Add JewishInsider on GoogleGood Thursday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we report the latest out of Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, following the announcement overnight that Israel and Hamas had reached a hostage-release and ceasefire agreement as part of the first phase of a broader deal to end the war in Gaza. We talk to Noam Tibon about the Toronto International Film Festival’s decision to cancel and then reinstate the screening of a documentary about his efforts to rescue his family during the Oct. 7 attacks, and look at how the Pentagon’s new rules regarding grooming standards could impact Orthodox Jewish servicemembers. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Rep. Josh Gottheimer, Anne Dreazen and Maine Gov. Janet Mills.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by Jewish Insider Executive Editor Melissa Weiss, with assists from Danielle Cohen-Kanik and Marc Rod. Have a tip? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
- We’re closely tracking the ongoing talks to secure the release of the remaining 48 living and dead hostages and reach an end to the war, following last night’s breakthrough in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and former White House senior advisor Jared Kushner are expected to travel to Jerusalem tonight for the continuation of talks. More below.
- We expect to hear more about the agreement over the course of the day, first in a televised White House Cabinet meeting scheduled for 11 a.m. ET, followed hours later by a press conference at 3 p.m. ET with Finnish President Alexander Stubb. Become a premium subscriber and sign up for the Daily Overtime to get our afternoon update on the latest in the talks.
- Negotiations between the Trump administration and Harvard aimed at releasing billions of dollars in frozen grant funding are set to resume today, with Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman, who chaired the Strategic and Policy Forum during the first Trump administration, is playing a central role in the talks.
- In Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to name a new prime minister by the end of the week, following the resignation earlier this week of Sébastien Lecornu, who held the position for less than a month.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S LAHAV HARKOV
It’s a “morning of historic and momentous news,” as Israeli President Isaac Herzog put it on Thursday, when Israelis woke up to learn that a deal had been reached to free the remaining hostages in the coming days and halt the fighting in Gaza.
The sides are expected to officially sign the deal in Egypt today, and Israel’s Cabinet is set to vote at 11 a.m. ET on the exchange of the 48 hostages, 20 of whom are thought to be alive, for close to 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. The IDF said it began preparing to withdraw from parts of Gaza as part of the deal.
Hamas is expected to release the Israeli hostages first. Only when Israel is satisfied that the terrorist group has freed everyone it can find — including the remains of about 28 Israelis who were killed — will Palestinian prisoners be released. The swap comes with caveats: Hamas says it is unable to locate some of the bodies, and about 250 of the Palestinian prisoners set to be released are serving life sentences for terrorist offenses, though Israel insisted that high-profile detainees — such as Second Intifada mastermind Marwan Barghouti — will not be part of the deal.
The deal is expected to pass easily in the Cabinet, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party holding the majority of the seats. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who expressed opposition earlier this week to President Donald Trump’s plan to end the war, was unusually quiet on Thursday morning, while Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said he would not vote in favor.
Trump said in an interview with Fox News that all of the hostages “will be coming back on Monday. … As we speak, so much is happening to get the hostages freed.”
communal reactions
‘Fulfillment of our prayers’: Jewish groups hail Gaza ceasefire deal
Jewish organizations and leaders from around the world and across most of the ideological spectrum cheered the acceptance last night of the first phase of a Gaza peace plan, which will see the release of all living hostages in the coming days and the eventual release of slain ones as well, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross reports.
Communal response: Jewish Federations of North America said in a statement that it “celebrate[s] the exciting news of the deal between Israel and Hamas to return all the remaining hostages home and end the war. Both AIPAC and J Street issued statements in support of the agreement, as did the American Jewish Committee, Israel Policy Forum, the Israeli-American Coalition, Jewish Council for Public Affairs, National Council of Jewish Women, Anti-Defamation League, the Conservative movement, Yeshiva University, Board of Deputies of British Jews and World Jewish Congress, among many others.
Read the full story here and sign up for eJewishPhilanthropy’s Your Daily Phil newsletter here.
Bonus: Jewish communal leaders and a bipartisan group of political officials gathered somberly on Tuesday at the “Sukkah of Hope” hosted by the Hostages Families Forum at the Kennedy Center to mark two years since the Hamas terror attacks, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports from Washington.
book shelf
‘Now, life:’ Former hostage Eli Sharabi shares his post-captivity resilience and optimism
Freed hostage Eli Sharabi’s new memoir, Hostage, ends with him visiting the graves of his wife, Lianne, and his daughters, Noiya and Yahel, for the first time after being released from nearly a year and a half of captivity in Gaza, during which he had hoped they were still alive following the Hamas attack on their home in Kibbutz Be’eri on Oct. 7, 2023. “This here is rock bottom. I’ve seen it. I’ve touched it,” Sharabi writes. “Now, life.” That final sentence of Sharabi’s memoir could sum up his post-captivity self. In a recent interview with Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov, Sharabi said he was determined to reassert his agency, take action on hostage advocacy and move forward in his life.
In the belly of the beast: “I recognize that even within Hamas, after spending 24/7 with them for many months and having different conversations with them, I understand who is ideological and who stumbled into it because Hamas controls the financial faucets in Gaza,” Sharabi told JI. “Does that make them innocent? Of course not. The moment they got the order, I was shackled around my legs. If they were told to shoot me, they would have shot me.”
FILM IN FOCUS
‘A story about family’: Noam Tibon, director Barry Avrich reflect on ‘The Road Between Us’ premiere
The most important victory of Israeli Maj. Gen. (res.) Noam Tibon’s life was rescuing his son, daughter-in-law and two granddaughters from their home in Kibbutz Nahal Oz during the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks. But the premiere of a new documentary telling that story almost didn’t happen, after “The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue” was removed from the Toronto International Film Festival’s schedule last month, where it was set to make its debut. The film’s reinstatement after widespread pushback was “a victory for the movie and a victory for the truth of what happened on Oct. 7,” Tibon, the film’s protagonist, told Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen in an interview alongside documentarian Barry Avrich.
Global effort: “What was extraordinarily amazing to me — because I just didn’t think we had the wind to our back — was that the global pressure and reaction to the withdrawal of this film was so enormous and validating. We received emails from Jewish people as far as Shanghai” who were outraged over the film’s cancellation, Avrich recalled. “It was one of the great moments in my film career, when the Hollywood community and Jewish community globally said, ‘We will not be erased.’ I kept telling Noam, ‘You will not cancel your ticket, you’re coming to Toronto. We will show this film.’” Tibon said he dedicated the film to “all of the people who fought with me on Oct. 7 — the brave soldiers and border patrol and the brave squad of [Kibbutz Nahal Oz]. I hope many people will watch this around the world because it’s a story about family. What would you do in such a situation?”
exclusive
Gottheimer, GOP lawmakers warn Irish BDS effort will damage relationship with United States
Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and a group of Republican House lawmakers warned the Irish government on Monday that pending legislation to criminalize the importation of Israeli goods from the West Bank and east Jerusalem into Ireland risks damaging the country’s economic relationship with the United States, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. The lawmakers also criticized Dublin’s efforts to support a genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.
Message to Dublin: “This legislation threatens to inflict real harm on American companies operating in Ireland. If enacted, it would put U.S. firms in direct conflict with federal and state-level anti-boycott laws in the U.S., forcing them into an impossible legal position and jeopardizing their ability to do business in Ireland,” reads the letter, addressed to Taoiseach Micheál Martin. “Therefore, were it to pass this bill, Ireland would risk causing significant damage to its own economic credibility and partnerships with American commerce.” The letter states that Dublin’s moves are “fueling rising antisemitic and anti-Zionist sentiment in Ireland and beyond,” and urges the country to cease both efforts in order to “preserve the economic and diplomatic ties between our two nations.”
grooming guidelines
Pentagon’s stricter grooming standards could impact Orthodox Jewish servicemembers
The military grooming rules announced last week and circulated in a memo to military members would end most existing religious exemptions allowing troops to maintain beards. The regulations would present a potential obstacle to Orthodox Jewish servicemen who maintain beards. The policy, which would return the military to pre-2010 standards — when the Pentagon first granted an exemption to a Sikh soldier to maintain a beard in uniform — also prohibits sideburns below the ear openings, potentially impacting servicemen who wear peyot, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Waiver crackdown: Religious facial hair waivers will be “generally not authorized” under the new policy, and will require “individualized reviews” with “documentation demonstrating the sincerity of the religious or sincerely held belief … sufficient to support a good faith determination by the approving authority,” according to the Pentagon memo. “The military obviously has its need for discipline and uniform adherence,” Rabbi Levi Shemtov, the executive vice president of American Friends of Lubavitch (Chabad), told JI. “At the same time, it has been, and we hope it will continue to be, cognizant that certain individuals, for them to serve and accommodation will be necessary, and as in the past, if everything else about that particular person adheres to military standards, then they should get the dispensation they need.”
transitions
AJC names Anne Dreazen to lead its Center for a New Middle East
The American Jewish Committee tapped Middle East policy official Anne Dreazen on Thursday as vice president and director of its Center for a New Middle East, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen has learned. The center launched in June 2024 to advance the organization’s existing work in Israel and the Gulf, with the goal of hosting conferences and business programs in the U.S., Israel and the Gulf, and working with emerging leaders in Israel and the Arab world.
Background: Dreazen, whose career spanned 15 years at the Department of Defense in a variety of roles — most recently as principal director for Middle East policy — is slated to begin the Washington DC-based position on Oct. 20. She oversaw U.S. defense cooperation with partners including Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar while serving as the Pentagon’s principal director for Middle East Policy, under both Democratic and Republican administrations. She also served as a national security fellow in the Senate. Prior to that, Dreazen spent seven months on the ground in Iraq’s Anbar Province, facilitating U.S. reconstruction efforts following Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Worthy Reads
Bearing Witness: In Politico, Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner reflects on the rise of antisemitism globally following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks and his meeting with Nova music festival cofounder and producer Ofir Amir. “Since this conversation about the events of Oct. 7, I keep asking myself how Ofir Amir can bear what happened after Oct. 7. How he can bear that victims are turned into perpetrators and perpetrators into victims. That more and more often, it is concealed who started this war, what is action and what is reaction. How he can bear it that justified criticism of decisions made by an Israeli government is mixed with deep-rooted hatred of Jews and that, as a result, instead of an obvious global wave of compassion and solidarity, a global wave of cold-heartedness and increasingly aggressive anti-Semitism has emerged. How he can bear what I can hardly bear, even though I am neither a victim nor a relative of victims.” [Politico]
A Family’s Torment: The Financial Times’ Mehul Srivastava interviews Ilay David, whose brother, Evyatar, has appeared in multiple Hamas hostage videos in a continuous state of decline since his capture two years ago. “But in this litany of broadcast suffering, few have suffered more than the family of Evyatar David, a 24-year-old guitar player who loved AC/DC and Queen and was kidnapped from the Nova Music Festival alongside 40 others. … Ilay has watched the video of him waiting many times, his brother breathing fresh air and begging for his freedom. ‘Of course, Hamas terrorists told him to beg for their life,’ he said. ‘But I saw my brother’s eyes. I saw that he really begged for his life — I saw that he wants to cry.’ Ilay says he lies awake wondering why his brother was chosen for this public form of torture — so many other hostages had suffered in private, while others were filmed but their videos never released. ‘Why Evyatar? Why does he have to suffer so much more?’ he said.” [FT]
Problems Across the Pond: Jewish News Editor Richard Ferrer considers the increasing isolation and antisemitism faced by the U.K.’s Jewish community. “Since Hamas’s massacre in Israel, Jews in Britain have been pushed, slowly — and ever so politely — out of public life. Jewish actors have been dropped from shows. Jewish comedians told their Edinburgh Fringe gigs are off under the pretext of ‘staff safety.’ Venues have quietly cancelled Jewish musicians. Holocaust survivor visits to schools have been pulled ‘for security reasons.’ Every time a theatre has cancelled a Jewish performer, every time a company has decided it’s ‘uncomfortable’ working with Jews, the line between silent and savage antisemitism has blurred just a little more. Now that line no longer exists. On Thursday, Britain became a place where a knife-wielding man called Jihad can convince himself that driving a car into Jews outside a synagogue isn’t an atrocity but a statement. Tonight, I’m off to a bat mitzvah party hoping there’s enough security on the door. That’s life for British Jews now. And death.” [JewishNews]
Iran’s Next Move: The Atlantic’s Arash Azizi and Graeme Wood weigh Iran’s military and diplomatic options following its defeat during the 12-day war with Israel in June. “Iran could surrender its nuclear ambitions. Call this the Libya option, after Muammar Qaddafi’s renunciation of his nuclear program in 2003. The limits of the Libyan option’s appeal are evident when one considers Qaddafi’s fate, which was to be deposed, poked in the backside with a piece of steel, and shot in the head. More appealing is the relative calm of North Korea, whose combined nuclear and conventional deterrent shows no sign of weakness. States that go nuclear tend to survive. … Another option would be to go short of nuclear — to go ballistic.” [TheAtlantic]
Word on the Street
The Department of Commerce sanctioned more than two dozen companies in China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates for acting as conduits for Iran to purchase American technology…
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law legislation taking aim at antisemitism in K-12 schools, which passed last month over the opposition of the state’s largest teachers union…
Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) called on the New Jersey Education Association to fire its recently hired magazine editor, citing since-deleted social media posts promoting violent and antisemitic content, including a post that said that the president of Egypt was “filthier than the Jews”…
Maine Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, is expected to announce her entry into the state’s 2026 Senate race in the coming days; Mills will face a crowded primary field that includes Israel critic Graham Platner as she seeks to challenge Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) next year…
On the second anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel, Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, who is running for Senate in Michigan, sent a fundraising email to supporters that criticized Israel’s ground invasion of Gaza while ignoring the Hamas attack that precipitated it, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…
Several key Minnesota political leaders across the ideological spectrum, including Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN) and Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Tina Smith (D-MN), condemned the vandalism of a synagogue in Minneapolis on Wednesday as an act of antisemitism, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…
The New York Times explores how New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s views on Israel were shaped by his upbringing and college activism; during his time at Bowdoin College, where he founded the campus’ chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, Mamdani refused efforts to collaborate with the campus’ J Street U chapter, citing SJP’s “antinormalization” policy against working with groups that support Israel’s right to exist…
Federal prosecutors in Maryland are expected to charge former National Security Advisor John Bolton in the coming days with mishandling classified documents…
A Pennsylvania couple is pursuing legal action against the previous owner of their home, who hid a tiled swastika and German war eagle, installed in the 1970s, under carpet during the property sale…
A U.K. court began proceedings against two men accused of planning a terror attack against the Jewish community in Manchester in late 2023 and early 2024; the trial is taking place days after two people were killed in an unrelated terror attack on a Manchester synagogue on Yom Kippur…
The Wall Street Journal looks at how 10 Downing Street under Prime Minister Keir Starmer and the ruling Labour party has struggled to quell daily anti-Israel protests around the country amid concerns that the rallies are fueling antisemitism in the U.K.…
The family of Bipin Joshi, a Nepali citizen taken hostage by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, released a recently discovered video of Joshi filmed shortly after his abduction to Gaza…
Iran released a 19-year-old French-German cyclist who had been detained since June…
Longtime Zabar’s owner Saul Zabar, who oversaw the appetizing shop’s operations for seven decades, died at 97…
Attorney Bruce Cutler, who secured multiple acquittals for his client, mob boss John Gotti, died at 77…
Pic of the Day
Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman and Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion prayed at the Western Wall during the Priestly Blessing on Thursday in Jerusalem. Also in attendance during the Chol Hamoed prayers were the Sephardic and Ashkenazi chief rabbis of Israel and former hostage Sasha Trufanov.
Birthdays
U.S. ambassador to Canada during the Obama administration, then vice chair of BMO until 2024, David Jacobson turns 74…
Founder, executive chairman and now retired CEO of C-SPAN, known for his unique interview style, Brian Lamb turns 84… Retired federal government manager and analyst, Charles “Chuck” Miller… Associate professor of Jewish history at the University of Maryland, Bernard Dov Cooperman turns 79… Burbank, Calif., resident, Richard Marpet… Commissioner of Major League Soccer since 1999, Don Garber turns 68… VNOC engineer at Avaya until a few months ago, David Gerstman… Attorney at Wilkes Artis, Eric S. Kassoff turns 65… Retired director of Jewish learning at the Brandeis School of San Francisco, Debby Arzt-Mor… Managing director and financial advisor at Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management and chair emeritus of DMFI, Todd Richman… Best-selling author and motivational speaker, Simon Sinek turns 52… Rosh yeshiva at Yeshivas Elimelech following 17 years as rabbi at Ohev Shalom Synagogue in Washington, D.C., Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld turns 51… Musician and singer, Neshama Carlebach turns 51… Member of the Knesset for Yesh Atid, Karin Elharar Hartstein turns 48… SVP for Jewish education, community and culture at Hillel International, Rabbi Benjamin Berger… Partner at Left Hook Strategy, Justin Barasky… CEO at Denver-based energy firm Nexus Energy Partners, he was the national board chair of Moishe House (now known as Mem Global) until 2022, Ben Lusher… Senior director of state and international affairs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform, David Meyerson… Stand-up comedian and two-time Emmy Award-winning television writer, Ian Karmel turns 41… VP of portfolio management for LEO Impact Capital, Lily Goldstein… Counsel in O’Melveny’s NYC office, he was an executive assistant and advance associate in the Obama White House, David Cohen… Physical therapist in Montreal, Chaya Notik… VP at L’Oréal, Jason Kaplan turns 35… Senior manager of policy communications at Snap, Julia Schechter… Israel-based senior associate at JP Morgan Payments, Daniel Rubin… Manager of in-stock management at Amazon in NYC, Kayla Levinson Segal… Security coordinator of Kibbutz Nir Am on Oct. 7, 2023, now an Israeli heroine after her team killed 25 terrorists and the kibbutz suffered no casualties, Inbal Rabin-Lieberman turns 27… Foil fencer, he won a team bronze medal at the 2020 Olympics (Tokyo) and an individual bronze medal at the 2024 Olympics (Paris), Nick Itkin turns 26…