Good Wednesday morning. 

In today’s Daily Kickoff, we report on Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s comments on Iran at yesterday’s Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, and cover former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee’s confirmation hearing yesterday before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. We also look at the state of the race in Florida’s deep-red 6th Congressional District, where state Sen. Randy Fine, a Republican, is being heavily outspent by his Democratic challenger ahead of next week’s special election, and report on how Jewish social services agencies are preparing for widespread funding cuts. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Michael Dell, Ilana Gritzewsky and Ilan Goldenberg.

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Video emerged late Tuesday of what appeared to be large demonstrations of Palestinians in Gaza protesting against Hamas, which for nearly two decades has ruled the enclave with an iron fist and wrought destruction and misery on its 2 million residents, Jewish Insider Executive Editor Melissa Weiss reports.

The protests, which largely occurred in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya, are the largest anti-Hamas protests since the terrorist group launched its attacks on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, murdering 1,200 people and taking hundreds hostage.

Video posted online from the protests showed throngs of men chanting, “Out, Out, Out, Hamas out” and “We want an end to the war.”

Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, a U.S.-based researcher from Gaza who has been outspoken about his opposition to the terror group, called the protests “organic, popular-led, and entirely authentic expressions of frustrations, anger, rage, fury, and exhaustion by a people being held hostage by Hamas's ruthless terrorism & criminality.”

Earlier this week, Israeli forces moved to evacuate portions of Beit Lahiya, from which Palestinian Islamic Jihad had fired rockets at Israel. 

The protests come after the renewal of the war in Gaza following a two-month lull in fighting during a ceasefire brokered by the U.S., Egypt and Qatar, during which time Hamas had time to regroup, and residents had the time and space to consider a potential future free of war before the death toll began to rise again and fresh evacuation orders were issued by the IDF. In recent days, the IDF has killed a number of senior Hamas officials, including participants in the 10/7 attacks.

The ceasefire collapsed after an impasse over disagreements on moving forward with the ceasefire and hostage-release deal. Israel sought to extend the first phase of the deal after it was completed several weeks ago, instead of negotiating the second phase that was expected to involve further Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, which Israel is opposed to while Hamas remains in power. U.S. negotiators suggested two interim deals with the aim of maintaining a ceasefire through Ramadan and Passover, which ends in mid-April, but Hamas did not agree to the terms, insisting on continuing to the second phase of the original agreement.

Israel reportedly sent messages to Palestinians in Gaza yesterday, telling them, “the solution is in your hands, and Hamas is insisting on taking you to hell.” 

Hamas has long been accused of stealing and redirecting humanitarian aid that has come in through Israeli and Egyptian border crossings — and then taxing what aid does make it to Gazans and keeping the revenues to bolster its coffers. 

Beyond that, Hamas has for years used civilian installations — including hospitals, schools and U.N. facilities — to conduct attacks on Israeli targets, putting those Palestinians in the vicinity of those facilities in danger.

A Gallup poll of Palestinians in Gaza taken earlier this month and reported this week by the U.K.’s Telegraph found that just over half of Gazans would consider leaving the enclave — either permanently or temporarily — if given the opportunity to do so, with younger Gazans and those living in the areas of Khan Younis and Gaza City more likely to want to leave.

This week’s protests in Gaza are the first sign of a potential tide shift on the ground that could destabilize the terrorist regime that has wrought death and destruction on the people of Gaza. But protests alone will not be enough to destabilize Hamas, which still enjoys support from its sponsors across the region. It’s a moment of opportunity for negotiators to seize upon — but only by doing so strategically will they be able to chart a new course for the region.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said Tuesday that the intelligence community maintains its assessment from prior years that Iran is not currently actively pursuing a nuclear weapon, but that open discussion of nuclearization has increased inside the regime, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

Status update: “The IC continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader Khamanei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program he suspended in 2003,” Gabbard said in her opening remarks at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing. But, Gabbard added, “In the past year, we have seen an erosion of a decades-long taboo in Iran on discussing nuclear weapons in public, likely emboldening nuclear weapons advocates within Iran's decision-making apparatus. Iran's enriched uranium stockpile is at its highest levels and is unprecedented for a state without nuclear weapons.”

Read the full story here.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said he would work to support President Donald Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon during his confirmation hearing to be U.S. ambassador to Israel on Tuesday, saying that he believes “it is better to bankrupt them than it is to bomb them,” Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports.

Palestinians and prospects for peace: The former governor received a chilly reaction from Democrats on the committee, who pressed him over his past expressions of support for Israeli annexation of the West Bank and opposition to a Palestinian state. Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) pressed Huckabee on how he reconciled his opposition to a two-state solution when the Saudis have conditioned any normalization deal with Israel on Israeli recognition of a Palestinian state. Huckabee said a “cultural shift” was necessary on the Palestinian side to allow for lasting peace in the region. “To see people who are raised up with an irrational hatred toward Jewish people, that cannot lead to any level of peaceful coexistence, whether it's here, there or anywhere else on the planet,” Huckabee told Rosen.  

Read the full story here.

Four leading AI large language models — including those used by Meta and Google — display “concerning” anti-Israel and antisemitic bias, according to new research from the Anti-Defamation League, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.

Asking AI: The ADL study — which the group calls “the most comprehensive evaluation to date of anti-Jewish and anti-Israel bias in major LLMs” — asked GPT (OpenAI), Claude (Anthropic), Gemini (Google), and Llama (Meta) to evaluate statements 8,600 times and received a total of 34,400 responses. The statements fell into the following categories: bias against Jews; bias against Israel; the Israel-Hamas war; Jewish and Israeli conspiracy theories and tropes (excluding Holocaust); Holocaust conspiracy theories; and tropes and non-Jewish conspiracy theories and tropes. Some of the prompts included ethnically recognizable names and others were left anonymous, which resulted in a difference in the LLMs’ answers based on the user’s name or lack thereof.

Read the full story here.

Florida state Sen. Randy Fine had long been viewed as a virtual lock for the House seat in Florida’s 6th Congressional District. But surging fundraising by his long-shot Democratic challenger has fueled concerns that the Jewish Republican might be slipping in the deep-red district, which Republicans had expected to win easily, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

State of play: Republicans say they expect Fine to win the seat in the April 1 special election, but some leading Republicans have publicly said in recent days that his campaign has faced challenges. Democrat Josh Weil has raised close to $10 million, while Fine has raised less than $600,000, and recently contributed $600,000 of his own funds to the race. That cash advantage allowed Weil to begin running television ads weeks before Fine, though Weil has now burned through most of his war chest. The district, centered in Daytona Beach, backed President Donald Trump with 64% of the vote in last year’s election. 

Read the full story here.

A bipartisan group of senators and House members introduced a bill on Tuesday to impose sanctions on the Popular Resistance Committees, reportedly the third-largest terrorist group in Gaza, which claimed credit for participating in the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel and is not currently designated by the U.S. as a terrorist organization, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

Take two: The bill was introduced for the first time in the Senate by Sens. Pete Ricketts (R-NE) and Adam Schiff (D-CA), and reintroduced in the House by Reps. Brad Sherman (D-CA), David Kustoff (R-TN), Michael McCaul (R-TX), Brad Schneider (D-IL), Mike Lawler (R-NY) and Sarah McBride (D-DE).

Read the full story here.

More than 100 American Jewish organizations provide social services to community members in need across the country, and most of them rely on federal funds to pay for at least part of their work, along with Jewish communal philanthropy and support from local governments. Now, these agencies are bracing for impact if the Trump administration significantly shrinks its spending footprint, as President Donald Trump has pledged to do, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.

In the lurch: The budget blueprint passed by the House in February with Trump’s support calls for at least $1.5 trillion in spending cuts, which are likely to affect Medicaid and federal hunger programs. In the meantime, the organizations that provide services to recipients of entitlement programs are left scrambling. “Cuts to those programs would affect the vast majority of the individuals and families we serve, increasing community needs significantly and straining our capacity to assist them with issues like food and housing security and access to health care and other basic needs,” said Karen Mozenter, CEO of Jewish Family Services in Columbus, Ohio. 

Read the full story here.

Warrior Mentality: In City Journal, Joe Lonsdale calls on Christians and Jews to unite against antisemitism that is gaining traction in modern discourse. “Throughout Jewish history, there has been a tension between intellectual tradition and a warrior spirit. For centuries, diaspora Jews survived through wit and wisdom, often maintaining low profiles to avoid persecution. Israel’s founding changed that. It required reclaiming an ancient warrior spirit. American Jews, while thriving intellectually, still often adopt the cautious European approach to confrontation. But with anti-Semitism surging — both online and in physical attacks — diaspora Jews must now channel their inner warriors and speak out boldly. We are not ashamed; we will not run or hide. We can also look to our Christian friends for support. Scapegoating is at the heart of anti-Semitism — easing social tensions by blaming Jews for problems they didn’t cause. French Catholic philosopher and literary critic René Girard observed that societies have long united through the violent targeting of scapegoats, a cycle reflected in many ancient myths.” [CityJournal]

Foreign Policy on the Fly: The Wall Street Journal’s Alex Ward looks at how President Donald Trump’s approach to policymaking has upended traditional practices and sowed disagreements among top officials and advisors. “Distrustful of the so-called ‘deep state’ of bureaucrats and career public servants, Trump’s team sidelined government agencies even before he returned to the White House. His campaign resisted informing the Federal Bureau of Investigation that it had been hacked separately by China and Iran. After winning the election, it stopped the bureau from performing background checks on incoming senior officials. Once in office, Trump hired special envoys for Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Latin America, choosing diplomatic novices in some cases and sparking turf battles with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, among others, over who drives decision-making. The lack of coordination has often manifested in contradictory policy messages — confusing allies and adversaries about where Washington stands. The Signal messages revealed by the Atlantic showed that Vice President JD Vance, fiercely loyal to Trump in public, disagreed with his boss on the wisdom of imminently striking the Houthis.” [WSJ]

Into the Breach: The Atlantic’s Jonathan Lemire reports on how the White House is addressing the recent security breach in which a journalist was added to a group chat of senior administration officials planning strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen. “But for some within the West Wing, there was a sense of a serious mistake. Many in the administration recall the sloppiness and chaos of Trump’s first term and have prided themselves on conducting a smoother and more professional operation so far this time around. The episode with the group chat evoked the disorganization of Trump 1.0, officials said. When Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt took to X this morning to downplay the contents of the thread, some Trump allies privately expressed fear that she was opening up the White House to further problems if the facts did not ultimately match her characterization. There was less immediate scrutiny of Hegseth among Trump allies; the defense secretary resonates with the president’s base in a way that Waltz does not. Still, the two officials told me that — unless the story truly snowballs in the days ahead — Trump is unlikely to push out his national security adviser. Optics, and not national security, are paramount in Trump’s reasoning. ‘The last thing he wants to do is give you guys [in the media] a scalp,’ one of the officials said.” [TheAtlantic]

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President Donald Trump is expected to nominate L. Brent Bozell III to be U.S. ambassador to South Africa; following Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attacks, Bozell posted an emergency fundraising appeal on his Media Research Center’s website, saying “Israel is fighting for its very existence”... 

The U.S. announced sanctions on three Iranian intelligence agents believed to be “involved in the abduction, detention, and probable death” of former FBI agent Bob Levinson; Levinson, who disappeared while on Iran’s Kish Island in 2007, was believed to have been killed in captivity and declared dead in absentia in 2020…

U.S. officials reportedly gave the new government of Syria a list of conditions that Damascus needs to fulfill in exchange for a partial lifting of U.S. sanctions; among the demands were that foreign fighters not be placed in senior governmental roles, and that Damascus create a liaison to assist American authorities attempting to locate missing journalist Austin Tice…

Secretary of State Marco Rubio met in Washington on Tuesday with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan; a State Department readout of the meeting said Rubio “reiterated the need for close cooperation to support a stable, unified, peaceful Syria that is neither a base for international terrorism nor a pathway for destabilizing Iranian activities”...

Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel will cede control of the company and become executive chair of talent agency WME Group following Silver Lake’s $25 million takeover of Endeavor…

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie is gifting a $134K Rivian electric SUV to the city’s government, replacing the Chevy Tahoe that was previously used by the city’s mayor…

A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to halt a deportation effort against a South Korean-born Columbia student who participated in the disruption of an Israeli history class in January…

A new lawsuit filed on behalf of the families of some of the victims of the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks as well as hostages alleges coordination between the terrorist group and a number of anti-Israel activist groups at Columbia…

The New York Times spotlights the role that Hillel plays on college campuses at a time of increased division in campus Jewish communities tied to the Israel-Hamas war…

German Ambassador to Israel Steffen Seibert raised concerns about the recent detention of German journalist Christian Meier, who was part of a group involved in a confrontation with extremist settlers in the West Bank; the Union of Journalists in Israel similarly condemned Meier’s detention…

The Knesset passed a long-delayed state budget last night by a vote of 66-52; families of the remaining 59 hostages as well as opposition leaders protested the budget during the vote… 

In an interview with The New York Times, former hostage Ilana Gritzewsky reveals details of her captivity, including the sexual assaults she endured at the hands of her Hamas captors; Gritzewsky’s partner, Matan Zangauker, remains a hostage in Gaza…

Bank Leumi CEO Hanan Friedman, speaking at the Mind the Tech conference in New York, said that American businessman and philanthropist Michael Dell is investing in the bank’s technology fund…

Ilan Goldenberg, who was Vice President Kamala Harris’ Jewish outreach director during the 2024 presidential campaign, is joining J Street as senior vice president and chief policy officer; Goldenberg served in the Biden administration as Harris’ Middle East advisor, and also held national security roles at the Pentagon and State Department…

Mercury Public Affairs announced the promotion of Managing Director Jonathan Greenspun to partner…

Nicole Rosen, whose Rosen Communications boutique firm specialized in Jewish affairs, is joining BerlinRosen as an executive vice president, and will head up the firm's new Jewish affairs practice; Rosen previously worked in the offices of Sens. Chris Dodd and Arlen Specter and Rep. Jim Maloney, as well as the Gore/Lieberman 2020 presidential campaign…

Israeli industrialist Stef Wertheimer, whose ISCAR metalworking company was Berkshire Hathaway's first significant acquisition abroad, died at 98…

Entrepreneur Joe Lonsdale was honored at the Chabad Young Professionals "Bringing It Home" gala last night in New York City. Sequoia Capital's Shaun Maguire and OakTree Capital’s Adam Shapiro were also honored at the event. 

Judoka in the under 52 kg weight category, she appeared for Israel in the 2024 Olympics, Gefen Primo turns 25...

Argentine-born, Israeli clarinetist who specializes in klezmer music, Giora Feidman turns 89... Former member of the Knesset for eight years, he held several ministerial portfolios, Rabbi Yitzhak Haim Peretz turns 87... Award-winning novelist and poet, her debut novel in 1973, Fear of Flying, has sold over 37 million copies, Erica Jong turns 83... Philanthropist active in the U.K. and in Israel, she is the founder of London's Jewish Community Centre, Dame Vivien Louise Duffield turns 79... Southern California resident, Martin J. Rosmarin... Retired ENT surgeon, author of five books and former medical correspondent at ABC News and NBC News, Nancy Lynn Snyderman, MD turns 73... Molecular biologist and winner of the 2024 Nobel Prize in medicine, Gary Bruce Ruvkun turns 73... Chancellor of The Jewish Theological Seminary, Dr. Shuly Rubin Schwartz turns 72... Former president and CEO of the Ottawa-based Public Policy Forum, now an executive advisor at Deloitte, Edward Greenspon... Actress who has appeared in many movies over a 30-year career, in 2010 she was the winner of Season 11 of “Dancing with the Stars,” Jennifer Grey turns 65... Lori Tarnopol Moore... Patent attorney from Detroit, she currently serves on the Michigan State Board of Education, Ellen Cogen Lipton turns 58... Englewood, N.J., resident, Deena Remi Thurm... Co-founder of Google, Larry Page turns 52... Founder, president and CEO of Waxman Strategies, Michael Waxman turns 51... Israeli actor and model, Yonatan Uziel turns 50... Curator and historian of Jewish art and history, Dr. Ido Noy turns 46... Talk show host who founded Israel Sports Radio, Ari Louis turns 42... Actress best known for her roles in ABC's sitcom "Suburgatory" and the USA Network's drama "Mr. Robot," Carly Chaikin turns 35... Rapper and Internet personality, known professionally as Bhad Bhabie, Danielle Peskowitz Bregoli turns 22…