Plus, Huckabee presses Israel on pilgrims
Screenshot/Fox News
Adam Boehler, special presidential envoy for hostage negotiations, appears on Fox News Sunday on March 9, 2025
Add JewishInsider on GoogleGood Friday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we talk to former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Mike Herzog about Democrats’ responses to U.S. involvement in last month’s war between Iran and Israel, and report on U.S. hostage envoy Adam Boehler’s comments at the Aspen Security Forum that a ceasefire is ‘‘closer than it’s been.” We interview Columbia students and alumni about the school’s negotiations with the Trump administration, and have the exclusive on a letter from Jewish House Democrats concerned over the Pentagon’s recent contract with xAI following a series of antisemitic posts by its Grok chatbot. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Rep. Josh Gottheimer, Daniel Nadler and Deborah Lyons.
For less-distracted reading over the weekend, browse this week’s edition of the Weekly Print, a curated print-friendly PDF featuring a selection of recent Jewish Insider and eJewishPhilanthropy stories, including: The psychology of denial: American Psychological Association struggles to confront antisemitism in its ranks; After Iran strikes, Saudis in no rush to join Abraham Accords, experts say; and Rep. Greg Landsman: Americans are ‘tired’ of partisanship on Iran and foreign policy. Print the latest edition here.
What We’re Watching
- House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) is slated to meet today in New York City with the Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani. The meeting comes days after Mamdani, who has faced criticism for his defense of the “globalize the intifada” phrase, met on Capitol Hill with House Democrats. More below.
- The Aspen Security Forum wraps up today ahead of an off-the-record weekend gathering of the Aspen Strategy Group at the same venue in Aspen, Colo.
- The forum’s final morning kicks off with a sit-down with former CIA Director David Petraeus and the Financial Times’ Kim Ghattas, who will discuss the evolving situation in the Middle East.
- Later in the morning, Sens. Chris Coons (D-DE) and Mark Warner (D-VA) will speak in conversation with The New York Times’ Peter Baker.
- The final session of the forum today will feature former National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and two former defense secretaries, Robert Gates and Mark Esper.
- We’re keeping an on eye the situation in Syria, where a ceasefire implemented on Wednesday has largely held. We’re also eyeing Israeli activity in Syria and along the border, as Israeli balances its security concerns with efforts to maintain calm with the al-Sharaa government.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MARC ROD
Former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Mike Herzog and other pro-Israel speakers received a warm reception from the crowd at the Aspen Security Forum this week, as they discussed continued efforts to free the hostages in Gaza and the recent strikes on Iran.
However, Herzog told Jewish Insider on the sidelines of the conference that he’s been disappointed by the response to the strikes from Democratic lawmakers in Washington, which has been overwhelmingly negative.
It’s a response that stands in contrast to Herzog’s description of the transition he observed in the Biden administration’s thinking on Iran: going from pushing for a nuclear deal with Iran that Herzog said would have been weaker than the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action to, by the time President Joe Biden left office, active discussions of strikes on Iran.
Herzog said that efforts to maintain bipartisanship on Israel were a critical element of his ambassadorship and that dialogue with nearly all leaders is critical, but, “I’m saying it carefully because I never interfere in domestic politics here, but from a strategic point of view, I was disappointed by the response of some senior Democrats to the war on Iran.”
Regarding Biden’s team, Herzog told JI: “If you look at the journey the Biden administration took from the initial days when they were rushing to a deal with Iran, to the last few months of the administration where they were talking to us about military options against Iran, they went a long way. … It was too late in the day [to carry out the strikes before Biden left office], but it was a very interesting journey that I noticed.”
WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY
U.S. hostage envoy Adam Boehler: Hamas hostage deal is ‘closer than it’s been’
U.S. hostage envoy Adam Boehler said at the Aspen Security Forum on Thursday that there had been “some movement forward” recently toward a hostage-release deal with Hamas. He also addressed criticisms of his direct talks with Hamas, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Status update: “It’s closer than it’s been, and if it doesn’t happen, in my strong opinion it would be continued hard-headedness from Hamas, in which case Israel will continue to take action, as they should,” Boehler, the only Trump administration official to address the conference, said. Asked about his direct negotiations with Hamas, which were controversial especially among Israeli officials who were largely kept out of the loop, Boehler downplayed the extent of the breach. “There was no unilateral deal ever possible. While that’s an American citizen, Edan, we were always working with the Israeli side.”
Strategy session: Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday at the Aspen Security Forum that the U.S. should work to exploit frictions between Iran, Russia, China and North Korea, to interfere with their deepening alliances. “I’ve thought this alliance is somewhat weaker than we sometimes would give it credit for, and I’d slam them together and make them deal with their own internal contradictions,” Rice reiterated.
tehran talk
Experts split on pathways forward for Iran, but agree regime change not imminent
Speaking on a panel at the Aspen Security Forum, a group of Iran analysts discussed the potential paths forward in nuclear talks with Iran after the American and Israeli strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, the possibility that Iran will attempt to reconstitute its nuclear program covertly and the prospect of regime change in Iran, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Analyzing Iran: Former National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley laid out three paths forward after the strikes: a continued campaign of Israeli air strikes to “mow the lawn,” while Iran works to try to reestablish its own deterrence; a negotiated agreement with Iran including intrusive inspections that would make it difficult for Iran to construct a covert nuclear program, with provisions addressing Iran’s ballistic missiles and proxies; and the possibility, with an agreement, that Iran decides to give up its pursuit of nuclear weapons, having spent billions of dollars on the program, alienated the region and still failed to deter a U.S. or Israeli attack. Rachel Bronson, a senior advisor at the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, said that it’s widely believed Iran has seen a nuclear weapon as a guarantor of regime survival, in the model of North Korea. But she said there’s a chance that Iran wants to go down a different path. “That begs the question whether the Iranians want to live like North Koreans and want to live in a sanctioned regime and in such isolation, which the Iranians demonstrated that they don’t want to live that way,” Bronson said.
Sanctions push: A group of Senate Republicans sent a letter to French, German and U.K. officials this week urging them to immediately reimpose U.N. Security Council sanctions on Iran for the regime’s violations of the 2015 nuclear deal and the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports.
CAMPUS BEAT
Columbia Jewish students, alumni critique school’s commitments to combat antisemitism as ‘bare minimum’
As Jewish students and alumni at Columbia University await the final details of the university’s prospective deal with the Trump administration, some are expressing skepticism that a list of commitments announced by the school this week to address antisemitism on campus would have a significant impact on protecting Jewish students, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports. The steps were publicized Tuesday by Columbia’s acting president, Claire Shipman, as the school works to reach a deal with the Trump administration to restore some $400 million in federal funding that was cut by the government in March due to the university’s record dealing with antisemitism since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks in Israel.
Student reactions: According to a draft deal, Columbia would be required to pay a $200 million fine and commit to releasing admissions and staffing data to the federal government. “The deal as it stands now lets Columbia off the hook relatively without a scratch,” Inbar Brand, who graduated in the spring from Columbia’s dual-degree program with Tel Aviv University, told JI. “The school gets its money back without resolving the core issues in its governance and administrative structure that allowed for antisemitism to fester openly for so long on campus.” Noa Fay, a graduate student entering her last year in Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs, described the university’s latest commitments and prospective deal as “an immense disappointment.”
SCOOP
In new memo, Republicans allege Biden admin provided grants for Palestinian NGOs with terror ties
The GOP-led House Judiciary Committee drafted a new memo on Thursday alleging that federal funding granted to USAID and nongovernmental organizations under the Biden administration was given to Palestinian nonprofits with ties to proscribed terror groups, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports.
The allegations: “Oversight conducted by the Committee reflects the Biden-Harris Administration’s neglect and misuse of taxpayer dollars through USAID, the State Department, and other federal agencies, which were used to directly and indirectly fund the efforts of anti-Netanyahu organizations and terrorist groups,” the memo sent to committee members, which was obtained by JI, states. Judiciary Committee Republicans also revealed in the memo that they were “expanding” their investigation “to include additional American and Israeli NGOs that may be involved in funneling U.S. government funds with the purpose of undermining the Israeli government or for the support or fiscal sponsorship of terrorist groups.”
holding power
Gottheimer avoids confronting Mamdani over ‘intifada’ comments
Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), in a private meeting with House Democrats in Washington on Wednesday, avoided confronting Zohran Mamdani, the far-left Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City, over his controversial defense of calls to “globalize the intifada” and fierce opposition to Israel, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.
No objections: Gottheimer, an outspoken pro-Israel Democrat, has not been shy about calling out members of his party when disagreements over Israel and antisemitism have arisen. But during the meeting, Gottheimer did not bring up his objections to the 33-year-old democratic socialist, according to a House aide familiar with the matter, even as his views on Israel have raised alarms among Jewish voters and faced pushback from Democratic leaders who have so far withheld their endorsements.
EXCLUSIVE
Jewish Democrats press Pentagon about Grok contract after antisemitic meltdown
A group of Jewish House Democrats led by Rep. Laura Friedman (D-CA) raised questions on Friday about the Pentagon’s decision to announce a $200 million contract with Elon Musk’s company xAI to utilize a version of its Grok artificial intelligence, days after the chatbot posted antisemitic and violent screeds on X, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
What they said: The lawmakers said that the contract raises questions about Musk’s potential personal influence over or access to the version of Grok that the Defense Department will use, and that the issues that produced the antisemitic meltdown might recur in its use of the program. And they alleged that the contract fits “a broader and increasingly visible pattern of the department turning a blind eye to antisemitism in its own ranks,” including Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s defense of Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson against accusations of antisemitism.
Worthy Reads
Protect the Druze: In Newsweek, Druze-Israeli diplomat Sawsan Natour-Hasson, who serves as minister for public diplomacy at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, calls for global condemnation of the attacks against members of the Syrian Druze community. “The atrocities of October 7 in Israel did not occur in a vacuum. We have warned the world for years about this growing wave of radical extremism. It has targeted the Yazidis in Iraq, the Alawites in Syria, Christians across the Levant — and now, it is butchering innocent Druze civilians: women, children, and the elderly. Homes are being shelled, families displaced, hospitals are being bombed, and religious sites and symbols desecrated, led by the Syrian regime with the blessing of President Abu Mohammad al-Jolani. And yet once again — the world has remained largely silent in the face of the genocide taking place against my people.” [Newsweek]
Presidential Plot: In The Wall Street Journal, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Behnam Ben Taleblu and Saeed Ghasseminejad warn of potential Iranian plots to assassinate President Donald Trump. “Contrary to recent denials by Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian on Tucker Carlson’s podcast, these threats and plots are real. Books about the president’s time in office and on the campaign trail detail the precautions Mr. Trump had to take. U.S. authorities have been tracking, uncovering and, where possible, prosecuting people involved. The feds have disrupted several Iranian plots to assassinate Mr. Trump on U.S. soil.” [WSJ]
The Ties that Bind: The Atlantic’s Yair Rosenberg explores the political bind facing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu amid the departure of the United Torah Judaism party from his coalition. “[Netanyahu] can either continue exempting the ultra-Orthodox and anger not just the public and the courts but also his own party, or revoke that exemption and lose the ultra-Orthodox — and with them, his coalition. Of late, Netanyahu has attempted to fudge the issue by pushing through legislation that would create a technical process for drafting the ultra-Orthodox but in practice make the new requirements easy to evade. This effort has met resistance in his party, however, and the bill has not passed — leading to the departure of the ultra-Orthodox parties from the government this week. For now, those parties have said that they won’t vote to force new elections, giving Netanyahu time to try to appease them. But unless he can figure out a way to pass a bill that somehow satisfies the ultra-Orthodox and their critics, it’s merely a matter of time before his erstwhile allies completely switch sides.” [TheAtlantic]
Toxic Workplace: In USA Today, Ken Marcus, the founder of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, warns that the field of mental health is becoming “steeped” in antisemitism. “In the health care system, research shows that antisemitism has escalated since the Hamas terrorist attacks of Oct. 7, 2023. Now, 75% of Jewish medical professionals say they have experienced antisemitism at work. No form of hatred is acceptable within our mental health care system – one that is supposedly built on empathy, ethics and compassion. … The proliferation of antisemitism in any space is horrific. But its proliferation in health care – a sacred, professional space brimming with private and sometimes life-threatening information – is especially dangerous.” [USAToday]
Word on the Street
In a letter to Israeli Interior Minister Moshe Arbel, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee warned that he could publicly declare Israel not welcoming to Christian visitors, an escalation in an ongoing diplomatic row over Christian Zionists who have experienced complications traveling to Israel; Arbel, from the Haredi Shas party, has for years clashed with Christian clergy and groups who have sought visas to travel to Israel…
Israel apologized for a strike on a Catholic church in Gaza that killed three people and said it is investigating how “stray ammunition” struck the building; the official statement came following a call between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Donald Trump, during which the president reportedly pressured Netanyahu to release a statement…
The House of Representatives on Thursday rejected, in a 422-6 vote, a bid by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) to block the $500 million in cooperative missile-defense funding the U.S. provides annually to Israel, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) introduced the “Syria Sanctions Accountability Act” to amend the Caesar Act sanctions legislation that targeted the Assad regime, allowing sanctions relief for the new government conditioned on good behavior — a step short of the full repeal that other lawmakers are advocating. The bill also includes provisions to ensure accountability in Syria and assess other pathways for financial relief…
A former University of Michigan administrator who headed the university’s office of academic multicultural initiatives and was fired following complaints that she had made antisemitic comments at a diversity conference is suing the university, alleging discrimination in the course of the school’s investigation…
Forbes spotlights Daniel Nadler, who has raised $210 million at a $3.5 billion valuation for his company OpenEvidence, which uses artificial intelligence to help simplify the process for doctors to comb through extensive medical research…
Officials at Cheltenham High School in Pennsylvania, where alum Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is honored in the school’s hall of fame, are meeting today with members of the school’s alumni association to discuss a petition to remove Netanyahu’s photo from the hall of fame…
Deborah Lyons, Canada’s special envoy on preserving Holocaust remembrance and combating antisemitism, announced her departure from the role, which she assumed in October 2023…
A mosaic from Pompeii that had been acquired by a Nazi Wehrmacht captain during World War II and was repatriated in 2023 was put on display in a museum near the site of the ancient town, which was destroyed in a volcanic eruption…
An Israeli security officer at the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem who had battled Hamas terrorists in Kibbutz Be’eri on Oct. 7, 2023, died in a drowning accident while on vacation in Greece…
Former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren reflects on the “blood covenant” between Israel and its Druze community, following the attacks by Syrian government forces on the Syrian Druze community…
The Wall Street Journal reports on Iran’s efforts to rearm its militias across the region after months in which both Tehran and its proxies suffered significant hits by Israel and the U.S….
Gabriel Scheinmann, who had previously served as executive director of the Alexander Hamilton Society, was tapped to be chief of staff to U.S. Ambassador to France and Monaco Charles Kushner…
Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner, who in 2012 broke a world record for his jump from the stratosphere, died in a paragliding accident at 56…
Writer and photographer Laura Ben-David died at 56…
Pic of the Day
Israeli actor Gal Gadot was honored last night with Hadassah’s Power of Our Dreams Award at the opening ceremony of the Jerusalem Film Festival in Jerusalem.
Birthdays
First-ever Orthodox Jewish player selected in the MLB Draft, picked No. 77 overall in 2021, now on the minor league disabled list, Jacob Steinmetz turns 22 on Saturday…
FRIDAY: Israeli nuclear physicist and professor emeritus at Tel Aviv University, Jonas Alster turns 92… Theoretical chemist, 1981 Nobel laureate in chemistry, he has also published plays and poetry, born Roald Safran, Roald Hoffmann turns 88… Founding partner of NYC-based law firm Davidoff Hutcher & Citron, he was one of 20 people on Nixon’s “Enemies List,” Sidney Davidoff turns 86… President of the Jewish Genealogical Society of the Conejo Valley and Ventura County, Jan Meisels Allen… Former three-term mayor of Edmonton, Alberta, Stephen Mandel turns 80… Former prime minister of Peru, Yehude Simon Munaro turns 78… Executive director of the MLB Players Association for 26 years and then the same post at the NHL Players Association for 12 additional years, Donald Fehr turns 77… Beverly Hills resident, Felisa Bluwal Pivko… Finance, real estate and nursing home executive, Leonard Grunstein turns 73… Antisemitism scholar and one of the authors of the IHRA working definition of antisemitism, he is the COO of the World Jewish Restitution Organization, Mark Weitzman… Former Israeli Police spokesman, he is now a senior national radio broadcaster in Israel and an international talk-show host, Elihu Ben-Onn turns 71… Seattle-area consultant, Elihu Rubin… Former finance chairman of the RNC, Elliott B. Broidy turns 68… Former minister for congressional affairs at the Embassy of Israel to the U.S., he was previously the Israeli ambassador to Belarus, Martin Peled-Flax turns 67… Partner at Clifford Chance, Philip Wagman… CEO and co-founder at Let’s Bench, a publisher of customized keepsake prayer books and benchers, Yitz Woolf… Associate professor of cybersecurity law at the U.S. Naval Academy and formerly an attorney at Covington & Burling, Jeffrey Michael Kosseff turns 47… Deputy director of the White House National Economic Council until 2022, now a professor at NYU law school, David Kamin… Co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Alexander Ryvchin turns 42… Reporter for “NBC Nightly News” and “Today,” Gadi Schwartz turns 42… Editor of Kveller and Hey Alma, Molly Tolsky… Lauren Friedlander… CEO of Moving Traditions, Shuli Karkowsky… Senior spokesperson at the U.S. Treasury until 2023, now the head of U.S. public affairs at Coinbase, Julia Krieger… Senior manager of content strategy at Gauntlet, Philip Rosenstein… Foil fencer who competed for the U.S. at the 2020 and 2024 Summer Olympic Games, she won a team gold medal at the 2024 games, Jacqueline Dubrovich turns 31… Director of Hillel at Queen’s University of Canada, he is the incoming director of campus and youth impact at CJPAC, Yosef Tarshish… Istanbul resident, Izi Doenyas… Ted Rosenberg… Dog enthusiast, N.R. Gross…
SATURDAY: Retired Israeli airline pilot, he successfully thwarted an in-flight hijacking by Leila Khaled in 1970, Uri Bar-Lev turns 94… Interactive designer, author and artist, in 1986 he married Caroline Kennedy, daughter of the late JFK, Edwin Arthur “Ed” Schlossberg turns 80… Retired professor at Erasmus University Rotterdam and Leiden University, he served in the Dutch Senate and then as the minister of foreign affairs of the Netherlands, Uriel “Uri” Rosenthal turns 80… Hotelier and real estate developer, the creator of the boutique hotel concept, he was the co-founder of NYC’s Studio 54 in 1977, Ian Schrager turns 79… Co-founder of Limmud FSU, she co-founded UJA-Federation of New York’s Women’s Executive Circle, Sandra F. Cahn… Former co-chairman of the Federation for Jewish Philanthropy of Upper Fairfield County, Conn., Linda Meyer Russ… Sportswriter for The Athletic and author of three books on baseball, Jayson Stark turns 74… Former CEO of Starbucks Coffee Company, he owned the NBA’s Seattle SuperSonics from 2001 to 2006, Howard Schultz turns 72… Retired judicial assistant at the Montgomery County (Pa.) Court of Common Pleas, Deenie Silow… Rabbi of Congregation Beth Abraham in Bergenfield, N.J., and rosh yeshiva at Yeshiva University in NYC, Rabbi Yaakov Neuburger turns 70… Head of the Kollel at Ner Israel Rabbinical College, Rabbi Ezra D. Neuberger turns 68… Former chairman and CEO of Sears Holdings (owner of retailers Sears and Kmart), Edward Scott “Eddie” Lampert turns 63… Israel’s ambassador to Canada until 2023, Ronen Pinchas Hoffman turns 62… Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter until 2017 and author of The Nazis Next Door: How America Became a Safe Haven for Hitler’s Men, Eric Lichtblau turns 60… Israeli actress, model and film producer, Yael Abecassis turns 58… Spokesperson to the Arab media in the Israel Prime Minister’s Office from 2010 until 2023, now a consultant, Ofir Gendelman turns 54… Member of Congress (D-IL), running in 2026 to succeed retiring Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), Raja Krishnamoorthi turns 52… Co-chairman and CEO of CheckAlt, Shai Stern… Senior writer and NBA Insider for ESPN, Ramona Leor Shelburne turns 46… Former soccer star at the University of Virginia, recently a director of administrative operations at Hopscotch Health, Chad Prince turns 46… Former deputy mayor of the city of Haifa, now a real estate developer, Shai Abuhatsira turns 45… Ultra-marathon runner, he performs as a mentalist and magician, Oz Pearlman turns 43… Associate partner at McKinsey & Company, Alexis Blair Wolfer… President of Clever Bee Academy in Hewlett, N.Y., Ezra David Beren… Israel editor at Jewish Insider, Tamara Zieve… Director of operations at Tide Realty Capital, Yanky Schorr… National political reporter for The Washington Post, Isaac Arnsdorf… Venue coordinator at JW3 London, Caroline Mendelsohn Lawrence… Former EVP and CEO of the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation, Dr. George Ban… Zach Houghton…
SUNDAY: Retired U.S. senator (D-MD), Barbara Mikulski turns 89… Retired president of the National Endowment for Democracy, Carl Gershman turns 82… Longtime Israeli diplomat, he served as Israel’s ambassador to Germany, Yoram Ben-Zeev turns 81… Former commissioner on the Civil Rights Commission, assistant secretary of HUD in the Clinton administration, presently vice chair of the Bank of San Francisco, Roberta Achtenberg turns 75… Senior U.S. District Court judge in Massachusetts, Judge Patti B. Saris turns 74… New York Times columnist and three-time Pulitzer Prize winner, Thomas Loren Friedman turns 72… Molecular geneticist at NYC-based Rockefeller University and an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Jeffrey M. Friedman turns 71… Broadcast and digital media executive, Farrell Meisel… Professor of sociology at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Barbara Risman turns 69… Past president of the Women’s Department at the Jewish Federation of Detroit, Marcie Hermelin Orley… Los Angeles-based wardrobe consultant, Linleigh Ayn Richker… Public policy expert and author, Jane S. Hoffman turns 61… Former member of the Knesset for the Yesh Atid party, she is a brigadier general in the IDF (reserves), Nira Shpak turns 59… Member of the Knesset for the United Torah Judaism party, Yitzhak Ze’ev Pindrus turns 54… Attorney, Jack Achiezer Guggenheim… SVP, Washington bureau chief and political director of CNN, David Marc Chalian turns 52… Co-author of Jewish Jocks: An Unorthodox Hall of Fame, he is a staff writer at The Atlantic, Franklin Foer turns 51… Southern states director at AIPAC, David Fox… Singer who burst on the scene as a finalist on the fifth season of American Idol, Efraym Elliott Yamin turns 47… Commissioner of the community affairs unit for NYC Mayor Eric Adams, Fred Kreizman… Co-founder and managing partner of Main+Rose, Beth Doane… Co-founder and co-executive director of the progressive Indivisible movement, Ezra Levin turns 40… Former MLB player, he was a third baseman for Team Israel in 2023, Ty Kelly turns 37… Comedian and regular player on “Saturday Night Live,” Chloe Fineman turns 37… Software engineer at Home Chef, Ashley Abramowicz Gibbs… Anesthesiologist, Dr. Sheila Ganjian Navi… VP of business development and operations at Thyme Care, Etan Raskas… SVP and head of investor relations at Vintage Investment Partners, Jonathan Tamir Alden… Actor and comedian, Joey Bragg turns 29… Associate in the trademarks and copyrights practice group at Ballard Spahr, she was president of USC Hillel as a college senior, Goldie Fields…
The terror group has once again ramped up its attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea two months after reaching a ceasefire with the U.S.
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS) arrives for a confirmation hearing in Dirksen building on Tuesday, May 13, 2025.
A top Senate lawmaker indicated on Thursday that he’s open to resumed U.S. involvement in the campaign against the Houthis, amid a ramp-up of the group’s attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea and Israel that comes two months after the U.S. and the Houthis reached a ceasefire that ended the American bombing campaign against the group.
The Iran-backed Yemeni terrorist group has attacked and sunk two cargo ships passing through the Red Sea this week, killing several members of the ships’ crews and wounding and kidnapping others. The Houthis have also launched new strikes on Israel.
“The Houthis need to be totally eliminated,” Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), the chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told Jewish Insider. “They have no purpose other than to kill free people.”
Asked if the U.S. should become involved directly against the Houthis again, Wicker said, “I wouldn’t rule that out.”
Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) told JI that if the Houthis continue to block Red Sea shipping, “we’ve got to figure out a path forward on how to respond. It can’t be a long-term thing for ships to go around the Horn of Africa.”
Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) said he wouldn’t, at this point, discuss possible American action, but emphasized that any Houthi activity has Iran’s hand behind it.
“The Houthis have decided the war against Israel is not over, and that doesn’t happen without Iranian support,” Lankford said, noting Iran’s assistance in providing intelligence, training and arms to the Yemeni terror group. “That would tell me Iran’s not done with their acts of terrorism in the region. … We have to decide, and Israel has to make a determination — as they have, of late — to be very, very clear. And Israel has carried out additional strikes on the Houthis to try to make that stop.”
Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) said, “I’m not sure what our interests are there right now, but most certainly, we have told them in the past that if they want to have a ceasefire, we’ll support a ceasefire. If they want to get back in the middle of it, I suspect that the administration may very well have a response to that.”
He said that he couldn’t discuss the possibility of a U.S. response without having been briefed on the situation.
Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC) said he would need to think further about what circumstances would require American intervention.
“You’ve seen their main source, of Iran, be taken offline,” Budd told JI. “It remains to be seen what Iran is going to do in connection with the Houthis, but they’re a malevolent force that needs to be dealt with.”
Asked for comment on whether the Houthis’ strikes violated the group’s ceasefire with the U.S. or what might prompt further American action against the terrorist organization, the White House referred JI to a State Department press release condemning the attacks.
“These attacks demonstrate the ongoing threat that Iran-backed Houthi rebels pose to freedom of navigation and to regional economic and maritime security,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said. “The United States has been clear: we will continue to take necessary action to protect freedom of navigation and commercial shipping from Houthi terrorist attacks, which must be condemned by all members of the international community.”
Plus, a way for Israel to compete with checkbook diplomacy
Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images
U.S. President Donald Trump stops and talks to the media before he boards Marine One on the South Lawn at the White House on June 15, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Good Wednesday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we continue to report on the latest developments in the war between Israel and Iran, including President Donald Trump’s call for “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER” and the potential for U.S. involvement in strikes targeting the Fordow nuclear facility. We also highlight stories of stranded Israelis attempting to enter the country and stranded tourists attempting to exit it, and report on NYC mayor candidate Zohran Mamdani’s defense of the phrase “globalize the intifada.” Also in today’s Daily Kickoff, Sen. Josh Hawley, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and David Zaslav.
What We’re Watching
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine are testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee this morning on the Pentagon’s 2026 fiscal year budget.
- Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) will appear in a new interview with Tucker Carlson, slated to be released later today. Clips released ahead of the full interview show clashes between the Texas Republican and conservative commentator, whose policy positions on Iran and Israel are increasingly at odds with the Trump administration.
- The Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York is holding a memorial event tonight for Dr. Ruth Westheimer.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MELISSA WEISS
While the last two months have been an exercise in diplomacy for Trump administration officials, who have crisscrossed the Middle East and Europe in an attempt to negotiate with Iran over its nuclear program, the last 24 hours have seen a sharp pivot from President Donald Trump to a more hard-line approach to Tehran.
“UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER,” the president posted on his Truth Social site on Tuesday afternoon, understood to be a message to Iran after more than five days of Israeli attacks meant to degrade Tehran’s military and nuclear infrastructure. Iranian reprisals that have paralyzed Israel, but resulted in damage that has fallen far short of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s threats. (Khamenei responded on Wednesday that “the Iranian nation will not surrender.”)
Trump’s latest comments underscore his shift away from the isolationist elements of the GOP that have dominated his administration since a purge of more traditional foreign policy-minded Republicans, including former National Security Advisor Mike Waltz. As The New York Times’ Ross Douthat wrote on Tuesday, Trump’s isolationist supporters “imagined that personnel was policy, that the realists and would-be restrainers in Trump’s orbit would have a decisive influence. That was clearly a mistake, and the lesson here is that Trump decides and no one else.”
On Capitol Hill, while Republicans appear publicly split on the level of involvement that the U.S. should have in the conflict — from working with Israel to destroy the Fordow nuclear facility to forcing Iran’s hand in diplomatic talks — JI’s conversations with legislators indicate a different approach behind the scenes. One senior Republican senator who requested anonymity to discuss internal conference dynamics estimated that nearly the entire GOP conference is privately united on the issue of the U.S. supporting Israel in bombing the Fordow facility if Israel needs such support. Read more from JI’s Emily Jacobs and Marc Rod here.
“I think the president has struck the right position,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) told JI, “which is supportive of Israel’s right of self-defense, which is what this really is, and supporting them publicly while they defend themselves. I think that’s the right position to stick on.” Read more of Hawley’s comments here.
ISRAEL-IRAN WAR, DAY 6
Over 50 Israeli warplanes strike in Tehran area overnight
Israel struck a centrifuge production site in Tehran early Wednesday, after successfully intercepting more than two dozen missiles launched by Iran toward Israel in the preceding hours. Over 50 Israeli Air Force jets flew to Iran, where they struck a facility in which centrifuges were manufactured to expand and accelerate uranium enrichment for Iran’s nuclear weapons program, the IDF Spokesperson’s Office said, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports. “The Iranian regime is enriching uranium for the purpose of developing nuclear weapons. Nuclear power for civilian use does not require enrichment at these levels,” the IDF said.
Military update: The IDF also said it struck several weapons manufacturing facilities, including one used “to produce raw materials and components for the assembly of surface-to-surface missiles, which the Iranian regime has fired and continues to fire toward the State of Israel.” Another facility that the IDF struck manufactured components for anti-aircraft missiles. Effie Defrin, the chief military spokesman, said on Wednesday that the IDF “attacked five Iranian combat helicopters that tried to harm our aircraft.” Defrin added, “There is Iranian resistance, but we control the air [over Iran] and will continue to control it. We are deepening our damage to surface missiles and acting in every place from which the Iranians shoot missiles at Israel.”
FORDOW FACTOR
Israeli national security advisor: Iran operation will not end without strike on Fordow nuclear facility
Iran’s underground Fordow nuclear site is a key target in the current operation against the Islamic Republic, Israel’s national security advisor, Tzachi Hanegbi, said on Tuesday. “This operation will not conclude without a strike on the Fordow nuclear facility,” Hanegbi told Israel’s Channel 12 News. The Fordow facility is home to thousands of centrifuges, crucial to Iran’s weapons-grade uranium enrichment program, and is located 295 feet underground beneath a mountain. Israel is thought to have neither the munitions nor the aircraft to destroy it from the air, while the U.S. does, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports.
American angle: Washington, however, has yet to make clear if it will take part in the offensive on Iran, though it has shot down Iranian missiles headed for Israel in the last few days. Hanegbi said that he does not believe the Trump administration has made a decision on the matter yet. Hanegbi denied that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had asked the U.S. to join Israel in bombing Iranian nuclear sites: “We didn’t ask and we won’t ask. We will leave it to the Americans to make such dramatic decisions about their own security. We think only they can decide.”
Decisive decision: A decision by Trump on whether or not to join Israel’s strikes against Iran could make the difference between the full destruction of the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program and a more drawn-out war with a less conclusive end, Danny Citrinowicz, a senior researcher in the Iran and the Shi’ite Axis Program at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University, told JI’s Lahav Harkov on Tuesday.
Word of warning: Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) cautioned on Tuesday that bombing Iran’s underground Fordow nuclear facility would leave significant enriched uranium buried underground. “I’m a little confused on all the conversation about dropping a bunker buster on a mountain that’s filled with enriched uranium, and how that solves the problem. If you’re going to try to get enriched uranium out of the country, dropping a big bunker buster on it may disable the centrifuges in [Fordow], but you still have 900 pounds of enriched uranium sitting there,” Lankford told JI’s Marc Rod.
UNIQUE OFFERING
Is this the way Israel can compete with checkbook diplomacy?
Midway through June, the Middle East looks very different than it did when President Donald Trump traveled to the region just last month. Trump was feted by Gulf monarchs, as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates sought to make their mark on a business-savvy president by touting hundreds of billions of dollars in investments and trade deals. Now, with Israeli strikes on Iran entering their sixth day, the best way to get Trump’s attention in the region — at least for the moment — is no longer financial prowess. It is firepower, according to at least one observer, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
Expert view: “I think what you saw over the last few days is Israel’s alternative model to checkbook diplomacy,” author and podcast host Dan Senor said in a Saturday episode of “The Prof G Pod,” hosted by NYU professor Scott Galloway. “Israel has its own way of competing, because what Israel is demonstrating is, ‘Yeah, we’re not going to be the country that personally has sheikhs and emirs who can write checks for billions and trillions of dollars into the American economy,’” Senor said. “‘But we are the most capable ally in the world, and you, the United States, are going to get more out of this relationship than you give.’”
REVERSE EXODUS
Let my people leave — by land or by sea
Until flights out of Israel begin, Americans stuck there are passing along any information they can find — in WhatsApp threads, Facebook groups and private messages — to get themselves and their loved ones home. The details are hard to verify. The costs range from expensive to astronomical, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
Moment of truth: When Home Front Command alerts woke Sam Heller at 3 a.m. on Friday, informing the nation that Israel had launched a preemptive attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, he quickly booked the first flight out to Paris from Ben Gurion Airport. “I went straight to the airport, and they locked the doors to Ben Gurion, and they stopped letting people in,” Heller told JI on Tuesday, safely back home in Cleveland. “They’re like, ‘We’re closing our airspace indefinitely. Your flight’s been canceled. All flights are canceled. You can’t get out.’”
At all costs: One graphic shared widely on WhatsApp advertises an emergency evacuation flight from Israel to New York, promising a Wednesday afternoon departure to Eilat and a bus transfer to Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, followed by a charter flight to Milan, Italy, and then a connection to JFK Airport in New York — “lavish meals included” and “security escorted” — for $2,200 a person. According to the travel company’s website, though, it was already sold out by the time the graphic circulated. Another message advertised a chartered flight from Aqaba, Jordan — near Eilat — to Paris, for $3,000 a person. Abraham Tours, a travel company best known for its hostels in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, advertised a cross-border transfer to Amman, Jordan, for $438.
Pressure push: A bipartisan group of 45 House members led by Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Wesley Bell (D-MO) wrote to President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday urging officials to act promptly to facilitate evacuations of American citizens from Israel, or at least provide them with additional information on efforts to allow for such evacuations, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
GILDED CAGE
How a Mediterranean vacation destination for Israelis turned into a displaced persons hub
An American couple who were en route to Israel to celebrate their wedding but had their flight diverted. Two Israeli single mothers on holiday looking for a quick refresh, now stranded. A group of injured Israel Defense Forces soldiers on a healing retreat. These are some of the nearly 2,500 Jewish people that Rabbi Arie Zeev Raskin, the chief rabbi of Cyprus, and his wife, Shaindel, unexpectedly found themselves hosting for Shabbat last Friday after at least 32 flights from the United States and Europe were diverted to the island in the Mediterranean amid Israel’s preemptive military campaign against Iran, which was launched early Friday morning, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
Old Faithful: Shabbat at Chabad “was amazing, a crazy experience,” said Tzvi Berg, a Jerusalem resident who was flying home from a wedding in New York on Thursday night when — just moments away from landing in Tel Aviv — his flight was rerouted to Larnaca, a port city in Cyprus. But as Shabbat ended — with Israeli airspace still shuttered as Iranian missiles continued to strike in Tel Aviv and elsewhere — “the challenge began again,” Raskin said. And those in need are knocking on Chabad’s door looking for food and accommodations, as many Jews do in moments of crisis around the world.
CHANT CONTROVERSY
Zohran Mamdani says ‘globalize the intifada’ is expression of Palestinian rights
Zohran Mamdani, a leading candidate in next Tuesday’s New York City mayoral primary, refused to condemn calls to “globalize the intifada” during a new podcast interview with The Bulwark released on Tuesday, arguing the phrase is an expression of Palestinian rights. In an exchange about antisemitic rhetoric on the left, Mamdani was asked by podcast host Tim Miller to share his thoughts on the phrase, which has been invoked at anti-Israel demonstrations and criticized as an anti-Jewish call to violence, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.
What he said: “To me, ultimately, what I hear in so many is a desperate desire for equality and equal rights in standing up for Palestinian human rights,” said Mamdani, a far-left assemblyman from Queens who has long been an outspoken critic of Israel. “And I think what’s difficult also is that the very word has been used by the Holocaust Museum when translating the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising into Arabic, because it’s a word that means struggle,” he said, apparently referring to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington. He added that, “as a Muslim man who grew up post-9/11, I’m all too familiar in the way in which Arabic words can be twisted, can be distorted, can be used to justify any kind of meaning.”
Surveys say: Two new polls — from the Marist Institute for Public Opinion and the Manhattan Institute — show former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo leading New York state Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani in next week’s Democratic mayoral primary in New York City. The Marist poll has Cuomo ultimately prevailing over Mamdani in the seventh round of ranked-choice voting, 55-45, while the Manhattan Institute poll has Cuomo beating Mamdani 56-44 in 10 rounds.
Worthy Reads
From Hands-Off to Hands-On: The New York Times looks at how President Donald Trump’s approach to the Israel-Iran war shifted as the war has unfolded. “When he woke on Friday morning, his favorite TV channel, Fox News, was broadcasting wall-to-wall imagery of what it was portraying as Israel’s military genius. And Mr. Trump could not resist claiming some credit for himself. In phone calls with reporters, Mr. Trump began hinting that he had played a bigger behind-the-scenes role in the war than people realized. Privately, he told some confidants that he was now leaning toward a more serious escalation: going along with Israel’s earlier request that the United States deliver powerful bunker-busting bombs to destroy Iran’s nuclear facility at Fordo[w].” [NYTimes]
Axis of Illiberality: In The Washington Post, Michal Cotler-Wunsh, Israel’s special envoy for combating antisemitism and a former member of Knesset, considers the role of China, Russia and North Korea alongside Iran in advancing antisemitism around the world. “While ‘intersectionality’ once was intended to advance the foundational principles of life and liberty, it can now be applied to a contemporary target: authoritarian and illiberal regimes’ efforts to tear apart those very foundations. The declared intention is destroying liberal democracies. … There are many ties that bind Russia, China, North Korea and Iran. Oil, arms and food bring them together; stoking global antisemitism is a useful tool in a divide-and-conquer strategy. These regimes pursue their agendas in ways that may outwardly vary, but they share a common goal: the West’s downfall. They all recognize that the liberal principles of democracies and the international rules-based order can be exploited to sow fear, despair and distrust.” [WashPost]
Word on the Street
President Donald Trump, traveling back to Washington from the G7 in Canada, dismissed a public assessment by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard made earlier this year that Iran was not actively pursuing a nuclear weapon, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports; Politico looks at the “widening gap” between Trump and Gabbard as the two clash on Middle East policy issues…
A new bipartisan resolution introduced by Reps. Claudia Tenney (R-NY) and Brad Sherman (D-CA) and 14 co-sponsors on Tuesday praises Israel’s strikes on Iranian nuclear and military facilities and condemns Iran’s retaliatory missile attacks on Israeli civilian targets, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…
An Army general who served as the Levant and Egypt branch chief at the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s J5 planning directorate was removed from the joint staff amid an investigation into his social media posts, which included a reference to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Netanyahu and his Judeo-supremacist cronies” and allegations that American pro-Israel activists are prioritizing “support for Israel over our actual foreign interests”…
Tablet interviews the Institute for Science and International Security’s David Albright, a former International Atomic Energy Agency inspector, about the state of the Iranian nuclear program and Israeli capabilities to target the Fordow facility without U.S. assistance…
Former Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-NJ) said he would consider a bid for the House seat held by Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) if Sherrill prevails in the November gubernatorial election…
Colorado’s two Democratic senators, Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, wrote to Senate leaders on Tuesday calling for funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program to be increased to as much as $500 million following the antisemitic attack on a hostage awareness march in Boulder, Colo., Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports; they also urged lawmakers to ensure that the funding can be used to “pay permanent security guards and other critical personnel”…
Oracle announced a new program, Oracle Defense Ecosystem, to help smaller vendors sell technology to the Pentagon, including artificial intelligence; participating vendors will be able to utilize Oracle’s office space and expertise with the Defense Department’s procurement system, as well as receive a discount for Palantir’s cloud and AI services…
Warner Bros. Discovery is cutting CEO David Zaslav’s pay when the company divides in two next year, though it will provide him with extra stock options that will pay out if the company hits share-price targets, in order to better tie pay to performance…
A Bay Area man is facing federal hate crimes charges for his participation in what the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office called an “antisemitic group beating” of two people, one of whom was Jewish; a physical confrontation escalated after members of the group reportedly shouted “free Palestine” and “f–k the Jews”…
A Maryland man was charged with allegedly sending numerous threats to Jewish organizations in Pennsylvania over a period of more than a year, from April 2024 to May 2025…
The Birmingham City Council became the first in the U.K. to recognize the Jewish identity of residents when collecting demographic data…
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that Israel was doing the “dirty work” of striking Iran “for all of us”…
A new poll from the Council for a Secure America found overwhelming support (79%) among the Israeli public for Israel’s strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities…
The Wall Street Journal speaks with Israeli entrepreneurs about how the war between Israel and Iran is impacting Israeli startups — destroying homes and offices, calling up reservists, canceling conferences, halting business travel and affecting productivity…
The U.S. withdrew troops from two bases in northeastern Syria, amid concerns from U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish forces in the region that the vacuum could provide an opening for extremist groups…
Turkey is ramping up its production of medium- and long-range missiles amid the escalation between Israel and Iran…
Pic of the Day
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right) met on Tuesday with Yair Lapid, the opposition leader, the first time the two have met for a security briefing in more than a month.
Birthdays
Music mogul, Scott Samuel “Scooter” Braun turns 44…
Chicago-based attorney, he is the only ordained rabbi to have served as an alderman on the Chicago City Council, Solomon Gutstein turns 91… Former Washington Post editor and reporter, Fred Barbash turns 80… Retired IT management advisor at Next Stage, Steven Shlomo Nezer… Croatian entrepreneur, he was previously the minister of economy, labour and entrepreneurship in the Croatian government, Davor Stern turns 78… Rabbi at Or Hamidbar in Palm Springs, Calif., he previously led congregations in Israel and Stockholm, Rabbi David James Lazar turns 68… Rebecca Diamond… Best-selling author and journalist, she was editor-in-chief of USA Today, Joanne Lipman turns 64… Retired professor of English at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, Helene Meyers… Executive of the William Pears Group, a large UK real estate firm founded by his father and grandfather, Sir Trevor Steven Pears (family name was Schleicher) turns 61… Vice chairman and president of global client services at BDT & MSD Partners, she recently joined the board of Meta/Facebook, Dina Powell McCormick… White House senior aide during the Trump 45 administration, he is a principal of Cordish Companies, Reed Saunders Cordish turns 51… Film director and screenwriter, Jonathan A. Levine turns 49… Actor, comedian, satirist and writer, known professionally as Ben Gleib, Ben Nathan Gleiberman turns 47… Television producer and writer, Jeremy Bronson turns 45… Baseball pitcher for Team Israel at the 2020 Summer Olympics, he is now the director of pitching development for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Jeremy Bleich turns 38… Of counsel at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Esther Lifshitz… Israeli musician, producer, singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, known by his stage name Dennis Lloyd, Nir Tibor turns 32… Investor at Silver Point Capital, Jacob E. Best… Rachel Hazan…