• Omani Foreign Minister Badr Al Busaidi is set to meet today in Washington with Vice President JD Vance and other senior White House officials, a day after Al Busaidi mediated nuclear talks between the U.S. and Iran in Geneva. Vance told The Washington Post yesterday that there was “no chance” of the U.S. becoming involved in a yearslong war in the region, but added that he doesn’t know what PresidentDonald Trump will ultimately decide to do.
• Trump, who was briefed on Thursday afternoon by CENTCOM head Adm. Brad Cooper on options for potential military action in Iran, will miss today’s meeting with Al Busaidi as he flies to Corpus Christi, Texas, this morning before traveling on to Palm Beach, Fla., this afternoon for the weekend.
• The USS Gerald Ford is arriving in Israel today as the U.S. continues its military buildup in the region. This morning local time, the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem announced voluntary authorized departures for non-emergency embassy staff and families of embassy staffers. An email from U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee to embassy staff stressed that if they wanted to leave the country, they “should do so TODAY.”
• Amid the escalating tensions, House Democratic leaders plan to force a vote “as soon as Congress reconvenes next week” on a resolution blocking military action against Iran without congressional authorization, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
• J Street’s annual convention kicks off in Washington tomorrow. Speakers at this year’s conference include Sens. Chris Murphy (D-CT), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Brian Schatz (D-HI); Reps. Sara Jacobs (D-CA), Sean Casten (D-IL) and Madeleine Dean (D-PA); Rev. Al Sharpton, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Israeli Arab MK Mansour Abbas.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S LAHAV HARKOV

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Jerusalem this week was an important geopolitical moment for Israel.

The biggest tangible outcome of the visit is that, according to Indian media, Israel plans to transfer Iron Dome and Iron Beam missile-defense technology to India, as part of a defense deal reaching as much as $8 billion-$10 billion. The governments only officially acknowledged “significant growth made in defense cooperation … both in scope and scale.” 

As for confirmed deliverables, Israel launched expedited free-trade negotiations with the world’s most populous country and fastest-growing economy. The governments released a nine-page statement announcing agreements in a range of areas, including mineral exploration, AI, agriculture, cultural exchange and recruitment of up to 50,000 Indian workers to Israel in the next five years — fulfilling a major need for Israel, which revoked most work permits for Palestinians after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks. 

But the real impact is likely greater than any specific agreement. It’s the alliance on display between Israel and India — a “special strategic partnership,” as the countries are calling it — that bolsters Israel’s global position at a time when many of the Jewish state’s traditional partners have turned away.

Lauren Dagan Amoss of Bar-Ilan University’s Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies and a leading India analyst in Israel, characterized Modi’s speech to the Knesset as “a threshold moment … designed to justify an upgrade from cordial relations to a partnership with strategic depth and deliverables. … The message was aimed at external stakeholders … especially Washington, the Gulf states, and the broader economic-technological community … rather than treating Israel as a standalone bilateral track.”

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

Mob Mentality: In his Substack “Between Us,” Israeli journalist Nadav Eyal compares the far-right protesters demonstration outside the home of Arab Israeli journalist Lucy Aharish to far-left protesters who have done the same outside the home of CNN anchor Jake Tapper. “All of this reminds me of the pro-Hamas group from Code Pink that ‘protested’ outside Jake Tapper’s house in the United States because they disliked his coverage of the war in Gaza. On the surface, these scenes look unrelated — far-right Israelis on one side, pro-Palestinian activists in America on the other. But there is a throughline connecting them. That line is the collapse of civility. The erosion of shared rules about what is legitimate and what is off limits, combined with a mob mentality and extremism. Worsened by some in power who wink and nod at the extremists, because they believe they can harness and control the energy of the mob for personal political gain at the expense of the country.” [BetweenUs]

Georgia on Her Mind: In The Hill, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Keti Korkiya warns that through its close ties with the ruling Georgia Dream party, Iran is using the Caucasus nation to evade Western sanctions. “Iran’s strategic objective is to ensure access to foreign markets despite American sanctions. Iranian officials describe Georgia as a favorable route for exporting Iranian goods to the European Union. In late 2021, Iran, Azerbaijan and Georgia agreed to cultivate a transit corridor linking Iran’s Persian Gulf ports to Georgia’s Black Sea ports of Batumi and Poti. In addition to moving licit goods, this corridor can facilitate sanctions-busting by obscuring the Iranian origin of illicit cargoes.”[TheHill]

The Purim Paradox: In Tablet, Rabbi Jeffrey Salkin considers how Haman’s words in the Book of Esther describing Jews as “a certain people, scattered and dispersed among the nations” whose “laws are different from those of every other people, and they do not obey the king’s laws,” carry a message to the present day. “The very practices that set Jews apart — dietary laws, Sabbath observance, a distinct sacred calendar — were the mechanisms that carried identity across continents and centuries. Difference became continuity. Which brings us, in an unexpected way, back to the simplest of things. Food. Time. Law lived out in the details of daily life. These were not trivial details. They were the architecture of a people. And perhaps this is the deepest irony in Haman’s speech. He thought he was identifying a weakness: a nation too committed to its own ways to blend in. What he was actually describing was a structure strong enough to survive exile, empire, and time itself.”[Tablet]

A new poll from Gallup found that, for the first time, more Americans (41%) sympathize with the Palestinians than they do with the Israelis (36%), a marked shift from a year ago, when 46% said they sympathized more with the Israelis than the 33% that sympathized with the Palestinians… 

In a meeting at the White House yesterday, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani urged President Donald Trump to authorize the release of an Azerbaijani student at Columbia University who had been detained by immigration officials earlier in the day; following the meeting, Mamdani gave the names of four students involved with anti-Israel protests on Columbia’s campus who have since been caught up in deportation proceedings — Mahmoud Khalil, Yunseo Chung, Mohsen Mahdawi and Leqaa Kordia — to White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and asked for the administration’s help…

Vice President JD Vance said he had seen “bits and pieces” of Tucker Carlson’s interview with U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, during which the commentator made false allegations about Israeli President Isaac Herzog and suggested Jews submit to genetic testing to determine their true origins, describing the interview as “a really good conversation that’s going to be necessary for the right, not just for the next couple years but for long into the future”…

The U.S. is threatening to cut off MBaer Merchant Bank AG’s access to the U.S. banking system over what Treasury officials allege is the Swiss bank’s facilitating of money laundering related to Russia, Venezuela and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Quds Force…

The husband and daughter of Francesca Albanese are suing the Trump administration over sanctions imposed on the U.N. special rapporteur for the Palestinian territories last year, saying the sanctions violate their First Amendment rights and have prevented access to their home in Washington…

Netflix dropped its deal to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery after Paramount’s David Ellison raised the company’s bid to $31 per share in an all-cash agreement, backed in part by $24 billion from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, the Qatar Investment Authority and Abu Dhabi’s L’imad Holding Company; Warner Bros’ CEO David Zaslav said the Paramount deal will “create tremendous value”… 

A group of 14 Congressional Black Caucus members is endorsing Rep. Haley Stevens‘ (D-MI) Senate campaign, including House Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Member Gregory Meeks (D-NY); the infusion of Hill support now gives Stevens the most congressional endorsements in her primary against state Sen. Mallory McMorrow and Abdul El-Sayed…

The New York Times interviews NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman about the space agency’s goal of launching the Artemis II rocket to circumnavigate the moon and a potential mission to Mars in the next decade…

The White House Correspondents Association announced Israel-born mentalist Oz Pearlman as this year’s headline entertainer at its annual dinner in April…

The World Food Program announced that Cindy McCain, who has led the organization since 2023, will step down, citing health issues, months after McCain experienced a mild stroke…

Israel indicted a Shin Bet intelligence agent on charges of smuggling items into Gaza during the more than two-year war between Israel and Hamas; the agent, as well as several other Israelis and a Palestinian, were charged with accepting “large amounts of money” in bribes and of “aiding an enemy during wartime”…

The Knesset approved legislation exempting new U.S. immigrants to Israel who are self-employed and pay Social Security from paying into Israel’s social security system during their first five years in the country…

Israel Aerospace Industries delivered its first autonomous submarine, the “BlueWhale,” to the German Navy amid deepening military cooperation between Jerusalem and Berlin…

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a selfie with the cast of the Israeli series “Fauda” during his two-day trip to Israel this week…

Former Norwegian Foreign Minister Børge Brende resigned as CEO and president of the World Economic Forum after an internal investigation found long-standing ties between Brende and Jeffrey Epstein…

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar spoke at an iftar meal hosted on Thursday night by Emirati Ambassador to Israel Mohamed Al Khaja in Tel Aviv. Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who also addressed the gathering, said, “We all agree, Mr. Ambassador, that the members of the Abraham Accords should be treated in an upgraded manner as they pursue the noble cause of people. And this I say especially when here are nations spreading hate, spreading blasphemy against nations who speak peace, against the Emiratis, against the Israelis.”

Television writer, director and producer, he is best known for co-creating the comedy-drama “Glee,” Brad Falchuk turns 55 on Sunday… 

FRIDAY: Performance artist and filmmaker, she is a professor emerita at UCSD, Eleanor Antin turns 91… Investor and trader, founder and chairman of CAM Capital, he is the chair of Juilliard, vice chair of Lincoln Center and on the board of the Metropolitan Opera, Bruce Kovner turns 81… Haverford, Pa.-based attorney, mediator and arbitrator, Judith Meyer… NYC-based real estate developer, Michael Gervis… Professor of physics at MIT, Alan Harvey Guth turns 79… Member of the British House of Lords, she is a retired rabbi and the chair of University College London Hospitals, Baroness Julia Neuberger turns 76… Historian, syndicated columnist, investigative journalist and talk show host, Edwin Black turns 76… U.S. senator (D-NH), Maggie Hassan turns 68… Stand-up comedian, Wendy Liebman turns 65… Suzanne “Suzy” Appelbaum… Writer and producer for television and film, David Krinsky turns 63… President and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford, David S. Waren… Film and television actor, he starred as FBI Agent Stan Beeman on the FX series “The Americans,” Noah Emmerich turns 61… Founder of Spanx, an intimate apparel company, she is a part owner of the Atlanta Hawks, Sara Blakely turns 55… Founder and executive director of Toldot Yisrael, Aryeh Halivni turns 53… Director of Georgetown University’s journalism program, Rebecca Sinderbrand… Singer-songwriter, composer and prayer leader, Sam Benjamin “Shir Yaakov” Feinstein-Feit turns 48… Finance minister of Israel, he is the leader of the Religious Zionist Party, Bezalel Smotrich turns 46… President of baseball operations for the St. Louis Cardinals, Chaim Bloom turns 43… Senior counsel at WilmerHale, he is a former Obama White House aide where he was one of the originators of the White House Seder, Eric P. Lesser turns 41… Senior segment producer for “The Late Show with Steven Colbert” (and host of Chabad West Village’s “Hineni: Here I Am” speaker series), Neil Goldman… Video journalist for The Daily Wire, she completed her seven-year conversion process to Judaism in 2023, Kassy Dillon, now known as Kassy Akiva, turns 30… Alana Berkowitz…

SATURDAY: Israeli jurist, she was the first woman to serve as president of the Israeli Supreme Court, Dorit Beinisch turns 84… Professor emeritus of mathematics at the University of California, San Diego, Linda Preiss Rothschild turns 81… Retired executive director of the Montreal chapter of ORT, Emmanuel Kalles… Actress and singer, Ilene Susan Graff turns 77… State Department antisemitism envoy during the second Obama administration, now a visiting professor at Georgetown, Ira Niles Forman turns 74… Former New York Times op-ed columnist, he is a 2008 winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, Paul Krugman turns 73… Professor of medicine at Washington University in St. Louis, he is the brother of ZOA President Morton Klein. Dr. Samuel Klein turns 73… Founding engineer and a large shareholder of Facebook, Jeffrey Jackiel Rothschild turns 72… Greensboro, N.C., businessman, he is a past chairman of Hillel International, Randall Kaplan… Self-described as “America’s most notorious lobbyist,” at the center of an investigation that led to 21 convictions, Jack Abramoff turns 67… President of The New York Public Library since 2011, Anthony W. Marx turns 67… Editor-at-large of The Jewish Week, Andrew Silow-Carroll turns 65… Owner of a commercial lavender farm in New Jersey, she served as a member of the New Jersey state Senate until 2008, Ellen Karcher turns 62… Jerusalem-born businessman, he started and sold several companies in the automotive field, Mordechai “Moti” Kahana turns 58… President and CEO of The New York Times Company, Meredith Kopit Levien turns 55… Political commentator, Peter Beinart turns 55… Former member of the Knesset for the Blue and White party, Ruth Wasserman Lande turns 50… Former mayor of Jersey City, N.J., now head of the Partnership for New York City, Steven Fulop turns 49… National political correspondent for The New York Times covering campaigns, elections and political power, Lisa Lerer… Former professional ice hockey goaltender, he played for 10 years in North America and Europe, Dov Grumet-Morris turns 44… Head of analysis and insights at Prologue, Erica Goldman… Partner in the Los Angeles office of Davis Wright Tremaine, Adam Sieff… Director of international innovation and partnerships at the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, Andrew H. Gross turns 37… Director of digital assurance and transparency at PwC, Li-Dor David… Israeli national fencing champion and fashion model, she represented Israel at Miss Universe 2015, Avigail Alfatov turns 30…

FEB. 29: Executive director of AIPAC from 1980 through 1993, Thomas A. Dine turns 86… French fashion photographer featured on the reality television series “America’s Next Top Model,” Gilles Bensimon turns 82… Polish-born economist and professor at New York University, Roman Frydman turns 78… Professor at Columbia Business School, she is a former board chair at Jewish Theological Seminary, Abby Joseph Cohen turns 74… Former member of the Minnesota House of Representatives, Paul D. Rosenthal turns 66… Co-founder of Biebelberg & Martin in Millburn, NJ, he was previously the chair of the Golda Och Academy in West Orange, Keith N. Biebelberg… Professor of Bible at Bar-Ilan University, Joshua Berman turns 62… Denver-based attorney at Recht Kornfeld, Richard K. Kornfeld… Born in Kyiv, former U.S. Supreme Court law clerk known for his eponymous legal blog “The Volokh Conspiracy,” Eugene Volokh turns 58… Israeli mountain climber, search and rescue professional, best known for his heroic rescue of an unconscious Turk he found near the summit of Mount Everest in 2012, Nadav Ben Yehuda turns 38… Political operations project manager at AIPAC, Samantha Friedman Fallon…

SUNDAY: President of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts in NYC since 2001, he served for 30 years on the Los Angeles City Council, Joel Wachs turns 87… Real estate developer, Tulane’s basketball arena is named in his honor, Avron B. Fogelman turns 86… Professor emeritus of Jewish studies at Los Angeles Valley College and the former editor of Shofar, a peer-reviewed academic journal of Jewish studies, Zev Garber turns 85… CEO of Mandalay Entertainment and a co-owner of both the LA Dodgers and Golden State Warriors, Peter Guber turns 84… Former chairman and CEO of IBM until 2002, Lou Gerstner turns 84… Former member of the Knesset for the Likud and then the New Hope party, he is a son of former Prime Minister Menachem Begin, Ze’ev Binyamin “Benny” Begin turns 83… Librarian at the Anti-Defamation League’s New York City headquarters, Marianne Benjamin… Israeli historian, author and journalist, he earned a Ph.D. from Boston University in the 1970s, Tom Segev turns 81… Israeli journalist, author, television personality and political commentator, Ehud Yaari turns 81… Industrialist, magazine publisher, film producer and art collector, Peter M. Brant turns 79… Cantor emeritus at the Jewish Community Center of Paramus / Congregation Beth Tikvah, Sam Weiss… U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE) turns 75… Former executive of Viacom and longtime associate of the company’s former Chairman Sumner Redstone, Philippe Dauman turns 72… Previous president of Emory University, he is the son and grandson of Holocaust survivors, Gregory L. Fenves turns 69… Author and former U.S. military intelligence officer, she is now a human rights activist focused on Eastern Europe, Nina Willner turns 65… Chairman and president of Berexco, an oil and gas firm based in Wichita, Kan., Adam E. Beren… Ukrainian businessman and philanthropist, Andrey Adamovskiy turns 64… Satirist, novelist, short story writer and journalist, he is also a three-time “Jeopardy!” champion, Neal Pollack turns 56… AVP of corporate and community relations at Baltimore’s Kennedy Krieger Institute, Dara Schapiro Schnee… Six-time Emmy award-winning television journalist, he now works for CBS News, Dave Malkoff turns 50… Founder and principal at narrative/change, a Philadelphia-based media and communications firm, Jonathan Lipman… Israeli journalist and the former chairman of the Union of Journalists in Israel, Yair Tarchitsky turns 46… Principal at Mosaic Realty Partners and board member of both The Associated: Jewish Federation of Baltimore and the Orthodox Union, Isaac Pretter… CEO of eToro, one of the world’s largest social investment networks, Yoni Assia… Former member of the U.S. national soccer team, now head of international recruitment and development at Atlanta United FC, Jonathan Spector turns 40… Co-founder of Roebling, Joshua Lachter… Senior political data reporter and the host of the “Margins of Error” podcast (both for CNN), Harry Enten turns 38… Litigation associate at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, Hannah Klain turns 35… Shortstop for Team Israel in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, now playing for the New York Boulders of the Frontier League, Assaf Lowengart turns 28… Kevin Golden…

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

As rumors abound about the possibility and timing of U.S. strikes on Iran, the State Department ordered the evacuation of non-essential personnel and their families from the U.S. Embassy in Beirut. “Based on our latest review, we determined it prudent to reduce our footprint,” a State official told Fox News…

Nearby, amid the buildup of U.S. military assets in the region, American refueling and cargo planes were spotted at Ben Gurion Airport…

President Donald Trump denied reports that Pentagon officials, namely Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine, are raising concerns about striking Iran, writing on Truth Social this afternoon, “General Caine, like all of us, would like not to see War but, if a decision is made on going against Iran at a Military level, it is his opinion that it will be something easily won.”

“He has not spoken of not doing Iran, or even the fake limited strikes that I have been reading about, he only knows one thing, how to WIN and, if he is told to do so, he will be leading the pack,” Trump said of Caine, while alluding to the potential breadth of military action against Iran… 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio pushed back his visit to Israel, originally scheduled for this weekend, to March 2, The Jerusalem Post reports, days after the next round of U.S.-Iran negotiations in Geneva on Thursday…

Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), a leader on foreign policy among Democrats in Congress, told Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs that he heard “pretty stark early warning signs of some challenges where core allies do not share our priorities” on a potential Iran strike during his recent trip t0 Europe, which included stops at the Munich Security Conference, along with meetings in Ukraine and Moldova with top European diplomats.

Coons laid out what he hopes to see from the president: “A) Consult Congress. B) Make a case to the American people about why this is in our national security interest. C) Clarify what on earth he’s planning with this Board of Peace … And D) If he’s going to work with close allies to ramp up pressure to try and achieve something at the negotiating table, he should work with close allies”…

Anthony Driver Jr., a union organizer and candidate in Illinois’ 7th Congressional District, doubled down on his recent repudiation of AIPAC, despite previously having little public record on Israel policy issues. Following a press conference last week where Driver, who is running against AIPAC-backed Chicago Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin, denounced the pro-Israel group, he returned donations from major Democratic Party donor Michael Sacks over the finance executive’s ties to AIPAC.

Sacks, who was a major backer of former President Barack Obama and former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, said in his reply, “It is truly sad there is so much anti Israel sentiment and outright Jew hate that Anthony found himself in this position. I can only hope that the electorate rejects hate in all forms”…

As more details emerge about Rep. Tony Gonzales’ (R-TX) alleged affair with a staffer who later committed suicide, a poll commissioned by the campaign of Brandon Herrera, Gonzales’ opponent, shows the congressman trailing Herrera by a whopping 24 points among likely GOP primary voters. The story, which entered the news cycle right as early voting kicked off, could catapult Herrera, a social media influencer with a history of antisemitism, to the Republican nomination and on to Congress…

Investigators at the cryptocurrency giant Binance found last year that about $1.7 billion had been sent from two accounts to Iranian entities with links to terror groups, The New York Times reports, even after Binance pleaded guilty to violating anti-money laundering laws in 2023 and vowed to prevent sanctioned actors from accessing its platform. Trump pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who was jailed for his role in the saga, in October 2025…

The Atlanta Jewish Film Festival backtracked in its defense of a juror selected for a judging panel who had posted antisemitic and anti-Israel content online, whom it had stood behind even after the Israeli Consulate in Atlanta announced it was withdrawing its funding and support of the event over the pick. 

The festival changed its tune yesterday, saying it is “first and foremost, a Jewish institution” and has “a responsibility, particularly at this fraught time, to stand firmly against antisemitism and to affirm the Jewish people’s right to self-determination.” It said it would review its “organizational processes and policies, including those related to antisemitism, BDS, and cultural boycotts”…

The French Foreign Ministry has moved to block U.S. Ambassador to France Charles Kushner’s access to government officials after he declined to appear for a summons by Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot today, which was issued after the U.S. Embassy reposted comments by Trump about a far-right French activist who was killed in a clash with far-left protesters. It was Kushner’s second summons, after his first last year when he accused the French government of not adequately combating antisemitism…

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for a look at Sue Altman’s shifting views on Israel as the formerly pro-Israel congressional candidate is now running in New Jersey’s more heavily Democratic 12th Congressional District.

We’ll be watching for mention of President Donald Trump’s thinking on Iran as he delivers the annual State of the Union address tomorrow night. Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger will deliver the Democratic response.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold a hearing on “advancing national security through commercial diplomacy” with Jacob Helberg, under secretary of state for economic affairs, who recently told JI that he hopes the Pax Silica initiative, which he leads, “will pave the way for peace and economic integration” in the Middle East.

Australia’s royal commission on antisemitism, formed after the Hanukkah terror attack at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, will hold its first public hearing, though no testimony or evidence will be heard.

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

President Donald Trump used the occasion of the first meeting of the Board of Peace in Washington today to announce significant monetary and troop commitments from the U.S. and other countries to stabilize Gaza, as well as lay out a timeline for military action against Iran, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports.

The pledges included $10 billion from the U.S. and $7 billion from several Middle Eastern countries for Gaza’s reconstruction, as well as commitments to provide troops and police to the U.S.-led International Stabilization Force. (The Guardian reports the White House is currently exploring plans to build a 5,000-person military base to house the ISF in southern Gaza.)

On Iran negotiations, Trump said in his remarks, “Now we may have to take it a step further or we may not. Maybe we are going to make a deal [with Iran]. You are going to be finding out over the next probably 10 days.”

He later told reporters on Air Force One, “Ten, 15 days, pretty much maximum.” Remember: Last June, Trump said he would decide whether to take action against Iran within two weeks, and carried out strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities two days later…

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has reportedly not given approval to Washington to use the joint U.S.-U.K. base on Diego Garcia island for a strike on Iran, as Trump said yesterday he is considering. London is concerned that a U.S. strike from the shared base, which the U.K. must grant permission to use, could implicate it in violating international law…

Trump also offered praise for Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, during his Board of Peace remarks, despite widespread criticism of Doha’s backing of Hamas and platforming of anti-Israel actors.

“His excellency, Prime Minister Al Thani of Qatar, just a great and highly respected man,” Trump said. “I always say he needs a public relations agency because you do so much good, and they have you down as evil, and you’re not evil. You help us so much and you’re such a good ally”…

Meanwhile, Hamas is entrenching itself further in Gaza, repositioning its loyalists in government and paying salaries across the enclave, according to Reuters. Hamas has said it is willing to hand power over to the Palestinian technocratic committee established by the U.S. and led by former Palestinian Authority official Ali Shaath, but as one Palestinian source told the outlet, “Shaath may have the key to the car, and he may even be allowed to drive, but it is a Hamas car”…

Former Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-NJ), who recently lost the Democratic primary for New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District, called AIPAC’s attacks against him in the race “bizarre in several ways,” writing in an op-ed today that he has “no problem identifying as a Zionist” and calling on Democratic leaders to collectively “refuse [AIPAC’s] support, instead of letting it pick off candidates one by one”…

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) withdrew her endorsement of Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller, the front-runner in Illinois’ 2nd District Democratic primary, over Miller’s backing by groups that are reported to be affiliated with AIPAC, though the pro-Israel group hasn’t endorsed her and neither AIPAC nor its super PAC are publicly spending any money in the district.

“Illinois deserves leaders who put voters first, not AIPAC or out-of-state Trump donors,” Schakowsky told the Chicago Sun-Times. “I cannot support any candidate running for Congress who is funded by these outside interests”…

Ahead of a hearing next week on New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin’s proposed 100-foot ban on protests around houses of worship, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said today that he had the NYPD review the legality of the measure, “and I can tell you, my police commissioner has expressed concerns about that proposal”…

Three officials appointed by Mamdani to administration posts are co-founders of a group that blamed Israel for the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks two days after they took place, the Washington Free Beacon reports.

The group, the Muslim Democratic Club of New York (MDCNY), was founded by Faiza Ali, now commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs; Aliya Latif, now executive director of the mayor’s Office of Faith-Based Partnerships; Ali Najmi, tapped as chair of the mayor’s Advisory Committee on the Judiciary; and anti-Israel activist Linda Sarsour.

On Oct. 9, 2023, the MDCNY posted on X, “Many NYers are feeling pain, fear, and anger after the horrific events in the Holy Land this weekend. Especially as the Israeli apartheid regime have forced millions of Palestinians in Gaza to live under occupation for decades and an open air prison since 2007.” The group went on to condemn “elected officials offering support for Israeli occupation’s rampant violence as it openly declares & enacts its intent to engage in mass violence and genocide against Palestinians,” well before Israel’s ground invasion of Gaza had begun…

The Forward profiles Los Angeles City Councilmember Nithya Raman as she runs for mayor with a unique ideology: Raman is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, but has also been vocally supportive of Israel. She called DSA’s statement blaming Israel for the Oct. 7 attacks “unacceptably devoid of sympathy” and rejects the BDS movement, but was also condemned by the local Jewish community for introducing a ceasefire resolution in June 2023…

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for a preview of the AIPAC Congressional Summit, which is kicking off Sunday amid the group’s increasing involvement in midterm election races.

President Donald Trump is expected to meet with governors at the White House tomorrow, though the meeting will no longer be held under the auspices of the National Governors Association, as is done annually, after the White House declined to invite Democratic Govs. Jared Polis of Colorado and Wes Moore of Maryland to a black-tie dinner on Saturday.

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

• The Trump administration is convening its Board of Peace today in Washington. Among those attending the gathering are Argentine President Javier Milei, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, Emirati Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, Belarus Foreign Minister Maxim Ryzhenkov and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan. More below.
• Jewish Federations of North America CEO Eric Fingerhut will deliver the inaugural “State of the Jewish Union” address at the organization’s Washington headquarters.
• The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is holding a daylong public briefing today on antisemitism on campus. Speakers include Jewish Council for Public Affairs CEO Amy Spitalnick, Louis D. Brandeis Center founder Kenneth Marcus, National Jewish Advocacy Center CEO Mark Goldfeder, law professor Eugene Volokh and The George Washington University Law School’s Matt Nosanchuk.
• The National Governors Association kicks off its annual Washington summit today.
• Minister of Economic Affairs at the Israel Embassy in Washington Noach Hacker is speaking at the Hudson Institute today, where he will sit with Hudson’s Mike Doran for a conversation about U.S.-Israel economic ties.
• French President Emmanuel Macron, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei are attending the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, India, that kicked off earlier today.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MELISSA WEISS

High-level foreign officials, top diplomats and heads of state will gather in Washington today for the first in-person convening of the Trump administration’s Board of Peace — as U.S. military assets flow into the Middle East and President Donald Trump mulls a potentially weekslong sustained military campaign in Iran.

The gathering, ostensibly focused on the disarmament of Hamas and the establishment of a peace-aligned administration in the Gaza Strip, comes as the U.S. moves dozens of fighter jets and support aircraft to the region — reportedly the largest buildup in military air power since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

It’s a split screen befitting the president — who said at his inauguration last year that his “proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker,” and who has claimed success in negotiating an end to numerous conflicts, as well as the release of the remaining Israeli hostages from Gaza last year — even as the U.S. has used force to enact political change, such as in Venezuela.

But a U.S. operation in Iran would differ significantly from what took place in Venezuela last month. In the place of ousted President Nicolás Maduro is Delcy Rodríguez, the former vice president who is now working with the Trump administration. No such natural successor to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei exists. Behind the supreme leader is a laundry list of equally — if not more — radical hard-liners eager to take the ailing Khamenei’s place. Reza Pahlavi, the son of the deposed shah of Iran, who has spent most of his life living in exile, has sought to return to Iran to usher the Islamic Republic into a new democratic era — but does not appear to have the on-the-ground support as well as enough legitimacy among Iran’s vast diaspora community. 

The Trump administration continues to signal publicly that it wants to find a diplomatic resolution to the situation in Iran, with White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt saying as much at yesterday’s press briefing. 

But the White House is continuing to move forward with preparations for a military confrontation, which could include anything from targeted strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities to a move toward regime change. Trump met on Wednesday with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to discuss options for Iran.

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

School of Hope: The New York Times’ David Halbfinger and Bilal Shbair spotlight the Academies of Hope network of private schools operating in Gaza, the brainchild of a Palestinian American doctor that is primarily funded by Jewish donors, which provides peace-focused education for 9,000 Palestinian students across five campuses. “Operating schools in any war zone is hard enough, and schools across the enclave are struggling to rebuild. But Dr. Hasan has compounded his challenges. He revamped a much-criticized national curriculum and worked to keep Hamas from endangering his schools. He also verifies that none of his staff have ties to militant groups, a charge Israel has leveled against the United Nations agency caring for Palestinians in Gaza and some international aid groups.” [NYTimes]

Poison PEN: In Tablet, Ari Ingel, executive director of the Creative Community for Peace, raises concerns about PEN America’s commitment to free speech, weeks after the literary organization walked back its condemnation of the cancellation of an event by an Israeli comedian. “The pattern has been consistent: They listen, offer no meaningful response, and then double down on a hostile anti-Zionist and anti-Israel posture. In doing so, PEN America has helped legitimize antisemitic discrimination at a moment when antisemitism in the United States is at historic levels. This is not an isolated failure of judgment, but a structural rot in the organization, one that reflects leadership choices, institutional culture, and a governing board that has failed to intervene.” [Tablet]

Sports Talk: The Hollywood Reporter’s Steven Zeitchik reflects on the recent sports successes of Israeli NBA star Deni Avdija and Israel’s first Olympic bobsled team, juxtaposed with the pushback they’ve faced from Israel critics. “But the sight of a Jew excelling in sports is even more than a bit of representational inspiration. So much of antisemitism, historic and resurgent, is bound up with demeaning Jews as genetically inferior — at the top line with Hitler and those infamous Olympics 90 years ago but also much more casually, in easy jokes and schoolyard assumptions, in the implication that genetic makeup makes Jews less athletic.” [HollywoodReporter]

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and the Israel Airports Authority disputed Tucker Carlson‘s claim that he was detained and interrogated by Ben Gurion Airport security while at the airport for an interview with the ambassador; the IAA said that “Carlson and his party were politely asked a few routine questions, in accordance with standard procedures applied to many travelers” and that the questioning took place “in a separate room within the VIP lounge solely to protect their privacy and to avoid conducting such a discussion in public”…

Democratic Majority for Israel’s PAC announced its endorsement of 11 congressional candidates, including Cait Conley in NY-17, Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti in PA-8, Janelle Stelson in PA-10, and former Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA) in VA-2; the group also announced it is backing Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller in IL-2 and former Rep. Melissa Bean in IL-8, but is staying out of the contentious IL-9 Democratic primary, where AIPAC’s super PAC is backing state Sen. Laura Fine…

A Tennessee man who saved more than 200 Jewish soldiers under his command at a Nazi POW camp in Germany will be posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor by the White House for his efforts; Roddie Edmonds, who was taken captive during the Battle of the Bulge, famously refused to identify Jewish troops when asked by the camp’s commandant, saying, “We are all Jews here”…

An effort to expel Israel from the International Federation of Social Workers failed on Wednesday in a closed-door Zoom meeting; a second vote, on suspending Israel, also failed, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports…

American, Israeli and African officials gathered with little fanfare but big plans on Wednesday, coming together in Rwanda for the trilateral Kigali Security Summit on issues including technology, innovation and national security, Jewish Insider’s Danielle Cohen-Kanik reports…

MS NOW inked an agreement with Crooked Media that will create a new weekly show, titled “Crooked on MS NOW,” that will compile content from the podcast and media company’s shows, including “Pod Save America” and “Pod Save the World”… 

Bari Weiss withdrew from the University of California, Los Angeles’ upcoming annual Daniel Pearl Memorial Lecture, reportedly citing security concerns…

Chicago and DePaul University police are investigating an incident that occurred at a cafe in the city’s Lincoln Park neighborhood in which students from three Chicago-area schools said they were harassed while at a meetup for Jewish students at the Olive & Oak Cafe near DePaul’s campus…

An Australian man who pleaded guilty to publicly inciting hatred for antisemitic remarks he made last month at a Sydney rally against immigration was sentenced to a year in jail, with the chance for parole in October…

The U.S. is withdrawing its remaining 1,000 troops from Syria, with plans for the U.S.’ decade-long presence to fully end over the next two months…

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz attended a Security Council meeting on Israel and the Palestinian territories on Wednesday, during which he defended President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, a day ahead of the board’s gathering.

Actor who played the young autistic Jacob “Jake” Bohm in the Fox TV series “Touch,” later portraying a young Bruce Wayne in another Fox series “Gotham,” David Mazouz turns 25…

2004 Nobel Prize laureate in physics, he is a professor at the University of California Santa Barbara, David Jonathan Gross turns 85… Former chairman of the board and CEO of Sony Corporation, chairman of the board of trustees of the American Film Institute, Sir Howard Stringer turns 84… Retired co-founder of integrated digital marketing agency Hawkeye / Mosaic, now known as Publicis Hawkeye, Sharon Edelman… President of the Technion Israel Institute of Technology from 2009 until 2019, Peretz Lavie turns 77… Founder and president of the eponymous Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund, she is on the boards of the NFL’s NY Giants, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and the Aspen Institute, Laurie M. Tisch… and also the birthday of her first cousin once removed, co-founder and CEO of Atria (a private medical institute in NYC), Alan Tisch… Managing partner of Encino, Calif.-based Hager Pacific Properties, Adam Tuvia Milstein turns 74… Former Goldman Sachs partner and then a senior executive at JPMorgan Chase, he now serves on various corporate and nonprofit boards, Barry L. Zubrow turns 73… International CEO of Taglit Birthright Israel since 2008, Gidi Mark turns 70… Novelist, essayist and short story writer, he was a winner of a 2005 MacArthur genius fellowship, Jonathan Allen Lethem turns 62… Retired U.S. district court judge, he was a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy (1993-1994) alongside future justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, Gary Scott Feinerman turns 61… SVP of government relations at Las Vegas Sands Corp., Andy Abboud… Co-founder of the band Phish where he is the lead drummer and frequent songwriter, Jon Fishman turns 61… Communications director for 27 years for Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), now a consultant, Kevin D. Bishop… Chairman of the World Zionist Organization, Yaakov Hagoel turns 55… Canadian media personality, conservative political activist, writer and broadcaster, Ezra Levant turns 54… Partner at InfraStrategies and senior fellow at the UCLA Institute for Transportation Studies, Joshua Levi Schank, Ph.D…. Founder of The New York Times‘ “DealBook” and co-creator of Showtime’s “Billions,” Andrew Ross Sorkin turns 49… Hollywood writer and producer, best known for “The Newsroom” (2012) and “Quantico” (2015), Gideon Yago turns 48… Jewish rapper, part of the alternative hip hop group Darshan, better known by his stage name Eprhyme (pronounced “E-Prime”), Eden Daniel Pearlstein turns 46… Writer of the “In the Know” gossip column for The Hill newspaper in Washington, where she covers Congress, D.C.’s social scene, celebrities and politics, Judy Kurtz Altscher… Founder of a Middle East NGO, Regional Organization for Peace, Economics & Security (ROPES), Ben Birnbaum… Former MLB pitcher for the Phillies (2011-2012), he now runs Big League Advance, a company that invests in minor league players in exchange for a percentage of their future MLB earnings, Michael Schwimer turns 40… Samantha Zalaznick… Tight end for the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs, he played college football at Harvard, Anthony Firkser turns 31… Daniel Blum…

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

As the second round of U.S.-Iran negotiations wrapped up in Geneva this morning, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told state media that the parties reached a “general understanding on a set of guiding principles” and will “begin working on the text of a potential agreement.”

A U.S. official sounded a more reserved note, telling Axios the talks “made progress” but “there are still a lot of details to discuss.” Iranian officials are expected to present proposals in the next two weeks “to address some of the open gaps in our positions,” the official said.

Vice President JD Vance said on Fox News this afternoon that “the United States has certain red lines. Our primary interest here is we don’t want Iran to get a nuclear weapon. We don’t want nuclear proliferation.”

On today’s negotiations, Vance explained, “in some ways it went well — they agreed to meet afterwards — but in some ways it was very clear that the president has set some red lines that the Iranians are not yet willing to actually acknowledge and work through.”

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, demonstrated that unwillingness, posting on X as talks were underway that if the U.S. insists on prohibiting Iran from enriching uranium “there is no room for negotiation.” As the U.S. sends more military assets to the region, he also threatened to “send that [U.S.] warship to the bottom of the sea”…

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani tapped Faiza Ali as commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs today, elevating the longtime activist with ties to the Council on American-Islamic Relations and anti-Israel activist Linda Sarsour. Ali previously served as the community affairs director for CAIR’s New York chapter, and she and Sarsour have co-led Muslim advocacy efforts, including being arrested together in 2017…

Several Chicago-era endorsees of the Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC — Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, union organizer Anthony Driver Jr., state Sen. Robert Peters and activist Junaid Ahmed — held a joint press conference today slamming AIPAC as a “pro-Trump, right-wing aligned organization” that “is rooted and based in lobbying for this right-wing Israeli government.”

Driver, a candidate in the 7th District who was just endorsed by the CPC PAC today and has not previously spoken at length about his position on Israel, said, “AIPAC is not your friend. … They are in the business of buying elections”…

U.S. Ambassador to Belgium Bill White was summoned to a meeting with Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot today after White accused the country in a series of heated social media posts of a “RIDICULOUS AND ANTI SEMITIC ‘PROSECUTION’” of three mohels who are being charged with practicing medicine without a license. 

Prévot said White’s posts “and interference in judicial matters violate basic diplomatic norms” and denied accusations of antisemitism, while Ambassador Yehuda Kaploun, the State Department’s antisemitism envoy, concurred with White…

Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) told BBC “Newsnight” yesterday that he will “seriously consider” a presidential run in 2028 “because we’re in some seriously challenging times.” The former astronaut, who has recently been the target of the White House’s ire over a video in which he and fellow veterans urged servicemembers to refuse illegal orders, touted his military experience and engineering certifications as part of his pitch…

Texas state Rep. James Talarico, running in a competitive primary for U.S. Senate against Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX), shared an interview he conducted with late-night host Stephen Colbert that CBS declined to run. 

Colbert said in his show’s opening remarks last night that the clip would not be broadcast because “we were told in no uncertain terms by our network’s lawyers, who called us directly, that we could not have [Talarico] on the broadcast,” claiming the network was threatened by the Federal Communications Commission…

Eric Trump has invested in Israeli drone maker Xtend as part of a $1.5 billion deal in which the company, which already has a multimillion-dollar contract with the Pentagon, is merging with a Florida construction firm. Xtend was also selected this month by the Department of Defense as one of 25 companies participating in its “Drone Dominance Program”…

Tricia McLaughlin, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s spokesperson, is leaving her post next week, Politico reports, after becoming one of the most vocal defenders of the Trump administration’s deportation efforts…

Warner Bros. Discovery announced today it will restart talks with Paramount after initially rejecting the company’s hostile takeover bid in favor of its current agreement with Netflix. Paramount has since increased its nearly $78 billion all-cash offer, including paying the $2.8 billion termination fee Warner will owe Netflix if their deal falls through…

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for an interview with Steven Fulop, the former Jersey City mayor who is making a priority of countering antisemitism in his new role as the head of New York City’s business advocacy group.

The International Federation of Social Workers will hold a vote on a contentious effort to expel the Israeli Union of Social Workers, after some European members complained that Israeli social workers had served in combat roles during Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza — a move that the U.S.-based National Association of Social Workers unexpectedly said today it resoundingly opposes. 

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee will sit down with Tucker Carlson in Jerusalem for an episode of the commentator’s podcast, as the two have been at loggerheads over Carlson’s repeated criticisms of Israel.

The Kigali Forum, a conference bringing together policy leaders and think tanks from the United States, Africa and Israel to discuss “the new Middle East,” will take place in Kigali, Rwanda.

The trial of the man accused of killing Paul Kessler, a Jewish man who was beaten and died during rival pro- and anti-Israel protests in the Los Angeles area in November 2023, is set to begin in Ventura County Superior Court.