• Secretary of State Marco Rubio is holding House and Senate briefings this morning before meeting this afternoon with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud.
• The New York City Council will elect its next speaker today. Councilmember Julie Menin, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, announced last month she’d garnered support from a supermajority of councilmembers. Read our report on Menin — and the counterweight she is expected to be to Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s agenda — here.
• Mamdani’s first major test with the Jewish community could come as soon as this evening, when PAL-Awda, the group behind the November protest outside a synagogue that was hosting a Nefesh B’Nefesh event about immigrating to Israel, is slated to protest another event hosted by NBN tonight in Manhattan.
• Elsewhere in Manhattan, the annual Colel Chabad International Awards Gala is taking place tonight. Russian-Israeli entrepreneur Yitzchak Mirilashvili, Heather and Joe Sarachek, Sara and Harry Krakowski and Lauren and Martin Tabaksblat are set to be honored at the event. Also slated to be honored is Ahmed al-Ahmed, the Syrian immigrant to Australia who helped disarm one of the Bondi Beach terrorists during last month’s terror attack in Sydney.
• The Atlantic Council’s Freedom and Prosperity Center is holding a panel discussion this morning at its Washington headquarters on the future of humanitarian assistance. Speakers include IsraAID CEO Yotam Polizer, Zipline Africa’s Caitlin Burton, DAI’s Tine Knott and UNICEF USA’s Patrick Quirk

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S Tamara ziEVE AND MATTHEW SHEA

At the conclusion of the 12-day war in June of last year, both Israel and Iran suspected that the ceasefire brokered by the U.S. would be a pause, not a final cessation of hostilities. That truce has lasted for more than six months, with both sides wary of entering another military conflict — one likely to be more deadly and destructive than the first. 

But now, amid destabilizing world events from Venezuela to the Middle East — compounded by growing domestic pressure on the Islamic Republic amid nationwide protests — that ceasefire is even more tenuous, with officials in Tehran and Jerusalem closely watching the other’s every move, careful not to make a potentially disastrous miscalculation — even as both sides make overtures at de-escalation.

Speaking at the Knesset on Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “President [Donald] Trump and I have expressed a firm stance — we won’t allow Iran to rebuild its ballistic missile industry or to renew the nuclear program, which we damaged severely in Operation Rising Lion.”

In response, Iran’s newly formed Defense Council warned on Tuesday that the country could act preemptively if it detects clear signs of a threat. “The long-standing enemies of this land … are pursuing a targeted approach by repeating and intensifying threatening language and interventionist statements in clear conflict with the accepted principles of international law, which is aimed at dismembering our beloved Iran and harming the country’s identity,” the council said.

Recent reports suggest that Israel, in an attempt to de-escalate tensions, has used Moscow as an intermediary, communicating through Russian President Vladimir Putin that it has no intention of launching a preemptive strike on Iranian soil. Iranian leaders, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, are unconvinced. 

In a post on X, Khamenei accused Israel of deception: “What makes the enemy first request a ceasefire during [12-day] war with the Iranian nation, then send messages saying he doesn’t want to fight us?” 

“Now if he doesn’t believe the messaging and thinks that Israel is about to attack then you can understand why Israel is worried Iran is about to miscalculate and attack. Very tense days/weeks ahead of us,” Nadav Pollak, a lecturer on the Middle East at Reichman University, commented on Khamenei’s post.

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

• White House Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff is meeting in Sardinia, Italy, today with Israeli and Qatari officials, including Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, to discuss a potential ceasefire and hostage-release deal. Qatari Prime Minister Mohammad bin Abdulrahman al-Thani will reportedly attend the Sardinia sit-down, a week after quietly meeting for dinner with President Donald Trump at the White House.
• We reached out to the White House this week about that dinner meeting, for which, notably, no readout or photos were issued. A White House spokesperson told us that “[i]t was a great and productive meeting with one of our country’s greatest allies in the region,” but did not respond to further requests for details.
• To that end, we’re keeping an eye on the ceasefire talks also happening in Doha, where earlier this morning Hamas submitted a new response to the latest proposal, after its prior response was rejected by mediators.
• Dermer is also reportedly slated to meet today in Paris with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani and U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack, the Trump administration’s Syria envoy, to discuss security issues.
• On Capitol Hill, Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) will introduce legislation today requiring the National Education Association to expand its federal charter to prohibit the nation’s largest teachers’ union from “engaging in electoral politics or lobbying” in response to the group’s proposal to cut ties with the Anti-Defamation League. Read more here.
• The Senate Judiciary Committee is holding its confirmation hearing today for Jeanine Pirro to be U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.
• Also this morning, the Senate Homeland Security Committee will hold a confirmation hearing for Paul Ingrassia, the Trump administration’s nominee to lead the Office of Special Counsel who has trafficked in conspiracy theories, including describing Hamas Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks and ensuing war as a “psyop” and defended prominent antisemites including Kanye West, Andrew Tate and Nick Fuentes. Senate Republicans told JI last month that they planned to scrutinize Ingrassia’s record ahead of his hearing. Read more here.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S gabby Deutch

Inside a coffee shop in rural Pennsylvania, hundreds of miles from the bustle of Manhattan, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro made his first public comments about Zohran Mamdani on Wednesday following the democratic socialist’s victory in New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary a month earlier.

Mamdani “seemed to run a campaign that excited New Yorkers. He also seemed to run a campaign where he left open far too much space for extremists to either use his words or for him to not condemn the words of extremists that said some blatantly antisemitic things,” Shapiro told Jewish Insider.

Shapiro’s comments come as Mamdani continues to face backlash for declining to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada,” and as national Democratic figures struggle to figure out how to respond to his come-from-behind victory and to assess what his nomination means for the future of the party.  

“I’ll say this about Mamdani or any other leader,” Shapiro told JI. “If you want to lead New York, you want to lead Pennsylvania, you want to lead the United States of America, you’re a leader. I don’t care if you’re a Republican or Democratic leader or a democratic socialist leader. You have to speak and act with moral clarity, and when supporters of yours say things that are blatantly antisemitic, you can’t leave room for that to just sit there. You’ve got to condemn that.”

Widely viewed as a possible 2028 presidential candidate, Shapiro has steered clear of weighing in on a number of divisive national issues, preferring instead to focus on Pennsylvania, where he maintains a 61% approval rating. But national conversations, including about Israel and antisemitism, have found their way to the governor’s mansion in Harrisburg — in more ways than one.

In April, the residence was set ablaze in an arson attack just hours after Shapiro and his family had hosted a Passover Seder. Police said the alleged perpetrator was motivated by anti-Israel animus, but Shapiro has repeatedly declined to characterize the incident as antisemitic in nature, saying that doing so would be “unhelpful” to prosecutors who have not brought hate crime charges. 

Shapiro told JI the arson attack left a profound impact on him, both personally and religiously. It brought him closer, he said, to “my faith and my spirituality.” The attack, Shapiro said, has “given me a deeper, spiritual connection of my faith and a deeper connection to people of other faiths.”

Read the full interview with Shapiro here.

Next-Gen Hard-liners: In The Wall Street Journal, Reuel Marc Gerecht and Ray Takeyh caution that the next generation of Iranian leaders could pose significant threats to both the U.S. and Israel. “They are drawn from militant groups such as the Paydari Front and the second tier of the Revolutionary Guards. They look to guidance from the likes of the religiously obsessional Saeed Jalili, a former nuclear negotiator who abjures compromise. They are found in the security organs, occupy seats in parliament and run their own education centers. They have created their own underground shadow government and ideological ecosystem. … Indeed, the rising generation of the Revolutionary Guards have defined themselves by their willingness to brutalize their countrymen repeatedly. And these guardsmen have had two other core commitments: the A-bomb program and the proxy war strategy devised by their fallen hero, Qassem Soleimani, the Revolutionary Guard dark lord whom an American missile felled in Baghdad in 2020.” [WSJ]

Where’s Marco?: The Financial Times’ Guy Chazan looks at Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s ideological evolution as he has moved to embrace broad swaths of President Donald Trump’s worldview. “As a senator, Rubio was a fervent advocate of American overseas assistance, of Washington’s long-standing alliances and the power of US diplomacy as a force for good in the world. He would stress the need to stand up to dictators and support dissidents campaigning against authoritarian regimes. Yet he has since embraced Trump’s Maga ideology, with its isolationism, impatience with foreign aid and determination to drastically shrink the federal workforce. … But allies dismiss the idea Rubio has changed, insisting that on key issues he has been remarkably consistent. Far from abandoning his values, they say, he has championed them, influencing Trump to adopt a more hawkish posture towards countries such as China, Iran, Russia and Venezuela.” [FT]

If Dems Gain Power: In The Atlantic, Paul Rosenzweig considers how a future Democratic presidential administration could employ the same tactics as the Trump administration vis-a-vis sweeping policy shifts, department reorganizations and mass firings. “What lies ahead, then, is a new era of pendulum swings, replacing the stability of the postwar governing consensus. Ahead is a cycle of retributive prosecutions and whipsaw funding decisions. America may see entire Cabinet departments alternatively created and closed every four years while the presidency goes from policy to anti-policy — enforcing DEI in one administration, perhaps, and prohibiting it in the next. The country would, in effect, return to the time before the Pendleton Act, when the entire federal workforce turned over with each successive administration, rewarding cronyism at the expense of expertise.” [TheAtlantic]

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the Trump administration is opening an investigation into Harvard’s eligibility in the U.S.’ Exchange Visitor Program after a previous effort to revoke the school’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program status was blocked by a federal judge…

The Pentagon’s internal watchdog reportedly received evidence that information about strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen that were shared by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in a Signal group chat originated from a classified email sent by CENTCOM head Gen. Erik Kurilla; Hegseth had previously testified under oath that he had not shared classified information in the group chat…

Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) said he plans to run for reelection to his House seat, and will forgo a gubernatorial bid, clearing a path for Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY); Stefanik, who has been mulling a challenge to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, said after Lawler’s announcement that she will decide in November whether to make a bid for the state’s top job… 

And in Michigan, Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-MI) announced he will not run for the state’s open Senate seat in 2026, following a recent meeting with President Donald Trump in which Huizenga was asked to forgo a bid; Huizenga’s decision leaves former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI), who made his first Senate bid in 2024 and has Trump’s backing, as the early GOP front-runner…

Former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper is expected to announce his entry into the state’s Senate race next week; Cooper, a Democrat, had been a top party recruit for the seat being vacated by Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC); on the GOP side, Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley is planning to launch his bid for the seat in the next week and a half, after Lara Trump opted not to mount a Senate bid…

Speaking at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing, Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX), accused Israel of carrying out a campaign of “ethnic cleansing” in Gaza being paid for by the United States, and called for the U.S. to impose “consequences” against the Israeli government for “the horrors that they’ve committed”; he also urged an independent investigation of alleged settler attacks in the West Bank on a Palestinian church and a Palestinian-American man…

Greg LoGerfo, the acting coordinator for counterterrorism at the State Department, described antisemitism as a key motivator for current terrorist threats globally at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing; he also committed to reviewing the Popular Resistance Committees, a Gaza-based Palestinian terrorist group, for a potential terrorist designation…

The most recently filed campaign finance disclosures indicate significant fundraising gains by left-wing Democrats, with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) pulling in  $15.4 million so far this year; Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic mayoral candidate in New York City, raised over $850,000 in the two weeks prior and two weeks after his primary win last month…

Stanford suspended the co-op status of a campus residence after a Title VI investigation conducted by the university found that students were asked to leave an event at the Kairos housing co-op based over “the presence of ‘Zionists’ in the group”…

For a “Talks at GS” conversation posted yesterday, philanthropist and Baupost Group CEO Seth Klarman spoke with Goldman Sachs President and COO John Waldron about his approach to shifting market environments…

Apple+ released the first images for the upcoming thriller series “The Savant,” based on a 2019 Cosmopolitan profile of an undercover Anti-Defamation League investigator who monitors extremists groups in an effort to stop terror attacks before they happen…

The Wall Street Journal reviews Jack Wertheimer’s Jewish Giving: Philanthropy and the Shaping of American Jewish Life… 

U.K. Opposition Leader Kemi Badenoch, in an interview with the Financial Times,called Argentinian President Javier Milei “the template” for conservative leaders, and said she considered herself to be a British version of the Argentinian leader…

The Knesset overwhelmingly passed a nonbinding resolution calling for Israeli annexation of the West Bank…

The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s Aaron David Miller considers the role President Donald Trump could play in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s efforts to remain in power, amid the threat of potential new elections… 

Brazil said it is finalizing efforts to join South Africa’s International Court of Justice case accusing Israel of commiting genocide in Gaza…

A Norwegian man who had previously worked as a security guard at the U.S. Embassy in Oslo was charged with spying on both the U.S. and Norway on behalf of Iran and Russia; Mohamed Orahhou, who was arrested in November, is believed to have taken and shared intelligence regarding the embassy and employees of Norway’s intelligence services…

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi suggested that Tehran could withdraw from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty if European powers reimpose sanctions on the country; speaking to reporters in New York, Gharibabadi said that Iran will soon allow a delegation from the International Atomic Energy Agency, which had previously been banned from the country, to travel to Tehran for conversations aimed at resuming inspections…

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar (left) and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha (right) on Wednesday paid their respects at the memorial to the victims of the Babyn Yar massacre during Sa’ar’s visit to the country, which also included a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Actress, best known for her role as Nomi Segal on the Freeform comedy drama “Grown-ish,” Emily Taryn Arlook turns 35… 

Philanthropist and former U.S. ambassador to Romania, now senior counsel at Covington and Burling, Alfred H. Moses turns 96… Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter who worked for ABC News and CBS’ “60 Minutes,” Lowell Bergman turns 80… Israeli physician, author and playwright, he is the younger brother of PM Benjamin Netanyahu, Iddo Netanyahu turns 73… Political consultant known for his role in both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns, Joel Benenson turns 73… Retired Los Angeles-based business and real estate attorney, Michael Jeffrey Bordy… Radio anchor and reporter on both CBS nationally and NYC’s WCBS, Michael Sugerman… Member of Congress (D-FL) until 2022, he previously served as the governor of Florida, Charlie Crist turns 69… Russian businessman and Chairman of the Board of Patrons of The Conference of European Rabbis, Boris Mints turns 67… Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit, Judge Patty Shwartz turns 64… Presidential historian, professor at McGill and senior fellow in Zionist thought at the Jewish People Policy Institute, Gil Troy turns 64… Director of donor development for AIPAC, he is a retired NFL player who played for the Packers and the Cowboys where he won in Super Bowl XXVII, Alan (Shlomo) Veingrad turns 62… Founder of the Migdal Oz seminary for women in Gush Etzion, she is a granddaughter of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, Esti Rosenberg… Film director and producer, Douglas Eric Liman turns 60… Partner in Frost Brown Todd and author of The Liberal Case for Israel, he was the first-ever Jewish statewide elected official in Kentucky (state treasurer), Jonathan Miller turns 58… Author, he writes the “My Ride” column for The Wall Street Journal on exotic cars, A.J. Baime turns 54… Mayor of Asheville, N.C., she was elected in 2013, 2017 and 2022, Esther E. Manheimer turns 54… Actress, writer, podcaster and comedian, Jamie Denbo turns 52… President of Access Computer Technology in West Bloomfield, Mich., he is a rabbi, entrepreneur and social media expert, Jason Miller turns 49… President and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, Rabbi Noah Zvi Farkas… EVP and CFO of Morgan Stanley, Sharon Yeshaya turns 46… Actress, screenwriter and director, Lauren Miller Rogen turns 43… Member of the board of directors of the Jewish Federation of Greater Rochester (N.Y.), Aviva M. Futerman Schochat… Co-founder and partner at Orfin Ventures, Adam Finkel… Media director at Access Brand Communications, Sarah Citrenbaum… CEO and founder of Learned Hand, building AI tools for judges, Shlomo Klapper…

• The House Appropriations Committee will conduct its full committee markup of the 2026 defense and homeland security funding bills.
• The House Armed Services Committee will hold a hearing on the Department of Defense’s 2026 budget request with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine.
• The Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs will hold a hearing on the nomination of Sean Plankey to be director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
• The Zionist Organization of America is holding its annual legislative lobbying day at the Capitol.
• Argentine President Javier Milei is being presented with the Genesis Prize today at Jerusalem’s Museum of Tolerance.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S LAHAV HARKOV

Since the Israeli strike on Iran’s air defenses in October, Jerusalem has sought a green light, or something close to it, from Washington to strike the Islamic Republic’s nuclear sites. President Donald Trump, however, repeatedly told Israel to hold off as he pursued a diplomatic agreement with Tehran to stop its enrichment program. 

Now, after the Iranian nuclear program has continued apace and Trump has voiced frustration over Tehran’s intransigence, it seems that Jerusalem’s patience for diplomacy is running out.

Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and Mossad chief David Barnea will be meeting Trump’s top negotiator Steve Witkoff on Friday ahead of the sixth round of talks with Iran in Oman on Sunday “in an additional attempt to clarify Israel’s stance,” an official in Jerusalem said, amid persistent reports and strong indications that Israel is prepared to strike Iran.

After a call with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu last week, Trump said that if Tehran does not agree to give up uranium enrichment, the situation will get “very, very dire.” On Wednesday, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said that “there have been plenty of indications” that Iran is moving towards weaponization of its nuclear program, and Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla, the chief of CENTCOM, said that he presented Trump and Hegseth with numerous options to attack Iran if nuclear talks break down. 

Hours later, the State Department began to move some personnel out of Iraq and the military suggested that servicemembers’ families depart the Middle East, while the U.K. warned about a potential “escalation of military activity” in the region. Such evacuations are often the first step to reduce risk ahead of a large-scale military operation. 

Trump told reporters that the evacuations are happening because the Middle East “could be a dangerous place, and we’ll see what happens.” More on this from Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod here.

Kurilla postponed his testimony before the Senate planned for Thursday. Staff at U.S. embassies and consulates throughout the Middle East were told to take safety precautions, and those stationed in Israel were told not to leave the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, Jerusalem or Beersheva.

Multiple news outlets published reports citing anonymous American officials that Israel is ready to strike Iran without help from the U.S. One possible reason for the timing — moving forward even as Washington and Tehran are set to enter a sixth round of talks on Sunday — is that Iran has reportedly begun to rebuild the air defenses that Israel destroyed last year. Iranian Armed Forces Chief of Staff Mohammad Bagheri reportedly said last month: “We are witnessing a remarkable improvement in the capability and readiness of the country’s air defense.” 

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

A Socialist in Gracie Mansion?: The Free Press’ Olivia Reingold considers Zohran Mamdani’s chances of beating former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to become mayor of New York City. “To a rising number of New Yorkers, particularly the young and college-educated, Mamdani is a welcome alternative to a 67-year-old member of the Democratic establishment. As canvassers broke off to start knocking on doors, 33-year-old bar owner Roberto Beltre told me he supported Mamdani because ‘the ideas that we hear at these protests are never said by any of these other politicians.’ His girlfriend, 31-year-old Mercy, chimed in: ‘He’s saying everything that I want to hear. It seems unlikely, but I hope that he can win.’ The thing is—he can. In only a few months, he’s managed to surge from polling at 1 percent, to second place in the race with the endorsement of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. A new poll commissioned by a pro-Mamdani PAC shows him just two points behind Cuomo in a head-to-head race. Other recent polls show Cuomo winning—but only in the eighth or 10th round under New York City’s ranked choice voting system.” [FP]

What’s Next in Gaza?: The Times of Israel’s founding editor, David Horovitz, writes about the continued lack of clarity over Israel’s next steps in Gaza, exacerbated by a growing disconnect between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Donald Trump as well as the IDF. “Some military sources speculate that the IDF may eventually be asked to oversee a controlled return of the Gaza populace to their largely ruined home areas, under a process that would necessitate screening the returnees to ensure that Hamas forces do not simply come back with them. However nice in theory, the idea is impractical. The IDF is not capable of controlling, much less screening, large masses of civilians. … At the same time, domestic and global criticism of the war is growing — especially since the government chose in March not to move ahead with the second and third phases of the January deal it had unanimously endorsed, which was intended to secure the release of all hostages and end the war, and instead resumed the military campaign. Growing, too, is US presidential impatience, in part reflecting deepening dismay from within Republican ranks, and Trump has vast weapon-supply and diplomatic leverage to exert over Netanyahu should he so choose.” [TOI]

Iranian Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh threatened on Wednesday to attack U.S. bases in the region if conflict arises, saying, “Some officials on the other side threaten conflict if negotiations don’t come to fruition. If a conflict is imposed on us … all U.S. bases are within our reach and we will boldly target them in host countries”…

Iran announced plans today to expand its uranium enrichment and install advanced centrifuges after a U.N. atomic energy agency resolution declared it in violation of nuclear obligations…

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine declined to definitively say on Wednesday whether they believed Iran would use a nuclear weapon if it acquired one, as they testified before the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports…

The Knesset on Thursday struck down a bill that would have called an election later this year, with Haredi parties agreeing to another week of negotiations on penalties for yeshiva students who avoid the IDF draft, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports…

Israeli Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf, chairman of the United Torah Judaism party, resigned today and will join the opposition, but the rest of the Haredi bloc remains part of the coalition… 

Ezzedin al-Haddad, known as the Ghost of al-Qassam, has been named as the new leader of Hamas in Gaza following Israel’s assassination of his predecessor Mohammed Sinwar, and before that Yahya Sinwar…

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the U.S. and Israel-backed aid distribution mechanism, reported that a bus carrying more than two dozen members of its team were “brutally attacked” by Hamas on Wednesday night, resulting in at least five fatalities, multiple injuries and concerns of some team members taken hostage…

The IDF recovered the bodies of two deceased hostages from Gaza on Wednesday, that of Yair Yaakov and another whose name has not yet been approved for publication…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly told U.S. envoy Tom Barrack that he is interested in the U.S. acting as a mediator in an updated security deal ultimately leading to a full peace agreement between Israel and Syria, Axios scooped…

Rev. Johnnie Moore, an evangelical Christian pastor and former Trump advisor, and Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Center met with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa this week. On potential Israel-Syria normalization, Moore told Reuters, “I think peace is very possible, if not probable”…

A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction on Wednesday stating that the Trump administration cannot detain nor deport Columbia University anti-Israel protest leader Mahmoud Khalil. The ruling does not take effect until Friday, leaving time for the government to appeal…

At a House Homeland Security Committee hearing on antisemitism, Democrats repeatedly highlighted Trump administration delays in disbursing already allocated Nonprofit Security Grant Program funds. Rep. August Pfluger (R-TX), the subcommittee chair, argued that policy changes, aggressive prosecutions and condemnations of antisemitic ideology are equally or more important than funding…

A bipartisan group of House lawmakers wrote to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday, again demanding that Francesca Albanese, U.N. special rapporteur for the Palestinian territories, be dismissed from her position, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…

The DETERRENCE Act, bipartisan legislation which increases penalties on individuals who commit crimes on behalf of the Iranian regime or other foreign adversaries, passed the Senate by unanimous consent on Tuesday…

Asif Rahman, a former CIA analyst, was sentenced to just over three years in prison on Wednesday for unlawfully retaining and sharing top secret records about Israeli plans for a strike on Iran on social media…

Ira Stoll writes in the Wall Street Journal about Harvard Memorial Church, owned and operated by Harvard University, where the minister has repeatedly bashed Israel from the pulpit, calling the war in Gaza “increasingly genocidal,” saying “We know what hell looks like … it looks like Gaza today” and arguing that the anti-Israel encampment on campus was “right to lament and decry the death of so many innocent people in Gaza”…

Nathan Diament, the executive director of the Orthodox Union Advocacy Center, argued in an op-ed titled “Congress must act against the American intifada” that “Congress is failing to meet the urgent demands of the moment” and must open application for the National Security Grant Program, increase its funding to $500 million for 2026 and allocate $200 million of the Department of Justice’s existing grants to local police specifically for increased patrols and police presence at faith institutions…

Leland Lehrman was named as the executive director of the MAHA Institute, a policy center that previously operated as a super PAC supporting Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign. Lehrman has repeatedly espoused his belief in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and, speaking on a far-right radio show, argued that Jews communicate with the devil and discussed “high-level Jewish Illuminists, or Lucifer worshipers”…

Columnist and writer Miranda Devine described her experience interviewing President Donald Trump for her new podcast “Pod Force One,” calling him “a bountiful host” who will “quite literally offer you the food off his plate”…

Apollo Global Management announced that it will not interview or extend offers to the class of 2027 this year, breaking with its tradition of extending future-dated offers. CEO Marc Rowan said he agreed with criticism of hiring young recruits too early…

The trial of three teenagers accused of raping a 12-year-old Jewish girl, calling her a “dirty Jewess,” began yesterday in Paris…

Some 100 LGBTQ+ leaders from North America met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog and First Lady Michal Herzog at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem yesterday, as part of the Jewish Federations of North America’s LGBTQ+ mission to Israel. 

Founder and managing partner of the investment firm Thrive Capital and the co-founder of Oscar Health, Joshua Kushner turns 40…

Senior of counsel at Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker, Martin Edelman turns 84… Retired sportscaster for NBA games on TNT, has also been the play-by-play announcer of multiple Super Bowls, NBA Finals, Stanley Cup Finals and the World Series, Marv Albert (born Marvin Philip Aufrichtig) turns 84… Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit since 1991, now on senior status, Judge Andrew Jay Kleinfeld turns 80… Former solicitor of labor in the Nixon and Ford administrations, then a senior partner at Gibson Dunn, William J. Kilberg turns 79… Social psychologist, he is the director of the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis University, Leonard Saxe turns 78… Israeli statesman and scholar who has served in multiple ministerial and leadership positions in the Israeli government including 20 years as a member of the Knesset, Yosef “Yossi” Beilin turns 77… Rabbi at Temple Beth El in Santa Cruz County, Calif., for 40 years, now emeritus, known as Rabbi Rick, Richard Litvak… British Conservative Party member of Parliament from 1992 until last year, his father was a rabbi, Sir Michael Fabricant turns 75… Professor at the University of Florida’s Hamilton Center, his 2022 book is The Arc of a Covenant: The United States, Israel, and the Fate of the Jewish People, Walter Russell Mead turns 73… Dental consultant and recruiter, Kenneth Nussen… Peruvian banker and politician, José Chlimper Ackerman turns 70… Senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and professor at Georgetown’s Center for Jewish Civilization, Danielle Pletka turns 62… Television producer and executive, he was the CEO of Showtime Networks until 2022, David Nevins turns 59… EVP of American Friends of Lubavitch (Chabad) in Washington, D.C., Rabbi Levi Shemtov… Film and television actor, known for his role as Louis Litt in the legal drama series “Suits,” Rick Hoffman turns 55… SVP for politics at NBC, Carrie Budoff Brown… Founder of Singularity Communications, Eliezer O. (“Eli”) Zupnick… Canadian tech entrepreneur, television personality and venture capitalist, Michele Romanow turns 40… Partner at Enso Collaborative, Hanna Siegel… Co-creator of the Mozilla Firefox internet browser, he was the director of product at Facebook and then worked at Uber, Blake Aaron Ross turns 40… Associate director of health policy and the law initiative at Georgetown Law School, Zachary Louis Baron… VP at MediaLink, Alexis Rose Levinson… Multimodal transportation coordinator in the planning department of Montgomery County (Md.), Eli Glazier… Photographer and Instagram influencer, Tessa Nesis… Israeli windsurfer, he won a gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Tom Reuveny turns 25… Lead consultant at AutoNate, Joel Bond…