Good Thursday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we report on former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s remarks yesterday in Tel Aviv on Israel and the Democratic Party, and have the scoop on a new 501(c)(4) launched by allies of Sen. Ted Cruz with the goal of combating antisemitism among Republicans. We report on the influx of cash from the United Democracy Project and another super PAC boosting Rep. Wesley Bell ahead of his rematch against former Rep. Cori Bush in Missouri, and spotlight the media moguls and tech titans attending the annual Sun Valley conference in Idaho this week. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Rep. Ed Case, Jillian Segal and Sen. Lindsey Graham.
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. Have a tip? Email us here.
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- President Donald Trump is back in Washington today following the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey. The president, who traveled to Ankara earlier this week aboard the plane recently gifted to him by Qatar for use as a new Air Force One, told reporters before he departed that he would be traveling on one of the older aircraft, while the new plane will be flown to a U.S. airbase in the U.K. The change-up came amid questions about the plane’s security features, as well heightened concerns regarding Iran following the resumption of strikes between the U.S. and the Islamic Republic.
- Before departing Turkey, Trump reiterated his threat to Iran that he would “finish the job,” telling reporters that he was no longer sure if he was interested in a peace deal with Iran and was questioning if the country’s leadership was rational enough to work with. The comments came as the U.S. and Iran traded strikes in the region, with CENTCOM saying it struck approximately 90 new military targets across Iran on Wednesday night — including air-defense systems, coastal surveillance assets, missile and drone storage sites, naval capabilities and military logistics infrastructure. Iranian media reported additional explosions in the Bushehr province this morning. Read more here.
- Secretary of State Marco Rubio is slated to meet at noon today at the White House with Saudi Ambassador to the U.S. Princess Reema bint Bandar Al Saud.
- Elsewhere stateside, we’re keeping an eye on Maine Democrats as the party looks to pick a new candidate to challenge Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) following Graham Platner’s announcement last night that he was suspending his campaign after a former girlfriend accused him earlier this week of having raped her. More below.
- The Contemporary Antisemitism conference at the University of Haifa wraps up today with a keynote speech from philosopher and author Bernard-Henri LΓ©vy.
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A QUICK WORD WITH JI'S EMILY JACOBS |
Allies of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) are launching a new political organization aimed at countering antisemitism within the Republican Party, Jewish Insider has learned, led by Arielle F. Klepach, a former assistant U.S. attorney and senior counsel for the National Jewish Advocacy Center.
The Front Line (TFL) will operate as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, meaning the group will not have to disclose its donors and can spend unlimited sums toward political activity, provided campaign finance is not its primary purpose and it does not contribute directly to campaigns.
A source familiar with the matter told JI that those behind the organization, which Cruz is not directly involved with, raised several million dollars to fund the operation. Klepach will run the operation as executive director.
“There has been a surge of antisemitism across America, which first engulfed the left and is now threatening the moral integrity and political unity of the conservative movement and the Republican Party,” Klepach said. “I am excited to lead The Front Line’s efforts to defeat right-wing antisemitism before it takes conservatives down the same path of anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and pro-Sharia advocacy that has taken the left.”
Read the rest of ‘What You Should Know’ here.
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Rahm Emanuel, in Tel Aviv, says he is ‘not impressed’ by far-left wing of the Democratic Party |
Former U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel, speaking in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, criticized the “moral bankruptcy” of “those that paraded, celebrated and cheered” in the aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel. Emanuel, who served as White House chief of staff from 2009 to 2010 in the Obama administration, made the comments as part of a broader address on his vision for the future of U.S.-Israel relations as he mulls a potential presidential bid, Jewish Insider’s Melissa Weiss reports.
What he said: Speaking to JI prior to his speech at Tel Aviv University, Emanuel responded to a question about Democrats, including Darializa Avila Chevalier, the presumptive winner in New York’s 13th Congressional District, who attended a Times Square rally the day after Hamas launched its attacks on southern Israel. “I have no place for the moral bankruptcy of those that found Oct. 8 as the day to cheer 1,200 people not only killed but sexually abused, and for taking hostage 250 people. They’re morally bankrupt.”
Tough talk: In his speech, Emanuel called for a reassessment of the relationship between the U.S. and Israel. “American policy towards Israel operated under the assumption that the best thing Washington could do for Jerusalem is to blindly, to silently stand behind your government without conditions, without demands, without consequences, even when we disagree,” Emanuel said. “That has been our mistake, and it’s been not a favor to you.”
Read the full story here.
In the room: In his Substack, Michael Granoff, who attended Emanuel’s talk at TAU, said he was “disappointed” by Emanuel’s remarks. “You spoke of Israel’s growing isolation. As someone who runs a venture capital fund based here, with investors from the US, Europe and Asia, I would contend that you did so in a greatly exaggerated way. But worse, you said this: ‘Your scientists face exclusion from international conferences and research networks. Your artists and academics are shut out of exhibits and meetings.’ Rahm, you are describing discriminatory boycotts by anti-Zionists. And your implication is that we are to be blamed. You think those trying to exclude Israeli performers from Eurovision are protesting building homes in East Jerusalem?”
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Platner suspends campaign, blames organized conspiracy for forcing him out |
Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner, the scandal-plagued progressive insurgent, announced on Wednesday evening that he plans to drop out of the race amid intense pressure, two days after a former romantic partner accused him of rape. Even as he announced his withdrawal, Platner remained defiant, claiming that the allegations against him were a conspiracy aimed at forcing him out of the race, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch and Marc Rod report.
Blame game: “We live in a political system that is not built for normal people,” Platner asserted. “It is a system that is built structurally to make sure that movements like ours cannot flourish, that if they begin to succeed, they can be crushed. … We did it the way that we were told we are supposed to make change, and we won, and now they are not going to let us have it, not if it's me.”
Read the full story here.
Bonus: The New York Times does a deep dive into the slow unraveling of Platner’s campaign, finding it “was messy, disorganized and ultimately doomed by a steady drip of scandal.”
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Wesley Bell sees surge of outside spending ahead of rematch with Cori Bush |
A month ahead of Missouri’s primary elections, Rep. Wesley Bell’s (D-MO) campaign is being buoyed by an influx of outside spending from the AIPAC-linked United Democracy Project super PAC and another super PAC affiliated with the moderate New Democrat Coalition, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Money matters: As of this week, UDP has reserved $865,000 in ad time for the race, while New Democrat Majority has reserved $500,000 ahead of the Aug. 4 primary. In at least one advertisement, UDP is taking a similar approach as it did in its attacks against Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) in 2024 when the group helped Bell unseat her, hitting her as an absentee and ineffective lawmaker and for voting against the bipartisan infrastructure package in 2021. UDP’s ad features clips accusing Bush of having betrayed and disappointed organized labor and workers who supported her in her initial campaign.
Read the full story here.
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Ed Case, pro-Israel moderate from Hawaii, faces primary challenge from progressive state senator |
Rep. Ed Case (D-HI), a longtime pro-Israel moderate in the House, is facing his first serious primary challenge in years from state Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole, arguing — as other insurgent Democrats around the country have — that the district needs a new generation of leadership, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Israel record: Keohokalole’s campaign site makes little mention of Middle East policy, broadly calling for “reimagining the United States’ role on the world stage as a global peace leader by working to end unnecessary and costly conflicts, including opposing escalation toward war with Iran, and strengthening congressional oversight over military action and executive war powers.” But the state senator, who is 42, said in late 2025 he supported efforts led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) to stop U.S. military sales to Israel, arguing that the small size of Gaza “all but guarantees that [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s campaign of ‘targeted’ airstrikes will kill innocent adults, children, and infants. Hamas was wrong. So is this.”
Read the full story here.
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Jewish orgs cite ‘reason for optimism’ as NEA works to address union antisemitism |
Major Jewish organizations expressed “reason for optimism” that the National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers union, is taking meaningful steps to address rising antisemitism following its annual Representative Assembly, which concluded in Denver on Tuesday, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
Noted progress: The Jewish groups noted a safer and more inclusive environment for Jewish members at this year’s gathering, marking a stark contrast from last year, when delegates voted to boycott Anti-Defamation League materials in a measure Jewish groups condemned as antisemitic, among other disruptive events. The changes also come following the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission opening an investigation into NEA in June over alleged failure to address antisemitism.
Read the full story here.
Curriculum wars: With summer break offering teachers a chance to level up their skills for the year ahead, Illinois educators will be able to spend three days in Chicago this month learning about “the dangers of the ADL's influence in our schools” — and earn credit toward the professional development needed to renew their teaching licenses, JI’s Gabby Deutch reports.
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New, and seasoned, faces show out for Sun Valley 2026 |
More than 300 of the world’s most powerful executives have trickled into Idaho for Allen & Co’s invite-only, closed-door Sun Valley conference, where media moguls, tech titans and financiers gather every year, Jewish Insider’s Christina Sher reports.
Spotted: Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA), former CIA Director David Petraeus, former Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE), Dina Powell McCormick, Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner, Joshua Kushner, Karlie Kloss, Robert Kraft, Marc Andreessen, Sam Altman, Alex Karp, Bari Weiss, Sheryl Sandberg, David Zaslav, Bob Iger, Michael Eisner, Barry Diller, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Evan Spiegel, Josh Silverman, Marne Levine, Brian Grazer, Reid Hoffman, Adam Silver, Mitch Rales, Andy Jassy and Bobby Kotick were among those seen in Sun Valley this week.
Read the full story and see photos of Sun Valley attendees here.
Dinner dish: Puck’s Dylan Byers reports that Jassy and Kraft were seen dining at Enoteca in nearby Ketchum on Tuesday night.
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Battlefield Blues: Bloomberg’s Max Hastings looks at the challenges facing the U.S. as other countries more quickly evolve their weapons production systems and increasingly rely on AI to quickly produce advanced weaponry. “Warfare, strategy and weapons systems are morphing at extraordinary speed. The US still possesses by far the most capable military. But its ability to dominate a battlefield, never mind an entire region, is under threat in a fashion that military men and women understand better than do many national leaders.” [Bloomberg]
F-35 Fears: In the Greek daily Ekathimerini, Reps. Brad Schneider (D-IL) and Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), the co-chairs of the Congressional Hellenic Israel Alliance, warn of the risks to the alliance formed by Greece, Cyprus and Israel posed by the potential sale of advanced U.S. weaponry to Ankara. “Turkey’s expansive maritime claims, continued tensions in the Aegean, military overflights and provocations affecting Greece, Turkey’s continued occupation of Cyprus, and increasing demonization of Israel have contributed to instability at a time when the region has an opportunity to move in a different direction. … Advanced military capabilities should strengthen alliances and regional stability – not create uncertainty among the partners who have worked alongside the United States to build a more secure Eastern Mediterranean.” [Ekathimerini]
Forgetting ‘Never Forget’: The Wall Street Journal’s Bertrand Benoit observes that Germany is at an “inflection point” some eight decades after the Holocaust, as memory of the Shoah fades and both the far right and the far left are on the ascendance. “Can a democracy that was built on a sense of responsibility for the Holocaust survive without it? What does it mean for Europe if the country that set the modern standard for combating antisemitism across the continent chooses to move on at a time of rising Jew-hatred? And last, can a country that twice set the world ablaze — and is now engaged in the largest rearmament effort in decades as Russia threatens the continent — be trusted by neighbors if it abandons what has for eight decades served as its moral compass?” [WSJ]
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In a change of tone, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said on Wednesday that Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa deserves a chance to rebuild the war-torn country, arguing that his efforts to curb Iran’s influence in Syria should prompt Israel to reassess its approach to the new government, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports…
Axios looks at how the U.S.-Iran war has increasingly shifted to focus on the Strait of Hormuz, suggesting that the White House “is preparing for what could become a multi-day or even multi-week exchange of fire”...
The Wall Street Journal spotlights how Jewish Democrats mulling 2028 presidential bids are navigating the party’s leftward shift on Israel…
The governing body of the Football Association of Ireland voted 75-32 to proceed with the national team’s upcoming matches against Israel, following calls for the FAI to boycott the games, slated to take place in Dublin’s Aviva Stadium…
The hate crimes unit of Montreal’s police department is investigating a series of attacks targeting members of the city’s Hasidic community last Friday night in which the attackers drove through a heavily Jewish neighborhood, shouting antisemitic slurs and throwing cans at people walking home from Shabbat services…
Australia’s antisemitism envoy, Jillian Segal, testifying before the government’s royal commission into antisemitism, called for the creation of an independent oversight committee to monitor the Australian public broadcaster’s compliance with its charter obligations; her comments came after numerous complaints over the broadcaster’s airing of falsities around the Israel-Hamas war and slowness to issue corrections…
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz pushed back against President Donald Trump’s suggestion this week that Israel would withdraw from Lebanon, saying, “We didn’t ask for anyone’s approval to enter Lebanon, and we don’t need approval to stay in Lebanon”...
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency downgraded its risk classification for Israel and the Gulf, opting against extending its high-risk conflict zone advisory for the region when the warning expired on Wednesday…
Attorney William Zabel, a prolific celebrity divorce lawyer who was instrumental in distributing some $2.2 billion to the victims of Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, died at 89…
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WILL BREDDERMAN/JEWISH INSIDER
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Agudath Israel held a meet-and-greet event with New York officials on Wednesday in Manhattan. The group presented Julie Menin and Mark Levine, respectively the speaker of the City Council and the city’s comptroller, with mezuzot.
Menin decried what she called the “shameful and unconscionable” crisis of antisemitic incidents in New York. She touted the council’s passage of buffer zone bills for religious institutions and schools, asking rhetorically, “What could be controversial about that?” to a crowd that included Jason Binderman, the deputy director for the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism — an apparent dig at Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who opposed the bills.
Pictured from left: Assemblymember David Weprin, Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY), Councilmember Mercedes Narcisse, Menin, Levine, Councilmember Chris Banks, Rabbi Yeruchim Silber, Rabbi Ephraim Gurell and state Sen. Lester Chang.
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CRAIG T. FRUCHTMAN/WIREIMAGE
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Co-founder of Netscape and co-founder and general partner of Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, he is celebrating his birthday at the Sun Valley conference, Marc Lowell Andreessen turns 55...
Former Soviet refusenik, prisoner of conscience, human rights activist, author and translator, Iosif Begun turns 94... Constitutional law expert focused on the First Amendment and free speech, senior counsel at Cahill Gordon & Reindel where he has practiced since 1963, Floyd Abrams turns 90... Retired conductor and music director of symphony orchestras in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, Rochester, N.Y., Baltimore and Zurich, David Zinman turns 90... Huntington Woods, Mich., resident, Robert Morris Rubin... Arizona resident, Howard Cohen... Play-by-play announcer for the MLB's San Diego Padres from 1980 to 2020, Theodore “Ted” Leitner turns 79... Tikvah “Tiki” Stern Lyons... Rabbi of Congregation Beth Jacob of Atlanta, Rabbi Ilan D. Feldman turns 72... U.S. senator (R-SC) since 2003, Lindsey Graham turns 71... Author, motivational speaker and former stockbroker, his autobiographical memoir, The Wolf of Wall Street, was adapted into a film and released in 2013, Jordan Ross Belfort turns 64... Mortgage professional and owner of D.C.'s Char Bar, Michael Alan Chelst... Public radio personality, former producer of "This American Life" and the host and executive producer of the "Serial" podcast, Sarah Koenig turns 57... Activist short seller, author and editor of the online investment newsletter Citron Research, Andrew Edward Left turns 56... Actor, tour guide, poet, speaker, philosopher and author, Timothy "Speed" Levitch turns 56... Host of The Free Press’ “Breaking History” podcast, Eli Jon Lake turns 54... Anchor and reporter for Fox Business Network, Lori Rothman turns 53... Member of the URJ North American board of trustees, Peter Webb... Co-founder and executive director of Nefesh B'Nefesh, Yehoshua Fass turns 53... Brigadier general (res.) in the IDF, he held many military leadership positions in digital transformation and computer science, Omer Dagan turns 50... Israeli documentary filmmaker, Guy Davidi turns 48... Retired poker player, now an options trader, she is the only woman to ever reach the No. 1 ranking on the Global Poker Index, Vanessa K. Selbst turns 42... Tony Award-winning theater, film and television actor, Brandon Uranowitz turns 40... Renewable energy and climate specialist, Samantha Hea Marks... Pitcher for Team Israel at the 2017 and 2023 World Baseball Classics, Jake Kalish turns 35... Pitcher in the Los Angeles Angels organization through 2024, now a free agent, Kenny Rosenberg turns 31... Spokeswoman and communications specialist for foreign media in the Office of the Prime Minister of Israel, Shoshana Bedrosian turns 29...
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