Plus, Platner’s tattoo trouble doesn’t fade
WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 15: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) speaks during a press conference on healthcare with other House Democrats, on the East steps of the U.S. Capitol on the 15th day of the government shutdown in Washington, DC on October 15, 2025. (Photo by Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)
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In today’s Daily Kickoff, we talk to Jewish Democrats about their efforts to reengage the party’s rank-and-file on supporting Israel as the war in Gaza winds down, and report on the mounting evidence that Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner knew the origins of his tattoo of a Nazi symbol prior to national coverage of the body art and his related social media postings. We spotlight a new PAC in Washington state that is backing “pro-Jewish candidates” in Seattle’s upcoming school board elections, and report on a new initiative from the Jewish Book Council aimed at boosting Jewish and Israeli authors. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Alyza Lewin, Brian Romick and Jon Finer.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by Jewish Insider Executive Editor Melissa Weiss and Israel Editor Tamara Zieve, with an assist from Danielle Cohen-Kanik. Have a tip? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
- We’re keeping an eye on efforts to locate and repatriate the bodies of the 13 remaining Israeli hostages, following President Donald Trump’s warning to Hamas on Saturday that the terror group had 48 hours to begin resuming the transfer of bodies. Teams from Egypt and the Red Cross also joined the effort over the weekend.
- Delegates from around the world are arriving in Israel today ahead of the start of the World Zionist Congress, which begins tomorrow in Jerusalem.
- Members of Pittsburgh’s Jewish community are marking the seventh anniversary of the deadly attack on the Tree of Life synagogue in which 11 congregants were killed.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S GABBY DEUTCH
As a fragile cease-fire holds in Gaza, Jewish Democrats see an opportunity to reengage party Democratic activists and elected officials who have grown frustrated with Israel’s actions in Gaza.
Jewish Insider spoke to more than a dozen fundraisers, activists and professionals in the pro-Israel space, most with a long history of involvement in Democratic politics. Their pitch to Democrats at this precarious moment involves two parts: First, push to make President Donald Trump’s peace plan a reality. Second, ensure that Democrats understand that the value of America’s relationship with Israel is independent from the leader of either country — and that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who remains broadly unpopular with the American left, won’t be in power forever.
Unlike naysayers on the right who suggest Democrats have abandoned Israel — a claim made frequently by Trump — the Jewish activists and communal leaders who advocate for a strong U.S.-Israel relationship and for U.S. aid to Israel still insist that support for the Jewish state remains bipartisan, and that congressional Democrats remain broadly pro-Israel. That proposition faced its toughest test during a two-year war, when Democrats became increasingly sympathetic to the Palestinians as Israel’s effort to eradicate Hamas left the Gaza Strip in ruins and claimed thousands of lives.
“I think ending the war turns the temperature down pretty dramatically,” said Brian Romick, CEO of Democratic Majority for Israel. “Right now, what we’re saying is, no matter where you were in the previous two years, we all need the deal to work, and so being for the deal [and] wanting the deal to work is a pro-Israel position right now, and then you build from there.”
At the start of the war, 34% of Democrats sympathized more with Israel, and 31% sympathized more with Palestinians, according to New York Times polling. New data released last month shows that 54% of Democrats now sympathize more with the Palestinians, compared to only 13% with Israel. That stark shift in public opinion corresponded to more Democratic lawmakers voting to condition American military support for Israel than ever before.
“I do think that there is room to build forward,” said Jeremy Burton, CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston, which works closely with Democratic lawmakers in deep-blue Massachusetts. “We have to be secure enough in our own belief in the future and our hope for the future to say ‘OK, if your point was that you’re committed to the long-term project of Israel’s security and safety, and you were looking for short term ways to pressure the government of Israel, then let’s move forward with the long-term project, even if we disagreed with you in the short term.’”
TATTOO-GATE
Graham Platner’s credibility under fire in Maine Senate campaign
Graham Platner, the scandal-plagued Democrat running for Senate in Maine, continued to insist he only recently became aware that a black skull tattoo on his chest resembles a Nazi SS symbol, even amid mounting evidence suggesting he was aware of what the image represented long before he announced his campaign this summer, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports. A new investigation published on Friday by CNN confirmed JI’s earlier reporting that Platner had on at least one occasion identified the tattoo as a Nazi SS symbol, known as a Totenkopf, to a former acquaintance more than a decade ago.
New evidence: The former acquaintance spoke with CNN, which also interviewed a second person who said that the acquaintance had mentioned Platner’s tattoo years ago. In addition, CNN reviewed a more recent text exchange from several months ago in which the acquaintance discussed the tattoo, before Platner himself revealed he had the tattoo in an interview last week, in an effort to preempt what he described as opposition research seeking to damage his insurgent Senate campaign. Both JI and CNN also cited deleted Reddit posts in which Platner, a 41-year-old Marine veteran and an oyster farmer, defended the use of Nazi tattoos, including SS lighting bolts, among servicemembers. In one thread, a user had mentioned the Totenkopf, further indicating that Platner had been aware of its symbolism before he entered the race in August to unseat Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME).
ONLINE APPEARANCE
CAIR-Ohio leader moderated event featuring designated terrorist
The executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Ohio branch moderated an online event last week featuring a Hamas official designated as a terrorist by the Treasury Department, as well as other Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad members. The Beirut-based think tank Al-Zaytouna Centre for Studies and Consultations hosted an event in Arabic last week titled “Palestinians Abroad and Regional International Strategic Transformations in Light of Operation Al-Aksa Flood,” using Hamas’ name for its Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on southern Israel, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports.
Terror talk: Among the speakers at the web conference was Majed al-Zeer, who was designated by the Treasury Department in October 2024 as “the senior Hamas representative in Germany, who is also one of the senior Hamas members in Europe and has played a central role in the terrorist group’s European fundraising.” Al-Zeer said that “the resistance” is key to maintaining the momentum of a “strategic shift” in how Europe and the world views the Palestinian issue.
SLATE OF ENDORSEMENTS
New PAC in Washington state backs ‘pro-Jewish candidates’ on Seattle school board
With eyes on several high-profile races across the country featuring candidates antagonistic to Jewish interests, activists in one of the most progressive parts of the country are raising the alarm on local seats that act as a “rung on a ladder” to higher office, saying the problems the Jewish community face “start further upstream,” Jewish Insider’s Danielle Cohen-Kanik reports. The Kids Table, a new PAC in Washington state supporting “pro-Jewish candidates” and led by “Millennials and moms, public affairs experts and gymnastics dads,” unveiled a slate of endorsements this month in races for the board of directors of Seattle Public Schools, a school district that has seen several major antisemitic incidents since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in Israel and subsequent rise of antisemitism across the country, including in K-12 classrooms, amid the two-year war between Israel and Hamas.
Eye on education: “We need help in the school districts now,” Sam Jefferies, co-chair of The Kids Table, told JI. “We also know that school boards can be a rung on a ladder as [candidates] seek higher office, and we want to make sure that we are building relationships with them early, providing them critical context and education around our issues, and then carry that forward, whether it’s on the school board or elsewhere.”
PEOPLE OF THE BOOK CLUB
As Jewish writers face boycotts and bias, new initiative aims to boost their books
For Jewish and Israeli authors and the people who enjoy their books, the publishing industry has been a decidedly depressing place over the last two years, with boycotts against the works of authors deemed to be Zionists. A new initiative from the Jewish Book Council, a 100-year-old nonprofit dedicated to promoting Jewish literature, aims to fight back against the torrent of bad news for Jewish writers. This month, JBC unveiled Nu Reads, a subscription service that will deliver selected Jewish books to subscribers bimonthly, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports. The first book, Happy New Years, a novel by the Israeli author Maya Arad, has already shipped to Nu Reads’ inaugural subscribers.
Caring for the community: “There’s a chill for our community across the industry,” JBC CEO Naomi Firestone-Teeter told JI in an interview this month. “If we care about Jewish literature and we care about these authors and ideas, we need to buy these books. We need to invest in them and support them.” More than 230,000 Jewish families in the U.S. and Canada receive children’s books each month through PJ Library, a program modeled on Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. It was PJ Library — which has transformed young Jews’ experience with Jewish books in the two decades it has existed — that served as an inspiration to JBC.
FLIGHT TRACKER
American Airlines to resume direct flights to TLV in March
American Airlines announced plans on Friday to resume direct flights to Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport starting in March, marking the first time since the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks that the carrier will fly directly to Israel, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
On the calendar: Flights to Tel Aviv are scheduled to resume on March 28, 2026, just days ahead of the Passover holiday, when Israel typically sees an influx of tourism. Tickets will be available for purchase beginning Monday. The announcement comes weeks after Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire in the Gaza war. American is the last of the major U.S. carriers to resume flights to Israel.
TRANSITION
Constitutional lawyer Alyza Lewin tapped to lead Combat Antisemitism Movement’s U.S. advocacy
The Combat Antisemitism Movement tapped constitutional lawyer Alyza Lewin on Monday to lead its revamped U.S. affairs department, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen has learned. Lewin steps into CAM’s newly established role of president of U.S. affairs following eight years at the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, where as president she spearheaded legal and advocacy efforts protecting the civil rights of Jewish students and employees nationwide.
New role: At CAM, Lewin, an attorney who co-founded Lewin & Lewin, LLP, will “help broader audiences recognize and understand the antisemitism that’s plaguing the United States today,” she told JI. The six-year-old advocacy organization “has developed relationships with so many communities and audiences that need to understand how to recognize contemporary antisemitism,” said Lewin. In her new position, Lewin will oversee coordination and engagement with those groups. “These broader audiences need to understand the tools at their disposal and utilize them to address discrimination that’s taking place,” she said, adding that she plans to educate about the implementation of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism.
Worthy Reads
Peace Dividends: In The Washington Post, Yuval Noah Harari posits that Israel’s peace treaties with its neighbors have been critical to the country’s survival since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks and ensuing war. “Hamas hoped that its attack would trigger an all-out Arab onslaught on Israel, but this failed to materialize. The only entities that undertook direct hostile actions against Israel were Hezbollah, the Houthis, Iran and various Iranian-backed militias in Syria and Iraq — none of which had ever recognized Israel’s right to exist. In contrast, Egypt did not break the peace treaty it signed with Israel in 1979; Jordan did not break the peace treaty signed in 1994; and the gulf states did not break the treaties signed in 2020. … As we reflect on the terrible events of the past two years, we should not let the silent success of Middle Eastern peace treaties be drowned out by the echoes of violent explosions. The peace treaties Israel had signed with its Arab neighbors have been put to an extremely severe test, and they have held. After years of horrific war, this should encourage people on all sides to give another chance to peace.” [WashPost]
Filling the Void: In The New York Times, James Rubin, an advisor to former Secretaries of State Tony Blinken and Madeleine Albright, considers the elements that could foster long-term calm in the Gaza Strip. “The linchpin of any lasting peace will be the creation and deployment of an international force, a feature of the U.S. peace plan that was announced by President Trump and endorsed by world leaders in Egypt earlier this month and that spawned the cease-fire. The force would create conditions to realize other aspects of the plan: filling the growing security vacuum in Gaza, allowing for Palestinian self-governance and ensuring that Israel will not be threatened. … With a clear plan, a U.N. resolution and a main troop contributor identified, it would then be much easier to fill out the force with actual commitments of personnel and expand the training of a Palestinian contingent, which would ideally over time replace the international forces, as envisioned in the Trump plan.” [NYTimes]
Annexation Angst: The Atlantic’s Yair Rosenberg reflects on potential conflicts between far-right elements of the Israeli government and the Trump administration, on the heels of two Knesset votes regarding West Bank annexation that took place during Vice President JD Vance’s trip to Israel last week. “The more political and economic influence the Gulf states have over Trump and Israel, the more demands they will be able to make of both. Heading off formal annexation of the West Bank is the first ask, but it won’t be the last. Ultimately, the far right’s program of unfettered settler expansion and violence, unending war and eventual settlement in Gaza, and no negotiations with the Palestinian Authority is irreconcilable with a more regionally integrated Israel and an expanded Abraham Accords. In practice, this means that as long as Israel’s settler right holds power over Netanyahu, it will continue to threaten the Trump administration’s agenda.” [TheAtlantic]
The Next British Invasion: In The Wall Street Journal, Rabbi Pini Dunner suggests that the U.S. accept British Jews as refugees, citing antisemitism in the U.K. that is “marching down the high street, waving flags, shouting slogans,” as well as the recent precedent set by the Trump administration in granting some South Africans a pathway to refugee status. “Let’s offer a lifeline for Jews who can no longer walk the streets of London, Manchester or Birmingham without looking over their shoulders. America has always been a haven. We can open our doors to Jews who no longer feel safe in the country that once promised them safety. Yes, the U.S. refugee system is overwhelmed. Yes, immigration is politically toxic. But this is different. This is moral clarity. Every year, the U.S. admits thousands fleeing persecution because of race, religion or politics. British Jews now fit that category. Their persecutors aren’t warlords or terrorists. They’re neighbors, coworkers, teachers, even police officers — and Jews feel unsafe. When a Western democracy fails to protect its Jews, other countries must act. That isn’t interference, it’s conscience.” [WSJ]
Word on the Street
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), who had held off endorsing a candidate in New York City’s upcoming mayoral election, announced his backing of Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani on Friday, the day before early voting began in the city…
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul appeared at a Sunday rally for Mamdani in Queens, the first time the governor campaigned for Mamdani since endorsing him last month…
The Lakewood, N.J., Vaad endorsed GOP gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli, a week and a half ahead of Ciattarelli’s general election matchup against Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ), who in recent weeks has stepped up her outreach efforts to the state’s Jewish community…
California Gov. Gavin Newsom said that he would make a decision about the 2028 presidential election after the 2026 midterms, amid speculation that he is preparing for a run…
Northwestern University announced that Provost Kathleen Hagerty will depart the Illinois school by the end of the academic year; the announcement comes a month after the resignation of President Michael Schill amid clashes with the Trump administration over the school’s handling of antisemitism…
British journalist Sami Hamdi, who praised the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks, had his U.S. visa revoked during a speaking tour and will be deported over his comments…
A new report from the United States–Israel Business Alliance found that Israeli-founded companies in New York State generated $19.5 billion in gross economic output in 2024…
The Washington Post spotlights the Jewish bubbes who doled out “life advice from a nice Jewish grandma” from a table outside Washington’s Sixth and I Synagogue…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told members of his Cabinet that Israel will determine which countries are “unacceptable” to send troops to Gaza to join an international stabilization force, as The New York Times looks at how tensions between Israel and Turkey are affecting Ankara’s participation in efforts to administer and rebuild postwar Gaza…
British Airways paused its sponsorship of Louis Theroux’s podcast, following an episode that featured an interview with punk musician Bob Vylan, who led cheers of “death to the IDF” at the Glastonbury music festival over the summer; in the interview, Vylan said he would lead the chant “again tomorrow, twice on Sundays”…
Hard-left independent Irish presidential candidate Catherine Connolly, who has called Israel a “terrorist state,” won the country’s election on Friday; read our profile of Connolly here…
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas designated longtime aide Hussein al-Sheikh as his temporary successor should he vacate his leadership role…
Qatar inaugurated its new embassy in Washington, in the 16th Street NW building that housed the Carnegie Institution for Washington until its sale in 2021…
Israel’s Mossad alleged that a senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps official oversaw a network of more than 11,000 operatives that was behind at least three Iranian plots against Jewish and Israeli targets in Western countries…
Iran’s Ayandeh Bank is closing and being folded into the state-run Bank Melli; the shuttering of one of the country’s biggest lenders comes amid a growing economic crisis in the Islamic Republic resulting from crippling international sanctions…
The Financial Times profiles Pakistani Chief of Army Staff Asim Munir, who President Donald Trump has described as his “favorite field marshal,” as the military leader aims to consolidate power in the central Asian country…
Jon Finer, who served as deputy national security advisor during the Biden administration, is joining the Center for American Progress as a distinguished senior fellow on CAP’s National Security and International Policy team…
Journalist Sid Davis, who covered the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and was one of just three reporters on Air Force One during the swearing-in of President Lyndon B. Johnson, died at 97…
Pic of the Day
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar (left) met earlier today with Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto in Budapest. Sa’ar was joined on the trip by a delegation of several dozen Israeli business leaders.
Birthdays
Author, actress and comedian, Fran Lebowitz turns 75…
Treasurer of the Pacific Palisades Residents Association, Gordon Gerson… Senior U.S. district judge in Maine, he was born in a refugee camp following World War II, Judge George Z. Singal turns 80… Rabbi emeritus at Miami Beach’s Temple Beth Sholom, Gary Glickstein turns 78… SVP at MarketVision Research, Joel M. Schindler… President emeritus of Jewish Creativity International, Robert Goldfarb… Co-chair of a task force at the Bipartisan Policy Center, he is a former U.S. ambassador to Finland and Turkey, Eric Steven Edelman turns 74… Television writer, director and producer, best known as the co-creator of the 122 episodes of “The Nanny,” Peter Marc Jacobson turns 68… Senior advisor and fellow at the Soufan Group following 31 years at the Congressional Research Service, Dr. Kenneth Katzman… Co-owner of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers and English soccer club Manchester United, Bryan Glazer turns 61… New York state senator from Manhattan, he serves as chair of the NYS Senate Judiciary Committee, Brad Hoylman-Sigal turns 60… Creator and editor of the Drudge Report, Matt Drudge turns 59… Hasidic cantor and singer known by his first and middle names, Shlomo Simcha Sufrin turns 58… Managing partner of the Los Angeles office of HR&A Advisors, Andrea Batista Schlesinger turns 49… Sportscaster for CBS Sports, Adam Zucker turns 49… Music composer, he is a distinguished senior scholar at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, Yotam Haber turns 49… Member of the Netherlands House of Representatives, Gideon “Gidi” Markuszower turns 48… Television meteorologist, currently working for The Weather Channel, Stephanie Abrams turns 47… Writer, attorney and creative writing teacher, she has published two novels and a medical memoir, Elizabeth L. Silver turns 47… Israel’s minister of environmental protection, Idit Silman turns 45… Chair of the Open Society Foundations, founded by his father George Soros, Alexander F. G. Soros turns 40… Israeli actress best known for playing Eve in the Netflix series “Lucifer,” Inbar Lavi turns 39… Senior foreign policy and national security advisor for Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Elizabeth (Liz) Leibowitz… Executive producer of online content at WTSP in St. Petersburg, Fla., Theresa Collington… Senior social marketing manager at Amazon, Stephanie Arbetter… Senior director of sales at Arch, Andrew J. Taub… Co-founder of Arch, Ryan Eisenman… Real estate agent and co-founder and president of Bond Companies, Robert J. Bond…
Plus, Massie lands Trump-backed primary challenger
Graham Platner campaign
Graham Platner
Good Wednesday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we report on comments from former staff and an acquaintance of Graham Platner who said the Maine Senate candidate lied about knowing the meaning behind his chest tattoo that resembles a Nazi symbol, and cover Vice President JD Vance’s comments, made yesterday in Israel, that Hamas will be “obliterated” if it does not disarm. We report on Paul Ingrassia’s withdrawal from consideration to head the Office of Special Counsel over recently revealed racist and antisemitic texts, and cover yesterday’s Senate hearing on Hezbollah’s operations in Venezuela. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Tzachi Hanegbi, Gov. Josh Shapiro and Rev. Johnnie Moore.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by Jewish Insider Executive Editor Melissa Weiss and Israel Editor Tamara Zieve. Have a tip? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
- Vice President JD Vance is in Israel today for meetings with senior officials. The vice president had separate meetings earlier today with Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. More below.
- In a ceremony at the president’s residence in Jerusalem tonight, Herzog is awarding the 2025 Presidential Medal of Honor to nine individuals, including Dr. Miriam Adelson, Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner, Israeli historian Dina Porat, entrepreneur Yossi Vardi and Druze leader Sheikh Muwaffaq Tarif. Read more in eJewishPhilanthropy here.
- Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) is slated to visit Lakewood, N.J., today as part of her outreach to the state’s Jewish community ahead of next month’s gubernatorial election. Sherrill’s visit comes as Republican Jack Ciattarelli faces criticism for a recent comment, made by his Muslim affairs advisor at a campaign event over the weekend, that the advisor wasn’t “taking money from Jews.”
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S JOSH KRAUSHAAR
One of the defining characteristics of our age is the utter lack of institutional gatekeepers and red lines against hate in our politics and culture. Extremist rhetoric, antisemitism, racism and approval of political violence are all becoming commonplace in our discourse, to the point where Americans have become numb to the crazy.
Just take a look at the headlines over the last month of scandals that have captured national attention — and would have been unthinkable not long ago.
Paul Ingrassia, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Office of Special Counsel, withdrew himself from consideration yesterday after belated backlash over his history of racist and antisemitic comments — including a recently revealed text message chain where he said he has a “Nazi streak.” We reported on Ingrassia’s extremist record in May, revealing a string of antisemitic and racist public social media posts, including this shocking comment on X days after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack: “I think we could all admit at this stage that Israel/Palestine, much like Ukraine before it, and BLM before that, and covid/vaccine before that, was yet another psyop.”
Ingrassia also has been an ally of Nick Fuentes, a virulently antisemitic podcast host and far-right influencer who has long trafficked in Holocaust denial. He attended a rally in 2024 for Fuentes, and in 2023 defended Fuentes after he was banned from Twitter.
Ample documentation of Ingrassia’s bigotry didn’t stunt his nomination, though the new shocking revelations from the private text chain caused key Republicans — most notably, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and Sens. Ron Johnson (R-WI), Rick Scott (R-FL) and James Lankford (R-OK) — to withdraw their support and end his chances of getting confirmed.
But the fact that he got as close as he did to receiving a hearing for the plum role shows just how much antisemitism is becoming normalized.
Graham Platner, the embattled far-left candidate in Maine’s Senate race, already under scrutiny over social media posts declaring himself a communist and calling the police “bastards,” acknowledged he has a skull-and-crossbones tattoo on his chest that his just-departed political director characterized as “anti-Semitic.” A former acquaintance of Platner’s said he called the tattoo “my Totkenpof,” referring to a symbol adopted by a Nazi SS unit.
Platner is facing Maine Gov. Janet Mills, the favorite of the party establishment (for good reason) in the Democratic Senate primary. Platner has been endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), praised by several progressive senators and backed by a number of leading labor unions, including the UAW.
Despite Platner’s remarkable baggage and Nazi-themed tattoo, Sanders still is standing behind him. ”I personally think he is an excellent candidate. We don’t have enough candidates in this country who are prepared to take on the powers to be and fight for the working class,” Sanders said Tuesday, when pressed by reporters about the tattoo allegations.
TATTOO TALE
Graham Platner says ‘I am not a secret Nazi’ after photos of his tattoo emerge
Graham Platner, a far-left Democratic candidate running for Senate in Maine who has captured the enthusiasm of the party’s grassroots base, sought to preempt rumors circulating in recent weeks that a black skull-and-cross bones tattoo on his chest is a Nazi symbol, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports. On a podcast earlier this week, Platner, a Marine veteran and oyster farmer in Maine who has faced scrutiny over past online posts, confirmed the existence of the tattoo, seen in a video he shared displaying his bare chest, but suggested that his opponents in the race have been spreading claims that the symbol is affiliated with Nazism, which he forcefully denied.
Conflicting accounts: “I am not a secret Nazi. Actually, if you read through my Reddit comments, I think you can pretty much figure out where I stand on Nazism and antisemitism and racism in general,” said Platner, 41. But according to a person who socialized with Platner when he was living in Washington, D.C., more than a decade ago, Platner had specifically acknowledged that the tattoo was a Totenkopf, the “death’s head” symbol adopted by an infamous Nazi SS unit that guarded concentration camps in World War II. “He said, ‘Oh, this is my Totenkopf,’” the former acquaintance told JI recently. “He said it in a cutesy little way.” Platner’s former political director, Genevieve McDonald, who resigned from his campaign last week over her objection to his recently unearthed incendiary Reddit comments, said in a Facebook post on Tuesday that “Graham has an antisemitic tattoo on his chest.” McDonald wrote in the post, “He’s not an idiot, he’s a military history buff. Maybe he didn’t know it when he got it, but he got it years ago and he should have had it covered up because he knows damn well what it means.”
SELF-SABOTAGE
Paul Ingrassia withdraws own nomination amid outcry over antisemitic texts
Graham Platner, a far-left Democratic candidate running for Senate in Maine who has captured the enthusiasm of the party’s grassroots base, sought to preempt rumors circulating in recent weeks that a black skull-and-cross bones tattoo on his chest is a Nazi symbol, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports. On a podcast earlier this week, Platner, a Marine veteran and oyster farmer in Maine who has faced scrutiny over past online posts, confirmed the existence of the tattoo, seen in a video he shared displaying his bare chest, but suggested that his opponents in the race have been spreading claims that the symbol is affiliated with Nazism, which he forcefully denied.
Conflicting accounts: “I am not a secret Nazi. Actually, if you read through my Reddit comments, I think you can pretty much figure out where I stand on Nazism and antisemitism and racism in general,” said Platner, 41. But according to a person who socialized with Platner when he was living in Washington, D.C., more than a decade ago, Platner had specifically acknowledged that the tattoo was a Totenkopf, the “death’s head” symbol adopted by an infamous Nazi SS unit that guarded concentration camps in World War II. “He said, ‘Oh, this is my Totenkopf,’” the former acquaintance told JI recently. “He said it in a cutesy little way.” Platner’s former political director, Genevieve McDonald, who resigned from his campaign last week over her objection to his recently unearthed incendiary Reddit comments, said in a Facebook post on Tuesday that “Graham has an antisemitic tattoo on his chest.” McDonald wrote in the post, “He’s not an idiot, he’s a military history buff. Maybe he didn’t know it when he got it, but he got it years ago and he should have had it covered up because he knows damn well what it means.”
primary pressure
Anti-Israel GOP Rep. Thomas Massie draws Trump-backed primary challenger
Ed Gallrein, a former Navy SEAL and fifth-generation Kentucky farmer, launched his bid on Tuesday to unseat Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) after being urged by President Donald Trump to challenge the renegade, anti-Israel congressman in the GOP primary, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports. Gallrein’s campaign launch comes four days after Trump declared that the Kentucky native was his preferred candidate to take on Massie, whom Trump had soured on over his growing antagonism towards the White House’s agenda. Massie was one of the only congressional Republicans to oppose Trump’s landmark “big, beautiful” spending bill and has worked with Democrats to force a floor vote to release Justice Department documents on Jeffrey Epstein.
Announcement: “I’ve dedicated my life to serving my country, and I’m ready to answer the call again. This district is Trump Country,” Gallrein said in a statement announcing his bid. “The president doesn’t need obstacles in Congress — he needs backup. I’ll defeat Thomas Massie, stand shoulder to shoulder with President Trump, and deliver the America First results Kentuckians voted for. Thomas Massie has become one of the biggest roadblocks to President Trump’s America First agenda. When Trump fought for historic tax cuts, Massie voted no. When Trump tried to fully fund border security, Massie stood in the way. President Trump endorsed me because Kentuckians deserve a congressman who will stand with our president, not against him.”
HARANGUING HAMAS
Vance: Hamas will be ‘obliterated’ if it does not disarm
Visiting the new U.S.-run Civilian Military Cooperation Center in southern Israel, Vice President JD Vance said on Tuesday that he is “very optimistic” about the advancement of the peace plan, but warned that Hamas must disarm and cooperate with international interlocutors, or else it would be “obliterated.” The vice president’s comments came shortly after President Donald Trump, in a post on his Truth Social site, threatened Hamas with “elimination” should the terror group continue to carry out violence in Gaza and violate the terms of the peace deal, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov and Matthew Shea report.
Veep’s speech: “Hamas has to disarm,” Vance said. “They’re not going to be able to kill their fellow Palestinians. … If Hamas doesn’t cooperate, as the president of the United States said, Hamas will be obliterated. But I’m not going to do what the president of the United States has thus far refused to do, which is put an explicit deadline on it, because a lot of this stuff is difficult … In order for us to give it a chance to succeed, we’ve got to be a little bit flexible.”
WEST BANK WORRIES
Almost all Senate Democrats urge Trump to ’reinforce’ opposition to West Bank annexation
Every Senate Democrat except for Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) wrote to President Donald Trump on Tuesday urging him to “reinforce” the White House’s pledge to oppose Israeli annexation of the West Bank, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports.
What they said: In a letter led by Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA), the senators offered their “support for your comments opposing any efforts by the Government of Israel to annex territory in the West Bank and to urge your Administration to promote steps to preserve the viability of a two-state solution and the success of the Abraham Accords.” The missive was sent weeks after Trump vowed publicly to not allow Israel to annex the West Bank, telling reporters in the Oval Office in late September that, “I will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank, nope, I will not allow it. It’s not gonna happen.”
on the hill
Senate Hezbollah hearing spotlights Venezuela’s strategic partnership with Iran and terror ties
The first congressional hearing on Hezbollah’s malign activities in the Western Hemisphere in a decade took place this week, highlighting Venezuela’s embrace of Iran as a geopolitical partner and the Maduro regime’s efforts to transform the country into a regional hub for narcoterrorism, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports.
Who, when, what: The bipartisan Senate International Narcotics Control Caucus convened the hearing, titled “Global Gangsters: Hezbollah’s Latin American Drug Trafficking Operations,” on Tuesday, to explore how Hezbollah’s influence in the region had expanded and determine the most effective ways for the U.S. to respond. Witnesses included Ambassador Nathan Sales, who served as the State Department’s counterterrorism coordinator in the first Trump administration; Marshall Billingslea, the special envoy for arms control and a former Treasury official during President Donald Trump’s first term; Matthew Levitt, the director of the Reinhard Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy; and Robert Clifford, a former FBI official who worked in the counterterrorism space.
Worthy Reads
Threat Assessment: In The Wall Street Journal, Elisha Wiesel raises concerns about what a potential victory by New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani could mean for the city’s Jewish community. “Mr. Mamdani’s messaging has made class war and hatred of Jews great again. Smiling, polished, articulate, Mr. Mamdani lies. He lies about Israel as easily as he lies that he can freeze rent and offer free goods through higher taxes, as though the corporations and billionaires he targets can’t relocate. New Yorkers aren’t dumb, but we’re busy. Mr. Mamdani is lying to those too busy to learn the truth. His attack points: ‘occupation,’ ‘apartheid,’ ‘genocide.’ The casualties: truth, friendships, coexistence for New York’s Jews. Unlike Andrew Cuomo, he seeks to ‘other’ us and divide the city. Mr. Mamdani blamed Hamas’s butchery on the ‘occupation’ on Oct. 8, while Israel was reeling. He omitted that Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2005 and that Hamas built rockets and tunnels with billions in aid.” [WSJ]
The Two Gazas: In The Washington Post, Palestinian lawyer and former Hamas political prisoner Moumen Al-Natour warns of the threat that Hamas’ continued governance poses for the areas of the Gaza Strip it still controls. “I have been deeply involved in Gaza’s underground civil society movement for many years, much of which was spent preparing for an unknown moment where we would have a chance to be free of Hamas’s cruel domination and break the cycle of war with Israel. That moment is now here, and I am certain that this is the chance for which I spent my life protesting, organizing and suffering. It was worth the scars and the terror to see that there can be a different future here. But on the other side of the yellow line exists another Gaza that will do anything to prevent this from happening. Over there the war continues, albeit not between Israel and Hamas but between Hamas and Gaza itself.” [WashPost]
Fear Factor: The New York Times’ Bret Stephens urges his readers to pause for thought as he lays out the reasons why many Jewish New Yorkers harbor fears concerning the views of mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. “What does it mean for Jewish New Yorkers that a mayoral candidate who pledges to fight antisemitism also proudly avows the very ideology that is the source of so much of the hatred Jews now face? Why, right after Oct. 7, could he do no better than to issue a mealy-mouthed acknowledgment that Jews had died the day before? Why couldn’t he even denounce the perpetrators of the most murderous antisemitic rampage in the past 80 years? … In the long, sorry tale of anti-Jewish politics, it hasn’t just been the prejudice of a few that’s led Jews to grief. It’s been the supine indifference of the many. That’s what frightens Jews like me.” [NYTimes]
Restraining the Hard Right: The Atlantic’s Yair Rosenberg cautions that while President Donald Trump’s new Gaza agreement earned cheers in Israel, it has begun to restrain the Israeli hard‑right’s settlement ambitions — a dynamic that could determine whether his peace deal endures and that will impact Israel’s path forward. “According to the agreement, in the early stages of the current deal, Israel will remain in control of much of Gaza’s uninhabited territory until Hamas is disarmed and displaced. These are precisely the areas that the far right hopes to settle and even annex to Israel. Hamas is dragging its feet on releasing the bodies of dead Israeli hostages, publicly executing Palestinians opposed to its rule, and showing no sign that it intends to give up its weapons. The Israeli army and Hamas are still skirmishing along the cease-fire line. Even if none of this is enough to capsize the accord, it will likely delay further implementation and provide a window for the settlers and their political allies to try to insinuate themselves into those parts of Gaza. Only Trump can stop this from happening — at least until Israel holds new elections next year that could boot Netanyahu and his partners from power.” [TheAtlantic]
Word on the Street
The Trump administration is nearing an agreement with the University of Virginia — the first public university to settle with the federal government — after months of negotiations amid a broader crackdown by the White House on college campuses that included the removal of the school’s president earlier this year…
Efforts to establish a multinational peacekeeping force in Gaza are facing hurdles as countries hesitate to send troops to the enclave due to Hamas’ continued control across broad swaths of the Gaza Strip…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi following media reports of disagreements between the two over Israel’s military strategy; Hanegbi, following his firing, said that the events of Oct. 7, 2023, “must be thoroughly investigated to ensure that the necessary lessons are learned and to help restore the public trust that has been shaken”…
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former Rep. David Trone (D-MD) are co-chairing a new national campaign aimed at implementing congressional term limits to curb the degree to which Capitol Hill is “dominated by career politicians, buoyed by re-election rates that routinely exceed 90 percent, who seem more concerned with clinging to power than serving the public”…
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) will announce her future political plans following next month’s vote on California redistricting…
State senators in North Carolina approved a new congressional map that would give the GOP an extra seat in the Tarheel State, amid a broader push by the Trump administration for mid-decade redistricting that would secure additional seats…
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, widely viewed as a likely 2028 Democratic presidential contender, plans to publish a memoir early next year, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports…
The Federman family is transferring control of its 29% stake in Maccabi Tel Aviv to Mark, Zyg and Leonard Wilf, and will continue as limited partners in the team…
OurCrowd CEO Jon Medved is transitioning to a new role as the company’s chair following his diagnosis of ALS…
Israel received the bodies of Kibbutz Nir Oz residents Tamir Adar and Arie Zalmanowicz from Gaza; Adar was killed during the Oct. 7 attacks, while Zalmanowicz, one of the kibbutz’s founders, was injured when he was taken hostage, and is believed to have died in Hamas captivity in November 2023…
The Financial Times looks at Iran’s efforts to speed up production of solar energy projects as the Islamic Republic faces energy shortages due to international sanctions and aging infrastructure…
Former Gaza Humanitarian Foundation head Rev. Johnnie Moore is joining Pepperdine University as its vice chancellor in Washington, D.C., and managing director of the school’s master of Middle East policy studies program in its school of public policy…
The body of Bipin Joshi, a Nepalese kibbutz worker who was taken hostage by Hamas and killed in captivity, was cremated in a funeral ceremony in Nepal after his remains were repatriated earlier this week after being turned over by the terror group in Gaza…
Rabbi Arthur Waskow, the author of The Freedom Seder, died at 92…
Pic of the Day
Eli Taher, the chairman of Yad L’Banim, which commemorates fallen soldiers, planted a tree yesterday in honor of his son, Yossi Taher, who was killed in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks, in the Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund’s “Iron Swords Forest,” which was inaugurated yesterday outside Kibbutz Beeri. In his speech at the ceremony, Taher, whose brother and another son were also killed while serving in the military, discussed his struggles to overcome his grief.
“Every day when I wake up, at 5 a.m., I set for myself a hill to climb. I imagine my two boys sitting on that hill, with a bonfire and a bottle of beer. And every day, I climb that hill. I fall, I get hurt, I yell, I cry, I laugh, but at the end of every day, I drink that beer with my kids. Every day, I overcome that loss and destruction,” Taher said. “Like a tree can grow, so can we, bereaved families, continue to grow despite the pain and loss.”
Birthdays
Actor and producer, best known for his roles as a child actor starting at age 6, Jonathan Lipnicki turns 35…
Australian philanthropist, real estate investor and longtime chairman of Westfield Corporation, Frank Lowy turns 95… Pioneer of the venture capital and private equity industries, he is chairperson and co-founder of Primetime Partners, Alan Patricof turns 91… Retired EVP of the Orthodox Union, he was previously chairman of NYC-based law firm Proskauer Rose, Allen Fagin… Professor of education at American Jewish University, Ron Wolfson, Ph.D…. Actor who starred in many high-grossing films such as “Jurassic Park,” “Independence Day” and sequels to both, Jeff Goldblum turns 73… Agent for artists, sculptors and photographers, he is a son of Lillian Vernon, David Hochberg… Retired vice-chair of SKDK, she was the longtime CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America, Hilary Rosen turns 67… Composer and lyricist, he has won two Grammys, two Emmys and a Tony, Marc Shaiman turns 66… Author of two novels and three other books, Susan Jane Gilman… Former NYC commissioner for international affairs, Edward Alexander Mermelstein turns 58… Bethesda, Md., resident, Eric Matthew Fingerhut… President of Argentina since December 2023, Javier Milei turns 55… Chief of staff of The Associated Jewish Federation of Baltimore, Michelle Gordon… Director of the Warsaw Ghetto Museum, Albert Stankowski turns 54… Screenwriter and executive producer, Eric Guggenheim turns 52… Actor best known for playing D.J. Conner on the long-running series “Roseanne” and its spin-off show, “The Conners,” Michael Fishman turns 44… Partner at West End Strategy Team, Samantha Friedman Kupferman… Dana Max Tarley Sicherman… Sports radio talk show host and podcaster, Danny Parkins turns 39… Psychotherapist with a private practice in White Plains, Maayan Tregerman, LCSW-R… Journalist and author, Ross Barkan turns 36… One of Israel’s most popular singers, his YouTube channel has over 2.4 billion views, Omer Adam turns 32… Freelance reporter, Ryan Torok…
A former acquaintance of the Maine Senate candidate said he called the tattoo ‘my Totenkopf,’ referring to a symbol adopted by a Nazi SS unit
Daryn Slover/Portland Press Herald via AP
Senate candidate Graham Platner acknowledges the large crowd that attended Platner's town hall, Sept. 25, 2025, at Bunker Brewing in Portland, Maine.
Graham Platner, a far-left Democratic candidate running for Senate in Maine who has captured the enthusiasm of the party’s grassroots base, sought to preempt rumors circulating in recent weeks that a black skull-and-cross bones tattoo on his chest is a Nazi symbol.
Speaking with Tommy Vietor on the “Pod Save America” political podcast, released on Monday night, Platner, 41, confirmed the existence of the tattoo, seen in video he shared displaying his bare chest, but suggested that his opponents in the race have been spreading claims that the symbol is affiliated with Nazism, which he forcefully denied.
“I am not a secret Nazi. Actually, if you read through my Reddit comments, I think you can pretty much figure out where I stand on Nazism and antisemitism and racism in general,” said Platner, a Marine veteran and oyster farmer in Maine who has faced scrutiny over past online posts. “I would say a lifelong opponent.”
But according to a person who socialized with Platner when he was living in Washington, D.C., more than a decade ago, Platner had specifically acknowledged that the tattoo was a Totenkopf, the “death’s head” symbol adopted by an infamous Nazi SS unit that guarded concentration camps in World War II.
“He said, ‘Oh, this is my Totenkopf,’” the former acquaintance told Jewish Insider recently, speaking on the condition of anonymity to address a sensitive issue. “He said it in a cutesy little way.”
The exchange occurred in 2012 at Tune Inn, a popular dive on Capitol Hill where Platner later worked as a bartender and was a frequent patron while he attended The George Washington University on the G.I. bill, according to the former acquaintance. He would often take his shirt off drinking with friends late at night at the bar, and on at least one occasion had stated he knew what the tattoo represented, the former acquaintance recalled.
Platner gave varying accounts of the image during this time, saying at one point he was aware it was a Totenkopf when he had first gotten the tattoo several years prior and at another time claiming he had not known, according to the former acquaintance.
The mixed accounts indicate that Platner has at least long been aware of the symbols’s connection to Nazism, even as he said in the podcast interview he was not familiar with any such association when he chose to get the tattoo.
Platner, who is running to unseat Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) said he had gotten the tattoo in Split, Croatia, in 2007, when he and a group of “very inebriated” fellow Marines had time off while on deployment and decided to step into a parlor. “We chose a terrifying-looking skull and crossbones off the wall, because we were Marines, and skulls and crossbones are a pretty standard military thing,” he explained on the podcast.
“We got those tattoos, and then we all moved on with our lives,” he added, emphasizing he had later served in the Army and received a security clearance to work as a contractor for the State Department in Afghanistan. “I can honestly say that if I was trying to hide it,” he continued, “I’ve not been doing a very good job for the past 18 years.”
In a statement shared with JI on Tuesday, Platner said he did not know about the tattoo’s connection to Nazi imagery until recently. “It was not until I started hearing from reporters and DC insiders that I realized this tattoo resembled a Nazi symbol,” he said. “I absolutely would not have gone through life having this on my chest if I knew that — and to insinuate that I did is disgusting. I am already planning to get this removed.”
Platner’s former political director, Genevieve McDonald, who resigned from his campaign last week over her objection to his recently unearthed incendiary Reddit comments, said in a Facebook post on Tuesday that “Graham has an antisemitic tattoo on his chest.”
“He’s not an idiot, he’s a military history buff,” McDonald wrote in the post, which was reviewed by JI. “Maybe he didn’t know it when he got it, but he got it years ago and he should have had it covered up because he knows damn well what it means.”
McDonald said that Platner’s campaign “released it themselves to some podcast bros, along with a video of him shirtless and drunk at a wedding to try to get ahead of it.”
A spokesperson for the Anti-Defamation League said in a statement to JI that Platner’s tattoo “appears to be a Nazi Totenkopf tattoo, and if true, it is troubling that a candidate for high office would have one.”
“We do understand that sometimes people get tattoos without understanding their hateful association,” the ADL spokesperson added. “In those cases, the bearer should be asked whether they repudiate its hateful meaning.”
Platner, a political newcomer who is facing Gov. Janet Mills and other candidates in the Democratic primary, launched his campaign in August and has raised more than $4 million while promoting a left-wing populist message — including staunch criticism of Israel and opposition to “fascists” — that garnered a high-profile endorsement from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).
The Senate race is widely viewed by Democratic leadership as a major pickup opportunity in the midterm elections, as the party works to regain a majority in the upper chamber.
But Platner’s campaign has lost momentum in recent days amid the revelations that he had made several controversial comments while posting in Reddit forums. In a range of comments published anonymously, Platner, who has acknowledged that he wrote the posts and apologized for some of them, described himself as a “communist,” called all cops “bastards” and dismissed sexual assault in the military, among other remarks facing backlash.
In previously unreported posts reviewed by JI, Platner defended a man with a Nazi SS lightning bolt tattoo who later admitted to impersonating a federal officer at a Black Lives Matter protest in Las Vegas in 2020. “I will be sure to inform the black guys I know with bolts that they’re Nazis now and not USMC Scout/Snipers,” Platner said in a deleted Reddit post, referring to the Marines.
“Bolts were a STA icon since the ’80s at least, if not longer,” he wrote in another, using military jargon. “It was never official, but it sure as shit was tattooed on almost every HOG I knew between 2004-2012.”
Platner has also drawn scrutiny for appearing in a photo this summer with a white supremacist agitator in Maine, Richard Ward, who is running for a Bangor City Council seat.
Ward, a far-right activist who frequently spreads neo-Nazi rhetoric and imagery, wrote on Facebook in late August that he met and shook hands with Platner during an encounter at a Maine fair, posting a photo in which they are both seen standing side by side.
“Shaking hands with Graham Platner today at Blue Hill Fair,” Ward said. “Check out Graham Platner for U.S. Senate. We have a lot in common.”
In the photo, Ward is pictured wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the number “88,” an apparent reference to a widely recognized neo-Nazi code for “Heil Hitler.” The post, a screenshot of which was obtained by JI, has since been deleted from Ward’s Facebook page.
A spokesperson for Platner’s campaign confirmed the encounter had taken place but said that he had quickly ended the conversation. “Graham promptly told Richard to f*** off and get the f*** away, like he would tell any Nazi,” the spokesperson told JI last month.