Plus, Trump mulls military action as Tehran murders protesters
Amos Ben Gershom via Getty Images
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) meets with U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (L) at the Israeli Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem on December 21, 2025.
Add JewishInsider on Google👋 Good Monday morning!
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we bring you the latest on the anti-government protests in Iran and the U.S.’ new threats to the Islamic Republic if it continues killing protesters, and report on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s comments published on Friday that Israel wants to phase out U.S. aid in the next decade. We cover Saturday’s arson attack targeting Mississippi’s oldest synagogue, and report on New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s stalled and muted response to pro-Hamas demonstrators who rallied outside a synagogue last week. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Jerome Powell, Larry Page and Miriam Zivin.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by Jewish Insider Executive Editor Melissa Weiss and Israel Editor Tamara Zieve, with assists from Danielle Cohen-Kanik and Marc Rod. Have a tip? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
- Mahmoud Abbas, the 90-year-old longtime president of the Palestinian Authority, is in a hospital in Ramallah this morning. According to the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency Wafa, he is undergoing routine medical checkups.
- We’re monitoring the situation in Iran where the death toll has risen in recent days as the regime ramps up its crackdown on the nationwide protests. President Donald Trump is set to be briefed tomorrow on options to respond to the escalation. More below.
- Trump is expected to announce the global leaders of the U.S.-backed Gaza Board of Peace this week. The first meeting of the board is set to take place later this month on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The board’s launch comes as Israel prepares plans for a potential ground operation in Gaza in response to Hamas’ refusal to disarm.
- Qatar is signing the U.S.-led Pax Silica declaration today, joining the effort to strengthen AI and semiconductor supply chains. The United Arab Emirates is set to sign onto the declaration later this week. Israel, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Britain and Australia are already part of the coalition.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S GABBY DEUTCH
As another election year gets underway, two liberal Jewish politicians offered a window last week into just how fraught the issue of Israel has become in some Democratic primaries — and how even pushing back against claims that Israel is committing genocide is inviting intraparty political backlash, at least in the deepest-blue parts of the country.
Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) faces a primary challenge from the left in Brad Lander, the former New York City comptroller endorsed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani. When Goldman formally launched his reelection campaign last week, he was asked by a reporter if he believes Israel has committed genocide in Gaza. Goldman equivocated — a notable shift for a lawmaker who in February 2024 signed onto a letter calling claims of genocide in Gaza “false.”
“I think there needs to be a serious investigation into what went on in Gaza during the war,” Goldman said. “What you call it is I think more of a legal matter, in my view, but what we all can agree on is that the destruction [in Gaza] was unconscionable and devastating and I am really grateful that it is over and the hostages are out and we can move forward.” (Lander, in contrast, has accused Israel of genocide.)
Across the country, in San Francisco, California state Sen. Scott Wiener, a Democrat running to replace Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), was asked the same question at a candidate forum. His two primary opponents — Connie Chan, a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, and Saikat Chakrabarti, former chief of staff to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) — both raised placards that said “yes.” Wiener did not raise either the “yes” or “no” placard.
Wiener followed up with a post on X claiming that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict “demands more discussion and certainly more time,” which, after receiving blowback on social media, he subsequently deleted. He then backtracked completely: On Sunday afternoon, Wiener posted a video to social media stating that he’s “stopped short of calling [Israel’s actions in Gaza] a genocide, but I can’t anymore.”
FIREBOMBING PROBE
Jackson’s only synagogue targeted in arson attack
A suspect is under arrest for an arson attack that significantly damaged Mississippi’s largest synagogue early Saturday morning, authorities reported. Local law enforcement arrested a suspect whom they believe purposefully set fire to Beth Israel Congregation in Jackson shortly after 3 a.m. Saturday, Jackson Mayor John Horhn confirmed. The suspect’s name and motive have not been disclosed, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports. According to internal security camera footage, a person was filmed splashing liquid along a wall and onto a couch inside the synagogue’s lobby shortly before the fire was ignited, Mississippi Today reported.
Storied past: Beth Israel Congregation is the only synagogue in Jackson, the state’s capital and most populous city. The historic building also houses the offices of the Institute of Southern Jewish Life, which supports Jewish life in the region. Located in a major hub of the Civil Rights Movement, Beth Israel was bombed in 1967 by the Ku Klux Klan over the rabbi’s support for racial justice — including providing chaplain services to activists incarcerated for challenging segregated busing in the state.
TOUGH TALK
Tehran threatens to attack U.S. bases as Trump considers military options against Iran
Tensions between the U.S. and Iran escalated on Sunday as President Donald Trump weighed options for striking Iran amid the regime’s crackdown on protesters, and Tehran threatened to strike U.S. bases in response, Jewish Insider’s Danielle Cohen-Kanik reports. Trump was briefed in recent days on options for sites to strike in Iran, The New York Times reported, after he issued several threats warning that the U.S. could get involved if the Iranian regime attempted to violently suppress the nationwide demonstrations that have racked the country for several weeks.
Returning the threat: In response, Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s parliament, said on Sunday that the country would attack American military bases in the region if the U.S. follows through, and even raised the possibility of a preemptive strike. Ghalibaf also threatened to attack regional shipping lanes and Israel.
Further messaging: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told a conference of foreign ambassadors today that Tehran “is not seeking war but is fully prepared for war,” and is “also ready for negotiations but these negotiations should be fair.” Speaking to reporters on Air Force One on Sunday, Trump, asked whether the regime has crossed his red line, said, “They’re starting to,” … “We’re looking at it very seriously. The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options. We’ll make a determination.”
AID EXIT
Netanyahu: Israel seeking to end U.S. aid within 10 years
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israel is seeking to end the military assistance it receives from the U.S. in the next 10 years, a move that he said is “in the works,” Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch and Danielle Cohen-Kanik report.
What he said: In an interview with The Economist released Friday, Netanyahu said that during his December visit to President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla., he told Trump that Israel “very deeply appreciate[s] the military aid that America has given us over the years.” But, he said, “we’ve come of age and we’ve developed incredible capacity. And our economy, which will reach, certainly within a decade, will reach about a trillion dollars — it’s not a huge economy, but it’s not a small economy. So I want to taper off military aid within the next 10 years.”
Exclusive: Following Netanyahu’s announcement, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told JI that he will push forward an effort to end U.S. aid more quickly — a major shift from one of Israel’s closest allies on Capitol Hill, JI’s Emily Jacobs and Marc Rod report.
LEADERSHIP TEST
Mamdani’s slow, muted response condemning pro-Hamas protest alarming NYC Dems
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is facing criticism from Democratic leaders over his delayed and muted response to last week’s pro-Hamas protest in Queens that caused nearby schools and a synagogue to close early in anticipation of the demonstration, where dozens of masked protesters chanted “We support Hamas” near the synagogue, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
Delayed response: The newly inaugurated mayor remained silent Thursday night and much of the following day regarding the demonstration, which marked his first major test in protecting the city’s Jewish community. His spokesperson did not respond to multiple inquiries from JI on Thursday. Mamdani broke his silence late in the afternoon on Friday when he was asked about the protesters’ pro-Hamas chant by Politico reporter Jason Beeferman while leaving a campaign event in Brooklyn for an ally. “That language is wrong,” Mamdani replied. “I think that language has no place in New York City.”
Sign of the times: The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board argues that Mamdani’s response to the protest coupled with efforts by Breads Bakery employees for the company to cut its ties with Israel reflect the political climate in New York City under the new mayor.
WALKING BACK
Mallory McMorrow says Gaza genocide accusations, which she backed, have become ‘political purity test’
Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, a Democratic candidate for Senate, said in a recent radio interview that accusations of genocide against Israel — with which she has previously agreed — have become a “political purity test,” arguing that there has been too much emphasis on that specific word, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Notable quotable: Asked on local radio station WDET last week whether her stance has changed since October, when she affirmed that she believed the war in Gaza met the definition of a genocide, McMorrow did not offer a direct yes or no answer. “I am somebody who looks at the videos, the photos, the amount of pain that has been caused in the Middle East, and you can’t not be heartbroken,” McMorrow said. “But I also feel like we are getting lost in this conversation, and it feels like a political purity test on a word — a word that, by the way, to people who lost family members in the Holocaust, does mean something very different and very visceral.” McMorrow went on to criticize an unnamed opponent for campaigning on the issue of the war in Gaza, presumably referring to Abdul El-Sayed, the far-left Democrat who has made his opposition to Israel a centerpiece of his campaign.
ON ALERT
Hezbollah’s continued presence in south Lebanon alarms Israel, despite disarmament
The Lebanese Armed Forces announced Thursday that it had taken operational control of the south of the country and successfully completed the first phase of its operation to disarm Hezbollah — a claim that experts say is unlikely to satisfy Israel and could risk further escalation. Under the November 2024 ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah, the Lebanese government was tasked with removing the terror group south of the Litani River, near Israel’s border, with a deadline of Dec. 31, 2025, before moving to the second phase of disarmament north of the Litani. Experts told Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea that the Lebanese army’s claim has done little to quell Israeli concerns.
Opposing information: “Despite the statements published today in Lebanon, the facts remain that extensive Hezbollah military infrastructure still exists south of the Litani River,” Israel’s Foreign Ministry stated in a post on X on Thursday. Hanin Ghaddar, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said the situation has become increasingly tense because there is “no indication” that Lebanon will move forward with the next phases of disarmament and that it is “more likely” the country is “not going to move north of Litani” in order to avoid confrontation with Hezbollah.
Worthy Reads
Iran on the Brink: In The Atlantic, Karim Sadjadpour, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and Jack A. Goldstone, the author of Revolutions: A Very Short Introduction, weigh the likelihood that the Iranian regime will collapse imminently. “One of us, Jack, has written at length about the five specific conditions necessary for a revolution to succeed: a fiscal crisis, divided elites, a diverse oppositional coalition, a convincing narrative of resistance, and a favorable international environment. This winter, for the first time since 1979, Iran checks nearly all five boxes… The final and decisive catalyst for revolution is an international environment that helps sink the regime rather than bolster it. After North Korea, Iran may be the most strategically isolated country in the world. Over the past two years — since Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which Ayatollah Khamenei alone among major world leaders openly endorsed — Iran’s regional proxies and global allies have been decimated or deposed.” [Atlantic]
Crackdown Crisis: The Washington Post’s David Ignatius posits that the Iranian regime’s protest crackdowns, which have occurred a number of times in recent years, have only served to delay an eventual effective uprising. “The Iranian regime is on a one-way street to disaster. A senior European diplomat in Tehran shared that assessment with me several years ago, and it remains true. Iran has powerful security tools, but they’re getting rusty. The regime couldn’t protect its proxies Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and President Bashar al-Assad in Syria. And most important, Iran couldn’t shield itself from Israel’s systematic assault in June. … The wild card this year is whether the regime’s hard-liners have lost their edge. Like the Soviet Union during its last years, the security agencies may have lost their ideological commitment and discipline. They’ve watched helplessly as their proxy forces were crushed in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria. And they’ve suffered the same scourge of inflation and economic stagnation as the rest of the nation. They’re not broken, but they appear more fragile than in the past.” [WashPost]
Read His Lips: In Semafor, Jason Greenblatt, who served as the White House Middle East envoy during the first Trump administration, posits that Iran should take seriously President Donald Trump’s warnings that the U.S. could back the protesters demonstrating against the regime if Tehran continues to use violence against them. “Trump has established a record of acting when he draws lines. He views the June conflict with Iran — short, focused, and devastating to its strategic military assets — as proof that decisive and limited force can restore balance rather than prolong instability. In his view, hesitation invites escalation. Clear consequences reduce it. Diplomacy is preferable, but diplomacy without credibility is meaningless. … What separates Trump from many of his predecessors is not an appetite for war, but a refusal to tolerate endless gray zones. His worldview is not anti-Iranian or anti-Venezuelan. It is anti-destabilization. That applies equally to nuclear brinkmanship in the Middle East and narco-state behavior in the Western Hemisphere that corrodes security at home and abroad.” [Semafor]
The Torture Chronicles: In The Atlantic, Russia-Israeli academic Elizabeth Tsurkov recounts her 902-day captivity in Iraq. “The interrogators kept threatening me with torture, but in those opening weeks, they refrained from acting on the threats — I assume on orders from higher up. Instead, because they were clearly untrained in conducting interrogations that did not involve torture, they fell back on interrogation methods they had probably seen in movies. To intimidate me, Maher would blow smoke in my face, but because he was using an e-cigarette, all I got was a gust of strawberry-smelling vape. It wasn’t quite the tough-guy routine he was after. Later, he tried the ‘good cop, bad cop’ routine on me but undermined the effect by playing both characters himself, on alternate days, which just made him seem deranged.” [Atlantic]
Word on the Street
President Donald Trump told The New York Times that neither the Republican Party nor the MAGA movement have space for antisemitism, saying that the GOP doesn’t “need” or “like” people who espouse antisemitism; the president also called himself “the least antisemitic person probably there is anywhere in the world”…
Far-right commentator Tucker Carlson joined a lunch with Trump and Vice President JD Vance on Friday, later attending a meeting between the president and oil and gas executives regarding Venezuela…
Federal prosecutors opened a criminal investigation into the Federal Reserve and its chair, Jerome Powell, over renovations made to the agency’s Washington headquarters; Powell released a video alleging that the investigation came as a result of his clashes with the Trump administration over interest rates…
Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) denied the White House’s allegation that she had tipped Code Pink off to a lunch the president was having at Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab in September, where the far-left activist group confronted the president in a now-viral incident…
Steve Bannon is reportedly laying the groundwork for a 2028 presidential bid in an effort to push an America First agenda during the primary season. Former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), who has appeared on Bannon’s “War Room” podcast, told Axios, “The Bannon campaign will merge the foreign policy of Rand Paul with the tax policy of Elizabeth Warren”…
Police in New Jersey arrested a man suspected of throwing a rock at a yeshiva school bus on the New Jersey Turnpike, injuring an 8-year-old girl; the man, Hernando Garciamorales, had been linked to a series of prior rock-throwing incidents…
Google co-founder Larry Page bought two Miami properties for $173.4 million, amid an influx of Silicon Valley execs to South Florida as California gears up for a referendum on a tax on billionaires…
A U.K. medical tribunal cleared the rector of the University of Glasgow of misconduct allegations for social media posts and an op-ed in which he praised members of Hamas and the People’s Front for the Liberation of Palestine…
Israel struck at least seven Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon on Sunday, days after the Lebanese Armed Forces claimed that the Iran-backed terror group had fully disarmed…
Israeli police detained Tzachi Braverman, the chief of staff to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for questioning over allegations that he attempted to hinder an investigation into the leaking of a classified military document in 2024…
The Associated Press reports on an ethics debate inside Israel over Sara Netanyahu’s retouching of official government photos…
The U.S. conducted strikes against ISIS targets in Syria, weeks after an attack by an ISIS-aligned member of Syria’s security forces killed two U.S. servicemembers and a civilian interpreter…
Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, Qatar’s prime minister and foreign minister, met with Ben Black, CEO of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, in Doha on Monday…
The Qatari prime minister also met with U.S. Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg and discussed “the close strategic relations” between the two countries, according to the Qatari Foreign Ministry…
A Bahraini court sentenced political activist Ebrahim Sharif to six months in prison and a fine over a recent interview in Lebanon in which Sharif criticized Arab states and said more support should be given to the Palestinians…
In The New York Times’ “Modern Love” column, Taiwanese-American economist David Woo reflects on his marriage to Israeli architect Margalit Shinar, who is 40 years his senior…
Jewish actors Timothée Chalamet and Seth Rogen took home awards at the Golden Globes — Chalamet for his role in the movie “Marty Supreme” and Rogen for his satire show “The Studio”…
Richard Hirschhaut is joining Jewish National Fund-USA as its national campaign director for the West Coast and Mountain states after six years as the director of the American Jewish Committee’s Los Angeles office…
Mothers Against Campus Antisemitism tapped Miriam Zivin as the advocacy group’s new board president, following a weekslong dispute between the organization’s founder and board, eJewishPhilanthropy’sJay Deitcher reports…
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) delivered the opening remarks at a Tzedek Association fundraising event in Deal, N.J….
Chabad of Westport hosted former hostage Eliya Cohen and survivor of the Nova music festival massacre Ziv Aboud, who recently got engaged and have been touring the U.S. in recent weeks, sharing their stories and working to fight misinformation…
Hessy Levinsons Taft, whose baby photo was used on the cover of the Sonne ins Haus pro-Nazi magazine as a depiction of the ideal Aryan infant by editors who did not know she was Jewish, died at 91…
Dr. Jerome Lowenstein, a physician who later became publisher of the Bellevue Literary Press, which published the 2010 Pulitzer Prize-winner for fiction, died at 92…
Pic of the Day
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar (right) met with his Japanese counterpart, Toshimitsu Motegi, in Jerusalem on Sunday, as part of a nine-day trip by the Japanese foreign minister that will also include visits to the West Bank, Qatar, the Philippines and India. According to the Japanese Foreign Ministry, Motegi explained during the meeting Japan’s position on the situation in Gaza and the West Bank and “stated that Japan will play a proactive role in promoting peace and stability in the Middle East, in improving the humanitarian situation in Gaza and in engaging in the early-recovery and reconstruction efforts.”
Birthdays
Author of over 40 books, most widely recognized for his crime fiction, Walter Ellis Mosley turns 74…
Real estate and casino magnate, he is a minority owner of the Chicago Bulls and Chicago White Sox, Neil Gary Bluhm turns 88… U.S.-born biochemist, he moved to Israel in 1973, winner of the Israel Prize (1999) and professor emeritus at Hebrew U, Howard “Chaim” Cedar turns 83… Stephen Moses… Israel-born jewelry designer, editor and businesswoman, she was the first lady of Iceland from 2003 until 2016, Dorrit Moussaieff turns 76… NYC-based psychiatrist and president of the Child Mind Institute, Harold S. Koplewicz, MD turns 73… Radio personality on Sirius XM, Howard Stern turns 72… British novelist and grandson of J.R.R. Tolkien (one of the latter’s two Jewish grandchildren), Simon Mario Reuel Tolkien turns 67… Senior director of philanthropic engagement at Jewish Funders Network, she was a consultant for DreamWorks on the film “The Prince of Egypt,” Tzivia Schwartz Getzug… Midday news anchor at Washington’s WTOP Radio, Debra Feinstein turns 64… Board member and former chair of Hillel International, she is also a board chair of Mem Global (f/k/a Moishe House), Tina Price… Member of the Maryland House of Delegates, Jon S. Cardin turns 56… Identical twin comedians and actors, Randy Sklar and Jason Sklar turn 54… Filmmaker known for parody films, Aaron Seltzer turns 52… First-ever woman to be an MLB coach, in 2024 she was a co-founder of a women’s pro baseball league, Justine Siegal Ph.D. turns 51… Rabbinical advisor of Shabtai, Shmully Hecht turns 51… Recording artist and musical entertainer, Yaakov Shwekey turns 49… Professional golfer, Rob Oppenheim turns 46… Two-time Olympian (2012 and 2016) in beach volleyball, now a chiropractor and performance coach, Josh Binstock turns 45… Founder of The Jewish Majority, Jonathan Schulman… Director of major gifts in the mid-Atlantic region for American Friends of Magen David Adom, Ira Gewanter… Executive director of the Hillel at Virginia Tech, Amanda Herring… VP of finance and operations at NYC-based Hornig Capital Partners, Daniel Silvermintz… Israeli tennis player, Lina Glushko turns 26…
Plus, Steve Israel's new spy thriller
(Brian Lawless/PA Images via Getty Images)
(left to right) Taoiseach Micheal Martin, Brian McEnery and Tanaiste Simon Harris after President Catherine Connolly was inaugurated as Ireland's 10th president at Dublin Castle. Tuesday November 11, 2025.
Good Monday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we interview former Rep. Steve Israel about his new spy thriller and report on Northwestern University’s $75 million settlement with the Trump administration. We talk to the parents of Yaron Lischinsky about the slain Israeli Embassy staffer’s life and legacy, and cover recent victories for Irish Jews and Israel supporters in the face of an effort to remove the name of Chaim Herzog from a Dublin park, as well as the shelving of a bill to boycott Israeli products made in the West Bank. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Sen. Cory Booker, Segev Kalfon and Rabbi Brent Chaim Spodek.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by Jewish Insider Executive Editor Melissa Weiss and Israel Editor Tamara Zieve. Have a tip? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
- White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are traveling to Moscow today ahead of their meeting tomorrow with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Witkoff and Kushner, joined by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, met yesterday in Miami with senior aides to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
- Pope Leo XIV is in Lebanon this week as part of his first international trip since becoming pontiff. He first traveled to Turkey last week, where he met with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as well as the head of the country’s Jewish community.
- Israel Defense Tech Week kicked off this morning at Tel Aviv University. Senior Pentagon official Mike Dodd; Adm. (ret.) Mike Rogers, a former director of the National Security Agency; and Sequoia Capital’s Shaun Maguire are among the two-day conference’s featured speakers.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S LAHAV HARKOV
Ireland has long been competing for the title of most anti-Israel country in the West, and in recent years, the local Jewish community has expressed fears that the country has become systemically antisemitic. Calls to boycott Israel have permeated the political mainstream; the Emerald Isle’s under 3,000 Jews face hostility in schools and workplaces, and physical harassment has increased in recent years. Pleas to the former president not to politicize International Holocaust Memorial Day by making it another occasion to accuse Israel of war crimes fell on deaf ears; Ireland has since elected a president who is even more stridently opposed to the Jewish state.
Yet, Irish Jews and supporters of Israel notched two victories on Sunday.
Ireland is pulling its “Occupied Territories Bill” to boycott Israeli products from the West Bank in light of a “changed political climate” as a result of the ceasefire in Gaza, the Irish Mail on Sunday reported. The legislation faced legal challenges due to its violation of European Union trade rules, and, as several members of Congress pointed out, could run afoul of U.S. states’ laws penalizing those who boycott Israel and damage relations between Washington and Dublin.
In addition, following an uproar started by the local Jewish community that went global, leading Israel’s leadership and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) to sound the alarm, pressuring Ireland’s government, a proposal to remove sixth Israeli President Chaim Herzog’s name from a public park and replace it with a name related to Palestinians was taken off of Dublin City Council’s agenda.
Herzog, father of current Israeli President Isaac Herzog, was born in Belfast and grew up in Dublin. He was Israeli ambassador to the U.N. — famously tearing up its “Zionism is racism” resolution — before serving as president in 1983-1993. The park in Dublin was named after Herzog in 1995, to coincide with the 3,000th anniversary of Jerusalem’s establishment. It is adjacent to Ireland’s only Jewish school and close to major Orthodox and Progressive synagogues.
The current President Herzog, his brother, former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Herzog, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, Graham and others spoke out, saying “Ireland, once home to a proud, thriving Jewish community, has become the scene of raging antisemitism.”
Ireland’s Prime Minister Micheál Martin chimed in soon after, expressing concern that the name change would be seen as antisemitic, and hours later, it was no longer on Dublin City Council’s agenda.
PARDON PLEA
Netanyahu asks Herzog for pardon amid ongoing corruption trial
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday asked President Isaac Herzog to pardon him, six years after Netanyahu was indicted for fraud, breach of trust and bribery and as his yearslong trial continues to play out in Israeli court, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports. Among the reasons Netanyahu cited for requesting the pardon, in a concurrent video statement, was “the requests from President Trump to the president of Israel, so I can work together with him as quickly as possible to promote the necessary shared interests between the U.S. and Israel in a window of opportunity that I doubt will return.”
Next steps: Netanyahu’s attorney, Amit Hadad, sent Herzog’s office a 111-page file of details of the trial, including a letter from the prime minister. Herzog’s office passed Netanyahu’s request to the Justice Ministry’s Pardons Department, which will send its opinions to the legal advisor of the Office of the President, who will then add her opinion before sending them to Herzog. A source in Herzog’s office told JI that the process may take weeks and the president will rely heavily on the opinions he receives.
BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS
Six months after Yaron Lischinsky’s murder, his parents reflect on Israeli Embassy staffer’s life and legacy
Six months after the death of their son, Yaron Lischinsky, and his girlfriend, Sarah Milgrim — both Israeli Embassy employees — in a shooting outside the Capital Jewish Museum, Daniel and Ruth Lischinsky visited Washington last week, meeting with senior administration officials and visiting the sites where their son lived, worked and, ultimately, died. Speaking to Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod during their time in the U.S. capital, the pair reflected on their son’s life and legacy.
A son’s legacy: “He was a peacemaker. He tried [to make] people understand one [another], talking with the other and not fighting. He was a big fan of the Abraham Accords and he was a peacemaker. He knew that through diplomacy he can reach and he can make achievements,” Daniel Lischinsky said. Ruth Lischinsky said she’s been struck by the number of people that knew her son in Washington.
CAMPUS BEAT
Jewish leaders cautiously optimistic over Northwestern deal with Trump administration
Jewish leaders with ties to Northwestern University are cautiously celebrating a $75 million settlement reached on Friday with the Trump administration to restore federal funding that was frozen earlier this year over allegations that administrators failed to address campus antisemitism, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
What it means: Under the agreement — which will restore at least $790 million in funding that was frozen in April — the Illinois private university agreed to end its commitment to the Deering Meadow agreement, a controversial pact made with anti-Israel encampment participants in the spring of 2024. The agreement allowed students to protest the war in Gaza until the end of the school year so long as tents were removed and encouraged employers not to rescind job offers for student protesters. The document also allowed students to weigh in on university investments — a major concession for students who had demanded the university divest from Israel. The school’s settlement with the Department of Justice also stipulates that Northwestern commit to “clear policies and procedures” around demonstrations, protests and other “expressive activities” and implement mandatory antisemitism training for all students, faculty and staff.
BOOKSHELF
Former Rep. Steve Israel pens Einstein-focused spy thriller set against backdrop of U.S. pro-Nazi movement
In his latest novel, former Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY) takes readers through a tense spy thriller, with famed physicist Albert Einstein at its center, set against the backdrop of the pro-Nazi movement in America in 1939, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Political moment: Published last week, The Einstein Conspiracy is a fictionalized account of true events, in which the Nazis targeted Albert Einstein to prevent him from helping the United States build an atomic bomb. “The backdrop is the chilling and widespread pro-Nazi movement across America in 1939,” Israel explained to JI. “There was a [Nazi] rally at Madison Square Garden in February 1939 that attracted 20,000 people. On Long Island is a community that used to be known as Camp Siegfried, where the streets were named after Adolf Hitler, Goebbels and Goering. So I’m trying in the book to remind Americans of how close we could have come to staying out of World War II.”
Worthy Reads
Penny Wise: In The Washington Post, philanthropist and Kind founder Daniel Lubetzky considers the overlap in Jewish and American values as he reflects on the rise in global antisemitism. “My maternal grandfather — who fled pogroms in Lithuania and landed on the shores of northern Mexico, where he became a successful cattle rancher — taught his grandchildren about humility and resourcefulness. He used to say, in Spanish, ‘A man who is too arrogant to pick up a penny is not worth a penny.’ The idea harbored by some that picking up a penny is beneath them, and is disgusting in others, isn’t just bad for Jews. Its manifestation today seems to reflect a cultural crisis marked by economic anxiety, frustration and a growing rejection of the very values that have long been the foundation of the American Dream. The crisis has been marked by the emergence of a victim-oppressor mindset; those who feel left behind often believe that they have no agency, and it is all too easy to deflect responsibility onto convenient scapegoats — including those perennial targets, the Jews.” [WashPost]
Qatar Ready For Its Close-up: Variety’s Nick Vivarelli looks at the effort by Qatar to break into Hollywood amid the backdrop of last week’s Doha Film Festival, which kicked off featuring “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” about a Palestinian girl killed in Gaza. “‘We are building the foundations of a world class [film and TV] ecosystem with new infrastructure, production facilities and post-production capabilities supported by vast technology, and data analytics,’ said Hassan Al Thawadi, the Qatari lawyer who oversaw the 2022 World Cup. He is now leading The Qatar Film Committee, an official body that is part of the Media City Qatar hub tasked with driving growth of the country’s entertainment industry. But Al Thawadi made it clear that Hollywood should not be expecting any handouts from Qatar. ‘This agreement is about more than financing films,’ he said, after announcing the relatively modest pact with Neon that involves six to 10 feature films and shorts over a four-year period that Neon will co-finance and distribute. ‘It’s about creating a new platform for Arabic and regional storytelling, ensuring that stories from Qatar and the wider Arab world are seen, celebrated, and shared globally.’” [Variety]
Beyond Denominations: In Tablet, Rabbi Nolan Lebovitz argues that the post-Oct. 7 landscape provides an opportunity for the American Jewish community to find new ways of collaboration and partnership relating to Israel that go beyond the confines of denominations. “We should drop the focus on denominational labels and instead be willing to partner with anyone — Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, and everything in-between — who is a Zionist. Now that the crisis of war is behind us, how do we together foster a new, inspiring Jewish identity of Oct. 8? We can invite rabbis from other regions and other denominations into our communities to speak and to teach to build bonds. We can also work together and pool resources in programming efforts. More communities can work together to share the messages of Zionist thinkers and authors, artists and musicians. Pooling our resources and ideas can help bridge the American Jewish connection with our Israeli brothers and sisters.” [Tablet]
Word on the Street
Rep. Don Davis (D-NC), a pro-Israel stalwart among House Democrats, will run for reelection in his redrawn 1st Congressional District, which under the new state congressional map was won by President Donald Trump by 11 points…
A federal judge ordered the University of Florida’s law school to reinstate a student who had authored a paper arguing that “Jews must be abolished by any means necessary”…
The New York Times interviews former Israeli hostage Segev Kalfon about the more than two years he spent in Hamas captivity in Gaza…
Actor Guy Pearce apologized for sharing antisemitic social media posts, including content that blamed Israel for the Sept. 11 attacks as well as the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk…
A tribunal affiliated with the U.K.’s National Health Service suspended for 15 months a British-Palestinian doctor who defended Hamas terrorists as “oppressed resistance fighters” and called Israelis “worse than Nazis”…
U.K. police arrested a man in connection with the deadly attack on a Manchester synagogue on Yom Kippur in which two congregants were killed…
A Nazi soldier photographed executing a Jewish man in the Ukrainian town of Vinnitsa was identified using artificial intelligence decades after the image, whose subjects were unknown, gained notoriety during the trial of Adolf Eichmann…
Wizz Air CEO Jozsef Varadi said the low-cost European carrier plans to open a hub in Israel in early 2026…
Israeli drone manufacturer Heven AeroTech raised $100 million in a round of funding, led by IonQ, that values the company at more than $1 billion…
Iran said it would boycott the 2026 World Cup draw this week in Washington after the U.S. denied visas to members of the soccer team’s delegation…
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who met with his Turkish counterpart in Tehran over the weekend, announced a $1.6 billion joint project with Ankara to build a rail link connecting Asia and Europe…
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps seized an Eswatini-flagged ship carrying oil and more than a dozen crew members as it transited through the Persian Gulf; the incident occurred less than a month after the IRGC seized a Marshall Islands-flagged vessel that originated in the United Arab Emirates…
The Wall Street Journal reports on Iran’s efforts to funnel money to Hezbollah through Dubai-based companies…
In The New York Times’ “Modern Love” column, Rabbi Brent Chaim Spodek reflects on his own marriage and the vows and promises made in his ketubah…
Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Alexis Lewis, who is Jewish, married in a ceremony co-officiated by Rabbi Matthew Gewirtz, a longtime friend of Booker, in Washington over the weekend…
Tony Award-winning playwright Tom Stoppard, whose “Leopoldstadt” reflected his own life as an assimilated Englishman who did not learn of his family ties to the Holocaust until adulthood, died at 88… Israeli Maj. Gen. (res.) Dan Tolkowsky, who led the Israeli Air Force from 1953-1958 before going on to found the country’s first VC, died at 104… Tekserve co-founder David Lerner died at 72… Architect Robert A.M. Stern, who gained global acclaim for Manhattan’s 15 Central Park West, died at 86… Psychologist Paul Ekman, whose pioneering work on facial recognition was used by Hollywood animators and the FBI alike, died at 91…
Pic of the Day
Brig. Gen. (res.) Dr. Daniel Gold, head of the Israel Ministry of Defense Directorate of Defense Research & Development, spoke this morning at the International DefenseTech Summit at Tel Aviv University.
Birthdays
Singer, actress, comedian and author, Bette Midler turns 80…
Former CEO of Marvel Comics and chairman until 2023 of Disney’s Marvel Entertainment, Isaac “Ike” Perlmutter turns 83… Former EVP of Stuart Weitzman, Jane Weitzman… NYC-based real estate mogul, he owned the New York Post, served as chair of NYC’s MTA and is a noted car collector, Peter Kalikow turns 83… Executive producer of over 200 shows with more than 15,000 hours of television over a lengthy career, David E. Salzman turns 82… Comedian, actor and voice actor best known for his starring role in the animated sitcom “Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist,” Jonathan Katz turns 79… Former director of Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies, he is now the director of Yashrut, Rabbi Daniel Landes turns 75… Former president of the American Jewish Committee and a board member at Israel Policy Forum, John M. Shapiro… British playwright, director and scriptwriter who has won many awards for his work on the stage, film and television, Stephen Poliakoff turns 73… U.S. senator (R-FL), Rick Scott turns 73… Newly appointed rabbi at Congregation Beth El of Windsor, Ontario, Rabbi Gordon Fuller… Former chair of the board of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation, Isaac “Ike” Fisher turns 69… U.S. District Court judge in Oregon, Judge Michael H. Simon turns 69… U.S. senator (D-MI), Gary Peters turns 67… CEO of Oracle Corporation until a few months ago, now vice chair of the board, she also joined the board of the recently merged Paramount Skydance, Safra A. Catz turns 64… Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Physics at the University of Cambridge, Raymond E. Goldstein turns 64… Pittsburgh-based entrepreneur, David Seldin… CEO at My Pest Pros in Fairfax County (Virginia), Brett Lieberman… Emmy Award-winning stand-up comedian, actress, producer and writer, Sarah Silverman turns 55… Rabbi of Shaarei Tefillah Congregation in Toronto, Rafi Lipner turns 52… Editorial lead in policy communications on the global affairs team at OpenAI, he is the author of a book on military suicides, Yochi J. Dreazen turns 49… Emmy and Peabody Award-winning director, comedian, producer, writer and actor, Akiva Schaffer turns 48… Marketing and communications executive, Natalie Ravitz… Editor-in-chief at Jewish Insider, Josh Kraushaar… Writer and television producer, including for NBC’s primetime series “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” Evan Daniel Susser turns 40… English teacher at Jerusalem’s Inbar School, the first secular, girls-only middle-high school in Israel, Shira Sacks… Senior advisor to U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, David Milstein… Mexican musician influenced by Sephardic brass and klezmer styles, known by his mononym “Sotelúm,” Jorge Sotelo turns 36… Becky Weissman…
Plus, partisan redistricting endangers pro-Israel lawmakers
Republican Jewish Coalition CEO Matt Brooks, center, alongside Ari Fleischer, an RJC board member and press secretary to former President George W. Bush, answers questions from members of the news media about confronting antisemitism within the Republican Party, during the coalition's annual conference at the Venetian Resort in Las Vegas, Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025. (AP/Thomas Beaumont)
Good Monday morning!
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we report from the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership summit in Las Vegas, and look at how mid-decade redistricting efforts in a handful of states could affect pro-Israel legislators. We report on newly obtained audio of Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner expounding on his Israel views, and cover the arrest of Israel’s former military advocate-general, who resigned from her position last week. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Michael Eisenberg, Sylvan Adams and Gordon Gee.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by Jewish Insider Executive Editor Melissa Weiss and Israel Editor Tamara Zieve, with assists from Danielle Cohen-Kanik and Marc Rod. Have a tip? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
- The Foundation for Defense of Democracies is hosting a virtual event with former Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz on his vision for the future of Israel’s security and relationships around the world.
- The Anti-Defamation League is hosting its annual real estate reception in New York City. This year’s event will honor Feil Organization CFO Eric Lowenstein.
- Elsewhere in New York, Birthright Israel is holding its annual gala tonight. Actor Jonah Platt is slated to emcee the evening’s events, which will honor Lynn Schusterman.
- In Israel, the annual Christian Media Summit kicked off last night in Jerusalem.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MATTHEW KASSEL
LAS VEGAS — Until last week, the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership summit was expected to be a triumphant gathering to celebrate President Donald Trump’s accomplishments in the Middle East, chief among them his administration’s recently brokered ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, Jewish Insider‘s Matthew Kassel reports.
That all changed after Tucker Carlson hosted the neo-Nazi influencer Nick Fuentes on his podcast for a sympathetic interview, provoking fierce backlash. By the time that Kevin Roberts, the president of the Heritage Foundation, came to Carlson’s defense on Thursday, the RJC recognized its conference would require a thematic update to more forcefully emphasize the urgency of confronting rising antisemitism — and its enablers — within the GOP.
“If there was ever a time for the RJC, this is our time,” Norm Coleman, the organization’s national chairman, said in opening remarks on Friday. “We have been called to this moment to fight the scourge of antisemitism.”
But even as multiple speakers at the three-day summit held at the Venetian Resort — including congressional leaders, conservative activists and media personalities — alluded to antisemitism in their ranks, many talked in broad strokes, didn’t mention Carlson by name or downplayed the issue as confined to the fringes, despite Carlson and Fuentes each commanding a significant number of dedicated followers on the far right.
SPEAKING UP
Lindsey Graham calls Tucker Carlson antisemitism a ‘wake-up call’ for GOP
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) spoke out against Tucker Carlson for giving a friendly platform to Nick Fuentes, the neo-Nazi influencer, on his podcast this week, calling it “a wake-up call” for the Republican Party as it grapples with rising antisemitism within its ranks. “How many times does he have to play footsie with this antisemitic view of the Jewish people and Israel until you figure out that’s what he believes?” Graham said of Carlson in an interview with Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel on Friday on the sidelines of the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership summit at the Venetian Resort.
‘Niche market:’ Graham said that “antisemitism has been with us, and it’ll always be with us, and the goal is to limit it, fight back and contain it. I am confident that if anybody in the Republican world ran for office as a member of Congress, for the Senate or any major elected office and spouted this garbage, it would get creamed,” Graham told JI. “This is a niche market. It won’t sell to a wider audience.”
Drawing a red line: Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) called Tucker Carlson “the most dangerous antisemite in America” in remarks on Saturday at the conference, in what was an unusually direct rebuke of the far-right commentator who is facing backlash over his recent friendly interview with the neo-Nazi influencer Nick Fuentes, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.
OUT OF BOUNDS
At RJC summit, Ted Cruz slams right-wing embrace of antisemitic figures
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) criticized Republicans who refuse to disavow prominent antisemites in the conservative movement as “cowards” after the Heritage Foundation and its president, Kevin Roberts, defended Tucker Carlson and his friendly interview with neo-Nazi influencer Nick Fuentes. Cruz warned during a half-hour address at the opening of the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual summit in Las Vegas on Thursday evening that young Christians were turning away from supporting Israel, something he argued was the result of pro-Israel Christians being maligned by leading voices in the America First movement, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports.
Cruz’s comments: The Texas Republican senator did not mention the Heritage Foundation, Roberts, Carlson or Fuentes by name, though he accused anyone who uncritically promotes Adolf Hitler of being “complicit” in spreading virulent antisemitism. Fuentes has praised Hitler on multiple occasions; in his statement, Roberts said he “disagree[s] with” some of Fuentes’ views, “but canceling him is not the answer.” “The last year, we’ve seen three prominent people on the right publicly muse, ‘Gosh, maybe Hitler’s not all that bad.’ No. He is the embodiment of evil, a grotesque bigot. And if you’re confused by that, you’re an imbecile,” Cruz said on Thursday. “Too many people are scared to confront them. I want to ask you, how many elected Republicans do you see standing up and calling this out? How many do you see willing to take on the voices in the anti-Israel right?”
Bonus: Following Roberts’ comments last week, Heritage’s chief of staff, Ryan Neuhaus, was reassigned to serve as a senior advisor, while the think tank’s executive vice president, Derrick Morgan, was moved into the chief of staff role on an interim basis through the end of the year.
PLATNER’S POSITION
Newly surfaced recording of Graham Platner highlights his Israel fixation
Like many progressives now running for Congress, Graham Platner, a Democratic Senate candidate in Maine, has made opposition to Israel a central part of his messaging. But more so than many candidates, the political newcomer seems particularly invested in engaging on Middle East policy. In a private conversation with attendees of an August fundraiser in Maine, Platner defended his stances on Israel and shared previously undisclosed details about his personal ties to the region, according to audio of the discussion, recently shared with Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel.
What he said: While he said he agreed that Hamas is a terrorist organization, Platner claimed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had “publicly stated that” Israel was “funding Hamas to make sure that there was going to be no non-radical leadership within Gaza in order to keep a Palestinian state from happening.” While members of Netanyahu’s coalition have made this argument, the prime minister has never personally made such a claim. New York Times reporting from shortly after the Oct. 7 attacks alleged that the Israeli prime minister had allowed the Qatari government to send money into the Gaza Strip for several years in order to “maintain peace in Gaza.”
Family ties: In the conversation, which took place before controversy ensnared his campaign, Platner noted his stepbrother is Seth Frantzman, an Israeli author, journalist and security analyst who has long worked for for The Jerusalem Post and lives in Jerusalem, saying they are “very close,” according to the audio.
Bonus: Platner’s finance director became the latest campaign departure last week, following the exits last month of Platner’s campaign manager and political director. Ronald Holmes said in a LinkedIn post that he “began to feel that my professional standards as a campaign professional no longer fully aligned with those of the campaign.”
MAPPING MOVES
Partisan redistricting efforts endanger pro-Israel incumbents
Triggered by President Donald Trump’s efforts to gain a partisan edge in the 2026 midterm elections, a cascade of states is undertaking unusual mid-decade redistricting efforts, in what has become a growing race between Democrats and Republicans to shore up incumbents, knock out lawmakers from the opposing party and create more-winnable seats. On both sides of the aisle, the efforts could endanger a number of vocal pro-Israel incumbents, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Who’s in danger: The districts of Reps. Greg Landsman (D-OH) and Don Davis (D-NC) have been redrawn to be less favorable to the incumbents, and in Florida, Republicans are considering efforts to pack Democratic voters into a smaller number of districts, potentially endangering several pro-Israel incumbents including Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Jared Moskowitz and Darren Soto. On the Republican side, a series of GOP lawmakers in California with strong records on Israel and antisemitism could be impacted by the redistricting push, including Rep. Ken Calvert — who chairs the Appropriations subcommittee on defense funding — as well as Reps. Darrell Issa, Kevin Kiley, Doug LaMalfa and David Valadao.
LEGAL TROUBLES
Ex-IDF advocate-general arrested over alleged destruction of evidence after being reported missing
Former IDF Advocate-General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi was arrested on Sunday evening, reportedly on grounds of obstruction of an investigation, after disappearing and leaving behind a note raising concerns of a potential suicide. The arrest came two days after she resigned her post following a determination by police that she had leaked sensitive materials showing alleged abuse of a Palestinian detainee at Israel’s Sde Teiman prison to the media, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports.
Chain of events: Police found Tomer-Yerushalmi’s car at a beach north of Tel Aviv, hours after relatives reported that she was missing. According to Israeli media, she had left a note to her family telling them, “don’t look back.” The ensuing manhunt involved police, the Israeli Navy, drones with geothermal detection and more. Tomer-Yerushalmi was arrested after police found her safe, but without her phone, which had last been tracked near her car and then turned off. The disappearance of the phone raised police officers’ concern that she had possibly staged a suicide attempt to cover up the destruction of evidence caused by the disposal of her phone, Ynet reported. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said on Monday that Tomer-Yerushalmi remains on suicide watch in jail.
UNIVERSITY INSIGHTS
Longtime higher ed leader Gordon Gee says fear, not free speech, is ruling America’s campuses
Gordon Gee has served as president of more American universities than almost anyone, as far as he knows. Most recently he led West Virginia University, from which he retired in July; before that, he oversaw Ohio State, Vanderbilt, Brown and the University of Colorado over a span of 45 years. In an interview with Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch last week, Gee, 81, looked back on his career and reflected on the state of academia, noting a growing chasm between what he described as two different kinds of universities: those like Vanderbilt, that have held firm to the principles of institutional neutrality, and those like his alma mater, Columbia University, that have struggled to take an impartial stance in response to campus protests and antisemitism — and that are wary of making significant change.
Fear factor: “The biggest challenge facing university presidents is fear,” said Gee. “I think the university presidents, in many ways, are paralyzed, and a lot of it is brought on by themselves, because of the fact that they allowed themselves to become kind of engaged in this ‘go along, get along’ response, and now all of a sudden, when they discover that they’ve got to take a stand, it’s becoming very difficult for many of them.”
Bonus: In The Atlantic, University of Chicago law professor Aziz Huq suggests that the Trump administration’s recent offer to prioritize federal funding for schools that agree to a series of dictates from the government provides universities that don’t agree to the compact with new opportunities, noting that “[w]ithdrawal from the embrace of the federal government, while painful, also is a chance to confront some latent, long-simmering weaknesses of the existing higher-education model.”
Worthy Reads
Roberts’ Rules of Disorder: The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board weighs in on Heritage Foundation CEO Kevin Roberts’ response to recent antisemitic comments by far-right commentators Tucker Carlson and Nick Fuentes. “Amid criticism on Friday, Mr. Roberts scrambled to list Mr. Fuentes’s odiousness, but his initial contribution was to join in the Jew-baiting. His video framed the issue not as antisemitism, but as Christian freedom of conscience in the face of a hostile attempt to impose loyalty to Israel on Americans. … If conservatives — and Republicans — don’t call out this poison in their own ranks before it corrupts more young minds, the right and America are entering dangerous territory.” [WSJ]
Boycotting The Times: The Atlantic’s Jonathan Chait reflects on a push by anti-Israel figures to refuse to submit future op-eds to The New York Times over the paper’s perceived bias toward Israel. “But the extent to which these writers object to the sword depends on who is wielding it. The letter’s demands come from a coalition of nine groups, three of which have declined to condemn Hamas for the October 7 attack, while six — the U.S. Palestinian Community Network, the Palestinian Feminist Collective, the Palestine Solidarity Working Group, the Palestinian Youth Movement, Pal-Awda, and National Students for Justice in Palestine — rationalized or directly endorsed the massacre.” [TheAtlantic]
Fear of Mamdani: In the Jewish News Syndicate, William Daroff and Betsy Berns Korn, respectively the CEO and chair of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, raise concerns about New York City mayoral front-runner Zohran Mamdami over what they describe as his demonstrated “hostility toward the concerns of the Jewish community and contempt for the broader public interest” ahead of tomorrow’s election. “What begins as a debate about policy too often becomes a campaign of hostility toward Jews. In this context, any candidate who fails to condemn terrorists who burned families alive, abducted civilians, and committed rape and other war crimes, as Hamas and other Palestinian terrorists did in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, forfeits the moral right to seek public office.” [JNS]
PA Still Key: In the National Interest, David Makovsky and Shira Efron posit that the Palestinian Authority Security Forces could serve as an “imperfect but plausible” option on the ground in postwar Gaza. “Despite their shortcomings, these forces have over three decades of experience in security coordination with the IDF in the West Bank. … The PA today is like a car without wheels: it cannot drive Gaza out of the post-October 7 morass. But wheels can be added — reforms that build credibility, training that professionalizes the PA’s security forces, and service delivery that tangibly improves daily life for suffering Gazans. With each milestone, the PA gains a larger role, international donors gain confidence, Israel gains a more stable frontier, Gazans gain a path out of limbo, and Palestinians everywhere regain agency that could help establish a political horizon.” [NationalInterest]
Word on the Street
In a wide-ranging CBS “60 Minutes” interview that aired Sunday night, President Donald Trump described the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas as being “very solid”; Trump also said that the U.S. would be “involved” in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial, two weeks after the president, speaking at the Knesset, called on Israeli President Isaac Herzog to pardon Netanyahu…
Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel would “act as necessary” if Lebanon does not move to fully disarm Hezbollah, amid concerns that the Iran-backed terror group is rearming in defiance of the ceasefire inked last year…
Amos Hochstein, who served as a senior official in the Biden administration overseeing the Lebanon portfolio, cautioned that Israel’s muscular approach to Hezbollah in Lebanon could be “counterproductive” and that Beirut is “in a really tough spot” as it works to shore up international support…
Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen said his U.S. counterpart, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, canceled a planned trip to Israel following Jerusalem’s decision to hit pause on a $35 billion gas agreement with Egypt that would be the biggest gas deal in Israel’s history…
Video from a May 2024 city council meeting in Hamtramck, Mich., that was recently viewed by local media showed Mayor Amer Ghalib, the Trump administration’s nominee to be U.S. ambassador to Kuwait, voicing support for the council’s passage of a boycott, divestment and sanctions resolution targeting Israel; Ghalib told members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that he had not supported the resolution…
The Diocese of Harrisburg, Pa., condemned and apologized for a Halloween float representing a local Catholic school that included a replica of the front gates of Auschwitz with the words “Arbeit Macht Frei”…
The Wall Street Journal spotlights Palantir’s new “Meritocracy Fellowship” in which 22 high school graduates spend four months at the company in lieu of pursuing a traditional college track…
A spokesperson for Zohran Mamdani said that the New York City Democratic mayoral candidate, if elected, would reassess the partnership between the Roosevelt Island campus of Cornell University and Israel’s Technion…
Former U.K. Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn, who was ousted from the party’s leadership over a series of antisemitism incidents, phone-banked for Mamdani over the weekend…
A London bus driver was suspended after refusing to return a dropped bank card to a visibly Jewish man and hurling antisemitic insults at the passenger for an hour until police arrived…
A French court sentenced four Bulgarian men to prison terms ranging between two and four years over the vandalism last year of Paris’ Holocaust memorial…
The bodies of three Israelis were repatriated to Israel and identified overnight as dual American Israeli citizen Capt. Omer Neutra, Col. Asaf Hamami and Staff Sgt. Oz Daniel; the exchange came a day after Israeli forensics determined that three bodies given to Israel by Hamas on Friday evening did not belong to any of the remaining hostages…
Israel announced a series of tax benefits aimed at luring Israeli high-tech workers abroad back to the country amid an exodus that followed the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks and ensuing war…
Canadian Israeli philanthropist Sylvan Adams committed $100 million to help rebuild the Soroka Medical Center in Beersheva, Israel, which sustained significant damage during the 12-day war between Israel and Iran in June, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross reports…
Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi told attendees at the IISS Manama Dialogue in Bahrain over the weekend that Gulf countries should reverse course on their isolation of Iran and deepen diplomatic, economic and security cooperation with Tehran…
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said that Iran would rebuild its nuclear facilities with “greater strength,” while denying that the country is seeking nuclear weapons…
The New York Times published a belated obituary for World War II partisan fighter and poet Hannah Senesh as part of the paper’s “Overlooked No More” series; Senesh was executed at age 23 after being captured by the Nazis in 1944…
Dutch-Jewish resistance member Selma van de Perre, who forged and delivered documents and helped Jewish families seeking shelter, died at 103…
Pic of the Day
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met in Jerusalem over the weekend with Aryeh Lightstone, who is serving as a senior advisor to White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff; White House senior advisor Josh Gruenbaum and venture capitalist Michael Eisenberg, who is working with the U.S. team overseeing ceasefire efforts.
Birthdays
Winner of the 2013 Nobel Prize in medicine, professor at Yale University, James Rothman turns 75…
Chancellor emeritus of The Jewish Theological Seminary where he also served as a professor of Jewish history, Ismar Schorsch, Ph.D. turns 90… Senior U.S. District Court judge in California, he is the younger brother of retired SCOTUS Justice Stephen Breyer, Judge Charles Breyer turns 84… U.S. senator (D-HI), Mazie K. Hirono turns 78… Resident of Great Barrington, Mass., and a part-time researcher at UC Berkeley, Barbara Zheutlin… Rabbi emeritus at Temple Anshe Sholom in Olympia Fields, Ill., Paul Caplan turns 73… Actress, comedian, writer and television producer, best known for the long-running and award-winning television sitcom “Roseanne,” Roseanne Barr turns 73… Comedian, talk show host, political and sports commentator, Dennis Miller turns 72… Manuscript editor and lecturer, author of books on the stigma of childlessness and on the Balfour Declaration, Elliot Jager turns 71… Award-winning Israeli photographer whose works have appeared in galleries in many countries, Naomi Leshem turns 62… Regional director of development for The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Jeanne Epstein… Podcaster and clinical professor of marketing at the New York University Stern School of Business, Scott Galloway turns 61… Co-founder and former CEO of Blizzard Entertainment, now CEO of Dreamhaven, Michael Morhaime turns 58… Entrepreneur-in-residence at Loeb Enterprises, he was previously co-chair of the board of the Yeshiva University Museum, Edward Stelzer… VP for federal affairs at CVS Health, she was the White House director of legislative affairs in the last year of the Obama administration, Amy Rosenbaum turns 54… Director of development for States United Democracy Center, Amie Kershner… Partner at political consulting firm GDA Wins, Gabby Adler… Agent at Creative Artists Agency, Rachel Elizabeth Adler… Actress who won three Daytime Emmy Awards for her role on “ABC’s General Hospital,” Julie Berman turns 42… Director of corporate responsibility, communications and engagement at Southern Company Gas, Robin Levy Gray… Senior managing director at Guggenheim Securities, Rowan Morris… General manager of NJ/NY Gotham FC, a women’s soccer team based in Harrison, N.J., Yael Averbuch West turns 39… Former captain in the U.S. Marine Corps, he is a co-founder of D.C.-based Compass Coffee, Michael Haft turns 39… New York state senator, Michelle Hinchey turns 38… Deputy coordinator for global China affairs at the U.S. Department of State, Julian Baird Gewirtz turns 36… Recent MBA graduate at The Wharton School, Ben Kirshner turns 33… Marketing manager at American Express, Caroline Michelman turns 33… Founder and CEO of Noyse Publicity Management, Noy Assraf turns 30… Actress and model, Diana Silvers turns 28… Stu Rosenberg…
Plus, Tom Suozzi takes a stand on Israel
Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images
U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff (C), flanked by Jared Kushner (L), speaks at the weekly 'Bring Them Home' rally in Hostage Square Hostages Square on October 11, 2025 in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Good Monday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we preview this week’s meetings in Israel between senior Israeli officials and Vice President JD Vance, White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, and spotlight the upcoming races that will pit extremist candidates against the mainstream. We talk to Rep. Tom Suozzi about support for Israel within the Democratic Party, and report on concerns voiced by the American Jewish Committee over New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s rhetoric toward Jews and Israelis.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by Jewish Insider Executive Editor Melissa Weiss and Israel Editor Tamara Zieve with assists from Marc Rod and Danielle Cohen-Kanik. Have a tip? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
- Jared Kushner and White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff touched down earlier today in Israel, a day after the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas showed signs of possible collapse amid repeated Hamas violations and Israeli airstrikes in Rafah in response. More below.
- Vice President JD Vance is departing Washington later today for Israel, where he’ll join Witkoff and Kushner.
- Today is the official deadline for nine universities to accept a “compact” offered by the Trump administration that would give preferential access to federal funds to schools that accept the White House’s 10-point plan, which includes a number of commitments regarding employment and student demographics as well as pledging to prioritize ideological diversity. Five schools — MIT, Brown, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Virginia and the University of Southern California — have already declined to accept the compact. Read more about the compact here.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S JOSH KRAUSHAAR
Last Friday, we laid out how American Jewry is facing a fork in the road in the aftermath of the Gaza war and release of hostages, and that the coming months will be crucial in assessing whether Jews will experience a renewed period of normalcy or whether the rising tide of anti-Israel sentiment and antisemitism will continue unabated.
There are a number of upcoming key elections that will test the power of the mainstream against extremist forces. Here are the developments we’ll be watching most closely:
Will Zohran Mamdani win a majority of the New York City vote, and how will he govern if elected as mayor? Right now, without any surge in funding and organization among anti-Mamdani forces in Gotham, it’s looking very likely that the far-left candidate will prevail. But polls still show him consistently under 50%, without gaining any real momentum since winning the Democratic primary. And half of the six most recent public polls in the race (as tracked by RealClearPolitics) show the anti-Mamdani candidates collectively winning more of the vote than the front-runner. This race doesn’t at all look like a mandate for the far left.
If Mamdani wins, the next big question is whether he’ll govern more pragmatically than his past record would suggest. Will he try to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he visits New York City, as the candidate has consistently said he would do on the campaign trail? Will he threaten the tax-exempt status of Jewish groups because they support Israel? Will he reappoint Jessica Tisch, the effective NYPD chief, as a signal of his willingness to moderate?
He’s been wooing business leaders and working to spin reporters that he’s not as ideological as his political career suggests, but that may be more wishful thinking than anything based on a careful scrutiny of his comments and record.
Will Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) or Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) receive a serious primary challenge? Massie and Greene are the two members of the small but loud faction of the anti-Israel and increasingly antisemitic crowd among House Republicans. Not coincidentally, they also are the two Republicans that are most antagonistic toward President Donald Trump — from calling for a release of the government files on Jeffrey Epstein to, in Greene’s case, agreeing with some Democratic health care demands during the government shutdown.
Massie looks more politically vulnerable, with Trump and his allies actively recruiting a challenger to run against him and releasing internal polling showing he can be defeated. Former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein, who ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the Kentucky Senate last year, looks like Trump’s favored candidate. But no one has yet announced a challenge, with the filing deadline less than three months away (Jan. 9).
Greene looks safer, but her increasing Trump criticism could change that dynamic. The filing deadline in Georgia isn’t until March 2026.
How credible a threat will Graham Platner pose to Gov. Janet Mills in Maine’s Democratic Senate primary? Under normal political circumstances, an established two-term governor would hold a commanding advantage over an oyster farmer without any elective experience in a race for the Senate. That’s especially true given that the challenger has a long paper trail of comments calling himself a communist and embracing a laundry list of radical views.
Yet Platner has parlayed his rough-and-tumble biography and anti-establishment authenticity into media buzz, and raised an impressive $4 million for the race since announcing his candidacy over the summer.
Mills, who is 77 and the favorite of Democratic Party leaders, starts out as the favorite to win the nomination. Platner has lately been facing scrutiny over his lengthy string of social media posts where he identified as a communist, called all police “bastards” and said rural Americans are racist and stupid, among other incendiary comments. He also downplayed concerns of sexual assault in the military in online forums.
Normally, those types of views and comments would be political career-enders. But in this anti-establishment, populist moment, it’s hard to be confident in assuming the traditional rules of politics apply. After all, Mamdani has weathered scrutiny of his own radical affiliations without suffering outsized political consequences.
In addition to holding down-the-line progressive views on the economy, Platner is also uniquely hostile to Israel, even to the point of releasing a digital attack ad against the pro-Israel advocacy group AIPAC. Shortly after launching his campaign for the Senate, Platner labeled Israel’s war against Hamas a genocide.
Mills, as governor, doesn’t have much of a foreign policy record but has spoken out against Israel boycott measures embraced by municipal leaders in Portland. But as the candidate representing more-mainstream Maine Democrats, it’s likely she will adopt a more-moderate posture when it comes to Middle East policy.
DAMAGE CONTROL
Witkoff, Kushner land in Israel as ceasefire shaken by Hamas violations, IDF retaliation
U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived in Israel on Monday morning to discuss the next phase of the Gaza ceasefire, a day after Hamas killed two IDF soldiers and the Israeli Air Force struck in Rafah in response, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports.
Breach of calm: Hamas terrorists shot an anti-tank missile at heavy machinery used by the IDF to destroy the terrorist organization’s tunnels in Rafah, killing two soldiers. The IDF suspects the attack was part of an attempt to capture soldiers, Walla! News reported. There have also been several recent attacks by Hamas, including two on Friday in which terrorists came out of tunnels and shot at IDF soldiers.
Quiet restored: The Israeli army announced last night, “In accordance with the directive of the political echelon, and following a series of significant strikes in response to Hamas’ violations, the IDF has begun the renewed enforcement of the ceasefire. The IDF will continue to uphold the ceasefire agreement and will respond firmly to any violation of it.”
DUELING NARRATIVES
Israelis divided over Kushner, Witkoff portrayals of Doha strike
Two clashing narratives have emerged about Israel’s strike on a meeting of senior Hamas terrorists in Doha, Qatar, in September, following the release of a preview of an interview with U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner on CBS’ “60 Minutes” program aired on Sunday evening. Both narratives posit that the strike hastened the arrival of President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan to free the hostages and end the war. Figures close to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the attack pushed an anxious Qatar, Hamas’ patron and host of its senior officials, to do more to get the terrorist organization across the finish line. Trump’s negotiators, however, presented a scenario in which the president, unhappy about the strike, pressured Israel to end the war, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports.
View from U.S.: Of the Israeli strike on Doha, Witkoff said that he and Kushner, who in recent months has also played a key role in the administration’s Middle East efforts, “felt a little bit betrayed.” Kushner added, “I think [Trump] felt like the Israelis were getting a little bit out of control in what they were doing, and it was time to be very strong and stop them from doing things he thought were not in their long-term interest.”
View from Bibi’s camp: Jerusalem, however, had a different version of the events, as told by Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, Netanyahu’s closest confidante, in an Israel Hayom column column by journalist Amit Segal. Dermer, Segal wrote, “links the strike to the agreement … The Qataris, it turns out, were convinced that by agreeing to host the negotiations, they had obtained immunity from Israeli strikes on their soil. From their perspective, the strike was a blatant, offensive breach of the commitment. … The Americans’ genius was to convert that negative energy into fuel to propel negotiations to their goal. ‘You want Israel to stop? Then let’s end the war.’”
candidate concerns
AJC warns of Mamdani’s ‘continued use of problematic rhetoric’ toward Israel, Jews
The American Jewish Committee raised concerns on Friday about Zohran Mamdani’s “continued use of problematic rhetoric as it relates to Israel and Jews” and called on the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City to “change course” as he prepares for the Nov. 4 election, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.
AJC’s argument: In a lengthy statement, the nonpartisan organization cited, among other things, Mamdani’s repeated claim that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, which the AJC called “unequivocally false and dangerous.” The charge “has not been proven in any international court” and “gives fodder to those who continue to use Israel’s self-defensive actions as an excuse to threaten and attack Jews,” the group said. The AJC also criticized Mamdani’s refusal to recognize Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, saying that he is upholding an “unacceptable double standard” in his assessment of the region. “Israel is surrounded by Muslim countries,” the group wrote, “yet Mamdani does not continuously suggest that any of those nations should not exist as they are.”
Notable quotable: Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove of the Conservative Park Avenue Synagogue said in an address on Saturday: “Mamdani’s distinction between accepting Jews and denying a Jewish state is not merely a rhetorical sleight of hand or political naïveté — though it is to be clear both of those — his doing so is to traffic in the most dangerous of tropes.”
SUOZZI’S STAND
Tom Suozzi finds comfort zone in the political middle, speaking up for Israel
In recent months, Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) has stood apart from many of his Democratic colleagues in offering staunch support for Israel, openly praising President Donald Trump for finalizing a deal to free the hostages in Gaza and maintaining a hard line against New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani. Suozzi, a moderate Democrat who hails from a swing district on Long Island with a significant Jewish population, is a longtime stalwart supporter of Israel, and argued in a recent interview with Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod that maintaining bipartisanship on the issue is critical.
Trump talk: Suozzi has been among the minority of Democrats who have openly credited Trump for the ceasefire that secured the release of the remaining living hostages in Gaza last week. “We thank God and congratulate President Trump and all those who helped make the return of the hostages a reality. As we celebrate this moment, let us also pause to pray for all those who have endured so much suffering, death and destruction along the way,” Suozzi told JI last Monday, after the hostages were freed. “It’s plain on its face that the president orchestrated this and put a tremendous amount of effort into this,” he continued. “I disagree with the president on certain things, but when it comes to this issue, I’m fully aligned with him.”
NOMINEE NEWS
Controversial Kuwait ambassador nominee scheduled for confirmation hearing
Amer Ghalib, the mayor of Hamtramck, Mich., and President Donald Trump’s nominee to be U.S. ambassador to Kuwait, is scheduled for a confirmation hearing in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a delayed step toward confirmation for a nominee whose background and past comments have come under scrutiny, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
The latest: Ghalib will come before the committee on Thursday, at the first confirmation hearing the committee has held in more than a month. Ghalib is currently the only nominee on the agenda for that hearing. The Democratic Hamtramck mayor, who endorsed Trump in the 2024 election and helped him rally support in Michigan’s Arab and Muslim American communities, has a history of anti-Israel activity, as well as liking antisemitic posts on social media.
Worthy Reads
The Case Against Bolton: The Atlantic’s Shane Harris considers why the federal government’s legal effort against former National Security Advisor John Bolton is more likely than other cases against Trump administration critics to advance. “People I spoke with who are knowledgeable about the Bolton case — including what he allegedly did while serving in the White House in Trump’s first term, and internal deliberations over whether to charge him with mishandling classified information — say that indicting the former adviser was not an easy call. But the case, several said, is ‘righteous.’ Reading the charges, I’m inclined to agree that if its facts are accurate, the government has a strong argument. I’ve covered a lot of cases of mishandling classified information and documents. Some people who have faced charges like those Bolton does now are in prison.” [TheAtlantic]
The Dermer Difference: The Wall Street Journal’s Anat Peled profiles Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, who has “played the role of Trump whisperer” in his role as a top advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “Most Americans don’t know his name and he rarely speaks publicly in Israel. But he is one of the most influential American-born Israeli politicians in the nation’s history and has been key to maintaining U.S. support for the war and cutting a deal to end it largely on Israel’s terms. … Born and raised in Florida, Dermer speaks Trump’s language, say people who have worked with him. Netanyahu, in his 2022 memoir, recalled how Dermer used golf terminology when talking to Trump. ‘“Peace with the Emirates is a 5-foot putt. Peace with the Saudis is a 30-foot putt. And peace with the Palestinians is a hole-in-one through a brick wall,”’ Netanyahu recalled.” [WSJ]
Hamas to Blame: The Washington Post’s editorial board argues that Hamas “is to blame” for the ceasefire lapses that have occurred since last week. “Indeed, Hamas is so weak right now that it faces challenges to its control of Gaza and can likely cling to power only by massacring its Palestinian enemies, just as it did in 2007 following violent clashes with its political rival Fatah. Before the ink even dried on the latest ceasefire agreement, Hamas enforcers emerged from their underground dens, fresh-faced, well-fed and clad in clean uniforms. Hamas declared war on at least four Palestinian clans, several of which are thought to have been cooperating with Israel. Clips of Hamas commissars executing bound men in the middle of the street, or shooting suspected thieves in the legs, have circulated widely. … All revolutions eventually consume themselves. Unfortunately for the miserable Palestinians of Gaza, Hamas is not quite yet in its final death throes.” [WashPost]
Word on the Street
Authorities in Louisiana arrested a Gazan man who federal officials said lied about his participation in terrorist activities on his visa application; an unsealed FBI complaint said that Mahmoud Amin Ya’qub Al-Muhtadi, a member of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and led a group into Israel during the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks…
Saudi officials have discussed with U.S. officials the possibility of a defense pact similar to the one the White House recently inked with Qatar; Riyadh is pushing for the agreement to be finalized ahead of a scheduled visit to Washington next month by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman…
President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump sent condolences to the Orthodox Union following the passing last week of OU Executive Vice President Rabbi Moshe Hauer, calling him a “man of deep faith, wisdom and compassion whose life reflected an unwavering devotion to the Almighty, to his family, and to the Jewish community”…
Former Rep. George Santos (R-NY) was freed from federal prison on Friday, hours after Trump announced he was commuting the former legislator’s seven-year sentence for fraud…
Ofcom, the U.K.’s communications regulator, found that a documentary that aired on the BBC and featured a teenage boy in Gaza — but did not note that the boy was the son of Hamas’ deputy minister of agriculture — was “materially misleading”…
The president-elect of the Oxford Union was ousted in a no-confidence vote weeks after leaked texts revealed that he had celebrated the killing of Turning Point USA Founder Charlie Kirk…
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, who earlier this month was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday; in a readout from their call, Machado said that Iran, a “key supporter of the Maduro regime in Venezuela” additionally “backs terrorist organizations like Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis” in an alignment that “underscores the global nature of the struggle between freedom and authoritarianism”…
A Pakistani national and weapons smuggler who was apprehended by the U.S. Navy in early 2014 was sentenced to 40 years in a federal prison for his role in transporting ballistic missile parts from Iran to the Houthis in Yemen…
The Houthis detained nearly two dozen U.N. employees, including 15 international staff, during a raid on a U.N. facility in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa…
Iran hanged a man convicted of transmitting information to the Mossad; the man’s execution on Israeli espionage charges is one of at least eight in the country since the 12-day war between Israel and Iran prompted a crackdown in the Islamic Republic…
Tehran said it was no longer bound by the constraints of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, following the agreement’s expiration on Saturday…
New Zealand announced on Friday the reimposition of sanctions on Iran over what it said were repeated violations of the 2015 nuclear deal, a day prior to the agreement’s expiration on Saturday…
Pic of the Day
Mourners grieved at a ceremony held at Ben Gurion Airport on Sunday for Bipin Joshi, a Nepalese man who was taken hostage by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, and was killed in captivity in Gaza. Joshi’s remains, which were released by the terror group last week, were flown to Nepal for burial.
Birthdays
Music composer for many films, winner of six Grammys and an Emmy Award, Thomas Newman turns 70…
Economist who earned the nickname “Dr. Doom” during his tenure as the chief economist at Salomon Brothers, Henry Kaufman, Ph.D. turns 98… Former poet laureate of the U.S., he is a professor emeritus at Boston University, Robert Pinsky turns 85… Professor emerita at Ben-Gurion University, she is the daughter of former Israeli PM and President Shimon Peres, Tsvia Walden turns 79… One of two grand rebbes of Satmar, Rabbi Aharon Teitelbaum turns 78… Miami Beach-based real estate developer, Russell W. Galbut turns 73… Actress and director of film and television, Melanie Mayron turns 73… Former longtime House Budget Committee staff director, now an adjunct professorial lecturer at American University, Thomas Kahn… U.S. senator (D-RI), Sheldon Whitehouse turns 70… Managing director and partner at Beacon Pointe Advisors, Jordan Heller… Former rabbi of the Ramban Synagogue in Jerusalem’s Katamon area and a leading figure at the Israel Democracy Institute, Rabbi Binyamin (Benny) Lau turns 64… Russian TV and radio journalist, Vladimir Solovyov turns 62… 49th vice president of the United States, Kamala Harris turns 61… U.S. senator (D-HI), Brian Schatz… and his identical twin brother, the executive director of the University of Hawaii’s P-20 programs, Stephen Schatz, both turn 53… Israeli actress, Hilla Vidor turns 50… Classical violinist, she is a 2008 winner of a MacArthur genius fellowship, Leila Josefowicz turns 48… Film and television writer, David Caspe turns 47… Member of the U.S. House of Representatives (D-CA-49), Mike Levin turns 47… Long Island regional director at AJC Global, Eric Post… Israeli-born actress, she was a recurring character on CBS’ “Seal Team,” Alona Tal turns 42… Fashion designer, best known for her eponymous line of women’s ready-to-wear, Misha Nonoo turns 38… Director of fundraising and events for the National Association of Realtors’ political action committee, Michael Clark… Partner in the NYC office of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, Evan G. Zuckerman… Twins from Ra’anana, Israel, and avid Jewish Insider readers, Avi and Rafi Granoff turn 21…
Plus, Tucker Carlson’s antisemitic tropes in Kirk eulogy
Antoine Gyori - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is greeted by French President Emmanuel Macron ahead of the 'Coalition Of The Willing' summit in support of Ukraine at Elysee Palace on March 27, 2025 in Paris, France.
Good Monday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we report on the fallout from a series of Palestinian statehood recognitions and highlight a letter drafted by a group of House Democrats calling on U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to request a peacekeeping operation to secure Gaza aid convoys. We cover Tucker Carlson’s eulogy for Charlie Kirk, whose assassination he compared to the killing of Jesus, and report on the investigation into the shooting at a country club in New Hampshire on Saturday night. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Mike Waltz, Jocelyn Benson and Edan Alexander.
Ed. note: In observance of Rosh Hashanah, the Daily Kickoff will be back in your inboxes on Thursday. For our premium subscribers, the Daily Overtime will return Thursday as well. Shana tovah!
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by Jewish Insider Israel Editor Tamara Zieve and U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik with an assist from Marc Rod. Have a tip? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
- Diplomats from around the world are en route to New York for the United Nations General Assembly, which officially begins tomorrow.
- On the sidelines of the UNGA, France and Saudi Arabia are chairing a summit calling for a two-state solution. More below on diplomatic moves by Paris, Ottawa, Canberra and Lisbon to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state.
- Also this morning, on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa and retired Gen. David Petraeus will take part in a fireside discussion on democracy, security and geopolitical risk at the Concordia Annual Summit.
- Eleven members of the Syrian Jewish community in New York attended a meeting with al-Sharaa last night.
- U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Thomas Barrack, who is serving as special envoy to Syria, and Counselor of the U.S. Mission to the United Nations Morgan Ortagus will also participate in a discussion at the Concordia summit this afternoon on diplomacy and America’s role in the world.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S TAMARA ZIEVE AND LAHAV HARKOV
In a move that has sent ripples through diplomatic circles and sparked outrage in Jerusalem, multiple countries officially recognized a Palestinian state yesterday. The coordinated announcements by the U.K., Canada, Australia and Portugal, with more to come, mark a significant shift in the West’s posture — one that, while largely symbolic, underlines concerns about growing efforts to isolate Israel diplomatically.
“Today, to revive the hope of peace for the Palestinians and Israelis, and a two-state solution, the United Kingdom formally recognizes the State of Palestine,” said Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
While Starmer said that the move toward a two-state solution “is not a reward for Hamas, because it means Hamas can have no future,” the terror group hailed it as “a gesture to the struggle, steadfastness and sacrifices of our people on the path to liberation and return.”
In President Donald Trump’s meeting with Starmer last week, Trump described the statehood push as “one of our few disagreements.”
The chain of Palestinian statehood recognition is unlikely to bring any immediate changes on the ground. As U.K. Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy said yesterday in an interview with Sky News, “any decision to recognize a Palestinian state … does not make a Palestinian state happen overnight. That has to be part of a peace process, it has to be based on 1967 borders, it has to be based on a shared capital in Jerusalem.”
Israel and many of its supporters have slammed the move as rewarding terrorism, as the country continues its war against Hamas in Gaza, where 48 hostages kidnapped during the group’s Oct. 7, 2023 attacks remain in captivity.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he has “a clear message to the leaders who recognize a Palestinian state after the terrible massacre of Oct. 7: You are giving a massive prize to terror. … It will not happen. There will not be a Palestinian state west of the Jordan River.” Netanyahu hinted that Israel will increase settlement activity in response. Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and several other coalition members went a step further by calling for annexation of the West Bank, which Saudi Arabia has reportedly said would have “major implications.” Read more on Netanyahu’s reaction and upcoming UNGA speech here.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) delivered a scathing assessment of the statehood development, writing on X: “80 years after the end of WWII, where over 6 million Jews were killed by the Nazis for simply being Jewish, the so-called civilized world is rewarding modern day religious Nazis with an arbitrary Palestinian state designation,” pointing to the lack of defined borders, leadership, and security arrangements.
GROWING PRESSURE
Israel battles proposed EU sanctions
Israel’s Foreign Ministry and Economy Ministry, which oversees foreign trade, have been pushing back against proposed European Union sanctions over the war in Gaza. The European Commission proposed the roll-back of relations between the bloc and Israel after it “found that actions taken by the Israeli government represent a breach of essential elements relating to respect for human rights” given “the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza following the military intervention of Israel, the blockade of humanitarian aid, the intensifying of military operations and the decision of the Israeli authorities to advance the settlement plan in the so-called E1 area of the West Bank, which further undermines the two-state solution,” Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports.
What’s at stake: The proposal, if accepted, would suspend free trade between Israel and the European Union, its largest trade partner. A source in Brussels estimated that the move would cost Israel 227 million Euros ($266 million) in customs duties per year. A date has not yet been set for voting on the suspension of free trade, which requires a qualified majority, also known as a “double majority,” meaning 55% of member states, and states representing 65% of the EU population, with at least four states opposed. Hungary and the Czech Republic said they would oppose the proposal, following calls between their foreign ministers and Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar.
Soccer scramble: The Israel Football Association is reportedly working to thwart a Qatar-led effort to expel it from Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) events.
AID ISSUE
House Democrats call for U.N. peacekeepers to protect Gaza aid convoys
Citing United Nations statistics showing that the vast majority of U.N. aid convoys are diverted or looted before reaching their intended destination, a group of House Democrats is set to call on U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres this week to request a peacekeeping operation to secure those convoys, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Draft letter: “We write to you with an urgent call to request a resolution from the United Nations Security Council authorizing the deployment of a UN Peacekeeping operation to secure your aid convoys in Gaza, ensuring their safe passage,” a group of 15 Democrats, led by Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), wrote in a draft letter obtained by JI. “Please do not continue to allow aid trucks to be robbed by Hamas while civilians struggle to get food. As we know, Hamas diverts and sells aid and is not focused on feeding innocent Palestinian families and children.” The letter will continue to circulate for additional signatures until later in the day Monday.
SCOOP
Republicans urge allies to reconsider ‘dangerous’ decision to recognize Palestinian state
A group of 28 Republican lawmakers in the Senate and House wrote last week to the leaders of Australia, Canada, France and the U.K. ahead of their moves to recognize a Palestinian state this month, threatening potential retaliation if they proceeded, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
What they said: “This is a reckless policy that undermines prospects for peace. It sets the dangerous precedent that violence, not diplomacy, is the most expedient means for terrorist groups like Hamas to achieve their political aims,” the Republicans, led by Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), wrote. “Accordingly, we respectfully request that you reconsider your decision, especially as Hamas continues to hold Israeli citizens hostage while still refusing to agree to a ceasefire.”
MEMORABLE MEMORIAL
In charged eulogy, Tucker Carlson ties Kirk’s assassination to killing of Jesus
Right-wing political commentator Tucker Carlson, who has hosted Holocaust deniers and antisemitic influencers on his podcast, used his address at the memorial for conservative influencer Charlie Kirk in Glendale, Arizona, on Sunday to compare Kirk’s assassination to the killing of Jesus, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports. The former Fox News host began his remarks to the more than 70,000 people in attendance at State Farm Stadium in Glendale by noting that the political engagement brought on by Kirk’s killing “actually reminds me of my favorite story ever,” before offering an account of how Jesus was killed in Jerusalem.
Tucker’s talk: While he never brought up the Jewish people by name, he made references to Jewish culture to suggest that he was referring to the antisemitic trope that Jews were responsible for the killing of Jesus. “It’s about 2,000 years ago in Jerusalem and Jesus shows up, and he starts talking about the people in power, and he starts doing the worst thing that you can do: just telling the truth about people, and they hate it, and they just go bonkers. They hate it, and they become obsessed with making him stop. ‘This guy’s got to stop talking. We’ve got to shut this guy up,’” Carlson said. “I can just sort of picture the scene in a lamp-lit room with a bunch of guys sitting around eating hummus, thinking about, ‘What do we do about this guy telling the truth about us?’”
NEW HAMPSHIRE ATTACK
N.H. shooting suspect yelled ‘Free Palestine,’ witnesses said
Authorities said on Sunday that they believe the suspected gunman in the fatal shooting at a country club in New Hampshire on Saturday night shouted “Free Palestine” in order to “create chaos” at the scene, suggesting they do not view the case as motivated by antisemitism, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports.
Details: Hunter Nadeau, a 23-year-old Nashua, N.H., resident, was apprehended and taken into custody near the Sky Meadow Country Club on Saturday. Shortly before, Robert Steven DeCesare, 59, was killed in the shooting while attending dinner at the club, located about 40 miles north of Boston, and two other adults, another restaurant patron and an employee were injured. The employee was in stable but critical condition as of Sunday, Nashua Police Chief Kevin Rourke said. Four other restaurant patrons were wounded as a result of the chaos as people tried to escape the shooting.
CONFIRMATION COMPLETE
Waltz confirmed as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations
The Senate confirmed President Donald Trump’s former National Security Advisor Mike Waltz on Friday to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, capping off a monthslong confirmation process that was marred by delays with just days before the start of the U.N. General Assembly this week, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports.
For and against: Waltz, a former congressman from Florida and a Green Beret, was confirmed by a 47-43 vote in the Senate on Friday afternoon, with three Democrats and one Republican crossing party lines. Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, John Fetterman (D-PA) and Mark Kelly (D-AZ) voted in favor of Waltz’s nomination, while Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) was the only Republican to oppose.
Worthy Reads
The Conspiracies Around Kirk: In The Free Press, Matthew Schmitz puts forth a theory as to why antisemitism conspiracy theories abounded in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s killing. “The term antisemitic, like racist, has lost its sting for many people. Indeed, an idea’s association with antisemitism now gives it a strange appeal on those parts of the right that are most eager to seem independent of and opposed to the establishment. In order to build their audiences, independent media figures must distinguish themselves from established institutions. One way to do this is to discuss the supposed truths that ‘they’ want to hide from you. For this reason, independent media tend to traffic in what the political scientist Michael Barkun calls ‘stigmatized knowledge’: claims that are regarded as having truth value precisely because they are denied by institutional authorities. … For a person who instinctively mistrusts official knowledge, and tends to believe whatever the authorities deny, the very fact that antisemitic claims are subject to public condemnation makes them worth considering. This is why, as Barkun notes, some members of the UFO subculture, which initially had nothing to do with Jews, have ended up claiming The Protocols of the Elders of Zion are true.” [FreePress]
What College Can Still Do: In The Atlantic, Dartmouth President Sian Leah Beilock posits that higher education has a continued important role to play in society, even as universities lose public trust and AI changes the face of information. “Despite the reforms that our institutions of higher education must embark on to ensure that we are teaching our students how to think — and not what to think — a four-year residential-college experience remains one of the most powerful human environments for cultivating human qualities. As Dartmouth’s president, I see this up close. Our small, tight-knit academic community promotes interdisciplinary collaboration in ways that are both intentional and serendipitous. For more than 20 years, our faculty in Jewish and Middle Eastern studies have co-taught classes and built deep trust with one another and their students. It was this trust that allowed them to hold difficult, sometimes painful, but ultimately enlightening conversations about the heinous terrorist attacks of October 7 and the brutal war in Gaza that has followed. This type of dialogue is virtually impossible to produce in online environments that are fragmented and hostile, on platforms engineered to reward outrage, where it is far too easy to dehumanize those with whom we disagree.” [TheAtlantic]
No Pardon for Amnesty: The Free Press’ Charles Lane exposes Amnesty International infighting over a long-delayed report on the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel, which some staff members are arguing against publishing in the coming weeks. “‘Our concern is about timing and impact,’ Usman Hamid, the section director for Amnesty in Indonesia, emailed the organization’s top officials on August 8. ‘The situation in Gaza is at a peak of humanitarian crisis, famine is unfolding, and the Israeli security cabinet has just approved plans for full occupation. In this climate, there is a real risk the report could be used to divert attention from the current crisis or justify ongoing genocide.’ Such blatant politicization of what is supposedly an impartial human rights reporting process stunned even critics who have long seen anti-Israel bias in Amnesty’s coverage of the Middle East. The group has produced a 2022 report finding Israel guilty of apartheid and another in 2024 accusing it of genocide in Gaza.” [FreePress]
The Reign in Spain: Journalist Éamann Mac Donnchada explores Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s “fundamentally pragmatic” anti-Israel turn in “The Almagro School” Substack. “His government faces significant political challenges that help explain this strategic pivot. His coalition lacks a reliable parliamentary majority, making him dependent on various regional and leftist parties for survival. With the autumn and winter parliamentary session beginning, he needs to relaunch his government and energise his political base. The Palestinian cause offers an apparently low-cost way to mobilise left-wing voters while positioning himself as a principled international leader. … Supporting Palestinian rights allows the Spanish left to position itself as a champion of the oppressed while ignoring Spain’s own complicity in ongoing oppression closer to home. It also has modest economic costs, while confrontation with Morocco would threaten Ceuta and Melilla, Spain’s north African enclaves, and exacerbate irregular immigration.” [Substack]
Word on the Street
The White House is seeking authorization from congressional leadership to proceed with a nearly $6 billion arms sale to Israel, including 30 Apache helicopters and over 3,000 infantry assault vehicles…
The Trump administration announced new guidelines for journalists covering the Pentagon, threatening to revoke the press credentials of reporters who gather information that hasn’t been expressly authorized for public release, even if it is unclassified…
President Donald Trump is set to meet with a group of Arab and Muslim leaders tomorrow on the sidelines of the UNGA in New York to discuss ways to end the war in Gaza, Axios reports…
During Rosh Hashanah tomorrow, when Israeli officials will be observing the Jewish high holiday, the U.N. Security Council will hold a critical meeting on the Gaza war…
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is preparing to run either for president or for U.S. Senate in 2028, according to Axios, as she holds town halls and rallies outside her district, raises significant funds and has hired former senior advisors to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT)…
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is still unsure whether to endorse New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani, sources told The New York Times, weighing his responsibility in helping elect Democrats across the country as well as donors’ disapproval of Mamdani’s stance on Israel, among other considerations…
New York Democratic Party Chair Jay Jacobs told Politico that he will resign if Gov. Kathy Hochul requests it, after she endorsed Mamdani and he declined to do so…
New York magazine charts a potential path to victory for Andrew Cuomo in his battle against frontrunner Mamdani to be New York City mayor…
The Congressional Progressive Caucus voted to endorse the “Block the Bombs Act,” which places severe restrictions on many offensive weapons transfers to Israel. To endorse legislation, the caucus requires a simple-majority vote of its nearly 100 members. The bill currently has 50 sponsors…
Edan Alexander, the Israeli American former hostage who was released from Hamas captivity in May, announced he will return to IDF service next month…
The IDF said this morning that it had killed Iyad Abu Yusuf, deputy commander of Hamas’ naval police, who participated in the Oct. 7 massacres, in a strike in central Gaza…
Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, the county’s first Jewish mayor, is coming under intense pressure to divest the county from its $151 million portfolio of Israel bonds, including from her son, organizer Ted Cava. “I decided to kind of take our family disagreement public,” he told the Miami Herald, “knowing that some of her opponents could use it in bad faith against her”…
The Wall Street Journal reviews Mark Mazower’s new book On Antisemitism…
The Canadian government is planning to propose legislation criminalizing the display of designated terror and hate symbols in public…
“Riefenstahl,” a new play at the Avalon Theater in Washington, explores the life, legacy and complicity of Nazi filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl, using 700 boxes of her newly uncovered personal artifacts…
Palestinian Authority officials in the West Bank arrested a man wanted in connection with a 1982 bombing of a Jewish deli in Paris, in which six people, including two Americans, were killed…
Pic of the Day
The newly remodeled Samantha Woll Center at the Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue in Detroit hosted the 10th annual Jewish Expat Reception over the weekend. The gathering drew former Detroiters and community leaders including Detroit City Council President and mayoral candidate Mary Sheffield, Secretary of State of Michigan and gubernatorial candidate Jocelyn Benson (pictured addressing the gathering), investor-philanthropist Roger Ehrenberg and philanthropic advisor Kari Alterman.
Birthdays
President of Israel since 2021, Isaac “Bougie” Herzog turns 65…
Brooklyn, N.Y., resident, Jay Kanter… Former president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles for 16 years, now a consultant at the L.A.-based Diane and Guilford Glazer Philanthropies, John Fishel… Research laboratory director, biochemist and professor in medicine based in Jerusalem, Yosef Gruenbaum turns 76… Professor of journalism at Columbia University and a former reporter for The New York Times, Ari L. Goldman turns 76… Former publisher of The New York Times, Arthur Ochs “Pinch” Sulzberger Jr. turns 74… Senior political analyst at CNN from 2007 until 2024, Gloria Borger turns 73… Clarinetist who performs klezmer, jazz, classical music and avant-garde improvisation, David Krakauer turns 69… U.S. Ambassador to Romania during the Trump 45 administration, Adrian Zuckerman turns 69… Nobel Prize laureate in 2011, astrophysicist and professor at UC-Berkeley, Saul Perlmutter turns 66… Director of development at the Los Angeles Conservancy, Elizabeth “Liz” Leshin… Editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg turns 60… Former member of the Knesset for Likud, Osnat Hila Mark turns 58… Senior writer and historian for the Jewish Federations of North America, he is the author of Pastrami on Rye: An Overstuffed History of the Jewish Deli, Ted Merwin… Founder and CEO of Terravet Real Estate Solutions, Daniel Eisenstadt… Founder and CEO at P3 Media, he has won three Emmys, a Peabody Award and a Polk Award, Adam Ciralsky turns 54… Arlington, Virginia resident, Karen Elyse Simpson… Journalist and screenwriter, she has reported for The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, and is the author of Chasing Hillary, Amy Chozick turns 47… Former minister of defense of Georgia, now an entrepreneur in the U.K., Davit Kezerashvili turns 47… Actress and theater director, she is best known for her role as Quinn Perkins in the ABC political drama series “Scandal,” Katie Lowes turns 43… Film director, producer, screenwriter and television director, Jordan Charles Vogt-Roberts turns 41… Hungarian politician who once served as a member of the European Parliament, Csanád Szegedi turns 43… Founder and CEO of Henry PR, Bryan Leib… Founder of Golda, a Jewish lifestyle newsletter, Stephanie Taylor Butnick… Former entertainment reporter, journalist and fashion designer, now a VP at J.P. Morgan Private Bank, Baruch Yehudah Shemtov turns 38… Partner at Winning Tuesday, a political marketing agency, Jared Sichel… Associate director for antisemitism policy at AJC Global, Alyssa Weiner Sandler… Co-founder of Leman Mercer, Kyle Price…
Plus, Yossi Cohen talks to JI about political ambitions
Haim Tzach/GPO
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio meets Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, Sept. 15th, 2025
Good Monday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we cover Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit to Israel this week and interview former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen who is releasing a new book tomorrow amid talk that he may enter the political arena. We report on the retirement of Rep. Michael McCaul and highlight antisemitic, white nationalist views expressed by the suspected shooter who critically injured two students at Evergreen High School in Colorado last week. We also report on the anti-Israel views of state Rep. Chris Rabb, who is running in the Democratic primary race for Pennsylvania’s 3rd Congressional District. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Gov. Wes Moore, David Rubenstein and Esther Safran Foer.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by Jewish Insider Israel Editor Tamara Zieve and U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik, with assists from Marc Rod and Melissa Weiss. Have a tip? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
- Secretary of State Marco Rubio is set to attend the inauguration of the Pilgrim’s Road in the City of David in Jerusalem this evening after meeting earlier today with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar. More below on Rubio’s visit to Israel.
- Seb Gorka, the White House’s senior director for counterterrorism and a deputy assistant to the president, is also in Israel this week. After landing at Ben Gurion Airport yesterday, he wrote on X, “Utterly sobering to see the pictures of all the innocent hostages still being held by Hamas for more than 700 days lining the walkway to passport control.”
- Also in Israel is a delegation of nearly 250 state lawmakers from around the U.S., organized by Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
- A summit of Arab and Muslim leaders is being held in Doha, Qatar, today to denounce Israel’s strike on Hamas officials hosted by the Gulf state. Ahead of the gathering, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met with his Qatari counterpart in Doha yesterday …
- Stateside, RJC board member Eric Levine is holding a fundraiser for Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC). The invite to the event, co-hosted by James Baker, Wayne Berman, Jeff Cohen, Steve Sall, RJC PAC and the NRSC, said the fundraiser will help Senate Republicans maintain their majority and “stand against the tide of communism and antisemitism overtaking the Democratic Party.”
- The Academic Engagement Network is hosting a three-day symposium for college administrators for the launch of its fifth annual Signature Seminar Series. The gathering, taking place in Washington, will focus on how administrations can meaningfully address antisemitism on college campuses.
- The Eradicate Hate Global Summit begins in Pittsburgh today.
- Today is the five-year anniversary of the signing of the Abraham Accords at the White House on Sept. 15, 2020.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S GABBY DEUTCH
Over the weekend, the California State Assembly passed a bill that is intended to address what Jewish community advocates describe as crisis levels of antisemitism in the state’s K-12 schools.
The bill passed despite the objections of the powerful California Teachers Association, the state’s largest teachers’ union, which had stalled the legislation in July, claiming that efforts to combat antisemitism could impinge on teachers’ academic freedom when it came to discussing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
It was just one of several examples of influential state and national teachers’ unions presenting a roadblock against efforts to fight antisemitism in public schools, where discrimination against Jewish and Israeli students has skyrocketed over the past two years — even though many of those efforts have broad support from within the Jewish community, and from outside it, too.
In California, the CTA and anti-Israel groups like the Council on American-Islamic Relations were on one side of the issue, facing a diverse coalition of the bill’s backers that included the legislature’s Jewish, Black, Latino and Asian American and Pacific Islander caucuses. In an effort to appease the CTA during negotiations, some parts of the bill were removed, including language that would’ve defined what constituted an antisemitic learning environment.
But the union never changed course.
MOSSAD MEMOIR
Former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen talks covert missions, Oct. 7 failures in new book
Like any former Mossad chief, Yossi Cohen has long been a relatively elusive figure in Israeli public life. So his recent embrace of the spotlight has left Israeli politicos wondering whether he will run for prime minister in the next election. Cohen received attention for commanding ambitious Mossad operations, such as smuggling Iran’s nuclear archive to Israel, and for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly naming him as one of his possible heirs, but he rarely gave interviews — until now. Cohen has been on a Hebrew media blitz ahead of Tuesday’s release of his new book, The Sword of Freedom: Israel, Mossad and the Secret War, in Hebrew and English. It reads, in many ways, like the kind of book a politician would publish before a big run, to let potential voters get to know him — albeit with the much more exciting elements of spycraft. Yet, in an interview with Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov last week at his office in a Tel Aviv high-rise, where Cohen’s day job is representing the Japanese investment holding company SoftBank in Israel, he dismissed the idea that his book was the first step in a political campaign.
A question of timing: “That was not the reason for me to write the book,” he said. “I started writing the book something like three years ago, much earlier. I decided to [publish the book] now, because I believe that now is the time … Since I started the book we had the judicial reform, the seventh of October, a war against Hezbollah and the Iranian events. Each of those chapters had to be updated.” Still, Cohen added, “I can’t say that one day it will not serve my political goals if I will decide to go into politics.” Thus far, Cohen has kept politics as an “if.” In the past, it was a “no,” he said, but now, he’s thinking about it.
ENDURING FRIENDSHIP
Rubio starts Israel visit with prayer at Western Wall
Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Jerusalem on Sunday, at the start of a five-day trip to Israel and the U.K. Rubio began the visit with prayers at the Western Wall, together with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports.
Premier praise: During a tour of the Western Wall Tunnels, Netanyahu called Rubio an “extraordinary friend of the State of Israel.” Netanyahu said, “The Israeli-American alliance is as strong and as durable as the stones of the Western Wall that we just touched. Under President [Donald] Trump and Secretary Rubio and their entire team, this alliance has never been stronger, and we deeply appreciate it.” Rubio’s visit comes days after Israel’s attempted strike on Hamas leaders in Doha, Qatar, which the secretary said he was “not happy” about.
stepping down
Michael McCaul, prominent GOP voice on foreign policy and homeland security, to retire
Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), a former chairman of the House Foreign Affairs and Homeland Security Committees, announced Sunday that he will retire from Congress at the end of next year, after 11 terms in office, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Foreign policy focus: McCaul, 63, has been a critical voice for traditional conservative internationalism at a time of rising isolationist sentiment among some factions of the GOP; he’s seen as a key leader who helped drive the passage of supplemental aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan in the House last year. The Texas congressman has been a staunch supporter of Israel and an Iran hawk in the House and has also been a lead Republican voice in support of expanded funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program, which helps protect Jewish and other vulnerable nonprofits.
EXTREMISM IN ACTION
Colorado school shooter expressed antisemitic, white nationalist views
Desmond Holly, the suspected shooter who critically injured two students at Evergreen High School in Colorado on Wednesday, shared antisemitic and white nationalist views online, according to the Denver Post and the Anti-Defamation League, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Concerning history: According to the Denver Post, one of Holly’s online accounts used a coded slogan for Holocaust denial and reposted antisemitic videos and other videos showing individuals in Nazi uniforms. The ADL’s Center on Extremism said Friday that Holly’s TikTok accounts were “filled with white supremacist symbolism,” including a reference to the white nationalist “14 words” slogan, and utilized a neo-Nazi symbol in his profile photo. The suspected shooter, like several other recent attackers, was also active in violent online forums and showed a fascination with previous mass killers.
PHILLY FAULTLINES
Philadelphia House race puts spotlight on virulently anti-Israel Democratic candidate
The wide-open primary race for the most Democratic district in the country is highlighting stark divisions in Israel policy among the leading candidates, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Candidate field: The race for Pennsylvania’s 3rd Congressional District — which includes western Philadelphia, Center City and parts of north Philadelphia — is attracting a host of prominent local officials, as well as some outsider candidates, including state Sen. Sharif Street, who recently resigned as state Democratic Party chair, progressive state Rep. Chris Rabb, state Rep. Morgan Cephas and physician Dr. David Oxman. Dr. Ala Stanford, a local surgeon and activist who gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, is also seen as a likely candidate, and former City Councilman Derek Green may also join the race. Rabb has an extensive history, particularly since Oct. 7, of anti-Israel activism, and has accused Israel of genocide.
DUELING ENDORSEMENT
J Street endorses Hakeem Jeffries for the first time
The progressive Israel advocacy group J Street endorsed House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) on Friday, marking the first time the top Democratic congressional leader accepted an endorsement from the group. With Jeffries endorsed by J Street, the group has now thrown its support behind the entire House Democratic leadership team: Jeffries, Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (D-MA) and Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (D-CA). Jeffries, Clark and Aguilar have all also been endorsed by AIPAC, and they have each traveled to Israel on AIPAC-affiliated trips, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
Announcement: “J Street is proud to endorse the House Democratic leadership team at such a critical moment in the US-Israel relationship,” J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami said in a statement Friday. “After 23 months of war, it is important to endorse Democratic leaders who understand the time has come for a just and lasting peace that brings the remaining hostages home and immediately and permanently surges aid to the people of Gaza.”
Worthy Reads
Loaded Language: Andrew Weinstein, a former U.S. public delegate to the United Nations under the Biden administration, writes in Time magazine about why the use of phrases like “globalize the intifada” are so damaging. “Language doesn’t only reflect intention — it carries the weight of past use, of collective trauma, of coded threats. It has an impact. And so, when a community tells you a phrase evokes existential fear, it’s not enough to say, ‘I didn’t mean it that way.’ To do so is more than just a failure of sensitivity — it’s a failure of solidarity. And this is where so many well-meaning people lose their way. They treat empathy as if it were conditional, or zero-sum. They hear Jewish pain and ask first whether it aligns with their politics, parsing slogans instead of listening to those affected by them. This hurts Jews. But even more than that, it fractures coalitions, pushing away people who, too, strive for collective justice — and driving them toward those who cynically (and capriciously) dangle the carrot of protection.” [Time]
Is Mamdani a Team Player? In The Hill, Amanda Berman, founder and executive director of the Zioness Action fund, pushes back against pressure by supporters of New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani on Democratic leaders to endorse him, highlighting Mamdani’s own recent history during the last presidential campaign. “Mamdani didn’t just fail to support Democratic presidential nominees Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden in last year’s existentially urgent campaign, he spoke out and organized against them. In March of 2024, Mamdani urged voters to withhold their vote from Biden. ‘As proud Democrats and elected officials and New Yorkers,’ Mamdani declared, ‘we endorse the Leave it Blank campaign.’ Last summer, as the world watched the Democrats make history by nominating the first Black woman on a major party ticket, Mamdani proudly platformed the Uncommitted Movement, which protested her convention. This was not passive disagreement. It was an intentional and successful effort to sabotage the Democratic ticket in a general election — when the risks could not have been more clear, when every vote mattered, when Democrats were working tirelessly to defeat an authoritarian megalomaniac who had already incited a violent insurrection to stop the peaceful transfer of power.” [The Hill]
Word on the Street
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul endorsed New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani, becoming one of the few prominent Democrats in the state to do so, saying, “I didn’t leave my conversations with him aligned on every issue” but the two “discussed the need to combat the rise of antisemitism urgently and unequivocally”…
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), who is mulling a 2026 challenge to Hochul, responded to the endorsement with a statement accusing Hochul of “embrac[ing] this raging Communist who will destroy New York making it less affordable and more dangerous — once again putting criminals and communists first, and New Yorkers LAST”…
In an interview with CNN’s Manu Raju, Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) said the New York City mayoral race, in which Mamdani is the front-runner, “has really no impact on my life.” Fetterman also said Hamas and Iran are to blame for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza: “It is hell on earth. Why do some people blame Israel for that? I blame Hamas and Iran for that,” he said…
The Washington Post reports that the Mossad declined to implement a ground operation in Doha, Qatar, last week to assassinate senior Hamas officials in the Gulf nation over concerns that such a move would damage ties with Doha as it acts as a mediator between Israel and Hamas. As a result, Israel instead carried out an airstrike that looks like it failed to kill the top targets …
CENTCOM head Bradley Cooper, joined by U.S. special envoy Tom Barrack, met with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa in Damascus…
Antisemitic conspiracy theories proliferated online in the aftermath of the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, the Anti-Defamation League found, with over 10,000 posts on X that include the phrase “Israel killed Charlie Kirk” posted in the two days after his murder…
Republican officials are considering an effort to persuade former Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron to drop his bid for Senate, as he pursues Sen. Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) seat upon his retirement, and instead challenge Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), Politico reports…
“The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue,” a documentary about Oct. 7, won the People’s Choice Award for best documentary at the Toronto International Film Festival, after originally being canceled due to the festival’s concern that Hamas footage had not been approved for use…
Among several actors who used their platform at the Emmy Awards in Los Angeles last night to criticize Israel, Hannah Einbinder called to “Free Palestine” and Javier Bardem wore a keffiyeh while calling for a “commercial and diplomatic blockade” on Israel…
The Wall Street Journal profiles billionaire Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, as he backs a bid for Paramount, headed by his son David, to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery and The Free Press…
Nika Soon-Shiong, daughter of the Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong, has been tapped as the publisher of Drop Site News, a far-left anti-Israel outlet. She told Semafor that she was inspired by the site’s coverage of the war in Gaza…
The Vuelta a Espana bike race in Madrid was called off during its finale on Sunday after anti-Israel protesters occupied the route and overturned barriers…
Police in London arrested and charged a 37-year-old homeless man with smearing feces on synagogues and other Jewish institutions in the city…
Holocaust survivor Fania Fainer, known for the heart-shaped booklet of birthday wishes she was gifted by fellow prisoners at the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1944 — an object she preserved throughout death marches and the war and that went on to become the subject of a film and a book, died at 100…
Pic of the Day
Several hundred people gathered on Sunday evening at the French Embassy in Washington for the Capital Jewish Museum’s second annual gala, in service of a simple theme: “preserving history and building bridges,” Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports. The gala honored the investor and philanthropist David Rubenstein and Esther Safran Foer, the former longtime CEO of Sixth & I Synagogue and the Capital Jewish Museum’s founding board president. Speaking at the event, Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland decried rising antisemitism in the United States and, in particular, the killing of Israeli Embassy staffers Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky outside the museum in May. Read more here.
Birthdays
Film executive, she produced “The Hunger Games” film series, Nina Jacobson turns 60…
Founder and former CEO of Elektra Records, he is a member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Jac Holzman turns 94… Professor at the Hebrew University and a leading scholar of the Dead Sea Scrolls, Emanuel Tov turns 84… Chief rabbi of Migdal HaEmek, known as the “Disco Rabbi,” Rabbi Yitzchak Dovid Grossman turns 79… Professor emerita of education at Boston University’s Wheelock College, Diane Elizabeth Levin turns 78… NYC-based composer and multi-instrument musician, Ned Rothenberg turns 69… Television comedy writer, he served as a showrunner, writer, and producer for “The Simpsons” and co-created the animated series “The Critic,” Michael L. Reiss turns 66… Business litigator in the Miami office of Gunster, Aron U. Raskas… Managing partner and chief technology officer at Differential Ventures in Philadelphia, he is also the founder of a series of kosher restaurants, David Magerman… NPR’s media correspondent, David Folkenflik turns 56… Actor, best known for his roles on “Sports Night” and “The Good Wife,” Josh Charles turns 54… Comedian, writer and actress, Kira Soltanovich turns 52… VP of leadership at the Anti-Defamation League until earlier this year, Deborah Leipzig… Customer success manager at Screencastify, event organizer and fundraiser, Shayla Rosen… Author and longtime education correspondent at NPR, Anya Kamenetz turns 45… Data scientist, economist and author of the 2017 New York Times bestseller Everybody Lies, Seth Stephens-Davidowitz turns 43… Screenwriter, film producer and director, often in collaboration with his childhood friend Seth Rogen, Evan D. Goldberg turns 43… Model and Israeli beauty pageant winner, Yael Markovich turns 41… Partner in CHW Strategic Advisors and CEO of Harmon Face Values, Jonah Raskas… CFO at Israel on Campus Coalition, Tomer Zvi Elias… Chief strategy officer at PW Communications, Amanda Bresler… Reporter at The New York Times, Eliza Shapiro… Singer and actress, she was the 2009 winner of the Israeli version of “A Star is Born,” Roni Dalumi turns 34… Beauty pageant titleholder, she was crowned Miss Israel 2012, Shani Hazan turns 33…
Plus, General Motors’ new anti-Israel hire
Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
Newly appointed UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood leaves Number 10 Downing Street as Keir Starmer holds a cabinet reshuffle after the resignation of Angela Rayner, on September 5, 2025 in London, England.
Good Monday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we look at how the U.K. Cabinet shake-up could impact London’s approach to Israel, and report on outgoing Northwestern President Michael Schill’s defense of a recent hire who met with Hamas head Yahya Sinwar. We cover Rep. Seth Magaziner’s co-sponsorship of the “Block the Bombs” legislation halting offensive military sales to Israel, and report on the anti-Israel online activism of General Motors’ newly appointed head of global philanthropy. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Mark Levine, Gal Muggia and Vania Heymann.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by Jewish Insider Executive Editor Melissa Weiss and Israel Editor Tamara Zieve, with an assist from Marc Rod. Have a tip? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
- We’re monitoring the situation in Jerusalem, where six people are confirmed killed after a terror attack on a public bus near the Ramot junction entrance to the city. Ten others were wounded in the attack.
- President Donald Trump is delivering remarks this morning to the newly established White House Religious Liberty Commission at the Museum of the Bible in Washington.
- Elsewhere in Washington, the Israel Policy Forum is hosting an event this evening focused on Israel, Palestinian and U.S. perspectives on American foreign policy and the war in Gaza. RAND’s Shira Efron will speak in conversation with Samer Sinijlawi, the Jerusalem Development Fund’s founding chairman, and former U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Michael Ratney.
- Up the Northeast Corridor, American Friends of Nir Oz is holding a benefit at Baltimore’s Beth Tfiloh featuring writer Douglas Murray and former Israeli hostage Gadi Moses, who was freed earlier this year.
- In New York, the Rabbi Sacks Legacy is holding an event at Fifth Avenue Synagogue to mark the launch of the Magerman Edition of the Koren Shalem Humash. Rachel and Jon Goldberg-Polin, whose son, Hersh, was killed in Hamas captivity last year, will keynote the event. Read more about the new edition of the text here.
- Elsewhere in New York, the Jewish Theological Seminary’s inaugural storytelling festival continues today. Later today, the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature is hosting an event focused on bearing witness, featuring 2025 Sami Rohr Prize winner Sasha Vasilyuk, as well as Gal Beckerman and Benjamin Balint, who won in 2012 and 2020, respectively.
- French Prime Minister François Bayrou is calling a confidence vote in Paris’ National Assembly this afternoon that The New York Times described as a “suicidal move.” A no-confidence vote in the body — which is all but expected to pass given plans by France’s far-right National Rally party and a group of leftist parties to vote against Bayrou — would topple the government for a fifth time in 20 months.
- The U.N. Human Rights Council begins its 60th session today in Geneva. On the sidelines of the gathering, B’nai B’rith is holding “Seeking Truth, Justice and Reconciliation: Jewish Refugees in the Middle East.”
- The second annual two-day Hili Forum, cohosted by the Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research and the Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy, kicked off earlier today in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Following up on comments made last week on Israeli proposals to annex parts of the West Bank, senior Emirati diplomat Lana Nusseibeh said earlier today at the conference that such a move “would betray the very spirit of the Abraham Accords.”
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S LAHAV HARKOV
As tensions rise around antisemitism in the U.K. and questions mount over Britain’s stance on Israel, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Cabinet reshuffle has put a spotlight on some familiar concerns. But despite fresh scrutiny — particularly over new Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s past involvement in anti-Israel activism — experts tell Jewish Insider that little is likely to shift when it comes to U.K. policy toward Israel.
A 2014 video of Mahmood resurfaced on X over the weekend, where it received millions of views. Mahmood made the selfie video during Operation Protective Edge, launched by Israel in Gaza after Hamas kidnapped three Israeli teenagers, at a protest outside a Sainsbury’s supermarket in Birmingham. Mahmood called on the store to boycott products from Israeli settlements, though the viral post, boosted by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), falsely claimed she called to “globalize the Intifada.” Days after the supermarket protest, Mahmood spoke against Israel at a Palestine Solidarity Campaign rally in London, telling Britons to start “getting involved with the boycott campaign” and accusing Israel of killing children.
The resurfaced footage has reignited debate over Mahmood’s past, especially within the Jewish community. Jonathan Sacerdoti, a British Jewish journalist and columnist for The Spectator, told JI Mahmood “is not inspiring confidence in any Jews I know.” He added, “She appeals to the more antisemitic elements in the country. She is no friend of Israel and has never been shy about that … Her views are aligned with the Muslim electorate and community in the U.K. and beyond.”
But Alex Hearn, a director of Labour Against Antisemitism, said of Mahmood: “I don’t think I’ve ever heard so much misinformation about someone.” Hearn argued that not only was the video of Mahmood at the protest taken during her “pre-government, pre-political life,” but noted she has taken a more nuanced approach as a member of parliament and has “no red flags” in her record on Israel.
Meanwhile, a new YouGov poll commissioned by the Campaign Against Antisemitism was released yesterday, finding that the Jewish community is currently experiencing “the worst antisemitism in the U.K. in living memory”: One in five Britons holds antisemitic views and 45% believe Israel treats Palestinians like Nazis treated Jews.
Some 70,000 people took to the streets on Sunday to take part in London’s March Against Antisemitism, organized by the Campaign Against Antisemitism. Protesters marched from the BBC headquarters — selected due to perceived anti-Israel bias in its reporting — to Parliament Square.
Absent from the gathering was any senior representative from Labour, a party whose previous leader, Jeremy Corbyn, had a history of antisemitic remarks and supporting antisemites, Campaign Against Antisemitism said.
CAMPUS BEAT
Outgoing Northwestern president defends hiring professor who met with Sinwar in newly-revealed congressional testimony
Michael Schill, the Northwestern University president who announced his resignation last week amid widespread controversy over his tenure, appeared unfazed to hear that a Palestinian professor he hired as part of a deal with encampment protestors had once met with the late Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, an interview with the House Committee on Education and Workforce, released on Thursday, reveals. In the Aug. 5 interview, which was released as a response to Schill’s resignation announcement on Thursday, House investigators pressed Schill on the hiring of Mkhaimar Abusada as a visiting associate professor of political science, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
What he said: Abusada, who Schill described as “someone who is regularly quoted as an authority on Palestine governance and politics,” published a piece in Haaretz last year about his 2018 meeting with Sinwar. “Hypothetically, if somebody, you know, 4 years, 5 years before Oct. 7 has met with someone who — and, I mean, I’m not sure — my guess is — I’ve never been to Gaza, but it’s a pretty small place, and that you are going to meet people and talk to people,” said Schill, who claimed to not be aware of that meeting when he hired Abusada but noted in the interview that the professor’s position had been extended to August 2026. “I don’t know whether a seasoned professor who is doing the politics of Gaza could avoid getting to know some of these people, or whether that would be not doing his job right.”
Bonus: The New York Times reports that talks between the Trump administration and Northwestern, Harvard and Cornell have stalled in recent weeks.
ONLINE FOOTPRINT
Newly appointed GM head of global philanthropy has long record of anti-Israel hostility
Sirene Abou-Chakra, the newly appointed head of global philanthropy for General Motors, has a lengthy history of anti-Israel tweets on her public X account. A native of Dearborn, Mich., Abou-Chakra, who took over the auto company’s mammoth philanthropy arm in June, previously served as the chief development officer for the city of Detroit and also spent a decade with Google as an account executive, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports.
X archive: But it’s her extensive anti-Israel social media history that raises questions about how her hiring will impact GM’s relationship with the Detroit-area Jewish community, in addition to its extensive business relationships with the Jewish state. “The country was built on lies and justifies its ongoing savagery on continued lies,” Abou-Chakra wrote of Israel in a since-deleted post on X in September 2022.
ARMS ARGUMENT
Rep. Seth Magaziner backs bill to restrict U.S. weapons sales to Israel
Rep. Seth Magaziner (D-RI) announced Friday that he is co-sponsoring a bill, pushed by far-left House members, to place strict restrictions on U.S. weapons sales to Israel, which critics have described as an effective arms embargo on the Jewish state, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Why it matters: The move comes as a surprise from the relatively moderate Magaziner, who has maintained a largely pro-Israel record during his time in office and has not joined in prominent previous calls to suspend weapons shipments to Israel. “I have taken this action to do my part to pressure Prime Minister Netanyahu to implement a ceasefire in Gaza, allow significantly increased humanitarian aid into Gaza, and to stop the expansion of settlements in the West Bank,” Magaziner, a member of the House Jewish Caucus, said in a statement.
CANDIDATE CRITIQUE
Lawler challenger Peter Chatzky says Israel violating U.S. arms sales laws
Peter Chatzky, the deputy mayor of Briarcliff Manor, N.Y., and the latest of seven candidates to join the field of Democrats hoping to unseat Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) in New York’s Hudson Valley region, is standing out from the field with the comparatively critical stance he’s taking toward the U.S.-Israel relationship, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Standing apart: Though Chatzky called Israel a “critical ally of the United States,” he told JI in a recent interview that he believes, from public information and reports he has seen, that Israel is violating conditions in U.S. arms sales law relating to humanitarian aid and international law — requiring the suspension of arms sales. The district, New York’s 17th, has one of the largest Jewish constituencies in the country. Lawler has made his support for Israel a centerpiece of his time in Congress, and most of the Democratic candidates in the race are showcasing their pro-Israel bona fides.
Worthy Reads
The JD Doctrine: In Israel Hayom, Israeli journalist Amit Segal compares Vice President JD Vance’s approach to Israel and the Middle East to that of former President Barack Obama, and considers what that portends for the future of the U.S.-Israel relationship. “And while Vance’s book [Hillbilly Elegy] barely touches on foreign policy, it still offers lessons about the new Republican Party. It supports Israel, but the warmth is largely platonic. The prevailing view is this: every spare dollar belongs at home, not in grand projects abroad. There is respect for strength and a deep distrust of radical Islam (don’t forget Vance’s suggestion that Britain is ‘the first truly Islamist country to get a nuclear weapon’), but no appetite for blank checks or an endless supply of weapons. Israel’s challenge with the new Republicans is not hostility, it’s indifference, and Jerusalem needs to prepare for that reality now, perhaps by phasing out American security aid, just as Netanyahu ended civilian aid three decades ago.” [IsraelHayom]
Yom Kippur This Year: In The Times of Israel, Yossi Klein Halevi suggests that Israel is at a “moral crossroads” in the weeks leading up to the Jewish High Holidays. “How then, in this poisoned atmosphere, are we to subject ourselves to moral self-critique? How dare we risk inadvertently reinforcing the campaign of hatred and lies? Because we have no choice. Because preserving our moral credibility is essential for our strength. Because we cannot let the haters determine the inner life of the Jewish people. Because engaging in moral introspection reminds us that Zionism has won and that, even though we are vulnerable, we are no longer victims. Because we owe an accounting of our actions to our friends who have stood with us. Most of all, because Judaism demands it. This season of self-reckoning that begins with the Hebrew month of Elul and culminates on Yom Kippur is intended not only for individual Jews but also – in fact primarily – for the Jewish collective. Undergoing this process as a people doesn’t weaken us. It provides spiritual protection.” [TOI]
The Final Mitzvah: In The Forward, Austin Albanese reflects on his chevra kadisha volunteer work, in which he prepares bodies for Jewish burials. “Despite the sacred nature of this work, one thing has always stood out to me: the scarcity of younger volunteers. I’m in my late 20s, and in nearly nine years of participating in taharah, I’ve only once worked with someone close to my age. That person was also a convert. The work of the burial society is too meaningful, too vital, to be left only to older generations. For those who might hesitate to participate, I can only say this: Try it. You don’t need to be particularly religious. You don’t need to have all the answers about faith or tradition — this work welcomes anyone willing to honor and respect those who came before us. For me, the work of the chevra kadisha has been a profound reminder of some of Judaism’s central values: humility, equality before God, and the sanctity of memory.” [TheForward]
Word on the Street
President Donald Trump, while attending the U.S. Open finals in New York on Sunday, where he was photographed sitting with Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, posted on his Truth Social site that it was “time for Hamas to accept” the terms of a ceasefire proposal he said Israel had already accepted; Witkoff had last week sent a ceasefire and hostage-release proposal to Hamas through peace activist Gershon Baskin…
Trump signed an executive order cracking down on countries that unlawfully detain U.S. nationals…
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he “is not running for president” in 2028…
New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani said he backs City Comptroller Brad Lander’s decision to divest the city from Israel Bonds; Mark Levine, the Democratic candidate to succeed Lander, has said he will restore the city’s investments in Israel Bonds if elected…
Jack Schlossberg, who has been floated as a potential candidate in New York’s 12th Congressional District following Rep. Jerry Nadler’s announcement that he won’t seek reelection in 2026, said he is forming an exploratory committee…
As part of its agreement with the Trump administration, Columbia University will establish a $21 million claims fund for Jewish employees who experienced antisemitism at the school…
The Wall Street Journal looks at how the Trump administration’s crackdown on college campuses is affecting radical student activism that could attract the attention of administration officials…
Singer Sabrina Carpenter’s “Manchild” music video, which was directed by Israelis Gal Muggia and Vania Heymann, won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Visual Effects…
Israel’s Supreme Court ordered that Palestinian prisoners receive increased and improved rations, saying that the current food offered falls below dietary standards…
A Gaza-bound flotilla carrying climate activist Greta Thunberg docked in Tunisia on Sunday; the boat will continue toward Gaza on Wednesday…
A Houthi drone struck the arrivals terminal of Ramon Airport outside Eilat, Israel, on Sunday, injuring two people; an investigation is underway into why the drone did not trigger an Israeli siren notifying of an impending attack…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that a Hamas terrorist who was recorded on Oct. 7, 2023, calling his parents and boasting about killing Jews was killed in an IDF operation in Gaza City…
Israel’s basketball team fell short, 84-79, in its Round of 16 match against Greece in the FIBA EuroBasket tournament…
Iran paved over a burial ground containing the remains of people executed during the country’s Islamic Revolution in 1979…
Barbara Jakobson, art aficionado and longtime trustee of the Museum of Modern Art, died at 92…
Sports photographer Art Seitz, who rose to prominence for his images of tennis players and matches, died at 82…
Pic of the Day
President Donald Trump and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff huddled at the U.S. Open men’s singles final in New York on Sunday between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.
Birthdays
Drummer for the funk metal band Infectious Grooves, he is the son of Bruce Springsteen drummer Max Weinberg, Jay Weinberg turns 35…
Chair emeritus of Bath & Body Works, Leslie H. “Les” Wexner turns 88… U.S. senator from Vermont, he was a 2016 and 2020 presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders turns 84… Labour party member of the U.K. House of Commons, Dame Margaret Eve Hodge (née Oppenheimer) turns 81… Pharma executive, Samuel D. Waksal turns 78… Chairman of Douglas Elliman and its parent company, NYSE listed Vector Group, he is also chairman of Nathan’s Famous, Howard Mark Lorber turns 77… Owner of the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles, Jeffrey Lurie turns 74… Former co-chair of the Jewish National Fund, he was previously a member of Knesset, Eli Aflalo turns 73… CEO of Weight Watchers until early 2022, Mindy Grossman turns 68… Owner of Sam’s Fine Wines & Spirits in Walpole, Mass., for 41 years until 2022, Jay W. Abarbanel… British physician and professor of neuroscience at Columbia University, Daniel Mark Wolpert turns 62… Professional wrestler, known by his ring name, Raven, Scott Levy turns 61… Founder and president of Cedille Records, a classical music label, he is the son of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, James Steven Ginsburg turns 60… Real estate developer in Russia owning 14 million square feet of retail as well as many luxury hotels and shopping centers, Zarakh Iliev turns 59… Australian businessman, James Douglas Packer turns 58… Senior rabbi of the Jewish Center of Princeton, Rabbi Andrea Merow… Aspen, Colo., resident, Adam Goldsmith… Actress, model and television personality, she is the host of “Penn & Teller: Fool Us,” Brooke Burke turns 54… Founder and executive education consultant at Atlanta-based JewishGPS, Robyn Faintich… Classical music composer and professor of music at Towson University, titles to his works include “Zohar,” “Nekudim” and “Heichalos,” Jonathan Leshnoff turns 52… CEO and co-founder of BerlinRosen, now known as Orchestra, Jonathan Rosen… One of the world’s best-selling music artists, known professionally as Pink, Alecia Beth Moore turns 46… Head coach for the University of Hawaii men’s basketball team, Eran Ganot… and his twin brother, the creative director of an eponymous clothing line, Asaf Ganot, both turn 44… Founder and CEO at SPARK Neuro, Spencer Gerrol… Director of corporate communications at Related Companies, Andrei Berman… Senior national correspondent for Jewish Insider, Gabby Deutch… and her twin sister, an MBA candidate at Tulane, Serena Deutch… Director of education at Itrek, Gilad Peled… Philip Ehrensaft…
Plus, the two-finger hustle that impressed Ari Emanuel
Senate Television via AP
In this image from video, House impeachment manager Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., becomes emotional as he speaks during the second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump in the Senate at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2021.
Good Monday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we report on yesterday’s strikes across Israel to call attention to the plight of the remaining 50 hostages, and report on Rep. Jamie Raskin’s support for the “Block the Bombs” bill that calls for limiting offensive weapons sales to Israel. We cover comments from Rep. Katherine Clark, the No. 2 House Democrat, calling Israel’s actions in Gaza a “genocide,” and report on a new push from leading Jewish organizations for universities to pursue reforms to deal with antisemitism. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Mark Shapiro, Larry Fink and Liv Schreiber.
What We’re Watching
- President Donald Trump is convening European leaders at the White House today following his meeting on Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump will meet privately with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at 1 p.m. ET, followed by a larger meeting with the European heads of state at 3 p.m.
- Leaders expected to be in attendance include U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, President of the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.
- Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed Al Thani is meeting with senior officials in Cairo today to discuss a new ceasefire proposal. The trip comes days after Al Thani met in Doha with Mossad head David Barnea.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S TAMARA ZIEVE
The unrest could be felt everywhere — in traffic jams, on the airwaves, in WhatsApp groups, even in the waiting room of a dental clinic.
Across Israel yesterday, hundreds of thousands joined a nationwide unofficial strike, led by hostage families and bereaved families, demanding an end to the war in Gaza and the immediate release of the hostages still held there. According to the Hostages Families Forum, over 1 million people participated in protests throughout the day. As the government plans to escalate its military campaign against Hamas, emotions ran high across towns, cities and online spaces, deepening a national rift.
Police clashed with demonstrators blocking roads. In Ra’anana, a truck driver was arrested after allegedly attacking a protester. In a Tel Aviv neighborhood mothers’ WhatsApp group, several members condemned local cafés for staying open, while another defended them for “not strengthening Hamas.” At a dental clinic, a man berated staff for opening their doors, shouting, “What about the hostages!?”
At the heart of the tensions is a painful divide: Protesters — including the majority of the hostage families — argue that rescuing the captives must come before all else. Meanwhile, the government and its supporters, and even several hostage families, claim such demonstrations weaken Israel’s negotiating hand and embolden Hamas. Israeli President Issac Herzog, speaking at Hostages Square, said, “There’s no Israeli who doesn’t want them back home. We can argue about philosophies, but truly, the people of Israel want our brothers and sisters back home.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doubled down on his government’s stance in a public statement, warning: “Those who are calling for an end to the war today without defeating Hamas, are not only hardening Hamas’s stance and pushing off the release of our hostages, they are also ensuring that the horrors of October 7 will recur again and again … to advance the release of our hostages and to ensure that Gaza will never again constitute a threat to Israel, we must complete the work and defeat Hamas.”
Yet recent polls show that a majority of Israelis support prioritizing the hostages’ release and bringing an end to the war.
BACKING THE BLOCK
Raskin backs bill severely restricting U.S. arms transfers to Israel
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), one of the most visible and well-known progressive Jewish lawmakers in Congress, late last week became a co-sponsor of the “Block the Bombs Act,” a bill led by far-left lawmakers that aims to severely restrict U.S. aid to Israel. The bill would impose unprecedented new conditions on weapons sales or transfers to Israel, requiring specific congressional authorization for each individual transfer of various weapons systems, and would require Congress to identify specific purposes for which those weapons would be used, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Arms embargo: Critics say that the bill would effectively constitute an arms embargo for the key weapons in question. Raskin has not issued any statement on his support for the bill, which aligns him with some of the most anti-Israel members of the House, and did not respond to a request for comment. Currently, 32 other lawmakers are co-sponsoring the legislation, but Raskin, the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, is among the most recognizable sponsors. Three other progressive Jewish House members, Reps. Sara Jacobs (D-CA), Becca Balint (D-VT) and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), are also backing the bill.
sound of silence
Klobuchar, Walz staying silent over Fateh staffers’ antisemitism
Leading elected officials in Minnesota are remaining silent in response to a top Minneapolis mayoral candidate, far-left state Sen. Omar Fateh, whose campaign has faced scrutiny for employing staffers who have celebrated Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks and called for Israel’s destruction, among other extreme views he has yet to publicly address, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.
No comment: Even as some of the state’s leading Democratic lawmakers have endorsed Fateh’s rival, incumbent Mayor Jacob Frey, who is seeking a third term, they have so far declined to weigh in on the staffers’ comments and Fateh’s decision to hire them, which has raised questions about his acceptance of extreme rhetoric on a particularly sensitive issue. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Gov. Tim Walz, who are Frey’s most high-profile backers in what is expected to be a hotly contested race, both avoided addressing the matter to JI. A spokesperson for Klobuchar declined to comment on Friday, and representatives for Walz did not return multiple requests for comment.
CLARK’S BARK
No. 2 House Democrat describes war in Gaza as ‘genocide’
Rep. Katherine Clark (D-MA), who serves as the House Democratic whip, the No. 2 Democratic leader in the chamber, described the war in Gaza as a “genocide” at an event last Thursday, based on video of the event that has been shared online, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
What she said: “We each have to continue to have an open heart about how we do this, how we do it effectively, and how we take action in time to make a difference, whether that is stopping the starvation and genocide and destruction of Gaza, or whether that means we are working together to stop the redistricting that is going on, taking away the vote from people in order to retain power,” Clark said in a brief clip from an event that was first reported by Axios.
CAMPUS BEAT
Leading Jewish groups urge universities to pursue reforms to deal with antisemitism
As students return to school in the coming weeks, four leading Jewish organizations are encouraging university leaders to adopt a new set of recommendations, released on Monday, designed to curb the antisemitism that has overwhelmed many campuses since the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks in Israel, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen has learned.
The guidelines: The joint effort from the Anti-Defamation League, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Hillel International and Jewish Federations of North America calls for increased safety measures as well as long-term structural reforms and builds upon a four-page set of recommendations released last August. The recommendations urge university leaders to “consistently enforce” codes of conduct around protests; appoint a coordinator to address Title VI discrimination complaints; reject academic boycotts of Israel; conduct annual student and faculty surveys in regard to campus antisemitism; crack down on online harassment (in addition to physical safety concerns); and hold faculty accountable for political coercion and identity-based discrimination.
AID ALLEGATIONS
Whistleblower alleges U.N. and World Food Program refused IDF assistance
An aid worker in Gaza filed a whistleblower complaint with the inspector general of the U.S. Agency for International Development alleging that the World Food Program and U.N. refused security cooperation with the IDF, the whistleblower confirmed to Fox News last week. The complaint alleges “gross misconduct and misuse of humanitarian funds” by the WFP and U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and that the agencies had turned down support “including security protection and coordination” to distribute humanitarian aid from senior IDF officials, saying “they were not prepared to discuss such coordination,” Jewish Insider’s Danielle Cohen-Kanik reports.
What they said: The whistleblower told Fox News that the IDF has cleared thousands of tons of U.N. aid for distribution that are waiting inside of Gaza, and the “U.N. must be held accountable to pick up and distribute such aid.” They said that it must be determined “the extent to which U.N. agencies, by refusing to coordinate with the IDF on essential issues, including security, are abusing U.S. taxpayer funds rather than using them to deliver the aid the American people are donating — and whether such actions are being taken independently by U.N. officials in Gaza or at the direction of the U.N. Secretary-General or other senior U.N. officials in New York.”
EXCLUSIVE
Lawler bill would repeal decades-old provision on U.S. diplomatic facility construction in Israel
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) introduced legislation on Friday to repeal a decades-old provision in U.S. law relating to the construction of new diplomatic facilities in Israel and the West Bank, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. The provision, enacted in 1986 as part of a package designed to improve security for U.S. diplomats and combat terrorism, banned funding from that bill from being used for “site acquisition, development, or construction of any facility in Israel, Jerusalem, or the West Bank except for facilities to serve as a chancery or residence within five miles of the Israeli Knesset building and within the boundaries of Israel as they existed before June 1, 1967.”
Lawler’s law: Lawler’s bill, the Keeping Official Territories Eligible for Land-use (KOTEL) Act, named for the Jewish holy site, would repeal the language from the 1986 bill. “Israel is one of America’s closest allies, and this 40-year-old inactive prohibition serves no purpose. The KOTEL Act removes these outdated restrictions so we can continue to ensure the bond between the U.S. and Israel remains ironclad,” Lawler said in a statement. It’s not clear how much impact Lawler’s initiative would have on current efforts to acquire or build new diplomatic facilities — the funding to which the 1986 provision applies has expired. But it could head off future attempts to challenge such construction.
Worthy Reads
Aid Aide: In Foreign Affairs, Jack Lew and David Satterfield, respectively the former U.S. ambassador to Israel and U.S. special envoy for Middle East humanitarian issues during the Biden administration, detail their efforts to send aid into Gaza and suggest how the Trump administration can prevent a worsening humanitarian crisis in the enclave. “When aid was flowing before the cease-fire, it did not arrive by chance. It came one border crossing and one truck convoy at a time, and it required overcoming political and battlefield challenges every step of the way. As the world watches the crisis unfolding today and demands a solution, it is important to learn from what worked and what did not, and to remember that it falls to all parties to find a solution. The stakes are too high to allow the delivery of critical assistance to be derailed by Israeli political dynamics, obstruction by Hamas or armed Gazan gangs, or infighting among aid providers. And Washington must remember that it uniquely has the tools and leverage to avert an escalating catastrophe.” [ForeignAffairs]
Northern Exposure: In The Wall Street Journal, Eugene Kontorovich calls on the Trump administration to use its United Nations Security Council veto power to nix an effort to extend the mandate of UNIFIL, arguing that the U.N. peacekeeping force has long failed in its goals to maintain peace and calm along the Israel-Lebanon border. “The first Trump administration considered nixing Unifil but was persuaded to compromise on a package reducing its size and supposedly introducing reforms. There will be temptations for the U.S. to compromise again. But if Unifil survives, it will eventually regrow under a less vigilant administration. Some in the administration argue the Lebanese army isn’t ready to take over for Unifil. But Unifil doesn’t keep the peace, so there’s nothing to get ready for. … If the U.S. doesn’t veto Unifil, it would undermine the credibility of Washington’s broader demands — both for genuine disarmament of terror groups in Lebanon and Gaza and for broader U.N. reform.” [WSJ]
What ‘Pro-Israel’ Means Now: In the Jerusalem Journal, Halie Soifer, the CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, considers what it means to be a pro-Israel American in a post-Oct. 7 era. “In 2025, being pro-Israel should mean standing with the Israeli people in the aftermath of October 7, supporting Israel’s security as it faces ongoing regional threats, remaining deeply committed to Israel’s future as a Jewish and democratic state, and recognizing there’s no future for Hamas as part of any solution to this conflict. It also means expressing concern about the war — and continued captivity of hostages — which has gone on for too long. Calls to address the acute humanitarian crisis in Gaza don’t make someone anti-Israel. American Jews are also concerned about the crisis in Gaza, though there’s a clear double standard when it comes to assessing support of Israel among Democrats.” [JerusalemJournal]
Fight Club: The Wall Street Journal profiles Mark Shapiro, TKO’s president and chief operating officer, following the $7.7 billion deal between Paramount Skydance and TKO to acquire the distribution rights to TKO subsidiary Ultimate Fighting Championship, which Shapiro orchestrated. “It was on a cross-country flight in 2002 that Shapiro had a chance meeting with [TKO CEO] Ari Emanuel, the Hollywood power broker. Emanuel spotted Shapiro frantically typing with his two index fingers. After watching him for a few hours, Emanuel was mesmerized. ‘I couldn’t take it anymore,’ Emanuel says. He persuaded the person sitting next to Shapiro to switch seats and asked, ‘what the f—k are you doing?’ Shapiro replied he worked at ESPN and was preparing a report for Disney bosses Michael Eiser and Iger. Emanuel and Shapiro, who are from neighboring Chicago suburbs, hit it off. Soon, they were talking regularly. Today, they are joined at the hip. Emanuel is executive chairman and chief executive of TKO and executive chairman of talent agency WME Group.” [WSJ]
Word on the Street
The Trump administration halted the issuance of all visitor visas to Gazans, following a social media post by Laura Loomer citing the entry of families of Palestinian children seeking medical treatment in the U.S….
Members of The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page talk to former U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel about his opposition to the Democratic Party’s far-left flank as he mulls a 2028 presidential bid…
2020 Democratic congressional candidate Ammar Campa-Najjar is weighing a rematch against Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA). Read Jewish Insider’s 2020 profile of Campa-Najjar here…
The New York City Parks Department issued an order to vacate to the leaders of a Queens community garden who required prospective members to sign a “statement of values” that opposed Zionism…
New Yorker staff writer Doreen St. Felix deleted a series of social media posts about the Holocaust after coming under fire for calling Sydney Sweeney an “Aryan princess” following the release of a viral American Eagle ad campaign featuring the actress…
An Ohio man pleaded guilty to hate crimes charges connected to the November 2023 assaults of two Jewish students from Ohio State University; according to court documents, Timur Mamatov punched a student wearing a “chai” necklace after asking if the student was Jewish…
The Forward interviews “Bojack Horseman” creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg about his new animated series “Long Story Short,” about a Jewish family…
The World Economic Forum named Larry Fink a co-chair of the group’s board of trustees, alongside Andre Hoffmann; the two replace Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, who served as chairman on an interim basis…
The Wall Street Journal spotlights Camp Social, founded by entrepreneur Liv Schreiber, amid the rise in popularity of adult sleep-away camps…
French President Emmanuel Macron condemned as “antisemitic hatred” the cutting down of a tree planted in a Paris suburb in memory of Ilan Halimi, a French-Jewish man who was tortured and killed in 2006…
Australia canceled the visa of far-right Israeli lawmaker Simcha Rothman hours before he was scheduled to depart for a speaking tour in the country; Australian Foreign Minister Tony Burke confirmed the ban, saying that Canberra “takes a hard line on people who seek to come to our country and spread division”…
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir posted a video of himself in an Israeli prison warning Marwan Barghouti, the high-profile Palestinian political leader who is serving five life sentences for his role in the murders of numerous Israelis, “Whoever messes with the people of Israel, whoever murders children and women — we will wipe them out. You need to know this”…
The Wall Street Journal reports on the deepening clean water shortage in the Gaza Strip…
An investment group led by Israel’s Leumi Partners is acquiring the rideshare app Gett for $190 million…
The New York Times looks at Iranian efforts to recruit Israelis to commit espionage and acts of terrorism within Israel…
The Israeli military said it struck a Houthi energy infrastructure site south of the Yemeni capital of Sana’a over the weekend…
South Africa’s Foreign and Defense Ministries distanced themselves from comments by army chief Gen. Rudzani Maphwanya, made during his recent trip to Iran, praising the close ties between Pretoria and Tehran and condemning Israel; South African President Cyril Ramaphosa called Maphwanya’s trip to Iran “ill-advised” and said he planned to meet with the military leader over it…
Historian Rabbi Berel Wein, the founder of Yeshiva Shaarei Torah in Monsey, N.Y., who previously led the Orthodox Union’s kashrut division, died at 91…
Rachel Aliza Nisanov, the 13-year-old daughter of Rabbi Shlomo Nisanov, died in a jet-skiing accident in Florida last Tuesday…
Pic of the Day
Seventeen-year-old Pushpa Joshi, the sister of Nepali hostage Bipin Joshi, speaks at a hostage rally in Tel Aviv on Saturday night. The Joshi family arrived in Israel last week for the first time as they work to raise awareness about the plight of Bipin, a farming student who was taken hostage on Oct. 7, 2023, from Kibbutz Alumim.
Birthdays
Auctioneer, television personality and sports card collector, he is featured on the Netflix TV series “King of Collectibles: The Goldin Touch,” Kenneth Goldin turns 60…
Art collector, museum trustee in Chicago, Aspen, Colo., and Orange County, Calif. and former member of Cultural Property Advisory Committee to the U.S. State Department, Barbara Bluhm-Kaul turns 85… Baltimore resident, Jerome Seaman… Holocaust survivor, novelist, artist and producer, Sonia Wolff Levitin turns 91… Retired teacher of Talmud at Jerusalem’s Yeshiva Torat Shraga, Rabbi Noam Gordon, Ph.D…. Former two-term mayor of San Diego, the first Jewish mayor of San Diego, Susan G. Golding turns 80… Businessman and former chair of the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, John D. Goldman turns 76… Partner in Chazan-Leipzig Consulting, Cindy Chazan… Retired judge of the Montgomery County (Pa.) Court of Common Pleas, Gary S. Silow turns 74… Dramatist, screenwriter and poet, Winnie Holzman turns 71… President at Wyckoff, N.J.-based Benefit Connections, Raphael Schwartz… President of Touro University, Alan H. Kadish, M.D. turns 69… Labor law attorney in the Los Angeles office of Ogletree Deakins, Stuart Douglas Tochner… U.S. Treasury secretary in the Obama administration, now president of Warburg Pincus, Timothy Geithner turns 64… CEO of the Future of Privacy Forum, a D.C.-based think tank and advocacy group focused on issues of data privacy, Jules Polonetsky turns 60… Executive director of the Maccabee Task Force, David Brog turns 59… Criminal defense attorney and media personality in Las Vegas, Dayvid Figler turns 58… Award-winning comic book writer and artist for both Marvel and then DC Comics, Brian Michael Bendis turns 58… Professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School, he served as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers during the Obama administration, Jason Furman turns 55… Sarah S. Bronson… Conservative political talk radio host on the Sirius XM Patriot channel, Andrew Steven Wilkow turns 53… Greek Orthodox priest, he serves as a judge in Israel’s religious court system and encourages Christians to enlist in the IDF, Gabriel Naddaf turns 52… Best-selling author, her novels have been translated into 35 languages, Nicole Krauss turns 51… Writer, actress and stand-up comedian from NYC, Jessi Ruth Klein turns 50… Washington director of the Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute, Roger Zakheim… Actor, comedian, writer, producer and musician, David A. J. “Andy” Samberg turns 47… Commissioner of New York City Emergency Management, Zachary Iscol turns 47… Fellow at The Jewish People Policy Institute and managing partner of the Madad website, Noah Slepkov… Editor of Moment Magazine, Sarah Breger… Reporter for The Wall Street Journal covering the Justice Department and federal law enforcement, Sadie Gurman… Co-founder and CEO of Mostly Human, Laurie Segall turns 40… Mixed martial artist, she competes in the bantamweight and featherweight divisions, Olga Rubin turns 36… Israeli judoka who won Olympic bronze medals at the 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympics, Or “Ori” Sasson turns 35…
Plus, Huckabee resolves Israeli visa squabble
Rami Alsayed/NurPhoto via Getty Images
The President of the Syrian Arab Republic, Ahmad Al-Sharaa, delivers a speech at the People's Palace during the swearing-in ceremony of the new government, in Damascus, Syria, on March 29, 2025.
Good Monday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we report on the resolution of tensions between U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and Israel’s Interior Ministry over visa hurdles faced by Christian Zionists, and talk to Sen. Mark Warner about the American strikes last month targeting Iran’s nuclear program. We preview the House Financial Services Committee‘s upcoming vote on Rep. Mike Lawler‘s legislation conditioning the repeal of Syria sanctions, and cover Columbia University’s announcement that its faculty-run University Senate will no longer have oversight over student disciplinary procedures. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Jacob Frey, Adam Katz and Yoav Segev.
What We’re Watching
- The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations kicks off a three-day mission to Israel today.
- Oral arguments in Harvard‘s lawsuit against the Trump administration‘s freezing of approximately $3 billion in federal funds begin today in Boston.
- Lawmakers in Texas return to Austin today for the start of a special legislative session that will take up, among other issues, potential statewide redistricting that could potentially give Republicans an additional five House seats but may make other safe GOP districts more competitive.
- Israel launched fresh drone strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen earlier today, days after a ballistic missile fired by the Iran-backed terror group triggered sirens across central Israel.
- We’re keeping an eye on Iranian nuclear talks, following an announcement this morning from Iran’s Foreign Ministry that Tehran’s deputy foreign minister will meet this Friday in Istanbul with his counterparts from the U.K., France and Germany to continue negotiations. Over the weekend, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with senior Iranian official Ali Larijani.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S JOSH KRAUSHAAR
A newly released CNN poll, conducted this month, illustrates the resilience of a hawkish DNA within the Republican Party and among its voters even amid the rise of an isolationist strain that has sought to gain influence in the GOP during President Donald Trump’s second term.
The poll asked respondents: “Do you think the United States should or should not take the leading role among all other countries in the world in trying to solve international problems?” Overall, 43% took the more active approach, while 56% took a more isolationist view.
Republicans, however, remained the strongest advocates of a muscular American role in world affairs, with 52% supporting America taking a leading role, with 47% opposed. By contrast, just 42% of Democrats and 39% of independents shared the more hawkish worldview.
Notably, the shift in more isolationist sentiment was almost entirely driven by Democrats and independents since the last CNN survey in March, which found majority support for significant American global engagement. In the March survey, a 57% majority of Democrats preferred more American involvement in the world, a number that dropped 15 points in the last four months. The Republican share of those preferring American engagement remained steady at 52%.
The results from the CNN polls suggest there’s a more committed core of Republican-voting hawks that is more resilient than the shifting political winds, whereas the Democratic foreign policy worldview appears more dependent on partisanship and what’s happening in the news at the time.
christian controversy
Netanyahu’s office resolves high-profile visa issue for American Christian groups
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office resolved a dispute between U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and Israeli Interior Minister Moshe Arbel over the denial of visas to workers and volunteers for several evangelical Christian organizations, two sources involved in the matter told Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov on Sunday. Huckabee sent a letter to Arbel last Wednesday, expressing “great distress” and “profound disappointment” that after the two met to discuss the matter earlier this year, the Interior Ministry’s visa department continued to conduct investigations into American and other evangelical organizations seeking visas for their workers.
Solution found: “A solution has been reached to the satisfaction of all parties. The evangelical Christian organizations active in Israel, which represent the vast majority of Zionists in the world today, will receive all of the visas they need through a streamlined and efficient application process,” Calev Myers, the attorney for the organizations told JI on Monday. Hours before the issue was resolved, a source in the Prime Minister’s Office told JI, “this is something that we consider to be of urgent importance. We have every intention of solving this problem very quickly … It is being handled with the proper sensitivity between the Prime Minister’s Office and the embassy.”
ON THE HILL
House committee to vote on Lawler bill modifying Syria sanctions
The House Financial Services Committee is set to consider legislation by Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) this week that aims to create oversight and set conditions for lifting sanctions on Syria, but stops short of full repeal of the 2019 Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act sanctions bill that other lawmakers are pushing on a bipartisan basis, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Why it matters: That the House is moving forward with Lawler’s legislation, which sets conditions for waiving Caesar Act sanctions, rather than the bipartisan Caesar Act repeal effort may indicate a level of continued skepticism from some House members about the prospect of full sanctions relief for the new Syrian government pushed by the Trump administration.
REVERSING COURSE
National Education Association rejects ADL boycott proposal
The National Education Association, the largest teachers’ union in the country, announced on Friday that it would not cut ties with the Anti-Defamation League, declining to implement a contentious resolution approved by its governing body earlier this month that sought to target the Jewish civil rights organization, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
What is said: “After consideration, it was determined that this proposal would not further NEA’s commitment to academic freedom, our membership or our goals,” the union’s board of directors said in a statement. The decision came nearly two weeks after the measure was adopted by the NEA’s representative assembly, its annual leadership gathering that drew more than 6,000 union delegates. “There is no doubt that antisemitism is on the rise. Without equivocation, NEA stands strongly against antisemitism. We always have and we always will,” the NEA’s board wrote. “In this time of division, fighting antisemitism, anti-Arab racism, and other forms of discrimination will take more resources, not fewer. We are ready.”
WORDS WITH WARNER
Sen. Mark Warner: U.S. strikes on Iran were a ‘success,’ but what happens next is critical
Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) told Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod on Friday that he’s inclined to view the Trump administration’s strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities as a “success,” if negotiations with Tehran resume and barring substantial future retaliation from Iran.
What he’s saying: “I will acknowledge the successfulness of the Israeli attacks and how back-foot the regime was. The fact that they didn’t launch the thousands of missiles,” Warner told JI on the sidelines of the Aspen Security Forum. “I was concerned about an attack that didn’t bring Congress along. And I do think there was a huge process foul when the Gang of Eight wasn’t notified and the Republicans [were] — Trump[’s first administration] never did that — but I have never contested the success. … If the current status quo is the same a year from now and it actually leads towards further negotiation — success.”
CREDIT WHERE DUE
Sen. Chris Coons: U.S. strikes on Iran could ultimately be a positive step
Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) said on Friday that the U.S. strikes on Iran could ultimately produce a positive outcome, a softening of the Delaware senator’s previous skepticism, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports from the Aspen Security Forum.
What he said: “The strike on Iran is one that I disagreed with because of the process, the lack of consultation with Congress, the partisan way that Republicans were notified at the most senior levels [and] Democrats were not,” Coons said at the conference. He said he also had not expected that the administration would be able to avoid significant Iranian retaliation and an escalating conflict. “I frankly, did not believe that we would end up in the period we seem to be in where a counter-strike by Iran against American soldiers and interests has not yet come,” Coons continued.
Also speaking at the forum: Retired Gen. David Petraeus, the former director of the CIA and head of U.S. Central Command, said on Friday that, in the post Oct. 7, 2023, environment, Israel will no longer tolerate threats to its security throughout the region, including a resumption of Iran’s nuclear program.
Differing worldview: Former National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan suggested at the Aspen Security Forum on Friday that the U.S. strikes on Iran had not been necessary and didn’t accomplish the fundamental goal of permanently stopping Iran’s nuclear program.
WINDS OF CHANGE
Columbia moves student disciplinary authority out of University Senate
In a move called for by pro-Israel students at Columbia University, the school announced on Friday that disciplinary action and rules surrounding student protests would be moved out of the purview of the faculty-run University Senate and into the provost’s office, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
Student reaction: “This is the most encouraging and commendable action taken by Columbia’s administration to address the systemic problems within the university since [the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attacks],” Noa Fay, a graduate student entering her last year in Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs, told JI. “Revoking the University Senate’s power over disciplinary and rule-making procedures has been top of the institutional reform list for many Columbians who wish to see our university restored to order and excellence.”
Worthy Reads
The Trump Whisperer: The New Yorker’s Antonia Hitchens profiles Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, looking at the former Cantor Fitzgerald CEO’s yearslong friendship with President Donald Trump. “Lutnick and President Donald Trump speak on the phone most nights, at around one in the morning, just after Lutnick gets in bed. They talk about ‘real stuff,’ like Canadian steel tariffs, Lutnick told me, and also about ‘nothing,’ which he summarized as ‘sporting events, people, who’d you have dinner with, what was this guy like, can you believe what this guy did, what’s the TV like, I saw this on TV, what’d you think of what this guy said on TV, what did you think about my press conference, how about this Truth?’ Of course, Lutnick said, ‘Trump has other people he calls late at night.’ But does he have other people he always calls?” [NewYorker]
Confronting Cambridge: The Atlantic’s Franklin Foer does a deep dive into the tenure of Harvard President Alan Garber, who has handled much of the fallout from the school’s handling of post-Oct. 7 campus antisemitism as well as Harvard’s legal battles with the Trump administration. “Even as Harvard sits on the receiving end of vitriolic attacks from the right, Garber has turned inward — willing to engage with Harvard’s harshest critics and to admit that even bad-faith attacks sometimes land on uncomfortable truths. He’s treated the university’s crisis as an opportunity, leveraging the looming threat of Trump to make changes that would have been politically impossible in less ominous times. The leader of Harvard, bane of MAGA, agrees with much of the underlying substance of the MAGA critique of higher education, at least when stripped of its rhetorical froth and fury. He knows that elite higher education is suffering a crisis of legitimacy, one that is, in no small measure, of its own making, because it gives fodder to those who caricature it as arrogant and privileged.” [TheAtlantic]
The Gaza Debate: In eJewishPhilanthropy, Michael Berenbaum and Menachem Z. Rosensaft respond to genocide scholar Omer Bartov’s recent New York Times op-ed alleging Israel is engaging in genocide. “We are not arguing that this war has always been waged appropriately or that it has been waged proportionally. Nor do we suggest that Israel or any other country involved in warfare cannot be accused of or should not be held accountable for other alleged violations of international law, including crimes against humanity, war crimes and even ethnic cleansing. But those are separate questions from whether a genocide is being committed; and unless such alleged violations of international law satisfy the elements, including specific intent, as defined in Article II of the Convention, they do not constitute genocide.” [eJP]
Cowed on Campus: In Tablet, Eric Kaufmann looks at recent survey data from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression that indicates shifts in the behaviors of Jewish college students as campus climates become increasingly politicized in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks and ensuing war in Gaza. “A closer look at the 2024 data shows that the pro-Palestinian tent encampments had a big impact: Before they went up on April 17, 28% of Ivy League Jewish students self-censored. Afterward, 40% did. Across all institutions in the FIRE data, statistical analysis shows that the encampments increased Jewish self-censorship while reducing it for conservatives. Conservative speech has for years been the least free of any major demographic, but Jews have now converged with them. In the Ivy League, Jews now self-censor more than conservatives do.” [Tablet]
Word on the Street
Unnamed Trump administration officials are reportedly angry with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s recent actions, telling Axios that the prime minister has “acted like a madman” who “bombs everything all the time”; the White House officials expressed concerns that Netanyahu’s actions could “undermine” President Donald Trump’s efforts in the region…
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) met for an hour on Friday with New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani but did not issue an endorsement for the candidate; a spokesperson for Jeffries said the two had a “constructive, candid and community-centered” conversation that also included “a variety of other important issues, including public safety, rising antisemitism, gentrification and the importance of taking back the House in 2026”…
Reps. Mark Alford (R-MO), Don Davis (D-NC), Tony Gonzales (R-TX), John Carter (R-TX), Sam Graves (R-MO) and Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ) introduced a resolution congratulating the fighter and bomber wings involved in the U.S. attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities…
Sens. John Curtis (R-UT) and Jacky Rosen (D-NV) introduced a resolution commemorating the anniversaries of the bombings of the Israeli Embassy in Argentina and the Buenos Aires AMIA Jewish community center; in the House, Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL), Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) and Tony Gonzales (R-TX) introduced a resolution condemning the AMIA bombing…
Reps. Jefferson Shreve (R-IN), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Bill Huizenga (R-MI), Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL) and Mark Messmer (R-IN) introduced a bill requiring the administration to provide a strategy to counter Iran and Hezbollah’s influence in Latin America…
Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano, who in 2022 lost to Gov. Josh Shapiro in the commonwealth’s gubernatorial race, teased a potential rematch, posting different logos for a “Doug Mastriano for Governor” campaign…
Minnesota’s statewide Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party endorsed state Sen. Omar Fateh, a democratic socialist, over incumbent Mayor Jacob Frey…
The Wall Street Journal spotlights the efforts of Robert Kraft’s Foundation to Combat Antisemitism, under the leadership of Adam Katz, to use analytics to identify digital trends in antisemitism, craft countermessaging and share data with social media platforms and universities…
Harvard Business School graduate Yoav Segev filed a lawsuit against the university and its police department, alleging that both failed to protect him from being assaulted by anti-Israel campus activists and that school officials obstructed an investigation into the incident…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought medical attention over the weekend after falling ill from eating spoiled food; the prime minister will work from home until Tuesday while he recovers…
Israel, working with the U.S., reportedly delivered aid to the Syrian Druze city of Sweida as a ceasefire reached late last week appeared to hold; more than 1,100 are believed to be dead in the sectarian violence that drew in Syrian government forces…
Israel will not renew the visa of Jonathan Whittall, the head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the West Bank and Gaza, citing his “biased and hostile conduct against Israel”…
Hamas officials in Gaza claimed at least 85 people were killed trying to access humanitarian aid near the Zikim border crossing; the IDF, which said it fired “warning shots” to remove an “immediate threat,” disputed the number, saying the “reported number of casualties does not align with the existing information”…
The Wall Street Journal looks at the logistical and operational challenges facing the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation amid increasing concerns over humanitarian aid distribution in the enclave…
Senior Christian leaders from Jerusalem, including Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, visited the sole Catholic church in Gaza, which was damaged by an Israeli strike last week that also killed three people…
Brig. Gen. (res.) Giora Even Epstein, the most decorated Israeli Air Force fighter pilot in the country’s history, died at 87…
Pic of the Day
Israeli President Isaac Herzog (right) received the credentials of Polish Ambassador to Israel Maciej Hunia. Hunia’s arrival marks the first time in four years that Warsaw has had an ambassador posted to Israel. In addition to Hunia, Herzog also received the credentials of Malta’s new envoy to Israel, Ambassador Claude Bonello.
Birthdays
Actress and producer, Alysia Reiner turns 55…
Laureate of the 1992 Nobel Prize in chemistry, Rudolph A. Marcus turns 102… President at Admar Group, Henry Dean Ostberg turns 97… Retired CEO of Sony/ATV, a large music publishing firm, he is a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, Martin Bandier turns 84… Professor emeritus in the Department of Physics at Bar-Ilan University, he won the Israel Prize in 2018, Shlomo Havlin turns 83… Director of the Center for the Political Future at USC, Robert Shrum turns 82… Criminal defense attorney, known for representing many politicians, celebrities and organized crime defendants, Benjamin Brafman turns 77… Former member of the U.K.’s House of Commons, now in the House of Lords, Baroness Susan Veronica Kramer turns 75… U.S. senator (R-WY), John Barrasso turns 73… Chairman and CEO at Quantitative Financial Strategies, Sanford “Sandy” Jay Grossman turns 72… Endocrinologist and professor at Columbia University’s medical school, she is an honorary president of NYC’s Central Synagogue, Shonni Joy Silverberg, MD… Professor at Columbia Law School and daughter of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Jane Carol Ginsburg turns 70… Brooklyn resident, Irene Ostrovsky… Comedian and actor, best known for his five seasons on “Saturday Night Live” ending in 1990, Jon Lovitz turns 68… Former chief rabbi of Moscow, his opposition to the Ukraine war forced him to leave Russia, Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt turns 62… Literary agent at the William Morris Endeavor book department, Eric Matthew Simonoff turns 58… Professor of astronomy at MIT and winner of a 2013 MacArthur genius award, Sara Seager turns 54… Brazilian fashion designer best known for avant-garde designs and eclectic prints, Alexandre Herchcovitch turns 54… CEO of Fanatics, licensed sports merchandise and digital sports platform, Michael G. Rubin turns 53… Founder, president and CEO of Securing America’s Future Energy (SAFE) and the Electrification Coalition, Raphael “Robbie” Diamond… Rabbi of Congregation Bais Naftali in Los Angeles, his YouTube channel has over 4.6 million views, Rabbi Yoel Gold… Online media personality and director of product management at Electronic Arts (EA) in Vancouver, British Columbia, Veronica Belmont turns 43… CEO of Women of Reform Judaism since 2023, Rabbi Liz P.G. Hirsch… Clinical social worker, Aniko Gomory-Pink… Entrepreneur and political activist, Chloé Simone Valdary turns 32… Policy advisor at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, Zachary A. Marshall… Recruiter at Tines, Rachel Elizabeth Nieves… Attorney in Madrid and secretary general of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain until 2021, Elias Cohen…
Plus, Ireland draws Risch’s ire
Avi Ohayon/PMO
Good Monday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we preview Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s meeting with President Donald Trump that is slated for this evening, and talk to former Rep. Mike Rogers, who is mounting a Senate bid in Michigan, about the Trump administration’s approach to Iran. We also interview the chancellors of Washington University and Vanderbilt about their approaches to antisemitism and anti-Israel activity on campus, and look at the regional effects of the deepening relationship between Israel and Azerbaijan. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Sen. Jim Risch, Yoram Hazony and Dennis Ross.
What We’re Watching
- If it’s the week after July 4, all eyes are turning to Sun Valley, Idaho, for the annual Allen & Co. leadership retreat, which is set to kick off tomorrow. Attendees this year include Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Andy Jassy, Sam Altman, Barry Diller, Alex Karp, Evan Spiegel, Ynon Kreiz, Charles Rivkin, David Zaslav, Brian Grazer, Bob Iger, David Ignatius, Bari Weiss, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Mike Bloomberg, Govs. Wes Moore and Glenn Youngkin, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Casey Wasserman.
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with President Donald Trump this evening at the White House. Earlier in the day, Netanyahu will meet at the Blair House, where he is staying, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff to prepare for his sit-down with the president.
- Elsewhere in Washington, the Senate Armed Services Committee’s subcommittees will hold markups on the National Defense Authorization Act.
- Leaders from the BRICS alliance wrap up their two-day summit in Rio de Janeiro today. Absent from the gathering of officials from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa was Chinese President Xi Jinping, while Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has largely curbed his travel abroad since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, addressed the gathering by video.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MELISSA WEISS AND LAHAV HARKOV
When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sits down with President Donald Trump today, one question will be on observers’ minds: What will each walk away with?
Netanyahu appeared to come away empty-handed from his April meeting in Washington, after the U.S. imposed tariffs on Israel, among other countries. Weeks later, Trump skipped Israel on his first trip abroad, while visiting three other countries in the region.
Few knew at the time about Netanyahu’s plans to take on Iran. Following last month’s joint U.S.-Israel military effort to degrade Iran’s nuclear program and military infrastructure, relations between the two leaders have improved to such a degree that last week Trump called twice for an end to the legal proceedings against Netanyahu. A post-strikes-on-Iran victory lap is top of the public agenda for Netanyahu’s White House visit today, while Trump’s other goals, as they relate to Israel, remain works in progress.
The White House wants to wind down the war in Gaza, as Trump has said many times in recent months. After the American bunker busters dealt Iran the final punch that Israel pushed for, the president has newly gained leverage to push Netanyahu to end the war in Gaza — a move the Netanyahu government has thus far resisted until it has achieved its goal of “total victory” against Hamas. Trump told reporters on Sunday night that “there’s a good chance we have a deal with Hamas during the week pertaining to quite a few of the hostages.”
ROGER THAT
Michigan Senate hopeful Mike Rogers underscores his support for Trump’s strikes on Iran’s nuclear program
Former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI), making his second bid for Michigan’s Senate seat, is leaning into his support for the Trump administration’s decision to strike Iran’s nuclear program on the campaign trail, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Iran angle: Rogers emphasized, in an interview with JI last week, that he has long been suspicious and concerned about Iran’s nuclear program and other malign activities dating back to his time as the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee in the early 2010s, when he had access to highly classified information. “I couldn’t have supported [the operation] more,” Rogers, who served in the House from 2001 to 2015, said. “I was for all of this when it wasn’t very cool to be for all of this. The former lawmaker said he believes that Iran was much closer to a nuclear weapon than many believe, noting that its development of advanced supercomputers would likely have allowed it to reliably simulate a nuclear weapons test, an undetectable alternative to actually testing a nuclear bomb.
Bonus: Rogers’ Senate campaign recently named a conservative influencer with an extensive history of anti-Israel posts as county chair for his campaign in five counties — but Rogers distanced himself from the volunteer’s views on the Middle East in an interview with Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod.
CAMPUS BEAT
Vanderbilt, WashU leaders pitch Jewish students on a winning post-Oct. 7 strategy
Many universities are still navigating the post-Oct. 7 maelstrom, trying to handle competing concerns from students, parents, alumni and faculty — all while facing civil rights investigations by the federal government. In March, Education Secretary Linda McMahon wrote a letter to 60 schools under investigation for antisemitic discrimination, including Harvard, Yale, Northwestern, Stanford and Princeton. Vanderbilt University and Washington University in St. Louis were not on the list. That presents an opening for them to reach Jewish students with concerns about what they’re seeing elsewhere, particularly as the Jewish student populations at many top universities have shrunk. Vanderbilt Chancellor Daniel Diermeier and WashU Chancellor Andrew D. Martin talked to Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch about why they’re pushing back against “creeping politicization” on college campuses.
Political play: The two university leaders have joined together in something of an informal pact — a joint effort to promote principled leadership in higher education, presenting their two schools as a refreshing counterweight to the dysfunction plaguing higher-ranked competitors like Harvard and Columbia. Martin and Diermeier see themselves and their institutions as the stewards of a forward-looking case for higher education at a time when the institution is under attack, both from Washington and from Americans, whose trust in higher education has plummeted. It’s not just about values: It’s a savvy political move. After all, both Vanderbilt and WashU would be in trouble if federal research dollars stopped flowing to the schools, or if President Donald Trump made the call that they could not admit international students, as is the case with Harvard.
BAKU BUSINESS
With gas deal, Israel-Azerbaijan ties grow, sparking Iran’s ire
Following the Israel-Iran ceasefire and amid questions about the extent of the damage Israel and the U.S. inflicted on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program, an important piece of news flew under the radar: Azerbaijan’s national energy company, SOCAR, finalized its purchase of a 10% stake in Israel’s Tamar gas field. The deal and its timing amid hesitation from other countries that have considered investing in Israel, reflect a growing strategic partnership between Jerusalem and Baku — one that has garnered increasing pressure from Iran toward Azerbaijan, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports.
Details: The day after the ceasefire between Israel and Iran was announced toward the end of last month, Union Energy, owned by Israeli businessman Aharon Frenkel, received the final approval from Israel’s Petroleum Council and Competition Authority to sell half its shares of the gas field in the Mediterranean, which provides 60-70% of Israel’s electricity each year, to Azerbaijan’s SOCAR. Chevron owns 25% of the Tamar field and the UAE’s Mubadala sovereign wealth fund owns an 11% stake. Azerbaijan supplies as much as two-thirds of Israel’s oil, and Israel was the largest supplier of arms to Azerbaijan from 2016-2020. Israel continued to sell drones and missiles to Baku during its war with Armenia over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region in 2020, as well as satellites and a missile-interception system in 2023, during another war between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
DUBLIN WARNING
Risch threatens economic consequences if Ireland continues ‘antisemitic path’
Irish Foreign Minister Simon Harris urged the U.S. to end the war in Gaza at the American Embassy in Dublin’s Fourth of July party, days after the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID), warned that the U.S. may reconsider its economic ties with “antisemitic” Ireland. Harris, who is also Ireland’s deputy prime minister and defense minister, began his speech by focusing on the close relationship between the U.S. and Ireland, according to Dublin-based The Journal, before pivoting to the war in Gaza, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports. Harris said at the event on Thursday that his country “want[s] the bombs to stop, the killing to stop … because the cry of a child is the same in any language.”
U.S.-Ireland tensions: “It compels us to provide comfort and protection from harm. As human beings in positions of power, we can no longer bear the heartbreaking cries of the children of the Middle East,” Harris added. “And I join, I know, with everyone here in urging everybody involved to support and engage in efforts underway to reach agreement on a new ceasefire and hostage release agreement, to redouble those efforts and to end the violence once and for all.” U.S. Ambassador to Ireland Ed Walsh did not applaud the remarks, The Journal reported. Harris has previously called Israel’s war against Hamas terrorists in Gaza a “genocide.” Earlier last week, Risch posted on X that “Ireland, while often a valuable U.S. partner, is on a hateful, antisemitic path that will only lead to self-inflicted economic suffering.” The post came after Harris introduced legislation to ban trade with Israelis operating in the West Bank and parts of Jerusalem.
Worthy Reads
Tragedy in Tamra: In The Wall Street Journal, Fania Oz-Salzberger reflects on how the death of her student, an Israeli-Arab woman whose home was struck by an Iranian ballistic missile, underscores the ways in which the Israeli government has fallen short in protecting citizens. “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attacked Iranian nuclear and military sites to defend the country — rightly, in my view. But the current Israeli government has failed in multiple ways to defend its citizens, both Jewish and Arab. … The Khatib family was killed by Iran, and they represent the exact opposite of the ayatollahs’ regime. They are democrats, moderates — crucial partners in any future Israeli society that might emerge from the current ruins and smoke.” [WSJ]
China First: In The Free Press, Yoram Hazony posits that President Donald Trump is guided by a doctrine that prioritizes alliances with regional powers and stunting China’s global ambitions. “According to the Trump Doctrine, America’s role in such a world is focused on countering China and on rebuilding itself at home. Beyond that, America will be interested in alliances with powerful, independent nation-states that can take care of themselves and their regions, coordinate with each other where beneficial, and look to America to supplement their strategic capabilities where necessary.” [FreePress]
Bibi Still Needs a ‘Day-After’ Plan: In The Washington Post, Dennis Ross suggests that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will need to end the war in Gaza and present a viable plan for the enclave’s future in order to cement his own legacy. “Almost a decade and a half later, Netanyahu has now acted on what he considered to be his primary mission as prime minister. He has done so after the Israeli military, on his watch, transformed the regional balance of power by devastating Hamas and Hezbollah, Iran’s most formidable regional proxies, with the Assad regime in Syria collapsing soon thereafter. But these admittedly breathtaking decisions will not automatically vault Netanyahu ahead of Israel’s founder in the history books. To surpass [founding father David] Ben-Gurion, Netanyahu will need to take these great military achievements and turn them into enduring political outcomes.” [WashPost]
Word on the Street
The Wall Street Journal reports on a letter from a group of sheikhs from the West Bank city of Hebron to Israeli Economy Minister Nir Barkat calling for “cooperation” and “coexistence” with Israel as well as the city’s break from the Palestinian Authority in an effort to bolster ties with the Jewish state…
The Financial Times looks at initial plans for a “Trump Rivera” in Gaza that included the creation of “MBS Ring” and “MBZ Central” highways named after the leaders of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, as well as an “Elon Musk Smart Manufacturing Zone” for electronic vehicle production along the Israel-Gaza border…
Nvidia is planning to expand its footprint in Israel as it looks to build a high-tech campus in the country with building rights up to 180,000 square meters…
Columbia University is continuing negotiations with the Trump administration to restore hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding and grants; recent conversations have not included discussion of a “consent decree” that had previously been considered, under which a federal judge would have oversight of the school’s compliance with the terms of a potential agreement…
The New York Times reports that New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani identified as “Asian” and “Black or African American” on his application to Columbia University; the Queens assemblyman, who was born in Uganda to parents of Indian descent, told the Times last week he “did not consider himself either Black or African American”…
Victoria, Australia, Premier Jacinta Allan announced the creation of a new anti-hate task force following the weekend firebombing of a Melbourne synagogue and the vandalism of an eatery in the city owned by Shahar Segal, a spokesperson for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation; Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese vowed to apply the “full force” of the law against “those responsible for these shocking acts”…
Former U.K. Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn said he is in “ongoing” discussions about the creation of a new political party, a day after MP Zarah Sultana announced that she was leaving Labour to form a new party with Corbyn…
The New York Times looks at an ongoing effort to locate and return a Stradivarius violin to the descendants of the Jewish family who had owned the violin until it was looted near the end of World War II…
The Bank of Israel will hold its interest rates at 4.5% for the 12th consecutive time, amid the shekel’s rally following last month’s ceasefire between Israel and Iran…
The Washington Post looks at efforts by members of the Syrian Jewish diaspora to restore sites and rebuild connections inside Syria, whose Jewish population was just six people by the end of the Assad regime…
The Guardian reports on Israeli court documents that detail Iranian efforts to recruit spies inside Israel…
The International Atomic Energy Agency’s inspectors left Iran, days after Tehran suspended cooperation with the U.N. nuclear watchdog…
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made his first public appearance since last month’s war between Israel and Iran…
Hezbollah head Naim Kassem, speaking outside Beirut during an event marking the Shiite Muslim holiday of Ashura, doubled down on the terror group’s refusal to cease fighting until Israel withdraws from southern Lebanon…
Israel carried out strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen over the weekend, the first attacks on the Iran-backed terror group since Israel’s 12-day war with Iran last month…
The crew of a Liberian-flagged commercial vessel transiting through the Red Sea abandoned ship following an attack believed to have come from the Houthis in Yemen…
Broadway executive Paul Libin, who for many years ran Circle in the Square Theater, died at 94…
Pic of the Day
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier laid a wreath earlier today at the Paneriai Holocaust Memorial in Vilnius, Lithuania.
Birthdays
Cardiologist and former president of CRIF, the umbrella organization of French Jews, Richard Prasquier turns 80…
Retired president of The Seeing Eye, the world’s premier guide dog school for the blind, Kenneth Rosenthal turns 87… Early collaborator on object-oriented computer programming in the 1970s, Adele Goldberg turns 80… Michigan-based real estate developer, he served as U.S. ambassador to Slovakia during the Bush 43 administration, Ronald N. Weiser turns 80… Board member of the Israel Policy Forum, he spent 27 years as a bankruptcy attorney at Cooley LLP, Lawrence C. Gottlieb turns 78… Israeli businessman with vast holdings in energy (Delek Group) and real estate (El-Ad Group), Yitzhak Tshuva turns 77… Former president of Hebrew University and a past member of the Knesset, Menachem Ben-Sasson turns 74… Co-founder and CEO of the biotechnology company Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Leonard Steven Schleifer turns 73… Pioneer of Israeli punk rock, nicknamed “HaMeshuga,” Rami Fortis turns 71… USAID official for 28 years until 2008, he now consults internationally on Rule of Law issues, Richard Gold… President of The Lapin Group, Avrum Lapin… Rosh yeshiva of Yeshivat Har Etzion located in Alon Shvut, Rabbi Mosheh Lichtenstein turns 64… Academy Award-winning screenwriter, director, and producer, Akiva Goldsman turns 63… President of the United Synagogue of the U.K., Michael Howard Goldstein turns 62… President and CEO of HIAS since 2013, he first joined HIAS in 1989 as a caseworker in Rome, Mark Hetfield turns 58… Comic book creator and a cappella singer, he published the Passover Haggadah Graphic Novel, Jordan B. Gorfinkel turns 58… Chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit, David Jeremiah Barron turns 58… Television and film actress, Robin Weigert turns 56… Azerbaijani-born businessman, he is a VP of the Russian Jewish Congress and the president of the International Charity Foundation of Mountain Jews, German Zakharyayev turns 54… Communications director for the Democratic Majority for Israel since 2019, Rachel Rosen… Consultant and project manager for nonprofits, Amy Handman… Head coach of the Florida Gators men’s basketball team that won the NCAA national championship last season, Todd Raymond Golden turns 40… WNBA player in her 13th season, she has also played on Israeli teams for six seasons, Alysha Angelica Clark turns 38… Ethiopian-born Israeli actress, Netsanet Mekonnen turns 37… Prime Video analytics expert on “Thursday Night Football,” Sam Schwartzstein turns 36… Olympic sports sailor, she competed for Israel in both the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics, Gil Cohen turns 33… Originally a figure skater and later a pairs skater, now a skating coach, Megan Wessenberg turns 27… Shalom Klein… U.S. editor at Jewish Insider, Danielle Cohen…
Plus, Israel's potential paths forward in Gaza
Ben Birchall/PA Images via Getty Images
Bob Vylan performing on the West Holts Stage, during the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm in Somerset.
Good Monday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we look at Israel’s options in Gaza as it faces a degraded but not-yet-defeated Hamas, and report on the weekend incident at Glastonbury music festival in which a performer led a “death to the IDF” chant. We report on the increasingly cratering political center as Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) announce their departures from Capitol Hill, and look at government and Jewish communal concerns regarding Iranian “sleeper cells” in the U.S. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Stephen Ross and Ari Emanuel.
What We’re Watching
- Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer is slated to arrive in Washington today for meetings with senior Trump administration officials. Among the topics expected to be covered is a potential visit to Washington next month by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
- The annual Christians United for Israel Summit kicked off in Washington on Sunday, and continues into this week. Dr. Miriam Adelson is slated to address attendees at this morning’s plenary session. This afternoon, Auburn men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl (who is rumored to be considering a Senate bid in Alabama) will speak in conversation with CUFI Action Fund Chair Sandra Hagee Parker about his pro-Israel advocacy. Journalist Amir Tibon, whose book The Gates of Gaza recounts his family’s experience surviving the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks, will speak later this afternoon. Hostage advocate Rachel Goldberg-Polin, whose son, Hersh, was killed by Hamas in captivity, will speak at this evening’s Night to Honor Israel reception.
- This morning at the Aspen Ideas Festival, CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, former CIA Director David Petraeus, former National Security Advisors Susan Rice and John Bolton will speak at a session focused on the “new world order.” Later in the morning, former Deputy National Security Advisor Anne Neuberger will speak on a panel about cyber defense. This afternoon, Daniel Lubetzky and Jeffrey Sonnenfeld will join a panel on “business leadership in a new era.”
- In Israel, Defense Minister Israel Katz is expected to hold an emergency meeting with security officials to address the recent spate of extremist settler violence in the West Bank.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S LAHAV HARKOV
Two roads diverged for Israel’s Security Cabinet in a Sunday night meeting about Gaza, and since they could not travel both routes, the cabinet decided not to make a decision. The Security Cabinet met to discuss Israel’s next steps in Gaza after 633 days of war: ceasefire or escalation.
Some in the IDF high brass argued that the Gaza war’s objectives have been met — noting that the army had destroyed Hamas’ military infrastructure, killed nearly all of the senior Hamas commanders on its target list, dismantled tunnels, seized 60% of Gaza, blocked key smuggling routes — leaving Hamas weaker than it has been since its 2007 takeover of Gaza. They argued that now is the time to pursue an exit strategy, according to military analyst Amir Bohbot.
If there is no ceasefire, the IDF plans to continue its current operation in Gaza, calling up tens of thousands of IDF reservists and moving to conquer 80% of the territory. Officers in the cabinet meeting reportedly warned that doing so could bring about a large number of casualties, including some of the hostages. In the past week, the army has suffered near-daily losses of soldiers in Gaza.
President Donald Trump’s choice is clear: “MAKE THE DEAL IN GAZA. GET THE HOSTAGES BACK!!!” he wrote on Truth Social on Sunday. Two days earlier, he said there could be a ceasefire within a week.
But what a ceasefire would mean is less clear. The parties could agree to a temporary ceasefire, which Israelis have called the “Witkoff outline,” after Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff. Such a ceasefire would last 60 days, with the release of half of the remaining 50 hostages, 21 of whom are thought to be alive, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, including terrorists, and increased humanitarian aid flow into Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denied a report last week that he and Trump discussed a sweeping plan to end the Gaza war and expand the Abraham Accords, but a source with knowledge of the matter told Jewish Insider on Monday that much of the details are, in fact, currently in talks, even if they may still be far from fruition.
BAD BEAT
Glastonbury organizers ‘appalled’ by ‘death to Israel’ chants at U.K. festival
The organizers of the annual Glastonbury music festival in the U.K. said they were “appalled” by chants calling for “death to the IDF” led over the weekend by the rap duo Bob Vylan during the five-day event, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports. “Their chants very much crossed a line and we are urgently reminding everyone involved in the production of the Festival that there is no place at Glastonbury for antisemitism, hate speech, or incitement to violence,” Emily Eavis, the daughter of Glastonbury co-founder Michael Eavis, wrote Sunday on Instagram. “With almost 4,000 performances at Glastonbury 2025, there will inevitably be artists and speakers appearing on our stages whose views we do not share. However, we are appalled by the statements made from the West Holts stage by Bob Vylan yesterday.”
En route to the U.S.A.: In a statement to JI, Leo Terrell, senior counsel to the assistant attorney general for civil rights who chairs the Justice Department’s task force to combat antisemitism, said that ahead of Bob Vylan’s upcoming U.S. tour, the task force will be reaching out to the Department of State “to determine what measures are available to address the situation and to prevent the promotion of violent antisemitic rhetoric in the United States.”
Bonus: The BBC acknowledged that it should have ended its livestream of Bob Vylan’s performance and denounced the “antisemitic sentiments” promoted by the rap duo.
CENTER FOLDS
Sen. Thom Tillis’ retirement another blow to the shrinking center on Capitol Hill
Sen. Thom Tillis’ (R-NC) sudden announcement on Sunday that he won’t seek reelection — following a threat by President Donald Trump to back a primary challenger — is kicking off one of the most competitive Senate contests of the 2026 cycle, and underscoring the precarious standing for moderate-minded lawmakers on Capitol Hill, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports.
Bigger picture: Tillis, 64, who was first elected to the Senate in 2014, was already expected to face electoral headwinds from both directions in his bid for a third term. His pragmatic instincts angered right-winger Republicans back home while his willingness to ultimately support Trump’s agenda didn’t win him any goodwill with Democrats. Tillis is the second congressional Republican with a record of winning tough races to retire over the weekend, joining Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), who decided to leave Washington amid growing partisanship and polarization. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), another accomplished legislator who occasionally has antagonized his right flank, is also facing a difficult primary campaign against a right-wing opponent, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
THREAT DETECTION
After U.S. strikes on Iran, officials warn of retaliation from ‘sleeper cells’ in the U.S.
In the aftermath of the U.S. strikes on Iran, officials and lawmakers are warning of potential threats from Iranian or Iran-affiliated “sleeper cells” embedded in the United States, a threat that could persist in spite of the ceasefire reached last week, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
What they’re saying: Experts say that there is a real threat that Iran could seek to target the U.S. government, Jewish communities or other targets within the United States, either through networks of operatives in the country or individuals radicalized online against Israel and Jews. Matthew Levitt, the director of the counterterrorism and intelligence program at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a former counterterrorism official, told JI that homeland threats are very real, though he argued that the term “sleeper cells,” which he said invokes spy thriller TV shows, can trivialize the threat.
MESSAGE TO MAMDANI
Jeffries: Mamdani is ‘going to have to clarify his position’ on intifada slogan
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), in some of his first comments on presumptive Democratic New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s controversial remarks, said on Sunday that the state legislator will “have to clarify” his position on the slogan “globalize the intifada,” which Mamdani has defended in recent weeks, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
What he said: “‘Globalizing the intifada,’ by way of example, is not an acceptable phrase, and he’s going to have to clarify his position on that as he moves forward,” Jeffries said on ABC’s “This Week,” adding, “With respect to the Jewish communities that I represent, I think our nominee is going to have to convince folks that he is prepared to aggressively address the rise of antisemitism in the city of New York.” Jeffries made clear that he was not yet endorsing Mamdani.
Antisemitism watch: Former Rep. Kathy Manning (D-NC), now the board chair of Democratic Majority for Israel, blasted the North Carolina Democratic Party leadership for what she described as allowing anti-Israel rhetoric and antisemitism within the state party, in a statement first shared with JI.
kaine mutiny
Senate Democrats’ Iran war powers resolution fails
The Senate voted down Sen. Tim Kaine’s (D-VA) war powers resolution that would have blocked additional U.S. military action against Iran without congressional authorization on Friday evening, with nearly all Democrats voting in favor of the resolution, and almost all Republicans voting against it, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod and Emily Jacobs report.
Final vote: The resolution failed, 53-47, with Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) being the only Republican to vote in favor and Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) being the only Democrat to vote against. Kaine said in an address prior to the vote that while he acknowledged the need for U.S. military engagement in certain instances, any offensive actions required the approval of the legislative branch. In response, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), one of the most vocal supporters of the strikes in the Senate, said that requiring congressional approval would be a “disaster for the country” and upend the military command structure.
Politics of damage assessment: House lawmakers, like their Senate counterparts, remain divided over the U.S.’ strikes on Iran following a classified briefing Friday morning, with Republicans praising the strikes and most Democrats remaining skeptical, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
IRAN PIVOT
Trump suspends negotiations with Iran after defiant speech from ayatollah
President Donald Trump announced on Friday afternoon that he was suspending the possibility of sanctions relief efforts with Iran after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei defiantly proclaimed victory over the U.S. and Israel in a videotaped message, Jewish Insider’s Jake Schlanger reports.
U-turn: “During the last few days, I was working on the possible removal of sanctions, and other things, which would have given a much better chance to Iran at a full, fast, and complete recovery – The sanctions are BITING! But no, instead I get [sic] hit with a statement of anger, hatred, and disgust, and immediately dropped all work on sanction relief, and more,” Trump said in a Truth Social post.
Tough talk: Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL), the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, confronted the ambassadors of Rwanda, Jordan and Qatar, among other countries, over their relationships with U.S. adversaries in China and Iran, at a dinner last week, per a source familiar with the congressman’s remarks, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Worthy Reads
Axis of Instability: In The Atlantic, Leon Aron considers the benefits to the West afforded by the “asymmetric” relationship between Iran, Russia and China. “In calmer times, China, like Russia, is happy to use Iran as a battering ram against the U.S. and its allies. But when tensions turn into military confrontation and global stability is at risk, backing Iran looks like a far less sensible investment to Beijing than preserving its own economic and diplomatic relations with the West. … Since World War II, leaders of Western democracies have successfully collaborated in part because they have shared a common worldview. Whether Iran’s Islamic theocrats can say the same about Xi, the leader of an avowedly atheist state, or Putin, who now positions himself as the champion of Orthodox Christianity, is another question entirely.” [TheAtlantic]
Hostage Families’ Hopes: The Associated Press’ Melanie Lidman reports on the newfound hope among some hostage families that their loved ones could soon be freed from Gaza amid broader geopolitical developments that have undermined Hamas, its Iranian patron and its regional allies. “With Iran dealt a serious blow over nearly two weeks of fierce Israeli strikes, [Liran] Berman [whose brothers Ziv and Gali are hostages] believes Hamas, armed and financed by Iran, is at its most isolated since the war in Gaza began, and that might prompt the militant group to soften its negotiating positions. ‘Now it’s the time to pressure them and tell them, look, you are on your own. No one is coming to your help. This is it,’ Berman said. ‘I think the dominoes fell into place, and it’s time for diplomacy to reign now.’ [AP]
The Mamdani Risks: The Washington Post editorial board raises concerns about the candidacy of Zohran Mamdani, the presumptive Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City. “Zohran Mamdani, the charismatic 33-year-old who is now the front-runner to be the next mayor of New York, might seem like a breath of fresh air for a Democratic Party struggling to move past its aging establishment. In fact, New Yorkers should be worried that he would lead Gotham back to the bad old days of civic dysfunction, and Democrats should fear that he will discredit their next generation of party leaders, almost all of whom are better than this democratic socialist.” [WashPost]
A Win for Terror Victims: In The Wall Street Journal, Sander Gerber and Ezra Husney praise the Supreme Court ruling that will ultimately allow American victims of terror to sue the Palestinian Authority and Palestine Liberation Organization. “For nearly a decade, the Palestinian Authority occupied an unusual position in American constitutional law. Foreign states aren’t ‘persons’ entitled to due-process rights, and therefore states like Iran can be held liable for acts of international terrorism. But because the U.S. doesn’t recognize the Palestinian Authority as a sovereign state, it enjoyed constitutional due-process protections, which left Congress powerless to hold it accountable for terrorism. … With Israeli cooperation, the plaintiffs should eventually be able to collect damages by attaching Palestinian Authority tax revenue and assets. Then justice will truly have been done.” [WSJ]
Word on the Street
The White House is expected to host Kentucky state Sen. Aaron Reed in the coming weeks, as the Trump administration looks to recruit a challenger to Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), who opposed the White House’s proposed budget reconciliation bill…
An upcoming book by Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager and Isaac Arnsdorf focused on Trump’s 2024 reelection campaign reveals that Iran attempted to assassinate former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a Paris hotel in 2022…
Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) introduced a resolution nominating President Donald Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize for his handling of the Israel-Iran war…
The Senate Parliamentarian stripped the Educational Choice for Children Act, an educational scholarship tax credit program supported by Orthodox Jewish groups, out of Republicans’ budget reconciliation bill, ruling it noncompliant with restrictions on reconciliation bills…
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) and 14 other Senate Republicans introduced a resolution supporting the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran…
A group of House members introduced legislation on Friday that aims to bolster efforts by Holocaust survivors’ families to reclaim or receive recompense for art stolen from their relatives during World War II, addressing issues in past legislation that have hampered repatriation efforts in the courts, Jewish Insider‘s Marc Rod reports…
Rep. Michael Baumgartner (R-WA) and four other House Republicans introduced a resolution supporting the U.S. strikes on Iran…
The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced Friday that it had awarded $94.4 million in supplemental security grant funding to a total of 512 Jewish organizations nationwide, around half of a long-delayed supplemental funding round, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…
Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross is closing in on a deal to purchase a 45% stake in the Miami Open alongside a group led by Ari Emanuel…
A lawyer employed by the City of Ottawa was fired after being charged with vandalizing the Canadian capital’s Holocaust monument earlier this month…
International Atomic Energy Agency head Rafael Grossi said that while the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities caused significant damage, they failed to destroy core components of the program and Tehran could restore enrichment capabilities within months…
Iran’s judiciary said that 71 people, including dozens of prison workers at the country’s notorious Evin prison, were killed last week in an Israeli strike on the facility’s front gates…
The Wall Street Journal looks at the targeting of specific Iranian sectors during Israel’s 12-day war with Iran, including the efforts of an anonymous pro-Israel hacking group to cripple Iran’s banking industry, as well as Israel’s “Operation Narnia,” which targeted Iranian nuclear scientists…
Iran’s internal security forces are increasingly cracking down on dissidents and regime opponents following the 12-day war with Israel…
The New York Times spotlights the Ukrainian family that relocated to Israel in 2022 to seek cancer treatment for the family’s young daughter; the girl, as well as her mother, grandmother and two cousins were killed in an Iranian ballistic missile strike on the Tel Aviv suburb of Bat Yam earlier this month…
Jonathan Mayers, a co-founder of the Bonnaroo music festival, died at 51…
Conductor and composer Lalo Schifrin, who composed the theme song to the “Mission: Impossible” TV series, died at 93…
Jack Kleinsinger, the founder of the long-running Highlights in Jazz concert series, died at 88…
Pic of the Day
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and his wife, Janet, donated blood during a visit on Sunday to Magen David Adom’s national headquarters in Ramla, Israel.
Birthdays
Staff writer at The Atlantic, author of 10 books and former Bush 43 speechwriter, David Frum turns 65…
Rapid City, S.D., resident, Leedel Chittim Williamson turns 81… Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., resident, podiatrist, Dr. David Peter Bartos… Executive coach to nonprofit leaders, he was the founding director of the Museum of Jewish Heritage, Dr. David Altshuler… Former New York State assemblyman for 36 years, Dov Hikind turns 75… Former Harvard professor and author of books on the Holocaust and antisemitism, Daniel Goldhagen turns 66… Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court, Stuart Jeff Rabner turns 65… Professor of astrophysics at McGill University, Victoria Michelle Kaspi turns 58… Founding executive director and now a senior advisor at JOIN for Justice: the Jewish Organizing Institute and Network, Karla Van Praag… Professor of Jewish studies at the University of Georgia, he is the co-editor of a handbook on 25 different Jewish languages, Aaron David Rubin turns 49… Columnist, author, poet and screenwriter, Matthew “Matthue” Roth turns 47… Former sports business analyst and reporter, now focused on the collectibles market, Darren Rovell turns 47… Reggae and alternative rock musician, known by his stage name Matisyahu, Matthew Paul Miller turns 46… Film and television actress, Elizabeth Anne (“Lizzy”) Caplan turns 43… Partner in OnMessage Public Strategies, Kyle J. Plotkin turns 43… Senior software engineer at Bloomberg LP, Noam Lustiger… Chief communications officer for Aleph Venture Capital, Erica Marom (Chernofsky)… Chief operating officer at the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Stephanie Hausner… Head coach of the men’s lacrosse program at Long Island University, Jordan Levine turns 39… Rhythmic gymnast who represented the U.S. at the 2012 Olympic Games, now a fitness coach and personal trainer, Julie Ashley Zetlin turns 35… English teacher in Tel Aviv, Michal Adar… Area director for the North Shore of Long Island at AIPAC, Abbey Taub…