. Thomas Massie’s (R-KY) baggage, the margin in support could have been greater.
Despite the significance of the Democratic defections on Israel, it’s also notable that nearly all of the Democrats in swing districts or running in closely watched battleground Senate races stood by their support of Israel and voted against the amendment.
Only two of the 16 House Democrats facing the most competitive races — districts the Cook Political Report rates as “Lean Democratic,” “Toss Up” or favoring Republicans — voted for the Massie amendment.
vance’s view
Vice President JD Vance told podcaster Joe Rogan on Wednesday that he is worried American politicians are being swayed by Israeli “influence campaigns.” In the three-hour interview on “The Joe Rogan Experience,” Vance warned of a “very discreet, extremely well-funded campaign” to derail negotiations between the U.S. and Iran, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
What he said: “[Israel is] a country of 9 million people. We have 330 million people. And so, of course, they’re going to try to persuade Americans. They’re going to try to move Americans in one direction or another,” Vance told Rogan. He noted that Israel’s efforts to influence American foreign policy are not themselves suspect — “a lot of other countries do [it],” Vance said — but, rather, that American officials will act in ways that do not serve the American public as a result of Israel’s urging.
HEARD AT ASPEN
Robert O’Brien, who served as national security advisor during President Donald Trump’s first term, said on Wednesday that the U.S. should target Iran’s oil infrastructure with the goal of choking off its economy — and predicted that the president is moving in that direction, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports from the Aspen Security Forum.
Security strategy: The former national security advisor said on a panel that Trump had been “very, very generous” with Iran but he believes that Trump’s “patience” with Iran is running thin. The next steps, he predicted, would be for the U.S. to “hit them hard” and “finish the job” by targeting sites connected with Iran’s oil infrastructure, including the facilities at Kharg Island, in order to deprive Iran of its ability to produce and export oil.
SCOOP
Three senior U.S. officials connected to the Board of Peace, the Trump-led body created to resolve the conflict in Gaza, have been meeting with congressional offices this week to request $200 million for a peacekeeping force, according to two people with knowledge of the meetings. The meetings mark the first time that Board of Peace representatives have approached Congress with a funding request, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
Who’s involved: Jasper Jeffers, an American military officer serving as commander of the International Stabilization Force, the United Nations-mandated peacekeeping force created in last year’s ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas; Board of Peace senior advisor Josh Gruenbaum; and retired Gen. Mark Schwartz, a former U.S. security coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority who is now the Board of Peace’s security lead, spoke at the Capitol Hill meetings.
SEAT SHAKE-UP
In the wake of Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-SC) sudden death, the candidates vying to succeed him have absorbed a central lesson of his career: the most decisive factor in the Republican primary will almost certainly be who wins President Donald Trump’s endorsement. Rep. Russell Fry (R-SC), who ousted a sitting GOP lawmaker with Trump’s endorsement in 2022, is emerging as one of the leading contenders and someone who has an inside track to receive the president’s blessing, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports.
Laying the groundwork: Fry’s defeat of former Rep. Tom Rice (R-SC), who was one of the few Republicans to vote for Trump’s impeachment in 2021, allowed him to build early relationships with Trump’s political circle. Fry has been making calls to White House officials about a possible run this week, a source familiar with the matter told JI. Asked on Monday evening about the possibility of endorsing Fry if he launched a bid for a full term in Graham’s seat, Trump told Newsmax that Fry is “somebody you can watch out for” as a rising Republican star and did not deny he was considering backing the House lawmaker if he enters the race.
EXCLUSIVE
Most Americans say they are concerned about antisemitism in the country, yet more than half are unaware of recent major attacks targeting Jews, such as last December’s Bondi Beach terror attack in Sydney, Australia, a new survey from Robert Kraft’s Blue Square Alliance Against Hate found, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
Survey says: Underscoring this lack of awareness, the number of Americans who identify as allies of the Jewish community continued to shrink, according to the anti-hate group’s semiannual survey on U.S. antisemitism. The report, drawn from a survey of more than 7,000 online respondents from March 4 to April 3, is titled “Worse Than Before: Antisemitic Attitudes Reach New Levels Across the U.S.,” and indicates that responses to antisemitism among the American public are less forceful than they were in the immediate aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks in Israel.
Worthy Reads
Hungary For Change: The Financial Times’ Ben Hall and Marton Dunai look at how Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar, who defeated Viktor Orbán earlier this year, and his Tisza party are rapidly enacting an array of legislative and governing changes since coming to power. “It is strengthening anti-corruption bodies, reinforcing judicial independence, dismantling agencies and foundations controlled by the Fidesz party and removing Orbán-era appointees from state energy companies, banks and regulators. The new administration is also turning around Hungary’s foreign policy by restoring co-operation with Brussels after years of obstructionism, mending relations with Ukraine and no longer doing Moscow’s bidding.” [FT]
Brother’s Keeper?: The New York Times’ Andrew Zucker explores the role that WME Group CEO Ari Emanuel — and his Rolodex — could play in the 2028 presidential bid being teased by his brother, former U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel. “There is no guarantee that Ari Emanuel would tip anything in the direction of his brother if he does in fact run for president, which, of course, he has not said he is. Plus, multiple likely Democratic candidates have existing ties to podcasters and influencers, and the bro vote could stay largely in the Republican camp. But with plenty of 2028 hopefuls jockeying for cultural cachet, names in Ari Emanuel’s blue checkmark-filled network will be in high demand.” [NYTimes]
Klee’s Craft: Puck’s Marion Maneker spotlights an exhibition of artist Paul Klee’s work — including pieces inspired by the rise of Nazism across Europe during Klee’s final years — at New York’s Jewish Museum. “The Jewish Museum’s show is a rare opportunity to see the sweep of Klee’s varied, inventive, and nearly indescribable output as an artist, even though the exhibition focuses on the artist’s late work as he struggled with increasing persecution. … Central to the show is a rarely seen suite of drawings that Klee made in direct response to the rise of the Nazis in German life. The stark, delicate, and vulnerable drawings lack the colorful ingenuity and coded criticism of Klee’s best work — but they are, in many ways, the reason for the show.” [Puck]
A larger selection of Worthy Reads is available in our Live Briefing.
Word on the Street
President Donald Trump announced that Iran freed dual U.S.-Iranian citizen Dena Karari, who had been forbidden to leave the Islamic Republic since December 2024, as a goodwill gesture…
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz spoke overnight about American military activity in Iran and Israeli military actions in Syria, Gaza and Lebanon, according to a readout from Katz’s office…
The leadership of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations met with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar on Wednesday in Washington; the Israeli diplomat also met with Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL), the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee…
A State Department official said that U.S.-brokered Israel-Lebanon talks in Rome ended after two days of “productive and positive discussions” during which the parties “agreed on the structure and guidelines for the pilot zone process, to be finalized and implemented in the coming days” as officials move to technical talks…
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, who is in Washington this week and met with Trump on Tuesday, reportedly rebuffed pressure from Iranian officials last week — while the Iraqi leader was in Iran attending the funeral of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — not to make the U.S. his first overseas trip as prime minister…
The New York Times reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement, before and during the recent war with Tehran, provided Iranian officials in Washington with information about Iranian detainees in ICE custody who were slated for deportation to the Islamic Republic; the Department of Homeland Security denied the allegations, which were laid out in a lawsuit filed this week by the Iranian American Legal Defense Fund…
Iran signaled that it was considering pressuring its Houthi proxies in Yemen to shutter the Bab el-Mandeb waterway that connects the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden as a second pressure point amid Tehran’s control over the Strait of Hormuz…
An Iranian national living in Hawaii pleaded guilty to having sent more than $100,000 to Iranians in violation of U.S. sanctions…
Former President Joe Biden announced the upcoming release, slated for Nov. 17, of Promise Me, America, about his time in the White House; Biden had previously teased the memoir during a book event for his wife, who released her own memoir earlier this year…
Former senior White House official Brett McGurk, who during the Biden administration played a key role in efforts to secure the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza, will release a book about his time in the administration a day before the third anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks; in the book, McGurk will reveal details about pre-Oct. 7 normalization efforts between Israel and Saudi Arabia, as well as his working relationship with White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff as McGurk handed over the portfolio at the end of Biden’s term…
The House Budget Committee released its blueprint for a third reconciliation bill, including $73 billion for defense and Iran-related matters; the move suggests that congressional Republicans aim to incorporate the Iran-related defense supplemental into the reconciliation package and may let the administration’s request for a separate, additional $330 billion in defense funding go by the wayside…
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) wrote to Secretary of State Marco Rubio urging him against efforts to remove Israel from the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor, following reports that Saudi officials are seeking to cut Israel out of the arrangement…
A GOP-aligned super PAC is boosting Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong, a democratic socialist, ahead of next month’s primary in the Badger State; read more about Hong’s recent appearances with far-left commentators who have espoused antisemitic rhetoric here…
The New York Republican Party is launching a campaign to pull in disaffected Jewish Democrats in the state, accusing the Democratic Party of “spiral[ing] into that ugliest and oldest hatred, anti-Semitism” and citing New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s recent comments in which he referred to AIPAC as “monsters”…
The New York Yankees are in advanced talks with Marc Rowan’s Apollo Global Management that would see the baseball team receive some $3 billion in financing, some of which would go to refinance existing debt…
More than two dozen Jewish camps will be auctioned off after Simad Holdings, which owns or co-owns 30 across the East Coast, declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Jay Deitcher reports…
A new poll commissioned by the Council for a Secure America found that a majority of Israelis support normalization agreements with Saudi Arabia (78%), Lebanon (74%) and Syria (62%); the survey, conducted last month, found 81% support among Israelis for the Abraham Accords…
Israeli NeuroAI company Hemispheric, founded by Hagai Lalazar and Gidi Littwin, emerged from six years of stealth with $52 million as it launches its new medical AI model Descartes…
20VC founder Harry Stebbings announced the London firm’s first lead investment in an Israeli company, saying that 20VC acquired a 15% ownership stake in the unnamed company that Stebbings said was led by “two of Israel’s greatest operators”…
Town & Country spotlights the nuptials of Julia Allison and Noah Feldman, who first held a small ceremony at Harvard University, where he works, followed by a five-day celebration in Bali; Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) co-officiated the ceremony alongside Rabbi Jessica Kate Meyer…
Jamie Kirchick is joining The Atlantic as a contributing writer…
Pic of the Day
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) spoke on Wednesday morning at a fireside chat with the Hudson Institute’s Joel Rayburn focused on the future of American strategy in the Middle East.
Birthdays
Israeli former professional tennis player, in 2003 she was ranked 15th in the world, Anna Smashnova turns 50…
One of the three co-founders of Comcast Corporation, he served as its chief financial officer and vice chairman, Julian A. Brodsky turns 93… Senior U.S. district court judge for the Southern District of New York, Judge Sidney H. Stein turns 81… World-renowned violinist, violist and conductor, Pinchas Zukerman turns 78… President of an eponymous communications firm, public speaker and coach, Betsy R. Sheerr… Co-creator of the first-ever spreadsheet program (VisiCalc), he currently serves as the chief technology officer of Alpha Software, Daniel Singer “Dan” Bricklin turns 75… Former high-ranking civilian official in the Pentagon during the Bush 43 administration, now a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, Douglas J. Feith turns 73… Senior rabbi since 1997 at Temple Beth Avodah in Newton Centre, Mass., Rabbi Keith Stern… Los Angeles-based attorney, she is the president emerita of the LA chapter of the Jewish National Fund, Alyse Golden Berkley… Past vice chair of the board of trustees of the Jewish Federations of North America, Cynthia D. Shapira… British solicitor, he represented Princess Diana in her divorce and Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt in a libel case, Anthony Julius turns 70… Pulitzer Prize-winning and Tony Award-winning playwright and screenwriter, Tony Kushner turns 70… U.S. ambassador to the EU in the Trump 45 administration, Gordon David Sondland turns 69… Former airline executive at Northwest and Delta, Andrea Fischer Newman… Former president of Viacom Music and Entertainment Group, Douglas Alan Herzog turns 67… Businessman and philanthropist, owner of interests in many Israeli firms including IKEA Israel, Matthew Bronfman turns 67… Canadian journalist, he worked for CNN International for 30 years, Jonathan Mann turns 66… Former Israeli minister of science and technology, now a venture capitalist, Yizhar Nitzan Shai turns 63… Chief of staff of the Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago, Jim Rosenberg… Chicago-based entrepreneur and philanthropist, Victoria Rivka Zell… Former NFL offensive lineman, Ariel Mace Solomon turns 58… Senior scholar at the Fuchsberg Jerusalem Center Yeshiva, Rabbi Joshua Kulp turns 56… Founder of Pinkitzel, a cupcake cafe, candy boutique and gift store, Jonathan Jantz… U.S. senator (R-IN), Jim Banks turns 47… National political correspondent for The New York Times, Shane Goldmacher… Co-founder of Los Angeles-based Meteorite and Health Action Alliance, Steven Max Levine… White House liaison to the Jewish community in the Bush 43 administration, now managing partner at Arogeti Endeavors, Scott Raymond Arogeti… Features reporter for Jewish Insider, Matthew Kassel… Founder and managing partner at Vine Ventures, Eric M. Reiner… Registered nurse and an internationally board-certified lactation consultant, Chantal Low Katz… Executive producer of “Blind Spot,” a documentary on campus antisemitism, Leonard Gold…
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images
Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani (L) and Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani talk to US President Donald Trump as he prepares to leave at the end of the Qatari leg of his regional tour, at the Al-Udeid air base southwest of Doha on May 15, 2025.
Good Wednesday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we cover yesterday’s antisemitism hearing on Capitol Hill with the leaders of Georgetown University, the City University of New York and the University of California, Berkeley, as well as the suspension of Georgetown professor Jonathan Brown following his call for Iran to strike the U.S. We also report on steps taken by Columbia University to try to reach a deal with the Trump administration on its handling of antisemitism and report from the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit in Pittsburgh. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Ambassador Mike Huckabee, Albert Bourla and Richard Attias.
What We’re Watching
- President Donald Trump is slated to host Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani tonight at the White House. More below.
- At the Aspen Security Forum this afternoon, Amos Yadlin, the former head of the IDF’s Intelligence Directorate; former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Mike Herzog; Brett McGurk, the former National Security Council coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa; and author and “Call Me Back” podcast host Dan Senor are set to take the stage for a conversation about Israel’s future.
- This morning in Washington, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is slated to hold a business meeting followed by a full committee hearing on State Department reform.
- This afternoon, the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Middle East and North Africa subcommittee is holding its own hearing on State Department management.
- Also today, Rep. Mark Harris (R-NC) is holding a press conference with other members of Congress calling for the National Education Association’s congressional charter to be revoked following the organization’s adoption of a measure effectively banning cooperation with the Anti-Defamation League.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH jI’S MELISSA WEISS
Ceasefire and hostage-release talks have been ongoing in Doha, Qatar, for the last week. But one of the most consequential meetings in the negotiations could be happening tonight in Washington, when President Donald Trump hosts Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani for dinner at the White House.
This continues a new tradition for Trump of hosting prominent Gulf royals who aren’t the heads of state of their respective countries for dinner at the White House. In March, Trump hosted a dinner in the White House’s State Dining Room for Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the United Arab Emirates’ national security advisor and chairman of several sovereign wealth funds.
Qatari officials have been in the U.S. all week. Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani was rumored to have met with Trump on the sidelines of the FIFA finals in New Jersey on Sunday, after being spotted in New York over the weekend.
White House Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, whose trip to Doha last week was postponed over stalled talks, told reporters over the weekend that he planned to meet with Qatari negotiators on the sidelines of the match. And Trump shared a suite with senior Qatari sports officials at the match, including Nasser bin Ghanim Al-Khelaifi, the president of the Paris Saint-Germain team who played in New Jersey on Sunday and chairman of beIN Sports, previously known as Al Jazeera Sport. (In a weekend interview at the FIFA match, Trump even noted Qatar’s “big presence.”)
Qatar also loomed large in Washington this week, where legislators on the House Education and the Workforce Committee pressed university leaders from Georgetown, CUNY and the University of California, Berkeley about their foreign funding sources during a hearing about antisemitism in higher education. (More below on the hearing.) Former Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA), one of Qatar’s top lobbyists in Washington, was seen sitting right behind Georgetown University interim President Robert Groves as Groves testified on Tuesday. The school has received over $1 billion from Qatar, and has a campus in Doha.
Qatar’s be-everywhere, invest-in-everything strategy has allowed Doha to gain footholds across the global economy and in diplomatic circles. And since the start of the war, it has sought to highlight its role as a facilitator of ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas, the latter of which Doha supports financially and diplomatically.
Doha has the power to push Hamas to accept a ceasefire. Whether tonight’s dinner will exact a change in Qatar’s approach to Hamas remains to be seen. The sit-down between Trump and the Qatari prime minister could change the tide in the 21-month war, or it could serve as yet another missed opportunity in a war full of stalemates and diplomatic posturing — with fresh casualties mounting on both sides and 50 hostages still languishing in captivity.
TESTIMONY TALK
When the leaders of Georgetown University, the City University of New York and the University of California, Berkeley sat down on Tuesday morning to testify at a congressional hearing about antisemitism, they clearly came prepared, having learned the lessons of the now-infamous December 2023 hearing with the presidents of Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania and MIT, each of whom refused to outright say that calls for genocide violated their schools’ codes of conduct. Georgetown interim President Robert Groves, CUNY Chancellor Felix Matos Rodriguez and UC Berkeley Chancellor Rich Lyons were all quick to denounce antisemitism and even anti-Zionism at Tuesday’s House Education and Workforce Committee hearing examining the role of faculty, funding and ideology in campus antisemitism. But while the university administrators readily criticized antisemitism broadly, they struggled to apply that commitment directly to their field of academia, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
Mind the gap: Lyons in particular offered a revealing look at the gulf between a university’s stated values and its difficulty in carrying them out. He was asked to account for the promotion of Ussama Makdisi, a Berkeley history professor who described the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks as “resistance” and later wrote on X that he “could have been one of those who broke the siege on October 7.” Why, Lyons was asked by Reps. Randy Fine (R-FL) and Lisa McClain (R-MI), did Berkeley announce last September that Makdisi had been named the university’s inaugural chair of Palestinian and Arab studies? Lyons first defended Makdisi: “Ussama Makdisi, Professor Makdisi, is a fine scholar. He was awarded that position from his colleagues based on academic standards,” Lyons said. Later, when McClain followed Fine’s line of questioning, Lyons went to great lengths to avoid criticizing Makdisi.
Given the boot: Jonathan Brown, a tenured Georgetown University professor who came under fire last month for a social media post in which he called for Iran to conduct a “symbolic strike” on a U.S. military base, has been placed on leave and removed as chair of the school’s Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies, Georgetown’s Groves said Tuesday at the congressional hearing.
CAMPUS BEAT
Columbia University announced on Tuesday it would implement several measures to confront antisemitism in an effort to reach a deal with the Trump administration to restore the $400 million in federal funding that was cut by the government in March due to the university’s record dealing with the issue, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
The measures: The steps include the university further incorporating the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism by requiring its Office of Institutional Equity to embrace the definition; appointing a Title VI coordinator to review alleged violations of the Civil Rights Act; requiring antisemitism training for all students, faculty and staff; and refusing to recognize or meet with “Columbia University Apartheid Divest,” a coalition of over 80 university student groups that Instagram banned for promoting violence.
MIKE’S MOMENT
Former White House National Security Advisor Mike Waltz laid out an aggressive approach to countering anti-Israel sentiment at the United Nations during his Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday to be U.S. ambassador to the global body, accusing the organization in his opening statement of “pervasive antisemitism,” Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.
Setting goals: Waltz, a staunch supporter of Israel and an outspoken critic of Iran who was nominated for the U.N. post in May after being removed from his position as national security advisor, said he would seek to block “anti-Israel resolutions” in the General Assembly and would push for the dismantlement of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency over some of its employees’ involvement in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks.
SMART STATE
Pennsylvania’s top lawmakers put up a united front on Tuesday to emphasize to the hundreds of tech and energy investors at Sen. Dave McCormick’s (R-PA) inaugural innovation summit the benefits of working with states that embrace bipartisanship and the national security imperatives of investing domestically, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports from Pittsburgh. The Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit brought top tech and energy executives to Carnegie Mellon University’s campus, home to one of the world’s most advanced AI programs. Tuesday’s gathering also included the state’s two leading Democrats, Gov. Josh Shapiro and Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), and President Donald Trump, all of whom praised the conference as a strategic way to promote U.S. investment to the scores of foreign and American leaders in attendance.
Better together: Amazon Web Services’ $20 billion investment last month in three computing and AI campuses in the Keystone State was “an indicator of all that we can be when we harness the new things that we have going for us, and when we have government and the private sector working together, not at odds, and when we pull in our educational institutions … in a way that really helps move Pennsylvania forward,” Shapiro said during a panel discussion with McCormick and AWS CEO Matt Garman.
STRAIGHT TALK
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee on Tuesday called on Israel to “aggressively investigate” the death of Saif Musallet, a Palestinian-American man from Florida who was killed by Israeli settlers in the West Bank last Friday. In a statement posted to X, Huckabee called the incident a “criminal and terrorist act” and said “there must be accountability.” Musallet, 20, was attacked by Israeli settlers while visiting his family in Sinjil, a village north of Ramallah. The Palestinian Authority Ministry of Health reported a second man was also shot and killed during the incident, Jewish Insider’s Danielle Cohen-Kanik reports.
Weighing in: Democratic lawmakers in Washington also weighed in on the attack. Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL), a pro-Israel stalwart, said on Tuesday that he was “appalled and heartbroken” by the news, adding he had “repeatedly called on the Israeli government to address the growing number of violent attacks by Israeli settlers in the West Bank.” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) called the “brutal killing” of Musallet “shocking and appalling” and said the Israeli government “must thoroughly investigate this killing and hold any and all settlers responsible.”
EXCLUSIVE
A new bipartisan House bill set to be introduced on Wednesday aims to expand U.S.-Israeli research and development cooperative programs in the medical field. The BIRD Health Act, led by Reps. Randy Weber (R-TX) and Chris Pappas (D-NH), builds on the long-running Binational Industrial Research and Development Foundation program, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Moving forward: Around a third of BIRD projects in the past decade have been related to the health-care sector, and the U.S. and Israel have pursued growing cooperation in the field in recent years. The bill would further formalize those efforts by establishing a new $10 million annual funding stream and joint management structure between the Department of Health and Human Services and the Israeli Ministry of Health specifically focused on supporting such projects. It would support research and development between institutions and companies in both countries, including startups, as well as health systems, telemedicine, disease prevention efforts and biological product manufacturing.
Worthy Reads
NEA’s Lesson Plan: In The Wall Street Journal, Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt responds to the National Education Association’s recent adoption of a measure targeting the ADL. “This wasn’t about the ADL. It was a clear and unambiguous statement to Jewish educators, parents and children: You don’t count. And it perversely takes this stance at a time when anti-Jewish hate is skyrocketing. … Unfortunately, the NEA vote is symptomatic of a larger problem of intensifying antisemitism in our K-12 schools. Specifically, antisemitism cloaked in the rhetoric of anti-Zionism. A generation of teachers has been educated on college campuses where this poison has festered and spread. It has been normalized. Now its purveyors want to bring this bigotry into your children’s classrooms.” [WSJ]
Pressing Putin: The Washington Post’s David Ignatius looks at President Donald Trump’s new approach to Russia, following Trump’s support for sending offensive weapons to Ukraine. “Trump decided to escalate for three reasons, according to a source familiar with administration discussions. First, he believed that Putin was disrespecting him, feigning a readiness to make peace but ignoring the U.S. president’s call for a ceasefire. Second, he saw the efficacy of U.S. military power in the use of B-2 bombers and Tomahawk missiles against Iran. And third, he thought Putin would only negotiate if threatened with greater force. As the Russians like to say, Trump decided to ‘escalate to de-escalate.’ Trump has made a sound choice in recognizing that Putin won’t make concessions without more pressure. But the president has also embarked on an escalatory course whose risks are unknowable.” [WashPost]
Mamdani’s Gift … to the GOP: The New York Times’ Bret Stephens posits that a victory in November by New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani would be a positive outcome for Republicans nationwide who are likely — and in some cases, have already begun — to push Mamdani as the future of the Democratic Party. “Among the reasons the Democratic Party’s brand has become toxic in recent years is progressive misgovernance in places like Los Angeles; San Francisco; Oakland, Calif.; Portland, Ore.; Seattle; and Chicago. If Mamdani governs on the promises on which he’s campaigned, he’ll bring the same toxicity to America’s biggest city. … A Mamdani mayoralty would be the political gift that keeps on giving. The state of the city would become a reflection of the Democratic Party writ large. Every Mamdani utterance would become a test for every Democratic politician, starting with Senator Chuck Schumer on Israel.” [NYTimes]
Word on the Street
The FBI released new images of three Iranian intelligence agents believed to be involved in the kidnapping and disappearance of retired special agent Bob Levinson, who was last seen on Iran’s Kish Island in 2007; Levinson is believed to have died in Iranian custody sometime prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic…
Adelita Grijalva was declared the winner of the Democratic primary special election in Arizona’s 7th Congressional District to succeed her father, Rep. Raúl Grijalva, who died earlier this year; the special election in the deep-blue district will take place in September…
Former Washington, D.C., Councilmember Trayon White, who was expelled last year over an ongoing bribery case, was reelected to his seat in a special election on Tuesday; White had previously promoted antisemitic conspiracy theories while in office…
New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani told business leaders on Tuesday that he would “discourage” the use of the “globalize the intifada” slogan and not use the phrase himself, but said the term was used by many to show support for Palestinians; among the attendees in the 90-minute meeting was Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, who, according to The New York Times, “pushed Mr. Mamdani about the meaning of genocide and defended Israel’s war in Gaza”…
Former Future Investment Initiative Institute CEO Richard Attias is rejoining the Saudi Arabian conference network as interim CEO, replacing Penny Richards, who is departing after six months in the position…
The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism ended its contract last month with an interfaith advisor who had been working with the group for several years, in a potential indication that it is moving away from previous plans to allow rabbis within the movement to officiate interfaith weddings, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Jay Deitcher reports…
The Washington Post reports on the recent reunion between a 97-year-old Holocaust survivor and one of the American soldiers involved in the liberation of the Buchenwald concentration camp; the reunion was facilitated by the USC Shoah Foundation…
British police cautioned that Russia, China and Iran were behind an increasing number of sabotage, espionage and kidnapping plots in the U.K….
France, Germany and the U.K. will bring back sanctions on Iran via the U.N. Security Council if a nuclear deal is not reached by the end of August, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot warned on Tuesday, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports…
The Wall Street Journal looks at how Iran struck Israeli targets with increasing success during the 12-day war between the countries, as Tehran used trial and error to adapt its military strategy by using more advanced weaponry and firing from more locations toward the end of the war…
The Financial Times reports on tensions between Iranian hard-liners and the country’s reformists following the country’s war last month with Israel, with the country’s hard-line faction opposing engagement with the Trump administration that President Masoud Pezeshkian has supported…
The U.N.’s special representative for Afghanistan warned that the country’s support systems were under strain amid an influx of Afghans returning to the country following the implementation of new immigration laws in Iran; more than 1 million Afghans illegally living in Iran have been repatriated this year amid the crackdown…
The three members of the U.N.’s Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory reportedly resigned from their positions in rapid succession earlier this month; the resignations come amid an effort by the Trump administration to sanction officials who have targeted Israel in international institutions…
Twenty Palestinians were killed in a crowd rush at a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution site in Khan Younis, Gaza; the organization said the “chaotic and dangerous surge” was “driven by agitators in the crowd”…
Pic of the Day
The Argentine Embassy in Washington held a commemoration event at the Capitol last night ahead of the 31st anniversary of the bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, in which 85 people were killed.
Birthdays
World-renowned violinist, violist and conductor, Pinchas Zukerman turns 77…
One of the three co-founders of Comcast Corporation, he served as its chief financial officer and vice chairman, Julian A. Brodsky turns 92… Senior U.S. district court judge for the Southern District of New York, Judge Sidney H. Stein turns 80… President of an eponymous communications firm, public speaker and coach, Betsy R. Sheerr… Co-creator of the first-ever spreadsheet program (VisiCalc), he currently serves as the chief technology officer of Alpha Software, Daniel Singer “Dan” Bricklin turns 74… Former high ranking civilian official in the Pentagon during the Bush 43 administration, now a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, Douglas J. Feith turns 72… Senior rabbi since 1997 at Temple Beth Avodah in Newton Centre, Mass., Rabbi Keith Stern… Los Angeles-based attorney, she is the president emerita of the LA chapter of the Jewish National Fund, Alyse Golden Berkley… Past vice chair of the Board of Trustees of The Jewish Federations of North America, Cynthia D. Shapira… British solicitor, he represented Princess Diana in her divorce and Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt in a libel case, Anthony Julius turns 69… Pulitzer Prize-winning and Tony Award-winning playwright and screenwriter, Tony Kushner turns 69… U.S. ambassador to the EU in the Trump 45 administration, Gordon David Sondland turns 68… Former airline executive at Northwest and Delta, now on the board of Spirit Airlines, Andrea Fischer Newman… Former president of Viacom Music and Entertainment Group, Douglas Alan Herzog turns 66… Businessman and philanthropist, owner of interests in many Israeli firms including IKEA Israel, Matthew Bronfman turns 66… Canadian journalist, he worked for CNN International for 30 years, Jonathan Mann turns 65… Former Israeli minister of science and technology, now a venture capitalist, Yizhar Nitzan Shai turns 62… Chief of staff of the Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago, Jim Rosenberg… Chicago-based entrepreneur and philanthropist, Victoria Rivka Zell… Former NFL offensive lineman, he is now the president of Collective Mortgage in Colorado, Ariel Mace Solomon turns 57… Senior scholar at the Fuchsberg Jerusalem Center, a home for Conservative Judaism in Israel, Rabbi Joshua Kulp turns 55… Israeli former professional tennis player, in 2003 she was ranked 15th in the world, Anna Smashnova turns 49… Founder of Pinkitzel, a cupcake cafe, candy boutique and gift store located in three Oklahoma cities, Jonathan Jantz… U.S. senator (R-IN) since the beginning of this year, Jim Banks turns 46… National political correspondent for The New York Times, Shane Goldmacher… Co-founder of Los Angeles-based Meteorite Social Impact and Health Action Alliance Advisors, Steven Max Levine… White House liaison to the Jewish community in the Bush 43 administration, now managing partner at Arogeti Endeavors, Scott Raymond Arogeti… Features reporter for Jewish Insider, Matthew Kassel… Founder and managing partner at Vine Ventures, Eric M. Reiner… Registered nurse and an internationally board-certified lactation consultant, Chantal Low Katz…
First Look – Ron Dermer profile in Politico Magazine by Ron Kampeas — ‘Bibi’s Brain’ Comes to Washington: Can Dermer, dubbed “Bibi’s Brain” by an American Jewish publication and “Bibi’s Mirror” by an Israeli newspaper, reset the fraught relationship between Obama and Netanyahu? The “yes, he can” argument goes something like this: No one knows Netanyahu better than Dermer, who is also one of the few Israelis to really understand the American political landscape. “Ron Dermer’s significance now cannot be overrated,” says Ari Shavit, a writer for the liberal Haaretz newspaper. “Prime Minister Netanyahu is probably the loneliest head of state one can imagine,” Shavit told me. “There are very few people he truly trusts and appreciates, and Ron Dermer is one of them. If Washington plays it right and Dermer plays it right and they enable America and Israel to start a new page—a new dialogue in which leading American players will find a way to his heart and mind while he finds a way to their hearts and minds—it might be good news.”
–The other view is that Dermer will entrench in Washington a bunker mentality that has isolated Netanyahu and helped perpetuate the breakdown in relations with Israel’s closest and most important ally. “Among the White House’s inner circle—Denis McDonough, Ben Rhodes—Dermer is a red flag,” says Barak Ravid, Haaretz’s political correspondent, referring respectively to the White House chief of staff and deputy national security adviser. “They see him as the guy who incited Congress and Jewish organizations against Obama.” It’s a reputation that Dermer’s defenders say is unfair—it does not take into account missteps by Obama and his team, and understates Netanyahu’s determinative role in shaping relations with Washington. But it is a reputation that continues to dog Dermer nonetheless. When I asked about him, a Democratic source on the Hill who is close to Jewish groups blamed Dermer for distributing talking points on Iran, critical of the White House, to Republican members of Congress. Asked for evidence, the source said, “Who else?”
–Nicolas Muzin, the director of coalitions for the House Republican Conference, says Dermer was respectful and never partisan in his pitch—but emphatic. “He’s been trying to make the case that the sanctions relief is more than dollar value because it’s the change in momentum [that really matters],” Muzin says, underscoring an Israeli claim that the $7 billion the Obama administration says Iran could earn from eased sanctions may be a low-ball figure.
His predecessor Michael Oren says he believes that Dermer can and will overcome the suspicion that he was an architect of the Netanyahu-Obama tensions. “I understand that was the perception of him, but the reality is going to be different, because it has to be,” Oren told me. “He’s going to understand that to be an effective ambassador, he has to be scrupulously bipartisan.” Differences over Iran will be a test. “Clearly the prime minister is not impressed with this arrangement,” Oren adds. “Does that mean you actively campaign against it, lobby against it, or are you briefing people on the Hill? I have a feeling it will be the latter. Over the next six months, Israel will try to have a close conversation with the administration over what we consider a safe deal.” Can Dermer straddle the line between presenting Israel’s case and pressuring the United States to embrace it? “Lobbying has a negative connotation. Lobbying is putting pressure on someone,” Oren notes. “What an ambassador does is explain. That doesn’t involve attacking the president’s position but explaining ours.” [PoliticoMag]
Scene Last Night – JINSA (The Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs) awarded the 2013 Henry M. Jackson Distinguished Service Award to Senator Mark Kirk in DC; Michael Bloomberg threw his final Hanukkah bash as NYC Mayor [Video] & announced he plans to use the $1M from the Geneses Prize “to promote commerce between the people in Palestine and the people in Israel”; Florida Gov. Rick Scott hosted a Hanukkah party in the Governors mansion; Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick lit the menorah at the Mass. State House: (more…)
Please log in if you already have a subscription, or subscribe to access the latest updates.
Continue with Google
Continue with Apple