Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

The White House has told Republicans that President Donald Trump will not pull the nomination of Amer Ghalib, the mayor of Hamtramck, Mich., to be U.S. ambassador to Kuwait and wants the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to hold a vote on his candidacy, despite the growing bipartisan opposition to his nomination, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports.

White House officials have communicated to committee Republicans in recent days that Trump would not withdraw Ghalib’s nomination because the president credits the Democratic Hamtramck mayor with helping him win the state of Michigan in the 2024 presidential election by turning out the state’s Arab American vote, two sources familiar with the ongoing discussions told JI.

“If Trump wants his friend to go down that way, that’s OK. He can go down that way,” one Republican on the committee said, expressing confidence that Ghalib had no path to advance out of committee…

Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY), who represents a Long Island-based swing district on the outskirts of New York City, today endorsed former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the general election for New York City mayor. Suozzi had endorsed Cuomo in the Democratic primary and announced last month that he would not be endorsing Zohran Mamdani after he secured the party’s nomination.

In Suozzi’s decision to re-up his support for Cuomo, now running as an independent, less than a week out from the election, he distanced himself from Mamdani’s political leanings: “I’m a Democratic Capitalist, not a Democratic Socialist. I endorse Andrew Cuomo. I can not back a declared socialist with a thin resume to run the most complex city in America”…

Time magazine profiles New York City Mayor Eric Adams, where he recalls hosting Mamdani and his father, Mahmood Mamdani — a professor at Columbia University with a long record of anti-Israel commentary — for dinner in 2023. “The frightening thing is, he really believes this stuff! Globalize the intifada, there’s nothing wrong with that! He believes, you know, I don’t have anything against Jews, I just don’t like Israel. Well, who’s in Israel, bro?” Adams said…

Elsewhere in New York, the Democratic race to clinch the nomination for retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY)’s seat gained another candidate today: Cameron Kasky, a Jewish gun control activist who survived the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in 2018. Kasky, who recently started co-hosting the “For You Pod” with The Bulwark, frequently criticizes Israel and AIPAC in public statements, including accusing Israel of carrying out a genocide in Gaza and not being committed to the ongoing ceasefire with Hamas.

The field to succeed Nadler, a progressive Jewish lawmaker whose district has one of the largest Jewish constituencies in the country, has already drawn several candidates, including his former longtime aide, Micah Lasher…

Another candidate with harsh words for AIPAC is Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA), challenging Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) for his seat. Moulton, considered more moderate than Markey, continued to appeal to his left flank this week, appearing on a podcast hosted by Jack Cocchiarella, a self-described “progressive Gen Z political commentator” who frequently engages in harsh criticism of Israel on social media. 

Moulton — who recently decided to return AIPAC’s donations and pledged not to take its support going forward — said his split with the group could continue to feature in the race depending “a lot on what happens in Gaza and Israel. … I certainly hope … we don’t resort to more violence, and if that’s the case, I think we’ll be able to talk about other issues in this campaign. Sadly, if it’s not, then I’m sure this will keep coming up.”

Moulton did not push back on Cocchiarella’s assertion that AIPAC, which he said has ties to the “Netanyahu regime,” should “be registered as a foreign lobby.” (Accusations from both political fringes that AIPAC — whose members are American citizens — constitutes a foreign influence operation have often invoked antisemitic dual loyalty tropes)…

The Anti-Defamation League today removed a section called “Protect Civil Rights” from its “What We Do” webpage, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reports, shortly after it pulled down its “Glossary of Extremism and Hate” amid conservative attacks on the organization. The group appears to be pivoting after FBI Director Kash Patel recently cut the bureau’s ties with the ADL, calling it “an extreme group functioning like a terrorist organization”…

Spotted in Riyadh, Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa spoke today at the Future Investment Initiative summit, with front-row spectators Donald Trump Jr. and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman…

Also in the region, U.S. envoy Morgan Ortagus visited Lebanon today to push the Lebanese government to speed up efforts to disarm Hezbollah, with a goal of total disarmament by the end of the year, The New York Times reports.

The Lebanese Armed Forces have seized 10,000 rockets and 400 missiles from the terror group as part of disarmament efforts already, though Israeli and American officials told the Times it’s not sufficient, with Hezbollah moving to rebuild its stockpile…

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider tomorrow morning for an interview with California Democratic state Sen. Scott Weiner, running to replace former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who is rumored to be announcing her retirement plans shortly.

Tomorrow, the N7 Foundation and Polaris National Security Foundation are hosting the invite-only Washington Prosperity Summit, with attendees including Trump administration officials, bipartisan lawmakers, foreign dignitaries from the Middle East and business executives, “to explore policies to advance prosperity in the region.”

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is hosting its 2025 Humanitarian Award Dinner in Los Angeles tomorrow, honoring Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, CNN anchor Dana Bash, Oct. 7 survivor Aya Meydan and former Israeli hostage Omer Shem Tov. Director Steven Spielberg will present Zaslav with this year’s Humanitarian Award, the center’s highest honor. 

In Washington, Sony Pictures Entertainment, the Motion Picture Association and the German Embassy will host a special screening of “Nuremberg,” a new feature film on the Nuremberg Trials. 

Also tomorrow, the World Zionist Congress wraps up in Jerusalem and the Future Investment Initiative summit comes to a close in Riyadh.

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today ordered the IDF to “immediately carry out forceful strikes in the Gaza Strip” after Hamas terrorists opened fire on Israeli troops in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

Hamas, in response, said it is postponing the release of a hostage body meant to be turned over to Israel today. Yesterday, Hamas staged the recovery of hostage remains that it reburied before handing to the Red Cross, caught on film by the IDF, which turned out to be partial remains belonging to a hostage who was already recovered by the Israeli army in 2023. Netanyahu said the act “constitute[d] a clear violation of the [ceasefire] agreement.”

Israeli officials told Axios that Netanyahu initially sought approval for action against Hamas from President Donald Trump, who is currently traveling in Asia, before moving forward, but there’s “no indication” the two leaders spoke before Netanyahu’s announcement on today’s strikes…

A senior Israeli official told Israel Hayom that Saudi Arabia has scaled back its participation in ceasefire talks after far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich made a disparaging comment last week on Saudi-Israel normalization, if it were to require the establishment of a Palestinian state. The statement (“No thank you, keep riding camels in the desert”) prompted blowback and he apologized shortly after.

“It’s not only because of Smotrich, but his comments certainly pushed [the Saudis] in that direction,” the official told the outlet. “Israel is now dealing with a bloc that includes Turkey, Qatar and Egypt — countries interested in preserving Hamas’ role in Gaza to varying degrees and refusing to pressure it to disarm”…

The Wall Street Journal traveled to an IDF outpost on the “yellow line” demarcating where Israeli troops have pulled back in Gaza. Israel is working on building water and electricity infrastructure and new aid hubs in the area and believes the entire line, which sits on high ground by design, is defensible from Hamas, Israeli officials told the Journal…

With a week to go until Election Day in the New York City mayoral race, new video has surfaced of Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani invoking antisemitic rhetoric shortly before the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks. 

Speaking at a Democratic Socialists of America convention in August 2023, Mamdani said, “For anyone to care about these issues, we have to make them hyper local. We have to make clear that when the boot of the NYPD is on your neck, it’s been laced by the IDF.” The idea that police brutality in the United States is caused by law enforcement training or coordination with Israel is a modern antisemitic trope.

Mamdani continued, “We are in a country where those connections abound, especially in New York City. You have so many opportunities to make clear the ways in which that struggle over there [Israel], is tied to capitalist interests over here”…

Meanwhile, The New York Times reports on the super PACs backing former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo for mayor, which have raised him more than $40 million over the course of the election — compared to $10 million raised by super PACs for Mamdani and $1 million for Curtis Sliwa, the Republican nominee.

“The donors to the pro-Cuomo super PACs have included Michael R. Bloomberg, the former mayor; William Lauder, the chair of the Estée Lauder Companies; Ronald Lauder, the president of the World Jewish Congress; Bill Ackman, the investor; Steve Wynn, the casino investor; Daniel Loeb, the hedge fund manager; Barry Diller, the chairman of IAC; and Joe Gebbia, the co-founder of Airbnb,” the Times reports.

Bloomberg, who spent at least $8 million attempting to defeat Mamdani in the Democratic primary, met with him last month after he clinched the party’s nomination. Bloomberg was careful to note it was not an endorsement meeting, but rather a discussion on policy and staffing if Mamdani is elected mayor…

On the Hill, the nomination of Amer Ghalib, the mayor of Hamtramck, Mich., to be U.S. ambassador to Kuwait is facing what appear to be insurmountable odds as opposition to his confirmation grows among Senate Republicans, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports.

Senators on both sides of the aisle had privately expressed reservations about Ghalib’s nomination prior to his rocky confirmation hearing in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week, but his attempts to evade responsibility for his support of antisemitic positions prompted several Republicans on the committee to go public. 

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) announced at the end of Ghalib’s hearing last Thursday that he would not be able to support moving his nomination out of committee to the Senate floor. Sens. John Curtis (R-UT), John Cornyn (R-TX) and Dave McCormick (R-PA) have since followed suit. Others on the panel, including Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-NE), have said they plan to raise their concerns about Ghalib with the committee chairman, Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID), and the White House…

Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY) will introduce a resolution this week affirming Israel’s sovereignty over the Temple Mount and demanding equal freedom of worship for all, JI’s Emily Jacobs scooped. 

The resolution, if adopted, would put the House of Representatives on record as affirming “the inalienable right of the Jewish people to full access [of] the Temple Mount and the right to pray and worship on the Temple Mount, consistent with the principles of religious freedom.”

The current Israeli position, however, that Netanyahu has consistently affirmed, is to maintain the status quo at the holy site, which restricts Jewish prayer…

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), who led the the memorable questioning of university presidents at a House Education Committee hearing in December 2023, is coming out with a new book, titled Poisoned Ivies: The Inside Account of the Academic and Moral Rot at America’s Elite Universities, on April 7, 2026…

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider tomorrow morning for reaction in Washington to Israel’s latest strikes in Gaza in response to Hamas’ ceasefire violations.

Tomorrow, the Future Investment Initiative continues its ninth annual conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

In the evening, the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington is hosting its 2025 annual gala. Honorees include former Rep. David Trone (D-MD) and his wife, June, who is a JCRC board member; Behnam Dayanim, attorney and JCRC vice president; and Eva Davis, a realtor and co-chair of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington’s Network Council.

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced today that President Donald Trump invited him to the White House on Sept. 29, after the prime minister’s Sept. 26 speech at the U.N. General Assembly in New York. This will be Netanyahu’s fourth visit to the White House during Trump’s second term…

At the same press conference, Netanyahu attempted to walk back comments he made yesterday about Israel needing to look towards a self-sufficient, or “autarkic,” economy after the Israeli market reacted negatively, saying that it was a “misunderstanding.” 

Netanyahu pointed out the performance of the Israeli stock market and the shekel, unemployment numbers and foreign investment into the country as signs of economic strength, and said he had specifically been speaking about the Israeli defense industry, which has been impacted by western European arms embargoes…

As the IDF begins its takeover of Gaza City, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, the IDF’s chief of staff, responded to concerns about the safety of the remaining hostages, many of whom are thought to be held in the city, in a statement on the operation, saying, “I want to emphasize: the return of our hostages is a war aim and a national and moral commitment.”

Noa Argamani, a former hostage whose boyfriend, Avinatan Or, remains held in Gaza after they were kidnapped together on Oct. 7 from the Nova Music Festival, said on X, “I cannot breathe watching the fighting inside Gaza City. As a former hostage, I know exactly what these moments feel like. The booming blasts, the gunfire, the walls shaking, the helplessness and despair that take over. The emotions come rushing back all at once, and it is unbearable. Right now, I fear deeply for Avinatan’s life”…

In a view from the U.S., former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro said that as of May 2024, concessions that the U.S. would make to Saudi Arabia in exchange for Saudi-Israel normalization were “all but finished,” having continued to be negotiated even during the Israel-Hamas war, but that the deal cannot be finalized until the war ends.

Speaking at a briefing hosted by the Democratic Majority for Israel, he characterized Netanyahu’s “autarky” comments as the opposite of the goal of the Abraham Accords and regional integration.

Shapiro also called Hamas leaders in Doha “legitimate targets” and said it’s “appropriate” for Israel to eliminate them, but that the “who and the how and the where matters” and the Israeli strike in Doha has “backfired” for Israel.

Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), who spoke after Shapiro, encouraged Israel to let Western press into Gaza to see that the issue with humanitarian aid is the U.N.’s failure to distribute it, rather than a lack of it. Shapiro said the humanitarian situation is “not nearly as dire” now as a few months ago but that international reporting hasn’t reflected that…

On the domestic front, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said in an address at the Eradicate Hate Global Summit today in Pittsburgh that “we need to create more opportunities for peaceful and respectful dialogue, respecting each other’s fundamental rights as Americans.”

He invoked the Priestly Blessing, sent to him by a chaplain of a local fire department after his residence was attacked by an arsonist last Passover, which he said he recites to his children every night. “Those are words of healing, words of hopefulness to me. They are also words that again remind us of our shared humanity.” 

After his address, Shapiro, who is seen as a Democratic contender for the 2028 presidential election, answered questions from reporters about Israel’s campaign in Gaza City, saying, “I’ve been very outspoken about the fact that these children in Gaza need to be fed, that the violence needs to end, the hostages need to come home, and this war needs to be over.”

“I’ve also been very clear that I think Benjamin Netanyahu is taking Israel down a very dark and dangerous path, isolating Israel in the world even more than they were before, which I think threatens Israel’s security,” Shapiro continued, following on comments he made last month calling Netanyahu’s claim that there is no starvation in Gaza “quite abhorrent”…

Meanwhile in New York, Carl Heastie, the Democratic speaker of the New York State Assembly, is expected to endorse New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani this week, The New York Times reports, one of several state leaders in the party who have thus far resisted doing so. Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY), chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, is reportedly also set to do so on Monday…

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) introduced a bill that would “prohibit state and local law enforcement from arresting foreign nationals within the United States” solely based on warrants from the International Criminal Court, as Mamdani has threatened to do to Netanyahu…

After selling Paramount to Skydance Media, Shari Redstone has taken on a new venture: The media mogul was named chair of the Israeli production company Sipur, which she called a “hands-on investment” to build a “global production powerhouse”…

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider tomorrow morning for an analysis of a new poll of Gen Z conservatives’ views on Israel and antisemitism.

This evening, Sens. John Fetterman (D-PA) and Dave McCormick (R-PA) will join Fox News’ “Special Report” to discuss political civility.

Tomorrow morning, the House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold a markup of bills aimed at reorganizing and reforming the State Department. Read JI’s breakdown of the legislation here.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will vote to advance a series of nominees out of committee — including Michel Issa to be ambassador to Lebanon; Richard Buchan to be ambassador to Morocco; Ben Black to lead the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation; and a second vote on the nomination of Mike Waltz, the former national security advisor, to be U.S. ambassador to the U.N., in order to prevent a procedural challenge from Democrats.

Also on the Hill, the U.S. Helsinki Commission will hold a briefing on “conspiracy theories, antisemitism and democratic decline.”

The annual Defense of Freedom-Federalist Society Education, Law & Policy Conference begins in D.C. tomorrow, including featured speakers Secretary of Education Linda McMahon and Brandeis Center Chairman Ken Marcus. 

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu predicted that Israel will have to become increasingly self-reliant as countries call for embargoes and sanctions against the Jewish state. Speaking at a Finance Ministry conference in Jerusalem today, Netanyahu said, “We will increasingly need to adapt to an economy with autarkic characteristics.”

“I am a believer in the free market, but we may find ourselves in a situation where our arms industries are blocked. We will need to develop arms industries here — not only research and development, but also the ability to produce what we need,” the Israeli PM said…

Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Jerusalem today, where they gave remarks on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the Abraham Accords. “Imagine, despite the difficulties the region has confronted over the last few years, how much more difficult it would have been had the Abraham Accords not been in place,” Rubio said…

Elsewhere in the region, after an emergency summit of Arab states convened in Qatar to discuss last week’s Israeli strike in Doha, the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries today directed the GCC defense ministers to hold an “urgent meeting” to “assess the defense situation of the Council states.”

The countries also issued a communique calling on states to “review diplomatic and economic relations” and “initiate legal proceedings” against Israel…

At the International Atomic Energy Agency’s annual conference happening now in Vienna, Iran is circulating a resolution to censure the U.S. and Israel over their strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities in June. Iran was unexpectedly elected by other Middle Eastern countries to serve as vice president of the gathering.

Mohammad Eslami, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said in an interview that “if [participating countries] want to obey the law of the jungle and the rule of coercion and force” by blocking the motion, “it’ll end in chaos”…

Stateside, Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) announced he will not be endorsing Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani for New York City mayor, on the heels of New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s announcement that she’s supporting the candidate.

Suozzi, who represents a swing district on Long Island, said that, “While I share [Mamdani’s] concern about the issue of affordability, I fundamentally disagree with his proposed solutions. Like the voters I represent, I believe socialism has consistently failed to deliver real, sustainable progress.”

On Hochul, Suozzi said that he did not discuss his decision with her and is “not in a position to give the Governor political advice considering the fact that when I ran against her she beat me soundly”…

In another high-profile New York race, Micah Lasher, a state assemblyman and former aide to Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), officially launched his campaign for his former mentor’s congressional seat today, joining a Democratic primary that’s likely to become crowded in the heavily Jewish Manhattan district. Nadler is expected to offer Lasher his support, a key endorsement in the race…

The New York Times investigates a series of trade and business dealings over the UAE’s access to AI chips that appear to be connected with cryptocurrency windfalls for the Witkoff and Trump families.

When David Feith, then senior director for technology on the National Security Council, attempted to change AI chip policy, which would have inhibited that access, he was fired by President Donald Trump, after a conversation with his influential advisor Laura Loomer…

The fallout from Charlie Kirk’s killing continues: Semafor’s Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith writes about Kirk’s legacy on Israel within the GOP and how both the isolationist and pro-Israel camps of the party are now claiming him as their own.

“A bereft White House official told me that Kirk functioned as something like a Republican chairman and Rush Limbaugh ‘rolled into one.’ Clips of his speeches and debates are everywhere, but movement-building is a subtler thing, and Kirk’s public statements, friends said, often reflected attempts at intraparty diplomacy,” Smith wrote…

Karen Attiah, an opinion columnist at The Washington Post who regularly espoused anti-Israel views, was fired from the paper over her posts on social media about Kirk’s death, including mischaracterizing some of his positions and positing that her “journalistic and moral values” prevented her from “engaging in excessive, false mourning” for Kirk.

Attiah, the Post’s founding Global Opinions editor, retweeted social media messages justifying the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel as they were taking place and wrote a piece on Oct. 13, less than a week after the attacks, headlined, “We cannot stand by and watch Israel commit atrocities”…

Also in the media, Jewish influencer Hen Mazzig reacts to Jewish actress Hannah Einbinder’s pro-Palestinian commentary at the Emmys last night in The Hollywood Reporter: “Hannah should know there is no such thing as a ‘good Jew’ who can launder antisemitism. The ‘good Jews’ trope — the ones who sign boycott pledges or reassure progressives that this isn’t about hatred — are always used as cover. They are never enough. And at the end of the day, the people demanding ‘good Jews’ don’t actually believe there is anything good about being Jewish”…

After the Vuelta a Espana bike race in Madrid was called off during its finale on Sunday due to anti-Israel protests on the route, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called today for Israel to be banned from sports events due to its military campaign in Gaza, despite the team being protested, Israel-Premier Tech, not being an official Israeli team. 

The international union of cyclists voiced its disapproval of Sánchez’s stance, saying in a statement that it “strongly condemns the exploitation of sport for political purposes in general, and especially coming from a government”…

Lynn Forester de Rothschild is exploring a sale of a minority stake in the parent company of The Economist magazine, according to Bloomberg, which would mark the publication’s first ownership shake-up in over a decade…

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider tomorrow morning for an interview with Yaakov Katz, former editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post, on his new book about Oct. 7 and an interview with Rep. Zach Nunn (R-IA), a rising national security voice on Capitol Hill.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro will deliver a major address on political violence at the Eradicate Hate Global Summit in Pittsburgh tomorrow, nearly a week after the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk and several months after the firebombing of Shapiro’s residence over Passover. 

Also speaking at the summit will be KIND Snacks founder and former CEO Daniel Lubetzky alongside Lonnie Ali, founder of the Muhammad Ali Center with her eponymous late husband. 

The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing tomorrow morning on oversight of the FBI with FBI Director Kash Patel.

Democratic Majority for Israel will host a live briefing tomorrow with Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro on Gottheimer’s recent trip to Israel, next steps for the Abraham Accords and the latest in the Israel-Hamas war.

The Center for a New American Security will hold a live fireside chat tomorrow with Adam Boehler, the U.S. special envoy for hostage response.

Alan Dershowitz, a former Harvard Law School professor and prominent defense attorney and Israel advocate, will speak tomorrow at the JFK Jr. forum at Harvard at the first “Middle East Dialogues” event of the academic year, hosted by professor Tarek Masoud, who invites polarizing speakers to debate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In the evening, American Friends of Lubavitch (Chabad) will host its Lamplighter Awards at D.C.’s Union Station. This year’s honoree is Palantir CEO Alex Karp, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) will receive a leadership award.

Magen David Adom will host its 2025 New York City Gala in Manhattan, where political commentator Meghan McCain will receive its Champion of Israel Award. 

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Lawmakers, candidates and officials from across the political spectrum continued to reel in the aftermath of the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in Utah yesterday, with many changing their planned appearances. 

Vice President JD Vance went to pay his respects to the Kirk family in Salt Lake City instead of attending a 9/11 memorial ceremony at Ground Zero in New York. Kirk’s casket will be flown back to his home state of Arizona on Air Force 2 along with his family and friends. 

In addition, President Donald Trump moved a Pentagon 9/11 memorial event to a more secure location, as his team was especially shaken by Kirk’s death; Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico devoted his campaign kickoff speech in San Antonio last night to memorializing Kirk; right-wing media personality Ben Shapiro, a close friend of Kirk, canceled an event tonight at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation in California; Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) announced she is postponing a rally in North Carolina this weekend out of respect for Kirk and security concerns; and more…

The fallout continues from Israel’s strike against Hamas leaders in Doha this week, with Democratic Majority for Israel accusing Trump in a new scathing statement of betraying Israel by coming out publicly against the strike and potentially foiling its effectiveness by tipping off Qatar (though U.S. and Qatari officials have said that the warning call from Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff came as the strike was already underway).

The statement puts the group at odds with many Democratic lawmakers, who have come out against the strike. 

“After years of criticizing Democrats — despite our party’s 75-year history of supporting Israel — President Donald Trump yesterday broke with our vital ally in an unprecedented manner,” DMFI CEO Brian Romick said. “The White House must answer whether their pre-warning of the attack in any way compromised Israel’s ability to eliminate Hamas’ terrorist leadership”…

Doubling down in its displeasure, the Trump administration joined a unanimous U.N. Security Council statement today that condemns the strike, though it does not mention Israel nor Hamas.

“Council members underscored the importance of de-escalation and expressed their solidarity with Qatar. They underlined their support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Qatar, in line with the principles of the UN Charter. Council members recalled their support for the vital role that Qatar continues to play in mediation efforts in the region,” the statement read…

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani will travel to Washington tomorrow to discuss the incident, Israeli media reports, meeting with senior Trump administration officials and potentially the president himself, and Qatar will host an emergency summit beginning Sunday with Arab states.

Al Thani said in an interview that, prior to the strike, a meeting had been scheduled for Friday between himself, Egyptian and Turkish intelligence officials and Witkoff, but Israel’s attack “destroyed the mediation efforts” for a ceasefire with Hamas and “extinguished the last glimmer of hope”…

Back in Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu authorized a plan to build the long-disputed E1 settlement project, which would make a contiguous Palestinian state nearly impossible, at a signing ceremony today at the Ma’ale Adumim settlement, where the new units will be added.

“We said a Palestinian state will not be established — and indeed, a Palestinian state will not be established,” Netanyahu said at the event…

The New York Times’ Jerusalem bureau announced that David Halbfinger is returning to Israel to serve as the paper’s bureau chief, and Isabel Kershner was named senior correspondent.

The newly merged Paramount Skydance is now preparing a bid to purchase Warner Bros. Discovery, The Wall Street Journal reports, including its cable networks and movie studio. The bid is backed by the Ellison family — Paramount owner David Ellison is the son of billionaire Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison…

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider tomorrow morning for reporting on the belated passage of a K-12 antisemitism bill in the California Legislature that pitted Jewish Democrats and their allies against teachers’ unions in the state.

The Capital Jewish Museum in Washington will host a gala Sunday evening honoring Esther Safran Foer, the former executive director of D.C.’s Sixth & I Synagogue, and David Rubenstein, chairman of the Carlyle Group.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to land in Israel early next week, with a planned appearance at the opening of the Pilgrimage Road at the City of David archaeological site on Monday. (Read JI’s coverage of the Pilgrimage Road excavation here).

A bipartisan delegation of 250 U.S. state legislators will also land in Israel for a trip next week.

The Climate Solutions Prize Tour, in partnership with the Jewish Climate Trust, will begin in Israel on Sunday, after several days in the UAE.

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

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Conservative activist Charlie Kirk died this afternoon after being shot in the neck while speaking at an event at Utah Valley University.

President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social, “The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead. No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie. He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us.”

Kirk, 31, was a highly influential right-wing leader, co-founding Turning Point USA, one of the most prominent conservative youth organizations in the U.S. The Republican Jewish Coalition said in a statement, “Charlie has been a shining light in these troubled times for the American Jewish community, and we are deeply saddened at his passing. All people of good will must condemn this horrific murder and demand justice for Charlie.”

Law enforcement officials told CNN that there is no suspect in custody. Prior to news of Kirk’s death, the shooting was condemned by lawmakers and activists across the political spectrum…

Ahead of the 24th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks tomorrow, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement today that Israel “also [has] a Sept. 11,” comparing it to the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks, and drawing parallels between Israel’s strike yesterday targeting senior Hamas officials in Doha, Qatar, to the U.S. killing Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. 

Netanyahu highlighted the U.S. resolution at the U.N. Security Council, passed two weeks after 9/11, that said “governments cannot give harbor to terrorists,” accusing Qatar of providing “terrorist chieftains” with “sumptuous villas” and safe haven.

“And I say to Qatar and all nations who harbor terrorists, you either expel them or you bring them to justice. Because if you don’t, we will,” Netanyahu concluded. 

The Israeli PM’s remarks seem to contradict the White House, after Trump made clear yesterday that he’s “very unhappy with every aspect” of the strike and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the president had assured Qatari leaders “that such a thing will not happen again on their soil”…

Netanyahu’s opposition was busy on Capitol Hill, meanwhile, with Israeli Opposition Leader Yair Lapid spotted walking into House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ (D-NY) office — Lapid declined to tell reporters what they discussed — and MK Benny Gantz meeting with Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), the two of whom covered “the importance of leaving no stone unturned in eliminating terrorist Hamas; in Gaza or abroad.” Lapid and Gantz are both attending the MEAD Summit in Washington this week…

Nearby at the White House, Trump met with a delegation of former hostages, including Ohad and Raz Ben Ami, and hostage families, including Ilay and Yeela David, siblings of Evyatar David…

Another former hostage, Elizabeth Tsurkov, the Israeli-Russian academic held captive by an Iranian-backed militant group in Iraq since 2023 and released to the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad yesterday, has landed in Israel, the Prime Minister’s Office and Mossad announced…

On the campaign trail, Maine Democratic Gov. Janet Mills is reportedly interviewing staff for a potential bid against Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), Punchbowl News reports. Mills would be a strong contender in the race, likely overshadowing Democratic candidate and oyster farmer Graham Platner, who has made his anti-Israel stance a focus of his bid thus far…

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the body would propose suspending EU free trade measures with Israel, in an annual state of the union speech to the European Parliament today. The move is unlikely to be put into effect as it would need broad support from EU countries, which remain divided on the issue, but it’s a concerning step from the EU, which is Israel’s largest trading partner…

In an excerpt from former Vice President Kamala Harris’ forthcoming book, 107 Days, released in The Atlantic, Harris remarks on those in the Biden administration who were worried her visibility as VP would negatively impact President Joe Biden’s standing. 

She writes about her appearance in Selma, Ala., in March 2024 where “I gave a strong speech on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. … It was a speech that had been vetted and approved by the White House and the National Security Council. It went viral, and the West Wing was displeased. I was castigated for, apparently, delivering it too well”…

Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison surpassed Elon Musk as the world’s richest person today after the software giant reported higher quarterly earnings than expected, largely due to significant AI contracts…

Also getting in on the AI rush is Jared Kushner, whose AI firm Brain Co., co-founded with Israeli angel investor Elad Gil and former Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray, came out of stealth today with an announcement that it raised $30 million in its first funding round…

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider tomorrow morning for news on a surprising congressional endorsement of Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani. 

On the Hill, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will hold a nomination hearing tomorrow for several diplomats including Sergio Gor, former head of the Presidential Personnel Office, to be ambassador to India. Read JI’s coverage of Gor’s departure from the White House here.

In Jerusalem, the Jewish National Fund and U.S. Embassy will be hosting a 9/11 Memorial Ceremony.

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

President Donald Trump was unhappy with Israel’s surprise strike this morning on Hamas leaders in Doha, Qatar, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt conveyed in a statement on behalf of the president today. 

Leavitt said Trump was made aware of the strike by the U.S. military, without specifying whether Israel had alerted it or if the operation was detected independently, and “immediately directed” Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff to notify Doha about the impending attack.

(The Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs said reports that Qatar was informed in advance are “baseless” and the “call from a U.S. official came during the sound of explosions caused by the Israeli attack.”)

“Unilaterally bombing inside Qatar, a sovereign nation and close ally of the United States that is working very hard and bravely taking risks with us to broker peace, does not advance Israel or America’s goals,” Leavitt said. “The president views Qatar as a strong ally and friend of the United States and feels very badly about the location of this attack.”

The White House spokeswoman said Trump had spoken with Qatari leaders and assured them “that such a thing will not happen again on their soil” and conveyed his displeasure about the location of the strike to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu…

The president’s reaction puts him at odds with many senior Senate Republicans, who told Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod that they view the attack as justified and unsurprising. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said, “I think Hamas has got to be destroyed, and there’s no sense in doing half measures.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) posted on X, “To those who planned and cheered on the October 7 attack against Israel, the United States’ greatest ally in the region: This is your fate.”

Senate Democrats, meanwhile, described the strike as “aggressive,” “provocative” and “unfortunate,” saying it jeopardized ceasefire negotiations and was an insult to Qatar, a longtime U.S. ally. 

Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, called the move “extremely disruptive, provocative and dangerous” and a “great strategic mistake.” (Read comments from more lawmakers here).

The only Democrats to publicly break with the partisan line were Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), who told JI that “anything done to destroy Hamas’ leadership or its terrorist capability or military capacity is a step in the right direction,” and Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA)…

Also condemning the strike are several world leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron who called it “unacceptable, whatever the reason,” and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who said it “violate[s] Qatar’s sovereignty and risk[s] further escalation”…

Hamas released a statement claiming Israel failed to assassinate its top leadership in the strike but killed five of its members, including the son of the group’s chief negotiator…

In another hostage crisis, Elizabeth Tsurkov, a Russian-Israeli academic from Princeton University, has been released from captivity of the Kata’ib Hezbollah Iraqi militant group, Trump announced on Truth Social this afternoon.

Tsurkov was kidnapped while doing research in Baghdad in March 2023 and was “tortured for many months,” Trump said.

Tsurkov’s sister, Emma, said on X that their family is “so thankful to President Trump and his Special Envoy, Adam Boehler. If Adam had not made my sister’s return his personal mission, I do not know where we would be”…

Meanwhile, the IDF ordered the first full-scale evacuation of Gaza City in preparation for Israel’s impending takeover, after several days of issuing limited evacuations before targeted strikes and demolitions of buildings in the area. Leaflets dropped by the IDF in the city instructed residents to follow a coastal road to designated humanitarian zones in the south of the enclave…

In Jerusalem, Netanyahu appeared at a belated U.S. Embassy Fourth of July celebration at the Museum of Tolerance where he said in remarks that he convened the heads of Israel’s security organizations earlier today to authorize “a surgical precision strike” on Hamas leaders in Doha after the terror group took responsibility for the death of four IDF soldiers in Gaza and six civilians at a bus stop in Jerusalem yesterday.

“These are the same terrorist chiefs who planned, launched and celebrated the horrific massacres of Oct. 7 … They were meeting in exactly the same place where they celebrated this savagery almost two years ago. At the beginning of the war, I promised that Israel would reach those who perpetrated this horror. And today, Israel and I have kept that promise,” Netanyahu continued.

The event was later briefly interrupted by a missile fired by the Houthis, with rocket sirens causing guests to move temporarily into bomb shelters.

The celebration continued with a musical performance, including U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee on guitar and philanthropist and major Republican donor Paul Singer playing the keyboard, as captured by JI’s Lahav Harkov…

Hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman is also in Jerusalem this week, meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog today and reportedly attending Jefferies TechTrek, Israel’s largest institutional investor technology conference.

Also attending Jefferies are Singer, DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, venture capitalist Shaun Maguire, hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb and former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides…

The MEAD Summit in Washington is lacking some punch this year with no Saudi representation, as opposed to years past, Israeli journalist Yaakov Katz said during an on-record panel with Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID) at the convening…

Down south, Texas state Rep. James Talarico, seen as an up-and-coming leader in Texas politics, jumped into the Democratic primary to run against Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) today. Talarico will face a competitive race against former Rep. Colin Allred (D-TX), also a former NFL player. Cornyn faces his own high-stakes primary against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. 

Talarico, 36, is pitching himself for Senate as a Washington outsider coming to shake up the system. When asked by HuffPost today if Israel’s war in Gaza constitutes a genocide, Talarico answered, “I worry that some of these debates happening within elite political circles tend to be a distraction from the immediate goal, which is stopping the human suffering in Gaza. And so getting into discussions about particular legal terms, or, you know, history from, you know, a century ago, to me, feel like more like playing politics than actually trying to get something done”…

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider tomorrow morning for an interview with friends of twins Gali and Ziv Berman who are turning 28 tomorrow, the second birthday they’ve marked in Hamas captivity. 

“The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue,” a documentary about retired Israeli general Noam Tibon’s historic rescue of his family from Kibbutz Nahal Oz on Oct. 7, is scheduled to premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival tomorrow, after the festival initially canceled the screening due to the film’s usage of Hamas footage from the attacks, saying the terror organization had not approved it for use.

The House Committee on Education and Workforce’s Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education will hold a hearing tomorrow morning titled “From Playground to Classroom: The Spread of Antisemitism in K-12 Schools.” 

Also on the Hill, the American Jewish Committee will host an event marking the fifth anniversary of the Abraham Accords including remarks from Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter and co-chairs of the House and Senate Abraham Accords caucuses: Sens. James Lankford (R-OK), Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and Reps. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL), Brad Schneider (D-IL), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), Mike Lawler (R-NY) and Craig Goldman (R-TX).

Around Washington, Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) will give remarks at the National Press Club at a Brandeis University event on “Reimagining Liberal Arts Education: A National Conversation on Real-World Readiness,” and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) will speak at the Heritage Foundation on “the Muslim Brotherhood Threat, National Security, and America’s Global Leadership.”

In Pittsburgh, Talya Lubit will be sentenced on charges of conspiracy and defacing and damaging a religious building for vandalizing the Chabad of Squirrel Hill and the Jewish Federation of Pittsburgh in July 2024.

Abroad, Israeli President Isaac Herzog is heading to London on a trip his office said was organized to deliver speeches at Jewish organizations’ conferences and to “show solidarity with the Jewish community, which is under severe attack and facing a wave of antisemitism.” His office did not say if he would meet with Prime Minister Keir Starmer or other officials; though Starmer hosted Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas yesterday. 

• A delegation of freshman House Democrats are in Israel this week with the AIPAC-affiliated American Israel Education Foundation while the House is in August recess. Read more on the trip from Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod here.
• Iranian senior security official Ali Larijani is in Lebanon today as part of his first trip abroad since being named head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council earlier this month. Larijani traveled to Beirut after a stop in Iraq. He’s spending three days in Lebanon as the government in Beirut pushes for the disarmament of Iranian proxy Hezbollah.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S GABBY DEUTCH

Seven months into the second Trump term, it’s clear that many of the country’s top universities are scared of President Donald Trump. 

The schools rely on federal funding to power much of the research that has made them into academic powerhouses, so if that funding dries up — a punishment, the Trump administration says, for universities’ failure to deal with antisemitism — their work will be imperiled.

As a result, some universities have taken proactive steps to address antisemitism in the hopes of fending off the ire of the Trump administration. But the White House does not view these actions as good-faith gestures. Instead, the administration is increasingly taking advantage of schools’ acknowledgments of past failings as an admission of guilt — and it is responding in a correspondingly punitive way. 

The new chancellor of UCLA took office this year with the stated mission of fighting antisemitism and improving the campus climate following the disastrous 2023-2024 school year that saw violent clashes on the campus. Last month, the university agreed to pay $6 million to settle a lawsuit filed by Jewish students and faculty members who alleged that UCLA permitted antisemitic conduct during the spring 2024 anti-Israel encampment. The chair of the University of California Board of Regents said the settlement was an important step toward fostering “a safe, secure and inclusive environment.” 

Yet on the same day UCLA announced the settlement, the Justice Department found UCLA to be in violation of federal civil rights law, stating the school “failed to adequately respond to complaints of severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive harassment and abuse” by Jewish and Israeli students after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks. And last week, the Trump administration reportedly demanded that UCLA pay an eye-popping $1 billion to settle federal investigations into its handling of antisemitism, race-based admissions policies and transgender issues. 

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

A Performer’s Plea: In The Atlantic, singer Bono makes a plea for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in which he criticizes the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks as well as the actions of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. “Yahya Sinwar didn’t mind if he lost the battle or even the war if he could destroy Israel as both a moral and an economic force. Over the months that followed, as Israel’s revenge for the Hamas attack appeared more and more disproportionate and disinterested in the equally innocent civilian lives in Gaza, I felt as nauseous as anyone but reminded myself that Hamas had deliberately positioned itself under civilian targets, having tunneled its way from school to mosque to hospital. When did a just war to defend the country turn into an unjust land grab? I hoped Israel would return to reason. I was making excuses for a people seared and shaped by the experience of Holocaust, who understood the threat of extermination not simply as a fear but as a fact. I reread Hamas’s charter of 1988; it’s an evil read. (Article Seven!)” [TheAtlantic]

Addressing Aid: In The Wall Street Journal, Hebrew University law professor Netta Barak-Corren calls on the U.S. and other global aid donors to commit to condition future humanitarian assistance on recipient countries hitting established benchmarks meant to address aid diversion. “Against the immediate risk of human suffering, donors must consider that allowing aid diversion could extend that risk for years. A cross-country analysis of 621 leaders in 123 countries from 1960 to 1999 showed that large, unconditional aid inflows help autocrats survive. World Bank data show that unconditional aid correlates with higher corruption and weaker rule of law. Nothing obligates donors to bankroll the fighters causing the suffering. Setting conditions on aid to prevent diversion aligns humanitarian spending with humanitarian intent.” [WSJ]

School Strategist: The New York Times’ Michael Bender spotlights May Mailman, who as the Trump administration’s senior adviser for special projects is “the most important, least-known person behind the administration’s relentless pursuit” of the country’s top universities. “She is credited as an animating force behind a strategy that has intimidated independent institutions and undercut years of medical and scientific research. … ‘There are a lot of good ideas floating around this building, but somebody has to capture those ideas, make sure that the right people are involved and that there is a process to put them into action,’ Ms. Mailman said in a recent interview at the White House. ‘So I’m the catcher of floating ideas.’” [NYTimes]

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), one of the most strident critics of the Israeli government in the Senate, is set to deliver the keynote speech next month at an Iowa Democratic Party fundraiser that’s a frequent stop for high-profile Democrats and presidential hopefuls; should Van Hollen make a presidential bid in 2028, such a campaign would give him a larger platform for his views, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…

President Donald Trump told Axios that Hamas “can’t stay” in Gaza in the long term, but stopped short of backing Israel’s plans to take over portions of the enclave…

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), responding to Tucker Carlson’s criticism of himself and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee over their positions on Israel, said that the former Fox News host “now routinely attacks Trump, shills for Iran & doesn’t bother to hide his all-consuming hatred for Israel”…

xAI’s Grok chatbot posted that it was temporarily suspended after accusing Israel of genocide, weeks after the feature came under fire for a series of antisemitic and violent postings…

Virginia state Del. Sam Rasoul dismissed recent concerns over his social media posts that referred to Zionism as “evil” as being part of “silly season” politics…

City & State NY put out its annual Manhattan Power 100 list; Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine tops the list, which also includes NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, Reps. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) and Dan Goldman (D-NY), ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, Sid Davidoff, Steven Rubenstein, James Tisch and Merryl Tisch, Brad Tusk, Nancy Cantor, Seth Pinsky, Eva Moskowitz and Columbia University President Claire Shipman…

The Israeli-American Council said its Los Angeles headquarters were vandalized with swastikas and other Nazi symbols over the weekend…

eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross interviews IsraAid CEO Yotam Polizer about the humanitarian group’s previously under-the-radar work to assist in Gaza aid distribution efforts…

UJA-Federation of New York pledged $1 million to IsraAid’s Gaza effort; UJA CEO Eric Goldstein said, “We must hold tight to what has always anchored the Jewish people: the belief that all human life is sacred”…

The New York Times looks at how Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison — the second richest person in the world — is working to create a self-funded, profitable research institute to focus on his philanthropist interest areas, including climate change and global health…

Authorities in Montreal arrested a man in connection with a weekend attack on an Orthodox Jewish man in the city’s Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension neighborhood…

The New York Times reviews Giaime Alonge’s novel The Feeling of Iron, about two Holocaust survivors who track down their Nazi tormentor decades after the Holocaust…

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was “in denial about the consequences that are occurring” as a result of the  humanitarian situation in the enclave; the two spoke on Thursday, when the Australian leader informed Netanyahu of Canberra’s intention to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state…

Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer is reportedly considering resigning from the Israeli government in the coming months… 

Bloomberg looks at the challenge facing Lebanon’s new government and its president, Joseph Aoun, as Beirut faces American and Gulf pressure to force Hezbollah to disarm, while the Iran-backed terror group refuses to acquiesce to the government’s effort…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on Monday at the opening ceremony of the Knesset Museum in Jerusalem.

Award-winning writer of fiction and non-fiction and the author of several novels and a novella, Rachel Kadish turns 56…

Hungarian-American investor, currency trader and political activist, born György Schwartz, George Soros turns 95… Retired Beverly Hills attorney, Sheldon Stanford Ellis… Emmy Award-winning television screenwriter, television producer and author, Gail Parent turns 85… Professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania and author of many self-help books, Martin Elias Peter Seligman turns 83… Attorney in Ontario, Canada, who served as president of the Canadian Jewish Congress, Lester Scheininger turns 78… Co-founder and chairman of the film and television company Beacon Pictures, Barry “Armyan” Bernstein turns 78… U.S. diplomat, Karyn Allison Posner-Mullen turns 74… Trustee at Houston’s Congregation Emanu El, she worked for more than 40 years at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Fredi Bleeker Franks… Sales manager of Illi Commercial Real Estate in Sherman Oaks, Calif., Stuart Steinberg… Israel’s former ambassador to Uzbekistan, Bulgaria, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Albania, Noah Gal Gendler turns 68… Former member of Knesset from the Yesh Atid party, Haim Jelin turns 67… Founding editor of The Times of Israel, David Horovitz turns 63… Chairman of Goldman Sachs International, Sir Bradley Fried turns 60… Senior rabbi at Brookline’s Temple Beth Zion, Claudia Kreiman… Chief strategy officer at NYC’s Educational Alliance, Anya Hoerburger… Scottsdale-based real estate Investor, Jay Chernikoff… Co-founder at Understory, David Fine… CEO and co-founder of Forsight, a prop tech AI and machine learning company, Ariel Applbaum…

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro spoke out on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza today, telling a local news channel, “The fact that kids are starving in Gaza is not OK. It is not OK. And I think everyone has a moral responsibility to figure out how to feed these kids. It is true that Hamas intercepts aid. It is true that the aid distribution network is not as sophisticated as it needs to be, but given that, I think our nation, the United States of America, has a moral responsibility to flood the zone with aid. … It is awful, what is happening in Gaza.” 

The Democratic governor called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claim that there is no starvation in Gaza “quite abhorrent,” and said Netanyahu’s language and support of “occupying” Gaza is “not only reckless … but what it does is it further isolates Israel in the world, and that’s a dangerous place for Israel to be.” It’s a sign of the rhetorical tightrope even pro-Israel Democrats are walking, as the party’s voters turn more critical towards the Jewish state… 

Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), another moderate-minded Jewish Democrat, who recently said she supported resolutions led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) last week to block some arms sales to Israel, told Semafor that Israel’s moves to airlift increased aid into Gaza are “a start, but you can’t possibly get the volume of food in there that you need via an airlift.”

However, asked if she would support recognition of a Palestinian state, Slotkin said, “I just don’t believe that we should be recognizing a new state in the middle of an active hot war”…

After sources in the Prime Minister’s Office briefed reporters yesterday that IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir can step down if he doesn’t agree with Netanyahu’s move to expand the war in Gaza, the PMO released a statement that “the IDF is prepared to enact any decision made by the Security Cabinet.” The statement came after a three-hour meeting of senior security officials in which Zamir presented “possibilities to continue the campaign in Gaza.” Netanyahu plans to convene the full Security Cabinet on Thursday, according to Israel’s Channel 12 news…

House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) trip to Israel continues, including a meeting last night in Shiloh — the second West Bank settlement Johnson has visited since his arrival — with Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, as well as U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and his wife, Janet. Johnson’s delegation also met with Ditza Or, mother of hostage Avinatan Or…

The FBI released its 2024 Hate Crime Report this morning, which found that nearly 70% (1,938 incidents) of all religiously motivated hate crimes in the U.S. last year were committed against Jews, including terrorist threats, assault, vandalism, harassment, burglary, false bomb threats and swatting. It’s the highest number of anti-Jewish hate crimes ever recorded by the bureau since it began collecting data in 1991…

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) sent a letter to the IRS yesterday asking the agency to investigate the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ status as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based on “substantial evidence” that “confirms CAIR has deep ties to terrorist organizations”…

U.S. Ambassador to France Charles Kushner met yesterday with Saudi Ambassador to France Fahd bin Mayouf Al-Ruwaili. Kushner said the two discussed “the ways that our two countries can each contribute to peace and stability in the Middle East,” just one week after Saudi Arabia and France co-chaired a U.N. conference on the two-state solution which the U.S. and Israel boycotted…

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Federal Emergency Management Agency, quietly removed a requirement for grant applicants to certify they will not engage in a commercial boycott of Israel in order to be eligible for funding. The requirement had been included in notices published by FEMA on Friday for a tranche of at least $1.9 billion in natural disaster preparedness grants…

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider this week for reporting on Rep. Maxwell Frost’s (D-FL) anti-Israel turn since coming into office as the first Gen-Z lawmaker, the University of Maryland’s decision to settle a lawsuit with CAIR for a six-figure sum and the Democratic Navy veteran, Rebecca Bennett, looking to unseat Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-NJ) in New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District. 

Tomorrow, the New Jersey Jewish Business Alliance will host its 11th annual Legislative and Business Luncheon featuring gubernatorial candidates Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) and former Republican state Rep. Jack Ciattarelli. The two will face off in the Garden State’s November general election, with recent polling showing Sherrill with a comfortable lead.

• Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar is in New York this morning for a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on the situation of the hostages held in Gaza. Sa’ar prompted the special session after videos of two hostages — Evyatar David and Rom Braslavski — were released by Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Before the session, Sa’ar will hold a meeting with American Jewish leaders. Read more here.
• Northwestern University President Michael Schill will appear before the House Education and Workforce Committee today for a closed-door transcribed interview about alleged failures to protect Jewish students on the Illinois campus.
• Also in Israel this week are two delegations of freshman House members, one from each caucus, organized by the AIPAC-affiliated American Israel Education Foundation. The Democratic trip is led by Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), the former House majority leader, and Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA), the caucus chair.
• The Republican trip is led by House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN), and includes Reps. Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA), Michael Baumgartner (R-WA), Josh Brecheen (R-OK), Rep. Troy Downing (R-MT), Julie Fedorchak (R-ND), Randy Fine (R-FL), Brandon Gill (R-TX), Craig Goldman (R-TX), Harriet Hageman (R-WY), Abe Hamadeh (R-AZ), Mark Harris (R-NC), Jeff Hurd (R-CO), Brian Jack (R-GA), John McGuire (R-VA), Bob Onder (R-MO), Derek Schmidt (R-KS), Jefferson Shreve (R-IN), Marlin Stutzman (R-IN) and Tony Wied (R-WI). Their visit will include meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Opposition Leader Yair Lapid.

A QUICK WORD WITH ji’s josh kraushaar

A new poll of New York City Jewish voters commissioned by the pro-Israel New York Solidarity Network underscores the presence of a cohesive constituency opposed to Zohran Mamdani’s candidacy to become New York City mayor — but also illustrates some of the divisions preventing the city’s Jewish community from speaking with a loud, united voice.

The poll, conducted by the respected Democratic polling firm GQR, found Mamdani, the Democratic nominee, winning only 37% of Jewish voters, with 25% backing Mayor Eric Adams, 21% supporting former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and 14% preferring Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa. The results show that even though most Jewish voters identify as Democrats, a clear majority won’t support the Democratic nominee because of his record on issues of concern to the Jewish community — in a city where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans 6-to-1.

Adams performs particularly well among Orthodox Jews, winning 61% of their vote, while Cuomo leads among Conservative Jewish voters with 35% support. But among unaffiliated and Reform Jews, Mamdani leads with a near majority of the Jewish vote. 

Asked if Jewish voters were pro-Israel, two-thirds (66%) responded in the affirmative, while 31% said they weren’t. That’s a slightly larger share of non-Zionist Jews than we’ve seen in national polling. Nearly two-thirds (63%) also said that the “globalize the intifada” rhetoric that Mamdani has defended is antisemitic, with just 27% disagreeing. 

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

The Blame Game: Coleman Hughes writes in The Free Press about the West’s “moral confusion” in assigning blame for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. “There’s no doubt that there is a humanitarian disaster in Gaza. But the information pipeline between Gaza and the West is fundamentally broken, biased, untrustworthy, and weaponized against Israel. And the less skeptical that Western journalists are, the more sources like Hamas and the Gaza Health Ministry can disseminate misinformation without penalty, perpetuating the false narrative that Israel is the genocidal aggressor in a war waged against them by a group whose mission is, in fact, genocide.” [FreePress]

PR Course Correction: The Atlantic’s Franklin Foer writes about how Israel can turn international public opinion around. “Every image of a child with protruding ribs is both a human tragedy and a propaganda victory for Hamas — and proof of how a just war badly lost the plot. I believed in Israel’s casus belli. I don’t believe in this. No justification can redeem the immorality of a policy built on deprivation. As Gaza braces for the worst, Israel still has a narrow window to correct its course. By flooding the zone [with aid], Israel has one last chance to redeem itself.” [TheAtlantic]

Questioning the War: The Wall Street Journal’s Anat Peled spotlights the growing number of voices in Israeli society, mostly on the center-left, that are questioning the morality of Israel’s actions in Gaza and calling for an end to the war. “In recent weeks, more Israelis — including prominent public figures — have called to end the war in Gaza while decrying the dire humanitarian situation in the enclave, marking a shift in the public discourse. A majority of former directors of the Israeli military; Mossad; Shin Bet, the country’s internal security agency; and the police, called on the Israeli government on Sunday to end the war against Hamas. The cause began as a just one after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, they said. But now it has become futile … Nightly news reports have featured more Gazans talking about suffering in the strip. Photos of Gazans killed in the war are now more visible in some public spaces such as protests. More than 1,000 leading Israeli artists created a stir when they signed a petition calling to end the killing of children and civilians in Gaza.” [WSJ]

Baltics Balance: The Jerusalem Post’s Herb Keinon writes about Israel’s “pivot to the Baltics,” as Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar return from separate trips to Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. “Calls for punitive measures against Israel are growing louder in EU corridors. In that environment, courting sympathetic voices in the Baltics – where the diplomatic weather is noticeably warmer – isn’t just smart; it’s necessary. … What’s at stake here is more than just goodwill. There are real, high-stakes policy implications. The EU is currently debating whether to suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement, a framework governing economic and political cooperation between Israel and the EU. Sa’ar’s visit to the Baltics in June – before going to Brussels – was part of an effort to prevent such a move, and Herzog’s visit now continues that effort.” [JPost]

A new Pentagon report confirmed that the U.S. withdrew troops from three military bases in Syria and Iraq in May, who were stationed there to combat ISIS forces…

Air Mail writes about the issue of ordinary Israelis engaging in espionage on behalf of Iran, with the Shin Bet confirming more than 60 Israeli citizens are being prosecuted for treason…

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) defended New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani’s policy proposals for the city on Monday in a heated debate with CNBC host David Faber. Warren called Mamdani’s primary win “democracy at work”…

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) visited the town of Ariel yesterday, making him the highest-ranking elected federal official to visit a West Bank settlement…

The Federal Emergency Management Agency said in grant notices made public Friday that states must guarantee they will not engage in boycotts of Israeli companies in order to qualify for a tranche of more than $1.9 billion in natural disaster preparedness grants…

The Israeli Cabinet voted unanimously yesterday to oust Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, with whom the current government has been at odds since it was formed, accusing her of political bias. Shortly after the vote, the Israeli Supreme Court issued an injunction temporarily blocking the firing and ordering the government to continue abiding by Baharav-Miara’s legal opinions until the court issues a final ruling…

The third season of the TV series “Tehran,” which follows an undercover Mossad agent in Iran, may come to Apple TV soon, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Though it aired in Israel over two years ago, Apple has repeatedly delayed the season’s release in the U.S. due to the Oct. 7 attacks and the ensuing war in Gaza…

Rest of World examines how the rise of data centers in the Gulf amid the race to develop artificial intelligence infrastructure will stress already water-scarce countries including the UAE and Saudi Arabia…

The Anti-Defamation League said on Monday that the Portland Police Department is investigating the recent vandalism of the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education with swastikas as a hate crime…

New Lines Magazine chronicles the violent clash inside Sweida Hospital in southern Syria last month as government-aligned militias and Bedouin groups clashed with the local Druze population last month…

Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations CEO William Daroff (right) met with Under Secretary of Defense Elbridge Colby at the Pentagon yesterday. Daroff told Jewish Insider that Colby “expressed a clear and serious understanding of U.S. strategic interests in the Middle East, including the vital importance of deterring Iran, preventing regional adversaries from gaining dominance, and sustaining Israel’s security following the Twelve Day War,” and that he was “encouraged by [Colby’s] principled and grounded approach.”

Professional boxer who held the WBA super welterweight title from 2009 to 2010, in 2014 he was ordained as a rabbi and then known as the “Boxing Rabbi,” Yuri Foreman turns 45…

Chairman of Delphi Capital Management, he is the founder and chairman of Open to Debate, a public policy debate series, Robert Rosenkranz turns 83… Former chairman of the World Zionist Organization who later served as chairman of the Jewish National Fund, Avraham Duvdevani turns 80… Former Israeli ambassador to France, following seven years as a member of the Knesset, Yael German turns 78… Author of 25 nonfiction books, including The Portable Curmudgeon, Zen to Go and Advice to Writers, Jon Winokur turns 78… Historian, Nazi hunter and director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Jerusalem until 2024, Efraim Zuroff turns 77… Banker, once known as “Austria’s woman on Wall Street” and founder of Bank Medici in 1994, Sonja Kohn turns 77… Former Soviet Refusenik, he served as speaker of the Knesset for seven years, Yuli-Yoel Edelstein turns 67… Intellectual property and entertainment attorney based in Ithaca, N.Y., he is an adjunct professor of law at both Cornell and Touro, Howard Leib… Member of the British House of Lords, he was chief executive of the Office of the Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks and then chief executive of the United Jewish Israel Appeal, Baron Jonathan Andrew Kestenbaum turns 66… Businessman Murray Huberfeld… Songwriter, author, political columnist and noted baseball memorabilia collector, Seth Swirsky turns 65… Chair of the Department of Jewish History at Baltimore’s Beth Tfiloh Dahan High School, Neil Rubin, Ph.D…. Actor who starred in “Weekend at Bernie’s,” his father and grandfather were both rabbis, Jonathan Elihu Silverman turns 59… President at ConservAmerica, he is an adjunct professor at Carnegie Mellon University, Jeffrey Kupfer… President of the Center for Jewish History in NYC and professor at Fairfield University, Dr. Gavriel David Rosenfeld turns 58… Former member of the Knesset for the Kulanu party, Roy Folkman turns 50… Director of the Center for Middle East Policy at The Brookings Institution for 13 years until this past June, he is soon to become a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, Natan Sachs… Investment and foundation manager at Denver-based Race Street Management and a board member of JFNA, Cintra Pollack… VP of government affairs at WISPA – the Association for Broadband Without Boundaries, Matt Mandel… Chairman of The New York Times Company and publisher of The New York Times, Arthur Gregg (A.G.) Sulzberger turns 45… Former director of responsible innovation at Meta / Facebook, now a consultant, he is also the spiritual leader of Chochmat HaLev, a progressive spiritual community in Berkeley, Calif., Zvika Krieger… Member of the comedy duo Jake and Amir, Jacob Penn Cooper Hurwitz turns 40… Longtime member of the Israeli national soccer team who also played in Europe’s UEFA Champions League, Gil Vermouth turns 40… Co-founder of Cadence, an AI-driven performance nutrition platform, Lila Cohn… Front end engineer at Platform.sh, Abby Milberg… 2023 graduate of Harvard Law School, now an assistant corporation counsel for New York City, Michael E. Snow… Senior advisor for implementation at the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions, Lisa Geller… Leslie Saunders… Director of antisemitism programs at the Anti-Defamation League, Anyu Silverman…

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Today, we remember Wesley LePatner, a Jewish philanthropist and Blackstone executive killed in Monday’s shooting at the firm’s Manhattan headquarters. LePatner, 43, served on the boards of the pluralistic Abraham Joshua Heschel School and the UJA-Federation of New York. The federation called LePatner “extraordinary in every way” in a statement, saying she “lived with courage and conviction, instilling in her two children a deep love for Judaism and the Jewish people.” Hindy Poupko, deputy chief planning officer at UJA, said in remarks at the Israel on Campus Coalition’s National Leadership Summit in Washington today that there was a second Jewish victim of the shooting, Julia Hyman. Hyman, a Cornell graduate, worked for Rudin Management in the Midtown skyscraper…

Concerns among Democrats about the humanitarian situation in Gaza and Israel’s role in it are intensifying. On Capitol Hill, the majority of Senate Democrats, led by a group including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV), sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff calling the humanitarian crisis in Gaza “unsustainable” and saying that the Israeli- and American-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has “failed” to properly deliver aid…

One Democrat standing up for Israel is Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), who said at the ICC summit today, “We have to remind the world that, despite the amnesia, Hamas was the central cause of the war in Gaza. … Hamas is morally responsible, principally responsible for the war in Gaza.” Read more on Torres’ speech in JI’s Daily Kickoff tomorrow…

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who did not sign the Senate Democrats’ letter, jumped into the fray by introducing another resolution to block an arms transfer to Israel — his third since November 2024. In a novel twist, this resolution would block the sale of $1 million worth of assault rifles to Israel’s police force overseen by far-right Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir, potentially opening the door for more Democrats to vote in favor, given Ben-Gvir’s less-than-favorable reputation within the party…

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, applying pressure of his own, announced today that the U.K. will recognize a Palestinian state at the U.N. General Assembly in September — matching France’s timeline, announced last week — unless Israel takes “substantive steps to end the appalling situation” in Gaza, reaches a ceasefire with Hamas and commits to reviving the possibility of a two-state solution and not annexing the West Bank. President Donald Trump, who met with Starmer in Scotland yesterday, told reporters that the British PM didn’t discuss the move with him and that he has no view on it, but that the U.S. is “not in that camp”…

On the home front, UCLA settled a lawsuit with Jewish students who alleged that the university permitted antisemitic conduct during the campus’ anti-Israel encampments in spring 2024. According to the agreement announced today, the university cannot allow or facilitate the exclusion of Jewish students, faculty or staff from UCLA programs or campus areas. Notably, the agreement specifies that Jews cannot be excluded “based on religious beliefs concerning the Jewish state of Israel.” Also getting a windfall in the settlement: UCLA agreed to pay over $2.3 million combined to UCLA Hillel and Chabad, the Anti-Defamation League, the Academic Engagement Network and other Jewish organizations combating antisemitism on campus…

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider later this week where we’ll feature an interview with Jeanine Pirro, interim U.S. attorney for D.C., who spoke with JI about the ongoing prosecution of the assailant responsible for the deadly May shooting at the Capital Jewish Museum. We’ll also cover Rep. Mike Collins’ (R-GA) record on antisemitism as he jumps in the race to challenge Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA), and report on Harvard’s overtures to the Jewish community while it gears up for a settlement with the federal government.

We’re staying tuned for how President Donald Trump may react as some of the U.S.’ closest allies gear up to recognize a Palestinian state, a policy the U.S. has rejected as unhelpful to peace efforts for decades. Though he said today he has “no view” on the matter, as the U.N. General Assembly nears, will Trump take a tougher line on his European partners?

• A number of House committees are meeting for hearings and markups this week. This morning, we’re keeping an eye on a House Foreign Affairs Committee markup that includes a bill expediting arms sales to Abraham Accords signatories. Read more here.
• At 10:30 a.m. ET, the House Financial Services Committee is holding a markup that includes new legislation introduced by Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) that aims to create oversight and set conditions for lifting sanctions on Syria. Read more here.
• On the Senate side of the Capitol, the Senate Armed Services Committee is holding a confirmation hearing for the Navy’s Vice Adm. Frank Bradley to be head of Special Operations Command.
• At noon, the American Jewish Congress is holding a virtual briefing with Gaza Humanitarian Foundation Executive Director Johnnie Moore.
• Elsewhere in Washington, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman will appear today at a Federal Reserve conference to push the economic benefits of artificial intelligence.
• Tonight, UJA-Federation of New York is hosting a bnai mitzvah party for more than three dozen Israeli teenagers who have lost a parent on or since Oct. 7, 2023. The IDF Widows and Orphans Organization facilitated the trip.
• And in Israel, the Israel Democracy Institute is holding a conference in Jerusalem focused on the Knesset’s upcoming summer recess, which begins on Sunday.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MELISSA WEISS

It’s a scenario that has played out many times over since Oct. 7, 2023: Against the backdrop of ceasefire and hostage-release negotiations, Israeli actions in Gaza draw widespread condemnation. World leaders call for a ceasefire. Amid that growing criticism, Hamas, sensing increased pressure on Israel, responds by escalating its demands or backing away from negotiations entirely.

This week is no different, with Israel’s launch on Monday of a ground operation in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah, where it had not previously operated, the same day that more than two dozen Western countries released a joint statement calling for “unconditional and permanent ceasefire.” Hamas negotiators in Doha, Qatar, have reportedly spent the last two weeks dragging out ceasefire talks, over issues ranging from the number of Palestinian prisoners to be released to the areas where the IDF is allowed to operate.

In yesterday’s statement, the countries’ demand of Hamas is only for the “immediate and unconditional release” of the remaining 50 hostages, with no mention of disarmament or the terror group’s removal from power — key Israeli demands since Hamas’ brutal attacks on the Jewish state almost two years ago.

Hamas has since October 2023 faced limited pressure to acquiesce to Israeli and American demands. The terror group’s backers in Doha, where senior Hamas officials have long lived in opulence and security, have similarly faced little international pressure — even as Qatar plays a key role in negotiations. Israel has not been a perfect actor, and at times has walked away from the negotiating table. But Jerusalem’s refusals have been outpaced by Hamas’ intransigence, the latter of which has frustrated White House officials in both the current and former administrations.

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

Postwar Patriotism in Tehran: The New York Times’ Erika Solomon and Sanam Mahoozi look at how Iran has channeled its recent military losses and attacks on its nuclear program into a resurgent nationalism. “Iran has emerged from its war with Israel — briefly joined by the United States — deeply wounded. … Amid that bleak outlook, the country’s leaders see an opportunity. Outrage over the attacks has sparked an outpouring of nationalist sentiment, and they hope to channel that into a patriotic moment to shore up a government facing daunting economic and political challenges. The result has been an embrace of ancient folklore and patriotic symbols that many of Iran’s secular nationalists once saw as their domain, not that of a conservative theocracy that often shunned Iran’s pre-Islamic revolutionary heritage.” [NYTimes]

The Gaza Tragedy: The Washington Post’s David Ignatius considers how the humanitarian situation in Gaza has approached the brink of collapse. “At the heart of this catastrophe is that Hamas and Israel seem unable to end a war that has been ruinous for both sides. Hamas is beaten but won’t surrender, and it seems eager to manipulate the chaos. Israel has won but has failed to consolidate its victory with a transitional scheme for governance that would replace Hamas with an Arab force backed by the Palestinian Authority. Meanwhile, the remaining Israeli hostages are trapped in this unending nightmare.” [WashPost]

Mandy’s Wrong Note: In his Substack, Michael Granoff responds to actor Mandy Patinkin’s recent comments critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s war against Hamas. “Finally, Mandy, one of my favorites of your recording, is your brilliant medley of ‘Everybody Says Don’t,’ from Sondheim’s ‘Anyone Can Whistle,’ and ‘The King’s New Clothes.’ The emotion you convey at the climax of the latter number, ‘…one little boy who for some reason didn’t know what he was SUPPOSED TO SEE…’ I bet you always fancied yourself that virtuous little boy. But you know what? You are actually with ‘the Ministers, the Ambassadors, the Counts and the Dukes,’ who repeat the lie promulgated by terrorists and by institutions like the United Nations, the International Criminal Court, Al Jazeera, and more. The King’s new clothes? Those are the accusations against us – apartheid, war criminals, baby killers, genocide. Lies just as naked as the king.” [Substack]

Messing’s Message: In The Times of Israel, actress Debra Messing reflects on the rise of antisemitism in the progressive movement where she had long found a political home. “What troubles me most is not the presence of hate. Hate has always found a way to survive. What troubles me is the way it is being rationalized. Dismissed. The way it is reframed as something noble. The way it becomes invisible, especially to those who should know better. Jewish safety and progressive values should never be in conflict. If they are, we have to ask whether we’ve drifted from our humanity. The test is whether progressivism stands firm, not just when it is easy but when it’s hard; when it forces us to confront multiple truths. In the end, every movement tells you who belongs by what it is willing to protect. I still believe in the progressive vision. But I’m watching closely, because if it can’t make space for my community, then it’s not what it claims to be.” [TOI]

The Trump administration is reportedly planning to withdraw the U.S. from UNESCO over what it alleges is the body’s anti-Israel and pro-China bias, as well as its focus on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives…

Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-NY) was elected chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, following committee chair Rep. Mark Green’s (R-TN) resignation from Congress on Monday…

In a letter to members of the House Homeland Security Committee’s Counterterrorism and Intelligence subcommittee, the Jewish Federations of North America highlighted the significant security costs facing the Jewish community, as advocates push for additional security assistance from the federal government at a time of heightened antisemitism,Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…

The Bronx campaign office of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) was vandalized with anti-Israel graffiti days after the New York Democrat voted against an amendment pushed by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) to end funding for Israel’s missile-defense programs…

Larry Ellison’s Oracle is in talks with Skydance Media, founded and led by Ellison’s son, David, over a potential $100 million annual deal that would take shape following Skydance’s acquisition of Paramount; the deal would see Paramount use Oracle’s cloud-sharing software…

The Wall Street Journal looks at the legal and financial battle between Fortress Investment Group and real estate investor Charles Cohen as Fortress attempts to seize hundreds of millions of dollars it says it is owed by Cohen…

The CEO and board chair of Friends of the IDF are stepping down, weeks after the leak of an internal report alleging internal dysfunction, inappropriate spending and a toxic work environment, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross reports…

An anti-Israel activist in New York City was arrested and charged with setting nearly a dozen police vehicles on fire last month; Jakhi McCray had previously been arrested in 2024 for torching Israeli and American flags outside the Israeli consulate in New York…

In its “Overlooked” series, The New York Times spotlights Soviet aviator Polina Gelman, who during World War II was part of an elite group of female navigators known as the “Night Witches”; Gelman, who died in 2005, was the only Jewish woman to earn the USSR’s Hero of the Soviet Union medal during the war…

A federal appeals court overturned the conviction of the man found guilty of kidnapping and killing 6-year-old Etan Patz in 1979; Pedro Hernandez will have a new trial — his third, after the first was deadlocked, prompting the 2017 trial that found him guilty…

Former Brigham Young University quarterback Jake Retzlaff is transferring to Tulane, following a seven-game suspension for violating BYU’s honor code…

The Washington Post looks at Hamas’ deepening financial crisis, as the terror group, which had not prepared for its war with Israel to extend past a year, finds itself unable to pay salaries and rebuild its vast underground tunnel system…

Israeli officials warned that the country’s port in Eilat is at risk of shutting down entirely unless it receives financial assistance, citing the impact of the Houthis’ constant ballistic missile attacks that have caused a 90% drop in activity at the Red Sea port…

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Fox News that Tehran will not give up its nuclear enrichment program, while an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said that the country will not resume nuclear talks with the U.S., despite planning to continue talks with European powers…

Iran launched a suborbital test flight satellite carrying Ghased rockets, the first time since last month’s war with Israel that Tehran has launched such a test…

Government offices, businesses and banks across Tehran will shutter tomorrow as the region faces a heat wave, with temperatures expected to exceed 104 degrees Fahrenheit…

Turkey is closing in on an agreement to purchase up to 40 Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets; Ankara has been waiting on required approval from Germany, which had been stalled since 2023 over Berlin’s opposition to some elements of Turkish foreign policy…

Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly directed his government to prepare a package of joint Egypt-U.S. investment opportunities, as part of a broader effort to deepen Egyptian relations with Washington…

Real estate mogul Don Soffer, a key driver behind the establishment and development of Aventura, Fla., died at 92…

Former University of Baltimore Law School Dean and president of the Charles Crane Family Foundation, Larry Katz died at 85…

A delegation from the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations met on Monday with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar in Jerusalem.

British biochemist and professor at the University of Dundee in Scotland, Sir Philip Cohen turns 80… 

Actress, prominent in Israeli theater, television and film, Gila Almagor turns 86… British Conservative Party member of Parliament for 36 years until 2010, a leading figure in the fight against human trafficking in the UK and worldwide, Anthony Steen CBE turns 86… Historian, author and professor emerita at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Judith Walzer Leavitt turns 85… Actor, director and comedian, Albert Brooks (born Albert Lawrence Einstein) turns 78… Past president of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Detroit, owner of Nodel Parks (operator of 37 manufactured home parks in nine states), Richard Martin Nodel… One of only 21 EGOT winners, including eight Academy Awards and 11 Grammy awards, pianist and composer of many Disney movie musical scores, Alan Menken turns 76… Owner of Baltimore’s Seven Mile Market, Hershel Boehm… Managing director of a German public affairs firm, he works to ensure that the Holocaust and its many victims are not forgotten, Terry Swartzberg turns 72… Publisher of the 5 Towns Jewish Times, Larry Gordon turns 72… Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia since 2011 (senior status since May 2023), Judge Amy Berman Jackson turns 71… Canadian sports journalist, radio host and mental health advocate, Michael Elliott Landsberg turns 68… Member of the board of governors of the American Jewish Committee, Cindy Masters… Secretary of veterans affairs in the first year of the Trump 45 administration, David Jonathon Shulkin turns 66… Director of government relations for the Zionist Organization of America, Dan Pollak turns 66… Federal prosecutor for 25 years, she was the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama throughout the Obama administration, Joyce Alene Vance turns 65… Founding partner of the D.C.-based intellectual property law firm, Greenberg & Lieberman, Stevan Lieberman turns 60… Democratic member of the West Virginia House of Delegates since 2018, Evan Hansen turns 59… Television journalist, David Shuster turns 58… CEO of Leviathan Productions, focused on Jewish history, folklore and literature, Ben Cosgrove… Pentagon speechwriter during the prior administration, Warren Bass… Owner of West Bloomfield, Mich.-based Saltsman Industries and Saltsman Financial Group, Daniel A. Saltsman… Branch chief and senior advisor for policy and readiness at the U.S. Army, Jonathan Freeman… Contemporary artist, he is the founder and director of Pioneer Works, a cultural institution in Brooklyn, Dustin Yellin turns 50… Manager of global issues for ExxonMobil, Elise Rachel Shutzer… Associate justice on the New Jersey Supreme Court, Rachel Wainer Apter turns 45… Former White House assistant press secretary, now the executive producer for news and politics at Crooked Media, Reid Cherlin… White House correspondent at The Independent, Andrew Grant Feinberg turns 43… Member of the House of Representatives (D-RI) since 2023, Seth Michael Magaziner turns 42… Executive director of the American Sephardi Federation since 2014, Jason Guberman-Pfeffer… Actor best known for his role in the Freeform series “Pretty Little Liars,” Keegan Phillip Allen turns 36… Director at the Peterson Health Technology Institute, Maor Cohen… Talia Joyce Thurm Abramson… Serial entrepreneur, software consultant and product strategist, Yoela Palkin… Actor, his career started when he was 10 years old, he played Jimmy Olson in the 2025 version of “Superman,” Skyler Gisondo turns 29…

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Washington trip continues today. He’s slated to meet with Vice President JD Vance, and will head to Capitol Hill later this morning for meetings with House and Senate leadership, including Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA).
• Elsewhere on the Hill, the Senate Armed Services Committee’s subcommittees continue their markups of the NDAA.
• In Sun Valley, Idaho, the annual Allen & Co. gathering formally kicks off today. Look out for the paparazzi photos of vest- and fleece-wearing tech and media moguls arriving at the Sun Valley Lodge. 

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MARC ROD

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s third visit to Washington since the start of the Trump presidency kicked off Monday with closed-door meetings with President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.

Trump and Netanyahu were on warm terms during remarks to the press ahead of their dinner. Netanyahu offered effusive praise for Trump for the U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities and said he nominated Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize, as well as following Trump’s lead in expressing openness to the new Syrian government.

Trump, for his part, deferred to Netanyahu on a question about a two-state solution. “We’ll work out a peace with our Palestinian neighbors, those who don’t want to destroy us,” Netanyahu said. “I think the Palestinians should have all the powers to govern themselves, but none of the powers to threaten us. That means that certain powers like overall security will always remain in our hands. Now that is a fact and no one in Israel will agree to anything else because we don’t commit suicide.”

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters earlier in the day that Trump’s “utmost priority … is to end the war in Gaza and return all of the hostages” and that Trump and Netanyahu would discuss “peace in Gaza and ending that conflict.”

But that agenda item saw little discussion in Trump and Netanyahu’s public remarks. Asked about talks with Hamas, Trump instead spoke about Iran.

A senior Israeli official in Netanyahu’s delegation told reporters following the Trump-Netanyahu meeting that a deal to end the Gaza war is not on the table because “Hamas is not responsive to the conditions that would allow a comprehensive agreement,” such as demilitarization for Gaza and exile for remaining Hamas leaders, the senior official explained. Without those conditions, “Hamas could do [the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks] again.” More on this from JI’s Lahav Harkov here.

At the same time, the differences between the two leaders’ comments on potential further strikes on Iran indicated a possible point of friction in the future.

Asked about further strikes, Trump said he “can’t imagine wanting to do that” and maintained that Iran’s nuclear program had been “knocked out completely.” Trump added, “I think they want to make peace and I’m all for it,” while also suggesting that there is no need for negotiations or a deal, saying “What’s the purpose of talking?” He said that the U.S. is “ready, willing and able” if further strikes are necessary, “but I don’t think we’re going to have to be.”

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

Bringing Harvard to Heel: The New York Times’ Stephanie Saul and Steven Rich look at how Harvard’s fiscal ties to China, which boosted its giving to the school following the 2008 recession that significantly impacted Harvard’s financial stability, have contributed to the Trump administration’s legal battles targeting the Ivy League school. “Now Harvard’s ties with China are coming back to haunt the university. Those connections were forged when Harvard was more financially vulnerable and when much of the foreign policy establishment believed that higher education could play a part in pushing America’s democratic ideals to China and the rest of the world. But American foreign policy has turned sharply hawkish against China, and even though Harvard has steadily reduced its ties there, the Trump administration has made the relationship another line of attack in its broader effort to bring the university to heel.” [NYTimes]

What Mamdani Means: The Wall Street Journal’s Gerard Baker considers how New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani’s primary success underscores the present political climate that allows more extreme positions and views to take hold. “But while we may mock the radicalism of Mr. Mamdani and his fellow socialists seemingly on the rise in the Democratic Party, I see in the man’s appeal, his evident popularity among a certain type of young voter especially, more signs of the continuing crack-up of American politics. Many Republicans like to think that the extremism represented by the likes of Mr. Mamdani and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a signal of the Democrats’ growing irrelevance and unelectability. But his ascent — provisional though it may still be — is more likely a reflection of the fissures that continue to stretch our national cohesion than some proof of the marginalized nature of Donald Trump’s opponents.” [WSJ]

Alarmed in Algeria: The Financial Times’ Heba Saleh and Leila Abboud report on how the shifting dynamics and power structures across the Middle East and North Africa — including Israel’s warming ties with Morocco — have affected Algeria. “Algerian leaders feel surrounded by hostile forces, with Morocco, Israel and the United Arab Emirates all increasing their influence in the region, analysts say. Algiers has also fallen out with France, the former colonial power and a key partner. … Staunchly pro-Palestinian Algiers has been particularly riled by the Moroccan normalisation deal with Israel, which was the price Rabat paid for US recognition of its sovereignty over Western Sahara. It is also wary of Israeli-Moroccan military co-operation.” [FT]

President Donald Trump overruled Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby in calling for a restoration of weapons to Ukraine, one week after the Defense Department announced a holdup of arms earmarked for the country; “We have to, they have to be able to defend themselves,” Trump said in his Monday meeting with Netanyahu…

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will hold a confirmation hearing next week for former National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, the Trump administration’s nominee to be U.S. ambassador to the U.N.…

The U.S. revoked the Foreign Terrorist Organization designation of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, the militant group led by Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa that overthrew the Assad regime last year…

Syrian media reports that Syrian President Ahmed al‑Sharaa met an Israeli official on Monday in Abu Dhabi during his official visit to the United Arab Emirates; the reports named Israeli National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi as the official, but Hanegbi is said to be in Washington as part of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s delegation…

The IRS, in a new court filing, said it will allow places of worship to endorse political candidates, exempting them from a law prohibiting tax-exempt organizations from engaging in political activity…

eJewishPhilanthropy’s Nira Dayanim looks at how Jewish organizations in central Texas are mobilizing to assist in relief and recovery efforts following storms and flash floods that have killed more than 100 people across the region…

A federal court in Massachusetts heard opening arguments on Monday in a lawsuit brought against the Trump administration by two faculty associations over the government’s targeting of noncitizen U.S. residents who have espoused or engaged in anti-Israel activity that could be seen as supporting Hamas…

The Wall Street Journal reports on the support that New York City Mayor Eric Adams is receiving from city real estate executives following Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani’s victory over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo last month…

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman described himself in a recent social media post as “politically homeless”; addressing Mamdani’s recent suggestion that billionaires shouldn’t exist, Altman said he would “rather hear from candidates about how they are going to make everyone have the stuff billionaires have instead of how they are going to eliminate billionaires”… 

Mubadala Capital, a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi-based sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Company, hired Ophir Shmuel as its new head of business development, The Circuit reports… 

U.K.-based American stand-up comic Reginald Hunter appeared in a London court to face charges for sending offensive, antisemitic messages on multiple occasions to an organizer of the city’s hostage-awareness events…

Five IDF soldiers were killed and more than a dozen injured when an explosive detonated in the northern Gaza city of Beit Hanoun; four of the soldiers killed were members of the army’s Haredi “Netzah Yehuda” battalion…

Iran has expelled more than 800,000 Afghans since March, the majority of whom were forced to leave the country in the last five weeks amid a crackdown on undocumented individuals in the Islamic Republic…

Two people were injured and two others are missing following a Houthi attack on a Liberian-flagged ship transiting through the Red Sea; the attack came a day after the crew of a second Liberian-flagged vessel was forced to abandon ship following an attack believed to have been conducted by the Houthis…

Psychoanalyst Dr. Anna Ornstein, who as a teenager survived the Holocaust and would go on to pioneer a school of thought in her field that prioritized empathy, died at 98…

Playwright Ronald Ribman died at 82…

Imams and Muslim community leaders from France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy and the U.K. visited Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum in Jerusalem on Tuesday as part of a trip focused on coexistence that also included a meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog.

Israeli film director, producer and researcher, Eyal Boers turns 50… 

Retired in 2016 after 26 years as executive director of the Baltimore Jewish Council, Arthur “Art” Abramson turns 77… Democratic candidate for president of the U.S. in 2020 and 2024, Marianne Deborah Williamson turns 73… Mayor of Farmington Hills, Mich., until 2023, she is a former member of the Michigan House of Representatives, Vicki Barnett turns 71… Attorney and Democratic politician from Texas, Barbara Ann Radnofsky turns 69… Attorney and a former U.S. ambassador to Belgium in the Obama administration, Howard Gutman turns 69… Partner of the global law firm Dentons, when he was elected attorney general of Georgia in 2010 (and reelected in 2014) he became the first Jewish person to win statewide office in Georgia, Samuel Scott Olens turns 68… Former member of Knesset who had served as Israel’s foreign minister, justice minister, agriculture minister and housing minister, Tziporah Malka “Tzipi” Livni turns 67… Retired rabbi at Temple Emanuel in Beaumont, Texas, Rabbi Joshua Samuel Taub… Co-president of Rochester, N.Y.-based Hahn Automotive Warehouse, he is on the board of governors of the Jewish Federation of Greater Rochester, Eli N. Futerman… SVP and COO of New York’s Jewish Communal Fund, Marina W. Lewin… Former Washington bureau chief of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Ron Kampeas turns 65… Consultant strategist, policy advisor and writer, he served as corporate counsel to Allstate Insurance for 28 years, Steven Richard Sheffey turns 65… Writer, television producer, ventriloquist and puppeteer, Mallory Hurwitz Tarcher Lewis turns 63… Managing partner at DGA’s Albright Stonebridge Group, Dan K. Rosenthal turns 59… Former ice hockey player, her three sons were seventh, first and fourth picks overall, respectively, in the 2018, 2019 and 2021 NHL Drafts, Ellen Weinberg-Hughes turns 57… Higher education reporter for The Wall Street Journal, Douglas Belkin… New York City comptroller, Brad Lander turns 56… Managing director of investor relations for Harbor Group International, Meir Raskas… EVP of the Atlantic Council, Jenna H. Ben-Yehuda… Atlanta-based educator, activist and writer, Robbie Medwed… Sports journalist, known for his coverage of mixed martial arts and professional wrestling, Ariel Jacob Helwani turns 43… Senior legal counsel at Horizons Law and Consulting, Alon Sachar… Policy and communications consultant, Stefanie Feldman… Diplomatic correspondent at the Jerusalem Post and i24NEWS, Amichai Stein…

• President Donald Trump is in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, today for meetings with senior officials. He met earlier today with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
• Also in Riyadh, the Saudi-U.S. Investment Forum kicked off earlier today. Speakers at the daylong summit include Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, the White House’s David Sacks, White House advisor Elon Musk, Palantir’s Alex Karp, Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman, Amazon’s Andy Jassy, FIFA President Gianni Infantino, LionTree’s Aryeh Bourkoff, BlackRock’s Larry Fink, Alphabet’s Ruth Porat, BDT & MSD Partners’ Dina Powell McCormick and the Saudi ministers of energy, sports, investment, finance, economy, tourism and housing.
• An Israeli delegation is in Doha, Qatar, today for renewed ceasefire and hostage-release talks.
• In Washington, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is holding a hearing on East Africa. This afternoon, the Senate Armed Services Committee will hold a hearing on the U.S.’ missile defense budget request.
• At 10:45 a.m. ET, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) will deliver remarks during the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Global Security Forum in Washington.
• Sens. Brian Schatz (D-HI), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Chris Coons (D-DE) and Chris Murphy (D-CT) are planning to force a floor vote as soon as today on condemning the potential gift of a Qatari luxury jet to President Donald Trump.
• Dan Senor will deliver 92NY’s annual State of World Jewry address tonight in New York.

A QUICK WORD WITH Gabby deutch

President Donald Trump arrived in the Middle East today for the first major international trip of his second term, where he’ll visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. He traveled to the region just as his administration secured a major diplomatic breakthrough: the release of Edan Alexander, the final living American hostage, from Hamas captivity in Gaza. 

But Trump will not be visiting Israel to herald Alexander’s release. There will be no victorious photo shoot with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, because all reports indicate that the U.S. secured Alexander’s release without even informing the Israelis about the negotiations. Trump will not be visiting Israel at all, dealing another blow to America’s closest ally in the region at a time when ties appear to be straining between Jerusalem and Washington.

Instead, the president will be meeting with the leader of a country that serves as a chief sponsor of Alexander’s captors — just days after Trump accepted the gift of a $400 million luxury jet from the Qatari royal family to use as Air Force One, which quickly sparked concern from ethics experts, congressional Democrats and critics of the Gulf state, which has close ties to Hamas leaders. 

The gift of the Qatari plane may be a harbinger of an administration that prioritizes business deals over national security. No further diplomatic victories are expected. After Trump said last week that he would make a “very, very big announcement” before his trip to the Middle East, many observers thought that news would be related to the region. But a White House spokesperson told Jewish Insider that it was instead referring to a drug-pricing executive order he signed on Monday. 

The trip is generating a quiet panic of sorts among members of the pro-Israel and Jewish communal establishment over how the administration’s primary focus on mega dealmaking is eclipsing traditional foreign policy objectives — rendering moot much of the congressional lobbying and advocacy work promoting a strong U.S.-Israel relationship, as well as Israel’s own approach to its relationship with Washington. 

A message circulating among insiders this week captures the mood: “All the investment in communal organizations and institutions like Congress are meaningless in this moment and pale in comparison to having a sovereign wealth fund that can get Trump to change his tune on Houthis, Iran, Gaza etc.” (Saudi officials reportedly backed a U.S.-Houthi ceasefire last week, and have been encouraging of U.S. nuclear talks with Iran in an effort to bring more economic stability to the region.) 

Indeed, White House officials have said that national security is not expected to be a major part of Trump’s conversations this week. Rather, trade and investment deals are the focus of the visits, along with announcements of defense spending agreements. 

In the recent past, a trip like this might have been likely to feature talk of normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel. Steve Witkoff, Trump’s Middle East envoy, said last week that he expects to be able to announce progress on additional countries joining the Abraham Accords in the next year. But at least publicly, progress on normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia has stalled. 

“It looks like it fell off a cliff,” David Makovsky, a distinguished fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told JI. 

A report from Reuters indicates the U.S. might give Saudi Arabia what has been one of its primary asks of Washington — support for a civil nuclear program in the Gulf monarchy — without tying it to the demand that Saudi Arabia establish diplomatic ties with Israel, as was previously expected in a deal. The U.S. also recently approved a major arms sale to Riyadh.

“What you’re seeing is that President Trump has an idea of what is in our interest, and that comes first,” Dennis Ross, a former State Department official who worked in both Democratic and Republican administrations, told The Washington Post. “He defines the nature of our interests abroad not through a geopolitical or security context, but an economic, financial and trade frame. I think President Trump might have the view that ‘We give [Israel] $4 billion a year in military assistance. I do plenty to support the Israelis.’”

Leading up to the trip, reports emerged suggesting that Trump is unhappy with Netanyahu’s decision to launch another major offensive in Gaza. This isn’t just a policy disagreement; it’s about Trump’s personal interest in developing the region, according to NBC News, which reported that he thinks further destruction in Gaza will make it harder to rebuild. 

Ultimately, it appears that this trip could be a harbinger for the second Trump administration’s approach to the region. With Trump-branded projects being announced in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, a Houthi-U.S. ceasefire secured and a potential Iran nuclear agreement on the horizon, the “art of the deal” is looking like it will leave Israel largely out of the equation.

Sana’a Showdown: The New York Times’ Helene Cooper, Greg Jaffe, Jonathan Swan, Eric Schmitt and Maggie Haberman do a deep dive into the Trump administration’s decision to reach a ceasefire with the Houthis in Yemen. “The sudden declaration of victory over the Houthis demonstrates how some members of the president’s national security team underestimated a group known for its resilience. Gen. Michael E. Kurilla, the head of Central Command, had pressed for a forceful campaign, which the defense secretary and the national security adviser initially supported, according to several officials with knowledge of the discussions. But the Houthis reinforced many of their bunkers and weapons depots throughout the intense bombing. … What’s more, Mr. Trump’s new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, was concerned that an extended campaign against the Houthis would drain military resources away from the Asia-Pacific region. His predecessor, Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., shared that view before he was fired in February.” [NYTimes]

Turning on Their Former Boss: In The Wall Street Journal, Jamie Kirchick reacts to a recent smear campaign by former staffers for Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) targeting the Pennsylvania Democrat. “Conflating Mr. Fetterman’s political evolution with his allegedly declining mental health (dressed up as concern for his well-being) is extremely cynical in light of the debate that ensued after he suffered a stroke during the 2022 Senate campaign. … At the time, progressives castigated anyone who questioned Mr. Fetterman’s fitness for office as an ‘ableist.’ Now, when he’s clearly improved, they claim he’s unfit to serve. Attributing Mr. Fetterman’s political maturation to mental illness is shameful considering the courage it has taken him to speak publicly about his depression. For elected officials especially, it can be difficult to broach such a personal subject. Mr. Fetterman should be commended for discussing it openly. He’s doing for mental health what former First Lady Betty Ford did for addiction, raising awareness about a problem suffered by millions in shame and silence. He is encouraging people to seek professional help. How quickly progressives, usually so careful not to stigmatize people for their mental health, do an about-face when the target of such accusations espouses political views opposing theirs.” [WSJ]

The Trump-Bibi Divide: The Atlantic’s Yair Rosenberg looks at the divergence of opinion between the Israeli public and the Israeli government on how Israel should pursue the release of the remaining 58 hostages. “The release was the result of a back-channel dialogue between the United States and the terrorist group ahead of Donald Trump’s arrival in the region this week. Announcing the news on social media, the president heralded the event not as a one-off, but as a step ‘to put an end to this very brutal war and return ALL living hostages and remains to their loved ones.’ Israel was not involved in the process and, according to Axios, found out about the negotiations only through its intelligence services. Some reports have cast this disconnect as indicative of a chasm between Trump and Israel. But this is a misreading. The divide is not between the president and Israel so much as between the president and Israel’s leader. Most Israelis support what Trump is doing — and oppose Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s approach to the war in Gaza.” [TheAtlantic]

The Pentagon is downgrading its bomber fleet in the Indo-Pacific, replacing the B-2 bombers with B-52s, following the implementation of a ceasefire between the U.S. and the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen…

The Trump administration levied sanctions on three Iranians and an Iranian company tied to Iran’s nuclear weapons program…

The State Department announced a roughly $1.4 billion arms sale to the United Arab Emirates on Monday, days before President Donald Trump is set to arrive in the Gulf nation…

The Wall Street Journal suggests that Trump “surprised and sidelined Israel” in the run-up to his Middle East trip, which does not include a stop in the Jewish state…

The negotiations to free American-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander reportedly originated with Hamas‘ outreach to former Arab Americans for Trump leader Bishara Bahbah…

A sweeping federal tax bill unveiled on Monday as part of Republicans’ budget reconciliation plan includes legislation that would expand the executive branch’s ability to revoke tax exemptions from nonprofits accused of supporting terrorism, a push that was once broadly bipartisan but ran into strong Democratic opposition at the end of the previous Congress, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…

A group of Senate Democrats led by Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) wrote to President Donald Trump last week criticizing his decision to dismiss multiple members of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council appointed by President Joe Biden, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…

The Democratic National Committee is moving forward with an effort to void the election of DNC Vice Chairs David Hogg and Malcolm Kenyatta, the latter of whom is a  Pennsylvania state representative, following allegations that the original February election was conducted in a flawed manner; Hogg accused the DNC of attacking him for his PAC’s strategy to back primary challengers to older elected Democrats…

Rob Sands, who as Iowa’s state auditor is the only Democrat to hold statewide office, announced his bid for governor following Gov. Kim Reynolds’ announcement that she will not seek a third term; Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-IA) also filed paperwork on Monday to enter the race…

The University of San Francisco has become the latest school to divest from Israel-related companies. The school’s endowment fund will sell off its direct investments in Palantir, L3Harris, GE Aerospace and RTX Corporation by June 1, the university confirmed, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports…

The former Czech textile factory where Oskar Schindler saved 1,200 Jews reopened as a museum honoring the efforts of Schindler, his wife Emilie and the family that owned the building…

An Iranian government spokesperson said that preparations for Russian President Vladimir Putin to visit Tehran at a still-undetermined date “are underway”…

The Kurdish PKK agreed to end its decades-long conflict against Turkey and dissolve itself, shortly after a call from its leader, Abdullah Ocalan, who is serving a life sentence in Turkey, to do so…

Writer and illustrator Jack Katz, who pioneered the graphic novel, died at 97…

Corporate executive and attorney Robert Shapiro, who popularized the use of aspartame through branding the sugar substitute as NutraSweet, died at 86…

Former Israeli American hostage Edan Alexander was reunited with his extended family on Monday night at Ichilov Medical Center in Tel Aviv, hours after being released from captivity in Gaza.

Retired NFL offensive lineman for seven NFL teams, now a regional manager at Rocksolid, Brian de la Puente turns 40… 

South African-born attorney, now based in London, Sir Sydney Lipworth QC turns 94… Professor emerita of Yiddish literature at Harvard University, she is presently a distinguished senior fellow at The Tikvah Fund, Ruth Wisse turns 89… Emmy Award-winning film, television and stage actress, Zohra Lampert turns 88… Academy Award-winning actor and producer, Harvey Keitel turns 86… Ophthalmologist in South Florida, Dr. Joel Sandberg turns 82… Former dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at American Jewish University, Samuel Edelman turns 77… Professor of mathematics at Princeton since 1987, he was a winner of a 1991 MacArthur genius fellowship, Sergiu Klainerman turns 75… Former FDA commissioner during the 1990s, then chief scientific officer for COVID-19 response during the Biden administration, David A. Kessler turns 74… Retired editor and columnist for the New York Post, he was also managing editor of The Jerusalem Post, Eric Fettmann turns 72… Chief rabbi of the city of Shoham in central Israel, chairman of the Tzohar organization and rabbi for the Ezra youth movement, Rabbi David Stav turns 65… Founder and former CEO of LRN, a legal research, ethics and compliance management firm, Dov Seidman turns 61… Immediate past chair of JFNA’s National Women’s Philanthropy Board and past chair of the Hartford (Conn.) Federation, Carolyn Gitlin… Retired NFL defensive lineman, he has played for the Raiders and Panthers, Josh Heinrich Taves, aka Josh Heinrich, turns 53… Ice hockey player, she won a gold medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics and a silver medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics, Sara Ann DeCosta turns 48… U.S. senator (R-AR), Tom Cotton turns 48… Chief community and Jewish life officer at The Jewish Federations of North America, Sarah Eisenman… Former Israel director for J Street, then the chief of staff for Israel’s Ministry for Regional Cooperation, Yael Patir… Member of the U.K.’s House of Lords since February, she was previously a member of the House of Commons, Baroness Luciana Berger turns 44… Software entrepreneur, Google project manager, then Facebook engineering lead, and co-founder in 2008 of Asana, Justin Rosenstein turns 42… Israeli rapper, singer, songwriter and actor, known by his stage name Tuna, Itay Zvulun turns 41… Actress, writer, producer and director, best known as the creator, writer and star of the HBO series “Girls,” Lena Dunham turns 39… Hannah Sirdofsky… Co-founder in 2018 of Manna Tree Partners, Gabrielle “Ellie” Rubenstein… Chief of staff and senior program manager at Jigsaw, a unit within Google, Raquel Saxe Gelb… A clinical social work intern in Philadelphia, Bela Galit Krifcher… Graduating from Columbia Law School next Sunday, Dore Lev Feith turns 29… Director of external affairs at the Manhattan Institute, Jesse Martin Arm… Gold medalist for Israel in rhythmic gymnastics at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Linoy Ashram turns 26…

• Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is in Washington today, where he’ll meet with President Donald Trump at the White House.
• The House Appropriations Committee is holding simultaneous oversight hearings this morning with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
• This afternoon, the House Foreign Affairs Middle East subcommittee is holding a public hearing on “Maximum Impact: Assessing the Effectiveness of the State Department’s Bureau of Counterterrorism and Charting the Path Forward.”
• The Israel Allies Foundation, in conjunction with Eagles’ Wings, the Zionist Rabbinic Coalition, American Christian Leaders for Israel and the Combat Antisemitism Movement, is hosting its Israel Advocacy Day and Independence Day Reception today in Washington. The groups will host a reception tonight with the co-chairs and members of the Congressional Israel Allies Caucus.
• The Orthodox Union is convening its annual Washington mission today and tomorrow. Tonight, they’ll host a kickoff dinner reception honoring Sen. James Lankford (R-OK).
• At the Milken Institute’s Global Conference in Los Angeles, IKAR’s Rabbi Sharon Brous will speak on a panel titled “What Faith Means to Me,” while Pershing Square’s Bill Ackman and Yeshiva University’s Rabbi Ari Berman will speak at back-to-back sessions on higher education. Also slated to address the gathering today: pollster Frank Luntz, Education Secretary Linda McMahon, Relativity Space CEO Eric Schmidt.
• The Future Summit continues today in Israel.
• We’re also keeping an eye on Berlin, where earlier today conservative leader Friedrich Merz failed to secure the number of parliamentary votes necessary to become the country’s next chancellor. Merz had allied his Christian Democratic Union party and associated Christian Social Union party with the more liberal Social Democrats. The Bundestag could hold a second round of voting as soon as today, but must elect a new chancellor in the next two weeks.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S JOSH KRAUSHAAR

Even as deep ideological divisions within the Democratic Party persist, pro-Israel Democrats are growing bullish about their recruiting class of congressional candidates in key Senate and House races — as groups anticipate contested primaries against their favored frontrunners, Jewish Insider Editor-in-Chief Josh Kraushaar writes. 

In three key Senate battleground races, the emergence of mainstream Democratic members of Congress with lengthy records supporting Israel — Reps. Haley Stevens (D-MI), Angie Craig (D-MN) and Chris Pappas (D-NH) — is a sign that for all the energy of the progressive left, traditional Democrats are still more reflective of their party’s overall electorate. 

While the lawmakers start their campaigns with advantages, several face the prospect of competitive primary challenges coming from their left. 

In Michigan, Stevens has emerged as one of the most outspoken backers of a strong U.S.-Israel relationship, boasts close connections to Jewish community leaders and already has ousted an Israel critic (former Rep. Andy Levin) in her young political career. She starts out the Senate race with a healthy $1.6 million cash on hand, according to first quarter FEC filings.

Stevens, however, is facing candidates courting the progressive base: State Sen. Mallory McMorrow became nationally known for her abortion rights activism, and launched her campaign by calling for a younger Senate leader to replace Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). McMorrow, whose husband is Jewish, has also met with Jewish leaders to assure them of her pro-Israel bona fides.

The Michigan candidate courting anti-Israel elements of the electorate is former Michigan health official Abdul El-Sayed, who has run unsuccessfully for statewide office before. Former Michigan House Speaker Joe Tate, a former NFL player, is also seriously considering a run.

Many Jewish Democrats view Stevens as an ally in the same light as pro-Israel stalwarts like Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) or Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) — as someone principled and unafraid to speak out against antisemitism and anti-Israel extremism. Her candidacy will serve as an early bellwether for how much room there is for such moderate voices in today’s Democratic Party.

In Minnesota, Craig is another Israel ally looking as the early favorite in the Democratic primary against the state’s progressive lieutenant governor, Peggy Flanagan. Craig has been willing to speak out against anti-Israel Democratic colleagues amid Middle East policy disagreements; Flanagan is more closely aligned with J Street.

And in New Hampshire, Pappas is looking like the clear favorite for the Democratic nomination to succeed retiring Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH). A swing-district moderate, Pappas has generally held a more pro-Israel record than his Democratic colleagues in the state. 

Outside the battlegrounds, Illinois’ wide-open Senate primary to succeed retiring Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) could potentially feature divisions over Middle East policy. Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) and Robin Kelly (D-IL), both potential candidates, are listed on the AIPAC political portal for favored candidates, while Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-IL), another possible contender, is not. 

There are also developing House race skirmishes over Israel. As JI’s Matthew Kassel scooped today, state Sen. Laura Fine announced her candidacy to succeed retiring Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) in a district with a significant Jewish constituency. Fine, who is running on a pro-Israel platform, is expected to face a challenge from Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, who drew controversy in 2017 for initially tapping (and later dropping) an anti-Israel, DSA-affiliated running mate for his gubernatorial campaign. 

Levin, the former Michigan congressman who has been critical of Israel, is also exploring a political comeback in two of the open House seats in the Detroit suburbs. If he runs in Stevens’ House seat, he could face state Sen. Jeremy Moss, who is one of the strongest allies of the Jewish community in the Michigan state legislature.

Hard Look at Harvard: The Atlantic’s Eliot Cohen weighs in on Harvard’s recently released report documenting antisemitism on the Cambridge campus. “The widespread harassment of Jews reported at Harvard reflects the attitudes of hundreds if not thousands of students, faculty, and staff—that last group is an often underappreciated element in indulging or even encouraging this behavior. It reflects the development of identity-driven politics, for which responsibility lies outside the university as well as within it. It has been fed by witch-hunting for ‘white privilege’ (no matter that there are plenty of Jews of color, as a walk down the streets of Tel Aviv will show you). It flourishes in the bogus specializations that have hived off from more traditional and all-embracing disciplines such as history, literature, and anthropology. It has been nurtured in research centers whose very existence is premised not on the quest for truth but on the pursuit of a political or ideological agenda.” [TheAtlantic]

Life in the Big Apple: In The New Yorker, actress Lena Dunham reflects on her childhood and life in New York before she made a transatlantic move to the U.K. “In the city, by contrast, my mother could pack ten or eleven separate excursions into a single day — or, conversely, spend hours wandering the floors of the discount department store Century 21, striking up endless conversations in the communal dressing room. … My mom and her sisters — Jewish girls at the opposite end of the spectrum from the Margarets, Hazels, and Tesses of the world — lived to move. I distinctly remember my mother repeating that ‘what I love about Manhattan is that if you really want to you can always get from one end to the other in twenty minutes.’ (This is not, strictly speaking, true, and I blame the remark for my lifelong inability to properly judge commute times.) My aunt Susan once said of my mother, ‘Laurie is a ‘from’ girl — the lox is from one place, the bagels from another, the flowers from someplace else.’ Knowing how to get the best out of the city — from discount Manolos to vintage buttons to a ten-dollar blow-dry — gives my mother the satisfaction of a chess grand master stumping her opponent with a series of unexpected moves. But being a ‘from’ girl is about more than the provenance of goods; it’s about living at such high speeds that your inner life can never quite catch up to you.” [NewYorker]

President Donald Trump is pushing Republican lawmakers to support the confirmation of Ed Martin, the administration’s nominee to be U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., who had previously praised a Nazi sympathizer…

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a memo calling for a “minimum” 20% reduction in the number of four-star generals and admirals on active military duty…

Rep. Laura Gillen (D-NY) received the distinguished statesmanship award from the Council of Jewish Organizations Flatbush at the group’s annual legislative breakfast over the weekend. Previous recipients include Reps. Mike Lawler (R-NY), Ritchie Torres (D-NY) and Yvette Clarke (D-NY)…

The House of Representatives passed the Solidify Iran Sanctions Act, extending indefinitely existing energy sanctions on Iran first passed in 1996, by a voice vote…

Sheikh Bandar bin Mohammed bin Saoud al-Thani, the chairman of the Qatar Investment Authority and governor of the Qatar Central Bank, met on the sidelines of the Milken Global Conference in Los Angeles with senior business executives including Steve Mnuchin, Peter Chernin and Howard Marks…

Speaking at Milken, Apollo Global Management CEO Marc Rowan backed the Trump administration’s tariff policy while cautioning that the economy could slow down if “damage” to the U.S. brand isn’t addressed…

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the company was dropping its plan to pivot to a for-profit structure… 

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel withdrew all charges against seven University of Michigan students arrested last year for their role in anti-Israel protests on the campus; Nessel said the decision was made in part due to the “impropriety” of a letter sent by the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor defending her against allegations of bias…

The Trump administration proposed that Columbia University enter into a consent decree by which the government would have oversight over the school’s efforts to ensure viewpoint diversity and not factor race into admissions decisions; the consent decree was suggested as an alternative to a court battle between the government and the Ivy League school…

Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy rescinded his offer to fund a trip to Auschwitz for at least one of two men involved in an incident in a Barstool bar in which an antisemitic sign was carried around the premises; Portnoy said one of the individuals, a student at Temple University, “did a 180” and absolved himself of responsibility for the incident…

New York’s City Park’s Foundation dropped singer Kehlani as a performer at an upcoming Pride concert in Central Park, following pushback, including from Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), over Kehlani’s use of antisemitic and anti-Israel imagery and phrases in her performances and music videos…

Gal Gadot and Matthias Schoenaerts will star in the upcoming post-WWII thriller “Ruin,” about a Holocaust survivor and German soldier who partner to exact revenge on a Nazi unit…

If Hamas does not accept a ceasefire and hostage-release deal by the end of next week, Israel will launch “Operation Gideon’s Chariots,” escalating the war in Gaza until Jerusalem attains its war aims, a senior Israeli defense source said on Monday, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports…

The Daily Mail interviews Israeli singer Yuval Raphael, who survived the Oct. 7, 2023, attack at the Nova music festival by hiding under bodies in a bomb shelter, about her journey to the Eurovision Song Contest…

The IDF said that two Hamas commanders, including one who participated in the Oct. 7 attacks and held hostages, surrendered to Israeli troops in Rafah…

Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha received the Pulitzer Prize in commentary for his essays, published in The New Yorker, about life in Gaza during the Israel-Hamas war…

Pope Francis, who died last week, had directed for the “popemobile” that transported him during a 2014 trip to the West Bank to be donated to a Catholic charity that operates in the Palestinian territories for use as a mobile children’s aid clinic in Gaza…

Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) and documentarian Wendy Sachs speak at the Capitol Hill screening of “October 8,” which looks at the rise of antisemitism on campus following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks in Israel. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Reps. Laura Gillen (D-NY) and Virginia Foxx (R-NC) were also in attendance.

Conductor, pianist, clarinetist, and composer, he is currently music director of The Louisville Orchestra, Edward “Teddy” Paul Maxwell Abrams turns 38…

U.S. senator (R-AL) from 1987 until 2023, Richard Shelby turns 91… Senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford, previously a Columbia law professor, a U.S. District Court judge and the State Department legal advisor, Abraham David Sofaer turns 87… Novelist, playwright and human rights activist, professor emeritus of Latin American studies at Duke University, Vladimiro Ariel Dorfman turns 83… Professor of law and philosophy at the University of Chicago, she has been awarded 69 honorary degrees from around the world, Martha Nussbaum turns 78… Israeli theoretical physicist and astrophysicist, he is best known for his work on gamma-ray bursts and on numerical relativity, Tsvi Piran turns 76… Partner at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, she was the deputy attorney general of the U.S. in the Clinton administration, Jamie S. Gorelick turns 75… Former prime minister of the United Kingdom, he then served as the special envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East, Tony Blair turns 72… President emeritus of the Jerusalem College of Technology / Lev Academic Center, Noah Dana-Picard turns 71… Director of the Jewish studies program at Northeastern University, Lori Hope Lefkovitz turns 69… Co-founder of Boston-based HighVista Strategies following 23 years at Goldman Sachs, he is the former board chair of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Daniel Jick turns 68… Member of the Knesset for Likud between 2003 and 2006, Daniel Benlulu turns 67… President and CEO of The Jewish Federations of North America, he was previously CEO of Hillel and a U.S. congressman, Eric David Fingerhut turns 66… Retired attorney and former member of the board of trustees of the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ, Sheri Goldberg… Los Angeles-based attorney and real estate entrepreneur, Daniel Todd Gryczman… Israel’s minister of national security since 2025 and leader of the Otzma Yehudit party, Itamar Ben-Gvir turns 49… Member of the Knesset for the Yesh Atid party, Shelly Tal Meron turns 46… Los Angeles-based television personality, actress, writer and video blogger, Shira Lazar turns 42… Partner at Amiti, an early-stage deep tech fund, Brachie Sprung… Founder at ALC Hospitality, Alyse Cohen… Senior principal at Alterra climate investment fund, Benjamin Levine… Partner at Courtside Ventures and advisor to the board of directors of the Atlanta Hawks, Oliver Ressler… Head of business development at Seam, she is a conservative commentator across many social media platforms, Arynne Wexler… Actor and singer, Noah Egidi Galvin turns 31…