Good Wednesday morning. In today's Daily Kickoff, we report on the North Carolina Democratic Party's recent approval of a number of anti-Israel resolutions, and cover concerns among Jewish therapists about the politicization of antisemitism in the field. We talk to Rev. Johnnie Moore about the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation's aid distribution efforts in Gaza, and report on texts from Columbia University acting President Claire Shipman suggesting the removal of a Jewish trustee over her pro-Israel advocacy. Also in today's Daily Kickoff: S. Daniel Abraham, Eric Goldstein and Dylan Field. Spread the word! Invite your friends to sign up.π |
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| - We're keeping an eye on both Washington and Jerusalem today, ahead of next week's planned meeting between President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as the leaders and aides provide details of the contours of the talks. Yesterday, Trump said that Israel had agreed to the terms of a 60-day ceasefire with Hamas, shortly after Israeli Strategic Minister Ron Dermer and White House Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff wrapped up an hours-long meeting.
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A QUICK WORD WITH JI'S LAHAV HARKOV |
It might be hard to remember now, with all that has happened in recent weeks, but the Knesset seemed very close to calling an early election a day and a half before Israel commenced its airstrikes on Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs last month. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received a post-Iran victory bump, and is once again leading in the polls – but not by much. A poll published on Tuesday showed his Likud party leading a potential party led by former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett by only two seats, and tied with Bennett for leading candidate for prime minister. Another pollster showed a similar margin during the Iran operation, but had the two parties tied after the ceasefire. Parties in the current coalition made up less than half of the Knesset in every poll. In a poll from the Israel Democracy Institute published on Wednesday, only 46% of Jewish Israelis said they trust Netanyahu. A common accusation heard by Netanyahu's political opponents at home and abroad is that he is prolonging the war in Gaza to stay in office, because ending the war before his far-right coalition partners deem Hamas fully defeated would likely see the collapse of his government. But the victories under his leadership are seemingly not staunching the Israeli right's continued collapse in the polls as the war grinds on in its 635th day. Netanyahu may consider the political advantages of winding down the war as he heads to Washington next week while President Donald Trump is pushing for a broad deal that would encompass a Gaza ceasefire and the release of hostages, the administration of Gaza by moderate Sunni states, normalization between Israel and Syria and perhaps other countries, plus working to ensure Iran doesn't rebuild its nuclear program. If Netanyahu returns to Israel with a Gaza ceasefire and hostage-release agreement, an expanded Abraham Accords and a way to keep Israel's achievement in Iran intact, then he may get a more significant electoral bump. In that scenario, one option for him could be to ride that wave and call a snap election, rather than wait until the official October 2026 date for the vote. Or, Netanyahu could see this as his legacy-clinching move, a sign that his work is done. In 2021, the prime minister said that he wants his legacy to be that he was the "protector of Israel, because I devoted much of my adult life to preventing Iran from having a nuclear weapon." Read the rest of 'What You Should Know' here. |
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'Immoral' U.N. is 'sabotaging' food distribution, Gaza Humanitarian Foundation chairman says |
JERRITT CLARK/GETTY IMAGES FOR MUSEUM OF TOLERANCE |
Rev. Johnnie Moore, a member of President Donald Trump's evangelical advisory committee, has years of experience with complex situations in the Middle East. He helped evacuate Christian refugees under threat from ISIS and has advocated for religious freedom and tolerance for minorities in the region. But the challenges Moore faces as executive chairman of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the U.S. group, supported by Israel, that began distributing food and humanitarian aid in Gaza in May, have been unique. In a wide-ranging interview this week with the Misgav Institute for National Security's "Mideast Horizons" podcast, co-hosted by Jewish Insider's Lahav Harkov, Moore pushed back against what he claims are false narratives about the group's work and accused aid organizations of "sabotage" and spreading disinformation, while acknowledging the challenges of aid distribution in an active war zone. Hamas hurdles: GHF is addressing "a problem that everyone knew and admitted existed … and now everyone has amnesia," Moore said. "The vast majority of humanitarian assistance that has gone into the Gaza Strip over many, many, many years, was almost immediately diverted into the hands of Hamas, and then used for various nefarious purposes. And I'm not talking about some of the aid — I'm talking about almost all of the aid." As such, the mission of GHF is to equally and directly distribute aid to Gazans without having it be "used to prolong a conflict or hoarded," he said. Let down: Moore said he would have liked to collaborate with major humanitarian organizations, such as the World Food Program, but that the U.N. has "been trying to sabotage us from the very beginning." He added, "We'd really like the people whose job it has been to do this for many years to decide to help us. Instead, they spread lies that originate in Hamas and try to shut us down, and I can't think of anything more immoral than trying to shut down an operation that's … feeding millions and millions of meals every day." Read the full interview here. |
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When Jewish pain becomes 'political': Therapists fired after raising antisemitism concerns |
Two Dallas therapists who objected to their supervisors' handling of antisemitism issues filed a federal discrimination lawsuit last month against their former employer — saying they faced unlawful retaliation for their objections when they were fired days after voicing their concerns, Jewish Insider's Gabby Deutch reports. Shut down: The chain of events began in November last year when Jackie Junger and Jacqueline Katz sat down with their colleagues at a private practice in Dallas for their weekly team meeting. When a non-Jewish therapist asked for help better understanding a Jewish client who was "experiencing trauma with everything going on," Junger and Katz — both Jewish — were eager to offer insight about the surge in antisemitism in the United States, in the hopes of helping their colleague better serve her client. But before Junger, 29, and Katz, 61, could speak, their supervisor, Dr. Dina Hijazi, shut down the conversation. "I don't think that's a good idea, because you'll get a one-sided response," Hijazi told the therapists, according to legal filings. And then: The next day, Hijazi emailed the team and asked them to avoid discussing the "Palestine Israel topic" because she has "great pain" around the issue. But no one had mentioned the events in the Middle East at that meeting. Junger and Katz each responded to Hijazi's note: Why, they wondered, would it be considered "one-sided" for Jewish therapists to speak about their understanding of antisemitism and Jewish trauma? Over the next five days, Junger and Katz would see their lives upended after they chose to raise concerns about antisemitism and double standards against Jewish practitioners and clients. Read the full story here. |
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Gillibrand apologizes to Mamdani as he formally claims NYC mayoral nomination |
KEVIN DIETSCH/GETTY IMAGES |
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) apologized to Zohran Mamdani for recently saying that he had made "references to global jihad," as New York Democrats continue to weigh their response to the 33-year-old democratic socialist's stunning upset in New York City's mayoral primary last week that sent shockwaves through the party establishment, Jewish Insider's Matthew Kassel reports. Democratic detente: In a Monday night phone conversation, Gillibrand "apologized for mischaracterizing Mamdani's record" during a radio interview last week, according to a readout of their call first shared with Politico. The news of her apology came shortly after Mamdani had formally clinched the Democratic nomination on Tuesday, in a resounding, 12-point victory over former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, his chief rival in the Democratic primary, who had already conceded. Read the full story here. State of the race: New York City's elections board released the unofficial results of the election, finding Mamdani, who won in the third round of ranked-choice voting tabulations, with a 12-point victory over Cuomo. |
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North Carolina Democratic party's anti-Israel votes frustrate Jewish Democrats — and create an opportunity for Republicans |
MELISSA SUE GERRITS/GETTY IMAGES |
The State Executive Committee of the North Carolina Democratic Party passed, at a meeting last weekend, a resolution calling for an arms embargo on Israel, along with a series of other anti-Israel resolutions, a move that Republicans are already planning to use against statewide candidates as a sign of the party's leftward drift, Jewish Insider's Marc Rod reports. Seizing the moment: The National Republican Senatorial Committee has already seized upon the resolutions as a political weapon against current and potential Democratic Senate candidates — in the race for the battleground seat of retiring Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) — with pro-Israel voters. "North Carolina Democrats like [former Gov.] Roy Cooper, [and Reps.] Jeff Jackson [and] Wiley Nickel are responsible for their Party's unapologetic appeasement of pro-Hamas radicals," NRSC spokesperson Joanna Rodriguez said in a statement. For their part, members of the state Democratic Party's Jewish caucus had warned ahead of the vote that the resolutions would be needlessly divisive and give political ammunition to Republicans. They say the party should be single-mindedly focused on helping to elect Democrats. Read the full story here. Eye on the OC: Esther Kim Varet, an art gallery owner mounting an outsider bid as a Democrat to unseat Rep. Young Kim (R-CA) in California's 40th Congressional District, which encompasses Orange County, said she wants to help repair and strengthen a Democratic Party she said has been severely undermined by rampant anti-Israel activism. Anti-Israel extremism and its proponents have "really decimated the Democratic Party," Kim Varet, whose husband and children are Jewish, told Jewish Insider's Marc Rod in a recent interview. |
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Acting Columbia president suggests removal of Jewish board member in texts obtained by House Education Committee |
Text messages obtained by the House Committee on Education and Workforce published in a letter on Tuesday revealed that Claire Shipman, acting president of Columbia University, suggested that a Jewish trustee should be removed over her pro-Israel advocacy and called for an "Arab on our board," amid antisemitic unrest that roiled the university's campus last year, Jewish Insider's Haley Cohen reports. Shipped messages: "We need to get somebody from the middle east [sic] or who is Arab on our board," Shipman, then the co-chair of Columbia's Board of Trustees, wrote in a message to the board's vice chair on Jan. 17, 2024. "Quickly I think. Somehow." Shipman said in a follow-up message days later that Shoshana Shendelman, a Jewish board member who frequently condemned campus antisemitism, had been "extraordinarily unhelpful" and said, "I just don't think she should be on the board." Read the full story here. |
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Trump administration nominates two former Hawley advisors for senior Pentagon roles |
DOMINIC GWINN/MIDDLE EAST IMAGES VIA AFP |
Elbridge Colby, the Trump administration's under secretary of defense for policy, announced on Tuesday the nominations of Alex Velez-Green and Austin Dahmer to be, respectively, deputy under secretary of defense for policy and assistant secretary of defense for strategy, plans and capabilities, both senior policy roles under Colby in the Department of Defense, Jewish Insider's Marc Rod reports. Staffing moves: Velez-Green and Dahmer, both former advisors to Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), are aligned with the faction of the Republican Party that advocates for more selective U.S. engagement abroad, particularly limiting involvement in Europe, though both have been generally supportive of the U.S.-Israel relationship. Read the full story here. Weapons worries: The Pentagon suspended shipments of some air defense missiles and other precision munitions to Ukraine, amid concerns that U.S. stockpiles are too low, a decision led by Colby. Elsewhere in the administration: Eddie Vasquez was announced as the State Department's acting deputy assistant secretary for press and public diplomacy at the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs. |
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Abraham Accords 2.0: In the Financial Times, senior Emirati diplomat Lana Nusseibeh, who until 2024 served as the United Arab Emirates' envoy at the United Nations, calls for a "comprehensive" Middle East peace agreement built on the successes of the Abraham Accords. "For years, two false notions have taken hold in the Middle East: first, that force alone can secure stability and security. Second, that states in our region can be built securely on the basis of a zealous ideology. In fact, military victories in the Middle East are often hollow and fragile and extremist ideology can never create safe, stable and successful societies. As the window to de-escalate closes, there is an opportunity for U.S. President Donald Trump to forge a second-term legacy of peace in the Middle East, by building on his landmark first-term achievement: the Abraham Accords." [FT] What's in a Slogan? The New York Times' Bret Stephens, who was living in Jerusalem during the Second Intifada, reflects on New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani's defense of the phrase "globalize the intifada." "But a major political candidate who plainly refuses to condemn the phrase 'globalize the intifada' isn't participating in legitimate democratic debate; he is giving moral comfort to people who deliberately murder innocent Jews. There are liberals and progressives who'll continue to make excuses for Mamdani. They will argue that his views on 'globalize the intifada' are beside the point of his agenda for New York. They will observe that he has a predictable share of far-left Jewish supporters. They will play semantic games about the original meaning of 'intifada.'" [NYTimes] On the Nuclear Clock: The Wall Street Journal's Jared Malsin and Laurence Norman look at the political calculations affecting the amount of time by which experts and officials believe Iran's nuclear program has been set back. "If Iran were to make the decision to build a nuclear weapon, it would be betting that it can complete the job and establish deterrence before the U.S. and Israel intervene — through military action, economic pressure or diplomacy — to stop it. A longer timeline increases the risk of being spotted or struck again, which could dissuade Iran from taking such a gamble in the first place. So measured on the Iranian nuclear clock, a delay of a few months could translate into a lot longer than it sounds if it keeps Tehran from moving ahead." [WSJ] |
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Paramount reached a $16 million settlement with President Donald Trump over the comments made about the Israel-Hamas war by then-Vice President Kamala Harris in a "60 Minutes" interview that Trump alleged had selectively edited; the money will be put toward Trump's legal fees and his future presidential library… The Wall Street Journal looks at relations between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which appear to be on an upswing following the joint Israel-U.S. cooperation in striking Iran following months of rumored tensions between the two leaders… As the Senate closed out its marathon session of amendment votes on Republicans' budget bill, the so-called Big Beautiful Bill, it added back a provision fought for by Orthodox Jewish groups, creating a major new national school choice program, which had been stripped from the bill days earlier, Jewish Insider's Marc Rod reports… Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) and 12 other House Republicans introduced a bill to create a service medal for members of the military involved in the Iran-Israel war… Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed an executive order addressing antisemitism in the state's schools; under the terms of the executive order, the Iowa Board of Regents is instructed to work with the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights to ensure that the state's universities are in compliance with the Civil Rights Act, and will review universities' handling of antisemitism complaints dating back to October 2023… Yale Law School Dean Heather Gerken was announced as the Ford Foundation's next president, succeeding Darren Walker… The Washington Post spotlights the Pentagon Pizza Report social media account, which tracks spikes in activity at pizzerias in the vicinity of the Defense Department's Northern Virginia headquarters; the tracker noted an increase in activity ahead of Israel's preemptive strikes on Iran last month, as well as before Trump announced the U.S. attack on Iranian nuclear facilities… Authorities in Germany arrested a Danish national from Afghanistan accused of surveilling potential Jewish targets in the country on behalf of Iran; prosecutors believe the man was instructed by Iran's Quds Force to scout Jewish sites and locations used by prominent Jewish communal leaders in the German capital… Germany summoned the Iranian ambassador in Berlin over the arrest; German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, who is visiting Ukraine, where he visited a synagogue and the Babyn Yar memorial, said if the accusations were proven, "that would once again demonstrate that Iran is a threat to Jews all over the world"… French President Emmanuel Macron spoke on Tuesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin; the two-hour call, which was initiated following U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities last month, was the first conversation between the two leaders in nearly three years… The U.K. Defence Journal suggests that dozens of social media accounts that promoted Scottish independence have ceased posting following Israel's strikes on Iran, which caused blackouts across parts of the Islamic Republic… Iran reportedly moved forward last month with plans to deploy mines in the Strait of Hormuz, which would have effectively shuttered the waterway to commercial vessels; the mines were loaded onto vessels in the Persian Gulf shortly after Israel began its preemptive strikes on Iranian nuclear and military facilities… Iran's nuclear regulators are no longer responding to outreach from international inspectors, following Tehran's decision last week to cut off inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency… Iranian Rear Adm. Ali Shamkhani, who was believed to have been killed in last month's Israeli strikes on senior regime officials, was seen, walking with a cane, in footage from the country's weekend memorial service for military commanders… Dylan Field's Figma filed for an IPO, less than two years after the collapse of a planned $20 billion takeover by Adobe; read JI's profile of Fields here… Eric Goldstein, the CEO of UJA-Federation of New York, will step down from his position at the end of the next fiscal year, after 12 years in the role, eJewishPhilanthropy's Judah Ari Gross reports… Entrepreneur, Democratic donor and philanthropist S. Daniel Abraham, who in 1989 established an eponymous center to focus on Middle East peacebuilding efforts, died at 101… |
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JΓRG BLANK/PICTURE ALLIANCE VIA GETTY IMAGES |
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul laid a stone at the Babyn Yar memorial in Ukraine this week during an unannounced trip to the country. |
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MICHAEL TULLBERG/GETTY IMAGES |
Actress, singer and producer, she appeared in her first films as a 14-year-old, Ashley Tisdale turns 40... Director emerita of Hebrew studies at HUC-JIR, now on the board of trustees of Los Angeles Hebrew High School, Rivka Dori... Nobel laureate in medicine in 2004, he is a professor at Columbia University and a molecular biologist, Richard Axel turns 79... Co-creator of the "Seinfeld" television series and creator of HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm," comedian and producer, Larry David turns 78... Inductee into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2014 as a member of the E Street Band, Roy J. Bittan turns 76... Swedish author and screenwriter, she wrote a novel about Jewish children who escaped the Holocaust, Annika Thor turns 75... Former CEO of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation, she also served as a State Department's special envoy on antisemitism, Hannah Rosenthal turns 74... Montclair, N.J.-based philanthropic consultant, Aaron Issar Back, Ph.D.... Israeli Druze politician who served as a member of the Knesset for the Kulanu and Kadima parties, Akram Hasson turns 66... Maryland state senator since 2015, Cheryl C. Kagan turns 64... Founder and head of business development of AQR Capital Management, David G. Kabiller turns 62... Member of the Knesset for the United Torah Judaism alliance, Ya'akov Asher turns 60... Chief White House correspondent for The New York Times, Peter E. Baker turns 58... Reading specialist at Wayne Thomas School in Highland Park, Ill., Stephanie Rubin... Co-founder, president and dean at Mechon Hadar in Manhattan, Shai Held, Ph.D. turns 54... Global industry editor for health and pharma at Thomson Reuters, Michele Gershberg... Music video and film director, Alma Har'el turns 50... Motivational speaker, media personality and a senior director of capital markets at RXR Realty, Charlie Harary turns 48... Author of fiction and non-fiction on a variety of Jewish topics, Elisa Albert turns 47... Israeli journalist, TV anchor and popular lecturer, Sivan Rahav-Meir turns 44... Member of Congress (R-NY), she was the chair of the House Republican Conference until earlier this year, Elise Stefanik turns 41... Actress and internet personality, Barbara Dunkelman turns 36... Actress, singer and songwriter, she played a lead role in the 2019 ABC series "Emergence," Alexa Swinton turns 16… |
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