Good Tuesday morning, and happy Purim 🎭 In today's Daily Kickoff, we report on the latest developments in the Middle East as the conflict with Iran enters its fourth day, and preview the primaries taking place today in Texas and North Carolina. We report on the split on Capitol Hill over the Trump administration's military moves against Iran, and spotlight the backers of the newly created American Priorities PAC, which has ties to allies of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and is opposing pro-Israel candidates. Also in today's Daily Kickoff: the Yeshiva University men's basketball team, Zach Yadegari and Kate Schmier. 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. Spread the word! Invite your friends to sign up.👇 |
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- We are monitoring developments across the Middle East as the U.S. and Israel continue to strike Iranian targets, Iran launches attacks against population centers in Israel and Israel strikes Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. Multiple sirens have sounded across central Israel, including Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, throughout the morning as the IDF intercepted the barrages being fired from Iran.
- German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is in Washington today. He'll meet with President Donald Trump at 11 a.m.
- On Capitol Hill, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are expected to brief members of the Senate and House on the war in Iran.
- Elsewhere on the Hill, Elbridge Colby, the Pentagon's under secretary of defense for policy, is testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee on the Trump administration's national defense strategy.
- The Capitol Jewish Forum is hosting its annual Purim celebration on the Hill this afternoon, with more than a dozen Jewish legislators, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), slated to attend.
- The first primaries of the 2026 election cycle are also taking place today. In North Carolina, Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-NC) is facing far-left anti-Israel activist Nida Allam. Read more below.
- In the Texas Senate primary, Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) faces state Sen. James Talarico; On the Republican side, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) faces primary challenges from Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-TX) and scandal-plagued right-wing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Read more here and here.
- In the state's 23rd Congressional District, Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX), also plagued by scandal amid allegations he had an affair with a staffer who later died by suicide, faces his second primary challenge from right-wing social media influencer Brandon Herrera. Read more here.
- Rep. Al Green (D-TX), who has become a consistent detractor of Israel in the House, faces newly elected Rep. Christian Menefee (D-TX), who has built solid relationships with the Houston-area Jewish community. Read more here.
- Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), a Republican hawk, faces a serious challenge from state Rep. Steve Toth, who is running to his right. Both candidates have been supportive of Israel.
- And Rep. Julie Johnson (D-TX) faces a difficult renomination fight against former Rep. Colin Allred (D-TX), who vacated the seat to run unsuccessfully for the Senate in 2024.
- It's also primary day in Arkansas and Mississippi — but there are no major congressional primaries of note in either state.
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A QUICK WORD WITH JI'S MARC ROD |
In the closing message of her campaign ahead of the North Carolina Democratic primary today, Durham County Commissioner Nida Allam, a far-left antagonist of Israel, is leaning into criticism of the war against Iran. "President Trump just used our taxpayer dollars to bomb a school in Iran, killing over 100 elementary school children and starting another endless war abroad. This is reprehensible, and I strongly condemn it, as should every elected official," Allam said in a direct-to-camera video ad posted on social media on Monday — despite no evidence that the U.S. or Israel were responsible for the strike. Allam, who is Muslim, vowed that she would never accept support from defense contractors or pro-Israel groups, and said she "opposed these 'forever wars' my entire career, and I hope to earn your vote to be your proudly uncompromised pro-peace leader in Washington." By contrast, Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-NC), aiming to fend off a primary challenge from Allam, offered a condemnation of the "brutal and repressive" Iranian regime in a statement on Monday, while arguing that its "abuses do not give the president the authority to launch military strikes without Congressional approval." She said Congress must vote to bring the war to an end. In an initial statement on X over the weekend, Foushee issued an unequivocal condemnation of the operation, calling it "an unconstitutional escalation that risks dragging the United States into another catastrophic and endless war in the Middle East" that "ignores the will of the American people and recklessly puts our servicemembers in harm's way" — without making mention of the Iranian regime. Political observers said the Iran conflict could give late momentum to Allam. Given the leftward lean of the 4th Congressional District and Allam's positioning to the left of Foushee — particularly on Middle East policy — it could very well make a difference," Chris Cooper, a political scientist at Western Carolina University, told JI's Matthew Kassel on Monday. "Thousands of votes have already been cast, but for late deciders, this is exactly the kind of issue that could help tilt a voter to one side or the other. It's hard to get more salient than war." In 2022, Foushee won the seat in the 4th Congressional District against Allam with significant backing from the AIPAC-linked United Democracy Project super PAC, but Foushee has taken a more critical posture towards Israel over the last year. This year, significant outside spending has flowed into the race on both sides. Read the rest of 'What You Should Know' here. |
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🕔 Evening intelligence, exclusively for subscribers. |
Daily Overtime brings you what we're tracking at the end of the day — and what's coming next. |
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Day 4: Decrease in Iranian missile strikes on Israel result of targeting launchers, IDF says |
A notable decrease in the number and frequency of Iranian missile strikes at Israel is the result of a focused strategy of hunting and taking out its launchers, Lt.-Col. Nadav Shoshani, the IDF's spokesperson for international media, said on Tuesday, Jewish Insider's Lahav Harkov reports. "The missile and launcher hunt is happening in real time," Shoshani told reporters. "We have been able to narrow [Iran's] capability to fire missiles toward us. … We are putting our focus on continuing to do so in the coming days." Military update: "We were able to take out dozens of launchers," since the operation began on Saturday, Shoshani said, adding that Iran currently has "a lack of capability to fire in large amounts" and that there is a diminished rate of fire. At the same time, he noted that part of the reduction in missile launchers may be attributed to Iran trying to ensure it can keep the war going over the coming weeks. Read the full story here. |
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Trump, defense officials keep Iran operation open-ended |
President Donald Trump and senior U.S. defense officials laid out an open-ended timeline for the ongoing operation against Iran on Monday, announcing more U.S. forces are headed to the region to carry out the American and Israeli campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran's long-range strike capabilities and nuclear ambitions, Jewish Insider's Matthew Shea and Emily Jacobs report. Trump talk: Speaking to reporters at the White House on Monday morning, Trump said that U.S. forces were "already substantially ahead of our time projections" with their mission in Iran, but added that the American military was prepared to continue the operation beyond his initial four-to-five week timeline. "Whatever the time is, it's OK. Whatever it takes," Trump said at a Medal of Honor ceremony. "Right from the beginning, we projected four to five weeks, but we have capability to go far longer than that. We'll do it." Caine's comments: Adm. Brad Cooper, head of CENTCOM, "will receive additional forces even today," said Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, during a separate press briefing alongside Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. "This rapid buildup of forces demonstrated the joint forces ability to adapt and project power at the time and place of our nation's choosing." Caine also made clear the weekend barrage was only the beginning. Read the full story here. Team effort: In his first interview since the U.S. and Israel launched their joint military campaign against Iran, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended the timing of the operation's launch and rebuffed the notion that he decisively pushed Trump to take action, JI's Matthew Shea reports. |
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Congressional leaders split over whether U.S. faced imminent threat from Iran |
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) emerged from a classified briefing with Cabinet officials on Monday split over whether the U.S. faced an imminent threat from Iran that necessitated and permitted the president to take military action under U.S. statute and the Constitution, Jewish Insider's Marc Rod reports. Johnson's takeaway: "The most critical point is that this was a defensive measure, a defensive operation," Johnson said. "Israel was determined to act in their own defense here, with or without American support. Why? Because Israel faced what they deemed to be an existential threat. Iran was building missiles at a radical, rapid clip, to the point where our allies in the region do not keep up." Warner's worry: Warner said that the war is "a war of choice that has been acknowledged by others [that] was dictated by Israel's goals and timelines. Israel is a great ally of America. I stand firmly with Israel, but I believe at the end of the day, when we are talking about putting American soldiers in harm's way, when we have American casualties and expectations of more, there needs to be the proof of an imminent threat to American interests. I still don't think that standard has been met." Read the full story here. |
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Mamdani allies, deep-pocketed donors mobilize millions for anti-AIPAC effort |
Three figures linked to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani — two Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and a Brooklyn political operative — have joined forces with a bevy of wealthy business leaders to pump millions into a new political action committee dedicated to battling AIPAC, Jewish Insider's Will Bredderman reports. Follow the money: American Priorities PAC has raised $2,050,000 to date and spent a quarter of it so far boosting Democrat Nida Allam, a vocal detractor of Israel, in her bid to oust Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-NC) in North Carolina's 4th Congressional District. Filings with the Federal Election Commission show another $67,000 has gone toward promoting the candidacy of the Rev. Frederick Haynes III, the pastor of Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX), who is running for her House seat as she seeks the Senate. It's all part of a plan to spend a minimum of $10 million countering candidates who have received past support from AIPAC, as NBC News previously reported. A spokesperson for the PAC refused to answer questions about its fundraising and decision-making practices, though they denied Mamdani was in any way involved. Read the full story here. Bonus: Politico talks to government watchdogs about Mamdani's continued use of the messaging app Signal for official business, despite the platform's encryption protocols and self-deleting capabilities being incompatible with freedom of information laws. |
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Democratic lawmakers rally support for war powers resolutions at J Street conference |
Democratic members of Congress addressing J Street's national convention in Washington on Monday used the occasion to rally support for long-shot resolutions coming before the House and Senate this week that will attempt to end U.S. military strikes against Iran, Jewish Insider's Gabby Deutch reports. On the record: "The president's refusal to pursue consent from Congress, as required by the Constitution, is perhaps his most grievous assault on democracy, and we should not let it stand," Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) said to the 1,500 activists gathered at J Street's morning plenary. Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL) told the crowd that he expects to see "very robust, possibly unanimous support" from congressional Democrats on the measures, which would put an immediate end to U.S. operations against Iran. Read the full story here with additional comments from Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-PA) and Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI). More from Murphy: Addressing the conference, Murphy leaned on Jewish history to tailor his case to fight President Donald Trump specifically to American Jews. "The answer to thousands of years of the Jewish people's faith being decided by emperors and queens and czars is not and cannot simply be the State of Israel. No, the rest of the answer is simple. It's democracy," he said. Also spotted at the conference: Former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, who is mounting a primary challenge against Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), and leaning into sharp criticism of Israel as part of his campaign. |
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Theory of Regime Change: In The Washington Post, Rob Satloff, the executive director of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, considers the history of failed regime-change efforts in the Middle East as President Donald Trump calls for Iranians to rise up against their government. "On one end of the spectrum, will he, like [Franklin] Roosevelt, find an Iranian Delcy Rodríguez, leaving the structure of the regime intact under a new, more pliant leader? Or will he, like the first Bush, content himself with inflicting massive damage to Iran's offensive military capability and choose an expedient path to end the war? Or, on the other end of the spectrum, will he, like the second Bush, get stuck in the muck of Iranian nation-building, triggering problems that we can't even imagine today?" [WashPost] The Warrior Prime Minister: The Atlantic's Yair Rosenberg posits that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's long-standing reluctance to pursue military options against adversaries ended with the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks, as Israel began to more aggressively pursue its enemies. "Before this seismic shift, Netanyahu's longevity as prime minister was built on a foundation of conflict avoidance. That posture appealed to a risk-averse electorate. Under his premiership, Israeli voters who were comfortable with the status quo could rest easy knowing that their leader would be unlikely to upset it. … With each successful escalation, Netanyahu's willingness to use force to settle Israel's scores increased." [TheAtlantic] Remembering 1979: The Wall Street Journal's Matthew Hennessey suggests that support for U.S. military action in Iran is generational, noting that young Americans have little memory of Iran's years of targeting American interests. "But I was born in the 1970s. I remember the shocking barbarism of the fatwa against Mr. Rushdie. I remember the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorism of the 1980s, the 1994 suicide attack on the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing. … The livestreamers will say this war is about oil. The Substackers will say it started with Mosaddegh. To them, this is an academic debate, something they heard about on a podcast once. Any American over 50 knows who started it." [WSJ] Drive for Democracy: In The New York Times, the Hoover Institution's Abbas Milani considers Iran's leadership quagmire, arguing that former Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's 1979 takeover of the country was done under a "bait-and-switch" that rallied Iranians around the cause of democracy while establishing a radical theocratic regime. "The right question today is: What are the ideas for democratic governance, for fixing the economy, for keeping centrifugal forces at bay and for maintaining sovereignty and good relations with the world around which Iranians (inside the country and out) can unite, and how can they do so in a way that will deliver Iran out of political paralysis and economic morass?" [NYTimes] |
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President Donald Trump slammed commentators Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly, who have criticized the administration's military strikes targeting Iran; Trump told journalist Rachael Bade that Carlson "can say whatever he wants; it has no impact on me" and that "MAGA is Trump — MAGA's not the other two," referring to Carlson and Kelly… The Financial Times does a deep dive into the yearslong effort by Israel to track the movements of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed on Saturday, and other senior members of the Iranian regime; among the tactics used by Israel was the hacking of traffic cameras around Tehran, which allowed Israeli intelligence officials access to regime movements around the capital… The Supreme Court blocked an effort to redraw Rep. Nicole Malliotakis' (R-NY) 11th Congressional District — the sole Republican-leaning district in New York City — that encompasses Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn; the move preserves the existing districts in the city, including NY-10, where Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) is facing a primary challenge from former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander… Federal prosecutors are filing an additional charge of damaging religious property against the man accused of ramming a car into the headquarters of Chabad-Lubavitch in Brooklyn in January… The FBI is investigating recent antisemitic emails that were sent to members of Stanford University's Jewish community, including more than half a dozen Jewish student leaders… The Yeshiva University Maccabees are again heading to the Division III NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament after the team's 79-72 win over the Farmingdale State Rams over the weekend secured their position as Skyline Conference champions… MyFitnessPal acquired calorie-counting app Cal Al, including 19-year-old CEO and co-founder Zach Yadegari and the startup's six additional employees… The Wall Street Journal spotlights Blue Owl Capital co-founders Doug Ostrover and Marc Lipschultz as the firm faces financial challenges tied to upheaval in the broader credit market… Meta's Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, bought an under-construction mansion in South Florida's Indian Creek for $170 million, setting a new record in Miami-Dade County… A new report from the Jewish Representative Council of Ireland found that Irish Jews self-reported 146 incidents involving antisemitism between July 2025 and January 2026… Kate Schmier is joining the Jewish Book Council as director of publishing relations… London retailer and fashion designer Bernard Lewis, the founder of Little Island, died at 100… |
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JIM LO SCALZO/EPA/BLOOMBERG VIA GETTY IMAGES |
President Donald Trump posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor on Monday to Army Master Sgt. Roderick "Roddie" W. Edmonds, a World War II soldier whose defiance of a Nazi order saved more than 200 Jewish American prisoners of war, Jewish Insider's Matthew Shea reports. Edmonds' son, Chris Edmonds, accepted the award on his father's behalf. |
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TIM MOSENFELDER/FILMMAGIC |
Vocalist for indie-pop band Lucius, Jess Wolfe turns 40… Australian residential property developer, colloquially known as "High-Rise Harry," Harry Triguboff turns 93… Former justice of the Supreme Court of Israel, Dalia Dorner turns 92… Author of 32 books and the editor emeritus of Dissent magazine, Michael Laban Walzer turns 91… Researcher in Yiddish language at Sweden's Lund University's Centre for Languages and Literature, Henrik Lewis-Guttermann turns 77… Best-selling and Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer of financiers and politicians, Ron Chernow turns 77… President of CBS News until 2021, now president of See It Now Studios, Susan Zirinsky turns 74… Retired chief investment officer of Neuberger Berman, he served as president of AIPAC, Michael Kassen… Fashion designer and businessman, he is the founder and former CEO of an eponymous company, Steve Madden turns 68… NPR personality and the host and producer of the radio and television show "This American Life," Ira Jeffrey Glass turns 67… Former director of policy for New York state under Gov. Andrew Cuomo, David Yassky turns 62… Israeli economist and diplomat, he served as Israel's first ambassador to the UAE, Amir Hayek turns 62… MLB pitcher until 2001, his 557 appearances rank second in career games pitched by a Jewish pitcher, Scott David Radinsky turns 58… Co-founder and co-president of Clarity Capital, David Steinhardt turns 57… EVP and general counsel at Eli Lilly and Company, Anat Hakim… Founder of Bunk1, a provider of parent-engagement software for summer camps, he is a co-owner of the Miami Marlins, Ari Jack Ackerman… President and founder of Heppin Biosciences, Brett S. Abrahams, Ph.D. turns 53… Screenwriter and columnist in the Israeli newspaper Globes, Efrat Abramov turns 46… British rabbi who has run for mayor of London and of Manchester, Shneur Zalman Odze turns 45… Acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York for the first 24 days of the Trump 47 administration, Danielle R. Sassoon turns 40… Senior communications manager for Uber, she was the press secretary for former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Freddi Goldstein… Manager of public policy for hate speech at TikTok, Erica H. Mindel… Member of AJR, an indie pop multi-instrumentalist trio, together with his two brothers, Ryan Metzger turns 32... |
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