Daily Kickoff
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2026
Good Tuesday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we spotlight the reluctance of most Texas Democrats to address Hasan Piker’s upcoming College Democrats-hosted event at the University of Texas, look at the increasingly anti-Israel tone taken by New York magazine following high-level editorial staff changes, and have the exclusive on a call from Sens. Jacky Rosen and James Lankford for Meta to do more to address antisemitism on its platforms. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Noa Argamani, Evan Gershkovich and David Solomon.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by JI Executive Editor Melissa Weiss, with assists from Danielle Cohen-Kanik and Marc Rod.
Today's Agenda
The Senate Armed Services Committee’s subcommittee on strategic forces will hold a hearing this afternoon on the proposed Golden Dome missile-defense system inspired by Israel’s Iron Dome.
President Donald Trump is slated to speak today alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio, SpaceX’s Elon Musk and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang at a “Golden Age” event highlighting American innovation and developments in AI, cyber and space technology.
In New York, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was wrongly imprisoned in Russia for 16 months, will sit in conversation with David Remnick at the Streicker Center to discuss his new book, This Cursed Beautiful Land: A Russian-American Story, out today.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and City Councilmember Nithya Raman will appear tonight at a mayoral candidate forum hosted by the Jewish Federation Los Angeles.
One Thing to Know
By Haley Cohen
Antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker is scheduled to speak at a University of Texas campus event on Wednesday. Despite the event’s backing from the student Democratic Party group on campus, most Texas Democrats running for office in the historically conservative state have been silent when it comes to speaking out against the far-left influencer.
Texas is one of the most prized political battlegrounds in the fight for control of Congress, hosting a hotly contested governor’s race, a neck-and-neck Senate race and four House races rated by the Cook Political Report as highly competitive. All of the close races are taking place in conservative-leaning constituencies, where candidates are typically incentivized to distance themselves from extremists or ideologues.
So far, among Texas Democrats, only Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) has spoken out against Piker, saying that leaders shouldn’t remain silent “when someone has a history of hateful comments about Jewish Americans, 9/11, and Hamas terrorism.” Cuellar, a leading moderate Democrat, is running for reelection in a redrawn district that President Donald Trump carried by a double-digit margin.
The Big Reads
printing pressure
Inside New York magazine's anti-Israel shift — and the Jewish staffers left behind
In the years since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, New York magazine, once known for embodying the wry sophistication of the urban center left, has emerged as a key platform for anti-Israel content, a uniquely hostile ideological shift that is exposing raw feelings on a topic editorial leaders have struggled to meaningfully address publicly and behind the scenes, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports. One person familiar with New York’s internal dynamics told JI that the magazine’s editorial director, Gazelle Emami, who took on her role in October 2023, is among the “key instigators” driving the magazine’s increasingly antagonistic reporting and commentary on Israel. “It was not a healthy work environment,” one former Jewish staffer who left after Oct. 7 told JI recently on condition of anonymity.
questionable company
Jewish letter in support of El-Sayed includes numerous fringe figures
A recent open letter from Jewish Michiganders expressing support for Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed includes a series of figures with fringe or extremist views and backgrounds alongside several prominent members of the Jewish community, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. Among the signatories is Liano Sharon, a progressive activist and Michigan Democratic Party officer facing disciplinary action from the state party for suggesting that Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) — whom he previously described as a “neo-Nazi” — should face a Nuremberg-style trial and potentially “the gallows” for her support for Israel, though he also said he does not support the death penalty.
Democratic demands: Democratic Michigan state Rep. Noah Arbit and 15 other Democratic leaders on Tuesday joined the Nonnegotiable Michigan campaign that is laying out a series of demands for El-Sayed related to Jewish safety and Israel’s right to exist, JI’s Marc Rod reports.
exclusive
Rosen, Lankford press Zuckerberg over antisemitic bot accounts on Facebook, Instagram
Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and James Lankford (R-OK) wrote to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday pressing him over the company’s failures to address antisemitic bot accounts on its platforms, urging Facebook and Instagram to label posts and users by their country of origin as a particularly important reform, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. The legislators, who jointly chair the Senate antisemitism task force, requested that the company take steps to “implement reforms to protect users, limit the proliferation of antisemitic content, and strengthen its transparency measures against inauthentic behavior, including by labeling accounts’ country of origin for the American public.”
The Rundown
The rest of today’s original stories from Jewish Insider — full stories, all published on the site.
On Our Radar
● The Live Briefing. Word on the street, clips, podcasts and quick updates — the items we’re tracking all day in our Live Briefing on our app (on Apple and Android) and website.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio met on Monday with Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam at the State Department to discuss regional developments including ongoing Israeli-Lebanese negotiations. Also in attendance were Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi, State Department counselor Dan Holler, Lebanese Ambassador to the U.S. Nada Hamadeh and U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa.
Rubio also met with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud at the State Department on Monday amid escalating hostilities between Saudi Arabia and the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen…
Crude exports from the Middle East are on the rebound as the U.S. and Gulf states improve their ability to evade Iranian attacks in the Strait of Hormuz…
Eight U.S. servicemembers were injured, none seriously, earlier this month when an Iranian cruise missile struck their vessel in the strait…
The House Ways and Means Committee is pressing the IRS to pull the tax-exempt status of the California-based Middle East Children's Alliance over the group’s alleged ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, as well as organizations linked to Neville “Roy” Singham's pro-China network…
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a lawsuit against an Ohio hospital network, alleging that a Jewish orthopedic surgeon at Mercy Health Youngstown was fired weeks after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks after being routinely subjected to antisemitic remarks from colleagues…
U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said she plans to retry the federal bribery case against Washington, D.C., Councilmember Trayon White after proceedings against him ended in a mistrial; White had previously faced criticism from the Jewish community after promoting the antisemitic trope that Jews control the weather…
The board of Goldman Sachs is mulling a plan that would see CEO David Solomon step down as soon as late 2027 and John Waldron, the bank’s COO and president, take over the role…
The Wall Street Journal spotlights the legal fight between Columbia University, which closed its Manhattan campus to non-university affiliates in the wake of the 2024 anti-Israel encampments and protests, and city residents who argue that the campus should be open to foot traffic as per a 1950s-era agreement with the city; New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani earlier this month backed the reopening of the campus…
U.K. authorities released on bail the five men arrested over the weekend near a British military base used by the U.S., but maintained “stringent conditions” on their release amid an ongoing investigation…
Speaking at the Labour Party’s conference, U.K. Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband called Israel’s actions against the Palestinians “a stain on the conscience of the world”...
U.N. Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese apologized for falsely suggesting that Jews in Nazi concentration camps were called “Muslims” by their captors, adding that she had “wrongly inferr[ed] that the term antisemitism originally meant hatred of all Semitic peoples. In fact it was coined specifically to denote hatred of Jews”...
Far-right French politician Jordan Bardella, the leader of the country’s National Rally party, denied a report that he had invoked antisemitic tropes in conversations with party officials dating back more than a decade…
Former Israeli hostage Noa Argamani is joining Vine Ventures in a full-time role, where she will split her time between Tel Aviv and San Francisco and work with Israeli companies looking to expand into the U.S.; Argamani was previously an intern at the VC...
New Jersey-based Valley National Bank is acquiring fintech company Bluevine, founded by Israeli entrepreneurs Eyal Lifshitz and Nir Klar, in a $340 million deal…
Israeli officials said they killed a senior Hamas commander in northern Gaza who was involved in planning attacks and recruiting members…
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McGurk’s Mission: In an excerpt from his new book Brink: Inside the Race to Free the October 7th Hostages, published in The Atlantic, former U.S. envoy Brett McGurk — who co-led the Biden administration’s hostage and ceasefire negotiations — recounts how the U.S.-Israel relationship evolved amid his attempts to mediate between Israel, Egypt and Hamas and during Iran’s April 2024 missile barrage against Israel. “Looking back, it’s no wonder that Hamas never responded to our proposals during this period. We now know that in March 2024, as this political debate was taking place in the U.S., [slain Hamas leader Yahya] Sinwar was in a tunnel complex underneath Rafah. An avid consumer of news, he would have understood that relations between Biden and Netanyahu were approaching the boiling point.” [TheAtlantic]
Tricks of the Trade: In The Wall Street Journal, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon argues that a trade pact between the U.S. and Europe could bolster the transatlantic alliance. “America’s global leadership rests on three pillars. If any one of them fails, it could doom the whole enterprise. The first pillar is maintaining the world’s pre-eminent military. The second is remaining the world’s pre-eminent economy, which is foundational to having the pre-eminent military. (The U.S. dollar’s role as the global reserve currency depends on both pillars.) The third pillar is reinvigorating the American dream and American values, which are weakening for too many of our fellow citizens.” [WSJ]
Stuck Inside of Tehran: In The Hill, Mia Emmunah Toubian and Jason Bryan Silverstein call on Congress to reauthorize the Lautenberg Amendment to assist Jews in Iran in their efforts to leave the Islamic Republic, and on the Trump administration to restore the program. “By the end of this month, Congress should reauthorize Lautenberg. The administration should refund and reopen the processing centers that support it. Fourteen thousand stranded people, and their families in America, are waiting to see whether Trump’s promises about fighting antisemitism abroad mean anything when Jews facing persecution actually need a way out.” [TheHill]
Picture of the Day
Küf Kaufmann (left), chairman of the Jewish community of Leipzig, and Conrad Clemens, the minister of education in the German state of Saxony, spoke in front of the Ariowitsch House, where the first international branch of Yad Vashem will be established. Joined by German Education Minister Karin Prien, Kaufmann and Clemens laid down yellow roses on a cluster of stone plaques that commemorate victims of the Holocaust. Sebastian Willnow/picture alliance via Getty Images
Birthdays
Roger Bart, Tony Award-winning actor and singer, turns 64
JOHN NACION/GETTY IMAGES
Hillel “Harry” Furstenberg, mathematician and professor emeritus at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, turns 91
John Edward Sexton, president of New York University from 2002 to 2015, he is the author of Baseball as a Road To God, turns 84
Avital Inbar, Israeli author, translator, journalist and restaurant critic, turns 82
Leon Biederman, retired CEO of Southern California-based LinQuest Corporation, he is a board member at Sinai Temple
Ya'akov Dov “Ketzele” Katz, former member of the Knesset, he serves as the executive director of Beit El Yeshiva and as chairman of Arutz Sheva, turns 75
Harold Gernsbacher, past treasurer of the Board of Trustees of the Jewish Federations of North America
David Hirsh, professor of sociology at the University of London and the academic director and CEO of the London Centre for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism, turns 59
Yitzhak Yedid, composer and pianist, he is the winner of the 2020 Azrieli Prize for Jewish Music, turns 55
Matthew Stephen Meyer, governor of Delaware, turns 55
Brian Shankman, CEO of 2048 Ventures, following 21 years in senior positions at AIPAC
Aviva Rosenthal, director of the Smithsonian Institution's office of global affairs
Rebecca Rhynhart, city controller of Philadelphia from 2018 to 2022, turns 52
Adriene Mishler, YouTube-based yoga instructor, turns 42
Aron Chilewich, program manager at New York State Homes & Community Renewal
Shawn Pasternak, research director at D.C.-based S-3 Group
Clara Mamet, film and television actor best known for her role in the ABC comedy “The Neighbors,” turns 32
Rio Daniel, chief executive officer of the Center for Jewish History
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