• We’ll be keeping an eye out in the coming days on how yesterday’s attack on a Michigan synagogue is playing out on the national stage, from Jewish communal conversations to debates in Washington and in state capitals about antisemitism, security funding and safety measures.
• We’ll also be monitoring the ongoing military operations in the Middle East. Overnight, dozens were injured in an Iranian strike on the northern Israeli Arab town of Zarzir. Earlier this morning, CENTCOM confirmed that four of the six crew members of a U.S. KC-135 that crashed during a refueling mission in western Iraq on Thursday were killed, with an investigation underway.
• In Iran, a large explosion was reported this afternoon local time at a Quds Day demonstration in Tehran. The IDF had previously warned against congregating in the area.
• SXSW continues today, with Tech Tribe hosting its annual Shabbat dinner this evening.
• On Sunday, Jewish philanthropists are convening in San Diego for the three-day annual Jewish Funders Network conference. eJewishPhilanthropy’s Jay Deitcher and Rachel Kohn will be on the ground at JFN — sign up for eJP’s Your Daily Phil for the latest on the conference, and say hello if you see Jay and Rachel in San Diego.
• The Zionist Organization of America is hosting a gala in South Florida on Sunday night, where the group will honor Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) and the Justice Department’s Leo Terrell.
• In New York on Sunday, HaZamir: The International Jewish Teen Choir, is slated to perform at Lincoln Center.
• And across the country, the Oscars are taking place Sunday night in Los Angeles.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S JOSH KRAUSHAAR

It’s a testament to the level of security, staff preparation and good fortune that a potential terrorist attack against Temple Israel in suburban Detroit was foiled yesterday. The fact that no one other than the heavily armed perpetrator was killed after driving a vehicle filled with explosives into a synagogue filled with preschoolers, counts as something of a miracle.

It’s also a reminder of the consequences of what can happen when antisemitism is allowed to become normalized in our society, moving unchecked through our social media feeds and political discourse, all amid the record levels of hate crimes committed against Jews simply for their identity.

Even as politicians are reflexively speaking out against antisemitism in the aftermath of the attack, it’s hard to forget the poisonous rhetoric many on the extremes have advanced that could easily activate a lone-wolf extremist to commit an unspeakable crime. 

On the hard left, opposition to Israel’s war in Gaza has morphed into accusations of genocide, attacks against AIPAC as a uniquely sinister organization, conspiracy theories that Israel tricked the U.S. into war with Iran and euphemizing the support of terrorism as merely being “pro-Palestinian.”

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), who has emerged as one of his party’s leading anti-Israel voices as he mulls a presidential campaign, had the audacity to say he “stands with” antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker — along with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who has refused to condemn “globalize the intifada” rhetoric and anti-Israel Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner — during the Michigan synagogue terror attack.

Former Obama deputy national security advisor Ben Rhodes and his “Pod Save America” colleagues are now declaring that anyone who supports the Iran war — a group that may well include some Jewish Democrats in Congress who are sympathetic to the operation’s aims, even if they have reservations — should be primaried, and have no place within the Democratic Party. 

On the hard right, extremist podcasters are broadcasting the most undiluted antisemitism in media since the days of Father Coughlin in the 1930s. Tucker Carlson has devoted much of his show to promoting conspiracy theories about Jews, while other social media influencers have found that attacking Israel and questioning Jewish influence is a ticket to building a niche audience in online spaces. Gatherings of young right-wingers have all too often become cesspools of anti-Jewish hate. 

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

A Bridge Too Far: Puck’s Julia Ioffe looks at the catch-22 facing Elbridge Colby, the Trump administration’s under secretary of war for policy, as the U.S. engages militarily with Iran — a strategy that Colby has long personally opposed. “Colby isn’t the first to strike this kind of Faustian — or simply Washingtonian — bargain over the past decade. But for him, as for everyone else, the MAGAfication cuts both ways. On one hand, he has political power and the kind of job that NatSec types dream of. On the other, that power is entirely subject to Trump’s whims. ‘He’s an ideological actor in an administration that has no ideology,’ a Democratic member of Congress told me.” [Puck]

Van Hollen’s Venom: In the Jewish News Syndicate, Betsy Berns Korn, chair of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, raises concerns about Sen. Chris Van Hollen’s (D-MD) allegation that AIPAC is “neither” a pro-American nor a pro-Israel organization. “Citizens advocate for stronger alliances with NATO partners, support Taiwan’s democracy, promote human-rights abroad, defend labor interests, protect the environment and work to expand trade relationships. That tradition of civic participation is a hallmark of American democracy. Advocacy for a strong relationship between the United States and Israel belongs squarely within that tradition. … Support for this partnership does not make Americans less loyal to their country. On the contrary, it reflects their judgment about what best serves American security, democratic values and global stability.” [JNS]

Regime Unchanged: The Washington Post’s David Ignatius warns that the U.S.’ strategy in Iran runs the risk of allowing the regime to stay in place. “If the conflict ends tomorrow, Iran will have lost nearly all its nuclear facilities and scientists, most of its missiles and missile launchers, most of its weapons factories, most of its navy, and much of the command and control for its military, intelligence and security forces. But the regime survives. It has taken America’s best punch, and it’s still standing. Tiers of senior military, intelligence and political leaders are dead, but they have been replaced by others. There’s no sign of a popular uprising. The cadres of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps hide among piles of rubble, but they haven’t been eliminated.” [WashPost]

Kurds Force: In New Lines Magazine, Laurent Perpigna Iban spotlights the Kurdish factions that had until recent days been under consideration by the U.S. to lead a ground incursion into Iran. “For the first time in their history, the various Iranian Kurdish factions have found common ground and established a platform for cooperation. … The project is more political than military, laying the groundwork for the protection of Iran’s Kurdish population. According to converging sources, discussions about a potential ground incursion do exist, even if such a scenario has not formally been placed on the table.” [NewLines]

Mind Meld on Iran: The Financial Times’ Neri Zilber reports on the close coordination between Washington and Jerusalem on the joint attack on Iran. “The speed and ferocity of the aerial campaign has required extraordinary levels of coordination — from the initial war plan that was put together to the thousands of phone conversations every day between the two militaries. ‘It’s a mind meld,’ said Dan Shapiro, a former senior US defence official and ambassador to Israel. … The close coordination, across the entire chain of command, has involved some 4,000 to 5,000 calls per day — from the chief of staff level down to the hundreds of pilots in the air at any given time, according to the senior Israeli military official.” [FT]

Politico reports on Vice President JD Vance’s skepticism ahead of U.S. strikes on Iran; Vance reportedly privately conveyed his opposition to military action to senior administration officials…

President Donald Trump officially removed Carrie Prejean Boller from the Religious Liberties Commission, weeks after Prejean Boller vociferously defended antisemitic conspiracy theorist Candace Owens at a commission hearing… 

Religious Liberties Commissionadvisory board member Sameerah Munshi, who had allied herself with Prejean Boller, announced her resignation from the board…

Trump nominated Sarah Rogers, the State Department’s undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, to lead the U.S. Agency for Global Media, days after a federal judge voided the actions undertaken at the agency under Kari Lake, who was serving as acting CEO; Rogers will maintain her State Department role in addition to leading USAGM…  

The president also nominated United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Governing Council member Jeff Miller to serve as the body’s chair; Miller, who also serves on the board of the Republican Jewish Coalition, was first appointed to the USHMM’s governing council by Trump in 2021…

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Thursday introduced legislation, co-sponsored by Sens. Rick Scott (R-FL) and Tom Cotton (R-AR), designating the Polisario Front, the terrorist group that claims sovereignty over parts of the Western Sahara, as a foreign terrorist organization; “This bill will ensure that America’s most powerful anti-terrorism sanctions can be used to counter those threats and, once a designation is secured, the Polisario Front and its leaders will be cut off from access to the global financial system, international travel, and the resources they rely upon to conduct their terrorism,” Cruz told JI…

Following the Michigan synagogue attack, Rep. Max Miller (R-OH) shared on X an antisemitic death threat that he received, saying that they are a daily occurrence for him and other Jewish members of Congress…

Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) raised concerns about the status of Kamran Hekmati, an Iranian-American Jewish constituent in Suozzi’s district who has been jailed in Iran for nearly a year after being arrested for having visited Israel more than a decade ago for his son’s bar mitzvah…

Reps. Sara Jacobs (D-CA), Jason Crow (D-CO) and Yassamin Anasari (D-AZ) led 121 House Democrats in a letter questioning the administration over a strike on an Iranian girls’ school reportedly executed by the U.S….

Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC), who is 85, announced that he will seek an 18th House term, two years after the South Carolina Democrat stepped down from his Democratic leadership role…

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg endorsed New York state Assemblymember Micah Lasher, who had served as a mayoral aide to Bloombergin the Democratic primary to succeed Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY); Bloomberg is preparing to spend up to $5 million on an ad campaign boosting Lasher in the crowded 12th Congressional District primary…

The Treasury Department announced on Thursday that it was imposing sanctions on four “sham charity” groups in Turkey and Indonesia that it said are funnelling money and resources to Hamas, JI’s Marc Rod reports…

The Trump administration is temporarily lifting sanctions on Russian oil that is already at sea in an effort to lower prices as Iran maintains control over the Strait of Hormuz; Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Thursday that it was “unfortunate” that Moscow would benefit in the short term from the conflict with Iran… 

The White House intervened to water down a broadly bipartisan sanctions bill targeting Iran’s oil exports to China, sources told Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod…

Turkish elites have reportedly begun circulating claims that Israel could turn its military attention toward Ankara should Iran emerge from the war depleted — a belief analysts say reflects growing mistrust and conspiratorial thinking in Turkey rather than any actual Israeli intent, JI’s Matthew Shea reports…

The Wall Street Journal gives a play-by-play accounting of the defection of six members of the Iranian women’s national soccer team, who sought asylum in Australia while playing in a tournament in the country…

Palestinian scholar Walid Khalidi, a co-founder of Beirut’s Institute for Palestine Studies, died at 100…

Amb. Michael Mann, the head of the European Union delegation to Israel, donated blood yesterday during a visit to Magen David Adom headquarters in the mixed central Israeli city of Ramla.

Four-time Israeli national champion in the skeleton event and pilot of Israel’s first-ever Olympic bobsled team in Milan, Adam “AJ” Edelman turns 35 on Saturday…

FRIDAY: Editor of Avotaynu Magazine, a journal of Jewish genealogy and scholarship, Sallyann Amdur Sack-Pikus turns 90… Former mayor of Miami Beach, Fla., and author of Destiny: From Shoeshine Boy to Mayor, Norman Ciment turns 90… Israeli singer, he won the 1978 Eurovision Song Contest, Izhar Cohen turns 75… Psychotherapist in private practice in Manhattan and Teaneck, N.J., Shana Yocheved Schacter… U.S. Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND) turns 69… Founder of the Drug Policy Alliance, a NYC-based organization working to end the war on drugs, Ethan Nadelmann turns 69… Professor of applied mathematics at Imperial College London, he is also a chess grandmaster, Jonathan Mestel turns 69… Former Florida congressman, Alan Grayson turns 68… Teacher of rabbinic literature and author of The Jewish Family Ethics Textbook, Rabbi Neal S. Scheindlin turns 66… Founder and CEO of MediaBistro which she sold in 2007, now managing director of Supernode Ventures, Laurel Touby turns 63… Heavy metal songwriter, vocalist for the band Disturbed as well as for the band Device, he is a former yeshiva student, David Draiman turns 53… Member of the California state Senate since 2014, Benjamin Allen turns 48… Former member of Knesset for the Jewish Home party and decorated IDF reservist, Yonatan “Yoni” Chetboun turns 47… Deputy campaign manager on Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) 2020 presidential campaign, now host of radio show “The Agenda,” Ari Rabin-Havt… Television and film actor, Emile Hirsch turns 41… President and CEO of Nefco, a distributor of construction and industrial supplies, Matthew Gelles… Television and film actor, Emory Isaac Cohen 36… Senior director of social marketing at NBC Universal, Jessie Hannah Rubin… Former Formula 3 racing driver, his mother is Houda Nonoo, the first Jewish woman to serve as an ambassador of Bahrain, Menasheh Idafar turns 35… Gabriel Romano…

SATURDAY: Professor emeritus of chemistry at Tel Aviv University, winner of the 1982 Israel Prize, Joshua Jortner turns 93… Founder and retired president of Los Angeles-based Skirball Cultural Center, Rabbi Dr. Uri Herscher turns 85… Dean of Yeshiva Toras Moshe in Jerusalem, Rabbi Moshe Meiselman turns 84… Senior lecturer at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, Marshall Ganz turns 83… Canadian criminal defense attorney, Brian Greenspan turns 79… Actor, writer, producer, director and comedian, Billy Crystal turns 78… Former member of the Maryland House of Delegates for 28 years, Shane Elizabeth Pendergrass turns 76… One-half of the eponymous Ben & Jerry’s ice cream (Ben is four days younger), Jerry Greenfield turns 75… Retired Hebrew teacher, Eliezer Cohen Barak… Co-founder of the Adam and Gila Milstein Family Foundation, she is the president of Stand By Me, an organization that supports cancer patients, Gila Milstein… Partner at Hefter, Leshem, Margolis Capital Management Group of Wells Fargo Advisors in Highland Park, Ill., Steven Hefter… Founder and leader of ChangeCommunications, Jo-Ann Mort… NYC-based restaurateur and CEO of Union Square Hospitality Group, Danny Meyer turns 68… Professor in the department of Jewish philosophy at Tel Aviv University, Menachem Lorberbaum turns 68… Minneapolis-based attorney, Jonathan S. Parritz… Past president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, Denise L. Eger turns 66… Owner of Baltimore’s Tov Pizza, which he founded in 1984, Ronnie Rosenbluth… Owner and COO of EJM Development Company, he also heads its lending division, New Frontier Capital, Jon Monkarsh… Microgrid architect at Urban Ingenuity and lecturer at Georgetown University, Shalom Flank, Ph.D… Film and television actress, she is best known for her title role in the 1985 film “The Journey of Natty Gann,” Meredith Salenger turns 56… Entrepreneur, musician, songwriter and record company executive, Josh Gruss turns 52… Screenwriter and film director, Etan Cohen turns 52… Canadian fashion stylist, publicist and close friend of Meghan Markle (her children were in the royal wedding as page boys and flower girl), Jessica Brownstein Mulroney turns 46… Heiress, together with her brother and cousins, to the Hyatt Hotels fortune, philanthropist, former child actress, Liesel Pritzker Simmons turns 42… Oldest of three sisters who are members of the rock band Haim, Este Arielle Haim turns 40… Former NASCAR driver, he is the sole inductee into the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame and Museum in the “Auto Racing” category, Jon Denning turns 39… Former point guard at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was the Ivy League player of the year in 2012, Zack Rosen turns 37… Director, screenwriter and actor, known for his work on “The Intern,” “Big Time Adolescence” and “I Want You Back,” Jason Orley turns 37… Product quality specialist at The Topps Company, Philip Liebman… Coach for first-time founders, Sophie Galant… CEO of Prizmah, Paul Bernstein…

SUNDAY: Emmy, Golden Globe and Tony Award-winning actor, active in film, television and on the stage, Judd Hirsch turns 91… UCLA professor, biochemist and biophysicist, David S. Eisenberg turns 87… First-ever NYC Public Advocate starting in 1994, he is an author of 23 books, Mark J. Green turns 81… British billionaire and philanthropist, former chairman of retail conglomerate Arcadia Group, Sir Philip Nigel Ross Green turns 74… Former managing member at Buena Vista Fund Management in San Francisco, now owner of a homemade bread business, Robert Mendel Rosner… Animator and director of numerous episodes of “The Simpsons,” David Silverman turns 69… Real estate agent at Signature Realty Associates in the Tampa and Florida Gulf Coast market, Ze’ev “Wolf” Bar-El… White House special envoy leading diplomatic efforts around the world, Steve Witkoff turns 69… Freelance writer and consultant, Bathsheva Gladstone… Executive director of the Jewish Culture Center at Indiana University Bloomington, Debra Barton Grant… Member of the Knesset for the Likud party, currently serving as speaker of the Knesset, Amir Ohana turns 50… Retired MLB infielder, he now owns Loma Brewing, a brew pub in Los Gatos, Calif., he was Team Israel’s batting coach in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, Kevin Youkilis turns 47… Global business editor for Defense One, where he writes about the intersection of business and national security, Marcus Weisgerber… Psychotherapist based in Raleigh, N.C., Mindy Beth Reinstein Brodsky… Born in Jerusalem, she is a member of the New York state Assembly for the northeast portions of Queens, Nily Rozic turns 40… Rapper, comedian and actor, better known by his stage name Lil Dicky, David Andrew Burd turns 38… Board chair at the African Middle Eastern Leadership (AMEL) Project and executive director of the 30 Birds Foundation, Justin Hefter… Co-founder of Punchbowl News, Rachel Schindler… and Rachel’s twin brother, college admissions consultant and SAT/ACT tutor, Max J. Schindler… Zach Shartiag… Professional wrestler, Maxwell Jacob Friedman turns 30…

• AIPAC’s annual Congressional Summit is taking place this week in Washington, with U.S. Ambassador to the U. N. Mike Waltz, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R‑LA), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D‑NY), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D‑NY) and Sens. Tom Cotton (R‑AR) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) slated to address the crowd. Read our curtain-raiser on the off-the-record confab here.
• We’re watching the continued influx of U.S. military assets to the Middle East as the White House prepares for a third round of talks with Iran, set to be brokered by Oman in Geneva, Switzerland, on Thursday.
• The Iran question could come up as soon as this morning, with President Donald Trump set to briefly address the media at a White House ceremony honoring individuals whose relatives have been killed by undocumented immigrants.
• We’re also monitoring how the winter storm hitting the East Coast today is disrupting everything from congressional votes to events and hearings up and down the Northeast corridor. To our readers from Washington to Boston: stay warm and safe!

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MELISSA WEISS

Tucker Carlson’s interview with U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee last week seemed to get off to a rough start before the commentator had even touched down in Israel, when it became known that Carlson would be conducting the interview from Ben Gurion Airport without plans to leave the complex to engage with the country — about which he spends significant airtime discussing — itself.

The troubles began before the interview aired, with Carlson alleging on social media that the passports belonging to his team members had been taken by Israeli security and that the group had been interrogated at the airport. But Carlson flew into Ben Gurion’s VIP Fattal Terminal, where passports are taken by airport officials to be expedited through a special processing service that avoids the immigration lines at Ben Gurion’s regular terminal. Questioning, as anyone who has flown into or out of Israel knows, is standard procedure and has been for decades.

But it was the release of the interview — nearly three hours long — that caused the most issue for Carlson. The initially released edition of the podcast included comments from Carlson to Huckabee alleging that Israeli President Isaac Herzog had ties to Jeffrey Epstein. “The current president of Israel, whom I know you know, apparently was at ‘Pedo Island,” Carlson claimed. “That’s what it says.”

That was, in fact, *not* what it — it being the Epstein files released earlier this month — said. Carlson appeared to be referencing an email in the trove of documents that referenced “Herzog,” despite no actual linkage between the Israeli president and the disgraced financier.

The outcry, as well as a letter from Herzog’s team and a statement from Huckabee, prompted a swift apology from Carlson, and a rerelease of the interview with that portion of the conversation removed. “They didn’t know each other, they never emailed with each other, never been in the same room. They had no relationship of any kind,” Carlson said. “So I just want to say clearly I’m sorry to imply that I knew something I didn’t know.”

But it was a conversation about the Bible that dominated headlines. The Tucker Carlson Network posted a partial clip on Saturday in which Carlson spoke at length about a passage in Genesis in which God tells Abraham, “to your descendants I will give this land, from the River of Egypt to the great river Euphrates,” and then asked Huckabee if he believed that the Jewish people therefore have the right to the land that includes modern-day Jordan and parts of Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

“It would be fine if they took it all,” Huckabee said before the video cuts off mid-sentence. The rest of the sentence that was omitted from the clip includes Huckabee saying, “But I don’t think that’s what we’re talking about here today,” adding “they” — meaning Israel — “don’t want to take it over; they’re not asking to take it over.” 

The cavalcade of stories framing Huckabee as supporting an imagined Israeli territorial conquest of the Middle East prompted a response from a group of Arab and Muslim states and multinational organizations, led by Saudi Arabia, condemning the comments. Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates — all of whom have peace agreements with Israel — signed onto the statement.

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

Risk Assessment: In The Wall Street Journal, former White House intelligence chief Marc Gustafson, who headed the Situation Room from 2022-2025, argues that the chances of U.S. strikes on Iran growing into an extended regional conflict are less than they were when he served in the White House. “For the Trump administration, the upside of acting at a moment of Iranian vulnerability is plainly alluring. It could further erode proxy networks, blunt the nuclear threat, and help tip the global balance of power in America’s favor. An attack on Iran would still entail risk. The regime’s identity is rooted in resistance to foreign interference. An external attack could trigger pockets of fierce backlash. U.S. personnel remain within range of thousands of Iran’s short-range missiles. Oil markets could convulse if Tehran disrupted Gulf shipping. The trauma of past Middle East wars has shaped Washington’s Iran policy for decades. But today Iran’s proxies are weakened, its economy is fragile, its population is restless and its leadership is superannuated.” [WSJ]

Help Should Be on Its Way: The New York Times’ Bret Stephens suggests that a strike on Iran is “crucial,” citing Tehran’s treatment of protesters in addition to the threats it poses to regional and global stability, and noting the recent student protests that have again broken out in the country. “But it’s not a stretch to assume those protests are also a signal to [President Donald] Trump that his promise last month to Iranians that ‘help is on its way’ hasn’t been forgotten, and that ordinary Iranians are prepared to join the fight for their own liberation. If so, then there is at least a reasonable chance that a sustained military operation that not only further degrades the regime’s nuclear, missile and military capabilities — a desirable outcome in its own right — but also targets its apparatus of domestic repression could embolden the type of sustained mass protests that could finally bring the regime down.” [NYTimes]

Leap of Faith: The Associated Press’ Steve Peoples looks at how Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro leans on his faith amid rising antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment. “Shapiro’s allies acknowledge the risks, but they ultimately believe his faith will help him connect with more Americans as he takes the next step in his political career. ‘He is intentionally choosing to go a different route and to be a different person, and it’s authentic to who he is and also what he believes,’ said Baptist Pastor Marshall Mitchell, a close friend and spiritual adviser to Shapiro. ‘Great elected officials, great Americans, great thinkers, never discount the influence and impact of faith.’” [AP]

Catholic Teaching: In The Washington Post, First Things Editor R.R. Reno, who identifies as a Catholic and a Zionist, counters recent anti-Israel rhetoric from Candace Owens and public figures associated with the Catholic Church who cite their faith in their opposition to Israel. “The Catholic Church urges me to bring my political judgments into accord with moral principles. In affairs of state, the most important norm is peace. This norm strongly favors support for established states. (This is why, for most of her existence, the Catholic Church rejected revolution and required obedience to existing governments.) The state of Israel exists. Undermining its legitimacy and aiding those who seek its destruction is far more likely to lead to widespread violence and inhumanity than its continued existence, whatever one thinks of the circumstances of the nation’s founding or its present policies.” [WashPost]

The White House notified Congress earlier this month that it intends to reopen the U.S. Embassy in Damascus, Syria, 14 years after it was shuttered amid the start of the country’s civil war…

A new super PAC that intends to counter pro-Israel PAC-supported candidates has spent more than $500,000 to boost far-left Democrat Nida Allam in her primary challenge to Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-NC), who lost support from AIPAC’s PAC this cycle after shifting left on Israel-related policy issues; the American Priorities PAC has also spent $72,000 backing Rev. Frederick Haynes III, a candidate for a Dallas-area House seat who preached about alleged “apartheid” in Israel in a sermon on the day after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks…

The Elect Chicago Women super PAC, rumored to have ties to pro-Israel groups, began an ad campaign in the Chicago area on Saturday attacking Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss in Illinois’ 9th Congressional District, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports; the ads, which political experts said could boost anti-Israel activist Kat Abughazaleh in the crowded primary, come weeks after a similar effort in New Jersey by AIPAC’s super PAC to target former Rep. Tom Malinowski helped far-left activist Analilia Mejia to win the district’s special election primary…

Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy attended last night’s opening and ribbon-cutting at The Ohio State University’s Schottenstein Chabad Student Center…

The “Today” Show interviews Shira Kupperman Boehler, wife of Adam Boehler, the Trump administration’s special envoy for hostage response, about her early-stage diagnosis, at age 44, of lung cancer last year and subsequent treatment…

Jewish American hockey player Jack Hughes scored the winning goal in the Olympic finals of Team USA’s overtime win over Canada… 

Israel’s National Olympic Committee disqualified its four-man bobsled team after one of the team’s members lied about a medical injury in order to allow the team’s alternate a chance to compete; captain AJ Edelman said in a statement that “[g]iven that our placement going into the final run was all but predetermined, it was more important to us that our alternate could have the opportunity to compete in the Olympics”…

Australian officials charged a man who allegedly ran a car into a Brisbane synagogue with committing a hate crime…

At least eight Hezbollah members were killed in Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon over the weekend as the IDF scales up its activity targeting the Iranian terror proxy…

The New York Times reports on Iran’s succession plan and other contingency efforts should the U.S. strike the country; the Times reports that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has entrusted Ali Larijani, the head of Iran’s National Security Council, with key decision-making powers since the rise of the country’s student protest movement in December…

The Washington Post looks at how Israelis are preparing for the possibility of a renewed war with Iran, less than a year after the 12-day war between the countries…

The Wall Street Journal talks to Iranian student protesters who took part in the wave of protests — and subsequently faced the forceful government crackdown on the demonstrations — and examines how neither Moscow nor Beijing, both traditional allies of Tehran, are expressing reticence in fully backing Iran amid deepening tensions with the U.S.…

U.S. and Western officials are warning that Iran could use its proxies to target American assets abroad should the White House move forward with a strike targeting the Islamic Republic…

The New York Times’ “Vows” section spotlights the Los Angeles nuptials of influencer Caroline Goldfarb and shofar player Michael Gropper, the latter of whom is the Western states development director of American Friends of Bar-Ilan University…

Former Deputy Israeli Foreign Minister Idan Roll is joining the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security as an expert on a range of issues including national security and public diplomacy; read our 2023 interview with Roll here…

Philadelphia artist Isaiah Zagar, who designed dreamscape mosaics around his hometown, died at 86…

NPR host Michael Silverblatt, whose “Bookworm” program ran for 33 years, died at 73…

Former Israeli hostages Matan Zangauker (left), Segev Kalfon and Ilana Gritzewsky led thousands of teenagers in the Shema prayer during Chabad’s CTeen annual Jewish Pride Takeover of Times Square on Saturday night in New York City.

Grammy Award-winning actor, comedian and singer, Josh Gad turns 45…

Retired senior counsel in the Baltimore office of DLA Piper, he served as president of the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, Shale D. Stiller turns 91… EVP emeritus of the Orthodox Union and editor-in-chief of the Koren Talmud Bavli, Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb turns 86… Bethesda, Md., resident, Lois Copeland… Dean of a yeshiva high school in Israel, in 1967 he co-founded a popular band called The Rabbis’ Sons, Rabbi Baruch “Burry” Chait turns 80… Philosopher, novelist and public intellectual, she was a winner of a MacArthur Genius Fellowship in 1996, Rebecca Newberger Goldstein turns 76… Chairman of Agudath Israel of America and CEO of the OuterStuff sportswear line, Sol Werdiger turns 75… Film director, writer and producer, he is the president emeritus of the Producers Guild of America, Marshall Schreiber Herskovitz turns 74… 25-year veteran of USAID’s Foreign Service, she was the mission director for USAID in the West Bank and Gaza, Monica Stein-Olson turns 69… Strategic communications consultant, he was previously director of communications and PR for the Jewish Federations of North America, Joe Berkofsky… Political consultant and pollster, he is the founder of Luntz Global, Frank Luntz turns 64… Founder and CEO of Dell Technologies, he is the 10th richest person in the world according to Bloomberg, Michael Dell turns 61… U.S. senator (D-MD), Angela Alsobrooks turns 55… Best-selling author of young adult novels, Nova Ren Suma turns 51… CEO of film production firm Benaroya Pictures, Michael Benaroya turns 45… Founder of Tahrir Scarf, Johnathan Morpurgo… COO and director of research at The Lawfare Project, Benjamin Ryberg… Member of the Knesset for the Likud party, Dan Illouz turns 40… Former chief of staff at USAID, now a senior advisor at RF Catalytic Capital, Rebecca Chalif… Reporter at Bloomberg covering residential real estate with a focus on NYC’s housing market, Jennifer Epstein turns 40… Founder of an eponymous real estate brokerage in Tel Aviv, Barak Daon… AIPAC alum, now an engineering manager at Business Insider, Reuben A. Ingber… Senior strategy officer at Walton Enterprises, Mary Ann Weiss… Former national politics breaking news reporter at The Washington Post, Patrick Svitek… Director of policy and business development at Polymateria, Gidon Feen…

• The Munich Security Conference kicks off today in Germany. More below.
• The annual BBYO International Convention kicks off today in Philadelphia, with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro slated to speak tonight.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MELISSA WEISS

A who’s who of the world’s major political leaders, both past and present, are descending on Munich for the annual Munich Security Conference. After last year’s forum, in which Vice President JD Vance, who was leading the U.S. delegation, took an abrasive tone against Europe in his keynote address that rankled some attendees, Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to bring a softer tone when he leads this year’s delegation.

Unlike last year, when the Israel-Hamas war featured prominently on the agenda, this year’s MSC schedule has relatively little time dedicated to talking about the conflict, with just two sessions expected to touch on Gaza. And while last year’s attendee list included a number of Israelis, including President Isaac Herzog and Defense Minister Israel Katz, there are no current Israeli officials slated to speak. (Former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni will join one of the panels on Gaza reconstruction.)

Also absent this year is a Qatari presence. Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, who spoke last year about de-escalating tensions in the Middle East, is not on this year’s schedule, nor are any other Qatari officials.

Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) — back this year after skipping the 2025 MSC to travel to the U.S.-Mexico border — and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) will lead a bipartisan congressional delegation that includes Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Mark Warner (D-VA), Chris Coons (D-DE), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Steve Daines (R-MT), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Peter Welch (D-VT), Andy Kim (D-NJ) and Elissa Slotkin (D-MI). 

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is slated to speak on two panels today, one on the “rise of populism,” and another on the “future of U.S. foreign policy,” the latter in conversation with Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Matthew Whitaker, the U.S.’ representative to NATO. Matt Duss, a former foreign policy advisor to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) who has been critical of the U.S.-Israel relationship and is now advising the New York Democrat, said that she will use her perch in Munich to give the “working-class perspective” on the intersection of domestic politics and foreign policy.

AOC isn’t the only millennial member of Congress to be addressing the MSC this year. Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ), the first Iranian American Democrat elected to Congress, will be speaking on Sunday on a panel titled “Under Reconstruction: A World Order for the Next Generation.”

A town hall session focused on Gaza rebuilding efforts will take place later this afternoon. Speakers include Nickolay Mladenov, the Bulgarian diplomat serving as the head of the Gaza Board of Peace, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), Livni and Palestinian Authority Foreign Affairs Minister Varsen Aghabekian. Concurrent to that panel is a session focused on maritime security, with Yemeni President Rashad al-Alimi, whose country has been used by the Iran-backed Houthis as a launching pad for attacks on ships transiting through the Gulf, set to speak.

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

Regional Row: The Washington Post’s David Ignatius spotlights the “epic feud” between the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia that is shifting regional dynamics. “The regional tension directly interfered with U.S. policy last March, when the Trump administration was assaulting Houthi rebels in Yemen who had been attacking Red Sea shipping. According to a senior former U.S. official, Trump called a top UAE official and asked him to help ‘mop up’ the Houthis. The UAE leader said he could send 2,000 troops immediately and 5,000 more soon — but he asked for a Saudi pledge that it wouldn’t support a Yemeni Islamist militia known as Islah. The Saudis didn’t deliver that promise, and the campaign never happened, the former U.S. official said.” [WashPost]

The Beauty Queen’s Blind Spot: The Atlantic’s Yair Rosenberg recounts his conversation with Carrie Prejean Boller, who was removed from the White House’s Religious Liberty Commission over her questioning of Jewish witnesses and defense of promulgators of antisemitism, including Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens, at a hearing earlier this week. “Indeed, as long as the subject was Israel, Boller was eager to engage. But when the conversation turned to other things that she had said at the commission hearing that pertained to anti-Semitism, not merely anti-Zionism, she suddenly became much more evasive. … Rather than reckon with anti-Semitic statements from those she had defended at a hearing intended to confront anti-Semitism, she repeatedly attempted to reroute our conversation back to the safer ground of criticizing Israel. She either did not realize that she was using anti-Zionism as a pretext to launder vulgar anti-Semitism and its purveyors into the public square, or she did not care.” [TheAtlantic]

Strike While it’s Hot: In The Wall Street Journal, ​​Bernard-Henri Lévy posits that the Trump administration should pursue military action to effect regime change in Iran. “Can one settle for ‘sanctions,’ ‘pressure’ and concessions wrung out and immediately circumvented, when one knows that Russia has long since found ways to flood Tehran and its proxies with the resources they need to continue their enterprise of destruction over the long term, given a sufficient respite? Is any compromise possible with fanatics who proclaim that they prefer the apocalypse to defeat and who, if there were an apocalypse, wouldn’t hesitate to drag their near and distant neighbors into it? I hope the American administration understands this. I hope it has grasped that the era of containment is over, that deterrence doesn’t work against a state that has made internal terror, regional destabilization and the end of the world both a mode of governance and a program.” [WSJ]

Give Diplomacy a Chance: In the Arab News, Jason Greenblatt, who served as the White House Middle East envoy during President Donald Trump’s first term, weighs in on Trump’s meeting this week with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the decision to pursue diplomacy with Iran. “Many predicted he would strike quickly. I did not. Weeks ago, I wrote that he would first test whether diplomacy could work — real diplomacy, aimed at real results. Not another Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action-style agreement riddled with loopholes and excuses. Not another paper promise that looks good in headlines and collapses in practice. The last deal, among its many flaws, merely kicked the nuclear threat down the road and gave the Iranian regime space to cheat. And cheat they did. Trump wants something different.” [ArabNews]

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again voiced skepticism about the U.S.’ ability to reach an agreement with Iran as he departed Joint Base Andrews on Thursday, a day after his White House meeting with President Donald Trump, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports…

The USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier group — the Navy’s most advanced carrier group — is moving from the Caribbean to the Middle East amid ongoing tensions between the U.S. and Iran…

The United Nations this week elevated an Iranian official to a senior leadership role and publicly congratulated Tehran on the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution — moves that former Trump administration officials and Middle East policy analysts say reflect a troublingly conciliatory posture by the international body toward a regime accused of violently repressing its own people, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports…

The U.S. smuggled approximately 6,000 Starlink internet connectivity kits into Iran last month as Tehran conducted a nationwide internet blackout…

A new analysis of satellite imagery by the Institute for Science and International Security found that Iran is fortifying its Isfahan nuclear complex…

The EU Aviation Safety Administration extended to March 31 an advisory urging airlines to avoid Iranian airspace…

The man arrested in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood after allegedly stabbing a visibly Jewish man — to whom he had reportedly made antisemitic remarks prior to the attack — was released on bail…

Yeshiva University said that an incident in which a YU student was assaulted in Manhattan’s 181st Street subway station was an “unbiased attempted robbery”…

The U.K.’s Community Security Trust recorded a spike in antisemitic incidents the day of and the day following the terror attack at a Manchester synagogue on Yom Kippur last year in which two people were killed; with 40 incidents recorded each day, they marked the highest daily totals of the year…

The British High Court ruled that the government’s ban on the Palestine Action activist group was unlawful, despite group members’ participation in the vandalism and destruction of private property as part of their protests…

The new Israeli shekel hit a 30-year high, closing on Thursday at NIS 3.0680 to the dollar…

Israeli authorities arrested an IDF reservist and a civilian on charges of using classified information to place bets on the betting platform Polymarket…

The Football Association of Ireland said its national team will not forfeit any potential matches against Israel after the teams were drawn together, along with Austria and Kosovo; the announcement comes months after the FAI approved a motion calling on Israel to be banned from the Europa League…

The Atlantic interviews Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, whose Oscar-nominated “It Was All an Accident” was filmed in secret in the Islamic Republic and smuggled out of the country…

Team Israel bobsledders AJ Edelman and Ward Fawarseh, the first Druze Olympian, took practice runs on Thursday in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, ahead of the two-man Olympic bobsled race on Monday. Read our interview with Edelman here.

Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter, Melissa Manchester turns 75 on Sunday… 

FRIDAY: Rabbi and Talmudic scholar, also emeritus professor of economics at New York University, closely identified with the Austrian school of economic thought, Yisroel Mayer Kirzner turns 96… Israeli film and theater actor, Dalia Friedland turns 91… Former chair of the Toronto-based Mackenzie Institute think tank, he was a North York and Toronto City councillor, Norman “Norm” Gardner turns 88… Professor at American Jewish University in Los Angeles and scholar of biblical literature and Semitic languages, Ziony Zevit turns 84… Newsletter editor specializing in U.S. intelligence, military and foreign policy issues, Jeff Stein turns 82… U.S. senator (D-CT), Richard Blumenthal turns 80… Professor of anthropology at the University of Toronto, author of ‘I Didn’t Know You Were Jewish’ … and Other Things Not to Say When You Find Out, Ivan Kalmar turns 78… Former CEO of the Cleveland Browns and president of the Philadelphia Eagles, Joe Banner turns 73… Radio broadcaster for the New York Mets, Howard “Howie” Rose turns 72… Painter and photographer Ron Agam turns 68… Ukrainian businessman, previously president of the United Jewish Community of Ukraine, Ihor Kolomoyskyi turns 63… Casting director, Amy Sobo… Legal scholar, journalist and author, CEO emeritus of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Jeffrey Rosen turns 62… Member of the Knesset for United Torah Judaism, Moshe Shimon Roth turns 62… Internet entrepreneur and co-founder of Zynga, Mark Pincus turns 60… Past chair of national women’s philanthropy of The Jewish Federations of North America, Rochelle “Shelly” Kupfer… Former senior speechwriter for Treasury secretaries Geithner and Lew during the Obama administration, Mark Cohen… Retired Israeli soccer player, he made 89 international appearances for Israel and won nine league championships, more than any other Israeli player, Alon Harazi turns 55… Founding member and partner of Drowos Wealth Management Group at Center Street Capital Advisors, Bryan M. Drowos… Publisher of Southern California’s Jewish Link, Dov Blauner… Investigative reporter at Reuters since 2018, following 12 years as a Wall Street Journal reporter, Mike Spector… Associate vice president for communications at Columbia University, Samantha Slater… Jonathan Neuman… Director of philanthropy at LPPE LLC, Daniel Sperling… Founder and owner at Miami’s Cadena Collective, Alejandra Aguirre turns 35…

SATURDAY: Civil and human rights activist, rabbi, radio host, television producer and public speaker, Allen Secher turns 91… Owner of Bloomberg LP, 2020 presidential candidate, former chairman of Johns Hopkins University and mayor of NYC, Michael Bloomberg turns 84… Award-winning investigative journalist for The Washington Post and author, who together with Bob Woodward did much of the original news reporting on the Watergate scandal, Carl Bernstein turns 82… Chairman and CEO of Reebok for 26 years until its 2005 sale to Adidas, Paul Fireman turns 82… British businessman and founder of WPP plc, Sir Martin Stuart Sorrell turns 81… Former borough president of Brooklyn for 12 years, following a 23-year stint as a New York state senator, Marty Markowitz turns 81… Chairman and CEO of the Blackstone Group, Stephen A. Schwarzman turns 79… Film producer and EVP of the NFL’s New York Giants, winner of a Golden Globe award, an Academy Award and two Super Bowl rings, Steven Elliot “Steve” Tisch turns 77… Retired chairman and CEO of Los Angeles-based City National Bank, Russell Goldsmith turns 76… Host of “Fresh Air,” an interview program distributed throughout the U.S. by NPR, Terry Gross turns 75… Sports executive and former All-Star basketball player, she served as president of the WNBA for six years and as SVP of the PGA Tour for 17 years, Donna Geils Orender turns 69… Former executive board member at the Holocaust Museum LA, Paulette Beckmann Nessim… Co-founder and CEO at 25Madison and executive chairman of Townsquare Media, he was previously deputy assistant secretary of defense, Steven Price turns 64… Volleyball and beach volleyball star, she is the only Brazilian (out of 455 athletes) in the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, Adriana Brandão Behar turns 57… Long-distance runner, she won the bronze medal in the women’s marathon at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Deena Drossin Kastor turns 53… Senior director for strategy, policy and government affairs for the National Insurance Crime Bureau, Howard Handler… Financial advisor in the Boca Raton office of San Blas Securities, Alan Feinberg Jr.… Activist and writer known by the pen name MaNishtana, Shais Rishon turns 44… Ice hockey player selected in the first round of the 2002 NHL draft, he then played on four NHL teams and was also a player on the U.S. national team, Eric Nystrom turns 43… Columnist for The Forward, Carly Pildis… Co-founder of Run for Something, a PAC dedicated to helping progressive young people run for office, Amanda Litman… Four-year basketball player for the University of California, Berkeley Golden Bears, then for Bnei Herzliya of the Israeli Premier League, now a real estate broker in Miami, Sam Singer turns 31… Actor best known for her role as Charlotte on the CMT comedy television series “Still the King,” Madison Iseman turns 29…

SUNDAY: British actress who has starred in nearly sixty films, her paternal grandfather shortened his name from Blumenthal, Claire Bloom turns 95… Professor of cognitive science at Indiana University, Pulitzer Prize winner, Douglas Hofstadter turns 81… Former Democratic member of the Texas House of Representatives for 26 years, Elliott Naishtat turns 81… Cartoonist, editor, former teacher at the School of Visual Arts in NYC and long-time contributing artist for The New Yorker, Art Spiegelman (born Itzhak Avraham ben Zeev) turns 78… Television and movie actor, he stars as the IRGC’s head of investigations in the Apple TV Israeli series “Tehran,” Shaun Toub turns 68… SVP of corporate development at Philip Morris International, Marian Salzman turns 67… Professor at Yale Law School and author of two best-selling novels, Jed Rubenfeld turns 67… Host of the radio program “Jewish Moments in the Morning” since 1983, Nachum Segal turns 63… Principal at Catalyzing Philanthropy, a boutique consulting firm, Karen Paul… Developer of the Miami Design District and many other properties in South Beach, Craig Lewis Robins turns 63…Self-employed writer, Elizabeth Ives “Beth” Solomon… Founder and editor-in-chief of popular progressive blog, “Talking Points Memo,” Josh Marshall turns 57… Investor, he founded and then sold the Rockstar energy drink, Russell Goldencloud Weiner turns 56… Founder and director of Areyvut, Daniel Rothner turns 54… Actress, writer, producer, and comedian, she won two Primetime Emmy Awards for playing Susie Myerson in “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” Alexandrea Borstein turns 53… Director of business development at Treetop Companies, Eric Distenfeld… Director of education at the Orthodox Union and host of the 18Forty podcast, David Bashevkin, Ph.D. turns 41… Deputy executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition, Alex Siegel turns… Offensive lineman on three NFL teams, he is now an executive regional sales manager at Sirtex, Ben Gottschalk turns 34… Beauty pageant titleholder who represented Israel at the Miss Universe pageant in 2016, Yam Kaspers Anshel turns 28… Australian racewalker, she competed in the women’s 20 kilometer walk at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics, Jemima Montag turns 28… Actor and voice actor, Zachary Adam Gordon turns 28…

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu departed for Washington earlier today ahead of tomorrow’s White House sit-down with President Donald Trump. Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov is traveling with the prime minister and will be reporting the latest developments over the next few days.
• Vice President JD Vance is traveling to Azerbaijan after meetings in Armenia.
• The House Foreign Affairs Committee is holding a hearing on Syria with testimony from The Washington Institute for Near East Policy’s James Jeffrey and Andrew Tabler; Nadine Maenza, the former chair of United States Commission on International Religious Freedom; and Mara Karlin, the former assistant secretary of defense for strategy, plans, and capabilities, who is now at the Brookings Institution and Johns Hopkins’ SAIS. 
• The House Ways & Means Committee is holding a hearing on foreign influence in American nonprofits, while the House Judiciary Committee is holding one on Sharia law and political Islam.
• The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington is hosting its Virginia Jewish Advocacy Day. Gov. Abigail Spanberger will be the event’s keynote speaker.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S JOSH KRAUSHAAR

Nearly two-thirds of Jewish Americans say they feel less safe than a year ago, according to the American Jewish Committee’s newly released annual survey of Jewish public opinion, reflecting a heightened fear of antisemitism in the aftermath of several high-profile attacks against Jews and Jewish institutions.

As notable: About one-third of American Jews reported being a target of antisemitism — whether it was physical or in a virtual space. Nearly one-fifth said they would consider leaving the country as a result of antisemitism, a number that’s been on the rise over the last several years (up from 6% in 2024). 

Young American Jews between the ages of 18-29 have faced the brunt of rising antisemitism, with 47% saying they were a target of antisemitism over the last year, compared to 28% among those 30 and over.  

At the same time, about two-thirds (65%) of Jews overall said they felt safe attending Jewish institutions, while 60% said they were not worried about being a victim of antisemitism in the next year. 

The polling, conducted by SSRS between September and October 2025, shows that both reported antisemitic incidents and fear of facing antisemitism have plateaued but are still near historic highs, when compared to the AJC’s previous surveys. (SSRS surveyed 1,222 Jewish respondents in one survey between Sept. 26-Oct. 29; it separately surveyed 1,033 U.S. adults between Oct. 3-5.)

Antisemitism continues to be particularly prevalent on college campuses, where 42% of students have reported anti-Jewish hate during their time in school — up from 35% in the AJC’s 2024 survey. The vast majority of Jewish parents (80%) said that the level of antisemitism on a campus plays a role in deciding where their student will attend college.

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

Regional Realignment: In The Wall Street Journal, Walter Russell Mead examines the shifting power dynamics in the Middle East, where a weakened Iran has empowered a grouping of Sunni countries, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, that are increasingly antagonistic toward Israel. “Many in Israel and the U.S. hoped that a deeper focus among the Arab states on economic modernization would lead at last to Israel’s integration into the region. Israel’s economic and technical achievements, as well as the prospect of easier access to American tech and trust, would win over Arab states seeking modernization and development. … These arguments still have weight, but for now they land with less force than Israelis would like. That is partly because some Arabs have found that tech and weapons access can be quietly negotiated with Trump friends and family members no matter what Israel thinks. And it’s partly because many Arabs now believe that regional stability is more threatened by Israeli resistance to the idea of a Palestinian state, even as a distant future prospect, than by the feeble moves of the moribund regime in Tehran.” [WSJ]

Target on His Back: The Times columnist Daniel Finkelstein, whose mother survived the Holocaust, reflects on his experience as the target of antisemitic vitriol from followers of conspiracy theorist Nick Fuentes. “The problem was not really about how the story would be told, but how it would be received. To a rising generation, what happened to my parents had become distant history, like the Battle of Waterloo or the American Civil War. A subject to be read about in a textbook or revised for an exam. … In so far as [Fuentes] had an argument, it was that the Holocaust was completely irrelevant to him and his generation. There was nothing to be learnt from it. He wasn’t going to be put off blaming the Jews for all societies’ ills by the fact that at some point in history a similar argument had led Hitler to kill some British bloke’s grandmother. Almost instantly I was flooded — on social media, on my email — with taunting messages. There were thousands of them. It went on for weeks. And I am still getting them.” [TheTimes]

The U.S. Maritime Administration issued a public notice warning U.S.-flagged ships to stay “as far as possible” from Iranian waters and for captains to decline permission to Iranian forces seeking to board the vessels…

The Network Contagion Research Institute accused the Democratic Socialists of America, in a report released in late January, of activities that may run afoul of the Foreign Agents Registration Act — alleging that the far-left group may be acting as an unregistered agent of various U.S. adversaries, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…

Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), who is retiring at the end of this year, endorsed New York state Assemblymember Micah Lasher, who previously worked for Nadler as an aide, as his successor in the state’s 12th Congressional District…

Campaign finance documents filed this week revealed that former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg donated $2.5 million to Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro‘s reelection campaign in October…

Puck reports on concerns among Democratic operatives in Michigan that negative ads from Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow targeting each other could inadvertently boost far-left candidate Abdul El-Sayed to victory in this year’s Senate primary…

New Jersey legislator Rosy Bagolie, a Democrat, is mulling a run for the House seat previously represented by Gov. Mikie Sherrill, providing moderate Democrats a potential alternative to Analilia Mejia, who won the Democratic special election primary to serve the rest of Sherrill’s current term and is planning to run for the full term later this year…

The Met Council’s David Greenfield, Rabbi Moishe Indig, Rabbi Rachel Timoner, Jews For Racial & Economic Justice’s Audrey Sasson, United Jewish Organizations’ David Niederman, JCRC-NY’s Mark Treyger, Agudath Israel’s Yeruchim Silber, Teach Coalition’s Sydney Altfield, Flatbush Jewish Community Coalition’s Josh Mehlman, Marks JCH of Bensonhurst’s Alex Budnitsky were named to City & State New York’s Brooklyn Power 100 list…

The immigration case against Rümeysa Öztürk, a Turkish graduate student at Tufts University, was dropped nearly a year after she was first arrested by immigration officials after co-authoring an op-ed critical of Israel in the Tufts student newspaper…

The Oklahoma State Charter School Board rejected a proposal for a Florida-based Jewish charter school that sought to open a virtual school in Oklahoma, a year after the Supreme Court blocked a similar effort by a Catholic school… 

The Gevura Fund and the National Jewish Advocacy Center filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Medford, Mass., over its recently adopted “Values-Aligned Local Investments Ordinance” that backs divestment from companies that operate in Israel…

Mark Zuckerberg purchased a home in the exclusive Indian Creek village in South Florida’s Miami-Dade County…

Len Blavatnik’s Access is set to accept an offer from i24 News owner Patrick Drahi to purchase Israeli television channel Reshet 13 in a deal estimated to cost $40-50 million…

Former Washington Post book critic Becca Rothfeld is joining The New Yorker days after Post management shuttered the paper’s books department and laid off hundreds of staffers across the publication…

Longtime National Council of Jewish Women staffer Jody Rabhan was named the organization’s new CEO, succeeding Sheila Katz, who stepped down in October, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Nira Dayanim reports…

Former Israeli hostage and pianist Alon Ohel played alongside Idan Amedi and a number of other high-profile Israeli musicians at a one-night concert in Tel Aviv on Monday evening, titled “Alon Ohel, Playing for Life.”

Outgoing CEO of the Walt Disney Company, Robert Allen “Bob” Iger turns 75…

English businessman, who is the founder and owner of the River Island fashion brand and clothing chain, Bernard Lewis turns 100… CEO of privately held Metromedia Company and a board member of cruise line operator Carnival Corporation since 1987, Stuart Subotnick turns 84… Rabbi in Vienna in the 1980s, in Munich in the 1990s and in Berlin since 1997, Yitshak Ehrenberg turns 76… Swimmer, who won seven gold medals at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Mark Spitz turns 76… Miami-based philanthropist with interests in aviation, real estate development, agriculture, silviculture and fixed income, Jayne Harris Abess… Host of CNBC’s “Mad Money,” James J. “Jim” Cramer turns 71… CEO emerita of D.C.-based Jewish Women International, Loribeth Weinstein… Ethiopian-born, former member of Knesset for the Likud party, he is an activist for the Falash Mura community, Avraham Neguise turns 68… Syndicated newspaper columnist for the Boston Globe, Jeff Jacoby turns 67… U.S. senator (D-DE), Lisa Blunt Rochester turns 64… Former NASA astronaut, famous for his mezuzah in the International Space Station, he is a professor of astronautical engineering at the University of Southern California, Garrett Reisman turns 58… Member of the Maryland House of Delegates since 2003, Anne R. Kaiser turns 58… Senior director of philanthropic engagement for the central division of the Anti-Defamation League, Matthew Feldman… Executive director of Ohio Jewish Communities (the community relations voice of Ohio’s eight Jewish federations), Howie Beigelman… Israeli pop star (having sold over 1 million albums) and part of the duo “TYP” also known as The Young Professionals, Ivri Lider turns 52… Co-founder and principal at the bipartisan public policy firm Klein/Johnson Group, Israel “Izzy” Klein… Israeli rock musician, David “Dudu” Tassa turns 49… CEO at Citizen Data, she was a candidate for VPOTUS as the running mate of Evan McMullin in 2016, Mindy Finn turns 45… COO of Richmond-based Untangled Media Group, Michelle Levi Noe… Partner in the Washington office of Venable where he leads the firm’s autonomous and connected mobility group, Ariel S. Wolf… Revenue operations manager at Sygnia, Avital Mannis Eyal… Retired NFL quarterback, he was the 10th overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, now an MBA candidate at Wharton, Josh Rosen turns 29… Israeli singer, songwriter and dancer, Jonathan Ya’akov Mergui turns 26…

• In New York, former Israeli hostage Emily Damari will sit in conversation this evening with Noa Tishby at Temple Emanu-El.
• The Jewish Institute for National Security of America’s U.S.-Israel national security summit begins today in Aventura, Fla.
• On the heels of last night’s election, New York Democrats are heading to Puerto Rico today for the 2025 Somos Conference. Will you be there? JI’s Matthew Kassel will be covering the conference — say hello if you see him.
• The two-day SALT conference kicks off today in London. Former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair and former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci are among the speakers at the fintech-focused summit.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S Josh Kraushaar

Democrats scored sweeping victories across the country yesterday, with moderate lawmakers comfortably winning governorships in New Jersey and Virginia, while a democratic socialist prevailed in the closely watched New York City mayoral contest. California overwhelmingly voted to redistrict its congressional maps, a response to efforts in some red states to reconfigure congressional maps to give the GOP an edge. 

The results underscore the widespread backlash to President Donald Trump’s polarizing governance in the first year of his second term in office, and indicate the likelihood that Democrats have momentum heading into next year’s midterm elections, where the party is looking to retake control of at least one branch of Congress.

In Virginia, former Rep. Abigail Spanberger, the Democratic nominee, easily defeated Republican Winsome Earle-Sears, the sitting lieutenant governor, by a double-digit margin (57-43%), bringing in a sizable Democratic majority in the state’s House of Delegates. Her victory was so sweeping that the Democrats’ scandal-plagued attorney general nominee Jay Jones, who was under fire for texts he sent several years ago wishing political violence against GOP colleagues, narrowly prevailed over the Attorney General Jason Miyares, a Republican.

In New Jersey, Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) comfortably prevailed over Republican Jack Ciattarelli, outperforming polls suggesting a close race. With most of the vote reporting, Sherrill leads by a whopping 13-point margin, 56-43%. In Bergen County, a bellwether county with a significant Jewish population, Sherrill won over 55% of the vote, a dominant performance illustrating the breadth of her support.

In New York City, DSA-aligned Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani prevailed over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who was running as an independent, though by a narrower margin than polling suggested. Mamdani leads Cuomo by eight points, 50-42%, with Republican Curtis Sliwa only winning 7% of the vote. The outcome suggested that many GOP voters ended up switching their support to Cuomo, who won a last-minute endorsement from Trump.

The Jewish vote in New York City went heavily for Cuomo, 60-31%, according to the exit polling, but Mamdani won nearly one-third support despite a long record of anti-Israel hostility and refusal to condemn “globalize the intifada” rhetoric, among other positions that alienated the mainstream Jewish community.

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

Mamdani and the Machers: The New York Times’ Nicholas Fandos reports on New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s meetings with high-profile figures, including New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and former Mayor Michael Bloomberg as he looked to shore up support in the weeks prior to his election. “The [NYPD chief] appointment would be one of the most significant he would make, and Mr. Mamdani needed to know he would have a partner to implement a series of progressive reforms he had pitched for the Police Department. Ultimately, both Ms. Hochul and Mr. Mamdani came around. … Mr. Bloomberg had privately told associates over the summer he was done with Mr. Cuomo after spending more than $8 million to back him in the primary. Mr. Mamdani left the meeting thinking he had done enough to keep it that way. He was wrong. Angry over Mr. Mamdani’s comments on Israel and worried about his inexperience, Mr. Bloomberg ultimately sent $5 million to two super PACs attacking Mr. Mamdani and re-upped his endorsement of Mr. Cuomo — but did so only six days before Election Day.” [NYTimes]

No to the Groypers: In The Wall Street Journal, Ben Shapiro argues that the conservative movement in the U.S. is “at a crossroads” amid an ideological split within the Republican Party over its embrace of Tucker Carlson and platforming of Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes. “The Republican Party, like the Democratic Party before it, is at risk of being eaten alive by fringe actors. To allow it is both morally unjustifiable and politically obtuse. Americans reject this garbage. If Republicans cower before Nazi apologists and their popularizers, the GOP will lose — and deserve to. Our answer must be no. No to the groypers and their publicists like Mr. Carlson. No to demoralization. No to bigotry and antimeritocratic nonsense. No to anti-Americanism. This is our country, our party and our conservative movement. We can’t stand by while it is fractured by those who betray our most fundamental principles. If we lose the right, then we will surely lose to the left — and either way, we will lose our country.” [WSJ]

If Rabin Were Alive…: In The Atlantic, Dennis Ross, who worked closely with former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin while serving as the White House’s chief Middle East negotiator during the mid-1990s, considers how Rabin might have approached some of the country’s current challenges. “Hamas’s October 7 terrorist attack and Israel’s devastating campaign in Gaza have produced a mutual animosity that won’t soon disappear. But a more promising factor has also emerged: Arab states finally seem ready to assume some responsibility for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. … If Rabin were alive, he would spot this strategic opening and try to seize it. He would see in Trump’s 20-point peace plan an opportunity to rebuild a better Gaza and create a coalition with Arab states to oppose Iran and extremist forces in the region. Rabin would understand that Israel has to make some concessions to Palestinians in order to enhance the prospects of a regional coalition. But he would also require Palestinians to do their part by ensuring security and reforming the Palestinian Authority.” [TheAtlantic]

ABCs of Gaza Aid: In The Washington Post, Stony Brook University professor Todd Pittinsky calls for conditioning reconstruction aid to Gaza on education reforms in the enclave. “Every generation in Gaza grows up memorizing the language of martyrdom. Schools, summer camps, mosques and media channels work in concert to instill an uncompromising worldview: violence is virtuous, compromise is weakness and the annihilation of Israel is a sacred duty. Hamas’s rockets are the visible expression of decades of indoctrination of the next generation. Gaza’s children are the victims of this violent ideology. Few parents in London, Paris or Washington would tolerate their child being taught that violence is noble or that neighbors are subhuman. Yet the international community has subsidized precisely that curriculum for Palestinian children — and then has acted shocked when violence perpetuates itself. It’s time for that to end.” [WashPost]

President Donald Trump renominated Jared Isaacman to be NASA director, six months after pulling the Elon Musk ally’s initial nomination amid a spat with Musk…

The White House is seeking a full repeal of existing sanctions on Syria ahead of President Ahmad Al-Sharaa’s meeting with Trump in Washington on Monday…

The Pentagon is advancing its consideration of a request from Saudi Arabia to purchase up to four dozen F-35 fighter jets; at a Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs conference in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, Israeli Security Cabinet member Avi Dichter said Israel is having discussions in Washington in which it is “shedding light on the threats” of the potential sale…

Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) is mulling a challenge to Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA); if she enters the race, Pressley will also face Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA), who announced his bid for the seat last month…

The Justice Department ended its antitrust investigation into Assaf Rappaport’s Wiz, clearing a key hurdle in Google’s effort to purchase the cybersecurity company for $32 billion…

Millennium Management CEO Israel “Izzy” Englander sold roughly 15% — valued at $2 billion — of his stake in the company the 77-year-old founded in 1989…

The Telegraph reports on a leaked BBC memo regarding the findings of an internal investigation by Michael Prescott, who until June was an independent external advisor for the network; Prescott’s 19-page report found “systemic problems” in BBC Arabic’s coverage of the Israel-Hamas war, which he said “pushed Hamas lies” and “minimised Israeli suffering”…

The New York Times interviews Israeli-Russian researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov about the torture and solitary confinement she endured over the two and a half years she was a hostage of the Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah group in Iraq…

The U.N. Security Council voted to approve a resolution backing Morocco’s claim to the Western Sahara; the U.S., which led the measure, and 10 other countries voted in favor, while Russia, China and Pakistan abstained and Algeria voted no…

Israel received the remains of Staff Sgt. Itay Chen, the last remaining American hostage, who was killed on Oct. 7, 2023, while stationed along the Gaza border…

The Knesset is moving forward with legislation that would increase government oversight of the country’s media outlets…

Iran freed two French nationals who had been imprisoned in the country for more than three years; the couple had faced decades in prison after being convicted of espionage…

International Atomic Energy Agency head Rafael Grossi said that Iran must “seriously improve” its cooperation with nuclear inspectors, who have not been permitted to access the Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan facilities that were damaged during the 12-day war between Israel and Iran in June…

Stanley Chesley, a class-action lawyer and philanthropist who prioritized Jewish causes and projects in his hometown of Cincinnati, died at 89, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Jay Deitcher reports…

Julie Fishman Rayman (right), the American Jewish Committee’s senior vice president of policy and political affairs, interviewed the Department of Justice’s Harmeet Dhillon, who oversees the Civil Rights Division, on Tuesday at AJC’s National Leadership Council Advocacy Fly-In in Washington.

Israeli singer and survivor of the Nova Music Festival, she won second place in the Eurovision Song Contest 2025, Yuval Raphael turns 25…

Singer, poet and actor, best known as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, Art Garfunkel turns 84… Co-founder and chairman of Rexford Industrial Realty, Richard Ziman turns 83… Television and film critic, Jeffrey Lyons turns 81… French public intellectual, media personality and author, Bernard-Henri Lévy turns 77… Economist and former director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University where he remains a University Professor, Jeffrey Sachs turns 71… Israeli ceramic artist and sculptor, Daniela Yaniv-Richter turns 69… Psychologist and wife of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Sara Netanyahu turns 67… Director at The Gottesman Fund, Diane Bennett Eidman… Music producer and entertainment attorney, Kevon Glickman… Former prime minister of Israel, now leader of the opposition, Yair Lapid turns 62… Former regional director of AJC New York, now CEO at Healthcare Foundation of NJ, Michael Schmidt… Research division director for JewishGen USA, Ellen Shindelman Kowitt turns 58… Senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution, Benjamin Wittes turns 56… Host, anchor and correspondent for CBS News and CBS Sports, Dana Jacobson turns 54… General counsel of The Jewish Theological Seminary, Keath Blatt… Jerusalem-born pianist, she has performed with major orchestras worldwide, Orli Shaham turns 50… Director at the Domestic Policy Council in the first six months of the Trump 47 administration, now director  of federal education policy at America First Policy Institute, Max Eden turns 37… CEO and organizer of Los Angeles-based Aesthetics and Edits, Tara Khoshbin… Legal correspondent at Business Insider, Jacob Shamsian… Legislative assistant for Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA), Talia Katz…

• Warner Bros. Discovery chief David Zaslav, CNN’s Dana Bash, Oct. 7 survivor Aya Meydan and former Israeli hostage Omer Shem Tov are being honored tonight at the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s annual tribute dinner in Los Angeles. Steven Spielberg will present Zaslav with this year’s Humanitarian Award, SWC’s highest honor.
• In Washington, Sony Pictures, the Motion Picture Association and the German Embassy are hosting a special screening of “Nuremberg.”
• Tikvah Ideas is hosting a conversation this afternoon between historian Jack Wertheimer and North American Values Institute founder David Bernstein about the challenges Jewish institutions face in combating antisemitism.
• The Future Investment Initiative wraps up today in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
• In Israel, we’re keeping an eye on the fallout from the announcement by the World Zionist Congress’ Likud delegation that it planned to appoint Yair Netanyahu, the son of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to a top World Zionist Organization post. The announcement collapsed the coalition agreement that had been reached earlier in the day, prompting the WZC to vote to reconvene in two weeks. Read more from eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross here.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S JOSH KRAUSHAAR

A new Quinnipiac poll of the New York City mayoral race with less than a week until Election Day shows Zohran Mamdani on track to win, but with a narrow plurality that underscores the breadth and resilience of the political opposition against him. In short, he’s set to prevail thanks to a divided opposition and backing from an enthusiastic left-wing faction of the electorate — not because he’s winning over hearts and minds in Gotham.

If the polling is accurate, Mamdani would be the first New York City mayor to win without a majority of the vote since John Lindsay in 1969. Mamdani leads former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo 43-33% in the Quinnipiac poll, with Republican Curtis Sliwa tallying 14%. Mamdani, in a sign of his political ceiling, has lost several points of support since the pollster’s survey earlier this month. 

Among Sliwa voters, 55% said that Cuomo was their second choice, while only 7% said the same of Mamdani. If New York City utilized a ranked-choice voting system as it did in the primary, this race would be neck-and-neck.

The Quinnipiac poll finds Mamdani building an unconventional coalition of secular progressives and Muslims in New York City politics, running up the score with voters of no religion (71% support) or of a religion other than Christianity and Judaism (50%). Mamdani struggles badly with Jewish voters, winning just 16% support, while only receiving 28% of the vote among Catholics and 36% among Protestants. 

Mamdani is winning support from just 59% of Democrats, with 31% backing Cuomo — an unusually weak showing for a Democratic nominee. But Republicans are evenly divided between Cuomo and Sliwa, preventing the former governor from capitalizing on Mamdani’s deep unpopularity with GOP voters. Mamdani is tied with Cuomo among independents at 34% apiece. 

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

Adams on Mamdani: In an interview with Molly Ball for Time, New York City Mayor Eric Adams raises concerns about New York City mayoral front-runner Zohran Mamdani. “Adams considers Mamdani’s promises unrealistic; he predicts buyer’s remorse when the frontrunner’s supporters realize he can’t actually freeze most people’s rent, make buses free, or bring down the cost of living. Adams is also concerned about the threat of Islamic extremism, with which he thinks Mamdani is too comfortable, and perplexed by polls that show Mamdani getting a large proportion of the Jewish vote. … In 2023, Adams hosted Mamdani and his father, a scholar of post-colonialism at Columbia University, for dinner. ‘The frightening thing is, he really believes this stuff!’ Adams tells me as he mixes the veggies. ‘Globalize the intifada, there’s nothing wrong with that! He believes, you know, I don’t have anything against Jews, I just don’t like Israel. Well, who’s in Israel, bro?’ At the dinner’s end, Adams says he told the Mamdanis, ‘Listen, I just don’t believe what you do.’” [Time]

Poisoned (Big) Apple: In The Wall Street Journal, Bernard-Henri Lévy warns of what a Mamdani victory in the mayoral election could portend for New York City and beyond. “It would be a black day for the Jews of New York. An insult to the memory of Saul Bellow, Elie Wiesel and Leonard Bernstein. A spit in the face of Emma Lazarus, the poet whose words of welcome to the humiliated, afflicted, nameless and stateless who arrived at Ellis Island are engraved on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. It would be a beginning of rupture of the age-old pact between the world’s most cosmopolitan city and the people of the Book. It would be an earthquake in the history of Judaism: At the hour when the threat of annihilation was everywhere, New York was the last place on the planet where Judaism and Jews could not only be saved, but reinvented. Beyond the Jews, it would be the entire Democratic Party turning its back on the legacy of Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy and Bill Clinton to rally to a faction that, under the cover of ‘intersectionality,’ confuses the green flag of Hamas with that of the workers.” [WSJ]

The Power of Prayer: In the Jewish Journal, Tevi Troy reflects on the prayers — by his estimate, in the billions — said over the course of the hostages’ captivity in Gaza. “Many of the hostages themselves prayed as well. Some of them were religious when they were taken hostage. Some became religious because of the experience. The sustaining of hope through prayer is often derided in Western liberal societies. But the hostages themselves have attested to the power of prayer in giving them not only hope, but agency. And that gave them a grasp on life itself. … Even as we prayed for the hostages, most people had little expectation that they would survive the horrors that Hamas had in store for them. I myself wondered whether these prayers would have any effectiveness, even as I dutifully said them, day in and day out, for two years. And while we mourn the 83 who did not make it, we must also celebrate the miracle that 168 of them have survived, an outcome no one would have imagined possible two years ago.” [JewishJournal]

Windows of the Soul: The Forward’s Benyamin Cohen spotlights the efforts of retired Illinois judge Jerry Orbach to salvage stained glass windows from shuttering synagogues. “‘I’ve heard many congregations describe their windows as the soul of their congregation,’ [Case Western Reserve University professor Alanna] Cooper said. She found in Orbach what her fieldwork had only theorized. ‘He’s creating an afterlife for these windows,’ she said at a dedication ceremony at Northbrook, where they both spoke [and where many of the windows are kept]. Standing before the crowd that day, Cooper described the scene she’d witnessed when windows were removed from Ahavath Israel in Kingston, New York, which Orbach also rescued and relocated to Northbrook. Cooper recalled workmen carrying the panels to their crates as the last members of the congregation looked on. ‘As they lowered the windows into the boxes,’ she said, ‘it felt like a burial.’ Now she gestured toward the sanctuary, the glass alive with color once more. ‘And this,’ she said, ‘is the afterlife.’” [TheForward]

The FBI is pushing back on an effort by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to make DNI Tulsi Gabbard’s office the federal government’s primary counterintelligence agency, underscoring tensions between the two agencies days after they clashed over National Counterterrorism Center head Joe Kent’s attempted investigation into the killing of Charlie Kirk…

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg gave $1.5 million to the Fix the City super PAC backing former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, days before the city’s mayoral election…

CBS News conducted a fresh round of layoffs that included Johannesburg, South Africa-based foreign correspondent Deb Patta, whom Puck described as “one of the most prominent voices on Gaza”…

A federal judge sentenced the two men convicted of attempting to kill Iranian dissident and writer Masih Alinejad on behalf of Iran to 25 years in prison…

An inquest into the attack on a synagogue in Manchester, U.K., on Yom Kippur found that one of the attack’s two victims was mistakenly killed by a single police bullet as he attempted to hold the synagogue’s door closed, while another congregant died of multiple stab wounds after being attacked by Jihad Al-Shamie…

DAZN is teaming up with FIFA to relaunch FIFA+, a global soccer streaming service; DAZN founder and chair Len Blavatnik and FIFA President Gianni Infantino inked the deal in Riyadh on Wednesday, joined by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman…

The IDF said it conducted an overnight raid in the southern Lebanon village of Blida targeting Hezbollah infrastructure…

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is mulling the possibility of moving the country’s capital to the southern coastal city of Makran, citing the degree to which Tehran, with a population of 10 million, has become “expanded and overloaded”…

International Atomic Energy Agency head Rafael Grossi said that inspectors have noticed movement around Iranian sites where enriched nuclear material is stored, but that the Islamic Republic does not appear to be actively enriching uranium…

Grossi’s comments come amid reports that Iran is working to rebuild its ballistic missile program following the 12-day war with Israel in June; European intelligence sources said that Iran has received thousands of tons of sodium perchlorate from China in the last month following the reimposition of snapback sanctions on Iran…

The New York Times looks at the mass displacement of hundreds of thousands of Syrians and sectarian violence around the country since the ouster of Bashar al-Assad last year…

Longtime NYPD Chief Chaplain Rabbi Alvin Kass, the oldest and longest-serving member of the department, died at 89…

The cast of Israeli satire show “Eretz Nehederet” performed David Broza’s song “Under the Sky,” accompanied by former hostage Alon Ohel on piano.

Winner of two Pulitzer Prizes for his biographies of Robert Moses and Lyndon B. Johnson, Robert Caro turns 90…

Former president of the University of Minnesota and chancellor of the University of Texas System and current president of the University of California, Mark Yudof turns 81… Actor, best known for his portrayal of Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli in the “Happy Days” sitcom, Henry Winkler turns 80… NBC anchor, reporter and commentator, she is married to former Fed Chair Alan Greenspan, Andrea Mitchell turns 79… South African-born rabbi, now leading Kehillat Bnei Aharon in Raanana, Israel, David Lapin turns 76… Professor of physics at Syracuse University, Peter Reed Saulson turns 71… Former basketball player for five seasons with the NBA’s Phoenix Suns, now a managing director at CBIZ, Joel Bruce Kramer turns 70… Israeli violinist, violist and conductor, Shlomo Mintz turns 68… President of New York University since July 2023, she is the first Jewish individual and first woman to serve in that role, Linda Gayle Mills turns 68… Meatpacking executive, sentenced to 27 years in prison in 2009 for fraud, his sentence was commuted by President Donald Trump in 2017 after serving eight years, Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin turns 66… Former CEO and later executive chairman of Qualcomm, now CEO of Globalstar, he is a co-owner of the NBA’s Sacramento Kings, Paul E. Jacobs turns 63… Partner in the D.C. office of Cadwalader, he previously served as the attorney general of Maryland, Douglas F. “Doug” Gansler turns 63… Partner and co-founder of the Irvine, Calif., law firm of Wolfe & Wyman, Stuart B. Wolfe… Global head of public policy at Apollo Global Management, David Krone… White House correspondent for The New York Times and a political analyst for CNN, Maggie Haberman turns 52… Principal in the D.C. office of Korn Ferry, Jeremy Seth Gold… Assistant secretary for investment security at the U.S. Treasury during the Biden administration, now a partner at Latham & Watkins, Paul M. Rosen turns 47… Public information officer of the City and County of Denver, Joshua Eric Rosenblum… Businesswoman, fashion designer, author and former White House advisor, Ivanka “Yael” Trump turns 44… Magician, author and lecturer, Joshua Jay turns 44… Founding director at Tech Tribe and director of social media for Chabad, Mordechai Lightstone… Bioinformatics scientist at Specifica, she earned a Ph.D in Genetics from Stanford and was on the 2010 U.S. Olympic Biathlon team, Laura Spector turns 38… Senior congressional reporter for Punchbowl News, Ally Mutnick… VP of public affairs at the American Petroleum Institute, Rebecca Schieber Brown… Senior spokesperson for the Democratic National Committee, Mia Ehrenberg…

• President Donald Trump will be interviewed on “Fox & Friends” today at 8 a.m. ET.
• This evening, the president and special envoy Steve Witkoff are slated to meet with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, who arrived in the U.S. days after an Israeli strike in Doha killed several senior Hamas officials. Al-Thani is scheduled to meet this morning with Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington.
• The U.N. General Assembly is set to vote today on a resolution calling for a two-state solution, the release of the remaining hostages and an end to Hamas’ rule in Gaza.
• In Sacramento, Calif., we’re keeping an eye on amended legislation targeting antisemitism in K-12 schools that passed out of committee earlier this week. The bill, AB 715, still needs to pass through both chambers today, the last day of session, before heading to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk. The bill’s passage had been stalled amid pushback from the California Teachers Association and anti-Israel groups. Read more from JI’s Gabby Deutch on the legislation.
• On Sunday, the Capital Jewish Museum is holding its annual gala in Washington. This year’s event will honor Carlyle Group Chairman David Rubenstein and Esther Safran Foer.
• In Israel on Sunday, Pershing Square’s Bill Ackman and his wife, technologist Neri Oxman, will each receive honorary degrees from the University of Haifa at a gala dinner. Earlier in the day, Oxman and Ackman will deliver “master classes” on “material ecology and computational design” and leadership, respectively.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S JOSH KRAUSHAAR

We’re well into September, and the state of play in the New York City mayoral race hasn’t changed much in the last couple months, despite the many eye-catching developments. But a new New York Times/Siena poll released this week showcases an in-depth picture of the city’s electorate — one that is clearly wary of Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani’s brand of socialism, even as he remains the clear favorite to become the next mayor.

As has always been the case, the divided field of Mamdani opponents is the far-left candidate’s biggest asset. Mamdani leads former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo by 15 points among registered voters, 41-26%, with all the candidates on the ballot. But in a head-to-head matchup, Cuomo pulls narrowly ahead, 46-45%.

The results continue to underscore how the splintered field is the biggest reason Mamdani is favored. Hardly any of the supporters of Mayor Eric Adams, running as an independent, or Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa would support Mamdani over Cuomo if their candidate dropped out. Indeed, among those not supporting Mamdani, over half (52%) said they would never support him for mayor — higher than any other candidate.

Working in Mamdani’s favor is the relatively respectable favorability rating he holds with New York City voters, especially in comparison to his rivals. Nearly half (49%) of respondents viewed Mamdani favorably, with only 35% viewing him unfavorably. That means that despite holding a record far to the left of past New York City mayors, many voters aren’t (yet) holding that against him. But there’s been no significant outside advertising effort against Mamdani, as you would typically expect in the run-up to a high-stakes contest.

Without any effort to remind voters about his far-left record, it’s no surprise that the fresh-faced political newcomer has a respectable image. 

Cuomo, on the other hand, has an underwater favorability rating, with 42% viewing him favorably and 51% viewing him unfavorably — largely a result of the ethical scandal he faced that forced him to resign as governor. 

But on the issues, it’s easy to see how Cuomo remains competitive in a one-on-one matchup. Crime is the top issue for New York City voters, with 26% naming it as the most important problem facing voters, slightly ahead of affordability at 24%. One of Mamdani’s biggest vulnerabilities is his long record of public comments supporting defunding the police and others critical of the NYPD.

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

Violent Streak: The New York Times’ David French reflects on the assassination this week of commentator Charlie Kirk. “When I speak on college campuses, I’m often asked what single thing worries me most about American politics and culture. I have an easy answer — it’s hatred. Even vast political differences can be managed when people acknowledge the humanity and dignity of their opponents. At the same time, however, small conflicts can spiral into big ones when hatred and vengeance take away our eyes and ears. Every threat, every assault, every shooting, every murder — and certainly every political assassination — builds the momentum of hate and fear. … Assassination can cost us our country. We lose it when we stop seeing our opponents as human, when we crave vengeance more than peace, when the motivation for our political engagement stops being the common good of our constitutional Republic (or even just the security of our families), but is rather inflicting pain and anguish on our political enemies.” [NYTimes]

9/11 Reconsidered: The Free Press’ Niall Ferguson considers the evolution of his views about the Sept. 11 attacks, which he now sees as a clash of civilizations rather than a confluence of historical trend lines. “Over the past 24 years, I have valiantly tried to see 9/11 differently—not as a civilizational clash between Islam and ‘the West’ but as something that fit better into my own secular frame of reference. Raised an atheist, trained as an economic historian, I felt obliged to look behind what I took to be the facade of religious zealotry. … In short, comparing the world today with that of 24 years ago, I am tempted to say that bin Laden lost the war on terror but is winning the clash of civilizations. That’s not to say his particular brand of Salafist jihadism is winning; it can even be argued that it’s in decline. Bin Laden’s creed was always too uncompromising to form alliances of convenience. By contrast, the pro-Palestinian ‘global intifada’ is much more omnivorous, and can easily absorb the old left (Marxism and pan-Arabism) and the new (anti-globalism and wokeism).” [FreePress]

Blowing Up Assumptions: In The Wall Street Journal, Reuel Marc Gerecht and Ray Takeyh posit that the outcome of the 12-day war between Israel and Iran and U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities is markedly different than previous presidential administrations had warned. “This isn’t how many American officials expected the Islamic Republic to behave after being bombed. When selling his Iran nuclear deal, President Barack Obama dismissed those who thought that ‘surgical strikes against Iran’s facilities will be quick and painless.’ His deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes was more damning. ‘The default view in Washington is that if there’s a challenge in the Middle East, the U.S. has to solve it,’ he said. ‘Our basic point has been, no, sorry, we learned the opposite lesson from Iraq. It’s not that more U.S. military engagement will stabilize the Middle East. It’s that we can’t do this.’ … However much Americans incorrectly forecast the war’s results, the shock in Iran—the failure of strategic imagination—was far worse.” [WSJ]

The U.S. joined the rest of the U.N. Security Council in signing onto a statement condemning Israel for its attack on Hamas officials in Qatar earlier this week…

President Donald Trump said he will posthumously award Charlie Kirk with the Presidential Medal of Freedom…

The Pentagon announced its approval of a $14.2 million aid package to Lebanon to assist Beirut in disarming Hezbollah…

Rep. Becca Balint (D-VT) accused House Republicans of having an “antisemitism problem” after Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) said in a social media post directed at Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA), who had just given a speech arguing that plastic surgery is “gender affirming care,” that she has “a good surgeon if you ever want to get your nose done”…

The House Foreign Affairs Committee released a series of bills aimed at reorganizing and reforming the State Department, ahead of a committee meeting next week where the lawmakers are expected to debate a host of amendments related to foreign policy and national security issues across the globe, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports… 

New York City Mayor Eric Adams signaled in a meeting with business leaders this week that he is open to dropping his reelection bid if he does not see a credible pathway to victory over front-runner Zohran Mamdani…

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg met with Mamdani on Thursday; Bloomberg had spent upward of $8 million opposing Mamdani’s primary bid earlier this year…

Mamdani said he would apologize for social media comments he made in 2020 calling the NYPD “racist, anti-queer & a major threat to public safety”…

Josh Kraft dropped his Boston mayoral bid after a preliminary election showed him trailing incumbent Mayor Michelle Wu by 49 points…

Nadine Menendez, who earlier this year was convicted for her role in a corruption scheme involving her husband, former Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), was sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison…

The University of California, Berkeley submitted to the Trump administration more than 150 names of students and faculty with “potential connection[s]” to antisemitic activity…

A Queens College Zoom lecture featuring an Israeli academic was disrupted by some attendees shouting antisemitic threats and displaying violent and sexually explicit images…

Amazon suspended a Seattle-based engineer who criticized the company’s business ties to Israel…

Paramount Skydance is reportedly moving toward making a majority cash bid for Warner Bros. Discovery that would merge the parent companies of HBO Max and Paramount+…

Jon Kelly’s Puck news company is finalizing an agreement to acquire Graydon Carter’s Air Mail…

An Iranian man living under a new identity in Central Florida is facing a $225 million lawsuit from three former political prisoners who allege the 89-year-old served as the head of the secret police during the reign of the shah of Iran before he was deposed in 1978…

Jewish Voice for Peace is suing the City of Miami Beach as well as its mayor and a city commissioner, alleging that the group’s First Amendment rights were violated by the passage of an ordinance on public protests…

The Mount Kisco [N.Y.] Recreation Commission reversed its denial of a permit to Chabad of Bedford to use a town park for the annual tashlich ceremony; the town originally cited a ban on the use of parks for religious purposes…

Relatives of Raphael Lemkin, a writer and lawyer who coined the term “genocide,” are pushing the Pennsylvania-based Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention, which accused Israel of genocide 10 days after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, to stop using his name, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Nira Dayanim reports…

Ireland’s public broadcaster said the country will opt out of the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest if Israel is permitted to participate…

Dutch Foreign Minister David van Weel told the country’s parliament that the government plans to implement a boycott of products from Jewish settlements in the West Bank…

Former English soccer player and BBC “Match of the Day” presenter Gary Lineker won the U.K. National Television Awards’ prize for best TV presenter, months after he left the broadcaster amid widespread criticism over his sharing of a social media post that compared Zionists to rats…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed off on a plan to move forward on a proposed E1 settlement expansion plan that would cut through the West Bank…

Two people were injured in a stabbing attack at a kibbutz hotel outside of Jerusalem…

Russian-Israeli researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov was reunited with family in Israel, days after being freed by an Iran-backed Iraqi militia that kidnapped her in Baghdad more than two years ago…

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that Tehran and Paris were nearing a prisoner exchange that would release detained French nationals in exchange for an Iranian woman who was arrested in France earlier this year on charges of promoting terrorism online…

Senior officials in Jordan warned that Iran is increasingly posing a security threat in the Hashemite Kingdom…

David Halbfinger, who served as New York Times bureau chief in Jerusalem from 2017-2021, is returning to the role following the departure of Patrick Kingsley; longtime NYT correspondent Isabel Kershner was promoted to senior correspondent for the bureau…

Israeli President Isaac Herzog (left) met on Thursday with U.K. Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis in London during Herzog’s trip to the country, where he met with Jewish leaders as well as Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

President emeritus of the Democratic Majority for Israel, Mark S. Mellman turns 70… 

FRIDAY: 2020 Nobel Prize laureate in medicine, Harvey James Alter turns 90… Chairman at Waxman Strategies, he served for 20 terms through 2015 as a Democratic congressman from Los Angeles, Henry Waxman turns 86… 2017 Nobel Prize laureate in economics, University of Chicago behavioral economist, Richard H. Thaler turns 80… Director of Intergovernmental Affairs in the Obama White House, he was previously lieutenant governor of Kentucky and mayor of Louisville for 20 years, Jerry Abramson turns 79… Former president of AIPAC, Amy Rothschild Friedkin… Denver Jewish community leader, Sunny Brownstein… U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom during the Trump 45 administration, he was governor of Kansas and a U.S. senator, Sam Brownback turns 69… Miami-based chairman of American Principles Super PAC, Eytan Laor… Former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, he is now the global chair of the litigation department at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, Geoffrey Steven Berman turns 66… SVP of government and public affairs at CVS Health, Melissa Schulman… Internet entrepreneur and a pioneer of VoIP telephony, Jeff Pulver turns 63… Chair of ADL’s Board of Directors, Nicole G. Mutchnik… Attorney specializing in the recovery of looted artworks during the Holocaust and featured in the 2015 film “Woman in Gold,” E. Randol (Randy) Schoenberg turns 59… Senior paralegal and contract manager at The St. Joe Company, Sherri Jankowski… Senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, Max A. Boot turns 56… Screenwriter, producer and director, he won three Emmy Awards for episodes of “Robot Chicken,” Douglas Goldstein turns 54… Chief advocacy officer at the Defense Credit Union Council, Jason Stverak… Israeli singer, songwriter and musician, Idan Raichel turns 48… Founder of the Loewy Law Firm in Austin, Texas, Adam Loewy… Venture capitalist and one of the co-founders of Palantir Technologies, Joe Lonsdale turns 43… AIPAC’s area director for Philadelphia and South Jersey, Kelly Lauren Stein… Actress, director and singer, she directed and starred in the 2022 Peacock miniseries “Angelyne,” Emmanuelle Grey “Emmy” Rossum turns 39… Former advisor to the prime minister of Israel for foreign affairs and world communities, now a venture capitalist, Sara Greenberg… Manager of operations communications at American Airlines, Ethan Klapper… National political correspondent at Politico and the author of The Bidens: Inside the First Family’s Fifty-Year Rise to Power, Ben Schreckinger… Product manager for pixel watch at Google, Natalie Raps Farren… Film and television actress, Molly Tarlov turns 33…

SATURDAY: Retired motion picture editor, Avrum Fine… Columnist, author and etiquette authority known as Miss Manners, Judith Perlman Martin turns 87… Chairman of global brokerage at CBRE, a worldwide commercial real estate services company, Stephen Siegel turns 81… Folk artist, photographer and writer focused on European Jewish history, Jill Culiner turns 80… Retired after 57 years as a D.C. reporter for many print and broadcast media, he now writes a Substack focused on antisemitism and the Middle East, Richard Pollock… Ice dancer, who, with her partner Michael Seibert, won five straight U.S. Figure Skating Championships between 1981 and 1985, Judy Blumberg turns 68… Former executive director of the Maryland/Israel Development Center, Barry Bogage turns 68… Founding director of The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, he is the author of 16 books, Rafael Medoff turns 66… Executive director of Aspen Digital, part of the Aspen Institute, Vivian Schiller… Senior lecturer in Talmud at Ner Israel Rabbinical College, Rabbi Chaim Kosman… Comedian known as “Roastmaster General” for his Comedy Central celebrity roasts, Jeffrey Ross Lifschultz turns 60… Governor of North Carolina, one of three Jewish governors named Josh, Joshua Stein turns 59… Member of the Los Angeles City Council, Robert J. Blumenfield turns 58… Founder of United Hatzalah of Israel and president of its U.S.-based support organization, Friends of United Hatzalah, Eli Beer turns 52… Israel’s minister of health until this past July, he is a member of the Knesset for the Shas party, Uriel Menachem Buso turns 52… VP of state and local advocacy for the Anti-Defamation League, Meredith Mirman Weisel… Former nine-year member of the Colorado House of Representatives, Jonathan Singer turns 46… Advocacy strategist with experience in opinion research, Gary Ritterstein… Senior editor and elections analyst at the Cook Political Report focused on the U.S. House of Representatives and redistricting, David Nathan Wasserman turns 41… Founder and president of Reshet Capital, Betty Grinstein… Director at Finsbury Glover Hering, Walter Suskind… Policy associate at Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America, Sierra DeCrosta… Senior software engineer at Capital Connect by J.P. Morgan Chase, David Behmoaras… Managing director at Page Four Media, Noa Silverstein…

SUNDAY: Actor, writer and director, first known for his role as Chekov in the original “Star Trek” television series, Walter Koenig turns 89… The only basketball head coach to have won both an NCAA national championship and an NBA championship, Lawrence Harvey (Larry) Brown turns 85… Executive chairman of MDC Holdings (parent company to Richmond American Homes) until last December, and the principal supporter of the Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem, Larry A. Mizel turns 83… San Diego-based attorney, a specialist in mass torts, Frederick A. Schenk turns 72… Mayor of Miami-Dade County, Daniella Levine Cava turns 70… Born in Chicago as Robert Francis Prevost, Pope Leo XIV turns 70… Plastic surgeon and television personality, Dr. Terry Dubrow turns 67… Chairman and chief investment officer of The Electrum Group, he is the world’s largest private collector of Rembrandt’s works, Thomas Scott Kaplan turns 63… Founder of Mindchat Research, Amy Kauffman… Founder of Vermont-based Kidrobot, a retailer of art toys, apparel and accessories, and Ello, an ad-free social network, Paul Budnitz turns 58… British secretary of state for defence until 2024 and knighted earlier this year, he was a national president of BBYO, Sir Grant Shapps turns 57… President of Strauss Media Strategies, during the Clinton administration he became the first-ever White House Radio Director, Richard Strauss turns 56… Associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, Ketanji Brown Jackson turns 55… Managing director at Gasthalter & Co., he is a past president of the Young Israel of New Rochelle, Mark A. Semer… Comedian, television actor, writer and producer, Elon Gold turns 55… Managing partner of Berke Farah LLP, his clients include SCOTUS Justice Clarence Thomas, Elliot S. Berke… Senior White House reporter for CBS News, Jennifer Jacobs… CEO of San Francisco-based Jewish LearningWorks, Dana Sheanin… Senior booking producer at CNN’s Inside Politics with Dana Bash, Courtney Cohen Flantzer… Governor of Florida and former 2024 POTUS candidate, Ron DeSantis turns 47… Israeli-American actress, Hani Furstenberg turns 46… Artist, photographer and educator, Marisa Scheinfeld turns 45… Staff writer at The Atlantic since 2014, Russell Berman… Co-founder and co-executive director of the Indivisible movement, Leah Greenberg… Los Angeles based attorney working as a contracts supervisor at MarketCast, Roxana Pourshalimi… New York Times reporter since 2011, now focused on in-depth profiles, Matt Flegenheimer… EVP at Voyager Global Mobility, Jeremy Moskowitz… Founder and owner of ARA Capital, a British firm with holdings in e-commerce and energy, Arkadiy Abramovich turns 32… MSW graduate this past May at Yeshiva University, Julia Savel… Artistic gymnast, she represented Israel at the 2020 (Tokyo) and 2024 (Paris) Summer Olympics, Lihie Raz turns 22…

• The House Homeland Security Committee’s Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence will hold a hearing this morning probing the rising influence of anti-Israel extremist groups as a threat to U.S. national security. Representatives from the Anti-Defamation League, Secure Community Network, American Jewish Committee and Heritage Foundation are slated to testify. Read more here.
• Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will testify this morning before the Senate Appropriations Committee on the Pentagon’s FY 2026 budget, the second of three hearings for Hegseth this week.
• The House Ways and Means Committee is holding a hearing this morning with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. In the afternoon, Bessent will appear before the Senate Appropriations Committee to discuss the Trump administration’s FY 2026 budget for the Treasury Department.
• The Auschwitz Jewish Center Foundation is celebrating its 25th anniversary gala dinner tonight in New York City, where the organization will honor CNN commentator Van Jones.
• Elsewhere in New York, United Hatzalah is holding its annual gala. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff is slated to address the gathering, which is chaired by Dr. Miriam Adelson.
• In Israel, a preliminary vote will be held today on a motion to dissolve the Knesset. More on this below.
• Also in Jerusalem, Argentine President Javier Milei will be awarded the Genesis Prize at the Knesset this evening.

A QUICK WORD WITH JOSH KRAUSHAAR

Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) comfortably prevailed in New Jersey’s Democratic gubernatorial primary last night, translating strong fundraising and backing from numerous party leaders into a double-digit margin of victory in the six-candidate field. With most of the ballots tallied, Sherrill won just over one-third of the Democratic vote.

Sherrill, a pragmatic suburban lawmaker and military veteran, will face Republican former state Rep. Jack Ciattarelli in the November general election. Boosted by President Donald Trump’s endorsement, Ciattarelli easily won the GOP nomination.

Sherrill continues the trend of moderate-minded candidates prevailing in recent Democratic primary fights. Three of her Democratic opponents ran to the congressman’s left, with left-wing Newark Mayor Ras Baraka even getting arrested at a federal immigration facility. That activist messaging didn’t end up winning him much traction in the race.

Baraka’s anti-Israel record and past praise of Louis Farrakhan concerned Jewish leaders, but he ultimately finished well behind Sherrill, in second place with 20% of the vote.

Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) ran to the center in the race, spent heavily and worked hard to win over the significant Jewish vote in the state, landing key endorsements from several Orthodox groups. But aside from handily winning his home county of Bergen, he struggled to make inroads in other parts of New Jersey, tallying 12% of the vote. (In Ocean County, where the congressman picked up a key endorsement of the Lakewood Vaad, he lagged in third place.)

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

Name the Oct. 7 Terrorists: In The Washington Post, Patrick Desbois, a Catholic priest whose Yahad-In Unum organization investigates mass killings, calls for the names of the perpetrators of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attack to be made public. “Every terrorist who has imprisoned, assaulted or killed a hostage has a name. An address. A job. A family. A life story that should be made public. Each murder, rape and kidnapping on or since Oct. 7 was a terrorist act, but it was also a crime. And while terrorists should be neutralized, crimes should be investigated. Otherwise, deniers will flourish because, without a criminal, there is no crime.” [WashPost]

Iran Deal Déjà Vu: The New York Times’ David Sanger and Farnaz Fassihi look at the similarities between the Obama administration negotiations with Iran that led to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and President Donald Trump’s efforts to reach a nuclear agreement with Tehran. “To Mr. Trump and his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, the negotiations with Iran are a new experience, and Iran’s insistence that it will never surrender its ability to enrich uranium on its soil threatens to scuttle an agreement that the president only a few weeks ago confidently predicted was within reach. But it is almost exactly the same vexing dilemma that President Barack Obama faced a decade ago. Reluctantly, Mr. Obama and his aides concluded that the only pathway to an accord was allowing Iran to continue producing small amounts of nuclear fuel, keeping its nuclear centrifuges spinning and its scientists working.” [NYTimes]

President Donald Trump said that Iran has been acting “much more aggressive” in recent days, ahead of the next round of nuclear talks, slated to begin on Thursday…

Iranian Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh threatened that Tehran could strike American bases in the region if nuclear talks fail and a military conflict with the U.S. arises…

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee told Bloomberg there is “no room for” a Palestinian state, “unless there are some significant things that happen that change the culture,” suggesting that such a scenario was unlikely to happen “in our lifetime”; Huckabee also suggested that a Palestinian state could be created elsewhere in the Arab world, rather than in the West Bank…

The House Appropriations Committee‘s proposal for 2026 Defense funding suggests providing a total of $122.5 million for U.S.-Israel cooperative development programs, in addition to the regular $500 million for joint missile defense programs…

Ben Black, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, had his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports… 

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg endorsed former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo ahead of the city’s upcoming Democratic mayoral primary; Bloomberg praised Cuomo’s for having “governed as a pragmatist, focused on solving problems rather than engaging in ideological or partisan warfare”…

The majority Satmar faction in Brooklyn, which represents the largest Hasidic voting bloc in New York City, is backing Cuomo for mayor, lending what is likely to be a major boost to his campaign in the final days of the increasingly competitive Democratic primary, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports…

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed legislation that would have prohibited educators in the state from, among other things, teaching or promoting antisemitism and advocating for antisemitic points of view…

A recently unsealed criminal complaint against a Pakistani national revealed that the man, who had been residing in Canada, had planned to carry out a “coordinated assault” on Jewish targets in New York City; Muhammad Shahzeb Khan was apprehended in September 2024, weeks before he planned to carry out an attack on the anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attack…

Protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportations that have engulfed San Francisco’s streets this week took an antisemitic turn on Monday night when a local Jewish-owned civic engagement hub and community space had its windows smashed and walls defaced with slurs including “Die Zio,” “The Only Good Settler is a Dead One,” “Death 2 Israel is a Promise” and “Intifada,” Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports… 

Leaders of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry are suing a Muslim cleric in Sydney, Australia, alleging he used dehumanizing language in his sermons that “denigrate[d] all Jewish people”…

Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway and the U.K. jointly announced sanctions on Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, saying the two members of Israel’s ruling coalition had repeatedly “incit[ed] violence against Palestinians”…

The Wall Street Journal looks at the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s operations amid mounting distribution, logistical and leadership challeges…

Andreessen Horowitz is looking to recruit veterans of elite IDF units for its a16z speedrun accelerator program…

Calcalist reports on the draft agreement between the Jewish National Fund and Gary Barnett’s Extell Israel that would exchange JNF’s rights to some of its land in Jerusalem for some of Barnett’s high-profile properties in the city, and the larger debate over housing and urban renewal in the Israeli capital…

Argentina’s Supreme Court upheld former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s six-year prison sentence and lifetime ban on holding political office; Kirchner is facing additional legal issues, including allegations that she conspired with Iran to hide its ties to the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires…

Israeli President Isaac Herzog (right) met with Argentine President Javier Milei on Tuesday in Jerusalem. Herzog presented Milei with a replica of a silver amulet that was discovered in the upper Hinnom Valley that contained a fragment of the Jewish “Priestly Blessing” prayer.

Columbus, Ohio-based retail mogul, chairman of American Eagle Outfitters, Value City Department Stores, DSW and others, sponsor of ArtScroll’s translation of the Babylonian Talmud, Jay Schottenstein turns 71… 

Heir to the British supermarket chain Sainsbury’s, minister in two British governments under prime ministers Major and Thatcher, Sir Timothy Alan Davan Sainsbury turns 93… Executive director of NYC-based government watchdog Citizens Union, she was elected as NYC’s public advocate in 2001 and reelected in 2005, Elisabeth A. “Betsy” Gotbaum turns 87… Chief spokesperson for AIPAC since 2012, Marshall Wittmann turns 72… Member of the Knesset for the Agudat Yisrael faction of the United Torah Judaism party, Meir Porush turns 70… Hedge fund manager and owner of MLB’s New York Mets, Steven A. Cohen turns 69… Past president and national board member of AIPAC, he is a senior advisor to Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, Lee “Rosy” Rosenberg… Former director of the Israeli Shin Bet, Yuval Diskin turns 69… Member of the Knesset for the Shas party, now serving as minister of labor, Yoav Ben-Tzur turns 67… New Windsor, N.Y., attorney, Barry Wolf Friedman… Political and social justice activist, she served as Illinois state representative and as human rights commissioner, Lauren Beth Gash turns 65… Opinion columnist for The Washington Post until earlier this year, now writing on Substack, Jennifer Rubin turns 63… Partner in the D.C. office of worldwide consulting firm, Brunswick Group, Michael J. Schoenfeld… President of J Street, Jeremy Ben-Ami turns 63… Deputy director of the CIA in the Biden administration, he held the same role in the last two years of the Obama administration, David S. Cohen turns 62… Deputy assistant secretary in the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education during the Biden administration, Matt Nosanchuk… Professor of Jewish thought at the University of Haifa, Josef Hillel “J.H.” Chajes turns 60… Founder of Shabbat[dot]com, he also serves as the national educational director for Olami Worldwide, Rabbi Benzion Zvi Klatzko… Dean of TheYeshiva[dot]net, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak (YY) Jacobson turns 53… Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration from 2017 until 2019, now a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, Dr. Scott Gottlieb turns 53… Budget director at the City Council of the District of Columbia, Jennifer Budoff… Israeli businesswoman and philanthropist, she participated in two seasons of the Israeli reality show “Me’usharot,” Nicol Raidman turns 39… Director of communications and programming at Academic Engagement Network, Raeefa Shams… Actor, performance artist and filmmaker, Shia LaBeouf turns 39… Retired figure skater who competed for Israel in the team event at the 2018 Winter Olympics, Aimee Buchanan turns 32… Olympic medalist in canoe slalom in London, Rio, Tokyo and Paris, Jessica Esther “Jess” Fox turns 31… Israeli attorney and CEO of Dualis Social Venture Fund, Dana Naor…

• We’re keeping an eye on ceasefire and hostage-release negotiations, amid reports yesterday that Israel and Hamas were close to reaching an agreement that would have included the release of 10 living hostages and the bodies of 18 deceased hostages. A senior Hamas official last night rejected the U.S.-proposed ceasefire deal that had already been agreed to by Israel.
• Fox News Channel will air a wide-ranging interview tomorrow night with Sara Netanyahu, in which she’ll discuss with Lara Trump how life in Israel has changed since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks.

A QUICK WORD WITH JOSH KRAUSHAAR

Pore over the latest round of polling in the New York City mayoral primary, and it is something of a political analyst’s Rorschach test. The question is what will be a bigger turnoff for Gotham voters: extremism or personal scandal?

Will Zohran Mamdani’s radicalism make it difficult for the DSA-affiliated assemblyman — polling in second place — to win an outright majority of the Democratic vote? Candidates from the far-left wing of the party typically have a hard ceiling of support, but the latest polls suggest he’s not yet facing the elevated negative ratings that candidates in his ideological lane typically encounter. There hasn’t yet been a barrage of attack ads reminding voters about his record, as he slowly inches closer to former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. 

Will Cuomo’s personal baggage ultimately be a bigger factor for Democratic voters? Cuomo has been leading the race since jumping in, but holds elevated unfavorability ratings, predominantly stemming from the scandal over sexual misconduct allegations, which he continues to deny, that forced him to resign as governor. 

The city’s ranked-choice voting system requires the winner to receive an outright majority of the vote, and build a broader coalition than would be necessary if one only needed a plurality to prevail. In theory, that would advantage Cuomo, given his high name identification, moderate message and ample fundraising resources. In nearly every contest held under a ranked-choice system across the country, moderates have gotten a significant boost, including in the 2021 NYC mayoral primary, when Eric Adams prevailed. 

But if there’s a broad antipathy to Cuomo that goes beyond ideological lines, it’s plausible that any alternative to Cuomo could benefit, simply because they’re running as a candidate of change. It’s hard to overlook Cuomo’s underwater favorability rating among primary voters; a new Emerson poll found a near-majority (47%) of NYC Democrats viewing Cuomo unfavorably, with 40% viewing him favorably.

Cuomo’s lead over Mamdani in the final round of ranked-choice voting, according to the poll, stood at eight points (54-46%). It’s a lead that is outside the margin of error, but a little too close for comfort considering Cuomo’s other advantages. The poll found Mamdani winning more of the votes from the third-place finisher (Comptroller Brad Lander) in the final round, suggesting that Cuomo could be vulnerable to opponents framing their campaigns as part of an anti-Cuomo coalition.

Cuomo’s strongest support comes from the Black community (74% support over Mamdani), voters over 50 (66%) and women (58%). Mamdani’s base is among younger white progressives, leading big over Cuomo with voters under 50 (61%). 

Cuomo’s margin for success could end up coming from the city’s sizable Jewish community — many of whose members view Mamdani’s virulently anti-Israel record and pro-BDS advocacy as a threat — even though he’s currently winning a fairly small plurality of Jewish votes, according to a recent Homan Strategy Group survey.  

Cuomo only tallied 31% of the Jewish vote, according to the poll, but has a lot of room for growth, especially since he still has potential to make inroads with Orthodox Jewish voters, many of whom became disenchanted with him as governor due to his aggressive COVID restrictions. (For instance: A significant 37% share of Orthodox Jewish voters said they were undecided in the Homan survey; 0% supported Mamdani.)

If those Cuomo-skeptical Orthodox voters swing towards the former governor in the final stretch, especially as the threat of Mamdani becomes more real, that may be enough for Cuomo to prevail. But it’s a sign of the times — and the state of the Democratic Party — that this race is as competitive as it is, given the anti-Israel record of the insurgent.

Gaming Out the Jewish Future: eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross spotlights an initiative launched by philanthropist Phil Siegel using “war games” that simulate potential future scenarios facing the American Jewish community to get leaders to think more about long-term planning. “The Jewish community may not have direct control over nuclear war, global demographic trends or international trade wars, for instance, even though these have a profound influence on the Jewish community. (Most of the scenarios include a geopolitical element as well, such as peace in the Middle East in the first one or an acute housing crisis in Israel that prevents American Jews from emigrating despite harsh conditions in the U.S. in the third scenario.) However, the Jewish community does have control over creating new organizations and initiatives or coordinating existing ones. ‘The game itself and the scenario itself were less important. It was more about how people think — What types of things influence us? Do we have more or less agency over them?’ [Israeli educator Barak] Sella said. ‘Is there an optimal scenario and does the Jewish community have a 2050 outcome that we are working toward?’” [eJP]

Delay of (End) Game: The Washington Post’s David Ignatius calls for an end to the Israel-Hamas war, positing that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has for a year rejected subordinates’ suggested strategies for winding down the conflict. “What’s agonizing is that Israeli military and intelligence leaders were ready to settle this conflict nearly a year ago. Working with U.S. and Emirati officials, they developed a plan for security ‘bubbles’ that would contain the violence, starting in northern Gaza and moving south, backed by an international peacekeeping force that would include troops from European and moderate Arab countries. … The Israeli-Palestinian dispute might seem intractable, but ending this conflict would be relatively easy. I’m told that Israeli military officials keep working on ‘day after’ plans, honing details as recently as this week. But they have had no political support from Netanyahu. ‘The “exit ramp” has been staring us in the face for a long time,’ argues Robert Satloff, director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. It’s a mix of Arab states and Gaza Palestinians, operating under a Palestinian Authority umbrella, he explains. “It is messy, with overlapping responsibilities and lots of dotted lines. But it checks all the boxes to enable the process of reconstruction and rehabilitation to get off the ground.’” [WashPost]

Mumbai Makeover: In The Wall Street Journal, Howard Husock interviews Rabbi Yisroel Kozlovsky of the Chabad House of Mumbai, India, about the city’s Jewish revival since the terror attack in 2008 in which Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife and unborn child were killed. “Now in his 12th year in Mumbai, the rabbi recalls his unease upon receiving the assignment from Chabad’s headquarters in New York. He arrived in 2013 to find the building untouched since the terror attacks, its walls still bloodstained. His successor had been forced to live and hold services in rented apartments for the Jewish visitors and expats. (There are reportedly no more than 5,000 ethnic Indian ‘Bene Israel’ Jews in the country.) ‘Imagine our feelings when we walk in and see the destruction firsthand. It was still one big mess,’ Rabbi Kozlovsky says. ‘We knew immediately, though, we wanted to bring life back to the building.’ … Rabbi Kozlovsky has nevertheless decided not to shy away from the events of 26/11, as the locals refer to the attack, but to make it the basis of a mission. He has set out to build an artistic multimedia memorial to educate the hundreds of visitors, almost all non-Jewish Indians, who come here each week, mainly through class trips. ‘Restoration and resilience are not good enough responses to terror,’ he says of the project. ‘We are building a memorial and museum to teach history, to be a beacon of light.’” [WSJ]

U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Thomas Barrack, who is also serving as Syria envoy, said in Damascus on Thursday that relations between Syria and Israel are a “solvable problem” that “starts with a dialogue”; Barrack also raised the U.S. flag over the ambassador’s residence in Damascus for the first time since the embassy’s closure 13 years ago…

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that any nuclear agreement with the U.S. must include the full lifting of sanctions and preservation of Tehran’s enrichment capabilities…

Saudi, Qatari and Emirati leaders reportedly told President Donald Trump during his trip to the region last week that they opposed military strikes on Iran’s nuclear program…

The Wall Street Journal reports on Israeli concerns over Washington’s ongoing nuclear talks with Iran, positing that a deal could put Israel “in a bind with its most important ally on its most pressing national security question”…

Columbia University reached a settlement with a Jewish social work student who had filed a lawsuit against the school alleging antisemitic discrimination…

California’s state Assembly unanimously advanced antisemitism legislation backed by Jewish groups in the state; AB715 would improve the process for making discrimination complaints, as well as create an antisemitism coordinator position for the state’s K-12 schools…

A Yonkers, N.Y., man was sentenced to six years in prison after pleading guilty to attacking a Jewish barber last year…

A Michigan man who in 2022 threatened parents and students at a synagogue preschool pleaded guilty to a federal gun charge…

The Wall Street Journal reports on the efforts of small wine importer and distributor Victor Owen Schwartz to challenge the Trump administration’s tariffs in court…

The board of Ben & Jerry’s issued a statement labeling Israel’s actions in Gaza a genocide, setting up another battle with parent company Unilever, which has for years clashed with the ice cream company’s independent board over its approach to social issues, including Israel…

CBS News profiles Karin Prien, the first Jewish federal cabinet member to serve in post-WWII Germany; the daughter of Holocaust survivors who was born in the Netherlands, Prien moved to Germany with her family when she was 4 and now serves as the country’s minister for education, family affairs, senior citizens, women and youth…

Former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg met with United Arab Emirates National Security Advisor Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan for a conversation largely focused on the opportunities presented by AI technology…

The Associated Press reports on efforts to free Israeli-Russian Princeton researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov, who was kidnapped by an Iranian-backed militia group in Iraq in 2023…

Iran’s embassy in India said it is investigating the disappearance of three Punjabi men who went missing earlier this month in Tehran while transiting through Iran en route to Australia, where a local travel agent had promised them jobs…

An increasing number of oil tankers are turning off their transponders as they near Malaysia, an area used to transfer Iranian oil bound for China, as Tehran continues to work to evade U.S. sanctions…

Missouri philanthropist Bud Levin died at 88…

Former New York City Police Commissioner Bernie Kerik, who headed the NYPD during the 9/11 terror attacks, died at 69…

Dr. Robert Jarvik, who oversaw the design of the first artificial heart, died at 79…

Following her return to Israel, Mia Schem — who was kidnapped from the Nova music festival in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and spent 55 days in Hamas captivity — famously had the phrase “We will dance again” tattooed on her arm. On Thursday night, approximately 800 New Yorkers joined Schem in dancing again at the sold-out inaugural Tribe of Nova Foundation benefit held at Sony Hall, a concert venue in Times Square.

The event was held with the goal of raising at least $1 million to aid families of victims and survivors of Nova, where 411 festivalgoers, mostly young people, were killed and 44 were taken hostage, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports. 

Medical director of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee’s Ethiopia spine and heart project, Dr. Richard Michael Hodes turns 72… 

FRIDAY: Santa Monica, Calif.-based historian of Sephardic and Crypto-Jewish studies, Dolores Sloan turns 95… Real estate developer, landlord of the World Trade Center until 9/11, former chair of UJA-Federation of New York, Larry A. Silverstein turns 94… Partner in the NYC law firm of Mintz & Gold, he is also a leading supporter of Hebrew University, Ira Lee “Ike” Sorkin turns 82… Board member of the Collier County chapter of the Florida ACLU and the Naples Florida Council on World Affairs, Maureen McCully “Mo” Winograd… Cape Town, South Africa, native, she is the owner and chef at Los Angeles-based Catering by Brenda, Brenda Walt turns 74… Former professional tennis player, he competed in nine Wimbledons and 13 U.S. Opens, now the varsity tennis coach at Gilman School in Baltimore, Steve “Lightning” Krulevitz turns 74… Former chief rabbi of France, Gilles Uriel Bernheim turns 73… Encino, Calif.-based business attorney, Andrew W. Hyman… Literary critic, essayist and novelist, Daphne Miriam Merkin turns 71… Israeli physicist and philosopher, Avshalom Cyrus Elitzur turns 68… Former member of Congress for 16 years, since leaving Congress he has opened a bookstore and written two novels, Steve Israel turns 67… Former science editor for BBC News and author of six books, David Shukman turns 67… Founder of Krav Maga Global with 1,500 instructors in 60 countries, Eyal Yanilov turns 66… Editorial writer at The New York Times, Michelle Cottle… Film, stage and television actress; singer and songwriter, she sang the national anthem at Super Bowl XLIX in 2015, Idina Menzel turns 54… Writer, filmmaker, playwright and DJ, known by his pen name Ithamar Ben-Canaan, Itamar Handelman Smith turns 49… Member of Knesset who served as Israel’s minister of agriculture in the prior government, Oded Forer turns 48… Director of engagement and program at NYC’s Congregation Rodeph Sholom, Scott Hertz… Chief of staff for Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI), Reema Dodin turns 45… Tsippy Friend… Israeli author, her debut novel has been published in more than 20 languages around the world, Shani Boianjiu turns 38… Rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer, known professionally as Hebro, Raphael Ohr Chaim Fulcher turns 38… Senior counsel at Gilead Sciences, Ashley Bender Spirn… Ice hockey defenseman, he has played for four NHL teams and is now in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga, David Matthew Warsofsky turns 35… Deputy chief of staff for U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Miryam Esther Lipper… Senior reporter for CNN, Eric Levenson… Challah baker, social entrepreneur and manager at Howard Properties, Jason Friend… 

SATURDAY: Investment advisor at Wedbush Securities in Los Angeles, Alfred Phillip Stern turns 92… Businessman and philanthropist, Ira Leon Rennert turns 91… Professor at Yale University and the 2018 winner of the Nobel Prize in economics, William Dawbney Nordhaus turns 84… Food critic at Vogue magazine since 1989 and judge on “Iron Chef America,” he is the author of the 1996 award-winning book The Man Who Ate Everything, Jeffrey Steingarten turns 83… Founder and retired CEO of the Democratic Leadership Council, Alvin “Al” From turns 82… Author, political pundit and a retired correspondent for HBO’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel,” he has won 14 Emmy Awards during his career, Bernie Goldberg turns 80… Comedian, actress and TV producer, Susie Essman turns 70… Founder and chairman of the Katz Group of Companies with operations in the pharmacy, sports (including the Edmonton Oilers), entertainment and real estate sectors, Daryl Katz turns 64… Reality television personality, best known for starring in and producing her own matchmaking reality series, “The Millionaire Matchmaker” on Bravo TV, Patti Stanger turns 64… Jerusalem-born inventor, serial entrepreneur and novelist; founder, chairman and CEO of CyberArk Software, one of Israel’s leading software companies, Alon Nisim Cohen turns 57… Entrepreneur, best known as the co-founder of CryptoLogic, an online casino software firm, Andrew Rivkin turns 56… Former Democratic mayor of Annapolis, Md., now head of policy at SWTCH, Joshua Jackson “Josh” Cohen turns 52… Program director of synagogue and rabbinic initiatives at the Board of Rabbis of Southern California, Melissa York… Israeli actress, singer and dancer, she played a Mossad agent in the espionage TV series “Tehran,” Liraz Charhi turns 47… Author of the “Money Stuff” column at Bloomberg Opinion, Matthew Stone Levine turns 47… Freelance writer in Brooklyn, Sara Trappler Spielman… Attorney and NYT best-selling author of the Mara Dyer and Shaw Confessions series, Michelle Hodkin turns 43… Senior advisor at the U.S. Department of Commerce until earlier this year, Bert Eli Kaufman… Senior product manager at Tel Aviv-based Forter, Zoe Goldfarb… Stephanie Oreck Weiss… Chief revenue officer at NOTUS, Brad E. Bosserman… Senior rabbi and executive director of Jewish life at D.C.’s Sixth & I, Aaron Potek… Managing editor at Allbritton Journalism Institute, Matt Berman… Medical student in the class of 2027 at the University of Nicosia Medical School, Amital Isaac… Brad Goldstein… Basketball player in Israel’s Premier League until recent years, while at Princeton he won the Ivy League Player of the Year award, Spencer Weisz turns 30… Professional golfer on the PGA Tour, Max Alexander Greyserman turns 30… Rapper, singer, songwriter and producer, known by his stage name, King Sol, Benjamin Solomon turns 27…

SUNDAY: Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, pianist and conductor, he has taught at Yale, SUNY Purchase, Cornell, Brandeis and Harvard, Yehudi Wyner turns 96… Holocaust survivor as a child, he served as the Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Israel for 10 years and twice as Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv for 16 years, Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau turns 88… NYC-based attorney, author of two books regarding the history and operations of El Al, owner of 40,000 plus pieces of memorabilia related to El Al, Marvin G. Goldman turns 86… Grammy Award-winning classical pianist, Richard Goode turns 82… Former member of the Knesset for the Yisrael Beiteinu party, Shimon Ohayon turns 80… Retired attorney in Berkeley, Calif., Thomas Andrew Seaton… Pediatrician in the San Francisco Bay area, Elliot Charles Lepler, MD… Former member of the Knesset for the Shinui and the Hilonit Tzionit parties, Eti Livni turns 77… Founding editor of The American Interest, Adam M. Garfinkle turns 74… Former editor-in-chief of Bloomberg News and co-author with Michael Bloomberg of Bloomberg by Bloomberg, Matthew Winkler turns 70… Contributing editor at The Free Press, Uri Paul Berliner… Founding rabbi of Congregation Aish Kodesh in Woodmere, N.Y., Rabbi Moshe Weinberger turns 68… Former IDF officer and now a London-based political scientist and journalist, Ahron “Ronnie” Bregman turns 67… Member of the Knesset for the Shas party for 16 years ending in 2015, Amnon Cohen turns 65… Owner of MLB’s Athletics (temporarily playing in Sacramento), he is the chair of Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) Foundation, John J. Fisher turns 64… Poet, performance artist and essayist, Adeena Karasick turns 60… Founding editor and publisher of the Dayton Jewish Observer, Marshall J. Weiss… Television personality and matchmaker, Sigalit “Siggy” Flicker turns 58… Actress, voice actress and film director, Danielle Harris turns 48… Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and writer, Spencer J. Ackerman turns 45… Comedian, writer, actress, director and producer, Amy Schumer turns 44… Partner in Oliver Wyman, a global management consulting firm, Daniel Tannebaum… President and CEO of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, Yael Eckstein turns 41… Musician, songwriter, author, actor and blogger, Ari Seth Herstand turns 40… CEO of The Good Food Institute, Ilya Sheyman turns 39… Political reporter for NBC News and MSNBC until earlier this year, now a newspaper editor in Maine, Alex Seitz-Wald… Senior writer at Barron’s covering the Federal Reserve, Nicole Goodkind… Former engineering lead at Palantir Technologies, now in a MPP program at Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs, Naomi S. Kadish… Executive business partner at Lyft, Isabel Keller… NYC-born Israeli pair skater, she competed for Israel at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Hailey Esther Kops turns 23…