At 8 a.m. on Aug. 30, a crowd was already queuing at the doors of Above the Block banquet space in West Los Angeles for the third annual Jewish American Summit (JAS). Over 1,000 people attended, with at least 100 present to stake out a good seat when the doors opened.
The JAS was conceptualized at an Israel Bonds mastermind group three years ago on what co-founder Boris Epstein called “just another Thursday.” Epstein said Rabbi Aryeh Markman, executive director of Aish LA, came to the group with a problem: the Jewish banquet concept was outdated.
“Who goes to banquets? Maybe people still go to banquets, I don’t know, but that was what he felt at the time, and we needed a refreshed concept for the banquet,” Epstein said. JAS co-founder and Co-Executive Producer Mike Drath said, “To see more than a thousand passionate, smiling and engaged people from across our community come together in the big tent we created with JAS, inspired and invigorated by such powerful voices, was deeply fulfilling and emotional.”
The opening speaker was Jay Sures, vice chairman of United Talent Agency and one of 18 University of California Regents. Sures said the response to antisemitism on UC campuses has changed since the UCLA encampments in 2024, when Jewish students were blocked from parts of campus. The room groaned when Sures spoke about pro-Palestinian protesters coming to his home, surrounding his wife in her car and putting bloody handprints on the property. He said LAPD sent 75 officers within 20 minutes. “When it crosses the line into hate, it needs to be aggressively called out,” Sures said. “Leadership isn’t about calling it out, it’s about calling it out even if you know that calling it out is going to be unpopular.”
When Sures brought up Hollywood figures who have faced criticism over comments about Israel — specifically Susan Sarandon and Mark Ruffalo — the audience groaned again. Sures said the decision to stop representing Sarandon came from her two Jewish agents after conversations with the actress. On Ruffalo, Sures said conversations with the actor left him satisfied that Ruffalo is not an antisemite, though Sures objected to language Ruffalo has used.
Steve Hilton, the Republican nominee for Governor of California, spoke in the afternoon about the economy, education, ethnic studies and state government. After he stepped offstage, The Journal asked him what he would say to Jewish American Democrats who have never voted Republican and are concerned about the rise in antisemitism.
“You don’t have to become a Republican. You don’t have to support President Trump. You just have to vote. You don’t have to change your politics. You don’t have to change your party. You just have to vote for change in this election,” Hilton told The Journal. “And if you’re happy with the way that the government of California is representing itself in relation to the Jewish community, if you’re happy with all of that, vote for the other guy. But if you think we need change, then I’m your only choice.”
Yechiel “Michael” Leiter, Israel’s ambassador to the United States appointed in January 2025, sat with The Journal in a private green room after his appearance. Leiter’s eldest son, Maj. Moshe Yedidya Leiter, 39, a physician and father of six, was killed in battle in Gaza on Nov. 10, 2023. He insisted that The Journal take a copy of a 60-page booklet produced by the Embassy of Israel in Washington titled “Manufacturing A Modern Blood Libel: Genocide, Starvation and the Language of Dehumanization.” The interview also covered relationships Leiter has formed with diplomats whose governments have major disputes with Israel. He named Sir Christian Turner, Britain’s ambassador to the United States.
“We have a tremendous divide between Israel and the U.K. today — the U.K. is pursuing us in every international forum, but Christian Turner is a real mensch and it’s a pleasure breaking bread with them,” Leiter told The Journal. “There are others, there’s some African ambassadors, there’s the Middle East. One of my best friends in Washington is the ambassador of the UAE.” The UAE ambassador is Yousef Al Otaiba, who is also a UAE Minister of State. Leiter also said Mathilde Mukantabana, Rwanda’s ambassador to the United States, had been a dinner guest.
“They’re not so much Shabbat dinners, I try to get a few hours of rest on Shabbat, but during the week dinners I put together ambassadors with congressmen. Sometimes I have dinner with journalists,” Leiter said. The one thing he demands, he said, “is factual clarity.”
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee spoke candidly for more than 30 minutes to the summit via Zoom from Jerusalem. He sat relaxed behind his embassy desk in a blue blazer, with American and Israeli flags, a printer and a MacBook charger behind him.
“There is one thing that I am witnessing that I think the world needs to understand. Oct. 7 did one particularly important thing. It eliminated the division of the left and the right when it comes to the national security of Israel,” Huckabee said. “There is no left of center that is substantial enough to make much of a difference because Israelis throughout the spectrum see that they must make their national security number one.”
He responded to an audience question about Israel’s public image. “I’ll tell you what I’d say to the Israelis in the government all the time, ‘You’re the best people I know at fighting a kinetic war, but you really need to up the game at fighting an information war where a lot of the battles are being waged,’” Huckabee said. “They know that. I think they’re beginning to recognize the need to dramatically increase their messaging. And by messaging, I don’t mean propaganda. I mean just getting a spotlight on the truth.”
Among the other speakers, Adam Milstein, a real estate investor, philanthropist and co-founder of the fast-growing Impact Forum, also urged attendees to frame antisemitism as an American issue and not just a Jewish issue. Dillon Hosier, founder of Israeli-American Civic Action Network (ICAN), urged attendees this fall to “pay attention to state and local elections, where CAIR- and DSA-aligned radical candidates are building the records, networks and name recognition that carries them into higher office.” Near the end of the day, every seat was still full when author Gad Saad spoke about the roots of Jew-hatred, which he explores in his new book, “Suicidal Empathy: Dying to Be Kind.”
Away from the stage, six young men spent the day asking attendees to wrap tefillin. Hamsa Club sold cheeky Jewish couture and StopAntisemitism gave away coasters depicting David Ben-Gurion and Golda Meir in sunglasses. Other booths included Mount Sinai Memorial Park, StandWithUs and a group benefiting Israel’s Special Forces Unit 669. One floor below, Jonah Platt recorded episodes of “Being Jewish with Jonah Platt.” He later came upstairs to moderate a conversation with Mosab Hassan Yousef, known as the “Son of Hamas.”
A young professionals afterparty followed with DJ sets from Nova Festival survivor Rom El-Hai and producer Erez Safar. Therapist Milla Zeltzer came to JAS as a private attendee and said the draw was spending the day around people with whom she felt comfortable discussing Jewish issues. Zeltzer told The Journal that part of the draw was “connecting with the community and standing strong, being proud of who we are. Another one that I really like as a mental health person is empathy for people that don’t think exactly the same way you do and actually connecting and talking and finding common grounds, not just fighting, but also being empathetic and human and connecting with people.”
