The mayor fired back at the GOP gubernatorial candidate’s comments on the debate stage about his commitment to Jewish safety
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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks during a press conference on Aug. 12, 2026 in New York City.
Add JewishInsider on GoogleNew York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani sharply criticized Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman — the GOP candidate for New York governor — on Wednesday, calling the Republican’s assertions that he would not protect Hasidic communities from arson and sexual violence “directly racist.”
Speaking after an unrelated event in Manhattan, the mayor maintained he had not seen the televised debate between Blakeman and Gov. Kathy Hochul Tuesday night where Blakeman, who is Jewish, refused to back away from controversial remarks he made at a private meeting over the weekend. At that meeting, first reported by The New York Times, Blakeman warned Williamsburg leaders that Mamdani would likely do little “if there is rioting here, if they’re burning down the yeshivas and your shuls, and burning down your house and raping your women.”
“It’s not even a dog whistle," Mayor Mamdani said. "It’s just directly racist [for GOP gubernatorial nominee Bruce Blakeman] to say that I would not respond to Jewish New Yorkers being killed and raped.” @WillBredderman reports: https://t.co/PmMMw0s4mC https://t.co/7Pbc6jm7EN
— Jewish Insider (@jewishinsider) October 14, 2026
However, the democratic socialist mayor reacted fiercely to the comments when reporters described them.
“It’s not even a dog whistle. It’s just directly racist to say that I would not respond to Jewish New Yorkers being killed and raped,” the mayor said. “I’m not surprised that he would try and incite a real sense of fear.”
Mamdani further referred to Blakeman’s claims onstage that the mayor is antisemitic and “anti-Christian” as “bigotry.” He recalled a controversial episode earlier this year in which Blakeman asserted that former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander — a self-identified “progressive Zionist” and outspoken Israel critic whom the mayor backed for Congress — “would be a camp guard in the concentration camp if he could.”
Blakeman’s team fired back at Mamdani, highlighting his refusal to condemn the chant “globalize the intifada” — which for many Jews evokes the terror campaigns Palestinian militants carried out against Israel — as well as a track he released during his youthful stint as a rapper celebrating the “Holy Land Five,” a group convicted in a controversial series of trials of fundraising for Hamas.
“Zohran Mamdani refuses to condemn the battle cry of terrorists who raped women and murdered babies, and he openly thanked the people who fund Hamas,” Blakeman said in a statement to Jewish Insider.
Separately, Mamdani lauded current New York City Comptroller Mark Levine for deciding not to reinvest city funds in State of Israel bonds. Lander had divested from the treasuries in 2024, a move Levine vowed to reverse during his campaign for the municipal fiduciary role last year.
Mamdani has long supported the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, which Levine opposes. In an interview with The New York Times, Levine cited ongoing instability in the Middle East and negative outlook reports from ratings agencies in justifying his decision.
“I’ve said in the past that I don’t believe that our city should purchase Israel bonds. We don’t purchase the bonds of any other sovereign nation,” Mamdani said. “I don’t think that we should make an exception when it comes to Israel, and also this is the decision that the controller is making, and it’s one that I support.”
Mayor Zohran Mamdani shot down calls from Darializa Avila Chevalier and the Democratic Socialists of America that he fire his police commissioner
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NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani attend an unveiling ceremony for a new 9/11 Memorial Wall at One Police Plaza on Sept. 9, 2026 in New York City.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Tuesday rejected calls from his socialist allies that he force out NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, a rare pro-Israel figure in his administration and an outspoken voice on Jewish issues.
Days after protesters clashed with the police following an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent’s shooting of a man in Manhattan, multiple left-wing voices — including from the Democratic Socialists of America and two candidates the mayor himself endorsed for office — demanded the police chief’s ouster.
But Mamdani rebuffed their pleas following an unrelated event in Queens.
“Jessica Tisch is the police commissioner, I have no plans to change that,” the mayor told a reporter, touting her record under both his leadership and his predecessor, Mayor Eric Adams. “The reason that I made the decision to have Jessica Tisch as the police commissioner was because of her record uprooting corruption from the upper echelons of the NYPD while lowering crime across our city.”
Amid calls from his socialist allies to fire NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, Mayor Mamdani told reporters he has "no plans" to do so, citing Tisch’s success in combating violent crime and corruption. Read @WillBredderman’s full story: https://t.co/FnvPdhFzA1 https://t.co/4T6YzdgzTl
— Jewish Insider (@jewishinsider) October 13, 2026
A short time later the mayor and Tisch jointly attended an event honoring fallen officers, at which he described the opportunity to appear alongside her “a privilege.”
Such rhetoric is far removed from the outrage Mamdani’s political allies directed at the commissioner in recent days. Far-left Democratic congressional nominee Darializa Avila Chevalier, who with the mayor’s backing defeated Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) in a primary in June, accused the commissioner on X of having “violated the spirit” of New York’s sanctuary city policies by containing the protests and demanded “Commissioner Tisch must step down.”
Another leftist candidate who romped this summer with Mamdani’s support, Democratic Assembly nominee Illapa Sairitupac, posted “fire Tisch” on his X account. Both are members of the DSA, the national organization of which tweeted on Saturday, “We demand that Mayor Zohran Mamdani fire NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch.”
Even the DSA’s New York City chapter, of which Mamdani is a longtime member and which maintains close ties to his administration, wrote online that the commissioner “must be fired” unless she end what the organization deemed police “complicity” with federal immigration enforcement.
Mamdani, for his part, sought to placate criticism by announcing on Monday a review of the NYPD’s use-of-force policies.
The mayor and commissioner have publicly differed on the department’s Strategic Response Group, which handles protests and which Mamdani has long vowed to disband. Tisch has maintained that the unit should remain in its current form.
Mamdani has not moved to overrule her on this issue, although he has required the SRG to receive direct approval from City Hall before making arrests.
The past week has seen the most visible rift to date between the democratic socialist mayor and the protest movement that helped elevate him to power. Mamdani faced heckling and cries of “traitor” from far-left groups for his participation in a vigil last Wednesday memorializing victims of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks.
It is unclear, however, whether the so-far popular mayor has lost support from his base.
Plus, Israel debuts at Morocco airshow
Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP via Getty Images
US President Donald Trump speaks about the conflict in Iran in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House on April 6, 2026, in Washington, DC.
Good Thursday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post today that the U.S. is having “productive discussions” with Iran and that he “want[s] to make it clear” that Washington will not attack Iran before the Nov. 3 midterm elections, after reports indicated the president was considering such a move…
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani today shrugged off the protest — which featured jeers of “traitor” and chants of “long live Hamas” — that sought to drown out an event he attended last night memorializing the victims of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks, Jewish Insider’s Will Bredderman reports.
“I was proud to attend last night’s vigil, as I did last year, to listen to testimonies from family members of those who were killed on Oct. 7, and those who’ve been killed in the three years since, and all of whom united in a vision for peace and an end to the genocide in Gaza,” Mamdani told reporters. “As for those protesting me, I am the mayor of New York City, and this is what I signed up for”…
A planned trip to Reggio Emilia, Italy, for some 100 Jewish early childhood educators from the U.S. and Israel was canceled after participants were required to sign a statement condemning Israel’s actions in Gaza.
The educators were meant to study the Reggio Emilia Approach to early childhood education, a method long embraced by Jewish preschools. But ahead of the trip, participants were asked to sign a statement declaring, “I distance myself from the occupation of Gaza and the violation of children’s and human beings’ rights in the occupied territories as well as in every places [sic] in the world,” according to a screenshot obtained by JI’s Haley Cohen…
An ad set to air during the Michigan Senate debate tonight, paid for by a pro-Mike Rogers super PAC, features a mother of a student at Temple Israel who said she identified as a lifelong Democrat but will be voting for Rogers due to remarks by Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed seeming to justify the attack on the synagogue earlier this year…
British counterterrorism police arrested two Latvian men today after they were found inside RAF Molesworth, an air base used by the U.S. military and NATO for intelligence operations. The men were detained on suspicion of entering a prohibited place for a purpose prejudicial to the U.K.; police said there is no evidence at this stage linking the incident to the suspected Iran-related plot at RAF Fairford…
The Israeli Defense Ministry opened a national pavilion and led a delegation of defense firms — including Elbit Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries and Rafael — at the Marrakech Airshow in Morocco this week, marking Israel’s first official participation in a Moroccan defense exhibition since signing the Abraham Accords…
The first Iron Dome Tamir interceptor fully produced and assembled in the United States was delivered to the Israeli Defense Ministry at a ceremony yesterday in East Camden, Ark., attended by Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders. The Raytheon-Rafael facility is the first site outside of Israel to manufacture complete Tamir interceptors, part of the U.S.-Israel missile-defense cooperation program…
Several speakers at the right-wing National Conservatism Conference in Jerusalem this week berated Jews for speaking out against antisemitism, accused Israel of drawing the U.S. into wars and mocked evangelical Christian beliefs about Israel, JI’s Lahav Harkov reports.
Amanda Milius, a conservative documentarian, portrayed those accusing others of antisemitism as being “in a fit of hysteria” and said that doing so is “at risk of becoming [Black Lives Matter] to the younger American right. They are correctly sick of being called racists”…
Trump clarified that his recent comments about Iran bombing Los Angeles and San Diego were not invitations for Tehran to do so, writing on Truth Social that he only meant to make a comparison between the “small price to pay” of increased gasoline prices amid the Iran war and the regime potentially bombing major U.S. cities…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for an interview with Nechumi Yaffe, the first woman to run for Knesset on a Haredi party ticket, who spoke with JI’s Lahav Harkov about her new party’s push to transform ultra-Orthodox society — from conscription and the workforce to secular education — all while refusing to call it “change.”
Saturday will mark one year since President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan took effect. While the truce halted full-scale fighting and secured the release of the remaining hostages, the plan’s broader goals remain stalled: reconstruction of the enclave has made little progress, the International Stabilization Force has yet to deploy and Hamas is not yet disarmed.
Vice President JD Vance will make a campaign stop in Ohio tomorrow to boost Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH) in his bid to keep his seat against former Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH). Trump may make a stop in Alabama, pending a possible hurricane.
We’ll be back in your inbox with the Daily Overtime on Monday. Shabbat shalom!
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Zohran Mamdani declined to criticize demonstrators who shouted down a commemoration ceremony he attended for Oct. 7 victims
CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP via Getty Images
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (C-R) attends vigil for Oct. 7 victims on October 7, 2026.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Thursday shrugged off the protest — which featured jeers of “traitor” at the democratic socialist leader, and chants of “long live Hamas” — that sought to drown out an event he attended the night prior memorializing the victims of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks.
The mayor, who rose to power as a fierce critic of the Jewish state, declined at a press conference to denounce or even meaningfully engage with the presence of hecklers who massed in Union Square Wednesday night against a vigil organized by the liberal group Israelis for Peace. Protesters used drums and megaphones to berate the mayor and drown out remarks from speakers.
Mamdani’s statement earlier on Wednesday, which devoted greater space to the death toll in the Gaza Strip than to the atrocities on Oct. 7 that triggered Israeli military action, infuriated mainstream Jewish leaders and drew bipartisan rebuke.
Even so, the statement prompted a wave of far-left outrage online for its condemnation of Hamas, as did his participation in the commemoration.
“I was proud to attend last night’s vigil, as I did last year, to listen to testimonies from family members of those who were killed on Oct. 7, and those who’ve been killed in the three years since, and all of whom united in a vision for peace and an end to the genocide in Gaza,” Mamdani told journalists after an unrelated event in Brooklyn. “As for those protesting me, I am the mayor of New York City, and this is what I signed up for.”
Mamdani shrugged off protests — featuring jeers of “traitor” and chants of “long live Hamas” — that sought to drown out an event he attended last night memorializing the victims of Oct. 7. Read more: https://t.co/IsxYgVBc5N https://t.co/ynDyWiz2q8
— Jewish Insider (@jewishinsider) October 8, 2026
The mayor remained noncommittal when reporters pressed about city approval for a proposed memorial to the nearly 1,200 killed and 251 taken hostage during the assault, and would not answer why he did not dedicate a polished video on official city channels to the tragedy, as he has repeatedly done for the Palestinian cause. He also did not respond to a question about whether he considered the hecklers to be good-faith actors.
“I think that the statement, the attendance, the meeting, it all speaks to a reckoning with horror and a horror that devastated the lives of New Yorkers three years ago, and it also continues to devastate New Yorkers today,” he said.
Plus, Michigan Hillel appears to punt on Israel advocacy
CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP via Getty Images
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (C-R) attends vigil for Oct. 7 victims on October 7, 2026.
Good Thursday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we report on New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s statement on the Oct. 7 terror attacks and the backlash it provoked from both legislators and Jewish leaders for its criticism of Israel, look at infighting among Republicans over a pro-Israel provision in the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act and cover University of Michigan Hillel’s announced break with national Israel advocacy organizations. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Eli Sharabi, Rep. Haley Stevens and Andy Schor.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by JI Executive Editor Melissa Weiss, with assists from Tamara Zieve and Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
Today’s Agenda
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is slated to hold a press conference with New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin this morning on nonprofits. The press conference comes the morning after mayor’s widely panned statement on the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attack. More below.
Speaking at a UJA-Federation of New York event last night, Menin — without naming Mamdani or the other far-left officials and candidates who offered similar statements — said, “Today should be a day about only one thing and that is honoring and remembering the 1,200 people who were murdered by Hamas terrorists. That’s what October 7th is about. … This is a very, very difficult day for the Jewish community. And I think to say anything but that is not OK.”
An Oct. 7 vigil last night attended by Mamdani and organized by the left-wing Israelis for Peace was disrupted by anti-Israel protesters, some of whom wore green Hamas headbands and carried Hezbollah flags. The demonstrators screamed into megaphones and banged on drums, accusing Mamdani of being a “sellout,” “coward,” “traitor” and helping to facilitate genocide while the mayor stood silently and listened to remarks from speakers that were repeatedly drowned out by the demonstrators.
In Michigan, former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) and Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed will participate in a debate tonight hosted by WOOD TV8.
In Jerusalem, Israeli President Isaac Herzog will present the Presidential Award for Civilian Heroism today to six people who helped thwart the attempted hijacking of the FlyDubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv on Sept. 30: Tali Manes, Zvika Manes, Yaniv Hayoun, Shota Musayev, Asaf Rajuan and Or Pardilov.
Israel and the U.K. reached an agreement ahead of today’s deadline to close the U.K.’s consulate in east Jerusalem, which serves Palestinians, following a row between the countries over London’s decision to ban products from West Bank settlements. U.K. Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said that the building would be redesignated as a mission and would continue to provide services with a pared-down staff, following a flurry of diplomatic activity — including a quiet trip to Israel last week by U.K. National Security Advisor Jonathan Powell — in an attempt to find a resolution after Israel said it would shutter the facility.
The USS Abraham Lincoln is set to arrive in San Diego today, after a more than 10-month deployment, the bulk of which was in the Middle East…
One Thing To Know
ON THE HILL
A provision in the draft 2027 National Defense Authorization Act that aims to coordinate and enhance cooperation between the U.S. and Israeli militaries has proven to be a significant source of controversy among Democrats, with even some senior lawmakers who defended the provision on its merits flipping against it under pressure.
And, as Congress will have only weeks to pass the NDAA when it returns from recess after the November elections, the provision is facing some resistance from Republican lawmakers as well — an indication of skepticism of the U.S.-Israel partnership building among the GOP base as part of the debate between hawks and isolationists.
The Big Reads
CITY HALL CRITICISM
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani observed the third anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel with a statement that opened with a denunciation of Hamas and the “horrific war crimes” it committed that day, but spent most of its length excoriating the Israeli response — drawing fierce criticism from mainstream Jewish organizations, Jewish Insider’s Will Bredderman reports.
“We grieve alongside our many friends and neighbors who still carry that unthinkable loss,” the top of the statement concludes — before launching into the main body of his remarks attacking Israel. “The suffering did not begin nor end that day.” UJA-Federation of New York said in statement that Mamdani “chose to respond to the grief of Jewish New Yorkers by advancing false and inflammatory attacks against Israel — not only inappropriately shifting the focus away from the victims of Hamas’s cruelty, but also placing Jewish New Yorkers at risk.”
Catching heat: Several Democratic lawmakers blasted Mamdani for his Oct. 7 statement, including Reps. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), Dan Goldman (D-NY), and Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), JI’s Marc Rod reports.
NO COMMENT
Former Rep. Mike Rogers, the Michigan Republican nominee for Senate, issued a statement Wednesday commemorating the third anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel and bashing his Democratic opponent, Abdul El-Sayed, while El-Sayed remained silent, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. El-Sayed’s campaign did not respond to multiple inquiries from JI about whether he planned to issue a statement on the Oct. 7 anniversary, and has not shared any such statement publicly. Rogers said, “Three years ago today, the world witnessed in horror the worst massacre of Jewish people since the Holocaust. This dark day is a sad reminder that evil exists all around us. And how we respond to evil determines how much it grows.”
Not on board: Lansing, Mich., Mayor Andy Schor told CNN that he’s not currently supporting El-Sayed, and is not willing to consider backing him without a conversation with El-Sayed about the nominee’s rhetoric around Israel and antisemitism.
Go Blue, but blue and white?
University of Michigan Hillel is ending its formal affiliations with student groups and national organizations engaged in Israel advocacy, lobbying or political organizing, while insisting that the policy does not represent a retreat from its support for Israel, Jewish Insider‘s Haley Cohen reports. The policy, announced by interim Executive Director Cindy Hughey in a message to students at the start of the academic year last month, is part of what Michigan Hillel described as a renewed focus on Jewish life, learning and community. University of Michigan Hillel said it will “no longer formally affiliate with national organizations or student groups whose primary work involves Israel-related advocacy, lobbying, or political organizing,” but it will continue to offer Israel education, cultural programming and discussions about Israel.
The Rundown
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On Our Radar
● The Live Briefing. Word on the street, clips, podcasts and quick updates — the items we’re tracking all day in our Live Briefing on the app (on Apple and Android) and website.
Speaking at a campaign rally in Texas, President Donald Trump doubled down on comments made earlier this week that Iran could target San Diego and Los Angeles, telling a crowd in San Antonio, “You want to see trauma? You want to see problems? And I said it the other day, let them hit a missile into San Diego or Los Angeles on the way”…
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is in Greece this week, reiterated the Trump administration’s position that “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. Simple, period, end of story.”
Speaking in Athens yesterday, Rubio praised Western civilization, drawing a contrast between the Iranian regime, which he cast as a “cult of death” that glorifies martyrdom, and the West’s tradition of loyalty and sacrifice…
The Department of Defense instructed U.S. Central Command to prepare for a potential resumption of strikes targeting Iran, which according to Israeli and U.S. officials could take place before the midterms…
At least 81 U.S. military aircraft and drones have been damaged or destroyed since the war with Iran began in February, according to a new Congressional Research Service report; the losses include 45 MQ-9 Reaper drones and 12 F-15E fighter jets…
A tanker near the coast of Qatar was struck on Wednesday, the first reported strike on a vessel in the Gulf in nearly a month…
Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) released a short documentary she made about the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks, compiled from interviews with survivors; Stevens said she “wanted people to hear directly from those who lived through it, to see their humanity, their grief, and their resilience”…
A Haverford College professor was charged with cyberstalking and taken into federal custody over threatening and antisemitic messages sent to a co-worker; Guangtian Ha, whom the college has placed on leave, reportedly used anonymous social media accounts to post the home address of his colleague, and sent messages including one that warned that “The Führer is coming, rats”…
The co-pilot who attempted to hijack and crash a FlyDubai flight reportedly told investigators he had sought out roles at airlines that would bring him to Israel and considered carrying out his attack in July, stating he was motivated to do so over the war in Gaza; he reportedly changed his mind because a friend was among the crew on the July flight…
The U.K.’s Metropolitan Police arrested 11 individuals at anti-Israel marches coinciding with the anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks, including five at a “spontaneous protest” outside the Camden headquarters of the Board of Deputies, the representative body of British Jews…
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot visited Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square and Kibbutz Be’eri on the anniversary of the attacks, saying in a statement that France “will never forget” the victims of the Oct. 7 attacks…
Three people were killed and dozens wounded in Houthi attacks on airports in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday and Wednesday, escalating the conflict between Riyadh and the Iran-backed terror group in Yemen…
Hezbollah reportedly received $200 million from Iran to support Lebanese displaced by the war with Iran; the State Department denied the transfer of funds, saying that the Iran-backed terror group was “trying to save face with fake stories about cash influxes from Iran”…
French-Jewish scientist Henri Kagan, a Holocaust survivor, won the Nobel Prize in chemistry, alongside Japan’s Kenso Soai, for their work on homochirality, building off the 19th-century research of Louis Pasteur; Kagan, 95, is the third-oldest winner of a Nobel Prize…
Worthy Reads
Find more Worthy Reads in our Live Briefing via our app (on Apple and Android) and website.
Back Home, For Now: In The Atlantic, Amir Tibon, whose family survived the Oct. 7 attacks in their Nahal Oz home, ties his decision to permanently relocate back to the kibbutz on the outcome of the upcoming elections. “Emigration, of course, is always easier to imagine than to execute, and there are many people in this land who would suffer if this government returns to power but who have nowhere to go. … Yet for many Israelis who do have options abroad, starting over somewhere else, with all of its difficulties, seems a better choice than four more years of Netanyahu’s corruption, Ben-Gvir and Smotrich’s extremism, and the ultra-Orthodox parties’ shameless plunder of public funds, all amid a regional ‘forever war’ with no end in sight.” [TheAtlantic]
Mamdani’s Message: In The Free Press, Eli Lake weighs in on New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s statement on the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks, which drew bipartisan criticism for its focus on Israel’s war in Gaza. “These are not the errant ravings of a fringe activist or edgy podcaster. This is the mayor of New York sounding like the hate-filled radicals that swarmed American campuses in 2023 and 2024. One should have grace for the youth and the terminally online. But the mayor is a civic leader. When he spreads this poison, he mainstreams it.” [FreePress]
No Direction Home: In eJewishPhilanthropy, the Hadar Institute’s Rabbi Avi Killip reflects on the feeling of political homelessness increasingly felt by American Jews. “Those who once felt comfortable on the left are facing the antisemitism that has been there for years but now become impossible to overlook or excuse. Those who found a home on the right, grateful for leaders willing to acknowledge and defend Israel and Israelis, have watched that support waffle and wane with the winds of the moment.” [eJP]
Picture of the Day
Former hostage Eli Sharabi c0-hosted the October 7 Families’ National Memorial Ceremony alongside actress Shani Cohen on Wednesday night in Tel Aviv’s HaYarkon Park. At the end of the ceremony, Sharabi delivered a monologue dedicated to the memory of his wife, Lianne, and two teenage daughters, Noiya and Yahel, who were killed in their home in Kibbutz Be’eri on Oct. 7.
Birthdays
Yaakov “Kobi” Marimi, singer and actor, he represented Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 in Tel Aviv, turns 35
Isadore Sharp, founder and chairman of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, author and philanthropist, turns 95
Agustin Estrada, general surgeon in Tempe, Ariz.
Rona Barrett, gossip columnist and businesswoman, turns 90
R. L. Stine, author of more than 330 horror novels, turns 83
Brian E. Frosh, attorney general of Maryland from 2015 to 2023, turns 80
Stephen Shore, director of the photography department at Bard College since 1982, more than 25 books of his photographs have been published, turns 79
Edward Zwick, Academy Award-winning film producer and director, turns 74
Jonathan Kessler, AIPAC senior staffer for 18 years and now CEO of Heart of a Nation
Shira Piven, movie and theater director, writer and filmmaker, turns 65
David Kustoff, member of the House of Representatives (R-TN-8), one of four Jewish Republican congressmen, turns 60
Stefan Simchowitz, Los Angeles-based art collector, art curator and art advisor, turns 56
Rabbi Menachem Creditor, scholar-in-residence at UJA-Federation of New York
Ben Lyons, entertainment reporter and sports commentator, turns 45
Ilana Blitzer Snider, magazine editor and daughter of CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer, turns 45
Aliyana Traison, N.Y.-based therapist
Adina Lichtman, founder of Knock Knock, Give a Sock, an organization that collects socks for the homeless
Rep. Josh Gottheimer: ’Mr. Mayor, you're right that today is painful for Jews. You're also the one making it worse’
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) during a hearing in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill on June 24, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Several Democratic lawmakers blasted New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Wednesday for his statement on the third anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel — which focused primarily on condemning Israel, the war in Gaza and Jerusalem’s alleged “ongoing genocide” and “apartheid.”
“He basically said ‘The Jews that died, sad, but it’s their fault,’” Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) said on X. “He needs the city’s antisemitism policy for himself. Just an atrocious statement.”
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) accused Mamdani of “[d]esecrating the memory of murdered, innocent Jews today of all days and refusing to even condemn Hamas,” calling the mayor’s statement “obscene.”
Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), who lost his primary race in part due to his support for Israel, said that Mamdani’s statement was “reprehensible.”
“In the guise of ‘grieving’ with those mourning that day, Mayor Mamdani asserts as fact hotly disputed allegations that he knows full well will offend and further upset those same people he pretends to grieve with,” Goldman said. “On this day of all days, the Mayor of the city with the largest Jewish population outside of Israel embraces extreme activism instead of balanced leadership.”
Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) accused Mamdani of worsening Jews’ pain.
“Mr. Mayor, you’re right that today is painful for Jews. You’re also the one making it worse,” Gottheimer said. “Blame the victims. Trash Israel. Wife likes posts cheering the attack. Thanks for the clarity.”
Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) did not explicitly mention Mamdani, but condemned critics of Israel who used the anniversary as an opportunity to bash Israel.
“The world demonizes Israel 365 days a year,” Torres said. “Perhaps, for just one day—October 7th—the critics of Israel could take a vacation from their hysterical hatred of the world’s only Jewish State and find it within themselves to express condolences for the thousands of Israelis murdered, maimed, mutilated, raped, and abducted at the hands of Hamas.”
Other Democratic leaders have also spoken out.
Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who ran against Mamdani, also criticized him, saying that Oct. 7 “should be sacred.”
“Yet even today, @NYCMayor cannot put aside his ideological obsession with Israel long enough to simply let Jews mourn,” Cuomo said. “At a time of rising antisemitism, words matter, and rhetoric has real-world consequences. There are 364 other days for politics. Today, remember the victims. Condemn Hamas. Stand with the Jewish community. It should not be difficult.”
Former New Jersey gubernatorial candidate Steve Fulop, who now leads the business advocacy group Partnership for NYC, called Mamdani’s statement “inappropriate and unnecessarily inflammatory.”
“At a time when heightened antisemitism is a real concern — one the Mayor himself has acknowledged — New York’s elected leaders should be focused on bringing our city together and addressing the urgent challenges facing New Yorkers, not creating further division,” Fulop said.
Former Florida Senate candidate Alex Vindman issued an implicit condemnation of Mamdani, saying, “You could save your selective ahistorical biased opinions on the whole history of Israel and Palestine (seemingly justifying October 7th) until say tomorrow. Your empathy could exceed your biases.”
Deborah Lipstadt, the State Department’s former ambassador to monitor and combat antisemitism under the Biden administration, also criticized Mamdani’s statement.
New York-based and national Jewish groups have condemned Mamdani’s statement as well.
The UJA-Federation of New York said that the anniversary “should have been a day” to stand with the victims and survivors of Oct. 7.
“Instead, Mayor Mamdani chose to respond to the grief of Jewish New Yorkers by advancing false and inflammatory attacks against Israel — not only inappropriately shifting the focus away from the victims of Hamas’s cruelty, but also placing Jewish New Yorkers at risk, the group continued.
William Daroff and Betsy Berns Korn, respectively CEO and chair of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, said similarly in a joint statement, “There is a time for debate over Middle East policy. The anniversary of the October 7 massacre is not that time. Exploiting a day of profound grief to accuse Israel of genocide dishonors the memory of those who were murdered, deepens the pain of survivors and hostage families, and further alienates Jewish New Yorkers at a moment that should unite us in remembrance.”
Rabbi Rick Jacobs, the president of the Union for Reform Judaism, said he’s spoken directly with Mamdani about his rhetoric, “but he once again found an opportunity to be callous toward Jewish pain.”
“He gave Hamas a single sentence and then spent the rest of his statement condemning Israel,” Jacobs said. “You cannot proclaim empathy and care for the Jewish community and then fail to show basic humanity toward us in our grief. Turning this anniversary into an indictment of the Jewish state is not only hurtful, and deeply offensive, but it also makes Jewish New Yorkers less safe.”
Democratic Majority for Israel said Mamdani’s statement “diminishes the gravity of the day and disrespects the victims.”
A slew of Republicans have also spoken out to condemn Mamdani, including Sens. Tom Cotton (R-AR), Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Rick Scott (R-FL); Reps. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Mike Lawler (R-NY), Jason Smith (R-MO) and Rudy Yakym (R-IN); U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Board Chair Jeff Miller; Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders; U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee; former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley; and former Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-NY).
Israeli Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter also condemned Mamdani’s “dangerous lies” and called him a “defender of Palestinian terrorism, a promoter of antisemitism, and an advocate of anti-Americanism” as well as an ally of Hamas.
In spite of his staunch anti-Israel stance, Mamdani is still facing protests from further-left anti-Israel demonstrators today, accusing him of genocide and of betraying the anti-Israel movement.
Rallying for a memorial for Hamas victims, the city’s top two Jewish officials wouldn’t criticize mayor directly over his Oct. 7 statement
Adam Gray/Getty Images
Julie Menin, Speaker of the New York City Council, addresses the media before a New York City Council Committee on October 5, 2026 in New York City.
New York City’s two highest-ranking Jewish local officials turned down the opportunity to condemn Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s controversial comments on the third anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks — even as their fellow Democrats railed against him — at a rally supporting a memorial to the Hamas victims.
City Council Speaker Julie Menin and City Comptroller Mark Levine both turned out for an event organized by state Sen. Sam Sutton to advocate the establishment of a privately funded monument in a small Brooklyn park honoring those killed or abducted three years ago in the attacks. In their formal remarks, the pair deplored Hamas’ violence, and Levine even called a single heckler’s repeated cries of “free Palestine” during his address “very disappointing.”
But pressed by Jewish Insider and other reporters about Mamdani’s statement earlier in the day, which gave greater space to condemnations of Israel’s military response than to the attack that provoked it, neither would expressly criticize him.
“Look, I’m focused on Oct. 7 and memorializing the 1,200 people who were murdered by Hamas terrorists. I think the focus needs to be on Oct. 7, full stop,” Menin told JI as she headed for her city vehicle after speaking.
She would only reiterate this point about “focus” when JI pressed if the mayor’s statement was appropriate to the occasion.
Levine made a near-identical statement.
“Today needs to be about the victims of Oct. 7 — today of all days. And I want everyone to come together for one day to focus on the biggest loss of Jewish life since the Holocaust,” Levine told JI. “That is my message, it’s one that I hope all leaders would also deliver to their communities.”
"Today needs to be about the victims of Oct. 7." Asked by JI’s @WillBredderman about Mamdani’s statement on the Hamas attacks that assailed the "genocide in Gaza," NYC Comptroller Mark Levine said, "I want everyone to lower the temperature." Read more: https://t.co/Oyc4fzdhIB https://t.co/sp28wez7sO
— Jewish Insider (@jewishinsider) October 7, 2026
Asked if he had a specific message for the mayor, Levine again spoke only generally.
“I want everyone here to lower the temperature, to bring people together, and today more than any day to focus on the victims of this horrific attack,” he said, adding after further prompting, “I think his statement speaks for itself. And I issued my own statement. I think it’s pretty clear where I stand.”
The Manhattan politicians’ statements contrasted dramatically with those of Sutton, a conservative Democrat and longtime leader in Brooklyn’s Syrian Jewish community.
“There are those that check off a box by saying the line that Oct. 7 was a tragedy, and then they go on and on,” Sutton said, calling out the Democratic Socialists of America and the rally they promoted in Times Square one day after the attack. “Listen, DSA members, you guys celebrated on Oct. 8 when not one Palestinian was killed, but Israeli civilians were killed. Stop lying. The truth must be told.”
Joey Cohen-Saban, Sutton’s chief of staff and Democratic district leader — an unpaid but important role in the Brooklyn party organization — went further.
“The fact that [Mamdani] includes such disgusting remarks in a statement that’s allegedly supposed to remember victims of Oct. 7 shows again that he is inherently antisemitic, and that’s something that he just continues to prove over and over and over again,” Saban, now a candidate for state Assembly, told JI.
Jewish groups condemned Mamdani for amplifying rhetoric they said puts Jewish New Yorkers at risk — on a day of mourning for victims of Hamas attacks
Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Zohran Mamdani, mayor of New York, arrives to speak to members of the media in New York, on July 7, 2026.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani observed the third anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel with a statement that opened with a denunciation of Hamas and the “horrific war crimes” it committed that day, but spent most of its length excoriating the Israeli response — drawing fierce criticism from mainstream Jewish organizations.
“We grieve alongside our many friends and neighbors who still carry that unthinkable loss,” the top of the statement concludes — before launching into the main body of his remarks attacking Israel. “The suffering did not begin nor end that day. It instead continued through the Israeli government’s devastating, ongoing genocide in Gaza,” it continues.
The mayor then launched into a litany of familiar criticisms of the Israeli military campaign in Gaza and of U.S. support for the Jewish state in a passage more than twice as long as his comments on Hamas and its victims.
“Many New Yorkers are reckoning with this unbearable grief, and we mourn alongside them — all while knowing that our tax dollars fund these war crimes,” the statement continues. “Three years later, we must refuse to accept a world in which occupation and apartheid continue, where war crimes are met with impunity, and our federal government continues its complicity with every arms shipment.”
The mayor concluded his statement with a call “to honor the dead, we must fight for a world in which every person can live with freedom, safety, and dignity.”
The decision to devote the bulk of his statement commemorating the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust to attacking Israel infuriated leading Jewish religious civic leaders.
“Today should have been a day for New York to stand with the victims of October 7, their families, and all those still living with the trauma of Hamas’s barbaric attack,” UJA-Federation of New York said in statement. “Instead, Mayor Mamdani chose to respond to the grief of Jewish New Yorkers by advancing false and inflammatory attacks against Israel — not only inappropriately shifting the focus away from the victims of Hamas’s cruelty, but also placing Jewish New Yorkers at risk.”
The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations also released a statement, saying, “Mayor Zohran Mamdani chose this solemn day to advance his familiar attacks on the Jewish state. There is a time for debate over Middle East policy. The anniversary of the October 7 massacre is not that time. Exploiting a day of profound grief to accuse Israel of genocide dishonors the memory of those who were murdered, deepens the pain of survivors and hostage families, and further alienates Jewish New Yorkers at a moment that should unite us in remembrance.”
“Mayor Mamdani cannot give Jewish New Yorkers even a single day to mourn without gaslighting us and appropriating the trauma of Oct. 7,” Rabbi Marc Schneier of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding said in a statement, re-upping longstanding concerns that the mayor’s constant criticism of Israel feeds into the city’s spike in antisemitic hate crimes under his leadership. “His rhetoric fuels hostility toward Jewish New Yorkers. Today, he could have honored the victims and promoted peace and prosperity for Israelis and Palestinians. Instead, he chose to incite hatred.”
Andrew Gross, New York regional director for the American Jewish Committee, also criticized the mayor for what he described as injecting politics into a solemn occasion.
“Today is about the 1,200 lives stolen on October 7, 2023, the 251 who were taken hostage, and the countless others who were terrorized by Hamas and continue to be haunted by the violence inflicted on them, their families, and an entire country that day,” Gross wrote in a statement to Jewish Insider. “It is not about the mayor or his efforts to advance a false political narrative. His decision to use October 7 to promote slander against the Jewish state and amplify rhetoric that puts Jewish New Yorkers at greater risk is especially painful and egregious.”
Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, meanwhile, highlighted that the mayor’s statement made no reference to “Jews,” repeating a frequent criticism that Mamdani does not recognize or appreciate that many of the people he represents feel an affinity to Israel as a nation — even as he frequently and explicitly identifies New Yorkers of Palestinian background with events in Gaza and the West Bank.
“You are weaponizing a day meant for mourning the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust to recycle your usual antizionist talking points,” Greenblatt wrote to Mamdani on X. “The city with the largest Jewish population outside Israel deserves a mayor who can honor the dead without exploiting them.”
The mayor’s schedule indicated the mayor will attend first a vigil for the Oct. 7 victims before he “meets with Palestinian New Yorkers” on Wednesday. His office did not provide additional details.
JI reported in March that Mamdani’s wife liked multiple posts on Instagram celebrating the Oct. 7 attacks.
Ironically, Mamdani’s statement on X also prompted an outpouring of antisemitic commentary from the site’s users suggesting he was controlled by Jewish interests.
The mayor pushed back on questions about pouring cash into nonprofits and not changing his Israel rhetoric
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks at a press conference during moving day at Gracie Mansion on January 12, 2026 in New York City.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani defended his administration’s strategy to battle spiking antisemitic offenses by spending heavily on nonprofit-based “hate crime prevention” and lower outlays for security — all while keeping up his fierce criticism of Israel on official government channels.
On Tuesday, the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism released its weeks-delayed “strategy to combat antisemitism,” which touted $1 million in security grants for houses of worship and “other sensitive locations” and $26 million in already announced funding for the Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes.
Questioned by Jewish Insider at a press conference on Wednesday about evidence that the hate crimes office funding has made a meaningful difference, given that the increased funding has coincided with more and more bias incidents targeting Jews, Mamdani instead talked about his experience learning about the Holocaust as a teenager, and pointed to declining public awareness of the Nazi genocide.
Asked by JI's @WillBredderman about evidence that increased funding for the city’s hate crimes office has mitigated antisemitism, Mamdani instead spoke of learning about the Holocaust as a teenager and pointed to its declining public awareness.
— Jewish Insider (@jewishinsider) September 30, 2026
Read more: https://t.co/16IXo3F18B pic.twitter.com/5grW4pbSDw
“You know, I myself, I went to Bronx Science [High School], and we were lucky to have resources of Holocaust education. I remember going recently to a number of museums where we could see what that actually meant,” the mayor said, as his staff sought to talk over a JI reporter and turned his microphone off. “And that’s something I want to provide for every New Yorker.”
The plan faced immediate criticism from leading Jewish groups for omitting any reference to Israel, including cases of violence and vandalism against New York’s Jews and their institutions inspired by opposition to the Jewish state. But on Wednesday the mayor maintained the program was the product of discussions with “more than 100 Jewish leaders,” and rejected calls that he tone down his own fervent denunciations of Israeli leadership and the military campaign in the Gaza Strip.
“When it comes to criticism of the Israeli prime minister or the Israeli government, that has no bearing on our responsibility to keep Jewish New Yorkers safe,” he asserted. “The responsibility for the Israeli government’s actions lies with the Israeli government. It does not lie with Jewish New Yorkers.”
A list of the Office to Prevent Hate Crimes’ subvendors from 2025 lists a wide array of traditional Jewish and non-Jewish social service providers, many politically connected, as well as explicitly anti-Zionist nonprofits such as Jews for Racial & Economic Justice and the New York chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations. Agudath Israel of America particularly critiqued the administration’s emphasis on secular expressions of Jewish identity, and $2.5 million in city financing for a facility for the Center for New Jewish Culture, which has hosted and supported Jewish critics of Zionism and Israel.
The mayor brushed off questions about Jewish New Yorkers who consider him an antisemite, while noting his continuing celebration of Sukkot with prominent Jewish supporters.
“I think my job as the mayor is not to get bothered by other people’s opinion,” he said. “My job is to deliver for them, no matter what their opinion is.”
The plan provides $7.4 million in security grants but does not address Israel-related hate
Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images
Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks during a press conference at the Unisphere on Nov. 5, 2025.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration on Tuesday released what it calls the country’s first municipal strategy to combat antisemitism, a 30-page plan that provides $7.4 million for security and prevention grants, but declines to adopt a definition of antisemitism and does not address Israel-related hate.
The report, titled “Tackling Hate: The Mamdani Administration’s Strategy to Combat Antisemitism,” features a photo of New York City’s oldest Jewish congregation, Congregation Shearith Israel, on its cover. The synagogue told Jewish Insider, “We were surprised to see our picture on the cover of the City’s brochure. The City did not advise us that it would be using a photograph of Congregation Shearith Israel for its brochure, which we didn’t know about and had no input into. Had they asked, we would have requested that they not use an image of our Synagogue for this purpose.”
The plan, developed by the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism, splits the $7.4 million in immediate hate-prevention funding — part of a $26 million increase for the Office for Prevention of Hate Crimes that was announced in May — into $1 million grants for physical security at synagogues and other vulnerable nonprofits, including lights, cameras, locks, risk assessments and bystander training. It also includes $6.4 million to double Partners Against Hate grants to community-based organizations that focus on data collection and countering online hate.
Other commitments include embedding Jewish history in public school education; launching a city-wide public campaign on how to report discrimination; initiating a campaign on Jewish New Yorkers’ contributions to be featured on LinkNYC kiosks; and providing $2 million towards finishing the Queens Holocaust Memorial at Queens Borough Hall, as well as $2.5 million to the Center for New Jewish Culture, a new cultural and community space in Central Brooklyn.
Mamdani said in a video accompanying the report’s release on Tuesday that the goal of the initiative is to “confront the scourge of antisemitism now and in the future,” noting that Jews make up only 12% of the city’s population but are the victims of around half the city’s reported hate crimes. “This is not only unacceptable, it’s something we all have an obligation to change. And City Hall will lead the way,” he said.
The strategy comes as Mamdani, the city’s first Muslim mayor, has faced sustained criticism from Jewish leaders over his rhetoric and policies on Israel and antisemitism, straining his relationship with parts of New York’s Jewish community.
Despite billing his strategy as the first in the nation, Mamdani’s predecessor, Mayor Eric Adams, had already released a “bluprint” for combating antisemitism on his last day in office, which included the city adopting International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism — a policy that Mamdani repealed on his first day in office.
Jewish leaders offered a mixed response to the mayor’s new strategy, with some welcoming increased security funding and other measures while also arguing that the plan fails to address what they see as a key driver of anti-Jewish hostility — rhetoric targeting Israel and its supporters.
In a joint statement to JI, UJA-Federation of New York, JCRC-NY, AJC New York and New York Board of Rabbis said that “any effort to confront antisemitism in New York City must fully address the realities Jewish New Yorkers face today.”
The groups praised Mamdani’s plan for featuring “a number of positive elements, including some increased security funding for Jewish institutions and expanding proven programs,” but noted that “it fails to address a central issue that the mayor himself has perpetuated: rhetoric that demonizes and delegitimizes Israel inevitably leads to the targeting of Jewish New Yorkers.”
“Those who truly seek to address antisemitism must unequivocally reject such rhetoric and help ensure that Jewish New Yorkers are never made to feel suspect, excluded, or unsafe in their own city,” the statement continued.
Moshe Davis, founding executive director of the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism under the Adams administration, told JI he applauds the plan for its “protective measures [that] will greatly help safeguard Jewish New Yorkers against attempted terror attacks carried out by those seeking to ‘globalize the intifada.’”
“But the latest report seems to ignore anti-Israel protesters targeting synagogues and the hate being taught in our educational spaces,” said Davis. “In doing this, it seems to make a conscious effort to erase the connection between the violence against Jews we are seeing in our city and the anti-Israel propaganda clearly fueling it. A report on antisemitism that ignores what is driving much of the hate and violence against Jews is tone-deaf and dangerous.”
The Anti-Defamation League criticized the strategy, arguing that it fails to adequately address the threats facing Jewish New Yorkers — particularly condemning the mayor for not adopting a formal working definition of antisemitism. ADL said it has recorded hundreds of antisemitic incidents in New York City since Mamdani took office in January, nearly 40% of which were related to Israel.
“[Mamdani] has looked the other way as flags glorifying terror groups have been flown outside synagogues, a deliberate act meant to intimidate families walking in to pray, and as crowds gathered outside houses of worship voicing support for the same groups. At the same time, he continues prioritizing his anti-Israel agenda over the basic promises he made to Jewish New Yorkers,” the ADL wrote on X.
“Our expectations have not changed: zero tolerance for antisemitism and extremism in city government, real protection for Jewish institutions, a clear and formal definition of antisemitism that the city actually uses, and city contracts, pensions and procurement kept free of ideological boycotts.”
Gianpaolo Baiocchi and Defend Democracy in Brazil worked closely with groups backed by Marxist mogul Neville ‘Roy’ Singham
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks at a food distribution center on July 27, 2026 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City.
A few months before New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani met with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva during the U.N. General Assembly on Monday, his administration hired an expatriate supporter of the left-wing South American leader — an academic and activist involved in a group tied to the sprawling global influence network of China-allied tech mogul Neville “Roy” Singham.
Hired in June as a deputy commissioner for international affairs focused on “municipal strategy and innovation,” Gianpaolo Baiocchi in July brought the organization Defend Democracy in Brazil (DDB) into his city office for a formal meeting to “strengthen ties of the Brazilian community in New York against ICE and to protect Brazil’s sovereignty.”
The summit, along with Baiocchi’s ascent into a key role in coordinating city contact with foreign consulates and world leaders, marked the culmination of years of work that the former New York University sociology professor had done as a member of DDB — which has included representing the group on Turkish and Iranian state television — and with its partners.
Those partners include multiple groups at the center of federal and congressional investigations into Singham, a Shanghai-based Marxist software magnate, and his support for the interests and narratives of Beijing, Moscow and Tehran: the People’s Forum, CODE PINK and the Party for Socialism and Liberation and its affiliate the ANSWER Coalition.
A 2025 report from The George Washington University identified these groups — though not DDB itself — as elements of a “covert funding network supporting extremist organizations in the U.S.”
Together, they have formed the core of multiple high-profile demonstrations against Israel, including a celebratory rally in Times Square a day after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks that drew the now-mayor’s rebuke.
Mamdani’s team disregarded questions from Jewish Insider about Baiocchi’s associations with the Singham network, which include at least one foreign trip with other senior members of the administration. Mamdani’s office would also not answer which meetings between the mayor, his office and foreign figures he was personally involved in, though it acknowledged making such arrangements was the core function of the international affairs office. DDB did not respond to queries JI sent for this story.
Social media accounts for DDB, launched a decade ago to support the then-embattled Lula da Silva and his Workers Party, shows it has for years cooperated and coordinated around protest and even electoral activity with CODE PINK and the PSL/ANSWER. The group’s co-founder works as a Portuguese language instructor at the People’s Forum, which DDB has fundraised for and called “a HOME for us.”
DDB’s Instagram profile is rife with images of events it has run or participated in with Singham network affiliates at the People’s Forum’s Manhattan headquarters, including a “Benefit Concert for Gaza” held in March. Baiocchi himself has participated in at least two gatherings at the People’s Forum, the most recent recorded in 2023.
That same year, DDB arranged a “learning delegation” that sent “35 community leaders and organizers” to the Latin American nation, a trip that involved multiple meetings from another Singham-tied organization: the Landless Workers Movement, or MST, abbreviated for its name in Portuguese. The MST is part of Singham’s International People’s Assembly, an umbrella group of his left-wing allies across the planet, and the Brazilian organization coordinates closely with organizations the financier underwrites.
The trip included an extended stay at the MST’s Escola Nacional Florestan Fernandes, an organization that tax records show has received direct funding from the People’s Support Foundation Limited, an entity that The New York Times and other outlets have identified as one of Singham’s key vessels for bankrolling his empire of influence. DDB’s website describes the organization as “active members of the National Coordination of the Friends of the MST,” a U.S.-based group that raises awareness and support for the Brazilian organization.
The 2023 trip’s planners and participants included not just Baiocchi himself but Ana Maria Archila, now commissioner of Mamdani’s Office of International Affairs and Baiocchi’s boss. Archila, long a prominent left-wing activist, gained notoriety in early July for agreeing to meet with Iran’s U.N. ambassador before the State Department blocked the rendezvous.
Also attending the junket was Cea Weaver, now director of the newly created Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants.
The Mamdani administration did not confirm or deny any awareness of this trip, but maintained Baiocchi was hired through a regular process and for his academic expertise in urban affairs. The professor previously served on the mayor’s transition team, as part of a new “committee on community organizing.” Baiocchi, who founded the school’s Urban Democracy Lab, was arrested in 2024 for his participation in an anti-Israel encampment.
A few months after the excursion’s end, Baiocchi co-signed a note on DDB’s website that hailed the trip as one of the year’s successes — along with protests organized with CODE PINK, the People’s Forum and PSL/ANSWER, including joint actions, “as part of the #shutitdown4Palestine coalition.”
Among the organizations Baiocchi brought into his new city office along with DDB after joining Mamdani’s administration was a sister organization to the MST, the MTST.
Foreign governments and influence operations have targeted New York City Hall in the past: federal prosecutors indicted Mamdani’s Gracie Mansion predecessor, Eric Adams, for allegedly accepting bribes from the Turkish government and its agents. Earlier this year, JI discovered that nearly half the New York City Council had signed onto a pro-Cuba relief campaign run through the People’s Forum.
Mamdani himself has had direct contact with persons tied to Singham: namely, the Maoist tycoon’s niece, whom the future mayor credited on the campaign trail with devising his “fast and free buses” campaign pledge.
The Israeli prime minister called the focus on settler violence an ‘obsession’ and declared that Israel ‘prevented genocide’
Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. Headquarters on September 24, 2026 in New York City.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed back against criticism of Israel over Gaza and the West Bank in his address to the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday, taking aim at New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, French President Emmanuel Macron, Qatar and Turkey.
After most of the hall conducted a walkout at the outset of his speech, Netanyahu condemned violence by Israeli settlers while dismissing the international focus on settler violence as an “obsession.” He said roughly 150 young Israelis were responsible for throwing stones, destroying olive trees and setting fires in the West Bank and said Israel had deployed the Shin Bet against them.
“I can’t stand that. I won’t stand for vigilantism,” Netanyahu said, before arguing that the attention paid to such attacks was disproportionate to Palestinian terrorism. “We can’t stand settler violence. You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
In his UNGA address, Netanyahu alleged that "several foreign countries have spent untold billions to spread lies" about Israel, calling out Qatar for "massively funding American universities and toxic media outlets like Al Jazeera … [to] brainwash young minds to hate Israel." pic.twitter.com/3yhyYfgy9z
— Jewish Insider (@jewishinsider) September 24, 2026
Netanyahu directly addressed Macron, pointing to the killing of Netanel Shukrun, a French citizen and father of six who was shot in a West Bank terror attack on Sunday, and the serious wounding of IDF reservist Neria Leiter, son of Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter, in a car-ramming attack on Wednesday.
Macron had said in his UNGA address that Hamas had “never operated” in the West Bank, while criticizing Israeli policy there. A French diplomatic official later clarified that Macron meant Hamas does not govern the West Bank.
The prime minister also rejected accusations that Israel committed genocide in Gaza, directly addressing Mamdani, who has repeatedly called Netanyahu a war criminal.
“Israel didn’t commit genocide. Israel prevented genocide,” Netanyahu said. He also raised that Mamdani’s wife, Rama Duwaji, had liked multiple Instagram posts celebrating Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks. “You try to silence me. Well, you can’t silence me. You can’t silence the truth,” the prime minister said.
In response, Mamdani accused Netanyahu in a statement of using his U.N. address “to repeat baseless lies meant to sanitize his genocide of Palestinians.”
Netanyahu went on to accuse foreign countries of spending “untold billions” to spread anti-Israel messages through traditional and social media, singling out Qatar for “massively funding American universities and toxic media outlets” in what he alleged was an effort to “brainwash young minds to hate Israel, hate America, hate the West.”
He called Turkey the latest “superspreader of antisemitic lies” and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan a “tyrant,” accusing Ankara of supporting Hamas and seeking greater influence in Syria.
Netanyahu also responded to Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, who said in his UNGA address on Wednesday that the Golan Heights “will remain Syrian territory.”
“Mr. al-Sharaa, you should know the Jews have been on the Golan Heights since the days of Moses,” Netanyahu said. “You can read it in the Bible.”
The New York City mayor continued to de-escalate his rhetoric a week before Netanyahu is set to arrive
Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images
Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks during a press conference at the Unisphere on Nov. 5, 2025.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani told reporters on Wednesday that he does not intend to participate in any demonstrations against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s appearance at the U.N. General Assembly next week — and maintained he did not endorse public agitation against the Jewish state’s premier, an apparent ratcheting-down of his remarks from earlier this summer.
Following an unrelated press conference, Mamdani confirmed information leaked to Politico that he would not take part in anticipated protests against Netanyahu’s scheduled arrival in New York on Sept. 23 or speech at the international summit the next day. He also stressed that he did not call for his anti-Israel allies on the left to take to the streets either.
“I do not have any plans to attend any protest at the U.N. General Assembly,” Mamdani said. “To New Yorkers I have never encouraged them to protest.”
“I do not have any plans to attend any protest at the U.N. General Assembly” against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mayor Mamdani said. “To New Yorkers I have never encouraged them to protest.”
— Jewish Insider (@jewishinsider) September 16, 2026
Read more: https://t.co/k2ChSKU2Ko pic.twitter.com/oPjj5tTYzt
Yet the tone and couching of these comments differs markedly from statements in July, when a reporter pressed him on how local opponents of Netanyahu might express their feelings about his visit.
“One of the bedrocks of our city is protest,” the mayor said at the time. “I’ve always said that when we respect our Constitution, we also respect our First Amendment. And here in New York City, it’ll always be a place where you can exercise that.”
The democratic socialist, who distinguished himself in the mayoral field last year with his attacks on Israel, immediately followed those previous comments by reiterating he believed an International Criminal Court warrant for Netanyahu’s arrest should be honored.
That statement followed a multi-day controversy in which Mamdani publicly played with an old campaign pledge that he would order the NYPD to take the Israeli prime minister into custody should he attend the U.N. General Assembly — even though subsequent reporting revealed Mamdani knew he lacked authority to do so — and then released a viral video assailing Netanyahu as a “war criminal.”
The video provoked outrage among Jewish leaders, coming amid a wave of antisemitic hate crimes in the five boroughs, and a group of liberal-leaning rabbis urged the mayor to back off his broadsides against the Jewish state during a subsequent meeting at City Hall.
On Wednesday, to repeated press questions about the prospect of protests next week, the mayor would say only he had been “very clear about my views, my thoughts, my assessments” and his earlier remarks about possible demonstrations were only affirmations of his support for the First Amendment.
He instead pivoted to police security and traffic protocols around the event, which he and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch will elaborate upon later this week.
“My focus is ensuring that our city remains prepared to host representatives from across the world and to keep New Yorkers safe,” the mayor said. “Right now, there are no expected threats that we know of and we are, continue to be, confident in being able to deliver safety and security.”
The mayor also responded to news that two Modern Orthodox day schools — Manhattan’s Ramaz School and SAR Day School in the Bronx — would participate in a prayer demonstration outside Gracie Mansion on Friday, an action some have interpreted as a protest of the mayor’s views on Zionism. Mamdani voiced no objections to the event, but said he would likely not be at the official residence at that time.
“I welcome them,” the mayor said. “Whatever it is intended to be, they have the room and space to do so outside of Gracie Mansion. I think that at the time that they are there, I will probably be somewhere else across the city.”
The administration failed to produce the proposal it promised by Rosh Hashanah
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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks at a food distribution center on July 27, 2026 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s team vowed that it would produce its long-promised plan to fight antisemitism in the five boroughs “soon” — but declined to provide any specifics about when it might actually come out or why his administration failed to meet its original Rosh Hashanah deadline.
The mayor has repeatedly alluded to a forthcoming “first-in-the-nation municipal response” to anti-Jewish prejudice, even as his short tenure leading the city with the largest Jewish population in the world has seen a spike in hate crimes against Jews. The Jewish community is consistently the target of more than half of all hate crimes, despite making up around one-tenth of New York City’s population.
When asked why its Office to Combat Antisemitism had failed to produce the plan before the High Holy Days as promised, a City Hall spokesperson only promised it would be out “soon.”
“The mayor is fully committed to the safety of Jewish New Yorkers and to using every tool available to ensure that Jewish communities continue to thrive as an essential part of the fabric of the five boroughs,” Sam Raskin, Mamdani’s deputy press secretary, told Jewish Insider.
Mamdani himself did not answer a question from JI about the report’s status following an unrelated event — the release of a plan to combat traffic-related deaths — on Tuesday afternoon.
Former Mayor Eric Adams, Mamdani’s predecessor, released a “blueprint” for tackling antisemitism on his last day in office, largely detailing steps his office had already taken. This included an executive order Adams signed adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism as official city policy.
The IHRA definition has been sharply criticized by Mamdani’s base for its assertion that the denial of the Jewish right to national self-determination and the comparison of Israeli actions to Nazi Germany are antisemitic, even though it explicitly states that criticism of Israeli policy that might be applied to any other country “cannot be regarded as antisemitic.”
Mamdani, whose frequent broadsides against Israel powered his rise to political prominence, repealed the Adams order, along with a dozen others his predecessor signed, the day he assumed office.
The administration’s failure to put out its program to counter anti-Jewish hate sparked outrage from the Anti-Defamation League, one of Mamdani’s most consistent critics.
“The delay from the @NYCMayor’s office to combat antisemitism is unacceptable,” the group posted on X. “The safety and security of Jewish New Yorkers is not a political football.”
The group further demanded the final plan include an official definition of antisemitism — which the administration has resisted setting — specific proposals for protecting Jewish institutions, “zero tolerance” for antisemitism in the municipal bureaucracy and a pledge not to boycott businesses and organizations linked to Israel.
Raskin did not respond to a JI request for his reaction to the ADL’s statement.
An insider with knowledge of the plan’s status told JI it remains unfinished. The source, who requested anonymity in order to speak freely, added that the administration had received input from the Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, an anti-Zionist activist group that supported Mamdani’s election.
Outreach to JFREJ was answered with an autoreply stating the group was inaccessible until after Yom Kippur.
Speaking to JI about ‘I Disagree: Winning Arguments Without Losing Friends,’ the liberal Fox News co-host also shared her conflicted views on Zohran Mamdani and how Oct. 7 deepened her Jewish identity
In her new book, Fox News co-host Jessica Tarlov advocates for constructive disagreement — “acknowledge without accepting,” or hearing someone out, hard as it may be, without torching the relationship or one’s own beliefs.
In an interview with Jewish Insider ahead of Tuesday’s release of I Disagree: Winning Arguments Without Losing Friends, Tarlov pointed to her closely watched sit-down last year with far-left streamer Hasan Piker as evidence that her framework holds even when strained against its limits. Piker was “incredibly nice and gracious,” she recalled, arguing that calls for him to be shut out of Democratic circles are misguided.
The exchange highlights the balancing act central to both Tarlov’s book and her on-air image as the primary liberal co-host on the Fox News talk show “The Five.” But in her conversation with JI, Tarlov, who is Jewish, noted that there is sometimes discomfort in that instinct to engage across lines — the thesis of her book. She said she finds unease in New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s campaign appearance with Columbia University anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil, accusations that Israel committed “genocide” and just how much attention Piker’s commentary is getting in a divided Democratic Party.
“How much the discourse is dominated by Hasan Piker and those kinds of discussions is just a general turnoff” of the Democratic Party, Tarlov told JI, “and people don’t necessarily feel like we’re getting the news because there’s so much focus on the infighting.” She pointed to Michigan’s upcoming Senate race between Democrat Abdul El-Sayed and former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) as a key test of just how deep those divisions run. “It will be a really interesting test as to how divided the party actually is along the lines of this issue — and who comes around to El-Sayed, who goes through with voting for Mike Rogers, or sitting home.”
Despite her willingness to engage with Piker, Tarlov argued the wall-to-wall focus on him has become its own kind of distraction from the issues actually most important to voters.
“I do think the discourse being about him 24/7 is really ignoring what most people are concerned about in their lives,” she said. “They’re thinking ‘my gas prices are up’ and we’re like, ‘Hasan Piker.’ That’s just really missing the mark.”
Last November, when Tarlov found herself seated next to Piker on a panel at Crooked Media’s Crooked Con, she said she was “nervous” going in, given how divisive of an issue his past rhetoric — including justifying Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks and saying America deserved 9/11 — had already become. But she found him friendly, and even took some of his feedback under consideration: “The one thing he did say to me, which did resonate, was that the only criticism of what I do is that I’m too hard on the progressive left. I spent a lot of time thinking about that and ultimately I do think that he’s right.”
“It had been much easier for me to insult AOC for instance and it was kind of low-hanging fruit and there are enough people now who aren’t even necessarily in the far-left party who want things like universal health care. The center part of the party hasn’t been talking about affordability issues in a way that is connecting like Mamdani did in the mayoral election, or that we’re not talking enough about building affordable housing. I thought that was a good note,” she added.
Asked if Democrats should more vigorously condemn Piker — who has over 3 million Twitch followers — or banish him from party circles, Tarlov rejected the premise.
“The idea of us deciding who has legitimacy or platforming when someone has a platform of that size already is really missing the point,” she said. “I show up everyday and talk to people who I disagree with, in some cases people who believe in things I am deeply against. If you don’t engage you leave open this chasm for other people to fill it. I’m not running to be on Hasan’s stream — I wasn’t invited either — but I do think this idea of we’re not going to platform him when he has a bigger platform than most of the people who are saying they have no interest in having him is a little bit embarrassing.”
“In terms of being more culturally Jewish, I do think Oct. 7 changed everything for many nonpracticing Jews in this country, where it became such a bigger part of our identity, where we’re more attuned to discussions around Judaism and Israel in general and it has made us more interested in being affiliated with the religion. It just becomes a more prominent part of your identity when something like that happens,” Tarlov said.
Tarlov’s prominent role as the only Jewish panelist on “The Five” has coincided with Fox News catching the eye of some liberal-leaning American Jews who felt that in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks, much of the mainstream coverage was biased against Israel.
Tarlov said she brings up her Jewish background on air, including her family’s history of fleeing Europe ahead of the Holocaust and her own run-in with rising antisemitism as a student in London two decades ago, “because I think it is relevant and I have a pretty mainstream Jewish perspective on what’s going on in the Middle East and what [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu has done and the aftermath of Oct. 7,” she told JI. “I draw on it explicitly because I think it’s important for viewers to know there is a Jewish person who is saying this who is not just someone with an opinion and that I have real connective tissue to the religion and to Israel.”
“In terms of being more culturally Jewish, I do think Oct. 7 changed everything for many nonpracticing Jews in this country, where it became such a bigger part of our identity, where we’re more attuned to discussions around Judaism and Israel in general and it has made us more interested in being affiliated with the religion. It just becomes a more prominent part of your identity when something like that happens,” she continued.
While her cultural connection to Judaism deepened after Oct. 7, Tarlov is no stranger to antisemitism. In her book, she recounts heated politics over Israel during her time at the London School of Economics and former London Mayor Ken Livingstone’s controversial rhetoric during his 2012 campaign to reclaim the office. Tarlov told JI that the period “shaped my current political perspective” and felt like a foreshadowing of the current climate on U.S. college campuses.
“You can draw a straight line from those experiences to what happened at Columbia,” she said. “If there had been an igniting event like Oct. 7 you could easily see how it would spill over into something like that. I’m a little bit embarrassed that I didn’t understand the gravity of it in full back when it was going on. But I definitely see important comparisons — and as someone who likes to look at politics from a sociological lens — how much writing was on the wall. This was really an international movement that got so powerful in what feels like a short period of time.”
“And then working on [then-Mayor] Boris Johnson’s 2012 campaign and following Ken Livingstone, the labor candidate, and seeing him speak at town halls and mosques and how much widespread acceptance there was for antisemitism, was very jarring for me,” said Tarlov. “That stuck with me.”
Tarlov is seeing similar dynamics play out where she lives now, in Manhattan. She writes in her book that “making Jewish New Yorkers feel safe” was on her checklist for the city’s mayoral candidate, and Mamdani didn’t meet it. Eight months after he moved into Gracie Mansion, Tarlov told JI she’s “conflicted” about that view.
“I think he’s been better than a lot of people expected,” she said. “I’m close with a lot of people in the Modern Orthodox community of Riverdale and I pay a lot of attention to how they’re feeling and where they’re going for their information. If you ask them, they’d say there are [good policies like] universal childcare, not related to the Jewish community. But they feel he’s fallen short when it comes to [other issues]. I’m in the realm of neutral based upon my expectations.”
Still, she noted that “one of the difficult moments for me in his campaign was when he campaigned with Mahmoud Khalil.”
“Khalil represents somebody that infringed upon Jewish students at Columbia’s civil rights,” she said. “I was overwhelmed by the feeling that if that happened to Black students, trans students, any other protected sect that would never have been tolerated. So to see him as a campaign surrogate was very difficult for me. I understand that the Trump administration unfairly targeted [Khalil with deportation threats] and I know that’s the thrust of why he was part of the campaign, and he’s been to Gracie Mansion since then, but that was quite jolting to me.”
Asked whether she agreed with Jewish leaders who’ve blamed Mamdani’s rhetoric on Israel for fueling New York’s rise in antisemitism, Tarlov pushed back, framing the criticism as part of a broader pattern she sees playing out with Piker. “This gets back to the Hasan Piker discourse,” she said. “Everyone is going crazy about his comments and then there’s a lot of footage of other people saying similar things, and people said Hasan was antisemitic for saying that.”
She traced the surge in antisemitic rhetoric more broadly to the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks rather than to any one figure. “I wouldn’t put it at Mamdani’s feet like that,” she said, though she added she understood the impulse among Jewish leaders trying to reassure anxious congregants: “People are trying to manage a congregation full of people who are afraid and angry, and a lot of them are disappointed that there wasn’t a candidate that they were excited about.”
The book’s core idea is “acknowledge without accepting,” something Tarlov has proven she can do across many political subjects. But does that framework still work when the disagreement is about something like Israel’s right to exist?
Tarlov’s advice is to “find a way to slide in your perspective without making it a knockdown, drag-out fight.” She pointed to a recent appearance by Ryan Grim — the co-founder of the Hamas-sympathetic outlet Drop Site News — on “Raging Moderates,” the podcast that she co-hosts with Scott Galloway. On air, Grim referred to Israel’s “genocide” in Gaza.
“The point of my book was for people to have a longer-term perspective on these tough issues and tips and tricks that could help them do better in these fraught conversations,” Tarlov told JI.
“When he was finished talking, I said, ‘I don’t use that term, I don’t see it that way,’ and then moved on,” Tarlov recalled. “So there are ways to acknowledge without accepting, as per the book, but to make sure it doesn’t cut off all conversation.”
“I think you should always have the conversation — I believe in that,” she continued.
“Understanding other people’s point of view is really of value. I also understand how deeply personal [Israel] is for people. It’s a little different than hearing someone’s view of immigration, let’s say, where they want mass deportations. Saying there should be a one-state solution in the Palestinian direction feels different than that.”
“The point of my book was for people to have a longer-term perspective on these tough issues and tips and tricks that could help them do better in these fraught conversations,” Tarlov told JI.
“That absolutely does apply to being able to dialogue with people over something like Israel and its right to exist. On an emotional level, I think it is more complicated than your average policy issue but I still think the framework applies, and I did have it in mind as I was writing the book. It’s up there as a top five difficult issue for people to talk about and was pulling my political party — and relationships — apart.”
The Israeli prime minister’s trip could spark protests and ‘a perfect storm’ of political and logistical complications for Zohran Mamdani and Jessica Tisch
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses world leaders during the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at the United Nations headquarters on September 26, 2025 in New York City.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s trip to New York City for the U.N. General Assembly later this month is expected to set up political and logistical challenges for Mayor Zohran Mamdani, one of Netanyahu’s foremost U.S. critics, experts tell Jewish Insider — a challenge that protests, which Mamdani has tacitly encouraged, may only exacerbate.
The Israeli leader is scheduled to arrive in New York on Sept. 23 and address the global gathering the following day, during which time the NYPD’s dignitary protection detail will help ensure Netanyahu’s personal protection, its intelligence and counterterrorism teams will work to secure the gathering as a whole and an array of its officers will manage the Manhattan streets. The department reports to the mayor’s office.
The various law enforcement veterans who spoke to JI all underscored the scale of the department’s annual efforts to head off potential threats to the diplomatic summit, even without this year’s furor around Netanyahu’s attendance, the ongoing conflict with Iran and the proximity to both the Jewish High Holy Days and the 25th anniversary of 9/11.
“It’s a perfect storm of high-intensity events,” said Mitchell Silber, the former NYPD director of intelligence analysis who now serves as CEO of the Community Security Initiative, which helps address safety concerns for Jewish groups in the New York metro area. “At the same time, [the] NYPD is trying to bend over backwards to make sure that freedom of speech is allowed and robust.”
Silber noted that the struggle between the U.S., Israel and Iran has already spawned an alleged bomb plot against a New York synagogue from one of Tehran’s proxies. If recent remarks from Mamdani draw out larger than normal demonstrations, Silber warned such a scenario could create additional issues for both the department and the city’s Jewish institutions.
“They do have a possibility of reverberating, and have a chance of turning those forces and their ire against the Jewish community,” warned Silber, though he added that there was no specific threat. “It’s just going to make the NYPD’s job harder.”
Retired NYPD detective and John Jay College of Criminal Justice adjunct professor Michael Alcazar, meanwhile, recalled a March incident in which dueling pro- and anti-Mamdani demonstrations at Gracie Mansion saw an alleged ISIS acolyte hurl improvised explosives — an example, he said, of the kind of security risks a protest can present. He predicted a beefed-up presence of uniformed officers in the streets following remarks from Mamdani earlier this year, on top of standard security protocols.
“I’m sure the NYPD is expecting a lot more protests because of what the mayor said in support of protesting against Netanyahu,” said Alcazar. “You know his supporters are reading between the lines.”
Mamdani, for his part, has recently stepped up outreach to the Jewish community and vowed to “work tirelessly” for their security, though he has not backed away from his criticism of Israel. Asked in an August interview how he planned to host Netanyahu, he told commentator Joy Reid the city was readying “in the manner that we prepare every year.”
When JI asked the NYPD what special precautions it would take around Netanyahu’s visit, including around houses of worship, the agency provided only a general statement.
“As we do every year, the NYPD works with the Secret Service, the State Department, and other federal agencies to provide protection to foreign dignitaries traveling to New York City based on the level of threat assessed,” the public affairs office wrote in an email to JI.
New York has already seen, however, the result of tensions between a mayor’s political sympathies and executive duties.
In 2014, his first year in office, then-Mayor Bill de Blasio — whom Mamdani has cited as a role model — seemed a rising progressive star, having ascended to office on a platform of law enforcement reform, a cause many Democrats had hesitated to champion. Then Eric Garner, a Black man from Staten Island, died after an NYPD officer placed him in a banned chokehold, and thousands took to the streets. De Blasio was expected to stand with the protesters, but he also ran the police department that was policing them.
The demonstrations swelled into a national spectacle and saw violent altercations between protesters and police, followed by the killings of two officers and cops turning their backs on the mayor during the patrolmen’s funerals. As the situation spiraled, the mayor sought to align himself more with his politically moderate police commissioner, Bill Bratton. But this cost de Blasio much of his credibility on the left, both in New York and nationwide.
De Blasio went on to win reelection, but he lost much of his ability to project political power. His subsequent efforts to influence the direction of the Democratic Party across the state and nation ended in embarrassment.
Mamdani too captured the left’s affections, and ultimately Gracie Mansion, by embracing a scorching political issue his co-partisans had avoided: Israel and its military campaign in Gaza. As a candidate he pledged to arrest Netanyahu, and continued to float the notion long after city lawyers told him it lay outside his power. When he finally acknowledged he lacked the authority to do so, he made the comments in a viral video with the caption, “Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal,” in which he accused the Israeli leader of being a mass murderer responsible for the “maiming” of Palestinian children.
Pressed as to what opponents of the Israeli leader should do about his impending visit to New York, the mayor signaled his support for street demonstrations.
“One of the bedrocks of our city is protest,” the mayor said. “This is a city where, if anyone feels a level of frustration or opposition, protest is something that we will always respect. I leave it to New Yorkers themselves to make that decision.”
What made 2014 “a year of chaos,” according to John Jay lecturer Jillian Snider, was a large number of unpermitted protests with no central organization that drew large crowds and at times escalated into vandalism and violence. She warned that if similar “pop-up” demonstrations broke out during the U.N. General Assembly, it could complicate the work of the department.
“I would hope that a political figure would not encourage these large demonstrations, especially these undocumented events where we don’t have advance notice,” said Snider, who managed protests as an NYPD officer. “Members of the public often are influenced by city leaders. If they really, really, support that leader, they are going to do what that person supports.”
Veteran political consultant Chris Coffey, who counted the city’s largest police union among his clients during the de Blasio administration, noted that Mamdani is a far more agile politician than his progressive predecessor. Further, he argued Mamdani learned from de Blasio’s experience that he cannot alienate the department or allow the appearance of public disorder.
Yet Netanyahu’s visit could prove an exception.
“The one place where it’s a little bit unclear is that the Israel stuff is so personal to him that it might trump that philosophy,” Coffey said. “Or they’ve just decided they can do both, ‘we can condemn Netanyahu, we can encourage protest, and the police department can handle it.’”
But short of “something horrific” occurring during the General Assembly, Coffey argued that intense political polarization around Israel and Mamdani’s fervent personal following would likely allow the mayor to escape any political fallout. He also pointed out that NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch is a strong Israel supporter, and that the mayor has granted her broad latitude in her role as the city’s top cop.
Alcazar and Snider agreed, both lauding Tisch’s independence — with Snider even comparing Mamdani favorably with former Mayor Eric Adams, an ex-police captain who she complained excessively inserted himself into NYPD policy. Both predicted Mamdani’s views on Israel would have little influence on her handling of the U.N. event.
Silber, for his part, urged Jewish New Yorkers not to allow tension around Netanyahu’s visit or General Assembly security to interfere with their participation in religious and civic life.
“Keep calm and carry on,” he advised.
Mayor and police commissioner vow tight security as anniversary of attack coincides with start of Jewish New Year, intensifying antisemitism and Iran war
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NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani attend an unveiling ceremony for a new 9/11 Memorial Wall at One Police Plaza on Sept. 9, 2026 in New York City.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch revealed plans on Wednesday to step up security measures at the 9/11 memorial on Friday and around Jewish institutions that evening and on Saturday for Rosh Hashanah — asserting that the department is unaware of any impending threat, but acknowledging a dangerous environment amid rising antisemitism and the conflict with Iran.
The mayor and police chief appeared together at City Hall to discuss measures to ensure safety around both observances, including “heightened” local and federal security and restricted street and transit access around Ground Zero during the 25th anniversary ceremony for the victims of the attack during the day. In the evening, they said Jewish New Yorkers can expect police deployment to synagogues, yeshivas and other communal spaces, to deter any person hoping to replicate the acts of violence and vandalism inflicted in recent months.
“We know that for many Jewish New Yorkers, there have been moments of immense sadness over this past year. Too many of our neighbors have been the victims of antisemitic hate crimes and too many are understandably afraid to come together and celebrate openly,” said Mamdani, addressing his comments directly to the city’s Jewish community. “Your safety during these sacred days is of the utmost importance to our administration and we will work tirelessly to ensure that you can observe the holiday securely.”
Antisemitic hate crimes have spiked under Mamdani, according to NYPD statistics, which some Jewish leaders have blamed on the mayor’s broadsides against Israel. Yet he has kept in place Tisch, a scion of a prominent Jewish family and a strong supporter of the Jewish state, who on Wednesday vowed a “massive security operation” for the 9/11 memorial — and a “major” one for the Jewish High Holy Days.
“I want all Jewish New Yorkers to know this. You have a partner in the NYPD now and throughout the year. As of today, there are no specific credible threats directed at High Holy Day celebrations in New York City, but we remain vigilant,” Tisch said, even as she acknowledged the rise in antisemitic attacks. “There will be assets you see and others that you don’t. Our intelligence and counterterrorism bureau is watching the threat environment here at home and around the world, working closely with our federal, state, local and international partners.”
“So whether New Yorkers are gathered Friday morning to remember those we lost 25 years ago or entering a synagogue that evening to welcome the new year, they should know that the NYPD will be there,” she concluded.
Tisch acknowledged that the ongoing struggle with Iran has “amped up” NYPD deployments for large events. Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner Rebecca Weiner, the department’s top intelligence official, told reporters that terror had become more “individualized and idiosyncratic” in the quarter-century since the destruction of the World Trade Center towers — and the department’s focus has pivoted from Islamism to the homegrown political extremes.
“It’s diversified tremendously ideologically. Now, we’re not primarily dealing with al-Qaida or even al-Qaida ISIS, but a proliferation of threats coming from conspiracy theories, grievances, nihilistic violence, far-left, far-right, anti-government, all of those things,” said Weiner. “A lot of the trip wires that we established in those early years post-9/11 had to be altered and that’s just what we’ve done here at the NYPD.”
Uri Fraenkel made an improbable ascent from bus-managing bureaucrat to Mamdani’s Borough Park chaperone
Uri Fraenkel blows a shofar during New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's visit to Borough Park.
Footage from New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s visit to a Brooklyn Judaica store showed a little-known Orthodox City Hall staffer blowing the shofar and explaining aspects of Hasidic garb to the democratic socialist — as well as ushering aside a heckler — provoking questions and commentary from Jewish observers.
Uri Fraenkel, who accompanied Mamdani and faith liaison Rabbi Miriam Grossman on the pre-High Holidays trip to Borough Park, cuts an unlikely figure in a leftist City Hall: an Israel-supporting Lubavitcher from Crown Heights, whose social media features multiple photos with former Mayor Eric Adams (“a true Mayor who fights for all New Yorkers,” a caption on LinkedIn reads), in whose administration he previously served.
Even more ironic, for a man all sources Jewish Insider spoke to described as apolitical, is the arm of the mayor’s office he now works in: the new Office of Mass Engagement, created with the explicit mission of “bringing the people-powered movement that elected Mayor Mamdani to the work of governance” — an office stocked with members of the Democratic Socialists of America all the way up to Commissioner Tascha Van Auken.
But Fraenkel, whom Mamdani’s team would not make available for an interview, followed an unorthodox route to City Hall in the first place. Rather than being a political appointee, of the type that typically resigns or gets removed when a new mayor enters office, he is a longtime civil servant. And he rose to the role of director of special projects for Adams’ Community Affairs Unit not on the strength of personal ties, but from a career in the city Department of Education.
“Usually people who come in that position, they come in because they’re loud enough and they have a lot of connections,” said Benny Polatseck, another Adams administration veteran. “Uri’s a quiet guy.”
Fraenkel oversaw student transportation, including for yeshivas, under both Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Mayor Bill de Blasio. Meanwhile, at home in Crown Heights, he was “just a member of the community,” according to Rabbi Yaacov Behrman, who handles public relations for Chabad headquarters.
“Community Affairs would get a call from somebody about buses, for Jewish schools or not Jewish: ‘The routes don’t make sense,’” Behrman remembered. “They would go to Uri and ask him, ‘Does this person have a point?’”
He transitioned to City Hall in 2024 at a moment of strained municipal finances. Because he was already a public employee, the move did not require a new salary or the standard hiring process. Inside Adams’ office, according to Behrman and others, he continued to work in a purely technical capacity, helping people from diverse communities with issues involving city agencies and permitting processes.
However, sources — who requested anonymity to speak freely — told JI that Fraenkel long wanted to work more specifically on Jewish issues, and to increase his personal visibility. But this was difficult in the Adams administration, where multiple Orthodox Jews held high-profile roles, including Fred Kreizman, then-head of the Community Affairs Unit.
Behrman, however, disputed that Fraenkel held any such ambitions.
“He’s a very humble guy. He likes helping, he likes doing stuff, he likes being involved,” he said. “He’s a very genuine guy.”
Either way, Mamdani’s election represented an odd sort of opportunity. Because of his civil service designation, the new administration could not quickly fire Fraenkel as it did other Adams staffers; at most, it could demote him back into the Department of Education. But the new Office of Mass Engagement, staffed largely with activists and political professionals, lacked personnel who understood city government, insiders said.
Despite the new office’s political tenor, Behrman and others who know Fraenkel emphasized he continues to handle strictly bureaucratic matters in his new role of director of constituent services at Mass Engagement.
“I’ll reach out to Uri for the Parks Department, or issues with city agencies,” said Behrman. “An organizational need, a community need. But never for political things.”
In the job, Fraenkel continues to engage with New Yorkers from across various backgrounds, though he has also featured in a number of Jewish events to date. He handed the mayor a mishloach manot gift at Purim, and sat with Mamdani and an array of Orthodox leaders at a roundtable later in March.
“Uri Fraenkel represents the very best of public service. Every day, he helps New Yorkers navigate our city’s complex network of services and resources and connects people across the five boroughs with the support they deserve,” Van Auken, the Office of Mass Engagement commissioner, said in a statement to JI. “We are incredibly lucky to have Uri on our team.”
However, his prominent appearance alongside Mamdani at Eichler’s Judaica, and on-camera encounter with frequent Mamdani protester Stephanie Ben Shimol at the store, sparked a heated online reaction.
“I feel bad for him. I’ve had so many calls in the last 24 hours: ‘Why was he there, and why was he legitimizing them?’” Polatseck said. “He is there to represent the mayor and the community. What do you want him to do? Somebody screams at your boss and you’re standing right next to him, what are you going to do?”
Behrman agreed.
“If the mayor didn’t hire an Orthodox Jew, we would scream he doesn’t have an Orthodox Jew in the administration,” the rabbi said. “What if a person in a yeshiva needs to work with somebody in the city? Do you want them not to have anybody they’re comfortable with in the administration?”
The NYC mayor engaged with local Hasidic leaders, who gifted him honey for Rosh Hashanah
Uri Fraenkel blows a shofar during New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's visit to Borough Park.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Wednesday visited Borough Park in Brooklyn, home to one of the largest Orthodox Jewish communities in the city and the world, a week and a half before the Jewish New Year.
Footage released by Mamdani’s office of his visit to Eichler’s Judaica — a purveyor of Jewish books and religious items that has been in business for nearly 40 years — showed the mayor discussing garbage pickup and curriculum at yeshivas with local leaders, who gifted him honey for Rosh Hashanah. In the recording, Uri Fraenkel, who works as director special projects at the mayor’s office, demonstrated the blowing of the shofar and explained elements of Hasidic garb.
In a brief statement to the invited press, the mayor wished them an early shanah tova, and thanked those who welcomed him for the “conversations.”
Despite facing strong criticism from many Jewish civic and religious leaders over his stance and statements toward Israel, Mamdani in his first year has cultivated relationships with figures from the city’s diverse Hasidic communities, including rabbis from the Satmar sects in Williamsburg and the Jewish Children’s Museum in Crown Heights.
The summit between the NYC mayor and Waltz comes ahead of the U.N. General Assembly next month
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NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani briefly speaks with reporters as he leaves the Dirksen Senate Office Building on July 16, 2025 in Washington, DC.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani met with Mike Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, on Thursday morning — weeks after Waltz denounced the mayor’s suggestion that he might arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and weeks before the leader of the Jewish state is set to arrive in the Big Apple for the U.N. General Assembly.
City Hall released an updated schedule for the mayor just minutes before the 10 a.m. meeting was set to begin, and did not disclose the location. No readout or statement from either official regarding the gathering had been released as of Thursday afternoon.
In July, Waltz took to X to castigate Mamdani for continuing to toy with a campaign promise to execute an International Criminal Court warrant against Netanyahu should he visit New York for the diplomatic summit. Waltz noted what, according to subsequent New York Times reporting, the mayor already knew from the city’s lawyers and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch: he lacked authority to act on the pledge.
“Mayor Mamdani: here’s why your threat to arrest PM Netanyahu’s in NYC during UNGA is not going to happen,” the former Florida congressman wrote, before noting the U.S. is not a party to the ICC, that Netanyahu enjoys various legal protections as a head of state and participant in U.N. proceedings and that federal decision-making power preempts that of the city. “This is pure political theater.”
Mamdani subsequently admitted Waltz’s points in a fiery social media video that drew denunciations from leading Jewish groups and leaders.
Netanyahu has announced he intends to gathering the session in New York, which begins Sept. 8. High-level week, featuring heads of state, will run from Sept. 22-28.
The New York City mayor slammed a local party boss’ bid to retain power, but he did not do the same for antisemitic conspiracy-spreader Carmella Charrington
Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Zohran Mamdani, mayor of New York, arrives to speak to members of the media in New York, on July 7, 2026.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani refused on Monday to answer questions about a Brooklyn Democratic leader who promoted Henry Ford’s The International Jew and blamed a property dispute on “Zionists.”
Following an unrelated event in Queens, the mayor refused to answer on three separate occasions when Jewish Insider pressed him about Carmella Charrington, elected in June to the unpaid but important role of Democratic district leader. As first reported by JI, Charrington shared an Instagram video last fall boosting the notorious pamphlet series by the founder of the Ford Motor Company, a clip that blamed Jewish people for a range of societal maladies from slavery to the proliferation of alcohol and drugs.
Charrington first rose to prominence over a dispute over control of her family home, describing herself as a victim of deed theft, while New York State Attorney General Letitia James’ office found that the battle over her brownstone in Bedford-Stuyvesant was simply a complicated dispute over the estate of her Alzheimer’s-stricken father. Charrington has attacked the Jewish investors involved as “Zionists” and suggested some link between her situation and Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank.
After publication, Mamdani’s team reached out with a statement addressing Charrington’s attacks on the property investors.
“Suggesting that an alleged deed theft in Brooklyn is part of a global conspiracy involving Jewish people is blatant, reprehensible antisemitism,” the statement said. “Trafficking in these dangerous antisemitic tropes is vile and inexcusable.”
However, the administration did not answer a follow-up question about whether the mayor believed Charrington should step aside from her district leader role.
JI’s reporting on Charrington’s antisemitic posts prompted condemnations from James and from New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin, though neither has called for her to step aside from her district leader position.
Meanwhile Democrats aligned with Brooklyn Democratic Party boss Rodneyse Bichotte — whom Charrington and her slate aim to remove — have demanded Charrington’s resignation.
“Jewish New Yorkers are being attacked. Synagogues are being targeted. Public officials have a duty to lower the temperature and not amplify rhetoric that endangers their neighbors,” district leader and Assembly candidate Joey Cohen-Saban wrote last week on X. “Charrington has repeatedly crossed that line without remorse. She is unfit for public office and must resign. Every Brooklyn Democratic leader and anyone seeking to lead this party must say so clearly and unequivocally. No excuses. No equivocation. Period.”
Charrington was elected to party leadership during the Mamdani-aligned progressive wave in June, with support from leading figures in the New York City Democratic Socialists of America, all with the aim of ousting Bichotte from power. Bichotte has controversially proposed changes to the Brooklyn Democratic organization’s internal leadership selection process that might let her retain power, despite several of her candidates for district leader losing in June.
Unlike with Charrington, Mamdani was not shy with his opinion about the local party leader and her machinations.
“I very much oppose these proposed changes by the current Brooklyn Democratic Party chair,” Mamdani said. “They are an attempt to circumnavigate the will of voters and what we should see is a reflection of what New Yorkers want to see in their home, as opposed to a representation of so much of what has led New Yorkers to become — and Americans to become — disengaged and disaffected in politics at large.”
Julio Peña, the favorite to replace Bichotte, has issued only a general condemnation of antisemitism but has refused to directly address the remarks from Charrington, with whom he ran on a slate.
Charrington won her race with backing from key figures in the Democratic Socialists of America, state Sen. Jabari Brisport and state Assembly nominee Eon Huntley. On her Instagram account last November, Charrington declared the video — which also urged viewers to watch a notorious Swedish neo-Nazi documentary and read Holocaust denial literature — “the truth” and asserted, “This better be the topic at the table.” In a subsequent conversation with JI, she told a reporter to “get your rabbi” for a “roundtable” she planned to hold on a “bullying community.”
However, she later issued an apology for the video in a statement to The New York Times.
This story was updated on Aug. 24 with a statement from Mamdani’s office.
Plus, Trump puts Oman in the crosshairs
Shalev Shalom
Israeli President Isaac Herzog meets with Jared Kushner at the President's Residence in Jerusalem on Aug. 17, 2026.
Good Monday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
President Donald Trump confirmed to Fox News this morning that the White House is communicating directly with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and said that Tehran should “raise the white flag of surrender,” as the 60-day memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran — which was intended to lead to the creation of a permanent peace agreement but was quickly deemed moot by both parties — officially expired today without a deal in sight.
Jared Kushner separately told Fox News about the status of talks with Iran that Trump is “focused on economic pressure” but is still open to reaching an agreement, adding that dialogue between the White House and “different areas of the Iranian government” is “probably more robust than it’s maybe ever been” and that the conversations are “positive”…
Trump also threatened in his interview to “bomb the sh*t out of” Oman if the country “gets in the way,” amid Muscat’s negotiations with Tehran over the Strait of Hormuz.
Speaking later to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said he doesn’t think Oman “behave[s] very well” and that the U.S. would “handle them very easily.” He also reaffirmed his recent claim that he intends to declare the strait a U.S. territory, saying he “think[s] it’s a great idea”…
Responding to Trump’s threat, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) announced he intends to introduce a war powers resolution when the Senate returns from recess to prohibit U.S. military action against Oman…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he had “deep and constructive discussions” with Board of Peace head Nickolay Mladenov and Kushner in Jerusalem today, where the parties agreed to establish two working groups: one on the “disarmament and demilitarization of Gaza,” which they agreed should happen before “any reconstruction,” and a second on sanitation and public health concerns in the enclave.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog also met with the group and said he was “impressed that Israel’s security interests are an important and central element of their plan”…
After the meetings, Kushner told Fox News that he predicts there will be progress in starting to demilitarize Gaza “in as little as 30 days” and beginning to fill in Hamas’ terror tunnels “in the next 60 to 90 days.”
Despite Trump stating in his interview that Israel should not be conducting any more strikes in Gaza, Kushner said the Board of Peace would “not restrict Israel’s right to defend itself” and that if Hamas doesn’t follow through on its commitments, Israel will “have a lot more support from the U.S.” to “finish the job.” He called his Sunday meeting with Hamas leaders “cordial” and said they “said all the right things” but that they are “hard to trust”…
Trump said today it’s “most appropriate” that he “stay out of” Israel’s upcoming elections but added that he “may endorse somebody” anyway….
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi disputed claims by Masrour Barzani, prime minister of the region of Kurdistan, that his office was attacked by Iranian drones: “Kurdish friends should be vigilant against false-flag ploys to sow discord between neighbors,” Araghchi said on X, claiming that Iran has historically “protected” the Kurds. It was a striking characterization given that Iran has repeatedly struck Kurdish opposition bases in Iraqi Kurdistan, including during the current war, and has a decades-long history of suppressing its own Kurdish population…
New York City leaders are condemning a series of inflammatory posters opposing a new housing development in Chelsea that use antisemitic, racist and homophobic language, including a call to “stop Zionist occupation of Manhattan,” tying the project to “foreign wealth dirty zionist money” and claiming that “Talmudists are trained to cheat.”
City Hall called the posters “vile” and claimed the rhetoric “has absolutely no place in our city’s political discourse,” while Mark Treyger, CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, said, “Disagreement over housing policy is legitimate. Dehumanizing your neighbors is not”…
Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) and Dan Goldman (D-NY) continued to spar this week over the University of Washington’s decision to cancel a planned speech by antisemitic influencer Hasan Piker, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
After Goldman argued initially against Jayapal’s denunciation of the school, the congresswoman said she “completely disagree[s] with [Goldman’s] analysis of free speech”; Goldman responded that students have ample access to “Piker’s racist and anti-American views,” but the university has a responsibility to prevent discriminatory conduct or a hostile environment for Jewish students that could interfere in their ability to participate on campus…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at AIPAC’s involvement in tomorrow’s special election in California’s 14th Congressional District, where state Sen. Aisha Wahab is facing off against former Dublin, Calif., Mayor Melissa Hernandez, who is backed by the pro-Israel group.
Florida will also hold its primary elections tomorrow, where several pro-Israel and Jewish candidates are facing off against far-right and far-left extremists. Read more on the races and their implications here.
The Sephardic Rabbinical Conference will conclude in New York with speakers including Israeli Consul General Ofir Akunis; Daniel Rosenthal, vice president for government relations at UJA-Federation of New York; Rabbi Elie Buechler, director of programs at the Orthodox Union Advocacy Center; and rabbis from around the world.
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SENATOR SITDOWN
The senator told JI he was worried that fringe ideas could gain momentum if Republicans don’t aggressively push back
SEPHARDIC SUMMIT
The second annual Sephardic Rabbinic Conference, backed by the Orthodox Union and UJA-Federation, will bring together around 150 participants from a dozen countries to address leadership gaps and Diaspora institution-building
Plus, CA considers making Jews an ethnicity
Leonardo MUNOZ / AFP via Getty Images
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani arrives for a news conference at Gracie Mansion in New York City on March 9, 2026.
Good Thursday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced today that his Office to Combat Antisemitism will be releasing a municipal plan to combat antisemitism, Jewish Insider’s Will Bredderman reports.
The mayor marketed the plan as the “first-in-the-nation,” even as former Mayor Eric Adams already released a “blueprint” for combating antisemitism on his last day in office, which included the city adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism — a policy that Mamdani repealed on his first day.
The move comes days after Mamdani hosted a roundtable with rabbis in the city who asked the mayor to back off his attacks on Israel, a request that Mamdani did not reference or commit to addressing in his remarks…
The California state Legislature is considering a bill to require state agencies to include “Jewish” as an ethnicity option on all forms that collect demographic data. The move would make California the first state to officially consider Judaism as more than a religion for identification purposes…
A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit yesterday brought by the Trump administration against Harvard University alleging that the school showed “deliberate indifference” to antisemitism on campus in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks.
The judge ruled that the few campus incidents cited by the administration were “too isolated and episodic” to find “any institutionalized noncompliance with Title VI persists at Harvard to this day”…
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), former chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said on X today that she had communicated her “concerns” to the University of Washington about its decision to cancel an appearance by far-left, antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker, and encouraged student groups who “want to hear from Mr. Piker to work with the University to ensure they can proceed.”
Piker had earlier this week denounced Democrats who didn’t “speak out against this clear violation” of the First Amendment due to his “position as a prominent critic of Israel”…
Former Democratic Maine Senate nominee Graham Platner is expected to headline a Labor Day rally for the Hancock County Maine Democrats next month, his first public appearance since dropping out of the Senate race after he was accused of rape by a former romantic partner…
White House advisor Jared Kushner is planning a trip to Israel next week with Board of Peace head Nickolay Mladenov to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials to discuss the Hamas disarmament deal, Axios reports…
CENTCOM announced today it is undertaking efforts to establish the “first-ever multi-domain, multinational attack drone task force,” including consulting with and inviting regional partners to join, that will work to utilize unmanned, one-way attack drones “from above, on, and below the sea” in the Middle East…
The U.S. has lost roughly a quarter of its fleet of MQ-9 Reaper drones in the war with Iran, sources told The Washington Post, as the armed drones have been targeted by Tehran and its proxies in Yemen and Iraq…
The Pentagon is sending the USS George Washington aircraft carrier to replace the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Middle East, as reports and lawmakers indicate that conditions aboard the ship are deteriorating after a record 200 days without a port call; Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth dismissed the concerns about the Abraham Lincoln today as “completely misrepresented”…
Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC), facing a runoff special election to be the GOP nominee for her late brother’s Senate seat, announced she is co-sponsoring the Jewish American Security Act, the U.S.-Israel FUTURES Act, a bill on Iran sanctions and a bill on Iranian human rights and internet access…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at how Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is avoiding contending with the anti-Israel turn of her preferred successor, San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan, in her race against state Sen. Scott Wiener.
President Donald Trump will appear with Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, the GOP candidate for New York governor, at an event on Long Island honoring law enforcement officials.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), a member of the Squad, will appear at a rally in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., alongside anti-Israel progressives running against Jewish Democrats Reps. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), as well as socialist Colorado Democratic congressional nominee Melat Kiros.
We’ll be back in your inbox with the Daily Overtime on Monday. Shabbat shalom!
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NEW BATTLEGROUND
There’s widespread interest within the Jewish community to develop efforts to counter the growing populist rage and anti-Jewish hate, city by city
SCOUT’S HONOR
The group’s new national chair, Ricky Mason, is believed to be the first national chair to receive an aliyah at the Scouts’ Torah service
The mayor touted his forthcoming plan following his meeting with rabbis who voiced concerns about his anti-Israel rhetoric, which he did not mention or vow to adjust
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks during a press conference on Aug. 12, 2026 in New York City.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani followed up his meeting with a group of rabbis earlier this week by touting a plan to battle antisemitism in the five boroughs — without committing to making changes in his rhetoric toward Israel that the group of Jewish religious leaders demanded.
“I had a candid and productive conversation with rabbis representing a wide swath of New York’s Jewish communities and affiliations, and I appreciated hearing from them,” Mamdani said after an unrelated event in Manhattan on Thursday.
During the mayor’s roundtable with Reform, Reconstructionist, Conservative and Modern Orthodox rabbis from predominantly liberal-leaning parts of the city, the rabbis made a near-unanimous call for Mamdani to back off his excoriations of Israel, warning that his focus on the Jewish state was alienating and even endangering Jewish New Yorkers.
But Mamdani did not explicitly state on Thursday that he would act on their recommendations, instead touting his increased spending on groups that run anti-hate crime initiatives and a plan his Office to Combat Antisemitism will release next month to tamp down on the anti-Jewish bias incidents that have risen on his watch.
“Our administration has been making steps, taking steps over the last many months of enacting that,” he said. “Expanding our city’s Office to Combat Antisemitism to its largest-ever size while developing a first-in-the-nation municipal response to combating antisemitism.”
“My door will always be open to every Jewish New Yorker. That is a door that is open not only to a conversation but to a commitment of what it actually looks like to deliver on an ideal of a city where not only is everyone safe but everyone belongs, everyone is made to feel as if this is their home,” he continued.
Mayor Eric Adams, Mamdani’s predecessor, released a “blueprint” for tackling antisemitism on his last day in office, largely detailing steps his office had already taken. This included an executive order Adams signed adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism as official city policy. Mamdani repealed that order the day he assumed office.
Plus, Josh Kushner and Bob Iger ball out
Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Breakthrough T1D)
Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) questions witnesses during a hearing held to examine a future without Type 1 Diabetes with a focus on accelerating breakthroughs and creating hope at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on July 09, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Good Wednesday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
A State Department official pushed back on Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz’s comments in southern Lebanon today, where he said the IDF would remain deployed in a security zone, contrary to the agreement signed between Washington, Jerusalem and Beirut.
“The United States expects all parties to act in a manner consistent with the Framework they agreed to, and Israel clearly stated that it has no territorial ambitions in Lebanon. A permanent military presence in South Lebanon is not consistent with the commitments made in the Framework, or the long-term peace and security of both states,” the official told Axios…
Sources told Reuters that Israel and Lebanon have agreed that countries including Britain, Italy, Switzerland and Indonesia could contribute troops to an international force meant to oversee Hezbollah’s disarmament; an Israeli official denied any decisions had been made on the issue…
President Donald Trump continued to boast about the success of the U.S. campaign against Iran, stating again in a post on Truth Social today that the U.S. “has total control over the Strait of Hormuz” and that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is “decimated and fleeing.”
Meanwhile, out of the 166 ships that have transited the strait so far this month — a significant decrease from the average before the war — only two are known to have used the U.S.- and Oman-backed route, according to The Wall Street Journal…
In a rare interview with Western media, top IRGC advisor Mohammad Reza Naqdi told “PBS News Hour” that Iran is prepared to continue hostilities through the end of Trump’s term and accused the U.S. of waging a “war without strategy”…
The New York Times documents the efforts being made by Gulf countries to construct routes to move oil out of the region that do not rely on the Strait of Hormuz…
Board of Peace head Nickolay Mladenov denied in a post in Hebrew today that there is any financial agreement between the board and Hamas, refuting a report by Israeli public broadcaster Kan that the board would cover Hamas’ debts up to $400 million.
The disarmament roadmap states that the new Palestinian technocratic government will “assess the legitimate commitments to suppliers, contractors and other parties — up to a total amount of no more than $400M — and address them”; Mladenov said in his post that such processes “are not channeled through Hamas” and that “all accounts are open to full scrutiny by the donor governments”…
The publisher of the Atlanta Jewish Times, Michael Morris, penned an open letter to Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) today pressing the senator over his repeated votes to block U.S. military sales to Israel, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
“I apologize for being blunt, but please, stop lying to me and your constituents. I hear you claim, over and over again, that you support Israel — that your support is ‘ironclad.’ It is not,” Morris wrote…
Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) denied today that the more than $30 million of support she received from AIPAC’s super PAC in her failed run for U.S. Senate backfired, saying on CNN that those who criticize AIPAC “maybe don’t understand what the group is” and that she’s “proud of the friendships and the relationships I have there [and] the really good Americans” who make up its membership…
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is stepping away from her role at the end of the month, Trump announced today, in order to spend more time with her family. The president said Leavitt will now serve as “one of my top outside advisors”…
Josh Kushner, managing partner of the venture capital firm Thrive Capital, and former Disney CEO Bob Iger have agreed to purchase a controlling interest in the Los Angeles Lakers for a record-breaking price of $12.5 billion, JI’s Matthew Shea reports…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at local Jewish political organizing efforts in major cities across the country.
The Hudson Institute will hold an event examining the state of the ongoing conflicts in the Gulf with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Behnam Ben Taleblu and Hudson’s Michael Doran, Ludo Hood and Zineb Riboua.
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TRUST, BUT VERIFY
Mamdani’s antisemitism czar invited a cross-section of rabbis and Jewish leaders broadly sympathetic to the mayor for the candid conversation
BALLIN’ OUT
The sale is the largest purchase price for any sports team in American history
Mamdani’s antisemitism czar invited a cross-section of rabbis and Jewish leaders broadly sympathetic to the mayor for the candid conversation
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks at a food distribution center on July 27, 2026 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City.
A roundtable with New York City rabbis held at City Hall on Monday gave participants a chance to voice growing concerns about New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s Israel rhetoric they felt had before gone unheard — with several attendees telling Jewish Insider the strong collective message, and Mamdani’s reaction, gave them hope he would change tack.
Multiple attendees of the meeting told JI that they had been in contact with Mamdani’s Office to Combat Antisemitism for months about his “single fixation” on Israel and his characterization of the Jewish state’s most politically active supporters as “monsters,” only to see the mayor dismiss such criticism. They said they viewed the gathering as an opportunity to bring their fears directly to him and to demonstrate communal unity amid a period of spiking antisemitic hate crimes.
“People talked about their own concerns, their families’ concerns, their congregations’ concerns. I think he heard them,” said one participant, who requested anonymity to speak freely about their ongoing contact with Mamdani’s antisemitism czar, Phylisa Wisdom, and her deputy, Josh Binderman. “When they framed the meeting, they said it was going to be an ‘open, honest dialogue.’”
A City Hall official said in a statement to JI that Mamdani’s team had “brought together a group of rabbis that reflects the diversity of New York’s Jewish community — including leaders from several major denominations and four of the city’s five boroughs who have leadership roles in some of the city’s largest congregations and denominations — so the mayor could hear directly from rabbis with a broad range of experiences and viewpoints.”
Several participants JI spoke with similarly remarked on the multi-denominational nature of the meeting, though one attendee noted the absence of more religiously conservative Orthodox leaders. The mayor met last week with leaders of Brooklyn’s anti-Zionist Satmar community.
Even as some critics of Mamdani said they were pleased he had taken the meeting on Monday, they expressed skepticism that the mayor would be open to acting on the message the group of rabbis shared.
The New York Board of Rabbis, the organization that has historically represented the city’s Jewish religious leadership, was not involved in planning the meeting, and an executive of the group suggested that Mamdani’s team had deliberately handpicked rabbis and Jewish leaders sympathetic to his political agenda.
Howard Wolfson, a longtime advisor to former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, said that he was “glad” Mamdani had heard the feedback from Jewish leaders, but argued that “action, not just talk,” would help “create the conditions for a new relationship.”
“A good start would be to stop referring to American orgs that represent many Jews as monsters,” Wolfson said in a text message to JI, referring to controversial June remarks in which the mayor had singled out the pro-Israel group AIPAC while speaking at a campaign rally. Mamdani defended his rhetoric after it sparked an outcry from Jewish organizations that said he had invoked an antisemitic trope.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s anticipated visit to New York City next month for the U.N. General Assembly “will be a big test,” Wolfson added of the mayor, who encouraged protests of the prime minister even as he acknowledged he cannot order his arrest. “How much does he want to focus on it? How much does he want to grandstand?”
Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch of the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue, a Reform congregation on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, who serves as the president of the New York Board of Rabbis, said he was not asked to attend the meeting on Monday but was encouraged by what he had heard about it. “If in fact it was a very frank conversation,” he told JI, “then that’s a good thing.”
“It’s not that the mayor is not aware of this. He’s heard it many times,” Hirsch added. “Hopefully it’ll make a difference,” he said, particularly ahead of the High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, when security concerns are top of mind for synagogues across the city. “It hasn’t made a difference so far.”
“He knows our fear, he is aware of our fear” and “he is pursuing it nonetheless,” Hirsch said.
One of the attendees, who asked for anonymity to talk openly, told JI that he came away suspecting that the Office to Combat Antisemitism had selected himself and his peers as a group that could communicate anxieties over the mayor’s heightened focus on Israel and its local repercussions in a manner Mamdani might be receptive and responsive to.
“The consistent message was, we have to address the mayor’s rhetoric around Israel, because that’s an obstacle to addressing anything else effectively,” said the attendee, who noted that the mayor’s team had told him they would be discussing an upcoming report on antisemitism in the city and initiatives to confront it at the meeting. “I shared similar sentiments to my colleagues about the desire to work together on so many issues of shared concern, and the feeling of alienation as a result of the mayor’s rhetoric, and the belief that it could be different.”
Both attendees who spoke to JI on the condition on anonymity praised Mamdani’s handling of the meeting, characterizing him as an active listener who asked thoughtful questions and took notes throughout the discussion, and who acknowledged synagogues’ charitable work assisting immigrants and feeding the needy. They admitted, however, that the gathering ended without any specific concessions or commitments.
“I’m suspending judgment and waiting to see,” one said.
Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, came away from the gathering with similar impressions.
“Look, they picked a minyan of rabbis to come sit with the mayor, and I’m sure there are rabbis who just really would’ve just, you know, laid into him,” said Jacobs, known for both his pro-Israel record and outspoken criticism of the Israeli government. “Everybody was thoughtful, everybody was respectful, but everybody made sure that he knew that this is really deeply harmful to our community.”
Jacobs said he had brought his concerns to Mamdani personally in the past, but said he hoped that hearing the same message from so many rabbis would bring about change.
Wisdom said in a statement that the hourlong discussion had “focused on strategies to strengthen Jewish safety and belonging, maintain candid lines of communication and collaborate on issues where we have shared values and goals.”
“It was an open, positive and constructive conversation,” she added. “Mayor Mamdani has and will continue to engage with Jewish life in New York City in order to meet the needs of our communities and reaffirm his commitment to the thriving of Jewish communities across the five boroughs.”
The administration has been increasing its engagement with Jewish leaders ahead of the unveiling of the citywide strategy to combat antisemitism, expected next month.
One Jewish leader who was not invited to the Monday gathering, speaking on the condition of anonymity to address a sensitive issue, said he also met privately a few weeks ago with Wisdom and Binderman and raised concerns about Mamdani. “They listened,” he told JI. “They didn’t argue.”
After Mamdani shot a lengthy video last month in which he walked back his campaign vow to arrest Netanyahu while calling the prime minster a “war criminal” and “the architect of a horrific genocide,” the Jewish leader said he followed up with Wisdom and Binderman in a phone call to voice reservations. There was “not a lot of pushback,” he recalled of their conversation.
Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, executive vice president of the New York Board of Rabbis, lamented that the mayor had not reached out to his group and urged the mayor to engage more with the city’s longstanding Jewish communal organizations.
“When you’re the mayor of New York City, you have to be accustomed, or have to learn to deal with people who like you, don’t like you, agree with you, don’t agree with you. That comes with the territory,” he said. “I was glad to hear the people in the room pushed back on the rhetoric. That was heartening to hear.”
Plus, City Hall and NYPD clash over Rama Duwaji's travel plans
Javier Campos/NurPhoto via Getty Images
A woman waves a Venezuelan flag during a march in amid the COVID-19 pandemic, in Caracas, Venezuela on May 25, 2021. (Photo by )
Good Tuesday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, insisted today that any agreement reached between Iran and Oman on administering the Strait of Hormuz is separate from Tehran’s broader closure of the waterway, which will only be lifted once the U.S. accedes to Iran’s demands.
Meanwhile, Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, a key mediator between the U.S. and Iran, met today with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Tehran. Islamabad’s defense minister, Khawaja Asif, told Bloomberg that developments are “shaping up again in favor of a peace arrangement”…
CENTCOM said it disabled a Panama-flagged cargo ship sailing toward Iranian ports today by firing two Hellfire missiles into the vessel’s engine room, the third such incident since the U.S. blockade began…
Ed Miliband, who last month was appointed by new U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham to be foreign secretary, said he had a “frank and constructive first call” with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar today, during which the British diplomat raised the issues of settler violence, settlement expansion and the humanitarian situation in Gaza, among others.
The discussion came a day after Miliband met with British Jewish community leaders, who said they were “impressed” by the foreign secretary’s “longer-term commitment to maintaining the conversation”…
Sa’ar announced that Israel and Venezuela have agreed to renew consular relations — establishing a coordination mechanism to provide consular services to each country’s citizens — in the first official channel between the two since Caracas severed diplomatic ties in 2009. The move builds on the Israeli aid delegation dispatched to Venezuela after the June 24 earthquakes…
The Palestinian technocratic committee meant to govern Gaza convened a joint coordination meeting with several U.N. agencies — including the World Food Program, UNICEF and the World Health Organization — as well as representatives from the Board of Peace and former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair’s Institute for Global Change to coordinate on humanitarian aid and reconstruction issues…
Former Mossad head Yossi Cohen said at a conference in Israel today that Israeli operatives have “toured” Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility “many times” in order to “understand” it, and called the U.S. operation to bomb the site during the 12-day war in June 2025 “the fulfillment of all my dreams”…
The NYPD denied that its officers will be accompanying New York City First Lady Rama Duwaji on a trip to Lebanon and Syria next month after City Hall said that, “upon the strong recommendation of the NYPD, the First Lady’s security detail will be joining her” on the trip.
“The NYPD does not send officers to countries with level four travel advisories for discretionary reasons,” the NYPD said today, referring to the State Department’s ranking system that currently designates the two countries as “do not travel” locations. Mayor Zohran Mamdani later said the diverging statements stemmed from a “miscommunication,” and that when his wife makes the trip “it will be without any NYPD detail”…
Democratic Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed has made private over 100 YouTube videos from his time as a podcaster and commentator, CNN reports, including videos in which he lambasted fireworks on the Fourth of July, floated replacing the Second Amendment and voiced support for prison abolition…
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee added Brian Poindexter, the Democratic nominee in Ohio’s 7th Congressional District, to its “Red to Blue” program as he aims to unseat Rep. Max Miller (R-OH). Democratic leadership will offer Poindexter strategic support as the district, previously considered a long shot for Democrats given its GOP leanings, is now seen as a key flip opportunity as Miller navigates accusations of domestic violence by his ex-wife…
The campaign of Francesca Hong, the socialist seen as the front-runner in today’s Democratic primary election for governor of Wisconsin, was rebuffed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) as she sought his endorsement due to her perceived weaknesses as a candidate, Politico reports; her campaign is planning to overhaul its staff to address such issues if she proceeds to the general…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for results from key primaries taking place today in Minnesota, South Carolina, Connecticut and Wisconsin.
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THE CAPITAL’S KOSHER CONUNDRUM
D.C. has a kosher restaurant problem. Owners say to blame the math
DSA UNFILTERED
‘If you put people in an open-air concentration camp … you have to expect that they are going to not take that for that long,’ Megan Romer said of the Oct. 7 attacks
Plus, new app offers Shabbat experience ‘with training wheels’
Aaron Schwartz / AFP via Getty Images
US President Donald Trump speaks during a Cabinet meeting at Camp David in Maryland, on July 31, 2026.
Good Monday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
Responding to a recent demand from Iran that the U.S. fully compensate it for its war costs in order to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, President Donald Trump issued his own demand today that Tehran compensate the U.S. “for all of the people that they have killed and gravely wounded with their roadside bombs and many conflicts,” as well as pay reparations to the “families of the hundreds of thousands of innocent protestors that Iran has killed over the last 50 years.” Trump said he instructed U.S. representatives to “put this firmly into any, and all, future negotiations” with Tehran…
Shortly after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday that Israel rejects the Hamas disarmament deal, Board of Peace head Nickolay Mladenov told Israel’s Channel 12 that the deal is “the only way” that “guarantees” that the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, “will not occur again.”
“Nobody is required to do anything — last of all Israel — before we actually have verified steps on the ground,” Mladenov said, referring to the IDF’s eventual withdrawal from Gaza after all of Hamas’ weapons are “stored, and ultimately rendered unusable,” by the Palestinian technocratic government…
The International Atomic Energy Agency will remove nuclear material stored at a secret site in Syria tied to the fallen Assad regime, Axios reports, per an agreement reached between Trump, Jerusalem and Damascus…
Megan Romer, a national co-chair of the Democratic Socialists of America, said in a podcast interview last week that the Oct. 7 attacks were “largely inevitable” — “If you put people in an open-air concentration camp and you deprive them of rights, of dignity, of food, of the ability to live in safety, you have to expect that they are going to not take that for that long,” she said — and that she would have attended the anti-Israel Times Square rally on Oct. 8 had she been in the area, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports…
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said on MS NOW today that Abdul El-Sayed, the state’s Democratic nominee for Senate, should “tone down his rhetoric” about Israel and AIPAC in order to help combat antisemitism in the Democratic Party.
“Not everything is about AIPAC, not everything is about Israel. … Even if we wiped Israel off the face of the earth tomorrow, you know, everyday Michiganders’ lives wouldn’t be better on” issues such as housing and healthcare, Nessel said…
The University of Washington on Friday reversed its decision to host far-left, antisemitic influencer Hasan Piker, citing a flawed planning process, JI’s Haley Cohen reports.
The event listing, which has since been removed from the university website, described Piker as a “journalist and wildly popular content creator” who has “become an authoritative voice for millennials and Gen Z,” and as someone who is “armed with sharp analysis and an irreverent wit”…
The new conservative government in Colombia, which recently returned its ambassador to Israel, today recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, becoming the second country to do so after the U.S.
Colombia’s Foreign Ministry announced the move shortly after a powerful earthquake struck the country, killing over 100 people…
A new app called Sabbath is selling an ancient pitch to a modern, phone-addicted crowd: lock technology away for one sacred day a week. The app — which founder Ben Springwater calls “Shabbat with training wheels” — is “trying to make a bigger tent, get more people to experience some of the benefits and virtues of what Shabbat offers,” he told JI’s Haley Cohen, by allowing users to block certain apps from sundown to sundown on either Saturday or Sunday…
The Cook Political Report updated its rating of Rep. Max Miller’s (R-OH) district from “Likely Republican” to “Toss Up” after the deadline passed for Miller to drop out of his reelection race, which he declined to do despite facing serious domestic abuse allegations. Miller has denied the accusations levied against him by his ex-wife and her father, Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH)…
Politico explores how Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is using her political clout to boost her preferred successor, San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan, over Chan’s opponent, state Sen. Scott Wiener, including lining up endorsements and hosting major fundraisers…
“Fauda” star Lior Raz announced that the fifth season of the series, set two years after the Oct. 7 attacks, is coming to Netflix on Sept. 8…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at D.C.’sever-evolving kosher food scene.
Connecticut, Minnesota, Vermont and Wisconsin will hold primary elections tomorrow, with South Carolina and Alabama holding special elections as well.
We’ll be watching the outcomes in Minnesota’s Senate race, where Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN) and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan are neck-and-neck, as well as the Wisconsin governor’s race, where democratic socialist Francesca Hong is favored to win the Democratic nomination.
In the South Carolina special Republican Senate primary, Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC) is trying to hold her late brother’s seat in a race widely expected to head to an Aug. 25 runoff. And in Connecticut’s 1st District, longtime Rep. John Larson (D-CT) faces his first serious primary challenge in decades from former Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin.
Kenneth Marcus, the chairman of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, will testify before a hearing of the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission tomorrow, urging the commission to repeal rules requiring employers to keep and submit yearly reports breaking down their workforce by race, sex and ethnicity.
Marcus argued to JI that the practice has “created the impression that the agency is pushing them to use racial preferences in order to improve their numbers.” He said the situation has left Jews either “invisible because we’re not counted, or potentially stigmatized because we are,” and that “counting by race or ethnicity has never been helpful for the Jewish people and has sometimes been dangerous.” He said that eliminating these requirements would allow the EEOC to focus more fully on specific complaints of alleged discrimination.
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GOPHER BROKE
Left-wing Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan’s anti-Israel message is being complicated by her outreach to AIPAC earlier in the campaign
CONNECTICUT COMPETITION
Rep. John Larson, a Democrat, supports continued U.S. aid to Israel, while former Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin has said he would not back further offensive aid but does support Iron Dome
Plus, Israel and Turkey trade barbs over Syria
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) talks with reporters after the Senate luncheons in the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, March 11, 2025.
Good Thursday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
President Donald Trump disputed reports that the U.S. is running low on critical munitions as a result of the Iran war, claiming on Truth Social last night that the country has “massive amounts of ‘munitions,’ especially of certain types” and that more are being manufactured and shipped to the U.S. “as needed”…
The IDF struck several targets in southern Lebanon again today “in response to the incident yesterday” during which two IDF soldiers were killed and four severely injured in an explosion that the army attributed to Hezbollah.
The strikes came during the last day of Israel-Lebanon talks in Rome, which a State Department official said were “productive on the technical and expert levels” and brought the parties “a lot closer on what needs to be done to advance and expand the pilot zone process”…
Jonathan Cowan, president of the center-left group Third Way, told The New York Times that the group plans to spend $15 million ahead of the 2028 presidential election to target the Democratic Socialists of America after Abdul El-Sayed’s primary win in the Michigan Senate race. “It is deeply troubling to see radical, far-left candidates winning in places that are potentially presidential swing states,” Cowan said. El-Sayed was not endorsed by the DSA, though he was championed by the far left…
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) told Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs that he believes El-Sayed’s victory has put Michigan in play for Republicans to win in November. “[El-Sayed] will quickly discover a primary is a much different situation in this state [than the general election], when you’re accountable for winning the other side. I can’t wait to see him campaign for the general. I have got my popcorn for that,” Fetterman said…
Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) joined Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Reps. Brad Knott (R-NC) and Tom Suozzi (D-NY) today in introducing the Right to Worship Act, a federal bill that would ban activity that knowingly disrupts or impedes access to scheduled religious services within 100 feet of the entrance of a house of worship, JI’s Marc Rod reports…
California Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed Lele Yutzy as the state’s first director of its Office of Civil Rights, which was created under a bill enacted last year that acknowledged the prevalence of antisemitism in the state’s public schools and pledged to tackle discrimination. The office is also required to appoint an antisemitism prevention coordinator…
Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH) joined Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) in calling on Rep. Max Miller (R-OH), Moreno’s former son-in-law, to drop out of his reelection race and resign from Congress amid growing scrutiny of domestic violence allegations made against Miller, JI’s Marc Rod reports…
New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill‘s Mission to Deliver PAC endorsed a series of Democratic candidates with national security or military backgrounds, including Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) in his primary campaign to oust Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA).
Asked in a debate on local news earlier this week if Israel committed war crimes in Gaza, Markey answered an emphatic “yes” and called to end all military aid to Israel, while Moulton called the conflict an “absolute moral atrocity” and highlighted his rejection of AIPAC’s support but did not answer in the affirmative…
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said in a statement today that he has been discharged from the hospital after a fall in Juneand will continue his recovery at home, without indication of when he will return to Capitol Hill…
The feud between Jerusalem and Ankara continued today as Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan claimed Israel’s “attacks targeting Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity” are “among the greatest threats to the country’s stability.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar in turnaccused Fidan of hypocrisy, arguing that Turkey currently occupies 5% of Syria while the IDF holds a buffer zone “that comprises just one-tenth of one percent of Syrian territory”…
An extremist Israeli settler, Yinon Levi, was charged by the Israeli State Attorney’s Office with reckless homicide over the July 2025 killing of Palestinian activist Awdah Hathaleen, who had been featured in the Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land” about home demolitions in the West Bank…
The Yemeni Defense Ministry said the Houthis attacked the internationally recognized government’s military forces in several locations — reportedly killing dozens of soldiers — and that the military would retaliate against the terror group “at the appropriate time and place.”
The hostilities mark Yemen’s latest potential slide back towards its brutal civil war that devastated the country from 2014 until the Houthis and the Saudi-backed government reached a ceasefire in 2022…
The United Arab Emirates has successfully transported more oil through the Strait of Hormuz in the last two months than any other country despite ongoing military hostilities in the area, Bloomberg reports, by utilizing tankers that switch off their transponders during the risky crossing…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at the special election to replace former Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), where AIPAC’s United Democracy Project super PAC is working to boost Dublin, Calif., Mayor Melissa Hernandez over state Sen. Aisha Wahab.
A deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz may still emerge, though its reported contours are raising concerns among experts that it could grant Tehran unprecedented oversight over the international shipping route, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports.
In the latest development, Iranian state media reported today that the country’s parliament is considering a preliminary bill to bar American, Israeli and other “hostile” vessels from utilizing the strait.
We’ll be back in your inbox with the Daily Overtime on Monday. Shabbat shalom!
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MICHIGAN MALAISE
Several Jewish Democrats in the battleground state are now indicating that they will break with a party they have long called home and instead vote for the Republican nominee, Mike Rogers, in the November election
CASE STUDY
A 42-year-old progressive state senator has quietly closed the gap on the 73-year-old pro-Israel incumbent, with internal polls showing a tightening race before Saturday’s vote
Plus, Israel-Lebanon talks wrap early after IDF strikes
Sarah Rice/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Abdul El-Sayed speaks during a primary election night watch party at The Majestic Theatre in Detroit, Michigan early on Aug. 5, 2026.
Good Wednesday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
Abdul El-Sayed’s victory today in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Michigan rattled Jewish groups, who raised concerns about his rhetoric on Israel and the broader rise of the far left, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
The Jewish Democratic Council of America congratulated El-Sayed but said it was “disappointed” by the result and stopped short of endorsing him, while AIPAC said its members “remain determined to ensure that voters reject Dr. El-Sayed and his radical anti-Israel agenda in November”…
The Republican Jewish Coalition is urging Jewish Democrats to support the GOP nominee, former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI), in the general election, calling El-Sayed “a direct threat to Michigan’s Jewish community.”
A Democratic fundraiser in Michigan told JI’s Matthew Kassel it is “absolutely certain” that “several large Jewish Democratic donors” will be backing Rogers. “I would guarantee there will be fundraisers for him hosted by high-profile Jewish Democrats,” they said…
Shortly after his win, El-Sayed previewed his evolving message to Jewish voters, saying he welcomes the opportunity to “break bread with you at Seder” and to “worship with you at shul.” He spoke of his “sisters and brothers who said, you know, ‘I want to join this movement because AIPAC doesn’t speak for me’” and vowed he would prioritize Jewish safety…
But just before he was declared the victor, El-Sayed appeared on MS NOW where he called Israel “bloodthirsty,” JI’s Danielle Cohen-Kanik reports. He said that “we’ve been talking about an illegal apartheid regime” in reference to Israel since before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to power, though “Netanyahu is a big reason why they’ve gotten so aggressive and frankly so bloodthirsty”…
Democrats, meanwhile, are quickly coalescing behind the new Senate nominee, JI’s Marc Rod reports. El-Sayed’s opponent, Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), promptly endorsed him upon conceding the race; Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chair Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) offered their joint support; and former Vice President Kamala Harris is fundraising for El-Sayed’s campaign alongside her PAC.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is also backing his ideological ally and left open the possibility that he’ll travel to Michigan to campaign with El-Sayed ahead of the general election, per JI’s Will Bredderman…
In another consequential Michigan race, pro-Israel Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-MI) was ousted in his primary, losing to state Rep. Donavan McKinney, a democratic socialist who cross-endorsed with El-Sayed, campaigned alongside him and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and ran on ending U.S. military aid to Israel…
Talks between Israel and Lebanon ended several hours early today “due to events on the ground,” the State Department said, but were “extremely productive” and are slated to restart tomorrow. The move came after the IDF conducted strikes in southern Lebanon due to what it said were “blatant violations“of the ongoing ceasefire by Hezbollah.
An Israeli source told The Times of Israel that the talks were cut off after Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter accused Lebanese representatives of leaking false information to the media…
The Israeli Foreign Ministry denounced a joint statement adopted by Arab states who convened in Jordan today to discuss Israel’s policies over Muslim and Christian sites in Jerusalem, which asserted that Israel “has no sovereignty” over the city and accused Israel of “altering the Arab Islamic and Christian identity of occupied Jerusalem.”
The countries also pledged to launch a “media platform to document and expose Israeli violations against the holy sites and worshipers” and hold a meeting at the U.N. General Assembly to further discuss the issue. Israel said the statement was “built on false accusations, historical distortions, and a complete disregard for the facts”…
The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio today renewing its call for the Trump administration to press Jordan to honor its extradition treaty obligations and send Ahlam Aref Ahmad al-Tamimi to the United States.
Al-Tamimi was convicted in Israel for her role in the 2001 bombing of the Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem, which killed 16 people, including three Americans. She has been charged by the Justice Department and remains on the FBI’s Most Wanted list…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at Rep. Ed Case‘s (D-HI) reelection race, a primary that has largely flown under the radar but could pose a threat to one of the House’s more reliably pro-Israel moderates. While the contest has not centered on Middle East policy, it reflects the pattern seen in several recent Democratic primaries where well-established pro-Israel incumbents have faced increasingly competitive challenges from their left.
It remains to be seen if a deal will materialize between Iran, Oman and the U.S. to reopen the Strait of Hormuz (again), after Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said today that Tehran and Muscat were finalizing a bilateral agreement without Washington. The latest reporting indicates that such an agreement would preclude any fees or tolls for a temporary period of time.
Tennessee will hold its primary elections tomorrow, where Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Rep. John Rose (R-TN) are the front-runners for the open governorship, Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) is expected to win renomination and Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) is running in the redrawn 5th Congressional District.
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The drawdown in U.S. stockpiles could complicate future efforts to defend Israel while deterring China, Iran and other adversaries
The mayor lauded the Democratic Senate nominee while downplaying his weak performance among working-class voters
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks during a primary-night watch party for NYC congressional candidate Claire Valdez on June 23, 2026.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani refused to close the door on a trip to Michigan to campaign for newly minted Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, whom Mamdani praised for what he described as a focus on “the concerns of working-class Americans” — even as he tried to explain away El-Sayed’s poor performance in the areas where working-class voters live.
The mayor extended his congratulations from Manhattan to the Wolverine State, lauding in particular El-Sayed’s slogan of “money out of politics, money in your pocket, Medicare for all.” Unlike fellow democratic socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Mamdani did not travel to Michigan during the primary to support El-Sayed, but left open the possibility he would visit before the general election.
“My focus thus far has been on New York City. And what I will tell you is I know that many New Yorkers were incredibly excited at the results,” Mamdani, speaking after an unrelated event, said in answer to a question of whether he would consider making the trip. Asked whether he would completely rule out such a campaign jaunt, he answered: “I’m here right now.”
Mamdani answered in the affirmative when asked whether El-Sayed was the kind of candidate he hoped to see change the Democratic Party. Meanwhile, he stayed clear of the issue that fueled their most fervent support online: Israel.
“I am proud to be part of a movement of politicians and candidates who are looking to put working-class Americans back at the heart of our politics,” the mayor said. “And that’s our focus here in New York City, and just from what we’re seeing in Michigan, that’s what Michiganders want … to be their focus come November.”
Yet the mayor struggled to answer why, like his own map in the 2025 primary against former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the results from Tuesday night showed El-Sayed performing poorly among the lower-income voters whose interests he purportedly championed. El-Sayed’s strongest precincts, like Mamdani’s, were home to many college students and well-compensated professionals.
Mamdani suggested those voters had been duped by ad campaigns.
“When you are facing $60 million in outside spending, you are facing almost what feels like surround sound,” he said. “People are hearing a message about you again and again and again. And to win this race as someone who is not currently holding elected office, it’s a testament to what he ran on, and also to the way he ran the campaign.”
Plus, Mamdani's anti-Bibi video features in synagogue vandal's feed
Nathan Howard-Pool/Getty Images
Delegation staff members meet in the lobby during a quadrilateral meeting between the U.S., Iran, Pakistan, and Qatar at the Lake Lucerne Summit, aimed at advancing a deal to end the Middle East conflict at the Buergenstock Resort, Lake Lucerne on June 21, 2026 near Stansstad, Switzerland.
Good Tuesday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu affirmed today that the IDF will “not withdraw from the current lines in Gaza until Hamas is completely disarmed.” President Donald Trump “thinks, and his team thinks, that Hamas can be totally disarmed and Gaza demilitarized. We’re looking into it,” Netanyahu continued in a video posted to Facebook in Hebrew. “They sent us a draft, we didn’t agree. It wasn’t our draft. We sent our responses”…
Evoking a sense of déjà vu, U.S. and Iranian officials are signaling a deal over the Strait of Hormuz is near at hand: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on CNBC this morning that “there is a chance” the U.S. and Iran “may have a deal today or tomorrow to open” the strait, while Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari told reporters that talks are in “very progressive stages” and that draft agreement language has been “circulated among the parties.”
Trump called Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani this afternoon to discuss “ongoing efforts to deescalate tensions” between Washington and Tehran, the emir’s office said, in order “to bring their views closer together”…
Reuters reports that the U.S. Army has depleted“virtually all” of its long-range surface-to-surface missiles in the course of the war with Iran, raising concerns about readiness for future conflicts and the potential need to carry out riskier missions if hostilities with Iran escalate. The White House disputed the report, with Trump insisting that the U.S. has “far more munitions than anyone in the world”…
A brewery in Michigan apologized for hosting an event last night for Rep. Haley Stevens’ (D-MI) campaign for Senate ahead of today’s primary election due to her support for Israel, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
“We DO NOT endorse Haley Stevens,” Pux Taphouse wrote on Instagram, claiming it was not aware the event was being hosted by the campaign. “We are heartbroken as we pride ourselves on being not only a queer friendly space but also have advocated and continue to call for a Free Palestine,” the company said…
A Florida man accused of hurling a brick through the front window of a Sarasota Chabad house shared New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s video labeling Netanyahu a “war criminal” just days before the crime, JI’s Will Bredderman reports.
The Sarasota Police Department stated that the alleged perpetrator, Brayton Laschinger, had admitted to targeting the synagogue in an attack last week “because it was a Jewish place of worship” — and had blamed “propaganda on social media” for enraging him in the hours before the vandalism. An Instagram account bearing Laschinger’s name, and featuring photos of him dating back more than a decade, reposted the clip, which Mamdani had published the week prior to the attack…
The Anti-Defamation League called out far-left streamer Hasan Piker for promoting a conspiracy theory claiming Israel is behind the recent migration crisis in Ceuta, Spain, going as far as to claim on his Twitch stream that Israel is working to make the antisemitic text The Protocols of the Elders of Zion“come true.”
“Saying Israel looks at those conspiracy theories and decides to make them ‘come true’ shifts responsibility for antisemitism onto the Jewish state,” the ADL said…
The Colorado Democratic Party called on Victor Marx, the GOP nominee for governor, and other state Republicans to denounce an image that Marx and others have boosted of Phil Weiser, the state’s Jewish attorney general who is Marx’s opponent, depicting Weiser with devil horns, which critics have said evokes a classic antisemitic trope.
Montrose County Commissioner Sean Pond, who created the image, claimed he was unaware Weiser is Jewish and said, “Weiser does not receive immunity from political satire because of a personal fact I did not even know”…
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor declined a request by the Palestinian Authority and Palestine Liberation Organization to pause a $656 million judgment won by families of American victims of Palestinian terror attacks during the Second Intifada. The PA and PLO had argued that paying the sum now would “destabilize” government services in the West Bank as the bodies appeal the ruling…
Ellen Germain ended her five-year tenure as the State Department’s special envoy for Holocaust issues last week; it remains unclear if someone else will be tapped to lead the office — which deals with issues including restitution of Holocaust-era assets, Holocaust remembrance and combating Holocaust denial around the world — or if its remit will be wrapped into the Office of the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, currently headed by Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun. Jewish communal organizations have advocated both for and against the prospect of the consolidation…
Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison spoke out in a New York Times op-ed against those who oppose Paramount‘s ongoing acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, which he argued is at its core a concern about his own political views. “I have regularly voted for candidates of both parties; I hold some views that would be called conservative and others that would be called liberal, just like most Americans; and when it comes to our news operations, I do not aspire to lead these companies to bend their newsrooms to my views,” he wrote…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for election results from key races taking place today in Michigan and Missouri.
Talks between Israel and Lebanon will continue in Rome, where technical teams are working to advance the pilot zone process, Hezbollah’s disarmament and the IDF’s redeployment from southern Lebanon, the State Department said today.
Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Federal Courts subcommittee are planning to boycott a hearing tomorrow set to examine Muslim Brotherhood networks in the United States, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports, calling the hearing a “political creepshow” designed to attack Muslims broadly.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will receive a classified update on the ongoing civil war in Sudan.
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Plus, Iran’s ‘unbelievably duplicitous’ leaders irk Trump
Amir Levy/Getty Images
Israeli tanks stationed near the border with the Gaza Strip on September 17, 2025 in southern Israel.
Good Monday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
President Donald Trump lambasted Iranian leadership today, calling the regime “unbelievably duplicitous” for contradicting his claim that Washington and Tehran are currently conducting negotiations, after Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said that Tehran was only in discussion with Oman about the Strait of Hormuz and had no plans to speak to the U.S.
Trump claimed in his Truth Social post that the regime had “begged” for a meeting, “with more scheduled in the immediate future,” adding, “whether Iran wants to admit it or not, we are, in fact, talking of a solution to a problem that they have caused, for decades.” Trump later told reporters that the talks were “a last chance for Iran to sign a good document” and that he wants to give Iran “every last chance before decapitation”…
Board of Peace head Nickolay Mladenov held a “constructive and detailed” meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today, the board said, after the IDF continued to strike targets in Gaza over the weekend — in contravention of the Board of Peace’s Hamas disarmament plan, which called for the immediate cessation of hostilities in the enclave.
The board clarified that the IDF’s withdrawal beyond the yellow line in Gaza “will take place only once decommissioning [of Hamas’ weapons] is complete,” including all light and heavy weapons as well as terror tunnels. Netanyahu has yet to officially comment on the deal, but a senior Israeli spokesman said earlier today that the agreement “does not reflect Israel’s positions” and another Israeli official declared that the IDF “will not withdraw from the current line in the Gaza Strip”…
Israeli President Isaac Herzog received the credentials of the new ambassadors from Chile and Honduras today; the two Latin American countries had pulled their ambassadors from the Jewish state shortly after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks in protest of the war in Gaza but have since elected new conservative governments that have sought to strengthen ties with Jerusalem…
Education Secretary Linda McMahon sent a letter to every university in the country today asking their leadership to publish by the end of the year a statement committing to principles including transparency in admissions, free speech, diversity of thought and keeping foreign influence out of academics.
Yeshiva University President Rabbi Ari Berman applauded the initiative, which came after most universities rejected a compact from the Trump administration last year that had asked them to agree to a set of ideological principles in order to receive federal funding, and said YU would participate in the effort to rebuild public trust of higher education…
Brown University President Christina Paxson announced today that she will step down at the end of the 2026-27 academic year, concluding her 15-year tenure at the Ivy League, during which the school increased Jewish student enrollment even as most peer institutions experienced significant drops, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports…
As the Israel on Campus Coalition’s National Summit continues in Washington, Noah Pollak, a senior advisor at the Education Department, debated Jonathan Rauch, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, on whether the Trump administration’s crackdown on campus antisemitism has protected or threatened America’s liberal norms. After the debate, where Pollak argued in favor of the policy and Rauch argued against, students who were polled in the audience shifted their views to align more with Rauch, JI’s Haley Cohen reports…
New hate crime data released by the NYPD shows an uptick of 8.5% in hate crimes against Jews in New York City this year so far, accounting for more than half of all hate crimes in the city, despite Jewish New Yorkers only accounting for 10% of the city’s population…
A New York man was indicted on hate crimes charges on Friday for repeatedly vandalizing a kosher bagel shop, weeks after he was indicted for manslaughter for killing a prominent Jewish community member in a car crash…
Author Alyssa Rosenheck pushed back on arguments raised by Bell Bird Books, a local bookstore in Nashville, Tenn., that canceled a book launch event for Rosenheck’s White. Blond. Jew.,which the bookstore claimed was due to security concerns. Rosenheck said she had personally paid for a private firm to secure the event and was told there were no outstanding security concerns, alleging that the event was canceled “because I’m an unapologetic Jewish voice … and it provokes an online mob of hate”…
Trump is considering removing Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, according to CNN, after he said today that she “folded like an umbrella” when she withdrew a case against an alleged vandal of the Reflecting Pool and instead blamed the Interior Department for its botched renovation…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at Sen. Darline Graham’s (R-SC) bid for a full term in the Senate, where she is facing headwinds despite having secured President Donald Trump’s endorsement.
We’ll be watching tomorrow’s Democratic primaries in Michigan and Missouri — the sharpest tests yet of the party’s divide over Israel. In Michigan’s Senate race, far-left Abdul El-Sayed seems the favorite in recent polling over Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI); in Missouri, Rep. Wesley Bell (D-MO) faces a rematch with former Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO). Also on the Michigan ballot: the battleground 7th District, where DSA-backed William Lawrence is the front-runner, and the 11th District, where Jewish state Sen. Jeremy Moss is running to succeed Stevens. Kansas, Virginia and Washington state will also hold their primaries tomorrow.
Israeli and Lebanese representatives will meet tomorrow to begin another round of U.S.-led negotiations in Rome. U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa sounded a cautious note today on the ongoing trilateral agreement, as the Lebanese Armed Forces and the IDF continue to work toward establishing the fragile pilot zones in southern Lebanon: “A great deal of technical work remains to ensure civilian safety on the ground,” Issa said. “There is a meaningful difference between drafting an agreement on paper and implementing it responsibly — moving too quickly risks jeopardizing the very civilians this process is meant to protect.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee is set to vote tomorrow on whether to advance acting Attorney General Todd Blanche‘s nomination to lead the Justice Department, after Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) dropped their opposition to his nomination when the administration agreed to rescind its $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund.
Stories You May Have Missed
MICHIGAN MOVES
For many Jewish Democrats in Michigan who have long called the party home, the bruising lead-up to the primary on Tuesday has been difficult to experience
CAMPUS CLIMATE
‘The assumption is that it’s better by virtue of there being no encampments right now, there’s no buildings being sieged. But that being the bar is ridiculous,’ Columbia student Noah Lederman said of the challenges on campus
Plus, a Hamas disarmament deal — with caveats
Alex Wong/Getty Images
A visitor holds an AIPAC folder in an elevator in Rayburn House Office Building on March 12, 2024 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.
Good Friday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we cover comments by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel that she will not attend the state Democratic convention due to fears over antisemitic harassment and report on an anti-AIPAC campaign against Michigan state Sen. Jeremy Moss — even though AIPAC has not endorsed him in his bid for Congress in a Detroit-area Democratic primary. We also report on President Donald Trump’s announcement that a deal has been reached for Hamas’ disarmament, and talk to analysts about Iran’s efforts to exploit Sudan’s civil war to deepen ties with Islamist factions. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Maor Shlomo, Boy George and Harriet and Mark Levin.
We also have a new on-demand Live Briefingthat you can access throughout the day via our new app (on Apple and Android) and on our website.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by Israel Editor Tamara Zieve and U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik, with an assist from Marc Rod. Have a tip? Email us here.
For less-distracted reading over the weekend, browse this week’s edition of The Weekly Print, a curated print-friendly PDF featuring a selection of recent Jewish Insider and eJewishPhilanthropy stories, including: Jewish leaders worried about Michigan’s prime position on Dems’ 2028 calendar; How Debra Band revives a dying Jewish artform; and Family, friends of slain Blackstone executive Wesley LePatner launch foundation in her memory. Print the latest edition here.
What We’re Watching
- Tensions are high in the Middle East going into the weekend, as Iran has continued to strike U.S. assets around the region this week and Saudi Arabia has also faced attacks by Tehran’s proxies.
- We’re keeping an eye out for word from Jerusalem on its stance on Trump’s announcement of a deal for Hamas’ “complete disarmament” announced last night, which requires complete IDF withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. See more below.
- Amid the global developments, Trump will hold the 13th Cabinet meeting of his second administration this morning at the historic Camp David retreat in Maryland.
- The Democratic Socialists of America kicks off its three-day annual organizing conference today in Chicago. One programming track is set to focus on “anti-imperialist and pro-Palestine organizing strategy” to end the “U.S.-Israeli genocide in Palestine.”
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S WILL BREDDERMAN
In chatting with plugged-in Democratic strategists currently working on congressional campaigns, I was shocked — but not all that surprised — at the acceptance that the party has been all but dominated by the socialist faction, led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), that has gotten more radical since his presidential campaign in 2016 and has played a key role in many Democratic primaries across the country.
Two Democratic operatives involved in Michigan and other targeted races bluntly told JI that left-wing candidates endorsed by Sanders and his band of far-left allies can now expect to win about one-third of the primary vote from the start if given the Sanders seal of approval. And far from being contained to deep-blue urban districts in New York, the trend is spreading into swing-district primaries and statewide nomination fights.
That’s certainly shaping up to be the case in Michigan’s 7th District, one of the biggest battleground districts in the country long held by now-Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI). Despite two candidates with cross-partisan credentials running — former Navy SEAL Matt Maasdam and former Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink — the Sanders-endorsed socialist activist William Lawrence is the front-runner, according to new polling conducted in the race.
And the socialist wave is building in statewide races in two of the biggest Midwestern battlegrounds, with Democratic Socialists of America-endorsed Francesca Hong running away with the Democratic nomination for Wisconsin’s governorship, despite her recent embrace of politically toxic views like supporting funding cuts to the police.
And as we’ve extensively covered in Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed’s virulently anti-Israel and left-wing platform in the Senate race doesn’t appear to be stunting his primary campaign against Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), even with popular Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s endorsement of Stevens.
IDENTITY POLITICS
Michigan state Sen. Jeremy Moss has a lot of endorsements in his campaign for Congress in a Detroit-area Democratic primary — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and several other state and local officials — but AIPAC is not one of them. That has not stopped Don Ufford, one of Moss’ opponents, from trying to tar the Jewish lawmaker as a pawn of the pro-Israel group in the final days of the race, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
You’ve got mail: A mailer that Ufford’s campaign sent to the homes of voters in the district described Moss as a “career politician who has taken thousands from AIPAC-linked donors.” A website operated by Ufford’s campaign, titled “AIPAC Jeremy Moss,” said that Moss is “for them, not for working Michiganders like you.” Moss told JI in an interview on Thursday, “The language on his mailers was very clear to say AIPAC-linked donors. One more dig deeper than that is just — it’s Jews.” Some of Moss’ donors have also supported AIPAC, but he does not think their involvement in the political system should be suspect.
SAFETY CONCERNS
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Jewish Democrat whose eight years in office will conclude at the end of December, said at an event in Lansing on Thursday that antisemitism in the state — and in the statewide Democratic Party — has gotten so bad that she will not attend the party’s nominating convention next month, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
What she said: “I don’t feel safe going,” Nessel said at the Thursday event, which was organized by the Anti-Defamation League and featured other Michigan Jews speaking about their own experiences of antisemitism. “I feel like my presence is not going to be welcomed. I don’t want to get chased around. I don’t want to get harassed. I don’t want to get yelled and screamed at. And I don’t want to get booed off the stage, irrespective of what I’m saying. And I believe that if I go, that is what will happen.”
ORGANIZING EFFORT
Members of Missouri’s Jewish community are working to turn out voters in Rep. Wesley Bell’s (D-MO) St. Louis-area congressional district as he faces down a rematch with former Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) on Tuesday. The Jewish Democratic Council of America has rallied its national membership, particularly in Bell’s district and the broader Midwest region, for an in-person canvassing effort as well as several phone-banking events, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Boosting Bell: “We are mobilizing our network across the Midwest to help get out the vote for Wesley Bell,” Jacob Spiegel, JDCA’s communications director, told JI. “We’re continuing to mobilize our awesome network of volunteers to get out the vote for the candidates that represent our values.”
DONE DEAL?
President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that the Board of Peace had reached a “historic” agreement for the “complete disarmament” of Hamas and all other armed groups in Gaza, calling it a “monumental step toward lasting PEACE and SECURITY,” Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports. Trump said in a post on Truth Social that the agreement would be “carried out carefully in structured phases,” and that the IDF would withdraw when Hamas’ disarmament is “completed.”
Briefing: Following the announcement, a senior U.S. official said in a call with reporters that the document is “an agreement by Hamas to follow through on the decommissioning” of its weapons as well as its terror tunnels. The official noted that Iran tried to “convince [Hamas] not to do this deal,” but in the end, “the final communication came through the mediators that Hamas has agreed.”
Word of warning: A senior U.S. official told reporters, “We’re not asking Israel to do anything that isn’t in the 20-point plan that they agreed to initially, and so we’re very confident they will adhere to it. If they don’t, President Trump would be very, very disappointed.”
Yes, but: A Hamas source told Reuters the “draft agreement” says heavy weapons would only be stored and kept under the control of a Palestinian administration. Ghazi Hamad, a senior Hamas figure, told Al Jazeera, “We will not take any action regarding disarmament prior to Israel’s withdrawal from the Strip.” Meanwhile, Reuters cited an Israeli official as having said, prior to Trump’s announcement, “Israel demands the complete disarmament of Hamas, including the removal of weapons from Gaza and the complete demilitarization of the Strip as a precondition for any process.”
POWER PLAY
As Sudan’s devastating civil war drags through its third year, experts warn the conflict could become an arena for Iranian strategic expansion and Islamist extremism in Africa, as Tehran and the Sudanese branch of the Muslim Brotherhood revive a long-standing alliance and threaten to turn the embattled nation into a staging ground for transnational jihadist operations, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports.
Iran’s involvement: Under the cover of Sudan’s official military, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), armed Islamist brigades — most notably the U.S.-sanctioned Al-Bara ibn Malik Battalion (the armed wing of the Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood) — have mobilized to fight alongside state forces led by Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. Supported by funding, weaponry and training pipelines linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, these factions have effectively embedded themselves within the state apparatus, raising alarm among counterterrorism officials and regional foreign policy experts.
SURVEY SAYS
The share of Israelis who believe President Donald Trump is “highly committed” to protecting Israel’s security interests has dropped to a new low, according to a new survey from Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports.
Downward trend: The organization’s July 2026 National Security Survey found that only 14% of Israelis believe the country’s security interests are a top concern for Trump, representing a significant drop from the 35% recorded in March. This continues a downward trend observed as the conflict with Iran drags on, following an Israel Democracy Institute poll released earlier this month that found just 26% of Jewish Israelis believed Israel’s security was a key consideration for Trump – another record low at the time.
Worthy Reads
El-Sayed’s Villains: The Atlantic‘s Jonathan Chait argues that far-left Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed’s brand of anti-Israel rhetoric is uniquely dangerous. “But if El-Sayed’s anti-Zionism is obsessive, it is not a singular obsession. He talks about the Israel lobby the way he talks on the stump about nearly any other political issue. The El-Sayed formula is to describe just about any policy as a conspiracy by a corporate entity or wealthy cabal to enrich itself at the expense of the people. The villains in his stories are motivated by pure greed, and trade-offs do not exist. This is a rhetorical style that has long existed on the populist left. The trouble is that, when you apply it to the Israel-Palestine conflict, and especially to the question of why some Americans do not share El-Sayed’s position on it, his approach grows paranoid and menacing.” [TheAtlantic]
Take the Win: In her Substack, “Insight,” journalist Frida Ghitis posits that Iran is “overplaying its hand” by continuing to engage in hostilities against the U.S. “Instead of consolidating what it sees as a victory, Tehran continues to test Washington, seemingly inviting another round of war. It’s unclear what’s motivating Iran’s provocative actions after the U.S. had agreed to pause strikes against Iran. It may reflect overconfidence, ideological zeal, or even the belief among some regime hardliners that an apocalyptic confrontation will hasten the return of the Mahdi and usher in a global Islamic order. I’m inclined to believe the moves are not about the world to come but about the immediate future. Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) leaders not only see that they have won the first round, but they believe time is on their side because they pay close attention to Western politics and media. Another round, they may conclude, will solidify their gains.” [Substack]
The Iran Split: Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen argues that President Donald Trump’s military, intelligence and economic teams have delivered real results against Iran while the negotiated ceasefire, which he attributes to Vice President JD Vance, has trapped Trump in a repeating cycle of Iranian violations followed by U.S. strikes and renewed talks. “Case in point: Last weekend, as Trump was on the verge of ordering a resumption of major combat, he was told that the Iranians were desperate for a deal. So he paused to give peace a chance. Result? Iran fired five ballistic missiles at a U.S. military base in Jordan. This cycle has repeated for months. Like Lucy and the football, Trump keeps getting told that this time the Iranians are finally ready to make a deal — only to be set up for failure yet again. Indeed, by elevating a deal as the definition of victory, Vance has given Iran a veto over America’s ability to declare victory. All it has to do is refuse to agree — which it is doing.” [WashPost]
Netanyahu v. Mamdani: In The Free Press, constitutional law professor Jed Rubenfeld lays out the legal case for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to sue New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani for libel. “Mamdani specifically named Netanyahu and explicitly accused him of heinous crimes, including genocide and the maiming of children. As a result, while Netanyahu v. Mamdani would be an uphill battle, it could be won. … There is, however, an important limit on this immunity. It applies to Mamdani only if his statement concerned matters ‘within the ambit of [his] duties.’ There’s a strong argument that foreign policy is no part of the duties of a mayor. Indeed, despite Mamdani’s personal desire to arrest Netanyahu, the mayor himself has now admitted he has no legal authority to do so. It seems plausible, therefore, that Mamdani strayed far outside the ambit of his official duties in his attack on Netanyahu. If so, he forfeited New York’s absolute immunity.” [FP]
Word on the Street
The IDF carried out a “massive operation” on Thursday evening using approximately 700 tons of explosives to blow up a tunnel system in southern Lebanon that was “a central part of the Hezbollah terror organization’s invasion plan” into northern Israel, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said…
The American Association of University Professors issued its first-ever political endorsement in its 110-year history on Thursday, backing far-left Abdul El-Sayed ahead of next week’s Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Michigan. The professional organization has repeatedly faced criticism from Jewish groups and faculty members for straying from its mission by engaging in anti-Israel advocacy…
Columbia University’s student workers’ union dropped its demand that the university divest from Israel during a bargaining session on Tuesday, the Columbia Spectator reports, in a reversal of the union’s pro-Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions advocacy…
Columbia will open a global center in Tel Aviv later this summer, reviving a plan first floated in April 2023 that drew faculty petitions and student protests…
A fire at the AgriStar meat and poultry plant in Postville, Iowa, one of the largest kosher meat processing plants in the country, “means a significant portion of kosher beef and chicken … will not enter the kosher supply chain,” Rabbi Moshe Elefant, the CEO of OU Kosher, said in a statement. Elefant warned that kosher consumers “will feel the impact of the tightening supply with reduction of availability”…
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) argued on Thursday that, without regime change in Iran, the U.S. will likely need to continue to conduct periodic military operations against Iran’s nuclear program to prevent Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…
The Senate narrowly blocked another push by Democrats to force an end to the Iran war, 50-49, with the vote falling along now-predictable lines. Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Rand Paul (R-KY) broke with their party to vote for the resolution with most Democrats, while Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) voted against it…
The Iran-backed Houthi terror group, based in Yemen, reportedly attacked Saudi Arabia this week from Iraqi territory, potentially with the assistance of militias in the country working with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, in an indication of the growing coordination between Tehran’s proxies…
Facing renewed attacks by both Iran and the Houthis, Saudi Arabia hosted dozens of global military officials, including from the U.S., for a meeting on Thursday to establish a maritime defense alliance, the Saudi Defense Ministry said. Thirteen countries joined Riyadh in signing a statement of support for the effort: Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Yemen, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Sudan, Djibouti and Somalia…
Meanwhile, Yemeni sources told The Guardian they believe Saudi Arabia is gearing up for a major military offensive against the Houthis in Yemen — by sea and possibly also by land — aimed at breaking the group’s grip on oil exports through the southern Red Sea…
Iranian hackers may have been behind a cyberattack on dozens of municipal water systems this week in Minnesota, state and federal officials told The New York Times…
The Treasury Department sanctioned Iranian airline Mahan Air, calling it the IRGC’s “airline of choice for moving weapons, military personnel, and equipment,” as well as an IRGC-affiliated front company that has sought the locations of American and Israeli equipment in the region…
A group of Democratic House and Senate lawmakers sent a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday announcing they are opening an investigation into the deaths of six U.S. service members in Kuwait, who were killed in an Iranian drone strike earlier this year, to determine whether the troops were adequately protected during the war…
The Wall Street Journal reports on how the Iran war has impacted the U.S.-Kuwait relationship and caused the U.S. to reconsider the scale of its military presence in the Gulf country…
Egypt confirmed that an explosion at a port on its Mediterranean coast on Wednesday, which set fire to two ships, including a U.S. gas-storage tanker, was caused by a drone attack. Egypt reportedly attributed the attack, which was not claimed by any country or group, to Iran. It marks the first time the country has been targeted during the war with Iran…
The U.S. has informed Israel that it is deploying additional military refueling aircraft to the country, amid growing concerns over a security escalation in the region, raising fears of major disruptions at Ben Gurion Airport, Israel’s N12 news site reports…
Elon Musk has authorized his super PAC, called America PAC, to spend more than $100 million to help Republicans in eight states in the midterm elections, The New York Times reports, including key Senate battleground races in Alaska, Iowa, Maine, Michigan and Ohio…
The Hackney Council in the U.K. gave initial approval to begin ending the city’s 58-year partnership with its sister city Haifa…
British singer Boy George withdrew from a West End production of “Jesus Christ Superstar,” in which he had been set to play Herod, following the release of his pro-Israel song “We Will Dance Again.” Without directly mentioning the song, which drew backlash, Boy George’s manager said: “In this instance, I felt it was right [for Boy George] to step aside, allowing the production to remain the focus, while ensuring everyone involved can move forward with mutual respect and goodwill”…
Base44 founder Maor Shlomo launched a cancer research fund and has already backed seven treatment startups after losing his mother to the disease…
Wine of the Week
JI wine columnist Yitz Applbaum reviews the La Forêt Blanche Ariel Red 2021:
This week I had the honor of attending a dinner held in tribute to the memory of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC). Every guest at the table was a devoted friend of the senator, who was a steadfast friend of Israel, and the evening carried the quiet weight of remembrance and gratitude in equal measure. I wanted to pour something bold and unflinching, a wine in the senator’s own spirit, drawn from a corner of Israel he loved. The La Forêt Blanche Ariel Red 2021, its grapes raised in the storied heights of Mount Hebron in the Judean Hills, was the perfect answer.
The Ariel Red is 85% petit verdot and 15% syrah. The first sip delivers the firm grip one hopes for from a petit verdot of the Judean Hills: assertive, unapologetic, rooted in the soil that made it. The mid-palate softens, and the finish arrives with an elegance earned over 18 months in French and American oak. This is a wine that will only deepen over the next five years. Serve it beside a well-marbled rib steak hot off the fire, and raise your glass in a toast to the memory of the great senator from the great state of South Carolina.
Pic of the Day
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee spoke yesterday evening to Harriet and Mark Levin — the parents of U.S.-born IDF “lone soldier” Michael Levin, who was killed in the Second Lebanon War on Aug. 1, 2006 — at the 20th memorial ceremony for Levin alongside his grave on Jerusalem’s Mt. Herzl Military Cemetery, eJewishPhilanthropy‘s Judah Ari Gross reports.
During the ceremony, Huckabee praised Levin for his sacrifice and “giving his life, not just for Israel, but … for America as well.” Huckabee also hailed Levin’s parents, whom he said took their grief and channeled it into building a network of organizations to support “lone soldiers,” service members without families who care for them in Israel.
“They could have taken their grief and buried it in their souls and lived the rest of their lives in anguish and even bitterness. But they didn’t do that,” Huckabee said. “They took their love for Michael and the grief, and they did something that has now benefited thousands upon thousands of lone soldiers who have served and have had support that Michael never had. … I cannot help but think that, in so many ways, nothing could have been done more powerfully for Michael’s memory, for his sacrifice, than what his parents have done in their sacrifice to honor their son.”
Birthdays
CEO of Goliath Records and former CEO and chairman of Def Jam Recordings, best known as the manager of Eminem, Paul D. Rosenberg turns 55 on Saturday…
FRIDAY: British judge and barrister, he served as a justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom and later as Master of the Rolls, John Anthony Dyson turns 83… Actor, who went on to become CEO of Paramount Pictures and president of production at 20th Century Fox, Sherry Lansing turns 82… Nobel laureate in economics in 1997, known for his quantitative analysis of options pricing, longtime professor at both Harvard and MIT, Robert C. Merton turns 82… Scholar, professor, rabbi, writer and filmmaker, who specializes in the study of the Holocaust, Michael Berenbaum turns 81… Co-founder of the private equity firm Apollo Global Management, in 2015 he bought a 16th-century copy of the Babylonian Talmud for $9.3 million, Leon David Black turns 75… Software entrepreneur, he was president of Ameinu, which merged with Americans for Peace Now in 2024 to form New Jewish Narrative, and serves on the Board of Governors of the Jewish Agency, Kenneth Bob… Author of more than 30 best-selling mystery novels, many with Jewish themes, Faye Kellerman turns 74… Manhattan-based criminal defense and civil rights lawyer, radio talk show host and television commentator, Ronald L. Kuby turns 70… Chairman at Haifa-based Twin Digital Healthcare, Guido Benjamin Pardo-Roques turns 70… Owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks until its partial sale to Miriam Adelson in 2023, he was a “shark” investor on the ABC reality program Shark Tank from 2011 until May 2025, Mark Cuban turns 68… Israeli attorney, real estate developer and entrepreneur, Ilan Shavit turns 68… COO at Leenie Productions, she serves on the board of directors of the Northbrook, Ill.-based Haym Salomon Center, Helene Miller-Walsh turns 67… Technology investor and social entrepreneur, he is the founder and chairman of Tmura, Yadin B. Kaufmann turns 67… Israeli libertarian politician and activist, he was previously a member of the Knesset, Moshe Zalman Feiglin turns 64… Adjunct professor at USC, UC Berkeley and Pepperdine, he was previously the director of the Los Angeles office of the American Jewish Committee, Dan Schnur… Born into a practicing Catholic family in Nazareth, Israel, billionaire investor and owner of the Detroit Pistons, Tom Gores turns 62… General manager of MLB’s Miami Marlins, he was an MLB outfielder for 13 seasons, Gabe Kapler turns 51… Author, actor and comedian, Benjamin Joseph (BJ) Novak turns 47… Founder and CEO at Wide Eye Creative, Ben Ostrower… The representative of the World Zionist Organization Executive in North America, Michal Slawny Cababia… Political activist and the founder and president of Stand Up America, a progressive advocacy community, Sean Simcha Eldridge turns 40… Head of global communications, social and film at Zipline, Danielle Meister Lurie… Technical Account Manager at CREW, Aryeh Samet Canter… Adam Rosenberg… David Goldenberg… Richard Rosenstein…
SATURDAY: Culver City, Calif., resident, Allene Prince… Formerly CEO of multibillion-dollar travel and hotel franchisor Cendant Corporation, then CEO of 54 Madison Partners, Henry R. Silverman turns 86… Founder and principal of NYC-based Midtown Equities, a major developer of nationwide real estate projects, Joseph Cayre turns 85… U.S. district court judge for the Southern District of New York, now on senior status, Judge Jed S. Rakoff turns 83… Former president of Brandeis University, now president and CEO of the Cleveland-based Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation, Jehuda Reinharz turns 82… British businessman, he has been described as “the father of British venture capital,” Sir Ronald Mourad Cohen turns 81… Israeli-born businessman and film producer, later CEO of Marvel Studios, he won the 2019 Academy Award for best animated feature, Avi Arad turns 78… Second-generation owner of a Los Angeles flooring business, Eric Kalman Biren… Immediate past president of Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America, Rhoda Smolow… Founder and president of Greystone Hotels, the IHA Group and Markev Realty Corporation, Eric Horodas 73… Media analyst and former host of “MediaBuzz” at Fox News, now a Fox News contributor, Howard Kurtz turns 73… Director of New York government relations at Agudath Israel of America, Yeruchim Silber… U.S. career diplomat who served as ambassador to South Korea during the Biden administration, Philip Seth Goldberg turns 70… United States secretary of the interior, Douglas James Burgum turns 70… Attorney, political strategist and former president of the American Jewish Congress, Richard Scott Gordon… Former CEO of Atlanta’s Jewish Family & Career Services, where she served for six years, she served for 11 years in the Minnesota state Senate, Terri E. Bonoff turns 69… Professor of psychiatry and neuroscience at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Rachel Yehuda, Ph.D. turns 67… Policy director in the D.C. office of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, Andrew C. (“Drew”) Littman… Former senior rabbi of the British movement for Reform Judaism, now a rabbi at London’s Bromley Reform Synagogue, Laura Naomi Janner-Klausner turns 63… U.S. ambassador to Israel during the Obama administration, now a distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative, Daniel B. “Dan” Shapiro turns 57… Producer for CBS’ “60 Minutes,” Shachar Bar-On… Professor of mathematics at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) in Princeton and at Hebrew U, he was the winner of the 2010 Fields Medal, Elon Lindenstrauss turns 56… CEO of NYC’s Quantum Media Group, he is a HAFTR and YU graduate, Ari Zoldan… Israeli film director, writer and producer, Asaf Epstein turns 48… Venture partner in Leap Forward Ventures, she is also chief marketing and revenue officer at Blue Flame, Jessica Alter… Founder and CEO of Moishe House (now known as Mem Global), David Cygielman… Chief Jewish life officer at the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), Sheila Katz … Chief community relations officer at the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, Noam Gilboord… SVP of communications at Burford Capital, David Helfenbein… Board-certified family physician, Mor Toledano Shapiro, M.D…. CEO of PeaceWorks Foundation Roey Kruvi… Cross-country skier who competed for the U.S. at the Winter Olympics in 2014 (Sochi) and 2018 (Pyeongchang), now serving as an assistant attorney general fellow in the Consumer Protection section of the Colorado Attorney General’s Office, Noah Hoffman turns 37… Client relations specialist at Pacific Libra Insurance Agency, Yael Rabin… Television, stage and film actor, Benjamin “Ben” Rosenfield turns 34…
SUNDAY: Co-founder and chairman of NYC-based real estate development firm, Rockrose Development Corporation, Henry Elghanayan turns 86… Professor emeritus of Bible at London’s Leo Baeck College, Jonathan David Magonet turns 84… Former member of Knesset for 28 years, he then served as chairman of Rafael Advanced Defense Systems until 2023, Uzi Landau turns 83… Retired colonel in the U.S. Army and a recipient of the Medal of Honor and seven other medals, he serves as a military analyst for NBC News and MSNBC, Jack H. Jacobs turns 81… Longtime librarian, Irene Seff… Nationally syndicated radio talk show host, author and public speaker, Dennis Prager turns 78… Former ambassador and permanent representative of Canada to the United Nations, Robert Keith Rae turns 78… Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author, he is international writer-at-large for The New York Times, Roger Cohen turns 71… U.S. senator from Nevada, Jacklyn Sheryl “Jacky” Rosen turns 69… Psychoanalyst, psychiatrist and brain researcher at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Yoram Yovell turns 68… Strategic advisor at Breaking Through, Inc., Amy Aronoff Blumkin… Mayor of St. Petersburg, Fla., for eight years until 2022, now executive vice president and principal of the U.S. Cities Practice at Shumaker Advisors, Richard David “Rick” Kriseman turns 64… Owner of Newton, Mass.-based MPG Promotions, Elliot Mael… Senior vice president of operations and general counsel of Yeshiva University, Andrew J. “Avi” Lauer… Professional tennis player, who was once ranked No. 6 in the world, now the director of tennis at St. Andrews country club in Boca Raton, Fla., Aaron Krickstein turns 59… Former member of the Knesset, first for the Labor party and then the Yisrael Beiteinu party, Leon Litinetsky turns 59… Senior fellow for Middle East and Africa studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, Steven A. Cook turns 58… EVP for Hearst Television and past chair of the NBC Television Affiliate Board, Eric J. Meyrowitz… Senior director for global trade and public affairs at confectionery, food and pet care firm, Mars Inc., Jay Eizenstat… Professional golfer, he won a PGA tournament in both 2003 and 2004, Jonathan Andrew Kaye turns 56… Pulitzer Prize-winning, D.C.-based national security reporter for The New York Times for 13 years until 2024, now doing investment research, Matthew Rosenberg turns 52… Senior executive communications lead at Adobe, Stephen L. Rabin… Labor law attorney in the Nashville, Tenn., office of Holland & Knight, he served on the national board of JFNA, Aron Zwi Karabel… Program director at the Jewish Fertility Foundation, Tamar Poupko Smith… CEO of Make It Real, he is also the co-founder and chair of The Jewish Entrepreneur (a mentoring program), Isaac William “Zevy” Wolman… Director of philanthropy (Israel) at The Paul E. Singer Foundation, Julia Nayfeld Schulman… Vice president of the United States, James David (JD) Vance turns 42… Actor best known for her 1999 “Pepsi Girl” role as a 7-year-old, and later for subsequent teen roles, Hallie Kate Eisenberg turns 34… Baseball pitcher, he played for Team Israel in 2017 and now manages a baseball training facility for young players in Philadelphia, Kenny Koplove turns 33… CEO of Petra Power in Solon, Ohio, Aaron Goodman turns 32…
Plus, Columbia student union drops BDS demand
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel speaks on stage during the third day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center on August 21, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. Delegates, politicians, and Democratic Party supporters are in Chicago for the convention, concluding with current Vice President Kamala Harris accepting her party's presidential nomination.
Good Thursday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, who is Jewish, said today at an antisemitism roundtable with local Jewish community leaders that she will not be attending the Michigan state Democratic Party convention in August because she would not feel safe there…
A new Emerson College pollof the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Michigan found far-left candidate Abdul El-Sayed surging ahead of Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) by 15 points, 54-39%…
The American Association of University Professors issued its first-ever political endorsement in its 110-year history today, backing El-Sayed ahead of next week’s primary. The professional organization has repeatedly faced criticism from Jewish groups and faculty members for straying from its mission by engaging in anti-Israel advocacy…
An Emerson College poll of next month’s special primary election to replace the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on the ballot in South Carolina found Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) at the top of the pack, leading Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC) 22-19%, with a quarter of likely primary voters still undecided. If no candidate receives a majority, the top two vote-getters will advance to a runoff…
Columbia University’s student workers’ union dropped its demand that the university divest from Israel during a bargaining session on Tuesday, the Columbia Spectator reports, in a significant reversal of the union’s pro-Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions advocacy. Union President Grant Miner claimed the move was a natural part of the negotiation process: “As you bargain, you have to face the realities of where you are.”
Columbia is also set to open its global center in Tel Aviv this summer, professor Nadav Eyal said on an episode of Dan Senor’s “Call Me Back” podcast earlier this week. Plans for the center were announced in April 2023, but have been on hold since the Oct. 7 attacks…
Former Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes dropped out of the Democratic primary for governor today. Barnes said in his announcement video that it’s “very clear who our nominee is going to be,” in an apparent reference to Democratic Socialists of America-backed Francesca Hong, though he did not offer her his endorsement.
Barnes dropped out shortly before The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that the Wisconsin Democratic Party had investigated allegations in 2025 that he had taken advantage of his role in the party for sexual encounters with young women…
Negotiations between mediators and Hamas, taking place on Thursday in Cairo, are “making progress” on disarmament, a diplomatic official told The Times of Israel. The plan under discussion would see “all weapons decommissioned” as well as “the elimination of all tunnels, depots of weapons and any weapons production facilities” in Gaza, the official said…
Iranian hackers may have been behind a cyberattack on dozens of municipal water systems this week in Minnesota, state and federal officials told The New York Times…
The Iran-backed Houthi terror group, which is based in Yemen, reportedly attacked Saudi Arabia this week from Iraqi territory. The group may have operated with the assistance of militias in the country working with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, in an indication of the growing coordination between Tehran’s proxies…
Amid the renewed attacks it has faced from both Iran and the Houthis, Saudi Arabia hosted dozens of military officials from around the world, including the U.S., for a meeting today to establish a maritime defense alliance. Thirteen countries joined Riyadh in signing a statement of support for the effort: Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Yemen, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Sudan, Djibouti and Somalia…
The Senate narrowly blockedanother push by Democrats today to force an end to the Iran war, 50-49, with Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Rand Paul (R-KY) again breaking with their party to vote for the war powers resolution and Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) voting against it…
The share of Israelis who believe President Donald Trump is “highly committed” to protecting Israel’s security interests has dropped to a new low, according to a survey from Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies.
The organization’s July 2026 National Security Survey found that only 14% of Israelis believe the country’s security interests are a top concern for Trump, representing a significant drop from the 35% recorded in March, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports…
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) argued today at the Hudson Institute that, without regime change in Iran, the U.S. will likely need to continue to conduct periodic military operations against Iran’s nuclear program to prevent Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, JI’s Marc Rod reports…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at the dynamics in the Democratic primary for the congressional seat being vacated by Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), where Jewish state Sen. Jeremy Moss’ challengers are targeting him for his ties to pro-Israel donors.
President Donald Trump is expected to hold a Cabinet meeting tomorrow at the historic Camp David retreat in Maryland.
The Democratic Socialists of America will hold its annual organizing conference this weekend in Chicago, where some programming will focus on “anti-imperialist and pro-Palestine organizing strategy” to end the “U.S.-Israeli genocide in Palestine.”
We’ll be back with the Daily Overtime on Monday. Shabbat shalom!
Stories You May Have Missed
LOSING YOUR HERITAGE
A former trade policy analyst at the conservative think tank said that many new hires were fixated on conspiracy theories about the Holocaust
SECURITY CONCERN
The agency said state administrative agencies and the extended DHS shutdown caused the lengthy delay in issuing the grants
Plus, 2025 NSGP grants come in low and slow
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
An exterior view of The Heritage Foundation building on July 30, 2024 in Washington, DC.
Good Thursday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we report on new allegations of an antisemitic culture at the Heritage Foundation and cover New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s response to questions over the absence of Jews from his Advisory Committee on the Judiciary. We report on a conversation between Yasir Al-Rumayyan, a close associate of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s former shah, during Tuesday’s funeral service in Washington for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and spotlight an announcement by the rabbinic arm of the Conservative movement to further welcome interfaith families. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Sen. Roger Wicker, Adm. Brad Cooper and Erica Schwartz.
We also have a new on-demand Live Briefing that you can access throughout the day via our new app (on Apple and Android) and on our website.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by Israel Editor Tamara Zieve and U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik, with an assist from Marc Rod. Have a tip? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
- CENTCOM said it conducted a “heavy wave of strikes” against Iran on Wednesday night, as a “powerful response” to Tehran’s attempted attacks on U.S. forces on Tuesday. The military said it struck dozens of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targets in Iran, including military command centers, missile and drone facilities, coastal surveillance and defense sites and maritime capabilities.
- Earlier Wednesday, President Donald Trump had warned that the U.S. would “beat the f**king sh*t out of” Iran following the attempted attack by the IRGC, even as he signaled a willingness to keep diplomatic channels open. “We’ll be hitting them hard,” Trump told Fox News’ Trey Yingst. “They’re going to get a beating.”
- The Senate is expected to hold a procedural vote this morning on a war powers resolution seeking to end those U.S. operations in Iran, after it was postponed yesterday.
- The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will hold a nomination hearing for Sarah Rogers, the undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, to be CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media.
- This morning, Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) is speaking at the Hudson Institute for a conversation on global threats.
- In the afternoon, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is co-hosting an antisemitism roundtable with the Anti-Defamation League to hear from Jewish community leaders about recent antisemitic incidents in the state.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S WILL BREDDERMAN
The morning after a double hate crime targeted an Asian American and a Jewish man wearing a yarmulke in Manhattan, during which the attacker allegedly yelled “Allahu Akbar” and “Justice for Islam” while passing a synagogue and stabbing the second victim, New York City Comptroller Mark Levine offered what may prove a eulogy for a political era in America’s greatest metropolis.
“There is no New York without us,” the Jewish Democrat said at a press conference outside The Jewish Center, the Modern Orthodox synagogue where the Jewish victim worshipped, invoking the deep history and contributions of Jews to the Big Apple.
But Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the lone citywide official not to attend the gathering, seems to wager that he can govern New York City without much support from the dense web of religious and civic organizations that historically shaped Jewish life there and helped guide the choices of his predecessors. Mamdani received only about one-third of the Jewish vote in the mayoral election, but little support from legacy Jewish groups.
One need only look to the state Assembly district covering the site of the assault to see how Mamdani is at odds with the mainstream Jewish leadership. As mayor, he endorsed an opponent of Rabbi Stephanie Ruskay, the favorite of local Jewish Democratic leadership, as she sought the seat in June. The rabbi serves as associate dean of Jewish Theological Seminary, and is the daughter-in-law of retired longtime UJA-Federation of New York CEO John Ruskay. In doing so, Mamdani even spurned one of his most vocal Jewish supporters, former Manhattan Borough President Ruth Messinger, long a standard-bearer of a Jewish liberalism rooted in communal institutions.
LOSING YOUR HERITAGE
Nine months after the Heritage Foundation came under fire for defending Tucker Carlson’s friendly interview with a neo-Nazi, the conservative think tank is facing fresh scrutiny over accusations that it has enabled an extreme culture in which new hires feel free to question the Holocaust and to engage in historically revisionist debates about World War II, with no apparent internal policing from leadership, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.
Internet influence: Andrew Hale, a trade policy analyst at Heritage who left in January to join a rival think tank launched by former Vice President Mike Pence, recalled that prior to departing he had found new hires were fixated on antisemitic conspiracy theories about the Holocaust and Israel of the sort popularized by Nick Fuentes, Carlson and Candace Owens, the extreme-right podcast host. Hale confirmed to JI in an interview on Wednesday that new, particularly younger, staffers at Heritage “openly said things which were antisemitic, whether they realized it or not,” crediting their views to an obsession with far-right social media channels.
HOT SEAT
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani continued to face questions on Wednesday about how he managed to appoint a panel of attorneys to recommend city judges that did not include a single Jewish member. The absence of any Jewish representation on the Advisory Committee on the Judiciary came despite a vow from the mayor’s chief counsel, Ramzi Kassem, that the panel was “truly representative cross-section of the legal profession in New York City,” Jewish Insider’s Will Bredderman reports.
What he said: The mayor, at an unrelated event on Wednesday, maintained he had not inquired about nominees’ religious affiliations. “Any suggestion that there would be any decision made or motivated by religion, it does bother me,” Mamdani told reporters. “Any suggestion that the composition of the advisory committee was motivated by religion is false.”
RIYADH X REZA
Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the powerful head of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund and a close associate of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was seen greeting and conversing with Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s former shah, during Tuesday’s funeral service in Washington for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports.
Zoom in: In video footage first published Tuesday by the Christian Broadcasting Network, the two men shared an embrace and spoke briefly during the service. The interaction marked a rare public exchange between a top Saudi official and one of the most prominent Iranian opposition figures. Al-Rumayyan holds several key leadership roles across Saudi state interests, including as governor of the Saudi Public Investment fund and chair of oil giant Saudi Aramco, English football club Newcastle United and Riyadh Air.
SECURITY CONCERN
The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced on Wednesday that 1,600 out of 6,000 applications received for the long-delayed 2025 Nonprofit Security Grant Program cycle were approved, meaning that less than 27% of organizations that applied received any funding — a significant dip from previous years, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Details: The grants were approved nearly a year after applications opened for the 2025 cycle on Aug. 13, 2025, and after applications for 2026 NSGP funding were already due last week. FEMA indicated that state agencies responsible for administering the grants on the state level and repeated Department of Homeland Security shutdowns relating to immigration enforcement disputes were responsible for the delays.
DEFENSE DOLLARS
Senate Republicans said this week that a House-passed budget reconciliation bill does not contain enough defense-related funding and that they want to significantly increase it, setting up a clash between GOP lawmakers in the two chambers, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
What they’re saying: Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, told JI, “I’d rather it be much bigger.” The bill passed by House Republicans includes $73 billion in defense-related funding, designed to largely cover the administration’s $87.6 billion supplemental funding request for the Iran war. But the administration has said it needs an additional $350 billion, separate from the Iran war funding, to help bring to fruition the $1.5 trillion defense budget it envisions for 2027.
Scoop: Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Ronny Jackson (R-TX) are set to introduce legislation on Friday to investigate whether the Iran-linked Polisario Front, a paramilitary group that claims sovereignty over parts of the Western Sahara, can be designated as a terrorist organization.
RABBINIC RULINGS
Eight months after the Conservative movement apologized to interfaith couples for treating them as if their relationships were a threat to Jewish survival, the rabbinic arm of the movement announced a new set of Jewish legal rulings to provide concrete ways congregations and rabbis can better welcome interfaith families. But the new reforms stop short of allowing Conservative rabbis to officiate at interfaith weddings, eJewish Philanthropy’s Jay Deitcher reports.
Majority vote: The announcement came in the form of a publication titled, “Gateways Into Jewish Living: Guiding the Conservative/Masorti Rabbi in Supporting Families with Non-Jewish Loved Ones,” authored by the Rabbinical Assembly’s Committee on Jewish Law and Standards. The nine rulings were voted on by 23 rabbis from the committee, with most passing by a wide margin. The most contentious issue — passed with 14 votes in favor, five against and four abstentions — dealt with offering a Hanukkat Habayit, a dedication of the Jewish home, for interfaith families who are building an “exclusively” Jewish home.
Read the full story here and sign up for eJewishPhilanthropy’s Your Daily Phil newsletter here.
Worthy Reads
Who Fills the Void? The Wall Street Journal’s Barton Swaim examines the scramble to succeed the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), weighing the candidacy of former Gov. Mark Sanford against Graham’s own sister, Darline, drafted into the race by a Trump endorsement she didn’t seek. “Lindsey Graham and Mark Sanford were once close; so much so that Mr. and Mrs. Sanford, as they then were, named Graham godfather to their youngest son. Still I strongly suspect Mr. Sanford, a quasi-libertarian at heart, would view the hawkish policies advocated by Graham in narrowly fiscal terms and deem them too expensive … Will Ms. Graham carry on her brother’s ‘legacy,’ as her campaign literature claims? The task of replacing the ubiquitous Lindsey Graham seems undoable, but his sister signals the right attitude.” [WSJ]
Why Now? In his Substack, “It’s Noon in Israel,” Amit Segal explores the reasoning behind Iran’s renewed attacks on the U.S. “The logic is simple. Both sides are running out of time, but on different clocks. Iran’s runs on resources; [President Donald] Trump’s — whatever the reports of munitions shortages suggest — runs on patience. Iran can afford to lose resources if the spending drains Trump’s patience faster. Quiet slows his clock. Silence is Iran’s worst enemy. That is also why [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu is not pushing for another military campaign. Such a campaign would drain Trump completely — and if the regime survived, as it is certain it would, then even amid the rubble it would have won. Iran thinks it can out-stubborn Trump. Netanyahu is working around that bet rather than trying the strategy himself.” [Substack]
Friends and Foes: In The Free Press, Elliott Abrams, the former diplomat who now serves as a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, argues that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Washington this week as the two allies bearing the heaviest burden for U.S. interests — yet still uncertain whether President Donald Trump will fully commit to backing them. “The issue this week is not so much the personal relationships, though those matter far more than they should to Trump. Instead, the issue is how Trump sees friends, partners, allies, and democracies, versus opponents and enemies. Trump continues to treat Putin and Chinese president Xi Jinping with remarkable deference and respect despite the direct threats they pose to U.S. interests. There’s every reason to believe that Russia is providing Iran with intelligence helping it hit U.S. bases in the Middle East. Meanwhile, the U.S. is pampering an ally with far less skin in the game than Israel and Ukraine. Last week, the Trump administration announced its acceptance of a nuclear energy deal that will allow Saudi Arabia to enrich uranium, without subjecting it to inspections from the International Atomic Energy Agency.” [FP]
Word on the Street
In an interview with ABC News, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he discussed with President Donald Trump various options to proceed with handling the conflict with Iran, but ultimately, “It’s his decision.” Netanyahu said, “The truth is, we’re partners. We’re allies. He’s the senior partner. It’s the United States of America, let’s not forget. And I’m a junior partner. But I’m the prime minister of Israel, and when I have to stand up for the interest of my country and the security of my country, I do so”…
Addressing Vice President JD Vance’s comments to podcaster Joe Rogan this month that American politics are being swayed by Israeli “influence campaigns,” Netanyahu said he “had a very good conversation with the vice president this morning, and I think we straightened that out because we’re not. That’s not our policy”…
Netanyahu also met with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at Blair House on Wednesday morning. Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter and Israeli National Security Advisor Shmuel Ben Ezra participated in the meeting, along with Elbridge Colby, undersecretary of defense for policy, and Sean Parnell, assistant to the secretary of defense for public affairs…
The late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) worked privately with Netanyahu just before the 2024 election to organize a bipartisan group of senators to denounce the International Criminal Court‘s investigation of the Israeli leader — coordination captured in footage from filmmaker Alex Holder, in which Graham joked he should be paid “tons of shekels” for his help…
Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman traveled to Washington and met with Trump and Vance at the White House on Wednesday, according to Axios, where Prince Khalid told them that, despite Riyadh having engaged in joint strikes with the U.S. on Iranian proxies, the kingdom still wants to see hostilities with Iran de-escalate…
CENTCOM head Adm. Brad Cooper has prepared a two-week intensive bombing campaign against Iran as an option for Trump to consider, The Wall Street Journal reports, outlining a strategy to cripple Tehran’s missile capabilities in order to reduce the strain on U.S. defensive munitions…
The Treasury Department sanctioned the Persian Gulf Marine Insurance Company and Hormuz Safe Marine Services Authority, which are backed by the IRGC, for running “insurance” schemes in the Strait of Hormuz, whereby the terror group creates threats to commercial shipping and then charges vessels for insurance coverage…
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met on Wednesday in Ankara with new Hamas head Khalil Al-Hayya…
A Brooklyn federal judge sentenced Dan Sohail to serve six months in jail and pay $19,000 in restitution for ramming his car into Chabad’s world headquarters in Brooklyn in January…
The New York Times profiles Reihan Salam, the conservative Manhattan Institute president working to make the think tank the “intellectual engine of the resistance” to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani…
The New York Times’ “The Daily” podcast on Wednesday spotlighted AIPAC and the role it is now playing in U.S. politics, describing it as a once-bipartisan organization that has now become partisan and a polarizing force in the Democratic Party. During the conversation, among other statements that drew the ire of AIPAC, guest Jonathan Mahler said the advocacy group’s actions “have provided an opening, honestly, for bad actors, but in particular, in a sort of worrying sense for people who are not just criticizing Israel but who are criticizing Jews and Jewish influence”…
In an X thread responding to several of the accusations made against it during the podcast, AIPAC said, “This is an outrageous accusation. Suggesting that politically active pro-Israel American citizens are to blame for antisemitism is shameful. Antisemites are responsible for the rise in antisemitism”…
The Associated Press spotlights a fringe group of Israeli settlers, the Pioneers of Bashan, who have repeatedly breached the border with Syria, with the ultimate goal of establishing Jewish settlements inside the country — despite condemnation from the IDF…
Opposition lawmakers in Israel filibustered an 11-hour Knesset Finance Committee session yesterday to block NIS 392 million ($127 million) for Haredi education and West Bank settlements…
The Forward tells the story of Nik Jakobs and his family — namely his grandmother, Edith, who was hidden by the entire Dutch town of Stadskanaal to survive the Holocaust, a story which the town recently restaged as a play — as Jakobs is now building a synagogue in an Illinois cornfield from the salvaged remnants of shuttered American shuls…
Jewish summer campers who were headed home to Baltimore during Tuesday night’s storms hauled a fallen tree off a Washington road, clearing the way for a blocked ambulance…
The Associated Press examines the growing far-left media ecosystem, including Drop Site News and Hasan Piker’s stream, that has helped to boost a range of progressive candidates during this primary cycle…
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) declined to answer questions from a Drop Site News reporter, responding, “Oh, you’re Drop Site! It’s like a race between who’s the more pro-Hamas: Drop Site or Zeteo?” Fetterman went on to reiterate his support for Israel and said he wanted Drop Site viewers to know “how much I love to watch Israel eliminating the Hamas leadership”…
A new Washington Post-Ipsos poll found that 3 in 4 Democrats would consider backing a socialist for president, but only 39% of overall respondents would do the same…
Boston University’s Conference on the Jewish Left has rescinded its invitation to Curt Mills, editor of The American Conservative magazine and a prominent voice in MAGA’s anti-Israel wing, after backlash over his inclusion in the March 2027 program, reports Jewish Currents, a magazine associated with the anti-Zionist Jewish left…
CBS News announced that Wall Street Journal correspondent Dov Lieber will join its team in September as a senior reporter based in Israel…
The American Jewish Committee named Andrew Gross, who was previously director of international innovation and partnerships at the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, as director of its New York regional office…
Frances “Fran” Belzberg, a Vancouver philanthropist and Order of Canada recipient whose family founded Israel’s OneFamily terror-victims organization, died last Shabbat at 99…
Pic of the Day
Erica Schwartz, founder of The Well, a new Jewish dating app, mingled with prospective users at the app’s launch event on Tuesday in Manhattan. The Well — named for the biblical story of Eliezer finding Isaac’s wife, Rebecca — is slated to launch in the coming weeks. The app matches Jewish day school alumni using AI and matchmakers, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
Birthdays
Commissioner emeritus of Major League Baseball, his 2019 memoir is For the Good of the Game, Allan Huber “Bud” Selig turns 92…
Retired attorney from the firm of Hatton, Petrie & Stackler in Aliso Viejo, Calif., Ronald E. Stackler turns 89… The first woman justice on the Nebraska Supreme Court, as a teen she won two gold medals and a silver medal as a swimmer at the Maccabiah Games in Israel, Justice Lindsey Miller-Lerman turns 79… Actor, director and producer, Ken Olin turns 72… Philanthropist and investor, of Uzbek Bukhari background, known as the “King of Diamonds,” Lev Leviev turns 70… Sports executive, attorney and president of Paris Basketball, David Kahn turns 65… Former mayor of Arad and then a member of the Knesset for the Kulanu and Likud parties, Tali Ploskov turns 64… President of C&M Transcontinental, he served as COO for the first two Trump campaigns, Michael S. Glassner turns 63… Emmy Award-winning actor, comedian and producer, Lisa Kudrow turns 63… Head coach of men’s tennis and director of tennis operations at Columbia University, Howard Endelman turns 61… Best-selling nonfiction author, contributing editor at Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone magazines, he is a co-creator of the HBO series “Vinyl,” Rich Cohen turns 58… District chief of staff for retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), Robert M. Gottheim turns 55… Assistant attorney general for antitrust at the DOJ during most of the Biden administration, Jonathan Seth Kanter turns 53… Motivational speaker, author and entrepreneur, he served as a law clerk in 2008 for Justices O’Connor and Ginsburg, the first blind person to clerk for the U.S. Supreme Court, Isaac Lidsky turns 47… President of MS NOW, Rebecca M. Kutler… Member of the Knesset for the Otzma Yehudit party, Limor Son Har-Melech turns 47… Senior producer at Vox and host and producer of the podcast of the Association for Jewish Studies, Avishay Artsy… President and founder in 2014 of Dallas-based ECA Strategies, Eric Chaim Axel… Pittsburgh-based therapist, Lewis Sohinki… Author of Jerusalem Drawn and Quartered: One Woman’s Year in the Heart of the Christian, Muslim, Armenian and Jewish Quarters of Old Jerusalem, Sarah Tuttle-Singer turns 45… Former director of policy and public affairs for the Jewish Community of Denmark, now in the renewable energy and offshore wind industry, Jonas Herzberg Karpantschof… Attorney and member of the Los Angeles County GOP Central Committee for Assembly District 42, which includes Pacific Palisades, Elizabeth Barcohana turns 43… Former head of digital operations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel, Tamar Schwarzbard… Managing principal of West Egg Development, a New York-based real estate development firm, Samuel Ezra Eshaghoff turns 34… Former trade officer at Israel’s economic mission to the South and Midwest U.S., Joshua Weintraub… Winner of the Miss Israel pageant in 2014, she is now an international businesswoman, Mor Maman turns 31… Actor, as a 10-year-old she starred in the comedy film “Ramona and Beezus,” and since then in many movies and television shows, Joey Lynn King turns 27…
If Mamdani is able to succeed by only playing to his base — still a big if — the city’s organized Jewish community risks getting written off entirely
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks at a food distribution center on July 27, 2026 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City.
The morning after a double hate crime targeted an Asian American and a Jewish man wearing a yarmulke in Manhattan, during which the attacker allegedly yelled “Allahu Akbar” and “Justice for Islam” while passing a synagogue and stabbing the second victim, New York City Comptroller Mark Levine offered what may prove a eulogy for a political era in America’s greatest metropolis.
“There is no New York without us,” the Jewish Democrat said at a press conference outside The Jewish Center, the Modern Orthodox synagogue where the Jewish victim worshipped, invoking the deep history and contributions of Jews to the Big Apple.
But Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the lone citywide official not to attend the gathering, seems to wager that he can govern New York City without much support from the dense web of religious and civic organizations that historically shaped Jewish life there and helped guide the choices of his predecessors. Mamdani received only about one-third of the Jewish vote in the mayoral election, but little support from legacy Jewish groups.
One need only look to the state Assembly district covering the site of the assault to see how Mamdani is at odds with the mainstream Jewish leadership. As mayor, he endorsed an opponent of Rabbi Stephanie Ruskay, the favorite of local Jewish Democratic leadership, as she sought the seat in June. The rabbi serves as associate dean of Jewish Theological Seminary, and is the daughter-in-law of retired longtime UJA-Federation of New York CEO John Ruskay. In doing so, Mamdani even spurned one of his most vocal Jewish supporters, former Manhattan Borough President Ruth Messinger, long a standard-bearer of a Jewish liberalism rooted in communal institutions.
The mayor instead backed Eli Northrup, a Jewish attorney and activist ambivalent about Israel but deeply engaged in the online left that propelled Mamdani to power.
And it was this very online, Democratic Socialists of America-dominated audience that the mayor addressed two days before the attack, when he released a video denouncing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, even as he admitted he could not honor his campaign vow to arrest him if he came to the city for the United Nations General Assembly meeting in September. The social media post followed days of questions and criticism from local press and Jewish leaders over his continued toying with the idea of cuffing the Israeli leader, even though city attorneys had long apprised Mamdani that he had no authority to enforce an International Criminal Court warrant against the Israeli leader, as The New York Times subsequently reported.
But rather than plainly admitting he could not honor his promise, the mayor spun a real-world, local loss into an Internet triumph: releasing a dramatic, camera-facing address on his official social media channels with the caption “Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal.” The video itself focuses on denouncing the Israeli prime minister as the “architect of a horrific genocide” — without even mentioning the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack that set off the most recent round of the conflict. Only in the final moments of the video, which received more than 150 million views, does the mayor acknowledge he lacks legal grounds to arrest Netanyahu.
There is at present no evidence that the video inspired the Manhattan attack, much less a violent incident at a Jewish summer camp in Queens this week. But the video prompted fierce criticism from Jewish leaders — and calls from Levine and other prominent Democrats for a general tempering of rhetoric among elected officials. Mamdani has refused to even acknowledge suggestions that he turn down the temperature.
He also dismissed concerns from a suite of Jewish attorneys associations that a panel he appointed to recommend city judicial appointments did not include a single Jewish member, despite the prevalence of Jewish attorneys in New York. This kind of political faux pas, committed amid relentless criticism from Jewish leaders, would typically sap a leader’s political capital. But Mamdani built his political coalition online, apart from traditional bases of political influence, and it looks to have endured these incidents unscathed.
If anything, the mayor still appears empowered after helping to elect three leftist allies in New York City to Congress last month, ousting two sitting members of the House in the process. And the institutions, Jewish and otherwise, that have sought to stop him look weaker than ever.
He smashed the political organization of one-time ally Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY), and humiliated the left-wing Working Families Party by using his clout to lift Assemblymember Claire Valdez over Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso in the primary for the retiring Velazquez’s seat.
He also potentially decimated the unique Jewish-Dominican political alliance — the kind of “only in New York” ethnic coalition that once defined city politics — that elevated Levine to power by taking out the comptroller’s most important ally, Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY), with his own pick: radical grad student Darializa Avila Chevalier.
But Mamdani is not the only canny politician capitalizing on the emotionally heightened moment. Netanyahu, facing a tough election fight at home, has announced his intention to come to New York and challenge the mayor’s message and authority directly. Mamdani, who enjoys better poll numbers among American Jews than Netanyahu, has already tacitly urged his supporters to greet the Israeli leader with protests.
A collision between the two seems increasingly likely — with potential to again impact New York’s Jewish community.
Less sensationally, and often behind the scenes, the main challenge to Mamdani’s latitude in government have so far been two more moderate-minded Jewish women, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch and City Council Speaker Julie Menin, both around issues of law and order. Tisch, a grand marshal in this year’s Israel Day on Fifth Ave parade, reportedly forced the mayor’s hand on the question of arresting Netanyahu, as her department prepared to publicly declare it could not take the Israeli politician into custody.
Menin helped shepherd bills mandating police buffer zones around religious institutions and schools at a time when the mayor struggled to condemn pro-Hamas protests outside synagogues.
Meanwhile, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten has fought the mayor politically. Her union helped bankroll PACs opposing his political candidates, and its New York branch — closely aligned with Menin and the city’s Jewish Democratic establishment — has threatened the mayor with “all-out war” in upcoming contract negotiations.
So far though, these struggles have barely slowed the mayor down. His social media-fueled movement has little appetite for compromise, at least on their core issues (which includes opposition to Israel). If Mamdani is able to succeed by only playing to his base — still a big if — the city’s organized Jewish community risks getting written off entirely.
Plus, a tale for Tu B'Av: matchmaking meets machines
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
President Donald Trump prepares to leave after speaking during an event at Verst Logistics on March 11, 2026 in Hebron, Kentucky.
Good Wednesday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
President Donald Trump warned this morning that the U.S. would “beat the f**king sh*t out of” Iran following an attempted surprise ballistic missile attack yesterday by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on U.S. forces, even as the president signaled a willingness to keep diplomatic channels open, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports.
Asked later if Iran was involved in a drone attack today on a U.S.-owned gas storage tanker at a shipping terminal in Egypt, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that the incident was “a little more of the same. … We’re going to be hitting [Iran] very hard ’cause it’s our turn to hit them. They know it’s coming,” he continued…
A U.S. official said last night’s retaliation by the U.S. and Saudi militaries against Iran-backed militias in Iraq resulted in the deaths of 20 Iran-linked individuals, who were a mix of IRGC members and technical advisors…
Before the latest escalation, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump discussed in their Oval Office meeting yesterday several potential next steps in Iran: reaching a diplomatic agreement, increasing economic pressure or intensifying military strikes, Axios reports.
The two leaders also spoke about Netanyahu’s continued insistence that the U.S. wind down aid to Israel — an effort the Israeli prime minister wants to lead publicly to give GOP lawmakers cover to support it — as well as the IDF’s continued presence in Syria…
Wrapping up his trip in Washington, Netanyahu met with Vice President JD Vance last night and hosted Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at Blair House this morning…
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met today in Ankara with new Hamas head Khalil Al-Hayya…
The Treasury Department sanctioned the Persian Gulf Marine Insurance Company and Hormuz Safe Marine Services Authority, which are backed by the IRGC, for running “insurance” schemes in the Strait of Hormuz, whereby the terror group creates threats to commercial shipping and then charges vessels for insurance coverage…
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani continued to face questions today about his decision to appoint a judicial advisory committee that did not include any Jews, which critics have noted is at stark odds with the large population of Jewish attorneys working in the five boroughs, JI’s Will Bredderman reports.
“Any suggestion that there would be any decision made or motivated by religion, it does bother me,” Mamdani told reporters today. “Any suggestion that the composition of the advisory committee was motivated by religion is false”…
Mamdani’s communications director disputed an account by former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel of his September 2025 meeting with Mamdani in which Emanuel said he told him, “You chant ‘[from the] river to the sea,’ and that means there will never be a homeland for Jews who had faced the Holocaust. I want you to hear this: Over my dead body.”
Anna Bahr, Mamdani’s staffer, said in a post replying to the clip of Emanuel on the “Unholy” podcast: “can confirm this … did not happen”…
A new pollof Michigan’s battleground 7th Congressional District shows progressive William Lawrence, a co-founder of the Sunrise Movement, leading the Democratic primary with a 38% plurality, followed by former Navy SEAL Matt Maasdam (27%) and former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink (19%). The survey, which was commissioned by a group backing Maasdam, also found 16% of voters are still undecided ahead of next week’s primary…
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) predicted Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro would be a “formidable” opponent if both men run in the 2028 Democratic presidential primary and told the Washington Examiner that Shapiro “very graciously” called him after Khanna claimed he was detained by Israeli settlers in the West Bank earlier this month…
A read for Tu B’Av, the Jewish holiday of love, happening today: A new Jewish dating app combining the benefits of traditional matchmakers with technology, set to launch in the coming weeks, is exclusively made for Jewish day school grads to find their bashert, founder Erica Schwartz told JI’s Haley Cohen. The app — called The Well, in a nod to the biblical story of Eliezer finding Isaac’s wife, Rebecca — utilizes a chatbot, human intuition and no swiping at all…
CBS News announced that Wall Street Journal correspondent Dov Lieber will join its team in September as a senior reporter based in Israel…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look into the reported far-right dynamics now at play among the new employees of the Heritage Foundation, following an exodus of the organization’s traditionally conservative staff under President Kevin Roberts.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel will co-host an antisemitism roundtable with the Anti-Defamation League to hear from Jewish community leaders about the impacts of recent antisemitic incidents in the state.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will hold a nomination hearing for Sarah Rogers, the under secretary of state for public diplomacy, to be CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media. Rogers was nominated for the role by President Donald Trump after a federal judge ruled that Kari Lake had been unlawfully serving as the agency’s acting chief executive, invalidating many of the actions she took while leading the agency.
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) will appear at the Hudson Institute for a conversation on the global threat environment.
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SHUL POLITICS
Leading rabbis across the state are urging their congregants to vote for Stevens — even if they’re not saying so explicitly
AID ARGUMENTS
Many of the attendees at Temple Emanuel who listened to the congressman defend his position appeared critical of the stance he’d taken and unconvinced by his explanation, Jewish constituents said
The NYC mayor said he did not inquire about religious identification of the panelists and only excluded a Jewish nominee due to his work with Ghislaine Maxwell
ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani answers questions on October 17, 2025 in New York City.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani continued to face questions on Wednesday about how he managed to appoint a panel of attorneys to recommend city judges that did not include a single Jewish member.
The absence of any Jewish representation on the Advisory Committee on the Judiciary — which evaluates potential appointees to New York’s family and misdemeanor courts — came despite a vow from the mayor’s chief counsel, Ramzi Kassem, that the panel was “truly representative cross-section of the legal profession in New York City.”
The move sparked outcry from an array of Jewish legal groups and the Anti-Defamation League earlier this week, who noted that the absence of Jews on the body is at stark odds with the large number of Jewish New Yorkers working as attorneys in the five boroughs. Some estimates find that between a third and a half of all lawyers in New York City are Jewish.
The mayor, at an unrelated event on Wednesday, maintained he had not inquired about nominees’ religious affiliations.
“Any suggestion that there would be any decision made or motivated by religion, it does bother me,” Mamdani told reporters. “Any suggestion that the composition of the advisory committee was motivated by religion is false.”
The mayor defended his rejection of retired state Supreme Court Justice John Leventhal, one of nine recommendations to the panel to come from outside his office, on the grounds he had served on the legal defense team of accused sex criminal Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime partner of Jeffrey Epstein.
“As much as possible we thought it best to avoid any association between the committee that would be appointing judges and the Epstein world,” Mamdani said.
The mayor said that he had nominated and renominated multiple Jewish judges during his first months in office.
“That will continue because of the mere fact of, as a reflection of, what the city looks like,” he said.
Plus, Washington bids farewell to Lindsey Graham
Prime Minister's Office
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on July 28, 2026.
Good Tuesday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed his sit-down with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office this morning as “one of the best conversations I’ve ever had with a president of the United States,” saying in a video statement that the two leaders were completely aligned “on the shared goal that Iran will not have nuclear weapons.”
Caroline Glick, Netanyahu’s international affairs advisor, also described the meeting, which was closed to the press, as “extremely positive” and pushed back against reports of a rift between Jerusalem and Washington. Netanyahu and Trump “have arguments from time to time … but they are on the same page 100% with everything relating to the goal of all operations regarding Iran,” Glick told Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea…
That rift was on display just hours before the meeting, when Trump expressed frustration with Netanyahu over reports that he planned to share with him Israeli intelligence regarding Iranian nuclear activity at Pickaxe Mountain.
“I don’t need Bibi to tell me that. Bibi is telling me that because he wants me to stay involved [in Iran],” Trump alleged in an interview on Fox News. “I know exactly what’s happening at Pickaxe, it’s not a big problem,” he said…
And in another indication of daylight emerging between the two countries, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz told Israel’s Channel 14 today that Jerusalem “very much want[s] to strike Iran’s energy targets,” but Washington “is not approving it at the moment because of the concern that Iran would attack neighboring countries, causing a global oil crisis”…
The funeral of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) at the Washington National Cathedral this afternoon drew his friends and supporters from all walks of life. Among those spotted in the sanctuary were Netanyahu; Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky; Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine; Miriam Adelson; former Vice President Mike Pence; Ron Dermer, Israel’s former minister of strategic affairs; the parents of slain American Israeli hostage Omer Neutra; Reza Pahlavi, the exiled former crown prince of Iran; and a host of administration officials and members of Congress…
Despite both being in Washington today for the same reasons — White House meetings with Trump and Graham’s funeral — Netanyahu and Zelensky will not hold an official meeting, The Times of Israel reports, though the two leaders were spotted speaking in person for the first time in several years at the National Cathedral ahead of the funeral proceedings.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha also spoke by phone today, where Sa’ar invited Sybiha to visit Israel…
The Senate added a provision extending long-standing sanctions on Iran, currently set to expire at the end of the year, into a major Russia sanctions package negotiated and championed by Graham before his death, JI’s Marc Rod reports. The bill is expected to receive its first procedural vote later today, after its sponsors meet with Zelensky…
Lebanese businessman Antoun Sehnaoui and former U.S. Middle East envoy Morgan Ortagus hosted a dinner in honor of Graham last night at the Four Seasons hotel in Washington, Axios reports. Netanyahu, who attended the event with his wife, Sara, told those gathered, “America has lost a great patriot, Israel has lost one of its greatest friends and supporters, and I have lost a dear friend”…
A man armed with a hammer today entered the premises of the Lev Leviev School in Queens, N.Y., where a Jewish day camp was operating and shoved a child into a fence before being subdued by camp personnel.
Queens Shmira, a local public safety organization, told JI that the incident was not a hate crime but was rather perpetrated by an “emotionally disturbed individual.” The NYPD took a person of interest into custody and the child was treated for a laceration on site before being transported to a hospital…
A new poll shows Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) leading former GOP Rep. Mike Rogers by two points if she wins next week’s closely watched Senate Democratic primary — with her opponent, Abdul El-Sayed, trailing Rogers by seven points, JI’s Gabby Deutch reports.
United Democracy Project, the AIPAC-affiliated super PAC, is meanwhile running a new ad hitting El-Sayed over his past support of the “uncommitted” movement and his criticisms of popular Democratic leaders…
CENTCOM announced today that it has signed an agreement with the UAE to establish the first bilateral task force focused on developing military artificial intelligence. The group, named Task Force Talon Synapse, will formally launch in the coming weeks and will be based in Abu Dhabi, with around 20 American and Emirati personnel with expertise in AI, data and cybersecurity…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at Jewish organizing efforts in Michigan ahead of the state’s Senate Democratic primary election next week.
Graham’s funeral will continue tomorrow in South Carolina, where he will receive a public procession at the Statehouse in Columbia and a private burial.
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MICHIGAN MATTERS
Haley Stevens touted her support for a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians, while Abdul El-Sayed lambasted U.S. aid to the Jewish state
COALITION CALCULUS
In an address in Washington, the opposition leader sketched a coalition with Bennett and Eisenkot that would mend U.S. and European ties, harden Israel’s line on Iran and shift tone on Gaza
Plus, El-Sayed defends leaked 'ogre' remarks
Emir of Qatar
Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani met with Rabbi Mendy Chitrik on July 27, 2026.
Good Monday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
President Donald Trump decided to pause military strikes on Iran because the U.S. and Tehran are “in very deep talks,” he told Axios today, but if the discussions “don’t work out, we will go back to very strong military action.”
Negotiations are thus far indirect, reportedly taking place primarily between Iran and Oman, though Trump told reporters today that Iran had requested a meeting directly with the U.S…
Asked about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s opposition to the U.S.’ planned sale of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey, Trump said, “Turkey’s been a great ally — for me. … Nobody tells me what we should be selling,” a clip that the White House’s rapid response social media account posted to X…
Saudi Arabia intercepted drones launched by Iran-backed militias in Iraq today which were targeting oil facilities in the country’s Eastern Province and in Riyadh, according to the Saudi Defense Ministry…
The U.S. Embassy in Israel temporarily restricted travel by U.S. government employees and their families into the West Bank due to “heightened security concerns and increased volatility” in the area…
Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani publicized a meeting in Doha today with a delegation of rabbis — led by Rabbi Mendy Chitrik, chair of the Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States — who came to offer their condolences on the death of the emir’s father and predecessor, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports…
Days after an alleged hate crime against a Jewish person in Manhattan, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani refused to engage with suggestions from various corners that he tone down his rhetoric around Israel — or to address why he continued publicly toying with arresting Netanyahu well after city attorneys told him he couldn’t, JI’s Will Bredderman reports…
The New York chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America is planning to lobby state lawmakers to pass the “Not on Our Dime” bill, which would revoke the tax-exempt status of New York nonprofits that support Israeli settlement activity, as well as a bill that would impose penalties on airlines that move arms shipments to Israel from JFK Airport, The New York Times reports…
Conservative writer Rod Dreher said Vice President JD Vance, with whom he used to be friends, “cut me off” after a meeting in which Dreher asked him to push back against rising antisemitism among young people on the right.
Dreher recalled on an episode of “The Jeremy Boreing Show”: “I pointed out to [Vance] these people — [neo-Nazi Nick] Fuentes, the groypers, all of them — are going to destroy conservatism and the Republican Party, and I said to him, ‘Because of your background, because of your age, you are uniquely positioned to draw a red line there’ … but he hasn’t chosen to do it”…
Far-left Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed came under fire for leaked audio in which he said about his potential primary win, “You put one ogre on a pike, and then everyone else gets the message,” comments which some understood to refer to his opponent, Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI).
El-Sayed disputed the interpretation, telling The 19th that he was “clearly referring to supporting a primary against [Sen.] John Fetterman (D-PA), who I’ve called an ogre many, many times”…
Troy Jackson, the newly minted U.S. Senate candidate in Maine, announced he’s raised $2 million since he replaced Graham Platner as the Democratic nominee over the weekend…
The Office of the Attending Physician in Congress said in a statement today that Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who has been hospitalized since he fell in June, is still not medically cleared to leave the rehabilitation facility and return to office…
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore appeared separately at The Hampton Synagogue on Long Island over the weekend, where they both “affirmed their commitment to Israel and to combating antisemitism,” founding Rabbi Marc Schneier said…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for an interview with George Moraitis, a former Florida state representative who is running in the Republican primary for the 23rd Congressional District, hoping to unseat Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL).
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet at the White House tomorrow with President Donald Trump for the eighth time in Trump’s second term, the most of any international leader. Before departing for Washington earlier today, Netanyahu said he and Trump would “discuss all the issues on the agenda — first and foremost, Iran.”
The two leaders will also attend the funeral of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), which will begin at the U.S. Capitol and then move to a service at the National Cathedral, where Trump is slated to give remarks. Other world leaders are also expected to be in attendance, including Israeli Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, who landed in the U.S. this morning, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Central Synagogue in Manhattan will hold a memorial service for Wesley LePatner, one year after the Blackstone executive and Jewish philanthropist was killed in a shooting at the firm’s Midtown headquarters.
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Band spent 30 years in health policy before turning full-time to Judaica; now, the Library of Congress houses five of her books
The NYC mayor wouldn’t respond to criticism from fellow Democrats or Netanyahu, or explain why he continued toying with the notion of arresting the Israeli prime minister
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks at a food distribution center on July 27, 2026 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City.
Days after an alleged hate crime against a Jewish person in Manhattan, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani refused to engage with suggestions from various corners that he de-escalate his rhetoric around Israel — or speak to why he continued publicly toying with arresting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu well after city attorneys told him he couldn’t.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has charged Raul Morales with multiple hate crimes for stabbing first an Asian American and then a Jewish man on the Upper West Side last Thursday — the latter attack allegedly preceded by Morales shouting “Allahu Akbar” and “justice for Islam” outside an Orthodox synagogue displaying American and Israeli flags.
A number of Jewish leaders linked the attack to the mayor’s recent denunciations of Netanyahu and the Jewish state, and even a fellow Democrat signaled at a press conference on Friday morning that Mamdani should “take the temperature down.”
Netanyahu himself, whom Mamdani excoriated in a widely watched video last week as “the architect of a horrific genocide,” accused the mayor of “fomenting hate” in a Sunday appearance on Fox News.
But the mayor declined to substantively engage with any of these criticisms when pressed by reporters on Monday.
“I’m not interested in getting into a back and forth with Prime Minister Netanyahu,” the mayor said when asked about Netanyahu’s comments at an unrelated press conference, though he immediately pivoted back to attacking the Israeli leader when asked moments afterward about other New York elected officials suggesting his commentary might negatively impact Jewish New Yorkers. “When I make criticisms of Prime Minister Netanyahu, they are criticisms of Prime Minister Netanyahu. And what I shared were not even, frankly, personal assessments. They were objective facts.”
Still, the democratic socialist acknowledged that the majority of the city’s hate crimes fall upon its Jewish minority, and pledged his administration would protect them. He also praised the police for quickly arresting Morales, who has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.
“One of my top priorities is keeping Jewish New Yorkers safe, keeping every single New Yorker safe,” he said. “My responsibility as a New Yorker and as a mayor of this city is a responsibility to take care of each and every person who calls the city their home. And that is not based upon whether or not they agree with me, how they feel about me. My job is to make sure that they are safe, that they are thriving, and they continue to call this city home.”
Asked why he continued to publicly suggest there was a possibility he might honor his campaign promise to arrest Netanyahu well after — according to The New York Times — city attorneys told him he had no power to do so, the mayor refused to explain.
“I’ve said all that I have to say on that topic,” he answered.
The Arizona senator, who is weighing a presidential bid, also urged Israelis to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the upcoming elections
Eric Lee/Getty Images
Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) speaks during a pen and pad briefing with reporters at the U.S. Capitol on June 2, 2026 in Washington, DC. Sen.
Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) said on Sunday on NBC’s “Meet The Press” that he will “always stand by Israel as a nation,” while adding that he hopes Israelis will oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the elections later this year.
“I’m not happy with the decisions that the prime minister of Israel has made over the last few years,” Kelly said in response to a question about whether he agrees with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s recent description of Netanyahu as a war criminal. “The way they conducted the operations in Gaza, there were a lot of mistakes made,” Kelly responded. “That being said, Israel is an ally of ours. We support the Israeli people. I’m going to always stand by Israel as a nation.”
He indicated he did not agree with Mamdani’s call for the U.S. government to arrest Netanyahu during his upcoming visit to the United States.
“The best way to resolve this issue with a prime minister — that, just like our president, is not doing the job they were hired to do — is for him to be defeated at the ballot box,” Kelly said. “So that’s coming up pretty soon here. I hope the Israeli people rally around a candidate that will take Israel in a better direction.”
Asked about the Iran war, Kelly questioned the administration’s $1.5 trillion defense budget and $67 billion supplemental funding request .
“Do we really feel that we’re that threatened, and we need to spend these sums of money for our defense? We’ve got programs that this administration is going to spend money on that aren’t going to work, and things that we don’t need,” Kelly said. “What they’re asking for is not reasonable.”
But he said he hasn’t made a final decision on the supplemental yet, while calling the administration’s handling of the war in Iran a “disaster.”
Kelly also acknowledged that he’s considering a presidential run in 2028.
“We have to see what are the issues that we’re facing after we get on the other side of November here,” Kelly said, emphasizing the need for Democrats to take back the House and Senate. “So this is a discussion I’m going to continue to have with my family, but we’ve got plenty of time.”
He also sounded supportive of the Democratic National Committee’s decision to make South Carolina the first Democratic primary state in the presidential election, praising Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC), the state’s Senate nominee Annie Andrews as well as Nancy Lacore, the party’s recruit in the open seat of retiring Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC).
Plus, Jewish groups sound the alarm on Mamdani
Win McNamee/Getty Images
President Donald Trump (R) meets with Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia during a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office of the White House on November 18, 2025.
Good Wednesday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
President Donald Trump set a new red line on Iran today: Any time the Islamic Republic fires on a ship in the Strait of Hormuz going forward, the U.S. will “bomb and destroy one bridge or power plant,” including ones located in or near Tehran, he wrote on Truth Social.
But the president’s threat didn’t seem to sway the regime: Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf in turn warned on X that “in a region where we do not sell oil, no one will sell oil,” and said Iran would further target ships in the strait…
Congressional Democrats are lining up in opposition to the Trump administration’s reported nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia that would allow Riyadh to enrich uranium for civilian purposes, while Republicans are mostly supportive of the effort, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod and Christina Sher report.
Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) warned that the nuclear enrichment technology could eventually fall into the hands of a malign regime — as U.S. weapons did with the fall of the shah in Iran in 1979. “We have no idea who’s going to be running Saudi Arabia ten years from now,” Sherman told JI…
In a narrow vote, largely along partisan lines, the House passed its version of the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act this afternoon. All but six Democrats, as well as seven Republicans, voted against the bill in protest of issues including the continued Iran war and the proposed Defense Department budget of more than $1 trillion.
Some lawmakers, including Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), had sought to strip a provision on U.S.-Israel cooperation out of the bill, though Massie’s amendment on the issue ultimately didn’t receive a vote…
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani announced that the country will host another round of U.S.-led talks between Israel and Lebanon on Aug. 4…
Roman Gofman, the new head of the Mossad, reportedly traveled to Washington earlier this month for talks with CIA Director John Ratcliffe and White House officials on the Iran war and the Iranian nuclear program…
At a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing today on U.N. reform, Jeff Bartos, the U.S. representative for U.N. management and reform, derided Francesca Albanese, the special rapporteur for the Palestinian territories, as an “absolute lunatic” and an “anti-America, anti-capitalist, anti-West, anti-Judeo-Christian, anti-Jew, anti-Israel bigot”…
Secretary of State Marco Rubio appeared to walk back the idea previously floated by Trump that Syria could take Israel’s place in fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon: “Well, the Syrian authorities are not big fans of Hezbollah. But what we’ve encouraged Syria to do is to focus on its own internal challenges that it has in sort of building a nation state,” Rubio said when asked about the concept…
A new Politico poll found a 13-point drop in support for the Iran war among Trump’s MAGA base: In May, 50% of MAGA voters said the war was worth the economic cost, down to just over a third who say the same now…
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s video released last night — in which he railed against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu but confessed he couldn’t honor his campaign pledge to arrest the Israeli leader — triggered a wave of warnings from mainstream Jewish organizations that Mamdani excoriating Israel from his official platforms places Jewish New Yorkers at risk, JI’s Will Bredderman reports.
Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) also slammed Mamdani for “parroting Hamas talking points” in his video and said the mayor should be “a little less obsessed with foreign policy, and a little more obsessed with cleaning up his streets”…
The Republican Jewish Coalition endorsed Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC) in the special election next month as she seeks a full term to succeed her late brother, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC). The RJC, which last night announced the creation of an award in Lindsey Graham’s memory, said he was “the best friend of the Jewish people” in the Senate and that the group “trust[s] his beloved sister to carry the fight forward”…
Connie Chan, a member of San Francisco County Board of Supervisors who is running for the seat of retiring Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), received the endorsement yesterday of Citizens Against AIPAC Corruption, the political arm of the group TrackAIPAC, and pledged to “oppose any aid to Israel and do everything in our power to stop their government’s genocidal actions.” Chan, who is endorsed by Pelosi as well as Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA), is seeking to defeat state Sen. Scott Wiener in the Democrat-on-Democrat general election…
The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and the Anti-Defamation League reached a settlement today with Reed College, which agreed to implement “one of the nation’s most comprehensive sets of reforms addressing campus antisemitism,” the groups said in a statement.
As part of the agreement — negotiated over allegations of Title VI civil rights violations, including a Jewish student who was struck in the head by a rock — Reed will adopt a “first-of-its-kind FAQ” into its discrimination policy detailing how anti-Zionist conduct can constitute unlawful discrimination…
California Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed Scott Galloway, the Jewish UCLA and UC Berkeley alum who is now a business professor and commentator, to serve on the University of California Board of Regents, pending state Senate confirmation. Galloway has emerged as a leading voice against campus antisemitism in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at comments by Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) on the “Breaking Points” podcast as he becomes more outspoken against far-left activists who continue to harass him, even as he takes increasingly critical stances on Israel.
The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions will vote to advance acting Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling’s nomination to assume his role permanently. Read more about Sonderling’s Jewish family history, which he invoked during his confirmation hearing.
The International Criminal Court‘s 125 member states will hold a vote on Friday in a special session at U.N. headquarters in New York on whether to remove chief prosecutor Karim Khan over sexual misconduct allegations, which he denies. An absolute majority of 63 states would have to vote on the secret ballot in favor of ousting Khan — who took a leave of absence last May and was formally suspended in June — in order to remove him. The vote lands amid a renewed U.S. push, announced by Secretary of State Marco Rubio last week, to dismantle the court.
The White House Correspondents’ Association will hold its rescheduled annual dinner on Friday at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington, three months after the original gala was cut short when a gunman stormed a security checkpoint and allegedly attempted to assassinate President Donald Trump. (Read JI senior congressional reporter Marc Rod’s first-hand account of the experience here.) The president is once again expected to attend and speak at the dinner.
In observance of Tisha B’Av, the Daily Overtime will be back in your inbox on Monday, July 27.
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ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt called Mamdani’s statement a ‘dangerous dereliction of duty’
Leonardo MUNOZ / AFP via Getty Images
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani arrives for a news conference at Gracie Mansion in New York City on March 9, 2026.
A video New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani released late Tuesday night — in which the democratic socialist railed at length against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu but confessed he couldn’t honor his campaign pledge to arrest him — triggered a wave of warnings from mainstream Jewish organizations that his singular focus on excoriating Israel from his official platforms places New Yorkers at risk.
The mayor’s video — which has received in the neighborhood of 150 million views across all his office’s social media channels, one of his most-viewed posts ever — ran with the tag “Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal” and denounced the Jewish state’s leader as “the architect of a horrific genocide.” Mamdani ultimately admitted in the video that his administration could not enforce an International Criminal Court warrant against Netanyahu should he attend the upcoming U.N. General Assembly.
The social media clip, which accused Netanyahu and Israel of various war crimes including targeting women and newborn babies, provoked widespread outcry from Jewish groups. They noted Mamdani had omitted any reference to Hamas and the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks that touched off the latest round of conflict, and asserted he had neglected his responsibility as a local official elected to represent all communities in the city.
“This isn’t just political theater. It’s a dangerous dereliction of duty,” Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt wrote on X, noting the spike in hate crimes targeting Jewish New Yorkers since Oct. 7. “He remains relentlessly obsessed with the world’s only Jewish state — even as Jewish New Yorkers face record levels of antisemitism and the city confronts urgent problems that demand his attention.”
Greenblatt further argued the video was the product of an “antisemitic worldview” and “the play-acting instincts of a perpetual student activist.”
The UJA-Federation of New York said in a statement, “New Yorkers elected a mayor to lead this city — not to make Israel the centerpiece of your political grandstanding. At a time of rising antisemitism, repeatedly singling out and vilifying the world’s only Jewish state for perceived political benefit is repugnant, puts Jews at greater risk — and leaves many Jewish New Yorkers feeling targeted and unwelcome in the city we call home.”
“Shame on you,” the post concluded.
AIPAC said Mamdani’s video was “based on a modern blood libel and outrageous lies.”
Other groups including the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Orthodox Union and American Jewish Committee contrasted the mayor’s pledges early in his administration to represent New Yorkers of all faiths and nationalities with his use of official city platforms to exclusively pillory Israel — with the OU calling it a “betrayal of his oath of office and his own commitment to protect all New Yorkers” and the AJC demanding he “stop putting a target on the back of the Jewish community.”
“New Yorkers elected a mayor, not a prosecutor of foreign leaders,” SWC wrote in a statement, arguing he had taken the issue beyond criticism of any one foreign statesman. “Mayor Mamdani repeatedly singles out Israel while using the prestige of his office to legitimize rhetoric that further isolates the Jewish state and deepens division here at home.”
The SWC statement added: “He delivered a sweeping moral indictment of Israel while erasing the terrorist atrocities that ignited this war.”
Pressed with these concerns after an unrelated event at City Hall on Wednesday, Mamdani said he would hypothetically have liked to see ICC warrants enforced against leaders of Hamas as well. Asked if he saw the Oct. 7 attacks, the deadliest wave of violence against Jews since the Holocaust, as genocidal, the mayor called them a “horrific war crime” and “something that should be deeply opposed with every single fiber of our being” — but declined to answer in the affirmative.
He maintained that criticizing Israel publicly was in keeping with his responsibilities to the city’s Palestinian American community, as well as a “universal politics.” He also reiterated that he would not “be welcoming” Netanyahu to the city, and suggested New Yorkers might greet his arrival with protests.
“This is a city where if anyone feels a level of frustration or opposition, protest is something that we will always respect,” he said. “I leave it to New Yorkers themselves to make that decision.”
In a social media video, Zohran Mamdani railed against Israel, said nothing about Hamas — and confessed he couldn’t fulfill a campaign promise to arrest the Israeli prime minister
Screenshot/X
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani video statement.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani posted a video statement to X on Tuesday night under the caption “Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal,” in which he accused the Israeli prime minister of a litany of atrocities in Gaza, but ultimately admitted he would not be able to fulfill a campaign promise of arresting him under a warrant from the International Criminal Court.
The democratic socialist pledged to arrest Netanyahu from the earliest days of his candidacy for the job in 2024, and reiterated the promise in the final weeks of the race last year. But days after attesting to The New York Times that he was still consulting city attorneys about his ability to actually enforce the ICC warrant against the leader of the Jewish state, Mamdani finally acknowledged that his office had no power to do so.
“It is clear that we do not have the independent legal authority to enforce this warrant,” Mamdani said, after an extended attack on Israeli military policy in Gaza — one that made no mention of Hamas or of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks that prompted the latest round of the conflict.
Mamdani called Netanyahu the “architect of a horrific genocide,” naming him individually responsible for the “maiming of tens of thousands of children as those who survive undergo amputation without anesthesia” and for the “targeting of neonatal hospitals and maternity care centers,” among other charged accusations.
The mayor further called on federal authorities to act on the ICC warrant, despite the country not being a party to the court — and despite President Donald Trump’s recent pledge on Truth Social that Netanyahu would not be arrested anywhere in the United States.
“Benjamin Netanyahu is not welcome in New York City,” the mayor concluded. “We can examine every tool we have to defend the humanity and dignity of all people. That is my commitment to you.”
The video ends without Mamdani explaining what that commitment would mean in practice.
Plus, direct flights to Beirut cleared for takeoff
Satellite image (c) 2026 Vantor
Vantor satellite image shows tunnel construction activity and road infrastructure near the Natanz nuclear facility in the mountainous area around Pickaxe Mountain.
Good Tuesday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
Meeting with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in the Oval Office today, President Donald Trump warned that the U.S. would “pretty soon” strike Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain, the underground facility suspected of housing components of Tehran’s nuclear program, Jewish Insider’sEmily Jacobs reports.
“We’ll be hitting that area pretty soon, and very heavily,” he said, following a Wall Street Journal report that Israeli intelligence indicates Iran moved thousands of centrifuges into the site last fall…
Trump added in his comments that Iran “wants to meet desperately” with the U.S. to end the war, but “until they’re ready to meet in a meaningful way, we have no interest in meeting with them”…
Trump announced after his meeting with Aoun that he is directing his administration toallow all U.S. airlines to fly directly between the U.S. and Lebanon. The Reagan administration suspended direct flights in 1985 after Hezbollah-linked hijackers seized TWA Flight 847 and killed a U.S. service member aboard…
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said at a conference today that Israel has “no interest” in joining the renewed U.S. campaign against Iran. “The best way to bring about the regime’s downfall is to crush it economically,” he said, pointing to the U.S. blockade on Iranian ports…
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told the Senate Appropriations Committee during a hearing this afternoon that the estimated cost of the Iran war thus far is $37.5 billion, up from $29 billion estimated by Pentagon Comptroller Jules Hurst in May.
Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), the top Democrat on the committee, indicated that Democrats do not intend to support the Pentagon’s $88 billion supplemental funding request. The administration’s “expectation that Americans will just pay for [the war in Iran] without any explanation or transparency is disrespectful,” she said…
The IDF said its soldiers operating in southern Lebanon fired warning shots today as personnel from the Lebanese Armed Forces crossed into Israeli-controlled territory, an area the IDF said was not included in the pilot zones the LAF is meant to control. The LAF called the incident “an act of aggression” that could hinder the broader deployment plan…
A senior White House official told JI that a report that Vice President JD Vance was attempting to scuttle a potential White House meeting between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “completely false.”
“The idea that the vice president’s team, or any official in the administration for that matter, would try or even be able to interfere with a visit by a foreign leader with the president is laughable,” the official said…
A group of Jewish House Democrats asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio today to pressure Malaysia to walk back plans to deport Israeli citizens, JI’s Marc Rod reports, urging him to leverage U.S. military assistance to the Southeast Asian nation…
The Senate Intelligence Committee voted to advance the nomination of Jay Clayton to be director of national intelligence, Committee Chair Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) announced, sending his nomination to the full Senate for approval. Democrats who had previously wanted to see Clayton confirmed said they were disappointed by his refusal to affirm at his hearing that former President Joe Biden won the 2020 election…
The Jewish Caucus of the College Democrats of America condemned the CDA’s decision to host far-left streamer Hasan Piker at its convention over the weekend and claimed in a statement that attendees were prevented from conducting a walkout during Piker’s speech. The caucus called on CDA leadership to issue a formal apology and to publicly condemn Piker’s previous antisemitic comments, JI’s Haley Cohen reports…
Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-WI), the leading Republican candidate for governor in Wisconsin, appeared on a podcast hosted by an individual who defended Hitler and joked about the Holocaust, the Milwaukee Courier reports. Tiffany had previously criticized his likely Democratic opponent, Francesca Hong, for going on Piker’s podcast…
The now-former treasurer of the New York Young Republican Club, Nicholas T. Rafael Jr., appeared to operate an anonymous X account that posted Hitler images and antisemitic caricatures, according to New York Magazine, which also obtained a photo of Rafael making what appears to be a Nazi salute while wearing German military attire. It’s the latest scandal regarding far-right extremism for the once-influential club…
The University of New Hampshire released a new poll of the race for U.S. Senate in Maine showing former state Sen. Troy Jackson, the presumed replacement for former Democratic nominee Graham Platner, leading Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) 49-46% in the general election…
New York Assemblymember Micah Lasher, the presumed successor to retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), strongly defended his ongoing relationship with Morris Katz and said he’ll continue to work with the consultant who was behind Platner‘s failed Senate bid, a week after New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said the same…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at the Democratic primary in Michigan‘s battleground 7th Congressional District, where two Democrats with national security backgrounds are facing off against a far-left activist.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold a hearing on U.N. accountability and reform with U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz and U.S. Representative to the U.N. for Management and Reform Jeff Bartos.
Later, the committee’s Middle East subcommittee will hold a hearing on the “next phase of the Abraham Accords” with former U.S. Ambassadors to Israel David Friedman and Dan Shapiro as well as Asher Fredman, executive director of the Misgav Institute for National Security.
The House Ways and Means Committee will mark up several bills including the Foreign Funding Transparency Act, which would make nonprofits disclose foreign donors; the Fiscal Sponsorship Transparency Act, which would require charities to report the groups they fund; and the Fair Treatment of Religious Organizations Act, which would shield religious groups’ tax-exempt status.
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Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images
A U.S. Army carry team moves the flagged-draped coffins containing the remains of the U.S. soldiers killed in an Iranian strike on March 7, 2026.
Good Monday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
U.S. and Iranian leaders continued to escalate their rhetoric as renewed military hostilities entered their second week: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said today that Tehran is in “full-scale war” with the U.S., while President Donald Trump proclaimed that “every time Iran kills an American soldier” — after three service members were killed in Iranian attacks over the weekend — “they will pay for that killing many times over!” Trump said he had conveyed that directive to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine and “every leader in the military”…
U.S. officials told The New York Times that dozens of U.S. service members were injuredand several helicopters damaged in previously undisclosed Iranian strikes in Jordan last week, prior to this weekend’s fatal attacks.
The deadly strikes reportedly hit housing units where U.S. forces live and sleep, with some troops unable to reach bomb shelters before the missiles struck…
The NYT also investigates the deaths of three civilian crewmembers aboard a shadow tanker carrying Iranian oil that was targeted by U.S. strikes on June 10 as part of the American blockade of Iranian ports.
The Strait of Hormuz continues to be a focal point of the conflict, as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed today that two oil tankers had exploded after passing through the waterway…
All the while, the White House posted to its social media feed a three-week-old poll from a right-wing polling firm showing support for the now-defunct U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding signed last month, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports…
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani seemed to back away today from a campaign pledge — reiterated in an interview over the weekend — to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he visits New York for the upcoming U.N. General Assembly, JI’s Will Bredderman reports.
“My administration will follow all applicable local laws. That is our commitment,” the mayor told reporters. Trump, meanwhile, pledged on Truth Social that Netanyahu “will not be arrested, in any way, shape, or form, while in the United States of America”…
Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC) confirmed on Fox News that she will run in the special election next month for U.S. Senate to fill the seat of her late brother, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC); Darline Graham already has Trump’s endorsement, given as he encouraged her to run on Friday.
Not to be dissuaded, Rep. Russell Fry (R-SC), who was thought to be a front-runner before Darline Graham came on the scene, also declared his candidacy for the seattoday. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) told reporters he is not endorsing anyone “at the moment” in the race…
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) became the latest progressive lawmaker to endorse far-left Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed today, citing the “special interests running millions of dollars in TV ads to buy this seat,” an apparent reference to the AIPAC-linked United Democracy Project super PAC supporting El-Sayed’s opponent, Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI)…
Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) pulled family pictures off of his campaign site that feature his son-in-law, who was found to have promoted white nationalism and Nazi ideology online, as he runs for U.S. Senate against Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA)…
The State Departmentannounced today that the Lebanese Armed Forces is assuming control of three villages in southern Lebanon as part of pilot zones established under the trilateral agreement between Israel, Lebanon and the U.S. The IDF, which is coordinating the effort with the LAF and U.S. military, said it will “respond forcefully to any violation of the agreement”…
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree announced a maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia today in retaliation for what the terror group called Riyadh’s “oppressive siege” on Yemen…
Former Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer has rejoined the Jewish Institute for National Security of America as a distinguished fellow, the organization announced…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at Ed Miliband, the member of Parliament who was tapped today by new U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham to serve as foreign secretary, and what his selection could mean for British policy toward Israel.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun will meet President Donald Trump at the White House. The two leaders’ first in-person meeting comes as Lebanon, the U.S. and Israel work to implement their trilateral agreement signed last month and as the Lebanese government seeks to demonstrate its ability to disarm and contain Hezbollah.
On the Hill, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine will appear before the Senate Appropriations Committee for a hearing on the Trump administration’s $88 billion supplemental funding request for the Pentagon.
The House Intelligence Committee will hold a hearing on the terror threat landscape ahead of the upcoming 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks with testimony from former National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster.
Jewish groups including the Jewish Federation of Columbia South Carolina, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, the Zionist Organization of America, Young Jewish Conservatives, the Jewish Community Action Network, the Focus Project, ChaiTech and Stop Antisemitism will hold a virtual national tribute to the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC).
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The mayor ran on a promise to arrest the Israeli premier but on Monday wouldn’t commit to following through
Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani seemed to shy away on Monday from a campaign vow — referenced in an interview over the weekend — to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, even as he continued to lob rhetorical fusillades at the leader of the Jewish state.
The now-mayor promised to arrest Netanyahu in the early days of his run for Gracie Mansion, as he sought to consolidate the far left behind his then-longshot bid, and reiterated the promise after winning the Democratic primary.
“My administration will follow all applicable local laws," Mayor Zohran Mamdani told reporters about arresting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — what legal experts and Gov. Kathy Hochul say is outside the NYPD's powers.
— Jewish Insider (@jewishinsider) July 20, 2026
Read more: https://t.co/xLADaz8fBu pic.twitter.com/hDC8VCtn9p
Legal experts and even Gov. Kathy Hochul have asserted this lies outside the powers of the NYPD. But the democratic socialist maintained in a weekend interview with The New York Times that an “active conversation” remained ongoing in the city’s law department about his ability to enforce a warrant from the International Criminal Court — of which the U.S. is not a member — to take the Israeli prime minister into custody if he comes to New York for the upcoming U.N. General Assembly meeting.
But Mamdani seemed to acknowledge on Monday that such a move might exceed his authority.
“My administration will follow all applicable local laws, that is our commitment, that is something will follow through on, when it comes to adherence to local laws,” the mayor told reporters after an unrelated event, stressing again when pressed: “We will follow our local laws.”
“I believe that when someone is charged with an International Criminal Court warrant, it’s something that should be taken seriously, whether it’s Benjamin Netanyahu or it’s [Russian President] Vladimir Putin or whomever else,” the mayor said.
Nonetheless, the mayor criticized Netanyahu as the “architect of the genocide of Palestinians” and affirmed his earlier assertion that the Israeli leader is a “war criminal.”
President Donald Trump, for his part, took to Truth Social after Mamdani’s sitdown with the Times to promise that Netanyahu “will not be arrested, in any way, shape, or form, while in the United States of America.”
The lawmakers argue the meeting, which was canceled after interference by the State Department, should be investigated for potentially violating of the Logan Act
Photo by MADISON SWART/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images
New York Working Families Party co-directors Ana Maria Archila (R) and Jasmine Gripper (L) take the stage during a rally in support of Zohran Mamdani at Brooklyn Steel in Brooklyn, New York, on May 4, 2025.
Several House Republicans sent a letter on Thursday to the Department of Justice calling for an investigation into whether New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his international affairs commissioner, Ana María Archila, violated the Logan Act by scheduling a meeting with the Iranian ambassador to the United Nations.
Archila, who heads the New York City Mayor’s Office for International Affairs, had previously scheduled a July 7 meeting with Amir-Saeid Iravani, Iran’s U.N. ambassador, before the State Department intervened and the meeting was canceled.
Mamdani claimed last week that the meeting was “made in error” and had been scheduled without his knowledge. The mayor also stressed that the Iranian mission had reached out to his team and not the other way around.
The lawmakers argue that the planned meeting should be investigated for potentially violating the Logan Act, a centuries-old statute that prohibits American citizens from negotiating with foreign governments without authorization on behalf of the United States.
The letter was led by Rep. Addison McDowell (R-NC) and also signed by Reps. Buddy Carter (R-GA), Clay Fuller (R-GA), Pat Fallon (R-TX), Randy Fine (R-FL), Riley Moore (R-WV), Wesley Hunt (R-TX), Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Pete Sessions (R-TX), Pat Harrigan (R-NC), Rich McCormick (R-GA), Claudia Tenney (R-NY), Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), and Max Miller (R-OH).
The lawmakers said they were especially concerned about the attempted meeting in light of negotiations between the U.S. and Iran being “in a critical stage.”
“Given its timing, we believe this proposed meeting may have presented significant national security risks,” the letter reads. “In light of this, we respectfully ask that the Department of Justice investigate potential violations of the Logan Act on the part of the mayor’s office.”
“We support President Trump’s efforts to shore up American economic and national security interests in the Middle East, and we understand the vulnerable nature of continued peace negotiations,” it continues. “For that reason, we believe that a formal investigation is necessary to determine whether Commissioner Archila, acting on behalf of Mayor Madani, engaged in any unlawful activity or communication with the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
The mayor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Plus, Vance alleges Israeli influence campaign to extend Iran war
Photo by Kevin Carter/Getty Images
The sun sets behind the U.S. Capitol Building on July 8, 2026 in Washington, D.C.
Good Wednesday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
More than 100 House Democrats, about half of the caucus, voted in favorof Rep. Thomas Massie’s (R-KY) amendment to strip all U.S. aid to Israel out of the State Department appropriations bill this afternoon, including several leaders of the caucus such as Rep. Katherine Clark (D-MA), the No. 2 House Democrat, and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).
While the amendment was overwhelmingly defeated, 314-104, the large segment of Democrats supporting the measure indicates a growing shift away from the party’s historic support for Israel…
Vice President JD Vance, in an episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience” released today, stated repeatedly that Israeli actors are engaged in a “very discreet, very well-funded” influence campaign to extend the war in Iran: “There are some people within their system we know beyond a shadow of a doubt who are manipulating and trying to change American public opinion to keep the war going on indefinitely. Again, not towards any objective, but just indefinitely,” he alleged.
Vance also said that the late disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein “clearly had connections to the highest levels of Israeli intelligence” and to “elements of the Israeli deep state that were left of center”…
The U.S., Israel and Lebanon, wrapping up talks in Rome this week, agreed on the structure and guidelines for implementing the two pilot zones the parties agreed to create in southern Lebanon, a State Department official said today, without specifying a timeline for the IDF’s withdrawal. The parties will now engage in expanded technical talks to implement the trilateral agreement reached in the last round of negotiations…
CENTCOM began another round of strikes against Iran this afternoon; coming after strikes earlier in the day, the pace of the operations appears to be gaining momentum. President Donald Trump is reportedly considering expanding U.S. military efforts to include more airstrikes, utilizing ground forces and targeting nuclear sites again, according to The Wall Street Journal…
Three senior U.S. officials connected to the Board of Peace, the Trump-led body created to resolve the conflict in Gaza, have been meeting with congressional offices this week to request $200 million for the International Stabilization Force, two people with knowledge of the meetings told Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch. The meetings mark the first time that Board of Peace representatives have approached Congress with a funding request…
Ahead of today’s deadline, candidates have begun releasing their fundraising reports for the second quarter. In Georgia, where some in the Jewish community have felt torn between two less-than-ideal options in Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) and his opponent, Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA), Ossoff holds a commanding fundraising advantage: The senator reported raising$20 million this quarter with $42 million in the bank, while Collins raised $2.1 million, leaving him with $2.2 million in cash on hand…
Meanwhile, Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed released his 2025 tax returns, which he is not legally obligated to do but was pressured to do by his opponent in the Democratic primary, Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI). El-Sayed’s reported total income was over $680,000, nearly $300,000 of which was unspecified as to its source…
The anti-Israel American Priorities super PAC made an initial investment of $375,000 to boost El-Sayed in the race; El-Sayed has repeatedly railed against super PAC involvement in politics — particularly that of AIPAC’s United Democracy Project, which is spending heavily in favor of Stevens…
Rep. Hilary Scholten (D-MI), speaking to Semafor about electability concerns in the Democratic Party, criticized progressives who “prop up other candidates who have said really problematic things.” The moderate congresswoman added that El-Sayed, who has been criticized for comments about Stevens seen as misogynistic, “has a problematic record with women”…
A new Quinnipiac poll of Pennsylvania voters found Gov. Josh Shapiro leading his Republican opponent in his reelection race by 13 points, 53-40%, with a 56% overall approval rating. Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) had a 77% approval rating among Republicans, but only 19% among voters in his own party. Nearly half (49%) of voters said the Democratic Party has moved too far to the left, while 42% said the Republican Party has moved too far to the right…
Former White House senior official Brett McGurk is releasing a book, Brink: Inside the Race to Free the October 7 Hostages, on his role leading U.S. efforts under former President Joe Biden to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, due out on Oct. 6 to coincide with the third anniversary of the attacks…
The New York Times examines the role that Hollywood superagent Ari Emanuel could play in the potential presidential run of his brother, former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, as politicians increasingly seek access to media as part of their campaigns; among those close to Ari Emanuel are the UFC’s Dana White, commentator Joe Rogan, pundit Stephen A. Smith as well as Elon Musk…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at what this afternoon’s vote on Massie‘s amendment to cut all U.S. aid to Israel means for the future of Israel policy in the Democratic Party.
At least eight Democratic candidates vying to replace former nominee Graham Platner on the ballotfor U.S. Senate in Maine will take the debate stage tomorrow evening in their first chance to pitch themselves to voters, ahead of the state Democratic Party’s nominating convention later this month.
President Donald Trump will give an address to the nation in the evening, which he has said will largely focus on American election security.
The American Federation of Teachers’ annual convention will kick off in Washington. The second largest teachers’ union in the U.S., the AFT has previously featured anti-Israel resolutions at its gatherings.
The Aspen Security Forum continues with several panels on the Middle East, including speakers such as Akif Çağatay Kılıç, top advisor to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan; Ayman Safadi, Jordan’s foreign minister; Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT); Ted Deutch, CEO of the American Jewish Committee; Dan Shapiro, former U.S. Ambassador to Israel; Rahm Emanuel; Anne Neuberger, former deputy national security advisor; and Salam Fayyad, former prime minister of the Palestinian Authority.
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Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) questions U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth as he testifies before the House Armed Services Committee April 29, 2026.
Good Tuesday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a warning to Iranian leaders, as military hostilities escalate between Iran and the U.S.: “Do not count on there being calm if you attack us,” Netanyahu addressed Tehran, while speaking today at a conference in southern Israel. “Do not expect a repeat of what happened before, because there will be no repeat. … Any further attempt to harm us will be met with a different response — far more powerful”…
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump walked back his announcement that the U.S. would institute a 20% toll on all cargo passing through the Strait of Hormuz, saying in a post on Truth Social that Middle East leaders had agreed to additional trade and investment deals with the U.S. to replace the fee…
CENTCOM announced it began launching an additional round of strikes against Iran this afternoon “to continue degrading Iranian capabilities used to attack commercial shipping” in the strait, and officially reinstated a blockade on Iranian ports. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it launched missile and drone attacks in retaliation against bases in Kuwait and Bahrain…
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said he would oppose an amendment led by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) to strip all aid to Israel out of the 2027 State Department appropriations bill, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. But Jeffries also argued for “urgent change” to the U.S.-Israel relationship, including suggesting that direct U.S. military aid to Israel should end when the current memorandum of understanding expires.
Progressive Caucus Chair Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX), on the other hand, said he plans to vote yes on Massie’s amendment, writing in a “Dear Colleague” letter that the “American people are crying out for an end to US tax dollars subsidizing Israel’s military”…
Israeli Transportation Minister Miri Regev announced today that the U.S. will only be permitted to station 20 military refueling aircraft at Ben Gurion Airport, while the rest must be parked at Israeli Air Force bases, in order to facilitate commercial travel for Israelis over the summer…
U.N. official Ramiz Alakbarov accused Hamas forces of interfering at a humanitarian aid distribution site in Gaza, saying armed men had entered a warehouse and “endangered humanitarian personnel,” leading the organization to suspend its operations at the site. “These incidents are not isolated. They are completely unacceptable and reflect an increasingly dangerous pattern of intimidation, violence and obstruction,” Alakbarov said…
Trump asked Netanyahu in a phone call last week to pull IDF forces back from Syria and Lebanon, Axios reports; the Prime Minister’s Office said Netanyahu in turn emphasized Israel’s need for security zones along its borders…
The Jewish Community Relations Council Bay Area issued a statement today on Rep. Ro Khanna’s (D-CA) recent encounter in the West Bank, where he claims he was detained by violent settlers as well as the IDF. The group said it has “conveyed our concerns to the Congressman in how he is representing the district and our community on foreign policy issues” and called on Khanna “to exercise the same urgency he has brought to criticizing Israel to address the hostile climate many Jewish Americans face every day”…
Pressed repeatedly by writers with the Hamas-sympathetic outlet Drop Site News to offer support for the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks and Palestinians’ “right to kill Israeli soldiers,” Khanna said he is “not for violence in any way”…
Asked about legislation imposing sanctions on Russia that was championed by the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Trump said in the Oval Office today that lawmakers “may be adding Iran to it … They may add Hezbollah, too.” He said there’s a “good chance” it will pass “in honor of Lindsey”…
White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were spotted in the Senate chamber during the swearing-in this afternoon of Darline Graham Nordone to fill Graham’s seat…
The AIPAC-linked United Democracy Project super PAC sent direct mail to voters in Michigan highlighting far-left Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed’s refusal to condemn extreme rhetoric from antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker and El-Sayed’s efforts to “rationalize” the attack on Michigan’s Temple Israel earlier this year…
Columbia University anti-Israel protest leader Mahmoud Khalil filed a civil rights lawsuit against Trump administration officials, the Heritage Foundation and pro-Israel groups Canary Mission and Betar, alleging they “sought to terrorize” him to “intimidate and silence the growing movement for Palestinian rights”…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for an interview with Avi Loeb, the Israeli Harvard scientist leading Trump’s search for answers that may be out of this world.
Trump will headline the last day of Sen. Dave McCormick’s (R-PA) Pennsylvania Defense and Innovation Summit at the U.S. Army War College, with additional remarks from Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon.
The Aspen Security Forum in Colorado will feature fireside chats with former Navy Secretary John Phelan and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. Also on tomorrow’s agenda: a live taping of the “What the Hell is Going On?” podcast hosted by the American Enterprise Institute’s Danielle Pletka and Marc Thiessen, in conversation with former National Security Advisors Stephen Hadley and Robert O’Brien as well as Michèle Flournoy, former under secretary of defense for policy.
Jay Clayton will appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee for his confirmation hearing to be director of national intelligence, after Trump abruptly canceled his hearing originally scheduled for last month.
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) will speak at the Hudson Institute on the future of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East..
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Shady Alassar/Anadolu via Getty Images
Commercial vessels and oil tankers preparing to transit through the Strait of Hormuz maintain their wait in the Gulf of Oman, on June 17, 2026.
Good Monday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
President Donald Trump declared today that the U.S. will take control of the Strait of Hormuz and will institute a 20% fee on all cargo passing through the waterway “for any and all costs necessary to do the job of providing safety and security to this very volatile section of the World,” Jewish Insider’s Christina Sher reports. The move comes after Trump and his administration insisted for months that no country is permitted to charge fees to transiting ships…
Trump also announced he is reinstating a blockade of Iranian ports, which was lifted when the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding last month. CENTCOM said the blockade will resume tomorrow at 4 p.m. ET and will be enforced “against vessels transiting to or from Iranian ports and coastal areas.”
CENTCOM also revealed that it successfully deployed sea drones in combat operations for the first time yesterday, using the unmanned vessels to strike an Iranian submarine at the Bandar Abbas Naval Base…
Trump notified Congress on Friday that fighting with Iran officially resumed last week, further stoking tensions between the executive and legislative branches as lawmakers already approved a war powers resolution calling for an end to American operations in Iran.
Trump’s letter to congressional leadership said U.S. “ground forces are not involved in these strikes” — which he described as “limited, measured, planned, and executed in a manner designed to minimize civilian casualties” — and said he is acting “pursuant to [his] constitutional authority as Commander in Chief”…
The Mossad spent years grooming former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as an intelligence asset to be installed as Iran’s leader after a post-Khamenei regime change, including paying for his housing and travel and arranging a meeting with then-Mossad chief David Barnea under cover of a climate conference in Budapest in 2024, American and Iranian officials told The New York Times.
As the Iran war broke out on Feb. 28, Mossad operatives rescued Ahmadinejad from an Israeli airstrike on his Tehran compound and took him to a safe house, but he balked and left — Ahmadinejad is now reportedly under house arrest by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps…
The Houthis accused Saudi Arabia of bombing Yemen’s international airport today, with a spokesperson saying the action “will not go unanswered,” threatening a tenuous truce enacted several years ago between the terror group and the Saudis. A spokesperson for the internationally recognized Yemeni government, which is backed by Riyadh, said the Houthis subsequently fired ballistic missiles into Saudi Arabia…
U.K. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced on Monday that the country designated the IRGC as a terror organization, with those found guilty of supporting the group facing up to 14 years in prison. The government also banned the Islamic Movement of Companions of the Right, which No. 10 Downing St. said was behind a number of attacks on British Jewish sites…
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster announced at a press conference this afternoon that he is appointing Darline Graham Nordone, the late Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-SC) sister, to serve out the rest of Graham’s term. Trump had voiced his support for Nordone, who shared an exceptionally close bond with her brother, as “a fabulous tribute to Lindsey.” Fox Newsreported that Nordone could be sworn in as soon as Wednesday…
The Trump administration plans to launch a major diplomatic offensive against the International Criminal Court, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced today, the latest move in the White House’s longtime battle against the international organization.
The push appears to be rooted in concerns that the ICC will seek to prosecute American servicemembers, JI’s Gabby Deutch reports. Such actions would not only be “a grave overreach of its purported authorities,” Rubio wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, “it would mean the death of the U.S. as a sovereign and independent nation”…
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani vowed that he would maintain ties with Morris Katz, the controversial political operative behind Mamdani’s own victory as well as the imploded campaign of former Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner, JI’s Will Bredderman reports, despite calls from members of the Democratic Socialists of America to boycott the consultant’s services…
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), a member of the Squad and a vocal detractor of Israel, endorsed far-left Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed today, joining fellow Squad members Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Summer Lee (D-PA) and Delia Ramirez (D-IL) in backing him less than a month before the primary…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at the surging anti-Israel candidate in the Democratic primary for Michigan‘s swing 7th Congressional District.
The sixth round of talks between Israel and Lebanon are slated to begin tomorrow in Rome, despite Beirut’s reported threat not to attend if the IDF did not vacate two pilot zones in southern Lebanon before the discussions. Israeli media reported that this week’s talks will focus on the timeline for the withdrawal.
The Aspen Security Forum, the high-profile annual gathering of national security leaders, policymakers and foreign policy experts, begins tomorrow afternoon in Colorado. Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, former Defense Secretary Mark Esper and former Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker will speak on a panel on the “state of the world.”
The two-day Pennsylvania Defense and Innovation Summit, hosted by Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA), will kick off at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pa., with a keynote address from Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine.
Some House Republicans were invited to a dinner tomorrow night with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, according to Punchbowl News, as the Trump administration is seeking more than $67 billion for the Pentagon in its supplemental funding request.
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The mayor said he’ll keep working with Morris Katz despite calls from DSA members to boycott the consultant
ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani answers questions on October 17, 2025 in New York City.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani vowed on Monday to maintain ties with a controversial political operative behind the imploded campaign of Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner, whom a former romantic partner accused of rape, leading him to drop out of the race.
Morris Katz and his consulting firm Fight Agency gained a reputation as political wonder-workers after assisting in Mamdani’s 2025 campaign and then in the socialist sweep of New York’s congressional primaries last month. But following the high-profile collapse of Platner’s candidacy, members of the Democratic Socialists of America began circulating a petition calling for a boycott of Katz’s services.
But Mamdani, one of DSA’s most prominent national figures, declared he would not participate in the proposed blacklist.
“I will continue to work with Morris Katz,” Mamdani told reporters at an unrelated event. “He remains a top advisor of mine.”
Mamdani’s remarks come in spite of reports that Katz had sought to intimidate a former Platner staffer who had revealed that the Democratic contender had sent sexually explicit messages to several women. Katz also stood by the candidate through revelations that he had a tattoo of a Nazi symbol and that former romantic partners had accused him of abusive behavior. Democrats and independent observers consider unseating Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) crucial to the party’s hopes of capturing control of the Senate this fall.
Katz, born to a prominent Manhattan Jewish family, has said that AIPAC “radicalized” him and has advised candidates to take a hostile stance toward Israel.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani called his international affairs commissioner’s scheduled sitdown with Iran’s U.N. representative ‘an error’
Yuki Iwamura-Pool/Getty Images
Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani told reporters on Friday that he had been unaware that top officials in his administration planned to meet with Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations earlier this month — calling the decision “an error” on the part of one of his most prominent and politically active commissioners.
Speaking after an unrelated event, the mayor maintained he only learned from a request for comment from City Journal that International Affairs Commissioner Ana Maria Archila and what the publication described as “two other senior officials” working under her had planned to sit down on Tuesday with Amir-Saeid Iravani of the Iranian Mission to the U.N. City Journal, affiliated with the right-of-center Manhattan Institute, reported that the State Department stepped in to preempt the meeting.
“That meeting did not take place, it will not take place, and I did not know about it until there was a press inquiry regarding it,” Mamdani told reporters, vowing a change in internal policy to prevent it from occurring again. “The commissioner recognizes that this was made in error, and we’re working on a new process, in terms of new meeting requests.”
The democratic socialist stressed that the Iranian mission had reached out to his team, not the other way around, and maintained that the office’s function is to maintain the city’s international relationships.
However, City Journal and El Pais have reported that Archila has taken a decidedly political tack in her outreach to foreign governments, explicitly seeking to engage with those that are “in political alignment/leftist,” including Colombian President Gustavo Petro, a fierce critic of Israel.
Archila first gained attention for confronting then-Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) in a Senate elevator over the nomination of now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in 2018, and subsequently ran unsuccessfully for New York lieutenant governor in 2022. Prior to joining the Mamdani administration, she served as co-director of the New York chapter of the left-wing Working Families Party.
Plus, Labour's leftward turn on Israel
Israeli Ministry of Defense/Anadolu via Getty Images
Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz holds a security situation assessment meeting with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir and other senior commanders in Tel Aviv, Israel, on March 07, 2026.
Good Thursday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
Appearing on CNN this morning, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter said Jerusalem is “supportive of the position of the United States” regarding renewed strikes on Iran, and said Israel would “fly alongside U.S. aircraft” if called on to do so.
He added that Iran had violated its “only obligation” under the memorandum of understanding — to keep the Strait of Hormuz open — and that if the Iranians “persist in their malign intentions,” the war could resume “in full swing”…
Israeli military leaders are also hinting at potential Israeli involvement: At an Israeli Air Force graduation ceremony, Defense Minister Israel Katz said the IDF is prepared to carry out independent strikes “to remove threats” in Iran. Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, the IDF’s chief of staff, told the graduates that “new plans” are “on the drawing board” and that “major operations are still expected to lie ahead of us. Be prepared”…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he spoke with President Donald Trump today and was updated by the president “on American moves in the Gulf.” According to a statement from the PMO, Netanyahu again raised the issue of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan‘s hostile rhetoric toward Israel…
The Wall Street Journal examines the “root of the dispute” over the Strait of Hormuz — the “poorly worded” fifth article in the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding that says Tehran will “make arrangements” to restore shipping in the waterway and then work with Oman on a plan to administer it going forward.
“Notably, the paragraph says nothing about the U.S. making arrangements for the safe passage of vessels, which Iran has seized on to attack ships that use a U.S.-coordinated route,” a U.S. official told the outlet…
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) is in Israel and the West Bank this week while Congress is in recess, according to two individuals with knowledge of the trip. Khanna has not posted publicly about his visit, which is scheduled to conclude tonight, JI’s Melissa Weiss reports…
While wrapping up his trip, Khanna, who was one of Senate candidate Graham Platner’s most vociferous defenders until a rape allegation was made against the Maine Democrat earlier this week, told MS NOW that he’s endorsing former state Sen. Troy Jackson to take Platner’s place on the ballot. Jackson, who previously ran for governor, is a progressive seen as aligned with Platner…
But Platner’s potential replacements will have to wait a few more days: The candidate told campaign staff he intends to wait until the very last day — Monday — to officially file his paperwork to drop out of the race, Axios reports…
The Journal profiles Cheyenne Hunt, the progressive influencer and activist who played a key role in bringing to light the sexual assault and misconduct allegations that ultimately saw the ouster of Platner and the resignation of former Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA)…
Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL) withdrew as co-chair of the Congressional Friends of Spain Caucus due to what he called Madrid’s “escalating, hostile crusade” against Israel…
Andy Burnham, widely expected to become Britain’s next prime minister, told The Guardian that the response of his Labour party to Israel’s military actions in Gaza “has too often not been good enough” and that the U.K. has “got to do more to put pressure on the Israeli government,” including sanctions and potentially banning trade in goods from Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
Burnham also said there is “increasing evidence” that Israel committed war crimes, though he did not use the word genocide, and said the determination should be left to international courts. His comments mark a shift to the left of Labour’s outgoing leader, Keir Starmer, who was slower than other European leaders to back a ceasefire and recognize Palestinian statehood…
Among those speaking at the closed-door Allen & Company retreat in Sun Valley, Idaho, today were Jared Kushner, UAE Ambassador to the U.S. Yousef Al Otaiba, former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Sens. John Fetterman (D-PA) and Dave McCormick (R-PA) as well as Ken Griffin, the hedge fund manager and GOP megadonor.
Asked whether he would support Vice President JD Vance or Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the 2028 presidential election, Griffin said he’d be inclined to back Rubio…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at Platner’s potential replacements, as a handful of Maine Democrats are already jockeying for the position less than 24 hours after Platner announced he intends to drop out of the race for U.S. Senate.
We’ll be watching to see if U.S. and Iranian strikes continue into the weekend, or if the current flare-up has run its course. Prior to the outbreak in hostilities, Saudi media had reported that talks between Washington and Iran would restart on July 11, after the dayslong funeral of late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei wraps up today. Trump said this morning that the Iranians had called and “want to make a deal so badly,” but it’s unclear whether the two sides intend to meet.
We’ll be back in your inbox with the Daily Overtime on Monday. Shabbat shalom!
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President Donald Trump during the press conference at the NATO Summit in Ankara, Turkiye on July 8, 2026.
Good Wednesday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
CENTCOM began conducting additional strikes against Iran this afternoon, after President Donald Trump continued to escalate his rhetoric against the regime in his remarks today at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey.
Trump said he wasn’t sure he wanted to make a deal with the Iranians any longer and reiterated his threat to “finish the job,” but still denied the strikes mark a return to full-scale war: “I think anything that happens is going to be over very quickly,” he said…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had scrapped a planned trip to Israel, saying in an interview that the defense chief had been “called back home” from the summit in Ankara. Meanwhile, Israeli media reports that American military refueling planes have begun to return to the region…
Trump is likely to face pushback from lawmakers over the renewed strikes: Rep. Greg Meeks (D-NY), the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said he’s already “in conversations with the Senate to explore any and all legal pathways to hold Trump accountable,” given that both chambers of Congress already passed a war powers resolution seeking an end to U.S. military action in Iran…
Trump also informed Congress today that he intends to rescind Syria’s designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism following a 45-day pre-notification period, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced, shortly after Trump held a friendly meeting with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa on the sidelines of the NATO summit…
Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, speaking to Jewish Insider’s Melissa Weiss prior to his speech at Tel Aviv University today, criticized the “moral bankruptcy” of “those that paraded, celebrated and cheered” in the aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel.
Responding to a question about Democrats who did so — including New York City congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier, who attended an anti-Israel rally in Times Square on Oct. 8, 2023 — Emanuel said, “I have no place for the moral bankruptcy of those that found Oct. 8 as the day to cheer 1,200 people not only killed but sexually abused, and for taking hostage 250 people”…
In an interview on Israel’s Channel 12, Emanuel confirmed he’s “thinking about” running for president in 2028 and said he believes Americans could elect a Jewish president. “I believe people will evaluate me based on my character and my background,” he said…
Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner still remains in the race two days after Politico published an account from a former romantic partner accusing him of rape, though the candidate’s feud with the Maine Democratic Party continues. Platner’s campaign manager, Ben Chin, sent a message to supporters today accusing the MDP of allowing the national Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee to orchestrate Platner’s replacement “behind closed doors.”
In response, the MDP, which was reportedly set to hold a meeting on the issue this afternoon, said Platner’s campaign is “distracting from the job of defeating [Sen.] Susan Collins (R-ME) in November with false accusations” and pledged to develop “a representative, transparent and inclusive process to select a new nominee when he chooses to withdraw from the race”…
A new Politico survey of Democratic primary voters in Michigan, conducted in the two days after state Sen. Mallory McMorrow dropped out of the race for U.S. Senate, found the two remaining candidates — Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) and Abdul El-Sayed — in a statistical tie at 42-41%, with nearly 20% of voters undecided…
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear sent a letter to Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) requesting that he “fully update Kentuckians regarding the current status of your health,” as McConnell has been hospitalized for nearly a month…
A new poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 44% of American Jews hold a favorable view of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani — a higher percentage than Netanyahu, who received a 32% favorability rating…
Jewish groups — including the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, Anti-Defamation League, American Jewish Committee, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Hadassah and StandWithUs — celebrated several steps taken at the National Education Association’s Representative Assembly, which wrapped up yesterday in Denver, including the Jewish Affairs Caucus’ work in advancing three amendments to the NEA Constitution and a resolution on Jewish education…
Bertrand Benoit, The Wall Street Journal’s bureau chief in Germany, explores what it means for Germany’s identity as its citizens begin to lose their living connection to the Holocaust, including how the fading of survivor testimony, rising antisemitism and challenges from both the political right and left are reshaping the country’s culture of remembrance…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at the choice ahead for Georgia’s Jewish community in the race between Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) and his opponent, Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA).
The Contemporary Antisemitism conference at the University of Haifa will wrap up with a keynote speech by philosopher and author Bernard-Henri Lévy.
Stories You May Have Missed
SANCTIONS STANDOFF
Members from both parties warned lifting penalties would reward Erdoğan’s destabilizing actions, while senators at NATO summit said Turkey could rejoin F-35 program if concerns over Russian S-400 system are resolved
CHATBOT FAIL
The antisemitism watchdog tested ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Grok and found Persian responses hedged or missed antisemitic framing that English responses rejected outright
Plus, progressives pull the plug on Platner
Photo by Elke Scholiers/Getty Images
Crude oil tankers, bulk carriers and vessels sit anchored around Qaboos Port on June 22, 2026 in Muscat, Oman.
Good Tuesday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
The fallout from a rape allegation made against Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner intensified today as Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) — some of the Democrat’s most prominent progressive backers — rescinded their support of Platner and called on him to drop out. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who shares a top consultant with Platner, also advised the candidate to drop his bid.
Platner’s campaign has canceled all in-person fundraising events scheduled for the coming days and put holds on its social media ads, according to Politico. The candidate reportedly told his campaign staff in a call last night that a decision on the future of his race is forthcoming…
Several prominent Maine Democrats have begun to signal interest in replacing Platner on the general election ballot, should he withdraw by the deadline of July 13. Among those hinting at a run are Troy Jackson, a former state Senate president who has already filed with the Federal Election Commission to explore a bid; former U.S. House candidate Jordan Wood; former gubernatorial candidate Nirav Shah; and Platner’s former primary opponent David Costello.
Maine Democratic Party officials are considering holding a pop-up convention around July 25 or holding a statewide caucus to choose Platner’s replacement, sources told The New York Times…
As the heated Democratic Senate primary in Michigan enters its final stretch, far-left candidate Abdul El-Sayed told CNN this week that he does not believe that a politician’s support for Israel could be about anything other than money, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports. “Not if you’re a Democrat and you believe in human rights,” El-Sayed told CNN when asked about such a distinction…
The Treasury Department revoked the waiver it issued last month lifting sanctions on Iranian oil, after Iran reportedly struck another vessel in the Strait of Hormuz today, marking the third such attack in the last 24 hours.
“As President [Donald] Trump and the administration have repeatedly affirmed, the [memorandum of understanding] in effect with Iran is entirely performance-based. Iran will only reap benefits if they exhibit good behavior,” a U.S. official told JI’s Matthew Shea. “Iran’s actions in the Strait were wholly unacceptable to the United States and will be met with consequences. Our negotiators continue to work in good faith towards a final deal”…
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry summoned Iran’s deputy ambassador in the Gulf stateto express its “strong condemnation and denunciation” of Tehran’s strike yesterday on a Qatari tanker, after Doha sent a delegation of officials to the funeral of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in an apparent diplomatic olive branch…
Saudi Arabia is considering increasing the capacity of its East-West oil pipeline in order to bypass the Strait of Hormuz and facilitate oil exports out of the Red Sea, Reuters reports…
Trump announced today that his administration is preparing to lift congressionally mandated sanctions on Turkey as he weighs moving forward with the sale of F-35 fighter jets to Ankara, JI’s Matthew Shea reports.
“It’s time to do that. We don’t want to sanction friends,” the president said. Defense experts and lawmakers previously told JI that Turkey still maintains the Russian air-defense system that prompted the sanctions in 2020, which makes lifting the sanctions legally complicated…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again voiced his opposition to Trump’s overtures to Ankara, telling CNN that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is “not exactly a model ally of the United States” as he “threatens to destroy my country, the one and only Jewish state.”
Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli went further in his rhetoric, calling Erdoğan a “grotesque hybrid of Hitler and [late Hamas leader Yahya] Sinwar” and a “pathetic blood-soaked zero” in a post on X yesterday…
The Israeli Consulate in New York was evacuated from its Midtown Manhattan building after a nearby high-rise building under construction showed signs of collapsing, prompting evacuations across the area…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for coverage of tonight’s debate between Michigan Senate Democratic primary candidates Abdul El-Sayed and Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), with less than a month to go until the election.
The NATO summit in Ankara will conclude with the main working session of all 32 member states as well as a press conference from NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte. A bipartisan delegation of U.S. lawmakers is set to attend a dinner tonight on the sidelines of the summit with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack.
Former U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel will deliver a speech at Tel Aviv University, where he is set to lay out his vision for the future of the U.S.-Israel relationship as he prepares for a potential 2028 presidential run. Emanuel met today with Israeli President Isaac Herzog and visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum.
The Contemporary Antisemitism conference will continue at the University of Haifa.
Stories You May Have Missed
SORE SPOT
Black leaders in the district have failed to unite behind a single challenger, leaving the Jewish congresswoman favored in a plurality race but potentially vulnerable down the road
DEAL DISPUTE
The ambassador announced that the next round of Israel-Lebanon negotiations will take place next week in Rome
The New York City mayor, whose advisor Morris Katz also worked for Graham Platner, called on the Maine Senate contender to forfeit
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks at a press conference during moving day at Gracie Mansion on January 12, 2026 in New York City.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Tuesday joined the swelling chorus of Democratic voices demanding the party’s nominee for Senate in Maine, Graham Platner, abandon his campaign in the aftermath of a rape allegation revealed in a Politico report on Monday — a campaign the mayor’s own top political advisor helped start and steer.
Mamdani’s remarks came shortly after an unrelated event at City Hall, a day after a former romantic partner of Platner’s accused him of drunkenly entering her home and sexually assaulting her in 2021. The mayor’s nearest political aide, Morris Katz, was one of the architects of Platner’s Senate run and one of his fiercest public defenders amid prior allegations of personal misconduct and the discovery that the candidate had a tattoo of a Nazi symbol.
But Mamdani made no remarks on Katz’s role in Platner’s rise, and declined to comment on the long-term consequences for the insurgent left-wing movement the two have championed.
“I believe that it’s time for him to drop out of the race,” the mayor said of Platner. “I think the focus of today should be on the campaign coming to a close. And I think there will be many more days to have conversations for what it means beyond that.”
The 27-year-old Katz reportedly talked up congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier to Mamdani, leading the mayor to endorse her in the final days of her ultimately successful challenge to Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY).
It soon emerged that Avila Chevalier had bragged online about wiping her hands on the American flag, praised Soviet despots, pushed Russian government talking points and spread a conspiracy theory about COVID-19 — creating uncomfortable questions for Democratic leaders after she won the primary in the deep-blue district.
Katz also advised Democratic candidates Clare Valdez, Micah Lasher and Brad Lander in their successful primary bids elsewhere in New York City.
Some 72% of Jewish voters hold unfavorable views of the democratic socialist mayor, compared with 67% of non-Jewish voters who approve of his performance
Leonardo MUNOZ / AFP via Getty Images
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani arrives for a news conference at Gracie Mansion in New York City on March 9, 2026.
New polling data shows that a sizable majority of Jewish voters disapprove of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s job performance and fear he is pushing the Democratic Party too far to the left, in contrast with non-Jewish voters who hold a largely favorable view of the outspoken democratic socialist.
The gap between Jewish and non-Jewish survey respondents underscores the degree to which Jewish Democrats in New York and across the country increasingly feel out of place in their party amid a rise in antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment on the far left, which has gained traction in recent state and congressional elections.
The poll, shared exclusively with Jewish Insider, showed that 72% of Jewish voters hold unfavorable views of Mamdani’s performance six months into his tenure, with 28% approving. Non-Jewish voters were more positive about the mayor — with 67% approving and 28% disapproving of Mamdani’s actions.
Meanwhile, nearly three in four Jewish voters said that they believed Mamdani’s views were outside the Democratic mainstream in New York City, compared with 52% of non-Jewish respondents who shared the same assessment.
And well over half of Jewish voters, 61%, said the Democratic Party under Mamdani was moving too far to the left, with 36% of non-Jewish voters feeling similarly. Non-Jewish respondents were, at 26%, also nearly twice as likely to say they felt the party had not moved enough to the left amid Mamdani’s mayorship — relative to 16% of Jewish voters, the poll revealed.
The poll was fielded days before Mamdani, a vocal critic of Israel, had helped elevate a trio of far-left candidates, including two Democratic Socialists of America-aligned candidates with extreme records on Israel and antisemitism, to the nomination in New York’s congressional primaries last month, unseating a pair of pro-Israel House incumbents. The wins established Mamdani as a veritable kingmaker in New York City politics, amid a broader rise of democratic socialism now shaping the midterms.
“Taken together, the data reveals a significant fault line within New York City’s Democratic coalition,” a polling memo by Honan Strategy Group shared with JI notes, “one that cuts along religious lines and will bear watching as Mamdani’s mayoralty takes shape.”
The poll, conducted by Honan Strategy Group, surveyed 614 likely general election voters in New York between June 12-17. Most of the respondents, 515, were not Jewish, while 99 were Jewish. Nearly three-quarters of respondents were Democrats, with 16% identifying as Republican. The rest identified as independent or as unaffiliated, according to Bradley Honan, who conducted the survey. The poll’s overall margin of error was around 4%.
The results echo a separate survey released in April and sponsored by The Jewish Majority, a pro-Israel research group based in Washington, D.C. The poll of 665 Jewish voters in New York City showed that most respondents, 40%, believed that Mamdani was doing a “poor” job as mayor.
The poll also found that 82% of Jewish voters — including most of those who voted for Mamdani — were “very” or “somewhat” concerned about the rise in antisemitism, which more than half, 58%, said was linked to the normalization of anti-Zionism espoused by the mayor and his allies on the far left.
Mamdani’s refusal to condemn calls to “globalize the intifada,” 61% of Jewish voters agreed in the survey, also helped to embolden pro-Hamas protestors who have targeted synagogues in New York in his tenure.
More recently, Mamdani has faced blowback for his comments at a political rally last month in which he attacked the pro-Israel group AIPAC as “monsters” who “move millions in dark money,” which Jewish leaders said had evoked classic antisemitic tropes.
The mayor has defended his rhetoric, saying he was borrowing from a phrase used by the Italian Marxist theorist Antonio Gramsci — though Mamdani quoted from a widely attributed mistranslation of his work.
Phylisa Wisdom, head of the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism, was called a ‘kapo’ by protesters at the event in Brooklyn
Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images
Sept. 18, 2022 at the Sheepshead Bay Holocaust Memorial Park in Brooklyn, New York.
Phylisa Wisdom, the liberal activist appointed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani as executive director of his Office to Combat Antisemitism, got a harsh reception at a Holocaust memorial event in Brooklyn on Sunday.
Wisdom appeared at a gathering at Holocaust Memorial Park in the Sheepshead Bay neighborhood of Brooklyn, home to a large Russian-speaking Jewish community, and adjacent to the Orthodox Jewish enclave in Manhattan Beach — both politically conservative areas at odds with the left-wing Mamdani administration.
Video from the event shows a small group of hecklers booing and calling Wisdom a “kapo,” a term for concentration camp inmates who served as overseers during the Holocaust, and shouting that she was supportive of Adolf Hitler, as organizers of the event called for police to remove them.
“If City Hall declined the invite to speak at this Holocaust memorial, it would have been called antisemitism,” Jewish Council for Public Affairs CEO Amy Spitalnick wrote on X. “We can disagree without these disgusting attacks. What message does this send about our community?”
Spitalnick serves on the board of New York Jewish Agenda, the group Wisdom led before joining the mayor’s team.
The Holocaust Memorial Committee, which organized the gathering to honor local survivors of the Nazi genocide, declined to comment. Republican Assemblyman Michael Novakhov boycotted the event over Wisdom’s participation.
The morning after his congressional victories, the mayor hinted at how he’ll wield his new democratic socialist bloc
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks during a primary-night watch party for NYC congressional candidate Claire Valdez on June 23, 2026.
Having conquered New York City with a stunning primary night sweep on Tuesday, Mayor Zohran Mamdani is wasting no time in moving on Capitol Hill.
In an uncharacteristically long question-and-answer session at an unrelated announcement on Wednesday, the mayor — having deposed two congressional incumbents in Reps. Dan Goldman (D-NY) and Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) and installed his favored candidate in the seat of retiring Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY) — announced he would sit down later in the day with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY).
Jeffries is a longtime critic of Mamdani’s Democratic Socialists of America, and attempted unsuccessfully to rally last-minute support for Espaillat.
The mayor nonetheless kept his comments civil and conciliatory for the potential future speaker of the House. Despite endorsing challengers against two Democratic lawmakers, Mamdani blocked a DSA ally from running against Jeffries in this year’s primary.
“I’ll be speaking with Congressman Jeffries later today, and I’m looking forward to working with Congressman Jeffries on delivering for the people of our city,” the mayor told reporters. “What we saw last night was a hunger for leaders who will be there on the front lines.”
Mamdani stuck mostly to his usual rhetoric about affordability, but noted former City Comptroller Brad Lander — who defeated Goldman — had committed to supporting the Block the Bombs Act cutting off military aid to Israel.
Jeffries, for his part, had less favorable remarks for Mamdani, alluding to the distrust his endorsements engendered with himself and the rest of the delegation.
“He’s got work to do in terms of the conversations that he’s going to have with members of Congress moving forward,” the Democratic leader told reporters, saying he and the mayor “agree to strongly disagree about some of his endorsements.”
Lander has committed to backing Jeffries for speaker, as has another candidate who triumphed last night: Assemblymember Micah Lasher, the establishment-backed successor to Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY). Mamdani stayed aloof from the contentious and costly race for the Manhattan district, which boasts a large and progressive Jewish population, but Lasher enlisted the skills of Morris Katz, the mayor’s closest political advisor.
Pressed by Jewish Insider at his election party Tuesday night as to whether he would look to the mayor or to Jeffries for leadership, Lasher answered: “I expect Hakeem Jeffries will be the leader of the House caucus.”
The mayor flexed his political muscle as Brad Lander, Claire Valdez and Darializa Avila Chevalier triumphed in their congressional primaries
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks during a primary night watch party for congressional candidate Claire Valdez on June 23, 2026.
It’s New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s party now — even if not everybody in the Big Apple feels invited.
The mayor’s candidates for Congress jumped out to early leads Tuesday night, with former City Comptroller Brad Lander comfortably defeating Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), a stalwart opponent of President Donald Trump who nonetheless lost support from his party’s base over his lukewarm support for the new mayor and longstanding pro-Israel record. Lander won 66% of the vote to Goldman’s 34%, with 90% of the vote counted as of Wednesday morning.
The shocks to the party establishment continued throughout the night, as Democratic Socialists of America-endorsed state Assemblywoman Claire Valdez jumped to a commanding advantage over party favorite, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso. Valdez easily defeated Reynoso, 56%-36%, with 92% of the vote counted.
And the capstone on the night for Mamdani’s Israel-critical congressional trifecta came when networks announced the ouster of Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY), the chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, against radical doctoral student and Columbia encampment leader Darializa Avila Chevalier, whose inflammatory X feed — and attendance at an anti-Israel rally the day after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks — did little to derail her candidacy. In a much tighter race, Avila Chevalier beat the incumbent, 49%-46%, with 88% of the vote counted.
Signs of the ascendance of the far left within overwhelmingly Democratic big cities have been visible for months. Mamdani’s astounding mayoral victory in 2025 mobilized a slew of like-minded candidates to run for office — in New York City and beyond. In Philadelphia, DSA-endorsed candidate Chris Rabb won a Philadelphia-based congressional seat last month. Last week, DSA-backed Janeese Lewis George romped to victory in the race for mayor in the nation’s capital, and is on track to become the city’s next top executive.
In many ways, Lander was the most conventional of the Mamdani-backed candidates.
The former mayoral candidate was a heavy favorite from the moment it became clear he would not receive a job in Mamdani’s administration and instead took aim at the Brooklyn-Manhattan House seat, parts of which he had represented in local government since 2010.
Nonetheless, the self-described “progressive Zionist” bear-hugged the democratic socialist mayor and courted his left-wing base with escalating criticism of Israel. This at times created embarrassing moments for Lander, as when Jewish Insider discovered that his top consultant recruited from the independent “Hot Girls for Zohran” social media campaign had pushed pro-Hamas content and anti-Israel conspiracy theories online — and on the day of the vote, when New York City First Lady Rama Duwaji snubbed him by leaving him off her own list of endorsements.
The race also put Lander in the awkward spot of appearing in an ad that aired during the NBA finals with Mamdani and his two other endorsed House candidates, even as Lander insisted he was backing neither of them.
But in the end, it mattered little to Democratic voters, and the mayor and the new Democratic congressional nominee embraced in front of cameras at his campaign celebration in Brooklyn.
Nor did Lander’s non-endorsement seem to damage Mamdani’s other candidates. A registration and turnout operation among the Satmar Hasidim proved insufficient to lift Reynoso over Valdez in the race to replace Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY).
Reynoso and Valdez largely echoed each other in their condemnation of the Jewish state, but Valdez made it a centerpiece of her campaign, even going so far as to falsely suggest AIPAC was financing a PAC backing her opponent. The real money behind the last-minute spending campaign was Randi Weingarten’s American Federation of Teachers, in alliance with former City Comptroller Scott Stringer, one of Mamdani’s unsuccessful opponents last year.
Stringer and the AFT also sought to block Mamdani’s boldest play of all: dislodging Espaillat, a reliable pro-Israel Democrat, and replacing him with Columbia encampment leader and doctoral student Avila Chevalier. Mamdani declined to denounce Avila Chevalier’s history of attacking interracial relationships, promoting COVID-19 disinformation and parroting Russian government talking points online — or her denunciations of Democratic stalwarts such as former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris.
Mamdani also refused to condemn her participation in an anti-Israel rally one day after the Oct. 7 attacks, a gathering he had denounced at the time, even as Avila Chevalier defended her decision to attend the event.
Strong turnout in gentrifying Manhattan sections of Espaillat’s district, and weak participation in the working-class Bronx areas, gave Avila Chevalier a decided advantage over the incumbent.
Even downballot, Mamdani-aligned candidates romped, with public defender and Jews for Racial and Economic Justice member Eli Northrup easily defeating Rabbi Stephanie Ruskay in a Manhattan state Assembly district with a large Jewish population. Both contenders for the seat emphasized their Jewish identity in the closely watched primary, but Ruskay — related by marriage to former UJA-Federation CEO John Ruskay, and an associate dean of The Rabbinical School at the Jewish Theological Seminary — was the favored candidate of longtime Upper West Side political establishment.
Northrup, who has expressed ambivalence about Zionism, represented an insurgent politics in the Mamdani mold, even though he is not a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.
In Queens, Palestinian-American activist Aber Kawas rode the mayor’s endorsement to an effortless victory. Mamdani’s candidate to take over Valdez’s seat in the state legislature, Samantha Kattan, rolled over her opposition. Another Mamdani contender in Queens, Brian Romero, similarly romped. In Lower Manhattan, his candidate for Assembly Illapa Sairitupac —like the others, a member of the DSA — won with a plurality.
Three additional DSA candidates tossed out incumbents without the mayor’s endorsement, bringing the organization’s total wins on the evening to six. This means the mayor and DSA can now count on a growing bloc of loyalists in Albany, which has power over many aspects of city policy. It also means a shift in the makeup of a body long dominated by lawmakers supportive of Israel.
In assembling his slate, the mayor spurned and burned allies: rejecting his old ally Velazquez’s favored successor for his own DSA loyalist in Valdez, breaking a reported pledge not to back a challenger to Espaillat and even — as sources told JI — shrugging off a request from one of his most prominent Jewish supporters, former Manhattan Borough President Ruth Messinger.
But on Tuesday night, Mamdani towered triumphant over friends and enemies alike, building a bloc in Congress to squeeze House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY).
Even in the one contentious House race where he declined to weigh in, to replace Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), a candidate working with his political advisor Morris Katz prevailed: Assemblymember Micah Lasher beat out a crowded and costly field to victory.
Rama Duwaji urged followers to vote for the DSA’s congressional candidates — but left off the lone Jewish House contender her husband endorsed
David Dee Delgado/Getty Images
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his wife Rama Duwaji smile as confetti falls after his ceremonial inauguration as mayor at City Hall on Jan. 1, 2026 in New York, NY.
Former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander has bear-hugged Mayor Zohran Mamdani as he seeks to unseat Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) — but got a primary day cold shoulder from New York City First Lady Rama Duwaji.
The left-wing illustrator posted an Instagram story Tuesday flashing an “I Voted” sticker and encouraging her followers to support the two congressional candidates endorsed by both her husband and the Democratic Socialists of America: Assemblymember Claire Valdez and doctoral student Darializa Avila Chevalier.
Valdez is battling Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso for the seat of retiring Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY) while Avila Chevalier hopes to oust Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY).
“today’s the day NYC!!!” she wrote in a story on her personal account. “vote @claireforny @darializaforny”
The post excluded Lander, who alone among Mamdani’s candidates identifies as a Zionist — albeit as one who has accused the Jewish state of genocide in its military campaign in the Gaza Strip and even Lebanon — and who renounced his DSA membership after the group promoted an anti-Israel rally one day after Hamas’ 2023 attacks. Mamdani, then an unwed state lawmaker, denounced the event at the time.
Duwaji had liked Instagram content from the Oct. 8 gathering and the assault itself, as reported in Jewish Insider; The mayor has dismissed criticism of Duwaji’s social media activity by asserting his wife was a “private person,” although she has featured prominently at public events and granted interviews to magazines.
Lander, for his part, has attracted some fire from online leftists in recent days for declining to endorse Avila Chevalier and appearing in a video from the progressive Working Families Party with Reynoso — despite his also appearing in an ad aired during the NBA finals with the mayor and his other endorsed candidates.
The mayor has inserted himself in the costly fight between Rabbi Stephanie Ruskay and lawyer Eli Northrup, spurning a key Jewish ally in the process
John Lamparski/Getty Images
Then-New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks during the Jews For Racial And Economic Justice's Mazals Gala on September 10, 2025 in New York City.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s slate of Israel-critical House candidates has received national media attention for months — but his intervention in a state-level race in Manhattan could also reverberate through the city’s Jewish community and beyond.
The mayor has interceded in a handful of state legislative races this cycle, but perhaps none so contentious as the race for the 69th Assembly District, which covers much of the Upper West Side of Manhattan as well as the Morningside Heights area adjacent to Columbia University.
The area is overwhelmingly progressive and boasts a large Jewish population. In the 2025 mayoral primary, it awarded Mamdani close to 59% of its vote over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and at the end of May the democratic socialist dove into the already costly race to replace sitting Assemblymember Micah Lasher, now a candidate for Congress.
By then, rival left-of-center Jewish factions had already lined up behind each candidate: the anti-Zionist Jews for Racial and Economic Justice behind public defender Eli Northrup, and a suite of long-standing Jewish elected officials — including City Comptroller Mark Levine and his predecessor Scott Stringer — with Rabbi Stephanie Ruskay, associate dean of The Rabbinical School at the Jewish Theological Seminary. A Stringer-backed PAC supporting Ruskay is among several spending heavily in the district.
Notably, Ruskay’s prominent backers also include her longtime friend and mentor, former Manhattan Borough President Ruth Messinger, one of Mamdani’s most prominent Jewish supporters. Multiple sources told Jewish Insider that Messinger had personally asked the mayor not to get involved in the race, but Mamdani did so anyway, even releasing one of his signature social media videos featuring Northrup.
“I don’t discuss political endorsements,” Messinger told JI at an event earlier this month. “I’m working with and supporting the mayor, and I’m working very strongly for Stephanie’s election.”
Mamdani political advisor Morris Katz did not respond to repeated queries about the mayor’s decision to flout a key Jewish ally.
Besides serving in the leadership of one of the central institutions of Conservative Judaism, Ruskay is the daughter-in-law of longtime UJA-Federation of New York CEO John Ruskay. If victorious, she would be the first female rabbi elected to a state Legislature in the U.S.
Like other Jewish Democrats representing the Upper West Side, she has criticized some Israeli policies — including signing a petition from the left-wing group T’ruah in October 2023 that decried IDF airstrikes in Gaza and urged the creation of a “humanitarian corridor” to provide supplies to civilians — while proclaiming her pride and affinity toward the Jewish state, including by participating in the Israel Day on Fifth Parade earlier this month.
“New York City is home to the largest Jewish population outside of Israel, and at a time when antisemitism is on the rise, gatherings like this matter,” Ruskay wrote on X. “They remind us of the deep bonds between New York’s Jewish community and Israel, and of the strength, resilience, and vibrancy of Jewish life.”
Northrup, who is a member of JFREJ but not the Democratic Socialists of America, has also emphasized his Jewish identity, going so far as to include an image from his bar mitzvah on his campaign literature. But he has expressed ambivalence about Zionism, though he has acknowledged “Israel exists and it’s a nation.”
A victory for Northrup on Tuesday would mean more than just a triumph for Mamdani over his Ruskay-backing rivals — including Council Speaker Julie Menin, who leapt into the fray shortly after the mayor — according to veteran political consultant Hank Sheinkopf. It would signify a seismic upheaval for the district, where a strong and stable liberal Zionist political machine headed by retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) long reigned.
On the other hand, Sheinkopf argued Ruskay taking the seat would show that the old neighborhood order remains intact, and that some progressive Jews may be starting to sour on the mayor, especially after his recent attacks on AIPAC.
“If Northrup wins, it tells you that the deep left is more organized than the center left, and the Upper West Side is going to undergo a significant change,” Sheinkopf told JI. “If Ruskay wins, what it says is that local concerns are more important than [Mamdani’s] movement, and people are beginning to understand who he really is.”
The mayor answered accusations of ‘bigoted conspiracy mongering’ by misquoting a Marxist writer and attacking Israel
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
New York City Zohran Mamdani speaks on Sept. 15, 2025 in New York City.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani doubled down on his rhetorical assault on AIPAC on Monday, after Jewish groups over the weekend criticized his comments about the pro-Israel organization at a Thursday rally last week that they argued evoked classic antisemitic tropes.
Mamdani defended naming AIPAC among the “monsters who move dark money,” maintaining that he was quoting 20th century Marxist philosopher Antonio Gramsci’s comment about living in a “time of monsters.” But the phrase is a notorious and widely known misquote of Gramsci’s, though the mayor evinced no awareness of the inaccuracy — and backed up his argument with statistics from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry alleging the death of more than 1,000 Palestinians at the hands of the IDF since the ceasefire last fall.
“When I am speaking about AIPAC, I am speaking about an organization that has been supportive of the status quo, that has fought any attempt to actually deliver to not just people in Palestine but frankly through much of the region,” he asserted on Monday following an unrelated event at City Hall. “Oftentimes they also support the status quo through dark money, by filtering money that would’ve previously been directed from AIPAC, now through other shell organizations whose identities of their contributors are only made clear after the election.”
Candidates Mamdani has endorsed for Congress have received the backing of multiple large PACs, including Justice Democrats, that received money through organizations that mask the identities of their contributors through the exact mechanisms he lamented on Monday.
Mamdani himself attended the April gala of one such organization, the Institute for Middle East Understanding — which Jewish Insider recently revealed had stood up a dark money arm of its own, the IMEU Policy Project. This has enabled the organization to pump hundreds of thousands of dollars from anonymous donors into the Justice Democrats PAC as part of a nationwide effort to defeat pro-Israel candidates for Congress.
The mayor’s original remarks, which included claims that AIPAC and similar organizations are “turning us against one another,” sparked alarm among prominent Jewish groups, who connected them to tropes historically used to target Jewish and pro-Zionist individuals and movements.
“Soviet anti-Zionist campaigns and earlier antisemitic movements similarly portrayed Jewish organizations as pursuing power not to achieve political goals, but because Jews themselves were said to crave influence and control,” Jim Berk, CEO of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, said in a statement on Friday. “The suggestion that Jewish political participation is inherently suspect, illegitimate, or secretly manipulative is abhorrent. This is the same old story, retold in a new language.”
Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt voiced outrage on Sunday that the mayor had not walked back or clarified his statement.
“This is the kind of bigoted conspiracy mongering that you expect from unhinged streamers or white supremacists. It’s not the language that we should expect from the mayor,” Greenblatt posted to social media, highlighting the dramatic spike in antisemitic incidents in New York following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza. “This is not a principled disagreement. This is prejudice pure and simple. It is deliberate, dangerous and disgraceful.”
Ted Deutch, CEO of the American Jewish Committee, wrote on X, “When you use your position to label people you disagree with as monsters — people who live and work and pay taxes in the city you lead, people who loved the Knicks championship parade as much as you did, people who spent yesterday celebrating their fathers and grandfathers — you are turning people against one another.”
“You want to debate ideas? Fine. But when you call people monsters, you’re not debating ideas, you’re dehumanizing the people you disagree with. And when that comes from a mayor, it creates an environment where people hear clearly who is being cast as outside the community, one where they wonder whether they can safely live and speak as themselves,” he continued.
And Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) noted that the mayor’s speech on Thursday included no words of criticism for Hamas or Hezbollah, or their sponsor Iran.
“Swap ‘AIPAC for ‘Jews’ and it’s the oldest antisemitic conspiracy theory in the books,” the Garden State lawmaker wrote on X. “That’s not criticizing a lobby. That’s laundering antisemitism from your podium as Mayor of a city with more than a million Jews. This bullshit is dangerous.”
The main difference between the three candidates backed by most Democratic leaders and Mamdani’s favored challengers is the challengers’ hostility to Israel
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
Congressional candidate Claire Valdez speaks during a Get Out the Vote (GOTV) rally at Kings Theater on June 18, 2026 in New York City.
2026 has been the year of the democratic socialist, with numerous far-left, anti-Israel candidates winning mayoralties and congressional primaries in cities up and down the Northeast corridor, from New York to Washington, D.C — and beyond.
Zohran Mamdani, the New York City mayor who proved that radicalism can win hearts and minds among voters in deep-blue jurisdictions, is now trying to utilize valuable political capital by electing three like-minded congressional candidates in primaries in the Big Apple on Tuesday — backing two challengers running against well-funded incumbents, and a third against a well-established progressive borough president.
The outcomes of these three races will go a long way in determining whether Democratic Party voters still draw any red lines around candidates holding views and values that fall outside the party mainstream.
Let’s be clear: The main difference between the three candidates backed by most Democratic leaders and Mamdani’s favored challengers is the challengers’ hostility to Israel.
Mamdani handpicked Darializa Avila Chevalier, a doctoral student with no obvious congressional credentials who protested against Israel the day after it suffered the worst terror attack in its history, to run against Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY), the head of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and a progressive supporter of the Jewish state.
Avila Chevalier has a laundry list of recent social media posts in which she called for abolishing the police and voiced anti-American and pro-Russian sentiments, while sharing a post saying “Israel doesn’t exist.” That hasn’t disqualified her, in the eyes of a critical mass of the district’s voters.
Mamdani recruited state Assemblywoman Claire Valdez to challenge Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, despite the latter’s backing from party leaders. Valdez, a sculptor, has made her opposition to Israel a central part of the race, even falsely accusing AIPAC of being involved in the race when the outside spending against her came from a major teachers’ union. Reynoso, who has been a vocal critic of Israel, hasn’t made the Middle East a central part of his candidacy.
And Mamdani convinced former City Comptroller Brad Lander to run against pro-Israel Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), even working to clear the field of other challengers who threatened to split the anti-Israel vote against Goldman. Despite calling himself a progressive Zionist, Lander spent his final debate attacking the congressman for not calling Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza a genocide and for supporting aid to the Jewish state.
As JI’s Will Bredderman has documented, all three of Mamdani’s picks have made their opposition to Israel a major part of their closing messages. And while polls show Goldman as the underdog in a progressive district, the other two races are highly competitive. Outside groups representing mainstream forces have mobilized on behalf of Espaillat and Reynoso in the final weeks of the race, giving them a fighting chance to prevail.
There’s no doubt that pro-Israel forces within the Democratic Party are facing uphill challenges, especially in deeply progressive districts where voters are increasingly open to far-left candidates. The outcome in New York’s primaries this week will indicate whether the establishment has the ability to slow down the radicals’ momentum.
Brad Lander, Claire Valdez, and Darializa Avila Chevalier are all demonizing the Jewish state in the runup to Tuesday’s primary
Congressional candidate Claire Valdez, Congressional candidate Brad Lander, Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and Congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier raise their hands during a Get Out the Vote (GOTV) rally at King's Theater on June 18, 2026 in New York City (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
The battle for three Democratic congressional primaries in New York City has been defined by a conflict more than 5,000 miles away, with candidates spending the final days before Tuesday’s primary echoing the fiercely anti-Israel rhetoric that helped elevate Mayor Zohran Mamdani to power.
All three of the mayor’s favored contenders for the House — former City Comptroller Brad Lander, Assemblymember Claire Valdez and doctoral student Darializa Avila Chevalier — underscored their criticism of Israel and its U.S. supporters as early voting began in the contested districts.
Avila Chevalier took time in a televised debate on Tuesday to accuse the country of “apartheid” while seeming to compare the actions of Jewish settlers in the West Bank and the IDF in the Gaza Strip to gentrification in the district where she hopes to unseat Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) and other majority-minority areas.
“I saw so many connections between what was happening to Palestinians there in Palestine and what was happening to so many communities across the U.S., particularly Black and Latino communities, who have been priced out and pushed out of our homes,” said Avila Chevalier, who — like most candidates affiliated with the Democratic Socialists of America — draws her strongest support from predominantly white and highly educated residents of the district.
“When we talk about displacement in the West Bank and Gaza, it is a very similar, visually similar situation, where people who have been in a place for generations, are being displaced because of corporate interests, because of folks who are coming in, claiming the land over, and buying it up and kicking the people who live there out.”
Avila Chevalier, who has come under fire for attending an anti-Israel demonstration one day after the Oct. 7 attacks, added during the debate that the “very institutions” involved in both the Holy Land and urban America are the same.
Valdez, vying against Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso for the seat of retiring Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY), has similarly brought Middle Eastern issues into the race for the district spanning parts of Brooklyn and Queens. As a new PAC, Real Fight NYC, began spending hundreds of thousands on ads attacking her record and boosting that of her opponent, the sculptor-turned-socialist lawmaker inaccurately suggested pro-Israel interests were behind the effort.
“Is it actually AIPAC?” Valdez speculated in a thread on X. “This is a well-established pattern from AIPAC and its affiliates, especially when there’s only one candidate who’s been clear and consistent against the genocide.”
Reynoso in fact has been a fierce critic of Israeli policy during the race, and the American Federation of Teachers subsequently identified itself as the main sponsor of the ad campaign. Valdez has neither apologized for nor retracted her remarks.
Even former City Comptroller Brad Lander, the lone self-described progressive Zionist among the mayor’s endorsees, spent his final TV face-off against Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) on Monday criticizing the incumbent for his past support for aid packages to Israel and his refusal to call the military campaign in the Gaza Strip “a genocide.” The day before, Lander held a rally with Mamdani and a bevy of left-wing Jewish and Muslim activist groups, which he took as another occasion to condemn Israel.
“We’re united around a belief that a better world is possible — one in which we don’t compromise on anyone’s humanity. One in which we are not complicit in occupation and genocide,” he wrote on X. “One in which everyone has a home they can afford, with no bombs falling on it, in a place where they are both safe and free.”
Mamdani, for his part, vowed at a rally for the trio Thursday evening that they would help combat “monsters” that he claimed dominate the political process. The only such quarry he called out by name, though, was AIPAC.
“AIPAC, for whom the only thing more frightening than democracy being allowed to run its course is an end to genocide and [Israeli Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu’s wars,” the mayor told the roaring crowd.
Multiple sources identified Scott Stringer as a driving force behind two PACs spending to beat Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s House candidates
Michael Brochstein/Sipa USA via AP Images
Former New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer at the Green New Deal Accountability Forum held at the Society for Ethical Culture in New York City, NY on March 20, 2019.
