Those who follow college basketball closely will know that the University of Kentucky’s much-admired coach, John Calipari, is leaving for Arkansas. Among those wishing him well is the local Chabad rabbi Shlomo Litvin, who developed a friendship with the coach. Kelsey Dallas writes:

Rabbi Litvin described getting to know Calipari through a series of casual run-ins at a coffee shop. The two men would exchange polite hellos and sometimes chat about the latest developments affecting campus life. But in late 2018, after eleven people died during the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, their conversation took on a more serious tone, Rabbi Litvin said. Calipari, who grew up in Pennsylvania and used to work in Pittsburgh, expressed his concern and offered his support.

“He compassionately shared how horrified he was by the shooting, inquired how our community was, and how I was doing personally. He shared about his own connections to the city. Then he asked: How can I help?” Rabbi Litvin wrote.

Calipari ultimately agreed to be part of a menorah-lighting ceremony for Hanukkah, even though the event was taking place during basketball season. . . . Calipari and Rabbi Litvin went on to work together on other community initiatives, including a rebuilding effort after a tornado hit Kentucky in 2021.

When he called upon Hamas to end the war and release the hostages last week, the Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas was also getting ready for a reshuffle within his regime. On Saturday, he appointed Hussein al-Sheikh deputy president of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which is intimately tied to the PA itself. Al-Sheikh would therefore succeed Abbas—who is eighty-nine and reportedly in ill health—as head of the PLO if he should die or become incapacitated, and be positioned to succeed him as head of the PA as well.

Al-Sheikh spent eleven years in an Israeli prison and, writes Maurice Hirsch, was involved in planning a 2002 Jerusalem suicide bombing that killed three. Moreover, Hirsch writes, he “does not enjoy broad Palestinian popularity or support.”

Still, by appointing Al-Sheikh, Abbas has taken a step in the internal reforms he inaugurated last year in the hope that he could prove to the Biden administration and other relevant players that the PA was up to the task of governing the Gaza Strip. Neomi Neumann writes:

Abbas’s motivation for reform also appears rooted in the need to meet the expectations of Arab and European donors without compromising his authority. On April 14, the EU foreign-policy chief Kaja Kallas approved a three-year aid package worth 1.6 billion euros, including 620 million euros in direct budget support tied to reforms. Meanwhile, the French president Emmanuel Macron held a call with Abbas [earlier this month] and noted afterward that reforms are essential for the PA to be seen as a viable governing authority for Gaza—a telling remark given reports that Paris may soon recognize “the state of Palestine.”

In some cases, reforms appear targeted at specific regional partners. The idea of appointing a vice-president originated with Saudi Arabia.

In the near term, Abbas’s main goal appears to be preserving Arab and European support ahead of a major international conference in New York this June.