Good Wednesday morning. In today's Daily Kickoff, we interview Sen. Steve Daines about his weekend visit to Israel and have the scoop on a letter signed by 50 Senate Republicans urging the foreign ministers of the U.K., France and Germany to hold firm in triggering snapback sanctions on Iran. We report on FBI Director Kash Patel's comments that federal investigators are probing the funding sources of left-wing protest movements and highlight a call by House Republicans on the White House to probe far-left billionaire Neville Roy Singham's ties to China. We also cover a press conference held yesterday by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to clarify his previous comments that the Jewish state will need to be like "super-Sparta" and adapt to "autarkic characteristics." Also in today's Daily Kickoff: Gov. Josh Shapiro, Rep. Josh Gottheimer and Alex Karp. Today's Daily Kickoff was curated by Jewish Insider Israel Editor Tamara Zieve and U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik, with an assist from Marc Rod. Have a tip? Email us here. Spread the word! Invite your friends to sign up.👇 |
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- President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump are spending the day in England for a royal visit, where they will be welcomed by King Charles III and Queen Camilla at Windsor Castle.
- This morning, the House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold a markup of bills aimed at reorganizing and reforming the State Department. Read JI's breakdown of the legislation here.
- The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will vote to advance a series of nominees out of committee, including Michel Issa to be ambassador to Lebanon; Richard Buchan to be ambassador to Morocco; Ben Black to lead the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation; and a second vote on the nomination of Mike Waltz, the former national security advisor, to be U.S. ambassador to the U.N., in order to prevent a procedural challenge from Democrats.
- Also on the Hill, the U.S. Helsinki Commission will hold a briefing on "conspiracy theories, antisemitism and democratic decline."
- The annual Defense of Freedom-Federalist Society Education, Law & Policy Conference examining the most pressing legal and policy issues in education kicks off today in Washington. Featured speakers include Secretary of Education Linda McMahon and Brandeis Center Chairman Kenneth Marcus. One of the panels will focus on discussing the federal government's efforts to combat antisemitism.
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A QUICK WORD WITH JI'S JOSH KRAUSHAAR |
A new poll of young conservatives between the ages of 18-34 commissioned by the Washington Free Beacon shows that Gen Z Republicans are decidedly more supportive of Israel than their liberal counterparts, but that there is a notable faction of those who take a more critical view towards the Jewish state. The Echelon Insights poll also found that anti-Israel and antisemitic podcasters like Nick Fuentes, Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens are viewed favorably by this right-wing cohort — even among many of the respondents who say they support Israel and recognize antisemitism is a problem. Carlson's favorability rating among these Gen Z conservatives, for instance, is 50%, with only 11% viewing him unfavorably. Owens has a similarly strong 49/14% favorability rating. The Holocaust-denying podcaster Darryl Cooper isn't nearly as well-known, but is viewed positively by those who listen to him, holding a 26/8% favorability rating. At the same time, pro-Israel podcasters like Ben Shapiro are also viewed very favorably; Shapiro's favorability rating with this cohort is 50/16%. Fox News host Mark Levin isn't quite as well-known, but holds a stellar 29/7% favorability rating. Asked about "Jews" generally, half of respondents hold a favorable view with only 12% holding an unfavorable opinion. The encouraging news? A number of these podcast listeners are tuning in to these transgressive shows featuring conspiracy theories, anti-Israel views and some antisemitism, but many are not being persuaded by them. For all their vitriolic attacks against the Jewish state, 54% of Carlson's viewers and 58% of Owens' audience have a favorable view towards Israel. But the gloomier finding is that a notable minority on the right holds bigoted views towards Jews and is critical of Israel. Between 20-25% of these Gen Z conservatives consistently express anti-Israel or antisemitic views — while support for Israel is not nearly as widespread as it is among older conservatives. While 40% of respondents said they side with Israel in its current conflict, about one-fifth (22%) said they side with the Palestinians. About the same percentage of Gen Z conservatives said they agree that "Israel is a colonizer built on the suffering of others." Read the rest of 'What You Should Know' here. |
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Palantir's Alex Karp says Jews need to 'leave their comfort zone' to defend community |
Palantir CEO Alex Karp called for the Jewish community to step outside its "comfort zone" and look for new strategies to defend itself amid rising antisemitism, during a speech on Tuesday at the American Friends of Chabad (Lubavitch) annual Lamplighter Awards in Washington. Karp, who was honored at the Chabad gala, also framed the battle against antisemitism as part of a broader fight for Western civilization and societies, Jewish Insider's Marc Rod reports. What he said: "Lessons that we've learned at Palantir … might be valuable for defending the West, in this particular case a particular tribe of people that are equally associated with the West, the Jewish people," Karp said. "Palantir is a metaphor for working when there's no playbook, and currently there is no playbook because institutions that have historically effectively defended people who've been discriminated against, especially Jewish people, are kind of not working." Karp continued, "If we're going to have a meaningful chance of fighting, everybody's going to have to leave their comfort zone a couple times a year. It's our job and my job to remind people [of] that, especially younger people here." Read the full story here. |
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Following visit to Israel, Sen. Daines reemphasizes the need to 'eradicate' Hamas |
Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) said he left Israel from a weekend visit with a renewed belief in the U.S.-Israel relationship and the necessity of fully eradicating Hamas, as the IDF begins expanded operations in Gaza City, Jewish Insider's Marc Rod reports. Doubling down: "It just reinforced my position of the importance that the United States stands with Israel, and in supporting Israel in their mission to eradicate Hamas in Gaza," Daines said in an interview with JI this week, reflecting on a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "There will never be true peace in Gaza and peace with Israel until Hamas is eradicated." He said that it's also crucial for innocent Palestinians that Israel be successful in its mission to defeat Hamas. Daines said that he didn't discuss the postwar vision for Gaza with Netanyahu, "but clearly the important first step will be eradicating Hamas." Read the full story here. |
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Fifty Senate Republicans call on European foreign ministers to hold firm on snapback, enforce Iran sanctions |
Fifty Senate Republicans wrote to the foreign ministers of the U.K., France and Germany on Tuesday urging them to hold firm in triggering snapback sanctions on Iran and requesting their cooperation in sanctions enforcement, Jewish Insider's Marc Rod reports. Notable quotable: "While we back diplomatic efforts to restore Iran's compliance with its International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) commitments, the international community should not allow hollow gestures and cynical threats from Tehran to stop the snapback process," the lawmakers wrote. "The regime has abused diplomatic processes for years to avoid penalties. Sanctions relief should only be negotiated after snapback is fully implemented." Read the full story here. |
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Netanyahu does damage control after saying Israel to be like 'super-Sparta,' 'autarky' |
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu clarified his remarks that Israel's economy may "need to adapt to … autarkic characteristics" on Tuesday, after a dip in the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and after business and industry leaders came out against Netanyahu's remarks, saying that "an autarkic economy will be a disaster for Israel," and "this vision ... will make it hard for us to survive in a developing globalized world," Jewish Insider's Lahav Harkov reports. Damage control: A day later, Netanyahu called a press conference amid widespread concern in Israel, clarifying that his comments were specific to the Israeli defense industry. In the defense industry, he said "there are limitations that are not economic, but political." He stated, "If there's one lesson from this war, it is that we want to be in a situation where we are not limited. We want to defend ourselves by ourselves and with our own weapons. We are going to produce an independent arms industry that is very strong that can withstand any political constraints." Read the full story here. WH invite: In the press conference, Netanyahu also said he had spoken on the phone with President Donald Trump several times since Israel's strike aimed at Hamas leaders in Qatar last week, including one in which the president invited him to the White House. Netanyahu said he will be meeting with Trump in Washington on Sept. 29. |
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Kash Patel vows to investigate funding for left-wing protest movements |
FBI Director Kash Patel said on Tuesday that federal investigators were looking into the funding sources for left-wing groups behind organized protest movements that have resulted in rioting on city streets and civil rights violations on college campuses. Patel made the comments while appearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee for a marathon oversight hearing, where he faced dozens of questions from Democrats and Republicans about the assassination of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk last week, Jewish Insider's Emily Jacobs reports. Follow the money: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) urged Patel to investigate the financing of far-left groups that the Texas senator said may have influenced the suspected shooter and supported protests in recent years that saw instances of rioting or other illegal activity. "As I've always said, Senator, money doesn't lie. We've been following the money, and that's what we're doing, issuing a lawful process to organizations involved with criminal activity because the money has got to come from somewhere," Patel told Cruz. Read the full story here. Money matters: The House Oversight Committee asked the Trump administration on Monday to investigate if far-left billionaire Neville Roy Singham's bankrolling of "extremist organizations fueling division and civil unrest across the United States" would qualify him for federal sanctions or make him eligible for criminal or legal penalties. |
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Drawing on Jewish blessing, Shapiro offers 'words of healing' to a nation on edge |
Amid an alarming rise in political violence, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said Tuesday that the way to combat extremism and division is by bringing people together and restoring their faith in the government — a civic-minded strategy that included some thinly veiled swipes at President Donald Trump and the hard-line rhetoric he has adopted since conservative activist Charlie Kirk was killed in Utah last week, Jewish Insider's Gabby Deutch reports. What he said: "I believe we have a responsibility to be clear and unequivocal in calling out all forms of political violence, making clear it is all wrong," Shapiro, a Democrat, said in a keynote address at the Eradicate Hate Global Summit, a Pittsburgh conference created in the aftermath of the 2018 mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue. "Unfortunately some, from the dark corners of the internet all the way to the Oval Office, want to cherry pick which instances of political violence they want to condemn." Shapiro leaned on Jewish teachings in his speech, referring as he often does to how his faith underpins his public service. Read the full story here. |
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Out in Left Field: Former Obama administration official Ken Baer writes in the Washington Post about how DSA-affiliated New York City mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani is an affront to Democratic Party principles. "It is "spineless politics" to do precisely what [Sen. Chris] Van Hollen, [Gov. Kathy] Hochul and other Democrats have done — and that more Democrats presumably will do in coming days — by casting aside the party's time-honored liberal principles to back Mamdani. Addressing the affordability crisis is noble. But who's against affordability? What matters is not just a party's policy ends, but also its means and its rationale for pursuing them. In the months since President Donald Trump's victory, Democrats have made no progress in articulating what they are for — and why … At best, this failure presents Democrats as inauthentic as they explain and backpedal when confronted with extreme beliefs from the party's left but offer nothing in replacement. At worst, it allows the left — within and outside the party — to define the party" [WashPost] Good Cop, Bad Cop: In The Free Press, Michael Doran, senior fellow and director of the Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East at the Hudson Institute, weighs in on what he describes as President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's "good cop-bad cop" routine. "Israel's ability to go on offense places it in a rare category among U.S. allies. Most lack the will or capacity to wage war independently. Critics like Tucker Carlson depict Israel's independence as a liability, dragging America into fights that don't serve its interests. Trump sees the reverse: Unilateral Israeli military operations spare American forces and serve U.S. strategic goals. In just two years, Israel has blunted Iran's nuclear ambitions, hammered Hezbollah, neutered Hamas, and weakened the Houthis—achievements many Americans view as enhancing their own security." [FreePress] History Lesson: In The Atlantic, Arash Azizi revisits the history of Zionism amid growing use of the term as a slur. "One summer in Brooklyn, a controversy broke out in my dog-park group chat. Dedicated to the upkeep of the park and welfare of our canines, our chat had never indulged in politics before. But someone was now complaining that a dog-insurance company was 'Zionist,' and a passionate debate ensued … To criticize someone for supporting, say, the Israeli government or its war in Gaza is one thing. But this charge is broader and vaguer, uttered sometimes in circumstances with no reference to Israel, and in many cases as little more than an anti-Semitic dog whistle. I'm probably the only Middle Eastern member of that park group chat. I'm also a historian by training. I jumped in to say that I didn't think Zionist should be used as a term of derision. Zionism is a nationalist movement, I insisted, and like other nationalist movements, it has a story rooted in the 19th century—one that is neither all good nor all bad. To call someone a Zionist as an insult is as strange as attacking someone for being a Ghanaian or Chinese nationalist. I'm not sure how many people I convinced. But to me the history of Zionism bears revisiting as a reminder of its impetus and early diversity." [Atlantic] |
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Israeli and U.S. officials continue to lament the failure of the Israeli strike in Doha, Qatar, both substantively and diplomatically, with one Israeli official telling Axios that "none of the top Hamas leaders were killed" and an American official saying they'd advised Israel to take steps to rectify its relationship with the Trump administration… Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) wrote to Kathy Goldenberg, the president of the New Jersey State Board of Education, on Monday urging the state to reject calls from the New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations for the state's education boards to cut ties with the Anti-Defamation League, Jewish Insider's Marc Rod reports… Advocates with the Anti-Defamation League are set to lobby lawmakers this week on a series of actions related to antisemitism, including a push to jump-start the stalled Antisemitism Awareness Act, Jewish Insider's Marc Rod reports... A new plaintiff was added to a lawsuit brought by the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights under Law against the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The complaint alleges that a Jewish graduate student was cornered in a campus parking lot by masked individuals calling for death to Israel and Zionists and faced a "campaign of hostility" inside his lab, and the university took no action when it was reported. The original complaint focused on a tenured linguistics professor who publicly harassed an Israeli postdoctoral researcher at the school… Jerry Greenfield, co-founder of Ben & Jerry's, has quit the ice cream company, saying that the business has been "silenced" by parent company Unilever on social issues; Unilever and Ben & Jerry's have clashed in recent years over issues related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict... Israel presented Syria with a new security agreement several weeks ago, Axios reports, and Syria is now preparing a counterproposal. Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani and U.S. envoy Tom Barrack are set to meet in London on Wednesday to discuss the proposal… Israeli strikes in Gaza City have reportedly cut off internet and telephone services in the city… Iran executed Babal Shahbazi, whom it accused of spying for Israel, Iranian state media reported today… The U.S. and China are finalizing a deal to transfer 80% of ownership of TikTok's U.S. business to an investor consortium including Oracle, Silver Lake and Andreessen Horowitz. The new U.S. app will still utilize ByteDance's algorithm, and Oracle will handle its user data in Texas… Carl Heastie, the Democratic speaker of the New York State Assembly, is expected to endorse New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani this week, The New York Times reports, one of several state leaders in the party who have thus far resisted doing so, while Jay Jacobs, chair of the New York Democratic Party, told several people he does not plan to endorse Mamdani. Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY), chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, is reportedly set to endorse him on Monday… Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) introduced a bill that would "prohibit state and local law enforcement from arresting foreign nationals within the United States" solely based on warrants from the International Criminal Court, as Mamdani has threatened to do to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu… Sens. John Fetterman (D-PA) and Dave McCormick (R-PA) appeared on Fox News' "Special Report" with Bret Baier on Tuesday evening for a discussion on improving political civility, where the duo condemned the use of political rhetoric equating one's political opponents to Nazis or Adolf Hitler. "When you see dangerous rhetoric like fascist and Nazism and authoritarianism, and the end of democracy, that's a permission, that takes us down a path where the inevitable next step is violence, and that's what we see," McCormick said… The Democratic PR firm SKDK terminated its contract with the Israeli government, which was meant to run until March 2026. Originally contracted to raise the profile of the Bibas family tragedy, a spokesperson for the firm declined to tell Politico why the deal was cut short… Gordon Gee, who served as president of five universities, is joining Brownstein as a strategic consulting adviser for the firm's higher education task force… Israeli Transportation Minister Miri Regev cleared Uber for entry into Israel's taxi market, a significant move for the country, which has a strong taxi drivers union… Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa signed an executive order on Tuesday designating the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hamas and Hezbollah as terrorist organizations… The Wall Street Journal reviews Yaakov Katz and Amir Bohbot's new book, While Israel Slept: How Hamas Surprised the Most Powerful Military in the Middle East, calling it "an agonizing litany of might-have-beens" and saying "Katz and Bohbot could have titled their book 'While Israel Was Busy Doing Other Things.'" Read JI's Lahav Harkov's interview with Katz here… Speaking at The Jerusalem Post Diplomatic Conference yesterday, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee called out European countries for pushing for a unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state, charging that "it destroyed the negotiations for the hostages." … Political commentator, author and former host of "The View," Meghan McCain accepted the Champion of Israel Award yesterday at the American Friends of Magen David Adom Gala at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City… The Air Force said it has started upgrading the luxury jet donated by Qatar for use as Air Force One… The New York Times reports on growing turmoil at Manhattan's iconic Pierre Hotel, where Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, the building's largest shareholder, now faces backlash from residents over a proposed $2 billion sale involving foreign investors that could force them out… The Wall Street Journal spotlights the transformation of Manhattan's 666 Fifth Avenue, once a high-profile real estate debacle under Jared Kushner's ownership, now rebounding under Brookfield's leadership with major renovations and new tenants… TikTok recently removed at least two antisemitic items from TikTok Shop, a spokesperson told Axios, in a sign of the platform's recent attempts to address antisemitism… A new Broadway play, "Giant," will explore the life of children's author Roald Dahl and his controversial moments around antisemitism and Israel, in particular, including incendiary comments about the First Lebanon War and the Holocaust… |
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A delegation of New York State legislators met with Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana (center) in Jerusalem on Monday. From left: Assemblyman AJ Beephan, Minority Leader Will Barclay, Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, Assemblywoman Nily Rozic, Assemblyman Lester Chang and Assemblyman Daniel Norber. |
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Leonard Ortiz/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images |
Comedian, writer and actress, she was a frequent guest of Johnny Carson on the "Tonight Show," Rita Rudner turns 72... Fashion designer, known worldwide for his leading-edge corporate uniforms, Stan M. Herman turns 97... U.S. senator (R-IA) since 1981, Chuck Grassley turns 92... Investment banker who once served as a NYC deputy mayor, Peter J. Solomon turns 87... Newbery Honor-winning author of many young adult books, Gail Carson Levine turns 78... Author of 11 books, Joshua Muravchik turns 78... Former president of the National Technical Institute for the Deaf and then president of Gallaudet University, T. Alan Hurwitz turns 78... Rochester attorney, he has held positions at the UJA-Federation of New York and the Rochester Jewish Federation, Frank Hagelberg... Retired judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Jeremy Don Fogel turns 76... Professional tennis player who achieved a world ranking of No. 5 in 1980, Harold Solomon turns 73... Author, comic book writer and editor, best known as group editor of the Spider-Man books at Marvel Comics, Daniel Fingeroth turns 72... Israeli businessman with real estate holdings in Israel and NYC, Mody Kidon turns 71... Author and graphic designer, Ellen Kahan Zager... Former member of the Knesset for the Yesh Atid party, Rina Frenkel turns 69... Rabbi of the New North London Synagogue with over 3,700 members, Jonathan Wittenberg turns 68... Former consultant at Quick Hits News, Elliott S. Feigenbaum... Journalist, best-selling author including two books on the Obama presidency and Emmy Award-winning executive producer, Richard Wolffe turns 57... Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for the last 18 months of the Biden administration, Mandy Krauthamer Cohen turns 47... Former regional communications director and spokesperson for President Obama, now a partner at Seven Letter, Adam Abrams... Member of the Los Angeles Unified School District's Board of Education, Nick Melvoin turns 40... Former Obama White House speechwriter who has since written a best-selling comedic memoir, David Litt turns 39... Principal product manager for CathWorks, Adina Shatz... National health-care reporter The Washington Post covering the FDA, Rachel Roubein... Associate at Strand Partners in London, Natalie Edelstein Jarvis... Founder of the Israel Summit at Harvard and board member of the IDF Widows and Orphans Organization, Max August... |
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