Good Thursday morning. In today's Daily Kickoff, we look at the growing debate within the Democratic Party over far-left political streamer Hasan Piker, who has a history of antisemitic remarks, and report on Gulf states' concern over the tepid response of Arab League nations, particularly Egypt, to Iran's recent attacks. We cover former Secretary of State Tony Blinken's comments that he warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of the potential loss of GOP and evangelical support for Israel over the war in Gaza, and talk to Sen. Lindsey Graham, the chair of the Senate Budget Committee, about efforts to pass supplemental military funding to support the war in Iran. Also in today's Daily Kickoff: Jonathan Amiel, Roya Hakakian and Jason Isaacson. Today's Daily Kickoff was curated by JI Executive Editor Melissa Weiss and Israel Editor Tamara Zieve, with assists from Danielle Cohen-Kanik and Marc Rod. Have a tip? Email us here. Spread the word! Invite your friends to sign up.π |
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- Israel said it targeted Alireza Tangsiri, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' navy, overnight. Iran has fired more than half a dozen missile barrages at Israel since 6:30 a.m. Israel time, the largest number of salvos launched in a five-hour period since the first days of the war.
- The continuing attacks come amid a report from The Wall Street Journal that President Donald Trump wants the war to wrap up in the next 4-6 weeks.
- FII PRIORITY continues in Miami today. Jared Kushner is slated to speak this morning about the U.S.-Gulf investment relationship. Meta's Dina Powell McCormick and World Liberty Financial's Zach Witkoff, a son of White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, will join panels later in the morning on AI infrastructure and stablecoins, respectively.
- In Washington, the Atlantic Council's Syria Project and the U.S.-Syria Business Council are jointly holding a symposium this morning focused on Syria's energy landscape.
- Fourteen Senate Republicans are sending a letter today to Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel, calling on the officials to provide a congressional briefing on the "progress and future priorities" of the joint task force to investigate the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks and antisemitism in the U.S., following reports that a number of members of the task force have been reassigned, Jewish Insider's Matt Shea reports.
- The House Ethics Committee is beginning proceedings against Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL), who is facing allegations of misusing campaign and FEMA funds.
- The House Committee on Education and Workforce is holding a hearing on foreign influence at American universities.
- The New York City Council is expected to vote today on two pieces of legislation advancing the creation of buffer zones around places of worship and educational centers. While Mayor Zohran Mamdani has not signaled his position on the bills, the legislation — which, with 35 co-sponsors, has secured veto-proof support — is opposed by some of the mayor's key allies, including the Democratic Socialists of America.
- CPAC continues today in Dallas.
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A QUICK WORD WITH JI'S MATTHEW KASSEL |
A nasty intraparty divide intensified this week as Democrats publicly debated whether to associate with Hasan Piker, the far-left streamer who has faced criticism for antisemitic commentary and pro-Hamas rhetoric, among other extreme remarks. The dispute erupted Tuesday after Piker revealed that he would join Abdul El-Sayed, a Democratic Senate candidate in Michigan, for two upcoming rallies in the state, marking the Twitch streamer's first major campaign appearance of the midterms. For mainstream Democrats increasingly troubled with Piker's rising influence on the left, El-Sayed's decision was particularly alarming. In a statement on Tuesday, Jonathan Cowan, president of the centrist Democratic think tank Third Way, said Democrats' associations with Piker are "morally repugnant and strategically self-defeating," and alleged that candidates "eager to campaign with" him are, "at best, comfortable overlooking his antisemitic and anti-American extremism and, at worst, endorsing it." Meanwhile, Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL), a top moderate voice in the House, became one of the first prominent Democratic officials to speak out against Piker in comments on Tuesday, calling on the party to reject and distance itself from a figure he characterized as "an unapologetic antisemite." In a statement to social media, Schneider said Democrats "cannot allow those who preach hate and seek division to find safe harbor among us," urging his colleagues to "call out hate and reject those who champion ideologies of exclusion and demonization." On Wednesday, El-Sayed faced further blowback from high-profile Michigan Democrats, including Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), a top rival in the Senate race, who said "choosing to campaign with someone who has a history of antisemitic rhetoric" would not be a winning formula in the swing state. Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) echoed that sentiment, saying Piker "sounds deeply antisemitic" and he is "not someone that should be helping anybody out in the Michigan political environment." A spokesperson for El-Sayed's campaign did not respond to a request for comment asking if he had weighed Piker's antisemitic rhetoric in choosing to appear with him. The Senate candidate has said he is unconcerned with backlash to his decision, while arguing that his "politics resonates with people who have been locked out." Read the rest of 'What You Should Know' here. |
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Daily Overtime brings you what we're tracking at the end of the day — and what's coming next. |
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Some Senate Republicans say Iran war isn't finished, contrary to Trump's claims |
Several Senate Republicans this week declined to fully endorse President Donald Trump's comments that the U.S. had "won" the war in Iran, arguing that there is still more to be done to fully degrade Iran's capabilities to the extent necessary, Jewish Insider's Marc Rod reports. What they're saying: "I think we're not done. I don't like calling it 'won' until it's done," Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) told JI. "You can't stop a war too soon, once it gets started, because then you've got to get right back to it again. You've got to finish it." Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said he agreed with the president, but added, "we've done a good job of accomplishing our military objectives. We're not quite there yet." Read the full story here with additional comments from Sens. Mike Rounds (R-SD), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Rick Scott (R-FL), Pete Ricketts (R-NE) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA). Left unsaid: The top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL), told reporters on Wednesday, after a classified briefing, that the administration isn't giving committee members enough information about its plans in Iran, JI's Marc Rod reports. |
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Lindsey Graham still aiming to pass Iran funding outside of partisan reconciliation bill |
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said Wednesday that he still hopes to pass supplemental military funding to support the war in Iran through regular legislative procedures, rather than incorporating it into an anticipated party-line budget reconciliation bill, Jewish Insider's Marc Rod reports. Stay the course: Graham, who chairs the Senate Budget Committee, which oversees reconciliation, announced on Wednesday that the committee would be pursuing a new reconciliation bill, to include funding for both the military and homeland security. But asked by JI whether he expects Iran war funding to be included in the reconciliation bill, as some Republicans have been discussing, Graham said he would still like to pass it through normal procedures. Read the full story here. |
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TROUBLE IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD |
Gulf states slam Arab League countries for tepid response to Iranian aggression |
The United Arab Emirates has been publicly expressing its disappointment in Arab League countries like Egypt for not showing or expressing very little support for Gulf states under attack from Iran, a dynamic playing out more quietly in other Gulf states, as well, Jewish Insider's Lahav Harkov reports. Let down: Hussain Abdul-Hussain, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and author of The Arab Case for Israel, told JI that the media in Egypt and Algeria are showing "happiness … that Israel is being pounded. They're happy with what Iran is doing and no one really seems to care about the Gulf states. The Gulf took 84% of the [Iranian] missiles, as opposed to Israel, which took 16%, and they still can't straightforwardly say Iran is a problem?" Read the full story here. Bonus: Prominent Emirati media personality Jamal Al Mulla said in a recent episode of his "Arab Cast" podcast that "the Gulf is hurt and will not forget how fellow Arab countries let it down," adding that, "When the shooting stops, I expect a few Gulf countries to rush to normalization with Israel. My money is on Kuwait, perhaps Saudi Arabia too." |
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Elissa Slotkin, Haley Stevens criticize El-Sayed over rallies with Hasan Piker |
Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed is facing criticism from some prominent Michigan Democrats — including Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) and Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), who is running against him in the Democratic primary — for his decision to host campaign rallies with Hasan Piker, the far-left political streamer with a history of antisemitic remarks, Jewish Insider's Gabby Deutch reports. Campaign choices: "That's the exact opposite of someone I'd be campaigning with," Stevens told JI on Wednesday. "We have to be serious here about who's going to be the best general election candidate for U.S. Senate in Michigan to beat [Republican] Mike Rogers, and someone who's campaigning with someone like that is not going to win in Michigan." Slotkin told JI, "I want to read for myself, but sounds deeply antisemitic, consistently, and therefore not someone that should be helping anybody out in the Michigan political environment." Read the full story here. |
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Blinken says he warned Netanyahu that Israel would lose GOP, evangelical support over Gaza war |
Former Secretary of State Tony Blinken said at a Harvard Kennedy School event this week that he warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a few months into the war in Gaza that Israel was going to lose support among not just Democrats, but also Republicans and evangelical Christians, Jewish Insider's Gabby Deutch reports. What he said: "Israel was mostly seen as the David and other forces were seen as the Goliath. That is now flipped," Blinken said. "One of the things that I told Netanyahu was, 'You may not care that you're losing the Democratic Party, but trust me, you are going to lose young Republicans. You're going to lose young evangelicals. This is generational.' And he moved on to something else." Read the full story here. |
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Military experts lay out remaining obstacles in Iran war, herald successes thus far |
Former U.S. Central Command head Gen. Frank McKenzie said Wednesday that the U.S. military is "in the heart of the plan" in its war against Iran, pointing to major military achievements against Tehran's missile and military capabilities, while cautioning that the conflict remains a grinding, long-term campaign, Jewish Insider's Matthew Shea reports. 'Long-prepared plan': During a webinar hosted by the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, McKenzie said the U.S. is "accomplishing the objectives that we set out. CENTCOM is executing a long-prepared campaign plan. This is not something that we've drawn up on the back of the envelope day-to-day. These are things that have been studied and refined for many years. If you are sitting down at CENTCOM right now, you are satisfied with where you are." Read the full story here. |
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Once and For All: In The Wall Street Journal, Ambassador Yousef Al Otaiba, the United Arab Emirates' envoy to the U.S., called for a "conclusive outcome" to the war against Iran, rather than a "simple ceasefire" that would allow for future conflict. "The U.A.E. is the argument Iran can't win, the idea it can't accept … We want Iran as a normal neighbor. It can be reclusive and even unwelcoming, but it can't attack its neighbors, blockade international waters, or export extremism. Building a fence around the problem and wishing it goes away isn't the answer. It would simply defer the next crisis." [WSJ] The Kharg Conundrum: The Financial Times' Steff ChΓ‘vez and Charles Clover look at what a U.S. takeover of the strategically positioned Kharg Island could mean for the future of the conflict. "Such a move would give the US control over virtually all of Iran's oil exports, allowing Washington to choke off revenue without destroying the facility and potentially triggering chaos in global oil markets. It would also give the U.S. a bargaining chip in any effort to force Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, with other options including capturing strategic islands in the strait in order to exert control over the waterway." [FT] Two Sides of One Coin: In The Free Press, Adam Louis Klein posits that recent legal decisions underscore the connection between antisemitism and anti-Zionism. "When neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes bumped heads with leftist Hasan Piker, both saw Jews or Israel as responsible for social problems in the United States. Piker sees ICE crackdowns on immigration as 'Zionist'; Fuentes views mass immigration as 'Jewish.' … They are distinct and symmetrical ways of scapegoating and libeling Jews. For this reason, it's imperative that organizations and institutions committed to protecting Jews and fighting the scourge of Jew-hatred start condemning — clearly and without apology — antisemitism and anti-Zionism. The addition of that and makes all the difference, bringing anti-Zionism into the field of perception and marking it for condemnation." [FreePress] Quiet on the Quad: The Atlantic's Rose Horowitch looks at the lack of campus protests around the war with Iran, in contrast to the protests that swept college campuses in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks and ensuing war in Gaza. "This might seem like an abrupt and mysterious reversal in campus culture. In fact, it's a sign that student protest was never a fact of nature, but rather an administrative choice. Universities chose to let campus demonstrations get out of control; now they're choosing to suppress them. This is why, even as legal challenges have blocked the Trump administration from enacting much of its higher-education agenda, the president has clearly achieved his aim of ending the protest movement." [TheAtlantic] The Next Crackdown: In The Washington Post, the Center for Human Rights in Iran's Karen Kramer and Esfandiar Aban warn that the Iranian regime is likely to again target its own citizens. "With armed agents roaming the streets, arrests mounting, tens of thousands behind bars, an internet shutdown to obscure the regime's actions, and executions already underway, the Islamic Republic appears poised to pick up where the security forces left off in January. The international community should not allow this to happen. It should demand that detainees and political prisoners be released and make clear that any further violence against civilians will carry severe consequences that cannot be offset by concessions elsewhere." [WashPost] |
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President Donald Trump named Mark Zuckerberg and Larry Ellison to the newly created President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology; the group will be co-chaired by White House AI czar David Sacks and tech advisor Michael Kratsios… Jewish leaders in Chicago are raising concerns about the resignation of Nancy Andrade, who until this week served as the city's commissioner on human relations, shortly after her commission released a report on how to address antisemitism in the city; the report, which was submitted last month along with recommendations for action, was then heavily revised by an outside firm hired by Mayor Brandon Johnson… The campaign website home page for Michael Blake, a far-left challenger to Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) who has made his criticism of Israel a centerpiece of his campaign, features a picture of Blake in Israel, Jewish Insider's Marc Rod reports… Semafor looks at the shifting priorities of climate justice activists, who have increasingly focused attacking Israel and AIPAC… Jonathan Amiel, the head of McGill University's faculty advisory board and a donor to the school, resigned from his position and is pulling his donations, citing the law school's passage of a recent referendum calling on the school to boycott Israeli universities… Puka Nacua is being sued by a Jewish woman who claims the Los Angeles Rams wide receiver made an "unprovoked antisemitic statement" and forcibly bit her; the lawsuit comes months after Nacua faced criticism for making an antisemitic gesture on an internet livestream… A Paul Klee print normally housed at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem has been unable to be transported to New York, where it was set to be included in an exhibition of the modernist artist's work at the Jewish Museum, due to flight restrictions in place in Israel... Delta announced the suspension of nonstop flights to Israel from Atlanta and New York through Sept. 5… Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the head of Uganda's military, said the country wants the war with Iran to end but added that "any talk of destroying or defeating Israel will bring us into the war. On the side of Israel"... |
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Jason Isaacson, the American Jewish Committee's chief policy and political affairs officer, sat in conversation with Iranian American writer Roya Hakakian last night at the AJC's annual Ambassadors' Seder in Washington. |
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Argentine-born, Israeli clarinetist who specializes in klezmer music, Giora Feidman turns 90... President of the Palestinian Authority since 2005, known as Abu Mazen, Mahmoud Abbas turns 91... Former member of the Knesset for eight years, he held several ministerial portfolios, Rabbi Yitzhak Haim Peretz turns 88... Award-winning novelist and poet, her debut novel in 1973, Fear of Flying, has sold over 37 million copies, Erica Jong turns 84... Philanthropist active in the U.K. and in Israel, she is the founder of London's Jewish Community Centre which opened in 2013, Dame Vivien Louise Duffield turns 80... Southern California resident, Martin J. Rosmarin... Retired ENT surgeon, author of five books and former medical correspondent at ABC News and NBC News, Nancy Lynn Snyderman, MD turns 74... Molecular biologist and winner of the 2024 Nobel Prize in medicine, Gary Bruce Ruvkun turns 74... Chancellor of The Jewish Theological Seminary, she announced she will step down at the end of the 2025-26 academic year, Dr. Shuly Rubin Schwartz turns 73... Former president and CEO of the Ottawa-based Public Policy Forum, now an executive advisor at Deloitte, Edward Greenspon... Actress who has appeared in many movies over a 30-year career, in 2010 she was the winner of Season 11 of "Dancing with the Stars," Jennifer Grey turns 66... Lori Tarnopol Moore... Patent attorney from Detroit, she currently serves on the Michigan State Board of Education, Ellen Cogen Lipton turns 59... Englewood, N.J., resident, Deena Remi Thurm... Co-founder of Google along with Sergey Brin, Larry Page turns 53... Founder, president and CEO of Waxman Strategies, Michael Waxman turns 52... Israeli actor and model, Yonatan Uziel turns 51... Curator and historian of Jewish art and history, Dr. Ido Noy turns 47... Talk show host who founded Israel Sports Radio, Ari Louis turns 43... Actress best known for her roles in ABC's sitcom "Suburgatory" and the USA Network's drama "Mr. Robot," Carly Chaikin turns 36... Judoka in the under 52 kg weight category, she competed for Israel in the 2024 Olympics, Gefen Primo turns 26... Rapper and Internet personality, known professionally as Bhad Bhabie, Danielle Peskowitz Bregoli turns 23... |
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