| | Good Thursday morning. In today’s Daily Kickoff , the latest on the cease-fire negotiations taking place in Qatar today. We also look at the Senate’s reticence to talk up antisemitism legislation, cover the resignation of Columbia President Minouche Shafik and report on the relaunch of Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s “Voice of the People” initiative. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff : Maury Litwack, George Helmy and Barbra Streisand. Spread the word! Invite your friends to sign up.👇 Share with a friend | - The latest round of hostage release and cease-fire talks begins today in Qatar. More below on what’s happening in Doha.
- While those negotiations commence, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will conclude a two-day trip to Turkey. He is slated to address Ankara’s parliament today.
- Barbra Streisand is slated to speak at a “Jewish Women for Kamala” virtual gathering tonight.
| U.S., Egyptian, Qatari and Israeli officials are meeting in Doha, Qatar, today for the latest round of talks aimed at reaching a cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas.
But Hamas has refused to participate in the upcoming round of negotiations, potentially dealing a fatal blow to the effort by the U.S., Egypt and Qatar. The terror group has said it may meet with mediators following the talks, but is already working to discredit efforts, publicly criticizing the Biden administration’s efforts.
It’s against that backdrop that senior U.S. officials claimed to The New York Times this week that Israel has done all it can militarily to degrade Hamas. But, the Times notes, “Israel’s military operation has done far more damage against Hamas than U.S. officials had predicted when the war began in October.”
Today’s talks have broader implications for the region: Iran has indicated that its threatened attack on Israel — a retaliatory strike following the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last month — could be stopped if a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas is reached. Hezbollah, too, has indicated that it could cease its attacks on Israel, which began on Oct. 8, if a cease-fire is reached.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a seven-hour series of three meetings on Wednesday before authorizing the makeup of the Israeli delegation and its mandate for the negotiations. Mossad head David Barnea, Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, IDF representative to the talks Maj.-Gen. (res.) Nitzan Alon and the prime minister’s diplomatic adviser, Ophir Falk, will be representing Israel in Doha. Also on Wednesday, Netanyahu spoke by phone to former President Donald Trump about the cease-fire negotiations. Read more here on the status of the talks, as well as infighting among senior Israeli officials.
It is unclear whether these negotiations will bear fruit — or whether, like the many rounds of talks that have tried and failed to secure the release of the remaining 115 hostages, they will prolong the longest war in recent Israeli history. | state of play Where are Senate Democrats on antisemitism?  KENT NISHIMURA/GETTY IMAGES Nearly 10 months after Hamas’ terror attack on Israel and amid a surging wave of antisemitism in the United States, the Senate left Washington for its August recess without having held any hearings on antisemitism in the U.S. or passing or considering major antisemitism bills, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod and Emily Jacobs report.
Where things stand: The Senate’s post-Oct. 7 record on antisemitism stands in contrast with the House, which passed the Antisemitism Awareness Act and has launched investigations of antisemitism across a series of committees and subcommittees, with a focus on campus antisemitism — though some Democrats criticize the House’s efforts as ineffectual and politically motivated. Should they retake the Senate in November, Senate Republicans in contention for Sen. Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) role as majority leader promised to take a more aggressive approach to antisemitism.
Read the full story here. poison ivy Columbia University President Shafik abruptly resigns in aftermath of campus chaos  Indy Scholtens/Getty Images Columbia University President Minouche Shafik announced her resignation on Wednesday, days before the start of the school year — and months after the end of a chaotic school year that saw her testify before Congress about antisemitism and navigate the unruly fallout of the first anti-Israel encampment in the nation, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch and Marc Rod report.
Interim replacement: Dr. Katrina Armstrong, CEO of Columbia’s Irving Medical Center, will serve as interim president, a university spokesperson confirmed to JI. A source familiar with the situation said Armstrong has already been in touch with Hillel leadership at Columbia.
Read the full story here. the write stuff Schumer to release book next February 'warning' of rise of domestic antisemitism  HACHETTE BOOK GROUP/GETTY IMAGES Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) will publish a book next February detailing his experience as the nation’s highest-ranking Jewish leader to issue what he describes as a “warning” about the rise of antisemitism in America. Antisemitism in America: A Warning will be released on Feb. 18, the book’s publisher, Grand Central Publishing, a division of Hachette Book Group, announced on Wednesday. It will draw on Schumer’s life story, tracing back to his youth in Brooklyn in the 1960s and Harvard University in the 1970s through his decades in politics, to explain “his generation’s Jewish experience,” Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports.
Schumer’s statement: The New York Democrat, 73, said in a statement that, “At its core, my book is a warning. If America fails to understand the context and history of antisemitism, if America’s darker impulses ultimately overwhelm its better angels, an age-old truth will prove true once again: that antisemitism inevitably leads to violence against Jews and a rise in bigotry in our society at large. Jewish Americans never thought it could happen here in America. Now, for the first time, they’re worried it could.”
Read the full story here. time to talk Israeli president's dialogue project 'Voice of the People' relaunches with an update  COURTESY/JEWISH FEDERATIONS OF NORTH AMERICA Israeli President Isaac Herzog relaunched his Voice of the People initiative yesterday, which he initially announced last April but was put on hold after the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks. As with the initial concept, the goal is to identify and address global challenges facing the Jewish people and cultivate the leaders needed to do so, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross reports.
Survey says: To start, the organization created an open survey — offered in six languages — asking the respondents to list “the most pressing challenges facing the Jewish people today,” to select the top five most significant challenges out of a list of 10 and describe how “recent events” have made an impact on their Jewish identity and sense of community. “My goal is that 15.6 million people will fill out the survey,” Shirel Dagan-Levy, the CEO of the Israeli nonprofit that was formed to execute the initiative, joked, referring to the estimated global Jewish population.
Read the full story here and sign up for eJewishPhilanthropy’s Your Daily Phil newsletter here. | Kamala and the Mideast: The Atlantic’s Arash Azizi considers what Vice President Kamala Harris’ selection of Middle East and foreign policy advisors — including Phil Gordon, her national security advisor, and Ilan Goldenberg, recently tapped to handle her campaign’s outreach to the Jewish community — means for the policy positions she may take if elected. “So far, little is known about who else Harris would draw into shaping her foreign policy, or even whether Harris is likely to assemble a diverse team or one that resides comfortably in a single political camp. Still, Gordon’s and Goldenberg’s long and serious engagement with Middle East affairs suggest that Harris will resist the temptation to simply wash America’s hands of a seemingly troublesome region. Perhaps they are the start of a foreign-policy team that recognizes dealing with the Middle East as unavoidable, and that integrates it with policies focusing on other regions, rather than viewing it as a rival to them.” [TheAtlantic]
Talking Tehran: In The New York Times, Dana Stroul, a former deputy secretary of defense for the Middle East, suggests how the Biden administration can stop Iran’s threats to Israel from devolving into a regional war. “Tehran is most likely to stand down if its leaders perceive the regime’s own security is at risk. Mr. Biden should consider signaling that he is ready to shift the use of American military force from targeting Iran’s proxies to targeting inside Iran, such as weapons storage or production facilities. The additional forces and capabilities he has sent to the region could be used not only to defend Israel after an Iranian attack but also to punish Iran directly. European and Arab leaders should be encouraged to move their own goal posts, too. Consequences for more Iranian aggression should include economic pressure, diplomatic isolation and additional commitments between European and Arab allies toward security cooperation to counter Iranian threats.” [NYTimes]
Shapiro’s Mea Culpa: In The Wall Street Journal, Ruth Wisse reflects on Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s recent walk-back of an op-ed he authored in college on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “Actually, his article, published when he was 20, was so sound that it could have proved his qualifications for leadership. Its context, which the Inquirer usefully supplied, was the Sept. 13, 1993, signing of the Oslo accords, which put Yasser Arafat in charge of the Palestinian Authority and, territorially, Judea, Samaria and Gaza. Recalling Neville Chamberlain’s proclamation of ‘peace for our time’ after meeting with Hitler in 1938, the younger Mr. Shapiro found it ‘extremely difficult to trust a man with as much blood on his hands as Arafat, who was also on both the Israeli and American lists of international terrorists.’ … Mr. Shapiro in 1993 felt free to tell the truth about the enemies of freedom, hoping for Middle Eastern reform while valuing Israel as America’s own fighting front line. We can only hope that today’s college students will, like him, become ‘advocates of realism’ rather than the kind of Islamist appeasers his party is pressing him to become.” [WSJ]
Let’s Make a Deal: Politico’s Nahal Toosi reports on the effort to reach a Saudi-Israel normalization agreement with the U.S. before the end of the Biden administration – despite the potential risk to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. “The talks were described to me by a former U.S. official briefed on the conversations and two other people with knowledge of them. All of the people, like others quoted in this column, were granted anonymity to describe a high-stakes, sensitive topic. The discussions have been weighty and serious, but one takeaway, the people said, is that the crown prince, often referred to as MBS, appears intent on striking the mega-deal with the U.S. and Israel despite the risks involved. He sees it as crucial to his country’s future." [Politico]
A Fragile Iran?: In The Hill, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Saeed Ghasseminejad and Richard Goldberg posit that Western powers and Israel can exploit Iran’s moment of vulnerability. “Between Israel’s demonstrated ability to send a missile through Iranian air defense in April and its more recent capacity to take out a high-level asset in Tehran under the regime’s protection, Washington defense and intelligence planners should understand the Islamic Republic is far more fragile than its information operations would suggest. The Haniyeh assassination is a window for the U.S. to seize. This is not a time for restraint or de-escalation. This is a moment to maximize pressure on Khamenei, increase support for the Iranian people and improve the odds that the Islamic Republic crumbles into the ash heap of history." [TheHill] | Be featured: Email us to inform the JI readership of your upcoming event, job opening, or other communication. | Google’s cybersecurity department confirmed that Iranian hackers had targeted the campaign websites of both former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden…
N.J. Gov. Phil Murphy will appoint George Helmy, his former chief of staff, to serve out the remainder of Sen. Bob Menendez’s (D-NJ) term…
The Cook Political Report moved the Nevada Senate race, where Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) is facing a challenge from veteran Sam Brown, from toss-up to lean Democratic…
The communications director for Pittsburgh’s mayor resigned after it was revealed that she had signed onto a petition supporting a vote on a citywide BDS referendum this fall…
City & State NY profiles Teach Coalition founder Maury Litwack, following the group’s involvement in the New York congressional primary that ousted Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY)…
The New York Times reviews Richard Evans’ Hitler’s People: The Faces of the Third Reich, which looks at the people serving all levels of the Nazi regime…
Police in Montgomery County, Md., are investigating after antisemitic graffiti was discovered at a Bethesda synagogue…
The Miami-Dade County School Board will review educational materials used in Miami schools’ curricula to ensure they don’t contain antisemitic content…
A New York Times photo series spotlights some of the Israeli hostages who have been freed from Hamas captivity…
Benjamin Suarato is joining USAID as the agency’s spokesperson…
Book editor Betty Prashker, the former editor-in-chief of Crown Publishing who defied gender norms in the literary world, died at 99…
Hollywood agent Jay Kanter, whose clients included Marilyn Monroe, Grace Kelly and Marlon Brando, died at 98… |  Maayan Toaf/GPO President Isaac Herzog and First Lady Michal Herzog hosted a special prayer vigil on Wednesday for the well-being of the 115 hostages still being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza. The prayer, which is based on the Prayer for the Welfare of the State, was formulated by Tzvi Zussman (third from right), the father of Ben Zussman, who fell in battle in Gaza. Sarit (second from right) and Zvi Zussman joined in the meeting, together with Rachel and John Goldberg-Polin (left), the parents of hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, and Amon Needhman (far right), the father of fallen soldier Binyamin Yehoshua “Benji” Needham. |  S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace Founder of Slim-Fast and prominent Democratic donor, S. Daniel Abraham turns 100...
Philadelphia resident, Irvin Farber... Retired associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, Justice Stephen Breyer turns 86... Investment banker, economist and historian, Lewis Lehrman turns 86... Former CFO of The Trump Organization, Allen Weisselberg turns 77... Founder and chairman of the executive committee of Limmud FSU, Chaim Chesler turns 75... Economist, CPA, investment advisor and founding member of wealth advisor RVW Investing LLC, Selwyn Gerber... Artist and avid mountain biker, William Crary ("Bill") Weidman... Chairman of Benj. E. Sherman & Sons, he is the chair of Israel Policy Forum, David A. Sherman turns 64... Co-founding rabbi of Congregation Or Hadash in Sandy Springs, Georgia, Rabbi Mario Karpuj... Emmy Award-winning actress, she played Grace Adler on the 11-season sitcom “Will & Grace,” Debra Messing turns 56... National campaign director for the Birthright Israel Foundation, Margot (Atlas) Ettlinger... U.S. senator (D-PA) since 2023, John Fetterman turns 55... Co-CEO and chairman of the entertainment production company Propagate, Benjamin Noah Silverman turns 54... Associate justice of the California Supreme Court since 2019, Joshua Paul Groban turns 51... Member of the U.S. House of Representatives (D-VA) for four years ending in 2023, Elaine Goodman Luria turns 49... Real estate and business law attorney in the Baltimore law firm of Rosen Neuberger Lehmann, Meir Neuberger... Senior manager at Teva Pharmaceuticals, Raz Meirman-Baruch turns 47... National college football reporter for ESPN, Adam Rittenberg turns 43... L.A.-based venture capitalist, Rachel Sterne Haot turns 41... Computer scientist at MIT and podcaster with 717 million YouTube views, Lex Fridman turns 41... Staff therapist at Brandeis University's counseling center, Rachel Spekman... Former member of the Alaska House of Representatives until 2023, Grier Hayden Hopkins turns 41... VP of communications for Lemonade, Yael Wissner-Levy... Contemporary jazz and classical recorder player, vocalist, composer and educator, Tali Rubinstein turns 40... Co-founder of Irenic Capital Management, Adam Jason Katz... Freelance designer, Talia Siegel... MLB pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds in 2015 and 2016, he played for Team Israel in the 2020 Summer Olympics, Jon Moscot turns 33... VP of technology policy at Retail Industry Leaders Association, Justin Goldberger... Director of product management at Publicis Sapient, Ezra Mosseri... Joe Farry... David Summer... | | | | | |
