| | Good Wednesday morning. In today’s Daily Kickoff , we look at the political landscape in Michigan following the announcement by Sen. Gary Peters that he will not seek reelection and report on Senate Democrats’ successful effort to kill legislation that would have sanctioned the International Criminal Court over its issuance of warrants for senior Israeli officials. We also look at how Jewish nonprofits are responding to a freeze in federal funding for most grants and programs, and report on yesterday’s special elections in Florida. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff : Jeff Lurie, Amir Hayek and Daniel Schwammenthal. Spread the word! Invite your friends to sign up.👇 Share with a friend | - Steve Witkoff, the Trump administration’s Middle East envoy, is traveling to Israel today for meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Israel Katz and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer. Witkoff met in Saudi Arabia yesterday with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
- The first confirmation hearing for Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of Health and Human Services, is happening at 10 a.m. today.
| The surprising decision of Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) to retire at the end of his term in 2026 sent shockwaves across Capitol Hill and in Michigan political circles, opening up a battleground Senate seat in a state that’s the epicenter of many of the thorniest electoral divides, Jewish Insider Editor-in-Chief Josh Kraushaar writes.
Michigan is one of the “blue wall” swing states that backed President Donald Trump in 2016, supported President Joe Biden in 2020, and swung back to Trump’s side last year. In last year’s election, it was the state that featured some of the most intense Democratic divisions over Middle East policy, pitting the mainstream of the party against anti-Israel and left-wing activists.
And it’s filled with the blue-collar workers that Trump won over, but Democrats need to win back to have a chance at winning back power.
Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) was able to narrowly win the state’s Senate election last year, despite Trump’s victory, underscoring just how competitive Michigan will be. The results served as a reminder that more moderate candidates can overperform just enough to make a big difference in swing states.
The list of prospective contenders for Peters’ seat will be long. On the Democratic side, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has already expressed interest, and would be the highest-profile contender if he ran. His biggest challenge would be overcoming attacks that he’s not from the state, and it remains to be seen whether his cerebral approach to governance would resonate with the party’s base.
One of the most moderate members of the state’s delegation, Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) is also seriously considering a run. Stevens is one of the stronger supporters of Israel among House Democrats. In 2022, she defeated Democratic Rep. Andy Levin (D-MI), one of the more vocal antagonists of Israel at the time, in a member-vs.-member primary spurred by redistricting.
Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-MI), who represents a swing Grand Rapids-area district, is also considering a run. Like Slotkin and Stevens, Scholten leans more towards the moderate wing of the party after winning a GOP-held seat to get elected. Another name being floated is Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, the only Jewish candidate on the short list.
On the more progressive side, state Sen. Mallory McMorrow and Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist have been floated as potential candidates. On the anti-Israel side of the ledger, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) could run, but she’s not given any indication she’d give up her House seat for a long-shot statewide bid.
Among Republicans, the big name to watch is Rep. John James (R-MI), who has run for Senate twice before, and lost both times — albeit narrowly to Peters in 2020. Other possible candidates include: former GOP Rep. Mike Rogers, who narrowly lost to Slotkin last year; and Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-MI). Read more here about the possible candidates in the mix.
Keep in mind: The open Senate race isn’t the only big Michigan contest in 2026. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is term-limited, creating another top elective office for ambitious pols to seek. Both the state House and state Senate will also be up for grabs next year, as well. | bill killed Senate Democrats block ICC sanctions bill  TIM GRAHAM/ GETTY IMAGES Senate Democrats blocked consideration of legislation sanctioning the International Criminal Court for issuing arrest warrants against Israeli leaders after failing to reach an agreement with Republicans to narrow the legislation, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod and Emily Jacobs report.
What happened: Just one Democrat, Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), voted in favor of a procedural motion on Tuesday to advance the bill. The bill amassed substantially more Democratic support in the House, but Senate Democratic leaders rallied to keep their caucus united in a bid to force Republicans to compromise. Democrats’ aggressive push for unity on the ICC bill came after public fractures last week on the Laken Riley Act, a bill relating to undocumented immigration that picked up support from a number of moderate Democrats. It’s unclear whether Senate Republicans plan to make any further attempts to pass the bill or continue negotiations. Two sources predicted that leadership would need to pivot to nominations and other priorities on the agenda.
Read the full story here. WHITE HOUSE WHIPLASH Jewish nonprofits left scrambling by federal funding freeze announcements  JABIN BOTSFORD/THE WASHINGTON POST VIA GETTY IMAGES Jewish nonprofits were left scrambling after the Trump administration’s surprise executive order on Monday appeared to pause federal funding for nearly all grants and other programs, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod and eJewish Philanthropy’s Nira Dayanim report. A federal judge ordered a temporary stay of the freeze on Tuesday evening as litigation against the funding restrictions proceeds, but it’s unclear whether the Trump administration’s efforts could be reinstated in the future. For many, the pending funding freeze could leave core aspects of their programming in limbo.
Who’s affected: According to Reuben Rotman, president and CEO of the Network of Jewish Human Services Agencies, though the impact of the executive order is not yet fully known, it has sent a wave of uncertainty throughout the nonprofit community and human services sector specifically. A range of programs including various social services functions, synagogue security, hate crimes prevention and refugee resettlement could be impacted if the freeze resumes.
Read the full story here and sign up for eJewishPhilanthropy’s Your Daily Phil newsletter here. trip talk Trump invites Netanyahu to the White House  MANDEL NGAN/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES President Donald Trump invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House next week, making Netanyahu the first foreign leader to receive such an invitation during Trump’s second term, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
Regional outlook: Trump offered a meeting on Feb. 4. A spokesperson for the Israeli Embassy did not say whether Netanyahu had accepted the invitation. In a White House letter to Netanyahu, Trump said he looked forward to discussing “how we can bring peace to Israel and its neighbors, and efforts to counter our shared adversaries.”
Read the full story here. aid arguments Knesset subcommittee debates phasing out reliance on U.S. aid  DANNY SHEM-TOV, KNESSET SPOKESPERSON'S OFFICE Knesset members and experts debated whether Israel should reduce its dependence on U.S. aid in a subcommittee meeting on Monday, indicating greater acceptance of what was once a fringe idea in Israel. The meeting was one in a series that began as the Biden administration held up weapons shipments to Israel, a decision that President Donald Trump reversed this week. Israel also took recent steps to reduce its dependence on the U.S. by bolstering its domestic arms manufacturing. Likud lawmaker Amit Halevy, chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Subcommittee on Security Concepts and Force-Building, invited several experts who supported scaling down or rethinking aid, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports.
Reevaluating: Halevy asked attendees to consider the influence of military aid on Israeli decision-makers. “What is its influence on Israel’s status in the region and the world? How is it seen in American politics and society and what is its future in light of the changes in American society?” Gideon Israel, president of the Jerusalem-Washington Center, argued that Israel’s reliance on the U.S. during emergencies is a major challenge for the Jewish state. “Isn’t it strange that within 24 hours of Oct. 7 we were asking for aid from the U.S.? That we couldn’t fight the war on our own? Not three weeks passed and we already had a package of requests for $15 billion of aid? This tendency to beg, where not a moment goes by and we already ask for help from the U.S. is an Israeli quality that has existed for over 50 years … and no one thinks, ‘wait a minute, maybe we need to reevaluate,’” Israel said.
Read the full story here. scoop Antisemitism row roils Florida's Democratic Party  JOE RAEDLE/GETTY IMAGES The first few times that Russell Miller, a Democratic activist in the Tampa Bay area, took to social media to share incendiary content about Israel following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks, Jewish volunteers in the party chose not to make a public fuss about it. But by the summer of 2024, Miller regularly used Facebook to publicly lambaste the Hillsborough County Democratic Jewish Caucus, an official branch of the Democratic Party, and urge Democrats against working with them. On Monday night, Democratic leaders in the county considered whether to remove Miller from his leadership position in the party — and voted to keep him on, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
Leadership lessons: Vanessa Lester, the local Democratic Party chair, refused to weigh in on the matter. Instead, at the urging of the Jewish Caucus, the local Jewish Community Relations Council and Nikki Fried, the statewide Democratic Party chair, Lester brought the matter to a vote among the party’s executive committee. “The problem is that the local leadership was not loud enough in speaking out against him,” said Steve Shaiken, president of the Hillsborough Democratic Jewish Caucus. “She's running a party, and there's a guy preaching hatred … you could at least come out and say antisemitism is wrong.”
Read the full story here. randy's reign Pro-Israel firebrand Randy Fine wins Florida congressional primary  AP PHOTO/PHIL SEARS Florida state Sen. Randy Fine, a Jewish Republican and outspoken supporter of Israel, handily won a special congressional primary in Florida’s 6th Congressional District on Tuesday, almost certainly guaranteeing him a seat in the House, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. Former Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis also easily won his own primary race in the 1st District.
Fine choice: Fine, who is running for the seat previously held by former Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) with an endorsement from President Donald Trump, is set to become the fourth Jewish Republican in the House after the April 1 general election in the conservative district, which stretches from the Jacksonville suburbs to Daytona Beach. He’ll be part of the largest cohort of Jewish Republicans in Congress in years.
Read the full story here. | Doha Dealings: Haaretz’s Chaim Levinson considers Qatar’s long-term strategic goals in the region as Doha positions itself as a key player in negotiations between Israel and Hamas. “Israel's political and military circles are increasingly speculating about Qatar's endgame in Gaza. Ultimately, Qatar's involvement appears to be driven less by humanitarian concerns and more by calculated economic and strategic interests. Israeli officials estimate that Qatar's ambition is to establish a colony in the Middle East. Leveraging its ties with the Trump administration and playing its regional cards strategically, Qatar seems intent on turning Gaza into its Mediterranean outpost. While Gaza currently resembles a structure ravaged by urban renewal, an earthquake, and a fire all at once, it holds potential as a future asset. It boasts a small offshore gas field begging for development, long-standing plans for a seaport and a potential hub for the small yet ambitious Qatar.” [Haaretz]
New World Order: In Foreign Affairs, Amos Harel looks at how a new U.S. administration and Israel will approach a dramatically reshaped Middle East. “What happens next, then, will depend primarily on the U.S. president. The incoming administration has big plans. For many months, Trump’s aides and advisers have been speaking about the regional arrangements Trump wants to establish. His main goal seems to lie in multibillion dollar technology and defense deals between the United States and Saudi Arabia. An accompanying step would be a grand Israeli-Saudi normalization deal, similar to the one the Biden administration tried to push through in the fall of 2023. (Hamas leaders later described thwarting that deal as one of their motivations for launching the October 7 attacks.) In order to achieve these goals, Trump will need the cease-fire in Gaza, along with its counterpart in Lebanon, to hold as long as possible — whether or not both sides are really interested in peace.” [ForeignAffairs]
Committed to Memory: In Time, law professor and general counsel emeritus of the World Jewish Congress Menachem Rosensaft, the son of Holocaust survivors, stresses the importance of keeping alive the memories of those who were killed in the Shoah. “One other central, if not overriding, purpose of Holocaust remembrance, however, must be to think of the millions who were annihilated not as impersonal statistics but as individuals with names, faces, identities, dreams, and emotions. The survivors told us about their parents and grandparents, their spouses, their siblings, their children, their friends, their neighbors who died of starvation in ghetto streets or of typhus in a concentration camp barrack, or whose corpses rose toward heaven from a crematorium. We cannot allow these dead to fade into the ether of oblivion. Each of us, in turn, must now commit to transmit into the future at least one name and one face. For me, that name and face belong to Benjamin, my mother’s five-and-a-half-year-old son. Since my mother’s death in 1997, Benjamin has existed inside of me. I see his face in my mind, try to imagine his voice, his fear as the gas chamber doors slammed shut, his final tears. If I were to forget him, he would disappear. And I must make sure that he will not disappear with me.” [Time] | Be featured: Email us to inform the JI readership of your upcoming event, job opening, or other communication. | The U.S. transferred nearly 100 Patriot missiles that were in storage in Israel to Poland, where they will be sent to Ukraine in an effort to bolster Kyiv’s defenses against Russia…
President Donald Trump doubled down on his suggestion that Egypt and Jordan take in Palestinians from Gaza…
Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke by phone with his Egyptian counterpart, Foreign Affairs Minister Badr Abdelatty, during which time the two, according to a readout from the State Department, discussed “close cooperation to advance post-conflict planning to ensure Hamas can never govern Gaza or threaten Israel again”...
The Crown Publishing Group announced it had inked a book deal with former Secretary of State Tony Blinken, who will give, according to the publishing house, a “rare glimpse” into the “challenging and often controversial” responses of the Biden administration to global events...
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In The Wall Street Journal, presidential historian Tevi Troy looks at the history of federal involvement in disaster responses across the U.S….
The Boston Globe spotlights an effort by Brandeis University researchers to identify and document texts that had belonged to Jewish owners and been looted by the Nazis before and during WWII…
Australian police thwarted a planned antisemitic attack following the discovery of a caravan laden with explosives in Sydney…
A Colorado high school basketball coach was suspended after hanging a Palestinian flag during his team’s game against a Jewish school, which he had not done in prior games against other teams…
The Washington Post issued a clarification on a story about Palestinian prisoners released in exchange for Israeli hostages, noting that the organization heavily cited by the Post’s reporters, the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, is under U.S. sanctions for its fiscal support for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terror group…
In her first social media post since being freed from Hamas captivity, Naama Levy detailed her time in captivity — including being kept alone for much of the first two months — and said she was now “secure and protected, and surrounded by family and friends”...
Shas Party leader Aryeh Deri threatened to collapse the Israeli government, which would send the country to new elections, if Haredi yeshiva students are not exempted from the country’s military draft…
New Zealand’s immigration authority is reportedly asking Israelis who have served in the IDF to detail their military service in their visa applications to enter the country…
Ambassador Amir Hayek, Israel’s first ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, is joining the N7 Initiative as a nonresident senior fellow…
Former Wall Street Journal opinions editor Daniel Schwammenthal, the director of the American Jewish Committee Transatlantic Institute, will join the U.K.’s Jewish Chronicle as editor-in-chief, succeeding Jake Wallis Simons…
Alex Isenstadt is departing Politico and joining Axios as a senior politics reporter…
Labor leader Jay Mazur, who led national garment workers’ unions in the 1980s and ‘90s, died at 92… |  Alexander Tamargo/Getty Images for Live2Tell LIVE2TELL, a project documenting the testimonies of the last living Holocaust survivors, hosted a reception last night at the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, Fla., to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day. |  AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko Swimmer for Israel at the 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympics, she has won 18 medals at the Maccabiah Games, 13 of them gold, Andrea (Andi) Murez turns 33...
Rabbi, mohel and public speaker, he is the author of the best-selling Maggid series of books for ArtScroll, Rabbi Paysach Krohn turns 80... First woman ordained by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, she is also the author of children's books, Sandy Eisenberg Sasso turns 78... Singer and songwriter, he is a two-time gold medal winner in the Maccabiah Games (1985 and 1989) in fast pitch softball, Steve March-Tormé turns 72... Interim CEO of the Jewish Federation of San Antonio, Randall Czarlinsky... Louisiana resident, Jerry Keller... CEO of the Westchester Jewish Council, Elliot Forchheimer... Senior writer for JCCs of North America, a.k.a. Jane the Writer, Jane E. Herman... Actress known for her role as Amy MacDougall-Barone on the TV sitcom “Everybody Loves Raymond,” Monica Horan turns 62... Member of the Knesset for Likud and Kadima between 2003 and 2013, Ruhama Avraham turns 61... Physician and an author of four New York Times best-selling books, he is a professor of medicine and engineering at USC, as well as a CBS News contributor, Dr. David Agus turns 60... Former speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Paul Ryan turns 55... Robyn Cooke Bash... Writer and occasional Bollywood film actor, he is known for his writing of the popular Jewish children's comic book series "Mendy and the Golem," Matt Brandstein turns 53... Israeli documentary filmmaker, photojournalist and film producer, winner of two Emmy Awards, Oren Rosenfeld turns 49... Senior director and global head of APCO Impact, Denielle Sachs... Former president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston, now a D.C.-based philanthropic consultant, Kari Dunn Saratovsky... Israeli actress, model and television host, Yael Bar Zohar turns 45... Chair of the American Institute in Taiwan (the de facto U.S. embassy in Taiwan), Laura Rosenberger turns 45... Ethiopian-born Israeli fashion model and actress, Esti Mamo turns 42... Associate at Booz Allen Hamilton, Yasha Moz... U.S. representative (D-MA-4) since 2021, Jacob Daniel "Jake" Auchincloss turns 37... Mayor of Holyoke, Mass., for nine years starting at age 22, he is now the town manager of Provincetown, Alex Morse turns 36... Israeli multi-platinum record producer and songwriter specializing in pop, hip hop, dance and electronic music, Yonatan "Johnny" Goldstein turns 34... Associate software engineer at BlackRock, Martha Baumgarten... Pediatric stroke patient recovering in the Johns Hopkins hospital in Baltimore, he is the son of Washington Democratic political operative Daniel Lipner, Isaac Lipner turns 6... | | | | | |
