• Turning Point USA’s AmFest kicks off today in Phoenix, Ariz., and runs through Sunday. Speakers at the conference, the group’s first major gathering since the assassination of its founder, Charlie Kirk, in September, include Vice President JD Vance, Erika Kirk, Tucker Carlson, Steve Bannon, Donald Trump Jr., Ben Shapiro, Jesse Watters, Megyn Kelly, Glenn Beck, Vivek Ramaswamy, Matt Walsh, Russell Brand, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, Roger Stone, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Jack Posobiec and Reps. Byron Donalds (R-FL), Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), Andy Biggs (R-AZ) and Mike Collins (R-GA).
• The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington is holding the last in its series of “Lox and Legislators” events. This morning’s gathering will feature remarks from D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb, as well as panel discussions with local councilmembers and nonprofit leaders.
• In New York, the Brooklyn Nets, who face off against the Miami Heat tonight, will pay tribute to those killed in the terror attack on Sunday in Sydney, Australia. A nephew of slain Chabad Rabbi Eli Schlanger will participate in the tribute.
• German and Israeli defense officials are signing an expanded agreement today that will see Berlin purchase an additional $3.1 billion worth of Arrow 3 interceptors and launchers.
• We’re tracking events in Sydney, Australia, after police in the New South Wales capital detained seven men earlier today who were believed to be connected to what a police department spokesperson said was “information received that a violent act was possibly being planned.”
  
  

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MATTHEW KASSEL

Norman Podhoretz, the pugnacious editor and neoconservative pioneer who died on Tuesday at the age of 95, charted a protean trajectory through American politics and intellectual discourse, rising to prominence as a leading champion of a muscular foreign policy vision conjoined with a fierce support for Israel that influenced such presidents as Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush.

Despite his early political conversion from staunch liberal to conservative trailblazer, Podhoretz — the always-ambitious son of a Yiddish-speaking milkman from Eastern Europe who was born in Brownsville, Brooklyn — remained consistent in his commitment to defending Israel as well as promoting the Jewish ideals that guided his social and professional ascent.

During his 35-year tenure helming Commentary — from 1960 to 1995 — he established the periodical as a lightning rod of disputatious ideas that helped drive the conservative movement, while at the same time building his reputation as an estimable thinker in Jewish American debate of the mid-20th century. 

Under his editorial stewardship, Podhoretz transformed the magazine — then published by the American Jewish Committee — into a pro-Israel force that significantly shaped American foreign policy in the Middle East while helping steer the GOP to a more instinctive embrace of the Jewish state as a key ally.

“The neoconservatives played a pivotal role in providing the intellectual firepower for the case for Israel,” Jacob Heilbrunn, the author of a book about the movement Podhoretz founded, They Knew They Were Right: The Rise of the Neocons, told Jewish Insider in an interview on Wednesday. “They did that not only by arguing that Israel was a vital outpost in opposing the spread of communism in the Middle East, but also in forging and defending the rise of the evangelicals who supported Israel.”

Absent Podhoretz and his ideological comrades including Irving Kristol, another neoconservative leader, “I don’t think that you would have had the intellectual justification for defending Israel inside the GOP,” Heilbrunn said, noting that the party had previously been “hostile to Israel.”

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

The Dem Divide: In The Atlantic, former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro warns about elements of the Democratic Party that are shifting toward the fringe left’s stance on Israel, citing recent criticism of the party’s position on Israel by his former colleague, Obama administration official Ben Rhodes. “But there is a darker danger to the approach that Rhodes and others endorse. Nearly by definition, calls for ending all U.S.-Israel security cooperation draw those making them into alignment with others on a much more extreme fringe—those for whom it is not enough to end U.S. military assistance to Israel, who fundamentally believe that there is no legitimacy for Israel to exist as a Jewish state. They have found their voice and are making it heard. If the test of fealty for the Democratic Party becomes supporting international efforts to pressure Israel to define itself out of existence, or expressing indifference to the campaign of Israel’s enemies to destroy it, we will be in a much uglier place.” [TheAtlantic]

No-show of Support: In The Washington Post, Alon Meltzer, the associate rabbi of Sydney’s Bondi Mizrachi Synagogue reflects on the lack of mass gatherings opposing antisemitism and showing support for the Jewish community, compared to large-scale shows of support for Palestinians. “In August, an estimated 100,000 people marched across the Sydney Harbor Bridge to protest a conflict thousands of miles away. Many marched out of genuine concern for human suffering. … If 100,000 people can mobilize for a distant war, surely a million could rise up today and say: enough. Not with flowers alone. Not with thoughts and prayers. But with action. With a collective demand that antisemitism — in all its forms — is wrong and must stop now. This needs to occur in every country claiming to live by Western democratic values. We need to hear your voice! I fear that such a vision exists only in my imagination.” [WashPost]

The Senate confirmed Jared Isaacman to be the administrator to NASA in a 63-30 vote; read our profile of Isaacman here…

FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino announced that he will depart the agency next month…

A spokesperson for Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), a co-chair of the Senate antisemitism task force, told Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod on Wednesday that the Coast Guard had assured Lankford that the service would be correcting its policy to make clear that swastikas would be banned — before reverting this week to a previous policy that had prompted criticism from Lankford and other lawmakers…

The Qatar Investment Authority is purchasing part of philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs’ stake in Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Washington Wizards, the Washington Mystics, the Washington Capitals and the G League’s Capital City Go-Go…

Elliott Investment Management has amassed a stake of more than $1 billion in Lululemon Athletica as it works to position former Ralph Lauren senior executive Jane Nielsen as a potential successor to the athleisurewear company’s CEO Calvin McDonald, who is stepping down next month…

Police in San Francisco arrested a man in connection with a suspected arson attack at San Francisco Hillel earlier this month that significantly damaged the structure…

Time interviews U.S. Ambassador to France Charles Kushner about Paris’ response to antisemitism in the country… 

In the wake of the Bondi Beach attack, popular Sydney bagel shop Avner’s, owned by Australian Jewish celebrity chef Ed Halmagyi, announced its closure, citing “two years of near constant antisemitic harassment”; a note posted to the door of Avner’s said that “[i]n the wake of the pogrom at Bondi, one thing has become clear – it is no longer possible to make outwardly, publicly, proudly Jewish places and events safe in Australia”… 

Pope Leo XIV spoke by phone with Israeli President Isaac Herzog on the occasion of the holiday season; a readout from the Vatican said the pontiff restated the “Catholic Church’s firm condemnation of all forms of antisemitism, which, throughout the world, continues to sow fear in Jewish communities and in society as a whole”…

The police forces of London and Manchester, U.K., announced their officers would arrest demonstrators who use the term “globalize the intifada,” saying in a statement, “Violent acts have taken place, the context has changed — words have meaning and consequence”… 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed off on a $37 billion deal with Cairo that will see Israel supply natural gas to Egypt…

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said Israel plans to open an embassy in Fiji next year, months after the Pacific island nation opened an embassy in Jerusalem…

Israel denied entry to the West Bank to a delegation of Canadian officials whom Israeli officials said were linked to the NGO Islamic Relief Worldwide, which Jerusalem classifies as a terror group…

Sweden confirmed Iranian reports that a Swedish national had been arrested in Tehran on suspicion of spying for Israel…

The Washington Post does a deep dive into Israel’s Operation Narnia, the June 2024 effort to assassinate top Iranian nuclear scientists…

The New York Times reports on recent speeches by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian acknowledging that he is unable to fix the country’s mounting problems, including a struggling economy, water-deficit issues and corruption…

Benjamin Lee has been tapped to serve as the international media advisor for Israeli President Isaac Herzog; Lee succeeds Jason Pearlman, who is concluding his second stint in the position…

Rabbi Levi Shemtov spoke at yesterday’s Capitol Hill Hanukkah event hosted by Jewish legislators. Behind Shemtov, from left to right: Reps. Dan Goldman (D-NY), Brad Schneider (D-IL), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), Craig Goldman (R-TX) and Steve Cohen (D-TN).

Film critic, historian and author of 15 books on cinema, Leonard Maltin turns 75…

Founder of supply chain firm HAVI, active in over 100 countries, in 2019 he and his wife Harriette pledged $25 million to BBYO, Theodore F. Perlman turns 89… Professor emeritus of Islamic and Middle Eastern studies at the Hebrew University, Moshe Sharon turns 88… Winner of the 1989 Nobel Prize in Medicine, he served as director of NIH for seven years and then director of the National Cancer Institute for 15 years, Harold Eliot Varmus turns 86… Office manager in the D.C. office of Kator, Parks, Weiser & Wright, Ramona Cohen… Co-founder of DreamWorks Studios, Academy Award-winning director of “Schindler’s List” and “Saving Private Ryan” plus many other box-office record-setters including “E.T.” and “Jaws,” Steven Spielberg turns 79… Member of the U.S. House of Representatives (R-FL) from 2009 until 2025, William Joseph “Bill” Posey turns 78… Former CFO of the Pentagon in the Bush 43 administration, he is presently a senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Dov S. Zakheim turns 77… Winner of the 2012 Nobel Prize in economics, he is a professor at Stanford and professor emeritus at Harvard, Alvin Eliot Roth turns 74… Network engineer sometimes called “the mother of the Internet” for her inventions of the spanning-tree protocol (STP) and the TRILL protocol, Radia Joy Perlman turns 74… Diplomat and ambassador, David Michael Satterfield turns 71… Television writer, producer and director, best known as the co-creator and executive producer of the award-winning series “24” which ran for eight seasons on Fox, Joel Surnow turns 70… Labor leader and president of the American Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten turns 68… Founder and chief executive of Third Point LLC, Daniel S. Loeb turns 64… Retired editor of The Jewish Chronicle, Stephen Pollard turns 61… Member of the Board of Governors of the Jewish Agency for Israel, Gael Grunewald turns 61… Associate director of development at Ohel Children’s Home, Erica Skolnick… Partner at the communications firm 30 Point Strategies, Noam Neusner… Former special envoy of Israel’s Foreign Ministry to combat antisemitism and member of the Knesset, Michal Cotler-Wunsh turns 55… Motivational speaker and teacher, his book about his own coping with Tourette syndrome was made into a Hallmark movie, Brad Cohen turns 52… Member of the House of Representatives (D-FL), Jared Moskowitz turns 45… Director of policy for New York Gov. Kathy Hochul until earlier this year when he successfully ran for the state Assembly, now running to succeed his former boss, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), Micah Lasher turns 44… Manager of public policy and government relations for Wing, Jesse Suskin… Executive producer at CNN’s “State of the Union,” Rachel Streitfeld… Multi-instrumentalist, composer and educator, known for his double bass performances, Adam Ben Ezra turns 43… Winner of four straight NCAA Women’s Water Polo Championships while at UCLA, Jillian Amaris Kraus turns 39… AVP of external affairs at the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, Marc Ashed… Eliezer H. “Elie” Peltz… Consultant at Brussels-based Trinomics, Jessica Glicker… Intelligence lead at ActiveFence, Emily Cooper…

Belated birthday (was last week): Founding national campaign director for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, he was a presidential appointee to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council from 2008-2013, Joe Brodecki turned 78 last Friday…

• President Donald Trump is meeting with recently returned hostages and their families at 2 p.m. today at the White House.
  
• Vice President JD Vance is joining Breitbart’s Matthew Boyle for a fireside chat in Washington this morning.
  
• Former Vice President Dick Cheney’s funeral is taking place at 11 a.m. at the Washington National Cathedral. Former President George W. Bush and former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) are among those giving eulogies for the former vice president.
  
• On Capitol Hill, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is set to hold a vote on advancing the nomination of Leo Brent Bozell III to be U.S. ambassador to South Africa.
  
• Elsewhere on the Hill, the Helsinki Commission is holding a hearing on lifting Caesar sanctions against Syria. Rabbi Yosef Hamra, the brother of the last chief rabbi of Syria, is among those slated to testify.
  
• In celebration of the holiday of Sigd, celebrated by Ethiopian Jews, the Israeli Embassy in Washington is hosting a reception this evening.
  
• The Hudson Institute is hosting a conversation with Caroline Glick, a senior advisor in the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, this afternoon at the think tank’s Washington headquarters.
  
• Catholic University is holding a remembrance ceremony tonight for legal scholar and professor Marshall Breger, who died in August. Breger served as Jewish liaison in the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations.
  
• In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is meeting this afternoon with American Jewish Congress President Daniel Rosen and a delegation of mayors from around the world who are in Israel for the organization’s 34th Mayors’ Conference.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MATTHEW KASSEL

Jack Schlossberg’s decision to launch a bid for Congress in New York City last week was just the latest example of a Kennedy scion hoping to ascend to federal office, testing the continued strength of a hallowed family name whose political currency has dwindled over the years.

His unorthodox campaign also marked the most recent arrival of a new type of political candidate that has cropped up with increasing regularity this election cycle: the social media influencer vying for power beyond the screen.

Schlossberg, the 32-year-old grandson of John. F. Kennedy, is joining a growing crop of young House contenders with digital clout who have been seeking to convert online popularity into a seat in Congress. His campaign announcement follows, among other recent newcomers, Kat Abughazaleh, a 26-year-old left-wing social media influencer running in next year’s crowded Democratic primary to succeed retiring Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) in the Chicago suburbs.

And it’s not just young recruits trying to parlay their social media clout into political success. George Conway, the vocally anti-Trump conservative lawyer, is hoping that 2.2 million followers on X and his prolfic online attacks against the president will translate into Democratic votes as he seriously considers running in the Nadler district as well. To succeed, voters in the heavily-Democratic district would have to overlook his long record of traditionally conservative views on policy.

Both parties have tried to harness social media to advance their messages while courting influencers and content creators to broaden their appeal among younger online voters. But as influencers engaged in political commentary now pursue political office — most with few apparent qualifying credentials — it remains to be seen if their new efforts can translate to winning campaigns.

So far, the results have not been promising for such candidates. In a special election for a vacant House seat in Arizona this past summer, for instance, Deja Foxx, a 25-year-old influencer, fell short by a nearly 40-point margin, losing to a more well-known local lawmaker, Adelita Grijalva —  a daughter of the late congressman who represented the district for more than two decades. 

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

• Secretary of State Marco Rubio lands in Israel today for a two-day trip that will include meetings with senior officials. Rubio’s visit comes days as Vice President JD Vance wraps up his trip to the country. The vice president, who is still in the country, is meeting today with Defense Minister Israel Katz and IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir. More below.
• In Washington, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is holding its confirmation hearing for Hamtramck, Mich., Mayor Amer Ghalib to be U.S. ambassador to Kuwait. More below.
• The Hudson Institute’s Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East is hosting a one-day conference focused on the U.S. role in the South Caucasus. Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) is slated to give the keynote address.
• In New York, Dan Senor is hosting a live taping of the “Call Me Back” podcast with Israeli journalists and CMB contributors Nadav Eyal and Amit Segal at the Temple Emanu-El Streicker Center.
• Elsewhere in New York, the 92NY is hosting the second installment of the Sapir Debates. Former Rep. Kathy Manning (D-NC), Yehuda Kurtzer, Batya Ungar-Sargon and Jamie Kirchick, in conversation with The New York Times’ Bret Stephens, will debate “Does Zionism Have a Future on the American Left?”
• The Jewish National Fund’s annual Global Conference for Israel begins today in Hollywood, Fla.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S LAHAV HARKOV

Ireland is set to elect a new president tomorrow. Like in Israel, the role of president is largely ceremonial, but unlike in Israel, where the Knesset elects the president and the choice is mostly the result of backroom political deals, the Irish president is directly elected by the people.

That means the choice reflects the mood of the Irish public — and after the news coming out of the Emerald Isle over the past two years, it may come as no surprise that the country appears to be on the verge of choosing a candidate with anti-Israel, antisemitic and even anti-Western views.

The current president, Michael D. Higgins, is no friend of Israel or the Jews, having called antisemitism accusations an Israeli “PR exercise.” When the Jewish community asked him not to attend a Holocaust remembrance ceremony out of a concern that he would politicize it, he went anyway and gave a speech comparing Israel’s actions in the war in Gaza to the Holocaust.

The country’s former justice minister, Alan Shatter, told Jewish Insider that the leading candidate for the presidency, Catherine Connolly, “if elected, will present as Michael D. Higgins on steroids.”

Connolly, a legislator representing Galway West since 2016, is a hard-left candidate running as an independent, and led a recent Irish Times poll by 18 points. 

The front-runner’s anti-Israel history goes back to before the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza, and includes remarks that crossed the line into antisemitism. In 2021, Connolly wrote in a parliamentary question that Israel is “attempt[ing] to accomplish Jewish supremacy,” using language associated with centuries-old antisemitic conspiracy theories.

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

Problematic Poster Boy: The Free Press’ Eli Lake examines the mainstreaming of far-right conspiracy theorist Nick Fuentes, who had previously faced ostracization over a litany of antisemitic, racist and misogynist comments. “Fuentes became the avatar of the canceled during his time in the wilderness. For his superfans, or Groypers, he is the Sex Pistols in 1977, reveling in broken shibboleths. And these anonymous low-follower accounts repost short clips from his livestreams on YouTube, X, Facebook, and TikTok. Fuentes is not just an influencer; he leads a dedicated movement of obsessive shitposters. … Part of the Fuentes appeal is that he presents himself as the ultimate martyr in a movement built on the social martyrdom of right-wingers. He is also willing to turn his sights on beloved MAGA influencers and politicians — to his fans, that makes him seem authentic.” [FreePress]

Alarm Bell: In his “Clarity” Substack, former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren raises concerns about New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s candidacy weeks before the election. “Yes, the candidate is young, charismatic, and brimming with new ideas. So, too, are many of the Jew-hating influencers followed by millions. There can be no obscuring the fact that the candidate wants to see my state, my family, and the home of the world’s largest Jewish community erased from the map. And clearly the candidate would not care if that erasure were accomplished with violence. The candidate’s vicious positions on Israel come after the two years in which the distinction between anti-Zionism and antisemitism has virtually disappeared. In that time, New York Jews have been threatened almost daily by the haters of both the Jewish people and the Jewish state. For them, the candidate’s constant condemnations of Israel are not merely dog whistles but clarion calls to action.” [Clarity]

United Arab Emirates National Security Advisor Tahnoon Bin Zayed Al Nahyan met on Wednesday with Jared Kushner and White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, following their trip to Israel earlier this week…

Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner, under fire for a tattoo that resembles a Nazi symbol, said he’d covered up the tattoo, which he got in 2007, shortly after its existence was made public earlier this week; on Wednesday, the Advocate reported that the Maine Democrat, who is also facing criticism for past racist and misogynist Reddit posts, authored a series of newly uncovered homophobic posts between 2016-2021…

The State Department rejected a ruling from the International Court of Justice earlier this week that determined Israel must facilitate aid into Gaza and that the Israeli government had not proven that members of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency were members of Hamas…

The Justice Department will pause several investigations into the University of Virginia, following the school’s confirmation that it will comply with a Trump administration directive prohibiting “unlawful racial discrimination in its university programming, admissions, hiring, or other activities”…

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee advanced Joel Rayburn’s nomination to be assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs; Rayburn had faced what Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), the committee’s ranking member, described over the summer as a “very difficult” confirmation path, owing to a lack of Democratic support and Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-KY) refusal to back the nomination…

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) spoke out against the rise of right-wing antisemitism in his speech at Christians United for Israel’s “Night to Honor Israel” event on Sunday: “In the last six months, we have seen antisemitism rising on the right in a way I have never seen it in my entire life,” Cruz said; he also noted that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seemed to downplay right-wing antisemitism as the result of “astroturfed” Qatari and Iranian bots. “I am telling you, it is real, it is organic and it is spreading,” Cruz said he told Netanyahu…

The New York Times covers the multiple efforts by Paramount — all rebuffed — to purchase Warner Bros. Discovery, following Warner Bros.’ announcement earlier this week that it was considering a number of deals…

The California Faculty Association, which opposed a recent effort to to combat antisemitism in California schools, is distributing a questionnaire to political candidates in the state asking them if they had ever accepted money from AIPAC or the Jewish Public Affairs Committee of California, the latter of which is a coalition of nonprofits and progressive associations and does not make political contributions…

Rabbi Louis Scheiner was spotted speaking with former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) at a wedding in Los Angeles…

The New York Times’ culture critic reports from a recent event at New York’s Beacon Theater with “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “Seinfeld” creator Larry David, who has largely avoided the spotlight since “Curb” ended a year and a half ago…

The International Olympic Committee recommended that global sporting events no longer be held in Indonesia, following Jakarta’s decision to refuse visas to Israeli athletes who qualified for this week’s World Artistic Gymnastics Championships… 

Tehran announced the conditional release of Iranian national Mahdieh Esfandiari in France; the countries had previously discussed the potential release of Esfandiari in exchange for a French couple jailed for more than two years in Iran on espionage charges…

Israeli President Isaac Herzog presented the Israeli Presidential Medal of Honor, the country’s highest civilian award, to nine individuals in a ceremony last night in Jerusalem.

Spotted at the ceremony: honorees Dr. Miriam Adelson, Mathias Döpfner, Avi Ohry, Justice (ret.) George Karra, Galila Ron-Feder Amit, Dina Porat, Yossi Vardi, Sheikh Muwaffaq Tarif and Moti Malka, as well as U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, German Ambassador to Israel Steffen Seibert, Friede Springer, Jan Bayer, Haim Saban, Shimon Axel Wahnish, Eli Beer, Amitai Raziel, Matan Adelson, Shirin Herzog, Natan Sharansky and former hostages Matan Angrest and Segev Kalfon.

Filmmaker, actor and producer famous for creating the cult horror “Evil Dead” series, as well as directing the original “Spider-Man” trilogy, Sam Raimi turns 66…

Chairman emeritus of the shopping mall developer Simon Property Group and the principal owner of the NBA’s Indiana Pacers, Herbert “Herb” Simon turns 91… Distinguished university professor of American and Jewish studies at the State University of New York at New Paltz, Gerald Sorin turns 85… Israeli journalist who has written for Davar and Yedioth Ahronoth, he won the Israel Prize in 2007, Nahum Barnea turns 81… Attorney best known for his role as special master for the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund and for similar roles in a number of mass torts, Kenneth Feinberg turns 80… Neuro-ophthalmologist, academic, author and researcher, he is vice-chair of ophthalmology at UCLA, Alfredo Arrigo Sadun, M.D. turns 75… Screenwriter and television producer, best known for his work on “Star Trek,” Ira Steven Behr turns 72… Founder and CEO of global outsourcing company TeleTech (now TTEC) with over 50,000 employees on six continents, Kenneth D. Tuchman turns 66… Founder of the New Democrat Network in 1996, he closed it down in 2024, Simon Rosenberg turns 62… Author of 100 children’s and young adult fiction books that have sold more than 35 million copies worldwide, Gordon Korman turns 62… Former editor-in-chief of The New York Observer, Kenneth Kurson turns 57… Member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors until her surprise retirement this past August, she is a tenured professor of public policy at Georgetown, Adriana Debora Kugler turns 56… President of the Jewish Confederation of Ukraine and VP of the World Jewish Congress, Boris Lozhkin turns 54… Film director, producer and talent agent, best known for his two-year marriage to Meghan Markle starting in 2011, Trevor Engelson turns 49… Senior director of strategic operations at SRE Network, following eight years at J Street, Shaina Wasserman… President of Renco Group, a family-owned private holding company founded by his father, Ira Rennert, Ari Rennert turns 47… Communications consultant, she was a senior advisor to Rohit Chopra, the former director at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Allison Preiss… Minister delegate for European Affairs in the French government, Benjamin Haddad turns 40… Cartoonist for The New Yorker, Amy Kurzweil turns 39… Director of development at Mabua Israeli Beit Midrash, Ayelet Kahane… Senior associate in the Washington office of Hogan Lovells, Annika Lichtenbaum… Former speechwriter and special assistant at the U.S. Department of Labor, now a sales manager at Orangetheory Fitness, Rachel Shabad… VP of content marketing and partnerships at SiriusXM, Allison Rachesky… Richard Rubenstein…

• 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.

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.”

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

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]

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…

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.

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…

• Today is the 24th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. Ceremonies and commemorations will be held around the country today in remembrance of the attacks.
• President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump will attend a ceremony at the Pentagon this morning to commemorate the day, while Vice President JD Vance will attend a ceremony at Ground Zero in Manhattan. Trump will travel to New York this afternoon to attend tonight’s Yankees game against the Detroit Tigers.
• In Israel, the Jewish National Fund and the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem are jointly holding a remembrance ceremony.
• The Senate Appropriations Committee is holding its markup for the Department of Homeland Security, while the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is holding its confirmation hearing for Sergio Gor.
• The Jefferies TechTrek wraps up today in Tel Aviv.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S Gabby Deutch

When 200 top policymakers, analysts and government officials from the U.S. and the Middle East gathered on Wednesday for the second day of the high-profile MEAD conference, one topic was top of mind for everyone at the ritzy Washington confab: Israel’s strike on Doha a day earlier that targeted senior Hamas officials who were gathered in the Qatari capital. 

Although many at the conference were decidedly pro-Israel, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s risky mission — Israel’s first-ever airstrikes on Qatar, a major non-NATO ally of the United States — faced significant skepticism, particularly as reports emerged that the attack may not have killed the high-level Hamas leaders that Israel hoped to target. 

In a rare on-the-record session, former Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, Israel’s opposition leader, questioned whether the strike fit within Israel’s broader war aims.

“If you take the operation itself, per se, and you single it out from anything else, of course these are a bunch of bad people that we should have killed a long time ago, and whenever you have a chance to kill them, you should kill them,” Lapid said. “Having said that, as the hours go by, we understand two things. A is that it might not be as successful as we thought in the beginning, and B [is] that this has nothing to do with strategy. It’s just an operation.” 

That language marked a shift from Lapid’s initial reaction to the Qatar strike, which he described on Tuesday afternoon in a Hebrew-language tweet as “an exceptional operation to thwart our enemies.” 

A lot changed in the interim: President Donald Trump said he was “very unhappy” with the attack, and that it “does not advance Israel or America’s goals.” Arab nations rallied around Qatar, with the leaders of the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Saudi Arabia all visiting Doha this week. That led some MEAD attendees to argue that Israel’s strike could jeopardize regional integration efforts led by Washington.

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

What Charlie Kirk Meant: The Free Press’ Adam Rubenstein reflects on the life and death of Charlie Kirk, whom he’d profiled in 2018 amid Kirk’s meteoric rise. “If I had to use a single word to capture him, it would be gracious. We could disagree about anything — and we did — but he would, without fail, engage civilly and explain his point of view. He did not do this, as many do, to make himself feel smart. He did it so he could share the other side of something he cared about. And he cared deeply. … Charlie Kirk was not naive. In the video after he is shot, you can see a security team of at least half a dozen bodyguards surround him and spirit him away. Like anyone speaking their mind in public these days, he knew there was a risk. He had the courage anyway. And today he died under one of those tents where he defended freedom — his, and all of ours.” [FreePress]

A Just Incursion: In The Washington Post, John Spencer, the chair of urban warfare studies at West Point’s Modern War Institute, argues that the IDF’s military incursion into Gaza City is lawful and necessary to end the war. “In war, there are no perfect solutions, only questions: Is an operation lawful or unlawful, moral or immoral, necessary or unnecessary? Given Israel’s record thus far, its attack on Gaza City will be lawful, moral and necessary. The IDF will proceed like any modern military facing an entrenched enemy in dense cities. The end of the war depends on whether Hamas releases captives and surrenders its grip on Gaza City. No government can allow a terrorist army to maintain safe haven in a dense city while holding hostages and firing rockets. If Hamas fighters refuse, Israel is justified in completing its siege and assault until they are defeated.” [WashPost]

Khamenei’s Calculus: In Foreign Policy, the Middle East Institute’s Alex Vatanka lays out the miscalculations he believes Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is making in his approach to the West and in his allyship with Russia and China. “His revolutionary identity is built on never yielding to the United States, and he will not abandon that legacy unless the payoff is unmistakably greater. So far, U.S. President Donald Trump has offered no such incentive. Washington, in fact, shows little sign of having a coherent strategy for compromise with Iran beyond pressing for capitulation on three issues: enrichment, missiles, and its network of militant allies. In the absence of clarity, Tehran assumes the Iran file has been subcontracted to Israel — making a negotiated deal even more perilous from Khamenei’s perspective. Meanwhile, Khamenei’s ability to prepare the country for greater turmoil is constrained, leaving him to shuffle the national security team around without authorizing a fundamental change of course. And he still clings to the hope that U.S. rivalry with China and Russia will create exit ramps from Western pressure — even as many in Tehran warn against mistaking Beijing’s pageantry for protection.” [ForeignPolicy]

The Trump administration will, following a judge’s order, restore some funding and grants to Harvard University that for months have been frozen; the government plans to appeal the decision…

The Wall Street Journal reports on frustrations between President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu amid the fallout from the Israeli strike in Doha on Tuesday that killed several Hamas officials; the WSJ reported that both Trump and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff “have privately complained in recent months that Netanyahu maneuvers them into difficult situations, often with little warning”…

Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand said that Ottawa was reevaluating its ties with Israel following the Doha strike…

The House Appropriations Committee approved its 2026 funding bill for the Department of Education on Tuesday; in addition to new provisions on campus antisemitism and cuts to the Office for Civil Rights, the explanatory report accompanying the bill requests a report to Congress on antisemitism in health care and an update on the status of antisemitism investigations…

The New York Times looks at Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s involvement in the Trump administration’s dealings with private corporations…

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer fired Ambassador to the U.S. Peter Mandelson over leaked messages from Mandelson to Jeffrey Epstein in which the British envoy pledged his support for Epstein and attempted to arrange a meeting between the disgraced financier and then-Prime Minister Tony Blair…

Forbes spotlights Jared Kushner’s Brain Co., which he co-founded with Elad Gil and former Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray, following the startup’s announcement on Wednesday that it had raised $30 million in its Series A funding round…

OpenAI inked a $300 million, five-year deal with Larry Ellison’s Oracle to purchase cloud computing software from the tech company; Ellison then surpassed Elon Musk as the world’s richest person after Oracle’s quarterly earnings report exceeded expectations, pushing Ellison to a total fortune of $393 billion…

The New York Times looks at the deal taking shape between SkyDance’s David Ellison and The Free Press’ Bari Weiss that would give Weiss a C-suite role at CBS…

Comedian Jerry Seinfeld, who appeared at a Duke University event alongside former Israeli hostage Omer Shem Tov, compared the “Free Palestine” movement to the KKK…

A Jewish Pittsburgh woman who pleaded guilty to vandalizing a Chabad house in the city earlier this year was sentenced to probation…

Police in New South Wales, Australia, charged a man with a series of antisemitic attacks in the Sydney area, including the vandalism of the former home of the head of the country’s Jewish community and the firebombing of a childcare center…

Tennis Canada announced that the upcoming Davis Cup match between Canada and Israel will take place inside a closed venue with no spectators, citing security concerns…

The victory of left-wing parties in Norway‘s national elections this week could usher in further anti-Israel boycott moves by the country’s government and sovereign wealth fund, Norges; a source who followed the election said that left-wing parties likely to be part of the coalition government will likely make demands for additional action against Israel in coalition talks. The issue became a significant one in the run-up to the election…

Israel struck Houthi military facilities in Yemen and a fuel station in the capital of Sana’a…

EU policy chief Ursula von der Leyen called for the bloc to suspend free trade ties with Israel…

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that Tehran had not yet reached an agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency to allow international inspectors into Iranian nuclear facilities, and that more talks would be necessary to fully restore inspections…

Argentine human rights activist Rosa Roisinblit, who became one of the leaders and founding members of Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo after her pregnant daughter was disappeared during the country’s dictatorship, died at 106…

President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff met at the White House on Wednesday with the siblings of hostage Evyatar David as well as returned hostages Ohad and Raz Ben Ami.

Israeli journalist, political commentator and investigative reporter, Raviv Drucker turns 55… 

Percussionist, the only Jewish member of the Grateful Dead, born Michael Steven Hartman, Mickey Hart turns 82… Wisconsin resident, Janis Gershon Kohlenberg… French physicist who was awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize for physics, Serge Haroche turns 81… 7-foot basketball center who played for the Bulls and Hawks in the NBA, David L. “Dave” Newmark turns 79… Senior U.S. District Court judge for the Southern District of Ohio based in Cincinnati, Judge Susan J. Dlott turns 76… Pediatric nephrologist, Dr. Jonathan Heiliczer… Member of the New Jersey General Assembly since 2006, he is the first Orthodox Jew to serve in the New Jersey Legislature, Gary Schaer turns 74… Television producer and executive producer, Jon Meyersohn… Global real estate advisor at ONE Sotheby’s International Realty, Rosy Lofer… Owner of the NFL’s Carolina Panthers, he is the founder and president of global hedge fund Appaloosa Management, David Tepper turns 68… Director of sales and marketing at Hillcrest Royale Senior Living in Thousand Oaks, Calif., Marian Rubinstein… Senior judge in the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, Ellen Ceisler turns 68… Co-founder of the U.K. hedge fund, Brevan Howard Asset Management, Alan Howard turns 62… London-based CEO and founding partner of Stanhope Capital, Daniel Pinto turns 59… CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Mark Dubowitz turns 57… CEO of NYC’s 92nd Street Y, Seth William Pinsky… Executive director at JP Morgan Chase, Daniel E. Berger… Former member of the Illinois Legislature, now the CEO of NYC’s Chevra Hatzalah Volunteer Ambulance Service, Yehiel Mark Kalish turns 50… Arbi Tatevosian… Artificial intelligence researcher and writer on decision theory and ethics, Eliezer Shlomo Yudkowsky turns 46… Stand-up comedian and podcast host, his YouTube channel has almost 260 million views, Steven Ira Hofstetter turns 46… Author and social media personality in Israel’s religious-nationalist community, Rabbi Avraham Stav turns 39… Jessica Sebella Setless Spiegel… Co-founder and rebbetzin of the Altneu synagogue on Manhattan’s Upper East Side and news editor for The Real Deal, Avital Chizhik-Goldschmidt… Chief of staff at The Jewish Agency for Israel, Gali Gordon… Betty (Yaira) Ilovici turns 31… Udi Ben Zeev…

• The American Jewish Committee is holding a web event this afternoon with the founders of The Dinah Project focused on justice for the victims of the sexual violence that took place on Oct. 7, 2023.
• The Milken Institute’s Hamptons Dialogues kick off this morning on the East End of Long Island. What we’re looking out for: On Friday, Pershing Square’s Bill Ackman will speak about K-12 education and the Alpha School, a project he has promoted in recent months that eschews DEI programming and focuses on AI-driven education.
• Later on Friday, former Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin are speaking on a panel about the U.S.’ economic advantages.
• On Saturday morning, Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and his son Alex are hosting a breakfast during which Witkoff and Michael Milken will speak in conversation about global challenges and opportunities.
• Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is slated to speak on a Sunday morning panel focused on U.S. economic security, followed by back-t0-back sessions about the future of American cities, featuring NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein and Related Companies’ Stephen Ross.
• Rubenstein will again take the stage Sunday afternoon for a conversation about sports investments, which will also feature Len Blavatnik.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S JOSH KRAUSHAAR

It’s notable that Democrats are still relying on experienced, brand-name candidates a bit past their political prime as top recruits for key Senate races. 

Former Sen. Sherrod Brown, now 72, is seeking a political comeback after losing his reelection bid last year in Ohio. Former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper is pursuing a career change to the Senate at 68 years old. Maine Gov. Janet Mills is being recruited into the Senate race against Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) even though she’s 77.

To be sure, these are the strongest challengers Democrats could muster in these three must-win battleground states. All are popular statewide officials with a history of winning support from outside the party base. It’s hard to name any other Democratic candidate more capable of flipping these GOP-held seats than the aforementioned recruits. 

But there’s another more uncomfortable reality that is drawing the Democrats towards their stars of yesteryear. In today’s fractured media environment, it’s incredibly hard for a new face to emerge and get the type of publicity rising stars would generate from “earned media” on television and in the press, as was common in the recent past.  

And given the declining influence of such mainstream platforms, the best way to get attention is by playing to the party’s activist base on social media. It’s how Zohran Mamdani broke through a comparatively dull field of challengers in the New York City Democratic mayoral primary. Going viral is becoming a prerequisite in today’s politics, and the best way to go viral is to play to the extremes — or to, like California Gov. Gavin Newsom, emulate President Donald Trump’s online bullying and trolling.

If you don’t have name identification built up from a career in politics, it’s hard to register any other way these days. And it’s exceptionally hard to break through the noise if you’re a thoughtful moderate.

It’s why we’re seeing a slew of Democratic candidates popping up who are looking to capture the anti-establishment mood within the party amid the desire for a younger generation of leadership. At the same time, most of these change-focused candidates also hold political views that are well out of the mainstream. 

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

Trump Card: The Times of Israel’s founding Editor David Horovitz considers how President Donald Trump could hasten the end of the Israel-Hamas war. “Trump’s opening here is to broker a deal — not between Israel and Hamas, which will never sign off on its own path to oblivion, but between Israel and the regional actors who have indicated willingness in principle to step in and rehabilitate the Strip. Netanyahu doesn’t want the PA there. Regional players and Israel’s (now unreliable) international allies have demanded a role for the PA, while stressing the imperative that it be reformed and closely overseen. Washington should strive to produce a viable accommodation, paving the way for non-Hamas governance, negotiating a security mechanism that enables Israel to intervene when necessary, and conditioning the rehabilitation and reconstruction of Gaza on its demilitarization.” [TOI]

Foreign Green on the Green: In Mosaic, Danielle Pletka, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, proposes a crackdown in foreign funding of American universities to address antisemitism on college campuses. “Is Qatar the only driver of campus anti-Semitism? Absolutely not. The resurgence of Marxist thought, critical race theory, and the ‘intersectionality’ that demands that Jews must be reviled along with racism, fossil fuels, ‘settler colonialists,’ and social conservatives deserves a significant chunk of the blame. But there should be little doubt that, in a campus environment hostile to Israel, Zionists, and Jews, the contributions of a country well known for its support for the Muslim Brotherhood and its Hamas progeny is a significant factor. And Qatar isn’t going away any time soon. If American universities are to become more welcoming places for Jews — indeed, if they are to become better institutions altogether — federal and state governments will have to crack down thoroughly on foreign funding, and administrators will have to exercise some restraint and just say no to money that fosters Jew hatred.” [Mosaic]

The Case for Diversity: In recent remarks to Yale’s incoming law school class that were published in The Free Press, Danielle Sassoon, a former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, reflects on the diversity of opinions among her classmates at the law school 15 years prior that bolstered opportunities for conversation and dialogue. “Ideological familiarity might provide comfort, but don’t take the lazy way out. Recognize that conditioning social acceptance on ideological conformity is the weapon of the intellectually weak. Don’t insulate yourself in an artificial circle of only like-minded peers, or permit others to dehumanize your classmates, whatever their race, religion, or creed. And don’t fall prey to the arrogance of turning analytical questions into moral judgments unworthy of debate. Otherwise, you don’t stand a chance — whether against a hostile judge, a room full of aggressive lawyers 20 years your senior, or as a leader of an institution with people of diverse views and talents.” [FreePress]

The Trump administration announced sanctions on four International Criminal Court officials over the issuance of arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant…

The State Department fired a contractor and onetime National Iranian American Council intern who clashed with officials over the department’s language around relocating Gazans outside of the enclave, expressing condolences over the death of a Palestinian journalist Israel has claimed was a member of Hamas… 

The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights opened an investigation into Haverford College, three months after the President Wendy Raymond dodged questions regarding antisemitism on the Pennsylvania university’s campus at a congressional hearing…

The New York Times looks at the logistical and bureaucratic challenges facing international students — approximately 1 million of whom study in the U.S. every year — amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on student visa holders…

An advisor to New York City Mayor Eric Adams who was also a volunteer on his reelection campaign was suspended after giving more than $100 in cash to a journalist who reported the exchange to her superiors…

eJewishPhilanthropy’s Nira Dayanim interviews outgoing Revson President Julie Sandorf about her foundation’s approach to funding projects and initiatives in New York City, as well as her own questions about how Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani intends to address antisemitism and anti-Israel activity in the city…  

Eighteen people were arrested at a two-day worker-led protest at Microsoft’s Redmond, Wash., headquarters as the software giant pledged to review the IDF’s use of its technologies…

An Israeli academic is suing the University of California, Berkeley, alleging that the school, where she had taught a class in 2022, had invited her to apply for another teaching position and rejected her application because she is Israeli; in the lawsuit, Yael Nativ said that the chair of the school’s theater department told her that she would not be offered a position because “[t]hings are very hot right now and many of our grad students are angry” over the political situation in Israel and Gaza…

Third Point founder Daniel Loeb was named chair of the Museum of Jewish Heritage’s board of trustees, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Nira Dayanim reports…

A group of 80 Modern Orthodox rabbis signed on to a letter calling for Israel and its supporters to act with “moral clarity” in regards to the humanitarian situation in Gaza…

The New York Yankees drafted a shortstop who in 2021 had scrawled a swastika on the dorm room door of a Jewish student; Core Jackson, whose acquisition despite the incident was approved by Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner, has expressed remorse for his actions, telling The Athletic he was “blackout drunk” at the time and had no memory of the incident… 

Brandon Korff, the son of Shari Redstone, recently applied for Israeli residency…

The Executive Council of Australian Jewry criticized what it called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “clumsy intervention” and “inflammatory and provocative” comments made in the wake of Canberra’s cancelation of a visa for hard-right Israeli MK Simcha Rothman; in response, Netanyahu lambasted Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as a “a weak politician who betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia’s Jews”…

B’nai Brith Canada issued an open letter calling on Prime Minister Mark Carney to reverse his plans to recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly next month…

Netanyahu is reportedly mulling the creation of a satellite party to woo right-wing voters disillusioned with his Likud party and its far-right coalition members; the new party would attempt to block former Likud voters from backing former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett or Avigdor Liberman…

Iranian Defense Minister Aziz Nassirzadeh said that Tehran had built missiles “with far greater capabilities than previous missiles” and would use them in the event of an Israeli attack on Iran…

Iranian Foreign Minister Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi said that current circumstances are preventing “effective negotiations” between Tehran and Washington over Iran’s nuclear program…

The Iranian Navy launched its first drills in the Gulf of Oman and the Indian Ocean since its 12-day war with Israel in June…

Seventy-nine Afghans who had been forcibly returned from Iran were killed in a bus crash in Afghanistan; Tehran has sought to deport more than 1 million Afghans in the country as part of its crackdown on illegal immigration…

A senior Catholic cleric in Lebanon said that Pope Leo XIV was considering a trip to the country as his first overseas trip since becoming pontiff…

British tech pioneer Stephanie Shirley, who fought for women’s inclusion in the field as an adult after fleeing Nazi Europe on the Kindertransport as a child, died at 91…

Psychiatrist Warren Brodey, who coupled his field with the advent of modern technology, died at 101…

Former Israeli hostage Andrei Kozlov met with several dozen Holocaust survivors on Tuesday at the Adolph and Lotte Rosenberg Summer Retreat for Holocaust survivors in Kerhonkson, N.Y., hosted by The Blue Card. Read more from eJewishPhilanthropy’s Jay Deitcher here.

Mexican writer, playwright and journalist whose work is related to diversity and its obstacles, Sabina Berman Goldberg turns 70… Retired owner of Effective Strategy Consultants, South Florida resident, Irwin Wecker… Senior judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit (with chambers in Chicago), the first woman appointed to this court, Judge Ilana Kara Diamond Rovner turns 87… President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology until the end of 2022, L. Rafael Reif turns 75… Former chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court, he was the first Jewish chief justice in Ohio history, Eric S. Brown turns 72… Israeli-born pawnbroker and star of the reality television series “Beverly Hills Pawn,” Yossi Dina turns 71… Businessman and collector of modern and contemporary art, he is a partner in the NFL’s Washington Commanders, Mitchell Rales turns 69… U.S. senator (D-MT) for 18 years, ending earlier this year, Jon Tester turns 69… Israeli physician who was a member of the Knesset, he now serves as mayor of Ashdod, Dr. Yehiel Lasri turns 68… Photographer best known for his fashion and celebrity images, Jerry Avenaim turns 64… Israeli career diplomat who served for six years as consul general in New York, Ido Aharoni turns 63… United States secretary of the Treasury, Scott Bessent turns 63… President at Maimonides Fund, Mark S. Charendoff… Co-founder of BlueLine Grid, he was previously an assistant U.S. attorney in Los Angeles and a member of the Los Angeles City Council, Jack Weiss turns 61… Member of the philanthropic leadership group for the UJA-Federation of New York, Chavie N. Kahn… Partner at Kohlberg Kravis Roberts-KKR where he is the global head of public affairs and a co-head of global impact, Ken Mehlman turns 59… President of Berger Hirschberg Strategies, Rachel Hirschberg Light… Co-founder of Google, Sergey Brin turns 52… MLB pitcher for nine teams in a 16-season career, he was the starting pitcher in three of Team Israel’s first four games in the 2017 World Baseball Classic, all of which the team won, Jason Marquis turns 47… District attorney of San Francisco, elected in 2019 and recalled in 2022, Chesa Boudin turns 45… Head coach of the Temple University Owls men’s basketball team, Adam Fisher turns 41… President at Bold Decision, Adam Rosenblatt turns 40… Missions manager for domestic and overseas travel at the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, Erica N. Miller… Communications director at Breakthrough Energy, David Abadian Heifetz… Pop singer and songwriter, Madeline Fuhrman turns 32… Associate editor at Simon & Schuster, Tzipora (Tzippy) Baitch… An Argov fellow at Reichman University and a Lauder fellow at the World Jewish Congress, Noa Rakel Perugia… Lynn Sharon… James Barton…

• Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Israel today for his first visit in several months, amid rising bipartisan concern about the humanitarian crisis gripping Gaza and a continued stalemate in ceasefire negotiations. 
• The Senate Appropriations Committee will mark up its Defense and Education funding bills tomorrow. We’ll be keeping an eye on allocations for cooperative programs with Israel and for the Department of Education’s office for civil rights.
• The Heritage Foundation and the Conference of Christian Presidents for Israel are hosting an event today called “Peace Through Strength: U.S. Policy on Israel and the Middle East.” Featured speakers include: Rev. Johnnie Moore, head of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation; U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee; Ellie Cohanim, former deputy special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism; and Aryeh Lightstone, an advisor to Witkoff.
• Moore will also be speaking at Sinai Temple in Los Angeles today for a conversation moderated by Sinai Temple Co-Senior Rabbi Erez Sherman about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

A QUICK WORD WITH ji’s josh kraushaar

A new Gallup poll underscores the degree to which Israel’s security is now dependent on support from President Donald Trump and the Republican Party, the Jewish state having drained much of its political capital from both Democrats and independents amid the ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza and the resulting humanitarian crisis.

The numbers are clear: Support for Israel is now becoming a partisan issue after the Jewish state enjoyed decades of bipartisan support in the United States. Anti-Israel activists on the left, looking to exploit the moment, are working to win over Democratic lawmakers to their side — and are finding some unlikely allies moving in their direction amid the sustained pressure.

The data is sobering: Only about one-third of Americans now support Israel’s military action in Gaza, with 60% disapproving. At the beginning of the war, exactly half of Americans supported Israel’s war against Hamas. The drop-off has come entirely from Democrats (36% supported in November 2023, while 8% do now) and independents (47% supported in November 2023 while 25% support now). 

Among Republicans, however, support for Israel’s military efforts has remained significant. The exact same share of Republicans who backed Israel’s war against Hamas in November 2023 (71%) continue to support Israel’s efforts today. Trump’s decision to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities has, if anything, bolstered GOP support for Israel and undermined the isolationist and small anti-Israel faction within the party.

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

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wraps up his U.S. trip today and will depart for Israel.
• The Senate Appropriations Committee is holding its Justice Department markup this morning.
• This afternoon, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy is hosting an event focused on Israel-Syria relations following last year’s fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime.
• Allen & Co.’s Sun Valley Conference continues today in Idaho. Yesterday, King Abdullah II of Jordan met with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on the sidelines of the conference. Read more here.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MARC ROD AND JOSH KRAUSHAAR

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hosted senior administration officials, leaders from Jewish and pro-Israel Christian groups and hostage families for a reception last night at Blair House during his third visit to the United States this year.

Netanyahu was introduced by Paula White-Cain, the senior advisor to the White House Faith Office. “Israel, you are never, never alone,” she told the audience, pledging that evangelicals “will always stand with Israel.”

The Israeli prime minister spoke about efforts to free the hostages, both living and deceased, held in Gaza, saying, “We’re committed to getting every last one out … we don’t leave this sacred mission for a second.” He said he’d arrived a few minutes late because he had been speaking with the Israeli delegation engaging in hostage talks in Doha, Qatar, adding that he and President Donald Trump had spoken extensively about those efforts. 

“We are going to succeed, we’ll bring them all home,” Netanyahu said, repeatedly acknowledging hostage family members in the room. “Each family has their own history of suffering, of hope, of prayer. … We do not forget, we will not relent, we’ll get them all home. All of them.”

Others in the crowded room — forced indoors by a torrential downpour and tornado watch in D.C. — included Education Secretary Linda McMahon, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Small Business Administrator Kelly Loeffler, Under Secretary of Defense Elbridge Colby, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL), Justice Department Senior Counsel Leo Terrell and Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter. Brett McGurk, from the Biden administration’s National Security Council, was also in the crowd.

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

Pivot to Peace: In The Hill, Rep. Greg Landsman (D-OH) lays out a series of steps that Congress and the White House can take to achieve breakthroughs in Middle East peace efforts following Israeli and American efforts to degrade Iran’s nuclear program. “No one wants another prolonged war in the Middle East. This is not Iraq. It can’t be. We know the Iranian regime is pursuing a nuclear weapon, and no one is pushing for ground forces or seriously considering regime change. But this is a moment of real possibility. Israel has diminished significantly the regime’s most dangerous terrorist armies, Hamas and Hezbollah. They have degraded the Iranian regime’s nuclear program, missile production capabilities, missile firing capabilities and regime infrastructure in ways few thought possible.” [TheHill]

Looming Large: The New York Times’ Ken Bensinger and Robert Draper profile Laura Loomer as the far-right provocateur works to gain influence in the Trump White House. “Within the White House, Ms. Loomer is regarded as an uncontrollable and toxic force whose deep loyalty to Mr. Trump is tempered by her tendency to turn on almost anyone, even her allies. No member of Mr. Trump’s inner circle in the West Wing would speak about her on the record. The same character traits that endear her to the president and lead him to call her several times a month — particularly her seemingly total lack of fear — make many top aides treat her gingerly, as if she might unpin a hand grenade.” [NYTimes] 

Hebron Hesitancy: In The Wall Street Journal, Mahmoud Jabari expresses opposition to a plan put forward by a group of religious officials in Hebron, including a distant cousin, that proposed the creation of localized Palestinian “emirates” in the West Bank, including one in Hebron that would join the Abraham Accords. “What makes this proposal especially painful is that it exploits real Palestinian frustration with the Palestinian Authority, which has failed us in many ways. It has become disconnected from the people, more comfortable with the trappings of power in Ramallah than with the hard work of grass-roots engagement. It has tolerated corruption and failed to build momentum toward freedom. But the solution isn’t to abandon the principle of unified Palestinian representation — it’s to demand better from our leaders and to build more accountable institutions.” [WSJ]

Semafor looks at President Donald Trump’s shift away from the non-interventionist wing of the party toward the views espoused by Russia hawks who have advocated for greater support for Ukraine…

House Democratic leaders condemned Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) for describing Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) as a “Muslim [terrorist]” and demanded he apologize, suggesting that he was inciting violence against her. Fine doubled down in response…

Omar and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) introduced identical amendments to the 2026 Defense Appropriations bill to cut missile defense funding for Israel. Greene also seeks to cut military support for Jordan and Taiwan…

House leaders named Reps. David Kustoff (R-TN), Brad Sherman (D-CA), Ann Wagner (R-MO), Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), Mike Lawler (R-NY), Max Miller (R-OH), Craig Goldman (R-TX), Randy Fine (R-FL), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), Ritchie Torres (D-NY), Nikema Williams (D-GA) and Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) to the House-Knesset Parliamentary Friendship Group…

Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) introduced an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act to repeal Caesar Act sanctions on Syria…

A senior Department of Homeland Security official testified that the department used information taken from the Canary Mission website to identify student activists targeted for deportation over their anti-Israel campus activities…

The Virginia Attorney General’s office is looking into allegations surrounding the expulsion of three Jewish students at the private Nysmith School in Northern Virginia whose parents complained to the school about antisemitic bullying…

New York City Mayor Eric Adams is working to modify a city ban on mask-wearing after parts of the legislation rankled Jewish organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League and UJA-Federation of New York, that had previously backed efforts to ban protesters from wearing masks during demonstrations…

New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani is considering keeping Jessica Tisch in her current role as NYPD commissioner, amid encouragement from city and state officials who have praised her tenure at the top of the agency…

The Financial Times spotlights the challenges facing Spanish President Pedro Sánchez as his top aides face allegations of corruption and his government’s opposition to increased defense spending has put him at odds with some NATO allies…

Jillian Segal, Australia’s special envoy to combat antisemitism, released a report recommending a series of steps that Canberra can take to address the spike in antisemitism across the country; among the suggestions in the report are that the government cut funding to universities that fail to adequately address antisemitism, a joint counterterror task force and banning the granting of visas to individuals who engage in antisemitic acts…

The Atlantic looks at Israel’s strategy to degrade Iran’s air defenses in the year prior to its preemptive strikes on June 13, which allowed the Israeli Air Force to largely control Iranian airspace during the 12-day war between the countries last month…

The Wall Street Journal reports on the challenges facing the Israeli government and hostage families as the government determines which 10 of the remaining 20 hostages believed to be living may be released in an upcoming ceasefire and hostage-release deal with Hamas…

Former hostages Sasha Trufanov and Sapir Cohen, who were taken captive by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, from Trufanov’s family home in Kibbutz Nir Oz, got engaged; Cohen was released in the November 2023 temporary ceasefire, while Trufanov was released earlier this year…

Thousands of Syrians who have been living in Lebanon are expected to return to Syria this week under a U.N.-facilitated plan to repatriate many of the more than 1.5 million Syrians living in Lebanon; the program seeks to repatriate 400,000 Syrians this year… 

A second Liberian-flagged ship that was attacked earlier this week by the Houthis sank in the Red Sea; four crew members were killed and at least six are believed to have been captured by the Iran-backed group in Yemen…

Israeli President Isaac Herzog (right) met with former hostage Eli Sharabi ahead of the international release of Sharabi’s memoir, Hostage, about his 491 days in Hamas captivity in Gaza. Sharabi’s wife, Lianne, and two daughters were killed in the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack on Kibbutz Be’eri.

Voice actor and impressionist who has voiced Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Sylvester the Cat and dozens of others, Jeffrey Bergman turns 65…

Neurologist, certified by Guinness World Records as the oldest practicing physician in the U.S., in his 60s he attended law school and then passed the bar exam, Howard Tucker, MD, JD turns 103… Senior U.S. district court judge in the Southern District of Texas, Judge David Hittner turns 86… Retired attorney at the California Office of Legislative Counsel, Robert D. Gronke… Stan Udaskin… Folk singer-songwriter, Arlo Guthrie turns 78… NYC-born author of 12 novels, she has been living in Israel since 1971, Naomi Ragen turns 76… Partner in consulting firm Quorum, LLC and president at Regal Domestics, Barbara Goldberg Goldman… Author of 13 books, journalist, she is the daughter of two Holocaust survivors, Julie Salamon turns 72… Editor of the Cleveland Jewish News, Columbus Jewish News and Akron Jewish News, Bob Jacob… Israel’s ambassador to Spain until 2024, Rodica Radian-Gordon turns 68… Past president of the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest New Jersey, Leslie Dannin Rosenthal… Partner in Holland & Knight’s public policy group, he was previously a member of Congress (D-FL-22), Ronald J. “Ron” Klein turns 68… Lobbyist, he was a member of the New York State Assembly for 10 years and Senate for 14 years, Jeffrey D. Klein turns 65… National president of the American Jewish Committee, he is a founder of Lapin & Landa, a Houston-based civil litigation firm, Robert E. Lapin turns 65… Nominee to be the U.S. ambassador to his native Estonia, he is the president of NYC’s Park East Day School, Roman Pipko turns 65… Critic at large for The New York Times Book Review, Anthony Oliver (A.O.) Scott turns 59… U.S. senator (D-MI), serving since the start of this year, Elissa Blair Slotkin turns 49… NYC-based founding partner at Purposeful Communications, Elie Jacobs… Member of the Knesset for the Shas party, Yinon Azulai turns 46… Head of politics and public affairs at Altice and Optimum Media, Rena Shapiro… Writer and comedian, his conversion from Mormon to Judaism is the subject of a documentary, “Latter Day Jew,” H. Alan Scott turns 43… Senior policy advisor at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, Morgan Deann Ortagus turns 43… Managing editor of The Bulwark, Sam Stein… Founder, creative director and designer for a fashion line bearing her name, Kimberly Ovitz turns 42… Television and film actress, Aviva Farber Baumann turns 41… Dance teacher at John Foster Dulles High School in Missouri City, Texas, Kayla Sokoloff…

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

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S GABBY DEUTCH

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• President Donald Trump will hold an intelligence briefing in the Situation Room this morning. The meeting comes days after the president reportedly approved a plan to attack Iran. Trump has so far held off on issuing the final order to move forward on the attack plan, in order to give Tehran the opportunity to abandon its nuclear program diplomatically. 
• We’re also keeping an eye on U.S. military movements in the region, signaling U.S. military preparation for possible strikes on Iran — including whether those movements will include planes capable of carrying the bunker-buster bombs believed necessary to strike Iran’s underground nuclear facility at Fordow.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S Lahav harkov

Israelis woke to sirens this morning — a routine occurrence over the past week — but were shocked to learn that Beersheba’s Soroka Medical Center, one of the country’s major hospitals, had been among the sites hit in the most recent barrage of ballistic missiles from Iran. In addition to Soroka, there were direct hits in the Tel Aviv area that wounded 89, including three seriously.

The missile struck the hospital’s old surgical building, severely damaging it and causing what a Soroka spokesperson described as “extensive damage in various areas” of the hospital complex. The surgical building had been recently evacuated in light of the war, and patients and staff had been moved to areas with reinforced walls. Injuries from the strike were light, hospital representatives said.

Soroka is the largest hospital in the Negev, such that the strike left a large swath of Israel without a functioning major medical center. Other hospitals in the area, including Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon and Assuta Medical Center in Ashdod, prepared to take in patients from buildings that were damaged. Magen David Adom provided four intensive care buses, able to transport a total of 23 ICU patients and 50 lightly injured casualties.

Early Thursday, the IDF struck an inactive nuclear reactor near Arak in Iran after sending warnings to civilians in the area. The IDF Spokesperson’s Office said the strike included “the structure of the reactor’s core seal, which is a key component in plutonium production.” The IDF also gave details of strikes on the active nuclear site in Natanz, which “contained components and specialized equipment used to advance nuclear weapons development and projects designed to accelerate the regime’s nuclear program.” 

In addition, 40 IAF fighter jets struck dozens of military targets in Tehran and other parts of the country, including factories manufacturing ballistic missile and air-defense components, as well as air-defense batteries, surface-to-surface missile storage sites, radar systems and other targets.

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

Endgame in Iran: The New York Times’ Bret Stephens suggests how the Trump administration could use military and diplomatic means to achieve an end to the war that eliminates the nuclear threat from Iran and stabilizes the region. “Here, then, is what Trump should do: First, drop bunker busters on Fordo and other hardened nuclear sites to ensure that Iran has no fast route to a bomb. That would need to be followed up by dropping a diplomatic bunker buster on Tehran — the proverbial offer Iran can’t refuse. … The regime would have to agree to two things: First, permanent, verifiable, comprehensive and immediate denuclearization, including a system of intrusive inspections and an end to its enrichment programs. Second, an end to its financial and military support for Hezbollah, Hamas and other foreign proxies.” [NYTimes]

‘America First’ in Iran: In Semafor, former Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt explains President Donald Trump’s approach to Iran. “Meanwhile, Trump is showing Iran its options before it hits the point of no return. If Tehran pursued a new approach — surrendering its nuclear program, dismantling its missile arsenal and proxies, and allowing genuine freedom for its people — it could chart a different course. The likelihood of this is exceedingly low. Trump making the stakes clear is exactly on brand. He doesn’t waste time with niceties or euphemisms. He says things like, ‘We know exactly where the so-called “Supreme Leader” is hiding…But we don’t want missiles shot at civilians, or American soldiers’ and threatening to kill the Ayatollah if he makes a false move. His direct communication style is worth a thousand clever diplomatic maneuvers.” [Semafor]

Iran’s Opposition in Fear: The Atlantic’s Arash Azizi talks to regime opponents in Iran about how they view the military confrontation between Israel and Iran. “Most of the activists I spoke with — about a dozen — blamed the war largely on Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and evinced no political support for his regime. Nor were they supportive of Iran’s attacks on Israel, which have already killed at least 23 Israeli civilians, injured hundreds more, and sent thousands of people to bomb shelters every night. But they in no way welcomed the Israeli strikes on their country. They worried about their own safety — and also about societal collapse and the destruction of Iran’s infrastructure.” [TheAtlantic]

Proxies on the Sidelines: The Wall Street Journal’s Sudarsan Raghavan, Summer Said and Saleh al-Batati report on the reluctance of Iran’s regional proxies to join Tehran in attacking Israel. “The bruising wars have left Iran’s allies wary of taking on Israel, which has demonstrated vastly superior military and intelligence capabilities. Some are now focused on their own interests and have a lot to lose from an expanding war, such as Iraq’s militia members who are now making fortunes in the oil sector. Others, like Hezbollah, are trying to rebuild and nursing grievances over the lack of support from Tehran during the group’s war with Israel, according to Arab diplomats who speak to the group regularly.” [WSJ]

The Washington Post looks at President Donald Trump’s inner circle advising him on Israel-Iran policy; Vice President JD Vance, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and CIA Director John Ratcliffe are among “a small group of lower-key but more experienced aides” who the president is leaning on over Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard…

Politico reports on the leading role CENTCOM head Gen. Erik Kurilla has taken in overseeing Pentagon policy vis-a-vis the Israel-Iran war since it began last week…

The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations called on Wednesday for the international community to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Nira Dayanim reports… 

Sens. Dave McCormick (R-PA) and John Fetterman (D-PA) introduced a Senate version of a resolution condemning rising antisemitic violence that passed the House nearly unanimously earlier this month. The Senate resolution has close to 40 co-sponsors…

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee declined to call up Joel Rayburn’s nomination to be deputy secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs for a vote today, further dimming the prospects of Rayburn being confirmed to the State Department post, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…

Bipartisan groups of House and Senate members have introduced legislation to repeal the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act, sanctions legislation passed in 2019 targeting the former Syrian government led by Bashar al-Assad, a step that proponents say will help remove obstacles to reconstruction and stabilization efforts in post-Assad Syria, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…

The New York Times profiles Katie Miller, the wife of Deputy White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and former spokesperson for the Department of Government Efficiency who has continued to work for Elon Musk following his departure from the Trump administration…

Alex Wong, who served as deputy national security advisor until last month, is joining the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board…

Virginia state Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, who has raised concerns among members of the state’s Jewish community for her efforts to lobby against antisemitism legislation, won the state’s Democratic gubernatorial primary, defeating former Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney…

Federal prosecutors can move forward with hate crimes charges against an Egyptian national accused of firebombing attendees at a hostage-awareness rally in Boulder, Colo., following a judge’s ruling on Wednesday… 

Applicants for student visas will have to put their social media profiles on publicly viewable settings as part of what a senior State Department official called “enhanced social media vetting” amid a broader crackdown on foreign students by the Trump administration…

The Wall Street Journal reviews “I Quit,” the first new album by Haim in five years…

Photography critic Vicki Goldberg died at 88…

Charles Kushner was sworn in as U.S. ambassador to France on Wednesday at the White House. In attendance were Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, in addition to other relatives.

Singer known as Skye, Daniel Skye turns 25…

Attorney, investment banker, film producer and former deputy mayor of NYC, Kenneth Lipper turns 84… Rabbi emeritus of Anshe Emeth Memorial Temple in New Brunswick, N.J., Rabbi Bennett F. Miller… Historian of the Jews in Muslim lands in the modern era, he won the Israel Prize this year for Jewish history, Yaron Tsur turns 77… Retired territory sales manager for GlaxoSmithKline, Harry E. Wenkert… Retired president and CEO of The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, last month he was appointed as the interim president of American Jewish University, Jay Sanderson turns 68… Inna N. Zalevsky… Overland Park, Kan., resident, Kathi Shaivitz Rosenberg… Former director of communications for Kings Bay Y, Adrienne M. Knoll… Member of the European Jewish Parliament for Latvia, Valery Engel, Ph.D. turns 64… Physician specializing in reproductive endocrinology and infertility, Jessica Rosenberg Brown, MD… Co-founder of Centerview Partners, Blair Effron turns 63… Singer-songwriter, actress and television personality, Paula Abdul turns 63… Former member of Knesset for the Zionist Union party, Ayelet Nahmias-Verbin turns 55… Co-founder of nine venture-backed companies in the telecom, high-tech, pharmaceuticals, energy, water, and biotechnology industries, Andrew T. Perlman turns 50… Human rights activist and advocate for women and minorities in Iran, Marjan Keypour Greenblatt… Director of the export control department in Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Eitan Weiss… Director of affinities and major giving at the Minneapolis Jewish Federation, Tslil Shtulsaft… Founder of JSwipe dating app, David Austin Yarus… Rhythmic gymnast from Israel who competed in the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Olympics, Neta Rivkin turns 34… VP at Jewish Federations of North America, Anna Langer… COO at Lightning Inspiration, Alex Jakubowski… Organization director at Senate Leadership Fund & One Nation, Cydney Couch… 

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

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S LAHAV HARKOV

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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