The pro-Israel moderate has been recalibrating his foreign policy views under pressure from a far-left anti-Israel opponent
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Rep. Chris Pappas (D-NH), Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, talks with voters on August 16, 2026.
Add JewishInsider on GoogleModerate Rep. Chris Pappas (D-NH) remains favored to win the New Hampshire Democratic Senate primary, but the race is shaping up to be more competitive than expected, both in the Democratic primary and in the general election.
In the primary, Pappas’ progressive challenger, Karishma Manzur, has been gaining ground against him, and leveling attacks related to Pappas’ past support from AIPAC and backing of the U.S.-Israel relationship. Pappas has subtly recalibrated his foreign policy views during the primary.
An Aug. 20-24 poll by the University of New Hampshire showed Pappas’ lead had shrunk to 13 percentage points — though other surveys have shown Pappas with a more significant lead, including a mid-August St. Anselm poll that put him up 31 points and an internal campaign poll that showed him with a 56-point lead.
Pappas has been a pro-Israel moderate in the House, though he voted “present” on the recent amendment by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) to cut off U.S. aid to Israel and, with most Democrats, against a college campus anti-Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions bill. He was endorsed by AIPAC in his House races, but the group has not yet made any endorsements in the Senate race.
Manzur, who accuses Israel of genocide, has made attacks on Pappas for past support from AIPAC a central element of her campaign, going after him for “tak[ing] money from corporate PACs, super PACs, AIPAC, foreign lobbyists” (foreign political donations are illegal) while stating she only takes donations from “regular American folks,” a comment that the New Hampshire Jewish Federation has described as offensive.
She has also accused Pappas of taking a “payoff” from AIPAC in exchange for voting “against humanitarian aid to starving children.”
Her campaign has rented a billboard in Pappas’ home city attacking him over his ties to AIPAC.
Manzur, in a statement to Jewish Insider on Friday, said that Pappas was “unwilling to answer a simple question about AIPAC’s endorsement” and accused him of “hypocrisy.”
“Pappas is a shill for AIPAC and corporations supporting the war machine, so it’s no surprise that special interests are pouring in millions to buy this seat,” she said. That’s exactly why I’m surging in the polls: people are sick and tired of business-as-usual politicians like Pappas who serve their wealthy donors instead of the people they represent. Granite Staters deserve leaders with honesty, integrity, and accountability. I am honest, un-bought, and the people’s candidate, fighting every day to improve people’s lives. That’s why I will win this primary.”
Pappas, for his part, has toned down his past support for the Jewish state, saying after the vote on the Massie amendment, “I cannot support this amendment as written, but also cannot support the disproportionate, extreme policies of the Netanyahu government” and calling for a “reset” of the U.S.-Israel relationship.
Despite appearing at an AIPAC summit earlier this year, and recording a video in front of an AIPAC backdrop expressing support for the U.S.-Israel relationship, he has more recently downplayed that appearance as a meeting with local constituents, rather than with AIPAC as an organization.
Asked recently on CNN about his past support from AIPAC, he downplayed his relationship with the group, saying, “I appreciate the support I have from individuals out there” and said he’s working to change campaign finance laws, as well as emphasized his criticisms of the Israeli government and efforts to push for a two-state solution.
Andrew Smith, the director of the University of New Hampshire Survey Center, attributed Manzur’s growing share of the vote to left-wing energy in the party. New Hampshire Democrats, he explained, have traditionally put forward “people who are kind of middle of the road, not flashy, somewhat boring as candidates … who [aren’t] going to be the most dynamic campaigners,” including Pappas.
“That I think is the biggest problem that Pappas has right now. He’s seen as part of that old guard of the Democratic Party here, even though he’s pretty young,” he continued. “He’s not really, I think, reflecting the energy and anger that you’re seeing from the progressive left of the party.”
That said, he predicted that Pappas is still favored to be the nominee, given the strong support he receives from older voters. Younger voters, who are Manzur’s base, are less likely to turn out on Election Day.
General election polling is also pointing to a competitive race for Pappas in November. A UNH poll in late August showed former Sen. John Sununu (R-NH), the likely GOP nominee, with a narrow lead over Pappas, a result matched by a GOP-sponsored Fabrizio, Lee & Associates poll last week. The nonpartisan elections handicapper Inside Elections shifted the race to a toss-up on Thursday.
A St. Anselm College poll in mid-August had shown Pappas with a seven-point lead over Sununu.
Smith said that Pappas, assuming he’s the nominee, would face a competitive race in the general election, despite the environment otherwise favoring Democrats. Sununu’s family name is well-known throughout the state, he was popular during his time in office and his brother Chris Sununu was a popular recent governor, Smith explained.
“He’s getting more support from more moderate voters and more independent voters who either don’t know Pappas or maybe they are just looking for somebody different,” Smith said. “Sununu is maybe the underdog, but … he knows how to run,” is very sharp and is a strong debater.
Sununu’s biggest challenge will be to distance himself enough from President Donald Trump to win over moderate voters without angering Trump voters in the GOP base.
The Trump administration has maintained close ties with Qatar and praised it as a key U.S. ally
Alex Wong/Getty Images
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee looks on during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House on April 23, 2026 in Washington, DC.
LAS VEGAS — U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, speaking at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual conference on Monday, condemned Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood for their spending to influence U.S. education with anti-Israel sentiment.
The comments were notable given that the Trump administration has maintained close ties with Qatar and praised it as a key U.S. ally, even as the White House has designated branches of the Muslim Brotherhood, which Qatar supports, as a terrorist organization.
“There’s an enormous amount of cold, brutal cash that’s being poured into Middle East studies into the U.S. — the propaganda campaigns funded by the Muslim Brotherhood, Qatar and other countries, who have poured billions of dollars to impress young minds,” Huckabee said, addressing a question from RJC CEO Matt Brooks about anti-Israel sentiment.
Huckabee also blamed social media and the United Nations and non-governmental organizations for promoting hostility to Israel.
The U.S. ambassador has previously made similar comments in an interview with Jewish Insider linking foreign spending by Gulf states in U.S. education to declining support for Israel among young evangelical Christians, without singling out Qatar specifically.
Missile strikes on Ras Laffan and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz have pushed Qatar toward an 8.6% contraction this year, the steepest downturn in the GCC
Mahmud HAMS / AFP via Getty Images
Motorists drive past a plume of smoke rising from a reported Iranian strike in the industrial district of Doha on March 1, 2026.
Six months into the military conflict between the U.S. and Iran, Qatar’s liquefied natural gas exports have plunged 96%, resulting in approximately $24 billion in lost revenue, Reuters reported on Wednesday.
Doha has been forced to halt much of its LNG production — its primary driver of export earnings — due to attacks on energy infrastructure and inability to physically move it to customers, wiping out the equivalent of roughly five months of Qatari government revenue and establishing the state as one of the chief economic casualties of the war.
Meanwhile, the Financial Times reported that Qatar’s economy is projected to contract by 8.6% this year — the steepest downturn among the Gulf Cooperation Council nations — as the Iran war and effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz continue to cripple the nation’s energy sector.
In March, Iran launched ballistic missile attacks targeting Qatar’s Ras Laffan Industrial City — Qatar’s main energy hub and the world’s largest LNG production site — causing extensive damage.
Prior to the war, Qatar served as a cornerstone of the global energy grid and supplied nearly one-fifth of the world’s daily LNG demand. However, unlike neighboring oil exporters, which have managed to navigate limited shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, Qatar’s geography offers few alternative export pipelines or bypass routes for its gas fleet.
Doha has since responded with severe fiscal austerity measures to protect its reserves. The Qatari government has slashed department budgets by up to 30% and cut funding for overseas aid by about 85%.
The Treasury Department also sanctioned an Italian tech group that provided digital infrastructure to groups linked to Hamas and the IRGC
Guy Smallman/Getty Images
The exterior of the building is vandalised as Palestine Action activists occupy the roof of the Elbit Factory on Jan. 24, 2022 in Shenstone, England.
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned several far-left organizations on Wednesday, including the U.K.-based Palestine Action and transnational group Masar Badil, which is linked to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
Palestine Action was founded in 2020 with the stated goal of “ending global participation in Israel’s genocidal and apartheid regime,” with a particular focus on attacking Israeli defense manufacturer Elbit Systems. It was proscribed as a terror group by the British government in July 2025 after the groups engaged in several high-profile break-ins at Israel‑linked defense companies and British military installations, including an August 2024 incident where activists physically assaulted security personnel and police at an Elbit office.
Treasury noted in its designation of the group as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist organization that Palestine Action promoted their activities on social media to encourage “similar tactics internationally, including within the United States and along the U.S.-Mexican border.”
Masar Badil was also designated as an SDGT after being identified as a transnational front for the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network — an organization that has itself been sanctioned for operating as a front for the PFLP, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization since 1997.
The department stated that Masar Badil is “inextricably linked with Samidoun, and described by one of its senior leaders as part of the same political project.” The two groups share executive committee members, senior leadership, and fundraising mechanisms.
The designation places the entities in the same category as Hamas, al-Qaida and ISIS, while barring foreign supporters from entering the United States. It marks the first known case of British left-wing activist groups being targeted by American counterterrorism sanctions, effectively severing the organization from the global financial system.
The action also blocks all U.S.-based assets and property interests of the designated entities and individuals, while prohibiting American citizens and foreign financial institutions from conducting transactions with them under threat of civil penalties or secondary sanctions.
In addition to the Palestinian-linked networks, OFAC sanctioned Italy-based Autistici Inventati for providing digital architecture, encrypted communications and web hosting to far-left cells and designated foreign terrorist organizations, including the Kurdistan Workers’ Party as well as Hamas and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Plus, Moskowitz named to powerful Mideast post
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro speaks before Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, August 6, 2024.
Good Tuesday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social today that the Navy informed him that “all mines have been removed and/or detonated” in the Strait of Hormuz, and that the U.S. has notified Iran “that any ship or boat placing new mines will be immediately and systematically destroyed.” The U.S. Space Force is monitoring the strait as well as Iran’s nuclear sites, including Pickaxe Mountain, for any suspicious activity, he added…
Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said following a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Tehran today that he is hopeful the two countries “will soon announce a temporary corridor for the Strait of Hormuz and practical arrangements to restore safe navigation,” while continuing to work towards a permanent agreement on administering the waterway. The Omani Foreign Ministry further specified that the parties aim to establish a joint effort to clear the strait of mines — despite Trump’s announcement that all have been cleared…
The State Department is preparing to send some foreign service officers and other diplomats back to work at embassies in Israel, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Oman, Iraq and Kuwait that were evacuated or had staffing reductions during the Iran war, according to a State Department document obtained by The New York Times, potentially indicating the Trump administration does not expect hostilities to resume…
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar announced that Israel has expelled officials from the Netherlands from the military and humanitarian coordination hub for Gaza located in Kiryat Gat due to “a series of anti-Israel moves by the Dutch government,” including a new law prohibiting trade with Israeli settlements in the West Bank…
Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed doubled down on his anti-Israel rhetoric during an event at a Dearborn church today, Jewish Insider‘s Matthew Kassel reports, a day after the nominee drew renewed scrutiny over his ongoing association with antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker.
El-Sayed declined to confirm if he hopes to win an endorsement from state Sen. Jeremy Moss — a Jewish Democratic nominee for a congressional seat in the Detroit area who is a key holdout in offering his backing — and said that his support for ending aid to Israel is “about making sure that in our foreign policy, we substantiate equal rights to peace, dignity and self-determination for Palestinian folk”…
Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) was named ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa, where he said he will “work to strengthen America’s relationships with Israel and our Gulf allies.”
A source familiar with the situation told JI’s Marc Rod that, since outgoing ranking member Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) would have been unable to remain in the post next year, he decided to give up the position early to help support Moskowitz in his reelection race — in a South Florida district with a substantial pro-Israel constituency where the leadership position will further bolster Moskowitz’s profile — and to pass off committee leadership to a preferred successor….
A new New York Times/Philadelphia Inquirer/Siena University poll released today found that nearly half of voters in Pennsylvania view Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Jewish Democrat mulling a presidential bid in 2028, as “about right on support of Israel,” even as he has faced skepticism from the far left over his pro-Israel views, JI’s Matthew Kassel reports. Sixty percent of Democrats said they were satisfied with his support for the Jewish state; 39% of Republicans said the same, while another 40% said he is not supportive enough…
The Department of Justice announced today that a 26-year-old Ohio man had been arrested and charged for sending an email threatening to kill Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) and his family, saying he would behead the Jewish congressman and calling him a Nazi, JI’s Marc Rod reports…
The IDF said it views with “utmost severity” an incident involving far-right MK Zvi Sukkot and his aides who, during a requested tour of the Palestinian town of Madama, attacked a memorial — dubbed the “Martyrs’ Monument” — with a sledgehammer, an incident which was captured on video. The IDF said the tour participants “acted deceptively and manipulatively” while accompanied by IDF soldiers “who had been diverted from their operational activities for this purpose … while the IDF is operating under significant operational strain”…
The Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdish group that was backed by the U.S. in the fight against ISIS, has officially dissolved, SDF head Mazloum Abdi announced at the presidential palace in Damascus today. The group has completed its merger into the Syrian army under President Ahmad al-Sharaa, Abdi said — the culmination of a fraught integration process that followed months of deadly clashes between government and Kurdish forces…
Assouline, the luxury publisher known for turning global cities into vibrant $100 coffee-table books, has focused its lens on several Middle Eastern capitals over the years — most recently Beirut. But out of hundreds of titles spanning the globe, not a single Israeli city has made the cut, despite co-founder Prosper Assouline‘s Moroccan Jewish roots, JI’s Haley Cohen reports…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at how Jewish leaders are viewing Rep. Jamie Raskin‘s (D-MD) investigation into the Trump administration’s efforts to crack down on campus antisemitism.
Israeli singer Omer Adam will marry his partner Sacha Israelovich at a converted 14th-century Christian monastery in the Italian seaside village of Portofino tomorrow, after having held a civil ceremony today. Hassidic singer Motty Steinmetz is expected to perform at the celebration, reportedly prompting gender-segregated seating for the guests.
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Plus, Bessent's plan to make Iran an 'economic outcast'
Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) speaks during his weekly press conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on March 19, 2026.
Good Monday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced this afternoon that the Trump administration is launching “Operation Economic Outcast” against Iran, an effort aimed at severing Tehran’s global economic ties in order to “collapse every last option” for the regime, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports.
The Treasury Department designated over 60 entities, individuals and vessels “that enable the Iranian regime to procure illicit nuclear and missile technology, conduct cyber operations and generate oil revenue,” Bessent said, while President Donald Trump “is making phone calls to world leaders with specific requests to cease their interactions with the regime”…
The Treasury Department also redesignated Hezbollah, already a Foreign Terrorist Organization, for acting as a proxy of the Iranian regime under the direction of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and sanctioned 10 individuals who were part of a network transferring funds to Hezbollah through couriers on commercial flights between Lebanon, Turkey, the UAE and Iran…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed today that Iran tried to assassinate one of his sons: “Iran tried to kill, to murder one of my sons,” he said in an interview with Israel’s Channel 14, without specifying which of his two sons was the target…
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) today denounced comments by antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker claiming that Jews are inviting antisemitic attacks against themselves by supporting Israel, JI’s Marc Rod reports.
Jeffries wrote on X that the “malicious claim that American Jews are inviting violence against themselves is dangerous and antisemitic,” without naming Piker directly. “We will fight the cancer of antisemitism with the fierce urgency of now,” he said…
Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, meanwhile, distanced himself from Piker but did not name him nor address the substance of his comments.
El-Sayed insisted that “nobody speaks for this campaign besides me and my campaign spokespeople,” despite having campaigned prominently with Piker, and went on to downplay Piker as “a Twitch streamer” who will not define the race or his campaign. He did not say whether his or his campaign’s relationship with Piker will change going forward…
Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-MI) condemned Piker outright, calling him “a hack who thrives on hate, shock and awe because he lacks substance.” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), who has previously appeared on Piker’s show, also rejected the streamer’s comments, telling JI’s Marc Rod that “Jews are not the cause of [antisemitism]. Neither are people who support Israel. Antisemites are to blame. That’s it”…
Former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) attended three AIPAC-hosted fundraisers in Los Angeles yesterday with another planned for today, according to The New York Times, as reporting emerges about a growing rift between Rogers and the pro-Israel group as he runs for U.S. Senate.
Rogers reportedly told Michael Tuchin, AIPAC’s board chair, that the group should consider whether it is the best messenger against El-Sayed, though he did not explicitly say he did not want its support and its United Democracy Project super PAC is still considering running ads backing Rogers…
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani condemned comments by Brooklyn Democratic leader Carmella Charrington attacking Jewish investors with whom she is engaged in a property dispute as “Zionists” and suggesting some link between her situation and Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank.
“Suggesting that an alleged deed theft in Brooklyn is part of a global conspiracy involving Jewish people is blatant, reprehensible antisemitism. Trafficking in these dangerous antisemitic tropes is vile and inexcusable,” the mayor’s office told JI’s Will Bredderman, after initially avoiding his questions on the issue at a press conference earlier today. However, the administration did not answer a follow-up question about whether the mayor believes Charrington should step aside from her district leader role…
Several leading Jewish and pro-Israel organizations condemned actor Mark Ruffalo for using what they deemed antisemitic rhetoric in his recent social media commentary targeting the Ellison family amid the pending merger of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery, JI’s Haley Cohen reports.
Rabbi Noah Farkas, president and CEO of Jewish Federation Los Angeles, said Ruffalo’s “unhinged rant, which combined Jewish wealth, media control, secret technology and sinister global power, is not legitimate criticism. It draws on recognizable antisemitic tropes with a long and dangerous history”…
As New York magazine continues to come under fire for a recent cover issue depicting the rise of Southwest Asian and North African culture in New York City while taking a hostile view of Israel, the magazine said its editors decided “genocide” is an “accurate description” of Israel’s actions in Gaza and therefore “its use would be allowed in our pages,” claiming that “accusations of antisemitic intent” in usage of the word “were in fact obfuscating an overwhelming scholarly consensus”…
The Trump administration formally revoked Syria’s designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism today at the end of the 45-day congressional notification period, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced, in order to “eliminate the final major barriers for private sector investment in Syria and promote Syria’s economic recovery and reintegration into the global economy.”
Rubio also revoked the designation of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) — a group that Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa led until he assumed the presidency in January 2025 — as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, after having removed HTS from the Foreign Terrorist Organization list last year…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a preview of tomorrow’s Senate special election runoff in South Carolina, where Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC) still has the backing of much of the GOP establishment, including President Donald Trump, in her race against Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC).
Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Albusaidi is expected to visit Iran tomorrow, as the two countries continue negotiations over administering the Strait of Hormuz amid the announcement of the new U.S. economic campaign against Tehran.
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The U.S. envoy to Syria’s comments came at odds with Trump’s recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan in 2019
Special Envoy for Syria Tom Barrack speaks during an interview within Antalya Diplomacy Forum, held under the theme of 'Mapping Tomorrow, Managing Uncertainties' in Antalya, Turkiye on April 17, 2026.
U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack, who also serves as the U.S. special envoy for Syria, on Friday described Israel as occupying the Golan Heights, despite the U.S.’ recognition of Israeli sovereignty in the region.
“In the Golan with Syria — they still occupy the Golan against the [United Nations] resolutions, against all of the international order which has said the Golan is Syria’s,” Barrack said during an appearance on commentator Mario Nawfal’s livestreamed show.
Barrack’s comments did not address the U.S.’ 2019 recognition of the Golan Heights as sovereign Israeli territory — a decision made by President Donald Trump during his first term and maintained by the Biden administration.
“My comments were descriptive of a well-known historical record and were made in the course of explaining why I do not anticipate annexation in Lebanon,” Barrack said in a statement on Sunday. “The reference to the United Nations was offered as evidence of the point I was making — that territory taken by force remains contested for generations, in this case for more than fifty years and still unresolved at the UN — which is why I argue that negotiated understandings, not maps, are what endure. It was not an endorsement of the UN’s position. United States policy on the Golan was set by President Trump in 2019 and is unchanged. “
Barrack’s comments came in response to a question about whether Israel seeks to annex Lebanese territory — something Barrack ultimately denied.
The comments had prompted backlash from a range of figures on the right.
“The Senate confirmed [Barrack] to enact the PRESIDENT’S AGENDA, which millions of Americans voted for,” Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) said on X. “It seems the Ambassador forgot that or failed to do his research, so here’s a refresher for him… President Trump has been CLEAR about Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights for years!”
Far-right influencer Laura Loomer blasted Barrack and demanded that he be forced to resign, calling Barrack “clearly compromised by Arab money.” Bush administration official David Wurmser called the comments a “clear statement” that Barrack “regards the President’s policy and U.S. recognition of the Golan as part of Israel as null and void” and urged him to clarify if he supports U.S. policy, believes he can change U.S. policy on his own or whether U.S. policy has changed.
The U.S. ambassador also dismissed the idea of forced demilitarization of Hezbollah — as required under both U.N. Security Council resolutions and recent Israel-Lebanon diplomatic agreements — as an impossibility.
“We’re asking [the Lebanese Armed Forces], please go shoot your cousins if they don’t give you the AK-47. It’s not going to happen that way. It’s too difficult for it to happen that way,” Barrack said. “So I think what [U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michel] Issa is doing in this whole process is saying there’s got to be a better way. How do we get Hezbollah to not utilize those weapons?”
He seemed to rationalize Hezbollah’s continued defiance of demilitarization efforts as resistance to Israeli demolition of Lebanese homes and as the only way for the terror group to financially survive, by receiving monetary support from Iran.
Addressing other comments in the interview, which many saw as a call for negotiating with Hezbollah and Iran over Hezbollah’s demilitarization, Barrack described the Lebanese government as the “sole legitimate authority.”
“My point was that implementation of the June framework requires an honest reckoning with who holds the weapons and who supplies them. I was describing the difficulty of the problem, not proposing a new table,” Barrack said. “Hezbollah is a designated foreign terrorist organization. We do not negotiate with it, and nothing I said suggests otherwise. My remarks should be read in their full context.”
He added that “any honest observer” must determine how to move Iran and Hezbollah.
“How does Hezbollah come to accept disarmament? And who, other than Tehran, sustains the communities of the south, so that the money on which that arsenal’s political cover depends is replaced by something better? Naming those questions is not conferring standing on anyone,” Barrack said. “It is the precondition of answering them — and answering them is precisely what the framework’s designers are working at.”
Barrack praised the defense agreement between Turkey, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia as an accomplishment for the Trump administration, pressing regional powers to take responsibility for their own security — similar to the president’s efforts to pressure European NATO allies to spend more on their own defense.
“It’s not anti-Israel, it’s not pro-Sunni and it’s not anti-America,” Barrack said. “It’s, ‘Guys, we need to band together.’”
He also suggested that others in the region shouldn’t be concerned by Turkey’s apparent growing regional ambitions.
“Turkey’s going into a new, powerful mode, which makes everybody nervous, but it’s a great thing for Turkey,” Barrack said. “They — as a hub, as a non-Arab, really workable, kind, loving, Islamic country with eight countries around it and four seas … it’s threatening in its geographical presentation. So I’m hopeful the calmer heads will be there.”
Barrack is in the midst of a media tour addressing Israel’s decision to strike the runway of a Syrian airbase with the goal of preventing Turkey from deploying troops to the site. Barrack and other U.S. officials have criticized the strikes.
On Friday, Barrack suggested two potential motivations for the strikes: that Israel was “baiting the Turks” or that there had been a “miscommunication” among different elements of the Israeli government that led an Israeli commander to carry out a strike without any intention of sparking further conflict or causing injuries.
Speaking on the incident on “PBS NewsHour” on Friday, Barrack said that Israel believed it had a tacit agreement with Turkey and Syria that the countries would not deploy military equipment that could obstruct an Israeli attack path to Syria, but Barrack said that the other parties did not agree that they had any such accord.
He said that Israel had communicated its concerns about the deployment to Syria, and that Syria had denied any Turkish movement toward the base, with further talks planned the following week. “Something went awry and Israel decided they needed to bomb the craters on two runways. The problem with this is Turkey did not know it was coming,” Barrack continued.
Barrack suggested on both shows that recent tensions between Turkey and Israel are largely a political gambit by both sides ahead of elections in their countries — despite Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s now yearslong threats to invade or attack Israel. And he said on Nawfal’s show that Turkey is “concentrating on restraint” and is “not predatory” and “not interested in attacking or even engaging in any kind of kinetic or adversarial relationship with Israel.”
He said that the U.S. saw no malign intent or aggressive action by Syria or Turkey.
However, in the same interview, Barrack expressed an understanding of Israel’s concerns about the new Syrian government, particularly when it first took power, and insisted that Israel’s incursion into Syria was designed as a protective measure, not as an effort to expand its territory, as some in anti-Israel circles have claimed.
Nawfal’s show, on which Barrack appeared, has also featured a range of anti-Israel figures and conspiratorial anti-Israel narratives. Other recent guests have included Anthony Aguilar, the former U.S. Marine turned anti-Israel activist who claimed to have seen Gaza Humanitarian Foundation contractors kill a child in Gaza only for that child to be found alive and well; former Trump administration official Joe Kent; and anti-Israel commentator and retired Gen. Douglas Macgregor.
The senator called for NATO to step in and said Turkey ‘needs to act like a real ally’ after Ankara called for Interpol to issue an international arrest warrant for Netanyahu
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) speaks on government funding during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol on March 06, 2024 in Washington, DC.
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) blasted Turkey this week over its continued hostility toward Israel, calling on the U.S.’ NATO ally to stop targeting Israel and working with terrorist groups.
“We all know that Turkey likes cozying up to terrorists and supporting Israel’s and America’s enemies,” Scott said Friday, in response to a Turkish request for Interpol to issue an arrest notice for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Ankara has issued charges against Netanyahu including war crimes, genocide and torture in connection with Israel’s interception of an activist flotilla headed to Gaza.
Scott said that “anyone who isn’t a terrorist sympathizer can see that” Israel has a right to defend itself.
“Where is NATO in all of this? When are our other allies going to join in calling this out and setting clear expectations on this outrageous behavior? Turkey needs to act like a real ally. This needs to END,” Scott continued.
It’s the second time this week Scott has hit out at Ankara. Earlier this week, he responded to an interview by U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack in which Barrack asserted that the Turkish military was not aware Israel planned to strike targets inside Syria, which Barrack said could have sparked a military confrontation.
“It’s clear Israel gave Turkey advanced warning, and Ankara ignored it. Israel has the right and the duty to defend itself from threats,” Scott said. “Turkey needs to stop playing around, stop shilling for terrorists, and start acting like the NATO ‘ally’ they pretend to be.”
Netanyahu also responded to the arrest effort, calling Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan an “antisemitic dictator” and accusing Erdogan of trying to “extend his aggression against Israel into Syria.”
Plus, Baltimore's Orthodox Jews get a day at the races
Adam Gray/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Zohran Mamdani, mayor of New York, left, and Kathy Hochul, governor of New York, during a news conference on 2026 FIFA World Cup transportation at the MTA Rail Control Center in New York, US, on Thursday, June 4, 2026.
Good Thursday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
Stefany Shaheen, the daughter of Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and a candidate for New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional District, launched a TV ad this week hitting her primary opponent, military veteran Maura Sullivan, for receiving $300,000 in donations “bundled from AIPAC donors,” Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
The donations referenced in the ad appear to be from individual donors who have previously contributed to AIPAC, but the pro-Israel group itself has made no endorsement and has not been directly involved in the race…
Michigan Democratic congressional nominee Jeremy Moss declined to endorse his party’s Senate nominee, Abdul El-Sayed, in an interview with Slate: “Abdul’s going to have to demonstrate some serious outreach to Oakland County’s Jewish community,” Moss said. The two candidates have “had an ongoing dialogue,” Moss added, as he said Democrats must ensure that “the liberal Jewish community is not politically homeless”…
Rabbi Asher Lopatin, director of community relations at the Ann Arbor Jewish federation who has been outspoken about the threat he believes El-Sayed poses to the Jewish community, appeared at a “Democrats for Rogers” press conference in Detroit today where he said, “I usually vote Democrat, but I’m gonna be voting for Mike Rogers … I’m sad to say this, that Abdul El-Sayed has made one thing very clear: We cannot let him anywhere near the U.S. Senate”…
A new poll commissioned by AARP found El-Sayed leading Rogers by one percentage point, 48-47%, but voters ages 50 and up were 16 points more likely than younger voters to say they were motivated to participate in the general election — a population that swings heavily towards Rogers. Voters ages 50-64 favored Rogers over El-Sayed 51-46%, and voters above 65 favored the Republican by 13 points (54-41%)…
Asked in a New York Times interview about New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s call for the federal government to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he arrives in the city for the U.N. General Assembly next month, Gov. Kathy Hochul advised the mayor, “Let’s focus on the blocking and tackling of city government. That is where I believe the main focus should be”…
The Trump administration, meanwhile, is weighing in on another official’s appearance at the UNGA: The White House intends to prevent Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas from attending for the second year in a row, a U.S. official told The Times of Israel…
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent explained on CNBC today that in order to implement the new U.S. economic campaign against Iran, the Trump administration will approach “all of our allies” and tell them, “You are either with us or against us.”
“If you insist on doing business with [Iran] — either transferring money, buying their oil, doing seaborne ship transfers — then the U.S. Treasury and the U.S. government will put its full might and force toward enforcing against you,” he added…
The NYT looks at which countries do the most business with Iran and could therefore be hardest hit by the new measures, including China, India and several Middle East nations…
Georgia state Rep. Esther Panitch, the only Jewish member of the state’s Legislature, denounced the Georgia branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations for featuring extremist anti-Israel voices including Zahra Billoo, Ana Kasparian and Cenk Uygur as keynote speakers at its gala next month.
CAIR-GA has “dropped the mask at this point,” Panitch told the Jerusalem News Syndicate. “This is actual straight-out, Nazi-level Protocols of the Elders of Zion kind of antisemitism. They’re doing it, and they can’t say they didn’t know”…
For more than 150 years, Baltimore’s Orthodox Jews have walked to synagogue on Preakness Saturday and listened to the roar of the crowd from Pimlico Race Course less than a mile away, never able to join it. That changes in 2027, when the second jewel in horse racing’s Triple Crown — following the Kentucky Derby and preceding the Belmont Stakes — moves from Saturday to Sunday, finally opening the gates at Pimlico to the local Shabbat-observant community for the first time since the race started in 1873, JI’s Haley Cohen reports…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at the growing divide between the United States and Israel over how to approach post-Assad Syria.
Despite her recent debate stage snafu, which has led GOP operatives to question her chances in next week’s special runoff election, Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC) is still enjoying the support of the party: Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), the Senate majority whip, is in South Carolina today to support her race, and President Donald Trump will join her in Myrtle Beach for a rally tomorrow.
We’ll be back with the Daily Overtime on Monday. Shabbat shalom!
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The new report from the hawkish think tank calls for the countries to sign one final 10-year MOU while focusing more on military cooperation and engagement
WASHINGTON DC, UNITED STATES - JULY 18 : U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (R) welcomes Defense Minister Israel Katz (L) during an official ceremony at the Pentagon in Washington, United States on July 18, 2025. (Photo by Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu via Getty Images)
As Israel and the Trump administration negotiate the next U.S.-Israel memorandum of understanding, a new report from the Jewish Institute for National Security of America demonstrates how even among hawkish experts in Washington, the question is increasingly not how to preserve the traditional military aid model, but what should replace it.
The report, titled “Shifting the Center of Gravity: Transforming the U.S.-Israel Security Partnership,” recommends that the two countries sign one final 10-year MOU — a sea change for Israel supporters who previously wouldn’t have dreamt to advocate for the end of these kinds of agreements between Jerusalem and Washington, though they largely hope for it to be replaced with cooperative and enduring programs.
The report comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has himself championed the eventual end of direct U.S. aid to Israel and as elements of both parties become resistant to defense spending overseas, a new reality that is forcing a reassessment of how Washington can sustain its commitment to Israel without relying on the traditional aid model.
Blaise Misztal, JINSA’s vice president for policy, told Jewish Insider that the strategy is catered to “America’s benefit” and seeks to make the U.S.-Israel partnership “more effective for both countries.”
“Closer alignment and cooperation with Israel across military, technological and economic lines of effort will help make America safer abroad, more prosperous at home and one step ahead of its adversaries,” Misztal said. “One specific area where we believe this should happen immediately is with shifting the center of gravity of U.S. force posture in the Middle East to Israel.”
JINSA’s report calls for maintaining $3.8 billion in annual U.S. assistance through fiscal year 2038, while pairing that funding with a series of initiatives designed to deepen operational and strategic integration between the two militaries, including a larger U.S. military footprint in Israel, a permanent U.S. military presence at Israel’s Ovda Airbase, a deeper U.S.-Israeli defense industrial partnership and a limited U.S.-Israel mutual defense treaty (with a deliberately narrow threshold for activation).
At the center of JINSA’s proposal is an expanded U.S. military presence in Israel. Beyond Ovda Airbase, the report calls for expanding U.S. access to other Israeli air and naval bases and creating a forward CENTCOM headquarters in Israel for regional planning, mission command and oversight of U.S. forces, as well as establishing a U.S. prepositioned arsenal hub and expanding and modernizing the existing war reserve stockpile.
The strategy also envisions joint development and production of advanced weapons and critical munitions. It recommends formally incorporating Israel into the Trump administration’s Golden Dome missile-defense initiative and expanding U.S. procurement and coproduction of Israeli air- and missile-defense systems.
JINSA further recommends expanding intelligence sharing on Iran, its proxies and other shared adversaries, including China and Russia, while establishing a “Model Ally” status for Israel that would provide a framework for deeper joint research and development, co-production, reciprocal offsets and an updated assessment of Israel’s Qualitative Military Edge. The report argues that greater integration of the two countries’ defense industries would strengthen their respective industrial bases and supply chains.
The proposal would also elevate the political and military commitments underpinning the relationship. JINSA recommends deepening CENTCOM-led defense cooperation between Israel and key Arab states with the eventual goal of a limited, U.S.-led regional mutual defense arrangement conditioned on normalization with Israel.
“The question for policymakers is not what America owes Israel. It is what America gains from having Israel as an ally — and how much more both countries can gain by making that alliance stronger,” JINSA said in a statement accompanying the report.
The report argues that Israel’s recent cooperation with the United States in the war in Iran demonstrates the value of a more integrated partnership.
“Israel fought shoulder-to-shoulder with America, carrying an equal share of the combat burden and risk, with historic levels of joint planning, intelligence integration, and operational coordination, while hosting and protecting more than 100 U.S. military aircraft and thousands of American servicemembers,” the statement said. “It also deployed advanced air defenses and troops to help defend a U.S. partner, the United Arab Emirates.”
JINSA also points to Israel’s defense spending as evidence of its willingness to share the burden of regional security, arguing that the country’s defense spending of nearly 8% of GDP exceeds NATO’s new 5% benchmark and is roughly three times the share spent by many European countries.
The president warned of broad ‘economic consequences’ for those assisting Tehran’s economy but did not specify what the new measures may entail
Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP via Getty Images
US President Donald Trump speaks about the conflict in Iran in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House on April 6, 2026, in Washington, DC.
President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that the U.S. was launching “economic warfare and isolation on an unprecedented scale” against Iran, threatening to take aggressive action against foreign entities and businesses engaging economically with Tehran.
“No one has given the Islamic Republic of Iran a greater opportunity to make a Deal than me,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, but Tehran has “failed to take it.”
“Therefore, today, I am announcing the MOST CRUSHING ECONOMIC OPERATION EVER TAKEN AGAINST ANY COUNTRY,” he wrote.
Trump warned of broad “economic consequences” for those assisting Tehran’s economy, adding, “You know who you are.” While he did not explicitly name the measures the U.S. would take, his announcement came following his threat of U.S. military action against Oman earlier this week over potential interference in U.S. negotiations with Iran.
Calling the initiative an “economic D-Day,” Trump urged global allies to join Washington in isolating Tehran.
“These maniacs are on the ropes, and these HISTORIC MEASURES will cripple them and their ability to project terror worldwide,” Trump wrote, vowing once again that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon.
While senior White House officials indicated earlier this week that talks between the U.S. and Iran were ongoing, Trump later said no discussions were taking place or scheduled for the future.
The announcement also comes as the United Arab Emirates announced this week that it would suspend all financial and commercial ties with Tehran.
Plus, ICE detains Jewish bridal shop owner
Sarah Rice/Getty Images
Senate candidate Mike Rogers greets supporters at his election watch party with the MIGOP on November 5, 2024 in Novi, Michigan.
Good Wednesday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
Jewish leaders in Michigan are circulating an open letter, obtained by Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel, urging Jewish Democrats and independents in the battleground state to sign their names in support of former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) as he faces Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed in the race for U.S. Senate.
If El-Sayed were to claim victory in the general election, the authors say, “we fear the far-left and anti-Jewish elements in the Democratic party would become dominant … We cannot allow him to become the Democratic standard-bearer or Michigan’s senator”…
California state Sen. Aisha Wahab still holds a narrow lead as of this afternoon over former Dublin, Calif., Mayor Melissa Hernandez in the special election runoff for an East Bay House seat that drew a late surge of outside spending from AIPAC.
With 62% of the vote counted in yesterday’s election, Wahab had 51%, leading Hernandez by two percentage points or 1,356 votes, according to the unofficial initial returns. “We made a race that wasn’t close when we started into a nail-biter,” Patrick Dorton, a spokesperson for AIPAC’s United Democracy Project super PAC, told JI’s Matthew Kassel…
ICE detained a Jewish bridal shop owner and his mother living in Englewood, N.J., a local elected official confirmed today to JI’s Haley Cohen: Ari Ladino and his mother, Chava, who are originally from Bogotá, Colombia, run Luana Rose Modestly in Teaneck — a dress shop specializing in modest special occasion gowns popular among local Orthodox Jewish women. The reason for their arrest remains unclear…
In an interview with The Jerusalem Post today, U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack doubled down on his criticism of Israeli strikes on a Syrian air base earlier in the week, which Israel said had been prompted by Turkish involvement at the base. “Turkish forces were not aware that the Israeli aircraft were en route to that specific Syrian base … [and] could potentially have been inclined to scramble their own jets in the belief that they themselves were under attack,” Barrack said.
He announced that the U.S. is looking to relaunch a deconfliction cell between Israel and Syria, with potential Turkish participation, and downplayed reported Israeli concerns over a specific Turkish radar system said to be deployed at the base. “We remain convinced that this technical requirement need not pose a security concern, and that further conversations can help clarify the matter to everyone’s satisfaction,” Barrack said…
Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, the IDF’s chief of staff, visited Israeli troops in southern Syria today, where he said Israel is “monitoring the changes on the Syrian front” and “know[s] how to use our power precisely where it is needed and when it is needed”…
The IDF announced it is opening an investigation into the killing of 5-year-old Hind Rajab in Gaza in January 2024 after finding that troops had indeed fired at her family’s vehicle as it was traveling opposite the direction of an evacuation route. The military had previously denied responsibility for the incident, which drew global attention and inspired an Oscar-nominated film titled “The Voice of Hind Rajab.”
The IDF will also investigate the killing of 15 rescue workers traveling in emergency vehicles in March 2025, and closed investigations into a strike on a World Central Kitchen convoy and into the deaths of several Doctors Without Borders members, finding that troops’ actions in those incidents did not rise to the level of criminal offenses…
The New York Times examines CENTCOM’s efforts to keep oil traffic flowing through the Strait of Hormuz, including utilizing air- and water-based assets to intercept Iranian drones and missiles targeting commercial traffic.
Beyond protecting tankers loaded with oil, the U.S. military has also reportedly established its own corridor to help empty ships enter the strait, load up and exit largely undetected…
The New York State Department of Financial Services issued a notice warning Holocaust survivors and their families about potential fraud by an organization calling itself the “Jewish Holocaust Claims Center” that is contacting such individuals about their eligibility for compensation…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at how Sen. Darline Graham‘s (R-SC) debate stage flub on national security may impact her chances in next week’s South Carolina special runoff election for Senate.
Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) and his primary opponent, Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA), will face off in their final debate before the election. Moulton, 47, is mounting a generational challenge to the 80-year-old Markey and has taken an increasingly critical stance against Israel and AIPAC on the campaign trail, while Markey has long staked out staunchly anti-Israel positions.
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Florida Democrats nominate DSA candidate for Senate race
Angie Nixon, who called Israel’s war against Hamas a genocide and campaigned with Rep. Rashida Tlaib, will be the party’s candidate against GOP Sen. Ashley Moody
CAMPUS BEAT
ADL-AEN report details higher ed unions being hijacked by anti-Israel activists
The study shows how unions are turning away from advocating for higher wages and using their institutions to foment attacks against Israel
Plus, Central Synagogue attacker faces federal charges
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) speaks during the House Administration Committee hearing on June 10, 2026.
Good Tuesday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social this morning that “There are no talks or conversations going on, or scheduled, with the Islamic Republic of Iran,” directly contradicting a statement from Jared Kushner yesterday that dialogue between the White House and “different areas of the Iranian government” is “probably more robust than it’s maybe ever been”…
U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack, who also serves as special envoy for Syria and Iraq, said on X this morning that he’s “deeply concerned” over what he called “confirmed Israeli airstrikes” on Syria’s Abu al-Duhur Airbase overnight, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports. Israel has not claimed responsibility for the strikes.
“The United States has in the past, and will continue in the future, to host discussions to encourage diplomatic cadence over kinetic frustration for both nations,” Barrack said, calling the incident an “unnecessary escalation that does not advance regional stability.” Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC), who has been a pro-Israel stalwart, also condemned what he called “one-sided aggression”…
U.N. inspectors visited some nuclear sites tied to the deposed Assad regime in Syria this week, the first time that International Atomic Energy Agency officials have been given full access to the sites. Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani said at a press conference with IAEA head Rafael Grossi that nuclear material found at the locations, including several tons of uranium, will be placed “under IAEA safeguards”…
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced sanctions today against Tomoko Akane, president of the International Criminal Court, and Abdoulaye Seye, a senior trial lawyer, as part of the Trump administration’s recently announced campaign to target the body.
Rubio said the two individuals “have directly engaged in efforts by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute officials whose government has not consented to ICC jurisdiction,” likely in reference to Israeli leaders…
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, claimed today that the Trump administration’s probes into campus antisemitism were “fake” and that schools found to have violated federal civil rights law were effectively framed, pointing to whistleblower reports that claimed the administration had manipulated evidence to show violations of law despite lacking sufficient evidence.
Raskin announced that he is launching an investigation of the alleged “misconduct” of the Department of Justice and intends to assess potential changes to Title VI of the Civil Rights Act “in light of this Administration’s shockingly reckless and unethical actions,” JI’s Marc Rod reports…
The DOJ charged a New York man, Larry Montes, with two federal hate crimes charges and one count of destruction of religious property for disrupting Shabbat services at Central Synagogue in Manhattan over the weekend, where he struck a congregant, damaged synagogue property and spat on and headbutted a security guard. Montes has already been charged with hate crimes by local prosecutors…
The DOJ also charged 17 members of the Mabna Institute — an Iran-based company that federal prosecutors say ran a state-sponsored cyber campaign on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps since at least 2013 — with hacking 144 U.S. and 178 foreign universities, dozens of private companies and several U.S. government agencies to steal research, academic data and intellectual property…
The Department of Defense instructed 30 U.S. academic institutions to conduct reviews of their ties with “foreign entities of concern,” threatening future Pentagon funding for research projects if they fail to do so and terminate “problematic partnerships”…
Michigan state Sen. Jeremy Moss, the Democratic nominee in Michigan’s 11th Congressional District, pushed back today against what he alleged was a doctored audio clip circulating online designed to portray him as more loyal to Israel than the United States, JI’s Marc Rod reports.
“There is a manipulated and unsourced audio, with things I never did and never would say, that is nothing more than political disinformation intended to portray me as anti-American,” Moss, who is Jewish, said on X…
Rebecca Weininger, senior regional director of Anti-Defamation League Midwest, called out the Chicago branch of the Democratic Socialists of America’s “fixation on Israel” after the group’s 2027 city council endorsement questionnaire asked local candidates to explain whether they consider themselves anti-Zionists and if they support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.
The group’s outsized focus on the Jewish state, Weininger said, is “not only far removed from the responsibilities and priorities of an alderman, but also risks fueling anti-Jewish sentiment, harassment, and ultimately, violence against Chicago’s Jewish community”…
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) suggested in an interview with The Washington Post that he believes Democrats can still win the Senate even if far-left Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, whom Schumer has endorsed, loses in November, JI’s Marc Rod reports. “A path to winning back the Senate clearly goes through Michigan, but we have a whole bunch of different paths,” Schumer said.
The Senate Majority PAC, a Democratic super PAC, is spending $3 million on a new ad campaign to defeat Republican nominee Mike Rogers, portraying him as a career politician who enriched himself while in Washington…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for results from today’s key races in Florida and California. Polls close in the Sunshine State at 7 p.m. ET, and in the Golden State at 11 p.m. ET.
Hannan Lis, Brian Hermelin and Rob Orley, three prominent Jewish Democratic bundlers in Michigan, are hosting a fundraiser tonight for the state’s Republican Senate nominee, former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI), as some Jewish Democrats in the Wolverine State consider flipping their votes against Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed. Read Lis’ comments to JI here.
Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) and Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC) will face off in a debate tonight hosted by the South Carolina GOP, a week ahead of their runoff election.
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Nearly two-thirds of 2025 religious hate crimes in U.S. were antisemitic, FBI data finds
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Amb. Tom Barrack, the U.S. special envoy for Syria, called the attack an ‘unnecessary escalation’
Izettin Kasim/Anadolu via Getty Images
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa welcomes US Ambassador to Ankara and Special Envoy for Syria Tom Barrack (R) and his accompanying delegation at the People's Palace in Damascus, Syria on July 9, 2025.
Syria and the U.S. accused Israel on Tuesday of conducting airstrikes targeting a runway and storage facilities at Abu al-Duhur Air base in northwest Syria, prompting U.S. officials to express concern over the attack. Jerusalem, however, has not acknowledged responsibility for the strikes.
U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack, who also serves as special envoy for Syria and Iraq, expressed concern following the incident, which he deemed “confirmed Israeli airstrikes,” calling it an “unnecessary escalation.”
“We are deeply concerned that the confirmed Israeli airstrikes on Abu al-Duhur Airbase constitute an unnecessary escalation that does not advance regional stability,” Barrack said in a statement on X. “The Al-Sharaa government has neither adopted a predatory posture nor maintained proxy forces. It has, in fact, repeatedly indicated a preference for de-escalation with Israel.”
Barrack added that the U.S. will continue to “host discussions to encourage diplomatic cadence over kinetic frustration for both nations.” The U.S. envoy has previously come under fire for his comments criticizing Israel, as well as his apparent promotion of a Middle East trade alignment last month that would cut out Israel.
Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC), who has been a pro-Israel stalwart, also expressed concern over the strikes. The South Carolina lawmaker labeled the incident as “one-sided aggression” and stated in a post on X that he was supportive of Barrack’s assessment.
“Continued one-sided aggression is detrimental to peace and stability,” Wilson wrote on X. Syria has demonstrated a genuine desire for dialogue with Israel and continues to intercept weapons smuggled from Iraq, intended for Hezbollah in Lebanon to threaten Israel.”
A senior Israeli official told Fox News that “highly sensitive intelligence” was shared with the U.S. “in advance” of the strikes.
“Highly sensitive intelligence was shared with the United States in advance, at the most senior levels of the various agencies and bodies,” the official told Fox News. “Al-Sharaa understands that he cannot operate like the previous Syrian regime, which maintained proxy forces. It’s possible that he didn’t understand what was going on, or didn’t know.”
The base, which sits near the Turkish border, has been used as a training center for Syria’s new army following the ouster of dictator Bashar al-Assad in late 2024. Ankara has assisted Damascus in training its army and rebuilding critical infrastructure and institutions in the country.
In early August, Syria launched its first air exercises since Assad was deposed, deploying Russian-made MiG-21 fighter jets in the country’s northern region. Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported on Aug. 11 that security officials detected an accelerated push by Syria to rebuild its air force — pointing to pilot recruitment, flight training and fighter jet drills. According to an Israeli security source quoted by Kan, Israel was monitoring the situation closely and had voiced concerns to Washington.
Meanwhile, Ankara has repeatedly accused Israel of trying to destabilize Syria and weaken its new government through military strikes, urging international leaders to compel Israel to respect Syrian sovereignty.
Following Assad’s fall, Israel has held a security zone in southwestern Syria and destroyed large stockpiles of the Assad regime’s heavy weaponry and equipment, driven by Israeli officials’ concerns over the militant Islamist origins of Syria’s new leadership.
Anti-Jewish hate crimes also constituted the second-largest category of reported hate crimes of any kind in 2025
Emily Elconin/Getty Images
Members of Hatzalah of Michigan, a Jewish volunteer emergency medical service survey the area near Temple Israel following reports of an active shooter on March 12, 2026 in West Bloomfield, Michigan.
Anti-Jewish hate crimes constituted nearly two-thirds of all religious hate crimes in the country last year, according to FBI data released last week: Out of the 2,408 religiously motivated hate crimes reported across the country, 1,528 were targeted against Jews.
Anti-Jewish hate crimes also constituted the second-largest category of reported hate crimes of any kind in 2025, behind only anti-Black or African American hate crimes.
Jews remained the most-targeted religious group in the country. The total number of anti-Jewish hate crimes declined by 20% from 2024, when 1,938 anti-Jewish hate crimes were reported, and 1,832 incidents in 2023, making 2025 the third worst year on record for anti-Jewish hate crimes.
According to the FBI, anti-Jewish hate crimes in 2025 included three incidents of murder or non-negligent manslaughter; one incident of rape; 50 incidents of aggravated assault; 112
incidents of simple assault; 505 incidents of intimidation; 920 incidents of destruction, damage or vandalism; 68 incidents of theft, burglary and robbery of various kinds; and six incidents of arson.
A total of 1,685 anti-Jewish offenses were recorded in 2025, impacting 1,746 victims, committed by 866 perpetrators.
The FBI reported that overall hate crime incidents decreased 7% year-over-year.
“Year after year, we’ve seen alarming rates of antisemitic harassment and violence in this country,” Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and James Lankford (R-OK), who co-chair the Senate Antisemitism Task Force, said in a joint statement.
The two senators noted that antisemitic hate crimes remain higher than they were prior to the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel.
“This report shows the dark reality for Jewish Americans: antisemitic attacks make up more than 62 percent of religiously-motivated hate crimes in the United States, more than double all other kinds of religiously-motivated hate crimes combined,” Rosen and Lankford continued. “We’re faced with nothing less than a crisis, and we need collective action.”
They said that the data highlights the need to pass the Jewish American Security Act to respond and protect the Jewish community.
Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt emphasized in a statement that, “Behind every one of these numbers is a person who was targeted simply for being Jewish, whether through vandalism, intimidation, or violence.”
“We cannot allow a modest yet positive decline in the topline domestic numbers to obscure the reality that antisemitism remains one of the most persistent and dangerous forms of hate in this country and beyond,” Greenblatt continued, emphasizing that 2025 was the deadliest year for antisemitic attacks outside of Israel in more than 30 years.
In a release, the ADL noted that the data was consistent with its own findings that 2025 was the third-highest year on record for reported antisemitic incidents. The ADL’s data includes both criminal and non-criminal incidents.
Jewish Council for Public Affairs CEO Amy Spitalnick said, “Once again, the FBI’s data confirms what Jewish communities across this country already feel: the rising tide of hate means that we remain the most-targeted religious community in America,” noting that Jews constitute just 2% of the population but two-thirds of religious-based hate crimes.
Spitalnick also emphasized rising hate against other groups, arguing that “Jewish safety and the safety of our neighbors are inextricably linked — which is why we will never accept a strategy that protects one community by demonizing or ignoring another.”
She said that the slight decline in overall hate crimes is “welcome” but does not constitute safety and argued that a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach to fighting hate remains necessary. She also emphasized that around 5% of the U.S. population was not covered by the data and that some local law enforcement agencies reported no hate crimes in areas where hate crimes are known to have occurred.
In 2025, 85.9% of all law enforcement agencies in the country submitted hate crimes data to the FBI — an optional program — covering 95.3% of the U.S. population. In some past years, reporting had been significantly hampered by non-participation by local law enforcement agencies, leading to what advocates said was an under-counting of hate crimes.
“The deeper problem is that we keep treating this crisis as a security problem to be managed rather than building resiliency to hate and extremism in the first place,” Spitalnick said, calling increased security funding necessary but “not a remedy” to hate.
“This new data tells us two things,” Spitalnick said. “Hate crimes remain far too high, and our national response is failing. We need the federal government to return its focus to protecting communities and building an inclusive, pluralistic democracy that is more resistant to hate in the first place.”
Plus, Trump puts Oman in the crosshairs
Shalev Shalom
Israeli President Isaac Herzog meets with Jared Kushner at the President's Residence in Jerusalem on Aug. 17, 2026.
Good Monday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
President Donald Trump confirmed to Fox News this morning that the White House is communicating directly with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and said that Tehran should “raise the white flag of surrender,” as the 60-day memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran — which was intended to lead to the creation of a permanent peace agreement but was quickly deemed moot by both parties — officially expired today without a deal in sight.
Jared Kushner separately told Fox News about the status of talks with Iran that Trump is “focused on economic pressure” but is still open to reaching an agreement, adding that dialogue between the White House and “different areas of the Iranian government” is “probably more robust than it’s maybe ever been” and that the conversations are “positive”…
Trump also threatened in his interview to “bomb the sh*t out of” Oman if the country “gets in the way,” amid Muscat’s negotiations with Tehran over the Strait of Hormuz.
Speaking later to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said he doesn’t think Oman “behave[s] very well” and that the U.S. would “handle them very easily.” He also reaffirmed his recent claim that he intends to declare the strait a U.S. territory, saying he “think[s] it’s a great idea”…
Responding to Trump’s threat, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) announced he intends to introduce a war powers resolution when the Senate returns from recess to prohibit U.S. military action against Oman…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he had “deep and constructive discussions” with Board of Peace head Nickolay Mladenov and Kushner in Jerusalem today, where the parties agreed to establish two working groups: one on the “disarmament and demilitarization of Gaza,” which they agreed should happen before “any reconstruction,” and a second on sanitation and public health concerns in the enclave.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog also met with the group and said he was “impressed that Israel’s security interests are an important and central element of their plan”…
After the meetings, Kushner told Fox News that he predicts there will be progress in starting to demilitarize Gaza “in as little as 30 days” and beginning to fill in Hamas’ terror tunnels “in the next 60 to 90 days.”
Despite Trump stating in his interview that Israel should not be conducting any more strikes in Gaza, Kushner said the Board of Peace would “not restrict Israel’s right to defend itself” and that if Hamas doesn’t follow through on its commitments, Israel will “have a lot more support from the U.S.” to “finish the job.” He called his Sunday meeting with Hamas leaders “cordial” and said they “said all the right things” but that they are “hard to trust”…
Trump said today it’s “most appropriate” that he “stay out of” Israel’s upcoming elections but added that he “may endorse somebody” anyway….
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi disputed claims by Masrour Barzani, prime minister of the region of Kurdistan, that his office was attacked by Iranian drones: “Kurdish friends should be vigilant against false-flag ploys to sow discord between neighbors,” Araghchi said on X, claiming that Iran has historically “protected” the Kurds. It was a striking characterization given that Iran has repeatedly struck Kurdish opposition bases in Iraqi Kurdistan, including during the current war, and has a decades-long history of suppressing its own Kurdish population…
New York City leaders are condemning a series of inflammatory posters opposing a new housing development in Chelsea that use antisemitic, racist and homophobic language, including a call to “stop Zionist occupation of Manhattan,” tying the project to “foreign wealth dirty zionist money” and claiming that “Talmudists are trained to cheat.”
City Hall called the posters “vile” and claimed the rhetoric “has absolutely no place in our city’s political discourse,” while Mark Treyger, CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, said, “Disagreement over housing policy is legitimate. Dehumanizing your neighbors is not”…
Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) and Dan Goldman (D-NY) continued to spar this week over the University of Washington’s decision to cancel a planned speech by antisemitic influencer Hasan Piker, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
After Goldman argued initially against Jayapal’s denunciation of the school, the congresswoman said she “completely disagree[s] with [Goldman’s] analysis of free speech”; Goldman responded that students have ample access to “Piker’s racist and anti-American views,” but the university has a responsibility to prevent discriminatory conduct or a hostile environment for Jewish students that could interfere in their ability to participate on campus…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at AIPAC’s involvement in tomorrow’s special election in California’s 14th Congressional District, where state Sen. Aisha Wahab is facing off against former Dublin, Calif., Mayor Melissa Hernandez, who is backed by the pro-Israel group.
Florida will also hold its primary elections tomorrow, where several pro-Israel and Jewish candidates are facing off against far-right and far-left extremists. Read more on the races and their implications here.
The Sephardic Rabbinical Conference will conclude in New York with speakers including Israeli Consul General Ofir Akunis; Daniel Rosenthal, vice president for government relations at UJA-Federation of New York; Rabbi Elie Buechler, director of programs at the Orthodox Union Advocacy Center; and rabbis from around the world.
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SENATOR SITDOWN
Rick Scott: We have to ‘fight, fight fight’ antisemites running in the Republican Party
The senator told JI he was worried that fringe ideas could gain momentum if Republicans don’t aggressively push back
SEPHARDIC SUMMIT
Sephardic rabbis and leaders gather in New York to build a stronger voice in Jewish institutional life
The second annual Sephardic Rabbinic Conference, backed by the Orthodox Union and UJA-Federation, will bring together around 150 participants from a dozen countries to address leadership gaps and Diaspora institution-building
The announcement came following a meeting between Netanyahu, Jared Kushner and BOP head Nickolay Mladenov; the parties agreed that no reconstruction will begin in Gaza before demilitarization is complete
Shalev Shalom
Israeli President Isaac Herzog meets with Jared Kushner and Board of Peace representatives in Jerusalem on Aug. 17, 2026.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced on Monday that Israel and the U.S.-led Board of Peace will launch two working groups to address key issues in the board’s plan for disarming Hamas and reconstructing the enclave.
The PMO announced the developments in a readout following Netanyahu’s “deep and constructive discussions” with Jared Kushner and Board of Peace High Representative Nickolay Mladenov, as well as their respective teams, in Jerusalem. Mladenov and Kushner had met a day earlier in Cairo with Hamas leaders and Turkish, Egyptian and Qatari mediators.
Also participating in the Jerusalem meeting were former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Board of Peace senior advisors Aryeh Lightstone and Liran Tancman.
One working group will focus on disarmament and demilitarization in Gaza, the PMO said, “which both Israel and the Board of Peace are determined should be prompt and completed before any reconstruction happens in Gaza.”
The second working group will focus on “sanitation, clean water and other public health issues for the people of Gaza and which also impact the people of Israel,” the statement continued.
Kushner, Mladenov, Blair, Lightstone and Tancman also met on Monday with Israeli President Isaac Herzog at his official residence in Jerusalem. Herzog expressed gratitude for Kushner and Mladenov in a statement following the meeting “for their ongoing efforts to advance to the next stages in Gaza,” and said he “was impressed that Israel’s security interests are an important and central element of their plan.”
Hamas leaders have agreed to a phased disarmament that would only take place after Israel’s complete withdrawal from Gaza, contrary to the roadmap’s timeline that calls for Hamas’ complete disarmament before any IDF withdrawal begins. Due to these and other concerns, Netanyahu announced last month that Israel would not agree to the deal.
During the summit in Cairo, Hamas officials detailed what they described as Israeli violations of the ceasefire in Gaza, while Kushner asked Hamas representatives to move ahead with disarmament, according to The New York Times.
The senator told JI he was worried that fringe ideas could gain momentum if Republicans don’t aggressively push back
Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) talks to reporters at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on July 23, 2026.
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) expressed confidence ahead of Florida’s primary elections on Tuesday that voters will reject the Republican candidates who have embraced blatantly antisemitic messages as part of their campaigns.
In an interview on Friday with Jewish Insider, the Florida senator specifically called out James Fishback, who is running against Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) and Lt. Gov. Jay Collins (R-FL) in the gubernatorial primary to replace term-limited Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), and Dan Bilzerian, who is challenging Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) for the GOP nomination for Florida’s 6th Congressional District.
“I’m very optimistic that Byron will win the primary. He’s got to win,” Scott told JI. “We’ve got an antisemite in the race, James Fishback, and so unfortunately, we have to keep fighting this antisemitism around the country. But Byron’s running a good race. He’s worked hard.”
Scott said that he campaigned with Donalds on Thursday near Tallahassee and noted that the House lawmaker “had a big turnout and he did a great job, so we’ve just got to get people out to vote.”
Asked what he’s heard from Florida Republican voters in response to Fishback and Bilzerian’s antisemitic campaign messaging, Scott told JI, “Most people are focused on their job, their kids’ education, public safety, but when you ask about it [Fishback, Bilzerian or other fringe figures in the GOP], they’ll say it’s disgusting. They know it’s wrong.”
“Often in life, if it doesn’t impact you, you don’t think about it, so what we’ve got to say to that is: Hatred impacts all of us somehow,” the Florida senator said. “First, they’re going to attack Jews. I don’t know for what godforsaken reason people have decided it’s okay to attack Jews, but they’re not going to stop there.”
Fishback, who ran an investment firm before entering the gubernatorial race last year, has run a blatantly racist and antisemitic primary campaign. He has repeatedly taunted Donalds, who is Black, over his race, referring to him as “DEI Donalds,” nicknaming him “By’rone” and calling him a “slave” to corporations and the donor class.
As a candidate, Fishback has also defended neo-Nazi podcaster Nick Fuentes and his “groyper” movement.
Bilzerian is a social media influencer with more than 28 million Instagram followers. He gained notoriety in the 2010s for his extravagant lifestyle and has emerged in recent years as a far-right commentator who openly supports Adolf Hitler and calls for “ending the existence” of Israel. He boasts about his record of engaging in Holocaust denial and continues to claim Jews were involved in the 9/11 attacks.
Bilzerian is among the most openly antisemitic candidates to run for federal office in recent memory, launching his campaign by describing Fine, one of the few Jewish Republicans in Congress, as a “fat Jew” and asserting that “Jewish supremacy is the biggest threat to the world today.” He also calls Judaism a “terrible” religion and has expressed a desire to murder “evil” Israelis.
“Everyone wants to complain about the left: They’re antisemitic, they’re anti-Israel, all that,” Scott said. “But we have people in the Republican Party who are [antisemitic and anti-Israel] — people like James Fishback or the guy that’s running against Congressman Randy Fine — so we’ve got to call it out.”
“Antisemitism is not acceptable anywhere,” Scott continued. “If there’s antisemitism [in the GOP], I’ll be glad to call those people out, because it is despicable, it’s disgraceful, it’s un-American, and whether it’s the left that is doing it or people on the right who are doing it, it is wrong.”
Scott was one of several prominent Republicans to condemn Bilzeran over the weekend after the candidate posted an AI-generated video suggesting Hitler’s opinions should be “revisited” and calling Fine a “Jewish [supremacist]” and “Satan’s creepy little [minion]” over imagery of Fine hugging a bag of money. The narrator in the video also referred to Fine as a “satanic whore” as horns were shown growing out of the House lawmaker’s head, and suggested that Fine rapes children.
Bilzerian also faced criticism for posting another AI video accusing Fine of staging an incident last week in which an unknown individual spray-painted a swastika on a Fine campaign sign outside of an early voting site.
“This guy is an actual Republican on the ballot. It’s so disgusting. Every single Republican needs to condemn this evil, and every single news outlet needs to expose how bad and antisemitic he is,” Scott wrote on X on Friday of Bilzerian.
While Scott maintained confidence that Donalds and Fine would beat their fringe primary rivals on Tuesday, he expressed concern that Fishback and Bilzerian’s ideas could become mainstreamed in American politics if he and other Republicans fail to push back on them.
“The more this happens, the more that people will think: Well, that’s okay. So with people like these, you have to say, ‘I don’t want those people in my party,’” Scott told JI. “The Republican Party is a broad coalition of people that care about this country, but we’re not going to allow antisemites into our party, period. They belong in the Democrat Party, which embraces them.”
“Our party is not run by antisemites and will never be run by antisemites as long as I have any power to stop it,” he continued. “We have to fight, fight, fight.”
Fine, who has been vocal about his Jewish identity, has come under intense scrutiny from the left in recent years for his aggressive approach to his advocacy for Israel and against antisemitism.
In February, he faced a wave of condemnations and accusations of Islamophobia from his Democratic colleagues, including 22 Jewish lawmakers and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), for suggesting in a social media post that he would choose dogs over Muslims.
Progressive lawmakers pushed to have Fine censured and urged House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to revoke his committee assignments in response, but were unsuccessful.
A clear divide is emerging in the prospective 2028 presidential field over the issues of the U.S.-Israel relationship and dealing with rising antisemitism
Israel Hadari
Rahm Emanuel speaks at Tel Aviv University on July 8, 2026.
A quarter century ago, when the late Sen. Joe Lieberman was tapped by Al Gore, the Democratic nominee for president, to be his running mate on the 2000 ticket, the question around many a Shabbat table was, “Is he too Jewish to be in the White House?”
There’s a different question being asked, largely in Democratic circles, of today’s Jewish presidential candidates: “Is he the ‘right’ kind of Jewish candidate to be president?” — a question that is almost entirely centered around a candidate’s position on Israel and how openly he identifies with his religious faith.
A long list of Jewish candidates are considering a presidential campaign or are being touted as credible contenders, ranging from moderates like Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) and former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel to progressives like Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and those who straddle the ideological divide, like Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA).
In both 2026 and 2028, the debate over Israel is on the ballot: Congressional primaries are pitting pro-Israel candidates against those who don’t acknowledge Israel’s right to exist as a
Jewish state, and already a clear divide is emerging in the prospective 2028 presidential field over the issues of the U.S.-Israel relationship and dealing with rising antisemitism.
Even in races where Israel policy is not front-and-center, invoking AIPAC has become something of a catch-all slur for progressives attacking the role of outside money in Democratic primaries. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a likely 2028 hopeful, proudly proclaimed in February that he’d never taken AIPAC money — which of course he hasn’t, given that AIPAC and its affiliated super PAC historically focus on federal, not state, races.
Since soft-launching his presidential campaign last month (in Tel Aviv, no less), former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has made the Jewish state — and its relationship with the U.S. — one of his top issues in speeches and interviews. Even when his views are well within the mainstream, his signaling that he’s talking tough against Israel is a sign he recognizes his long-standing pro-Israel record is a vulnerability in a Democratic presidential primary.
A week after his Tel Aviv speech, Emanuel appeared on the Council on Foreign Relations’ “The Spillover” podcast in an episode titled “Rahm Emanuel Talks Israel, Midterm Elections, and the Democratic Party.” Two days later, The New Yorker’s “Radio Hour” podcast aired an interview with Emanuel in conversation with David Remnick titled, “Rahm Emanuel Says Israel’s Path Is ‘Not Sustainable Politically.’” Earlier this week, Emanuel appeared on the podcast of anti-Zionist Peter Beinart for a conversation largely focused on Israel.
The polling reality is that despite his lengthy and impressive resume — a former U.S. ambassador, congressman, Chicago mayor and White House chief of staff — Emanuel’s record is out of step with the ascendant progressivism that’s taken hold within the party. (He is currently polling at 0% in most 2028 Democratic primary polls.)
Emanuel could be using his skill as a straight-talking political operative to push his party to the center on antisemitism and Israel, akin to the way former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie used his anti-Trump bromides against the MAGA-aligned candidates during the 2024 presidential debates. But Emanuel’s candidacy has thus far been an opportunity to push the party leftward on Israel — in essence, kashering an increasingly unfriendly approach to the U.S.-Israel relationship — and throw jabs at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with whom Emanuel has a long and less-than-amicable history.
Both Emanuel and Newsom’s approaches reflect what they see as a political reality as the 2028 race comes into view: criticizing Israel might garner some support, while backing it is a losing argument.
Other leading Jewish Democrats who are considering 2028 bids are opting not to make Israel — and the future of its relationship with the U.S. — a cornerstone of their campaigns. Some, such as Shapiro, attempt to pivot when pressed on Israel questions, focusing instead on the domestic impact of the war with Iran or on U.S. national security. And when they do talk about Israel, criticism is largely focused on Israel’s government and not the country as a whole.
Shapiro, whose Israel stance was reportedly one reason former Vice President Kamala Harris opted against selecting him as her running mate in 2024, has frequently criticized Netanyahu while also legitimizing Israeli security concerns.
“I don’t think that if you are critical of Benjamin Netanyahu, you’re an antisemite,” Shapiro said on the “Higher Learning” podcast earlier this year. “By the way, I’m critical of Benjamin Netanyahu. And I have been for years and years and years, even predating Oct. 7. I think his approach has made Israel less safe.”
Pritzker has similarly kept the message — largely — focused on Netanyahu. In an in-depth New York Times interview in March, Pritzker said he felt Israelis had erred in selecting Netanyahu, saying that his leadership has led the country into “additional wars” and caused excess death and destruction in Gaza. On AIPAC, the Illinois Democrat, who previously supported the group, explained to The Times that his efforts to distance himself from the group were because it had become increasingly partisan and “pro-Trump,” rather than because of Israeli policy itself.
And then there’s Ossoff , who has always held positions on Israel that fall to the left of the others. We wrote last month that many Peach State Jews find themselves in a political no-win situation as Ossoff, who has voted to block weapons shipments to Israel, defends his seat against Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA), who has a history of inflammatory right-wing rhetoric — and a son-in-law who openly espouses white nationalist, antisemitic propaganda.
While all four have tacked left on Israel, they have done so to varying degrees — for example, Shapiro has expressed support for some aid to Israel to be conditioned, while Ossoff has voted to block weapons sales to Israel and Emanuel has called to immediately end all military aid to Israel.
2028 candidates rightfully sense that the party is shifting, not just on Israel but on a range of policies. When Lieberman was on the ticket a quarter century ago, the question was whether Americans were ready to elect a Jewish president (or vice president). Now, the question facing potential Jewish 2028 contenders is different: What do they have to say about Israel to persuade primary voters they are the “right” kind of Jew to become president?
Plus, CA considers making Jews an ethnicity
Leonardo MUNOZ / AFP via Getty Images
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani arrives for a news conference at Gracie Mansion in New York City on March 9, 2026.
Good Thursday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced today that his Office to Combat Antisemitism will be releasing a municipal plan to combat antisemitism, Jewish Insider’s Will Bredderman reports.
The mayor marketed the plan as the “first-in-the-nation,” even as former Mayor Eric Adams already released a “blueprint” for combating antisemitism on his last day in office, which included the city adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism — a policy that Mamdani repealed on his first day.
The move comes days after Mamdani hosted a roundtable with rabbis in the city who asked the mayor to back off his attacks on Israel, a request that Mamdani did not reference or commit to addressing in his remarks…
The California state Legislature is considering a bill to require state agencies to include “Jewish” as an ethnicity option on all forms that collect demographic data. The move would make California the first state to officially consider Judaism as more than a religion for identification purposes…
A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit yesterday brought by the Trump administration against Harvard University alleging that the school showed “deliberate indifference” to antisemitism on campus in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks.
The judge ruled that the few campus incidents cited by the administration were “too isolated and episodic” to find “any institutionalized noncompliance with Title VI persists at Harvard to this day”…
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), former chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said on X today that she had communicated her “concerns” to the University of Washington about its decision to cancel an appearance by far-left, antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker, and encouraged student groups who “want to hear from Mr. Piker to work with the University to ensure they can proceed.”
Piker had earlier this week denounced Democrats who didn’t “speak out against this clear violation” of the First Amendment due to his “position as a prominent critic of Israel”…
Former Democratic Maine Senate nominee Graham Platner is expected to headline a Labor Day rally for the Hancock County Maine Democrats next month, his first public appearance since dropping out of the Senate race after he was accused of rape by a former romantic partner…
White House advisor Jared Kushner is planning a trip to Israel next week with Board of Peace head Nickolay Mladenov to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials to discuss the Hamas disarmament deal, Axios reports…
CENTCOM announced today it is undertaking efforts to establish the “first-ever multi-domain, multinational attack drone task force,” including consulting with and inviting regional partners to join, that will work to utilize unmanned, one-way attack drones “from above, on, and below the sea” in the Middle East…
The U.S. has lost roughly a quarter of its fleet of MQ-9 Reaper drones in the war with Iran, sources told The Washington Post, as the armed drones have been targeted by Tehran and its proxies in Yemen and Iraq…
The Pentagon is sending the USS George Washington aircraft carrier to replace the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Middle East, as reports and lawmakers indicate that conditions aboard the ship are deteriorating after a record 200 days without a port call; Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth dismissed the concerns about the Abraham Lincoln today as “completely misrepresented”…
Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC), facing a runoff special election to be the GOP nominee for her late brother’s Senate seat, announced she is co-sponsoring the Jewish American Security Act, the U.S.-Israel FUTURES Act, a bill on Iran sanctions and a bill on Iranian human rights and internet access…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at how Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is avoiding contending with the anti-Israel turn of her preferred successor, San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan, in her race against state Sen. Scott Wiener.
President Donald Trump will appear with Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, the GOP candidate for New York governor, at an event on Long Island honoring law enforcement officials.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), a member of the Squad, will appear at a rally in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., alongside anti-Israel progressives running against Jewish Democrats Reps. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), as well as socialist Colorado Democratic congressional nominee Melat Kiros.
We’ll be back in your inbox with the Daily Overtime on Monday. Shabbat shalom!
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NEW BATTLEGROUND
Jewish leaders build up local grassroots organizing to counter radical forces in politics
There’s widespread interest within the Jewish community to develop efforts to counter the growing populist rage and anti-Jewish hate, city by city
SCOUT’S HONOR
Scouting America offers ‘safe space’ for Jewish campers to hold Shabbat services
The group’s new national chair, Ricky Mason, is believed to be the first national chair to receive an aliyah at the Scouts’ Torah service
Plus, Josh Kushner and Bob Iger ball out
Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Breakthrough T1D)
Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) questions witnesses during a hearing held to examine a future without Type 1 Diabetes with a focus on accelerating breakthroughs and creating hope at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on July 09, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Good Wednesday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
A State Department official pushed back on Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz’s comments in southern Lebanon today, where he said the IDF would remain deployed in a security zone, contrary to the agreement signed between Washington, Jerusalem and Beirut.
“The United States expects all parties to act in a manner consistent with the Framework they agreed to, and Israel clearly stated that it has no territorial ambitions in Lebanon. A permanent military presence in South Lebanon is not consistent with the commitments made in the Framework, or the long-term peace and security of both states,” the official told Axios…
Sources told Reuters that Israel and Lebanon have agreed that countries including Britain, Italy, Switzerland and Indonesia could contribute troops to an international force meant to oversee Hezbollah’s disarmament; an Israeli official denied any decisions had been made on the issue…
President Donald Trump continued to boast about the success of the U.S. campaign against Iran, stating again in a post on Truth Social today that the U.S. “has total control over the Strait of Hormuz” and that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is “decimated and fleeing.”
Meanwhile, out of the 166 ships that have transited the strait so far this month — a significant decrease from the average before the war — only two are known to have used the U.S.- and Oman-backed route, according to The Wall Street Journal…
In a rare interview with Western media, top IRGC advisor Mohammad Reza Naqdi told “PBS News Hour” that Iran is prepared to continue hostilities through the end of Trump’s term and accused the U.S. of waging a “war without strategy”…
The New York Times documents the efforts being made by Gulf countries to construct routes to move oil out of the region that do not rely on the Strait of Hormuz…
Board of Peace head Nickolay Mladenov denied in a post in Hebrew today that there is any financial agreement between the board and Hamas, refuting a report by Israeli public broadcaster Kan that the board would cover Hamas’ debts up to $400 million.
The disarmament roadmap states that the new Palestinian technocratic government will “assess the legitimate commitments to suppliers, contractors and other parties — up to a total amount of no more than $400M — and address them”; Mladenov said in his post that such processes “are not channeled through Hamas” and that “all accounts are open to full scrutiny by the donor governments”…
The publisher of the Atlanta Jewish Times, Michael Morris, penned an open letter to Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) today pressing the senator over his repeated votes to block U.S. military sales to Israel, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
“I apologize for being blunt, but please, stop lying to me and your constituents. I hear you claim, over and over again, that you support Israel — that your support is ‘ironclad.’ It is not,” Morris wrote…
Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) denied today that the more than $30 million of support she received from AIPAC’s super PAC in her failed run for U.S. Senate backfired, saying on CNN that those who criticize AIPAC “maybe don’t understand what the group is” and that she’s “proud of the friendships and the relationships I have there [and] the really good Americans” who make up its membership…
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is stepping away from her role at the end of the month, Trump announced today, in order to spend more time with her family. The president said Leavitt will now serve as “one of my top outside advisors”…
Josh Kushner, managing partner of the venture capital firm Thrive Capital, and former Disney CEO Bob Iger have agreed to purchase a controlling interest in the Los Angeles Lakers for a record-breaking price of $12.5 billion, JI’s Matthew Shea reports…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at local Jewish political organizing efforts in major cities across the country.
The Hudson Institute will hold an event examining the state of the ongoing conflicts in the Gulf with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Behnam Ben Taleblu and Hudson’s Michael Doran, Ludo Hood and Zineb Riboua.
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TRUST, BUT VERIFY
Rabbis hope ‘open, honest dialogue’ with Mamdani brings belated change in Israel rhetoric
Mamdani’s antisemitism czar invited a cross-section of rabbis and Jewish leaders broadly sympathetic to the mayor for the candid conversation
BALLIN’ OUT
Josh Kushner, Bob Iger purchase Los Angeles Lakers for record $12.5 billion
The sale is the largest purchase price for any sports team in American history
Plus, City Hall and NYPD clash over Rama Duwaji's travel plans
Javier Campos/NurPhoto via Getty Images
A woman waves a Venezuelan flag during a march in amid the COVID-19 pandemic, in Caracas, Venezuela on May 25, 2021. (Photo by )
Good Tuesday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, insisted today that any agreement reached between Iran and Oman on administering the Strait of Hormuz is separate from Tehran’s broader closure of the waterway, which will only be lifted once the U.S. accedes to Iran’s demands.
Meanwhile, Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, a key mediator between the U.S. and Iran, met today with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Tehran. Islamabad’s defense minister, Khawaja Asif, told Bloomberg that developments are “shaping up again in favor of a peace arrangement”…
CENTCOM said it disabled a Panama-flagged cargo ship sailing toward Iranian ports today by firing two Hellfire missiles into the vessel’s engine room, the third such incident since the U.S. blockade began…
Ed Miliband, who last month was appointed by new U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham to be foreign secretary, said he had a “frank and constructive first call” with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar today, during which the British diplomat raised the issues of settler violence, settlement expansion and the humanitarian situation in Gaza, among others.
The discussion came a day after Miliband met with British Jewish community leaders, who said they were “impressed” by the foreign secretary’s “longer-term commitment to maintaining the conversation”…
Sa’ar announced that Israel and Venezuela have agreed to renew consular relations — establishing a coordination mechanism to provide consular services to each country’s citizens — in the first official channel between the two since Caracas severed diplomatic ties in 2009. The move builds on the Israeli aid delegation dispatched to Venezuela after the June 24 earthquakes…
The Palestinian technocratic committee meant to govern Gaza convened a joint coordination meeting with several U.N. agencies — including the World Food Program, UNICEF and the World Health Organization — as well as representatives from the Board of Peace and former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair’s Institute for Global Change to coordinate on humanitarian aid and reconstruction issues…
Former Mossad head Yossi Cohen said at a conference in Israel today that Israeli operatives have “toured” Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility “many times” in order to “understand” it, and called the U.S. operation to bomb the site during the 12-day war in June 2025 “the fulfillment of all my dreams”…
The NYPD denied that its officers will be accompanying New York City First Lady Rama Duwaji on a trip to Lebanon and Syria next month after City Hall said that, “upon the strong recommendation of the NYPD, the First Lady’s security detail will be joining her” on the trip.
“The NYPD does not send officers to countries with level four travel advisories for discretionary reasons,” the NYPD said today, referring to the State Department’s ranking system that currently designates the two countries as “do not travel” locations. Mayor Zohran Mamdani later said the diverging statements stemmed from a “miscommunication,” and that when his wife makes the trip “it will be without any NYPD detail”…
Democratic Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed has made private over 100 YouTube videos from his time as a podcaster and commentator, CNN reports, including videos in which he lambasted fireworks on the Fourth of July, floated replacing the Second Amendment and voiced support for prison abolition…
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee added Brian Poindexter, the Democratic nominee in Ohio’s 7th Congressional District, to its “Red to Blue” program as he aims to unseat Rep. Max Miller (R-OH). Democratic leadership will offer Poindexter strategic support as the district, previously considered a long shot for Democrats given its GOP leanings, is now seen as a key flip opportunity as Miller navigates accusations of domestic violence by his ex-wife…
The campaign of Francesca Hong, the socialist seen as the front-runner in today’s Democratic primary election for governor of Wisconsin, was rebuffed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) as she sought his endorsement due to her perceived weaknesses as a candidate, Politico reports; her campaign is planning to overhaul its staff to address such issues if she proceeds to the general…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for results from key primaries taking place today in Minnesota, South Carolina, Connecticut and Wisconsin.
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THE CAPITAL’S KOSHER CONUNDRUM
D.C. has a kosher restaurant problem. Owners say to blame the math
D.C. has a kosher restaurant problem. Owners say to blame the math
DSA UNFILTERED
DSA co-chair calls Oct. 7 attacks ‘largely inevitable,’ says she would have attended Oct. 8 rally
‘If you put people in an open-air concentration camp … you have to expect that they are going to not take that for that long,’ Megan Romer said of the Oct. 7 attacks
Plus, new app offers Shabbat experience ‘with training wheels’
Aaron Schwartz / AFP via Getty Images
US President Donald Trump speaks during a Cabinet meeting at Camp David in Maryland, on July 31, 2026.
Good Monday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
Responding to a recent demand from Iran that the U.S. fully compensate it for its war costs in order to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, President Donald Trump issued his own demand today that Tehran compensate the U.S. “for all of the people that they have killed and gravely wounded with their roadside bombs and many conflicts,” as well as pay reparations to the “families of the hundreds of thousands of innocent protestors that Iran has killed over the last 50 years.” Trump said he instructed U.S. representatives to “put this firmly into any, and all, future negotiations” with Tehran…
Shortly after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday that Israel rejects the Hamas disarmament deal, Board of Peace head Nickolay Mladenov told Israel’s Channel 12 that the deal is “the only way” that “guarantees” that the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, “will not occur again.”
“Nobody is required to do anything — last of all Israel — before we actually have verified steps on the ground,” Mladenov said, referring to the IDF’s eventual withdrawal from Gaza after all of Hamas’ weapons are “stored, and ultimately rendered unusable,” by the Palestinian technocratic government…
The International Atomic Energy Agency will remove nuclear material stored at a secret site in Syria tied to the fallen Assad regime, Axios reports, per an agreement reached between Trump, Jerusalem and Damascus…
Megan Romer, a national co-chair of the Democratic Socialists of America, said in a podcast interview last week that the Oct. 7 attacks were “largely inevitable” — “If you put people in an open-air concentration camp and you deprive them of rights, of dignity, of food, of the ability to live in safety, you have to expect that they are going to not take that for that long,” she said — and that she would have attended the anti-Israel Times Square rally on Oct. 8 had she been in the area, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports…
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said on MS NOW today that Abdul El-Sayed, the state’s Democratic nominee for Senate, should “tone down his rhetoric” about Israel and AIPAC in order to help combat antisemitism in the Democratic Party.
“Not everything is about AIPAC, not everything is about Israel. … Even if we wiped Israel off the face of the earth tomorrow, you know, everyday Michiganders’ lives wouldn’t be better on” issues such as housing and healthcare, Nessel said…
The University of Washington on Friday reversed its decision to host far-left, antisemitic influencer Hasan Piker, citing a flawed planning process, JI’s Haley Cohen reports.
The event listing, which has since been removed from the university website, described Piker as a “journalist and wildly popular content creator” who has “become an authoritative voice for millennials and Gen Z,” and as someone who is “armed with sharp analysis and an irreverent wit”…
The new conservative government in Colombia, which recently returned its ambassador to Israel, today recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, becoming the second country to do so after the U.S.
Colombia’s Foreign Ministry announced the move shortly after a powerful earthquake struck the country, killing over 100 people…
A new app called Sabbath is selling an ancient pitch to a modern, phone-addicted crowd: lock technology away for one sacred day a week. The app — which founder Ben Springwater calls “Shabbat with training wheels” — is “trying to make a bigger tent, get more people to experience some of the benefits and virtues of what Shabbat offers,” he told JI’s Haley Cohen, by allowing users to block certain apps from sundown to sundown on either Saturday or Sunday…
The Cook Political Report updated its rating of Rep. Max Miller’s (R-OH) district from “Likely Republican” to “Toss Up” after the deadline passed for Miller to drop out of his reelection race, which he declined to do despite facing serious domestic abuse allegations. Miller has denied the accusations levied against him by his ex-wife and her father, Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH)…
Politico explores how Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is using her political clout to boost her preferred successor, San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan, over Chan’s opponent, state Sen. Scott Wiener, including lining up endorsements and hosting major fundraisers…
“Fauda” star Lior Raz announced that the fifth season of the series, set two years after the Oct. 7 attacks, is coming to Netflix on Sept. 8…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at D.C.’sever-evolving kosher food scene.
Connecticut, Minnesota, Vermont and Wisconsin will hold primary elections tomorrow, with South Carolina and Alabama holding special elections as well.
We’ll be watching the outcomes in Minnesota’s Senate race, where Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN) and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan are neck-and-neck, as well as the Wisconsin governor’s race, where democratic socialist Francesca Hong is favored to win the Democratic nomination.
In the South Carolina special Republican Senate primary, Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC) is trying to hold her late brother’s seat in a race widely expected to head to an Aug. 25 runoff. And in Connecticut’s 1st District, longtime Rep. John Larson (D-CT) faces his first serious primary challenge in decades from former Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin.
Kenneth Marcus, the chairman of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, will testify before a hearing of the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission tomorrow, urging the commission to repeal rules requiring employers to keep and submit yearly reports breaking down their workforce by race, sex and ethnicity.
Marcus argued to JI that the practice has “created the impression that the agency is pushing them to use racial preferences in order to improve their numbers.” He said the situation has left Jews either “invisible because we’re not counted, or potentially stigmatized because we are,” and that “counting by race or ethnicity has never been helpful for the Jewish people and has sometimes been dangerous.” He said that eliminating these requirements would allow the EEOC to focus more fully on specific complaints of alleged discrimination.
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Rep. John Larson, a Democrat, supports continued U.S. aid to Israel, while former Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin has said he would not back further offensive aid but does support Iron Dome
'At the end of the day, the Board of Peace is a game for Washington, and life or death to Israel,' Danielle Pletka, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, told JI
Prime Minister's Office
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on July 28, 2026.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said Jerusalem “does not accept the 15-point document” agreed to last month by the U.S.-led Board of Peace and Hamas that would see the eventual disarmament of the terror group and withdrawal of the IDF from the Gaza Strip — a rare public break with the White House, which has touted the plan since it was announced.
In comments to his Cabinet on Sunday, Netanyahu said Israel “would not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is disarmed.”
The White House and Jerusalem have largely been in lockstep on issues related to Gaza. The rupture over Hamas’ disarmament is one of the more significant policy breaks between President Donald Trump and Netanyahu.
Trump announced in late July what he described on his Truth Social site as a “HISTORIC” agreement, saying that the parties, through mediation by Qatar, Turkey and Egypt, had achieved a “critical step towards Gaza finally being governed by a new Palestinian government that will work closely with the Board of Peace to help the Palestinian people.”
Jonathan Conricus, a former IDF spokesperson who is now a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told JI that the mediating countries benefit from Hamas’ continued rule in the Gaza Strip and have no urgency to press for the terror group’s disarmament.
That lack of seriousness, he added, makes it unlikely that Hamas will take the necessary steps to disarm. “It’s all a show, it’s a charade, a spectacle,” Conricus said. “The only way that Hamas really ceases to control the Gaza Strip is if all of their weapons are handed in — not stored, not temporarily safeguarded somewhere else, but actually handed in, and if that is verified. As long as we won’t see that happening, I don’t think that Israel is going to agree with any charade.”
The agreement released by the Board of Peace states that none of Hamas’ weapons “shall be transferred or handed to Israel or non-Palestinian parties” and they will instead “be decommissioned and stored” by the Palestinian technocratic government in Gaza.
Conricus described the dynamic as “a very unfortunate diplomatic situation” in which Israel is being “presented as the side that is turning down the 15-point deal, [at the same time as] Hamas appears to be getting away with not implementing the deal.”
But Netanyahu’s response, Conricus said, “reeks of petty Israeli politics” and was “much more political posturing for local politics than anything else.”
Danielle Pletka, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, told JI that the break between Trump and Netanyahu was “inevitable” — and that Jerusalem and Washington have differing approaches to the future of the Gaza Strip.
“U.S. policy in the region is a circus, with grifters, diplomats, terrorists and a few well-intentioned bit players all making occasional appearances,” she said. “At the end of the day, the Board of Peace is a game for Washington, and life or death to Israel.”
Similarly to Iran, Pletka continued, “Israel is in it to win it. The Trump administration’s intentions are less clear. As a result, there are going to be public breaks, reconciliations and more breaks. Each country will pursue its interests as it sees them. That’s the way it has always been, and it isn’t going to change.”
Netanyahu is also running up against the deadline of the Oct. 27 election in Israel, walking a political tightrope as he aims to preserve his close public ties with the White House while running a reelection campaign.
The Israeli leader, Israel Policy Forum senior analyst Dan Rothem told JI, “is carefully maneuvering between Trump and the constraints of Israeli politics.
“The sequencing in the 15-point roadmap on withdrawal and disarmament does not directly contradict the 20-point plan [Netanyahu] endorsed in October 2025, and Israel was briefed throughout the negotiations,” Rothem said. “Yet three years of a ‘total victory’ narrative, combined with the political pride taken in the IDF’s control of roughly 60% of Gaza, has sharply narrowed his room to maneuver. Publicly rejecting the document lets him signal toughness to his base ahead of elections while still keeping channels open with Washington.”
Rothem added that the on-the-ground reality will matter more than election-season rhetoric. “The public rejection [by Netanyahu] serves clear electoral needs,” he said, noting that Israel had scaled back its attacks in Gaza in recent days following a meeting between Netanyahu and Board of Peace head Nickolay Mladenov, and that the Israeli Cabinet signed off on the framework for the Board of Peace’s International Stabilization Force.
Foundation for Defense of Democracies senior fellow Edmund Fitton-Brown: ‘For Turkey, it is an assertion of its centrality to security arrangements in the region’
Getty Images
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivers a speech during a joint press conference, July 19, 2022, in Tehran, Iran.
A coalition of Sunni regional powers signed a historic joint defense pact on Friday, but national security experts expressed deep unease over the arrangement, arguing that it reflects U.S. shortcomings in the Middle East while raising serious questions about its practical military feasibility.
The agreement, dubbed the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, was signed in the Saudi holy city of Mecca by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Under the pact, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan agreed to treat an armed attack on one signatory as an attack on all. The move solidifies security and defense cooperation between the three powers amid a period of heightened regional turmoil and uncertainty stemming from the war in Iran.
As a result of the ongoing conflict with Iran, Saudi Arabia has seen its critical infrastructure and oil facilities targeted by strikes, which analysts say has prompted Riyadh to diversify its strategic and security partnerships. The trilateral agreement follows a bilateral mutual defense pact signed between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia last September.
Edmund Fitton-Brown, a former British diplomat and senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, explained that the military alliance formed in response to an “uncertain security situation” across the wider region.
“For Turkey, it is an assertion of its centrality to security arrangements in the region. For Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, it is a reflection of weakness and uncertainty, as both feel threatened (by Iran and India respectively),” Fitton-Brown said. “Although the agreement is not primarily directed against Israel or the United States, both should be concerned about it.”
Fitton-Brown emphasized that the pact poses strategic complications for both Jerusalem and Washington, while raising alarms for regional actors.
“For Israel, it is further confirmation of Turkish ambitions, which are explicitly directed against Israeli interests,” Fitton-Brown said. “For the U.S., it is questioning how reliable or permanent it is viewed as a player in the region. Stirring up a hornet’s nest in the Gulf and then appearing unsure about an end game, or even clear red lines, has left American allies uncertain about the future and willing to hedge their bets.”
Jonathan Ruhe, a fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, similarly labeled the agreement as problematic, noting that it reflects U.S. diplomatic shortcomings rather than an effective counterweight to Tehran.
“This alignment is problematic to the extent it is about Washington and its regional relationships, not Tehran,” Ruhe said. “These three countries have almost zero shared ability or interest to meaningfully contain Iran. The Trump administration certainly should have done better coalition-building before the Iran war.”
Ruhe added that for Turkey, the pact serves to “support Ankara’s longstanding pretensions to be a major player and arms exporter in the Middle East and beyond, independent of the United States and NATO.”
Fitton-Brown also highlighted how regional shifts in Syria intersect with the new alliance.
“There is also a Syrian dimension: President Sharaa now leads a Sunni Islamist government in Damascus, where Turkey is the most influential foreign power and Saudi Arabia is a key investor and stabilizing influence,” Fitton-Brown said. “Israel will worry that this consolidates Turkish influence in Syria and will ultimately turn Sharaa’s Syria against Israel.”
Fitton-Brown noted that the emerging alliance signals a broader realignment of regional power dynamics following recent geopolitical shifts.
“On one hand, the new agreement looks like a Sunni axis that is replacing the Iran-led Axis of Resistance, following the weakening of the Islamic Republic, Lebanese Hezbollah, and the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria,” he explained. “On the other hand, Iran remains threatening to the Gulf States, especially, and the Saudis are probably comforted by the appearance of Sunni solidarity.”
Simon Henderson, a senior fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, similarly assessed that the pact acts as a strategic signal to Tehran.
“The alliance is reminding Iran that it isn’t the only big power in the region,” Henderson said, adding that the dynamic is less about sectarian identity than geopolitical posturing. “[The alliance is] not particularly a Sunni-Shia thing. Pakistan is mainly Sunni, but any tensions are mainly Iran and Saudi playing games.”
Despite the high-profile announcement, Fitton-Brown expressed skepticism over the operational capabilities of the agreement, noting that paper commitments rarely translate to direct military intervention across disparate conflicts.
“In practice, it is inconceivable that Turkey or Saudi Arabia would get involved in a conflict with India if the latter came to blows with Pakistan again, as is more or less inevitable on a regular basis,” Fitton-Brown said. “The extension of Pakistan’s nuclear deterrent to cover Saudi against Iran or Turkey in any circumstances looks equally implausible. But defense industrial collaboration may flesh out the substance of the alliance over time.”
Analysts warn that the emerging bloc could complicate future diplomatic breakthroughs in the region, particularly regarding U.S. efforts to broker Saudi-Israeli normalization. Ruhe noted that as a result of the new axis, Riyadh is significantly raising its leverage against Washington.
“With this new axis, Riyadh also is telling Washington that the price for normalization will be incredibly high, greater even than the incredibly one-sided deal for U.S.-aided nuclear enrichment on Saudi soil,” Ruhe said. “As part of the ultimate goal of normalization, the Trump administration should pursue a more comprehensive and balanced partnership with Saudi Arabia: Riyadh gets a truly safeguarded nuclear program and U.S. defense guarantees, but only in exchange for the kingdom formally aligning with Washington and concretely doing more for collective defense.”
To counter the fallout from the alliance, Ruhe argued that the U.S. must recalibrate its regional policy and tighten its focus on existing partnerships.
“The United States should focus more immediately on deepening, not broadening, the Abraham Accords, by redoubling security cooperation with Israel and the UAE,” Ruhe said. “Trump also needs to stop fawning over Erdogan and feeding his ambitions to reap all the benefits of being a U.S. partner without assuming any corresponding responsibilities.”
Plus, Israel and Turkey trade barbs over Syria
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) talks with reporters after the Senate luncheons in the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, March 11, 2025.
Good Thursday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
President Donald Trump disputed reports that the U.S. is running low on critical munitions as a result of the Iran war, claiming on Truth Social last night that the country has “massive amounts of ‘munitions,’ especially of certain types” and that more are being manufactured and shipped to the U.S. “as needed”…
The IDF struck several targets in southern Lebanon again today “in response to the incident yesterday” during which two IDF soldiers were killed and four severely injured in an explosion that the army attributed to Hezbollah.
The strikes came during the last day of Israel-Lebanon talks in Rome, which a State Department official said were “productive on the technical and expert levels” and brought the parties “a lot closer on what needs to be done to advance and expand the pilot zone process”…
Jonathan Cowan, president of the center-left group Third Way, told The New York Times that the group plans to spend $15 million ahead of the 2028 presidential election to target the Democratic Socialists of America after Abdul El-Sayed’s primary win in the Michigan Senate race. “It is deeply troubling to see radical, far-left candidates winning in places that are potentially presidential swing states,” Cowan said. El-Sayed was not endorsed by the DSA, though he was championed by the far left…
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) told Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs that he believes El-Sayed’s victory has put Michigan in play for Republicans to win in November. “[El-Sayed] will quickly discover a primary is a much different situation in this state [than the general election], when you’re accountable for winning the other side. I can’t wait to see him campaign for the general. I have got my popcorn for that,” Fetterman said…
Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) joined Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Reps. Brad Knott (R-NC) and Tom Suozzi (D-NY) today in introducing the Right to Worship Act, a federal bill that would ban activity that knowingly disrupts or impedes access to scheduled religious services within 100 feet of the entrance of a house of worship, JI’s Marc Rod reports…
California Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed Lele Yutzy as the state’s first director of its Office of Civil Rights, which was created under a bill enacted last year that acknowledged the prevalence of antisemitism in the state’s public schools and pledged to tackle discrimination. The office is also required to appoint an antisemitism prevention coordinator…
Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH) joined Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) in calling on Rep. Max Miller (R-OH), Moreno’s former son-in-law, to drop out of his reelection race and resign from Congress amid growing scrutiny of domestic violence allegations made against Miller, JI’s Marc Rod reports…
New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill‘s Mission to Deliver PAC endorsed a series of Democratic candidates with national security or military backgrounds, including Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) in his primary campaign to oust Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA).
Asked in a debate on local news earlier this week if Israel committed war crimes in Gaza, Markey answered an emphatic “yes” and called to end all military aid to Israel, while Moulton called the conflict an “absolute moral atrocity” and highlighted his rejection of AIPAC’s support but did not answer in the affirmative…
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said in a statement today that he has been discharged from the hospital after a fall in Juneand will continue his recovery at home, without indication of when he will return to Capitol Hill…
The feud between Jerusalem and Ankara continued today as Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan claimed Israel’s “attacks targeting Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity” are “among the greatest threats to the country’s stability.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar in turnaccused Fidan of hypocrisy, arguing that Turkey currently occupies 5% of Syria while the IDF holds a buffer zone “that comprises just one-tenth of one percent of Syrian territory”…
An extremist Israeli settler, Yinon Levi, was charged by the Israeli State Attorney’s Office with reckless homicide over the July 2025 killing of Palestinian activist Awdah Hathaleen, who had been featured in the Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land” about home demolitions in the West Bank…
The Yemeni Defense Ministry said the Houthis attacked the internationally recognized government’s military forces in several locations — reportedly killing dozens of soldiers — and that the military would retaliate against the terror group “at the appropriate time and place.”
The hostilities mark Yemen’s latest potential slide back towards its brutal civil war that devastated the country from 2014 until the Houthis and the Saudi-backed government reached a ceasefire in 2022…
The United Arab Emirates has successfully transported more oil through the Strait of Hormuz in the last two months than any other country despite ongoing military hostilities in the area, Bloomberg reports, by utilizing tankers that switch off their transponders during the risky crossing…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at the special election to replace former Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), where AIPAC’s United Democracy Project super PAC is working to boost Dublin, Calif., Mayor Melissa Hernandez over state Sen. Aisha Wahab.
A deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz may still emerge, though its reported contours are raising concerns among experts that it could grant Tehran unprecedented oversight over the international shipping route, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports.
In the latest development, Iranian state media reported today that the country’s parliament is considering a preliminary bill to bar American, Israeli and other “hostile” vessels from utilizing the strait.
We’ll be back in your inbox with the Daily Overtime on Monday. Shabbat shalom!
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A 42-year-old progressive state senator has quietly closed the gap on the 73-year-old pro-Israel incumbent, with internal polls showing a tightening race before Saturday’s vote
Plus, Israel-Lebanon talks wrap early after IDF strikes
Sarah Rice/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Abdul El-Sayed speaks during a primary election night watch party at The Majestic Theatre in Detroit, Michigan early on Aug. 5, 2026.
Good Wednesday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
Abdul El-Sayed’s victory today in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Michigan rattled Jewish groups, who raised concerns about his rhetoric on Israel and the broader rise of the far left, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
The Jewish Democratic Council of America congratulated El-Sayed but said it was “disappointed” by the result and stopped short of endorsing him, while AIPAC said its members “remain determined to ensure that voters reject Dr. El-Sayed and his radical anti-Israel agenda in November”…
The Republican Jewish Coalition is urging Jewish Democrats to support the GOP nominee, former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI), in the general election, calling El-Sayed “a direct threat to Michigan’s Jewish community.”
A Democratic fundraiser in Michigan told JI’s Matthew Kassel it is “absolutely certain” that “several large Jewish Democratic donors” will be backing Rogers. “I would guarantee there will be fundraisers for him hosted by high-profile Jewish Democrats,” they said…
Shortly after his win, El-Sayed previewed his evolving message to Jewish voters, saying he welcomes the opportunity to “break bread with you at Seder” and to “worship with you at shul.” He spoke of his “sisters and brothers who said, you know, ‘I want to join this movement because AIPAC doesn’t speak for me’” and vowed he would prioritize Jewish safety…
But just before he was declared the victor, El-Sayed appeared on MS NOW where he called Israel “bloodthirsty,” JI’s Danielle Cohen-Kanik reports. He said that “we’ve been talking about an illegal apartheid regime” in reference to Israel since before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to power, though “Netanyahu is a big reason why they’ve gotten so aggressive and frankly so bloodthirsty”…
Democrats, meanwhile, are quickly coalescing behind the new Senate nominee, JI’s Marc Rod reports. El-Sayed’s opponent, Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), promptly endorsed him upon conceding the race; Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chair Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) offered their joint support; and former Vice President Kamala Harris is fundraising for El-Sayed’s campaign alongside her PAC.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is also backing his ideological ally and left open the possibility that he’ll travel to Michigan to campaign with El-Sayed ahead of the general election, per JI’s Will Bredderman…
In another consequential Michigan race, pro-Israel Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-MI) was ousted in his primary, losing to state Rep. Donavan McKinney, a democratic socialist who cross-endorsed with El-Sayed, campaigned alongside him and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and ran on ending U.S. military aid to Israel…
Talks between Israel and Lebanon ended several hours early today “due to events on the ground,” the State Department said, but were “extremely productive” and are slated to restart tomorrow. The move came after the IDF conducted strikes in southern Lebanon due to what it said were “blatant violations“of the ongoing ceasefire by Hezbollah.
An Israeli source told The Times of Israel that the talks were cut off after Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter accused Lebanese representatives of leaking false information to the media…
The Israeli Foreign Ministry denounced a joint statement adopted by Arab states who convened in Jordan today to discuss Israel’s policies over Muslim and Christian sites in Jerusalem, which asserted that Israel “has no sovereignty” over the city and accused Israel of “altering the Arab Islamic and Christian identity of occupied Jerusalem.”
The countries also pledged to launch a “media platform to document and expose Israeli violations against the holy sites and worshipers” and hold a meeting at the U.N. General Assembly to further discuss the issue. Israel said the statement was “built on false accusations, historical distortions, and a complete disregard for the facts”…
The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio today renewing its call for the Trump administration to press Jordan to honor its extradition treaty obligations and send Ahlam Aref Ahmad al-Tamimi to the United States.
Al-Tamimi was convicted in Israel for her role in the 2001 bombing of the Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem, which killed 16 people, including three Americans. She has been charged by the Justice Department and remains on the FBI’s Most Wanted list…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at Rep. Ed Case‘s (D-HI) reelection race, a primary that has largely flown under the radar but could pose a threat to one of the House’s more reliably pro-Israel moderates. While the contest has not centered on Middle East policy, it reflects the pattern seen in several recent Democratic primaries where well-established pro-Israel incumbents have faced increasingly competitive challenges from their left.
It remains to be seen if a deal will materialize between Iran, Oman and the U.S. to reopen the Strait of Hormuz (again), after Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said today that Tehran and Muscat were finalizing a bilateral agreement without Washington. The latest reporting indicates that such an agreement would preclude any fees or tolls for a temporary period of time.
Tennessee will hold its primary elections tomorrow, where Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Rep. John Rose (R-TN) are the front-runners for the open governorship, Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) is expected to win renomination and Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) is running in the redrawn 5th Congressional District.
Stories You May Have Missed
BOOKSHELF
Dara Horn’s shocking new title hides a serious argument about fighting antisemitism
Five years after ‘People Love Dead Jews,’ the novelist’s new book reframes Jewish hatred as a lie about destruction — and tells Jews they don’t have to accept it
MISSILE MATH
As Iran war depletes U.S. missile stocks, experts warn deterrence is at risk
The drawdown in U.S. stockpiles could complicate future efforts to defend Israel while deterring China, Iran and other adversaries
Plus, Dara Horn's provocative new title
Michael B. Thomas/Getty Images)
St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell gives remarks during the Ferguson mayoral inauguration ceremony for Ella James at the Urban League Empowerment Center on June 17, 2020 in Ferguson, Missouri.
Good Wednesday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we cover the results so far of yesterday’s key primary races in Michigan and Missouri and speak to experts about concerns over the U.S.’ dwindling stockpiles of long‑range missiles and air-defense interceptors. We talk to lawmakers about their views on the U.S.-led Board of Peace’s Hamas disarmament framework and report on plans by Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Federal Courts subcommittee to boycott a hearing today set to examine Muslim Brotherhood networks in the U.S. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Omer Shem Tov, Dara Horn and Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun.
We also have a new on-demand Live Briefing that you can access throughout the day via our new app (on Apple and Android) and on our website.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by JI Executive Editor Melissa Weiss and Israel Editor Tamara Zieve, with an assist from Danielle Cohen-Kanik. Have a tip? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
- In one of the first primary races to be called last night, Rep. Wesley Bell (D-MO) soundly defeated Cori Bush as the far-left former congresswoman attempted to reclaim her St. Louis-area seat two years after she was ousted.
- Abdul El-Sayed holds a narrow lead in the Michigan Senate primary against Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), with results expected to be called later today.
- Meanwhile, Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-MI), seen as a reliable pro-Israel ally, is trailing against DSA-aligned challenger state Rep. Donavan McKinney, who ran on an anti-Israel platform.
- And in the battleground Michigan 7th District, left-wing activist William Lawrence prevailed with a plurality of the vote, largely because of a split between his two moderate challengers. More below.
- The U.S. is hoping to announce a deal with Iran and Oman over the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, Axios reports, which would see Tehran gain greater control over the key waterway than it had before the war. No fees or tolls could be charged under the 60-day temporary agreement, but inbound traffic would be required to transit through Iranian territorial waters.
- On the Hill this afternoon, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is holding a classified briefing on the situation in Sudan.
- Jordan is convening foreign ministers from Muslim countries today to formulate a plan to combat what Amman said were “escalatory and illegitimate Israeli measures that target the identity of Jerusalem and its Islamic and Christian sanctuaries.”
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S JOSH KRAUSHAAR
Rumors of the demise of the mainstream, pro-Israel wing of the Democratic Party turned out to be somewhat exaggerated: The Michigan Senate race between Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) and Abdul El-Sayed is a lot closer than polls suggested, while Rep. Wesley Bell (D-MO) romped to victory over his anti-Israel opponent, with the help of pro-Israel, Jewish supporters.
Bell’s sweeping 22-point victory in a rematch over former Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) was an early election night highlight for Jewish and pro-Israel groups, which poured money and organizing efforts into ensuring the virulently anti-Israel Bush didn’t get a chance to return to Congress. AIPAC’s super PAC spent over $3 million on ads attacking Bush as corrupt and extreme, resources which likely played a key role in Bell’s landslide margin.
There were some other silver linings for the moderate side of the Democratic Party on Tuesday night: Michigan state Sen. Jeremy Moss won comfortably to succeed Stevens despite facing attacks over his pro-Israel record from his opponents. And Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), the moderate ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee who faced harassment and threats over his longstanding pro-Israel record, won a clear majority of the vote against far-left challengers in Washington state’s all-party primary.
But there were plenty of warning signs about the changing ideological direction of the Democratic Party, as we’ve previously seen in deep-blue congressional districts across the country. Despite Stevens’ closer-than-expected showing, she still trails El-Sayed even after winning endorsements from top Democratic officials (including Gov. Gretchen Whitmer) and being the beneficiary of tens of millions in outside spending led by AIPAC’s ad blitz.
The results paint a picture of a Democratic Party deeply divided, with older voters, Black voters and Jewish voters forming the centrist coalition, which is facing an insurgency from the left made up of younger voters, white progressives and Arab Americans.
MISSILE MATH
As Iran war depletes U.S. missile stocks, experts warn deterrence is at risk
Experts are warning that the United States’ dwindling stockpiles of long‑range missiles and air-defense interceptors following the war with Iran could complicate Washington’s ability to deter adversarial aggression and maintain military readiness in other theaters, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports. Reuters first reported that the U.S. has expended much of its inventory of highly accurate long‑range missiles during the conflict, while significantly drawing down stocks of Patriot and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptors used to defend against ballistic missile attacks.
State of stockpiles: “The United States has a longstanding defense industrial crisis, whether it’s in munitions, missiles, shipbuilding or other areas,” Alexander Gray, who served as chief of staff on the National Security Council during President Donald Trump’s first administration, told JI. “It has constrained the ability to replenish our war fighters but also to make sure our partners and allies get what they need. Sustained operations against Iran are showing just how challenging this industrial base capacity problem is.”
DEAL IN DOUBT
Lawmakers from both parties pessimistic Trump’s Hamas disarmament deal will hold
U.S. lawmakers expressed deep skepticism on Tuesday over the Board of Peace’s newly announced Hamas disarmament framework, pointing to violations already taking place in Gaza and a lack of indications that Hamas is serious about honoring a deal as evidence that the ambitious peace proposal faces near-insurmountable hurdles, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea and Marc Rod report.
“There will be no real peace for Gaza or Israel as long as Hamas has weapons and is allowed to ruthlessly rule over innocent Palestinians,” Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) told JI. “I’m cautiously encouraged by this plan, but let’s not kid ourselves — Hamas has a long record of lying, and they’ve broken their word before, over and over. I’ll be watching every step of this until Hamas is fully disarmed.” Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) told JI, “I suspect that while this may have good intentions to it, I’ll believe it when I actually see it happening.”
Read the full story here with additional comments from Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and John Kennedy (R-LA).
Israeli response: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu affirmed on Tuesday that the IDF will “not withdraw from the current lines in Gaza until Hamas is completely disarmed.” President Donald Trump “thinks, and his team thinks, that Hamas can be totally disarmed and Gaza demilitarized. We’re looking into it,” Netanyahu continued in a video posted to Facebook in Hebrew. “They sent us a draft, we didn’t agree. It wasn’t our draft. We sent our responses.”
HEARING HAVOC
Democrats plan to boycott Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing on Muslim Brotherhood
Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Federal Courts subcommittee said on Tuesday that they plan to boycott a subcommittee hearing on Wednesday set to examine Muslim Brotherhood networks in the United States. The Democrats — Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Alex Padilla (D-CA) and Peter Welch (D-VT) — dismissed the hearing as an effort to attack Muslims broadly, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
What they said: “Scapegoating Muslims may be a Texas Republican strategist’s idea of ‘solid gold’ to whip up their voters, but Democrats have no intention of indulging this political creepshow, particularly after the recent violence targeting places of faith,” the lawmakers said in a statement. “Our focus is the costs families face thanks to rampant, non-stop Trump corruption.”
DIGITAL FOOTPRINT
Florida synagogue vandal shared Mamdani’s anti-Netanyahu video
A Florida man accused of hurling a brick through the front window of a Sarasota Chabad House shared New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s video labeling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “war criminal” just days before the crime, Jewish Insider’s Will Bredderman reports.
Details: Local police arrested 30-year-old Brayton Laschinger on July 31 and charged him with felony criminal mischief for the attack two days prior on the Lubavitch Chabad of Downtown SRQ. The Sarasota Police Department stated that Laschinger had admitted to targeting the synagogue “because it was a Jewish place of worship” — and had blamed “propaganda on social media” for enraging him in the hours before the vandalism.
HORNS AND HATE
Jewish Colorado AG targeted with campaign poster depicting him with devil horns
A campaign poster circulating among Colorado Republicans depicts Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, who is Jewish and whose family members are Holocaust survivors, with devil horns, which critics say invokes a classic antisemitic trope, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. Weiser is the Democratic nominee for governor of Colorado.
Background: The poster promotes, but was not created by, Victor Marx, the GOP gubernatorial nominee, who has a bizarre and extremist history, including claiming to have killed and exorcised several people. It describes Weiser, depicted in front of a menacing background, as “the next threat to Colorado” and “radical,” “extreme” and “dangerous.” Marx responded supportively to an X post by the image’s creator calling for unity among Colorado Republicans, which included a version of the devil horns image.
BOOKSHELF
Dara Horn’s shocking new title hides a serious argument about fighting antisemitism
If you thought People Love Dead Jews — Dara Horn’s 2021 essay collection examining society’s reverence for remembering deceased Jews while failing to support the living ones — was an awkward book to read in public, just wait until you get your hands on Horn’s newest title: The Final Solution to the Jewish Question. Horn is in on the joke; she likes to say that both titles make great beach reads because no one will dare sit within several feet of you, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
Author’s intention: But despite borrowing its title from the name of the Nazis’ infamous plan to rid Europe of its 11 million Jews during World War II, Horn’s latest book, which will be published on Sept. 1, is not a Nazi manifesto. Instead, the title of Horn’s new book serves as an eye-catching, subversive dog whistle that is meant to pique the interest of antisemites — while also serving as a cheeky summary of Horn’s goal of actually trying to come up with a solution to the wave of antisemitism that has swept the world in recent years. “I am providing a solution. Not a solution in terms of, like, ‘Here’s 10 policy points we should implement,’” Horn told JI. “It’s, ‘Here’s the story we need to be telling about who we are, to ourselves and to everyone else,’ and this is the story that is going to inspire people to imagine a better future.”
Worthy Reads
The Subaru Socialists: In The New Yorker, Jay Caspian Kang writes that a rising bloc of young, college-educated and downwardly mobile Democrats — for whom the war in Gaza has become a defining political litmus test — is remaking the party in the image of far-left Democrats such as Zohran Mamdani, Abdul El-Sayed and Melat Kiros. “The future of the Democratic Party involves a synthesis of Subaru Socialism’s disillusionment with the American promise and the polarized, hard-line moralizing of Gen Z. Young voters aren’t the only angry ones, of course; older Democrats are still understandably furious at a party that lost to Donald Trump twice and seems to have done precious little to stand in his way during the past year and a half. But it’s younger voters who have begun to give a political form and shape to that reactionary anger.” [NewYorker]
The Trouble with the Tent: In The Spectator, Alex Castellanos warns of the dangers of the Democratic Party’s “Big Tent” policy. “The Big Tent is the party’s latest dance craze. They thought they’d found a clever dodge: a Democrat in a swing district could say he did not personally favor abolishing prisons or nationalizing large industries. His party simply contained many different opinions. But voters see something more frightening: the Big Tent is the Democratic party’s public invitation to socialism. It lays out a welcome mat for communism to enter the Democratic party’s home. Establishment Democrats know that such views have moved aggressively into their coalition, but they refuse to say they are disqualifying.” [Spectator]
Memorandum of Misunderstanding: Former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren contends in his Substack, “Clarity,” that the Hamas disarmament deal is likely to go the way of the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding and become muddled in the parties’ different interpretations of their obligations. “The question is: Will Hamas really give up its guns? A closer reading of the agreement reveals that Hamas will not initially turn over its weapons but only put them in NCAG storage. Further ambiguity surrounds the definition of the word ‘weapons’ — whether it refers only to rockets and rocket-propelled grenades, as Hamas prefers, or to all small arms as well. Added to those uncertainties is the matter of reciprocity. … As in the case of Iran, an MOU can be open to widely divergent interpretations and radically altered circumstances. In the Gaza Strip, no less than in the Strait of Hormuz, an MOU may lead not to peace but to further upheaval.” [Substack]
Find more Worthy Reads in our Live Briefing via our new app (on Apple and Android) and website.
Word on the Street
State Department antisemitism envoy Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun criticized Canadian officials’ “muted” response to a series of recent antisemitic attacks around the country, suggesting that Ottawa put in place visa restrictions and terrorism listings to restrict entry to those who seek “to sow discord”…
Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) blasted Stony Brook University over its failure to take action against a professor who has been involved in anti-Israel activism, including reportedly harassing and accosting patrons at a Long Island restaurant, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…
Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for civil rights, urged pro-Israel college students to distinguish between protected speech and actionable discriminatory conduct — “people literally interfering with your ability to get an education” — when facing antisemitism on campus. Dhillon made the comments on Tuesday at the conclusion of the Israel on Campus Coalition’s National Leadership Summit in Washington, JI’s Haley Cohen reports…
Days before he was confirmed as director of national intelligence, Jay Clayton, who was still serving as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, wrote a letter to the mother of slain Jewish teenager Ari Halberstam, who was killed in a 1994 terror attack targeting a bus of yeshiva students on the Brooklyn Bridge, saying that the office he was exiting was “prepared to pursue” any additional evidence in the case “to the fullest extent of the law”…
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro makes an appearance alongside rapper Meek Mill in the Philadelphia native’s latest music video, “Nightmares to Dreams”…
A Michigan cider brewery where Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) hosted a campaign event the night before the state’s Senate primary election issued a statement saying it regretted hosting the event, citing Stevens’ support for Israel, JI’s Gabby Deutch reports…
In a debate between CNN commentators David Axelrod and Van Jones about Michigan’s Senate primary, Axelrod described AIPAC asa foreign agent, saying, “Should essentially an agent of any foreign government, whether it’s Israel or any other, be able to spend … $30 million in a race like this to influence the outcome of that race?” Van Jones responded, “I don’t think that they’re an agent of a foreign power. I think they’re American Jews”…
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani disbanded the entire business-led advisory board of the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City as he reshapes the nonprofit’s donor network amid deepening friction with the city’s corporate establishment…
U.K. Conservative Party head Kemi Badenoch defended her backing of a local election candidate who had previously been imprisoned for racially aggravated harassment against a Jewish member of Parliament…
Antisemitic assaults across the United Kingdom jumped 82% in the first half of 2026, according to data from the Community Security Trust…
The Financial Times spotlights an “Election War Room” led by Israeli activists who fear that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government will try to manipulate or delegitimize October’s election…
Former Mossad head David Barnea was named global president and chairman of Florida-based defense technology firm Ondas…
X, the social media platform, announced on Tuesday that it is complying with a Turkish court order restricting access within the country to the presidential candidacy account of imprisoned Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, though the company is legally challenging the order…
The Wall Street Journal examines Iran’s hardline approach to maintaining control over the Strait of Hormuz in its negotiations with the U.S…
Longtime U.S. diplomat Ludovic Hood, who previously served as a senior advisor in the State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism under Amb. Deborah Lipstadt, is joining the Hudson Institute as a senior fellow at the think tank’s Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East…
In The New York Times on Tuesday, Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison defended his bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, casting the merged company as a modest player against tech giants and vowing to keep CNN and CBS News ideologically independent…
Appearing on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” the same morning, TKO Group CEO and WME executive chairman Ari Emanuel proposed putting an editorial board in place to run CNN, to ease fears that Ellison could end up controlling the network and CBS…
Shoham Nicolet was announced as the next president of the Adelson Family Foundation, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross reports…
Find on-demand Live Briefing updates throughout the day via our new app (on Apple and Android) and website.
Pic of the Day
Omer Shem Tov, who was held hostage by Hamas in Gaza for 505 days, addressed the Israel on Campus Coalition’s National Leadership Summit in Washington on Tuesday.
Birthdays
Actor who starred in “Weekend at Bernie’s,” his father and grandfather were both rabbis, Jonathan Elihu Silverman turns 60…
Chairman of Delphi Capital Management, he is the founder and chairman of Open to Debate, a public policy debate series, Robert Rosenkranz turns 84… Former chairman of the World Zionist Organization who later served as chairman of the Jewish National Fund, Avraham Duvdevani turns 81… Former Israeli ambassador to France following seven years as a member of the Knesset, Yael German turns 79… Author of 25 nonfiction books, including The Portable Curmudgeon, Zen to Go and Advice to Writers, Jon Winokur turns 79… Historian, Nazi hunter and director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Jerusalem until 2024, Efraim Zuroff turns 78… Banker, once known as “Austria’s woman on Wall Street” and founder of Bank Medici in 1994, Sonja Kohn turns 78… Former Soviet refusenik, he served as speaker of the Knesset for seven years, Yuli-Yoel Edelstein turns 68… Intellectual property and entertainment attorney based in Ithaca, New York, he is an adjunct professor of law at both Cornell, Syracuse 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 67… Former hedge fund executive, Murray Huberfeld… Songwriter, author, political columnist and noted baseball memorabilia collector, Seth Swirsky turns 66… Chair of the Department of Jewish History at Baltimore’s Beth Tfiloh Dahan High School, Neil Rubin Ph.D…. 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, Gavriel David Rosenfeld turns 59… Former member of the Knesset for the Kulanu party, Roy Folkman turns 51… Former director of the Center for Middle East Policy at The Brookings Institution, now 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 federal affairs at the Computer & Communications Industry Association, Matt Mandel… Chairman of The New York Times Company and publisher of The New York Times, Arthur Gregg “A.G.” Sulzberger turns 46… 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 46… 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 41… Longtime member of the Israeli national soccer team who also played in Europe’s UEFA Champions League, Gil Vermouth turns 41… Co-founder of Cadence, an AI-driven performance nutrition platform designed specifically for active women, Lila Cohn… Website manager at Upsun, Abby Milberg… 2023 graduate of Harvard Law School, now an assistant corporation counsel for New York City, Michael E. Snow… Senior practice associate at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Lisa Geller… Leslie Saunders… Senior director of bridge building at Repair the World, Anyu Silverman…
Plus, Mamdani's anti-Bibi video features in synagogue vandal's feed
Nathan Howard-Pool/Getty Images
Delegation staff members meet in the lobby during a quadrilateral meeting between the U.S., Iran, Pakistan, and Qatar at the Lake Lucerne Summit, aimed at advancing a deal to end the Middle East conflict at the Buergenstock Resort, Lake Lucerne on June 21, 2026 near Stansstad, Switzerland.
Good Tuesday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu affirmed today that the IDF will “not withdraw from the current lines in Gaza until Hamas is completely disarmed.” President Donald Trump “thinks, and his team thinks, that Hamas can be totally disarmed and Gaza demilitarized. We’re looking into it,” Netanyahu continued in a video posted to Facebook in Hebrew. “They sent us a draft, we didn’t agree. It wasn’t our draft. We sent our responses”…
Evoking a sense of déjà vu, U.S. and Iranian officials are signaling a deal over the Strait of Hormuz is near at hand: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on CNBC this morning that “there is a chance” the U.S. and Iran “may have a deal today or tomorrow to open” the strait, while Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari told reporters that talks are in “very progressive stages” and that draft agreement language has been “circulated among the parties.”
Trump called Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani this afternoon to discuss “ongoing efforts to deescalate tensions” between Washington and Tehran, the emir’s office said, in order “to bring their views closer together”…
Reuters reports that the U.S. Army has depleted“virtually all” of its long-range surface-to-surface missiles in the course of the war with Iran, raising concerns about readiness for future conflicts and the potential need to carry out riskier missions if hostilities with Iran escalate. The White House disputed the report, with Trump insisting that the U.S. has “far more munitions than anyone in the world”…
A brewery in Michigan apologized for hosting an event last night for Rep. Haley Stevens’ (D-MI) campaign for Senate ahead of today’s primary election due to her support for Israel, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
“We DO NOT endorse Haley Stevens,” Pux Taphouse wrote on Instagram, claiming it was not aware the event was being hosted by the campaign. “We are heartbroken as we pride ourselves on being not only a queer friendly space but also have advocated and continue to call for a Free Palestine,” the company said…
A Florida man accused of hurling a brick through the front window of a Sarasota Chabad house shared New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s video labeling Netanyahu a “war criminal” just days before the crime, JI’s Will Bredderman reports.
The Sarasota Police Department stated that the alleged perpetrator, Brayton Laschinger, had admitted to targeting the synagogue in an attack last week “because it was a Jewish place of worship” — and had blamed “propaganda on social media” for enraging him in the hours before the vandalism. An Instagram account bearing Laschinger’s name, and featuring photos of him dating back more than a decade, reposted the clip, which Mamdani had published the week prior to the attack…
The Anti-Defamation League called out far-left streamer Hasan Piker for promoting a conspiracy theory claiming Israel is behind the recent migration crisis in Ceuta, Spain, going as far as to claim on his Twitch stream that Israel is working to make the antisemitic text The Protocols of the Elders of Zion“come true.”
“Saying Israel looks at those conspiracy theories and decides to make them ‘come true’ shifts responsibility for antisemitism onto the Jewish state,” the ADL said…
The Colorado Democratic Party called on Victor Marx, the GOP nominee for governor, and other state Republicans to denounce an image that Marx and others have boosted of Phil Weiser, the state’s Jewish attorney general who is Marx’s opponent, depicting Weiser with devil horns, which critics have said evokes a classic antisemitic trope.
Montrose County Commissioner Sean Pond, who created the image, claimed he was unaware Weiser is Jewish and said, “Weiser does not receive immunity from political satire because of a personal fact I did not even know”…
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor declined a request by the Palestinian Authority and Palestine Liberation Organization to pause a $656 million judgment won by families of American victims of Palestinian terror attacks during the Second Intifada. The PA and PLO had argued that paying the sum now would “destabilize” government services in the West Bank as the bodies appeal the ruling…
Ellen Germain ended her five-year tenure as the State Department’s special envoy for Holocaust issues last week; it remains unclear if someone else will be tapped to lead the office — which deals with issues including restitution of Holocaust-era assets, Holocaust remembrance and combating Holocaust denial around the world — or if its remit will be wrapped into the Office of the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, currently headed by Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun. Jewish communal organizations have advocated both for and against the prospect of the consolidation…
Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison spoke out in a New York Times op-ed against those who oppose Paramount‘s ongoing acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, which he argued is at its core a concern about his own political views. “I have regularly voted for candidates of both parties; I hold some views that would be called conservative and others that would be called liberal, just like most Americans; and when it comes to our news operations, I do not aspire to lead these companies to bend their newsrooms to my views,” he wrote…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for election results from key races taking place today in Michigan and Missouri.
Talks between Israel and Lebanon will continue in Rome, where technical teams are working to advance the pilot zone process, Hezbollah’s disarmament and the IDF’s redeployment from southern Lebanon, the State Department said today.
Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Federal Courts subcommittee are planning to boycott a hearing tomorrow set to examine Muslim Brotherhood networks in the United States, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports, calling the hearing a “political creepshow” designed to attack Muslims broadly.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will receive a classified update on the ongoing civil war in Sudan.
Stories You May Have Missed
SOUTH CAROLINA STATE OF PLAY
Darline Graham, backed by Trump, still faces obstacles in bid to succeed brother in the Senate
Polls show she’s largely unknown to South Carolina voters as she struggles to win a majority of Republican support
MONEY MATTERS
Nonprofit groups requested more than $1.3 billion in security aid in 2025, five times the amount available
Only 20% of the more than 8,000 institutions that requested funding ultimately received it
Plus, NYPD says antisemitism surged under Mamdani
(Robin Buckson/Detroit News via AP, Pool)
Senate candidates Abdul El-Sayed, left, and Rep. Haley Stevens participate in a televised debate moderated by Roop Raj, Monday, July 27, 2026, in Southfield, Mich.
Good Tuesday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we cover former Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer’s observations on the U.S.-Israel relationship, and report on new statistics from the NYPD that indicate a rise in antisemitic hate crimes since New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani took office at the beginning of the year. We look at the challenges facing Sen. Darline Graham in the GOP primary as she makes a bid for a full Senate term, and cover the more than $1.3 billion in security aid requested by nonprofits in 2026. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Zach Dell, Iranian Chief Rabbi Yehuda Gerami and Christina Paxson.
We also have a new on-demand Live Briefing that you can access throughout the day via our new app (on Apple and Android) and on our website.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by JI Executive Editor Melissa Weiss and Israel Editor Tamara Zieve, with assists from Danielle Cohen-Kanik and Marc Rod. Have a tip? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
- It’s primary day in Michigan, Kansas, Missouri, Virginia and Washington state.
- In Michigan, Democrats will head to the polls to cast their ballots in the heated Senate race between Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) and Abdul El-Sayed that has become the latest flashpoint in the party’s debate over its ideological future.
- Among the House primaries we’re watching in Michigan: Rep. Shri Thanedar’s (D-MI) effort to hold onto his seat amid a formidable primary challenge from far-left former state Rep. Donavan McKinney; the Democratic primary to take on Rep. Tom Barrett (R-MI) in which a leading candidate said it was a “moral necessity” to end aid to Israel; and the race for Stevens’ House seat that has been marred by allegations of antisemitism.
- In Missouri, Rep. Wesley Bell (D-MO) is facing a rematch against former Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), whom he unseated two years ago. Read more about the race here.
- Israeli and Lebanese officials are meeting today in Rome for the latest round of U.S.-brokered talks aimed at calming tensions along the Israel-Lebanon border and demilitarizing Hezbollah as the Iran-backed group continues to operate in southern Lebanon.
- Iran and Oman are reportedly nearing an agreement on administering the Strait of Hormuz that would see Iran have control over incoming traffic and be able to charge vessels a “service fee” to be split between Tehran and Muscat.
- The Senate Judiciary Committee is slated to vote this morning on Todd Blanche‘s nomination to be U.S. attorney general after Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) dropped their opposition following an announcement Sunday night from Blanche terminating the administration’s controversial anti-weaponization fund that had raised some GOP concerns.
- The Israel on Campus Coalition’s annual National Leadership Summit concludes this afternoon in Washington. Justice Department Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon, Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) are slated to speak today. More below.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S JOSH KRAUSHAAR
One of the unsettling realities that American Jews have been learning throughout this election cycle is that antisemitic behavior and virulently anti-Israel rhetoric has become so normalized that it doesn’t register all that much politically anymore.
The early tell was discovering that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s involvement throughout his life in extreme anti-Israel activism didn’t impact his ability to win an election in the city with the largest Jewish population in the world.
Then we learned that disgraced former Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner’s Nazi tattoo — which he later covered up — made very little difference in his political standing in the battleground Senate race. It wasn’t until he was accused of rape that rank-and-file Democrats began to reconsider their support of him.
And today we’re grappling with the possibility that Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, who won’t acknowledge Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state (like Mamdani before him), could prevail in a Democratic primary in a swing state.
Jews find themselves in the news often these days, and for that reason it makes sense to want to dwell on the extreme, often-antisemitic positions that these radical candidates have espoused.
But as we head into a general election where several far-left candidates will be testing their political viability in competitive states and districts against strong Republican challengers, it’s important to remember that their biggest vulnerabilities are on issues that don’t directly impact the Jewish community.
The reality is that these candidates are politically problematic to the overall public for reasons that go far beyond their views on Jews or Israel. The same Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) platform that rejects a Jewish state and condones terrorism also is one that envisions abolishing prisons and defunding the police and backs open borders.
CONFERENCE CIRCUIT
Interests, not values, drive U.S.-Israel alliance, Ron Dermer says
Israel’s relationship with the U.S. depends on mutual interests, not shared values, Ron Dermer, Israel’s former minister of strategic affairs, said on Monday at the Israel on Campus Coalition’s conference in Washington. “The problem people have is they romanticize the U.S.-Israel relationship. People think the U.S. has always been a strategic ally from day one,” Dermer said, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
What he said: “Don’t get me wrong, Israel has shared values with the United States. But that’s not what drives relations between states,” said Dermer. “So you ask me, ‘What’s going to be with the U.S.-Israel alliance long-term?’ Values is not what drives the alliance — It’s actually the interests that make the difference,” Dermer said.
MEETING ADJOURNED
Sen. Darline Graham, backed by Trump, still faces obstacles in bid to succeed brother in the Senate
Sen. Darline Graham’s (R-SC) bid to succeed her late brother in the Senate is facing growing skepticism from Republican operatives and lawmakers who say President Donald Trump’s endorsement is unlikely to spare her from a runoff in South Carolina’s special GOP primary next week, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports.
Special election forecast: Over the last week, six senior GOP campaign operatives and Republican lawmakers told JI that they believe a runoff is all but certain after the Aug. 11 special election primary, with most predicting Graham will not be able to clinch a majority of the vote to avert one as her brother, the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), did with his June primary victory. “The sense that this is going to go to a runoff seems pretty clear,” Doug Heye, a Republican strategist who served as communications director for the Republican National Committee and a deputy communications official for former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), said. “What happens after that is anyone’s guess.”
CENTER STAGE
Trump official and Brookings scholar clash over campus antisemitism crackdown
A senior Trump administration official and a journalist clashed during a Monday debate over whether the White House’s crackdown on campus antisemitism protects or threatens America’s liberal norms. The debate, held at the Israel on Campus Coalition’s National Leadership Summit in Washington, featured Noah Pollak, a senior advisor at the Education Department, who argued that the controversial crackdown is good for the country, and Jonathan Rauch, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and contributing writer for The Atlantic, who made the counterargument, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
The arguments: After the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks in Israel, “university leaders chose not to enforce the rules for one group of people,” said Pollak. “As long as it was leftists and pro-Palestine people [leading protests], it was considered fine.” Rauch said, “Noah and I agree on the use of legitimate legal process by this or any administration to ensure that everyone’s civil rights are protected. Where we disagree is that the line has got to be due process. They must not go beyond that. It’s bad for Jews because we of all people know the importance of law.”
GROWING THREAT
Anti-Jewish hate crimes on the rise under Mamdani, NYPD stats show
Hate crimes — particularly against Jews — have spiked in New York City during the first seven months of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration, new data from the NYPD shows. The police department’s July statistics show general declines thus far in 2026 shootings and murders, and even in hate crimes against certain ethnic groups. But bias offenses were up overall last month, and during the entire period since Mamdani took office on the first of the year, with hate crimes targeting Jewish New Yorkers continuing to make up the majority of such incidents, Jewish Insider’s Will Bredderman reports.
Breaking it down: “More than half of the confirmed hate crimes for the first seven months of the year, or 56.9%, were anti-Jewish hate crimes, despite Jewish New Yorkers making up only 10% of the city’s population,” the NYPD’s report states. There were 23 confirmed hate crimes against Jewish people in July of this year, compared to 15 in July 2025. To date, the Jewish community has suffered 205 confirmed criminal antisemitic incidents during Mamdani’s first seven months at City Hall, compared to 189 such transgressions up to this point in the final year of Mayor Eric Adams’ tenure.
MONEY MATTERS
Nonprofit groups requested more than $1.3 billion in security aid in 2025, five times the amount available
Nonprofit groups, including religious institutions, requested more than $1.3 billion in funding from the Nonprofit Security Grant Program in 2025, around five times the $266 million that was ultimately available, a Federal Emergency Management Agency spokesperson told Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod.
By the numbers: In total, more than 8,000 institutions applied for funding, of which around 1,600 received funding — an acceptance rate of around 20%. FEMA initially disclosed in a press release last week that state-level administrative agencies had forwarded 6,000 applications to FEMA for federal review, but the spokesperson told JI that the state level agencies had received more than 8,000 total applications.
TEHRAN TALK
Iranian regime ‘won’t make it’ to the end of Trump’s term, former NSC official predicts
Robert Greenway, who led the Middle East and North Africa portfolio on the National Security Council during President Donald Trump’s first administration, predicted to Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod in an interview last month that the Iranian regime would not “make it” to the end of Trump’s time in office.
Notable quotable: “We’ve really put ourselves in a position where we’ve got massive leverage. Their economy is virtually non-existent. I think it’s dead. We’re just waiting for the funeral, I think their political leadership is in turmoil,” Greenway said in an interview on the sidelines of the Aspen Security Forum. “The military has been decimated, and very little capacity remains to threaten the United States and our interests. That’s the reality of it. Despite claims to the contrary — those are not serious claims. They’re not supported by the facts.”
Worthy Reads
Kicking the Can: The Wall Street Journal’s Gerard Baker posits that the war with Iran will not be resolved until the next presidential administration. “The initial temptation is to say that how it ends is less important than that it ends, that when you’re in the middle of an unfolding calamity, getting out is your only priority. But just as you can blunder into a war, you can blunder out of one. … But we know too that to double down is to fall prey to the timeworn seduction of the sunk-cost fallacy: We’ve invested so much in this effort that to abandon it now would be worse. In war this fallacy is especially, tragically persuasive.” [WSJ]
Toughening Tehran: In The Washington Post, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Behnam Ben Taleblu suggests that years of muted Western responses to Iran have emboldened the regime to carry out increasingly brazen attacks. “For starters, Tehran has come to believe it can prevail in a battle of wills. Despite being militarily outclassed by a nuclear-armed global superpower, Washington’s unwillingness to engage in a protracted war that would further spook oil markets, negatively impact midterms and expend precious munitions like interceptors is by now obvious.” [WashPost]
Find more Worthy Reads in our Live Briefing via our new app (on Apple and Android) and website.
Word on the Street
In a post on his Truth Social platform on Monday, President Donald Trump accused Iran of being “unbelievably duplicitous,” after Tehran denied any negotiations were taking place with the U.S…
Following a meeting on Monday between Board of Peace officials and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — and days after its high representative Nickolay Mladenov said Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza would “move in lockstep with decommissioning” — Mladenov said that “the withdrawal of the IDF beyond the Yellow Line will take place only once decommissioning is complete, as Hamas committed to the mediators”…
In a Monday evening phone call with Rep. Max Miller (R-OH), Trump said he doubted that Miller’s reelection effort could survive allegations of domestic abuse by his ex-wife, who is the daughter of Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH), and the couple’s young daughter…
The New York Times looks at Ronald Lauder’s political giving, finding that Lauder, a longtime donor to GOP political efforts and candidates who in 2022 spent $13 million to boost GOP House candidates, has halted his giving to the party; one individual who spoke to the Times said the pivot stemmed from a decision made by the 82-year-old Lauder and his adult children to refocus on art and philanthropic projects…
Brown University President Christina Paxson announced on Monday that she will step down from her position at the end of the 2026–27 academic year, concluding a 15-year tenure at the Ivy League, as the school increased Jewish student enrollment even as most peer institutions experienced significant drops, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports…
The Wall Street Journal spotlights efforts by Base Power, which recently closed a $1 billion funding round, and its cofounder Zach Dell, the son of tech founder and philanthropist Michael Dell, as the company looks to expand its footprint in the battery storage industry…
A New York man facing manslaughter charges in connection with a May hit-and-run in which Jewish journalist Cara Trager was killed was arraigned on hate crimes charges stemming from an incident that occurred weeks prior to the accident in which he vandalized a kosher bagel shop that had Israel flags on display…
The Wall Street Journal profiles Rabbi Yehuda Gerami, the chief rabbi of Iran who leads the roughly 20,000-strong Jewish community in the Islamic Republic…
Major League Soccer is investigating a weekend incident in which supporters of CF Montreal hurled antisemitic insults at an Israeli player on the opposing New England Revolution; in its own statement, New England Revolution condemned the “antisemitic and discriminatory abuse” directed at forward Dor Turgeman…
Former Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said he’s “open to” buying a minority share of the Dallas Cowboys, whose owner, Jerry Jones, told the Dallas Morning News, is similarly open to selling to him…
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz walked back comments made on Israeli television over the weekend in which he indicated that he would fire Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth, the head of Israel’s Central Command, after Katz’s comments on Israel’s Channel 14 reportedly drew the ire of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu…
A Tel Aviv University analysis of Central Bureau of Statistics data found that 90,922 Israelis left the country for three months or more in 2025, sustaining record emigration levels well above the annual average of about 60,000 in the previous decade…
The New York Times spotlights the thousands of civilian sailors working on ships transiting through the Strait of Hormuz who have been stranded on ships unable to transit through the waterway or, in some cases, held on ships that have been seized by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps…
Visa said it was acquiring Israeli online fraud detection company BioCatch for $2.4 billion…
Find on-demand Live Briefing updates throughout the day via our new app (on Apple and Android) and website.
Pic of the Day
Israeli President Isaac Herzog received the credentials of Chilean Ambassador to Israel Gabriel Alejandro Zaliasnik, one of six envoys to present their credentials to the president on Monday. Zaliasnik’s appointment comes nearly three years after the South American country — along with Honduras, which also returned its ambassador to Israel this week — recalled its ambassador to Israel following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks in protest over the ensuing war in Gaza.
Birthdays
Tiktoker, comedian and influencer, Sabrina Plon Brier turns 32…
Professor emerita of American history at Yeshiva University and Stern College, she is an expert on the history of McCarthyism, Dr. Ellen Wolf Schrecker turns 88… Talmudic scholar and a leader of New York’s Sephardic Jewish community, Rabbi Eliyahu Ben Haim turns 86… President at Salco Mechanical, Michael Salzberg… Rabbi of Centro Israelita de Bogotá and chief rabbi of Colombia, Alfredo Goldschmidt turns 81… Immediate past board chair of the Jewish Funders Network, Marcia Riklis… Former SVP and chief growth officer at the NYC HQ of the ADL, now a board member of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, Frederic Lewis Bloch… Former Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Yona Metzger turns 73… Retired professor in Memphis, Sheldon Dan… Former longtime member of the Knesset for Likud including multiple ministerial positions, Silvan Shalom turns 68… Executive producer of “Live with Kelly and Mark,” Michael Gelman turns 65… 44th president of the United States, Barack Obama turns 65… Mayor of Chicago from 2019 until 2023, Lori Lightfoot turns 64… Attorney general of Minnesota, Keith Ellison turns 63… Administrative manager at Edelman, Helen Lapkovsky… Global editorial director for PwC and editor-in-chief of PwC’s management magazine strategy+business, Daniel Gross turns 59… Editor-in-chief of Cuepoint at Medium, he is known as Shecky Green, Jonathan Miles Shecter turns 58… Congressman (D-NY), he is the minority leader of the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries turns 56… Chief political anchor and host of Fox News’ “Special Report,” Bret Baier turns 56… Emmy Award-winning broadcast meteorologist at WJLA-TV in Washington, D.C., Steven Rudin… Former Washington director of Bend the Arc Jewish Action, Rabbi Jason Kimelman-Block… Former director-general of the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Audrey Azoulay turns 54… Executive editor and host at City Cast, Michael Schaffer… Chair of the Arizona Democratic Party from 2011 through 2012, he is a former White House speechwriter, Andrei Cherny turns 51… VP of communications at Arctic Wolf, Caren Beth Auchman… CEO of Something Major, a leadership coaching and advisory firm, she is the author of Something Major: The New Playbook for Women at Work, Randi Braun… Director of corporate growth strategy in the geostrategic business group at EY-Parthenon, Ben-Ari Boukai… CRO and co-founder at Riverside.fm, Jonathan Keyson… Childhood student at the Donna Klein Jewish Academy in Boca Raton, Fla., he is a placekicker in the NFL, Greg Joseph turns 32… Natalie Roberts… Evelyn Murphy…
Dermer: ‘I would love to live in a world where it’s values that drive international relations … That is not the world we live in’
Courtesy ICC
Ron Dermer, Israel’s former minister of strategic affairs, speaks at the Israel on Campus Coalition’s conference in Washington, August 3, 2026
Israel’s relationship with the U.S. depends on mutual interests, not shared values, Ron Dermer, Israel’s former minister of strategic affairs, said on Monday at the Israel on Campus Coalition’s conference in Washington.
“The problem people have is they romanticize the U.S.-Israel relationship. People think the U.S. has always been a strategic ally from day one,” Dermer said. “Israel’s main strategic ally for its first 15 years was France.”
“I would love to live in a world where it’s values that drive international relations. I believe Israel would be the world’s superpower, no doubt,” Dermer told a crowd of some 1,000 pro-Israel college students. “That is not the world we live in and it’s not the world anybody has ever lived in.”
Rather than the shared democratic values and ideological alignment that Israeli leaders have frequently cited to define the U.S.-Israel partnership, Dermer asserted that “it’s actually generated interest” that aligns counties long term, such as security cooperation or economic benefit.
“Interest is what drives stakes over time,” he said.
“It’s always good to have good public opinion, they can be shock absorbers when problems arise, but ultimately being important to that country becomes more critical than whether or not they think they have shared values,” continued Dermer.
“Don’t get me wrong, Israel has shared values with the United States. But that’s not what drives relations between states,” said Dermer.
“So you ask me, ‘What’s going to be with the U.S.-Israel alliance long-term?’ Values is not what drives the alliance — It’s actually the interests that make the difference,” Dermer said.
In his comments, Dermer also urged “every pro-Israel Jewish organization” to “draw a line in the sand that anybody who says that Israel perpetrated a genocide in Gaza has to be completely shunned.”
He argued that those hostile to the Jewish state — including New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani — are making accusations of Israeli genocide a loyalty test for left-wing politics.
“The enemies of Israel and the enemies of Jews — and right now you’ve got both in Gracie Mansion in New York — they want to turn this into the litmus test of progressive politics,” said Dermer.
“If you don’t say Israel perpetrated genocide, [they] want nothing to do with you. Let them do what they’re gonna do. We have to in the Jewish community, and pro-Israel community, do what we have to do. We have to say, ‘If you say those words, we are done.’ It’s a threat not just to Israel, it’s a threat and a clear and present danger to Jews everywhere.”
Robert Greenway predicted that reduced Iranian threat would make it easier for Arab states to join the Abraham Accords
Aspen Security Forum
Robert Greenway speaks at Aspen Security Forum, July 17, 2026.
ASPEN, Colo. — Robert Greenway, who led the Middle East and North Africa portfolio on the National Security Council during President Donald Trump’s first administration, predicted to Jewish Insider in an interview last month that the Iranian regime would not “make it” to the end of Trump’s time in office.
Greenway’s comments came amid the resumption of hostilities between the U.S. and Iran in late July, following the collapse of the countries’ memorandum of understanding, prior to the latest pause in U.S. strikes.
“We’ve really put ourselves in a position where we’ve got massive leverage. Their economy is virtually non-existent. I think it’s dead. We’re just waiting for the funeral, I think their political leadership is in turmoil,” Greenway said in an interview on the sidelines of the Aspen Security Forum. “The military has been decimated, and very little capacity remains to threaten the United States and our interests. That’s the reality of it. Despite claims to the contrary — those are not serious claims. They’re not supported by the facts.”
Greenway said that the administration’s military success had allowed it to “indulge a potential diplomatic path” that it knew was “unlikely” to actually succeed.
After the war, Greenway said that the U.S.’ regional approach should include working to contain Iran, building on the burgeoning regional security architecture developed with other Middle East allies and expanding the Abraham Accords. He was bullish about the chances for expanded normalization in spite of the apparent obstacles created by the wars in Gaza and Iran.
“The destruction [and] the attrition [in] Iran lowers the price of admission” for the Abraham Accords, Greenway said. “The math equation works here because we’ve reduced the Iranian threat. So there isn’t a massive requirement for us to provide enormous capabilities” to Arab states as a price for normalization.
Greenway was involved in negotiating the Abraham Accords during Trump’s first administration and continued to work to promote normalization after leaving the administration, first as the executive director of the Abraham Accords Peace Institute and later as the director of the Allison Center for National Security at the Heritage Foundation.
“Getting Saudi Arabia and the other states integrated into the region with Israel and expanding the accords is different now than it was a year or four years ago,” Greenway continued. “But it is still, I think, practical, necessary and achievable.”
He was dismissive of Saudi statements that the kingdom intends to condition normalization on a path to a two-state solution, arguing that such statements are a “public rhetorical mechanism that serves a purpose” but won’t be enforced in practice.
Greenway was a member of the Heritage Foundation when the group issued a report last year — which was controversial at the time — calling for the gradual phasing out of U.S. military aid to Israel. In the months since, the concept has been endorsed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and some American supporters of Israel, and most observers expect that a drawdown of direct financial support will be a component of the next U.S.-Israel memorandum of understanding.
He said that phasing out U.S. aid would insulate Israel from American attempts to exert leverage over Jerusalem, such as that undertaken by the Biden administration. He said that the threat of growing Democratic shifts against Israel are a key reason for the U.S. to work to ensure that Israel no longer needs aid.
“Let’s improve Israel’s economy, let’s improve the trade that exists between our two countries, the security cooperation that exists between our two countries and our industries, and let’s improve Israel’s relationship to its neighbors, and if we can, reduce the threat,” Greenway said of the path to phasing out aid.
But he also said that aid should only be phased out “if Israel was in a financial position to do it, and its security relative to its neighbors was increased.”
He argued that Israel “doesn’t want” the U.S. involved in its relations with the Palestinians. Instead, he said the U.S. can best help Israel through economic ties and working to broker relationships with its neighbors, things Israel “can’t do … for itself.”
Greenway — as a Trump ally — was something of an outlier at the Aspen conference, which has generally attracted more traditional internationalist voices on the left and right. He said he wanted to urge the attendees to judge Trump and his administration by their results, rather than by rhetoric.
He pointed to the administration’s policy on Russia as one example. He argued that, while Trump has been accused of “coddling” Russia, he’s managed to severely damage Russia’s economy as well as press European countries to curtail their energy purchases that had been fueling Russia’s war machine.
“That actually, concrete, matters, right? And again, if you’re using a different lens and arbiter to look at how policies actually succeed or prevail or not, you can get to dangerous places,” Greenway said.
Greenway was also involved in crafting the Project Esther antisemitism strategy at the Heritage Foundation. Asked about how to avoid the encroachment of antisemitism on the right, Greenway pointed back to that strategy, and argued that Republicans have been more successful in fighting antisemitism in their party than Democrats.
“Republicans aren’t electing high officials that hold antisemitic principles and anti-Israel positions,” Greenway said. “I can’t say the same for the Democratic Party. … You cannot, as a Republican, stand up and make antisemitic comments and expect to survive, much less win an election or even become a candidate representing the party. It just isn’t going to happen.”
But he also said that there is a “very real struggle” to resist those trends and the problem of growing youth antisemitism crosses party lines, a phenomenon he blamed on conservatives “losing control of curricula and institutions and education.”
He said conservatives should work to reform educational systems and have zero tolerance for antisemitism.
Plus, Iran’s ‘unbelievably duplicitous’ leaders irk Trump
Amir Levy/Getty Images
Israeli tanks stationed near the border with the Gaza Strip on September 17, 2025 in southern Israel.
Good Monday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
President Donald Trump lambasted Iranian leadership today, calling the regime “unbelievably duplicitous” for contradicting his claim that Washington and Tehran are currently conducting negotiations, after Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said that Tehran was only in discussion with Oman about the Strait of Hormuz and had no plans to speak to the U.S.
Trump claimed in his Truth Social post that the regime had “begged” for a meeting, “with more scheduled in the immediate future,” adding, “whether Iran wants to admit it or not, we are, in fact, talking of a solution to a problem that they have caused, for decades.” Trump later told reporters that the talks were “a last chance for Iran to sign a good document” and that he wants to give Iran “every last chance before decapitation”…
Board of Peace head Nickolay Mladenov held a “constructive and detailed” meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today, the board said, after the IDF continued to strike targets in Gaza over the weekend — in contravention of the Board of Peace’s Hamas disarmament plan, which called for the immediate cessation of hostilities in the enclave.
The board clarified that the IDF’s withdrawal beyond the yellow line in Gaza “will take place only once decommissioning [of Hamas’ weapons] is complete,” including all light and heavy weapons as well as terror tunnels. Netanyahu has yet to officially comment on the deal, but a senior Israeli spokesman said earlier today that the agreement “does not reflect Israel’s positions” and another Israeli official declared that the IDF “will not withdraw from the current line in the Gaza Strip”…
Israeli President Isaac Herzog received the credentials of the new ambassadors from Chile and Honduras today; the two Latin American countries had pulled their ambassadors from the Jewish state shortly after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks in protest of the war in Gaza but have since elected new conservative governments that have sought to strengthen ties with Jerusalem…
Education Secretary Linda McMahon sent a letter to every university in the country today asking their leadership to publish by the end of the year a statement committing to principles including transparency in admissions, free speech, diversity of thought and keeping foreign influence out of academics.
Yeshiva University President Rabbi Ari Berman applauded the initiative, which came after most universities rejected a compact from the Trump administration last year that had asked them to agree to a set of ideological principles in order to receive federal funding, and said YU would participate in the effort to rebuild public trust of higher education…
Brown University President Christina Paxson announced today that she will step down at the end of the 2026-27 academic year, concluding her 15-year tenure at the Ivy League, during which the school increased Jewish student enrollment even as most peer institutions experienced significant drops, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports…
As the Israel on Campus Coalition’s National Summit continues in Washington, Noah Pollak, a senior advisor at the Education Department, debated Jonathan Rauch, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, on whether the Trump administration’s crackdown on campus antisemitism has protected or threatened America’s liberal norms. After the debate, where Pollak argued in favor of the policy and Rauch argued against, students who were polled in the audience shifted their views to align more with Rauch, JI’s Haley Cohen reports…
New hate crime data released by the NYPD shows an uptick of 8.5% in hate crimes against Jews in New York City this year so far, accounting for more than half of all hate crimes in the city, despite Jewish New Yorkers only accounting for 10% of the city’s population…
A New York man was indicted on hate crimes charges on Friday for repeatedly vandalizing a kosher bagel shop, weeks after he was indicted for manslaughter for killing a prominent Jewish community member in a car crash…
Author Alyssa Rosenheck pushed back on arguments raised by Bell Bird Books, a local bookstore in Nashville, Tenn., that canceled a book launch event for Rosenheck’s White. Blond. Jew.,which the bookstore claimed was due to security concerns. Rosenheck said she had personally paid for a private firm to secure the event and was told there were no outstanding security concerns, alleging that the event was canceled “because I’m an unapologetic Jewish voice … and it provokes an online mob of hate”…
Trump is considering removing Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, according to CNN, after he said today that she “folded like an umbrella” when she withdrew a case against an alleged vandal of the Reflecting Pool and instead blamed the Interior Department for its botched renovation…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at Sen. Darline Graham’s (R-SC) bid for a full term in the Senate, where she is facing headwinds despite having secured President Donald Trump’s endorsement.
We’ll be watching tomorrow’s Democratic primaries in Michigan and Missouri — the sharpest tests yet of the party’s divide over Israel. In Michigan’s Senate race, far-left Abdul El-Sayed seems the favorite in recent polling over Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI); in Missouri, Rep. Wesley Bell (D-MO) faces a rematch with former Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO). Also on the Michigan ballot: the battleground 7th District, where DSA-backed William Lawrence is the front-runner, and the 11th District, where Jewish state Sen. Jeremy Moss is running to succeed Stevens. Kansas, Virginia and Washington state will also hold their primaries tomorrow.
Israeli and Lebanese representatives will meet tomorrow to begin another round of U.S.-led negotiations in Rome. U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa sounded a cautious note today on the ongoing trilateral agreement, as the Lebanese Armed Forces and the IDF continue to work toward establishing the fragile pilot zones in southern Lebanon: “A great deal of technical work remains to ensure civilian safety on the ground,” Issa said. “There is a meaningful difference between drafting an agreement on paper and implementing it responsibly — moving too quickly risks jeopardizing the very civilians this process is meant to protect.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee is set to vote tomorrow on whether to advance acting Attorney General Todd Blanche‘s nomination to lead the Justice Department, after Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) dropped their opposition to his nomination when the administration agreed to rescind its $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund.
Stories You May Have Missed
MICHIGAN MOVES
Republicans betting Jewish voters swing Rogers’ way if El-Sayed wins primary
For many Jewish Democrats in Michigan who have long called the party home, the bruising lead-up to the primary on Tuesday has been difficult to experience
CAMPUS CLIMATE
Not better, just different: Students seek tools to address changed campus environment at ICC summit
‘The assumption is that it’s better by virtue of there being no encampments right now, there’s no buildings being sieged. But that being the bar is ridiculous,’ Columbia student Noah Lederman said of the challenges on campus
‘If there's not a regime change, then maybe we don't have to do this every day, but we're going to have to do this every so often,’ Scott said at the Hudson Institute
Screenshot
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) speaks at the Hudson Institute on July 30, 2026.
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) argued on Thursday that, without regime change in Iran, the U.S. will likely need to continue to conduct periodic military operations against Iran’s nuclear program to prevent Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
“One of two things is going to happen: We are forever going to have to continue to make sure they don’t have a nuclear weapon, or they’re going to have a regime change,” Scott said during an event at the Hudson Institute. “One or the other. If there’s not a regime change, then maybe we don’t have to do this every day, but we’re going to have to do this every so often.”
He also argued that past U.S. administrations have been “stupid” by not recognizing that the Iranian regime has been engaging in an ongoing war against the United States since the rise of the Islamic Republic in 1979. President Donald Trump, he continued, is trying to end that 47-year war.
Scott described Trump as reluctant to go to war with Iran, but said the president views the conflict as necessary.
“If you’re the president of the United States, you have a responsibility to protect Americans. That’s your job. So whether he likes it or not — and he doesn’t like war, he ran on getting out of forever wars, he doesn’t want to put American troops in harm’s way … he wants to sit down and negotiate everything,” Scott said.
But, he continued, Trump also knows that Iran would use a nuclear weapon if it had one and that appeasement was not a viable strategy.
“He did the hard thing,” Scott said. “He knew he was going to get criticized, but he decided freedom was and safety to Americans is important enough that he was going to go defend us.”
The president made the comments on Fox News after the IRGC attempted a surprise ballistic missile attack on U.S. forces in the region
Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP via Getty Images
US President Donald Trump speaks about the conflict in Iran in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House on April 6, 2026, in Washington, DC.
President Donald Trump warned on Wednesday that the U.S. would “beat the f**king sh*t out of” Iran following an attempted surprise ballistic missile attack by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on American forces in the region, even as he signaled a willingness to keep diplomatic channels open.
“We’ll be hitting them hard,” Trump told Fox News’ Trey Yingst. “They’re going to get a beating.”
But Trump added that he’s “going to let them keep talking,” referring to ongoing indirect U.S.-Iran negotiations.
The president’s comments followed a spate of attacks on Tuesday evening into Wednesday morning by Iran and its proxies. In addition to the IRGC surprise attack, Iran also directed more than 30 drone attacks by its proxies in Iraq over several days on “U.S. forces and Saudi energy infrastructure,” CENTCOM said, leading the U.S. and Saudi Arabia to conduct joint strikes on logistics and weapons sites in eastern Iraq early Wednesday. The Jordanian military also announced that it had intercepted five missiles launched from Iran on Tuesday night.
The attacks ended a pause in hostilities between the parties, which began last Friday, and came after Trump’s disclosure on Monday that the U.S. remains engaged in “very deep talks” with Iran. But the president has repeatedly threatened to reengage in military action if diplomacy collapses.
The numbers demonstrate the degree to which opinions on Israel and Iran — and the U.S. role in the region — have shifted in the five months since the war began
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
President Donald Trump shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago club on December 29, 2025 in Palm Beach, Florida.
For watchers of the U.S.-Israel relationship, the events of the last few days have had a familiar feel. On Friday, President Donald Trump suggested at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner that Iran would “love to make a deal. I don’t think they’re ready to. I don’t think it’s time yet, but I’m willing to listen.” Today, the president will meet at the White House with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the countries weigh a military escalation with Iran.
The similarities to the dialogue surrounding Iran earlier this year are striking. In early February, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, “Iran looks like it wants to make a deal very badly.” Days later, Trump would meet at the White House with Netanyahu for talks focused on Iran. Weeks after that meeting, the U.S. and Israel launched joint military strikes against the Islamic Republic, kicking off a six-week war.
And despite the similarities around today’s meeting — which comes hours before the funeral of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) — much has changed.
In the U.S., there is growing opposition among Americans to renewed military action against Iran — a sentiment that extends to some top military officials, including, reportedly, CENTCOM head Adm. Brad Cooper.
Public perception of Israel — and Israelis — has hit its most negative point in years, with Gen Z Americans across the political spectrum having significantly more favorable views of Palestinians than Israelis.
The numbers demonstrate the degree to which opinions on Israel and Iran — and the U.S. role in the region — have shifted in the five months since the war began. The domestic politics in the U.S. vis-a-vis Iran look very different than they did during the last Trump-Netanyahu meeting.
Among Israelis, there is little confidence that Trump is acting with Israel’s security needs in mind, with just 28% of those surveyed in an Israel Democracy Institute poll last month saying that they believed the country’s security was a central consideration for Trump.
When Trump and Netanyahu last met, elections in both countries were still a far-off prospect. But with less than four months before both the midterms and Israel’s first election in nearly four years, the calculus has changed.
In Israel, Netanyahu is facing a tough reelection battle as recent polls show former IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot and his Yashar party making gains on the prime minister and his Likud party. Netanyahu had reportedly spent weeks seeking a meeting with Trump as the memorandum of understanding between Washington and Tehran fell apart and both sides resumed attacks before confirming he’d attend Graham’s funeral — with a Trump meeting to boot.
The meeting also offers Netanyahu an opportunity to remind Israeli voters of his close relationship with Trump — something no other Israeli candidate can boast. And he’s also seeking a more permanent solution on Iran leading into the election — a tangible win he can tout to Israeli voters, who are overall unhappy with the outcome of the war.
For Trump, the outcome of the midterms is less threatening to his standing, but will likely serve as a referendum on American attitudes toward the war with repercussions extending well into the 2028 presidential race.
And even as Trump has claimed that he doesn’t care about voter opinions about the war with Iran, the rest of his party — and those looking to shape its direction — will be waiting to see the outcome of the Netanyahu meeting.
With the region on edge, today’s meeting is likely to offer one of the clearest indications as to whether Trump and Netanyahu share the same vision for the future of the Middle East — or whether they’re on increasingly divergent paths.
‘They are talking to us right now. They’d love to make a deal. … I don’t think it’s time yet, but I’m willing to listen,’ the president said at the White House Correspondents' Dinner
Mandel NGAN/AFP via Getty Images
President Donald Trump speaks during the 2026 White House Correspondents' Association Dinner at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington, D.C., on July 24, 2026.
President Donald Trump said in remarks at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Friday that the U.S. is continuing to negotiate with Tehran even amid U.S. strikes on Iran, but added that he didn’t think that Iranian leaders were ready to make a deal.
“They are talking to us right now. They’d love to make a deal. I don’t think they’re ready to. I don’t think it’s time yet, but I’m willing to listen,” Trump said at the dinner, held at Washington’s Waldorf Astoria after being rescheduled following a shootout at the annual April dinner between a lone gunman and Secret Service agents at the Washington Hilton.
Trump added that if Iran were to obtain a nuclear weapon, the country “would use it,” potentially targeting the U.S., Israel or elsewhere in the Middle East.
The provision includes language to protect American intellectual property and sensitive secrets and technology
(Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., attends the House Oversight and Government Reform Delivering on Government Efficiency Subcommittee hearing titled "Rewriting American History: Examining the Smithsonian's Efforts to Reshape the Past," in Rayburn building on Tuesday, July 21, 2026.
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) claimed this week that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and the White House want to see a provision on U.S.-Israel defense technology cooperation stripped out of the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act.
Neither the Pentagon nor the White House responded to requests for comment from Jewish Insider on whether such claims were accurate.
The provision, which critics falsely assert would merge the U.S. and Israeli militaries or otherwise compromise U.S. sovereignty and control of the U.S. military, has become the subject of significant opposition from both the far left and far right. But House Republicans did not allow an amendment, spearheaded by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), to remove the provision to come to a House vote.
The narrative against the provision was first launched in an article in the magazine Responsible Statecraft, published by the isolationist Quincy Institute.
“Today, I was in a critical national security meeting with Secretary Hegseth where I helped secure his commitment that Section 219 would be stripped from the NDAA in conference. Protecting America’s intellectual property for future generations is non-negotiable,” Boebert said on X on Wednesday.
The provision includes language to protect American intellectual property and sensitive secrets and technology, and focuses on technologies jointly developed by both countries — in part with the goal of allowing the U.S. to benefit from Israeli defense technology breakthroughs.
“My concerns about Section 219 and authorizing bureaucrats to give away America’s secrets are well known, so these talks and getting a commitment to get that stripped out were important,” Boebert continued. “This isn’t the final stop and I’ll have at least one more vote on this bill after it comes out of conference. Congress still has more work to do to shape this legislation and I will continue to be a strong voice in those conversations.”
In an interview with TMZ, Boebert claimed that the White House also wanted the provision removed, and that she’d been waiting on a call from Hegseth on the subject prior to voting on the NDAA. She ultimately did not vote on the bill.
Boebert further suggested, falsely, that the U.S. gave away money and technology to Israel to develop the Iron Dome missile-defense system without receiving any benefit. The countries developed the system together, and the U.S. possesses Iron Dome batteries but has chosen not to deploy them in combat zones.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the deal, which was already signed, is ‘still being finalized’
Win McNamee/Getty Images
President Donald Trump (R) meets with Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia during a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office of the White House on November 18, 2025.
The new civilian nuclear cooperation agreement already signed between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia is now contingent on Riyadh joining the Abraham Accords, President Donald Trump announced on Thursday morning.
The president’s Truth Social post — in which he said the deal is “totally subject” to Saudi Arabia normalizing relations with Israel, a provision not previously disclosed by the administration — was quickly affirmed by the White House.
“Yes, this deal with Saudi Arabia, the energy deal, is contingent on this condition as far as the president is concerned,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a press briefing on Thursday. “So we’ll continue to talk with our Saudi counterparts to get the deal finalized, and hopefully see them joining the Abraham Accords very soon.”
It appeared that Trump thought to add the provision only after the signing ceremony, which took place on Wednesday afternoon between Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman.
Asked if Trump had spoken to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman about it, Leavitt said, “As you know, the president just put out this statement a few hours ago. I don’t believe he’s had a call with MBS in the hours since.”
The new addition may have thrown a wrench in the agreement: Leavitt said the deal is “still being worked out,” despite already having been signed by the parties, and “will eventually, hopefully, be finalized with the condition that the president spoke about this morning.”
Leavitt also said she did not believe the provision was requested by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Hours later, the Senate rejected a similar measure
Kevin Carter/Getty Images
The U.S. Capitol Building is seen at sunset on May 31, 2025 in Washington, DC.
The House passed a second Iran war powers resolution on Thursday following the resumption of hostilities between the U.S. and Iran, with a handful of Republicans who have argued that continued operations violate the War Powers Act again siding with Democrats on the measure.
But hours later, the Senate blocked a separate resolution, also along narrow margins.
Reps. Tom Barrett (R-MI), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Warren Davidson (R-OH) again sided with all House Democrats to pass the resolution by a 214-208 vote.
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) said prior to the vote that she planned to support the war powers resolution but ultimately did not.
The Senate resolution was blocked by a 49-47 vote, with Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) voting with most Democrats in support of the resolution and Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) voting against it.
The House and Senate previously passed a similar resolution attempting to end the war, which Democrats have cited to describe the renewed hostilities as illegal.
The measure passed in the House on Thursday was in the form of a concurrent resolution — as was the previous resolution passed by Congress — which is not presented to the president and is generally not seen as carrying the force of law, though Democrats have been working to explore avenues to enforce it.
Also on Thursday, Rep. Greg Meeks (D-NY), the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, introduced a resolution demanding that House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) initiate civil action in federal courts to enforce the previously passed war powers resolution directing the removal of U.S. forces from the Iran war.
The president said Iran ‘desperately’ wants to meet with the U.S. but ‘until they're ready to meet in a meaningful way, we have no interest in meeting with them’
Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Joseph Aoun, Lebanon's president, left, and President Donald Trump during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House on July 21, 2026.
President Donald Trump warned on Tuesday that the U.S. would “pretty soon” strike Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain, the underground facility suspected of housing components of Tehran’s nuclear program.
The president made the comments from the Oval Office while welcoming Lebanese President Joseph Aoun for a meeting about the ongoing U.S.-led talks between Israel and Lebanon. Trump was asked about a Wall Street Journal report that Israeli intelligence shared with the U.S. indicated that Iran moved thousands of centrifuges into its clandestine Pickaxe Mountain site last fall.
“I think that they may have [moved the centrifuges],” Trump said. “It doesn’t mean anything unless they have the [nuclear] material. They don’t have it. We follow the material. That’s where the action is.”
“We’ll be hitting that area probably pretty soon. There’s not a thing they can do about it,” he continued. “Normally, I wouldn’t say that. If I thought they could do something about it, I would never say that, but we’ll be hitting that area pretty soon, and very heavily.”
The president predicted that it would take Iran between 20 to 25 years to rebuild its nuclear program if U.S. forces immediately ceased striking Iranian nuclear targets, though he noted that the U.S. was “not finished at all” in Iran and was “not leaving right now.”
He added that Iran “wants to meet desperately” with the U.S. to end the war “because they’re getting decimated,” but “until they’re ready to meet in a meaningful way, we have no interest in meeting with them.”
Joining Trump for his meeting with Aoun were Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.
On the subject of Lebanon, Trump told reporters that he was willing to speak to Hezbollah’s leaders directly to advance peacemaking efforts with Israel.
“I would speak to Hezbollah. I speak to everybody. I’ll speak to people that a lot of people think I shouldn’t be speaking to and things work out,” Trump said. “If [Aoun] wanted me to speak to Hezbollah, you know he’s lived with Hezbollah for a long time, and if the president wanted me to speak to Hezbollah, I would.”
Trump praised Aoun directly and detailed his own affinity for Lebanon, telling reporters that the U.S. is “going to help [the country] a lot” and describing the U.S.-Lebanese relationship as “very good.”
“I think that Lebanon has been a very mistreated country for a long period of time,” Trump said.
The president said that he planned to discuss with Aoun Israel’s ongoing troop withdrawal from southern Lebanon and ways to empower the Lebanese Armed Forces.
“We’ll be speaking about that today with the president, and we have some very concrete plans already in store for that with others going in and helping,” Trump said. “But they’re also becoming much more self-sufficient, and we will be speaking about that.”
The former ambassador told JI a Netanyahu loss in October’s elections would be a ‘very healthy thing’ for the U.S.-Israel relationship
(Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)
Former US ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro speaks at a Conference of the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), in Tel Aviv, on February 25, 2025.
ASPEN, Colo. — Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro argued on the sidelines of the Aspen Security Forum last week that without new leadership in Israel — meaning a defeat for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel’s elections — he does not know how Israel can repair its reputation in the United States.
“I don’t see a path to repairing Israel’s deteriorating standing in the United States on both sides of the aisle without a change of leadership in Israel,” Shapiro told Jewish Insider in an interview, a sentiment he repeated during a panel on Israel and the U.S.-Israel relationship at the conference.
Shapiro said that a “wise Israeli government” would pay attention to its “deteriorating standing in the United States” and that the “Israeli public might want to bear that in mind too as they prepare to go to the polls in October.”
Asked whether he thinks some in the U.S. are pinning broader criticisms of Israel on Netanyahu personally, Shapiro emphasized that there’s “a lot of history and a lot of emotion and a lot of associations with the prime minister,” who is “very present in our media, in our politics.”
Netanyahu, he said, is associated with many of the biggest flashpoints in U.S.-Israel relations including opposition to former President Barack Obama and the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, the wars in Gaza and Iran and the rise of his far-right Cabinet ministers.
“Probably a very healthy thing for the U.S.-Israel relationship would be if 95% of Americans do not know the name of the Israeli prime minister, and that’s a possible outcome out of this election,” Shapiro said. “That doesn’t guarantee it fixes everything by any stretch. There’s work to do, but that’s a different starting point.”
Israel, he continued, won’t be able to placate all of the critics of its continued efforts to defend itself, but he said there are other steps it can take to improve attitudes in the U.S., including cracking down on “the Jewish terror wave against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank,” providing withheld funds to the Palestinian Authority, stopping settlement expansion and moving more assertively to implement the U.S.-led 20-point peace plan for Gaza.
Speaking to JI shortly after more than 100 House Democrats voted to cut off U.S. military aid to Israel, Shapiro said that, while there’s “legitimate ground for concern and for criticism” of Israel’s operations in Gaza, cutting off all $3.3 billion wholesale is not “a very thoughtful way” to address concerns about civilian harm. He also emphasized the responsibility Hamas bears for intentionally endangering Palestinian civilians.
“We have an ongoing U.S. interest in ensuring Israel can defend itself from a lot of very dangerous enemies who are also our enemies,” Shapiro said. “There are much more thoughtful and much more careful and nuanced ways of trying to get at the real problem, which is ensuring that U.S. equipment — which Israel may need, and which we’ve made some commitment to, to defend themselves where they legitimately have a need to do so — is not used in a way that produces unacceptable civilian casualties.”
He said the current debate, at its heart, touches on the fundamental question of whether the U.S.-Israel relationship continues to serve American interests, which he strongly believes it does.
“If we were to see a real deterioration and distancing of the U.S. and Israel, for the long term, we’d find that our own interests and our own ability to defend our own influence and our own ability to defend our interests in the Middle East would be significantly compromised,” Shapiro said.
He said that severing the U.S.-Israel relationship would embolden Iran and its proxies — which are also enemies of America — to undermine the regional defense architecture that the U.S. has spent years building, leading U.S. allies to pull away from the Washington and hedge with Iran.
Shapiro said during the panel that those calling for a total dismantling from the U.S.-Israel relationship should be asked to address that policy’s second-order effects on U.S. interests and American influence in the region.
While Shapiro acknowledged that polling has shown that many in the U.S. have a negative impression of Israel’s conduct in the war in Gaza, he does not necessarily believe that means that most Americans want to see the U.S.-Israel relationship severed entirely.
Shapiro argued to JI that there’s a “broad middle” of the Democratic Party, on both sides of the Israel aid vote, that continues to support Israel’s right to exist and has reasonable conversations about the future of the party. On the extremes, however, there are some, including prominent leaders, who do not believe Israel has a right to exist, which Shapiro called strategically wrong, morally wrong and a political mistake.
“I think we’ll end up losing in the swing areas and swing districts and states if we marry ourselves to that most extreme attitude on this issue,” Shapiro, who served under former President Barack Obama, said, emphasizing that extreme anti-Israel candidates have so far only succeeded in deep-blue districts.
Shapiro predicted that the U.S. looks to be on the path toward ending assistance to Israel, whether that be immediately or over time, depending on negotiations between the two sides over the next memorandum of understanding.
“If there’s going to be an MOU, that should [include] some sort of review process or some sort of consultation process to ensure that [U.S.] standards are met, as well as the regular enforcement of U.S. law and U.S. requirements,” Shapiro said.
He predicted that ending U.S. aid to Israel would also lead to an end to the U.S.’ financial support for the Egyptian and Jordanian militaries — other top recipients of U.S. military financing — which could lead those countries to look elsewhere for military weapons, including U.S. adversaries.
Shapiro was critical of the Trump administration’s approach to the war in Iran — in contrast with his support for the strikes in 2025 on Iran’s nuclear program — describing the administration as stuck in a spiral of repeated threats without a focused or sustained strategy.
He said that the U.S. could plausibly have claimed victory in the first few weeks of the war, but missed the opportunity to do so, and “all the leverage swung over” to Iran once it closed the Strait of Hormuz.
“I knew that to end it would require a very weak deal, and I supported a very weak deal to end a very dumb war. I just didn’t expect the MOU to be as weak as it was,” Shapiro said. “It was absurdly so. It gave away massive sanctions relief even before beginning discussions on the nuclear program. It left Iran with the clear impression that they did have permanent authority to control the strait.”
He said there is no clear end strategy for the conflict now, adding that he generally agrees with the basic strategy laid out at the Security Forum by former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice — to “let the Iranians stew in the juice of the sanctions.”
On the panel, Shapiro also argued that Vice President JD Vance’s comments on Joe Rogan’s podcast blaming an Israeli influence campaign for undermining the MOU with Iran leaned into antisemitic tropes.
“It was frankly an attempt to cast blame on somebody else for the really unsuccessful MOU following an unsuccessful war and trying to blame it on a third party — who was a party to the war, but not really to the negotiation on the MOU,” Shapiro said. “I really think that was uncalled for.”
After 104 members of the House voted last week in favor of an amendment to eliminate military aid to Israel, pro-Israel activists who have spent years building ties with lawmakers are now wondering how to approach those relationships
(Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu via Getty Images)
A group of demonstrators hold a noise protest outside the Democratic National Committee Headquarters in Washington D.C., United States on October 31, 2024.
Before AIPAC began spending tens of millions of dollars per election cycle on campaigns, back when it was purely an advocacy organization that touted its relationships with many of the 535 members of Congress, the pro-Israel group used to describe its approach to Capitol Hill with a cheeky, upbeat motto: “You have friends, and you have potential friends.”
But when former Bay Area AIPAC leader Naomi Lauter used to invoke the slogan, she added a third category: “Friends who have a little less potential than others.” Lauter died in 2017, but the saying still resonates with her son, Sam, who is a major Democratic donor and pro-Israel activist in his own right — and who is now wondering whether that third category might be growing even larger.
After 104 members of the House voted last week in favor of an amendment to eliminate all $3.3 billion in annual military aid to Israel, pro-Israel activists across the country who have spent years building ties with lawmakers are now wondering how to approach those relationships following a vote that some see as a betrayal. Even many longtime Israel supporters — including Reps. Jack Auchincloss (D-MA), Glenn Ivey (D-MD), Laura Friedman (D-CA), Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Pat Ryan (D-NY) — voted for the amendment, which did not pass. Pro-Israel activists who spent years building trust and gaining access to these lawmakers are now grappling with whether whether those relationships are still worth their continued investment.
To borrow from AIPAC’s old slogan: Are the lawmakers who voted for the amendment still considered friends — or potential friends — of the U.S.-Israel relationship? Or was their vote against the annual aid package to Israel, and against a bill that was opposed by a wide swath of nonpartisan and Democratic Jewish groups, a crossing-the-Rubicon moment that cannot be undone?
Friends and backers of the members of Congress who voted for the amendment are struggling to answer those questions. Several who spoke to Jewish Insider said that a single vote on a measure that was sure to fail should not spell the end of years of friendship. But even as they acknowledged the seismic reverberations of the vote, many also spoke of the need to tread carefully at a politically uncertain moment.
“Our issues are too important to not hold onto the ability to have a conversation with the person, because the votes are not going to end. It’s not going to all of a sudden stop,” Sam Lauter said. He talked to several members of Congress in the days before the vote, including Pelosi, urging them to vote no.
“It’s not a good trend line, but also this idea that we’ve lost the Democrats — let’s not create self-fulfilling prophecies here. There’s an opportunity for us to turn some of this around,” Tyler Gregory, CEO of the Bay Area Jewish Community Relations Council, said. “I am optimistic that several of them could be flipped if the vote had actual consequences, and I think that’s the job ahead of us.”
“Now, if someone said to me, ‘You know what, I voted yes, and my reasoning was because actually I don’t think we should be allies with Israel anymore, and I have no interest in the friendship with the community or the country, I’m done.’ Well, OK, that friendship’s done,” said Lauter.
This vote was destined to fail, but Tyler Gregory, CEO of the Bay Area Jewish Community Relations Council, called it “a dress rehearsal.” It will not be the last time U.S. aid to Israel comes up for a vote, and Gregory said he will need to lean on those lawmaker relationships in the future when the vote is more consequential.
“It’s not a good trend line, but also this idea that we’ve lost the Democrats — let’s not create self-fulfilling prophecies here. There’s an opportunity for us to turn some of this around,” Gregory said. “I am optimistic that several of them could be flipped if the vote had actual consequences, and I think that’s the job ahead of us.”
Halie Soifer, who served as an advisor to then-Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), now leads the Jewish Democratic Council of America, which urged members to vote against the amendment — as did Democratic Majority for Israel and the more liberal J Street. She called the vote “an inflection point,” but said the group is not considering removing its endorsements of lawmakers who supported the amendment.
“We’ve maintained a very consistent, principled position with regard to aid for Israel, and it’s not us that shifted,” Soifer said. “There is clearly a fast-moving shift within the Democratic Party itself, and we’re considering what that means.”
When asked whether she had ever seen so many candidates shift their positions on an issue within a single two-year election cycle, Soifer answered directly: “Absolutely not.”
AIPAC responded to the vote by no longer allowing donations, through its political action committee, to the 18 lawmakers it endorsed who voted for the measure.
“AIPAC members across the country watched this vote closely and are making sure their representatives in Congress who stood on principle hear that they’re appreciated,” AIPAC spokesperson Deryn Sousa told JI.
“The reality is these are our representatives. There is a relationship that we have with most of them, and they continue to be our representatives today, tomorrow, next week,” said Jeremy Burton, the CEO of the Greater Boston Jewish Community Relations Council. “The ones who say, ‘No, I’m still committed to Israel’s security and the Jewish community,’ things like that — and I’m not going to quote any one of them — but the ones who are saying that in these private conversations, it’s incumbent upon them now to show what that means.”
Many activists who have relationships with lawmakers are taking the long view, arguing that cutting ties now will not help in future battles. For a lot of them, Israel is not the only issue about which they are concerned.
Jeremy Burton, the CEO of the Greater Boston Jewish Community Relations Council, said he knows that some Jewish Bostonians have told Massachusetts’ congressional representatives, all of whom voted for the amendment, that this moment represents a “break point.” But as the leader of a nonpartisan organization, he cannot end relationships over a disagreement on one vote. He has other issues — such as nonprofit security funding and cooperation on fighting antisemitism — to consider.
“The reality is these are our representatives. There is a relationship that we have with most of them, and they continue to be our representatives today, tomorrow, next week,” said Burton. “The ones who say, ‘No, I’m still committed to Israel’s security and the Jewish community,’ things like that — and I’m not going to quote any one of them — but the ones who are saying that in these private conversations, it’s incumbent upon them now to show what that means.”
For one Jewish former Biden administration staffer, voting to cut off security aid to Israel must be the red line.
“They’re like, ‘Don’t worry about it. It’s just symbolic.’ Well, no, you’re telling us not to care about it, but clearly other people care about it, and that’s why you’re voting in that way,” said the staffer, who requested anonymity to speak about communal organizations they support. “I don’t think the Jewish community should be giving these people a pass right now, and I believe that’s actually creating an incentive for them to actually take these votes against us and against our interests, because there’s no political consequence or repercussions for them.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said on Thursday that Democrats will adopt a new approach to Israel if the party regains control of the House in November. “The current status quo is unsustainable,” said Jeffries, who voted no on the amendment.
“On one hand, I am really disappointed to see some true friends of mine and Israel vote for the [amendment] or vote ‘present,’” said Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi, a Jewish philanthropist and disability rights advocate in Maryland. “On the other hand, as an American and as a Jew, I am horrified by how Netanyahu and his administration treat Palestinians in the West Bank, give Haredim the ability to be draft-dodgers and don’t show empathy when legitimate security operations accidentally kill an innocent child.”
Many of the 103 Democrats who voted “yes” released statements saying that they still support America’s relationship with Israel, but that they viewed the amendment as a symbolic way to tell Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that they disagreed with his handling of the wars in Gaza and Iran.
In doing so, they tapped into a difficult reality for many of the Jewish activists who wanted to see the measure defeated. Many of those activists also wish Netanyahu would do more to take the concerns of Democrats and liberal Jews into account, even as they think Washington should continue supporting Jerusalem’s security needs.
“On one hand, I am really disappointed to see some true friends of mine and Israel vote for the [amendment] or vote ‘present,’” said Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi, a Jewish philanthropist and disability rights advocate in Maryland. “On the other hand, as an American and as a Jew, I am horrified by how Netanyahu and his administration treat Palestinians in the West Bank, give Haredim the ability to be draft-dodgers and don’t show empathy when legitimate security operations accidentally kill an innocent child.”
In Los Angeles, Democratic donor and pro-Israel activist Howard Welinsky said many of the “yes” votes were a result of political “noise” — namely, concerns about current or future primary challengers from the left. “It’s the volume of the noise, and some members of Congress have more intellectual capacity to withstand it, and others have less,” said Welinsky.
So he is holding out hope that a change in Israel’s political leadership might help rectify Israel’s plummeting support among Democrats. “I just pray that Oct. 27” — the day Israel goes to elections — “gives Israel a new prime minister, and we can turn a page,” said Welinsky.
Plus, Lindsey's legislative legacy
Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images
Rep. Pat Ryan (D-NY) speaks during a Democratic Steering and Policy Committee hearing in the U.S. Capitol on April 10, 2025 in Washington, DC
Good Friday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we cover Rep. Adam Smith’s comments that he was pressured to vote to end U.S. aid to Israel by violent, far-left activists, and report on Rep. Pat Ryan’s offer to return donations from individuals who oppose his vote against Israel aid. We do a deep dive into how anti-Israel candidates raised and spent money ahead of their primaries, and look at how Sen. Lindsey Graham’s sudden death has left the South Carolina Republican’s legislative priorities in limbo. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Ted Deutch, Hakeem Jeffries and Marco Rubio.
We have also launched a new on-demand Live Briefing that you can access throughout the day via our new app (on Apple and Android) and on our website.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by JI Executive Editor Melissa Weiss and Israel Editor Tamara Zieve, with assists from Danielle Cohen-Kanik and Marc Rod. Have a tip? Email us here.
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: Tributes pour in after death of Lindsey Graham, Israel’s staunch defender in the Senate; Vance alleges Israeli influence campaigns ‘manipulating’ American opinion on Iran war; In Georgia’s Senate race, tough choices ahead for the state’s Jewish community. Print the latest edition here.
What We’re Watching
- The Aspen Security Forum concludes this afternoon. This morning, Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and John Cornyn (R-TX) will join former NSA Director Timothy Haugh for a panel on American leadership in an era of advancing technologies.
- The Knesset voted this morning to dissolve itself, sending the body into recess until after the Oct. 27 election.
- We’ll be watching the situation in the Middle East as the U.S. continues to expand its campaign against Iran. Tehran for the first time on Friday acknowledged that the U.S. had struck the Islamic Republic’s energy infrastructure, with the country’s energy ministry calling for residents of the southern provinces to conserve electricity as the area is “currently experiencing extreme heat and attacks on power infrastructure.”
- Meanwhile, Chevron is expected to sign deals today that would see the company invest in two Iraqi oil fields and join a broader consortium looking to build a pipeline to connect Iraq to the Syrian coast as it looks for alternatives to the Strait of Hormuz.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S JOSH KRAUSHAAR
The second-quarter congressional fundraising reports, which were posted on Wednesday, paint a picture of far-left, anti-Israel candidates drawing financial fuel from a growing small-dollar donor network of like-minded individuals.
Nearly all of the Democratic Socialists of America-aligned or virulently anti-Israel candidates were among the Democrats’ leading fundraisers, including lawmakers (like Reps. Rashida Tlaib [D-MI] and Ilhan Omar [D-MN]) who are not facing particularly competitive races.
The highlights: Abdul El-Sayed raised $4.6 million between April and June in the Michigan Senate primary, more than double the $2.1 million that Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) brought in. Disgraced former Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner took in a whopping $9.1 million before dropping out amid allegations of rape, outpacing Sen. Susan Collins’ (R-ME) $5.7 million haul.
On the House side, the DSA duo who won New York City congressional nominations last month — doctoral student Darializa Avila Chevalier and state Assemblywoman Claire Valdez — nearly hit the million-dollar mark in fundraising.
Avila Chevalier raised $952,000 in the run-up to her primary against Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY), coming close to matching the Congressional Hispanic Caucus chairman’s fundraising. Meanwhile, Valdez brought in $942,000 for the quarter, significantly more than the party-backed progressive favorite Antonio Reynoso, the Brooklyn borough president.
The list goes on: Adam Hamawy’s past ties to Islamist radicals didn’t prevent him from winning the nomination in New Jersey’s 12th District, and certainly didn’t stunt his fundraising. Hamawy raised $987,000 in the second quarter, a staggering sum for a low-profile open-seat race. That’s well more than double the total of his nearest fundraising rival.
Melat Kiros, the 29-year-old DSA-backed insurgent who ousted Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO), also outraised the longtime lawmaker in the homestretch of the campaign. Kiros brought in $712,000 between April and June, while DeGette only raised $694,000.
What does this say about the state of our politics?
PRESSURE COOKER
Smith says he was pressured to vote against Israel aid by violent, far-left activists
Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, indicated he voted to cut off military aid to Israel in part because of sustained personal threats against his family and his staff, part of what he described as a violent and relentless campaign of intimidation by far-left anti-Israel activists, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports.
U-turn: Smith voted on Wednesday to support an amendment introduced by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) to strip $3.3 billion in U.S. aid to Israel from the 2027 State Department appropriations bill — a major reversal by the hawkish Democrat after he previously told JI he planned to oppose the measure. In a statement explaining his vote in favor, the high-ranking defense lawmaker said it was a “very close vote.” He said that despite voting to cut off U.S. aid, he was “deeply concerned” about the tactics used by far left activists to pressure him to support such a measure.
Letter of the law: Several House Republicans sent a letter on Thursday to the Department of Justice calling for an investigation into whether New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his international affairs commissioner, Ana María Archila, violated the Logan Act by scheduling a meeting with the Iranian ambassador to the United Nations.
RETURN POLICY
Pat Ryan says he’ll refund AIPAC donors who ask following vote to end U.S. aid to Israel
Rep. Pat Ryan (D-NY) said on Thursday that he no longer wants AIPAC’s endorsement and would be “returning the funds” the group’s PAC had sent his campaign, following his vote on Wednesday, along with 102 other Democrats, to cut off all aid to Israel. The Hudson Valley Democrat also said he would refund individual donors who had previously supported his campaign if they made the request, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.
No thanks: “I expect groups like AIPAC will not support me in my future elections and frankly, I don’t want their support,” he wrote in a social media post explaining his vote, saying he would no longer back $3.3 billion in annual military aid to Israel. In a separate post, Ryan confirmed he did not want AIPAC’s endorsement and would be “returning the funds” sent to his campaign. A spokesperson for Ryan clarified that he was returning AIPAC’s “PAC funds.” Ryan added, “I am grateful for any individual donor who has supported my campaign. My position is clear and if an individual requests a refund, I will happily provide it.”
Changing course: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said on Thursday that should Democrats regain control of the House in the upcoming midterm elections, the party will adopt a “broadly inclusive” but fundamentally new approach to policy on Israel, JI’s Matthew Shea reports.
HEARD AT ASPEN
Turkish national security advisor shrugs off Iranian nuclear program, sidesteps questions on Russian missile system
Akif Çağatay Kılıç, a top foreign policy and security advisor to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, downplayed the threat posed to the region by Iran’s nuclear program, while also repeatedly sidestepping questions about the status of Turkey’s Russian S-400 missile-defense system and efforts to acquire F-35 fighter jets, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports from the Aspen Security Forum.
Nothing to see here: “I don’t perceive that we have a nuclear threat to the level that is being talked about, but we are closely monitoring it, and we’re talking to our Iranian colleagues and friends on how they perceive to be working on their nuclear program — civil nuclear program,” Kılıç said.
Alternative view: Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister Ayman Safadi repeatedly emphasized on Wednesday that any deal with Iran should be comprehensive and ensure an end to Iran’s support for proxy groups and confront its efforts to destabilize the region.
TED TALK
Ted Deutch criticizes ex-colleagues’ votes on ‘meaningless,’ ‘ridiculous’ Massie amendment
American Jewish Committee CEO Ted Deutch, who served as a Democratic member of Congress from 2010-2022, expressed frustration and disappointment with the decision of half of his former caucus to vote this week for an amendment to cut off U.S. military aid to Israel. The issue, Deutch told Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod in an interview Thursday on the sidelines of the Aspen Security Forum, is too important and too sensitive for what some supporters characterized as a show vote on an amendment, led by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), that even many of its supporters saw as deeply flawed.
What he said: Deutch said that he was “glad to see” that many of his colleagues acknowledged that the amendment was “bad policy” and “indirectly acknowledg[ed] that it would damage American interests.” Deutch added, “And yet [they] turned around to vote for it anyway. That was just a really disappointing reflection of the moment.”
Also at Aspen: Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) argued on a panel that the war with Iran had irreparably damaged the U.S.’ reputation and capacity in the Middle East, and that Gulf states would now need to take the lead and negotiate with Iran over the region’s future. On a separate panel, Herro Mustafa Garg, a former U.S. ambassador to Egypt, said the rift between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates hurts U.S. interests in the region and Washington should work to bring the countries and other Gulf Cooperation Council states back together.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Lindsey Graham’s sudden death leaves his legislative priorities in limbo
Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-SC) sudden death last weekend is complicating an already difficult dynamic between Senate Republicans and President Donald Trump, as legislators try to muster enough support in the caucus to pass the president’s key legislative priorities, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports.
The gap left by Graham: Graham’s committee chairmanships, vast donor network and his close relationship with Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio made him a critical leader in Washington whose presence helped move forward multiple bipartisan efforts, especially on foreign policy. He became one of the most geopolitically connected members of Congress, with world leaders and captains of industry on speed dial. “It’s impossible to fill that void, No. 1, so I’ll just take that off the table,” Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, told JI at a press conference on Wednesday at NRSC headquarters on Capitol Hill.
analysis
How socialist candidates cashed in during the left-wing wave
The latest fundraising filing period highlighted the diverse donor bases backing some of the most outspoken critics of Israel and capitalism, with candidates raking in hundreds of thousands from executives and entrepreneurs in tech, medicine and finance. Jewish Insider’s Will Bredderman looked into how ascendant anti-Israel candidates raised and spent money just before and after their primaries.
Doctors’ notes: Darializa Avila Chevalier, the radical grad student who defeated Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY), reported nearly $350,000 in donations in the last three weeks of June. Among the many medical professionals to cut checks to Avila Chevalier was Dr. Mohammed Hadi, a Long Island-based physician charged in 2015 with conspiring to defraud Medicare and distribute oxycodone. Hadi ultimately pleaded guilty in 2024 to misdemeanor theft of government funds.
Read the full round-up here of how some of the most prominent figures got that windfall — and what they did with it.
Worthy Reads
Take This Sabbath Day: In The Wall Street Journal, David Bashevkin reflects on the benefits of unplugging during Shabbat. “The modern world desperately needs a weekly rhythm of rest. But if unplugging promises greater focus, stronger families and richer communities, why has it proved so difficult? The answer isn’t simply that we’re addicted to our phones. It’s that unplugging isn’t enough. A Sabbath isn’t merely the absence of technology. It is the presence of something richer. … The world doesn’t need more reminders to turn off its phones. We’re already receiving plenty of those. What we need is a culture capable of making that unplugging last. In racing toward the future, we are searching for something the ancient world never stopped handing down.” [WSJ]
Echoes of Weimar: In The Free Press, Rod Dreher, who is working on a book about the parallels between Weimar Germany and the present, looks at Vice President JD Vance’s embrace of antisemitic elements of the GOP and recent comments suggesting an Israeli role in scuttling talks with Iran. “As in Weimar Germany and the early years of Nazi rule, Jews were the canary in the cultural, political, and religious coal mine. They still are. Von Papen conservatism, in which respectable right-wing leaders seek to hold on to power by accommodating themselves to extremists, is a dangerous game, and a losing one. Of course criticism of Israel should not be taboo in American political discourse, but that is not what stab-in-the-back scapegoating of the Jewish state and its supporters for decisions made by the commander in chief amounts to.” [FreePress]
Does He Have Any Trump Cards?: Tablet’s Lee Smith considers President Donald Trump’s options vis-a-vis Iran amid stalled talks with Tehran. “The Trump team spent down prestige by negotiating with a side determined to humiliate it, while it stiff-armed domestic allies on whom it depends for political support. And that support could come in especially handy now as the administration returns to a war that is likely to become increasingly unpopular as long as the president fails to devise a strategy to win it. Perhaps even more consequentially, the vice president, ever keen to highlight how U.S. interests diverge from Israel’s, beat up on a partner it is likely to need if it decides to win the war.” [Tablet]
A larger selection of Worthy Reads is available in our Live Briefing.
Word on the Street
Secretary of State Marco Rubio hosted representatives from 67 countries at the State Department on Thursday for a conference focused on far-left political terrorism…
Axios reports that President Donald Trump was angered by comments Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made to Fox News ahead of the NATO summit in Ankara earlier this month, in which the Israeli leader criticized the U.S.’ potential sale of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey; the flare-up came amid a weekslong push by Netanyahu for a White House meeting with the president, which has yet to materialize…
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) said that while he has “no plans” to leave the Democratic Party, he would do so “if our party ever becomes — and just makes it official — the anti-Israel party,” adding that the issue would be one of “moral clarity”…
CNN reports that the son-in-law of Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA), who faces Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) in November, is a social media influencer who has used his platform to promote antisemitic conspiracy theories, Nazi imagery and the white nationalist group Patriot Front on social media; David Alan Scheer II, who is married to Collins’ daughter Summer, also shared an antisemitic infographic that he attributed to his wife…
Shanghai-based financier Neville Roy Singham is facing a federal criminal investigation into whether he illegally funnelled funds through the far-left nonprofit groups he supports; the probe comes nearly a year after GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill called for the Trump administration to investigate Singham’s bankrolling of “extremist organizations fueling division and civil unrest”…
The interim vice chancellor of Australian National University apologized to Jewish students and faculty for the school’s environment during the 2024 anti-Israel encampment on the campus, referring to a risk assessment commissioned by the school that in July 2024 found that Jewish members of the ANU community had faced a “high risk of psychosocial harm” associated with the demonstrations…
Hilton will terminate two of its contracts in Frankfurt, Germany, after the Treasury Department sanctioned the owner of the properties, calling him a “key financier” for Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei…
The Jewish News spotlights “Nabatele,” an inflatable synagogue hovering above the Venice Lagoon that its creator, Jewish Ukrainian artist and architect Anna Kamyshan, said is modeled on the wooden shtetl synagogues of Europe but is airborne to evoke the centuries when Jews had no nation of their own in which to build…
Israel Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar’s office said that Colombia plans to open an embassy in Jerusalem, following the victory of President-elect Abelardo de la Espriella, a right-wing lawyer who beat left-wing Sen. Iván Cepeda in last month’s election…
The Marcus Foundation is making a three-year, $27 million investment in Hillel International in a bid to bolster professional and student leaders on college campuses, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Jay Deitcher reports…
Wine of the Week
JI wine columnist Yitz Applbaum reviews the 2023 Terra Gratia Red:
After three days sampling single-malt casks with Tod Bradbury, head of rare and collectible whiskies at Diageo, the London-based beverage distributor, I was certain my palate would refuse to fall in love with any wine worth writing about this week. Boy, was I wrong. I brought a small group up to Marciano Estate in St. Helena, Calif., where the vineyards sit among the oaks in the quiet northern stretch of Napa Valley. We tasted through a spectacular flight of big reds, and weary as it was, my tongue found its favorite: the 2023 Terra Gratia.
The wine is predominantly cabernet sauvignon, but the 10% cabernet franc is what makes it sing. It opens with soft, supple tannins and moves quickly into a lively dance of pear and plum, closing with one of my favorite finishes: strawberry sorbet. The name means “land of gratitude,” and it fits. Pair it with melt-away miso black cod, its sweet-savory glaze a lovely echo of the wine’s fruit. It drinks beautifully now and will age gracefully for 20 years.
Pic of the Day
U.S., Israeli and Central and Eastern Europe leadership attended their second annual regional strategic dialogue this week, which wrapped up on Wednesday in Belgrade, Serbia. The event, hosted by the Serbian-American Friendship Congress and the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, featured speakers including AIPAC President Emeritus Lee Rosenberg, Serbian Assembly Speaker Ana Brnabić, Start-up Nation co-author Saul Singer and Startup Nation Central founder Wendy Singer.
Birthdays
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 80 on Sunday…
FRIDAY: Chef and two-time James Beard Foundation Award winner, now a consultant to the restaurant and food industries, Joyce Goldstein turns 91… Retired executive director of the North American Association of Synagogue Executives, Harry Hauser turns 83… Professor emeritus at Tel Aviv U, he served as a member of Knesset, minister of foreign affairs and ambassador to Spain, Shlomo Ben-Ami turns 83… Emmy Award-winning play-by-play announcer on radio for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Charley Steiner turns 77… Co-editor of the classic The Big Book of Jewish Humor, Rabbi Moshe Waldoks turns 77… Civil rights and criminal defense attorney, he is the co-founder with Barry Scheck of the Innocence Project, Peter J. Neufeld turns 76… Former chairman of the Board of the Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford, he is now a lecturer at UConn law school, Robert K. Yass… Rabbi emeritus at Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel in Elkins Park, Pa., Lance Jonathan Sussman, Ph.D. turns 72… Managing GP and co-founder of Pitango Venture Capital, he serves as chairman of The Peres Center for Peace & Innovation, Nechemia “Chemi” J. Peres turns 68… CEO of Samson Energy Company, co-founder of Granite Properties and chair of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies, Stacy Helen Schusterman… Business development team lead at Quorum, Steven Lebowitz… Television and film director, Joshua Seftel turns 58… Actor best known for playing Sharona in the television series “Monk,” Elizabeth Natalie “Bitty” Schram turns 58… Rabbi of the Young Israel of Woodmere (Nassau County, N.Y.), Rabbi Shalom Axelrod turns 57… Founder and CEO of Zeta Global, David A. Steinberg turns 57… Stand-up comedian, he was a finalist on the NBC reality-talent show “Last Comic Standing” in two seasons, Gary Gulman turns 56… Treasurer of Australia until 2022, now chairman of the Australian arm of Goldman Sachs, Joshua Anthony “Josh” Frydenberg turns 55… Blogger, journalist and science fiction author, Cory Efram Doctorow turns 55… Chief impact officer at the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey, Naomi Knopf… President and CEO of Mashber Strategies, developing campaigns to fight antisemitism and respond to different types of hate, Matthew E. Berger… Public television host, Shannan Butler Adler… Former member of the Knesset for the Yesh Atid party, Boaz Toporovsky turns 46… Emmy Award-winning actor, comedian, podcaster and writer, Brett Goldstein turns 46… News director at Jewish Currents, previously at Barron’s and the Forward, Josh Nathan-Kazis… Senior account manager at Red Banyan, Jared Sorhaindo… Growth strategy and operations lead and executive director at JPMorgan Chase, Melanie Ettleson… Para table tennis player, he won medals at the 2020 (gold) and 2024 (bronze) Summer Paralympics, Ian Seidenfeld turns 25… Daughter of Jared and Ivanka, Arabella Rose Kushner turns 15…
SATURDAY: Israeli nuclear physicist and professor emeritus at Tel Aviv University, Jonas Alster turns 93… Theoretical chemist, 1981 Nobel laureate in chemistry, he has also published plays and poetry, born Roald Safran, Roald Hoffmann turns 89… President of the Jewish Genealogical Society of the Conejo Valley and Ventura County, Calif., Jan Meisels Allen… Former three-term mayor of Edmonton, Alberta, Stephen Mandel turns 81… Former prime minister of Peru, Yehude Simon Munaro turns 79… Longtime executive director of the MLB Players Association and then the NHL Players Association, Donald Fehr turns 78… Beverly Hills resident, Felisa Bluwal Pivko… Finance, real estate and nursing home executive, Leonard Grunstein turns 74… 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 72… Seattle-area consultant, Elihu Rubin… Former finance chairman of the RNC, Elliott B. Broidy turns 69… Former minister for congressional affairs at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, he was previously the Israeli ambassador to Belarus, Martin Peled-Flax turns 68… 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 48… Deputy director of the White House National Economic Council until 2022, now a professor at NYU law school, David Kamin… Wellness specialist at the Central Conference of American Rabbis, Rabbi Joui Hessel… Co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Alexander Ryvchin turns 43… Reporter for “NBC Nightly News” and “Today,” Gadi Schwartz turns 43… Editorial director for culture and lifestyle at 70 Faces Media, Molly Tolsky… Freelance graphic designer, 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… Deputy editor for crypto at SoFi, 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 32… Freelance Jewish education consultant for BBYO, Yosef Tarshish… Istanbul resident, Izi Doenyas… Ted Rosenberg…
SUNDAY: Retired Israeli airline pilot, he successfully thwarted an in-flight hijacking by Leila Khaled in 1970, Uri Bar-Lev turns 95… Interactive designer, author and artist, in 1986 he married Caroline Kennedy, daughter of the late JFK, Edwin Arthur “Ed” Schlossberg turns 81… 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 81… Co-founder of Limmud FSU, she co-founded UJA-Federation of New York’s Women’s Executive Circle, Sandra F. Cahn… Jewish communal activist in Connecticut, Linda Meyer Russ… Sportswriter for The Athletic and author of three books on baseball, Jayson Stark turns 75… Former CEO of Starbucks Coffee Company, he owned the NBA’s Seattle SuperSonics from 2001 to 2006, Howard Schultz turns 73… 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 71… Former chairman and CEO of Sears Holdings (owner of retailers Sears and Kmart), Edward Scott “Eddie” Lampert turns 64… Israel’s ambassador to Canada until 2023, Ronen Pinchas Hoffman turns 63… Pulitzer Prize-winning NY Times reporter until 2017 and author of The Nazis Next Door: How America Became a Safe Haven for Hitler’s Men, Eric Lichtblau turns 61… Israeli actor, model and film producer, Yael Abecassis turns 59… Spokesperson to the Arab media in the Israel Prime Minister’s Office, Ofir Gendelman turns 55… Member of Congress (D-IL-8), Raja Krishnamoorthi turns 53… Co-chairman and CEO of CheckAlt, an independent provider of treasury and lockbox solutions, Shai Stern… Senior writer and NBA Insider for ESPN, Ramona Leor Shelburne turns 47… Former soccer star at the University of Virginia, now working in the healthcare industry, Chad Prince turns 47… Former deputy mayor of the city of Haifa, now a real estate developer, Shai Abuhatsira turns 46… Ultra-marathon runner, he performs as a mentalist and magician, Oz Pearlman turns 44… Associate partner at McKinsey & Company, Alexis Blair Wolfer… CEO of Clever Bee Academy in Hewlett, N.Y., Ezra David Beren… Israel editor at Jewish Insider, Tamara Zieve turns 41… Director of operations at Tide Realty Capital, Yanky Schorr… White House bureau chief at The Washington Post, Isaac Arnsdorf… Venue coordinator at JW3 London, a UK-based charity engaged in Jewish arts, culture and community, Caroline Mendelsohn Lawrence… First-ever Orthodox Jewish player selected in the MLB Draft, picked No. 77 overall in 2021, now on the minor league injured list, Jacob Steinmetz turns 23… Former EVP and CEO of the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation, Dr. George Ban… Zach Houghton…
‘It is in our interest to strengthen the GCC as much as possible,’ Herro Mustafa Garg said on a panel at the Aspen Security Forum
(KHALED DESOUKI/AFP via Getty Images)
U.S. ambassador to Egypt Herro Mustafa Garg attends a humanitarian conference for Gaza in Cairo on December 2, 2024.
ASPEN, Colo. — The rift growing rift between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates hurts U.S. interests in the region and Washington should work to bring the countries and other Gulf Cooperation Council states back together, Herro Mustafa Garg, a former U.S. ambassador to Egypt, argued on a panel at the Aspen Security Forum on Thursday.
“This conflict, this current war with Iran, made the animosity between these two countries — and some of the other Gulf countries — at a point that is not in the U.S. national interest,” Garg said. “Also, I don’t think it helps us when we think about what we do with Iran, what we do with Iraq. We need a united GCC in order to tackle these important strategic questions.”
She said that with a divided Gulf, the U.S. will see unilateral backchannelling to Iran by various partners, internal suspicion and more. And, she noted, the conflict between the UAE and Saudi Arabia is also playing out in other arenas — including Sudan, Libya and the Horn of Africa — fomenting instability that does not serve the U.S.
“It is in our interest to strengthen the GCC as much as possible,” Garg said.
Garg, who represented the U.S. in Cairo from 2023 until earlier this year, also praised comments by Iraqi President Ali al-Zaidi during a visit to Washington, D.C., this week, in which he committed to efforts to demilitarize Iranian-backed militias in the country, though Garg warned that such a task is easier said than done, given the political and structural constraints in the country and the Iranian regime’s continued resilience.
“This is an area that will be very very important for us to give our support, sustain support, and here again I would say, bring in the GCC because we need this to be not Iran versus U.S., but a coalition supporting Iraq,” Garg continued.
On the same panel, former Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad highlighted the delays in implementing what he described as a laudable peace agreement to end the war in Gaza, including the failure of the proposed governance committee to actually enter Gaza.
He argued that the best path forward would be to establish a technocratic interim government, with the promise of elections at the end of a set period, for a government to manage both the West Bank and Gaza.
He added that the PA has long been stunted by basic failures of governance to provide for basic needs of the Palestinian people and because it lacks broad acceptance and legitimacy. He described the discussions of reform in the PA over the past few years as an exercise in “kicking the can down the road” — and said that the prospect of true reform is difficult to envision at this stage.
“In the way it’s constituted right now, it’s difficult for me to see how the Palestinian Authority can be fundamentally reformed,” Fayyad said. “Part of the reason goes to the fact that actually our own basic law … is not being respected in the way it should be. That is something that was promulgated by our administration going back to 2003. It created a position of prime minister and a purview for a government that has, over the past years, become completely usurped by the president and his office.”
But he emphasized that he believes the PA remains critical and that it must be politically reconfigured such that it becomes a product of popular consensus with true legitimacy.
Kim Ghattas, a Lebanese journalist who writes for The Atlantic, argued on the panel that the focus in Lebanon should move away from disarming Hezbollah, arguing that it’s unrealistic for Israel to expect the Lebanese Armed Forces to expect to go into neighborhoods and villages and forcibly disarm Hezbollah — something the LAF is obligated to do under various international agreements.
Ghattas said that a more realistic path is for the Lebanese government to work on interdicting weapons shipments and going after Hezbollah through legal, judicial and financial restrictions, as well as empowering the Lebanese state to deliver for all its citizens.
Jordan’s foreign minister offered a similar readout during a separate panel earlier in the day.
Sen. Chris Murphy said that the U.S. could no longer guarantee regional security, but that might have a ‘silver lining’ by obligating the Gulf states to negotiate directly with Iran
Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Fair Share America
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) speaks at the U.S. Capitol on April 10, 2025 in Washington, DC.
ASPEN, Colo. — Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) argued on a panel at the Aspen Security Forum on Thursday that the war with Iran had irreparably damaged the U.S.’ reputation and capacity in the Middle East, and that Gulf states would now need to take the lead and negotiate with Iran over the region’s future.
The U.S. has been “effectively eliminated as a security guarantor for our allies” because of what he described as a failed military campaign against Iran, Murphy argued.
“You can make an argument that that could be a long-term silver lining, that the Gulf states will have to sit down and negotiate, at the beginning, the question over the Strait of Hormuz and maybe another set of factors, and in those negotiations, that might be the new reality in the Middle East,” he said.
“Maybe in that conversation with the U.S. not in the lead, but as a partner, there is a solution to the ultimate Iranian control of the strait, but it’s admittedly very hard to answer that question right now,” Murphy continued.
He said that the current state of play suggests that an emboldened, enriched Iran with control of the Strait of Hormuz “seems to be the best-case endgame” and “that is why our allies and friends in the region are questioning whether there is any way the United States can ever secure them.”
Some allies, he acknowledged, want to see the U.S. “finish the job” in Iran, but argued that that’s an unclear and undefined goal that in some cases might involve committing U.S. ground forces.
Asked by moderator Jim Scuitto, a CNN correspondent, how a future Democratic president would approach the situation assuming the current status quo persists through 2028, Murphy said that is “kind of an impossible question,” adding that the U.S. would have to engage with its partners and Iran to try to secure freedom of transit in the Strait of Hormuz. Murphy himself is viewed as a potential presidential candidate.
He said that resolving the current standoff would likely require lifting sanctions and pressuring Israel to permanently end its war against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Asked about the possibility of expanded U.S. strikes on Iranian oil infrastructure, as suggested earlier in the forum by former National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien, Murphy said that would only lead Iran to escalate further by ordering the Houthis to close the Bab el-Mandeb strait.
Iran, in Murphy’s framing, had “taken our best shot and survived” and realized it can use the Strait of Hormuz to increase its leverage at the negotiating table. He said that the current situation essentially removes any leverage the U.S. had in nuclear talks — having surrendered sanctions relief for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and showing that the U.S. military threat is not sufficient to bring down the regime.
As a result, he said that the U.S. would likely not be able to get a better deal than the Obama administration’s 2015 nuclear deal even if talks resumed.
Murphy characterized the war as a catastrophic, generational mistake — “the greatest foreign policy disaster of the last 20 years [and] one of the greatest mistakes any president has made in the world in our country’s history,” which left the U.S. looking “weak and feckless.”
He said that, as a result of the munitions expenditures in the war, the U.S. could not defend Taiwan from China today if it wanted to.
Robert Greenway, who led Middle East policy on the National Security Council during President Donald Trump’s first term, was the primary voice of optimism on the panel, arguing that despite some changing rhetoric, Trump’s objectives have been clear — dating back even to his first administration — and that there is “no question in my mind” that Iran’s capabilities have been significantly degraded.
“Their means and the opportunity to constitute a threat to U.S. vital interests and to global interests, as a matter of fact, are probably the lowest they have ever been since 1979. From the enrichment standpoint, they haven’t been at zero enrichment capacity since 2006,” Greenway said. “So, from an empirical perspective, I would say yes, progress has been made, and I think at this juncture, I would be pleased with that progress. And I don’t think there’s a lot left to be done to eliminate the remaining threat.
He argued that those who are concerned by Iran’s disruptions of the global economy should be supportive of the administration’s military campaign, arguing that Iran would only be more emboldened under a nuclear and missile umbrella.
“This is the most practical way to solve it. Diplomacy up to this point hasn’t prevailed, and it won’t as long as you have a disingenuous partner,” Greenway said. “Now, Iran cannot defend itself from any attack by the United States, or frankly, anyone else.”
Diplomacy, he reiterated, was a “failed approach” and he said military action is the “fastest” and “probably the only realistic way” to achieve the U.S.’ objectives.
He also said that definitively eliminating the threat from Iran would allow the U.S. to reduce its troop presence in the Middle East in the longer term. He said he doesn’t see any need for U.S. ground forces in Iran, arguing that the only potential uses for them would be for search and rescue operations or recovery of Iranian nuclear materials.
But with the nuclear materials currently buried and closely monitored, Greenway said, a ground infiltration to remove them isn’t necessary in the short term, though he said they should be removed from the country in the long term.
Countering Murphy, Greenway also said that many Middle East allies are privately supportive of continued U.S. military operations to finish the job, and are happy to see the threat of Iran reduced, though he acknowledged opinions vary.
Karim Sadjadpour, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, disputed Murphy’s notion that the result of the war would remove the U.S. as a guarantor of regional security. He said that the Gulf countries understand that only the U.S. can protect them in the near term — China and Russia not being viable alternatives — and they still understand and fear Iran as a threat.
But he also acknowledged that, as a consequence of geography, Middle Eastern states will need to seek side deals with Iran to some extent.
Sadjadpour also emphasized that there will never be lasting stability in the Middle East until Iran is led by a government that actually represents the interests of the Iranian people — an aim he said the war did not advance.
“It is militarily weaker than it was four and a half months ago, but … psychologically it feels much stronger. It’s much more confident than it was four and a half months ago before the war,” Sadjadpour said. “I don’t think it’s going to give up its control of the strait anytime soon. I don’t think it’s going to make meaningful compromise anytime soon.”
He compared the current situation in Turkey to post-Soviet Russia — continuing to pursue its own security and destabilize its neighbors, and use energy and trade as a weapon.
He added that leaders in the U.S. often misunderstand Iran, comparing it either to Nazi Germany, an ideologically rigid regime that cannot be bargained with, or to China, ripe for grand bargain and rapprochement. Iran is most similar, he said, to the Soviet Union — not suicidal but not willing to place its economic and national interests above its revolutionary ideology except when faced with “almost existential” economic pressure.
With the Iranians appearing prepared to wait out the Trump administration, Sadjadpour continued, he doesn’t see a clear end to the current war.
Roxana Saberi, a journalist and author with contacts inside Iran, said that most people in the country remain hopeful but were disappointed by the results of the war and the memorandum of understanding, which she said had demonstrably emboldened Iran to step up human rights abuses at home.
Among the anti-regime population in Iran, which she said constitutes 80% of the Iranian public, there are now three groups: those that opposed the war, those that supported it and want to see further strikes and those that have become numb to the situation and are simply trying to survive.
Speaking at the Aspen Security Forum, an advisor to the Turkish president called Iran's nuclear program a 'civil' project and said Ankara is in talks with Washington to resolve a standoff over Russian-made missile defense systems
Photo by Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images
A flag-raising ceremony is held at Bowling Green Park in New York, U.S. on May 15, 2026.
ASPEN, Colo. — Akif Çağatay Kılıç, a top foreign policy and security advisor to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, downplayed the threat posed to the region by Iran’s nuclear program at the Aspen Security Forum, while also repeatedly sidestepping questions about the status of Turkey’s Russian S-400 missile defense system and efforts to acquire F-35 fighter jets.
“I don’t perceive that we have a nuclear threat to the level that is being talked about, but we are closely monitoring it, and we’re talking to our Iranian colleagues and friends on how they perceive to be working on their nuclear program — civil nuclear program,” Kılıç said.
He continued to defend his country’s decision to acquire the S-400 system.
Kılıç also argued that the alternative energy corridors through the region that have been proposed to avoid the Strait of Hormuz are not a viable option so long as the war continues.
Kılıç said that Turkey is working with the U.S. to resolve the “legal issue” around the F-35s and S-400s, emphasizing that the leaders of both countries have expressed a desire to move the F-35 sale forward.
Asked directly about whether Turkey will offload its S-400s, Kılıç prevaricated and did not offer clear answers.
“It’s not easy always to navigate these things. But we’re trying to work with our American partners and allies to find a way that both countries can live with and go towards the future,” Kılıç said.
Robert Kraft’s antisemitism awareness group found 30% of the public now holds antisemitic attitudes — the highest level since it began tracking in 2023
Beth Israel Congregation
Beth Israel Congregation in Jackson, Miss., targeted in an arson attack on Jan. 10, 2026.
Most Americans say they are concerned about antisemitism in the country, yet more than half are unaware of recent major attacks targeting Jews, such as last December’s Bondi Beach terror attack in Sydney, Australia, a new survey from Robert Kraft’s Blue Square Alliance Against Hate found.
Underscoring this lack of awareness, the number of Americans who identify as allies of the Jewish community continued to shrink, according to the anti-hate group’s semiannual survey on U.S. antisemitism.
The report, drawn from a survey of more than 7,000 online respondents from March 4 to April 3, is titled “Worse Than Before: Antisemitic Attitudes Reach New Levels Across the U.S.,” and indicates that responses to antisemitism among the American public are less forceful than they were in the immediate aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks in Israel.
After the Hamas attacks and the onset of the ensuing Gaza war, antisemitic attitudes surged in the U.S., peaking in mid-2024, the Blue Square Alliance found. These numbers have again worsened since August 2025, with negative stereotypes about Jewish people growing most sharply among younger Americans, according to the survey. Additionally, the survey found an uptick in the share of Americans who say they don’t consider Holocaust denial to be antisemitic.
Further, the survey reveals a decline in the public’s desire to combat antisemitism. A plurality of Americans (47%) are now considered “unengaged” in combating anti-Jewish hate, and the share of those characterized as “active allies” has fallen to 23%, down from 30% in August 2025.
According to the group’s typology categorizing Americans according to whether they believe in anti-Jewish tropes, 30% of the population now holds antisemitic attitudes — the highest level recorded by the nonprofit since it began tracking in 2023 and a noticeable increase from 24% in August 2025.
While most Americans say antisemitism is a serious problem, they are often blind to its proximity. The survey found a sharp disconnect — 61% said they would be highly concerned if a Jewish individual or business in their community were harassed, yet only 23% view it as a clear and present threat.
A 53% majority of Americans were unfamiliar with the December 2025 attack at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, in which 15 people were killed during a Hanukkah celebration, and 66% were unaware of the arson of the largest synagogue in Jackson, Miss., in January.
Fifty-five percent of Americans now believe Jewish people can handle antisemitism on their own — up 15 percentage points from June 2023. Gen Z and millennials are more than twice as likely as baby boomers (29% versus 13%) to view Jewish people as a threat to the unity of society.
Meanwhile, nearly one-third (32%) of Americans do not consider Holocaust denial to be antisemitic, up 13 percentage points since June 2023.
The Blue Square Alliance renamed itself from the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism last year, an effort designed to awaken the broader public to anti-Jewish hate. The group’s new name is a reference to its blue square pins that have been distributed to interfaith communities nationwide and posted online as a symbol in the fight against antisemitism.
Adam Katz, the group’s president, told Jewish Insider that the Blue Square Alliance’s ongoing campaigns, including its rebrand, are succeeding in making Americans more aware of antisemitism than they would be otherwise.
“We’ve seen a significant lift in awareness of our brand [and] recognition of our brand [as people] wear or share the blue square and tend to be familiar with the work we’re doing,” said Katz.
Responding to the survey results, Katz said he doesn’t think the solution is “a massive change in our programming, I think it’s continuing to push our programming as fast and as hard as we can.”
He said the group’s Super Bowl ad earlier this year that raised awareness of antisemitic bullying resulted in “nearly half of viewers [taking] action based on seeing the ad, they talked about hate and antisemitism with friends and family, they got more educated on it.”
“That tells us that the messaging works. We need to make sure that we are distributing it as targeted and precisely as we can,” said Katz.
Still, he asserted that getting Americans consistently engaged in antisemitism remains “a real challenge.”
“It’s a function of an extremely fragmented media landscape where everyone is consuming information from different sources and getting personalized feeds, so you have to work that much harder for things like antisemitism to feel proximate,” Katz said. “That’s why we see an almost dichotomous trend — a significant increase in people recognizing antisemitism as a major problem, and simultaneously a significant increase in people saying Jews can handle it on their own. They see it as something that is growing but not something close to them on their street, in their neighborhood. Therefore, they can allow themselves to be on the sidelines.”
Addressing the data that shows antisemitism is significantly higher among Gen Z and millennials compared to older generations, Katz said his organization “needs to focus there.”
“We need even more intense focus on young Americans and making sure we are really meeting them where they are as media consumption evolves.”
‘Without oil, they're nothing,’ the former national security adviser said at the Aspen Security Forum, adding that by cutting it off, the U.S. could ‘turn them into a ‘stan, turn them into a nonentity’
(David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Robert O'Brien, former national security adviser, at an interview during the Republican National Convention (RNC) near the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US, on Wednesday, July 17, 2024.
ASPEN, Colo. — Robert O’Brien, who served as national security advisor during President Donald Trump’s first term, said on Wednesday that the U.S. should target Iran’s oil infrastructure with the goal of choking off its economy — and predicted that the president is moving in that direction.
The former national security advisor said on a panel at the Aspen Security Forum that Trump had been “very, very generous” with Iran but he believes that Trump’s “patience” with Iran is running thin. The next steps, he predicted, would be for the U.S. to “hit them hard” and “finish the job” by targeting sites connected with Iran’s oil infrastructure, including the facilities at Kharg Island, in order to deprive Iran of its ability to produce and export oil.
“Without oil, they’re nothing. With oil, the regime thinks if they can survive, they can just buy more kit,” O’Brien said. “I think President Trump will finish the job. The Iranians are using the old playbook of extend, pretend and snowball. … They’re dealing with a whole new administration with Donald Trump. They don’t understand it, and I think that they’ll pay a heavy penalty for their lack of understanding.”
The first Trump administration’s strategy of maximum pressure through economic sanctions is “not enough” without strikes on Iran’s oil production, he continued.
O’Brien said that cutting short Iran’s oil exports would be the skeleton key to deafening the regime — cutting off its ability to build missiles, support terrorism or rebuild its nuclear program, and said that the U.S. could “turn them into a ‘stan, turn them into a nonentity” and prevent it from ever rebuilding.
The former national security advisor acknowledged that targeting Iranian oil production would hurt the world economy, but made the case that there are other oil producers that would be able to fill the gap with the right support, including Venezuela, Guyana and Mozambique, along with increased production in the U.S.
Asked after the panel by Jewish Insider about how he views the future of Israel policy among conservatives — and about comments by Vice President JD Vance accusing Israel of running a cover influence campaign to undermine the Iran deal and of having ties to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — O’Brien insisted that support for Israel among conservatives, including Vance, remains strong.
O’Brien said he hadn’t heard Vance’s comments but called him a “supporter” and “friend of Israel.” He added that Trump is “a very good friend of Israel. President Trump has Jewish grandkids, I mean, so he cares deeply about it. He got the Abraham Accords for us and sent me to Jerusalem many times. And I can tell you, after Oct. 7, he was very concerned about Israel and has remained so ever since. No better friend to Israel than President Trump.”
He argued that recent polling indicates that support for Israel remains strong among Republicans in general, even among young people, and predicted that issues among “some conservatives — or people who claim to be conservatives” will not “hold.”
“Those of us who value the partnership, love our Jewish friends, our Israeli colleagues, just need to be forthright and stand up for Israel,” O’Brien said. “Israel, I’ve always said throughout my career, is a canary in the coal mine. If people are attacking Israel, the next country they’re going to attack is America, and so we need to stand strong with our allies in Israel, stand strong with Jerusalem, and I think it’s going to be a relationship that lasts long into the future.“
Stephen Hadley, who served as national security advisor in the Bush administration, said on the panel that the U.S. “can do better in terms of an outcome” with Iran, urging the administration to “stop chasing after the Iranians for an agreement on the nuclear issue,” adding that the U.S.’ operations have done significant damage to Iran’s nuclear program and can hit Iran again if it attempts to reconstitute the program.
It’s a similar strategy to that outlined by former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, also a Bush administration alumnus, a day prior at the Aspen conference.
Hadley said the U.S. should be open to nuclear talks if Iran seeks them out — but with the preconditions of no enrichment and no financial paydays for Iran.
He said that with continued sanctions, facilitation of trade along the Omani side of the Strait of Hormuz, strikes on Iranian capabilities threatening trade in the strait and assistance to countries in the region to diversify their export channels in the longer term, the U.S. could erode Iran’s ability to hold the global economy hostage and reach a stable situation.
“Hopefully, someday an Iranian regime will come forward and decide that their pursuit of nuclear weapons and support for Hezbollah and the like has been a dead end, and they will join the countries in the region to try to build a more prosperous and secure Iran for their people,” Hadley said. “If that happens, great. If it does not happen, the kind of arrangement I think I’ve described will protect our interests, protect the interests of our allies. “
At the same time, he emphasized that regime change through air power alone is likely off the table.
“[Trump] has to be clear that his objectives are consistent with the tools and means he has at his disposal,” Hadley said. “I think that’s a mistake he made in Iran initially when he was talking about regime change.”
Former Undersecretary of Defense Michèle Flournoy, who served under President Barack Obama, praised the U.S.’ Operation Midnight Hammer last June as “very targeted, very specific and very effective” — something few Democrats said at the time.
She contrasted her praise of that operation to the war this year, which she said started with unclear objectives, priorities and strategy, a lack of appreciation of the risks and a failure to appreciate the Iranian regime’s durability.
“I don’t know how this is going to conclude,” Flournoy said. “But the most likely outcome is we’re going to have a new normal. Even if the Strait opens, Iran is still going to have a few drones, a few mines to jerk the chain of the international economy when it’s unhappy.”
She said that, even if one agrees with the objectives of the war, “the way it’s been done has not paid enough attention to managing the risks, having a clear strategy, and ensuring you want to translate the military campaign into political outcomes.”
Plus, Vance alleges Israeli influence campaign to extend Iran war
Photo by Kevin Carter/Getty Images
The sun sets behind the U.S. Capitol Building on July 8, 2026 in Washington, D.C.
Good Wednesday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
More than 100 House Democrats, about half of the caucus, voted in favorof Rep. Thomas Massie’s (R-KY) amendment to strip all U.S. aid to Israel out of the State Department appropriations bill this afternoon, including several leaders of the caucus such as Rep. Katherine Clark (D-MA), the No. 2 House Democrat, and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).
While the amendment was overwhelmingly defeated, 314-104, the large segment of Democrats supporting the measure indicates a growing shift away from the party’s historic support for Israel…
Vice President JD Vance, in an episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience” released today, stated repeatedly that Israeli actors are engaged in a “very discreet, very well-funded” influence campaign to extend the war in Iran: “There are some people within their system we know beyond a shadow of a doubt who are manipulating and trying to change American public opinion to keep the war going on indefinitely. Again, not towards any objective, but just indefinitely,” he alleged.
Vance also said that the late disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein “clearly had connections to the highest levels of Israeli intelligence” and to “elements of the Israeli deep state that were left of center”…
The U.S., Israel and Lebanon, wrapping up talks in Rome this week, agreed on the structure and guidelines for implementing the two pilot zones the parties agreed to create in southern Lebanon, a State Department official said today, without specifying a timeline for the IDF’s withdrawal. The parties will now engage in expanded technical talks to implement the trilateral agreement reached in the last round of negotiations…
CENTCOM began another round of strikes against Iran this afternoon; coming after strikes earlier in the day, the pace of the operations appears to be gaining momentum. President Donald Trump is reportedly considering expanding U.S. military efforts to include more airstrikes, utilizing ground forces and targeting nuclear sites again, according to The Wall Street Journal…
Three senior U.S. officials connected to the Board of Peace, the Trump-led body created to resolve the conflict in Gaza, have been meeting with congressional offices this week to request $200 million for the International Stabilization Force, two people with knowledge of the meetings told Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch. The meetings mark the first time that Board of Peace representatives have approached Congress with a funding request…
Ahead of today’s deadline, candidates have begun releasing their fundraising reports for the second quarter. In Georgia, where some in the Jewish community have felt torn between two less-than-ideal options in Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) and his opponent, Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA), Ossoff holds a commanding fundraising advantage: The senator reported raising$20 million this quarter with $42 million in the bank, while Collins raised $2.1 million, leaving him with $2.2 million in cash on hand…
Meanwhile, Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed released his 2025 tax returns, which he is not legally obligated to do but was pressured to do by his opponent in the Democratic primary, Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI). El-Sayed’s reported total income was over $680,000, nearly $300,000 of which was unspecified as to its source…
The anti-Israel American Priorities super PAC made an initial investment of $375,000 to boost El-Sayed in the race; El-Sayed has repeatedly railed against super PAC involvement in politics — particularly that of AIPAC’s United Democracy Project, which is spending heavily in favor of Stevens…
Rep. Hilary Scholten (D-MI), speaking to Semafor about electability concerns in the Democratic Party, criticized progressives who “prop up other candidates who have said really problematic things.” The moderate congresswoman added that El-Sayed, who has been criticized for comments about Stevens seen as misogynistic, “has a problematic record with women”…
A new Quinnipiac poll of Pennsylvania voters found Gov. Josh Shapiro leading his Republican opponent in his reelection race by 13 points, 53-40%, with a 56% overall approval rating. Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) had a 77% approval rating among Republicans, but only 19% among voters in his own party. Nearly half (49%) of voters said the Democratic Party has moved too far to the left, while 42% said the Republican Party has moved too far to the right…
Former White House senior official Brett McGurk is releasing a book, Brink: Inside the Race to Free the October 7 Hostages, on his role leading U.S. efforts under former President Joe Biden to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, due out on Oct. 6 to coincide with the third anniversary of the attacks…
The New York Times examines the role that Hollywood superagent Ari Emanuel could play in the potential presidential run of his brother, former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, as politicians increasingly seek access to media as part of their campaigns; among those close to Ari Emanuel are the UFC’s Dana White, commentator Joe Rogan, pundit Stephen A. Smith as well as Elon Musk…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at what this afternoon’s vote on Massie‘s amendment to cut all U.S. aid to Israel means for the future of Israel policy in the Democratic Party.
At least eight Democratic candidates vying to replace former nominee Graham Platner on the ballotfor U.S. Senate in Maine will take the debate stage tomorrow evening in their first chance to pitch themselves to voters, ahead of the state Democratic Party’s nominating convention later this month.
President Donald Trump will give an address to the nation in the evening, which he has said will largely focus on American election security.
The American Federation of Teachers’ annual convention will kick off in Washington. The second largest teachers’ union in the U.S., the AFT has previously featured anti-Israel resolutions at its gatherings.
The Aspen Security Forum continues with several panels on the Middle East, including speakers such as Akif Çağatay Kılıç, top advisor to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan; Ayman Safadi, Jordan’s foreign minister; Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT); Ted Deutch, CEO of the American Jewish Committee; Dan Shapiro, former U.S. Ambassador to Israel; Rahm Emanuel; Anne Neuberger, former deputy national security advisor; and Salam Fayyad, former prime minister of the Palestinian Authority.
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The VP warned of a ‘very discreet, extremely well-funded campaign’ by Israeli actors who want to see the war extended ‘not towards any objective, but just indefinitely’
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
U.S. Vice President JD Vance speaks during a Turning Point USA event at Akins Ford Arena at the Classic Center on April 14, 2026 in Athens, Georgia.
Vice President JD Vance told podcaster Joe Rogan on Wednesday that he is worried American politicians are being swayed by Israeli “influence campaigns.”
In the three-hour interview on “The Joe Rogan Experience,” Vance warned of a “very discreet, extremely well-funded campaign” to derail negotiations between the U.S. and Iran.
“What does bother me is when those operations, those influence campaigns, actually affect American political judgment, because they shouldn’t. Because we should be thinking, What is in the best interest of the United States of America?”
Vice President JD Vance told Joe Rogan he is worried American politicians are being swayed by Israeli “influence campaigns" and warned of a “very discreet, extremely well-funded campaign” to derail negotiations between the U.S. and Iran.
— Jewish Insider (@jewishinsider) July 15, 2026
Read more: https://t.co/yN72h76DSY pic.twitter.com/eAeh8eAJNm
The interview comes after a series of recent statements in which Vance has criticized Israel’s handling of the Iran war. Last month, he issued a rebuke to Israeli leaders critical of President Donald Trump’s decision to negotiate with Iran, urging them against “attacking the only powerful ally” they have left.
“[Israel is] a country of 9 million people. We have 330 million people. And so, of course, they’re going to try to persuade Americans. They’re going to try to move Americans in one direction or another,” Vance told Rogan. He noted that Israel’s efforts to influence American foreign policy are not themselves suspect — “a lot of other countries do [it],” Vance said — but, rather, that American officials will act in ways that do not serve the American public as a result of Israel’s urging.
Vance compared these alleged Israeli efforts to influence campaigns by Qatar and Russia. “It doesn’t bother me that Qatar tries to influence the United States …. I like a lot of the Qataris, just like I like a lot of the Israelis …. It frankly doesn’t even bother me that Russia or some of these other countries do it. It’s just the nature of being a political leader in 2026,” he said.
He also claimed such Israeli influence campaigns are supportive of war for its own sake: “There are some people within their system we know beyond a shadow of a doubt who are manipulating and trying to change American public opinion to keep the war going on indefinitely. Again, not towards any objective, but just indefinitely,” he said.
In the interview, Vance described an ongoing “massive pro-Israel, anti-Israel debate in the United States of America,” and painted himself as the “reasonable moderate” in that conversation. For that reason, Vance said, he has “been accused of being an antisemite.”
“I guess some people say that I’ve insulted the Jewish religion, which is insane. Like, I have a ton of respect for the Jewish religion,” said Vance. But even as he defended himself against charges of antisemitism, he suggested that his accusers need to acknowledge that American political support for Israel is receding.
“I’ve never heard a good, compelling argument for why I’m an antisemite, even though I’ve been accused of being an antisemite by many people. But what I say to these guys is, look at public opinion, look at the way young Republicans versus Republicans over the age of 65 approach this issue,” said Vance. “Right now, Israel is losing the public opinion battle in the United States of America. It is a simple and obvious fact. Donald Trump has said that publicly.”
What he supports instead is a reevaluation of the U.S.-Israel relationship, he said.
“Israel is an ally like France or like the United Kingdom. We’re going to have disagreements with them. We’re going to have agreements with them,” said Vance. “So my approach to this is to say, you know what? When we’re partnered, great, let’s work together. When we’re not, let’s just be honest about it. And for that, people attack me for being an antisemite or anti-Israel, and they don’t see the writing on the wall, that I’m actually just the guy advocating for a normal relationship with a normal country that’s based around shared interests, as opposed to based around something else.”
It’s a position that sounds similar to recent policy positions adopted by J Street, the progressive Israel advocacy group. J Street said in April, when it announced that the U.S. should no longer support any foreign military aid to Israel, that the country should be treated as a “normal ally — not an exception that receives unquestioning, blank check support from the United States.”
Later in the interview, in a lengthy discussion about disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, Vance agreed with Rogan’s comments that some have claimed that Epstein may have been connected to the Mossad, Israel’s intelligence service.
“He clearly had connections to the highest levels of American intelligence. He clearly had connections to the highest levels of Israeli intelligence,” said Vance.
Former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, joining Rice at the Aspen Security Forum, said the U.S. was right to launch the war but may have overestimated or overstated its own capabilities
(Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images)
Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice attends the swearing-in ceremony for Chairman of the Federal Reserve Kevin Warsh in the East Room of the White House on May 22, 2026 in Washington, DC.
ASPEN, Colo. — Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Tuesday opposed any nuclear deal with Iran, arguing at the Aspen Security Forum that the U.S. should continue pressure on Iran’s economy and “see what happens.”
Meanwhile, former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper speaking alongside Rice on a panel, suggested that the U.S. had potentially overestimated its capabilities in the war, agreeing that continued economic pressure and a renewed blockade would be the best strategies going forward.
The two, speaking at the Aspen Security Forum, also offered strong criticisms of U.S. allies for not joining with and at times attempting to obstruct the U.S. campaign against Iran.
“I would not buy a nuclear agreement [with Iran] under any circumstances. I’d let them sit there and stew in their lousy economy, where most of their A-level nuclear scientists have been killed, where I believe there are deep splits in the Iranian government … and let’s just see what happens,” Rice said. “I wouldn’t give them a penny back, and let’s just see what happens to that economy over time.”
Rice said that she believes the U.S. did do significant damage to Iran’s nuclear program and that she’s “quite confident” that the country is not in a position to produce a nuclear weapon in the near future.
Mark Esper, who served during President Donald Trump’s first term, said that the U.S. war on Iran was a “a good thing to do to show the seriousness of of how we felt about this and our willingness to commit force to do that” but added, “we can discuss whether our reach exceeded our grasp, and some of the language used about unconditional surrender, et cetera, pushed them into a corner”
He said that a success in the war would require a return to the status quo in the Strait of Hormuz and a deal on Iran’s nuclear program superior to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
Esper argued that there would be no way to bring such a result solely through airstrikes, and that the primary path forward should be renewed economic pressure on Iran, including a renewed blockade targeting Iran’s ports and land and air routes. He said the U.S. should continue to respond to Iranian attacks with strikes on its missile and drone capabilities.
Esper said that strategy will take time, patience, discipline and the support of allies and come at the cost of higher gas prices. He said the end goal should not be to collapse the Iranian regime but to bring Iran back to the negotiating table.
“That approach, barring — I’m open to any better one — gives you the highest return with the lowest risk to where we don’t want to go,” Esper said.
Former Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker, who also spoke on the panel, emphasized that economic pressure is a useful tool, which can be effective but takes time, will and coordination, without which there are ways to evade sanctions.
“I’m hopeful that with all this pressure, that something rational can come of this, because we’re not in a good place right now, obviously,” Pritzker said.
Rice and Esper both expressed frustration with U.S. allies’ refusal to cooperate with the U.S. operations and, particularly, European allies’ decisions to block the U.S. from using their bases in their countries in the course of those operations — a move Esper called “really stupid.”
Rice said it was “really not a very smart thing” for allies to dismiss the conflict as not “our war.”
She said would have “preferred” if the U.S. had worked more closely with its allies before the operation, but acknowledged that actually getting them onboard would have been questionable, pointing to her own experience trying to bring allies onboard with the Iraq invasion during the Bush administration.
Sometimes, she said, “the United States has to do something really hard, like really deal with a bad guy who’s been a bad guy for a long time,” she said, emphasizing that the sophistication and range of Iran’s missile program was increasing and it was preparing to make a major agreement with Russia on missiles. “When the time comes, if it’s your ally and your friend, even if you’re not going to join, you don’t try to harm the effort,” she said.
“When I hear, ‘Well, it wasn’t imminent,’ I think, ‘Do you really want to wait until it’s imminent, or do you want to try to degrade it earlier?’” she continued.
Both Esper and Rice warned that, through their actions around the Iran war and comments denigrating the U.S.’ reliability as an ally, or declaring that they will handle their own defense without American assistance, allies are only playing into the hands of those who want to see those alliances collapse.
“You may speak into existence exactly what you need to avoid, because there are some people inside the American political system, on both sides of the aisle, who would be perfectly happy to withdraw from the world, and you don’t want to help empower those people,” Rice warned.
Plus, Dem leaders split on Israel aid
Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) questions U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth as he testifies before the House Armed Services Committee April 29, 2026.
Good Tuesday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a warning to Iranian leaders, as military hostilities escalate between Iran and the U.S.: “Do not count on there being calm if you attack us,” Netanyahu addressed Tehran, while speaking today at a conference in southern Israel. “Do not expect a repeat of what happened before, because there will be no repeat. … Any further attempt to harm us will be met with a different response — far more powerful”…
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump walked back his announcement that the U.S. would institute a 20% toll on all cargo passing through the Strait of Hormuz, saying in a post on Truth Social that Middle East leaders had agreed to additional trade and investment deals with the U.S. to replace the fee…
CENTCOM announced it began launching an additional round of strikes against Iran this afternoon “to continue degrading Iranian capabilities used to attack commercial shipping” in the strait, and officially reinstated a blockade on Iranian ports. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it launched missile and drone attacks in retaliation against bases in Kuwait and Bahrain…
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said he would oppose an amendment led by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) to strip all aid to Israel out of the 2027 State Department appropriations bill, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. But Jeffries also argued for “urgent change” to the U.S.-Israel relationship, including suggesting that direct U.S. military aid to Israel should end when the current memorandum of understanding expires.
Progressive Caucus Chair Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX), on the other hand, said he plans to vote yes on Massie’s amendment, writing in a “Dear Colleague” letter that the “American people are crying out for an end to US tax dollars subsidizing Israel’s military”…
Israeli Transportation Minister Miri Regev announced today that the U.S. will only be permitted to station 20 military refueling aircraft at Ben Gurion Airport, while the rest must be parked at Israeli Air Force bases, in order to facilitate commercial travel for Israelis over the summer…
U.N. official Ramiz Alakbarov accused Hamas forces of interfering at a humanitarian aid distribution site in Gaza, saying armed men had entered a warehouse and “endangered humanitarian personnel,” leading the organization to suspend its operations at the site. “These incidents are not isolated. They are completely unacceptable and reflect an increasingly dangerous pattern of intimidation, violence and obstruction,” Alakbarov said…
Trump asked Netanyahu in a phone call last week to pull IDF forces back from Syria and Lebanon, Axios reports; the Prime Minister’s Office said Netanyahu in turn emphasized Israel’s need for security zones along its borders…
The Jewish Community Relations Council Bay Area issued a statement today on Rep. Ro Khanna’s (D-CA) recent encounter in the West Bank, where he claims he was detained by violent settlers as well as the IDF. The group said it has “conveyed our concerns to the Congressman in how he is representing the district and our community on foreign policy issues” and called on Khanna “to exercise the same urgency he has brought to criticizing Israel to address the hostile climate many Jewish Americans face every day”…
Pressed repeatedly by writers with the Hamas-sympathetic outlet Drop Site News to offer support for the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks and Palestinians’ “right to kill Israeli soldiers,” Khanna said he is “not for violence in any way”…
Asked about legislation imposing sanctions on Russia that was championed by the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Trump said in the Oval Office today that lawmakers “may be adding Iran to it … They may add Hezbollah, too.” He said there’s a “good chance” it will pass “in honor of Lindsey”…
White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were spotted in the Senate chamber during the swearing-in this afternoon of Darline Graham Nordone to fill Graham’s seat…
The AIPAC-linked United Democracy Project super PAC sent direct mail to voters in Michigan highlighting far-left Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed’s refusal to condemn extreme rhetoric from antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker and El-Sayed’s efforts to “rationalize” the attack on Michigan’s Temple Israel earlier this year…
Columbia University anti-Israel protest leader Mahmoud Khalil filed a civil rights lawsuit against Trump administration officials, the Heritage Foundation and pro-Israel groups Canary Mission and Betar, alleging they “sought to terrorize” him to “intimidate and silence the growing movement for Palestinian rights”…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for an interview with Avi Loeb, the Israeli Harvard scientist leading Trump’s search for answers that may be out of this world.
Trump will headline the last day of Sen. Dave McCormick’s (R-PA) Pennsylvania Defense and Innovation Summit at the U.S. Army War College, with additional remarks from Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon.
The Aspen Security Forum in Colorado will feature fireside chats with former Navy Secretary John Phelan and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. Also on tomorrow’s agenda: a live taping of the “What the Hell is Going On?” podcast hosted by the American Enterprise Institute’s Danielle Pletka and Marc Thiessen, in conversation with former National Security Advisors Stephen Hadley and Robert O’Brien as well as Michèle Flournoy, former under secretary of defense for policy.
Jay Clayton will appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee for his confirmation hearing to be director of national intelligence, after Trump abruptly canceled his hearing originally scheduled for last month.
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) will speak at the Hudson Institute on the future of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East..
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MICHIGAN MATTERS
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PEACH STATE PROBLEMS
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Top contributors to Florida gubernatorial candidate James Fishback are also bankrolling Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Abdul El-Sayed and Andre Carson
Trump said the change came after ‘highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership’
SAUL LOEB / AFP via Getty Images
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine speaks as a map of the Strait of Hormuz is displayed during a press briefing at the Pentagon in Washington, DC, on April 16, 2026.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday walked back his announcement, made the previous day, that the U.S. would institute a 20% fee on cargo transiting the Strait of Hormuz, saying the toll would be replaced by trade deals with Gulf states.
Trump, having hosted Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi at the White House Tuesday morning, wrote on Truth Social that his change of heart was “based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership,” and that the deals “will be MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future.”
Trump did not name specific countries, provide figures or outline a timeline for the new arrangement.
Trump reiterated in his post that the U.S. blockade, reinstituted on Tuesday, will remain in place on Iranian ships and cargo.
The reversal follows a rapidly escalating military exchange in the Gulf: The U.S. carried out a third consecutive night of strikes against Iranian targets early Tuesday. Iran, in turn, claimed to have struck and disabled two tankers in the strait and fired on Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait.
With Graham’s death, one chapter in U.S.-Israel relations has closed. Now, Rahm Emanuel and Ro Khanna are jockeying to write the next
(Amir Levy/Getty Images)
US Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) attends a press conference on US-Israel relations on February 17, 2025 at the Kempinski Hotel in Tel Aviv, Israel.
In the span of five days, one of Washington’s most vocal champions of the U.S. relationship with Israel died, while two prospective 2028 Democratic presidential contenders traveled to the Jewish state to define their approaches to the country. Though a coincidence of timing, those events, when taken together, underscored something much more significant: the passing of one generation of American politics vis-a-vis Israel and the opening contest over what will succeed it.
The events of the last week have distilled concerns that have repeatedly emerged at Jewish and Israeli gatherings, over Shabbat meals and in breakfast meetings: As the far left gains traction within the Democratic Party, and as the isolationist right increasingly finds support among Republicans, what does that mean for American Jews and U.S. support for Israel?
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who died suddenly on Saturday, represented a generation of politicians — across the political spectrum — for whom support for Israel was tied to deep, long-standing relationships with the Jewish state’s leaders, the belief in the country’s strategic positioning as a key ally and the ability of Israel’s friends in Washington to challenge Jerusalem without imperiling the relationship.
His death sent shockwaves across the Jewish community at a time when U.S. support for Israel — including among Republicans — is on the decline.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), speaking to JI earlier this week, described Graham as “a passionate and formidable defender of Israel” and noted that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “trusted Lindsey and listened to him.”
Cruz pointed out that “Lindsey would sometimes tell his friends messages they didn’t want to hear. Lindsey was not one to just blow smoke. He would tell people exactly what he thought, but that made him an incredibly effective advocate for Israel.”
Days before Graham died, former U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel was in Israel, where he delivered a speech — his own version of tough talk to Israelis — at Tel Aviv University on the future of the U.S.-Israel relationship. Speaking to reporters ahead of his speech, Emanuel, who served as White House chief of staff from 2009-2010, said that declining U.S. support for Israel “is not a Democratic Party problem. This is an American problem, and a generational problem.”
Emanuel pointed to an Associated Press/NORC Research poll released last week that showed declining support for Israel across both parties in the wake of the war in Gaza — though the erosion was considerably more pronounced among Democrats. The survey, which was conducted last month, also found that 3 in 10 Americans — including 2 in 10 Republicans under the age of 45 — believe Israel committed genocide in Gaza.
Meanwhile, a new survey from the Pew Research Center released on Friday found Israel underwater with young Americans across the political spectrum. Just 12% of Democrats between the ages of 18-29 have a favorable view of Israel, the survey found. Among young Republicans, that number is higher — but not by much. Twenty-eight percent of Republicans ages 18-29 had a favorable view of Israel. Contrast that with the 75% of Republicans (and 47% of Democrats) above the age of 65 who have favorable views of Israel.
Views of Israelis themselves are only somewhat less negative, with 33% of those surveyed between the ages of 18-29 having a favorable view of the people of Israel — not the government. Among young Republicans, that figure is 42% — something that should trigger flashing warning lights among those who have long relied on the support of an aging generation of politicians and voters who share Graham’s pro-Israel disposition.
While the shift among Republicans is happening at a slower rate, movement in the GOP regarding Israel is apparent as the party’s “restrainers,” led by Vice President JD Vance, gain traction among young conservatives. As if to underscore the changing party dynamics, Politico yesterday reported on concerns among Republican Jewish donors over Vance’s approach to the Jewish state, citing his tough rhetoric toward Israeli leaders and support for diplomacy with Iran.
Separate from Emanuel’s trip, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) also traveled to Israel last week, gaining attention for an incident in the West Bank in which local security forces stopped Khanna, who was accompanied by two aides and an activist with Breaking the Silence, after the congressman entered what had been until recently a closed military zone. He has since called for Israel to investigate the incident, even as Israeli officials denied elements of the congressman’s account. Khanna has not provided any evidence to back up his claim of being detained by settlers.
Speaking to The New York Times after he returned to the U.S., Khanna said, “Free advice to the Israelis: It’s not a good idea to detain long-shot presidential candidates. Not how you’re going to build good will with the next American president, whoever that is.”
In his public comments and meetings, Emanuel conveyed a desire to halt the growing daylight between future generations of Israelis and Americans. Khanna, who a decade ago was a staunch supporter of close ties with Jerusalem, has adopted a different political calculation, leaning into the growing anti-Israel sentiment in his party as a launching pad for a national campaign.
It’s no coincidence that two 2028 hopefuls chose to soft-launch their campaigns in Israel, conveying caution rather than camaraderie. It’s a sharp pivot from 18 years ago, when Barack Obama and John McCain — then their parties’ respective presidential nominees — each visited Israel in the run-up to the election, meeting with Israeli leaders and expressing support with the Israeli people.
If candidates used to travel to Israel to reassure both their constituencies and the Israeli populace of the strength of the U.S.-Israel relationship, the candidates traveling to Israel in 2026 are doing so to define themselves, and in the process treating the Jewish state as a test of political identity.
The sort of stalwart support of generations past is rapidly eroding, leaving pro-Israel Americans on both sides of the aisle battling strong headwinds as those who represent the future of their parties shift their approaches to the Jewish state. With Graham’s death, one chapter in U.S.-Israel relations has closed. Now, Emanuel and Khanna are jockeying to write the next.
Plus, Graham's Senate seat kept in the family
Shady Alassar/Anadolu via Getty Images
Commercial vessels and oil tankers preparing to transit through the Strait of Hormuz maintain their wait in the Gulf of Oman, on June 17, 2026.
Good Monday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
President Donald Trump declared today that the U.S. will take control of the Strait of Hormuz and will institute a 20% fee on all cargo passing through the waterway “for any and all costs necessary to do the job of providing safety and security to this very volatile section of the World,” Jewish Insider’s Christina Sher reports. The move comes after Trump and his administration insisted for months that no country is permitted to charge fees to transiting ships…
Trump also announced he is reinstating a blockade of Iranian ports, which was lifted when the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding last month. CENTCOM said the blockade will resume tomorrow at 4 p.m. ET and will be enforced “against vessels transiting to or from Iranian ports and coastal areas.”
CENTCOM also revealed that it successfully deployed sea drones in combat operations for the first time yesterday, using the unmanned vessels to strike an Iranian submarine at the Bandar Abbas Naval Base…
Trump notified Congress on Friday that fighting with Iran officially resumed last week, further stoking tensions between the executive and legislative branches as lawmakers already approved a war powers resolution calling for an end to American operations in Iran.
Trump’s letter to congressional leadership said U.S. “ground forces are not involved in these strikes” — which he described as “limited, measured, planned, and executed in a manner designed to minimize civilian casualties” — and said he is acting “pursuant to [his] constitutional authority as Commander in Chief”…
The Mossad spent years grooming former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as an intelligence asset to be installed as Iran’s leader after a post-Khamenei regime change, including paying for his housing and travel and arranging a meeting with then-Mossad chief David Barnea under cover of a climate conference in Budapest in 2024, American and Iranian officials told The New York Times.
As the Iran war broke out on Feb. 28, Mossad operatives rescued Ahmadinejad from an Israeli airstrike on his Tehran compound and took him to a safe house, but he balked and left — Ahmadinejad is now reportedly under house arrest by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps…
The Houthis accused Saudi Arabia of bombing Yemen’s international airport today, with a spokesperson saying the action “will not go unanswered,” threatening a tenuous truce enacted several years ago between the terror group and the Saudis. A spokesperson for the internationally recognized Yemeni government, which is backed by Riyadh, said the Houthis subsequently fired ballistic missiles into Saudi Arabia…
U.K. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced on Monday that the country designated the IRGC as a terror organization, with those found guilty of supporting the group facing up to 14 years in prison. The government also banned the Islamic Movement of Companions of the Right, which No. 10 Downing St. said was behind a number of attacks on British Jewish sites…
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster announced at a press conference this afternoon that he is appointing Darline Graham Nordone, the late Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-SC) sister, to serve out the rest of Graham’s term. Trump had voiced his support for Nordone, who shared an exceptionally close bond with her brother, as “a fabulous tribute to Lindsey.” Fox Newsreported that Nordone could be sworn in as soon as Wednesday…
The Trump administration plans to launch a major diplomatic offensive against the International Criminal Court, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced today, the latest move in the White House’s longtime battle against the international organization.
The push appears to be rooted in concerns that the ICC will seek to prosecute American servicemembers, JI’s Gabby Deutch reports. Such actions would not only be “a grave overreach of its purported authorities,” Rubio wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, “it would mean the death of the U.S. as a sovereign and independent nation”…
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani vowed that he would maintain ties with Morris Katz, the controversial political operative behind Mamdani’s own victory as well as the imploded campaign of former Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner, JI’s Will Bredderman reports, despite calls from members of the Democratic Socialists of America to boycott the consultant’s services…
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), a member of the Squad and a vocal detractor of Israel, endorsed far-left Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed today, joining fellow Squad members Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Summer Lee (D-PA) and Delia Ramirez (D-IL) in backing him less than a month before the primary…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at the surging anti-Israel candidate in the Democratic primary for Michigan‘s swing 7th Congressional District.
The sixth round of talks between Israel and Lebanon are slated to begin tomorrow in Rome, despite Beirut’s reported threat not to attend if the IDF did not vacate two pilot zones in southern Lebanon before the discussions. Israeli media reported that this week’s talks will focus on the timeline for the withdrawal.
The Aspen Security Forum, the high-profile annual gathering of national security leaders, policymakers and foreign policy experts, begins tomorrow afternoon in Colorado. Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, former Defense Secretary Mark Esper and former Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker will speak on a panel on the “state of the world.”
The two-day Pennsylvania Defense and Innovation Summit, hosted by Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA), will kick off at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pa., with a keynote address from Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine.
Some House Republicans were invited to a dinner tomorrow night with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, according to Punchbowl News, as the Trump administration is seeking more than $67 billion for the Pentagon in its supplemental funding request.
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REMEMBERING
Tributes pour in after death of Lindsey Graham, Israel’s staunch defender in the Senate
Trump, Cruz, Fetterman, Coons and Jewish organizations remembered the South Carolina Republican, who died suddenly at 71
FOLLOW THE MONEY
Radical GOP governor hopeful got cash from backers of far-left Dems
Top contributors to Florida gubernatorial candidate James Fishback are also bankrolling Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Abdul El-Sayed and Andre Carson
The secretary of state warned that the international body threatens the American way of life and said he will pressure U.S. allies to withdraw from the body
Photo by Eric Lee / POOL / AFP via Getty Images
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to the media upon arrival at al-Bateen Executive Airport in Abu Dhabi on June 23, 2026.
The Trump administration plans to launch a major diplomatic offensive against the International Criminal Court, furthering the White House’s long-running battle against the international organization, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Monday. The ICC poses a threat not just to American sovereignty, but to the American way of life, Rubio said, as he pledged to deploy American diplomatic power to sanction and target the body.
“For 250 years, Americans have governed ourselves as a free and sovereign people,” Rubio said in a video, which was accompanied by an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal. He described America’s legal system as “the essential and indispensable feature of our form of government,” but cautioned that “powerful people in far away places want to take that away from us.” He warned of shadowy “unelected globalist bureaucrats who claim their power is almost unlimited,” unless the U.S. acts quickly.
"The ICC and its friends are waging a war against our country," Marco Rubio said in a State Department video about the administration's diplomatic offensive against the international organization.
— Jewish Insider (@jewishinsider) July 13, 2026
"Not with bullets or missiles but with statutes and compacts and the force of… pic.twitter.com/j40vaZwwid
The Trump administration pledged to undertake “a wide range of actions” to make sure that the ICC, seated in The Hague, Netherlands, “is incapable of threatening U.S. sovereignty or targeting Americans,” according to a State Department statement.
Senior U.S. diplomats will follow Rubio’s lead, with public relations campaigns spotlighting the alleged abuses of the ICC and urging U.S. allies to withdraw from the body.
The campaign appears to be rooted in concerns that the ICC will seek to prosecute American servicemembers. Such actions would not only be “a grave overreach of its purported authorities,” Rubio wrote in the op-ed, “It would mean the death of the U.S. as a sovereign and independent nation.” Washington wants countries that partner with the U.S. military and American law enforcement, or that otherwise benefit from American security support, to push back on this purported ability of the court to prosecute American military officials.
“The ICC and its friends are waging a war against our country, not with bullets or missiles, but with statutes, compacts and the force of so-called international law,” Rubio said.
The campaign is the latest effort in the Trump administration’s push against the ICC, which has been an ongoing focus of President Donald Trump’s second term. Trump first sanctioned the court just weeks into his second term, with a February 2025 executive order targeting ICC officials who investigate Americans and Israelis with financial sanctions and visa restrictions. Last December, the State Department sanctioned two ICC judges for their targeting of Israeli leaders.
The U.S. is not a party to the Rome Statute, the international treaty that created the ICC; President Bill Clinton signed the statute but the Senate never ratified it.
Rubio made clear on Monday that in the latest stage of this offensive, “no diplomatic option will be off-limits.” The U.S. is considering heightened scrutiny of countries that rely on American assistance while also supporting the ICC, and urging nations that — like the U.S. — are not parties to the Rome Statute to join the American campaign against the body. Additional sanctions against the ICC and its personnel may follow.
The president also said he is reinstating a blockade on Iranian ports
AFPTV / AFP via Getty Images
A cargo ship anchoring near the Strait of Hormuz off the eastern coast of the United Arab Emirates on July 12, 2026.
President Donald Trump declared on Monday that the U.S. will take control of the Strait of Hormuz and said Washington will institute a 20% fee on all cargo passing through the waterway “for any and all costs necessary to do the job of providing safety and security to this very volatile section of the World.”
“The Hormuz Strait is OPEN, and will remain OPEN, with or without Iran,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “The U.S.A. will be, from this point forward, known as ‘THE GUARDIAN OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT,’ but as such, and as a matter of FAIRNESS, will be reimbursed, at the rate of 20% on all cargo shipped.”
Trump’s comments came after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced on Sunday that the strait was considered closed until further notice.
Trump also said he is reinstating the U.S. blockade on Iran, which had been lifted as part of the memorandum of understanding signed between the two countries last month. The blockade will once again prevent “Iran’s ships or customers from entering or leaving,” he said. “All other countries will have fair and open use of the Strait.”
Earlier on Monday, Trump said during a “Fox & Friends” interview that “we’re going to keep the strait, and we’ll probably run it.”
Trump has declared the MOU, which said Iran would oversee arrangements for ships transiting the key waterway, as finished.
“We had a deal. It was a done deal, and then they broke it. They always break it,” Trump said of Iran on Monday, declaring his intent to “hit them very hard.” The U.S. struck Iranian targets near the strait on Sunday night after Iran hit a Cyprus-flagged container ship, prompting Iran to fire barrages of drones and missiles at Qatar, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.
Iran has attacked several commercial tankers this month for traversing the strait through “unauthorized routes.”
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps said that normal shipping traffic can only resume if the U.S. ends its military involvement in the strait entirely, according to Iranian state media.
Israeli Ambassador Yechiel Leiter said Khanna had declined a request to coordinate with the embassy for the trip where he was stopped by Israeli settlers in the West Bank
Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) questions U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth as he testifies before the House Armed Services Committee April 29, 2026.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) on Sunday called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to launch an investigation after the lawmaker said he was harassed by Israeli settlers in the West Bank last week, an incident Netanyahu attributed to a small group of “vigilantes.”
During his first known trip to Israel and the West Bank since October 2024, Khanna said that his delegation’s van had been surrounded, stopped and taunted last Wednesday by Israeli settlers armed with U.S.-made M4 rifles during a tour of the southern West Bank, an incident that a New York Times photographer traveling in a different vehicle said he witnessed.
Khanna claimed IDF vehicles then appeared, and the soldiers spoke amiably with the settlers and continued to block the road themselves after the settlers departed. The IDF denied that the visitors were detained by military personnel.
Cameron Kasky, an aide to Khanna, said the group was held for over an hour and appealed to the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem for assistance. Kasky previously ran in the Democratic primary in New York’s 12th Congressional District on an explicitly anti-Israel platform.
Khanna told NBC News the incident had made him “more resolved” to consider a presidential run in 2028.
“I have something unique to offer about the injustices of Palestinians,” he told the Times. “I’m going to go to every corner of America, regardless of whether I run or not, and tell their stories and tell the story of what is happening in the West Bank.”
An IDF spokesperson told NBC that troops and police officers were dispatched to the scene in a “closed military zone” after a “report was received regarding Israeli civilians who were unlawfully blocking the vehicle of foreign nationals.” The military said the soldiers reopened the road and let the delegation through.
Israel Police said that officers on the scene did not witness any violence and that the group was stopped in a restricted zone. Israel prohibits its citizens from entering certain areas of the West Bank without an IDF permit, particularly Palestinian Authority-controlled Area A, which are typically marked with warning signs. Foreign civilians are generally not legally barred from these areas, though they may be subject to security advisories or temporary restrictions.
Police added that Khanna’s tour group leader was warned of a possible arrest and that the group was told that civilians were not permitted in the area, before being released. Khanna said that his office had alerted the Israeli Embassy in Washington of his visit — a claim that was denied by the Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter.
Speaking on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” Leiter said that Khanna’s team did not alert Israeli authorities, saying instead that the California lawmaker had ignored a request from officials to allow them to assist in coordinating the trip.
“We reached out to him [Khanna] when we heard he was going to Israel … We suggested he visit with survivors of the Oct. 7 [2023] massacre, that he visit the borders so he understands the issues that we have on our borders and so on,” Leiter said. “He [Khanna] ignored that and he decided to coordinate his trip not with Israel, but with Palestinian activists and with J Street.”
“There was a question about visas, that’s all,” Leiter added of Khanna’s outreach to the embassy. “But when we requested that he coordinate the trip with us, he rejected that by basically staying silent.”
J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami on Sunday denied that J Street had any involvement in organizing Khanna’s visit.
Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Khanna called the encounter “unprecedented” and accused the IDF of “lying.”
“They had violent settlers detain American citizens, including an American government official,” Khanna said. “You had these settlers brandishing M4s, kicking the tires of our van, laughing at us, mocking us, videotaping us. We were detained for about 20 minutes, fearful for our lives. Then the IDF comes, four soldiers, they tell our translator that they’re on the side of the settlers.”
Also appearing on NBC on Sunday, Netanyahu insisted that Israel is “a country of laws” and blamed the confrontation on a fringe group of “vigilantes.”
“We’re a country of laws, and people who break the law, we take them to court,” Netanyahu said. “There is a vigilante effort, not by the settler community … There are 150 juvenile delinquents that are not part of that community. They come from other parts of Israel. I don’t want vigilantes of any kind, and we are working to put them under the law.”
Responding to Netanyahu’s remarks, Khanna pushed the Israeli leader to further investigate the matter.
“The prime minister needs to open an investigation on these violent settlers,” Khanna said. “They need to be prosecuted … their outpost needs to be investigated, and he [Netanyahu] needs to have an investigation on these four IDF officers.”
“Security cameras can see that they were involved in the detention of American citizens,” he added. “How dare they mistreat people with an American passport that way?”
Plus, Khanna's quiet Israel trip
Win McNamee/Getty Images
President Donald Trump speaks to Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, after arriving at Etimesgut Air Base for the annual NATO Summit on July 7, 2026 in Ankara, Turkey.
Good Friday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we have the scoop on a letter from House Democrats concerned that the U.S.’ warming relationship with Turkey is being driven by the personal interests of President Donald Trump and his family and associates, and report on a call from a bipartisan group of lawmakers urging FEMA to extend the nonprofit security grant application deadline. We look at the candidates who have thrown their hats in the ring to be Maine Democrats’ Senate nominee following Graham Platner’s withdrawal from the race, and report on Rep. Ro Khanna’s trip to Israel and the West Bank this week. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: David Lubin, Ambassador Mike Huckabee and Evan Bernstein.
We have also launched a new on-demand Live Briefing that you can access throughout the day via our new app (on Apple and Android) and on our website.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by JI Executive Editor Melissa Weiss and Israel Editor Tamara Zieve, with an assist from Danielle Cohen-Kanik. Have a tip? Email us here.
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: Rahm Emanuel, in Tel Aviv, says he is ‘not impressed’ by far-left wing of the Democratic Party; New psychology training program aims to combat antisemitism in mental health care; and AI models more lax with antisemitism when engaging in Persian, new ADL study finds. Print the latest edition here.
What We’re Watching
- We’re keeping an eye on the tense situation in the Middle East, amid hints from senior Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Israel Katz and Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter, that it is willing to reenter the fight against Iran and assist the U.S. More below.
- The Wall Street Journal reported last night that Israel had notified the U.S. of intelligence indicating that Iran was plotting a new assassination attempt against President Donald Trump, who, while in Turkey earlier this week for the NATO summit, repeatedly suggested that Iran considered him its “No. 1” target. “I saw this morning, I’m on every single one of their lists,” Trump told reporters in Ankara. When the president returned from Turkey mid-week, he took one of the older planes home, rather than the refurbished Qatari luxury jet, which lacks some of the same security features as the older Air Force Ones.
- Turkey is expected to announce today that it will sell its Russian-made S-400 batteries to the United Arab Emirates, a move that would allow the U.S. to move forward on its sale of F-35s to Ankara.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S TAMARA ZIEVE AND MATTHEW SHEA
After several days of watching from the wings as the United States has conducted strikes against Iran, Israeli officials have increasingly indicated that Jerusalem is ready to return to military action if it determines that circumstances demand it.
Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter told CNN on Thursday that Jerusalem is “supportive of the position of the United States” and would “fly alongside U.S. aircraft” if called on to do so.
At an Israeli Air Force graduation ceremony the same day, Defense Minister Israel Katz said the IDF is prepared to “regain air superiority and carry out ‘blue-and-white’ [Israeli] strikes in Iran to remove threats — even for a third time,” warning that it would be with “even greater force” than before. Meanwhile, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir told graduates that “on the drawing board are new plans. Major operations are still expected to lie ahead of us. Be prepared.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reinforced that message in his remarks at the ceremony. While celebrating the outcome of Operations Rising Lion and Roaring Lion, he made clear that Israel does not view the conflict with Iran as settled. “Our policy is clear: With an agreement or without an agreement, Iran will not have nuclear weapons,” Netanyahu said. He added: “The war is not yet over. Alongside old challenges, new ones are emerging. Axes fall, and axes rise. We are turning our attention to this. We are prepared for any scenario.”
Security analysts say the messaging reflects a desire to preserve military pressure without committing to another immediate campaign. Yoni Tobin, a senior political analyst at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, told Jewish Insider, “While Israel isn’t exactly clamoring for more combat with Iran, particularly after nearly three years of multifront war, it is certainly ready for it.” Tobin noted that “Israel will likely feel comfortable acting against Iran if the United States does so as well, and if the two countries are aligned on objectives and strategy.”
David May, a senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said the memorandum of understanding “should be seen as part of the process of ending the fighting between the United States and Iran, not the final agreement.”
SCOOP
Dems allege Turkey sanctions relief, F-35 deal being driven by Trump’s personal interests
A group of House Democrats wrote to President Donald Trump on Friday to express “strong opposition” to the administration’s plans to lift sanctions on Turkey and sell the country’s F-35 fighter jets, and suggested that the decisions may be driven by Trump’s or his family members’ financial interests, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
What they’re saying: The letter requests that Trump, U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack and Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. preserve records relating to their relationships with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the Turkish government, stating that, “In the coming months and years, Congress will continue to exercise our constitutional oversight authorities and thoroughly scrutinize this matter to ensure the interests of the American people and their security is protected” — suggesting a potential House investigation if Democrats retake the chamber in November.
Signed on: The letter was led by Reps. Wesley Bell (D-MO), Dan Goldman (D-NY) and Dina Titus (D-NV), joined by Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), Brad Schneider (D-IL), Gabe Amo (D-RI), Jim Costa (D-CA), Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), Brad Sherman (D-CA) and Rob Menendez (D-NJ).
SHORT NOTICE
Bipartisan group of lawmakers urges FEMA to extend nonprofit security grant deadline
Fifty-eight House members from both sides of the aisle urged the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Thursday to extend the deadline for 2026 Nonprofit Security Grant Program applications, arguing that the current timeline gives states and institutions “insufficient time to complete the application process” and fulfill the program’s goals, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Deadline dealings: Applications for the program were announced on June 24 and are due to the federal government from state emergency management agencies by July 24. Those state agencies must set their own earlier deadlines for individual institutions to submit applications. “It is essential that eligible applicants have a fair shot to apply for these funds and fully realize the program’s intended purpose,” the lawmakers, led by Reps. Grace Meng (D-NY) and David Joyce (R-OH), wrote in a letter to acting FEMA Administrator Robert Fenton.
IN QUEUE
Who are the candidates seeking to replace Graham Platner, and where do they stand on Israel?
The mad dash to replace Graham Platner as the Democratic Senate nominee in Maine is coming together so quickly and haphazardly that one potential replacement, Nirav Shah, is taking stickers from his failed gubernatorial campaign and cutting off the “for governor” line below his name before handing them to supporters, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
Following in his footsteps: Many of the candidates now seeking to succeed Platner on the general election ballot — which also include Troy Jackson, Paige Loud, Shenna Bellows, Dan Kleban and Jordan Wood — are commending the populist movement he built and looking to capitalize on it. Less than 24 hours into the contest, some had already made clear they will adopt a platform much like Platner’s when it comes to Israel — seeking to end U.S. weapons sales to the country and shunning donations from AIPAC — while others are remaining mum on that topic.
Into the woods: Wood, a former chief of staff to Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA), shared his views with JI on Thursday about the U.S.-Israel relationship, saying that he considers Israel “our strongest ally in the Middle East” but that its government must be reined in. He entered the race after placing third in last month’s congressional primary to replace retiring Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME).
SCOOP
Ro Khanna travels to Israel, West Bank during congressional recess
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) traveled to Israel and the West Bank this week while Congress is in recess, according to two individuals with knowledge of the trip, Jewish Insider’s Melissa Weiss reports. Khanna has not posted publicly about his trip, which is scheduled to conclude Thursday night. His office did not respond to requests for comment from JI.
Israel approach: The California Democrat has become increasingly critical of Israel since the onset of the Israel-Hamas war following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks. In September 2025, he accused Israel of having committed genocide in Gaza. A spokesperson for the Prime Minister’s Office said that Netanyahu did not meet with Khanna during this trip.
SCENE IN SUN VALLEY
Jared Kushner, Yousef Al Otaiba, Naftali Bennett appear together at Sun Valley conference
Jared Kushner, United Arab Emirates Ambassador to the U.S. Yousef Al Otaiba and former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett participated in an off-the-record discussion on Thursday morning at Allen & Company’s annual Sun Valley conference, Puck News reported. The closed-door conversation was held before the conference’s invite-only audience of business, media and technology leaders, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports.
Also in attendance: Later in the morning, Sens. Dave McCormick (R-PA) and John Fetterman (D-PA) appeared together for a wide-ranging discussion. Meta COO Dina Powell McCormick, who is married to the Pennsylvania senator, is also in attendance at Sun Valley this week alongside Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other senior Meta executives.
Bonus: In an op-ed in Time, Bennett posits that Israel is one of the “greatest assets” to U.S. foreign policy, describing the relationship between Jerusalem and Washington as “a partnership of equals — not in the size of our populations, but in the depth of our commitments.”
TRANSITIONS
Jewish communal veteran Evan Bernstein tapped to take helm of B’nai B’rith International
In a generational change at the top of B’nai B’rith International, the organization has tapped Evan Bernstein as its next CEO, the group exclusively told eJewishPhilanthropy’s Jay Deitcher on Thursday, as the longtime communal professional looks to breathe new life — and a spirit of innovation — into a 182-year-old legacy organization.
Drawing on experience: Bernstein, 51, will take the reins of B’nai B’rith on Aug. 24, succeeding longtime CEO Dan Mariaschin, 77. Bernstein brings with him 25 years of Jewish nonprofit experience at a host of communal organizations, including serving as the inaugural CEO of Community Security Service and in leadership roles at the Jewish Federations of North America, the Anti-Defamation League and AIPAC. In his first interview since accepting the position, Bernstein discussed how he will use his connections at past agencies to cultivate new partnerships for B’nai B’rith and how he will bring a startup mentality to the world’s oldest Jewish service organization.
Read the full interview here and sign up for eJewishPhilanthropy’s Your Daily Phil newsletter here.
Worthy Reads
From Friends to Foes: Bloomberg‘s Ethan Bronner spotlights the dissolution of the “cross-cultural bromance” between Israeli entrepreneuer Eyal Waldman and Palestinian American tycoon Bashar Masri following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel in which Waldman’s daughter Danielle, who was attending the Nova music festival, was killed. “The Hamas attack effectively reset the historical clock so that in Israel today, all political and security discussions start on Oct. 7. … Waldman today says his views on coexistence haven’t changed. He continues to meet with the Palestinian leadership and advocate for two states. But he dismisses the notion that Masri might ever again be a partner. Convinced that Masri helped Hamas build the infrastructure that was set loose to such devastating effect, Waldman is doing everything he can to bring down his old friend through the U.S. lawsuit.” [Bloomberg]
Mojtaba’s MIA: The New York Times’ Yeganeh Torbati reports on Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei’s “looming absence at the top of the government” and failure to appear in public since he succeeded his father in March. “Without a strong central authority like the elder Ayatollah Khamenei, it has become even more unpredictable which faction will eventually gain the upper hand — and how the country will navigate its many crises. … ‘There’s no central authority in effect to reconcile the various factions that are fighting for control,’ said Ali Ansari, a historian of Iran at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.” [NYTimes]
Crowd Control: In The Free Press, Masih Alinejad posits that the coverage from within Iran of the funeral ceremonies for late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei did not depict the reality on the ground. “The Islamic Republic has always treated mass mobilization as a proof of legitimacy: The bigger the crowd, the stronger the claim to power. But the crowds are an illusion. I know from experience how they are assembled: through force. This time is no different. … The Islamic Republic spent this week performing strength. But the regime has a problem: Almost everything about it — the chants, the flags, the scripted weeping at the coffin — is a performance. The people inside Iran, dancing in secret or driving north with 20 kilograms of rice they did not want, know this to be true.” [FreePress]
Word on the Street
Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL) withdrew as co-chair of the Congressional Friends of Spain Caucus, citing in part Madrid’s “hostile actions against Israel and the Jewish people”…
A new survey from the Pew Research Center found that fewer than half of Americans ages 18-29 — both Democrats and Republicans — view either Israelis or the Israeli government favorably…
A Pennsylvania man was arrested and charged with making antisemitic threats targeting Gov. Josh Shapiro; the Delco, Pa., resident, after entering the office of a state legislator to complain about taxes, threatened an arson attack at the governor’s mansion, 15 months after Shapiro’s residence was firebombed during Passover…
The New York Times spotlights Notarikon Review Publisher Mendel Uminer, whose collection of some 10,000 books prompted his landlord to force him from his apartment…
David Lubin, the father of slain lone soldier Rose Lubin, an Atlanta native who was killed in a terror attack in Jerusalem in November 2023, opened the first U.S. chapter of Yad LaBanim, an Israeli group that supports bereaved military families, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Nira Dayanim reports…
U.K. Labour MP Andy Burnham, who is poised to become the U.K.’s next prime minister, apologized for the party’s stance on Gaza, saying that London was “too slow to call for a ceasefire. And we must now do more to strengthen our approach”…
London Mayor Sadiq Khan visited the Nova music festival exhibition in the city, a week after the exhibition’s organizers told the Jewish News they were disappointed that the mayor had yet to attend; Khan was at the exhibition on the birthday of British-Israeli musician Jack Marlowe, who was killed at the music festival…
Jewish Community Iceland—Beit Tovah Chabad opened the country’s first Jewish center, in the capital of Reykjavik, after years of operating out of the home of the local emissary…
The Wall Street Journal looks at the challenges and delays the International Stabilization Force in Gaza is facing in deploying troops to the enclave…
The IDF said it is investigating an incident in which a Palestinian detainee was stripped and bound, after an image of the man posted online last month by a Palestinian activist went viral; the IDF confirmed the photograph’s authenticity while not releasing any details about the circumstances surrounding it…
The Associated Press spotlights an Israeli effort to clear unexploded ordnance and other munitions off the coast of the city of Rishon LeZion, which has been used for decades as a military firing range…
Pic of the Day
Alongside former Israeli hostage Yarden Bibas (left), whose wife and sons were killed in captivity in Gaza after being taken during the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and his wife, Janet, installed a plaque through the My Tree in Israel program honoring Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas.
Birthdays
Co-founder of Imagine Entertainment, his films and TV series have been nominated for 47 Academy Awards and 217 Emmys, Brian Grazer turns 75 on Sunday…
FRIDAY: Senior U.S. district court judge in the Southern District of Texas, Judge David Hittner turns 87… Retired attorney at the California Office of Legislative Counsel, Robert D. Gronke… Stan Udaskin… Folk singer-songwriter, Arlo Guthrie turns 79… NYC-born author of 13 novels, she has been living in Israel since 1971, Naomi Ragen turns 77… Partner in consulting firm Quorum, LLC and president at Regal Domestics, Barbara Goldberg Goldman… Author of 13 books, journalist, she is the daughter of two Holocaust survivors, Julie Salamon turns 73… Editor of the Cleveland Jewish News, Columbus Jewish News and Akron Jewish News, Bob Jacob… Israel’s ambassador to Spain until 2024, Rodica Radian-Gordon turns 69… Past president of the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest New Jersey, Leslie Dannin Rosenthal… Partner in Holland & Knight’s public policy group, he was previously a member of Congress (D-FL-22), Ronald J. “Ron” Klein turns 69… Lobbyist, he was a member of the New York state Legislature: Assembly for 10 years and Senate for 14 years, Jeffrey D. Klein turns 66… National president of the American Jewish Committee, he is a founder of Lapin & Landa, a Houston-based civil litigation firm, Robert E. Lapin turns 66… Voice actor and impressionist who has voiced Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Sylvester the Cat and dozens of others, Jeffrey Bergman turns 66… U.S. ambassador to his native Estonia, he is the former president of NYC’s Park East Day School, Roman Pipko turns 66… Critic at large for The New York Times Book Review, Anthony Oliver “A.O.” Scott turns 60… U.S. senator (D-MI), Elissa Blair Slotkin turns 50… NYC-based founding partner at Purposeful Advisors, Elie Jacobs… Member of the Knesset for the Shas party, Yinon Azulai turns 47… VP of politics and public affairs at Altice and Optimum Media, Rena Shapiro… Writer and comedian, his conversion from Mormon to Jew is the subject of a documentary, “Latter Day Jew,” H. Alan Scott turns 44… Senior policy adviser at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, Morgan Deann Ortagus turns 44… Managing editor of The Bulwark, a center-right news outlet, Sam Stein… Multidisciplinary artist, filmmaker,and fine art photographer, she is the daughter of CAA co-founder Michael Ovitz, Kimberly Ovitz turns 43… Television and film actor, Aviva Farber Baumann turns 42… Dance teacher at John Foster Dulles High School in Sugar Land, Texas, Kayla Sokoloff…
SATURDAY: Entrepreneur, investment banker, civil servant and political advisor, Stephen Berger turns 87… Developmental psychologist at Harvard, he was selected in the 1981 inaugural class of MacArthur genius fellows, Howard Gardner turns 83… Member of the U.K.’s House of Lords, he was PM Tony Blair’s special envoy to the Middle East for nine years, Baron Michael Abraham Levy turns 82… U.S. senator (D-MA), Ed Markey turns 80… EVP of the Milken Family Foundation and past chair of the board of trustees of the Jewish Federations of North America, Richard V. Sandler turns 78… Journalist covering classical music, he is the author of Genius & Anxiety: How Jews Changed the World, 1847-1947, Norman Lebrecht turns 78… Founder in 1992 of Schnur Associates, a marketing, PR and lobbying firm, she spent 12 years as executive director of the Greater New York Coalition for Soviet Jewry, Zeesy Schnur… West Orange, N.J., resident, Jeffrey Maas… Actor, she portrayed Frau Farbissina in the “Austin Powers” film series, Mindy Lee Sterling turns 73… Singer-songwriter, known by his stage name “RebbeSoul,” Bruce Burger turns 69… Founder and retired CEO of Sidewalk Labs (an Alphabet company), he was previously CEO of Bloomberg L.P., Daniel L. Doctoroff turns 68… Group EVP of public relations for Discovery Channel and Science Channel from 2007 to 2023, Laurie Goldberg… Executive chairman of Aston Martin and the owner of the Aston Martin Formula 1 Team, Lawrence Stroll turns 67… Radiation oncologist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvey Jay Mamon, MD, Ph.D…. General partner and head of research at CET Ventures, Barry Mannis… Former member of the Knesset for the Likud party, Yaron Mazuz turns 64… Former commander of the IDF’s Southern Command, now in the IDF Reserves, Maj. Gen. Shlomo “Sami” Turgeman turns 62… Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit since 2014, Judge Robin Stacie Rosenbaum turns 60… Retired tax attorney, she now bakes challahs on Manhattan’s UWS to benefit UJA-Federation of New York, Adina Tamar Spiro Wagman… Editor-in chief of the Forward, Alyssa A. Katz… Founder of Koz and Effect LLC, Lindsey Caren Kozberg… Consultant focused on social impact strategies, Joshua D. Wachs… Actor, podcaster and lead singer of the band Sun Spin, Michael Owen Rosenbaum turns 54… Ukrainian-born computer scientist and internet entrepreneur, Max Levchin turns 51… Founder and CEO of Wisconsin-based Good Karma Brands, Craig Karmazin turns 51… Principal at Civitas Public Affairs Group, Celine Mizrahi… Chabad rabbi at Washington University in St. Louis, Rabbi Hershey Novack… Comedian, podcaster and political commentator, Katherine Rose “Katie” Halper turns 45… Screenwriter and executive producer, Theodore Beren Bressman… Retired ice hockey forward, he played for 19 seasons in the U.S., Canada and Europe, now a businessman in Destin, Fla., Jacob Micflikier turns 42… Executive director of the New Democrat Coalition, Anne Sokolov… and her twin sister, a co-founder at Social Goods, Kate Sokolov (daughters of shopping mall executive Rick Sokolov)… Offensive guard in the NFL for eight seasons, his Hebrew name is Gedalia Yitzhak, Geoff Schwartz turns 40… Senior deputy associate counsel in the White House Counsel’s office during the Biden administration, Matthew J. Rosenbaum… Bryan Stone…
SUNDAY: Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, Rita E. Hauser turns 92… Former congressman (R-OK-5) for 16 years, Marvin Henry “Mickey” Edwards turns 89… Former executive director of the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council, Dan Botnick… Canadian journalist, social activist and author of three bestselling books, Michele Landsberg turns 87… Former member of the Florida House of Representatives for eight years, Franklin Sands turns 86… Best-selling author, screenwriter, and playwright, sister of the late Nora Ephron, Delia Ephron turns 82… Professor of religion at the University of Vermont, he was an advisor to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on his 2016 presidential campaign, as an undergraduate at Yale his roommate was Joe Lieberman, Richard Sugarman turns 82… Obstetrical nurse and board certified lactation consultant in NYC, Rhona Yolkut… Founding executive director (now retired) of Newton, Mass.-based Gateways: Access to Jewish Education, focused on children with special educational needs, Arlene Remz… Co-owner of the Midland Group with holdings in steel, shipping, real estate, agriculture and sports, Eduard Shifrin turns 66… Former member of the Knesset for the Blue and White party, he grew up in Raleigh, N.C., as Albert Rosenthal, Alon Tal turns 66… Chief television critic for The New York Times, James “Jim” Poniewozik turns 58… Former chairwoman of the Federal Communications Commission, now executive director of the MIT Media Lab, Jessica Rosenworcel turns 55… Israeli journalist and former member of Knesset for the Yisrael Beiteinu party, Anastassia Michaeli turns 51… Founder of Innovation Policy Solutions, a D.C.-based health care consulting and advocacy firm, Jennifer Leib… U.S. senator (I-AZ) until January 2025, Kyrsten Sinema turns 50… Israeli news anchor, television presenter and journalist, Yonit Levi turns 49… Winner of an Olympic gold medal (Athens, 2004) and a silver medal (Sydney, 2000) as a freestyle swimmer, now in the product development software business, Scott Daniel Goldblatt turns 47… Senior reporter at CNN, Edward-Isaac Dovere… Partner in the Des Moines, Iowa-based public relations firm AdelmanDean Group, Liz Rodgers Adelman… Israeli media personality, sociologist and fashion and jewelry designer, Ortal Ben Dayan turns 45… U.S. senator (D-NJ), Andrew Kim turns 44… Founder and CEO of executive communications firm A.H. Levy & Co based in NYC, Alex Halpern Levy… Intensive care nurse now living in Jerusalem, Rena Meira Rotter… Benjamin Birnbaum… Actor, she is well known for playing a Jewish character on television (the title character in “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”), though she herself is not of Jewish descent, Rachel Brosnahan turns 36… CEO of Teach Coalition, an Orthodox Union affiliate, Sydney Altfield… Board member at Israel Policy Forum and member of the board of governors of the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation, Steven Koppel…
The members say the compressed timeline give states and institutions too little time to complete applications for the 2026 Nonprofit Security Grant Program
Photo by Eric Thayer/Getty Images)
A security guard stands watch in front of a synagogue on October 9, 2023 in Los Angeles, California.
A bipartisan group of 58 House members urged the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Thursday to extend the deadline for 2026 Nonprofit Security Grant Program applications, arguing that the current timeline gives states and institutions “insufficient time to complete the application process” and fulfill the program’s goals.
Applications for the program were announced on June 24 and are due to the federal government from state emergency management agencies by July 24. Those state agencies must set their own earlier deadlines for individual institutions to submit applications.
“It is essential that eligible applicants have a fair shot to apply for these funds and fully realize the program’s intended purpose,” the lawmakers, led by Reps. Grace Meng (D-NY) and David Joyce (R-OH), wrote in a letter to acting FEMA Administrator Robert Fenton. “The current timeline imposes significant administrative constraints on both applicants and [state administrative agencies], potentially limiting full and fair participation in this year’s grant cycle.”
The lawmakers argued that organizations would have a short amount of time — potentially just days — to review the program, obtain necessary assessments, develop proposals, gather documents and submit applications. The signatories noted that FEMA has historically provided as many as 80 days from the application announcement to the deadline.
The letter notes that the application period also overlaps state hate crimes grant program application periods in some states, “overburdening” institutions, particularly smaller ones that don’t have large teams to handle grant-writing.
FEMA’s continued delays in releasing 2025 NSGP awards create further issues, the lawmakers explained: “organizations will be applying without knowing their eligibility, creating additional complications since eligibility for this year’s grant is affected by the recipient’s status for last year’s grant.”
The letter urges FEMA to extend the 2026 application deadline, to give state agencies more time to review applications, nonprofits more time to prepare their applications and to guarantee “FEMA receives the strongest possible pool of eligible projects for consideration.”
The Jewish Federations of North America said it organized the letter and was the first to publicize it.
“At a time of rising threats against faith-based communal institutions, Congress has made clear that protecting vulnerable communities is a bipartisan priority,” JFNA CEO Eric Fingerhut said. “Giving state administrative agencies and nonprofit organizations adequate time to complete FEMA’s application process will help ensure these critical security resources reach those NSGP is designed to protect.”
Lauren Wolman, the senior director of government relations and strategy at the Anti-Defamation League, said that “a one-month application window presents significant challenges for the nonprofits that need this funding the most, particularly smaller organizations without dedicated grant writing staff.”
Wolman added, “Extending the deadline would help ensure every eligible organization has a meaningful opportunity to secure the resources they need to protect their communities.”
Rabbi AD Motzen, the national director of government affairs at Agudath Israel of America, said, “Agudath Israel strongly supports the bipartisan Meng Joyce letter and the request for a longer application period. We have heard from nonprofits that are not sure if they were awarded the grant from the previous year and have to make a rushed decision whether or not to apply for this year.”
Nathan Diament, the executive director of the Orthodox Union Advocacy Center, said that the OU also agrees that an extension of the deadline would be “very helpful.”
Separately, 15 Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee wrote to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and Fenton, raising concerns about the administration’s handling of various FEMA grant programs including NSGP, accusing them of including language in the application materials “that is confusing, impractical, incomplete, and potentially unlawful.”
The Democrats specifically accuse the administration of “deliberately slow processing” of 2025 NSGP applications, noting the continued delay in announcements of 2025 funding and calling for the outstanding grants to be issued “immediately.”
“At-risk nonprofits are forced to navigate overlapping application cycles without knowing if they even need to apply for the FY 2026 NSGP,” the letter reads. “With the FY 2026 application window already open and set to close in less than a month, FEMA’s internal delays and contradictory directives are creating unnecessary burdens for subrecipients.”
It also criticizes the administration for “conflicting instructions on required documentation” and requirements related to immigration and elections imposed on grant recipients. “Imposing these complex mandates on small, volunteer-run, nonprofit organizations, threatens to penalize the very institutions the program is designed to protect,” the Democrats wrote.
Plus, Labour's leftward turn on Israel
Israeli Ministry of Defense/Anadolu via Getty Images
Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz holds a security situation assessment meeting with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir and other senior commanders in Tel Aviv, Israel, on March 07, 2026.
Good Thursday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
Appearing on CNN this morning, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter said Jerusalem is “supportive of the position of the United States” regarding renewed strikes on Iran, and said Israel would “fly alongside U.S. aircraft” if called on to do so.
He added that Iran had violated its “only obligation” under the memorandum of understanding — to keep the Strait of Hormuz open — and that if the Iranians “persist in their malign intentions,” the war could resume “in full swing”…
Israeli military leaders are also hinting at potential Israeli involvement: At an Israeli Air Force graduation ceremony, Defense Minister Israel Katz said the IDF is prepared to carry out independent strikes “to remove threats” in Iran. Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, the IDF’s chief of staff, told the graduates that “new plans” are “on the drawing board” and that “major operations are still expected to lie ahead of us. Be prepared”…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he spoke with President Donald Trump today and was updated by the president “on American moves in the Gulf.” According to a statement from the PMO, Netanyahu again raised the issue of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan‘s hostile rhetoric toward Israel…
The Wall Street Journal examines the “root of the dispute” over the Strait of Hormuz — the “poorly worded” fifth article in the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding that says Tehran will “make arrangements” to restore shipping in the waterway and then work with Oman on a plan to administer it going forward.
“Notably, the paragraph says nothing about the U.S. making arrangements for the safe passage of vessels, which Iran has seized on to attack ships that use a U.S.-coordinated route,” a U.S. official told the outlet…
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) is in Israel and the West Bank this week while Congress is in recess, according to two individuals with knowledge of the trip. Khanna has not posted publicly about his visit, which is scheduled to conclude tonight, JI’s Melissa Weiss reports…
While wrapping up his trip, Khanna, who was one of Senate candidate Graham Platner’s most vociferous defenders until a rape allegation was made against the Maine Democrat earlier this week, told MS NOW that he’s endorsing former state Sen. Troy Jackson to take Platner’s place on the ballot. Jackson, who previously ran for governor, is a progressive seen as aligned with Platner…
But Platner’s potential replacements will have to wait a few more days: The candidate told campaign staff he intends to wait until the very last day — Monday — to officially file his paperwork to drop out of the race, Axios reports…
The Journal profiles Cheyenne Hunt, the progressive influencer and activist who played a key role in bringing to light the sexual assault and misconduct allegations that ultimately saw the ouster of Platner and the resignation of former Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA)…
Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL) withdrew as co-chair of the Congressional Friends of Spain Caucus due to what he called Madrid’s “escalating, hostile crusade” against Israel…
Andy Burnham, widely expected to become Britain’s next prime minister, told The Guardian that the response of his Labour party to Israel’s military actions in Gaza “has too often not been good enough” and that the U.K. has “got to do more to put pressure on the Israeli government,” including sanctions and potentially banning trade in goods from Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
Burnham also said there is “increasing evidence” that Israel committed war crimes, though he did not use the word genocide, and said the determination should be left to international courts. His comments mark a shift to the left of Labour’s outgoing leader, Keir Starmer, who was slower than other European leaders to back a ceasefire and recognize Palestinian statehood…
Among those speaking at the closed-door Allen & Company retreat in Sun Valley, Idaho, today were Jared Kushner, UAE Ambassador to the U.S. Yousef Al Otaiba, former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Sens. John Fetterman (D-PA) and Dave McCormick (R-PA) as well as Ken Griffin, the hedge fund manager and GOP megadonor.
Asked whether he would support Vice President JD Vance or Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the 2028 presidential election, Griffin said he’d be inclined to back Rubio…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at Platner’s potential replacements, as a handful of Maine Democrats are already jockeying for the position less than 24 hours after Platner announced he intends to drop out of the race for U.S. Senate.
We’ll be watching to see if U.S. and Iranian strikes continue into the weekend, or if the current flare-up has run its course. Prior to the outbreak in hostilities, Saudi media had reported that talks between Washington and Iran would restart on July 11, after the dayslong funeral of late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei wraps up today. Trump said this morning that the Iranians had called and “want to make a deal so badly,” but it’s unclear whether the two sides intend to meet.
We’ll be back in your inbox with the Daily Overtime on Monday. Shabbat shalom!
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The chair of the Jewish caucus said the 2026 convention was ‘night and day’ compared to last year's, when Jewish delegates reported being harassed on the floor
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Notebook with a pen on a table in a classroom at a school
Major Jewish organizations expressed “reason for optimism” that the National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers union, is taking meaningful steps to address rising antisemitism following its annual Representative Assembly, which concluded in Denver on Tuesday.
The organizations credited NEA’s Jewish Affairs Caucus (JAC) with pushing through three amendments to the NEA Constitution and a resolution on Jewish education at this year’s RA.
The Jewish Council for Public Affairs said in a statement that it “welcomed the implementation of new rules and policies that better protected the safety and First Amendment rights of Jewish and all members during the National Education Association’s annual meeting.” JCPA said it worked with the JAC to lobby the NEA for the rule changes.
The Jewish groups noted a safer and more inclusive environment for Jewish members at this year’s gathering, marking a stark contrast from last year, when delegates voted to boycott Anti-Defamation League materials in a measure Jewish groups condemned as antisemitic, among other disruptive events. The changes also come following the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission opening an investigation into NEA in June over alleged failure to address antisemitism.
“We commend the important steps the NEA took to foster a more inclusive Representative Assembly this year. Those efforts reflect the union’s stated commitment to the core values of solidarity and belonging for all,” the ADL, American Jewish Committee, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Hadassah and StandWithUs said Wednesday in a joint statement.
Ahead of the gathering, aiming to avoid the misconduct seen at the 2025 RA, the NEA adopted several new rules, including stricter conduct enforcement for delegates, electronic voting to prevent shouting on the floor, de-escalation training for staff and regular public reminders of assembly rules.
The 2026 RA — attended by some 6,000 educators — was “night and day” compared to last year’s, the chair of the JAC, Alyson Brauning, told Jewish Insider, recalling that she called security at last year’s convention when some Jewish delegates were allegedly being harassed by other attendees.
After last year’s controversies, Brauning said she spent “six months working with NEA [leadership] on delegate safety and participation protections.”
“The reality was that NEA came through. Building relationships is, to me, the absolute key to making sure we as Jewish delegates can, and did, participate fully at RAs … and I believe our relationships we were able to build with Jewish organizations and the support that they were able to give us is also extremely important,” she continued.
Out of 88 business items for the convention, Brauning viewed two as potentially concerning to Jewish educators, but said this marked an improvement over years past.
“Did they write some things that I as a Jewish person know their intent was probably antisemitic? Sure. Does the body understand that? Probably not. They didn’t outright say [anything antisemitic] which is a win because in the past they would literally say it,” she said.
One of those items mentioned war and genocide — “I’m sure that was about the genocide that they think was in [Gaza], but that’s up to the interpretation of all 6,000 delegates. That one was completely defeated on the floor,” she said.
A second business item called for NEA to add resources on its website including some from Jewish Voice for Peace. “[The majority] of the delegates had no idea who JVP is,” said Brauning. “It was referred to the executive committee because NEA has a policy that they must vet any curriculum before they can use it or recommend it as a resource. That gives us the opportunity to write to NEA and explain why it might be harmful or anti-Jewish hate.
The convention was held one month before a leadership change at JAC, a caucus established five decades ago as a social group that began taking on advocacy work following Oct. 7. Naomi Rodriguez, a Pennsylvania math teacher and first-time delegate who helped organize this year’s RA, will succeed Brauning as the caucus’ chair.
“Going into it, I was intimidated,” Rodriguez told JI of the convention. “I didn’t know how I would be received. Many issues are important to me but I came to this RA with an agenda, to protect Jewish students and teachers. I found myself speaking up about that a lot. It was the most amazing and heartwarming experience. I received so much support from my own state caucus. I felt so loved.
“Our union is simply a reflection of society. Whatever problems we’re having in society, you’re going to see in our union, too, because there are so many members and our union is a place where people exchange ideas,” she continued.
Among the most helpful new policies, Rodriguez said, was the implementation of clickers to vote. “One of the problems last year was voting was done standing up and down or holding a card in the air so everyone in your caucus could see how you vote, so sometimes you could get pushback from the people you’re working with. We could vote more confidentially with the clickers — that made a huge difference,” she said.
Although Rodriguez declined to share the specifics of the three new amendments JAC helped pass, she said the purpose of each “was to ensure that the values of our union are accurately reflected in NEA’s governing documents. The amendments included language to address discrimination and ensure equal participation access for all member communities.”
Jay Goldfischer, a teacher in Los Angeles County who has been an NEA member for 26 years, told JI that it was “overall a very positive and effective RA for Jewish teachers,” where “allies from across America stood up with the Jewish community on the floor of the RA when it counted.”
Though Goldfischer applauded the new guidelines, he noted that the improvements could have also stemmed from the majority of delegates growing “tired of the divisive and distracting issues related to Israel and things unrelated to education.”
Alongside JAC, several Jewish leaders pushed for NEA to adopt new guidelines after last year’s RA.
“Everything we’ve heard from Jewish delegates and educators has been reflective of them feeling that this was a safer and more inclusive convention and that these rules had an impact,” said JCPA CEO Amy Spitalnick, who led a presentation titled “How Educators Can Confront Antisemitism & Hate and Defend Democracy” at the convening.
“There is obviously a lot more to do,” she told JI. “We’ll continue to work with NEA on workshops, programs and trainings to address antisemitism and ensure the union and our schools are as inclusive and safe as possible. But this is definitely an important step in the right direction.”
To support JAC, the ADL and Conference of Presidents also deployed representatives to be on the ground at this year’s convention.
“I was so proud to see Naomi [Rodriguez] use her voice and play such a critical role in shaping a very different narrative at this year’s RA,” Sara Colb, ADL’s director of advocacy, told JI. “Empowering Naomi and teachers like her was ADL’s very purpose for doing this work. Watching these teachers advocate for themselves, their students and the Jewish community is truly inspiring.”
“We started working with JAC after last year to help make [the RA] better for the year ahead,” Stephanie Hausner, chief operating officer of the Conference of Presidents, who attended for the first time on behalf of the organization, told JI.
“Some of that included rules changes, multiple organizations talking to the NEA about helping the tenor of the conference. For sure there was more security [this year]. The overall vibe of the conference was much calmer than we heard from last year. Jewish delegates weren’t afraid to be present and speak, which was also an improvement. They were able to get a lot done.”
Hausner continued, “Some of the resolutions that were put forward that would have done harm to the Jewish community didn’t pass, which says a lot about the body as a whole.”
The focus this year, said Hausner, was “on education and issues of importance for teachers.”
The president called Iran’s leaders ‘a little loco’ and said he was no longer sure he wanted a deal, while insisting that renewed strikes did not mean the war was resuming
Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at a press conference during the 2026 NATO Leaders Summit at the Beştepe Presidential Compound on July 08, 2026 in Ankara, Turkey.
President Donald Trump on Wednesday reiterated his threat to “finish the job” in Iran and said the current ceasefire is “over” while denying that renewed U.S. strikes in the country mark a return to war.
Trump told reporters during a press conference at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, on Wednesday that he was no longer sure if he was interested in a peace deal with Iran and was questioning if the country’s leadership was rational enough to work with.
Hours after Trump’s remarks, CENTCOM announced additional strikes on Iranian targets “at the direction of” the president, saying in a statement that the operation was intended to “further degrade [Iran’s] ability to threaten freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.”
Asked during the press conference what caused him to sour on Iran’s leadership — whom he referred to on Wednesday as “scum” and “sick people,” after praising them last month as “very rational” and “nice to deal with” — Trump replied: “I got to know them.”
Trump noted that he was comparing the current regime to the previous two regimes in his prior complimentary statements.“I think they’re much more rational than level one, level two. Level one is gone, level two is gone. This is level three,” Trump said. “I think they are more rational, but based on their actions over the last week or two, they’re not doing a service to the people.”
“I’m not sure I want to make a deal with them,” he continued. “We can play games, but I’m not sure I want to make a deal. Let’s just finish the job.”
The comments came hours after the president said that the memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran was “over” and said “I don’t want to deal with them anymore.”
Trump went on to criticize Iran’s leaders as “a little loco. They’re a little crazy,” pointing to Iran’s continued attacks against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and claiming he’s Iran’s top target for assassination.
“They want to make a deal, but they don’t know how to make the deal, and then they go around shooting ships at night [in the Strait of Hormuz]. I don’t like that,” he said. “I’m the No. 1 target. … I’m the No. 1, because they’re scum. That’s the way they act, and that’s the way they’ve done it for 47 years.”
Still, he rejected the idea that the military operations meant that the U.S. was resuming full-scale warfare with Iran.
“I don’t think it’s going to start again. I think it’s going to go very quickly. They hit a couple of ships, and so we hit them much harder,” Trump said of the war. “When they hit, we hit. We use their language. We speak their language. No, I don’t think so. I think anything that happens is going to be over very quickly and will only make [the region] safer.”
A U.S. official called Iran's actions ‘wholly unacceptable’ but said negotiators continue to work ‘in good faith’ toward a final deal
Photo by Elke Scholiers/Getty Images
Crude oil tankers, bulk carriers and vessels sit anchored around Qaboos Port on June 22, 2026 in Muscat, Oman.
A brief window of U.S. sanctions relief for Tehran closed on Tuesday as the Trump administration revoked a waiver that allowed the sale of Iranian oil in response to continued Iranian attacks on shipping vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.
Last month, the Treasury Department lifted sanctions on Iranian oil sales by issuing a 60-day license, a decision experts told Jewish Insider risked providing Tehran with significant revenue for malign activity. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had said the temporary license was issued due to Iran’s commitments under the memorandum of understanding, including guaranteeing safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz and inviting international nuclear inspectors back into the country — a claim that Iran swiftly denied. The license allowed Iran to produce, deliver and sell oil, including to U.S. importers, through Aug. 21.
But since the agreement was signed, Iran has since continued its attacks on commercial vessels navigating the Strait of Hormuz, including strikes on three commercial tankers since the beginning of the week, which a U.S. official called “wholly unacceptable.”
“As President [Donald] Trump and the administration have repeatedly affirmed, the MOU in effect with Iran is entirely performance-based. Iran will only reap benefits if they exhibit good behavior,” the official told JI. “Iran’s actions in the Strait were wholly unacceptable to the United States and will be met with consequences. Our negotiators continue to work in good faith towards a final deal.”
An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson had warned that commercial vessels using routes outside of Iranian control could face consequences and said that Iran was “diligently fulfilling its commitments” within the MOU to manage the strait, according to Axios.
The New York City mayor, whose advisor Morris Katz also worked for Graham Platner, called on the Maine Senate contender to forfeit
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks at a press conference during moving day at Gracie Mansion on January 12, 2026 in New York City.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Tuesday joined the swelling chorus of Democratic voices demanding the party’s nominee for Senate in Maine, Graham Platner, abandon his campaign in the aftermath of a rape allegation revealed in a Politico report on Monday — a campaign the mayor’s own top political advisor helped start and steer.
Mamdani’s remarks came shortly after an unrelated event at City Hall, a day after a former romantic partner of Platner’s accused him of drunkenly entering her home and sexually assaulting her in 2021. The mayor’s nearest political aide, Morris Katz, was one of the architects of Platner’s Senate run and one of his fiercest public defenders amid prior allegations of personal misconduct and the discovery that the candidate had a tattoo of a Nazi symbol.
But Mamdani made no remarks on Katz’s role in Platner’s rise, and declined to comment on the long-term consequences for the insurgent left-wing movement the two have championed.
“I believe that it’s time for him to drop out of the race,” the mayor said of Platner. “I think the focus of today should be on the campaign coming to a close. And I think there will be many more days to have conversations for what it means beyond that.”
The 27-year-old Katz reportedly talked up congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier to Mamdani, leading the mayor to endorse her in the final days of her ultimately successful challenge to Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY).
It soon emerged that Avila Chevalier had bragged online about wiping her hands on the American flag, praised Soviet despots, pushed Russian government talking points and spread a conspiracy theory about COVID-19 — creating uncomfortable questions for Democratic leaders after she won the primary in the deep-blue district.
Katz also advised Democratic candidates Clare Valdez, Micah Lasher and Brad Lander in their successful primary bids elsewhere in New York City.
The ambassador announced that the next round of Israel-Lebanon negotiations will take place next week in Rome
Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images
Israeli Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter
Jerusalem and Beirut see their trilateral agreement signed with the U.S. last month as “superseding” the memorandum of understanding signed between the U.S. and Iran, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter said on Monday.
“Whether the United States does, you’ll have to ask the administration spokesman,” he added, speaking at an event hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington.
Leiter specifically referenced the first clause of the MOU, to which Israel and Lebanon were not parties, which called for an end in hostilities around the region, including Israel’s war against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. Leiter acknowledged that Iran — as well as mediating countries Pakistan and Qatar — views the MOU differently and believes it overrides the Israel-Lebanon framework deal.
The next round of talks between Israel and Lebanon will take place on July 14 and 15 in Rome, Leiter said, and revealed that Lebanese President Joseph Aoun will meet with President Donald Trump at the White House on July 21.
Leiter described the MOU as primarily a mechanism to reopen the Strait of Hormuz rather than a broad peace deal, and urged a “wait and see” approach to future negotiations regarding long-term limits on Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
The deal is “clearly an agreement to get the strait open. This is not an agreement to end the nuclear weaponization of Iran,” he said.
“We have to wait and see what that looks like when it’s done, whether that’s 60 days, 90 days or after the midterms,” he continued. “I’m quite sure the administration didn’t go to war to go back into a situation where Iran has a pathway to once again try and produce nuclear weapons [and] ballistic missiles.”
Leiter added that Trump has said any deal with Iran would have to curtail its support for proxies and its ballistic missile program, though such issues were not mentioned in the MOU. He also warned against U.S. sanctions relief that could fund Tehran’s proxies.
“All we can do is weigh in,” Leiter said of Israel’s role in U.S.-Iran negotiations. “We can’t be part of that decision-making process. That’s too big for us. We know our size.”
Leiter dismissed as exaggerated reports of a rupture in Israel-U.S. relations.
“Media loves drama. So, if the president and the prime minister have 100 conversations that are pleasant, and then there are two conversations in which the president is having a bad day, is a little irritable and makes that known — that becomes the tenor of the relationship between the two men,” he said.
“I’ve been in all those conversations, all the meetings … arguments happen among people who are close. The relationship is good, the relationship is solid. There are differences along the way, and those are legitimate,” Leiter said, pointing to Israel’s opposition to the proposed U.S. sale of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey. Leiter said that Israel has made its position clear and that the U.S. has the right to decide how it wants to proceed.
He rejected claims that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dragged the U.S. into the war with Iran, dismissing such accusations as “sheer stupidity” rooted in antisemitic conspiracy theories.
“We presented our case as any self-respecting country does and it’s up to the United States to make a decision whether or not to embark on a war,” said Leiter. “It doesn’t do that because of AIPAC or other diabolical Jews.”
Leiter also dismissed a recent claim from Vice President JD Vance that Trump is the only world leader sympathetic to Israel. “It’s just not true. We just had an invitation to India. The relations we have with the United Arab Emirates have never been stronger. We have wonderful relations with Azerbaijan … our relations with Armenia now are quite good … and Somaliland.”
Alongside navigating divisions over Israel, the Democratic Party is currently grappling with “the Mamdani effect,” said Leiter, referring to a string of primary victories by progressive and democratic socialist candidates backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
“Israel is part of a much larger social metamorphosis,” he said.
The state lawmaker did not offer an endorsement of either of her former Democratic primary rivals, Rep. Haley Stevens and Abdul El-Sayed
Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu via Getty Images
State Sen. Mallory McMorrow, a Democrat from Michigan speaks during the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois, United States on August 19, 2024.
Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow dropped out of the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate on Sunday, without offering her support to either of her opponents in the hotly contested race.
“Here’s what we do next. Every day through November 3rd. We win this Senate seat and send Mike Rogers back to Florida for good,” McMorrow wrote in her announcement on X, referring to the expected GOP nominee.
“Whoever wins this primary on August 4th will have my full support,” she continued, declining to endorse either Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) or Abdul El-Sayed.
Fundraising figures released at the end of the first quarter of the year showed Stevens trailing El-Sayed in fundraising but having the most cash on hand, at $3.4 million to El-Sayed’s $2.5 million. El-Sayed has held a slight lead in the latest polls.
Following McMorrow’s announcement, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Jewish Democrat, said the “choice is clear” and “wholeheartedly” issued her endorsement of Stevens.
Stevens also has the backing of other Democratic leaders including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and former Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI).
El-Sayed, meanwhile, is backed by leading progressives including Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). Last week, the AIPAC-linked United Democracy Project super PAC, which has boosted Stevens with more than $10 million, issued its first negative ad against El-Sayed.
Rep. Dina Titus is leading the Joint Resolution of Disapproval against the Trump administration's $700 million sale of F110 jet engines to Turkey despite legal restrictions on U.S. military sales to the country
Mahmut Serdar Alakus/Anadolu via Getty Images
Turkish Stars, aerobatic team of the Turkish Air Force perform a demonstration flight during the Youth and Aviation Festival organized by the Ministry of National Defense to mark the 115th anniversary of the Turkish Air Force in Izmir, Turkiye on June 07, 2026.
A group of House Democrats introduced a resolution last week that aims to block the sale of advanced jet engines to Turkey, as the Trump administration pushes ahead with the sale despite legal restrictions on U.S. military sales to the country.
The resolution is led by Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV), a vocal critic of Ankara, and co-sponsored by Reps. Chris Pappas (D-NH), Brad Schneider (D-IL), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Mike Quigley (D-IL), Jim Costa (D-CA), Jim McGovern (D-MA), George Latimer (D-NY) and Brad Sherman (D-CA).
“The regime of Turkish President Erdoğan has made repeated threats of military action against NATO allies and other partner nations throughout the Middle East,” Titus said on X. “I am introducing a Joint Resolution of Disapproval to stop the $700 million sale of F110 jet engines to Turkey which would undermine regional stability and pose a threat to U.S. allies.”
Titus also said on X that she’s working on a letter to House leadership “to prevent any attempt to readmit Turkey into the F-35 program,” urging a Republican colleague who is also critical of the Turkish government to support her initiative.
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