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Good Friday morning.

In today’s Daily Kickoff, we preview the events around this weekend's White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington, and report on new FEC filings indicating that Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed accepted donations from an antisemitic conspiracy theorist whose son was paid tens of thousands of dollars by the campaign for consulting services. We report on new legislation from Reps. Tom Suozzi and Max Miller that aims to create buffer zones around religious institutions, and cover efforts by NY-17 Democratic candidates Cait Conley and Beth Davidson to distance themselves from Senate Democrats’ legislation to block all arms sales to Israel. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: George Deek, Bob Iger and Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis.

Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by JI Executive Editor Melissa Weiss and Israel Editor Tamara Zieve, 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: Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo won’t rule out 2028 run; Craigslist founder Craig Newmark: ‘Good philanthropy never goes out of style’; and Jewish Dems vow to keep fighting in Michigan, even as they question if they belong. Print the latest edition here.

Evening intelligence, exclusively for subscribers — what we're tracking and what's coming next.

A who’s who of the leading names in media, tech and global and domestic politics are flocking to the nation’s capital for the scores of exclusive parties surrounding the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner this Saturday — where President Donald Trump will make his first-ever appearance as president and deliver a roast of the political press corps. 

The correspondents' dinner, and the parties thrown in its honor, have always generated enough fanfare to maintain its status as the biggest weekend of the social calendar in Washington. This year, however, is being treated inside the Beltway as the most high-profile WHCD weekend in at least a decade, the result of Trump’s decision to participate in this year’s dinner after boycotting it for his entire presidency.

In addition to Trump’s roast, guests will be entertained by Oz Pearlman, a famed mentalist known for his mind-reading tricks. Pearlman, who is Jewish and was born in Israel, marks a shift from the traditional entertainment choice at the dinner, which is usually a monologue delivered by a comedian. Those comedians’ jokes about Trump were a factor in why the president has skipped previous dinners, and the White House Correspondents’ Association canceled its planned entertainer last year over backlash to her past comments.

The dinner could make for some awkward moments: one of the WHCA’s award winners this year is a team from The Wall Street Journal, for reporting on Trump’s ties to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein — an article that led Trump to sue the Journal. And that’s not to mention Trump’s routine hostility toward and criticisms of the media more broadly. It is unclear if the president will be present for the award ceremony.

Celebrities have historically flocked to Washington for WHCD weekend, though the number of famous names willing to appear for the dinner or other events dwindled during the first Trump administration. That trend began to reverse during the Biden administration, though it picked up again last year when Trump returned to office. 

Nicki Minaj, the rap superstar who has become an advocate for the Trump administration, will be attending the dinner as a guest of the Washington Times. No other media organizations have announced celebrity guests for their respective tables at the dinner. 

Regardless of a diminished turnout of famous faces, this weekend will be jam-packed with nonstop events, and it has already begun.

JI's Emily Jacobs and Marc Rod will be out and about in the district this weekend, as well as at Saturday's dinner. If you spot them at any of the events, take this as your invitation to say hello.

Read the rest of 'What You Should Know' here.

Democratic Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed has taken donations from a deep-pocketed activist whose group spearheaded the pro-Hamas protests that targeted a Queens synagogue in January — while the far-left candidate has at the same time paid tens of thousands in campaign funds to her son, Jewish Insider’s Will Bredderman and Marc Rod report.

Paper trail: The latest Federal Election Commission filings show El-Sayed has received a total of $7,000 from Amani Barakat, the chair of Al-Awda-Palestinian Right of Return Coalition and a promoter of antisemitic conspiracy theories linking Jewish people to the Illuminati. It’s part of $33,550 that El-Sayed has taken in total from the Barakat family, a Palestinian-American real estate dynasty based in Southern California. 

Read the full story here.

Slotkin says: Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) joined other Michigan Democrats in condemning Amir Makled, a Democratic nominee for regent of the University of Michigan, over Makled’s past comments on social media expressing antisemitic sentiments and support for terrorism, JI’s Marc Rod reports.

Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY), joined by Rep. Max Miller (R-OH), introduced the SACRED Act this week, a new bill aimed at protecting attendees at religious institutions from harassment and threats by demonstrators — a phenomenon seen repeatedly outside synagogues that has spurred “buffer zone” legislation in New York and elsewhere, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

Details: The bill, which applies within 100 feet of a religious institution, would create criminal and civil penalties for individuals who attempt to intimidate or obstruct someone in a manner that causes reasonable fear for physical safety to prevent them from entering or exiting a place of worship. It also applies — within that 100-foot zone — to individuals who intentionally approach within eight feet of a person seeking to exercise their freedom to worship, for the purpose of intimidating or harassing them.

Read the full story here.

Cait Conley and Beth Davidson, two of the leading candidates in the Democratic primary in New York’s 17th Congressional District — among the most Jewish districts in the country — distanced themselves in a Thursday candidate forum from efforts by 40 Senate Democrats last week to block U.S. aid to Israel, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

What they said: Conley, a veteran who has worked in a variety of national security roles, said that she doesn’t believe that lawmakers should be trying to determine which specific systems should be provided to allies, but she also argued that the U.S. must continue to enforce global standards to ensure that all aid recipients are meeting U.S. standards. Davidson, a Rockland County legislator, said that she wants to see the U.S. use diplomatic tools and oversight to help bring about peace, rather than threatening aid to Israel. But she added that, “before voting for more funding, I would want to see a plan of how we bring this [Iran] conflict to a close, especially with a second conflict going on right next door.”

Read the full story here.

Young American adults increasingly view Israel as a burden to the United States, according to a new Harvard Youth Poll of 18- to 29-year-olds. The survey found that 46% of young Americans consider Israel to be mostly a burden to the U.S., compared to just 16% who say Israel is mostly a benefit to the U.S., Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.

Additional findings: Ukraine, which has also received U.S. support in its lengthy war with Russia, was also determined to be more of a burden by young Americans, though the numbers were less striking. Thirty-one percent of young Americans said Ukraine is mostly a burden, while 21% said it is mostly a benefit. Meanwhile, Washington’s relationships with Canada, Mexico and the European Union were mostly viewed as positive.

Read the full story here.

A young woman was charged Thursday in a conspiracy to “kill as many Jews as possible” by driving through a Houston synagogue. Angelina Han Hicks, 18, a resident of North Carolina, was arrested Wednesday and charged, according to the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office, with felony conspiracy to commit assault with a deadly weapon and felony conspiracy to commit murder for her plotted attack on Congregation Beth Israel, the oldest synagogue in Texas, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports. 

Details: The FBI's Charlotte Field Office received information on Tuesday that Hicks “was believed to be targeting members of the Jewish Community for a potential act of violence,” according to the sheriff’s office. Law enforcement found evidence in Hicks’ home that she and co-conspirators were planning a mass-casualty event, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Read the full story here.

School scrutiny: A new complaint filed with the Department of Education accuses a Florida Panhandle school district of violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act by ignoring years of antisemitic harassment against a Jewish student, including Nazi salutes performed in the classroom.

Israel’s first Christian ambassador, George Deek, has a new job after his return to Israel from his most recent posting as Israeli ambassador to Azerbaijan: special envoy to the Christian world. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar named Deek to the role on Thursday, with the ministry saying that the move was “intended to deepen Israel’s ties with Christian communities around the world,” Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports.

Background: Deek, who joined the Foreign Ministry in 2008 and has been posted to Norway and Nigeria, received the Foreign Ministry Director General’s Award for Excellence in 2021. He is part of the Arab Orthodox Christian community in Jaffa, and his father, Youssef Deek, was chairman of the community for many years.

Read the full story here.

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Calling the Shots in Tehran: The New York Times’ Farnaz Fassihi does a deep dive into Iran’s new power structure following the deaths of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and dozens of top regime officials, finding that key decisions are now being made by senior generals affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. “It was the Guards who came up with the strategy for Iran’s attacks on Israel and the Persian Gulf states, along with the closing of the strait to maritime traffic. They were the ones who agreed to a temporary cease-fire with the United States and approved back-channel diplomacy and direct negotiations with the United States. They tapped [Iranian parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher] Ghalibaf from among their own ranks to lead the talks with Vice President JD Vance in Islamabad.” [NYTimes]

Chronicle of a Kidnapping: In The Atlantic, American journalist Shelly Kittleson recounts her kidnapping — believed to have been conducted by the Iran-backed Iraqi militia Kataib Hezbollah — and subsequent week in captivity. “I was well aware of the risks inherent in being a journalist with the ‘wrong’ passport in places where the default assumption is that anyone asking questions is a ‘spy.’ I was also keenly aware of the creativity employed by those who write ‘intelligence’ reports, having been the victim of fabricated reports of that sort in the past.” [TheAtlantic]

The Jew-ish Paradox: In The Wall Street Journal, Joseph Epstein considers the cultural and religious distinctions among Jews while noting that the differences are unimportant to those who are antisemites. “Jew, Jewish, Jewish, Jew: The two sometimes seem to have little in common. But now, with the re-emergence and spread of antisemitism, not only in the U.S., but globally, they have the hatred aimed against them in common. Will the two join together to fight this menace? They damned well better.” [WSJ]

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President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that he had instructed the military to “shoot and kill any boat, small boats though they may be ... putting mines in the waters of the Strait of Hormuz,” as Iran was reported this week to have been laying additional mines in the waterway…

The Wall Street Journal reports on concerns over the proliferation of Chinese satellite imagery that may be used to assist Iran and other American adversaries seeking to target U.S. installations and allies…

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that members of Iran’s national soccer team will be let into the U.S. to play in this summer’s World Cup, but that Iranians with ties to the country’s military would not be allowed entry…

Italian Sports Minister Andrea Abodi rejected the suggestion by Paolo Zampolli, the Trump administration’s special envoy for global partnerships, that Italy’s team replace Iran in the World Cup, saying that such a move was “firstly, not possible and secondly, not appropriate”...

The U.S. Department of Education opened an investigation into the New York City Department of Education, alleging that teachers associated with the group N.Y.C. Educators for Palestine had instructed students to support Hamas and referred to Zionists as “genocidal white supremacists”...

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth did not give advance notice to senior Republican senators before announcing on Wednesday that he was firing Navy Secretary John Phelan and had already tapped his replacement, causing surprise and confusion on Capitol Hill, JI’s Emily Jacobs and Marc Rod report…

The Wall Street Journal does a deep dive into Phelan’s efforts to convince Trump, a friend and neighbor, to buck Hegseth’s demand that Phelan resign from the Navy’s top job…

Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) added $1 million to his campaign coffers and said he would match any donation received ahead of his June primary against former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander; private polling for both camps indicates that Lander has a sizeable lead over Goldman, who first won his seat in 2022…

In a new ad, Goldman addresses the Iran war, saying, "Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu should have never started this war in Iran, and they must end it now," adding, "I won't vote for one more cent for this illegal and immoral war"... 

Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee, in their draft 2027 funding bill for the State Department, are again aiming to leverage U.S. funding to the United Nations and other foreign programs to seek accountability for involvement by U.N. employees and others in the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel, JI’s Marc Rod reports…

Rachel Goldberg-Polin, whose book When We See You Again, about her life before and after the kidnapping and murder of her son, was released this week, was a featured speaker at the Time 100 Summit on Wednesday in New York…

Former Disney CEO Bob Iger is returning to Josh Kushner’s Thrive Capital — where he briefly worked in 2022 before returning to Disney after his successor, Bob Chapek, was ousted by the board — in an advisory role…

The Wall Street Journal interviewed folk-pop singer Noah Kahan ahead of the release of his new album, “The Great Divide,” out today…

Saudi Arabia, facing financial challenges associated with the Iran war, pulled out of an arrangement to give up to $200 million over the next eight years to the Metropolitan Opera in New York, itself under financial strain after years of decreased sales from the COVID-19 pandemic; the Met now faces a $30 million shortfall it must make up before the end of its fiscal year this summer…

The department within the U.K.’s Foreign Office tasked with tracking Israel’s potential breaches of law was closed due to budget cuts…

U.K. Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis met on Thursday with Prime Minister Keir Starmer at London’s Kenton United Synagogue, days after the synagogue was targeted in an arson attack…

An annual health report released today by the Israeli Prime Minister's Office said that Benjamin Netanyahu was treated for early stage prostate cancer in late 2024...

Israir plans to launch daily flights this summer between Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport and New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport…

Police in the Israeli city of Modiin detained Hebrew University professor Alex Sinclair for wearing a yarmulke with the Israeli and Palestinian flags; when returned to Sinclair upon his release, the Palestinian flag had been cut from the yarmulke…

In response to rockets launched by Hezbollah toward Shtula in northern Israel on Thursday, the IDF said it struck Hezbollah military structures used to plan and carry out terror attacks in the areas of Kherbet Selem and Touline in southern Lebanon...

Retinal surgeon Kurt Gitter, an avid collector of art from Japan and the American South, died at 89…

Marquette University professor David Fantle, who helped bring the “Bronze Fonz” — a statue of the beloved “Happy Days” character Arthur Fonzarelli — to Milwaukee’s downtown, died at 66…

JI wine columnist Yitz Applbaum reviews the 2025 Flam Blanc:

“I could not have orchestrated a more perfect evening if I had planned for a year. Last night, at Rendezvous, that impossibly charming jewel tucked away in the Neve Tzedek neighborhood of Tel Aviv, with a dear friend who happens to be a French-speaking cyber luminary, I was graced by a bottle of Flam Blanc, whose brilliantly beautiful semillon grape held the entire evening in its thrall.

“The 2025 Flam Blanc is an exquisite assemblage of sauvignon blanc, semillon, and the merest suggestion of chardonnay. The wine unveils itself with a disarming sweetness that lulls the uninitiated before delivering a magnificently brazen one-two punch of grapefruit peel zestiness across the mid-palate. The chardonnay finish, poised and unhurried, ushers one back to the noble terroir of the Judean Hills, lingering just long enough to leave you reaching for the bottle again. Pair this with handmade gnocchi and do acquire several cases. It is the kind of bottle that reminds even the most seasoned drinker why the Judean Hills deserve a permanent place in the conversation.”

STACEY NEWMAN

Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe, a Republican, signed a bill on Thursday adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism into law.

Rabbi Jeffrey Abraham, the board chair of the Missouri Alliance Network, which advocated for the bill, told JI, "Thanks to [this bill], our Jewish students will now be given the same protections of other minorities to combat the extreme rise in antisemitism we have seen the last few years. There is more work ahead to ensure school districts implement the IHRA definition and protect our Jewish students moving forward."

VENTURELLI/WIREIMAGE 

Israeli designer, architect and artist, Ron Arad turns 75... 

FRIDAY: Rabbi emeritus at Washington's Adas Israel Congregation, he is a former president of the Rabbinic Assembly, Rabbi Jeffrey A. Wohlberg turns 85... Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony and Peabody Award-winning singer and actress, Barbra Streisand turns 84... Delray Beach, Fla., resident, Phyllis Dupret... Distinguished professor emeritus at the University of Maryland, College Park, Jeffrey C. Herf turns 79... Former president and publisher of USA Today, then chairman of theStreet, Lawrence S. Kramer turns 76... Chairman and CEO of Cincinnati-based Standard Textile, Gary Heiman... Former president of basketball operations for the Washington Wizards for 16 seasons, himself an NBA player for nine seasons, Ernest "Ernie" Grunfeld turns 71... Israeli singer descended from the Jewish diaspora in Kurdistan, Ilana Eliya turns 71... Columnist for Foreign Policy, Michael Hirsh turns 69... Author of books for children and teens, Deborah Heiligman turns 68... Founding partner and CEO of KSX Communications, Andrew Kirtzman turns 65... CEO and President of Wells Fargo since 2019, he was previously the CEO of Visa, Charles Scharf turns 61... Chief executive director of the Jewish Caring Network, Rabbi Carl S. “Chaim” Schwartz turns 56... Deputy chief of staff for Montgomery County, Md., Councilmember Sidney Katz, Laurie Mintzer Edberg... Emmy Award-winning television writer, producer and film screenwriter, known as the co-creator and showrunner of the television series "Lost," Damon Lindelof turns 53... EVP of political operations at AIPAC, Mark H. Waldman... Israeli model, actress, entrepreneur, lecturer and activist, Maayan Keret turns 50... Film and television actor, Eric Salter Balfour turns 49... Brandon Hersh... Partner at Apollo Global Management, Reed Rayman... Special assistant to POTUS and senior speechwriter in the Biden administration, Aviva Feuerstein turns 39... Tech and innovation reporter at Automotive News, Molly Boigon... 

SATURDAY: Retired attorney, he is a brother-in-law of former Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), Myron "Mike" Sponder... Social worker and former health spokesman of the Green Party of the U.K., he is the older brother of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Larry Sanders turns 91... Co-founder of Lender Bagels Bakery, he was the national chair of UJA, Marvin K. Lender turns 85... Hedge fund manager and founder of Omega Advisors, Leon G. "Lee" Cooperman turns 83... Former CEO of baker supply manufacturing companies, Joseph “Joe” Weber turns 81... Hedge fund manager and founder of CAM Capital, Bruce Stanley Kovner turns 80... Rosh yeshiva at Yeshiva University since 1973, rabbi of the Young Israel of Riverdale Synagogue since 1974, Rabbi Mordechai Willig turns 79... Former French finance minister and later managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn turns 77... David Handleman... Longtime chairman and CEO of Village Roadshow Pictures, now president of Through The Lens Entertainment, Bruce Berman turns 74... Chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations from 2018 to 2021, he was previously president of Bed, Bath and Beyond, Arthur Stark turns 71... Administrative law judge at the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board, Beth A. Fox... Commissioner of the National Basketball Association since 2014, Adam Silver turns 64... Senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, focused on security issues in the Middle East, Michael Scott Doran turns 64... Partner at Quinn Emanuel, he served as U.S. ambassador to the Czech Republic in the Obama administration, Andrew H. Schapiro turns 63... Emmy Award-winning actor, voice actor, comedian and producer, he is descended from a Sephardic family rooted in Thessaloniki, Hank Azaria turns 62... Infomercial pitchman, better known as Vince Offer, Vince Shlomi or "The ShamWow Guy," Offer Shlomi turns 62... Deputy director general at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Benjamin Krasna turns 61... CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ, Meredith Dragon... New York Times-bestselling author and adjunct professor of neuroscience at Stanford University, David Eagleman turns 55... Deputy director of community health at the Utah Department of Human Services, David E. Litvack turns 54... Former professional baseball outfielder, Micah Franklin turns 54... Democratic Party strategist, she is a co-founder of Lift Our Voices, Julie Roginsky turns 53... President of the Alliance for Downtown New York, the nation's largest business improvement district, Jessica S. Lappin turns 51... Opinion editor at the California Post, previously senior-editor-at-large for Breitbart News, Joel Barry Pollak turns 49... Attorney turned grocer and now professor, Danielle Brody Rosengarten Vogel... Co-founder of WeWork and now Flow, Adam Neumann turns 47... Executive director at Yaffed, Adina Mermelstein Konikoff... Managing director, head of social, content and influencer at Deloitte Digital, Kenneth R. Gold... Director of public affairs at FEMA during the Biden administration, now SVP at Avoq, Jaclyn Rothenberg... Film and television actress, model and singer, Sara Paxton turns 38... Staff writer at Daily Kos, Emily Cahn Singer... Former NHL ice hockey defenseman, now a color analyst for Westwood One and ESPN, Colby Shane Cohen turns 37... TikTok star, he runs the culinary website CookWithChefEitan, Eitan Bernath turns 24... 

SUNDAY: Owner of the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers for 33 years until its forced sale in 2014, Donald Sterling (born Donald Tokowitz) turns 92... Retired Federation executive in Los Angeles, Oakland and Sacramento, Loren Basch... Investment banker best known as the chairman and CEO of Lehman Brothers through its bankruptcy filing in 2008, Richard S. Fuld Jr. turns 80... Professor of computer science and engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Hal Abelson turns 79... Immediate past chair of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, now a board member at Democratic Majority for Israel, Harriet P. Schleifer turns 73... President of Brandeis University from 2016-2024, Ronald D. Liebowitz turns 69... Moscow-born, conservative journalist and political activist in Israel, Avigdor Eskin turns 66... Senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and contributing writer at The Atlantic, Jonathan Rauch turns 66... London-based interfaith social activist, she founded and chaired Mitzvah Day International, Laura Marks turns 66... Journalist, biographer and the author of six books, Jonathan Eig turns 62… Former member of the Maryland House of Delegates and state Senate, Roger Manno turns 60... Former member of the California state Assembly where he served as chairman of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus, Marc Levine turns 52... Member of the NYC Council for six years and now a recently elected member of the NY State Assembly, Kalman Yeger turns 52... General partner of Coatue Management, Benjamin Schwerin... Senior global news editor at The New York Times, Russell Goldman turns 46... Senior director of federal government affairs at Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Karas Pattison Gross... Media relations manager at NPR, Benjamin Fishel... London-based reporter for The Wall Street Journal covering finance, he is the co-author of a book on WeWork, Eliot Brown... Male fashion model and actor, Brett Novek turns 42... Head coach of the UC Irvine Anteaters baseball program, he played for Team Israel in the 2012 World Baseball Classic, Ben Orloff turns 39... Communications director at the University of Florida College of Health and Human Performance, Alisha Katz... AI product manager at Apple, Kenneth Zauderer... Washington correspondent for The Epoch Times, Jackson Richman... Board liaison at American Jewish World Service, he is also a part-time matchmaker at Tribe 12, Ross Beroff... Ahron Singer...