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Good Friday morning.

In today’s Daily Kickoff, we have the scoop on New York City First Lady Rama Duwaji’s social media support for posts celebrating the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks, and profile Democratic political consultant Morris Katz, who has helped elevate a number of candidates with anti-Israel leanings. We spotlight podcaster Jack Cocchiarella, who has become increasingly critical of Israel as he has gained prominence in recent months, and report on the failed House effort to pass a war powers resolution. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Alan Greenspan, Yoav Gallant and Noam Bettan.

Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by JI Executive Editor Melissa Weiss, with assists from Danielle Cohen-Kanik and Marc Rod. Have a tip? Email us here.

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For less-distracted reading over the weekend, browse this week’s edition of The Weekly Print, a curated print-friendly PDF featuring a selection of recent Jewish Insider and eJewishPhilanthropy stories, including: Trump posthumously honors WWII Sgt. Roddie Edmonds for saving American Jews; Gavin Newsom shifts hard left on Israel policy amid presidential primary considerations; and Vast majority of Israelis support the war against Iran, while most Americans oppose it, polls find. Print the latest edition here.

The rapid turn within the Democratic Party against Israel — especially from several of its prospective presidential candidates — is awfully reminiscent of right-wing Republicans’ growing agitation against Ukraine several years ago when the Biden administration provided support to Kyiv as it defended itself from Russian aggression.

Both situations involved an activist faction of the party out of the White House speaking out against a longtime ally, fueled by conspiracy theories and memes floating online. It was propelled by a growing isolationist vibe within both parties that the country should focus on domestic concerns instead of dealing with national security challenges abroad. And it led many politically ambitious elected officials who knew better to spout some of the most poisonous slander against close partners who are (literally) under fire from enemies. 

In our polarized political landscape, support for Israel and Ukraine are now becoming partisan issues — Republican elected officials and voters are overwhelmingly supportive of Israel, while Democrats are standing by Ukraine.  

As The Atlantic’s David Frum put it: “The two most militarily capable US allies are Ukraine and Israel. Weird to have a political system where one of the two parties despises the first, and the other is deciding it hates and resents the second. America needs and benefits from both those friendships!” 

There were plenty of senior Republican figures who withstood political pressure to vote for military funding for Ukraine despite the tough internal politics, and now Democrats are facing that same type of pressure to abandon the Jewish state for short-term political gain. 

Given that California Gov. Gavin Newsom — one of the leading Democratic presidential candidates — is now saying the U.S. should reconsider its military support for Israel, and that it’s reasonable to consider Israel as an apartheid state, it’s clear that the party is facing a moment of reckoning. 

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

Daily Overtime brings you what we’re tracking at the end of the day — and what’s coming next.

The U.S. and Israel have almost total control of Iranian airspace, the IDF’s chief of staff, Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir, said in a video statement on Thursday, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports. They “achieved near-complete air superiority over Iranian skies,” and Operation Roaring Lion, as Israel named the war with Iran, is entering its second phase, Zamir said.

What’s next: Also on Thursday, the IDF launched its 26th wave of strikes in the Dahieh neighborhood of Beirut —a stronghold of the Hezbollah terrorist militia — hitting over 500 targets, including some in residential buildings in the Lebanese capital that the military said were used for terrorist infrastructure and UAV storage. Israel killed the head of Hezbollah’s firepower array, known as Fidaa, whom Zamir said was “responsible for the deaths of many Israelis.” Meanwhile, President Donald Trump told Politico he plans to have a decisive influence on the next leader of Iran. “I’m going to have a big impact [on Iran’s future leadership], or they’re not going to have any settlement, because we’re not going to have to do this again,” Trump said. “We’ll work with the people and the regime to make sure that somebody gets there that can nicely build Iran but without nuclear weapons.”

Read the full story here.

Bonus: The New York Times profiles Zamir, describing him as the “architect” of Israel’s war strategy in Iran.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani spent the mayoral campaign distancing himself from the most radical anti-Israel elements of his leftist movement, but an examination of his wife’s social media activity reveals she liked multiple Instagram posts cheering on Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, assault, Jewish Insider’s Will Bredderman reports. The posts liked by Rama Duwaji, a Syrian American artist, unambiguously celebrated the terrorist attack, which saw nearly 1,200 Israelis and foreign workers killed, thousands wounded, 251 civilians and military personnel kidnapped and numerous episodes of sexual assault.

Problematic posts: The first post, shared on the day of Hamas' onslaught, came from The Slow Factory, and shows stills from participants’ livestreamed footage of the attack with the words “Breaking the walls of apartheid and military occupation,” and on the latter "Resisting apartheid since 1948,” and on both the slogan “Systemic change for collective liberation.” It is unclear when Duwaji liked the Slow Factory post, or the materials that the People’s Forum posted to Instagram on Oct. 8, 2023, from protests the organization led alongside the Democratic Socialists of America and allied organizations in Times Square one day after the attack on Israel. 

Read the full story here.

As the Democratic Party debates how to improve its brand and sharpen its messaging ahead of the midterm elections, one progressive strategist is emerging as an influential behind-the-scenes casting agent pushing a style of unvarnished left-wing populism, notably combined with aggressive criticism of Israel and its standing as a U.S. ally. Morris Katz, an ad maker in his mid-20s widely seen as a political wunderkind on the far left, has been instrumental in helping to elevate outspoken detractors of Israel in a range of key congressional contests — serving as a sort of anti-Israel whisperer for candidates seeking to fine-tune their messaging about one of the most potent sources of Democratic division in the current election cycle, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.

Robust resume: Katz rose to political fame last year as a top advisor to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, then a candidate. He has advised, among others, the insurgent Senate campaign of Graham Platner, the scandal-plagued Maine Democrat. More recently, Katz has worked for Brad Lander, the former New York City comptroller challenging Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), a pro-Israel Democrat who is defending a heavily Jewish House seat that includes parts of Brooklyn and Manhattan. Lander, a critic of Israel, is echoing other left-wing primary candidates in seeking to highlight Goldman’s ties to AIPAC as a sign he is not aligned with Democratic sentiment on Middle East policy. In addition to Lander, Katz is now advising Claire Valdez, an anti-Israel state assemblywoman who is competing in a hotly contested Democratic primary to succeed retiring Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-NY) in a safely blue district covering Brooklyn and Queens.

Read the full story here.

As Gavin Newsom travels around the country promoting his book, the California governor made appearances in South Carolina and New Hampshire, two early Democratic primary states that are important stops for any likely candidate. On Thursday night, he was interviewed in Portsmouth, N.H., by Jack Cocchiarella, a self-described “progressive political pundit,” part of a group of Gen Z influencers with growing clout among Democratic voters, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.

Growing popularity: The Columbia University graduate has quickly gone from being a small-time digital strategist for Democratic candidates in Florida to a YouTuber who has scored interviews with some of the most important members of the Democratic Party, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) and Mark Warner (D-VA), as well as House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and potential 2028 presidential candidate Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear. In recent months, Cocchiarella has adopted a stridently anti-Israel posture. “Also f*** Israel just to be clear,” he wrote in a post on X in October. “STOP SENDING MY F***ING TAX DOLLARS TO ISRAEL,” he wrote in December. “Israel is a terrorist state that threatens and kill [sic] Americans,” Cocchiarella posted this week, days after the U.S. and Israel began military strikes against Iran. 

Read the full story here.

A day after Republican senators blocked a vote to end the U.S.-Israeli operations in Iran, the House voted 219-212 to defeat a similar war powers resolution, with four Democrats breaking with their party to oppose an immediate end to the war, and two Republicans voting with other Democrats to oppose military action, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod and Matthew Shea report.

Final votes: Reps. Greg Landsman (D-OH), Jared Golden (D-ME), Henry Cuellar (D-TX) and Juan Vargas (D-CA) were ultimately the only Democrats to vote against the resolution, which was led by Reps. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Thomas Massie (R-KY). Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), who said they would oppose the resolution before the war began, ultimately voted in favor.

Read the full story here.

Bonus: In a surprise vote on Thursday afternoon that baffled some observers in Washington, 53 House Democrats voted against a resolution — which passed 372-53 — “reaffirming Iran remains the largest state sponsor of terrorism,” JI’s Marc Rod and Matthew Shea report. Some of the lawmakers who voted against the resolution told JI their opposition traced to a desire not to give President Donald Trump rhetorical, or potentially legal, justification for continuing the Iran war.

Far-right podcaster Tucker Carlson’s latest extreme rhetoric took aim at the Chabad Lubavitch movement, with sweeping conspiratorial language accusing the Hasidic sect of seeking to start a “religious war” amid the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports. Carlson argued in an episode of his show that dropped late Wednesday night that Jews see the war against Iran as an opportunity to feud with Islam and to target Christians. He claimed that Jews seek to destroy al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem and build the Third Temple on top of its ruins. 

Pushback: Carlson specifically called out the Chabad movement, saying the group’s goal is the rebuilding of the Temple — and he argued that Jews who seek to see the Temple rebuilt are at odds with Christians. Carlson’s remarks prompted outrage among Chabad’s backers, who pointed out that Chabad emissaries have for decades played a crucial role in connecting Jews to their faith and to each other. “This is so absurd. So ridiculously absurd. If you know anything about Chabad, they have one mission: encouraging Jewish people to practice Judaism,” Punchbowl News founder Jake Sherman posted on X.

Read the full story here.

Survival Mode: In The Wall Street Journal, Walter Russell Mead considers whether the Iranian regime will survive the war with the U.S. and Israel. “The question that world leaders now need to examine is whether Iran’s war strategies reflect the subtle and effective blend of insight and ruthlessness that lifted the country to the heights of power, or the folly and delusion that brought it to its current low ebb. The confusing answer, so far, is that they reflect a mix, and the fate of President Trump’s Gulf war depends on how the different elements work out.” [WSJ]

Split Screen: In Foreign Affairs, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy’s Dana Stroul, who served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East in the Biden administration, looks at how U.S.-Israel defense relations are growing stronger even as the American public support for Israel is on the decline. “The strikes on Iran are accelerating a bifurcation in the U.S.-Israeli relationship, characterized by ever-deepening closeness between the two countries’ militaries and growing political criticism of the partnership. That may not seem to be such a challenge right now, as generals lead frontline operations in the thick of war. But the close (and valuable) military collaboration cannot last alongside such divergent views of the conflict among the U.S. and Israeli populations. And if U.S. and Israeli leaders do not work to change those views, the military collaboration will become a victim of the political rift.” [ForeignAffairs]

The Four-fold Path: In The Free Press, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Behnam Ben Taleblu considers the possible pathways forward for Iran. “Where real power lies matters enormously for how the Trump administration deals with what comes next. There are at least four likely fates awaiting Iran. Two feature the regime surviving, and two don’t. … Sooner or later, America will get a military win. That is almost certain. What we cannot be sure of is whether President Trump will bank that military victory and create a political strategy designed to turn America’s biggest adversary in the Middle East into something else: a country, finally, that belongs to its people.” [FreePress]

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The United Arab Emirates is considering freezing Iranian assets in the Gulf country, a move that would deliver a significant blow to Tehran’s access to foreign currency and the international banking system…

President Donald Trump announced on Thursday he was removing Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem from her post, and was nominating Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) as her replacement, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod and Emily Jacobs report…

Brandon Herrera, a social media influencer and far-right Republican congressional candidate, moved significantly closer to Congress on Thursday as his Republican opponent, Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX), dropped out of the race, making Herrera the presumptive GOP nominee in a conservative district, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…

Democratic members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee wrote to Secretary of State Marco Rubio raising concerns about the administration's "clear lack of preparedness for the predictable risks [the Iran war] would create for our personnel and assets abroad"...

Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Ted Budd (R-NC), joined by Rep. Nathaniel Moran (R-TX), introduced the Stop Proxy Organizations Nurturing Subversive Operations and Riots (SPONSOR) Act that would make nonprofits criminally and potentially civilly liable for lawbreaking by groups they sponsor, an effort to crack down on violent protests…

Thirty-one Senate Democrats, led by Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), urged the administration to push for accountability in the death of Nasrallah Abu Siyam, who was killed by Israeli settlers in the West Bank. “It is unclear to us how many more Americans must die in the West Bank in order for this administration, and other administrations, to take serious, credible steps to secure accountability and ensure an end to the ongoing killings of Americans without consequence,” they wrote in a letter…

The Republican Jewish Coalition Victory Fund released an ad in support of Kentucky congressional candidate Ed Gallrein, who is mounting a primary challenge to Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY); the ad focuses on Massie’s opposition to the war in Iran...

Lev Parnas, a key figure in President Donald Trump’s first impeachment case and father of Democratic social media influencer Aaron Parnas, announced a congressional bid, as a Democrat, against Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL)...

Axel Springer is reportedly poised to reach an agreement to purchase The Telegraph for more than $765 million...

The Anti-Defamation League on Thursday urged public figures to refrain from promoting antisemitic rhetoric amid the U.S. and Israel’s operation against Iran, as some leading Democrats have invoked anti-Israel sentiment since the war began last week, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports…

Since the joint U.S.-Israeli operation against Iran began last Saturday, Jewish communities worldwide have seen an increase in threats and harassment — including a 95% rise in violent online posts targeting Jews, according to a new report from the Secure Community Network, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports… 

Former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant responded to online rumors that he had been killed in an Iranian strike, posting on X, “The rumors of my death are greatly exaggerated”... 

In The Wall Street Journal, Rabbi Yosie Levine reflects on the timing of the U.S.-Israel war against Iran, which began days before the Jewish holiday of Purim, a holiday that commemorates Jewish survival in ancient Persia…

Authorities in London arrested four men suspected of spying on British Jewish institutions on behalf of Iran… 

In response to an invitation to sign a condolence book for assassinated Iranian leaders by Tehran’s embassy in South Africa, Olexander Scherba, Ukraine’s ambassador to Pretoria, wrote a public response saying that “the deceased leaders of Iran had on their hands the blood of thousands of Ukrainian citizens,” adding that “as someone who has spent three years to the tune of Iran-created machines of death howling every night in the sky over Kyiv and other peaceful Ukrainian cities, I cannot help but wish for every culprit to meet the justice they deserve”... 

Rabbi Andrea Weiss, the first woman to ordain Reform clergy, died at 60...

YOUTUBE

Israel released the video “Michelle,” by singer Noam Bettan, for its official Eurovision Song Contest.

STEVEN FERDMAN/GETTY IMAGES

Former chairman of the Federal Reserve for 18 years, Alan Greenspan turns 100…

FRIDAY: Writer, lecturer and professor emeritus of Jewish communal service at HUC-JIR, Steven Windmueller turns 84… Television personality, author and libertarian pundit, John Stossel turns 79… Musical theater lyricist and composer, Stephen Schwartz turns 78… Member of the New York state Senate since 2018, Shelley Mayer turns 74… Actor, comedian and sports show host, Tom Arnold turns 67… Aliza Tendler… Senior leadership development manager at Momentum Unlimited (formerly known as Jewish Women's Renaissance Project), Judy Victor… Israeli swimmer who competed in several Summer Olympics, he is the founder of a sports ticketing and travel company, Yoav Bruck turns 54… Founder of Talenti Gelato & Sorbetto, which he sold to Unilever in 2014, he has since co-founded Iris Brands, Joshua Hochschuler turns 53… Head of innovation communication at Bloomberg LP, Chaim Haas turns 51… VP of philanthropic services at NYC-based Jewish Communal Fund, Michelle Lebowits… Former quarterback who played on six NFL teams, he is a member of the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, Sage Rosenfels turns 48… Israeli journalist and author of the book Revolt: The Worldwide Uprising Against Globalization, Nadav Asher Eyal turns 47… Managing director at Berkshire Partners, he was deputy chief of staff for former President George W. Bush, Blake L. Gottesman turns 46… Fourth-generation developer, owner, and operator of commercial real estate throughout the eastern U.S., Daniel Klein turns 45… Natalie Lazaroff… Israeli fashion model who has appeared in international campaigns for many worldwide brands, Esti Ginzburg turns 36…  Associate at Freedman Normand Friedland, Riley Clafton… Film actor, he finished in second place on Season 27 of “Dancing with the Stars,” Milo Manheim turns 25… Sandra Brown… Freelance journalist Rachel Gutman…

SATURDAY: Nationally syndicated columnist for The Washington Times from 1984-2019, Suzanne Bregman Fields, Ph.D. turns 90… Former bureau chief for the Associated Press in Kuala Lumpur, New Delhi, London and Tokyo, now a journalism educator at George Washington University, Myron Belkind turns 86… Former chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney Company from 1984-2005, Michael Eisner turns 84… Geneticist and 2017 Nobel Prize laureate in Medicine, Michael Rosbash turns 82… Member of the Knesset for the Meretz party between 1992-1996, Binyamin "Benny" Temkin turns 81… Retired media executive, Ruth Barbara Jarmul… Chair emeritus and retired general trust counsel of Fiduciary Trust International, Gail Ehrlich Cohen… Award-winning freelance journalist, author and adjunct professor at the University of Maryland, Anne Farris Rosen turns 70… Member of the House of Lords and longtime chair of the British Legal Friends of Hebrew University, Lord David Philip Pannick turns 70… Executive director of Academic Exchange, promoting understanding of the Middle East within the international academic community, Rabbi Nachum Braverman turns 68… Democratic political strategist, now the director of finance at Four Directions, Lewis H. Cohen… Professor of philosophy at Johns Hopkins University, Yitzhak Yohanan Melamed turns 58… Academy Award-winning actress, Rachel Weisz turns 56… VP at NBC News and an adjunct professor of journalism at American U, Matt Glassman… Executive director of the Women's League for Conservative Judaism, Rabbi Ellen Wolintz-Fields… Administrative law judge at the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, Michael Tobman… President of the Council of Jewish Organizations Staten Island and EVP of the Rabbinical Alliance of America, Menachem "Mendy"  Mirocznik turns 53… Consul general of Israel to the U.S. Midwest, Elad Strohmayer turns 45… Television news anchor and author of five best-selling finance guides, Nicole Lapin turns 42… Israeli actress and singer, Ester Rada turns 41… Author, popular science writer, spaceflight historian, YouTuber and podcaster, best known for writing Breaking the Chains of Gravity, Amy Shira Teitel turns 40… Climate deals reporter at Axios Pro, Alan Neuhauser… Attorney in Reno, Nev., Sasha Ahuva Farahi… President of Every Minute Communications, a women's sports marketing consultancy, Rachel Zuckerman… Senior vice president of communications at AIPAC, Cory Meyer… Comedian, actress, and screenwriter, known professionally as Sarah Squirm, now a regular on “Saturday Night Live,” Sarah Sherman turns 33… Jake Hirth… Yaakov Spira…

SUNDAY: Jazz pianist, composer, organist, arranger and music director, Dick Hyman turns 99… Member of the U.S. House of Representatives (D-CA-47) from 2013-2023, Alan Stuart Lowenthal turns 85… Chair of the U.K.'s Office of Communications, Baron Michael Grade (family name Winogradsky) turns 83… Judaism and Science blogger, he is a retired attorney at Seyfarth Shaw, Roger L. Price turns 82… Lyricist, singer, songwriter and New York Times best-selling author, Carole Bayer Sager turns 79… Licensed clinical psychologist, Dr. Mona Fishbane… Senior Fellow on national security and international policy at the Center for American Progress, Alan Makovsky turns 76… Brenda Krantz… Former chair and CEO of MGM, he is now vice chair of DraftKings, Harry Evans Sloan turns 76… Public affairs producer and weekend assignment editor at KDKA News in Pittsburgh, Aviva Jayne Radbord… Former governor of Virginia and later U.S. senator, George Allen turns 74… Retired in 2016 after 29 years as the executive director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Rochester N.Y., Larry Fine… Host and managing editor of the WNYC radio program "On the Media," which is syndicated nationwide to over 400 public radio outlets, Brooke Gladstone turns 71… Director of training and operations at Consilium Group, Bunny Silverman Fisher… President of the World Bank Group until 2023, he served as under secretary of the U.S. Treasury in the Trump 45 administration, David Malpass turns 70… DC-based labor and employment attorney at Bredhoff & Kaiser, Bruce R. Lerner… Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning actress, Camryn Manheim turns 65… Founder and CEO of 32 Advisors, LLC (advising on infrastructure), he was previously president of UBS Investment Bank, Robert Wolf turns 64… VP of talent acquisition at Sageview Consulting, specializing in placements at Jewish federations and nonprofits, Colorado Springs, Colo., resident, Carin Maher… VP for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Evan A. Feigenbaum turns 57… Incoming board chair of Hillel International and board chair of Jewish Federation of Broward County (Fla.), Doug Berman… Director of external affairs at Davidoff Hutcher & Citron, Zack Fink… Member of the U.S. House of Representatives since 2017 (D-NJ-5), Joshua S. Gottheimer turns 51… Director of communications and membership at the National Communications Association, Alexis C. Rice… Executive director of Masbia, a soup kitchen based in Brooklyn and Queens that serves over two million meals per year, Alexander Rapaport turns 48… Social software creator, he was an early designer at Facebook and co-created the "Like" button, Jared Morgenstern turns 45… Director at PJT CamberView, Eric Louis Sumberg… Founder and CEO of Delta Flow Solutions and GlueLetter newsletter analytics, Jeff Sonderman… Actress best known as the perky store manager Lily Adams in AT&T commercials, Milana Vayntrub turns 39… Manager of health policy at the Council for Affordable Quality Healthcare, David Streeter… Five-time BMI Songwriter of the Year award winner, known professionally as Benny Blanco, Benjamin Joseph Levin turns 38… Associate attorney at NYC's Morvillo Abramowitz Grand Iason & Anello, Nathaniel Jacob Sobel… Program analyst at Mathematica Policy Research, Karen Katz… Director of government affairs and corporate citizenship in the Washington office of PepsiCo, Taylor Jaye Lustig… Founder of Finally Get Your Book Done, Amanda Helen Botfeld… Tennis player, she has won 11 singles and 17 doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit, Jamie Loeb turns 31… Strategy and operations for integrated marketing communications at Ford Motor Company, Alexa “Lexi” Chavin… Special assistant at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, Miriam Applbaum...