Good Monday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we preview this week’s Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles, and look at the state of play in the Middle East as President Donald Trump rejects Iran’s latest proposal to end the war. We have the scoop on a new Title VII complaint filed by the Brandeis Center against the National Education Association, and report on the University of Michigan’s apology after a faculty member bashed Israel while delivering a commencement address during the weekend’s graduation ceremonies. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Victor Schwartz, Yael Shelbia and Morgan Ortagus.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by JI Executive Editor Melissa Weiss and Israel Editor Tamara Zieve, with an assist from Danielle Cohen-Kanik. Have a tip? Email us here.
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- We're keeping an eye on the launch of the U.S.' “Project Freedom” effort — announced by President Donald Trump on Sunday — to guide vessels out of the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has since warned the U.S. Navy against entering the waterway. The U.S. military denied a claim earlier today that Iran hit an American warship trying to enter the strait. More below.
- The Milken Institute Global Conference kicked off yesterday in Los Angeles and runs through Wednesday. More below on what to expect at this year’s summit. JI’s Gabby Deutch is on the ground covering the Milken conference — drop her a line if you’re there, too.
- In Washington, U.S. Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy Sarah Rogers is slated to meet this morning with Lior Haiat, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs' deputy director-general for North America.
- Tonight in New York, The Jewish Center is hosting a candidate roundtable with Micah Lasher and Alex Bores, two of the candidates vying to succeed Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) in New York’s 12th Congressional District.
- Lag B’Omer begins tonight. In Israel, police are preparing for potential unrest in the vicinity of Mt. Meron, a Hasidic pilgrimage site where thousands have gathered annually for the holiday. Law enforcement scaled back the celebrations out of concern that the site, in northern Israel, could become a target for Hezbollah.
- The Pulitzer Prize Board will announce the winners of the 2026 prizes at 3 p.m. ET.
- A bevy of high-profile guests are slated to attend tonight's Met Gala, with attendees dressed according to this year's theme, "Costume Art." This year marks the first that Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos are serving as cosponsors and lead chairs of the annual event.
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Evening intelligence, exclusively for subscribers — what we're tracking and what's coming next.
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A QUICK WORD WITH JI'S GABBY DEUTCH |
A who’s who of global decision-makers is gathering today at the iconic Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles for this year’s annual Milken Institute Global Conference. Investors, philanthropists and business executives from around the world will hobnob with pro athletes, movie stars and politicians.
The four-day convening is billed as a way for global leaders to address some of the world’s biggest challenges. According to event organizers, this year’s conference is focused on building “a more sustainable, equitable and resilient future” in the face of “recent disruption and innovation.” In other words: What are the most powerful innovators in the world going to do about artificial intelligence?
AI is shaping up to be the buzzword at Milken, just like it is everywhere else right now. Govs. Ron DeSantis of Florida and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan will each be talking on Monday about developing a competitive workforce. Sens. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) and Mark Warner (D-VA) will speak on a panel with Alphabet President Ruth Porat and Meta President Dina Powell McCormick about disruptions to the American workforce. Perhaps the most anticipated speaker of the day is Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.
A closed-door session today about ties between Silicon Valley, Washington and the Middle East features UAE Ambassador to the U.S. Yousef Al Otaiba, Israeli-born Silicon Valley investor Elad Gil, Abu Dhabi department of health chair Mansoor Ibrahim Al Mansoori and Jacob Helberg, the U.S. under secretary of state for economic affairs.
Read the rest of 'What You Should Know' here.
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Mideast ceasefires shaky on three fronts, as Trump declares Iran’s terms 'not acceptable' |
Iran’s latest proposal for a ceasefire is unacceptable, President Donald Trump said on Sunday, as the tenuous ceasefire in Lebanon continued to hold in name only and as Israel weighed whether to resume combat in Gaza, citing Hamas’ refusal to disarm, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports. "It's not acceptable to me," Trump told Israeli public broadcaster Kan of Iran’s proposed ceasefire terms. "I've studied it; I've studied everything. It's not acceptable."
State of play: Iran submitted a proposal on Thursday that reportedly includes an end to the fighting, after nearly a monthlong ceasefire, and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz in the next 30 days. Talks about the Islamic Republic's nuclear plan would only begin after that, with an initial offer of a 15-year pause in uranium enrichment. On Sunday, Trump announced "Project Freedom," an endeavor by which, he wrote on Truth Social, the U.S. would "guide ... ships out of these restricted waterways" in the Strait of Hormuz.
Read the full story here.
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Brandeis Center files Title VII complaint against the National Education Association |
A leading Jewish legal group has filed a bias complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against the National Education Association, alleging the country’s largest teachers’ union violated civil rights law by discriminating against its Jewish members, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen has learned.
What it says: The complaint, filed Monday by the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, highlights several incidents in which the NEA — which represents over 3 million educators — allegedly breached Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which protects employees, resulting in the spread of antisemitism in K-12 public schools.
Read the full story here.
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New School rejects student government vote to cut ties, defund Hillel |
The New School rejected a student government vote on Saturday to defund and sever ties with the private New York City university’s Hillel chapter, a vote that prompted condemnation from local lawmakers and Jewish groups, while drawing praise from a controversial Muslim advocacy organization, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
Move to cut ties: On Friday, the New School’s student senate approved a resolution to strip funding and cease collaboration with Hillel, the world’s largest Jewish student organization. In a 38-page report, the student organization alleged that Hillel violated international law by running programming in Israel, including Birthright trips and volunteer opportunities with the Israel Defense Forces.
Read the full story here.
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University of Michigan apologizes for faculty leader’s anti-Israel commencement speech |
The University of Michigan apologized after the outgoing chair of the faculty senate, who has a history of anti-Israel advocacy, delivered an unapproved jab at Israel at a commencement ceremony on Saturday, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
Going off script: Derek Peterson, a tenured professor of history and African studies, praised “the pro-Palestinian student activists who have over these past two years opened our hearts to the injustice and inhumanity of Israel’s war in Gaza,” during his campus-wide commencement address to loud cheering from students. The university’s president, Domenico Grasso, said in a statement later on Saturday that the remarks were “hurtful and insensitive to many members of our community” and noted that Peterson had “deviated from the remarks he had shared before the ceremony.”
Read the full story here.
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Far-left Pa. candidate pushed Bondi Beach conspiracy theory |
Pennsylvania state Rep. Chris Rabb — a Democrat seeking the Philadelphia House seat of retiring Rep. Dwight Evans (D-PA) — shared an Instagram post blaming the massacre of Jewish Australians at a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on “Zionists,” the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. In the aftermath of the attack, in which 14 were killed and 40 injured, Rabb’s account shared disinformation insinuating the slaughter was a false flag perpetrated by Israeli interests, Jewish Insider’s Will Bredderman reports.
What it said: “We all know the gunmen were likely Zionists themselves,” read the post, which used an emoji in the place of the word “gun.” Shortly after the attack, the alleged assailants were identified as a father and son whom authorities linked to an offshoot of the Islamic State. A Rabb campaign spokesperson asserted to the Inquirer that the candidate not only did not share the post himself, but that he had “no knowledge” of it, and blamed a former staffer for posting it.
Read the full story here.
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Tucker Carlson touts relationship with Vance, slams Trump and Rubio in NYT interview |
In a wide-ranging New York Times interview published on Saturday, far-right podcaster Tucker Carlson offered an unusually personal defense of Vice President JD Vance, describing him as a close friend while suggesting he is being undermined by hawkish forces inside the White House amid tensions over the administration’s military actions in Iran, Jewish Insider’s Josh Kraushaar reports.
Carlson’s comments: “I couldn’t be a bigger fan of him as a man,” Carlson told Times podcast host Lulu Garcia-Navarro. He added that Vance is “in a tough spot” because his long-held foreign policy views clash with the administration’s decision to attack Iran in February. Carlson took a swipe at Secretary of State Marco Rubio, baselessly alleging that backers of Washington’s top diplomat have been engaging in “nonstop treachery” against Vance. “There are people in the White House who want to hurt JD Vance and have wanted that since the very first day. They were bitter. They wanted Marco Rubio to be the choice as vice president,” Carlson said.
Read the full story here.
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Dem Reset on Israel: In The Bulwark, former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro posits that the Democratic Party’s relationship with Israel has hit the “feeding-frenzy stage” and suggests considerations for the party to weigh as it moves leftward on Israel. “How will Hamas, Iran, Hezbollah, and the Houthis respond to the end of U.S. assistance to Israel? Will it make them less likely to pursue their dreams of Israel’s destruction? Or will they feel emboldened? … Would Arab and Muslim countries considering normalizing relations with Israel be more or less likely to do so if they see the United States pull away? Would Gulf nations still see the United States as their primary security partner as we distance ourselves from Israel?” [TheBulwark]
MBZ Zigs: The Financial Times’ Andrew England looks at how United Arab Emirates President Mohamed bin Zayed is steering the Gulf nation as the region sits at a crossroads that will determine its future. “For MBZ, it is a pivotal moment — a conflict he had long prepared for, but also a test of who among his nation’s traditional allies could be relied upon in a crisis. And the UAE has made clear it believes some have been found wanting. The state has openly criticised what it perceives to be the tepid response of Arab and Muslim partners. … But the war gave it the impetus to act on a threat it had previously only dangled, deepening a festering rift with Riyadh, fuelled by economic competition and conflicting visions of how to manage the region’s crises.” [FT]
The Unity Test: In The Jerusalem Post, William Daroff, the CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, considers the challenges facing the American Jewish community. “Institutions were built to sustain a broader communal fabric: federations, schools, synagogues, community centers, and civic organizations grounded in the idea that Jewish continuity is a collective responsibility. That instinct toward unity now faces a real test. … Fragmentation carries risk, especially under external pressure. The strength of American Jewish life depends on the ability to hold differences within a framework of mutual obligation: to argue, even sharply, without losing sight of a shared inheritance and a common future.” [JPost]
Pod Squad: Air Mail’s Alyson Krueger spotlights the use of the “pod” as an alternative to a traditional receiving line during King Charles III’s recent visit to Washington. “A political pod featured Speaker Mike Johnson, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Nancy Pelosi, and Stephen Miller — a seemingly flammable grouping. But John McCarthy, a Democratic strategist and former Biden White House aide, who was also in the pod, saw diplomatic promise in the 25 minutes its members spent waiting as a group. ‘There are not a lot of scenarios where leaders who are Democrats and Republicans are getting together in D.C. right now,’ he says. He thought it created a useful shared experience. ‘You met the King together! Next time you need something across the aisle, you have this interesting life experience that you can draw upon.’” [AirMail]
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Be featured: Email us to inform the JI readership of your upcoming event, job opening or other communication.
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National Security Action, the foreign policy group founded by former National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Obama administration senior official Ben Rhodes — both of whom remain on the board — has tapped Maher Bitar, the former NSA official who had faced criticism from GOP lawmakers for his alleged “clear bias against and disregard for Israel,” to lead the organization as it wades into the 2028 primaries…
Former U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel, a likely Democratic presidential candidate, on Friday signaled his backing for Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner, who has drawn scrutiny over his far-left views and decades-old Nazi tattoo that he recently covered up, Jewish Insider’s Josh Kraushaar reports…
The newly formed Jewish Federation of Annapolis & the Chesapeake is pushing back after Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman repeatedly declined to include funding for security grants requested by Jewish institutions in his proposed budget, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports…
Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner were spotted on Saturday night at the Amex x Carbone Beach pop-up in Miami Beach, Fla., chatting with Carbone owner Jeff Zalaznick, on the sidelines of the Miami Grand Prix…
Israeli model Yael Shelbia and Formula 1 driver Lance Stroll, who have been rumored to be dating since last year, made their F1 debut as a couple at the Miami Grand Prix, where Stroll was racing, on Sunday…
New York magazine profiles wine importer and distributor Victor Schwartz, the lead plaintiff challenging the Trump administration’s tariffs, who scored a 6-3 Supreme Court victory last fall…
Ryan Cohen’s GameStop made an offer to purchase eBay for $56 billion, with the goal of turning the online reseller into an Amazon competitor…
Cornell University President Michael Kotlikoff clashed with students whom he said were engaging in “harassment and intimidation” following an on-campus event on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; several students surrounded Kotlikoff’s car as he was trying to leave the parking lot and he was filmed backing into a student while another claimed he ran over his foot, but no injuries were reported…
The Washington Post spotlights JoJo and Yoni Kalin, a married couple that witnessed the killings last year of two Israeli Embassy staffers at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, and looks at how they have responded in different ways to the rise in antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment…
A historic Nantucket, Mass., lifesaving station purchased by the island’s Jewish community is set to become Nantucket’s first synagogue in more than four decades…
Australia’s royal commission into the December attack at a Hanukkah party at Sydney’s Bondi Beach held its first public hearing, with members of the city’s Jewish community testifying about their experiences with antisemitism; among those testifying was Sheina Gutnick, whose father was killed in the attack and who warned of the “real-world consequences of hatred”...
The man suspected of stabbing two Jewish men in the London suburb of Golders Green last week was charged with two counts of attempted murder, as well as a weapons charge; Essa Suleiman was also hit with a third charge of attempted murder, for an attack that took place in another part of the city earlier in the day…
A British court found a Kuwaiti asylum-seeker guilty of weapons charges and preparing to conduct a terrorist attack, a year after the man was apprehended outside the Israeli Embassy in London with knives…
Robert Shrimsley, the executive editor of the Financial Times, warns that British Jews are “being forced to live a more fearful and smaller Jewish life” amid ongoing attacks on Jewish communities around the country…
Israel Hayom interviews Morgan Ortagus, who departed the Trump administration earlier this year after working on the White House’s Lebanon portfolio…
The family of journalist Austin Tice, who disappeared in Syria in 2012, said there is new information indicating that Tice is potentially alive and in the hands of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps…
Pakistan said it assisted in the transfer of 22 Iranians whose ship was seized by the U.S. Navy last month, as a “confidence-building measure” between Washington and Tehran…
The New York Times looks at how China is attempting to benefit from any outcome in the U.S.-Iran conflict, both by encouraging Tehran to come to the negotiating table and providing commercial support to the Islamic Republic in the event of a resumption of hostilities, while also preparing for a summit in mid-May between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping…
The Wall Street Journal profiles Iranian businessman Babak Zanjani, who was released from Iran’s death row last year after facing corruption charges and now helps the Islamic Republic evade sanctions through cryptocurrency networks…
Marc Rod, JI’s senior congressional correspondent, and Olivia Truesdale-Rod, program manager for Former Members of Congress, married on Friday at Meridian House in Washington, D.C., with JI’s D.C. team in attendance. Rabbi Aaron Miller of Washington Hebrew Congregation officiated…
Nick Stewart is departing his role as managing director of advocacy at FDD Action and joining the Trump administration, working in the office of White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff…
Psychologist and Holocaust survivor Edith Eger, who as a teenager in Auschwitz was forced to dance for Dr. Josef Mengele — and who recounts those experiences in her books — died at 99…
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The Michael Levin Lone Soldier Center hosted the opening on Friday of an exhibit titled “Plates of Hope and Color” that included 180 original works created by Israeli artists, musicians and “lone soldiers” from around the world with no family in Israel.
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Medalist in the women's halfpipe event at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, Arielle Townsend Gold turns 30...
Former chairman and CEO of American International Group, once the largest insurance company in history, then chairman and CEO of the Starr Companies, Maurice Raymond "Hank" Greenberg turns 101... Executive director of the Texas A&M Hillel for 30 years, now a security consultant for the tourism industry, Peter E. Tarlow turns 80... U.S. special envoy for climate change in the Obama administration, now a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, Todd D. Stern turns 75... Trustee of the Institute for Islamic, Christian and Jewish Studies, Lee Sherman... Partner at NYC-based Mintz & Gold, he was EVP and general counsel for both the Las Vegas Sands and News Corporation, Lawrence "Lon" A. Jacobs... Northern Virginia-based portrait artist, Ilisa G. Calderon... CEO at Gigawatt Global, Yosef Israel Abramowitz turns 62... Member of the House of Representatives (D-VT), Rebecca A. "Becca" Balint turns 58... Triathlete, she has a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins and is a winner of international ironman competitions, Joanna Sue Zeiger turns 56... Director of congregational education at NYC's Park Avenue Synagogue, Bradley Solmsen... Former Florida state senator and state attorney for Palm Beach County from 2013 to 2025, Dave Aronberg turns 55... Chair and director at NYC's Department of City Planning until last month, Daniel Garodnick... Mechal Wakslak... Executive advisor at Veterans Community Project, he served as the secretary of state of Missouri, Jason Kander turns 45... Chief operating officer at Repair the World, Jessica Chait... Tech entrepreneur, best known as a co-founder of both Vine and HQ Trivia, Rus Yusupov turns 42... SVP at BerlinRosen, Allison Fran Bormel... Chief development officer at Ramah Darom, previously with Americans for Ben-Gurion University and AIPAC, Rebecca Leibowitz Wasserstrom... Script writer at Disney, Steven A. Rosenberg... Adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, Shana Mansbach... Manager of public policy and external affairs at Meta / Facebook, Sasha Altschuler... Actor best known for voicing the title character of the animated film “Finding Nemo,” Alexander Gould turns 32... Partner in the client services group at Signum Global Advisors, Elliot Miller... Finance lead at Shopify, Olivia Breuer...
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