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A Jewish guide to Chris Christie’s presidential campaign, starting with his Trump and Kushner feuds
(JTA) — As he has launched his long-shot campaign for the Republican nomination, Chris Christie has taken aim squarely at the man he once enthusiastically endorsed: Donald Trump.
But alongside portraying the former president as a danger to democracy, Christie has singled out another person for criticism who is not running for president, and who may not even work on a campaign: Jared Kushner, Trump’s Jewish son-in-law and senior adviser.
The Christie-Kushner feud goes back two decades, dating back to when Christie prosecuted a case that sent Kushner’s father to prison. The feud played a decisive role in freezing the former New Jersey governor out of the Trump administration and is making a reappearance as Christie tries again for the White House, following a news-making but unsuccessful 2016 run.
It’s also one of the many ways Christie’s career, forged in a state with more than half a million Jews, has intersected with Jewish issues and public figures. Whether the Garden State candidate claims the nomination or plays the spoiler, as he did eight years ago, here’s what you need to know about Chris Christie and the Jews.
He grew up in North Jersey with Jewish friends
Christie was born in Newark, but raised in Livingston, a heavily Jewish town in northern New Jersey, where he made a lot of Jewish friends at high school.
Among them was Harlan Coben, the bestselling author of potboilers, who once told a Christie biographer, “If you were to ask who in our class would end up being governor, most people would tell you Chris Christie.”
Another was David Wildstein, a top aide whom Christie named to a senior position at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and who pleaded guilty to involvement in what became known as “Bridgegate,” a scheme to shut down toll lanes for the George Washington Bridge. (Christie claimed no knowledge of the scheme.)
His brother Todd is married to a Jewish woman. A COVID-19 outbreak at their son’s bar mitzvah in 2021, in the midst of the pandemic, led to the temporary closure of a middle school.
He also has intersected with Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, the author, onetime Republican candidate and New Jersey denizen. In 2015, with Boteach looking on, Christie condemned the Iran nuclear deal spearheaded by President Barack Obama.
He advanced Orthodox-friendly policies as governor
New Jersey has a substantial Orthodox Jewish population, and Christie advocated policies and put forward messages that have traditionally appealed to Orthodox voters. Like another Republican candidate, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Christie advanced school vouchers and other changes that would drive public money to private Jewish schools, although Christie was unsuccessful in launching a voucher program in his state.
As governor, he traveled to Israel and signed a bill prohibiting the state from investing in companies that boycott Israel. But foreign policy has never been his focus or strength: Israel rates no mention at all in his 2019 autobiography, and in 2014, he apologized to the late Republican megadonor Sheldon Adelson for using the term “occupied territories” in reference to the West Bank at a Republican Jewish Coalition event. Supporters of Israeli settlements dispute that Israel is occupying the area.
He clashed with Jared Kushner — and lost
In 2004, real estate mogul Charles Kushner pleaded guilty to tax fraud, witness retaliation and making false statements to the Federal Election Commission, and spent 14 months in prison in Alabama. It was a victory for Christie, then a U.S. attorney.
But 12 years later, that victory would lead to a defeat. Christie was the first among the primary candidates in 2016 to drop out and endorse Trump, and worked hard to secure him the nomination and the presidency. Trump wanted to reward Christie with a top job and named him transition chief. Almost immediately, however, Jared Kushner, Charles’ son, got Christie fired.
Christie saw it coming, he wrote in his 2019 book, where he described the younger Kushner’s initial attempt to talk Trump out of naming Christie transition chief. “It wasn’t fair,” Christie quoted Kushner telling Trump regarding his father’s imprisonment. “You don’t know what it was like for me. Almost every weekend, I flew to Alabama to visit. He didn’t deserve to be there.”
After he was fired, Christie wrote that he learned that a 30-binder transition plan he scripted for Trump had ended up in a dumpster.
Christie remains focused on the Kushners. They earned a place in the subtitle of his autobiography, “Let Me Finish: Trump, the Kushners, Bannon, New Jersey, and the power of in-your-face politics.” An NPR review of the book says, “Christie’s main beef is with Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of President Trump. Christie blames the young Kushner for ousting him from Trump’s inner circle.”
Kushner and his wife, Trump’s daughter Ivanka, also occupied a dubious place in Christie’s campaign launch in New Hampshire on Tuesday night.
“The grift from this family is breathtaking, it’s breathtaking! Jared Kushner and Ivanka Kushner walked out of the White House, and months later he gets $2 billion from the Saudis,” Christie told the crowd. “You think it’s because he’s some kind of investing genius? Or do you think it’s because he was sitting next to the president of the United States for four years, doing favors for the Saudis? That’s your money. That’s your money he stole and gave it to his family. So that makes us a banana republic.”
He has drawn a parallel between Trump and an antisemitic right-wing movement
Christie has made no secret that his principal aim is to neutralize the man he was among the first to endorse in 2016, because he now sees Trump as a menace. Speaking at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual conference last year, he illustrated his criticism of Trump via a comparison to a foe of Israel — Iran.
“Every day we need to stand with the only democracy in the Middle East with Israel and stand against the terrorism of Iran, all across the world,” he said. “Because whether you’re talking about Iran, or whether you’re talking about those who aspire to this in our country, authoritarian dictators only want one thing — they just want one more chance to fool the crowd one more time.”
Reelecting Trump, he said, would diminish America’s standing in the world. “But if we’re not doing [democracy] here, we can’t stand up in those other countries and tell them to do it,” he said. “It’s time for us to get our house in order.”
Christie, who was cheered throughout much of his speech, knew the room, which was packed with donors and activists who appreciated Trump’s vehemently pro-Israel foreign policy, but who were wary of his mercurial personality and his flirtations with the far-right. Christie also drew a parallel between Trump and the right-wing John Birch Society of the mid-20th century.
“It was a dangerous time where Republican politicians throughout the country were afraid. They were afraid to speak out. They were afraid to oppose these folks. Because what they were told was if you oppose them, you cannot win a Republican primary. You cannot be a nominee.”
He also was among the first and most outspoken Republican voices to condemn Trump last year for dining with antisemites Kanye West and Nick Fuentes.
Over the years, Christie has had plenty of Jewish donors, including veteran Virginia-based fund-raisers William and Bobbie Kilberg. It’s not clear yet whether past contributors, including hedge funder Steve Cohen and Nick Loeb, the innovator of Onion Crunch, will back him this time.
“Somebody has to directly take on Trump and make it clear that he’s a danger to the future of democracy and that we cannot have him as our nominee,” Bobbie Kilberg told The Philadelphia Inquirer last week. “Chris is running to do that directly and forcibly. Only time can tell whether he can succeed, but it’s exceedingly important to put yourself out there.”
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How hostage families responded to learning that a ceasefire deal would return their loved ones
(JTA) — When the news broke in Tel Aviv that Israel and Hamas had, at long last, reached a deal that would return their sons, Einav Zangauker and Michael Ilouz embraced. Then Ilouz picked Zangauker up and danced, his unbridled joy commanding his body.
It was one of dozens of displays of jubilation captured on video of families who have rarely, if ever, had reason to smile in the public eye.
The families were all thrust into grim fraternity on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel and abducted 250 people. At first, there were thousands of family members lobbying for the hostages’ release, but over the course of two ceasefires and as more information emerged about the conditions of the hostages, only 20 families still faced
Many of them have become well known within Israel and beyond for their indefatigable efforts to bring their sons, husbands and fathers home. Now, their glee is going viral.
Talia Berman, mother of hostages Gali and Ziv, was seen in a video posted to Instagram breaking down in tears and dancing in the arms of Emily Damari, their best friend who was released in a temporary ceasefire in January.
“Hugging Mama Talia and seeing her smile is the best thing that has happened to me since I returned,” wrote Damari in a post on Instagram.
Several hostage families and former hostages on a lobbying trip in Washington, D.C., were captured embracing and grinning ear-to-ear while learning the news of the ceasefire. They shouted a chorus of “thank you” to Trump on the phone as they met with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, in a video posted by the Hostage Families Forum.
Within the group were the freed American-Israeli hostage Keith Siegel and Arbel Yehud and Iair Horn, former hostages who were released earlier this year without their loved ones — Yehud’s partner Ariel Cunio and Horn’s brother Eitan.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DPlt7CsjUUi/?img_index=3
And Alana Zeitchik, an American relative of the hostage David Cunio, Ariel’s brother posted a triumphant WhatsApp from her cousin Sharon Alony, David’s wife. Alony and her twin daughters were released from Hamas captivity in November 2023.
“It’s official – DAVID IS COMING HOME,” Alony wrote. Zeitchik responded with more than 30 emojis signifying crying.
Other former hostages also expressed their relief at the release of those still in captivity.
“I can’t believe it. Elkana, Yosef, Segev, Bar, Maksym, you’re coming home to your families,” said former hostage Ohad Ben Ami in a video posted on Instagram. “I can’t believe it. I can’t believe I’m going to see you, hug you…wow, I’m so excited.”
Former hostage Omar Wenkert wrote on Instagram: “Finally you’re coming back to life, can’t wait to hold you. My heart’s wish is coming true! Guy, Evyatar and all the kidnapped. Is this how it feels when dreams come true?”
The post How hostage families responded to learning that a ceasefire deal would return their loved ones appeared first on The Forward.
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Why Trump was able to succeed with a Gaza peace plan where Biden failed
If Donald Trump’s Gaza ceasefire deal delivers, American Jews and supporters of Israel will get what they have yearned for since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks — the return of the hostages, an end to Palestinian suffering, and a credible plan to remove Hamas as a military and governing force in Gaza.
What complicates the possible resolution is that the plan’s authors, Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, are deeply unpopular figures among liberal Jews.
As news of the deal spread, Orthodox and politically conservative Jews, already among Trump’s strongest supporters, said they were vindicated. The Republican Jewish Coalition said that Trump not only merited the Nobel Peace Prize he has long sought, the award should be renamed for him. Netanyahu also called for Trump to win the Nobel.
Rabbi Ari Berman of Yeshiva University, who delivered the benediction at Trump’s inauguration in January, thanked God for “raising up” Trump to bring the hostages home.
Jewish groups affiliated with the Democratic Party avoided effusive praise for Trump, describing the deal as a “momentous” first step in a broader goal of creating the conditions for an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and lasting peace.
When liberals mentioned Trump, it was begrudgingly. “Trump gets what he wants because he is a bully. Period,” Elana Sztokman, an Israeli American on the left, wrote. “And apparently, bullying was what was necessary to get this ceasefire done.”
The response reflected a Jewish community supportive of Israel’s security, exhausted by the ongoing war and deeply skeptical of its current leadership. A recent Washington Post survey of 815 Jewish Americans found that only 46% approved of Israel’s conduct in Gaza and 68% rated Netanyahu’s leadership of Israel as poor or fair. It mirrored polling after the joint Israeli and U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites earlier this year: cautious approval of the outcome and concern about escalation.
Recent polls show Democratic voters generally are increasingly sympathetic to Palestinians. Zohran Mamdani’s primary win in the race for New York City mayor is prompting mainstream Democrats with national ambitions to mimic his sharp criticism of Israel.
The 20-point plan — relief first, reconstruction and governance later, backed by Arab regional partners — gives both leaders a much-needed win. Trump can claim he succeeded where former President Joe Biden could not, securing his legacy and fulfilling a key campaign promise to both Arab American voters and his MAGA base to end the conflict. Netanyahu, meanwhile, deeply unpopular among Israelis who blame him for failing to prevent the Oct. 7 massacres, enters an election year with a diplomatic win, his right-wing coalition intact for now, and tangible results to show for what he called a seven-front war of redemption.
In Israel, there was unfettered jubilation. Across the political map, from Netanyahu loyalists to his harshest critics, Trump was hailed as the leader Israelis had longed for. A farmer who has used his land to send political messages in the past plowed the words “Nobel 4 Trump” into his fields. A town in Israel’s north said it was renaming its soccer stadium for Trump.
In his first interview after the deal was announced on Wednesday, Trump said that he told Netanyahu his post-war plan would enhance Israel’s standing in America and globally.
Why Trump succeeded where Biden failed
The Trump plan closely resembles the three-phase plan Biden outlined in April 2024, which called for postwar rebuilding, the removal of Hamas and a long-term regional strategy. The ceasefire-hostage deal signed in January, with the backing of both Biden and Trump, collapsed after just 42 days.
Gershon Baskin, a veteran Israeli hostage negotiator and an early conduit between U.S. envoys and Hamas, argued that Biden’s insistence on partial ceasefires rather than a full end to the war weakened America’s hand. Biden, Baskin said, was weakened by his concessions to Netanyahu, who feared that a long-term ceasefire would collapse his far-right coalition.
“To me, it was clear that President Biden projected American weakness while President Trump projects American power,” Baskin wrote in a Substack post. “From that moment, on December 26, 2024 it was clear to me that the only way that the war would come to an end is when President Trump makes the decision that it has to end.”
Trump also entered negotiations with advantages Biden never had.
First, there were no “daylight” theatrics. Biden’s public clashes with Netanyahu — over the judicial overhaul and Israel’s operation in Rafah — created visible friction. When Biden called for protections for Palestinian civilians and increased humanitarian aid, Netanyahu openly defied him. Trump, by contrast, backed Israel’s war goals, praised Netanyahu’s leadership and kept most disagreements behind closed doors.
Second, Trump focused on outcomes, not empathy. In her memoir 107 Days, former Vice President Kamala Harris wrote that Biden often appeared “inadequate and forced” when addressing Palestinian suffering, constrained by his strong emotional attachment to Israel.
Trump didn’t dwell on empathy. He was blunt. He called the war a “public relations disaster” and said his goal was simple: stop wars and bring peace. For an anxious Israeli public, that direct language resonated.
Finally, Trump’s transactional style and focus on results made his approach more effective. Netanyahu, who has over the last decade all but abandoned any pretense at cultivating Democrats, placed all his eggs in the Republican basket: He could not defy Trump.
Trump’s envoys — Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff — enjoy deep ties with governmental and business elites in Qatar and Turkey, two governments that are close to Hamas. Democrats had strained those relationships over human-rights disputes. The countries returned to the negotiations now as regional powerbrokers.
Another spur for Qatar: Trump enhanced the already expansive U.S. security relationship with the Gulf monarchy and pressured Netanyahu to apologize for an Israeli strike on the country’s capital targeting Hamas leadership.
That left Netanyahu no choice but to oblige. Trump, who plans to visit Israel and address the Knesset, will likely reward the embattled Israeli leader with the political backing needed to push the deal through and to jump-start a reelection bid.
JTA contributed to this report.
The post Why Trump was able to succeed with a Gaza peace plan where Biden failed appeared first on The Forward.
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How hostage families responded to learning that a ceasefire deal would return their loved ones
When the news broke in Tel Aviv that Israel and Hamas had, at long last, reached a deal that would return their sons, Einav Zangauker and Michael Ilouz embraced. Then Ilouz picked Zangauker up and danced, his unbridled joy commanding his body.
It was one of dozens of displays of jubilation captured on video of families who have rarely, if ever, had reason to smile in the public eye.
The families were all thrust into grim fraternity on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel and abducted 250 people. At first, there were thousands of family members lobbying for the hostages’ release, but over the course of two ceasefires and as more information emerged about the conditions of the hostages, only 20 families still faced
Many of them have become well known within Israel and beyond for their indefatigable efforts to bring their sons, husbands and fathers home. Now, their glee is going viral.
Talia Berman, mother of hostages Gali and Ziv, was seen in a video posted to Instagram breaking down in tears and dancing in the arms of Emily Damari, their best friend who was released in a temporary ceasefire in January.
“Hugging Mama Talia and seeing her smile is the best thing that has happened to me since I returned,” wrote Damari in a post on Instagram.
Several hostage families and former hostages on a lobbying trip in Washington, D.C., were captured embracing and grinning ear-to-ear while learning the news of the ceasefire. They shouted a chorus of “thank you” to Trump on the phone as they met with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, in a video posted by the Hostage Families Forum.
Within the group were the freed American-Israeli hostage Keith Siegel and Arbel Yehud and Iair Horn, former hostages who were released earlier this year without their loved ones — Yehud’s partner Ariel Cunio and Horn’s brother Eitan.
And Alana Zeitchik, an American relative of the hostage David Cunio, Ariel’s brother posted a triumphant WhatsApp from her cousin Sharon Alony, David’s wife. Alony and her twin daughters were released from Hamas captivity in November 2023.
“It’s official – DAVID IS COMING HOME,” Alony wrote. Zeitchik responded with more than 30 emojis signifying crying.
Other former hostages also expressed their relief at the release of those still in captivity.
“I can’t believe it. Elkana, Yosef, Segev, Bar, Maksym, you’re coming home to your families,” said former hostage Ohad Ben Ami in a video posted on Instagram. “I can’t believe it. I can’t believe I’m going to see you, hug you…wow, I’m so excited.”
Former hostage Omar Wenkert wrote on Instagram: “Finally you’re coming back to life, can’t wait to hold you. My heart’s wish is coming true! Guy, Evyatar and all the kidnapped. Is this how it feels when dreams come true?”
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The post How hostage families responded to learning that a ceasefire deal would return their loved ones appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.