Good Wednesday morning. 

In today’s Daily Kickoff, we look at how Jewish Democrats are approaching the Trump administration’s detention of anti-Israel activists, and report on the anti-Zionist speakers at a recent antisemitism conference at UCLA that was sponsored by pro-Israel groups including the Anti-Defamation League and the Academic Engagement Network. We also spotlight a new organization in Missouri that seeks to fight antisemitism in state and local politics, and look at how Joe Kent’s skepticism of U.S. strikes on Houthi targets could affect efforts to confirm him to lead the National Counterterrorism Center. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Tom Barrack, Noa Tishby and Naftali Bennett.

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The Democratic-backed Wisconsin Supreme Court justice candidate comfortably prevailed, while Democrats significantly narrowed typical GOP margins in two conservative Florida congressional districts in Tuesday’s elections — a sign that the political environment may be turning against President Donald Trump, Jewish Insider Editor-in-Chief Josh Kraushaar writes.

The most significant result took place in Wisconsin, where Democratic-backed Dane County circuit Judge Susan Crawford easily dispatched GOP-backed Waukesha County circuit Judge Brad Schimel, preserving liberals’ 4-3 advantage. 

Even though the race was ostensibly nonpartisan, outside liberal and conservative groups poured in nearly $90 million into the swing-state contest — with billionaire Trump advisor Elon Musk spending huge sums of money and campaigning for Schimel in the closing week of the campaign. Musk, who said the “future of civilization” was at stake based on the Wisconsin results, also emerged as the Democrats’ foil to turn out anti-Trump voters to the polls in the off-year contest.

With most of the vote counted, Crawford holds a 10-point advantage over Schimel in a state in which President Donald Trump eked out a one-point victory last November. 

That double-digit swing towards Democrats is also consistent with the Florida results, where Democrats made significant inroads in ruby-red districts where Trump won by commanding margins last year.

Republican state Sen. Randy Fine dispatched Democrat Josh Weil in Florida’s 6th Congressional District, and will become the fourth Jewish Republican to serve in the current Congress. Republicans expressed public concern about the race over the last week — in a district that Trump carried by 30 points — but Fine ultimately prevailed by a 14-point margin.

The seat was previously held by Republican Mike Waltz, currently serving as Trump’s national security advisor.

In Florida’s 1st Congressional District, spanning the state’s conservative Panhandle, Republican Jimmy Patronis, the state’s chief financial officer, defeated Democrat Gay Valimont by a 15-point margin. By comparison, Trump carried the district by 37 points last year, which is an even bigger underperformance for Republicans. 

With Trump’s tariffs raising economic anxieties, aggressive government cuts drawing pushback and a foreign policy that’s burned relationships with allies in short order, the new GOP administration has spent much of his political capital in just over two months in office. 

Tuesday’s returns likely serve as a big, flashing red light from voters cautioning Trump to slow things down — or else risk facing a more consequential backlash down the line. 

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When ICE agents detained Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil in March, the start of an escalating Trump administration effort to deport foreign students deemed sympathetic to Hamas, some Jewish Democrats were concerned. Like President Donald Trump, they were worried about antisemitism on campus and took issue with Khalil’s leadership of Columbia’s anti-Israel encampment last spring. But they feared that deporting a green card holder for his activism would raise issues about due process and freedom of expression, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.

Lack of nuance: Most of the messages from senior Democratic leaders have failed to acknowledge Jewish Democrats’ real concerns about antisemitism and campus protests, even if many of them, too, are unhappy with the deportations. “I think it’s fair to say that, on the one hand, I think a lot of American Jews are troubled by what Trump is doing, and at the same time, they’re not feeling well-supported by Democrats,” said one longtime Democratic operative. Making a strong argument against Trump’s deportations — actions he says are meant to fight antisemitism and rid the U.S. of Hamas sympathizers — requires Democrats to clean house of extremist elements that have supported those protests, according to Jon Reinish, a public affairs executive and former Democratic congressional staffer. “A start would be making it crystal clear that they categorically reject those who have targeted, threatened and terrorized Jews on college campuses and that they reject fringe factions of the party, like the DSA [Democratic Socialists of America], who have trafficked in Jew-hatred for years and have exploited and encouraged it for their own warped political purposes,” Reinish said. “Without that moral clarity, trust will continue to be less strong than it could be.”

Read the full story here.

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The Anti-Defamation League and Academic Engagement Network helped sponsor a conference on combating antisemitism in law at UCLA last week featuring speakers affiliated with anti-Zionist organizations, whom attendees said used the event to promote anti-Israel and antisemitism rhetoric. The ADL said afterward that it was “pleased to co-sponsor the conference,” while the head of AEN said she would have pulled out of the event had she known of the speakers' list, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports. 

On the stage: Speakers at the fourth annual Law vs. Antisemitism conference, which was held this year at UCLA for two days beginning on March 23, included University of Toronto law professor Mohammed Fadel; Thomas Harvey, a civil rights lawyer representing Faculty for Justice in Palestine; and Ben Lorber, a former campus coordinator for Jewish Voice for Peace. Anat Alon-Beck, a Case Western Reserve University associate law professor who attended the conference, told JI that she walked out of Lorber’s session titled “The Policy-Legal ‘Nexus’ in Regulating Campus Antisemitism” because she was "appalled" by Lorber’s “bias and invalidating of all of the antisemitism I’ve been experiencing on campus.” The next panel Alon-Beck attended, about the Frankel v. UCLA Regents case, which featured Fadel and Harvey, was equally “disgraceful and one-sided,” she said. The federal suit, filed in June 2024, centers on the allegations of Jewish students and a UCLA professor that the university refused to clear what the plaintiffs called a “Jew Exclusion Zone” on campus, which they charged was a violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.

Read the full story here.

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As he prepares for a confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Joe Kent’s comments skeptical of U.S. strikes on the Houthis could be a subject of debate for Senate Republicans, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod and Emily Jacobs report.

What he said: In a Signal chat inadvertently shared with the Atlantic editor-in-chief about plans for U.S. strikes on the Houthis, Kent — under consideration to lead the National Counterterrorism Center — appeared to argue against the strikes, describing them as non-time sensitive and suggesting that Israel would undertake strikes in the U.S.’ place. In the Signal chat, minutes after Vice President JD Vance sent a message describing the plans to strike as a “mistake,” Kent chimed in in apparent agreement: “There is nothing time sensitive driving the time line. We’ll have the exact same options in a month.”

Read the full story here.

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Tom Barrack, the nominee to be U.S. ambassador to Turkey, fielded questions before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday about how he will approach the significant gaps between the U.S. and Turkey on a variety of bilateral and regional issues, but provided few specific answers on his approach, beyond saying that he would work to cultivate dialogue with Turkey and other regional partners, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

Making plans: Barrack said that his approach to the conflicts between the U.S. and Turkey would involve laying out the U.S.’ priorities and goals to the Turkish government and working to understand the same from Ankara, so that the two sides can “create a firm and structured process to get those things done,” through cross-governmental efforts. During his opening remarks, Barrack steered clear of criticism of Turkey, describing it as a “valued NATO partner, sitting at the most strategic crossroads of Europe, Asia and the Middle East,” which offers significant benefits to NATO, the fight against ISIS and efforts to support Ukraine.

Read the full story here.

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The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Tuesday in Fuld v. Palestine Liberation Organization, a case that aims to determine — after decades of litigation and legislation — whether American victims of Palestinian terrorism can sue the PLO and Palestinian Authority for their payments to terrorists and their families, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

Crystal ball: The justices extensively questioned lawyers for the families of terror victims, the U.S. government and the PLO, giving few hints as to how the final ruling in the case would land. “I think there’s a lot of ways the court could skin the cat and I think there will be multiple opinions written, and it’ll be a really interesting decision,” Mark Pinkert, an attorney with Holtzman Vogel who filed an amicus brief on behalf of a slew of Jewish organizations in the case, told JI.

Read the full story here.

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Last year, an array of Jewish community groups and leaders in St. Louis, spanning the political and religious spectrum, many of whom had not worked together in the past, came together with one purpose: unseat former Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO). Rallying behind now-Rep. Wesley Bell (D-MO), then a congressional candidate, the community leaders, including 36 local rabbis, mounted an aggressive advocacy effort in support of Bell. When that effort succeeded, the leaders, many of whom had not worked together prior, said they wanted to find ways to continue their partnership. That vision is now coming to fruition, with the launch of the Missouri Alliance Network last week, a new PAC that aims to advance Jewish community priorities and fight antisemitism in state and local politics, with plans to take on purveyors of antisemitism on both sides of the aisle, including Bush’s allies, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

Learning lessons: The group is being led by Stacey Newman, a former state representative who led Jewish outreach for Bell’s campaign. It’s modeled after similar groups popping up around the country, most notably the New York Solidarity Network and Solidarity PAC going after anti-Israel candidates and lawmakers in New York state politics. Newman said that it became clear during the campaign which local elected officials weren’t supportive of the Jewish community. “A corps of us who had never really met before kept talking and realized that getting Wesley elected was just the first step for our community, that we also had to root out antisemitism in local and legislative office,” she explained.

Coming up: The group announced its first endorsement on Monday, of Alderwoman Cara Spencer for mayor of St. Louis. Incumbent Mayor Tishuara Jones was an ally and supporter of Bush. The election is just a week away.

Read the full story here.

Elsewhere: In a speech at New York City’s West Side Institutional Synagogue on Tuesday, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, now the front-runner in the city’s mayoral race, alleged that some of his rivals in the race have allied themselves with “forces of antisemitism,” specifically naming the far-left Democratic Socialists of America.

Fed Up in Gaza: The New York Times’ Bret Stephens posits that dissent among Gazans over Hamas’ continued leadership is key to replacing the terror group as the government of the enclave. “For too many, including those who call themselves ‘pro-Palestinian,’ Palestinian misery seems to matter only when the blame can be pinned on Israel. The difference now is that Hamas may no longer be able to deploy its full apparatus of repression, at least not while it must spend much of its time hiding underground from Israeli strikes. Those attacks are both the impetus and the means by which Gazans are demanding their freedom: impetus, because a growing number of Palestinians in the territory recognize that there will be no end to wars with Israel so long as Hamas continues to drag them into those wars; means, because it’s only on account of Israeli attacks on Hamas that the protesters stand a chance of overthrowing that tyrannical regime. … What matters even more than overthrowing Hamas is overcoming the mentality of the so-called Resistance on which movements such as Hamas (but not only Hamas) were built. If the core Palestinian demand is not the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel but rather of one in place of Israel, then the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is bound to continue.” [NYTimes]

The Palm Beach Strategy: The Wall Street Journal’s Anat Peled looks at the efforts of hostage families to draw White House attention to their efforts to secure the release of their loved ones, utilizing relationships with high-profile individuals including Dr. Miriam Adelson and commentator Ben Shapiro. “When Trump took office, organizers changed strategy and shifted to more conservative messaging. They also expanded to Florida, home to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. ‘The current administration is built around the Florida ecosystem, which is an ecosystem we didn’t spend a lot of time on’ before, said Ruby Chen, father of slain U.S.-Israeli hostage Itay Chen. … Shelly Shem Tov, mother of Omer Shem Tov, met Trump at Mar-a-Lago just before he took office. Freed hostage Noa Argamani, who has met the president several times, and another Israeli hostage relative met with Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump in Miami, said a person familiar with the matter. Argamani also attended a luncheon at the golf club of Witkoff’s son Alex in West Palm Beach in early February, this person said.” [WSJ]

Qatar’s Fingerprints: The Free Press’ Matti Friedman considers the impact inside Israel of the ongoing “Qatargate” scandal that includes officials in the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “Qatari money is like fingerprints that appear when an ultraviolet light turns on. Before October 7, 2023, as British writer and Free Press columnist Douglas Murray wrote in an article calling for divestment from Qatar, ‘the smell of sulfur around the Qataris was covered up somewhat by expensive scent.’ That changed with the Hamas attack, at least for observers sympathetic to Israel, when the depth of Qatar’s ties to Hamas and the ambitious scope of its influence became clear. But few suspected that the ultraviolet light would turn up a new fingerprint — in Israel itself. It’s not yet clear what Netanyahu knew about the alleged Qatari contacts among his associates. But as Roni Alsheikh — a former police commissioner appointed under Netanyahu, and a Shin Bet official whose politics lie to the right — put it in a radio interview last week, ‘the connection with Qatar was built on Netanyahu’s desk.’” [FreePress]

Threading the Needle on Iran: In Foreign Affairs, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy’s Dana Stroul, formerly deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East in the Biden administration, suggests that President Donald Trump “combine tough measures with creative diplomacy” in his approach to Iran. “The United States, Israel, and many Arab states now have a common goal to free the Middle East of Iran’s influence — a rare consensus. Washington needs to convene these stakeholders to devise a realistic blueprint for Gaza’s governance, security, and reconstruction. It must clearly articulate what long-term investments it will make in the Middle East’s security. And rather than freezing aid, it must lay out a clear strategy for stabilizing the region and responding to the needs of its people that makes more, not fewer, resources available to counteract the criminal syndicates that have sustained Iran’s influence for so long. Without such a strategy, the Middle East will not be able to consolidate Israel’s impressive military gains against Iran. … A real chance has emerged to set the Middle East on a different path. But if the United States wastes its opportunity to lead, that chance may not come again for generations.” [ForeignAffairs]

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President Donald Trump tapped Massad Boulos, whose son is married to Trump’s daughter Tiffany, to serve as the State Department’s senior advisor for Africa; Boulos will continue to serve as a senior advisor to the president on Arab and Middle Eastern affairs, with a focus on his native Lebanon…

National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and other members of the National Security Council reportedly used personal Gmail addresses to conduct official business…

The Pentagon confirmed it is sending F-35 fighter jets to the Middle East as part of a broader buildup in the region to counter Houthi attacks and pressure Iran…

The Treasury Department announced sanctions on two Iranian nationals and an Iranian company charged with conspiring to provide support to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps; Treasury also announced sanctions on UAE- and China-linked individuals in connection with Iran’s drone-procurement program…

While speaking during his record-setting 25-hour Senate floor speech, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) put on a yellow hostage pin and invoked Israeli American hostage Edan Alexander, a New Jersey native, when he invited comment from Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV); “I’m going to put this on as you have it on, as I think about Edan Alexander and all those who are suffering,” Booker said to Rosen as he put on the pin… 

A group of 16 House members led by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) introduced a series of resolutions blocking U.S. arms sales to Israel, companions to those led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT)...

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee will announce today that it will hold a markup of the Antisemitism Awareness Act next Wednesday, two sources familiar with the matter told Jewish Insider…

The Senate Armed Services Committee voted on Tuesday to advance the nomination of Elbridge Colby to be undersecretary of defense for policy to the full Senate, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports… 

Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine pledged on Tuesday to be a defender of the NATO alliance and to support President Donald Trump in preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon during his confirmation hearing to be the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports…

National Council of Jewish Women CEO Sheila Katz spoke on Tuesday to the new House Jewish Caucus, discussing reproductive rights; Katz was the group’s first guest speaker since the caucus was formed…

Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter reportedly clashed with senior Biden administration official Brett McGurk in a closed-door briefing at the Atlantic Council last week at which Leiter was the featured speaker; McGurk, who was in the audience, disputed some of the claims Leiter had made about the Biden administration’s actions following the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks…

Former U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel, who is rumored to be considering a 2028 presidential campaign, is rejoining Centerview Partners, where he served as a senior counselor on financial and political issues from 2019-2021…

A New York State Attorney General’s office investigation found that a Rockland County car wash had illegally raised prices for Jewish customers ahead of the Passover holiday; the Super 4 Seasons in Spring Valley, N.Y., had charged customers nearly four times the regular pricing for a “Passover special” promotion and denied Jewish customers regular services that were provided to non-Jewish customers…

Activist and author Noa Tishby, through her new media company Eighteen, is bringing survivors of Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attacks on a speaking tour of American college campuses, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Nira Dayanim reports…

Princeton University said that the Trump administration had frozen several dozen grants to the university, part of a broader government effort to freeze or revoke federal funding and grants from some elite schools…

A pro-Israel Princeton student charged with assaulting a police officer while filming clashes between anti-Israel student protesters and police was found not guilty after a two-day trial…

eJewishPhilanthropy’s Nira Dayanim reports on efforts by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, SmartAid and IsraAid, among other Israeli and Jewish organizations, to provide assistance in Myanmar following a 7.7-magnitude earthquake that has killed more than 2,000 people…

Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett registered a new political party, using the temporary name “Bennett 2026,” amid speculation that he will run in the country’s elections next year…

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced an expansion of Israel’s operations in Gaza that will include a “large-scale evacuation of Gaza’s population from combat zones” as well as the seizure of “large areas that will be incorporated into Israel’s security zone”... 

Israel targeted a Hezbollah operative in Beirut whom officials said had been working with Hamas to carry out a “significant and imminent terror attack” against Israelis…

Israel is scaling up the “Oversight Section” within its intelligence agencies in an effort to challenge the military’s conventional wisdom and uncover significant threats before they materialize…

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced that Israel would end all remaining tariffs on imports from the U.S., a day before President Donald Trump is expected to announce reciprocal tariffs on American trading partners; customs duties on imported products, largely in the agriculture sector, total approximately $11 million per year…

The three men convicted in the killing of United Arab Emirates Rabbi Zvi Kogan last year were sentenced to death, with the Abu Dhabi Federal Appeal Court ruling that the men acted for a “terrorist purpose”...

ELNET-Israel CEO Emmanuel Navon is departing his role to establish a new think tank with ELNET-France…

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Former Israeli hostage Amit Soussana was honored on Tuesday at the State Department's 2025 International Women of Courage Award ceremony, hosted by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and First Lady Melania Trump.

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New York Supreme Court justice and the first Hasidic woman to hold public office in the United States, she is the founder of Ezras Nashim, the first all-female volunteer ambulance corps in NYC, Rachel "Ruchie" Freier turns 60...

Olympian, holder of the world record in the 50-mile walk, which has stood since 1972, he is a concentration camp survivor via the Kastner train and a professor emeritus at Ben Gurion University, Shaul Paul Ladany turns 89... National security advisor under President Clinton, then executive director of UNICEF, he converted to Judaism in 2005, William Anthony Kirsopp "Tony" Lake turns 86... Writer best known for being the first public editor of The New York Times and the inventor of Rotisserie League Baseball, Daniel Okrent turns 77... Israeli businessman, with a portfolio in mining, energy, diamonds and real estate, Beny Steinmetz turns 69... Deputy U.S. attorney general (and later acting AG) during the first Trump administration, now counsel at Cravath, Swaine & Moore, Jeffrey A. Rosen turns 67... Academy Award-winning film director, screenwriter and producer, David Frankel turns 66... Publisher, president and chief executive of Simon & Schuster, Jonathan Karp turns 61... On-air ice hockey analyst for NESN during pregame, postgame and intermissions of the Boston Bruins, Billy Jaffe turns 56... Singer, songwriter, guitarist and composer, he is a founding member of the Jewish rock band Moshav, Duvid Swirsky turns 49... Producer and screenwriter for the stage, television and film, best known as the creator and showrunner of the television series "Breaking In" and "The Goldbergs," Adam F. Goldberg turns 49... Attorney and strategic counsel at Medtronic, Rhona Shwaid... Actress, producer and singer, she and her husband, Guy Nattiv, won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film in 2019, Jaime Ray Newman turns 47... Reporter for The New York Times covering NYC politics and government, Dana Rubinstein... Partner at DLA Piper, during the Biden administration he served as chief counsel for China trade enforcement in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, Brian Janovitz... Ph.D. candidate at NYU, he was a law clerk on the Israeli Supreme Court and a corporate attorney at the NYC office of Dechert LLP, Isaac Roszler... Chief field officer at the Israel on Campus Coalition, Elisabeth Rosenfeld... Rabbinical student at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Evan Lerner Traylor... Ice hockey goaltender for the New York Sirens of the Professional Women's Hockey League, Abigail "Abbey" Levy turns 25... Executive director of the Warsaw Jewish Film Festival, Magda Strehlau... Miriam Rosen... Judith Berman...