● The Live Briefing. Word on the street, clips, podcasts and quick updates — the items we’re tracking all day in our Live Briefing on the app (on Apple and Android) and website.

President Donald Trump brushed off concerns that Russia and China are assisting Iran in its war against the U.S., writing in a Truth Social post, “If they are, it’s at a very low level, but I don’t believe they are at all”…

The Wall Street Journal reports that Iran is preparing for a potential escalation with the U.S. by fortifying its nuclear sites and preparing Iranians for renewed fighting, including offering training in how to operate shoulder-mounted antiaircraft missiles; Iranian officials have also reportedly hinted at potential land incursions into neighboring countries……

Speaking at the TRENDS conference in Abu Dhabi on Monday, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo predicted that, given Iran’s destabilizing actions in the Middle East, “the large Islamic nations,” including Malaysia and Indonesia, will “come to see that something akin to the Abraham Accords makes sense for their countries as well.”

Speaking about the future of the region, Pompeo continued, “Saudi normalization with Israel is inevitable,” though a concrete time would be difficult to estimate…

Reuters reports that Saudi Arabia had ended the use of its early warning missile-alert system days prior to the deadly Houthi strikes targeting Riyadh’s airport…

Delta Air Lines delayed the launch of its nonstop flights between Atlanta and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, initially slated to launch on Oct. 23, days after deadly Houthi strikes targeting King Khalid International Airport killed more than a dozen people; the route is now expected to launch in March 2027…

A federal court in California denied a motion by The Pokémon Company International to dismiss a discrimination lawsuit brought by an Israeli American professional Pokémon player who claimed he was banned from all Pokémon competitions over his efforts to lobby the gaming company to host official tournaments in Israel; the court found that the allegations represent a “plausible claim of discrimination and retaliation,” allowing the case to proceed…

U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham said that the suspected plot targeting the U.S.-used RAF Fairford air base was “highly likely to have been coordinated in Iran” and “almost certainly directed by” the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Meanwhile, U.K. Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said London was sanctioning two Iranian nationals “for their role in facilitating or engaging in hostile activity on behalf of the Iranian regime”…

Shabana Mahmood, the U.K.’s home secretary, announced an inquiry into the deaths of two Jewish men during a terror attack targeting a Manchester synagogue on Yom Kippur last year…

Oklahoma’s Statewide Charter School Board again rejected an application from the Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School, having received four votes in favor and three opposed; five of the nine members of the board must vote in favor of approval to advance the application…

Sacha Baron Cohen is set to star in Quentin Tarantino’s debut play, “The Popinjay Cavalier,” when the show opens in London’s West End in early 2027…

The New Yorker’s Ben Taub reflects on a 2013 reporting trip to Syria, while he was still in college, and the lessons learned about journalism and traumas experienced in war zones…

A teenager was killed and 24 others were injured when an unexploded Hezbollah cluster munition detonated during a school hike in northern Israel near the Lebanon border…

Officials in Jerusalem excavating a new neighborhood in the city unintentionally uncovered a section of a 2,000-year-old Hasmonean aqueduct that carried water from Solomon’s Pools to the Temple Mount…

An Ethiopian Airlines cargo plane bound for Israel was forced to return to Addis Ababa mid-flight after the flight’s manifest showed that one of the pilots was from Indonesia; the move comes following the implementation of a new Israeli Transportation Ministry rule, instituted following the attempted FlyDubai FZ1073 hijacking, barring pilots from operating flights to Israel if they are from countries without diplomatic relations with Israel…

Find more Worthy Reads in our Live Briefing via our app (on Apple and Android) and website.

Twitching Hour For Dems: The Atlantic’s Jonathan Chait does a deep dive into the ideology of antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker. “Alongside his pro-Marxist-Leninist principles, the second pillar of Piker’s worldview is anti-Zionism. This does not distinguish him from other progressives. What does distinguish him is his belief that American Jews who do not share his position deserve punishment. … There is little reason to trust his current self-presentation as a mere Twitch streamer who is too obscure to merit discussion. He sees himself as a representative voice of a movement that can take control of a major party, and then the country itself.” [TheAtlantic]

Crash Course: The New Yorker’s Sudarsan Raghavan looks at the impact of the popular air-disaster show “Air Crash Investigation,” which FlyDubai FZ1073 passenger Yaniv Hayoun said had helped him stabilize the plane during a hijacking attempt in late September. “Last month, during a production meeting for the Canadian documentary television series ‘Air Crash Investigation,’ cellphones started to buzz with text messages and e-mails. … ‘We were all just looking at each other, sort of thinking, “Can you believe what’s happening here?”’ Alex Bystram, the show’s executive producer, who was at the production meeting, told me. ‘The guy who helped save this plane says he learned to do it from watching our show.’” [NewYorker]

Frightened in Frisco: In The Free Press, Ashley Rindsberg reports on an exodus of Jewish families from San Francisco University High School, an elite private school where parents say antisemitism went unchecked after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel. “The school also prides itself on a culture that it says prioritizes safe spaces, curiosity, and tolerance. ‘We remember that while we may have different backgrounds and experience things differently, we share a common goal of knowing and understanding more,’ says one of UHS’s seven ‘community agreements.’ Those stated commitments made it even more shocking that the school not only enabled but fostered an environment where hostility against Jewish students was accepted and even encouraged, parents and students said. The incidents they describe are not subtle.” [FreePress]

British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband agreed to host a meeting of ministers from seven countries to coordinate efforts against antisemitism, following talks on Monday in London with Jewish leaders who criticized the British government’s policies and rhetoric toward Israel, Jewish Insider’s AJ Rodriguez reports. Representatives of the J7 Task Force Against Antisemitism — a body of major Jewish organizations representing diaspora communities in the U.S., U.K., Canada, France, Germany, Argentina and Australia — said they expressed to Miliband their “serious concern” about recent British government measures and rhetoric targeting Israel.

The delegation included William Daroff and Betsy Berns Korn, respectively CEO and chair of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, and Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League.

Sacha Baron Cohen, award winning actor, comedian and screenwriter, turns 55

SIMON ACKERMAN/GETTY IMAGES

Richard D. Siegel, former deputy assistant secretary at the USDA, he retired in 2024 as an attorney working on organic food law, turns 87

Paul Simon, musician, singer, songwriter, best known for being half of the Simon & Garfunkel duo, turns 85

Esta Epstein, past chair of the Anti-Defamation League

Peter Osnos, founder of PublicAffairs Books, an imprint of Perseus Books at Hachette Book Group, turns 83

Mollie Katzen, author of 12 cookbooks, turns 76

Maria Cantwell, U.S. senator (D-WA), turns 68

Donniel Hartman, president of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, turns 68

Ari Fleischer, former White House press secretary under President George W. Bush, now a media consultant and Fox News contributor, turns 66

Jack Krumholtz, partner at FGS Global until 2024

Steven Gutkin, former AP bureau chief for Israel and the Palestinian territories, now a home builder in the Indian state of Goa

Douglas Emhoff, second gentleman of the United States throughout the Biden-Harris administration, turns 62

Dana Freedman Walden, president and chief creative officer of the Walt Disney Company, turns 62

Richard Lamke

Michael Ellis, former attorney general for England and Wales, he was a member of the U.K. Parliament for 14 years until 2024, turns 59

Amy J. Berg, Emmy Award-winning film director, producer and screenwriter, turns 56

Shiraz Tal, Israeli fashion model, turns 52

Leonard Lebrecht Friedman, offensive lineman in the NFL for eight seasons, now the COO of Raleigh-based VetOvation, turns 50

Sarah Livingston, director of member engagement at the Academic Engagement Network

Emily Gould, e-bookstore owner and author who rose to prominence when she was an editor at Gawker, turns 45

Oren Liebermann, Jerusalem bureau chief for CNN, turns 44

Josh Friedmann, land-use attorney at Seattle-based firm of Hillis Clark Martin & Peterson

Rebecca Shabad, political reporter for NBC News

J.D. Lifshitz, film producer, turns 34

Joel Schwitzer, regional director of AJC Dallas

Rabbi Randy Brown, chaplain at the U.S. Department of Defense

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

President Donald Trump said he spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today to wish him and the Israeli people well on the third anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks. Trump called the attacks “a horrible tragedy” and said “the other side is paying a very big price for what they did on Oct. 7”…

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani observed the anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks with a statement that opened with a denunciation of Hamas and the “horrific war crimes” it committed that day, but spent most of its length excoriating the Israeli response — drawing fierce criticism from mainstream Jewish organizations, Jewish Insider’s Will Bredderman reports.

“Many New Yorkers are reckoning with this unbearable grief, and we mourn alongside them — all while knowing that our tax dollars fund these war crimes,” Mamdani’s statement said. “Three years later, we must refuse to accept a world in which occupation and apartheid continue, where war crimes are met with impunity, and our federal government continues its complicity with every arms shipment.”

UJA-Federation of New York accused Mamdani of choosing “to respond to the grief of Jewish New Yorkers by advancing false and inflammatory attacks against Israel — not only inappropriately shifting the focus away from Hamas’s cruelty, but also placing Jewish New Yorkers at risk”…

Metropolitan Police in the U.K. arrested 11 individuals today at anti-Israel marches, including five at a “spontaneous protest” outside the Camden headquarters of the Board of Deputies — the representative body of British Jews — for “inciting racial hatred, involving allegedly shouting or chanting slogans calling for intifada,” according to a police statement…

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot visited Hostages Square in Tel Aviv and Kibbutz Be’eri today, saying in a statement that France “will never forget” the victims of the Oct. 7 attacks — “Nothing will erase their faces or their names,” he added. A French official told The Times of Israel that Barrot has no plans to meet with Israeli officials during his visit, as Jerusalem and Paris continue to be at odds over issues including settlements in the West Bank and the war in Gaza…

The White House has asked the Pentagon to prepare potential options for strikes in Iran to be executed before the midterm elections, The Atlantic reports, as the president considers avenues to signal strength before voters head to the polls…

Democratic Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed recently called far-left influencer Hasan Piker to warn him that his extreme rhetoric was costing the candidate votes and asking him to stop, CNN reports…

In a lengthy profile on El-Sayed, CNN revealed that Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel avoided attending religious services for the High Holy Days after she endorsed El-Sayed, knowing her position was controversial among the Jewish community. Speaking to the outlet, she credited El-Sayed with largely having stopped attacking AIPAC in his public statements, which she said she asked him to do.

Lansing, Mich., Mayor Andy Schor, a Jewish Democrat, also told CNN that he won’t endorse El-Sayed without having spoken to him, and his campaign has not yet made contact. El-Sayed also seems aware of his shortcomings: “I’m not the Democrat the Democrats want, but I am the Democrat that Democrats have,” he told the outlet…

As of this afternoon, El-Sayed still had not issued a public statement about the Oct. 7 anniversary, unlike many other candidates and elected officials across the country…

Meanwhile, the Republican Jewish Coalition announced today a $2 million ad campaign targeting Jewish voters in Michigan, highlighting Jewish Democrats who refuse to support El-Sayed, JI’s Marc Rod reports.

Ads from the group call out El-Sayed’s response to the terrorist attack earlier this year on Temple Israel, featuring several self-described lifelong Democrats saying they will not vote for El-Sayed, including a woman who says in the ad that her grandson attended preschool at the synagogue…

New YouGov polls of key midterm Senate elections found Democrats ahead in Kansas, Michigan, New Hampshire, Ohio as well as Texas, where state Rep. James Talarico is leading his GOP opponent, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, by six points (50%-44%)…

In an address today at the Acropolis in Athens, Greece, Secretary of State Marco Rubio hailed Western civilization, drawing a contrast between the Iranian regime, which he cast as a “cult of death” that glorifies martyrdom, and the West’s tradition of loyalty and sacrifice.

Rubio warned that the West has lost its will to fight and its drive to excel, saying that “the ideal of many ideologies in our time has, frankly, become a world of perfect safety, a world devoid of risk or failure” — one in which “we hold the most exceptional things among us hostage to the average, the ordinary, the mediocre”…

Former Boca Raton, Fla., Mayor Scott Singer, the Republican candidate running against Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) in South Florida, traveled to Qatar in 2024 where he met and was photographed with Qatar’s minister of municipality, Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah, during a visit to the Qatar Economic Forum with other mayors from around the U.S., JI’s Marc Rod reports.

Singer and Moskowitz have been battling over which one of them is the stronger and more reliable supporter of Israel, in a district with a substantial Jewish population that could be up for grabs in the midterm election…

The authors of a play about the Oct. 7 attacks are calling for a police investigation after a fire alarm disrupted a showing of the play at Northwestern University yesterday. Alleging that someone intentionally pulled the alarm, playwright Phelim McAleer told Jerusalem News Syndicate, “These people are demonic.” Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL) similarly called for an investigation into the incident, calling it “unacceptable”…

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at GOP concerns with a provision regarding cooperation with Israel in the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act.

El-Sayed and his GOP opponent, former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI), will participate in a debate tomorrow evening airing on a local Detroit TV station. 

Israel is expected to close the British consulate in east Jerusalem tomorrow in retaliation for London placing sanctions on Israeli settlements; reports indicate the U.K. intends to expel dozens of Israeli diplomats if the closure is enacted.

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Speaking at the National Conservatism Conference in Jerusalem today, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that Israel “can and must bear a growing responsibility for its own security, develop military and economic independence and stand up for its own interests,” and that Jerusalem “respect[s] the right and the duty of the United States to put the American people at the top of its policy priorities”…

Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts said similarly at the conference that, “if Americans put America first, like Israelis put Israel first … we can stand up to this new threat and, bound firmly together, toss red-green leftism into the ash heap of history”…

Roberts told The New Yorker in an exposé on the right-wing think tank released yesterday that he now believes far-right commentator Tucker Carlson is “exacerbating antisemitism in America,” after having previously released a video defending Carlson amid backlash over his friendly interview with white nationalist Nick Fuentes — a move that fractured the organization…

The Telegraph reports that the Green Party member who proposed the “Zionism is racism” motion recently adopted at the party’s conference is a self-described close friend of an al-Qaida terrorist jailed for a foiled 2011 plot to bomb travelers arriving at Heathrow from Israel.

Lubna Speitan had offered to testify in defense of Minh Quang Pham — now serving a 44-year sentence for the plot — and confirmed to the outlet that the two remain friends, suggesting he had been wrongly “targeted” by “the system”…

Meanwhile, the European Green Party said the British Green Party’s “Zionism is racism” policy runs counter to its support for a two-state solution and that it would immediately seek clarification from the British party’s leadership. German Greens co-leader Felix Banaszak separately called the policy “intolerable and unacceptable”…

British counterterrorism police arrested a seventh suspect today in connection with the alleged plot targeting the U.S.-run RAF Fairford air base, detaining a 22-year-old British man in London on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts. The other six suspects have been released on bail as the investigation continues…

The Cook Political Report changed its ratings of three key Senate races further in favor of Democrats: Kansas switched from “Lean Republican” to “Toss Up,” New Hampshire changed from “Toss Up” to “Lean Democratic” and North Carolina shifted from “Lean Democratic” to “Likely Democratic.” The three races will be critical to deciding which party takes control of the upper chamber…

Democratic Maryland Gov. Wes Moore would not commit to serving out a full second term if reelected in November, amid speculation that he plans to run for president in 2028: Asked at a gubernatorial debate today if he would serve the entirety of his next term, Moore said, “I would not be running for reelection if I was not committed to the people of Maryland,” and declined to comment further when pressed for a yes or no answer…

Member of Knesset Zeev Elkin met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky today as part of an Israeli delegation to Ukraine marking the 85th anniversary of the widespread extermination of Jews by the Nazis at Babyn Yar. Zelensky said the two discussed Iran’s cooperation with Russia as well as regional issues, and stated, “Strong relations between Ukraine and Israel could certainly contribute to our shared security”…

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

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a special edition of the Daily Kickoffhighlighting stories from former hostages, college students and the security sector marking the third anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel.

Others around the world will be marking the anniversary by protesting against the Jewish state, including on several college campuses and at New York City Hall, where anti-Israel groups including PAL-Awda, Within Our Lifetime and the youth chapter of the New York City Democratic Socialists of America are promoting a rally with a flyer that features the phrase, “Glory to the martyrs, victory to the resistance.”

NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch vowed today at a press conference alongside New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani that “Jewish institutions will not be left to protect themselves without a strong partner in the NYPD” amid the demonstrations.

Elsewhere in New York, Jaser AbuMousa, a father from Gaza who lost several family members to Israeli airstrikes during the Israel-Hamas war, and Jonathan Dekel-Chen, the father of former Israeli hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen, will sit in conversation at the 92nd Street Y.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) and her Democratic challenger Troy Jackson will face off tonight in their first debate, one of four to be held in the next two weeks, after Jackson was selected to replace Graham Platner as the state’s Democratic Senate nominee in July.

The National Conservatism Conference continues tomorrow in Jerusalem with speakers including former Polish President Andrzej Duda; Israeli Minister of Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli; former Israeli National Security Advisor Meir Ben-Shabbat; and Sebastian Gorka, senior director for counterterrorism at the U.S. National Security Council.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore will speak at an event tomorrow hosted by the Jewish Federation of Annapolis & the Chesapeake about the third anniversary of Oct. 7 and his commitment to combating antisemitism. The event will also feature a screening of the documentary “Torn: The Israel-Palestine Poster War on NYC Streets,” about the clashes in New York City as pro- and anti-Israel activists put up and tore down the “kidnapped” posters raising awareness about those taken hostage by Hamas.

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Addressing the U.N. General Assembly this morning, President Donald Trump said he faces a “big decision” regarding Iran: “Will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before … or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic?”

But Trump quickly made clear he believes that a deal will be reached “right after the [midterm] election, because it doesn’t make sense for them not to,” Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports…

Trump later said during a press availability with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner had a “very good meeting” with Iranian officials today on the sidelines of the UNGA that lasted for three hours, while Trump has reportedly told his advisors he’s open to meeting with the Iranians himself “if the conditions are right”…

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will be provided a security detail from the State Department while attending the UNGA, Axios reports…

Speaking on Fox News about recent Houthi and Iran-backed attacks on Saudi Arabia, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. has “a defense agreement with Saudi Arabia. We intend to live up to our commitments on it. We will,” though he said Washington is “working to see if this thing can be fixed” first…

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani reupped his criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an interview with CNN yesterday, calling him “a war criminal and an architect of a horrific genocide of the Palestinian people.” Netanyahu responded in a video message today accusing Mamdani of supporting Hamas and inciting riots against Jews…

The Trump administration is discussing with Middle East partners a $10 billion investment fund, with $5 billion from the U.S. and matching contributions from the other countries, to rebuild energy infrastructure damaged in the Iran war and develop new oil and gas routes that reduce reliance on the Strait of Hormuz…

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in his address to the UNGA, accused Israel of having a “genocidal mindset that can never get enough of killing” and called on more world leaders to recognize a Palestinian state…

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced that she is endorsing the state’s Democratic Senate nominee, Abdul El-Sayed, after having previously voiced reservations over his views on Israel and antisemitism, JI’s Emily Jacobs reports. In a joint podcast appearance with El-Sayed, Nessel, who is Jewish, acknowledged that “people are going to call me a traitor to my people” and a “kapo,” but said, “I can’t be true to my values if I even consider voting for [GOP nominee] Mike Rogers. Yes, I’ll be voting for Abdul.”

El-Sayed, for his part, vowed to support the Jewish American Security Act but said he would work to expand the legislation to provide similar protections for people of other faiths. He also answered in the affirmative when Nessel asked if Jewish Zionists have a place in the Democratic Party…

Meanwhile, Michigan Jewish leaders called on former Vice President Kamala Harris to appeal to El-Sayed, whom she campaigned with in Michigan today, to accept their five “nonnegotiable” demands including Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, noting Harris’ own history of fighting antisemitism and standing with the Jewish community, JI’s Marc Rod reports. In their appearance today, Harris and El-Sayed did not address foreign policy…

Vulnerable Republican candidates in high-profile races, including Rogers, Iowa Senate candidate Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA) and Michigan gubernatorial candidate Rep. John James (R-MI), have urged a prompt end to the Iran war in recent days, citing rising costs ahead of the midterm elections, JI’s Marc Rod reports…

A new CNN poll found that 61% of Americans view Israel as an “ally” or “friendly” country, down from 73% who said the same in March 2025, while 15% view it as an enemy, the highest in any CNN poll since 2000 and double the amount who said the same last year. The figure who see Israel as an enemy is even higher among Americans under 45, at 23%…

Several airlines are canceling flights to and from Iran as U.S. sanctions kick in tomorrow, targeting any entity that offers Iranian airlines fuel, landing services, ticketing or other services…

Weekend Recap

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for an interview with author Zibby Owens on her latest book, Between Chapters: How I Started Over, Took Some Chances, and Found the Plot.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian will address the U.N. General Assembly tomorrow morning. It remains unclear if Pezeshkian will hold a meeting with President Donald Trump while in the U.S.

Meanwhile, Jewish organizations including UJA-Federation of New York, the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, American Jewish Committee New York, Anti-Defamation League New York/New Jersey, the New York Board of Rabbis and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations will hold a rally against antisemitism outside U.N. headquarters.

In Washington, ADL will bring survivors of antisemitic attacks — including the June 2025 firebombing of an Israeli hostage awareness march in Boulder, Colo., the deadly May 2025 shooting at the Capital Jewish Museum and the March 2026 terror attack at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Mich. — to Capitol Hill to lobby for the Jewish American Security Act and the Right to Worship Act.

The Senate Armed Services Committee will receive a classified briefing on CENTCOM operations from its commander, Adm. Brad Cooper.

American Friends of Lubavitch (Chabad) will host its Lamplighter Awards reception, this year honoring Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Jeff Miller, chair of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council. The event will be co-chaired by former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA); Norm Brownstein, founder and chair of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck; and Eli Miller, senior managing director of Liberty Strategic Capital.

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Asked about the U.K., France and Canada enacting sanctions against Israeli settlements in the West Bank, President Donald Trump told reporters this afternoon on his way to Dallas for the GOP midterm convention that he’ll be “speaking to Israel” about the issue. “I understand exactly what’s going on, but I want to find out why all of a sudden does that happen,” he added…

Trump also predicted the Iran war “will end immediately after” the midterm elections because the Iranian regime is “desperate to affect the election”…

White House officials and GOP elected officials told Axios that they’ve stopped trying to persuade Trump on anything and find it futile to push back on his decisions, with one longtime advisor telling the outlet, “Why bother? He’s the boss”…

A new poll of American Jewish voters commissioned by the nonpartisan Jewish Voters Resource Center found that Vice President JD Vance is viewed negatively by 82% of Jewish voters, including 39% of Jewish Republicans, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports. Vance’s approval numbers are markedly lower than those of Trump — who is viewed positively by 89% of Jewish Republicans — and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, at 93%…

A new CNN poll of the Senate races in Michigan and Maine found the Democratic candidates leading, though both were within the margin of error, indicating the races remain neck-and-neck in the lead-up to November. In Michigan, Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed led former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) 47%-44%, while in Maine, Democratic nominee Troy Jackson led Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) 48%-45%…

Trump has begun tapping his super PAC’s $400 million war chest through a new group, No Going Back PAC — financially backed by his main super PAC, MAGA Inc. — which has reserved at least $47 million in ads across six contested Senate races and one House race, The New York Times reports. The PAC’s top investments include nearly $15 million in Michigan, $11 million in Ohio and $9.6 million in New Hampshire…

Pakistan transmitted a warning from Saudi Arabia to Iran to rein in its Houthi proxies in Yemen amid an escalation in hostilities between the terror group and Riyadh, Reuters reports. Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Asif also sounded a cautionary note in an interview reminding global actors that attacks on Saudi Arabia could now trigger its mutual defense pact with Pakistan and Turkey…

The International Atomic Energy Agency’s board of governors voted today for the first time in two decades to report Iran to the U.N. Security Council for violating its nuclear nonproliferation obligations, diplomats told Reuters. The move marks an escalation that opens Iran to possible U.N. sanctions, though Russia and China’s vetoes on the UNSC make actual punitive action unlikely…

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar inaugurated the first Israeli Embassy in the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana…

Israel and the Palestinian technocratic committee governing Gaza have successfully vetted roughly 16,500 Palestinians to serve in the Board of Peace’s new police force, though Jerusalem has not yet given its approval for the recruits to leave the Gaza Strip for training, two Board of Peace officials told The Times of Israel…

Reps. Brad Schneider (D-IL), Craig Goldman (R-TX), Ann Wagner (R-MO), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), Jimmy Panetta (D-CA) and Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) urged Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to take steps to ensure Hamas cannot “exploit” economic instability in the West Bank, raising concerns about Israel’s decision to withhold tax revenues from the Palestinian Authority…

Former Secretary of State Tony Blinken rejected as “complete fiction” a Haaretz report that he delayed an offer by Hamas immediately after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks to release some of the hostages it had captured…

White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff earned more than $100 million — including nearly $69 million in cash and $38 million in crypto — from the trust that owns his stake in World Liberty Financial, the cryptocurrency venture he co-founded with Trump and his family in 2024, according to a new financial disclosure…

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for reactions from Texas officials and Jewish leaders to the decision by the University of Texas’ Democratic student group to host far-left streamer Hasan Piker on campus later this month.

The GOP midterm convention, which offers a test of whether President Donald Trump can boost the prospects of Republicans in competitive general election races, concludes tomorrow with closing remarks from the president and a keynote address from Vice President JD Vance.

Also speaking at the summit tomorrow are Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), Michigan GOP Senate nominee Mike Rogers, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., former White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and Donald Trump Jr.

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

U.K. Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband announced a sweeping new sanctions regime today targeting Israeli settlements in the West Bank, marking a major escalation in Britain’s diplomatic stance toward Israel, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports.

Addressing the House of Commons, Miliband unveiled an import ban on goods produced in settlements alongside targeted sanctions against individuals and corporations involved in constructing, advertising or financing settlement expansion. Miliband went further than any previous British official in accusing Israeli settlers of carrying out “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians in the West Bank and calling them “terrorists” with the tacit backing of the Israeli government…

Denouncing what he described as a “hostile sanctions package,” Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said Israel would be taking swift retaliatory measures, including closing the British Consulate in Jerusalem, expelling British representatives from the U.S.-backed International Gaza Support Center, terminating the British Support Team in Ramallah tasked with training members of the Palestinian Authority Security Forces and barring 12 British officials, including former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who are “involved in antisemitic and anti-Israel activity”…

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters about Miliband’s announcement, “Obviously, we’re not going to do what the U.K. did,” but declined to comment further. He said Washington and London “share the goal of stability” and “don’t want to see some uptick in violence” in the West Bank…

All the while, Israel Space Agency head Shimrit Maman met today in Brussels with Ekaterina Zaharieva, the European commissioner for startups, research and innovation, as more European countries turn to Israel for their defense technology needs and as the EU looks to increase its presence in space. The moves mark a shift from 2024, when a plan for an EU air-defense shield was reportedly scrapped as officials realized they would need to rely on Israeli technology to construct it…

CENTCOM carried out strikes near Iran’s Kharg Island this afternoon, including on Iranian oil tankers, a U.S. official told Fox News. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps threatened to retaliate against U.S. forces in the region…

The Treasury Department announced sanctions today against 27 Iranian airlines as well as several front companies, foreign intermediaries and other aviation-related actors for supporting the regime’s illicit activities…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office denied reports that he was warned by the UAE ahead of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks: “If there was any relevant information, it was passed through intelligence channels between the two countries,” the PMO said.

Meanwhile, an Emirati source confirmed to The Times of Israel that UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed personally transmitted the warning in a phone call to Netanyahu days ahead of the attacks…

A coalition of Michigan rabbis and Jewish leaders launched a petition laying out their five “nonnegotiables” for candidates to receive their backing, an effort ostensibly aimed at Democratic Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed.

The list includes a candidate’s support for Jewish safety, including for Zionist Jews; for Jews to be able to define their own identities, including a connection to the State of Israel; for Israel’s existence as a Jewish state; for full Jewish participation in American political life; and for an affirmative vision for the Middle East moving forward…

In a letter obtained by JI’s Emily Jacobs, Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) urged President Donald Trump to establish an expedited legal pathway for Jewish Canadians to obtain refugee status in the United States amid rising antisemitism in their home country…

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced today the release of $70 million in state hate crimes funding to “fortify” religious facilities across the state — as well as a “surge” in police presence — as the High Holy Days begin this weekend, JI’s Will Bredderman reports.

Nearly 300 schools, houses of worship and civic groups — not exclusively Jewish ones — will receive grants of up to $250,000 each for cameras, alarms, security training and cybersecurity enhancements…

Spotted at the “Freedom 250” celebration hosted by the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem and the Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem today to celebrate the American semiquincentennial were U.S. Ambassdor to Israel Mike Huckabee and his wife, Janet; former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman; Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana; Miriam Adelson; Museum of Tolerance chair and co-founder Larry Mizel; former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren; National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir; Argentine Ambassador to Israel Rabbi Shimon Axel Wahnish; Meta’s Jordana Cutler; United Hatzalah President Eli Beer; venture capitalist Eric Reiner; businessman Simon Falic; and singer Ishay Ribo, who performed for the guests…

The 59th season premiere of CBS News’ “60 Minutes” this Sunday will feature an interview with one of the officers who was shot down in his F-15 fighter jet over Iran in April. The officer, known as “Dude 44,” will be interviewed by correspondent Norah O’Donnell in his first on-camera sitdown…

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for an interview with Elliot Kaufman and Yonah Jeremy Bob on their new book, In the War Room: The Inside Story of Israel’s Fight Against Hamas and the Iranian Axis.

The Republican National Committee will kick off its first-ever midterm convention tomorrow afternoon in Dallas, with dozens of candidates and elected officials scheduled to speak over the two days of programming.

President Donald Trump will deliver the keynote address tomorrow night (as well as closing remarks on Thursday), with additional remarks throughout the convention by Vice President JD Vance; Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent; Attorney General Todd Blanche; House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA); Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Jon Husted (R-OH) and Dave McCormick (R-PA); Texas attorney general and Senate candidate Ken Paxton; Georgia Senate nominee Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA); Michigan Senate nominee Mike Rogers; and North Carolina Senate nominee Michael Whatley.

Some GOP candidates in tight races, including Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), former Sen. John Sununu (R-NH) and Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK), will not be attending the convention, in what appears to be a pointed effort to keep their distance from Trump.

The MEAD conference, a summit of government officials, policymakers and leaders in Middle East policy, will conclude in Washington tomorrow. Representatives from 24 countries, including several that have no diplomatic relations with Israel, are reportedly in attendance.

The Israeli Embassy in Washington will host its Rosh Hashanah celebration tomorrow evening.

New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin and Comptroller Mark Levine will walk the runway at the Metropolitan Opera House during Style Across the Aisle, where they will be dressed by Jewish designers Elie Tahari and Yosel Tiefenbrun.

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social today that the Navy informed him that “all mines have been removed and/or detonated” in the Strait of Hormuz, and that the U.S. has notified Iran “that any ship or boat placing new mines will be immediately and systematically destroyed.” The U.S. Space Force is monitoring the strait as well as Iran’s nuclear sites, including Pickaxe Mountain, for any suspicious activity, he added…

Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said following a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Tehran today that he is hopeful the two countries “will soon announce a temporary corridor for the Strait of Hormuz and practical arrangements to restore safe navigation,” while continuing to work towards a permanent agreement on administering the waterway. The Omani Foreign Ministry further specified that the parties aim to establish a joint effort to clear the strait of mines — despite Trump’s announcement that all have been cleared…

The State Department is preparing to send some foreign service officers and other diplomats back to work at embassies in Israel, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Oman, Iraq and Kuwait that were evacuated or had staffing reductions during the Iran war, according to a State Department document obtained by The New York Times, potentially indicating the Trump administration does not expect hostilities to resume…

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar announced that Israel has expelled officials from the Netherlands from the military and humanitarian coordination hub for Gaza located in Kiryat Gat due to “a series of anti-Israel moves by the Dutch government,” including a new law prohibiting trade with Israeli settlements in the West Bank…

Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed doubled down on his anti-Israel rhetoric during an event at a Dearborn church today, Jewish Insider‘s Matthew Kassel reports, a day after the nominee drew renewed scrutiny over his ongoing association with antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker.

El-Sayed declined to confirm if he hopes to win an endorsement from state Sen. Jeremy Moss — a Jewish Democratic nominee for a congressional seat in the Detroit area who is a key holdout in offering his backing — and said that his support for ending aid to Israel is “about making sure that in our foreign policy, we substantiate equal rights to peace, dignity and self-determination for Palestinian folk”…

Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) was named ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa, where he said he will “work to strengthen America’s relationships with Israel and our Gulf allies.”

A source familiar with the situation told JI’s Marc Rod that, since outgoing ranking member Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) would have been unable to remain in the post next year, he decided to give up the position early to help support Moskowitz in his reelection race — in a South Florida district with a substantial pro-Israel constituency where the leadership position will further bolster Moskowitz’s profile — and to pass off committee leadership to a preferred successor….

A new New York Times/Philadelphia Inquirer/Siena University poll released today found that nearly half of voters in Pennsylvania view Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Jewish Democrat mulling a presidential bid in 2028, as “about right on support of Israel,” even as he has faced skepticism from the far left over his pro-Israel views, JI’s Matthew Kassel reports. Sixty percent of Democrats said they were satisfied with his support for the Jewish state; 39% of Republicans said the same, while another 40% said he is not supportive enough…

The Department of Justice announced today that a 26-year-old Ohio man had been arrested and charged for sending an email threatening to kill Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) and his family, saying he would behead the Jewish congressman and calling him a Nazi, JI’s Marc Rod reports…

The IDF said it views with “utmost severity” an incident involving far-right MK Zvi Sukkot and his aides who, during a requested tour of the Palestinian town of Madama, attacked a memorial — dubbed the “Martyrs’ Monument” — with a sledgehammer, an incident which was captured on video. The IDF said the tour participants “acted deceptively and manipulatively” while accompanied by IDF soldiers “who had been diverted from their operational activities for this purpose … while the IDF is operating under significant operational strain”…

The Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdish group that was backed by the U.S. in the fight against ISIS, has officially dissolved, SDF head Mazloum Abdi announced at the presidential palace in Damascus today. The group has completed its merger into the Syrian army under President Ahmad al-Sharaa, Abdi said — the culmination of a fraught integration process that followed months of deadly clashes between government and Kurdish forces…

Assouline, the luxury publisher known for turning global cities into vibrant $100 coffee-table books, has focused its lens on several Middle Eastern capitals over the years — most recently Beirut. But out of hundreds of titles spanning the globe, not a single Israeli city has made the cut, despite co-founder Prosper Assouline‘s Moroccan Jewish roots, JI’s Haley Cohen reports…

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at how Jewish leaders are viewing Rep. Jamie Raskin‘s (D-MD) investigation into the Trump administration’s efforts to crack down on campus antisemitism.

Israeli singer Omer Adam will marry his partner Sacha Israelovich at a converted 14th-century Christian monastery in the Italian seaside village of Portofino tomorrow, after having held a civil ceremony today. Hassidic singer Motty Steinmetz is expected to perform at the celebration, reportedly prompting gender-segregated seating for the guests.

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced this afternoon that the Trump administration is launching “Operation Economic Outcast” against Iran, an effort aimed at severing Tehran’s global economic ties in order to “collapse every last option” for the regime, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports.

The Treasury Department designated over 60 entities, individuals and vessels “that enable the Iranian regime to procure illicit nuclear and missile technology, conduct cyber operations and generate oil revenue,” Bessent said, while President Donald Trump “is making phone calls to world leaders with specific requests to cease their interactions with the regime”…

The Treasury Department also redesignated Hezbollah, already a Foreign Terrorist Organization, for acting as a proxy of the Iranian regime under the direction of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and sanctioned 10 individuals who were part of a network transferring funds to Hezbollah through couriers on commercial flights between Lebanon, Turkey, the UAE and Iran…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed today that Iran tried to assassinate one of his sons: “Iran tried to kill, to murder one of my sons,” he said in an interview with Israel’s Channel 14, without specifying which of his two sons was the target…

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) today denounced comments by antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker claiming that Jews are inviting antisemitic attacks against themselves by supporting Israel, JI’s Marc Rod reports.

Jeffries wrote on X that the “malicious claim that American Jews are inviting violence against themselves is dangerous and antisemitic,” without naming Piker directly. “We will fight the cancer of antisemitism with the fierce urgency of now,” he said…

Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, meanwhile, distanced himself from Piker but did not name him nor address the substance of his comments.

El-Sayed insisted that “nobody speaks for this campaign besides me and my campaign spokespeople,” despite having campaigned prominently with Piker, and went on to downplay Piker as “a Twitch streamer” who will not define the race or his campaign. He did not say whether his or his campaign’s relationship with Piker will change going forward…

Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-MI) condemned Piker outright, calling him “a hack who thrives on hate, shock and awe because he lacks substance.” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), who has previously appeared on Piker’s show, also rejected the streamer’s comments, telling JI’s Marc Rod that “Jews are not the cause of [antisemitism]. Neither are people who support Israel. Antisemites are to blame. That’s it”…

Former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) attended three AIPAC-hosted fundraisers in Los Angeles yesterday with another planned for today, according to The New York Times, as reporting emerges about a growing rift between Rogers and the pro-Israel group as he runs for U.S. Senate.

Rogers reportedly told Michael Tuchin, AIPAC’s board chair, that the group should consider whether it is the best messenger against El-Sayed, though he did not explicitly say he did not want its support and its United Democracy Project super PAC is still considering running ads backing Rogers…

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani condemned comments by Brooklyn Democratic leader Carmella Charrington attacking Jewish investors with whom she is engaged in a property dispute as “Zionists” and suggesting some link between her situation and Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank.

“Suggesting that an alleged deed theft in Brooklyn is part of a global conspiracy involving Jewish people is blatant, reprehensible antisemitism. Trafficking in these dangerous antisemitic tropes is vile and inexcusable,” the mayor’s office told JI’s Will Bredderman, after initially avoiding his questions on the issue at a press conference earlier today. However, the administration did not answer a follow-up question about whether the mayor believes Charrington should step aside from her district leader role…

Several leading Jewish and pro-Israel organizations condemned actor Mark Ruffalo for using what they deemed antisemitic rhetoric in his recent social media commentary targeting the Ellison family amid the pending merger of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery, JI’s Haley Cohen reports.

Rabbi Noah Farkas, president and CEO of Jewish Federation Los Angeles, said Ruffalo’s “unhinged rant, which combined Jewish wealth, media control, secret technology and sinister global power, is not legitimate criticism. It draws on recognizable antisemitic tropes with a long and dangerous history”…

As New York magazine continues to come under fire for a recent cover issue depicting the rise of Southwest Asian and North African culture in New York City while taking a hostile view of Israel, the magazine said its editors decided “genocide” is an “accurate description” of Israel’s actions in Gaza and therefore “its use would be allowed in our pages,” claiming that “accusations of antisemitic intent” in usage of the word “were in fact obfuscating an overwhelming ­scholarly consensus”…

The Trump administration formally revoked Syria’s designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism today at the end of the 45-day congressional notification period, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced, in order to “eliminate the final major barriers for private sector investment in Syria and promote Syria’s economic recovery and reintegration into the global economy.”

Rubio also revoked the designation of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) — a group that Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa led until he assumed the presidency in January 2025 — as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, after having removed HTS from the Foreign Terrorist Organization list last year…

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a preview of tomorrow’s Senate special election runoff in South Carolina, where Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC) still has the backing of much of the GOP establishment, including President Donald Trump, in her race against Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC).

Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Albusaidi is expected to visit Iran tomorrow, as the two countries continue negotiations over administering the Strait of Hormuz amid the announcement of the new U.S. economic campaign against Tehran.

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Stefany Shaheen, the daughter of Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and a candidate for New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional District, launched a TV ad this week hitting her primary opponent, military veteran Maura Sullivan, for receiving $300,000 in donations “bundled from AIPAC donors,” Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

The donations referenced in the ad appear to be from individual donors who have previously contributed to AIPAC, but the pro-Israel group itself has made no endorsement and has not been directly involved in the race…

Michigan Democratic congressional nominee Jeremy Moss declined to endorse his party’s Senate nominee, Abdul El-Sayed, in an interview with Slate: “Abdul’s going to have to demonstrate some serious outreach to Oakland County’s Jewish community,” Moss said. The two candidates have “had an ongoing dialogue,” Moss added, as he said Democrats must ensure that “the liberal Jewish community is not politically homeless”…

Rabbi Asher Lopatin, director of community relations at the Ann Arbor Jewish federation who has been outspoken about the threat he believes El-Sayed poses to the Jewish community, appeared at a “Democrats for Rogers” press conference in Detroit today where he said, “I usually vote Democrat, but I’m gonna be voting for Mike Rogers … I’m sad to say this, that Abdul El-Sayed has made one thing very clear: We cannot let him anywhere near the U.S. Senate”…

A new poll commissioned by AARP found El-Sayed leading Rogers by one percentage point, 48-47%, but voters ages 50 and up were 16 points more likely than younger voters to say they were motivated to participate in the general election — a population that swings heavily towards Rogers. Voters ages 50-64 favored Rogers over El-Sayed 51-46%, and voters above 65 favored the Republican by 13 points (54-41%)…

Asked in a New York Times interview about New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s call for the federal government to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he arrives in the city for the U.N. General Assembly next month, Gov. Kathy Hochul advised the mayor, “Let’s focus on the blocking and tackling of city government. That is where I believe the main focus should be”…

The Trump administration, meanwhile, is weighing in on another official’s appearance at the UNGA: The White House intends to prevent Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas from attending for the second year in a row, a U.S. official told The Times of Israel…

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent explained on CNBC today that in order to implement the new U.S. economic campaign against Iran, the Trump administration will approach “all of our allies” and tell them, “You are either with us or against us.”

“If you insist on doing business with [Iran] — either transferring money, buying their oil, doing seaborne ship transfers — then the U.S. Treasury and the U.S. government will put its full might and force toward enforcing against you,” he added…

The NYT looks at which countries do the most business with Iran and could therefore be hardest hit by the new measures, including China, India and several Middle East nations…

Georgia state Rep. Esther Panitch, the only Jewish member of the state’s Legislature, denounced the Georgia branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations for featuring extremist anti-Israel voices including Zahra Billoo, Ana Kasparian and Cenk Uygur as keynote speakers at its gala next month.

CAIR-GA has “dropped the mask at this point,” Panitch told the Jerusalem News Syndicate. “This is actual straight-out, Nazi-level Protocols of the Elders of Zion kind of antisemitism. They’re doing it, and they can’t say they didn’t know”…

For more than 150 years, Baltimore’s Orthodox Jews have walked to synagogue on Preakness Saturday and listened to the roar of the crowd from Pimlico Race Course less than a mile away, never able to join it. That changes in 2027, when the second jewel in horse racing’s Triple Crown — following the Kentucky Derby and preceding the Belmont Stakes — moves from Saturday to Sunday, finally opening the gates at Pimlico to the local Shabbat-observant community for the first time since the race started in 1873, JI’s Haley Cohen reports…

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at the growing divide between the United States and Israel over how to approach post-Assad Syria.

Despite her recent debate stage snafu, which has led GOP operatives to question her chances in next week’s special runoff election, Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC) is still enjoying the support of the party: Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), the Senate majority whip, is in South Carolina today to support her race, and President Donald Trump will join her in Myrtle Beach for a rally tomorrow.

We’ll be back with the Daily Overtime on Monday. Shabbat shalom!

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Jewish leaders in Michigan are circulating an open letter, obtained by Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel, urging Jewish Democrats and independents in the battleground state to sign their names in support of former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) as he faces Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed in the race for U.S. Senate.

If El-Sayed were to claim victory in the general election, the authors say, “we fear the far-left and anti-Jewish elements in the Democratic party would become dominant … We cannot allow him to become the Democratic standard-bearer or Michigan’s senator”…

California state Sen. Aisha Wahab still holds a narrow lead as of this afternoon over former Dublin, Calif., Mayor Melissa Hernandez in the special election runoff for an East Bay House seat that drew a late surge of outside spending from AIPAC.

With 62% of the vote counted in yesterday’s election, Wahab had 51%, leading Hernandez by two percentage points or 1,356 votes, according to the unofficial initial returns. “We made a race that wasn’t close when we started into a nail-biter,” Patrick Dorton, a spokesperson for AIPAC’s United Democracy Project super PAC, told JI’s Matthew Kassel…

ICE detained a Jewish bridal shop owner and his mother living in Englewood, N.J., a local elected official confirmed today to JI’s Haley Cohen: Ari Ladino and his mother, Chava, who are originally from Bogotá, Colombia, run Luana Rose Modestly in Teaneck — a dress shop specializing in modest special occasion gowns popular among local Orthodox Jewish women. The reason for their arrest remains unclear…

In an interview with The Jerusalem Post today, U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack doubled down on his criticism of Israeli strikes on a Syrian air base earlier in the week, which Israel said had been prompted by Turkish involvement at the base. “Turkish forces were not aware that the Israeli aircraft were en route to that specific Syrian base … [and] could potentially have been inclined to scramble their own jets in the belief that they themselves were under attack,” Barrack said.

He announced that the U.S. is looking to relaunch a deconfliction cell between Israel and Syria, with potential Turkish participation, and downplayed reported Israeli concerns over a specific Turkish radar system said to be deployed at the base. “We remain convinced that this technical requirement need not pose a security concern, and that further conversations can help clarify the matter to everyone’s satisfaction,” Barrack said…

Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, the IDF’s chief of staff, visited Israeli troops in southern Syria today, where he said Israel is “monitoring the changes on the Syrian front” and “know[s] how to use our power precisely where it is needed and when it is needed”…

The IDF announced it is opening an investigation into the killing of 5-year-old Hind Rajab in Gaza in January 2024 after finding that troops had indeed fired at her family’s vehicle as it was traveling opposite the direction of an evacuation route. The military had previously denied responsibility for the incident, which drew global attention and inspired an Oscar-nominated film titled “The Voice of Hind Rajab.”

The IDF will also investigate the killing of 15 rescue workers traveling in emergency vehicles in March 2025, and closed investigations into a strike on a World Central Kitchen convoy and into the deaths of several Doctors Without Borders members, finding that troops’ actions in those incidents did not rise to the level of criminal offenses…

The New York Times examines CENTCOM’s efforts to keep oil traffic flowing through the Strait of Hormuz, including utilizing air- and water-based assets to intercept Iranian drones and missiles targeting commercial traffic.

Beyond protecting tankers loaded with oil, the U.S. military has also reportedly established its own corridor to help empty ships enter the strait, load up and exit largely undetected…

The New York State Department of Financial Services issued a notice warning Holocaust survivors and their families about potential fraud by an organization calling itself the “Jewish Holocaust Claims Center” that is contacting such individuals about their eligibility for compensation…

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at how Sen. Darline Graham‘s (R-SC) debate stage flub on national security may impact her chances in next week’s South Carolina special runoff election for Senate.

Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) and his primary opponent, Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA), will face off in their final debate before the election. Moulton, 47, is mounting a generational challenge to the 80-year-old Markey and has taken an increasingly critical stance against Israel and AIPAC on the campaign trail, while Markey has long staked out staunchly anti-Israel positions.

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social this morning that “There are no talks or conversations going on, or scheduled, with the Islamic Republic of Iran,” directly contradicting a statement from Jared Kushner yesterday that dialogue between the White House and “different areas of the Iranian government” is “probably more robust than it’s maybe ever been”…

U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack, who also serves as special envoy for Syria and Iraq, said on X this morning that he’s “deeply concerned” over what he called “confirmed Israeli airstrikes” on Syria’s Abu al-Duhur Airbase overnight, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports. Israel has not claimed responsibility for the strikes.

“The United States has in the past, and will continue in the future, to host discussions to encourage diplomatic cadence over kinetic frustration for both nations,” Barrack said, calling the incident an “unnecessary escalation that does not advance regional stability.” Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC), who has been a pro-Israel stalwart, also condemned what he called “one-sided aggression”…

U.N. inspectors visited some nuclear sites tied to the deposed Assad regime in Syria this week, the first time that International Atomic Energy Agency officials have been given full access to the sites. Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani said at a press conference with IAEA head Rafael Grossi that nuclear material found at the locations, including several tons of uranium, will be placed “under IAEA safeguards”…

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced sanctions today against Tomoko Akane, president of the International Criminal Court, and Abdoulaye Seye, a senior trial lawyer, as part of the Trump administration’s recently announced campaign to target the body.

Rubio said the two individuals “have directly engaged in efforts by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute officials whose government has not consented to ICC jurisdiction,” likely in reference to Israeli leaders…

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, claimed today that the Trump administration’s probes into campus antisemitism were “fake” and that schools found to have violated federal civil rights law were effectively framed, pointing to whistleblower reports that claimed the administration had manipulated evidence to show violations of law despite lacking sufficient evidence.

Raskin announced that he is launching an investigation of the alleged “misconduct” of the Department of Justice and intends to assess potential changes to Title VI of the Civil Rights Act “in light of this Administration’s shockingly reckless and unethical actions,” JI’s Marc Rod reports…

The DOJ charged a New York man, Larry Montes, with two federal hate crimes charges and one count of destruction of religious property for disrupting Shabbat services at Central Synagogue in Manhattan over the weekend, where he struck a congregant, damaged synagogue property and spat on and headbutted a security guard. Montes has already been charged with hate crimes by local prosecutors…

The DOJ also charged 17 members of the Mabna Institute — an Iran-based company that federal prosecutors say ran a state-sponsored cyber campaign on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps since at least 2013 — with hacking 144 U.S. and 178 foreign universities, dozens of private companies and several U.S. government agencies to steal research, academic data and intellectual property…

The Department of Defense instructed 30 U.S. academic institutions to conduct reviews of their ties with “foreign entities of concern,” threatening future Pentagon funding for research projects if they fail to do so and terminate “problematic partnerships”…

Michigan state Sen. Jeremy Moss, the Democratic nominee in Michigan’s 11th Congressional District, pushed back today against what he alleged was a doctored audio clip circulating online designed to portray him as more loyal to Israel than the United States, JI’s Marc Rod reports.

“There is a manipulated and unsourced audio, with things I never did and never would say, that is nothing more than political disinformation intended to portray me as anti-American,” Moss, who is Jewish, said on X…

Rebecca Weininger, senior regional director of Anti-Defamation League Midwest, called out the Chicago branch of the Democratic Socialists of America’s “fixation on Israel” after the group’s 2027 city council endorsement questionnaire asked local candidates to explain whether they consider themselves anti-Zionists and if they support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.

The group’s outsized focus on the Jewish state, Weininger said, is “not only far removed from the responsibilities and priorities of an alderman, but also risks fueling anti-Jewish sentiment, harassment, and ultimately, violence against Chicago’s Jewish community”…

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) suggested in an interview with The Washington Post that he believes Democrats can still win the Senate even if far-left Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, whom Schumer has endorsed, loses in November, JI’s Marc Rod reports. “A path to winning back the Senate clearly goes through Michigan, but we have a whole bunch of different paths,” Schumer said.

The Senate Majority PAC, a Democratic super PAC, is spending $3 million on a new ad campaign to defeat Republican nominee Mike Rogers, portraying him as a career politician who enriched himself while in Washington…

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for results from today’s key races in Florida and California. Polls close in the Sunshine State at 7 p.m. ET, and in the Golden State at 11 p.m. ET.

Hannan Lis, Brian Hermelin and Rob Orley, three prominent Jewish Democratic bundlers in Michigan, are hosting a fundraiser tonight for the state’s Republican Senate nominee, former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI), as some Jewish Democrats in the Wolverine State consider flipping their votes against Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed. Read Lis’ comments to JI here.

Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) and Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC) will face off in a debate tonight hosted by the South Carolina GOP, a week ahead of their runoff election.

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

A State Department official pushed back on Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz’s comments in southern Lebanon today, where he said the IDF would remain deployed in a security zone, contrary to the agreement signed between Washington, Jerusalem and Beirut.

“The United States expects all parties to act in a manner consistent with the Framework they agreed to, and Israel clearly stated that it has no territorial ambitions in Lebanon. A permanent military presence in South Lebanon is not consistent with the commitments made in the Framework, or the long-term peace and security of both states,” the official told Axios…

Sources told Reuters that Israel and Lebanon have agreed that countries including Britain, Italy, Switzerland and Indonesia could contribute troops to an international force meant to oversee Hezbollah’s disarmament; an Israeli official denied any decisions had been made on the issue…

President Donald Trump continued to boast about the success of the U.S. campaign against Iran, stating again in a post on Truth Social today that the U.S. “has total control over the Strait of Hormuz” and that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is “decimated and fleeing.”

Meanwhile, out of the 166 ships that have transited the strait so far this month — a significant decrease from the average before the war — only two are known to have used the U.S.- and Oman-backed route, according to The Wall Street Journal…

In a rare interview with Western media, top IRGC advisor Mohammad Reza Naqdi told “PBS News Hour” that Iran is prepared to continue hostilities through the end of Trump’s term and accused the U.S. of waging a “war without strategy”…

The New York Times documents the efforts being made by Gulf countries to construct routes to move oil out of the region that do not rely on the Strait of Hormuz…

Board of Peace head Nickolay Mladenov denied in a post in Hebrew today that there is any financial agreement between the board and Hamas, refuting a report by Israeli public broadcaster Kan that the board would cover Hamas’ debts up to $400 million.

The disarmament roadmap states that the new Palestinian technocratic government will “assess the legitimate commitments to suppliers, contractors and other parties — up to a total amount of no more than $400M — and address them”; Mladenov said in his post that such processes “are not channeled through Hamas” and that “all accounts are open to full scrutiny by the donor governments”…

The publisher of the Atlanta Jewish Times, Michael Morris, penned an open letter to Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) today pressing the senator over his repeated votes to block U.S. military sales to Israel, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

“I apologize for being blunt, but please, stop lying to me and your constituents. I hear you claim, over and over again, that you support Israel — that your support is ‘ironclad.’ It is not,” Morris wrote…

Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) denied today that the more than $30 million of support she received from AIPAC’s super PAC in her failed run for U.S. Senate backfired, saying on CNN that those who criticize AIPAC “maybe don’t understand what the group is” and that she’s “proud of the friendships and the relationships I have there [and] the really good Americans” who make up its membership…

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is stepping away from her role at the end of the month, Trump announced today, in order to spend more time with her family. The president said Leavitt will now serve as “one of my top outside advisors”…

Josh Kushner, managing partner of the venture capital firm Thrive Capital, and former Disney CEO Bob Iger have agreed to purchase a controlling interest in the Los Angeles Lakers for a record-breaking price of $12.5 billion, JI’s Matthew Shea reports…

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at local Jewish political organizing efforts in major cities across the country.

The Hudson Institute will hold an event examining the state of the ongoing conflicts in the Gulf with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Behnam Ben Taleblu and Hudson’s Michael Doran, Ludo Hood and Zineb Riboua.

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, insisted today that any agreement reached between Iran and Oman on administering the Strait of Hormuz is separate from Tehran’s broader closure of the waterway, which will only be lifted once the U.S. accedes to Iran’s demands.

Meanwhile, Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, a key mediator between the U.S. and Iran, met today with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Tehran. Islamabad’s defense minister, Khawaja Asif, told Bloomberg that developments are “shaping up again in favor of a peace arrangement”…

CENTCOM said it disabled a Panama-flagged cargo ship sailing toward Iranian ports today by firing two Hellfire missiles into the vessel’s engine room, the third such incident since the U.S. blockade began…

Ed Miliband, who last month was appointed by new U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham to be foreign secretary, said he had a “frank and constructive first call” with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar today, during which the British diplomat raised the issues of settler violence, settlement expansion and the humanitarian situation in Gaza, among others.

The discussion came a day after Miliband met with British Jewish community leaders, who said they were “impressed” by the foreign secretary’s “longer-term commitment to maintaining the conversation”…

Sa’ar announced that Israel and Venezuela have agreed to renew consular relations — establishing a coordination mechanism to provide consular services to each country’s citizens — in the first official channel between the two since Caracas severed diplomatic ties in 2009. The move builds on the Israeli aid delegation dispatched to Venezuela after the June 24 earthquakes…

The Palestinian technocratic committee meant to govern Gaza convened a joint coordination meeting with several U.N. agencies — including the World Food Program, UNICEF and the World Health Organization — as well as representatives from the Board of Peace and former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair’s Institute for Global Change to coordinate on humanitarian aid and reconstruction issues…

Former Mossad head Yossi Cohen said at a conference in Israel today that Israeli operatives have “toured” Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility “many times” in order to “understand” it, and called the U.S. operation to bomb the site during the 12-day war in June 2025 “the fulfillment of all my dreams”…

The NYPD denied that its officers will be accompanying New York City First Lady Rama Duwaji on a trip to Lebanon and Syria next month after City Hall said that, “upon the strong recommendation of the NYPD, the First Lady’s security detail will be joining her” on the trip.

“The NYPD does not send officers to countries with level four travel advisories for discretionary reasons,” the NYPD said today, referring to the State Department’s ranking system that currently designates the two countries as “do not travel” locations. Mayor Zohran Mamdani later said the diverging statements stemmed from a “miscommunication,” and that when his wife makes the trip “it will be without any NYPD detail”…

Democratic Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed has made private over 100 YouTube videos from his time as a podcaster and commentator, CNN reports, including videos in which he lambasted fireworks on the Fourth of July, floated replacing the Second Amendment and voiced support for prison abolition…

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee added Brian Poindexter, the Democratic nominee in Ohio’s 7th Congressional District, to its “Red to Blue” program as he aims to unseat Rep. Max Miller (R-OH). Democratic leadership will offer Poindexter strategic support as the district, previously considered a long shot for Democrats given its GOP leanings, is now seen as a key flip opportunity as Miller navigates accusations of domestic violence by his ex-wife…

The campaign of Francesca Hong, the socialist seen as the front-runner in today’s Democratic primary election for governor of Wisconsin, was rebuffed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) as she sought his endorsement due to her perceived weaknesses as a candidate, Politico reports; her campaign is planning to overhaul its staff to address such issues if she proceeds to the general…

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for results from key primaries taking place today in Minnesota, South Carolina, Connecticut and Wisconsin.

• Voters in Connecticut, Minnesota, Vermont and Wisconsin head to the polls today for party primaries. We’ll be keeping a close eye on the Senate and gubernatorial Democratic primaries in Wisconsin and Minnesota as the far left makes gains in the party. More below on the races we’re watching.
• In addition, South Carolina and Alabama are holding special elections. In the Palmetto State, Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC) is running for a full term, which she announced after being tapped to serve out the remainder of her brother’s term following his death last month.
• In Washington, Ken Marcus, the founder and chairman of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, is slated to testify before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for a hearing about rules requiring employers to provide yearly reports breaking down their workforce by race, sex and ethnicity.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S JOSH KRAUSHAAR

Today’s Democratic primaries in Connecticut, Minnesota, Vermont and Wisconsin won’t have the same shock value as previous contests that underscored the strength of the anti-establishment, anti-Israel forces within the party. 

But the possibility of Minnesota Democrats nominating a true-blue progressive over a battle-tested moderate lawmaker as their Senate standard-bearer, along with the growing likelihood suburban voters will reject a pragmatist for a left-wing candidate, may well demonstrate just how far left the party has swung in the past year.  

Add to that the likelihood that Democratic Socialists of America-aligned candidate Francesca Hong will emerge as the party’s gubernatorial nominee in Wisconsin — providing a spotlight for the socialist group’s governing philosophy in the biggest of battleground states — and the stakes remain awfully high for the Democratic Party tonight.

There’s also a fascinating contest in Connecticut, where Rep. John Larson (D-CT), a former member of House leadership, is facing a real threat from former Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin. The primary isn’t as neatly driven by ideological differences as it is along generational lines (Larson is 78, Bronin 47), but Larson has been a reliable supporter of Israel during his congressional career, while Bronin has tacked to his left on the issue during the campaign. 

It’s very possible that the left wing of the party ends up with a clean, four-race sweep in these contests. 

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

Reality Bites: The New York Times’ Anton Troianovski looks at the challenges facing President Donald Trump as he tries to wind down the wars in both Iran and Gaza. “The two Middle East conflicts have underscored Mr. Trump’s eagerness to declare success and his inability to impose his will on them, despite the enormous military firepower that he has been able to deploy. Mr. Trump is ‘clearly trying to find a pathway as the midterms approach to downgrade all of this,’ said Brian Katulis, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, a Washington think tank. Instead, Mr. Katulis went on, ‘reality is slapping him in the face.’” [NYTimes]

August Recess: In The Wall Street Journal, presidential historian Tevi Troy explores the history of presidents seeking refuge from the humid August weather in Washington. “These and other instances remind us that even though August is a time to relax, it can also be a time of peril, for presidents and their staff alike. In his memoir of his time in Jimmy Carter’s White House, aide Stuart Eizenstat grumbled on multiple occasions about people being off in August during important events. …On another occasion, U.S. Ambassador to Iran William Sullivan took a long summer vacation in 1978, when Iran was on the path to a revolution against the shah, an important American ally.” [WSJ]

Brothers in Arms: In The Washington Post, singer John Ondrasik, known as Five for Fighting, expresses solidarity with Boy George after the artist received backlash over his new song supporting Israel. “What makes Boy George so enraging to the haters is that he, like me, is not Jewish. That fact sends a signal: This is not a religious battle but a moral one. One of good versus evil, without relativity or equivocation. To the haters, that means Boy George must be ridiculed, marginalized or intimidated, lest he give license to others who might have been cowed into not voicing their support for the Jewish people. In 1982, Boy George, with Culture Club, released the hit song ‘Do You Really Want to Hurt Me.’ In this battle for civilization, the answer is, indisputably, yes.” [WashPost]

Find more Worthy Reads in our Live Briefing via our new app (on Apple and Android) and website.

The Washington Post reports that President Donald Trump was clandestinely flown out of Turkey on a small military jet following last month’s NATO summit in Ankara; the president had previously been filmed entering an older Air Force One plane — moving to the smaller plane via catering truck after photos were taken — after the recently gifted Qatari luxury jet he flew on to Turkey was not deemed to have the requisite security features…

The International Atomic Energy Agency will remove nuclear material stored at a secret site in Syria tied to the fallen Assad regime per an agreement reached between the U.S., Jerusalem and Damascus…

The Wall Street Journal reports that Gulf states are resigned to the idea that Iran will have permanent control over the Strait of Hormuz as part of a deal with the U.S., preferring that outcome to war…

Responding to a recent demand from Iran that the U.S. fully compensate it for its war costs in order to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, Trump issued his own demand on Monday that Tehran compensate the U.S. “for all of the people that they have killed and gravely wounded with their roadside bombs and many conflicts,” as well as pay reparations to the “families of the hundreds of thousands of innocent protestors that Iran has killed over the last 50 years”…

The Defense Department renamed a South Carolina military base in honor of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who died last month; Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth attended the ceremony at the Charleston base to honor Graham, who served in the Air Force JAG Corps before retiring as a colonel…

The Cook Political Report switched its rating of the congressional race in Ohio’s 7th District to a “toss-up” from “likely Republican” after Rep. Max Miller (R-OH), who is facing allegations of domestic violence, passed the deadline to withdraw from the race; Miller denies the accusations from his ex-wife, whose father, Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH), has called for Miller to resign…

Politico reports that White House officials, convinced Miller would not drop his reelection bid, dissuaded Ohio Republican leaders from launching a public campaign against Miller; the report comes as national Democrats step up support for Miller’s general election challenger, Brian Poindexter…

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said that Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed should “tone down his rhetoric” about Israel and AIPAC in order to help combat antisemitism within the party…

Two hundred Jewish community activists, rabbis, professionals and academics have signed a petition to the chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party, urging him to take security measures to protect Jewish delegates at the upcoming party convention; Nessel said last month that antisemitism in the state — and in the statewide Democratic Party — had gotten so bad that she will not attend the convention this month… 

A national co-chair of the Democratic Socialists of America said last week that she would have attended an anti-Israel rally in Times Square one day after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks had she been in New York City at the time, describing the terror group’s slaughter of more than 1,200 people across southern Israel as “inevitable,” JI’s Gabby Deutch reports…

A group of rabbis from several denominations urged New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Monday to dial down his rhetoric on Israel, warning him about the impact it is having on the safety of the city’s Jews, during a private meeting at City Hall…

The family of journalist Cara Trager, who was killed in a hit-and-run crash in Queens by a driver who weeks earlier had vandalized a Jewish-owned bagel shop, is calling on elected officials to make greater efforts to address hate crimes…

Apple reached a $150,000 settlement with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission over a complaint filed on behalf of a Jewish employee who said his request to take time off for Jewish holidays was denied and he was fired shortly after making the ask…

Former Australian Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, who is Jewish, said he was not called to testify before the country’s royal commission into antisemitism, despite being a leader of the country’s Jewish community and a major advocate of the commission’s creation…

A Syrian court sentenced former President Bashar al-Assad and his brother Maher to death in absentia for war crimes and crimes against humanity; both men are living in Russia, where they fled as the Assad regime fell in late 2024…

Colombia’s Foreign Ministry announced Bogota’s recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, days after conservative President Abelardo de la Espriella was sworn in; the announcement came shortly after a 7.4 magnitude earthquake shook the western part of the country, killing more than 100 people and prompting messages of condolences from Israeli officials…

On Sunday night, mental health nonprofit Ohel Children’s Home and Family Services, Inc. agreed to hand its winning bid for Camp Lavi in Lakewood, Pa., to the second-place bidder, ensuring that the Modern Orthodox camp would continue operating in its current format. But just before the tentative agreement was to be legally recognized on Monday morning, the second-place bidder said he would not offer his original bid, scuttling the deal and throwing the fate of the camp into limbo, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Jay Deitcher has learned… 

Miriam Belsky has been appointed executive vice president of the TruBob Fund, a new national initiative supporting Jewish day schools established by philanthropists Trudy Elbaum Gottesman and Robert W. Gottesman…

Find on-demand Live Briefing updates throughout the day via our new app (on Apple and Android) and website.

The U.K.’s Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council met on Monday with Ed Miliband, who was appointed last month as foreign secretary under Prime Minister Andy Burnham.

Co-founder and CEO of Israeli interactive video firm Eko, Yoni Bloch turns 45… 

Longtime Democratic Party activist in N.Y.’s Orange and Rockland counties, Doris Feder turns 94… Architect best known for the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin and the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., Peter David Eisenman turns 94… Former member of the U.S. House of Representatives, she also served as Brooklyn DA and NYC comptroller, Elizabeth Holtzman turns 85… Principal of Investors Research Group based in Los Angeles, Jacob S. Segal… Former SVP for international affairs at the Jewish Federation of Los Angeles, Lois Weinsaft… Co-founder of The Carlyle Group, in 2024 he became the principal owner of MLB’s Baltimore Orioles, David Rubenstein turns 77… U.S. trade representative during the Clinton administration, she is chair of Parkside Global Advisors, Ambassador Charlene Barshefsky turns 76… Senior counsel for benefits and employment at the Wagner Law Group, Linda E. Rosenzweig… Lenore Solomon… Artistic director and choreographer of an eponymous dance company based in Union, N.J., Carolyn Dorfman… CEO, chairman and major shareholder of the Russian gas company Novatek, Leonid Mikhelson turns 71… Board member emeritus of AIPAC, Jeffrey Snyder… Former member of the Massachusetts Senate, he is the founder of Cape Air, Daniel A. “Dan” Wolf turns 69… Publisher of Yated Ne’eman, a weekly English-language Haredi newspaper and magazine based in New Jersey, Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz turns 68… Israeli minister of regional cooperation, David “Dudi” Amsalem turns 66… Co-founder and partner of MizMaa Ventures and wine columnist for Jewish Insider, Isaac “Yitz” Applbaum… Chairman at Duty Free Americas, his family owns Israel’s Psagot Winery, Simon Falic… Former chief of the Shin Bet/Shabak, Nadav Argaman turns 66… Staff writer at The Atlantic, David Brooks turns 65… Host of “The Joe Rogan Experience,” Joe Rogan turns 59… Senior advisor at The Aspen Institute, Ilana Marcus Drimmer… Clarinetist who performs internationally as a soloist, Sharon Kam turns 55… MLB pitcher for seven teams, he has also been the pitching coach for Team Israel, Andrew Lorraine turns 54… NFL offensive lineman for four seasons, he is now the managing partner of Oakland, Calif.-based North Venture Partners, Alex Bernstein turns 51… Chief investment officer and CEO of Toronto-based investment firm Murchinson, Marc Bistricer… NFL punter for seven seasons with the Jaguars and Bears, he was then a financial advisor in the Jacksonville office of Merrill Lynch, Adam Podlesh turns 43… Reporter for Mishpacha Magazine, known as Turx, Avraham Yaakov Tarkieltaub turns 40… Ukrainian-born and San Francisco-raised journalist and copywriter, Yelena Shuster… Complex general surgical oncology fellow at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Sara Ginzberg, M.D…. Daniel Weitz…