TOP TALKER: The mainstream media’s disproportionate coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict and often “hostile obsession with Jews” is twisting public perception against Israel and the Jewish people, claims Matti Friedman in “An Insider’s Guide to the Most Important Story on Earth” for Tablet Magazine

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “We did not want this violence, and we did not want this war,” says senior Israeli minister Yuval Steinitz concerning the latest Israel-Hamas ceasefire.

DAY 51: “Hamas killed two Israelis in a mortar attack just before the truce took effect Tuesday evening, bringing the Israeli death toll in Operation Protective Edge to 70, and Israel struck targets in Gaza including several high-rises where it said Hamas had command centers. Hamas hailed victory in the conflict; Israel’s cabinet was divided on the truce terms, but was not asked to vote on the deal,” according to the Times of Israel live blog

DRIVING THE DAY: An extension of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire seems to be holding. The deal puts both Israel and Gaza essentially back where they were post Operation Cast Lead in 2012. Both Israel and Hamas are claiming victory, but Israel with “a sour taste of missed opportunity,” according to a senior Israeli official.

DAILY NEWS: A Jewish couple was attacked on NYC’s Upper East Side by assailants bearing Palestinian flags and spewing anti-Semitic slurs… 23-year old Jewish American student Aharon Sofer, who hails from Lakewood, N.J., has been missing since he was separated from his friend while hiking Friday near Jerusalem; Senator Cory Booker has expressed his concern and has “been in consistent contact with the State Department and U.S. officials on the ground in Israel” to work towards Sofer’s “safe and speedy return.”… The New York Times is running an ad by the Jewish Anti-Zionist Network attacking both Israel and Holocaust survivor and peace activist Elie Wiesel…. A man who spent 16 years in prison due to a wrongful conviction for the murder of a Brooklyn rabbi settled for $10 million in a federal lawsuit against the city.

Last Night: Jewish former state Senator Nan Rich was defeated by former republican Charlie Christ in a Florida nomination for governor on Tuesday. According to Politico, “The 58-year-old’s easy win over former state Sen. Nan Rich in Tuesday’s primary caps a stunning turnaround. Only four years ago Crist was a governor who had run for office as a rock-ribbed conservative. The Associated Press called the race as soon as polls closed statewide, with Crist leading Rich, 75 percent to 25 percent, and a third of precincts reporting. Crist faces GOP Gov. Rick Scott in what is likely to be one of the most expensive general-election campaigns in the country.”

BDS WATCH: SodaStream, an Israeli company often under scrutiny from the BDS movement, has decided to move its factory from the West Bank to the Negev, to the tune of 900 Palestinian jobs. The move is scheduled to take place sometime in 2015.

TOP-OPS AND INTERVIEWS: PBS’s Gwen Ifill discusses the prospects of enduring calm in Israel and the peace process ahead with Dennis Ross of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and Shibley Telhami of the Brookings Institution… In the New York Times, Daniel Mariaschin and David J. Michaelsaug call for declaring Yom Kippur an official UN holiday… In an exclusive interview with Foreign Policy, U.S. special envoy Martin Indyk says the US-Israel relationship has arrived at a moment of reckoning.

**Good Wednesday Morning! Enjoying the Daily Kickoff? Please share us with your friends & tell them to sign up at [JI]. Have a tip, scoop, or op-ed? We’d love to hear from you. Anything from hard news and punditry to the lighter stuff, including event coverage, job transitions, or even special birthdays, is much appreciated. Email [email protected]**

STARTUP NATION: Jewish students from the University of Pennsylvania have developed a smart patch and application that integrates constant monitoring and allows users to monitor fever levels more carefully… Israeli stylus technology beat out an industry leader for integration into the Microsoft Surface Pro 3. Why do Israeli companies seem to dominate the tech industry? It’s the result of intense and highly-integrated collaboration between Israeli civilian and military sectors, speculates Lois Parshley in Popular Science

RISING STAR: Ozy profiles Meyer “Micky” Malka, the Venezuelan who’s trying to reinvent financial services in America. Malka founded Palo Alto-based venture capitalist fund Ribbit Capital in 2012… “Malka says he enjoys meeting people from different countries while living in Silicon Valley, because it challenges his brain. He has convinced three fellow Latin American Jewish families to move there, saying there is “no better place to be if you are creative and a risk-taker.”

REAL ESTATE ROUNDUP: Jewish real estate moguls Jared Kushner and Aby Rosen are in the process of developing a 1.4 million square foot complex in Dumbo Heights, Brooklyn, into what they hope will be a hub of innovation. WeWork, an Israeli-founded collaborative workspace space company, reached a deal this month to open a 90,000 square foot branch in the building, which will serve as an incubator for startups from a variety of industries.

SPORTS BLINK: Fans following the commentary of the final minutes of a football game between the Chargers and 49ers were treated to some (off color?) Jewish humor. You be the judge.

JEWISH CULTURE: The Face in the Reeds is set to premiere at the Ruskin Group Theater in Santa Monica, California. The play chronicles a lively (and Jewish humor-filled) Passover Seder at the home of a well loved Jewish doctor and his recently converted wife.

DESSERT: Beloved purveyor of kosher baked goods Entenmann’s is closing it’s only factory in Long Island after 90 years of operation, much to the dismay of their New York fans.

That’s all folks, have a great Wednesday! 

**Have a tip, suggestion, or even an op-ed? We’d love to hear from you. Email  [email protected]**