Daily Kickoff
EXCLUSIVE: “Following our story last month highlighting Diane Rehm’s strange line of questioning towards 2016 candidate Bernie Sanders, Jewish Insider can exclusively report that Abe Foxman, outgoing National Director of the ADL, is scheduled to appear on the Diane Rehm Show next Tuesday, July 14th, from 11am to 12pm. Foxman will be the sole guest for the entire hour. The program’s subject will be anti-Semitism, both in historical terms and how it is manifested in the present, and may also cover some of the highlights from Foxman’s 50-year career at the ADL as he prepares to hand over the reigns to Jonathan Greenblatt on July 20th.” [JewishInsider]
IRAN TALKS: “Iran Nuclear Talks Are Extended Once Again” by Michael R. Gordon and David E. Sanger: “A deadline is a deadline, except, it seems, at the Iran nuclear negotiations. As diplomats declared they were entering yet another overtime period on Tuesday — the second since negotiators blew past the supposedly final June 30 deadline for concluding the accord — they sidestepped any talk of a firm date for reaching one of the hardest but potentially most consequential accords in recent diplomatic history.” [NYTimes] • “Source says 48 hours left for deal” [Reuters]
Last Night: “President Barack Obama sought to reassure Senate Democrats that he won’t accept a bad deal with Iran during something of a working cocktail party at the White House on Tuesday evening. While Obama “covered every hot topic there was,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), when it came to Iran, “he wanted to make it clear to us that if it’s a bad deal, there’s no deal.” [Politico]
“U.S. Suggests Open-Ended Iran Talks” by Jay Solomon, Carol Lee, Laurence Norman: “The White House on Tuesday laid the groundwork for a third outcome: continuing talks while keeping in place a November 2013 interim agreement that provided Iran with limited sanctions relief in exchange for rolling back parts of its nuclear program. Such an outcome would allow Mr. Obama to avoid alternatives to diplomacy to confront Iran’s nuclear program, such as military force. It gives the president political cover because the idea has support… from Israel.” [WSJ]
“John Kerry plays it cool in final push for Iran deal” by Nahal Toosi and Michael Crowley:“The Secretary of State’s mind-set has been a key subject for critics of the talks with Iran, with some saying they worry he’s too eager to cement his place in history by striking a deal… But Kerry, as well as some of his powerful co-negotiators, are showing patience this week, willing to blow past a Tuesday deadline and face the threat of triggering a longer congressional review in order to secure a better deal.” [Politico]
Behind the Scenes: “Twizzlers, string cheese, and mixed nuts (in large quantities) fuel Iran nuclear negotiators” by Matt Viser: “The US negotiating team here over the past five weeks has gone through 10 pounds of Twizzlers (strawberry flavored), 20 pounds of string cheese, 30 pounds of mixed nuts and dried fruit, and more than 200 Rice Krispies Treats. They have yet to put a dent in Iran’s nuclear centrifuges, but Secretary of State John Kerry and his team of experts have racked up impressive numbers for junk food consumed and international miles logged.”
Already thinking about the movie… “During idle hours, they have debated who among them would be played by what stars, if any producer for some reason decided to make a movie… Kerry, US delegation members decided, would be played by Ted Danson, while Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz would be portrayed by Javier Bardem (from “No Country for Old Men”). The silver-haired Sherman would be played by Meryl Streep (as captured in “The Devil Wears Prada”). And Marie Harf, a senior communications adviser, would be portrayed by Kirsten Dunst.” [BostonGlobe]
“U.S. officials say they tried to update Israel on Iran talks three times” by Barak Ravid:“Senior American officials said Tuesday in a briefing to reporters in Vienna that over the last 10 days the head of the U.S. negotiating team to the nuclear talks with Iran had tried three times to contact Israel’s national security adviser… According to the officials, Undersecretary for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman had not managed to reach National Security Adviser Joseph Cohen due to scheduling constraints, but added that she planned to brief him in the near future.” [Haaretz]
Chemi Shalev: “The fight for over a nuclear deal with Iran in Congress, intertwined as it has become with election year politics, will be nothing short of furious. Nonetheless, under other circumstances, and with other leaders, there would be little doubt that the bedrock of U.S.-Israeli ties is strong enough to sustain it. With Netanyahu and Obama at the helm, there is a far greater danger of sustaining lasting damage.” [Haaretz]
“White House Instructs Allies To Lean On ‘Jewish Community’ to Force Iran Deal” by Adam Kredo: “The White House is targeting Jewish groups in its latest push to blunt congressional criticism of an Iran deal that observers expect to be sealed in the coming days, according to a recording of a strategy conference call.” [FreeBeacon]
SUNDAY BOOK REVIEW: “Michael B. Oren’s ‘Ally: My Journey Across the American-Israeli Divide’” by Jacob Heilbrunn: “The pity of it all is that Oren has been a political moderate, at least in the context of Netanyahu’s inner circle… But what Oren, much like Netanyahu himself, refuses to countenance is that Obama’s focus on reaching a deal with Iran isn’t based on wishful thinking but on cold strategic considerations.” [NYTimes]
David Suissa: “Oren’s book is threatening to liberal Zionists because it makes a compelling case that their hero Obama has severely undermined the very thing they crave – negotiations towards a two-state solution… By pressuring only Israel — the one party that has, in the past, evacuated settlements and made peace offers that got rejected — he gave Palestinian leadership zero incentive to negotiate, let alone make any concessions.” [JewishJournal]
Here’s Wondering… Would the reaction to Oren’s book be any different if there was no index at the end?
Eli Lake: “One of President Obama’s first breaks with Israel was when he disregarded what its foreign ministry considered an informal U.S. agreement to accept limited expansion of Jerusalem suburbs built on land Israel won in the 1967 Six-Day War. It turns out this decision — a flash point for Jerusalem — was quietly supported by Bush’s second secretary of state and first foreign policy tutor: Condoleezza Rice, according to an e-mail made public by the State Department last week as part of the disclosure of Hillary Clinton’s personal e-mails stored on a private server.” [BloombergView]
PROFILE: “Israel’s tribal warrior: Meet Yair Lapid, ambassador of the “other Israel.” by Ben Judah: “I don’t think this government will last long,” Yair Lapid warns. Lapid, a former TV anchor, heads a faction of 11 MPs. He is now traveling the world as a sort of alternative foreign minister for the “other Israel.” [PoliticoEU]
Jessica Schulberg interviews ZOA’s Mort Klein: “AIPAC hasn’t been strong enough,” Klein said in one of several conversations over the past few days. He is waging what he views as an increasingly lonely fight not just against the Iran deal but against traditional allies who won’t do what it takes to derail it. “I can’t do it alone,” he bemoaned… Klein boasts that he has personal cell phone numbers of several lawmakers, his “own billionaire” in the form of casino magnet Sheldon Adelson, and the ear of presidential hopefuls Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, Scott Walker and Chris Christie. “I did meet with him. He ate all of my cupcakes,” he said of Christie. “That’s joke, that’s only a joke!” [HuffPost]
2016 WATCH: “Organizers of the July 22 “Stop Iran Now” rally in Times Square are disappointed that none of the many US presidential candidates has agreed to participate. The rally is being organized by the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the Zionist Organization of America and other Jewish groups.” [NYPost]
“Pro-Israel Groups Divided Over Iran Going Into 2016” by Ivan Levingston: “With international negotiators in Vienna working to reach a nuclear deal with Iran, and the guarantee of a congressional vote on any accord, both hawks and doves among pro-Israel groups are mobilizing over an issue that’s growing in importance ahead of the 2016 elections.” [RollCall]
SPOTLIGHT: “Lee Zeldin, House Freshman, Is a Foreign-Affairs Firebrand” by Alexander Burns: “Just months after taking office, Representative Zeldin, 35, has seized a space as one of the Republican Party’s most energetic — and caustic — spokesmen on foreign affairs. He has become a Fox News staple, often reeling off one-liner barbs on President Obama’s handling of the Islamic State, or the Iraqi army’s performance in battle.” [NYTimes]
BUSINESS BRIEFS: “Emile Haddad’s Five Point Files for IPO” [WSJ] • “KKR Raises More Than $3 Billion for Road, Railway, Airport Deals” [Bloomberg] • “The man behind the mess at Israel’s Mega supermarkets” [Haaretz] • “Sam Nazarian selling hot restaurants to STK team” [NYPost] • “The 50 Wealthiest New Jerseyans” [NJBiz] • “How much do the Israeli gas developers really earn? [Globes] • “Have You Heard About ‘Hearables’? Noah Kraft’s Doppler Labs Just Got $17 Million to Make Them” [ReCode]
STARTUP NATION: “Whipclip, App That Shares Video Clips, Raises $40 Million” by Michael J. de la Merced: “One differentiator, according to the company’s chief executive, the serial entrepreneur Richard Rosenblatt, is that Whipclip is working with content providers… Whipclip has grown to a 50-employee company with headquarters in Santa Monica, Calif., and Tel Aviv.” [DealBook] • “Pre-Crime Israeli Startup BioCatch Authenticates Users Via Touch And Your Phone’s Accelerometer” [TechCrunch] • “5 reasons behind Israel’s startup success” by Dennis Mitzner [TheNextWeb] • “An Interview With The President Of The University That Turned Israel Into Start-up Nation” [Forbes]
“Want to Meet America’s Worst Racists? Come to the Northwest” by Casey Michel: “The Northwest Front represents a fringe campaign, a minority of a minority seeking to expunge the Pacific Northwest of any color but white. According to Harold Covington, the group’s leader, the union of Washington State, Oregon, Idaho and western Montana would be “kind of like the white version of Israel. I don’t see why the Jews are the only people on Earth that get their own country and everyone else has to be diverse.” [PoliticoMag]
VOGUE WEDDING: “Elizabeth Fisch and Michael Dishi’s Wedding at the American Museum of Natural History” by Lilah Ramzi: “It was a no-brainer,” Vogue Communications and Marketing Manager Elizabeth Fisch said of the American Museum of Natural History, the venue she and groom Michael Dishi chose for their wedding ceremony and reception… The high school sweethearts met on holiday for Passover in Miami and began dating immediately upon their return to New York. After seven years spent together, the couple was engaged nine months prior to the big day. The traditional Jewish ceremony was held in a room that was fully transformed into an enchanted forest for the occasion. The bride walked down the aisle to a Hebrew rendition of “Con Te Partirò” in a custom Valentino dress.” [Vogue]
DESSERT: “There’s very good news for people who eat only kosher food. Celebrity chef Victor Gloger has risen to the challenge and opened his prestigious Chloely’s restaurant in the Tel Aviv Hilton, replacing the King Solomon, which has closed its doors after 50 years. Gloger has established himself as one of Israel’s most creative and original chefs. The Argentinean immigrant opened his non-kosher Chloely’s, named for his two daughters, 10 years ago in Ramat Gan, and it has been a byword for good, original food ever since.” [JPost]
“Dining with strangers” by Jorge Ramos: “During a recent trip to Tel Aviv for a television segment chronicling the things that separate and unite Israelis and Arabs, our team did just that: We made two dinners part of our investigative efforts. My colleagues and I turned to a wonderful site, EatWith(dot)com – which was created in Israel – to help us figure out the details. Our goal was to have one meal in an Israeli home and one with an Arab family. In the end, the outcome was magical, enlightening, and quite delicious.” [Fusion]
BIRTHDAYS: Tzipi Livni turns 57… Ron Kampeas turns 55… Art Abramson…
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