Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

The U.S. and Iran continued to offer conflicting accounts of the agreement reached over the weekend: President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social this morning that Iran “fully and completely agreed to highest level Nuclear inspections long into the future,” without which “there would be no further negotiations.” But Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said it was untrue and that the parties had not discussed any nuclear issues.

About Tehran’s denial, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. “know[s] what [Iran] agreed to do, and now they’ll either do it or they won’t. And if they do, the process moves forward. And if they don’t, the president will have some decisions to make”…

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Trump also said in his post that the funds received by Iran through the deal will go “into escrow, controlled by the U.S.A., and will be used for the purchase of food and medical supplies.” Yet the Treasury Department’s waiver of Iranian oil sanctions contains no such language and the text of the memorandum of understanding says unfrozen Iranian assets “shall be made fully usable” for “any ultimate beneficiary designated by the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran”…

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Meanwhile, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi were in Muscat speaking with Omani leaders about the Strait of Hormuz: In a joint statement, the parties said their foreign ministries will work towards an agreement on the “future administration” of the strait, the “services that will be provided in this regard and the costs associated with them,” as the Trump administration has repeatedly stated it will not accept any tolls placed on transit through the key waterway…

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Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian was also abroad, meeting in Islamabad with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, where Pezeshkian said Iran’s ballistic missile program “will never be” up for negotiation with the U.S…

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Jerusalem is publicly expressing concern about the Lebanon deconfliction mechanism established by the U.S. and Iran for the first time, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports: At the opening of Israel and Lebanon’s fifth round of direct talks taking place in Washington today, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter claimed the parties are “heading towards a train wreck.”

Leiter said he’s “concerned the concept of deconfliction is misplaced” because “Israel is not in conflict with Lebanon,” and that Israel had assumed “the central issue was Lebanon and Hezbollah — not the extent to which Iran could restrain Hezbollah. That is not Iran’s role”…

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Rubio, arriving in Abu Dhabi, said the U.S.-Iran and Israel-Lebanon tracks “are separate because Lebanon is a sovereign country,” and that the U.S. is “going to negotiate a deal directly with the Lebanese government,” without mentioning Israel.

Rubio also made clear that Iran is responsible for much of the terror activity in the Middle East, striking a different tone than that of Vice President JD Vance, JI’s Danielle Cohen-Kanik reports, after Vance said yesterday the U.S. is counting on Iran to “rein in” Hezbollah…

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The Senate passed a war powers resolution this afternoon directing the administration to withdraw U.S. forces from Iran, 50-48, with GOP Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Susan Collins (R-ME) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) voting in favor with Democrats,JI’s Marc Rod reports.

The resolution, now passed by both chambers, came as a concurrent resolution — meaning it will not be submitted to the president and, based on past court precedent, is not seen as carrying the force of law…

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A manifesto allegedly left by the gunman behind yesterday’s rampage in Côte-des-Neiges, a heavily Jewish neighborhood in Montreal, repeatedly targeted Jews and Zionists, specifically identifying “influential Zionists” among his intended victims, JI’s Haley Cohen reports…

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New York City First Lady Rama Duwaji posted an Instagram story today flashing an “I Voted” sticker and encouraging her followers to support two congressional candidates endorsed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the Democratic Socialists of America: Assemblymember Claire Valdez and doctoral candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier. Not receiving a mention was the only Jewish congressional candidate endorsed by her husband: former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, JI’s Will Bredderman reports…

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Ammar Campa-Najjar, a DSA-backed candidate who was recently defeated in his run for a California congressional seat, launched a new PAC called Democratic Majority for America — a counter to Democratic Majority for Israel, which organized against him in the June primary — to support progressive candidates who want to end aid to Israel, Politico reports.

The PAC, which Campa-Najjar said has about $100,000 in cash on hand, has already endorsed California congressional candidate Randy Villegas and far-left Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed…

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AIPAC’s super PAC, the United Democracy Project, has spent more than $38 million backing candidates this election cycle so far through direct and indirect spending, according to Politico, surpassing the $26 million it spent on the 2022 midterms…

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The Blue Square Alliance Against Hate, headed by New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, announced the formation of its inaugural advisory board, including Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, Dentons CEO Kate Barton, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav…

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for primary results from key races in New York and Maryland, as well as a postmortem on New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s ability to wield his political capital in the three congressional races where he endorsed progressive candidates.

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President Donald Trump is expected to attend a GOP Senate luncheon as he remains at odds with his party over several legislative efforts and as some Republicans speak out against his efforts to curb Israeli operations against Hezbollah.

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In the afternoon, Trump will hold a rally on the National Mall to kick off his Great American State Fair in the lead-up to the country’s 250th anniversary.

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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is slated to brief House Republicans tomorrow as the Pentagon gears up for a contentious fight over an expected $80 billion supplemental funding request tied largely to the Iran war.

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The House Appropriations Committee will mark up the 2027 defense spending bill.

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Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) will speak in conversation with Jewish Council for Public Affairs CEO Amy Spitalnick as well as leaders from other religious groups, including the Union for Reform Judaism and Orthodox Union, about the Jewish American Security Act.

• Voters in Maryland, New York and Utah are heading to the polls for their primaries today. The biggest races to watch are in New York, where New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has endorsed three far-left, anti-Israel candidates running against Reps. Dan Goldman (D-NY), Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) and Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso. We’re also closely watching the hotly contested Democratic primary to succeed retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), in a Manhattan district with the largest Jewish constituency in the country. 
• In Maryland, we’re keeping a close eye on the race to replace former House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD), where state Del. Adrian Boafo, endorsed by the outgoing congressman and a strong ally of Israel, has emerged as the favorite. See more below. 
• Israeli and Lebanese representatives are expected to begin multiday talks in Washington in a continuation of the countries’ direct negotiations, starting with a joint military and political session, days after the U.S. and Iran said they had established a “deconfliction cell” to end military operations in Lebanon without Israel’s involvement. 
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserted multiple times on Monday that the IDF retains the right to act against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon if necessary, as Axios reported that the Israeli government fears the U.S. is limiting its freedom of action through its negotiations with Iran. On Tuesday morning, the IDF said it struck armed terrorists operating close to Israeli soldiers in Ali al-Taher Ridge area in southern Lebanon.
• Secretary of State Marco Rubio is departing for a three-day trip to the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Bahrain to discuss issues including the memorandum of understanding with Iran and transit through the Strait of Hormuz. 
• Orthodox Union Advocacy will hold its annual lobbying day on the Hill, including a luncheon with senators from both parties.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S matthew kassel

As Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) prepares to step down at the end of his current term, the former Democratic House majority leader is staking his pro-Israel legacy on a little-known candidate who he hopes will uphold his long-standing commitment to maintaining a close relationship with the Jewish state.

In throwing his support behind Adrian Boafo, a 32-year-old Maryland state delegate who is among two dozen Democratic candidates running in Maryland’s 5th Congressional District primary on Tuesday, Hoyer, 87, is using his connections to establishment party leaders and ties with pro-Israel groups to boost his hand-picked choice to the nomination for a safely blue seat.

United Democracy Project, AIPAC’s super PAC, has emerged as the biggest spender in the race, investing more than $5.7 million as part of an aggressive effort to promote Boafo launched by Hoyer and his allies. 

The well-funded foray is a useful illustration of the degree to which planning and organization helped put Boafo in contention for the seat Hoyer has held for 45 years, in contrast with recent primaries where UDP and other pro-Israel advocacy groups have been relatively cautious with their engagement while being outflanked by the far left.

A UDP source, granted anonymity to speak candidly about the race, said polling showed Boafo was not in the lead when Hoyer endorsed him in January. “It’s a super close race that could go either way,” the source told Jewish Insider on Monday, stressing a high level of undecided primary voters. “Many candidates are in contention.”

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

AI Accuracy?: ForumAI CEO Campbell Brown writes in The Wall Street Journal about AI models’ limitations in assessing accurate information. “We tested the major AI models on three dimensions this group identified as the foundation of trustworthy information: quality of sources, factual accuracy and whether they present a response with real balance or just the appearance of it. We found serious gaps: The models misstated public opinion on political topics and attributed quotations to people who didn’t say them … The most revealing failures were much subtler. When we asked the major models something as basic as what form of government the U.S. has, one of them, Claude Opus 4.7, cited Global Times, a Chinese state-run tabloid.” [WSJ]

MOU As Rough Draft: In Newsweek, former White House Middle East Special Envoy Jason Greenblatt offers a conflicted but measured assessment of the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding, drawing from his diplomatic experience during Trump’s first term. “I read the 14 points of the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding (MOU) the way I used to read drafts in the White House and, before that, for two decades at The Trump Organization: pen in hand, marking up every clause … My honest reaction, reading it that way, is that I have serious questions about its structure and its terms … And yet I know how incomplete my reaction is, coming from someone standing outside the room. I spent three years watching the gap between what the public saw and what was actually happening behind closed doors, and I learned that the view from outside the room almost always misses things the people inside knew or were reaching for.” [Newsweek] 

Trump’s ‘Surrender’: Former Rep. Kathy Manning (D-NC), now board chair of Democratic Majority for Israel, slams President Donald Trump’s memorandum of understanding with Iran as a mirage obfuscating his negotiation failures. “Like the arsonist who wants credit for putting out the fire he started, Mr. Trump now claims victory with a deal that pauses Iran’s use of a previously unused weapon — a weapon that may be as powerful as its nuclear threat — the closing of the Strait of Hormuz. Add to that the release of hundreds of billions of dollars to Iran and you have the real Art of the Deal: surrender and betrayal of the American people, the Gulf States, Israel, and our NATO allies.” [Substack]

What Greenspan Meant: Greg Ip, The Wall Street Journal’s chief economics commentator, reflects on the impact Alan Greenspan, who died on Monday, left on the country and on Ip personally, after years covering him as he reported on the Federal Reserve. “He was introverted, but came alive when the topic of conversation interested him. Luckily, our interests overlapped. For my fellow journalists and me, Greenspan wasn’t just a news subject but a bottomless well of insight and ideas. And he loved that role. I came away from every meeting with Greenspan smarter. Admonished for not knowing Knut Wicksell’s theory of the natural rate of interest, I quickly brushed up. After a discussion of Keynesian prescriptions for preventing depression in the 1940s, he sent me to read George Terborgh, an obscure economist with a contrarian and bullish view on American potential.” [WSJ]

The FBI announced the arrest of two more individuals who allegedly plotted to attack members of Congress connected to the “pro-Israel lobby” at the UFC event at the White House last week, joining five other suspects charged with conspiracy to commit murder…

Three people were killed in a shooting attack in Côte-des-Neiges, a heavily Jewish neighborhood in Montreal. A civilian, a police officer and the suspect were confirmed dead by Montreal police, while one other police officer was seriously injured but in stable condition, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen and Tamara Zieve report…

The Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division is investigating a Brooklyn cafe after it banned Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) from its store, posting discriminatory messages online that accused the congressman of enabling genocide and tying him to AIPAC, JI’s Haley Cohen reports…

The coffee shop is owned by Parviz Mukhamadkulov, who, the Free Beacon reported, is a donor to scandal-plagued Maine Democratic Senate nominee Graham Platner… 

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) announced last week that he had been endorsed by the anti-Israel group TrackAIPAC, which has faced widespread accusations of antisemitism, after becoming the first politician or candidate to sign a new “pledge” promulgated by the group, JI’s Marc Rod reports…

Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro called Vice President JD Vance’s conduct in negotiations with Iran over the weekend “humiliating,” slamming Vance — while continuing to praise President Donald Trump — on his show on Monday for “looking weak in front of the Qataris, the Pakistanis and most of all, the Iranians”…

Three men killed in a small plane crash in Bowie, Md., on Saturday night have been identified as Israeli citizens, JI’s Haley Cohen reports…

Israeli defense contractor Elbit Systems announced it would phase out its use of Chinese-manufactured vehicles, following similar moves by other entities including the IDF and Rafael as the vehicles are increasingly viewed as a security risk by both Jerusalem and Washington…

Shin Bet chief David Zini has instructed officials to prepare for a potential attack in Israel’s southern resort city, warning that “the next October 7 will be in Eilat,” Haaretz reports, citing security sources… 

An independent U.N. inquiry found that Israeli forces deliberately targeted Palestinian children, resulting in genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza, and war crimes in the West Bank. The Israeli Foreign Ministry rejected the report as a “libelous sham,” and said it “lacks any credible verification mechanism for its claims” and ignores “Hamas’ cynical use of Palestinian children as human shields”…

A federal investigation found that the condominium collapse in Surfside, Fla., almost exactly five years ago, that killed 98 people began with a structural failure in the building’s garage three weeks earlier…

The New York Times spotlights “Food Network” star Ina Garten’s foray into podcasting with her forthcoming show “Happy Hour With Ina Garten,” after Vox Media secured the in-demand contract in a seven-figure deal…

Alan Greenspan — the influential economist who led the Federal Reserve for 19 years across four presidencies — died on Monday at 100, JI’s Haley Cohen reports…

Music executive Clive Davis, who championed the careers of stars including Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin and Barry Manilow, died on Monday at 94…

Ambassador Yehuda Kaploun, the Trump administration’s special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, said on Monday that his office, under President Donald Trump, had been given a broader remit across the federal government, including assisting in the recent arrest and indictment of an alleged mastermind of attacks on Jewish communities in Europe and the U.S.

Kaploun said at an Orthodox Union conference in Washington that his office had worked with the Department of Justice, FBI, intelligence community and the White House to help bring to justice Mohammed Al-Saadi, an Iranian Iraqi Kata-ib Hizballah operative allegedly involved in more than two dozen attacks and attempted attacks across Europe and the U.S., Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. 

Ethiopian-born Israeli model who won the title of Miss Israel in 2013, Yityish “Titi” Aynaw turns 35… 

Real estate developer and co-founder of Tishman Speyer, Jerry Speyer turns 86… Associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, Justice Clarence Thomas turns 78… Senior advisor at Eurasia Group, a political risk consultancy, he is the author of 24 books on foreign affairs, global politics and travel, Robert D. Kaplan turns 74… Novelist and journalist, Roy Hoffman turns 73… Los Angeles-based socialite, restaurateur and breast cancer fundraiser, a 2008 Lifetime Television movie starring Renée Zellweger portrayed her cancer-fighting efforts, Lilly Tartikoff Karatz turns 73… Klezmer expert, violinist, composer, filmmaker, writer, photographer and playwright, Yale Strom turns 69… Senior director of health policy at the National Consumers League until 2024, Robin Strongin… President of the Harrington Discovery Institute at University Hospitals, Dr. Jonathan Solomon Stamler turns 67… Sports memorabilia marketer, in 2009 his firm sold all of the seats, signs and lockers from the old Yankee Stadium, Brandon Steiner turns 67… Member of the Pennsylvania state Senate until 2020, now president of Cannabis GPO, Daylin Leach turns 65… Editorial director of Ben Yehuda Press, Lawrence Yudelson… Former teacher for 19 years at Golda Och Academy in West Orange, N.J., she is on Hadassah’s 2025 list of 18 American Zionist Women You Should Know, Stephanie Z. Bonder… Israeli-American professor, journalist and filmmaker, Boaz Dvir turns 59… Film and television actor, her Hebrew name is Bat-Sheva, Selma Blair Beitner turns 54… U.S. special envoy for hostage response, Adam Seth Boehler turns 53… EVP and general manager of the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles, Howie Roseman turns 51… President and COO of D1 Capital Partners, he was deputy director of the White House National Economic Council in the Trump 45 administration, Jeremy Katz… Founder of Innovation: Africa, which uses Israeli solar technology to bring electricity and solar-powered water pumps to impoverished African villages, Sivan Borowich-Ya’ari turns 48… Actor and comedian, best known for playing Dr. Bernadette Rostenkowski-Wolowitz on CBS’ sitcom “The Big Bang Theory,” Melissa Rauch turns 46… Actor, singer and model, Marielle Jaffe turns 37… Executive assistant to the CEO at Jazz, Gila Bublick turns 37… Western regional major gifts director at United Hatzalah of Israel, Ely Benhamo… Recent MBA graduate at Columbia Business School, Josh Lauder…

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Three people were killed in a shooting attack today in Côte-des-Neiges, a heavily Jewish neighborhood in Montreal, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen and Tamara Zieve report. A civilian, a police officer and the suspect were confirmed dead by Montreal police, while one other police officer was seriously injured but in stable condition. Police said the suspect’s motive is still under investigation. Stay updated on this developing story with JI’s What We’re Watching briefing…

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After the U.S. and Iran agreed to create a “deconfliction cell” for military operations in Lebanon during their negotiations yesterday, Vice President JD Vance said at a press conference today that the U.S. will be counting on Iran to “rein in” Hezbollah — without acknowledging that Tehran offers material backing to its proxy in Lebanon, JI’s Matthew Shea reports.

Vance called Hezbollah’s attacks on northern Israel and the IDF’s retaliation “a bit of a chicken and egg problem, that you’ve got a junior guy who fires a drone that didn’t have approval from the high command. Of course Israel has to respond to that,” he acknowledged, “but … we could actually have a better and more peaceful situation if Israel responds in the context of a conversation that’s ongoing between Hezbollah, Lebanon, Israel and other partners in the region”…

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to push back on Vance’s framing, saying in a video statement this morning that his directive to the IDF “has not changed: Our fighters in southern Lebanon have full freedom of action to thwart any direct or developing threat to them or to the residents of the north. The IDF has no restrictions on this matter,” he said, while the tenuous ceasefire with Hezbollah appeared to hold today…

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Vance also announced Iran had agreed to let U.N. nuclear inspectors back into the country, and President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social that “everybody is fully aware” Iran will agree to “have Major Weapons Inspections in order to ensure ‘Nuclear Honesty’ long into the future,” but Esmail Baghaei, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson, told state media that Iran made “no new commitments” regarding inspections…

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Pursuant to the agreement reached between the U.S. and Iran over the weekend, the Treasury Department issued a waiver lifting decades-old U.S. sanctions on Iranian oil for the next 60 days, permitting imports of Iranian oil directly to the U.S. and paying for the goods in U.S. dollars.

Asked this afternoon in the Oval Office if he can ensure that Iran won’t use the funds for military purposes, Trump said, “They’re not supposed to be doing that, so we’ll see, but they’re supposed to use the money to buy food for their people.” AIPAC described the waiver as “broader than the terms detailed in the MOU or what was included in the JCPOA”…

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The White House’s “Rapid Response” X account boosted an Al Jazeera video interview about the negotiations with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, calling it “the real story from people actually in the room”…

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Avigdor Liberman, head of Israel’s Yisrael Beiteinu party and a leading opponent of Netanyahu, wrote in The Wall Street Journal that the “deal between Washington and Tehran won’t stop Iran from becoming a nuclear power. It will guarantee it.” He called for Jerusalem to “inform Washington that Israel won’t accept any linkage between Iran and Lebanon” and end its reliance on U.S. missile systems, preparing to attack key Iranian infrastructure if Tehran strikes Israel…

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Asked about her stance on Israel in a rare nationally televised interview on Fox News today, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) said she “remain[s] a very strong supporter of Israel” despite rising hostility to Israel and AIPAC among the American public, which she said “sadly reflects rising antisemitism in our country that” her opponent, Democratic nominee Graham Platner, “certainly is part of.”

“It’s important to recognize that AIPAC is made up of Americans who care deeply about our relationship with Israel. Platner makes it sound like this is some sort of evil foreign influence and that is absolutely wrong,” Collins continued…

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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani doubled down on his rhetorical assault on AIPAC today, JI’s Will Bredderman reports, after Jewish groups over the weekend criticized his comments about the pro-Israel organization at a rally last week that they argued evoked classic antisemitic tropes.

Mamdani defended naming AIPAC among the “monsters who move dark money” as a reference to a widely known misquote of 20th-century Marxist philosopher Antonio Gramsci, and backed up his argument with statistics from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry alleging that the IDF has killed more than 1,000 Palestinians since the ceasefire last fall…

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JI’s Christina Sher looks at the state of tomorrow’s Democratic primary for executive of Montgomery County, Md., as all three of the front-runners — County Councilmembers Will Jawando, Andrew Friedson and Evan Glass — have been outspoken against antisemitism, but diverge in their policy positions and views on Israel…

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Three men killed in asmall plane crash in Bowie, Md., on Saturday night have been identified as Israeli citizens, JI’s Haley Cohen reports: Yoav Bomrind, 26, David Rabinovitz, 19, and Elad Neidik, 20, boarded the single-engine plane in Ocean City, N.J., for a training flight before it crashed just outside Washington, D.C…

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Alan Greenspan — the influential economist who led the Federal Reserve across four presidencies and whose track record guiding economic growth earned him status as an economic “maestro” — died today at 100, JI’s Haley Cohen reports…

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

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at how pro-Israel groups’ intervention in the race to replace retiring Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) — where they are supporting state Delegate Adrian Boafo — revealed a more proactive strategy for taking on the left than the one the groups have employed in New York City’s Democratic primaries, as voters in both states head to the polls tomorrow.

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Israeli and Lebanese representatives are expected to meet in Washington to continue their direct negotiations, as the U.S. and Iran seek to intervene in ending military operations in Lebanon.

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio will embark on a three-day trip to the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Bahrain to discuss issues including the memorandum of understanding with Iran and transit through the Strait of Hormuz.

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Orthodox Union Advocacy will hold its annual lobbying day on the Hill, including a luncheon with senators from both parties and a speech by Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter.

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The Jerusalem News Syndicate’s policy summit continues in Jerusalem with remarks from former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, former Defense Minister Benny Gantz, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli, Netanyahu advisor Michael Eisenberg and Magen David Adom President Gilad Erdan.

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

As the White House continues to promote the memorandum of understanding that will end the war with Iran and start negotiations between Washington and Tehran, Vice President JD Vance is out with a message that sounds strikingly familiar — at least to anyone who followed former President Barack Obama’s pitch on the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.

“If you think this is a bad deal, what is your alternative?” Vance said in an interview this week with New York Times columnist Ross Douthat. 

Obama used nearly identical phrasing at a 2015 White House press conference: “I’m hearing a lot of talking points being repeated about ‘this is a bad deal,’” he said. “What I haven’t heard is, what is your preferred alternative?”

Watch a side-by-side look at Vance and Obama here…

Vance also delivered a tough message to Israeli officials who have criticized the MOU, telling reporters on Thursday that Israel’s government should be careful not to alienate the only friend it has left: President Donald Trump, JI’s Emily Jacobs reports.

“Donald J. Trump is the only head of state in the entire world who is sympathetic to the nation of Israel at this moment in time and he happens to be the head of state of the world’s superpower. If I was in the Cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world,” said Vance…

Trump also had a word of caution for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, two days after he said Netanyahu was too “vicious” in his approach to fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon. Asked by a reporter for Israel’s Kan News if he will support Netanyahu in this year’s Israeli elections, Trump said he most likely would, but did not commit.

“I’ll have to look at who’s running, but I like Bibi very much. I would be most likely to endorse him,” said Trump. “He’s doing a very good job, he’s got to be a little bit more rational”…

United Against Nuclear Iran, an advocacy group that rallied opposition to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, said on Thursday that it “cannot endorse the MoU in its current form”…

AIPAC released a policy memo on Thursday that said the MOU “raises significant questions,” and called on Congress to “play a critical role in ensuring a final deal meets President Trump’s stated objectives for the war”…

In a Thursday speech at the FII Priority summit in Rome, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama blamed Iran for “ruthless” cyberattacks against the country, claiming that Tehran has sought to sow unrest about a preliminarily approved luxury development project in the country from Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, Trump’s daughter and son-in-law, JI’s Matthew Shea reports…

Janeese Lewis George defeated Kenyan McDuffie in the Democratic primary for mayor of Washington, D.C., with the Associated Press calling the race on Thursday afternoon. Democratic socialist Lewis George leads McDuffie 53% to 36%…

American Priorities, a super PAC created as a progressive counterweight to AIPAC, has received $250,000 from a tech executive whose firm is developing AI data centers in New York State — while boosting two democratic socialist House candidates who oppose efforts to expand data centers, JI’s Matthew Kassel reports…

Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-NJ), who has been absent from Congress since March due to an unexplained personal health issue, plans to return to Washington on June 30…

Israel and Syria are expected to resume direct talks soon due to pressure from the U.S., the Israeli network Kan reports…

The FBI announced that it charged San Diego resident Reda Mazen Rida Sabassi with conspiring to provide material support to Hamas after he allegedly raised approximately $600,000 through fraudulent charitable campaigns and funneled a portion to the terrorist organization…

Former Presidents Joe Biden, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton attended the grand opening of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago on Thursday afternoon.

Guests included a litany of ex-Obama administration staffers, including former White House liaison to the Jewish community Matt Nosanchuk and former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro, who was spotted chatting with Obama…

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 Republicans are feeling about the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding that was signed this week. 

Vice President JD Vance plans to travel to Switzerland this weekend for talks with Iran, though the plans are not yet finalized, he told reporters on Thursday. 

Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, will become the acting director of national intelligence on Friday after the confirmation of DNI nominee Jay Clayton was delayed this week at President Donald Trump’s request. 

We’ll be monitoring the final days of the heated congressional primary campaigns in New York, where Israel and Gaza remain hot topics for progressive candidates. 

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

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

After days in which President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and other senior officials boosted the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding — and amid calls from Capitol Hill and beyond to make public the agreement’s details — the White House on Wednesday shared the text of the document that the Trump administration said will end the war against Tehran. Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs obtained the text of the MOU, which was read aloud to reporters during a call with a senior administration official.

The MOU states that the two nations “and their respective allies in the current war” will permanently end military operations — including against Lebanon, a stipulation that suggests the deal is meant to suspend Israel’s retaliatory strikes against Hezbollah, a provision for which Israel has not yet expressed approval. Iran “reaffirms” in the MOU that it will not “procure or develop nuclear weapons”…

The MOU text also reveals that the U.S. plans to issue a sanctions waiver to Iran so that it can sell oil, a major policy shift away from Trump’s use of sanctions against Iran. If a final deal is reached, the U.S. committed to ending all sanctions on Iran. Trump said earlier in the day at the G7 summit in France that the U.S. will not invest in Iran but would not stop other countries from doing so, JI’s Matthew Shea reports.

One new piece of information Trump shared on Wednesday that was not directly addressed in the MOU: a nuclear deal between Washington and Tehran would not prohibit the Iranians from possessing ballistic missiles, JI’s Matthew Shea reports. “I mean, they have to have some, because other people have some … It doesn’t work that way. And missiles aren’t the problem,” Trump said at the G7.

The agreement does not address Iran’s ballistic missiles or support for terrorist proxies. At the beginning of the war, the Trump administration said eliminating the ballistic missile threat from Iran was a key war aim…

The MOU asserts that a final deal will be negotiated within 60 days, unless both countries agree to extend the deadline. Iran’s naval blockade on the Strait of Hormuz must be lifted within 30 days. 

When talking to reporters after landing in Paris this afternoon, Trump said he does not view the 60-day deadline as a hard deadline. “Just as long as they’re behaving, I really don’t care that much,” Trump said.

Vance, not Trump, will be signing the MOU in Switzerland on Friday. “This way if it works out, I’m going to take the credit. If it doesn’t work out, I’m blaming JD,” Trump said during the G7…

Some Republican senators criticized the MOU, with retiring Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) calling it “the worst foreign policy blunder in decades,” JI’s Marc Rod reports…

Dario Amodei and Sam Altman, the CEOs, respectively, of Anthropic and OpenAI, joined Trump and the other G7 leaders for lunch on Wednesday, along with Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis… 

The planned Senate confirmation hearing for Jay Clayton, Trump’s nominee to serve as director of national intelligence, was scuttled on Wednesday morning after a last-minute Truth Social post from the president saying that the hearing would be canceled, prompting frustration from both Republican and Democratic lawmakers, JI’s Marc Rod reports…

As a major shareholder in Volkswagen, Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund is complicating talks between the German automaker and the Israeli state-owned defense company Rafael over Rafael’s intention to buy a plant from Volkswagen to manufacture components for Israel’s Iron Dome missile-defense systems…

The anti-Israel advocacy group TrackAIPAC, which attacks lawmakers who have received support from pro-Israel groups and donors who have supported Israel-related causes, endorsed Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), who once was targeted by TrackAIPAC before moving sharply to the left on Israel in recent months…

After eight people were indicted last week for allegedly threatening University of Michigan leaders and their families as part of an anti-Israel pressure campaign, former Michigan Democratic Party Chair Lon Johnson called on the party’s current leadership to review the actions of five of the suspects who were members of the Michigan Democratic Party…

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights announced on Wednesday that it is opening an antisemitism investigation into the American Psychological Association, the nation’s largest professional organization for mental health professionals. JI’s Gabby Deutch reported on the APA’s handling of antisemitism last summer…

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for a look at how some of the country’s most prominent Jewish communal leaders are marking America’s 250th birthday this July Fourth.

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) will be speaking in the morning at a fireside chat at the Hudson Institute focused on “diplomacy, defense and debt.”

We’ll be monitoring the results of Tuesday’s mayoral primary election in Washington, D.C., which still has not been called, even as Janeese Lewis George leads Kenyan McDuffie 53% to 37%, with 68% of the vote counted. 

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a heated phone call on Tuesday where they discussed a potential peace deal with Iran that was drafted by Qatar, Pakistan and other mediators, Axios reports, with Netanyahu pushing for a return to war.

Responding to reports that Netanyahu favors continuing strikes, Trump said on Wednesday that the Israeli leader “will do whatever I want him to do”…

Trump said the U.S. and Iran are “right on the borderline” of either securing a deal or resuming the war, telling reporters the process “could go very quickly, or could be a few days.” Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, meanwhile, threatened to strike “beyond the region” should military operations continue…

The Jewish Democratic Council of America announced a dual endorsement today of Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow in Michigan’s three-way Senate Democratic primary, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports, saying, “There are two candidates who stand with our community on issues of importance to Jewish voters, and there is one who does not.”

While JDCA CEO Halie Soifer acknowledged concerns that Stevens and McMorrow could end up splitting the more-moderate vote and inadvertently propelling the far-left Abdul El-Sayed to the nomination, she told JI the dual endorsement was meant to reflect JDCA’s broader assessment of the stakes of the race…

New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin is backing a new buffer zone bill for schools that aims to avoid another veto from Mayor Zohran Mamdani, JI’s Will Bredderman reports; the revised legislation narrows the language to early childhood facilities and K-12 schools and carves out other educational facilities, addressing concerns from the mayor and other councilmembers…

A new poll from the independent Pan Atlantic Research firm found presumptive Maine Senate Democratic nominee Graham Platner leading incumbent Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) 48-41% among likely voters. There was a stark educational divide: Platner led Collins by 20 points among those with a four-year college degree or higher, while the candidates were neck-and-neck among those without…

Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) vowed that if Maureen Galindo, the antisemitic conspiracy theorist running in the Democratic primary for Texas’ 35th District, is elected to Congress, “we will force a vote to expel her every single day we are here.”

All Jewish Democratic members of Congress also joined to condemn Galindo’s “vile, bigoted, and antisemitic views,” calling her “desperate and unhinged”…

Yesterday’s primary elections saw Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY) secure the GOP nomination for retiring Sen. Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) Senate seat, while in Georgia, former Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) and former football coach Derek Dooley will head to a runoff next month after neither received 50% in the race to take on Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA)…

Former Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), who represented the Boston area in Congress for more than three decades and was the first openly gay member of Congress, died on Tuesday, JI’s Gabby Deutch reports. He was 86.

In the final weeks of his life, Frank did a series of interviews to promote his forthcoming book, even as he anticipated not making it to the release date. In a May 8 interview with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Frank said he believed Democrats should reject far-left litmus tests, but said Israel policy is “180 degrees” different and that Democrats need to make clear their opposition to Netanyahu…

Netanyahu, along with other Israeli officials, issued a sharp condemnation of far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir after he released a video showing himself taunting detained flotilla activists, JI’s Matthew Shea reports.

In the video, Ben-Gvir waves a large Israeli flag over blindfolded activists kneeling on the ground and shouts, “Welcome to Israel, we are the masters.” Netanyahu said the way his Cabinet minister “dealt with the flotilla activists is not in line with Israel’s values and norms”…

James Murdoch, the son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, is purchasing, through his media holding company Lupa Systems, New York magazine, the Vox Media Podcast Network and Vox.com from Vox Media. Murdoch’s other business ventures include an investment firm, Bodhi Tree, founded in 2022 with $1.5 billion from the Qatar Investment Authority. His expanded holdings in American media mark a homecoming of sorts — his father owned New York magazine from 1977-1991…

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for an interview with the two Republican candidates running for the University of Michigan Board of Regents, as they see an opening to pitch themselves to voters over Amir Makled, an anti-Israel Democratic nominee.

The Capital Jewish Museum in Washington will open to the public to mark the one-year anniversary of the shooting that killed Israeli Embassy staffers Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim.

The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington will hold candidate forums with D.C. mayoral hopefuls Janeese Lewis George and Kenyan McDuffie.

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and James Lankford (R-OK) introduced the Jewish American Security Act today, a broad new effort to address antisemitism across multiple sectors of American society, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

The bill — launched at a Jewish Federations of North America press conference on Capitol Hill — aims to combat antisemitism on campus and online, as well as streamline and provide $1 billion in funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program, and has broad support among Jewish community groups and across all major religious denominations.

William Daroff, CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, told JI it was “deeply encouraging to see this bill come together with bipartisan, bicameral support at a time when that kind of consensus is all too rare”…

President Donald Trump endorsed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) ahead of the state’s heated GOP primary runoff next Tuesday, JI’s Emily Jacobs reports. Trump, who has repeatedly praised both candidates, claimed Cornyn “is a good man … but he was not supportive of me when times were tough.”

If Paxton wins the May 26 runoff, Democrats plan to invest millions behind their nominee, state Rep. James Talarico, who is trying to become the first Democrat to win a Senate seat in Texas since 1988. General election polling indicates that a matchup between Talarico and Paxton — who carries significant legal and ethical baggage — would be highly competitive…

Activist Maureen Galindo, a candidate for the Democratic nomination in Texas’ 35th Congressional District who has continuously trafficked in antisemitic conspiracy theories, pledged in an Instagram post last week to turn an immigrant detention center in south Texas into a “prison for American Zionists.” “It will also be a castration processing center for pedophiles which will probably be most of the Zionists,” she continued.

Jewish and Democratic groups, including Democratic Majority for Israel, are backing Galindo’s opponent, Bexar County sheriff’s deputy Johnny Garcia. In a statement about Galindo’s comments, DMFI accused Republicans of funding her campaign and “deliberately elevating one of the most grotesque antisemites in America”…

Trump blasted Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) for sending a campaign text to voters, as election day is underway in Kentucky, with a statement from Trump endorsing Massie — from 2022. Trump has endorsed Massie’s opponent, Ed Gallrein, in today’s Republican primary.

“Horrible Congressman Thomas Massie put out an old Endorsement, from many years ago, of him by me long before I found out that he was the Worst Congressman in the History of our Country,” Trump wrote on X — his first post on the platform in months…

New polling from the campaign of Navy veteran Rebecca Bennett shows her with a 20-point lead in the Democratic primary for New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District, the seat held by Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-NJ) — who is drawing increasing scrutiny for his monthslong unexplained absence from Congress. Bennett, who is leading the pack in fundraising, polled at 35% among likely primary voters, while Tina Shah came in second at 15%…

After abruptly scrapping a strike on Iran planned for today, Trump gave a vague timeline for renewed diplomacy, saying Tehran has only “a limited period of time” to return to the negotiating table. “Two or three days. Maybe Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Maybe early next week,” he told reporters today.

Hours after calling off the strike yesterday evening, Trump met with his national security team to discuss military options in Iran, Axios reports, suggesting resumed strikes are still on the table…

Speaking at the No Money for Terror Conference in Paris, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called on U.S. allies to “step up” and join Washington in taking aggressive economic action against Iran and its broader terrorism financing networks, JI’s Matthew Shea reports.

Bessent’s comments came as the Treasury Department announced sanctions against four individuals associated with the pro-Hamas flotilla traveling towards Gaza, as well as a suite of sanctions against Iranian shadow banking operations and 19 regime-linked vessels…

The Emirati Defense Ministry said that drone attacks that caused a fire at the UAE’s nuclear power plant over the weekend were launched from Iraqi territory, where several Iran-backed militias are based…

Adm. Brad Cooper, the head of U.S. Central Command, told members of the House Armed Services Committee that reports that Iran had managed to reconstitute many of its drone and missile sites struck during U.S. operations were inaccurate…

Twenty-five Republican senators led by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) wrote a letter to Trump urging him to “fully dismantle” the U.N. Relief and Works Agency and remove it from the U.N. budget, citing the agency’s “systemic infiltration by Hamas and other U.S.-designated terrorist organizations”…

The Oklahoman, a local daily newspaper, pulled down an opinion article published on Monday comparing the Oklahoma City Thunder NBA team to Israel — an “underdog that has become hated.” The article, written by a pro-Israel Jewish Oklahoman, was “mistakenly published,” the paper’s executive editor said, and “did not align with our opinion standards”…

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for a readout from the Center for American Progress’ IDEAS Conference, where more than a dozen Democrats, several with national ambitions, shared their policy visions today in Washington.

The Jewish Federations of North America, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Combat Antisemitism Movement and Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History will host a breakfast with lawmakers on Capitol Hill to celebrate Jewish American Heritage Month, with a keynote speech from Sam Salz, believed to be the first and only Orthodox Jew to play Division I college football.

The Senate will begin consideration on the reconciliation bill to fund immigration enforcement, as well as security for the new White House ballroom, during which Senate Democrats could force votes on a range of issues, including the war in Iran.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold a budget hearing on State Department-adjacent entities, with testimony from former lawmaker and diplomat Tom Malinowski (D-NJ), National Endowment for Democracy President Damon Wilson and Inter-American Foundation CEO Sara Aviel.

The House Committee on Education & Workforce will hold a hearing on antisemitism in healthcare settings. Witnesses will include Deena Margolies, an attorney from the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law; Jamie Beran, CEO of the progressive Jewish organization Bend the Arc; Eveline Shekhman, CEO of the American Jewish Medical Association; and Dr. Jacob Agronin from Temple University Hospital.

Sarah Rogers, the under secretary of state for public diplomacy, will speak at the Hudson Institute about the U.S.’ public diplomacy strategy abroad, with opening remarks from Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO).

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

President Donald Trump announced that, at the request of Qatari, Saudi and Emirati leaders, he was calling off an attack on Iran he said was planned for tomorrow, after the heads of state assured him Iran would agree to a deal that “will include, importantly, NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS FOR IRAN!”

Trump said he had instructed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine to “be prepared to go forward with a full, large scale assault of Iran, on a moment’s notice, in the event that an acceptable Deal is not reached”…

A new New York Times/Siena poll found 35% of respondents said they sympathize more with Israelis, while 37% said they sympathize more with Palestinians. There was a stark partisan divide: Among Republicans, 66% said they sympathize more with Israelis, while just 17% of Democrats said the same.

Meanwhile, the poll found nearly two-thirds of respondents overall said they disapprove of the Iran war, including 91% of Democrats and 23% of Republicans. Eighty-one percent of Democrats said the costs of the Iran war would not be worth the benefits; 50% of Republicans said they thought it would be worth it, but 32% were unsure…

Several New York City Jewish leaders — including JCRC CEO Mark Treyger, the UJA-Federation of New York and Rabbi Joseph Potasanik, executive vice president of the New York Board of Rabbis — plan to skip Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s Shavuot event taking place this evening at Gracie Mansion, the New York Post reports, after the mayor released a video on Friday for “Nakba Day” that sparked outrage among the Jewish community.

Asked about the backlash, Mamdani claimed his “door is always open” for Jewish leaders “beyond just this evening’s event,” while doubling down on his decision to post the video, saying he was “proud to commemorate Nakba Day” because there are “many Nakba survivors in New York City”…

Two dozen Jewish lawmakers and candidates from both parties shared with Axios a stream of antisemitic voicemails and messages they’ve received, including repeated death threats and praise of Nazis. “It’s no longer a Republican and a Democrat [issue],” said Rep. Max Miller (R-OH). “Both ends of our parties are wackadoos who hate Jews”…

Ahead of tomorrow’s primary elections in Kentucky, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) is going out with an antisemitic bang: He accused his opponent, Trump-backed Navy veteran Ed Gallrein, of being the “puppet” of the Republican Jewish Coalition, which has spent nearly $4 million opposing Massie. The congressman further claimed “a coalition of Israel’s lobbyists and donors” is executing a “blatant attempt to buy a KY congressional seat” and that the RJC is “running [Gallrein’s] race.”

Gallrein, meanwhile, got a boost from Hegseth, who appeared today in Hebron, Ky., to urge voters to turn out for the GOP challenger. Hegseth — who claimed he was there in his personal capacity, as his appearance broke a longstanding tradition of defense secretaries who typically avoid engaging in electoral politics — praised Gallrein as a military leader who would remain loyal to Trump…

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) endorsed Rep. Julia Letlow (R-LA) in her runoff for U.S. Senate, after she finished in first place in the Louisiana primary held over the weekend, ousting Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA). Letlow, who is already endorsed by Trump, is expected to prevail over state Treasurer John Fleming…

A man named Zaid Gitesatani was arrested today on a hate crime charge for assaulting a Jewish man in June 2024 in the heavily Orthodox Pico-Robertson neighborhood of Los Angeles, as the victim was walking his dog near a synagogue that was hosting an Israeli real estate event.

In the days following the assault, Gitesatani posted screenshots of a video of the incident to his Instagram account with the caption, “The Chosen People sometimes need a good smack to wake up” and claimed he “whopped 2 zios,” among other comments, according to the Justice Department…

The three leading Democratic candidates in the race for executive of Montgomery County, Md., — Councilmembers Andrew Friedson, Evan Glass and Will Jawando — pledged to address the rise of antisemitism within the local school system in a discussion today with the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.

Jawando, the most progressive Democrat in the race, said, “I am disappointed that MCPS has not accepted” the training recommended by the JCRC earlier this month. “I will continue to urge them to do so”…

Rahm Emanuel, the former Chicago mayor and prospective 2028 presidential candidate, is slated to discuss the future of U.S.-Israel relations at Tel Aviv University on July 8, according to an announcement from the school today, JI’s Matthew Kassel reports…

Israeli-founded AI startup Decart raised $300 million at a nearly $4 billion valuation for software that helps AI companies switch more easily between chips from Nvidia, which invested in the company, and its rivals…

Police said they “neutralized” a threat during an active shooter situation today at the Islamic Center of San Diego, the largest mosque in the county. Local news reported two suspects are dead, and the mosque’s chairman said a security guard had been killed…

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for a preview of tomorrow’s primaries in Kentucky and Pennsylvania.

CENTCOM Commander Adm. Brad Cooper will testify before the House Armed Services Committee.

The Senate Appropriations Committee will hold a budget hearing on the Department of Justice.

The Jewish Federations of North America will hold a press conference on the Hill with House and Senate lawmakers and hundreds of community leaders on the need for increased funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program.

The Center for American Progress will hold its 2026 IDEAS Conference in Washington with speakers including Govs. Gavin Newsom, Wes Moore, Mikie Sherrill and Abigail Spanberger, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and columnist Ezra Klein.

The Middle East Forum will begin its three-day policy conference in Washington, with keynote speeches from White House official Seb Gorka, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter and Deputy Special Presidential Envoy Morgan Ortagus.

The Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in Manhattan will hold its spring benefit where it will honor Amb. Deborah Lipstadt, the former State Department antisemitism envoy, with its Light of Freedom Award, and synagogue lay leader and attorney Ira Bogner with its Shem Tov Award.

Tomorrow is Jewish Community Day at Nationals Park in Washington as the team faces off against the New York Mets.

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

During their meeting today in Beijing, President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed the issue of Iran, where the Chinese leader “did offer, he said, ‘if I can be of any help at all I would like to be of help,’” Trump recalled to Fox News’ Sean Hannity. “Anybody that buys that much oil has obviously got some kind of a relationship with them,” Trump added.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told NBC News about the discussion that the “Chinese side is not in favor of militarizing the Strait of Hormuz and they’re not in favor of a tolling system,” which are positions the Trump administration shares…

At a meeting of foreign ministers of the BRICS bloc in India today, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused the UAE of “direct involvement” in military operations against Iran; Araghchi later met on the sidelines with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov…

CENTCOM Commander Adm. Brad Cooper testified at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing that the U.S. and Israeli campaign against Iran has severely degraded its capabilities across a variety of fronts, to the extent that it will take years to reconstitute, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

Cooper said that 90% of Iran’s defense industrial base has been destroyed and that support to key Iranian proxies Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis has been “completely cut off.”

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, meanwhile, said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that the U.S. believes Iran has run out of storage capacity for its crude oil and will need to cut off oil production, a key marker that may put more pressure on the regime to agree to a deal…

Saudi Arabia has begun to consider promoting a nonaggression pact between Middle East countries and Iran once the war ends, according to the Financial Times, fearing that the conflict will leave Iran weaker but more hardline and conflict-prone. Several European countries are reportedly supporting the effort…

The House unanimously passed a resolution yesterday evening recognizing Jewish American Heritage Month and calling on elected officials to combat antisemitism…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said they will initiate a defamation lawsuit against The New York Times over Nicholas Kristof’s column earlier this week alleging widespread Israeli sexual violence against Palestinian prisoners, which critics said used dubious sourcing and elevated conspiracy theories…

The Times looks under the hood of the campaign of Jack Schlossberg, running in New York’s 12th District Democratic primary, which sources described as “so erratic and plagued by turnover that it raises questions about how he might handle himself as a member of Congress”…

Vice President JD Vance, speaking at a rally in Maine, praised Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) — despite her strained relationship with the president — as she heads to a competitive general election against presumptive Democratic nominee Graham Platner.

“Sometimes I get frustrated with Susan Collins, I almost wish that she was more partisan,” Vance said. “But the thing I love about Susan is she is independent, because Maine is an independent state. And frankly, if she was as partisan as I sometimes wish that she was, she would not be a good fit for the people of Maine”…

The United Federation of Teachers endorsed Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) in his competitive primary race against former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander next month; Goldman has been racking up labor support ahead of the June 23 primary against the progressive Lander, who is endorsed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani…

Tune Inn, the D.C. bar where William Paul, son of Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), accosted Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) with an antisemitic rant, announced that the younger Paul would be barred from the establishment going forward. The elder Paul hasn’t made any statement on the confrontation…

A flag with two swastikas and a Star of David was flown atop a building at New York University during a popular graduation event yesterday, reportedly appearing on top of the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development, named for Jewish benefactors Michael and Judy Steinhardt. The flag was quickly removed and police say an investigation is underway…

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for a look at the emerging bloc of Sunni countries uniting against Israel’s allies, potentially complicating the Jewish state’s regional strategy.

The White House will host a reception with Jewish leaders tomorrow evening to kick off Shabbat 250, an initiative announced by President Donald Trump in his proclamation marking Jewish American Heritage Month where he encouraged Jewish Americans to “observe a national Sabbath” to celebrate the approaching Semiquincentennial of the United States.

Several Jewish organizations and institutions will also be marking the day with special events, including a Shabbat 250 dinner being held in Washington by the Combat Antisemitism Movement and American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists.

New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch will speak at Friday evening Shabbat services at Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan.

The Lennart Meri Conference, an annual foreign policy and security summit in Estonia, begins tomorrow. Speakers include several foreign leaders, former Israeli National Security Advisor Eyal Hulata and Israeli Russian researcher and former hostage Elizabeth Tsurkov.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is kicking off an international tour tomorrow with a visit to the UAE, later heading to several European countries.

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

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced that he secretly traveled to the UAE during the war with Iran and met with President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, leading to a “historic breakthrough in relations” between the two countries.

The UAE, however, called the prime minister’s report “baseless” and denied the meeting occurred, saying in a statement that its relations with Israel “are public … and are not based on secrecy or hidden arrangements.”

But Netanyahu’s not the only one to make an under-the-radar visit: Mossad chief David Barnea also reportedly traveled to Abu Dhabi twice during the war, sources told The Wall Street Journal…

Netanyahu’s governing coalition submitted a bill today to dissolve the Knesset and trigger early elections, which is expected to receive a vote next week. If the measure passes, elections would have to be held within five months, though it’s possible they could happen in early September, so as not to coincide with the High Holy Days and the anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks.

The move appears to be an attempt to thwart the opposition, which submitted similar bills yesterday after Degel HaTorah, part of the ultra-Orthodox coalition party United Torah Judaism, said it would support such efforts due to the coalition’s failure to pass a law exempting yeshiva students from military service…

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) became the latest of a small number of Senate Republicans to break ranks and vote today with the majority of Democrats in favor of an effort to force an end to the war in Iran, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

She joined her colleagues Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Rand Paul (R-KY) in supporting the war powers resolution, but the effort still fell short of a majority of the Senate — or of the 60-vote threshold needed for passage — with a final vote of 50-49…

Paul’s son,William Paul, drunkenly accosted Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) yesterday, telling Lawler in front of a NOTUS reporter that, if anti-Israel Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) is to lose his reelection race, it will be because of “your people” and “you Jews,” going on to accuse Jews of being “anti-American” and prioritizing Israeli interests. Lawler, who is not Jewish, reportedly defended his support for Israel and told Paul he was being antisemitic.

Paul apologized in a post on X today, claiming he “had too much to drink and said some things that don’t represent who I really am”…

The Board of Peace is considering implementing its governance and reconstruction efforts solely in the parts of Gaza not under Hamas control, Axios reports, a contingency option written into the Gaza peace plan in case the terror group refused to disarm…

In an unlikely pairing, New York state Assemblymember Micah Lasher has enlisted Fight Agency, a top progressive consulting firm, to cut ads for his campaign for the 12th Congressional District, JI’s Matthew Kassel reports.

The firm — which was co-founded by Morris Katz, who rose to prominence as an advisor for New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s campaign — prides itself on elevating left-wing, anti-establishment candidates, including current clients and Senate hopefuls Graham Platner in Maine and Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan. Lasher, meanwhile, has called himself a “proud Zionist Jew” and has close connections to the state’s Democratic establishment…

A new nonprofit aiming to counter Mamdani has already raised over $1 million, according to its co-founder Phil Singer, who also worked on a super PAC for former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the mayoral race. NYC Common Sense intends to run ads and issue policy papers about Mamdani’s policies with which it disagrees and file lawsuits as needed…

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) called for an increase in funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program to $1 billion, JI’s Gabby Deutch reports from the Jewish Democratic Council of America’s leadership summit in Washington.

Noting that the Pentagon now estimates the cost of the Iran war at $29 billion, Jeffries asked, “How is it possible that we can’t spend at least 500 million [on NSGP]? I think the number should be even higher. Why wouldn’t we spend a billion dollars to make sure that the communities that we care about across this country are safe?”…

In a speech to parliament, King Charles III laid out his legislative priorities, including several aimed at combating the recent spate of violent attacks on the British Jewish community. One would permit the government to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps as a terrorist organization and create a new penalty for those who attack synagogues on behalf of foreign actors like Iran, with a potential of up to 14 years in prison…

Open Society Foundations, founded by left-wing philanthropist George Soros and run by his son Alex, announced it will provide $30 million to organizations combating antisemitism and Islamophobia over the next three years.

In a video statement, Alex Soros spoke of the personal nature of the investment, mentioning his father, who is a Holocaust survivor, and his wife, who is Muslim. OSF President Binaifer Nowrojee further cited the “deep injustices occurring in the Middle East,” which she said are “fueling indiscriminate prejudice, dehumanization, and violence directed against both Muslims and Jews”…

The Senate confirmed Kevin Warsh to be chairman of the Federal Reserve this afternoon on a largely party-line vote, with only Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) crossing the aisle to support the nominee, who is also the son-in-law of philanthropist Ronald Lauder. It’s the narrowest margin of approval for any Fed chair since the position became Senate confirmed in 1977…

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for a conversation with Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) about his antisemitic run-in with William Paul.

President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will hold bilateral talks in Beijing.

Back in Washington, Israel and Lebanon will hold their third round of ambassador-level talks — which will reportedly include military representatives for the first time — to continue discussions on a peace deal framework and efforts to disarm Hezbollah.

CENTCOM Commander Adm. Brad Cooper and AFRICOM Commander Gen. Dagvin Anderson will appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee for a hearing on the posture of their respective areas of command.

The congressional Abraham Accords Caucus will hold an event on the implications of the tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, including Reps. Craig Goldman (R-TX) and Brad Schneider (D-IL) and the Middle East Institute’s Ambassador Yael Lempert and Karen Young.

The Israeli American Council will host a gala in New York City, featuring a keynote speech from former CENTCOM Commander Erik Kurilla with special guests Miriam Adelson and former Mossad Deputy Director Henrike Weissberg. The event will honor Yakir Gabay, a member of the Gaza Board of Peace’s executive board, and his wife, Elena.

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

UJA-Federation of New York has tapped longtime Jewish educator Michael Kay as its next CEO, the country’s largest Jewish federation shared exclusively with Nira Dayanim for Jewish Insider, marking a generational change that signals the growing importance of day schools on the Jewish communal agenda.

Kay, 46, currently serves as head of school at The Leffell School in Westchester County, N.Y., and will step into his new role on Oct. 5, succeeding Eric Goldstein, 66, a former Wall Street lawyer who will step down after 12 years in the role…

President Donald Trump continued to hedge today on resuming military action in Iran while keeping open diplomatic options: “We’re either going to make a deal or they’re going to be decimated,” he said of Iran while departing for his state visit to China. “So one way or the other, we win.”

Earlier in the day, Trump told the “Sid & Friends in the Morning” radio show that he’s anticipating Iran’s economic collapse due to the U.S. blockade of its ports. “It’s just a question of time, we don’t have to rush anything,” the president said…

Kuwait accused Iran of attempting to invade its Bubiyan Island today, claiming six members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps attacked soldiers on the strategic piece of Kuwaiti territory where the Gulf state, with assistance from China, is building a large port…

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) expressed frustration with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing as they declined to comment on a report that Pakistan harbored Iranian military aircraft from U.S. strikes.

Asked, if the report were to be accurate, if the U.S. should reconsider Pakistan’s role as mediator between the U.S. and Iran, Hegseth and Caine said they “didn’t want to get in the middle of ongoing negotiations.” Graham replied, “Well I do! I want to get in the middle of these negotiations. I don’t trust Pakistan as far as I can throw them … No wonder this damn thing is going nowhere”…

Jay Hurst, the Pentagon’s comptroller, testified that the cost of the war has risen to $29 billion — up from the $25 billion figure the Pentagon cited just two weeks ago…

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem wrote in a letter to terror group operatives that a deal between the U.S. and Iran is “the strongest card” for “stopping [Israel’s] aggression” in Lebanon, while slamming the Lebanese government for engaging in direct talks with Jerusalem, the third round of which are slated to take place this week in Washington…

Asked at the Politico Security Summit in Washington if she still calls herself a Zionist, Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) said, “I believe in a Jewish State of Israel, yes. And that to me isn’t a radical thing to say and I always have. I can say that in the same breath that I criticize the military policy of Bibi Netanyahu.”

Slotkin said that “as someone who served three tours in Iraq” she has “concerns with the way the Israelis are organizing military policy right now. … What I can’t accept, though, is collective punishment that comes from saying, ‘well, I don’t like Bibi Netanyahu’s military policy so Jews in America’s synagogues should be attacked,’” she continued…

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) told the Washington Examiner he’s open to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposal to wind down U.S. aid to Israel over the next decade: The proposal “has been sort of a given, I think, in our foreign aid budget” for “a long time,” he said, “but if that’s how the Israeli leader feels about it — feels like they’re able to deal with their national security threats with their own resources — then I guess I would listen to what he has to say”…

Two weeks ahead of the Texas Senate Republican primary runoff, Thune said he “still [doesn’t] know where [Trump] is headed” in his intent to endorse either Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) or Attorney General Ken Paxton, but “someone would clearly benefit from it.”

Cornyn, meanwhile, told reporters he doesn’t expect Trump to make an endorsement at all. “We can’t wait, and we’re not waiting. We’re getting prepared, and we are optimistic,” he said. (Still, in what may be a last-ditch effort to secure the president’s support, Cornyn introduced a bill yesterday to rename U.S. Route 287 as Interstate 47 in honor of Trump, the country’s 47th president)…

Politico cast doubt on Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed’s claim and campaign talking point that he is a practicing physician, finding that “there’s overwhelming evidence that he’s had no experience as a licensed medical doctor.”

While El-Sayed did attend prestigious medical schools and served as executive director of the Detroit Health Department, he was never granted a medical license in either Michigan or New York, where he says he has practiced, and appears not to have treated patients since his schooling days, despite claiming repeatedly in campaign pitches that he is a physician…

AIPAC denied accusations by El-Sayed and others that it is behind the Center for Democratic Priorities super PAC, a new group supporting Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) in the Michigan Senate Democratic primary, and also noted it “isn’t funding any group’s efforts” in Pennsylvania’s 3rd Congressional District, where critics have alleged the pro-Israel group is behind efforts to support candidate Ala Stanford…

Speaking on a webinar with other Washington-area Jewish leaders today, Ron Halber, the CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, excoriated the Democratic Socialists of America as an “evil” organization committed to driving Jews out of society, JI’s Marc Rod reports.

“I think they’re a fringe, radical, antisemitic organization,” Halber said, adding that the group wants to make Jews feel “isolated” and force them to “renounce Zionism” and their connection to Israel in order to participate in the political process…

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani released his city budget proposal this afternoon, which includes $26 million annually for the Office to Prevent Hate Crimes, a significant increase from its current budget of around $3 million…

Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg hosted a lunch at the State Department with officials from Gulf Cooperation Council countries as well as Jordan to discuss technology supply chains and the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor…

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for coverage of tonight’s forum of New York 12th Congressional District Democratic candidates moderated by JI Editor-in-Chief Josh Kraushaar.

The Israeli Embassy in Washington will host its belated Yom Ha’Atzmaut reception.

The Jewish Democratic Council of America’s conference in Washington continues, with speakers including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, diplomat Dennis Ross, The Washington Institute’s Dana Stroul and former national security officials Jake Sullivan, Jeremy Bash and Jon Finer.

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

President Donald Trump sounded a pessimistic note today about the state of the ceasefire with Iran, telling reporters in the Oval Office it’s “unbelievably weak” and on “massive life support” while calling Iran’s proposal to end the war, which he rejected yesterday, a “piece of garbage.”

The president was set to meet this afternoon with his national security team to discuss next steps with Iran, including a potential return to military action and resumption of Project Freedom in the Strait of Hormuz, according to Axios.

A number of hawkish Republican lawmakers are encouraging the president to resume military operations, including Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI)…

The UAE has secretly carried out military attacks on Iran during the course of the war, The Wall Street Journal reports, after being on the receiving end of the majority of Iran’s ballistic missile and drone attacks. Abu Dhabi’s targets have included an Iranian oil refinery, struck in early April as Trump was announcing the ceasefire…

Graham called for a potential “complete reevaluation” of Pakistan’s role as mediator between the U.S. and Iran following a CBS News report that Islamabad had permitted Iran to shelter some of its military aircraft from U.S. strikes in Iran. “Given some of the prior statements by Pakistani defense officials towards Israel, I would not be shocked if this were true,” Graham said…

Democratic Majority for Israel PAC is mounting a six-figure mail campaign to boost Bexar County sheriff’s deputy Johnny Garcia in his Democratic primary runoff against activist and conspiracy theorist Maureen Galindo. The campaign is slated to start tomorrow, exactly two weeks from primary day in Texas’ newly redrawn 35th Congressional District…

Axios spotlights the increasingly heated primary between Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Navy veteran Ed Gallrein, who is backed by Trump. The race, scheduled for May 19, has already seen $25.6 million in outside spending — including an ad from a pro-Massie group featuring antisemitic tropes targeting Jewish GOP donor Paul Singer — making it the most expensive U.S. House primary in history…

The New York Times highlights Nebraska’s contentious Senate race, where several candidates have been accused of acting as “plants” intending to siphon votes for the other party (and one candidate isn’t intending to run for Senate at all), as Democrats largely line up behind independent Dan Osborn, realizing their party brand has been tainted in the Midwest…

A new poll by New Jersey congressional candidate Adam Hamawy, who has made criticism of Israel a centerpiece of his campaign, found him leading the crowded Democratic primary field for the 12th District with 19% of likely voters, up from a March poll by his campaign that found him winning just 5%. His surge coincided with a spending blitz by the anti-Israel super PAC American Priorities, which poured $1 million into pro-Hamawy ads in the district…

New York state Assemblymember Alex Bores released his first ad of the Democratic primary for New York’s 12th Congressional District, highlighting his advocacy for AI regulation and involvement in workers’ rights as positioning him to take on Trump. Rep. Pat Ryan (D-NY), citing Bores’ AI focus, endorsed the former Palantir employee today…

Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice David Wecht announced today that he is changing his party registration from Democrat to independent, citing increasing antisemitism in the Democratic Party. In his statement, Wecht said Democrats have changed since he served as vice chair of the state party 25 years ago: “Nazi tattoos, jihadist chants, intimidation and attacks at synagogues, and other hateful anti-Jewish invective and actions are minimized, ignored, and even coddled,” he said.

“Acquiescence to Jew-hatred is now disturbingly common among activists, leaders and even many elected officials in the Democratic Party. I can no longer abide this. So, I won’t,” he wrote…

Israeli Diaspora Minister Amichai Chickli prohibited anti-Israel influencer Tyler Oliveira from entering the country as he landed in Ben Gurion Airport today; Chikli told right-wing influencer Laura Loomer that Israel “has strong immigration policies, and if you come to Israel with the intent on inciting violence and hatred against Jewish people, you will not be allowed entry into our country.”

Oliveira has recently released videos purporting to expose welfare fraud among ultra-Orthodox communities in Kiryas Joel, N.Y., and Lakewood, N.J., widely denounced as antisemitic, which he discussed at length on Tucker Carlson’s podcast last week while again invoking antisemitic conspiracy theories…

Trump tapped Kari Lake, former far-right Arizona gubernatorial candidate and short-lived head of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, as ambassador to Jamaica, seen as a step down for the one-time close Trump ally. He also named far-right Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano as ambassador to Slovakia…

Trump has invited several business leaders to join him on his trip later this week to China, including Elon Musk, outgoing Apple CEO Tim Cook, BlackRock’s Larry Fink, Meta’s Dina Powell McCormick, Goldman Sachs’ David Solomon, Citi’s Jane Fraser and Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman, among others…

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for a look at the race to succeed Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), where state Sen. Scott Wiener is testing whether progressive Jews can still win among the Democratic left.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine will testify before the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee as well as the Senate Appropriations Committee for Pentagon budget hearings. Later, FBI Director Kash Patel is also scheduled to appear before Senate Appropriations for a separate budget hearing.

Politico will host its Security Summit in Washington — speakers at the confab will include exiled Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi; former Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas; Sens. Deb Fischer (R-NE) and Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) and Reps. Adam Smith (D-WA), Jim Himes (D-CT) and Mike Turner (R-OH).

Elsewhere in Washington, the Anti-Defamation League will hold a reception to celebrate Jewish American Heritage Month.

In New York, the funeral for longtime ADL head and storied Jewish leader Abe Foxman, who died on Sunday at 86, will be held at Park Avenue Synagogue.

Democratic primary candidates for New York’s 12th Congressional District including Bores, George Conway and Micah Lasher will take part in a forum at West Side Institutional Synagogue moderated by JI Editor-in-Chief Josh Kraushaar.

Across the river, Democratic candidates seeking to unseat Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-NJ) in New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District — including Rebecca Bennett, Michael Roth, Tina Shah and Brian Varela — will participate in a debate moderated by the New Jersey Globe.

Israeli singer Noam Bettan will represent the Jewish state in Vienna for the first semifinal of the international singing competition Eurovision; Israel’s participation in the contest has been marked by protests and boycotts of several European countries, as well as accusations of Israel’s meddling in voting processes that have been dismissed by Eurovision organizers.

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have lifted restrictions on the U.S.’ use of their military bases and airspace after a series of tense calls between President Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The administration is now seeking to restart Project Freedom and assist commercial ships in transiting the Strait of Hormuz, an effort Trump said he paused on Tuesday at the request of Pakistan “and other countries.” The renewed effort could begin as soon as this week…

Meanwhile, Iranian state media reported several explosions along the country’s coast in recent hours; an American official told Axios and Fox News that the U.S. attacked Iranian targets in the area, but claimed it did not constitute a return to war…

Rep. Tom Barrett (R-MI), who represents a Lansing-based swing district, introduced today the first authorization for use of military force (AUMF) that would limit the length and scope of U.S. military operations in Iran, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. A group of Senate Republicans is working on a similar effort, amid concerns that the war could be a political liability for the GOP in the midterm elections.

Barrett claimed that U.S. operations in Iran “are ongoing,” despite the administration’s notification to Congress that they had concluded as of May 1; the proposed authorization would expire on July 30 and would ban “sustained ground combat operations,” seizing or holding any territory and “nation-building” operations in Iran…

The Trump administration issued sanctions against actors involved in exploiting Iraq’s oil sector to fund Iranian terror activities, including Iraqi Deputy Minister of Oil Ali Maarij Al-Bahadly…

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) and her presumptive opponent, Democrat Graham Platner, released their first ads of the general election Senate race since Gov. Janet Mills dropped her Democratic primary bid. 

Collins’ ad highlights her work in restoring a Maine infrastructure project without addressing Platner, while Platner’s ad slams Collins for “selling us out” to the “Epstein class” and for supporting the Iran war (Collins is one of the only Republicans who has supported a war powers resolution to end U.S. operations in Iran)…

Our Revolution, an advocacy group spun off of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) 2016 presidential campaign, today endorsed New York state Assemblymember Alex Bores in the competitive Democratic primary for the state’s 12th Congressional District, JI’s Will Bredderman reports. 

Following Sanders, Our Revolution has aligned with student anti-Israel protesters and advocated against military aid to the Jewish state. Its endorsement of Bores emphasized the former Palantir employee’s signature issue — regulating artificial intelligence — and didn’t mention Israel policy…

A new Emerson College poll of likely Democratic primary voters in Massachusetts found Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) leading his challenger, Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA), 37-32%, ahead of the Sept. 1 primary. Nearly 30% of respondents, however, are still undecided if they want to support their incumbent senator or Moulton, 32 years Markey’s junior, who is positioning himself as a generational change.

Markey has been hostile to Israel and Jewish communal measures in Congress, particularly in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza; Moulton had been known as more moderate, but shifted to the left on Israel issues after announcing his Senate run, including denouncing his previous affiliation with AIPAC…

State Department officials confirmed to several outlets that Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter and Lebanese Ambassador to the U.S. Nada Hamadeh are expected to hold talks in Washington next Thursday and Friday to discuss the ongoing ceasefire, even as Israel and Hezbollah continued trading fire this week…

The federal Board of Immigration Appeals reopened deportation proceedings against Columbia University protest leader Mohsen Mahdawi, after a judge dropped the case in February. The Department of Homeland Security has characterized Mahdawi, who has not been charged with a crime, as a “ringleader” in anti-Israel protests at Columbia and claimed he admitted to being involved in and supporting terrorist violence…

Mohamed Soliman, the man accused of firebombing an Israeli hostage awareness march in Boulder, Colo., last June, was sentenced to life in prison today after pleading guilty to all 101 charges filed against him, including one count of murder for an 82-year-old victim who died of her wounds…

Religious leaders gathered at the White House this afternoon for an event marking the National Day of Prayer, including Rabbi Levi Shemtov, executive vice president of American Friends of Lubavitch (Chabad); Nathan Diament, executive director of the Orthodox Union Advocacy Center; and Rabbi A.D. Motzen, national director of government affairs at Agudath Israel. Environmental Protection Agency Secretary Lee Zeldin, who is Jewish, was among those who delivered remarks…

The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law sent a letter to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche yesterday requesting that the Justice Department launch an investigation into whether Georgetown University must register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, following a Washington Free Beacon report that the university agreed to consult the Qatari government on speakers and themes for its Islamophobia initiative, for which Qatar provided a grant…

The Israeli Health Ministry said there are currently no hantavirus patients in Israel, Hebrew media reported. One individual reportedly returned to Israel with a strain of hantavirus from Eastern Europe last year, but that strain, passed from rodents to humans, is a “different virus altogether” from the strain that spreads between humans that has been identified on a cruise ship en route to Spain, an infectious disease expert told The Times of Israel… 

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

Keep an eye out in eJewishPhilanthropy for an interview with Rabbi Mike Uram, incoming chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary.

The Capital Jewish Museum in Washington is hosting an after-hours party this evening to celebrate Jewish American Heritage Month.

UJA-Federation of New York will host a Shabbat dinner tomorrow for young Wall Street professionals.

The Altneu Synagogue in New York City will host its second annual gala on Sunday, including a performance and awards show.

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

• President Donald Trump is hosting Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva this morning at the White House. The sit-down comes amid continued uncertainty over the state of U.S. negotiations with Iran. Fox News reported that Trump said the parties had a week to reach an agreement — establishing a deadline set to expire at the president heads to Beijing for his summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
• Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Rome this morning, and met withPope Leo XIV at the Vatican amid tensions between the Holy See and the White House over the war in Iran. Earlier this week, Trump told Hugh Hewitt that the pontiff’s criticism of the war was “endangering a lot of Catholics.”
• The Washington Institute for Near East Policy is holding its annual policy dinner tonight.
• Magnum Ice Cream Company is holding a stakeholder meeting today, where it will face pressure from NorthStar Asset Management, which is working with Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Ben Cohen, over steps taken in recent months by Magnum, which owns Ben & Jerry’s, to tamp down on the ice cream company’s social activism.
• Voters in the U.K. are casting ballots in local elections around the country, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his ruling Labour party expected to face significant losses.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S GABBY DEUTCH

The country’s consummate insiders gathered at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills this week. But far away from the five-star hotels where attendees closed business deals and mingled over salmon bento boxes, there is concern over an anti-elite sentiment that is dominating American politics. 

The executives, philanthropists and politicians who attended the gathering took note of this increasingly populist moment while discussing how to remedy some of the legitimate concerns of Americans. 

There were sessions focused on protecting the workforce in the face of disruption from AI, and on retirement planning for gig economy workers who cannot contribute to a typical 401(k). Behind the scenes, Trump Accounts — tax-advantaged savings accounts for American children, with $1,000 kicked in from Uncle Sam — were a big topic of conversation. 

As some of America’s most important decision-makers discussed the turbulent downstream impacts of the AI boom, and the sense that many people are feeling left behind, a related topic that animated the many Jewish executives and investors who attended the conference.

They worry that the intermingling of populism and antisemitism, already heightened following the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel two and a half years ago, represents a dangerous combination.

“Antisemitism is a manifestation of extremism and populism,” TD Bank Vice Chair Jeffrey Solomon told Jewish Insider. “Extremism on the left and extremism on the right, neither one of those is good for us as Jews, but it’s not good for a lot of people.”

Read the full story here.

Tehran Talks: In Foreign Policy, Menahem Merhavy observes a shift in the rhetoric of senior Iranian officials that he attributes to a “deeper contraction in the regime’s horizon of action” as it struggles in the wake of the war with the U.S. and Israel. “The United States now appears in Iranian discourse less as a fading empire than as a force capable of demanding surrender, while Israel is treated not as a collapsing anomaly but as a resilient and operationally effective adversary. The shift is striking: The same regime that once denied the durability of its enemies now implicitly affirms it. The greater the acknowledged strength of these adversaries, the more meaningful survival can be presented as victory.” [ForeignPolicy]

Lurie’s Lure: In The Washington Post, Max Raskin, a self-identified “Republican who has been investing in San Francisco real estate for the past two years,” praises Mayor Daniel Lurie’s efforts to turn the city around following years of high crime and economic malaise. “Like Nixon in China, Lurie’s disarming charm and Democrat bona fides gave him the political cover necessary to establish these initiatives and make these changes. This is why the country’s most liberal city can experiment with a conservative idea — that if you get crime right, everything else will follow. Foot traffic picks up, which leads to more retail activity, which leads to more investment, resulting in a boom loop.” [WashPost]

Intifada in the Digital Age: In The Free Press, Warren Kinsella looks at Hamas’ use of digital technology to garner support for its cause and antipathy for Israel. “[Counterterrorism expert Khaled] Hassan said that no one should be under any illusion: For Hamas, the main weapon of the war — online and otherwise — is now a smartphone, which provides vital insights into the way Westerners live and how to capture their support. If someone is in the business of fomenting anger, he said, the internet is the best recruitment and radicalization tool in the history of the world.” [FreePress]

The U.S. Air Force is planning for the Qatari luxury jet being gifted to the Trump administration to be delivered on July 4, to coincide with the U.S.’ Semiquincentennial…

Bloomberg looks at U.S. efforts to pressure the governments of Lebanon and Iraq to crack down on Iran-backed groups in the countries that are threatening the stability of the current ceasefire…

The effort comes amid ongoing clashes between Israel and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon; on Wednesday, Israel struck a Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut for the first time since the ceasefire went into effect, saying on Thursday that Radwan Force commander Ahmed Ghaleb Balout was killed in the strike…

The U.S. halted its short-lived “Project Freedom” effort to help stranded ships leave the Strait of Hormuz after Saudi Arabia denied the U.S. the use of its bases and airspace, NBC reported… 

A Washington Post assessment found that Iran had damaged more than 220 installations at U.S. military sites across the Middle East during the recent war…

The Financial Times reports that Iran has increased its rate of executions in recent weeks, using a new legal framework to target Iranians who participated in anti-government protests earlier this year as well as those accused of colluding with the Islamic Republic’s enemies… 

The Wall Street Journal spotlights the efforts of Mohamed Arrachedi, the Middle East regional coordinator for the International Transport Workers’ Federation, who with his team serves as a lifeline to the approximately 20,000 sailors in the region and has responded to some 2,000 requests seeking assistance…

The New York Times looks at clashes between German officials and members of the country’s intelligence community over public warnings about the domestic threat posed by Iran, with regional intelligence officials raising concerns that the threat is more severe than Berlin is acknowledging…

Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) and Reps. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) introduced bipartisan, bicameral legislation that would cut federal R&D funding to universities that operate campuses in Iran, China, Qatar, Turkey, Russia, Cuba, Venezuela or North Korea…

Rutgers withdrew an invitation for Arcellx CEO Rami Elghandour to deliver a speech at the school’s upcoming commencement ceremony for its engineering school after some students indicated they would not attend the event over Elghandour’s past anti-Israel commentary on social media…

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s reelection campaign said the governor raised $3.6 million in the last five weeks, bringing Shapiro’s war chest to $37 million…

Citadel CEO Ken Griffin praised Rahm Emanuel’s tenure as former mayor of Chicago while attacking Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker for his handling of crime and education issues during a panel at the annual Milken Institute Global Conference this week, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports…

A senior official at the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington said that the JCRC is receiving “significantly higher” reports of antisemitism from Montgomery County Public Schools, located just outside of Washington, than others in the region, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports… 

Oaktree’s Howard Marks listed his home in Malibu, Calif., for $38.5 million, five years after purchasing the beachfront property for $31 million…

Adeena Sussman’s newest cookbook, Zariz, was named to The New York Times’ best-seller list in the Advice, How-To & Miscellaneous category; read our interview with Sussman about Zariz here…

An Israeli court ordered Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to provide medical records detailing his diagnosis and treatment for prostate cancer as part of a libel case against Israeli journalists and an anti-Netanyahu activist who said in 2024 that the prime minister was seriously ill…

Mellanox co-founder Eyal Waldman, whose daughter Danielle was killed at the Nova music festival on Oct. 7, 2023, was heckled by a demonstrator at the Venice Biennale who discovered Waldman was Israeli…

Hamutal Meridor’s defense-tech startup Kela is raising $200 million at a $1 billion valuation in a funding round led by Stripe and D1 Capital Partners that also includes Bill Ackman and Eric Schmidt…

Israel will send jet fuel to Germany following a request from Berlin, amid shortages resulting from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz…

Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever criticized U.S. Ambassador to Belgium Bill White for weighing in on an Antwerp prosecutor’s decision to levy charges against three mohels after Belgium barred nonmedical practitioners from conducting circumcisions, in a move that was heavily criticized by the country’s Jewish community…

Israeli President Isaac Herzog (left) met on Wednesday with Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino in Panama City, becoming the first sitting Israeli president to visit the Central American country. From Panama, Herzog will travel on to Costa Rica for the inauguration of President-elect Laura Fernández Delgado.

CEO of the American Jewish Committee, he was previously a member of Congress for 12 years, Ted Deutch turns 60…

Member of the New York state Assembly from 1993 to 2022, Sandra R. “Sandy” Galef turns 86… Senior member of the Mobile, Ala., law firm of Silver Voit Garrett & Watkins, Irving Silver turns 86… Napa, Calif.-based media executive and podcast host, Jeffrey Schechtman… Theatrical producer at Press the Button Productions in Monterey, Calif., Jane J. Press… Former member of the Knesset for the Shas party, Rabbi Meshulam Nahari turns 75… Former deputy secretary of state and deputy national security advisor, currently the dean of Johns Hopkins SAIS, James Braidy “Jim” Steinberg turns 73… Director of many commercially successful films including “Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” “National Lampoon’s European Vacation,” “Look Who’s Talking” and “Clueless,” Amy Heckerling turns 72… President of Harvard University, Alan Michael Garber turns 71… Mayor of El Paso, Texas, from 2013 to 2017 and again from 2021 to 2025, Oscar Leeser turns 68… Professional poker player and hedge fund manager, Daniel Shak turns 67… CEO of Rationalwave Capital Partners, a venture capital firm investing in technology companies, Mark Rosenblatt… Emmy Award-winning film, television and music video director, Adam Bernstein turns 66… Mexican actor best known for his work in telenovelas and the stage, Ari Telch turns 64… Co-founder of JewBelong, Archie Gottesman… Chairman and CEO of Hertz from 2022 to 2024, following 28 years at Goldman Sachs, Stephen Scherr turns 62… Former member of the Virginia House of Delegates, Mark H. Levine turns 60… Principal at Cornerstone Government Affairs, Keith Stern… Chief judge of the United States Court of Federal Claims, Matthew Hillel Solomson turns 52… Senior advisor at Lubavitch World Headquarters in Brooklyn, Rabbi Avraham Berkowitz turns 50… Head of congressional affairs at the Embassy of Israel in Washington, Eyal Naor turns 50… Former member of the Knesset who served as interior minister and justice minister, she now chairs Kardan Real Estate Group, Ayelet Shaked turns 50… AIPAC activist, Yana J. Lukeman… VP of sales at Harvey, Robert Warren Saliterman… Head of school at Manhattan Day School, Pesha C. Kletenik… Social entrepreneur, winemaker and CEO of Napa Valley’s OneHope, Jake Kloberdanz turns 43… Director of government affairs for the Port of Los Angeles, Arthur L. Mandel turns 41… CEO of Harris Media, he has worked on several presidential campaigns, Vincent Robert Harris turns 38… Adventurer, dogsled racer, advice columnist and writer, she raced in and completed the 2019 dog sled Iditarod, Blair Braverman turns 38… Las Vegas-based fashion blogger, model, DJ and writer, known as Bebe Zeva, Rebeccah Zeva Hershkovitz turns 33… Film and television actress, Dylan Nicole Gelula turns 32… Actor and singer, Andrew Barth Feldman turns 24… Director of advocacy and public affairs for the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, Ben Suarato… Mayor of Providence, R.I., Brett Smiley… 

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

President Donald Trump continues to send mixed signals about the direction of the Iran war, writing this morning on Truth Social that, “assuming Iran agrees to give what has been agreed to,” he will end the war as well as the blockade of Iranian ports. If Tehran does not agree (to what has apparently already been agreed to), “the bombing starts” at a “much higher level and intensity than it was before”…

Iran has struck over 200 U.S. military structures or pieces of equipment across the Middle East since the war began, according to a Washington Post analysis, including hangars, barracks, fuel depots, aircraft and radar, communications and air defense equipment…

White House official Seb Gorka announced while unveiling Trump’s U.S. counterterrorism strategy today that U.S. officials will meet with representatives from several foreign governments this week to ask for assistance in combating terrorism emanating from Iran and elsewhere, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports.

The strategy highlights the Muslim Brotherhood as “the root of all modern Islamist terrorism” and says the U.S. will turn increased attention to Africa, as “straggler” ISIS terrorists from Syria and Iran migrate there in search of “ungoverned space” to take over…

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he held “a constructive meeting” in Beijing with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, where Wang affirmed “Iran’s right to uphold national sovereignty and national dignity”…

The Board of Peace, whose leaders met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem yesterday, will not expect Israel to abide by the terms of the Gaza ceasefire if Hamas does not disarm, according to a document sent by Board of Peace head Nickolay Mladenov and advisor Aryeh Lightstone to the Palestinian technocratic committee governing Gaza, The Times of Israel reports. 

“Failure by Hamas to accept the framework within a reasonable timeframe … shall render such commitments null and void,” the officials wrote, saying Israel will not be expected to refrain from military action or ensure humanitarian aid reaches the enclave…

Lebanese media reported the third round of Lebanon-Israel ambassador-level talks will take place in Washington next week. 

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, meanwhile, called talk of a meeting directly between him and Netanyahu “premature,” despite Trump’s repeated claims that he was inviting the two leaders to the White House. “Lebanon is not seeking normalization with Israel, but rather peace,” Salam told reporters…

Belgium has indicted three mohels, Jewish religious authorities who conduct ritual circumcision, on criminal charges, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar announced. The men were initially arrested in a raid last year for practicing medicine without a license, sparking outcry from the Jewish community.

Sa’ar called the move a “scarlet letter on Belgian society” and said the country has joined a “short and short and shameful list … of countries that use criminal law to prosecute Jews for practicing Judaism.” U.S. Ambassador to Belgium Bill White, who has also been outspoken on the issue, called it a “shameful stain on Belgium” that “is wrong and won’t be tolerated” by the U.S…

Israel will provide jet fuel to Germany, the Israeli energy ministry said, after Germany requested assistance in addressing its fuel shortage due to disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz…

Former Northwestern University President Morton Schapiro withdrew as Georgetown University Law Center’s commencement speaker after learning that several students had raised objections to his selection — due to pro-Israel opinion articles the Jewish academic had authored after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, JI’s Haley Cohen reports.

The school replaced Schapiro with David Cole, a professor who criticized congressional hearings on campus antisemitism as a form of “McCarthyism” aimed at chilling free speech and defended “antisemitic advocacy” as a First Amendment right…

Meanwhile, Rutgers University’s School of Engineering has canceled a commencement speech by alum and entrepreneur Rami Elghandour after students raised concerns about his social media activity, which is dedicated overwhelmingly to criticism of Israel. 

Elghandour — who was an executive producer of the film “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” about a young Palestinian girl who died during the Israel-Hamas war — has consistently accused Israel of genocide, apartheid and police brutality and torture of Palestinians, and repeatedly praised the professor who made an unsanctioned jab at Israel at the University of Michigan’s recent commencement ceremony…

Rep. Mike Lawler’s (R-NY) political consulting firm was paid more than $72,000 by advocacy and political groups he controlled, Politico reports, in a scheme that watchdogs say is not illegal but raises conflict of interest concerns. 

And a hacker stole over $3,000 of campaign funds from Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ)…

Ted Turner, the founder of CNN who pioneered the 24-hour news cycle, died at 87…

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for a look at how New York Democrats are responding to yesterday’s threatening protest outside an Israeli real estate event at Park East Synagogue in Manhattan.

President Donald Trump will host Brazilian President Lula da Silva at the White House for talks on economic and security issues, despite Trump’s at-times acrimonious relationship with the left-wing South American leader.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican following weeks of escalating attacks by Trump on the pontiff, including on Monday when Trump told Hugh Hewitt that the pope is “endangering a lot of Catholics” by being critical of the Iran war. Rubio is also set to meet on Friday with Italian officials including Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, whom Trump has also clashed with since the beginning of the war.

The Washington Institute for Near East Policy will hold the keynote dinner of its annual Founders Conference — this year’s being focused on the Iran war — in Washington.

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth insisted at a press conference this morning that the ceasefire with Iran is not over, despite repeated violations by both sides in recent days. “Ultimately, this is a separate and distinct project,” Hegseth said of the new U.S. mission to escort commercial shipping vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, “and we expected there would be some churn at the beginning.”

Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine said similarly that even though Iran has fired on commercial vessels nine times, seized two container ships and attacked U.S. forces more than 10 times since the ceasefire began, that is all “below the threshold of restarting major combat operations”…

Can there be a ceasefire without a war? Secretary of State Marco Rubio claimed at his own press conference in the afternoon that Operation Epic Fury, as the Iran war was called, is finished, and the U.S. has moved onto Project Freedom in the strait, only hitting Iranian targets in response to attacks from Tehran.

President Donald Trump similarly downplayed the war effort, calling it a “skirmish” and telling reporters in the Oval Office that Iran still “wants to make a deal.” Meanwhile, Iran shot ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones at the UAE for the second day in a row, the Emirati Defense Ministry said…

A majority of Israelis believe that ending the war with Iran under the current conditions would undermine the country’s security, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports: 64% of Jewish Israelis said ending the war in its current state is “only slightly or not at all aligned” with Israel’s security interests, in a new poll by the Israel Democracy Institute. Nearly half of Arab Israelis (48.5%) said the same…

Incoming Israeli Air Force chief Maj. Gen. Omer Tischler, who assumed his role today, said at his handover ceremony that the IAF is “closely monitoring what is happening in Iran, and are prepared to take the entire Air Force eastward, if we are required to do so”…

Thirty House Democrats sent a letter to the Trump administration urging it to publicly acknowledge Israel’s nuclear weapons program, which neither Israeli nor U.S. officials have ever confirmed publicly. 

The lawmakers, led by Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX), a vocal Israel critic, said the threat of nuclear warfare has escalated amid the Iran war: “The risks of miscalculation, escalation, and nuclear use in this environment are not theoretical,” they wrote. “Congress has a constitutional responsibility to be fully informed about the nuclear balance in the Middle East, the risk of escalation by any party to this conflict, and the administration’s planning and contingencies for such scenarios”…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Board of Peace head Nickolay Mladenov in Jerusalem today, along with U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, Board of Peace advisor Aryeh Lightstone, Netanyahu advisors Caroline Glick and Ophir Falk, venture capitalist Michael Eisenberg and tech entrepreneur Liran Tancman.

Mladenov said in a statement that the discussion was “positive and substantive” and the parties “reaffirmed our commitment to the full implementation” of the 20-point Gaza peace plan…

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, convening an emergency summit with Jewish, business, education and government leaders at 10 Downing St., called for a whole-of-society approach to combating antisemitism as the country’s Jewish community has been repeatedly targeted by violent attacks.

Starmer said officials are investigating whether Iran is behind the recent events, announced universities will be required to produce reports on antisemitism on campus and called for the government’s Arts Council to “claw back” funding from organizations that engage in antisemitism…

Tonight, the radical PAL-Awda group is planning a protest outside Park East Synagogue in Manhattan to disrupt a reported Israeli real estate event — Jewish New Yorkers will be watching to see how the protest is handled by city leaders as opposed to the group’s last demonstration outside the same synagogue in November, when protesters harassed attendees and chanted “death to the IDF” and “globalize the intifada.” 

Similar to his stance on November’s protest, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s spokesperson told far-left Drop Site News the mayor is “deeply opposed” to the real estate event, which he said is promoting settlements that are “illegal under international law and deeply tied to the ongoing displacement of Palestinians.” Still, Mamdani’s administration said it has “also been clear that we are committed to ensuring safe entry and exit from any house of worship.”

Assemblymember Micah Lasher, who is running for New York’s 12th Congressional District, condemned the planned protest, saying its purpose is “to create fear in the hearts of Jewish New Yorkers,” while expressing optimism that the NYPD will “make sure that a protest does not turn into a gauntlet of hate through which Jews must pass”…

New Jersey congressional candidate Adam Hamawy, a trauma surgeon who has made criticism of Israel central to his campaign, defended his yearslong relationship with the “Blind Sheikh,” who was convicted of terrorism for his role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing: Hamawy’s campaign told Politico that reporting on the candidate’s testimony in defense of Omar Abdel-Rahman at his trial are “guilt-by-association attacks on Muslim and Arab candidates”…

A new poll of the Texas GOP Senate runoff from the University of Houston’s Hobby School of Public Affairs found the race neck-and-neck just three weeks from Election Day: Attorney General Ken Paxton polled with a three-point lead over incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), with 7% of likely runoff voters still undecided…

The Washingtonian released its list of Washington’s 500 most influential people of 2026, including: AIPAC’s Elliot Brandt, J Street’s Jeremy Ben-Ami, the Hudson Institute’s Michael Doran, the Center for International Policy’s Matt Duss, the Anti-Defamation League’s Aykan Erdemir, the Washington Post’s David Ignatius, Qatar lobbyist Jim Moran, the Quincy Institute’s Trita Parsi, the American Jewish Committee’s Julie Fishman Rayman, the Washington Institute’s Dennis Ross, New Jewish Narrative’s Hadar Susskind and SKDK’s Jill Zuckman…

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for a look at the latest front in the campus anti-Israel movement: student activists targeting Hillel, the world’s largest Jewish campus organization.

The Manhattan Institute will host its Alexander Hamilton Award Dinner, honoring former Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE), who is suffering from terminal pancreatic cancer, and Jeff Yass, founding partner of Susquehanna International Group.

The Stephen Wise Free Synagogue will host a Democratic candidate forum for New York’s 12th Congressional District featuring Alex Bores, Micah Lasher, Jack Schlossberg and George Conway.

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

The ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran appears to be on its last legs: Iran opened fire on U.S. warships and commercial vessels today, CENTCOM head Adm. Brad Cooper said, and shot several missiles and drones at the UAE for the first time since early April — some missiles were reportedly intercepted by the Iron Dome system Israel deployed to the country at the beginning of the war, while one drone sparked a fire at the Fujairah oil complex. 

The UAE also condemned an Iranian drone attack on an oil tanker affiliated with the state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company in the Strait of Hormuz, calling it an “act of piracy”…

Signaling a possible return to hostilities, President Donald Trump told Fox News Iran will be “blown off the face of the earth” if it fires on ships being escorted through the strait by the U.S. as part of “Project Freedom” (which he said on Truth Social this afternoon has already happened).

CENTCOM, meanwhile, announced it had assisted two U.S.-flagged merchant ships in successfully transiting the Strait of Hormuz as of this morning…

Trump’s allies largely continue to stand behind the war effort: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) called for “big, strong and short” strikes on Iran in defense of the UAE, while Pershing Square CEO Bill Ackman called the war “a very good one” that will resolve shortly with “a resolution that is going to be very, very favorable.”

Asked about the impact on investing in the region, Ackman told CNBC the Middle East “has been reset in a very positive way,” with an expansion of the Abraham Accords and a “peace dividend” likely to come…

A small group of Senate Republicans are working on an Authorization for the Use of Military Force to receive a vote in Congress if military operations in Iran do pick back up, Semafor reports, as many lawmakers agree that Trump has run out the 60-day clock for a war launched without congressional approval (some Republicans believe the clock has been paused during the ceasefire). The AUMF would “likely limit ground troops and provide for a finite period of conflict,” according to the outlet… 

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee added eight more candidates to its “Red to Blue” program, a move that could offer additional resources to the campaigns, including several in competitive Democratic primaries, as the party seeks to shore up its strongest candidates and flip the House amid a poor national environment for Republicans. 

The new recruits include union leader Bob Brooks in Pennsylvania’s 7th District as well as Bexar County sheriff’s deputy Johnny Garcia in Texas’ 35th — Garcia is facing Maureen Galindo, who has espoused a range of antisemitic conspiracy theories, in a runoff later this month…

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) endorsed Rep. Al Green (D-TX) in his runoff later this month against Rep. Christian Menefee (D-TX), Green announced today. Jewish leaders have been optimistic about unseating Green in the member-on-member race — a consequence of Texas’ redistricting process — as Green has grown increasingly hostile to Israel in the wake of the Oct. 7 attacks. 

The reported endorsement marks an improvement in the lawmakers’ relationship: Green and Pelosi had clashed during her time as House speaker over Green’s effort to impeach Trump…

Members of the Democratic National Committee are considering ways to limit Chair Ken Martin’s influence, The Bulwark reports, after his appearance on the “Pod Save America” podcast last week where he defended his decision not to release the “autopsy” report of the 2024 election and as members worry the organization is struggling to remain relevant and fiscally sound… 

Politico details the Republican campaign to persuade Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) to switch party affiliations and help keep Democrats from retaking the Senate in the midterm elections — despite Fetterman’s insistence that he will never renounce the Democratic Party…

Multiple Jewish homes, a synagogue and a Jewish center in Queens — which contains a preschool — were vandalized with swastikas and other antisemitic graffiti overnight, leaving Jewish residents questioning their safety amid a spate of antisemitic incidents, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports. The NYPD is searching for at least four individuals responsible for the vandalism, according to New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin.  

“I have a Jewish community that is seriously questioning whether it is still welcome in this city,” said Democratic state Assemblymember Sam Berger. Mark Treyger, CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, said, “This is not normal and we need city leaders to act now”…

New York magazine spotlights the race for New York’s 12th District and the personas of its four front-runners — social media guru Jack Schlossberg, establishment operative Micah Lasher, AI critic Alex Bores and reformed Republican George Conway — as each seeks to represent one of the wealthiest, oldest, most educated and most densely populated congressional districts in the country…

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for comments from U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz on Iran and the Board of Peace, as JI’s Gabby Deutch spoke with him on the sidelines of the Milken Conference in Los Angeles. 

Trump announced Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine will hold a press briefing in the morning, amid cracks in the ceasefire with Iran.

The James W. Foley Legacy Foundation, which advocates for American hostages and journalists abroad, will honor Bar Ben Yaakov and Matan Sivek of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum as well as Qatari minister Mohammed Al-Khulaifi at its annual Freedom Award gala at the National Press Club in Washington, hosted by CBS’ Margaret Brennan.

The Manhattan Jewish Historical Initiative will induct honorees into its Jewish Hall of Fame in a ceremony at Bryant Park: Inductees include Ari Ackerman, philanthropist and co-owner of the Miami Marlins; New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin; singer-songwriter Melissa Manchester; and Ariel Zwang, CEO of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. 

CNN will hold a primary debate for California’s crowded gubernatorial race including Republicans Chad Bianco and Steve Hilton and Democrats Xavier Becerra, Matt Mahan, Katie Porter, Tom Steyer and Antonio Villaraigosa.

Vice President JD Vance is expected to appear at a campaign event for Rep. Zach Nunn (R-IA) in Iowa after several postponements — the event, which had been dubbed “Top Nunn” in reference to the “Top Gun” movies, had originally been scheduled for mid-March but drew criticism when several servicemembers from Nunn’s district were killed in the U.S. war with Iran.