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Good Monday morning.

In today’s Daily Kickoff, we report on yesterday’s strikes across Israel to call attention to the plight of the remaining 50 hostages, and report on Rep. Jamie Raskin’s support for the “Block the Bombs” bill that calls for limiting offensive weapons sales to Israel. We cover comments from Rep. Katherine Clark, the No. 2 House Democrat, calling Israel’s actions in Gaza a “genocide,” and report on a new push from leading Jewish organizations for universities to pursue reforms to deal with antisemitism. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Mark Shapiro, Larry Fink and Liv Schreiber.

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The unrest could be felt everywhere — in traffic jams, on the airwaves, in WhatsApp groups, even in the waiting room of a dental clinic.

Across Israel yesterday, hundreds of thousands joined a nationwide unofficial strike, led by hostage families and bereaved families, demanding an end to the war in Gaza and the immediate release of the hostages still held there. According to the Hostages Families Forum, over 1 million people participated in protests throughout the day. As the government plans to escalate its military campaign against Hamas, emotions ran high across towns, cities and online spaces, deepening a national rift.

Police clashed with demonstrators blocking roads. In Ra’anana, a truck driver was arrested after allegedly attacking a protester. In a Tel Aviv neighborhood mothers’ WhatsApp group, several members condemned local cafés for staying open, while another defended them for “not strengthening Hamas.” At a dental clinic, a man berated staff for opening their doors, shouting, “What about the hostages!?”

At the heart of the tensions is a painful divide: Protesters — including the majority of the hostage families — argue that rescuing the captives must come before all else. Meanwhile, the government and its supporters, and even several hostage families, claim such demonstrations weaken Israel’s negotiating hand and embolden Hamas. Israeli President Issac Herzog, speaking at Hostages Square, said, “There’s no Israeli who doesn’t want them back home. We can argue about philosophies, but truly, the people of Israel want our brothers and sisters back home.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doubled down on his government’s stance in a public statement, warning: “Those who are calling for an end to the war today without defeating Hamas, are not only hardening Hamas's stance and pushing off the release of our hostages, they are also ensuring that the horrors of October 7 will recur again and again ... to advance the release of our hostages and to ensure that Gaza will never again constitute a threat to Israel, we must complete the work and defeat Hamas.”

Yet recent polls show that a majority of Israelis support prioritizing the hostages’ release and bringing an end to the war.

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

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Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), one of the most visible and well-known progressive Jewish lawmakers in Congress, late last week became a co-sponsor of the “Block the Bombs Act,” a bill led by far-left lawmakers that aims to severely restrict U.S. aid to Israel. The bill would impose unprecedented new conditions on weapons sales or transfers to Israel, requiring specific congressional authorization for each individual transfer of various weapons systems, and would require Congress to identify specific purposes for which those weapons would be used, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

Arms embargo: Critics say that the bill would effectively constitute an arms embargo for the key weapons in question. Raskin has not issued any statement on his support for the bill, which aligns him with some of the most anti-Israel members of the House, and did not respond to a request for comment. Currently, 32 other lawmakers are co-sponsoring the legislation, but Raskin, the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, is among the most recognizable sponsors. Three other progressive Jewish House members, Reps. Sara Jacobs (D-CA), Becca Balint (D-VT) and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), are also backing the bill.

Read the full story here.

Leading elected officials in Minnesota are remaining silent in response to a top Minneapolis mayoral candidate, far-left state Sen. Omar Fateh, whose campaign has faced scrutiny for employing staffers who have celebrated Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks and called for Israel’s destruction, among other extreme views he has yet to publicly address, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.

No comment: Even as some of the state’s leading Democratic lawmakers have endorsed Fateh’s rival, incumbent Mayor Jacob Frey, who is seeking a third term, they have so far declined to weigh in on the staffers’ comments and Fateh’s decision to hire them, which has raised questions about his acceptance of extreme rhetoric on a particularly sensitive issue. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Gov. Tim Walz, who are Frey’s most high-profile backers in what is expected to be a hotly contested race, both avoided addressing the matter to JI. A spokesperson for Klobuchar declined to comment on Friday, and representatives for Walz did not return multiple requests for comment.

Read the full story here.

Rep. Katherine Clark (D-MA), who serves as the House Democratic whip, the No. 2 Democratic leader in the chamber, described the war in Gaza as a “genocide” at an event last Thursday, based on video of the event that has been shared online, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

What she said: “We each have to continue to have an open heart about how we do this, how we do it effectively, and how we take action in time to make a difference, whether that is stopping the starvation and genocide and destruction of Gaza, or whether that means we are working together to stop the redistricting that is going on, taking away the vote from people in order to retain power,” Clark said in a brief clip from an event that was first reported by Axios.

Read the full story here.

As students return to school in the coming weeks, four leading Jewish organizations are encouraging university leaders to adopt a new set of recommendations, released on Monday, designed to curb the antisemitism that has overwhelmed many campuses since the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks in Israel, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen has learned. 

The guidelines: The joint effort from the Anti-Defamation League, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Hillel International and Jewish Federations of North America calls for increased safety measures as well as long-term structural reforms and builds upon a four-page set of recommendations released last August. The recommendations urge university leaders to “consistently enforce” codes of conduct around protests; appoint a coordinator to address Title VI discrimination complaints; reject academic boycotts of Israel; conduct annual student and faculty surveys in regard to campus antisemitism; crack down on online harassment (in addition to physical safety concerns); and hold faculty accountable for political coercion and identity-based discrimination.

Read the full story here.

An aid worker in Gaza filed a whistleblower complaint with the inspector general of the U.S. Agency for International Development alleging that the World Food Program and U.N. refused security cooperation with the IDF, the whistleblower confirmed to Fox News last week. The complaint alleges “gross misconduct and misuse of humanitarian funds” by the WFP and U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and that the agencies had turned down support “including security protection and coordination” to distribute humanitarian aid from senior IDF officials, saying “they were not prepared to discuss such coordination,” Jewish Insider’s Danielle Cohen-Kanik reports.

What they said: The whistleblower told Fox News that the IDF has cleared thousands of tons of U.N. aid for distribution that are waiting inside of Gaza, and the “U.N. must be held accountable to pick up and distribute such aid.” They said that it must be determined “the extent to which U.N. agencies, by refusing to coordinate with the IDF on essential issues, including security, are abusing U.S. taxpayer funds rather than using them to deliver the aid the American people are donating — and whether such actions are being taken independently by U.N. officials in Gaza or at the direction of the U.N. Secretary-General or other senior U.N. officials in New York.”

Read the full story here.

Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) introduced legislation on Friday to repeal a decades-old provision in U.S. law relating to the construction of new diplomatic facilities in Israel and the West Bank, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. The provision, enacted in 1986 as part of a package designed to improve security for U.S. diplomats and combat terrorism, banned funding from that bill from being used for “site acquisition, development, or construction of any facility in Israel, Jerusalem, or the West Bank except for facilities to serve as a chancery or residence within five miles of the Israeli Knesset building and within the boundaries of Israel as they existed before June 1, 1967.”

Lawler’s law: Lawler’s bill, the Keeping Official Territories Eligible for Land-use (KOTEL) Act, named for the Jewish holy site, would repeal the language from the 1986 bill. “Israel is one of America’s closest allies, and this 40-year-old inactive prohibition serves no purpose. The KOTEL Act removes these outdated restrictions so we can continue to ensure the bond between the U.S. and Israel remains ironclad,” Lawler said in a statement. It’s not clear how much impact Lawler’s initiative would have on current efforts to acquire or build new diplomatic facilities — the funding to which the 1986 provision applies has expired. But it could head off future attempts to challenge such construction.

Read the full story here.

Aid Aide: In Foreign Affairs, Jack Lew and David Satterfield, respectively the former U.S. ambassador to Israel and U.S. special envoy for Middle East humanitarian issues during the Biden administration, detail their efforts to send aid into Gaza and suggest how the Trump administration can prevent a worsening humanitarian crisis in the enclave. “When aid was flowing before the cease-fire, it did not arrive by chance. It came one border crossing and one truck convoy at a time, and it required overcoming political and battlefield challenges every step of the way. As the world watches the crisis unfolding today and demands a solution, it is important to learn from what worked and what did not, and to remember that it falls to all parties to find a solution. The stakes are too high to allow the delivery of critical assistance to be derailed by Israeli political dynamics, obstruction by Hamas or armed Gazan gangs, or infighting among aid providers. And Washington must remember that it uniquely has the tools and leverage to avert an escalating catastrophe.” [ForeignAffairs]

Northern Exposure: In The Wall Street Journal, Eugene Kontorovich calls on the Trump administration to use its United Nations Security Council veto power to nix an effort to extend the mandate of UNIFIL, arguing that the U.N. peacekeeping force has long failed in its goals to maintain peace and calm along the Israel-Lebanon border. “The first Trump administration considered nixing Unifil but was persuaded to compromise on a package reducing its size and supposedly introducing reforms. There will be temptations for the U.S. to compromise again. But if Unifil survives, it will eventually regrow under a less vigilant administration. Some in the administration argue the Lebanese army isn’t ready to take over for Unifil. But Unifil doesn’t keep the peace, so there’s nothing to get ready for. … If the U.S. doesn’t veto Unifil, it would undermine the credibility of Washington’s broader demands — both for genuine disarmament of terror groups in Lebanon and Gaza and for broader U.N. reform.” [WSJ]

What ‘Pro-Israel’ Means Now: In the Jerusalem Journal, Halie Soifer, the CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, considers what it means to be a pro-Israel American in a post-Oct. 7 era. “In 2025, being pro-Israel should mean standing with the Israeli people in the aftermath of October 7, supporting Israel’s security as it faces ongoing regional threats, remaining deeply committed to Israel’s future as a Jewish and democratic state, and recognizing there’s no future for Hamas as part of any solution to this conflict. It also means expressing concern about the war — and continued captivity of hostages — which has gone on for too long. Calls to address the acute humanitarian crisis in Gaza don’t make someone anti-Israel. American Jews are also concerned about the crisis in Gaza, though there’s a clear double standard when it comes to assessing support of Israel among Democrats.” [JerusalemJournal]

Fight Club: The Wall Street Journal profiles Mark Shapiro, TKO’s president and chief operating officer, following the $7.7 billion deal between Paramount Skydance and TKO to acquire the distribution rights to TKO subsidiary Ultimate Fighting Championship, which Shapiro orchestrated. “It was on a cross-country flight in 2002 that Shapiro had a chance meeting with [TKO CEO] Ari Emanuel, the Hollywood power broker. Emanuel spotted Shapiro frantically typing with his two index fingers. After watching him for a few hours, Emanuel was mesmerized. ‘I couldn’t take it anymore,’ Emanuel says. He persuaded the person sitting next to Shapiro to switch seats and asked, ‘what the f—k are you doing?’ Shapiro replied he worked at ESPN and was preparing a report for Disney bosses Michael Eiser and Iger. Emanuel and Shapiro, who are from neighboring Chicago suburbs, hit it off. Soon, they were talking regularly. Today, they are joined at the hip. Emanuel is executive chairman and chief executive of TKO and executive chairman of talent agency WME Group.” [WSJ]

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LIOR ROTSTEIN

Seventeen-year-old Pushpa Joshi, the sister of Nepali hostage Bipin Joshi, speaks at a hostage rally in Tel Aviv on Saturday night. The Joshi family arrived in Israel last week for the first time as they work to raise awareness about the plight of Bipin, a farming student who was taken hostage on Oct. 7, 2023, from Kibbutz Alumim.

ROB KIM/GETTY IMAGES FOR GOLDIN

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