Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Appearing on CNN this morning, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter said Jerusalem is “supportive of the position of the United States” regarding renewed strikes on Iran, and said Israel would “fly alongside U.S. aircraft” if called on to do so.

He added that Iran had violated its “only obligation” under the memorandum of understanding — to keep the Strait of Hormuz open — and that if the Iranians “persist in their malign intentions,” the war could resume “in full swing”…

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Israeli military leaders are also hinting at potential Israeli involvement: At an Israeli Air Force graduation ceremony, Defense Minister Israel Katz said the IDF is prepared to carry out independent strikes “to remove threats” in Iran. Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, the IDF’s chief of staff, told the graduates that “new plans” are “on the drawing board” and that “major operations are still expected to lie ahead of us. Be prepared”…

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he spoke with President Donald Trump today and was updated by the president “on American moves in the Gulf.” According to a statement from the PMO, Netanyahu again raised the issue of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan‘s hostile rhetoric toward Israel…

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The Wall Street Journal examines the “root of the dispute” over the Strait of Hormuz — the “poorly worded” fifth article in the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding that says Tehran will “make arrangements” to restore shipping in the waterway and then work with Oman on a plan to administer it going forward.

“Notably, the paragraph says nothing about the U.S. making arrangements for the safe passage of vessels, which Iran has seized on to attack ships that use a U.S.-coordinated route,” a U.S. official told the outlet…

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Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) is in Israel and the West Bank this week while Congress is in recess, according to two individuals with knowledge of the trip. Khanna has not posted publicly about his visit, which is scheduled to conclude tonight, JI’s Melissa Weiss reports…

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While wrapping up his trip, Khanna, who was one of Senate candidate Graham Platner’s most vociferous defenders until a rape allegation was made against the Maine Democrat earlier this week, told MS NOW that he’s endorsing former state Sen. Troy Jackson to take Platner’s place on the ballot. Jackson, who previously ran for governor, is a progressive seen as aligned with Platner…

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But Platner’s potential replacements will have to wait a few more days: The candidate told campaign staff he intends to wait until the very last day — Monday — to officially file his paperwork to drop out of the race, Axios reports…

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The Journal profiles Cheyenne Hunt, the progressive influencer and activist who played a key role in bringing to light the sexual assault and misconduct allegations that ultimately saw the ouster of Platner and the resignation of former Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA)…

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Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL) withdrew as co-chair of the Congressional Friends of Spain Caucus due to what he called Madrid’s “escalating, hostile crusade” against Israel…

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Andy Burnham, widely expected to become Britain’s next prime minister, told The Guardian that the response of his Labour party to Israel’s military actions in Gaza “has too often not been good enough” and that the U.K. has “got to do more to put pressure on the Israeli government,” including sanctions and potentially banning trade in goods from Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Burnham also said there is “increasing evidence” that Israel committed war crimes, though he did not use the word genocide, and said the determination should be left to international courts. His comments mark a shift to the left of Labour’s outgoing leader, Keir Starmer, who was slower than other European leaders to back a ceasefire and recognize Palestinian statehood…

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Among those speaking at the closed-door Allen & Company retreat in Sun Valley, Idaho, today were Jared Kushner, UAE Ambassador to the U.S. Yousef Al Otaiba, former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Sens. John Fetterman (D-PA) and Dave McCormick (R-PA) as well as Ken Griffin, the hedge fund manager and GOP megadonor.

Asked whether he would support Vice President JD Vance or Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the 2028 presidential election, Griffin said he’d be inclined to back Rubio…

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at Platner’s potential replacements, as a handful of Maine Democrats are already jockeying for the position less than 24 hours after Platner announced he intends to drop out of the race for U.S. Senate.

We’ll be watching to see if U.S. and Iranian strikes continue into the weekend, or if the current flare-up has run its course. Prior to the outbreak in hostilities, Saudi media had reported that talks between Washington and Iran would restart on July 11, after the dayslong funeral of late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei wraps up today. Trump said this morning that the Iranians had called and “want to make a deal so badly,” but it’s unclear whether the two sides intend to meet.

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

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

The U.S. and Iran continued to offer conflicting accounts of the agreement reached over the weekend: President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social this morning that Iran “fully and completely agreed to highest level Nuclear inspections long into the future,” without which “there would be no further negotiations.” But Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said it was untrue and that the parties had not discussed any nuclear issues.

About Tehran’s denial, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. “know[s] what [Iran] agreed to do, and now they’ll either do it or they won’t. And if they do, the process moves forward. And if they don’t, the president will have some decisions to make”…

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Trump also said in his post that the funds received by Iran through the deal will go “into escrow, controlled by the U.S.A., and will be used for the purchase of food and medical supplies.” Yet the Treasury Department’s waiver of Iranian oil sanctions contains no such language and the text of the memorandum of understanding says unfrozen Iranian assets “shall be made fully usable” for “any ultimate beneficiary designated by the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran”…

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Meanwhile, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi were in Muscat speaking with Omani leaders about the Strait of Hormuz: In a joint statement, the parties said their foreign ministries will work towards an agreement on the “future administration” of the strait, the “services that will be provided in this regard and the costs associated with them,” as the Trump administration has repeatedly stated it will not accept any tolls placed on transit through the key waterway…

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Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian was also abroad, meeting in Islamabad with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, where Pezeshkian said Iran’s ballistic missile program “will never be” up for negotiation with the U.S…

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Jerusalem is publicly expressing concern about the Lebanon deconfliction mechanism established by the U.S. and Iran for the first time, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports: At the opening of Israel and Lebanon’s fifth round of direct talks taking place in Washington today, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter claimed the parties are “heading towards a train wreck.”

Leiter said he’s “concerned the concept of deconfliction is misplaced” because “Israel is not in conflict with Lebanon,” and that Israel had assumed “the central issue was Lebanon and Hezbollah — not the extent to which Iran could restrain Hezbollah. That is not Iran’s role”…

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Rubio, arriving in Abu Dhabi, said the U.S.-Iran and Israel-Lebanon tracks “are separate because Lebanon is a sovereign country,” and that the U.S. is “going to negotiate a deal directly with the Lebanese government,” without mentioning Israel.

Rubio also made clear that Iran is responsible for much of the terror activity in the Middle East, striking a different tone than that of Vice President JD Vance, JI’s Danielle Cohen-Kanik reports, after Vance said yesterday the U.S. is counting on Iran to “rein in” Hezbollah…

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The Senate passed a war powers resolution this afternoon directing the administration to withdraw U.S. forces from Iran, 50-48, with GOP Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Susan Collins (R-ME) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) voting in favor with Democrats,JI’s Marc Rod reports.

The resolution, now passed by both chambers, came as a concurrent resolution — meaning it will not be submitted to the president and, based on past court precedent, is not seen as carrying the force of law…

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A manifesto allegedly left by the gunman behind yesterday’s rampage in Côte-des-Neiges, a heavily Jewish neighborhood in Montreal, repeatedly targeted Jews and Zionists, specifically identifying “influential Zionists” among his intended victims, JI’s Haley Cohen reports…

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New York City First Lady Rama Duwaji posted an Instagram story today flashing an “I Voted” sticker and encouraging her followers to support two congressional candidates endorsed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the Democratic Socialists of America: Assemblymember Claire Valdez and doctoral candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier. Not receiving a mention was the only Jewish congressional candidate endorsed by her husband: former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, JI’s Will Bredderman reports…

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Ammar Campa-Najjar, a DSA-backed candidate who was recently defeated in his run for a California congressional seat, launched a new PAC called Democratic Majority for America — a counter to Democratic Majority for Israel, which organized against him in the June primary — to support progressive candidates who want to end aid to Israel, Politico reports.

The PAC, which Campa-Najjar said has about $100,000 in cash on hand, has already endorsed California congressional candidate Randy Villegas and far-left Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed…

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AIPAC’s super PAC, the United Democracy Project, has spent more than $38 million backing candidates this election cycle so far through direct and indirect spending, according to Politico, surpassing the $26 million it spent on the 2022 midterms…

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The Blue Square Alliance Against Hate, headed by New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, announced the formation of its inaugural advisory board, including Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, Dentons CEO Kate Barton, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav…

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for primary results from key races in New York and Maryland, as well as a postmortem on New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s ability to wield his political capital in the three congressional races where he endorsed progressive candidates.

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President Donald Trump is expected to attend a GOP Senate luncheon as he remains at odds with his party over several legislative efforts and as some Republicans speak out against his efforts to curb Israeli operations against Hezbollah.

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In the afternoon, Trump will hold a rally on the National Mall to kick off his Great American State Fair in the lead-up to the country’s 250th anniversary.

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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is slated to brief House Republicans tomorrow as the Pentagon gears up for a contentious fight over an expected $80 billion supplemental funding request tied largely to the Iran war.

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The House Appropriations Committee will mark up the 2027 defense spending bill.

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Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) will speak in conversation with Jewish Council for Public Affairs CEO Amy Spitalnick as well as leaders from other religious groups, including the Union for Reform Judaism and Orthodox Union, about the Jewish American Security Act.

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Three people were killed in a shooting attack today in Côte-des-Neiges, a heavily Jewish neighborhood in Montreal, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen and Tamara Zieve report. A civilian, a police officer and the suspect were confirmed dead by Montreal police, while one other police officer was seriously injured but in stable condition. Police said the suspect’s motive is still under investigation. Stay updated on this developing story with JI’s What We’re Watching briefing…

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After the U.S. and Iran agreed to create a “deconfliction cell” for military operations in Lebanon during their negotiations yesterday, Vice President JD Vance said at a press conference today that the U.S. will be counting on Iran to “rein in” Hezbollah — without acknowledging that Tehran offers material backing to its proxy in Lebanon, JI’s Matthew Shea reports.

Vance called Hezbollah’s attacks on northern Israel and the IDF’s retaliation “a bit of a chicken and egg problem, that you’ve got a junior guy who fires a drone that didn’t have approval from the high command. Of course Israel has to respond to that,” he acknowledged, “but … we could actually have a better and more peaceful situation if Israel responds in the context of a conversation that’s ongoing between Hezbollah, Lebanon, Israel and other partners in the region”…

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to push back on Vance’s framing, saying in a video statement this morning that his directive to the IDF “has not changed: Our fighters in southern Lebanon have full freedom of action to thwart any direct or developing threat to them or to the residents of the north. The IDF has no restrictions on this matter,” he said, while the tenuous ceasefire with Hezbollah appeared to hold today…

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Vance also announced Iran had agreed to let U.N. nuclear inspectors back into the country, and President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social that “everybody is fully aware” Iran will agree to “have Major Weapons Inspections in order to ensure ‘Nuclear Honesty’ long into the future,” but Esmail Baghaei, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson, told state media that Iran made “no new commitments” regarding inspections…

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Pursuant to the agreement reached between the U.S. and Iran over the weekend, the Treasury Department issued a waiver lifting decades-old U.S. sanctions on Iranian oil for the next 60 days, permitting imports of Iranian oil directly to the U.S. and paying for the goods in U.S. dollars.

Asked this afternoon in the Oval Office if he can ensure that Iran won’t use the funds for military purposes, Trump said, “They’re not supposed to be doing that, so we’ll see, but they’re supposed to use the money to buy food for their people.” AIPAC described the waiver as “broader than the terms detailed in the MOU or what was included in the JCPOA”…

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The White House’s “Rapid Response” X account boosted an Al Jazeera video interview about the negotiations with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, calling it “the real story from people actually in the room”…

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Avigdor Liberman, head of Israel’s Yisrael Beiteinu party and a leading opponent of Netanyahu, wrote in The Wall Street Journal that the “deal between Washington and Tehran won’t stop Iran from becoming a nuclear power. It will guarantee it.” He called for Jerusalem to “inform Washington that Israel won’t accept any linkage between Iran and Lebanon” and end its reliance on U.S. missile systems, preparing to attack key Iranian infrastructure if Tehran strikes Israel…

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Asked about her stance on Israel in a rare nationally televised interview on Fox News today, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) said she “remain[s] a very strong supporter of Israel” despite rising hostility to Israel and AIPAC among the American public, which she said “sadly reflects rising antisemitism in our country that” her opponent, Democratic nominee Graham Platner, “certainly is part of.”

“It’s important to recognize that AIPAC is made up of Americans who care deeply about our relationship with Israel. Platner makes it sound like this is some sort of evil foreign influence and that is absolutely wrong,” Collins continued…

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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani doubled down on his rhetorical assault on AIPAC today, JI’s Will Bredderman reports, after Jewish groups over the weekend criticized his comments about the pro-Israel organization at a rally last week that they argued evoked classic antisemitic tropes.

Mamdani defended naming AIPAC among the “monsters who move dark money” as a reference to a widely known misquote of 20th-century Marxist philosopher Antonio Gramsci, and backed up his argument with statistics from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry alleging that the IDF has killed more than 1,000 Palestinians since the ceasefire last fall…

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JI’s Christina Sher looks at the state of tomorrow’s Democratic primary for executive of Montgomery County, Md., as all three of the front-runners — County Councilmembers Will Jawando, Andrew Friedson and Evan Glass — have been outspoken against antisemitism, but diverge in their policy positions and views on Israel…

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Three men killed in asmall plane crash in Bowie, Md., on Saturday night have been identified as Israeli citizens, JI’s Haley Cohen reports: Yoav Bomrind, 26, David Rabinovitz, 19, and Elad Neidik, 20, boarded the single-engine plane in Ocean City, N.J., for a training flight before it crashed just outside Washington, D.C…

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Alan Greenspan — the influential economist who led the Federal Reserve across four presidencies and whose track record guiding economic growth earned him status as an economic “maestro” — died today at 100, JI’s Haley Cohen reports…

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at how pro-Israel groups’ intervention in the race to replace retiring Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) — where they are supporting state Delegate Adrian Boafo — revealed a more proactive strategy for taking on the left than the one the groups have employed in New York City’s Democratic primaries, as voters in both states head to the polls tomorrow.

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Israeli and Lebanese representatives are expected to meet in Washington to continue their direct negotiations, as the U.S. and Iran seek to intervene in ending military operations in Lebanon.

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio will embark on a three-day trip to the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Bahrain to discuss issues including the memorandum of understanding with Iran and transit through the Strait of Hormuz.

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Orthodox Union Advocacy will hold its annual lobbying day on the Hill, including a luncheon with senators from both parties and a speech by Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter.

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The Jerusalem News Syndicate’s policy summit continues in Jerusalem with remarks from former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, former Defense Minister Benny Gantz, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli, Netanyahu advisor Michael Eisenberg and Magen David Adom President Gilad Erdan.

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

As the White House continues to promote the memorandum of understanding that will end the war with Iran and start negotiations between Washington and Tehran, Vice President JD Vance is out with a message that sounds strikingly familiar — at least to anyone who followed former President Barack Obama’s pitch on the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.

“If you think this is a bad deal, what is your alternative?” Vance said in an interview this week with New York Times columnist Ross Douthat. 

Obama used nearly identical phrasing at a 2015 White House press conference: “I’m hearing a lot of talking points being repeated about ‘this is a bad deal,’” he said. “What I haven’t heard is, what is your preferred alternative?”

Watch a side-by-side look at Vance and Obama here…

Vance also delivered a tough message to Israeli officials who have criticized the MOU, telling reporters on Thursday that Israel’s government should be careful not to alienate the only friend it has left: President Donald Trump, JI’s Emily Jacobs reports.

“Donald J. Trump is the only head of state in the entire world who is sympathetic to the nation of Israel at this moment in time and he happens to be the head of state of the world’s superpower. If I was in the Cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world,” said Vance…

Trump also had a word of caution for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, two days after he said Netanyahu was too “vicious” in his approach to fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon. Asked by a reporter for Israel’s Kan News if he will support Netanyahu in this year’s Israeli elections, Trump said he most likely would, but did not commit.

“I’ll have to look at who’s running, but I like Bibi very much. I would be most likely to endorse him,” said Trump. “He’s doing a very good job, he’s got to be a little bit more rational”…

United Against Nuclear Iran, an advocacy group that rallied opposition to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, said on Thursday that it “cannot endorse the MoU in its current form”…

AIPAC released a policy memo on Thursday that said the MOU “raises significant questions,” and called on Congress to “play a critical role in ensuring a final deal meets President Trump’s stated objectives for the war”…

In a Thursday speech at the FII Priority summit in Rome, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama blamed Iran for “ruthless” cyberattacks against the country, claiming that Tehran has sought to sow unrest about a preliminarily approved luxury development project in the country from Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, Trump’s daughter and son-in-law, JI’s Matthew Shea reports…

Janeese Lewis George defeated Kenyan McDuffie in the Democratic primary for mayor of Washington, D.C., with the Associated Press calling the race on Thursday afternoon. Democratic socialist Lewis George leads McDuffie 53% to 36%…

American Priorities, a super PAC created as a progressive counterweight to AIPAC, has received $250,000 from a tech executive whose firm is developing AI data centers in New York State — while boosting two democratic socialist House candidates who oppose efforts to expand data centers, JI’s Matthew Kassel reports…

Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-NJ), who has been absent from Congress since March due to an unexplained personal health issue, plans to return to Washington on June 30…

Israel and Syria are expected to resume direct talks soon due to pressure from the U.S., the Israeli network Kan reports…

The FBI announced that it charged San Diego resident Reda Mazen Rida Sabassi with conspiring to provide material support to Hamas after he allegedly raised approximately $600,000 through fraudulent charitable campaigns and funneled a portion to the terrorist organization…

Former Presidents Joe Biden, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton attended the grand opening of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago on Thursday afternoon.

Guests included a litany of ex-Obama administration staffers, including former White House liaison to the Jewish community Matt Nosanchuk and former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro, who was spotted chatting with Obama…

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at how Jewish Republicans are feeling about the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding that was signed this week. 

Vice President JD Vance plans to travel to Switzerland this weekend for talks with Iran, though the plans are not yet finalized, he told reporters on Thursday. 

Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, will become the acting director of national intelligence on Friday after the confirmation of DNI nominee Jay Clayton was delayed this week at President Donald Trump’s request. 

We’ll be monitoring the final days of the heated congressional primary campaigns in New York, where Israel and Gaza remain hot topics for progressive candidates. 

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

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

After days in which President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and other senior officials boosted the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding — and amid calls from Capitol Hill and beyond to make public the agreement’s details — the White House on Wednesday shared the text of the document that the Trump administration said will end the war against Tehran. Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs obtained the text of the MOU, which was read aloud to reporters during a call with a senior administration official.

The MOU states that the two nations “and their respective allies in the current war” will permanently end military operations — including against Lebanon, a stipulation that suggests the deal is meant to suspend Israel’s retaliatory strikes against Hezbollah, a provision for which Israel has not yet expressed approval. Iran “reaffirms” in the MOU that it will not “procure or develop nuclear weapons”…

The MOU text also reveals that the U.S. plans to issue a sanctions waiver to Iran so that it can sell oil, a major policy shift away from Trump’s use of sanctions against Iran. If a final deal is reached, the U.S. committed to ending all sanctions on Iran. Trump said earlier in the day at the G7 summit in France that the U.S. will not invest in Iran but would not stop other countries from doing so, JI’s Matthew Shea reports.

One new piece of information Trump shared on Wednesday that was not directly addressed in the MOU: a nuclear deal between Washington and Tehran would not prohibit the Iranians from possessing ballistic missiles, JI’s Matthew Shea reports. “I mean, they have to have some, because other people have some … It doesn’t work that way. And missiles aren’t the problem,” Trump said at the G7.

The agreement does not address Iran’s ballistic missiles or support for terrorist proxies. At the beginning of the war, the Trump administration said eliminating the ballistic missile threat from Iran was a key war aim…

The MOU asserts that a final deal will be negotiated within 60 days, unless both countries agree to extend the deadline. Iran’s naval blockade on the Strait of Hormuz must be lifted within 30 days. 

When talking to reporters after landing in Paris this afternoon, Trump said he does not view the 60-day deadline as a hard deadline. “Just as long as they’re behaving, I really don’t care that much,” Trump said.

Vance, not Trump, will be signing the MOU in Switzerland on Friday. “This way if it works out, I’m going to take the credit. If it doesn’t work out, I’m blaming JD,” Trump said during the G7…

Some Republican senators criticized the MOU, with retiring Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) calling it “the worst foreign policy blunder in decades,” JI’s Marc Rod reports…

Dario Amodei and Sam Altman, the CEOs, respectively, of Anthropic and OpenAI, joined Trump and the other G7 leaders for lunch on Wednesday, along with Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis… 

The planned Senate confirmation hearing for Jay Clayton, Trump’s nominee to serve as director of national intelligence, was scuttled on Wednesday morning after a last-minute Truth Social post from the president saying that the hearing would be canceled, prompting frustration from both Republican and Democratic lawmakers, JI’s Marc Rod reports…

As a major shareholder in Volkswagen, Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund is complicating talks between the German automaker and the Israeli state-owned defense company Rafael over Rafael’s intention to buy a plant from Volkswagen to manufacture components for Israel’s Iron Dome missile-defense systems…

The anti-Israel advocacy group TrackAIPAC, which attacks lawmakers who have received support from pro-Israel groups and donors who have supported Israel-related causes, endorsed Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), who once was targeted by TrackAIPAC before moving sharply to the left on Israel in recent months…

After eight people were indicted last week for allegedly threatening University of Michigan leaders and their families as part of an anti-Israel pressure campaign, former Michigan Democratic Party Chair Lon Johnson called on the party’s current leadership to review the actions of five of the suspects who were members of the Michigan Democratic Party…

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights announced on Wednesday that it is opening an antisemitism investigation into the American Psychological Association, the nation’s largest professional organization for mental health professionals. JI’s Gabby Deutch reported on the APA’s handling of antisemitism last summer…

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for a look at how some of the country’s most prominent Jewish communal leaders are marking America’s 250th birthday this July Fourth.

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) will be speaking in the morning at a fireside chat at the Hudson Institute focused on “diplomacy, defense and debt.”

We’ll be monitoring the results of Tuesday’s mayoral primary election in Washington, D.C., which still has not been called, even as Janeese Lewis George leads Kenyan McDuffie 53% to 37%, with 68% of the vote counted. 

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Amid reports of tensions between Washington and Jerusalem over the U.S.’ memorandum of understanding with Iran, President Donald Trump on Tuesday criticized Israel’s tactics in Lebanon and suggested Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa might be better positioned to take on Hezbollah, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports.

“Bibi has to be more responsible with respect to Lebanon,” Trump said during a meeting with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on the sidelines of the G7 summit in France. “If Israel can’t do the job without killing everyone else, he [al-Sharaa] will do the job. Syria will do the job”…

The text of the deal between the U.S. and Iran has still not been released, but Trump on Tuesday pledged to do so after the Friday signing ceremony — though he did not offer specifics.

Trump also said during the meeting with the Qatari emir on Tuesday that the U.S. is “not investing any money in Iran,” even as The Wall Street Journal reports that the U.S. plans to allow Iran to begin selling oil as soon as the deal is signed…

Later, during a meeting with United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Trump said he was hopeful that a full deal would come soon after the MOU because, he asserted, U.S.-Iranian ties had improved.

“The relationship is now normalized,” Trump said. He also said during the meeting with the Emirati leader that he would send the Iran agreement to Congress for review…

After a meeting between G7 leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he has a “certain degree of optimism” about the possibility of peace between Russia and Ukraine after Trump called on Russia to make a deal…

The FBI announced on Tuesday that it had foiled an attack planned targeting the UFC fight at the White House on Sunday, JI’s Marc Rod reports. One suspect allegedly told investigators that the attack was meant to target “capitalist elites,” “billionaires” and politicians linked to AIPAC, according to Fox News…

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) endorsed former Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) in her rematch campaign against incumbent Rep. Wesley Bell (D-MO), who unseated Bush, a member of the Squad, in 2024 in part with the support of AIPAC…

In his new book, Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith, Vice President JD Vance recounts a conversation with conservative activist Charlie Kirk two months before Kirk was killed last year, in which Kirk described young conservatives’ anger at “Israeli influence in American politics” and detailed how some were moving from criticism of Israel to antisemitism…

Toronto police warned that young people in Canada are being recruited and paid to carry out attacks against Jewish sites. “It is clear that some of the people hiring these criminals want to create a sense of fear in our communities, including in the Jewish community,” Toronto police chief Myron Demkiw said at a press conference…

Israeli journalist Amir Tibon was awarded the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature for his book The Gates of Gaza, a harrowing first-person account of how his family survived the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks and a deep dive into Israel’s policies in Gaza, Jewish Insider’s Christina Sher reports…

Democrats plan to take a tough line against the White House’s request for additional funding for the Defense Department, raising questions about whether the government will shut down again in October, Semafor reports…

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for a look at the Trump administration’s announcement earlier today that the Department of Justice will take over many of the responsibilities of the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights, marking a major change to the federal office responsible for investigating antisemitic harassment and discrimination at American schools and universities. The move comes as the White House continues to seek to dismantle the Education Department… 

Cameron Hilton, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Federal Emergency Management Agency, will testify at a confirmation hearing at the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee…

Comedian Amy Schumer and author Jessica Seinfeld will serve as the grand marshals of a kid-friendly New York Knicks ticker-tape parade outside the Children’s Museum of Manhattan at 4 p.m.… 

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Details of the U.S. deal with Iran remain hazy, even after President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s parliament speaker, virtually signed a memorandum of understanding, as a senior U.S. official confirmed on Monday. Vance is slated to speak with CNN’s Jake Tapper at 5 p.m. today. 

The text of the MOU will likely not be released until “sometime after Friday,” Trump, who is in Evian-les-Bains, France, for the G7 summit, said earlier today during a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron. According to a senior administration official, the MOU sets the stage for future negotiations; the official said that the most hot-button disputes between the two countries — including Iran’s nuclear program and U.S. sanctions — will be discussed only after the MOU is signed. Vance said earlier on Monday that Iran’s nuclear program is already destroyed, and the agreement “is about ensuring that they don’t rebuild it,” Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports… 

Trump seemed bullish on the new direction in which U.S.-Iran ties may be headed. 

“We got along very well with Iran. It is a different set of leaders. As you know the first set is gone and the second set is gone. We found the third set to be very smart, strong, very smart,” Trump said during his meeting with Macron. “Hopefully it is going to be a good relationship, and we are going to get along. If we don’t, we go back to where we started, but I don’t think that is necessary”…

The Wall Street Journal reports that Israeli officials are “alarmed” by the murky deal, with many concerned that the MOU will provide Iran “with the financial relief it needs to rebuild its shattered economy but doesn’t include a commitment to turn over its enriched uranium”…  

In his first statement on the matter, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the recent U.S. and Israeli military campaign against Iran “saved Israel from a nuclear annihilation threat.” He vowed that Iran will never get nuclear weapons, “with or without an agreement”… 

Meanwhile, Netanyahu’s political opponents — and even some allies — blasted the premier after the deal was announced. 

Yair Lapid, the opposition leader from the centrist Yesh Atid party, said Netanyahu “lost the war.” Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who is also challenging Netanyahu in this year’s elections, said the deal revealed that even after Israeli military successes against Iran, Netanyahu “is once again incapable of turning all of that into lasting security achievements.” Netanyahu also faced criticism from some members of his own coalition, with far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich calling the deal “bad for Israel and for the entire free world”… 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said on Monday that he hasn’t yet formed an opinion on the Iran MOU, JI’s Marc Rod reports. “I don’t know enough about it to say” whether it’s a good deal, Thune said… 

Major Jewish groups appear to be approaching the deal with caution, JI’s Marc Rod reports. The American Jewish Committee said that as it “await[s] developments about the reported 60-day ceasefire agreement,” the group “remain[s] focused on the underlying threats posed by the Iranian regime that have destabilized the Middle East for decades.” AIPAC framed the MOU as the beginning of a 60-day window for talks. “We look forward to learning the full details of the framework for these negotiations, including whether the deal preserves the sovereign right of our democratic ally Israel to respond to the security threats it confronts,” AIPAC said in a statement.

The right-wing Zionist Organization of America said that the “little that we know is deeply problematic.” Democratic Majority for Israel and the Jewish Democratic Council of America both criticized the deal and Trump’s overall approach to Iran… 

Former George W. Bush administration official Joel Scanlon will take over as the new president and CEO of the Hudson Institute, the conservative think tank in Washington announced on Monday, JI’s Gabby Deutch reports…

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

Keep an eye out for coverage from Jewish Insider’s Will Bredderman from tonight’s PIX11 debate between Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) and Brad Lander ahead of the Democratic primary next week to represent New York’s 10th District.

Voters in Washington, D.C., will go to the polls tomorrow as Janeese Lewis George and Kenyan McDuffie face off in the Democratic primary for mayor. In deep-blue Washington, the primary winner is expected to sail to victory in November. Oklahoma congressional primaries also take place tomorrow, as well as a runoff to decide the Republican Senate candidate in Georgia.   

President Donald Trump is in Evian-les-Bains, France, through Wednesday for the annual G7 summit. On Tuesday, he’ll participate in several working sessions with the leaders of the G7 nations — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom — on a range of issues including Ukraine, the Middle East and developing countries. He’ll also hold bilateral meetings with Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the president of the United Arab Emirates.  

• King Charles III and Queen Camilla land in Washington today for their first state visit to the U.S. since assuming the throne. They’ll arrive to a city reeling from this weekend’s attempted attack on Trump administration officials at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. More below from JI’s Marc Rod, who was attending the event at the Washington Hilton on Saturday night.
• The king and queen will be welcomed by President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump, and will have afternoon tea before attending a White House garden party.
• Trump is expected to convene a Situation Room meeting — sans King Charles — on Iran as the countries remain at an impasse amid stalled talks. The meeting comes days after plans for White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to go to Islamabad for a second round of talks were scrapped, with Trump telling Fox News on Sunday, “If they want to talk, they can come to us or they can call us.” Tehran has reportedly offered to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the war without resolving its disputes with Washington over the future of the Iranian nuclear program.
• Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is in Moscow today, where he is slated to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
• Israeli President Isaac Herzog is in Kazakhstan today, where he is slated to meet with President Qasym-Jomart Toqayev.
• Israel Tech Week kicks off today in Miami. Speakers include Daniel Flesch, Phil Goldfeder and Gabe Groisman.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MARC ROD

The White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday night began normally enough — a bustle of reporters, administration officials and members of Congress among other A-listers streaming from the packed lobby of the Washington Hilton down into the basement ballroom.

White House Correspondents’ Association President Weija Jiang, a CBS News White House reporter, finished her introductory remarks, and the thousands of guests packed into the ballroom tucked into their salads.

Then, a loud, shattering bang rang out from the other side of the ballroom. Initially, I didn’t think anything of it — I thought someone had dropped a large tray of food (as President Donald Trump said later, he thought the same thing).

Videos and other accounts of the evening indicate that someone from the security staff shouted from the front of the room that guests should get down. I didn’t hear it. My first indication that something was wrong was when I started seeing other guests ducking under the tables and security officers drawing their guns.

I tried to duck under the tablecloth, but no luck — another occupant of the table was already underneath, and there was no room. My heart pounding, I was forced to do my best to stay low — but I was in the backmost row of tables, right by a door, sitting directly in the aisle.

If a shooter came into the ballroom from behind me, I was a sitting duck. I was completely helpless and exposed.

Two thoughts ran through my head. The main one: I’m getting married in six days. I can’t die now. The second: I can’t believe this is happening to me again. (For those readers who are newer to Jewish Insider — I was also on scene for the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.)

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

Riyadh’s Reluctance: Foreign Policy’s Steven Cook considers why Saudi Arabia is not playing a more central role in the U.S. and Israeli conflict with Iran. “This is not to suggest that Saudi Arabia should get into the fight, but it is revealing that a country that billed itself as a rising power and the most important country in the Middle East is betwixt and between when its neighborhood is burning down. The Saudis clearly have interests at stake, but rather than taking action, they have been issuing strongly worded statements while others, including their adversaries, are shaping the region. It seems that Riyadh would be better off taking concrete steps to protect its interests. What is the saying about it’s better to be at the table than be the meal?” [FP]

Feeding Israel to the Left: In his Substack “The Abrahamic Metacritique,” Hussein Aboubakr Mansour raises concerns about the willingness of Democratic leaders to shift leftward on issues related to Israel amid pressure from the activist left. “The establishment’s reasoning is basic strategic calculation: the left will not relent on Israel; a civil war inside the party over the Jewish state would destroy the coalition; therefore, the rational move is to concede this issue, preserve party unity, and proceed with the moderate agenda on everything else: affordability, climate, migration, AI, etc. Feed this one thing to the beast, and the beast will be satisfied. It is an intelligent calculation, a genius one, really, but it is also a catastrophic one, because it rests on a complete misapprehension of what is being conceded and to whom.” [AbrahamicMetacritique]

Battle Royal: For Fox News, presidential historian Tevi Troy does a deep dive into the history of visits to the U.S. from U.K. royals. “When [Queen Elizabeth II] visited Eisenhower in 1957, she helped smooth over tensions that had emerged between Britain and the U.S. as a result of the Suez Crisis. … And now, as King Charles embarks on his first visit to the U.S. in President Donald Trump’s second term, the U.S. and Britain are in the midst of a disagreement over the war with Iran. Charles is not a political ruler, but perhaps his visit, like his mother’s in 1957, can smooth over tensions and help maintain the special relationship America has long had with the United Kingdom.” [FoxNews]

Axios reports that during the active conflict with Iran in March, Israel sent the United Arab Emirates an Iron Dome battery, interceptors and several dozen IDF troops to operate the missile-defense system; a senior Emirati official told Axios, “We are not going to forget it,” while a second official said, “It was a real eye-opening moment. To see who our real friends are”…

A new memo from the State Department acknowledges that the U.S.’ decision to launch Operation Epic Fury against Iran came — at least in part — at Israel’s request, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports… 

An 11-year-old Israeli girl who was critically wounded in an Iranian cluster bomb attack on her home in Bnei Brak earlier this month died of her injuries…

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Tucker Carlson suggested that he was given advance notice of the joint U.S.-Israel operation targeting Iran in late February, saying he received a text message at 10 p.m. ET on Feb. 27 — hours before the start of the operation — that read, “We’re going”; Carlson did not say who sent the message, acknowledging only that it was not President Donald Trump or Vice President JD Vance…

The WSJ notes that at the last meeting between Trump and Carlson, the president displayed a letter from evangelical leader Franklin Graham calling Carlson an antisemite…

The Treasury Department announced sanctions on a Chinese oil refinery and more than three dozen shipping firms and vessels tied to Iran’s oil export industry…

The New York Times examines the Trump administration’s “haphazard” approach to sanctions on Russia and Iran as Moscow and Tehran leverage their oil reserves amid a volatile market…

The Financial Times looks at the United Arab Emirates’ recent request that Pakistan repay $3.5 billion in loans, citing Islamabad’s deepening ties with Saudi Arabia and what the UAE “considers Pakistan’s meek response to Iranian attacks on the Gulf”…

UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed’s son-in-law Mohammed bin Hamad Al Nahyan and EDGE Group CEO Faisal Al Bannai — both of whom advise MBZ — visited Trump at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., and made a swing through the U.S. to meet with SpaceX founder Elon Musk, Jared Kushner, investors Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz and defense firm Anduril, The Circuit’s Jonathan Ferziger reports…

Talks between the U.S. and Israel on the next 10-year memorandum of understanding are expected to begin next month, and will include Maj. Gen. (res.) Amir Baram, the director-general of Israel’s Defense Ministry, and Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Leiter representing Israel and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and State Department senior advisor Michael Needham…

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) dropped his opposition to Kevin Warsh’s nomination to be chairman of the Federal Reserve, clearing the way for Warsh to assume the role when Jerome Powell’s term ends next month…

A federal judge in Texas halted the deportations of six family members of an Egyptian man who firebombed demonstrators, killing an elderly woman, at a Boulder, Colo., march last year raising awareness about the Israeli hostages in captivity in Gaza…

Thrive Capital founder Joshua Kushner announced on Friday the launch of Thrive Eternal, a capital holding company that will acquire a minority, non-controlling stake in the San Francisco Giants as its first major partnership, Jewish Insider’s Melissa Weiss reports…

The New York Times interviews Hollywood agent Michael Glantz, who went viral after being filmed eating his burrata salad at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday as other guests around him ducked for cover…

Counterterrorism authorities investigating a string of antisemitic attacks in London arrested a 37-year-old man on suspicion of preparing to carry out terrorist acts; more than two dozen people have been arrested in connection with attacks against the country’s Jewish community since late March…

The Telegraph goes behind the scenes of the Met Police’s effort to track down arsonists targeting synagogues in the London area…

Israeli President Isaac Herzog is expected to push for a mediated resolution to reach a plea deal in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ongoing corruption trial, bucking pressure from the White House to pardon the prime minister…

Israel’s Cabinet signed off on the nomination of Michael Lotam to be the country’s first ambassador to Somaliland, four months after Jerusalem recognized the sovereignty of the East African nation…

The Cabinet also approved the appointment of former Israeli Ambassador to the U.K. Tzipi Hotovely to serve as the head of the National Public Diplomacy Directorate within the Prime Minister’s Office, which has been vacant for more than two years…

Israel launched a wide-scale, multimillion-dollar campaign – led by former Trump administration official Brad Parscale — to create pro-Israel web content that would be picked up by AI platforms…

Cardiologist Eugene Braunwald, who as a child fled Nazi Europe and went on to reshape how modern medicine approaches heart attacks, died at 96…

Diplomat Lionel Rosenblatt, whose experiences living in Haifa, Israel, as a child inspired him to join the U.S. Foreign Service and later lead Refugees International, died at 82…

Stars of the upcoming Keshet 12 series “Unconditional” attended the world premiere screening of the drama, about a mother-daughter pair stranded in Russia, ahead of its broadcast tonight, at the Cinematheque in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Showrunner, director, screenwriter and producer, Brian Koppelman turns 60…

Financial executive, he retired in 2014 as head of marketing for money manager Van Eck Global, Harvey Hirsch turns 85… Nonprofit executive who has managed the 92nd Street Y, the Robin Hood Foundation, the AT&T Foundation and Lincoln Center, Reynold Levy turns 81… U.S. senator (R-WV), Jim Justice turns 75… Physician and a former NASA astronaut, she is a veteran of three shuttle flights with more than 686 hours in space, Ellen Louise Shulman Baker, M.D., M.P.H. turns 73… Director-general of the Israel Antiquities Authority until 2020, he was previously a member of Knesset and deputy director of the Shin Bet, Yisrael Hasson turns 71… VP at Covington Fabric & Design, Donald Rifkin… Biologist and professor of pathology and genetics at Stanford University School of Medicine, he won the 2006 Nobel Prize in medicine, Andrew Zachary Fire turns 67… Co-founder of Casamigos Tequila and owner of restaurants, bars and lounges worldwide, Rande Gerber turns 64… Former member of the Knesset for the Shinui party, Yigal Yasinov turns 60… CEO of ZAM Asset Management, Elliot Mayerhoff… Founder and CEO of NYC-based Gotham Ghostwriters, he served as a senior advisor for Sen. Joseph Lieberman in his vice presidential and presidential campaigns, Daniel Gerstein turns 59… Israeli actor, entertainer and television host, Yitzhak “Aki” Avni turns 59… Attorney and journalist, she is a contributing editor at Newsweek and senior editor at Slate, Dahlia Lithwick turns 59… Author, political analyst and nationally syndicated op-ed columnist for The Washington Post, Dana Milbank turns 58… U.S. senator (D-NJ) since 2013, he was previously the mayor of Newark, Cory Booker turns 57… Israeli television and radio journalist and former member of the Knesset for the Jewish Home party, Yinon Magal turns 57… Professor of science writing at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Seth Mnookin turns 54… Cinematographer and director, Rachel Morrison turns 48… Identical twin brothers, between the two of them they won 11 Israeli championships in the triathlon between 2001 and 2012, Dan and Ran Alterman both turn 46… Israeli screenwriter and producer, she has written numerous advertisements and screenplays, Savion Einstein turns 44… VP of AIPAC’s mid-Atlantic region, Leah Berry… Television and film actress, Ariel Geltman “Ari” Graynor turns 43… Basketball coach, analyst and writer, Benjamin Falk turns 38… Senior creative director at Trilogy Interactive, Jessica Ruby… Head of climate data at Watershed, Jonathan H. Glidden… Research fellow at Emory University law school, David Jonathan Benger… Entrepreneurial investor, Noah Swartz turns 33… Medical resident at UCLA Health, Amir Kashfi… 

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Today in New York, France and Saudi Arabia are co-hosting a conference focused on reviving two-state solution talks. The gathering, initially scheduled for June, now comes days after French President Emmanuel Macron said he planned to recognize a Palestinian state at this year’s U.N. General Assembly. Macron is skipping the conference, but his foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, is expected to, per The Economist, “formally present” Paris’ U.N. plans. Barrot, for his part, attempted to meet with Jewish groups while in New York, but was shut down after Macron’s announcement last week. More below.
• The Israel on Campus Coalition’s National Leadership Summit continues today in Washington. Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Leo Terrell, senior counsel at the Department of Justice, addressed the gathering of more than 600 students yesterday. More below.
• In North Carolina, former Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, is expected to announce his bid for the Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC). Cooper’s upcoming announcement comes as former Rep. Wiley Nickel (D-NC) plans to step aside from the race and endorse Cooper, consolidating Democratic support around the former governor. On the GOP side, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley is expected to announce his bid for the seat in the coming days, setting up what is likely to be one of the most expensive Senate races of the upcoming cycle.

A QUICK WORD WITH ji’S melissa Weiss and Tamara zIEVE

In Israel’s effort to conduct a pressure campaign on Hamas to oust the terror group and release the remaining hostages held in Gaza, it has found itself instead on the receiving end of another global pressure campaign.

Facing mounting pressure amid a worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Israel over the weekend announced a series of measures aimed at alleviating the widespread malnutrition and security issues in the enclave, including temporary ceasefires, aid airdrops, facilitating a massive increase in Gaza’s water supply and establishing designated humanitarian corridors — even as the IDF called claims of starvation in Gaza “a false campaign promoted by Hamas” and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denied that there was starvation in Gaza.

The crisis hit a fever pitch over the weekend as opposition to Israel’s efforts and limits on aid — first put into place in March as a pressure tactic to push Hamas to release the remaining hostages — surged to the highest levels of government around the world. 

Dozens of countries called for an end to the war, a restoration of the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza and the immediate release of the hostages. The shift in the political dynamic extended to Capitol Hill, where Democratic legislators, including many who have been strong supporters of Israel, expressed their concerns over Israel’s approach to the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

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

Just Cause, Unjust Tactics: The New York Times’ Ross Douthat argues that Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza — which he describes as “a war for a just cause” — is now being fought unjustly. “One can have a righteous cause, one’s foe can be wicked and brutal and primarily responsible for the conflict’s toll, and still — under any coherent theory of just war — there is an obligation to refrain from certain tactics if they create too much collateral damage, to mitigate certain predictable forms of civilian suffering and to have a strategy that makes the war’s outcome worth the cost. These are tests that Israel is failing.” [NYTimes]

RJC Rising: The Dispatch’s David Drucker explores the growing influence of the Republican Jewish Coalition. “Since Election Day 2024, the Republican Jewish Coalition has been telling anyone who will listen that Trump’s performance among Jewish voters was a historic success — due in no small part to the money and manpower invested by the RJC. There’s data to back that assertion up…To understand the real and consequential movement toward Trump by Jewish voters in 2024, you have to look under the hood, at the exit polls of battleground states and local precincts with significant populations of Jewish voters. That’s where Trump made his mark with a cohort usually elusive for Republicans; it’s what helped propel him past Harris in swing states that were quite close despite the president’s sweep.” [TheDispatch]

Art of the Steal: In AirMail, Ezra Chowaiki reflects on his dealings with forged looted artworks whose sellers wrongly claim them to be works that belonged to high-ranking Nazi officials. “Art dealers know the back of a painting is more important than its front. The back is where you trace the painting’s history, and the clues for each artwork in Jimmy’s collection were incredible, including incidental marks and labels on each painting, not to mention all those Nazi stamps. … In my years of meeting collectors, I’ve realized that many prefer the forbidden fruit. In its own perverse way, it just tastes a little sweeter. But beware: your perverse fascination with forbidden provenance — the back of the canvas — may keep you from examining a painting’s more obvious faults on the front.” [AirMail]

Darren Beattie, who was fired from his role as a speechwriter in the first Trump administration over his ties to white nationalists, was tapped to serve as acting president of the U.S. Institute of Peace in addition to his role as under secretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs at the State Department…

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told NBC’s “Meet The Press” that he believes Israel will be unable to negotiate an end to its war with Hamas and will have to do “what [the Allied forces] did in Tokyo and Berlin, take the place by force and start over again, presenting a better future for the Palestinians, hopefully having the Arabs take over the West Bank and Gaza”…

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is reportedly favoring “a more comprehensive approach to end the war and free all the remaining hostages” after meeting with hostage families at the State Department on Friday…

A Palestinian boy referenced in images that went viral last week as a symbol of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza was discovered to be suffering from a preexisting genetic muscle disorder…

A growing number of news organizations are calling on Israel to allow journalists access to the Gaza Strip…

The New York Times reports on speculation that funding for the refurbishment of the Qatari plane being gifted to the Trump administration is coming from funds allocated from a nuclear modernization program inside the Pentagon…

A White House official told The Wall Street Journal that it will use its recent settlement with Columbia University as a blueprint for its legal battles with other universities…

The New York Times spotlights former Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker’s role as head of the Harvard Corporation, as both the Trump administration and the Corporation raise concerns about her continued leadership and involvement…

Minnesota Democratic activist Latonya Reeves, a member of the Democratic National Committee, is mulling a primary challenge to Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN)…

French authorities are investigating the circumstances behind the removal last week of several dozen French Jewish campers and camp staffers from a Vueling flight amid claims from the group that it was deplaned because the campers were Jewish; Vueling has denied the allegations and said the group was removed due to the unruly behavior of some of the campers prior to takeoff…

The New York Times looks at the impact of Iran’s deepening water crisis amid record-setting heat and energy shortages around the country…

Mathematician-turned-singer Tom Lehrer, whose satirical tunes from the 1950s and ‘60s gained new audiences when Cameron Mackintosh compiled Lehrer’s music into the 1980 revue “Tomfoolery,” died at 97…

Ofer Calderon (right), who was held hostage by Hamas in Gaza for 484 days, cycled yesterday alongside Israel-Premier Tech team owner and philanthropist Sylvan Adams in the final stage of the Tour de France on the Champs-Élysées in Paris. On the 100th day of the hostages’ captivity, Adams led a global cycling event in their honor and promised that when Calderson would be released, he would ride alongside him at the Tour de France.

Jerusalem-born actor with more than 30 movie and television roles in the U.S., Ori Pfeffer turns 50…

Survivor of Auschwitz-Birkenau as a teen, he emigrated to Israel and became an artist, Yehuda Bacon turns 96… Chicago radio news personality, from 1973 to 2013 he was a television news anchor in Chicago, Walter David Jacobson turns 88… U.S. District Court judge in Manhattan until 2006, then U.S. attorney general for the last 14 months of the Bush 43 administration, now of counsel at the international law firm of Debevoise & Plimpton, Michael Mukasey turns 84… Swedish industrialist, chairman of the Nobel Foundation (manager of the Nobel Prize) from 2005 to 2013, Marcus Storch Ph.D. turns 83… In 1986 she became the first woman in the IDF to hold the rank of brigadier general, she then served as a member of Knesset, and now serves on multiple for-profit and nonprofit boards, Amira Dotan turns 78… Oldest active quarterback, he also manages football teams in Baltimore and Jerusalem, Joe Pollak turns 75… President of the Council on Foreign Relations for 20 years until he retired in 2023, Richard N. Haass turns 74… Tel Aviv-born real estate developer, restorer of historic buildings in downtown Los Angeles, Izek Shomof turns 66… Partner and managing director of Meadow Lane Advisors, Marty Friedman… French-Israeli hairdresser and entrepreneur, Michel Mercier turns 64… Sports executive, attorney and former president of basketball operations for the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves, David Kahn turns 64… American schoolteacher, wrongfully detained by Russia in 2022, he was released in the early weeks of the Trump 47 administration, Marc Hilliard Fogel turns 64… Talent booker, publicist and television and radio personality in Atlanta, Mara Davis turns 56… Tech entrepreneur who has invested in more than 100 startups, New York Times bestselling author, Joshua M. “Josh” Linkner turns 55… Co-founder of 23andMe, she recently regained control of the company, Anne Wojcicki turns 52… Actress and reality show personality, Elizabeth Berkley Lauren turns 51… Deputy CEO at UpStart, Jennifer Lew Goldstone… Associate justice of the Supreme Court of California, Leondra Kruger turns 49… Israeli journalist and former member of the Knesset, Ksenia Svetlova turns 48… Managing partner at Altitude Ventures, a health-care venture capital firm, he is a former White House liaison to the Jewish community, Jay Zeidman… Senior reporter at Bloomberg News, Laura Nahmias… CEO and CTO at Diagnostic Robotics in Jerusalem, Kira Radinsky Ph.D. turns 39… VP of player personnel at MLB’s Miami Marlins, Samuel Mondry-Cohen… Administrator at Lehigh Valley Homecare in Allentown, Pa., Menachem (Mark) Perl… Actor and producer who stars in the CBS series “Ghosts,” Asher Chazen Grodman turns 38… National narrative enterprise reporter at The Washington Post, Ruby Cramer… Larry Gordon…

• We’re keeping an eye on both Washington and Jerusalem today, ahead of next week’s planned meeting between President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as the leaders and aides provide details of the contours of the talks. Yesterday, Trump said that Israel had agreed to the terms of a 60-day ceasefire with Hamas, shortly after Israeli Strategic Minister Ron Dermer and White House Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff wrapped up an hours-long meeting.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S LAHAV HARKOV

It might be hard to remember now, with all that has happened in recent weeks, but the Knesset seemed very close to calling an early election a day and a half before Israel commenced its airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs last month.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received a post-Iran victory bump, and is once again leading in the polls – but not by much. A poll published on Tuesday showed his Likud party leading a potential party led by former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett by only two seats, and tied with Bennett for leading candidate for prime minister. Another pollster showed a similar margin during the Iran operation, but had the two parties tied after the ceasefire. Parties in the current coalition made up less than half of the Knesset in every poll. In a poll from the Israel Democracy Institute published on Wednesday, only 46% of Jewish Israelis said they trust Netanyahu. 

A common accusation heard by Netanyahu’s political opponents at home and abroad is that he is prolonging the war in Gaza to stay in office, because ending the war before his far-right coalition partners deem Hamas fully defeated would likely see the collapse of his government. But the victories under his leadership are seemingly not staunching the Israeli right’s continued collapse in the polls as the war grinds on in its 635th day.

Netanyahu may consider the political advantages of winding down the war as he heads to Washington next week while President Donald Trump is pushing for a broad deal that would encompass a Gaza ceasefire and the release of hostages, the administration of Gaza by moderate Sunni states, normalization between Israel and Syria and perhaps other countries, plus working to ensure Iran doesn’t rebuild its nuclear program. 

If Netanyahu returns to Israel with a Gaza ceasefire and hostage-release agreement, an expanded Abraham Accords and a way to keep Israel’s achievement in Iran intact, then he may get a more significant electoral bump. In that scenario, one option for him could be to ride that wave and call a snap election, rather than wait until the official October 2026 date for the vote.

Or, Netanyahu could see this as his legacy-clinching move, a sign that his work is done. In 2021, the prime minister said that he wants his legacy to be that he was the “protector of Israel, because I devoted much of my adult life to preventing Iran from having a nuclear weapon.”

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

Abraham Accords 2.0: In the Financial Times, senior Emirati diplomat Lana Nusseibeh, who until 2024 served as the United Arab Emirates’ envoy at the United Nations, calls for a “comprehensive” Middle East peace agreement built on the successes of the Abraham Accords. “For years, two false notions have taken hold in the Middle East: first, that force alone can secure stability and security. Second, that states in our region can be built securely on the basis of a zealous ideology. In fact, military victories in the Middle East are often hollow and fragile and extremist ideology can never create safe, stable and successful societies. As the window to de-escalate closes, there is an opportunity for U.S. President Donald Trump to forge a second-term legacy of peace in the Middle East, by building on his landmark first-term achievement: the Abraham Accords.” [FT]

What’s in a Slogan? The New York Times’ Bret Stephens, who was living in Jerusalem during the Second Intifada, reflects on New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani’s defense of the phrase “globalize the intifada.” “But a major political candidate who plainly refuses to condemn the phrase ‘globalize the intifada’ isn’t participating in legitimate democratic debate; he is giving moral comfort to people who deliberately murder innocent Jews. There are liberals and progressives who’ll continue to make excuses for Mamdani. They will argue that his views on ‘globalize the intifada’ are beside the point of his agenda for New York. They will observe that he has a predictable share of far-left Jewish supporters. They will play semantic games about the original meaning of ‘intifada.’” [NYTimes]

On the Nuclear Clock: The Wall Street Journal’s Jared Malsin and Laurence Norman look at the political calculations affecting the amount of time by which experts and officials believe Iran’s nuclear program has been set back. “If Iran were to make the decision to build a nuclear weapon, it would be betting that it can complete the job and establish deterrence before the U.S. and Israel intervene — through military action, economic pressure or diplomacy — to stop it. A longer timeline increases the risk of being spotted or struck again, which could dissuade Iran from taking such a gamble in the first place. So measured on the Iranian nuclear clock, a delay of a few months could translate into a lot longer than it sounds if it keeps Tehran from moving ahead.” [WSJ]

Paramount reached a $16 million settlement with President Donald Trump over the comments made about the Israel-Hamas war by then-Vice President Kamala Harris in a “60 Minutes” interview that Trump alleged had selectively edited; the money will be put toward Trump’s legal fees and his future presidential library…

The Wall Street Journal looks at relations between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which appear to be on an upswing following the joint Israel-U.S. cooperation in striking Iran following months of rumored tensions between the two leaders…

As the Senate closed out its marathon session of amendment votes on Republicans’ budget bill, the so-called Big Beautiful Bill, it added back a provision fought for by Orthodox Jewish groups, creating a major new national school choice program, which had been stripped from the bill days earlier, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…

Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) and 12 other House Republicans introduced a bill to create a service medal for members of the military involved in the Iran-Israel war…

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed an executive order addressing antisemitism in the state’s schools; under the terms of the executive order, the Iowa Board of Regents is instructed to work with the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights to ensure that the state’s universities are in compliance with the Civil Rights Act, and will review universities’ handling of antisemitism complaints dating back to October 2023…

Yale Law School Dean Heather Gerken was announced as the Ford Foundation’s next president, succeeding Darren Walker…

The Washington Post spotlights the Pentagon Pizza Report social media account, which tracks spikes in activity at pizzerias in the vicinity of the Defense Department’s Northern Virginia headquarters; the tracker noted an increase in activity ahead of Israel’s preemptive strikes on Iran last month, as well as before Trump announced the U.S. attack on Iranian nuclear facilities…

Authorities in Germany arrested a Danish national from Afghanistan accused of surveilling potential Jewish targets in the country on behalf of Iran; prosecutors believe the man was instructed by Iran’s Quds Force to scout Jewish sites and locations used by prominent Jewish communal leaders in the German capital…

Germany summoned the Iranian ambassador in Berlin over the arrest; German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, who is visiting Ukraine, where he visited a synagogue and the Babyn Yar memorial, said if the accusations were proven, “that would once again demonstrate that Iran is a threat to Jews all over the world”…

French President Emmanuel Macron spoke on Tuesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin; the two-hour call, which was initiated following U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities last month, was the first conversation between the two leaders in nearly three years…

The U.K. Defence Journal suggests that dozens of social media accounts that promoted Scottish independence have ceased posting following Israel’s strikes on Iran, which caused blackouts across parts of the Islamic Republic…

Iran reportedly moved forward last month with plans to deploy mines in the Strait of Hormuz, which would have effectively shuttered the waterway to commercial vessels; the mines were loaded onto vessels in the Persian Gulf shortly after Israel began its preemptive strikes on Iranian nuclear and military facilities…

Iran’s nuclear regulators are no longer responding to outreach from international inspectors, following Tehran’s decision last week to cut off inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency…

Iranian Rear Adm. Ali Shamkhani, who was believed to have been killed in last month’s Israeli strikes on senior regime officials, was seen, walking with a cane, in footage from the country’s weekend memorial service for military commanders…

Dylan Field’s Figma filed for an IPO, less than two years after the collapse of a planned $20 billion takeover by Adobe; read JI’s profile of Fields here…

Eric Goldstein, the CEO of UJA-Federation of New York, will step down from his position at the end of the next fiscal year, after 12 years in the role, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross reports…

Entrepreneur, Democratic donor and philanthropist S. Daniel Abraham, who in 1989 established an eponymous center to focus on Middle East peacebuilding efforts, died at 101…

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul laid a stone at the Babyn Yar memorial in Ukraine this week during an unannounced trip to the country.

Actress, singer and producer, she appeared in her first films as a 14-year-old, Ashley Tisdale turns 40…

Director emerita of Hebrew studies at HUC-JIR, now on the board of trustees of Los Angeles Hebrew High School, Rivka Dori… Nobel laureate in medicine in 2004, he is a professor at Columbia University and a molecular biologist, Richard Axel turns 79… Co-creator of the “Seinfeld” television series and creator of HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” comedian and producer, Larry David turns 78… Inductee into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2014 as a member of the E Street Band, Roy J. Bittan turns 76… Swedish author and screenwriter, she wrote a novel about Jewish children who escaped the Holocaust, Annika Thor turns 75… Former CEO of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation, she also served as a State Department’s special envoy on antisemitism, Hannah Rosenthal turns 74… Montclair, N.J.-based philanthropic consultant, Aaron Issar Back, Ph.D…. Israeli Druze politician who served as a member of the Knesset for the Kulanu and Kadima parties, Akram Hasson turns 66… Maryland state senator since 2015, Cheryl C. Kagan turns 64… Founder and head of business development of AQR Capital Management, David G. Kabiller turns 62… Member of the Knesset for the United Torah Judaism alliance, Ya’akov Asher turns 60… Chief White House correspondent for The New York Times, Peter E. Baker turns 58… Reading specialist at Wayne Thomas School in Highland Park, Ill., Stephanie Rubin… Co-founder, president and dean at Mechon Hadar in Manhattan, Shai Held, Ph.D. turns 54… Global industry editor for health and pharma at Thomson Reuters, Michele Gershberg… Music video and film director, Alma Har’el turns 50… Motivational speaker, media personality and a senior director of capital markets at RXR Realty, Charlie Harary turns 48… Author of fiction and non-fiction on a variety of Jewish topics, Elisa Albert turns 47… Israeli journalist, TV anchor and popular lecturer, Sivan Rahav-Meir turns 44… Member of Congress (R-NY), she was the chair of the House Republican Conference until earlier this year, Elise Stefanik turns 41… Actress and internet personality, Barbara Dunkelman turns 36… Actress, singer and songwriter, she played a lead role in the 2019 ABC series “Emergence,” Alexa Swinton turns 16…

• Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff is in Israel today following the announcement that Hamas will release Israeli American hostage Edan Alexander today. Adam Boehler, the administration’s hostage affairs envoy, arrived in Israel earlier today along with Alexander’s mother, Yael. More below.
• President Donald Trump is departing later today for his three-country visit to the Middle East. More below.
• An Israeli delegation will reportedly travel to Cairo today to renew negotiations with Hamas.
• Israeli President Isaac Herzog is in Germany today, where he is marking 60 years of German-Israeli relations.
• This afternoon in Tel Aviv, hostage families will march from Hostage Square to the U.S. Embassy Branch Office to call for a “comprehensive” agreement to free the remaining 59 hostages.

A QUICK WORD WITH Melissa Weiss

“Donald, Bring Them Home” reads a sign in the window of a clothing boutique on Tel Aviv’s busy Dizengoff Street. It’s been in the store window since January, when a temporary ceasefire freed dozens of Israeli hostages, including two Americans, who had been held in captivity in Gaza for over a year. It’s a smaller sign than the billboard that read “Thank you, Mr. President” and for weeks was visible to the thousands of motorists driving on the busy thoroughfare next to the beach. 

Returned hostages and hostage families have appealed to the Trump administration for assistance in securing their loved ones’ releases, expressing sentiments conspicuously absent in meetings between former hostages and Israeli government officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It’s a situation that underscores how the American efforts to secure the release of the remaining hostages have at times been done not only without Israeli buy-in, but with Israel finding out only after the negotiations concluded.

Such was the case yesterday, when Trump announced that Edan Alexander, the last living American hostage in Gaza, would be released.

The negotiations over the release of Alexander underscore the Trump administration’s “America First” approach to the region that has sidelined Israeli priorities on a range of issues, from the Houthis to Iran to the war in Gaza. It’s a splash of cold water in the face of a nation that largely celebrated Trump’s election six months ago.

The announcement of Alexander’s expected release came after a firehose of news in the days leading up to Trump’s visit to the Middle East, which begins tomorrow. First, the move toward allowing Saudi Arabia to have a civilian nuclear program. Then, the news, confirmed on Sunday by Trump, that Qatar is gifting the president a luxury plane to add to the Air Force One fleet, amid yearslong Boeing manufacturing delays. (More below.)

The Qatari gift alarmed Washington Democrats, with Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) writing to Trump administration officials to express “alarm,” saying Qatar has a “deeply troubling history of financing a barbaric terrorist organization that has the blood of Americans on its hands. In the cruelest irony, Air Force One will have something in common with Hamas: paid for by Qatar.”

Only hours after the news of the gifted jet broke, Trump announced that the U.S., along with Egyptian and Qatari mediators, had reached an agreement to secure Alexander’s release, which he referred to as “the first of those final steps necessary to end this brutal conflict.” Israel was not mentioned a single time in the announcement.

Netanyahu himself conceded that the Americans had reached the deal absent Israeli involvement. “The U.S. has informed Israel of Hamas’s intention to release soldier Edan Alexander as a gesture to the Americans, without conditions or anything in exchange,” Netanyahu said on Sunday evening.

The news stunned observers and offered a measure of renewed hope to the families of remaining hostages, including the four Americans whose bodies remain in Gaza, but opened a deluge of questions about the diplomatic dance that led to an agreement over Alexander’s release.

The timing of the announcement – shortly after news of the gifted Qatari jet broke — raised questions about the potentially transactional nature of the discussions, and deepened concerns that the Trump administration could reach agreements that run counter to Israeli security priorities while the president travels the region (a trip that does not include a stop in Israel, despite Netanyahu’s two visits to the White House since Trump returned to office).

As Trump travels to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates this week, the world will be watching closely. But perhaps nobody will be watching as closely — from more than 1,000 miles away — as Netanyahu.

Show of Force: Former Wall Street Journal publisher Karen Elliott House suggests that the U.S. and Israel mount a joint strike on Iranian nuclear facilities. “The only honorable option is to dismantle it. This can be done through diplomacy, which is highly unlikely, or with force. Any other outcome endangers both Israel and Saudi Arabia, key U.S. partners in the Middle East, and destroys Mr. Trump’s credibility with the world. The president adamantly — and repeatedly — has insisted he will accept nothing less than ‘total dismantlement’ of Iran’s nuclear program. The mullahs in Tehran will never agree to that. They saw what happened to Ukraine and Libya after giving up their nuclear ambitions. They think that enriching uranium for their nuclear reactors is a national right. Their real goal isn’t electricity generation but the ability to produce material for a bomb. … Destroying Iran’s nuclear capability involves risks, and Mr. Trump wants to avoid war. But if he believes Iran can be trusted to execute a new pact, he hasn’t done his homework.” [WSJ]

Altman’s Ascent: The Financial Times’ Roula Khalaf interviews OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in his California home about his rise in the tech industry and future plans for the AI company. “As we talk, I search for clues in his upbringing that hint at his future stardom. He says there are none. ‘I was like a kind of nerdy Jewish kid in the Midwest . . . So technology was just not a thing. Like being into computers was sort of, like, unusual. And I certainly never could have imagined that I would have ended up working on this technology in such a way. I still feel sort of surreal that that happened.’ The eldest of the four children of a dermatologist mother and a father who worked in real estate, Altman read a lot of science-fiction books, watched Star Trek and liked computers. In 2005, he dropped out of Stanford University before graduating to launch a social networking start-up. In those days, AI was still in its infancy: ‘We could show a system a thousand images of cats, and a thousand images of dogs, and then it [the AI] could correctly classify them, and that was, like, you were living the high life.’” [FT]

A senior U.S. official said that American negotiators were “encouraged” by the fourth round of nuclear talks with Iran, held yesterday in Oman…

Members of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum board clashed over the decision by the Trump administration to remove several board members appointed by former President Joe Biden, including former Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff and former White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain…

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) ruled out a Senate bid to challenge Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA), further narrowing the GOP field days after Gov. Brian Kemp announced he would not enter the Senate race; Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA) became the first Republican to enter the race last week…

Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) and Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) introduced legislation to specifically ban religious discrimination under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, a prospect that has been discussed on the Hill for several years to combat antisemitism on college campuses…

Rep. Michael Baumgartner (R-WA) introduced a resolution condemning Iran’s failure to fulfill its Nonproliferation Treaty obligations and comply with International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors, and supporting military force against Iran if it withdraws from the NPT or crosses the nuclear threshold…

Reps. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), Adam Smith (D-WA) and Jim Himes (D-CT) introduced legislation providing for sanctions on individuals involved in enabling violence or destabilizing activity in the West Bank, including government officials. The legislation echoes sanctions in place under the Biden administration…

A federal program that provides funding to help vulnerable nonprofits meet their security needs has again begun reimbursing recipients, after a funding freeze at the Federal Emergency Management Agency left the fate of the Nonprofit Security Grant Program in limbo, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod and Gabby Deutch report…

As University of Michigan President Santa Ono is set to become president at University of Florida, he said on Thursday that “combating antisemitism” will remain a priority, as it has “throughout my career,” Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports…

Rümeysa Öztürk, the Turkish student at Tufts University who was arrested in March and held in a detention center as she appealed the Trump administration’s deportation efforts, was released following a federal judge’s order…

The New York Times’ Jodi Rudoren reflects on her experiences saying Kaddish, the mourner’s prayer, after her father’s death… 

The Wall Street Journal looks at the relationship between Amazon Web Services and Nafea Bshara’s Annapurna Labs, which “has become essential to the success of the whole company” since AWS purchased the startup, which was founded in Israel, a decade ago in a $350 million deal…

Actress Natalie Portman is slated to star in Tom Hooper’s “Photograph 51,” a biopic about British scientist Rosalind Franklin…

The Washington Post spotlights a WWII battalion comprised of first-generation Japanese American soldiers who played a role in the liberation of Dachau… 

The Associated Press looks at a Dutch-led effort to digitize roughly 100,000 records from the Jewish community of Suriname, dating back to the 18th century…

U.K. Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson warned that antisemitism among British youth is experiencing a “horrific surge” and becoming a “national emergency”…

The Wall Street Journal reports on the sexual assault allegations made against Karim Khan, the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor, shortly before he announced his pursuit of arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials…

The IDF and Mossad recovered the remains of Sgt. First Class Zvi Feldman, who went missing along with two other soldiers during a battle in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley during the First Lebanon War in 1982; a joint IDF-Mossad statement said that Feldman’s remains were recovered “from the heart of Syria” in a “complex and covert operation” that used “precise intelligence”…

Israel issued an evacuation warning for the Yemeni ports of Ras Isa, Hodeidah and Salif, days after carrying out strikes at the Sana’a airport targeting the Iran-backed Houthis…’

The Houthis fired a ballistic missile toward Israel on Monday morning; the missile fell short and landed in Saudi Arabia…

In his first Sunday address since being selected as pontiff, Pope Leo XIV called for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, the distribution of aid to Gaza and “all hostages be freed”…  

Rob Silvers, the under secretary for policy at the Department of Homeland Security during the Biden administration, is joining Ropes & Gray as a partner, and will co-chair the firm’s national security practice…

Heavy metal band Disturbed frontman David Draiman is engaged following his proposal to model Sarah Uli at a show in Sacramento over the weekend…

Holocaust survivor Margot Friedländer, who returned in 2010 to live in Berlin, where she shared her story of survival with German audiences, died at 103…

Former hostage Emily Damari, visiting London on Sunday, attended her first Tottenham game since being released. Ahead of the game, Damari and her mother, Mandy Damari, met with supporters and called for the release of her friends Gali and Ziv Berman, twin brothers who were taken, alongside Damari,  from Kibbutz Kfar Aza on Oct. 7, 2023, and remain in captivity.

Haifa-born actress and model, she is known for her lead roles in seven films since 2014, Odeya Rush turns 28…

Israeli agribusiness entrepreneur and real estate investor, he was chairman and owner of Carmel Agrexco, Gideon Bickel turns 81… World-renowned architect and master planner for the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan, he also designed the Jewish Museum in Berlin, Germany, Daniel Libeskind turns 79… Former member of the California state Senate for eight years, following six years as a member of the California Assembly, Lois Wolk turns 79… Chairman of the Israel Paralympic Committee, he served for four years as a member of the Knesset for the Yisrael Beiteinu party, Moshe “Mutz” Matalon turns 72… Former Washington correspondent for McClatchy and then the Miami Herald covering the Pentagon, James Martin Rosen turns 70… SVP and deputy general counsel at Delta Air Lines until 2024, now chief legal officer at private aviation firm Wheels Up, Matthew Knopf turns 69… Professor at Emory University School of Law, he has published over 200 articles on law, religion and Jewish law, Michael Jay Broyde turns 61… Actress known for her role as Lexi Sterling on “Melrose Place,” she also had the lead role in many Lifetime movies, Jamie Michelle Luner turns 54… Founder of strategic communications and consulting firm Hiltzik Strategies, Matthew Hiltzik turns 53… Communications officer in the D.C. office of Open Society Foundations until earlier this month, Jonathan E. Kaplan… First-ever Jewish governor of Colorado, he was a successful serial entrepreneur before entering politics, Jared Polis turns 50… Professor of mathematics at Bar-Ilan University and a scientific advisor at the Y-Data school of data science in Israel, Elena Bunina turns 49… Italian politician, she is the first-ever Jewish mayor of Florence, Sara Funaro turns 49… Israeli pastry chef and parenting counselor, she is married to former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Gilat Ethel Bennett turns 48… Author, blogger and public speaker, Michael Ellsberg turns 48… Senior advisor at Accelerator for America Action, Joshua Cohen… Technology and social media reporter at Bloomberg, Alexandra Sophie Levine… Senior director of government affairs at BridgeBio, Amanda Schechter Malakoff… Civics outreach manager at Google, Erica Arbetter…