Pinning down the X imposters draws bipartisan praise
Plus, meet Mamdani’s transition team
Add JewishInsider on GoogleGood Wednesday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we talk to Jewish communal leaders about what’s next for their organizations following the implementation of the ceasefire in Gaza and return of the living hostages, and interview lawmakers about X’s recent decision to include users’ location information. We report on concerns from New York City Jewish officials over some members of Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s transition teams, and spotlight the race in Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District, where far-left state lawmaker Aftyn Behn is making gains ahead of next week’s special election. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Jack Kirby, former FDNY Commissioner Robert Tucker and Pope Leo XIV.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by Jewish Insider Executive Editor Melissa Weiss and Israel Editor Tamara Zieve with an assist from Marc Rod. Have a tip? Email us here.
Ed note: In observance of Thanksgiving, the next Daily Kickoff will arrive on Monday, Dec. 1. Enjoy the long weekend!
What We’re Watching
- Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is in Paris today for meetings with senior French officials, including Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot. The meeting comes days after France, joined by the U.S., U.K. and Germany, pushed for the International Atomic Energy Agency to pressure Iran to allow inspectors access to the Islamic Republic’s nuclear facilities.
- The Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy is hosting a daylong conference in Abu Dhabi on the Abraham Accords’ impact across the region.
- Pope Leo XIV is making his first international trip since becoming pontiff, traveling on Thursday to Turkey and from there to Lebanon on Sunday. In Turkey, the pope is scheduled to meet with Turkish Chief Rabbi David Sevi as well as other religious leaders.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S HALEY cOHEN
For more than two years, Jewish communities around the country — despite deep rifts over Israel’s prosecution of the war in Gaza — demonstrated a historic united effort to bring home the hostages kidnapped by Hamas during the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks. In cities coast to coast, Jewish individuals and groups across different denominations, political affiliations and ages gathered together for rallies, fundraisers and walks, voicing a singular message: “Bring Them Home Now.”
The efforts culminated last month with the release of the remaining living hostages and a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. But heads of leading Jewish organizations say the work is not done and there are several new consensus issues for American Jews, with many echoing that tackling the increase in antisemitism remains a central and unifying concern.
“Helping to rebuild Israel, continuing to secure our communities and leaning into a surge in Jewish life” that sparked new energy in the community in the wake of Oct. 7 are the next issues Jewish federations nationwide are addressing, Eric Fingerhut, CEO of Jewish Federations of North America, told Jewish Insider.
“We all understand that there are serious and long-term issues related to the war in Israel, both related to trauma and mental health issues that have arisen, all of the rebuilding that is needed and support to those who fought and bereaved families,” said Fingerhut.
“The toxic combination of rising security threats and antisemitism remain a top priority. We still have work to do to make sure our communities are fully secure,” he continued. An October JFNA and Anti-Defamation League survey found that more than half of all Jewish Americans experienced at least one form of antisemitism in the past year; 14% have developed exit plans to flee the U.S. if the situation worsens.
LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION
Bipartisan praise from lawmakers on X’s new location feature
Republican and Democratic lawmakers alike are cheering the implementation of X’s new location feature this week — allowing users to see what countries accounts are operating from — with some expressing hope that the move will expose the level of foreign involvement in domestic online political discourse. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle touted the new feature as a useful way to identify if an account commenting on U.S. political matters could potentially be a foreign actor, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod and Emily Jacobs report.
Providing insight: The new feature has exposed a variety of far-left and far-right accounts engaging in U.S. political discourse and spreading antisemitic and anti-Israel sentiments as they operate from various foreign countries. Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) said the information gleaned from the platform’s new feature crystalized the degree to which “foreign interests are trying to spread” antisemitic ideas in the United States. “The evidence is insightful,” Bacon, who is leading a bill with Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) aimed at addressing antisemitism on social media, told JI.
Read the full story here with additional comments from Gottheimer, Sens. James Lankford (R-OK) and Ted Cruz (R-TX), Reps, Tom Suozzi (D-NY) and Laura Friedman (D-CA) and former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley.
COMMUNITY CONCERNS
Mamdani transition picks draw scrutiny from Jewish leaders
Zohran Mamdani, the mayor-elect of New York City, rolled out an extensive list of more than 400 new transition team appointees on Monday, saying the picks would help “recruit top talent and develop smart policy” on such issues as housing, community safety and economic development. Despite the wide diversity of his choices, some of the appointees have raised concerns among Jewish leaders who remain skeptical of the mayor-elect and his commitment to fighting antisemitism, especially in moments where anti-Israel sentiment can cross a line into overt bigotry against Jews, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.
In the spotlight: Among the most controversial sources of criticism was Mamdani’s appointment of Tamika Mallory, a former Women’s March leader who stepped down from its board amid allegations of antisemitism, to a newly established community safety committee. Mallory, who rose to prominence as a leading organizer of the Women’s March after President Donald Trump was first elected, resigned from her role as a co-chair of the organization after facing accusations of having made virulently antisemitic remarks, including a widely discredited claim that Jewish people had played a major part in the slave trade.
GARDEN STATE RACE
Former Rep. Tom Malinowski, Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill leading contenders in race to replace Sherrill
The race to replace New Jersey Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill in her northern New Jersey district, an affluent, suburban area with a sizable Jewish population, has attracted around a dozen Democratic candidates from a wide array of backgrounds. But three Jewish leaders in the state plugged into the local political scene say they see Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill as the likely front-runner for the 11th Congressional District seat, with former Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-NJ) as a formidable candidate as well, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
State of play: Gill has the endorsement of Gov. Phil Murphy, whose 2017 campaign Gill managed, and has long been seen as a rising star. One Jewish leader said he expects Gill would be a reliable advocate for Jewish issues, but two others raised concerns, noting Gill’s wife’s relationships with local anti-Israel groups. Jeff Grayzel, the deputy mayor of Morris Township, N.J., and a leader in his local Jewish community relations council and federation, argued that he has a path to victory if Gill and Malinowski focus their fire on each other, and if Morris County voters and the Jewish community in Essex County turn out in support of him.
Malinowski’s view: Malinowski told JI in an interview last week, that he’s “as pro-Israel as I have ever been.” But he’s also expressing more openness to — but also not committing to supporting — policies conditioning or restricting aid, and called for the U.S. to serve as a “counterweight” to the Israeli far right. And he said that U.S. aid shouldn’t be used in furtherance of Israeli actions that the U.S. itself doesn’t support. At the same time, he expressed support for the Trump administration’s Gaza peace plan and strikes on Iran.
Tennessee tackle
Long-shot Tennessee special election candidate stakes out anti-Israel stance
Far-left Tennessee state Rep. Aftyn Behn, making a bid for the open 7th Congressional District seat in next week’s special election, has staked out strongly anti-Israel positions during the course of her campaign and political career, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. Former Vice President Kamala Harris rallied with Behn in Tennessee earlier this month, and Behn has outraised Van Epps, $1.2 million to $993,000. Former Rep. Mark Green (R-TN), who vacated the seat earlier this year, won in 2024 by 20 points, but polls show Van Epps leading by just 8.
Her record: Behn called for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, and described the war in Gaza as a genocide as early as Oct. 29, 2023, weeks after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, shortly after she was elected to the statehouse. She also visited the anti-Israel encampment at Vanderbilt University, in Nashville, describing it as “well organized, grounded in liberation politics.”
FROM BUDAPEST TO D.C.
Hungary pitches its pro-Israel stance as model for Europe in fight against antisemitism
In the last decade and a half, Hungary has gained a reputation as the most conservative European nation, a distinction happily touted by the country’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, who has been in office since 2010. In building that reputation, Orbán has courted controversy — with inflammatory comments about racial minorities and the LGBTQ community, by taking measures that critics say erode the country’s democracy and by adopting a more pro-Russia stance than most of the rest of the European Union. His hard-line policies are part of why Orbán and President Donald Trump have been able to cultivate a close relationship, with the U.S. and Hungary now far more aligned than they were during the Biden administration. “That’s an understatement,” János Bóka, Hungary’s minister for EU affairs, told Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch with a laugh during a visit to Washington last week.
Eye on antisemitism: But if Trump has taken a page from Orbán’s conservative governing playbook, bringing the two countries closer together, Bóka said there is one political trend playing out among American conservatives that he hopes Hungary avoids: the rise of antisemitism on the political right. “I am aware of the discussion that you are now having in the States on the reviving of antisemitism on the right. One of the added values of my trip in the U.S. is that I can study this firsthand and can discuss this with people so I have a better understanding,” Bóka said. “This phenomenon is something that is very difficult for me to understand, because at least in Hungary and in most parts of Europe, it doesn’t have a parallel, or at least not yet.”
EDUCATION CONSTERNATION
House launches probes into antisemitism in three major public school districts
The public school systems in Fairfax County, Va.; Berkeley, Calif.; and Philadelphia became the latest targets of the federal government’s crackdown on antisemitism in the classroom when the House Committee on Education and the Workforce announced on Monday it would open investigations into the districts. Jewish leaders and parents in all three cities welcomed the probes with cautious optimism and said that they were long overdue, referencing high-profile incidents that have roiled each district, especially in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks in Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza. While much of the federal government’s attention has been on the historic levels of antisemitism on college campuses, focus has recently shifted to addressing anti-Israel sentiments creeping into the classrooms at some public K-12 schools, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
Textbook trouble: All three districts under investigation have ties to the “Teaching Palestine” curriculum, which was created by textbook publisher Rethinking Schools. “There are fair-minded ways to look at complicated problems in the Middle East. Rethinking Schools materials aren’t that,” said Clifford Smith, government affairs director of the North American Values Institute, which published a report exposing anti-Israel bias within Rethinking Schools. “They are propaganda masquerading as educational resources,” Smith told JI. He called on Congress to “take a hard look at the role groups like Rethinking Schools are playing in the recent explosion of antisemitism.”
Worthy Reads
X Marks the Spot: In The Washington Post, Tinder founder Sean Rad and former Twitter/X executive Zach Schapira praise X’s recent decision to make public information regarding user location, and suggest what steps other social media platforms can take in the interest of transparency. “Social platforms fundamentally changed how people and ideas move across borders. A borderless digital ecosystem shrank distances, opened markets and created the potential for a global town square. Those benefits are profound, and worth preserving. But when political conversation moved online, one assumption baked into that early design became dangerously outdated: that geography no longer matters. … X’s recent bold decision, led by Head of Product Nikita Bier, to add country labels to accounts reflects an important shift: a recognition that geographic transparency is crucial context to help users understand whether a post is a firsthand account or distant commentary, whether it reflects genuine local sentiment or coordinated foreign messaging.” [WashPost]
Spotlight on Sudan: In Newsweek, former White House Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt pushes back against criticism of the United Arab Emirates’ involvement in the Sudanese civil war. “Before the UAE became involved, Sudan had already collapsed, multiple times. The country has endured civil wars, coups, economic breakdowns and revolutions. Its institutions were hollowed out long before any recent foreign role. Blaming the UAE for ‘causing’ Sudan’s unraveling ignores decades of internal governance failures, competing militarized elites and the near-total absence of a functioning state. Sudan’s tragedy is primarily Sudanese in origin, even if outsiders have played supporting roles. Here is another hard reality: No war-torn state, especially one with Sudan’s history, recovers without responsible, significant external support—financial, humanitarian and diplomatic. Countries do not rebuild themselves in isolation. They need partners. And yes, those partners, whether the UAE or anyone else, will always have interests alongside their intentions to help.” [Newsweek]
History Lesson: In Moment Magazine, Menachem Z. Rosensaft raises concerns about U.S. Ambassador to Poland Tom Rose’s recent comments absolving Poland of complicity in the Holocaust. “Forty years ago, I criticized President Ronald Reagan when he said that the members of the notorious Nazi Waffen-SS buried at the German military cemetery at Bitburg ‘were victims, just as surely as the victims in the concentration camps.’ I said at that time that ‘The photograph of the president of the United States laying a wreath in the name of the United States at a cemetery which includes SS officers will be used and exploited by revisionist historians and neo-Nazis as proof that the president has forgiven the SS and it is now all right to forget.’ In a similar vein, Rose’s ill-advised and historically false whitewashing of the Polish role in the genocide of European Jewry is certain to be fodder for Polish and other antisemites who seek to trivialize (if not dismiss altogether) the Holocaust as a minor, essentially meaningless occurrence that does not warrant commemoration or remembrance.” [Moment]
Comics as Jewish Lit: eJewishPhilanthropy’s Jay Deitcher spotlights a new exhibit at Manhattan’s Jack Kirby Museum commemorating the Jewish comic book author’s life and legacy. “The Kirby Museum, along with The Siegel and Shuster Society, which honors Superman’s Jewish co-creators, is one of the few nonprofits celebrating the Jewish masterminds of the comics medium. Even though these writers and artists’ creations are plastered on nearly every child’s lunch box — not only in America, but around the world — their foundations and museums often lack the financial support of nonprofits dedicated to those deemed ‘fine’ artists. … ‘Comic books are Jewish literature,’ [author Roy Schwartz] said. ‘They tell the same stories as Philip Roth and Bernard Malamud and Primo Levi just through metaphor and hyperbole with a younger audience in mind, but they’re selling the same bagels on the same street corner, and this canon of Jewish American literature and art deserves to be on the same shelf as those other greats.’” [eJP]
Word on the Street
President Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman clashed last week in a private meeting over the possibility of Riyadh normalizing relations with Israel, with the Saudi leader reportedly saying that anti-Israel sentiment in the Gulf nation was too high at the moment for Saudi Arabia to join the Abraham Accords…
The Trump administration is driving efforts to construct housing in Israeli-controlled portions of the Gaza Strip to shelter tens of thousands of Palestinians, with the goal of having the first residential units inhabitable in the coming months…
Reps. Craig Goldman (R-TX), Ann Wagner (R-MO), Bill Huizenga (R-MI), Mike Lawler (R-NY), Joe Wilson (R-SC) and Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) introduced a resolution praising the expansion of the Abraham Accords to include Kazakhstan…
Bloomberg reports on a leaked audio recording of a call between White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and a senior foreign policy aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin last month in which Witkoff reportedly advised Moscow on how to approach President Donald Trump in negotiations regarding Ukraine…
Politico looks at how Trump’s friendly meeting with and praise for New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani could complicate efforts by Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), who is mounting a bid for governor, to tie Mamdani to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, whom Stefanik is challenging…
Former FDNY Commissioner Robert Tucker, who is Jewish, cited his religion as one of the factors in his decision to resign following Mamdani’s election, saying that Mamdani’s “whole campaign really reflected” incompatibilities between himself and the incoming administration…
Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser said she will not seek a fourth term in next November’s election…
A final report approved unanimously by Massachusetts’ Special Commission on Combating Antisemitism determined that antisemitism is on the upswing in the state and made a number of recommendations, including the implementation of guidelines for primary and secondary schools to address discrimination and funding for the state’s new Hate Crimes Awareness and Response Team…
The Wall Street Journal reports on the uptick in universities asking applicants about navigating differing opinions as they look to recruit student populations that can thoughtfully approach disagreements…
An Illinois man was sentenced to two years of probation and 100 hours of community service after pleading guilty to battery in a 2024 incident in which he and an accomplice assaulted two Jewish students at DePaul University; the second attacker remains at large…
The Manhattan District Attorney’s office announced plans to retry Pedro Hernandez for the 1979 kidnapping and murder of 6-year-old Etan Patz, eight years after the New York man was convicted after a federal appeals court overturned the conviction earlier this year, citing the original judge having erred in his instructions to the jury…
Israel identified the remains of hostage Dror Or, who was killed at his home in Kibbutz Be’eri during the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks, after they were handed over on Tuesday by Palestinian terror groups in Gaza; Or’s wife, Yonat, was killed in the attacks, and two of their three children were taken hostage and released during the November 2023 ceasefire…
Israel is expanding the exemption on personal customs imports for products under $150; previously, imports totaling more than $75 were subject to customs and import fees…
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil accused Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar of being a “war criminal” after Sa’ar spoke about connections between Caracas and Iran and the latter’s terrorist proxies, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports…
Reuters reports on an effort by Israeli researchers to use AI to transcribe and sift through the medieval Cairo Geniza, which contains more than 400,000 documents, only a fraction of which have been deciphered…
Lebanon granted citizenship to FIFA President Gianni Infantino in what the Lebanese Football Association called a “symbolic” gesture; the move is expected to cause consternation in the country, where Lebanese women cannot pass their citizenship to their foreign husbands, or to their children if the father is not Lebanese…
Pic of the Day
Jewish communal leaders in New York City joined First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro and Queens Borough President Donovan Richards (center) for a groundbreaking ceremony on Tuesday for a new Holocaust memorial in Queens.
Birthdays
First Jewish governor of Delaware from 2009-2017 and later U.S. ambassador to Italy, Jack Alan Markell turns 65…
Holocaust refugee from Budapest, Hungary, he founded a generic drug company in 1965 that he sold to Teva Pharmaceuticals 35 years later, University of Toronto’s pharmacy school bears his name, Leslie Dan turns 96… San Francisco-based venture capitalist, he is a founding partner of CMEA Capital, Formation 8 and Baruch Future Ventures, Thomas R. Baruch turns 87… President of the Haberman Institute for Jewish Studies, Arthur Hessel turns 83… Diplomat and author, he worked under Presidents Bush (41), Clinton and Obama on Middle East matters, in 2002 he co-founded a synagogue in Rockville, Md., Dennis B. Ross turns 77… Former national executive director of the Zionist Organization of America, Gary P. Ratner turns 77… Former member of the Illinois House of Representatives for 32 years, now a lobbyist, Louis I. Lang turns 76… U.S. senator from West Virginia, Shelley Moore Capito turns 72… Pulitzer Prize-winning author of nonfiction books based on his biological observations, he is a professor at Columbia University School of Journalism, Jonathan Weiner turns 72… Israel bureau chief and a senior editor for the Middle East at Bloomberg News, Ethan Samuel Bronner turns 71… Editor, journalist and publisher of Hebrew media for U.S.-based Israeli readers, he is the author of several books and award-winning screenplays, Meir Doron turns 71… Staff cartoonist for The New Yorker, where she has published more than 1,000 cartoons, Roz Chast turns 71… Israeli reporter and writer, Ari Shavit turns 68… Mayor of Miami Beach, Fla., from 2017-2023, prior to that he served in both houses of the Florida Legislature, Daniel Saul Gelber turns 65… District Attorney of Los Angeles County, Nathan Joseph Hochman turns 62… Former professional tennis player, he won three singles and one doubles title on the ATP Tour, Jay Berger turns 59… CEO and founder of Dansdeals, a credit card and travel blog, Daniel Eleff turns 41… Editor-in-chief of W Magazine, Sara Anne Moonves turns 41… Software engineer at Regard, Benjamin Huebscher… Executive director of Agudath Israel of Ohio, Rabbi Eric “Yitz” Frank… Executive director at the Council for a Secure America, Jennifer Sutton… Senior counselor at Palantir Technologies, Jordan Chandler Hirsch… Television and film actress, Anjelica Bette Fellini turns 31…
