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For the Republican Jews whose Vegas confab kicked off the 2024 primary, Trump was always present
LAS VEGAS (JTA) — For Republican Jews looking for an alternative to Donald Trump in 2024’s presidential race, Ted Cruz presented a tantalizing choice on Saturday — at least for a few minutes.
“When I arrived in the Senate 10 years ago, I set a goal to be the leading defender of Israel in the United States,” the Texas senator said during his chance to address the Republican Jewish Coalition conference last weekend.
The crowd packed into a ballroom deep in the gold lame reaches of the Venetian casino complex lapped it up in what some of them refer to as the “kosher cattle call,” auditions for some of the GOP’s biggest campaign donors.
Cruz applied his folksy bellow to phrases already rendered stale by the speakers who preceded him, making them seem fresh. “Nancy Pelosi is out of a job,” he said of the Democratic speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, eliciting more cheers from a crowd relishing a fragile majority in the House, one of few GOP wins during midterm elections earlier this month.
But the onetime constitutional lawyer lost the crowd when he asked everyone to take out their cell phones and text a number associated with his podcast, “Verdict.” As the murmurs graduated into grumbles it became clear: About a third of the 800 or so people in the room were Shabbat-observant Jews, taking texting off the table for them.
Cruz never really recovered his rapport with the audience, which included deep-pocketed donors looking to pick a candidate and rally support for him or her. That made his speech an extreme example of the trajectory of just about every address by prospective presidential hopefuls at the RJC conference — excitement tempered by two nagging questions: Does this candidate have what it takes to beat Trump, whose obsession with litigating the 2020 election helped fuel this year’s electoral losses? And is Trump inevitable whoever challenges him?
The former president was at the center of every presentation and of conversations in the corridors during breaks. On the stage, some folks named him, some did not, but — except for Trump himself during a video address from his Florida home — few did so enthusiastically.
Chris Christie, the former New Jersey governor who was the first of Trump’s primary opponents in 2016 to drop out and endorse him, and then among the first to repudiate him during his presidency, repeated the admonition he made a year ago to move beyond Trump.
Say his name, Christie urged the crowd. “It is time to stop whispering,” he said. “It is time to stop doing the knowing nod, the ‘we can’t talk.’ It’s time to stop being afraid of any one person. It is time to stand up for the principles and the beliefs that we have founded this party on, this country on.” He got big cheers.
Trump was the first candidate to announce for 2024, last week, and so far the only one. But others among the half dozen or so likelys in Las Vegas were clearly signaling a run. Nikki Haley, the former ambassador to the United Nations who is a star among right-wing pro-Israel groups for her successes at the United Nations in marginalizing the Palestinians, all but told the group she was ready.
“A lot of people have asked if I’m going to run for president,” Haley said. “Now that the midterms are over I’ll look at it in a serious way and I’ll have more to say soon.”
The biggest cheers were reserved for Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor who was a bright spot for Republicans on Nov. 8, winning reelection in a landslide. DeSantis listed his pro-Israel bona fides (boycotting Israel boycotters) and his culture wars (taking on Disney after the company protested his “Parents Rights in Education” bill, known among its critics as “Don’t Say Gay”).
The crowd loved it. “The state of Florida is where woke goes to die!” he said to ecstatic cheers.
DeSantis did not once mention Trump; the former president has already targeted him saying whatever success he has he owes to Trump’s endorsement of his 2018 gubernatorial bid and dubbing him “Ron DeSanctimonious.’
Getting the nickname was a clear sign that DeSantis was a formidable opponent, said Fred Zeidman, an RJC board member who has yet to endorse a candidate. “It’s a badge of honor, in that Trump has identified you as a legitimate contender for the presidency,” he said in an interview.
Yet even DeSantis was not a clear Trump successor. The RJC usually heads into campaign-year conferences with a clear idea of which of its board members back which candidates, and then relays the word to Jewish Republicans whom to contact to join a prospective campaign.
That didn’t happen this year, and Trump was the reason. Jewish Republicans are still “shopping” for candidates, Ari Fleischer, the former George W. Bush administration spokesman who is an RJC board member and who also has not endorsed a candidate, said in a gaggle with reporters.
Trump was the elephant in the RJC room, Fleischer said, using the Hebrew word for the animal.
“Donald Trump is the pil in the room. There’s no question about it,” Fleischer said right after Trump spoke. “And he is a former president. He has tremendous strength and you could hear it and feel it with this group, particularly on policy, particularly on the substantive issues that he was able to accomplish in the Middle East. It resonates with many people.”
Trump had earned cheers during his speech as he reviewed the hard-right turn his administration took on Israel policy, moving the embassy to Jerusalem and quitting the Iran nuclear deal, among other measures.
“There are other people, they’re going to look at his style and look at things he’s said, and question if he is too hot to handle,” Fleischer continued.
Trump in his talk at first stuck to a forward-looking script but toward the end of it could not resist repeating his lies about winning the 2020 election. Asked by RJC chairman Norm Coleman how he would expand the Abraham Accords, the normalization agreements he brokered between Israel and four Arab countries, should he be reelected, Trump instead bemoaned the election.
“Well, we had a very disgraceful election,” he said. “We got many millions of votes more than we had in 2016, as you all know, and the result was a disgrace in my opinion, absolute sham and a disgrace.”
It was one of many only-in-Vegas moments at an event that brings together disparate groups, including young secular Jews from university campuses gawking at the glitter, Orthodox Jews lurking at elevators waiting for someone else to push the button so they can get to their rooms, and Christian politicos and their staffers encountering an intensely Jewish environment for the first time.
“Shabbat starts on Friday night and ends on Saturday night,” one young staffer explained to another as they contemplated a “Shabbat Toilet” sign taped to a urinal. “But doesn’t it flush automatically anyway?” asked the other.
South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, another presumed 2020 hopeful, was the only speaker to decry violent attacks on Jews.
“When I think about my brothers and sisters in the Jewish community, in New York City being attacked on the streets of New York, it is time to rise up on behalf of those citizens,” he said. “Rise up against those folks spreading antisemitism, hate and racism.” He was also the only speaker to praise a Democrat, Nevada Sen. Jacky Rosen, with whom he has launched an African-American Jewish coalition in the Senate.
A couple of contenders who have separated themselves from Trump said his name out loud — but with disdain.
“Trump was saying that we’d be winning so much we’d get tired of winning,” said Larry Hogan, who is ending a second term as the governor of a Democratic state, Maryland, with high ratings. “Well, I’m sick and tired of our party losing. This election last week, I’m even more sick and tired than I was before. This is the third election in a row that we lost and should have won. I say three strikes and you’re out.”
Former Vice President Mike Pence peppered his speech with fond references to Trump and his refusal to heed experienced personnel who counseled an even-handed Middle East policy, a move that Pence and the RJC both believe paid off.
Yet Pence also appeared to condemn Trump’s boldest rejection of norms, his effort to overturn his 2020 loss, which spurred an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol in which Pence’s life was threatened. “The American people must know that our party keeps our oath to the Constitution even when political expediency may suggest that we do otherwise,” Pence said.
One contradiction for those in attendance was the longing for Trump’s combativeness while wanting to shuck themselves of Trump’s baggage.
Typical was Alan Kruglak, a Maryland security systems contractor who said he appreciated the pro-business measures Hogan had introduced in his state but was more interested in a fighter like DeSantis.
“Trump did great things, but I think Trump’s past his time, we need younger blood that is less controversial,” said Kruglak, 68. “Trump needs to hand the baton to somebody younger, and who doesn’t have any baggage associated with them but has the same message of being independent.”
The problem is that insiders said Trump still commands the loyalty of about 30% of the party, and that could be insurmountable in a crowded primary.
Trump, Fleischer said, was inevitable as a finalist but he didn’t have to be inevitable as the nominee.
“If there’s five, six, seven real conservative outsider candidates, Donald Trump will win with a plurality because nobody else will come close,” he said. “If there’s only one or two, it’s a fair fight.”
Who would those one or two be? Fleischer would not say. Among the Republican Jews gathered in Las Vegas, no one would.
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Yemen’s Separatists Appear to Split, Reflecting Saudi-UAE Rift
Supporters of the UAE-backed separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC) hold a poster of Aidarous al-Zubaidi, the STC’s leader, who, according to the Saudi-backed coalition, fled to an unknown destination, in Aden, Yemen, Dec. 21, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Fawaz Salman
Yemen’s main separatist group appeared split on Friday as some members announced it was disbanding, reflecting a feud between Gulf powers Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates that was blown into the open by a separatist advance last month.
Saudi-backed fighters have largely retaken areas in southern and eastern Yemen seized by the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) in December, and an STC delegation has traveled to the Saudi capital Riyadh for talks.
However, STC leader Aidarous al-Zubaidi fled Yemen on Wednesday instead of joining the talks, with the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen saying the UAE had helped spirit him away on a flight that was tracked to a military airport in Abu Dhabi.
One of the members who traveled to Riyadh for the talks said in a statement broadcast on Saudi state media on Friday that the group had decided to disband.
But the STC says it has had no communication with the delegation that initiated the talks under Saudi sponsorship.
A spokesperson who did not travel to Riyadh and is close to Zubaidi said any decision on the group’s fate can only be taken by the entire council, including its leader.
Any such decision would only be taken once the delegation in Riyadh “is released,” he said.
Saudi Arabia’s Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman welcomed the decision as a “brave” one. A conference would be held in Saudi Arabia to discuss southern Yemeni issues with all groups invited, he said.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE had previously worked together in a coalition battling the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen’s civil war, a conflict which caused one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
But the two most powerful countries in the Gulf have had sharp differences over issues ranging from geopolitics to oil output. Their rivalry was exposed when the STC advanced to within reach of Yemen’s border with Saudi Arabia, which Riyadh declared a threat to its national security.
The STC on Friday called for mass protests in the southern cities of Aden and Mukalla, urging supporters to rally on Saturday in a show of “loyalty and steadfastness” amid the political crisis.
Authorities in Aden aligned with Yemen’s Saudi-backed government later ordered a ban on demonstrations in the southern city, citing security concerns, according to an official directive seen by Reuters.
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Gal Gadot to Produce, Potentially Star in Paramount Film Adaption of ‘Recovery Agent’ Book Series
Gal Gadot at the 82nd Annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California on Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025. Photo: Dan MacMedan-USA TODAY via Reuters Connect
Paramount Pictures has acquired the rights to the bestselling Recovery Agent book series by Janet Evanovich, and Israeli actress Gal Gadot will produce and potentially star in the feature film, Deadline reported.
The former “Wonder Woman” star and her husband and business partner Jaron Varsano will produce under their television and film production company Pilot Wave, with a screenplay written by Ellen Shanman (“Voltron”). Paramount will also develop and produce the film with Carol Mendelsohn and Julie Weitz from Carol Mendelsohn Productions, according to Deadline.
The Recovery Agent was published in 2022 and its sequel “The King’s Random” was published in November 2025, each by Atria Books. Both books have been New York Times bestsellers. The protagonist in Evanovich’s book series is Gabriela Rose, an international recovery agent who specializes in retrieving stolen or lost high-value items, often in dangerous missions. Her partner is her ex-husband Rafer Burke, and together they travel the world looking for valuable treasures.
Gadot’s most recent credits include Julian Schnabel’s “In the Hand of Dante,” which premiered at the 2025 Venice Film Festival, Kevin Macdonald’s action thriller “The Runner” for Amazon International, and the live-action remake of the Disney classic “Snow White.” Her past credits include the “Wonder Woman” films, the “Fast & Furious” franchise, “Heart of Stone,” and “Red Notice,” which is Netflix’s second most-popular film of all time.
Evanovich has written 46 New York Times bestsellers over the last 28 years and has sold over 200 million books worldwide, according to Deadline. She is also the author of the Stephanie Plum 31-book series and its most recent installment, Now or Never, debuted on top of the New York Times bestseller list.
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Iran Shuts Off Internet as Anti-Regime Protests Intensify Across Country
Protesters gather as vehicles burn, amid evolving anti-government unrest, in Tehran, Iran, in this screen grab obtained from a social media video released on Jan. 9, 2026. Photo: Social Media/via REUTERS
Iran was largely cut off from the outside world on Friday after authorities blacked out the internet to curb growing unrest, as video showed buildings aflame in anti-government protests raging in cities across the country.
Rights groups have already documented dozens of deaths of protesters in nearly two weeks and, with Iranian state TV showing clashes and fires, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported that several police officers had been killed overnight.
In a televised address, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed not to back down, accusing demonstrators of acting on behalf of émigré opposition groups and the United States, and a public prosecutor threatened death sentences.
DOZENS KILLED IN TWO WEEKS OF PROTEST
The protests pose the biggest internal challenge in at least three years to Iran‘s clerical rulers, who look more vulnerable than during past bouts of unrest amid a dire economic situation and after last year’s war with Israel and the United States.
While the initial protests were focused on the economy, with the rial currency losing half its value against the dollar last year and inflation topping 40% in December, they have morphed to include slogans aimed directly at the authorities.
Iranian rights group HRANA said on Friday it had documented the deaths of at least 62 people including 14 security personnel and 48 protesters since demonstrations began on Dec. 28.
The internet blackout has sharply reduced the amount of information flowing out of the country. Phone calls into Iran were not getting through. At least 17 flights between Dubai and Iran were canceled, Dubai Airport’s website showed.
Images published by state television overnight showed what it said were burning buses, cars, and motorbikes as well as fires at underground railway stations and banks.
Videos verified by Reuters as having been taken in the capital Tehran showed hundreds of people marching. In one of the videos, a woman could be heard shouting “Death to Khamenei!”
Other chants included slogans in support of the monarchy.
Iranian rights group Hengaw reported that a protest march after Friday prayers in Zahedan, where the Baluch minority predominates, was met with gunfire that wounded several people.
Authorities have tried a dual approach – describing protests over the economy as legitimate while condemning what they call violent rioters and cracking down with security forces.
Last week President Masoud Pezeshkian urged authorities to take a “kind and responsible approach,” and the government offered modest financial incentives to help counter worsening impoverishment as inflation has soared.
But with unrest spreading and clashes appearing more violent, the Supreme Leader, the ultimate authority in Iran, above the elected president and parliament, used much tougher language on Friday.
“The Islamic Republic came to power through the blood of hundreds of thousands of honorable people. It will not back down in the face of vandals,” he said, accusing those involved in unrest of seeking to please US President Donald Trump.
Tehran’s public prosecutor said those committing sabotage, burning public property, or engaging in clashes with security forces would face the death penalty.
FRAGMENTED OPPOSITION
Iran‘s fragmented external opposition factions called for more protests, and demonstrators have chanted slogans including “Death to the dictator!” and praising the monarchy that was overthrown in 1979.
Reza Pahlavi, exiled son of the late shah, told Iranians in a social media post: “The eyes of the world are upon you. Take to the streets.”
However, the extent of support inside Iran for the monarchy or for the MKO, the most vocal of émigré opposition groups, is disputed. A spokesperson for the MKO said units with the group had taken part in the protests.
“The sense of hopelessness in Iranian society is something today that we haven’t seen before. I mean, that sense of anger has just deepened over the years and we are at record new levels in terms of how Iranian society is upset,” said Alex Vatanka of the Middle East Institute in Washington.
Trump, who bombed Iran last summer and warned Tehran last week that the US could come to the protesters’ aid, said on Friday he would not meet Pahlavi and was “not sure that it would be appropriate” to support him.
Despite the increased pressure, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Friday the chance of foreign military intervention in Iran was “very low.” He said the foreign minister of Oman, which has often interceded in negotiations between Iran and the West, would visit on Saturday.
UN rights chief Volker Turk said he was “deeply disturbed by reports of violence” and by communications shutdowns.
The Islamic Republic has weathered repeated bouts of major nationwide unrest across the decades, including student protests in 1999, mass demonstrations over a disputed election outcome in 2009, demonstrations over economic hardships in 2019, and the Woman, Life, Freedom protests in 2022.
The 2022 protests, sparked by the killing of a young woman in the custody of Iran‘s Islamic morality police, drew a large variety of people onto the streets, with men and women, old and young, rich and poor.
They were ultimately suppressed, with hundreds of people reported killed and thousands imprisoned, but authorities also subsequently ceded some ground with women now routinely disobeying public dress codes.