Israel has not asked U.S. to join offensive against Iran’s nuclear facilities, Hanegbi says
Knesset
National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi and Chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Yuli Edelstein on November 13, 2023.
Iran’s underground Fordow nuclear site is a key target in the current operation against the Islamic Republic, Israel’s national security advisor, Tzachi Hanegbi, said on Tuesday.
“This operation will not conclude without a strike on the Fordow nuclear facility,” Hanegbi told Israel’s Channel 12 News.
The Fordow facility is home to thousands of centrifuges, crucial to Iran’s weapons-grade uranium enrichment program, and is located 295 feet underground beneath a mountain. Israel is thought to have neither the munitions nor the aircraft to destroy it from the air, while the U.S. does.
Washington, however, has yet to make clear if it will take part in the offensive on Iran, though it has shot down Iranian missiles headed for Israel in the last few days. Hanegbi said that he does not believe the Trump administration has made a decision on the matter yet.
Hanegbi denied that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had asked the U.S. to join Israel in bombing Iranian nuclear sites: “We didn’t ask and we won’t ask. We will leave it to the Americans to make such dramatic decisions about their own security. We think only they can decide.”
“We are very careful and the prime minister is very careful not to ask for anything the Americans do not think is in their interest,” he said.
When the IDF presented its plan to the Israeli Security Cabinet a year ago, Hanegbi said, it was for the operation against Iran to be carried out by Israel alone. He called the plan “totally blue and white.”
However, Israel did ask the U.S. for help with its defense, because it has the THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) system, he said.
Hanegbi said that the U.S. is not only committed to protecting Israeli lives, but to the hundreds of thousands of American citizens living in Israel.
As to reports that President Donald Trump rejected an Israeli plan to kill Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Hanegbi said they are “fake from the land of fake.”
“We don’t ask for permission from the U.S., and the U.S. doesn’t expect us to share [our plans] with them,” Hanegbi said.
Regime change is not Israel’s goal, the national security advisor said.
“I think every sane person, not only in Israel, would be happy to see this loathsome, murderous, cruel regime fall and be replaced by peace-loving people. Can we set that as a goal for ourselves? No,” Hanegbi said.
While Hanegbi acknowledged that “the best way to remove the nuclear threat is for there to be a regime that does not want a nuclear weapon,” he said “that is not something we can attain kinetically right now.”
In addition, Hanegbi said the mullahs’ regime could fall as a result of “the process in which Iran lost its grip on the Shiite axis that was crazed in wanting to harm Israel,” but added that “it is not reasonable to think it will happen in the coming days.”
Hanegbi also expressed doubts that Iran would negotiate its surrender soon and said Israel did not receive any messages that Iran wants to hold talks to end the war.
“The Iranians are a proud people,” he said. “I don’t think they will wave the white flag at the beginning of the campaign.”
As such, he added, “we will continue with our plan. It will take time. We have many varied targets.”
Hanegbi said that Iranian gas fields and its energy sector “do not have immunity,” and that Israel struck an oil refinery used by the military within the last day.
Iran has “a strategic goal to strike our energy facilities,” he said. “They want to cause chaos in Israel. When they hit refineries in Haifa, they know what they’re doing.”
Biden’s former national security advisor said, ‘on this, unlike on many other issues, on foreign policy, I seem to be on the same page as Donald Trump’
White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan
Former National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan praised President Donald Trump for his strategy of engagement with Iran on their nuclear weapons program and predicted that the Trump administration would reach a deal that “is going to look and feel pretty similar to the” 2015 nuclear deal reached by former President Barack Obama.
Sullivan made the comments on the Unholy Podcast, hosted by Channel 12 anchor Yonit Levi and The Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland, when asked how he views Trump’s embrace of diplomacy with Iran after withdrawing from the Obama-era deal in his first term. Sullivan, who helped negotiate the 2015 agreement before serving as former President Joe Biden’s national security advisor, noted that Trump referred to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action as “the worst deal in human history.”
“The irony is not lost on me that now they are negotiating something that, in its broad elements, is going to look and feel pretty similar to the JCPOA. I’m not talking to anyone in the Trump administration about this. I don’t know of them engaging with other of the architects or negotiators from the Obama era, in part because, while they’re following some of the blueprint of the JCPOA, I think from a marketing perspective, they want to distance themselves and say [that] whatever the Trump deal is is going to be so much better than the Obama deal. I will find it very interesting to watch them make that case,” Sullivan said.
The former national security adviser said he was monitoring public developments with regard to how the uranium enrichment issue was addressed in the ongoing negotiations. Sullivan noted that the issue “has both hung up the negotiations and created this big fight, frankly, within the Republican party.”
Citing the risk of the “potential for retaliation by Iran against both Israel and the United States in the region,” Sullivan said that, “I’ve always thought that a diplomatic resolution that puts Iran’s nuclear program in a box is the right way to proceed. And on this, unlike on many other issues, on foreign policy, I seem to be on the same page as Donald Trump.”
Asked about Trump’s decision to not stop in Israel during his recent Middle East visit and if his overall approach to extracting concessions from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu served as evidence that the Biden administration should have taken a firmer stance with the Israelis, Sullivan argued there were commonalities between Trump and Biden’s approach to the Gulf states.
“Donald Trump likes peace and he likes deals. That’s his basic approach to the region. And he looks at Bibi and he says, ‘Is Bibi going to give me peace or deals? No. Is MBS [Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman]? Yes. Is MBZ [UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan]? Yes. Even, are the Iranians? Maybe. So are the Houthis, maybe they’ll give me a deal.’ So really I think what he’s doing is saying, ‘Can Bibi be a partner in the things I’m trying to accomplish here, deescalation and deals?’ And since he’s kind of concluded the answer is no, he’s just going to go off and largely do that himself,” Sullivan explained.
“That means cutting a deal with the Houthis that essentially still leaves the Houthis in a position where they’re attacking Israel and saying they’re going to hold Israeli link shipping at risk. It has him potentially doing a deal with Iran, despite misgivings from Israel. And of course, it has him pursuing these massive economic deals with Saudi and the UAE,” he continued.
Sullivan argued that the Biden administration “worked to pave the way for a lot of the strengthened relations with countries in the Gulf,” pointing to partnerships they made with the Saudis and Emiratis.
“We had a different approach on some of this AI and tech stuff, particularly limitations around numbers of chips that would go there. But in substance, the idea that there would be a technology partnership between the UAE and the United States, between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, that was a hallmark of the Biden approach as well. And so I don’t see a huge divergence there,” he said.
Asked about the ramifications of Israel potentially striking Iran’s nuclear program without Trump’s approval, Sullivan dismissed the notion that Netanyahu would defy the current president.
“I’m pretty skeptical that Prime Minister Netanyahu would act contrary to Trump’s wishes on this front. I think it is highly unlikely that you would see an Israeli prime minister order an attack against the express urging of an American president, particularly this American president in this time, particularly given that the U.S. is engaged in diplomacy with Iran to try to get to some kind of deal,” Sullivan said.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
National Security Advisor Michael Waltz speaks on a panel at the Hill and Valley Forum at the U.S. Capitol on April 30, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Good Friday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we detail Mike Waltz’s ouster yesterday as national security advisor and his nomination to be U.S. ambassador to the U.N., and scoop the hiring of Martin Marks to be the Trump administration’s Jewish liaison. We also report on Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin’s comments at the Jewish Democratic Council of America’s summit yesterday, and report on a call from Sen. Richard Blumenthal for the Trump administration to reverse its recent dismissals of members of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Zach Witkoff, Josh Radnor and Netta Barzilai.
For less-distracted reading over the weekend, browse this week’s edition of The Weekly Print, a curated print-friendly PDF featuring a selection of recent Jewish Insider and eJewishPhilanthropy stories, including: Bill Cassidy leans in to fight antisemitism as chair of key Senate committee; Songs of the fallen set the tone for Yom HaZikaron in Israel; and ‘The Surge’ continues: JFNA survey finds a third of Jews more engaged now than pre-Oct. 7. Print the latest edition here.
What We’re Watching
- Nuclear talks between Iran and the U.S. that had been expected to take place this weekend in Rome have been postponed. The State Department said the talks had not been confirmed, while Iran said that Tehran and Washington, along with Oman, which is facilitating the talks, had decided to postpone the fourth round of negotiations over “logistical and technical reasons.”
- The McCain Institute’s two-day Sedona Forum kicks off today in Arizona.
- The Zionist Rabbinic Coalition National Conference begins on Sunday in Washington.
- And on the West Coast, the Milken Institute Global Conference kicks off on Sunday in Los Angeles.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S JOSH KRAUSHAAR
Call it the horseshoe theory in action: The senatorial tag team of Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rand Paul (R-KY), representing the far left and far right of their caucuses, joined forces this week to scuttle bipartisan legislation designed to crack down on campus antisemitism by codifying the widely accepted International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of anti-Jewish discrimination into law.
Sanders proposed several “poison pill” amendments to the Antisemitism Awareness Act during a committee meeting — condemnation of the destruction in Gaza, protection for college students’ free speech rights and rights for universities — that received unanimous Democratic support in the committee vote, as well as backing from Paul. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) also voted for two of the Sanders-sponsored amendments. A fourth amendment by Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) opposing deportation and revocation of foreign students’ visas also passed with Paul’s support.
The Antisemitism Awareness Act has long been a major priority for Jewish leaders, especially with discrimination against Jews on the rise, but is facing continued hurdles for passage because of growing antagonism from both parties’ extreme flanks.
The legislation, which passed the House with a substantial 320-vote majority last year, was opposed by only 21 House Republicans and 70 House Democrats, though opposition has grown since then.
Last year, then-Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) didn’t bring the legislation to the Senate floor for a vote out of concern it would expose divisions over the issue in the party. A number of progressive Democrats oppose the mainstream IHRA definition of antisemitism, arguing the definition is too broad because it considers certain criticisms of Israel to be antisemitic.
On the far right, there was growing discomfort over free speech concerns. Most prominently, a smattering of right-wing Republicans, including Paul, and prominent influencers such as Tucker Carlson raised objections because the IHRA definition tags the claim that Jews killed Jesus as antisemitic. In cooperation with Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS), who shared similar concerns, the committee added language explicitly specifying that First Amendment protected speech, religion, press, assembly and petition rights are protected under the legislation.
The retreat on what, on paper, should have been an easy political win for both parties is just one small example of the growing influence of the populist, anti-establishment grassroots — fueled by voters increasingly turning to unconventional and unreliable sources for information.
As a result, on issues ranging from hostility to mainstream foreign policy views to distrust of traditional medicine to anger at Wall Street, the far left and far right of both parties are forming alliances of convenience.
Just scan the daily headlines for examples of an upside-down politics: Within the Trump administration, the reassignment of national security adviser Mike Waltz to Turtle Bay and the recent purge of experienced officials on the National Security Council at the recommendation of a far-right conspiracy theorist is backed by an isolationist faction that wants to upend the bipartisan foreign policy consensus. Republican Jewish Coalition CEO Matt Brooks, in a notable warning this week, said anti-Israel views are beginning to seep into the Republican party as part of a “woke right” whose worldview often overlaps with the far left.
Meanwhile, Democratic grassroots’ enthusiasm and excitement for Sanders’ rallies with left-wing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-NY), as moderates struggle to put forward an alternative vision for the party, is a cautionary sign that progressive party activists are still empowered despite the political hole they dug for their party. The fact that Sanders-championed resolutions to block arm sales to Israel received 15 (of 47) Democratic votes in the Senate last month is a sign of how much the party has changed in recent years.
As Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA), a 36-year-old progressive House Democrat, said on CNN Thursday: “There is a new generation of Republicans and Democrats who want to think about some of the things that we have been taking for granted as core tenets of our foreign policy.”
It’s no coincidence that antisemitic views are on the rise within both parties, as a result of this collapse of institutional authority. It shouldn’t be a surprise, then, it’s becoming difficult to pass bipartisan legislation to fight the oldest hatred.
RELOCATING
Trump nominates Mike Waltz as U.N. ambassador
President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he was nominating Mike Waltz, his national security advisor, as ambassador to the United Nations, and removing him from his current role. In the interim, Trump added in a Truth Social post, Secretary of State Marco Rubio will serve as national security advisor while holding his diplomatic role, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.
Surprise shuffle: The announcement came amid multiple reports that Waltz was expected to be ousted from his role, in the first major shakeup of the administration. His deputy advisor, Alex Wong, a fellow traditional conservative, was also expected to leave the National Security Council, sources told JI. Waltz, a former Florida congressman and Green Beret, has been on precarious footing since he accidentally added a journalist to a non-secure messaging app in which top administration officials discussed sensitive plans for a military operation in Yemen.
Bonus: The Atlantic does a deep dive into Waltz’s brief tenure in the Trump administration, citing the “dysfunction” within the National Security Council that predated the “Signalgate” incident.
scoop
Trump campaign staffer Martin Marks serving as White House Jewish liaison
Martin Marks, who oversaw President Donald Trump’s efforts to win over Jewish voters in the 2024 election, has recently begun serving as the White House liaison to the Jewish community, a White House spokesperson confirmed to Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch on Thursday. Marks’ appointment to the role is a shift for Trump, who did not appoint a Jewish liaison in his first term, instead opting for son-in-law Jared Kushner to informally serve in that role, alongside former antisemitism special envoy Elan Carr.
On the CV: Prior to joining the Trump campaign last year, Marks’ political experience included a brief congressional bid in 2022, when he entered the Republican primary to unseat Rep. Lois Frankel (D-FL), though he dropped out before voting began. His mother, handbag designer Lana Marks, served as U.S. ambassador to South Africa in Trump’s first term, and Marks was her “senior advisor and chief strategist” during her confirmation hearings, according to a biography on his campaign website. He moved with her to Pretoria to continue serving as an informal advisor.
SELF REFLECTION
Dan Goldman: Dems shouldn’t make antisemitic visa holders into ‘martyrs’
Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) warned that some on the left are focusing too heavily on individuals who have espoused antisemitic views and are being targeted by the Trump administration for deportation, and that Democrats should be directing more attention towards the Americans still held hostage by Hamas in Gaza, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Notable quotable: “We are seeing, because of Donald Trump’s overreach, that people who have espoused antisemitism are becoming martyrs, and that scares me,” Goldman said at a Jewish Democratic Council of America conference in Washington on Thursday. “Because we should be talking about the five American hostages in Gaza who have been there for a year and a half, who were abducted by a terrorist group and are deceased in four of the cases, unfortunately, but one, Edan Alexander, remains alive.”
IN CONVERSATION
Ossoff highlights hostages and antisemitism, but says Trump is exploiting Jewish fears
As he works to repair his standing with some members of Georgia’s Jewish community, Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) on Thursday highlighted the plight of the remaining hostages in Gaza and the rise of antisemitism at home, while also condemning what he described as the Trump administration’s use of antisemitism as a weapon to attack civil liberties, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
What he said: “I know for those of us, myself included, who have family in Israel, for those of us who every single day feel the intense pain of recognition that there remain hostages rotting and facing abuse in tunnels under Gaza, for those of who have feared for Israel’s future and its security, for those of us who have witnessed the gut-wrenching violence and devastation in the Middle East, it has been and remains incredibly painful,” Ossoff said, speaking at a Jewish Democratic Council of America summit in Washington. He also highlighted the struggles of Jewish parents whose children have felt threatened on campus and business owners whose businesses have been vandalized. But, he continued, “this issue is being very cynically exploited as the administration seeks to erode civil liberties in the United States.”
DEM DIRECTION
Ken Martin: Democratic Party needs to stand with Jewish community, Israel
Ken Martin, the new chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said on Thursday that the Democratic Party needs to stand up for the Jewish community and for Israel, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Stand strong: “It is so important right now for our party to stand up with the Jewish community, to continue to stand up for Israel, to continue to stand up for humanity and to not forget who we are as Americans,” Martin said in remarks to a Jewish Democratic Council of America conference in Washington, calling the Jewish community “really, really an important part of our coalition.”
Messaging and tactics: Also speaking at the conference, Sens. Brian Schatz (D-HI) and Chris Murphy (D-CT) laid out a vision for the Democratic Party’s path out of the political wilderness, outlining what they see as the party’s weaknesses and missteps, and the ways that Democrats can most effectively stake out and message positions in the second Trump era.
scoop
Blumenthal calls on Trump to reverse U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council dismissals
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) sent a letter to President Donald Trump on Thursday urging him to reverse course on his decision to remove multiple members of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council appointed by former President Joe Biden. Blumenthal wrote in the letter, first obtained by Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs, that the move “reveals a stunning contempt for the apolitical nature of Holocaust remembrance and a disturbing willingness to exploit even the memory of genocide for partisan gain.”
What he wrote: Blumenthal argued that the action “makes a mockery of the very mission the museum was created to pursue,” accusing the president of “politicizing an institution created to guard against the political abuses that led to the Holocaust in the first place.” He added, “These dismissals are not merely symbolic. They tell the country, and the world, that even the sacred memory of six million murdered Jews is not off-limits to your culture of retribution. That you would desecrate the museum’s independence to settle political scores is a deep insult to the survivors and their families, to the entire Jewish community, and to all communities who look to the museum as a beacon of truth and accountability.”
Worthy Reads
Political Parallels: Puck’s Julia Ioffe looks at the similarities in the Trump administration and Obama administration’s approaches to foreign policy. “Both came to power contemptuous of the Washington foreign policy establishment, which Obama lambasted as an ‘elite that largely boarded the bandwagon for war,’ clinging to the ‘Washington playbook’ and stuck in ‘groupthink.’ Trump reviles the ‘deep state’ and dinged Hillary Clinton, once the secretary of state, for having ‘bad experience.’ Both came to Washington wanting to end wars, but quickly found that not only was doing so harder than they thought, but existing wars also had a way of expanding under their watch. … ‘I think we’re going to make a deal with Iran,’ Trump said in his 100-days interview with Time. ‘Nobody else could do that.’ Nobody other than Obama, who negotiated a deal with Iran in 2015. Trump would obviously know that because, following [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s] lead in cursing the deal for years as empowering Iran over the objections of American allies Israel and Saudi Arabia, Trump unilaterally pulled out of the J.C.P.O.A. in 2018… only to now come back and try to strike a deal with Iran once again, after reportedly talking Israel out of striking Iranian nuclear sites.” [Puck]
Doha Dealings: In Commentary, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Jonathan Schanzer considers Qatar’s yearslong quest to become a key global player in media, diplomacy, academia and politics. “It’s fair to ask whether the Qataris are making a play for ‘state capture.’ Law firms, lobby groups, public relations shops, and other levers of influence are all on generous Qatari retainers. Hedge funds, mutual funds, joint ventures, and other generators of American wealth are similarly beholden to Qatari cash. Large parcels of real estate in one city after the next have been gobbled up by Qatari-backed developers. And that’s just what we know. Money is no object for Qatar. This is a country that controls more than 10 percent of the world’s energy. And the needs of the country’s tiny population make it such that the regime can spend money on soft power and influence without limit.” [Commentary]
Mandate-era Mode: In Tablet, Karen Burshtein spotlights ATA, a clothing company that provided workwear for recently arrived immigrants to pre-state Israel that has been revived in the last decade. “ATA now has minimalist chic boutiques in Tel Aviv and a just-opened store in Haifa, from which it sells its thick cotton jackets, quality T-shirts and sweaters, jumpsuits and, yes, the kibbutz hat. Most items have some reference to the workers’ uniforms at the heart of their history. Each is given a name that evokes kibbutz or Jewish history: Boker (morning) trousers, Po’elet (workers) dress, Hechrachi (Gematria) jacket, and Shabbat (Sabbath) shirts. The reborn brand often references ‘worker’s blue’ color tones. … Their first collection was directly inspired by what used to be called Havileh Oleh (Oleh packages). Upon arriving in Palestine/Israel, every oleh got a ‘Havileh Oleh,’ which contained work pants, a work shirt, a white shirt for Shabbat, a tembel hat, and a towel. “It was about how to identify yourself as an Israeli after you came from another place,” [creative director Yael] Shenberger continues. ‘When we started, what I wanted to do was exactly the same clothes. The white shirt in our first collection was the same white shirt Ben-Gurion wore.’” [Tablet]
Word on the Street
President Donald Trump threatened to impose sanctions on entities and individuals involved with the purchase of oil and petrochemicals from Iran…
The Trump administration commissioned L3Harris to refurbish a Boeing 747 previously owned by Qatar for use as a presidential plane, amid delays in Boeing’s production of two Air Force One replacement jets…
Zach Witkoff, the son of Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, on Thursday announced a deal between the Trump family’s World Liberty Financial, Emirati investment firm MGX and Binance at the Token2049 cryptocurrency conference in Dubai…
The Pentagon’s inspector general is expanding an investigation into Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s use of the Signal messaging platform following reports that Hegseth shared plans to strike the Houthis in Yemen in a second group chat that included his brother and wife…
The New York Times looks at Rep. Elise Stefanik’s (R-NY) return to the House of Representatives — and GOP leadership — following the Trump administration’s rescinding of her nomination to be U.S. ambassador to the U.N. over Republicans’ razor-thin majority in the House…
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore is set to headline South Carolina’s Blue Palmetto Dinner, Politico reports, amid speculation about the 2028 presidential race, in which Moore insists he is not running…
A new poll from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution found Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) narrowly trailing GOP Gov. Brian Kemp, 49-46%, in a potential Georgia Senate matchup next year…
Counterterrorism authorities in the U.K. are investigating the Northern Irish hip-hop group Kneecap over its members’ alleged support for violence against government officials and support for Hamas and Hezbollah; the group recently faced criticism for broadcasting anti-Israel messages during their set at Coachella…
Police in Victoria, Australia, are investigating after flyers promoting a neo-Nazi group were distributed to homes in a Melbourne suburb…
The Jewish Life Foundation is producing a 12-episode TV series and podcast hosted by “How I Met Your Mother” actor Josh Radnor, spotlighting Jewish writers at a time when others boycott them, Jay Deitcher reports for eJewishPhilanthropy…
Israeli President Isaac Herzog visited the Embassy of the Vatican in Jaffa and the Papal Nuncio this morning and signed the book of condolences for Pope Francis…
In a speech at Israel’s annual Bible Contest, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the country’s war aims, saying “There are another up to 24 alive, 59 total, and we want to return the living and the dead. It’s a very important goal. War has a supreme goal. The supreme goal is victory over our enemies, and this we will achieve”…
Italy, Croatia, Spain, France, Ukraine, North Macedonia, Cyprus and Romania sent planes and other aerial assistance to Israel to help combat the wildfires that spread through parts of the country this week…
Israeli fighter jets struck overnight close to the Syrian presidential palace in Damascus. In a joint statement, Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said, “This is a clear message to the Syrian regime. We will not allow the deployment of forces south of Damascus or any threat to the Druze community”…
A ship said to be carrying aid and activists to Gaza was struck by drones in international waters off Malta this morning, according to the Freedom Flotilla Coalition NGO that organized the ship…
Pic of the Day
To mark Israel’s Independence Day, Israeli singer Netta Barzilai partnered with the Jewish Agency to create a new cover of “Chai,” in a music video which features new immigrants to Israel, Israeli youth, volunteers from the diaspora, shlichim from around the world, victims of terror and released hostage Dafna Elyakim.
Birthdays
Former chairman and CEO of American International Group, once the largest insurance company in history, then chairman and CEO of the Starr Companies, Maurice Raymond “Hank” Greenberg turns 100…
FRIDAY: Former U.S. Ambassador to Denmark, he financed the visitors center at the Touro Synagogue in Newport, R.I., John Langeloth Loeb turns 95… Former lord chief justice and president of the Courts of England and Wales, Baron Harry Kenneth Woolf turns 92… Retired professor at NYU’s Center for Global Affairs, journalist, international negotiator and private consultant, Dr. Alon Ben-Meir turns 88… Author of 23 books and conservative political activist, Alan Merril Gottlieb turns 78… U.S. senator (D-VT) since 2023, Peter Welch turns 78… Former member of the Texas Senate, she was born in NYC to Holocaust survivor parents, Florence Shapiro turns 77… Former USAID contractor imprisoned by Cuba from 2009 to 2014, Alan Phillip Gross turns 76… Co-founder and president of private equity firm NCH Capital, he has funded the establishment of hundreds of Chabad Houses at universities throughout the world, George Rohr turns 71… Former under secretary of state for public diplomacy in the Obama administration, following a stint as managing editor of Time magazine, Richard Allen “Rick” Stengel turns 70… Member of the New York State Assembly since 2010, he was previously a member of the NYC Council and former deputy superintendent of the NYS Banking Commission, David Weprin turns 69… Former U.S. secretary of commerce in the Obama administration, she is on the board of Microsoft, Penny Sue Pritzker turns 66… Partner at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, she is active on many non-profit boards including Penn Law School and the Jewish Federations of North America, Jodi J. Schwartz turns 65… Television writer and reality television personality known for his high IQ test scores, Richard G. Rosner turns 65… Admiral in the IDF (res.), he served as the commander of the Israeli Navy, Ram Rothberg turns 61… Director of the Chabad Center in Bratislava, Slovakia, Rabbi Baruch Myers turns 61… Founder and CEO of Shutterstock, Jonathan E. Oringer turns 51… Israeli writer known for his novels, essays and philosophical work, Yaniv Iczkovits turns 50… SVP of Drumfire Public Affairs following four years as deputy chief of staff to then-Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, Stephen Schatz… Founder of MamaDen, a platform that connects and empowers mothers, Julianna Goldman turns 44… Podcast host and founder and president of ETS Advisory, Emily Tisch Sussman… Attorney in the office of New York State’s attorney general, Gabe Cahn… Chief development officer at Cornell Hillel, Susanna K. Cohen… Running back recently signed by the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles, A.J. Dillon turns 27…
SATURDAY: Southern California-area writer and activist promoting wellness, she still works three days per week, Deborah Shainman Szekely turns 103… Senior research scholar at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism at Reichman University, Ely Karmon, Ph.D. turns 84… Television journalist, David Marash turns 83… U.S. senator (R-ID), Jim Risch turns 82… Venture capitalist and economist, his original family name was Jacobstein, William H. Janeway turns 82… Francine Holtzman… U.S. senator (D-OR), his original family name was Weidenreich, Ron Wyden turns 76… Six-time Tony Award winning Broadway producer, Stewart F. Lane turns 74… Retired attorney, he represented political parties, campaigns, candidates, governors and members of Congress on election law matters, Benjamin Langer Ginsberg turns 73… Retired in 2017 as chair and CEO of Mondelez International, a multinational food and beverage company (including Oreo, Nabisco and Cadbury), Irene Rosenfeld turns 72… Retired partner from the Chicago office of DLA Piper, now a consultant at Washburn Advisors, Mark D. Yura turns 72… Political reporter and columnist for The Richmond Times-Dispatch, he has covered Virginia elections and the state Capitol for more than 30 years, Jeff E. Schapiro… Retired senior advisor at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Susan Steinmetz… EVP at NBCUniversal News Group, he is on the Board of Visitors at Duke Law Schol, Stephen Labaton turns 64… Former owner of the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets and Barclays Center, Mikhail Prokhorov turns 60… Lobbyist since 2010, he was previously deputy assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs in the Bush 43 administration, Scott A. Kamins… Veteran of 13 NHL seasons, in 2005 he sat out a hockey game to observe Yom Kippur, he is now an assistant coach for the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning, Jeff Halpern turns 49… Israeli singer and actress, winner of multiple Israeli Female Singer of the Year awards, Miri Mesika turns 47… Reporter for Politico New Jersey and author of New Jersey’s Playbook, Matthew R. Friedman… Educated at the Hebrew Academy of San Francisco, he was a defensive lineman in the NFL from 2004 until 2011 (Chargers, Cowboys and Dolphins), Igor Olshansky turns 43… Managing director and co-head of executive communications of SKDKnickerbocker, he is a graduate of CESJDS and was previously a speechwriter for President Obama, Stephen Andrew Krupin… President of Flaxman Strategies, Seth Flaxman… Israeli minister for social equality and women’s advancement, she is a member of the Knesset for the Likud party, May Golan turns 39… Benjamin S. Davis… NBA All Star for the Sacramento Kings, he is studying to convert to Judaism, Domantas Sabonis turns 29… Director of the Judaism and State Policy Center at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Israel, Tani Frank… Foreign correspondent for NBC and a former Middle East correspondent for the Daily Telegraph, Raf Sanchez…
SUNDAY: Executive director of the Texas A&M Hillel for 30 years, now a security consultant for the tourism industry, Peter E. Tarlow turns 79… U.S. special envoy for climate change in the Obama administration, now a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, Todd D. Stern turns 74… Board chair of the Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies, Lee Sherman… Partner at NYC-based Mintz & Gold, he was EVP and general counsel for both the Las Vegas Sands and News Corporation, Lawrence “Lon” A. Jacobs… Northern Virginia-based portrait artist, Ilisa G. Calderon… CEO at Gigawatt Global, Yosef Israel Abramowitz turns 61… Member of the U.S. House of Representatives (D-Vermont-1), Rebecca A. “Becca” Balint turns 57… Triathlete, she earned a Ph.D. in 2001 from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and is a winner of international ironman competitions, Joanna Sue Zeiger turns 55… Director of congregational education at NYC’s Park Avenue Synagogue, Bradley Solmsen… State attorney for Palm Beach County, Fla., from 2013 until earlier this year, Dave Aronberg turns 54… Chair and director at NYC’s department of city planning, Daniel Garodnick… Mechal Wakslak… President of national expansion at Veterans Community Project, he served as the secretary of state of Missouri, Jason Kander turns 44… Chief impact officer at RSL Management, Jessica Chait… Tech entrepreneur, best known as a co-founder of both Vine and HQ Trivia, Rus Yusupov turns 41… SVP at BerlinRosen, Allison Fran Bormel… Director of development at Americans for Ben-Gurion University, following ten years at AIPAC, Rebecca Leibowitz Wasserstrom… Writer, production coordinator and assistant to the executive producer of ABC’s “General Hospital,” Steven A. Rosenberg… Adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, Shana Mansbach… Manager of public policy and external affairs at Meta/Facebook, Sasha Altschuler… Actor best known for voicing the title character of the animated film “Finding Nemo,” Alexander Gould turns 31… Partner in the client services group at Signum Global Advisors, Elliot Miller… Medalist in the women’s halfpipe event at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, Arielle Townsend Gold turns 29… Senior business analyst at Shopify, Olivia Breuer…