| | Good Monday morning. In today’s Daily Kickoff , we look at how Iran’s weekend strike against Israel is playing out from Jerusalem to Washington, as House Republicans face pressure to expedite aid to Israel and the Israeli government mulls a response. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff : Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Salman Rushdie and Cameron Hamilton. The unnerving countdown to an Iranian retaliation against Israel’s strike in Damascus reached its climax on Saturday night after the Islamic republic launched hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel, Jewish Insider’s Tamara Zieve reports. Security analysts swiftly explained that the drones would take around eight hours to reach their targets and gave Israelis an ETA for the attack to begin (2:30-5 a.m.) The sound of the heavy iron windows of the safe rooms being pulled closed by neighbors in our Tel Aviv apartment building followed the announcement as the country braced for the night ahead — the window in our safe room was already closed, as it has been every night since Oct. 7 to ensure that our two young children are sleeping in the safest possible conditions. Earlier in the evening, IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari addressed the country and announced changes to the Home Front Command’s defensive guidelines, starting from 11 p.m. on Saturday until 11 p.m. on Monday: All educational activities were canceled and gatherings were restricted by numbers that varied according to different color-coded areas of the country — drawing tongue-in-cheek comparisons to Israel’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Some of the restrictions were lifted at midnight on Sunday following a situational assessment). Many Israelis, as they often do, turned to black humor in response to the unprecedented situation. WhatsApp groups sprang to life with memes galore and parents grumbling about the cancellation of educational activities. Even with plenty of Israeli resilience, there was also panic and anxiety. Friends and family checked in with each other; questions flew regarding the safety guidelines and Home Front Command officials sat in news studios clarifying that the public should adhere to the same rules that had already been in place for rocket attacks; some stores extended their hours to allow last-minute shoppers to stock up on essentials to put in their safe rooms; and many Israelis stayed up for the better part of the night following the unfolding situation. The attack began shortly before 2 a.m., with the first sirens blaring in Israel’s southern district, then in the West Bank, Jerusalem and northern Israel. Tel Aviv was quiet, other than the sound of Israeli fighter jets in the early morning hours. I watched on my TV screen as the IDF and allies intercepted hundreds of drones and cruise missiles — what looked like blazing shooting stars — until it became apparent that the attack was over, at least for the night. Read more here for additional first-person accounts from JI’s Ruth Marks Eglash and Lahav Harkov. In the aftermath of the weekend attack, Israelis were left to reflect on the absence of major damage and destruction — save for the injuries sustained by a 10-year-old Bedouin girl who was injured by shrapnel — that was largely a result of the joint efforts of a multinational coalition that intercepted the hundreds of missiles. Read more on that effort below. The cover of the March 23 edition of The Economist featured an Israeli flag blowing in the wind, with the text “ISRAEL ALONE” above. But that assumption could not have been further from the truth when Israel was joined by a coordinated military effort alongside the U.S., U.K. and others to intercept more than 300 attack drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles fired by Iran. Israeli President Isaac Herzog was quick to praise the coordinated efforts — and the assistance of the Biden administration. “Bless you dear soldiers and commanders of the IDF and IAF,” Herzog wrote on X. “Bless the coalition of nations led by the US and @POTUS. Bless my sisters and brothers, the people of Israel, for their exceptional show of resilience. Together, the forces of good will overcome the forces of evil.” Among those aiding Israel was Jordan, whose leaders have repeatedly publicly criticized Jerusalem over the Israel-Hamas war in recent months — rhetoric meant to mollify Jordanians, who overwhelmingly side with the Palestinians. But Amman’s assistance was met with pushback among the Jordanian populace and Arab news commentators, including AJ+’s managing director, who said Jordan’s support for Israel over the weekend was “shocking.” Jordanian officials took to the airwaves to do damage control for their home audience — Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told CNN’s Becky Anderson that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “invoking a fight with Iran” in an effort to “dilute” the pressure Israel faces to wind down its war with Hamas. Israel now faces a choice of what to do next. Iran’s failure to cause serious damage with its attack led the Biden administration and other allies to urge Israel not to immediately respond, with some commentators saying that this moment would be a good time for Israel to build up international goodwill, and get back at Iran at a time and place of its own choosing. But the scope of Iran’s attack was unprecedented, leading many analysts to conclude that Israel will need to powerfully showcase its deterrence to prevent Iran and its proxies from letting such behavior become normalized. One top U.S. military official told JI’s Gabby Deutch that the attack was “designed to cause significant casualties.” As Tablet’s Armin Rosen wrote: "The attack itself was a tactical failure, and Israeli aerial defenses are spectacular, and Israel's partners and allies, including the US, will come to the country's aid in real emergencies like this one. But [Iran] successfully tested the limits of what it's allowed to do.” This week, all attention will be on Washington as Iran’s attack is expediting efforts to ensure Israel receives long-delayed aid. But divisions within the Republican Party over Ukraine aid — along with pockets of anti-Israel opposition among left-wing Democrats — make any such efforts uncertain. To help build momentum for securing Israeli aid, Christians United for Israel, the Christian pro-Israel lobbying group, is hosting an "emergency fly-in" in Washington this week, only the group's third such event in 18 years, the group said in a statement, responding to the ongoing delays in sending additional aid to Israel. It said that "a small but loud group in the House" is the "primary impediment" to that aid. CUFI Action Fund’s chairwoman, Sandra Parker, said in a statement, "There is widespread bipartisan support for aid to Israel in the House of Representatives, yet this legislative branch is being held hostage from within, undermining both American and Israeli national security. Our members are compelled by their faith to act on this issue, and act we shall." Spread the word! Invite your friends to sign up.👇 Share with a friend | thwarting tehran How Israel blocked most of Iran’s rockets from reaching its borders  TOMER NEUBERG/AP The Israel Defense Forces remained on high alert Monday, one day after Iran’s unprecedented drone and missile attack put the country on lockdown and sent fighter jets – and advanced missile-defense systems – roaring into action. While some of the civilian restrictions put in place by the army’s Home Front Command on Saturday were eased early on Monday morning, including the resumption of children’s activities during the Passover vacation, the Israeli army reported additional UAV infiltration attempts from the east and the south overnight as the country’s leaders met to debate how to respond to Tehran, Jewish Insider’s Ruth Marks Eglash reports.
Seamless cooperation: In Israel, the defensive operation against the first attack by another regional country since Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s attempts during the first Gulf War in 1991 was seen as a huge success, not only for the effectiveness of Israeli-designed military defense systems but also because of seamless cooperation and support that came from Israel’s close allies – the U.S., Britain and France, as well as from neighboring countries, most notably Jordan.
CENTCOM action: The combined effort, which is believed to have included fighter jets and defensive systems deployed by Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, came under the umbrella of the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), whose mandate is to coordinate military operations and activities between its allies in the Middle East. CENTCOM also aims to bolster regional security and support U.S. interests, including pushing back against Iranian aggression.
Army briefing: “Last night, a defensive coalition of Israel and its international partners successfully thwarted a large-scale attack from Iran,” IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said during a briefing on Sunday. “The threat from Iran was met with the aerial, operational, technological, and intelligence superiority of a united defensive coalition of international allies led by the United States, together with Great Britain, France, and other partners.”
Read the full story here. johnson's jam After Iran strike, House GOP leaders looking to fast-track aid to Israel  ANNA MONEYMAKER/GETTY IMAGES House Republican leaders said they would rush an Israel aid bill and other Israel-related legislation to the House floor after the massive Iranian attack on Israel on Saturday, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. But as of Sunday evening, it remained unclear exactly what funding bill the House would be voting on; House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) suggested the House would also be considering Ukraine aid, but left it unclear whether the two would be combined into one or voted on separately, and other details of the funding bills’ format.
Internal pressure: Johnson is facing urgent calls from inside his party to move forward with foreign aid ahead of a scheduled weeklong congressional recess. “Iran, Russia and China have engaged in an unholy alliance to undermine and destabilize the US, Israel and the free world,” Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) said in a statement. “We must act decisively — Congress must pass aid to Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan AND the Senate must pass the SHIP Act.”
Across the aisle: Many House Democrats, particularly pro-Israel moderates, have also come out in force to call for the House to immediately take up the Senate-passed aid bill. Passing anything other than the Senate-approved bill “will delay the resources to getting to Israel, Ukraine, the far east and humanitarian relief, and I think that’s a very very bad mistake,” Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) told JI Sunday evening. “I am absolutely confident we can pass it.” Hoyer predicted at least 25 Republicans would join Democratic efforts to force a vote if Republicans don’t schedule a vote on aid early this week.
Plan B: But other Republicans, such as Republican Study Committee Chair Rep. Kevin Hern (R-OK), are making a new push for the House to pass a stand-alone, Israel-only aid bill. Such a bill failed to pass earlier this year and it’s unclear that sufficient support would be forthcoming now.
Read the full story here.
Musical chair(men): Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NV) is set to replace Rep. David Joyce (R-OH) as chairman of the House Appropriations Committee’s Homeland Security subcommittee, which helps determine funding levels for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program. NSGP advocates saw Joyce as an ally who pushed for a small funding increase last year. Amodei in 2022 voted against a bill that proposed significant funding increases for the NSGP, which Joyce supported. Amodei did, however, sign on as a co-sponsor of a recent resolution calling for a commission to study antisemitism. In light of contentious debates over border policy, the homeland security chairmanship is seen as a difficult and undesirable assignment. sweeping success White House praises coordinated response to Israel's successful defense against Iran  ADAM SCHULTZ/THE WHITE HOUSE VIA GETTY IMAGES Hours after the United States helped defend Israel against an unprecedented Iranian missile attack on Saturday night, top Biden administration officials lauded Israel’s proven “military superiority” but urged Israel’s leaders to think “carefully and strategically” before taking any further military action against Iran, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports. “Take the win,” Biden told Netanyahu, according to a report in Axios.
Israel on top: In a Saturday night phone call from the White House Situation Room, President Joe Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu soon after the onslaught that Israel “really came out far ahead in this exchange,” a top White House official said Sunday — not just on Saturday, but also when Israel killed several top commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Damascus, Syria, near an Iranian diplomatic complex earlier this month.
Send a message: Biden “reaffirm[ed] America’s ironclad commitment to the security of Israel,” the president said in a Saturday statement after talking to Netanyahu. “I told him that Israel demonstrated a remarkable capacity to defend against and defeat even unprecedented attacks – sending a clear message to its foes that they cannot effectively threaten the security of Israel.”
Israeli calculation: The senior White House official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity to share sensitive details of the military operation, stopped short of directly telling Israel not to strike back at Iran. “I’m just not gonna say that so definitively. I think it’s a calculation the Israelis have to make,” said the official, noting that the U.S. would not take part in any retaliatory attack on Iran. “I think the Israelis came out clearly very much on top and demonstrated their ability to defend their country, in coordination with us and others, [which] speaks for itself. And I think a big question is not only whether but what Israel might choose to do.”
Read the full story here.
On that note: The Atlantic’s David Frum considers how the Biden administration could respond to the Iranian attack, noting that the weekend incident “has — at least temporarily — complicated the political calculus for Republicans in Congress.” cruel celebrations Pro-Palestinian, left-wing campus groups cheer Iranian attack on Israel  HOSSEIN BERIS/MIDDLE EAST IMAGES/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES Soon after news broke on Saturday night of Iran's missile attack on Israel, hard-line anti-Israel activists celebrated Iran's barrage, with some declaring it a necessary consequence of Israel's "genocide" in Gaza. The message spread quickly on social media and appeared on the feeds of several Students for Justice in Palestine chapters. An Instagram post by the account @PalestinianYouthMovement praised the attack and said “Iran, Yemen and Lebanon dared to take action to bring an end to this genocide.” The account has 587,000 followers, and its post was shared by the SJP chapter at UCLA, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch and eJewishPhilanthropy’s Haley Cohen report.
‘No limits’: “We saw it after Hamas' 10/7 massacre and we're seeing it now after Iran’s unprecedented attack on the Jewish state: anti-Zionists rejoice, glorifying and justifying violence against Israeli civilians,” Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, told JI. “The cruelty knows no bounds; the hatred has no limits.”
Online: Hunter College’s Palestine Solidarity Alliance, an affiliate of SJP, reposted a report of an Iranian drone attack from the Arabs of Canada Instagram account and added: “true solidarity.” Columbia University’s SJP chapter reshared a post by Omar Baddar, the former deputy executive director of the Arab American Institute, mocking Israel for seeking U.N. condemnation of the attack. “You violate a mountain of UN resolutions, condemn the UN at every turn, bomb UN schools & shelters, murder UN employees & then you demand a UN meeting over another country responding to your bombing of their consulate,” the post read.
Conference cheers: In Chicago on Saturday, 300 anti-war activists were meeting to discuss plans to disrupt the Democratic National Convention in August when an activist took to the stage to announce that Iran had attacked Israel. The crowd burst into cheers at the news, The Free Press reported. The event was co-hosted by several groups, including the Chicago chapter of SJP.
Read the full story here. flip-flop Virginia congressional candidate flip-flops on supplemental Israel aid again  HAMILTON FOR CONGRESS Cameron Hamilton, a former Navy SEAL running as a right-wing outsider in Virginia’s competitive 7th Congressional District, again said last week he wouldn’t necessarily support supplemental U.S. aid to Israel, after insisting to Jewish Insider that he would, JI’s Marc Rod reports.
Background: Hamilton said in an appearance on the John Fredericks radio and streaming show in March that he didn’t think Israel needed additional aid, that he was uncertain about the prospect of sending it and that the U.S. should renegotiate “any of those trade alliances” with foreign military partners. When pressed by JI, Hamilton walked those comments back, saying in a written statement that he “would 100% support a standalone aid bill for Israel” but opposes combining it with Ukraine aid.
The latest: But when he was asked about the issue in another appearance on the John Fredericks show last week, a recording of which was viewed by JI, Hamilton once again appeared skeptical of supplemental Israel aid. “A supplementary package always has to be evaluated,” he said. “I think it’s worthy to take a firm look at what specific aid we’re giving to Israel. I’ve always been a supporter of Israel.” Hamilton continued, “If Israel comes back with another aid package, I think it’s worthy of consideration, but I have initial apprehension about sending more and more dollars overseas when we’re in such a big deficit.”
Continued: “So I wish it were an easy yes-or-no answer right now, John,” Hamilton concluded. “I’m not really sure. I need to see some of the audits and take a firmer look at the actual aid package that’s going forward.”
Response: Joe Desilets, a spokesperson for Hamilton’s campaign, said that Hamilton's point was that he wanted to read any aid bill before offering his support. “Saying he wants to read every bill before he casts his vote is not the same as being undecided,” Desilets said. “All that he’s saying in this clip is that he needs more information on the specific aid package.”
Read the full story here. sound of silence 'Too many world leaders' refuse to condemn Hamas, call for hostage release, 22 House Dems say  BILL CLARK/CQ-ROLL CALL, INC VIA GETTY IMAGES Twenty-two House Democrats, mostly pro-Israel moderates but also several members who have called for suspending U.S. military aid to Israel, blasted unnamed foreign leaders for failing to denounce Hamas and overlooking the plight of the remaining 133 hostages in Gaza, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Quotable: “Many of the world’s leaders have unfortunately not yet mirrored America’s clear commitment to freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas,” the lawmakers said in a letter to Secretary of State Tony Blinken. “Half a dozen countries besides the US and Israel have citizens still held hostage in Gaza. In the face of this profound humanitarian challenge, too many world leaders have demonstrated the deafening silence [toward Hamas], refusing to even call for the hostage’s release.”
Maximum pressure: The lawmakers added, “This is a key moment to exert maximum pressure on Sinwar’s Hamas and clarify that the world demands the hostages be freed,” referring to Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, believed to be the mastermind of the Oct. 7 attacks. “We commend your leadership and ask you to urge leaders across the world, especially those of Arab countries, to unequivocally call for the hostages to be freed.”
Signatories: The letter was led by Reps. Brad Schneider (D-IL), Madeleine Dean (D-PA), Kathy Manning (D-NC) and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), joined by Reps. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA), Lois Frankel (D-FL), Dan Goldman (D-NY), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Bill Keating (D-MA), Susie Lee (D-NV), Mike Levin (D-CA), Ted Lieu (D-CA), Grace Meng (D-NY), Jimmy Panetta (D-CA), Chris Pappas (D-NH), Brittany Pettersen (D-CO), Kim Schrier (D-WA), Greg Stanton (D-AZ), Haley Stevens (D-MI), Dina Titus (D-NV), David Trone (D-MD) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL). Read the full story here. | Making a Move: The New York Times’ Bret Stephens mulls how Israel could respond to the Iranian missile attack over the weekend. “Iran’s attack, and the Biden administration’s laudable participation in Israel’s defense, is an opportunity for Benjamin Netanyahu to mend frayed ties in Washington and other Western capitals by showing restraint. Among other things, it can help move the House of Representatives finally to vote for the Ukraine-Israel military assistance package that the Senate approved in February. It also buys Israel time to destroy what remains of Hamas’s military forces in Gaza. … The key decisions of the past half-century that have driven the Middle East to the place it is in today have a common origin: Iran’s Islamic Revolution of 1979, which brought to power a theocratic despotism intent on sowing fanaticism, brutalizing its own people, destroying Israel and causing misery across the region for the sake of its ideological aims. Saturday’s missile attack is the latest example of a long and ugly record. But as Israelis decide how to react, they would serve their interests best by recalling the useful adage that revenge is a dish best served cold.” [NYTimes]
Big Decisions: The Washington Post’s Max Boot looks at the decision facing Israel’s war cabinet on whether to mount a retaliation against Iran. “The Iranians are no more eager for a bigger war with Israel than Israel is eager for a bigger war with Iran. Both sides prefer to wage a low-intensity conflict, as they have been doing for many years: Iran sponsors terrorist attacks against Israel by its “axis of resistance,” while Israel launches covert actions against Iran’s nuclear program and airstrikes against Iranian operatives in Syria and Lebanon. But, however much the two sides want to avoid a larger conflict, they could still stumble into one if the action-reaction cycle spins out of control. … Even the United States would be hard-put to defeat Iran, and the Biden administration rightly has no desire to get dragged into a war with the Islamic republic that would be likely to lead to a spike in oil prices and a global economic downturn. Biden is urging restraint on Netanyahu. But will he listen now when he has so often ignored Biden’s pleas in the past?” [WashPost]
Regional Worries: In The Free Press, Matti Friedman suggests that Iran’s weekend attack on Israel underscores the deeper, broader challenges Israel faces in the region. “The truth is that there isn’t an ‘Israeli-Palestinian’ conflict that exists in isolation. There’s an Arab-Muslim war with Jews that’s about a century old, in which most of the combatants on the Arab side have not been Palestinian and some of the Jewish victims haven’t been Israeli (like the Argentinians killed by Iranian terrorists at a Jewish community center in 1994, for example, or the masses of Jews forced from their homes in the Islamic world after Israel’s founding). These days, the relevant conflict is between the alliance led by the Shia clerics of Iran’s Islamic Republic against states in the American orbit, most of them Sunni, like Jordan and Saudi Arabia, and one of them Jewish. Last night should make clear, for those still in doubt, that Gaza is just one part of the broader story of Iran’s growing power and its tightening encirclement of Israel. When understood in this context, the behavior of Israel and its opponents becomes easier to understand.” [FreePress]
Switching Schools: In The Wall Street Journal, Mary Jane Rein, the former head of Clark University’s Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, explains why she resigned from her position and is leaving the school for a private Catholic university. “I had many satisfying years at Clark advancing scholarship on the Holocaust and other genocides. My warm relationships with students, faculty, staff, alumni and donors sustained my belief in the importance of the Strassler Center, which I still admire. But there is no joy in working on behalf of those students who would, with the support of university leadership, try to silence me in public rather than engage with me civilly. I can’t invest my time and efforts to advance an institution that lacks the strength of character to protect diverse points of view. … To my surprise as both a scholar and a Jew, I feel a warmer welcome and more commonality of purpose at a Catholic institution than at Clark, a secular one. I find common cause with Assumption and have chosen to align myself with its mission to pursue truth in the company of friends. Its commitment to a style of learning that acknowledges and respects different opinions gives me hope that universities can lead us toward a better future.” [WSJ] | Be featured: Email us to inform the JI readership of your upcoming event, job opening, or other communication. | View from Riyadh: A member of the Saudi royal family told Israel’s Kan broadcaster that Iran engineered the war in Gaza to interfere in efforts to normalize relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
On the Trail: In response to a crowd chant of “Genocide Joe,” referring to President Joe Biden’s support for Israel, former President Donald Trump said at a weekend rally in Pennsylvania, “They’re not wrong, they’re not wrong. He’s done everything wrong.”
Trump Endorsement: At the Pennsylvania rally, Trump endorsed Dave McCormick in the state’s closely watched Senate race. McCormick is running against Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA), and is unopposed for the GOP nomination.
On the Calendar: The House Committee on Education and the Workforce will hold its first hearing focused on antisemitism in K-12 education next month; witnesses are slated to include the heads of school districts in New York City and Montgomery County, Md.
Missed Opportunity: Reps. Jim Banks (R-IN) and Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) said in a letter to Secretary of State Tony Blinken that the administration “missed an opportunity to apply sufficient diplomatic pressure” on Iran at last month’s International Atomic Energy Agency Board of Governors meeting, requesting “an urgent briefing” on the status of Iran’s nuclear program and the strategy going forward.
Iranian Funds: Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), the ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, requested that the Treasury Department provide an "accounting" of all frozen high-value Iranian international assets, and "additional steps Treasury will now take to actively account for current funds that have already been released to Iran."
Arms Sale: Rep. Greg Meeks (D-NY), the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has yet to sign off on Israel’s purchase of F-15 fighter jets, a prerequisite for the sale.
No Thanks: Jewish leaders in Chicago — including a city alderwoman, two state legislators and the local chapter of the Anti-Defamation League — turned down an invitation to meet with Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson for a roundtable discussion on antisemitism, citing what they felt was Johnson’s lack of support for the Jewish community.
Cuomo’s Back: Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s “Progressives for Israel” group is rebranding as “Never Again, Now!”; Cuomo reportedly pitched the idea for the group at an event at Barry Rosenstein’s home last week.
New Gig: Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley was announced as the Walter P. Stern Chair at the Hudson Institute.
What UC Sees: Politico interviews John Pérez, a member of the California Board of Regents, about resurgent antisemitism across the state’s higher education institutions.
Legal Battle: Harvard filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by six Jewish students over the university’s handling of antisemitism.
Campus Beat: In The Hill, George Washington University student Sabrina Soffer raises concerns about her university’s ability to protect Jewish students.
Salman Says: The New York Times interviews Salman Rushdie about his new book Knife, out tomorrow, which recounts the 2022 assassination attempt that left the writer blind in one eye.
Grim Forecast: The Intercept is on track to run out of money by early 2025 amid infighting, restructuring challenges and a downturn in donations, according to fiscal projections shared with Semafor.
Security Upgrade: France is scaling up its security around Jewish institutions in the run-up to Passover “and given the current international situation” with Iran.
Nabbed: An off-duty Israeli police officer was arrested for shooting an Arab man during a traffic dispute in Jaffa; the man, a USAID employee, died from his injuries.
Remembering: Agent Richard Leibner, whose clients including Dan Rather, Anderson Cooper and Diane Sawyer, died at 85. |  X U.S. Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew (second from left) met with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (center) and Director-General of the Defense Ministry Eyal Zamir (right) on Sunday at Israel’s Joint Coordination Center to discuss the earlier Iranian attack on Israeli targets. |  Kris Connor/Getty Images for Project Sunshine Professor of law and public policy at Duke University since 197 and chairman of the Mesorah Heritage Foundation, Joel L. Fleishman turns 90...
Psychiatrist, entrepreneur, movie producer and philanthropist, Dr. Henry George Jarecki turns 91... Former 15-term member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Howard Lawrence Berman turns 83... Duke University professor, physician, biochemist and Nobel Prize laureate in 2012, Robert Lefkowitz turns 81... Retired U.S. Army chaplain who attained the rank of lieutenant colonel, Rabbi Alan Sherman... Retired U.S. astronaut and a veteran of five Space Shuttle missions, Marsha Sue Ivins turns 73... Professor of German and comparative literature at New York University, Avital Ronell turns 72... Former city controller of Philadelphia for 12 years, following 16 years as a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, Alan Butkovitz turns 72... CEO of DMB Strategic, David Brand... Founder and director of the graduate school in the decorative arts at Bard College in Dutchess County, N.Y., Susan Weber turns 69... Deputy counsel at the NYS Department of Taxation and Finance, Deborah R. Liebman... Former executive director at American Press Institute, he is the author of ten books, including three novels, the pride of Woodside, Calif., Tom Rosenstiel turns 68... Born in NYC, now living in Jerusalem, he is the Rebbe of the Boyan Hasidic dynasty, Rabbi Nachum Dov Brayer turns 65... Former deputy secretary of the Treasury during the Obama administration following four years as a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, Sarah Bloom Raskin turns 63... Winner of 12 Olympic medals at five different Olympic games, Dara Grace Torres turns 57... Managing partner, CEO and chief investment officer of Hudson Bay Capital Management, Sander R. Gerber... CEO of the New Israel Fund since 2009, prior to that he was the executive director of the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, Daniel Sokatch turns 56... Cheryl Myra Cohn... Senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and founder of the Truman National Security Project, Rachel Kleinfeld, Ph.D.... Head coach of the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos basketball program, Joe Pasternack turns 47... CEO of the American Fintech Council, Y. Phillip Goldfeder turns 43... Actor, comedian, writer, producer and director, Seth Rogen turns 42... CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, Mark Treyger turns 42... Co-founder and co-CEO of theSkimm, Carly Zakin... Research manager at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, David May... Director of grants and operations at the Foundation for Middle East Peace, Kristin McCarthy... Founder and managing partner of Neue Urban, Zach Ehrlich... Social entrepreneur, environmental activist and human rights activist, Erin Schrode... Israeli singer, songwriter, rapper and record producer, Jasmin Moallem turns 29... Moshe Lehrer... | | | | | |
