Trump gets cold feet on Iran

👋 Good Thursday morning!

In today’s Daily Kickoff, we look at the continued embrace of Hasan Piker by elements of the progressive movement, despite the far-left commentator’s recent rhetoric defending Hamas, and interview former Marine Ryan Crosswell about his effort to flip the GOP-held congressional seat represented by Rep. Ryan Mackenzie in Pennsylvania. We have the scoop on Andrew Hale’s departure from the Heritage Foundation to join Advancing American Freedom, and talk to Lishay Miran Lavi, the wife of freed Israeli hostage Omri Miran, about the book she wrote to help children deal with loss. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Sen. Ron Wyden, Jacob Helberg and Rob Satloff.

Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by Jewish Insider Executive Editor Melissa Weiss and Israel Editor Tamara Zieve, with assists from Danielle Cohen-Kanik and Marc Rod. Have a tip? Email us here.

What We’re Watching

We are continuing to monitor the situation in Iran, after tensions hit a fever pitch last night, with Iran closing its airspace for several hours and the U.S. withdrawal of some military personnel and aircraft from its Al-Udeid base in Qatar. President Donald Trump said yesterday that he had been “told on good authority” that “the killing in Iran is stopping.” Iranian airspace reopened in the middle of the night.
Despite Washington’s walk-back from the brink of potential military action, the U.S. and U.K. issued warnings this morning cautioning against travel to Israel; the U.S. advisory, issued by the embassy in Jerusalem, said the alert was due to “ongoing regional tensions.”
Trump is slated to meet today with Nobel Prize Prize winner and Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado at the White House. The meeting comes a day after Trump spoke by phone with acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez.
The first meeting of the new Palestinian technocratic committee that will administer Gaza is being held today in Cairo.
The Israeli American Council’s annual summit kicks off today in Hollywood, Fla. Speakers at the three-day confab include Dr. Miriam Adelson, Haim Saban, Safra Catz, Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism Yehuda Kaploun, the Justice Department’s Harmeet Dhillon, former CENTCOM head Gen. (Ret.) Michael Erik Kurilla, Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) and Rich McCormick (R-GA), writer Micah Goodman, former Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Gilad Erdan, former IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari and Meta’s Jordana Cutler.

What You Should Know

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S Matthew kassel

Hasan Piker, a popular far-left influencer, has long withstood scrutiny for his antisemitic commentary and justification of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, continuing to boast millions of loyal followers while hosting prominent Democratic elected officials on his Twitch show.

But his recent remarks unequivocally siding with Hamas provide particularly clarifying insight into Piker’s extreme worldview, raising questions about the permission structure in the broader progressive movement that tolerates such views with little to no pushback.

In a social media post last week, Piker came to the defense of anti-Israel protesters who had explicitly expressed support for Hamas while demonstrating outside a synagogue in Queens that was hosting an event promoting Israeli real estate investment.

“Hamas is a thousand times better than the fascist settler colonial apartheid state and the real harm happening here is that another illegal stolen land sale is taking place at another synagogue!” he said on X, describing himself as “a lesser evil voter” who was simply repeating a “harm reductionist credo.”

While the protest drew belated criticism from progressive Israel critics such as New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), both of whom have appeared on Piker’s show, the streamer made clear he was not backing down.

In contrast with Ocasio-Cortez, who had accused the protesters of using “disgusting and antisemitic” language while targeting a “predominantly Jewish neighborhood,” Piker issued a defiant retort to his 1.6 million X followers. “‘Hamas is resisting against Israel because they’re antisemitic’ is the funniest lie people tell themselves,” he argued. “If Israel was a Christian nation managing the apartheid and ethnic cleansing they’d still fight. You’re just mad people are fighting back at all.”

Read the rest of ‘What You Should Know’ here.

TEHRAN TALK

Middle East experts offer options for U.S. intervention in Iran

Iran International event, Jan 14th. 2025 (Matthew Shea)

Middle East policy experts argued on Wednesday that the United States should actively intervene in Iran’s unrest — including through cyber measures, economic pressure and potentially military strikes — amid the regime’s crackdown on nationwide protests. The comments were made during a program hosted by Iran International, one of the largest independent Persian-language news outlets in the world, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports.

Step by step: “The first thing I would recommend is that we use our very impressive capabilities to shut down the communication system for the government,” said Robert Satloff, executive director of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, speaking of a potential retaliation for the regime’s decision to cut internet access to the public. “This will be a huge step.” Satloff said if that did not work, he would then support subsequent U.S. strikes on Iranian military infrastructure.

Read the full story here.

Trump’s tone change: President Donald Trump indicated that his threats to Iran over its use of violence on protesters have had their desired effect, saying on Wednesday afternoon that “the killing in Iran is stopping,” JI’s Danielle Cohen-Kanik reports. NBC News reports that Trump told advisors that he would want any strike on Iran to deal a significant blow to Tehran and avoid a sustained war in the region, and that his team could not guarantee that a U.S. strike would prompt regime change in the Islamic Republic.