Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

ESPN college football commentator Paul Finebaum has decided not to enter the Republican primary to replace former Auburn football coach and outgoing Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), AL.com reports, after he told Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs last week that he was weighing a bid.

Finebaum said he was “appreciative of my bosses at ESPN for allowing me to explore this opportunity. But it’s time for me to devote my full attention to something everyone in Alabama can agree upon — our love of college football”…

Also staying out of the fray, Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), a member of the Squad, has decided not to challenge Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), instead seeking reelection to her own House seat, she said in a statement. If she had run, Pressley would have been a formidable primary opponent to both Markey and Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA), who is also in the race, as all three have staked out anti-Israel positions…

After AIPAC bought a series of digital ads on Instagram and Facebook targeting Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) for his comments claiming Israel committed genocide in Gaza, Khanna released a video statement today saying AIPAC wants to “prevent me from having a seat at the table in the leadership of our country”…

Asked about Tucker Carlson’s interview with neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes at the Israel Hayom summit in Manhattan today, Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for civil rights at the Justice Department, said, “The antidote to speech that you don’t like is more speech. It isn’t shutting down speech. And so, I don’t agree with a single word that Nick Fuentes says or has to say, and the decision of whether or not to platform that person is one for my friend and former client, Tucker Carlson”…

Dhillon also called New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani an “antisemitic demagogue,” diverging from President Donald Trump, who held a friendly Oval Office meeting with Mamdani last month, and said that, under the incoming mayor’s administration, the Justice Department would be “responding with law enforcement, to the extent that the city of New York fails to protect Jews”…

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke on stage about her experiences with students in her class at Columbia University, where she teaches about international relations, following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks: “When you would try to talk to [the students] to engage in some kind of reasonable discussion, it was very difficult because they did not know history, they had very little context and what they were being told on social media was not just one-sided, it was pure propaganda”…

Abroad, after Trump pushed Israel yesterday to maintain a “strong and true dialogue” with Syria, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today while visiting Israeli soldiers who were wounded in southern Syria, “In good spirit and understanding, an agreement can be reached with the Syrians, but we will stand by our principles.”

He said Israel’s requirements for such an agreement would be the demilitarization of a buffer zone in southern Syria and that the Syrian Druze community be guaranteed protection by the government…

Israeli media reports that Israel plans to present Morgan Ortagus, U.S. deputy special envoy to the Middle East, who is visiting the country today, with intelligence proving Hezbollah is rearming in southern Lebanon…

An Israeli delegation visited Germany this week to begin the handover of an Arrow 3 missile defense system, which Berlin purchased in 2023 for $3.5 billion, Israel’s largest arms deal to date. The system is set to be deployed tomorrow in Germany, the first country outside of Israel to operate it, in an effort to bolster European air defenses against Russia…

The chief of the West Midlands Police force in the U.K. admitted in a parliamentary committee hearing yesterday that the report presented to the Aston Villa soccer club that led fans of Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer team to be banned from attending a game in Birmingham, England, last month included false and fabricated information.

The report referenced a November 2023 match between Maccabi and the West Ham soccer team that never took place, and claimed that Maccabi fans had harassed and assaulted Muslim communities during a match in Amsterdam, which Dutch law enforcement said did not occur…

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar engaged in a public spat with Irish Ambassador to Israel Sonya McGuinness at a Foreign Ministry event in Jerusalem today over the Dublin City Council’s shelved vote to remove former Israeli President Chaim Herzog’s name from a public park. 

In a brief back and forth, Sa’ar accused the city council of only walking back its “antisemitic proposed decision” after international uproar and said, “There’s nothing in your system right now that can defend you from that virus of antisemitism except [for] external pressure and exposing the antisemitic nature of this government of Ireland … We will continue to expose you until you will understand that you cannot deceive the world”…

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

Keep an eye out in tomorrow’s Jewish Insider for reporting on recent efforts by Iran International, an independent Persian-language broadcaster, to bring the voices of U.S. policymakers to Iranian citizens.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will vote on the nominations of Yehuda Kaploun to be special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism and Tammy Bruce to be U.S. deputy ambassador to the U.N. Meanwhile, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation will hold a nomination hearing for Jared Isaacman to become head of NASA.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold a vote to designate the entire Muslim Brotherhood globally as a foreign terror organization. 

The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington will hold its “Lox & Legislators” Maryland Legislative Breakfast tomorrow morning, including appearances by Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Reps. Glenn Ivey (D-MD) and April McClain Delaney (D-MD) and Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich.

The Israel Policy Forum will host its annual benefit in Manhattan honoring board members Bob Elman, former president of the American Jewish Committee, and Bob Sugarman, former chair of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and of the Anti-Defamation League.

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by phone today to discuss the Gaza ceasefire and expanding peace agreements, and Trump invited Netanyahu for another visit to the White House “in the near future,” according to a readout from the Prime Minister’s Office…

The readout did not mention any discussion of Syria, despite Trump posting on social media this morning that “it is very important that Israel maintain a strong and true dialogue with Syria, and that nothing takes place that will interfere with Syria’s evolution into a prosperous State.” He said Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa “is working diligently to make sure good things happen, and that both Syria and Israel will have a long and prosperous relationship together.”

Trump did not denounce any specific Israeli actions, though the comment came just days after the IDF clashed with gunmen during an arrest operation in southern Syria, which Syrian state media said killed 13. Israeli media reported today that the Trump administration is frustrated with Israel over its continuing military action in Syria and the issue is expected to feature prominently in Netanyahu’s next White House visit…

On the Hill, the House Foreign Affairs Committee is set to discuss and vote on Wednesday on legislation that aims to classify the entire Muslim Brotherhood globally as a terrorist group, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

The legislation may go further than the Trump administration’s recently announced efforts on the issue, which do not directly aim to proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood in its entirety, but rather focus on its branches…

Israel’s Iron Beam system, which intercepts missiles with lasers, will be delivered to the IDF for initial use at the end of the month, JI’s Lahav Harkov reports.

Brig.-Gen. (res.) Daniel Gold, head of the Israeli Ministry of Defense Research and Development Directorate, who made the announcement at the International DefenseTech Summit at Tel Aviv University today, said “the Iron Beam laser system is expected to fundamentally change the rules of engagement on the battlefield.”

The use of the laser system will drastically lower the costs of missile defense, with each use of the Iron Beam costing around $3, as opposed to about $50,000 per Iron Dome interceptor. As such, it will cost significantly less for Israel to intercept a rocket than it costs for its enemies to produce them, at $5,000-$10,000…

On the campaign trail, former Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), who is challenging Rep. Wesley Bell (D-MO) to reclaim her former seat in Congress, posed for a photo with Guy Christensen, an anti-Israel influencer who defended the Capital Jewish Museum shooting, in which two Israeli Embassy employees were killed, JI’s Marc Rod reports.

The influencer posted a photo last week from what appears to be a recent American Muslims for Palestine conference — Christensen is wearing an AMP lanyard and speaker badge — alongside a smiling Bush, with the caption “We’re coming for you AIPAC”…

Evanston, Ill. Mayor Daniel Biss, a Democrat, who is currently running for Congress to replace retiring Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), denounced the agreement reached between Northwestern University and the Trump administration to restore the university’s federal funding in a statement today. 

“As a Jewish person, I am disturbed by the Trump administration’s disingenuous use of the very serious crisis of antisemitism to justify its actions. Of course, we know that this administration isn’t actually concerned about antisemitism — in fact, this administration has proven to be filled with overt Nazi sympathizers,” Biss wrote.

Jewish leaders associated with the school told JI’s Haley Cohen that they are cautiously optimistic that the deal — which, among other stipulations, ends the university’s 2024 agreement with anti-Israel student protesters — will improve campus climate for Jewish students…

Meanwhile, a Harvard student who was charged with assaulting an Israeli peer during an October 2023 “die-in” on university campus shortly after the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks was hired by the university in August as a graduate teaching fellow, the Washington Free Beacon reports…

In a New Yorker feature on rising political violence, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro discusses his understanding of what motivated the alleged attacker who firebombed the governor’s residence last Passover. “The prosecutor felt it was important to introduce into evidence the bomber’s claims that he did that because of ‘what I did to the Palestinians,’ so clearly there was some motivation because of my [Jewish] faith,” the Democratic governor said. 

“But I think it is dangerous for you or anyone else to think about those who perpetrate these violent attacks as linear thinkers, meaning that they have a left-wing ideology or a right-wing ideology, or that they have a firm set of beliefs the way you might or I might. These are clearly irrational thinkers.”

Rep. Greg Landsman (D-OH) also recounts in the piece his experience being intimidated by a group of protesters staging a sit-in outside of his home in October 2024, recalling “that he and his family spent the day trying to get the protesters to leave, working with both local authorities and the Capitol Police, but they ‘would not move.’ His son was in the final stages of practicing for his bar mitzvah; that evening, he recited the Torah while the protesters chanted pro-Palestinian slogans outside”… 

No stranger to threats of political violence, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said today three of his New York offices were targeted with bomb threats in emails with the subject line “MAGA”…

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

Keep an eye out in tomorrow’s Jewish Insider for a preview of the special election taking place tomorrow in Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District. 

Israel Hayom is hosting a conference in New York City tomorrow featuring American and Israeli officials and public figures, including New York City Mayor Eric Adams; Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon; former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman; former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz; Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA); Strauss Group Chair Ofra Strauss; and Israeli Minister for Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli, as well as released hostages Evyatar David and Guy Gilboa-Dalal.

The Embassy of the United Arab Emirates will hold a celebration marking the country’s 54th National Day at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington.

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) told The Hill that podcaster Tucker Carlson’s recent decision to interview neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes was “a big mistake.” Johnson said freedom of speech gives Carlson the right to host whomever he chooses, but that he also has a “responsibility” to not “amplify” hateful views: “I think it’s a dangerous trend to give a platform to people who are just openly and unrepentantly antisemitic and engaging in all this hateful racist stuff. It’s just not helpful”…

The Trump administration is seeking the construction of temporary residential compounds to house Palestinians who currently reside in the Israeli-controlled parts of Gaza, The New York Times reports. American officials think the quick construction of the compounds, deemed “Alternative Safe Communities,” will encourage Palestinians to seek job and housing opportunities in an area away from Hamas control…

Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad gave a casket to Israel that reportedly contains the remains of one of the three dead hostages still being held in Gaza. Identifying the body will take up to two days, according to Israel’s Health Ministry…

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman poured cold water on President Donald Trump’s request during their White House meeting last week that he move toward normalizing ties with Israel, according to an Axios report. Trump reportedly felt “disappointed” after MBS’ rejection of his request, with MBS saying anti-Israel sentiment in Saudi Arabia means such a deal is not possible right now…

Hadassah led 27 other Jewish organizations in a letter calling on the United Nations to take greater action against gender-based violence, and in particular to combat “the ongoing denial of Hamas’ weaponization of sexual violence on Oct. 7, 2023, and against the hostages illegally held in Gaza, including at the UN, [which] sends a dangerous message to Hamas and other terrorists that it can act with impunity in harming civilians”…

Senior U.S. officials met today with their Russian counterparts in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky communicated that he is open to a U.S.-brokered deal to end the Russia-Ukraine war. Zelensky said he wants to meet with Trump as soon as possible —possibly over Thanksgiving — to hash out the final points of a deal, including key issues like territorial concessions. Meanwhile, Russia struck Kyiv on Tuesday as talks progressed…

White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff introduced the idea of a renewed push for a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia during a phone call with a senior Kremlin official last month, soon after the Trump administration brokered a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, Bloomberg reports. The 20-point Middle East peace plan served as inspiration for the 28-point Russia-Ukraine plan, though that plan has since been significantly amended…

Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser announced on Tuesday that she will not run for a fourth term in next year’s mayoral election, a choice that is likely to set up a competitive race to lead the nation’s capital… 

The city council in Somerville, Mass., is set to vote tonight on whether to divest city funds from companies that do business with Israel. A nonbinding ballot measure calling for divestment received 55% of the votes in the city’s municipal elections earlier this month…

Trump is considering firing FBI Director Kash Patel, after the former podcast host has elicited a slew of controversy about mismanaging government resources and clashing with other Trump administration officials, MS NOW reports. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called the story “fake news”…

The Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy in the United Arab Emirates is hosting a conference about the Abraham Accords tomorrow with speakers from the UAE, Israel, Morocco, Cyprus, the U.K. and the U.S. A keynote address will be delivered by Ali Rashid Al Nuaimi, chair of the defense affairs, interior and foreign affairs committee in the UAE’s Federal National Council…

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

Keep an eye out in tomorrow’s Jewish Insider for an interview with Hungary’s minister for European Union affairs, who in May was appointed the country’s antisemitism commissioner for the country and who visited Washington last week for meetings with the Trump administration and Jewish leaders.

White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff will be in Moscow on Wednesday for a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, as the U.S. lobbies Russia and Ukraine to sign onto a Washington-mediated peace deal. 

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will be in France to meet with his French counterpart, Jean-Noel Barrot. France recently supported a United Nations effort to push Iran to allow the International Atomic Energy Agency to inspect the nuclear sites damaged in the country’s 12-day war with Israel over the summer. Iran suspended cooperation with the IAEA following the war with Israel.

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

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun, President Donald Trump’s nominee to serve as special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, had his confirmation hearing today before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

Kaploun leaned into the importance of education as a tool to counter antisemitism. “We must, educate, educate, educate about the history of the Jewish community in America and the Judeo-Christian values our country was founded on,” Kaploun told senators. The Chabad-trained rabbi and businessman largely sidestepped a question about Trump’s recent praise for Tucker Carlson after the conservative podcaster hosted neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes for a friendly interview…

After a Muslim speaker led a walkout during an interfaith event at City College of New York, saying he refused to sit next to the executive director of Baruch College Hillel, whom he described as a “Zionist,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Wednesday described the incident as “antisemitism, plain and simple.” Hochul, a Democrat, said she expects university administrators to “act swiftly to ensure accountability.”

Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for civil rights, called the incident “deeply concerning” and said the Justice Department “will look into” it… 

Also in New York, Jessica Tisch said she would stay on as police commissioner in New York City when Zohran Mamdani becomes mayor. The decision builds a bridge between Mamdani, who has a history of sharp criticism of the police, and a law enforcement leader with a record of reducing crime in the city.  

“Now, do the Mayor-elect and I agree on everything? No, we don’t,” Tisch wrote in a letter to the NYPD’s more than 45,000 employees. “But in speaking with him, it’s clear that we share broad and crucial priorities: the importance of public safety, the need to continue driving down crime, and the need to maintain stability and order across the department. We also agree that you deserve the city’s respect and support”…

Iranian nuclear scientists traveled to Russia last year as part of an attempt to access technology that could potentially be used for nuclear weapons — their second covert visit, according to U.S. documents obtained by the Financial Times. The documents offer the first evidence of Russia and Iran engaging in concrete information-sharing that could relate to nuclear weapons… 

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to Washington continued on Wednesday with meetings with lawmakers and a high-profile appearance at an investment summit with Trump at the Kennedy Center. 

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) sat down with MBS, who also attended a breakfast reception with a dozen members. Sens. Jim Risch (R-ID) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), who lead the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, are meeting with the Saudi leader at his hotel this afternoon after a larger bipartisan Senate meeting was canceled. 

Trump said at the investment forum that $270 billion in deals were being signed with “dozens of companies.” The list of deals has not yet been made public. The CEOs of Chevron, Qualcomm, Cisco, General Dynamics and Pfizer attended the event, according to an event program, along with senior executives from IBM, Google, Salesforce, Andreessen Horowitz, Boeing, Halliburton, Adobe, Aramco, State Street and Parsons Corp. 

At the Kennedy Center, Trump also said that he expects MBS to serve as a “distinguished member” of the Trump-led “Board of Peace,” which was part of the president’s 20-point peace plan approved by the United Nations Security Council this week…

Democratic Majority for Israel’s president and CEO, Brian Romick, criticized the outcome of Trump’s meetings with MBS, saying in a Wednesday statement that “any substantial upgrade in the U.S.-Saudi relationship,” including closer defense ties and the acquisition of U.S. weapons, “must be tied to meaningful, measurable progress toward Saudi-Israel normalization.” Romick said Congress must play a role in ensuring “Israel’s qualitative military edge is preserved”…

In a Truth Social post after the investment forum, Trump said MBS asked him “to use the power and influence of the Presidency to bring an immediate halt to what is taking place in Sudan,” which he described as “the most violent place on Earth.” 

“We will work with Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Egypt and other Middle Eastern partners to get these atrocities to end, while at the same time stabilizing Sudan,” Trump wrote…

The Senate Armed Services Committee postponed expected votes on Alex Velez-Green and Austin Dahmer, both nominated to be deputies to Elbridge Colby, the under secretary of defense for policy, viewed as one of the leading isolationist policymakers in the Trump administration. The confirmation hearings for both men exposed deep dissatisfaction among Republicans with Colby and his office.

Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) told JI’s Marc Rod he believes there was a “broad consensus” on the committee that more time was needed to process Velez-Green and Dahmer’s nominations. “I don’t think it was one or two people holding it up, or anything like that. … My impression was the committee felt the support there was not ready yet, but … we didn’t want to hold up anybody else”…

Iran freed an oil tanker that its forces had seized near the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, the first time Iran had seized a ship in its waters since April 2024. Iranian state media said the ship, which was freed without its cargo, had committed “violations,” but did not say what they were…

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider tomorrow morning for a look at two Republican political figures in Texas who have faced censure by national Jewish groups over allegations of antisemitism, but who may be making comeback bids in this year’s Texas congressional primaries.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told President Donald Trump on Tuesday that he wants to join the Abraham Accords, but that a path to a two-state solution is needed. We’ll have a story tomorrow on what the two leaders’ meeting means for the future of Israel-Saudi normalization.

Tomorrow, nearly all of the 20 hostages released by Hamas last month will be in Washington for a meeting with Trump at the White House. Three of them spoke publicly for the first time earlier this week at the Jewish Federations of North America General Assembly, including Avinatan Or, who shared a harrowing account of his attempt to escape from Hamas’ tunnels. In an interview that aired today on Israel’s Channel 12 News, freed hostage Guy Gilboa-Dalal described enduring a sexual assault at gunpoint while in captivity.

Vice President JD Vance is slated to join Breitbart’s Matthew Boyle for a fireside chat at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington. We’ll be watching to see whether he discusses ongoing GOP tensions over Tucker Carlson, Nick Fuentes and right-wing antisemitism. 

Washington notables will remember former Vice President Dick Cheney at his funeral at the Washington National Cathedral. Former President Joe Biden will be in attendance, and former President George W. Bush will deliver remarks, along with Cheney’s daughter, former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY).