Your Daily Phil: Jewish groups hail Trump peace plan
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In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we report on Jewish groups’ overwhelmingly positive reactions to President Donald Trump’s Gaza ceasefire proposal. We visit a new Oct. 7 memorial in southern Israel and examine a new study showing an increase in antisemitism and hate speech on the X social media platform. We feature an opinion piece by Rabbi Joshua Rabin about the need to bring compensation into the conversation about addressing burnout among Jewish communal professionals, and one by Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt and David Bernstein urging Jewish community leaders to call out local public schools with curricula that foster antisemitic and anti-Israel attitudes. Also in this issue: Lawson Bader, Michal Cotler-Wunsh and Edan Alexander.
What We’re Watching
The Israel Policy Forum is hosting a panel discussion this afternoon breaking down President Donald Trump’s peace plan.
A federal shutdown appears increasingly likely to take effect overnight as Congress faces today’s deadline to pass a spending bill, and as talks last night between Trump and senior congressional leadership failed to yield a breakthrough that would keep the government open.
What You Should Know
Jewish groups are rallying behind President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace plan to end the war in Gaza, with organizations from J Street to AIPAC voicing initial support for the proposal, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross.
The plan would see the release of all the remaining Israeli hostages within 72 hours in exchange for an immediate end to the war and the release of more than 2,000 Palestinian convicted terrorists and detainees, 250 of whom are serving life sentences in Israeli prisons. Hamas would also be removed from power in Gaza, with its members either expelled or allowed to remain if they “commit to peaceful co-existence and to decommission their weapons,” according to a copy of the agreement released by the White House.
The agreement would also serve as the foundation for a wider regional peace plan that — if fully implemented — would include recognition of a Palestinian state, something that the current Israeli government strictly opposes. These longer-term portions of the deal are conditional on a yearslong process of Palestinian deradicalization and governmental reform, as well as economic development.
“We welcome today’s announcement of a framework to end the war in Gaza, dismantle Hamas and secure the return of all remaining hostages,” Betsy Berns Korn and William Daroff, the chair and CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, said in a statement. “This proposal offers a credible path forward and the prospect of a new reality in Gaza and the broader Middle East. The burden now rests squarely on Hamas.”
Standing beside Trump as he announced it, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel accepted the framework, despite expressed opposition to certain parts of it — particularly regarding the prospect of an independent Palestinian state — and the furious denunciations by members of his coalition. The plan also has the backing of a number of Arab countries, including Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Hamas’ patron, Qatar. Hamas, however, has yet to weigh in on the matter, though officials from the terror group have told Arab media that the organization is considering it.
Mainstream Jewish organizations almost universally embraced the agreement, while groups on the further fringes of the political spectrum have largely stayed mum on the matter. Philanthropist and World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder, a GOP donor and conservative proponent of a two-state solution, hailed the proposal, particularly for leaving open the possibility of a Palestinian state. “After months of unimaginable suffering, the world must unite behind this plan. The future of the region — and the chance for Israelis and Palestinians alike to live in peace and dignity — depends on it,” he said.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
On a hill overlooking Gaza, a visitor center lets Oct. 7 survivors tell their stories
The site in the southern Israeli town of Sderot was once known as Givat Kobi, literally “Kobi’s Hill.” The lookout, situated less than half a mile from the Gaza border, was named for Kobi Harosh, the former security coordinator of Sderot who used to watch for incoming rocket fire from Gaza from the hill to alert the town’s residents. The site is also known as the Monument of the Four, commemorating four IDF soldiers killed in 2014 while fighting terrorists who had emerged from a nearby tunnel intending to attack Sderot and the nearby Kibbutz Nir Am. It is from this strategic vantage point, heavy with history and conflict, that Yotam Ivry, CEO of Israel-Is, begins tours of his new visitors center, which tells the stories of five survivors of the Oct. 7 terror attacks, reports Rachel Gutman for eJewishPhilanthropy.
Honored memories: The Survived to Tell Visitor Center experience takes participants from 6:29 a.m. on Oct. 7, 2023, when “the birds were chirping, kids were out playing” on what seemed like a beautiful autumn morning, through the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. During a 40-minute session, using 20 screens displaying uncut footage, VR goggles and audio, visitors witness the unimaginable through the eyes of five survivors: Mazal, Remo, Ofir, Malat and Nimrod. Mazal Tazazo, one of the featured survivors, tells the harrowing story of her own survival at the Nova festival. She was struck in the head and her legs were bound; she pretended to be dead for hours in an open field. After losing consciousness, she awakened to the smell of the burning fields and found her two best friends murdered beside her. “Danielle and Yochai were like my siblings. I can’t let their deaths be in vain. By living, by telling our stories, we honor them,” she told reporters on Monday.
HARBORING HATE
Study: Antisemitism ‘thriving in plain sight’ on X
Antisemitism is “thriving in plain sight” on Elon Musk’s social media platform X (formerly Twitter), according to a new study by the Center for Countering Digital Hate and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, reports Danielle Cohen Kanik for eJewishPhilanthropy’s sister publication Jewish Insider.
Breakdown: The study, first shared with CNN, conducted an analysis of over 679,000 antisemitic posts made over a year on the site and found that, despite the platform’s own anti-hate policies and commitment to reduce visibility of hateful content, X “not only tolerates” antisemitic conduct “but allows users to monetize it, giving antisemitic influencers both reach and revenue.” With the assistance of ChatGPT, the study categorized the posts into Jewish control or power conspiracies, Jewish satanic conspiracies and Holocaust denial, with control or power conspiracies accounting for the plurality (44%) of the total likes and views. All posts included were viewed 193 million times in total.
Read the full story here and sign up for Jewish Insider’s Daily Kickoff here.
Bonus: Elon Musk revived his long-standing feud with the Anti-Defamation League yesterday, calling the organization a “hate group” and falsely claiming that it hates Christians…
IT’S THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Want better leaders? Start with better pay
“In recent weeks, I’ve seen several thoughtful pieces in eJewishPhilanthropy about burnout in the Jewish professional world, as well as sobering data on the current mindset of Jewish professionals. Each article raised important points — but I couldn’t help noticing something missing. Not one headline read, ‘Let’s fight burnout by paying people more,’’’ writes Rabbi Joshua Rabin, rabbi of the Astoria Center of Israel in Queens, N.Y., and the author of the Substack “Moneyball Judaism,” in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.
Why it matters: “Most Jewish professionals I know are brimming with intrinsic motivation — that’s why they chose this path. They never expected to become wealthy, but they can recognize when the most critical factor for their professional satisfaction is being overlooked or worse, actively ignored. … When leaders do not explicitly acknowledge the need to pay people what they are worth, it sends a message far louder than any other initiative.”
A COMMUNAL RESPONSIBILITY
Troubling trends in public education demand Jewish leadership
“For many parents, the return to classrooms earlier this month carried the usual blend of excitement and trepidation; yet beneath the normal rhythms of back-to-school lies a troubling reality. Ideological currents once confined to the fringes of academia have moved into mainstream K-12 education. These currents are reshaping how our children learn about history, justice and identity — and too often, Jews and Judaism are being cast in a distorted, even hostile, light,” write Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt, president of the Zionist Rabbinic Coalition, and David Bernstein, founder and CEO of the North American Values Institute, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.
Time to speak out: “We have heard from Jewish families who raise concerns about politicized curricula only to be dismissed, ignored or even shamed. Their legitimate discomfort is too often brushed aside. Teachers and administrators who object face intimidation, leaving them reluctant to speak up. … Some might dismiss these developments as merely culture-war skirmishes. The reality is that what happens in classrooms shapes how the next generation of Americans will perceive Jews, Zionism and Israel.”
Worthy Reads
Data-Driven: In The Chronicle of Philanthropy, M.J. Prest explores how nonprofit leaders and fundraising professionals are using data mining and AI to give donors of all levels the VIP treatment and work more efficiently. For instance, Adventure Project founder and CEO Becky Straw “embraces AI to streamline her workflow. … Over the past three years, she has trained the AI on the Adventure Project’s messaging, website pages, and blog posts to help it learn the charity’s voice and tone. She enabled Hemingway Editor in ChatGPT to ensure communications are written at an 8th-grade reading level, and the Nonprofit Donation Page Optimizer chatbot to sharpen fundraising appeals. Now when she uses ChatGPT, it can draft communications that are approachable and closely mimic the charity’s style. … ‘More people should be using it because it’s an incredible resource that’s really shaved hours off of my week.’” [ChronicleofPhilanthropy]
Jeans on Every Tuchis: The Wall Street Journal’s Suzanne Kapner interviews American Eagle CEO Jay Schottenstein about the company’s marketing success, months after its viral Sydney Sweeney “good genes” ad campaign. “Schottenstein, an Orthodox Jew, was perplexed at the criticism that the campaign smacked of eugenics, the Nazi-embraced theory that selective reproduction can advance the human race. … He said that if he and his team had felt the campaign would be offensive in that way, ‘we never would’ve done it.’ Schottenstein uses a Yiddish word to describe his long-held goal for American Eagle: ‘to put a pair of jeans on every tuchis in the United States.’ The 71-year-old has an uncanny ability to discern what young shoppers want. … While visiting Israel with his granddaughters in 2017, he noticed they were going wild for flow ring bracelets that looked like slinkies. He tracked down the manufacturer and sold them in American Eagle stores, generating nearly $1 million in sales.” [WSJ]
A Blow to Inclusive Learning: In Devex, Pelumi Salako reports on how funding cuts to foreign aid from the U.S. and other countries are impacting educational access for children with disabilities around the world. “At this month’s Inclusion International 18th World Congress, hosted in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, Diane Richler, the chair of Inclusion International’s Catalyst for Inclusive Education, said USAID was the largest funder of inclusive education. This funding was crucial because aid accounts for 12% of education spending in low-income countries and even higher in Niger, Rwanda, and Sierra Leone at 20%, and as much as 50% in the Central African Republic and the Gambia. She told Devex that with the cuts, education suffers, and inclusive education is easily pushed to the back burner because it is not seen as a critical need, such as lifesaving care, but it is important to the empowerment of the disabled.” [Devex]
When to Walk Away: In The Times of Israel, Ruby Chen, whose son, Itay, was killed on Oct. 7, 2023, and whose remains were taken captive and remain in Gaza, describes his disappointment at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent United Nations address. “For a moment, I felt he finally understood what mattered most. He started reading out their names, and I waited for him to read the name of my son, Itay Chen, into the record. But after 20 names, he stopped. I was stunned. Why, on the world’s biggest stage, did he not mention my son’s name? My son. My Itay, who was killed fighting off Hamas terrorists who were on their way to murder Israeli civilians? Is my son less of a hostage? Does Netanyahu see him as invisible, not worthy of bringing home? I was overwhelmed with grief, and, honestly, rage. I wanted to scream out Itai’s name to the chamber. But I didn’t. Maybe I was too well-raised, I don’t know. But I could not just sit there. So I walked out.” [TOI]
Word on the Street
Lawson Bader, the president and CEO of the conservative DonorsTrust donor-advised fund, warned the Trump administration against its crackdowns on progressive donors, arguing that it could set a precedent that could be used in the future against conservatives…
Jewish groups have expressed solidarity with the Church of Latter Day Saints after at least four members were killed in a deadly shooting at a Michigan church and following the recent death of the church’s leader, Russell M. Nelson…
A new study commissioned by the Foundation for the Welfare of Holocaust Victims and International Fellowship of Christians and Jews found that nearly a third of Holocaust survivors in Israel are living below the poverty line…
UJA-Federation of New York has launched a new three-year $15 million pilot fund to help cover the costs of Jewish day school tuition…
Senate and House lawmakers are expected to reintroduce the Pray Safe Act, a long-gestating bill that would create a federal database and clearinghouse for security best practices, training materials and grant opportunities for religious nonprofits, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…
The Department of Justice filed a civil suit yesterday against several protesters and anti-Israel groups for their involvement in a demonstration at a West Orange, N.J., synagogue, Congregation Ohr Torah, last November, Jewish Insider‘s Marc Rod reports…
The first cranes arrived from Russia to Israel’s Hula Valley this week, marking the start of the winter bird migration through the country…
The Associated Press spotlights Community Loaves, a Seattle-area nonprofit that gets hundreds of home bakers to make bread for local food pantries…
A delegation from Chabad-Lubavitch met with top White House officials yesterday, including President Donald Trump, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, Staff Secretary Will Scharf, Liaison to the Jewish Community Martin Marks, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, unofficial advisor Jared Kushner and Senior Advisor Paula White. The meeting was a belated celebration of Education and Learning Day USA, which honors the former Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson…
Pro-Palestinian groups at Yale University are up in arms over a recent $1 million donation that was made by the institution’s donor-advised fund to Friends of the Israel Defense Forces…
Los Angeles Clippers owner and philanthropist Steve Ballmer is facing scrutiny over a $1.875 million donation that he made to the nonprofit Aspiration, which was allegedly used to circumvent the NBA’s salary cap…
A new Moishe House is opening in Washington’s Adams Morgan neighborhood, filling in a gap left by the recent closure of one in Georgetown…
A new New York Times/Siena poll found that 51% of Americans oppose sending U.S. military aid to Israel; a 36% plurality said they sympathize more with the Palestinians, 35% said they sympathize more with the Israelis and 31% said “both equally” or they didn’t know…
Apollo Global Management announced yesterday the launch of Apollo Sports Capital, to be helmed by Al Tylis with the goal of investing in sports franchises, media and events…
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced a competition to design a memorial for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, which will be situated in Brooklyn Bridge Park…
Maurice Shnaider, the uncle of slain Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas, filed a complaint against Iran at the International Criminal Court, accusing the Islamic Republic of complicity in crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide and demanding the issuance of arrest warrants for Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps head Esmail Qaani…
Major Gifts
The Southern California-based Samueli Foundation announced grants totaling $11 million to 138 local nonprofits…
Transitions
Former Israeli MK Michal Cotler-Wunsh, resigned as Israel’s special envoy to combat antisemitism, a voluntary position, citing what she said was the government’s failure to take the issue seriously…
Pic of the Day
Freed American Israeli hostage Edan Alexander (center; black shirt) attends the inauguration of a street named in his honor in his hometown of Tenafly, N.J. yesterday. The street, formally known as River Edge Road, will now be named “Edan Alexander Way.”
Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), who represents the area in the House (third from right), attended the ceremony, alongside members of Alexander’s family and local community leaders.
Birthdays
Chairman and CEO of AMC Entertainment, he is a co-owner of the Philadelphia 76ers, Adam Maximilian Aron turns 71…
Former prime minister of Israel, Ehud Olmert turns 80… IT developer and business analyst, Sanford Kadish… Past president of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, she is on the board of The Tikvah Fund, Rochelle A “Shelly” Kassen… Actress and activist, she completed her second term as president of the SAG-AFTRA trade union a few weeks ago, Fran Drescher turns 68… Professor of mathematical logic at Oxford, Ehud Hrushovski turns 66… Founder and president of the Menomadin Group and president of the Menomadin Foundation, Haim Taib turns 65… Journalist for Haaretz, Allison Kaplan Sommer… Professor of health-care economics at MIT and an architect of Romneycare and Obamacare, Jonathan Gruber turns 60… Leora Lily Ihilevich Usman… Lisa K. Robbins… Israel’s U.N. ambassador until 2024, now global president of Magen David Adom, Gilad Menashe Erdan turns 55… Former SVP of digital product management at The Advertising Council, now a consultant to nonprofits, Anastasia Goodstein… European affairs editor for The Washington Post, David Herszenhorn… CEO of Via Trading Corporation, Jacques Stambouli… President and CEO of Hadar Institute in Manhattan, Rabbi Eliezer “Elie” Kaunfer… Founder and partner at Artemis Strategies, a boutique consultancy, Hildy Kuryk turns 48… Host of NPR’s “All Things Considered,” Ari Michael Shapiro turns 47… Member of the Kentucky House of Representatives since 2023, Daniel Grossberg turns 47… Screenwriter, director, producer and actor, Jonathan Peter Kasdan turns 46… Founder of the Jerusalem-based Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development, Yonatan Neril turns 45… Computer scientist and entrepreneur, he is a co-founder and president of Palantir Technologies, Stephen Cohen turns 43… Chief news editor at Business Insider, Steven Russolillo… Mixed martial artist who competed in the lightweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Natan Levy turns 34…
