Daily Kickoff
—WSJ Interviews Malcolm Hoenlein: “Does Obama Really Support Israel?” [WSJ-Video] — Hamas’s Slippery Statistics – Hoenlein on how the terror group hoodwinks [WSJ-Video]
—Renewed Gaza truce holds after rocky start: “A renewed truce between Israel and Hamas appeared to be holding on Thursday despite a shaky start, after both sides agreed to give Egyptian-brokered talks more time to try to end the Gaza war. At the last minute, the Palestinians announced in Cairo that the truce was extended by another five days for the sides to work out a long-term ceasefire, mediated by Egypt.” [Reuters] — Jewish Groups Accuse UN Chief Of Being One-Sided [AP] — RELATED: “Qatar Shifts Foreign Policy After Supporting Revolts” [Bloomberg]
2016 WATCH: “Warren Plans Israel Trip After Midterm Elections” by Matt Viser: “More than a year and a half into her Senate term, the Massachusetts senator is one of just four current US senators who have not taken an official overseas trip… A Warren aide said the freshman senator is planning to join a congressional trip to Israel, but given her aggressive schedule campaigning on behalf of Senate Democrats it likely will come after the midterm elections in November.” [BostonGlobe]
HILLARY SPLITS FROM OBAMA ON SYRIA, IRAN & ISRAEL: Hillary Clinton has begun her foreign policy split with President Obama after remarks she made in an interview with The Atlantic magazine, criticizing him for decisions he made on Syria, Iran and Israel among others. WSJ’s Jerry Seib explains. [WSJ] — Josh Rogin Scoops: “Obama Stifled Hillary’s Syria Plans and Ignored Her Iraq Warnings for Years” [DailyBeast]
VIDEO: Prime Minister Netanyahu Meets with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo [YouTube] — Cuomo Concludes Trip To Israel By Visiting The South And Touring Hamas Tunnels [JP]
NYTimes: Growing List Of U.S. Officials Visiting Israel – by Thomas Kaplan and Jason Horowitz: “Summertime trips to Israel are nothing new for American officials, but amid the fighting in Gaza, more and more of them are seizing on their annual sojourns or booking last-minute excursions to make a political statement… The visits are mutually beneficial. The Israeli government, which has received international criticism, gets special guests to help make its case. And for American politicians, nothing demonstrates solidarity like actually showing up… “This morning I was called about another trip involving members of Congress,” Malcolm Hoenlein said. “Very often it’s people calling us and saying, ‘Is there a trip going that I can join?’ ” [NYTimes]
NEW JERSEY CD5 RACE: “Democrat Cho Returns From Israel Trip, Reflects On “Resilience” Of Country At War” by Mark Bonamo: “Roy Cho, the Democratic candidate up against Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Scott Garrett in New Jersey’s Fifth Congressional District race, was bouncing back from a long plane flight to Israel when he strode into his Ridgewood campaign headquarters on Wednesday morning, straight from the airport… “The resilience of the Israeli people is what really resonated and stuck out to me,” said Cho, the 33-year old attorney from Hackensack who spoke to PolitickerNJ immediately after his whirlwind 60-hour trip to Israel. “Meeting with people who have relatives serving in the Israel Defense Forces, people who have lost loved ones, or people who have to live in constant fear of the [warning] siren going off – we went to all different parts of the country and there is an incredible sense of solidarity in the country.” [PolitickerNJ]
—Gov. Nathan Deal’s non-answer on courting Sheldon Adelson: “I don’t discuss who I meet with on purely political issues, or those that support us or don’t support us,” the governor said. “We meet with people who hopefully are supportive of conservative causes and Republican efforts, and we meet with a lot of those people all across the country.” “I would hope to have the support of anyone who wants to contribute to our re-election.” If Adelson backs Deal’s campaign, it may have more to do with Deal’s opponent than the governor’s position. Jason Carter is the grandson of former President Jimmy Carter, whose criticism of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians has upset many in the Jewish community. If he thinks that it’s something that doesn’t need to be talked about, I would suggest he divorce himself from his grandfather’s statements that are very critical of Israel,” Deal said of his opponent. “He’s using his grandfather as his primary fundraiser all across this country. He’s taking money from his grandfather on one hand, and then trying to disassociate himself from his grandfather on issues such as this.” [AJC]
TOP-OP: “Liberals, look at the new Middle East” by Ari Shavit: “It is difficult for the Western liberal to observe the new Middle East. His worldview is based on criticizing the West and granting sweeping amnesty to those who are seen as its victims. This liberal’s code of values forbids him to define Third World evil as such. So he demonstrated against the war in Vietnam, but kept silent in the face of the Khmer Rouge genocide in Cambodia. He opposed the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but kept silent in the face of the oppression in Iran. This is why he hastens to denounce Israel, while displaying leniency toward Hamas’ fascism. The Western liberal knows how to rise up against Western exertion of force and likes doing so. But at the sight of Arabs slaughtering Arabs, he is lost. Whom will he rage against? Whom can he demonstrate against? At whom will he feel holy fury?”
“The new Middle East is now raising penetrating questions that must generate an upheaval in liberal thought. Liberals can no longer ignore the awful plague of Middle Eastern brutality and the fact that millions of Arabs live with no rights and no future. While voicing justified criticism against Israel (for the occupation, settlements, racist fringes), they must lift their eyes and see the expanse in which Israel is located. An expanse in which Yazidis are massacred and Christians are persecuted and women are stoned. An expanse in which there is no democracy, or peace, or grace. This is a Middle East that liberals must see as it is – and deal with its diseases courageously.” [Haaretz]
YOU’VE GOT (NO) MAIL: “U.S. Post Offices Reportedly Refusing Mail to Israel”: “The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has written to complain to the US Postmaster General, after receiving widespread reports that US post offices around America have been refusing to accept mail to Israel. In the last several days ADL reports that it has received complaints from Massachusetts, Michigan and New Jersey, revealing postal customers were incorrectly told that the US Postal Service is not accepting mail for Israel due to Operation Protective Edge in Gaza.” [INS]
“The account and ones like it make up a critical financial infrastructure for a network that, at times, operates like a Social Security system for terrorists, the plaintiffs say. Family members were instructed to go to Arab Bank branches to collect charitable funds after their relatives died in a terrorism attempt, the plaintiffs say. While American authorities have prosecuted banks for processing tainted money, this is the first civil trial against a bank under the Anti-Terrorism Act. Opening arguments are scheduled for Thursday. The case has a long history of controversy. It has split the Obama administration and drawn the attention of the Supreme Court, and has the government of Jordan, where the bank has its headquarters, arguing that it opens the entire Middle East banking infrastructure to severe risk. And it has some bank executives watching the trial with frayed nerves, concerned that a finding of liability here could mean that doing business in many areas of the world may become too risky.”[NYTimes]
BUSINESS BRIEFS: “Hedge Fund Holdouts Fail to Reach Private Deal Over Argentine Debt” [DealBook] — “U.S. IPO to Help Israeli Chemical Maker Adama Fund China Growth” [Bloomberg] — Hertz Investment Group emerges as prospective buyer for most of Tower City Center complex [Crains] — Leon Black’s Phaidon Press in Talks to Buy Artspace [Bloomberg] — Leon Black buying $50M UES townhouse [NYPost] — Kushner pays $56.5M for apartment complexes in Westwood, River Vale [NorthJersey] — Barnett’s Extell Plans Rentals, Dorm for West Midtown [Observer]
THE GRANDE COFFEE PLAN THAT FAILED: “Starbucks denies helping Israel financially. It’s not the first time it’s run into business complications related to the Jewish state” by Jessica Steinberg: “Global coffee giant Starbucks vehemently denied last week that it provides any financial support to Israel or the IDF. That could be because it never succeeded in selling many espressos or Frappuccinos in the land of the hafuch, the local version of the latte. The Seattle-based coffee maker opened six stores in Tel Aviv in 2001, only to close them just two years later. The company said at the time that it closed the stores due to “ongoing operational challenges that we experienced in that market.” It may have had more to do with Israelis not liking Starbucks coffee.” [ToI]
JUST ASKING: “Ivanka Trump on D.C., the Old Post Office, and her father and the presidency” by Joe Heim: Q: “The building is on Pennsylvania Avenue, and renovation is expected to be completed for Inauguration Day in 2017. Who would you like to see as president in that parade?A: I’m going to reserve that answer. [Laughs.] It’s too soon. Q: Your father has always been well known and has welcomed attention and publicity. Do you ever roll your eyes even a tiny bit at things he says or tweets? A: As a daughter, of course there are times when I don’t 100 percent share his views. I mean, I’m a person. What I love about him is that he says everything with conviction, and no one has ever accused him of being contrived or insincere. Q: Do you think he should run for president? A: As a citizen, I do. I think we’d be fortunate to have him as a president. I think he’s a remarkable person. As a daughter, it’s much more complicated. But as a voter, we should be so lucky.” [WashPost]
ALS ICE-BUCKET LIST: NY Giants Co-Owner Steve Tisch Joins [NYDailyNews] — Mark Zuckerberg Accepts Ice Bucket Challenge From Chris Christie; Passes It Along To Bill Gates, Sheryl Sandberg, and Reed Hastings [TimeMag]
PAGE6 Sighting: “Former senator Joe Lieberman dining with friends at kosher steakhouse Reserve Cut in the Financial District . . .” [PageSix]
ON THIS DATE IN… (via the AP): 2006 – “Israel halted its offensive against Hezbollah guerrillas as a U.N.-imposed cease-fire went into effect after a month of warfare that killed more than 900 people.” [AP]
SPORTS BLINK: ‘Touchdown Israel’ makes an impact: “Filmmaker Paul Hirschberger talks about his feature-length documentary ‘Touchdown Israel,’ which highlights controversies in the Israel Football League. The film has been selected as an official entry into the 2014 San Francisco Jewish Film Festival – the oldest, largest and most prestigious Jewish film festival in the world.” [TLV1]
DESSERT: Ozy Rising Stars – “Mimi Hecht + Mushky Notik Make Modesty Haute” by Melissa Pandika: “Sisters-in-law Mimi Hecht and Mushky Notik put the “Mi” and “Mu” in Mimu Maxi, a Brooklyn-based fashion label that pushes the boundaries of style — with an Orthodox twist… Hold on to your snoods, people: Modest clothing is going chic, and Hecht and Notik are among the designers leading the charge. Though their business grew out of their own frustration with finding stylish clothing that adhered to Orthodox Jewish laws of modesty, its customers now include Muslims, Christians and those who don’t belong to any religion.” [Ozy]
That’s all folks, have a great Thursday!
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