Good Tuesday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we talk to former U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel about his leftward shift on Israel as he mulls a 2028 presidential bid, and interview U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz about Hamas’ refusal to disarm. We report on New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s visit to the Jewish Children’s Museum in Brooklyn, and interview Sen. Ted Cruz about his concerns over the spread of antisemitism across the political spectrum. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Alex Karp and Sharon Sharabi.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by JI Executive Editor Melissa Weiss and Israel Editor Tamara Zieve, with an assist from Danielle Cohen-Kanik. Have a tip? Email us here.
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- Secretary of State Marco Rubio is slated to brief reporters from the White House at 3 p.m. ET today, amid rising tensions with Tehran following yesterday’s launch from Iran of several missiles and drones at the United Arab Emirates. More below.
- Vice President JD Vance is in Iowa, where he’s campaigning with Rep. Zach Nunn (R-IA) as the Des Moines-area Republican attempts to hold his seat in the midterms.
- The Manhattan Jewish Historical Initiative is holding its 2026 Hall of Fame induction ceremony today in Bryant Park. Those being inducted this year include Ari Ackerman, Michael Fuchs, Michael Hershman, Melissa Manchester, New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin, David Milch, Richard Price, Josef and Devora Wilhelm, Tanya Zuckerbrot and Ariel Zwang.
- In Washington, Hostages and Missing Families Forum U.S. co-founders Matan Sivek and Bar Ben Yaakov are being honored tonight with the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation’s humanitarian award. The foundation will also honor Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed Al-Khulaifi with its “2026 American Hostage Freedom Award.”
- The Milken Institute Global Conference continues today in Los Angeles. Speakers today include Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), Rep. Bryan Steil (R-WI), former Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former First Lady Jill Biden, former Biden administration senior official Amos Hochstein, World Food Program Executive Director Cindy McCain, BlackRock’s Larry Fink, Citadel’s Ken Griffin, KIND Snacks’ Daniel Lubetzky, Palantir’s Josh Harris, Altérra’s Majid Al Suwaidi, ADGM’s Ahmed Jasim Al Zaabi, FIFA President Gianni Infantino and the Center for American Progress’ Neera Tanden.
- One of the day’s first sessions is a panel hosted by the Milken Family Foundation’s Richard Sandler focused on antisemitism. Speakers on the panel include American Jewish Committee CEO Ted Deutch, the University of Pennsylvania’s Steven Weitzman, Pepperdine Dean Pete Peterson, Sinai Temple Senior Rabbi Nicole Guzik and journalist and philanthropist Jacki Karsh.
- Later in the morning, former U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel and former Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin will sit with The Wall Street Journal’s Gerard Baker for a conversation about the future of U.S. politics.
- In the afternoon, Emirati and Qatari officials will sit for separate conversations about economic growth among Gulf Cooperation Council countries.
- A panel later in the afternoon will focus on higher education, with the leaders of the University of Southern California, Dartmouth, Arizona State University and the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
- Indiana and Ohio voters are headed to the polls to vote in primary elections. In Indiana, the state Senate primaries will offer an early test of President Donald Trump’s clout within the party, as he has worked to defeat seven GOP state lawmakers who successfully opposed his redistricting push. In Ohio, Republicans will nominate a challenger to Rep. Greg Landsman (D-OH), one of the most stalwart pro-Israel Democrats in the House who is running for reelection in a Trump district.
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Evening intelligence, exclusively for subscribers — what we're tracking and what's coming next.
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A QUICK WORD WITH JI'S MELISSA WEISS |
The tenuous ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran came close to collapsing overnight after the Islamic Republic fired 15 missiles and four drones at the United Arab Emirates. The question now is whether hostilities will resume in the coming days — just before next week’s major summit between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, slated to take place in Beijing.
Monday’s Iranian missile fire came amid ramped-up rhetoric from both Tehran and Washington over the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, and as the U.S. launched “Project Freedom” to assist vessels attempting to transit through the waterway. One of the drones fired yesterday by Iran hit the UAE’s Fujairah Oil Industry Zone, sparking a fire that injured three Indian workers.
CENTCOM head Adm. Brad Cooper touted the initial success of the Project Freedom naval effort, which on its first day protected two U.S.-flagged ships traveling through the strait. It’s unclear the degree to which the endeavor will help with the resumption of normal activities in the waterway, which normally sees some 120 vessels passing through each day.
Later Monday, two U.S. naval ships came under heavy fire from Iran as they navigated through the passage. Iran claimed to have hit a warship, which CENTCOM denied. Trump told Fox News’ Trey Yingst that Iran would be “wipe[d] off the face of the earth” if it targeted ships being escorted through the strait. The Wall Street Journal reported that the president “for days has toggled between two competing impulses: severely punishing Iran for failing to abandon its nuclear work, and avoiding a significant escalation that could draw the U.S. deeper into a Middle East conflict.”
The bigger question is what will happen next week, when Trump is slated to meet with China’s Xi Jinping in Beijing — a summit already delayed once due to the war. Over the weekend, Beijing told Chinese firms to ignore U.S. sanctions on five Iran-linked oil refiners in the country.
Beijing has attempted to play both sides of the conflict, encouraging Iran to pursue diplomacy while also providing the Islamic Republic with commercial support for use in the event of a resumption of hostilities. Should the summit take place, all eyes will be on Xi to see if he attempts to play Trump, as well.
Read the rest of 'What You Should Know' here.
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How Rahm Emanuel is recalibrating on Israel ahead of 2028 |
Last November, Rahm Emanuel, a former ambassador, mayor, White House chief of staff and current prospective presidential candidate, warned the Jewish Federations of North America about Israel's declining global reputation, marking a turning point in his approach to the issue. In an interview with Jewish Insider's Matthew Kassel last week, he outlined his views amid changing winds in a Democratic Party increasingly hostile to the pro-Israel stance long central to his identity.
On military aid to Israel: “What I said couldn’t have been clearer,” he told JI last Thursday, referring to his recent comments on “Real Time With Bill Maher” calling for an end to U.S. military aid to Israel that raised eyebrows in the Jewish community. “There will no longer be U.S. taxpayer subsidies for the purchase of U.S. military equipment. Israel will be like every other ally. They can buy what they want, and they have to live within the restrictions. You can decide to slice it, dice it, but that’s what it is,” he said.
Read the full interview and story here.
Elsewhere: Politico's Jonathan Martin sat down at Manny’s Deli in Chicago with Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker to discuss the Jewish Democrat's potential 2028 presidential bid. Pritzker touched on his faith, noting that he and his family have faced increased threats in recent years, and raised concerns about the rise in antisemitism more generally. Pritzker noted that he was "unapologetically in favor of having a peaceful sanctuary Jews can live in, in Israel," and doubled down on his call for a two-state solution.
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Direction of Dem policy group raises red flags after hiring of new leader with history of anti-Israel activism |
Several top Jewish Democrats are expressing concerns about the ideological direction of a newly revived foreign policy group now aiming to shape the party’s approach to Israel in the 2028 presidential election as well as a future Democratic administration. National Security Action is returning to the political arena with a new leader, Maher Bitar, who has served in high-level defense and intelligence roles on Capitol Hill and in the White House, the group confirmed on Sunday, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.
Israel approach: Bitar has faced scrutiny over his past record of anti-Israel activism. “We urge National Security Action to continue to be an honest convener about these important issues,” Brian Romick, the president of Democratic Majority for Israel, told JI. “There is a strong majority of Americans, including Democratic primary voters, who support the U.S.-Israel relationship because they understand that doing so is in the best interest of the United States.
Read the full story here.
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U.S. quietly advances postwar Gaza plan as Waltz vows Hamas ‘will never again rule’ |
While the world’s attention has been fixed on Iran, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz and a team of American bureaucrats have spent the last few months quietly working to turn President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace into a fully functioning entity. “The contributions keep coming in for both the international stabilization force and the new police force,” Waltz told Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch during an interview on Monday at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles.
Waltz’s vision: Waltz is bullish on the possibility that the morass of Gaza can be worked out peacefully, with enough buy-in from countries who are willing to finance the creation of a new governing and police structure in Gaza. “That training is standing up in both Egypt and Jordan. It's going to take time, but all of those pieces are moving forward,” Waltz said. One lingering challenge is Hamas’ grip on power. Waltz swore that Hamas “will never again rule Gaza,” whether as a result of “diplomatic action or military action.”
Read the full interview here.
Elsewhere at the Milken Conference: Top foundation leaders on a panel on philanthropy called for grantmakers to move toward a “builder” mindset amid seismic shifts in the economy and society, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Nira Dayanim reports.
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Cruz warns of future where both parties are anti-Israel |
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has for months been raising the alarm about the growing threat of antisemitism on the American right. During a visit to Los Angeles for the Milken Institute Global Conference, he called for elected officials — including in his own party — to take a clear stand on the issue, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
Words of warning: “I don't want to wake up in five years and find ourselves in a country where both major political parties are unequivocally anti-Israel and unapologetically antisemitic. And I think that is a very real threat,” Cruz told JI in an interview on Monday on the sidelines of the Milken conference. “Every elected official is going to have to decide where he or she stands, and what you believe,” said Cruz. “As Ronald Reagan said more than 50 years ago, this is a time for choosing, and each person can decide where he or she stands.”
Read the full interview here.
Swastikas in Queens: Multiple Jewish homes, a synagogue and a Jewish center in Queens — which contains a preschool — were vandalized with swastikas and other antisemitic graffiti overnight on Monday, leaving Jewish residents questioning their safety amid a spate of antisemitic incidents, JI’s Haley Cohen reports.
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Lindsey Graham calls for ‘big, strong and short’ military action against Iran |
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said he would support “big, strong and short” U.S. military action against Iran following Tehran’s latest strikes on the United Arab Emirates on Monday — the first such attack on the critical American ally since the fragile U.S.-Iran ceasefire took hold in early April, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports.
What he said: Graham, a staunch ally of President Donald Trump and supporter of the war effort, said that Iran’s “attack against UAE’s vital infrastructure and continued attacks on international shipping … justifies a big, strong and short response to inflict further damage on Iran’s war machine” in a statement on X. “A forceful response on behalf of our ally, UAE, will reinforce that America is back as a reliable ally, helping to further wash away the damage caused by the Biden administration on this front,” Graham continued.
Read the full story here.
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Mamdani makes surprise visit to Jewish Children’s Museum |
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani toured the Jewish Children’s Museum in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn on Monday — accompanied by the police commissioner, the local city councilmember and the museum’s co-founder, but no press or local religious leaders, Jewish Insider’s Will Bredderman reports.
Closed-door tour: The mayor’s stop was first reported by Chabad community news site COLlive, which shared a photo of him entering the building alongside NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, and inside the lobby with Tisch and Councilmember Crystal Hudson. In another image was Devorah Halberstam, one of the museum’s founders, who COLlive reported provided a “closed-door tour.” Halberstam told JI she connected with the mayor following the car-ramming of the Chabad-Lubavitch headquarters, which sits a few hundred feet from the museum and serves as the spiritual center of the neighborhood, and that a meeting had been in the works since before Passover.
Read the full story here.
Bonus: Mamdani appeared alongside Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) at an event on Monday in the Bronx to announce a federal investment of $2 million for an effort to expand high-speed internet access to low-income residents in parts of the city. Politico New York looks at the relationship between the two NYC politicos, who clashed during last year’s mayoral campaign.
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What Rachel Represents: In the Jewish Review of Books, Dara Horn reviews Rachel Goldberg-Polin’s When We See You Again. “As we face an ongoing barrage of anti-Jewish attacks worldwide — the massacres of October 7 and the subsequent torture and murder of hostages, missile hailstorms, maniacs murdering Jews in synagogues and museums and on beaches and sidewalks, and nonstop calls from all sorts of influencers cheering for more of the same, or explaining why we deserve it — our responses have oscillated between confusion and outrage, with little room for sorrow. [Goldberg-Polin’s book] is a reminder that beneath all the armor each of us must now wear in public, we are actually wounded, grieving mothers and fathers and daughters and sons, and we are allowed to weep.” [JewishReviewofBooks]
Dems Should Fear Keir: In The New York Times, Samuel Earle suggests that U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s plummeting popularity among Labour party members serves as a warning to Democrats ahead of the midterms. “For Democrats, there are lessons in Mr. Starmer’s plight. To name a few: A leader without a base will soon find the floor falling out from beneath them; a campaign that relies on voter apathy will foment the political forces it purports to fight; and an offer of competence, pragmatism and decency is no longer enough. These dynamics have played out in Maine, where an unconventional, unpolished outsider with a radical message galvanized Democratic voters so much more than the state’s experienced and moderate governor that the governor dropped out of the race.” [NYTimes]
End of an Era: In The Independent, Ben Judah posits that the “golden age” of Jewish life in the Diaspora has ended. “Today, with the Jewish community feeling that many spaces, from social media platforms to pro-Palestine marches on the streets of London, or the arts, have normalised a kind of attitude to Israel they find antisemitic, demonised any connection to it and rolled their eyes at the attacks they are under, there is a profound Jewish alienation instead of the old enthusiasm. There will be less Jewish energy powering these cultural and political engines of the West going forward.” [TheIndependent]
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President Donald Trump issued a proclamation for Jewish American Heritage Month, calling on Jewish Americans to observe a “national Sabbath” May 15-16, in “special honor of 250 glorious years of American independence and on the weekend of Rededicate 250 — a national jubilee of prayer, praise, and thanksgiving”...
The Financial Times reports that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent clashed with U.K. Chancellor Rachel Reeves over Reeves’ comments, made last month while she was in Washington for International Monetary Fund meetings, critical of the Iran war…
Palantir announced record-high first quarter earnings of $1.63 billion in sales amid the company’s entry into the AI space and efforts to make inroads in Washington; CEO Alex Karp said that the company’ “biggest problem currently is demand in the U.S.,” adding, “We just cannot meet demand”...
The Egyptian national accused of firebombing participants in a Boulder, Colo., march to raise awareness for the Israeli hostages last year, killing an elderly woman and injuring a dozen others, will plead guilty to a series of charges including murder; Mohamed Sabry Soliman pleaded not guilty to federal hate crime charges, which can carry the death penalty, but last year offered to plead guilty to the charge in exchange for life in prison…
eJewishPhilanthropy’s Jay Deitcher spotlights the celebrations around the third annual National Challah Day, which fell on May 2…
During its second day of public testimony, Australia’s royal commission into the circumstances that led to the December terror attack at Sydney’s Bondi Beach heard from Jewish parents who described ongoing, “normalized” antisemitism in Australian society; the commission also listened to testimony from a paramedic who faced antisemitism from both patients and other emergency responders, one of whom threatened to “skin you the way my family skinned yours in the camps”...
The U.K.'s Metropolitan police are investigating a suspected arson attack at a former synagogue in the Whitechapel district of London...
Former Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu party announced that Sharon Sharabi, the brother of hostages Eli and Yossi Sharabi, the latter of whom was killed in captivity, was joining the party; the announcement came amid reports that the right-wing opposition party was considering a merger with Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar party…
Israel’s Defense Ministry said that the first of six new Boeing KC-46 refueling planes that Israel ordered from the U.S. completed its first flight test…
The New York Times looks at the rise in settler violence targeting Palestinians in the West Bank…
Kan reporter Suleiman Maswadeh is joining Israel’s Channel 13 as the network’s Washington correspondent…
Elliot Cohen is joining the Trump administration’s Board of Peace after being detailed to the Office of Special Envoy for Peace Missions through the Department of the Interior; he was previously at the Department of Government Efficiency and Blackstone…
Doris Fisher, who with her husband, Don, started The Gap in 1969, died at 94…
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Noam Bettan, Israel’s entrant to the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest, began rehearsals earlier this week in Vienna ahead of the competition’s semifinals next Tuesday.
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Head coach of the football team at the University of Washington, Jedd Ari Fisch turns 50...
Senior U.S. district judge for the Northern District of Illinois, Robert W. Gettleman turns 83... Best-selling author of 20 novels featuring fictional Manhattan prosecutor Alexandra Cooper, written by the former head of the sex crimes unit of the Manhattan District Attorney's office, Linda Fairstein turns 79... Retired chief judge on the Maryland Court of Special Appeals, he was once president of the Jewish Community Council of Greater Washington, Peter B. Krauser turns 79... Docent at NYC's Metropolitan Museum of Art, Ruth Klein Schwalbe... Gayle Weiss Schochet... Member of the Knesset, almost continuously since 1988, leader of the Ashekazi Haredi party United Torah Judaism, Moshe Gafni turns 74... South African-born former president of American Jewish World Service, Robert Bank turns 67... David Shamir... Pulitzer Prize-winning author of three nonfiction books, historian and journalist, Tom Reiss turns 62... Senior managing director of Jewish Funders Network, he is a graduate of Yeshiva College and Yale Law School, Yossi Prager... Emmy Award-winning television writer and producer, known for “The Simpsons,” Josh Weinstein turns 60... Special education consultant, Nancy Simcha Cook Kimsey... EVP of BerlinRosen, Nicole Rosen... Executive director of public relations at UJA-Federation of New York, Emily Kutner... Executive director of Micah Philanthropies, Deena Fuchs... President of Charleston, S.C.-based InterTech Group, a global holding company, Jonathan M. Zucker turns 48... Television news correspondent, print journalist, stage and film actress, entrepreneur and pro-Israel activist, Lara Berman Krinsky turns 46... Former Israeli national soccer team captain, he also played for Chelsea, West Ham United and Liverpool in the English Premier League, Yossi Benayoun turns 46... Mayor of Bat Yam, Israel, Tzvika Brot turns 46... Member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives since 2013, Michael H. Schlossberg turns 43... Former professional golfer, now an orthopedic surgeon, David Bartos Merkow, MD turns 41... Partner at New Enterprise Associates and a member of the inaugural class of the Schwarzman Scholars program, Andrew Adams Schoen... Maxine S. Fuchs... Blake E. Goodman... Basketball player selected 27th overall by the Brooklyn Nets in the first round of the 2025 NBA draft, Danny Wolf turns 22...
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