Syria Caesar sanctions on the White House menu
Plus, Israel's concerns over the Gaza stabilization force
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In today’s Daily Kickoff, we report on President Donald Trump’s meeting with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa yesterday and talk to senators about a dinner meeting they had with the Syrian leader. We also talk to Israeli experts about the prospect of a United Nations-led stabilization force in Gaza and report from a bridge-building event attended by Black and Jewish college students at George Washington University. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Ronald Lauder, Bianna Golodryga and Yonit Levi.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by Jewish Insider Israel Editor Tamara Zieve and U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik, with an assist from Marc Rod. Have a tip? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
- Temple Emanu-El in New York City is hosting an event this evening for the launch of Don’t Feed the Lion, a novel for middle schoolers on the theme of antisemitism by journalists Bianna Golodryga and Yonit Levi. The authors will be joined by chess champion Garry Kasparov and comedian Elon Gold for a conversation moderated by Rafaela Siewert. Read JI’s interview with Golodryga and Levi below.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S Josh Kraushaar
With a week since the off-year gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia, a clear dynamic is emerging: President Donald Trump’s gains with nontraditional GOP voters — especially working-class Black and Hispanic voters and Gen Zers — are not translating into support for the Republican Party this year.
If Republicans are unable to recreate the Trump 2024 coalition without Trump on the ballot, they will face serious political disadvantages for the midterms and beyond.
The double-digit margins of victory of incoming Democratic governors Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey and Abigail Spanberger in Virginia speak volumes about the current political environment. Their sweeping wins underscore that, while Democrats may be divided as a result of ideological infighting, the antipathy towards Trump and the GOP is the glue that holds the party together.
The historic tendency of voters taking out their dissatisfaction on the party in power is alive and well, and is much more of a factor than the favorability ratings of the political parties.
The most revealing outcome from the gubernatorial elections is the fact that the majority-making elements of Trump’s coalition swung decisively back to the Democrats, according to the AP/Fox News voter analysis. In New Jersey, young men between 18-29 backed Sherrill by 14 points (57-43%) after narrowly supporting Trump in last year’s presidential election. In Virginia, Spanberger won 58% of young men, a huge margin for a demographic that had assumed to be trending away from the Democratic Party.
The Democratic Party’s comeback with Hispanic voters is equally as significant. Because of continuing inflation and backlash to the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation of illegal immigrants and ICE tactics, Hispanic voters once again voted like reliable elements of the Democratic coalition. In New Jersey, over two-thirds (68%) of Hispanic voters backed Sherrill — 12 points more than Kamala Harris’ support with Hispanics in the state in 2024. In Virginia, Spanberger’s 67% support with Hispanics was eight points ahead of Harris’ vote share with the key constituency.
Meanwhile, Black voters overwhelmingly sided with the Democratic nominees this year, after a notable minority of them backed Trump in last year’s presidential election. Spanberger won 93% of the Black vote, seven points more than Harris, even though she was running against a Black opponent in Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears. Sherrill won 94% of the Black vote in New Jersey, a whopping 15 points more than Harris carried in 2024.
WINDS OF CHANGE
Trump signals Syria will join U.S.-led anti-ISIS coalition
President Donald Trump indicated that he expects Syria to join the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State during his meeting with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa on Monday at the White House, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports. “Yes, you can expect an announcement on Syria,” Trump said to reporters in the Oval Office. “We want to see Syria become a country that’s very successful. And I think this leader can do it. I really do.”
Background: By joining the agreement, Syria would follow 89 countries that have committed to the pact’s goal of “eliminating the threat posed by ISIS.” The group was established in 2014 as part of a response to territorial gains made by the Islamic State after the collapse of Iraqi security forces in Mosul. Following the fall of Syria’s longtime dictator Bashar al-Assad last December, al-Sharaa has sought to establish control over the war-ravaged nation and assert the authority of his new transitional government. However, the emergence of ISIS cells that have regrouped across Syria over the past few years pose a threat to al-Sharaa’s rule.
Assassination attempts: Syria’s security services have foiled two separate ISIS plots to assassinate al-Sharaa, Reuters reports.
ON THE HILL
Senators optimistic after meeting with Syrian president
Senators offered a positive readout from a dinner meeting with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa on Sunday evening prior to al-Sharaa’s Monday summit at the White House with President Donald Trump, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod and Emily Jacobs report.
What they’re saying: Attendees described the meeting as “open,” “moving” and “constructive,” and said they discussed progress toward sanctions relief as well as counterterrorism efforts. Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) told JI that al-Sharaa was “very charismatic” and “had a very open conversation” about his “checkered past” with senators. “I found it to be straightforward. I thought his answers were what we needed to hear, but I think he honestly believed it too,” Mullin said of the dinner.
The exception: Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL), seen by advocates as a primary holdout on sanctions relief efforts, offered a more tepid statement on the meeting, absent any direct praise for al-Sharaa or his efforts, or any commitment to supporting sanctions relief for the Syrian regime. “We had a long and serious conversation about how to build a future for the people of Syria free of war, ISIS, and extremism,” Mast said.
Read the full story here with additional comments from Sens. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Chris Coons (D-DE), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Joni Ernst (R-IA).
Sanctions suspended: Following a meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Syrian Foreign Minister Assad al-Shaibani posted on X, “We have received a signed decision from my friend, the U.S. secretary of state, stipulating the lifting of all legal measures previously imposed on the Syrian Mission and the Embassy of the Syrian Republic by the United States of America.” The sanctions lift will be reviewed again in six months.
PEACEKEEPING PROSPECTS
Concerns in Israel as U.S. seeks United Nations mandate for international force in Gaza
Israeli diplomats and experts have expressed concern as the U.S. seeks a two-year United Nations Security Council mandate for an international stabilization force in Gaza. The force is part of President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan to end the war in Gaza, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to in September. However, the broad plan did not provide details on most of its points and did not mention a U.N. mandate, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports.
Mixed bag: Historically, Israel has had mixed experiences with such U.N. forces, ranging from the U.N. Disengagement Observer Force along the 1973 ceasefire line between Israel and Syria — which countries abandoned amid the Syrian Civil War and was then replaced by fewer troops — to the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon, which, for decades “obscure[d] the vast scale of Hezbollah’s extensive weapons build up … in violation of the relevant UNSC resolutions,” Sarit Zehavi, an expert in Israel’s northern border security, recently wrote. The Multinational Force in the Sinai Peninsula, established to ensure the implementation of the Israel-Egypt peace treaty, has been in place since 1981 with little controversy. The force does not have a U.N. mandate, because the Soviet Union vetoed it, and comprises troops from 14 countries, including 465 American servicemen and women known as “Task Force Sinai.”
Implementation questions: Private documents, presented in Israel last month to officials from the U.S. Departments of State and Defense and viewed by Politico, reportedly raise concerns about whether an international stabilization force can really be deployed.
BETTER TOGETHER
Black and Jewish college students explore shared adversity and allyship at DC-area ‘Unity Dinner’
The official reason that more than 100 college students from across Washington gathered in a ballroom at George Washington University last week was for a formal dinner billed as an opportunity to build bridges between the Black and Jewish communities. But what really got the students — undergrads from GWU, American, George Mason, Georgetown, Howard and the University of the District of Columbia — talking at this event, which was meant to highlight commonalities and spark deep connections between students from different backgrounds, was a breezy icebreaker: Is a hot dog a sandwich? That was one of several lighthearted prompts for the students to discuss as they settled into dinner and got to know each other at tables of 10, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
Digging in: Later, after they had introduced themselves and playfully debated topics like who would play them in a movie and their least favorite internet trends, the students turned to more personal questions about identity, community and belonging. It was an exercise carefully calibrated to build connection free from rancor, where the students could speak about themselves and their identities as racial and religious minorities without fear of judgment. “Every single time, I am amazed at the discussion and how vulnerable people will be,” said Arielle Levy, vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion at Hillel International. Levy shepherded the students through the increasingly more serious questions during last week’s dinner program. “I just really hope it leads to action, because that’s really what we’re hoping for.”
BOOK SHELF
Bianna Golodryga and Yonit Levi confront rising antisemitism with a story for the next generation
Long before the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks, parents — especially Jewish parents — wondered and at times struggled with how to speak to their children about antisemitism. In the midst of the antisemitism that exploded in the wake of the attack on southern Israel and continued to rise through the ensuing war between Israel and Hamas, journalists Bianna Golodryga and Yonit Levi found themselves navigating that challenge — and found no help to guide them. As a result, Golodryga said in an interview with Jewish Insider’s Melissa Weiss, “Yonit and I decided to try to write the book we couldn’t find.” The result was their debut book, Don’t Feed the Lion, released today.
Inspired by experience: “The fact that our kids are talking about it, [it’s] something I’m dealing and grappling with in New York City in 2023 at the time,” Golodryga, a CNN news anchor, told JI. “I never thought that we’d be having to address [it] so directly. But there were no resources on this issue. I asked my kid’s school about it, [saying], ‘What are you doing to address antisemitism?’ And in a longly worded statement, it was clear that there were no resources. They weren’t really doing anything.” In Israel, Levi, an anchor on Israel’s Channel 12, was asked about antisemitism by her preteen son. “And I was sort of floored by it,” she told JI. “I didn’t even know how to begin answering because I wasn’t planning to answer that question, explaining and answering a lot of other questions that Oct. 7 brought to the table.”
FIGHTING ANTISEMITISM
At annual gala, WJC’s Ronald Lauder says education and public relations are only solutions to antisemitism
In the wake of a global rise in antisemitism not seen in generations, World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder told some 250 attendees at the organization’s annual gala dinner on Monday that the “only” solutions are “creating more Jewish schools” and “taking the high ground in public relations,” Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports. The event, held at the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan, honored Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) with WJC’s Theodor Herzl Award for the lawmakers’ pro-Israel advocacy and opposition to antisemitism.
Stepping it up: “The entire education system — K-12 to college — must be retaught. Laws must be passed that will focus on no racism, no antisemitism and no anti-Western civilization being taught,” said Lauder. “It’s [also] time we fight back with stronger PR to tell the truth about [antisemitism and Israel]. If Israel doesn’t want to do this, we in the Diaspora will help. I don’t blame Jewish organizations for not being prepared” for the Oct. 7 terror attacks in Israel and their aftermath, continued Lauder. “[But] all of these groups don’t know how to [combat antisemitism]. Frankly, they’re wasting a lot of money. Education and public relations are the only [answers].”
Worthy Reads
The Next Peace Process: Robert Satloff, executive director at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, along with senior fellow Hanin Ghaddar and international fellow Ehud Yaari, lay out the prospects for peace between Israel and Lebanon in The Washington Post. “One way to avert a catastrophic return to war would be for Lebanon and Israel to begin their own peace process. Movement on normalization would not substitute for disarmament. But if diplomacy were pursued as an alternative to Israeli military action against Hezbollah, the very fact of the talks would undermine Hezbollah’s effort to claw back its political influence. And practical progress could show the Lebanese people the potential benefits of peacemaking. … The Trump administration should do more to get things going. … The administration should remind Lebanon that choosing to neither disarm Hezbollah nor pursue diplomacy with Israel will come with costs. Those could entail losing U.S. aid to the Lebanese Armed Forces, losing U.S. backing of international support for Lebanon’s economy and losing U.S. willingness to restrain Israel from disarming Hezbollah ‘the hard way.’” [WaPo]
Dreher’s Dread: Conservative author Rod Dreher frets over the “new radicalism” emerging among Gen Zers on the political right in America on his Substack, “Rod Dreher’s Diary.” “The main points I want to leave you with, based on what I saw and heard in Washington, are these: The Groyper thing is real. It is not a fringe movement, in that it really has infiltrated young conservative Washington networks to a significant degree. Irrational hatred of Jews (and other races, but especially Jews) is a central core of it. This is evil. If postliberal conservatism requires making peace with antisemitism and race hatred, count me out. It cannot be negotiated with, because it doesn’t have traditional demands. It wants to burn the whole system down. It really does. At the same time, the gatekeepers of the Right aren’t going to be able to make it go away, because they have less power than ever. Dealing with this is going to require great skill and subtlety, and courage.” [Substack]
Wrong on the Right: The Wall Street Journal’s Gerard Baker warns against Vice President JD Vance’s “breezy dismissal” of efforts to root out extremists from the right as infighting that should be avoided. “That would be a mistake. It is hard to imagine people like Mr. Fuentes and Candace Owens as figures of historic significance: The idea seems ridiculous. But what gives them their current salience — besides cozy sit-downs with the nation’s top media celebrity — is their claim, a plausible one, to be speaking for others. The rise of populism has been characterized by a liberalization of thought and speech that had previously been suppressed by the prevailing authorities of orthodoxy. Much of this was necessary and welcome. The cultural limitations on what ordinary people were supposed to think about issues like immigration and ‘gender identity’ were thrown off when populist leaders came along who dared to say things that many people had felt. But with this liberation of legitimate and reasonable ideas inevitably came a wider unleashing of much uglier sentiments on the right.” [WSJ]
Keep Hope Alive: Marking five years since the death of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, Tanya White, a senior lecturer at the Matan Institute for Torah Learning and a lecturer at the Rabbi Sacks Institute at Bar-Ilan University, contemplates Sacks’ lessons on hope in an essay for 18Forty. “Reflecting on his vast and far-reaching oeuvre, one could not hope to capture its scope in a single essay. Yet one idea has continued to echo through my mind over these past two years: his oft-quoted distinction between optimism and hope. Optimism and hope are not the same. Optimism is the belief that the world is changing for the better; hope is the belief that, together, we can make the world better. ‘Judaism,’ wrote Rabbi Sacks, ‘is the voice of hope in the conversation of humankind.’ These short yet powerful lines capture the essence of a uniquely Jewish theology that underpins Rabbi Sacks’ vast and far-reaching thought: a theology that places human freedom and responsibility side by side. That fosters an active virtue of courage to confront the world that is and work towards a world that ought to be. A theology that reinterprets the biblical concept of covenant for the challenges of modern liberal democracies.” [18Forty]
Word on the Street
In a Fox News interview with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, asked about his country’s relations with Israel and the possibility of entering the Abraham Accords, al-Sharaa said, “Syria has borders with Israel, and Israel has occupied the Golan Heights since 1967. We are not going to enter negotiations directly right now.” He added that the U.S. might be able to “help reach this kind of negotiation”…
Abdul El-Sayed, an anti-Israel Democrat running in the Michigan Senate primary to replace retiring Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), has deleted his entire history on X, including “defund the police” posts…
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) endorsed left-wing Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan over her more moderate opponent, Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN), in the Democratic Minnesota Senate primary…
Progressive voters and Democratic Party activists are blaming Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) for the votes of eight Democratic senators who backed GOP legislation to put an end to the government shutdown…
The Wall Street Journal reports on Yale’s attempt to stay out of the line of fire in President Donald Trump’s crusade against higher education, including President Maurie McInnis’ increased government lobbying expenditures and a student forum where classmates encouraged each other to refrain from disruptive anti-Israel protests…
Palantir CEO Alex Karp defended his support of Israel in an interview with WIRED, saying, “Israel is a country with a GDP smaller than Switzerland, and it’s under massive attack. Some critiques are legitimate, but others are aggressive in attacking Israel. My reaction is, well, then I’m just going to defend them”…
Lt. Hadar Goldin, whose remains were returned to Israel on Sunday after he was killed and his body kidnapped to Gaza more than 11 years ago, was laid to rest at the Kfar Sava military cemetery this morning…
In his first interview since his release after two years in Hamas captivity in Gaza, Matan Zangauker, who was taken hostage on Oct. 7, 2023, told Channel 12 that every night one of his captors would play mind games with him giving him false reports of the combat between Israel and Hamas, telling him, for instance, “We took out 20 of your tanks today and we killed soldiers”…
Danielle Sassoon, the former interim U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York who resigned her post rather than drop a case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams at the request of the Trump administration, has joined the conservative boutique law firm of Clement & Murphy…
The New York Times reports on Iran’s acute water crisis, which Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian warned could soon necessitate the evacuation of Tehran…
The New York Times considers the status of Iran’s nuclear program, as snapback sanctions have been enacted, negotiations are frozen and Tehran appears to be building a new enrichment site at Pickaxe Mountain…
British comedian and actor John Cleese has cancelled shows that had been scheduled to take place in Israel in late November and early December, with the Israeli production company handling his shows saying the “Monty Python” star had “succumbed to threats from BDS organizations”…
Pic of the Day
The Anti-Defamation League held its 31st Annual In Concert Against Hate in Washington last night. Hosted by actor and director Jason Alexander, the evening honored four individuals for their courage in fighting antisemitism and hate: Holocaust survivor and health policy leader Marion Ein Lewin; Dr. Michael L. Lomax, president and CEO of the United Negro College Fund; Wesley Seidner, a high school senior combating antisemitism in his Virginia community; and Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt.
Pictured, ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt with the honorees. From left: Seidner, Holt, Lewin, Greenblatt and Lomax.
Birthdays
Emmy Award and People’s Choice Award-winning television producer, Jason Nidorf “Max” Mutchnick turns 60…
Retired psychiatric nurse now living in Surprise, Ariz., Shula Kantor turns 98… Retired television and radio sports broadcaster, Warner Wolf turns 88… Former Democratic U.S. senator from California for 24 years, Barbara Levy Boxer turns 85… Author, best known for her 1993 autobiographical memoir Girl, Interrupted, Susanna Kaysen turns 77… Television personality (former host of “Double Dare”), known professionally as Marc Summers, Marc Berkowitz turns 74… Founder of Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, Ken Grossman turns 71… Founder and president of D.C.-based Plurus Strategies, David Leiter… President at American Built-in Closets in South Florida, Perry Birman… Aish HaTorah teacher in Los Angeles, author and co-founder of a gourmet kosher cooking website, Emuna Braverman… Talk show host and founder of Talkline Communications, Zev Brenner turns 67… Philanthropist and founder of Portage Partners, Michael Leffell… Professor of philosophy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Steven M. Nadler turns 67… Former U.S. ambassador to the Czech Republic, he served as a counsel for the Democrats during the first Trump impeachment, Amb. Norman Eisen turns 65… Russian-born entrepreneur, venture capitalist and physicist, Yuri Milner turns 64… Founder and executive director of Los Angeles-based IKAR, Melissa Balaban… Former Israeli Police commissioner, Kobi Shabtai turns 61… Former member of the Knesset for the Likud party, Orly Levy-Abekasis turns 52… Tel Aviv-born actor and screenwriter, he is best known for his roles in “The Young and the Restless” and “NCIS,” Eyal Podell turns 50… Former Pentagon policy official, now vice president of the American Jewish Committee’s Center for a New Middle East, Anne Rosenzweig Dreazen turns 43… Defender for the Houston Dynamo in Major League Soccer, Daniel Steres turns 35… Formerly the finance director at the campaign for Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-PA), now a deployment strategist at GovWell, Shelly Tsirulik… Survivor of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, he has become an advocate against gun violence and recently launched his congressional campaign for the seat of retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), Cameron Kasky turns 25…
