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Good Thursday morning.

In today’s Daily Kickoff, we detail the latest on last night’s deadly attack outside the Capital Jewish Museum in D.C. and report on the response from Jewish communities and Israeli officials. We highlight Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch’s podcast interview with former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the lead-up to New York’s mayoral primary, report on remarks by Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the urgency of humanitarian aid for Gaza as well as his predictions for the expansion of the Abraham Accords, and cover Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s press conference last night. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Sen. Ted Cruz, Bruce Pearl and Richard Priem.

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It was an evening dedicated to humanitarian service — young Jewish professionals gathering under the theme “Turning Pain Into Purpose,” discussing interfaith collaboration and working to counter the rising tide of “us versus them” narratives. The event spotlighted efforts to respond to humanitarian crises in the Middle East and North Africa — including in Gaza.

But what was supposed to be a night rooted in shared humanity was rocked by deadly violence. Outside the Capital Jewish Museum, where the American Jewish Committee was hosting the event, an assailant opened fire on a group of four people, killing a young couple, both Israeli Embassy employees.

Eyewitness Paige Siegel, who was a guest at the event, told Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod that she heard two sets of multiple shots ring out, and then an individual, who police have since identified as suspected shooter Elias Rodriguez, 30, of Chicago, entered the building appearing disoriented and panicked, seconds after the shooting ended. She said security allowed the man in, as well as two other women separately. (Police say the suspect had discarded his weapon.)

Siegel said she spoke to the man, asking him if he had been shot. He appeared panicked and was mumbling and repeatedly told bystanders to call the police. Siegel said that she felt the man was suspicious.

JoJo Drake Kalin, a member of AJC’s DC Young Professional Board and an organizer of the event, told JI’s Danielle Cohen the man appeared disheveled and out of breath when he entered the building. Kalin assumed he had been a bystander to the shooting who needed assistance and she handed him a glass of water. Siegel said that the man was sitting in the building in a state of distress for approximately 10 to 15 minutes, and she and a friend engaged him in conversation, informing him that he was in the Jewish museum.

Siegel then said that the man started screaming, “I did it, I did it. Free Palestine. I did it for Gaza,” and opened a backpack, withdrawing a red keffiyeh.

“The deep irony I felt after the guy pulled out the keffiyeh was, ‘if only you knew,’” Drake Kalin reflected. “It was Jewish professionals gathering not for a political agenda but for our collective humanity,” Kalin added. “Which I won't let this event take from me.”

The two victims of last night’s attack, Yarón Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, were due to be engaged soon — Israeli Ambassador Michael Leiter said that the man had purchased a ring earlier this week and was planning to propose next week in Jerusalem.

Milgrim’s last job before joining the embassy’s public diplomacy department was at Tech2Peace, where she researched peace-building theory and, according to her LinkedIn profile, designed and implemented a 12-person study on the role of friendships in the Israeli-Palestinian peacebuilding process.

Lischinsky immigrated to Israel from Germany at age 16, where he studied government, diplomacy and strategy and served in the IDF, according to his LinkedIn profile. The last post shared on X by Lischinsky, an employee of the embassy’s political department, called out a United Nations official for “blood libel,” for spreading a false claim that 14,000 babies in Gaza would die within 48 hours without aid.

Reactions to the killings have been swift. President Donald Trump said of the shooting, “These horrible D.C. killings, based obviously on antisemitism, must end, NOW! Hatred and Radicalism have no place in the USA.”

Leiter said Trump vowed to him that the administration would do everything it can to fight antisemitism and demonization and delegitimization of Israel. “We’ll stand together tall and firm and confront this moral depravity without fear,” Leiter said.

Attorney General Pam Bondi spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, updated him on the details of the incident and asked to convey her condolences to the families of the couple, according to a statement from Netanyahu’s office.

"We are witness to the terrible cost of the antisemitism and wild incitement against the State of Israel,” Netanyhau said. “Blood libels against Israel have a cost in blood and must be fought to the utmost. My heart grieves for the families of the young beloveds, whose lives were cut short in a moment by an abhorrent antisemitic murderer. I have directed that security be increased at Israeli missions around the world and for the state's representatives."

In a press conference in Jerusalem this morning, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said the attack was “the direct result of toxic anti-Semitic incitement against Israel and Jews around the world that has been going on since the Oct. 7 massacre.” He pointed a finger at incitement by “leaders and officials of many countries and international organizations, especially from Europe.”

Sa’ar noted that “there is not one week without terror attacks or attempted terror attacks around the world — usually more than one.”

The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem and Israeli missions around the world will lower their flags to half-mast today to honor the memory of Milgrim and Lischinsky.

Read JI’s full report on the terrorist attack here.

ALEX WROBLEWSKI/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

Jewish communities are going on high alert following the deadly shooting outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington on Wednesday night, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross reports. Richard Priem, CEO of the Community Security Service, which trains security teams at synagogues and other institutions, told eJP this morning that his organization and other security groups would be stepping up their “posture” in the wake of the shooting in case additional attacks had been planned or others are “inspired” to act by this one.

Increased measures: “We’re definitely going to be present, we’re definitely going to do something that increases our posture because anytime there’s an attack, certain people get activated and think, ’Now’s the time,’” Priem said. “But we don’t know yet if there might be a direct, correlated threat.” Such security measures may include additional guards posted outside buildings, tighter involvement of local law enforcement and increased coordination between different Jewish security groups, such as national ones like the Anti-Defamation League and Secure Communities Network, as well as local ones like New York’s Community Security Initiative or various neighborhood watchdog groups.

Read the full story here and sign up for eJewishPhilanthropy’s Your Daily Phil newsletter here.

Security funding: The Capital Jewish Museum is one of the recipients of a $500,000 security grant for local nonprofits recently announced by the D.C. government.

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Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the leading Democratic candidate in New York City’s upcoming mayoral primary, predicted that Jewish voters could ultimately swing the outcome of the June election in a new podcast interview released today, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports. 

‘Use your vote’: “You have 600,000 registered Jewish Democrats. The whole turnout in the primary is 800,000,” he said in a conversation with Ammiel Hirsch, senior rabbi of Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in New York. “They could decide the election. Use your voice, use your vote, get aggressive. Passivity does not work.”

Read the full story here.

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in a shift, said in a House Appropriations Committee hearing on Wednesday that Israel’s 11-week blockade of aid into Gaza was damaging Israel’s national security and international standing and that U.S. pressure had contributed to Israel’s decision to release the hold. He also said that current levels of aid entering Gaza are not sufficient. The remarks are strikingly similar to comments made since the beginning of the war in Gaza by Democrats, particularly progressives, who have criticized Israel’s policy toward aid to Gaza, and stand in contrast with Rubio’s and other Republicans’ previous comments arguing against allowing aid to flow back into Gaza, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

What he said: “In the interim period, the one thing we’ve made abundantly clear is that the humanitarian situation — and I think this was acknowledged by the prime minister in his statement — the humanitarian situation, the direction that it was headed was undermining Israel’s standing and national security,” Rubio said.

Read the full story here.

More from Rubio: In his second consecutive day of hearings on Capitol Hill, Rubio said that he expects that additional Arab countries will join the Abraham Accords by the end of the year, if not earlier. “We do have an Abraham Accords office that is actively working to identify a number of countries who have lined up and already I think we may have good news, certainly before the end of this year, of a number of more countries that are willing to join that alliance,” Rubio said a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Wednesday.

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Striking a defiant tone on Wednesday amid intensifying international pressure to end the war in Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu laid down his conditions for the end of hostilities, Jewish Insider’s Tamara Zieve and Lahav Harkov report. “The world is telling us to end the war,” Netanyahu said, in the first press conference he has held in Israel since December. “I am prepared to end the war according to clear conditions: Hamas lays down its weapons, steps down from power, returns all the hostages, Gaza is demilitarized and we implement the Trump plan” to relocate residents of Gaza. 

Talk of tension: Addressing reports of strained ties between the U.S. and Israel, Netanyahu said that he spoke to President Donald Trump about 10 days ago and Trump told him, “Bibi, I want you to know I have a total commitment to you and to the State of Israel.” Referring to Trump’s recent Middle East tour, which excluded Israel, Netanyahu said, “I have no opposition to the U.S. deepening its ties to the Arab world … I think this can help broaden the Abraham Accords that I’m very interested in.”

On Iran: “Iran remains a serious threat to Israel. We are in full coordination with the U.S. — we talk to them all the time. We hope that it’s possible to reach an agreement that will prevent a nuclear weapon from Iran and will prevent Iran from having the ability to enrich uranium. If it is reached, of course, we will welcome it,” he said, before adding, “In any case, Israel reserves the right to defend itself against a regime that threatens to destroy us.” Netanyahu previously called for total dismantlement of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, which would go farther than stopping Iran from enriching uranium. An official in Netanyahu’s office denied that his remark reflects a change in policy.

Read the full story here.

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Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) argued on Wednesday that sanctions on Iran’s nuclear program can’t be separated from other sanctions on the regime as part of a nuclear deal, contrasting the approach apparently being taken by the Trump administration to that of the Obama administration. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said in congressional testimony this week that talks with Tehran have revolved solely around Iran’s nuclear program and have not addressed its sponsorship of terrorism or its ballistic missile program, but said that sanctions related to terrorism and missiles would remain in place if those issues are not addressed in a potential deal. “The Obama administration invented the category of ‘nuclear sanctions’ as an excuse to give the Ayatollah whatever he wanted for a nuclear deal,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said to Jewish Insider, JI’s Emily Jacobs and Marc Rod report.

Tillis’ take: Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) expressed confidence that the Trump administration understood that any deal must be multifaceted, though he noted that congressional Republicans haven’t been briefed on the talks. “I have to believe at the end of the day, they realize that it's not just about enrichment, but it's all the other enabling capabilities, because the reality is the world's a dangerous place and if they had that underlying capability, maybe then they’ll build their own bomb,” Tillis told JI.

Read the full story here with additional comments from Sens. Rick Scott (R-FL), James Lankford (R-OK),  Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Mike Rounds (R-SD), Pete Ricketts (R-NE) and John Kennedy (R-LA). 

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A bipartisan group of House lawmakers is urging colleagues to take steps to address antisemitism in the health care field in the 2026 appropriations process for the Department of Health and Human Services and related agencies. In a letter sent Wednesday, the lawmakers called on the leaders of the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies to demand reports from HHS on the rise of antisemitism in health care, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

What they said: “Failure to confront this pernicious ideology harms not only Jewish medical professionals, students, and patients but threatens to destroy the very foundations of our healthcare system,” the letter reads. “Dangerous rhetoric from individuals in positions of influence raises fears among Jewish and Israeli students, families, and patients about whether they will receive equitable and compassionate care. Antisemitic hate and bigotry put Jewish patients at risk and undermine the ethical foundations of medicine, where commitment to the patient should be paramount.”

Signed on: The letter was signed by Reps. Buddy Carter (R-GA), Dan Goldman (D-NY), Mike Lawler (R-NY), Greg Landsman (D-OH), Troy Balderson (R-OH), Brad Sherman (D-CA), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Tim Kennedy (D-NY), Haley Stevens (D-MI), Tom Suozzi (D-NY), Don Bacon (R-NE), Shelia Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL), Sarah Elfreth (D-MD), Mike Carey (R-OH), Laura Friedman (D-CA) and Jared Moskowitz (D-FL).

Read the full story here.

Education confrontation: House Democrats urged Education Secretary Linda McMahon not to make cuts to the Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights as employees work through the backlog of cases, which includes scores of civil rights complaints from Jewish students alleging discrimination at their universities since the Oct.7, 2023, attacks on Israel, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports.

Terror Comes to Washington: Commentary Editor Jon Podhoretz reflects on the nature of last night’s deadly attack outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington. “This is a different kind of event from the attacks on synagogues in Pennsylvania and California in 2018, which were the work of white supremacists. It happened at a secular Jewish site, and targeted an event sponsored by the American Jewish Committee for young diplomats. And it was self-evidently an act of anti-Semitic terror in the nation’s capital — which raises similarities to the 2015 attack on the Hyper Casher supermarket in France’s capital, Paris. The only analogue here I can think of was the invasion of the headquarters of the B’nai Brith in D.C. in 1977 by Hanafi Muslims, during which 104 staffers at the Jewish organization — including my wife’s cousin, William Korey, an expert on Soviet Jewry — were held hostage for three days and repeatedly threatened with execution and torture. Two other buildings in DC were invaded as well, and a security guard at one of them was shot in the head and killed.” [Commentary]

Private Sector Diplomacy: The Atlantic’s Andrew Exum writes approvingly about Trump’s transactional approach to Middle East foreign policy in The Atlantic. “Trump unabashedly uses the American private sector as an instrument of national power. In fact, he does this better than any previous president has in my lifetime…Trump may well understand that with the Democratic Party likely divided on Israel for the next generation, his Jewish and evangelical-Christian supporters have nowhere else to go. This puts him in a position of power relative to the Israeli prime minister — one that must surely make Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders very uncomfortable. Making them still more uncomfortable will be the fact that everyone who mattered seemed to be in those meetings in the Gulf. Everyone, that is, except them” [TheAtlantic]

Red Lines on Iran: The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board endorses Trump’s Iran diplomacy. “Iran’s rulers are unhappy with the direction of nuclear talks, which is a sign President Trump is pushing in the right places. No one is ever pleased to make far-reaching concessions, but those are what the U.S. and the world need to get a deal worth making… Iran long insisted it would never negotiate with Mr. Trump. It spent the Biden years talking about killing him. But after Mr. Trump resumed sanctions enforcement and built up a military threat that Iran had to take seriously, Iran came to the table. Its other options are worse. Tehran may decide it can’t abandon enrichment or allow its centrifuges to be dismantled. And it may call the U.S. and Israeli bluff on the use of force, but that could be a mistake its leaders come to regret” [WSJ]

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President Donald Trump is reportedly set to appoint Thomas Barrack, the current U.S. ambassador to Turkey, as a special envoy for Syria…

The Department of Defense formally accepted a luxury Boeing 747 jumbo jet from Qatar for President Donald Trump’s use as Air Force One, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement on Wednesday, Jewish Insider’s Danielle Cohen reports.

The State Department announced that anyone involved in the sale or transfer to or from Iran of 10 materials found to be used in Iran’s nuclear, military and ballistic missile programs will now be subject to mandatory sanctions…

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said at a conference in Tehran on Wednesday about nuclear negotiations with the U.S. that Iran “not give up this right to use peaceful nuclear technology in any way. No matter what they say, do, how they threaten us or impose sanctions, it makes no difference.” Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said that the fifth round of nuclear talks will be held in Rome on Friday…

Xiyue Wang, who was wrongly imprisoned in Iran for more than three years until Trump arranged for his release during his first administration, was named as a senior advisor for Iran at the State Department…

In a tense meeting at the Oval Office yesterday, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa refuted unsubstantiated claims made by Trump about genocide against white South Africans…

Speaking at one of the university’s commencement ceremonies on Wednesday, Columbia University’s acting president, Claire Shipman, said, “I know many in our community today are mourning the absence of our graduate, Mahmoud Khalil,” referring to the anti-Israel protest leader who is currently facing deportation proceedings, and said, “We firmly believe that our international students have the same rights to freedom of speech as everyone else, and they should not be targeted by the government for exercising that right.” 

Some 100 pro-Palestinian protesters outside the campus attempted to disrupt the ceremony…

Charl Kleinhaus, an Afrikaner who was granted refugee status in the United States and said Jews are “untrustworthy and a dangerous group” on social media, confirmed that he is being resettled by HIAS and its affiliate, the Jewish Family Services of Western New York. Kleinhaus said his posts were “completely misinterpreted” and he “probably should have worded it better”...

The Vaad of Lakewood, N.J., endorsed Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) for the Democratic nomination in the New Jersey gubernatorial election, specifically calling on unaffiliated voters to cast their ballots for him in the June 10 primary…

New York state Democratic lawmakers moved to block a bill in the state Assembly to include the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism in state education law…

The Wall Street Journal spotlights shifting sentiment in the Israeli public toward the war in Gaza…

Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the United Arab Emirates’ national security advisor, met with Stephen Schwarzman, chairman and CEO of Blackstone, to discuss investment trends… 

Arc magazine chronicled the role of the Lubavitcher Rebbe in supporting President Jimmy Carter’s creation of the Department of Education…

Amy Schumer, Israeli actor Yadin Gellman and Israeli director Eliran Peled are co-producing a romantic comedy called “Now More Than Ever” about the divides between Israeli and American Jewry post-Oct. 7…

Eliana Goldin, a recent Columbia University graduate and pro-Israel activist, shared her experience being fired from the Columbia Daily Spectator student newspaper…

Philanthropist and Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay, whose father was Jewish, died at 65…

MARC ROD

Auburn University men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl addressed a Jewish American History Month breakfast on Capitol Hill yesterday. Guests included more than 25 House members and senators, antisemitism envoy nominee Yehuda Kaploun and former deputy envoy Aaron Keyak. The event was hosted by the Combat Antisemitism Movement, Jewish Federations of North America, Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History, AEPi and Operation Benjamin.

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Author, activist, actress and producer, she served until 2023 as a special envoy against antisemitism at Israel's Foreign Ministry, Noa Tishby... 

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