The Queens assemblyman and New York City mayoral candidate refused to condemn the phrase as example of antisemitism on the left
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Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks in the New York City Democratic Mayoral Primary Debate at NBC Studios on June 4, 2025 in New York City.
Zohran Mamdani, a leading candidate in next Tuesday’s New York City mayoral primary, refused to condemn calls to “globalize the intifada” during a new podcast interview with The Bulwark released on Tuesday, arguing the phrase is an expression of Palestinian rights.
In an exchange about antisemitic rhetoric on the left, Mamdani was asked by podcast host Tim Miller to share his thoughts on the phrase, which has been invoked at anti-Israel demonstrations and criticized as an anti-Jewish call to violence.
“To me, ultimately, what I hear in so many is a desperate desire for equality and equal rights in standing up for Palestinian human rights,” said Mamdani, a far-left assemblyman from Queens who has long been an outspoken critic of Israel. “And I think what’s difficult also is that the very word has been used by the Holocaust Museum when translating the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising into Arabic, because it’s a word that means struggle,” he said, apparently referring to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington.
He added that, “as a Muslim man who grew up post-9/11, I’m all too familiar in the way in which Arabic words can be twisted, can be distorted, can be used to justify any kind of meaning.”
“I think that’s where it leaves me with a sense that what we need to do is focus on keeping Jewish New Yorkers safe,” Mamdani continued, after noting that antisemitism is a “real issue” he plans to address if elected mayor. “The question of the permissibility of language is something that I haven’t ventured into.”
Mamdani, who is polling in second place behind former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, has faced criticism over his approach to Israel during the campaign. He has declined to acknowledge Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state and said he would divest from Israel if elected, among other comments and actions that have raised alarms among many Jewish voters.
Cuomo, who has deemed rising antisemitism “the most important issue” in the race, has for his part denounced calls to “globalize the intifada,” saying that such phrases are “giving license to come after Jews.”
Earlier this month, the UJA-Federation of New York and other local Jewish groups called on all candidates running for mayor “to unequivocally condemn dangerous rhetoric — such as ‘globalize the intifada’ — that has inspired deadly acts against Jews, most recently in Colorado, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania.”
In the coming days, Cuomo is expected to garner endorsements from several prominent Orthodox leaders in Brooklyn and Queens
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Democratic mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo speaks during in the New York City Democratic Mayoral Primary Debate at NBC Studios on June 4, 2025 in New York City.
With just under three weeks until New York City’s mayoral primary on June 24, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo is slowly but surely securing commitments from a range of key leaders in the Orthodox Jewish community, a large and politically influential voting base whose widespread support is seen as crucial to his pathway to the Democratic nomination.
In the coming days, Cuomo is expected to garner endorsements from several prominent Orthodox leaders in Brooklyn and Queens, including major Hasidic sects in Borough Park and Williamsburg that can traditionally turn out thousands of votes, according to people familiar with the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity to address private plans.
But as most top Orthodox leaders have not historically taken sides until relatively late in the primary season, some Jewish community activists are voicing anxiety about their continued delay in publicly backing Cuomo — as he increasingly faces competition to his far left from Zohran Mamdani, a Queens state assemblyman whose fierce opposition to Israel has drawn mounting accusations of fueling antisemitism.
“Now that the race has been essentially a two-man race for the past few months, what are they waiting for?” one Jewish leader, granted anonymity to speak candidly, told Jewish Insider. “Are they considering Mamdani?”
Mamdani, a longtime supporter of boycott and divestment campaigns against Israel, has stirred growing controversy over his extreme positions in recent months. Perhaps most notably, he has refused to recognize Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, an issue he skirted again during the first mayoral debate last night. “I believe Israel has the right to exist,” he said carefully, “as a state with equal rights.”
Though he has otherwise denounced antisemitism and made some overtures to the Jewish community, mainstream Jewish leaders remain alarmed by Mamdani’s rhetoric and concerned by a poll that showed him uncomfortably close to Cuomo in the final round of ranked-choice voting.
Some Jewish leaders believe that the Orthodox community, whose support could help tip the scales in a close election, is not recognizing the urgency of the moment as Mamdani continues to surge.
“The Orthodox Jewish community is not afraid enough,” Sam Berger, an Orthodox Queens state assemblyman who endorsed Cuomo in March, said in a statement to JI. “While the public generally takes its time to pay attention, we do not have that luxury this year. After two antisemitic attacks in under two weeks echoing the same rhetoric we have persistently warned against from the No. 2 mayoral candidate, we need to vote like our lives depend on it.”
Last week, Leon Goldenberg, an Orthodox leader in Brooklyn who serves as an executive board member of the Flatbush Jewish Community Coalition, announced his support for Cuomo, preempting an endorsement from his own group that is likely to come in the next week or so. His personal endorsement, he told JI in an interview, was intended to raise awareness about the stakes of the primary.
Cuomo, who has frequently touted his support for Israel and called antisemitism “the most important issue” in the race, has activity courted the Orthodox community, in an effort to repair relationships that had deteriorated over policies he implemented amid the COVID pandemic, which many voters still recall as discriminatory.
“The meetings all went well, and I do believe that before this race is over that most of the Orthodox Jewish groups will support the former governor for his mayoral bid because we’re very concerned about the prospect of Zohran Mamdani becoming the next mayor,” said one Orthodox rabbi in Far Rockaway, Queens, who is part of a group of Jewish leaders endorsing Cuomo, speaking on the condition of anonymity to address the race. “I don’t remember a more important election for the Orthodox community in my lifetime.”
“If it hasn’t woken people up, hopefully it will in the next few weeks,” he told JI.
New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani said, ‘I believe Israel has a right to exist and it has a right to exist also with equal rights for all’
Screenshot
New York mayoral candidate and state Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani speaks at a candidate forum hosted by UJA AND JCRC-NY on May 22, 2025.
Zohran Mamdani, a leading Democratic candidate in New York City’s June mayoral primary, declined to say whether he believes Israel has a right to exist as a Jewish state, when pressed to confirm his view during a town hall on Thursday night hosted by the UJA-Federation of New York in Manhattan.
“I believe Israel has a right to exist and it has a right to exist also with equal rights for all,” Mamdani said in his carefully worded response to a question posed by Jewish Insider’s editor-in-chief, Josh Kraushaar, who co-moderated the event.
Despite some initial resistance to addressing such questions earlier in his campaign, Mamdani, a state assemblyman in Queens and a fierce critic of Israel, has in recent weeks acknowledged Israel has a right to exist. But his remarks on the matter have never recognized a Jewish state, an ambiguity he was forced to confront explicitly at the forum — where he notably avoided providing a direct answer to the question.
Many Jewish community members have expressed concerns about Mamdani, who is currently polling in second behind former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and his outspoken opposition to Israel, including support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign targeting the Jewish state.
While some critics have dismissed BDS as antisemitic, he defended the movement as an effective tool to push Israel into “compliance with international law” that he has accused the country of violating before and after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks.
Mamdani, who has frequently alleged that Israel is committing genocide amid its ongoing war in Gaza — an argument he did not raise on Thursday night — also defended his decision last month to join the show of an antisemitic influencer, Hasan Piker, who has fueled controversy for justifying Hamas’ attacks, even as he has forcefully denied some of the group’s atrocities.
Asked if he regretted his appearance on the show in light of the shooting of two Israeli Embassy staffers in Washington on Wednesday, which he denounced at the beginning of his remarks, Mamdani refused to criticize Piker’s past comments, insisting his own “words speak for themselves.”
“I made very clear where I stood,” Mamdani said of his interview with Piker. “I think this is something that I have sought to embody throughout my career as a consistency — and I think that my actions, my words, even in that interview, spoke for themselves. But it is always helpful to hear feedback as to what I have said and how I’ve engaged.”
During the forum, which also featured Cuomo and other candidates vying for the Democratic nomination, Mamdani told the crowd he recognized “that there is no doubt disagreement at the heart of many of these questions.”
“What I strive to show is that it’s a disagreement still based on a shared sense of humanity,” he said, “not a disagreement that is based on the bigotry that is often characterized of these positions.”
Speaking on Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch’s podcast, Cuomo said he understands why Jewish voters may be dissatisfied with the Democratic Party’s response to antisemitism
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Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks at the West Side Institutional Synagogue on April 1, 2025, in New York City.
Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the leading Democratic candidate in New York City’s upcoming mayoral primary, predicted that Jewish voters could ultimately swing the outcome of the June election in a new podcast interview released on Thursday.
“You have 600,000 registered Jewish Democrats. The whole turnout in the primary is 800,000,” he said in a conversation with Ammiel Hirsch, senior rabbi of Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in New York. “They could decide the election. Use your voice, use your vote, get aggressive. Passivity does not work.”
A recent Marist poll showed Cuomo garnering just 26% of Jewish primary voters, though he still led the rest of the field by a wide margin.
In his campaign, Cuomo has engaged in aggressive outreach to the city’s sizable Orthodox community, called the rise of antisemitism “the most important issue” in the race and accused his rivals of failing to stand with Israel by aligning with the far left, a topic he addressed more broadly during his conversation on Hirsch’s podcast, “In These Times.”
“I understand why a lot of Jewish people don’t have the trust in the Democratic Party that they did,” the former governor said. “They watched the Squad in Washington and what they said about Israel, which was vile in many ways — and the Democrats stood by, silent, and they felt isolated and abandoned.”
He also reiterated his belief that anti-Zionism is equal to antisemitism, an argument he has made previously. “In theory, you could say, ‘I oppose the government’s policies, but I understand that is not a reflection on the people of the country,’” he stated in the interview. “So theoretically you could do it, but I don’t think that’s what’s happening here.”
“Anti-Zionism is antisemitism,” he added. “That’s where I believe we are.”
The former governor said that he continues to be “shocked” by the extremism on display at anti-Israel demonstrations, which he described as “more and more egregious.”
“You wear the masks of Hamas during protests,” he said. “What are you trying to say? You’re not saying, ‘I want peace.’ You’re not saying ‘Israel should stop bombing.’ You are wearing the mask of Hamas.”
Hirsch, a prominent Reform rabbi, clarified that he was not endorsing Cuomo’s campaign — in keeping with a tradition among congregational leaders. “We do, however, endorse policies,” he said, praising the former governor as a dependable ally of the Jewish community.
“Gov. Cuomo and his father, Mario Cuomo, before him, have been uniquely supportive of the Jewish community and the Jewish state for decades,” he said during the podcast. “We should not take this support for granted.”
Plus, Rubio, Cruz talk Trump Iran policy
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Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey speaks ahead of Vice President Kamala Harris at a campaign rally outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on November 4, 2024.
Good Wednesday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we break down a new Anti-Defamation League report on antisemitism at independent K-12 schools, and report on Corey O’Connor’s victory yesterday in Pittsburgh’s mayoral primary. We report on the increasing pressure on Israel over its conduct in Gaza, cover Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s first appearance on Capitol Hill since being confirmed, and highlight remarks made by Sens. Ted Cruz and John Fetterman to NORPAC members. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Lishay Lavi Miran, Sen. Andy Kim, and Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Dan Goldman.
What We’re Watching
- 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.
What You Should Know
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.”
GAINEY’S GOODBYE
O’Connor ousts Gainey in heated Pittsburgh mayoral primary
Corey O’Connor prevailed in his bid to oust Mayor Ed Gainey of Pittsburgh in the Democratic primary on Tuesday, dealing a major blow to the activist left in a city where progressives had until recently been ascendant. O’Connor, the Allegheny County controller and a centrist challenger, defeated Gainey, the first-term incumbent aligned with the far left, by a significant six-point margin, 53-47%, on Tuesday evening with most of the vote counted, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.
Victory post: “We built this campaign with and for the people of this city, neighborhood by neighborhood,” O’Connor said in a social media post on Tuesday night. “I’m proud to be your Democratic nominee for Mayor. I’m ready to get to work, and I’m grateful to have you with me as we take the next steps forward, together.”
WAITING FOR OMRI
An Israeli mom’s NYC mission to free husband from Hamas captivity
Every morning, Lishay Lavi Miran’s toddler daughters ask her the same two questions: Why is daddy still in Gaza and when is daddy coming home? In a desperate attempt to provide answers, Miran spent the past week in New York City — her first time in the U.S. — advocating for the release of her husband, Omri Miran, who was kidnapped from their home in Kibbutz Nahal Oz during the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks and has remained in Hamas captivity for nearly 600 days. In an interview with Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen during her visit to the states, which concluded on Tuesday, Miran said that her message to the American Jewish community is that its advocacy efforts have provided a “warming sense of hope.”
Now and then: The family received the first sign of life from Omri in April when Hamas terrorists published a video in which he is seen walking through a tunnel in Gaza. The video was released right around his 48th birthday. “It was difficult to see him in those conditions,” Miran told JI during her visit to the states, which concluded on Tuesday. The “exhausted” man in the video was a contrast to the guy known for having “the biggest smile in the world and spark in his eyes,” as Miran describes her husband.
foreign policy in focus
Rubio: Iranian proxy terrorism hasn’t been part of negotiations with Iran
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in his first appearance on Capitol Hill since being confirmed as secretary of state that Iran’s support for regional terrorist proxies has not been part of the ongoing talks between the Iranian government and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, which Rubio said have been focused wholly on Iran’s nuclear program and enrichment capabilities. At the same time, Rubio insisted that any sanctions related to terrorist activity and weapons proliferation would remain in place if such issues are not part of the nuclear deal, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
What this means: Rubio’s comments indicate the deal might still be subject to what some critics in the United States and the region described as a key flaw of the original nuclear deal — that it failed to address other malign activity by the regime. One U.S. lawmaker who traveled to the Middle East recently said that U.S. partners in Israel and the Arab world had argued that any deal must include non-nuclear provocations. Rubio added that sanctions will remain in place until a deal is reached, and that European partners are working separately on re-implementing snapback sanctions, potentially by October of this year, when such sanctions expire. He also said that Iran cannot have any level of nuclear enrichment under a nuclear deal, as it would inevitably provide a pathway for Iran to enrich to weapons-grade levels.
Read the full story here with Rubio’s additional remarks on Iran, Gaza and Syria.
TED TALK
Ted Cruz expresses concern about influence of some Trump officials on Iran policy
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said on Tuesday that he is concerned about the views of some of the officials in the White House shaping President Donald Trump’s Iran policy, marking the most critical comments yet from the hawkish senator about Trump’s approach to Iran. He urged members of NORPAC, a pro-Israel advocacy organization, to raise the issue in their meetings with anyone in the Trump administration, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
What he said: “We need clarity with the Trump administration, and as NORPAC talks to the administration, I would say, I worry there are voices in the administration that are not eager to hold up the president’s red line of dismantlement,” Cruz said at NORPAC’s annual Washington lobbying mission, referring to mixed messaging from some U.S. officials on the acceptable contours of a potential new nuclear agreement with Iran.
Also during NORPAC’s mission: Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), who is facing attacks from the media and fellow lawmakers in the Democratic Party, hit back at members of his own party. Speaking to members of NORPAC, Fetterman offered some of his sharpest criticism yet of the Democratic Party’s approach to Israel after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks. “Israel and your community deserves much better from my party,” Fetterman said, earning loud applause.
RELATIONSHIP RUPTURE
Foreign Minister David Lammy announces suspension of U.K.-Israel free trade agreement
U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy announced that Britain has suspended negotiations with Israel on a new free trade agreement and will be “reviewing cooperation,” a day after the U.K., France and Canada threatened to take “concrete actions” and impose sanctions on Israel over its policies on humanitarian aid in Gaza and settlement activity in the West Bank, Jewish Insider’s Danielle Cohen and Lahav Harkov report.
Upping the pressure: Lammy, speaking to British lawmakers in the House of Commons on Tuesday, said the “Netanyahu government’s actions have made this necessary,” describing the lack of humanitarian aid entering Gaza as “intolerable” and “abominable.” He said that Tzipi Hotovely, the Israeli ambassador to the U.K., has been summoned to the U.K. Foreign Office, where Middle East Minister Hamish Falconer will tell her that “the 11-week block on aid to Gaza has been cruel and indefensible” and that “dismissing concerns of friends and partners … must stop.” Lammy also announced that the British government will impose sanctions on three individuals and four entities with ties to settlements in the West Bank, which the U.K., France and Canada called “illegal” in their joint statement.
Meanwhile in Brussels: The EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said that Brussels will review whether Israel is violating the human rights clause of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, which governs the high-level political and economic ties between the sides. Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp proposed the review with the backing of 17 of 27 EU members; however, a policy change would require unanimity within the bloc.
And from the Vatican: Pope Leo XIV appealed this morning “to allow the entry of dignified humanitarian aid and to put an end to the hostilities, whose heartbreaking price is paid by the children, elderly, and the sick.
kim’s call
Sen. Andy Kim urges Homeland Security Secretary Noem to protect Nonprofit Security Grant Program funding
Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ) pressed Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem for clarification of her department’s plans regarding the Nonprofit Security Grant Program as the Trump administration considers cuts to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports. Kim and Noem engaged on the issue while the latter was testifying before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Tuesday. Kim, the top Democrat on the HSGAC subcommittee that oversees FEMA, urged Noem to ensure NSGP funding is not reduced or eliminated outright as part of President Donald Trump’s push to abolish FEMA, citing the program’s success rate with New Jersey synagogues amid rising antisemitism.
Making the case: “I think that there’s very strong bipartisanship here in Congress, especially the Senate, to protect the Nonprofit Security Grant Program. It is literally the best tool that people in New Jersey are telling me is needed to be able to counter antisemitism. I can’t tell you the number of synagogues and temples that are lined up to try to get this type of funding. In fact, you know, given the rise of antisemitism that we have in our country right now, we should be surging resources, not cutting,” Kim said.
Worthy Reads
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]
Word on the Street
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…
Pic of the Day
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.
Birthdays
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…