2.08.2024

The growing U.S.-Israel divide over Gaza aid

Blinken's seventh visit to Israel highlights gaps ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌
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Jewish Insider | Daily Kickoff
February 8th, 2024
Good Thursday morning.

In today’s Daily Kickoff, we talk to Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant about the potential for a second front opening on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, and look at the Senate’s “plan B” to pass legislation to send aid to Israel. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff, Eden Golan, Rep. Virginia Foxx and Brett McGurk.

As lawmakers in Washington battle over Israel military aid packages this week, another debate over aid is taking place in the Middle East, as Secretary of State Tony Blinken makes his fifth trip to the region and seventh visit to Israel since the Oct. 7 attacks. In meetings largely focused on delivering aid to Gaza and broader conversations about winding down the Israel-Hamas war, Blinken’s heightened focus on delivering humanitarian aid, even as Israel inspects and lets in hundreds of aid trucks each day, is sparking concerns in Washington and Jerusalem, Jewish Insider’s senior political correspondent Lahav Harkov reports.

Calls for limiting humanitarian aid into Gaza have typically been associated with Israel’s right, whether it's Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, or protesters, including hostages' relatives, trying to block trucks crossing from Israel into Gaza as long as there is no proof of their loved ones receiving necessary medicine and sufficient food.

However, centrist ministers Benny Gantz, a member of the war cabinet, and Gadi Eisenkot, a war cabinet observer, who are often viewed as the Biden administration’s more moderate sounding board in Israel, have called for a suspension of humanitarian aid. They argue that, under the current system, most aid ends up going to Hamas. One alternative under discussion is for the IDF to distribute the aid.

In a press conference on Tuesday, Gantz called for aid to be distributed "through international entities not connected to Hamas… even if this requires stopping or reducing quantities." In their meeting this morning, the former defense minister told Blinken that "continuing to allow aid to be transferred via Hamas allows it to rule, harming residents of Gaza and lengthening the war."

The concept of blocking aid to Gaza as long as Hamas holds Israelis hostage is one that long predates the current war, with Leah Goldin, the mother of IDF soldier Hadar Goldin, whose body has been held by Hamas since 2014, calling for the policy for years.

Efforts by U.S. legislators and others on the left to center their criticism of Israel’s war policies on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his need to keep his right-wing coalition together — as Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) have frequently done — ignore that Netanyahu has the backing of his politically diverse war cabinet, and is also acting in line with the priorities of a majority of Israelis, who overwhelmingly support a continuation of the war until Hamas is no longer governing Gaza.

One statement by Blinken proved especially controversial: “Israelis were dehumanized in the most horrific way on October 7. The hostages have been dehumanized every day since. But that cannot be a license to dehumanize others.”

Former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren understood the statement as Blinken "inaccurately, unfairly, and libelously" accusing Israel of dehumanization, which "dehumanizes us and contributes to the delegitimization of Israel and the demonization of Jews worldwide.”

"Thank you, Secretary Blinken, for resupplying us with ammunition and standing up for our right to self-defense, but without legitimacy, we will be hard-pressed to use that ammo or exercise that right. Dehumanizing us endangers our security and possibly our existence," Oren added.

Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) posted in response that "Israel is taking extraordinary measures under the laws of armed conflict — unlike Hamas & other Iran-backed Palestinian terrorists who perversely hide behind civilians [and] seek to maximize death tolls. It's slander for Blinken to suggest any moral equivalency here."

Behind closed doors, Blinken emphasized his personal emotional distress over the humanitarian situation in the coastal enclave. In a meeting with Netanyahu, the secretary of state said, according to Israel’s Channel 13, that he was "shocked by Oct. 7 and committed to preventing something like this from happening again." However, Blinken added, "We must recognize the reality that entire families not connected to Hamas were harmed.”

"Every day for the rest of my life I will ask myself about the thousands of children killed in Gaza," Blinken stated.

The remark was reportedly met with many raised eyebrows in the room, with Netanyahu responding that "Hamas, which acts within the civilian population, is responsible."

Political commentator Yaakov Bardugo, who has close ties to Netanyahu, told Channel 14 that, despite those public remarks, the meeting with Blinken went smoothly, because "he didn't succeed in hitting the brakes on the war, which was his goal."

However, Bardugo added, Blinken is expressing "the great dissonance between what is happening in Israel and the American elections," and that the secretary of state is "unable to read Israeli society."

Minutes after Blinken's press conference, Netanyahu released a video in English to emphasize that the war would go on until "total victory." He noted that Israel "shattered 18 out of 24 Hamas battalions and [is] mopping up the remaining terrorists with ongoing raids," and said that they will "soon go into Rafah, Hamas' last bastion" – a step about which the Biden administration has expressed concern.

"Total victory over Hamas will not take years. It will take months. Victory is within reach," he said.

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aid arrangements 

Senate aims for slimmed-down foreign aid package without border deal

ANNA MONEYMAKER/GETTY IMAGES

The Senate inched toward a backup plan to approve aid to Israel on Wednesday after defeating a negotiated bipartisan bill including Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan assistance and sweeping immigration policy changes. The new “plan B” bill retains the foreign aid elements of the previous bill while stripping out the hard-fought immigration deal, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

Where they’re headed: The path forward is still under negotiation, with Republicans demanding votes on what some senators said is a large variety of amendments, relating mainly to immigration policy, before they agree to take an initial vote on Thursday that would begin the Senate’s formal consideration of the bill. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said Wednesday evening that the initial vote on the new package, requiring the support of at least 60 senators, will happen on Thursday.

What Republicans want: Although all but four Senate Republicans voted yesterday to kill the original version of the aid package over a belief that the negotiated immigration deal didn’t go far enough, some Republicans are demanding that the immigration issue be raised anew. Senators said Republicans may be pushing for votes on the House’s hardline immigration package, known as H.R. 2, in addition to other immigration policy amendments.

Palestinian portion: Some Republicans also seek to fully eliminate aid to the Palestinians from the package. Asked if the Palestinian aid issue was among her colleagues’ concerns, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) did not directly answer. She highlighted stringent new restrictions and oversight that the bill would impose on Palestinian aid, which she called, “the strictest restrictions on humanitarian aid that I’ve ever seen,” as well as its ban on funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. “I think that we’ve done some really good work in putting guide-rails around that,” Collins said.

Read more here.

Defunding: Twenty-eight Republican House members, led by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), wrote to Appropriations Committee leaders urging them to permanently cut off U.S. aid to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency as part of their upcoming 2024 spending bills.

Going on offense

Gallant: Odds of war on the northern front are significant

elad malka

Even as Israeli troops continue to battle Hamas inside the Gaza Strip, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told Jewish Insider’s Ruth Marks Eglash on Monday that there is an overwhelming chance of a second front opening up in the north. Dressed in his trademark all-black, Gallant, a former IDF general and a member of Israel’s war cabinet, told JI in a briefing that Israel was “getting closer to making a decision” on how to tackle Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Islamist group that dominates southern Lebanon. Gallant said that Israel prefers a diplomatic outcome in tandem with American negotiators, but it is also ready and prepared for military alternatives.

Northern threat: Since Hamas carried out its brutal Oct. 7 terror attack on civilian communities in southern Israel, Hezbollah has joined the fray, threatening Israel from the north with a steady stream of rockets, projectiles and armed drones, even dispatching small terror cells to infiltrate across the border. The threat has forced some 80,000 Israeli civilians to abandon their homes and seek refuge elsewhere in the country.

Israeli priorities: “Any diplomatic solution must remove the threat of terrorist infiltrations and fire by Hezbollah,” Gallant explained to JI, adding that such a solution might require an amendment to the U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which the two countries reached following the Second Lebanon War in 2006. “My priority is to return 80,000 people to their homes, safely. I am giving the diplomatic channel a chance, but we will not tolerate the threat of infiltrations or firing on our northern communities,” said the former general, who, according to reports, pushed for an immediate military operation against Hezbollah in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attack.

Read the full interview here.

exclusive

Jewish student at Columbia attacked while leaving a pro-Israel demonstration

courtesy

A Jewish freshman at Columbia University who donned a shirt with an Israeli flag on it during a pro-Israel demonstration last Friday was shoved, pinned against a wall and, when he fled, told by a pro-Palestinian protester to “keep f—ing running,” the student, Noah Lederman, told eJewishPhilanthropy’s Haley Cohen, reporting for Jewish Insider. Lederman, a philosophy and pre-law major, was heading back to his dorm from a pro-Israel demonstration to prepare for Shabbat when he was “physically assaulted by a masked individual right outside of the Northwest Corner Building on Broadway and 120th Street,” he told JI. 

Prior events: “I was at the counterprotest for much of the afternoon. We ended it when the pro-Palestinians were starting to march. I didn’t want to be there for that. I wanted to get out of there safely,” Lederman continued. “So everyone dispersed. I went to the bookstore across the street and turned my phone off for Shabbos. As I’m walking back to my dorm on 122nd Street, when I’m almost at 120th I notice a group of protestors appeared to be marching toward me in my direction.” 

Assault: Lederman, who had been waving an Israeli flag during the counterprotest, said he kept his head down, hoping to pass through without being noticed. “A masked member of the group wearing a white keffiyeh and carrying a camera, took notice of my shirt, which in addition to the flag said in English and Hebrew ‘together we will prevail.’ His eyes flared and he instructed a group of protestors behind him to spread across the sidewalk to engulf me. My initial thought was to stand still like water running along rocks. But before I could process, the man with the camera shoved me against the wall [of the building] aggressively and pinned me in an attempt to immobilize me. The mob surrounded me. As I broke free, the assailants continued to pursue me, shoving me and yelling ‘keep running, keep f—king running.’” 

Read the full story here.

seeing crimson

House Education Committee threatens to subpoena Harvard for antisemitism docs

BILL CLARK/CQ-ROLL CALL, INC VIA GETTY IMAGES

Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), who chairs the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, is threatening to subpoena Harvard for documents related to its handling of antisemitism on its campus, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

Slow-walked: Foxx and the committee had requested documents from Harvard as part of the committee’s investigation into antisemitism on campuses, but said the documents the university produced were incomplete and nonresponsive to the request. Foxx on Wednesday gave Harvard’s leadership a week to provide further documents or face a subpoena.

Quotable: “Somehow, almost two months after the Committee first informed Harvard of its intent to request production of specific documents, and a month after the Committee provided particularized requests, Harvard provided only a single meaningful document to the Committee in its antisemitism investigation,” she said. “Harvard’s failure to produce documents requested by the Committee in a timely manner is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.”

Senate side: Separately, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) led nine Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee on letters seeking information about the funders behind the Rutgers University Center for Security, Race and Rights. The lawmakers said the center has provided a platform for supporters of terrorism, including guest speaker Sami Al-Arian, who was convicted of providing material support to Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The center’s director reposted denialism of the Oct. 7 attack, and the center has hosted individuals who have celebrated the attack or sought to blame it on Israel. 

Read the full story here.

on the hill

Lawmakers weigh pressuring Qatar, other U.S. partners through government funding to secure hostage release

marc rod

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), a senior Democratic member of the House Appropriations Committee, said on Wednesday that lawmakers might seek to pressure Qatar and other U.S. partners through the government funding process to seek the release of hostages held in Gaza, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

Appropriations pressure: “We have very specific things that can specifically — country by country — begin to ratchet up the pressure,” Wasserman Schultz said. “These are countries that all have an interest in remaining a friend of the United States.” She said that both the pending supplemental aid bill and the 2024 appropriations process give lawmakers “an opportunity to apply pressure” on these U.S. partners.

Making an impact: Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), who led a congressional delegation to Qatar and Israel last month to put pressure on the Qatari government, said that Qatar “need[s] to step up,” and suggested that Hamas leaders should be expelled from the country if the political leaders in Doha are no longer in communication with Hamas leaders in Gaza. Ernst said she has heard from members of the administration that the lawmakers’ trip was a “very clear turning point” in prompting Qatar to “put more pressure” on Hamas.

Read the full story here.

Pink slip: Reps. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), Brad Schneider (D-IL), Brian Mast (R-FL), Anthony D’Esposito (R-NY), Max Miller (R-OH), Haley Stevens (D-MI), Don Davis (D-NC), Michelle Steel (R-CA) and Don Bacon (R-NE) joined a push led by Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Claudia Tenney (R-NY) and Ritchie Torres (D-NY) for the United Nations secretary general and the head of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency to step down.

Taking Back The Reins: In The Wall Street Journal, Walter Russell Mead argues that President Joe Biden must take a far tougher stand against Iran in order to restore stability, deterrence and control. “What’s clear in the Middle East these days is that Iran has the weather gage. Iran can spark a crisis whenever and wherever it wants and can also de-escalate at will. From Iraq to Lebanon and Gaza to the Red Sea, Iran and its proxies can create an instant crisis anywhere, forcing the U.S. to respond on Iran’s timetable. Even when, as over this weekend, Team Biden responded to Iranian attacks with force, Tehran was essentially in control. Rather than thinking about how to deliver an unmistakable message that will restore deterrence across the Middle East, the administration struggled to find a Goldilocks retaliation strategy: strong enough so centrists don’t call it weak at home, weak enough so that Iran won’t escalate in return.” [WSJ]

Settler Semantics: The New York Times’ Bret Stephens explores the concept of settler colonialism as it is applied — in an outsized manner — to Israel. “It’s fine to oppose settler colonialism, but in that case, one also must be consistent and principled. To say that Israel alone must be eliminated on grounds of settler colonialism while giving a pass to other cases of settler colonialism is a double standard that is hard to describe as anything but antisemitic. … It’s odd, to say the least, that the ethnic group that is today most vociferously accused of settler colonialism is the one that can unmistakably trace its language, culture and religion to the same places from which it was long exiled and now inhabits and governs. Whatever else it is, Jewish nationalism — that is, Zionism — is the oldest continuous anticolonial movement in history, starting well before the Romans sought to de-Judaize the area by calling their Levantine colony Palestina. Hanukkah, the festival of lights, is one such reminder, celebrating the recovery of Jerusalem from colonizing Greeks in the second century B.C.E.” [NYTimes]

Minding McGurk: Puck’s Julie Ioffe spotlights the National Security Council’s Brett McGurk, a key player in the Biden administration’s work in the Middle East. “Washington is a small town with a long memory. And because McGurk has spent two decades helping set American Middle East policy, almost everyone in the Blob can point to something they hate him for. Progressives hate him for being soft on Israel, conservatives hate him for being soft on Iran. Staties hate him for not speaking Arabic, the Pentagon hates him for circumventing their bureaucracy. Lefties hate him for cozying up to dictators, the Turkish government hates him for cozying up to terrorists. The policy wonks hate him for not being a true regional expert, the spooks hate him for being a slick D.C. operator. D.C. operators hate him for kissing up and kicking down, while D.C. women hate him for being a white man who keeps failing up — and on and on it goes.” [Puck]

Southern Reflection: In Newsweek, Palestinian political activist and chairman of the Jerusalem Development Fund Samer Sinijlawi reflects on a recent trip to Kibbutz Kfar Aza, where he traveled with former White House Mideast envoy Jason Greenblatt. “Knowing well both Palestinians and Israelis, I know we will work our way out of the current tragedy. We need to stop looking always backward to our dark past and shift one eye toward the future. With this eye looking to the future, we will find a political horizon in which the war is over and the hostages released. The horrors of October 7 and of the ongoing war on Gaza do not change the fundamental facts about Israelis and Palestinians. Both will continue to live in this land. Israelis will continue to look for peace but worry about their security, and Palestinians will continue to look for peace which must include human dignity, rights, and justice. The lesson to be learned from both from October 7 and the ongoing war in Gaza is that war has never been the correct option. Peace is inevitable.” [Newsweek]

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Around the Web

Michigan Moves: Aides for President Joe Biden — led by Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer and USAID Administrator Samantha Power — are being dispatched to Michigan today, weeks ahead of the state’s Democratic primary, amid tensions between the state’s Arab-American leaders and the administration over the Israel-Hamas war.

Cross Pressures: The White House lobbied House Democrats to vote against the GOP’s stand-alone Israel aid bill. Forty-six House Democrats ended up supporting the legislation, which was backed by AIPAC.

Kennedy’s Kishkes: Third-party presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who is courting the Libertarian Party line, is expected to deliver a speech addressing his views on Israel, after facing pressure from libertarian supporters and leftist activists that his approach is too hawkish. 

Poll Drop: A new Siena College poll has former Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) leading GOP legislator Mazi Pilip 48-44%, days before the special election in New York's 3rd Congressional District.

Houthi Label: Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) led 53 House lawmakers on a letter to Secretary of State Tony Blinken again urging that the Houthis be redesignated as a foreign terrorist organization.

Foreign Funds: Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Don Bacon (R-NE) wrote to the Treasury Department asking it to investigate U.S. colleges and universities that failed to disclose information on $13 billion in contributions from foreign regimes, questioning whether such donations have helped to fund “antisemitic protest groups” on U.S. college campuses. Gottheimer also questioned Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on the issue at a hearing this week.

Follow the Money: Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and John Cornyn (R-TX) reintroduced the Combating Money Laundering, Terrorist Finance and Counterfeiting Act, which strengthens anti-money laundering laws to respond to new strategies being used to dodge legal scrutiny.

Think Tank Ties: Reps. Jim Banks (R-IN), Elise Stefanik (R-NY), and Mike Waltz (R-FL) sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland calling on the Justice Department to investigate potential ties between the International Crisis Group and Tehran, following a series of reports from Semafor and other outlets detailing Iranian efforts to make inroads in U.S. think tanks and government.

Race to Watch: Former Reps. Nita Lowey (D-NY) and Eliot Engel (D-NY) endorsed Westchester County Executive George Latimer in his primary challenge to Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY).

Aguilar’s Endorsement: Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA), the chair of the Democratic Caucus, said he’s backing Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) for California’s open Senate seat.

Switcheroo on MBS: Former Clinton White House press secretary Joe Lockhart, who had previously called Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman "one of the most ruthless killers in the world," recently registered as a foreign agent of the MBS’ sovereign wealth fund. 

Familiar Role: Former Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) will portray a senator in the upcoming Netflix drama series “The Residence.”

New Doc: Actress Debra Messing has signed on to executive produce an upcoming documentary focusing on the spike in antisemitism that has occurred since Oct. 7.

Dem Division: The New York Times Magazine looks at how the Oct. 7 terror attacks and ensuing Israel-Hamas war divided Democrats on Capitol Hill and beyond.

Campus Beat: The University of Pennsylvania will begin to share with the House Education Committee requested documents as the committee probes the school’s handling of antisemitism on campus.

AI Aid: A new report from Microsoft found that Iran has been using AI as part of a campaign of cyberattacks against Israel. 

B-Ye!: Bill Maher is scrapping an already recorded podcast with Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, saying that the artist is “helpful for spreading the fertilizer” of the notion that “Israel and the Jews are like the worst people in the world.”

Bias Suit: Actress Gina Carano is suing LucasFilm and The Walt Disney Company, alleging she was fired for her political beliefs after tweeting a comparison between American conservatives and Jews during the Holocaust; X owner Elon Musk is funding Carano’s lawsuit.

Sale Surprise: The Wall Street Journal looks at how John Angelos’ recent and sudden sale of the Baltimore Orioles to David Rubenstein surprised fans and lawmakers, as well as T. Rowe Price executives, who had been closing in on an agreement to secure the naming rights to Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

Paris Pays Tribute: French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to the 42 French citizens killed during the Oct. 7 terror attacks and the three believed to be held hostage in Gaza at a ceremony in Paris.

Headed for Malmö: Israeli singer Eden Golan was selected to represent the Jewish state at this year’s Eurovision in Malmö, Sweden.

Signs of the Times: Reuters spotlights the graffiti and campaign posters that decorate the streets of Tel Aviv, calling for the release of the hostages held in Gaza.

On the Back Burner: In The New York Times, Gershom Gorenberg suggests that debate over Israel’s proposed judicial reforms — the top issue in Israel until the Oct. 7 attacks — has not fully receded, with the war being “at most a moratorium” on debate over the issue. 

From War to War: The Washington Post reports on Ukrainians in Gaza — a population that once numbered close to 1,500 — who are trying to leave the enclave amid diplomatic challenges tied to Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Saudi Summit: Saudi Arabia is hosting a summit of foreign ministers from five Arab nations to discuss the Israel-Hamas war and potential “day after” scenarios.

Ship Strikes: U.S. Special Envoy to Yemen Tim Lenderking accused Tehran of helping the Houthis determine high-value shipping targets in the Red Sea.

Iraq Strike: A U.S. drone strike in Baghdad killed a commander of the Iran-backed militia group responsible for an attack in Jordan that killed three U.S. service members last month.

Nuclear Capabilities: A new report from the Institute for Science and International Security found that Iran has accumulated enough weapons-grade uranium to produce a nuclear weapon in one week.

Remembering: Pearl Berg, the world’s oldest living Jewish person, died at 114.

courtesy
In a meeting between Argentinian President Javier Milei and participants on a YPO Mosaic mission to Israel organized by Fuenta Latina on Wednesday, Milei told global Israeli and Jewish finance leaders that they would be welcomed in Argentina with “open arms.” 
Birthdays
Scott Legato/Getty Images

Canadian jazz-pop singer-songwriter, Nicole "Nikki" Rachel Yanofsky turns 30... 

Boston attorney, author and podcast host, his 2013 book on Jews and baseball was turned into the 2016 play "Swing, Schmendrick, Swing," Larry Ruttman turns 93... Longtime anchor of ABC's “Nightline,” Ted Koppel turns 84... Actor, stand-up comedian and singer, Robert Klein turns 82... Chair of the Morris A. Hazan Family Foundation, Lovee Arum... Therapist and life coach, Sheila Kay... Attorney and president of Schottenstein Legal Services, James Mark Schottenstein... Former CEO of the Jewish Federation of Northeastern New York (Albany), Rodney Margolis... Town and Village Justice in Red Hook, N.Y., Judge Jonah Triebwasser turns 74... CEO of NYC-based Cohen Brothers Realty Corporation, Charles S. Cohen turns 72... Investor and business operator, he is on the board of Tel Aviv University, Marc Lauren Abramowitz turns 71... President of BlackRock, Robert S. Kapito turns 67... Chief rabbi of the IDF, Brigadier Gen. Eyal Moshe Karim turns 67... Senior director of synagogue affiliations and operations for United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, Barry S. Mael... Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Hudson Institute, Sarah May Stern... Chairman of the Premier League's Tottenham Hotspur since 2001, Daniel Levy turns 62... Former member of the Knesset for the Jewish Home and New Right parties, Shulamit "Shuli" Mualem-Rafaeli turns 59...

Chairman of Andell Inc., Andrew Hauptman turns 55... Chess grandmaster, then derivatives trader, now a retirement planner, Ilya Mark Gurevich turns 52... Attorney, rabbi and New Jersey political consultant, Benjamin G. Kelsen... Popular Israeli musician, Eviatar Banai turns 51... Actor and filmmaker, Seth Benjamin Green turns 50... Former Member of Knesset for the Labor party, now director-general of the Israel office of the UJA-Federation of New York, Itzik Shmuli turns 44... Founder of D.C.-based JTR Strategies, Jenny Thalheimer Rosenberg... Deputy general counsel for the Inspector General at USAID, Adam Kaplan... Partner at Sidley Austin, William Ranney Levi... Retired professional ice hockey center for five NHL teams, now a real estate executive, Trevor Smith turns 39... Synchronized swimmer on behalf of Israel at the three Olympic games, Inna Yoffe turns 36... Senior attorney at Public Justice, Alexandra Brodsky... Assistant director of legislative and regulatory policy at EY, Celia Glassman... Pitcher for Team Israel in the 2020 Olympics as well as the 2017 and 2023 World Baseball Classics, Jake Layton Fishman turns 29... Associate attorney at Lewis and Garbuz, Samantha Grosinger... Director of global brand and marketing at Olami, Michal Nordmann...

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