analysis

Unpacking the tactical dispute between Mike Rogers’ campaign and AIPAC

By Josh Kraushaar

The debate over AIPAC’s involvement in the high-stakes Michigan Senate race is drawing renewed attention after an Axios report outlined a request from allies of former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) for the pro-Israel group’s super PAC to lay low for the general election. The Rogers campaign advisors suggested instead that the group transfer money for the race to a separate pro-Rogers entity so as not to make its outside spending a major issue in the contest. 

The episode has touched a lot of raw nerves in both the pro-Israel world and the Republican political landscape. Rogers, a longtime supporter of the U.S.-Israel relationship, is highlighting his relationships with Michigan’s Jewish community, and has made attacking Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed’s anti-Israel virulence and his relationship with antisemitic figures like Hasan Piker a central element of his campaign message. 

AIPAC’s super PAC, United Democracy Project, spent about $32 million in the Democratic primary to try to defeat El-Sayed, and there’s little doubt its money — in the absence of any moderate group willing to spend similar resources to stop a far-left candidate like El-Sayed from winning  — made the race more competitive than it otherwise would have been. But it also gave El-Sayed a talking point in attacking outside money in the race that diluted the impact of the aggressive advertising campaign, especially at a time when support for Israel itself is diminishing within the Democratic Party.

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● The Live Briefing. Word on the street, clips, podcasts and quick updates — the items we’re tracking all day in our Live Briefing on the app (on Apple and Android) and website.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) met privately with White House advisor Jared Kushner in recent weeks to discuss policy issues as Democrats look poised to retake control of the House in the midterm elections…

The U.S. canceled an upcoming joint amphibious landing exercise with South Korea, with Washington reportedly citing constraints due to the Iran war…

Mossad Director Roman Gofman and Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani met on Sunday in an effort to lower tensions after Israel struck a Syrian air base last week…

U.K. power companies were put on high alert following a successful effort by hackers with suspected Iran ties to shut down a small British energy plant, weeks after Iran-linked hackers were suspected of targeting water systems in at least seven U.S. states…

Iranian authorities are increasingly cracking down on coffee shops that are serving as gathering spots for young Iranians to socialize, often citing the country’s restrictive modesty laws… 

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) is planning to introduce legislation amending the Foreign Agents Registration Act that would require influencers to disclose funding from foreign governments to push political messages; the legislation has the backing of Reps. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX) and Derrick Van Orden (R-WI)…

The New York Times spotlights Powerus as the Florida-based startup, which makes 3D-printed drone interceptor components, begins production in a newly opened facility in the United Arab Emirates in its first foray into the Middle East; the expansion is part of a broader effort to quintuple production by 2027 to match growing needs from the U.S. and its allies…

Blackwater founder Erik Prince launched Vectus Air Defense Systems, which will provide “layered air-defense networks” in partnership with Ukrainian drone software group Swarmer, for which he serves as non-executive chair…

Paramount condemned Mark Ruffalo’s use of “antisemitic tropes … in purported service of a business dispute” after the actor and activist, who has opposed Paramount’s bid to takeover Warner Bros. Discovery, accused CEO David Ellison and his father, Oracle founder Larry Ellison, of “powering some of the most destructive and inhuman forces in the world”…

Josh Harris, a minority owner of the Crystal Palace Football Club, told Sportico that the team is “trying to look at whether there are investors that might want to join us” as the owners of the English Premier League club consider a potential sale…

City & State NY looks at the NYPD’s continued relationship with Israeli law enforcement — including a full-time liaison stationed in Israel — despite New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s anti-Israel rhetoric, finding that “[n]owhere has the gap between Mamdani’s views on Israel and his actual policy been greater than his management of the NYPD”…

Variety interviews Israeli filmmaker Avi Nesher about his new film “Our Loves,” inspired by the real-life relationships of survivors of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, which is set to premiere next month at the Toronto International Film Festival…

Seven anti-Israel protesters who were convicted last month of shutting down traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge during a 2024 demonstration were sentenced to 30 days in jail and six months probation, with the imposition of jail time on hold until the defendants file appeals…

A Jewish camp in Belgrade, Maine, is seeking a protective order from a neighbor with whom camp officials have clashed for years; the camp alleged that Nathan Hewett has sought to disturb campers and staff, and said that earlier this month he fired nearly two dozen gunshots nearby, sending the camp into lockdown…

The Wall Street Journal looks at the Alternative for Germany’s attacks on the Bauhaus art and design school, as the far-right party seeks to portray the art movement — which was banned by the Nazis — as “inhumane” and anti-German…

AirMail and Politico profile Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot, as the latest poll from Israel’s Kan network shows Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with 51 seats — short of the 61-seat majority needed to form a coalition…

Military officials from Burundi and Uganda met with officials in Israel last week to discuss the deployment of troops from both countries to join the international security force in Gaza…

Israel announced that it had discovered the wreckage of the Altalena, nearly 80 years after the vessel, which had been carrying arms to the Irgun when those aboard clashed with the IDF after the ship ran aground in Tel Aviv, was sunk on the orders of Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion in June 1948…

Peter Berkowitz was named the next James R. Schlesinger distinguished professor at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center of Public Affairs…

Find more Worthy Reads in our Live Briefing via our app (on Apple and Android) and website.

What Bernie Wrought: In The Free Press, Joel Rubin, the former Jewish outreach director on Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) 2020 presidential campaign, argues that Sanders and his political infrastructure have helped bring about the Democratic Party’s turn against Israel and a broader rise in antisemitism. “No longer are there any guardrails within the Sanders team that take the broader Jewish community’s sensitivities into account. … Rather, for the past several years, Sanders has helped build a political infrastructure on the American left in which hostility toward Israel has increasingly become a marker of ideological authenticity.” [FreePress]

That Other King: In The Washington Post, Rabbi Elie Kaunfer reflects on the upcoming High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur in the context of the “No Kings” protests that have taken place across the U.S. over the last year. “At the emotional center of both holidays is a word that recurs in their liturgies: king. … But 2,000 years before anyone printed a protest sign, the ancient rabbis who composed these words wrestled with the same discomfort we feel today. Indeed, the rabbinic approach to God as King can be summed up simply: Whatever you think a human king is, God is the opposite.” [WashPost]

Base Running: The Financial Times’ Jacob Judah does a deep dive into the debate over how — or whether — to rebuild U.S. military facilities in the Middle East that were damaged by Iranian fire. “As Pentagon planners have reimagined how to fight against advanced adversaries, large and fixed bases have been losing favour as the staging and supply hubs for military operations. The preference in Washington has been to move towards a more dispersed deployment model that makes it harder to target American forces.” [FT]

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Israeli Olympic gold medal gymnast Artem Dolgopyat won his third European Championship title for his floor routine during last week’s competition in Zagreb, Croatia. MARKO LUKUNIC/PIXSELL/MB MEDIA/GETTY IMAGES

Meital Dohan, Israeli actor and musician, turns 50

Meir Stern, rosh yeshiva of the Yeshiva Gedola of Passaic, N.J., turns 91

J. David Bleich, professor of Jewish law and ethics at Yeshiva University, he also teaches at Cardozo Law School, turns 90

Lois Tager, author, speaker, geriatric care manager and online counsellor for seniors in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Mel Karmazin, former president of Infinity Broadcasting, he eventually became the CEO of CBS and of Sirius Radio, turns 83

Joe Manchin, former U.S. senator (I-WV), turns 79

Dakota Jackson, celebrity furniture designer known for his eponymous furniture brand, turns 77

Lawrence Bacow, former president of Harvard and Tufts universities, turns 75

Jonathan Romain, rabbi emeritus of the Maidenhead Synagogue in Berkshire, England, turns 72

Ricki Seidman, senior counselor to the secretary of Homeland Security during the Biden administration, turns 71

Mike Huckabee, U.S. ambassador to Israel, turns 71

Phil Rosen, retired in 2024 as head of the real estate practice at Weil, Gotshal & Manges, he is the vice chair of Birthright Israel Foundation and chair of World Jewish Congress-American section

Adam Gopnik, author of nine books, essayist and longtime staff writer for The New Yorker, turns 70

Steve Guttenberg, actor, producer and director, turns 68

Marvin Krislov, president of Pace University, turns 66

Jonathan Aviv, professor of otolaryngology at Mount Sinai Hospital in NYC, turns 66

Marc Terrill, president emeritus of The Associated: Jewish Federation of Baltimore

Donna Barwald, professional organizer

Marlee Matlin, 1986 winner of the Academy Award for Best Actor for her role in “Children of a Lesser God,” she is the first deaf performer to have won the award, turns 61

Nick Denton, founder and CEO of Gawker Media until it was bankrupted by Hulk Hogan and Peter Thiel, turns 60

Andrew Romanoff, former speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives, he is now executive director for Disability Law Colorado, turns 60

Lonnie Nasatir, president of the Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago

David Gregory, CNN political analyst, he is the former host of NBC’s “Meet the Press,” turns 56

Todd Young, U.S. senator (R-IN), turns 54

Avigail Sperber, Israeli cinematographer and film and television director, turns 53

Miriam Shaviv, content marketing lead at Dow Jones Risk & Compliance, turns 50

Jon Daniels, former GM of MLB’s Texas Rangers, now a senior advisor for the Tampa Bay Rays, turns 49

Emily Cherniack, Boston-based, founder and executive director of the group New Politics

Michael M. Rosen, counsel at Irell & Manella and a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute

Jenn Hyman, co-founder and former CEO of Rent the Runway, a company focused on the renting of high-end clothing and accessories, turns 46

Jon Scheyer, head coach of the Duke men’s basketball team after serving as assistant to the legendary Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski), turns 39

David Perelman, CEO of the JCommerce Group, an e-commerce enterprise that services the Jewish community

Galia Slayen, VP of strategic communications at The Lede Company

Samantha Feinstein, owner of Sustayne and co-owner of Peabody Group

Natalie Short, SVP at Edelman Smithfield

Griffin Gluck, film and television actor, turns 26

• President Donald Trump will meet this morning with Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, whom he backed in the country’s elections earlier this year amid an effort to push Baghdad to crack down on Iranian militias operating in Iraq. The meeting comes as the U.S. continued to strike Iranian military targets overnight, including Bushehr, Chah Bahar, Jask, Konarak, Abu Musa and Bandar Abbas, “to further degrade Iran’s ability to attack commercial shipping,” CENTCOM said.
• Earlier in the day, CENTCOM announced that U.S. forces would today resume blockading Iranian ports. Trump also declared that the U.S. would institute a 20% fee on all cargo transiting the waterway. Read more here.
• The Aspen Security Forum kicks off this afternoon in Colorado. Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, former Defense Secretary Mark Esper and former Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker are set to speak later today on a panel titled, “The State of the World in 2026.”
• Darline Graham Nordone, the sister of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), will be sworn in to her brother’s Senate seat today at 2:30 p.m. ET, after South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster announced his decision on Monday to appoint her to serve the remainder of Graham’s term. Trump threw his support behind Graham Nordone, saying that appointing her “would be a fabulous tribute to Lindsey, who loved her dearly.” Read more here.
• Fed Chair Kevin Warsh is set to testify before the House Financial Services Committee this morning — the first time Warsh will appear before the Congress since assuming the role.
• The two-day Pennsylvania Defense and Innovation Summit, hosted by Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA), will kick off at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pa., with a keynote address from Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine.
• Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will host some GOP members of Congress for dinner tonight, as the Trump administration seeks more than $67 billion for the Pentagon in its supplemental funding request.
• Lebanese and Israeli officials are meeting today at the U.S. Embassy in Rome to discuss the implementation of a framework agreed to by the countries last month that would see the disarmament of Hezbollah, a withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon and an end to the hostilities between Beirut and Jerusalem.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MELISSa weiss

In the span of five days, one of Washington’s most vocal champions of the U.S. relationship with Israel died, while two prospective 2028 Democratic presidential contenders traveled to the Jewish state to define their approaches to the country. Though a coincidence of timing, those events, when taken together, underscored something much more significant: the passing of one generation of American politics vis-a-vis Israel and the opening contest over what will succeed it.

The events of the last week have distilled concerns that have repeatedly emerged at Jewish and Israeli gatherings, over Shabbat meals and in breakfast meetings: As the far left gains traction within the Democratic Party, and as the isolationist right increasingly finds support among Republicans, what does that mean for American Jews and U.S. support for Israel?

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who died suddenly on Saturday, represented a generation of politicians — across the political spectrum — for whom support for Israel was tied to deep, long-standing relationships with the Jewish state’s leaders, the belief in the country’s strategic positioning as a key ally and the ability of Israel’s friends in Washington to challenge Jerusalem without imperiling the relationship. 

His death sent shockwaves across the Jewish community at a time when U.S. support for Israel — including among Republicans — is on the decline.

Days before Graham died, former U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel was in Israel, where he delivered a speech — his own version of tough talk to Israelis — at Tel Aviv University on the future of the U.S.-Israel relationship. Speaking to reporters ahead of his speech, Emanuel, who served as White House chief of staff from 2009-2010, said that declining U.S. support for Israel “is not a Democratic Party problem. This is an American problem, and a generational problem.”

Separate from Emanuel’s trip, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) also traveled to Israel last week, gaining attention for an incident in the West Bank in which local security forces stopped Khanna, who was accompanied by aides and an activist from Breaking the Silence, after the congressman entered what had been until recently a closed military zone. He has since called for Israel to investigate the incident, even as Israeli officials denied the congressman’s account. Khanna has not provided any evidence to back up his claim of being detained by settlers.

In his public comments and meetings, Emanuel conveyed a desire to halt the growing daylight between future generations of Israelis and Americans. Khanna, who a decade ago was a staunch supporter of close ties with Jerusalem, has adopted a different political calculation, leaning into the growing anti-Israel sentiment in his party as a launching pad for a national campaign.

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

The Loneliness of Chuck Schumer: The Wall Street Journal’s William McGurn posits that even as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) serves as one of his party’s most prominent voices, antisemitism of the kind Schumer rails against has gained traction among Democrats. “Today’s party is nothing like the one Mr. Schumer grew up in. Those who regard Israel as a genocidal enemy are ascendant, and though the first Jewish Senate minority leader may cast individual pro-Israel votes, he certainly isn’t leading in Congress on Jewish or Israeli issues. His position is like that of the young babysitter in the 1979 horror film ‘When a Stranger Calls.’ After a series of disturbing phone calls, she calls the police. They get back to her with this chilling message: ‘The calls are coming from inside the house.’” [WSJ]

Poison PEN: The Atlantic’s Gal Beckerman observes the “meltdown” taking place at PEN America, following the resignation of the group’s president over an article that looked at the isolation faced by Israeli and Jewish writers. “Thursday’s article nodded to the curtailed freedoms of Israeli and Jewish writers without taking any ideological side. It was far from a battle cry or a shift in priorities. … This reality does not neutralize the cause of pro-Palestinian writers or the suffering in Gaza and elsewhere. The fact that the article was perceived that way, and that it led to the resignation of a president, tells us all a great deal about the hair-trigger moment we live in, and about the precarity of the liberal principles on which PEN America was founded.” [TheAtlantic]

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?: In “Moral Clarity,” Israeli writer Nachum Kaplan reflects on a recent dinner party in which Israel was a main topic of conversations among guests, most of whom were strident critics of Israel. “I walked home reflecting on the strange burden of being pro-Israel in polite society. One is expected to arrive with evidence, history, nuance, empathy, military expertise, legal precision and a detailed alternative strategy for every available course of action. The other side need only arrive with adjectives. Colonial. Genocidal. Apartheid. Brutal. … The ignorance would be less irritating if it were accompanied by humility. Yet ignorance among the educated rarely travels alone. It brings status, vocabulary and the confidence of belonging to a moral majority. Its possessors do not merely lack knowledge. They regard knowledge as faintly disreputable, particularly when it interferes with the emotional clarity of their conclusions.” [MoralClarity]

A larger selection of Worthy Reads is available in our Live Briefing.

The Jewish Federations of North America offered its support for the Stop the Fakes Act, led by Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Tom Kean Jr. (R-NJ), requiring the labeling of AI-generated content online. “By strengthening transparency and accountability online, the Stop the Fakes Act would help protect Jewish communities, and all vulnerable groups, from AI-enabled antisemitism, hate, impersonation, and targeted harassment,” Omer Yarden-Oppenheim, director of government relations at JFNA, said…

Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Peter Welch (D-VT), Ed Markey (D-MA) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) urged colleagues to block procedural motions to move ahead with the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act without votes to strip U.S.-Israel military and intelligence cooperation out of the bill…

The Congressional Jewish Staff Association announced its 2026-2027 board, naming Zachary Freiman as president, Lindsey Rubin as vice president of member outreach, Tessa Cate as treasurer, Gabe Feiner as vice president of social programming, Louie Kahn as communications director and Joshua Lash, Max Seltzer and Sasha Frank-Stempel as members-at-large…

Federal officials charged a Texas man with transmitting threatening communications through means of interstate or foreign commerce, alleging he threatened to kill Jewish employees of a security camera company in Georgia…

The New Yorker visits Russ & Daughters with a duo from the Netherlands who are self-styled experts on pickles, as they explore the history of the popular sandwich accompaniment in New York…

U.K. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced that the country designated Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terror organization, with those found guilty of supporting the group facing up to 14 years in prison; the government also banned the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right, which No. 10 Downing St. said was behind a number of attacks on British Jewish sites…

The New York Times does a deep dive into a yearslong Mossad effort to groom former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad into an Israeli intelligence asset and, potentially, a successor to the Iranian regime; the plot, which included a meeting in Hungary between Ahmadinejad and then-Mossad head David Barnea, ultimately failed following an Israeli attempt to remove the former Iranian president from government surveillance on the first day of the war… 

The Wall Street Journal spotlights the U.S.’ use — for the first time — of drone boats in the war with Iran, as the military increasingly relies on unmanned technologies in battle…

The Financial Times reports on efforts by U.S. adversaries to use cyber attacks to obtain location information about U.S. forces and contractors in the Middle East in the lead-up to the war with Iran…

Dubai-based port operator DP World is planning to build a new port near the city of Fujairah on the United Arab Emirates’ east coast, in an effort to bypass the Strait of Hormuz and decrease the Gulf state’s reliance on the Jebel Ali hub near Dubai…

Israeli Ambassador to Singapore Eli Vered Hazan was named the world chairman of Keren Hayesod, succeeding Sam Grundwerg…

Author Dara Horn (right) discussed her work researching and writing about contemporary antisemitism with Anila Ali, board chair and president of the American Muslim and Multifaith Women’s Empowerment Council, at AMMWEC’s conference in Washington on Monday about antisemitism and hate. Other speakers included Reps. Brad Schneider (D-IL) and Greg Stanton (D-AZ), as well as Luke Moon, a visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation and the head of Generation Zion.

U.S. representative to the U.N. Human Rights Council during the last three years of the Biden administration, she is the daughter and granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, Ambassador Michèle Taylor turns 60… 

Past president of Congregation B’nai Jehoshua Beth Elohim in Deerfield, Ill., Sandee Holleb… Architect and urban designer, he is identified with Habitat 67, a housing complex built in conjunction with Expo 67 (the 1967 Montreal World’s Fair), Moshe Safdie turns 88… MLB pitcher for 11 seasons, now a sportscaster and author, he won the Cy Young Award and was an MLB All Star in 1980, Steve Stone turns 79… Los Angeles resident, Susan Farrell… Film producer, best known for the “Lethal Weapon” series, the first two “Die Hard” movies and the “Matrix” trilogy, Joel Silver turns 74… Film and theatrical producer, in 2012 he became the first producer to have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Award, Scott Rudin turns 68… Co-founder and managing director of Beverly Hills Private Wealth, Scott M. Shagrin… United States secretary of commerce, Howard Lutnick turns 65… Media columnist for the Chicago Tribune until 2021, Phil Rosenthal turns 63… Illustrator and author best known as the writer of The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Brian Selznick turns 60… Principal at Oakland, Calif.-based Full Court Press Communications and a past president of the Oakland Hebrew Day School, Daniel Eli Cohen… Member of the Washington State Senate until 2023, David S. Frockt turns 57… President and CEO at the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston, Renee Wizig-Barrios… Rapper and record producer from Brooklyn known as “Ill Bill,” he is the producer, founder and CEO of Uncle Howie Records, William “Bill” Braunstein turns 54… Professor in the department of genetics at the Harvard Medical School, David Emil Reich, Ph.D. turns 52… COO at Aish Global, Elliot Mathias… Fashion designer and cast member on “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” Dorit Kemsley turns 50… Retired mixed martial artist, now a life coach, Emily Peters-Kagan turns 45… Co-founder and executive chairman of Pinterest, Ben Silbermann turns 44… Interior designer and owner of Tribe By Design, Tehillah Braun… Professional golfer with four tournament wins in the Asian and European tours, David Lipsky turns 38… Founder at Bashert Group and head of a NYC-based family office, Daniel B. Jeydel… AVP for grantmaking at Hillel International, she is on the board of the Siegel JCC of Delaware, Rachel Giattino… Reporter covering housing and the home building industry for The Wall Street Journal, Nicole Friedman… Director of Chabad Georgetown and rabbi at the Pentagon, Rabbi Menachem Shemtov turns 36… Creator of the Instagram feed called Second Date Shadchan, Elizabeth Morgan “Lizzy” Brenner… Collegiate basketball star for Princeton and Maryland, now playing for Perfumerías Avenida of Spain’s Liga Femenina de Baloncesto, Abby Meyers turns 27… Attorney and founder of In Every Generation, David Rosenberg-Wohl…

• Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Across the world, memorial events will be held commemorating the day, chosen to coincide with the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. Over the weekend, the Claims Conference released the results of a new demographic study that found that fewer than 200,000 Holocaust survivors are still alive.
• In New York, Holocaust survivor Sara Weinstein will address the U.N. General Assembly at 11 a.m. ET today in a special session. Later in the day, Weinstein will join three other survivors in ringing the closing bell of the New York Stock Exchange.
• In Washington, the Counter Extremism Project’s ARCHER at House 88 is putting on a concert at the Kennedy Center titled “Enduring Music: Compositions from the Holocaust,” which will feature performances of works that were written in the ghettos and concentration camps of World War II Europe.
• Elsewhere in Washington, the Washington Wizards are celebrating Jewish Heritage Night during their game tonight against the Portland Trail Blazers. More below.
• In Israel, the Diaspora Ministry’s second annual conference on antisemitism wraps up today in Jerusalem.
• Israeli Economy Minister Nir Barkat is speaking today at the 17th annual WELT Economic Summit, being held this year at Axel Springer’s offices in Berlin. 

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S GABBY DEUTCH

Each time Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro gets on a plane to visit different communities as he begins his reelection campaign, he’ll silently recite Judaism’s foundational prayer, the Shema, before takeoff, according to his new memoir.

Shapiro has always kept his Jewish faith at the center of his public identity. But in Where We Keep the Light, which comes out today, the swing-state Democrat provides the most intimate look yet at the centrality of Judaism to his understanding of the world. Widely expected to be eyeing a bid for the White House in 2028, Shapiro makes clear in his new book that he will not back away from his Jewish identity as his national profile grows. 

“My faith has never been something I thought about doing a whole lot. Not because it’s not important. The opposite, really. It’s elemental,” Shapiro writes. “It’s why I sometimes sound a little vague when I get asked about my religion in interviews or when I try to put it into words. Kind of like when you get asked to explain how you fall asleep or blink. You just know to do it. It’s part of you, without thinking. All essence and instinct.”

The book begins with the story of the arson attack on the governor’s residence in Harrisburg last year, hours after Shapiro hosted a Passover Seder there. It’s clear that the incident, in which the assailant said that he targeted the governor because of what Shapiro “did to the Palestinians,” impacted him deeply. 

“No one will deter me or my family or any Pennsylvanian from celebrating their faith openly and proudly,” Shapiro writes. 

The next night, his family began their Seder by reciting Birkat Hagomel, which he described as “a prayer expressing gratitude for surviving a dangerous situation.” Shapiro again sought comfort in those days in the Shema, and its straightforward declaration of faith in God.

Along with his deep identification with Judaism, Shapiro doesn’t shy away from his support for Israel in his memoir. 

The Democratic Party has become more critical of Israel in recent years, and it is easy to imagine Shapiro deciding that the politically savvy move would be to talk less about his connection to the Jewish state. 

Instead, Shapiro appears to have decided that the right move — a result, surely, of both political and moral calculations — is to reveal exactly what role Judaism and Israel have played in shaping him.

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

Back the Protesters Now: In The New York Times, Iranian dissident and writer Masih Alinejad calls on the U.S. to take action in support of Iranian anti-government protesters. “Too often, the argument about the dangers of intervention is less about prudence than paralysis. It turns failures into a permanent permission slip for every dictator watching: Kill enough people and the world will be too afraid of past mistakes to stop you. The argument is dishonest because it pretends that intervention means invasion. Iranians are not asking for foreign tanks to roll down the streets of Tehran. They are asking for the world to stop acting as if the only options are occupation or indifference. Inaction gives a regime time to regroup, rebuild its machinery of repression and return with a cleaner narrative and a longer list of prisoners.” [NYTimes]

How to Disarm Hamas: In Foreign Affairs, Elliott Abrams, Eric Edelman and Rena Gabber suggest that private security contractors could serve as a stabilizing force in the Gaza Strip in the absence of countries willing to contribute troops to an international stabilization force. “Top-level security contractors are a viable but overlooked option for ridding postwar Gaza of Hamas. They are staffed by well-trained, highly capable military personnel with experience serving in elite units. They will not shy away from potential conflict with Hamas terrorists. In fact, they are perhaps the only force besides the IDF itself willing to directly confront Hamas and do the hard work of demilitarizing Gaza. A demilitarizing force composed of private contractors could also come together quickly, particularly compared to the ISF. That would allow it to push Hamas back before the group gains even more power.” [ForeignAffairs]

What Elie Wiesel Taught Me: In The Free Press, German-born physician Suzanne Lentzsch reflects on her time treating Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel in the final years of his life. “I thank fate that Wiesel’s and my own paths crossed for a time; that I, a German, could for even a brief time help the man who had been the voice of the German-murdered Jews of this world. I still feel the guilt of my home’s history like a weight on my shoulders. But Wiesel taught me there is a choice in how one carries that burden. I spent the first 25 years of my life trapped voiceless behind the wall of a dictatorship that surveilled and murdered its own citizens. Wiesel dedicated his life to testifying against the depravity that results when human decency collapses. As democracy again seems to teeter, his story and the history of my country ought not to be carried like a burden but as a covenant. They warn against the numbing indifference that allowed my neighbors to look on as starving children were marched past their houses from Sachsenhausen.” [FreePress]

Reform Holocaust Ed: In The Wall Street Journal, Casey Babb and Naya Lekht argue that existing Holocaust education must undergo reforms to more effectively address antisemitism. “In most school curricula, the Holocaust serves as the primary, often exclusive, lens through which the demonization of Jews is understood. Within this framework, Jews are recognized as victims only when their oppressors depict them as subhuman, racially inferior or treasonous. … Until Jewish institutions, schools and Holocaust educators update their curricula and language, meaningful progress in protecting Jewish students and families from antisemitism will remain limited. What’s needed is a pragmatic and courageous paradigm shift, one that begins with naming and recognizing the contemporary libels used to demonize Jews.” [WSJ]

The IDF announced on Monday that it had uncovered the remains of deceased hostage Ran Gvili at a Muslim cemetery in eastern Gaza City and brought them back to Israel for burial — recovering the final hostage of the Gaza war and marking the first time since 2014 that no Israeli captive, alive or deceased, is being held in the enclave, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports… 

Jewish groups welcomed the return of Gvili’s remains, offered their condolences, thanked political figures involved in hostage negotiations and expressed a sense of closure, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Nira Dayanim reports…

President Donald Trump said on Monday that the situation with Iran is “in flux” and that a “big armada” was headed to the Gulf, but that Tehran had expressed willingness to engage in talks; the president had reportedly received multiple intelligence reports indicating that the Iranian government’s position is at its weakest since the 1979 overthrow of the shah… 

Trump’s comments come as the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group arrived in the Indian Ocean, positioning it to potentially assist in any military action in Iran…

Queen Rania of Jordan, who has downplayed the role of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks in the ensuing war in Gaza, attended the White House’s private screening of the new film “Melania” hosted by the president and First Lady Melania Trump…

The Trump administration deported roughly a dozen Iranians to the Islamic Republic as part of a broader illegal immigration in the U.S.; the deportation flight was the first to Iran since protests erupted across the country last month…

Hamtramck, Mich., Mayor Amer Ghalib, whose nomination to be U.S. ambassador to Kuwait had been stalled over concerns regarding his past promotion of antisemitic ideas, is joining AmeriCorps as the organization’s senior advisor for strategic partnerships…

The New York Times reports that the Department of Justice under the Biden administration began an investigation into Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN) finances and ties to an unnamed foreign citizen; the case stalled shortly after it was opened in 2024 for a lack of evidence…

The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum warned against “making false equivalencies to [Anne Frank’s] experience for political purposes,” days after Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz invoked the young author and Holocaust victim as he compared the ICE raids in his state to Nazi actions during World War II…

Far-left operative Waleed Shahid announced on Monday morning he would assume a newly created role of deputy communications director of economic justice in New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s office, Jewish Insider’s Will Bredderman reports…

Kanye West, now known as Ye, took out a full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal to apologize to the Jewish community for past antisemitic comments, including praise for Adolf Hitler, days before the release of his new album; the rapper said he suffered a brain injury in a car accident 25 years ago that damaged his frontal lobe, resulting in his erratic behavior…

Los Angeles’ Fine Arts Theatre in Beverly Hills apologized for the cancellation of a show by Guy Hochman after demanding the Israeli comic condemn Israel’s actions in Gaza; Hochman rejected the apology from Michael Hall, the theater’s president, saying it came only after pushback from the Jewish community… 

The Washington Post reviews Alex Gibney’s new documentary “Knife,” about the attempted assassination in 2022 of writer Salman Rushdie, which premiered at Sundance earlier this week…

The Wiener Holocaust Library in London recently received a donation of artwork and writing from Czech Jewish artist Peter Kien, who passed on the works before he was transported to Auschwitz, where he died in 1944; the trove of artwork had been confiscated by Czech officials in the 1970s and recently recovered by the daughter of a friend of Kien’s….

Former U.K. Home Secretary Suella Braverman is joining Nigel Farage’s Reform party, saying she had felt “politically homeless for the best part of two years” as a member of the Conservative party, citing Conservatives’ stances on immigration and Brexit…

The Financial Times talks to Brig. Gen. Gil Pinchas, the outgoing chief financial advisor to the IDF and Israel’s Defense Ministry, about Israel’s plans to negotiate a new memorandum of understanding with Washington that will see less reliance on U.S. military aid…

Reuters reports on Iranian efforts to ship jet fuel to Myanmar’s military in violation of international sanctions for use against civilians in the Southeast Asian nation that has been mired in civil war for five years…

Iranian banking tycoon Ali Ansari, who is sanctioned by the U.K. for sending money to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, has reportedly amassed a real estate portfolio worth more than 400 million Euros ($475 million) that includes properties across Europe, including multiple Hilton properties in Germany and a resort in Mallorca…

Calgary, Canada, philanthropist Al Osten died at 95…

Shelley Holt, who with her husband, Allan, the vice chair of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, was a major donor to the USHMM as well the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum and a range of medical causes and institutions, died at 72…

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama delivered an address at Israel’s Knesset on Monday during a two-day visit to the country. In his speech, Rama blasted “well-meaning international public figures or associations who rightly described Gaza as an open air prison, but failed to identify the true jailer of the people of Gaza. They mistook the finger for what it was pointing at and, in doing so, failed to recognize that the jailer of Gaza is Hamas, no one else but Hamas: its ideology of terror against its own people and toward the Jewish nation, its totalitarian dogma that no Palestinian life is worth living until the State of Israel is annihilated and the last Jew is wiped out from the Holy Land.”

Television writer and producer best known as the creator of “Everybody Loves Raymond,” more recently he stars in the Netflix series “Somebody Feed Phil,” Philip Rosenthal turns 66…

Businessman and real estate investor, Paul Sislin turns 91… Winner of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics, he is a professor emeritus at California Institute of Technology, Barry Clark Barish turns 90… Builder and operator of luxury casinos and hotels, Steve Wynn (born Stephen Alan Weinberg) turns 84… Corporate venture capitalist and scientist, he served as VP at Intel Corporation where he co-founded Intel Capital, Avram Miller turns 81… Topanga, Calif. resident, Joseph Helfer… Columbia, S.C., resident, Charles Geffen… VP at Elnat Equity Liquidity Providers, following 20 years as COO at the Orthodox Union, Eliezer Edelman… Professor of medieval Judaism and Islam at the Los Angeles campus of HUC-JIR, Reuven Firestone turns 74… Cookbook author and attorney, she is a co-founder of Foundation for Jewish Camp, Elisa Spungen Bildner… Chief justice of the United States Supreme Court, John Roberts turns 71… Member of the Missouri state Senate until 2023, Jill Schupp turns 71… President and CEO at MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, Abby Jane Leibman… Founder, chairman and former CEO of Och-Ziff Capital, now investing through Willoughby Capital, Daniel Och turns 65… Communications director at C-SPAN and author in 2020 of When Rabbis Bless Congress, a history of rabbinical invocations in Congress, Howard Mortman… Founder and managing member of Liberty Peak Capital and co-founder and lead investor of Multiplier Capital, Ezra M. Friedberg… Chief growth officer at Coordinated Care Services after five years as CEO of the JCC of Greater Rochester, Josh Weinstein… Editor-in-chief of The Foreign Desk, Lisa Daftari… Jerusalem-born rapper and YouTuber with 502 million views, Rucka Rucka Ali turns 39… English fashion model, Daisy Rebecca Lowe turns 37… Former basketball point guard, including for the Israeli women’s national basketball team, she is now a coordinator at Herzl Camp in Wisconsin, Jacqui Kalin turns 37… Community engagement coordinator at the Raleigh-Cary (NC) JCC, Grace Fantle Kaplan… Managing partner of Netz Capital, Lia Michal Weiner Tsur… Manager at Deloitte, Joshua Henderson…

• Attendees of this year’s Aspen Security Forum are making their way to Colorado today, ahead of the start of the gathering tomorrow. Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod will be on the ground in Aspen — drop us a line if you will be as well.
• We’re also keeping an eye on stalled Israel-Hamas ceasefire talks amid reports that President Donald Trump and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani were set to meet on the sidelines of yesterday’s FIFA finals in New Jersey. Read more here.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MELISSA WEISS

School may be out of session for the summer, but officials from Georgetown University, the University of California, Berkeley and the City University of New York will be in the hot seat this week when they testify on Tuesday before the House Education and Workforce Committee.

This is not the first time that university officials have appeared in front of Congress to account for the situations on their campuses, but this week’s hearing aims to focus on more than just the anti-Israel activism that has permeated many campuses since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza to focus on root issues, including foreign funding in higher education as well as faculty anti-Israel organizing efforts.

With that as the backdrop, Georgetown’s interim president, Robert Groves, is likely to face hard-hitting questioning about the school’s donations from authoritarian regimes. 

Nearly a decade ago, Georgetown took a $10 million donation from an organization connected to Beijing’s ruling Chinese Communist Party — more specifically, according to The Washington Post, to “the specific CCP organizations that manage overseas influence operations” — to establish the Initiative for U.S.-China Dialogue on Global Issues.

But that $10 million is a drop in the bucket compared to the amount of money Qatar is alleged to have sent to Georgetown. According to a study by the research institute ISGAP — which primarily focuses on progressive and Islamist antisemitism — Qatar has donated more than $1 billion dollars to the Jesuit school in recent decades. In addition, Qatar has long had a partnership with Georgetown that includes an outpost of the school in Doha. Earlier this year, the school extended its contract with Doha for another decade.

There’s a saying that has floated around many a conference, Jewish organizational board meeting and Shabbat dinner table in recent years: Jews endow buildings, their enemies endow what happens inside of them. Tomorrow’s hearing will see just how deeply those efforts have permeated.

R&D Nation: In the Financial Times, Ruchir Sharma observes Israel’s rise as a regional economic superpower despite nearly two years of war. “Perhaps the most telling sign of its dynamism is that Israel now spends more than 6 per cent of GDP on research and development — more than any other nation and over double the global average. An unusually high share — about half — of that R&D funding comes from foreign multinationals, many involved in defence-related industries. … To many observers, the geopolitical situation in the Middle East still seems precarious. But the market’s optimistic take on Israel’s tech-driven economy is now showing up in economists’ forecasts, which are projecting growth at nearly 4 per cent in coming years. That’s relatively strong for a developed nation. It validates the market view that Israel is cementing its status as the region’s dominant economic force.” [FT]

FIDF Scandal Fallout: eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross looks at how recent concerns over alleged mismanagement and financial impropriety at Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces has “provided ample ammunition” to observers critical of legacy Jewish organizations. “Though always present in communal discourse, the tear-it-all-down-and-start-again voices have gained strength since the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks and the subsequent rise in global antisemitism, and not without cause. … Legacy institutions, with their galas and boards and committees and well-paid executives, are an easy target. These established organizations have often failed to defend their size and bureaucracy, or even acknowledge that alongside the stability and internal checks that they provide, those things do make them slower to react and pivot in an emergency.” [eJP] 

The World to Come: In his “Jerusalem Journal” Substack, Avi Mayer considers the possibility of a post-Zionist America. “Critiques of Israeli policy, no matter how strident or widespread, do not automatically lead to the wholesale rejection of Israel or the negation of Jewish self-determination. But if current trends continue, and if voting patterns start to reflect the shifting views of the electorate, we may find ourselves in uncharted territory. The ramifications of a changed America could be wide-ranging, deeply impacting both American Jewish life and Israeli national security. An America that is intolerant of a core element of contemporary Jewish identity would be a place in which American Jews would feel — and be made to feel — increasingly uncomfortable. From the Soviet Union to the Middle East to western Europe, hostility to Zionism on the part of national leaders and elites has always precipitated societal antisemitism, forcing Jews to confront painful dilemmas.” [JerusalemJournal]

Speaking at a Turning Point USA student conference in Florida over the weekend, far-right commentator Tucker Carlson suggested that Americans who served in the Israeli Defense Forces “should lose their citizenship,” adding that he believed a person “can’t fight for another country and remain an American, period”…

A hacker took over the X account of “Sesame Street” character Elmo, posting a series of profane, racist and antisemitic comments; the posts included a message to “kill all Jews” and another that described President Donald Trump as a “puppet” of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu…

xAI, the AI company affiliated with X owner Elon Musk, said that its Grok chatbot had undergone a coding update that modified what information it was taking in, making Grok “susceptible to existing X user posts; including when such posts contained extremist views”; the chatbot had spewed a series of antisemitic and sexually explicit posts over a period of several days last week…

A new survey from the Anti-Defamation League found that 1 in 4 Americans consider recent antisemitic attacks in the U.S. to be “understandable,” while three-quarters of those surveyed want the government to take more action against antisemitism…

Pennsylvania Democrat Jenelle Stelson is mounting a second congressional bid against Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA), to whom she lost by less than a percentage point in the 2024 election; read our interview with Stelson during her campaign last summer…

The U.S. Board on Geographic Names approved the renaming of an Alaskan waterway that had been named Nazi Island by the U.S. Air Force during World War II…

The Financial Times reports that the Boston Consulting Group was paid more than $1 million for its work on a Qatari-backed project led by former American military veterans to bring aid into Gaza by sea… 

French President Emmanuel Macron and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman are not expected to attend an upcoming rescheduled conference on Palestinian statehood; the initial conference had been canceled following the onset of the Israel-Iran war.

The BBC spotlights Punjabi businessman Kundanlal Gupta, who during World War II saved more than a dozen Austrian Jews by creating fictitious job offers in India, providing those “hired” with a way to escape Nazi Europe…

New satellite images indicate that Iran struck an American storage facility that contained secure communications equipment on the Al Udeid base in Qatar during its attack on American targets last month…

Iranian state media alleged that Israel attempted to assassinate Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian during last month’s war; Pezeshkian reportedly suffered a leg wound in the Israeli strike on a meeting of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council…

Russian President Vladimir Putin has reportedly told leaders in Washington and Tehran that Moscow backs a nuclear deal with Iran that forbids the Islamic Republic from enriching uranium…

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Saturday that Tehran would be open to returning to nuclear talks in exchange for the guarantee that it would not face further attacks; Iran also said it would be open to International Atomic Energy Agency inspections, days after the country’s parliament passed a law tightening restrictions around international inspections…

A Palestinian-American man from Florida who was visiting family in the West Bank was killed in clashes with settlers…

A Filipino woman who worked as a caretaker in Rehovot, Israel, died as a result of injuries sustained in an Iranian ballistic missile strike last month; Leah Mosquera’s death brings the number of fatalities in Israel as a result of the 12-day war to 29…

Israel’s Transportation Ministry estimated that Ben-Gurion Airport will see 3.4 million travelers over the course of this summer, a drop of nearly 2 million passengers from the summer before the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks and ensuing war…

Charles Reinhart, the former director of the American Dance Festival, died at 94… B Lab founder Andrew Kassoy, who pushed the concept that capitalism could promote social good, died at 55… Physicist Daniel Kleppner, whose work on atomic clock accuracy helped shape the use of GPS systems, died at 92… Sports journalist Samuel Abt, who covered the Tour de France for more than three decades, died at 91…

U.S. Ambassador to France Charles Kushner visited the Memorial de la Shoah in Paris last week in what he said was his “first stop” after arriving in the country.

MLB pitcher for 11 seasons, now a sportscaster and author, he won the Cy Young Award and was an MLB All Star in 1980, Steve Stone turns 78…

Architect and urban designer, Moshe Safdie turns 87… Los Angeles resident, Susan Farrell… Film producer, best known for the Lethal Weapon series, the first two “Die Hard” movies and the Matrix trilogy, Joel Silver turns 73… Film and theatrical producer, in 2012 he became the first producer to have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Award, Scott Rudin turns 67… Co-founder and managing director of Beverly Hills Private Wealth, Scott M. Shagrin… United States secretary of commerce, Howard Lutnick turns 64… Venture capitalist at Breyer Capital, James W. Breyer turns 64… Media columnist for the Chicago Tribune until 2021, Phil Rosenthal turns 62… U.S. Permanent Representative to the U.N. Human Rights Council during the last three years of the Biden administration, she is the daughter and granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, Ambassador Michèle Taylor turns 59… Illustrator and author best known as the writer of The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Brian Selznick turns 59… Principal at Full Court Press Communications, Daniel Eli Cohen… Member of the Washington state Senate until 2023, David S. Frockt turns 56… President and CEO at the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston, Renee Wizig-Barrios… Rapper and record producer from Brooklyn known as “Ill Bill,” he is the producer, founder and CEO of Uncle Howie Records, William “Bill” Braunstein turns 53… Professor in the department of genetics at the Harvard Medical School, David Emil Reich, Ph.D. turns 51… Chief operating officer at Aish Global, Elliot Mathias… Fashion designer and cast member on “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” Dorit Kemsley turns 49… Retired mixed martial artist, now a life coach, Emily Peters-Kagan turns 44… Co-founder and executive chairman of Pinterest, Ben Silbermann turns 43… Editor-in-chief of the Washington Free Beacon, Eliana Yael Johnson… Interior designer and owner of Tribe By Design, Tehillah Braun… Professional golfer with four tournament wins in the Asian and European tours, David Lipsky turns 37… Founder at Bashert Group and head of a NYC-based family office, Daniel B. Jeydel… AVP for grantmaking at Hillel International, she recently joined the board of the Siegel JCC of Delaware, Rachel Giattino… Reporter covering housing and the home building industry for The Wall Street Journal, Nicole Friedman… Director of Chabad Georgetown, Rabbi Menachem Shemtov… Creator of the Instagram feed called Second Date Shadchan, Elizabeth Morgan (Lizzy) Brenner… Collegiate basketball star for Princeton and Maryland, now playing for Maccabi Bnot Ashdod of the Israeli Women’s Basketball Premier League, Abby Meyers turns 26…

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu heads to Washington on Sunday, ahead of his planned Monday meeting with President Donald Trump.
• We’ll be reporting on the details around the meeting and what’s at stake as the two leaders discuss Gaza, Iran, Syria and normalization efforts — sign up for Jewish Insider’s email and WhatsApp alerts to stay up to date with the latest developments over the long weekend.
• Former Israeli American hostage Edan Alexander is slated to meet Trump at the White House at 12:45 p.m. ET.
• The Nova Music Festival exhibition and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum are hosting an event this afternoon with DJ and Nova festival survivor Noa Beer and Holocaust survivor Nat Shaffir.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S GABBY DEUTCH

After Israel’s 12-day war with Iran, the U.S. is now demanding that Tehran return to the negotiating table. 

“Told you so,” many prominent Democrats — including architects of Iran policy in both the Obama and Biden administrations — are saying in response, arguing they were right all along about the power of negotiations. But in doing so, they are also overlooking the impact of President Donald Trump’s military strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities on the regime’s negotiating calculus. 

The Pentagon is now saying the strikes set back the Iran nuclear program by two years. Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir, the IDF’s chief of staff, said that Iran is no longer a nuclear threshold state as a result of the U.S. and Israeli attacks.

But those assessments, among other similar analyses, have done little to change the minds of some of the leading Democratic foreign policy hands who have long argued for diplomacy above all else.

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

Just the Beginning on Iran: In The New York Times, former National Security Advisor John Bolton suggests that the U.S.’ strikes on Iran last month are not the end of Washington’s efforts to degrade the threats posed by Iran. “Satisfying America’s legitimate demands requires Iran to do a full Libya, meaning real performance in denuclearizing, not just acquiescing to treaty verbiage. It requires that Iran surrender all of its weapons-related assets, meaning any enriched uranium and all remaining physical assets, including dual-use capabilities. However, absent a change of government in Tehran, which Washington should support, a full Libya is impossible. Unlike Muammar el-Qaddafi, the mullahs, already badly humiliated, realize that further humiliation would fatally weaken their rule. They will never voluntarily accept that fate. Instead, they will resume their earlier tactic of using negotiations to string the West along until memories dim and, as the old saying goes, ‘zeal for a deal’ takes over, as it did for Barack Obama, producing the fatally flawed 2015 Iran agreement.” [NYTimes]

Mideast Magical Thinking: In The Wall Street Journal, presidential historian and former White House aide Tevi Troy examines the history of Middle East regimes falsely claiming victory over Israel, following claims by Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that Israel had been “practically knocked out and crushed” by Iran’s military. “These false statements by Middle Eastern autocracies show the weaknesses of systems that can’t acknowledge reality. An inability to turn a critical eye on oneself and admit a mistake represents a fundamental flaw in authoritarian regimes. … As long as autocratic nations like Iran continue to act like Monty Python’s Black Knight, they’ll never develop the capacity to fight effectively against nations that can critique themselves. But that isn’t all that truth telling can bring. If Iran ever does develop the capacity for honesty, then its leaders would realize — like the Egyptians did — that peace with Israel is a much more effective strategy than fighting with it.” [WSJ]

Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke on Wednesday with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud…

In The Wall Street Journal, Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY), who last week withheld his support from New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani, suggests that the Queens assemblyman’s victory should be a “wake-up call” to Democrats and posits that Mamdani won the primary “because too many voters think the rest of the Democratic Party no longer stands for them”…

In the New York Daily News, political strategist Bradley Tusk posits that Mamdani is likely to win the general election in November, owing to the “ceiling” facing any Republican candidate and Mayor Eric Adams’ own unfavorability ratings in the city as he mounts an independent bid…

Pershing Square CEO Bill Ackman called on former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to withdraw from the mayoral race following his primary loss to Mamdani, assessing that Cuomo’s “body language, his subdued energy and his proposals to beat Mamdani” indicated he was “not up for the fight” and suggested Cuomo’s departure from the race would be necessary “to maximize Adams’ probability of success”…

The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights launched an investigation into George Mason University’s handling of antisemitism issues, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports; the Virginia university had faced scrutiny over its response to a series of incidents involving students, including the discovery of pro-terrorism materials in the home of two of GMU students and federal charges brought against a third student accused of plotting a mass causality attack… 

eJewishPhilanthropy‘s Judah Ari Gross interviews Mike and Shelly Pitman, respectively the president and executive director of the Brooklyn-based La’Aretz Foundation, which has raised $1 million to provide $2,500 directly to 500 Bat Yam families affected by Iran’s ballistic missile strike on the city…

Bar Winkler and Roey Lalazar’s Israel-based AI startup Wonderful raised $34 million in its latest round of funding…

The New York Times spotlights “Everybody Loves Raymond” creator Phil Rosenthal, following the release of the eighth season of his travel food show “Somebody Feed Phil”…

Smithsonian Magazine looks at the resurgence in popularity of Jewish food in Poland…

Iran charged two French nationals who have been imprisoned in the country for three years with spying for Israel and conspiring to overthrow the Iranian government…

Australia confirmed it canceled the visa of artist Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, following the May release of a song titled “Heil Hitler”…

Punk-rap duo Bob Vylan was removed from the lineups of upcoming music festivals in France and the U.K. following an uproar over an incident at the Glastonbury music festival last month in which the group led attendees in a chant calling for “death to the IDF”…

U.K. Parliament members voted overwhelmingly in favor of banning the activist group Palestine Action, after two members of the group broke into a British air base and vandalized military aircraft… 

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian approved a law passed days ago by the country’s parliament to suspend coordination with the International Atomic Energy Agency and ordered Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, Supreme National Security Council and Ministry of Foreign Affairs to begin implementation of the new law…

The New York Times looks at Iran’s history of recruiting common criminals and cartel members to carry out attacks on American soil…

Hamas called on the leader of a Bedouin clan that has challenged Hamas’ leadership in the enclave to surrender, as Israel bolsters its support for groups operating on the Palestinian Authority’s payroll against Hamas…

Adam Szubin is joining Covington as of counsel in the firm’s national security practice (h/t Playbook)…

Former hostages Omer Shem Tov (second from left); Noa Argamani (third from right) and Iair Horn (second from right); and Tzur Goldin (far left), brother of Lt. Hadar Goldin, met on Wednesday in Washington with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

Movie, television and stage actress, director and writer, Shoshannah Stern turns 45…

Civil rights attorney known for many high-profile cases, born Gloria Rachel Bloom, Gloria Allred turns 84… Winner of the Israel Prize in 1998, professor emeritus of mathematics at both Hebrew U and Rutgers, Saharon Shelah turns 80… Founder of an eponymous charitable foundation and a political office, Barbara Fish Lee turns 80… Retired director of the March of the Living in Miami-Dade and in Boca Raton, Leon Weissberg… Psychologist and board member of many non-profit organizations, Dr. Gail (Giti) Bendheim… Israeli celebrity chef, author of 32 cookbooks and culinary columnist for Yedioth Ahronoth, Yisrael Aharoni turns 75… Head of pediatric oncology and associate professor of pediatrics at the Cohen Children’s Medical Center in New York, Dr. Carolyn Fein Levy turns 57… Musician, best known as a harmonicist, Annie Raines turns 56… Actor who has appeared in film and television in the U.S., U.K. and Israel, Yair “Jonah” Lotan turns 52… Development professional Suzanne Greene… Pini Herman…