Good Tuesday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we look at efforts by Democrats in Michigan to block a far-left congressional candidate over his past racist comments, and report on Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s announcement that the Trump administration will launch a significant diplomatic offensive against the International Criminal Court. We cover the introduction of bipartisan legislation from Reps. Josh Gottheimer and Mike Lawler to dismantle and replace UNRWA, and cover New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s pledge to continue to work with scandal-plagued consultant Morris Katz. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Dara Horn, Eli Vered Hazan and Ronald Lauder.
We have also launched a new on-demand Live Briefing that you can access throughout the day via our new app (on Apple and Android) and on our website.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by JI Executive Editor Melissa Weiss and Israel Editor Tamara Zieve, with an assist from Danielle Cohen-Kanik and Marc Rod. Have a tip? Email us here.
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- President Donald Trump will meet this morning with Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, whom he backed in the country’s elections earlier this year amid an effort to push Baghdad to crack down on Iranian militias operating in Iraq. The meeting comes as the U.S. continued to strike Iranian military targets overnight, including Bushehr, Chah Bahar, Jask, Konarak, Abu Musa and Bandar Abbas, “to further degrade Iran’s ability to attack commercial shipping,” CENTCOM said.
- Earlier in the day, CENTCOM announced that U.S. forces would today resume blockading Iranian ports. Trump also declared that the U.S. would institute a 20% fee on all cargo transiting the waterway. Read more here.
- The Aspen Security Forum kicks off this afternoon in Colorado. Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, former Defense Secretary Mark Esper and former Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker are set to speak later today on a panel titled, “The State of the World in 2026.”
- Darline Graham Nordone, the sister of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), will be sworn in to her brother’s Senate seat today at 2:30 p.m. ET, after South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster announced his decision on Monday to appoint her to serve the remainder of Graham’s term. Trump threw his support behind Graham Nordone, saying that appointing her “would be a fabulous tribute to Lindsey, who loved her dearly.” Read more here.
- Fed Chair Kevin Warsh is set to testify before the House Financial Services Committee this morning — the first time Warsh will appear before the Congress since assuming the role.
- The two-day Pennsylvania Defense and Innovation Summit, hosted by Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA), will kick off at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pa., with a keynote address from Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine.
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will host some GOP members of Congress for dinner tonight, as the Trump administration seeks more than $67 billion for the Pentagon in its supplemental funding request.
- Lebanese and Israeli officials are meeting today at the U.S. Embassy in Rome to discuss the implementation of a framework agreed to by the countries last month that would see the disarmament of Hezbollah, a withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon and an end to the hostilities between Beirut and Jerusalem.
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A QUICK WORD WITH JI'S MELISSA WEISS |
In the span of five days, one of Washington’s most vocal champions of the U.S. relationship with Israel died, while two prospective 2028 Democratic presidential contenders traveled to the Jewish state to define their approaches to the country. Though a coincidence of timing, those events, when taken together, underscored something much more significant: the passing of one generation of American politics vis-a-vis Israel and the opening contest over what will succeed it.
The events of the last week have distilled concerns that have repeatedly emerged at Jewish and Israeli gatherings, over Shabbat meals and in breakfast meetings: As the far left gains traction within the Democratic Party, and as the isolationist right increasingly finds support among Republicans, what does that mean for American Jews and U.S. support for Israel?
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who died suddenly on Saturday, represented a generation of politicians — across the political spectrum — for whom support for Israel was tied to deep, long-standing relationships with the Jewish state’s leaders, the belief in the country’s strategic positioning as a key ally and the ability of Israel’s friends in Washington to challenge Jerusalem without imperiling the relationship.
His death sent shockwaves across the Jewish community at a time when U.S. support for Israel — including among Republicans — is on the decline.
Days before Graham died, former U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel was in Israel, where he delivered a speech — his own version of tough talk to Israelis — at Tel Aviv University on the future of the U.S.-Israel relationship. Speaking to reporters ahead of his speech, Emanuel, who served as White House chief of staff from 2009-2010, said that declining U.S. support for Israel “is not a Democratic Party problem. This is an American problem, and a generational problem.”
Separate from Emanuel’s trip, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) also traveled to Israel last week, gaining attention for an incident in the West Bank in which local security forces stopped Khanna, who was accompanied by aides and an activist from Breaking the Silence, after the congressman entered what had been until recently a closed military zone. He has since called for Israel to investigate the incident, even as Israeli officials denied the congressman’s account. Khanna has not provided any evidence to back up his claim of being detained by settlers.
In his public comments and meetings, Emanuel conveyed a desire to halt the growing daylight between future generations of Israelis and Americans. Khanna, who a decade ago was a staunch supporter of close ties with Jerusalem, has adopted a different political calculation, leaning into the growing anti-Israel sentiment in his party as a launching pad for a national campaign.
Read the rest of 'What You Should Know' here.
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Mainstream Democrats rally to block far-left candidate from nomination in swing Mich. district |
William Lawrence, a virulent Israel critic gaining momentum among progressives in Michigan’s battleground 7th Congressional District, is facing a wave of criticism over past comments denigrating Black political leadership, attacking former Vice President Kamala Harris. As a result, Lawrence is now facing the opposition of an outside group aiming to block him from winning the Democratic nomination, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
On Israel: On the campaign trail, Lawrence has called for an end to U.S. aid to Israel and accused the country of genocide, something that the other Democratic candidates, former Navy SEAL Matt Maasdam and former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink, have declined to do. During a candidate forum, Lawrence said that Israel “has refused every other form of accountability and we continue to arm them.”
Read the full story here.
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Marco Rubio launches sweeping diplomatic offensive against ICC |
The Trump administration plans to launch a major diplomatic offensive against the International Criminal Court, furthering the White House’s long-running battle against the international organization, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Monday, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
Rubio’s remarks: “For 250 years, Americans have governed ourselves as a free and sovereign people,” Rubio said in a video, which was accompanied by an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal. He described America’s legal system as “the essential and indispensable feature of our form of government,” but cautioned that “powerful people in far away places want to take that away from us.” He warned of shadowy “unelected globalist bureaucrats who claim their power is almost unlimited,” unless the U.S. acts quickly.
Read the full story here.
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Democrats denounce Trump’s return to Iran war |
Democrats on Monday slammed President Donald Trump’s resumption of hostilities against Iran, as well as the notion, implicit in Trump’s notification, that the operations mark a new conflict and therefore reset the 60-day window for military operations launched by the executive branch without congressional approval, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Pushing back: Critics of the war have argued consistently that the operations that began in February never actually concluded during the since-terminated ceasefire, despite the administration’s assertions otherwise. “Trump’s rinse and repeat approach to the Iran war isn’t a strategy, it’s a recipe for utter disaster,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said Monday. “It’s incredible what a fiasco this war is. Trump’s so-called understanding — lot of bull — with Iran fell apart faster than the ink could dry.”
Read the full story here with additional comments from Sens. Tim Kaine (D-VA), Adam Schiff (D-CA) and John Cornyn (R-TX) and Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA).
Windfall: Iran netted nearly $5 billion in the 22 days after Washington and Tehran signed their memorandum of understanding on June 17, according to a new report from the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, JI’s Matthew Shea reports.
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Reps. Lawler, Gottheimer introduce bill to dismantle and replace UNRWA |
Reps. Mike Lawler (R-NY) and Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) introduced a bill on Tuesday that directs the State Department to work with U.S. allies to dismantle and replace the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Details: The “Replace UNRWA with Real Humanitarian Assistance Act” would give the secretary of state 180 days to submit a “comprehensive strategy, coordinated with international partners and allies,” to dismantle UNRWA, including a detailed timeline for the wind-down, identification of governmental or non-governmental entities responsible for taking over UNRWA’s portfolio, a funding plan and a transition plan. The secretary would be required to begin implementing the plan within a year of submitting the strategy.
Read the full story here.
Flight risk: Airstrikes on Yemen’s Sanaa International Airport on Monday were intended to stop Iran and the Houthis from breaking a decades-long air blockade and opening an uncontrolled air link between Tehran and its Yemeni proxy, regional analysts said — a corridor they warn could let Iran resupply the Houthis directly with weapons for future campaigns against Saudi Arabia and Israel, JI’s Matthew Shea reports.
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Zohran Mamdani stands by embattled Graham Platner advisor |
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani vowed on Monday to maintain ties with a controversial political operative behind the imploded campaign of Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner, whom a former romantic partner accused of rape, leading him to drop out of the race, Jewish Insider’s Will Bredderman reports.
Mayor’s stand: Morris Katz and his consulting firm Fight Agency gained a reputation as political wonder-workers after assisting in Mamdani’s 2025 campaign and then in the socialist sweep of New York’s congressional primaries last month. But following the high-profile collapse of Platner’s candidacy, members of the Democratic Socialists of America began circulating a petition calling for a boycott of Katz’s services. But Mamdani, one of DSA’s most prominent national figures, declared he would not participate in the proposed blacklist. “I will continue to work with Morris Katz,” Mamdani told reporters at an unrelated event. “He remains a top advisor of mine.”
Read the full story here.
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In his final term as WJC president, Ronald Lauder looks for the next generation to step up |
Nearly every surface in Ronald Lauder’s office on the 42nd floor of the General Motors Building in Midtown Manhattan has a clock on it. Some are brass, some are gold, and there’s a large wooden one with a shining pendulum hanging on the wall. And all of them were ticking away as he spoke with eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross about his past, the Jewish community’s troubling present and his hopes for its future, while sitting on his distressed leather furniture, looking out over the southeast corner of Central Park, in one of his first extended interviews in years.
Ticktock: The clocks, of course, are also a metaphor. Lauder, 82, announced earlier this year that he will not seek reelection when his term as president of the World Jewish Congress ends in 2029, and his mind is occupied with both finding a specific successor for that role and, more broadly, encouraging the next generation of Jewish leaders to step up, particularly in Jewish education. He was also explicit that this is the reason why he agreed to a rare interview. “I believe very strongly that we must have young philanthropy. I would say that 80% of philanthropy today is from people over 60,” he told eJP.
Read the full interview here and sign up for eJewishPhilanthropy’s Your Daily Phil hereeJewishPhilanthropy’s Your Daily Phil here.
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The Loneliness of Chuck Schumer: The Wall Street Journal’s William McGurn posits that even as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) serves as one of his party’s most prominent voices, antisemitism of the kind Schumer rails against has gained traction among Democrats. “Today’s party is nothing like the one Mr. Schumer grew up in. Those who regard Israel as a genocidal enemy are ascendant, and though the first Jewish Senate minority leader may cast individual pro-Israel votes, he certainly isn’t leading in Congress on Jewish or Israeli issues. His position is like that of the young babysitter in the 1979 horror film ‘When a Stranger Calls.’ After a series of disturbing phone calls, she calls the police. They get back to her with this chilling message: ‘The calls are coming from inside the house.’” [WSJ]
Poison PEN: The Atlantic’s Gal Beckerman observes the “meltdown” taking place at PEN America, following the resignation of the group’s president over an article that looked at the isolation faced by Israeli and Jewish writers. “Thursday’s article nodded to the curtailed freedoms of Israeli and Jewish writers without taking any ideological side. It was far from a battle cry or a shift in priorities. … This reality does not neutralize the cause of pro-Palestinian writers or the suffering in Gaza and elsewhere. The fact that the article was perceived that way, and that it led to the resignation of a president, tells us all a great deal about the hair-trigger moment we live in, and about the precarity of the liberal principles on which PEN America was founded.” [TheAtlantic]
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?: In “Moral Clarity,” Israeli writer Nachum Kaplan reflects on a recent dinner party in which Israel was a main topic of conversations among guests, most of whom were strident critics of Israel. “I walked home reflecting on the strange burden of being pro-Israel in polite society. One is expected to arrive with evidence, history, nuance, empathy, military expertise, legal precision and a detailed alternative strategy for every available course of action. The other side need only arrive with adjectives. Colonial. Genocidal. Apartheid. Brutal. … The ignorance would be less irritating if it were accompanied by humility. Yet ignorance among the educated rarely travels alone. It brings status, vocabulary and the confidence of belonging to a moral majority. Its possessors do not merely lack knowledge. They regard knowledge as faintly disreputable, particularly when it interferes with the emotional clarity of their conclusions.” [MoralClarity]
A larger selection of Worthy Reads is available in our Live Briefing.
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Be featured: Email us to inform the JI readership of your upcoming event, job opening or other communication.
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The Jewish Federations of North America offered its support for the Stop the Fakes Act, led by Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Tom Kean Jr. (R-NJ), requiring the labeling of AI-generated content online. “By strengthening transparency and accountability online, the Stop the Fakes Act would help protect Jewish communities, and all vulnerable groups, from AI-enabled antisemitism, hate, impersonation, and targeted harassment," Omer Yarden-Oppenheim, director of government relations at JFNA, said…
Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Peter Welch (D-VT), Ed Markey (D-MA) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) urged colleagues to block procedural motions to move ahead with the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act without votes to strip U.S.-Israel military and intelligence cooperation out of the bill…
The Congressional Jewish Staff Association announced its 2026-2027 board, naming Zachary Freiman as president, Lindsey Rubin as vice president of member outreach, Tessa Cate as treasurer, Gabe Feiner as vice president of social programming, Louie Kahn as communications director and Joshua Lash, Max Seltzer and Sasha Frank-Stempel as members-at-large…
Federal officials charged a Texas man with transmitting threatening communications through means of interstate or foreign commerce, alleging he threatened to kill Jewish employees of a security camera company in Georgia…
The New Yorker visits Russ & Daughters with a duo from the Netherlands who are self-styled experts on pickles, as they explore the history of the popular sandwich accompaniment in New York…
U.K. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced that the country designated Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terror organization, with those found guilty of supporting the group facing up to 14 years in prison; the government also banned the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right, which No. 10 Downing St. said was behind a number of attacks on British Jewish sites…
The New York Times does a deep dive into a yearslong Mossad effort to groom former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad into an Israeli intelligence asset and, potentially, a successor to the Iranian regime; the plot, which included a meeting in Hungary between Ahmadinejad and then-Mossad head David Barnea, ultimately failed following an Israeli attempt to remove the former Iranian president from government surveillance on the first day of the war…
The Wall Street Journal spotlights the U.S.’ use — for the first time — of drone boats in the war with Iran, as the military increasingly relies on unmanned technologies in battle…
The Financial Times reports on efforts by U.S. adversaries to use cyber attacks to obtain location information about U.S. forces and contractors in the Middle East in the lead-up to the war with Iran…
Dubai-based port operator DP World is planning to build a new port near the city of Fujairah on the United Arab Emirates’ east coast, in an effort to bypass the Strait of Hormuz and decrease the Gulf state’s reliance on the Jebel Ali hub near Dubai…
Israeli Ambassador to Singapore Eli Vered Hazan was named the world chairman of Keren Hayesod, succeeding Sam Grundwerg…
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Author Dara Horn (right) discussed her work researching and writing about contemporary antisemitism with Anila Ali, board chair and president of the American Muslim and Multifaith Women's Empowerment Council, at AMMWEC's conference in Washington on Monday about antisemitism and hate. Other speakers included Reps. Brad Schneider (D-IL) and Greg Stanton (D-AZ), as well as Luke Moon, a visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation and the head of Generation Zion.
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ERIC BRIDIERS/U.S. MISSION GENEVA
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U.S. representative to the U.N. Human Rights Council during the last three years of the Biden administration, she is the daughter and granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, Ambassador Michèle Taylor turns 60...
Past president of Congregation B’nai Jehoshua Beth Elohim in Deerfield, Ill., Sandee Holleb… Architect and urban designer, he is identified with Habitat 67, a housing complex built in conjunction with Expo 67 (the 1967 Montreal World's Fair), Moshe Safdie turns 88... MLB pitcher for 11 seasons, now a sportscaster and author, he won the Cy Young Award and was an MLB All Star in 1980, Steve Stone turns 79... Los Angeles resident, Susan Farrell... Film producer, best known for the “Lethal Weapon” series, the first two “Die Hard” movies and the “Matrix” trilogy, Joel Silver turns 74... Film and theatrical producer, in 2012 he became the first producer to have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Award, Scott Rudin turns 68... Co-founder and managing director of Beverly Hills Private Wealth, Scott M. Shagrin... United States secretary of commerce, Howard Lutnick turns 65... Media columnist for the Chicago Tribune until 2021, Phil Rosenthal turns 63... Illustrator and author best known as the writer of The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Brian Selznick turns 60... Principal at Oakland, Calif.-based Full Court Press Communications and a past president of the Oakland Hebrew Day School, Daniel Eli Cohen... Member of the Washington State Senate until 2023, David S. Frockt turns 57... President and CEO at the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston, Renee Wizig-Barrios... Rapper and record producer from Brooklyn known as "Ill Bill," he is the producer, founder and CEO of Uncle Howie Records, William "Bill" Braunstein turns 54... Professor in the department of genetics at the Harvard Medical School, David Emil Reich, Ph.D. turns 52... COO at Aish Global, Elliot Mathias... Fashion designer and cast member on "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills," Dorit Kemsley turns 50... Retired mixed martial artist, now a life coach, Emily Peters-Kagan turns 45... Co-founder and executive chairman of Pinterest, Ben Silbermann turns 44... Interior designer and owner of Tribe By Design, Tehillah Braun... Professional golfer with four tournament wins in the Asian and European tours, David Lipsky turns 38... Founder at Bashert Group and head of a NYC-based family office, Daniel B. Jeydel... AVP for grantmaking at Hillel International, she is on the board of the Siegel JCC of Delaware, Rachel Giattino... Reporter covering housing and the home building industry for The Wall Street Journal, Nicole Friedman... Director of Chabad Georgetown and rabbi at the Pentagon, Rabbi Menachem Shemtov turns 36... Creator of the Instagram feed called Second Date Shadchan, Elizabeth Morgan “Lizzy” Brenner... Collegiate basketball star for Princeton and Maryland, now playing for PerfumerΓas Avenida of Spain's Liga Femenina de Baloncesto, Abby Meyers turns 27... Attorney and founder of In Every Generation, David Rosenberg-Wohl...
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